Look, then, in Hebrews 11, verse 5 [see above], where we see related the story of Enoch, the man of God who was taken up by God, or translated, so that he should not have to suffer death. Why did God reward him in this way? Because he pleased God as a result of his faith. His faith caused him to be obedient to God. He did those things in his life which were pleasing to God in direct demonstration of his faith.

If we look at the rest of the 11th chapter of Hebrews, we’ll find that every person who is listed showed their faith through their actions, taken in response to God’s commandments. Each description of a faithful person in this chapter is directly related to obedience to God in some way, which pleased Him. That is the true significance of biblical faith. Biblical faith is ALWAYS accompanied by obedience, and obedience is ALWAYS the evidence of the faith which lives in the child of God.

Notice several other examples from the 11th chapter of Hebrews. Verse 7 says that Noah had faith, and because of that faith he prepared an ark in obedience to the commandments of God [“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”].

Verse 8 says that Abraham had faith, and because of that faith he obeyed. He went out in obedience to the commandments of God, even though he did not know where his travels were going to take him [“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.”].

In verse 11, we see that Sara had faith in God and was obedient, in faith, in the bearing of the son of promise [“Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful Who had promised.”].

Verse 17 shows us the story of Abraham’s offering of Isaac. Because of his faith, he was obedient to God, even to the point of being willing to sacrifice his only son [“By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son…”].

Truly, in looking at these and the many other examples of godly faith in this chapter, it should be immediately obvious that great faith is made evident, or demonstrated, by OBEDIENCE to the things which God commands.

Tied together into one unbreakable bond are these three things: Faith, obedience and righteousness. After all, what is the definition of “righteousness”? [It is] Doing those things which are pleasing to God. Well, how do we perform those acts of righteousness which are pleasing to God? How do we do that? By being obedient to His commands.

When we are obedient to God, performing acts of righteousness which are pleasing to Him, what are we demonstrating? [We are demonstrating] Our faith. That’s the exact meaning of what we read in Hebrews 11, verse 6: “without faith it is impossible to please Him.” Unless we have the kind of faith in God which leads to obedience and righteousness, we cannot be pleasing to God. In verse 6, the writer of Hebrews gives us a precise definition of faith. If we wish to be pleasing to God, then we must, first of all, believe that He is [Hebrews 11:6: “But 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 diligently seek Him.”]. We must believe that God, the Creator of the universe, exists, that HE is our Creator, that HE is the One Who has the absolute power over our lives, that HE is the One Who has the absolute right to tell us what we must do to please Him.

A vital part of pleasing God is the fact that we must also believe that He is a rewarder [Hebrews 11:6:  “But 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 diligently seek Him.”]. When we talk about the fact that God is a rewarder, we’re talking about this idea of trust in God. In fact, when Hebrews 11, verse 13, says that those great pillars of faith saw the promises of God afar off, were persuaded of them, and embraced them, what the Hebrew is talking about is trust in God to faithfully provide the rewards that He has promised us [13 “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”]. We must, therefore, couple our strong belief in the existence of God with an unshakable belief that He rewards.

But notice that these rewards are not promised to everyone. These rewards are only limited to a certain group of people—“those who diligently SEEK Him.” The Greek word which is translated in this verse as “seek” is not the kind of seeking we might think of when we go about looking for something that we’ve, perhaps, lost. But it’s the kind of seeking a person does when they are investigating or researching something. When we have a question about something, or we’re researching a topic, we use the best means at our disposal in order to find the answers. We might use encyclopedias, dictionaries, the Internet, or, perhaps, we might ask questions of those whose knowledge we respect. The same thing is meant here in this verse—those who DILIGENTLY SEEK God are those who investigate God, who look into those things which speak about God and His promises. Those who diligently seek God are those who do so with haste. They…can’t…wait to find out about God, about what His promises are, and about what we must do in order to be pleasing to Him.