By Faith: An Introduction

Winners, Losers, Believers

This chapter maybe,more than any other part of the written sermon called the Book of Hebrews; Ch. 11 is there to prove that the basis of OT spirituality or religion is God giving grace to undeserving people and people receiving that grace BY FAITH or TRUST. The writer demonstrates this by using like 15 specific examples (we've looked at all of them); he parades these towering figures, the B.C. heroes whom every Jewish child knew and admired: the superstars of the OT… The writer shows that they were not really all that heroic. In themselves they were a lot like we are (as in James 5.17). They became known as great doers but in reality, they were FIRST… great receivers. God poured out His grace on them and they received. This act of "active passivity," (Schaeffer), appropriating grace from God is what the Bible calls "faith". They inhaled grace "by faith" (over 20x) and that grace from God saved them, changed them, blessed them, made their lives extraordinary. And now the writer closes his argument with this final burst of rapid-fire list of (Judges, Kings and Prophets) atop the characters he's already commemorated. It's important for us to see because, in our time, the words faith/believe mean various things to various people. It's a Biblical word but often redefined or undefined. AND some Christians see faith as a one-time act and living "by faith" has little to do with the everyday spiritual life. So, let's look at: This chapter maybe more than any other part of the written sermon called the Book of Hebrews; Ch. 11 is there to prove that the basis of OT spirituality or religion is God giving grace to undeserving people and people receiving that grace BY FAITH

Wilderness Faith

Let's see next what it is about these acts of faith that we are supposed to notice. In all three of the situations, it was an act of trusting submission or submissive trust, that seemed contrary to sensory evidence, and that was exercised in the context of despair. Let me unpack that: #1 – Submissive trust #2 – That seemed contrary to sensory evidence #3 – Exercised in the context of despair

Joseph & Moses: A Future Faith

Those who do actually believe will often see the beginnings of their faith, in childhood … Even before childhood, in the faith of their parents. Probably a lot of people here today would be able to say, "since I've come to believe, I've rediscovered my past, my parents, God working in my life before I had any consciousness of that work. And now with the eyes of faith, I see God at work in my past… Even in the days before I knew Him or believed in Him at all. That's there, Moses receiving God's work in his past, BUT the big idea in both Joseph and Moses is not so much the past, but faith enabling a new posture toward the future.

Jacob & the Ol' Switcheroo

Everyone has faith and everyone sees the world through belief in something. Faith in God's promises and His acts in history, THAT'S the faith BY WHICH the Patriarchs saw God and saw themselves and saw how to live and conduct themselves in an often-hostile world. Those are actually our three points: 1. Faith is HOW to see/know God 2. Faith is HOW to see/know OURSELVES 3. Faith is HOW to see/know LIFE (it sets our course of action)

Abraham & the Only Begotten Son

If you're a Bible reader, what comes to mind when you think of Abraham? What are the big events in Abraham's life? He was called out of Ur and Babel in Mesopotamia. He received God's promise to be blessed and to BE a blessing to all nations. He received the promised son and heir and then… that big moment, the watershed, crisis-experience for Abraham – the sacrifice of Isaac. So, let's look at: #1 – the event itself – this is the third or fourth event in Abraham's life given as an example of faith – let's think about it. #2 – let's ask, "What IS it, IN the event/action, that we're meant to notice and that exemplifies faith? (What we've called "the highlighted feature".) #3 – how are WE to follow this example, how to practice this highlighted feature in our own pattern of believing?