01 Aug Hebrews 18: What faith is

Hebrews 11:1-7

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ² For by it the people of old received their commendation. ³ By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. ⁴ By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. ⁵ By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. ⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. ⁷ By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Let me start with a question. Do you know what Oprah, Televangelist and John Piper have in common? All of them talk a lot about the importance of faith. But we know for sure that they are not talking about the same thing. So, what is faith? This is a very important question. The Bible describes the Christian life as the life of faith. So, we have to be sure we know what we mean we say the word faith. And this is tricky. Because the word faith is used in such a way that it means different things to different people. When Oprah says, “You have to have faith”, she is talking about the importance of having faith in ourselves. “Do you want to be the next Bill Gates? You must have faith! You must believe that you have what it takes to accomplish what you want to do. The biggest battle is to convince yourself that you can.” For Oprah, having faith is about believing in ourselves. When Televangelists say, “You have to have faith”, they are talking about the importance of believing that God will give us whatever we want.  They say, “What do you want in life? Ferrari? Have faith and ask in Jesus’ name. If you see one on the street, lay hand on it and say, “In Jesus’ name, I have faith that this Ferrari is mine. Amen.” And they sound very convincing. I tried it on Song Hye Kyo before. I laid my hand on her picture and prayed, “I have faith that Song Hye Kyo will be my girlfriend.” And she doesn’t even know that I exist until today. What’s the problem? They say, “Oh, it is because you do not have enough faith. If you have enough faith, then God will give you what you ask for. So, you need to work on your faith.” For Televangelists, having faith is the key to have whatever we want. For John Piper, “Faith is a spiritual apprehending or perceiving or tasting or sensing of the beauty and sweetness and preciousness and goodness of what God promises.” To which we say, “I am not sure what he meant, but I know it must be right because it is John Piper.” My point is the word faith oftentimes has lost its meaning today.

Hebrews 11 tells us clearly what faith is. But consider the context of the book of Hebrews first. Remember that the recipients of the letter of Hebrews were Jewish Christians who struggled to follow Jesus. They were persecuted by both the Government and their Jewish communities. They experienced rejection from people around them. And they began to ponder whether it was worth it to follow Jesus. And the author tells them, Hebrews 10:36-38 – For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” Can you see the purpose of faith in this context? It is not for them to believe in themselves nor to give them whatever they want. But for them to press on to God and persevere in their walk with God.

So, before we look at what faith is, I think it is helpful for us to know what faith is not. Faith is not believing in our hearts what we do not believe in our minds; Faith is not trusting something with no facts or someone with no information; Faith is not blind; Faith is not the enemy of reason; Faith is not positive wishful thinking; Faith is not a currency through which we get God to do things for us that he otherwise would not do. Despite how it is often used, Hebrews 11 is not written to tell us that God will give us whatever we ask if we have faith. That is a distortion of faith. Hebrews 11 is written to deepen people’s confidence in God’s promises that enable them to persevere. It is designed to encourage Christians to hold on tightly to Jesus and have endurance amid persecutions. So, what is faith? Let’s look at our passage.

I separate this sermon into three parts: The tension of faith; The content of faith; The example of faith.

The tension of faith

Hebrews 11:1-3 – Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Hebrews 11:1 is the famous definition of faith. But pay careful attention to it. It is very interesting. There is tension in this statement. Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. First, faith involves assurance and conviction. It means that faith is being certain in the here and now. But second, faith involves the thing hoped for and the things not seen. To hope in something means that it has yet to come to pass. If a single girl says that she hopes to be married, it means that she is not married. If she’s already married, she does not need to hope for it. Hope always looks to the future. And the things not seen means that they are invisible to our sight. Do you see the tension? In one sense, faith is being certain right now, and in another sense, it involves the thing that has yet to happen and is not seen. There is a gap. There is tension between what we believe and what we experience. The question is, how can we be certain of something that has yet to happen or things that we cannot see? And the answer is by faith. Faith makes real to us the things that we hoped for but are not yet part of our experiences. Faith gives us the internal assurance that what we hope for will surely come to pass. Faith fills the gap. But faith is not blind. Look at verse 3.

