Our scripture reading tonight is John 12, verses 37-50. John 12, beginning at verse 37, the text for our consideration being verses 42 and 43 of this portion. John 12, beginning at verse 37, as we give our attention to the reading of God's Word. even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet, Lord, who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For this reason they could not believe, because as Isaiah says elsewhere, He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn, and I would heal them. Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him. Yet at the same time, many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees, they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue, for they loved praise from men more than praise from God. Then Jesus cried out, When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words. That very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day, for I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that His command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say. Shall we bow together in prayer? Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your inscripturated Word, inspired by Your Holy Spirit, that we might have it even in our day today. Yet we know, Father, that apart from the power of Your Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives, it means nothing for us. We pray, Father, that You would bless us. Each and every one of us, open our hearts in this evening hour to receive Your Word, to hear it, to believe it, to be obedient to it. We ask for Your blessing upon Him who speaks Your Word tonight, who preaches, that You would give Him strength, that You would speak through Him, that the Word which flows forth from Him would be the Word of God, that You would be praised. Hear our prayer, we ask, for Jesus' sake, and in His name alone, Amen. Verses 42 and 43 again, Yet at the same time, many even among the leaders believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees, they would not confess their faith, for fear they would be put out of the synagogue, for they loved praise from men more than praise from God. Now, beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, there are many professing Christians who say that faith in Jesus Christ is a private matter. that my faith is no one else's business. It really doesn't matter if others know about my faith. What's important is that I know in my heart that Jesus is my personal Savior and Lord. And I don't really have to talk to others about my faith because they will believe what they want to believe and, well, you know, I cannot change their mind anyway, so I will just keep my faith to myself. Now, in all of that, there is a kernel of truth in what was said, and that is that it is important that you and I believe in our hearts, know in our hearts that Jesus is our Savior and our Lord Jesus Christ. And the blessing of salvation, beloved, is that by the grace of God, we do know and we do have the assurance of the saving sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ and that we belong to Him body and soul in life and in death. But as for the rest of it, the rest of it simply doesn't fit with what the Bible says. This doesn't fit with how those who have been nourished by the Lord are called to act. We know that our Lord nourishes His people through His Word by the operation of the Holy Spirit. As God's people read and hear the Word of God, The Holy Spirit applies that Word to our hearts, thereby feeding and nourishing us with His Word. And of course, even this morning we had the privilege, didn't we, of participating in the visible Word of God, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, a verification with our eyes of the truth of the Gospel promise of our God that we hear with our ears. As our bodies are physically nourished by the bread and the cup, the Holy Spirit lifts up our souls in faith to be spiritually nourished by the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, boys and girls, if that sounds like somewhat of a mystery, it's because it is. But the Heidelberg Catechism is correct when it says that just as certainly as we eat and taste with our mouths and drink and taste with our mouths the bread and the cup just as certainly as we know that's true in the same way for the believer just as certainly, just as surely our souls are nourished with the very body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. A mystery to be sure yet a glorious truth. But now, so what? What's next? What is the evidence to be of being one with Christ and being nourished and strengthened by Him? What is the evidence to be of being people of promise? Is it, we might ask, is it to be evident that we have feasted at the Lord's table and on His Word? Well, the communion form ended with these words, since the Lord has now nourished our souls at His table, let us jointly praise His holy name with thanksgiving. Therefore shall my mouth and my heart show forth the praise of the Lord from this time forth forevermore. See, beloved, those who are truly members of Jesus Christ by faith are called to confession. Those who are truly fed by His broken body and shed blood are called to confess Him to the world, to a world that doesn't know Him, to a world that even despises Him. We are not to hide our light under a basket, but let it shine bright. Boys and girls, maybe you still learn that song. This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. Hide it under a bushel. No! I'm going to let it shine. The light of