The Life of Faith
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
1. Faith defined. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews opens with something that is very definite it is a definition of faith. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Faith takes hold of a promise from God, and turns it into substance. Faith is the substance of things hoped for; it reaches out into coming things, and creates them into present realities. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Of course, this evidence of things not seen, becomes seen, after faith grips it.
How wonderful is faith! The Bible says, "Have faith in God." If we were asked to have faith in one another, or in the things of men, we would have just cause for hesitancy; but there is no need for unbelief in God. We can believe Him implicitly and fully. Are we ready to step out in naked faith upon the great promises of God?
2. Faith obtains a good report. This is the statement of Hebrews 11:2. The chapter we have to study is God's enrollment of those who had a good report; it is God's galaxy of heroes; it is God's star-cluster of the mighty, who gave Him honor in their lives. Every one of them had his name enrolled among those who were accepted by the Almighty because of the faith that moved them.
3. Faith understands what the mind cannot grasp. The third verse says, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." Mark you, it says, "Through faith we understand." Here is a mind renewed by the touch of the Spirit of God. We simply take the open statement of the Bible, "In the beginning God created," and we believe that the word "created" means exactly what this Hebrews 11:3 means "So that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." Faith understands that the worlds were made by God's fiat, His spoken Word. Here is a sure encouragement for faith.
4. Faith delights to walk in the impossible. Faith believes because God says it, and knows that, because He has spoken, it will surely come to pass. We do not need either to understand or to comprehend the great promises underlying all of God's Word. We can believe, and believing be blessed.
I. THE FAITH OF ABEL (Hebrews 11:4)
Here was the third man. There was Adam, then Adam's eldest son, Cain, and then Abel.
1. The faith of Abel was a faith where death reigned. The Bible tells us that through one man's sin, death entered into the world. It also says that death reigned; and a dead man cannot believe except he be quickened of God. Here was a man born in sin, born outside the Garden of Eden, and yet this man believed in God unto life eternal.
2. The faith of Abel was a faith that offered a sacrifice of blood. Cain brought, as an offering to God, the first fruits of the ground. He knew nothing better or higher than the mere passing of respects with God. Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock. God says that it was faith that caused Abel to offer a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.
Abel came as a suppliant of grace, confessing himself a sinner and seeking redemption by the way of the Cross. Abel's sacrifice of the firstling of his flock intelligently anticipated the death of our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross. God was not well pleased with the slaying of bulls, and goats, and calves, and lambs, excepting as in this sacrifice the people looked forward to the great supreme Sacrifice, when Christ would give Himself, the Just for the unjust.
3. The faith of Abel was a faith acceptable to God. The last clause of our verse says that God testified of Abel's gifts, that he was righteous. This testimony was something he obtained from God. The verse concludes by saying, "And by it (that is, by Abel's faith) he being dead yet speaketh." The faith of Abel comes down to us today, and what wonderful things it tells us of trust in the Atonement!
II. THE FAITH OF ENOCH (Hebrews 11:5-6)
1. The faith of Enoch was manifested in the midst of a world filled with wickedness. Enoch lived in the midst of a world fast hastening to its doom of iniquity.
During Enoch's life, he walked with God for three hundred years. We do not, for one moment, think that it was easier for Enoch, in an age that began with sin in the Garden of Eden, and ended with the Flood and the near destruction of the race, to live a righteous life, and to walk with God, than it is for us in this day of advancement, and knowledge, and of the Holy Ghost.
2. The faith of Enoch was a faith that translated him to God in Heaven. We are told in the Book of Jude that Enoch prophesied (Judges 1:14-15).
The word "ungodly" occurs four times; it was descriptive of the age in which Enoch preached. It was in such an age so that, and in such a time as that, that Enoch prophesied of the Coming of the Lord. Surely we, who live today with the Corning of our Lord at our very doors, should have faith to proclaim it. Enoch was suddenly translated, perhaps as an illustration of the translation of those who are in Christ at His Coming.
3. By faith Enoch had a testimony that he pleased God. Do you yet believe there is anything else that will please God like believing Him? Do you think that unbelief pleases Him? And do you think that doubt is crowned with His blessing? If we are going to please God, we must believe Him; believe Him not only in the simple things of life, but in the intricate; believe Him not only in the possible, but in the impossible.
Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him."
