Trust and Mistrust
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[SLIDE 1] Introduction
If you have your Bible, then please turn to John 2:23-25.
23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
Illustration
When I studied Biology in high school, one of the specific subjects that captured my attention was the anatomy and function of the heart.
We generally know what’s going on in a person’s heart.
The heart pumps blood throughout the body.
The heart maintains blood pressure so that the blood can circulate effectively throughout the body and ensure one-way blood flow.
It is one of the vital human organs for sustaining life.
While we are thankful to know so much about the heart in our modern era, there is a specific heart that no one in the world has fully understood.
The Bible talks about the heart many times.
However, I’m not speaking about the physical anatomy of the heart.
I’m talking about the spiritual anatomy and function of the heart.
When the Bible talks about that kind of heart, it specifically refers to the inner life of a person.
The heart has a complex meaning both in Hebrew and Greek.
The heart encompasses elements such as your motivations, thoughts, intellect, desires, values, emotions, will, intent, and affection.
And the list just goes on.
Perhaps that suggests just how complicated we are as human beings.
In Genesis, God created Adam and Eve to be truly pure in heart, upright, and perfect.
But, they willfully transgressed the law of God through the deception of the serpent, and brought sin into the world.
The effect of sin stained and corrupted the nature of man.
Genesis 6:5 described the condition of the human heart:
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
[SLIDE 2] Turn to Jeremiah 17.
Centuries later, the prophet Jeremiah prophesied against the southern kingdom, which was Judah.
God’s people were living in sin and rebellion against their God.
They broke their covenant relationship with Him again and again by worshipping idols.
Jeremiah gives us an imagery of the sin of Judah in their idolatry in Jeremiah 17:1
1 “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars,
The pen of iron or point of diamond are like a chisel that carves hard materials.
This chisel is a metaphor for sin that is engraved on our heart.
John Calvin: “The human heart is a perpetual idol factory.”
Several verses later, Jeremiah spoke this wellknown line in Jeremiah 17:9:
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
This is the condition of the corrupt and sinful heart.
This is the insidious part of our fallen nature.
It is difficult to understand not only in other people’s heart, but how much more difficult is it to understand even on our heart, and its deceptive nature?
Jeremiah presents a rhetorical question: “Who can understand the heart?”
The only One who knows the condition of our heart is our omniscient (all-knowing) God.
10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
James Montgomery Boice comments on God’s understanding of the human heart: “God has the heart of man in focus, with the result that he is never fooled by human goodness.”
In other words, God knows our heart perfectly well so that no one can ever deceive or mock Him.
Why I laboured on helping you understand what the heart is is because that is what Jesus knew in man based on our text this morning.
Jesus truly knew the condition of the heart of those who believed in His name, but He refused to trust them.
Context
This passage serves as a transition from the previous context of Jesus’ cleansing the temple to the next chapter.
If there weren’t chapters and headings in the Bible, then you would notice that John 2:25 would naturally transition to chapter 3.
Verse 25 ends with Jesus knowing what was in man.
And John 3:1 begins with a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus.
Moreoever, this passage is like a commentary or a summary about Nicodemus in chapter 3 and the Samaritan woman in chapter 4.
Jesus knew what was in the heart of Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman.
Nicodemus needed be born-again (or experience regeneration).
The Samaritan woman needed to be confronted by Jesus about her sin.
So, as we walk through this passage, I have three outlines to guide today’s message:
Exposition
[SLIDE 3] 1. We see that There Is Trust In Jesus Because The Crowd Sees The Signs (v. 23)
John 2:23 begins with these words, “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast.”
We recall in verse 13 that Jesus went up to Jerusalem during the Passover of the Jews.
The Passover was an important feast in the history of Israel (or Jewish nation).
The Passover was a celebration that commemorates God’s saving act in the book of Exodus.
It’s where God delivered the Israelites from Egyptian slavery.
And God commanded the Israelites to observe the Passover annually as a way to remember God’s deliverance for them in Egypt.