Jesus Christ with which we are blessed. is to shine forth. You see, those who claim to be members of Christ and are visibly nourished by Christ, what I mean is visibly nourished by the preaching and the reading of His Word, and by the bread and the cup, they partake, but who hide their light. Very simply, they are suspect. Is their faith genuine? Where is the evidence to convict them, as we considered last week, Sunday morning, in our sermon of preparation? Now, of course, we know that only God can read the heart, but He has clearly set forth in Scripture what the evidence looks like with regard to saving faith. Again, a week ago, we were called to self-examination, to examine ourselves in preparation for coming to the Lord's table. And tonight, as we reflect on our participation at His table, and as we continue to go forth in His strength to live in this world, we are called to examine ourselves once again to see if we have been truly nourished toward confession. Is your confession of Jesus real? Or is it compromised and hidden? Well, in this portion of the Word of God, we are brought face-to-face with a compromising confession. I'd like to consider with you the prestigious people of compromise, the pitiful practice of compromise, and then finally the prideful purpose of compromise. Now, brothers and sisters, the context of this text is the end of Christ's public ministry. It was Passion Week already. He had already come through what we celebrate, as we call, Palm Sunday. his triumphant entry. And up until that time as well, he had been preaching and teaching. And as John carefully points out in the chapters before this text, he had been giving the people many signs. Jesus had performed a number of amazing miracles. He had fed the multitudes with the loaves and the fish. He had healed the sick. He had made a blind man see. He had raised Lazarus from the dead. In fact, his signs were so numerous that John says in chapter 20, verses 30 and 31, Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. The miracles of Jesus pointed to the truth of His identity. And He performed them for the glory of God and as well to reveal Himself to the Jews. But the Jews rejected Him. Now, we know that many believed, but in reality, that many was just a fraction of all the people. The truth is, the majority rejected and refused to believe in Jesus. Now, Jesus had been feeding the people. The Messiah Himself had been feeding the people with His message and His signs and His wonders. But the people wouldn't eat. The nourishment was right before their eyes, but they wouldn't receive it. We read in verse 37, even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in Him. And then, of course, John makes reference to the prophecy of Isaiah and says it in such a way to show that these Jesus rejecters were the fulfillment of Isaiah's words. They had heard the message of Jesus. They had seen the power of God through Him, yet they were blind. Their hearts were hard. They were still sick in sin. But in the midst of this rejection, John says, yet at the same time, many, even among the leaders, believed in Him. This is what we've been waiting for. This is what we wanted to hear. This sounds like a ray of hope mixed in with all of this rejection. Some believed in Jesus. And notice, these were not just anybodies. These were leaders. They were rulers. These were men with position and power and authority in the church and in the community. You see, these are the kinds of men who run for public office. They were seen and heard. these were men of prestige held up on a pedestal. Hey, these were the kind of people you see that you want to believe in Jesus because they have influence over other people and what a way to make the church grow. I have a dear friend, a retired minister friend back in Kalamazoo. He was a church planter most of his ministerial life, I think all of it. And he was telling me a story one time about when he was planting a church near Green Bay, Wisconsin. The home of the Green Bay Packers. And there was the possibility that a Packer, a football player, who was a Christian, was going to be attending their church. And the elders wanted him to do whatever he could to schmooze this guy and get him into the church. Because what a statement that would make. How that would be a drawing influence for other people. John's words are wonderful. This is exciting news. Or is it? Well, let's listen to all that John has to say. Verse 42 again, Yet at the same time, many even among the leaders believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees, they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue. These leaders who apparently believed in Jesus were the prestigious people of compromise. Their belief only went so far. These were the kind of people that if you asked them, well, do you believe? They would pull you aside and whisper in your ear, yeah, yeah, I believe. But don't tell anybody. It's really not that big a deal and I don't want to make a big deal about it. I don't want to draw any attention to myself. And the question we must face is, was this a true saving faith or belief? Or were these leaders merely those upon whom Christ had made a temporary impression? Were they the kind of people who witnessed Christ's work and realized that He had certain power and that He was a unique individual and that indeed there was something special about Him? But that's as far as it went. Again, congregation, only God can truly read the heart, but He has explained to us in His Word what evidence can be and