Okay, let's get started. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning. We thank you for your many mercies that you have for us, that you bless us with. Thank you, Lord God. We pray that you would teach us and instruct us this morning as we learn about faith. faith, true faith, true saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Please encourage and strengthen our faith. Give those that have not faith, give them faith, Lord God, as it is a gift of yours to your people. And Lord, we pray that you would bless the rest of this morning, the rest of this day, that we may keep it holy unto you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Okay, so continuing with the Gospel of John with introduction, or we can say themes, issues in the Gospel of John, one thing that I wanted to talk about that we've seen as we've been going through the series in the Gospel of John is briefly look at what John says about faith. Faith is an important theme in the Gospel of John, and so we're going to look at that by looking at a few texts, and we're going to also look how the Gospel of John agrees with the Gospels, the other Gospels, with Paul. But we are going to look at faith in the Gospel of John. So that's what we're going to look at this morning. Faith, whether genuine or false, is a major theme in the Gospel of John. The word faith, or pistou, appears more frequently in the Gospel of John than in other Gospels. So for example, to kind of get a perspective on this, The Gospel of Matthew uses the word faith, or pistou, 11 times. The Gospel of Mark, 14 times. Gospel of Luke, eight times. So, under 15, right? How many times do you think the Gospel of John uses the word faith? 30? 25? Anybody else? So the gospel, 97 times. So, yes, it's a huge theme. And this is consistent with the author's own stated purpose in writing this gospel. He says in John 20, 30 through 31, therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." So John wants his audience who reads this to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and those that already believe to continue to believe. Faith is key, is a major theme in the Gospel of John, and that's why he wants to really be careful to really communicate, to demonstrate, to show who Jesus Christ is, that he is the Christ, he is the Messiah, the one who has been prophesied by Moses and the prophets. He is the Son of God. He is God in the flesh, the only begotten God, only begotten Son and God. So he's careful to really present Christ in his true nature, so that we may believe. Thus, so one of John's primary themes and emphasis of the gospel is faith, and he brings out the importance of this theme by emphasizing two primary, so two kinds of faiths. So John presents two kinds of faiths. Now, when we look at them, yes, we can break them down a little bit more, but these are the two broad categories that we find that faith can really exist. You either have genuine faith or you have a false faith. You either have saving faith or a temporary faith. There's only two kinds of faiths that we can have, and this is important because a lot of people will read in Scripture, or just think of faith as just this one thing. If you just accept these truths, Propositions that then you have faith, you're in Christ, you're a believer, and because many who profess faith then fall away, they'll say, oh, true believers can fall away because this person at one point did believe in Jesus Christ and now he's rejected Jesus Christ, so believers can fall away. Or people may claim to believe and they may very well believe the content of the gospel, that it's true, but they may live in unrepentant sin and lifestyles that show unrepentant sin. And so people then from this will say, okay, well then true believers can live in unrepentant sin for their whole life. They don't have to, this is the doctrine of easy believism or the anti-lordship salvation that you can Believe in Jesus Christ, but he doesn't have to be your Lord. He's your Savior, he saved you from your sins, but yes, you should obey him, but if you don't, okay, you're still a Christian. So you can technically live your life in sin the way you've been living it, but you're still a believer because you did profess faith, you accepted him into your heart or whatever you did. And so seeing faith kind of spoken of in that way, we can see the problems that it comes out when we just see faith as just this one thing. It's just accepting truth propositions as true and that's it. But that's not how John portrays faith in his gospel. That is not what the scriptures portray faith as. So we're gonna look at that. So we're going to look at a few instances first of false faith. John 2 verses 23 and 24. This is after the beginning of Jesus' ministry, the wedding of Cana, then there's the temple cleansing. And so after this, it says, now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many people believed in His name, observing His signs, which He was doing. But Jesus on His part was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men. And because he did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for he himself knew what was in man. So the word believed in verse 23 and entrusting in verse 24 are the exact same word, pisteo. So the people had seen signs. These had led them to believe, at the very least, that Jesus was a prophet, and maybe even the Messiah. But this was not true genuine faith. Notice the contrast in verse 24. between their faith. It says that Jesus on his part, so even though they believe, many believed, Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself or he was not believing them. He was not believing their profession of faith because he knew what was in them. He knew what was in man. They had believed or trusted in him, but they did not truly know who he was. They saw from him earthly and temporal benefit, but they did not understand who he truly was. The signs that they believed, that led them to think, yes, this is a prophet, a man of God, even the Messiah. were supposed to not just show them that, but