SS12-03-06
“FAITH THAT WORKS.” HEBREWS 10: 32-12:02.
HEBREWS 11: 1-2, 5-7, 32-38; 12: 1-2.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO HEBREWS 11.
At this time of the year, people are focused on giving and receiving gifts. We want to give and receive gifts that will be helpful to giver and receiver. We do this because at this time of the year God gave the greatest of gifts.
The Study Theme for December, Life Changing Gifts, is designed to help us understand and experience God’s Life Changing Gifts. These gifts include faith, hope, love, Jesus and salvation. Although these topics appear separate and distinct, they easily fit together in a study theme.
Faith is our response of trust in God’s revelation of Himself and His truth. Hope grows out of faith and is our confident expectation that God’s promises will come to pass. Love comes from God and expresses itself in self-denying actions that help others. All three of these gifts are realized through a personal relationship with Jesus and the salvation He imparts. These gifts literally change lives!
Faith in God does not come as easy for adults as it does for children. In fact, some adults say that they have outgrown their childhood faith. They claim that the realities of real life, which are sometimes harsh, have destroyed their childish beliefs.
They think of God as another Santa Claus sort of childhood belief that is left behind as they mature. Other adults claim to have faith in God, but live as though there is no God. Fortunately, other adults have the kind of faith seen in the list of O.T. people of faith in Hebrews 11.
Is faith a gift or a response? Actually it is both. It is a gift of God’s grace that enables us to believe. No one is able to boast of self-produced faith. God activates faith in the hearer of His Word, enabling people to have the opportunity to believe and to help to become faithful.
People could not trust God if God did not offer Himself to them, though faith is never coercive. Faith as a gift is alluded to in Heb. 12:2, which identifies Jesus as “the author and finisher of our faith.”
PLEASE READ HEBREWS 11: 1-2.
Faith opens areas of reality that cannot be perceived otherwise: what is “hoped for” and what is “not seen.” The actions of the O.T. saints reveal that faith includes belief that God exists but goes beyond that. Faith expresses itself in obedience, courage, and endurance. Faith wins great victories but also strengthens in times of persecution.
The Christian life is like a long-distance run for which believers need endurance. Runners should prepare for the race by getting rid of their sin or hindrance to finishing the race. They should keep their eyes on Jesus.
The writer of the Book of Hebrews addressed Jewish Christians in a local congregation. Evidently they felt contented to languish in arrested spiritual development and to lag in their service for Christ.
The writer emphasized that God spoke most clearly and with finality in Christ. Thus the readers were to listen to Christ, not to stand by as mere observers, but to get involved in Christ’s redemptive mission. They also were to advance toward spiritual maturity.
Faith is a key theme in the Book of Hebrews. The immediate lead-in to this chapter is Hebrews 10: 39. The author contrasted people with real faith with those who lacked it. Then he expressed confidence that his readers were among “those who have faith and obtain life.”
In English we have no verb for faith. That is, we cannot say that someone “faithed” God. We must either use ”believe” or “have faith.”
The word substance in vs. 1 can mean “essence” as in Heb. 1: 3 where it refers to the essence of God. It can mean “confidence,” as it does in 3: 4. It can mean “certainty” or “reality.” The word for “evidence” is similar in meaning to “conviction” and “proof.”
The basic point is that faith opens our ability to see the realities of two kinds. One is “the things for which we hope;” the other is “the unseen things of God.”
Hope can be little more than wishful thinking unless grounded in what God has promised. Faith gives confident hope that these promises will be fulfilled. The unseen things are the realities of the invisible God who tells us of an invisible kingdom.
Unbelievers scoff at a faith in the promises of a God we cannot see. They claim that mature, educated people believe only what they can see. Their motto is “Seeing is believing.” What a cold, sterile world this would be if people restricted themselves to the realities that can be tested and proved by physical evidence. All persons---even those who claim to be most scientific---exercise faith in some areas of their lives. For example, what chance would a meaningful relationship have without commitment and trust?
