Hebrews 11 and the Power of Belief

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The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent love.

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What is faith? Is it a leap in the dark? Is it a feeling or an intuition? Or is it just a nice Christian word? Well, welcome to Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee. I’m Steve Schwetz, and this time on the Bible Bus, we’re traveling through the New Testament book of Hebrews chapter 11. and discovering the best explanation of faith that you can find. You know why? Well, because it’s God’s definition. So grab your seat on the Bible bus and get comfortable. And as you do, Greg and I have got some terrific news about Through the Bible’s home groups around the world.

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Yes, and if you’re a newer listener, home groups are just home Bible studies as old as the New Testament, Book of Acts kind of stuff, where people listen to a half-hour teaching of Dr. McGee in their mother tongue.

SPEAKER 04 : 1:02

Yeah, that’s key.

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And the transformation is incredible, and we’ve got some great testimonies from our home group movement.

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Yeah, here’s the first one. This is from Kieran in the Indian state of Gujarat. We’re very thankful to God for the home group. We feel overjoyed after listening to the Word of God in the Barley language. We get to learn new things every week. It has helped me also with translation work I’m involved with. I am very grateful to God that my wife, who is a non-believer, is also listening to the Word of God with us, and God is working in her life. This is a new joy and hope for my family. Please pray for us.

SPEAKER 03 : 1:38

And Steve, you and I have seen it with our own eyes in places like Bangladesh, India, Nepal. The evangelistic impact of these studies is incredible. Yeah. Now, here’s a home group member in Bangladesh who listens in the Bengali Muslimi language. Before listening to the audio lessons, I used to use profane language with my friends, neighbors and even my parents. After listening to the lessons, the Lord spoke to my heart, asking me to change my bad habits, and I responded. Now I don’t use this language with anyone like I’d done before. Thank you for helping me come nearer to God through his word so he can speak to me.

SPEAKER 05 : 2:17

So encouraging. And we’ve got another one from Bangladesh from another listener of the Bengali Muslimi program. My name is Samuel, and I am a leader of our home group. I have received a media kit and am pleased for the opportunity to listen to the word of God. Listening and praying together with our family members has become our habit now. This media kit is helping us to grow together spiritually.

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Yeah, and Steve, as I mentioned, you and I have been both together and separately in different parts of South Asia and now Ethiopia. Yeah. Where God is moving the home groups. What do you think it is that makes these such a powerful ministry model?

SPEAKER 05 : 2:55

You know, I just think it’s different. It’s not that radio is not effective, but in a home group, you’re in a Bible study. You’re opening God’s Word together. Yeah. Studying God’s word and learning theology best happens in community. And that’s what the home groups do. And I just think of that time we went down that dirt road. I don’t know if we were on a rickshaw or what we were in, but we went into this literally a tin shed. This guy, his name could have been Samuel. He’s got his Bible open. He’s got a radio media player there. And the people huddled in that room that basically was a king-sized bed, which was their bed, their living room, and their dining room, I think.

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Yeah, I think so.

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And off to the side. And just seeing that… Studying God’s word, playing the audio for a little bit, reading the scripture, and then talking about it is communion with God. It’s fellowship.

SPEAKER 03 : 3:41

Yes. And so many of these cultures are communal. And so it’s a great way people are interested in listening to things together. And one reason we call them radio home groups, even though there’s often not what we would call a radio involved, is community. They think they’re listening to their favorite radio program. And so the power of this is in the great biblical content, the community. And then, of course, there’s a lot of evangelism that takes place.

SPEAKER 05 : 4:06

Yeah. And the one thing that we would ask you to do in relation to the home groups is to pray for us. There is significant opportunity and we need the Lord to open those doors for us. And he has been so faithful all over the world. Greg, why don’t you pray for us as well?

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Father, we bless your name and praise you that you have opened up this door for us to get Dr. McGee’s teaching in hundreds of languages to people. And we’ve seen the power of your word in people’s lives. And we pray you’d continue to do that in our own lives today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Here’s Dr. J. Vernon McGee with our study of Hebrews 11 on Through the Bible.

