Superficial Faith

John chapter 2, 23 through 25, the end of the chapter, verses that we probably have not paid much attention to. Now our verses this morning, if we really ponder them, and I think you're going to see as we get into the message, our verses this morning remind us of the theme verse for the book of John. I don't know if you remember the theme verse. We really dealt with that in our first message, our introductory message, getting into the book of John, and then some of the other introductory or some of the message in the beginning of the book. But the theme of the book, the theme verse for the book of John is found in chapter 20, verse 31.

You don't have to turn there. If you don't know that, I'd like you to make note of that. But that verse reads like this, "But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing you may have life in His name." This is where this series title comes from in this verse-by-verse study of the book of John. The title of the series is, "Christ, the Son of God, Believe and Live." John's purpose was to really elevate Christ as deity, the Son of God, the promised Messiah, and he was evangelistic from the beginning to the end. He desired that the readers of the book would have life.

They would believe and live. So the title of the series comes from the theme verse, but these verses that we're going to be in this morning remind us of John's purpose, that men would believe and know Christ. Now our verses this morning, it's just a few, can be overlooked. I've already said that before. What I mean is this, these verses are sandwiched in between some more famous and in very important portions of Scripture. In chapter 2, what do we have? We have the wedding there at Cana and Galilee, and we have Jesus turning the water in the wine.

And then we come on down, we have our verses dealing with Jesus cleansing the temple there at the Passover. Now in chapter 3, we have the famous encounter between Nicodemus and Jesus. In these verses, 23 through 25, at the end of chapter 2, they can be skipped over. They can even be ignored. But let me tell you, these verses are extremely important. Now why would I say that? Why are these so important? These verses are a bridge between chapter 2 and chapter 3, but mostly there is powerful and fundamental teaching concerning true saving faith.

One of the references that I like to use is called the New American Commentary, and I like what the author of that commentary says concerning these verses. He says these verses are among the most significant statements providing a correct perspective of the gospel. Question. Today, do we need a correct perspective to the gospel? Yes. Do we need to understand fundamental teaching concerning true saving faith? Yes. We have lost the gospel in our world today. We have lost true saving faith in many churches today, and these short verses teach us a true saving faith and what it means to have a true belief and true faith.

It corrects us in our perspective of the gospel. I don't know if you realize it, but we are drowning in people in our culture today who say that they are Christian. They profess that they've been born again, but they yield no fruit in keeping with repentance. We are all deeply concerned for lost loved ones that we know. Lost loved ones in our family, lost neighbors, coworkers, and many of us are praying for them and even trying to witness to them. We must understand, now listen, the fundamentals concerning true saving faith, because if we do not, the results are disastrous. How disastrous. We lose the gospel. We lose true biblical faith.

We lose what it means to believe and know Christ. This is so disastrous because we are talking about eternity, heaven and hell that are so very real and creeping upon us quickly. Now I want to tell you something many of you need to hear. You have lost loved ones that produce no fruit in keeping with repentance. Many of you have friends. You have neighbors who do not produce fruit in keeping with repentance. They are Christian in their profession. Yet, they do not walk with God and they do not know God. This message this morning will enable you to see them, now listen, biblically just like Jesus sees them accurately.

So let's go to our verses, chapter 2, verse 23 through 25. Let's notice what John tells us. "Now when he," thus Jesus, "was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast," meaning he believed in his name, "beholding his signs which he was doing." But Jesus on his own part was not entrusting himself to them for he knew all men and because he did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man for he himself knew what was in man. Now I will put the title of the message on the screen for you. You will see the title of the message is Superficial Faith. We're going to look at several main truths out of these verses. We're going to state our habit.

We're going to break down the verses, sometimes key words, and we're going to see what this issue of superficial non-believing faith looks like. So let's look in verse 23 at truth number 1. Jesus ministered to the crowds. Jesus he ministered to the crowds. Look at the verse again. "Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover." You've already established the importance of the Passover and just how there were throngs of people there in Jerusalem. What does it say? "Many believed in his name, beholding or seeing the signs which he was doing." Now there's a little bit of confusion here regarding all that Jesus did at the Passover.

We know what the verses that we had previously taught us, verses 13 through 22, that Jesus did clear the temple. This was a great commotion that we're very familiar with and it really announced his very public ministry because in chapter 2, earlier, we saw that it was a semi-public ministry. But we will see that Jesus did reveal himself at the Passover feast in other ways that we might not have noticed before. First out of verse 23, I want you to notice Jesus performed signs during the Passover. What does it say?

