Faith In Jesus - [Hebrews 11]

Faith and Perseverance in Changing Times

Well, I'm very grateful to be here and very grateful that I have the opportunity to share with you what God has done and what He is doing in our hearts. And I admit the passage, 2 Timothy 2 .2, is a passage that kind of frames the whole ministry we are doing.

And there's a lot more to say, obviously, about that. But in the last few years, we have experienced, all of us have experienced changing times, I would say. Not difficult times, because times are always difficult.

But changing times with COVID, with wars and others, some closer, some not so close. And people ask themselves, what is going on and where do I have to have my foundation on? And for us, Ukraine is not far away from us, a thousand kilometers or maybe a little bit more, a thousand miles.

We are right there where the front is. And we hear not only from it, we experience it because people come to our church. Other people try to get out of Ukraine and stay with us. And as you probably heard, men are not allowed to leave the country.

And we are always hopeful that some of them will be coming and being able to go back. We experience all that. But we all have major questions besides the wars, besides COVID. Also, the politics is changing for us in Germany.

We have no politician or politics where we can trust anybody, at least not in Germany. And I'm not talking about here. I'm not talking about other countries. But that is something when you live in the main city of a country where politics are made, so to speak, then very often you look to that.

And we have even people from the government in our church, and they say, don't they respect Christians? Don't they think about Christians? We had a meeting with our congregation, and they were really indirectly complaining or just lamenting, why is nobody thinking about us?

Why is nobody helping us? And I said, well, think who you are. Think who you are, Christian. You are a follower of Christ. How did they treat Christ? And they understood where I was going to. And I said, we have nothing to complain, nothing.

We have only to be thankful for what God has given us and that you yourself can call yourself a disciple of Christ, a follower of Christ. And still, we are always searching, and we don't know where to go as a Christian sometimes.

Some things we do not understand why the times are we try to make sense of it and realize we have our limits. We don't understand everything. And in Hebrews 11, we are called to faith. We are called to trust in the Lord.

We really need to trust in the Lord. We need to behave as such believers. Actually, one of the main verses which I very often focus on is in Hebrews 13, verse 7, where it talks about the leadership of a church.

It says that to the congregation, not to the leaders, remember those who lead you, who spoke the word of God to you, and consider the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. It's expected that a leader walks and lives by faith, not by sight, not that we ignore it, but we do things which the world does not understand.

Faith as Assurance of Things Not Seen

And in chapter 11 of Hebrews, and today I want to focus on the first few verses and hope to get a little bit further, but we'll see. It's the first three verses of chapter 11, and I know that was a passage which we have already studied in the past, five years ago, I think.

And so, you know a lot about it. Now, it says, the writer to the Hebrews says the following, Now, faith is assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the man of old gained approval.

By faith we understand that the world were prepared by the word of God so that what was seen was not made out of things which are visible. And by faith, in verse 4, by faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, so which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous.

God testifying about his gift as through faith, so he is dead, he is still speaking. By faith Enoch was taken up that he would not be seen, see death, and he was not found because God took him up, for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.

And verse 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. Let me pray. Father God, it is indeed for us a challenge again and again to see the world, to see the things around ourselves, and yet follow you by faith only to understand that the reward is coming not from this world, but is coming from you God, and that you give us only hope in Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.

We want to ask you, even this morning, that you guide us through this passage, and also make things for us individually alive, how we need to respond to this truth. In Jesus' name, amen. There are a lot of things in this world that demand extreme level of human achievement.

For example, men in military, I just came for my son, and he and his wife are living in the Air Force Base in North Carolina, and they have to do extreme things to achieve what they want to achieve. And he was trained in the Marines, and I know some of us who have been in the military understand that they request everything out of you.

And it's also true through rescue swimmers, surgeons, farmers, all of those men and all of the people have to do extreme things to accomplish what they want. There are many things that require very intense level of achievements.

Redemption Comes by Faith, Not Human Achievement

But in the Bible, God tells us that it's not what it takes for a sinner to find a relationship to God. It's not our achievement. The gospel talks about forgiveness of sin does not come through human achievement.

