Saving Faith

  John 20:30-31 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. NKJV

  The Purpose of All Scripture is to Produce Faith. Holy Scripture is the creator of a holy confidence by revealing a sure line of fact and truth. To that end the writers were selective in what they wrote.

  Jesus did many more things than those written in the Bible:-

Only thirty-two miracles are recorded in the Gospels although there are allusions to many miraculous acts. Words such as "He healed many" and “healing every sickness and every disease among the people" points to many more miracles being performed than are recorded in the Gospels.

Likewise the teaching of Jesus. In the Gospels we have the Sermon on the Mount, the discourses reported by St. John, and numerous parables, but His preaching is frequently spoken of in a general way, as “He preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee” which suggests that Jesus taught much more than the writers had room to include.

There are only a few examples of His personal instruction mentioned. The eyes of those who "beheld His glory" saw more than they reported but only tell us as much as was consistent with the basic principle of New Testament literature. A striking instance of this is found in St. John's gospel. John was a man above all others fitted to write the life of Christ and yet he has left out many interesting facts, which the others have recorded. He is silent because the facts would not further his purpose. The most noticeable omissions are those events in the history of Jesus that he was probably the best qualified to write about. Events like the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus and the Transfiguration, where he was the only Gospel writer present, are not included in the Gospel that bears his name.

The Gospels are not intended to be a biography of Christ.

Many biographies are stuffed full of letters and small talk, which might as well have been forgotten. How different are the Gospels. The signs and wonders, which Christ did, are not written to make an interesting book. They are not even written that you may be informed of all that Jesus did. These are written with only one end in view, “That ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” Matthew leaves out everything that does not reveal Christ as King coming to claim His kingdom. Mark reveals Jesus as God’s Servant as prophesied by Isaiah. Luke reveals Jesus, in the words of Pilate “Behold the man”. John presents to us Jesus as the Son of God and he omits numerous details that show other aspects of our Lord’s life on earth. The Holy Spirit did not send his servants to gather up interesting details and curious facts. You shall be told those things which shall lead you to believe Christ to be the Son of God, but nothing more.

Jesus provide us with a perfect but incomplete example.

The Gospels set before us a perfect character, and, if we walk with Him we are bound to try to imitate His walk, but that was not the first or chief design of the writers. Good works come as the result of faith but do not lead to faith nor are they a substitute for faith. John all through the Gospel keeps to his design. His book contains a series of testimonies of people led to faith in Jesus as the Christ. In the first chapter we have Andrew's confession “We have found the Messiah”, and in the second last chapter Thomas cries out, “My Lord and my God.”

John states that his aim is to reveal to us enough to lead us to true faith in Jesus Christ

The text does not say, "These are written that ye might believe one of the creeds or the Westminster Confession of Faith." It does say that I am to believe in Jesus, that He is the Christ, the promised Messiah, the One anointed of God to deliver the human race. He is the Son of God, not in the sense in which men are sons of God, but as the only begotten Son of God. He is the Divine One, become human who came into the world to redeem us. He was Immanuel, God with us. Believe this to be a matter of fact. These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. Accept it for yourself and yield yourself up to the truth, which you have received.

Receive Jesus as being the Christ, the Son of God, on the basis of the written Word. "These are written" for that purpose. Some may say, "I believe that, but I do not feel that it has made any difference to me”. Your feelings have nothing to do with the truth of the statement that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Your experience cannot make a thing true or untrue and feelings cannot make a thing to be a lie, which is in itself true.

True life is in Christ Jesus and comes to the soul through faith in Him.

When a man has been found guilty of death, if that sentence is removed, he obtains life. We were dead in sin but the eternal life Jesus gives imparts to us life. This life, as well as being life that lasts forever, gives us a whole new quality of life here and now. God the Holy Spirit fills believers and breaths into them a new, holy, heavenly life. As this new life grows it gathers strength, and becomes to the believe " life more abundant." This life never dies because it is a living and incorruptible seed which abides for ever. The life of saints on earth is the same as that of saints in heaven.

This life comes through believing.

Some may say, "I cannot tell exactly when I was converted, so I worry that I may not be saved." This is a needless fear. Look at things in a different way. If you are you alive unto God by faith in Christ then the date does not matter.

Others may say, “I do not know how I was converted.” That again is no reason to doubt. Our text does not state that the Bible was written that you and I might trace our faith in Christ to John, or to any one else. If you believe sincerely, the way in which you came to faith does not need any explanation.

Some sensitive souls say, “But I have such a battle going on inside me I wonder if I really can be born again.” In reply to this C.H. Spurgeon said, “Your consolation, if this is the case, is that there are no conflicts in dead men. You only have a war in your members when the life of the Holy Spirit is in conflict with your old nature.”