Biblical Faith

Bulletin

Dan Peters
02/12/23 - Faith

Biblical faith is found in Hebrews 11:6 which says, “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.” There are two parts to this verse. 1). Believe God exists. 2). Seek God. Too many preachers only stress the first part, that there is a God. But demons believe there is a God (James 2:19), and this alone does not do them any good. The Hebrew writer puts the stress on the second part. How to seek God, that is how to seek to please him. He gives us several examples of how to seek to please God.
“Heb. 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” More than believing that there is a God, Noah believed that God was going to destroy the world because of the “wickedness of man was great” (Gen. 6:5). Then to escape the coming flood, he “prepared” an ark according to God’s word. Noah obeyed.
“Heb. 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.” So both Noah and Abraham believed so much what God said, they obeyed. Noah and Abraham both pleased God by their response to what they heard God say. Their faith moved them to obey God.
Today we obey God through listening to Jesus (Hebrews 1:1-2, 2:3). Those who do not obey Jesus are not pleasing to him. I must not only believe there is a true, living “Jesus”, but also seek Jesus by my obedience to him. I am not to obey out of a self-righteous attitude, but obeying out of my faith in him. I must seek Jesus by obeying his sermons, and everything he said. There are 5 sermons of Jesus in the book of Matthew (chapters 5-7, 10, 13, 18, 23-25). Do not change his sermons, Jesus said (Mat. 5:19). Once a person reads or hears his sermons, he has a decision to make. Will I believe and obey, or just say “yeah, I believe in Jesus and go on my merry way”. For those who seek to please Jesus, he says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” (Mat. 28:19-20). So “make disciples” comes in 2 parts. When a person has faith in Jesus and his teaching he gets baptized. Secondly, “observe all that I commanded you”. Obeying Jesus out of our faith in him, including his church sermon (Mat. 18), his discipleship sermon (Mat. 5-7) etc. His wish is our command.
Dan Peters