The Substance of Things Hoped For (What is Faith? New Sermon Series - Part I)

Let's turn to Hebrews chapter 11. So we're gonna begin a new series on the subject of faith. Gonna look at, you know, what is faith? Let's start with that question, what is faith? Well, Hebrews 11 gives us the answer.

The Biblical Definition of Faith and the Meaning of Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews chapter 11, verse one says, "'Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, "'the evidence of things not seen.'". So we can say in that verse, we have a biblical definition of what faith is.

But still, I suspect a lot of people have read Hebrews 11, one, okay? Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And somebody reads that and they say, okay, but what does that mean?

Right, have you ever had that thought? I remember having that thought. What does that mean though? Well, I believe when we trust in God, faith causes us to remain hopeful and optimistic, even when the situation would say otherwise.

You know, faith is believing that with God, all things are possible, Mark 10, 27. I think, you know, whatever you call it, the type of Christianity that's on television, I think has really affected us to where we think of faith this way, that if someone gets sick, I just need to have faith that God is gonna heal that person, and I'm just gonna know that they're gonna get better.

Well, we know that doesn't always happen. I'm not so sure that's what faith is. But even if somebody doesn't get, even if things don't turn out the way we want them to, we can still remain hopeful for the future, knowing that God is gonna work things out.

God has made a promise in Romans 8, 28. This is a Bible verse, it's the word of God, that all things do work together for good. I think faith is believing that if you love God, you have that promise, all things work together for good to those who love God.

So that, and faith is when we place our trust. Of course, saving faith is when we place our trust in the gospel, which is the good news about the life, ministry, person, and work of Christ. So that gives you some idea of what we're talking about when we talk about faith.

Faith is believing, but faith is more, okay, this is where we need to start, I think, faith is more than just mental assent. It's more than just believing facts or what we think to be facts in our mind.

It's a firm trust. So faith is knowing something to be true, even when you can't see it. And here's the thing, the Greek word translated substance, you know, it's the substance that things hope for. The Greek word for substance is hypostasis, which refers to an actual thing.

So faith has substance. You can't touch faith, but I believe you can see faith. When someone has faith, there's gonna be some result. There's gonna be some works or evidence or fruit, and we see that in people's lives.

So let's, with those things in mind, let's begin reading Hebrews 11, and hopefully by the time we're done with this series, we'll better understand faith, and hopefully we'll have grown our faith. Hebrews 11, starting in verse one, I'll read through verse 16.

It says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it, that is by faith, the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and through it, he being dead, still speaks. By faith, Enoch was taken away, so that he did not see death, and was not found because God had taken him.

You realize Enoch was a man, what, who walked with God, and then he was not. Sort of a picture of the rapture, if you will, where God just took him straight up to heaven. But it says, but before he was taken, he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

But without faith, it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he, God, is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. By faith, Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith.

By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go to that place which he would receive as an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith, he dwelt in the land of promise, as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of that same promise.

For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. By faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

Therefore, from one man, and him, as good as dead, Abraham, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. All these died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland, and truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better that is a heavenly country.

Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. And may God add a blessing to the reading of his word. But we see here that everyone who dies in faith, the Bible says, that they will live with God forever in this heavenly city.

The Heavenly City, the New Jerusalem, and the Necessity of Faith

So in our revelation series on Wednesday night, we covered this, the heavenly city is the new Jerusalem. This is why Paul said to believers, your citizenship is not in Rome, you're not a Roman citizen first, your citizenship is where?

Yeah, it's in heaven. Jesus says, your names are written in heaven. So this is what we have to look forward to, a home in heaven, and the key, if you will, to enter through the gates of heaven, the key is you must have faith.

And verse six says that without this faith, it's impossible to please God. So no matter how many good works a person does, no matter how nice they are or whatever it is, if they don't have faith, according to scripture, they're not actually pleasing God.

