Faith: a definition

³⁹ And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, ⁴⁰ God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

Hebrews 11.39-40

Hebrews 11. I’m going to read the first few verses then, the first two verses of chapter 12.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ² For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

³ By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

⁴ By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.

⁵ By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. ⁶ But 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 diligently seek Him.

⁷ By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

⁸ By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹ By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; ¹⁰ for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

¹¹ By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. ¹² Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

¹³ These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. ¹⁴ For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. ¹⁵ And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. Hebrews 11.1-16

And we’ll just skip to chapter 12.1,

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

³ For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. Hebrews 12.1-3

Praise the Lord! God doesn’t want us to be discouraged in our souls, He wants us to have faith, to look up, to have hope in Jesus the Messiah.

About a week ago, I received an email advertising a talk which said: “All Christians must listen to this, because it’s a severe warning to Christians!“.

Oh yeah! I said to myself. I looked at the blur underneath, and it said that this man had had some ‘out of the body experience’, that he died and gone to heaven and that Jesus sent him back saying that ‘you sinned; therefore, you can’t come into heaven‘.

I thought, ‘I don’t think I’ll bother to listen to this tape‘ but, clearly, if we are kept out of Heaven because we have sinned, then it’s going to be a pretty empty place. We are going to be kept by the Grace of God, and we are saved by the Grace of God through faith in Jesus. And this set me thinking about ‘what is faith?‘, what is the faith which saves us.

This passage, of course, speaks about the faith which people had in the days of what we call the Old Testament and about looking unto Jesus who’s the Author and Finisher of our faith.

Faith is what saves us. We are not saved by our ‘good deeds’. In fact, if we had to get to Heaven by being 100% righteous, then Heaven would be empty because nobody is 100% righteous I think.

I’ve been a Christian for about 50 years, I’ve been to lots of churches, I’ve met lots of Christians, some very lovely people, some a little bit less lovely, but all of them saved by the Grace of God. I’ve never met one who is totally 100% righteous; have you?

If not, then, well, how are we going to get to Heaven?

Ephesians chapter 2.8 says:

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2.8-10

So, we are saved by the Grace of God, by the undeserved favor of God, by faith in what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. That Jesus has taken the punishment for our sins, He has born the wrath of God upon Himself and, as we repent and believe the Gospel, so we enter into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We are saved by faith.

Then, the Bible tells us that we should do good works as a result of our faith, because that is pleasing to God; not to earn salvation, but as a response to the love of God which God has given to us. So that we should show by our lives, by our works, that we are believers in Jesus, that we want to do good rather than evil, and that we have faith.