What Pleases God (Heb. 11:1-7)
Let us bless one another, Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. May the unprecedented answers of God be upon all the individuals worshipping in the church, in their homes, and out of state. The title of today’s message is, “What Pleases God.” If someone pleases God, then they themselves will be happy. If someone is not able to make God happy, then they themselves cannot be happy.
In our DNA, there’s a section responsible for making endorphins, and endorphin is a hormone that makes us feel happy. The reason why there are so many mental illnesses like depression, bipolar, and panic disorders, is because we’re not able to create our own endorphins, so we’re unhappy. In order to gain happiness for themselves, people look around for things to make them happy.
What do you think makes you happy? It’s the things you like. If I like going to the mountains or some other place, I’ll be happy because my body creates endorphins. But if I don’t go on trips like that, it goes away. When we do drugs, alcohol, or gambling, we have endorphins, because every time we do those activities, we’re happy. But as soon as we go back home, those endorphins disappear again. That person is always going to be thinking about drugs, alcohol, and games because that’s where they get their happiness from.
If they keep doing that, they’ll fall into addictions. America is the land that has everything. It’s a nation that relatively has a lot of happiness. However, even if we succeed, we’re not happy because relatively speaking, we keep losing reasons to be happy. When we challenge towards a goal, we have happiness of challenging towards that goal. Once we get promoted to a certain position, we’re happy as we’re acknowledged by others. However, as you’re in a position of leadership and success, you’ll see other people who are more successful than you are, then again your endorphins are depleted.
People just look around for things that will generate more endorphins. While they’re drinking alcohol, their brains are numbed so they feel happier because they cannot feel the pain. But once they sober up, it’s the same situation. That’s why the problem of America, these mental problems, appear in every individual and in their homes. If you’re trying to gain happiness within some kind of condition, your happiness will always be fleeting.
In today’s Bible passage, there’s one person who pleases the LORD, and for that individual, they themselves will be pleased. That’s what we call faith.
1. Faith
What is faith, then? There are a lot of people who misuse faith. There are some people who just have a lot of confidence or assurance in themselves, and they … faith. Faith doesn’t come from me; it’s talking about the faith regarding God’s Word. There are some people who keep swearing to themselves, “2022 will be my year.” They keep staking their names on, “Even if the environment gets very difficult, I will endure.” This is not faith; this is an assurance that comes from yourself and cannot bring you happiness.
1) God’s creation (Gen. 1:1)
(1) The universe was formed at God’s command (Heb. 11:3)
What is faith? In Heb. 11:3 it says, “God formed the entire universe,” and in Gen. 1:1, God just said, “Let it be,” and everything was created. This is something we can never understand within the confines of our logic, because we think about the things we see and we can feel the things we can touch; we cannot create something that doesn’t exist. We always think something visible is created from some other visible thing. Only the one who has the faith to believe God created the universe with only His Word can know.
If you’re a very logical person, faith has nothing to do with you, because something would have to fit within your logic and understanding for you to make a judgment about it; the invisible things are irrelevant to you.
(2) Mankind – God’s image (Gen. 1:27)
(3) Covenant of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17)
God created mankind as spiritual beings to live with Him by faith. God is invisible, so if you don’t have faith, it’s impossible to know Him. After that point, God gives mankind the blessings of being abundant, increasing in number, and ruling and subduing over the earth. But this blessing was stolen away.
2) Covenant
(1) Sin (Unbelief), Satan, Separation (Gen. 3:1-6, 24)
In Gen. 3, mankind disobeyed God’s Word, and because of this, they were seized by Satan and separated, as they were cast out of Eden. From this point on, the curses and disasters came upon mankind. From that point on, no matter what methods mankind tried to seek happiness, they cannot find it. We have no way to please God, that’s why our lives become full of suffering.
