Jesus is the Substance of our Faith

Is believing in Jesus just a leap of faith? Is believing in Jesus simply crutch, wishful thinking, but doesn’t really help you when it comes to dealing with all the worries and realities of life?

You see, there are many people today who believe that Christianity is a crutch, that what we believe in is not tangible, it’s not real. It’s just wishful thing that allows you to hide your head in the sand, and trust that everything eventually going to work out. As such, many Christ followers are looked upon with disdain by those who refuse to believe. They say your faith has no real merit – that what you believe in is just a leap in the dark, that’s there’s no real substance, no real foundation to your faith in Jesus.

That’s another reason why so many Christian’s keep their faith private today. Not only is it hard for us to defend our faith as tangible and real; but when our faith is assaulted by those who are so sure of their beliefs, it seems they may have a case. But if you really understood that your faith is actually more tangible and more substantial than theirs, and not some random wishful thinking, you could live every day by faith, and never cower to those who question your faith.

So, if you’ve ever asked yourself, Is believing in Jesus just a leap of faith? Is believing in Jesus simply crutch, or wishful thinking? And you wished that your faith was so much stronger than it is now, then what the writer of Hebrews reveals for us today will not just strengthen your faith, but help you build the kind of faith that pleases God. So, if you brought your Bible with you this today, let me encourage you to open it to Hebrews 11:1-6, where God’s Word is going to reveal to us the basis of an unshakable faith that will not just help you live by faith, but will give you the kind of faith that pleases God. So, if you’ve found Hebrews 11, we’re going to unpack three major truths that God wants to build into your faith this morning. And the first truth is this:

1. Faith is more than what meets the eye! Let’s look at verse one with me: Now
faith is the substance of what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1 John MacArthur says, “Faith is not a wistful longing that something may come to pass in an uncertain tomorrow. True faith is an absolute certainty, often of things that the world considers unreal and impossible. Faith has a reality, a substance, an assurance that is unshakable.” Isn’t that great? There is great substance to what you believe. There’s a concreate reality to your faith. It’s tangible and real. So, let’s look now at how tangible your faith actually is. Anglican Scholar and Pastor Phillips Hughes lists four ways we can translate this word “substance” that describes our faith. Here’s the first way your faith is certain:

Your faith has substance Your faith is concrete. Your faith has something to hold onto. That is how this word “substance” is used in Hebrews 1:3, When the writer says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature” This phrase “exact representation” is the same word. In other words, the writer is saying that Jesus is the exact substance of God. So then, just as Jesus is the tangible evidence of God’s nature among us, your faith is not some mystical ethereal thing, but it has substance. It’s something that you can possess. It’s something you can hold onto. Jesus is the substance of your faith.

Clearly, this idea is important to the writer’s thought. He is going to make much of the example of Abraham, who lived as a pilgrim in the land of promise. Although others occupied and controlled this land during his lifetime, he nonetheless possessed it by faith. His faith gave evidence to him of what was promised but not yet seen. The same held true with regard to the promise of a son. God changed his name from Abram – father of a nation – to Abraham, father of nations, by virtue of the promise he possessed by faith, though he was at the time still childless. This, then is how faith works: it makes us certain of the possession of things that we hope for but have not yet seen or experienced. For example, here are some things you possess now, but you have not fully experienced:
Jesus! You do not see Him now, but one day you will see Him face to face. Jesus is the substance of your faith. You possess Jesus by faith.

Heaven! Like Abraham, we are pilgrims in this world. This world is not our home. Our home is heaven. We are just passing through, but the certainty of heaven is ours today, because Jesus promises to come back and take us to be with Him in heaven. We possess heaven today, because God promises us eternal life when we believe in Jesus.

Salvation! We possess salvation today, but there is coming a day of salvation, when there will be no more sin, no more suffering, no more tears. We possess this reality by our faith in Jesus. But we have yet to experience it fully.

Transformation! We are not yet what we will be. But God has promised: He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil 1:6 This is a certain truth based on God’s Word. This is faith you can hold onto. God loves you too much to leave you the same. He promises to make you more and more like Jesus. You can be certain of this reality. God never goes back on His Word. That’s something you can hold onto when you don’t feel like you measure up. Don’t fret. God’s promises are better than any promise in this world. If He says He will never stop working on you, never stop changing you, you can take this to the bank. There is more to your faith than meets the eye. And when you possess these promises, you will live more and more by faith in a world without faith. Your faith has substance.

