A
Description of Faith
(Hebrews
11:1-3)
1. In the book The Intrusive Word William
Willimon tells of an interesting conversation he had with a college
student...in the conversation Willimon asked the student if he had any
religious convictions...the student responded by saying, "I used
to."... Willimon asked "Could you explain what you mean
by 'I used to?'"...here's what the student said: "When I was a kid, I was taken to
church. But now ... I don't feel the
need for religion anymore. The way I see
it, religion is like training wheels on a kid's bike. It's fine, until you get your bearings, can
think for yourself, stand on your own two feet.
Then, you don't need religion anymore."
2. That student expressed very well a widely
held belief among people in our culture...and that belief is that faith,
religious faith, is for those who are too weak, too insecure to make it on
their own...if a person claims to be a person of faith that is, on its
own, prima facia evidence of some kind
of intellectual or emotional deficiency in that person's life...
3. And the reason many people think that way is
because of a complete lack of understanding of what genuine, biblical faith
is... most people outside the church
think of faith in terms of--
--believing
something you are not sure about...
--accepting
what you cannot explain...
--clinging
to what you hope against hope is true...
and I suspect that many inside the church
harbor those same misconceptions...
4. Today, in our journey through the book of
Hebrews, we have come to the greatest chapter about faith in the
Scripture...Hebrews 11 has been variously called "The Faith
Chapter" and "God's Roll Call of Faith" and "The
Hall of Fame of Faith"...the chapter begins with a wonderful
description of faith in vv.1-3 and then there is example after example of
people who lived by faith in vv.4-40... today we're going to focus on the
description of faith and in the weeks ahead we'll look in detail at some of the
examples of faith found in this great chapter....look at Hebrews
11:1-3...(text)
T.S.-Faith may well be the most used and least understood word in the
Christian vocabulary...I have two graduate degrees from a theological seminary
and have been teaching and preaching the Bible for more than 30 years, but I'm
not sure I can articulate a concise definition of faith which does justice the
word...my favorite definition comes from Dr. Milton Fergueson, my teacher of
religious philosophy...he was fond of saying that "faith is
commitment based on available evidence"...but even that definition
fails to capture the essence of the word...
In first part of Hebrews 11, the writer of Hebrews does not attempt to
define faith...instead he uses two beautiful phrases to describe what faith
is...want focus on those phrases this morning....
I. "Faith
is the assurance of things hoped for..."
1. To
understand that phrase we must begin at the end of it...what does the writer
mean by "things hoped for"?...does that phrase mean anything
we desire?...are people like former TV preacher Robert Tilton right when they
say that if you have faith you can have anything you want?...is faith the key
to gaining material prosperity or physical health or beauty or power?...the
answer to those questions is a resounding NO!...and people who teach that faith
is some mystical power that we can conjure up to manipulate God into giving us
whatever we desire are teaching heresy...
2. In
book of Hebrews the word "hope" used in very specific
sense..it's almost a synonym for salvation...so the statement "faith
is the assurance of things hoped for..." can be paraphrased "faith
is the assurance of our salvation..."
3. That
is, the thing which makes us confident, assured of the reality of our salvation
is our faith in God...one writer points out that faith on its most basic level
operates quite simply...God speaks, we hear His Word, we believe His Word and
act on it with the confidence God will do what He says He will do...
4. Message
of the Bible is that God has spoken...He has said--
--all have sinned and fallen
short of His ideal...I don't need to convince you of that...if take honest look
at your life will have no trouble seeing your sin problem...
--wages/result of sin is death
and separation from God... reason so many of us are unhappy, unfulfilled, empty
is because we are separated from our Creator...
--Jesus came to our world for
purpose of providing solution to our sin problem...He died on cross for our
sins...paid the price we deserved to pay...cancelled our indebtedness...
--by accepting His sacrifice
on our behalf we find forgiveness, salvation, and restored relationship with
God...
