Jesus said, “I am the
resurrection and the life; he who believes in me will live even if he dies”
(John 11:25).
“For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall
not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
“For this is the will
of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have
eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40).
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When I was a child, I would occasionally get into trouble
with my parents. It might be because I told my parents that my older brother
punched me and that is why I had a bruise … when really I fell off my bike
after jumping off a shoddily built ramp. It could have been the time that my
parents told me to stop jumping off my bed to dunk on the Nerf™ hoop, but I
needed to get one last game winning dunk and landed so hard that I broke the
kitchen light. In any case, there was no doubt I deserved every consequence
coming my way.
I imagine that most children had the same hope I did as a
punishment was about to occur, “If I just do a few really, really nice things
then maybe I’ll be forgiven!” You needed to give it a shot at least, right?
Maybe the dishes got washed, floor was swept, bed was made, laundry moved from
under the bed to the drawers or basement. You probably told your mom that her
baking was the best that you’ve ever had (even if it was cream of mushroom
casserole –again), you noticed (2-3 weeks after the fact) that
her new hairstyle was absolutely stunning,
and so on.
We did those things because we hoped our good works would
save us. That little extra time that we put in and that extra effort to clean
the table and say, “MMMMM” at dinnertime would earn us forgiveness. Sometimes,
maybe, it would. Most times, of course, it would earn nothing more than an eye
roll and more frustration or anger.
The same is true with God. When we sin there is absolutely nothing that we can do that will save us. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot have another person take our sins for us. We cannot do enough good works to make God forgive that sin. No matter how many times we sweep the floor, no matter how many times we dust off a picture of Jesus in our living room, no matter how many times we hold the door open for a stranger, we cannot do enough to save ourselves or anyone else.
The same is true with God. When we sin there is absolutely nothing that we can do that will save us. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot have another person take our sins for us. We cannot do enough good works to make God forgive that sin. No matter how many times we sweep the floor, no matter how many times we dust off a picture of Jesus in our living room, no matter how many times we hold the door open for a stranger, we cannot do enough to save ourselves or anyone else.
The passages cited above from the Gospel of John repeatedly tell
us what is our saving faith: Jesus. The Holy Spirit has blessed us with the
Word and faith in Christ. Because of Jesus and his atoning sacrifice, we will
live for eternity in heaven even though we die on earth. Even Jesus himself tells us this same message!
Jesus reminds us that it is God’s will that those that believe in him will be
saved and raised by him
Good works are fruits of the Spirit. They are not saving faith; they flow from saving faith. There is only one focus for saving faith, and that is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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