So really, everything starts with faith, it's all about faith. Now let's turn to James chapter two, because the Bible also says something, we think of faith as something you believe, it's a trust, that's true, but James, the book of James is an important book because it talks about how faith without works is dead.

And I do want to say that faith and works are not the same thing. I mean, there is definitely a distinction between faith and works. But speaking of James, let's just look at that passage for a moment, because we need to establish that.

But give a couple of you a minute to find that. But the Old Testament Jews, just thinking of heaven, right? They had a desire for this heavenly city. When the Jews thought about heaven, they thought of heaven in terms of resurrection into the kingdom of God.

A Jew would exercise their faith by living a life, loving God, loving others, and that really came out when they lived in conformity to the 10 commandments. And of course, the Jews would, to be a faithful Jew, you would offer sacrifices, you would pay your tithe, you would stay away from idolatry, you would learn the Torah, teach it to your children.

And if you did all these things, you were considered faithful, right? Because it's not just about having faith, we want to be faithful, right? Don't you want to be a faithful Christian? Well, that's how you are a faithful Jew.

And it's similar with us today, to be a faithful believer. You know, we love God, we love the brethren. We show our love for God through obedience. We show our love for others by serving others. Of course, we are to be baptized and assemble with the church on the Lord's day and financially support God's work and avoid idolatry through conformity to the word.

But if we do all these things, historically, if you did these basic things, you were considered a faithful Christian. But still, some of the people in Hebrews 11, it seems like they took it a step further.

I mean, they had faith that could move mountains. I mean, this is a chapter, Hebrews 11, you know this, it's called, right, the faith chapter, right? I mean, these were people who changed the world. Literally, they changed the world.

And it's because their faith produced something. They didn't just sit around and believe something in their heart and that was good enough. Their faith caused them to act. And that's what we see here in James 2.

Look at James 2, 18. The apostle says, "'But someone will say, you have faith and I have works. "'Show me your faith without your works, "'and I will show you my faith by my works.'". So if you wanna show someone you have faith, what's one way to do it?

Show them your works. Now, of course, faith, again, I said faith and works are different. Faith is not a work. Some people will say faith is a work. Faith is not a work. They are distinct, but I think they are connected.

Having faith means you trust in God that things are gonna be okay, but it also causes you to act. Like, if you truly have faith, it's gonna come out and not just what you say, but what you do. Look at verse 14.

James is speaking about this idea. He says, "'What does it profit my brethren "'if somebody says that they have faith, "'but they don't have works? "'Can faith save him?'. Well, the implication here is no.

That type of faith, a dead faith, can't save anybody. He says in verse 15, "'If a brother or sister is naked "'and destitute of daily food, "'and one of you says to them, "'Depart in peace and be warmed and be filled, "'but you do not give them the things "'which are needed for the body,' what good is that?

What does it profit? Thus also, I mean, if you act like that, James is saying, faith by itself, if it does not have works, it's dead. So if you say, well, I believe in, I've accepted Jesus into my heart.

Like, this is the common evangelical terminology. I've received Jesus into my heart. Well, amen. But hopefully, that actually changes something. That actually changes your heart. If your heart's changed, guess what?

That's gonna come out in things that you do. And we don't just see this in James, we see it in Hebrews 11 as well. But look at verse 19, one more verse from James 2. James writes, this is to the people who say they have faith, but there's really nothing backing it up.

He says, oh, you believe there's one God? You do well. But even the demons believe, and the demons tremble, which I think implies that some people say they have faith, but there's no trembling. All right, let's go back to Hebrews 11.

So I think we need to kind of lay that foundation just so nobody gets the wrong idea about what faith is. I mean, this is kind of the, whatever people call it, cheap grace. You know, receive Jesus into your heart, and then just continue living like the devil.

I mean, that's not what faith is, obviously. So I think the best way to kind of make it real to people, a good way to illustrate it. Do I have a volunteer? Is anyone? I know you'll volunteer.

Someone else.

Someone else.

