Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.2
For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. 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.
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.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
We all would admit that it is a great deal easier to say to ourselves or to others, it is much more difficult to live. Sometimes people speak as if faith were the
easiest thing in all the world. They make it seem as if God’s kindness is shown in this: that instead of requiring us to keep his commandments for salvation, he lowered the bar and requires us now only to believe in him.
I have heard people say such crazy things as: I am so glad not to be in the OT where they had to live by works, we have it easier, we get to live by faith. But, of
course, such a statement is loaded with untruths.
First, the OT saint lived by faith as we do, that is one of the clearest things we learn from Hebrews 11. It is precisely their faith, the faith of those folks in
the OLD TESTAMENT that is being extolled and that is being held up to us as an example to follow!
But let’s excuse that blatant oversight and ask a different question: Is it really easy to live by faith? Do you find the Christian life of faith to be…easy…so simple,
a life filled without difficulties and void of temptations to doubt the Lord?
Faith, true faith, is the most difficult thing in the world, it runs directly counter to the entire tendency of our inner being. No one ever believes by himself or
herself. No one can believe. Faith is and must be the gift of God otherwise no one would ever believe and be saved and no one would ever be able to live in any kind of obedience to the Lord without it!
Or look at it this way: What does a person have to believe to be a Christian? Well, here is a good list: You have to believe that you are God’s creature, that you
have rebelled, that he is holy and you are guilty as a sinner before him, that he sent Jesus Christ into the world to atone for sin, that by believing in Jesus his righteousness and the virtue of his death are imputed to you so that your guilt is swept away
and you are accounted righteous in God’s sight…
But that is not all…if you believe in Jesus, then you have been made a new creature in Christ, have been given a summons to live a new life and the power to live it
even though there is much arrayed against you, trying to keep you from living it…but you must persevere…
And also, you must believe that when you die and your body is laid in the ground, your soul will be immediately and gloriously in the presence of God in heaven, and
Jesus Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead and to vindicate those who have trusted in him, and that endless bliss and perfect satisfaction of human life, body and soul, awaits, at the resurrection, those who have trusted Jesus Christ.
You have to believe this even though you can’t see any of this. You can’t prove it in a laboratory. No one ever comes back from the other world to tell us of how
things are there. The evidence of our eyes is against all of this. (RSR)
We can’t see sins forgiven, but we believe it with all our being and so much so that it has and continues to change the way we live! We can’t see the
souls of our loved ones, now in heaven, but we believe it fully and find true and abiding comfort knowing that they are in the presence of the Lord.
We believe all of this on the strength of who God is, and what God has said to us in His Holy Scripture. Christ said he would return, but it has been 2000 years! And
we have built our entire lives upon this truth and would give up our lives defending it, so certain is our faith that Jesus will do exactly what He has promised to do.
That is a lot to believe. And the proof of just how much it is to believe, is to be found in the billions of people who live in this world today, including millions
upon millions who call themselves Christians, who don’t believe it and in fact, refuse to believe it and think anyone who does believe it, to be delusional.
What these people listening to this book of Hebrews preached needed was the same kind of real faith, the same sort of confidence that possessed the people listed in
this chapter. The needed their faith strengthened so that they would persevere in being faith-FULL
When we boil it all down, is this not what we most need as well? And is it not what we so often fail to do? We know we should believe, and trust the Lord, but we look
back and realize that there has been much more checking of boxes and filling of squares, than real looking to Christ, counting on him, loving him for what he has done and will do as he has promised?
Try it today. Call yourself to attention, time after time. Make yourself do it five times this day by asking yourself a simple question: Am I in this moment, believing
and trusting the Lord my God? Is my doing, my actions, even the desires and wants of my heart flowing out of that belief? What, in this moment, is shaping my living? What promise am I sure of right now that is controlling my thoughts and words and deeds? Am
I living as one who is sure, at this moment, of what I cannot see and confident of what the Scripture teaches me to hope for?
That is living by faith…that is the life we have been called into, that is the kind of living that the Lord rewards.
Prayer: Father, forgive my wanderings and my seeking for a happiness that is as a vapor instead of seeking my life in the Savior of my soul. I confess that there
is no happiness, joy, rest or peace apart from Him and I want this day to rejoice in the seeking…to find my happiness in the knowledge that You will lead me to the green pastures and the still waters, and that true and unending happiness will be mine in fullness
when You bring me to Your home and mine, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: Adoro Te Devote
