It's All About Faith
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It's All About Faith
It's All About Faith
We are in Hebrews this week again as we make our way through this interesting letter. We have now come to what is probably the best known chapter in the book and the first verse is one of the most well-known verses in the Bible. This is the Faith Chapter and it explores the faith of believers from the beginning of mankind.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.
3 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. NKJV
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
As we take this apart and look at each main word in the original language, we can get an idea of what the writer is telling us.
Faith - Pistis - Our credence, our belief or our acceptance that something is true. Our moral conviction, especially of our religious truth. In the terms of the first century Apostles, faith was our acceptance of Christ for salvation and the truth of God's Word about Him.
Substance - Hupostasis - This is from two words that basically mean, the support under that which stands. It is the foundation, it is that which upholds.
Hope - Elpidzo - Things hoped for or trusted in.
Evidence - El-eng-khos - The proof.
Our belief, our moral conviction of our religious belief, the acceptance we have that our salvation is in Christ and Him alone is the foundation, the support, what holds up our hope and out trust in an eternity with God. Faith is the evidence of the existence of something that cannot be seen. What are those things? God, heaven, eternity, angels, demons, hell, glorified bodies...and the list goes on and on.
Faith is similar to Love. You cannot see either one. I love my wife, but I can't show you that love. I can demonstrate the evidence of it. I can't show you my faith, but it can be demonstrated through the things that I do. The thongs are not the faith itself but evidence there of.
Barnes says, “There is scarcely any verse of the New Testament more important than this, for it states what is the nature of all true faith, and is the only definition of it which is attempted in the Scriptures. Eternal life depends on the existence and exercise of faith (), and hence, the importance of an accurate understanding of its nature.” (From Barnes' Notes)
On the things "hoped for," Barnes says, “[Things] In heaven. Faith gives them reality in the view of the mind. The Christian hopes to be admitted into heaven; to be raised up in the last day from the slumbers of the tomb, to be made perfectly free from sin; to be everlastingly happy. Under the influence of faith he allows these things to control his mind as if they were a most affecting reality.” (Barnes' Notes)
Sometimes we can't say it any better than it has already been said. Barnes finishes saying, “...faith...gives reality to things hoped for, and a certain persuasion to the mind of the existence of those things which are not seen.” In other words, faith gives reality to the things that we trust in, believe in, and we wait for. Meaning we know beyond a shadow of a doubt they are true even though we cannot prove it.
Jump now to verse 2, “For by it (faith) the elders obtained a good testimony.”
By the faith that they had, the patriarchs and forefathers of the Jewish (and Christian) people were witnessed of and testified of for what they believed. We will see the evidence of this in the rest of the chapter.
Verse 3 tells us that our faith starts with the first words of God in Scripture.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. NKJV
I don't need to understand exactly how it happened and God never intended for to know or He would have told us. I just need to believe that there is a Creator that made the creation that I am a part of. “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.” The Greek word for worlds is aion. This is where the word eon comes from. This literally can mean the universe, the world, an age, a period of time and even perpetuity or eternity. The fact is that everything has been created by the spoken Word of God.
Talk about a great and neat God. He created a trinity of trinities that occurred at the same time and cannot exist without each other. Time, space and matter are the trinity and each are trinities within themselves. Time is past, present and future. Space is length, width, and height. Matter is solid, liquid, and gas. Time, space and matter were all created in a unique way. They came into being at once. According to Dr. Jason Lyle, “The Bible records that, in the beginning (time), God created the heavens (space) and the earth (matter).” - Dr. Jason Lyle
They need each other to exist. If there is matter and no space, where would you put it? If there is matter and no time, when would you put it? God is outside of time, space and matter and God is not limited by time, space, or matter. The Creator is not a part of His creation. But the Creator did step into His creation.
It is going to take faith to believe in either of the beginnings of the universe we are faced with. Either there is a God and He created this universe and everything in it or there is no God and the universe came into existence on it's own from nothing. No wait, the theory is that there was this one tiny particle that existed. There was one tiny piece of matter, smaller than an electron that somehow exploded or imploded on or into itself to create the masses of matter that we have in existence today. My theory is that there is a Spirit being, God, who has existed outside of time, space, and matter forever and He created everything that we see as He spoke it into being.
God's Word declares it in the beginning of the Bible. In Hebrews, we see this in the word that is used here. Aion contains all three beginnings, time, space, and matter. God "framed" it, He put it in order, equipped and arranged it. Our faith tells us that a creation has a Creator. Our faith tells us that what we see was made not from the things that are visible but instead were created out of nothing at all.
Let's take our first elder and look at his faith. , 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. NKJV The sons of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, are the first that we see to offer a sacrifice to God. Cain was a farmer, a tiller of the ground it says in , and his younger brother Abel tended sheep. We are told that in time that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel brought an offering of the firstling, firstborn of his flock and of their fat. In other words, he brought the choicest of what he had to offer to God and God was pleased. God was displeased with the offering of Abel and we must assume that this was because of the condition of the heart with which the offerings were given. Abel offered in faith a finer sacrifice than Cain and God attributed his righteousness to him because of it. God has testified of Abel gifts and it is known throughout time, even after his death. We have no specified reason that God accepted and was pleased with Abel's gifts over Cain's except here, that being it was a matter of faith that Abel had and Cain did not.
, By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. NKJV
Give the Story of Enoch. Before God "took" him, it was known that he pleased God. His faith is found in his words that we find in , Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” NKJV
, But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. NKJV This seems pretty self-explanatory. It is impossible to please God without having faith because we must have faith to believe in Him to begin with. And when we exercise that faith, God is a rewarder to those who seek Him in that faith.
Last, , 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. NKJV
God warned Noah of things to come. God ordered him to build the ark. It took him years and years to build it. (Don't know exactly) He became justified by his faith and his physical deliverance was a pledge of the salvation of the soul.
Our faith is the great indicator. What is it is? Who is it in? How strong is it? How long must it last to truly be faith?
Yesterday: “I am Hindu...I pray Jesus...I found peace...I love Christ”
Do you have faith today??