Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, as demonstrated by the "Hall of Fame" of believers in Hebrews 11. Despite their flaws and failures, individuals like Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David are included because of their trust in God. The sermon emphasizes that true faith, grounded in the knowledge of God and His promises, is essential for pleasing Him and is made possible through Christ's sacrifice and the New Covenant. This faith allows believers to see the invisible, trust God's promises, and experience the blessings of God even in present difficulties.
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Hebrews eleven and verse one. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts that by it he being dead yet speaketh.
By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God. is my text, but without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Brother Gordon Thomason spoke on this passage on Wednesday night, emphasizing the fear of the Lord relative to some of these characters.
I was trying to know the Lord's wine for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday as to what I should speak on this morning. But after having this chapter brought to our attention on Wednesday night, on Thursday it dawned on me that there were some things in this chapter, although I've spoken on it many times, things I had never noticed before. So we'll speak on them This is called God's Hall of Fame. I thought in calling to mind the various halls of fame that we have, baseball Hall of Fame, football Hall of Fame, hockey ball of fame, and a lot of others.
And it dawned on me that many of those men who are today enshrined in those various halls of fame, often had accidents and experiences that threatened their career during their life. But they survived, they recovered from that experience or that accident and made the hall of fame there today. Yet possibly every one of them could have tell you of an experience or an accident that threatened their enshrinement in the Hall of Fame and that they were doubtful if they would ever make it.
So I thought, well, we've got a lot of that right in this chapter. Do you remember Noah in Genesis nine and twenty-one? He had a vineyard. Now, whether it was consciously or unconsciously, he either let it permeate or ferment, or he drank too much. But the Bible says he got drunk. And I suppose after man had that kind of experience and what followed it, his exposure by one of his sons, Ham, and the curse of God rested upon Ham and does to this day. I suppose that was a skeleton in Noah's cover.
Nevertheless, Noah is found in this hall of faith. Then again you have the case of Abraham. Now Abraham, the father of the faithful, he said concerning Sarah his wife, she is my sister. He lied. He did it to save his own skin. Yet he is in the hall, God's hall of faith. Isaac his son did exactly the same thing. He said Rebecca is my sister when she was his wife, for fear that the king of intellect would take his life, or the king of Egypt.
So you see, these men made their mistakes. One could also think, or Moses, Moses lost his temper. He called God's people rebels, and for that he didn't get into the land of Canaan. But he did make the Hall of Fame right here in this chapter. And you could also think of Isaac. What did Isaac do? Why, or Beirut rather? I've already mentioned Isaac, but Beirut. Well, he would not go to battle. He was told to go, and he wouldn't go unless a woman went along with him, Devorah.
He had to have the help of Devorah. And you know what happened? God did not give the battle into the hand of Beirut. He gave it to a young woman by the name of Gael. And she drove a spike to Cicera, the captain or the host of the enemy. So neither Beirut nor Deborah got the victory. And yet, in that evidence of Beirut, weakness. He's found in the Hall of Fame right in this chapter. Then you have the case of Samson.
Poor Samson, you know his moral weakness. A weakness for women. I know whatever it thinks that Samson should be in God's Hall of Fame, but he is. By faith. And he's mentioned in this chapter then you could hardly escape David, and his terrible sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, whom he had put to death. Yet here is David enshrined in God's hall of faith. You could mention others like Jephthah, an illegitimate son, yet chosen by God because of the unbelief of the nation of that time, and Jephthah is in this chapter.
One could go on and speak of Rahab, the harlot. Yet she is in his hall of faith. By faith, Rahab, isn't it wonderful that God in his amazing grace, after men have failed and women have failed, God has restored them and God has given their names in this amazing book of Hebrews. One thing you'll notice in going through this chapter, sin is not mentioned once. Sin is not mentioned once in Hebrews eleven.
Why? God took care of their sin in chapter ten. In chapter nine of Hebrews The first time you find blood mentioned in chapter nine, in the first eight chapters of Hebrews, you don't find any mention or reference to blood. Then you find it twelve times. And here's the blood of Christ, how Christ entered into heaven by his own blood. There is Christ going into the presence of God on the basis of his own blood. Chapter nine of Hebrews. In chapter ten, we find that we can go in.
We enter into the holiest, into the presence of God by the blood of Jesus. So Christ went in on the basis of his blood. He didn't go in on the grounds of his perfect life. If he had, we could not have been saved. He went into heaven on the basis of his blood, because he was the representative of a sinful race. He was taking the sinner's place. And because he did that, in chapter ten, we go in. We go in. And thus were cleansed from our sins by the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son.
