Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
“But as for Jesus, he did not trust himself to them because he knows all men, and he had no need for anyone to testify to him about mankind, for he himself knew what was in man.”
John 2:24-25
The people whom Jesus did not trust were not only those who hated him and planned to kill him; they were also the people who had seen his power in action and had “believed on his name”. Here is the way John tells it (Jn. 2):
23. During the Passover feast, while he was in Jerusalem, many people believed on his name, seeing his miracles that he performed.
24. But as for Jesus, he did not trust himself to them because he knows all men,
25. and he had no need for anyone to testify to him about mankind, for he himself knew what was in man.
Jesus still does not trust the confessions of faith that men offer. Man’s claims of faith have never held any weight in heaven. That is why God sent us the Comforter, His holy Spirit, to change us so that what we confess may be worth something.
If Jesus knows better than to trust the confessions of faith that men so often make, and if Jesus is our example, then should we not, like him, wait upon the Spirit to show us who truly believes and who does not? Is that wickedness that Jesus “knew was in man” no longer in man? Of course it is. Then, let us be wise and wait for God to bear witness to someone’s faith before we trust what that person tells us about himself. Every single person on earth needs cleansing from heaven’s sweet holy Ghost before his testimony is trustworthy; there are no exceptions, for “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” One need only read in Jeremiah 17:9 to see the condition of man’s heart and why Jesus never trusted any human: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”
Jesus knew the truth about us, and he suffered and died to make the Spirit available, to help us and to strengthen us. He knew what was in us because he knew what was not in us: the holy Ghost. He had to die for the Spirit to come. All who truly have a heart for God seek that holy gift until they find it. My friends, wait on the Lord and see who receives the holy Ghost, and then you will know whose testimony can be trusted and whose cannot be.
Has your testimony been approved by God? You say you believe. Has God made your testimony trustworthy, making you a new and trustworthy creature by baptizing you with His holy Spirit? If not, He is waiting for you to come to Him and to ask Him for it. And you should be encouraged for Jesus said “everyone who asks receives, and every one who seeks finds.” Until your heart is cleansed by that Spirit, Jesus knows what is in you, and he doesn’t trust your testimony. And neither does anyone else who is wise. And to be completely honest, neither should you.