Faith, Hope, Love - Faith Defined

Faith is one of the most familiar words in church, yet it can also be one of the most misunderstood. In “Faith Defined,” part of the Faith, Hope, Love series, Neil Silverberg opens Hebrews 10 and leads us into Hebrews 11 to give a clear, Scripture-shaped definition of biblical faith: “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” From the beginning, he places faith in the context of Hebrews’ warning not to shrink back and its call to endure. True faith is not merely a one-time decision or a vague religious feeling; it is a steadfast posture of the heart that keeps trusting God when life is difficult, answers are delayed, and circumstances tempt us to depend only on what we can see or control.

Neil also confronts two common distortions of faith. The first is “blind faith,” the idea that Christians are called to believe without reason, truth, or evidence. Biblical faith is not irrational or detached from reality; it is rooted in the trustworthiness of God and the promises He has spoken. The second distortion is treating faith like a spiritual force that can produce whatever outcome we desire if we simply speak the right words. Through Scripture and a memorable story about someone trying to “speak” a new car into existence, Neil draws an important distinction between faith and presumption. Faith responds to what God has promised; presumption demands what God has not said.

From Hebrews, Genesis, Romans, Proverbs, Ephesians, and James, Neil lays out four marks of real faith: faith is fully persuaded, faith trusts, faith works, and faith endures. Abraham becomes the great example of being fully convinced that God is able to do what He promised, and that confidence leads into the foundational Christian doctrine of justification by faith. Neil shows how Paul and James are not contradicting each other: we are not saved by good works, but we are saved for good works. Genuine faith bears fruit.

Finally, Neil emphasizes endurance. Hebrews 10 reminds believers that true faith perseveres rather than shrinking back. Faith holds fast to God’s promises even when suffering comes and even when the fulfillment is not yet visible. Hebrews 11 begins by lifting our eyes to creation itself, reminding us that God made the universe by His Word, ex nihilo, out of nothing. And Hebrews 11:6 calls us to believe not only that God exists, but that He rewards those who seek Him—with the greatest reward being God Himself.

If you desire deeper, stronger, more resilient faith, join in the prayer: Lord, increase our faith.

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Transcript

Why Basics Still Matter

Neil Silverberg 0:13

Powerful. You know, I I remember reading that Michael Jackson, Jordan Michael Jordan, probably the greatest uh basketball player that ever lived, would be seen after a game shooting foul shots because he understood that the basics have to be mastered at all times, and he could never take for granted the basics. He kept repeating them again and again. And so when you hear a series like this mention faith, hope, and love, it's easy to think, well, I know that, and I've been doing that. But we need to be continually exhorted to do that and to grow in these things. So we're gonna grow. The enemy tried to keep me from coming today. Uh, I went into the men's room and I got locked in a stall. Matthew Ashley had to get me out, actually. That really happened. I almost had to climb under it, you know. At my age, it's not easy. That's a true story. It happened. I don't lie when I stand in the pulpit. Well, I might stretch the truth a little. But I'm here and I made it, thank God. I appreciate the privilege of speaking to my home church. Turn your Bibles to the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews Warning And Call To Endure

Neil Silverberg 1:55

Let's start reading in chapter 10. We'll read into 11, but to read the context, this message is simply called faith-defined. Faith-defined. And again, I'm exhorting you to keep your heart open as God wants to maybe expand your understanding of faith and give you more faith. We're going to pray at the end for more faith. How many could use more faith? Reading in Hebrews 10, verse 26. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How many are glad you're not under the law? Verse 29, how much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the spirit of grace? For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But recall the former days, when after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. For yet a little while in the coming one will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith. And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those, thank God. We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve persevere to the end. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Father, thank you for putting it in the heart of the elder team to do this series on faith, hope, and love. We believe the Holy Spirit has led us to preach these things. And I'm praying that as I kick it off today, Lord, you would anoint the words to change lives. We pray for change lives as we go through this series. Men and women would lay hold of faith, hope, and love in an increasing way. Father, give me utterance to open my mouth and declare with boldness the gospel in the name of the Lord Jesus. And everyone said. So,