who he was. But instead, they believed the signs, as we're going to see later. They just believed the signs and wanted some earthly temporal benefit. Maybe they even had a, though they believed in the Messiah, just like we've been seeing, they probably thought he was this political figure, this political Messiah who would deliver them from the bondage of Rome. So they did not have a proper understanding of who He was and therefore of their true need, which is salvation from sin and condemnation. John 6, 26-29, Jesus answered them and said, Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal. Therefore they said to him, What shall we do so that we may work the works of God? And Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." This is right after the feeding of the 5,000. It's the next day. Jesus feeds the 5,000. There's that event where he goes to the disciples who are in the middle of a storm at sea, and Jesus comes and they think he's a ghost. But soon after that, this is the next day, the people who had been fed, They're following him, and he's telling them, look, you do not seek me because you saw signs, which they did. They did see the sign of him multiplying the food, but they were seeking him because they were filled, because of the benefit that they received. And so he tells them not to work for the food which perishes. Again, the people were not seeking Him because of the signs, but they were seeking Him for the benefit. And so He tells them, do not work for the food that perishes. So they were seeking Him for earthly benefit or earthly temporal benefit. Their motivation was all wrong. Their motive was brought out in verse 27. because he says they were working for the food which perishes, and he tells them, do not work for that food, but for the work which endures to eternal life. So we see the kind of faith that they had. It was a kind of faith that only saw earthly temporal blessings. They weren't seeking him for the right reasons. And that is because they didn't truly understand who he was. John 6, 6-3-65, Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, This is a difficult statement. Who can listen to it? But Jesus, conscious that his disciples grumbled at this, said to them, Does this cause you to stumble? What if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. And he was saying, for this reason I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father. So, this is a continuation of the previous verse, or the previous section. He's first speaking to the crowd, he speaks to the Pharisees, but now he's focusing in on the false disciples. Because he has said that in order to have eternal life, to have life, that one needs to eat of his flesh and drink of his blood, these false disciples just couldn't take it anymore. It was a difficult statement. They just could not understand what he was talking about, and so they grumble. their grumbling and following Jesus no more shows that their faith was not genuine. At one point, I mean, they're called his disciples, which means that for some time they were following him, they were professing faith in Jesus. But their grumbling and their ceasing from following Jesus shows their unbelief. And not only that, but Jesus and John both Jesus says, but there are some of you who do not believe. And then John adds, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe. So their faith was not genuine. Again, in my opinion, I believe these false disciples were following him thinking, this is a political figure. He's going to eventually bring about this revolt and we will be free from the bondage of Rome. But when they start hearing him speaking of eating my flesh and drinking my blood, they were like, what is he talking about? And so they're like, no, this isn't the guy we thought he was. And so that shows that they didn't have genuine faith, even though, again, they did at some point profess faith in him. John 12, 42 to 43. And we will look at this next week. Nevertheless, many even of the rulers believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they were not confessing him for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue. For they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. So John acknowledges that they had believed in him, but what kind of faith was this? Their works demonstrated the kind of faith that they had. They were not confessing him, why? Because they feared being put out of the synagogue. So when their faith was challenged with being put out of the synagogue, they did not confess Christ. They did not confess him publicly. But then what's more clear here about their faith not being genuine is what it says, that they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. The word approval there is doxa, which means glory, praise, brightness, splendor, radiance, greatness, fame. So it's really the word that we use for glory, doxology, right? That's where the word comes from, to praise, to give glory. So what is it saying here? So yes, they saw the signs. This is, again, right after the raising of Lazarus. It's still in the background. So all of this, these people have seen the signs. They've seen Lazarus being raised from the dead. They hear his teaching, and so they believe in him. Many believe. But again, what kind of faith is it? They were not willing to publicly confess him because they loved the glory, the praise of men, rather than the glory or the praise of God. So they loved their life, which we'll look at this morning. They loved their life in this world. They loved the status that they had, they loved the comfort, the position, and they did not wanna risk that for Jesus. So they didn't truly understand who He was, otherwise they would have confessed Him publicly. Now, genuine faith. Jesus saw, this is John 1, 47-51. And Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said to him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit. Nathanael said to him, How do you know me? And Jesus answered and said to him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. And Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel. And