book of John, in the end of chapter
2, when I read scripture and I am puzzled by what is said
there, by God's grace, when it's opened up, there's so much of
a blessing. And this is one of those cases.
It's always the case that I feel completely inadequate to understand
Scripture apart from God's guidance and making it known. But in this
particular case, the verses we're about to look at in John chapter
2, it was one of those cases where it seemed difficult to
me. And the difficulty is not so much understanding the words
as it is understanding how the world can I know that the salvation
of Christ is mine, that the Lord is really my savior. That's what
bothers me the most when I read scripture and I don't understand
it, is what does it mean? Not just so I can know it in
a theological way, but know it as it applies to my own relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we read from chapter
two, verse 23, these words, we're going to see a case where this
is so. And I want to read from verse
23 of chapter two through the third verse of chapter three.
And next week, and probably at least another week after that,
we're going to be in chapter three. And we'll be considering
chapter three And we will be experiencing, hopefully, when
we do consider chapter three, the difficulty that Nicodemus
faced in his own mind when he heard what Jesus said as Brad
just read to us. He asked this question, how can
these things be in verse nine of chapter three? And I think
that's expressing his own frustration because he didn't understand
what Jesus was talking about and yet it had to do with his
own eternal condition before God and his own relationship
to God. And that's what troubles us,
isn't it? That ought to trouble us. In
fact, that's the way the Bible is written, is to trouble us
about ourselves and our relationship to God. If it doesn't trouble
us, then we are in a terrible condition. But with that trouble
also comes the salve, the medicine of Christ and Him crucified in
order to heal that troubled soul. By God's grace, that's what comes.
And that's really, if you just distill chapter three, Nicodemus
faced an impossible situation. It was required that he be born
of God, but he couldn't make it happen. The evidence of being
born of God is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He couldn't come
up with it. God has to give it. So that,
if you understand that, then it helps us to understand the
verses we're about to read here at the end of chapter two. Because
there's no chapter divisions in the original scripture. They're
put there for our help, and it is helpful at times, but sometimes
we stop at the end of one chapter, and then we come back to the
next chapter, and we lose the continuity. And that's not what's
meant here, so that's why I'm gonna read these two sections
together. I've entitled this message today, When Christ Entrusts
Himself. Entrusts himself. It says in
verse 24, Jesus did not commit himself to them. And that word
is to trust, entrust himself. He did not entrust himself to
them. So the question is, or the statement, which is the title
of today's sermon is, when Christ entrusts himself. In John chapter
two, verse 23, it reads, now when he was in Jerusalem at the
Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name. When they
saw the miracles which he did, But Jesus did not commit himself
to them, because he knew all men. And he needed not that any
should testify of man, for he knew what was in man. There was
a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night
and said to him, Rabbi, We know that thou art a teacher come
from God, for no man can do these miracles which thou doest, except
God be with him.' Jesus answered and said to him, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God. And it seems when Jesus said
that, he was talking generally, except a man, except one be born
again. But he was speaking specifically,
not just generally, but specifically to Nicodemus. Look at verse seven,
John three, verse seven. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
you must be born again. So evidently, from the context
and from Christ's words, Nicodemus, when he came to Jesus by night,
at that time that he came was not born of God. Later in the
book of John, we find him with Joseph of Arimathea spending
huge quantities of money in order to prepare Jesus' body for burial. And it seems then that Nicodemus
was a believer. Somewhere between the beginning
of John 3 and the end of the book of John, he was born of
God. But the problem is not yet. And so when we read in verse
23, now when Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast
day, many believed in his name. Now the word believed here is
the same word that's used for believe everywhere else. In fact,
it says they believed in his name, which his name we understand
to be who he is. The name of a person in scripture
is who they are. Jesus is his name. It means he
and Christ, he's the Christ. It means that they believed he
was the Christ. But what's troubling to me and
as we see it was to Nicodemus, Jesus did not commit himself
to them. And it says that they believed
in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. And this
tells us the kind of faith that they had. It helps us to understand
what kind of faith they had. They had a faith that did not
save. And that's what bothers me. Do
I have a faith that doesn't save? Do you? I don't want you to.
My greatest concern in everything I do is that you and I would
be given the faith that is not like this, but is the true faith,
the faith that is saving faith. But we want to consider this,
and I want you to consider this, first of all, the faith that
does not save, faith that is not true saving faith. because it says, they believed
in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. If you
look over at John chapter six, this actually is a similar situation. where people believed because
they saw miracles. In John chapter six and verse
26, Jesus answered them, those who had seen him multiply the
loaves and the fish to feed 5,000 men plus women and children.
