Faith Realizes Eternal Realities
Thomas Brooks emphasizes that faith enables believers to perceive and realize the eternal glories and blessings God has prepared for them.
Thomas Brooks emphasizes the power of faith in realizing eternal realities, urging believers to focus on the glory and blessedness that God has prepared for those who love Him. He explains that faith transforms the unseen into the seen, making absent joys, riches, and divine favor present to the soul. By faith, believers can perceive the invisible God and the eternal rewards awaiting them, which are far greater than anything earthly. Brooks illustrates that faith allows the soul to experience the richness of God's promises and the joy of salvation, drawing a vivid picture of the heavenly treasures that await. Ultimately, faith is the lens through which believers can grasp the profound and glorious realities of eternity.
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Faith should set and fix upon that glory, blessedness, and life, which God has laid up for those who love Him. The things of eternity are the greatest things, they are the most excellent things. They are most excellent in their natures, in their causes, in their operations, in their effects, in their ends; and upon these faith looks and lives. Faith realizes eternal realities; it makes absent things present. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," Heb. 11:1. Faith makes absent glory present, absent riches present, absent pleasures present, absent favors present. Faith brings an invisible God, and sets Him before the soul. Moses by faith saw Him who was invisible. Faith brings down the recompense of reward, and sets it really though spiritually before the soul. Faith sets divine favor before the soul. It sets peace with God, it sets pardon of sin, it sets the righteousness of Christ, it sets the joy of heaven, it sets salvation, before the soul; it makes all these things very near and obvious to the soul.
Faith makes invisible things, visible; absent things, present; things which are afar off, to be very near unto the soul. Faith trades in invisible things, in eternal things. Its eye is always upwards, like the fish uranoscopos, which has but one eye, and yet looks continually up to heaven.
Faith enters within the veil, and fixes her eye upon those glorious things of eternity, which are so many that they exceed number, so great that they exceed measure, so precious that they are above all estimation. Says faith, "The spangled skies are but the footstool of my Father's house; and if the footstool, the outside, is so glorious, oh how glorious is His throne! Truly, in heaven there is that life which cannot be expressed, that light which cannot be comprehended, that joy which cannot be fathomed, that sweetness which cannot be dissipated, that feast which cannot be consumed; and upon these pearls of glory I look and live!"
Sermon Outline
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I
- The nature of faith
- Faith as a realization of eternal truths
- The role of faith in perceiving God's glory
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II
- Faith makes absent things present
- The evidence of things not seen
- Faith's ability to bring divine favor close
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III
- Faith's upward gaze
- Trading in invisible and eternal things
- The importance of focusing on heavenly realities
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IV
- The glory of heaven
- The incomprehensible joy and life in eternity
- The significance of heavenly treasures
Key Quotes
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” — Thomas Brooks
“The spangled skies are but the footstool of my Father's house; and if the footstool, the outside, is so glorious, oh how glorious is His throne!” — Thomas Brooks
“In heaven there is that life which cannot be expressed, that light which cannot be comprehended.” — Thomas Brooks
Application Points
- Cultivate a habit of looking towards eternal realities in your daily life.
- Recognize that faith can transform your understanding of what is truly valuable.
- Engage with scripture to deepen your faith and understanding of God's promises.