By Faith We Understand
The death and resurrection of Jesus secures for us amazing realities. These are realities that we are said to have. We possess them. What are they?
What comes to your mind when you think about what Jesus has done for you?
Forgiveness of sins.
The giving of his righteousness.
New heart.
Eternal life.
The right to be called the children of God.
The fulfillment of all God’s promises.
There’s a long list of things that we could say. The New Testament is chocked full of these gospel realities, and Hebrews Chapter 10 tells us about two of them:
First, in chapter 10, verse 19, the writer tells us that we have confidence/authorization to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus. We saw that two weeks ago. We have that authorization.
Second, in chapter 10, verse 34, the writer says that we have a better possession and an abiding one. We saw that last week. Pastor Max showed us that what we possess in Jesus is better than every valuable thing of this world, and it abides. It can’t be taken away.
We have authorization. We have what is better.
But who is the “we”? Who possesses these gospel realities?
Faith Is Absolutely Necessary
I’m about to say something pretty basic but I really want you to hear it.
Get this: All the gospel realities talked about in the New Testament — everything from the forgiveness of sins to having authorization to God’s presence here in Hebrews — all of these gospel realities only belong to those who have put their faith in Jesus in his death and resurrection.
For example, I’ll say it like this:
God will not forgive your sins if you do not trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
That’s in the negative. Here’s the positive:
God will forgive your sins if you trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
All of these gospel realities belong to us on the condition of our faith. We must believe in Jesus — and having this faith and enduring in this faith — is a big deal in the Book of Hebrews. It is a major concern for the writer.
And on the one hand, this should be sobering to us — we have need of endurance (see 10:36). We gotta have real faith. But then on the other hand, this should be encouraging to us, because the writer, like a good coach, assures us that we are those who have enduring faith.
He does something at the end of Chapter 10 that he did in Chapter 6. In Chapter 6 after warning the church about the real threat of walking away from Jesus, he ends that part by saying, “but … in your case, beloved, I’m convinced of better things!” (6:9). He’s encouraging.
Well here in Chapter 10 he does that same thing. After warning the church again about the real threat of walking away from Jesus, he concludes the section by saying, “But you’re not like those who shrink back [or fall away], you are of faith!” (10:39).
So faith is absolutely necessary. We must have faith. The writer says we do. But wait a second … what is faith?
We have to have it. This book talks all about it. We should probably have an idea for what faith is, right?!
Talkin’ Faith
Well, the writer of Hebrews thinks so, and so now beginning in Chapter 11, verse 1, we find the longest treatment on the topic of faith in the Bible. In 40 verses, the word “faith” is repeated 24 times. And what’s really amazing about Hebrews 11 is that faith isn’t just talked about, but it’s illustrated.
I think what’s implied here is that we can understand faith better by seeing it demonstrated, more than by only seeing it analyzed. That doesn’t mean we don’t analyze it. We do — the writer does in verse 1 — but that part is brief. Most of Chapter 11 is “Let me show you how it looks!”
And that’s the sermon outline. The writer is saying:
Part One: What is faith?
Part Two: Hold my beer. … he’s saying “Watch this! I’m about to show you what faith is!”
Part One is Faith Analyzed. Part Two is Faith Demonstrated.
Let’s start with Part One. It’s just one verse.
Part One: Faith Analyzed
This is Hebrews 11, verse 1. And some commentators make a point to say that the writer of Hebrews is not trying to define faith here. I just wanna clarify that the writer is not giving a comprehensive definition here, but he is telling us what faith is. This may not be a full definition, but he’s not not defining it. The first three words are “Now faith is.” He’s gonna tell us what it is. He gives us a general analysis of faith. Which means, we’re leaning forward here. We wanna know what he’s about to say. Look at verse 1:
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
I remember this verse in the King James Version:
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Most English translations use different words for “assurance” and “conviction” (and there are different reasons why) but the main thing to understand here is that faith is not a feeling. It’s not a slippery, emotional state that waxes and wanes. In general terms, faith is the present embrace of a concrete, substantial reality that is yet unseen. Faith accesses and anticipates the reality of unseen things just as we do seen things. And I think something that might help us here is the way memory works.
How does memory work?
Memory allows us to mentally and emotionally access the past even when we can’t physically see the thing we have in mind.
For example, growing up, between my house and my grandparents’ house, there was a long dirt path that went all the way back into the woods. It was a sandy dirt, the kind of dirt we have in the Coastal Plain region of North Carolina, and the path went way back out of sight, into the woods, past my great-grandparents’ house, all the way down to a pond surrounded by trees.
Now there is no question in my mind that this path exists, even though I cannot physically see it right now. I have seen it. In my memory, I embrace the substantial reality of what is currently unseen to me but seen before. I remember it.
Faith works in a similar way — not in the same way, but in a similar way — in that faith embraces the substantial reality of what, up to this point, has never been seen by me. With faith I can’t remember the substantial reality because I’ve not seen it, but I imagine the substantial reality because I’m convinced it’s real. I believe. I have faith.
“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction [or evidence] of things not seen.”
And this applies to unseen things of the future and the past.
