11. The Marks of True Faith Hebrews 11:23 – 12:3
HEBREWS CHAPTER 11 VERSE 23 TO 12 VERSE 3
11. The Marks of True Faith
11. The Marks of True Faith Hebrews 11:23 – 12:3
As you look at the Hall of Faith, you may wonder, “What about my faith? Am I a person who would do these things? Do I really trust God?”
What I want to suggest as we look at this chapter’s final section is that we see several things that are key marks of people of faith. The author draws our attention to a series of things that faith does in your life.
Faith is the cure for our drifting hearts; without it, we drift further and further away from God. So, as you read through the rest of Hebrews 11, think to yourself, in which of these categories am I doing well, and in which am I not?
Faith Does Not Fear Man
As our author marches through the Hall of Faith, he turns his attention to another major figure in Israel’s history: Moses. Various aspects of his life are addressed in 11:23-29.
Naturally, we begin with the remarkable story of Moses’ birth. Pharaoh had issued an order that all male Hebrew babies should be killed—cast into the Nile and drowned (Exodus 1:22). But Moses’ parents refused to follow the order. By faith, they hid the baby for three months because “they were not afraid of the king’s edict” (Hebrews 11:23).
We see here the first quality of faith: namely, that it empowers us to put away our fears and to do what is right. Pharaoh would have been an intimidating and fearful figure; to defy him would require serious resolve. But faith says we obey God and not men (see Acts 5:29).
Skipping down a few verses, we see that Moses had the same faith as his parents, so that he also was not afraid of Pharaoh. Hebrews 11:27: “By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king.” What allowed Moses to overcome his fear of Pharaoh? We are told that he “endured as seeing him who is invisible.” Moses believed there was someone greater than Pharaoh, who would protect and deliver his people: the “invisible” God of the universe.
And that is exactly what God did. He delivered Moses and the Israelites out of the hands of angry Pharaoh, and he did it by sending the “Destroyer of the firstborn” (v 28) into the land of Egypt. Moses and Israelites were protected by the fact that they “sprinkled the blood” of the Passover on their doorposts—another picture of the great sacrifice that Christ would make as the “Lamb of God” (John 1:29).
In short, Moses overcame his fear of Pharaoh by another, greater fear—the fear of the living God, who could send a “Destroyer” in judgment. One fear drove out the other. “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe” (Proverbs 29:25).
Faith Says No to the World
After Moses’ parents placed their baby in a basket, God’s sovereign purpose was made evident: the child was found by the daughter of Pharaoh. As a result, his life was dramatically changed in terms of worldly comforts. He was powerful: being adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter (Hebrews 11:24) meant he was essentially the grandson of Pharaoh. That was the height of status and prestige. He was wealthy, having access to the “treasures of Egypt” (v 26). There were also pleasures available to him—“the fleeting pleasures of sin” (v 25). Such sin might have included a number of different things—perhaps greed, perhaps the temptation to lord it over others, or perhaps sexual pleasures.
This list contains everything the world says you should want. Power, wealth, pleasure—those are the things we are told to pursue. And even as Christians, we sometimes go along with that. We look out and see the wealth and status and fame that we can have: the comforts, the luxuries, the pleasures. There is a side of us that thinks, “That looks really good.”
The scene is set up so that we can see that Moses had it all. But the amazing thing—and the thing our author wants us to focus on—is that he refused all of it.
“By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter” (v 24). He decided he would rather be associated with the Israelites. He was not going to take part in the treasures of Egypt and chase the pleasures of sin. Instead he was going to join with an impoverished people and be associated with the God of Abraham.
When you see someone who has been offered so much giving it all up, you have to ask the question, “Why?” Or, to put it another way, “How?” What enabled Moses to resist all those temptations?
Of course, the answer is that he did it by faith. He believed several specific things and acted upon them.
Moses believed that the pleasures that were presented to him were fleeting (v 25). So much is expressed in that word; the pleasure of sin is temporary, quickly passing. The world promises a lot and delivers little. That is what Moses recognized.
Half our life is spent pursuing things that look really good on the outside but never satisfy—even good things like a restful vacation or a delicious meal. You look forward to them so much, but when you get there, you are often disappointed. How much more is that the case with sin? It may be pleasurable in the moment, but the pleasure does not last.
Do you believe what Moses believed? Or do you believe that all the things the world puts in front of you really will satisfy?
Moses also believed that real pleasure comes from following Christ. “He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt” (v 26). Being counted with Christ, even though it meant being scorned, was better than any pleasures that Egypt had to offer. Moses trusted in Jesus because “he was looking to the reward.”
If you are really a pleasure-seeker, then you should go after the greatest pleasure imaginable: the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He is what will truly satisfy. You will be disappointed with the things of the world, but you are never going to be disappointed with Christ. He is our great reward.
We should not miss the remarkable fact that our author presents Moses as a follower of Christ! Even though he lived long before Jesus, he looked ahead to the time when God would deliver his people through the real Passover lamb. As Jesus himself said, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me” (John 5:46).
This theme fits perfectly with what we’ve seen so far in the book of Hebrews. Yes, the old covenant was different in that the worship was centered on types and shadows—land, temple, sacrifices—but the essential message was the same: God’s people are always saved by grace through faith in Christ.
