Ask Yourself

Is this really what we are? Close to 56,000,0000 murdered pre-born infants in less than 40 years? Forcing contraceptive and abortifactant expenses on religious institutions that are opposed to both on doctrinal grounds? Supporting an entertainment industry that promotes immorality and mocks morality? Purveyors of mainstream "news" media that serve to undermine classic and venerable human values, disparages the family, and holds up devotion, love and purity as objects of contemptible scorn? Is this what we are? Really? Because if this is what we are as a nation, as a people, what exactly about us is worth preserving?

We have planted, nurtured and fertilized the seeds of our own destruction - proudly, contemptuously, calling good evil and evil good. We have lost our cultural innocence, nobility and sense of purpose, and above all, we have turned a blind eye to the dissolution of the very things that once made us exceptional as a God-fearing nation.

We have gone the way of Babylon, Ancient Persia, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome, but with this difference: we have free-fallen from the heights to the depths at break-neck speed, descending to a level of banality and evil unprecedented in human history. How? Because we now have the technological prowess to spread our moral dysfunction around the globe at the speed of light.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man [a nation, a world] sows, that he [it] will also reap. (Galatians 6:7, NKJV). 

As Good as Dead

Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude--innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. (Hebrews 11:12, NKJV).

The Bible minces no words, nor does it meander along lofty and vaporous trails of nuance and subtlety. 

It can't. 

It is written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

So Abraham and Sarah, this faithful couple from 4000 years ago were brought into being by God to establish a picture in our thick heads of what it means to live by faith.

And what it doesn't mean.

It doesn't mean following the world's wisdom or ways. If Abraham had done that, he would never have left the comfort and security of Ur of the Chaldees to dwell in mere tents in the Promised Land. Worldly wisdom would have called that decision foolish, at best, and delusional at worst.

Sarah would have greeted the news of her impending pregnancy with derision instead of laughter, and if/when she had become pregnant at the appointed time, would likely have been paralyzed with fear.

Instead, they ignored what the world might have said about their decisions, priorities and ways of life to follow the Source of Life Himself, and embarked on a journey fraught with danger, and unthinkable choices.

Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead… an entire nation was born - a nation that to this day has more impact on world events than any other single people group in human history.

Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead… all the world would be blessed, for Messiah, the Savior of the World, would be a Son of Abraham in the flesh.

Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead… the way of salvation was made clear by Abraham believing God and having it accounted to him for righteousness, thus showing the way of escape for every man woman and child on the planet, long before the Law of Moses was laid down from Mount Sinai.

(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed--God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; (Romans 4:17, NKJV).

It is no accident that this man, as good as dead, is called the Father of the Faithful, and we who follow Jesus Christ are his spiritual descendants by faith.

God keeps His promises, even to one as apparently useless as an old man, and that is excellent news for us all, for we too are in the same mortal condition, awash in trespasses and sins, near eternal death. We too are weak and feeble in the things of God, and yet - and yet -  He takes pleasure in using the least likely vessels for His glorious purposes.

For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, (1 Corinthians 1:19, 28, NKJV).

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. (1 Corinthians 1:26, NKJV).

Are you seeing the obvious pattern here? If you are of the world, comfortable with its ways and thinking, friendly to its priorities and values, following in its meandering and sometimes pleasurable course to destruction, then, though you may be vibrantly alive from its perspective - and your own, you are really dead. Not just as good as dead.

The difference lies in your ultimate destiny.

To be despised because of Christ in your life is the guaranteed lot in a Christian's life. Jesus warned us that the world, hating Him, would hate us - with unreasoning, unrelenting, and unmerciful hatred. The more obviously your are His, the more despised you will be.

He warned that families would be divided because of Him.

He promised that in this world we will have tribulation. But He also said, be of good cheer - I have overcome the world.

If Abraham and Sarah had kept the world's priorities and values, rather than holding onto God's Word, they would have made no difference. Their lives would have been as utterly meaningless as all who go down into the grave in unbelief.

While he still might have become rich and powerful, for rest assured he was both those things, Abraham's life would have served no purpose other than to increase his own condemnation before a righteous and holy God.

Remember, when the world sees you as good as dead, when the world sees you as useless, when the world sees you as an obstacle to obtaining whatever the world holds dear, and it sees you as these things because of your faith in Christ, then rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in Heaven.

Friendship with the world, and the ways of the world, is an eternal death sentence.

We are in the world, but not of the world.

While we are here, like Abraham, we are to fulfill God's purpose in our lives, surrendering our imperfect and twisted will to His infallible and divine will.

We are to occupy until He comes.

We are, as much as depends on us, to live in peace.

But when the times come to go out into the wilderness, or make a stand at the city gates, or climb an insurmountable mountain, or suffer alone, then we, like Abraham before us, are to simply obey, not knowing where he was going, but trusting in Him.

Sarah

By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. (Hebrews 11:11 NKJV).

As far as I know, Sarah is the only woman mentioned in the Bible for whom an age at death is given. I find this significant.

