Full of Empty Religion

One man was speaking to another man and said, what do you think is the biggest problem in the church today? The other guy was a little disturbed by the question he had his mind on other things. Really didn't want to talk about that. And he said, well, I don't know and I don't care. And his answer was probably spot on. What's the biggest problem in the church today? Maybe it is. I don't know. And I don't care. Spiritual ignorance and spiritual apathy. It could be that that man unintentionally put his finger on what really is the problem in churches across the country, across the world today. Spiritual ignorance, ignorant of the Bible, and spiritual apathy. Not really understanding what God is doing and not really caring anyway because so many other things are crowding in. Well, it is those very attitudes that Jesus faced on his first ministry trip to Jerusalem. The first trip he took to Jerusalem after entering his ministry is recorded for us in John chapter 2. That's where we find ourselves this morning in our journey through the gospel of John. It is one of those occasions where Jesus will cleanse the temple. He does it twice in his ministry here at the very beginning of his ministry and then at the very end in the last week of his ministry, he will do it again. But Jesus comes comes upon a scene. Pardon me. Comes upon a scene in Jerusalem that is one that grips his heart and causes him to realize the need to challenge the people that he sees. I like the way that singer's songwriter Michael Card has pictured this scene. Week from the journey, the long traveling days, hungry to worship, to join in the praise. Shock met with anger that burned on his face as he entered the wasteland of that barren place. And the lamb is a lion who's roaring with rage at the empty religion that's filling their days. They'll flee from the harm of the carpenter's strong arm and come to know the scourging anger of the Lord. I think he put his finger on the emotion and the passion and the feeling of this day when Jesus comes to Jerusalem and defines a scene that stirs his anger. And as he cleanses the temple, you see not the lamb, but you see the lion, the lion of Judah, the one who rages out against empty religion. He encountered three groups of people and the passage focuses on those three groups of people. If you'll just notice them quickly in verse 14, the first group is the people he found in the temple courts selling cattle, sheep and doves. So he met the merchants in the temple. That's the first group of people he met. The second group of people he meets is in verse 18, the Jews. And we've already seen in the book of John that refers to the Jewish leaders, the religious leaders, political leaders who were against everything Jesus did. And so they were opposed to him. This is not just the average Jew in the temple. He will meet up with the religious leaders once again. And then the third group of people, verse 23, are people who saw the signs that he did and believed, quote unquote, in his name. The three groups of people that Jesus encounters in Jerusalem really represent three forms of empty religion. And I want us to come face to face with empty religion this morning. In fact, I want us to look into the mirror to see whether or not we may fit one or more of these groups because it is quite possible that what we have is not the genuine article. It's not the real thing. It's not a real life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ as much as it is an empty religion. And we will see today if we fit in one of those categories. The first group that Jesus meets, I'm going to call the profane. The profane, those, that's a good Bible word, by the way, and I did not say profane. Profane. A profane person is a person who has very little, if any concern for spiritual things because they really have no heart for spiritual things. Their lives are focused on everything else but spiritual things. The Bible uses that word of Esau and Hebrews chapter 12. He is a profane man. Why? Because he was willing to sell his birthright. Say what is that? A birth certificate or what is that? Well, no, the birthright and Hebrew family was the right of the first born to become the leader of the family, to be the spiritual leader of the family, provide spiritual guidance for the family, lead and guide and take care of the family. That was the birthright of the oldest son. And he was willing to sell that for one meal because he was hungry. An example of someone who's more concerned about physical material things than he is about spiritual things. In fact, it's very little stock in spiritual things because the heart and mind is consumed with everything else around him or her. That's a profane person. When we think of the word profane, we think of profanity. We think of someone using curse words. That's not really the meaning of the word. Using a curse word basically is an example of being a profane person because you take something very serious and treat it lightly. You take the name of God and use it lightly. You talk about hell as if it's not a real place. You use the word damn, which is a word of condemning people to eternal punishment. And you take that word lightly. It's an evidence of a profane person is to use those words in that way. But profanity is lived out, not just spoken. And it was certainly lived out by the first group that Jesus came in contact with here in this chapter. Let's pick up the story where we left off in verse 12. After this, speaking of