He says, he answered them and he said, verily, verily, I say
to you, you seek me not because you saw the miracles, but because
you did eat of the loaves and were filled. the men who came
to Jesus were looking for him and they tracked him down on
the other side of the sea where he had multiplied the loaves
and fish, but he says the reason that they tracked him down and
were looking for him was because they ate the bread that he made,
the food that he made, and their bodies were satisfied with his
temporal bread, bread that decays, bread that gives temporal strength
to our lives and in a few hours is all gone. So they only believed him in
the sense that they were looking for a temporal benefit, physical
bread for their physical bodies. They needed something that was
an eternal food and an eternal benefit. And they needed to seek
Him for that. They weren't looking that way.
So he says, labor not, in verse 27, labor not for the meat which
perisheth, that comes to nothing and does you no good after a
little while, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life. See, eating bread keeps you alive
for a couple of hours, a few hours maybe. but you need food
that gives everlasting life. That food only gives a temporary
strength. This food that I'm talking about
is everlasting life. He says, which the Son of Man
shall give you. So right away we understand that
the food we need must come to us as a gift from the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's the way we have everlasting
life. He goes on, the son of man shall
give you, for him hath God the Father sealed. Then said they
to him, what shall we do? He said, labor not for the meat
which perishes, but for that which endures to everlasting
life. So they understood that he meant they needed to labor.
And so they said, what shall we do then? What shall we do
that we might work the works of God? They thought, well, to
get this everlasting life requires our work. And Jesus answered
him. He said to them, this is the
work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent. The
work God is looking for, the work that God requires, is not
a work you can do. It's looking to Christ who works.
And the work of looking to Christ, or that gift that you need in
order to look, must come to you from Christ. So the lesson here
is very clear. What we need, we cannot produce. Unless we have it, we cannot
live. We'll die in our sins, and Christ
must give this to us. And we're utterly dependent upon
Him to give it, and we can't make it happen. But these men
had a notion, they had a sense that if they could find Jesus,
they would receive a benefit from him, so they followed him
to the other side of the sea. In that way, they were following
Jesus in order to get a temporal benefit. Okay, does that make
sense? I hope that's clear. Look at
John chapter 5, backing up a little bit. He says in John 5 in verse
33, to these who were arguing with him about what he had previously
said, he said, you sent to John, John the Baptist, and he bear
witness to the truth. But I receive not testimony from
man, but these things I say that you might be saved. He was a
burning and a shining light, and you were willing for a season
to rejoice in his light. But I have greater witness than
that of John for the works which the Father has given me to finish.
The same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father
has sent me. And what works did God the Father
give Christ to finish? The work of salvation. Not only
the miracles and raising the dead and the sight to the blind
and healing to the lame and all those things that he did while
on earth, all those things only pointed to the real work, which
is giving eternal life and faith in his work. faith in him who
did the work. And so he goes on, verse 37,
the father himself which has sent me has borne witness of
me. You have neither heard his voice
at any time nor seen his shape. And you, notice here, verse 38,
you have not his word abiding in you for, notice, whom he has
sent, him you believe not. He goes on, verse 39, search
the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life,
because they thought by finding in the scriptures what they needed
to do and doing it, they would have eternal life. And they are
they which testify of me, the only one who can do what's required
for us to have eternal life. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. They wouldn't come to the one
God sent. They wouldn't hear his word. Him you believe not. And he goes on in verse 40. You
will not come to me that you might have life. I receive not
honor from men, but I know you that you have not the love of
God in you. See, he knows them. As it said in John 2, he knew
what was in all men. In verse 43. I am come in my
father's name, and you receive me not. Do you see that? You
receive me not. Now that's what these men who
Jesus did not commit himself were doing. They had followed
Jesus in that sense. They had seen his miracles, and
they drew a conclusion. They saw something. They had
observable evidence. that required a conclusion that
was really uncontestable, that Jesus was sent of God. John 3, that's what Nicodemus
said. He says, we know you are a teacher
come from God. Four, here's the evidence. No
man can do these miracles that you do except God be with him.
And yet, when Nicodemus made that statement, He did not believe
on Christ. He did not know him. He was a
master of Israel. He did not know the very basics,
the very basic truths that Christ laid out to him. It's natural
for us to see other people when they don't understand something,
to think, what a foolish thing that you wouldn't understand
the most simple things. Isn't that the way we react?
