We turn to the letter to the Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. We shall read the whole of this chapter. Let us hear the word of God. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith, we understand that the universe was formed at God's command so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. By faith, Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks even though he is dead. By faith Enoch was taken from this life so that he did not experience death. He could not be found because God had taken him away. For before he was taken he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, because anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. By faith Abraham when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith, Abraham, even though he was past age and Sarah herself was barren, was enabled to become a father. because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and as countless as the sand on the seashore. All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised, They only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. By faith, Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son. Even though God had said to him, It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead. And figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from the dead. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons and worshipped as he leaned on the top of his staff. By faith, Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones. By faith, Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born because they saw he was no ordinary child and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be ill-treated along with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger. He persevered because he saw him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. But when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell after the people had marched around them for seven days. By faith, the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised, who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword, whose weakness was turned to strength and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, They were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, and ill-treated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith. yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us, so that only together with us would they be made perfect. Amen. We pray that God will bless the reading and the preaching of his own holy word. We have a wonderful text this morning. A text which we could study for many weeks and we wouldn't exhaust it of its meaning. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1. A beautifully clear and simple description of faith. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Sometimes people may say to us, I wish I had your faith. And often we ourselves may wish that we had more faith. And we may feel that we don't have very much There's nothing new about that. Nearly 2,000 years ago a group of Christians were thinking of giving up their Christian religion. What was their problem? Their faith was weak. Just like their ancestors 1,500 years earlier their faith was wavering. And throughout history that's always an issue for the people of God. And as we've seen over the last months, this whole book of Hebrews was written to strengthen faith. To encourage these wavering, questioning believers to persevere. And at the end of chapter 10 and the beginning of chapter 11, the writer sets before us the two alternatives for human beings. It doesn't come out very clearly in our English versions. In chapter 10 verse 39 he says, but we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe, literally but of faith. But of those who believe and are saved and then he says and faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is not a complete description of faith. He's not trying to give us a comprehensive definition The writer to the Hebrews doesn't tell us much, for example, about justifying faith. John Calvin says he's not discussing the nature of faith as a whole, but he selects that part which fits his purpose. Persevering faith, that's what this is about. Enduring faith. The faith which is strong and which lasts. Or as one commentator says, the faculty to perceive the reality of the unseen world. And to make it the primary object of one's life. Faith means seeing the unseen world. and making it the chief reality of your life. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. And this faith is basic to the whole Christian position. It's no accident that Christians in the Bible are often called believers. This morning I want to notice four simple truths about faith. I hope it will be helpful to all of us. Truths which are illustrated in this amazing eleventh chapter of Hebrews. What a rich chapter it is. It's been called the picture gallery of faith. I feel an awful fraud trying to preach from the whole chapter in one sermon. My wife and I have been in Paris on several occasions, and when we were there we tried to visit the great museum and art gallery, the Louvre, one of the greatest collections of art in the world. One particular visit we recall with some embarrassment because, I forget the circumstances, but when we got there the museum was going to close in an hour. So we had an hour to try to see everything in the Louvre Museum. Those of you who have ever visited it will know how impossible a task that is. You could spend a week there easily. And so we were rushing round, looking at one thing, looking at something else, looking at something else. I feel as if I'm doing that this morning and trying to rush through Hebrews chapter 11. And it's a chapter I would love to come back to at some future date. But this morning we're going to look at four simple things. The foundation of faith. The fruitfulness of faith. The foolishness of faith. And lastly, the focus of faith. First of all, the foundation of faith. Faith has to have a foundation. It's like