I'll let you do it if no one else volunteers. Give someone else an opportunity. Nobody's willing to come up here. All right, Marcus, get up here.

Uh-oh.

Stand next to the piano. You probably know what to do.

Oh, no, you're gonna yank that?

No, I'm not gonna yank the chair. Let me ask you a question. Do you believe that chair can hold you up?

I tested it.

It works.

Okay, this is pretty sturdy. Pretend you didn't hear that about him testing it. You believe that chair will hold you up. Okay, what if Marcus then refused to sit in the chair? He says he believes the chair will hold him up, but then I ask him to sit in it, and he says, well, I ain't sitting in that chair.

What does that tell you? He doesn't really believe it. He says he does, but he doesn't really believe it. Now, show me that you have faith in that chair. How do I know? You told me, but show me that you have faith in that chair.

What do you have to do?

I don't know if I've gained weight or lost weight.

That aside, show me that you have faith in the chair.

Well, I can't do it blindfolded. You're not gonna yank it, right?

I'm not gonna yank it.

You have faith in me, don't you?

Oh, yes, I do.

See, he has faith in me. I'm not gonna pull the chair out from behind him. He has faith in the chair.

Why?

Because he's sitting in it.

Okay, thank you.

You can.

How about if I stand and lean back?

See, this is why I didn't want to call on him.

Thank you.

But he was willing to do it, so thank you. You get the idea, though. Let's say you're driving through one of these old dirt roads in New England. You come across one of these covered bridges, or there's a bridge in, I don't know if it's Shelburne or what town it is, but it looks pretty scary to drive across, and somebody says, they're driving with you, do you have faith that bridge can hold you up?

Yeah, I have faith in that bridge, but let's turn around, because I don't want to drive over. I mean, that kind of tells you, if you're not willing to kind of put it in practice, then maybe you don't really have faith.

Well, that's the idea here. Actions speak louder than words. I mean, there is something called a false profession of faith, but when the rubber meets the road, faith is actually gonna have some substance, right?

Something behind it. So I think if you really have faith in Jesus, this is what you see in the New Testament, certainly in the Gospels, if you really have faith in Jesus, you're willing to commit your life to him, Jesus and his teachings, what he says to do, what he says to avoid.

If you really have faith in Jesus, you'll live a life in accordance with his teachings. Now, as Americans, again, in the 20th century, this is just kind of ubiquitous, it's all around us. People think of salvation in terms of a transaction.

You know, it's the time that I said this prayer, it's the time I came forward at an altar call, it's that moment I accepted Jesus into my heart. And I do believe that that does happen in a moment in time.

So I'm not against those things, don't misunderstand me, but really faith is, if it's real, there's gonna be something else to it. And I just think you see that in Hebrews 11, just kind of survey the chapter.

Look at verse eight, by faith, what does it say? Abraham did what?

Believed.

Okay, in my Bible, it says, by faith, Abraham obeyed. So he trusted in God, God told him, go to a land that I will show you, and we know that Abraham believed God because he actually went, right? Abraham said, oh, okay, God, I trust in you, and then he stayed put.

What does that say? So, yeah, I mean, Christians can backslide, don't get me wrong, I mean, some people hear this, that faith works as the evidence that then it's salvation by works, and then people think that that's what you're preaching, that is not what I'm preaching at all, but faith has some substance.

So Hebrews 11, this is probably the most important chapter when it comes to the subject of faith. And again and again, by faith, this person did this. By faith, that person did that. So this is called the faith chapter, or the other term for Hebrews 11, the hall of faith, who's heard that?

We're all familiar with the Hall of Fame, right? Sports, each sport has a Hall of Fame. So in Cooperstown, New York, you have the Baseball Hall of Fame. 45 minutes away from here in Springfield, you have the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Well, the Faith Hall of Fame is considered to be Hebrews chapter 11. So let's look at some of these verses. We're probably only gonna get through verse four, but in weeks to come, we're gonna try to get through the whole chapter.

