Faith drives living to love, and that pleases God

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. This verse is a further commentary by the Holy Spirit on Enoch, who was pleasing to God. I hope that everyone listening to this podcast wants to be pleasing to God. We learn in this verse what pleases God. Faith. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. To begin with, let’s purpose to walk by faith today because that’s how the righteous are to live. As it says in Rom. 1:17. “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” Rom. 14:23 gives insight into why it is impossible to please God without faith. Without it, we sin. God says, Paul writes, “Whatever is not from faith is sin.” Or to say it in the positive, if what we do is by faith, it isn’t sin. Is it possible not to sin? Apparently so, for 1 John 3:5-6 attests to it. “You know that He (Jesus) appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins.” So now let’s apply the transitive property of equality. (a=b, b=c, therefore a=c). With faith=no sin; abiding in Christ=no sin; therefore, with faith = abiding in Christ.  In John 15:5, Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” Apart from Jesus, we bear no fruit. Apart from Jesus, we sin. Apart from Jesus, we have no faith. Faith is the evidence that we are united with Jesus. It is actually the witness of Jesus’ life dwelling within. If we are united with Jesus, then it is a fact: God is pleased with us. He works in us, as a gift of grace, the very thing that pleases Him—the faith of His Son. When Jesus’ life (faith) is working in and through us, we can be filled with the joy of the Lord because we know He is pleased.  We also learn two characteristics of God-given faith. First, we believe that God exists as a being outside of creation. And second, we believe God rewards those who seek Him. Apparently, we are to conclude that is what Enoch believed. His walk with God was driven by a faith that endured to the end. The aim of the Spirit of God is to encourage us to 1) continually draw near to God like Enoch did because we believe we are continually in His presence (He is). And 2) continually draw near to Him for grace to help in time of need because we believe He is a rewarder of those who draw near to Him (seek Him). This is also what Jesus believes. That’s how He walked with His Father on the earth and was able to offer Himself as a living sacrifice for our sins. It is the faith of Jesus that drives living to love. Without His faith, it’s impossible to please God. Apart from Him, we can’t do anything but sin. But with Him, we display His fruit and receive the witness that God is well-pleased.