Faith: Living in Light of Jesus || Carlos Velez || March 8, 2026

So, we are in the middle of a series on

the book of Hebrews. And what we've done

in this series is we've said that the

author is writing to a group of people

who are going through some difficult

things. They're growing through some

painful things and they begin to start

to to kind of want to drift back drift

back to just the stuff that they were

used to before. Drift back away from

Jesus. And what the author is saying is

that Jesus is better than any of these

substitutes. Jesus is better than

everything.

And the reason I want to kind of point

that out is that we are going to be

looking at

a pretty well-known chapter in the book

of Hebrews if you grew up in the church

or if you grew up a Christian. And we're

going to be looking at Hebrews chap 11.

So if you have a Bible, you can turn uh

to Hebrews chapter 11. If you want to

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

use one of the church Bibles here uh in

the seat racks, you can turn to page

822.

If you don't own a Bible, take it home.

It's our gift to you. It's free. We

believe that the Bible is filled with

life-changing truth. So, we want you to

have access to that truth.

So, this chapter

is has been taught about a lot, has been

talked about a lot in the church. Uh,

this chapter is known as the faith

chapter. Uh, is known as the hall of

faith chapter. There's these stories of

Old Testament characters that are

detailed in this chapter. Uh, and it's a

very cool chapter. It's a very rich

chapter. I love this chapter. But here's

the deal. Often times, what I've learned

is that there are people who have read

this chapter, but they've never read the

rest of Hebrews. And there's one thing

that I think you need to know about

Hebrews chap 11. It's very important.

Here's the deal. Hebrews chap 11

comes after Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

Just want you to know that. Just want

you to know that. Here's why I want you

to know that.

because Hebrews chapter 10

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

gives us the impetus for why Hebrews

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11 was written.

So, we're going to take a look at

Hebrews chapter 10 before we jump into

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

what we're looking at today. In Hebrews

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10

starting at verse 32,

remember those earlier days after you

had received the light when you endured

in a great conflict full of suffering.

Sometimes you were publicly exposed to

insult and persecution. At other times

you stood side by side with those who

were so treated.

You suffered along with those in prison

and joyfully accepted the confiscation

of your property because you knew that

you yourselves had better and lasting

possessions. Okay, so what's going on?

The author is writing to this group of

believers, this group of Christians, and

he's saying, "Do you remember that first

time, those early days when you first

knew Jesus? You went through all sorts

of trouble. You went through all sorts

of trials and you did it with joy

because you knew that what you had in

Jesus was so much better than anything

else. And so then he goes on and he

says, "So do not throw away your

confidence.

It will be richly rewarded.

You need to persevere so that when you

have done the will of God, you will

receive what he has promised. For in

just a little while, he who is coming

will come and will not delay. and by and

but my righteous one will live by faith

and I take no pleasure in the one who

shrinks back. But we do not belong to

those who shrink back and are destroyed

but to those who have faith and are

saved.

He's writing to people who have gone

through a lot of stuff and that the

beginning they did it with joy and they

had this this excitement, but they as

time went on and things continue to be

difficult, they begin to to start to

have this tendency to to almost want to

shrink back and and drift back to these

other things outside of of Jesus.

And why this is important is because we

can look at this chapter 11 incorrectly.

And what we need to understand is this.

The author is not trying to give us

heroes to imitate. What he's trying to

do is to help discouraged believers hold

fast to Jesus.

These were Christians who were facing

real pressure. Following Jesus had

become costly and some were tempted to

drift back towards something else,

something that was safer, something that

was more visible, something that was

culturally acceptable.

They were tempted to shrink back and

drift back. And the author, the author

gives an answer to this desire to shr

shrink back. And that answer is faith.

Faith.

But here's what's really important to

understand.

When it comes to faith, it's not faith

in your faith.

Okay? is not faith that you have somehow

a strong faith and so you have faith in

your faith. Hebrews in Hebrews faith is

never the main focus.

Jesus is the focus.

And the message of Hebrews 11 is not try

to be like these faithful people. The

message is because Jesus is better.

We can endure by trusting him.

So, here's the big idea for today. Here,

here's the big idea for the whole uh

sermon. You ready?

Faith lives now according to God's

promised future, secured through the

finished work of Jesus.

You got that? Faith lives now according

to God's promised future secured through

the finished work of Jesus. That's the

whole point of this message today.

But what does living by faith look like

in our lives? Well, first the thing that

we need to understand is this.

Faith

faith

changes how we see.

Changes how we see.

Faith sees through Jesus.

Faith sees through Jesus. Let's go into

Hebrews 11:es

1 to3.

Now faith is confidence in what we hope

for and assurance about what we do not

see. This is what the ancients were

commended for. By faith we understand

that the universe was formed at God's

command so that what is seen was not

made out of what was visible.