(2) Offspring of woman (Gen. 3:15)
In Gen. 3:15, God opened that one way which is the offspring of woman. Our problem can only be solved when God, who had no sin, not man, must die on the cross to forgive all of our sins for us. 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ had to die on the cross to receive our sins and curses. We can only escape from death and Satan once Jesus overcomes. He is talking about the ones who believe this.
Faith is not something vague; it is real. If you’re saying baseless facts or, “No matter what, I’ll do well” or, “No matter what, I’ll fail,” that’s baseless. That’s someone who lives by their own thoughts with no calculations. God told us the Word in the Old Testament but they were not able to see it.
(3) Garments of skin – Blood sacrifice (Gen. 3:21)
In the Old Testament, the way to go before God was the blood sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Without the shedding of blood, you cannot break down the curses of sin and Satan. In Gen. 3:21, the LORD made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, meaning He performed the first blood sacrifice.
3) The one who has the faith and goal to save souls
Before Hebrews 11:1 where they start talking about faith, in Hebrews 10:39, it says “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls,” so we have the faith that saves souls. How can our spirit be saved? Heb. 10:10 says that it is through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ that we are able to receive salvation. This is where our faith must be put into practice.
(1) Confidence in what we hope for (Heb. 11:1)
Salvation has not yet been fulfilled; we receive the complete salvation when we go into the complete Kingdom of God. That’s why faith is the assurance of the complete salvation we will receive. We have not gone into His Kingdom yet, however, this is the reality.
(2) Assurance about what we do not see (Heb. 11:1)
It is assurance of what we do not see. Even though we cannot see God on this earth, without a doubt, there will be evidence that we can see. To summarize this in other words, through Jesus Christ, I have received the complete salvation of going to Heaven, and while I’m on this earth, I receive the answers of enjoying God’s kingdom here. This is what we call faith.
Faith isn’t just saying, “I can do it no matter what,” that’s just trusting in yourself. “I can succeed,” that’s your confidence in yourself. But if you say, “I can’t do this,” that’s also wrong. “My life is going to be sad,” then you’ll be sad. If you say, “My life is going to be happy,” you’ll make more fake happiness. Today, faith is everything because God is everything. Do you just believe in God? No, it is by believing in Christ. You enjoy the complete Kingdom of God and Heaven on earth.
(3) What the ancients were commended for (Heb. 11:2)
The ancients received evidence of the Heaven to which they would go, and it was evidence of Heaven on earth. I will explain that with three individuals today.
2. Evidence of the Advanced People
1) Abel
(1) Gave a better sacrifice (Heb. 11:4, Gen. 4:4)
(2) Righteous person (Heb. 11:4)
By faith, Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain, and by faith, he was commended as righteous. The offering Abel gave to God was the blood of the lamb and the fat. Cain also gave a sacrifice to God, but God gave favor upon Abel’s sacrifice, and that’s why God said Abel was righteous.
Who is the righteous one? The one whom God says has no sin is righteous. Every human being is a sinner since birth because of human being’s original sin; it doesn’t matter what they do, they’re sinners. Because we’re sinners, we receive curses; because we are sinners, we are seized by Satan and we have to go to Hell. There’s no way for us to become righteous. But Abel gave the blood sacrifice that God promised in Genesis 3:15, and that’s why God regarded him as righteous.
If you don’t know this, you’re only going to try to sharpen your own personality and spirituality, or you’ll try to pursue a religious life where you try to clean yourself with your morals and ethics. That’s actually very rude because in God’s eyes, there’s no other way for us to be righteous other than through the blood sacrifice. But you keep trying to improve your personality to become clean? You’re under the misconception that you’re righteous? Satan considers such people as prey. You have to be regarded as righteous by God.
(3) Spoke well of his offerings (Heb. 11:4)
It says in Heb. 11:4 that God spoke well of Abel’s offering when Abel offered the blood of the lamb and the fat.
2) Cain
(1) Gave offering from the fruits of the soil (Gen. 4:3)
Cain was a farmer so he gave the harvest of his farms as an offering to God.
