Vic asked
(John 6:38)
Is believing an act of personal will or an act of God? Is it merely yielding to God whose will is for us to believe in His Son so we may have eternal life?
Mic
Naturally, man is enemy with God as man is separated from God since Adam's fall, thus we are dead in sins and trespasses. God has to give us new life first, then we can believe in God. Without God giving us life, we would not be able to believe in God.
To answer your question 1 and 2:
1. Believing is an act of God, as God gives us the ability to do so and giving us revelation and truth in believe in Him.
2. By believing in Him, it shows that we have eternal life from Him. We don't get eternal life by believing in Him.
Kp
SO THE LORD MUST WAIT FOR YOU TO COME TO HIM SO HE CAN SHOW YOU HIS LOVE AND COMPASSION. FOR THE LORD IS A FAITHFUL GOD. BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO WAIT FOR HIS HELP. (ISAIAH30:18)
[If the Lord must wait for the dead in trespasses and sins to come to him, He would have to wait till eternity, and still no one would be coming to Him!!!)
Sing F Lau
Vic, those are very good questions
I am not sure if your questions are related to John 6:38.
Let me give some comments on John 6:38.
John 6:38 "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me."
a. First, Jesus is the eternal Word made flesh, the second Person of the Triune God took upon himself humanity and became a true man yet without ceasing to be divine all the time. So, Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, truly divine and truly human... the conception of his humanity is by divine power, thus called the Son of God, Lk 1: 31-35.
b. He was sent to do the will of the One that sent Him. This must be taken seriously. He came not to do His own will, as though he has a different will from the Father. His will and the Father's will are one and the same. There is perfect harmony.
- Jesus come not to do the will of any man, any pastor, any pope. Remember this well... so many think Jesus came to do their bidding!!! How deceived!
- The Father's will is specifically this: He sent Jesus to save His people... "And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."
- Christ specifically states that God's will for Him is with respect to all which God has given him, and that He would lose nothing, i.e. He would save ALL of them, without exception.
c. What explains Jesus' absolute confidence and certainty that He would lose nothing, i.e that He would save EVERY SINGLE ONE of all that the Father has chosen and given to Him to save???
- The simple reason is this: the salvation of each and every one of them depends solely and wholly upon Christ and His work, and not upon them, or any man, in any way
- The Lord Jesus did everything needed for their salvation. Christ's words, "IT IS FINISHED" are grand and glorious. And the Spirit of Christ regenerates each one of them with eternal life... making each one COMPLETELY fit for eternal glory.
Sing F Lau
Your good questions: Is believing an act of personal will or an act of God? Is it merely yielding to God whose will is for us to believe in His Son so we may have eternal life?
Replies to questions very much depends on how the questions are understood.
1. Is believing an act of personal will or an act of God?
- Any conscious and voluntary action of a man is necessarily an act of his personal will. It is an action of his personal will.
- A man's believing is his act... he believes. God does not believe for him!
- But it is an act of God that ENABLES a man to believe. God, by His power, quickened him from spiritual deadness and gives him eternal life. This enables him to believe the gospel.
But how is a man, who by nature is dead in trespasses and sin, able to believe the gospel truth of Jesus Christ? This is a question of GREAT importance. It is at the heart of the gospel.
What is the state of a man before regeneration???
Eph 2
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 ¶ But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved...
1. He is dead in trespasses and sins. This deadness does not consist in inactivity. In fact he is full of activities but they are all activities of death! In this deadness, he is utterly incapable of any activity that bring himself to God. Instead he is actively opposed to God.
2. He walks according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. He is under the power and influence of the spirit that works in him. (so much for the imagined 'free will' of this captive under Satan's power!)
3. He is a child of disobedience... a rebel, in enmity against God. (for much for the fable that this man can believe Christ and get eternal life!)
4. He lives in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. That's his native state. (so much for the fiction that such a man will believe in order to have eternal life!"
5. He is by nature a child of wrath.
BUT... BUT... BUT... BUT... BUT... this disjunctive word is one of the best in the Scriptures! Herein lies the gospel... the good news of God's action to save helplessly lost sinners!
Without grace... a man will happily remain in his NATIVE states of sin and death! He is completely helpless, dead in trespasses and sins, captives under the power and influence of the strong man, and in enmity and rebellion against God.
While in such helpless condition, God freely and sovereignly - i.e. by grace, quickened him who was dead in sins.
In quickening him God VITALLY unite him to Christ and and gave him the eternal life that Christ has secured for His people. This is 'by grace ye are saved'! With the quickening that man is saved... yes S. A. V. E. D. - as saved as could be... i.e. perfectly and completely fit for eternal glory.
God saves, and saves by His free and sovereign grace. He quickens the dead, and this enables a man to believe. God does not give faith to a man dead in trespasses and sins, and expects him to believe, in order to be regenerated! That's a fable! The simple and plain truth is, "Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved."
Sing F Lau
Question:
Is it merely yielding to God whose will is for us to believe in His Son so we may have eternal life?
++++++++++++++
God requires His children, whom God HAS BEGOTTEN or QUICKENED with eternal life, those whom He has quickened from the dead, to believe His Son Jesus Christ. His will is that they believe the truth of their salvation - that's a just, holy and righteous requirement. Truth ought to be believed by God's children. They are duty bound and under obligation to believe the truth. Those whom Christ is not their savior do not have the same duty or obligation.
######## Eternal life enables a child of God to do the work of believing. This is the good news.
######## It is not the other way round: doing the work of believing in order to get eternal life. This is the lie of the devil, and very many believes it. But it is obviously a lie. Those without eternal life CAN'T possibly believe.
Believing is a WORK that God expects His children to perform. The proof is here. Believing is a work. Only God's children, regenerated with eternal life, can believe, is able to believe.
John 6
28 ¶ Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
Those SAVED by God's free grace are called to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling... through their obedience to the will of their FATHER.
Believing the gospel truth will save God's children from lies and superstition and traditions and delusion and doctrines of the devils.
The salvation that God freely and sovereignly bestows upon the elect dead in trespasses and sins enables them to work out their own salvation.
Please note that the salvation that God freely and sovereignly bestows upon the elect dead in trespasses and sins and which enables them to work out their own salvation, and the salvation that God's children are summoned to work out for themselves are different and distinct salvation.
May our Lord grant you understand.
You asked such important questions, and they deserve adequate answers.
Sing F Lau
If the Lord had to wait for sinners dead in trespasses and sins to come to Him so that He might show them love and compassion, the Lord would have to wait in vain. It is like waiting for the dead men to come to the sumptuous dinner you have prepared for them! (may be their 'ghosts' will come and enjoy the dinner!)
John 6
43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.
44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
God draws them and unite them to Christ, giving them eternal life. And the preacher calls them to believe the truth of their salvation that God has saved them through Christ.
It is a glorious thing that the Lord didn't wait for Lazarus to decide come out of the tomb!
Christ, the life giving Saviour SUMMONED him out of his death! And he was quickened and brought forth.
That's the gospel... the glorious news of God's activities that bring sinners dead in trespasses and sins to grace and salvation!