Hebrews 11:3 – By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Faith is not blind but faith takes God at his word. None of us was present when God created the world. But we know that God created the world by his word. We were not eyewitnesses to the creation but by faith, we know that the universe was created by the word of God. What does it mean for us? It means that we will always experience tension in our faith, the tension between our current situations and the word of God. Let me give you an example: salvation. The word of God tells us that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. It means that when put our faith in Jesus, we are forgiven of all our sins once for all, and we are clothed with Jesus’ perfect righteousness. So right now, God sees us as holy, righteous, and perfect in his sight. How many of you believe that? Here is a question. How we can be sure? Did we witness the death of Jesus? Do we see Jesus’s cloak of righteousness over us right now? If not, how can we be sure that Jesus’ death forgives us of all our sins? The answer is because the word of God tells us so. And when we take God at his word, we are made righteous in front of God. We are made holy, perfect and blameless by our faith in Jesus’ work.

But then the question is, are we fully righteous in our daily lives today? No, we are not. Today, we are still struggling with sin. So, there is a tension between what we know and what we experience. But we do not struggle without hope. We have the assurance that one day we will no longer struggle with sin, and we will be fully righteous. How? By faith. Faith makes real to us things that are otherwise unreal to our experiences, and it presents to our hearts things that cannot be seen with our eyes. Faith is confidence in those things that are not present but are said by God. There is always a tension in faith. And the author of Hebrews tells us in verse 2 that it is by faith that the people in the old covenant received a commendation from God. They were approved by God not because of their performances but because of their faith in God’s word. But their faith is not empty. It is not groundless. There is content to their faith. Let’s look at the next one.

The content of faith

Hebrews 11:6 – And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

This is very important. The author says that without faith, it is impossible to please God. He does not say that is difficult to please God without faith, but it is impossible to please God without faith. It means that it does not matter how good we are. We might give God all our life savings, we might be the kindest person in the city of Sydney, we might be the most generous person in our neighbourhood, we might be the best servant leader in our church, no obedience is pleasing to God without faith. It is not obedience alone but the obedience of faith that brings a smile to God’s face. But pay attention to what he says next. “For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” This is crucial. This is what differentiates the Christian faith from the modern faith. Modern faith tells us to believe in ourselves. Christian faith tells us to look away from ourselves and look to God. In other words, faith that pleases God is faith that has the right object.

Every faith must have an object. And the quality of faith is not determined by the strength of the subject of faith but the object of faith. Let me give you an example. One of my recurrent nightmares is one where I fell off a high cliff. Either I accidentally lose my footing and fell off or someone accidentally pushed me. Anyone ever had this free-fall nightmare and woke up with their feet in the air? Imagine that happens in real life. And as we fall, just beside us is a branch sticking out of the very edge of the cliff. It is our only hope, and it is more than strong enough to support our weight. How can it save us? If our mind is filled with intellectual certainty that the branch can support us, but we don’t reach out and grab it, we will be in heaven or heaven’s next door in a matter of seconds. But if our mind is instead filled with uncertainty that the branch can hold us, but we reach out and grab it anyway, we will be saved. Why? Because it is not how much faith we have in the branch that saves us. It is the branch that saves us. I can have faith that I will be the best soccer player in the world. But that faith is worthless because the object of my faith is useless. I can’t even run for one km without taking a break. Do you see? It is not the subject of faith but the object of faith that makes all the difference. And to strengthen our faith what we need is to know the object of our faith better. What we need to strengthen our faith is to believe God rightly.

So, what do we need to believe about God? Two things. First, we need to believe that God can. The author says that we must believe that God exists. One day, Moses was shepherding his flock when he encountered the burning bush. And the burning bush was none other than the manifested presence of God. And in this encounter, God revealed his name for the very first time in the Bible. Moses asked God for his name. And God replied, “I AM WHO I AM.” What does it mean? The meaning behind the name “I AM” is that God is self-existent. He does not need anyone or anything else besides himself. He is cool on his own. To be self-existent also mean that he is self-sufficient. He is the inexhaustible fountain that will never run dry. It also means that he is eternal and unchangeable. There was not a time where God was not. There will not be a time where God ceases to be. Yesterday, today and forever, God’s name is still “I AM.” He was God, he is God, and he will forever be God. Nothing can change him, and nothing can move him. To believe that God exists is to believe in the God who is “I AM WHO I AM.” Everything exists because of him. He is the sun by which everything orbits. It means that God has the ultimate authority and say in all things. He is absolutely sovereign and he is not limited by anything.