So, Jesus, being Jewish, went to Jerusalem to observe the Passover.
And we know what happened when He arrived in Jerusalem.
He went to the temple.
He removed the sellers and money-changers.
He was upset that the temple was turned into a house of trade.
Jesus confronted the sellers, money-changers, and the Jews for corrupting the temple that’s meant to be a sacred place of worship for the Jews and the pilgrims.
The Jews challenged Jesus’ authority for His act of cleansing the temple by asking for a sign.
Jesus does give them a sign, which is regarding the temple of His body - pointing to His resurrection.
Interestingly enough, while Jesus did not perform signs to the Jews, He was performing signs at the Passover Feast.
Now, this doesn’t contradict Jesus’ action.
He did not do at the temple, but He’s doing it at the Passover Feast.
And many believed in His name when they saw the signs that He was doing.
Signs were meant to point people to who Jesus truly is.
Now, John does not tell us what signs Jesus performed at the Passover Feast.
We do know that Jesus performed many miracles in the synoptic gospels.
In Galilee, Jesus healed many people afflicted with diseases and pain. He cast demons out of people (Matthew 4:23-25).
We remember that Jesus performed His first sign back in the beginning of John 2 where He turned water into wine.
However, if you’re reading this gospel sequentially, you may find a problem with verse 23 in light of John 4:54
John 4:54 says that He performed a 2nd sign by healing an official’s son.
If Jesus performed many signs in Jerusalem, then why would John say that Jesus performed a 2nd sign at the end of John 4:54.
That seems like a contradiction, isn’t it?
So, how could Jesus have performed a 2nd sign in John 4 while He performed many signs here?
The simple answer is that John gave us the 2nd written/recorded/narrated sign in his gospel.
John acknowledges that Jesus performed many signs, but he has no intention of recording all the signs that Jesus performed.
But, the signs that he did record served a purpose.
Turn to John 20:30-31
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
There are many signs that Jesus did that are not recorded in the gospel.
And he says specifically in verse 31 that THESE ARE WRITTEN so that you may believe in Jesus.
So, at the end of John 4, we are given the 2nd (RECORDED) sign written in John’s gospel.
So, Jesus performed signs.
Many believed in His name when they saw the signs that He was doing.
What is meant by “many believed in His name?”
His name means the name of Jesus.
When the Scripture talks about Jesus’ name, it’s not merely someone’s personal identification on a legal document such as your passport or driver’s license.
Name communicates a sense of reputation and character of the person.
Name refers to everything Jesus is, everything Jesus has done, indeed everything about Jesus.
They believed in His name in a sense that they believed who He claimed to be.
He is the Christ/Messiah.
He is the Lamb of God.
He is the King of Israel.
He is the Son of God.
He is the Son of Man.
The Apostle John wrote in His purpose statement “that you may have life in his name.”
And in John 1:12, John says that if one were to believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.
From a human perspective, many who believed in His name would have been an exciting and good news, isn’t it?
The “many” may have been hundreds or thousands of Jews coming to Jerusalem on the Passover season.
From the perspective of church growth movement, this would have been considered “successful.”
This is like folks walking up to the “altar call” at the Billy Graham’s Crusade.
This is like folks in Christian camps making a decision to trust Jesus.
This is like a spiritual revival in Jerusalem.
We may start tearing up seeing people saved, right?
So, it seems like things are going according to plan.
The many believed in His name and find life in His name because the signs that Jesus performed pointed to Him.
Or at least it seems to be the case until we get into verse 24.
And, here’s the part that may punch us in the gut.
24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
[SLIDE 4] 2. We see that There Is Mistrust In The Crowd Because Jesus Knows The Superficial Faith Within The Human Heart (vv.24-25)
Jesus did not entrust Himself to them who believed in Him.
John is using a play on word in the Greek.
Both the words, “believe” and “entrust,” come from the same Greek word, “pisteuo.”
