Faith is Essential To Please God

Hebrews 10:35-11:1-7

“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” (Hebrews 10:35-39)

In Luke 14, Jesus used the examples of a man building a house and a king going to war to illustrate the need of counting the cost and being willing to pay the price before getting involved. A person who is not willing to commit completely cannot be his disciple. The last part of Hebrews, after chapter 6 is for those who seem to have committed. The faith that saves makes that commitment, and acts on it according to James 2. Here, the author examines what such faith is like.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” (Hebrews 11:1-3)

God pleasing faith is a faith that can accept God’s statements about creation. Faith which cannot will never save a person. It is not a blind faith with no understanding of the effect on ourselves, but a total conviction that God has done and will do what he has promised. It commits to obedience even despite seeming contradictions and failures, having already counted the cost.

“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.“ (Hebrews 11:4)

Cain offered an offering of what was easily obtained, and which cost him little in extra effort or emotional value. Abel, on the other hand , offered a sacrifice of emotional value, requiring extra effort to give, simply because it was what God had specified. Cain offered what he wanted to give. He assumed that God must accept what he offered, that he, not God, was the authority. It is very much like telling the government that you will not pay your tax rate, but a lower one. They will not be pleased either, and will not settle for what you want to give.

“By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:5-6)

Genesis 5:21-24 describes Enoch’s life. “And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” The primary statement is that he “walked with God.” This implies he maintained an attitude of respect and trust such that he associated freely with God. We do not associate with those we don’t trust or don’t believe very long. He pleased God.

Verse 6 makes it clear that it is impossible to please God without faith, both in his existence, and in his rewards for those who serve him. Romans 14:23b warns, “for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” The warning comes in the teaching that mechanical obedience to rules is not required to please God. Hebrews 4:2 states that the same things as others received had a different result because faith was left out. “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” Noah illustrated this fact, in warning the world as a “preacher of righteousness

“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. “ (Hebrews 11:7)

Noah’s survival makes it obvious the others died as a result of their own choices. His obedience condemns them for their refusal to believe. His actions also earned him the righteousness which is by faith. He had never seen rain, but he believed God, and built the ark as God directed.