By John Foll, written 9/9/2017.
© Copyright 2017 John Foll
List of Articles
“And 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 seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 NASB.
Why is it impossible to please God without faith? Because you must believe that He is and that He rewards those who seek Him. How will He reward you? By giving you the help that you need to be faithful to Him and listen to and hear His voice. “But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the LORD." Jonah 2:9 NASB.
To look at this deeper, look at the verse that comes before Hebrews 11:6: “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.” Hebrews 11:5 NASB. Now how did Enoch obtain this witness that before he was taken up that he was pleasing to God? Hebrews 11:6 gives us a clue: Enoch had faith in God and sought after Him with his whole heart. But what more does the Bible say about Enoch and how Enoch could have pleased God? “And *about these also Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’” Jude 1:14-15 NASB77. So how did Enoch please God? He warned sinners in the world that God was going to bring down His judgements on them for their sins. God is merciful and compassionate and desires that all men come to a knowledge of Him and obey Him. That is why Enoch pleased God, because he had faith in Him, sought after Him with his whole heart, and proclaimed His love to the world, warning them to repent of their ‘ungodliness’.
What does Jesus say regarding how you can please God? He told Nicodemus: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18 NASB. Jesus said that God sent His Son Jesus into the world to save it, not condemn it; so God wants you to believe in Jesus His Son. “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.” John 14:23-24 KJV. To put it all together, Jesus is saying that if anyone wants to please God, they will keep all of Jesus’ words and obey them, which were given to Him by His Father (God), since God wants everyone to believe in Jesus His Son. Jesus also promises to those that do this, that He and His Father will come dwell in their heart! This is through the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. What a precious promise! Do you want Jesus and His Father to come dwell in your heart? Then keep all of Jesus’ commandments (which are the same thing as God’s commandments, since Jesus said ‘the word ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me’).
Jesus addressed both of these passages to His *disciples. So God would be pleased if everyone would become Jesus’ disciple. “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” John 15:8-11 NASB. Dear reader, if you would have your joy made full, oh so full, believe what Jesus has spoken here! You can be Jesus disciple too! God would be glorified, dear reader, if you would become Jesus’ disciple and bear much fruit for Him. How do you bear much fruit for Him? By telling others of His wonderful love, so that they can be saved like you! And also by helping others in any way that God has opened up for you to do. ‘Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.’ Ecclesiastes 9:10 NASB. See also Matthew 25:31-45 for more on how you can please Jesus, by having love and compassion for others. You can only do these things that glorify Jesus and His Father if you are born again or born from above (John 3:3, 5), and have Jesus and His Father dwelling in your heart, through the presence of the Holy Spirit. And you can only have these blessings if you believe in Jesus and obey His commandments.
Jesus promised: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” John 14:15-17 NASB. So dear reader, if you would have this promise for yourself, keep Jesus’ commandments, and He will ask His Father to give you another Helper, which is the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Truth, that He may abide with you forever! And what are Jesus’ commandments? One of them is: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:34-35 KJV. But this is not the only commandment that Jesus gave: you are to follow everything that Jesus said to do, if you would be His disciple and have the Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart. Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell — and great was its fall.” Matthew 7:24-27 NASB. If you would please God become Jesus’ disciple, and listen to and act on every word that Jesus said, and bear much fruit for God! This is our prayer for you! If this is your desire, study and restudy all of the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, over and over again, with much prayer to learn all that would please God, because your salvation is granted to you on the condition that you believe in Jesus His Son, and love and obey Him. John 3:16.
Paul also tells us how we can please God: we are to walk in the Spirit: “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” Romans 8:5-9 NASB. Dear reader, if you walk in the flesh you cannot please God and will die, but if you walk by His Spirit you will have life and peace. If you have ‘the Spirit of Christ’ dwelling in you, then you belong to Him, that is if you have received the Helper or the Spirit of Truth, which is the Holy Spirit into your heart. When this happens you will be born from above and born again and have life and peace and belong to Jesus! This is what would greatly please God!
In conclusion, how do you please God? By faith and by believing in Jesus, by obeying Him and Jesus and becoming Jesus’ disciple and bearing much fruit for God. (Everything that Jesus spoke were the words of God.) And God would also be greatly pleased if you would seek after Him with all your heart, and warn the wicked to turn from their wicked ways and turn back to God like Enoch did, who pleased God and was taken to Heaven without seeing death. God would also be greatly pleased if you would walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh and have life and peace, having ‘the Spirit of Christ’ dwelling in your heart, so that you belong to Him. God would be pleased if you would be born again!
May the grace of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all!
For more on how to please God please see our new blog: “How to Please God” WhiteraimentEvangelismObey.blogspot.com, where we will go into the details on how you can please God, so that you can be happy and receive the Holy Spirit, since the Holy Spirit is given to all who obey God. Acts 5:32. We believe that you will be greatly blessed if you would continue to study all that would please God, and ask Him to help you to please Him in prayer.
List of Articles
#Faith #Obey #God #Jesus #Believe #Please #HolySpirit #Disciple #Bear #Fruit #Enoch #Warn #Wicked #BornAgain #Life #Peace #Reward #Seek #Witness #Commandments
© Copyright 2017 John Foll
List of Articles
“And 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 seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 NASB.
Why is it impossible to please God without faith? Because you must believe that He is and that He rewards those who seek Him. How will He reward you? By giving you the help that you need to be faithful to Him and listen to and hear His voice. “But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the LORD." Jonah 2:9 NASB.
