What does it mean that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6)?

"But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and He is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." If one does not honestly believe that "God is," then his apparent religious approach to God is thorough hypocrisy. Faith is simply a true recognition of God, and certainly nothing less than this can please God. This is the elementary essential, while the last part of the verse shows the active working of faith, that is, diligently seeking God, which is certainly to be rewarded, in accordance with the faithful nature of God.

So this is where faith begins, whether for Enoch or for ourselves. It leads us to the knowledge that GOD IS, and this is something very different from the belief that there is a God. Even in these days of scepticism there are to be found multitudes who cannot satisfy their minds, in trying to account for the existence of all things, without postulating the existence of a God, of some sort and somewhere; but this is reason and not faith. Faith it is, and faith only, which puts us into the presence of the LIVING GOD, who knows, and sees, and acts, and makes Himself known, and even rewards those who diligently seek Him. In days when all thought of the living God was fading from the minds of men, Enoch by faith had the living God before him. He diligently sought Him, and consequently he found Him, and there began that remarkable walk with Him which continued for three hundred years.

In the history in Genesis nothing is said of the faith of Enoch, but we are twice told that he “walked with God”. It is to this fact that the Apostle apparently refers when he says that, before Enoch's translation, “he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Upon this testimony the Apostle argues that he must have had faith, for without faith it is impossible to please God. The one that comes to God must believe, not only that God is, but that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

“Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for He that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” There we have the explanation of the whole matter. The chapter in which the statement is found deals entirely with the value and power of faith. Faith is that which is begotten in the soul by the Word of God. It comes by report, and report by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). This is why it is so indispensable to us and so pleasing to God. It was upon the faith of Enoch that the eye of God rested with pleasure, and not upon his failing footsteps. His walking with God was only the outcome and result of the work of God in his soul, his faith was a product of the new nature, which was in him by the mighty operation of the grace of God.

That is what is brought before us in the Lord's Supper, the great memorial feast for all His saints: "As oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do show the Lord's death" — there is Abel's sacrifice. "Till He come" — there is Enoch's translation. And there is nothing, so far as God is concerned, between Abel's sacrifice and Enoch's translation, save His abundant grace to sustain us here. So far as title and fitness for heaven are concerned, the moment a man believes, he is ready to be translated like Enoch. That shows what a perfect work Christ's is. Enoch left behind a bright testimony — that he pleased God. Turning to the Old Testament, the only record we have is that he "walked with God." He lived an ordinary kind of life — begat sons and daughters; but he pleased God by walking with Him. How simple, yet wide-reaching! To walk with God means, to be in accord with His mind and will, to be separate from all that is not according to that. But this necessitates faith. One who has to do with God must believe in His reality — "believe that He is." He must also believe in His goodness — "that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."

406 If I care only for what natural conscience says, I do not get God's mind at all. That does not touch what God is at all, but what man is; it is saying that man may exalt himself - has responsibility to himself; but believing God is a great deal more, for it acknowledges responsibility to God. "He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder," etc. It is coming to Another that is spoken of. Do I come to a person I am with? In coming, I think of what He is - what God thinks of a thing. We have to do with Him in a living way by faith. He is one who takes notice of everything. If you apply this practically at any moment, what a difference it will make! We are called to judge everything in the light. What do I mind about difficulties, if I know I am pleasing God? Such an one does not despise any; because, thinking about God, he goes from strength to strength. Intercourse with God shews him more of God's mind - he sees what God is doing. "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." If he fail, there will be distress, thus walking with Him, because he has lost the thing he delights in. If accustomed to walk carelessly, he does not notice it. "Without faith it is impossible to please God." If there is diligence in seeking Him, there is the reward.

The natural man cannot appreciate faith. Not so with good works. These the natural man can appreciate fully, for man is benefited by them in his temporal interests. The present day is a day for good works in many quarters, for which we are thankful; but it is not a day for faith. It is a day of unbelief, of prudence, of sight. Combinations, like clubs and insurance societies, whereby men fortify themselves against the chances and changes of this mortal life - all this is sight. Now, how important it is to remember that what is pleasing to God is faith. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him." Faith believes that He is, and therefore relies on Him. Nature cannot help us here. A tender heart may sympathize with, and, where there are resources, succour the distressed. All beautiful, but it cannot help us to do a work of faith. Happily faith is not always being tested, though it ought always to be present. It may be tested sharply only a few times in our life. These are golden opportunities which we so often shrink from and so often, alas! fail in, but in which some win immortal honours. The great justification of faith - that is, what makes it right and rational to walk by faith - is the fact that God has raised up Jesus Christ from among the dead. He "raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God." (1 Peter 1:21.) Now, if God brought up that blessed Man of faith from the grave, there are no circumstances out of which He cannot bring us, and there is no pathway of obedience which we are not justified in treading.

The life of righteousness on earth, the life that is pleasing to God, must needs be a life of faith; because the great transgression has estranged God from the world that was made by Him (John 1:10), and so polluted it that it cannot be the rest and portion of the righteous. Wherefore it is written, "He that cometh to God, must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Heb. 11:6).

Faith and discipleship are intimately connected, and yet are quite distinct the one from the other. Indeed, faith must necessarily precede discipleship if the latter is to be genuine. That there may be a great profession of discipleship without faith is clearly shown in the Word, and borne witness to by the history of ages. But it is worse than valueless; it is a deception and a snare - "without faith it is impossible to please Him." This is a truth of universal application, and of the deepest import. It strikes at the root of all will-worship - of all legal service - of all the inventions of man wherewith he essays to serve and to please God. But He looks for faith in the heart before everything - faith that puts man in his right place and condition before God, and gives Him His right place as the alone source of all good. It gives to the soul a true sense of what is pleasing to God according to the character of the revelation He has been pleased to make of Himself, and thus a true apprehension of the character of our calling.

Scripture tells us that “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). Had the god of this world been able to keep all men in darkness, he would have triumphed over God; but God has triumphed. The Son of God as Man in this world lived the perfect life of piety for God’s pleasure and glory, where every other man had failed Satan no doubt though he had the victory when Christ hung dead upon the cross, but God raised Him from the dead; and now He continues the life of Jesus, in which He had such pleasure, in those who have believed on Him in the world.