Well we come to Hebrews chapter 11 this morning. What a great chapter this is. We're just going to look at two verses. Verse 1, Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. We'll get to the other renderings of that first verse before we're done here this morning. Hebrews 11, one writer called the galaxy of the men and the women of faith an inspiring array. Now let's remember, the first century Jewish Christians who first received this word of exhortation, as the writer called it, had already been through some persecution, some hardship, some suffering. And they suffered because they were Christians. And they were under pressure from the Roman persecution and from their Jewish brethren to leave Christ and go back to Judaism. The author has reminded his readers, including us, that Christ is supreme over all things. That after shedding His blood, He went back to heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father and where He rules and reigns, then and now and forever. And so the writer has warned his readers against the great danger of falling away, of turning away from Christ. And he's exhorted them and encouraged them to remain faithful to him. Now if you look at chapter 10, verse 19, We see that because Christ gave himself unto death on the cross and rose back to life, those who believe in him can now draw near to God. That's the first blessing, the immediate blessing that we receive because of this. We can now draw near to God, he says, in full assurance of faith. Chapter 4, he said, there's an eternal rest, a better rest than the rest of the land of Canaan. An eternal rest for the people of faith. So the writer in chapter 4, verse 11, exhorted his readers, let us be diligent to enter that rest, to hold on to our faith in Christ. That's the point of this whole letter of Hebrews. To hold on to the promises of God in faith. We live our lives in belief in His promises. And on the other hand, because salvation is found only in Christ, everyone who turns away from Him loses every hope of pardon. Loses every hope of eternal glory. His offering of Himself on the cross was and will always be the only sacrifice that can remove the defilement of sin. When the defilement of sin is removed, that means you can now enter into the heavenly tabernacle. If it's not, you cannot. We cannot. Now, in our passage, Last Lord's Day, remember what the writer talked about. He reminded his readers in the first century of the steadfastness in faith that they had shown in their earlier Christian life. Now, chapter 11, in what is clearly one of the most beloved chapters in all of Scripture, the writer recalls the perseverance of the Old Testament saints. Courageous displays of faith that they exhibited. People who, by the way, had much less revealed to them than we have today. This was all before Christ came and did His saving work. And so the writer's purpose remains the same. And it's clear. It was stated in chapter 6. And I put this in your Scripture sheet. Chapter 6, verse 11. Here's his purpose. We desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish But, and look at this, imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. So he's shown us two possible paths in life. The path of Israel at Kadesh the path of unbelief and disobedience. When they wouldn't believe God and go into the promised land. Those giants are too big for us. And then there's the path of believing Him and trusting Him to do all that He said He will do. This was the path that was taken by those Old Testament saints that we read about in chapter 11. And the writer's purpose here, his aim, is that we who read this would emulate the faith of those whose lives are recorded here. So that the approval of God that they received would be ours as well. And again, folks, the writer has again reminded his readers that the alternative to eternal glory in the presence of God is not simply annihilation from existence, it's eternal misery in the fires of hell. So if you look at 1035, look at the words. Therefore, because of the steadfastness they had shown, don't throw away your confidence, which has great reward. You have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, which is believe in Christ and obey Him, you may receive what was promised. And then in verse 38 of chapter 10, the writer quoted the words of the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk. The just shall live by faith. Those who have been justified by God through faith. Paul teaches us all about that in Romans. Those who have been justified by God through faith must live according to that faith. We don't live according to some standards of the world. We live according to the faith that God has given us. It's by faith that a person perseveres through hard times. Perseverance can't be separated from faith. Without faith, there'd be no reason to persevere. And there would be no perseverance. In verse 39, the writer reminds us, it's by faith that we live in this world, looking to the next world. It's by faith that we live. Not by the rules of fallen Babylon. And so now after ten chapters of divine doctrine and exhortation and warnings and encouragement, we come to chapter 11. One of the grand chapters of the Bible. A gallery of notable portraits of ancient great believers, one writer calls this. Each drawn with a master hand. So why are these people all included in this list? Well, they all believed in something they could not see with their human eyes. They trusted in a promise of things for which they had to wait and hope. And one beautiful strand unites them all, every one of these people in chapter 11. And that strand is faith. they refused to permit adversity, pain, or hard times, or difficult struggles to quench their faith. Their names are inscribed here as on an immortal scroll. And there were others. The full list is recorded in heaven. Justification, salvation, eternal life through faith in the Word of God, through belief in Him, was obviously not a new concept in the New Testament. Look at Genesis 15, 6. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. In this chapter, The author will recall many Old Testament saints who lived by faith. Think about Noah. We're going to look at him next week. There he is building this ark for a hundred years with everybody laughing at him. But he had something they didn't have. He had a gift. He had faith. So first this morning, we're going to look at the question, what is faith? And by faith, we mean the faith. The faith by which a man is declared just by God. The faith that saves a man. The only faith that can save anyone from sin and from hell. Faith is the assurance, the substance, the confidence, the reality of things hoped for. I think I covered all your versions there. It's the conviction, the evidence, the demonstration, the proof of things not seen. This is not a comprehensive definition of what faith is. But it is a definition of faith. But the writer doesn't seek to identify every element of saving faith here, obviously. He doesn't tell us that faith is a gift from God here. He doesn't tell us it's the fruit of His Spirit. And he doesn't tell us even here in this definition that Christ is its object. That's because he has a different purpose. His purpose is to show us what faith, a gift from God, does in the believer. He does this to encourage his readers to live in light of that faith to the end of their earthly lives. Here he shows what a mighty power real faith in God is. What it can do. And when we look through these Old Testament saints, we're going to see that. He's showing what a mighty power real faith in God is in its operation in true believers. Faith is the evidence, the reality, the certainty of future things. It's not just some blind belief in something. It conveys the invisible realities of another world into our minds. And it causes us to believe as strongly as we believe in the things that we can actually see with our bodily eyes. As Christians born again of God, we live resting on the promise of God that we have eternal life in Christ. The means by which we are enabled by God to do this is called faith. It's a gift from God, and by it, we are enabled to live patiently in this world, believing Him and trusting in His Word. 2 Corinthians 5, 7, we walk by faith. So what is faith? Well, it's helpful in understanding what saving faith is to see what saving faith is not. Belief that the airplane you boarded in Pittsburgh is going to land safely in Chicago. Or to use Don's example, belief that the car that you're going to drive in is going to reach its destination safely. Belief that that airplane is going to land safely in Chicago is not faith. That's an assessment of mathematical probabilities. Faith is not a belief in mathematical probabilities. They're not at all the same. Faith always comes from God. It always involves His revelation to men. The probabilities of that plane landing in Chicago are very good. You know what they are? About a million to one that it's going to land. But the probability of a barren couple having a child is zero. And yet, when God promised Abraham and Sarah they would have a son, when he promised them that he would be the father not only of a nation but of many nations, Abraham believed God despite the fact that the probabilities were entirely against him. Because God had opened his eyes to the knowledge of the truth, God had given him faith. So faith is not an assessment of probability. And faith also is not merely some intellectual assent to some proposition. Now, a man may say he can walk. We've seen these guys, tightrope walkers. He can walk across a rope or a wire or a wooden plank, across a ravine, from one side of the ravine to the other. And we may see him do it. He may demonstrate that, that he can walk across on that wire by doing it. And he may say to you, I can do it again, and this time I can do it pushing a wheelbarrow. So he asked the young boy, Do you believe I can do it? In his mind, the boy believes he can do it. He's just seen him do it without the wheelbarrow. So the man says, Great, get in the wheelbarrow. Boy does not get in the wheelbarrow. He believes it in his mind. But he does not have faith that the man can do it. You see the difference. You can be indoctrinated into a belief, but that's not faith. can be indoctrinated into belief in some imaginary God. That's not faith. You can be persuaded of the truth of something. We've seen this countless times over history. But that is not faith. Faith is God's work. It's something only He can do in a person. It's never the work of people. We cannot produce faith in ourselves. We can't drum it up at will. Faith in the believer is God's divine persuasion. And though it involves human belief and it involves human confidence, it's distinct from those things. It can only be received as a gift from God as Christ, by His Spirit, speaks within a man. Look at Romans chapter 10, verse 14. How will they then call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him? whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they're sent? But look at verse 17. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ. That's where faith comes from. Faith is the instrument through which God saves men and brings them to glory. This is how He does it. Look at 1 Peter chapter 1, beginning in verse 3. Peter begins with a doxology. but immediately teaches some important truths. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again. He causes us to be born again. We can't do that. He's caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, which is undefiled, will not fade away. It's reserved in heaven for you who are protected right now by the power of God. How? Through faith. Through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. He's protecting you and preserving you through faith that he's given you. Faith involves the mind. Why? Because faith involves the truth. We understand that the worlds were created by God through faith. The man who has saving faith knows what he believes. What is it that he must believe as he's to be saved? We could find different people present this different ways. But the elements of saving faith are these certainly. The one with saving faith believes he's a sinner. He knows he can do nothing to appease the wrath of God for his sin. He knows that he needs a Savior. And he believes that God the Son became a man and died on the cross to atone for his sins. And that the Son was raised back to life on the third day. That's the content of faith. Why do we believe that? Because God told us it's all true. Those are the basic things that all those who have been born again believe. And now, when we look at verse 1, the writer speaks of the nature of faith as it relates to things which are still in the future for us. Things hoped for. Things not seen. Faith is here described as it lays hold of God's promises. Faith directs us to things that are still far off. Things we don't as yet enjoy. Things which we still can't see. See them with eyes of faith. Now the word that the writer uses here, which is translated variously assurance, confidence, foundation, substance, is hypostasis. Hypostasis in English. Faith is the hypostasis of things hoped for. So the word is rendered assurance, substance, meaning it substantiates the truth of the thing hoped for. Faith is the reality of things hoped for. Faith is the confidence of things hoped for. Some say it's the foundation of things hoped for. Luther called it the certain confidence. Faith celebrates now. Now, today, when we worship God. Faith celebrates the reality of future blessings. And it seems, one writer says, that the writer deliberately chose this word, hypostasis, because it has this broad and rich array of meanings, all of which are to the same point. When we have these different translations, we have a different word here, but we've got the same meaning. And this word has the ability to carry these different meanings. Faith, for example, substantiates the things we hope for. So it's the substance. It's the foundation upon which they're brought into being. It provides the assurance of the things God has promised. And it is the proof of things we cannot now see with human perception. Now the second word, we have the same thing in the second part of this first verse. The elenchos. Faith is the elenchos of things not seen. Faith is the conviction or proof, and we'll get to these words in a second. But it's the proof of things that are not seen by us right now, though they do exist and will come to be. Faith is the conviction of things not seen. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Faith is the proof of things not seen. Stuart may have it the best. Faith is the convincing evidence of things not seen. Faith is the convincing evidence. We are convinced of the truth of what we believe. So both of these words, hypostasis and elenchos, have been rendered by different words in English, but don't worry about that. Because in both cases, their meaning is materially the same in every translation. And we come out of this with the same understanding in each one. I believe that the rendering of this verse which gives us the best understanding in English is this. Faith is the assurance that the things that we believe in and trust in are real and true. Faith is the proof of things which we cannot yet see. Things which to us lay in the future. Think about this. Apart from faith, we have no proof that the things God has promised will occur. We have faith in His Word. Apart from faith, we don't have any evidence. That's it. Faith. We believe that those who trust in Christ and in the promises of God will be brought to glory because God has imparted a gift to us. That's why we believe it. Faith, an internal witness of God the Holy Spirit, of the certainty of what God has promised. As the evidence, the proof of all that He has promised will come to pass. A true believer has not only an intellectual belief that God can and will do what he has said. The true believer is willing to get into the wheelbarrow and go with him. Faith celebrates now the reality of future blessings. Those blessings are the content of our hope. Faith provides the ground upon which Christians can now base our confidence. This gift enables us to exercise a present grasp of the truth that has not yet actually been demonstrated to us. enables us to have stability, to stand firm and steadfast in the presence of hostility, knowing that the blessings for which we hope have been secured by God Himself and by His promise. Faith, therefore, is an effective power in us that's directed toward the future. It springs not from our own reason or intellect or from some idea of man. It springs from a direct personal encounter with the living God. It enables the believer to venture courageously and serenely, one writer says, into an unseen future supported only by the Word of God. in the gift of faith. It has the capacity to unveil the future to us so that the reality of those events which we still cannot yet see, and some of which haven't even occurred, can now be grasped by us who believe. Through the gift of faith, the Spirit of God shows us hidden things, the knowledge of which we can't perceive by our senses. We're assured of this blessed resurrection to eternal life. Yet we're still involved in the corruption of fallen Babylon. We're pronounced just. And yet sin still dwells in every one of us. We're very blessed. And yet we're all still in the midst of many miseries. An abundance of all good things has been promised to us, and yet we still face what? Many dangers, toils, and snares. Christ said, I will come quickly, but the wait often seems interminable. Calvin asks this, What would become of us if we were not supported by this assurance? If our minds did not emerge out of the midst of the darkness through the light of God's Word and His Spirit, what would become of us? Faith is the assurance of things which are as yet the objects of hope and the evidence of things not seen. Faith has been given to us by God as the proof, the proof that He will provide the blessings He has promised. I don't know about all of you. I remember a time before I believed when I thought what a good thing it would be to be able to