will be seen with true saving faith. You see, it is possible to believe that God exists, but not to believe in Him in a saving way. We know what James says, You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble. And you remember, I trust the demon called Legion, meaning many. Legion knew who Jesus was, and he begged Jesus to not send him into the abyss, but to let him go into the herd of swine. What is the evidence of true faith in Jesus Christ? Confession. Paul says in Romans 10, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. A believing heart cannot help but to confess with the mouth. And those in whom the Spirit lives are equipped by that very same Spirit, beloved, to confess the truth of Jesus Christ. The people of promise are equipped with a desire to confess Him. With the words to confess Him. And with a life that confesses Him. But in the light of Paul's words in Romans, we need to look at John's description then of the leader's pitiful practice of compromise. John says they would not confess their faith. Now, confession means to say the same thing. To agree to something. To take sides. And obviously, we're talking about all of this in relation with Jesus Christ. That's what we did earlier with the Nicene Creed. We said the same thing as the triune God about Himself that He says in His Word. When you confess Jesus Christ, that means that you are saying the same thing about Him that He says about Himself in His Word, that He is God. That He is the Savior, the only Savior. You are taking His side. And now confession doesn't just take place with the mouth. It must take place with the mouth. But not just with the mouth. It also takes place with the life. You confess, you and I confess Him when we live under His authority. When your actions and motives and desires and thoughts and intentions conform to what He has taught in His Word. When they flow forth from His promise, you see. God's people confess Him with their life by demonstrating love. Love for God above all. Striving to obey His commands because we want to. As those who understand such a great salvation and all that God has done for us, that He's done it all. Then by the power, by the influence of His Spirit, we want to. And love for God then pours over into love for our neighbor. And you might say, or someone might say of these leaders, well, these leaders probably, most likely, they confessed Jesus with their lives, but they didn't confess Him with their mouths in order to avoid unnecessary trouble. After all, the wise person knows how to keep his mouth shut, right? In order to avoid unnecessary trouble. But when the text says they would not confess their faith, according to the original language, the tense tells us that this means they continually were shrinking back because of a lack of faith. Day in and day out, they kept their opinion to themselves. They gave no evidence of true belief. John Calvin says with regard to these leaders, they did not have a lively faith. And the reason he gives is, he says, because Christ does not grant to his followers a spirit of fear, but of firmness. that they may boldly and fearlessly confess what they have learned from Him. And therefore, Calvin says, they failed to make profession of their faith. He says, proper profession is to openly declare that they were disciples of Christ. They weren't willing to openly take the side of Jesus Christ. And the motivating force behind their lack of confession was the Pharisees. Now, we know a little bit about the Pharisees. We know that they had power in the church. We know that they had influence over the people. They were the religious leaders. In many respects, they were the in crowd and they knew the law and the prophets who in their right mind would even enter into an argument with them or dare to disagree with them. The thing about the Pharisees is that they have a bad reputation because Jesus often spoke against them for their holier-than-thou attitude. And we must quickly add a well-deserved bad reputation. But we must also understand that there are some things that maybe we can admire about them. I say that carefully. But in their beginning, long before this, they were separatists. They were striving to maintain orthodoxy. They were the concerned members of their day. They burned with zeal in defending religion, but they were hypocrites. And they refused to see the truth of Christ. Whatever they might have been correct about, they had one basic and very tragic error apart from and including refusing Christ, they externalized religion. They externalized religion. What I mean is that to them, the goal of one's existence was outward conformity to the law. They were truly purpose-driven people. They often honored the oral law, the spoken tradition, more than the written law, even more than what God had given. And that oral law, we know, had been expanded to hundreds upon hundreds of outward requirements. For example, man-made Sabbath laws were a hot point with them. William Hendrickson says, Some of them held that a woman should not look into a mirror on the Sabbath because she might see a gray hair and be tempted to pull it out, which would be working. One was allowed to swallow vinegar on the Sabbath as a remedy for a sore throat, but not use it as a gargle. And this last one I still can't quite figure out, but the climax, perhaps, he says, was the rule that an egg laid on the Sabbath could be eaten provided one intended to kill the hen. These were the sorts of things that they were trying to do when we talk about externalizing