At this point, some might argue, “But I don’t believe that God exists. I believe in the big bang theory.” Okay, but let’s think a little bit more. According to the law of physics, for every effect, there must be a cause. We know this law is true for everything that happens around us. Even when we asked a girl, “What is wrong with you?”, and she replied, “Nothing”, guys, don’t be fooled. Everything must have a cause. There is always something behind her nothing. If there is a cause for every effect, there must be an uncaused cause that begins the cause in the first place. And for Christians, that uncaused cause is God. Listen. It takes more faith to believe that the universe with its intricate complexities is the result of random molecules that explodes without a cause than to believe that there is a Creator who creates everything out of nothing. It takes more faith to be an atheist than to believe in God. Faith is rational. It requires thinking. Faith is more than thinking but not less than thinking.

Genesis tells us that God created the universe by his word. Genesis 1 is filled with the rhythm of God said and it happened. Look at how powerful God’s word is. Whenever we try to create something, we need to have the right ingredients. Without the right ingredients, we won’t be able to create what we desire. We cannot create something out of nothing. It is impossible. But that’s not how God works. The Bible tells us that the earth was formless and empty. There were no right ingredients for God to create. The good news is that God doesn’t need to have the right ingredients for him to accomplish what he desires. He only needs to say it and it happens. God is not limited in his power. He is the only one with the power to create something out of nothing. So, God said let there be light, and light obeyed God’s word and showed up out of nowhere. God said let there be animals, and lions, bears, cats, dogs, and even cockroaches listened to his words and appeared out of nowhere. Whatever God said, it happened. No sweat or hard work. And now when looking at the beauty of creation, we see the fingerprints of God all over it by faith. This is what it means to believe that God exists. God can.

Second, we need to believe that God will. The author says that we must believe that God rewards those who seek him. It means that we do not come to God primarily to give to him but to receive from him. Think about it. If God exists and he is the Creator of everything, what makes us think that there is something we can do for God? God owns everything. He owns the Universe. He owns the solar system. He owns the sun, the moon and the earth. He owns the land on which we walk. He owns our lives. He owns our talents. He owns the oxygen that we breathe. This is who God is. For God to rewards those who seek him means that God does not need us, but we are the ones who need him. There is an invitation from God for us to come and receive from him. And we must get this right. Because I think many of us are exhausted in our walk with God because we are putting on ourselves an impossible weight that is not ours to carry. We think that God needs our help. We think of what we do for God as a way of helping God get things done. But the God whose name is “I AM WHO I AM” does not need any help. God is not seeking those who want to help him. God is seeking those who need his help. And this is something radical about Christianity. Every other religion teaches that we must do something for God to make God smile. But Christianity teaches that God is a happy God who finds delight in rewarding those who seek him. The God of Christianity has no need and cannot be served. But the God of Christianity loves to reward those who come to him. The gospel is not “God needs help” but “God loves to help.” We don’t come to God to give to him. We come to God to receive from him.

I love the way John Piper describes it. He says that God is like a mountain spring. How do you glorify the worth of a mountain spring? We do not glorify a mountain spring by trying to conserve the water and keep it full. No, a mountain spring is self-replenishing. We glorify the worth of a mountain spring by getting down on our hands and knees and drink to our heart satisfaction. My friends, this makes a big difference. So, our heart’s primary posture when we come to God is not giving but receiving. That means we come hungry. We come thirsty. We come desperate. We come expecting. God is honoured not by us giving to him but by us receiving from him. This is the kind of faith that pleases God. The kind of faith that says “God, I am weak, but you are strong. I am small but you are big. I am not enough but you are sufficient. I cannot but you can. I have a problem, you have the answer. I have a need, you have the supply.” God smiles at us when the way we relate to him show that he can and he will.

But listen carefully. Faith is not positive nor wishful thinking. Faith is based on the truth of God’s word. Faith is to evaluate the present situation based on God’s word. So, let’s put it in our present situation. We might be in need right now. We might lose our job. We might not know how we are going to survive tomorrow. We might feel restless and anxious. But then we read God’s word in Philippians 4:19 – And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. We might not see his provision right now. There is a tension between God’s word and our present situation. But by faith, we know that God exists. We know that God created everything out of nothing. God can. By faith, we believe that God rewards those who seek him and trust him. God will. Faith is the conviction that God can, and God will give us what we need to survive tomorrow because his word said so. Faith is the bridge between God’s word and our present situation. We might not know how God is going to deal with it but by faith we know God can and God will act on those who take him at his word. So, we trust God and his word. Faith does not look to self and present condition, but faith looks to who God is. That’s faith.

The example of faith

Hebrews 11:4-5 – By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.

