Come, Entrust Yourself to Jesus.

[0:00] John chapter 2 John chapter 2 John's gospel if you're visiting with us you need a Bible there's a black Bible in the chair in front of you you can pull that out go to the back and find page 72 for John's gospel chapter 2 John chapter 2 this morning we're gonna study verses 12 through 25 the end of chapter 2 12 through 25 of John chapter 2 let me read and then we'll jump in after this he and his mother and brothers and his disciples went down to Capernaum and there they stayed a few days and the Passover 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 and making a whip of rope he drove 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 stop doing these things stop making my father's house a house of market his disciples remembered that it was written zeal for your house will consume me therefore the Jews answered and said to him what sign do you prove that you do these things

[1:43] Jesus answered and said to them destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it therefore the Jews said it took 46 years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three days he was speaking of the temple his body therefore 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 said and when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast many believed in his name seeing the signs which he was doing but Jesus himself was not entrusting himself to them for he knew all men and because he had no need for anyone to testify concerning man for he himself knew what was in man there's an old story of a father who took his son out and stood him on the railing of the back porch he then went down stood on the lawn encouraged a little fellow to jump into his arms

[2:56] I'll catch you the father said confidently after a lot of coaxing the little boy finally made the leap and when he did the father stepped back and let your child fall to the ground he then picked up his son dusted him off and dried his tears let that be a lesson he said sternly don't ever trust anyone nice father nice guy on a brighter side I loved watching my grandson Xander jumping into our daughter's arms Chloe's arms while in the pool he would just fling himself on Chloe and on Jordan too completely entrusting himself to them even when they weren't even looking he would just here I come like when you entrust yourself to someone entrusting it means to commit to another with confidence trust and trusting means you commit yourself to another with confidence and that's how we should be with

[4:12] Jesus as we come to these verses in verse 12 through 25 the theme of John's gospel come know Jesus come believe Jesus come trust Jesus come receive Jesus today we'll see come entrust yourself to Jesus come entrust yourself to Jesus let me put it in a statement for you based on who Jesus is not what he'll do for you entrust yourself to him because if you entrust yourself to Jesus he'll entrust himself to you based on who

[5:23] Jesus is not what he's going to give you not what he's going to do for you not because he's going to give you your best life now no you entrust yourself to Jesus based on who he is and if you entrust yourself to Jesus based on who he is he'll entrust himself to you another way to put it a longer statement since Jesus is the true temple the true sacrifice the word fulfiller and the heart knower we should entrust ourselves to him and as we do he will entrust himself to us with love and grace that's who he is that's what will unfold for us in the text remember John's going to tell you who Jesus is and why it should matter to you it's not what does this do for my life the Bible you're looking at the Bible wrong this is what God has done how does your life fit into that why does it matter who Jesus is he's the true temple the true sacrifice the word fulfiller he's the heart knower you should entrust yourself to him and as you do he'll entrust himself to you with love and with grace see see our whole lives must be

[7:03] Jesus centered which means you center upon the cross his resurrection and the significance of that work in your life our whole lives must be Jesus centered which centers upon the cross his resurrection and the significance of that work in our lives Jesus was passionate for himself we should be passionate for our Jesus Jesus was passionate for the worship of God we should be passionate for the worship of God you know it's interesting the contrast that you see from chapter 2 verses 1 through 11 and then chapter 2 verses 12 through 25 1 through 11 is a celebratory bridegroom here Jesus is shamed and yet in both cases he was not understood and in both cases he was not honored the way he should be except you have a little glimmer of hope with the disciples in verse 11 which we saw that last week they believed in him

[8:23] Jesus is our true Passover lamb the true sacrifice and Jesus is the true temple of God look we cannot be made right with God or be reconciled to God or dwell with God except through Jesus only in him can that happen you want to be made right with God you want to be reconciled with God you want to dwell with God you can only have it through Jesus it's no other way it's not through some new age philosophy it's not through some saint or some person guru it's only through Jesus and if you receive this gospel truth you can dwell with God only in Jesus do we have a personal fellowship and relationship dwelling with

