Let us now turn to the Gospel of John. I'm going to read from the second chapter, John 2, verses 23-25. Let me read the preceding verses about the cleansing of the temple for these follow quickly upon that. We preached on that last week, but I didn't really focus on these last three verses which are significant in themselves. So let's start with verse 13. Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem and He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple with His sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, take these things away Do not make my father's house a house of merchandise. Then his disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house has eaten me up. So the Jews answered and said to him, what sign do you show to us since you do these things? Jesus answered and said to them, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. Then the Jews said, It has taken 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. Therefore, when he had risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this to them, and they believed the Scriptures and the word which Jesus had said. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself to them, because he knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for he knew what was in man. May the Lord bless this reading to our good understanding. The title of the message this morning is Radical Jesus. And with the idea that he's not radical in the pagan sense, but he's radical in the Christian sense. He's radical in the divine sense. There's a uniqueness to Christ which shines forth in the Gospels and which is tantalizing to the mind as we realize that this one is unique. Unique among men. That there's no one like our Jesus. He is our Lord and our Savior. But He was and is also a true man. He is the model for man. He is Adam, exponential. That one who is our great inspiration. And it's amazing because I think most of us are people of some mental ability and yet we are, we can't say that we're anything less than tantalized by this one, this man, this God-man, even Jesus Christ, even Jesus Christ who will fascinate us and be magnified in our minds from this day until the end of our lives. It's no sectarian blindness or some childish fixation that were fixed upon this one because he in and of himself has a magnificence of personality and work which is simply never ending and well worth our meditation. Well here we see in the last three verses of this chapter, we see a testimony to this. Because in the aftermath of his extraordinary temple cleansing, we find this apostolic statement of the Apostle John. Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself to them, because he knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for he knew what was in man. And in this, I perceive that we see four things. We see the occasion of this statement, which is quite extraordinary, the occasion of it. We see the statement itself, secondly. And then we see two reasons for the statement. It says, because he knew all men and because he knew what was in them. So these four things I think are well worthy of our consideration today. So let's look first of all at the occasion of this statement. We see here this extraordinary bookend, if you will, of Jesus' life. I remarked last week about how there are some like Thomas Jefferson and Voltaire who would have laughed at the differences between the two cleansing of the temples. And they would have considered it a contradiction of one incident. But we said last week how interesting it is that both of these cleansings took place on the Passover, but one took place on the initial Passover of his ministry. He began his ministry just before the Passover. And then three years later, he ends his ministry just after the Passover with the crucifixion and the resurrection of the dead. And in both of these bookends, he visits the citadel of the institutional church, and he rocks it! He rocks the institutional church! Oh, how we pride ourselves in the institutional church of that of that organization and of that uniqueness. And yet how often, even when we commit ourselves to Him, how often are we corrupted? And when we think of how far the church of Jesus' day had slipped, and how much it needed cleansing, why are we surprised then when there are complaints about our own day. Complaints about problems with a possible need for reformation in the church. The thing here is to notice is that despite whatever negatives came from this cleansing that Jesus very quickly achieved celebrity status in His day. This is something that we note about our own modern day. Is this not the thirst of so many? People don't really care about truth. They don't care about integrity. They don't care about anything if they only achieve celebrity status. If they can only be featured in the magazines. great athletic sportsmen, whether they be football players or soccer players or basketball players, if they can only achieve this. I watched a basketball game this past week, the New York Knickerbockers, which is a team that I followed over the years and enjoyed. The game was at Madison Square Garden. And there in the garden, they have their regular almost it's almost a list of actors that come to every game of which the movie maker, the black movie maker Spike Lee is probably the most famous. So these people come and they they come to their temple. It's like a temple of rejoicing. where they know each other and where they can hobnob with the players. The players know them and they know the players and they're happy to stroke one another. And it's in the center of the universe, New York City! In the center of New York City, MSG, Madison Square Garden. And there's almost a transcendental experience as they rejoice there in their celebrity status. Well, Jesus had that! at the heart of the ancient world, at the city of David, Jerusalem, at the temple area, at the Passover, when the people of the land came from all four corners of the land to rejoice together. And Jesus had that. That was the occasion of this statement. Jesus had the popular acclamation, and it says here that they acknowledged that he was a doer of miracles. They acknowledged. the tremendous gifts that he had been given. So the people, the occasion of the statement was a day in which people were open to evidence and observation. I've been somewhat saddened lately in our own country, it just seems like People are not interested in any information which is inconvenient for their orthodoxy. You know, any bit of information which challenges who they support and that in which they believe. I thought back to the Watergate era and how even though there was a Republican president, there were many Republicans who were embarrassed about, they didn't want President Nixon to be replaced over nothing or over just trumped up charges. But on the other hand, when the charges manifested themselves in some significance and truth, then it was the Republicans themselves that were calling for him to step down. And his inner party in the White House were the ones that said, President, you must resign. We think how different the spirit is today. How people don't even know they don't want to hear any information which is inconvenient to their particular political course. And this is this is only a 30 year difference. There have been some radical changes in our country. We pray that I don't think that those changes are set in stone but they're certainly worrisome in our day. When people aren't open to the truth. But in this day, people were open to the truth. They saw Jesus. They saw his miracles. And even though he did things that were contrary to the sense and the flow of the culture, they were with him. Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs. which he did. So the occasion of this statement is an occasion of popularity. It's the beginning of the groundswell which swept up Christ and led to the glorious entry into Jerusalem at the last Passover as he came to celebrate then. It's on this occasion then that the statement that Jesus makes seems rather striking. Because in verse 24, it says that Jesus did not commit himself to them because he knew all men. You see, when we become popular, when we become a celebrity, most people whom we know, or most people who we know, rejoice in the way The wave of sentiment that supports them is what everyone seems to be after. And so they simply grab their surfboards and they surf the wave. They go with the flow. They're happy for this sentiment and they want to be swept up in it and carried along with it. But it is at this very point that we see the uniqueness of Christ. We see the truthfulness of Christ. We see the integrity of Christ. We see that Jesus is no mere man in the sense of this fallen world where people simply want to be celebrities. They want to be accorded fame. They want to be adulated. They want to be stroked. They want people to say how nice they are. Our Lord Jesus had no need of this, for He knew in Himself that He was nice. And even more than he was righteous and good and pure and magnificent in his being, he was the son of man. And the Bible says was to come in the clouds with righteousness in his hand. And so when the adulation came, our Lord's first reaction, our Lord's first sentiment is that he was not swept up in this. He did not commit himself to them. He did not accept their fleshly agenda of a popular savior. He was not doing things for which the people would vote. This may even refer to the fact, in a veiled way, to the idea of universalistic salvation. It says, but Jesus did not commit Himself to them, that is, the group as a whole, the group indiscriminately, because He knew all men. Just a few verses before, you'll note in verse 17, it said, that the disciples thinking about Him afterwards said, zeal for your house has eaten me up. So, there was an inner zeal that Christ had For the elect. For the Israel which was in Israel. For those whom His Father had given Him. There was a zeal for them and for that. But in terms of all men, universally, that crowd after which most of us lost, Jesus had no interest. So we see the uniqueness of Christ in the statement. that he would not commit himself to them. Now the third thing that we see about this is the reason for the statement. So first we see the occasion of the statement. Secondly, we see the statement. Thirdly, we see the reason for the statement. The first reason is it says because he knew all men. He knew all men. Now this is not explained here. He knew all men, but it's certainly explained in the Bible. The very first chapter of the Bible before the flood, it said, God said every intent of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually. Unless we think that that was wiped out by the flood, he says in the 8th chapter, the 21st verse after the flood, he says, I will never again curse the ground, although The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. We are so transparent to God and in our transparency he sees the imaginations of our hearts. And he sees that we are on a different wavelength than that for which we were created or that in which we were created. Before