And verse 2 says that by it — by faith — the people of old received their commendation.
The idea behind “the people of old” is to say “the ancients of redemptive history.” These are Old Testament believers. These ancient, Old Testament believers, by their faith, were commended by God. And now this sets up the famous “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11.
So in verse 1 the writer gives us a brief, general analysis of faith, and then right away, verse 2, he gets to showing us faith demonstrated. This is how faith looks — Part Two already: Faith Demonstrated.
Part Two: Faith Demonstrated
Now something you notice here is that when the writer wants to show us faith demonstrated, he’s going to repeat over and over “By faith, this” “By faith, that.” Those two words “by faith” are all throughout Chapter 11, and beginning in verse 4 each time he says “by faith —” he’s referring to these ancient figures of redemptive history. He illustrates faith by the examples of Old Testament saints, but notice what he does first in verse 3.
This was new for me this week. I’ve read this chapter countless times before and I’ve never really paid attention to verse 3. It’s not what the chapter is famous for. But the first thing the writer says to show us faith demonstrated is not the faith of Old Testament saints, but it’s our own faith. Look at this, verse 3:
“By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen [the universe] was not made out of things that are visible [it was made by the invisible word of God].”
Now my guess is that for most of us, if we’re familiar with Hebrews 11, when we think about this chapter, we don’t think about verse 3, but we think the “Hall of Faith” — “By faith Noah” and “By faith Abraham” and “By faith Moses” … but first the writer says “By faith we…”
And this is strategic, I think, for two reasons.
First, the writer wants us to make a direct connection between his analysis of faith in verse 1 and our own experience. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. For example, just take the way we consider the universe. Nobody doubts that the universe is real. We’re standing on it. We’re breathing in the air. It’s pretty reliable to say that the universe, this world, it’s a thing. This is substantial reality we see. And it was created by the word of God, which we do not see.
The unseen word of God created the seen world. And we understand that by faith.
Now the writer obviously assumes that Christians embrace the word of God as the origin of the universe. There were other ideas at this time from the pagan world. The Big Bang Theory would come later (in the 1930s). But either way, what he says here remains true and still applies.
For example, the Big Bang Theory says that everything started with a primeval atom, that before anything there was a single particle that exploded into the universe and everything there is. Well guess what? Did anybody see that happen?
Of course not. So either way you look at it, the only option for the origin of the universe is that it was caused by something unseen. So whatever your position is, it’s a position of faith. The question is whether you have faith in a theory invented by man about a hypothetical particle or if you have faith in the word of God.
Christians, us, we have faith in the invisible word of God, and we live in the visible, substantial reality that word created. So verse 1 is not distant, empty analysis. This is our experience. We have faith.
The second thing the writer is doing when he starts with “by faith we …” is that he wants us to know that we are in the same company as these Old Testament saints. We are like them, in that, we share the same faith as they do.
And it’s hard to imagine anything more encouraging than this. It means that the writer is not about to give us examples of heroes in the Old Testament who are out of our reach. We should not be like, “Oh, I could never be like them!” There’s not a single place in the New Testament that speaks of Old Testament believers that way.
In fact, let me tell you what James says in James 5! He wants to encourage us to pray and he uses the prophet Elijah as an example. He doesn’t say: Elijah is so much greater than us. Good luck at being able to pray like he did.
He doesn’t say that. He says: Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. Elijah! Elijah was like us! We can pray like he did!
That’s the same heart here in Hebrews 11. These are examples to be imitated. The saints described in Hebrews 11 — these are our people. We are with them.
Let me tell you about three: Abel, Enoch, Noah — Genesis 4, 5 and 6.
Verse 4 — Abel (Genesis 4:3–10)
Verse 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.”
We can read about Abel in Genesis 4. Adam and Eve had their first son, Cain, and then Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, Cain was a worker of the ground. And in the course of time, they both brought an offering to God — Cain brought produce (because he was a farmer); Abel brought an animal (because he was a shepherd). And Genesis 4:4 says that “the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.”
And we don’t know exactly why this is the case. The text of Genesis doesn’t tell us. We just know that God accepted (was pleased with) Abel and his offering, and here the writer of Hebrews says that was God commending him. Which is an interesting word. It’s used in Hebrews 11 in verse 2, twice in verse 4, in verse 5, and then again in verse 39.
The word means to “bear witness” or “to give testimony.” The writer of Hebrews says that God commended, testified, that Abel was righteous. How did God do that? By accepting his gift. The word for accepting means to be pleased with. God was pleased with Abel and his gift.
So let’s hold onto that for a minute: God testified that Abel is righteous by being pleased with Abel and his gift.
Verse 5 — Enoch (Genesis 5:21–24)
Verse 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.”
We can read about Enoch in Genesis 5, and he is an extremely unique person in human history because he never died. He is listed in the genealogy from Adam to Noah, and over and over again in Genesis 5, in that genealogy, after the text mentions a person’s name and how long they lived, then the text says: “And he died.” It’s “They lived this long, and died. They lived this long, and died” over and over. But when it gets to Enoch in Genesis 5, verse 21, it’s different. Let me read it to you. Genesis 5:21,
“When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.”
