Sermons

Living by Faith

Hebrews 11

 

In my last three sermons I want to pass on to you three crucial truths which have shaped me over the years.  Today I am going to talk about living by faith, next Sunday Christ-centered community, and the following Sunday Christ-glorifying mission.

 

And what I want to pass on to you about living by faith is found in Hebrews 11.  So let’s turn there.  If you need a Bible, please raise your hand and we will bring one to you.  Hebrews 11 is on page 1007 in the Bibles we are passing out.

 

The summer before my last year in high school, God mercifully changed my heart, gave me faith, and saved me through Jesus Christ.  I remember one night as I was lying in bed worshiping Jesus Christ – and I was so filled with love for him -- his death, his resurrection,  his majesty – that I was weeping with joy. 

 

But even though I was saved by faith, I did not know that the Christian life was to be lived by faith.  I thought it was just lived by will-power.

 

So if I was impatient, I just tried hard to be patient.  If I was angry, I just tried hard to stop being angry.  If I didn’t love someone, I just tried hard to love them.  If I wasn’t interested in reading the Bible, I just tried hard to feel interested.  If I didn’t want to go to church, I just made myself go to church.

 

But that didn’t work.  Because even though my will-power could often change my outer actions, it could not change my heart.  I could make myself open the Bible, but I could not make myself love God’s word.  I could force myself to go to church, but I could not force myself to delight in God.

 

As a result, my heart grew farther and farther from God, sin’s power grew stronger and stronger, and I became more and more discouraged.

 

But then I went to seminary, and God used my father’s classes to help me see what I was doing wrong.  In Scripture after Scripture he showed me that the Christian life was to be lived by faith.  And as he explained what that meant, and as I started intentionally living by faith – everything changed. 

 

Again and again I experienced the Holy Spirit changing my heart – filling me with love for Christ, freeing me from sin, motivating me to live for his glory.  And best of all, I had times when God made his presence so real that I wanted nothing besides him.

 

And all that came by faith.  And that’s what I want to pass on to you this morning, from Hebrews 11.  This is called the faith chapter.  We aren’t going to read through the whole chapter, but I am going to point out three truths about faith from this chapter.

 

First, the Christian life is to be lived by faith. 

 

How are we supposed to live the Christian life?  If we are struggling with sin or motivation, what is it that we need?  Over the years I’ve heard that to live the Christian life we need self-esteem, or gratitude, or full-surrender, or believing all we are in Christ.

 

But Hebrews 11 gives a different answer.  Look at how the men and women in Hebrews 11 live the Christian life –

 

Vs. 4 – By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice

Vs. 5 – By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death

Vs. 7 – By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark

Vs. 8 – By faith Abraham obeyed

Vs. 9 – By faith he went to live in the land of promise

Vs. 11 – By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive

Vs. 17 – By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac

Vs. 20 – By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau

Vs. 21 – By faith Jacob, when dying, blest each of the sons of Joseph

Vs. 22 – By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites

Vs. 23 – By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents

Vs. 24 – By faith Moses, when he was growing up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter

 

By faith, by faith, by faith, by faith.  The author of Hebrews is telling us that the Christian life is to be lived by faith.  Faith is not just how we begin the Christian life.  Faith is how we are to continue the Christian life.

 

But many Christians think they live by faith, when all they’re doing is living by willpower.  But if you are feeling impatient, and just try hard to stop feeling impatient, that’s not faith.  That’s just willpower.  And it won’t work.

 

But Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and Sarah, and the rest of the men and women in Hebrews 11 didn’t just live by willpower.  They lived by faith.  And because they lived by faith, they experienced  God’s power giving them patience, filling them with joy, and enabling them to love others.

 

But for this to happen we have to understand what faith really is.  And that’s the second truth I want to point out from this chapter – faith means trusting that, because of Christ, God will reward those who seek him.  You can see that in Hebrews 11:6 –

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.

 

Here the author says it is impossible to please God unless you have faith.  And then he explains why that’s true: it’s because if you are going to draw near to God you must believe that he exists and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.  So faith means trusting that God will reward those who seek him.

 

And that’s why the Bible is full of God’s promises – promises of what God will do for us.  But what is the focus of God’s promises?  What is the reward?  It’s not health, or wealth, or earthly comfort.  That’s small potatoes. 

 

We can see what the reward is here in Hebrews 11.  Look at versus 9-10 –

9          By faith he [Abraham] went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.

10        For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

So the reward Abraham was looking forward to is heaven – the city whose designer and builder is God. 

 

And why is heaven such a great reward?  Look at Hebrews 12:14 –

14        Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Here heaven is summed up as seeing the Lord.  Here’s what this means.  We are all wired to find our greatest joy in seeing greatness.  That’s why people go to Dubai to see the tallest building, or India to see the Taj Mahal, or Yosemite to see Half Dome.  Our greatest joy is seeing greatness, and the infinitely greatest greatness is God himself as revealed in Jesus Christ.

