The Nature of Faith

The other day I visited the National Mountaineering Exhibition – a kind of Hall of Fame of half crazy climbers. Some people have done the most astounding things on mountains. We saw a catalogue of ferocious conditions, danger, sometimes death, and phenomenal physical achievement. Like Edward Whymper in the 1860's struggling again and again to be the first man to the summit of the Matterhorn in the Alps, until he finally made it, only for four of his party to fall to their deaths during the descent. The more I saw, the more I was filled with admiration for the endurance and physical prowess displayed. And the more sure I was that mountaineering isn't for me. Indeed, there was a kind of subtext throughout the display, to the effect that these were extraordinary individuals, and we should not try this ourselves.

Today we start a new series on Hebrews 11. Would you please turn to that. It's on p 1209 of the bibles in the pews.

Hebrews 11 is also a kind of Hall of Fame – not of mountaineering but of faith. It is full to the brim with famous examples of believers from the Old Testament and their exploits. Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, Samuel, David – they're all here.

But Hebrews 11 is not like that exhibition: we aren't meant simply to gawp in amazement at these feats of faith. The message of Hebrews 11 is that what drove these people to do the things they did must drive us too. What we see here is the extraordinary impact of what should be ordinary faith. The subtext of this display of faith is: you must be like this yourself. Ultimate danger lies in living without faith in Christ, or in abandoning the life of faith. Ultimate security lies in living by faith.

Indeed that is the key message of this whole bible book. So 3.12 warns:

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

And 10.39 leads into chapter 11 with these words:

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

Well, this morning we're covering the first seven verses of Hebrews 11, and I want to ask three questions of this passage: first, 'What is faith?'; secondly, 'Why do we need faith?'; and thirdly, 'What can we learn from examples of faith?'


First, WHAT IS FAITH?

In general, faith is certainty about what we haven't experienced. And in particular, it is knowing that what God says is true and acting on it. Look at 1-3:

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Faith is knowing that certain things are real, even though you don't know them from experience. If you have direct experience of something, then your knowledge of it is not a matter of faith. It is not a matter of faith for me that you are sitting there. I can see you. If you're behind a column it may be a matter of faith for you that I'm here, but let's not confuse ourselves.

As Christians, we are called to live by faith. That means that the realities on which we are to build our lives are not things of which we have direct experience. The apostles saw Jesus raised from the dead. They knew it happened because they experienced it. We haven't. We didn't see Jesus raised from the dead. We don't see Jesus ruling the universe. We don't yet see Jesus coming again to bring in judgement day. We live by faith and not by sight. We know these things to be true and real, but we don't see them.

Now maybe you're not a Christian and you think that we're asking you to take a blind, utterly irrational leap into the dark if you're to start living by faith. But that is not so. There are many things that all of us know to be real without seeing them, on the basis of reliable authority. And that is the nature of Christian faith: we base our lives on facts we know to be true because God has told us, and he is utterly reliable.

So in general, faith is being certain about things we haven't experienced. But in particular, it is taking God at his word. That's the point of verse 3 here. How do we 'understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible'? We know it because God tells us in his Word – in Genesis chapter 1 to be precise – and we trust what he says.

And what is the essential content of this faith that takes God at his word? It is Christ. The word of God – the Bible – tells us about Christ, and because we take God at his word, we know that Christ Jesus is the Saviour and the Lord.

So Hebrews says, in 2.8-9:

… at present we do not see everything subject to [Jesus]. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death…

In other words, we don't see Jesus with our eyes, but we do see him by faith – with the eyes of faith. We know without seeing. And 9.27-28 summarises the content of the faith of which Hebrews speaks:

Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgement, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

That is the certain hope that comes from faith that takes God at his word.

And the test of the reality of such faith is whether we act on it. If we really know these things to be true and real, then we will submit the whole of our lives to the direction of God's word and the lordship of Christ. The kind of faith that is being talked about here in Hebrews 11 has a radical effect on the way that we live our lives.

What is faith? It is knowing for sure that Christ is Lord, even though we don't see it, because we take God at his word. And when we do have that knowledge, it has a profound impact on every aspect of our lives.


Secondly, WHY DO WE NEED FAITH?

This faith is not an optional extra, like a ring in the lower lip that might suit Posh Spice but isn't quite my thing thank you very much. Every one of us needs faith. Why?

We need faith if we are to be saved from future destruction. 10.39 again:

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

You see the opposite of faith is not some zone of spiritual neutrality. Just as faith encompasses the whole of our lives, so does unbelief. Just consider unbelief from Christ's point of view for a moment. Unbelief is a deep rejection of God that engulfs every aspect of our lives, and leads us to turn our backs on Christ and live for ourselves as if he didn't exist. And to live like that is to be on the road to judgement and destruction. We need faith if we are to be saved from future destruction.

We also need faith if we are to understand the universe. It is by faith that we know the truth about the creation, and our place in it, and the significance of our lives, and the power of the word of God who brought the universe into existence with a command. We understand life by hearing the word of God and allowing our world-view to be shaped by what he says. Close our ears to God's word through unbelief, and we are in the dark.

