“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
TEXT — Hebrews 11: 1-6
Message
In his memoir, Everything Sad Is Untrue, Daniel Nayeri recounts the gripping story of why his mother became a Christian. She grew up in a devout and prestigious Muslim family. She was a doctor and had wealth and esteem. Eventually, she would forsake all of that to follow Jesus. She was forced to flee for her life from Iran, eventually settling in the U.S. as a refugee. When people ask her why, she looks them in the eye, hoping they will hear her, and she says, “Because it’s true.” Why else would she believe it? It is true and more valuable than $7 million in gold coins, thousands of acres of Persian countryside, and ten years of education to get a medical degree, all your family, and a home. And maybe even your life. My mom wouldn’t have made the trade otherwise.
Man enters into a partnership with God by faith. He who fully rests his trust and confidence in God’s word is graciously welcomed into His fellowship. The foundation of faith is the bedrock of God’s word. All creations, visible and invisible, are brought into being by the word of God.
In today’s passage, we learn that he who seeks to please God must believe who God says He is and what He promises He would do. Abel must have taken pains to understand that God’s accepted offering must come through the blood of an animal since his parents’ nakedness was covered with ‘coats of skin.’ His offering pleased the Lord, while Cain’s offering taken from the fruit of the ground was an expression of unbelief. Faith in the blood of Christ is God’s only acceptable sacrifice that can remit man’s sins. Abel’s faith in the blood offering justified him before God. Enoch is said to have walked with God and not died because God translated him. He had a memorable testimony ‘that he pleased God.’
Like the story of the woman in our introduction, the sinner can begin a life of faith by putting his trust in the shed blood of the Lamb of God, who had taken away the world’s sins. The saint must seek to walk with God with a pure heart and live in faithful readiness for the coming of the Lord. You can live the God-pleasing life of faith if you, by faith, accept His gracious offer of salvation for your soul.
Thought for the day
Faith in Christ’s atoning blood builds partnership with God.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
