Faith is the Substance of Things Hoped For

What are your odds of winning tonight?

What are you hoping for tonight? There are a lot of people watching this game with varied expectations. There are the fans, some of whom will go home very disappointed and sad. Some will go home ecstatic because their team won. Some will be rich because they made calculated risks called bets. Others will loose a lot of money. You see there are odds placed on who will win but no one knows for sure. That is because they have placed their hope in something that is at best uncertain. I ask you, what are your odds of winning tonight? The topic tonight is faith and the odds of our winning at this game called life are based on where we put our hope.

Let’s read Hebrews 11:1-8 together….

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

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. (Hebrews 11:1 NLT) 

(Heb 11:6)  But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

(Heb 11:7)  By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

(Heb 11:8)  By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

But the men that are leaving here tonight have a hope made sure.

 (Heb 6:19)  This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,

Albert Barnes in his commentary says it this way – “Hope accomplishes for the soul the same thing which an anchor does for a ship. It makes it fast and secure. An anchor preserves a ship when the waves beat and the wind blows, and as long as the anchor holds, so long the ship is safe, and the mariner apprehends no danger. So with the soul of the Christian. In the tempests and trials of life, his mind is calm as long as his hope of heaven is firm.”

Listen to Hebrews verses18 & 19 from “the Message” It contains the difference between worldly and biblical hope.

“God can't break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable. We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go.

It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God.”      (Hebrews 6:18, 19)