the changing of the water into wine, of the wedding in Canaan, after this, he went down to cappernum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. And they stayed for a few days. Jesus will make cappernum his center of ministry as basis for operations throughout his great Galilee and ministry, 18 months of intense ministry in northern Israel. It was not his hometown. It was the hometown of Peter and James and John and Andrew, but it was not his hometown. But nevertheless, he settles there. Settles there with his disciples with his mother and with his brothers. And by the way, Jesus did have brothers and Mark three tells us sisters. Actually, half brothers, half sisters, same mother, Mary, but not the same father. God was Jesus' father. Joseph was the father of these other siblings in the family. And they were half brothers and half sisters of our Lord. But verse 13 says, when it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. This will be the first journey to Jerusalem since he has begun his ministry. None of the other gospels tell us about this. The first four chapters of John are unique to John and tell us more about Jesus' early ministry. So he's going up to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. That great gathering of people from all over Israel, even all over the world, Jews who will come to remember how God delivered them from Egypt and brought them out of that land and gave them their own land. And there were ceremonies and services in the temple to remember God's great deliverance of them and taking them as his people. It's a very spiritual time, but I want you to see what Jesus saw. Look at what he saw in verse 14. In the temple courts, he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So Jesus walks into the temple and he sees these money changers with their money changing booths set up. He sees people selling animals from animal pins inside the temple and they're selling animals for sacrifices. Now this is something that was necessary for Jewish people coming from many parts of the world. It was necessary for them to exchange their money in order to be able to pay the temple tax. Temple tax was a couple of shekels and they had to get Hebrew money to be able to pay that, some of them came from other parts of the Roman Empire and they brought Roman money which had the image of Caesar on it that was considered unclean in the temple because it was considered an idol, an image which was forbidden by the mosaic. Oh, and so they had to change money. It was an important service that was being given here to the people and they had to buy sacrifices. You couldn't always bring an animal with you if you came from a far distance. You couldn't bring your animals with you so you had to buy animals. It was a good service. It was being provided but it was where it was being done and how it was being done that absolutely enraged Jesus and it indicated to him the profane hearts of the people who were engaged in this business. First of all, where it was done, it was in the temple of all places. I mean, couldn't you set up your cart outside the temple? Couldn't you set it up somewhere in a city street in Jerusalem but inside the temple? In order for us to really understand this, I put a couple of pictures on the screen so you can understand what we're talking about. I know this one may be a little hard for those of you in the back to see but this is the temple complex, the largest building and area inside the city of Jerusalem. This is what it would have looked like in Jesus' day. This is the actual temple itself where all the sacrifices were made back at the back part of this building is the Holy of Holies where the high priest would offer the blood once a year to cover the sins of the people. But there were huge courts outside, court of the Jews, court of the women and then the court of the Gentiles. This large exterior area here behind this wall out in this area is the court of the Gentiles and it was probably there that Jesus found these money changers and animal merchants selling their wares to another little bit closer look at the temple. This is the building itself with the Holy of Holies the veil. This is where all the priests would minister. Here's the court of the Jews, the court of the women and then outside, again, outside this wall is the court of the Gentiles. It was probably in that area that these booths and pins had been set up to do all this merchandise. But that had become basically a carnival type atmosphere. It had become a thoroughfare for people walking back and forth and it was supposed to be a place of worship for the Gentiles. It was the only place in the temple the Gentiles could come. And if they wanted to worship God as they observed Israel and their relationship with God and maybe some of them had become proselytes. Jewish proselytes had come to the faith in the true God. They would come to that part of the temple to worship. But it was a carnival. It was a circus and it was no place for any kind of testimony or worship. Worse yet it was a place of greed and corruption. It was all kinds of stuff going on in those marketplaces. The money changers would charge a half days wages to just exchange one shackle. They knew they had people. There was no competition. You had to exchange your money. And so they charged exorbitant fees. A whole days wages for the two shackles it would take to pay the temple tax. And so greed and corruption and graph were rampant. Anus the high priest would actually sell