The philosophy expressed in “I’ll believe it when I see it” is the opposite of faith. Faith has nothing to do with one’s senses. One does not need faith to believe what he can see. The only place faith can be applied is in the area where one must trust God for that which he cannot see.
Hebrews 11: 1 calls us to a motto that says, “Believing is seeing!” Only faith is the key that opens the door to the unseen realities of God and His kingdom.
Verse 2 refers to the elders, by which the writer meant the Old Testament people of faith, whom he was about to name. They received a good report. God approved of people of faith. He is pleased by those who live by faith. They live their lives in light of the unseen God and His promises. They see behind the physical façade of our world. They see the hand of God and know Him in the present, and they see beyond the outward realities to a future yet to be revealed.
During the persecution of the first century, an humble Christian was brought before the judges. He told them that nothing they could do would shake him, because he believed that, if he were true to God, God would be true to him. “Do you really think you will go to God and His glory?” they asked. “I do not think , I know,” he said. Christian faith is more than hope—it is hope turned to certainty.
Faith works beyond the present experience of life. The best definition for faith I have ever heard was given by an uneducated country woman, who was wise in the ways of the Lord. “Faith is steppin’ when there ain’t no place to put your foot.”
‘It is not the quantity of faith that shall save thee.” A drop of water is as true water as the whole ocean. So a little faith is as true faith as the greatest. The main task of the writer has been performed in the first 10 chapters, but the remainder of the Epistle had also a very important purpose.
It would have been fatal to the peace of mind of a Jewish convert to feel there was a chasm between his Christian faith and the faith of his past faith. The past history of the Chosen People was not discarded or discredited by the Gospel; it was, on the contrary, completed and glorified.
When the author of Hebrews quoted from Habakkuk the verse “The just shall live by faith,” he was quoting the only verse from the O.T. that is quoted three times in the N.T. Luther made it the battle cry of the Reformation. If Luther is the father of the Reformation, the writer of Hebrews is the grandfather, and Habakkuk is the great-grandfather
PLEASE READ HEBREWS 11: 5-7.
After giving a description of the nature of faith in vs. 1-2, the writer of Hebrews presented an array of O.T. examples of genuine faith. As you survey the names, notice the repetition of the phrase by faith. Each of these individuals revealed various actions taken as the result of having faith in God.
The dominant truth throughout this chapter is that persons of faith respond to the opportunities and challenges of life by seeking to do what they understand to be the will of God; they want to please Him above all else.
The author began with the creation in vs. 3. Then he mentioned Abel in vs. 4, Enoch (vs. 5), and Noah (vs. 7) with an important comment on faith in vs. 6. These examples are found in Genesis 1-11. Abel, the first person to be named in Heb. 11, offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain because his sacrifice was offered in real faith.
It has been said that dead men tell no tales, but the writer asserts in Heb. 11: 4 that Abel “being dead yet speaketh.” His first example of a demonstration of faith shows us faith perpetuated. The full story is related in Gen. 4: 1-15. Hush! Two men are at worship. They represent the two ideas of religion found in the world today.
One brings an offering and it is rejected y God. His brother brings an offering and it is accepted. In a jealous rage, Cain rises up and kills his brother, Abel, and God sets a mark on him and drives him out.
Why was Cain’s offering rejected, and Abel’s accepted? We read that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. This was a “thank offering.” Cain was proud and haughty. He would acknowledge that these gifts came from God, and he was willing to pay his due, but he refused to admit that he was a sinner and make a blood offering for his sins.
Abel “brought of the firstlings of his flock and offered a sin offering to God.” Abel saw himself as a sinner and realized that the lamb was his substitute. He recognized that blood represented life and thus made an atonement for his sin. The bleeding lamb upon his altar was a symbol of Christ. Because of Abel’s faith, he offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,” and because of Jesus’ sacrifice, Abel “being dead yet speaketh.”
