Hebrews 11 “Faith”
Introduction: Ours is a day where faith is seen as something only the uneducated need, and as something that is merely a
feeling. Or, it is valued as a certain temperament that religious people have. Many in our culture would basically say faith comes
in when reason can go no farther and too many in our churches have a similar view of faith. Think of what people mean when
they say we are to "walk by faith" Do they mean living by believing that God's objective love for you transforms all of reality, or
do they mean walking by feelings and trying to remain confident that God is guiding you.? Hebrews 11 is teaching that what we
believe about things we can't see determines the way we live in the here and now. This is the Biblical idea of faith.
I. What Is Faith?
1. Faith is not a feeling of "being sure" it is belief in an objective reality – something that is real and tangible.
The Greek word the NIV translates "being sure" (a phrase that talks about a subjective feeling) is not a subjective
word! It is a strong objective word that is used for a title-deed. As Bill Lane (world-renowned Hebrews scholar)
argues, “it is imperative that the objective sense of the term be represented in translation... Translations like "confidence" or
"assurance" are untenable because they give [to the term] a subjective value that it does not posses."
Lane’s translation brings out the meaning well, "Now faith celebrates the objective reality of the blessings [ or
"events" ] for which we hope, the demonstration of events as yet unseen. On this account, the men of the past received
attestation by God." Lane explains in his Hebrews commentary that “Faith celebrates now the reality of the future
blessings... knowing that the blessings for which we hope are firmly secured by the promise of God... faith demonstrates the
existence of reality that cannot be perceived through objective sense perception…Faith has the capacity to unveil the future so that
the solid reality of events as yet unseen can be grasped by the believer."
2. Faith is a conviction that focuses on reality. Faith celebrates something real – namely the work of Jesus our
Priest! Faith is belief in God’s promises in spite of appearances and circumstances because of God’s faithfulness
demonstrated by the events explained in Hebrews 7-10, the Priesthood of Jesus! Faith sees the priesthood of Jesus
as the event that gives perspective on all of life, it sees Christ's work on our behalf as real and secure (once for all!)
3. Faith is not a leap in the dark! Faith does not refuse to look at evidence, rather it sees evidence that unbelief
rejects (though without good reason Biblically speaking.) The Bible speaks of faith as grasping reality rather than
being a form of escapism (something many Christians have failed to understand by the way.) Hebrews 11 is not a
baseless emotional appeal to believe and persevere! It must not be cut off from chapters 7-10 where the real objective
work of Christ on the cross and His present work of intercession on our behalf at the right hand of God is emphasized!
4. Actually the Bible says those who don’t believe have taken a leap in the dark! The Bible says that many people
live in a fantasy world of their own creation, because they reject the fundamental fact of the universe (God's existence,
His creation and His providence) and thus distort their understanding of all of reality! And unfortunately, even
Christians still live with idols at work in their hearts and thus we too are tempted to distort reality (and often do!)
5. Faith knows things because it takes God's Word as true. Vs. 3 says faith involves knowing that the universe
was formed in response to God's powerful Word - "by faith we understand" vs. 3 says. Faith in God's Word opens up
understanding.
6. Faith is not a plant that is native to the human heart! As C.H. Spurgeon said once, if I find faith in my heart I
know someone must have planted it there! Faith takes possession by anticipation, faith says “it is mine!” and this
confidence is a gift of pure grace. “Faith is a guarantee of the heavenly realities for which we hope; not only does it render
them certain for us, but it envisages them as rightfully belonging to us; it is, in itself, an objective assurance of our definite
enjoyment of them. Consequently, faith "takes possession by anticipation" of these heavenly blessings and is a genuine
commencement of the divine life with the guarantee of its everlasting permanence." (Spicq) Faith says Jesus died for me!
7. And faith is not a work – a reward is not a wage! (vs. 6) I think many confuse this verse because they miss this
difference. God pays us “wages” that we didn’t really earn because He pays us what Christ earned! This is why Christ
told the parable of the land-owner in Matthew 20 where everyone gets paid the same – not matter how long they
worked! Faith is required, but faith is not a work, rather it is the gift of trust in Christ that God gives to those who He
has accepted because of the work of Jesus on their behalf. Speaking of Abel (vs. 4) it literally says, "by which [faith]
he received attestation [from God] that he was righteous, God himself approving of his gifts." Hebrews 10:28 quotes
Hab 2:4 "my righteous one shall live by faith" and this understanding controls all of Hebrews 11.
