God Knows

God Knows, John 2:23-25

• Intro to series. “Believing Life.” Our theme is the same as the writer of the Gospel.
  • Apostle John, one of Jesus’ closet disciples. He is explicit with the point of his writing. 
    • these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:31
  • True belief in the true Jesus. Authentic faith in an authentic savior. 
• Invite Trina up. John 2:23-25, “Please stand for the reading of God’s word.”
  • Imagine a man with 2 sons…
  • My main point this morning is “God Knows”. 
    • All Knowing & ever-present. Omnipresent & Omniscient.  
    • Psalm 139 clearly conveys this idea; That God knows, and not just generally, like the ultimate trivia partner, but personally.  
• O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.  Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.  Psalm 139:1–10
  • God Knows. 
• For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:12–13
• God Knows. Does that scare you? Or does it comfort you? 
  • It should scare all of us a little. It can be a source of great fear, that all the intentions and motives of the heart, all the things you’ve done, all the things done to you, all the sources of shame, fear, guilt, will be exposed to the one who judges with a righteous rule.  Right side, “God Knows! Oh no!” OR, it can be a source of great comfort [Left side] God knows. 
    • The difference between the 2 are separated by authentic faith. And God knows!!! 
  • Even as a man, Jesus walked the earth as God in the flesh, he knew. 
• Read Vs. 23-24
  • As the New American Commentary said, “Jesus did not believe their believing” 
    • They came to Christ for something other than why he came. He came to save sinners, to deliver them from their sin, they believed in him for something else. 
    • They were believing unbelievers. People who claim to be Christians but are not. 
• “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:21–23
• They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 1 John 2:19
  • Our Friend: dislocated my wife finger playing basketball. AB, white supremacist, now radically serving Jesus. Met a girl, got back into old habits, the last I saw him was a picture on an arrest page. He got in a bar fight and was arrested with possessions of drugs and paraphernalia.     
• Insecure vs secure, how do I know? Can you know? 
  • I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 1 John 5:13–14
  • And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6
  • Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. John 10:25–29
    • Sealed with the promised Holy Spirit! Ephes. 1 and NOTHING will separate us from his love according to Romans 8. 
• So how can we know? Have faith! 
  • But even in saying that I realize that many will turn that to works. “I just need more faith; Read more, pray more, serve more! Let’s do this!!! 
• Authentic faith is not quantity, it’s quality. It’s not complex, it’s simple. 
  • Have you been born again? GOSPEL! Do you believe? 
    • Then you are a son or daughter of the living God and his love for you will never end. Do you believe it? 
• Eternal security & Perseverance of the Saints.  
  • It’s not “if you persevere then you will be born again”, it’s if you are born again, you will preserve! 
• Read Vs. 24
  • q“Did not entrust himself”. This is pre-crucifiction and resurrection. It’s before the work of the cross and it’s no small coincidence that this statement is right before Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus where he states, you must be born again. 
  • BUT, when you are born again, then Jesus “entrusts” himself to you. He takes residence in you, entrusts you with the message of salvation, why? Because you are new! A new creation, a new human, sin forgiven and the righteousness of Christ himself covers you. 
• Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17
  • “The great reward of faith in Christ is the faith of Christ” The Pulpit Commentary 
    • The great reward of trusting in Christ, is that Jesus entrusts you
    • Believing in Christ, Christ believes in you! 
• I have talked about 2 categories, unbelieving believers and born again believers. 
  • My hope is not to make you feel insecure about your faith, but to secure your faith. 
    • Do born again Christians struggle believing that God loves them just as they are? 
• Read Vs. 25
• No one needed to tell Jesus that man was sinful.
• “We as humans often experience the frustration of learning time and again that those humans we think we can count on are in fact not very dependable. But the Son of God did not need any lessons in the results of human sin. Human sin was the reason why the Son of God came to the world..” New American Standard Commentary
  • As a father, I will fail my sons. As a Pastor, I will fail the people I shepherd. Why? Because I am in need of grace just like the rest of us. 
  • All human relationships this side of heaven have some sort of sin involved.  
    • That is why it is so hard to fathom God’s unconditional love for us. 
  • Insecure vs. secure, GOD KNOWS
    • God knows your faith, your struggles, your fears, your sin, and he still loves you as a son. Believe it. 

Communion