John 2:12-25: Jesus Replaces the Jerusalem Temple

When Jesus drove the money changers out of the Jerusalem Temple, He showed that temple worship was no longer in force, and He was now the focal point of worship. See what this means, and what practical application this has for our lives, by listening to this edition of CrossTown!

Thanks for listening! I hope you take up residency in CrossTown!

See my Buzzsprout page at https://crosstown.buzzsprout.com

Don't forget! You can send me a text using the link above, or if you have any questions, my email address is crosstownmht@gmail.com. 

If you would like a copy of my doctrinal statement, I'll be happy to send you one! email me at the email address above, and I'll get one to you ASAP.

By the way, check out my book Sailing the Seven Cs on Amazon.com. It's a mystery novel wherein I probe the question "If God is good, why is there suffering in the world?" You can find it by copying and pasting the following link.

https://www.amazon.com/Sailing-Seven-Cs-David-Spaugh/dp/B08WTZZPF5/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1U4OR0NB6PHZR&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.1vYyXsdmiNEUI6oulPpp9l_

HreBpYuyQ8MQlYATASyU.NiULDAHoiC_Ti5_WyIDEnecl8sHGIwIWqgNMk2sSiTo&dib

_tag=se&keywords=sailing+the+seven+cs&qid=1769693640&sprefix=

sailing+the+seven+cs%2Caps%2C133&sr=8-1

“Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org”