Faith Defined From Hebrews 11

Neil Silverberg 5:27

as Tyler said, we're opening this series this morning, series dealing with three major components of the Christian life: faith, hope, and love. And we begin this series of the trilogy of faith, hope, and love by talking about faith. We'll be there for a few weeks. Anyone who reads the scripture, even in a cursory manner, will understand how important faith is. And most of our time on that section of this series will be spent looking at the great hall of faith, the list of men and women who had faith to the preserving of their souls. We'll be carefully examining how the Old Testament saints lived by faith and what it means. And God has given us this chapter. God has graciously given us several examples of those who lived by faith and overcame obstacles. Now you might say, wait a minute, Neil, I don't really need a teaching on faith. I mean, it's one of those terms we all are familiar with and we use it. But one of the dangers of biblical terms is we get accustomed to thinking we understand it fully and we only understand in part. So the answer to your question, why do we need to hear about faith? Because we need more faith. And it is vital that we start by defining faith. Because there's much confusion today in the body of Christ about what faith is. There

Two Popular Faith Errors

Neil Silverberg 7:10

are many examples of wrong teaching, I could tell you, but let me just share two quickly, and then we're going to spend our time on what faith really is. But one wrong idea about faith is so-called blind faith. How many have heard the term blind faith? What is meant by the term blind faith? One author says blind faith means accepting a belief, person, or idea without proof, logic, or reason. It involves trusting something unconditionally, even when faced with facts of evidence that prove it wrong. That is believing something else, something without evidence. In other words, it's believing in something with zero physical proof or rational support. We refuse, blind faith refuse to look at outside facts or clear proof that goes against this belief. So, regardless of what you've heard or thought, blind faith is not biblical faith. The second type of wrong teaching about faith today is that it is not just trust or belief in God, but a tangible governing spiritual force. It's like let the force be with you. It's that idea. And according to this idea, faith operates by spiritual laws, allowing believers to seek desired outcomes. Those who teach this concept of faith believe literally Jesus taught that spoken words act as containers of power, allowing believers to command obstacles, to move, and claim health and wealth as a present tense reality the moment we pray. The main scripture used to this idea is found in Mark 11, 23 and 24. Don't turn there, we don't have time. But Jesus told the disciples after cursing the fig tree, have faith in God. And most standard translate Bible translations do translate that phrase, have faith in God, meaning your trust is placed directly in God. But some scholars and teachers suggest the faith of God is the better translation, or the God kind of faith. Now there's truth in this. Jesus says, if you uh ask anything and believe in your heart, you shall receive it. But it implies a quantity, quality of faith that originates from God and operates with his certainty. It's God's faith that he gives to human beings. Jesus is speaking in hyperbole when he speaks uh about you know casting a mountain to the sea. He's his point is to explain that active, unwavering belief overcomes major obstacles. He's not teaching that whatever you need you can speak into existence. You know, a pastor friend of mine from another city believed that concept of faith. And he needed a new car. So he spoke into existence, a new car, and then he went down to the dealership to pick up his car or to place his order. And he he chose the nicest Cadillac on the lot. And he uh maxed out on different things. He had leather seats, uh satellite radio, everything. Then the man, the salesman, said, How do you intend to pay for this? And he said, My father will be in. I'm going out of town, but my father will be in and he will pay for it. They said, Okay, thanks. So after being gone a week or so, he came to the dealership, fully expecting to pick up his car, and the salesman looked at him and said, I'm sorry, but your father never made it in. Why didn't my friend get the new car? It's not necessarily because he didn't have faith, it's because he presumed upon God. And faith and presumption are not the same things. Thank you. When I when God speaks of faith and he spoke to our hearts, that he's go it's going to come to pass. You know, years ago when I first started writing books, I needed a laptop. I didn't have a laptop. And so it was the one I wanted was $2,000. I had it picked out, but I didn't have the money. So I told Shelly, I said, I'm going to the bank. I'm doing what any red-blooded American would do. I'm going to the bank to borrow the $2,000. And Shelly looked at me and said, Honey, I have a question. I said, What? She said, Have you asked God for it? And I looked at her sheepishly because I hadn't asked the Lord. I said, No. So she said, Shouldn't we ask the Lord for it before we just go borrow money? So we grabbed hands in the kitchen and we prayed. And I prayed for the laptop, even told the Lord what size hard drive I wanted. I mean, I had his ear, so I might as well. Six, eight gigs of RAM. Remember when eight gigs of RAM was a lot? And we prayed, and I had a sense of faith. I had we prayed the prayer of faith. And a few weeks later I came off a trip and Shelly handed me the mail. And in the mail, now we had told no one about our requests for a laptop. We didn't tell one soul. We just prayed and gave it to God. And she handed me the mail, and in the mail was a manila envelope. It looked like cassette tapes were in it because uh, you know, it's back when cassettes were in vogue. And literally out fell on the floor 20 $100 bills. To this day, I have no idea who sent it. If you're here, thank you. I have no idea who sent it. But God knew he needed a laptop and he put the prayer of faith in our hearts. The Bible speaks of the prayer of faith. And so it doesn't teach that anything we speak at any time will