Enoch was one who was in the line of faithful believers before the flood. He apparently had a close fellowship with God. Gen. 5: 24 says of Enoch, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not there, because God took him. Heb 11: 5 says that Enoch did not die but was taken to be with God. That was why the people who searched for him could not find him. God did this because Enoch pleased God. Adam and Eve had turned their backs on the opportunity to walk with God, but Enoch did walk with Him.
Enoch was 65 years old when he became the father of Methuselah and lived to be 365 years old. His relationship with God was a walk of faith, made more remarkable in that Enoch lived during a time when human society was growing increasingly corrupt.
The life of faith is a daily walk, and the little girl’s story expresses it well: “Enoch was God’s friend, and he went for a walk with God every day. One day they had walked a long way, and it was getting late. God said, “Enoch, we are closer to my house than yours; why don’t you just come home with me?” And he did.’
The two most frequent reasons for rejecting Christianity are its high moral standard and the requirement of a surrendered will.
Vs. 6 begins by showing that belief in God is foundational to other expressions of faith. Enoch pleased God with his faith, for without faith it is impossible to please Him. In order to draw near to God, people must believe that He is or exists.
The Bible assumes the reality of God. From its perspective in Ps. 14: 1 only a fool would say, “There is no God.”
Times have changed, for in the age of science some say that they are either atheists who deny God or agnostics who are waiting for proof of God. They claim that unless God can be proved in some scientific way, they cannot believe in an unseen God and His kingdom. They claim solid evidence for their views, but they say that Christian faith is a leap in the dark. In a sense, this is true, but it is not a blind leap.
One summer in college my room-mate was a chemistry major. As I witnessed to him he said, “If you can put that God in a test tube where I can analyze Him I might could believe.” I told him that was exactly what I was trying to do and he was the test tube.
Creation, mentioned in Heb. 11:3, has been a battlefield for believes and unbelievers. One group believes the biblical revelation of God as creator; the other group believes that the origin of life is by purely natural forces. It takes at least as much faith to believe the naturalistic view as it does to believe the biblical view. Each view has it evidence; we can’t see God, but we can see His handiwork. Ps. 19: 1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.”
When the Russian cosmonauts were interviewed, they emphasized that they had been into the heavens but did not see God. By contrast, the Americans who orbited the moon and were the first humans to see the earth from such a distance televised a message back by reading Genesis l:1-10, which begins, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Belief in the existence of God is the foundation for faith, but it is only the beginning. God in whose existence we believe is active on our behalf. Heb. 11:6 continues, “The one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.”
As we saw, Enoch built a rich fellowship with God on the foundation of belief in God. Each of the people of faith in Heb. 11 exemplified some aspect of faith. Noah received a revelation from God about things not seen as yet. He acted on that revelation and built an ark. This act of faith saved his family from the flood that destroyed everyone else. It also made him an heir of the righteousness which is by faith. In this he anticipated the experience of Abraham in Gen. 15: 6 and the doctrine of “justification by faith.”
Heb. 11: 7 also illustrates the definition of faith in vs. 1. During the time Noah was building the ark, here was no sign of the great flood. People probably ridiculed Noah for building an ark when there wasn’t any reason for expecting a flood. Noah acted on nothing more than the word of His invisible God.
Why would Noah embark on such a radical and seemingly foolish building project? He was warned about what was not yet seen. God told Noah beforehand about His plan to bring judgment on the earth in the form of a worldwide flood. Talk about faith!
Here was a man who simply took God at His word. He went to work doing what God told him to do. The Bible reports in Gen 7: 5: “And Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him.”
Noah’s faithful obedience was such a contrast to the lifestyle of others around him that by this he condemned the world. Perhaps when people asked Noah why he was building the ark, he told them of God’s warning that a flood of judgment was coming.
If it is true that Noah was allowed to warn his questioners, no one chose to believe him—or more importantly, to believe God. Just as Noah’s faith led to salvation and deliverance, others’ unbelief resulted in condemnation and death.
