The Excellency of Faith continues Heb. 11:1–3
The uses of faith give rise to its secondary definitions: (1) For salvation, faith is personal trust, apart from meritorious works, in the Lord Jesus Christ, as delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification Rom. 4:5, 23–25. (2) A working principle of life- Obedience-Heb. 11:6-8, 1Pe. 2:21-23, Lk. 23:46, Risk-Heb.11:17-19,24-27, Dan. 3:1-6,1 2-17, determination to succeed at all costs. Act. 20:24, Job. 23:8-25 Ac. 4:19-20.
- “Faith is the substance of things hoped for”: “giving substance to.” Crediting the sure testimony of God, resting on His promises, and expecting the accomplishment of them, faith gives the object hoped for at a future period, a present reality and power in the soul, as if already possessed; for the believer is satisfied with the security afforded, and acts under the full persuasion that God will not fail of His engagement. Faith gives the soul an appropriate hold of them. “Faith is a firm persuasion and expectation that God will perform all that He has promised to us in Christ; and this persuasion is so strong that it gives the soul a kind of possession and present fruition of those things, gives them a subsistence in the soul by the firstfruits and foretastes of them; so that believers in the exercise of faith are filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory” Matthew Henry.
- The confident expectation which faith inspires, gives the objects of the Christian’s hope a present and actual being in his heart. Faith does not look out with cold thoughts about things to come but imparts life and reality to them. Faith does for us spiritually what fancy does for us naturally. There is a faculty of understanding which enables us to picture to the mind’s eye things which are yet future. But faith does more: it gives not an imaginary appearance to things, but real subsistence. Faith is a grace which unites subject and object: there is no need to ascend to Heaven, for faith makes distant things nigh Rom. 10:6, 7. Faith, then, is the bond of union between the soul and the things God has promised. By believing we “receive”; by believing in Christ, He becomes ours Jn 1:12. Therefore, does faith enable the Christian to praise the Lord for future blessings as though he were already in the full possession of them. But how does faith bring to the heart a present subsistence of future things? Pink Arthur W
- First, by drawing from the promises that which, by Divine institution, is stored up in them: hence they are called the “breasts of consolation” Is. 66:11.
- Second, by making the promises the food of the soul Jer. 15:16, which cannot be unless they are present unto it.
- Third, by conveying an experience of their power, and as Divine truth is appropriated and assimilated that it becomes powerfully operative in the soul.
- Fourth, by communicating unto us the firstfruits of the promises: faith gives a living reality to what it absorbs, and so real and potent is the impression made, that the heart is changed into the same image 2Cor. 3:18.
- Let us pause for a word of application. Many profess to “believe,” but what influence have their hopes upon them? How are they affected by the things which their faith claims to have laid hold of? I profess to believe that sin is a most heinous thing—do I fear, hate, shun it? I believe that ere long I shall stand before the judgment-seat of Christ—does my conduct evince that I am living in the light of that solemn day? I believe that the world is an empty bauble—do I despise its painted tinsel? I believe that God will supply all my need—am I fearful about the morrow? I believe that prayer is an essential means unto growth in grace—do I spend much time in the secret place? I believe that Christ is coming back again—am I diligent in seeking to have my lamp trimmed and burning? Faith is evident by its fruits, works, effects.
- Faith is “the evidence of things not seen.” To give assurance and certainty of what is true. Thus, the word “evidence”- furnishes proof, so that one is assured of the reality and certainty of things Divine.
- “Faith,” then, is first the hand of the soul which “lays hold of” the contents of God’s promises.
- Second, it is the eye of the soul which looks out toward and represents them clearly and convincingly to us.
- To unbelievers the invisible, spiritual, and future things revealed in God’s Word seem dubious and unreal, for they have no medium to perceive them: “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God…” 1Cor. 2:14. But the child of God sees “Him who is invisible” Heb. 11:27. Faith sets Divine things before the soul in all the light and power of demonstration, and thus provides inward conviction of their existence. “Faith demonstrates to the eye of the mind the reality of those things which cannot be discerned by the eye of the body” Matthew Henry.
