Of my mouth and the meditations of my heart, we accept them all in thy sight, O Lord. With the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart, we accept them all in thy sight, O Lord.
O Lord, my God, O Lord, my strength, assured by God and redeemed, O Lord, my God, O Lord, my strength, O Lord, my Redeemer, O Lord, my Redeemer, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, O Lord, my God, my strength, I actually had a hard time coming up with an accurate title for the message today. I have entitled it, what is biblical faith? I started out saying, what is faith? And I thought, well, that's not quite specific enough.
And I went through several other possibilities. And so I've landed on this one. This is what we're talking about today from Hebrews chapter 11. What is biblical faith? Now, most people know that faith is an important component of Christianity. But not all, and I would probably say not many, have a fully correct understanding of what biblical faith truly is. Something faith is almost a magical power. Something like making a wish on Aladdin's lamp. If you want something and desire it hard enough, if you have enough faith, if you believe hard enough, you've got to squeeze, squeeze, squeeze a lot of faith out of your heart.
And if you'll do that sufficiently enough, then you're going to have whatever it is that you desire. That is not biblical faith. Hebrews will help us understand what biblical faith truly is. And so we start in a journey actually in faith in Hebrews chapter 11, the great faith chapter of God's word. There are certain chapters that have acquired special titles because they are so critically important in the expansion of concepts that are taught to us in the word of God. For example, the resurrection chapter in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 15.
I'm sure you know that. The chapter that most explains the new birth in the Bible is John chapter 3, and on we could go. And the chapter that says the most about faith in the Bible is this one before us in Hebrews chapter 11. And so we're going to start a journey in chapter 11 today, and I'm sure it's going to take us a good number of weeks before we come to the conclusion of it.
But I'm confident that it will be a journey that is well worth our while. So let us listen, let us learn, let us grow. We're taking verses 1, 2, and 3 for today. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By 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 are visible.
A simple outline. Number 1, what faith is, verse 1. Number 2, what faith does, verse 2. And number 3, what faith reveals, verse 3. What faith is. Now faith is. That's the way the chapter begins.
That's the way this verse begins. This verse is going to tell us what faith is. Now faith is. And so we have a key concept of the Christian faith, and it's interesting that I've already used the word faith in two different ways. The way that is used in Hebrews chapter 11 is the exercise of believing.
It's what we do in response to the word of God. We exercise faith. But we also talk about faith as the body of truth that we believe, when we talk about the Christian faith.
And so both of these concepts are found in the Bible, but it is that first one that we are looking at today. And so we are now being told what faith is after we have been pointed in the direction of the importance of faith from time to time throughout this book of Hebrews that we've been sojourning in for about a year and a half, I think, now. The term faith is found five times in Hebrews chapters 1 through 10, and then 24 times in chapter 11.
Five times in 10 chapters, 24 times in one chapter. This indeed is the chapter of faith, sometimes called the roll call of faith because of all of the names of the people who believed God and whose names are recorded in chapter 11. Heroes of faith, sometimes we label this chapter and so forth. But this first word in our text, now, causes us to look back at least a little bit into the previous context. Now, faith is.
And why that now? Well, it surely takes us back to the statement in verse 38 of chapter 10. Now the just shall live by faith.
Well, that's important. That's a quotation you remember from Habakkuk chapter 2. The just shall live by faith.
We agree. But what is faith? Now, faith is. This helps explain what we are talking about when we say the just shall live by faith. But it might be helpful even to make a quick journey through the five times that the word faith is used in this book before we come to chapter 11.
Chapter 4, verse 2. We are told, for indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them, but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. This talks about the tragedy of the absence of faith. People who heard the word of God and it did them no good. Oh, may that not be me.
May that not be you. The absence of faith is a serious matter. Chapter 6, verse 1. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and a faith toward God. This tells us that faith is at the very foundation of the Christian religion and at the very foundation of salvation. Repentance and faith are in the foundation, but we need to go on and build a structure beyond the foundation, which is much more full, but we start with faith.
We have to. Chapter 6, verse 12. That you did not become sluggish or that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Faith obtains God's promises.
And then the one we looked at a moment ago in chapter 10, verse 22. Yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith. Faith is the way to true life.