The many believed in His name, but Jesus did not believe them.
Many trusted in Jesus, but Jesus did not trust them.
Many say “Yes” to Jesus, but Jesus does not say “Yes” to them.
Now, that’s a rather shocking statement.
Let that truth sink deep into your being.
While it seems like their belief in Christ aligns with John’s purpose, Jesus perceives a deeper issue in them than what we can perceive.
Jesus did not trust that their profession of faith was genuine.
Jesus did not believe in their belief in Him.
Why did He not entrust Himself to them? Look at verses 24-25. The text clearly tells us two reasons:
First, He knew all people.
Second, He Himself knew what was in man. (cf. Matthew 9:4).
Jesus is omniscient.
He is all-knowing.
He knew Nathanael’s heart (John 1:47).
This means He knows about the human heart.
He knows your heart and my heart rather clearly.
Jesus did not need witnesses to testify for him about man.
He does not need us to tell Him if a person’s belief is genuine or not.
Jesus is not ignorant.
Jesus knows all the hearts of people, especially those who profess faith in Him.
He knows if their faith is genuine or not.
He knows and sees in them a superficial facade.
He knows the true condition of every heart.
Jesus is not interested in outward attraction towards Him.
He is not interested in false faith.
Leon Morris: “Those who had been attracted by the miracles would have been ready to try to make an earthly king of him (John 6:15). But he did not trust himself to them. He looked for genuine conversion, not enthusiasm for the spectacular.”
John Piper: “What it says, in essence, is that Jesus knows what is in every heart, and so he can see when someone believes in a way that is not really believing. In other words, Jesus’ ability to know every heart perfectly leads to the unsettling truth that some belief is not the kind of belief that obtains fellowship with Jesus and eternal life. Some belief is not saving belief.”
[SLIDE 5] Turn to John 6.
Those following Jesus had a superficial faith, which did not result in genuine salvation.
John 6 is the story where Jesus famously fed the 5000.
Afterwards, the crowd wanted to make Jesus king in an earthly manner, but Jesus did not want that and withdrew from them.
Later on, Jesus exposes the crowd that sought Him for self-serving reasons. (John 6:26, 30, 36)
26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
The crowd exposes the reality of their heart.
30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?
36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
As you can see, it is indeed possible for someone to be seeking Jesus and perhaps believing in Jesus, but all for the wrong reason.
They believe in Jesus just for the spectacular experience.
They believe in Jesus during the “Hype” moment.
They believe in Jesus due to social and family pressure.
They believe in Jesus because they think they can receive material blessings from God.
They believe in Jesus because they hope that God can resolve some problems in their lives.
They believe in Jesus just merely for the community.
Later on in John 6:60-66, when Jesus confronts them with hard teachings, they turned away from following Him.
While I hope all of us can say, “I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour,” we should consider this question: “Does Jesus believe in me? Has He entrusted Himself to me?”
Those questions may touch some of your nerves.
But it is not inconsistent with the teachings of Jesus.
Some can say that they know Jesus Christ, but the question is this: “Does Jesus know you?”
I don’t mean in a general sense because Jesus is omniscient or all-knowing, but in a relational and salvific sense.
Does Jesus know you?
[SLIDE 6] Turn to Matthew 7:21.
This may be the most shocking and scariest sayings coming from the mouth of our Lord Jesus.
When I was in high school, attending youth group in this church, there was a youth leader who once told me in passing that not everyone at church will go to heaven.
When I heard that, it scared me to death, and I asked him where is it in the Bible.
He told me that he didn’t remember where it was, which made it worse for me.
Thankfully, I eventually found it.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Here are several observations.
First, these people professed faith in Jesus. They called Him “Lord.”
In some sense, their “profession of faith” were some form of lip service to the Lord.
Second, they were even involved in impressive ministries. They were serving Him.
But Jesus didn’t know them personally and relationally.
Why is that?
