Active Faith: Continuously Receiving Christ's Life
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"One of the most provocative observations that I'm aware of about the nature of saving faith is the observation that the book in the Bible that deals most relentlessly with the issue of saving believing is the Gospel of John, which never uses the word faith, never uses the word belief, but uses the verb believe 98 times. That cannot be an accident." [00:03:00]
"Often you will read in commentators and people who are wrestling with this statements to the effect that John wants to communicate that faith is not passive; it is active. And that sounds right, but regularly those commentators go on to imply that they mean something like faith causes us to be active in obedience in love." [00:04:58]
"I think he chose the verb believe because believing, in its very nature, is a kind of acting, an acting of the soul, not the body, an acting of the soul and the heart before the acting of the soul produces any other actions of the body or the mind. And the kind of acting of the soul that believing is reveals something crucial about the nature of saving faith." [00:06:18]
"Believing in the name of Jesus is virtually interchangeable with receiving Jesus. Verse 11, chapter 1: Jesus came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." [00:08:31]
"Receiving Jesus is the soul's drinking the living water that Jesus is, drinking with sweet soul satisfaction. That's what receiving is, and that's what we receive. It is a drinking, and it is a drinking of Christ, who is the living water, with sweet soul satisfaction." [00:10:55]
"Receiving Jesus is the soul's eating the bread of heaven that Jesus is to the soul's satisfaction. Those are my two answers to receive as what: living water, bread of heaven. What is receiving? Drinking and eating to the soul's satisfaction." [00:11:24]
"Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. So the parallel between coming so as not to hunger and now whoever believes in me shall never thirst tells us that Jesus believes, thinks, says believing is a coming to drink, a coming to eat. That's the act of faith. That's what faith does." [00:12:36]
"This coming to the water is the movement of thirst in the soul. This coming to bread is the movement of hunger in the soul, moving toward life, towards bread and water. These are soul movements, not body movements. They are the heart actions: desiring, longing, drinking, feeding, embracing, treasuring, tasting, feasting on Christ." [00:14:20]
"Believing is not a state of satisfaction. Believing is not a state of pleasure in Christ. John wants to emphasize that we never put down the cup of living water as though we'd had enough. We never lay aside the loaf of the bread of heaven as though we were stuffed. Believing doesn't do that." [00:18:48]
"Believing is receiving constantly, coming constantly. Christ is ever giving himself as food and drink for our souls. We are ever putting our lips to the cup, our tongue to the bread. To use another image of John, life, I mean faith or believing, is like being a branch in a vine." [00:19:41]
"Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. So believing is what a branch does. What does the branch do? It drinks or dies continually. It eats. It never stops. It abides, drinking forever. That's its life." [00:20:10]
"When we turn from the broken cisterns of the world, including politics, and drink from Christ, our hearts not only become deep, tranquil reservoirs of satisfaction, they also become rivers of living water flowing out. The sweetest experiences I know, the sweetest experiences of being filled with the fullness of Christ are those moments when the rivers of affection carry everything before them, all obstacles, in love to my brothers and sisters." [00:29:20]
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"Often you will read in commentators and people who are wrestling with this statements to the effect that John wants to communicate that faith is not passive; it is active. And that sounds right, but regularly those commentators go on to imply that they mean something like faith causes us to be active in obedience in love." [00:04:58]
"I think he chose the verb believe because believing, in its very nature, is a kind of acting, an acting of the soul, not the body, an acting of the soul and the heart before the acting of the soul produces any other actions of the body or the mind. And the kind of acting of the soul that believing is reveals something crucial about the nature of saving faith." [00:06:18]
"Believing in the name of Jesus is virtually interchangeable with receiving Jesus. Verse 11, chapter 1: Jesus came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." [00:08:31]
"Receiving Jesus is the soul's drinking the living water that Jesus is, drinking with sweet soul satisfaction. That's what receiving is, and that's what we receive. It is a drinking, and it is a drinking of Christ, who is the living water, with sweet soul satisfaction." [00:10:55]
"Receiving Jesus is the soul's eating the bread of heaven that Jesus is to the soul's satisfaction. Those are my two answers to receive as what: living water, bread of heaven. What is receiving? Drinking and eating to the soul's satisfaction." [00:11:24]
"Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. So the parallel between coming so as not to hunger and now whoever believes in me shall never thirst tells us that Jesus believes, thinks, says believing is a coming to drink, a coming to eat. That's the act of faith. That's what faith does." [00:12:36]
"This coming to the water is the movement of thirst in the soul. This coming to bread is the movement of hunger in the soul, moving toward life, towards bread and water. These are soul movements, not body movements. They are the heart actions: desiring, longing, drinking, feeding, embracing, treasuring, tasting, feasting on Christ." [00:14:20]
"Believing is not a state of satisfaction. Believing is not a state of pleasure in Christ. John wants to emphasize that we never put down the cup of living water as though we'd had enough. We never lay aside the loaf of the bread of heaven as though we were stuffed. Believing doesn't do that." [00:18:48]
"Believing is receiving constantly, coming constantly. Christ is ever giving himself as food and drink for our souls. We are ever putting our lips to the cup, our tongue to the bread. To use another image of John, life, I mean faith or believing, is like being a branch in a vine." [00:19:41]
"Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. So believing is what a branch does. What does the branch do? It drinks or dies continually. It eats. It never stops. It abides, drinking forever. That's its life." [00:20:10]
"When we turn from the broken cisterns of the world, including politics, and drink from Christ, our hearts not only become deep, tranquil reservoirs of satisfaction, they also become rivers of living water flowing out. The sweetest experiences I know, the sweetest experiences of being filled with the fullness of Christ are those moments when the rivers of affection carry everything before them, all obstacles, in love to my brothers and sisters." [00:29:20]
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