Not made of things which do appear

Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Heb 11:2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
Heb 11:3 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.


By faith the elders obtained a good report. We can look back through history and see where faith has been relied upon as opposed to lack of faith. The faithful believe.


Gen 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.


He believed. Abraham believed and it was that belief that was righteousness- not anything else. Out of His belief, out of his faith he lived His life. Did he make mistakes? Yes. Did those mistakes destroy his belief in the LORD? No. We can't let our miserable failures destroy our belief in the LORD, we can't. Satan loves to hold up our mistakes and wave them in our faces, taunting us over and over telling us that we are failures when it comes to the Lord and living for the Lord. Miserable, wretched failures doomed to fail forever. He's right. Yes, I said Satan is right. We are miserable, we are wretched, we are failures in and of ourselves and we will never be anything more as long as Satan exists. Only FAITH can change that, faith in our Savior! Faith that our Savior succeeded in obtaining Salvation for us. We can be as good as gold, we can go days without any obvious sinning, without any obvious mistakes or missteps but that still will not save us- not ever. Only faith in our Savior will save us.


When Satan realizes a person understands they are saved by faith, he'll batter at that faith and do all sorts of things to undermine that faith. As surely as you can have faith, you can lose faith and loss of that faith is deadly. Again I'll recite my favorite Bible verse- Mark 9:24- '...Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief' It's my favorite because believing is having faith, and if there is any part of me that doesn't have faith, if I'm at or ever going to be at a place where I'm doubting my faith I have to cry out to my Savior- help thou mine unbelief! Help me to believe! I don't want to ever stop believing! I don't ever want to lose my faith in my Savior to save me.


So when we read about the elders obtaining a good report by faith it's no surprise is it? Not really, because we know each one of those elders is a human, born into the world just like you and I. Those elders believed in God- not themselves. Those elders weren't perfect in themselves but rather had faith in God to save them.


Heb 11:3 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.


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.


Outright we are told things are going to appear different from the fact God created the worlds. Even today we have famed scientist touting their belief that God did not create the world. What are they basing their supposed irrefutable facts on? Things that appear a certain way. Without faith you won't understand that God created the world, it's impossible without faith. Without believing, without faith, without understanding that we won't have evidence - the evidence men without faith demand- we can't understand that God created the worlds.


You want to be an intellectual giant who can pat themselves on the back soundly and puff out your chest while swelling your head so big you can't fit through the largest doorway- then sure go ahead and lack faith, live with your self-delusions, live with your sense of self-grandeur but tell me- can you create a world? Can you create something from nothing? Are you willing to believe that you exist by mere chance? Are you saying that you believe in nothing? You probably are believing and saying all that and you're happy to do so because in your own mind it makes you appear wise, much wiser than those deluded fools willing to believe in something they can't see. As long as you claim self-wisdom you'll never be able to claim God's wisdom. Hold onto your self righteousness, it's your prerogative, your choice to make- but in the end self-righteousness will fail you - it fails everyone.


God's righteousness alone will save.


Believing that things were made differently than how they appear to have been made isn't foolishness. Us created beings daring to believe we can control and understand all of life is foolishness.


You think about how today's science has enabled man to put into barren wombs a fertilize egg to create a human being and some believe men are the creators, that this is wrong. Can all women still bear children this way? Has barrenness been done away with? No and no. When God shuts a womb no amount of science from man will enable a woman to bear a child. God's will- will be done ultimately no matter how much men of science, men who refuse to believe by faith that the worlds were created by God, try to convince themselves and others differently.


Faith- not believing by sight, but believing by not seeing.
Faith- hope.



May God open our hearts and minds to His truths by faith. May our faith only increase. May our faith be of the purest quality. May Jesus, our Lord and Savior be our everything, sight unseen.



In His amazing love! By His holiness! Through His grace, His righteousness, His mercy forever!



Amen.