Stupid Nicodemus. But what about us? How can we
understand what Jesus said here unless he makes it known? We're
no different than him, no better. Look at John chapter 10. Keep
you in this channel of thinking about these men who believed
because they saw the miracles, but Jesus didn't commit himself
to them. Look at John chapter 10 in verse three. Notice here,
there's a distinction being made. He says to him, the good shepherd,
he says to him, the porter openeth, the one who keeps the door and
guards it, he opens to the good shepherd and the sheep, notice,
the sheep hear his voice. The sheep hear the shepherd's
voice. And he calls his own sheep by
name, and he leads them out, in verse four. And when he puts
forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow
him, for they know his voice. Okay, so what's being said here
is that the sheep hear Christ, the shepherd. They know his voice,
they follow him. This is clear from the example
that sheep know their shepherd, and they don't know the one who's
not the shepherd. He says in verse five, a stranger
they will not follow, but will flee from him, for they know
not the voice of strangers. All right. Look at this also. He says in verse 22, It was at Jerusalem, the feast
of the dedication, and it was winter, and Jesus walked in the
temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about
him and said to him, how long dost thou make us to doubt? They
put the blame on him for their doubting, for their unbelief.
If you be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them,
I told you, and you believed not. So these people he's speaking
to here are not his sheep, are they? Why? Because he told them
the truth and they didn't believe it. The sheep hear his voice,
they know him, he's their shepherd, and they follow him. When did
they become sheep? Well, he says, my father gives
them to me. My father which giveth them me
is greater than all. He goes on in verse 29, but look
at, before we get to verse 29, look at verse 26. He says, this
is very important here. These are people who did not,
who Jesus did not commit himself to. They were just like those
in many ways who believed him because they saw the miracles.
He says in verse 26, but you believe not because you are not
my sheep. You are not of my sheep. You
see that? So the reason they didn't believe
is because they weren't his sheep. His sheep hear and they believe.
As I said to you, notice verse 27. I already said this once,
I'm gonna say it again. He says, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me,
okay? Do you hear that, see that? I
wanted to read one more verse. It's verse 14. Look at verse
14, and we'll go back to John 2. Jesus makes this statement,
I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. You see those two words? There's
a mutual knowing. Christ knows his sheep. He calls his sheep. They hear
because of his call. They hear when he calls. And
they follow Him and they know Him because they are His sheep,
because the Father has given them to Him. And for them, He
lays His life down. And because they are His sheep,
He not only lays His life down for them, but He calls them. Now, back to John chapter 2.
Let's make some conclusions then about what is said in verse 23. When Jesus was in Jerusalem,
many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he
did. What kind of faith is this? Well, it's clearly not saving
faith. Why is it not saving faith? It's
not saving faith because it's the kind of faith, for two reasons,
it's the kind of faith that anyone can have. It's faith that's produced
that results from observing evidence and drawing a conclusion. And
that's the kind of intellectual activity. It's a logical conclusion
drawn from observable evidence, and that is not saving faith.
How many books have you heard or read about, maybe you've seen
or even read yourself, evidence that demands a verdict? Maybe
you've seen that kind of a title. I don't know. I think that's
the title of an actual book. And I was on the computer last
night and I typed in, I think, what was it? Reasons for faith
or something like that. There's a website. There's an
organization with that title. Reasons for faith or something
and the reasons they give our scientific reasons Let me say
this from this verse of scripture if I could show you a piece of
wood from Noah's Ark, I Mean a legitimate bonafide. Maybe
there's a way of looking at some chemical or process and proving
this is Noah's Ark a piece of it and And you say, well, by
golly, that is a piece of wood from Noah's Ark. There must have
been an ark therefore called Noah's Ark. That is not saving
faith. If I could demonstrate for you
that God created the world with some scientific evidence, that
would not be saving faith. Because anytime I can produce
physical evidence or some kind of observable event or experiment
that you can then say, oh, based on that, there's no doubt, nobody
can deny, that therefore has to be true. Two and two is four. Can't argue with that. That is
not saving faith. Nor is it saving faith to say,
based on what you can Think through and figure out you've got a mind. God gave you a mind and he gave
you a will. Based on that, you need to make
a decision that is not saving faith. You see the difference
here? I'm trying to draw this dark
contrast based on what we've read here about those who saw
miracles and drew conclusions and Jesus said, no, I know them.
