Hebrews 11:1-7 - The Progression of Faith & the Enemy's playbook!

Bible Study Series: Jesus in Hebrews - Better by Far!

Bible Study Lesson: Hebrews 11 - Progression of Faith & the Enemy's playbook!

by I Gordon

Welcome! Can you remember the last verse of Hebrews 10 which we closed with in the previous message? A tough question right? Hmmm, I've got to test ya... don't want to make things too easy for you! It said 'we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.' Well the writer is going to speak of that now as we come into this wonderful chapter concerning faith. The remaining chapters in Hebrews, from Hebrews 11 onwards, mark a division in the letter which is more practical and less doctrinal. And it begins with that which makes all practice viable - faith! Hebrews 11 has been called 'the Faith Chapter', 'the Hall of Faith' or 'the heroes of the faith'. Often people think that faith is not practical but as we shall see it was faith that motivated and empowered the saints of old. This is a very practical chapter!

So the author of Hebrews will define and explore that faith for us, looking at many examples of those who lived by faith in various ways throughout the Old Testament. I have actually done a full study of Hebrews 11 previously where I delved into each of the main examples of faith given in this great chapter. So we'll break the chapter up into sections this time. In this, the first message from Hebrews 11:1-7, I want to explore the progression of faith & the enemy's playbook. More specifically, we'll explore: 

• The definition: What is faith and why does it matter?
• The progression: What are the different progressive steps of faith seen in Hebrews 11:1-7 and where are you currently in this progression?
• The opposition: How does the enemy oppose each step and try to stop us from moving forward in faith? 

And that will be that... Hopefully pretty simple but useful at the same time. Let's go!

What is faith and why does it matter?

Heb 11:1  Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Before diving into this chapter, let's try to define faith... what it is and what it isn't. Large parts of the world would agree with the little girl, who when asked to define faith, said "Well, faith is believing what you know ain't so." I can't help but laugh at that but no, that isn't what faith is. So how would you define faith? Biblical faith is an active trust and confidence in the person and promises of the Lord. It always has an object, which is God, and is not faith in itself. That is, it is not faith in faith despite what some preachers would have you believe! It also has an intellectual belief or understanding as its foundation but it doesn't just remain there. We should note, as James tells us, that even the demons intellectually believe that God is real, and they tremble, but they do not have biblical faith. Faith combines an intellectual understanding with a trusting upon that belief. Many have used an illustration of a chair. You may inspect a chair, check that it is balanced and agree from an intellectual perspective that it will hold you up and not collapse under your impressive weight. But that isn't faith. Faith is taking that belief and trusting in the chair by putting your backside in it!

I find this word, faith, is greatly misunderstood and there are many peculiar ideas of what it is. It might help to show, first of all, what faith is not: Faith, for instance, is not positive thinking; that is something quite different. Faith is not a hunch that is followed. Faith is not hoping for the best, hoping that everything will turn out all right. Faith is not a feeling of optimism. Faith is none of these things, though all of them have been identified as faith. Well, what is faith then? The first seven verses of this wonderful chapter answer that question, and the rest of the chapter tells us how it works.
Pastor Ray Stedman¹

This first verse of Hebrews 11 tells us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for.² That is, it takes the things we hope for and makes them real today. This is not how we generally use the word 'hope'. We often use hope in the sense of something we'd like to see happen when really we have no idea whether it will or not. We 'hope' our team wins the final. We 'hope' it doesn't rain on the day Mary gets married. We hope the birds will be kind and leave us a few blueberries on the tree! (Though I'm not sure that 'kindness' is a top priority in that birdbrain!) In contrast, biblical hope is a confident expectation and anticipation. And faith brings those things that we have a confident expectation about and makes them real today. 

It says that faith is the conviction, or as other translations say, the evidence, of things not seen. I like how Dr. J. Oswald Sanders puts it: "Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen." We see the world through our physical eyes, but faith allows us to see the unseen world. We naturally see the world one day at a time but faith allows us to take strength for today by the promises given concerning tomorrow.

Heb 11:2 This is what the ancients were commended for. 

