Bible Study Lessons:

They That Wait Upon The Lord
Faith #1 - Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf?
Faith #2 - Developing Great Faith
Faith #3 - Faith That Makes You Completely Whole
Faith #4 - The Heroes Of Faith, Yesterday And Today

Faith #4 – The Heroes Of Faith, Yesterday And Today

by Rev. Warren C. Cook

10/23/2005

Text: Heb 11:1-10 – Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3 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. 4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice … 5 By faith Enoch … pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. 7 By faith Noah … prepared an ark. 8 By faith Abraham … obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise… 10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Heb 6:12 - We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38 – The just shall live by faith.

Introduction: Taking a little different direction today, we will look at the lives of well-known heroes of faith from the Bible and from Christian history. What did their faith do, and what can faith do in our lives? If this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith, how does our faith change our lives? What “world” does our faith overcome? And what “victory” do we see? Open your Bibles and head for Hebrews 11, known as “the faith chapter” and let us study God’s great heroes of faith.

It's interesting to me, in Hebrew 11, when Paul listed the heroes of faith, he didn’t include:

Blind Bartimaeus: Jesus said to him, “go your way, your faith hath made you whole”, and he was immediately healed and followed Jesus.

Or the woman with the issue of blood, who was sick for 12 years: Jesus said, “thy faith hath healed thee; go and be whole of thy plague.”

Or the woman who’s daughter had a demonic spirit, to whom Jesus said, “O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt”.

Or the centurion, a Roman soldier, whose servant was sick at home, who asked Jesus not to bother to come to his house but just speak the word, and Jesus said, "I have never seen such great faith, not in all of Israel” and the servant was instantly healed.

But instead, Paul listed household names of faith from the Old Testament, men and women whose life direction was dramatically changed by the exercise of their faith, or whose life direction was held steady on that new course by their faith.

He talked more of “a life lived” by faith than “a thing possessed” by faith.

1. Faith Is Substance And Evidence

- Question: What is faith? Not excitement, wishing, desire, hope. Trusting God’s Word.

- faith is not excitement; and faith is not wishing; and faith is not desire; and not hope

- watched the Baylor-OU game last night; have 3 sons at Baylor, hoped Baylor would win; went to double overtime, and Baylor lost. I had a strong desire, and some hope, but no faith.

- often when you pray for someone to be healed, if you ask them, “do you believe the Lord has healed you?” they will say, “I hope so!” But faith is not hope. And while God will often answer a prayer that is prayed in hope, He has not promised us that He would; He has not guaranteed us by covenant that He will answer a prayer prayed in hope. But He has promised us that He would answer any prayer that we pray in faith.

- Hope is a strong desire to obtain something that you consider a positive, worthwhile thing.

- Faith is a knowing deep within you that God will do what He has promised He will do, based on His Word, whether that thing seems positive or negative. Heaven or hell - positive/negative.

- Mk 9:23 – if you can _________, all things are possible to him who __________.

- Note: belief = faith; believing = having faith; believe = have faith. Same Greek word.

- Mt 21:22 – all things, whatever you shall ask in prayer, __________, you shall receive.

- OR, "whatever you ask in prayer, having faith, you shall receive."

- Heb 11:1 – faith is ___________ of things hoped for, __________ of things not seen

- Point: Faith is not hope, but faith brings things you hope for into existence.

- substance = hupostasis = something set under, support, foundation, essence.

- IOW, faith is stuff - “powerful, invisible, supernatural stuff”

- evidence = proof

- Ex: faith is the ray of light over the horizon that shows and proves the sun is about to rise; faith is the shadow coming around the corner announcing the arrival of the man; faith is the invisible evidence of the physical reality about to appear and faith is the substance out of which the thing is created.

- For faith to exist and work, there must be 5 elements:

      - substance – something that exists in your heart, a force, spiritual power, essence

      - evidence – proof, not external but internal, in your heart and in the spirit realm

      - hope – some thing that gives faith a reason to exist

      - no sight – where there is sight there is no need for faith

      - a promise – Heb 6:12 - be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised

- Rom 8:24 – for what a man ______, why does he yet ______ for it?

- 2 Cor 5:7 – for we walk by _______ and not by _______.

- 2 Cor 4:18 – we look not at things which are ______, but at things which are ________, for things which are seen are temporary, but unseen things are eternal.