The just shall live by faith. And what is faith? Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is the apprehension of spiritual realities, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith, therefore, reveals to us realities yet future, things hoped for, and the realities of things present that are not seen. That's what faith does. It reveals these things to us.
It enables the apprehension of spiritual realities. Now a question that I have often wrestled with in looking at Hebrews 11.1 is the question, is this statement a definition of faith or a description of faith? And I came to the conclusion many years ago that it probably would best be categorized as a description of faith more than a definition. But I found, to my surprise, that in a number of the commentaries that I consulted in preparing for this sermon this week, that learned man, much more learned than I, labeled it a definition and others labeled it, no, not a definition, but a description. So obviously there is not unanimous agreement on this.
But that caused me to think rather deeply about that very question. What is this, a definition or a description? And I came to the conclusion that it is probably both. It is a description that drives us to a proper and appropriate definition. It causes us to define this word faith in a true way, a biblical way. Now the definition that I have used for decades, I don't know where I first heard it, but I do know that I have proclaimed it many times, is that faith is believing the revelation of God and acting upon it. Faith is believing the revelation of God, whatever God has revealed, and of course the things we know most truly that God has revealed are found in the Bible. But faith is believing the revelation of God and acting according to that revelation. That has been my definition for years. I looked in Webster to see what he said about faith.
And actually the Webster definition had a lot of different, you know, 1, 2, 3, 1A, 2B, 3C and so forth, a lot of elements to it. But I picked out what is probably the most commonly understood concept of faith out of the various ones that were there, and that was this. Webster said faith is a firm belief in something for which there is no proof. And I think that would be a rather common prevailing idea of faith in the world in which we live. A firm belief in something of which there is no proof.
And to some extent I suppose that description is accurate and yet there's so much more to it than that. There is not, what shall we say, scientific proof, but there is definitely proof for the things that we are called upon to believe. But we'll never really get the proof until we first believe, right? God says believe and I will show you. The world says show me and then I'll believe. You'll go to hell like that. If you've got to be shown before you'll believe, you never will believe because the natural man, unconverted man, does not understand the things of the Spirit of God.
Neither can he know them because they are spiritually understood. And so you will go to the hell that you don't believe in because it has been proved to you by holding on to that idea, I've got to believe, I've got to be shown, show me the proof before I'll believe. But God says believe me and then I'll show you.
And the proof will come, the evidence will be very clear. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But again back to this question, is verse 1 more a definition or a description?
And I have decided it is both. And I tried to try out that concept on an entirely unrelated word. Take the word beauty. Is that better understood by a definition or by a description? Here's a Webster definition of beauty. The quality that gives pleasure to the senses.
We don't have any difficulty with that. Beauty is the quality that gives pleasure to the senses. But what if I said beauty? Is the sun descending over a snow-capped mountain painting a blue sky with rose-colored hues? Wouldn't that give you a fuller idea of what beauty is? Just one illustration of beauty, but oh my, such a more rich and full understanding of what beauty is. And I think that's what we have regarding faith in Hebrews 11.1.
So what do we have? Faith is the substance, is my Bible's translation. But that word would probably be better translated confidence or assurance. I won't take the time to show you why that's a better translation, but I'll postulate that for you and hope you can apply that to this situation. So instead of substance, let's say confidence, and instead of evidence, the evidence of things not seen, a better translation would probably be conviction.
So run that through your mind. Faith is the confidence in things hoped for or confidence about things hoped for. The conviction of things not seen. Now that makes it a little more clear, at least in my mind. And then to add to this, I just pulled out of a number of commentaries, helpful statements, descriptions, definitions of faith, and I didn't put them all down.
That would take too long, but let me just give you a few. One commentary said, faith is being certain about unseen hopes and realities. Faith is being certain about unseen hopes and realities. Another commentary said, faith is the organ which enables us to see the invisible order.
Faith is the eye of the soul. We understand that the things we see in this world around us are perceived because we have an organ called the eye that is able to see them. And of course we have other senses that are also able to perceive material things in the world around us. And it is through these organs that God has given us that we obtain understanding of the material universe in which we live. But if there is, as we all believe, something beyond the material, something beyond the physical, something beyond this universe, there is a whole spiritual dimension starting with God and many other things as well. And if there is such a thing, how do we know about that? We can't learn about that with our eyes or nose or fingers.