I am not going to commit myself to them. Look back at John 6,
verse 64. He says, There are some of you
that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. Now,
these were disciples. These were people following Jesus. It says in verse 60, backing
up, he says, many therefore of his disciples, when they heard
this, said, this is a hard saying, who can hear it? And when Jesus
knew in himself that his disciples murmured, he said, does this
offend you? So you see this kind of faith that makes these observable,
looks at the evidence and makes a conclusion. You know what kind
of faith that is? It's a faith that you yourself
have innately, intrinsically, it comes from you. You can produce
it and you can control it. In fact, it's influenced by other
observable evidences. And if you see something else,
you might change your mind and you'll stop believing. This is
the faith that's offended when the truth about Christ is revealed,
the very truth that true faith sees and finds its only boast
in. You see, true faith boasts only
in Jesus Christ and Him crucified, but false faith is offended by
it. And so it shows that true faith will not leave Christ. True faith has nowhere else to
go. True faith has a need for Him. And that's the difference here
between this faith and true faith. Faith that does not have a need
for Christ that does not find all of its salvation in Christ
cannot be true faith. It's produced by us, and therefore
it can be lost. It was never true, so since it
was from us, we can lose it. But the gifts and callings of
God, according to Romans 11, verse 29, are without repentance. God never takes them back. In
Numbers chapter 23, I think in around verse 19, it says, God
is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he
should repent. He doesn't change. When he sets
his love and grace upon a person to save them, he doesn't take
it back. But when we, of our own will
or our own intellect, make conclusions based on evidences then we can
change. And if that's all we have, we
don't have God's grace. Now that scares me, doesn't it?
What does it mean? It means that you and I, me and
you, me, my wife, my children, everyone in here that I know
and love, We're all utterly dependent upon God to give to us what we
cannot produce and do not have until he gives it. Not only must
he give it, he must keep it. He must continue to provide it. He must sustain what he gives. And what is that? It's true faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that faith, according to
John chapter 3, is looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, the one
God commanded should be lifted up, who would bear the sins of
his people, endure the curse they deserved, and they, having
been condemned and placed under the condemnation of God for their
own sins, having nowhere else to look without any remedy but
Christ, God gives them grace to see and believe Him. All right, now we've talked a
lot about what false faith is. I wanna talk a little bit about
what true faith is. And for this, I'm gonna jump
right to the conclusion here in Hebrews chapter 11, Hebrews
chapter 11. I've used this verse before,
but I'm gonna use it again and I'll use one more to help us
to see what true faith is. Notice, when God wants to define,
when the Lord Jesus Christ wants to define what faith is, I want
you to understand he uses a very simple explanation. You know
what he says true faith is? Look. Look. Look what? Look upon and look
to. I just mentioned the fact that
when the children of Israel were in the wilderness and they sinned
against God by complaining and saying, why have you let us out
here? Why did Moses do this? We want
to go back to Egypt. And God sent fiery serpents to
bite them and they were bitten, they were dying. Some of them
died and they had no remedy. There was nothing they could
do. They were guilty. And they cried to Moses and God
told Moses, now you take a serpent of brass, you hammer it out,
you beat it out, you heat it up and you place it on a pole
and hang it up. And everyone who looks at that
serpent lifted up on that pole, everyone who looks who's been
bitten will live." And Jesus said, that, that is a picture
of saving faith because saving faith is faith from a sinner
guilty and condemned and having nothing except God would find
a remedy, and he found it in Christ, and he put on him what
we deserve, the curse of God's law, because he laid our sins
on him, and look to him, and those who look to him, and then
looking upon him in faith, this God-given trust in him, live. Now, Hebrews chapter 11, if you
look at this in verse 13, there's three elements to faith that
are listed here. Three elements. He says, these
all died in faith. These men of old that God had
given promises to, they died in faith. Died believing. Believing God. Not having received
the promises. What God promised to them, they
believed it until they died. In fact, when they died, they
still believed it, and they hadn't received it. But having, here's
the first one, seen far off. They saw the reality far off
as through a telescope. They looked through the eye of
faith, God-given faith, and they saw that distant reality as if
it were brought near because of faith. They saw it far off.
So faith is seeing Faith is a gift of God, so it's a God-given sight,
a God-given comprehension of the truth concerning Christ and
Him crucified. That's the first thing. They
sought afar off, verse 13 is still, and were persuaded of
them. Here's the second aspect of faith.
It's a God-given persuasion. You're convinced this is the
very truth. When God saves us, he convinces
us of the truth that's essential, the truth that's real. We get
all wrapped up about things like, you know, where our next meal
is coming from, and how our house payment is gonna get paid, or
how we're feeling, how long we're gonna live, what our children
are doing, all these things, the affairs of life, right? Am
I going to get up in the morning? Will I make it to work on time?