And so were those in the Old Testament who had faith in the sacrifice. That's why no blood is mentioned in chapter eleven. No sin is mentioned in chapter eleven because God took care of their sins in chapter ten. Some say it's a picture of the judgment seat of Christ. We know one thing, the judgment seat of Christ is going to be held in heaven and no sin can enter there. The Christian sins are dealt with here on earth. That's right, that every moment we spend out of fellowship with God on earth is not mentioned at the judgment seat of Christ.
It's a blank, and all that we did during that blank is not rewarded. No sin is mentioned in chapter eleven of Hebrews. Christ went in in chapter nine on the basis of his blood. We go in in chapter ten on the basis of the blood of christ chapter eleven we come up and live a life of faith and that's chapter eleven of people a life of faith because we've been accepted in the beloved the apostle is writing to these hebrews undoubtedly young jewish converts who had embraced accepted christianity and he's trying to accept and set them at ease.
In other words, some of these young Christians were told that Christianity obliterated the Old Testament. In other words, the Old Testament was more or less discarded. Their past history and all was discarded. But I think this chapter changes now. As to the blood of animals and also their rituals, the ritual of the temple. That came to an end. That's true. But what about the faith of those people? That's the point. And so the apostle goes over this chapter for the sake of those young Jewish believers who had been shaken.
There is no use mentioning Moses and Jacob and so on. And Isaac and Abraham names that were dear to the Hebrew Christian. Ah, says God, there was something about those men that I want you to have, and that is their faith. And so he's setting them at rest here, trying to point out to them that the old Jewish patriarchs and believers in animal sacrifices are pointing on to the sacrifice of Christ. Instead of it being discarded, It's rather completion and glorified.
For what was shadow in the Old Testament is substance in the New Testament. That's clearly taught in Colossians. And so he brings in these names, the patriarchs, the prophets and the martyrs. Their faith, identical with our faith, And I would say that our faith is even more blessed than what sustained Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and others in the Old Testament. Their faith was in types, shadows, promises of the Messiah. Our faith rests in fulfillment, in substance, for Christ has come.
He's died. He's risen again. He's at God's right hand. So what was shadows to them? is substance to us. Now, the very opening verses of Hebrews eleven, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. How wonderful we have substance to rest upon. Our faith rests upon substance. Columbus had not seen the new world, but he was so convinced that the new world existed, that he could say, I have seen the new world.
I have anchored in its harbors. I have set my feet upon its shores. So convinced was Columbus that a new world existed out over those waters. We see God's handwriting today in creation. What a poem we have in God's creation. In other words, supposing you had a friend, and that friend, oh, you had heard about him, he was a distant relative, you knew little about him, but one day a letter arrived, and by checking it with letters that had been received by members of the family in the past, You discovered that that handwriting is indeed untrue, a letter from this distant friend, and you don't know hardly anything about him, but you know it is his handwriting.
Let me say this, we know that the Bible is God's handwriting, although we've never seen the writer visibly. Yes, we believe in God's handwriting. All we've got to do is look at God's wonderful creation. We see God's poem, God's letter, God's handwriting, and you can't mistake that handwriting at all. God begets things by telling you about himself. Faith comes with by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
In other words, God tells about Himself in His handiwork. In creation, He tells about Himself. And what a wonderful story it is. Going back to this friend that we've been speaking about, ten thousand miles away, and you receive this letter. And you check it with former letters. It's identical. That is handwritten. But then let me see. It could be forged, falsified. It could be copied. There's always a possibility.
Let me say this. No one's going to copy or forge God's hand. God has created the world and no one else can create the world. No one else can put a new sun in orbit or a new constellation in the sky. No one can create mountains and valleys. No one could send a sun animating that, a sinless one. So we know that God's handwriting in creation, in the scriptures, and concerning his son, the living word, that can't be imitated or poor.
Showing that we've got our faith pinned on to the living God. And there's no question mark about that. I think it was an African chief. And he heard the missionary talk about the white man's God. Of course, it was a new thought to him. He didn't attend the meetings, but he went out into the field one day, and he looked at the distant mountain range, and he began thinking of the majesty of the mountain. Then he began looking at his hands, two hands, five fingers on each hand, not six on one and four on the other.
Of course, he didn't know the Thumb was different from the four fingers. He called them five fingers on each hand. Not four on one hand, not six on the other. Then he looked at his feet. Same there, five toes on one foot, five on the other. And the feet are light. One's not round underneath. They're both flat. Then he began thinking about two ears. How he could hear them. Two eyes. And that was a mark. Two hands. Two feet. One nose. One tongue.