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello everyone, I am Pastor David Spa, and this is Crosstown, my hometown. Yes, this is David Spa, and this is Crosstown, where we study the Bible, expositing it to understand it properly and making some apologetic and cultural observations as well. Remember the beginning of the old television program Superman back in the 1950s? Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. I realized as I was preparing this podcast, I sound a bit like that in my intro. I am David Spa, and this is Crosstown, where we study God's Word, the Bible, specialize in expository teaching, and throw in some apologetics and cultural analysis as well. Well, beyond that, all similarities between me and Superman and regardless, in Crosstown, Jesus Christ is our King and his cross is our town square. If you've been with us before at Crosstown and you're a settled resident, good to see you today, and I hope you have enjoyed this podcast over the weeks as we continue with our study in the Gospel of John. If you're new here at Crosstown, welcome to our neighborhood. And I certainly hope that you too enjoy your time with us today. And whether you've been with us before or this is your first time, if you enjoy this podcast, I sincerely hope you will pass it along to your friends, and perhaps they too might profit from our study in the scriptures. Now, like most people, I recognize my flaws and my shortcomings. They're more than I like to confess, and I probably have some that nobody knows about. Believe me, I have many. But the great German Protestant reformer Martin Luther once said that God can strike a mighty blow even with a crooked stick. So despite my flaws, I hope that you are blessed through Crosstown, and most of all, I trust that our great God and Savior Jesus Christ will be glorified through what we do here today and every podcast. Now, if you've been with us over the past few weeks, you recall that we've been in the Gospel of John, and last week we covered John chapter 2, verses 1 through 11, where Jesus turns the water to wine at the wedding at Cana. If you recall, by filling the water pots to the brim with water and turning the water to wine, Jesus signified that the Old Testament purification system is no longer in force, and he has superseded it. The purification laws in the Old Testament pointed to him, and he has fulfilled them. Purity does not come through carrying out rituals like water purification, but rather in knowing him, Jesus Christ. The old ritual system has given way to the new messianic order. Now in today's text, John chapter 2, verses 12 through 25, we see something similar. Here Jesus replaces another Old Testament institution, another aspect of Jewish worship that is fulfilled in Jesus Himself. So let's get into this text and see what we can learn. Hear the word of the Lord as it is found in John chapter 2, verses 12 through 25. After this he went down to Capernaum, he and his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there a few days. The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and he found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves and the money changers seated at their tables. And he made a scourge of cords and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables, and to those who were selling the doves he said, Take these things away, stop making my father's house a place of business. His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your house will consume me. The Jews then said to him, What sign do you show us as your authority for doing these things? Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said, It took forty years uh excuse me, forty six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days? But he was speaking of the temple of his body. So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast many believed in his name, observing his signs which he was doing, but Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them, for he knew all men, and because he did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for he himself knew what was in man. Some time ago my grandson had a Sunday school lesson about Joshua and the fall of Jericho or some such story of God's catastrophic judgment on some place in the Old Testament. My son, my grandson's father, asked my grandson, What did you learn in Sunday school today? And my grandson replied, Well, if you don't love Jesus, then he will come and destroy the city. Well, if you recall from last week's podcast regarding Jesus at the wedding at Cana, I pointed out how passages like that somehow go against our understanding and assumptions regarding Jesus' character. I pointed out how we don't think of Jesus going to parties and feasts and enjoying himself. Well, this passage here in John chapter 2, verses 12 through 25 is another one that sort of goes against our common assumptions regarding Jesus' character. When we think of the wrath of God and his anger against sin, we oftentimes think in terms of Old Testament stories. Unlike my grandson, we don't think of Jesus destroying anything. We think of Jesus as the gentle, kind, compassionate, humble teacher, the one who hugs children and holds lambs around his neck. He's meek and he's lowly and so forth. Now, friends, that's all true. And we will see those examples of Jesus' gentleness and kindness as we go through this gospel. And I have to add here that many people have found so much sucre and so much hope and so much help in those ideas of Jesus, the meek and lowly one who hugs children, who holds the lambs, who's gentle, who's loving and understanding. But this text shows us another side of Jesus. He doesn't destroy any cities in this text, but he shows a righteous indignation toward sin and does not hesitate to manifest hot displeasure. So the first thing I want to note from this text today is don't declaw Jesus. Don't declaw Jesus. Look again at verses twelve through thirteen. We'll note some more details here. After this he went down to Capernaum, he and his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there a few days. The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now after the wedding in Cana, in verses one through eleven, Jesus and his family and disciples go to Capernaum for a few days. Capernaum means village of Nahum and was located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. In his ministry, Jesus spent considerable time in Capernaum, and if we note Matthew chapter 4, verse 13, he later goes to live there. For now he apparently only stays a few days. After all, Passover is near, so they leave to go to Jerusalem for the feast. This is one of the three Passovers John specifically mentions. The other two are in chapter 6, verse 4, and chapter 11, verse 55. Passover took place in the 14th of Nican, which to