Hebrews 11:6
New Living Translation
6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
Shall you not learn the law spoken in the great book In God’s great laws and believe in great pleasure of God then it is impossible to please God and have faith anyone who knows learns and wants to follow him believe that he is real and that gifts those who sincerely seek him.
ESV And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
QUESTION
What does it mean that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6)?
ANSWER
In Hebrews 11, we learn about faith from the Bible’s Old Testament heroes. One crucial detail stands out in their lives: they placed their whole confidence in God, entrusting themselves into His hands. The actions and accomplishments of these men and women proved that faith pleases God, and He rewards those who seek Him: “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” (Hebrews 11:6).
The author of the book of Hebrews points out two critical convictions of believers. First, “anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists.” Those who desire to draw near to God must have a deep-rooted belief that He is real. Such belief is not mere intellectual knowledge but a wholehearted devotion to His presence and participation in every part of one’s life. Without a genuine conviction that God exists, it is impossible to have an intimate relationship with Him. Second, the Lord’s followers must believe “that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” This aspect of faith trusts in the character of God as a good, loving, generous, gracious, and merciful Father (James 1:17; Psalm 84:11; Lamentations 3:22–23). These two certainties are the groundwork of saving faith—a faith that pleases God.
Without faith, it is impossible to please God, because faith is the avenue by which we come to God and trust Him for our salvation. In His infinite goodness, God provides the very thing we need to draw near to Him: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). God gives us the faith required to please Him.
Hebrews 11:1 gives a definition, or at least a good description, of the faith that pleases God: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” “Confidence” is the translation of a Greek word that means “foundation.” Faith is the foundation that undergirds our hope. It is not a blind grasping in the dark, but an absolute conviction that comes from experiencing God’s love and the faithfulness of His Word. The term translated “assurance” is also translated as “evidence” or “proof.” With our natural eyes, we cannot see the realities of God’s kingdom, but by faith we receive the evidence or proof that they exist.
We’ve established that without faith it is impossible to come to God. It is also impossible to live for God—to follow and serve Him daily and persevere until the end—without faith. The entire Christian life is lived out by faith: “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’” (Romans 1:17; see also Habakkuk 2:4; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38). The apostle Paul affirmed, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
Scripture refers explicitly to Enoch’s faith as pleasing to God: “It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—‘he disappeared, because God took him.’ For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5, NLT; cf. Genesis 5:24). How did Enoch please God? Through living by faith. Enoch walked by faith in God. He obeyed the Word that had been revealed up to that point and lived in the light of its truth. Walking by faith means consistently living according to God’s Word (John 14:15). Without faith, it is impossible to believe God’s Word and obey it.
Scripture says that it is impossible to please God through works of the flesh: “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8, ESV). We can’t earn God’s approval through good works. Only based on what Jesus Christ has done for us can we become holy and able to live a life pleasing to God (1 Corinthians 1:30). Christ’s life in us produces the righteousness that pleases God (2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 2:13; 3:9).
Without faith, it is impossible to please God; in fact, we cannot even begin to approach the Lord and experience a personal relationship with Him without it. Faith is the atmosphere in which the believer’s life is lived. We are called “believers” because we are continually putting our faith, trust, and confidence in God. By faith the Christian life begins, and by faith it perseveres until the end.
The champions of the Old Testament like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Joseph, Rahab, Gideon, and David all lived by faith. As they looked toward their future hope, they relied on God to fulfill His promises (Hebrews 11:13–16). And they obeyed God’s Word even when they did not understand it. This kind of walking by faith—accepting as truth the things we cannot yet touch, feel, or see, and then acting on them in obedience—is the prescription for living a life that pleases God. We may not see ourselves right now as God does—holy and made righteous by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But when we accept the evidence in God’s Word (Romans 10:17) and reach out in response to experience fellowship with Him, then we begin to live by faith, and that pleases God.
What Does Hebrews 11:6 Mean? ►
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.