II. This Faith Changes Everything! (vs. 4-40)
1. How we read the Old Testament: The point of the Old Testament stories is not to lift up the “heroes” of the Bible
as mere examples for us to emulate. The point is not to “dare to be a Daniel” but to trust boldly in the PromiseKeeping God! They were steadfast because they believed in a steadfast God! "The faith celebrated in 11:1-40 is
characterized by firmness, reliability, and steadfastness. it is trust in God and in his promises (cf. 4:1-3, 6:1, 11:6, 11:17-19,
29.)... what these attested witnesses affirm is the reliability of God, who is faithful to his promise (11:11). Committing themselves
to God, who is steadfast, these exemplars of faith were themselves made steadfast." (Bill Lane)
2. Faith sees that we are aliens and strangers here: Abraham made his home in the Promised Land (the place he
would later be given as an inheritance) as a stranger (vs. 9) and this is a model for how Christians are to live in this
world. We are the ones destined to inherit the world (Mathew 5:5) that we are now living in because the new heavens
and earth come down at the end of Revelation! We are living in the literal Promised Land now, but we are still
strangers, resident aliens, in that land! And when feel that we don’t quite fit in is not when we are crazy, it is actually
when we are most sane. C.S. Lewis calls this the “inconsolable longing” and develops this idea in his essay
“Transposition” “In speaking of this desire for our own far-off country, which we find in ourselves even now, I feel a certain shyness. I am almost
committing an indecency. I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you—the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by
calling it names like Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescence. . . Our commonest expedient is to call it beauty and behave as if that had settled the matter.
Wordsworth’s expedient was to identify it with certain moments in his own past. But all this is a cheat. If Wordsworth had gone back to those moments in the past,
he would not have found the thing itself, but only the reminder of it; what he remembered would turn out to be itself a remembering. The books or the music in
which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was
longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn
into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune
we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited The sense that in this universe we are treated as strangers, the longing to be acknowledged, to
meet with some response, to bridge some chasm that yawns between us and reality, is part of our inconsolable secret. . Our lifelong nostalgia, our longing to be
reunited with something in the universe from which we now feel cut off, to be on the inside of some door which we have always seen from the outside, is no mere
neurotic fancy, but the truest index of our real situation.”
3. We are called to live in this strange land keeping our hope alive for the city we’ve been made for! Verse 13 is
a real challenge, “…And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.” I think one of the most difficult
things is for us to reckon with the fact that we really are aliens and strangers on earth (meaning the earth in it’s
frustrated condition – see Rom 8 – Christianity is not the Platonic idea that we are souls longing for escape from our
bodies and physical-ness!) Where and when do you find it difficult to admit you are a stranger and an alien? Hebrews
considers this vital for persevering in trials as well as for continuing in the faith rather than turning back (vs. 15)
4. Faith knows God’s promise defines your reality – you have a future! (vs. 17-23) It enabled Abraham to bind
his son for sacrifice, and is why Isaac and Jacob blessed their sons. It is the reason Joseph wanted to be buried in the
Promised Land and why Moses’ parents defied the Pharaoh and hid their son rather than have him killed.
5. Faith knows God’s promise means we don’t need to rely on this life for all our joy! (vs. 24-27) It is because
Moses saw more than the Egyptians saw that he was free to forsake the fleeting pleasures of sin and wealth.
6. Faith wins great victories! (vs. 28-35a) and suffers great persecution! (vs. 35b-38) Notice the shift from
victories to suffering is so smooth! Both are victories of faith produced by taking God’s Word as the defining reality.
7. Yet none of them received what was promised! (vs. 39-40) Notice that the fulfillment of the promise extends
beyond the life of the person who received the promise (vs. 12 and vs. 13a "all these people died" emphasizes this
point as well.) Even death does not mean the promises have failed. The history of Israel proves this because while all
of these people died before receiving what was promised, still Jesus came as promised and did His great work!
III. Some Concluding Applications:
1. Are you waiting for a Heavenly City or looking for present comfort? What it all comes down to is this, will
you trust God and what He says, or will you stubbornly hold to your interpretation of reality? (The Bible calls that sin
by the way.) Faith is not a magic formula to transform you circumstances. Faith does not create anything, or cause
anything -- it receives as an open hand. It has no merit, indeed it is the renunciation of merit. Faith longs for the
heavenly city and for all of life to reflect that City even now. (The Negro spirituals illustrate this well. “They tell of death and suffering and
unvoiced longing toward a truer world…[Yet] through all the sorrow of the Sorrow Songs there breathes a hope – a faith in the ultimate justice of all things.” Dubois
2. What is your faith in? Is it in God's coming through for you in the way and according to the timetable you define?
Or is it based on God's work in Christ? The answer to this question will tell a lot about your ability to weather trials.
3. Faith does not define, but trusts God’s definitions. We are called to let God define how He loves us, and often it
is by chastising us and telling us to wait. We are called to focus on the real and eternal (Christ's once for all work on
the cross) not that which is passing away (our present circumstances.)
4. How do you get this faith? It is a supernatural gift of God. Ask Him for it! It comes by hearing the Word of
God. It comes by actively responding to the Word of God. (Peter Bohler's advice to John Wesley "preach faith until
you have it.") Make much use of the means of grace, word, sacraments and prayer, in the context of God's community,
by actively trying it on. it is not something you can create - it is a supernatural thing. But once you have it you know
it is what you were made for.