It says that "Many believed in his name, beholding or seeing the signs which he was doing." Some translations say the word "miracles," the King James. Now the text specifically says that Jesus performed signs or miracles at the Passover. All of the modern translations use the word "signs." These were signs or miracles which were to point people to who Jesus was. We've already established that fact in chapter 2. The wedding there at Cana of Galilee, as he changed the water to the wine, the disciples believed, but they didn't believe in the sign. They believed in the one who performed the miracle.

The sign was to point to the one who changed the water into the wine. And so we see that Jesus, there at the Passover, was performing signs. He was performing miracles. Now sadly, many focused on the signs instead of looking at the one or to the one who gave them the sign. The disciples didn't do that previously at the wedding feast. Second, I want you to notice Jesus preached the word during the Passover. He preached the word during the Passover. Now the text does not specifically say that Jesus taught the word, but the text strongly implies this. Now let me explain what I mean.

For those in the crowd to believe, they would have had to heard and been hearing the truth, the teaching of the word of God from Jesus. This was Jesus' pattern. This was Jesus' habit. Although the text does not say that he taught, in each instant when we see crowds or individuals believe it is because Jesus is teaching the word. So we can rightly assume, and you must be very careful when you assume or presume on the text. But when we see Jesus' ministry, he would perform miracles and teach the word. So we see that Jesus taught the word there at the Passover.

And then third, I want us to see the text says, "Many believed in his name during the Passover." Go back to the text. It says, "During the feast of the Passover, many believed in his name, beholding the signs which he was doing." Now the verse says that many believed in his name. The Holman Christian standard says, "Trusted." But the most accurate translation of the original language is believed. The word believed is normally used for those who demonstrate true saving faith. This word in the original is used all throughout the book of John in people demonstrating saving belief.

But here we have a seeming great evangelistic meeting with the Lord Jesus. Now get the picture. Thrones of people at the Passover. Jesus has cleared the temple. He's performing miracles. We can rightly assume he's preaching the word. And many, the text says, are believing. This just seems like a great evangelistic meeting for the living Lord. And it seems that at the Passover, he just did great things. But I want you to notice. The text says that they saw the signs he was doing and they believed in his name. Now we know the title of the message. I've already given it to you. It is superficial faith.

And yet it seems that these people demonstrated true faith in believing in the Lord. Now I want you to see something. I'm going to make what some of you would think is a contradictory statement. These individuals in verse 23, they believed, but they were unbelieving believers. They professed to believe, but they had a non-saving belief. Now if we stop there, some of you will think the pastor is preaching a contradiction. But as we go on to the next verses, you will see and have more understanding in this situation of Jesus preaching to the crowds and their unbelieving belief.

Number two, I want us to see out of verse 24 that Jesus did not trust the crowds. He did not entrust himself to the crowds. What does it say? "But Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them, for he knew all men." Jesus' reaction to the crowds might take some people by surprise. If one takes verse 23 on the surface, one or we would think that Jesus' reaction would be positive. What did I say? It seems like a great evangelistic meeting here. But verse 24 clearly shows us that Jesus did not react in a positive or unexpected manner. So let's notice some things about verse 24.

First I want you to notice Jesus would not entrust himself to them. Now the King James Version reads "commit" while the modern translations read "entrust." Now this word "entrust" in verse 24 and the word "believe" in verse 23, they come from the same word in the original. I want you to get that. This word "believe" in verse 23 and the word "entrust" in verse 24, they come from the very same word in the original language. And what do we see? They were believing in Jesus, but yet Jesus was not believing in them. The New American commentary says Jesus did not believe they're believing. Now why? Why would this be the case?

This seems strange to many of you. Well we must continue on to have these answers. The second thing I want you to see is that Jesus, he knew all men. Go back to the text. But Jesus on his part was not believing in them and trusting in them, himself to them, for he knew all men. So what do we see? Jesus, he knew all men. Jesus knew the hearts of all men. There was knowledge, now listen, gained, but then there is knowledge that is absolute. I want to show you some things about this Jesus having knowledge about men. And I want you to take note of this. First of all, he knew Simon's heart in chapter 1 verse 42.