Noah became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. He did not earn righteousness before God through his work of building the ark. An heir does not earn or work for an inheritance. Before God told Noah about His plans of judgment and Noah set about building the ark, Noah, in Gen. 6: 9 was a “righteous man.” His obedience was not a means of becoming righteous but instead was the result of living in a right relationship with God by faith.
One of the basis assumptions of Heb. 11 is that faith is best seen as it is lived out in the lives of people of faith. It is no abstract concept. Abel, Enoch, and Noah are the first three in a long list of heroes of faith in the O.T. times.
Moving from the time between creation and the flood in Genesis 1-11, the author of Hebrews turned to Abraham and the other patriarchs in Gen Chs. 12-50. Abraham is given the most space. Hebrews 11: 8-19 contains four examples of his faith. His obedient response to God’s call to leave his country for a land that God would show him called for adventurous faith.
Living in a land in which he never owned anything except his family’s burial place, he believed that God would give his descendants the land. This showed that he believed in a heavenly city in which the land was only a symbol. He and his wife Sarah had faith that God would keep His promise by giving them a son in their old age.
Vs. 13-16 is a comment on how Abraham’s pilgrim faith was true of all people of faith. They lived and died in hope of a heavenly city. The greatest test of Abraham’s faith was his obedient response to God’s command to offer his son and link to the future. He believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead after he sacrificed him.
The other patriarchs are mentioned only briefly. Isaac and Jacob both made predictions concerning their sons because their faith enabled them to see future events. Joseph showed His faith in Israel’s future by giving instructions to take his bones to Canaan when the Lord led Israel out of Egypt.
Moving into the Book of Exodus, we see the faith of the parents of Moses in hiding him. Moses showed his faith by choosing to identify with the slave people rather than enjoy the pleasures of Egypt.
He showed his faith by leading Israel out of Egyptian bondage. He instituted the Passover to commemorate this deliverance. Faith was seen at the crossing of the Red Sea. Two examples of faith from the period of the conquest are the fall of Jericho, and the courageous faith of Rahab, who hid the two Israelite spies.
PLEASE READ HEBREWS 11: 32-38.
The list of people of faith was already long, so the author was led by the Spirit to give a short list of other people of faith. Gideon led the Israelites to a victory over the Midianites. Judges 6-7 tells how God led a reluctant man to let God give them the victory. Although God had to encourage him with signs, he led the people in an amazing victory.
Barak was the general who was spurred on to battle by Deborah in Judges 4-5.
Sampson was the strong man whose exploits killed many Philistines until his moral weakness got him captured, but in the end his strength returned enough to pull down a pagan temple in Judges 13-15.
Jephthah (JEF-thuh) made a rash vow but was used to win victory over the Ammonites in Judges 11.
The only king mentioned in Hebrews 11 is David. Although he was an imperfect man, his faith was obvious. He was a man after God’s own heart.
Samuel is listed after David. He anointed the first two kings of Israel. He was a judge and a prophet. Perhaps he follows David to introduce the mention of the prophets.
None of these many people of faith are listed in Hebrews 11, but verses 33-38 name some of the exploits of people of faith, including some that apply to various prophets.
Even if the prophets are not mentioned by name (apart from Samuel) there are many allusions to them in what follows.”
Vs 33 –35a name some victories of people of faith. Ten of these are listed. They are in three groups of threes, with the tenth standing alone. The first three examples are social advantages. Through faith they subdued kingdoms. David won many battles and subdued the Philistines. They wrought righteousness. This refers not to being righteous but to establishing justice among the people. Among the good things done by Samuel, he judged Israel throughout his days.
They obtained promises. These are not the same as ‘the promise’ of the heavenly city which is expressly stated in vs. 39 that they have not obtained. The promises refer more generally to promises of land and inheritance which they saw fulfilled in their own lifetime.
The next three are personal victories and deliverances. Daniel is the most notable example of one who stopped the mouths of lions. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were threatened with the furnace of fire. In their defiance they were thrown into it, but they emerged unharmed. Thus they quenched the violence of fire.