We have to have something else to enable us to receive information about that. And indeed what enables us to do that is faith. Faith is the eye of the soul. Faith is the organ which enables us to see the invisible order. Another commentator said, faith is being sure of what we hope for, certain of what we do not see. And another, faith is putting undivided confidence in God. And yet another, faith is living in a hope that is so real it gives absolute assurance. Faith is living, I think this one really gets to it, because as this goes on in this list of the heroes of faith, all of these people had faith and it affected completely the way they lived.
That's the point. By faith, what? Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. By faith, Noah, being divinely warned of things yet not seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark and on and on and on it goes.
By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out. So faith is living in a hope that is so real it gives absolute assurance. We are living, not just a one-time exercise, but we are living in a hope that gives absolute assurance. John Brown said this helpfully, I thought, faith in past events is believing the testimony about them. Faith in future events is believing the promises about them.
Right? Faith in past events is believing the testimony about them. Why do we believe in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ? Two thousand years old, history. Why do we believe that?
Because there is so much testimony about it and we believe the testimony. But what about the second coming of Christ? That's future.
That's a future hope. Why do we believe that? Well, we believe that because we believe the promises which God has given about that. Faith in past events is believing the testimony about them. Faith in future events is believing the promises about them.
And then an extended, and this will be my last quotation, an extended one, however, from F.F. Bruce, one of my favorite commentators, and he said, Many Old Testament men and women rested upon the promises of God as yet unfulfilled and lived as if they had already been fulfilled. Their faith consisted in taking God at his word and directing their lives accordingly. Thank you, Mr. Bruce. That's been my definition of faith for decades.
Did you hear that? Faith consisted in taking God at his word and directing their lives accordingly. That's pretty close to faith is believing the revelation of God and acting accordingly.
Thank you, Mr. Bruce. He goes on, though. Things yet future were present to faith, and things outwardly unseen were visible to the inward eye. So verse one tells us what faith is. That's it.
Did you get it? We move on. Number two, what faith does. Verse two. For by it, that is faith, the elders obtained a good testimony. This tells us what faith does, first of all, for the Old Testament saints, called in my translation elders, called in the New American Standard Bible men of old, called in another translation, I forget which one, the ancients and so forth. But it's talking about Old Testament saints. In fact, it's talking about these ones who are listed in the remainder of the chapter, though it's including more than are listed in the remainder of the chapter because this chapter isn't long enough to include the name of every Old Testament saint who exercised true believing faith in God. But what did faith do?
Biblical faith for Old Testament saints. It did two things. It gained men's approval, and that's why we read Hebrews chapter 11, and we admire these people.
But that's really secondary. What it did that is most important is it gained the approval of God. For by it, the elders obtained a good testimony. Not only we say, good job. Thank you, Enoch. Thank you, Noah. Thank you, Abraham.
Thank you, Moses, for your life of faith and for this record of your faith that we can learn from. We thank you for that. We honor that.
We admire that. But more than that, by it the elders obtained a good testimony, not only from us and all those who believe the word of God, but more importantly, it gained the approval of God Almighty. Isn't that the point, the object, the goal of every religion to gain the approval of God?
It is just that religions that are not guided by the word that God has given come up with their own imagination of how that is done. If you will do these things, you will gain the approval of God. Okay, I'll do those things. If you will believe these things, you'll gain the approval of God. Well, where did those things come from that you're telling me to believe?
Don't ask too many questions. Just believe them. But every religion is trying to tell us how we can gain the approval of God, but only the Christian religion, when it is true to the Bible, which is God's revelation, can truly tell us how to gain the approval of God. And the elders, the ancients, the Old Testament saints gained the approval of God by how?
By what? By their works? No, by their faith, but by a faith which was so living and so real that it produced all kinds of obedient works because faith that doesn't do that isn't true biblical faith. Faith that doesn't do that is a dead faith, not a living faith, but it's the faith that pleases God.
And what grows out of that faith obviously pleases God because it is sourced in faith, but it is the faith, believing God, that gains God's approval. That's what it did for these Old Testament saints. And that's what it will do for the Hebrews to whom this epistle is written, we think probably written to Jewish Christians in Rome. And this is what it did for them.
