Deo Gloria
Sermon for August 7, 2022
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Hebrews 11:1-3,8-16
Theme: Faith Changes Everything!
- How we view our origin
- How we view life in this world
- How we view the next life
Have you ever had one of those life-changing experiences—an event or an experience that forever changed the way you look at things, that forever altered your outlook on life? Maybe it was the day your first child was born, or maybe the day you brought your first child home from the hospital. Maybe it was the time you survived a serious car accident, an accident you probably should not have survived, but you did. And it changed the way you look at things. Or maybe it was the day you were diagnosed with cancer. You’ll never forget that day in the doctor’s office. Your life has never been the same since nor has your view of life.
The truth is we’ve all had such a life-changing experience. It happened when we came to faith in Jesus as our Savior and in the Word of God. That faith changes everything. And the writer to the Hebrews highlights just how much it changes things in the verses of our text.
Before we get to those dramatic changes, however, we need to talk a little bit about faith. The author of Hebrews defines faith for us in the first verse of chapter 11. He writes, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” So many of the things we hope for are uncertain. We hope it will rain again this week. We hope we’ll have a good harvest this fall. We hope the Vikings will win the Super Bowl next year. We hope we’ll have good luck fishing on our fishing trip or good weather on our camping trip. But we don’t know if any of those things will actually happen. Maybe it will rain again this week and maybe it won’t. Maybe it’ll be a good harvest this fall and maybe it won’t. Maybe the Vikings will win the Super Bowl…. OK, don’t hold your breath on that one. Those are the kinds of things we hope for, but that’s not what faith is.
Faith is certain. Faith is sure. Faith is 100% convinced that it will happen—no doubt about it. Faith is even certain of things it has never seen. Why? Because it rests on the sure and certain Word of God. Do you believe in angels? Of course. Why? Because you’ve seen them? No, because God tells me about them in his Word and God doesn’t lie. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God and Savior of the world? Of course. Why? Because you’ve seen him? Because you’ve spoken to him in person? No, because God tells me about Jesus in his Word and God doesn’t lie. Do you believe God is going to take you to heaven some day? Of course. Why? Because you’ve been to heaven and seen what it’s like? No, because God tells me about heaven in the Bible and he promises that he’s going to take all those who believe in Jesus to heaven someday and God doesn’t lie. So faith is sure. Faith is certain, because it’s based on something sure. It’s based on something certain: the true and reliable and unchanging Word of God. “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” And that faith makes a tremendous difference in our lives. It changes the way we look at everything.
For one thing our faith changes how we view our origin. Most people today believe in evolution. They believe that our universe came into existence through a big bang millions and billions of years ago and that all living creatures came into existence through a process of evolution, gradually evolving over the centuries from lower and simpler life forms to more complex life forms, which means that you and I are really no different from the animals and that our existence is simply an accident.
By faith you and I have a very different view of things. As the writer states in v. 3, “By faith we understand that the universes was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” In short we believe that God created the world, that he did so in a period of 6 days, not millions and billions of years; that he made everything from nothing; and that he did it all by the power of his Word. Now I want to make it clear that even though that is a statement of faith, it is not an unscientific viewpoint. Some people like to claim that all of the scientific data supports evolution and believing in creation is totally unscientific, but that’s just a bunch of bologna. There is plenty of scientific evidence that supports creation. And I’ll give you just one example: DNA.
Our human body is an incredibly complex machine, more complex than the most advanced computer in the world. And it’s all run by the information that is stored in our DNA. So where did all that information come from? Did it just happen on its own, by chance? No one would argue that the information in the programs that run powerful computers just happened by chance, that it just happened on its own. But then you would turn around and claim that the information in our DNA is all just an accident, that it came about by chance? That’s just silly. Do you know what happens when the information in our human DNA does get mixed up, when there are some random flaws or errors? It leads to birth defects and serious illnesses and sometimes even death. The information in our DNA is no accident. It is incredibly well designed and organized by an extremely intelligent being, a being we call God. But I don’t need science to tell me that. I have the Word of God recorded for me on the pages of the Bible.
