Text: Hebrews 11:1-40

As we prepare for our first Watch Service of the year this Friday night (8:00 pm to midnight) we will be focusing on faith. Have you ever wondered why the “Hall of Fame” of faith is listed in Hebrews chapter eleven and not some other New Testament book?

A key is found in the close of the preceding chapter as the writer encouraged his readers that the just are to live by faith: “For, ‘Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.’ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls” (Hebrews 10:37-39 ESV). In fact, the object of the whole argument in this Epistle was to keep those to whom it was addressed from apostatizing from the Christian religion, and especially from relapsing again into Judaism.

Well known Bible teacher and commentator J. Vernon McGee writes concerning the above passage (Hebrews 10:37-39),

“This verse is a quotation from Habakkuk 2:3-4, quoted also in Romans and in Galatians. It is an important verse. Each epistle that quotes this verse puts a different emphasis on it. In the Epistle to the Romans the emphasis is upon “the just shall live by faith”—how God justifies the sinner. Here in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the emphasis is upon “the just shall live by faith.” There have been several references to the living God, and this epistle tells of a living intercessor. He is the same one who died on the Cross for us and came back from the dead. The emphasis is upon His resurrection and His being the living Christ at God’s right hand. Therefore since we who are His own have a living God and a living Savior at God’s right hand, we shall live by faith. As I have said before, our faith is not a leap in the dark. It rests upon the Word of God. The just shall live by faith. Now in the Epistle to the Galatians Paul emphasizes faith; the just shall live by faith.”

Thus, the Hall of Fame gives illustration to those Hebrew Christians just how to live by faith. Reflect today on those you know who have lived by faith and have been a personal encouragement; thank the Lord for them and their example. Pray that you too would live a life of faith and be remembered as a faithful Christian for God’s glory.