Hebrews 11:1-16 - By faith!

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament speak about "two ways to live". Two ultimate, and opposite, choices that we make as to the direction that our lives take. Moses said in Deuteronomy 30:19:

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.

Two ways, and only two ways. The way of life, and the way of death.

Similarly, Jesus also spoke about "two ways to live" in Matthew 7:13-14:

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Again, two ways. A narrow road of life, or a broad road of destruction.

Throughout Hebrews, our author, by the way, we never really did discuss who actually wrote Hebrews.

Some say that the Apostle Paul wrote Hebrews. In fact, this was the common opinion up into the nineteenth century, and the title to this work in the King James Bible that my mother bought me after I became a Christian, reads:

The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews.

However, it is unlikely that Paul wrote Hebrews for several, important, reasons.

Firstly, the author never says that he is Paul. Unlike Paul's thirteen letters where he always states something along the lines that he is "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ", here, in Hebrews, nothing whatsoever is said about the identity of the author.

Although it is abundantly clear to the original readers who the author is, he doesn't tell us. But Paul always says who he is. In fact, we read in 2 Thessalonians 3:17:

I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the mark in every letter of mine; it is the way I write.

In other words, Paul always makes sure that he identifies himself, so that those who read the letter will know for certain that the letter is from him, and because this doesn't happen in Hebrews, it is unlikely that Paul wrote the letter.

Second, we are sure that the author wasn't the Apostle Paul because our author clearly states that he was not an eyewitness of Jesus, but that he only heard about Jesus from others. Hebrews 2:3b says:

[The message] was declared at first through the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him.

In other words, our author says that he never met Jesus, or heard Jesus, but he only knows about Jesus because other people told him about him, however, Paul claims in 1 Corinthians 9:1:

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?

Or 1 Corinthians 15:8:

Last of all, as to one untimely born, [the risen Jesus] appeared also to me.

Then, in Galatians 1:12:

For I did not receive [the gospel] from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

In other words, I met Jesus on the road to Damascus, and Jesus himself revealed the gospel message and its meaning to me.

Finally, it is certain that Paul did not write the letter because the style, the content, and the vocabulary are just so different to the letters that we know that Paul did write. For instance, when the churches in Galatia were about to do what the church in Hebrews was about to do, that is, turn from faith in Christ back to dependence upon the law, Paul said to them in Galatians 3:1:

You foolish Galatians.

Then in Galatians 3:3, "are you so foolish"? A bit blunt and to the point.

But the author of Hebrews carefully, and patiently explains his point, explaining Scripture, clarifying Scripture, and moving this group of people towards a right decision. A very different way of putting forward the same message because the authors were different.

So who did write Hebrews? Nobody knows.

• Tertullian suggested Barnabas.

• Origin suggested Luke.

• Luther suggested Apollos because he was well educated, knew the Scriptures well, and was able to argue with people from the Scriptures about Jesus. Apollos is probably my choice as well, but the reality is, nobody knows.

However, what we have seen in Hebrews is that our anonymous author has been declaring and explaining to this church the "two ways". The broad and the narrow. Life and death.

He has shown them the "better way", the way of Jesus.

• The one who is our great high priest.

• The one who sits at the right hand of God.

• The one who presented himself as one sacrifice for sins forever.

• The one who always lives to intercede for us.

He has also shown them the "inferior way".

• The way of laws which cannot make us right with God.

• The way of sacrifices which cannot bring us eternal forgiveness, redemption, or cleansing.

• The way of priests who are themselves sinful and have to sacrifice for their own sins as well as for those of the people.

• The way of priests who die, and who can do nothing for us.

Two ways. And only two ways.

There is the way based upon works. Upon law, sacrifices, priests, tabernacle, and rituals that are carefully given and explained in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and he has shown that trying to be restored to God on the basis of law; on the basis of works, on the basis of what I can do, was never going to be good enough. Hebrews 9:9 says:

This is a symbol of the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper.

Also Hebrews 10:1:

Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach.

And finally Hebrews 10:11:

And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.

