100 under the circumstances in which the question was asked, Christ gave the only proper answer to the question, 'what shall we do, that we may work the works of God (john 6.28) His answer was, 'this is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent' (v29)
in order to understand the appropriateness of the answer, we must understand the meaning of the question. the context shows that the question was asked by certain unbelieving jews. these jews asked what they could do to work the works of God - in other words, to obtain the favor of God. Christ understood them as asking what works would be acceptable without faith. He therefore answered, 'this is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent. it was as if He was saying, 'nothing that you would recognize as a work of God is really a work of God.'
faith is the first great work of God, without which it is impossible to please Him. hebrews 11.6 to a jew, this answer would imply that he must believe Christ to be the Messiah foretold in the Scriptures. and to everyone, the answer implies not only a general confidence in the character of God, but trusting in His atonement and saving grace instead of trusting in works of law for justification.
Christ's answer is the only proper answer to e given to a person in a state of unbelief. i will show both what i do not mean by this statement and what i do mean by it.
101 i do not mean that there is no good work except faith. nor do i mean that faith without works is acceptable to God. james 2.17
nor do i mean that faith nullifies the law (romans 3.31) and sets aside the necessity of good works. james set the necessity of works, as a result of faith in a strong light..2.17-26
nor do i mean that there are no other directions that may be given to a seeking sinner or christian that, if followed, would not amount to the same thing in the end as the directions in john 6.29. in one of my revival lectures, i said, 'you may give the sinner any direction or tell him to do anything that includes a right heart'. to repent, to submit, to give the heart to God and all the other directions i gave in this lecture imply faith, if i were to give the same lecture again, i would give a greater emphasis to faith and show that the exercised of faith is the first thing to be done. it is upon the exercise of faith that repentance, submission, love and every other grace depend.
now, allow me to explain what i do mean when i say that Christ's answer - 'this is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent' (john 6.29) - is the only proper answer for a person in unbelief. i do mean that no works are good works, or are in any sense acceptable to god, unless they proceed from faith. let it be forever remembered that 'without faith it is impossible to please Him (hebrews 11.6) and 'whatever is not of faith is sin'. romans 14.23
Christ's answer is the proper answer because both justification and sanctification are y faith alone. romans 3.30 says, 'there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith'. and romans 5.1 says, 'therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ'. also we read in romans 9.30-2,
'what shall we say then? that gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. why? because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law.
..the first element of saving faith is a realization of the truth of the Bible. but this alone is not saving faith, for Satan has this realization of truth, which makes him tremble. james 2.19
a second element of saving faith is the consent of the heart or will to the truth perceived by the intellect. it is a sincere trust. it is resting the mind in those truths. furthermore, it is a yielding up of the whole being to their influence.
now, it is easy to see that without the consent of the will, there can be nothing by an outward obedience to God. without confidence in her husband, a wife can do nothing more than outwardly perform her duty to him. it is a contradiction to say that she can perform her
103 duty from the heart without confidence. the same is true in matters of parental authority and all other authority. we may perform works of law without faith - that is, we may serve out of fear or hope or some selfish consideration -but without faith, obedience from the heart is impossible. this faith operates y love (galatians 5.6) and to say that we can obey from the heart without love is a contradiction of terms.
to seek faith by works of law is an utter abomination. it is as abominable as attempting to purchase the Holy Spirit with money. (acts 8.18-20) it is setting aside God's testimony about our utter depravity and attempting to palm off our unbelieving, heartless works upon an infinitely holy God. it is an attempt to purchase God's favor instead of accepting grace as a sovereign gift.
it is as preposterous as it is wicked. it is seeking to please God by our sins -to purchase faith by making God a liar. I John 1.10
to give any answer other than Christ's answer to someone is unbelief -to tell him to perform any work with the expectation that by it he will obtain faith - is wrong. it strengthens him in self righteousness. it prolongs his rebellion. either it leads him to settle down in a self-righteous hope or it produces, in the end, discouragement and blasphemy.
repentance, love, submission and every other holy activity both imply and proceed from faith. it is impossible to repent without having confidence in the character and requirements of god, for what is repentance by to wholeheartedly assent to God's righteousness and condemn ourselves? it is equally impossible to submit to God without confidence in Him and in His requirements. it is also impossible to love God without faith.
Christ's answer is the proper answer because all right affection and all good works will proceed from faith. Christ was not afraid of producing a 'sit down and do nothing' spirit by putting so much emphasis on faith. He knew very well that true faith naturally produces every other inward grace and all outward good works.
Faith is the only thing that receives Christ with all His powerful, sanctifying influences into the heart. the Bible consistently
104 shows us that the sanctified soul is under the influence of an indwelling Christ. now, exercising faith is opening the door so that Christ can reign in the heart.
who will pretend that any works are truly good unless they result from Christ's influence? who will pretend that any true faith exists in the mind unless it results form Christ's influence in the mind?
now, if all this is true, it is plain that the proper response to the question, 'what shall we do, that we may work the works of God? (john 6.28), is to receive Christ through faith. if this is done, all else will be done. if this is neglected, all else will be neglected.
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