She was the faithful, beautiful, and respectful wife of Abraham who, like Eve before her, became the progenitor of a nation that has played, and will continue to play, a remarkable role in redemptive history. 

To be so singled out, here and elsewhere in the New Testament (Ro 4:19; 9:9; Heb 11:11; 1Pe 3:6), says something notable about this woman who walked he earth some 4000 years ago, whose tomb is still spoken of today, and who modeled what it is to live a life of faith.

Unlike other ancient texts, women in Scripture are viewed as equal with men in terms of sin, redemption and standing before God. Yes, the differing roles and responsibilities of men and women in the household and the church are spelled out in ways that infuriate or perplex many today, but the truth is that the Bible uniquely accords women the same treatment as men, existentially and ontologically, and declares the sexes equivalent before the Throne of Grace. For:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28, NKJV).

The curse of the Fall brought aging and death, and with these the gradual deterioration of the mental and physical capabilities human youth take largely for granted. Among the degrading faculties is the ability for a woman to conceive children.

Prior to the Flood, in ecological conditions much different than now, the human life span was naturally longer. This enabled a staggering number of offspring to be born from even a single couple, and child-bearing years stretched for centuries. But the Global Flood and its aftermath changed all that, and essentially limited human fertility to a few mere decades. 

(Why we find this so hard to believe in modern times is puzzling. As a whole, we have no problem in accepting as indisputable facts countless things we have neither heard nor seen nor personally experienced and for which there is often precious little hard evidence, like evolution and the Big Bang and Global Warming, provided these unlikely suppositions are given the imprimatur of the Church of Theoretical Science. But a more benevolent ecosphere in the not-so-distant past enabling extended lifetimes - well that's just silly.) 

So Sarah, we are told, had reached that point in life where, being advanced in days, as the Old King James so delicately puts it, was past the age of fecundity. When she heard the Lord's promise to Abraham that she would bear him a son, she laughed, not derisively, but in wonder, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” (Genesis 18:12, NKJV).

She did not doubt this was possible, but only that it would happen to her. In response, the Lord Himself graciously assured her by saying, “Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” (Genesis 18:14, NKJV).

Does that happen in your life - you have no doubt that the Lord is capable, but doubt that He would do something miraculous or gracious in your life? If so, you are in good fallen company.

Yet Sarah did come to believe, not only in the Lord's power, but in His willingness to manifest that power in her life, personally, undeniably and gloriously.

She judged Him faithful who had promised.

Note that description, please. It is important, and one of the many reasons I believe Sarah figures so prominently in Scripture.

Her belief was not merely emotional, though emotion may have played a part, especially joy and Isaac (laughter). No, her belief was founded on critical thinking, on discernment. She surveyed and evaluated the facts and evidence of the Lord working in hers and Abraham's life, and she judged Him faithful who had promised.

Don't miss that.

Saving faith is not a blind leap in the dark, like belief in evolution or human decency.

Saving faith is evidentiary. Come let us reason together, the Lord invites us in Isaiah. And by many infallible proofs, Jesus showed Himself to have been raised from the dead.

Saving faith is the God-given human response to God-given revelation about real events in time and space.

Is it as tangible as that chair you are seated upon? No, and thank God for that, because one day it will be - these profound truths about man and God - and then there will be no opportunity to exercise faith. The facts will be undeniable. It will be too late to believe and be saved. The time for faith will have tragically, but justifiably, passed.

[For] 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 diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6, NKJV).

Sarah believed and received strength.

Sarah believed and conceived.

Sarah believed and she bore a child when she was passed the age…

…because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

Sarah's radiant example shines brightly down through the ages, illuminating yet another gracious example of God working in the life of a softened heart.

Follow her as she followed the Lord and be saved.

Dwelling in Tents

By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11:09-10, NKJV).

One of the many beautiful aspects of Hebrews 11 is its glorious refrain of "By faith…". Eighteen of the forty verses begin with this declaration of the open secret of a victorious Christian life, building in melodic crescendo with each hallmark repetition until the writer proclaims, "And what more shall I say?"

When you could have it all in the material sense, as the Patriarch Abraham could, given his great wealth, and yet choose, by faith, to forego the rewards of this life as an act of worship to the One who provides you eternal life, you are letting the world know where your priorities lie.

It is by faith that this man went out from the land of worldly comfort and security into the land of promise; a place of desert and danger, and dwelt not as a permanent resident, but as a pilgrim and sojourner. He invested all that he had, and all that he was, into what his contemporaries undoubtedly considered sheer foolishness. His relatives, friends, and business partners - everyone besides his immediate household - must have deemed him crazy.

And he dwelt in tents with his son and grandson, heirs with him of the same promise, waiting.

This is a perfect illustration of the life of faith in this fallen world. Holding lightly onto perishable things, like houses and fame and goods and even earthly life itself, all the better to grasp more tightly that which cannot be shaken, is of eternal value, and cannot rust, be stolen, or fade away.

Abraham's priorities were exactly right.

First he obeyed, then he waited.

