How to Please God

: Ter Bul wethout faith zt ts tmposstble to hae flim; for he that cometh to God must belteve that Tle dse

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HE Deakeremenr POSSIBLE. — ITS RESULT. — I, FAITH ESSENTIAL. - — NO COMMUNION POSSIBLE WITHOUT IT. — NOR CONFIDENCE. — ee, NOR COMMON MEETING-GROUND. — NOR PROSPECT OF LOVE. — VARIANCE ON MANY POINTS. — II. TWO ESSENTIAL POINTS OF FAITH. — BELIEF IN THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. — IN HIS BEING A REWARDER. — III. PRACTICAL LESSONS. — WITH FAITH IT IS POSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD. — SHOULD BE THE CHIEF OBJECT IN LIFE. — THE COMING CONTINUAL. — DEATH ONLY COMING CLOSER. — A FEARFUL THING TO BE WITHOUT FAITH.

Mew have lived who have pleased God: Enoch — “was one of them, but he was not the only one. In 3 all ages certain persons have been well-pleasing to - God, and their walk in life has been such as was His fo. It should be the aim of every one of us to: please God. The thing is possible, notwithstanding all our imperfections and infirmities: let us aim at it (an- the power of the Holy Ghost. What has been * wrought in one man may be wrought in another. — We, too, may be well-pleasing unto God; Be let us seek after it with hopefulness. As Enoch, a darker age, was pleasing to Him, why should not we, upon whom the Gospel day has dawned? God ry, grant us to find grace in His sight! Bits JBB9

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iy. Of our. being. It is written concerning a i iy i; ee “‘For His pleasure they are and were created

‘peace and Sa tees Pee is not an ee man who is pleasing to God: God hath blessed him, ‘yea, and he shall be blessed. By pleasing God we shall become the means of good to others: our ex- ample will rebuke and stimulate; our peace will oe s vince and invite. Being himself well pleasing to God, the godly man will teach transgressors God’s way s and sinners shall be converted unto Him. I there- 4 fore, without the slightest hesitancy, set it before you “Ss as a thing to be desied by us all, that we should win this testimony — that we are pleasing God. Pa I. First, then, the apostle asserts that FAITH IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to the pleasing of God. Take, as a key-word, thes ite strong word ‘“¢mpossible.” ‘Without faith it is impossible to please God.” He does not say it is diffi- cult, or so needful that without it success is barely possible; but, point-blank, he declares it to be “zmposstble.” For, first, without faith there is no capacity for communion with God at all. The things of — att God are spiritual and invisible: without faith we cannot recognize such things, but must be dead to them. — Faith is the eye which sees; but without that eye we abt

are blind, and can have no fellowship with God in

those sacred truths which only faith can perceive. Faith is the hand of the soul, and without it we have no grasp of eternal things. If I were to mention all the images by which faith is set forth, each one would

help you to see that you must have faith in order to

know God and enter into converse with Him. It is only by faith that we can recognize God, approach Him, speak to Him, hear Him, feel His presence, and. be delighted with His perfections.

Again, without faith the man himself is not pleasing to God. We read, “Without faith it is impossible

to please God;” but the Revision has it better:

“Without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto God.” The way of acceptance described in Scripture is, first, the man is accepted, and then what

that man does is accepted. It is written: “And he

shall purify the sons of Levi, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” First, God is pleased with the person, and then with the gift, or the work. The unaccepted person offers of necessity an unacceptable sacrifice. If a man be your enemy, you will not value a present which he sends you. As the man is, such is his work. The stream is of the nature of the spring from which it flows. He who is a rebel, outlawed and proclaimed, cannot gratify his prince by any fashion of service; HE MUST FIRST SUBMIT

himself to the law. All the actions of rebels are acts done in rebellion. We must first be reconciled to

God, or it is a mockery to bring an offering to His altar. Faith in Christ ideas = or channel in oposition towards God — we who were enemies are 5

reconciled: and from this comes towards God a distinct change in the nature of all our actions: Sidi though they be, they spring from a loyal heart, ane they are pleasing to God.

