Sermon Tone Analysis

A Faith that Pleases God                                 Darrell Hurley                   

                                                         Hebrews 11:1-7                                          Box # 781

 

INTRODUCTION

Image… Eric Liddell

Need… When was the last time you thought “is my life pleasing to God?

Subject… Today I’ll tell you how you can obtain a life of faith that pleases God

Text… Our text today is Hebrews 11:1-7

Preview… In out text we are going to discover how a faith that pleases God is defined, what it looks like lived out, and how can we have this kind of faith that pleases God.

BODY

I.        The Definition of a faith that pleases God

 

A.

It is a/ confidence/ of things hoped for.

B.      It is a /conviction/ of things unseen.

II.

The Demonstration of a faith that pleases God

 

A.

The Testimony of Abel- Faith /Worshipping/.

B.     The Testimony of Enoch- Faith /Walking/.

C.     The Testimony of Noah- Faith /Working/.

III.

Determine to daily live a life of faith that pleases God (HP)

 

A.

Read and meditate on the scriptures every day.

B.     Practice praying without ceasing every day.

C.     Live in obedience every day.

*A Faith that Pleases God*

* *

Introduction

            In 1981, one of the tops movies of the year was Chariots of Fire which portrayed the life of a  man who was preparing to run in the 1924 Olympics in Paris France.

His name was Eric Liddell  and he was from Scotland.

Most of the movie portrays the events that led up to the Olympic Games.

It showed Liddell winning one event after another in order to qualify for the Games.

But one could see from early on that Liddell was a different kind of man.

He was not solely focused on running in the Olympics.

His vision was to compete in the Olympics and then give his life to serving God on the mission field in China.

But his sister couldn’t understand why he would take time out of his life to compete in the games, when he could be presently serving on the mission field now.

He told his sister that he felt God had gifted him with the talent and the ability to run, so when he ran, he ran for God’s glory; he ran for God’s pleasure.

Liddell qualified for the Olympics and found out just before the games began that his best event, the 100 meters was going to be staged on Sunday.

He made it known to the Olympic committee that he would not run on the Sabbath, so he ended up competing in the 200 meter in which he won the bronze and the 400 meter in which he won the gold.

The movie ends with Liddell being fully satisfied in what he had accomplished and then moving on with his life serving as a missionary in China.

This movie portrays a need for us in that some people in the world know how to live for God’s pleasure and are quite satisfied in life.

But there are a lot of people who don’t.

So let me ask you, when was the last time you gave thought to how your life pleases God?

This is going to be the subject for our talk today.

How you can live a life that pleases God?

We will find the answer to this question in Hebrews 11:1-7.

In this text we will discover that it is faith that pleases God.

We will define what faith is and how it is evidenced in our lives and how we can obtain this kind of faith.

*BODY*

* *

*I.       ** The Definition of a faith that pleases God vv.

1-3*

Just mention the word faith in different circles today and it will conjure up many different thoughts among people today.

We use the word to represent religious systems like the faith Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity.

We use it to speak of fidelity to one’s promises like: I take your statement on faith.

We use it to show loyalty in a person like: I believe in you – you can do it.

Others use it to speak of strong personal convictions as in the case with someone saying, the faith of our fathers.

But the question for us today is, What does the Bible mean when it comes to the faith it speaks of?

Well I know of no better place to look than Hebrews 11.

*Read verse 1-3*

We see in v. 1 that a faith that pleases God is a faith that is *confident* in things hoped for.

The Greek word that is translated “being sure” or “confident” is *ὑπόστασις* .

This word is a compound of hupo meaning under and stasis which means to stand.

So faith gives a sure foundation to Hope.

Faith is the bedrock for Hope in that it looks into the future and sees the reality of things that are awaiting it.

It is by faith that we can look into the future and see what is awaiting us.

We have many promises from God that there is a better day coming.

Paul speaks of the blessed hope of the believer.

Paul tells us in Titus 2:11-13 that,

 

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,  12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,  13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus;  (Tit 2:11-13 NAS)

 

The blessed hope of the believer is that this life is not all there is.

There will be a day when Christ returns that those who have died will be resurrected and those that are alive will be raptured to forever be with the Lord for eternity.

It is by our faith that we can see into the future and see this as an awaiting reality for us, and this helps us to persevere and live lives pleasing unto God.

So is not only confidence in the future, but it is a conviction that what God promises are true.

It is a conviction of things unseen.

*Read verses 2-3 *

The second aspect in the definition of faith in vv.

1-3 is that a faith that pleases God is a conviction or certainty of things unseen.

We all came into this world as infants.

At that time, we were not aware of all the things that were taking place around us.

But as we grew in our physical development, we began to comprehend things through our senses.

In other words, we began to understand the world we lived in through our senses.

Our sense of touch, taste, sight, hearing, and smell began to help us understand what was taking place around.

In the same way, when we were born into God’s family and began to grow in our develpoment as a believer, we began to comprehend the things of the Spirit that we never had in the past.

The most important of these unseen realities is the existence of our creator God and how everything that we comprehend both physically and spiritually was a part of His creation.

We now came to understand that God is the first cause of everything.

This is the same type of faith that our fathers of the faith demonstrated as is noted in v. 2 and the rest this chapter.

Now that we have seen *the definition of a faith that pleases God, *I will move on to my second point and we will see *the demonstration of a faith that pleases God.*

*II.

**The Demonstration of a faith that pleases God vv.

4-5, 7*

* *

*Read v. 4*

In v. 4, we have the writer of Hebrews account of Abel and his faith.

Here we see Abel pleased God in that he demonstrated a *worshipping faith*.

Now there is a lot of ambiguity in this account and the one in Genesis.

Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, "I have gotten a manchild with /the help of /the LORD."  2 And again, she gave birth to his brother Abel.

And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

3 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground.

4 And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.

And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering;  5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard.

So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.

(Gen 4:1-5 NAS)

 

 

We don’t know exactly what Cain and Abel knew and what kind of sacrifice was asked for by God.

But we do know that Abel’s sacrifice was commended as pleasing to God and Cain’s was not.