He waited for the fulfillment of God's inestimable promise, of a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Not a city made with human hands, perched precariously atop the earth's surface, subject to the ravages of time and geology, but a city whose foundations are sunk deep into the fabric of existence itself. A city built by the Maker of all things, the Master Builder, who, with unspeakable Intelligence, Grace, Love and Power, has fashioned an entire Universe for His beloved children. 

Abraham knew that even the Promised Land was not his true home. It was a foreign country, in which he would dwell as witness and ambassador; a royal representative of the Kingdom of God.

He went where God commanded him to go, and lived how God commanded him to live, not out of fear of reprisal, but out of faith, worship and love for God.

Dented, bruised, scraped and imperfect as this man was - a sinner like all descendants of Adam - Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

His life's journey was one act of horrific faith after another, and at each fateful intersection, he built an altar and worshiped the Giver of All Things.

Blessed with material possessions, a beautiful wife, and even a private army, he kept his eyes focused upward and did not allow the distractions of his flesh, the world, or the Enemy to sway him from his course of faithful obedience.

By doing so he shamed kings, won wars, and climbed unthinkable mountains for unimaginable ends.

And at the center of all his momentous activities, he waited.

He is our example. We are to occupy until He comes.

For one day the Lord Jesus will return as Triumphant King to establish His eternal realm, and to reward his faithful and obedient servants - those who have lived this life eagerly awaiting His coming, holding lightly onto perishable things.

It is not the greatness of our deeds, but the purpose of our hearts that distinguishes a Child of God from a Child of the World.

The world is passing away, but pour God remains forever.

Abraham's Obedience

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. (Hebrews 11:08, NKJV).

Verse 8 of Hebrews 11 begins the faith saga of Abraham, the Friend of God and the Father of the Faithful. Like Genesis, which covered the history of the world from Creation through the Flood in 11 chapters, and then spent the next 12 chapters on the life and family of one man, Abraham, so chapter 11 covers the chronology from Creation to the Flood in 7 verses, and then spends the next 10 on this same one man.

Abraham is important. He is the top of the human funnel that, from the entire population of the planet, filters down to the divinely decreed lineage of Messiah. He is also the very first illustration of the way of salvation in a Fallen world, for Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness (Ro 4:3; Ga 3:6; Jas 2:23). Do you see the significance of that?

Human redemption is exemplified in the simple, thrice-repeated proclamation that Abraham was saved by faith, and in being the first, he became our father in the faith. We who believe are all spiritual descendants of this one man who was the founder of many nations, Jew and Gentile, and through his Descendant (singular), all the nations of the world shall be blessed.

From the perspective of Hebrews, this man is characterized by obedience. The fact that the call to go out to his actual going out after his own father died spanned many years does not even enter into the picture. Yes, it took him awhile in this instance, but Hebrews 11 is a "bottom line" exposition. 

In the end, he obeyed, much like Jesus' parable of the two sons, the fawning hypocritical liar, and the rebellious one who refused his father's command, but then complied.

To be sure, later on in Abraham's walk of faith, his obedience became immediate, but this starting point was slow to come to fruition, and for all his descendants by faith who struggle with instant obedience to God, his example should be both illustrative and encouraging. 

Far from perfect, especially at the start, and even after walking for years with his Lord he stumbled, but in the end, he became the shining example, the foundation, of justification by faith.

Why? Because his heart was wholly toward God and he refused to fall away. When he stumbled, he regained his footing and returned to his Lord.

Know that this is God's perspective with all His children. It is the "bottom line" that matters in the end, and this is both good and horrible news. Good because no matter how badly we stumble or backslide, if our hearts are truly with God, we will return and He will restore.

It is horrible because no matter how holy the outside of our lives appear, it is the inside that matters, and it is only from the inside that we endure to the end.

And while any disobedience, however transitional, costs us blessing and peace that otherwise would have been God's delight to bequeath, it is only those who have been made new by faith alone who are truly coheirs with Christ.

Spiritual adornment, holiness and faithful living should not be outward only, nor is it a grit-your-teeth-and-get it-done kind of effort. It is, instead, the result of a humble acquiescence of a human soul and will to Christ's transformative purposes, no matter what it takes on His part to make us like Him.

For Abraham, it took blessing and testing, riches and loss, joy and mourning, and a nomadic life fraught with peril. For each one of us, absolutely unique Creations of an all-powerful Deity, it may take more of less of these same things.

But the essential prerequisite, however imperfectly implemented, is a willing and obedient heart.

Without that, all the outward holiness and lip-service in the Universe will not provide escape from Hell.

With it, no matter how tattered, erratic, or clumsy our walk may be, in the end, He makes us His forever.

Again, to be sure, the goal is to live in obedience as exemplified by the man Abraham in his later years, but our inevitable failures in no way justify giving up the attempt...

…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; (Philippians 1:6, NKJV).

Noah

By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. (Hebrews 11:07, NKJV).

Despite all the objective evidence confirming a global catastrophe in the fairly recent past (see here for starters), belief in Noah, the Ark and The Flood is considered, in many circles, equivalent to belief in The Tooth Fairy, or Santa Claus, with this exception: The Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus are more acceptable because they are not Biblically based. 

