Key verse:
Hebrews 11:6, And without faith it is impossible to please him (God), for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Faith = persuasion, i.e. moral conviction, to be reliant upon. (Faith means you are persuaded so much that you rely/depend/trust the one you have faith in).
Believe = to have faith, by implication, to entrust. (To believe is to have an active expression of faith. We entrust ourselves to the One we have faith in. so we say that we belief in Him).
Faith and belief share closely related characteristics. Often, they are the same.
There is only one thing that God looks for in mankind that will please Him, it’s faith. All other characteristics and actions that a person have counts for nothing without faith first. Without faith it is impossible to please him (God).
John MacArthur Hebrews Commentary says…
Believing that the true God exists is what is pleasing to Him. Mere recognition of a deity of some sort—the “ground of being,” the “man upstairs,” or any of the man-made gods just mentioned—is not the object of belief in mind here. Only belief in the existence of the true God, the God of Scripture, counts.
We cannot know God by sight. “No man has seen God at any time,” Jesus said (John 1:18). Nor can we know God by reason. Two chapters of the book of Job (38-39) are devoted to God’s forceful and colorful illustrations of how man cannot even fathom the operations of nature. END QUOTE
Faith is confident trust in the reality that creator God exists, therefore we believe in His promises that He has made to humanity. Faith is not blind optimism, it is not wishful thinking, but it is a firm assurance based on God’s character, on the evidence of the created universe, and upon the trustworthiness of His written Word.
Faith looks outside of self. It looks at the created universe (Isa 40:25-26; Acts 14:17; Rom 1:19-20) and listens to God’s written testimony in Scripture, then concludes that God is who He says He is. And since He is who He says He is, we can believe and trust Him.
Hebrews chapter 11 records the lives of people who had faith in Yahweh. There lives of faith are presented as supported evidence the God is, and that He keeps His promises.
Biblical charactered faith looks beyond present circumstances and holds on to the hope that God is, and that He will fulfill what He has promised. This kind of faith is foundational for the Christian life because it anchors us in God’s unchanging character, and in His unchanging truth rather than trusting our feelings or circumstances, and instead of trusting in the empty speculations of mankind which are constantly changing.
Faith engages the human will and says, “I believe, therefore I will trust and obey.”
Hebrews 11:1, Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Jeremiah 29:13-14, You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord…
Application:
Have you searched for God and found Him?
Have you intentionally put your personal faith in His Son Jesus Christ?
Have you given God the single, most important thing that can please Him? Faith.