Second, he knew what Nathaniel was in chapter 1 verse 47. Third, he told the Samaritan woman all things that she had done in chapter 4 verses 17 through 18. Also, he knew that the Jewish leadership did not have God's love in their heart, chapter 5 verse 42. He knew that one of the disciples was not a true believer in chapter 6 verse 64. He saw the repentance and the heart of the adulterous woman in chapter 8 verse 10 through 11. He saw the hate and the murder of the hearts of his enemies in chapter 8 verse 40. And there are many more examples. What am I trying to show you? This demonstrates an absolute knowledge of men's hearts. You get that?

This was not acquired knowledge. The crowds had not let him down. This is absolute knowledge. He knew who they were and what they were already. Go back to the verse. What does it say? But Jesus, on his part, he was not entrusting himself to them, for he knew all men. He absolutely knew their hearts. Only verse 23 cannot be accurately understood unless one understands verse 24. There is a seeming contradiction if you stop at verse 23, but once these verses are fully understood the seeming contradiction can be rectified. I like what John MacArthur says about this.

He says about these verses, "But such faith was shallow, superficial, and it was disingenuous. He was not true saving faith, as John's play on words indicate. Though they believed in Jesus, Jesus did not believe in them. He had no faith in their faith." So question, what was wrong with their belief? Where was their mistake? I think verse 23 indicates their possible failure because it says that they believed on his name because of the miracles. You've got to remember the miracles were a sign, and John likes to use the word sign more than the word miracle because the sign was supposed to point to the miracle worker.

At the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, he changed the water and the wine, but the disciples did not get caught up in the miracle. They were caught up in the miracle worker. They believed in him. But verse 23 says that they believed because of the miracles. They believed on him not for his word, but for his work. They believed because of what they saw and what he did, not because of who he was. And there is a tremendous difference here. Now how serious is this? This is eternally serious. This is the difference between those who spend an eternity in hell and those who spend an eternity in heaven. And we must understand this.

And there is other teaching in the scripture that help illustrate. Now listen, that there are those who profess Christ with all the right words, but yet they do not know Christ. The greatest example I can think of is in Matthew chapter 13 in the parable of the sower, the parable of the seed, the parable of the soils. You have in that parable the sower. That is the one who goes out like a farmer. Then you have in the parable the seed and that seed represents the gospel. And then you have the soils. Those soils represents the human heart. So in the parable, what happens?

The sower, that is the one who preaches and teaches the word, goes out and sows the seeds of the gospel in all types of human hearts. And Jesus gives this parable to illustrate the way people receive the word of God and how they react to it. Because what do we have? We have the hard path soil, the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil. The hard path soil, they reject it. The enemy comes and snatches that seed. There is no change. But yet the rocky soil hearer, they hear it and they receive it with great joy. But then last. Because see, you cannot receive Christ only in your emotions and only in your intellect.

Then you have the thorny soil. They receive the soil, the seed as well. And see there's thorns there. It represents sin. And because they refuse to repent, what happens? That seed is choked out. But then you only have the good soil. It says they understand it. They receive it. It takes fruit and it grows and it produces fruit. And there are many people who misunderstand this parable because what do we have? We have three people who respond to the gospel, but only one truly is converted. And Matthew 13 is illustrated right here in the evangelistic ministry of Jesus. These are unbelieving believers.

These are people who do not have genuine faith, but yet they profess faith in Christ. But let's continue. The third thing I want us to see is that Jesus knew what was in man. Go back to the verses. Verse 25 is a continuation of one sentence, but Jesus, verse 24 on his part, would not entrust himself to them. For he knew what was in or he knew all men. Notice verse 25, "And because he did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man, for he himself knew what was in man." Now in this verse we see Jesus, now listen close, exposing man for who man truly is. All of the translations that are before us say the same thing.

And when I say he is exposing man, Jesus is exposing man in his trustworthy, untrustworthy nature. Man is totally untrustworthy and Jesus is exposing that. Now let's break the verse down. First, Jesus did not need man's word or testimony on man. Jesus did not need man's testimony about man. Go back to the verse. "And because he did not need anyone to bear witness to testify concerning man, Jesus would not and could not use man's testimony about himself or anything." How could he? Now think about that. How could Jesus trust the testimony of man about man? Because man is a fallen creature.

Sin has affected man from head to toe and in every day of their living life. They are conceived in sin. They are born in sin. Man is inherited the sin of Adam and man possesses his own sin. He is guilty because he has been affected by the sin of Adam and he is guilty because of his own actions. So how in the world could Jesus trust the testimony of man concerning man? Let me give you a couple of scriptures that illustrate and teach us just the condition of man. Jeremiah 17 verse 9 and 10. What does Jeremiah the prophet say? "The heart is more deceitful than any and than all else and is desperately sick." Who can understand it?

