Everyone is always dealing with something. With this being the case Hebrews 11 provides for us a hope. A future hope. A hope that one day things will be better, that one day we will be with God and it all will be made perfect. One day the acute pain of living now will be made into sustained enjoyment with God. 

In my last post I described walking through Hebrews 11 like entering a corridor at the museum. Paintings hanging on the walls, dim light from the ceilings and windows, and statues and busts of important people lining each side. Next to each of their depictions sits a plaque with the little description we find in Hebrews 11, all beginning with “By faith…”
They are highlighted by the writer because they are people who provide an example of what living by faith means for those who come after. For us.
All of these people mentioned in Hebrews 11 are commended for the faith they had. They didn’t receive what was promised to them in this life, but they continued to live by faith because God had revealed to them something greater. A future together as his people, living under his right rule, in his perfectly created place.
In v39-40 we read,
All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us. (CSB)
The writer reminds us that living by faith is for the long-haul. It’s no short, sharp, snap discipleship program. It’s a lifetime of living by faith. Throughout the chapter we read of those who in their lifetime suffered and did not acquire the fulfilment of the promises given to them by God. Yet, they endured in the faith, by faith, so that they would be made perfect at a later time. And that later time is when all of God’s people are gathered. When all of God’s people are together in the place he has set out for us.
All the saints, whether old or new, will be made perfect when all of God’s people are together. Whether that be the Old Testament saints, the Hebrews themselves, or whether that be us. There is a future hope of being together with God in perfection.
So as we walk this corridor of heroes of the faith we can be encouraged to live by faith ourselves. To be followers of Jesus for the marathon of life, not just the sprint of this season. With this in mind, here are six ways this passage encourages us to live by faith for the long-haul.
First, Hebrews 11 helps us when we are in times of doubt.
While doubt is not the opposite of faith, it certainly has an impact on our faith. Whether we are struggling to see God, doubting his goodness and faithfulness, or when we’re confused by what he is doing in our lives then we can lose sight of what he has promised.
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There is a battle raging. We have a powerful enemy who seeks to devour, but we have a weapon that is more powerful and allows us to fight back—the truth. Armed with the truth of God, we can withstand Satan’s assaults. As ambassadors for Christ, we can stand firm against the devil’s lies in the culture.

Beneath the surface of the visible world, a battle rages in an unseen realm. Dark, wicked, supernatural powers seek to rule the world by force. The carnage and the casualties lie all around us.
This isn’t a physical battle, though. It’s spiritual. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,” Paul says, but “against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).
In this battle, Satan’s weapons aren’t bombs and bullets. They aren’t his raw power or demon possession, either. His chief weapons are lies and deceptions.
Yes, Satan can harm us physically and often does. We see this in Scripture. Most of the spiritual warfare we encounter, though, is not a power encounter against Satan’s physical attacks. Rather, it’s a truth encounter against his spiritual lies. Therefore, we don’t respond with spiritual chest-pounding but rather with a gracious, sound, and measured proclamation of truth.
Remember who Satan is. Jesus calls him “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). He says there’s no truth in him. He warns us that our battle is against a deadly foe who lies, cheats, and steals.
The devil’s deceptions—Paul calls “schemes” in Ephesians 6:11—are sophisticated strategies he uses to gain a foothold to exert his influence over people.
Satan preys on those not ready for combat, and his plan is working. Currently the culture is in the crushing grip of three of Satan’s cons: moral relativism, religious pluralism, and sexual progressivism.
The results of his schemes are everywhere. For example, many of the commercials during the Olympics this year featured gay, lesbian, and transgender people in relationships—quiet lies of Satan coming into our homes on prime-time television. Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Disney all feature movies depicting similar themes.
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God calls on us to refrain from participating in those activities which are not in themselves sinful, but will inevitably distract us from the purpose of the day (WSC Q.60). Only once we realize that God’s calling us away from doing our own pleasure is in the interest of calling us to the higher pleasure of communion with him will we begin to see the Sabbath as among God’s chiefest blessings and not an unwelcome burden.

When I first learned of the ongoing obligation to keep the Sabbath day holy, it felt like a bucket of ice water being dumped over my head— I was shocked and gasping for answers. “How could I have missed this for so long? What do I do now? What do you mean I’m not allowed to do x, y, or z?” My experience is not unique. As a pastor, I have had countless conversations regarding the 4th commandment and been asked questions in the same vein as my own. It is that third question, “Why can’t I?,” that I have had to think through carefully and ask God for wisdom to respond in such a way that it will help the inquirer to call the Sabbath a delight.
The question itself, “Why am I not allowed to do x, y, or z?” betrays an exclusively privative view of the Sabbath day. The individual is fixating upon the relatively few things to which God says “no” and in so doing misses the many things to which God says “yes.” When Scripture speaks of the Sabbath, it presents it in an overwhelmingly positive light, as a divinely appointed means through which true and lasting rest and satisfaction are communicated. It is toward this positive end that we need to direct our conversations regarding the Sabbath if we hope to convince our brothers and sisters to love it and observe it as Scripture commands. Persuasion is to be preferred over coercion.
I like to illustrate this positive attitude toward the Sabbath using my own honeymoon as an example. When my wife and I married 8 years ago, we went on a nine-day Caribbean cruise for our honeymoon. These floating cities come standard with all manner of creature comforts (pools, theaters, all you-can-eat buffets), save two— no internet connection and no cell reception. However, despite not being able to scroll through my Facebook feed, respond to emails, or check sports scores, I was not complaining in the slightest because what I was able do was far more satisfying than what I was not able to do. The focus of my honeymoon was my wife and I drawing closer together as one, not all the things that we left behind in order to do so. Because my focus was all on her, all else naturally faded into the background.
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