[9:25] God and it's a real personal relational intimate relationship with God with his people it's real and if you're here and you're not a Christian a Jesus follower then you need to become a Jesus follower to come to a place where you say Jesus I believe you died for my sin and you're the only way I can be made right with God I repent I trust in you Jesus and he'll save you you have a relationship with God only through Jesus there is no other way and see it's not about a place of worship either it's not about a place of worship but who it's not about where but who worship is defined in and through Jesus who is God's temple Jesus defines that it's not about where you worship it's not even about the day it's who if you want to find

[10:29] God it can only be found in the God man the Lord Jesus Christ so entrust yourself to Jesus because of who he is not what he's going to do for you okay who is Jesus remember John's going to tell you who Jesus is and why it matters who is Jesus these first two are in verses 12 through 21 number one Jesus is the true temple he's your only access to God number two Jesus is the true sacrifice he's your only sacrifice for sin he's the true temple he's the true sacrifice true temple he's your only sacrifice excuse me he's your only access to God the true sacrifice he's your only sacrifice for sin there's no one else there's nothing else let's walk through and see how this unfolds for us 12 it's like a connecting statement between verse 11 and 13 but John gives no indication of the timing of the events because he says just after this he and his brothers his mother his disciples they went down to Capernaum and these brothers are

[11:52] Jesus half brothers the children of Joseph and Mary they descended down from Cana into the city of Capernaum it became kind of home for Jesus verse 13 and the Passover of the Jews was near the Passover this is a feast which celebrated Yahweh's great deliverance of his people from Egypt Exodus 12 every year they would celebrate this and it's a Passover of the Jews that is the residence of Judea and Jesus went up to Jerusalem because Jerusalem is on a hill and now notice he begins to cleanse the temple and before we jump into this cleansing of the temple we need to make something clear or I do I as well as others am under the persuasion that the gospel writers record two cleansings the synoptics Matthew Mark and Luke record one cleansing that happened at the end of Jesus ministry this one in John's gospel happened in the beginning there's two cleansings of the temple and at the outset this would bring a question of his authority to do such an action and the second time this is where what happens in the synoptics in Matthew Mark and Luke that would have been the last straw for them but here the first cleansing which happened two years before the second cleansing that's recorded in Matthew and Mark's gospel and Luke's gospel this first cleansing is going to be about authority and the very presence of who's there in the temple you'll see that unfold notice what happens verse 14 he found in the temple those were selling oxen sheep and doves now the word temple here means the whole temple precinct with its buildings specifically they're in the court of the

[13:58] Gentiles yet Jesus would use a different term for temple when he would use the term temple he would use the other word for temple which is not us which is used to denote God's dwelling place so it was in this court of the Gentiles where they were conducting their quote unquote business of the Jewish sacrificial religion all three animals oxen sheep and doves were used in the sacrificial worship animals were sold here out of convenience so you didn't have to bring your animal you just buy it there notice the end of verse 14 and the money changers receded the temple tax had to be paid and it was paid in the Tyrrhenian coinage because of its high purity of silver and obviously they were charging a high price to exchange the money but you get to notice something the emphasis in this cleansing was not the robbery of these people it was their presence it became a house of business they weren't supposed to be there look what happens verse 15 making a says new

[15:16] American standard whip excuse me scourge of course which is literally a whip of rope he drove them all away not just the animals but the people one writer says it was forceful but not cruel here you see just righteous anger from Jesus drove out all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen he poured out the coins of the money chains overturned their tables now John is showing us the truth here the lamb drove out these sacrificial animals because he replaces them their blood was inadequate only his blood would be sufficient and adequate to dwell with God they were insufficient see Jesus concern was their location in this transaction they shouldn't even be there they had no business being there no pun intended but even greater it was the sacrificial failure of the oxen sheep and doves notice how

