Has Jesus Entrusted Himself to You?

18So the Jews answered and said to Him “What sign do you show to us, since you do these things?” 19 Jesus answered, and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 Then the Jews said “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that he had said this to them; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

As usual, there were a group of Jewish leaders standing around and protesting what Jesus was saying and doing. They were demanding in so many words “What gives you the authority to do these things?” “What give you the right?” “Show a sign that proves your authority” He, referring to Himself, said that when they took part in his chastisement, his crucifixion, his very death, destroying the temple of His body, that He would raise it up in three days. He was foretelling His own death and resurrection, which would be a fulfillment of prophesy found in the Psalms and Isaiah:

Psalm 22
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?. 6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: 13 Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me.18 They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.

Isaiah 53:1-12 (NIV)
53 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. 11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Note the two different responses by the hearers of Jesus’ words. The Pharisees, blinded by their own pride and ambition reflected by the way that they allowed this commercialization of the Passover, responded in the natural realm. They went right into the building and how long it took to build, and how it would be impossible to raze it and raise it back again in three days. They were focused very much on the natural realm and the power which they had that was represented by their control of the building and their control of the religious and political institutions. The threat of a man coming in to usurp their authority in any way was a threat that would not be tolerated. The threat to their way of life and their income streams would not be tolerated. They had a God that they were comfortable with, One which provided them power and influence, One whom they could control. It was not the God of the Bible.

Bring this into the modern day. Church has become more and more man centered. The powerful pastors who like their comfortable jobs and their comfortable incomes do not want to do anything or say anything that will rock the boat. Their focus is on the institution of the church, and the church building, and their control of it. They will not tolerate any teaching that could threaten their power or their influence. I am speaking of many institutional churches, but I am including those who have gone the purpose driven, seeker sensitive, or prosperity gospel route. They fear man and what man can do to them; therefore they compromise the truth of the Gospel. While they act like they care about the opinions of men through their surveys, the more power that the clerical class can have in their opinion, the better. Therefore, pragmatically, they keep and wield power by succumbing and submitting to popular thought rather than the truth of the scripture. Their trust is in their business methods and their slick tongues, not God.

John is writing this Gospel again to assist in producing saving faith in those who would read it tells a different story. The disciples may not have understood totally what Jesus meant, but received at that time with the faith that they had. When Jesus was crucified and three days later rose from the dead, the seed of faith that was planted those years before sprang up and it produced another confirmation that Jesus was who He said He was, and that produced in them saving faith. They believed the scripture, which foretold the suffering servant and how He would reign forever and ever, and they remembered the words that Jesus spoke, and these together produced belief.

This is why it is so important to read the scripture and to believe what it says. When you go through a life situation, the truth of the scripture can come back to you, and can confirm your faith and belief in the Lord.

23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because HE knew all men. 25And He had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

John uses in these verses the same word for belief in these phrases, but uses it to illustrate belief vs. saving faith. Many people like a Jesus of their own understanding. These folks saw what Jesus did at the Passover, the signs that He did, and the believed in His name. What signs did he do? He demonstrated zeal, his proclamation of God as His Father, and his discussion with the Pharisees. There may have been more signs, but John did not write them down, for he was not inspired to do so. When many people look at Jesus, and the stories about him, how He is so loving and forgiving and kind, and that he heals and provides…wow, that is so great! But when life gets hard, they abandon Him. Why? They believe in a false or incomplete Jesus. Jesus promised his followers trials that would come, that they would be persecuted for His name. These who had believed at this time just believed in the Jesus who did signs. They saw a new prophet, and what Jesus did was radical, and cool, and it gave them hope. In their heart, however, the signs brought no change. They loved his signs, but it did not bring them to a point of repenting in dust and in ashes. It did not cause them to submit their will to His. They just had a curiosity which caused them to have a belief in Jesus, perhaps as a prophet or a doer of wonders.

Jesus looked into their hearts, and did not believe in them- he did not entrust or commit to them himself. Why? Because He knew their hearts. They had a mental ascent that they liked what they saw of Jesus. Jesus looks for a genuine conversion rather than just a belief in the spectacular. We have covered it before, but saving faith has three aspects that are as important as we consider the Gospel of John, and examine our own personal faith. There is the mental aspect; knowing the historical Jesus, who the Word of God says He is and trusting in that portrait. Then there is the emotional; knowing God and Jesus in truth allows us to see our sin as horrible, placing Jesus on the cross, and we sorrow over that sin and that sorrow leads to repentance. Finally, saving faith is volitional, we submit our wills to Jesus, and we do what He tells us to do. Belief into Jesus’ name covers much more than an intellectual ascent; it must be a whole hearted commitment of one’s life as Jesus’ disciple.

It is so important to understand this very important and clear teaching. We see it another place in the Gospels, Matthew chapter 7.

Matthew 7:21-23 (NIV)
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

I personally experienced some of this on Thursday, in a more radical way than I have ever experienced it. I was at the Dakota State University doing some evangelism, which included open-air preaching and one to one sharing of our faith along with passing out of tracts to students. We were allowed on the University by the Vice President to exercise our first amendment rights of free speech on a public campus. We faced opposition that was radical, but not from the people who called themselves pagans, Hindus, Muslims, or even the atheists. Rather, it was from the leader of the intervarsity campus ministry. They were angry that we presented the problem of sin and judgment on those who would not obey the Gospel through repentance and faith. The Jesus that they were presenting was one of love and mercy and acceptance, which is only partially the true Jesus. It is certainly the popular Jesus, one who looks by the lifestyle of his followers. In other words, a form of belief that gives a mental ascent to Christ, but there is no sorrow over sin that leads to repentance, and there is no volitional aspect of faith that changes behavior in submission to the will of God for their lives. The terrifying fact is that, as presented in Matthew 7:21-23, is that there will be many who know the name of Jesus on that last day, some even doing amazing works in His name, but He will say to them that He never knew them, because they never did God’s will, and they were workers of evil! When we were asked to leave the campus, it was by one who identified himself as a minister, based upon the complaints of people who called themselves Christians.

As we enter the Third chapter of John, I want to challenge you to consider: have you been born again? This last passage is all telling. Many people say they have accepted Christ; indeed, these people here had accepted Christ at a level of they like what He did. But the Bible clearly states here that He did not accept them. He did not entrust Himself to them because HE knew what was in their hearts! He knows what is in my heart, and He knows what is in your heart. As we will learn next week, being born again is something that is accomplished from above, so I challenge you to examine yourself and see if Jesus Christ has accepted you. Here is the key: A broken and contrite heart God will not despise. Have you ever come to a place where you have come to an end of yourself, recognizing that you are a fallen and wretched individual according to God’s perspective, and it is only through the shed blood of Jesus that your sins can be atoned for so that you can be made righteous before God? I urge you to examine yourself in the truth of God’s Word. Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. If you are not, call out to God to save you. He will! You have His Word on it.