How To Please God?

By John Foll, written 9/9/2017.
© Copyright 2017 John Foll

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“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.

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Do you have faith? Do you have Assurance? Faith commeth by hearing the word of God!

By John Foll, Written between 04/03/2017 and 04/07/2017, and on 04/22/2017.
© Copyright 2017 John Foll

Do you have faith? Do you lack the faith to believe that God can save you, bad as you are? Do you have faith to claim God’s rich promises for you in the Bible and become an overcomer? Do you have faith that can move mountains, mountains of doubt?

Have no fear! If you have many doubts and struggles and do not yet have the assurance of your own salvation, you may yet gain this assurance! If you will just listen to God’s word in the Holy Bible and cooperate with Him, humbling your heart before Him, you will gain all the faith you need to believe His word, and claim His rich promises for you! This is God’s promise to you, as we will see in this mini study! This will enable you to get your rich reward in Heaven that Jesus and His Father have promised to all who love them. John 14:1-4. Because faith commeth by hearing: hearing the word of God. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 KJV. And as E. J. Waggoner taught in his book,“The Gospel in Creation”, Chapter 1: the First Day, p. 19-20, 33-37, 41-42, we have a rock solid foundation that we can build on: we can build on the word of God! It is impossible for God to lie. “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:  Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” Hebrews 6:18-20 KJV. Because Jesus is our mediator with the Father (1 Timothy 2:5) and paid the price for our sins (Romans 6:8-10), we have a strong refuge so that we can lay hold of the hope set before us, it is impossible for God to lie. So let us build upon ‘the rock’ of Christ, the solid rock of Jesus, the solid foundation! Matthew 7:24-27; Luke 6:47-49; Isaiah 28:16. For you can believe that God loves you, as Jesus declared in John 3:16, and there can be no stronger foundation than this, because it is impossible for God to lie, and because He is all powerful, loving and kind, and can never fail!

Let us therefore believe the word of God in the Bible, and not doubt Him or His love for us and all of humanity. In reading, studying and meditating on His words and His precepts in the Bible, and in the faith building stories contained therein, as well as the stories showing the consequences of sinning and falling away, we are warned and warmed, and our faith in God will grow: if we feed on and continue to feed on His word, and continue to ‘hear’ His word and want to obey. The same supernatural power that created the universe is contained in the word of God. When God speaks, what He says always comes to pass (unless it is a conditional promise and the conditions were not met), because He speaks not as a man speaks, but in His words are contained the creative power that created the Universe, and He is our God, who formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into him the breath of life! Genesis 2:9. When God speaks, and says let there be light (Genesis 1:3), there will always be light, because if it doesn’t exist, when He speaks, His word creates it. And in Jesus’ word, which is the word of His Father, there is life and life more abundantly! John 10:10. Yes, we have studied this in many of our Jones and Waggoner articles here, but continue to listen and hear these words of God, and they will take effect in your heart; if you cooperate with Him, they will produce faith in your heart. They cannot fail to produce these effects, because they are the words of God! This is how you get faith, so that you can please God! By reading, hearing and listening to the words of God contained in the Bible! It says in Hebrews, “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. But as we have seen, since faith comes from the reading, listening to and hearing the word of God (and doing - implied), then it is plain enough that how we can please God is by reading, listening to and hearing the word of God, since this is how we gain faith! And as A. T. Jones would say: there can be no faith without the hearing and the listening to the word of God. It is evident therefore that this is the only way we can get real faith, because God and His Son are the only sure foundation that we can build on.

There is a wonderful power in the word of God regardless of where it is found in the scriptures! – The same power that created the heavens and the earth! This power will transform you and remake you, if you will just read and listen to it! It is not any work of yourself, but the work of God that will happen, if you listen to His words and let them produce their results in you. If you let these words preach to your soul, though you be weaker than the weakest, and the greatest of sinners, they will work their miraculous power in your life and change you, giving you life! “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:” Isaiah 1:18-19 KJV. God’s word has the power to help you believe that you are forgiven and white as wool, if you have confessed your sins, and just listen to it. 1 John 1:9. His words have the power to help you to believe in Jesus His Son, that you may have eternal life (John 3:16-17), and that you may claim all of God’s wonderful promises in the Bible for yourself, that you may have all your true needs and true desires met. You don’t have to be a mighty faith warrior in order to become a giant of faith, be happy, full of Joy, be an overcomer, and eventually gain eternal life! For if you will listen and continue to listen to and meditate on all His words of truth, His Law of Love, faith and promises in the scriptures, His word alone: His mighty power will do all of this for you! Amen!