[16:32] Jesus is passionate for truth for righteousness purity presence grace love it instead becoming a place of prayer and reflection and worship and brokenness contrition adoring God petitioning God worshipping him from the heart being made right with God the dwelling with God it was a house of business they had no business being there look verse 16 and those who were selling the doves and it's probably best to see that Jesus spoke these words not just directed to the dove sellers but simultaneously with the act of him driving them out he said get these things out of here stop abusing my father's house house take careful notice of the word house he did not object to their dishonest gain that was happening because that comes up in the synoptic gospels you've made it into a house of robbery that's the synoptics here he doesn't say that you've made it into a house of business it was their presence it was my father's house and guess what

[17:46] I am the true temple I'm the true dwelling of God it's me they made it into a house of business not a house of dwelling verse 17 his disciples remember that it was written zeal for your house will consume me there's a quote from psalm 69 verse 9 we're going to talk more about this whole aspect in just a moment but you're going to see here what's going to unfold for us is if you want to understand the actions of Jesus you must interpret them through the grid of scripture God's word and God's word are both authoritative and unified why this psalm in psalm 69 people were reviling God by their worship the psalmist he publicly protested this but it caused him to be reviled by them too so this is actually a prophecy of the greater

[18:48] David to come Jesus fulfilled this psalm facing shame ultimately facing the shame of the cross so here you see Jesus held high pure worship of God and the way to have that relationship with him the person who's the focal point of that relationship between God and man it was the true temple it's found in him in Jesus look at how the Jews respond look at verse 18 therefore the Jews answered and said to him what sign do you prove which means to prove something what sign do you prove to us that you do these things they're the temple authority so what higher authority do you claim what are your credentials what right do you have to do this and yet in this very question they're so obtuse in this way first they did no self examination regarding

[20:28] Jesus temple cleansing hey maybe it's justified you ever thought about that which showed they were more concerned with authority they were more concerned about authority than worship they were more concerned about their authority and their place of authority than worshiping God but something else that's a stupid question to ask I mean think about it does God domesticate himself in this way to humans I'm going to show you here I'll do a little thing for you what kind of God does that God proves himself to people like that if that's the case and that God is not worthy of worship God doesn't prove himself to humans in that way so he's saying holy holy holy you don't domesticate God like that they should have understood scripture and seen that Jesus very temple cleansing was the sign you want a sign there it is you want a sign there it is he was fulfilling the word he was doing it right there notice how

[21:47] Jesus answered he shoots this off you want proof of my authority here you go destroy this temple not us dwelling of God that's the word he uses and in three days I'll raise it you want proof here's your proof not only is this the proof of his authority it was actually telling them the sign that will be given well what sign wait he's gonna tell him the sign wait I thought the other was the sign no no I'm gonna you want a sign you want proof of my authority I'm gonna prove of my identity I'm gonna give it to you here's the sign you want the sign the sign is the cross his death and resurrection there's the sign destroy my body and in three days he'll be raised notice what he's saying my body which John will tell us from verse 21 he was speaking of the temple his body

[22:47] I'm the proof and identity of who this person is I'm the dwelling of God Jesus is saying it's in me the proof of his identity and authority is by his death and resurrection for his death and resurrection is the ultimate temple cleansing isn't it he's the replacement of this temple or rather this temple as a type of what was to come in Christ when you look at the tabernacle in the Old Testament and the temple in the Old Testament that was where God would dwell but that was a type of what was to come in Messiah he's the anti-type he's the fulfillment it's written it's all about him how can you dwell with God it's through Jesus he's the true temple you know you think about this statement destroy this temple we're going to talk about their response it took 46 years to build this temple this is a big thing for