Will the car hold up? All these things. Those things
don't matter. This matters. What God says about
us and our relationship to Him. He says they were persuaded.
They were convinced. This had been elevated to the
point of all importance to them. What God is saying. They were
persuaded. They were convinced of something.
God, who promised, is able to do what He promised. This is
the second aspect of it. God has to show us. God has to
convince us. He has to persuade us. God has
to do this. We don't persuade ourselves.
If we can persuade ourselves, we can un-persuade ourselves.
If we can persuade ourselves, then it's of flesh and not of
spirit. It has to be something that's
impossible for us. And the result of it is faith
in Christ, a persuasion. Jesus asked the two blind men
who cried to him for healing. He said, do you believe that
I am able to do this? Do you? Are you persuaded? That's
what this is. God-given persuasion. Christ,
without my help, is able to save me from my sins. I can't do anything. I'm utterly helpless to save
myself. But I'm persuaded He alone can
and does save sinners. And then it says here, In verse
13, they were persuaded of them and they embraced them. They
hugged them close to themselves. They laid hold upon these promises. They entrusted everything to
what God had said, to God who said it. They staked their whole
life they lived looking for the reality because God promised. They were persuaded God who promised
would do what he said, and they laid everything there upon his
promise. That's what faith is. Seeing
with God-given sight, persuasion with God-given persuasion, and
trusting with God-given trust. And without God giving us this,
Christ himself said, I have to give it to you. We don't have
it. We can't make it happen. We're
utterly dependent and that should make us feel helpless and in
the hands of Christ and at His mercy. Do you? This is what the
gospel is meant to do to us. Our life is meant to drive us
to the Lord Jesus Christ and to Him crucified as all of our
salvation. These men who saw His miracles
and drew the conclusion, they weren't there. And Jesus, it
says in verse 24 of John chapter 2, he did not commit himself
to them. The word commit is exactly the same word as believed in
verse 23. They believed in his name, Jesus
did not believe in them. Maybe you could read it that
way. Or you could say, they committed themselves, but he did not commit
himself. Now, this is why this is difficult. Why did Jesus not commit? Well,
because he knew all men. He did not need any that should
testify a man, for he knew what was in men. The Lord knows us.
He knows us, doesn't he? And we sometimes are concerned
that he knows us, but let me tell you, it's a good thing that
he does, because we don't know ourselves. We need him to know
us. There was a man of the Pharisees,
He came, he had the same kind of faith that these men had,
but Jesus said, no. You have to be born of God. You
have to be born from above. You have to be born a second
time. Because you're born of Abraham,
that's not going to help you. What does it mean that Jesus
did not commit himself to them? Think about what it means here.
And I want to read a text of scripture to you that I hope
opens this up for us all. This is a beautiful text of scripture,
and I hope that this makes a lot of sense to you when we read
it. Look at Proverbs chapter 31. We don't often read from
the book of Proverbs or reference it, but this is very important
here. I think this, to me, explains
this text of scripture. Proverbs chapter 31. He says
in, Proverbs 31 verse 10, and this
is important to Ben and Faith, and to me and Denise, to you
all. Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband is to
safely trust in her. so that he shall have no need
of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of
her life. What's this saying here? It's
a proverb. It's a parable. It has a spiritual
meaning to it. And it's using the figure of
the relationship between a man and his wife. The heart of the
husband safely trusts in her. She's a virtuous woman. Now there's
nothing more important for a man in his relationship to his wife
that he can safely trust his wife. In fact, it says he safely
trusts in her. And what happens in marriage
is that the man trusts his wife with what? Everything. He has a bank account. They both
get that. And that's pretty special to
a man. But there's even other things that are more special.
It's his secrets. He trusts his wife with things
he tells no one else. She knows things about him that
nobody else ought to know. and she keeps the secrets safe
because there's a bond of trust between them. With the Lord Jesus
Christ did not commit himself to these who of themselves were
able to deduce that he was Christ and therefore they believed in
his name, seeing the miracles. Anybody could, anybody should.