(2) God did not look with favor (Gen. 4:5)
God didn’t receive Cain’s offering. Just because you come to worship doesn’t mean you’re worshipping. I think Cain was an okay person, I think he was a good farmer and had a lot of money, so he came to worship with his own diligence, but we cannot worship with our own diligence because we cannot worship at all. Without a doubt, we must come with faith. What kind of faith? We go before God with the faith He desires, the faith in the covenant of Jesus Christ that saves us and will take us to Heaven as the Kingdom of Heaven is established on earth.
If we don’t come to worship with that kind of worship, we’ll come to worship with a blank mind, we’ll receive the message in a blank way, and we’ll proceed with life. If you come out to worship with your complicated problems instead of your faith, then the rest of your week will be very complicated. That’s why you must come to worship with faith. You must come before God to worship Him with the faith in Jesus Christ. Then God will give you the grace of His Word and will give you the power and evidence as well.
(3) Did not do good acts, Did not solve problem of sin (Gen. 4:7)
Cain gave this bad offering, and in Gen. 4:7, God says he did not do a good act. Why is it that when we worship, we do not receive happiness? It’s because God did not receive our worship, and as evidence of that, God’s grace is not transmitted. The Word of God is not relayed out, and the power of the Holy Spirit of God is not relayed out because you just came out without the faith in the covenant.
Everyone here, without a doubt, if you’re just sitting here with a blank mind, you’ll be blank for the rest of your week. If you come here with a complicated mind, the rest of your week will be too complicated. If you come here today with a heavy burden, then you’ll have a heavy burden for the rest of the week. Christ finished all problems, and it’s the ones who come out with this faith who will live this kind of life for the rest of the week.
Cain did not do good. What is good before God? If you go outside of God’s covenant, that’s a sin. God said, “You did not do what is right, and sin is crouching at your door.” This sin was not resolved. Only through the blood of Jesus Christ will your sin be forgiven, but your sin is not forgiven. The fact that sin is crouching at his door means that Satan has already seized him, and that means the devil is not broken down.
(4) Murdered his younger brother (Gen. 4:8)
Ultimately through Cain, the Devil murders Abel. Where did this begin? It’s not that Cain didn’t worship; he just came with an empty mind, he came with another thought in his mind so he was not connected with God. Then he has to live the rest of the week with his own state. If you receive God’s grace, you will become happy. If someone is happy themselves, they will keep spreading that happiness to everyone they meet. This is not a joy you feel because of your academics. What are you going to do if your studies aren’t working out well? This happiness doesn’t come from your job working out well; what if it isn’t working out? It’s unconditional.
We have the faith that pleases God, and because we please God, he gives us happiness. Then our depression starts to go away. Depression just goes away when happiness naturally comes to me. The fear that used to fill me up completely goes away because God’s peace comes into me. Why is it that there are so many suicides and shootings in America even though there are so many churches? Why are there more and more drug addicts, and why do sexual crimes increase at such a rate? It’s because people have no happiness; they try to do these things to try to find happiness.
Do you think you’ll be happy if you’re rich? That’s not true. You get more endorphins when you think you’re better than someone else, but if there’s someone better than me, the endorphins go away and instead I’m sad again. That’s why people keep trying to climb the ladder, so they can maintain their endorphins, even though God is above us, and even before God, there are people above us. There’s no happiness; that’s why people gain success and commit suicide, that’s why people fall into addiction to drugs.
The reason Cain killed Abel was not because of a lack of family education; it wasn’t because of a lack of formal school education. This wrath and resentment doesn’t go away. If you please God through your worship, then He will give you happiness and that anger will go away. Then that person will spread that happiness virus wherever they go. Then what happens? When I’m just working with that person, I get endorphins, but some people go to church for such a long time and don’t have any endorphins. They’re always depressed and find words that are so depressing and down.
