John 6:28-34 – Faith
Jesus’ listeners immediately start thinking of what they can do to prove how good they are. Doing, doing, doing, is their only idea of the way to heaven. But Jesus tells them that believing on Him is the highest and greatest of all works. What does He mean? Is He saying we earn our way to heaven? Is He saying that we are saved because of something we do? No. We are dead in our sins. We can do nothing. We have no faith and can’t begin to create it in ourselves. But God can. He gives us new hearts. He gives us faith. He gives us the ability to believe on Him. And from our human perspective, this faith in Him is what God requires for salvation. He doesn’t require a lifetime of good works. He doesn’t require us to punish ourselves for every sin we’ve committed. Christ has done that for us. What God requires is faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But He gives us this faith as a gift – the very thing He requires back from us. So, we are saved, not by any works or even any faith we’ve created ourselves, but by the grace of God giving us the very gift He requires us to give to Him.
From our perspective, our responsibility is to believe. This is our job, this is what we are to work to do. Relying on God’s grace for the ability, but believing with all our heart. Till a man believes on Jesus, and rests on Jesus as a lost sinner, he is nothing. When the Father sees a sinner casting aside his own goodness, and simply trusting in His dear Son, He is well pleased. Without such faith it is impossible to please God. He that has learned to feel his sins, and to trust Christ as a Saviour, has learned the two hardest and greatest lessons in Christianity. He has been in the best of schools. He has been taught by the Holy Spirit.
Questions
- Where does our faith come from?
- What must we do to be saved?
- Whose responsibility is it to believe?
Prayer Points
- Pray for the salvation of family, friends, and neighbours.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.