Faith in Jesus

Daniel L. Arter

Hebrews • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

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Christians can have faith and hope in Jesus Christ's promise of a future kingdom.

Notes

Transcript

Introduction

If you have a Bible, please turn it to .

It has been about a little over a month since I last preached from Hebrews and I actually preached from , which means that I’m skipping a couple of chapters, but let me be clear that it doesn’t diminish the worth of reading those chapters and I would encourage you to read over them when you get a chance this weekend.

I am only skipping those chapters because they essentially reiterate points that I’ve already made multiple times through Hebrews—that Jesus Christ is far better than the angels; Jesus is better than the law and the Old Covenant; Jesus is better than Moses; Jesus is better than all the priests and the high priests because as states, we are being sanctified through the offering of Jesus Christ and we now have the privilege of entering into the holy places through Jesus’ flesh. Because of Jesus, we can have direct communion with our almighty, holy, gracious and loving God.

And is what the author has been moving towards since the beginning of the letter, keep that in mind as we read it—we’ll read the full chapter, but I’m only going to preach through the first 16 verses tonight.

Hebrews 11:1–40 KJV 1900

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. 5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. 8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. 17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure. 20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. 21 By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones. 23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. 24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. 28 Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. 29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. 31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. 32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

Let’s Pray.

Now, we happen to be studying through a chapter that’s familiar to most Christians today—probably from the encouragement that we can glean from just by reading some of these statements. And I think just from reading the passage, we can gain an idea of what the topic of it is: its faith. We can see that in its repetition of the words, “By faith.” So what I’m hoping to accomplish this evening is this: to (1) give you a working, biblical definition of what faith is, (2) give some examples of how faith has worked out in multiple lives, and (3) point us to the person in which all our faith should be in.

All of that to lead to the same point that the author of Hebrews is making, that because of who Jesus is, our faith is worthwhile.

Exposition

The first thing that we have to do in order to talk about faith this evening, is to come up with a working, biblical definition of what faith really is. And I’m starting here, because you can’t really tell someone to have faith without actually knowing what faith is.

If you were to look up faith in a dictionary, you would get multiple definitions some of which aren’t very helpful and some which are somewhat helpful:

allegiance to duty or a person—for instance, people working for a company can lose faith in that company’s leadership and part of that would influence their allegiance to that person

sincerity of intentions—I acted in good faith, which is a legal term that implies that I’m going to deal fairly with someone even if we don’t sign a contract.

firm belief in something for which there is no proof—the dictionary example is “[that the woman] is clinging to the faith that her missing son would one day return”

The issue with all of these definitions is that it doesn’t completely encompass what the Bible talks about when it speaks of faith. Let’s reread Hebrews 11:1-3.

King James Version Chapter 11

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. 5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, qthat he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, wmoved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. 8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many sas the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

Hebrews 11:1–3 KJV 1900

We’re told that faith is the substance (some translations utilize the term “assurance”) of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

And let’s be honest, that also is not very helpful until you dig a little deeper and you find that the term translated as faith here comes from a root word meaning “belief” or “I believe”, which means to trust or to have reliance on something or someone.

And this verse is actually being utilized to connect us back to —that what occured in provides us reasons to have the faith being spoken of in .

Just as a reminder, speaks of Jesus being that perfect permanent sacrifice for all sins and it reminds us that our sins and iniquities will be remembered no more because of the sacrifice offered by Jesus Christ

And that through Jesus, we can now enter into the presence of our almighty, holy God.

And it is that belief or that faith in this knowledge of what Jesus has done for us that is the substance of things hoped for—or put another way, Jesus lays the foundation for all that we hope and Jesus lays the foundation for the evidence of unseen things

And it is this foundation that Jesus has put out that provides a platform for hope and a platform for the unseen evidence.

Or in other words, without Jesus providing that foundation—there is no room for hope and there is no seeing of those unseen things.

Vs. 2 states, “for by it (faith) the elders obtained a good report.” And that’s speaking of everyone that came before them—so think with me, we’re studying Hebrews and we’ve already seen multiple chapters concerning Jesus being greater than different people throughout history.

So, the author has spent explaining why Jesus is far greater than all of these people

BUT, it was their faith in God that allowed them to be accepted, to obtain a good report, or to be commended.

Examples of Faith:

Hebrews 11:4–5 KJV 1900

Hebrews 11:4-

Hebrews 11:4–6 KJV 1900

4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. 5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Hebrews 11:7–9 KJV 1900

; 11

Hebrews 11:11–12 KJV 1900

11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.

And it is through the very same faith that the elders had, that “we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Who should our faith be in?

Hebrews 11:6 KJV 1900

6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Hebrews 11:11-

Hebrews 11:10 KJV 1900

10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Hebrews 11:13–16 KJV 1900

13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

Hebrews 11:13

Hebrews 11:7–16 KJV 1900

7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. 8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

Hebrews 11:7-

Hebrews 11:7–10 KJV 1900

Hebrews 11:7-

Now, we’re going to work our way through the passage, and its going to be very easy to get distracted. You’ll see the phrase “By faith” over and over and its being used to help the audience remember what he’s saying, but let me encourage you not to be distracted by them.

Application:

Hebrews 11:

I want you to see the “By faith” statements as examples of the faith that the author is speaking of, but I want you to really focus on what’s in between these statements:

Vs. 4—By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh

Because of Abel’s faith, he took seriously what it meant to offer a sacrifice to God and because Abel took it seriously through faith, he was declared righteous by God.