If anyone ever asks you how people in the Old Testament were made right with God, take them to this verse. The fact is that since the fall people have been saved and made right with God by one way only - by grace, through faith! The word 'approval' here literally means 'witness, testimony'. Literally "were testified to" or "had witness given about them". That is, the men and women of old who had faith received a witness or testimony that they were approved by God. They had an understanding that all was well before them and God. And we should have that understanding and certainty as well. Now we are going to see many of those saints of old in this chapter, but before we explore their lives and actions through faith, the author speaks of something that we understand by faith.

Step 1: Believe God created all things

Heb 11:3  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.

Understanding that creation has a Creator is the first step on the faith ladder and for many it is already a step too far! But this is where our faith begins... with God. This first step is why the enemy tries so hard to confuse and deny this truth right from an early age. When my mum went to school back in England (and it is fair to say that is going back a bit... like 75 years!) they were taught the Bible in school and sang Christian hymns in their assemblies. Oh so long ago! Today our school system goes out of its way to deny God and only promote evolution. But the first step on the faith ladder is understanding that there is a God who He created all things. Without that we just are grasping at speculation and theories that can't answer any of life's big questions. 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. You all know Gen 1:1 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth'. And He made them out of nothing. Now the Atheist can't ascribe the things that are to God, so what do they do? Well they have the 'big bang' which is essentially the belief that 'In the beginning there was nothing... and then it exploded!' Now that is 'blind faith'! The Scientific American even has an article with the title 'Pssst! Don't tell the creationists, but scientists don't have a clue how life began'.³ So which is more reasonable - to believe that creation has a Creator or that nothing created everything? Which is the bigger leap into the dark?⁴ It reminds me of the atheist who said to the Christian “Have you ever seen God? Have you ever felt God? Have you ever smelled God? And you say you have a God!” To which the Christian replied after a pause “Have you ever seen your brains? Have you ever felt your brains? Have you ever smelled your brains? And you say you have brains!” : )

"There are two explanations for the origin of this universe. One is speculation, and the other is revelation. By faith we accept revelation, and, my friend, by faith you will accept speculation. Speculation has many theories, and many of them have been abandoned. Right now the theory is evolution, but even evolution, I am told, is going out of style today. It is the best the unbeliever can hold on to, but it is mere speculation, and they have to have a whole lot of faith to go along with it!"
J. Vernon McGee

As scripture says:

Psa 33:4-12  For the word of the LORD is upright, And all His work is done in faithfulness.  (5)  He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the LORD.  (6)  By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host.  (7)  He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses.  (8)  Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.  (9)  For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.  (10)  The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples.  (11)  The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation.  (12)  Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.

"Faith provides us with the only factual account of creation. God is the only One who was there; He tells us how it happened. We believe His word and thus we know. By faith we understand. The world says, “Seeing is believing.” God says, “Believing is seeing.” Jesus said to Martha, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see ... ” (Joh_11:40). The Apostle John wrote, ”These things I have written to you who believe ... that you may know” (1Jo_5:13). In spiritual matters faith precedes understanding... God spoke and matter came into being. This agrees perfectly with man's discovery that matter is essentially energy. When God spoke, there was a flow of energy in the form of sound waves. These were transformed into matter, and the world sprang into being. The things which are seen were not made out of things which are visible. Energy is invisible; so are atoms, and molecules, and gases to the naked eye, yet in combination they become visible."
William MacDonald, Believers Bible Commentary

Of course, Satan doesn't want people even taking this first step of faith in a Creator. So he ridicules what should be evident to all, in our schools and universities. And yet the truth of Romans 1 remains and mankind is without excuse if they do not even take this first step:

Rom 1:18-22  The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,  (19)  since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  (20)  For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.  (21)  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  (22)  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools...

Step 2: Understand how one can be right before God

Heb 11:4  By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. 

Now for those that can see the basic truth that creation has a creator, we come to the second step of faith. And that is how does one approach God and be right with Him? Now you will note that the first person mentioned in 'the hall of faith' is Abel. Who is missing here? Yeah... Adam and Eve are skipped. And fair enough too! Otherwise it would say 'By lies and unbelief, Adam and Eve disobeyed and death entered the world!' 

