Faith reflects an honour upon all those who have lived by it.
that they should not forfeit the character and happiness of the just and fall under the brand and misery of the wicked (Heb. x. 39). "But we are not''; as if he had said, I hope we are not of them who draw back. I hope you and I, who have met with great trials already, and have been supported under them by the grace of God strengthening our faith, shall not be at any time left to ourselves, to draw back to perdition; but that God will still keep us by His mighty power through faith unto salvation. If we live in faith, and die in faith, our souls are safe for ever.
7. FAITH AND HOPE (a) Faith "ts the substance of things hoped for'' (Heb. xi. 1). Faith and hope go together. The same things that are the object of our hope are the object of our faith. It is a firm persuasion and expectation that God will perform all that He has promised to us in Christ. This persuasion is so strong that it gives the soul a kind of possession and present fruition of those things, gives them a subsistence in the soul by the first-fruits and foretastes of them. So that believers in the exercise of faith are filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Christ dwells in the soul by faith, and the soul is filled with the fullness of God —as far as his present measure will admit, he experiences a substantial reality in the objects of faith.
(b) Faith is "the evidence of things not seen''. Faith demonstrates to the eye of the mind the reality of those things that cannot be discerned by the eye of the body. Faith is the firm assent of the soul to the divine revelation, and every part of it, and sets its seal that God is true. It is full approbation of all that God has revealed as holy, just, and good, and it helps the soul to make application of all to itself, with suitable affections and endeavours. So it is designed to serve the believer instead of sight, and to be to the soul all that the senses are to his body.
That faith is but opinion or fancy that does not realise invisible things to the soul, and excite the soul to act in accordance to the nature and importance of them.
8. FarrH Gains a Goop REportT
Faith reflects an honour upon all those who have lived by it. "By it elders obtained a good report" (Heb. xi. 2). We see, then: (4) That true faith is our old grace, and has the best plea to antiquity. It is not a new invention, a modern fancy. It is a Faith oF grace that has been planted in the soul of man ever since the covenant of grace was published in the world. It has been practised from the beginning of the revelation. The eldest and best men who were ever in the world were believers.
(6) That their faith was their honour. It reflected honour upon them. They were an honour to their faith, and their faith was an honour to them. It led them to do the things which were of good report. God has taken care that a record shall be kept, and report made, of the excellent things they did in the strength of this grace. The genuine actings of faith will bear to be reported, and deserve to be reported, and will, when reported, redound to the honour of true believers.
g. THE ARTICLES OF FAITH
We have here, then, the first acts and article of faith. These are common to all believers in every age and part of the world.
(1) That these worlds, the upper, middle, and lower regions of the universe, were not eternal, nor did they produce themselves, but they were made by another.
(2) That the maker of the world is God. He is the maker of all things, and whoever is so must be God.
(3) That He made the world with great exactness. It was a framed work, in every thing only adapted and disposed to answer its end, and to express the perfections of the Creator.
(4) That God made the world by His word. That is to say, by His essential wisdom, and eternal Son, and by His active will saying, Let it be done, and it was done (Ps. xxxili. 9).
(5) That the world was thus framed out of nothing, out of no pre-existent mother, contrary to the received maxim, that out of nothing nothing can be made, which, though true of created power, can have no place with God, who can call things that are not as if they were, and command them into being.
These things we understand by faith.
Great Themes of the Bible
SERMON OUTLINE
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH
(a) The Meaning of Righteousness (b) The Meaning of Faith
Man's NEED OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (a) The Jew in Particular (6) 'The World in General
Gop's PROVISION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (a) It is Manifested in the Gospel (6) It is Independent of the Law (c) It is Attested by the Scriptures (d) It is Operative through Faith (e) It is Available for All.
III.
THE Case OF ABRAHAM (an illustration) (a) He was not Justified by His Works
IV.
(56) His Faith was Reckoned to Him for Righteousness (c) His Justification was an Act of Grace