Hebrews 11:1-7 MSG

Faith in What We Don’t See

11 1-2 The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm

foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we

can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the

crowd.

3 By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created

by what we don’t see.

4 By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what

he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference. That’s what God noticed

and approved as righteous. After all these centuries, that belief continues to catch our

notice.

5-6 By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. “They looked all over and

couldn’t find him because God had taken him.” We know on the basis of reliable

testimony that before he was taken “he pleased God.” It’s impossible to please God

apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe

both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.

7 By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something

he couldn’t see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His

act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness

of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God.

John 3:15-21… NKJV / MSG / AMPC

NKJV

15 that whoever believes in Him should [a] not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so

loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him

should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the

world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is

condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son

of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men

loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone

practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be

exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly

seen, that they have been done in God.”

MSG

13-15 “No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down

from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in

the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for

the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and

expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.

16-18 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And

this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a

whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point

an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world

right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has

long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that

person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

19-21 “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women

everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not

really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted

to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful

exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the

work can be seen for the God-work it is.”

AMPC

15 In order that everyone who believes in Him [who cleaves to Him, trusts Him, and

relies on Him] may [a] not perish, but have eternal life and [actually] live forever!

16 For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only

begotten ( [b] unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on)

Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

17 For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn,

to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made

safe and sound through Him.

18 He who believes in Him [who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him] is not judged [he

who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is no rejection, no

condemnation—he incurs no damnation]; but he who does not believe (cleave to, rely

on, trust in Him) is judged already [he has already been convicted and has already

received his sentence] because he has not believed in and trusted in the name of the

only begotten Son of God. [He is condemned for refusing to let his trust rest in Christ’s

name.]

19 The [basis of the] judgment (indictment, the test by which men are judged, the ground

for the sentence) lies in this: the Light has come into the world, and people have loved

the darkness rather than and more than the Light, for their works (deeds) were evil.

20 For every wrongdoer hates (loathes, detests) the Light, and will not come out into the

Light but shrinks from it, lest his works (his deeds, his activities, his conduct) be

exposed and reproved.

21 But he who practices truth [who does what is right] comes out into the Light; so that

his works may be plainly shown to be what they are—wrought with God [divinely

prompted, done with God’s help, in dependence upon Him].