Or, Draw Near to God with Confidence
Scripture: Selected Scriptures
Date: January 11, 2026
Speaker: Sean Higgins
If lukewarm hearts nauseate Jesus, what pleases Him? Zealous love, yes, but there is something else Scripture says. Without it, we can’t please Him. It’s faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please [God]” (Hebrews 11:6).
Faith is the perfect complement to last week’s exhortation against acedia/apathy. It is the proper focus of our series of reminders on Lord’s day liturgy. And it is the perfect theme for celebrating TEC’s fifteenth anniversary.
Near the start of Hebrews 11, that great mini-biographical trophy case of believers, we’re given the definition of faith as well as the incentive to faith.
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. (Hebrews 10:39–11:2 ESV)
Living by conviction in (the right) unseen things gets God’s praise. So again in verse 6, “without faith it is impossible to please him.” Stated as the inverse, with faith we please God. Faith is necessary to please Him and sufficient to do so.
Faith is so important for us Protestants that it gets its own sola. Sola fide was the material cause of the Reformation, the substance and center of the whole movement. It’s not just faith as an add-on, it’s faith alone. Faith matters.
The gospels were written so that we might have faith. John explicitly wrote his book:
so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31 ESV)
We are saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8). We live by faith (Romans 1:17). God guards us through faith (1 Peter 1:5). God refines our faith to make it even more precious (1 Peter 1:7). Passing tests of obedience help us know that we have faith (1 John 5:13). Even tiny faith moves mountains (Matthew 17:20). Faith conquers kingdoms, faith willingly gets sawn in two (Hebrews 11:33-37). “This is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith” (1 John 5:4).
So, like Paul, we continue to labor “for your progress and joy in the faith” (Philippians 1:25 ESV).
For all that, is there anything harder than living by faith?
“Trials of various kinds” are testing our faith (James 1:2), “heaviness through manifold temptations” is the trial of our faith (1 Peter 1:6 KJV). God tells us that He purifies faith as through fire, just like removing dross from gold (1 Peter 1:7). When things grieve us, when they hurt, we’re tempted to (think that we can) take matters into our own hands. We believe that we can get ourselves out from underneath the pain. Or some lose heart and walk away. Spouses still give each other grief, parents and kids still struggle, Christians don’t always act like they say they should. Yet another bill comes in. At these times, when our hearts are this heavy, we’re supposed to say, “God is good”? That is a test of faith.
But easy things also test our faith. When things are going well, when the system seems to be working smoothy, we’re tempted to think that we’ve made ourselves successful. We’ve put ourselves into the good position. The kids are quiet and dinner’s ready on time and the car starts when you want. When you can see the blessings, it’s one thing to say, “Wow, thank You, Lord,” it’s another to say “This whole thing isn’t that difficult.”
Whether in need and hunger or in plenty and abundance (Philippians 4:12), we are called to walk by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). There are plenty of afflictions even in this world of affluence. Technology relieves some pains and causes others. The tests of obedience are no less, the tests of perspective may be greater.
Jesus asked, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8)
The gathering of the saints on the Lord’s day is for believers to worship. This does not mean that unbelievers aren’t welcome, it means they aren’t who the service is for. Unbelievers who enter when the church comes together should hear the truth spoken clearly (1 Corinthians 14:24-25), but that belongs with the truth sung and spoken for the building up of the believers (1 Corinthians 14:26).
There is correction (2 Timothy 3:16) which is a constant need for Christians, but that is different than condemnation (Romans 8:1) of which there is none for Christians. There is admonition, but that is different than accusation. When I think about addressing the flock, I anticipate that the flock is full of sinners, who need to learn who they are and what to do as Christians who sin (1 John 1:8-10).
All five movements of our liturgy aim to build up faith. We believe that God “exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). Come, and worship Him! We believe that “he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Confess your sins! We believe that “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). Hear the Word! We believe that He desires to commune with us; “I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:21). Come to the Lord’s Table! We believe that we “can do all things through him who strengthens” and blesses us (Philippians 4:13). Go with His blessing on you!