But also, Your faith has a foundation A foundation is what undergirds a structure – a home, a building, and your relationship with God. That’s another way to think about his word that describes our faith. The faith we possess in Jesus, is the foundation on which we build our lives. This word speaks to the firm ground on which we stand, waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises. This is what this letter to the Hebrews has been about, and what much of the New Testament reveals. It reveals the foundation of our faith. And Jesus is that foundation: God gave us Jesus so we can know what God is like. God gave us Jesus so we can come to Him as our source of salvation. God gave us Jesus so we can know God’s will and learn how to build our lives upon Him. Jesus is the foundation of our faith. Jesus is the rock of our salvation, For He said, “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it.” Matthew 16:18 Your faith has a foundation. And that foundation is Jesus. So hold onto Jesus.

Your faith gives confidence or assurance This is how most translations interpret this word “substance.” This deals with what faith is: a confidence in what is hoped for but not yet seen. This how the word is used in Hebrews 3:14, where it is written “we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” This confidence has its foundation in Christ. Jesus is the one who gives us assurance of salvation. Jesus is the one who provides our forgiveness. It’s through Jesus we are adopted into God’s family. It’s through Jesus we are reconciled to God. It’s through Jesus we have access to the Father, and so on. Jesus is the substance of our faith, because Jesus did everything for us. We no longer have to trust in ourselves, because we can trust in Jesus. So Jesus is essential to your faith. He is the one who gives your faith confidence or assurance of what God promises.

And finally, Your faith has a guarantee One commentator writes, “Faith is a guarantee of the heavenly realities for which we hope; not only does it render them certain for us, but it envisions them as rightfully belonging to us… Consequently, faith is our guarantee that provides a foretaste of the spiritual blessings that belong to us now, and which one day we will enjoy forever.”

So, when it comes to this word that speaks to the “substance” of our faith, it is apparent that the writer of Hebrews chose this word for its broad and rich variety of meanings, all of which are to the point: Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is the foundation upon which we stand. Faith gives us the confidence to keep trusting in what Jesus has done, and faith is the guarantee of all we already possess in Christ. So, indeed, Jesus is the substance of our faith.

Now, that’s just what faith is. Now the writer helps expand our understanding by giving us a couple of pictures of The Faith that God Commends: And he starts off with two illustrations of faith: This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. Hebrews 11:2-4

We have two illustrations of the faith God commends: First, God commends faith in His word. Here the writer speaks to the universal belief of Creation by God’s command. His point may seem obvious, but it is relevant for our day. The nature of the universe, the creation of all things, cannot be explained by the evidence that is available to our eyes. Without faith we cannot even explain the world in which we exist.
Nowhere is this more evident than in contemporary attempts to explain the origins of the universe. Undoubtedly the most popular answer today is the Big-Bang Theory, which says the Universe was caused by a massive explosion of an incredibly dense mass. But that begs the questions, “Where did that mass come from?” And “What or who caused the Big Bang?” These are questions scientists leave unanswered.
But faith provides an answer. The non-believer’s faith is in the Big Bang. For them, the Big Bang has taken on divine qualities that rule out questions regarding its origin. But the Christian finds the answer not in this kind of scientific mysticism, but in the Word of God. According to Hebrews 11:3, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
Here the writer of Hebrews appeals to the Word of God as the object of our faith. If God’s Word was capable of creating everything out of nothing, then the Word of God is a sufficient ground for our hope. For, if God’s Word was sufficient to bring all things into existence, it is also sufficient to give us all we need.
Our faith, therefore, feeds upon God’s Word, the way Jesus described when tempted by the devil, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4). Our faith grows strong from the Word, rests secure in the Word, and bears fruit from the Word. Ours is not a blind faith, but a faith that sees by the light of God’s Word. This is kind of faith God commends. Believing God created all things by the power of His Word alone. That’s one kind of faith God commends, here’s the other:

Secondly The Faith of Abel: By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. How was Abel’s offering better than his brothers? Abel’s offering involved sacrifice. Cain’s was the result of his own good works. The Bible says it this way: “Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground” (Genesis 4:3). Pastor Richard Phillips comments on this saying, “There must have been much to commend such an offering to Cain. Here was a portion of what arose from his own hard-fought labor. God had said to Adam in His curse: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.” (Genesis 3:19). So, what Cain brought to God came only by the work of Cain’s hands. But that was precisely the problem with Cain’s offering. It did not involve the shedding of blood. However, Abel “brought the firstborn of his flock and of their portions “ (Genesis 4:4). In keeping with the pattern that God established with his parents, and had been taught to him; Abel brought a sacrifice that pointed toward the atoning death of Jesus. By faith, Abel’s sacrifice was better than Cain’s, not simply because Abel’s faith made it better, but because by faith, he offered the sacrifice God had required. So, Abel’s faith was commended by God. He responded to God’s command.

