SERMON MANUSCRIPT
The marriage covenant is entered by faith. At a wedding ceremony, the groom makes a promise to his bride. The bride hears this vow, understands its content, and believes him. She then swears the same oath, he reciprocates his faith, and they seal those vows with rings. The marriage covenant is entered by faith.
But it’s also enjoyed by faith. If they stop believing the content of their oath, the experience of the union suffers. While they remain covenantally married, if faith in parts of the promise wavers, so does the resiliency, potential, and excitement of their relationship. So, the marriage covenant is entered by faith and enjoyed by faith.
The same is true of the New Covenant. It’s entered by faith. God, because of his love for a sinful world, sent his Son, Jesus, to die in our place, promising forgiveness, empowerment, and life to all who believe in him for it. The moment an individual places their faith in the Son of God they instantly and eternally become partakers of the New Covenant, members of the Bride of Christ for whom our Groom is returning. We enter the New Covenant by faith.
But we also enjoy the New Covenant by faith. As God himself says in Hebrews 10:38, “My righteous one shall live by faith.” We’re saved by faith and then commanded to walk by faith, living our lives as though God has told the truth about who we are in Christ, what we’ve been given by Christ, and what lays ahead for us because of Christ.
When we live by faith we will not give up, shrink back, or stay down when knocked down. When we live by faith we will endure with joy, thrive in hope, serve with power, and stand with conviction. This is what the author of Hebrews wants for his original readers and what the Holy Spirit wants for you and me today. He wants those of us who are saved by faith to live by faith, patiently waiting for what we’ve been promised and weathering everything the world throws at us while we wait.
EXPLANATION OF FAITH
Hebrews 11 opens with an explanation of faith. [11:1–3] Faith has to do with understanding the unseen in light of what is seen. Faith is not blind or evidence-less. It’s dealing with the unknown based on what is known and, if what is known is sure, the result is “assurance” and “conviction” even in the face of ignorance.
This applies when we look back in time like the author does in verse 3. I wasn’t there when the world was made but I know the one who was—I’ve spoken with him, I’ve seen his power, I’ve experienced his love. So, I trust him who I know with that which I don’t. That’s faith and it requires the humble admission that we don’t know everything but that we know he who does know everything and we’re going to trust him.
A child is told by her parents that, when she graduates high school, they’ll buy her a car. She can’t see the car yet but, if she thinks her mom and dad are reliable, she’ll endure those teen years with patient and confident expectation of inevitable vehicle ownership. She’ll hope with certainty: “When I get my car, I’m road tripping every weekend!” She knows it’s just a matter of time. She may even have pictures on her phone of the car she wants and speak of it as if it’s already hers: “Here’s a picture of my car. Isn’t she beautiful?” That’s faith in the unseen—her future car—rooted in what is seen—her parent’s trustworthy words, financial security, and obvious love.
This is the faith by which God’s people throughout time have “gained approval.” They stepped into the unknown clinging to what they did know: God and his promises. And, because of that, they pleased God, were commended by God, rewarded by God.
Remember, the author of Hebrews is writing to immature and discouraged Christians who are considering walking away from Christ. And to them he says, “If you do, you’ll be going back to something deficient because Jesus is greater than everything and everyone. The way out of this mess isn’t pulling back from the faith but pressing forward in faith, to face the unknown in light of the known, the unsure in light of the sure, the pain in light of the powerful. You’ve entered the New Covenant by faith, now it’s time to enjoy it by faith.
EXAMPLES OF FAITH
And, to illustrate for his readers and motivate his readers, the author moves from an explanation of faith to some examples of faith. A lot of examples of faith. Thirty-five verses of examples of faith.
The point of this chapter is to overwhelm readers with the indisputable reality that it is possible to live by faith in the God you know regardless of the life you endure. No matter what you face, carry, endure, feel, or lose, live by faith, patiently waiting for what we’ve been promised and weathering everything the world throws at us, like these people did.
[11:4] Abel knew God deserved the best, so he sacrificed “some of the firstborn of his flock—even the fattest of them” (Gen 4:4 NET). Did it make sense to him? Who knows. Did it inspire his death at the hands of his brother? Yes. Would he do it again? For sure because his act of faith obtained for him an ongoing testimony from the mouth of God himself.
Then there’s Enoch. [11:5–6] Enoch didn’t die! Why? Because, while living at a time when evil was ravaging the earth to a point that only a global flood could cleanse it, he “walked with God” (Gen 5:24). Did he know he’d be rewarded as he was? No. But it was more important to him to please God by faith than please a world that hated God.
Speaking of the flood. [11:7] God told Noah to build a boat in the middle of nowhere before rain was a thing. Talk about “things not yet seen.” But, facing the unknown, Noah acted on what was known: God deserves reverence and obedience. Period. So, confused and ridiculed, Noah built the ark, provided the “salvation of his household” and “became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”
Do you notice a pattern? Abel, Enoch, and Noah, like us, saw “in a mirror dimly” (1 Cor 13:12). There was much they didn’t know. But they knew God and they let that guide their actions. And what did they get for their faith? One died, one never died, and one witnessed many die. The results of faith are varied but faith is constant.
And so it is for you and me. There are no guarantees when we walk by faith. We don’t know how we’ll be treated, if we’ll be healed, if we’ll succeed. That’s not the question we’re to ask. The question is, is God trustworthy or not?
The pattern continues with Abraham. [11:8–10] God told Abraham, “Go forth from your country … to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing” (Gen 12:1–3). Sounds better than spending a month on an ark filled with animal feces.
