Without Faith It Is Impossible to Please Him

Without Faith It Is Impossible to Please Him – Hebrews 11:6

The Bible has much to say about the significance of faith.

Preachers in the churches of Christ are frequently accused of failure to recognize the importance of faith in the process of salvation. We tend to place so much emphasis upon the role of baptism in salvation, that many among the denominations get the idea that we do not believe in the worth of faith. This, however, is a mistaken impression. We preach and teach only what the Bible authorizes; and the Bible has much to say about the significance of faith.

Faith is absolutely essential to the salvation.

In Hebrews 11:6, it is written: “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.” If one does not have faith in God, then one can never be saved from his sins. This means that faith is absolutely essential to the salvation of every human being (John 8:24)!

But, faith is not all that is necessary for salvation.

People, however, tend to get terribly confused about faith, when they start thinking that faith is all that is necessary to effect the salvation of a living soul. Much of the modern “religious” world is under the impression that one needs only to believe in God and to ask Him for forgiveness, and salvation shall be granted. Their assertion is that there is nothing for us to “do” about our spiritual condition, be- cause God does it all for us. This notion is ridiculous, in light of what the Bible actually says about faith, works and our salvation.

Faith and works go hand in hand.

In Acts 2, when Peter was preaching to a vast multitude, the Biblical record says that, “with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation” (Acts 2:40). Peter told to people to save themselves, indicating that there was something that they could “do” about their spiritual condition. In his epistle, James argued that faith and works go hand in hand. He wrote, “show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works” (James 2:18). There can be no salvation without faith in God, but salvation does not arise by faith alone. Every step in the plan of salvation must be taken to get us to where we want to go (Matthew 7:21).