The Reality of Faith (part two)

Part Two: The Just Live By Faith

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

What is faith? Faith is a reality. We know that the Bible says,
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

This scripture is widely proclaimed and declared for many things. In fact, people will quote this scripture and then jump down and quote verse six, and never really establish a proper context about this verse of scripture. This is a wonderful verse in the Bible. The writer of Hebrews is defining faith for us. However, when people attempt to quote this scripture without speaking about it in its proper context, there is a danger, meaning is lost, and people do not really understand what faith is.
The writer defines faith for us and then gives us a host of examples of true faith in motion. We know that James has already informed us that
17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead James 2:17

The writer in Hebrews supports what James says by showing us the works that men and women did that proves that they truly have faith. We do not have to work to be saved and justified; this is a free gift. However, because we are saved and justified, we work. This is a result of our justification. It is not my intention to talk about works per se.

Because many people quote Hebrews 11:1 without establishing any sort of context, I think the richness of the text is lost. I do not think I have ever heard anyone back up to chapter ten and talk about what the writer writes just prior to this verse. One thing that you always must remember is that there were never chapter and verse divisions in the Bible when it was being penned. These things were added for our benefit. It helps us to be able to find what we are looking for quickly. We must realize that some of the chapter divisions perhaps are not in the best places and what is being said is still part of a coherent thought.

Many people read the Bible incorrectly because they see the Bible incorrectly and much of the meaning that is being conveyed and taught is missed or even lost because of the abundance of verses that are quoted out of context. If I write a paragraph that says,
“There are people who have accused many orthodox believers as being religious, when they, in fact, are endeavoring to preserve the right thinking and sound doctrine that was once delivered to us. These doctrines were those that were taught by the Apostles of Jesus Christ and they have shed their blood for it. It is of necessity that we as believers have the same attitude toward sound doctrine as Paul, Peter, and John did.”

If someone were to take a statement out of that paragraph, let us say, for instance, “It is of necessity that we as believers have the same attitude toward sound doctrine as Paul, Peter, and John did,” this would make a point, but you would lose all of what was said. If someone continued to quote that, then all of the meaning that was intended in the entire paragraph was completely lost. What attitude did the apostles have that should be the same in believers? A person would have to read the entire paragraph that was written in order to understand the proper context. This is what many people do in regards to Hebrews 11:1.

In chapter ten, we read,
38 Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him." 39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Hebrews 10:38 – 39
Truthfully, I could have gone back even a little further in order to really give a full context. What the writer is doing is encouraging the people to keep their faith in the midst of the trial that they are experiencing. It is easy in the midst of trials and tribulations to revert back to the way that one used to be, but this is not the attitude of a saint: we do not draw back. It is written the just shall live by faith. Those who are justified, we learn are those who live by faith. This lets us know that the reality that the justified lives in is the reality of faith. However, if a person draws back from walking in faith, the Lord has no pleasure in that person. If a person resists living the life of faith, there is no pleasure of God in this behavior. Actually, we are the people of God who do not draw back, but those who believe to the saving of the soul. We believe to the saving of the soul! Is that not much belief?
It is an amazing thing to me how that we as the people of God will say that we will believe God to the saving of our souls, yet we cannot trust Him with our lives. How can these things be? How can you truly say that you trust God to save your soul when you cannot trust Him with your life now? People will claim to have faith, yet their lives are not characterized by the reality of faith. This hardly seems logical. It is something that when I thought about convicted me deeply. We can say that we believe God for the saving of the soul, yet we cannot believe Him to lead us and guide us in the paths that He has ordained for us? We always have to know what God is doing. It is hard for us to wait on the Lord and to simply be obedient to what the Lord has declared. It is hard for us to believe what the Lord has said. Have you ever read this verse?

8 No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, And no one has power in the day of death. There is no release from that war, And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it. Ecclesiastes 8:8
No one has the power over the spirit (your soul) to retain it. You do not have power over where your soul goes in the day that you die. Everyone will either go in a holding place either in the presence of the Lord or absent from His presence. However, when you die, you do not have the power to determine which of those places you will be carried to. Now is the time to live in faith in the Son of God that you might have the confidence that you will be in His presence when you die. It really is that simple. Those who do not live by faith are not really justified because the just truly will live by faith. It makes no sense to say that you believe that God will save you in the Day of Judgment, yet never live by faith when you are here on the earth.

This is the proper context of Hebrews 11:1. After saying all of that, the writer then defines what faith is. He then dedicates the next chapter to defining faith. He gives examples to show how that people in the Old Testament walked and lived in the reality of faith. I wrote on this verse before, and in that message, I gave the Greek definitions of the words substance and evidence. Therefore, I will copy and paste from that message the definitions:
Faith is the substance of things hoped for. What is substance? It is that which has foundation, is firm; that which has actual existence. It is something that produces a confidence, firm trust, assurance. Faith is the firm foundation, the actual existence of things hoped for. There are those who have wanted to make these things material things.

Going by the popular doctrine of the day, the scripture would read: faith is the substance of material things hoped for. WRONG ANSWER! All it takes is a little bit of study for you to realize that that phrase, "things hope for," comes from the Greek work elpizo. This word translates into a phrase, "things hope for." It is in other places translated into just hope or trust. Another place still, it is translated into “hoped for”. Now the definition of the word is this: to hope in a religious sense, to wait for salvation with joy and full confidence. In other words it could read: faith is the firm foundation for the hope of salvation. The second part of this verse says the evidence of things not seen. The word evidence there means a proof, that by which a thing is proved or tested. It also can be considered a conviction. Faith is the proof of that which exists that you cannot see. Think about that. Let us write the entire verse again, "Faith is the firm foundation for the hope of salvation, and the proof of that which exists that you cannot see.

To further add to what I have written in the past, you can see that faith is reality of things hoped for. Our faith is the reality of the Lord living in us in which the world cannot see.

The reason many cannot see the Lord working in lives is that people are not living the reality of faith. We go to church, lift up our hands, shout hallelujah, and then we come to work and blend right in with the culture. Many times people do not even know that we are Christians because we do such a great job of hiding it. I was speaking with my friend yesterday and he said that the Lord was challenging him to be more open about his faith at work. He began to reach out a little more. He started conversing with people and found that about 75 percent of his workplace claimed to attend church regularly and confessed Christianity. However, he said that he would have never imagined the majority of those people were ever believers just by the way they acted. To me this is pretty sad.

Someone might say, “Well that is pretty judgmental of him. Who is he to judge?” This is a silly statement. If someone was to come to work and she constantly smelled like alcohol, slurred her speech, and looked a mess, and this behavior was consistent, what would you think about this person? If you were honest, you would think this person to be an alcoholic. Why would you think this? The person displays all the behaviors and actions of an alcoholic, so it is pretty good guess a pretty good judgment to say that this person is most likely an alcoholic.

Therefore, when a person displays behaviors that are anything but Christian, is it not a good assessment to say, perhaps that person is not a Christian after all? The Bible encourages us to exercise good judgment; not be naïve fools! Faith has a reality that is shown forth by a person’s lifestyle. Yes, you may be able to fool people while at church, but your lifestyle will catch up to you and find you out.

The purpose of these messages is to encourage a commitment to displaying the reality of faith in our lives. Next, we will discuss Noah and how he lived the reality of faith for 120 years. We will examine the reality that he lived in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, the hardness of heart of that generation he lived in, and how that Noah’s reality of faith through his belief in the word of God condemned the world in which Noah lived. It really is pretty interesting; Man God is so good; I would to God that we all would be able to taste and see that He is good; BLESSED is the person who makes the Lord his or her trust!