I invite you to open your copy of God's Word to the Gospel of John chapter 2. The Gospel of John in chapter 2. And I want to commence reading from verse 13. John chapter 2, commencing at verse 13. Hear now the Word of the living God. The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them 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 he told those who sold the pigeons, Take these things away. Do not make my father's house a house of trade. His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your house will consume me. So the Jews said to him, What sign do you show us for doing these things? Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews said then, It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days? but he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus, on his part, did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. Thus far, the reading of God's holy and inerrant word. Well, we find our Lord Jesus Christ at the Passover, His first Passover in Jerusalem. He will be here four more or three more times. And we notice here that as He arrives in Jerusalem, the very first thing He does is cleanse the temple of all of its defilements. Of course, for most of us, this scene is very familiar. And it's also a very violent and a graphic scene, as Jesus makes a whip of cords and drives out all those who are selling animals for sacrifices, and overturns the tables of the money changers, and rebukes them for defiling the temple of the Lord, which was to be called the house of prayer. Now, what follows after this scene is also a very familiar story to most of us. It is the discourse between Jesus and Nicodemus in chapter 3. You remember, as Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night, and he tries to inquire about the power that Jesus possesses, and tries to understand who He really is. But in between these two stories, the apostle John, makes an important commentary for us that is so easily overlooked as we rush on to the story of Nicodemus. And it is found in these three verses, from verse 23 to verse 25. Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus, on His part, did not entrust Himself to them, because He knew all people, and needed no one to bear witness about men. For He Himself knew what was in men." The title of this message this morning is, Saving Faith. Now we, I hope, all know that the Gospel consists of faith in Jesus Christ. that the only way that man may be reconciled and justified before the Almighty God is by putting his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and by faith alone have peace and reconciliation with God the Father. It is that unmerited favor of God bestowed upon the sinner that brings us to a saving relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We fully affirm the words of John 3, verse 16, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that all those who believe in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. But the topic which I want to consider with you this morning is not so much how we are justified, how we are made right with God, but what is the nature of this faith by which we are justified, by which we are reconciled with God. What does it mean to believe in Jesus? We know that the goal of the Apostle Paul in this whole Gospel of John is, we read in John 20, 31, is that you may believe that Jesus is Christ, and that believing you may have life in His name. And so it is absolutely vital for us, brothers and sisters, to understand the nature of saving faith. What does it mean to believe in Jesus? Such that it would lead you to eternal life. Because you see, very early on in the Gospel of John, we notice that there is a kind of faith that does not save. In fact, this theme of saving faith runs all throughout this Gospel of John. As he begins to unravel and unpack for us the reality that there are many who seemingly believe in Jesus, And yet Jesus does not entrust Himself to them. Notice in verse 24, verse 24 of John, when Jesus responds to Or John explains how Jesus responds to the many who believed in His name. He says that Jesus, on His part, did not entrust Himself to them. And this word, entrust, is the same root word that is used in the previous verse, verse 23, of the many believing in His name. such that you can say that Jesus did not believe their believing, or Jesus did not trust their trusting. And so we ask the question, why is it that Jesus would not entrust Himself to these many people in Jerusalem who seemingly believed in Him? This, of course, is a topic that is very seldomly addressed in the church today. You will hear across our nation, in many pulpits even today, calling people to believe in Jesus, believe in Jesus, and yet say very little about what it means to believe in Jesus. Very little about the reality that it is possible to have a faith that is ultimately not saving, that is ultimately condemned by God. What makes Jesus entrust Himself to people? We know that there are people to whom he did entrust himself, even in the Gospel of John. He entrusted himself to Nathanael. We read, look for example at chapter 1, verse 47. He says of Nathanael, Jesus entrusted Himself to Nathanael. Jesus entrusted Himself to His disciples. He entrusted Himself to the Samaritan woman at the well in John chapter 4. And so what would cause Christ not to entrust Himself to these many people who noticed, not only believed, but they believed, we read, in His name. Now, that's a very strong expression of faith, is it not? To believe in His name. Not just in the abstract, but in His name. We'll later read in the Acts of the Apostles that the disciples will cast out demons in His name. They will give sight to the blind in His name. And even again, the goal of the apostle John in writing his gospel account is that by believing, you