Hebrews 11

There is no one like Jesus, to slip away from Him is a tragedy beyond compare.
10:38 tells us that the righteous will live by faith. Thats how we shal be known, that shall be our badge, our faith in Christ, the test is how seriously we take Hebrews 11. So what is faith?

Verse 1.
Faith is looking forward to God's unseen promises and up to God's unseen presence. Faith, our life, is about looking at Jesus, about having our eyes on Him.

Verse 6.
Without faith it is impossible to please God. How important then a life of faith is.

The Portrait Gallery.
Most of this chapter is remembering people that have gone before and what God did through them. These are imperfect heroes, real peopl who faced real situations, real peer pressure and real cultural pressure, just like us. We need to learn from this. The phrase 'by faith' is mentioned seventeen times in this chapter. We need to pay attention, and walk in faith and with the faithful. As we saw, this is not a gallery of perfect heroes. The life of faith is a life for ordinary people who have lived with an extraordinary God.

Biblical Faith is:
confident action
the action taken in response to God's promises
working extraordianry miracles in ordinary people
working in a variety of situations
working in a variety of outcomes.

Faith is regarded and rewarded by God.

Sarah is in the list. She wouldn't have been on many of our lists, but thats the beauty of it, God can work through anyone who has faith, even someone like Sarah...even someone like Rahab! Wasn't she just a prostitute? She's listed here amongst the likes of Abraham and Moses. She, like them, exibited a faith that was costly. She was dramatically rescued. God is an awesome gracious God!
We should be slow to judge sin and quick to persue faith.

Examples of Faith.
Faith worships in verse 4, as Abel gives his best to God.
Faith walks in verse 5, with Enoch
Faith waits in verse 7, as Noah builds the ark and trusts that its going to rain soon.
Faith trusted in verses 17-19, and God provided..
Faith wins in verses 30-32 as God's people escape from Egypt and claim their land.
Faith is a better life in verses 32-38. The world was not worthy of these people.

Will we therefore trust God and have faith in Him for today and tomorrow, as we claim we do forever?

All their faith was wrapped up in Jesus, as must all our faith be. Faith in God's promises, faith in what Jesus has done. We have seen what faith in this amazing God can do.