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Now, friends, in many ways, we’re coming down to that which is very practical. And it’s quite interesting that it’s called the faith chapter because the average person does not think faith is a very practical sort of thing. But we’re going to be in this chapter now for several times. And first of all, we have a definition of faith. And it’s a scriptural definition. So let’s stay with that for just a moment here today. He says, now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now, that is a scriptural definition of faith. And the reason now that he’s turning to this very important word is because God today has just two ways. And you can come to him by works. And somebody says, I didn’t know you believed that. Yes, if you can present perfection, God will accept you. But so far, nobody’s been able to make it. Adam didn’t, and no one else has ever made it. Abraham didn’t, and David didn’t, and Daniel didn’t. None of them made it by being perfect. And therefore, that way is not a very satisfactory way, yet there are a great many people who that are coming along, hobbling along that route, and they’re not getting there. Now, the only other alternative that is open to us today here is faith. We come to God by faith. Now, somebody says, well, that’s not a very satisfactory way at all. Well, let me say this before we get to this definition. You remember the little girl was asked, what is faith? And she came up with a good answer. She says, well, faith is believing what you know ain’t so. And a great many people think that it’s that. There are those that think it’s a leap in the dark. Therefore, it’s a sort of a gamble. It’s an uncertainty. Well, if it’s that to you, then, friends, you do not have faith. Faith here, it’s a substance of things hoped for. It’s an evidence of things not seen. And therefore, faith rests on a foundation. And then there are others that think faith is a great mystery. It’s a sort of a sixth sense that if you have some intuition into the spiritual realm, it’s a sort of an open sesame to a new world. It’s like belonging to a secret order. You must get initiated. And there’s some mystical works that God will accept in lieu of good works. Just so you believe hard enough. Well, friends, the demons do a pretty good job of believing. They’re not saved. And by the way, this type of faith ministers today to that area. We have a lot of cults and isms today that are demonic and are run by demons. Faith for these people becomes sort of a fetish. It’s sort of a good luck charm that you hang around your neck and carry along with you. But faith is not that. Spurgeon put it like this. It’s not thy hold on Christ that saves thee. It’s Christ. It’s not thy joy in Christ that saves thee. It’s Christ. It’s not even thy faith in Christ that saves thee, though that be the instrument. It is Christ’s blood and merit. That’s what saves you, friend. And faith just lays hold of it. That’s all. Faith is not something, therefore, that is mysterious at all. It is that which looks to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, faith is not something that’s added to good works like character. Some folk in our churches today treat it like a salad with a dressing on it. Faith is the salad dressing. You have a salad and you put French dressing on it. You put blue cheese on it. You put an Italian dressing on it. And a great many people today, they just add good works. Well, my friend, that’s not faith at all. Now, he says here two things. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And I like very much what Dr. J. Oswald Sanders of the old China Inland Mission has written. He says, faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen. Well, that’s good. But now let’s look here at the scriptural definition. Faith is the substance. It’s the substance. Now, what are we talking about here when we say substance? Well, the word in the Greek is hypostasis. It actually is a scientific term, and it’s the opposite from hypothesis. That is an hypothesis, a theory. It is that which rests upon facts, by the way. What is a hypostasis? Well, it’s a substance. In chemistry, it would be the chemical that settles at the bottom of the test tube after you’ve made an experiment. They would give me in chemistry when I was in college a test tube, and then they’d ask me to, you know, to find out what was in it. They gave every student in class a test tube like that, you know. I always felt that if they didn’t know, why give it to me? But I took that and I would take some of it and I’d put a chemical with it, another chemical, and I’d put it on the Bunsen burner. And I nearly blew up the laboratory one day experimenting because it had something in it. He shouldn’t have given it to me, by the way. And the janitor that swept out that laboratory, I was back at the college about five years after that, he says, you know, Dr. McGee, I still sweep up little pieces of that big glass Florentine bottle that you were experimenting with. Well, I was trying to collect gas. I thought it was some kind of a gas. And it was. Blew up the laboratory, by the way, fortunately. Why, just put glass in my vest. I didn’t bend down. If it had, it would have got my eyes, I’m sure. Well, that that’s in the bottom of that test tube, that’s the substance. That’s what you were looking for. That is the reality. Now, that is what faith is. Faith is a substance. Dr. A.T. Robertson translated it like this. It’s the title deeds. Now, what is the title deed? What is the substance? It’s the Word of God, my friend. Now, if your faith does not rest upon the Word of God, it’s not Bible faith at all. It has to rest upon what God says. And actually, it means to believe God. Now, let me come back to that test tube that I talked about. I never did too well with it. But finally, after I worked at that thing for over two weeks, I went to the professor and I said, I think this is what it is. You see this in the bottom? I’ve tested it. And I said, I think it’s this kind of a powder. And he said, you’re right. That’s what it did. Well, I had a substance. I had something there. You see, now I wasn’t sure, I’ll be honest with you, but he was because he knew more chemistry than I did. And he had been through that experiment before. Now, my friend, the question is, Whether you believe God or not, don’t come up with this idea that you’ve got intellectual problems, because that won’t work. The thing that keeps men from the Word of God is sin. It’s sin in your life that’s keeping you from coming to God, you see. It’s the heart that needs to believe. It’s the heart that believeth under righteousness. You see, when you’re ready to give up your sin, The Holy Spirit will make real to you the Word of God. And that’s one reason a very fine man who heads up a very wonderful organization in this country sent me a book. And I’m sure he sent it out to a group of ministers that he wanted their evaluation of the book. Now, it’s a very fine book, by the way, but it’s in the realm of apologetics, proving that the Bible is the Word of God. Now, it’s one of the best I’ve seen. And I wrote him and told him that I found that it was that. But I said very candidly, I’ve come to the place in my ministry where a book like that is of no value to me. And you know why? Because I already believe it’s the Word of God. I’ve already been through all those little experiments, you see. I’ve taken the test tube, and I have put some on the Bunsen burner, and I have poured a chemical, hydrochloric acid, on some more of it. And I found out what it was. I have found out, and there is a man that has written me quite a letter, and he says I’m dogmatic, and I ought not to be dogmatic. My friend, you listen to me now. I’m dogmatic. I know the Bible is the Word of God. You know how I know it? Because I put it in a test tube. I’ve made the experience. And now faith is the substance of things hoped for. I know it’s the Word of God. The Spirit of God has made it real to me. That’s what Paul prayed for the Colossians. He says that you might come to the place, that you might know the will of God. Well, to know the will of God is to know the word of God, that you might know the word of God. And then he called it epigonosis. There were Gnostics in that day that professed to have super knowledge. Paul says, I want you to have real super knowledge. I want you to know that the Bible is the Word of God. Now, I believe the Holy Spirit will make that real to you. Now, don’t misunderstand. I went through a period as a college student where I almost gave up the ministry. In fact, I went to God in prayer because there was an unbelieving professor. And he was an ordained Presbyterian preacher. He was taking the rug out from under me and taking it out fast. Because I’ve always admired a man who’s an intellectual, whoever he is. And I admired that man. And I want to tell you, he was about to rob me of my faith. Then I met a man that had two degrees for every degree this professor had. And he put me back on the track. He showed me there’s an answer to those questions. And so I’ve got the answer for myself. May not convince you, but it certainly convinces me. And I’ve got a substance in the bottom of the test tube today. Don’t tell me to make the experiment today. I don’t need to make the experiment today. I know it’s the Word of God. Therefore, it rests upon the Word of God. And my friend, the dogmatism is in this book here. And that’s the reason he said that last verse, 39. But we are not of them who draw back under perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. There’s not but two ways to go. Either you’re going to go backwards or you’re going to go forward. Because anything that is alive today can’t stand still. You’ve either got to go one way or the other. And out yonder in the forest, there is deterioration taking place and there is regression, but there’s also growth and development taking place. And there’s nothing out there that’s alive that’s standing still. It just can’t do that. It won’t do that. Now, faith is a substance of things hoped for. Not scientific, by the way. Now, the second thing, it’s the evidence of things not seen. Now, we have another word here, and the word for evidence is elenchos. It means to convict. When I was studying classical Greek in college, I looked this word up. In the trial of Socrates, and it was used, I think, 23 times in Plato’s account of it. Elenchos, a legal term, by the way. And this is something you can take into court and prove it. And this is something today that the entire business world rests upon. Business today is transacted by faith. I have a credit card. In fact, I