Our text says that Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain 'by faith'. Now what does that mean? Both Cain and Abel knew that God existed so it isn't talking about a general faith in God. So what was Abel's faith in? What revelation had been given that Abel believed, trusted and acted upon? I think that people in that day had a better understanding of what God desires than we normally give them credit for. When God speaks to Cain later in the chapter, it is direct, audible and there is no shock or unexpected response from Cain. It seems a normal occurrence from the text. So getting back to the question, why was Abel's offering 'by faith' and Cain's wasn't? What understanding was Abel acting upon?

'Abel was a keeper of sheep, and brought "of the firstlings of his flock," that is, a lamb, when he came to worship God. This lamb he slew: he poured out the life-blood. Marvelously had God taught man, both as to his own guilt, and as to the offering of a substitute, the poured out life-blood of which should take the place of his own death. Abel brought death to God, instead of life, as Cain had brazenly done. We see that Abel's sacrifice was accepted. Doubtless the fire of Jehovah fell upon it, visibly, as at the tabernacle (Lev. 9:24) and at the temple in Israel's time (2 Chron. 7:1); and upon David's and Elijah's offerings (1 Chron. 21:26; 1 Kings 18:39). '
William Newell, Hebrews verse by verse

The fact is that the first two men born on this planet give us a glimpse of the two ways of humanity. One approaches God through a blood sacrifice and the other through the works of his hands. And humanity, if it gets past step 1 and recognizes that creation has a creator, falls into these two categories. Put another way, if the enemy doesn't stop you at step 1, he will try at step 2. And what is his playbook then? One word - religion. He will whisper that you need to be religious, that there are many gods and many paths, but you need to be accepted by God by your good works. This is what separates Christianity from every other religion in the world. Every religion in the world says 'through effort and good works you can obtain God's favor'. Christianity says

Rom 3:10-11  There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.
Rom 3:21-25  But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  (22)  This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,  (23)  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  (24)  and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  (25)  God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood...

To put in simply, the message of God is not 'behold your deeds that can cover your sins'. It is 'behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world!'

Step 3: Walk through this life with God

Heb 11:5  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.

Now if the enemy doesn't stop you at step 2 and you have come to God through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ on your behalf, then he will try to stop you at step 3. And what is step 3? Well it is what we see emphasized in the life of Enoch and that is walking closely with God in faith. So what do we know about Enoch? This is the full Old Testament testimony concerning Enoch (apart from a reference in a genealogy in 1 Chronicles 1:3)

Gen 5:18-24  When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch... (21)  When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah.  (22)  And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.  (23)  Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years.  (24)  Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

That's it! Outside of our passage in Hebrews, the only other mention of Enoch is in Jude which says:

Jud 1:14  Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones

So Enoch is somewhat of a mystery man and his 'catching away' only increases the questions surrounding this man! What do we know? He was the 7th from Adam, who prophesied the Lord's 2nd coming (Jude 1:14). He lived 365 years before he was taken by God. That 365 years is divided before and after the birth of his son Methuselah. It seems that he walked with God for the last 300 years after the birth of his son. So why would the birth of his son change things for Enoch you ask? Well, it seems that Enoch knew that Methuselah was a sign from God. Methuselah's name has traditionally been interpreted as meaning 'When he dies, it shall be sent'. It seems that Enoch knew hat his son was a warning concerning the coming judgment of God. And quite possibly this woke Enoch up for he walked with God for the next 300 years following Methuselah's birth. Now Methuselah lived the longest recorded life in the Bible at 969 years (showing God's grace in being patient in judgment), but when he died, God sent judgment in the form of a global flood. Getting back to Enoch, he is known for walking with God and then being raptured. At 365, God took him. Gone. He didn't die (in contrast to all the other testimonies in Genesis 5 stating 'and he died...') but was taken up so that he would not see death! Amazing. But again, the emphasis here is upon his walk with the Lord. The enemy doesn't want us walking close with God and knows how to get us busy with a thousand other things, all clamoring for our attention. This is what Jesus spoke of when he gave the Parable of the Sower and said:

Mat 13:7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.
Mat 13:22  The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

So we do not want to fall for that trap! And one biblical way to avoid the temptations of this life is to see what is coming in the future as we shall see with our final example in step 4.  

