“The Pathway of Faith”
Hebrews 11:1-7
Faith is a common denominator. Every one alive daily expressed faith in something. No one can live a single day without exercising faith – faith in the physical world. When you awoke and went into the bathroom this morning you flipped a light switch and you had faith that it would work. When you get in your car you have faith that it will start. When you mail a letter you have faith the postal system will get it to the right address. When you go to the pharmacy you have faith that the pharmacist will give you the right drugs. Every time you walk into this building or any building you are expressing faith in the architect and the workmen.
Faith is also expressed in the spiritual realm. Each of us regardless of our backgrounds or educations, our social status or our talents can express faith. The difference between the faith we exercise in our daily routine and our religious faith is the object of that faith. Again everyone places their faith in something or someone. The Moslem puts his faith in the Koran and in Mohammed. The humanist put his faith in himself. The follower of religion, in his own good works. None of these can save, because in each case the object of faith is wrong. Your faith is only as good as the object in which you place your faith. The Bible insists that we personally put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Acts 4:12 says, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
This morning I want us to begin a study of the greatest teaching in the Bible on the subject of faith found in eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews. Today I want us to see two things; “What faith is and what faith does.”
I. WHAT FAITH IS (11:1-3)
To understand what faith is we must get past certain misconceptions about faith.
First, that faith is the ability to manipulate God. This is the approach of the “health and wealth” prosperity gospel. This approach only sees faith as having one aim – one fruit – a life of ease and blessing.
Second, that faith is adherence to a set of beliefs . You must believe the right doctrine. But Paul says in 2 Tim. 1:12, “ I know whom I have believed.” If your beliefs are not founded on the right person it does not matter what else you believe.
Third, that faith is a blind leap into the dark. To many unbelievers faith is the anti-thesis of science. To these saying “you just have to have faith” is the same as saying “just have to act contrary to everything you know and trust that it will all work out for the best.”
Finally, that faith is simply devotion to whatever god one happens to follow. It can be said, “He is a person of deep faith” about a follower of Mohammed or the Ayatollah or of a Christian. What matters is that they are sincere.
But unfortunately none of these is true faith. Hebrews chapter eleven portrays what real biblical faith looks like.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (2) For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.(3) By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”
True faith is confident obedience to God’s word in spite of circumstances or consequences. Faith is described in a two-fold way. It is the “substance of things hoped for,” and “the evidence of things not seen.”
First, the word translated “substance” (hupostasis) in the Greek, means literally ‘to stand under or to support.’ Faith is the foundation that gives the believer the confidence to stand. The verse could be translated “faith is the confidence of things hoped for.”
This is illustrated in the life of the missionary Hudson Taylor. “When Hudson Taylor, the famous missionary, first went to China, it was in a sailing vessel. Very close to the shore of cannibal islands the ship was caught in a calm., and it was slowly drifting toward the shore …and the savages were eagerly anticipating a feast.
The captain came to Mr. Taylor and sought him to pray for the help of God. ‘I will,’ said Taylor, ‘provided you set your sails to catch the breeze.’ The Captain declined to make himself a laughing stock by unfurling the sails in a dead calm. Taylor said, ‘I will not undertake to pray for the vessel unless you will prepare the sails.’ And it was done.
While engaged in prayer, there was a knock at the door of his stateroom. “Who is there?” The captains voice responded, ‘Are your still praying for wind?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Well,’ said the captain ‘you better stop praying for we have more wind than we can manage.’” [Paul Lee Tan. Encyclopedia of 7,700 Illustrations. (Rockville, Maryland: Assurance Publishers, 1979). # 1493]
Second, word describing what faith is, is translated “evidence” and means “conviction.” This inward conviction enables the believer to believe things not yet seen, that God perform what he has promised.
Another story of a captain of a ship illustrates this point. “The story is told by the captain of a ship on which George Mueller of Bristol was traveling. (Mueller was a man who had several children’s homes and depended on God alone to provide for them.) During his lifetime he received more than 1,000,000 pounds from the Lord without advertising – every penny came as an answer to prayer.
We had George Mueller of Bristol aboard, said the captain. ‘I had been on the bridge for twenty-four hours and never left it and George Mueller came to me and said, ‘Captain, I have come to tell you that you must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon.’ ‘It is impossible.’ I said. ‘Then very well, if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other way. I have never broken an engagement in fifty-seven years; let us go down into the chart room and pray.’
‘I looked at that man of God and thought to myself. What lunatic asylum can that man have come from, for I never heard of such a thing as this?’ ‘Mr. Mueller,’ I said, ‘do you know how dense this fog is?’ No he replied, ‘my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of my life.’ He knelt down and he prayed one of the simplest prayers. When he had finished I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray. ‘As you do not believe He will answer, and as I believe He has, there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.’
‘I looked at him and George Mueller said, ‘Captain, I have known the Lord for fifty-seven years and there has never been a single day when I have failed to get an audience with the King. Get up, Captain and open the door and you will find the fog has gone.’