Recently Douglas Adams died. He was the writer of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', in which a giant computer works away for ages computing the answer to the question: What is the meaning of life, the universe and everything? Eventually it comes up with the solution: 42. This, said one obituarist, remembering him, was facetious but in fact Douglas Adams was deeply concerned with the question of the meaning of life.

I know nothing of Douglas Adams' faith or lack of it. Hebrews, though, is quite clear that we cannot pretend to be serious about the question if we will not listen to the answer that God has given us in Jesus. We need faith to understand life.

Then we need faith if we are to be pleasing to God. Verse 2 says that 'the ancients' (not very old people but people who lived a very long time ago) were commended for their faith. By whom? By God. God likes it when we listen to him. God approves when we stop trying to save and believe his promises and trust his Son. And verse 6 really gets down to basics:

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Of course we cannot be acceptable to God if we refuse to accept that he's even there, or if we imagine some different god to suit ourselves. But when we do have faith – when we take God at his word – then, as Hebrews 4.16 puts it, we can …

… approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Christ will never turn us away. Like the father of the prodigal son, he will welcome us with open arms. We will be pleasing to him. And the thought that we of all people, with our track record of rebellion, could please God is mind-blowingly wonderful. But we need faith if we are to be pleasing to God.

We also need faith if we are to leave a lasting, valuable legacy. Why are all these peoples' names recorded in this chapter? Is it because of their intellects? Or their wealth? Or their political power? Or their hat trick for England? Or their dress sense? Or any of the things that seem to bring people to the attention of the world? No. It is their faith. If you want to leave a legacy to the next generation that has enduring, eternal value, then leave them the legacy of a life lived by faith in Christ.

Take Vivienne's grandmother. A scullery maid at Cragside before the First World War. A hard worker. In one sense nobody out of the ordinary, and with no worldly success. But as we look back on her long life, we praise God for her because of her consistent faith in Christ. That example is a wonderful blessing to leave to subsequent generations.

Why do we need faith? For the sake of future generations; so that we can make sense of life; so that we can escape eternal destruction; and so that we can please God.


Thirdly, WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM EXAMPLES OF FAITH?

There are three individuals spoken of briefly in our verses. Let's consider each of them by way of introduction to this amazing catalogue of faith.

First, there is Abel. Verse 4:

By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

The account of Cain and Abel's different sacrifices in Genesis 4 gives little detail. It may be that Abel's sacrifice of 'fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock' represented the very best he had to offer, whereas Cain's offering of 'some of the fruits of the soil' might indicate that he kept back the best for himself. What is clear is that Abel's attitude was right, and Cain's was not. The way that Cain's subsequent resentment lead to the murder of Abel leaves us in no doubt about that. So why was Abel's sacrifice better? Why did it please God? Because it was a response of faith.

What's the lesson? God sees the heart. He looks right into us and what he looks for is faith. We cannot pull the wool over his eyes with any amount of church-going or contributions to good causes or evenings given up to church activities. If at the root of it all is resentment, we won't fool God. But if it all flows from faith and gratitude for Jesus, then God will know. God sees the heart.

Secondly, there is Enoch. Verse 5:

By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.

The account of Enoch makes that of Abel look positively verbose. Genesis 5.24:

Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

After walking through his earthly life with God, Enoch was taken to eternity without experiencing physical death. What's the lesson? Surely it is a powerful example of a general truth: that God gives eternal life to those who have faith in him. His journey was unusual. His destination was that of all faithful people.

Then thirdly there's Noah. Verse 7:

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Noah is a classic example of faith that takes God at his word without yet seeing what he says. And he's a very important example of a lesson that applies to all believers then and now: the life of faith is lived in an openly unbelieving world. The world scoffs at faith. There's nothing new about that. It always has and it always will, until the day Christ returns. The environment in which our faith must thrive is a tough one. We'd better get used to that, as Noah did.

So there's Abel and Enoch and Noah, our brother believers. God sees the heart. God gives eternal life to those who have faith in him. The life of faith is lived in an unbelieving and scoffing world.

I read recently about a woman who had despised and hated Christians until she was converted to Christ herself. Through her testimony and by reading the Bible, her husband and children all put their faith in Christ too. Her parents-in-law come from a wealthy and influential family of land-owners, who are violently opposed to the family's new Christian faith. They have dispossessed the family who now have no source of income. The family has moved away and are living in hiding.

Now why is it that people are prepared apparently to wreck their lives and the lives of their families in that way? There is a one-word answer to that. Faith. A faith that looks beyond the present to a sure and certain future. A faith that walks with Christ by his Spirit. A faith that takes God at his word, submitting the whole of life to his direction.

That's the faith to which Christ calls each of us. He is trustworthy. Don't listen to all the voices that tell you otherwise. Don't let what you see now direct your life. Trust Christ in such a way that your faith shapes the whole of your life.