Abraham obeyed God though “not knowing where he was going” and having to live “as an alien in the land of promise … dwelling in tents [and] looking for the city” built by God. He walked by faith knowing that a promise delayed isn’t a promise denied, especially when it’s God making the promise.
The same can be said of his wife, Sarah. [11:11–12] God promised this senior couple, those “beyond the proper time of life” and “as good as dead” (his words, not mine!), a child and a nation from that child. And, as unbelievable as that promise was, they believed. Sarah “considered him faithful who had promised.” “I may not understand it but I believe it because of who said it.” That’s faith.
[11:13–16] The patriarchs lived their lives as “strangers and exiles on the earth,” never seeing the full realization of what was promised. All they knew is that God said something would happen, so they lived accordingly, never looking back, assuming that it must happen after they die because that’s more likely than God not keeping his word.
This is clear in what is said next. [11:17–19] “God promised me a child and a nation through that child. He gave me the child but now he wants me to kill that child. No child, no nation. So, the only possible conclusion is resurrection.”
Abraham wasn’t the only one to have faith that looked beyond this life. [11:20–22] They all looked beyond the grave because some promises of God had not yet been fulfilled. Joseph says, “take my bones back to the Promised Land because I don’t want a long commute when we inevitably live there.”
[11:23–28] How could he endure mistreatment, insecurity, and poverty when the palace was available to him? By believing God was telling the truth, that Messiah’s riches were greater than the riches of Egypt, and that God’s power was greater than Pharaoh’s power.
And the nation he led showed the same faith. [11:29–31] None of this makes sense to those who have never encountered God but, to those who have, who have “seen” his power, his might, his goodness, his love, they walk by faith regardless of the cost or the outcome.
And now the author just unleashes. [11:32–35a] He could go on and on with examples of faith through history. These people all made choices to act like God was telling the truth. They didn’t know what would happen. But they did know who’s in charge and what he’s like. And, like he just said, sometimes everything turned out swell—victories, deliverances, and miracles. But not always. [11:35b–38]
All of these—and countless others—are examples of people who faced the unknown, who stared down the barrel of realities they could not fully see and understand, but who knew God. And while they did not know him fully, they knew him truly, and they chose to believe him.
Did they make mistakes? Yes. Did they doubt? Sure. Did they sin? You bet. But they also lived lives marked by faith, believing God meant what he said when he said it even though, as verse 13 made clear, they never received what had been promised before they died. “All these died in faith … seeking a country of their own … a heavenly one.”
And they’re still waiting. [11:39–40] These faithful men and women died waiting for God to keep his word. And he will at the consumption of all things with you and me—the church, the Bride of Christ—perfected with them. But God will keep his word.
There are countless variables in this life but one constant is the faithfulness of God to his promises, promises that if we believe, if we live lives as though they’re irrefutable and inevitable and inescapable, we will enjoy the blessings and benefits of life in the New Covenant.
WAIT AND WEATHER!
The Holy Spirit is asking you and I right now, to add our names to this list. When the last sentence of our lives is penned, will it include the word “faith”? Will we have lived lives approved by God, lives believing God and pleasing to God? Will we live lives, starting today, that, by faith, wait for what has been promised and, by faith, weathering what we must? Will we be men and women “of whom this world is not worthy”
The explanation and examples of faith provided in chapter 11 grow out of chapter 10, the end of which calls for Christians to not shrink back but to endure, waiting and weathering by faith. [10:36–11:1]
What are we waiting for? Holiness, glory, life eternal in his presence in a new heaven and new earth; no more tears, pain, disease; a perfect kingdom ruled by a perfect King, eternal rewards, everlasting joy.
Do we have these things now? No. We’re “living in a foreign land, dwelling in tents,” tents that are fading, cracked vessels of clay. But, since God has promised these things and we don’t yet have them, that must mean that they are coming. And so, we wait. We endure in faith in full assurance and conviction, knowing that one thing that can’t happen is for God to not keep his word.
What are you weathering today? Fatigue and doubt? Insecurity and unhappiness? Disappointment and embarrassment? Loneliness and shame? Fear and anxiety? Maybe there’s strife in your family, in your school, in your mind, in your heart? Maybe you’re losing the wrestling match with guilt. Maybe the state of the world is grinding you down to a nub and the hostility of social media is stealing your joy.
There’s so much we don’t know, so much we can’t see. Though people today do a pretty good job of pretending we’re omniscient, we’re still ignorant, limited, and finite. We don’t know the future. But we do know the One who does, in fact, he’s already there! So, as we entered the New Covenant by faith, we enjoy it by faith, walking by faith.
Overwhelmed by what I can’t see, “I cast my mind to Calvary where Jesus bled and died for me.” In an ocean of unknowns, what I do know is that “He shall return in robes of white [and] the blazing sun shall pierce the night; and I will rise among the saints, my gaze transfixed on Jesus’ face.” Then face to face, now in a mirror dimly. Now we walk by faith, approved by God, waiting for what has been promised, weathering what we must.
Josiah has served the Oakridge Bible Chapel family as one of its elders and one of its pastoral staff members since September 2018, before which he ministered as an associate pastor to a local congregation in the Canadian prairies. Josiah's desire is to be used by God to help equip the church for ministry, both while gathered (edification) and while scattered (evangelization). He is married to Patricia, and together they have five children—Jonah, Henry, Nathaniel, Josephine, and Benjamin.