Remember that, in human associations, want of confidence would prevent a man’s being well-pleasing to another. Ifaman has no confidence in you, you can have no pleasure in him. If you had a servant in your house who always suspected your every action, and believed in nothing that you said or did, but put a wrong construction upon everything, it would make the house very miserable, and you would

be well rid of such an inmate. It is clear that want

of confidence would destroy any pleasure which one man might have in another. When the creature dares to doubt his Creator, how can the Creator be pleased?

Note again: unbelief takes away the: common ground upon which God and man can meet. Two persons who are pleasant to one another must have certain common views and objects. If you and I believe in God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, we have

A COMMON GROUND of sympathy with God; but if not, we are not in har- mony. How can two walk together except they be agreed? According to che well-worn fable, two persons who are totally different in their pursuits cannot well live together: the fuller and the charcoal-burner 7 ty a oe = 363 a=

; made white, the collier blackened with his finger. If x differing pursuits divide, much more will differing - B feelings upon a vital point. It is Jesus whom Jehovah delights to honor; and if you will not even trust Jesus - with your soul’s salvation, you grieve the heart of God, and He can have no pleasure in you. Assuredly, again, want of faith destroys all prospect of love. Although we may not perhaps see it, there lies at the bottom of all love a belief in the object loved, as to its loveliness, its merit, or its capacity to make us happy. If I do not believe in a person, I ee cannot love him. If I cannot trust God, I cannot love - Him. If I do not believe that He loves me, I shall feel but slight emotions of love to Him. If I refuse to see anything in the greatest display of His love,. if I do not value the gift of His dear Son, then I can- — not love Him. But love on our part is essential to our pleasing God: how can He be pleased with an unloving heart? Again, want of faith will create. positive variance on many points. Note a few. If I trust God, and believe in Him, I shall submit myself to His will; even when it becomes very painful to me I shall say, “It is the Lord: let Him do what seemeth Him good.” But if I do not believe that He is God, and that He is aiming at my good, then I shall resent His chastisements, and shall kick against His will. What He wills me to suffer, I shall not be willing to suffer; but I shall rebel, and murmur, and proudly accuse my Maker of injustice, or want of love. Ishall be in a rebellious

“were obliged to part; for whatever the fuller had :. ie

F Eee wo state toward Him, and then He cannot have pleasure

in me.
Without faith, moreover, I get to be

AT VARIANCE WITH GOD

in another way; for inasmuch as I desire to be saved, I shall seek salvation in my own way, and go about to establish a righteousness of my own. Whatever it may be, whether it be by ceremonies, or by good works, or by feelings, or what not, I shall, in some way or other, set up a way of salvation other than that which God has appointed through Christ Jesus. If you are laboring to be saved in one way, while

God declares that through His Son is the only way of salvation, you are acting in distinct opposition to

the Lord in a matter which does not admit of any compromise. He who has no faith seeks salvation by a way that is derogatory to the Lord, and it is impossible for him to please God.

Let me conclude this point by asking, By what means can we hope to please God, apart from faith in Him? By keeping all the commandments? Alas! you have not done so. You have already broken those commands; and what is more, you still break them, and are ina chronic state of disobedience. If you do not believe in Him you are

NOT OBEDIENT TO HIM;

for true obedience commands the understanding as well as every other power and faculty. We are bound to obey with the mind by believing, as well as with the hand by acting. The spiritual part of our being

RE: So eee oe is in revolt against God until we believe; and, while the very life and glory of our being is in revolt, how can we please God?

But what will you bring to the Lord wherewith to please Him? Do you propose to bribe Him with your ‘money? Surely you are not so foolish! Is the Lord to be bought with a row of almshouses, or a chapel, or a cathedral? To most of you it would be impos-. sible to try the plan for lack of means; but if you were wealthy enough to lavish gold out of the bag, would this please Him? Truly, you can assist in an ornate worship, or build a gorgeous church, or embroider the furniture of an altar, or emblazon the windows of a church. But are you so weak as to believe that such trifles as these can cause any delight to the mind of the Infinite? It is not.this that He asks of you, but to walk humbly with Him, never daring arrogantly to doubt His truth and mistrust His faithfulness. Go not about by a thousand inventions to aim at what you will never compass, but believe your God, and be established. So much upon that painful point. Remember the impossibility of pleasing the Lord without faith, and do not dash your ship upon this iron-bound coast.