may have life in His name. And yet it appears here that you can believe in His name and not have life in His name. So what is saving faith? What is a faith that is accepted in the sight of God? Well, before we answer that question directly, I want to consider with you three characteristics of a counterfeit faith as we find it here in this passage. Three characteristics of a faith that might appear to be saving. but ultimately comes short of the real thing. Now I remind you again that Jesus has just cleansed the temple. He has done a very violent disruption of peace in the temple. And you might ask yourself at this point, why would anybody believe in His name after He has upset the peace in society and questioned the established authority and the social norms? Were the Jews just looking for a political revolutionary? who would uproot the religious order of the day? Well, not exactly. Of course, the Jews were looking and anticipating the Messiah to be a revolutionary who would free them from Roman oppression, but they did not expect the Messiah to come and to question their established religion. The answer to the question really comes right there in verse 23. We read that they saw the signs. They saw the signs. And this brings us to the first characteristic of a counterfeit faith. And that is, a counterfeit faith is motivated by that which is external. A counterfeit faith is motivated by the external. And we see this again and again in the Gospel of John. Notice, for example, in John 6, verse 14. We read that when the people saw the sign that he had done, that is the feeding of the 5,000, they said, this indeed is the prophet who has come into the world. Or, for example, John 7, verse 31. Yet many of the people believed in him. And they said, when Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done? You see, they believed in Jesus as a great miracle worker, but He was not the Messiah. They were attracted by the signs. And you know, beloved, people will always gravitate towards the spectacular. People will always gravitate to that which draws a crowd, which excites the external senses of man. Nicodemus was such a man initially. That's why he comes to Jesus by night. He saw the signs and he even says that he recognizes he is a man who had come from God. He cannot deny the power which he saw Christ exercises, exercising. And yet Jesus did not entrust himself to Nicodemus. because he recognized that Nicodemus was looking to Christ more for his external power than the salvation that he can bring him to his soul. He did not see beyond the signs. And so it is today with many people. A non-saving faith is satisfied with the external satisfaction, the external manipulation of the senses. That immediate pleasure that you can receive by a spectacle, by a sign, even as we see to this very day. Consider the modern church today. Consider the Protestant church today. You know, our Protestant forefathers labored diligently to cleanse themselves of the visually oriented worship of Roman Catholicism, of the robes and the priests and the candles, the images, and to worship God with the Word of God at the center. The simple worship of Scripture-centered religion. And yet, what do we see today? More and more in the modern evangelical movement, worship is motivated by that which is external. Worship is motivated by the visual sensation and the musical power. that can be brought about and that can trigger and excite our external senses. Notice that these many people in Jerusalem, it doesn't say that they believed in Him because of the word He preached. For Christ did preach with every sign that He performed. We know that all of His miracles, all of His signs were accompanied by the word. But instead it says that they believed not because of the word preached, but because of the signs which He performed. And so a non-saving faith, a counterfeit faith, is motivated by the external and the spectacular. But notice, secondly, a counterfeit faith is oriented on the immediate benefits of Christ and not upon Christ himself. Think about it. What kind of signs did Jesus perform? Well, largely, these were healings. Christ cast out demons. He fed massive crowds of people. He brought people relief. He addressed their temporal needs. Now, the signs were not wrong in and of themselves. We know that the signs were given by God to testify concerning the ministry of Christ and validate His ministry. We read in John 10, verse 37, Jesus says, If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father. You see, the signs were never an end unto themselves. The signs were given as a means to direct the attention of the people to the person and the work of Jesus Christ, that they may know and understand. But as is so often the case, man is easily drawn by the benefits of Christ, and the benefits of Christ eclipse the person of Christ. Let me ask you today, what attracts you to Christianity? Is it its ethical standard? Is it its morality? Is it Christian community? Is it its historical roots? Has it brought you freedom from some kind of an addiction, dependence? Or has Christianity attracted you and attracts you primarily through Christ and for who Christ is? I think of the Word of Faith movement as a great example of this. You know, the Word of Faith movement promises you health and wealth if you are just to have enough faith to release the power of God and to move mountains. And so many people come to these revival meetings and they believe in the name of Jesus, it seems, and earnestly cry out for the power of God to be manifest in them. And yet Christ does not commit himself to them. Because they don't know the first steps of Christianity. As Christ says, my power is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12 9. And in the final analysis of things, what these people are doing