- Heb 10:38 – the just shall ______ by faith - (not by sight).

- Heb 10:38 – the just shall ______ by faith - (every area of life is affected by faith).

- 1 Peter 1:8 – having not ______ Jesus you ______ Him; though now you see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

- IOW, faith is about more than receiving things. It’s about experiencing God and living a life pleasing to God, living for Him!

2. Faith Produces A Good Report (About You)

- Heb 11:2 – for by it (faith), the elders (OT fathers) obtained a _____________.

- literally, “were witnessed of”. IOW, it was said of them, told about them. 

- JFB, “Many things which they hoped for and did not see, subsequently came to pass and were conspicuously seen, the event confirming faith.”

- IOW, the good report, the wonderful things said about them, were not always said by those who knew them, but by God the Father, by the heavenly host of angels who observe and participate in the affairs of men, and later by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, the Scriptures, so that good men who had understanding, would later approve of their actions based on faith when they read of them in God’s Word.

- Question: who praised the faith of Noah? Who praised the faith of Lot in Sodom?

- Rom 1:8 – I thank God, your faith is ___________ throughout the whole world

- Acts 6:3 – for deacons, find men of ________________, or “witnessed of”

- 2 Cor 8:18 – to deliver the offering they chose a brother whose ________ in the Gospel (or, on account of the good news) was given throughout all the churches.

- IOW, this brother’s life, a life of obedience to the faith, produced a good report about him 

3. Through Faith We Understand

- Note: many want to live the other way around. They say, “If I understand, I will believe.”

- Job 38:4 – God said, “Job, where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?”

- Deut 29:29 – the ________ things belong to the Lord.

- Isa 55:9 – as the heavens are higher than the earth, so ___ thoughts are higher than _____ thoughts.

- Question: how do you understand heaven, hell, prayer, angels, demons, righteousness, grace?

- Heb 11:3 – things which are ______ were not made of things which do ________.

- Point: Science and human observation and reasoning have their place, but faith rules.

- science can’t find God; they can’t observe Him; the Bible says He dwells in a light that no man can approach unto. Jesus created everything, things visible and things invisible. Human observation can’t prove or disprove the ministry of angels. We accept them by faith. Human observation can’t prove or disprove the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. They can’t find His body. They can’t open the grave and examine how He died. According to the Bible, He rose from the dead, He came back to life, He ascended in a cloud with the apostles and angels watching on, and He sits at the right hand of God the Father. We understand that by faith. We believe He will return one day, unexpectedly, suddenly, announced by a great trumpet blown in the sky by a mighty angel, and that the dead will come back to life, hell and the grave will give up the dead, and they will rise together with those who are alive at that time, to be judged at the final judgment of God. We understand that by faith. Science and human observation knows nothing about that. Faith opens the door to a knowledge that can be gained no other way.

4. Faith Shapes Your Life

- Heb 11:4 – by faith Abel _________ to God an excellent ___________.

- Why do you tithe? Because you have faith. Why give to the poor? Because of faith!

- Again, faith is not all about getting. Faith is often about giving. Give and it shall be given unto you. Give to the poor and the Lord will repay you. Give a sacrifice to the Lord. Give your tithes. Give offerings. Zacchaeus gave half of his goods to the poor. The repentant prostitute gave her alabaster box of precious ointment. Paul said, “as you have opportunity, let us do good to all men.”

- Heb 11:5 – by faith Enoch _________ God, and God translated him.  

- again, having faith is not always about getting from God the thing that pleases you. If you want to see a happy person, check out the people coming out of the department store. They call their friends and tell them, “you won’t believe what I just got! I found a beautiful suit on sale for 60% off; it was the last one, it was my size; it was my favorite color. Praise the Lord for what He gave me. I’m so happy.” But faith is very often not at all about how God can please you, but about how you can please God. Enoch had such faith that his faith pleased God.

- When you give up worrying, because you really, really, really believe that God is going to take care of you, because His Word says so, that pleases God.

- Lk 12:32 - fear not, little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

- Phil 4:6 – be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication …

- 1 Tim 6:6 – godliness with contentment is great gain.

- When you give up anger, because you know that you don’t have to get your own way all of the time, or even most of the time, and you know that God says if you’re angry with your brother you’re in danger of judgment, God is pleased with that. Your response to your faith, the way you live as a believer, pleases God.