a building. There's no point in putting up an elaborate, expensive, complicated building if it doesn't have a proper foundation. It's going to fall down. It has to rest on something solid. And the faith which many people have today has no foundation. They believe in all sorts of things. They believe in the Reverend Moon as the new Messiah. They believe they're going to win the lottery. They believe that there are fairies at the bottom of the garden. Their faith isn't built of anything. It's meaningless. And even our senses aren't a solid foundation for faith. Sometimes you'll hear people saying, seeing is believing. Watch one of those magicians on television and you'll find out that seeing certainly isn't believing. Because their sleight of hand will make you think you've seen something, you haven't seen it at all. No, if we're going to commit our lives to something, And we'll see later that faith means that. We need to be sure that it has a foundation, a firm basis. And the opening verses of Hebrews 11 show us that faith is built on the most solid foundation possible, on the Word of God. It's quite interesting in the opening verses of Hebrews 11, how the writer shows us that faith is faith in the doctrines of Christianity. Faith is faith in the truths of the Bible, the teachings of Scripture. Look at some of them. Faith in the doctrine of creation, verse 3, by faith. We understand that the universe was formed at God's command so that what was seen was not made out of what was visible. The whole world in which we live is a giant object lesson for faith. Where did it come from? It came from a God whom we cannot see. Who programmed into the plants and animals and human beings and in all the different molecules that are in this universe, who programmed the information into them? God did. And the Bible reminds us that what we cannot see is more real than what we can see and more lasting than what we can see. And is it any surprise that one of the doctrines of the Bible which the devil hates above all and has been attacking particularly for the last century and a half is the doctrine of creation. And when the righty wants to explain faith he begins with of first importance the biblical doctrine of creation. What is the teaching about approaching God? Verse 4. By faith, Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. Cain brought his own achievements, his own works, his own accomplishments, and he thought God should be satisfied with those. But Abel came with the sacrifice of a lamb, as God commanded, with the shedding of blood. He believed in God's way of approaching him. Or there's how to please God. Verse 5, by faith Enoch was commended as one who pleased God. How did he please God? The Old Testament tells us Enoch walked with God. Enoch knew that God wanted a life of worship and love and obedience. We're told in verse 5 that he was taken from this life so that he did not experience death. There's faith in the coming day of judgment, verse 7. By faith, Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear, built an ark to save his family. God said, I'm going to destroy this evil world. And Noah believed that. He believed that that day of judgment was coming. He didn't say it. He had no proof. He had only the Word of God. But he believed the Word of God. And he acted on the basis of his belief. Creation, sacrifice, pleasing God, judgment to come. These were not ideas that people dreamed up by themselves. They were discovered by scientists. God told them to people. These people believed God's word. So we see right at the beginning of this chapter the only foundation for our faith is God's Word, the Bible. God calls us to believe His Word, to read it, to study it, and as we do so our faith becomes more intelligent and more strong and more persevering. My friends, believe what you read in this book. Believe for your life only what you read in this book. Test everything you hear, including what you hear from this pulpit. Test it by this book. Search the scriptures to see if these things are so. This is the only solid foundation for faith. The foundation of faith. Let's think secondly for a few moments about the fruitfulness of faith. And faith we see is fruitful in two ways. First of all it's something that changes our lives. It's not enough to believe in your mind. It's not enough to accept as a theory or to give mental assent to God's Word. We must act on God's Word. We must live it out. We must obey it. The Bible says that faith without works is dead. We must become so impressed with the reality and truthfulness of the teachings of the Bible with God's word, with God's kingdom, with God's being that the whole of our lives is shaped and dominated and directed and inspired and saturated by the reality of God's truth. And so Hebrew shows us people whose lives were changed because of their faith. Their faith was fruitful. It didn't just stay in their heads, it affected their behaviour. Noah spent years building an enormous boat. He changed the daily pattern of his life. We don't know what Noah did. Before God's work came to him, perhaps he was a farmer, or a shepherd, or a merchant. But when he believed God's word, his daily life changed. Abraham left his culture and his home and his family and spent years wandering about as an itinerant. Because of his faith, his life changed. He took his beloved son Isaac and tied him on an altar and prepared to kill him because of his faith. Moses gave up the lifestyle of a millionaire for years of hardship and poverty and suffering. Why? Because of his faith. His faith affected the way he lived. These men's faith affected their careers, and their spending patterns, and their priorities, and their relationships, and their goals, and their perspectives, and everything in their lives. It wasn't just quote, something religious. It wasn't something that they went in for one day a week. They didn't have a little compartment of their lives into which they put their faith, and then lived the rest of their lives like