About Jesus    -  Steve Sweetman

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Chapters 11  

ch. 11:1-39    

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By Faith  (ch. 11:1-39)

This is the famous “faith chapter” that every preacher preaches about sooner or later.  The chapter begins with this verse.  “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see”.  As I often say, faith in its simplest definition means to trust in Jesus.  Therefore the author of this letter is telling his readers that true trust in Jesus is being sure of what we hope for and certain about those things that can’t be been seen. 

Thus faith is a present reality.  We are trusting Jesus for something that He has promised us in the future.  Faith is related to hope. We can hope for something to come about in the future, and there is nothing wrong  with that.  Hope is actually a New Testament virtue to have.  Yet faith is stronger than hope.  Faith is being sure that what you are hoping for will come about.  Yet this faith is still futuristic.  Faith is still being sure of something that has not yet come true, at least as seen in this verse.  “Ultra faith” people suggest to us that this faith as seen here means that we are to act as if what we are hoping for has already happened.  This  is not right.  This verse says nothing like that.  This verse speaks of faith being connected to hope, and that hope is futuristic.  It speaks of believing in Jesus “even though we do not have what we hope for”.  Therefore we should not make this verse say something it does not say. 

I often hear people say, “I need more faith”, as if faith is something that you can reach out and take.  When faith is expressed this way, it paints the picture that faith is reaching out, pushing the envelope, or an aggressive attempt to believe.  Yet faith is not that.  I view faith as a surrendering of ones self to God. I see faith as simply trusting, relaxing because you are sure of your trust in God.  When we say that we need more faith, as if faith can be gotten, I believe we have the wrong concept of faith.  A better way of saying this would be, “I need to trust Jesus more”,  or “ I need to sit back and relax and allow Jesus to do His will”.  This is why I say faith is more of a surrender to Jesus than aggressive grasping.  The only aggressive aspect of faith would be the outworking of it, that is, stepping out and doing God’s will.  I am not suggesting that we should be passive in our lifestyle, because faith has a productive side to it.  True faith results in actions.  Yet the actions are a result of simple trust, not aggressive attempts to believe, not even mental trickery that makes you think you have something you don't.  When we have faith, we relax in our trust in Him.           

When the writer uses the words, “certain of what we do not see”, he could be speaking of one of two things.  He could be saying that we are certain of the things in the future that we don’t see, or he could be saying that we are certain of that unseen world around us in which Jesus is Lord.  We are certain of the realities of this world, thus we can have true faith, or true trust in Jesus.  Christian trust is in fact trusting someone that we can't see.  Jesus commended Thomas and the rest of the disciples because they believed, but then He said that blessed are those who believe yet have not seen. (John  20:29)  I believe Jesus  is speaking of those who would believe after He left this world.

In the second verse the writer says that “this is what the ancients were commended for”.  By this he means that many men and women in Old Testament days were spoken well of because of their trust in God, even though for many, they did not see the results of their trust.  Not all received what was being trusted for in this life.  Therefore most of the remaining verses in this chapter are examples of these men and women of faith.

The first example the writer uses concerns God Himself in the creation process.  The verse says that we trust God that all things were made by His command.  The writer also says that the things that we can see that God made were not made from other visible things.  God merely spoke everything into existence.  God made something out of nothing.  He did not make something out of something.  Because of the use of the words “seen” and “visible” is why I say that the unseen things in verse one means the invisible world around us, and not necessarily unseen future things. 

The first man of faith spoken of is Abel.  He trusted God in his heart, and that's why he is seen as a man of faith.  Some say God accepted his sacrifice because it was an animal sacrifice, and Cain's wasn't.  But that's not really the issue.  If you read the Genesis account carefully, you will see that God's acceptance of Abel was strictly a matter of the heart.  He had faith in his heart and Cain didn't.  Cain offered a grain sacrifice, and according to the Law of Moses that was still some distance in the future, there were grain sacrifices to be offered.   Simply put, Abel's heart was right before the Lord, and Cain's wasn't. 

In verse 5 it says that Enoch, as he was taken up into Heaven, trusted God in the process.  This man according to the Old Testament account did not experience death.  Some people say that he did not die, why others say that his death is  just not recorded.  The Genesis account also tells us that Enoch walked with God.  Walking with God implies trust.  Enoch trusted God. 

Verse 6  is often quoted in faith sermons.  It says, “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”.  Simply put, we first must believe in God’s existence and then believe that He will reward us when we trust in Jesus.  Once again, our trust is in some future reward.  This is a future reward and therefore there is no hint of us having to act as if we have already received the reward. Faith is daily trusting Jesus for our lives, for things in the moment, or for things in the future.  If the future things we trust Him for have not yet come about, we still trust in Him. 

Noah, in verse 7 built the ark in “holy fear” because of his trust in God.  Note the words “holy fear”.  This gives me the picture that while Noah was building the ark in front of all to see, he fearfully trusted God as he poured his life into this project.  It would not surprise me to know that even though Noah trusted God, at times he had some doubts, especially in the face of those who were watching him build a boat for no apparent reason.

The word "fear" that is used in verse 7 and elsewhere in the Bible does not simply mean to reverence.  It means to be afraid.  In one real sense of the word, we need to be afraid of God.  For the most part, most of us aren't afraid of God.  Our lives prove that.  

Verse 8 tells us that Abraham trusted God when he was told to move his family to a new location.  Abraham believed God.  He trusted that God was acting in His best interest with this request. 

Abraham also trusted  God and believed Him when he was told that he would have a son.  This came about as God had promised.  The fulfillment of this promise has great significance for the salvation of man.   As we all know, this promise was fulfilled because of a miracle.  