franchises. You know like a KFC or a chickfulade sell a franchise in the temple for someone to open a sheep pin or sell doves or to have a money changing table. So much so that the people who were so fed up with this called the temple courts the Bazaars of Anus. It's literally a Bazaar. It's like going to a shopping mall. There were inspectors of animals that would inspect an animal if you did bring it to make sure it was appropriate for sacrifice. They almost always found something wrong with it so that you would be forced to buy one at their market. Of course at the highest possible price. And so that's what Jesus saw. It's not just a service being provided to the Jews which was necessary in that day. He saw greed and corruption and graft spread throughout this process. Exportion and the temple courts themselves had become a circus like atmosphere. A carnival like atmosphere with the sounds of bartering and haggling over prices and animal noises and stenches and it was just horrible in Jesus' mind. And so what he's seeing is profane people. People who have more concern over getting a buck even if they do it unjustly and unethically than worshipping God. It is physical material things that are more important than the spiritual aspect of worshipping in the temple. And he was enraged by that. And so notice what he did. Verse 15 tells us what he did. So he made a whip out of chords and drove all from the temple courts both sheep and cattle. He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables to those who sold doves. He said get these out of here. Stop turning my father's house into a market. His disciples remembered that it is written. Zeal for your house will consume me. So what does Jesus do? Based on what he has seen not only externally but he knows the hearts of all of those who are engaged in this unethical business enterprise. Based on what he has seen he moves into action. Probably strands of rope that had been left on the ground from the tying up of animals. He gathers a few of those makes himself a makeshift whip and he starts driving the people out of the temple. Overturning the tables of the money changers. This is not the meek and gentle Jesus that we sing about sometimes. This is not the lamb who does not speak. He will be that. But right now he is the lion. He is the carpenter who is flexing his strong carpenter's arm to rid the temple of profanity. And as he does so he says get these out of here. Stop turning my father's house into a market. He was jealous for God's house to be set apart to be a place of worship. That is what was intended to be. He was jealous for people who would come with hearts right with God longing to see God and to know Him and to love Him and to worship Him. That is what he wanted to see and he sees a carnival in the temple. No wonder he is angry. And so Jesus drives them out by saying my father he is making a claim to being the Messiah. In fact for those who were observant they should have been able to see he was fulfilling the Old Testament prophecy about what Messiah would do when he came to his temple. The prophet Malachi in Malachi 3 says this, I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me. That is fulfilled in John the Baptist. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant whom you desire will come says the Lord Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. He will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness. That is what the Lord would do when he comes to his temple. And Jesus is fulfilling that. He is laying down the claim to being the Messiah to having the authority because this is his father's house and he is ridding it of profanity and uncleanness. So Jesus steps into action, swings into action to show who he is. And the disciples would be immediately impressed with another Old Testament passage about the Messiah in Psalm 69 which says the zeal for your house will consume me. When they saw Jesus I can just imagine after he's finished and he's standing there breathing heavily from the exertion with the whip still in his strong arm and they look at him and they can see it is zeal for God's house that has moved him to do what he's done. I wonder though is there any application to us from this? We don't worship in a temple. We don't have money changers or animals. Is there really any application to us when we think about what it means to be profane? I fear that there might be in my own life maybe in yours as well. It is possible for us to be profane when we use religion for personal gain. When the only reason we identify with religious people come to church, attend church is what we can get out of it. Is the staturate may give us or it pleases our family or it gives us some standing in the community or some people identify with religion because it promises health and wealth and many other things that may come along with being religious. They are profane. Profane to seek anything other than the glory of God, the glory of Jesus Christ, that ought to be our whole intent and purpose when we gather. Is to glorify the Lord Jesus, to lift him up, to sing his praises, to call out to him in prayer, to give our gifts to him sacrificially so that his work will be blessed. To hear from his word, that's what we're here for. Coming to church is not an exercise and what can I get for me? How will it benefit my life? It is how can I give myself holy to the one who deserves all the glory in the world? There we be profane people when we come to church. But there's another way that