Believing in a literal Genesis in this modern culture makes you all kinds of backwards and nasty things, even in some churches. The fact that the Lord Jesus Himself held The Flood to be a real historical event apparently holds little weight. The teachers and leaders in such churches can presumably take that up with Him on that Day. As for me and my house…

Regardless of your Noahic view, we have here in Hebrews a picture of faith exemplified in a man who found grace in the eyes of God in an era when every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Noah was righteous because He believed God, even in the face of massive popular pressure to do otherwise.

What precisely did he believe?

He believed that God is, so he listened.

He believed that can, so when warned he took the commanded actions.

He believed that God meant what He said, and was moved with godly fear.

By his unprecedented actions of faith, he condemned the world just prior to divine judgment finally being executed. The timing was no accident, but was orchestrated by God to teach what it means to live by faith, and used in this superlative chapter of Hebrews to provide us with yet another concrete example of life according to the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

Noah and his household were an extremist minority. Ultimately, there were only eight of them, and they believed and acted upon things NO ONE ELSE would dare. In and of itself, this is not necessarily a hallmark of faith, but when taken in the context of his entire life, word and deed, it is a profound proclamation of where he put his trust. Or more precisely, in WHOM he put his trust.

When divinely warned of things not yet seen, he responded. In Noah's time, what had not yet been seen was rain as we know it (the ground was still being watered with a nightly mist), and flooding, especially a Flood that would cover all the mountaintops of all the earth. In reality, Noah had even less reason to believe than we do today, but believe he did, and he moved with godly fear, prepar[ing] an ark for the saving of his household.

The Ark itself was a massive project which took over a century to complete. In building it, his allegiance to God was undeniable, and undoubtedly subjected him to the scorn of his contemporaries. ALL of his contemporaries, save those in his own household. He had NO SUPPORT outside his immediate family for believing and doing what he did.

Do you sometimes feel that way?

Now exclusivity of belief, in and of itself, is no proof of anything, but taken in the context of his entire life, it spoke volumes of his faithfulness.

And these are the key take-aways from this man's godly example.

His entire life was lived in acknowledgement of, and submission to, the living God of the universe. The fact that he and his family were the ONLY ONES at that time is secondary to the foundational truth of his faith.

But despite the fact that he was vastly outnumbered, he obeyed the One in whom he believed. He did not allow social pressure in all of its pervasive forms to alter his personal conviction. Or actions. He was a man of steadfast belief, and lived out his faith in very conspicuous ways. Not because that was his, but God's choice.

His consistency and integrity served as an example to his sons, so that they followed their father's leadership with no hint of question or rebellion. We read nothing of any dispute among them, or of any disparagement of their father's faith. Family dysfunction only occurred well after the Flood, and then only because Noah lapsed into drunkenness, and one of three sons succumbed to a rebellious impulse.

Noah was not perfect, but he was a man of faith. Just like believers today.

He is an extreme example, and by extreme I mean undeniably obvious.

Sometimes, maybe most times, faithful obedience to the Lord can be done quietly and inconspicuously.

But there may be other times when God decrees otherwise. When, like in Noah's day, the coming judgment was scoffed at, scorned, and ridiculed, and the means by which God instructed Noah to survive the ordeal was anything but subtle.

In one sense, we have it easier today. As far as I know, no one is being commanded to build the modern-day equivalent of an Ark.

Plus, we have the record of The Flood and other judgments objectively recorded in writing for our learning. 

Nevertheless, our struggle is the same as Noah's in this sense: it flies it direct opposition to the ways of the world, and is a source of contempt and calumny from the worldly-minded.

Yet, as with all the other heroes of the faith, Noah became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

That is the only goal that counts in this life: faithful obedience.

Anything else is just vapor.

Believing That He Is

But 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 diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:06, NKJV).

In the Western world, for generations, families have gone to great lengths to convince children to believe in all kinds of myths, like King Arthur, Merlin, Magic, Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Christmas Elves, the Easter Bunny, Evolution and the Tooth Fairy.

The primary danger in this is that when the inevitable awakening to the truth occurs, and these cherished beliefs are determined to be false, the child learns to equate all such believing in things not seen as equivalently false, and the integrity and truthfulness of the caregivers in the family are rightly called into question.

As quaint traditions to enliven Holidays and family get-togethers, or to celebrate rites of passage or exercise the imagination, these myths, if presented as myths, can either be benign or serve a greater purpose as a contrast to Biblical reality, but there is a grave peril in teaching children to falsely believe something that isn't true.

It can inoculate them against faith, poisoning the well of what C.S. Lewis has termed, Mere Christianity. Recall this ancient text:

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, (1 Peter 1:6-8, NKJV).

Children have an inherent ability for faith. It's built-in, part of their original equipment. Don't be fooled into thinking this innate ability is something evolution magically concocted to enhance survival. From the physical perspective, belief itself has very little survival value.

