The substance of our faith

Romans 8:9-25 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. ¹⁰ If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹ But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

¹² So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— ¹³ for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. ²³ And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. ²⁴ For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Today’s text ends saying:  In hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.  Hebrews 11:1 says:   Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  2 Corinthians 5:7 says:   We walk by faith, not by sight.   There is a continuity in these verses regarding our inability to see the things of faith and hope. While hope and faith work together, there is a difference in between them. We have hope for something we want, something we eagerly wait for. When we have faith, we believe it is ours even though we cannot see it yet. As Hebrews says, faith is the substance of hope, and there is evidence to faith even though it is not seen. Faith is tangible. Just as hope and faith are partners in what is good, worry and fear are their counterparts regarding what is not good. We hope for what we want; we worry that we will get what we don’t want. Fear is the opposite of faith. It is believing more in what we don’t want than in what we do want. Look at what the Lord says in Revelation 21:8:   The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.    We need to understand then how important it is for us to walk in; to operate in hope and faith rather than fear, worry and unbelief, because fear and unbelief are sin. How can we do it though? How can we hope for and believe that which cannot be seen when what we see and experience is opposite of what we want. The text says:  If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.  According to the Lord’s words in Revelation, fear, unbelief and worry is sin. The role of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of sin and guide us in truth. Once we acknowledge that fear and worry are sin, we can overcome it by confessing and repenting. We turn from fear to faith, not believing what we see, but believing Jesus. Our faith is not only not dependent on what we see and experience, it is also not dependent on ourselves, but rather on the Spirit of God that dwells in us. We overcome fear and worry because our faith is in Christ who in John 16:33 says:  “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”   

The text says:  For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,  and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.   Because of our faith, we know that we are God’s children. We are heirs with Christ. Despite what we might experience in this life, the tribulations, the difficulties and suffering, we know that we have an inheritance from God and we will be glorified with Him. That confidence, that believing, that faith is what led the psalmist in Psalm 23:4 to say: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me…  Even death is nothing to fear because God is with us. Because of the inheritance we have in Him and from Him, the glory of eternal life with Him, death has no lasting power over us. It is merely a shadow. It can be seen, but it has no substance.  Hebrews 4:14-16 says:   Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.   Our inheritence in Christ, the one who has overcome the world, grants us the position of being a child of God. Because of God’s grace we can boldly come to the omnipotent God of the universe and get the help we need from Abba Father, our Daddy.  Our Daddy says: “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

The text says:  I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope  that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.  And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved.    Regardless of what we are experiencing currently it is not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Consider that even a lifetime of difficulty and suffering is merely a shadow that passes in the scheme of eternity. This life with all of its difficulties will pass and we will be forever with our Abba Father. Then, all of eternity will not be enough to fully experience His glory. Consider the lyric from the hymn “Amazing Grace,” When we've been there ten thousand years... bright shining as the sun. We've no less days to sing God's praise...
then when we've first begun.

Thank You heavenly Father, Abba; Lord Jesus Christ, in whom I have overcome and precious Holy Spirit, my guiding and abiding strength. All of this life is truly just a shadow. All darkness will be removed in the presence of Your glory and light. Whenever fear or worry come to me, I will turn to Your light and glory so that they will flee. I have faith and confidence in my inheritance.    Amen.