Prayer: Our Father and our God, we know that faith is the essence of our salvation and our walk with You. Help us, as we study these patriarchs, to understand how faith influenced their lives so that our faith might grow stronger. Give us open minds and open hearts to Your Word and Your instruction. Amen.
Main Scripture: Read Hebrews 1:1-3 (NKJV).
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it 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. (Hebrews 1:1-3).
Associated Scriptures:
If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all (Isaiah 7:9).
For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith" (Romans 1:17).
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:2-5).
Correlative Quotes:
faith is the only instrument by which we lay hold of the righteousness of Christ. This righteousness of Christ is the ground of our justification and is imputed to us when we trust in Jesus alone for salvation.[1] – R. C. Sproul
Faith is facing reality without being discouraged by it. You know that God can change a situation. “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen since what is seen [the problem] is temporary, but what is unseen [God’s power] is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV). If you look at the world, you’re going to be distressed. …But if you look at Jesus…you’ll make it.[2] – Rick Warren
The word (faith) properly means "that which is placed under" …; …the word here has reference to something which imparts reality in the view of the mind to those things which are not seen, and which serves to distinguish them from those things which are unreal and illusive.[3]
Study:
A man was visiting the Grand Canyon and found himself too close to the edge of a cliff. As he leaned forward to see deep into the vast canyon, he lost his footing and fell over the edge. The man had enough presence of mind to reach out and quickly grab a root that was protruding from the wall of the cliff. He hung there for a moment looking straight up into the sky. Suddenly, he yelled out, “Is there someone up there, I need help.” A deep voice echoed from the sky, “I am the Lord your God, Yes I am here.” The man cried out in desperation, “Help me!” The voice thundered back, “Do you believe in me.” The man yelled in return, “Yes I believe in you!” The voice returned, “If you believe in me, let go of the root.” The fallen man paused a moment and then yelled out again in a panic, “Is there anyone else up there?”
Having absolute faith for Christians is difficult; for unbelievers it is impossible. Hebrews 1:1 (NKJV) says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith, according to this definition, is the foundation for our trust in God, our hope for eternal life, and the assurance of the existence of those things which we do not see.
Substance (NKJV) or assurance (NASB) lays the foundation and supplies the support for trust and hope. Our trust bolsters and enhances our faith. As a result of deeper trust in God, our hope is strengthened as we continue to rejoice in our trials and the accompanying suffering (Romans 5:3-5).
Faith is also the assurance (evidence) of the things that we can’t see. Can I believe what I haven’t seen? Experience-based on truth is the most convincing evidence. Faith, whether it is worldly faith or spiritual faith, must be based on truth or there can be no faith at all.
Faith, then, is truth or conviction that is based on the evidence of unseen realities. Substance (assurance) is the foundation upon which faith is built. It is faith, coupled with the outward expression of trust, that gives us the hope of future things that we cannot see.
Our salvation by faith gives us the hope of eternal life, something that we cannot see. Faith is based on those historical facts that we know are true, i.e., the many predictions of the Prophets concerning the coming of Jesus as the Messiah (Habakkuk 2:4).
Faith is also based on the actual life of Christ, His death, resurrection, and ascension. These are all factual, historical events that have been attested to by many witnesses. Paul, for example, reports, in 1 Corinthians 15:6, that Jesus appeared to more than five hundred believers and all of the Apostles, after His resurrection.
1 John 1:1-4 describes these factual, historical events when it says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched — this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make your joy complete.”
Therefore, spiritual faith is based on factual, verifiable events not just on hearsay or feelings. We have faith in a God who is real. One in whom we can place our trust.
The substance (assurance) of our faith is Christ himself. However, faith is much more involved as a concept than just its substance. Faith is based on substance plus evidence. As we have said, there is ample evidence in Scripture that Christ existed and performed all that he said he did. However, we were not there to see it.
Yet, just seeing an event, or in this case, a series of events over three years, does not assure faith. Some were there and yet they did not believe. John 20:27-29 says, “Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and thrust it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
As an introduction to the accounts of faith in the Old Testament, there are several statements about faith that will be essential to our understanding of this critical concept.
Faith - at least in part - is the spiritual seeing or perceiving of the fingerprints of God on the things he has made. Now the fingerprints of God on the things he has made - the order, the beauty, the greatness, the "irreducible complexity" (as Michael Behe says, in Darwin's Black Box) - are the evidence that God made the world.[4] – John Piper
The evidence that causes faith must, as a natural outcome, lead to the hope that it will happen again. It is only through the “evidence of things not seen” that our faith can result in continued hope.
Faith isn’t the ability to believe long and far into the misty future, it’s simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step. – Joni Erickson Tada
When we choose our strength, all of our faith is in ourselves and not in God. We still fall back on faith, worldly faith, personal faith, faith that means nothing, and an empty faith that would separate us from God and not cause us to grow closer to Him. This faith, in ourselves, is a faith that will not satisfy our needs nor will it bring glory to God.
Faith that is directed toward God, however, is controlled by the power of the Holy Spirit, the power that made the universe. Let’s see, do we put our faith in ourselves or the power that created the universe. I choose the latter.
Summary Statement:
So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17, NKJV).
As we choose faith or establish a stronger faith, it is necessary to institute or strengthen it through reading and understanding of the entire Word of God. One of the important aspects of a growing faith lies in the accounts of faith in the Old Testament. These Old Testament narratives establish the foundation for this book.
But when we're talking about eternity, we're talking about the unseen. When we talk about the future and heaven and all that is there for us in the promises of God, we're talking about something that no one has experienced. There isn't one person on the planet today that you can go to and say, “You've been to heaven and back, tell me about it.” Not one. But there are lots of folks who have been to the doctor and been to the pharmacy. This is a supernatural gift. This is another kind of faith altogether... altogether. This is the way we live. We live on the promise given to us in the Scripture because we believe the Scripture is reliable. We believe it's reliable because the evidence tells us it's reliable and because the Spirit of God has planted in us faith to believe in its trustworthiness.[6]
Lesson within the Lesson:
What is faith? Read Hebrews 1:1-3 again aloud.
Why is faith important? See Ephesians 2:8-9.
What is saving faith? See Romans 10:9-10.
What is our faith predicated on? See Ephesians 1:7.
[1][1] R. C. Sproul, Faith Defined, by R. C. Sproul, Fair Use Authorization, Section 107, of the Copyright Law, ligonier.org, 800.435.4343. ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/faith-defined/.
[2] Rick Warren, Faith is Not Denying Reality, © 2016 Rick Warren, used by author’s permission, rickwarren.org/devotional/english/faith-is-not-denying-reality.
[3] Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Public Domain, Fair Use Authorization, Section 107, of the Copyright Law,.
[4] John Piper, What Faith Knows and Hopes For, used by permission, Section 107, of the Copyright Law,By John Piper. ©2015 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org.
[5] Faith, Dictionary.com, the definition of faith, Fair Use Authorization, Section 107, of the Copyright Law, 2016 dictionary.com, LLC.
[6] John MacArthur, The Substance of Faith, © Grace to You, Section 107, of the Copyright Law,, June 29, 2003, message 90-381, gty.org/resources/sermons/90-381/the-substance-of-faith.
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