Why is that? It’s because they’re failing in worship and don’t have the worship full of faith that pleases God. Our family should be circulating with endorphins but instead, we’re always depressed. And then we have endorphins when we listen to BTS songs. I’m not saying that’s bad, but because you don’t know about this absolute happiness, you’re trying to look for this conditional happiness, and you take a plane all the way to Europe to listen to a BTS concert. If it’s on Sunday, of course you’ll miss church to go, because if you go there, you’ll gain endorphins. That’s why they become idols, because they give endorphins to all their followers, their followers support them.
Have you ever been so moved by a movie? Because of this movie, I’m receiving endorphins and hope, and I become a fan. But I’m supporting this artist because I receive something from them. That’s why people use all sorts of methods to try to make worship more invigorating. A worship that will move your emotions. That’s not what I’m saying right now; they have to try to create emotions. They try to make worship with the same emotions you feel when you watch a good movie. I’m not saying this is a good thing.
I’m talking about the emotions that come with the happiness of believing in Christ. Otherwise, we’ll have so many rounds of praise, and we really have to get heated up for us to have endorphins. But even if you don’t do things like that, you can gain endorphins with faith. Once you have the worship God desires, it’s happiness for God and happiness for me.
If you want to give a sermon that generates emotions, you’ll have to align it with people, and it’s the same with music, you have to give them very emotional music to touch their emotions. That’s not worship; that’s just moving people. But if you’re able to worship God, then God makes you happy. The Holy Spirit inside of me is happy and gives me happiness. I’m not telling you to not do those other things, but I’m saying, they’re not necessary for worship.
3) Enoch
(1) Commended as one who pleased God (Heb. 11:5)
Enoch was commended as one who pleased God.
(2) Walked faithfully with God (Gen. 5:24)
Gen. 5:24 says Enoch walked with God. He walked with God, God is with us 24 hours a day, and He is always with us forever, but we don’t see Him. So we can live a life that is walking with God through faith. This is the evidence that all the ancients of faith received. Right now, God is seated at the throne of heaven and is with me, then you have so much happiness. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the reason I do not fear is because God is with me. For us, we’re not trying to change the valley of the shadow of death into something else, but we walk through it because God is with us and it doesn’t affect us. We’re not people who live their lives trying to resolve problems, but we’re the ones who are going through the problems with the answer of God being with us. The one who lives a life that walks with God, a life of 24 hour prayer, being with God. There’s no true happiness other than this.
(3) Pass down faith to Methuselah, Noah
This Enoch passed down his faith to his sons, Methuselah and Noah. We have education in our schools and families, but that’s just basic. That basic level will not be able to please your life, but the greatest education is when the parents are walking with God and relay that happiness to their children, and all the problems in America stem from the parents being unable to do this. Nothing else can stop this.
4) Noah
This Noah received that faith.
(1) Warning about the unseen things (Heb. 11:7)
(2) Built an ark in holy fear (Heb. 11:7)
Heb. 11:7 says that by faith, Noah was warned about things not yet seen, and in holy fear, built an ark. It says, “holy fear.” Do you know how your life fails? Your life fails when you don’t fear God’s Word. You just hear it as the words of your friend next to you. But in Judges, the Israelites were in the land of Canaan and they all failed because they regarded the Word of God as a joke. God said, “Noah, build an ark because there is a disaster coming,” and he received those words with fear.
You’re not changing because you heard God’s Word as a joke, then what happens? You receive the Word of God as optional, something that you could follow, but you don’t have to, but you stake your life on following the words of your friends and leaders and that’s why your life fails. You never think about the Word of God but you’re very attentive to the words of your partner. Then you’ll have things like, “This person betrayed me; this person conned me,” why does this happen? It’s because you thought lightly of God’s Word like a joke.
Without a doubt, God told Noah. Everyone else thought it was a joke, “I’m sure that will never happen, it’s never happened before. What do you mean, ‘a disaster’?” The people who saw it as a joke just lived their everyday lives, but one day, according to God’s Word, they did face a disaster. The gospel is not a joke and Christ is not optional. The words of Christ are not optional, it’s not that it could be there or it doesn’t have to be.