Faith Is Fully Persuaded

Neil Silverberg 14:05

come to pass. But we have to have heard from God. Now there are four aspects of biblical faith I want to talk about. Let's not talk about the wrong concept of faith. Let's talk about what's right. And there are four characteristics of faith that I want to mention today. We'll talk about the first three quickly and spend our time on four. They are faith is fully persuaded, faith trusts, faith works, and faith endures. Faith fully is persuaded, faith trusts, faith works, and faith endures. Let's start with faith is being fully persuaded. Persuaded of what? That the promises of God are real and can be totally relied on. Faith is totally persuaded that those promises are real and can be totally relied on. And this aspect of faith is best seen in the life of Abraham. I don't want to spend a lot of time on Abraham because one of the messages will deal with Abraham from the whole of faith. But Abraham's life really demonstrates that faith is fully persuaded, being fully persuaded in the promises of God. Remember what God had promised to Abraham? He comes to him in Genesis 15. He said it says, After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Fear not, Abram, I am your shield, your reward shall be very great. But Abram said, O Lord God, what will you give me? For I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, This man shall not be your heir, your very own son shall be your heir. And he brought him outside and said, Look toward heaven and number the stars, if you're able to number them. Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be. And he believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness. And that statement, he believed the Lord and counted him as righteousness, is quoted by the Apostle Paul. It is the truth about how we were justified, because we believed the Lord and we were counted as righteous. Now God tells Abram he's going to have a son. At the time that God spoke this word to him, we just read, Abram was 75 years old. So he's getting up in years. He's going to have seed as numerous as the stars in the heaven. He's got to get to work. He doesn't have much time left. He's 75. And when it didn't happen when he was 86, Sarah, his wife, decided the problem was we needed to help God out. Every time you fill up your car at a gas station, remember this event. Sarah needed assumed that God needed help. So he gave Abraham her servant Hagar, and Abraham fathered a child through Hagar named Ishmael, the father of the Arabic people. After all, when you're 86, you don't have a lot of ability to father children, let alone children as numerous as the stars of the heavens. And when he was ninety-nine, God came to him and said, I'll bless Ishmael, but he's not the one. Your heirs shall come from your own body. 99. Would you have a problem believing a promise that your seed was going to be more numerous than the stars of heaven when you're ninety-nine? But Paul speaks this in Romans 4. Abram's faith, that's why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring, not only to the adherent of the law, but also to the one who shares the faith of Abram, who is the father of us all, as it is written, I have made you the father of many nations, in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, so shall your offspring be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. But the word it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will also be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead, raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who has delivered us up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Hallelujah. Faith is being fully persuaded that what God has promised will come to pass. And think about the challenge that this man had to believe for. He looked at the deadness of his own body. He was nearly a hundred. He looked at Sarah, who was in the tent. She couldn't even get out of the tent. Yet. I just got it myself. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God. Fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. I have a question. Are you fully convinced and persuaded that God will do as he promised? Are you fully persuaded that God will do what he's promised in Scripture? How about the promises he made regarding your eternal future? Are you fully persuaded they will come to pass?

Faith Trusts Beyond Understanding

Neil Silverberg 21:03

The second characteristic of faith is faith trusts. Faith trust. Now these are very clearly related, but they're different. Faith trusts. One aspect of faith is it teaches us to trust in God. And perhaps the clearest scripture that speaks to that is found in the book of Proverbs, chapter 3, verses 5 through 6. You all know this scripture, but let's read it. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your path. Let me break down these verses in a clear way. Four things he mentions. First, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. That means we must put our total unreserved confidence in God, using our deepest will and mind to rely on Him completely, not just on good days. How many know it's easy to trust in the Lord on good days? But to trust in Him at all times with our hearts means we must put total unreserved confidence in God. Our whole will, mind, and emotions are to rely completely on Him, and that not on good days only. Then He says, lean not on your own understanding. It means we must stop depending solely on our limited point of view, logic, or ability to figure out difficult situations. How many have discovered you go nuts trying to figure out difficult situations? Why is this happening? Sometimes God is gracious and gives us understanding. Sometimes we have to walk in darkness, trusting Him even when we don't understand what's going on. Why? Because we have limited understanding. We're able to understand some things, but much, many things we can't. Then he says, in all your ways, acknowledge him. It means we must keep God at the center of our daily life, consulting him and involving him in every decision, both small and great. And then what happens? He finally concludes with this promise He will make your paths straight. It means God promises to guide your steps, removing hidden traps and directing you towards his right and secure purpose. So trusting the Lord is an aspect of faith we must cultivate. Brothers and sisters, in a nutshell, it is learning to radically trust a sovereign God, trusting him with all our heart. And trusting God is not a matter of not making right choices. Somehow we've allowed the idea of trusting God to make us passive. But it's a very active thing, trusting God. In Psalm 32, David made this clear. Don't turn there, but David is confessing his sin. It's a psalm he wrote after his sin with Bathsheba, along with Psalm 51. Psalm 32 is also a prayer of repentance for his sin of adultery and murder. And David is confessing his sin in this Psalm. And then in verse 8, God chimes in. And he says, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. Now listen carefully to these words. This is God's promise to your light. I will teach you in the way you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. That's such powerful words. I'll counsel you with my eye. You know, it comes out of the ancient world. Ancient kings would sit on their thrones, and they had servants at their thrones that looked at the king's face, and they could tell by his eye movements what he was requesting. And God chimes in and says, I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule without understanding, which must be curved with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. What David is saying here, what God is saying to David, is we can expect to be guided by the Lord, but not in the same way that we guide farm animals. Farm animals had to be, have bit and bridle to pull them in the direction that they wanted them to go. So he says, uh, you know, do not be like the horse and mule without understanding. Don't expect God to pull you with bit and bridle, but he gives you clear understanding. It says, uh, don't be like the horse and mule. Why? Because they don't have understanding. We have understanding, and so we must use it. Sometimes the will of God is very clear and easy to discern. So Solomon tells us not to lean on our own understanding when he says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. He doesn't mean suspend your faculty of reason. I like to call it it's a reasoned trust. It's a reasoned trust. How many have things in your life right now you don't understand why it's going on? But you're still here, you still love God and you're serving him. Because you you trust him even though you don't understand fully. So this psalm implies that we won't understand things fully till we get there. But in the meantime, we have some understanding and we we should use it. The

