Hebrews 11:1-3, 6
Our Substance
The writer introduces faith to us in this passage.
\\#1\\ Faith is the substance, the tangible, the reality of those
things which I cannot at this time see, but long for.
\\#2\\ Faith is the means by which the ancient leaders of Israel did
good things.
\\#3\\ Faith gives us the understanding of how the world began.
Every human at some point, contemplates how things came to be. When
they do, they will have to believe something by faith because there
is not way to reproduce their theory to prove it.
\\#6\\ Without faith, we cannot begin to please God.
One of the most powerful, most basic, and most essential tools in the
Christian life is our faith. If we lost our faith, we would lose
everything we have in Christ today because everything we have is ours
by faith.
1. We would lose our Bible because we trust the Bible by faith.
2. We would lose our Jesus because we believe in His virgin
birth, His sinless life, His vicarious death, and His bodily
resurrection all by faith
3. We would lose heaven and all that is apart of it, because I
believe there is a heaven by faith.
4. We would lose even the belief that there is even life after
death because we hold to that belief by faith.
5. We would lose our God because we believe in God’s essence by
faith, in God’s goodness by faith, and in God’s justice by
faith.
6. As we lose these realities, we would also lose the changed
life, the peace of God, the hope of eternity, the bond of the
body of Christ, and every other thing that is a result of our
faith in these things.
7. For me, I would even lose my earthly occupation for I could
not continue to preach if I did not believe in the things I
preach about.
In summary, we are who we are today, because of my faith in Jesus
Christ. For a few moments, let us consider this gift of faith.
I. What faith is not.
A. Faith is not a delusion.
1. Some would tell us that faith is delusional.
a. It can be. Anyone can have faith is something false
and that could be delusional faith.
b. However, faith is not made up or imaginary.
2. The truth is everyone has faith.
a. If you have ever road in an automobile, taken
medicine, picked up a telephone, or flipped a light
switch, you do so by faith.
b. The issue is not "Is there faith?" or even "Do I have
faith?" The issue is "What will I put my faith in?"
and that is the only issue that exists.
c. Preparing for VBS, I watched several documentaries on
evolution. What they believe is more steeped in
faith than anything I believe! In fact, I don’t have
enough faith to believe in evolution.
B. Faith in Christ is not baseless.
1. Our faith in Christ must be based on truth and evidence—
at least to some extent.
2. How do you prove faith?
3. You TEST it!
a. Historically - Does history argue a Biblical Jesus?
(1) Yes! More evidence that there was a Person
called Jesus and that something powerful
happened in relation to Him.
(a) The fact that such a humble Person from such
an obscure place is still remembered today
is some proof.
(b) The fact that the world changed the calendar
to celebrate His birth is another.
(c) The impact He has had on the world is yet
another.
(d) The power that those who believe in His
name have had for good is yet another.
b. Scientifically - While I know that there is no
scientific evidence for a virgin birth, a sinless
life, or a bodily resurrection; there is no
explanation that fits the universe as we know it
better than that a omnipotent God created and
sustain the environment we live in. And once that
point is settled, all other decisions can easily fit
into place.
c. Personally
C. Our faith in Christ is not hap-hazard.
1. Christians are not to believe in just anything.
2. We believe in the things that time has proven to be true.
3. Primarily, that is the Word of God.
4. We use a four-fold filtering system:
a. The Word c. The guidance of the Holy Ghost
b. Prayer d. counsel of the godly
5. And, to be honest, most of us have greater faith in the
areas where we have seen God work in our lives over and
over again. (David knew God would deliver him from the
giant because God had already delivered him from the
bear and the lion!)
II. What faith is.
A. Faith is the ability to see the unseen things of God.
1. I do not say the unreal things of God, but the unseen
things of God.
2. Faith does not create a reality that does not exist.
3. I am not using my faith to create an imaginary world but
to see God’s world.
B. You and I believe in unseen things all the time.
1. I press the brake petal believing the brake pads will
stop the care but I can’t see them.
2. I write out a check or use a debit card, believing
there is money in the bank even though I can’t see it.
C. What is God’s world or reality like?
1. The Bible tells us that God’s world is a sinless world, a
perfect world, and He is the Lord of it.
a. As Master, God determines what is right and wrong.
b. In this world, God rewards right behavior and does not
reward wrong behavior.
c. God’s authority extends to this sinful world as well
and God’s will and works will be done here in time.
2. The only way to see, know, and to understand this world is
by faith.
a. By faith, I see these things to be true and seek to
locate my place in His kingdom.
b. The stronger my faith and vision in Christ becomes,
the more important God’s things are to me and the
less important the things of this world are to me.
D. The goal of every Christian should be to increase and focus
their faith on God’s unseen world.
1. As stated, you have faith in something already (job,
health, family, friends, pleasure).
2. It is not the size of your faith but the direction that it
is pointed.
Matt 17:20 … If ye have faith as a grain of
mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain,
Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall
remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
3. Faith is like a telescope. It needs to turned toward
God’s world and focused.
III. How does faith work?
A. Faith is a link in a spiritual chain.
B. The chain is quite long, but I can get you started on it.
1. The first link in this spiritual chain is knowledge.
a. You cannot have faith in something you do not know.
b. The Scriptures are much like a teeter-totter. God
appears to give knowledge and then man rises to
the forefront to either obey or disobey it.
(1) It was God’s idea that Abraham and Sara should
have a son in their old age.
(2) It was God’s idea that Abraham should send
Ishmael away.
(3) It was God’s idea that Abraham should offer Isaac
on Mount Moriah.
c. Again, this is where the Bible and Scriptural
preaching/teaching comes in.
d. Study the Bible and you will see faith never acts
alone! Faith is always preceded by some revelation
from God who gives knowledge.
2. Knowledge produces faith.
Ro 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God.
a. There is no better way to get faith or to grow faith
than to get it through the Word of God.
b. You might stumble on something but you could just as
easily stumble off the side of cliff.
c. Why risk it when God will reveal Himself to you
through the Bible?
3. Faith and knowledge produce prayer.
Mark 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things
soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye
receive them, and ye shall have them.
a. Faith and knowledge gives us the insight but
uncertainty, doubt, even fear usually abide.
b. With these two comes the WHAT God wants, maybe even
the HOW God will do it, but it takes prayer to make
us certain that God will.
c. Having these first two links in the chain is certainly
not the end of the chain.
(1) You can’t do anything with a chain two links
long!
(2) But having the first two links, we are driven to
add the third link, prayer.
d. Most often, having knowledge and faith do not make us
better, they make us worse for the wear.
(1) Knowing what God wants but fearing that we will
fail, is in some ways even worse than not
knowing what God wants.
(2) However, having knowledge and faith, most are
driven to pray for the power to complete God’s
task.
4. Knowledge, faith, and prayer will produce some kind of
action.
a. What kind of action, I do not know.
b. However, this action will always look like power to
the outside world.
c. Examples:
(1) Noah heard the Word of God directly from God, but
hearing the Word, Noah believed God and built a
boat. When it started raining, Noah looked like
a powerful man with God, but in truth, Noah just
had faith.
(2) Abraham also heard directly from God, but hearing
God’s Word, he followed God to a land he did not
know, had a child, and ultimately became the
father of a nation.
(c) Joshua also heard directly from God, but hearing
the Word, he had the children of Israel march
around Jericho for seven days. On the seventh,
the walls fell flat. Joshua had faith.
(d) I read the Bible and God gives me a few words to
say. Some of you think I have a very smart
fellow but really, not so much. I just have
a little faith.
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