Although they claim to have believed in Jesus, their constant disobedience to His word (i.e. being workers of lawlessness) demonstrated that Jesus did not believe in them.
They did not truly love the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus said in John 14:15: “If you love me, then you will keep my commandments.”
At the final judgment, Jesus Christ will give us His perfect evaluation of where we stand in relation to Him.
It breaks my heart to even say this…and it even causes me to tremble before the LORD as I say it...
Sadly and even shockingly, there may be some who are sitting in the pews this morning, or tuning in via livestream, or listening in to this message later online…who claim to know and believe Jesus, but in reality, Jesus does NOT know you and does not trust you.
Application
So, this passage is deeply applicational.
Jeremiah says that our heart is deceitful above all things.
Having seen the deceptiveness of the human heart, what is the solution?
[SLIDE 7] 3. There Is Trust From Jesus Because He Knows The Saving Faith Of His People.
If it’s appropriate to ask this question, “How can Christ entrust Himself to me?”
The solution is NOT in what you and I can do.
The solution is actually what Jesus will teach Nicodemus in John 3 about the New Birth.
God promised a New Covenant where He’ll do a supernatural work in the hearts of sinners.
Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36 talk about how God will give us a new heart and a new spirit and will write His law in our heart so that we would become His people and God will be our God.
With a new heart, God will cause us to walk in obedience to His word and know Him personally, and be known by Him.
So, the ones whom Jesus knows and believes in are those who truly belong to Him and experienced the promise of the New Covenant.
Turn to John 10:27-28
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
So, who are the ones that Jesus knows?
His Sheep.
His own people.
The ones whom Jesus gave eternal life and will protect them from being snatched out of His hands.
The sheep whom the Good Shepherd would lay down His life for by dying on the cross for their sins and being raised on the 3rd day.
Those who experienced the new birth or born of God.
Those who have a personal relationship with Him.
Those who trust Him as the only One who saves them from their sins and the wrath to come.
We need to believe in Jesus in such a way that He believes in us.
And the evidence that you truly have saving faith is by your fruit.
3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
What’s the fruit?
That you are keeping His commandments.
That you are growing in holiness and godliness.
That you are being more conformed into the image of Christ.
That you are depending on Jesus alone for your salvation.
If you have truly trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, and you have repented of your sins and have experienced the new birth, you ought to naturally desire to follow Jesus and obey Him.
You ought to grow in your relationship with Him and deepen your love for Him.
You ought to grow in your desire to read and know His word.
You ought to grow in character and in love.
If those things are not evident throughout your life, then there are reasons to question whether Jesus truly knows you.
When you fail and sin, you should feel sorrowful in your hearts because you have sinned against your heavenly Father.
You will want to confess your sins before Him.
You will want to repent of your sins.
You will want to come back to the grace of our Lord Jesus and be reminded of what He has done for you through His death and resurrection.
Conclusion
[SLIDE 8] As I slowly conclude, perhaps, this message may have made you feel uncomfortable and unsettled.
Perhaps, this passage and message may have been shocked you.
I want you to be okay with being uncomfortable, challenged, and even shocked by God’s word.
I pray that the Holy Spirit is working in you, even right now.
I don’t want you to listen to this sermon for other people. I want you to listen to it for yourself.
I want you to be as transparent and honest with yourself and with God as much as possible.
I pray and hope that this is a wake up call for all of you and do some deep soul-searching.
I want all of you, including myself, to do what the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 13:5
5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
I’m available to pray with you after the service if you need to talk to about this topic or if you’re struggling in your assurance of salvation.
While it can shocking to know that Jesus knows everything about us, the comforting truth is that even though He knows everything about us (even the most ugliest part of us that we’re too embarassed to share), He still loves us as His sheep and gave His life for them.
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
My prayer and heart for you is this.
I don’t anyone to stand before the LORD and hear Him say to you: “Your faith was superficial and not saving faith. I never entrusted Myself to you. I never knew you.”
So, let’s consider praying Psalm 139:23-24:
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!