It was Abel’s faith that motivated him to sacrifice to God

Vs. 5—By faith Enoch was translated (or taken up) that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had taken him up: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. Vs. 6 — But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Because of Enoch’s faith, Enoch never died—instead God just took Him.

And then the author makes a powerful statement—that if we don’t have faith, we can’t pleased God because you have to believe in God before you can please God.

It was Enoch’s faith that motivated him to serve God

Vs. 7—By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”

It was Noah’s faith that motivated him to build a massive boat—despite the world thinking he had no evidence for thinking that there was a flood coming, Noah built this boat because of his faith in God.

It was Noah’s faith that motivated him to obey God

Vs. 8—By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. Vs. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God.

It was Abraham’s faith that caused him to obey God despite not having all the information ahead of time.

Abraham’s faith in God caused him to give up earthly comfort to sojourn in the land of promise, and to live in tents rather than building a home.

And then the author makes another powerful statement that Abraham, looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God.

It was Abraham’s faith in God that allowed him to have hope in something better.

Vs. 11—Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.

Sara who was far beyond normal child-bearing years, conceived and had a child, because she judged him faithful who had promised. And this is referring to God being faithful, but its a different usage of that word. It isn’t saying that God was believing and that’s why Sara had belief.

This is stating that God was faithful, sometimes that word is translated as “RELIABLE”—It is the same concept that utilized in when we’re told to hold fast our confession of our hope because he who promised (JESUS) is faithful or reliable.

This shows us that true faith isn’t based on human conception or what we think God is like—true faith is based on what we know God is like based on what He has told us. Why did Sara believe? Because God is reliable and by extension—why do we have faith? Because God is reliable.

Now, in this particular passage, we’re told that they did not receive what they had been hoping for:

Hebrews 11:13–16 KJV 1900

It is explained to us that despite believing, they didn’t receive the promises before their death, rather seeing them afar off they believed that they were true and the embraced them.

Which is an interesting parallel to us that I’ll get to in the application.

Despite actually having faith, they never received the promises, but they embraced them and recognized that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Other than what the Bible teaches us about the second coming—Jesus’ return, we have no reas

Let me put this in a different way—In their present situation, as in, during their lifetime they believed in these stories that their ancestors had taught them about God and what God had planned for them.

And despite their present situation—like Abel being murdered by his brother, or like Enoch (who we actually don’t know a lot about), but we know he lived before the flood and mankind was notoriously wicked before the flood, or Noah being essentially harassed and insulted by his neighbors for 100 years while he build the ark—despite their situations in life, they still had faith because they had hope in what was to come after.

They had hope in this prepared city by God and they had hope in this promised land given to them not because of how great that city will be or how great the promised land was, but because of who God is.

They embraced the future hope and they embraced the promises given to them because they had faith that God was faithful—they trusted what God had told them.

So, as we start to wrap everything up, let’s return back to some of my opening statements:

Application

I mentioned that I was hoping to give you a biblical definition of what faith is, so let’s start with that:

tells us that faith is the foundation on which our hope sits on—Faith is our firm belief in Jesus Christ.

Faith is the trust that we have in Jesus to do what he has promised us—which includes our salvation, our sanctification, and the future that he has told us of.

It is faith in Jesus that all of Christianity rests on

, gives us multiple statements about faith that deepen our knowledge of what it is and what it does:

—true faith in Jesus Christ makes us righteous

—without true faith we cannot please God because having faith requires believing that He exists

—true faith motivates obedience to Jesus Christ even when the present situation seems hopeless

To live by faith, means to put our complete trust in Jesus Christ. There’s an old saying that you shouldn’t put all your eggs in the same basket, which is essentially just telling you to not put all your hope in one thing, but put your hope in multiple things (its the same principle that most retirement plans run on)

Christianity teaches that if you’re truly a believer, then all of your eggs are in the basket that Jesus holds

Its not like we can put one egg in Jesus’ basket and hold on to the rest—if we truly have faith in Jesus Christ, then we need to be all in with it.

A biblical definition for faith is “true belief in who Jesus Christ is and what he has done that motivates us to worship and serve Him”

Which means that when it comes to doing things

We don’t need

I mentioned that I was hoping you would see some examples of people who lived by faith, and I think that the whole passage is just filled with examples and the Bible alone has so many more examples of people living by faith but

If you need or want more examples of people living by faith, you need only look at the man George Mueller, who ran multiple orphanages by faith in the 1800s. He never took a salary and never asked anyone directly for money, but he trusted God to put in people’s hearts to send him what he needed and he prayed. He never took a loan out and he never went in debt. And neither he nor the orphans were ever hungry. That is living by faith.

There are several believers that live in China and North Korea that are under constant persecution and yet they still believe in the hope of something better because they believe in Jesus Christ. And they’re willing to be imprisoned, they’re willing to be put to death. That is living by faith.

My question for you this evening is: Are you living by faith like the examples in did?

Does your faith in Jesus motivate you to serve Him?

And lastly, throughout this message, I’ve been fairly clear that true faith is to be in Jesus Christ.

Why? Because of what He has promised and because of His character

We have faith in Him because He does what we can’t:

Our faith is based on His character and

He bridges that gap between us and God with the purpose of us having a relationship with Him

He works in us to sanctify us for the whole purpose of us to be like Him and be in His presence for all eternity.

And He does that because of that great love that He has for us

We just need to have faith and believe what He has told us.

All of this to say quite simply, that our faith in Jesus Christ is worthwhile, because of who Jesus is.