Verse 13 is extremely important, especially in light of the “ultra faith movement”.  By this term I mean that some believe that we can speak things into existence as God Himself did at creation, and even though we may not visibly see the results, we should live as though the results have come true.  Thus, if you are sick, claim that you are already better, and go out and live as if you are already better even though in reality you are still sick.  Verse 13 says, “all these people were still living by faith when they died”.  These people did not get what they believed for, yet they did  not loose their trust in God.  The writer goes on to say, “they did not receive the things promised…”.  These people had great faith.  They trusted God and God was pleased, but they did not receive the things God promised them.  Let me repeat it again.  They did not receive God’s promise.  They died believing something that did not come about.  What does this say to the "ultra faith thinking” that says you can get everything you want from God now if you only believe, and if you don’t get these things, then you don’t believe. 

In verse 16 it says that these people “were longing for better things”.  They did not receive an earthly reward, but that did not bother them.  They were waiting for a far better reward, one they could not see, one that would come to them in eternity.  The Greek word “orego” is the word that is translated as “longing” in the NIV, or “desire” in the    KJV.  It means to “stretch out for”, or “to reach for”.  So in a figurative way these people were reaching out  for a better reward. 

Verses 17 through 20 continues to speak of Abraham.  God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac his only son, the son God promised him.  It was through Isaac that God’s promise to Abraham would come true.  It did not make much sense to kill the one through which God’s promise would come true.  Yet Abraham trusted God, that He knew what He was doing and therefore proceeded to sacrifice Isaac.  We all know the end of the story. 

Before we leave Abraham, we should understand that Abraham was far from perfect.  It is only his trust in God that allowed God to declare him as being righteous, and even his trust wavered.  Abraham left his homeland as God requested.  He had faith there, but Abraham did not go directly into Canaan as God asked.  Then once he got to Canaan , he did Not stay.  He could not trust that God would keep him through the famine that was in Canaan, so he left for Egypt .  In Egypt he lied and told people that his wife was his sister in order to save himself from harm.  This resulted in Abraham giving his wife to the King of Egypt.  So you can see, God did not declare Abraham as being righteous because of what he did, but because he had a heart that wanted to trust God, even though that wavered at times.     

In verse 20 it says that “by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau”. As Isaac prayed over his sons, he trusted His God to work out His will in their lives. The ironic thing is that there was trickery involved in this blessing.  Isaac was  giving blessing to the wrong son.  I guess he really did need to trust God.   The next verse continues on by saying that Jacob did the same with his sons.  This is still another example how God works with very imperfect people;

In verse 22 concerns Joseph, how Israel escaped from Egypt , and instructions concerning how Joseph should be buried once he died.  The text says that Joseph spoke by faith as he gave these instructionst.  You might say, and probably should say, that all we do or say should be a result of our trust in Jesus.  Therefore Joseph did everything, including speaking by faith, or by trusting in God.

The parents of Moses trusted in God as they hid there son for three months after hearing of the king's decree to kill all the young Hebrew children. They trusted that their God would look after them as well as Moses.

In verse 24 we see that Moses chose to be associated with the people of Israel rather than the King of Egypt.  In so doing he suffered persecution instead of living in pleasure.  Through all of this he trusted in Christ, as the author says.  He felt trusting in Christ was more important than living the easy life.  The writer continues to say that this trust in God was evident as well when Israel fled from Egypt .  They had lots to fear, but Moses did not fear the King, rather he trusted in His God.  This is a real example for Christians today.  It's very easy to trust in the world's system and to be influenced by it.  That should not be.  We trust God, no matter how tempting and easier it is to trust the world. 

In the midst of fleeing from the King’s army, the children of Israel came to the Red Sea .  They trusted God in their escape.  They didn't know how they'd cross the Red Sea , but God parted the waters for them. 

Reading verse 30 we see that the children of Israel marched around Jericho for seven full days, all along believing in God who would help them win the battle against this city, which they did.

In verse 31 we see that even a prostitute who trusted in the God of Israel, at least for a moment was spared destruction. 

The writer of the book of Hebrews says that he could go on in listing more examples of faith, but he stops at this point from doing so. He says that all these people’s “weakness was turned into strength” because they trusted in God. (Heb. 11:34) 

Part of the message of Paul in the New Testament is that God can be used in our weaknesses.  And really, this is how it should be.  The problem is that we try our best to make ourselves strong and rely on our abilities to do God's will.  When we do this, God's will is not done.  We only get in the way.  

In verse 35 it says that some men and women in Old Testament times were tortured and killed.  They would rather die trusting God than to live and not trust Him.  You might ask, why would God allow someone to die as they trusted Him?  Stephen in the book of Acts is a prime example of this.  As Stephen passed from life into death, he trusted His Lord every step of the way.  Anyone who dies in faith believes that there is something better for them in the next life.

Verse 36 continues on by saying that some of these people received floggings and were put into prison.  This clearly shows that even though you trust in God, life is not always easy.  Western Christianity often suggests that if we have faith in Jesus, things will go great for us.  This is not Biblical thinking.  

The list goes on concerning all the hardships that some of these people went through.  In verse 39 it says that even though these people had great faith, they did not receive what they were promised before they died.  This should tell us that we don’t trust in Jesus for what we can get from Him.  We trust Him because He is worthy of our trust, and that’s it.  These people did eventually get what was promised, because if God promises something, He will bring it to pass.  This particular promise’s fulfillment was left for a future date.  The specific promise talked about here was salvation.  The promise’s fulfillment was left until Jesus died on the cross.