the fall, Every intent of man's heart was unto goodness and righteousness. It's amazing to think that our minds, as we know ourselves as a society, that our minds could be like that. But now, after the fall, every imagination of the heart is evil continually. Now, we remember how evil and good are judged. That is, if an action can be partially good in the sense that it's according to the dictums of the Lord, If it's done for the wrong motives, or out of the wrong motives, and if it's done unto the wrong end, if it's done out of a self-love, an effort to be self-righteous, or if it's done for a false end, instead of building up the kingdom of God, it's done for building up the kingdom of man. If our glory somehow falls short of God and focuses purely upon ourselves, And then that ruins even, quote, good works or the efforts of men that outwardly appear to be coordinate with that which God has prescribed. Because the Lord has not only prescribed an outward way of life, but He's prescribed the motive that must drive these works, and He has prescribed the end or the purpose of our living. to these works, which can only be His glory and His kingdom, His worship and His kingdom. And so Jesus knew all men in the sense that He knew the evil intents of their hearts. He knew that He had come to save these people. He knew He had come as the great rabbi or the great teacher or the great prophet to teach these people, to teach people like us. Why does the evangelical church continue to seek to draw people in so that they can enjoy themselves as they already are rather than to draw them in so that they might learn of Christ? Does the evangelical church not realize that we need to be discipled? Does it not realize that we're fallen creatures, that we need to learn, that we need to correct our lives, that we need to adapt our lives to that which he has said? I see so much advertising when I read the church page advertising the churches of our area. I see so much advertisement that is simply intended On the face of it at least, it's simply intended to tell people that you can come and be with us and you can be more like you really are. We don't want to change you. Come as you are and we will celebrate you as you are. We say, no, come as you are and be changed, be altered, be reformed according to the Word and the Spirit of the Lord. And we get this idea in this statement of Jesus. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men. Contrast that with the average church council today and the pastors who fill our pulpits. If they had celebrity status, if they had people chasing after them, they would rejoice in the movement. They would grab their boards and they would surf the wave. They would never do what Jesus did here. and indicate that he would not commit himself to them all because he knew all men. But this is our Lord Jesus. So the first reason that he speaks of here is that he knew all men. The second reason here is that he said he knew what was in them. He had no need, verse 25, he had no need that anyone should testify of man for he He knew what was in man. Now, there's a sense here and there's a sense that in a sense, this reflects the 24th verse that having to do with men. But there's another sense in which Jesus here knew that he needed no acclimation from these men. There was no there was no need that there was no need for anyone to testify of man in terms of the possible or the apparent goodness in man, nor was there any need for all of these men that they should testify of Christ. Jesus had no need of these men because He knew what was in them. He had no need for their accreditation, their qualification, their endorsement, their license, or even their love. We see that this is contrary to all human experience. This knowledge that Jesus had. He knew men through and through. He knew what drove them. He knew this because He had come to save them from themselves. He knew of their corruption. And He knew of their terrible loneliness. You know, as long as we propel ourselves forward in our own strength, We can kind of pretend that we really don't need help. But in the hardest times of our lives, we're brought up short and we recognize. It may be the death of a parent, it may be an accident where people in our family are killed, or maybe we kill others and we are then under the microscope of public inspection and we feel undone by the gaze of others. We feel utterly alone, utterly cast off, utterly corrupt, utterly unloved. But Jesus had no need of this himself, for he knew what was in men. He knew their iniquity and he knew their need. And he was dedicated to help them and to bless them. I just love this. Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself to them, because he knew all men, and had no need that anyone would testify of man, for he knew what was in man. Was this not the very reason why he came? if he came to save men, that he did not need their acclamation. He did not need their accreditation. He did not come from the Sanhedrin. He did not come from the school of the rabbis. He was a rabbi. He was a teacher. But he was a teacher sent from God, a rabbi revealed from the heavens, a prophet, an Old Testament prophet sent from God. He knew what was in man and he knew that man needed a savior like him. It's so interesting. I've never seen this before. But in these verses, you notice these verses proceed the third chapter of the Gospel of John. And what does the third chapter of the Gospel of John all about? Regeneration. Rebirth. The work of the Spirit of God upon our hearts. And so this is a wonderful