us would be sometime at the end of March and early April, which for obvious reasons is around the time we celebrate Easter. Now let's look at verse 14. And he found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves and money changers seated at their tables. Upon arrival in Jerusalem, Jesus sees that the temple grounds are being used for business purposes. Animals are being sold for sacrifices, which was a convenience for travelers so that they wouldn't have to bring sacrificial animals on long journeys. Money changers were changing foreign currency for those who needed an acceptable currency for animal purchases and to pay the annual temple tax. The money changers, converting the currency, charged a percentage for providing the service. Now look at verses 15 and 16. And he made a scourge of cords and drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen, and he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. And to those who were selling the doves, he said, Take these things away, stop making my father's house a place of business. Angered by the whole situation, Jesus makes a whip and he cleans God's house, incensed that the temple was being used as a place of business. Worship has been negated and replaced by commerce. Notice Jesus drives out the livestock and overturns the exchange tables, but he did not free the birds. Perhaps because it's easier to catch a cow or a lamb, and he didn't want the merchants to lose their birds. Notice this is probably an allusion to Malachi chapter 3, verses 1 through 4. So Jesus is acting out a messianic text here. And we read in that text, Behold, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like a fuller's soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them like golden silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old, as in former years. See in this text how the Messiah comes to the temple to cleanse it and demand pure worship, prefiguring Jesus' actions here in the temple. Now let's look at verse 17. His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your house will consume me. This verse quotes Psalm 69, verse 9, where the psalmist says his defense of God and his devotion to the temple brought him pain and hardship. In the same way the psalmist's devotion to God's house brought him sorrow, so also Jesus' devotion to God will bring him sorrow as well. Now it's not clear if the disciples saw the connection between Jesus' actions here and Psalm 69, verse 9, now in our text, or until after Jesus' resurrection. Often we're told in the Gospel of John the disciples didn't get it until Jesus rose from the dead. So I presume they did not understand how Jesus fulfilled this psalm until later. Regardless, Jesus' zeal for God brought him pain, as we will see throughout John's Gospel, reaching his climax at the crucifixion. But let's go back to our original observation. Jesus doesn't destroy anything, but he is very clearly more than one who gently holds babies and lambs. In the Old Testament, we often see demonstrations of God's wrath. Recall the flood in Noah's day or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, or God's punishment of foreign nations under Joshua, his punishment of Israel in the book of Judges, and we could go on and on. But too often left-leaning theologians will tell us that we should not focus on the wrathful God of the primitive Old Testament, but should focus on the gentle and lowly teacher from Galilee. Give me the gentle Jesus over the vindictive sky God in the Old Testament, we're told. When people say such things, they of course imply that God in the Old Testament was not loving, and that Jesus in the New Testament is not wrathful. We're given some sort of a good cop-bad cop scenario where the bad cop in the Old Testament is pitted against the good cop Jesus in the New Testament. Those who think this way really haven't read the scriptures, or at least they've conveniently ignored the parts that don't fit their agenda. Anyone reading the Old Testament will see numerous examples of God's kindness and mercy and love. An Old Testament God who is simply an angry, vindictive tyrant would certainly have been foreign to David, who wrote Psalm 23. And that's just one example of many psalms and many passages of scripture found in the prophets and elsewhere. We could note the hundreds of times we read about God's loving kindness all throughout the Old Testament. Certainly this all belies the notion of an Old Testament tyrant. And Jesus without wrath would certainly have been foreign to the New Testament writers. One only needs to read Matthew 23 or Matthew 25 or any other number of passages to see that Jesus is a God who carries out judgment. If you have time later on today, and as you're listening now, just take note of Revelation 19, 11 through 16, where we read these words, and I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and he who sat on it is called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it he may strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, and he treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty, and on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That friends is the picture of Jesus Christ in Revelation upon his return to establish his rule and reign on earth. Last week we noted that Jesus is not a dour, unfriendly, joyless stick in the mud. He enjoyed life and rejoiced in God's gifts, and we also need to reiterate that Jesus is one who loves children, who is a gentle shepherd, who cares for the poor and the needy. But we must also make clear to our world that Jesus is not a sweet, doting grandfather who is all cuddles and smiles, rainbows and cupcakes and sprinkles. Jesus and the Father are one, and as the perfect revelation of God in the flesh, he expresses both love and wrath, mercy and justice. The second second thing I want you to note from our text is we are to reverence God's house. We are to reverence God's house. Some years ago my wife and I took a long weekend trip to Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. It's touted as something of a tourist attraction, though we weren't particularly impressed with the place, to be honest with you. But during our visit we wandered about the town going into various shops and so forth, and we came across an abandoned church. One can could tell that at one time this church was quite a beautiful place of worship, but now having been abandoned, it had been converted into an art gallery and an art store. When we approached the church, there was a guy in the front yard outside the entrance playing wasting away again in Margaritaville on steel drums. I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. That church was no longer being used for worship, but it sort of illustrates what we have in our text. That church