Belief, Believing and Faith - Interchangeable Terms?
Today we will be reading from Hebrews 11:1-6
We live in the era of cheap grace and easy salvation.
“Just repeat after me.” “Did you mean that with all of your heart?” “You’re saved! Write that date down in your Bible and make sure you tell someone!”
The word “believe” is broad and is open to all kinds and variations of meaning depending on what the person has in mind.
What does the Bible say about belief, believing and faith?
Let’s read Hebrews 11:1-6
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.
“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
“By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
“By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: ‘He could not be found, because God had taken him away.’ For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
(prayer for help)
Hebrews is often called the “Faith Chapter” of the Bible.
In reality, the Bible is a Faith Book from beginning to the end.
Today we will be looking in particular at Hebrews 1:6
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
Today we will be looking at four sections of this Bible verse. We will be taking it kind of from the inside out and then wrapping it around.
First, let’s look at this phrase, “Anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists …”
Here we are seeing the idea that a person must have a belief that God exists before a salvation encounter can take place.
John Wesley described this as prevenient grace.
What is prevenient grace?
Prevenient grace is an awakening in the human spirit that there is something or someone who is above us and whom we need.
Prevenient grace or awakening grace is brought about by the work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart of an unsaved person.
Prevenient or awakening grace can come to us through a variety of avenues:
- General revelation - nature - the earth, the heavens, the intricacies of creation
- Family influences - mother, grandmother, aunt, uncle, father, brother sister, etc.
- Church relations - pastor, Sunday School teacher, classmate
- Chance interactions with perfect strangers who know Jesus
- Etc.
Prevenient or awakening grace is almost always accompanied by a grace that draws the person toward salvation.
Now, remember that we are looking at this verse kind of from the inside-out.
Once a person comes to believe that God exists they come to a time of decision making. This decision is described in the next phrase we will be looking at.
Hebrews 1:6
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because [anyone who comes to Him] must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
“Anyone who comes to Him …”
The unsaved person who now has a belief that God exists must make a decision. Are they going to “come to Him” or turn their back on the truth? Are they going to add believing in God to their belief that God exists?
Belief that God exists will make no difference in your eternal destiny. Even the demons believe and shudder (James 2:19) but they are still eternally lost.
Salvation requires that belief in God is followed by believing IN God. This happens when a person cooperates with God’s saving grace and enters into the Kingdom of God as an adopted son or daughter of God.
This decision has tremendous benefits - new creation - in Christ
2 Corinthians 5:17
“If anyone is in Christ He is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come.”
When belief about God is accompanied with believing in Jesus a new relationship is established. Not only are you adopted as a son or daughter of God but you are filled with the Holy Spirit who enables you to follow God faithfully.
So, what have we seen so far?
1) We must have an accurate belief about Jesus that is prompted by prevenient grace
2) We must be born again or have a spiritual birth which is accomplished by participating with God’s saving grace
So, what is next in Hebrews 1:6
“And [without faith it is impossible to please God], because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
We CANNOT please God if we do not have faith in Him.
You might ask, “Isn’t believing IN God the same as having faith IN God?” Well … yes and no.
There IS a faith called saving faith that is the same as believing IN Jesus but there is also a sustaining faith demands that we become a participant in the Kingdom of God after salvation.
Listen to these excerpts from Hebrews 11 …
Vs 4: “By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did.”
Vs 5:” By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death.”
Vs 7: “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.”
Vs 8: “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”
Vs 23: “By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”
You see, the faith that sustains a Christian’s spiritual life is like a muscle. If it is exercised the person’s faith will grow and become strong. This is called being a faithful Christian.
However, if a person’s faith is NOT exercised it will atrophy.
The believer will become useless to the Kingdom of God.
They will die. Why?
Because we are not only called to have a proper belief about Jesus and a saving belief IN Jesus but we are called to live out our faith.
“Faith without works is dead.” - James 2:14-26
Ephesians 2:8-9 plus Ephesians 2:10
You see, all of the heroes in the faith chapter participated in God’s work. They did not sit idly by but moved in obedience with the will of the Lord. This is true faith.
Prevenient grace is like a sign that invites you to come live in a house. Prevenient grace will get you to the door but not into the house.
Saving grace will get you into the house but just inside the door.
A person could just enter into the house and stand just inside the door but it would never be their home. They would be useless to the household and to the master of the house. The house would never be a home. You couldn’t come to the table to eat or sleep in a bed or sit around a fireplace and build a loving friendship with one another. You would just be standing inside the door. God has never been a fan of the sluggard. There are fourteen references to sluggards in the Proverbs. Check it out.
But, the faith that would make the house into a home would be a participating faith. A faith that would have you cooking and cleaning and repairing and assisting those who need help and sitting at the table and resting in the bed and enjoying the fellowship of believers.
So why would we want to have a proper belief about God and believe IN God and a faith that results in obedience to God?
Because … “He rewards those who earnestly seek Him!” that’s why!
Finally Hebrews 1:6
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
What better reward could there be than to have a daily walk with the Lord; a relationship of love and care?
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Recently I have been watching a lot of testimony videos on Youtube from One for Israel.
These are amazing videos of Jews who have come to find Jesus as their Messiah.
I would encourage you to watch some of them.
One thing I noticed is that you can clearly see all of their testimonies moving from unbelief to a seeking belief about Jesus that brings them to a decision point. Eventually they add believing IN Jesus to their belief about Jesus and it is not long before you see their faith in action being added to all of this.
Then you can see the great reward of fellowship with God in a way they never knew it before! You can see it in their eyes.
It is a beautiful thing to see one of God’s Chosen People come to Jesus and be born again!
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Finally, … every one of us is at one of these steps
(expand on these thoughts …)
- You may have a belief that Jesus existed but have not believed in Him
- You may have taken the step to believe in Jesus for salvation but are not an active participant in the Kingdom
of God
o In this case you cannot please God
- You may be like those men of old who obeyed the Lord by faith even though they did not understand
o This pleases the Lord
- Are you enjoying the rewards of having believed in Jesus for salvation and living in obedient faith with Him?
Final thoughts and prayer