Faith Works Without Earning Salvation

Neil Silverberg 27:25

third character of biblical faith is faith works. We've seen faith is fully persuaded, we've seen faith trusts. Now faith works. Many people are confused when they compare the teaching of the Apostle Paul regarding works and the teaching of the James, the writer of the book of James, the brother of Jesus. You know, one of the Paul, after talking about Abraham's faith, which we read in chapter 4 of Romans, opens chapter 5 with these words. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. One of the solas of the Protestant Reformation was sola fide, faith alone. We're justified by faith alone, which simply means there's nothing a person can do to receive justification except believe on what Jesus accomplished for us by his death and resurrection. And this is what separates Christianity from all other religions. In all other religions, a person is made right with God by something they do to be justified. But in the gospel, a person is made right with God by putting their faith completely on what God accomplished through his son. And the Apostle Paul taught that clearly in his writings. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Luther said he hated God because when he read the word righteousness in scripture, he knew it was he wasn't righteous, and God had every reason to send him to hell. So he hated the word righteousness because it reminded him of his sinfulness. Then he read Romans 1:16 through 17, and he saw that righteousness is not a quality of God only that he possesses, but it's a gift that God gives to guilty sinners. And Luther said a whole new world opened up to me, a world in which I knew full justification. Are you this morning relying on anything of your performance, anything you're doing to be right with God? It's so easy to fall into a trap. Because much of the church world, unfortunately, doesn't know justification by faith. At Trinity years ago, we many altar calls people would come up and I would pray for them, and I would say, What do you want prayer for? And probably 60, 70% of the time, people would say, I want prayer, I feel condemnation. And I would start teaching, have you heard the doctrine of justification by faith? They'd say, No. I'd say, How long have you been in the church? Only 30 years. So I said, I couldn't teach then long because I was praying for people at the altar. So I said, make an appointment to see me this week. And some Sundays, I'd have some following Sunday morning, I'd have three, four, five appointments during the week in which I taught people the doctrine of justification by faith. You have to know this because it is a foundation of the Christian life, that God justifies you, which is a legal term. He declares you not guilty. And he doesn't do it based on your performance. You'll never pray enough, you'll never read the Bible enough, you'll never fast enough, you'll never witness enough to be justified by those actions. But the good news is you are justified when you put your faith in Jesus. And we get to do those things: prayer, Bible reading, witnessing, fasting. We get to do them as a result of faith. It's the inevitable outcome is that we're justified by faith and we will do the things. But that seems contrary to what James said. If you know the book of James in chapter 2, listen carefully. He says, What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to him, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my your faith, my faith by my works. You believe that God is one, you do well. Even the demons believe and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you foolish person? I'd like to meet James. He was needed to be kinder. Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works, is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abram believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by his works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. How in the world do you reconcile what Paul teaches that people cannot be saved by their works with what James teaches faith without per works is dead? And the answer is really easy. They're both speaking to two different audiences. Paul is addressing those who are attempting to be justified by works. But James is dealing with those who think that faith alone, without works, will save them. The best way I've heard it described is we're not saved by our good works, but we are saved for good works. And it's critical that we understand that both of those. Paul says it this way in Ephesians 2, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God ordained beforehand that we should walk in them. By the way, it's so interesting. The word workmanship there. Ephesians 2, 10. Workmanship is a Greek word which means the thing that he has made, but it's actually the Greek word from which the English word poem is derived. We are his poem. And another translation which is valid is we are his works of art, his masterpieces. He creates us in Christ Jesus, James, uh James uh Paul says, for good works. Again, we're not saved by good works, but when he makes us his workmanship, he creates us for good works. You want to do good works. The night I got saved 52 years ago, I was supposed to party with my friends that night, but I went to a gospel meeting with my brother, and Jesus encountered me, and I've never recovered. People's testimony, you know, they say, I was messed up, I met Jesus, now I'm fine. My testimony was I was fine, I met Jesus, and now I'm really messed up. But how many are glad to be messed up in a good way? So true. Notice God gave ordained us for good works before the foundation of the world that we should walk in them. When my brother and I were growing up in Philadelphia, he worked with his hands and took apart things, and I was writing articles. And is it any wonder he ended up owning a construction company and I ended up writing books? Because God ordained the good works that we walk in. And that goes back to even your beginning as a child. Let's look at the final one, a little longer, but let's take it slowly.