is putting their faith in the benefits that Christ could procure, rather than Christ himself. This is a faith that will not save. This is a faith that these many people possessed. They saw the signs, they were captivated, and they acknowledged Christ as a great prophet, as a great miracle worker. but they did not submit to Him as Savior and Lord." And so a counterfeit faith is motivated by the external and it is oriented on the benefits of Christ rather than on the person of Christ Himself. And then lastly, and by implication, Notice that a counterfeit faith ultimately is a faith that does not last. This is that second rocky soil of which we read of this morning in Matthew 13, verse 20. Jesus explains, "...that which was sown on the rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it." Receiving the word, isn't that faith? and receives it even with joy, we read, 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. And so we read of these many Jews in Jerusalem who believed in Jesus. Their faith did not last. How do we know that? Well, notice there's nothing said about them becoming the disciples of Christ. There's nothing said about them following Him. And of course, most importantly, there is nothing said about Christ entrusting Himself to them. In fact, the very contrary is said regarding them. They had some species of faith, and we have to acknowledge that. The Apostle John says that they believed in His name, and yet it was a faith that was not saving, because it was a faith that did not last. And so we see here, brothers and sisters, here is the ultimate test of the genuineness of one's faith. Does it last? Does it persevere? You know, out of these three negative qualities of a non-saving faith, it is only this last one that we can really discern in somebody else. I might not know what really motivates you to be a Christian. I might not know what you are oriented as a Christian, whether on Christ or secondary benefits that come from Christ. But you know, the one thing that I can tell is whether you believe today as you profess to believe 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago. And this is why, brothers and sisters, it is so important for us as we consider our own spiritual condition. That we don't rest by looking back to a time in history when we first publicly professed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. But we ask the question, am I believing today? Am I putting my trust in the Lord Jesus Christ today? For that is a much more sign, much more stronger sign of a saving faith. So what then is saving faith? Well, I could take these three negative qualities and reverse them and consider saving faith positively, but I want to do something different with you this morning and consider saving faith from the perspective of the three primary faculties of the soul. The mind, the affections, and the will. And of course, it begins with the mind, our intellect. Saving faith is a faith that is grounded in objective truth, right? You must have some conception, some understanding of the gospel in order to believe it. And so a saving faith must have and grasp the gospel and grasp and understand Christ with the mind. You must understand something about who God is as the creator of the universe, as the one who is holy and just. You must understand something about mankind, particularly fallen mankind, as sinful, alienated from God. A hater of God, a rebel against God. And of course, you must understand with your mind something of the person and the work of Christ. And you know, for the Jews, they could affirm much of what we would consider gospel essentials. The Jews did not reject the centrality of God. They believed in the scriptures. They believed in the one true God of the Bible. They even, we read again, acknowledged that Jesus was a powerful man and were persuaded by his miraculous power. And yet, where did they come short in their understanding? It was in their understanding of who Jesus Christ really is. They didn't embrace Him as the second person of the blessed Holy Trinity. They didn't embrace Him as the one, as we read in verses 24 to 25, one who knew all men and even knew what was in man. Do you know what is in man? No one can know what is in man. Many people often ask themselves today, what is in the heart of Putin in this war with Ukraine? And you know the truth? Nobody really knows. No one knows the heart of men. Even his closest advisors cannot really know what is in his heart. And as we consider Scripture, we look at the man who is considered the most wise man of the Old Testament, Solomon, who wrote much of the wisdom of the Old Testament. Solomon himself, the wisest man, could only judge based on appearance and external actions of other men. As you read the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, you will find again and again that the advice he gives is advice that we can only make based on what people say, how people act. And remember when those two women came to Solomon and both claiming to be the mother of that living child. Solomon didn't know whose child it really was. He had to conduct a test. He had to figure out by external means to whom the child belonged. But you know what? Jesus Christ knows all things. Jesus Christ doesn't need to run a test to figure out what has happened or will happen. And Jesus Christ not only knows all things in time and history, we read that He knows what is in man, the innermost parts of man. He knows whether you truly believe. He knows if you possess a saving faith. and where your faith is oriented. And this is a Christ in whom the Jews did not believe. The Christ who is the God-man. God come in the flesh to rescue sinners. Do you believe in such a Jesus? Is this the one in whom you put your trust in? with the mind. Saving faith embraces Christ with