Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. In this verse we see that faith is the substance of hope. Without faith there is no hope. God has given every man a measure of faith and without faith, hope is lost.
I have heard some teach that God gives the measure of faith at the time of you becoming born again in Christ. This is absurd teaching because the scripture plainly states that God is no respecter of persons. A good way to know that every man has a measure of faith is to see that everyone has hope for something. It could be as simple as hope for a newer car, hope for success of their children, hope in your country etc.
Unregenerate men and women have to have a measure, the same measure of faith that you and I have been given. “God has dealt to every man a measure of faith” Romans 12:3.
Without faith, no man could come to Christ and be saved, it would be impossible.
The point here is No Faith = No Hope.
What does it mean to Hope?
We have already seen in scripture that faith is the substance of things hoped for. Since faith is the substance that produces hope, then hope must be the evidence of things not seen. What happens when you hope for something? Well, when I hope for something I see that thing in my mind, and the more I see it, the more I want it.
Let’s take healing as an example. Recently, I had a tooth ache. I look up a few healing scriptures in the bible and stood on them. Even though the pain continued and at times intensified, I stood on the promises of God through Christ and rebuked the pain. I believe God would heal the tooth and not just heal it but recreate that tooth to be normal. Not long ago, I had a crown on that tooth and it fell out leaving a gap that it covered exposed. Today, the pain is gone and the gap is almost closed, praise God!
In order to receive healing you have to have faith in God to produce the hope that he will heal you. Since there are many promises in scripture for bodily healing most of you know already that God wants to heal you. But it takes faith that produces hope first before healing would take place.
Intensify your hope
You have learned that unregenerate man has the same measure of faith that you and I have which produces hope. Without faith there is no hope. Now here is where the teaching that the Holy Spirit gave to me gets interesting.
In Luke 17:5, the apostles ask the Lord, Increase our faith. If you look up that scripture you will find that Jesus was teaching them on forgiving others and the apostles ask him to increase their faith.I guess it is a hard thing for some to forgive. In verse 6 Jesus, said to them; If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root , and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
Faith produces hope, do you see hope in Jesus answer to the apostles?
No?
Don’t feel bad because I didn’t get it the first time either. Here is the hope of the answer, it starts at SAY and finishes at obey you. This is still a little vague, When you read verse 6 do you picture Jesus, standing by the tree and telling the apostles you might say to the tree be pluck up by the root and planted in the sea, can you picture that in your mind?
The tree re-planting itself in the sea?
Anyway that is the picture that I get. When I prayed and stood on scripture that Jesus will heal my tooth and make it normal, I pictured that tooth normal with no gap in it and no pain. Faith produces hope and when hope is produced you can see the end result before it ever takes place.
That is faith producing hope.
It is not a wish.
Now when faith increases, it also intensifies your hope. Faith gets bigger and your hope gets a lot more clear. When hope is intensified and clear, it comes to pass a lot faster. The more you increase your faith, the more your hope intensifies.