Jesus answered and said to him, Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these. And he said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Nathan was deeply moved, impressed by Jesus' statement, that Jesus knew him. Similarly with the woman at the well, when Jesus tells her about her husband. Later on, what is her testimony? This man told me everything I had did in my life. Now, he didn't actually go down the list, okay, when you were three, when you were four, when you were, but that one sin exposed her, opened her whole life before him. Same thing, Nathaniel here, by Jesus' statement, just feels, you know, he's been open to the Lord. His whole life has been exposed. This man truly knows me. Who is he but the Son of God, the King of Israel? So in that moment, Nathaniel got a true, maybe not a full understanding, but a true understanding of who Jesus was. And so he believed in him. So contrast that with the other ones who believed in Jesus and even in Jesus as the Messiah, even as the King. But what kind of Messiah and what kind of King did they have in mind? And that is key because if they only saw him as a political figure, then they did not see their need for a savior, for a spiritual savior, someone who would save them from their sin. John 439 through 42 from that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified this is the woman at the well. who testified, he told me all things that I have done. So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. Many more believed because of his word, and they were saying to the women, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard ourselves and know that this one is indeed the Savior of the world. So again, we're seeing the contrast here that Their belief is not just based on this political figure that they're expecting, but their belief here is rooted in the word, the testimony of the woman, but also they say, we have heard him. We believe Him because of His Word. It's not just your testimony, but His Word that we believe. And then their confession is, He is the Savior of the world. So again, not a full, certain, not a full understanding of who He was, but a true understanding of who He was. He was the Savior of the world, and this is who they believed in. So I do believe the Samaritan woman and many of these people were indeed saved. And John is here focusing on true, genuine faith. Continuing on from that city, many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of... Okay, so this is where he said this, I had, sorry. Okay, so John 6, 67 to 71. So this is now in contrast to the false disciples. Jesus speaks to the false disciples. Now he turns to his true disciples, the 12, and this is what he says to them. As a result of this, many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore. So Jesus said to the 12, do you not want to go away also? Or you do not want to go away also, do you? Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that you are. the Holy One of God. And Jesus answered them, did I myself not choose you, the 12, and yet one of you is a devil? No, he meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the 12, was gonna betray him. But the key thing here, again, is that their faith is in whom? It is in Jesus, the one who has words of eternal life. Though they did not always understand what Jesus said, they knew who he was. These words don't make any sense to us, but we know that He has words of eternal life and that He is the Holy One of God. So again, they did have a true understanding of who He was, therefore their faith was genuine and they were trusting in Him. John 9.35-38 Jesus heard that they had put him out. This is referring to the blind, the man who was born blind, whom Jesus healed. Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man? And he answered, Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? And Jesus said to him, You have both seen him, and he is the one talking with you. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. So here, the man, after all his ordeal, being interrogated by the religious leaders, then being finally put out because he was actually standing up and defending Jesus as somebody who was from God, where his parents didn't say anything because they also feared being put out of the synagogue. But he stands up, not knowing fully who he is yet, but he stands up for Christ and defends him as one who was sent from God, But here he says, Jesus asks him, do you believe? And he answered, who is he? So in other words, he hadn't believed yet. He didn't have true, genuine faith in him yet. And the word Lord here, as I mentioned when we went through this passage, I believe is meant more of a sir, a polite title. Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him? And then when Jesus tells him, I am the son of man, what does the man do? He says, Lord, I believe. and he worshipped him. So again, he understood at that moment who he was, and he believed in him, and he shows his faith by worshipping him. And he calls him Lord this time. So differences and similarities between false faith and genuine faith, here are just some. Both are sincere, right? The people who sought him only for the things they can get, they were sincere in following him and believing in him. Both, even his disciples, his false disciples at one point, both result in outward works. They're seeking him. But false faith has the wrong motives or wrong reasons for doing so. They seek after the wrong thing. False faith often does not have true understanding of Jesus. And I say not often. In John, we're seeing that a lot of these people did not have true understanding of who he was. But certainly there are people today, even, that might take a class and might know exactly who Jesus is. If we go through the confession of faith, and we tell them who He is, that He's both truly God, truly man, that He was incarnate, He became man, and He died on the cross for our sins, and we tell them everything about Christ. So they might know that, and