Hebrews uh 11 does not begin with

examples. It begins with perspective.

It says faith is confidence and what we

hope for and assurance about what we do

not see. This verse is not giving us an

abstract description of faith. It's

describing what faith does.

And what it's talking about is this

concept of seeing.

What we are hopeful.

We have confidence in what we hope for.

what we hope for. Those are promises

that God has given us that have not yet

been fulfilled.

And we have assurance about what we do

not see. What do we see? We don't see

necessarily what God is doing all the

time. Sometimes we don't see what he is

doing or what he has done in the past.

And there's this concept of sight of

seeing that we need to understand

because faith treats future promises as

present realities.

And it treats unseen realities as

authoritative realities.

Faith is not optimism.

It's not a feeling. It It's not about

trying to believe harder. It's not like

uh if you were to watch the Polar

Express with the or read some of the

kids books uh that talk to you about if

you just believe say I believe I that's

not faith.

Faith is trusting.

Faith is trusting that God's word

describes reality more accurately than

what we can currently see.

Faith allows us to see things through

our trust in Jesus, not through the

filters that we develop on our own for

our own reality.

What does that look like? Let me give

you an illustration for that. I wear

glasses

not for fashion,

but because I need to. I have a

stigmatism in my left eye. So, my left

eye is shaped like a football

that was probably fumbled or incomplete

by a Giants receiver.

But when I don't wear my glasses,

things are not as clear.

Things are not as crisp.

They actually because of something

internally inside of me, I see things

incorrectly.

I see reality incorrectly because of

something internally inside of me.

When I wear the glasses, that is

corrected and I can actually see reality

the right way.

Now,

I bought some glasses yesterday

from the dollar store.

Okay, so I don't see correctly without

my glasses, but if I just put on another

pair of glasses,

I don't see anything. Let me just be

honest right now. These are dark

glasses. So when I put this on, all I

see the filter through which I see is

dark. I don't see reality. I see it

through the filter of these glasses.

Okay. How about these? Well, give you

we'll give you three.

These

now you're a little golden. Okay. I I

see you and you're you're golden. I I

don't see correctly. Okay. because of

the glasses that I'm wearing, I don't

see you accurately.

Now, these last pair of glasses, the

lady at the cash register, she's like,

"You need to come back, and I need to

see you wearing those."

So,

these are the proverbial rosecolored

glasses.

And I don't see I I see you through rose

lens, rosy lenses. You're all a little

pinkish.

But it's incorrect.

What we need to understand is at times

we view life

through what we put our faith in. And if

we're putting our faith in our finances,

if we're putting our faith in our

status, if we're putting our faith in

our education, if we're putting our

faith in anything other than Jesus, we

are looking at things incorrectly, our

view of the world, our world view is

incorrect.

What we need to do is take off those

glasses and put on the lens of Jesus and

see accurately

through his eyes.

What you have faith in will determine

how you view the world. And faith is

choosing to see God's truth of reality.

Even if it's invisible to my human eyes,

it sees by trusting.

It sees by trusting what God has said in

his word.

A and the author continues in this

chapter and gives us an example. What

does he give us an example of? He gives

us an example of creation.

Show of hands. Uh any of you old enough

uh to have been there when God created

everything? Anyone?

I knew I would have one person.

No, you were not. None of us were there.

None of us were at the beginning. No one

was. We have no eyewitnesses of when God

created everything. There's no video

footage.

But we trust that God has spoke

everything into existence. Why? Because

he told us.

He told us so.

Faith begins by accepting God's

declaration of reality. Faith begins by

accepting God's declaration of reality.

Why is that important?

Because faith changes behavior

after it changes vision.

Faith has to change our vision before it

can change our behavior. And what we

need to understand is that vision needs

to be centered on Jesus.

The Old Testament believers, they

trusted promises that were still coming.

But we now look back and see that those

promises were fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus

has already accomplished redemption. He

has defeated sin and death and has

already secured the future kingdom.

So faith today means living now

according to God's future

that has already been guaranteed through

Jesus.

That's already been guaranteed through

Jesus. So what does that living with

faith? What does that look like?

Well, living a life of faith

looks like a life obedient to what God

has commanded.

It's a life of obedience. And what we

need to understand is that faith

responds because of Jesus. Faith

responds to this life of obedience

because of Jesus. Let's look at

the passage again starting at verse

four.

By faith, Abel brought God a better

offering than Cain did. By faith, he was

commended as righteous when God spoke

well of his offerings. And by faith,

Abel still speaks even though he is

dead. By faith, Enoch was taken from

this life so that he did not experience

death. He could not be found because God

had taken him away. For before he was

taken, he was commended as one who

pleased God.