Faith Endures Without Shrinking Back

Neil Silverberg 36:48

Faith endures. We've seen that faith is fully persuaded, faith works, faith trusts, faith works, and now faith adore endures. And this final section of Hebrews, if you read it, starts with another one of those warnings we find all through the book. We've read when we read the opening verses, verses 20, 10, 26 to 31. That verse has scared many people, and it should not cause us alarm. It's not talking about sin in general. Now, if you go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, it's not talking about sin in general, but a certain sin which we now should be familiar with if you study the book of Hebrews. It's a sin of apostasy, it's a sin of trampling underfoot the Son of God and treating as unholy the blood of the covenant. And that's what the book of Hebrews is warning about. People get all freaked out when they read, if you keep keep on sinning. Now, if you keep on over openly flagrantly sinning and not repenting, that's a problem. But the sin of apostasy is what the writer of Hebrews is. And he's warning them if they continue on the path they are on, which was tempted to deny the Lord Jesus as Hebrew believers, then they would be committing a sin unto death. And he does, he wants to help them realize the danger of that. He reminds them of what they had been through in the past. These people had already suffered for their faith. Many lost their possessions, were imprisoned, others were mocked and identified, others were mocked for identifying with those who were in prison. Now the writer of Hebrews urges them not to throw away their confidence because it has great reward. Remember what he said in an earlier chapter, Hebrews 6? I didn't read it, but it says, God is not unjust to forget your labor of love for God's people. And then he reintroduces us to the main theme in this section by exhorting them to endure. Now, sometimes the word endure in the English Bible is translated from the word patience. But almost every place where the word patience occurs, it's the Greek word hupomeni. Hupomini. And that's translated in the English Bible as endure or endurance. It's not merely patience, it's endurance. Paul uses this word when he says tribulation produces endurance. Remember James Fay's famous statement that he said in his letter, the trying of your faith works patience or produces endurance. Same word, let endurance have her perfect work. And now this section of Hebrews uses the word continually. It will say Moses endured as seeing him who is invisible. He will tell the Hebrews, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. And he also will say, if you endure chastening, then you are sons. The word endurance, whopomini, has two ideas. First, it carries the idea of submission. If one endures, he submits to the situation causing him to endure with and stays in it, does not run away from it. The second idea is that of continuing on undeterred and of not drawing back. That's why it's such an important concept in this letter. If you don't go on, they will eventually draw back even to apostasy, as I said. So that's why the writer immediately quotes from Habakkuk, the prophet Habakkuk in the Old Testament. He says, But my righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. So the opposite of our shrinking back is our enduring to the end, and thus making our calling and election sure. The writer assumes something that's so important. He assumes that if they are true saints, they will persevere to the end. This is a major doctrine of scripture the church needs to embrace. He that began a good work will bring it to completion. Philippians 1. He promises if he began it, and you're a Christian because God began a work in you. And then he has promised to keep you to the end and complete what he began. Right now, you're in process. I'm in process. You are not completed, but you're getting there. And one day your faith will no longer be needed because you'll have a full knowledge and awareness of the truth of God. Spurgeon said it best. That's the assurance we have that we can rely on that God will persevere in grace because the saints persevere in holiness, but it's because of God's grace alone. And what if some do not persevere to the end? Second Corinthians 13 says, test yourselves to see if you're in the faith. And he warns against failing the test. That that's the context in which the great 11th chapter of Hebrews is drops in. It doesn't just drop in out of thin air, it drops in in the context of this call to endurance. It's so important. He's attempting to show us that the only way we can endure to the end is by faith. In chapter 6, verse 12, he's already linked faith with endurance when he says, through faith and patience or endurance, same word, we inherit the promises. And he gave there the example of Abraham, which we talked about this morning, who believed and endured. That's in this chapter the most important aspect of faith that's stress. It's faith that endures to the end in spite of all opposition and suffering. Now, ultimately, faith has to do with things future. We'll see when we get to it how faith relates to hope and love. It has to do with things future. It doesn't matter if we can see them as long as they're covered in the promises of God. And faith is so convinced that they are real that it will venture out. On them and sacrifice everything in the present to make them real. Even if faith doesn't receive what is promised in this life, it will continue on enduring whatever, assured that it will come to pass in the next life. All the people listed here in Hebrews 11 will be parked there for a while, demonstrate that they were things assured of things hoped for and convinced of things not seen. Some more