And he began thinking of these five senses. Of what a wonderful organism was the human body. And it began to dawn upon him there must be a God. Like the missionary Thompson. There are musts. creation and my own body is all the evidence I need. And you know what? He had a sixth sense, having five natural senses. He also obtained a sixth sense, and that was a sense of God. A consciousness of God, just as sure as he had two feet, two hands, two ears, two eyes, one nose, one tongue.
All this speaks of a marvelous creator. And he had a sense of God, a consciousness of God. And God intends that his creation, now his redemption, should bring about in you and me, a sense, a consciousness of God. By faith, That's it. By faith. How wonderful. That faith is the substance of things before. The evidence of things not seen. That's an amazing thing.
Now let us think of a definition of faith. You have a definition of faith. I think if you were to go to Bind's book on Greek words. the New Testament, he would tell you that faith is like a title deed, a title deed. What a wonderful thing is a title deed. This rich relative that I've been referring to dies. After your amazement and surprise, you find out he was a wealthy man, a wealthy man. To further your surprise, he dies.
And everything he owns has been willed to you. It's so staggering even how do you believe it? This great estate he has, ten thousand miles away. You contact a lawyer to investigate. And the lawyer goes through everything. He finds out that you have. And now eventually, You hold in your hand a title deed to all his estate. There it is. It meets the requirements of every law. You are the recipient of all that land's wealth you've never seen.
But you can say that piece of property, that farm, that estate, that everything materialist on it is mine. I've got the claim to it. I've got this title deed. That's exactly what faith is. God is great. And think of his mightiest faith. Think of his son and that great inheritance. For all the glory that is to come, I can say this morning, that's mine. Just if it, I were already there. is the substance of things for me.
The evidence of things not me. You say, well, do you believe the Bible is God's handwriting? Yes, I do. I get a little love letter or maybe a letter of rebuke or a letter of encouragement from them every day. Every day. Do I believe in a living? God absolutely. I met with him this morning. Yes. It's real. It's real. Faith is the substance of things over. It's the evidence of things not seen.
How wonderful to know that the Word of God is so true. And you can say it's mine. It's mine. All that it says, here's the title D. Here's a letter. The New Testament, in fact, is the title D. The New Testament simply means a new covenant. Now, the covenant was made with Israel after they broke the first one. A second one was made that will be finally fulfilled with Israel on the earth. But the principle of that covenant is ours today. The new covenant. The new covenant. you know that's remarkable when you start to think of this new covenant and I'm going to read to something that's very interesting over in Hebrew Matthew twenty six and twenty seven and he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink ye all of it for this is my blood of the new covenant or the will the New Testament which is shed for many For the remission of sin, there is Christ signing
that will with his own blood. And the first thing on that will is what? The remission of sin. That's the first thing you partake of in this will of this vast estate, the forgiveness of sins. Isn't that remarkable? That Christ should mention that one item. in all his estate he starts with the forgiveness of sins. Isn't that what we all started? When we accepted Christ, the thing that filled our hearts, was he forgiven all our sins. Every one of them, all our sins are forgiven.
When you stop to think of the subject of a will that's taken up, if you want to look at it more completely over in Hebrews nine, This is what he says. For where a testament, a will, or a covenant is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator or the one who writes the will. For a testament is of force after men are dead. Otherwise it is of no strength or value at all while the testator lives. You can collect. you can't profit from any will that's been left to you until the one who wrote that will die and you and i cannot be the recipients of the blessings of the new testament until jesus christ died he wrote this will but he had to die to make it effective according to the scripture I very seldom refer to other editions or translations or phrases of the Bible.
I'm very happy with King James. No translation of God so blessed as the King James. But I did read the living Bible on this verse and this is what it says. Now if someone dies and leaves a will, a list of things to be given away to certain people when he dies. No one gets anything until it is proved that the person who wrote the will is dead. The will goes into effect only after the death of the person who wrote it. While he is still alive, no one can use it to get any of those things he has promised them.
You can't get anything that that will promises you until the person does. I know some people get married to someone they really don't love because that person's got a lot of money. And they're hoping they get it and they can't. Why does that fellow live so long? I want his money. You can't get a penny until he dies. And some are tired of waiting until that old man dies. They marry again, a younger person. But remember this, you can get nothing until this common this will is preceded by the death who wrote it. And Jesus Christ died on the cross.
