Hebrews 11 :6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him
Hebrews 4:2
But the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in that heard it,
If we were to link theses two verses together, we must understand that our mere actions toward God, as good as they may be, when applied without faith is worthless religious acts. The outward exercise may be performed diligently and correctly, but unless faith is in operation God is not honored and the soul profits nothing.
Faith draws the heart unto God, and faith receives from God a supernatural principle of grace which lives upon the God of the Bible. The natural man, no matter how religious he is, can acquire faith through acts of goodness nor by willing it to be. It is the sovereign gift of God.
Faith must be exercised in all the expressions of the Christian life if God is glorified and edified. We must express faith:
1) When the Bible is read. "But these are written, that ye might believe" (John 20:31).
2) When listening to the preaching of God’s men. "The hearing of faith" (Gal. 3:2).
3) When praying. "Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering" (Jas. 1:6).
4) In our daily life: "For we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7); "the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God" (Gal. 2:20).
5) On our death bed. "These all died in faith" (Heb. 11:13).
What the breath is to the body, faith is to the soul. One whom is destitute of faith to seek to perform spiritual actions, has the same spiritual value given as a action movie. None.
Now a non-believer may read the Bible and yet have no spiritual faith. So many "Christian" countries take up the reading of the Bible, and yet have no more of the life of God in their souls than have the heathen. Thousands in this land read the Bible, even calling it God’s Word and become more or less familiar with its contents. A mere reader may read several chapters every day, and yet never appropriate a single verse. But faith applies God’s Word. It applies His fearful warnings, and trembles before them. It applies God’s precepts, and asks God daily for grace to walk in them.
It is the same in listening to the Word preached. It is very possible to listen to two sermons every Sunday for fifty years, and visit a mission field each summer, and be as dead spiritually as those who stay home that day each week. A true believer applies the message and examines himself by what he hears. He is often convicted of his sins and made to weep over them. He tests himself by God’s standard, and feels that he comes so far short of what he should be. The Word of God pierces him, like a two-edged sword, and causes him to cry, "O wretched man that I am!"
The religious worker with no faith often makes the humble Christian feel ashamed of himself in prayer. The religionist who has "the gift of the gab" is never at a loss for words. Sentences flow from his lips as readily as do the waters of a babbling brook. Verses of Scripture can come from him in a great expression as if he knew the Bible well.
Knowing the Bible with no application of faith and meaning is but a waste of time. One may as well quote a good cartoon script. The believer that has placed faith in the Word of God prays "God be merciful to me a sinner." And is often at a loss for words to express themselves . We need to distinguish sharply between praying a nice prayer and a spirit of true supplication. The one consists merely of words, the other of "groanings which cannot be uttered". The one is acquired by religious education, the other is found in the soul by the Holy Spirit.
The “make believe” believer may talk well even regarding "doctrines” for anyone can read a book to understand such things. But the child of God reads to apply the doctrines following God in love and truth. When a saint of God does open his lips about spiritual matters, it is to tell of what the Lord, in His infinite mercy, has done for him. The religionist is anxious for others to know what he is "doing for the Lord."
The difference is just as real between the genuine Christian and the nominal Christian in connection with their daily lives. While the latter may appear outwardly righteous, yet within they are "full of hypocrisy and iniquity"
Matthew 23:28
Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
They will put on the skin of a sheep, but in reality they are "wolves in sheep’s clothing." But God’s children have the nature of sheep, and learn of Him who is "meek and lowly in heart," and as the elect of God, they put on "mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering" . They are the same in private as they appear in public. They worship God in spirit and in truth, and have been made to know wisdom in the hidden parts of the heart.
Col 3:12
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
A faithless worker of the things of God may die knowing all the verses and remembering his deeds yet not at any point placing his faith in them. But this is very different from the one that rest only in his faith in God and has been "sprinkled" with the precious blood of Christ. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace" (Ps. 37:37). A peace which "passeth all understanding".
And what is it that distinguishes the one character from the other, wherein lies the difference between the genuine Christian and he who is one in name only? This would be it my friend:
A God-given, Spirit-working faith in the heart of the believer is what makes a genuine Christian a man of God. Not a mere head-knowledge and intellectual assent to the Truth, but a living, spiritual, vital principle in the heart. A faith which "purifies the heart" (Acts 15:9), which "worketh by love" (Gal. 5:6), which "overcometh the world" (1 John 5:4).
A faith that is real also remains when faced with trials within and opposition without. A faith that exclaims "though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him" (Job 13:15).
True, this faith is not always exercised, nor is it equally strong at all times. The “make believe” believer must be taught by painful experiences that as he did not originate faith, neither can he command it; therefore does he turn unto its Author, and say, "Lord I believe, help Thou mine unbelief." And then it is that faith, when reading the Word he is enabled to lay hold of it’s precious promises; that when bowing before the Throne of Grace, he is enabled to cast his burden upon the Lord. When he is called upon to pass through the valley of the shadow of death, he cries "I will fear no evil for Thou art with me."
You just got to have faith.