profanity may strike even in our own culture and that is when the church becomes worldly, when the church becomes consumed with material and physical blessings or things, buildings, property, when that becomes the focus. The focus is not on buildings, the focus is not on property, the focus is not on the newest this or that or the other. The focus can be on tools that will help us to glorify God and to worship Christ and to serve him better. That's what we're all about. But a church can easily slip into profanity when the preaching and teaching of the word and study of the word of God gives way to nothing more than a social gathering with a social agenda. Church can become profane when prayer and earnestly seeking God is replaced by working angles, pulling strings to get what we want. A church can become profane when a heart for missions is consumed and replaced by a desire for more stuff for us. It is possible for a church to become profane and to care more about material, physical blessings than about the blesser himself. But it's also possible for each of us to become profane in another way. And that is becoming legalistic about buildings and forgetting where the real temple of God is in this day. You know what the real temple of God is? It is not this building. It's you. If you know Jesus as your Savior, you are, His temple, Paul reminds us of that in 1 Corinthians 6. When he says, what? No, you're not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which you have of God and you're not your own, you're bought with a price. Therefore, he says, glorify God in your body and spirit, which are God's. In other words, our soul focus ought to be to glorify God with our lives because we are God's temple. I've heard this passage used in some really crazy ways to talk about buildings. Oh, God doesn't want certain things done in buildings. Well, remember first of all, we are not the Old Testament temple. Okay, so there's a big difference there. But I've heard this use, this passage used when I was pastoring in North Carolina, a lot of churches down there, most churches down there back in the 70s would not tolerate anyone eating in the church building, even downstairs in the Sunday school room or in a fellowship hall, most of them didn't have fellowship halls. That was wrong to eat in the building. So you know what we did? We spent an inordinate amount of God's money to build a separate building on the property so we could eat. Is that crazy or what? I've had people actually tell me church directories are sinful because it's a social activity taking place in the house of God. Let me just say a word to you parents who are so concerned about what the preacher will think if your child runs in church. Let him run. I mean, that's all a two-year-old knows how to do. To expect a two-year-old not to run the BD Yankees nature out of him. And yet we have this feeling and pleased if I'm offending any parents who you're trying to teach your children not to run in church because it's a sacred place. I would much rather you teach your child to from his or her heart worship God and serve him and love him because that's the temple right here. This is just a building and I don't want them not going to old people down either, including me. But we spend so much time doing through their running church. This is God's house. This is God's house. Don't you dare profane this. Let him run. Let him run. It is possible to become profane with a wrong emphasis, legalistic emphasis on a building rather than on the real temple of God. What we need is a focus. What we need is the proper focus on the glory of God. A focus that drives us to put spiritual things first. Martin Zuckerberg, you probably know the name, founded Facebook in 2004. As of the end of last year, has a net worth of over 28 and a half billion dollars. Ironically, his fortune hasn't had much impact on the way he dresses. I don't know if you see him on the news or whatever very much or in newsprint. He's almost always never seen without his trademark gray t-shirt. So, just USA Today newspaper reports an interview that he gave to today show in 2012 and they asked him about that. Why do you wear the same gray t-shirt every day? He said, well, I have about 20 of them, but I do wear the same shirt every day. When asked about that, this was his answer. He said, I am so very busy that eliminating the decision about clothing choices each day helps me to streamline my schedule and keep me focused on more important things. So, I don't have to worry about what I'm going to wear and why it's always going to be the same thing. It's going to be one of those 20 gray shirts. We need that same kind of razor-like focus on the glory of God. We, the temple of God, are to live in such a way that glorifies him. That's what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 620. Therefore, glorify God in your body and spirit which are gods. So, we're to live in such a way that glorifies him that draws attention to him. We become profane if we do any less. We demonstrate a profane heart that is more concerned about what we can get, about what we will receive, about material physical blessings rather than Christ himself, the profane. But Jesus came up against another group of people that day in Jerusalem. He came up against the skeptic, not only the profane, but the skeptic. Now, to be a skeptic means that you're a doubter, that you will not believe unless it's proven to you by something you can see or feel. That's a skeptic. Jesus runs up