religion. The Pharisees very simply were a salvation-by-works party. By God's grace, we might say that we are a works-of-thankfulness party. Indeed, we are called to be obedient to God, not in order to get saved, but because of His promise that we heard about this morning so beautifully. And from that promise, which only God can fulfill for us and has in Christ Jesus, our purpose flows from that. Indeed, as Dr. Horton said this morning, we still have a purpose in the Christian life. The Westminster Standards, what is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. But the Pharisees, you see, were a salvation by works party. That was their purpose and they were driven by that. And Jesus often confronted them with the fact that their outward actions didn't fit with their inward selfish and greedy motives. You remember, He called them whitewashed sepulchres, tombs. They looked nice on the outside, a nice looking grave, you might say. But inside, nothing but death. He called them cups that were sparkly, shiny, clean on the outside, but filthy, dirty on the inside. And therefore, it's really not hard to understand why they, more than any others, hated Jesus. And the Pharisees, beloved, were feared because, as we read in John 9, verse 22, for already the Jews, and this is talking about the leaders, had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. And you see, beloved, this helped to serve the prideful purpose for the compromise and confession of these leaders. The text says again, about halfway down, verse 42, But because of the Pharisees, they would not confess their faith for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue, for they loved praise from men more than praise from God. There was a double motivation behind the leaders' compromise and confession. Negatively, they didn't want to be thrown out of the synagogue. Positively, they enjoyed being recognized by others. So therefore, apparently, these leaders did not confess with their lives. Because if they did, they would have been seen. And that would have caused them to be recognized for what they were, and they would have been expelled from the synagogue. But they had not been. And understand, to be thrown out of the synagogue here literally means excommunication from the church. But remember, at that time, the church was still considered to be the Jews. So excommunication was more than just being kept on the outside of the church building, locked outside the doors. It was more than just being excluded from the local community. Excommunication meant being expelled from national fellowship. To be excommunicated then was worse than being a Gentile. And these leaders weren't willing to give up their positions, and the security of the visible church. They didn't want to be disgraced. Ironically, had they believed, they would be disciplined by the church for believing the truth about the church's true head. Again, if indeed they truly believed, but so far the evidence was against them. The other side of their motivation was that they were concerned about what men thought. In fact, they were more concerned about what their neighbors thought about them and about what God thought about them. They weren't concerned about behavior that is precious in God's sight, as Peter talks about, but they wanted to be precious in the sight of their peers. They wanted to fit in with the in-crowd of the day. Besides, that was better for business. We all know that you don't get ahead in life by making enemies. And anyway, majority rules, and if you went along with majority, you probably would live longer. See, beloved, these leaders knew the truth, whether they would admit it or not. They knew the truth. Jesus Christ, incarnate God, stood before them face to face and gave them signs of His power and majesty, proof that He was the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament prophecies, which they knew full well. Proof that He was fulfillment of the great promise to Abraham. But for them, this wasn't enough. Jesus wasn't enough that they would die for Him. For them, as Paul says in Romans 1, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator. The approval of men meant more to them than the approval of God. They were unwilling to take to heart the teaching of Jesus in chapter 12, 25. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. And what Jesus says in verse 26, fell upon deaf ears. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. Beloved, God's Word is clear. Matthew 10, 37-39 says, He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it. And he who loses his life for My sake will find it. The New Testament is flooded with the message of blessing for denying oneself and taking up the cross of Jesus and the curse for not doing this. Matthew 16, verse 26 says, For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world? and loses his own soul. And the expected answer is, there is no prophet. There is none. The true spiritual food was sitting on the table right before these leaders. They nibbled a bit. But the evidence suggests that they never did taste and see that the Lord is good. Now, Scripture suggests that some did after Christ's crucifixion. It appears that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea came out of the closet after Christ's death, but their early rejection of Him helped to pave the way to the cross. So again, what does the evidence say about you? Is there evidence to convict you of being a Christian? We must confess that sometimes we are worried about our reputation