III. THE FAITH OF NOAH (Hebrews 11:7)
1. The faith of Noah was a faith manifested in the final climax of man's unbelief. If Enoch lived in the middle period of the time from Adam to the Flood, Noah lived at the time of the Flood. Enoch lived with sin fast encroaching over the world; Noah lived when he and his immediate family, eight in all, were alone righteous before God. We think, sometimes, that our environment is such that we cannot successfully live for the One who died for us; certainly Noah had a far darker environment,
2. The faith of Noah was a faith that believed God concerning the coming of the Flood. Because God warned Noah that He would send a Flood upon all the earth, Noah simply believed that the Flood would come. Has not God warned us that there is an era of unparalleled judgment about to fall upon this earth judgment, not of water, to be sure, but of fire? There will be earthquakes, and thunders, and voices. God Himself will pour out the vials of His wrath. Do we believe it? If we do, why do we not say that we believe it?
3. The faith of Noah prepared an ark to the saving of his house. God warned Noah, and told him to build the ark. Noah set about to build it. It was not the work of a day, of a week, or of a year; but of many, many years that the ark was in building. Noah prepared an ark to the saving of his house amid the taunts and jeers of the populace. Faith never halts because the world mocks; faith builds on, and preaches on, expecting God to do what He has said He would do.
4. The faith of Noah condemned the world, and made him an heir of the righteousness which is by faith, Noah condemned the world, because, by faith, he gave the world an opportunity to enter the ark and be saved. He became an heir to the righteousness which is by faith, because his faith was an all-victorious faith, which God crowned with approval.
IV. THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM (Hebrews 11:8-19)
We have previously considered the faith of Abraham, so We will pick out only a few points here.
1. Abraham's faith stepped forward, giving substance to things not SEEN. He accepted an inheritance which he should afterward receive. He never did receive it, but he will receive it. To be sure he dwelt in the land of Canaan, but he never inherited the land of Canaan. It was inherited many years later under Joshua; it was inherited by the edge of a sword, by Joshua's conquest of seven strong kings. Abraham had faith to take something that his seed of many generations beyond him, received.
2. Abraham's faith made him a satisfied sojourner in the land of promise. To him it was a strange country? in which he dwelt in tents or tabernacles, bringing up his son Isaac after him. If some one says that Abraham never received what his faith claimed, we answer that he did not personally expect to receive it, save as he received it through his heirs, who, with him, inherited the same promises. He personally, the Bible tells us, "Looked for a City which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God."
Let us join Abraham in his faith, and reckon ourselves strangers and pilgrims, with no certain abiding place. Let us arm ourselves with faith to pierce the distant blue, and We read that God was not ashamed of Abraham. Is He ashamed of us? If faith pleases Him, then our unbelief shames Him, and displeases Him.
V. THE FAITH OF MOSES' PARENTS (Hebrews 11:23)
1. The faith of Moses' parents faced an edict of destruction. Pharaoh had announced that all the male children should be slain. It was during this period that Moses was born. What did faith do? Did faith admit that Pharaoh had so much authority and power, that God could not cope with it? Not at all. Faith took Moses, put him in an ark of bulrushes, and laid him by the river's brink. Here is a faith that could believe in the darkest hour.
We can almost see the plans of the parents for the protection of Moses.
2. The faith of the parents of Moses took away all fear from them. We read, "And they were not afraid of the king's commandment." Was Daniel afraid? Were the three Hebrew children afraid? You say that it was very wonderful that the parents of Moses did not tremble. All the other boy babies were being killed, but they simply knew that their little baby was safe and secure from all harm. Are we going to sit quietly down and allow the Old Testament saints, men and women alike, to outdo us in the faith? Shall we tremble where they trembled not? Shall we quake where they rejoiced?
3. The faith of the parents of Moses saw that Moses was a proper child. Perhaps you think that means that they thought that he was pretty, or that he was precious. We think that they saw that he was a child of destiny, a child marked of God, and a child chosen among others. As long as God is leading us, and is desirous of some present or future service, the devil himself has no power to touch us until that work is completed.
VI. THE FAITH OF MOSES (Hebrews 11:24-29)
Now we come to a character that we need to consider. Here is the little baby now grown. The Bible says, "he was come to years." Let us see what his faith did.
1. Moses, by faith, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. This may not seem to be much at first, but if you want to know what it meant, read the next statement, "Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." In other words, it meant that Moses turned away from the pleasures of sin and chose, in their place, the pathway of suffering. It meant also that Moses refused the riches of Egypt's treasures, because he looked forward to a day when he would enter in, through the reproach of Christ, to greater riches. Do we have a faith that says "No" to the world, to opportunity, to pleasure, to riches, and to honor, and says "yes" to God?