He gave his will, and he died to make it operative. He rose again, he ascends at God's right hand to impart all the blessings of the will that he made. And those of us who are saved this morning, we've exercised faith And we've got that will in our hands. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So how remarkable is this faith that we have and this inheritance that is now ours. Faith, how wonderful faith is.
I mentioned this morning, or I did on my ad, the one thing that is essential before anyone can please God. You can't please God without this one thing. Man may have plenty of wisdom. Man may have plenty of strength. He may have plenty of courage. He may be kind. He may be gracious. He may be humble. He may have zeal. He may have depth. He may have ambition. You may have determination. You may have money. But without faith, he cannot please God.
You've got to have faith. That's the one thing. That's our picture. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. You may have all these other things. The world could be yours. It's worth it. God's not it. because he could create other worlds with more mineral wealth than this one. God's not interested in your wisdom, your intelligence, your strength, your courage, these other things are meant. Just one thing that God's looking for in the human heart, that's fear.
You can't compliment God any greater. damp to say, Lord, I trust you. I trust you. The fact that there are three ingredients in faith, the first one is knowledge, the second one is confidence, the third one is commitment. Someone knocks at your door, looks kind of ragged, dangerous, and one of the family. answer the door, brings back the message. A man out there wants to borrow ten thousand dollars. What's the first thing you think? Who is it? I don't know.
Doesn't look very, very good deal. Doesn't look as though it'd be a safe investment. And so you go to the man and you begin to talk to him. Who are you? Who are you? And you get complete story. The more he tells you, the more your confidence grows. Although he looks kind of rough and ragged, yet he came from an old friend of yours, an old trusted friend, and he's his wayward son. When you get a knowledge of who this young man is, and who is fathering, yes, You've got knowledge now.
The first mention of ten thousand dollars alone. But when you get knowledge of that person and background who is fathered, yes? For my friendship's sake with his father, I will loan you ten thousand dollars. I'll commit that ten thousand dollar check to him. First, you wanted knowledge. Second, When you had knowledge, first you had knowledge, second you had confidence, third commitment. That's why God tells us about himself, tells about his son.
God wants men to know who's God. God wants us to know who he is, a God that cannot lie, a God that is wealthy, a God who will never deceive. and the more you get to know about God from His precious word, why the more confidence is created in your heart. This is a wonderful God, a God of love, a God of honesty, integrity. Yes, I'll trust Him. You commit, you trust one that you have a good knowledge of.
You need first of all knowledge and then confidence and then commitment. They're the three ingredients of faith. Some of you have heard a whole lot about the Lord Jesus Christ. You know he's the Son of God. You know he's the one that cannot last. You know his ability to faith. You know he satisfies all those things. You've got plenty of knowledge about the Lord Jesus. but you won't trust him. That's why your judgment is going to be so severe. Poor heathen who has only the knowledge of creation, and on the basis of that knowledge, he trusts the Father to him.
Increased light, increased knowledge, brings increased responsibility, and so it piles up. pires up. You're treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. You've got plenty of knowledge about God and Christ as to what God did in giving His Son what Christ did. You also have the knowledge that you're a sinner. You can't save yourself and only God can save you through His Son. And yet with all that you won't Far better, friend, you had been born in the jungles of Africa and never heard the gospel that they hear it and reject it.
Greater your life, greater your responsibility. Why you should jump at the opportunity to trust such a God who has never deceived anyone if he ever had the devil would have propagated that over the centuries. No one who has trusted Christ has lived to regret it. No one who has trusted Christ has failed to get the blessing that he promised. No one has failed to receive what God says he would if he trusted the Lord Jesus, forgiveness of sin, peace with God, the everlasting life.
One who has never made a mistake one who has never misled any person, one who has kept every promise. Surely it shouldn't be difficult to trust him. That's faith. Ah, yes, faith has these three ingredients. We mentioned the more or less a definition of faith and the ingredients of faith. And faith is only of value as it's connected with invisible things. And in this chapter you have an invisible sacrifice that Abel brought his sacrifice, but that sacrifice pointed to an invisible sacrifice on Calvin.
Yes, an invisible sacrifice, and you didn't see Jesus Christ die, because you've got God's word for it, and that's just as good. That's why he reads the first John. If you believe not the record, God gave the Son, you make him a liar. And if you don't believe God's record, you're making God a liar. And that's what's sending people to hell. It's not because they committed adultery or got drunk. They refuse to believe God's God, but they believe not the record that God made and gave of his Son. An invisible rapture is seen in Enoch. He was not for God took it.
