As I studied chapters 10 and 11 of Hebrews, I came to realized that the whole chapter 11 of Hebrews is about faith, and also about living by faith. Everyone named in chapter 11 is an example of people who lived their lives by faith. (Hebrews 10:38) “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”
I had the idea that it was very hard to live by faith, but it is not. For it is just living like one believes there is a God.
The whole book of Hebrews is a warning to the Jews. It that said they believed in Jesus as their Messiah, but now they were having second thoughts and they were not so sure that He was the Messiah.
Verse 10:38 comes from (Habakkuk 2:4) “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” And it is quoted three times in the New Testament: (Romans 1:17) “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”
(Galatians 3:11) “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.”
(Hebrews 10:38) “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”
I had never stopped to try and understand just what living by faith is.
What is living by faith? Living by faith is not living a sinless life. For if it was, no man would be able to live by faith.
“Living by faith” is knowing the truth that there is a God who is all-powerful and righteous. “Living by faith” is knowing that God is our righteous judge, that He is loving and wants to forgive our sins – to the point that He, in His grace, sent His son into the world to die and pay our penalty for sin so that we can live with Him eternally.
As I said before, all the men that are in Hebrews 11 are examples of men that lived by faith. We need to see the way they lived their lives so that we can learn how to live by faith too. All of these men and women lived their lives in faith so therefore they pleased God.
I want you to understand that all of them lived by faith and all of them pleased God, but all of them did not live an easy life. Not all of them obtained the promises that God had promised them in their lifetime, but none of them doubted that God would do what He had promised.
The first step that one needs to take in pleasing God is to believe that there is a God. You see that faith is never without knowledge. God never asks you to believe something that you do not know. He might ask you to believe something that you do not understand. You might not understand how God is going to do something or when He is going to do something, but if He said He will do it, then in faith we should know that he will do it.
God does ask you to believe the evidence that He exists. There is a lot of evidence that points to the existence of God. He also asks us to believe the Revelation that He has given us in the Bible.
The thing needed to please God is to live by faith. What does living by faith look like?
We can say that if one lives by faith one is just. (Hebrews 10:38) “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”
The word “just” can be translated as “righteousness.” It could be translated, “The righteous shall live by faith.” We need to understand that we are not righteous before we have faith, but it comes after we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
(Romans 10:10) “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.” If you want to be righteous, believe in God. Believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead.
Living by faith will please God so that He will give you “eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
(Romans 10:9) “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
*Devotional written by Ralph Williams, retired pastor and member of One Hope Mobile.
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