against some of those. Look at verse 18. The Jews then responded to him, what sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all of this? Again, these are the Jewish religious leaders. They will oppose Jesus throughout his entire ministry. And they ask him for a sign. Show us a miracle. Do a trick so that we know you have authority to do this. If they had known their Bible, they would have known that he had already demonstrated the authority because he just fulfilled Malachi 3. He just did what the Bible said the Messiah would do when he comes into his temple. But the problem is they do not accept the Bible at face value. They've got to have proof. Their skeptics show us something. Prove it. Jesus said, okay, I'll give you a sign. Look at verse 19. Jesus answered them, destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days. Now, the desire for a sign is really a desire for evidence, for proof, which displayed a blind and spiritually ignorant heart and mind, an unwillingness to either know the Scriptures or to believe them and to recognize that Jesus fulfilled them. Not so the disciples, the disciples immediately thought of a Messianic prophecy. Psalm 69. When they saw what Jesus was doing, they immediately thought of Messiah. The zeal of God's house consumes him, the Bible says, and that's what we're seeing. If the Pharisees and religious leaders had understood their Bible and just had accepted it at face value and just had recognized with a heart of faith that the Messiah will fulfill this, this has to be the Messiah. We receive him, but no, they won't prove. They won't prove. Show us something. So Jesus gives them the sign of the resurrection in verse 19. Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days. The sign of the resurrection. Now, that does sound like a bit of a vague statement, doesn't it? And you might see at first glance how they would misunderstand what he was saying. The Bible tells us that Jesus spoke in parables and stories and kind of symbols and vague things because the hearts of the Pharisees were already blinded. They would not accept what he had to say anyway. Jesus was talking about himself. Destroy this temple, destroy this body and I'll raise it back up in three days. He's talking about the resurrection. Of course, their hearts are so cold and blinded and minds are so perverse that they twist it. They miss it all together. They replied in verse 20. It has taken 46 years to build this temple and you're going to raise it up in three days. And it had been 46 years. By the way, that helps us date exactly what date this is because we know the temple was started in 19 BC by here at the great 46 years, 27 or 28 AD. We know it had taken 46 years to get it this far. It wasn't even finished yet. So they misunderstand completely what Jesus is saying. They think he's talking about the temple that they're in. He's talking about himself. Now notice how different the disciples are. Verse 21, but the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. You see the difference? He said, well, they didn't understand it then either. Did they? No, they didn't. But the difference is their hearts were open to whatever the Bible said. Sure, they were slow to understand, slow to believe. A lot of things that Jesus would say. But after his death and resurrection, it all came together because their hearts were open to the scriptures. They were ready to put the pieces of the puzzle together and they understood that Jesus was talking about his resurrection. The difference between the religious leaders and the disciples basically had to do with heart orientation toward the Bible, toward the Word. On the part of the Jews, I won't believe it till you show me. On the part of the disciples, I don't fully understand this, but when they do, they accept it readily. When it finally becomes clear, they're willing to accept it. Rather than twisting or perverting or asking for a sign, one trusts the Word, the other must have proof. Is it possible for us to be skeptics? How does this apply to us? What's the application to us today? It is possible for us to be skeptics. There are many people who doubt the Word. There are many people who do not believe it is God's Word, that it is not the inerrant scripture without any error, that God has given us this book and it is his book. There are not, there are many people who do not believe that this is infallible, that it's without error. And so they seek to find error in historical or geographical things without really understanding the text. It's possible to be skeptic today. It's also possible to say if this book doesn't fit my reason, my logical reason, then I won't believe it. I believe that logical proofs and rational reasons are valuable and beneficial in confirming, supplementing our faith, but never becoming the basis of our faith in the Bible. We believe this book because it is God's book and because God spoke it. Regardless of whether or not there's any outside external proof, this is God's Word, and the trusting heart takes that by faith. There are some people who ask for emotional signs. They will not believe what the Bible says unless they can experience something, feel something, have something amazing happen and they end up speaking in tongues or having some other kind of real wild emotional experience. And then now I know that God is doing something. My friend, we can know what God is doing simply from this book. The believing heart trusts the Word of God and does not need proof, does not need