IDEA: Biblical faith and hope always involve a promise from God.
TEXT: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).
PURPOSE: To help listeners recognize the importance of faith and God's promise.
Hebrews 11:1 states, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Do you think everyone has "faith"? What do you mean?
Do you think everyone has "hope"? How does that differ from optimism?
I. Faith and hope do refer to something good that will happen in the future.
People in California believe on the basis of scientific studies that a serious earthquake will happen there in the future. Would you describe that as "faith"?
No, faith is the conviction that something good will happen in the future, both for you and for others.
Suppose you study the "laws of nature," evolution, and economics and you were convinced that the future of society is bright. Would that be "faith"?
Would you say that Karl Marx was a man of faith?
Are faith and hope merely optimism?
II. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews speaks continually about God's promises.
Throughout chapter 11 and the entire book (cf. 6:12; 10:23), faith is clearly linked to God's promises.
The idea of faith meaning to rely on, to trust, to believe was common in the extra-biblical Greek world.
However, the concept of promise is virtually unique to the Bible.
Promise itself isn't a common idea found in the ancient Greek language.
That is particularly true of the gods making promises. The Greek gods did not make promises, nor did they keep promises. In all the references about promise outside the Bible, it refers to people's promises to a god, not the promise of a god to the people (TDNT 2 (1964), 578-79).
III. In biblical faith, what a Christian hopes for is that which God has promised.
We hope for it because we trust God's promises. Why do we trust the promises?
Faith is trusting God's promise to save us and bless us.
Faith is not faith in faith.