Hebrews 11:1-40

This is the great chapter of faith.  We have a list of amazing men and women who God chose to empower through faith to accomplish great things in the expanse of His Kingdom and for the glory of His name.  There is no way in this post that we will be able to cover the content of these amazing lives.  Rather, I would like to concentrate on some of the different things we learn about faith from this beautiful chapter of Scripture.
THE DEFINITION OF FAITH: We have a saying that says “seeing is believing.”  Actually, nothing could be further from the truth.  Scripture teaches that seeing is just the opposite of believing.  It takes no faith at all to believe that which we see.  But when we believe in that which we have never seen, that by very definition is faith.  None of us have seen Christ nor heaven just as none of the Old Testament saints that are named in this passage had never seen Christ or heaven.  They believed in He who would come and we believe in He who has come and who will come again.  We believe this to be true and we live in light of this truth, which is the very definition of faith.  We must be very careful not to allow the things that we do see keep us from believing in the promises of God which we cannot see.
THE DESCRIPTION OF FAITH: The faith of many men and women is describes in this passage.  These people lived in different circumstances from one another and their faith was tested in a wide variety of manners.  However, what they all had in common was that they obeyed God’s will and commands even in the most difficult of testing.  They were all flawed by sin to be sure, but they were all firm in their faith even though they were tested in the most severe of manner.  God had given them extraordinary promises and called them to accomplish daring and dangerous feats.  The problem was that, for the most part, they had to accomplish the feats without ever gaining sight of the promises.  Even so, they pressed on with faith and obedience.  Trust and obedience must always walk hand and hand.
THE DESIRE OF FAITH: The burning passion of these men was to receive the promised reward of God.  There are two things that we must believe about God if we are to please Him.  We must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.  Those who do not believe that God is a rewarder will not seek Him and those who do not seek Him will not be pleasing to Him.  The greatest desire of men and women of faith must be to rejoice in the rich rewards of God.  The riches of this world all pale when compared to the rewards that God has promised.  His rewards must be the burning desire of our hearts for it is this passion for God that will anchor our souls in obedience when the trials of life crash like waves on the beaches of our hearts.
THE DELAY OF FAITH: Faith in the promises of God seldom results in the immediate or even soon fulfillment.  In reality, the more common occurrence is for the fulfillment of the promise to delay a great deal.  All of these people suffered and died without seeing the promise fulfilled.  That is not to say that they died in vain.  Their deaths and their lives were and are for our benefit.  We grow and are encouraged through their stories and if we can follow faithfully in their footsteps we too will experience the glories fulfillment of the promises of God with them.  We must never allow the delays of this life cause us to doubt the delights of the life to come.

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