Proverbs 14:26-27 (NLT)
Those who fear the LORD are secure; he will be a place of refuge for their children.
Fear of the LORD is a life-giving fountain; it offers escape from the snares of death.
Let me always honor you, Lord. Help me be wise enough to avoid evil choices, and this is fearing the You – not a paralysing state based in not knowing Your eternal grace.
John @ Logan Christian Fellowship, Waterford West
“God-Pleasing Faith”
Hebrews 11
Everyone has faith. We have faith in everyday things we are not experts in and do not understand. Sometimes it can be misplaced.
Buddhists place faith in Buddha, Muslims in Allah. Most religious people have faith in a set of rules wgmhich somehow qualify them for their desired eternity.
Even atheists have faith in their human potential, and their knowledge.
Hebrews 11 is a break in the thought of the book. Hebrews basically asserts, “Jesus is better”. The Jews had faith in the Law of Moses. But Jesus’ Truth is that no one can qualify, but the reward of eternity is a gift only God can give, through simple faith in Jesus the promised Saviour.
Hebrews 11 teaches this by examples of people who had no knowledge of the Messiah, and yet qualified for “The Hall of Faith” by their unfaltering faith in God.
Do you want to be someone who pleads God? Then the examples in Hebrews 11 can show us how.
Hebrews 11:1-3 (NLT)
[1] What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see. [2] God gave his approval to people in days of old because of their faith.
[3] By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.
“Faith is seeing the invisible, but not the non-existent.” – A.W. Tozer
Biblical faith is NOT a blind leap in the dark, a disengagement of your God-given brain.
Order does not come from chaos (evolutionary and unreasonable faith), and where there is a design, there must be a Designer.
Biblical faith is NOT the ability to manipulate God. It’s not us knowing God will do what we say, but that God will do what HE says. It is NOT us adhering to a system of doctrines. Faith will always result in heart-felt worship.
Hebrews 11:4 (NLT)
[4] It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. God accepted Abel’s offering to show that he was a righteous man. And although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us because of his faith.
Hebrews 11:5-6 (NLT)
[5] It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“suddenly he disappeared because God took him.”* But before he was taken up, he was approved as pleasing to God. [6] So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
Will “he walked with God” be how the rest of my life will be able to be described when I’m gone?
Noah is more well known, and is an example of faith fueling work for God.
Hebrews 11:7 (NLT)
[7] It was by faith that Noah built an ark to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about something that had never happened before. By his faith he condemned the rest of the world and was made right in God’s sight.
Abrahams faith inspired him to wait for God with confidence.
Hebrews 11:8-10 (NLT)
[8] It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. [9] And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in a tent. And so did Isaac and Jacob, to whom God gave the same promise. [10] Abraham did this because he was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.
Hebrews 11:13 (NLT)
[13] All these faithful ones died without receiving what God had promised them, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed the promises of God. They agreed that they were no more than foreigners and nomads here on earth.