But if it can't be by works, by ritual, by animal sacrifice, and by priests: if none of these are "good enough", how then are we made right with God? He answers this question in Hebrews 10:39:

But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved.

That second way, that "better way", is faith! Faith in God and not our own good works, and what he does here in Hebrews 11 is to show that the way of "faith" has always been the case.

Faith, trust in God, isn't something new and different. "Faith" isn't something that came in only with the death and resurrection of Jesus. No! "Faith" has always been the way to forgiveness, salvation, and restoration to God, and so in Hebrews 11 he gives illustration after illustration, proving to us that since creation, "the way of faith" has always been what God has desired for humanity.

He gives us this list of people prior to the coming of Jesus, and he expressly names fifteen individuals, and refers to many others, who lived not by law, works, or sacrifice, but individuals who lived their lives by faith. They simply trusted God to do what God said he would do.

This was true even before the law. Before the law was given, it was all a life of "faith". Abel. Enoch. Noah. Abraham. These men of the past did not live their lives by "works", although they did work. They did sacrifice. They did obey. But these men lived their lives, they did what they did, they obeyed God because they trusted God. In fact, Paul makes this very point, and it is central to his argument in Romans 4:11:

 [Abraham] received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.

How could he say that? Because Gen. 15:6 says:

[Abraham] believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Righteousness without law, without circumcision, without sacrifice. Righteousness, by faith. By trusting the promises of God.

He then mentions Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. These men all lived by "faith". Faith in who God was. Faith in what God had promised. Faith that, as Hebrews 10:23 says, faith that:

he who promised is faithful.

Faith, as Hebrews 11:11 says:

By faith [Abraham] received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised.

Then, even after the law had been given, even after the Exodus, the Ten Commandments, the tabernacle, and the sacrifices, it was still a life of "faith".

Moses, when he delivered the people, had to trust that what God says is true, and in trusting the promises of God, Moses, the man of faith, brought Israel out of Egypt and to the very brink of the promised land.

It was an act of faith for Joshua to march the army of Israel around Jericho once a day for six days, and then seven times on the seventh day.

It was an act of faith for Rahab to protect the spies and then hang the scarlet cord out of the window.

It was an act of faith for Gideon to obey God, send most of his army home, and to attack the enemy with only three hundred men.

It was an act of faith for Barak with his ten thousand men to obey the command of God to attack Sisera with his nine hundred chariots and his entire army.

It was an act of faith for Samson to lean against the pillars of the idol temple and cry out to God for help.

It was an act of faith for Jephthah, a man who was despised by his own family, to then defend them, and to deliver them from their enemies.

It was an act of faith for David to walk up to Goliath when the rest of the army was afraid, and to say to him in 1 Samuel 17:45:

You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

It was an act of faith for Samuel to govern and to judge. To anoint kings, to rebuke kings, and to lead his people in times of trial and persecution.

It was always faith in God and faith in the promises of God. Now, this faith always led to works. It led to action. It led to changed behaviour, but it was never works apart from faith. It was always faith, which produced works.

Sadly, law, rules, and commandments can so easily become "works" without faith. "Works" apart from faith, as Isaiah said in Isaiah 29:13:

The Lord said: these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote.

And so the question Hebrews asks is, "are we going to live by ‘rules,’ or are we going to live by ‘faith’"?

It is often speculated as to why, in the book of Genesis, God accepted Abel's sacrifice but not Cain's. Even though Abel brought a sacrifice from the flock while Cain brought a sacrifice from the fields, ultimately it had nothing to do with whether or not it was animal or vegetable, for the law (which came much later), the law allowed, in fact the law required offerings from the fields.

No. Our writer makes it clear that God accepted Abel and his sacrifice because Abel had 'faith", his actions, and his sacrifice came as a result of his "faith" in God, and his faith in the promises and presence of God.

However, Cain and his offering were rejected, not because he offered grain, for the law talks about the importance of "grain offerings". Instead, Cain's offering was rejected because it was not offered in "faith” but was as a result of his own efforts. Trust in himself. Trust in his abilities. Trust in his skills. Trust, maybe, in his own goodness.