and our position in society and among our friends or even our reputation as students, even in the local Christian school. We're worried about that because of our faith. If I'm too open with my faith, people might think I'm weird or some kind of a religious or a Jesus freak. I won't have any friends left. Or my customers will take their business somewhere else. Beloved, may God give us strength and endurance to resist the temptation to compromise for the sake of the benefits and honor that this world might give. All of that is temporary. It will be consumed by moth and rust and fire, but the glory that Christ has earned for you and me, it is eternal. The sacrament is behind us now today. Have you been spiritually nourished and satisfied? If you have, the evidence should be plain to see. Jesus said that the branch apart from the vine cannot bear fruit. But the branch that receives nourishment from the vine will bear much fruit. And He said, therefore, by their fruits you will know them. The true nourishment of the Word given by God's grace and applied by the Holy Spirit will bring forth the fruit of a life of confession. Confession in word, in action, in attitude, in thought, in motives, in submission to God. In other words, a life of confession, or we could say a confessing life in Jesus Christ. The Christian's life is to be a sermon to the world. A sermon of that precious, unfailing promise. Psalm 34 verse 1 says, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. And as we sang earlier from Psalm 73, My God, I will extol Thee and ever bless Thy name. Each day will I give thanks to Thee and all Thy praise proclaim. Yes, you fail. I fail. Every day we don't speak up for Jesus when we have the opportunity to do so, or our actions sometimes look like we are very much in with the worldly majority, but by the gracious operation of the Holy Spirit as He works in the hearts of His people, every day He convicts us of our sin. And every day He reminds us of the Savior and lifts our eyes to the Savior. And every day He brings about repentance in us and a desire to live gratefully for Him. And He will not allow His own to completely fall into a life of compromise. Instead, He strengthens my life of confession every day. All pressure is there. Whether you're the youngest boy or girl or the oldest saint here, the pressure is there to deny and compromise the faith. We cannot do it on our own. The pressure is there to, like these leaders, make compromise a way of life. Jesus plainly says, Everyone therefore who shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. That's a promise for eternal life. But, he says, whoever shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven. A promise for eternal death. Beloved, as the song says, tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. There is truly nothing sweeter than that precious gift of saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. To know in our heads and believe in our hearts all that God has revealed in His Word and that the promises revealed there are for me too. There is nothing so sweet, nothing so precious. And what a blessed promise to know that those for whom He died, who with born-again hearts confess Him, He holds us up before His Father in Heaven and says, They are Mine. I bought them. They belong to Me. I love them people of God may we rejoice in him who did not compromise by coming down from the cross to please men to please those who shouted come down and then we will believe in you but instead he stayed on the cross to save only those yet all those who would believe on him by grace through faith now boys and girls as we come to the end let me ask you a question what happens when you receive what you think is the greatest gift ever when you've opened that package and it is just the greatest present or gift that you have ever received and that you could have ever wanted what do you do? you want to tell somebody don't you? you get on the telephone and you call your best friend or you call grandpa and grandma. You tell them about that greatest gift you've ever received. Well, there's no greater gift than the gift of salvation secured by Jesus Christ our Lord. And if you believe in Him, that greatest gift, and no birthday present, no Christmas present can come close to comparing with it. If you believe in Him, that greatest gift is yours. May it be, beloved, that we would tell about it. May our true desire be that God would take our lives, our moments, our days, our hands and feet and voices and lips and silver and gold, our intellect and will and heart and love, yes, our whole self. And may our lives, by the power of His Spirit, be consecrated ever, only, all for Him. Amen. Shall we pray? dear heavenly father we do thank you and praise you that you have made us to be a people of promise we have not made any promises to you because we could not keep a word of it but you are the God of promise and the one who has fulfilled your promise perfectly and completely in Christ Jesus our Lord and may it be, O Lord, that we would live in a way that understands all of that and rejoices in that. That our lives would be testimonies for You. That You would continue to look upon us with Your grace and Your mercy and Your peace. We know that all that we have from Your hand is so undeserved. And that's why, Father, with humble hearts, we praise Your holy name. And we ask, O Lord, that You would be pleased to use us, Take our lives and let them be consecrated, Lord, for thee. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.