Hebrews – Hold onto Hope. Enduring Faith and Hope
Readings: Hebrews 11:1-3,39-40 & 12:1-3
Preacher: Phil Swain
What does it mean to have faith? How do we keep going when the path ahead is not easy or isn’t clear? This Sunday, we wrap up our series on Hebrews with a powerful message from Hebrews 11 and 12 — a reminder that faith is more than belief; it is about trust in a God who has always been faithful. Stories of ordinary people who lived extraordinary lives through faith, and discover how we too can run the race with perseverance, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus.
Sermon Text
Quick catchup for those who might not have caught the last two weeks of sermons. This is the third and last week of looking at some selected passages from the book of Hebrews. The core message in this letter is how Jesus is superior to all things – greater than angels, greater than the high priests, even greater than Moses and the law. Jesus is God’s own son. In Jesus we find the perfect example of how to follow God; the perfect sacrifice for our sins; … and … someone who can help us in our difficulties.
The image that they used was our faith in Jesus is like an anchor for our souls … holding us close to the heart of God. (Acknowledge Sydney’s painting).
The challenge in Hebrews is that … if we believe this to be true, that Jesus is the greatest … then we should commit to following Jesus, we should put our faith in Jesus.
Faith in Jesus. What does this mean? Maybe it might be helpful to pause for a moment and ponder what we mean by the word “faith”.
Hebrews 11:1 defined faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” But what does that mean? We could imply that this means our faith is both confidence in God’s promises and trust in what is not yet visible or things yet to happen. It’s not based on sight or proof, but on trust in God’s character and the promises in God’s Word. But is this the way we would normally talk about faith?
I wonder whether the way we hold onto this idea of “faith” is more about relational trust. A child has faith that their parent will catch them if the leap into their arms. Or we have faith that a friend will be there for us if things turn badly. It is a trust or conviction that comes from the experience of an ongoing relationship. They have been there for us in the past and we have faith that they will continue to be there for us in the future.
We would suggest that this relational idea can be applied to our faith in God. For some of us, it is because we have been following Jesus for many years and have experienced God’s love and help over and over again … that we have faith that God will continue to be there for us in the future, no matter what happens. Does that make sense? It is the relational experience of God that allows us to have faith in God.
We can understand this aspect of faith, but sometimes life throws us situations where there is no pre-existing experience for us to put our faith in. Where we need to put our trust in the unknown. For example, when Jesus was walking on water and called Peter to come and join him. Peter’s heart might have been saying, “yes, I can trust Jesus” but his logical brain would have been saying “but people cannot walk on water”. Having faith sometimes means stepping out without guarantees or having previous experiences to lean on. Sometimes faith means taking a risk – and that’s hard.
I guess that is the part of Hebrews 11:1 – the conviction of things not seen. Faith is not always the result of clarity –sometimes we are called to have faith when things are not clear at all.
Faith sometimes lives in the tension between what is and what will be. I believe that Faith has space for questions, doubts, and mystery while still choosing to believe and hope in God’s promises and love and grace.
And this is what the writer of Hebrews is challenging the readers to consider. If we believe that Jesus is the son of God, if we believe that Jesus is greater than all things; if we believe that Jesus is the perfect example to follow; if we believe that following Jesus will help us to experience the fullness of life … then we should put our faith in Jesus … even if we are not sure what is ahead. We should put our faith in Jesus just like those who have gone before us have done.
And to underline this, the writer then goes on to do this rollcall of the heroes of the faith. There is a hymn in the old Australian Hymn Book – the blue one – called “I sing a song of the saints of God”. Do you know it? The hymn lists off and acknowledges the contributions of the great saints of God throughout history.
This reading from Hebrews 11 is a bit like that hymn – 40 verses of saint after saint, heroes of the faith who put their faith in God and trusted God. They were commended not because of what they did, but because they had faith in God and faith in what God could do.
If we go back to our definitions of faith that we had earlier … what sort of faith were these heroes commended for? I am sure that many of them had that relationship with God that inspired trust, that inspired faith … but the writer of Hebrews wanted to highlight that they also needed to take the risk and put their faith in something where the end result was not clear, that the outcome was not known.