We will have faith like Moses if we share his belief that God is ultimately going to reward those who seek him and that judgment will fall on those who do not seek him; and if we act on this belief to put ourselves under the blood of Jesus. We need to take seriously both God’s judgment and his offer of salvation.
This whole section on Moses could be summed up by Jesus’ teaching in Luke 17:33: “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.”
Our faith takes us into a life that is paradoxical and counterintuitive. You find life by losing it; you gain wealth by refusing to seek it; and you find it all in Christ. The way up is down. Do not try to glorify yourself and seek the pleasures of the world; go down, humble yourself, pursue Christ. When you do, you’ll find the greatest pleasure imaginable in him.
Faith Believes Even When Things Don’t Make Sense
Let’s be honest: sometimes obedience to God does not seem to make sense. We see this throughout the Bible, and throughout life. It is not unusual for a Christian to say, “I know God has asked me to do this because he is clear in his word. But I don’t understand how that’s going to lead to something good.”
This happens in the church all the time. For example, someone may say, “I want to marry this person, even though they’re not a Christian.” I tell them that the Bible is very clear that Christians should only marry other believers (2 Corinthians 6:14). They respond, “Yes, but I don’t see how that can be a good thing. I really love this person.” They know God has told them not to do it, but that does not make sense to them. They want to follow their own desires because that is where they think the path of life is.
God has a long history of asking people to do things that just do not fit with our human wisdom. That may not be comforting to you! But it is good news because God’s way always proves to be better. We see three of these stories in Hebrews 11:29-31.
The first is the story of the Red Sea. When God took his people out of Egypt, he literally guided them to a dead end. The sea was ahead of them, and Pharaoh was behind them. They were trapped between a rock and a hard place. On a human level, it did not make sense.
Of course, you know the outcome: “The people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land” (v 29). But in that moment, as they reached the sea, not yet knowing what was going to happen, they must have been asking God, What were you thinking?
But, as events unfolded, God’s plan became more obvious. He intentionally led the Israelites to this dead end so that he could display his power and glory over Egypt and on behalf of Israel. Think about it: the Israelites crossed safely, “but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned” (v 29). The contrast made a big point: don’t fight against the God of Israel.
The second story is the conquering of Jericho. This was a strong city surrounded by big walls. But instead of telling the Israelites to attack or lay siege—something any normal army would do—God gave them unexpected, even bizarre, instructions. They were to march around the city for seven days, and on the seventh day to blow trumpets and shout (Joshua 6).
Wouldn’t it have been better to try to scale the walls or burn them down? Was there not a better strategy? No: “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days” (Hebrews 11:30). The people went ahead and obeyed God by faith. And the walls fell.
The story of Rahab comes third. We are rewinding the story now; Rahab was an inhabitant of Jericho before it fell. Spies were sent into the city to scope it out, and Rahab decided to help them to hide and then to escape safely (Joshua 2). Talk about counterintuitive! Rahab could easily have turned in the spies. But instead she hid them, throwing in her lot with this ragtag army of Israel.
Why would she do this? Because Rahab knew where God’s favor lay. She said to the spies, “I know that the Lord has given you the land” (Joshua 2:9). And because she helped them, she was saved when the city was destroyed (Joshua 6:22-25). Thus, “By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient” (Hebrews 11:31).
Here’s the point: sometimes we don’t understand what God is doing until it’s all over and we can look back with a new perspective. But while we’re in the midst of it, all we can do is trust.
In the movie The Karate Kid, a boy named Daniel learns karate from a wise old man named Miyagi. But before Daniel can have a single karate lesson, Miyagi tells him to wax his cars. Next he is asked to paint his fence, sand his decking, and even paint his house. Days later, exhausted and frustrated, Daniel eventually erupts, accusing Miyagi of being a cheat and a scammer. He came to learn karate; why is he doing all this work? But then Miyagi starts throwing punches at him, and Daniel finds he can block them. It turns out that in slaving over all these chores, he has been learning karate moves the whole time.
It is like this with God. In story after story, God is saying, You have to trust me. I know it doesn’t make sense right now, but if you trust me, it will work out in the end.
Why does God do things this way? Is he out to get us? Does he just like making us sweat? Why does he work in ways we don’t understand?
One reason is so that, when the dust settles, God is the one who gets the glory.
Think of Gideon—who will be mentioned in verse 32. He goes to attack the Midianites with 32,000 troops, but God says, That’s too many. God whittles down the number further and further, until Gideon has three hundred men. When this tiny force defeats the Midianites, it is abundantly clear that they could never have done it without God’s help. (This story is told in Judges 7.)
Another reason why God works this way is for our benefit (as strange as that sounds). Our faith grows the most when we’re forced to trust God even when it doesn’t make sense. Those are the times when God stretches us, pushes us, and builds our endurance—not that different than the way a sports coach makes his players suffer through wind sprints; it can be painful, but it is for their good.
In short, our faith is seen most visibly on display when we don’t understand. Remember, faith is “the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). If we could always see and understand exactly what was happening, then it wouldn’t be by faith.