David was one who escaped the edge of the sword when he was pursued by Saul.
The next three are examples of renewed vigor and strength. Some by faith out of weakness were made strong.
Sampson’s final prayer was for the Lord to renew his strength so he could destroy the Philistine temple of their god. Some became mighty in battle. Gideon was used by God to defeat the Midianite army with 300 men. David defeated Goliath. Some turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Many fit this category.
For example, Isaiah told Hezekiah that the Lord would deliver Jerusalem from the mighty
Assyrian army, and He did. The final example of positive victories of faith is women who received their dead raised to life again. Elijah and Elisha both called on the Lord to resurrect the sons of two women.
Notice the change from positive victories and deliverances brought about by faith. Vs.35b-38 list examples of faith that on the surface seemed to fail but were victories over suffering and evil. Some were tortured, but they refused offers of release if they renounced their faith. They believed that beyond death was a better resurrection.
This became a common experience of people in the early Christian centuries. Often they were promised release if only they would renounce Christ. Many endured cruel mockings, as Jeremiah did for his unpopular warnings to Judah in her final days. All the persons who did these actions were ordinary men and women, but they achieved extraordinary deeds simply because their faith in God connected them to His miracle-working power.
None of these heroes was perfect. Some had serious stumblings in their relationships with God. Yet God worked in them to forgive and restore and to use them to accomplish His purposes.
Scourgings and imprisonment have always been a part of life for believers in times of persecution. The Jews often used stoning as a means of execution. Tradition says that Jeremiah was stoned. Sawn asunder probably refers to the tradition that evil king Manasseh had Isaiah sawed in two. Vs. 34 tells how faith caused some to escape the edge of the sword.
Vs. 37 reminds us that others were slain with the sword. People of faith wandered about poorly clothed, being destitute, afflicted, tormented…They wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
By contrasting the list in vs. 33-35a with the list in vs. 35b-38, we see that sometimes faith delivers from trouble by victories over evil, suffering, and death, but at other times faith delivers us as we pass through the worst that evil can do.
At times our prayers are answered as we ask them to be; at other times God does not deliver us from painful and dangerous situations. God delivered Daniel and his three friends, but He allowed John the Baptist to be beheaded and Stephen to be stoned to death. The answer of the three friends to Nebuchadnezzar is a model for all believers in a crisis. They assured the king that their God was fully able to deliver them, but they said if He chose not to deliver them, they still would not bow down to the idol.
Did the people who suffered these atrocities lack faith? Were they of less value to God? Absolutely not! What went wrong? Nothing went wrong. The world was wrong, but they were righteous by faith. In fact the writer stated: The world was not worthy of them. These faithful followers kept on keeping on. They endured all kinds of suffering because they believed God was with them, and they were seeking to please Him. Vs. 39 declares: “All these were approved through their faith.” There is the term approved again!
PLEASE TURN TO HEBREWS 12.
PLEASE READ HEBREWS 12: 1-2.
The believers who first received this letter were tired, weakened Christians. As they faced various trials, these believers needed motivation and encouragement. Therefore connects the examples given in ch. 11 with the words of encouragement in ch. 12. In vs. 1-2 the writer compared living the Christian life to running a race. That the race required endurance suggests the writer had in mind a lengthy race---for example a marathon.
The Apostle Paul also used athletic terms to describe his devotion and service to Christ. Concluding he was near the end of his life on earth, Paul wrote to his protege Timothy in 2 Tim. 4: 7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
Believers engaged in the race of life can expect the course to be difficult at times, but we are urged to keep running. We’ve got a lot of people cheering us on toward the finish line. We believers have a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us!
This phrase likely refers to the heroes of faith listed in Ch 11. By their examples of endurance in times of trial, these heroes provided testimonies of the victory of faith to all who came after them.
