Note: The following is article #17 in a series reflecting on chapters in John Piper’s book Future Grace. More information on the book from Amazon.com is available here. A list of all the articles in this series so far is available here.
Chapter 16 of Future Grace starts with this statement:
If we go wrong on the nature of faith, everything in the Christian life will go wrong. If all authentic obedience comes from faith in future grace, then all obedience will be imperiled by misunderstanding and mis-experiencing what faith is.
Knowing the nature of true faith is indeed critical to living the Christian life. Dr. Piper spends the rest of the chapter examining the nature of faith as seen in the gospel of John. Piper notes that John’s gospel has been called The Gospel of Belief, and that the word “believe” is used over 90 times, including in John 20:31 where John explicitly defines the purpose of his gospel being that the reader “may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Piper then draws out five truths regarding faith:
Faith is Having the Love of God Within Us
But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? (John 5:42-44)
Jesus in this passage connects faith in Him with seeking God’s glory and having God’s love within us. Our hearts by nature are focused first on ourselves or on others (“receiving glory from one another”) instead of focused on God and His glory. But once we possess true faith we will have God’s love within our hearts and we will both believe in Christ and seek His glory.
Faith is Loving the Light of Christ
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. (John 3:19-21)
John says that everyone who does wicked things (and we all have done wicked things) by nature hates the light of Christ. But those who have true faith have undergone a miraculous transformation: they have passed from hating the light to loving the light and coming toward it.
Faith is Coming to Jesus to Satisfy Our Thirst
…but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:14)
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:37-38
Jesus is the source of all that will satisfy our soul. But He can only quench the thristy soul who comes to Him through faith. His invitation is clear, but the response must come from a heart of true faith.
Faith is Hearing the Voice of God
But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” (John 8:45-47)
Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:25-28)
In two passages John records Jesus specifically linking true faith to being able to hear the voice of God. Furthermore, Jesus gives the reason for this ability to hear the voice of God: one must belong to God. In the eighth chapter Jesus says bluntly that those who cannot hear “are not of God” while in chapter ten Jesus says that only “His sheep” are able to hear His voice. Piper remarks, “The most amazing statement here is that we do not become sheep by believing; rather we believe only because we are sheep.”
Faith is a Gift of God’s Grace
In each of these passages, John portrays true faith as something that is so radical and contrary to our inborn nature that it is impossible. In John 6:44 Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” True faith is supernatural; it is a gift of God’s grace. Piper states:
If we are to come to Jesus the way Jesus teaches us to come, we will have to be drawn by God. Our hate for the light will have to be overcome by God. Our distaste for the bread of heaven and the water of life will have to be transformed by God. Our love affair with the praises of men will have to be shattered by God. Our only hope is free and sovereign grace.
If we can look in our hearts and see God’s love within, sense our eye for Christ’s light and our ear for Christ’s voice and our taste for Christ’s living water, then we can rejoice and thank God for His glorious grace in our lives, for these are the marks of true faith.
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[...] “If we go wrong on the nature of faith, everything in the Christian life will go wrong.” So says John Piper on faith. But what is the nature of true faith? See what the disciple Jesus loved wrote on faith as Light Along the Journey this week posts on The Faith of the Apostle John. [...]