[23:58] Jesus to say especially given the political nature of the times I mean things were pretty shaky with everything with the Jews and the Romans and everything what kind of Messiah were the Jews looking for they wanted the Messiah to come and conquer the Romans kill all the Romans kill all the Gentiles Jews reign forever amen that's what they wanted so Jesus making this statement are you are you crazy this is like you're bringing about a major political crisis here with these Jews that's the point they thought they needed some great Messiah who's going to deliver them from Romans Jesus was trying to show them if you want to dwell with God it's wrapped up in me I'm the true temple I'm the true sacrifice well their response you know you think about people just goes right over their heads their obtuse nature shine like the sun their focus is purely natural material reconstruction of this temple began around 20

[25:29] BC and in it around 27 28 AD actually a few years before it was destroyed that's when it actually was totally finished totally missed it and notice what John does the writer the evangelist verse 21 he was speaking of the temple of his body the temple which is his body Jesus spoke about himself his body as the temple not this one that was becoming obsolete God fully manifests the father the God man fully manifests the father he's the focal point of God's manifestation Jesus is the living abode of God on earth he's the anti-type of the temple or the tabernacle it's himself he's the center of the true worship of God he's the better and final temple he cleansed it he replaced it he's the true temple he's the true sacrifice it's all wrapped up in him that's why you shouldn't trust yourself to

[26:44] Jesus he's the true temple he's your only access to God he's the true sacrifice he's your only sacrifice for your sins and notice nothing more is said here about the Jews so in all actuality Jesus lost this conflict he was shamed but that's the point he would be shamed ultimately at the cross to bring us to God so Jesus is the true temple Jesus is the true sacrifice number three we actually kind of talked about this already in verse 17 Jesus is the word fulfiller he fulfills the word you see that verse 22 and even again verse 17 Jesus is the word fulfiller entrusting yourself to him is entrusting yourself to the word he's the word fulfiller notice verse 22 therefore when he was raised from the dead his disciples remembered that he said this after his resurrection when his disciples understood what Jesus was saying here when that final sign was displayed then all of Jesus words and

[28:02] D's they finally clicked came together I thought about Nancy Parks remember Nancy Parks she would go like this oh I get it with her raspy voice oh I get it that's what the disciples did oh now we get it yeah really and you're of course you're not anything like the disciples are you but notice something the end here verse 22 and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken they believed the scripture and the word Jesus spoke notice this to believe God's word is to believe God's word you get it to believe God's word written word is to believe

[29:06] God's word the living word they go together if you deny the written word you're denying the living word if you distrust the written word then you distrust the living word if you entrust yourself to the word you're entrusting yourself to the living word the disciples one writer says would come to see as authoritative and complimentary the word of God and the word of God remember in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God if we entrust ourselves to scripture we're entrusting ourselves to Jesus if you entrust yourself to Jesus you're entrusting himself to his word that's what the disciples would do you see the little glimmers of hope here verse 11 from last week here verse 22 little glimmers of hope how the disciples responded so let this let this encourage you to get into

[30:24] God's word so that you will know the word for Jesus is the fulfillment of the word it's wrapped up in him oh how we should be in God's word as his people so we engulf ourselves in scripture Jesus is the focal point of God's revelation he's the true and complete dwelling place of God he fulfills the word because he is the word it's why you should entrust yourself to him the true temple the true sacrifice the word fulfiller and number four he's the heart knower he knows your heart 23 through 25 again John's telling you this is who Jesus is and this is why it should matter to you this is who Jesus is this is why it should matter to you

[31:25] Jesus is the heart knower he knows the deepest deepest recesses of everyone's heart he receives those who truly receive him back from John chapter one so make him the center of your life and trust yourself to Jesus now I'm putting this in the positive spin notice 23 through 25 is in the negative 23 and when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast many believed in his name oh cool all these people believe in his name yay that's great right seeing the signs that he was doing right this is good right right sort of maybe well no no not not really obviously Jesus did more signs than the ones John recorded in the gospel he says that yet what these people saw did not translate into understanding what they saw what these people saw did not translate into understanding what they saw why their faith was superficial they believed because of what

