Sermon Tone Analysis

*Hebrews 11:1-3…* Now faith is the assurance of /things /hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

2 For by it the men of old gained approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

*Commentary*

One of the themes of Hebrews is enduring faith.

And in the immediate context the author is exhorting his audience to endure trials and be faithful in light of God’s promises of salvation (10:36).

He quotes loosely from Habakkuk 2:3-4 teaching that “the righteous shall live by faith,” and those who “shrink back” from God after professing faith in Him bring Him no pleasure (10:38).

The author, for the most part, was sure of better things for his audience, although his certainty was likely only a tool of motivation to spur them onto faithfulness, to the “preserving of the soul” and not to the falling away from God which leads to eternal destruction (10:39).

Since Jesus Christ is superior to all others, placing one’s faith in him upon receiving the knowledge of the Truth is the next logical step.

Hebrews 11 gives not only a description of faith (11:1-3) but provides examples of faithful saints (11:4-40).

First, faith believes God’s word: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

“Assurance” means “to support; to stand under” – like the foundation which supports a house God’s word assures the believer.

And since the word “assurance” is translated “exact representation” in Heb.

1:3, God’s word is the exact representation of who He is.

His words can be believed and counted upon.

Jesus proved himself to be God in the flesh, for “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14), and because of the reality of what He accomplished on the cross as God, believers in Him have evidence (“conviction”) that what they don’t see currently is already a reality in the future, namely, their salvation.

They know this because God’s word teaches this, and they believe it.

Second, faith gains the approval of God (v. 2).

The saints of old gained salvation the same way modern-day Christians attain it – through faith in God! Their faith pleased God, for “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb.

11:6).

These saints of old bore fruit in keeping with their faith, for none of them wandered about with blind optimism merely wishing God to be true or acting superstitiously.

Neither did they gain salvation by merely acknowledging history and doctrine.

They gained God’s approval simply because they believed God in spite of their surroundings and the consequences they faced by believing in Him.

Third, faith acknowledges the power of God (v.

3).

No doubt the author had Genesis 1:1 in mind when he said, “By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God…” The author has already asserted his knowledge of this in Heb.

1:2 when he spoke of Jesus Christ’s share in the creation (cf.

Col. 1:15-16).

So to reject Jesus as the Creator of all things is to reject Christ at his earliest appearance in Scripture as God Almighty!

And to do that is to reject the first tenet of faith: simply believing God’s word (v.

1).

*Food for Thought*

Faith is to a Christian what a root is to a tree.

It provides support and assurance of salvation.

That root then produces a shoot, as it were, which is evidence of life in the tree and nourishment in the root.

Then it produces a fruit which nourishes those who partake and in turn creates more seeds that can take root and start the whole process over again.

So true faith is about a root, a shoot, and a fruit – all three of which work together in God’s plan to multiply and make more and more disciples of faith in Christ.

May we be about the task of planting the seeds of faith (evangelizing) and of watering those seeds (preaching all that Christ taught).

Only then can we sit back and watch God cause growth (cf. 1 Cor.

3:5-9).

It all starts with faith in Christ.

*Hebrews 10:39-11:2…* But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. 1 Now faith is the assurance of /things /hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

2 For by it the men of old gained approval.

*Commentary*

One of the themes of Hebrews is enduring faith.

And in the immediate context the author is exhorting his audience to endure trials and be faithful in light of God’s promises of salvation (10:36).

He quotes loosely from Habakkuk 2:3-4 teaching that “the righteous shall live by faith,” and those who “shrink back” from God after professing faith in Him bring Him no pleasure (10:38).

The author, for the most part, was sure of better things for his audience, although his certainty was likely only a tool of motivation to spur them onto faithfulness, to the “preserving of the soul” and not to the falling away from God which leads to eternal destruction (10:39).

Now that Jesus Christ has been shown to be a superior to all others, there was no longer any real reason not to place one’s full faith in Him.

So it was an appropriate time at this point in the letter for the author to give a description of faith (11:1-3) along with examples of faithful saints (11:4-40).

In describing what faith is (not saving faith per se but only faith in general) the author used a parallelism in v. 1 saying, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Faith is “assurance” (literally, “to support; to stand under”) which is the same word in Heb.

