Now Faith Is Series

I. EXORDIUM:

Do you have faith to believe in the impossible?

II. AUDIENCE PROFILE:

Believers

III. OBJECTIVES:

To show the definition of faith, it rests on substance and evidence.

IV. TEXT:

Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified Bible)

11:1 NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

Hebrews 11:1 (King James Version)

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

V. THESIS:

Praise, worship and thank You very much LORD JESUS, for You have given us faith now to believe and please You with our faith in You, and that we have received Your reward both in this life and in the life to come.

Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified Bible)

11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].

VI. TITLE:

Now Faith is

Subtitle: Study on the Book of Hebrews

VII. EXPLICATION:

A. Date of writing: Before AD. 70

B. Style of writing: Best Greek style

C. Authorship: Not specific, but generally attributed to Apostle Paul. Can be also ascribed to Barnabas, Luke, Apollos

D. Audience: Hebrew Christians

E. Theme: Christ is superior to the prophets; Christ is superior to angels - J. Vernon McGee's Thru The Bible

F. Purpose: The chief doctrinal purpose of the writer was to show the transcendent glory of the Christian dispensation, as compared with that of the Old Testament.Thompson Chain - Bible Book Outlines

VIII. MAIN BODY:

A. Substance of things hoped for

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,"

Faith is "pistis" in Greek meaning:

1. persuasion

2. moral conviction

3. reliance upon CHRIST for salvation

4. constancy in such profession

Substance or "hupostasis" in Greek meaning:

1. setting under

2. concretely essence

3. abstractly assurance

4. confidence

1 Peter 1:7 (Amplified Bible)

1:7 So that [the genuineness] of your faith may be tested, [your faith] which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is tested and purified by fire. [This proving of your faith is intended] to redound to [your] praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) is revealed.

Galatians 5:6 (Amplified Bible)

5:6 For [if we are] in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love.

Hebrews 10:22 (Amplified Bible)

10:22 Let us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water.

What we hoped for (and prayed for) in this life has already substance (has already set) or happened in the spiritual. We don't see it with our physical eyes yet, but we see it with eyes of faith.

2 Corinthians 4:18 (Amplified Bible)

4:18 Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.

Hebrews 11:13 (Amplified Bible)

11:13 These people all died controlled and sustained by their faith, but not having received the tangible fulfillment of [God’s] promises, only having seen it and greeted it from a great distance by faith, and all the while acknowledging and confessing that they were strangers and temporary residents and exiles upon the earth.

B. Evidence of things not seen

"the evidence of things not seen"

Evidence or "elegchos" in Greek meaning:

1. proof

2. conviction

3. reproof

Hebrews 11:7 (Amplified Bible)

11:7 [Prompted] by faith Noah, being forewarned by God concerning events of which as yet there was no visible sign, took heed and diligently and reverently constructed and prepared an ark for the deliverance of his own family. By this [his faith which relied on God] he passed judgement and sentence on the world’s unbelief and became an heir and possessor of righteousness (that relation of being right into which God puts the person who has faith).

Romans 8:24-25 (Amplified Bible)

8:24 For in [this] hope we were saved. But hope [the object of] which is seen is not hope. For how can one hope for what he already sees?

8:25 But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure.