Salvation Faith

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In John 4 Jesus heals the son of a royal official. We read these stories so quickly that we easily miss some detail that John was careful to include.
The royal official went through three stages in his faith, each relating to how he saw Jesus.
In verse 47 he is frantic to have Jesus come and heal his son. ‘When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.’  He has a measure of faith but it’s a faith that Jesus is a healer, who performs miracles by actually being there with the sick person and praying for them. Jesus has to be present for the healing. Many non-Christians come to meetings where the sick are prayed for with a faith like this. They honestly believe that at these “healing-meetings” people are prayed for and can be healed.
But Jesus reacted with a rebuke. ‘Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders … you will never believe’ (v.48). This is not saving faith. This faith is locked into seeing the “healer” and true faith is not dependent on sight.
The official continued to plead with Jesus to come. Instead, Jesus says to him ‘You may go. Your son will live’ (v.50). Then we read ‘The man took Jesus at his word and departed’ (v.50).This is the second stage of his faith – faith in Jesus’ power. Jesus won’t be there but he believes his son will live because Jesus has power. Again, this is not the faith that brings salvation but it is an advancement on his earlier faith.
As the father reaches home, a 25 kilometre walk, he finds not only his son healed, but that the healing happened at the very hour Jesus had said it would (v.52: the 7th hour = 1pm).
Finally we are told ‘So he and all his household believed’ (v.53). His faith has now become saving faith – faith in Jesus for who He is, and not just for what He has or even can do. This is finally faith for salvation. 

John's Gospel - LIFE

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John’s gospel really is different to the other three.
Mark’s gospel concentrated on what Jesus did; Matthew and Luke concentrated on what Jesus said. But John’s emphasis is overwhelmingly on who Jesus was (and continues to be).
John states his purpose in writing ‘Jesus did many other miracles …But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name’
John uses the word ‘believe’ around one hundred times, showing how important it was to him. He wanted his readers to not just believe that Jesus lived as an historical figure, but that He was the Messiah, the eternal Son of God, as well as the Son of Man.
John knew that by believing this, anyone could experience the ‘life’ Jesus promised. By believing this, his readers would begin to ‘live.’
In the verses above, ‘by believing’ is present tense, meaning it is an on-going action. By continuing to believe, the readers would continue to experience Jesus’ ‘life.’ John had carefully chosen his words because, as he wrote, sixty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, many people were changing their beliefs about Jesus. They wanted a slightly different Jesus to the true Jesus. Some wanted a more heavenly Son of God and less human Son of Man. And others wanted a more human and less divine Jesus. John knew that Jesus was entirely God and entirely man and that our salvation rested on this truth. Continuing to believe this meant continuing to know His ‘life.’

Jesus' Story

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Probably the greatest difficulty for a biographer is trying to work out where their story will begin. 
Jesus had four biographies written about Him within sixty years of His ministry life and death and they each began at a different place.
The first to be written was almost certainly Mark’s gospel. Mark portrayed Jesus as the ‘Son of Man.’ Jesus was a man among men and for three and a half years was so much in the public eye that Mark begins his story of Jesus with John the Baptist, who would “announce” Jesus to the Jewish people. 
Luke and Matthew both penned their gospels around the same time. Because Matthew saw Jesus as the King of the Jews, he went back to the beginning of Jewish history, tracing Jesus’ human ancestry back to Abraham. Luke wanted his readers to know Jesus was the Saviour of the World and accordingly traced Jesus’ earthly family all the way back to Adam. 
But John begins his gospel quite differently again. John presents Jesus as the Son of God. No earthly ancestry fits such a title so John has none. ‘In the beginning was the Word …’ (John 1:1). Why does John say ‘in the beginning’ and not ‘forever in the past …’? John knew the human mind in his day could not grasp the infinite past. But because the human mind could understand the moment before creation John decided on ‘In the beginning …’
Jesus is from everlasting to everlasting. He has always been and always will be. He had no beginning and will have no end. He is a man among men, the King of the Jews and the Saviour of the world.

Continuing in God's Blessing

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Are there principles behind God’s blessing? We all agree there must be, but what are they? And sometimes it seems God blesses those we don’t think “deserve” that blessing, and seems to hold back His blessing from those we think truly “deserve” it. Why?
Throughout the Old Testament God’s blessing was over people who had come into relationship with Him through His initiative. No one “worked” their way to Him. God had no (and still has no) haphazard relationships with humanity. All significant relationships were defined by a covenant agreement.
God always initiated the covenant and set the conditions for entering and continuing in it. His blessing was only possible within the confines of the covenant. The same is true today. As those called into covenant responded to God in faith and obedience, God’s covenant blessing came upon them.
The blessing of the covenant not only began with the recipient responding in faith and obedience, but continued with their faith and obedience. To continue in God’s blessing there had to be a continuing in faith and obedience. This is implicit throughout the Old Testament but is clearly stated in scriptures like Deuteronomy 26:16-19. Failure to continue meant God would curtail His blessing. This too is implicit throughout scripture but clearly stated in Deuteronomy 28:15-68.
Faith and obedience allow us to live within the covenant and so enjoy its blessing. God’s blessing is always covenant blessing. Remain in the covenant and you remain in His blessing. Faith and obedience don’t earn us the right to God’s blessing. We remain in the covenant through faith and obedience and this is where God’s blessing flows.
This is true throughout the Bible. We don’t ever deserve God’s blessing by our faith and obedience. This might seem a subtle difference but it makes a world of difference to God.