Creation By God’s Word Ex Nihilo

Neil Silverberg 44:32

than others demonstrate their faith that endures to the end and suffers loss. But let's start with finally looking at verse 3 of chapter 11 again. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. So the writer starts his great faith chapter by talking not about a person, but talking about God and his creative power by which he brought all things into being. You know, Genesis 1.1 is absolutely unique among the religions of the world. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And one of the reasons it's so unique among the religions of the world, in the ancient world, is that there was no such thing as the idea that you could create something out of nothing. The ancient world believed that all things that are physical came out of all things that are physical. But the Bible starts with a simple phrase: God created the heavens and the earth. The Latin phrase used to describe this is the term ex nihilo, out of nothing. And it's the idea that God spoke everything into existence. I recently read through Genesis 1 again, and it was so refreshing to read that it was the word of God that created all things. And he now upholds all things by the word of his power. Today the modern theory of evolution rejects ex-nihilo and looks at the idea that something can be made out of nothing as ridiculous. Then the writer of Hebrews goes on to mention several who lived by faith. Some had miraculous intervention. Verses 33 through 34. They shut lions' mouths, they escaped the sword. And you can read that and go, yes, faith overcame. Yes, it did. But right in the middle of that, he talks about others who endured terrible sufferings, and they did so by faith. They did not receive what was promised. Why? Because they didn't have faith? No, because God was waiting for us to come along so that with us they might be made perfect. So I close by quoting Hebrews 11:6. And without faith, it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. The writer in that statement says there's two things we must believe if we're to have biblical faith. First, that he exists.

God Rewards Seekers With Himself

Neil Silverberg 47:43

You say, duh. But we must be totally convinced that the God of Scripture is real, that he exists. And then the second thing we must believe. You know, we have to believe he's real because it's possible to confess faith in God yet be an unconscious atheist. But secondly, we must be convinced that it's worth our time to seek him, for he will richly reward us. When we hear the word reward, we often think of monetary terms. And it's true. God blesses us monetarily. It certainly can mean that. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things. What things? The things the Gentiles seek after. Food, clothing, riches. He says all these things shall be added to you if you seek first the kingdom of God. But you know what the ultimate reward is if that he gives? He gives us himself. I was reading recently in Hebrews, I'm sorry, in Ezekiel 44, and in that chapter, God's talking to the priests, the sons of Zadak. And you know, he he gave inheritance to all the tribes. But you know what he says in that chapter? They shall receive no inheritance in Israel. I am their inheritance. God blesses our lives. I stand before you this morning as a blessed man. He's met my needs, he's been faithful. But the greatest joy of my life is to be rewarded by increased knowledge of God. I want to know him. And that's the ultimate inheritance. So I hope you were helped this morning by seeing faith in all of its glorious dimensions. And there's three words that the apostles asked the Lord Jesus that I want you

Corporate Prayer To Increase Faith

Neil Silverberg 50:00

to ask with me tonight today. Remember when they said, Lord, increase our faith. I want to have you join me as we ask God to do that very thing to increase our faith. If you want your faith increased, would you please stand?

SPEAKER_00 50:28

Thank you, Jesus.

Neil Silverberg 50:33

God is faithful to do. And I want to remind you also, there's a gift of the Spirit called faith. And some we need to operate. As I was preparing this message, I felt the importance of us asking God. The elders prayed this morning and asked God as well to increase our faith. Increase our faith in Jesus, increase our increase our faith in his work on our behalf. So, Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus, thank you for the truth about faith that we learned this morning. Thank you for speaking to us from your word. Lord, we've been encouraged and blessed and challenged. And Lord, we pray as a congregation, say it with me. Increase our faith. Lord, we cry out to you and ask you that you give us more faith, that you give the many people in the congregation to operate in the gift of faith. But Lord, increase our faith for daily living, increase our faith for financial support and supply. Priest can increase our faith for healing in our bodies. We ask you for an increase of faith and a new measure of faith. Thank you, and we're thanking you for it. And we expect to hear good reports of people whose faith grew and you did marvelous things. Thank you, Father, in Jesus' name.

unknown 52:00

Amen.