This week, Pastor Chris unpacked the meaning of true biblical faith as confident trust in God’s character, promises, and unseen purposes. Hebrews 11, highlights how faith pleases God and empowers believers to obey, wait, and endure even when the outcome is unclear. We are challenged as believers to live by faith—rooted in God’s faithfulness and anchored in the hope we have in Christ.

1. Faith is…

Hebrews 11:1 (ESV)

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Faith is…

  • Trusting God completely, believing His promises, relying on His character, and obeying His Word even when we cannot see the outcome yet.
  • Is believing in God’s character and that He is who He says He is.
  • Is believing in God’s promises: He will do what He says.
  • The conviction based on past experience that God’s new and fresh surprises will surely be ours.
  • Settled confidence in God that He is faithful.
  • Both intellectual belief and personal commitment.

True Biblical Faith is Not…

  • A positive feeling.
  • Blind optimism or trust.
  • Vague hope grounded in wishful thinking.
  • A manufactured “hope-so” attitude.
  • An unknowable leap in the dark.
  • An intellectual nod of agreement to a belief.
  • Believing in spite of evidence.

Hebrews 11:1–3 (ESV)

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

This shows that faith is:

  • Assurance ~ confident trust that what God has promised will happen.
  • Hope ~ confident expectation of good from God.
  • Conviction ~ deep certainty about unseen realities (God’s presence, eternal life, His promises).

“Upon God’s faithfulness rests our whole hope of future blessedness. Only as He is faithful will His covenants stand and His promises be honored. Only as we have complete assurance that He is faithful may we live in peace and look forward with assurance to the life to come.” A.W. Tozer

2. Faith Pleases God

Hebrews 11:4 (ESV)

4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

Genesis 4:3–8 (ESV)

3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” 8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

Hebrews 11:5 (ESV)

 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.

Genesis 5:22–24 (ESV)

22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

Hebrews 11:6–7 (ESV)

 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Genesis 7:11 (ESV)

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.

3. Faith Looks Forward

Hebrews 11:8–10 (ESV)

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

“Some people are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good.” Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr

Philippians 3:13–14 (ESV)

13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 11:11–12 (ESV)

11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

True faith follows…

  • God’s leading even without knowing where.
  • Accepts God’s timing even without knowing when.
  • Trusts God’s power even without knowing how.

Where is our hope?

  • Forgiveness is found only in the cross of Jesus.
  • The Lord will never leave us nor forsake us.
  • God is sovereignly overseeing the affairs of mankind.
  • God will lead us according to the purpose of His will.
  • Jesus will return for His Church.
  • Physical death ushers us into His presence.
  • We will receive a new physical body/death vanquished.
  • We will be transformed into His likeness.
  • We will be reunited with those who have died in Christ.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Why is faith more than just a feeling or blind optimism? How does Scripture distinguish biblical faith from worldly hope?
  2. What are you currently waiting on God for? How does faith help you remain hopeful during the waiting?
  3. How can we balance being “heavenly minded” while still living faithfully and fruitfully here on earth?

Application Questions:

  1. How can you grow in your assurance, hope, and conviction in the coming week?
  2. What has helped strengthen your faith in difficult seasons?