II. Now, secondly the apostle mentions

TWO ESSENTIAL POINTS of faith, He begins by saying, “He that cometh to God must believe that He is.” Note the key-word “must:’ it is an immovable, insatiable necessity. Before we can walk with God, it is clear that we must come to God. Naturally, we are at a distance from Him, and

That we may come to Him, we must first believe that —

. ‘there is a God to come to. More; we must not only I believe that there is a God — for only a fool doubts — that: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no

God” — but we must believe that Jehovah is God,

that Jehovah was the living and true God. You

are to believe, and must believe in order to be

pleasing with God, that He is God, that He is the only God, and that there can be none other than He. You must also accept Jehovah as He reveals Himself. You are not to have a God of your own making, nor a God reasoned out, but a God such as He has been

pleased to reveal Himself to you. Believe that Jeho-

vah is, whoever else may not be.

But the devils believe and tremble, and yet they are not pleasing to God, for more is wanted. Believe that God zs in reference to yourself: that He has to

Me cannot bathe with Him, nor abe ee to “ime

and God alone. This was Enoch’s faith; he believed oy

do with your life, and your ways. Many believe that

there is a hazy, imaginary power which they call God; but they never think of Him as a person, nor do they suspect that He thinks of them, or that His existence is of any consequence to them one way or another. Believe that God zs as truly as you are;

and let Him be real to you. Let the consideration.

of Him enter into everything that concerns you. Believe that He is approachable by yourself, and is to:

be pleased or displeased by you. Believe in Him.

as you believe in your wife or your child whom

try to please. Beier in God Neyond: iene, that “He is” in a sense more sure than that in “which any one else exists. Believe that He is to be

: approached, to be realized, to be, in fact, the great

truth, that God is most influential upon you; and that it is your business to come to Him. Yet all this would be nothing without the second 4 - point. We must believe that “He is

pA THE REWARDER x of them that diligently seek Him.” How do we seek ‘Ss flim, then? Well, we seek Him, first, when: we begin ie by prayer, by trusting to Jesus, and by calling upon - the sacred name, to seek salvation. ‘ Whosoever Bs shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” That is a grand promise, and it teaches how we come to God; namely, by calling upon His name. Afterwards we seek God by aiming at His glory, by making Him the great object for which we live. One man seeks money, another seeks reputation, another seeks pleasure; but he that is pleasing to God seeks. God as His object and end. ‘Seek ye first the king- dom of God, and His righteousness; and all these

things shall be added unto you.” 4

The Lord is “‘a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” He, then, that would please God must first ‘believe that He is; and then dedicating himself

. to God, must be firmly assured that this is the right, the wise, the prudent, thing to do. Be certain that i to serve God is in itself gain: it is wealth to be holy; it is happiness to be pleasing to God. We cannot

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practical factor of your life. Hold this as the primary 4 conceive that the heavenly Father sees, without pleasure, a man struggling against sin, battling against evil, enduring sorrow contentedly through a simple faith, and laboring daily to draw nearer and nearer to Him. But all this hangs upon faith. Without faith there is no coming to God who is, and no seeking of God who is a rewarder; and therefore without faith it is impossible to please God.

III. We will now gather a few lessons from what the apostle has taught us. First, then, the apostle teaches us here by implication that God is pleased with those that have faith. The negative is often the plainest way of suggesting the positive. If we are so carefully warned that without faith it is impossible to please God, we infer that

WITH FAITH IT IS POSSIBLE to please God. If you believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him; if you are willing to believe all that He teaches you because He teaches it, and are really a believer in Himself, and in all that He is pleased to reveal, then are you pleasing to Him. He that believes in God believes in all the words that God speaks, and he surrenders himself to all that God does; and such a man must be pleasing to God. When the prodigal said, “In my father’s house there is bread enough and to spare,” he believed in his father’s power to supply all his needs. When he thought in his heart that his father would receive him, then he said, “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father I have sinned.” You must have so much belief in God as to believe Him ese Ts

to have the heart of a father towards you, or you will never come back to Him; but when you begin to trust your God your face is already towards the heavenly home and before long your head will be: in your Father’s bosom.

