"Faith That Pleases God" Series

Let’s have just a couple of definitions of faith and then go to list some of the things we as Christians believe or have faith in, that are distinctive to Christianity.

Faith is believing to the point of a settled conviction of the heart that translates into the attitudes and actions of life.

Faith itself is evidence of that which is invisible to the physical senses. When faith translates into action all who see witness the evidence of that which is not seen by their eyes. [Faith is the evidence of things not seen – vs 1]

Ok, so what are some of the things we have faith in as believers? I picked this list out of the text of Hebrews 11.

The universe was created by a Word – [God is able to call into being that which does not otherwise exist – Rom 4:17] That is in verse 3. The way JB Phillips paraphrases it is like this: “…by faith…our minds accept as fact that the whole scheme of time and space was created by God’s command”.

Now let’s not move too quickly here. Think about this. There were no witnesses to creation except the angels. God created, and He created man last. So He had to have told Adam what He did, and the information was passed down from there. So we either believe the Creation account, or we disbelieve and we accept some other explanation. But I would submit to you that no one was around to witness the process that modern science wants you to accept either, and while men have been able to punch holes, large holes, in those theories, God’s Word says “In the beginning God created” and we accept that by faith and that pleases God.

That God is. That is the next thing we see, and it is in the same verse that tells us God cannot be pleased apart from faith. We must believe that He exists, and that He rewards the one who diligently looks for Him by letting Himself be found.

The next thing I see is that God has our good in mind. It is implied in the text. If you read down through the chapter you can see that message just under the surface. I’ll leave that to your later reading, but I bring it out here because I think we often tend to forget that God has our good in mind in all of His actions toward us, His commands, His promises, His revelation. Check it out.

We see also in this chapter the demonstration that God keeps His promises. Men of old believed that He would and He did and always does.

We see Abraham believing that God is able to raise the dead in his obedient sacrifice of his son Isaac, and by faith he gained God’s approval.

We see Moses, by faith reckoning that the riches of Christ are greater than the world and its riches. Could he see those riches? No. Of course not, because the riches we have in Christ are spiritual, they are heavenly, they are eternal. But Moses saw with spiritual eyes; eyes of faith, and he looked forward to the reward instead of backward to Egypt.

Do you see what is presented here? In all these cases we have examples of people demonstrating the kind of faith that pleases God, by their actions. The writer finally runs out of time and goes from a walk through the hall of faith to a trot.