Step 4: Live in light of what is coming and warn others

Heb 11:7  By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. 

Step 4 in this progression of faith is seen in the life of Noah and certain the enemy will do all he can to prevent you getting this far! So what do we see in Noah's walk of faith? Noah was given a warning of what was to come in the flood judgment and prepared for it. He also tried to warn those around him, so that they too may be saved. Now had Noah even seen rain? Had it rained before the time of the flood? While it is debated and we can't be dogmatic, there are certainly references in the Bible that make it sound like it hadn't and that God opened heaven's floodgates for the first time at the flood. For example:

Gen 2:5-6  Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.  (6)  But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.
Gen 7:11  In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month--on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

So Noah was like us in that sense. He had heard from God that judgement was coming and though he hadn't seen or experienced such a time before, he knew that he was to prepare and be ready when it came. Now you can imagine the opposition that came his way. 'Rain? What is that? You say it's water that is going to fall down from the sky do you? And I should be scared of that why?' In like manner God's word has warned of the judgments that are to come in the last days and we too are to pay attention and take it seriously.   

2Pe 2:5  ...and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

So Noah was a preacher of righteousness, both through his speech and in his life and what he lived for. He wasn't like those around him. They probably called him 'nutty Noah' but there still would have been that thought, 'what if he is right?' Again this is all important for us. The enemy does not want us thinking of what is to come and certainly doesn't want us living in light of what is to come or warning others. He simply wants you thinking of the here and now and not eternity. But as we read God's word, we can't see the huge emphasis on what is to come and like people building the house upon the rock, we are not caught off guard for challenging times but have prepared in advance.

With the war breaking out in the Middle East again this week, I spoke to a workmate, telling him where my hope lies and sent him links to my website that gives the top 10 prophecies for Israel, the Messiah and the end times. His reply was that he generally feels better when he doesn't think about what is happening in the world and just hopes things change a lot for the better. And I can understand that from a non-Christian's perspective, as without the hope that God gives the world is a dark and often depressing place. But the answer is not to just keep your eyes shut and imagine better times. The answer is to see the warning, heed the warning and find your hope in God!

Conclusion

So that is the first 4 steps shown in Hebrews 11. What were they again?

1. Step 1: Believe that there is a God who created all things. This is the first step on the right path.
2. Step 2: Like Abel, understand how you can be right before God. That is not through religion or 'being good', but through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus on your behalf
3. Step 3: Like Enoch, walk through this life with God. And you too will find that God will take you to be with Him! 
4. Step 4: Like Noah, we are to be prepared, living in light of what is coming, while warning others. 

And as we have seen, the believer has an enemy that seeks to stop each step in its tracks! Now, the observant amongst you may have noted that I missed one verse above. And it is important. Here it is:

Heb 11:6  And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

William Newell writes well on this, reminding us that:

God having made faith the condition of relation with Himself, and being the very God of truth, can be pleased with nothing else than faith. In this verse faith is resolved into its two great primary elements or characteristics: (a) There must be belief that the living God exists: and (b) that He is a Rewarder of them that seek after Him. These elements of faith had Enoch, "the seventh from Adam," who "prophesied" (Jude 14), walked habitually with God, "begat sons and daughters ... and was not; for God took him" (Gen. 5:22-24). These two elements seem most simple, but, alas, how many professing Christians act as if God were not living; and how many others, though seeking after Him, are not expecting from Him as Rewarder! "
William Newell, Hebrews verse by verse

So do you want to please God? Acknowledge Him, and live by faith. Do you want to be rewarded by God? Then seek Him and desire to walk with Him. Pretty simple I know. God hasn't made it hard! But it is amazing how many can't and won't do even the simple things! 

King David once said to his son Solomon 'Acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him... If you seek him, he will be found by you.' (1 Ch 28:9). 

And this is ancient advice that we should all pay attention to!

Blessings.

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FOOTNOTES