Faith: Conviction and Vision Hebrews 10 vs 19 to 11 vs 3

Context for this sermon is an urban congregation in a small city in the Midwestern USA. It was the first in a series of messages about the Heroes of Faith in Hebrews 11.

The ads for an athletic company read like the Apostles Creed.

I believe that anyone who says winning isn’t everything, never won anything.

I believe sweat is sexy.

I believe there’s an athlete inside every person.

I believe that any dog that weighs less than 5 lbs isn’t a dog.

In our increasingly secularized society, the need for faith is coming to its own in some very unexpected ways. The ads for this athletic company tell us the bit of truth that makes this so appealing: you are what you believe.

The preacher who wrote the sermon that we know as the letter to the Hebrews would have agreed with that contention. His whole letter is a sermon that seeks to convince us all of the faith we need to deal with the challenge that confronts us in our walk is God’s people. As we believe, so we will walk. Our actions each day are affected by what we believe. If you believe that money is the greatest good in life, you will do all you can to get as much as you can. You will put a bumper sticker on your car. The one with the most toys when he dies, wins.

But what about those who say they are Christians? What do they believe? What sort of faith effects them? Affects us. For the next several weeks, I want to examine the chapter on the heroes of faith with you to see what we can learn about faith and how it can function in our lives today.

So today I invite you to join with me as we begin this study by looking at the first verse of Chapter 11. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Here we have the working definition that our preacher is going to be using in this study of faith in people from the Old Testament era. It’s being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Let’s look at what leads up to the statement. It could almost be taken from the ad advertisement. You are what you believe. Look at verses 32 to 35. Remember those earlier days, He’s telling them. Look, you were able to do this and that because you believed. Then in verse 35 he says, so don’t throw away your confidence. It will be richly rewarded.

Hebrews 10: 32-35

³² Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. ³³ Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. ³⁴ You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. ³⁵ So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

Faith is first of all, a conviction. A conviction that keeps a person from shrinking back when opposition faces her. The word in Greek that is translated being sure of meant a few things to the people used it in their conversations. It meant a thing of substance. Something that made an idea come to life. And it meant that it gave assurance of a promise to one who was in need of a sign of the reality of that promise. It was a hug and a smile with the words I’m here for you. And the third thing it could mean was a down payment on something. So taken all together, we see that faith is a solid rock on which you and I can stand as we look forward to what God is going to do in the future.

 Faith is a place to stand with God’s arms around us. It’s a conviction that what we believe about what God will be doing in the future will surely take place.

Faith is also being certain of what we do not see. What that is saying is that we have vision to see what people who live only one-dimensional lives can never see. Having faith is like the difference between a single mirror and one of those three-way mirrors they have in clothing stores that allow you to see how you look from behind. The three way mirror shows you far more than the single mirror. It’s a 3D uh, it’s 3 dimensional as opposed to 1 dimensional. Faith gives us the ability to look over the horizon of this life to see what is to come. That is why God has said the righteous will live by faith. We cannot get along in this world as Christians without some vision for the future that God is going to give us.

What does all this mean to us?

I’d like to give you a few examples of what I see it meaning to us.

1st When disaster strikes, we have a place to stand. When we were on vacation recently, disaster struck in the form of tornadoes in the town where I was first a pastor. We went to be with them for some hours in the morning the next day. But the point here is that when we find ourselves in a situation where all is lost we can find a solid foundation for our lives in the promises of God. We are told by Jesus to lay up treasures in heaven, for they will always be there, rather than the treasures of earth, which can be lost. Disaster loses its sting when we hold treasure in heaven, where God keeps it safe for us. Even the loss of life itself loses its pain when we look toward the future God has for us all.

2nd. Faith gives us vision for the road ahead as a church. If I believe what God says to me in the Bible, then I can see over the horizon and know that the end of all those who do not acknowledge Jesus as Lord is eternal death. When we get ourselves convinced of that vision of futility for those who are our neighbors, we will start getting anxious about what’s going to happen to them. When the Tornadoes went through the town that I used to pastor in, the people immediately began searching for one another in the rubble of the smashed homes, hoping against hope that no one would be found dead. They believed that if anybody needed help, they had to get to them right away.

But we rarely have that kind of intensity in our search for the spiritually lost and dying. We put it off to next week, next year, or maybe even to never. And yet the Bible tells us that God’s great desire is that all should be saved. In our church, the official doctrines are that only those who believe will be saved. But by our actions, we say that we don’t think anybody’s going to end up in hell forever. So why get excited about telling them about Jesus?

3rd. Faith means we can experience change without losing our faith. Because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is Lord over today as well as He was Lord over yesterday.

4th We can give generously to the work of God’s Kingdom, because we believe we can never out give God.

In 5th, we can worship God without any inhibitions because God is who we seek to please.

The company, the athletic company, Reebok says. We are what we believe. When people look at your life, what do they see? Do they see that you believe. I believe God is my hope and my ever great reward. I believe that apart from Jesus, we’re all going to hell. I believe God is the God of this year, just like he was the God of last year. I believe God takes care of all my physical needs. I believe God is pleased with worship that comes from the heart. I believe that faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see. Do you?