"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." -- Hebrews 11:1
I ask you again, – Where is your evidence? Is it all destroyed? Have I torn down your refuge? Are you now naked, defenseless, without hope, and exposed to the wrath of God? If you have been hiding in a false refuge, I hope that it is now
destroyed. But I want every child of
God, every true believer, to know and enjoy the full assurance of a saving
interest in Christ. I want all who are God’s to have an assurance based upon
evidence that arises from the Word of God and satisfies the enlightened
conscience. Where can such evidence be found? The text which heads these pages
tells us. -- “Now faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
The only evidence I have of
my saving interest in Christ is faith in Christ. All other evidence, all other
confidence, all other assurance, I altogether repudiate. When Satan accuses me,
when my own heart condemns me, when my sin torments me, when I examine myself
(And I do so constantly.), I find comfort, peace, and assurance only by faith
in Christ. I have no evidence of a clear title to heaven, but by faith. And
faith is evidence enough. God says that it is enough. And my conscience says it
is enough.
The Gift of God.
This faith in Christ is the gift of God the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:8; Phil. 1:29; Col. 2:12). It is given to us, wrought in us, and sustained in us by the gracious operations of God the Holy Spirit. Faith is not natural to man. No man can believe on Christ unless God gives him faith. We are responsible to believe, but we cannot. Unless God the Holy Spirit gives us faith, we will go to hell clinging to our own works of righteousness. If we would have faith, we must seek it from the God of all grace, crying out, as we bow before his throne, “Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.” Let us cry out to the Savior like Peter, “Lord, bid me come unto thee” (Matt. 14:27-33). If he bids us come, we can come and we shall come.
The preaching of the gospel is God’s appointed means of grace, by which chosen, redeemed sinners are born of God and granted faith in Christ. Faith in Christ is born in the hearts of God’s elect only by the preaching of the gospel (Rom. 1:16-17; 10:17; James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23-25).
Faith without knowledge is impossible. And faith based upon false knowledge is false faith. True faith is faith based upon and born of the knowledge of the gospel. Quit trying to convince yourself that you were saved before you learned the gospel. You were not. No one can or will trust Christ until he sees his need of a Substitute, sees how God can be just and yet justify the ungodly through the merits of Christ, and sees that salvation is by grace alone.
Faith in Christ is the sure, certain, infallible evidence, proof, and assurance of eternal salvation. -- “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is not the cause of grace, salvation, and an interest in Christ. But faith is the evidence of these things.
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for.” The word “substance” means “the essence, the assurance, or the certainty” of things hoped for. Faith possesses beforehand what God has promised to give – “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath (in possession) everlasting life” (John 6:47).
Did the Lord God promise to preserve and keep all who believe
in his grace? Faith possesses that blessed security in grace. Did our God
promise us resurrection glory? Every believer has been raised from spiritual
death unto spiritual life in the new birth. This is the first resurrection
(Rev. 20:6). And the first resurrection is God’s own pledge of the second. The
second death shall have no power over any believer. Has God promised believing
sinners all the glory and bliss of heaven? In Christ, it is ours. It is the
present possession of all who believe. We are already seated with the risen
Christ in heaven (Eph. 2:4-7).
“Faith is the evidence of things not seen.” The word “evidence” means proof. Faith is the proof or verification of things not seen. By faith in Christ I read my name in the Book of Life. Faith did not write it there. God wrote it there before the world began. But faith in Christ verifies that my name is there. Faith is the verification of things not seen.
Faith
verifies things past, those things done by God for us in eternity. We read our
names in the Book of Life, in the registry of heaven, only by faith in Christ.
We know our election only by faith.
Faith
verifies things done in time, but now unseen. We know that the worlds were
framed by the word of God, only as we believe. Believing God’s Revelation, we
understand creation. Apart from faith, no one can understand it. So, too, we
understand who Christ is and what he did as the sinner’s Substitute, only by
believing God’s Revelation of his Son in the Scriptures. Only when a sinner is
granted faith in Christ is redemption, righteousness, justification, and
forgiveness verified to his own heart and conscience. Faith does not redeem us.
Faith does not make us righteous before God. Faith does not accomplish our
justification. Faith does not put away our sin and guilt. These things were
accomplished by Christ alone. But faith verifies that they are ours when God
the Holy Spirit applies the blood to our hearts and speaks peace in our souls
by giving us faith in the Son of God (Heb. 9:11-14).
Faith
verifies present things unseen. I know that I am born of God, because I trust
Christ (Mark 16:16). I know that God’s providence accomplishes good for me,
because I have been called by his Spirit and granted faith in his Son (Ps.
57:2; Rom. 8:28-32). I know that Christ makes intercession for me in heaven,
because I come to God by faith in him (Heb. 7:25; 1 John 1:9-2:2).
Faith verifies future things now unseen. -- “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and eternal life, with all the blessings of grace and glory included, is yours in him, because of him, and by him (1 John 5:1, 5-13).