(John 2:24)
�But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men.�
I am not one who is �big� on the holidays. Sometimes this gets me into trouble. At the first church I pastored I preached a �rip roaring� sermon on the Woman Taken in Adultery. After the service the head deacon came up to me and said, �That was a mighty fine sermon, pastor. But, don�t you think it was a little inappropriate for Mother�s Day?�
It was Linda�s fault. She never warned me! Actually, Linda gave me some pretty good advice on nearly everything. But, when it came to preaching she said, �That�s between you and God. I�m not getting involved.� And, she never did - even when I needed the help!
But, this is �Palm Sunday.� I�ve been just following the Scripture, verse after verse, in this preaching. The verse today has some real application to Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday, as you know, is a celebration of what is called, �The Triumphal Entry,� where Jesus came into Jerusalem just a week before His crucifixion.
The triumphal entry was prophesied in Zechariah 9:9. It is amazing to consider just how many prophecies Jesus fulfilled during this last week and while on the cross. Certainly Jesus is the promised Messiah.
That was the opinion of these people at the Triumphal Entry. Well, it seemed to be their opinion. These same people who were pressing forward, wanting to touch Him with the palms of their hands on this day would be giving Him the back of their hands just a scant week later as He died on Golgotha.
It seems that those same sorts of persons, fickle followers rather than true followers, are spoken of in our text verse. This is like many in our own day who claims the trappings of Christianity but deny the truth of Christ. They pontificate about their religious understanding of the meek and mild Christ Who never had a harsh word for anyone. But, they deny the life changing Lord of Glory who calls us to action in the Spiritual Theater of Spiritual Warfare.
To these non following followers, Jesus seems to say, �I never knew you.� �But Jesus did not commit himself��
Redemption from Christ demands true faith.
Jesus said something that many of us have forgotten. He said, �Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.� (Matthew 7:21)
There are many who will be surprised when they pass from this life and the Lord says to them, ��I never knew you: depart from me�� (Matthew 7:23)
What is often overlooked is the fact that Christianity is not a cultural or social entity. Christianity is a faith medium. Faith in the Person and work of Jesus Christ is the opening of the door to true Christianity.
We are all familiar with John 3:16. This is a verse which speaks of the love which God holds for the world. Indeed, this is true. God does love the world so much that He sent His Son to die on a cross so that the sin of humanity could be atoned. Since humanity was bound by sin, and could not even approach the Holy God to plead for mercy, God sent His Son, in the form of a human being, to die for the sins of mankind.
We could not approach God, so God approached us with a free gift of salvation. The only thing He asks is that we trust Him.
�For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.� (John 3:17)
When we reject simple faith in Jesus and His sacrifice, when we insist that our church, or our works, will gain salvation, we are insulting God. Worse than this, we are still in our sins. As such we can not even approach God to argue that we deserve His salvation.
The situation in which we find ourselves, in such a scenario, is described in John 3:18; remember that this is all part of the same teaching which includes John 3:16. �He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.�
The people in our text verse today did not believe on Him. They believed in His powerful works at the Cleansing of the Temple. That is what verse twenty three of this same chapter says: ��they believed in his name, when the saw the miracles which he did.�
These people were not believers in Jesus. They were not be born again, but simply �hangers on� like the entourage which might follow a rock star in our time. Those people are there because they want to bask in the glow of the �star.� When the �star� loses some of his luster these people will flow to the next entertainer and forget the first. He is, after all, �Old News� and yesterday�s headline.
It seems that these people were attracted by the miracles and notoriety, not by the Savior. They followed for a thrill rather than a regeneration.
This view is fortified by the fact that Jesus, knowing all men - the thoughts and intents of their hearts - did not accept these people as followers. Jesus turned no one away who came to Him in true faith.
That this is a correct assessment is also borne out by the events of the following week in which the Savior was crucified on a cross.
True faith reaches out to the God who calls unto repentance and salvation. True faith is centered not in the miracle but in the mercy of God. True faith is not an excuse for excitement; it is a realization of our own sins and an acceptance of the holiness and mercy of God.
A relationship with Christ demands honest faith.
I used to joke about my grandson. When he was first learning to walk I said that he moved about the room with the demeanor of a teen age boy on his first date. �His little hands are everywhere, grabbing everything.�
How many ladies have heard the words �I love you,� from a male acquaintance? How often has it meant, �I love you?� How often has it meant, �There are things I�d love to do with you?�
An honest faith meets Jesus at the Cross and says, �I can not save myself. I don�t even deserve to be saved. I want to accept the offer of salvation which You have made based on Your death at Calvary. I know I don�t deserve it. Lord, please save me based on Your work. I have no work of my own to offer.�
A person of dishonest faith might hold more swagger in his heart. He might make a �show� of repentance but keep his heart on his own importance. �Lord, You said You�d save me. O. K. You are getting a real catch in me. I�m important. I can do a lot for You.�
It�s like minister�s going into a pulpit ministry. Some see a fairly easy job. Some see security with a house to boot! Some see it as a chance to gain social standing. Some are altruistic; they see an entrance into �the ministry� as a chance to help people. None of these, including the last, are sufficient reasons to assume a pulpit ministry.
