What things?

What is faith?

'Faith' is holding on to the faithfulness of God to fulfil His word in your experience.

[Mark 11 v 22]

The state of expectancy - however long it lasts - is called 'hope'.

John 20:31

'... these are written, that you all might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you all might have life through his name.'

Romans 1 

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God to salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek [all other people].

¹⁷ For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written,

  'The just shall live by faith'.

[Habakkuk 2 vv 1 - 5]

Hebrews 11

¹ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

² For by it the elders obtained a good report.

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.

Hebrews 1 

¹ God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, ² has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

³ Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

⁴ Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

⁵ For to which of the angels said he at any time,

'You are my Son, this day have I begotten you?'

[Psalm 2 v 7]

And again,

'I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?'

[1 Chronicles 17 v 13]

⁶ And again, when he brings in the firstbegotten into the world, he said,

'And let all the angels of God worship him.'

[Psalm 148 v 2]

⁷ And of the angels he said, 

'Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.'

[Psalm 104 vv 3 + 4]

⁸ But to the Son he said,

'Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of your kingdom.

⁹ You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.'

[Psalm 45 vv 6 + 7]

¹⁰ And,

'You, Lord, in the beginning have laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of your hands:

¹¹ They shall perish; but you remain; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; ¹² and as a vesture shall you fold them up, and they shall be changed: but you are the same, and your years shall not fail.'

[Psalm 102 vv 25 - 27]  

Romans 1

²⁰ For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

²¹ because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

²² Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools ...'

²⁸ And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate [unprincipled] mind, to do those things which are not convenient [becoming];

²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness ...'

Romans 2

¹ Therefore you are inexcusable, O man [or woman], whoever you are who judges: for wherein you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge do the same things.

² But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

³ And do you think this, O man [or woman] who judges them who do such things, and you do the same, that you shall escape the judgment of God?

⁴ Or do you despise the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering [patience]; not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

Psalm 30

² O LORD my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me.

³ O LORD, you have brought up my soul from the grave: you have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

⁴ Sing to the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

⁵ For his anger endures but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

⁶ And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.

2 Corinthians 5 ¹⁷

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

¹⁸ And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation ...'

Hebrews 4

⁶ Seeing therefore it remains that some must enter therein [to His rest], and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

⁷ again, he limits a certain day, saying in David,

'To day, after so long a time';

as it is said, 

'To day if you all will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.'

[Psalm 95 v 7b - 11]

⁸ For if Jesus

[Jehoshuah - Numbers 13 v 16 - or Joshua]

had given them rest,

[Joshua chapters 3, 13 & 14]

then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

⁹ There remains therefore a rest [Greek: sabbatismos] to the people of God.

¹⁰ For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

[Genesis 2 vv 1 - 3

Romans 10 vv 1 - 4]

¹¹ Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

¹² For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

¹³ Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

¹⁴ Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

¹⁵ For we have not an high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Matthew 7 [Jesus speaking]

¹³ '... Enter in, all of you, at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be who go in thereat:

¹⁴ because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads to life, and few there be who find it. …

²¹ Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord', shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

²² Many will say to me in that day,

'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?'

²³ And then will I profess to them,

'I never knew you: depart from me, all of you that work iniquity.'

²⁴ Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house upon a rock: ²⁵ and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

²⁶ And every one who hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, shall be likened to a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand: ²⁷ and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it..'

Matthew 16

²¹ From that time forth began Jesus to show to his disciples, how that he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

²² Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying,

'Be it far from you, Lord: this shall not be to thee.'

²³ But he turned, and said to Peter,

'Get you behind me, Satan: you are an offence to me: for thou savour not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.'

²⁴ Then said Jesus to his disciples,

'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

²⁵ For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

²⁶ For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

²⁷ For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.'

Hebrews 11

³² And what shall I more say?

For the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: ³³ who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens [foreigners]. ³⁵

Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: ³⁶ and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: ³⁷ they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; ³⁸ (of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

³⁹ And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: ⁴⁰ God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

'The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord'

This tune (Ewing) is alternative to Aurelia, which is commonly chosen for this hymn of hope for Christians. Words by Samuel J. Stone.

The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord,

She is His new creation by water and the Word.

From heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride;

With His own blood He bought her and for her life He died.

She is from every nation, yet one o'er all the earth;

Her charter of salvation, one Lord, one faith, one birth;

One holy Name she blesses, partakes one holy food,

And to one hope she presses, with every grace endued.

Though with a scornful wonder men see her sore oppressed,

By schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed:

Yet saints their watch are keeping, their cry goes up, "How long?"

And soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song!

'Mid toil and tribulation, and tumult of her war,

She waits the consummation of peace forevermore;

Till, with the vision glorious, her longing eyes are blest,

And the great Church victorious shall be the Church at rest.

Yet she on earth hath union with God the Three in One,

And mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won,

O happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we

Like them, the meek and lowly, on high may dwell with Thee.

Romans 6

⁵ For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his [Christ's] death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: ⁶ knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

⁷ For he that is dead is freed from sin.

⁸ Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: ⁹ knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death has no more dominion over him.

¹⁰ For in that he died, he died to sin once: but in that he lives, he lives to God.

¹¹ Likewise, all of you, reckon also yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹² Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you all should obey it in the lusts thereof.

¹³ Neither yield - all of you - your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin: but yield yourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

¹⁴ For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you all are not under the law, but under grace.

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

¹⁶ Know you all not, that to whom you all yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you all are to whom you all obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?

[John 8 v 34]

Romans 8

⁵ For they that are after [given to] the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after [given to] the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

⁶ For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

⁷ Because the carnal [fleshly] mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

⁸ So then they that are in  the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ But you all are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

¹⁰ And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

¹¹ But if the Spirit of him [the Father] that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.

¹² Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

¹³ For if you all live after the flesh, you all shall die: but if you all through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you all shall live.

¹⁴ For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

¹⁵ For you all have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you all have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

¹⁶ The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Hymn of victory from Deuteronomy 33 v 26 - 29

Jude 1 ²⁴ Now to him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, ²⁵ to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.