Rather, it comes to someone who is willing to believe in the redeeming work of the Son, Jesus Christ. We understand that maybe. Maybe you have never thought about this this way. But there's only redemption in the work of Jesus Christ, the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.

This whole chapter is called the Hall of Fame, of Faith, basically, a chapter that highlights what ordinary sinners have been able to achieve because they had faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you study through it, you are amazed about the people because they are not known necessarily for all the good things they did, but also for the challenging and difficult things, the sins they have committed.

Anyway, in the whole passage, in the whole chapter 11, there's 24 times we are asked to step in the footsteps of those people who live by faith. And this is exactly what I talked to our church about. Because so many of them want to have everything organized, everything, understanding everything, everything figured out already.

They want to have a secure life. I think Germany is one of the countries where they have the most insurance sold for people because they think they can insure everything. And I talked to them, I said, do you understand that you just waste money in some ways?

Because you really have to put your faith in Christ's redeeming work. So, in the first chapter of verse 10, 19 to 25, we saw the call to persevering faith, no matter how weary you might be, keep on drawing near to the faithful God.

In verse 10, 26 to 39, we saw the reason for persevering faith. God takes no pleasure in unbelief. He doesn't. We know that. But he is thrilled with those who believe in his word and keep preserving the following of Jesus Christ, who follow Jesus Christ.

And that's what we have. I just testify of that. We have seen that over the years. Impossible situations have turned out to be incredible testimonies because they trusted in Jesus Christ. It does not mean that we have not to make some great human accomplishment, but it simply means being willing to believe in God.

Being willing to believe in God. It is faith and faith alone that enables us to accomplish what God is calling us to accomplish. And he is preserving that faith has a reward, a great reward. So, dealing with this, going into the passage, we are asked really that faith is our strength.

Now, faith is the insurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. And the writer to the Hebrews focused on that. If there had been any other way for sinners to get right with God apart from faith and the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, Christ would not have come to this earth to bear the sin of all of us.

Just understand that we have to understand that Christ offered himself in order that we can be saved. And that is what we really have to follow and that we have to believe and understand. Faith is what gives us assurance concerning those things which we hope for.

You see, you don't prove God and you don't prove heaven, the things which are supernatural. You can't prove them. We can try to prove them. I tried to with my brother, and he is kind of an intellectual guy.

He studied philosophy, he studied psychology, he studied informatics, and he studied all kinds of stuff. He seems to be studying all the time. And he walked with me and I wanted to share the gospel with him.

I did.

But I tried to prove it. And I was unable to. I was unable to convince him and show him who God is and show him the creation. He sees it, but he doesn't believe. And that's the challenge we all face. And if we could, it would not be faced.

Basically, that's what the scripture says. You must believe the things which are not seen. You must believe the things which are not seen. Leon Morris wrote about that. There are realities for which you have not material evidence, so they are not less real for us.

Faith enables us to know that they exist.

They do.

And these are the things we hope for. It says that faith is a conviction of things not seen. That faith is evidence of things which are not seen. So, your faith, basically, if somebody would see you, and that's exactly what Re Hebrews 13 and 7 expect, that the congregation looks at the leaders and sees their faith, the way they live, and you said, he knows something, what I don't know, or at least he hopes for something, I want to follow.

And we have to have such strong conviction of the things which the Bible talks about. I'm not talking about faith without the Bible. I'm talking about faith in Jesus Christ, his redemptive work, which is illustrated and clarified in the scripture.

So, they see us, they see the leaders, and they say, because of the leaders, because of their life, their life in faith, it's evidence, it must be true. This guy is not dumb. He knows what he's doing.

He studied Hebrew, he studied Greek, and all kinds of stuff, and still he believes those things. And he goes into situations I would not go in to do this. I just saw an F -15, or many F -15s start, and I said, it's amazing what engineering is there.