So see the question? Can man understand man? Notice what Jeremiah the prophet says. "I the Lord search the heart. I test the mind even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds." Jeremiah the prophet said, "Only God can testify accurately about man." I'll go all the way to the New Testament in Romans chapter 9 verses 11 through 13. And what does Paul say? "There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned aside together and they have become useless. There is no one who does good. There is not even one. Their throat is an open grave. With their tongues they keep deceiving.

The poison of asps is under their lips." And by the way, Paul is doing nothing more than quoting the Proverbs, the Old Testament. What are we seeing? Jesus could not trust the testimony of man concerning man because man is deceived. Man is sinful, utterly from head to toe, even in his own thoughts. So what do we see? Jesus did not need man's word concerning man. It's untrustworthy. Second, I want you to see Jesus knew what was in man. Go back to the verse, "For he himself knew what was in man." Notice the language. This is definitive and it is plural in its construction. What we see is all of the translations read the same.

It is definitive and it is plural. Jesus knew, definitive. Jesus knew what was in all, pluralistic, encompassing all, universal, all man. Every last one. Religious, non-religious, upper class, middle class, no class. Jesus knew what was in man. And see, Jesus was fully aware of man's condition and this knowledge applies to all mankind. This directs our attention to the fact that Jesus is God. That's all John is doing. He is underlining and underscoring the fact that Jesus is God. The word that had become flesh was God.

And see, we must fully realize that God and only God knows what man is, what is in the heart of man and what man is capable of. Man will never testify accurately of man unless they understand what God's word says. It takes God to show man what man really is. Man cannot because of his condition, but God can because God is God. And so what do we see? Jesus would not entrust himself to these unbelieving believers. It was a superficial faith. It was a surface faith. We speculate by the language that possibly they just got caught up in the miracle instead of trusting in the miracle worker. But it was not saving faith.

Now as we move away from these verses and we begin to conclude, these verses are a bridge between chapter two and three. But most importantly, they are powerful. These are powerful verses that teach the fundamental teaching concerning true saving faith. This teaches us and prepares us, now notice, for what we will learn in John chapter three. You get that?

If you miss verse 23, 24, and 25, you will struggle with being able to interpret John three and the new birth and the encounter with Jesus and Nicodemus and the many different instances where Jesus is evangelizing, you will not receive them properly because a lot of people just cannot understand that there are some people who believe, but they're still not converted. See? For you see, many of you this morning, these verses can correct you. Now listen about yourself, about lost loved ones, and about people in general. Let me say that again. Many of you this morning, you need correction.

You need understanding from these short verses concerning yourself, concerning your lost loved ones, and concerning people in general. Listen people, we have throngs, crowds of people in our culture who were unbelieving believers. That's why they do not have fruit in keeping with repentance. How does this work? In many churches, we have cheap evangelistic tricks. We have emotional gimmicks. What do we do? We abuse the gospel and the word of God and evangelism in the church today. What happens is we lead people to make superficial surface level decisions.

I was speaking with an individual this week and they were explaining to me how they had gone to a state level event. They were talking about how the music was very emotional, the preaching was very emotional, and it was highly decisional. What do you have? We have throngs of people coming down front, making a superficial emotional decision. What happens is because we've had generations of this, we have throngs of people who have made profession, but it's been superficial. It's been about Jesus, not in Jesus. It's been for what Jesus can do for you, not for who he is as Lord, and it's not saving faith. It doesn't save. It doesn't change.

And I want to ask you, I want to ask you to examine, listen, your time of conversion. All of us who were genuinely born again, we relate to a time of conversion. It's not anything magical about the time or the place. What's magical is what God did, and you will remember the time and the place. Now listen close. It is a historical event, sanctification, growing in Christ as a process. But when we come to know Christ, it happens at a time, it happens at a place, and see we must examine how we quote unquote got on this road of Christianity. Was it through a superficial surface decision? But see if that's you. Now listen close.