What did it do for them? It enables them to gain approval with God. And it is a warning that if you turn away from Christ, and that's the point of the book, don't turn back, you've started down this road of trusting Christ, you're facing persecution because of it, you're tempted to turn back to avoid the persecution, but realize if you turn back, you are not turning back to your Old Testament elders, the ancients, the forefathers who exercised faith, you're actually turning away from them.
Don't you see? You think that since the religion that was handed down to you from your forefathers based upon the Mosaic Covenant and other portions of the Old Testament Scriptures, you think, well, that got our forefathers in a right relationship with God and it gave them eternal life. So why do I have to go to this new covenant and suffer this persecution for it? I'll just turn back to the covenant that our forefathers were following and it got them into a right relationship with God.
Sorry, too late for that. Now that Jesus has come, the one of whom all of these Old Testament promises spoke, kept pointing to him, to him, to him, to them. He was one of the things hoped for and they believed it because God said it. They believed that one would come who would secure the salvation of his people and they looked for him to come. And now he's come and now that he's come, you can't reject him.
If you do, what are you doing? You're rejecting the word of God, the revelation of God. That's not faith.
If you admire the lives and the results of the lives and the living faith of your elders, then you must do what they did. You've got more revelation than they did. They believed the revelation they had.
They didn't reject any of that. You must believe the revelation that you have. God has given you more. Don't turn away from it.
Embrace it. And when you do that, you will be in the same line of approved people that the heroes of Hebrews 11 are in. If you don't do that, you are turning away from your forefathers.
Please understand that. And so what faith does for the Hebrews is the same thing it did for their forefathers. It gains the approval of God. But if they turn back, they forfeit the approval of God and they forfeit God's salvation. Which brings us then to the question, what does faith do for us?
Well, exactly the same thing. For us, it gains approval with God. It obtains God's favor. It obtains God's salvation. It obtains God's mercy. It gains approval from God.
And this is the only way to do it. Verse 6 says, without faith, it is impossible to please Him. You think you're going to substitute religious ritual in the place of faith and God will be pleased? Without faith, it's impossible to please Him. You think you're going to substitute being a good neighbor in the place of faith and God will be pleased with that? You think you're going to substitute this, substitute that and God will be pleased? No, He's only pleased with one thing. Without faith, it's impossible to please Him. If you will not believe what He said, you cannot please Him. please see him but if you will believe what he said then you will receive his approval because faith gains approval from God and that brings us then to the third thing in verse 3 what faith reveals by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that the things which are seen material things were not made of things which are visible what does faith reveal it reveals what we might call unknowable realities unknowable by any other way except by faith by faith we understand by faith we understand we understand what we cannot and could not understand apart from faith by faith we understand this is an activity of the mind isn't it some people view faith as something separate from the mind what kind of religion are you gonna have that old stuffy theological seminary studious religion no I prefer faith instead of all that studious stuff you missed it you missed it faith is not something other than understanding of the mind faith begins with an understanding of the mind and cannot be biblical faith until it understands something by the mind that God has given to us by faith we understand using our minds by faith we understand by faith we are able to understand or apprehend unknown realities now there must be something to understand if we're going to understand it by faith so this rules out imaginary things faith won't help us to understand something that is not true that is not real but faith enables us to understand realities that are beyond the dimension of the physical and of the five senses though it does take the use of our senses to understand to get the but the revelation of God that we then believe by faith we have to hear it or see it on the page but we have to give our minds to it but then beyond that we've got to give our souls to it we've got to give faith to what God has enabled us to understand so it is an apprehension of unknown realities it is not an apprehension of what I hope is true not what I have imagined to be true not something that has been revealed by men and there and I believe it all that falls short of biblical faith what is biblical faith reveal it reveals the mind of God it reveals the truth of God the God the truth of God that God wants us to know it reveals to us that unseen reality beyond the dimensions of time and space but in that spiritual world it enables us to understand something about that dimension that is true it is real but it is only understood by believing the Word of God and the example that he gives us of this and I think I take it as an example is the creation of the universe by faith believing the revelation of God we understand an exercise of the mind that the world's not just the world singular but the world's the whole universe were framed by the Word of God so that the things which are seen in the world around us that beautiful sunset over that distant snow-capped mountain creating such beauty in the western sky but the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible they were made of things