They fly, and then suddenly they take a dive, not a dive, they take a hike up, and then they turn around and fly, continue to fly. And I asked my son and his wife, what is happening? I mean, if you sit in the sink, I mean, I would probably be immediately out of commission, because I faint.

And he said, yeah, it is different. You have special trousers on that pushes your blood in the upper torso, so you can even breathe, and you have to take a fast breath, that you even stay alert. And I said, it's amazing what all the people can do.

And we, this is not what we have to face on the things we know, and we can study, and physics, and all that. But faith in the supernatural, and God's working in this life, even in this time on the earth.

And it says in 2 Corinthians 4, 17, 18,. And for the light, momentary affliction, and the preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comprehension, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are not unseen.

For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. So the point is here, sometimes exactly those things we don't understand, which we don't see, and also from the biblical, spiritual point of view, are the ones which are most important, which you need to most be believing in, to have faith in.

Faith in Creation and True Knowledge

So, we have to have faith in things that are unseen. So what I'm saying is, for instance, right now, everybody is sitting in a chair, nobody of us, you checked probably a chair, if that was okay, and nobody thought a limb off, and did anything.

I'm every day now, the last week, flying somewhere, and I trust the pilot, I trust that the plane is okay, because it already flew so many times, and stuff like this. But faith goes beyond that. Obviously, it's not the physical things we have faith in.

We have the faith in Jesus Christ's eternal work, his work of redemption. The essence of faith is this. By faith of old, the man gained approval. By it, the old man of old gained approval. That means, what he's saying, what he's pointing us towards, is this was never different.

It was always the same. The heroes of the faith are those ones who believed in God, and lived by God. And the scripture is full, and there are many examples he has given to us, from Enoch, from Abel, and from many, many others, Adam and Eve, showing that this man lived by faith.

And there has always been a way of where they learned to trust in God, and that's from the past, we learned that from the past. By faith, they had witnessed, and borne witness to us today. By it, people of old received their commendation.

They were really our witness to us. The only way that guilty sinners can gain approval in the eyes of Holy God is when we believe in things, when we have faith in things. So the question we have to have is, just who were these men of old, and just what did faith accomplish for them?

That is exactly what is then explained in this chapter 11, verses 3 and following, where there are a lot of examples given how they achieved that faith. Alone in the next verses, there are 18 times they talk about people who have by faith, and they show the glorious reward of all those men and women who have lived by genuine faith in Jesus Christ, and believe that there is a Savior, believe that their work of redemption is only through him.

So in the first verse, we have glorious reward of redemption by faith. This is shown by the ancient people, by the people of old. And glorious faith is also by the man of faith gained access to true knowledge, both in God and creation.

So that's the next example where they do have faith in creation. He said here, by faith you understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

Now, if we read that and we listen to it, yes we say we believe it, and at the same time I have teachers who teach in the public school system, and they have to teach evolution. And they have to teach it to people who most of us believe in it already and know it.

Most of the children, most of the adults believe in the system of evolution because they live by it. In economics, everybody thinks everything gets better consistently, should get better, better, better.

America is an example of it. They expect everything to always get better, and we know it's not the case. We know that the scripture says things not get better, they get actually worse. But for us, that's not what we focus on.

We focus on Jesus Christ. We focus on the eternal. We know that this world is passing away, but he says, and therefore he says, for us we don't only understand God himself, we don't only trust in God ourselves, but we even trust in his creation, that it's made as the Bible said how it's made.

We are not looking to science to get the answer. We're looking to the Bible to get the answer. Notice how we use the expression true knowledge. Let me explain this, the next point. By faith we understand that the world was prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made of things which are visible.

And we can receive true knowledge of God through faith, true knowledge of God. Without faith there is no true knowledge of God. But this is also true in the ultimate sense of even the creation itself.

You cannot understand creation if you don't believe. There is no way you can do it. Now we know that unsaved man still has a mind that enables him to have knowledge itself and know things, but they don't have knowledge and understanding about the creation.