Because God inspired the biblical writers to record their stories in the Scriptures, we today can be encouraged to follow their examples. Just as today’s athletes gain motivation from the champions of yesteryear, so the examples of past heroes of faith encourage us to persevere.
Rom. 15:4 says, “For whatever was written before was written for our instruction, so that through our endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we may have hope.”
Some Bible students suggest that in vs. 1 the writer envisioned an Olympic-type stadium where athletes competed before cheering crowds of former athletes and onlookers. We must be careful not to conclude from such a picture that departed saints are sitting in heavenly bleachers, watching what those of us on earth are doing. We have no biblical support for such an interpretation.
However, believers today can be encouraged by scriptural examples of faith as well as by the memories of faithful Christians who are now with the Lord.
These verses offer three statements of wise counsel about running the race of faith. First, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Athletes often wear thick warm-up suits, but when race time comes they remove the heavier clothing. Anything that would encumber them is laid aside.
Similarily, persons of faith are wise to shed anything that hinders their following Jesus. Jesus told His disciples in Matt. 16: 24, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.”
Sometimes we may be faced with choices in life that are not necessarily about right or wrong behavior but about what is God’s best for us. In such cases, a believer must decide in the light of the question. Will this action hinder me from being or doing my best for the Lord?
Of course, sin always must be put aside in the sense that believers must confess their sins. No particular sin is specified. However, the strong emphasis on faith and endurance in the Book of Hebrews suggests the inspired writer had in mind the sin of unbelief (not lack of salvation but rather doubting God or backsliding).
In Heb. 3: 12 the writer warned , “Watch out, brothers, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God.” Faith is taking God at His word and living confidently in obedience to Him.
Sin must be readily confessed because it ensnares us. This phrase refers to the power of these hindrances to prevent us from running faith’s race at our best. We must daily make the choice of turning from whatever is less than God’s best and whatever is sinful. In addition we can continually seek His power to maintain victory over temptations.
A second word of counsel is to run with endurance the race that lies before us. If you have ever run in a marathon, you know how much stamina and determination is required to keep going for over 26 miles.
In a similar way, the Christian life is not a casual stroll: it is a demanding race that must be run with endurance. In Heb. 10:36 the writer declared, “For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.” Since the race lasts as long as Christians live in this world, we need perseverance to faithfully endure. The key to our persistence is faith---not faith in our abilities but faith in God who has promised to strengthen and sustain us.
A third statement of wise counsel involved keeping our eyes on Jesus. Distance runners usually avoid looking behind to check on the status of other racers. Instead, they look ahead and keep their focus on crossing the finish line. How can believers keep their eyes on Jesus? The answer we find in the Book of Hebrews is clear: by faith. In 11:27, the writer said of Moses: “By faith…he persevered, as one who sees Him who is invisible.”
Why must believers keep their eyes on Jesus? Because Jesus is the source and perfecter of our faith. Faith is God’s gift. He gives us the capacity to believe. Our responses to God in salvation and in daily Christian living are demonstrations of the faith He gave us.
Jesus also is the perfecter of our faith since we see from His example a perfect or complete demonstration of what living by faith means. Only in Him do we see a perfected life of faith.
Jesus also showed that living by faith does not guarantee a painless, trouble-free life. He endured a cross and despised the shame. One hymn-writer posed and answered the question this way: “Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free? No, there’s a cross for everyone, and there’s a cross for me.”
Jesus looked beyond the pain and shame of the cross to the joy that lay before Him. By faith Jesus knew He was destined for the joy of reunion with His Father and the joy of completing His mission on earth. Thus, He has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne. Jesus stayed focused on the finish line of His mission and He endured all the trials that came to Him. Because Jesus is the source of faith, believers too can run life’s race confidently and with endurance.
NEXT SUNDAY’S LESSON, “HOPE THAT LIVES,” BASED ON 1 PETER 1:3-13, 18-21, FOCUSES ON THE CONTENT AND BASIS FOR CHRISTIAN HOPE. A.V. DAUGHERTY