- When you give up drinking because of your faith in His Word, that He’s called you to holy living. Because He said, “be not drunk with wine”.

- When you give up cussing. Because the Word says, “let no corrupt words come out of your mouth.” Because it says, no fountain gives bitter and sweet water, and the same mouth should not speak blessings and cursings.

- When you give up pornography. Because He said, “be holy, as I am holy”; because He said, “whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her in his heart”; because He said in Heb 13:4, “adulterers God will judge”; God is pleased when your faith shapes your life. When you walk by faith, live by faith, make important decisions in your life based on your faith.

- Enoch pleased God by his faith; Enoch’s faith shaped his life, and God was pleased with him.

- Heb 11:7 – by faith Noah _______ an ark, saved his family, and was called righteous.

- remember, there had never been rain; like a man today who was born and raised in the Sahara desert! If a nomad, a desert dweller, a man who rode a camel and lived in a tent in the middle of thousands of square miles of sand dunes, began to build a huge, monstrous boat on the edge of his property in the desert – today – if he spent 100 years doing it, and consistently, continually announced to every curious neighbor and passerby who asked him, why are you building this thing? “I’m building this because it’s going to rain, and it’s going to flood, and you’re all going to drown. God loves me. I’m set apart to God. I belong to God. But you don’t know God, and your life proves it." The Bible says, “Noah was a preacher of righteousness.” (2 Peter 2:5) Noah wasn’t making friends. No one believed him. For 100 years he preached to rebels that didn’t want to hear his sermons – they weren’t buying the tapes, reading the books, coming to Noah’s crusades. But Noah stood alone. He took a stand for what he believed. He acted on his faith. He put his money where his mouth was.

- Faith shapes your life. If you believe the Word of God, you’ll act like it, even if it’s not popular! The Bible says, “come out from among them, and be ye separate says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.” Jesus said, “why do you call Me Lord, and don’t do the things I say?” Noah did what God told him to do, even though it didn’t make sense to anybody else, and it wasn’t popular.

- Faith is often not about getting a miracle from God. It’s often about obeying Him for years and years and years, when nobody else understands you.

- It’s the man who won’t lie at work to get ahead.

- It’s the teenager who won’t tell dirty jokes to be accepted by his friends.

- It’s the mother who puts her children to bed and says a prayer over them, and quotes a Bible verse or two, even though the husband doesn’t believe in God, and doesn’t go to church, and doesn’t know anything about prayer, and doesn’t even approve.

- It’s the teenager who refuses to go to the X-rated movie even though all his friends are going, because he has faith that God is watching what he does, and he knows that God isn’t pleased with that kind of behavior.

- By faith Noah built an ark. He worked and worked and worked. Blisters, sore back, sore hands, tiredness – by faith he kept going. No rain clouds on the horizon. Kept building. By faith you press on. By faith you persevere. By faith you keep on serving the Lord when there’s no miracle in sight.

- Heb 11:8-10 – by faith Abraham ________ and went out, not knowing where he went.

- we walk by faith, not sight. We obey because we believe we know what God wants us to do, not because we know how it will all end up.

- faith is not always about getting things; sometimes it’s about giving up things.

- Abraham had to give up friends, family, familiar surroundings. By faith he left.

- By faith he sojourned in a strange land, he lived as a foreigner in a foreign country

- By faith we do the same; we live in this world, but we’re not of this world. Our citizenship is in heaven. We lay not up treasures on earth where moth and rust corrupt, but we lay up treasures in heaven. We live here, but we love heaven. We’re looking for a land of promise, where roses never fade, where the lame leap for joy, where the dumb sing, where the blind see, where love and joy and peace are the rule of the day, where Jesus is the Lord and we can see Him face to face. That’s what we’re living for.

- Like Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham, we choose to live by faith. We understand that the world is exactly what God says it is, that what God says is right is right, that what God says is wrong is wrong, and that our obedience to Him pleases Him and brings a sure reward. It may not be today. It may not be how we want it and when we want it, but we understand that faith is not all about getting things, but it’s often about giving things. And faith is not always about God meeting our desires and pleasing us, but about us meeting His desires and about pleasing Him. The just live by faith. The righteous walk by faith. And by faith they become citizens of a city with sure foundations, a city whose builder and maker is God Himself!

·   Verse To Memorize: Heb 11:1,2 – Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report.