But there is something that we see. Those who reject the Creator are going to be severely hindered or handicapped, you could say, even the ability to understand creation. If somebody doesn't believe in God, the supernatural, how can he believe in creation?

There's no way. And I try to explain it to my brother. I think that he's an unbeliever, but for me it's enough evidence. I mean, this guy has studied everything. And he has written quite a few books, had his doctorate and all this stuff, but it didn't bring him any closer to knowledge, real knowledge.

Actually, he's so depraved or so... Knowledge really, what it says also in the Bible, knowledge puffs up and makes him blind to a lot of other things. But in this case, all his understanding was a hindrance for him to really believe in God.

Because he thinks man can understand everything, and they can't. But there's something that we see, that it's a hindrance. And some authors said the following, there are many practical proofs of refuting the reckless conclusion there is just one true science in which habitual is a handicap.

In times, even, it's a sabotage to them. By illusionary thinking, because false foundations are scientifically stumbling blocks, real scientific progress in a way that applies to daily life has been both hindered and harmed by illusionary thinking.

And I have to agree with that. People who have this illusionary thinking on the foundation, or try to mix it with creation, destroys really faith. Because they think, oh, there must be something that can be understood in the way of evolution.

And it's not. The problem is evolution cannot see the truth because they refuse all to allow for supernatural creation. They refuse it. When God said in his word, there was light and we have light, we would say, how can that be?

I need to understand that. Well, you can't, because no one of us was there when it happened. And it was not explained, it was assumed that everybody who reads the scripture from the very beginning reads the scripture with the belief that God is faithful, that God is a supernatural creation through God.

But then here is the truth of where this universe has come from. God spoke and it was done. Very simple. I don't know how many years you have to study that, but very simple to say. God created it, he made it, and it's done.

I don't want to simplify anything, but it's just as simple as it says. No matter who you are, it will be a matter of faith if you believe it. And the Christians accept this basic principle as one who does not accept this, this constraint of knowledge that all men must deal with.

If you don't believe that part, you will be always constrained, you will always lack the knowledge which God is giving us through the Bible and what we have to believe by faith. Now from this unsaved evolutionary world, you get some real vile speculation about the origin of the universe, like the Big Bang Theory and everything.

I don't want to focus so much on that. I just want to say there are so many theories out there that really convolute our understanding, which they really hinder us to understand and really have belief in God.

And so it is really a tragedy that many believers even today, especially also in Germany, we experience who say, well, yeah, we have creation. But I believe also something of the evolution and of other theories.

And then they ultimately, they never grow or there is no visible change in their life. So what is seen was not made of those things which were visible or which are visible. You see, there was a time when the creation of things existed in the universe or did not exist in the universe.

God existed but not even the universe itself existed. He made it. He created it. It is by faith that we will understand that. What is seen was not made out of things which are visible. It's a simple sentence but ultimately it's hard for us to believe.

How can something visible be made out of something not visible? But that's exactly what it says. Beloved, there is what we know is true from the word of God. By faith we understand that the world were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen has not been made out of things that are visible.

Ex nihilo, creation out of nothing. The infinite, eternal, supernatural creator made everything in the universe out of nothing. And then he molded it and shaped it and became the earth to be a place where man could live.

His creature, the people he created would dwell to his own glory. It was a plan but they obviously failed in some ways. And it's exactly that is also said. That we believe this, we need to believe that.

There's something in Romans 1 where it says the people who don't believe in the creator, and we right now deal in Germany and everywhere else with these issues. They even question our gender and they question where we come from.

They question everything. And suddenly you have a huge mess. When I was teaching with my wife about marriage and family and also just the principle of child-rearing and everything, people were asking questions which I said, this is so logical, why don't they understand?

Well, because they're so confused what's out in this world now. Somebody told me that he was a company in order to try to get a job or to get a project from his company, he had to come up with 250 or something genders.

And I said, how do you do that?

I mean, this is crazy.

Only to make the program able to deal with all that. I said, where does it go to? And he was himself, I mean, he couldn't explain it obviously. But the point is the world is so confused. And this is not only here the case, this is in Germany the case, this is in Saudi Arabia the case.