in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania was closed, which was bad enough. But the temple in our text is still quite active and still the place where ostensibly God resides among his people. And as we read just a few moments ago, Jesus drives the merchants and money changers out of the temple complex because they had profaned it. They've turned God's house into a marketplace. Rather than rejoice in God's house as a place of prayer and worship, it has become a bazaar. Rather than enter it with humility and thanksgiving, they use God's house to make a buck. Rather than sorrowing over sin and seeking God's grace, they do business in the house of God as casually as they would purchase bread at the bakery. For a people who show meticulous care in ritual cleanliness, purifications, maintaining cleanliness laws, Sabbath keeping, ritual worship, and so on, they don't mind cow manure in the environs of the temple grounds. I think the modern church should consider this passage with care, because I think we too can profane God's house. That is to say, we can profane the church, the church building. Oh, I know that the church is not the temple, and this is the New Testament era, and it's just a building, and the real church is made up of people, not the structure in which we worship, and so on. But there is still a lesson to learn here. We may not be buying and selling directly on church grounds, though I have seen that happen where the sanctuaries are used for bazaars and things like that. But there are other ways we can profane the house of God. We can profane God's house by preaching that which is contrary to his word. We can come into the church building with a cavalier attitude, going through the motions of worship indifferent to God's holiness and transcendence. We can profane God's house by using it as a place for political fundraising. Regardless of whether or not it's legal, it cheapens God's house, having said that I'm not against preaching on political issues since everything should be captive to Christ, and he is Lord over all areas of human endeavor. But the church should not be the arm of any political party or movement. We can profane God's house when our praise band seeks to put on a concert, more interested in performing and entertaining through shallow music and light shows and fog machines and tasteless costumes than they are in leading the worship of God in reverence and holy awe. We can dishonor God by making the church about us concerned more with pragmatic considerations regarding programs and coffee bars and ways to make parishioners happy and at ease, rather than exalting the holiness of God. We can profane God's house by entering it with no concern for his lordship, no repentance, no sense of need. We can profane God's house by going through the motions of religiosity, thinking that if we just come here and perform religious tasks, God will be pleased. Again, I realize the church is not the same as the temple, and that now the place of worship is of no consequence, as we will see in chapter four. But if a church building is the place we've chosen to meet God and established it as a house of worship, and it's been consecrated for that purpose, then what we do in the church building and how we enter it is important. Use your own home as an analogy. You know, if I look at my home, there is nothing particularly special about my house, it has no sacred value. I can live anywhere and be just as pleasing to the Lord and just as happy in another house as I am in this house. But there are a lot of things I won't do in my home or allow in it. And if that's true in my own home, we being sinful people, how much more should we take care to reverence the church building where God is to be worshipped in joy and humble reverence? Jesus teaches us in this temple cleansing episode to keep the things of God, the things of God, and leave the things of the world outside. We are to take what we do in the church out into the world as Jesus' disciples, but we are not to bring the world into the church building. Well, let's go on. What's the third thing we can note from this text? Thirdly, we note that Jesus is calling the shots. If someone came into a church and did what Jesus did in the temple, just start pushing people around and driving people out, we'd have him arrested arrested. Why didn't the leaders in the temple have Jesus arrested here? Or at least have him thrown out of the temple? We don't know on both counts. However, they do ask a question. Look at verse 18. The Jews then said to him, What sign do you show us as your authority for doing these things? You're not in charge here. Why do you think you have the right to do this? Prove to us you have this authority. Look at verses 19 and 20. Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said, It took forty six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days? Now the temple as it stood in John chapter two had been begun by Herod the Great in nineteen BC. As of this text, it was still a work in progress and was not completed until 63 AD, just seven years before it was destroyed by the Romans. Of course, destroying this temple of stone and raising it back up in three days would have been a miraculous sign, but of course that's not what Jesus means here. At Jesus' trial in Mark chapter 14, verse 58, he was accused of planning to throw down the temple and raise it up again, but that was at best a misunderstanding of Jesus' words. What then did Jesus mean? Well, verse 21. But he was speaking of the temple of his body. Jesus was referring to his death and resurrection. That is the sign. So to paraphrase Jesus' words, I have authority to cleanse the temple of this irreverence. I have the authority to get rid of this market atmosphere, and the proof of my authority to do so will be when you crucify me and I rise again from the dead. So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, this is verse 22, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. The disciples did not understand Jesus' meaning here, but sometime after the resurrection, the disciples remembered these words and understood what Jesus meant. We are also told in this verse that in addition to Jesus' words, the disciples believed the scripture. Now we're not told which scripture or scriptures, but perhaps one of the scriptures is Psalm 69, verse 9, which we've already mentioned, that the zeal for God's house would consume Jesus. Perhaps they remembered Psalm 16, verses 8 through 11, where we are told that God will not allow his holy one to remain in the grave or undergo decay, which of course in the New Testament is seen as a prediction of Jesus' resurrection. Also in Isaiah 53, we read there that though the suffering servant dies, he will see his seed and prolong his days. Also a reference to Jesus' resurrection. Whichever passage or