they might believe, they'll say, yes, I believe in him, but then they fall away, and we are left, okay, well, that was not true genuine faith, and we'll get to that. But in general, a lot of times, people don't have a true understanding of who Jesus is. Even when false faith may truly understand who Jesus is, there is no trust in him, and that's what we're gonna get to. Genuine faith seeks and follows Jesus for the right reasons. Genuine faith always has a true, though not always a full or complete, understanding of Jesus. And genuine faith always trusts and rests on Jesus as their Savior, his or her Savior, and source of eternal life. So, to kind of support this, these two kinds of faiths that are presented here, and this kind of brief analysis of the false and genuine faith. Let us look at what is the true nature of saving faith, and this is getting into a little bit more theological. But what is the true nature of saving faith? For the Reformed, in our tradition, we've argued that there are three basic elements to true, genuine, and saving faith. The first one is noticia, which means content, data, or information. Basically, this is the content of the faith. In order to have true saving faith, you must first know what you're believing. You must have a true and proper understanding of who Jesus is, and a proper understanding of what the gospel is. Again, it doesn't have to be this full, you know, you don't have to give this deep exegetical and theological explanation, but you have to at least understand what the gospel is, have a true understanding of it, and of who Christ is. Okay, so know the content of the faith. The next element is assensus, and these are Latin words, by the way, assensus or assent. So it is not enough to just know or have information and knowledge about these things, about who Christ is in the gospel, but we must assent to those things as true. Assensus is an act of the will, the conviction that the content of the notitia is true. So having that information, knowing who Christ is and what the gospel is, and then saying, I believe that to be true. So assenting to the truthfulness of those propositions in the first element. But at this point, we're still not with a genuine believer. The last element that we must have, so we have to have all three, is fiducia, which means trust. We must not only know and understand the content of faith, And it is not enough to then assent to that content as true, but we must trust in the content as true for us. It is wholehearted trust in Jesus and his work on our behalf. And one scripture that I always give that's a perfect example of this is Galatians 2.20. Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. So here Paul is expressing a true understanding of who Christ is and what the gospel is in that he's speaking of Christ as the one who was crucified for us, but he doesn't just believe in these things as just facts. Jesus died for sinners. It's good to know that Jesus died for sinners, but what we need to know is that Jesus died for me. And that is what he says, who loved me, not just who loved his people, he loved me and gave himself up for me. So he is appropriating this content. Not only is he ascending to the truthfulness of it, but he is applying it to himself and he himself is trusting for himself Christ and his work for him. Okay. To illustrate this, and there's a couple ways that we can illustrate this a little bit further, what kind of people would fit under this first element, would have this first element of faith? Okay, so the first one is atheists. Atheists can have this first element of faith because, especially atheists who really are seeking to attack our faith, they will study Christianity and they will know what we say about who Christ is in the gospel. So they will know the content of the gospel. So they know the content of the faith. Skeptics, same thing. Adherents of other religions, Muslims, Hindus, or whoever, they might study Christianity and know the content of our faith. Hypocrites, who profess faith in Christ. False converts, same thing. Demons, demons know who God is, they know who Jesus is, so they know the content of the gospel, and of course, true believers know this. Atheists, skeptics, adherents to other religions, hypocrites and false prophets, demons are not saved. And then those who will eventually be true believers are not saved yet at this point. So who makes it to the next element of faith are the hypocrites and false converts. Because not only do they have the content of the faith, but they'll say, yes, I believe in Christ. I will follow Jesus Christ. But eventually they fall away. Demons. Demons, no. If you ask, well, no, you shouldn't ask or have conversations with demons, but James tells us that they believe in God, but they tremble, right? They, hypothetically, if you ask the demon, do you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God? He's God in the flesh. He died for sinners. And if you believe in him, you have eternal life. He'll say, yes, that is absolutely true. But do demons believe, or are they trusting in Christ for their salvation? No, they are not. True believers also fall into this category. Now, the atheist skeptics, at this point, they'll say, no, I know the content, but I think it's all fairytale. It's all myth. I don't believe in this stuff. It's not true. Okay, but then out of all of these, only true believers come to this last stage of true saving faith, come to possess this. Fiducia, wholehearted trust in the content, in Jesus, in Christ, in what He has done for them. They will truly wholeheartedly trust and believe in Jesus Christ. And so as we see, the true believer has all three. Whereas hypocrites, false converts might have the first two, and a lot of people, sadly and tragically, are there. They know the content, they say, yes, amen, we believe in this, but they are not wholeheartedly trusting in Jesus Christ for their salvation. Another way that we can show this from Matthew, from the Gospel of Matthew, is the parable of the sower. Jesus gives this parable