introduction. Our Lord Jesus does not need the thoughts of men, the acclamation of men. The men to whom He came, they needed Him desperately! They needed his spirit to rejuvenate and regenerate their lives. And so our Lord Jesus comes. And at the very beginning of his ministry, he receives this acclamation from men. But he will not give himself over to that. Oh, pure Jesus, our pure Savior, this one sent from the heavens who has he cannot be seduced by the popularity and the celebrity of men. How unlike he. How unlike is he than any other man that ever walked the earth? All of us are touched by such acclamation. All of us are. We tend to swoon at the acclamation of men, at popularity, but not our Lord Jesus. And this was one reason why he was so qualified to be our Savior and our Lord. In him you see a purity of thought, a solemnity of purpose. He is dedicated to save us from our sin. He will not let himself be seduced by the common seductions of society, the kind of society that we are in. This past week, for the third time in the hospital, I ministered to a man who brought me to tears about two months ago as I entered his room and found him so lonely and so overcome by a sense of hopelessness and discouragement. He was under the threat of lymphatic cancer. That was his fear. He had lost his job in the last year. Lost his medical insurance, he thought. He had been divorced not too much previously, so he was lonely in the sense of being without human fellowship. He felt utterly abandoned. And that was when I walked in and we began to talk. And I'll call him Robert here. And as I talked with Robert, I saw here was a man who had had everything cut away from his life in terms of security. Everything cut away in terms of security. I know it's a day in which we have to be very careful about offending people, but I thought this man needs some hope and so I began to talk to him about the hope of Christ. And it was dear to see. He was a man who in his heart it appeared that he was utterly bereft of all hope. And so like a drowning man, he reached out for the life preserver. He reached out for these words. And the more I talked about Christ, the more, the more it picked up his heart and his soul until they finally wheeled him off for his surgery, his exploratory surgery. And as they wheeled him off, he even had a smile on his face where there had been hopelessness before. Well, I met him again. About two weeks ago he had another biopsy that they were taking and then I met him Friday once again. The biopsy that he had taken two weeks ago had come back positive. So now he knew that he had lymphatic cancer. So he needed an operation to take that away. I came into his room then the next day after this operation. And he is still, to some degree, I think he is still on a pilgrimage of faith. I am not sure that he has arrived there yet. But, he really is considering these things. I think that he has heard, through the hearing of the ear, I think that he has heard of Christ. And he sees that Christ is his only hope, I spoke to him just Friday, as I said, and mused on the glories of eternal life, and how if the worst of this case, scenario, came to pass, if the worst came to pass, he would look on it, as the Bible says, as a mere superficial affliction, having inherited all for a very small cost. And there's always the possibility that the Lord will be merciful in his cancer treatment and cure him to the degree that he has many more years of life. in this world. But what a difference it makes to consider Christ! What a difference it makes to open the doors of your life and let the light shine in, to consider Christ as He is, to consider Christ as uniquely man. Our Lord Jesus Christ was not seduced by the normal seductions of man. He had a pure and high purpose. He had a dedication. He had a focus. And that was purely upon our salvation, upon our eternal life, so that we could have fellowship with God the Father, which had been ruined by the fall. How lovely! How seductive this is! Let us be seduced by righteousness instead of by sin and evil. And let us look to this Savior, this Lord. He was not one who would simply be who had swooned at the smooth words of men, at their adulation, at their willing to make him a celebrity, because he knew what men needed. He knew himself. He had a zeal for his house, a zeal for the people of God that in the end would consume him. He would sell all. He would give all. He would empty Himself. There was nothing left of Him that He would not give for us, His people, His wicked people, for whom He had set His eyes and His love. Let us rejoice and worship in this Lamb, our Father and our God. Oh, how special Christ is to us. How Christ-like He is. How anointed He is. How messianic He is. How special. How unique. How divine. How human. Bless us, O Lord, in this Savior today. Help us to put on Christ. Help us to live for Him this week. Help us not to make any halfway covenants, whereby we covenant to follow Him, but only up to a point. O Lord, help us to give. Help us to be all in. Help us to give our whole lives, if need be, to follow such a Savior. Help us to leave our nets and chase after Him. Oh, God, help us to be disciples of this Christ. How worthy He is. Worthy is the Lamb, thou didst say, who was slain. And we count this worthiness to be so unique and so special. Bless us, O Lord. as even as we move into the third chapter of the Gospel of John. Bless us with recognizing the uniqueness of Christ, the specialness of Christ, the loveliness, the worthiness. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.