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Sermon Outline

1. Reflect with me for a moment upon two stories
   1. Simon Magus’ Story (Acts 8:8-23)
   2. Crowds in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (John 12:12-19, Mt 27:17-23, Mk 15:11-14)
2. Many people believed in his name (John 2:23)
   1. Setting: in Jerusalem on the heels of Passover and the cleansing of the temple that we discussed last week
   2. The Miraculous signs (John 20:30-31)
      1. In the gospel of John 5:1-9, 9:6, 11:43-45
      2. In Jerusalem (Mt 21:18-22, Mk 11:12-25, Mt 20:29-34, Mk 10:46-52, Lk 18:35-43, Lk 22:50-51)
   3. Many Believed in his name
      1. Belief is trusting, acting upon a certain assurance
      2. But what Did they believe?
         1. They believed in his name.
         2. In gospel of John so far, we have the following names for Jesus:
            1. The Word (Jn 1:1, 14);
            2. The true Light (Jn 1:9);
            3. Jesus Christ (Jn 1:17) the one who brings grace and truth;
            4. Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (Jn 1:29);
            5. one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit (Jn 1:33);
            6. Lamb of God (Jn 1:36);
            7. Messiah (Jn 1:41);
            8. one Moses wrote about in the Law and whom the prophets also wrote (Jn 1:45);
            9. Rabbi (Jn 1:49);
            10. Son of God (Jn 1:49),
            11. King of Israel (Jn 1:49);
            12. Son of Man (Jn 1:51)
         3. Which name did they believe?
      3. Application: What we believe about Jesus and who He is really matters and set the believer apart from those who have some ideas about Jesus but incomplete
         1. 2 Deficiencies of Faith
         2. Saving faith is
      4. Application: True faith is fruitful and God given, not temporal and human induced. (Eph 2:8-10)
3. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them (Jn 2:24)
   1. “But Jesus, himself, did not believe them about him.”
   2. Jesus didn’t believe their belief
   3. Jesus’ grounding was in Father, not in how others received him.
      1. Application: We would do well to remember that the human heart is desperately wicked and prone to all types of corruption. (Gen 6:5, 8:21)
      2. Application: Each of us would do well to adopt Jesus’ attitude towards human accolades.  They are nothing when compared with the identity the Father declares about us.  (Jn 5:32)
4. Conclusion