So then, Hebrews 11:4 concludes by saying of Abel, “And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.” The story of Abel bears testimony about faith, and its value to justify those who trust in Jesus. Shortly after making his faithful offering, Cain tried to silence his testimony. Cain murdered his brother to put away the testimony about his faith. And yet Abel’s faith still speaks today. For true faith in God is never silenced, because God Himself keeps alive the testimony of His faithful servants.

Which brings us to our writer’s final point about the nature of our faith today: The Faith That Pleases God: By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Hebrews 11:5-6 There are two truths about our faith the writer reveals to us here: First, The object of our Faith Enoch’s life shows us is by the way he lived, that he pleased God. How did Enoch please God? He walked with God. Enoch had a living relationship, a companionship, between himself and God. He knew God, he lived in constant communion with God; so, whenever God spoke, Enoch did what God called him to do. As such, Enoch shows us that God was the object of His faith.

Great Puritan Thomas Watson said: “To walk with God is to walk by faith. We are told to draw near to God and to have fellowship with Him. ‘Our fellowship is with the Father.’ Thus, we may take a turn with Him every day by faith… they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance. Psalm 89:15”
This is what the Christian life is intended to be: a walk of faith, enjoying a relationship of intimacy with our loving God. To believe that He is the self-existing One who created the heavens and the earth. The original Jewish-Christian audience could not help but see a connection with this statement, to what God revealed of Himself to Moses at the burning bush. Having just been told to go down to Egypt, Moses asked God, “What is your name?” God answered him, saying, “I am who I am”… Say this to the people of Israel , “I am has sent me to you.’” Again, in the Greek translation used by the early church, this link is even more explicit. In the Septuagint, Exodus 3:14 says “Tell them I am the One who exists.” And here, using that very language, our writer says, “Whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists.”
Therefore, this first element of faith has to do with WHO God is. Faith must first agree with God’s revelation of Himself. He is the One who was, and who is, and who is to come. He is the self-existing sovereign God of the Bible, not some caricature of who we might make Him out to be. He’s not the man upstairs. He is the eternal self-existing God, who created the Universe, who created you to know Him. This God who exists is the object of our faith! That’s why God sent His Son to die for us, so that we might come to know this Great God of life and love, this great God of power and mercy, this amazing God who holds all things together and stepped into our world through His Son. When we believe He exists, then God is pleased with us. And this couples nicely with the final aspect of faith God calls us to today…

The Motivation of Faith: And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Hebrews 11:6 Here we see our motivation in believing. Not only must we believe that He exists, but that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
We must have more than just a head knowledge of God. We can believe all kinds of things about God. We can believe He is omnipresent. We can believe He created the world; we can believe He reigns supreme. But the one thing that truly pleases Him, is to come to Him as the God who saves; that we would come to Him seeking His reward – a relationship with Him on His terms, seeking a relationship with Him by putting our trust in the Son, who died for us to bring us back to God.

The alternative is to ignore Him, to think that it doesn’t matter what God has done. This is what unbelief is all about. Few people deny the existence of God, but many deny how God has revealed His plan to save us through His Son. So, they reject the idea that they need to seek Him for salvation. They reject the need for His mercy, they reject the need for His grace, and they reject His love that’s so plainly seen in the gift of His Son. So yes, many people agree that God exists, yet they are not seeking him. Instead, they seek worldly gods as the source of the rewards that they so highly covet.

So, this message really boils down to this: Do you believe God exists. But even more than that, Are you earnestly seeking Him? Do you long to be reconciled to the One who loves you by believing in HIs Son? Do you want to have a relationship with God where you are forgiven and accepted, where you can know God and be known by Him? If that is you – If you earnestly seeking Him, then you won’t just have an unshakable faith in a world without faith, you’ll have a faith that pleases God!