By Faith ....
Heb. 11: 1- 16

Intro.:

1.  We arrive now at a chapter that is famous, the faith chapter of Hebrews. Faith is one of the great words of the  Christian church. Faith has a poor press in others parts of our culture. Faith is intangible and hence it is relative and probably useless. Faith is contrasted  to matter.
There is a use that un-Christian people accept. If you have faith in yourself you can succeed." This kind of faith is boastful, self-centered, ultimately boastful, and is a distortion  of the biblical meaning of faith.

2. If there is any criteria that we have seen held up to  us, these two would probably appear more often:  rationality and science. If we look at rationality seriously, we will discover that many of the significant relations of life are trans-rational. For example, give me three reasons why my wife should love me. Or, there are no good reasons why I should so this, but I want to do it and that's that.
Or, the reason is upset and unseated when we come to the imagination--like when it causes us to retreat from doing something that is safe. The tight-robe walker who recently was in the news for his exploits in New York, called to mind via the networks, the great Blondin who tight-roped walked across the Niagra Falls. He asked a man if he believed that he could carry him over on his back. The man replied “yes”, where upon, Blondin told him to get on his back. The man pulled back. He believed he could, but his imagination would not permit him to do it.
The other area is science. Science has the image of being cool, objective, and without faith. Science declares that it requires facts, not faith and fancy. But science is misleading in this image. We will see shortly that science itself is related to faith, and without faith science cannot perpetuate itself.

3. There is more to life than the tangible. "Man does not live by bread alone, but by beauty and harmony, truth and goodness, work and recreation, affection and friendship, aspiration and worship. Not by bread alone, but by the splendor of the firmament at night, the glory of the heavens at dawn, the blending of colors at sunset, the loveliness of magnolia trees, the magnificence of mountains. Not by bread alone, but by the majesty of ocean breakers, the shimmer of moonlight on a calm lake, the flashing silver of a mountain torrent, the exquisite patterns of snow crystals, the creation of artists. Not by bread alone, but by the fragrance of roses, the scent of orange blossoms, the smell of new-mown hay, the clasp of a friend's hand, the tenderness of a mother‘s kiss. Not by bread  alone, but by the lyrics of poets, the wisdom of sages, the holiness of saints, the biographies of great souls. Not by bread alone, but by comradeship and high adventure, seeking and finding, serving and sharing, loving and being loved. Man does not live by bread alone, but by being faithful in prayer, responding to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, finding and doing the will of God now and eternally.”   (The University Presbyterian)

In a similar vein the writer speaks of faith and its importance in our lives. Let‘s look at faith’s applications.

I. By Faith we understand. 3

l. By commitment we understand. Commitment is prior to learning. This truth is so obvious that it is overlooked. Let's look at a simple example. Take medicine for example. You want to be a doctor. You begin to pursue a science course. At college you take chemistry. If you have never had chemistry before, you simply say in essence--here I am, I am yours. Teach me what chemistry is all about. Can you imagine yourself rising to contradict the professor on the second day of class? At this point the professor is right and you have no basis of questioning--unless he is a dolt. You are given  an assignment to do a simple chemistry experiment.
If you should not be successful--who do you question—the instructor or instructions, or conclude that you have not worked it correctly? All thru your medical study, you may raises questions here and there for clarification, consistency, but is there presumption that you would contradict the entire medical profession as a student? You are a learner, a committed person and you have neither the basis or prestige nor knowledge to question any sacred truths of the profession.
When can you question and contradict and advocate any new  revolutionary idea? Only when you have finished your apprenticeship can you feel confident. Only when you have become a master can you really lift your voice and take on the medical profession.

This is true for any other profession...science, history, business, religion. By commitment we learn. This is the truth of that statement uttered, I think, by Augustine, "I believe that I might understand."

2. By faith, or commitment we understand something about people. A young man sees a young girl who is attractive to him. He commits himself to a meeting, then a date, and they talk, and she finds out if he is a tight-wad, or brash, or gentle, or humorous, or intelligent, or promiscuous, or whatever. She, in committing herself to a date, reveals also  what she is like...she is a  gold-digger, or considerate, humorous, delightful conversationalist, knowledgeable of the world, and so on. Commit yourself for an intelligent encounter with other people and you will learn of them. You will know what kind of people they are, and they will learn of you.