If it’s not for Christ, we cannot solve the problem of curses, Satan, and Hell. Even right now, the Devil is attacking us with our disbelief, and he’s deceiving us with incorrect words, and that’s why we need to have the assurance of the invisible God, assurance in Christ Who has solved all our problems of our past, present, and future. Even if something is a problem, it’s not a problem for me because Christ is with me. Noah had this covenant and made an Ark, which means he made the Ark of salvation. In the end, according to God’s Word, only Noah’s family survived and everyone else died.
(3) Heir of righteousness by faith (Heb. 11:7)
(4) Favor, righteous man, blameless, walked faithfully (Gen 6:8-10)
Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. It never said Noah worked diligently, but he found favor in the eyes of the LORD. THis means he gave worship well. These are the ancients who received all these answers. Once you receive God’s grace, you will escape from your thoughts. My world only consists of what I’ve experienced and what I’ve learned, but if you try to understand God with your limited world, you won’t be able to. You’re using your limited world to try to see the future, and that’s why it’s so frustrating, but when God’s grace comes upon you, you’ll become free of that.
God called Noah righteous, it means God recognized him as sinless. He was someone who properly gave the blood sacrifice in faith, and it says Noah was blameless. How can we become blameless? We become blameless because we’re with God. How can we become blameless? We become perfect because God’s Word becomes my thoughts. How can we become perfect and blameless? When God’s plan becomes my plan. How can we become perfect? It’s when God’s power becomes my power.
Religion is about trying to sharpen your own spirituality so you can become like Buddha. You cannot become perfect, there’s nothing you can do to become perfect. The One Who is perfect and complete must be within me and give me everything in order for me to become perfect. Only God is blameless, the Word of God and God’s plan is blameless; only God’s power is blameless. The Triune God.
When the Triune God becomes my own, I become blameless. Your thoughts are not blameless; the emotions you feel are not perfect, but you live your life for something imperfect, and that’s why you’re always insecure. All your judgements and decisions are wrong, too. Verse 10 says that Noah walked with God too. He received the inheritance of faith from his father, Enoch.
3. What pleases God – Faith
1) One who goes before God (Heb. 11:6)
(1) Covenant, through faith
(2) He exists
Heb. 11:6, “And without faith, it is impossible to please God,” therefore, the one who goes to worship properly before God needs to believe that God is alive.
(3) Believe that He rewards those who seek God
And that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. So every time you come to worship, it should be in eager anticipation because through worship, our living, invisible, Triune God wants to give evidence that He is alive. It is evidence we can proclaim, and that’s why we can go before God with faith in the promise of Jesus Christ. You must believe and know He is alive. That’s why today God is with me through His Word.
2) Triune God – Faith
(1) Word, salvation, power – Me
The Word doesn’t come to you because you try to understand it with Bible study, but it comes to you with grace. When the Word of God comes into me, then my thoughts begin to change. There’s one thing I can guarantee, 100%. You’ve lived your life so diligently until now, right? And you’ll keep living your life diligently, right? Simply put, that’s futile, my own diligence is futile because that cannot become eternal; only God’s Word is eternal.
The only thing that remains in my life are the things I did when I received grace from God’s Word. Even in the future, the only thing that will remain in my life are the words I received by God’s grace, and my following God’s Word. Last week, we received the message titled “The One Who Possesses Eternal Things,” the one who is able to change all the temporary things to use for the eternal things. Even now, the Triune God is with me through the Word of God, through salvation, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
(2) Prayer – Transcend time and space
You enjoy this through prayer. It’s not just prayer, because God is with me. So, when I pray holding onto the Word God has given me, He begins to work, transcending time and space, through the light.