ordinary people. No. Their faith spilled over 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and affected everything they did. Because there was a reality which was more important to them than anything else. And if we have this faith, it has got to be a seven day a week faith. It has got to be a faith for our work, and our home, and our family, and our leisure, and our ambition, and our spending, and our friendships, for our goals in life. Everything has to be dominated by our Christian faith. Every program we watch or don't watch on television, every book we pick up, everything we do, every thought we think, has to be affected by our Christian faith. That's what we see in Hebrews. Faith was a very fruitful principle. It was fruitful in a second way. It often produced spectacular, miraculous results. Sarah had a child But she was an elderly woman, long past the age of pregnancy, because of faith. The walls of Jericho, one of the strongest cities in the ancient world, fell down in a pile of rubble, because of faith. These are miracles. We're told in verses 33 and 34 that other people through faith conquered kingdoms. They gained what was promised. They shut the mouths of lions, Daniel. They quenched the fury of the flames. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They escaped the edge of the sword. They became powerful in battle. They routed foreign armies. You see the amazing, spectacular, this worldly results of strong faith things happened for these people. They saw their prayers answered. They saw miracles. They saw wonders done by God in response to their faith. Perhaps that's a truth which we need to take very much to heart. To realize that biblical faith is the faith which expects to see miracles. Miracles in the here and now. Miracles in our lives, in our surroundings, in our communities, in our age. We need to have the faith to see Isaacs born out of a situation of deadness and hopelessness. We need to have the faith to see the walls of our Jericho's collapsing before us. The faith which will obtain promises and muzzle our lions and quench the flames which are threatening to hurt us and to turn to flight the armies of darkness. Perhaps in our formed churches we're too passive, too defeatist, too unbelieving. Jesus says, according to your faith, let it be unto you. God is a God of wonders, a God of miracles, a God of the supernatural. A God who delights to honour the faith of his people. What miracles are we asking for? When we meet for prayer on the Lord's day evening or midweek, what miracles are we asking for? We're meant to be asking for them. We're commanded to seek these things and to expect them to happen. This is the faith. which is commended to us in Hebrews 11. A faith which is very, very fruitful, in the sense that it dominates our whole lives, and in the sense that it expects and sees miracles. The fruitfulness of faith. Let's think thirdly about the foolishness of faith, and I've got foolishness in my notes in inverted commas. The apparent foolishness of faith. Faith is never foolish, faith in God's word. But it seems foolish to people who have no faith. It seems absurd. And in terms of reason and logic, and the thought patterns of the world, the lifestyle of these people was absurd and foolish. I'd love to have been able to hear what Noah's neighbours said about his vast building project. I can expect them talking about Noah in the local tavern, living three or four hundred miles, perhaps, away from the sea. You know what Noah's doing? He's building a big boat in his back garden. You can imagine all the people walking past. How's it going Noah? Boat going well? Good. And for years and years and decades and decades they laughed. They laughed at the silly fool who was building a big boat. Moses made a foolish decision. He gave up the life of a millionaire for the life of a tramp. Supposing you saw a woman of 90 in a shop, buying nappies and a crown. You would think she was behaving in a slightly strange way, especially if she said they were for herself. Sarah did something like that. Or we could imagine a military expert talking to Joshua and saying, right Joshua, could you just fill me in on your plans for capturing Jericho? The siege engines, the tunnels you're going to dig, the rivers you're going to dam, and your whole strategy. And Joshua says, well, it's quite simple. We're going to walk round the city walls once. Right? And what are you going to do then? Well then the next day, we're going to walk round them again. And the next day we're going to walk round them again and when we've done that for seven days we think they're going to fall down and then we walk in and capture the city. Can you imagine what a military general of the time would have thought of that? Foolishness. Foolishness. And we could go on. Others were tortured, we read, and refused to be released. The writer's talking about the Maccabean persecutions. They could have been released. They didn't need to be tortured. They didn't need to die. But they refused to be released. They preferred to be tortured. That's not reasonable. Again and again we see that there's something crazy, something absurd, something nonsensical about the life of these believers that seems foolish. We recognize that if we are to exercise this faith, we too will have to be willing to look foolish, to behave in a way that the world finds ridiculous, to refuse to take part in certain activities which normal people consider perfectly inoffensive and harmless. And we look like bigots and cranks. in some of the decisions we make in our lives. Talking to an unseen God. Preparing for an unseen heaven. Urging people to escape an unseen hell. Turning our backs sometimes on pleasure and wealth and choosing instead suffering and lack. Refusing a promotion when it might damage us spiritually. Opting for a lower salary rather than a higher salary. Perhaps for some of us leaving home and family and friends and going to some dark place of the earth. It seems foolish. Faith is foolish