believe. I can remember saying, a person cannot believe that which he simply doesn't believe. You can't make yourself believe something. But God can show you the reality of divine truth. And so by faith, God's people are able to move beyond unbelief, beyond the sufferings and the disappointments of this world and this life. And we can even now bear testimony to future generations. regarding the reality and the truth of the promised blessings. I'd be happy to spend the rest of the summer in that verse, but we probably should move on to verse 2. By faith, men of old gained approval, received their commendation. See, these people all we're going to read about here in chapter 11, it was because of their faith that they obeyed God. Their obedience was a demonstration of their faith. What does Jesus say over and over again on the night before He died? If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. The promises to the Old Testament saints related to things that were all in the future, but they lived as though they were already present. They were so convinced that God would fulfill what He had promised. Are we that convinced? They took God at His Word and lived their lives accordingly. It means when you walk out the door, we keep living according to this faith. Those who'd put their faith in God and in His Word and not in the things of this world are the ones who received His approval, His commendation. And what this word actually means is the testimony of Scripture that God approved of them. God's approving testimony. is recorded here and it's recorded throughout the Old Testament in regards to these people. Patient perseverance, the kind that they demonstrated, the kind that we're called to, is born of faith. Without faith, there's not going to be any perseverance. And we'll never be able, Calvin says, to carry on our spiritual battles unless we're sustained by faith. It's by faith that we ascend on high, that we leap. over the perils of this present life. All its miseries, all its troubles. It's by faith that we possess a quiet standing in the middle of the storms and the tempest. A 19th century theologian said, this faith is a confident dependence on God for the performance of His promise. Being convinced of the truth of those things of which we see no demonstration by our human senses, heaven and hell, eternal glory, everlasting shame, all that belongs to both are purely matters of revelation. We know about these things because God told us about them. without reliance on the testimony of God, we can't apprehend heaven, hell, eternal life, eternal misery at all. And so, if we can't apprehend them, we can't be affected and impacted by them. It continues, the confidence and settled conviction of man can have no firmer basis than the nature and the veracity of God, God who cannot lie. And nothing is more reasonable than to believe every word God has spoken. Well John Owen, seventeenth century. I couldn't not read to you what he said. I wanted to read many things that the great writers said. There are so many wonderful things written about this verse. John Owen took eight volumes to do his commentary on Hebrews. He said this, "...Faith is that whereby the just live." It's a divine, supernatural, justifying, saving faith. The faith of God's elect. The faith that is not of ourselves, but is by the operation of God, by whom all true believers are endowed from above. The things hoped for and the things not seen are ultimately the same. They're the good things of the promises of God. Faith gives the things hoped for real substance in the minds and the souls of those who believe. Faith mixes itself with those promises of God. Faith gives unto the soul a taste, a foretaste of the goodness of the things promised. Faith gives an experience of their power. Faith communicates to us the things promised and hoped for. And faith gives a representation of their beauty and their glory unto the minds of them that believe, whereby we behold them as though they were now visibly present. And so Abraham, Abraham, by faith, saw the day of Christ and rejoiced. You know who said that? The Lord Jesus Christ. And faith, being the proof testified to us by God of things not seen, is also the great means of preservation of believers. That's what Peter wrote, 1 Peter 1.5. He preserves us in patient perseverance, in constant profession of the gospel. He preserves us against all opposition, under the fiercest persecution. It's faith alone, brothers and sisters, that takes believers out of this world while we are in it, that exalts us above it while we're still in the middle of the rage that goes on outside, that enables us to live upon things that are still future and invisible. Faith does this. Faith gives such a reality to the assurance of the promises of God that it secures us from fainting under all oppositions, under all temptation, and under all persecution, whatever. If you have faith, you have everything. Now, our writer, inspired by the Holy Spirit, does not say that the Christian life will be easy or that it will be without many difficulties. He does not say that the road of perseverance will be easy. It wasn't easy for these Old Testament saints. But He's given us this marvelous gift. Faith. Proof that all that He has declared, all that He has promised, of all that lay ahead will come to pass. If you have faith, that's what you have. It's a treasure unlike and beyond any other. So may we be ever grateful for this gift. And like Abraham, may we see the day of Christ that's still to come and rejoice with Him. Let us pray. O Lord, what a wonderful verse. What a wonderful teaching. What a wonderful gift You have given us. Lord, we long to see all of these blessings come to their ultimate fruition. But Lord, we recognize we are so blessed that You've given us a gift that enables us to see them even now. To partake of Your glory even now. That You've given us a foretaste of the divine glory that lay ahead. Lord, we thank You for Your promises, and we thank You for the knowledge that Your promises are secure in Christ. In Jesus' name, Amen.