We didn’t hear the list of these faith heroes in our bible reading … but let me refer to some of the examples:
Verse 4 – Abel and Cain both brought offerings to God … but does it really make a difference what we offer God? Does God notice? Does God care? (Is there even a God in the first place?) Does the quality of the offering really matter?
Cain didn’t think it made any difference – and acted accordingly … offered some of his leftovers. Abel had faith that there is a God who cares and a God who should be honoured and offered God the best of what he had … and because that faith God acknowledged Abel as righteous.
Noah had faith in God’s warnings and instructions that he built an ark … before it started to rain. Abraham faith was shown by him obeying God’s command to leave his hometown – even though Abraham did not know where he was going. Sarah had faith in God’s promise of a child, even though she was logically too old to have children. They had this “walking on water” type of faith – the ability to trust in the goodness of God and have faith in the promises of God, even though the way forward was unclear.
That is why the writer in verse 6 affirms that faith is pleasing to God. It is our belief that God is real and our trust that God will help us that warms the heart of God.
The list keeps going … Isaac, Jacob, Joseph … Moses’ mother … she had faith to hide Moses as a baby, not because she feared Pharoah’s edict but because she believed that God had heard their cry and would help them.
It was by faith that the people passed through the Red Sea … trusting that God will keep them safe. It was not logical to believe trumpets would bring down the walls of Jericho, but rather it was their faith in God’s instructions that they tried.
By this stage the writer to the Hebrews is realising that there are too many examples of people who – in the face of challenge, difficulties or God’s instruction – did not just rely on their own logic and the evidence before them but rather leant into their faith and trusted God. The hero list adds more names … Gideon, Barak, Samson, David, Samuel and the prophets … administrators, soldiers, women, the persecuted, martyrs. The writer wants us to not that it wasn’t outcomes or victories that they were commended for—they were all commended for their faith.
The hymn that I referred to earlier … “I sing a song of the saints of God” … it has a great line at the end of each verse that yes these people were all saints of God, but, God helping, we can be one too.
That’s the point—we are called to be another name on the list of faith heroes. The people in Hebrews 11 were ordinary men and women, just like us. They didn’t earn their place through perfection or power, but through their willingness to trust God. And just like them, we are invited—no, called—to live as heroes of the faith today.
So how do we do this? The answer comes in the first three verses of Hebrews 12. These well-loved verses offer us simple, practical, and deeply profound guidance on how to live with enduring faith and hope:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
The writer gives us four gems of wisdom—four steps to help us live by faith:
- We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.
As Kevin reminded us last week, we don’t walk this journey of faith alone. We are part of a community—those sitting around us now and those who have gone before us. The faith of others strengthens us. Their lives cheer us on. Their stories, prayers, and examples surround us like a spiritual stadium, urging us forward.
- Throw off everything that hinders—and the sin that entangles. What’s weighing you down today? Fear, worry, distractions, unresolved pain, the relentless pace of life? Or perhaps sin that wraps itself around your heart and holds you back? This journey is hard enough. We’re invited to lay it down—to release it—so that we can run more freely in the way of Jesus.
- Run with perseverance.
This is not a sprint—it’s a long, often winding race. I’m not much of a runner myself. The longest I’ve ever run was an 8km mission fundraiser, and it was hard. What got me through was my running partner, who stayed beside me and quietly encouraged, “Just keep going. Don’t stop.” And that’s what perseverance looks like. Keep going. Even when it’s hard. Even when you feel like quitting. Just keep going.
- Fix your eyes on Jesus.
This is how we find hope in an uncertain world. Not by obsessing over our circumstances. Not by trying to muster up more strength on our own. But by fixing our gaze on Jesus—who ran this race ahead of us, who endured the cross, who rose again, and who now stands at the finish line, cheering us on. The same God who was faithful to Abraham, Moses, Rahab—and all the saints—is faithful to us.
Conclusion:
We have hope because we have faith—
- Faith that steps out even when we can’t see the whole path.
- Faith that holds on even when life is hard.
- Faith that trusts in a God who promises us a future.
This message couldn’t be more relevant as we walk through this season of mission planning as a church. We are asking big questions. We’re being challenged to reimagine, to try new things, to release old things. The picture of the future is still taking shape, and much is unknown. But even in that uncertainty, we are called to step out in faith.
Saints of God, people of faith—
Let us not lose heart.
Let us step boldly into the future with faith and hope,
always keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus.
Amen.