the mind, the whole Christ, the God-man. And secondly, saving faith embraces Christ with the heart. That is to say, saving faith has an experiential dimension to it. Saving faith is not merely an intellectual, mental ascent to propositional truth. Saving faith is always accompanied with love for Christ. And brothers and sisters, in the 20th, 21st century, this is where we often come short. Because we live in such a rationalistic age that we can minimize this aspect, this dimension of saving faith and just our Christian experience as a whole. A love for Christ. Love for the one who is our Savior. We can put great emphasis on justification by faith and faith alone, and rightly so. But we often forget that justification is preceded by regeneration. This is what Christ explains to Nicodemus in chapter 3 of John. Regeneration precedes faith. We were once dead in sin, haters of God, alienated from God. We could understand the gospel propositionally and explain it to somebody else, but it is only when the Holy Spirit takes hold of our hearts and brings life into where there was deadness that we look at Christ and we see Him as the one who is to be desired. as the lover of my soul. And it is only then that we can truly trust Him for who He is, for what He has done. Saving faith is not only cognitive, it is also affectionate. Trust lays hold of Christ with the mind, and love lays hold of Christ with the heart. Romans 5.5 says that hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. As we come to understand the love of God for us, we cannot help but love Him and love Christ in return. Consider Romans 8.28, a passage that I'm sure many of you know by heart. What does it say? We know that for those who trust God, now it says, for those who love God, all things work together for good. 1 Corinthians 2.9, As it is written, What no eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor the heart of man has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him. Eternal life is given to those who love God, who love Christ. Or 1 Corinthians 8.3, But if anyone loves God, He is known by God. You see, saving faith is experiential. There is this affection for Christ. It is not a mere intellectual ascent to certain propositional truth. It is not even a love for the gospel itself. It is a love for Christ. James 1.12, blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he had stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him and who love his Christ. You see, saving faith is a wholehearted devotion to Christ. I think of the example of Ruth as she clung to Naomi, willing to give up her idols, willing to give up her homeland, as she expressed to Naomi that your people will be my people, and your God, my God. You see, that is a love for Christ. That is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what the Apostle Paul prayed for in the Gospel or in the Epistle to the Ephesians in chapter 3. In his second prayer, we read there in verse 17, he prays that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge." You cannot have saving faith without love. You cannot truly believe in Christ without loving Christ. This is why, brothers and sisters, when we seek to evangelize our neighbors, our friends, our families, we should not only be calling people to put their trust in Christ, we should be calling people to love Christ, to find Him as the one who satisfies the desires of the soul, to find Him as the one who truly brings delight to our hearts, as the one in whom you can truly rejoice and have the peace and joy by loving Him, which this world does not know and does not understand. This, beloved, is the difference between dead orthodoxy and a living Christian relationship with Christ, a Christianity of the heart. And thirdly and finally, notice that saving faith not only embraces Christ with the mind, and it not only embraces Christ with the heart, but it embraces Christ with the will. Saving faith is not merely a passive acceptance of the truth. It is not merely a mystical experience of God. No, saving faith involves our will, as it does, by the way, in all of our lives. Whatever we do, the way that we live our lives, our mind, our affections, and our will is always engaged. Think of the first sin with Eve in Genesis 3, verse 6. We read there that when the women saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit and ate. All three faculties were engaged. She saw the tree was good. She had some understanding of its goodness. She desired it with her heart, and then we read, she took of it. There's her will being engaged. And so when we think of saving faith, we have to understand that saving faith is not a passive acceptance of the truth. It's not just a mystical experience of God. Saving faith involves the will. Think of the call of the gospel. What is the call of the gospel? Come. Come and taste and see that the Lord is good. What does the Lord Jesus say? Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. We sing the hymn, Come, ye sinners, poor and needy. Come, ye needy, come and welcome. God's free bounty glorify. True belief and true repentance, every grace that brings you nigh, without money, without money, come to Jesus Christ and buy. You see, coming is identified with placing your faith in Christ. And that is where particularly we place the emphasis upon the will. Notice what Jesus says, again in the Gospel of John, chapter 5, verse 39. He says to the Jews, you search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. And it is they that bear witness about me. Yet, verse 40, you refuse to come to me that you may have life. They believe the Scriptures. They comprehended the truth with their mind, and yet they refused to come. Their will was not engaged. They were not ready to commit. And brothers and sisters, this is so important. This element