some kind of miraculous signs, some feel good experience. This book is our authority, not some experience you have. Well, I know God exists because he did this for me. I know he exists because the Bible says it. It's not an experience. It's not based on experience, not based on something that proved it to me. Now we can take great joy in seeing God work and that really confirms and strengthens and builds our faith when we see direct answers to prayer and things like that. That's wonderful. That can strengthen and confirm our faith, but it's not the basis of our faith. There's a great hymn that we often sing at Easter. He lives, he lives, and the last part of that hymn is totally unbiblical. So I always change it when I sing it. He lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me, he talks with me, along the life's merry way. He lives, he lives. I know he lives because he lives in my heart. That's not the basis for my belief that he lives. I'm thankful for the evidence I see of him doing in my heart, but I know he lives because the Bible says he lives. Whether or not my heart feels it and there are some days when my heart doesn't feel it. There are some days when my experience doesn't confirm what I know to be true. And so if I can only sing that I know he lives because he lives within my heart. No, no, I know he lives because the Bible says he lives. So we need to change the hymn, I think, to make that a little more biblical. This is God's Word. It does not need proof. It needs faith. It needs belief. It needs us to, well, the willing heart accept it for what it is. That's what the disciples were ready and willing to do. The Jews could never bring themselves to do that. But Jesus met another group of people that day, not only the profane and the skeptic, he also met what I'm going to call the false professor, one who professes faith in Christ, but it's not genuine, a false professor, not a college professor, okay? Some who professes faith in Jesus. All right, look at verse 23. Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. That sounds good, doesn't it? Believe in his name. Isn't that what the Bible says you're supposed to do to get saved? But then look at verse 24. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person. I believe these people were not genuinely saved. In fact, I think what we have an example of here is shallow faith. So let's take a little closer look at their shallow faith. Verse 23 says, they saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. Now I am convinced because of the way Jesus responds to them and that's really the clue to understanding what kind of faith they had. I believe they were responding to him on the basis of the miracles they were seeing and the power they were seeing exhibited. Remember that most people, the average person in the street in Jerusalem is looking for a Messiah who is a political deliverer from Rome who will throw off this yoke of Roman occupation and deliver us from the Romans. And that is in all likelihood it comes up over and over again in the ministry of Jesus, the feeding of the 5,000. That kind of power, he'll overthrow Rome. Let's make him king. That comes up over and over again. I'm convinced that's what's happening here. Their faith is not really a faith in who he is and why he came. All they see is a man that has enough power that can throw Rome off. This is what we can get out of him. So they believe in him in that way. I believe it's a shallow faith. They impulsively respond with some kind of belief that here's a man who has the power to break the Roman yoke of bondage on us. I think it's the kind of response that Jesus talks about when he gave the pair with a sewer and seed and the soils. And one of the kinds of soils that seed can fall on is shallow soil. In other words, it's got a little bit of top soil, but it's hard rock underneath. And Jesus says when seed falls on that kind of soil, it springs up quickly. Looks good, but because it has no root, no depth, no reality, it whithers quickly. It's gone. It's a flash in the pan kind of response that is not genuine. And that's evidently what these people are doing. They're only believing because they now see someone who's powerful enough to throw Rome off. And Jesus knows what's in their hearts. See, again, that's the key to understanding is his response. Christ's response to them. Christ knew what was in their hearts. Notice how it said, in verse 24, Jesus would not entrust himself to them. It's an interesting statement. The word entrust is the very same word translated believe in verse 23. So it can literally be translated. He did not believe in them. They believed in his name. He did not believe in them. Why? Because he knew what was in their heart. It says he knew he knew what was in their heart. New all people. Didn't need any testimony. Didn't you might tell him? He knows what's in each person. So they believe in him to some degree of faith, some kind of faith that evidently is trusting him as a political deliverer. But not like the disciples. The disciples believe in him because of John's preaching, these early disciples. Because of the ministry of the Word, God has moved through the spirit to bring them to Christ. And they believed in him. What were the two ways he was introduced to them? They believed in him as the Lamb of God and the Son of God. So they believed in who he was, the Son of God. They believed in him as what he was here to do. He was the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. Hey, that's