‘I got up and the fog indeed was gone and on that Saturday afternoon George Mueller kept his promised engagement.” [Paul Lee Tan. Encyclopedia of 7,700 Illustrations. (Rockville, Maryland: Assurance Publishers, 1979). # 1494] That my friends is the conviction that only faith can bring.
II. WHAT FAITH DOES (11:4-7)
Faith Caused Abel to Worship God (v. 4)
(Gen. 4:1-10)
“By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.”
We do not know the details of Abel faith. We do not just how much had been revealed to Abel about how he was to worship. But his father Adam had walked with God. We do know that his faith caused him to worship God. This verse tells us, “Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice. ” He chose the choicest lamb as an offering and he brought it to the place of sacrifice.
I am no one’s final judge, but I find it extremely hard to believe that a person whose faith never compels them to come into the Lord’s house to worship is truly saved. True faith looks for an opportunity to worship!!
Faith Caused Enoch to Walk with God (vv. 5-6)
“By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. (6) But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Enoch is a fascinating biblical character. Enoch lived in one of the darkest period of the history of the world. Enoch lived just before God had to destroy the earth because of man’s evil, yet Enoch managed to keep himself pure. Enoch walked with God. Yet the Genesis record indicates that this was not always the case in Enoch’s life (Gen 5:21-24). For the first 65 years of his life, Enoch did not walk with God. Presumably he was a man of his times. But from the birth of his son, Methuselah, throughout the remaining 300 years of his life he “walked with God.” The Hebrew form of the verb means he walked closely and continually with God. The walk that Enoch experienced was on of deepening intimacy with God. He lived every day in the presence of the Lord and in constant communion with Him. His faith and his obedience, as well as his worship, were outstanding.
The hallmark of Enoch’s life was that “he pleased God.” What a wonderful description of a believer’s life. Can that be said of your life? Is God pleased with how you use your time? Is God pleased with what you read? Is God pleased with the words you speak? Is God pleased with your plans for the future? Have you even bothered to consult God with your plans?
Enoch walk of faith delivered him from the consequence of death. Will yours? This verse does not say that faith is simply one way to please God: it is the only way.
Faith Caused Noah to Work for God (v. 7)
“By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”
The story of Noah’s generation is the story of the degeneration of humanity into sin. (Gen 6:5-7). “The wickedness of man was great… every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually… The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” (Gen 6: 5, 11) It is also the story of the marvelous grace of God, in saving believing Noah and his family. Noah stood alone against the whole world. Jesus used the “days of Noah” as representative of the condition of the world before his own second coming (Matt. 24:37-39). And indicated that his followers should be prepared to face the same kind of scornful hostility that Noah met day after day.
Noah built an Ark because he believed God. Every tree he felled shouted, faith. Every board he sawed, shouted faith. Every swing of his hammer, shouted faith. Every seam to which he applied the pitch shouted, faith. Do your works reflect your faith? Faith will make us work. Only his steadfast belief in God kept Noah faithful for the 120 years cutting the trees and planning the construction of the Ark.
The ark was 450 feet long, 75 ft wide and 45 ft. high, that means that it was nearly one and a half times the length of a football field and more than four stories high, it could hardly be hide from the ridicule of the scoffers. Can you imagine the mockery and jeering that Noah must have faced on a daily basis as he built this huge ship? It was a hundred miles from the nearest ocean and far to big to move.
The majority of the people simply refused to believe Noah’s witness concerning the coming flood. Yet, he in faith went right on working and witnessing, building the ark and warning of the coming judgement. Then as a final act of faith, he and his family stepped into the ark and closed the door.
Noah was a man of faith and his life continually showed his faith. Does yours? Noah worshiped God faithfully as Abel had, and he walked with God faithfully as Enoch had and he worked for God faithfully.
Conclusion
“The three year old felt secure in his father’s arms as dad stood in the middle of the pool. But dad, for fun, began waling slowly toward the deep end, gently chanting, ‘Deeper and deeper and deeper,’ as the water rose higher and higher on the child. The lad’s face registered increasing degrees of panic, and held all the more tightly to his father, who of course, easily touched the bottom.
Had the little boy been able to analyze his situation, he’d have realized there was no reason for increased anxiety. The water’s depth in any part of the pool was over his head. Even in the shallowest part, had he not been held up, he would have drowned. His safety anywhere in the pool depended on Dad.
At various points in our lives, all of us feel we are getting out of our depth – problems abound, a job lost, someone dies. Our temptation is to panic, for we fell – we’ve lost control. Yet, as with the child in the pool, the truth is we’ve never been in control over the most valuable things of life. We’ve always been held up by the grace of God, our Father, that does not change. God is never out of His depth and therefore we’re as safe when we’re ‘going deeper’ as we have ever been.” [Craig Larson. Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1993) p. 214.]
Perhaps God wants to move you ‘deeper’ than ever before. It is faith that will give you confidence and conviction to worshiped God faithfully as Abel had, walked with God faithfully as Enoch and to work for God faithfully as Noah did.