And may the love of God, and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all! Amen. 2 Corinthians 13:14 NASB.

P.S. If you will just let God’s word do its work in your heart, He will work such a miracle of His grace in your heart, and mighty will be the results! Don’t resist His love for you! Why would you want to? When such peace, love, joy and faith and power to be good and to do good can be yours and you will become so happy! And your life will finally please God! Amen!

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Lessons on Faith: Part 1 of 14: Cultivating Faith

Without faith it is impossible to please God. The reason for this is that "whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Rom.  14:23), and of course sin cannot please God.

This is why it is that, as stated by the Spirit of Prophecy on the first page of the Review, Oct. 18, 1898, "The knowledge of what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of cultivating faith is more essential than any other knowledge that can be acquired." 

And for this cause we shall hereafter, in this place in each number of the Review give a Scripture lesson on faith -- what it is, how it comes, how to exercise it -- that every reader of this paper may have this knowledge that "is more essential than any other knowledge that can be acquired." 

RH Nov. 29, 1898    

In order to be able to know what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of cultivating faith, it is essential to know, first of all, what is faith. 

Plainly, it must be to little purpose to urge upon a person the necessity of cultivating faith, while that person has no intelligent idea of what faith is. And it is sadly true that, though the Lord has made this perfectly plain in the Scriptures, there are many church members who do not know what faith is. They may even know what the definition of faith is, but they do not know what the thing is. They do not grasp the idea that is in the definition. 

For that reason the definition will not be touched now, but rather there will be cited and studied an illustration of faith - an instance which makes it stand out so plainly that all can see the very thing itself. 

Faith comes "by the word of God." To the Word, then, we must look for it.  

One day a centurion came to Jesus and said to him, "Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed . . .  When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." Matt. 8:6-10. 

There is what Jesus pronounces faith. When we find what that is, we have found faith. To know what that is, is to know what faith is. There can be no sort of doubt about this, for Christ is "the Author . . . of faith," and He says that that which the centurion manifested was "faith" -- yes, even "great faith."  

Where, then, in this is the faith? The centurion wanted a certain thing done. He wanted the Lord to do it. But when the Lord said, "I will come" and do it, the centurion checked Him, saying, "Speak the word only," and it shall be done. 

Now what did the centurion expect would do the work? "The word ONLY." Upon what did he depend for the healing of his servant? Upon "the word ONLY."  

Now, brother, sister, what is faith? 

RH Dec. 6, 1898 

  

Faith is the expecting the word of God to do what it says and the depending upon that word to do what it says.

As that is faith and as faith comes by the word of God, it is plain that the word of God, in order to inculcate faith, must teach that the word has in itself power to accomplish what itself says. 

And such is precisely the truth of the matter: the word of God does teach just this and nothing else, so that it is truly "the faithful word" -- the word full of faith. 

The greater part of the very first chapter of the Bible is instruction in faith. That chapter has in itself no fewer than six distinct statements that definitely inculcate faith; with the essential connective of the first verse, there are seven. 

The inculcation of faith is the teaching that the word of God itself accomplishes the thing which is spoken in that word. 

Read, then, the first verse of the Bible. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." How did He create them? "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 

"For he spake, and it was." Ps. 33:6-9. Before He spoke, it was not; after He spoke, "it was." Only by speaking, it was. What caused it to be? The word only. 

But darkness was upon all the face of the deep. God wished light to be there, but how could there be light when all was darkness? Again He spoke. "And God said, Let there be light; and there was light." Whence came the light? The word which was spoken, itself produced the light. "The entrance of thy words giveth light." Ps.  119:130. 

There was no firmament, atmosphere. God wished that there should be a firmament. How could it be produced?  "God said, Let there be a firmament . . . and it was so." Another translation for "it was so" is, "And thus it came to pass." What caused the firmament to be? What caused this thus to come to pass? The word only. He spoke, and it was so. The word spoken, itself caused the thing to exist. 

God next desired that there should be dry land. How could this be? Again He spoke. "God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear; and it was so." 

Then there was no vegetation. Whence should this come? Again God spoke. "And God said, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth, and it was so." 

Again He spoke. "And God said, let there be lights in the firmament of heaven . . . and it was so." 

Again He spoke. "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature . . . and it was so." 

Thus it was that "by the word of the Lord" all things were created. He spoke the word only, and it was so. The word spoken, itself produced the thing. 