Learn, next, that those who have faith make it the great object of their life to please God. Am I speaking the truth? Will each one ask whether it is true about himself? Do I, as a believer, live to please God? We need personal heart-searching on this point. The believer in the invisible God delights to act as in His sight, and in secret to serve Him. I take a choice pleasure in rendering to my God a service unknown to others, not done for the sake of my fellows, but distinctly that I may do something for my Lord’s own self. It is sweet to give or do simply to please zm, without respect to the public eye. It is ennobling to feel that you have

ONLY ONE MASTER, and that you live to please Him, even God. To please men is poor work. To live to follow everybody’s whim is slavery. If you let one man pull you by the ear in his direction, another will tug at you from another direction, and you will have very long ears before long. Happy is he who, pleasing God, feels that he has risen above seeking to please men. It is grand to say, “This is what God would have me do, and I will do it in happy fellowship with others, or alone by myself, as the case may be; but do it I must.” This gives a man backbone, and at the same time removes the selfishness which is greedy of popular applause.

ie to be ae naires up fori it,

Note, next, the apostle teaches us here that = “that have faith in God are Ay ’ ALWAYS COMING Rea: itd Cod: for he speaks of the believer as “He that E cometh to God.” If you once learn to believe God, and to please Him, you are coming to Him day by.

day. You not only come to Him, and go away from:

o Him, as in acts of prayer and praise, but you are Ras Ee always coming; your life is a march towards Him., 4 ‘The way of the believer is toward God; by his faith ‘he comes ever nearer and yet nearer to the eternal —

; - throne. What is his reward? Why, He that sitteth

on the throne will say, “Come, ye blessed of My oe: Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Come! Come on! You have been coming; keep on coming forever.

There is a gentle, constant, perpetual progress ‘of: the believer’s heart and mind nearer and closer to: God. ee

The next lesson is one I have already spoken of:

God will see that those who practice faith in Him 4

oe shall have a reward. I say, God will see to it, for thes ws * text says, “//e zs a rewarder of them that diligently — 4, seek Him.” Here we may get but scant reward from 4 those whom we benefit; indeed, they usually return x

us base ingratitude. Joseph was a faithful servant to = Potiphar; but Potiphar put him in prison ona ground- =

less charge. Joseph helped the butler, and interpreted his dream, yet he remembered not Joseph, ‘

“The last lesson we paths from it is this:
THOSE WHO HAVE NO FAITH

are ina fearful case. speak not of the Peaiseet but

of unbelievers who reject the Gospel. “Without faith —

it is impossible to please God.” Some of you are always fashioning fresh nets of doubt for your own entanglement. You invent snares for your own feet, and are greedy to lay more and more of them. You are mariners who seek the rocks, soldiers who court the point of the bayonet. It is an unprofitable business. Practically, morally, mentally, spiritually,

doubting is an evil trade. You are like a smith wearing out his arm in making chains with which to bind

himself. Doubt is Sterile a desert without water. Its

progress is the decay of comfort, the death of peace. “Believe!” is the word which speaks life into a man; but doubt nails down his coffin.

If thou canst believe, O guilty one, that Jesus

Christ bore the guilt of sin upon the cross, and by

His death has made atonement to the insulted govern-

ment of God; if thou canst so believe in Him as to

cast thyself just as thou art at His dear feet, thou

shalt be pleasing to God. I entreat thee to look up

and see the pierced hands and feet and side of the

. dear Redeemer, and read eternal mercy there; read

full forgiveness there, and then go thou away in

peace, for thou art well-pleasing to God. The sinner

—you to do so at once.

fieth the ungodly and passeth by ane of
‘sinful men!

ove you freely.
warder of them that diligently seek Him.

He will receive you graciously a Oh, come to Him, for He is a God h But without faith you cann please Him. Do what you may, feel what you like, you will labor as in the very fire, and nothing wi come of it but eternal despair. The Lord help yo

to pere and live! Amen.