And without faith, it is impossible to

please God. Because anyone who comes to

him must believe that he exists and that

he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

By faith, Noah, when warned about things

not yet seen in holy fear, built an ark

to save his family. By his faith, he

condemned the world and became heir of

the righteousness that is in keeping

with faith. By faith, Abraham, when

called to go to a place he would later

receive as an 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. And by faith even Sarah

who was past childbearing age was

enabled to bear children because she

considered him faithful who had made the

promise. And so from this one man and he

as good as Zed came descendants as

numerous as the stars in the sky and as

countless as the sands on the seashore.

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, admitting that they were

foreigners and strangers on earth.

People who say such things show that

they are looking for a country of their

own. If they had been thinking of the

country they had left, they would have

had opportunity to return. Instead, 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. By faith,

Abraham, when God tested him, offered

Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had

embraced the promises, was about to

sacrifice his one and only son, even

though God had said to him, "It is

through Isaac that your offering will be

reckoned."

Abraham reasoned that God could even

raise the dead. And so, in a manner of

speaking, he did receive Isaac back from

the dead. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob

and Esau in regard to their future. By

faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed

each of the Joseph's sons and worshiped

as he leaned on the top of his staff. By

faith, Joseph, when his end was near,

spoke about the exodus of the Israelites

from Egypt and gave instructions

concerning the burial of his bones.

There's a phrase that is repeated over

and over in those verses, very powerful

phrase.

by faith. By faith.

And what we need to understand is that

there's a pattern to the obedience that

was exhibited by these Old Testament

characters that were exhibiting this

faith. There's a pattern that happened.

The pattern was this.

Faith consistently produced action

before outcomes appeared. Faith

consistently produced action before

outcomes appeared. Here's what I mean.

Noah built an ark,

a big boat, because God said it was

going to flood. It was going to rain. It

was going to flood.

But it was bright and sunny.

Not a cloud in the sky.

No rain.

But Noah trusted God's word.

Abraham

left. He left the home that he knew. He

left the people that he knew. He left

the family that he knew. He picked up

his belongings and he left

to a place he didn't even know where he

was going

because he trusted God's promise.

Says even Sarah

is interesting. Um Jamie Madn works at

the church. She works uh with our three

relationships disciplehip.

And she said, "I find the Bible funny at

times." I'm like, "How so?" She says,

"Well, we don't know who the author of

Hebrews is, but I'm pretty confident

there was a guy." And I'm like, "Why do

you say that?" She says, "Because of how

polite he is." He says, "By faith, even

Sarah, who was past childbearing age,

didn't go too much into very polite."

Very polite. But then what does it say

about Abraham? He's as good as dead.

By faith, Sarah, even though it didn't

make sense,

even though it didn't make sense, when

those stirrings started to happen in her

womb, realized that God's promise was

being fulfilled.

By faith, she lived.

By faith, they acted because God had

spoken. They acted not because

circumstances made sense, but because

God's promise was trustworthy.

And here's what I love about that. These

are some really great stories. These are

some really great examples of faith. You

know what I love about this list of

people who was just listing there? In

this list,

there are liars.

In this list,

murderers.

In this list, adulterers.

This list is filled with screwed up

people.

But we don't read anything of that, do

we?

All we read is of their faith.

Jesus's redemptive work is on display.

He redeems our story and he highlights

our faith.

And what we need to understand

is that what they were trusting in were

promises. They, if you go back to what

Charles preached on last week, they were

just trusting on shadows,

projections of what was to come.

We trust the fulfilled promise, Jesus

himself.

And what we need to understand is that

faithfilled obedience today flows from

Jesus's finished work, from Jesus's

present reign, and from Jesus's

guaranteed return.

We don't obey to secure God's favor.

We obey because in Jesus, we already

have his favor.

Faith chooses obedience over comfort. It

chooses obedience over security. It

chooses obedience over control. Not

because we are strong.

Not because we have some superhero

faith, but because Jesus is faithful.

Because Jesus is faithful.

And this response of living lives of

obedience

exposes in us a truth.

When we live these lives of obedience,

when we live these faithfilled lives of

obedience, it exposes in us a truth

about our value system.

It exposes what is of utmost worth.

You see, faith

chooses Jesus above everything else.

Faith chooses Jesus above everything

else.

If we go back in and we look at verse 23

of chapter 11, by faith, Moses' parents

hid him for three months after he was

born because they saw he was no ordinary

child and they were not afraid of the

king's edict.