invisible how would we know that how could we know that only if the God who did it tells us and we believe him it's as simple as that and so when it comes to the origin of the universe no one except God was present to observe the universe coming into being it was created by God he spoke it into existence he spoke Rhema a word and utterance he spoke out of nothing no pre-existing material how would we know that unless God told us it was so you see no one was present to observe it which puts it frankly and emphatically out side the realm of science thank you because what is science science is examining what can be seen what can be observed or what has been seen what has been observed it's an examination of things which are seen and which are which are tested and which are studied but things that are not seen such as the creation of the world and nobody was there except the God who did it how can science how can anything that man does come up with an accurate picture of how this happened unless he's willing to humble himself and accept the word of God by faith one of the most useful courses I took in college really helped me with this whole issue of evolution in the Bible was a course entitled the philosophy of science it was taught by a team of three professors it was a it was a power pack course sometimes all three of them would be in the classroom sometimes one or the other but they were all scientists and they all had a wonderful perspective to bring on this subject but the philosophy of science and basically what they showed was that when science steps outside the realm of examination of material things it's it has become a philosophy it is no longer science it wants us to think that because it is scientific that it is able to make pronouncements upon things outside its realm but it can't and it it cannot do so with any certainty it cannot it's a humanly impossible the only way we can understand how the world was created what is to take God's Word for it this verse tells us that the world was created out of nothing the things which are seen visible physical were made out of things which are invisible I used to think maybe that meant they're made out of such minute particles that we can't see them because that's true the more we've been able to delve into the atom and the parts of the atom and so forth we keep finding more particles we don't know how many there are we don't we don't know how small they get and and it's just the opposite we look out in the universe we can't find the end of it we can't find how far it goes we don't we don't know we create a telescope that shows us more and it shows us more of the same we create other ways of figuring out what's out there and all we find is more and more and more of the same an infinite God has created what is to us an infinite universe whether you look out or look down but that's not what this verse is saying that's a good a good thought but that's not what this verse is saying it's not saying the universe was created out of things so small that we can't see them it's saying the universe was created out of nothing God spoke the material into the existence and he also shaped the material in the form in which we find it now God created the universe ex nihilo out of nothing you say that's amazing well consider the alternative and science can't explain it they always keep coming up with new theories for a while the Big Bang Theory was the prevailing one and the idea was that in the ancient past there was a mass of of formless material just imagine imagine a big mass of material that contained enough material to create all of the things that we can observe in the universe can you imagine how big that massive material must be but just imagine that there was this big mass of material and then one day there was this great explosion and it flew pieces of this material out everywhere and amazing there is a orderly completely run universe the planets are circling around their sons and stars everything is just in perfect order the explosion did that Big Bang Theory number one the whole idea of that happening because of a Big Bang is preposterous you might as well say if I would go down into a junkyard and and plant some dynamite I can have an explosion and I would have a new Corvette in running order well it wouldn't happen the first time it takes several tries you see doesn't matter how often you do it it's not going to happen but what is even more amazing is where did this original material come from this big mass are you telling us that mass is eternal are you telling us therefore that material the material the physical things really are God they are it is eternal no but how do you know the Bible tells us by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things which are seen were made out of things which are invisible and I take this to be just an illustration of so many other unseen realities by faith we have knowledge about God he's invisible how do you know that there's a God by faith believing what he has revealed take angels how do you know there are angels you ever seen one nope now we've got a record of some in the Bible who did see some angels from time to time but we've never seen an angel how do we know they're real because the Bible tells us so we believe it how about heaven and hell is there a heaven is there a hell you've never seen it how do you know because the Bible says so God has revealed that and we take his word for it we believe it how do you know anything for certain about the person and work of Jesus Christ in the way of salvation you know nothing about that except by the Word of God by faith you believe what God has revealed and that becomes real precious and life-giving to your soul now quickly let me give you some lessons in conclusion first of all about true religion for religion to be true it must be revealed not devised mr. Smith who has a different religion than the Christian religion where did your religion come from well there was this guy named whatever and he came up with these concepts
