Correspondance Course - Lesson 57

Reading : Hebrews 11

Many Times in our lessons so far, we have used the word € Faith € . It is now time to look and see what the writers in the Bible meant us to understand by this word. It can be used in our normal language in several ways. A system of worship can be called € a € faith; if we had to walk on a narrow plank to cross a chasm or small river we would need faith that it was strong enough to carry our weight.

Paul in his letter to Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1 gives us a description of € faith € . These words are taken from the New International Version of the Bible, Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see, this is what the ancients were commended for. You know from the many lessons you have completed that in the Old Testament God seemed very close to Abraham and his family right up to the time of the prophets. People living in those days were never many years from one of the great miracles. Perhaps it was easier for them to have faith in God and in his promises. God expected those people to have € faith € and rewarded them when they did.

In the time of Jesus it was the miracles that convinced the people in the land of Israel that he was the Son of God, the Messiah. Look at John € s gospel chapter 11, verses 44 and 45 for an example of this.

Today we do not have the obvious miracles such as the parting of the Red Sea that allowed the Israelites to escape from the Egyptian army, see Exodus chapter 14 and look specially at verse 13. We do not have the prophets of God walking through our lands and we are not able to stand and watch the miracles done by Jesus.

What you do have is your Bible, and all of these events, promises and warnings are written there by the power of God for us to read. To be a constant reminder of the purpose of God for this earth and the offer that he is making to you personally to be a part in that future.

Therefore, faith today is an inner conviction that you will have in your mind. It will be there because of what you read in your Bible and because of those things you have been taught by others who also have faith in the Word of God.

What I want to do now is to show you that God also expects us to put our faith into action. The apostle James in his letter explains this to us. Look at chapter 2 verses 14 to 18. Do you agree that the link between faith and action is clear? Another important consideration is found in a prayer that is also a prophecy, it is in the first book of Samuel, chapter 2 verse 3. Here we read that God watches us and considers all our actions. Therefore, what we do because we have faith is very important.

God knows that we need some help to do this and provided us with plenty of examples of how faith can become action. There are two examples in the chapter that we read in the letter of James. It was chapter 2 and we look now at verses 21 to 24. If you go to Genesis 22 and read verses 1 to 18, you can read the complete account there. To appreciate fully the extent of Abraham € s faith you need to remember that God had made a very special promise to him when he came out of the land of Ur. This can be found in Genesis chapter 12 verses 1 to 3. This promises required Abraham to have a son so that his family could grow into a great nation. He did eventually have a son, Isaac when he and his wife were very old. This helps us to understand just how much the faith of Abraham was tested when he was told to sacrifice Isaac. Paul tells us in Hebrews chapter 11 verses 17 to 19 what was in Abraham € s mind as he made his way towards the mountain. Isaac was essential to the promise that God had made, without him the promise could not be fulfilled so, if he had to die, God would bring him back to life. If you imagine yourself to be in Abraham € s place you will appreciate just how strong his faith was. The other important thing about this incident is that God did not just do this to test Abraham, God was already aware of his strong faith and you can see this from Genesis chapter 15 verse 3 to 6. The command to sacrifice Isaac was to teach Abraham how God intended to bring salvation to mankind. It taught Abraham that one day in the future God as a father would allow his only son Jesus to be sacrificed for the sins of the world. That he would make possible forgiveness, resurrection and immortality for men and women who have faith in God and his son Jesus Christ.

The other example given by James was of Rahab. At first sight a most unlikely choice, a Gentile not a Jew, a prostitute living in the Canaanite city of Jericho. She was the only person there who believed in the God of the Jews. Somehow, Rahab had learned that the great multitude of people camped on the other side of the river Jordan were going to reclaim their ancient land, the land given by God to Abraham. You can read for yourself what happened in the book of Joshua chapter 2. When the city wall miraculously fell down it was just Rahab and her family who were saved because she had risked her life to save the Israelite spies. This event was obviously so extraordinary that both James and Paul used Rahab as an example of faith.

Hebrews chapter 11 is full if examples of faith in action and I want to look now at just one more. Noah lived in times when there was much wickedness among the people of that ancient civilisation. Look for yourself at Genesis chapters 6, 7 and 8. Look specially at chapter 6 verses 5 to 7, see how many years it took Noah to build this enormous ship, chapter 5 verse 32 and chapter 7 verse 6. One hundred years, a long time to us but not to Noah who lived 950 years. It is doubtful that anyone had ever built a boat like this before. In all those years Noah had to cut great trees, learn how to make saws, cut up and shape the timber so that it could fit exactly into the construction and be watertight. This ark had to be very big and it had to be a secure place for men and animals, birds and insects for over one year. In all of this effort over all of those years of building, Noah was driven by his faith in God. Paul sums up this wonderful example for us in Hebrews 11 verse 7.

What have we learned from this lesson so far?

• That faith is belief in the existence of God and that he will always do what he has promised.
• That it is not enough to say that we believe, God will always know if this is true.
• That faith alone is not enough, we need to put it into action in our lives.
• That sometimes God expects us to continue that action over many years.

If you are trying to make up your mind whether you should be baptised or if you have already accepted Jesus in baptism, you will want to know what this means to you day by day. How do you put your faith into action? Here are some valuable suggestions from Paul in the letter to Romans chapter 12 verses 9 to 18. Read them carefully and think how they may apply to your life. Paul tells us that we have to respect the government of our country even if it is corrupt. That means we should respect the forces of law and order. Look at chapter 13 verses 1 to 5. This also includes paying our taxes honestly, verses 6 and 7.

The most powerful set of instructions comes from Jesus in Matthew chapter 25. Read verses 31 to 40. Here Jesus explains to us exactly how we should put his teaching to work in our lives. It is important that we remember these words.

Jesus is talking about the day of judgement for on that day he will not test us on how much we know, but on how much we have tried to put his teachings into action.