Thus it was in creation. And thus it was in redemption. He healed the sick; He cast out devils; He stilled the tempest; He cleansed the lepers; He raised the dead; He forgave sins -- all by His word. In all this, also, "He spake and it was." 

And so He is the same yesterday and today and forever. Always He is the Creator. And always He does all things by His word only. And always He can do all things by His word, because it is the very characteristic of the word of God that it is possessed of the divine power by which itself accomplishes the thing which is spoken. 

This is why it is that faith is the knowing that in the word of God there is this power, the expecting the word itself to do the thing spoken and the depending upon that word itself to do that which the word speaks. 

The teaching of faith is the teaching that such is the nature of the word of God; the teaching of people to exercise faith is the teaching them to expect the word of God to do what it says and to depend upon it to do the thing which is by it spoken; the cultivating of faith is by practice to cause to grow confidence in the power of the word of God itself to do what in that word is said and dependence upon that word itself to accomplish what the word says. 

And "the knowledge of what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of cultivating faith is more essential than any other knowledge that can be acquired." 

Are you cultivating faith? 

RH Dec. 27, 1898 

By A. T. Jones in the Review and Herald periodical in 1898.

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Living by Faith Part 2 of 5: A CAUSE OF FAILURE

By E. J. Waggoner.

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We have heard many people tell how hard they found it to do right; their Christian life was most unsatisfactory to them, being marked only by failure, and they were tempted to give up in discouragement. No wonder they get discouraged; continual failure is enough to discourage anybody. The bravest soldier in the world would become faint-hearted if he had been defeated in every [6] battle. Sometimes these persons will mournfully tell that they have about lost confidence in themselves. But if they would only lose confidence in themselves entirely, and would put their whole trust in the One who is mighty to save, they would have a different story to tell. They would then "joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Says the apostle, "Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice." Phil. 4:4. The man who doesn't rejoice in God, even though tempted and afflicted, is not fighting the good fight of faith. He is fighting the poor fight of self-confidence and defeat.

All the promises of final happiness are to the overcomer. "To him that overcometh," says Jesus, "will I give to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am sat down with My Father in His throne." Rev. 3:21. "He that overcometh shall inherit all things," says the Lord. Rev. 21:7. An overcomer is one who gains victories. The inheriting is not the overcoming; that is only the reward for overcoming. The overcoming is now; the victories to be gained are victories over the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — victories over self and selfish indulgences. The man who fights and sees the foe give way, may rejoice; nobody can keep him from rejoicing, for joy comes spontaneously as the result of seeing the enemy give way. Some folks look with dread upon the thought of having to wage a continual warfare with self and worldly lusts. That is because they do not as yet know anything about the joy of victory; they have experienced only defeat. But it isn't so doleful a thing to battle constantly, when there is continual victory. The old veteran of a hundred battles, who has been victorious in every [7] fight, longs to be at the scene of conflict. Alexander's soldiers, who under his command never knew defeat, were always impatient to be led into the fray. Each victory increased their strength, which was born only of courage, and correspondingly diminished that of the vanquished foe. Now how may we gain continual victories in our spiritual warfare? Listen to the beloved disciple: — "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." 1 John 5:4.

Read again the words of the apostle Paul: — "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Gal. 2:20.

Here is the secret of strength. It is Christ, the Son of God, the One to whom all power in heaven and earth is given, who does the work. If He lives in the heart to do the work, is it boasting to say that continual victories may be gained? Yes, it is boasting; but it is boasting in the Lord, and that is allowable. Says the Psalmist, "My soul shall make her boast in the Lord;" and Paul says, "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Gal. 6:14.

The soldiers of Alexander were reckoned invincible. Why? Was it because they were naturally stronger and more courageous than all their enemies? — No; but because they were led by Alexander. Their strength was in his leadership. Under another leader they would [8] often have been defeated. When the Union army was fleeing, panic-stricken, before the enemy at Winchester, the presence of Sheridan turned their defeat into victory. Without him the men were a quaking mob; with him at their head they were an invincible army. If you had listened to the remarks, after the battle, of the soldiers who served under those and similar leaders, you would have heard the praises of their general mingled with all their rejoicing. They were strong because he was; they were inspired by the same spirit that he had.

From the book: “Living by Faith” The Bible Student’s Library, no. 75, Dec. 1, 1890, By E. J. Waggoner, Chapter: “A CAUSE OF FAILURE”, p. 5-7.

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