to people. And we see furthermore, and this needs to be remembered to balance what I said about For many of the people in this chapter didn't experience miracles. Abraham never possessed the promised land. And many of his descendants didn't. We read in verse 13, all these people were still living by faith. When they died, they did not receive the things promised. Moses ended his life alone. on the top of a mountain in the desert. And if one of his Egyptian friends could have seen him there, he would have said what a fool that man was. Look at what he gave up. And look at what he ended with. He ended with nothing. He ended with nothing. And Abraham ended with nothing. No land. No inheritance. a tramp, a gypsy. We see again in verse 36, some faced jeers and floggings, others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned, sawn in two, put to death by the sword. They were destitute, persecuted, ill-treated. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in caves and holes of the ground. None of them received what had been promised. None of them. They died as apparent failures, with the mocking laughter of the world ringing in their ears. of the so-called glorious life of faith. None of them received what had been promised. But my friends, they didn't care. It made no difference to them. Why? Because they were sure of what they hoped for. And they were certain of what they could not see. And they looked forward to a city with foundations, whose builder and maker is God. And though they did not receive the things promised, they saw them. And they welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. They were longing for a better country. They were looking ahead to the reward. They persevered because they saw Him who was invisible. They were happy to suffer. They were content to seem to fail. They were satisfied with being called losers because their minds and their hearts had been captured with the reality and glory of the invisible. That's the only way you can explain these people. They were sure of what they hoped for and they were certain of what they did not see. We too are called to seem to fail. We too are called to throw away our lives. We too are called to struggle. to suffer, to wait, to be patient, to suffer uncomplainingly, to die, many of us in weakness or pain, and to leave behind us a life that looks very humdrum and very ordinary and very unspectacular. And the person looking at us says, how much better is their life than the life of a non-believer? Did it make them richer? No. Did it free them from pain and sickness? No. Did it give them success in everything they did? No. Did they live longer? No. And yet, faith assures us of a reward and a country and a glory and a hope and a destiny. Faith is being sure of what we hope for. and certain of what we do not see. And this chapter comes to us with a tremendous drumbeat of emphasis, that phrase hammering into our consciences over and over and over again, by faith, by faith, by faith. Whenever we waver, whenever we are tempted to compromise, to go back, to give up, by And you see the genius of this writer. These Hebrew Christians that he was writing to were saying, we want to give up Christianity. We want to go back to our ancestors. We want to go back to the old ways. And the writer says, but that's my point. I want you to go back to the old way. I want you to go back to your ancestors. I want you to follow the faith of your father. My complaint is not that you want to go back to Jewishness but that you are not Jewish enough. How did your ancestors live? How did Abraham and Noah and Moses and David live? They lived by faith in the invisible and in the future. The foundation of faith the fruitfulness of faith, the apparent foolishness of faith. And if we are to exercise this kind of faith, is there anything that is particularly helpful to us? I think there is. That brings us lastly to the focus of faith. You know the difference between two photographs. One is focused properly. The other is not. Everything is vague and confused. And there is a way in which your faith and mine can be focused, concentrated, simplified, brought together, so that we know exactly where our faith should be directed most strongly. And the focus is to be the Lord Jesus Christ. For he is the man of faith. He's the man who believed. The man who died on a cross in apparent failure with mocking laughter ringing in his ears. Yet the man who was raised to glory. Christ calls forth our faith. Christ strengthens our faith when it is weak. Christ will reward our faith at the last. So summing up in chapter 12 verse 2, the writer says this, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Are you a man of faith? A woman of faith? Without faith it's impossible to please God. Do you believe in those unseen realities of salvation and glory? Is your faith founded on the Word of God? Is it fruitful? Does it affect the way you live? Are you seeking those miracles of faith in your life? Are you willing to look foolish? Are you willing to live contrary to this spirit of the world? If for any of us we feel our faith is weak, here is what we must do. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus. Amen. Let us find prayer. Father, many of us must confess that though we do believe, there is much unbelief mixed with our faith. Give us, we pray, a strong faith, a faith that is founded on the truth of your Word, a faith which dominates our lives. Help us to live, O Lord, consistently with what we know to be true. In all our decision-making, help us, O Lord, to be consistent believers. Help us, Lord, at times when we seem to fail, to continue believing. For this is a characteristic of true faith in every age. Above all, O God, we pray that you will help us to focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and is now sat down at your right hand. In times of difficulty and testing, when our faith is stretched, may our eyes be so filled with him that we are enabled to persevere. We ask it in his name. Amen.