Episode Details

Transcript

Associate Producer

Cindy Gardner

Podcast Introduction

Today is Epistles Sunday, and we’re going to complete the book of Hebrews  with chapters 11-13. You’ve heard of the Baseball Hall of Fame? Today we’ll read about Old Testament people who are in a sort of Faith Hall of Fame, or Hall of Faith.  I do have an on this date in church history for you. I’m calling today’s episode “What Is Faith?”  

Comments on Hebrews 11

Chapter 11 is sometimes called the Faith Hall of Fame, or the Hall of Faith. 

Why do you suppose the author of this book found it necessary to write this chapter? Of course, we know that the author wrote it because he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to do so, but beyond that I think the reason God gave this message for the Hebrews was because they were used to relying on the ongoing sacrifices to make them right with God. They were relying on their efforts to conform to the Mosaic Law. In the previous chapters, the Jews were told that Jesus offered Himself as the One sacrifice for all time, and that it was faith in Him that cleanses a person from sin. This notion of faith was a bit of a new concept for many of them. Thus they, and we, are given this chapter.

I like the way this translation of the Bible explains what faith is. It “is what makes real the things we hope for. It is proof of what we cannot see.”

Now, the word “hope” as it is used here is not the kind of hope a child has when he says, “I hope I get a new bicycle for Christmas.” That kind of hope is a sort of childlike wish. The hope spoken about here in Hebrews is the sort of hope that carries with it an assured anticipation of what will be in the future. I don’t wish that Jesus will someday return. I know He will, and it is that hope that allows me to have an unshakeable peace when I think about the future. I have no doubt that it will happen. 

Why don’t I doubt? Because I have the kind of faith spoken about in this chapter. 

Some people have little faith, some have great faith. Those who have little faith, if they ask for more, will receive it. I know this because at one time I had very little faith. But the faith I had told me that the One in whom my faith rested was real. So God, in His matchless grace, brought events into my life that made me see that whatever faith I had put in Him was well-placed. 

Often times my faith was tested. And when you think about it, when our faith is tested it is often God who is being tested. God says, “Do you have faith that I will do this?” And I say,”I believe, but help my unbelief.” And He