“23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.”
We have an admittedly brief text today, and so shall our thoughts be here.
Jesus Knows All People
Here we are shown the Savior’s perfect knowledge of the human heart. He is omniscient. He is all-knowing. The Gospel writer had been setting this theme up in chapter 1 with Jesus’ interactions with Peter and Nathanael (1:42; 1:47-50). Now it is stated clear as day.
Jesus knows all people and what is in man. You cannot escape Him. Nothing we do is done in secret. He knows. You cannot do anything that God does not see. We cannot even think thoughts without God knowing what we are thinking. He knows what’s in our hearts, and what’s in our minds, and what’s in our intentions. Jesus knows what’s in your heart better than you know what’s in your heart. Sometimes we don’t even know when we sin, but God does. Though we like to do our sin behind closed doors, and in the darkness of our minds, it is not dark there for the Lord. He sees it all bright as day. It is the love of sin that makes us forget that, or not care. If we know that Jesus sees all that we do and think, then why do we sin? It is because our hearts are sinful, calloused, and we love our sin. But for the believer, it can be quite a help in fighting sin to remember that God is there and He sees all. Jesus is an eye witness to every moment of our lives. You can deceive your fellow man, but you cannot deceive God.
We need the testimony of the Scripture to know Christ. We need, as humans, to be witnessed to about Christ. Christ needs no such witness, because as John 1 said, He created us, and knows us. Christ’s omniscience flows from who He is as the eternal Word of God who was “with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” So His omniscience flows from who He is as the creator God. He knows us because He created us. See Psalm 139.
Jesus knows what is in man. But what is in man? Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Ecclesiastes 9:3, “…the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live…” What is in man? Sin, hardness of heart, evil thoughts, malice, hatred, envy, sexual immorality, idolatry, love of self, love of money, love of the world, deceit, pride, sloth, and all sorts of wickedness that is rebellion toward God. The unregenerate human heart is a dark place. You don’t have a good heart. You’re not basically good. No matter how you might clean and shine up the outside, inside is rotting death. Jesus knows this.
Jesus is not Fooled by False Belief
These verses indicate to us that the belief they had was not genuine saving faith. Like Nicodemus in the next chapter, they believed the miracles Jesus did were real, but there was no root of real saving faith in them. Jesus knew this. They were excited over the signs and miracles, but Jesus knew what was in their hearts. They were like the seed sown on rocky soil that sprang up quickly, but because they had no root, they were quickly scorched by the sun and did not last. This is what Jesus says about that kind of soil in Matthew 13, “As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.” That’s what’s going on here! The people saw all the miraculous signs and they were excited, joyful, and their emotions were stirred up; but that was it. Jesus knew that. He knew that as soon as the heat of persecution or trouble came, it would all be over. So He did not entrust Himself to them.
The people got excited because they saw signs and miracles. There was no true root of repentance, faith, and submission to Jesus in their hearts. It was just religious excitement! They didn’t believe in the five solas of the reformation, they believed in the sola of the rocky soil – sola feelings. That was their basis of belief – their feelings. Is that any of you? Do you believe in Christ so long as that’s what your feeling? I was reading a sermon by Charles Spurgeon this week in which he said this, “If we are in Christ, we are in Christ by faith, and not by feelings… Your faith, sinner, unites you with the Lamb – not your feelings.” If our union with Christ goes when our feelings go, we never had union with Christ, just union with our feelings. Signs, miracles, good vibes, and religious experiences are not the basis of true faith. True faith latches onto Christ. Not just the miracle-working Christ, but the suffering Christ, the persecuted Christ, the King Christ, etc. The benefits that Jesus gives are truly wonderful and to be glad for, but they are wonderful because through them we get Jesus. He is the prize. He is the treasure.
So, as is, man cannot be trusted. He must be born again. These few verse are segue from the signs of chapter 2, to the discussion Jesus has with Nicodemus in chapter 3. These verse are setting us up for the conclusion that man must be born again!
Jesus (His Saving Love) is not Hindered by Hidden Sin
In the gospel, Jesus knows the worst parts about us, that no one else knows, and still loves us. The depth of darkness in our hearts was not an impediment to Jesus going to the cross to save us. He knows the vile slime, gunk, cobwebs, and sin that occupy the nooks, crannies, cracks, and crevices of our hearts, and is not for a minute yielded in His love and commitment to us. He lived and died for us knowing full well the condition of our hearts. If everyone knew every thought we’d ever thought, we’d be ashamed to be associated with ourselves and the worst of sinners would look upon us. But Christ is not ashamed. He hides not His saving eye of love.
Jesus did not entrust Himself to these people, but we must entrust ourselves to Christ; then we will know Him and He will know us. He will have us, and we will have Him. We will be one with Him.
Jesus was entrusted by the Father to save us. The Father has entrusted us to Christ. We have been entrusted to His loving care. What a wonderful thing. How safe and secure a thing to be entrusted to Christ, and to entrust your soul to the care of Christ. Where else, or to whom else, would you want to entrust your soul to? There is none other trustworthy than Christ. Not your parents, not your friends, not your sin, not yourself, and not your idols. Christ only.
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