 

Think of Jesus’ power – healing a man paralyzed from birth.  Or Jesus’ compassion – welcoming and praying for little children.  Or Jesus’ justice – throwing the money changers out of the temple.  Or Jesus mercy – continuing to suffer on the cross until all your sins were paid for and he could say “it is finished!”

 

The greatest greatness in existence is God as revealed in Christ.  So your greatest joy, highest pleasure, and deepest satisfaction is seeing God as revealed in Christ.  God gives us tastes of that now, and will give us the full banquet in heaven.

 

But that raises a question: how can God reward sinful people like us? Even at our best moments, our motives have sin mixed in.  And at our worst moments, we are full of sin.  But God is perfectly righteous and just, and will not look favorably upon anything sinful.

 

So how can God reward sinful people with the joy of beholding him?  It’s not because we finally are good enough to deserve it.  It’s only because Jesus Christ was punished for our sin on the cross.  Because you are trusting Jesus Christ all your sins are forgiven, and because all your sins are forgiven God can reward you with the joy of beholding him.

 

So according to Hebrews 11:6, faith means trusting that, because of Christ, God will reward those who seek him with the joy of beholding him now and forever.

 

So if that’s what faith is, what does it mean to live by faith?  That’s the third truth – living by faith means fighting to see God as our reward.  We can see that in the example of Moses, in verses 24-26.

 

Although Moses was an Israelite, he had been adopted into Pharaoh’s family, and enjoyed massive wealth and every comfort.  But the rest of Israel were slaves, who lived with suffering and poverty.  But God called Moses to leave all his wealth, and join the people of Israel in slavery.

 

And Moses obeyed.  But how did he obey?  Was it will-power?  Did he try really hard to stop thinking about the wealth?  Did he roll up his sleeves and work on not fearing the suffering and slavery?  How did Moses obey?

 

The author tells us in verses 24-26 –

24        By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,

25        choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

26        He considered the reproach of Christ [that is, suffering with Christ’s people] greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

 

So how did Moses obey?  The answer is in the first two words of verse 24 – “by faith.”  And we can see what that meant in the last seven words of verse 26 – “for he was looking to the reward.”

 

Over here was the lavish wealth of Egypt.  Over here was suffering with God’s people.  And Moses looked at the lavish wealth of Egypt, and suffering with God’s people, and he considered suffering with God’s people greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt.  Why?

 

Not because of his will-power, or his devotion, or his dedication.  It was because he was looking to the reward.  He had experienced times of beholding God, fellowshipping with God, worshiping God -- and he knew that seeing God brought far greater joy than Egypt’s wealth.

 

And because God was calling him to suffer with God’s people, he knew that would be the path in which he would receive the reward.  It was the worth of the reward that set him free from Egypt’s wealth so he could obey God and join Israel in their slavery.

 

But Moses was a sinful man, just like the rest of us.  And so, just like the rest of us, sin would often cloud his vision so he could not see God as his reward.  So what did he do?  Here’s where will-power comes in.  He turned to God, just as he was.  He trusted God’s mercy to forgive him by faith alone.  He cried out to God to free him from sin’s power so he could see God as his reward.  And he read the Scriptures, and reflected on God’s mighty acts, and read the Scriptures some more, and prayed some more – until he once again saw and felt God as his reward.

 

So the Christian life does take effort.  It does require will-power.  But we don’t focus our willpower on feeling or doing certain things.  We focus our willpower on praying and meditating on God’s word until God supernaturally changes our hearts so we once again see and feel that he is our all-satisfying reward.

 

And when we do --

• We will be patient, because we know our future is full of joy.
• We will love others, because our hearts will be full of hope.
• We will pray, and read God’s word, because we will want tastes of the reward.
• We will turn from sin, because we won’t want to lose the reward.
• We will reach out to the lost, because we want them to have the reward, and because any persecution will receive more of the reward.

 

That will happen as we focus our willpower on praying and meditating on God’s word until God supernaturally changes our hearts so we once again see and feel him as our all-satisfying reward. 

 

So I want to call you to spend time doing that every morning.  I want to call you to take time every morning, before you head into the busyness of your day, and through prayer and meditation on God’s word to behold him as your reward.  I want to call you to set aside time restock all the busyness, set everything else aside, open up your Bible, and pray, and read, and pray, and read – until you see and feel God in Christ as your all-satisfying reward.

 

That’s what George Mueller did.  George Mueller was used by God to raise up dozens of orphanages in England in the 1800s.  And here’s how George Mueller lived by faith –

 

I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord… to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; so that my heart might be brought into experiential communion with the Lord …

 

The first thing I did, after having asked the Lord’s blessing upon His precious Word, was to begin to meditate on the Word of God; searching, as it were, into every verse, to get blessing out of it … for the sake of obtaining food for my own soul.

 

The result of this is … that my inner man almost invariably is even sensibly nourished and strengthened and that by breakfast time, with rare exceptions, I am in a peaceful if not happy state of heart. [Paraphrased]

 

The Christian life is to be lived by faith.  Faith means trusting that, because of Christ, God will reward those who seek him with the joy of beholding him.  And living by faith means fighting to see God as your reward.

 

Do that, at the beginning of every day.