passages to which John refers, this is one of a number of places where we read that the disciples didn't understand something until after Jesus rose from the dead. Now, there are some details surrounding this text I'd like to flesh out a bit, but there just isn't time today. For example, John records the cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Jesus' ministry here in John chapter 2. However, the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, record the temple cleansing as having occurred at the end of Jesus' ministry during the week of his crucifixion. Now there are a couple of different explanations for this, and the one that I hold to is very simple. There were two different temple cleansings, one at the beginning of Jesus' ministry and the other at the end of his ministry. But I'm not going to get into that in any detail today. However, I would like to note that this episode in Jesus' ministry shows that his ministry, his person supersedes the Old Testament temple system. In the same way the water to wine episode earlier in this chapter shows that Jesus fulfills the Old Testament purification laws, we now see that Jesus also fulfills the purpose and ministry of the temple. We don't need the Old Testament purification laws because those rituals were merely outward illustrations, pointing to the purity that takes place through salvation in Christ. Now we see that the temple is no longer necessary because, according to Jesus, he is the temple. To get a grasp of this, we need to ask ourselves: what is a temple? Or what was the Jewish temple? The temple is the place where God's people worshipped him, and it was the place where God took up his special presence in the Old Testament. Like the tabernacle we discussed in chapter 1, verse 14, where God met with man and revealed his glory to them, so now the glory of God takes up residence among men in Jesus Christ. By identifying himself as a temple, Jesus is saying, I am that place where God abides among you. As Jesus tells the woman in the well in John chapter 4, the day is coming where it won't matter where you worship. What matters is you worship in spirit and truth, with me, the Christ, at the center. So to reiterate, Jesus announces that the temple, like the Old Testament purification system, is no longer in force. He has superseded the temple, replacing it with himself as the locus of worship. Jesus is saying, I am the focal point of worship. I am the place where God resides. I am the temple through whom we come to God. As John will write later in Revelation chapter 21, verse 22, in heaven there is no temple, for God the Almighty and the Lamb are the temple. So the Old Testament temple is a type. In other words, it's an Old Testament prefiguring of a New Testament reality fulfilled by the crucified risen Jesus Christ, the true center of worship and the true locus of God's presence with men. As we look at this text, we should be impressed by the confidence and self-assurance with which Jesus says all of this. I'm the temple. I'm replacing the Old Testament system. I'll be destroyed, but I'll raise myself from the dead. You know, friends, we are often victims of circumstances. Our plans don't come to fruition because of factors outside of our control. But Jesus is never a victim of circumstances because he's charting the course and he's following the script that he and the Father wrote before the foundation of the world. And Jesus, ever confident of where this whole set of circumstances is headed, announces that he will die and rise again and that he would be the one who raises himself. If Jesus was confident in knowing where his ministry leads, if Jesus is in control of his own destiny, then friends, can't we all be confident knowing that we are secure in him? If the plan and means to save you is sure, isn't the end result, namely your salvation, also sure? The Apostle Paul makes this very point in Romans chapter 5, verses 6 through 11. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly, for one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, how much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life? And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. The point of this passage is very simple. Paul is saying if Jesus died for us while we were the enemies of God, having now been made God's friends through Jesus' sacrifice, we can rejoice that our salvation is sure and steadfast. As my Gospel of John professor from Bible college many years ago, a man named Dr. Robert Goddard once said in class, if God can save an enemy, he can certainly keep a friend. That friend in a nutshell is exactly what the Apostle Paul is saying here in Romans chapter 5. Perhaps you're familiar with the Jehovah's Witnesses. They often come to people's doors. They've come to my doors many times throughout the years. They're false teachers, a Christian sect that denies a lot of things that the church has always held to be true, and they teach that which is unbiblical. They claim that Jesus is not God, but merely a created being. They believe the Holy Spirit is not a person, just an impersonal force. They believe in annihilationism, that is, that hell is not eternal, but unrepentant sinners are merely obliterated into nothingness. Among other things, they have other heretical ideas as well. One thing they believe is soul sleep, the idea that when we are dead we are totally unconscious and inactive, with no ability to think or do anything. Well, once a Jehovah's Witness came to my door and we got onto the subject of Jesus' death, so I asked him, What was Jesus doing in the grave after his crucifixion? The Jehovah's Witness said to me that, well, he was dead. Inactive, without the ability to think or to plan or do anything. He was completely unconscious and he was incapable of thought or action. So I said to him, if Jesus in the grave was totally inactive without the ability of conscious thought, then how could he raise himself from the dead, as he said he would do here in John chapter 2? After all, if he were dead in the way you say he were dead, then this would have been impossible. Well, the Jehovah's Witness didn't have an answer to that. No friends, even in death Jesus was directing God's saving plan. We may put it this way Jesus was directing God's saving plan before he died, he was working out that plan while his body lay in the tomb, he raised himself from the dead, and after he was raised from the dead and glorified, he assures us of victory with him. And that brings us to our final point. Don't declaw Jesus, reverence God's house, remember that Jesus is calling the shots, and now you be sure. You be sure. I just said that Jesus was directing God's saving plan even from the grave, giving us assurance of victory with him. But do you have assurance in him? Are you sure of your relationship with him? Look at verses twenty-three through twenty-five. Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast, many believed in his name, observing his signs which he was doing, but Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them, for he knew all men. And because he did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for he himself knew what was in man. Since John refers to people believing in Jesus' signs, plural, it's possible that Jesus had done other miracles after the water to wine episode earlier in this chapter. Apparently, while he was in Jerusalem during the Passover celebration, he did other wonders that are not recorded for us. We know that Jesus did many things that are not recorded by John, because he says so in chapter 20, verses 30 and 31, and you can look those up at your leisure. But be that as it may, though many were believing in Jesus at the Passover, he did not entrust himself to them. In other words, he did not believe in them. Jesus knows what's in men's hearts, and thus could see that some professions of faith are superficial and hollow without real commitment. They believed in him, but he did not commit himself to them because they were fly by night disciples, fair weather fans. We'll see more of this when we get to chapter six. But you see, friends, not all belief is equal. There is belief in Jesus Christ that is manifested in a repentant life of trust and a life of good works that bear witness to our faith and humble obedience to the dead and risen Lord. On the other hand, there is a belief that does not really extend to commitment of life and soul. As an extreme example, you can recall James chapter 2, verse 19, where we read, the demons believe and tremble, because they know they're under judgment. They believe, but their belief is not saving belief. Think about professional athletes for a moment. We may be devoted to them as fans, but because their personal lives are appalling, we wouldn't want them dating our daughter. As a matter of fact, years ago, John Crock, who used to play for the Philadelphia Phillies, he once made the statement that our team is really a bunch of nice guys, but you wouldn't want us over for dinner. That's the way it is, friends, with a lot of the commitments that we have. We might love them as athletes, we might love them as actors or actresses, but we really don't commit ourselves to them on a personal level. Now, those are rough analogies, but there are people who believe in Jesus only so far, but they stop short of submitting to him and saving trust. Perhaps they want some secondary benefit of knowing Jesus, but will not acknowledge that Jesus' claims of Savior and Lord over their life are true and valid. I read some time ago of an atheist who did not believe in God and therefore rejected Jesus Christ, but he encouraged the Christian faith because he saw it as beneficial in maintaining and sustaining Western civilization. He wants Jesus as one who will benefit him, but does not really believe in him. There is also the belief of the liberation theologian who sees Jesus as a means to promote a Marxist revolution. Jesus knows people like these. He knows the shallow speaker of platitudes who admires Jesus' lofty ideals of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, as taught by the great humanitarian Jesus, those who honor him with their lips, but their hearts are far from him. Yeah, Jesus knows those people. Jesus knows those whose belief is that of the rocky ground in the parable of the sower, where the heat of trial and persecution prompts the rejection of the faith when the going gets tough. Again from the parable of the sower. Jesus knows those who believe on a surface level, but are unfaithful because they are choked by the weeds of this world, the materialism and the selfish pursuits and the values that this world provides. Jesus knows those who believe in him in the heart of a crisis, but then abandon him as soon as the crisis is over, so they don't need him anymore. Jesus sees the heart of man. He knows the spiritual groupies, the camp followers, the self-aggrandizing fortune hunters, the attention seekers, the entertainment enthusiasts. Jesus knew the heart of Nathaniel in chapter one, and he knows the heart of phonies. And Jesus knows me. And Jesus knows you. He knows if our belief is real or if it's a sham. Jesus knows the chocolate Easter bunny Christian, you know, the one who looks the part on the outside and has the form of a Christian, but inside he's hollow and without substance. But he also knows the believer who is soundly grounded in him, like a building on a firm foundation. And despite our imperfections, we still strive to serve him because we love him and we trust him, because we know that through him, only through him, we have eternal life and the forgiveness of sins. Friends, examine your hearts. Do you believe in Jesus, the Word, the Son of God? Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world? Do you believe in Jesus, the crucified, dead, risen, and glorified King, living in submission to his lordship? Do you believe in Jesus who bore the sin of the world on the cross and believing in him you have eternal life? Have you repented of your sin, turned your life over to him, and follow him in obedience? Or is your belief in Jesus merely admiration, pragmatism, or a shallow understanding of Jesus the do-gooder? Put your faith in Jesus Christ. Go beyond the one who is impressed with Jesus or sees Jesus as necessary to give us moral guidance and instead commit your life to the one and only Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Only then will you find forgiveness of sins and eternal life. All that come to Jesus have life, true life, abundant life. Go from enemies to God to being reconciled to God, and in committing themselves to Him, they not only receive the gift of everlasting life, but they, that is, you, will also escape the wrath to come. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. Well, again, that does it for today's podcast in Crosstown. I want to thank you for being with me today, and I sincerely hope that you learned something about the Lord Jesus Christ and were inspired, not by me, but by God's Holy Spirit, to live a life committed to Him in faith and repentance. My desire is to glorify God by helping you to know Him and to know His Son in a real, devoted, life-changing relationship. If I've helped you get just a little closer to the Lord, then I have done something worthwhile. I trust God will bless you, I trust God will keep you, and I trust that He will shelter you under His wings. May you find in Him more than this world could ever give and more than you could ever ask or think. I am David Spa, and I look forward to seeing you again next time here at Crosstown. Salam and God's blessings too.lockman.org.