That's what God tells us in His
Word...and we believe/have faith that God is trustworthy...that He will do what
He has said He will do...as a result of that faith we are assured of our
salvation...
1. The
day began working on this study went to bank to make deposit...thought struck
me that the principle being taught in phrase "faith is assurance of things
hoped for" is at work in my relationship with the bank...gave the
teller a check and deposit slip...was given receipt in return...left with the
assurance the check had been deposited into my account and funds were available
for me to use...
2. Why
did I have that assurance?...had it because of my confidence in the bank and
those who run the bank to do what they said they would do...I trusted them...
3. And
just as I have the assurance of my checking account being credited with the
deposit because of my faith in the trustworthiness of the bank, I have the
assurance of my heavenly account being credited with salvation because of my
faith in the trustworthiness of God...
4. Faith
is the assurance of things hoped for...of salvation...
II. "Faith
is the conviction of things not seen..."
1. There
is a sense in which every person lives by faith...you've already made many
faith decisions today...for example--
--when you
flipped on the light switch, did so on faith that the light would come on...
--when took
drink water from faucet, did so on faith that it is safe to drink...
--when took
bite of food, did so on faith that it wasn't contaminated and wouldn't make you
sick...
--when
placed key in ignition of car and turned it over, did so on faith that the car
would start...
None of those things can we know for
sure merely by looking with our eyes...they are among the hundreds of things we
make faith assumptions about...everyday we operate by faith...the capacity to
do so is built into us...
2. What is true in the physical realm is also
true in the spiritual realm...faith is the conviction that there are great
realities of life that are unseen...that there is more to our existence than
our brief time in this world...that there is a spiritual side to life that is
just as real as the physical side...
3. Want you to hear how one writer described
this idea: "[Faith] is the
evidence, proof, or conviction which enables us to perceive unseen things just
as if they were seen, to sense spiritual realities just as truly as we sense
things by seeing and smelling, hearing and touching. Faith claims the future in the present. It gives things that are yet to come all the
certainty of things that already are.
Through faith, unseen things take on substance, and future things take
on present reality. Faith transcends the
time-space framework in which this present life has to be lived. It transports its holders to the high places
where eternity can be seen beyond all present boundaries and barriers."
[Valentine, LBC, p.52]
4. It's important to understand that faith does
not create or make real the unseen spiritual realities of our universe...just
the opposite is true...it's the existence of the unseen spiritual realities
which gives justification to our faith...faith is the evidence of our belief in
the reality of the spiritual dimension of life or in the words of Hebrews 11:1 "...faith
is the conviction of things not seen..."
1. Imagine a treasure chest filled with valuable
gems...the chest is locked with a padlock which can be opened by a key...where
is the value?...is it in the key or in the treasure?...obviously, it is not the
key which gives value to the contents of the chest...it is the contents of the
chest which gives value to the key...
2. Using that analogy, faith is like the key and
the spiritual dimension of life is like the treasure...it is the spiritual
dimension of life which gives value to our faith and we cling to faith because
of our conviction of the reality of the unseen spiritual world...
CONCLUSION
1. When son small used play give with him which
is good illustration of faith...know this sounds little weird, but he was
always such a daredevil...would place him on top of refrigerator back up a step
and he would jump off into my arms...his jumping was act of faith in
me...wasn't blind faith...could see me standing there...could see my
outstretched arms...knew I had never hurt him...so with good reason to believe
I would catch him, he would jump into my arms...
2. In effect what God asking us to do...standing
toward us with outstretched arms and He's saying, "Come to Me."...and
there's good reason to do so...He has left his fingerprints on the physical
universe in which we live...He has implanted His image in our lives...and in
moments of solitude and quietness, if you will be still and listen with our
spiritual ears will hear Him saying, "I made you, I love you, I know
what is best for you, trust your life to me."
3. May we learn to live by faith...the kind of
faith which is "the assurance of things hoped for" and "the
conviction of things not seen"...