Hebrews 11:6(NASB)
Verse of the Day
So much within the New Testament epistles is mistakenly thought to be addressed to the unbeliever, when it is written to Christians. Hebrews is an example of Scripture that gives maturing believers guidance on how to live by faith – how to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. While the first, obvious step in pleasing God is to get saved by believing in the redeeming work of Christ, it is the ongoing, living faith of a believer that pleases God, in the day by day exercise of life.
Only a believer can please God. We please God when we are justified (initial salvation), but we also please God through a sanctified life (ongoing salvation). It is ONLY through Christ’s imputed righteousness can we please God, “for without faith it is impossible to please Him.” But once we are saved we are to please Him by living by faith. Once we have believed in Him we are to, “believe that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” Having been saved through justifying faith, believers are to continue to trust Him, by believing His Word, living by faith, and diligently seeking His face day by day.
Once we have believed in God’s saving grace through faith in Christ, we are also to believe that, “He rewards those that seek Him,” as stated in Scripture. There is rejoicing in heaven when a sinner believes, but we truly please Him when we LIVE by faith. We please Him when we are not being influenced by life’s problematic circumstances. If we desire to please our Heavenly Father, we are to LIVE by faith and not by sight.
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Too often, those who started their Christian life by faith, stop relying on the truth of Scripture. They take their eyes off Jesus and start to doubt God’s Word. They often become careless in seeking the Lord, and some even leave their first love. There are some who revert to carnality, indulging in fleshly living. Some try to please God through good deeds and worldly works. There are others who adopt legalism and perform works of the law for God’s approval.
Christians who try to live in their own strength or rely on their own good works do not please the Lord, because they are not trusting His Word – for faith is the evidence of things NOT seen. Faith in God’s Word is what pleases Him. We please Him when we are saved, but we are to please Him throughout our Christian life, by believing His promises are true and by believing He rewards those who seek Him – by faith.
Although our union with God can never be broken once we are born into His family, our fellowship with him can be broken when we leave the life of trusting God and dependence on His Word and start to rely on our own strength. God knows that without Christ’s leading and guiding, we will eventually fail for He said, “without Me ye can do nothing.” But all too often we try every conceivable avenue before we eventually have to admit our inability and seek His help.
Too often we forget that those who diligently seek Him, are rewarded with His sufficient grace to face life’s problems. Those who diligently seek Him, produce the beautiful fruit of the Spirit, so that they grow in grace and mature in the faith, which pleases our Heavenly Father. When we rest in His sufficient strength, we always discover it is all we need, but how often we forgo the perfect peace He promises, simply because we trusted in self before our Saviour, or lived in accordance with what we see rather that what God says.
The more a Christian trusts God’s Word, believes all He says, has faith in His promises, believes He is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek to know Him, the more they will grow in grace, mature in the faith, walk in spirit and truth and please Him – for to the one that has much, even more will be given.
Let us determine to live our Christian lives in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord, as we earnestly seek Him and trust in His Word. Let us maintain our faith in God and never doubt the veracity of the Gospel message, even when His truth is shrouded from our eyes, or when the reality of His Word does not reflect our life-experience, “for without faith it is impossible to please Him.”
Let us trust in the Lord with all our heart and not lean on our own understanding, knowing that without saving faith and sanctifying faith, it is impossible to please Him. But let us never forget that it is God Who said, I AM everything you need, I AM a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Me.
Let us remember that Jesus said, “I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life… I will never leave you nor forsake you… I go to prepare a place for you… I will return and take you to be with Me, that where I am, you may be also.”
Let us believe all that God has promised with our whole heart, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.
My Prayer
Heavenly Father, I realise how quickly and easily I can move from trusting You to doubting Your Word, when things do not go the way that I expect. I pray that like the men and women of faith in Hebrews, my trust in You will not falter. Help me to earnestly seek You day by day, for I know that only as Christ lives in and through me, by faith, can I be pleasing in Your sight. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.
Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/hebrews-11-6
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