To look at this deeper, look at the verse that comes before Hebrews 11:6: “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.” Hebrews 11:5 NASB. Now how did Enoch obtain this witness that before he was taken up that he was pleasing to God? Hebrews 11:6 gives us a clue: Enoch had faith in God and sought after Him with his whole heart. But what more does the Bible say about Enoch and how Enoch could have pleased God? “And *about these also Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’” Jude 1:14-15 NASB77. So how did Enoch please God? He warned sinners in the world that God was going to bring down His judgements on them for their sins. God is merciful and compassionate and desires that all men come to a knowledge of Him and obey Him. That is why Enoch pleased God, because he had faith in Him, sought after Him with his whole heart, and proclaimed His love to the world, warning them to repent of their ‘ungodliness’.
* See Jude 1:10-13: ‘Men who revile the things which they do not understand’ verse 10; those whom ‘the black darkness has been reserved’. Jude also talks about Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed as well. So the phrase ‘about these’ is referring to wicked people whom God’s judgement would fall on.
What does Jesus say regarding how you can please God? He told Nicodemus: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18 NASB. Jesus said that God sent His Son Jesus into the world to save it, not condemn it; so God wants you to believe in Jesus His Son. “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.” John 14:23-24 KJV. To put it all together, Jesus is saying that if anyone wants to please God, they will keep all of Jesus’ words and obey them, which were given to Him by His Father (God), since God wants everyone to believe in Jesus His Son. Jesus also promises to those that do this, that He and His Father will come dwell in their heart! This is through the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. What a precious promise! Do you want Jesus and His Father to come dwell in your heart? Then keep all of Jesus’ commandments (which are the same thing as God’s commandments, since Jesus said ‘the word ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me’).
Jesus addressed both of these passages to His *disciples. So God would be pleased if everyone would become Jesus’ disciple. “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” John 15:8-11 NASB. Dear reader, if you would have your joy made full, oh so full, believe what Jesus has spoken here! You can be Jesus disciple too! God would be glorified, dear reader, if you would become Jesus’ disciple and bear much fruit for Him. How do you bear much fruit for Him? By telling others of His wonderful love, so that they can be saved like you! And also by helping others in any way that God has opened up for you to do. ‘Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.’ Ecclesiastes 9:10 NASB. See also Matthew 25:31-45 for more on how you can please Jesus, by having love and compassion for others. You can only do these things that glorify Jesus and His Father if you are born again or born from above (John 3:3, 5), and have Jesus and His Father dwelling in your heart, through the presence of the Holy Spirit. And you can only have these blessings if you believe in Jesus and obey His commandments.
* Although Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night in John 3:1-2 who was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews, wasn’t part of Jesus’ original 12 disciples, he later became a disciple too. John 19:28-40. See also John 7:45-52 where he defended Jesus to the other rulers he was meeting with. They also implied or accused him of being Jesus’ disciple when they said ‘Art thou also of Galilee?’ John 7:52.
Jesus promised: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” John 14:15-17 NASB. So dear reader, if you would have this promise for yourself, keep Jesus’ commandments, and He will ask His Father to give you another Helper, which is the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Truth, that He may abide with you forever! And what are Jesus’ commandments? One of them is: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:34-35 KJV. But this is not the only commandment that Jesus gave: you are to follow everything that Jesus said to do, if you would be His disciple and have the Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart. Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell — and great was its fall.” Matthew 7:24-27 NASB. If you would please God become Jesus’ disciple, and listen to and act on every word that Jesus said, and bear much fruit for God! This is our prayer for you! If this is your desire, study and restudy all of the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, over and over again, with much prayer to learn all that would please God, because your salvation is granted to you on the condition that you believe in Jesus His Son, and love and obey Him. John 3:16.
Paul also tells us how we can please God: we are to walk in the Spirit: “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” Romans 8:5-9 NASB. Dear reader, if you walk in the flesh you cannot please God and will die, but if you walk by His Spirit you will have life and peace. If you have ‘the Spirit of Christ’ dwelling in you, then you belong to Him, that is if you have received the Helper or the Spirit of Truth, which is the Holy Spirit into your heart. When this happens you will be born from above and born again and have life and peace and belong to Jesus! This is what would greatly please God!
In conclusion, how do you please God? By faith and by believing in Jesus, by obeying Him and Jesus and becoming Jesus’ disciple and bearing much fruit for God. (Everything that Jesus spoke were the words of God.) And God would also be greatly pleased if you would seek after Him with all your heart, and warn the wicked to turn from their wicked ways and turn back to God like Enoch did, who pleased God and was taken to Heaven without seeing death. God would also be greatly pleased if you would walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh and have life and peace, having ‘the Spirit of Christ’ dwelling in your heart, so that you belong to Him. God would be pleased if you would be born again!
May the grace of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all!
For more on how to please God please see our new blog: “How to Please God” WhiteraimentEvangelismObey.blogspot.com, where we will go into the details on how you can please God, so that you can be happy and receive the Holy Spirit, since the Holy Spirit is given to all who obey God. Acts 5:32. We believe that you will be greatly blessed if you would continue to study all that would please God, and ask Him to help you to please Him in prayer.
List of Articles
#Faith #Obey #God #Jesus #Believe #Please #HolySpirit #Disciple #Bear #Fruit #Enoch #Warn #Wicked #BornAgain #Life #Peace #Reward #Seek #Witness #Commandments
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