So we saw the definition of faith. Substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Talked about that. For by it, the elders obtained a good testimony. I'll come back to that. Look at verse three though.

Faith and Creation: The Worlds Framed by the Word of God

By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. Now, I think it's safe to say that most people today don't believe this verse.

They don't have faith in this verse because they've sided in with the whole evolution, Big Bang stuff, which contradicts the account here in Genesis. But in the beginning, because this is what he's talking about, Genesis chapter one, what God, what did he do?

He spoke the worlds into existence. Have you ever seen anything like that? Of course you haven't. To believe it, you need faith. I am certain that that happened. I have faith. I'm certain that that happened, even though I wasn't there.

But I believe it happened. That's what faith is. I mean, God spoke. He made everything out of nothing. So there was, this verse is talking about how there's no preexisting material. God created ex nihilo, made everything out of nothing, and then once the creation was in existence, he said, let there be light, and there was light.

God did it all through his word. God is able to do that because he's God. And because he is God, we should be able to commit our lives to this God who can do that. Certainly he can take care of us. One commentator put it this way regarding verse three of Hebrews 11.

We must exercise strong confidence in him who had power to create the universe out of nothing. If this vast universe has been called into existence by the mere word of God, there is nothing which we may not believe he has ample power to perform.

Right, if God can do all of this, the little things that I'm dealing with in my life, he can handle it. Now, Hebrews 11 too says, for by it, that is by faith, the elders obtained a good testimony. So these are maybe you could say the men of the Old Testament or the patriarchs, men in times past, they obtained a good testimony.

And then he talks about Abel. Look at verse four. By faith, Abel, I guess would be the first elder, he offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through with which he obtained witness that he was righteous.

God testifying of his gifts, and though he being dead, he still speaks. So the first individual mentioned in Hebrews 11 is who?

Abel.

Abel.

Now, it's interesting that Adam is not mentioned. I mean, Adam, we know is the first man. You would think maybe Adam would be mentioned first, but Adam, I'm reading between the lines a little bit, but Adam is not mentioned probably because there's no notable way that he ever expressed faith.

What was Adam's testimony? He's the guy who ruined everything. That's what Adam is known for. But Abel, Abel had a good testimony. That's how we remember Adam, and that's how we remember Abel. And this is really, it got me to thinking, how will I be remembered?

I would encourage you to think about this. You might not wanna think about it, but if the Lord should tarry, how will you be remembered? I'll probably say something to how much faith you exercise. I mean, do you want people to think of you as, hey, that woman, she loved the Lord, right?

We heard Peggy share a testimony about someone she knew. Don't you want that to be your testimony? Hey, I remember, she really loved the Lord, or he was a faithful saint. If the Lord should tarry, what might they write on your tombstone?

Will it say, he was faithful? Here's what some people's, I don't think anyone's tombstone actually says this, but here's, if people were honest, here's what some people's tombstone would say. He was a real jerk.

That's how some people are remembered. He was always late. She loved to sit and watch television. I'm not trying to be hard on anyone, but I think if somebody saw a tombstone like that, they'd say, this is a wasted life.

Hebrews 11, it's not about putting anyone down. It's about inspiring us to do better, inspiring us to something greater, something higher. When I read Hebrews 11, I'm inspired. I want to be like 1 10th of the faith of some of these people.

That would be okay with me. Let's turn to Genesis chapter four and look at this story of Abel before we close, because we see two men, when down in history, these men, the two children of Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve probably had a lot of kids.

I mean, almost certainly, they had daughters that never got mentioned. We know a few of their children. The two children that everyone knows, who are they? Cain and Abel, right? But remember James 2 18, I will show you my faith by my works.

How do we know that Abel was a man of faith? He's in the hall of fame, right? Hebrews 11, the faith hall of fame, but how do we really know he had faith? You realize the Bible doesn't say a word about Abel's faith specifically.

It does tell us what he did though. Look at Genesis four, one through five. It says, now Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bore Cain and said, I have acquired a man from the Lord. Then she bore again, and this time his brother Abel.

Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat.

And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry and his countenance fell. And what some people have seen in that is that Abel trusted, you know, maybe a foreshadow of the shed blood of Jesus.

He offered an animal sacrifice, a blood sacrifice. Cain did not. Cain offered, there's something wrong with his sacrifice. We know the rest of the story. Cain ends up killing his brother. Cain was not righteous, but Abel, we can say, was a man of faith.

Why was Abel a man of faith? Do we know anything about what he believed in his heart? We know what he did. Let's turn back to Hebrews chapter 11. So you get the idea. Talk is cheap. We live in a world where just countless, the majority of Americans profess to be Christians.

I remember there's a stat that it was like 93 of Congress, they profess to be Christians. I'm sorry, but you know, if you believe that, I get a bridge to sell you. It's in Brooklyn. I'll give you a great price, I promise.

But yeah, anyone, you get the idea. Anyone can say that, but how are they living? What kind of things are they promoting? What does their life say? The opposite, right. So believing a concept in your mind that Jesus was God's son, he died and rose again.

I mean, those are the facts of the gospel. And I believe anyone who truly does believe, the thief on the cross, he had no works. He had a life of sin, but he trusted in the Lord at that last moment, and he was saved by his faith.

No baptism, no works, nothing there. He didn't have an opportunity, but you really are saved by faith, but true saving faith will have some impact. And Hebrews 11 is such an amazing chapter. It makes that so very clear.

But look at what we know about Abel. Hebrews 11, verse four, by faith, Abel, and then it goes into what he did. By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous.

When somebody looks at your life, is this what they see? You know, I don't expect you, and you should probably, well, I don't know, you probably don't expect me to have some sort of testimony like Moses or some great man of God.

We may never live up to that level, a man like Abraham who goes down in history as the father of the faithful. But when people look at us, they should see a faithful life. That's what I want. So the Bible says here, we're almost done, Hebrews 11, the witness that Abel was righteous, it says that even though he's dead, like that witness, it still speaks.

He still speaks even though he's dead. Why is that? Because people are still talking about him. We're still talking about him. He was recorded in the Bible. Here's the thing. People that maybe lived a bad life, the tombstone, he was a real jerk, you know, if we're gonna be honest.

That kind of guy, people want to forget about people like that. Just saying, it's true. You don't really bring people up like that. You just assume, forget. But somebody you know that had a real impact on your life, and had a real impact on the lives of believers, maybe started a church, had a impact on someone who became a missionary, and this happened, and this happened, I mean, that is, these are the types of people that even after they're long gone, their testimony still speaks volumes.

You know, you can be one of those people. Even if you only have an impact on the life of one individual, even if you're gone, your testimony still speaks through them. So in following weeks, I hope this will inspire us to live a life of faith, and have some substance to our faith, that others will see it.

I don't even have to, and this is good, we want to talk to people about Jesus, but even if he didn't say a word, it's still evident that people still see it. So I'll leave you with this quote. I found it helpful.

Faith is not believing in your own faith. This is what some people think. If I just believe hard enough, that's not the way it works. That's faith in your own faith. Faith is not believing in your own unshakable faith.

Faith is believing in the unshakable God, and what he can do in and through your life. Let's pray. And Father, how thankful we are for these great examples of faith that you have given us. We thank you for the faithful people you have put in our lives, the ones who continue to challenge us and encourage us, and most of all, Lord, we thank you for the object of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord, you loved us so much, you came into this world, you became a man, you walked among us, you lived a faithful life, and you died an atoning death. And as always, if there's someone listening today who has never expressed belief, never expressed trust in the gospel of Christ and him crucified and risen, I pray today would be the day, the first day of the rest of their life, expressing faith, walking in faith, because the scripture says we walk by faith and not by sight.

Lord, may people see our faith, may we live it out, may it have substance to it, and we ask it all in Jesus' name.