In fact, the young of all "higher" species get by pretty well without the ability to believe things that cannot be seen, for as far as we know, human children, constructed in the image of God, are the only ones who are born with the capability to perceive 3-dimensional reality and superimpose on it another qualitatively different reality. Call it what you will - the Spiritual Realm, the Supernatural, the World of the Imagination - its only earthly pioneers and explorers are human.

And human children are its most stalwart adventurers. That is part of the reason Jesus tells us that unless we become like little children we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Now, entering the Kingdom of Heaven is synonymous with coming to God. To do either, you must first believe that He is, and further, that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

According to the latest global surveys, more than 75% of the world's adult population believe in some Higher Power or Supreme Being. But that percentage is shrinking yearly, especially in Europe. Indeed, some countries, Denmark and Sweden, for instance, boast that between 46% and 80% of its residents are either agnostic or atheistic.

What is surprising, however, is that the percentage of belief in God remains so high, given the almost constant barrage of negativity in the world's news, opinion, higher education and entertainment media regarding religion. 

This persistence of belief is intensely frustrating to the increasingly aggressive proponents of humanism. But these men and women willfully forget that arrayed against the Ivy League, New York, Hollywood, Europe and all the other realms of worldly humanistic propaganda and intellectual elitism, is the God of the Bible. 

The God who is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. The God who has bridged the gap between Fallen man and holy Creator by declaring that faith in His Risen Son will achieve what no amount of human performance can achieve - access to His throne of grace. 

He can, and does, ensure that the avenue of faith remains open. At least for now.

Coming to God entails believing that He is, even in the face of propaganda and popular opinion to the contrary. Or more precisely, especially in the face of such global misinformation, for that makes the exercise of faith that much more significant.

Further it entails believing, as a necessary subsequent step, that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Why else come to Him in the first place?

But what does diligent seeking involve, exactly? 

Most importantly it means seeking Him as He has revealed Himself to be in His Word. Who knows what God the 75-percenters believe in? Is it the God of the Bible, or the God of their own vain and futile imaginings?

You cannot diligently seek Someone of whom you have no clue or information.

Fortunately - providentially - He has left us with all the clues we need, written down and preserved for millennia so that His light shines in the darkness, illuminating the path to His throne, His grace, and Himself.

Our task is to find and follow that roadmap, something He empowers and assists us to do if only we ask.

If you seek Him with your whole heart, mind and soul, He will be found. He guarantees it.

And He will reward your diligence in ways impossible to anticipate or comprehend, both in this life and in the life to come.

First you will get God Himself, as inconceivable as that may sound, for that is exactly what He promised Abraham so long ago.

And in getting Him you will get everything else, for …as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9, NKJV).

Pleasing God

But 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 diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:06, NKJV).

…for whatever is not from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23, NKJV).

For we walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7, NKJV).

If it were not for faith, there would be no hope for human beings. None.

We would be born in this fallen world, live a life chasing futile satisfactions, involved in ephemeral relationships doomed for separation, either before or at death, and facing an inevitable demise only to discover that the worst of earthly life was heaven itself compared to what awaits in the torments of Hell.

Make no mistake, though, it is not merely faith itself, but faith in Christ that saves us from our otherwise default destiny.

And it is not faith in the Christ of our own imagination or convenience. It is the resurrected Christ who came first as the Suffering Servant, but who will return as the Executor of Judgment.

It is the Christ of the Bible that saves, not some New Age avatar or Ascended Master, not some Cosmic Consciousness or Pantheistic Force, not some red-headed, long-tressed, broad-shouldered Shepherd that could just as easily adorn the cover of some pulp Romance Novel.

It is He who was from the beginning.

It is the Captain of the Lord's Host.

It is He who treads the winepress of God's wrath, who will execute judgment on an ungodly world, who will slay the wicked with a word, and will shed their blood, bridle-height, in the Valley of Armageddon.

It is a fearful thing to fall in the hands of the Living God, best by far to become His by faith, so that rather than fall, as a unbelieving rebel, He embrace you in His arms as a beloved child.

There are two fatal errors - and I mean eternally fatal errors - about faith.

The first is that it is yours to grit your teeth and drum up, like its the result of some spiritual pep rally. It is not that at all. It is first a gift of God, dealt to each one by measure, and can be left to languish like a vestigial organ, or exercised by volitional and humble dependence on God as who He is, not as you might like Him to be. 

It is mostly private and always individual, meaning that it cannot be inherited or passed down by tradition or practice. It must be activated by a sincere decision of a person's will and mind. 

The second fatal error is to view faith along the lines of this ancient and deceitful cliche: God helps those who help themselves.

This is a subtle and brilliantly effective lie from the pit of Hell itself. It is a statement that appears Biblical, but is, in fact, its antithesis. It is the essence of human-centric legalism, and is quite close to denying the existence of God itself. Or at least implying that He should allow room on His throne for you.

Until you realize that there is nothing good in you, that you have no intrinsic value to God in and of yourself, you are helplessly mired in your trespasses and sins. You may be a shining example of the best that human beings can offer, but you are nonetheless fodder for the fires of Hades.

