• Hebrews Outline:
  • Chapter 1 Christ is greater than the prophets and the angels.
  • Chapter 2 Christ's message is greater than the angel's.
  • Chapter 3 Christ is greater than Moses.
  • Chapter 4 Christ is greater than Joshua and His rest is superior.
  • Chapter 5 Christ's High Priesthood is greater than the Aaronic Priesthood.
  • Chapter 6 God's faithfulness to Abraham and his seed is confirmed by an oath.
  • Chapter 7 Christ is a Priest in the order of Melchizedek and Christ is greater than Abraham.
  • Chapter 8 Christ is Mediator of a new covenant.
  • Chapter 9 Christ offered a better sacrifice at a better sanctuary.
  • Chapter 10 Christ's sacrifice was offered only once and then He sat down.
  • Chapter 11 The just have always lived by faith.

• Introduction & Review

In the previous chapter the author pleads with the saints to come together and stir one another up to good works. He accuses them of putting away their lack of confidence and challenges them to consider the efficacious work of Christ on the cross.

Having given another very stern warning about falling away, the author reiterates that they should be living their lives by faith as have the saints of God down through time.

• Exposition

Hebrews 11:1-12

1 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.

• Despite the fact that the word faith is very commonly used, faith itself is not well understood. There are too many definitions of faith but thankfully for the Christian, here we encounter a very concise, but deep, definition of faith. In our vernacular, faith or hope is what you have to have when you aren't sure about something. We see faith being called upon commonly when reason and knowledge are not available. But notice how this definition of faith is completely contrary to this way of thinking. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is confident and substantive.

• The author goes clear back to creation to demonstrate that faith has always been necessary. Here he uses the example that faith must be used in order to understand that God made everything out of nothing. At one point in time there was nothing and then God spoke and things came in to being. This area tends to be one of those where Christians buckle under the pressure of archeologists, anthropologists and geologists. We assume that their investigations are conclusive and then scramble for ways to get the scriptures to coincide with their discovery. But, it would be better to confess that this is the word of God and we are to understand all things in its light not vice versa. This is called being presuppositionalist. A presuppositionalist is one who presupposes the truth of scripture-that is, they argue from the Scriptures not to the scriptures.

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.

• The author goes back nearly to the beginning of time for his first example of faithful living. It is necessary to understand that the author uses this example not to demonstrate that Abel's sacrifice was somehow superior except that it was offered in faith. The most likely understanding is that Cain's offer was not done in faith where Abel's was. Any other grounds for one sacrifice being offered and the other being rejected seems to miss the mark and is not in keeping with the context of the chapter.

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.

• Enoch was one of two people that the Scriptures record as not having experienced the physical death. Enoch was called a righteous man and was the father of Methuselah who was the longest living person in Scripture. Enoch was translated at the age of 365 and Methuselah died the year of the flood but probably not in the flood.

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.

• This is not a new feature of God. This truth has always existed. Notice the two things that must be present: a belief that God exists and that He is good. There is no need for us to get into debates over whether God exists or not. In the first place, it is not up to us to decide whether He exists or not and secondly as we said earlier, the Scriptures say that all men know that He exists.

• The scriptures say that all atheists are liars. Although they may claim that God does not exist, Romans 1:18-32 says that all men know the divine attributes of God yet in their wickedness they suppress the truth. When an Atheist says that they believe that God does not exist, they are really lying. The following is a true statement of Atheists, "God doesn't exist and I hate Him." In addition, we know that understanding, truth and reason comes from God. They must borrow from God to claim that he doesn't exist. That is like needing to sit in God's lap so that you can reach high enough to slap Him in the face.

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.

• Noah, by his obedience, condemned the ungodly in the world. Every day that he worked on the boat it was another proclamation of the faith of Noah and a proclamation of the faithlessness of the world. Despite what Noah may have seen with his eyes, his faith manifest itself in obedience. This is a general truth about faith; it produces godly action.

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. (NKJV)

• Abram saw the blueprints of the city that God was building. Although God brought him up out of Haran first, and then all the way south to Egypt, He ultimately brought him to the land of Canaan. It was this land that God promised to Abram as well as an extensive posterity. More importantly (for us as well as the recipients) the author uses the example of Abraham as a patriarch who lived by faith because Abraham did not rely on what he saw with his eyes but believed God's faithfulness to His promises. Romans 4:13-25