"Then they asked him, 'What must we do to do the works God requires?' Jesus answered, 'The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.'" (John 6:28-29, NIV)
Here are a bunch of people asking about how they can earn God's favor by works. They want to know what religious ritual will get them in God's good graces. They want to know if their alms giving and fasting and praying and what have you are enough.
Jesus' answer corrects the error of their thinking. He basically says, "There is no way religious works are getting you in the door of Heaven. You must believe in me."
Belief is the work God requires of all. Without belief in Jesus - the one God sent - there is no salvation.
John records Jesus saying basically the same thing in a number of other places. This is important truth. Listen to Jesus.
In John 3:16-18 he speaks of the necessity of belief in him. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." (NIV)
In John 14:6 the Master says he's the way, the only way, to the Father. "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (NIV)
The work of God is to believe in Jesus! There is no escaping this truth. It is the overarching theme of all four gospels and each and every letter that the apostles write to the churches. Believe and be saved. Refuse and be damned.
Have you done the work of God? Believe on him today and be saved.
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