3. By commitment, you will come to understand God. By commitment you will understand that he really exists. By commitment you will learn that he is gentle, that he loves you dearly, and that your life has been a shell until you come to him.
By commitment you will understand that the world's were created by Him. By commitment you will begin to see a new perspective on life. By commitment you will learn that life is short, sin is so great, but God is so good.
You won't learn this any other way.

II. By commitment we please God. 2-6

l. V. 6. "And without faith it is impossible to please God. As you ponder the statement and ask about it there is one fact that emerges in the following verses. These people were involved in the ongoing of God's program one way or another. There is nothing about their diligent performance of the ten commandments, or the Sermon on the Mount. That is the foundation. Their  actions involve them in God's work, and in this commitment he is pleased.

Look at a very simple  experience. A couple of years ago, I got involved in an apartment house in Emporia. One of the problems  had was the manager. There was always complaint that the halls were not cleaned up at all, or they were not cleaned well. Someone would call me and I would have to talk with the manager Eventually, after a long period  of time my patience  out and the hero of this story appeared on  the scene.--my son. He wanted a job. and the only reason he wanted to work was to earn money. So I got a new manager, a new caretaker and outlined the responsibility and said, go at it.

Recently  I talked with one of the ladies and she said, "I have lived her 13 years and I haven't seen it this clean before." Every once in a while I  check up--did you take out the trash tonight? I get a good answer, yes. No  has called me up saying that the place needs cleaning. I have given him a job to do and  I am please by  his work.  I am seeing dependability, responsibility, and accomplishment.

2. Many of the instances in the chapter relate to God’s call to  a task. Given the task, they understood it. V. 35-37 indicate that they were not always successful. But they seemed  to begin the task. God calls us tasks  outside the walls of this building. The call of God is frequently related to the needs of people.
There is a need to look around and see who needs deliverance from captivity. Take stock of the church fellowship. We need a strong boys work, to complement what we are doing in girl's work.

III. By faith--we begin a new life style. v.15-16

l. Scripture... “If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one." v. l3. “they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.”
Faith in God causes us to raises questions about what is the promised land. There is much that is good in our world. God has given life on this planet. We have many good relations and they are a treasure from God. Children are a heritage from God, but children, homes, families, wealth and other elements of our existence are only gifts of God. They are benefits, but the real gift is God himself. Idolatry is the adoration of the gift over against the Giver.

2. Look at some of the examples. In committing himself to God's purpose, Abraham had to leave his homeland and go to a strange country. Because of his call and commitment, Moses left the comfort and security of a king's palace to become Moses the deliverer. They chose new lives in their commitment to God. They chose because they recognized that the old way of life was inadequate. They acknowledged that it was insufficient and without the fullest meaning.

3. Commitment to Christ calls for a Christian lifestyle.
Not only does it mean being concerned, compassionate, and loving, but it means that we are to be honest, people of integrity, truthfulness, open and above-board. This is to continue in the Christian life-style.
In Stanley High's book on Billy Graham, he tells of the an electronics expert  who was established and getting richer as the chief wire tapper  for Michey Cohen, Southern Cal's boss gangster. On the eve of his departure to St. Louis for a trip, his wife Alice, persuaded him--lacking any good movies to attend a Graham  meeting just to see what this like. That night Alice says, the message was on God’s judgement and God‘s mercy. When the invitation was given,  she prayed, "This is for me and for Jim too, Lord, please.
She prayed again for Jim. as he sat unmoved. "Lord, if this doesn‘t touch him, what will...? The crowd rose to sing "Almost persuaded, not to believe, Almost persuaded now to receive She prayed again, Lord, persuade Jim.
A wiry man with sparse hair and a determined look on his thin face touched Jim's arm. At first Jim glared at him. But he bowed his head to pray, and when he raised his eyes, Jim muttered, "I'll go."
He committed himself to  Christ and with this commitment came the need to  straighten out his life. He had to return stolen electronic and photographic equipment.    Jim sold his house and automobile. When he returned the telephone company goods, the manager--surprised--offered him a job. He wrote the district attorney confessing he had committed perjury and  his testimony resulted in the dropping of charges against an L.A. police officer.
He had become a very active Christian because of his commitment to Christ. Faith in God calls forth this change in life-style.