(3) Evangelism, mission – 237 light
As He shines the light, the spiritual darkness is broken down. Today, right now, when you receive the Word of God and pray, God will shine the light, transcending time and space, in all the fields connected to you. Even before we begin our week, God works in advance and then we go. This is worship. Therefore, when you receive God’s grace and strength, your life will change.
3) Church – Faith
What is the church? The church is the place that is the body of Christ, so every member of the church has their own role.
(1) Position – Perfecting of the saints (Eph. 4:12)
Eph. 4:12 says God created these roles to prepare God’s people, in other words, to raise them up. The reason we give different positions like the pastor, elder, senior deaconess, and layperson, is so the body of Christ can be built up.
(2) Works of service through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:12, Phil. 3:3)
So they can do the works of service. In America, they have a lot of volunteers, there are even volunteer police officers. You do works of service to raise up the church. How can we do works of service? Phil. 3:3 tells us to worship with the Holy Spirit. Do not serve with your own strength but serve with the Holy Spirit. This is very important, if you don’t understand these words, then your work in the world and your studies will be very difficult, why? It’s hard because you’re not doing it with the strength of the Holy Spirit; you’re doing it with your own strength, so when someone asks you to do something in the church, you say, “I can’t do that.” In my heart, I think to myself, “This person must struggle in the world a lot. This person is ‘I can’t do it,’ because they think they’re doing it with their own strength.” Then I think about this person, “They must try to study in the world with their own strength, too, so their life in the world must be very difficult.”
Even the work you do in the world is the work of the Lord because you’re living for the Lord, and the work you’re doing in the church is the work for the Lord, and God told you not to do His work with your own efforts, but to do it with His power. The characteristic of a failure is that they say, “I can’t do this,” that person is a failure because this person doesn’t acknowledge their need for the Holy Spirit. They say they cannot do it because they live by their own strength. This person cannot even challenge.
(3) Build up the body of Christ (Eph. 4:12)
The church is a place where you serve with the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we may build up this church because the church is the body of Christ and the Lord will raise up the church through those people.
In 2022, I hope you will not say, “I can’t do it,” because that’s not humility or modesty, that’s disbelief, that’s an excuse. Nobody will see that as modesty; we see that as disbelief. If you say you cannot do it, how can your children become leaders? If you don’t acknowledge that this is the work God will do, your work in the world will fail too. The business you’re running is God’s work, but you think it’s your own work, so you do it with your own strength and you fall.
Do everything with the power of God’s Holy Spirit. This is what we put into practice within the church, and your talent will be used by God for that purpose. Then God will make your talent be used in the world. The Bible says if someone buries their talent in the ground, God will steal it from them and give it to someone who is using it.
For people who do the work of God, their talents continue to increase, but the people who say, “I cannot do it,” God says, “Okay,” and takes away their talent to give it to the one who does God’s work. I hope you will know you’re doing the Lord’s work. When you wash your dishes in the family, that is the Lord’s work because you’re serving the people of God. But you think it’s your work so you say, “I don’t want to do the dishes.”
One day, my family started doing dishes very well. One day, I realized the meals I was receiving were of the greatest quality even though before, they were not. In the past, I thought to myself, “Can I not eat this please?” So whenever we went out to eat, I was full of happiness. But one day, things changed, it seems like she’s doing things with a mission. I think she realized that this is the Lord’s work. “I’m not doing peasant work for my husband; I’m doing the Lord’s work”
Do you think that’s something you can change with education? Do you think you can lecture someone into changing this way? God gave the grace, and it’s become a very comfortable house. When the grace of God goes into someone, they change. These are things that happened in my personal life.
This year, you have been led by God’s Word, so next year, you will be led by God’s Word again, and may you be the one who pleases God so God can make you happy so you can transmit this happiness virus to others.
Conclusion
1.Christ through the church – All things
2. Kingdom of God – Evangelism, missions
3. Holy Spirit – Witness
Prayer
Let us pray holding onto the Word God has given us. The very moment, immediately when you pray, God is shining His light and sending His angels to work upon all of your fields. Let us pray.