He didn't entrust himself. The heart of Christ did not safely
trust in them. And this led me to think back
about the entire book of John. Notice how frequently and how
recurring in the book of John, God speaks of Christ and him
crucified. We see this in John chapter 1,
John the Baptist said, behold the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ,
and Him crucified. We see it in John chapter 3 when
he tells Nicodemus about the serpent uplifted on the pole. That's the Son of Man lifted
up. We see it in John chapter four
where the woman at the well said, the well is deep and you have
nothing to draw from. How are you going to give me
living water? Are you greater than Jacob, our father who gave
us this well? Oh yeah, because the water that
Christ gives is the water of everlasting life, the spirit
of God given to his people, which he could only give if he dug
down and himself gave himself for our sins. And then in John
chapter six, he talks about his broken body and his blood poured
out. This is the food and drink of
those who live, who have everlasting life. And we could go through
the whole book of John and see over and over Christ and him
crucified. John chapter eight, he tells
the woman who was taken in adultery, neither do I condemn thee, because
he himself bore her sins. But side by side and running
in parallel through the book of John, not only do we see Christ
and Him crucified, what else do we see? That Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners. I cannot underscore this far
enough or intensely enough that Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners. Those who have a need of a savior. who run out to Him with this
need and can only find their need met in Him, and finding
it met in Him, find it met in all sufficiency. So that Nicodemus
comes to Jesus and he utterly is bankrupt in the eyes of the
Lord. He says, you don't know what
you're talking about and you don't have, you can't see the
kingdom of God and he is prostrate as it were. How can these things
be? And the woman at the well, He
says to her, go call your husband. I don't have a husband. Well,
yeah, you said that's true. You had five. And the man you
have now is not your husband. And she said, oh, wow. I know
when Christ comes, he's going to tell us everything. He said,
woman. I that speak to you am he. He committed himself to her. He safely trusted in her. He made himself known. He disclosed. He confided himself in his saving
person and work to Nicodemus and to the woman, and they were
sinners. So that throughout the book of
John we see this repeating over and over. Whoever believes on
me, who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, I live in him and he
in me. That's intimate, isn't it? That's
a disclosure, that's a confiding, that's a safely trusting in her. The woman who is virtuous, like
Nathanael, a man in whom is no guile. because the Lord Jesus
Christ did a work there, gave him faith, and he, looking to
Christ, had what he looked to, a perfect righteousness before
God. So we see this. And here what
we see is the Lord Jesus Christ did not commit Himself, He did
not entrust, He did not confide, He did not take into deep association
with Himself these who only profess to believe, who did not truly,
were not true disciples. But He does to everyone who comes
to Him as a sinner with a need to be saved, and He makes Himself
known as the Savior. And they look to him and they
say, we have nowhere else to go. You and you alone have the
words of eternal life and we can't leave you. And then when
we see at the end of the book of John, we see this intimate
interaction between the Lord and the one he's committed himself
to. Look at John chapter 21. John chapter 21, notice how this
unfolds here. Here's a man Jesus did commit
himself to. He says in John chapter 21, the
scene here is that the Lord had appeared to his disciples. They
were in the boat and they didn't catch anything. He told them,
cast the net on the other side. They drew all the fish in, they
brought them to shore. Jesus had fish and bread already
cooked for them. And verse 15, When they had dined,
Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me
more than these? Peter believed Christ. Christ made himself known to
Peter. There was a mutual entrusting
going on here. And now Jesus says, do you love
me? He said, Lord, you know that
I love you. And he said, listen to the trust. What is most precious to Christ,
feed my lambs. Do you see this? The thing most precious to Christ
himself he gave for us and gives to us. And when he does, it results
in us knowing him, we hear his voice, we know him, we follow
him, because he already committed himself for us and to us before
time began. We believe him because he first
committed himself to us And because of that, we do believe Him, and
we so trust Him because we love Him. We wouldn't trust one we
couldn't love, but when we see that Christ has done all for
us, we can't help it, can we? We're utterly overtaken. Like
Peter said, I have nowhere else to go. no one else to look to. You're all of my salvation. If
you don't save me, I will never be saved. But I'm persuaded you're
able and willing to save me. I'm a sinner and I need your
grace. You see that? I don't know how
else to explain these words. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we pray
that before time, according to your eternal will, you committed
yourself to save us and you would continue your commitment, safely
trusting your work, your love that produces in us this bare
naked dependence upon you and all things that we can lay ourselves
bare in your sight, knowing that you laid yourself bare for us.
We entrust you with everything we have because you're the only
one who can help. You're the only one who knows
us. You're the only one who can meet our needs. When we find
such astonishment that you would so make yourself known to us
in such a saving way and give us this grace to know you. And
you would call your people the fullness of yourself. Fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ,
his church. What a blessing. What amazing
revelation. What intimate endearment you've
given to us in your own precious blood by your gospel. In Jesus'
name we pray. Amen.