Anywhere, people don't know. A question is, is this really family, husband, wife and children? Or could it be whatever? And when you see that, then the next question I have is, what is with the kids who are brought up in such a situation or in such a climate?

What is their identity? How do they know their identity? And that is then coming to the point where you really see the tragedies where people, because they don't see a reason for being, take their lives because they are confused.

And nobody gives them hope, not their parents, not the church, if the church buys into this thing. By faith we know that all we see around us and all that takes place on earth comes from one we cannot see, from God.

God's power, we learn, created all the things. Scripture says that very clearly. By faith we learn what kind of earth or heart a person must possess in order to approach him as a living God. That's what he says in the next verse, in verse 4, where he says, by faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain.

Through faith he obtained the testimony that he was righteous and God testified about his gift. And through faith, so he is dead and still speaks. The point was, I know so many people have talked about, the big question is what was it for a sacrifice?

Was it good, was it bad, and all the things. The point I think was made here is what did he believe that Cain or Abel,.

Who believed?

And it was obvious that Abel believed and that counted him as righteousness. And that was kind of an example to us today. We need to be men and women who believe in God. We need to be men and women who understand that God is the one who created us and that the world was created and we followed that clear testimony.

Now, and you might understand, my words are pretty, of course I'm German, but I also have preached like once a year in English. So, please forgive me. Sometimes I think what I think I know, but then the words are missing.

The principle is because we come to the place where we realize that God and the writer of Hebrews want for us to understand that it's a matter of faith. We need to really trust in the word of God, in God's creation, and in the son of God in order to have a life that really reflects a God-like and Christ-like life.

And he says even in verse 6, which is kind of a summary of this passage,.

Where he says,.

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. Friends, this is the way it works with God. If you are willing to believe in the son of God, you will never have, or if you not believe, you will never have the right relationship with him.

But if you believe, you will have the right relationship with him. So, you need to believe in Christ. As he says, it is impossible otherwise. To explain what it means, redeeming faith deals in the first step.

You must believe that he exists. God exists. God is. It seems to be too simple, but you just need to accept it. Nobody can prove him. We can't prove God. God is. You have to believe it. The scripture is full of it.

In the end, you must believe that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. He is the only one. There is no other one. I told that to our congregation. It doesn't matter what you do. You believe it or you don't.

There is no other way. It's just not. First of all, faith is not illogical or irrational. It is rational. And it's logical. Maybe the atheist world, and in Berlin especially, the people who are living there, they mock us.

I mean, we had to face a situation where we couldn't rent a building because we were Christian. Right now, we can't even buy certain software because we are Christians. They rejected us. And people didn't believe that this would happen.

But we have it black and white. We have the printouts. We can't use certain software, which we researched was really good, but we couldn't use it. And, of course, we move on. God has better things for us.

Today, you choose what is illogical and irrational is to believe that we believe in evolution. Nothing acts on itself and made itself into everything. Nothing can't become something. We know all those kinds of concepts.

And evolution can't explain what we have today, what the world is today, and who we are today.

It doesn't.

So, we understand that those things are the way they are. Living creatures that think and feel and remember and love and protect all by accident, it's not possible. Friends, it is neither scientific nor logical nor rational to believe that evolution or the system of evolution has any bearing and is true at all.

What is really is something calling, is we need to believe what God says. Faith in the word of God in both is logical, rational, and it's completely consistent with good science. So, don't listen to people who say it's not good science and it's not logical.

It is logical. When you study it enough and read the passages of scripture and really after, I think, I've been now a believer nearly 30, 40 years. I probably have read 100 times through the Bible. And when you read it, I mean, you think that way.

When I see the things that happen right now, the wars and all this stuff, I understand. It makes total sense with what I read in the Bible. And people ask me, what's happening right now with this epidemic and stuff.

Of course, epidemic itself, I didn't understand everything what was happening there. But I think it made sense. It made sense with the times. It made sense that those things are happening and it affects every one of us.