This is because you are not intrinsically good, but the opposite. You are defective goods. You were born that way, conceived in sin and brought forth to die in sin.

Unless you are remade, you are far worse than useless. You are worthy of judgment.

Harsh but true.

That is why faith is so, so important. It changes all of that. Faith in Christ remakes you. It regenerates you. It kills you on His Cross and makes you alive again in Him.

It is your only hope.

And by exercising that faith in a momentous act of acknowledged helplessness, you enter from death into life.

God has decreed faith to effect your pardon. It pleased Him to do so.

But for that pardon, He had to send His Son to die in your place. He who knew sin became sin for us, and propitiated God's wrath against sin forever by making Himself a substitutionary sacrifice.

For you and for me.

But there is only one way to have that sacrifice credited to your account: faith. It is the currency of salvation. Nothing else will do.

By believing, you take full receipt of that unspeakable gift. Otherwise, Christ's death was of no effect for you, and you trample it under your feet and put Him to an open shame.

Thus you can see why faith is the only way to earn God's pleasure. He enables it in you so that you can give it back.

He has decreed what saves, and then provided you with the very thing that meets the single requirement.

When you acquiesce humbly to His gracious way of escape, He rewards you as if you were someone completely new and sinless. He sees in you His precious Son.

And that pleases Him, indeed.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10, NKJV).

Enoch

By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. (Hebrews 11:05, NKJV).

Presented in chronological order, the succinct and profound journey through the annals of the faithful in Scripture now brings us to Enoch, the seventh from Adam, whose name means, teaching.

If Abel is a representative of the Spirit-led Old Testament believer, Cain a picture of the bitter and self-worshiping religious hypocrite of all ages, then Enoch is a brilliant symbol of the New Testament church.

Precious few words are written about him, only a brief passage in Genesis, here in Hebrews, and finally in Jude. All emphasize his righteous walk of faith, speaking nothing of his actual deeds, but only of his heart - a heart that walked with, and pleased, God.

In fact God was so taken with him, that He took him - raptured him - into His presence without death, just before the global flood of divine judgment.

In all of existence, all its permutations and convolutions, all its decisions, priorities, and potentials, there is NOTHING that matters beyond your relationship with your Creator. Get that right through faith, and EVERYTHING else falls into place. Get that wrong through unbelief, and regardless of whatever else happens, your life is a tragic waste.

God has decreed this to be so. He created humanity - with its will, emotions, spirit and mind - for unique and everlasting fellowship with Him. The rest is either just icing on the cake, or a downward rebellion spiraling into eternal torment.

Enoch so pleased God by faith that He spared Him from judgment in the most conspicuous and unexpected way possible. He snatched him from the face of the earth. Before that, Enoch was bestowed a son, and chose a name for that son based on his role as one of the first ancient prophets. He called the boy, Methuselah, whose name signifies, his death shall bring.

This boy became the longest lived person in the antediluvian world. At his death, the Flood came and destroyed all but the eight humans preserved through the judgment in the Ark. But Enoch was taken before that in a marvelous act of grace.

The chronicle of Enoch, like Abel before him is presented with the formula By faith…

Having personally memorized Hebrews, I can attest that this chapter was perhaps the easiest, and certainly the most lyrical to commit to memory because of the formulaic preface to each episode, building into a verbal crescendo of glory after glory. The repetition of By faith, By faith, By faith along with its precise historical chronology is so very effective and powerful. It is a joy to recite, precisely because of its pattern and content.

And the lesson it drives home is simple, yet life-changing.

Faith, that substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, is the nuclear furnace of life, provided that it is centered upon the living God of the Bible.

It the crowning achievement of Fallen man. Without it, every other achievement is worthless, full of gas and vapor.

With it, even the smallest act becomes a cause for triumphant celebration, and lavish praise from the Lord of the Universe.

The ultimate reward of a life of faith is God Himself, as He declared to Abram in Genesis 15.

Yes, we obtain righteousness by faith. Yes, it is faith that enables us to be adopted into the family of God and live forever. Yes, it is faith that defeats Satan and conquers death.

But above even these marvelous things, faith gives us Jesus, in intimate, heroic, and noble fellowship. And fills the otherwise empty void of life that without Him, is vain futility ending in everlasting torment.

God has decreed that faith, not our own works of righteousness, earns His pleasure.

And that decree is the foundation of His greatest mercy and grace.

Exercise that gift of faith now, while there is still time, and become His beloved child, and like Enoch, you will be spared the coming judgment.

Abel

By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. (Hebrews 11:04, NKJV)

The second murder in history took place at the dawn of the planet when a bitter, resentful and prideful brother committed premeditated fratricide. He followed the precedent set by Satan himself, the one who was a "murderer from the beginning" and the "father of lies", who, through his deceitful seduction of the woman, Eve, caused her husband, Adam, to willfully rebel against God, thus causing them both to die.

It is clear that Abel, the second from Adam, knew something of God's atoning provision for sin: the shedding of innocent blood. He killed the firstborn of his flock and offered it as a sacrifice, while his elder brother, Cain, offered the fruit of the ground.