One enters into the pulpit with the joy of a man entering combat. It�s scary. It�s a task. But, it is a duty to the Lord. No matter how much one may be gifted, he counts his personal gifts as merely tools which are placed in the Hand�s of the Lord. (Even poor gifts can do magnificent jobs when used by the Hand of the Master! He can make a silk purse of a saving message from the sow�s ear of a faithful servant.) The pulpit ministry is not a profession or a career. It is a solemn duty which should only be accepted when the assignment of the Lord is so clear that nothing else may be done.
That is an example of honest faith. It is a faith which is awe struck by the Grandeur of God. It is a faith which is completely understanding of one�s own unworthiness. It is a faith whose only focus is on the Lord and His Glory.
All this being said, a reward from Christ demands an energetic faith.
At one point during my tour of duty in the Vietnamese Conflict my unit was under siege. We could not get off the hill where we had �dug in.� We expected helicopters to swoop down on the hill and whisk us away. Instead we watched as the enemy either shot down or drove off these �birds.�
What could we do? We were in pretty bad straits. If we just lowered our heads and tried to stick it out, we�d eventually be overrun. Our only course of action was to pick up our weapons and walk over the trench line we�d built and walk down the mountain.
We did have some �gun ship� support. Still, this little hike in the jungle was fraught with concern.
We are, as Christians, engaged in a Spiritual War. God does not expect us to simply hide under the rubble. God wants us to pick up our �swords,� the Scripture, and find a way to venture out in service to Him.
I just want to say this quickly. There was an old �Zorro� movie on last night. I only watched a few minutes as I was waiting for a news program to come on. But I was struck by the choreography of the �sword fights� on the screen. These guys had to practice quite a bit, I�d surmise, to keep from hurting each other!
In a real sword fight there is no such choreography. In order for one to protect himself from the enemy he needs to practice, practice and practice some more. When he is done it is time to begin to practice again!
We need that same sort of dedication with our �swords.� We need to be looking into the Scripture often. We need to be looking into the Scripture with an attitude of prayer. We need to be memorizing the Scripture. One of the things I love about the church I am presently attending is that the youngsters all line up next to the pulpit during the Worship Service and recite their memory verses. Even my three year old grandson grabs the microphone to say his!
What a great manner of teaching the young one�s to trust the Lord!!
We need to be doing something for our Lord that involves more than simply driving to church on Sunday morning. That should be the first thing we do. Jesus founded the churches; I�m not sure we can claim to be a follower of His if we are not faithful to this institution.
But, there is more that each of us can do. There is a man in the adult Sunday School class. He is now eighty eight years old. He recently recovered from a heart attack. He often says that he never really knew how to witness until he went to the hospital after that attack. He is not resting on his laurels; he is resting in his Lord.
Well, that�s not true. He isn�t resting; he is out there working for his Lord with all he can do!
What an example!
What can you do for God? Some are prayer warriors. Some are �greeters.� They seem to make everyone else feel at home at the church. They don�t just go to greet the newcomers. They pump up the old comers while there are at it!
A man from the church I attend died recently. He had lung cancer. The doctor said that this was going to be terminal. He knew he was dying. But, through his illness he was such a blessing to the entire church! He knew where he was in this life, and where he was going in the next life. His entire demeanor was an example that Jesus was his friend. Was? This man is now in Heaven telling Jesus was a great Savior and Friend He is!
Christian, you have something you can do in your local assembly. You may just be the one who sings off key so someone else won�t be so embarrassed with his poor musical ability. Just be the person God wants you to be. Your reward is based on your faithfulness in the task to which you�ve been called.
Remember, a chicken could not lay that egg if the farmer had not put out the feed. The farmer could not put out the feed if someone had not bagged it up for him. The person who bagged up the feed could not have done so if another farmer had not raised the crop. That farmer got the seed from another bag. He might not have known which seed to plant had he not read an ad in a magazine. The progression could go on and one. The point is that you need to do God�s work as He has entrusted you in your situation. If everyone does this, give the glory to God.
We note that Jesus could have said, �I�ve never known you.� ��unto them��
When my son was younger he was �into� the sport of skateboarding. He often would comment on some of the people that came to the skateboarding place, carrying their boards under their arms. They would line up against a wall with their boards. They would talk all the jargon of the sport. But, they never set foot to board. They never really engaged the sport.
For all the world they looked the part of skateboarders. Ethan would say that they were just �posers.� They were not really skateboarders. They were merely �hangers on.�
Many Christians are posers. They look the part. They even, sometimes, talk the part. But, they are just parroting what they�ve heard others say. They have no testimony of their own because they�ve never really accepted Jesus Christ as their own Personal Savior.
They are posers, not possessors.
In what is your Christian life grounded? Is it grounded in a study of Christian books? Is it grounded in going to church and looking pious? It is grounded in what you do not do? Folks, the only sure ground for the Christian life is in faith and reliance upon Jesus Christ and His sacrifice at Calvary.
The true question about a Christian life is, �Have you ever accepted Jesus as your own Savior?� Are you washed in the blood?
Culture does not make one a Christian. We are in danger in this day of making it seem that true Christianity is bound in the �do�s� and �don�ts� of the Christian culture. We constantly talk about all the sinner�s and the wrong lifestyle which they have adopted.
Salvation has nothing to do with this. Salvation is based on a relationship with Jesus Christ which begins at the foot of the cross. Other things may be important. But, they are only important as responses to the love of Jesus after we are saved. Before salvation these things are only �works.� There is no �saving work� except that completed by Jesus at the Cross.
Jesus is not looking for an action; He is looking for an acceptance. When Jesus approached a group of fishermen He said, �Follow me.� He did not say, �Turn your life around and live in a righteous manner.� He did not say, �Study the Scripture.� He didn�t even say, �Go to church every Sunday.� What Jesus said was, �Follow me.�
True salvation is not turning over a new leaf or cleaning up our act. True salvation is realizing that we can do nothing to gain the favor of God. True salvation is trusting Jesus and His sacrifice as the only antidote for the terminal illness of sin.
He asks that you accept Him as Savior. So, what if you are a great sinner? Accept Him. He went to the cross to pay the penalty for that sin. He already knows how big a sinner you are. Still, He wants to save your soul! Accept Him!
When Jesus considered these persons He could have said, �I always knew you.� ��because he knew all men.�
There is an old saying: �He can talk the talk; but can he walk the walk?�
Jesus knows our walk. He knows what we are deep within the recesses of our souls. He knows the desires of our hearts. Do we long for fellowship with Him? Do we pray for the souls of others? Do we look expectantly into the Scripture to find a path for our daily lives?
What is our walk?
We�ve heard stories of scandals in the past few weeks about political persons. One of them regards a man who was known for his politics of morality. He talked often about being �offended� by the morality of some of the persons on the national scene. He was recently indicated as �client number nine� in a prostitution scandal.
A nationally known, and religiously powerful, pastor was caught up in scandal just last year. It seems he had been frequenting a male prostitute even while preaching against the �gay� lifestyle.
There is a Senate examination (which I do not believe they have the Constitutional right to carry forth) about the finances of several well known, and large, ministries. It is alleged that the head�s of these ministries have unduly profited from the offerings of the faithful.
A large university, founded on spiritual principles, recently had its president resign in disgrace as the suggestion that he had misused university funds on his own family and lifestyle.
Jesus knows the heart�s of these persons. Jesus knows whether or not they were walking in concert with Him.
What would be our own reaction if the world were to read, splattered across the front page of the nation�s newspapers, our own lapses? What is our walk?
The glorious thing is that we are not saved by our walk. We are saved by our walk with Him! It is not our righteousness which saves us. It is the righteousness of Jesus Christ imparted unto our account when we accept Him as Savior.
Jesus knows our walk. He knew all about this two thousand years ago when He went to the cross to offer Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. We do need to repent of our sins. Our sins do need to be confessed before the Throne. But, this is not the basis of our salvation. This is the basis of our walk with the Savior.
It has often been said that the saint and the sinner are both remorseful when confronted with their sin. The sinner is remorseful that he got caught. He may be remorseful that his family is in shambles; or his life is turned upside down. But, had he not been caught, he would still be engaged in that sin.
The saint, the Christian, is remorseful that he had let down his Lord. He may feel the same remorse as the unrepentant sinner; but he is especially hurt that his own actions have brought disrespect upon his Lord. That is the difference between the Christian who has sinned and the sinner who has been caught in his sin.
There is one more difference. The Christian can take his sin to the cross and seek forgiveness from the merciful God. He can restore his walk.
Jesus also knows our works. Are we, as Christian�s living up to the standard which God has set for us? Are we doing all we can to advance the Kingdom? Are we engaged in our own devotional life or do we simply skim the Sunday School quarterly just before setting out for church?
Jesus knows whether we are true servants or just survivors plucked from the fire. A person can be saved and not follow his Lord. Such is the grace of God. But, such a Christian has laid aside the blessings which God had ordained to be his.
What a loss!
Jesus also knows the works of the unsaved. Some of these unsaved persons would put most Christians to shame. They are more altruistic than the Christian. They are engaged in making life more fulfilling for others. But, they are lost unless they have accepted Jesus as their Savior.
The unsaved may be active in their church. They may be involved in the study of Biblical passages during Sunday School and fellowship hours. They may memorize Scripture relating to the great doctrines of the churches. But, they are lost unless they have accepted Jesus as their Savior.
Remember, it is not our work by which we are saved. It is the work which Jesus did on the Cross of Calvary which is the only basis by which any person may come to salvation!
Jesus also knows our worship. Some people worship their church. Some worship their new automobile, their new job, their bank account. Some worship their spouse or their children. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these. The only problem with these is that word �their� affixed to each of them.
Our worship needs to be centered in the Lord Who has saved our souls.
You can�t do this unless Jesus is your Savior. Why not simply accept Him right now. He knows your heart. He is also ready to give you a new heart which has been cleansed and made right with God.
Trust Jesus as your own Savior.