This is where King Saul also failed. Once, before a giant battle, his army started to be afraid, and they started to scatter. But instead of trusting God, Saul thought that if he simply made the "right sacrifice" before battle, then everything would be all right. If he simply "followed the right rule", or "did the right thing", then everything would be all right. But when Samuel arrived, he rebuked Saul, not for his sacrifice, but for his lack of "faith". He rebuked him because he did not trust God enough to do what God told him to do.

As our author goes through this list of those who lived before the law, and those who lived after the law, he makes it clear that both those before the law, and those after the law, they all lived lives of "faith". The law did not take away the need for faith. The law was never going to be a substitute for faith.

Our author makes it clear that this church, which was thinking of returning to law, sacrifices, priests, and tabernacle, he makes it clear that they were not returning to something that was "good". They were, in fact, abandoning that which is "best". They were abandoning "faith", and in abandoning "faith" these individuals would never be able to please God, for it is only as we live by faith, it is only as we continue to trust in God, that God is pleased with our lives, as Hebrews 11:6 says:

Without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

It has always been "faith". It has never been anything other than "faith".

Proverbs 3:5:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.

Isaiah 26:4:

Trust in the LORD forever, for in the LORD GOD you have an everlasting rock.

Psalm 115:9-11:

O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.

O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.

You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.

Jesus himself said in John 14:1:

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.

We trust in the Lord, and we are made "right with God", by faith.

Habakkuk 2:4 says that:

the righteous live by their faith.

A phrase quoted three times in the New Testament,[1] and this understanding of being made righteous by faith is repeated in Romans 3:22:

the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

Romans 9:30:

What then are we to say? Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith.

Philippians 3:9:

[I want to] be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.

Hebrews 11:7:

By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith.

The law was never meant to be understood as "works". It was always meant to be a life of "faith". The law was meant to be an expression of "faith", and never a substitute for faith.

It is so easy to substitute "what I do" for "faith". Even if "what I do" is something that God told me to do, if I begin to trust my "doing", instead of trusting in God, then I have done exactly what ancient Israel did. I have gone from "faith in God", to "faith in my 'doing'". But to depend upon what I do, rather than upon God, is not "faith", it is "works". This is shown in John 6:28 when the people asked Jesus, "what work must we do".

Even the rich young ruler asked Jesus:

Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?[2]

But in John 6:29 Jesus told the people:

This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.

• Faith, trusting in God, and what God has done for you through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, that is all God wants.

• Faith, trusting in God through all of the highs, lows, and all of the in-betweens of life, which is all that God wants.

• Faith, as Jesus told the Jewish ruler when he was told that his daughter had just died, "don't be afraid, just believe".[3]

This is the message of the entire New Testament:

Romans 3:28:

For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.

Romans 4:5:

But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.

Galatians 2:16:

We know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.

Each of these stress the importance of "faith", and each of these show the inability, the weakness, of law and "works". Further, this faith for the forgiveness of sins and a restored relationship with God is in what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross when he died for our sins. Taking the just punishment that was due to us for our sins.

Romans 3:22 talks about:

the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

In talking about Abraham, Romans 4:23-24 says:

Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. [Righteousness] will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

1 Timothy 1:16:

But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost [of sinners], Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.

The true road, the best road, the road to life, the narrow road is the road of "faith", as 1 John says:

This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.

Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?[4]

Or, as our writer says in Hebrews 10:39:

But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved.

So where are you? What road are you on?

Are you living in "faith"? Faith in what God has done for you through the death of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection from the dead? Or are you trusting in yourself.

• Trusting in what you have done.

• Trusting in the rules that you keep.

• Trusting in the good person that you are.

I will finish with this one challenge. The challenge that Paul gave to a Philippian jailer in Acts 16:31:

Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.

[1] Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38

[2] Mark 10:17

[3] Mark 5:36

[4] 1 John 3:23; 5:1a, 5