Conclusion:
l. Some of these points may be illustrated in the life of Joy Davidman. Joy became an atheist at the tender age of 8 after reading  Well's Outline of History. She early rejected all morality as a pipe dream. By 1929 she came to believe in nothing  but American prosperity; in 1930 she believed in nothing. She was an avid reader and had even read the Bible for its literary beauty, and even wrote a poem on the Resurrection--a sort of private  argument with Jesus, attempting to convince Him and herself that He had never risen.
During the depression she was without a purpose, although she was secure and without want. She could not live in her own pleasures while men were hungry and she worried so that she wanted to do something about it and joined the Communist Party.
She entered the party in a burst of emotion without study of Marxist’s theory. With a few scraps of knowledge, she was accepted almost at once as a journalist and critic on the Party's semi-official magazine New Masses. And she began to learn.
She learned that "love of people" made it all right for them to lie to the rank and file of the Party; still worse, the vague "love of the people” turned into quite specific hatred of the  people’s enemies, and that the enemies of the people were all those of very class and opinion who happened to disagree with the Party.

But she became bored with the movement and  married a writer William Lindsay Gresham. Together, they made a startling discovery--marriage had ended, overnight, all our lingering interest in going to Party social gatherings! Two sons born required attention and love and made abstract theoretical Marxism boring. .
Meanwhile, her husband had been overworking. One day he telephoned from the New York office--to tell her that he was having a nervous breakdown. He felt his mind going; he couldn't say where he was and he could not bring himself to come home, and then he hung up.

There followed a day of frantic and vain telephoning. By nightfall there was nothing left to do but wait and see if he turned up, alive or dead. I put the babies to sleep and waited. 'For the first time in her life she felt helpless; for the first
time she had to admit that she was not, after all, "the master of her fate" and the "captain of her soul" All my defenses- the walls of arrogance and cocksureness and self-love behind- which she had hid from God--went down momentarily, And God came in .... There was a Person with her in the room, directly present to my consciousness--a Person so real that all my previous life was by comparison mere shadow play. And I myself was more alive than I had ever been. It was like waking from sleep. So intense a life cannot be endured for long by flesh and blood; we must ordinarily take our life watered down, diluted as it were, by time and space and matter. My perception of God last perhaps half a minute.

In that time, however, many things happened. I forgave some of my enemies
I understood that God had always been there, and since childhood, I had been pouring half my energy into the task of keeping Him out. I saw myself as I really was, dismay and repentance; and seeing, I changed. I have been turning into a different person since that half minute, everyone tells me.

When it was over I found myself on my knees, praying. I think I must have been the world's most astonished atheist. When her husband came home, he accepted her experience without question. He was himself on the way to something of the kind. Together, in spite of illness and anxiety, they set about remaking their minds. For obviously they need it. She said, "If my knowledge of God was true, the thinking of my whole life   had been false."

She could not doubt the truth of her experience. It was so much the realist thing that had ever happened to her. And, in a gentler, less overwhelming form, it went right on happening. So my previous reasoning was at fault, and I must somehow find the error.   Gradually, her communism shriveled up and blew away like a withered tumbleweed. "I cannot tell exactly when it went, but I looked and found it gone. And something else had come into its place. She was by no means a Christian at this point. She had the usual delusion that all religions mean the same thing " Fortunately, she had learned her lesson, and this time she looked before she leaped; She studied religions and found them anything but the same thing. Some of them had wisdom up to a point, some had good ethical intentions, some of them had flashes of spiritual insight; but only one had a complete understanding of grace and repentance and charity that had come to her from God.

And the Redeemer who had made Himself known, whose personality I would have recognized among ten thousand--well when I read the New Testament, I recognized Him. He was Jesus.

2. Are you like Joy Davidman--looking for meaning to life, but searching in the wrong place? Are you wanting to  know more about God but not willing to make the commitment? Are you wasting your energy struggling against God? Are you saying I cannot believe? Listen, if you will, obey, you will come to believe. That sounds paradoxical but it is true. If you want to have faith, then obey Jesus call to come after him. Today, I w ant you to obey, and you will come to believe.

1974