We are told that God respected Abel's sacrifice, but not Cain's, and like the self-centered, arrogant, and bloatedly prideful man he was, Cain's countenance fell.

In modern parlance, we mistakenly refer to this as sibling rivalry. It was not. First, there is no indication in the text that Abel competed with his brother on any level. In fact, when Cain invited him out to the killing field, it looks like Abel went willingly, trustingly.

The facts appear to shout these truths about the killer Cain: he had no objection to violence; he was a cheapskate (what did it cost him to offer to God what God himself had nurtured - the fruit of the ground?); and he could not tolerate criticism, implied or otherwise.

In short, Cain was a highly functioning self-worshipper; a man who considered all his thoughts and impulses as golden, and not to be denied. When he couldn't revenge himself against God, he did what in his mind was the next best thing - he sought and achieved vengeance against his godly brother.

Cain is indistinguishable from most members of human society since that time.

Don't be mislead by the simplicity of this historical vignette in Genesis 4. It highlights merely the pertinent details of the crime, and leaves much of the background information unreported. And here in Hebrews 11, the core of the matter is laid bare even more concisely.

It's this: Abel's offering, founded on faith, pleased God. It wasn't that his was blood, and his brother's produce, though that did speak to the comparison between their respective investments of time and effort.

In stark contrast, Cain merely went through the motions to look good. His heart was filled, not with gratitude and reverence for God, but with festering self-adulation.

God honored Abel's sacrifice, and even now, witnesses to the righteousness of the man through his act of faith, thus memorializing forever both the man, and the single path to redemption: faith.

Cain too is indelibly etched in history, as the quintessential symbol of human evil.

Think about it. The motive for the murder did not entail love or money or fame. The motive for the murder was the most banal and primitive imaginable. Cain was offended.

It takes an enormous sense of self-entitlement to go down the senseless path that Cain chose. There are many forms of the same response to offense prevalent today, though most fall short of actual physical murder (but refer to the Sermon on the Mount for the true definition of murder from God's perspective).

His heinous act accomplished nothing but further exile, and an eternal place in infamy, symbolized forever by the mark of Cain.

The man's response when discovered? Whining self-pity, the very opposite of repentance.

The man's legacy of evil: his descendants were even more psychopathically self-centered than was he himself.

I submit that this was the most senseless and evil act of murder in human history. Not only was it the first human-on-human violence, but it was the most puerile and useless.

Above all, it illustrates the root of all sin: pride.

Cain was a selfish monster, a goblin, a fiend - pure and simple. He deprived his brother of life because Abel's continued existence was an insult.

As such, Cain is rightfully held up as the progenitor of all human violence since the dawn of human history.

In the end, Cain, not Adam, is our most vile forebear.

We all inherit his dreaded mark, and only faith in Christ can remove the stain.

The God Particle

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. (Hebrews 11:03, NKJV).

How did the "primitive and unscientific" writer of Hebrews know that subatomic particles exist? How did he know some 2000 years before the latest particle accelerator went operational in Europe?

Recent media attention has been paid to the search for the elusive "God Particle", that thing which gives all other subatomic particles mass, and without which neither matter nor energy would exist, hence the rather presumptuous name.

A few years before, physicists were excited by the search for the so-called gluon particle, that mysterious entity that was supposed to hold all the rest of the universe together.

Operational science is one of the most useful studies known to mankind. Through it, the human race has advanced in knowledge and technological abilities quite rapidly, especially in the last few generations, when we have gone from horse-and-buggy to interplanetary and extrasolar exploration. We have also progressed from geographic isolation to worldwide network connectivity, from telegraph to satellite phones, and so on.

Popular media loves to paint Christianity as anti-science, primarily over one facet of study: origins. But in reality, it was Christian scientists who began the scientific revolution, who studied the world because they believed its Creator was real, knowable, and a lover of order and logic.

Even today, unbelieving but honest scientists have penned surprisingly spiritual odes to the wonders and incredible complexities of the universe, and by their study have come right up against the idea of Design and Creator, without having whatever it takes to go beyond their worldly presuppositions into the realm of the true Reality behind reality. 

Hence the overhyped search for the "God Particle" - reduce the Creator and Sustainer to a thing, and then you can have a few more nights of sleep untroubled by the nagging suspicion that there is more to everything than mere science can ever know.

Whatever the physical manifestation, the substance and evidence of faith teaches this ineffable truth: the worlds were framed by the word of God.

God spoke and other than Himself began to exist.

Think about what that means for just a second and be awed.

Our self-existent God, utterly complete and all-powerful, uttered the Universe into existence. He used words to manifest His incomprehensible creativity and, with seemingly very little effort, formed out of absolutely nothing, absolutely everything… except Himself.

He spoke light and energy and matter into causality. He spoke all the laws of physics, thermodynamics, mathematics, and biology into reality.

And He did so for the express purpose of making for us, His ultimate creation, a place to be and grow and live and enter into relationship with Him.

That is what faith teaches, and whatever else this God Particle may be, underpinning its function and purpose is, very simply, the Word of God.