See, he didn’t die. The writer of Hebrews says the same thing. Hebrews 11:5,
“Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death.”
But then the writer says that before Enoch was taken, “he was commended as having pleased God.” Now where is the writer of Hebrews getting that?
Okay, track with me here: If you have a hard copy Bible and you can turn to Genesis 4, I want to encourage you to do that. For everybody else, hang with me: if you are reading Genesis 4 in your English translation, most English versions have a footnote beside the phrase “Enoch walked with God.” And if you look at that footnote, down at the bottom of your page (if you have an English Standard Version like me) the footnote says: “Septuagint pleased God.”
Now the Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Old Testament Hebrew. It dates back to the 3rd century BC. And it’s important because the Septuagint was the Bible that the New Testament authors would have read. And in the Septuagint, in Genesis 5:21, the Septuagint translated “Enoch walked with God” as “Enoch pleased God.” Because it’s the same idea.
The idea is that Enoch had fellowship with God — he walked with God. The Hebrew text says that. The Septuagint just interpreted more of what that means. It means that Enoch’s life was pleasing to God. The writer of Hebrews read that in Genesis 5.
So get this: God testified that Enoch pleased him.
High-Water Mark
And this is something that Abel and Enoch both have in common. God commended them both. God testified that he was pleased with them both.
But wait a minute, Hebrews 11 is about faith!
The writer of Hebrews says Abel and Enoch had faith, but the Old Testament text doesn’t say that. The Old Testament only says they pleased God.
We have to wonder then: What is the connection between having faith and pleasing God?
That’s a great question. Look at verse 6:
“And without faith it is impossible to please him.”
This is the high-water mark of this passage. Verse 6 is the explanation for why Abel and Enoch can be said to have faith. Track with what he’s saying here. We can put it in a basic syllogism:
Major premise: Abel and Enoch both pleased God.
Minor premise: Without faith it is impossible to please God.
Conclusion: Therefore, Abel and Enoch had faith.
See what he’s doing there?
These first three examples in Hebrews 11 — Abel, Enoch, Noah — they only work as examples of faith because of this logic. Genesis never says explicitly that they have faith. Genesis only says they pleased God, and then we see what they did. Like in Noah’s case:
Verse 7 — Noah (Genesis 6:8–9ff)
Verse 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.”
You can see how this is demonstrating what the writer says in verse 1. Noah built the ark because he embraced the substantial reality of something he had not seen. And his embrace of this unseen substantial reality led him to do something. He lived differently because of it. He built a boat. And an action like that looks like faith according to verse 1, but again in Genesis, the text never says that Noah had faith. But listen to Genesis 6, verse 9:
“These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.”
And if you read that verse in Septuagint, like the writer of Hebrews did, guess what it says: “Noah pleased God.”
And according to the logic of verse 6, if Noah pleased God, then Noah had faith, and by his faith he became an “heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”
That is a real thing. The righteousness that comes by faith. Noah became part of that, and what’s implied here is that we can too. By faith, we can be heirs of that righteousness that comes by faith.
For without faith it is impossible to please God.
God Is Our Reward
Verse 6 really is the high-water mark of the passage, and I want us to end here. Look at the second part of verse 6. First, he says, “For without faith it is impossible to please God” and then in the second part of verse 6 he explains more of what this means. He says:
“…for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
So the writer is taking the logic of Abel, Enoch, and Noah’s faith and he’s stating it as a general principle. This now goes for everybody. If you want to draw near to God — which has been a big theme in Hebrews — if you want to walk with God, be with God, you must believe that God is real and consequential. It matters that he is God. The reality of God is not something that we acknowledge and then put to the side and move on with our lives.
Y’all know I love John Piper. I’m so thankful for his influence. One sentence from Pastor John that I remember as much as any (and he’s got a lot of good sentences), but one time he said, with genuine bafflement:
“I don’t understand how someone can believe God exists and then only give him 2% of their lives.”
If you believe God exists, don’t you believe he’s God? … If God exists, God exists. He’s God. GOD! He’s God, you’re not. He’s God, they’re not.
If you want to have a relationship with God, you gotta believe that he’s real and that his realness makes a difference, in other words, you have to believe that he “rewards those who seek him.”
If you seek God, he will reward you. With what? What is the reward?
God will reward you with that for which you seek, which is him.
If you seek God, he will reward you with himself. You get God. You have him.
That’s what faith is all about. That’s why faith is pleasing to God. It magnifies his glory.
Faith is not a coping mechanism to get through the hardships of life. Faith, biblical faith, says I want him. I want him whom I have never seen. And I want all the gospel realities that are in him.
That’s what brings us to this Table.
The Table
So far in Hebrews 11, the writer has talked about faith in general terms. He gives us the basic of what faith is and how it looks, but here at the Table is where we get laser-focused. Nothing is generic here. Our faith in God is faith in Jesus Christ; our faith in Jesus Christ is faith in his death and resurrection for us.
That’s what the bread and cup symbolize. The bread represents the body of Jesus broken for us. The cup represents the blood of Jesus shed for us. And when we eat and drink, we are saying This is my faith. I trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
