Faith
23
I like the word “is” in the Bible. It
often defines for us what God thinks about something. Grace is sufficient.
Mercy is everlasting. God is, well, nearly three-score specific things in Scripture.
There’s a blog series there, for sure. At the moment, however, we are studying
faith. Nine times in the King James Version we find the phrase “faith is”. Only
one of them is a definition. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11.1).
Faith, then, is two things. First, it
is the substance of things hoped for. Allow me to illustrate the meaning of
substance here with a foundation. Before you raise a house, you dig a
foundation. The foundation supports all else you place upon it. I have a solid hope
of eternal life (Titus 1.2, 3.7). What puts the foundation under that hope?
Only faith. When I am soul-winning and I ask the question, “What is your hope
for eternal life based on?” I rarely receive the right answer, sadly. The only
right answer, the only possible foundation is faith. Things hoped for without a
sure foundation under them are only wishes. I can dream of salvation or I can
have a solid hope for it founded upon obediently placing my faith in Christ.
Like the psalmist, I will take the latter. Lord, I have hoped for thy
salvation, And done thy commandments (Psalm 119.166).
This is why “hope” is used in the KJV
in a different sense than how we use it in 21st century America. We
use the word as the equivalent of desire or wish. I hope the Cubs win the World
Series, for example. But in the Bible the word implies not wish but rather
expectation. Hope is something I expect to obtain. Why does the Word of God use
it in the stronger sense? Because Scripture puts a sure foundation under it, an
actual substance – faith in God.
There are, of course, examples of hope
used in the Bible that imply wish or desire rather than expectation. Herod
comes to mind here. When Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was
desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him;
and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. Then he questioned him with
many words; but he answered him nothing (Luke 23.8-9). Herod had a desire
that went unrealized. Why? Because he did not put faith underneath of it. Jesus
came looking for belief. He did not find it in Herod. So Herod’s hopes went
unfulfilled.
On the other hand, we find the beauty
of this truth well displayed in our expectation of our Lord’s return. Looking
for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our
Saviour Jesus Christ (Titus 2.13). I desire the Lord’s return but that is
not what I mean when I talk about the Blessed Hope. No, I mean I expect it to
happen. Indeed, I am counting upon it. All my eggs are in that basket. What
gives me such surety? I have placed the foundation of faith underneath of it.
Second, faith is the evidence of
things not seen. A few nights ago a storm blew through overnight. I could not
see the wind as I lay in bed but I heard it howling in the eaves. When I got up
the next morning I found the yard covered in twigs and branches. What were
those branches? Visible evidence of the passing of the wind which I did not
see.
Evidence is a term usually used in a
criminal sense. In the Chicago suburb of Palatine in 1993 two men robbed a
Brown’s Chicken restaurant. In the process, they murdered five employees and
two customers. Unsolved for fourteen years, the case was finally broken open
when DNA techniques progressed to the point that a half-eaten piece of chicken
could finally be tested. It had been frozen in an evidence locker all that
time. There were no witnesses alive to testify at the trial but Juan Luna’s DNA
on that chicken was evidence of things not seen.
Evidence is something we can see that
points to the existence, reality, or fact of what we cannot see. Evidence is
proof.
Where is the proof of God’s existence?
In the hundreds of millions of souls who have placed their faith in Him, in
every generation, in every culture, and in every social class. In every
condition, whether it be war or peace, happiness or heartbreak, victory or
defeat, wealth or poverty, sickness or health, we find God’s people by the
millions have faith in Him. That is evidence indeed.
As a teenage boy I had to decide if
the religion of my childhood was going to become the religion of my adulthood.
Was I going to make it mine? I did not understand apologetics then. I had not yet
read the thousands of books I have since read of Biblical commentary and study.
What evidence did I have that God existed, that the Scripture was the inspired
Word of God, that Heaven and Hell were real, that the miracles happened, that
this thing called Christianity was real? I had the faith of my parents, and it
spoke eloquently to me.
In Chattanooga, Tennessee my oldest sister lost her bubble gum ring in a leaf pile. Child-like, she asked my Dad to find it. He prayed with her, walked up to the leaf pile, parted them, and picked up the ring. Twenty years later I was swimming with my family in Lake Erie. Another one of my sister’s felt her class ring slip from her finger and descend into the muck of the lake floor. Again, my father prayed. Again, the ring was found.
My mother has never worked
outside the home, and as a pastor my father never made very much money. I have
seen groceries, appliances, and cars show up as gifts in our driveway more
times than I can count. I saw the Lord pay for my sisters’ college educations. I
saw my parents somehow end up with a beautiful home. For the past ten years,
during their retirement, I have seen the Lord provide for them even though they
had no retirement funds, not even Social Security. For nearly five decades now
I have seen in their life an evidence of a real Bible and a real God. My life
in God’s service is a direct result of their faith. I call to remembrance
the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois,
and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also (II Timothy 1.5).
“Ok, Bro. Brennan, but people can be
fooled. They can believe in something with sincerity all the while it isn’t
actually true.” I agree, people can be fooled. For a while. The anti-christ
will offer people a lie that they will gladly believe. But not over thousands
of years, in every culture, in every condition, up to and including martyrdom.
The lives of my parents, my Sunday School teachers, my Christian school
teachers, and the adults around me at the church in which I grew up pointed
like an arrow toward God. They did not point perfectly, but they did point
constantly. And I found that to be compelling evidence indeed.
Does your life point anyone toward God?
Is your faith anyone else’s evidence? At school? At work? Online? Anyone?
Anywhere? Ever?
Is your hope of eternal life a wish or
an expectation? It must be founded upon Christ or it is nothing. Are you
doubting the truth contained in Scripture about God? I invite you to consider
the evidence of the faith of millions. Is someone around you in need of God?
Let your faith in Him shine like a beacon.
I will walk on golden streets. I will
have a mansion on Hallelujah Square. I will leave behind sickness, sorrow,
death, and sin. I will love forever and never grow old. I will hold my daughter’s
hand again. I will be face to face with my Saviour. The testimony of millions
is evidence of these unseen things. And the faith in my heart is the foundation
I put under my hope that makes this hope not just a wish but an expectation.
What is faith? It is substance and
evidence.
Beautiful and concise explanation of faith, PISTIS in Greek. How encouraging to hear of your family's PISTIS and its substance and proof that pointed YOU to embrace their PISTIS. Thank you for this testimony!
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