Jesus has never entrusted himself to you. What do you have? You have religious activities. You have surface decisions. You have works of your own flesh. But you don't have Christ. But those who have been born again, they believed in the God that called them. They believed in Jesus with no strings of text. They came to Jesus bankrupt, and they got what only God could give, and that is the new birth and conversion. Christ has come to them, and he has entrusted himself to them, and they can articulate walking with God, God working in their life, God persevering in their heart and life. They can articulate God entrusting himself to them.

And there is a tremendous difference. And you know people, this is corrective. This is very corrective. And I want to tell you, this message truly needs to be preached in all the churches of the land. Because in our land, we are inundated with superficial surface teaching when it comes to conversion and dealing with evangelism. See this is how it happens. Young people, children, adults, they go through the motions. And then after they try to "live for God" with that superficial decision, what do they do? They live for the flesh. They live for the world. And then all they do is bring heartache to moms and dads and brothers and sisters.

They bring heartache to those of us who love them. But see this is corrective for you because you need to understand that you could be dealing with this lost loved one, this friend, this neighbor. You could be dealing with them incorrectly. You see? You could be going to them, and you could be encouraging them to live for God when they don't know God. When actually you should be coming to them and giving them the gospel. And preparing them to hear the truth. I'll tell you these two stories and then we'll move towards the end. There are two particular ministers that I've come in contact with through the years. One is an old friend of mine.

I've lost contact with him. They are similar in age and they have similar but yet different spiritual journeys. I'll start with the first who is genuinely converted. This gentleman grew up in the south. He grew up in the state of Alabama. He did like most little boys in the south and most little boys in Mississippi, Alabama, places like that. He grew up going to church in his day and he made a profession of faith as a child. Now I do believe children can be saved. Children and adults are saved the same way when God comes and God does the work and they truly repent and believe. But this individual made a decision, yes.

But yet as he got into those teenage years he just began to live for himself, live for sin, live for the world. He just went on out of the life of the church and never really cared about the things of God. He went off to college and lived like everybody else in college. Played sports in college, did well in college. He got married, had a successful business and a successful career. But because of some choices he lost it all. And he found himself broke, destitute, and he did what a lot of people do when they get to those set of circumstances.

They say, "Well, I'll go to church and I'll get my life right with God and maybe he'll bless me." So this individual started going to church and he started going to Sunday school and never became a man in his life who came up beside him and began to minister to him and he began to quiz him and began to talk to him about his testimony.

And he gives his testimony and he tells him of his life and his problems and he says, "You know, sir, I believe I need to rededicate my life and get my life right with God." Because that individual knew the Word of God and knew how to deal with sinners, he looked at him and he said, "Sir, you've got religion and religion will kill you and religion will send you to hell. You don't need to rededicate your life. You don't have anything to rededicate." By the way, rededication is not in the Bible. He said, "Sir, you need to be born again." And man, God used that testimony. God used that witness.

God used that individual who could accurately deal with the Word and later that person was converted. I'll tell you about the other individual. Grew up in the South as well. He did just like the first. Went to church, made a decision at a tent revival or an evangelistic meeting. But he did the same thing. He went the way of the world. He went to live for sin, live for self, went to college, got married, had a successful career. But guess what? Problems came. Problems in the marriage, drinking problems, all those things. And what did he do? He went to church and he had unskilled men dealing with his soul. And he rededicated his life.

He will tell you he was converted as a child and lived years in horrible, wicked rebellion. He didn't have anything to rededicate people. That individual heard the gospel and he rejected the gospel and he hated the men who brought the gospel to him. And he chooses to hold on to a seeming belief that you can have Jesus as Savior now and Lord later. But see, Jesus would not let that crowd react that way. You take him as Lord of all or nothing. These individuals had unbelieving belief. And this message needs to be preached and taught in all of our churches and all of our homes. This is a corrective warning. And I want you to listen close.

The key is this. Is Jesus entrusted himself to you? Or are you holding on to something that you did? The latter won't save. See when you have that moment, that time of conversion, the way that you know that it is accurate is that you look down the pattern of your life and you see walking with God, producing fruit from repentance, walking with God, serving God, correction and chastisement, love and leading a relationship as Christ has entrusted himself to you. So I want to ask you this morning, do you have superficial faith? Do you have a believing but yet non-believing faith? God could have brought you here just for this message.

But see for us who are born again, it reminds us that we must work hard and teach the truth to see those rescued out of this trap of non-saving, non-believing belief. Let's pray. Lord, I pray that you will grant us understanding to the text, understanding to the scripture. Lord, I pray that you will show us the error of our ways, the errors that we have been taught.