I cannot conceive of a more effective presentation of God's divine attributes, His omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence, than to have these encapsulated in these three reality-making words: "And God said…".

Consider all the human and natural demonstrations of power in whatever form you choose: dictatorships, presidents, hurricanes, volcanoes, tsunamis, nuclear detonations, etc. Each require whole systems of interrelated components in a preexisting configuration in order to achieve anything. Rulers require nations and infrastructure, nature requires climatology, hydrology and the physical realm. Weapons of mass destruction require science and technology, and all the foundations upon which these are built.

But only a Being of all-conceivable power could speak into the nothingness and by His very words not only move all heaven and earth, but create them in the first place.

Why choose words rather than gestures or something else?

I can think of three possible reasons, none of which are exhaustive, and all of which are speculative, for in the end, God chooses simply because God chooses.

Nevertheless, His creative power manifested in and by words instantly and intimately unites Him with the only elements of His Creation made in His image: us.

Words are what differentiate human beings from everything else. We are the only living creatures we know of who would understand even the concept of verbal and written communication, let alone the content of the communication.

Secondly, impersonal force and the use of words are oxymorons. It is unimaginable for mere energy to communicate in anyway. Nuclear explosions do not speak. There would have to be a controlling intelligence behind the use of words, and by definition, intelligence requires personhood.

And finally, there is nothing more representative of sovereign power than a command immediately and inalterably obeyed. As a symbol of divine authority, the Creation account is unmatched by any conceivable alternative.

God needed neither machinery, nor matter, nor energy, nor infrastructure, nor wealth, nor institutions of knowledge, nor anything else… but Himself.

God said… and it was so.

A Good Testimony

For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. (Hebrews 11:02, NKJV).

The it here is the weight and solidity of faith. By faith, and faith alone, good testimony is obtained before God.

The phrase is used twice in Hebrews, both in Chapter 11. It is a derivation of the root from which we get our word, martyr, and literally means to bear witness of a positive nature. 

It is instructive to note that the three other instances in the New Testament (so, 5 in all) refer respectively to the man who ministered to Paul's blindness in Damascus (the Ananias of  Acts 22:12), to the qualifications of those in church leadership (2 Timothy 3:7), and to Demetrius, an acquaintance of the elderly John whom he mentioned in his last epistle (3 John 12).

In each case, it is the unsolicited, voluntary report of a good and decent person from an eye witness. In that sense, faith is our character witness.

Whatever we do NOT from faith is therefore sin (Romans 14:23), and acts as a witness against us at the Judgment Seat of Heaven.

This means in turn that all our "good" deeds on earth, if not fueled by faith, no matter how vaunted and beneficial from the human perspective, serve not as recommendations, but indictments.

Are you generous and charitable because it does something for your self-image or self-esteem? Then keep your treasure for God is not fooled, nor mocked.

Are you diligent in religious activities, studies, and practices because you believe it earns you credit in Heaven? Then you are wasting your time, and treasuring up for yourselves evidence of hypocrisy.

Do you stumble in sin daily, and grieve because you know that such behavior breaks your Lord's heart? Do you go to Him as a trusting child to implore forgiveness? These are acts of weighty and solid faith, achievements of substance that please God far more than any outward piety or righteousness (Luke 18:9-14).

Any "good" thing done for reasons other than loving and obedient gratitude to the Creator and Savior is likened to a whitewashed tomb, adorned on the outside, but on the inside full of dead men's bones and corruption.

This both complicates and simplifies a life of faith, doesn't it?

The complication comes from ruthlessly weeding out any thoughts of self-righteousness and self-worth (a remarkably difficult task in this era of culturally promoted self-worship) and simply allowing the Spirit of God to work in and through you each and every waking moment, motivating, directing, and empowering. The self-surrender involved here is hard and takes long and diligent practice. 

Children do it far better than adults; humble people better than the proud; those poor in spirit better than those who think highly of themselves.

In fact, the more worldly success you've experienced, the higher the regard you receive from worldly neighbors and worldly family and worldly friends, the more control you think you have over your own destiny, the harder it is to live by faith.

On the other hand, it simplifies things because neither your own plans nor power nor position amount to a hill of beans from the heavenly perspective. A true life of faith is, in this respect, one spontaneous adventure after another. 

Spontaneous because the directing force comes from above, not within, where you have to grit your teeth and strive and obsess. It is an adventure because the outcome is not up to you, but in the hands of Someone far greater and better than you.

And while some adventures may not be safe, all adventures change something fundamental inside the adventurer. And adventures under the loving hand of God change you in the direction He wants you to go, for your good and His glory.

In reality, the Christian walk of faith is not the staid and safe and colorless tedium portrayed by popular wisdom. It is the diametric opposite.

Sometimes it means heroically walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Sometimes it means purposefully taking the hard, rather than the easy path. Always it means putting all your trust in Someone you have not seen, not as a striving or work, but as a simple act of devotion.

For remember this above all else:

...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 diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6, NKJV).

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10, NKJV).