We must get this right. It is one thing to say we believe that God can and God will, it is another to put our lives on the line and believe that God can and God will deliver on his word. To say that we believe God can and God will but do nothing is not faith. Faith is not simply an intellectual agreement. The author of Hebrews tells us that faith in God cannot remain idle. Faith always moves. And to make his case, the author lists out names of heroes of faith in the old covenant. The point that the author makes is that by faith, we are also able to accomplish God’s will for our lives. Tonight, we are going to look at three examples of heroes of faith.

First, look at the story of Abel. Abel was the son of Adam and Eve. Abel had an older brother named Cain. One day, they offered sacrifices to worship God. Abel offered the firstborn of his flock and Cain offered fruits from his harvest. And God accepted Abel’s offering, but God rejected Cain’s offering. Because of it, Cain was very upset, and he killed Abel. Here is the question. Why did God accept Abel’s offering and not Cain’s offering? Why was Abel’s offering a more acceptable sacrifice? There is a debate on this question. Some theologians said because Abel offered his flock and therefore blood was offered to God. While Cain only offered his fruit and there was no blood in the sacrifice. Other theologians said Abel’s sacrifice was more acceptable to God because he offered his firstborn, while Cain only offered his harvest but not his first. So, which one is right? How many say it is because of blood? How many say it is because of first? My answer is, neither. Because I do not think that it is about what was being sacrificed but how the sacrifices were offered. Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain because Abel offered it by faith. It is not about the what but the heart. Abel believed that God exists and God rewards those who seek him. And God accepted his offering because of it.

And that is why though Abel died thousands of years ago, he still speaks today. He tells us that the only sacrifice that is acceptable to God is one that is offered by faith. What brings a smile to God’s face is when we draw near to him by faith. It is not about what we do for God. It is about our hearts. Are we drawing near to God based on our faith in Jesus and his perfect works? Or are we still relying on our own works? Are we going to trust God and his word? Or are we going to trust our feelings? Who are we going to believe? Because the enemy is lying to us. The enemy tells us that we are not worthy to come to God. But God says that we have open access to God’s presence because of Jesus. The enemy wants us to focus on ourselves over God’s word. God wants us to focus on his word over ourselves. The enemy knows that if he can get us to focus on ourselves, he wins. We will not draw near to God in faith, and we will not please God. But who are we going to believe? Abel tells us to get rid of our balancing scale. We can never be good enough in front of God by our own works. But God has made a way for us to draw near to him by faith. So, we draw near to God by faith.

Second, look at the story of Enoch. The story of Enoch always fascinates me. Enoch was the great-grandson of Adam and Eve. And Genesis tells us that Enoch was not always a believer. For the first 65 years of his life, he did not walk with God. But then at the age of 65, his son, Methuselah was born. And something happened to Enoch. We do not know what happened. Maybe it was the stress of staying up to take care of his newborn son, or maybe it was the joy of witnessing how life was formed, we do not know. But we do know that after Methuselah was born, Enoch began to walk with God. And he walked with God consistently for the next 300 years. And there was nothing extraordinary recorded about Enoch’s life. He did not perform anything noteworthy. He was simply an ordinary man who walked with God consistently. But he had the most remarkable end to his life. I love it. Genesis 5:24 – Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. What a way to exit the stage. The author of Hebrews tells us that Enoch never died. Enoch was not found because God had taken him. I love the way Ray Stedman puts it. “It was like he went for a walk with God, and when they finished their walk, God was like, “Hey, we’re close to my house. Why don’t we just go there?” And just like that, Enoch disappeared from this world.

It tells us that by faith, we can walk with God. The phrase “walking with God” is used in the book of Genesis to describe a real, intimate relationship with God. This means that faith is more than an intellectual affirmation; faith is a personal relationship with God. By faith, we can have a personal relationship with God. Think about it. When we walk with someone, we are in close proximity to that person. It means we are not to get ahead of God or lay behind but stay close. To walk with God means we move when God moves, and we stop when God stops. We stay in close proximity to God. But do you know why we have a hard time staying close to God? It is because we have a hard time believing that God wants to walk with us, that he likes us and enjoys us. Because we know who we are. We know that we fail him consistently. And we think that God must be tired of us by now. We think that God is simply stuck with us. Imagine marrying someone who does not like you. What can be more burdensome than walking the journey of life with that person? That’s how we often think of our relationship with God. But by faith, we believe that God rewards those who seek him. By faith, we believe that God will never reject us when we draw near to him. By faith, we believe that God wants to lead and guide us every step of the way. Faith moves us to have a personal relationship with God.