1:3 translated “exact representation.”

Now the fact that Jesus is the “exact representation” of God means that those who believe in Him should have the utmost confidence in their future salvation.

Because Jesus is God, and because of the reality of what He accomplished on the cross as God, believers in Him have evidence (“conviction”) that what they don’t see currently is already a reality in the future, namely, their salvation.

True faith in Christ entails believing in him with fruitful works attesting to that faith.

This saving faith is not a blind optimism of wishing something to be true, and it’s not simply an intellectual understanding of history or doctrine.

It’s certainly not akin to superstition or to believing something to be true in spite of the evidence.

That would be credulity!

Saving faith is obedience to God, with a confident assurance of His sovereignty, that exists continually and without fail in the midst of any and every circumstance in spite of any negative consequences.

Three words describe faith in vv.

1-2: /assurance, conviction,/ and /gained approval/.

First, the /assurance/ of faith is support.

Faith is to a Christian what a root is to a tree: it stands under it and gives support and nourishment.

Second, the /conviction/ of faith in a person’s life produces fruit, for it stems from the evidence given that what God has promised He will perform.

Third, the /gained approval/ part of faith is literally “were testified to” in Greek.

This is used in reference to the long list of OT saints that the writer will use to illustrate faith in action in vv.

4-40.

Each of these faithful saints lived by faith and thus gained divine approval from God, and they currently surround all faithful believers even today as proof that faith works and lives on continually as a testimony.

So faith has a root (assurance), a fruit (conviction), and a shoot (gained approval).

*Food for Thought*

Faith enables Christians to understand what God has done, what He is doing, and what He will do.

It enables us to worship God, live in quiet assurance of our future salvation, and witness to others to who don’t have faith in Christ.

By faith we live beyond ourselves and unto God who is high above us and far beyond us – all in keeping with the evidence of God’s reality apart from wishful thinking.

But faith is not to be worshipped.

We don’t have faith in faith; we have faith in God, for it is the object of our faith that saves us, not simply faith in faith.

*Hebrews 11:4… *By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

*Commentary*

In speaking of Abel the writer references the account in Genesis 4:1-16.

Abel was a son of Adam and Eve, and he was a righteous man.

He had at least one brother named Cain.

Now without God’s written word Abel knew what God required for atonement for sins and for worship.

As a shepherd of the flocks he took from his own and offered it to God as a blood sacrifice for worship.

Cain, on the other hand, was a farmer, and he brought some of the produce from his land as an offering unto God.

The “offering” is a word for “gift” and “tribute.”

Now in Genesis 4 there was no law which mandated these men to bring various animals and~/or fruits of the ground.

God had apparently made it clear to them, however, to bring such for tribute.

Abel’s offering came from the “firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.”

Cain’s, however, is just called “an offering.”

Both men brought offerings to the Lord as an act of worship in spite of the fact that there was no known commandment to do so.

But God had “regard” for Abel’s offering and had no regard for Cain’s.

The Hebrew word for “regard” means “to gaze at; to look on with favor,” and God clearly gazed upon Abel’s better offering, for he had brought the /best/ of what he had without keeping it for himself.

Cain’s offering was inferior.

Cain’s offering, though an offering to God in and of itself, was unacceptable.

God had no regard for it and did not gaze upon it with delight.

Of course this angered Cain, and he eventually murdered Abel in a jealous rage.

His childlike and immature offering was akin to his childlike outburst of anger – a sure-fire indicator of any man’s spiritual immaturity and lack of faith.

Though some regard the narratives of Genesis 1-11 as mythological, Jesus didn’t.

He knew Abel not only as an historical figure but as a dead man who still preached!

Jesus called the blood of Abel “righteous blood” (Matt.

23:35), and John called Abel’s deeds “righteous” (1 John 3:12) in comparison to Cain’s sinful desires.

And God bore witness to Abel’s righteousness by accepting his gifts of worship and “testifying about his gifts” (v.

4).

The word “testify” means “witness; martyr,” and it is in an ongoing present tense in Greek signifying an eternal witness to Abel’s faith by God.

Abel’s sacrifice, even though he died soon thereafter, became a witness to the truth about what true faith is.

And even though he’s dead, he still speaks!

How does Abel still preach?