And you also have an invisible judgment. No being warned of God of things not seen again. And you have an invisible city. Abraham saw a city whose builder and maker is God. As far as Abraham was concerned, he was in that city. Faith is substance, evidence of things not seen You have an invisible God in that chapter. Faith is only of value as it's related to the invisible. What's an illustration of faith? Well, I think I mentioned this one time before.
Many years ago, before I came south, I suppose I was about twenty years of age. I had a junior brother. He was about ten. Well, I come in from work one day, and here he had a little fish bowl. And he had two little fish swimming around. Now, that's when you could get a fish bowl for fifteen cents and two goldfish for a dime. And here he was, looking in there, watching those things swimming around, and he was getting a real kick out of that. And I said, George, has he got any food for that? No. Well, don't you think they have to eat? Well, what eat? I said, well, they sell wafers. at the same counters where you've got the fish gold and the fish that have been wafer that you break up.
Well, I don't have any money. I said, go on over across the street and ask Bertie to loan you some. He has the fish, and that's why my brother got fish because his claimant across the street, Bertie Bain had some gold fish. Of course, he had to have them, too. All he had was a quarter. So I said, slip over and tell Bertie to let you have a couple of wafers. You'll pay him back tomorrow. Boy, he shot out the door and across the street and back in a minute or two and started breaking out pieces. I said, did you tell Bertie to pay him right back tomorrow? Yes, sir. I said, well, do you have any money to buy with? No, but he said, you'd call me to tell him.
That's the point. It was up to me to fulfill that promise. Tell Bertie? And he did. Bertie said, give me a couple of waivers. Yes. obey back the moment. And he was taking me out by my word. That was faith. A man back in England's history stood on the gallows, ready to be hung. And a hangman stood there, and he said to this criminal, Is there one request you'd like to make before you die? The criminal says, Yes. I'd like a glass of water.
The hangman gave word to one of the guards to bring him a glass of water. And as he pulled it through his lips, his hand was shaken. The hangman said, Don't be in a hurry. You won't be hung until you drink it. And he smashed it to the ground. He said, I'll never hang. And he didn't. He gave that hangman, gave that terminal the promise, you won't be hung until you drink that water, grabbed the opportunity, and smashed it. Couldn't drink it. That's fate.
Napoleon's horse threw a scared, leaped and galloped away, yanking the reins out of his hands. A corporal saw a horse coming. He broke right. and he leaped and caught the horse by the bridle and caught it to a hawk. And Napoleon says, Thank you, Captain, of what regiment, sir? He's only a corporal, but he became in charge of a regiment at Napoleon's word. And Napoleon said, Thank you, Captain. He says, Of what regiment, sir?
He took him at his word, and Napoleon gave mercy. That's faith. If God says a thing, take him out of it. Take him in his word. He'll not let you down. How wonderful faith is. In this chapter, Abel by faith saw land. Enoch saw a companion. Enoch walked with God. Nor saw judgment by faith. Abraham saw a city. Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph saw the land.
Moses saw him who is invisible. The women saw better resurrection. Read that at the end of the chapter. And we can only be reconciled with sickness, death, and loved ones passing on. as we see by faith a better resurrection. When a Christian has his eye on that and faith in that, he can endure sickness, death and the death of others. According to your faith, be it unto you. What about this faith of yours this morning?
This thing that's essential if you're going to please God, Faith is death to doubt. Faith is dumb to discouragement, blind to impossibilities. Faith knows nothing to faith but success. Faith makes the outlook good. Faith makes the outlook great. Faith makes the inward favorable. Faith makes the future glorious. Yes, faith is wonderful.
Faith brings all the fullness of the future into the poverty of the present. Faith sees the invisible, hears the unordered, and it touches the intangible. It brings all the blessings of God, the very consciousness of it, into my soul. A little faith takes me to heaven, but a lot of faith brings a little heaven into me for my present enjoyment. Here's how wonderful. Faith, as one has said, faith might be faith, the promised seed, and looks to God alone.
Faith lasts at impossibility, and prides itself enough. Faith is that that lifts its hand up through the threatening cloud and lays hold of the one who sits at God's right hand of all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth. What about your faith this morning? God begets faith by telling about sin, and that's what we've tried to do this morning. I mentioned this, I think, one time too, a little girlie was just coming home from Sunday school or something like Daily Vacation Bible school, although I don't suppose they called her that when this happened, back in British life.
And she had a little text given her, faith in God, and she was so proud that she was going to hang it on her bedroom wall. And as she was riding in the street car, the windows were wide open. and he had on a lap with a Bible and all of a sudden a gust of wind came and took the little