a lot different faith than a political deliverer. That's genuine faith. When you understand that Jesus is God's Son who came to this earth for the express purpose of dying for your sins in mine, he was the Lamb of God who paid for your sin. And you believe in him because he died for your sin. That's genuine faith. This is not genuine faith. And Jesus knows that. As any application to us, obviously, I've already hinted at it. It is possible to have a shallow counterfeit faith. It is possible to come to Jesus for other reasons. Then understanding that he died for your sins and he is the only way to heaven. It's possible to gravitate toward Jesus, identify with Jesus, want to be one of the people who follow Jesus. Again, because of what you can get out of it, I'll get wealth, I'll get health, I'll get whatever. Because of what it does for you, rather than a deep understanding of the fact that Jesus died for your sins. The missing note in much of preaching and evangelism today is the holiness of God that he cannot take sin and will not accept sinners into heaven to live with him. And that sin must be dealt with. Jesus Christ came to do exactly that to pay the penalty you owed God for your sin. Now, if you've placed faith in Jesus for any other reason or in any other way, it's a shallow counterfeit faith. It's not the real article. You ask the average person on the street if they're a Christian and their first response, I've asked many people questions similar to that. And their first response is, I believe in God. That is not the kind of faith that saves you, my friend. It's not belief in God or belief in Jesus. And yeah, I heard the Bible stories and I believe them. No, it is an understanding that you're a sinner and that you cannot get to heaven by no matter how much good you do. God will not let sinners into his heaven. He will only let people who are forgiven and cleansed of sin. And that cleansing only comes through Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. So believing in God, I mean, James says in James chapter 2, even the demons believe in God. And they know enough about him to fear and tremble. They're not going to be in heaven. You see, there is such a thing as a shallow faith and a genuine faith. One of my greatest fears, you know, the Bible talks about the fact that everyone who preaches the gospel will give an account for the people who are in the flock when he gets to heaven. Hebrews 13 talks about that. And one of my greatest fears is that I will not make clear enough the way of salvation. And there will be people seated in this congregation week after week who have never genuinely been saved. They're in church, maybe church members, but never truly been saved. It is possible to be a false professor to have come to God or to church in these nebulous, vague terms for many different reasons for what you can get out of it. Have you ever come to Christ as the one who died for your sins? That is genuine faith. Otherwise, you fall in the category of a false professor. So let's take a good hard look in the mirror. By the way, Jesus knows exactly what's in you too. He knows what's in me, just like he did these people. He doesn't need any testimony about us. He knows exactly what's in your heart. And he knows whether as you sit here this morning, you are a profane person. Well, you may never use profane language, but you have little, if any concern for spiritual things, everything is about all your concern. It's about other things in this world. Even through this service, all of your thoughts have been on other things. Rather than God and His Word and His glory, planning what you're going to do this week, thinking about the ball game this afternoon, where are we going for dinner? That's profane. That's profane. And maybe you don't have anything more than that. I will admit we all think of those things sometimes in our fallen state. There are times when I'm sitting there thinking about what's going to happen this afternoon. That's profane. That's profane. Maybe you find yourself here today as skeptic and you're holding out your resisting because you want proof. Well, just like Jesus did with the Pharisees, someday you're going to see that proof, but it'll be too late then. When you stand before God, you'll get all the proof you need. It's too late, man. We come to Him by faith. I faith. Maybe you have found yourself here today and you've realized I'm a false professor. I've never really trusted Christ as my Savior. I believe in God. I like church. I'm a member of the church, but it was never a time in my life when I recognized as a sinner. I needed Jesus and I gave my life to Him to be my Savior. You're a false professor. As you look in the mirror this morning and see who you really are, the challenge is for you to admit it, to own up to it, to say, yeah, that's me. That's me. And I need Jesus. Are you willing to come to Him today? Let's close in prayer. Father, it is quite possible that in our midst today there are some of these people that Jesus met. Oh, Father, I pray that your spirit would be at work in their hearts to help them look into the mirror of God's Word and see themselves for who they really are, to see ourselves for who we really are. And if there's anyone here that's never truly from their heart trusted Jesus to save your up-per-ay that they would do that today, not let anything hold them back, not even their own arguments trying to convince themselves that they're okay. May your spirit move in Jesus name. Amen.