The eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews is all about faith. After defining faith in verse one, the author then takes the reader on an exhilarating sweep through several biblical accounts of what men and women of God accomplished by faith. In short, they are examples of those who lived in the reality of Jesus’s resurrection. The book of Hebrews is important to our church today because we need faith to believe in the resurrection. We may have heard the gospel and of the resurrection for a long time, but professing is not enough- if we seek to live the resurrection life through our actions and attitude, we need faith. So then, who has faith? And what does genuine faith look like? We begin our new sermon series on faith with these two questions.
There are two types of people in this world- those who are of faith, and those who are not of faith. The last verse in Hebrews 10 speaks of those who seem to have faith, but are in the end destroyed, and of those who have the faith that preserves their soul before God. How can the genuine kind of faith be produced in us? It by an assurance of God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Heb 10:18-20 tell us of those who are confident to come before God through Jesus Christ. Though they may have been the worst sinners, they are convinced of God’s forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ. Those who are of faith know that God was crucified in their place, and they now have a new understanding and a new way of living. Their minds, hearts, and bodies are completely turned towards Jesus, their Savior and Lord.
Do you realize how precious and powerful your salvation is? The church tends to push this central truth aside to focus on small things that can not compare. But before anything else, we must know where we stand when it comes faith. If you were to die today, and God asks why He should let you enter heaven, what would you say? There is only one door that leads to eternal life, and it is through one person- Jesus Christ. Jesus says the way that leads to life is narrow, and those who find it are few. Are you of the few who have genuine faith? (Matt 7:13-14)
What does genuine faith look like?
Those who possess faith have the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit of Jesus is the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised to send to us to be with us forever. He is the Helper who was sent to guide, comfort, and lead us into making us more like Jesus through the Word of God. (Rom 8:9; Jn 14:18, 26) Christians are not perfect, but they are always growing because they are governed by the Holy Spirit whose sole purpose is to glorify Jesus. Living by faith means being filled with the Holy Spirit and being led by Him every day. His desire is to reign over us, conquer the power of sin, and prove that we belong to the Kingdom of God.
Those who possess faith love Christ distinctively. Apostle Paul considered everything as rubbish- quite literally, dung- compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord. (Phil 3:7-9) Do you have this distinction for Christ? This is not an “extreme” kind of faith- this is how the Bible describes genuine faith. If Jesus’s worth to you is on the same level as marriage, kids, money, career, or anything else, you do not have faith. Without faith, you can not be emboldened to stand for Christ, because a half-hearted love for Christ will not risk anything for Him. We must not cheapen Christ, using faith as a means to get our own desires. Worldly gain is not the evidence of God’s blessing, because anyone can be rich, healthy, or famous without Christ. If we truly take time every day to measure what matters the most, we would consider as rubbish everything but Christ alone. The full measure of God’s blessing for us is Christ Himself.
Without faith, you can not do anything related to the Christian life. Faith is strengthened by remembering the gospel every day. The more you know the gospel, the more you will love it, for in the gospel, there is love, joy, and peace. The more you love the gospel, the more you will readily share it, as something you’ve experienced yourself. The gospel answers the ultimate question of our longing souls- How can a sinner be made righteous? In Christ alone- the righteous shall live by faith. (Rom 1:17) By faith, Christ will be central in your life, and in Him, there will be no distinction between life and death, for if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. This is the resurrection life.
BIBLE COMMUNITY CHURCH 
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