Examples Of Living By Faith

TRUE Faith in God is neither sterile nor unproductive. It is usually demonstrative of necessary action. And wherever there is faith in God through Jesus Christ, it acts and works. Such faith is known by what it does or produces. Hebrews 11:1-3 teaches us that faith is a firm persuasion of the things we hope for – it is having a firm confidence in God that He will do as He has promised (Isaiah 55:10,11; Jeremiah 1:12; Acts 27:25). Faith permits a person to rejoice in firm assurance, while waiting for the accomplishment of the promise given by God. He knows that God cannot lie. Faith grants him spiritual perception— allows him to have “the substance of things hoped for”; to hold “the evidence (the receipt) of things not seen”; to be “fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He is able also to perform”; to maintain in the face of all contradictory events that He will “do as He has said” (Hebrews 11:1; Romans 4:17,21; 2 Samuel 7: 25).

  This kind of faith pleases God, for “without faith it is impossible to please Him”.  Faith pleases God so much that He approves and blesses those that put their trust in Him. Today, we shall examine the examples of people like Abel, Enoch and Noah that pleased God by their faith. “By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous” (Hebrews 11:4).  This is an apt description of the beginning of the life of faith. “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Romans10: 17).  By God’s action and revelation (Genesis 3: 21), He had revealed that for a sinner to stand before the holy God, he needs a covering; that God Himself provides that acceptable covering; and that the necessary covering could only be obtained by the death of an innocent victim. This innocent victim was the Substitute for the guilty sinner. Abel brought his sacrifice by faith, believing that God was merciful and would accept the death of an innocent substitute in his place. This is where the life of faith begins. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God died in our place. He is the innocent victim— the innocent Substitute Who died in our place. Now, faith stretches forth its hand and lays hold on the Redeemer. The sinner is pardoned and accepted by God and he obtains witness that he is righteous. Whosoever God accepts, He counts to be righteous. All who are justified and accepted by God (because of faith in our perfect Substitute and Saviour) also receive divine assurance in their hearts that they are forgiven, righteous and justified.

  The example of Abel shows us where the life of faith begins. The example of Enoch teaches us what the life of faith consists – its characteristics. “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Genesis 5: 24). “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” The term “walk” signifies a voluntary act, a steady advance, a life surrendered to, and controlled by God; a life lived for God. He who walks with God, walking by faith, pleases Him. To walk with God, as Enoch did, is to “Walk in newness of life” (Romans 6: 4), “henceforth not walk as other Gentiles walk” (Ephesians 4:17), to “walk uprightly”, “righteously”, “humbly” and “honestly” (Psalm 84:11; Isaiah 33:15; Micah 6:8; Romans 13:13), to be “ undefiled and walk in the law of the LORD” (Psalm 119:1), to obey My voice… and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you” (Jeremiah 7:23), to “walk in the truth” ´(3 John 3), to “walk in the light”  (1 John 1:7), to “walk in the Spirit, (and not) “fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5: 16), to “walk even as Christ walked” (1 John 2:6). This is the life that pleases God and we can only live such a life by faith. “By faith Enoch was translated…for… he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him”. Enoch’s translation into heaven, a type of the Rapture, has prophetic significance. All true believers living consistently to please God in all things will soon be translated into heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:16,17; 1 Corinthians 15:51,52).

  As for Noah, his example was one of unique obedience, for “by faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved… and prepared an ark”. There had never been rain, much less a flood, before God spoke to Noah. Rain and flood were “things not seen as yet”. The entire world, walking by sight, did not believe that there could be such things. It took the courage of faith in the midst of ridicule and opposition for Noah to build the Ark. He believed God’s Word, feared the coming judgment, and that faith led him to obedience. He believed God’s warning that He had determined to send a flood and destroy the wicked world. So, he “moved with fear and prepared an ark to the saving of his house”. He escaped the Judgment of God because he believed in Him. It is by faith that the sinner is saved and escapes judgment (Acts 16:31; John 5: 24). It is by faith that Christ dwells in the heart (Ephesians 3: 17). It is by faith that we live (Galatians 2:20). It is by faith that we stand (Romans 11:20; 2 Corinthians 1:24). 

Further References (from King James Version): Hebrews 11: 4-7; Genesis 4:4; 3:21; Hebrews 12:24; 9:22; John 1:29; Romans 3:24-26; 8:16; Hebrews 11:5,6, Genesis 5:22-24; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Jude 14,15; 1 Corinthians 15:51,52; 1 Thessalonians 4: 16, 17; Luke 18:8; Hebrews 11:7; Genesis 6:9,12-18,22; 2 Peter 2:5; 3:3-6; Matthew 24:37-39; Genesis 7:1,5,12,13,16.