Here in his Word God tells me that my life is no accident, that he made me and our world and our universe, that he made me in a fearful and wonderful way, that my life is not meaningless, but that it has meaning and purpose and worth and direction because he made me. And the same is true for you. Your life too has meaning and purpose and worth and direction, because God made you too. Our faith changes everything.
It also changes the way we view this life. The writer to the Hebrews describes the change faith made for people like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, our spiritual forefathers:
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.(vv. 8-10,13)
Many people today believe this life is all there is so you have to live it to the fullest. You work hard. You play hard. And you party even harder. You have as much fun as you can, enjoy life as much as you can, make as much money as you can, and accumulate as many things as you can. You get a really nice job and a really nice house and really nice car, and a motorcycle and a fishing boat and a snowmobile and a side by side and…because when you die, it’s over.
By faith you and I have a very different perspective. Like the patriarchs, like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, we see life and the things of this life as temporary. Now don’t get me wrong, we still want to enjoy life and want to enjoy the blessings God has given us. But that is not our focus. We recognize that this life and the things of this life don’t last. We recognize that we’re only here for a while and the things of this life are only here for a while. So we don’t make them our focus. We don’t make them our goal. We don’t make them our treasure. We recognize that this is not our home. Our real home, our permanent home, is in heaven where we will enjoy eternal treasures that will never fade away. Again don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that we all sell our homes and live in tents like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did. It might get a little cold in January living in a tent. If you have a nice home, enjoy it and thank God for it. If you have a good job, enjoy it and thank God for it. If you have a nice car, enjoy it and thank God for it. But don’t set your heart on those things. Recognize that they are blessings from God and use them in a way that brings glory and honor to God. But also recognize that they aren’t going to last. Instead set your heart on eternal treasures, the treasures that God has waiting for you in heaven.
Yes, our faith makes all the difference in that regard too. Many people today believe that there is no life after death, that once you die, you’re gone. The lights are out and your life is over. They share the same view as Stephen Hawking: “There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers. That is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”
Again by faith we have a very different view of things, just like our spiritual forefathers. In verses 9+10 the author states that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived like strangers in the promised land. They lived in tents because they were “looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” And again in v. 16 he says that “they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all lived here in this world, but they were looking forward to something else. They recognized that this life is not all there is, that there is another life after this one, a better life in a better place, in the city of God, a city with foundations that last, that never, ever perish. Remember the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti about a dozen years ago and over 200,000 people died? Something like that never happens in heaven. Remember the terrible wildfires in CA last year, fires that in some cases wiped out entire towns? Something like that never happens in heaven. Did you hear about the recent flooding in eastern Kentucky? Homes washed away, businesses washed away and about 40 people perished. Something like that never happens in heaven. In heaven we live in perfect safety and perfect peace in a perfect place under the perfect care of our loving and gracious God forever. And that is what we are looking forward to. That’s our goal, our joy, our comfort, our hope, our peace. This life is often filled with heartache and sadness and pain. Life in heaven, with Jesus, in the eternal city of God, in that place of perfect rest and peace and joy—that’s what I’m looking forward to. And that makes all the difference in the world.
So why do we have this hope, this sure hope of a better life to come? Because we’re such good and wonderful people, because we never sin or do anything wrong, because we’ve always adopted a Godly view of life, because we’ve always put God first and never loved our earthly things more than him, because we’ve always lived our lives by faith and never doubted God and his Word? No. We know we are sinners just like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, people who have often sinned and done what is wrong in God’s sight, people who don’t deserve to live with God in the eternal city of God, but deserve to be banished from his presence for the rest of forever.
But that’s why Jesus came. That’s why Jesus lived. That’s why Jesus died and why he rose again on the third day, to rescue sinners like you and me, like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Through his death on the cross Jesus paid the penalty for all of our sins so that we might be forgiven. And through his resurrection he has given us hope, the sure hope of eternal life in heaven. And God has made a promise: that whoever believes in Jesus shall not perish but shall eternal life. And we know that God doesn’t lie. So that’s what gives us hope, sure and certain hope of a better life to come, unending life with God in heaven.
It makes such a difference, doesn’t it? It affects our view of where we came from. It affects our view of life here in this world. And it affects our view of the life to come as well. Our faith in Jesus and his Word changes everything and makes all the difference in the world. Amen.