have a stack of them. And I drive into a filling station. I hand the man the card. And you know, he’s got to have a lot of faith to take my card. He takes it. He believes that the oil company will pay him. And he believes that I’m the owner of the car. I say he has a lot of faith. And he believes that I’m going to pay it in the long run. And the interesting thing, the oil company thinks I’m going to pay it. In fact, they know I’m going to pay it because they’ll take the card away from me. But the thing is, it’s faith all the way through. A man that writes out a check and will accept a check. That man is moving by faith, my friend. All right? This is elenchos. It’s evidence. Evidence that is accepted in a court of law. You see, faith is not a leap in the dark. Faith is not a hope so. Faith is substance and evidence. substance for a scientific mind, evidence for the legal mind. If you really want to believe, you can believe. And you can believe a lot of foolish things also. But God doesn’t want you to do that. God wants it to rest upon the Word of God. Now, he moves on from there and he says, “…for by it,” that is, by faith, “…the elders obtained a good report.” Now, who in the world are the elders? Well, the elders could be one of three different groups. The first group, it could be just a group of old people, by the way. And it could be an office that was in the New Testament. You remember Paul talked to young Titus that he was to appoint elders. That’s one of the offices. And it could refer to that. Or it could refer to the Old Testament saints. We had that at the beginning in verse 1 of Hebrews. It says that God spoke in time past unto the fathers or elders. Now, I think that it would be that. For by such faith as this, the… Fathers received witness, you see. They believed God. These Old Testament worthies did. And for them, it was not a leap in the dark. It was not a hope so. It rested upon evidence, by the way. Noah built an ark, as we’re going to see, did it by faith. Well, what kind of faith? Just some dream he had? No, God gave him an abundance of evidence. He walked with God for many years. You see, the problem with many of us today is that when the crisis comes to us and we ought to be able to rest in God and lay hold of him, We haven’t been doing it. It’s such a new experience that it’s very difficult for us to. You see, when you trust God when the sun is shining, It’s easier to trust him on the day when there’s dark, lowering clouds in the sky and you’re in the storm of life. But the elders, they obtained a good report. How? Because they were such wonderful people. No, they believed God. Abraham, I think he’s a wonderful man. I think probably Abraham had more going for him than probably the best Christian today. He was an outstanding individual. Even the world would have counted him an outstanding man. But, you know, we are told that by faith. That Abraham believed God and that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for what righteousness. Not his good works, but he believed God. The elders obtained a good report. How did they do it? They did it by faith. And God wants us today not only saved by faith, walked by faith. Christ died down here to save us. We look back in faith to him. We walk today by faith. We look up to him, the living Christ today. That gets right down where the rubber meets the road, you see. That’s for right now. That’s for today. That’s for, well, are you going to go shopping? You’re going to go to work? You’re going to go to school? Go into some social engagement? Well, then go buffet. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. We walk by faith and not by sight. That’s the way God wants us to walk today. Now we come to the third verse here. And we read here, “…through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Now there are two explanations for the origin of of this universe. One is speculation and the other is revelation. By faith, you accept revelation. And friends, by faith, you will accept speculation. And speculation has many theories. Many of them have been ditched. Right now, it’s evolution. But it’s the best that they can hold on. But it’s speculation. And you sure have to have a lot of faith to go along with it. But I’m going to have to leave off right there. I want to talk about that next time. So until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

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Are you walking by faith? Are you looking to the Lord Jesus Christ in whatever you do or whatever you’re going through? 1-800-65-BIBELS Now, if our journey on the Bible bus really spoke to you, or you want to share the lessons on faith with someone in your life, be sure to download our free booklet on Hebrews 11, Firm Up Your Faith, How to Have Confidence in God. You can get it right now at ttb.org forward slash booklets for free, or call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE if we can help you find it. I’m Steve Schwetz, and as always, I’ll meet you back here as the Bible bus rolls along in Hebrews.

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Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.

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Our journey on the Bible bus today is supported by the prayers and gifts of fellow passengers as we travel through the Bible.