By faith, Moses, when he had grown up,

refused to be known as the son of

Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be

mistreated along with the people of God

rather than to enjoy the fleeting

pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace

for the sake of Christ as of greater

value than the treasures of Egypt

because he was looking ahead to his

reward. By faith he left Egypt, not

fearing the king's anger, he persevered

because he saw him who was invisible. By

faith, he kept the Passover and the

application of blood so that the

destroyer of the firstborn would not

touch the firstborn of Israel. By faith,

the people passed through the Red Sea on

as on dry land. But when the Egyptians

tried to do so, they were drowned. By

faith, the walls of Jericho fell after

the army had marched around them for

seven days. By faith, the prostitute

Rahab be because she was welcomed. She

had welcomed the spies was not killed

with those who were disobedient.

Moses becomes this powerful example.

Moses is raised

by Pharaoh's daughter. He has access to

power. He has access to wealth. Wealth.

He has access to comfort.

And he rejects all of those.

He rejects o all of those. He chooses

reproach over privilege. He chooses

suffering over status. He chooses a

future reward over present comfort.

Why?

He regarded disgrace for the sake of

Christ as of greater value.

He regarded disgrace for the sake of

Christ as of greater value.

Faith revalues

our reality.

When Jesus is our treasure, status loses

its grip. Security loses its illusion.

Comfort loses its control.

Faith asks what is truly valuable in

light of Jesus.

Hebrews has gone on over and over

as we've studied it and said Jesus is

greater. Jesus is better.

Jesus is greater than angels. He's

greater than Moses. He's greater than

priests. He's greater than sacrifices.

He is better than any of our

substitutes. Nothing compares to Jesus.

And faith consistently chooses Jesus.

Faith consistently chooses Jesus. Faith

chooses Jesus over comfort.

Faith chooses promise over appearance.

Faith chooses eternal reward over

temporary relief.

Not because we are naturally brave, not

because we are naturally strong, not

because we're some sort of superheroes,

but because Jesus is supremely worthy.

He's supremely worthy.

And here's one of the interesting

things. One of the most striking things

about Hebrews 11 is how it ends. How it

ends.

The people who were listed in this hall

of faith, the people who were listed in

the Old Testament,

these people never saw the full promise

fulfilled in their lifetime. Look at

verse 39. These were all commended for

their faith. Yet none of them received

what had been promised. None of them had

received what had been promised.

They just experienced the shadows of the

promise as they look towards that

promise being fulfilled in verse 40.

Since God had planned something better

for us that so that only together with

us would they be made perfect.

The Old Testament was intentionally

incomplete.

They trusted forward.

They trusted forward towards the

fulfillment and that fulfillment is

Jesus.

They live looking ahead to him. We live

looking back to his finished work and

forward to his return.

That means that faith ultimately rests

not in circumstances or outcomes, not in

our personal circumstances or outcomes,

but in the completed work of Jesus.

In the completed work of Jesus. Hebrews

11 is not meant to leave us impressed by

ancient believers and and desire to

strive to be like them.

Again, Hebrews 11 comes after chapter

10.

It is an encouragement and gives us a

word so that we don't stray, so we don't

drift back, so we don't dri shrink back.

And Hebrews 11, here's the other thing.

Comes before chapter 12. Comes after

chapter 10, comes before chapter 12.

And the command in chapter 12 is this.

We're going to learn about it next week.

The command in chapter 12 is this. Fix

your eyes on Jesus.

Fix your eyes on Jesus.

Jesus is the founder of our faith. He's

the perfector of our faith. He's the one

whose faith endured perfectly.

We should not leave reading this chapter

inspired to try harder.

We should not leave this chapter

inspired to try to have a stronger

faith.

We should leave this chapter

trusting.

We should leave this chapter trusting

the better savior who secures our

future.

And because he is faithful, we don't

shrink back.

So I guess I'm left with

a question about what we need to do with

this.

Our faith impacts how we see. Who we

have our faith in in impacts how we see.

How we view the world impacts how we

live.

how we respond,

whether we're obedient.

And that life of obedience reflects

what we value most.

What is your faith in?

What is your faith in the most today?

Are you wearing

cheap dollar store glasses?

Are you putting your faith in your

abilities, your intelligence,

your financial status, your family, your

political principles, your education?

Are you putting your faith in anything

other than Jesus?

Because if so, you're not seeing things

correctly.

Take off the glasses

and put on the lens of Jesus

so that you can see correctly, respond

correctly, and express the right value

of your utmost worth

that you find in Jesus.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you.

You are good.

We thank you that we can have a faith

that responds the way that we see in

Hebrews 11, not because of our own

abilities, not because of our own

strength, not because of any of that,

but because of your faithfulness.

Lord, I ask you that you would allow us

to live lives of obedience,

fixing our eyes straight on Jesus,

keeping Jesus in focus, and letting our

hearts be filled with a passion and a

desire to put Jesus first above

everything.

Help us to fix our eyes on Jesus.

We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.