The Substance of Hope

Introduction

Faith seems like such an abstract concept. What does it mean? How does it work? The world at large seems to be devoid of the understanding of what true faith is. So much so that even some misunderstanding flows into the church and it’s teaching. I recently listened to a “biblical” teacher that encourages his listeners to have a faith toward God that resembles a child demanding a toy rather than a godly faith that humbles before God in fear and reverence. My goal for this morning is to shed light on God’s revealing of the understanding of faith in His word.

Hebrews 11:1–6 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

This is Not an Exhaustive study and presentation. This is just an introduction. When ever we study God’s word we find answers and we find more questions. Not that we are questioning the word of God but questions about it. We would want more understanding of our Lord God.

What is faith and where does it come from?

Does it come from within us, our minds, or our spirits?

Are there different kinds of faith.

Let me start by stating what Christian faith is not

Faith is not merely knowing something to be true.

Knowledge of the facts of christ are not enough and knowledge and agreement of the facts of Christ are not enough.

James 2:19 “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!”

All live by faith of some sort.

The sort of faith that the world lives by is not that same faith that Christians have. This is the sort of faith one has when turning on a light and believing that it will turn on, unless you live in Willisburg after a storm, or turning the faucet on and believing water will come out.

Another facet of this type of faith is a blatant idolatrous faith, a faith that is the anti-faith of God.

This is faith that the world has in the name of science

The faith one has in himself

the faith one has in an idol, like that of those called out in scripture making gods out of wood, stone or the like.

Worldly faith lives by reason alone or sense perception alone. Even putting the two together, this faith still falls woefully short of saving faith.

2 Corinthians 5:7 “for we walk by faith, not by sight.”

This means that we have a faith greater than that of those whom only live by reason or by sense perception or sight.

Atheists will fight tooth and nail trying to prove they do not have any sort of faith yet they fall into all of these categories.

Worldly understanding of faith is irrational commitments to something despite strong evidence to the contrary.

What is the faith that God’s word is referring?

There are two versions of faith in the scriptures that I will discuss.

General faith and the Spiritual gift of faith are of the same essence, but general or saving faith is is given to all the saints, but is a small amount of faith. You would recognise Jesus saying time and again “oh, ye of little faith”. While this saving faith is yet a small amount if faith, it is still wonderfully powerful in the lives of the saints.

The Spiritual gift of faith is like the general faith but it is a gift of an extraordinary portion. The Holy Spirit lays upon extraordinary faith and it presents as unshakable confidence in the promises of God, His word and His promises, moving the receiver of the gift to take wonderful, amazing, even heroic stands for the God’s work in the church.

Hebrews 11 is often called the “faith hall of fame”, those mentioned in the passage are the receivers of this amazing gift. We recognise Noah, working for 120 years to build the arc while proclaiming God’s word and warning to the people. Only God’s gift of faith would keep a man on a path as such.

Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”

In faith Abraham laid Isaac on an alter of sacrifice, Isaac blessed his sons concerning things to come, Jacob blessed his sons, by faith Joseph when he was dying gave instructions for his bones for he knew that Egypt was not his home.

Hebrews 11:23–29 “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.”

These are amazing and wonderful things that our God has done through the lives of these people. Thank the Lord that there are some that are gifted this extraordinary gift of faith.

While this gift is something to talk about let us not neglect the same and powerful faith, although a smaller portion, that is in all of the saints. This is a faith that leads to dramatic changes in the life of the believer.

God calls this faith “more precious than fine gold”

1. General faith or saving faith is

Knowledge of the facts of Christ’s gospel

approval or agreement of those facts

Trust or belief in Jesus as the true living Son of God for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

The faith of a christian is NOT an irrational, faith or irrational commitment to God. Unlike the worlds understanding of faith, our faith is founded on Reason, sense perception, and our understanding of God’s truth. But It goes much beyond that foundation

The words that are translated in to faith from the Greek and Hebrew are

Heb Amen - Trustworthy, surely, reliability

Heb Emeth - Truth

GK Pistos - Trust , reliability

Faith in the Old Testament (septuigent) , classical and Hellenistical Jews used the greek word pistos often in a legal context, carrying the meaning guarantee or security.

Where does our faith come from?

Let us look to the text for the answer.

There are 3 passages that will show us the answer.

Hebrews 12:2 “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”

Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

From these texts we can gather that Jesus Christ is where our faith comes from, for He is the founder of our faith. It is by His word that that we are saved. It is he who makes us hear and see. I pray for physical healing, but a spiritual healing is much more necessary.

Matthew 11:5–6“the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

God saves us, and by no merit of our own are we saved, but by his love, mercy and grace. Amem

Now Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus says “Pisteo eis auton” or “belief into him” not merely believing what he said, but rather placing trust and confidence in and resting in the person of Jesus christ.

Jesus emphasizes “coming to him” by repeating the phrase in a number of passages. He Says “come to me, all who thirst and are heavy laden”, “All that the father gives me will come to me”, “and him that comes to me, I will by no means cast out”

We are drawn to Christ “For he is the way the truth and the life” Where would we go, He is the one with eternal life.

We come to him for living water, the bread of life, guidance and instruction.

All this paints the picture of what is involved in saving faith.

My favorite acronym is

B.I.B.L.E.

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth

There is another aspect to this saving faith which is repentance.

There are many who say that repentance is not biblical or that repentance is works based salvation.

I am pretty sure that if a word is stated numerous times in scripture that is probably biblical. Repentance is a clear sign of a saving faith. Repentance being a deep sorrow for sin in the life of the believer. Sin leaves the believer in a state of shame and repugnance for the sin that they are constantly striving toward christ and His righteousness. Repentance is turning from sin and turning toward Jesus. The word int he greek is metanoia, it literally means to turn around, do a 180. Metanoia is where we get the word metamorphosis.

Repentance goes hand in hand with faith.

Paul said to the corinthians

2 Corinthians 7:9–10 “As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”

For any mathematicians the formula for salvation is C=F+R

Conversion = Faith + Repentance

I have heard people say that they have a relationship with new Jesus Christ and I usually have the urge to ask if they have a new relationship with sin.

James says in

James 2:14–17 “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

One with true saving faith will not only repent and turn from sin, thus having a transformed life, they will also have a life and faith marked with good works. Those doing the good works are not saved by the works but they do the good works because they are saved.

So now we have faith, and repentance and good works

So now we need more faith!

Luke 17:5–6 “The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

Jesus is the founder and perfecter of our faith. The apostles basically commanded Jesus to give them more faith. His response is basically “use what you have, it is enough to more than you even imagine” God does not give us more faith as it were but he strengthens what we do have. God teaches us more as we read and study His word, the more we learn about God, His character, His attributes, His promises , the stronger our faith gets. The fruits of our trials in life also strengthen our faith and build up our steadfastness. God’s word connotes that all our trials are testing and strengthening our faith. Think of this image, martial art like Muay Thai involves kicking logs and other hard objects to produce micro-fractures that when they heal actually make the bones stronger. The trials that God has prepared for us may cause some micro-fractures in our faith only strengthen and build up our faith and our steadfastness so that by his refining we are able to persevere. Count it all joy when you encounter various trials.

All of the things pertaining to salvation such as faith, repentance, good works, trials and growth will be part of the christian walk for the life of the believer. God has saved you, you are being saved and you will be saved.

May we all pour the scriptures into our hearts and minds, in doing so, strengthening our faith and love for Jesus Christ our Lord.

Lets Pray.