and he says, But when the sun had risen, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who hears, let him hear. Then Jesus explains this parable, and he says, When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one whom the seed was sown beside the road. The one on whom the seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction and persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. And the one on whom the seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and brings forth some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." So there's four different soils here. The first one is the one by the roadside or the wayside. Who is, where could we place this person in these boxes here? Well, it said that he had the word but didn't understand it. He didn't really understand it, so we can put him outside. I guess we could put him in Noticia, but he had no understanding. He heard it, but he didn't understand what he was being told. The next one is stony ground. This one did understand the content. He had it and he understood it. The seed that was sown among the thorns, same thing. He had the information, he understood it. And the good soil, all these three, had the information, had the knowledge, they understood it. But, okay, now the stony ground also not only believes it, or knows it, understands it, but now he believes in it, right? He professes faith, he receives it with joy. Same thing with the seed that was sown among the thorns and the good soil. All of these then profess faith and are, as far as we know, believers. But, Because of what is described as the difficulties, the thorns choking the word, the deceitfulness of sin, the riches, all these things, the stony ground and the one that's among the thorns, they do not wholeheartedly trust in the Lord. There's no root in them. That's what the parable says. There's no root in the stony ground. And so only the good soil is the one that truly trusts in Christ and then bears much fruit. So in that parable, we can see the two kinds of faiths, that everyone else, though they may have professed faith, did not have true, genuine faith, only the one that had a good soul. Now, it wasn't the fruit that gave him salvation, but that was the evidence of the faith that he had. Okay, so this is the wayside, or this is the different grounds. And another from Paul, and I'll try to go through this one quickly. So in this, in the point of this with Paul, is that the reason why there's genuine faith and true genuine faith and false faith is because faith is not something that can be produced by ourselves. We cannot produce faith. It is a gift of God, and this is where I'm going with this with Paul in Ephesians. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Some argue that the gift is not the faith, but grace is the gift. So people who want to say, no, we can believe, they'll say, no, he's talking about grace or even salvation, but faith is not the gift that he's speaking of here. But why is this not the case? Why would we argue that faith is a gift? In Greek, substances, so things like nouns, adjectives, participles, which are verbal adjectives, have gender and number. When an adjective or pronoun is modifying a noun, they must agree in gender and number. In English, we don't have this, but we can still see this concept. So for example, I've used this example before. 10 years ago, nobody would think anything of this, but nowadays, with this whole gender thing, people will not understand what I'm saying, but I'm hoping that we all do here, that we still are sane in our thinking in regard to gender. So in English, if I said the man went to her car, why is that not proper? because the pronoun there, her, is modifying man, and man is masculine, so we need to have a masculine pronoun. So similar, if we said, the woman went to his house, or the man went to their car, so in the first two, we have the gender not agreeing, and the last one, it's the number. It's the man went to his house, not their house, unless you're speaking to somebody who goes by they, them pronouns, but anyway. But that's proper, or it's not proper. These are not proper because they're not agreeing. Well, in Greek, the whole language is like this. There are things that are masculine, feminine, or neuter. And so adjectives, pronouns, all these things, even definite articles, they all have to agree in gender and number. OK. Okay, so another thing, so if we had, for example, this statement down there, the man and the woman went to the store and she drove. Okay, so we have two subjects here, but we're gonna say something about one of those subjects, so when I say she, who am I speaking of? The woman, or if I said, you know, John and Mary went to the store, she drove, you know that, oh, it was Mary the one that drove because I used the feminine pronoun she, okay? And this is important because in this verse, we have two feminine words here and one masculine. So grace and faith, both in blue, are feminine, okay? Saved is masculine. And so the point of contention is right here where it says in orange, for by grace you have been saved through faith and this, Not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. So this is the gift of God. So the question is, what is this referring to? Okay, so just like in the previous example, the man and the woman went to the store and she drove, right? She is gonna tell us who we're speaking about. Well, how are we gonna find out who this is? Well, what is the gender of this? So we can know what it's modifying. If it was masculine, we would know that this is referring to saved. If it's feminine, it's gonna be referring to both. saving grace and faith, but the thing is that this, what is this? It's neuter. Oh, sorry. It's neuter. So now you're like, oh, so what is it modifying, right? Well, in Greek, sometimes this is used to refer to the entire phrase. So the fact that it's neuter, this, it's referring to this whole phrase for by grace you have been saved through faith. It's seen as one act of God, and this act of God of being saved by grace through faith is a gift by God. Okay, so if we do not have this gift, then we do not have genuine faith. We can believe some of the things about the gospel, but we will not have true genuine faith, because faith is not something that we can produce, it is a gift of God. Natural man, natural fallen man is unable to savingly believe in Jesus Christ. And really quickly, since we're pretty much out of time, there are a few scriptures in John that really show this. We've gone through these already, John 6, 37-39. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out, for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day." So who is it that comes to Christ savingly? It's those that the Father has given to the Son. So you have to be given to the Son by the Father. Verse 44 of the same chapter, no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day. The father not only gives people to the son, but he does so by drawing them to him. This is effectual calling. God is giving us life that we may hear the gospel and believe and be drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ in true saving faith. Faith must be granted to us also from the Father to come to Jesus. This is later in that chapter. But Jesus, conscious that his disciples grumbled at this, said to them, does this cause you to stumble? But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him. And he was saying, for this reason I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father. given, drawn, and now granted to Him by the Father. These are all showing, demonstrating that it is God's work, His gift to His people to believe in Jesus Christ. We are given to the Son, we are drawn to the Son, and we are granted to come to Him. Paul will also say that to us, not only has it been granted to believe, but to suffer for His sake. So again, faith is something that is granted or given to us by God. So John distinguishes between true saving faith and false temporary faith in his Gospel. He emphasizes this theme more than the other Gospels. His main purpose is that people would believe. So his desire and God's desire is for people to believe and be saved. He writes his gospel to inform the first element of true saving faith, the content, or to give us the content of that first element. The goal is to know who Jesus is and what he has done, believe it to be true, and then trust in his name wholeheartedly so that we may have eternal life. So that is his purpose, and that is one of the reasons why this is such a big theme in the Gospel of John, and why he shows that, look, there's temporary faith, and there's true genuine faith. And so the overall message of the Gospel is not to work for those things that perish, but to work for the things that endure to eternal life, for the food that endures to eternal life, to look to Jesus, to trust in Him, believe and be saved. That is John's purpose and that is God's desire for us. Any questions before we close? Comments? I think you have a comment, right? I was just gonna comment that I'm sure that you would dive in on verse eight that you pointed out, fall by, what is the fall by here? And if we look back, it's really neat how Paul guides into verse four. Yes. And all this monumental work that the father did in Christ, rising from the dead. And none of that talks about our faith. Yeah, it's, yeah. And then, but then he dies deeper, and then back on chapter one again, and so there's this theme of the father's predetermining an adoption two times prior to what you've led us into right here in verse eight. that those pre-themes that Paul lays out in chapter one and the beginning of chapter two further deepen and clarify what you're saying, what verse eight means. Yes, they would. John, or not John, Ephesians. Yes, so from Ephesians 1 through 8, or 7, Paul is kind of giving us an overview of what he's, you could say the history of salvation, right? And you were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world. So he's talking generally about the Gentiles here, the Ephesians. He's gonna go on then later to talk about how you were without God in this world. but he's talking about them being dead in their sins, and he's highlighting God's work that, well, first of all, our condition, and then, like he said in verse four, but God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, so he's first laying out our condition and how we were just, we're dead, we're by nature children of wrath, there's nothing we can do, But because of His great love for us, He made us alive together with Christ and seated us together with Him in the heavenly places. And so, yes, all of that is setting up the salvation that He's showing there. And then in verse 8, He kind of gets more into, well, how is this raising up? How does this look? It is a gift of God that He gives us by grace and through faith. So yeah, the first few verses are key and foundational for verses eight and nine and 10. But again, yeah, he is showing kind of in general the state of mankind and what God has done with us in Christ. And then in verse eight, then he gives us this kind of individual kind of view of how we are brought from death unto life, that it is a gift of God that he gives us. We're saved by grace through faith. and this not of yourselves. It's not something that we can work for. It's not something that we earn. It's something that God gives to us, that he does in us to bring salvation in us, so that then we may, rather than, you know, as he at the beginning, he says, you walked in which you once walked following the course of the world, following the prince of the power of the air, and the spirit that is now at work in the sense of disobedience, among whom also we all lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body. So this walk that we used to have, we're saved, and then in verse 10, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So we're walking in darkness, he saves us by faith, so that we can now walk in the light, walk in good works, which he prepared beforehand. So, yeah, it all ties together, so.