4/2 Crumbs from the Master's Table

Faith

Hebrews 11 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (v. 1)

Science tells us that everything that exists has substance. God knew this long before the scientists and philosophers were even thought of; He taught it to them, in fact. “Substance” is that foundation that all things are made from, and by which they stand on. Without the substance of faith, we have no hope. The Lord describes a living faith, a true, and working faith. Anything without substance of some kind, is, in reality, non-existent.

According to man’s reckoning, things that have substance can be seen or held in our hands, we know of very little in this world that lacks tangible substance, substance is the “being” of things; the soul of man also has substance in itself, an immaterial substance, as does faith. God assures us that there really is such thing as “faith” and not only is it real, but active in our lives.

Then, there is evidence. Law tells us that nothing is proven without evidence. Evidence is that “proof” of anything, the reality of it. God uses this to convince us that faith has proof, and that we need never to doubt. Much of the 11th chapter deals in proving our faith. The saints of old knew what faith was, and they kept it until the end.

Too many of us get hold of a whimsical dream, and call it faith. We expect the wrong things from it, and put the wrong thoughts into it. Faith has substance; it is not merely a fanciful, pie-in-the-sky type of déjà vu that we conjure up for our own joy and amusement. Faith is real; it is practical; it is useful; it has substance in the truth. Faith is evidenced by unseen things; though this would never pass for evidence in a court of law (man’s law), it passes wonderfully with God—He made it that way. If we could hold it in our hands as evidence, it would not be faith. Of necessity, faith must be blind, it cannot be tangible. Those things we have hope for become fruitful through faith and therefore they have their substance in it, so then hope too has substance.

The two great earmarks of faith then are substance and evidence. We need them both to convince us; man seems to have to have evidence before he will believe in anything, and substance to know the reality of it. Praise God that he cared enough for us to explain this to us, lest we throw up our hands in frustration and die in confusion and sin.

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