[32:47] Jesus could do or would do for them they had surface faith look at what happens seeing his signs which he was doing verse 24 but Jesus himself was not entrusting himself to them that word entrusting is the same Greek word pistou we get the word believe and sometimes you can translate it as entrusting remember entrusting it means I have it written down to commit to another with confidence interesting they were believing in Jesus but Jesus wasn't believing them do you see that Jesus didn't Jesus knew them he knew them perfectly one writer puts it like this listen creation has forgotten the creator but the creator has not forgotten his creation that's funny he was on to them look you can't trick

[33:59] Jesus by flattery you can't entice Jesus by swearing to oh I swear if you get me out of this I'm gonna live for you you can't catch him off guard because of some kind of ignorant innocence you're dealing with God he knows all men he knows your heart right now he knows my heart Jesus himself was not entrusted himself to them why for he knew all men this tells us something a distortion of Jesus could not be the object of their faith a distortion of Jesus cannot be the object of your faith

[35:01] Jesus does stuff for me Jesus is gonna do things for me that's a pretty superficial faith this tells us something about true discipleship correct belief in Jesus displays true discipleship in Jesus and true discipleship of Jesus has correct belief about Jesus you're gonna see that in this gospel where these people believe in Jesus oh really or they will come running after Jesus and say Jesus where have you been we've been looking all over for you and he says the reason you're looking for me is because you want your tummies filled that's in

[36:01] John chapter six that's superficial faith so all you gotta do is take your control and turn on TBN and there it is right there they throw out you out to you superficial faith they throw out to you this is what Jesus is going to do for you no that's not how Jesus works look at the next part verse 25 and because he had no need for anyone to testify concerning man for he himself knew what was in man no need anybody to bear witness to testify no one tells Jesus about humanity because he already knows humanity Jeremiah 17 10

[37:02] God searches and examines the heart and mind why because Jesus is the God man he's the creator Jesus has supernatural knowledge of humans because he is God now I'm putting the positive spin on it as we entrust ourselves to Jesus because of who he is he entrusts himself to us entrust yourself to Jesus because of who he is not what he's going to do for you Jesus knows our hearts right now he knows we need grace and he wants us to understand it's not about the place of worship the where it's about who worship is defined in and through Jesus who is God's true temple God's true sacrifice the one who fulfills the word the one who knows our hearts if you want to find

[38:07] God it'll only be found in the God man Jesus is the true temple Jesus is the true sacrifice he is the word fulfiller the heart knower so we should entrust ourselves to him as we do he'll entrust himself to us with love and grace I put that verse 23 25 in a positive way because 23 25 is actually a negative if you entrust yourself to Jesus because of what he's going to do he's not going to trust himself to you that's the flip end of this our whole lives must be centered upon Jesus which means you center on the cross his resurrection and the significance of that work in your life so based on who Jesus is not what he'll do for you give me this give me that do this for me do this for me no based on who

[39:17] Jesus is entrust yourself to him and if you entrust yourself to him he'll entrust himself to you let's take a moment and pray Lord Jesus we take seriously who you are and thank you for your love and grace and your mercy we entrust ourselves to you not because you'll heal us from cancer not because you'll stop war not because you'll give us a job not because you'll give us a family not because you'll keep us from sickness but because of who you are

[40:23] Jesus help us because our culture shouts this to us that we're supposed to have these things and you should be the great genie to give that to us now remind us of your grace you're gracious and merciful and kind you're the only way by which we can have dwelling with God you're the only sacrifice for sins you're the one who fulfills the word you know our hearts you know our hearts even now we take that seriously thank you for being so gracious to us Jesus please give us grace to keep entrusting ourselves to your word which is entrusting ourselves to you

[41:30] I encourage you in these few moments if you would take this time and fill your mind with truth fill your mind with scripture with God's word you know we'll take that few moments after a few moments we'll pray we'll sing we'll pray we do that but this is a special time for you between you and the Lord to reflect upon the things that God has said as we sang speak oh Lord he's spoken so let the word fill your mind at this time would you please do that now