2. Moses, by faith, forsook, Egypt. He did this without fearing the wrath of the king. His parents were not afraid of the king's commandment; now Moses, their son, was not afraid of the king's wrath. The faith of Moses grips us tremendously. He saw with the eye of faith, and beheld Him who is invisible to the natural eye. This is the reason he endured, and pressed on his way.
3. Moses, by faith, kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood. Moses believed that in every home where there was no blood, the first-born would be stricken and destroyed. Moses believed, moreover, that wherever the blood was sprinkled, nothing could touch the first-born to destroy him. Do we feel just as safe, sheltered in the Blood of Christ? Certainly we should have no fear. If Paul said, "I know whom I have believed," may we not, in faith, say as much? Has not God said that, these words are written unto you that believe, that ye may know that ye have life? Thus it was that Moses, by faith, led the Children of Israel through the Red Sea, as by dry land.
VII. BY FAITH THE WALLS OF JERICHO FELL DOWN (Hebrews 11:30-31)
1. The faith that faces the impossible. Did you ever hear of any walls falling down by a group of people marching around them again and again? No such thing ever happened, except at Jericho, Other walls have fallen, but they fell under the shock of a terrific attack, under the blows of battering-rams, or of the bursting of shells. The walls of Jericho, however, fell down by none of these. Our verse tells us "they were compassed about seven days." Would you have been willing to join with the Children of Israel in the march?
When the women came to the sepulcher there was a great stone which had been rolled against the opening of the sepulcher where our Lord had lain in death. The women were saying, "Who shall roll us away the stone?"
How oft do we wonder what God will do,
When a stone looms up, and we cannot get through.
Yet when we get there, there is something new,
For our stone is gone, and our sky is blue,
And the Lord is by to lead us through,
And victory crowns our day.
2. The faith that faces the jeers of men. No one, before them, had ever walked around any walls and saw them fall down; yet Israel walked on. They walked on with so much faith and assurance, that God had to tell them not to shout the shout of victory, till the moment arrived for them to shout. Thus, by faith, the walls of Jericho fell down.
Now let us be honest. Have we ever caused any walls to fall down? Does our faith reach, let alone surpass, the faith of those of whom we study today? Let us not talk about what they did by faith, but let us talk about what we have not done.
3. By faith a part of the wall of Jericho did not fall down. Whose faith was it that kept up part of the wall, when all the rest fell? The place where Rahab's house was built stood. Hers did not fall down, and it fell not because she believed God, and, believing, she put out the scarlet cord. When the judgments of God fall upon the wicked, they will not fall upon us, if we are the children of God by faith.
AN ILLUSTRATION
The morning we left Wales for London on our way to Africa, the Lord tested us. We had been given large gifts for our outfit, etc., but the Lord had not allowed us to keep a penny for the train fare to London. We were to leave before the post that morning, the Lord having only given us 10/- the night before, and the fare would be nearly £2. Scores of people were at the Railway Station to see us off, telling us how they were going to pray for us; but the thought came, "If only they would give us 30/- now, it would be better than all the future prayers they promise to make for us!" The Lord held back the deliverance and the time for departure came, so another Golden Rule had to be put into practice: we had to go to our extremity before we could put our claim on God to deliver us.
So we took 10/- worth of fare to a junction where there was an hour to wait for the connection to London. Two compartments were full of Christian friends seeing us off as far as the Junction, singing Revival Choruses, but although we joined with them, we did think that we should be able to sing a little better if we had our tickets! At this Junction, the Lord took the test to a higher point of Faith. The time for the London train drew near and still there was no sign of a deliverance. Then the Holy Spirit asked, "If you had the money with you, what would you do?" The answer was, "Take my place in the queue." "Well, if you preach that 'Faith is Substance,' act on that now." The next thing was that I found myself in the queue, with about ten people in front of me, but I could not help wishing that there were twenty there, so as to give me more time to pray! How I sympathized with Moses, with the Red Sea in front of him, and the Egyptians behind! I had preached on it many a time, and had blamed Moses because he had not been steadier in the test, but I found that all my preaching had been imagination up to that moment, seeing that a man must have the experience of being shut in with God, before he can blame the heroes of Faith (Hebrews 11:1-40). When there was only one person before me taking his ticket, a man stepped forward from the crowd, saying that he had no time to wait for the train, shook hands with me, and left 30/- in my hand, and I sang the "Song of Moses!" Before the train actually left the platform, the people who had come to see us off poured money into our hands, and that same evening, Mr. Albert H. Head, who took personal interest in us and gave us hundreds of pounds, gave us a gift of £50. Publisher Unknown.