And I wouldn't wonder then when something like this happens again or something similar. Faith needs to be in the word of God. It's completely consistent with what we believe. And the word of God also tells us that we human beings have been created without both significance and purpose.

There is a purpose for our life and we have a reason why we are here. We are not simply freaks, accidents by nature. Read Psalm 139. Read verse 14 to 17. It's very clear what it is. I know my daughter, she worked in one of the biggest hospitals in Berlin just to do an internship there.

And the doctor didn't know that she was not a nurse. So he took her into intensive care, into surgeries. And because she had everything on, she didn't realize it. And so he took her in and he asked her to give certain things.

And she couldn't.

Of course, she didn't do it, giving him the Bible instead of a tool. No, she didn't do that. But the other nurses immediately came and gave her something what he gave the doctor. And it was kind of interesting.

But she had an incredible opportunity. There was a situation where children were born and on the next floor children were aborted. And she came into the room where the nurses were meeting. And you can imagine it has a huge effect on the person when things like this happen.

And you can't really make sense out of it. Here people try to have kids and here on the floor they don't. They try to get rid of them. And she just used Psalm 139, gave it to everybody and left. But the point is, the perspective we have on life is a totally different one.

It's a totally different one than unbelievers have, people who don't know Christ. We are created as God's very image and we are created with meaning and purpose. Created to know God and to love him and to enjoy him.

Do you enjoy God? Do you enjoy God? Created to physically reflect of his own excellency and glory. I'm very often in Istanbul in Turkey. I was just, as I mentioned, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. People need to see that I love God.

That I reflect God. That I understand that in our own life. We are the testimony of it. You can tell a Muslim anything you want to, but if he doesn't see it in your own life, it has no bearing. No bearing.

It is from the word of God that we know man has been created with meaning and purpose. But in order to understand this, you must believe him as a true saving face. You must believe that he is. You must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

Read the word. Not just for consumption, just as much as you can.

No, no, no.

Read the details and meditate on it. You have all iPhones. Put a verse on it every day. Take it to work. Think about it. You can hear it. Since years now, I'm listening every morning to 30 minutes of the Bible.

Consistently driving to work and from work. And I go many, many times to the Bible. But sometimes it's just stuck. Man, I have not heard that. I never heard this translation or whatever. And it's so good just to reflect on everything in the context of life.

He is not the rewarder man whose face is only superficial lip service. It doesn't mean anything if you just come here and want to be on Sunday so you can say to everybody, I'm a Christian. Nah, it doesn't.

You need to really have a personal relationship and it needs to reflect what the Bible says. He's a rewarder of those who face in a persevering face and a diligently seek him. A message every man needs to believe.

All of us, we need to believe. And what it says here, and without faith it's impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those who seek him. We need to understand this.

How does all this come down to the point where we can apply it to our own life? It is knowing your need for a savior because of your sins and turning to him to believe that he died and rose again to save you from your sins.

That is foundational. Believe in God's word. Believe in the work of Jesus Christ who saved you and I. And believe what God says in his word. His will is for your life. That's all what we need to know.

And sometimes I'm joking a little bit too much to my young families in the church. I said, you know, it's not really important that you send your children to school. Just teach them the word of God. Of course, I don't mean that.

Because all my kids went to school. They went to college, some of them, and graduated. But this is essential. What does it help me? That my son, 30 years old, was in the Marines and is with his wife in the Air Force and does not know Christ.

All what he experienced so far is nothing. Shows nothing. I mean, basically, if he didn't learn to know God, and if he didn't understand the scripture, and I talked to him directly in the car, Philip, what stops you from believing?

Because I wrote him a few months ago a letter. I said, Cheryl and I are most concerned about your soul. I don't care what medals you have. I don't care. I really want to know where you go. And he knows everything about the Bible.

But that doesn't save if you know everything. It saves you when you have a relationship. Let your entire life be shaped by the truth of God's word. Develop a daily pattern to seek God and his word. Daily pattern.