How we come to faith and believe

John 6

Believing in Jesus.
The verse that I like to find when reading John 6 is verse 29 when Jesus says "This is the work of the God, that you believe in Him whom I sent".
Looking at the spectrum of scripture that teaches us how we come to faith in Christ we find.
"So faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God"(Rom 10:17)
  “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:44)
In Matt 16:13-18 we read "When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."

Note above Peter says “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replies “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."

So Jesus is saying "My Father has revealed who I am to you."

Keeping in mind here that we are looking at the process of how we come to faith and believe. It seems that it is God's revlation of His son is how we come to know who Christ is.
Lets look further. In verses 26-27 of John 6 What the Father gives to the Son is in turn given to those that follow Jesus. as we read through to 32-35 the whole idea Jesus wants made know is He is the Bread of Life which came down from heaven. Believing in Him is how we get fed forever.

Furthermore in verse 35 onwards Jesus expans how one comes to Him.
Jesus we are reminded came to do the will of the Father.
All that The Father gives Jesus will come to Him.
None shall be lost, those saved will be be raised up at the last day, this is the will of the Father
Interesting that in verse 40 Jesus says  “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Sees & believes in Him. This combination is only true when Jesus walked the earth as later Jesus says to Thomas that unlike him(thomas who had seen Jesus and believed) there would be many who would believe without seeing Jesus physically.
I believe the seeing is by the Holy Spirit. Jesus came to reveal God and God is revealed in the Son.
So we read verse 42-45 The murmering Jews. When we start to tell people who Jesus is they cant see because God has not opened their eyes but more than that no one can come to see Jesus (have there spiritual eyes opened) unless the Father draws them to Christ.(44) Now look at verse 45   “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.

This is key: Our drawing is when we hear the Father and have lernt who Jesus is. Yes. The Father is He who gives us the hearing of the word. Then we come to Jesus and believe in Him.
Hebrews 11:6 says "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him".
Believing in Jesus then has to extend to our faith being worked out in action, until our faith is complete.

We must also realise that it is now the Holy Spirit who acts on behalf of the Father and the Son. The study of the word of God is therefore crucial to a believers life. The spirit of God speaks through the word to the help the believer grow in the knowledge of God and therefore faith is broardened and deepened.

Just as a side line. I have heard christians teach that faith is a gift based on Eph 2:8-9. Is this true?



Jesus is the bread of life eat of Him and live (51)

to be continued.....