of commitment is particularly the characteristic of our will being engaged in saving faith. Open with me your copy of God's Word to John chapter 12. You notice that much of what I am sharing with you this morning comes from the Gospel of John. And in John chapter 12, verse 42, notice what it said. Many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue. And then verse 43, very sobering words, for they loved the glory that comes from men more than the glory that comes from God. They believed. But they did not confess. They did not commit. And so Christ would not entrust himself to them. B.B. Warfield said that it is saving faith is an absolute transference of trust from ourselves to another, a complete self-surrender to Christ. No reserve, no regrets. This is why, brothers and sisters, obedience, which is not to be identified with the will or with saving faith, but obedience is inevitable. Inevitable. And good works are inevitable, not only because we read in James 2.20 that faith without works is dead, but it's inevitable because it reflects the very constitution of our human nature. That which we believe is that which we desire and that which we are willing to stand behind. A conviction that is willing and ready to act upon what it believes. And so what is saving faith? Saving faith is a faith that takes hold of the whole Christ. It takes hold of the whole Christ in His person, in His work, and in all of His precepts. Saving faith doesn't look to Scripture and it says that, you know, I'll believe certain things that God commands me to obey or to live in light of. No, it embraces Christ in all His person and in all His precepts with love and joy. This is why, brothers and sisters, we should always be hesitant in so quickly embracing somebody who professes to be a Christian, who says they believe. Is that a faith that is willing to follow Christ? Is that a faith behind which the will is engaged? Whitefield in his own time and reflecting upon his many years of evangelism in his later years says this. He says, This makes me so cautious now, which I was not thirty years ago, of dubbing converts too soon. I love now to wait a little, and see if people bring forth fruit. For there are so many blossoms which March winds blow away, and I cannot believe they are converts till I see fruit brought back. It will never do a sincere soul any harm to wait. And brothers and sisters, this is one of the ways in which we can know that Nicodemus eventually did come to possess saving faith. Because he was willing to stand for Christ when it was least popular and most dangerous for him to do so. Does our law allow to condemn a man before hearing him out? And He was there when all the disciples fled to take care of the crucified body of Christ and in His burial. That is a saving faith, a saving faith that is willing to commit, a saving faith that is willing to take the risk that is involved in following Christ. So let me ask you here this morning, have you taken hold of Christ with your mind, with your heart and with your will? Do you embrace him as the one who's revealed himself in scripture, as the God man who has come into this world, who perfectly obey the law of God? who went to the cross and was crucified for our sins and who was raised on the third day and ascended back to the glory of his Father. Do you embrace him with your heart? Do you see him as the desire of your heart, as the one who is beautiful and who is lovely and who brings you lasting joy? And are you willing to follow Him wherever He leads, wherever His word leads, even if it means to the point of death? Many of our brothers and sisters in Ukraine are doing just that today, going into war zones to help the Christians who are locked or blocked, who need the necessary supplies for their living substance, It might not be the case for many of us that we will have to stand at the brink of making that decision, life or death, on behalf of Christ. But brothers and sisters, it is a decision that we are to be ready to make and are willing to make if the Lord would have us so in His providence. And if these characteristics of the mind and heart laying hold of Christ characterize you today, brother or sister, it is a good sign that you have saving faith. But my dear friend, if you are here and you cannot affirm this about yourself, I want to let you know that today, today is the day of salvation. Do not harden your heart as you hear His voice. Come to Him. Come to Him and live. Embrace the truth of the gospel that there is salvation in no other name but in the Lord Jesus Christ. Cast yourself upon Him, and you will find Him to be a perfect Savior. May that be the case of all of us here this morning. Amen. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, You are a gracious God who is long-suffering, who is not willing that any should perish, that all would come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray, O Lord, that You would be at work in our midst even this morning, that as we search our own hearts, And as we see that there are areas where we have fallen short, where our love has grown dull and cold. that You would grant repentance, and that You would revive our souls to see Christ as the lover of our souls, as the one who is most to be desired, as the one who brings satisfaction and joy to us. And Lord, we pray especially for those in our midst who are yet far from You, that you would be a work in their hearts, that you would show them Christ in His fullness, that you would show them the misery of their own condition and sin, and cause them to believe in Him, and bring them to a saving knowledge of the Lord. that we may all rejoice to know that your salvation is to this day going forth into the nations and in our midst. We pray all this, Lord, in the precious name of Jesus Christ. Amen.