Third, look at the story of Noah. Hebrews 11:7 – By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. A few months ago, one of the Sunday school teachers asked me a question that was asked by one of the kids. The question was, “How come the animals in the boat were not eating each other?” And I answered, “Ask Noah when we meet him in heaven.” This is one of the most famous Sunday school stories. I don’t understand why though. Noah’s story is one of the most horrific stories in the whole Bible where God literally killed everyone on earth except those who were in the ark. What happened was everyone on earth was getting more and more evil, to the point that God regretted that he created them. So, God decided to blot out everyone from the earth by sending a flood. But God chose to save Noah and his family. God commanded Noah to build an ark and fill the ark with animals. Everyone in the ark was saved from the flood. Imagine the coronavirus wiped out the entire population on planet earth except those who are members of RSI. That’s the story of Noah. And the moral of the story is, “Kids, you better obey your parents and teachers, or else God will kill you.”

And when we talked about Noah, we often talked about his radical obedience to God. God told him to build a gigantic ark that took him almost a hundred years to build, in the middle of dry land. Think how absurd that is. At the time of Noah, it was very likely that people had no concept of flood nor ark. And they would have ridiculed Noah. But by faith, Noah obeyed God and he condemned the world through his obedience. What does it mean? It means that whenever we lived in obedience to God’s word, we exposed the world to its unrighteousness. It is like shining a light in a dark place. The light makes visible what was invisible in the dark. In the same way, our faith in God should lead us to obey his word. And our obedience to God looks absurd to the world. When we obey God’s command to be generous with our money, to be committed to church every Sunday, to use our time and energy to help others, to save sex for marriage, the world thinks what we are doing is absurd. But our obedience to the word of God witnesses to the world of their rebellion against God. But the question is, why did Noah obey God? Was it because he was less wicked than others? Was it because he was more righteous? The answer is no. This is what we missed a lot of times. Yes, Noah obeyed God. But what enabled Noah to obey God was faith. Faith in what? Faith that God exists and he rewards those who seek him.

And this is true not only of Noah but all the heroes of faith that are listed in Hebrews 11. Their names are on the list not because they were much better than others. The only thing that made them different from others was their faith. They believed that God can and God will. And by faith, they received commendation from God and made a difference in the world. It is by faith that these heroes lived the way they did. A lot of times, we think that these heroes of faith were extraordinary people. But they were not. These heroes of faith were not perfect. They were ordinary sinful people like you and me. The true hero of this list of heroes is God who enabled them to accomplish God’s will in God’s strength when they drew near to God by faith. And the encouragement is that if we live by faith, it does not matter who we are, it does not matter what we have done, we can have God’s commendation and make a difference for God. What matters is not our qualification but our faith. And the strength of faith is not in the subject of faith but the object of faith. Faith believes that God exists, and he rewards those who seek him.

Let me close with this. How can we be sure that God exists, and he rewards those who seek him? The answer is not to look at Abel, Enoch and Noah. Abel, Enoch and Noah are great examples. But they are simply a signpost to someone greater. We need to see what they are pointing at. Abel died and by his death, he still speaks to us that God only accepts sacrifice that is offered by faith. Jesus died and by his death, he speaks to us that he has offered the perfect sacrifice once for all and by faith we can be accepted before God. Enoch walked with God, and he was no more because God took him. Jesus walked with God but he was abandoned by God at the cross because of our sins. So that by faith we can have the assurance that God will walk with us for eternity. Noah obeyed God and he condemned the world through his obedience. Jesus obeyed God but he was condemned so that by faith we might be saved through his perfect obedience. My friends, Jesus is the object of our faith. The strength of our faith is not determined by how strong we are but by how strong Jesus is. It is by our faith in Jesus that we can be accepted by God, walk with God, and obey God. Listen. I do not know what kind of challenges you have in front of you right now. I do not know what kind of faith tension you are experiencing right now. You might face faith tension in your marriage, family, health, work, loneliness, business etc. Living by faith is scary. But we know in whom we put our faith. We put our faith in the One who gave everything for us. No matter what life has in store for us, we are secured in Jesus’ hand. God can and God will. The cross of Jesus Christ is the proof. So let us walk by faith and not by sight. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Let’s pray.

Discussion questions:

1. What is the purpose of “faith” in the context of Hebrews 11? How is it different from how people often use the word faith?
2. “There is always a tension in faith.” Explain the implications of this truth.
3. What is the difference between obedience and obedience of faith? Give examples.
4. Faith believes that God can and God will. Why is it important for us to believe both and not one over the other?
5. Look at the story of Abel, Enoch and Noah. Which example of faith stuck out the most to you and why?
6. In your own words, what is faith?