Title Deed Faith
I am reminded of when I bought my first car from a dealership. I paid it off early. Weeks later I got the title in the mail. I felt like I had accomplished something. Paid in full. It was mine. Something no one could take from me. The title meant that I did not owe anything else. The title represented ownership of the car.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
Faith is the substance- the word for substance is the same word used to describe the person of the Lord Jesus as expressing the very image of God in human form. In everyday Greek, the word is used to depict title deeds. A title deed gives substance to a person’s claim to property.
Faith gives us the title deed to things hoped for.
Faith has to do with things we long for, things still unsatisfied as yet
Faith gives us all the evidence we need for things we have not yet seen.
Faith has to do with things we look for, things still unseen as yet.
Faith is the substance- the word for substance in everyday Greek, is used to depict title deeds. A title deed gives substance to a person’s claim to property.
Abraham shows us how faith is the title deed, the guarantee, the substance, of things hopes for. Abraham longed for a son. The years passed, and the son did not come. He grew older. He passed the age when he could still hope.
Romans 4:18-21 Paul says, In hope against hope Abraham believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.” Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.
the thing he longed for was a real possession of his before ever the promise son was born. That is to say, he already had the boy’s birth certificate in his hand (in God’s pledged word), before he had the child in his arms. God’s word was the ground of his faith and assurance. The thing he longed for was already his – by faith.
Faith defies reason, it moves mountains, it never gives up. Faith says, “God is working out His perfect will in my life, and I can wait, endure, and suffer trusting that God knows what is best for me.” Faith does not make anything easy, but it does make ALL THINGS possible.
Noah shows us how faith is the evidence, the proof of things unseen. God told Noah He was going to send a flood. It seems likely that Noah had never seen a flood. Genesis 2:5-6 says, “No shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But “a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.”
It would indicate that he had never seen rain. He had never seen the windows of heaven opened or the fountains of the great deep erupt.
But God spoke, and Noah believed God and set out to obey Him by building an ark, even though there were no actual signs of the promised flood. In sure anticipation of things not seen as yet, but most surely to be expected in God’s time, Noah built an ark. The threatened judgement was delayed for 120 years. The ark was finished at last. Still sure that the flood would come, Noah and his family entered the ark and still the flood did not come. Nothing happened for a whole week, but Noah had no doubt, God’s word was God’s word. A whole week later the “proof based on faith” became “proof based on fact.” The rain begin to fall.
What is it that you are trusting God for? What is it that God has already promised you? By faith we believe. Know that your title deed is proof that you own what he says is yours. Take ownership today. Long for it, look for it, for it will come to pass.
