The Temporary Believer
A Sermon on John 2:23-25
Scripture
23Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name as they observed His signs which He was doing. 24But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, because He knew all people, 25and because He did not …
23¶ Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. 24But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, 25And needed not that any …
Sermon Description
What do Jesus’s miracles mean to the Christian? Did they bring the Christian to faith, or are they simply impressed by them? In this sermon on John 2:23–25 titled “The Temporary Believer,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones expresses the danger of believing in Christ solely based on spectacle. True believers come to Christ because of who He is, not merely for the miracles He performed. Many came to faith after seeing Christ’s miracles, but they did so in confession of sin because they realized their spiritual state in relation to God. Faith in the signs Christ performed did not lead people to salvation, but faith in the God who performed them did. Dr. Lloyd-Jones clarifies that God’s word, not wonders, leads people to faith. The distinction is important: wonders are phenomenal to behold, but God’s word articulates the truth of Christ to needful souls. This means that Christ’s teaching about His person and the good news was what brought people to Him, and miracles were further affirmation of His legitimacy. Dr. Lloyd-Jones also exhorts his listeners that they must believe “on” Jesus, not merely “in” Him. The difference, he explains, is that those who believe on Jesus are trusting Him with their souls; those who believe in Jesus merely trust Him to be a spectacle.
The Book of John
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.