Our worship is not aimed at making you question whether or not you have faith. Even the command to “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith” in 2 Corinthians 13:5 actually starts with the assumption that there is faith. Our worship is not a faith gauntlet, not a fight against faith so that you can make sure you have faith. Our worship is not seeking to make you start over every week, as if the hard drive must be wiped clean and everything re-installed again every seven days. In the gospel the “righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith” (Romans 1:17).
Singing and praying together let us express our faith. Giving gifts and offerings together is a token of our faith. Hearing the Word read and taught together defines and directs and edifies our faith. Eating and drinking together feeds our faith. A good words/benediction sends us out in faith.
As one of the elders, the progress and joy of the faith of the flock is perhaps my greatest burden. I pray and labor that you all would have faith, make furtherance in faith (as Tyndale translated Philippians 1:25), enjoy the fruit of faith.
And so we labor to stimulate faith, not doubt.
There is great frustration in expecting someone to live by faith who is still dead in his sins. Trying to get someone to live like a Christian who isn’t actually a Christian won’t work. We can’t, and we don’t, assume that everyone is a Christian regardless of their fruit.
That said, faith isn’t stronger because no one affirms it. It is one of the reasons that we baptize younger kids when they are able to make a profession of faith. Is their faith mature? Not as mature as we hope it will be. But if we wait to baptize until we’ve seen years of fruit, we are frustrating faith not fortifying it. For many of us, this is new application, and in some ways an even greater responsibility of parents to “bring [your children] up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4 KJV).
For “the sake of the faith of God’s elect” (Titus 1:1) is also why we emphasize some things more than others.
We emphasize rejoicing at communion rather than ruminating on sin because our faith is in Christ who died for our sin and rose again that He might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18). Our faith is not in knowing that we’ve felt the right amount of bad for our sin, that we’ve brooded long and deep enough. For many of us, this is a new approach to the Table, and in some ways even more challenging to be genuinely joyful than to put on a face of sorrow.
We emphasize caring about all the things Christ cares about, including that “everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Timothy 4:4-5). We can receive and study and even sanctify the good, because our faith isn’t only good for Sundays or limited to specific places. By faith we believe God created the world by His Word in six days (Hebrews 11:2), and He calls us to fulfill our callings in the world on those six work days by faith. The Kuyperian theme is intended to unfetter faith from dualism. For many of us, this is new territory, and in some ways even more stretching because faith belongs everywhere, not just in quiet time.
We emphasize that “it is not as though the word of God has failed” (Romans 9:6). God’s got a sovereign plan, He is writing the story of blessing and riches for the world (Romans 11:12). This story took some twists, including the rejection of the Messiah by the majority of His own nation, but as the good news has gone to all the nations, the blessings they receive in Christ will lead to the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel (Romans 11:13-15). The label is Dispensationalism. For many of us, this is an old truth with a new angle, and in some ways it is even more awkward because Dispies often present a fearful faith, which is opposite of jealousable faith.
All this is to make us a people faith. By careful attention to God’s Word we have consistent and comprehensive faith, and through grace we have conspicuous and compelling faith (walking by faith as His creations in the good works prepared beforehand, Ephesians 2:10). This is potent faith. This is what it means to have confidence, that is, “with faith.”
We worship as a church, and we go into Marysville and beyond with lives that say, Amen!
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14–16 ESV)
All you of faith, draw near to God!
Those with faith live in the world, through successes and sorrows, as those “of whom the world is not worthy” (Hebrews 11:38). But remember, “all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised” (Hebrews 11:39). Are you ready to live by the conviction of unseen things, no matter how long it takes?
This week, tap the faith sign. That is, say to your wife, “I’m believing God for this current thing.” Text a sister in Christ and tell her, “pray for me to trust the Lord right now with this.” Let them say “Amen!” back.
In another fifteen years, may there be even more furtherance and joy of faith, that we would stand firm and strive “side by side for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27).
Beloved, keep the faith! Keep the faith, as in, love and speak and defend the truth of the faith. And also keep the faith, as in, live like believers. The testing of your faith will feel like a test, it will feel like fire. It is your faith that is MORE precious than gold.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV)