JOH 12:37 Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.
38 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?"
39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:
40 "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."
41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him.
42 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;
43 for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

As we come to our text this morning I'm left with a question which James Montgomery Boice in his commentary on John asks. "Is possible for a person to be a secret believer in the Lord Jesus Christ?"

In other words, can someone actually place their faith in Christ as Lord and Savior, and at the same time go about their lives as though they haven't, and to actually go so far as to avoid the possibility of having to acknowledge Jesus Christ?

Our immediate reaction might be to say, of course not. How can anyone say they are something when their lives are diametrically opposed to their stated belief. And yet, on the other hand someone can certainly raise the question about David for example, whose life certainly did not demonstrate a following after God when he committed adultery with Bathsheba, and then to cover his sin by murdering her husband, Uriah.

Or what about Peter, who, on the morning when Christ was arrested and brought before Caiaphas the high priest, as Peter sat outside in the courtyard, denied Jesus three times? How do we reconcile these types of incidents, especially in light of what Jesus Himself tells us in the gospel of Luke?

LUK 12:8 "I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God.
9 But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.

These are not insignificant questions because they deal with the eternal destiny of supposed believers who claim to have placed their faith in Jesus Christ even as John intimates with these people in our text. Let's look at it.

JOH 12:42 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;
43 for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

It's interesting that some of the people John refers to here in our text are actually called leaders, or as in some of your translations, rulers. The point John is making is that they were not your ordinary people in the streets who were supposedly siding with Jesus, though they were not going to acknowledge Him publicly.

Now what kind of rulers were they? Well, they would have included those religious rulers in Israel, be they Pharisees, or Sadduccees. We know for example that Nicodemus, a Pharisee, was one who was sympathetic to Christ's cause early on when he set up a secret meeting with Jesus. It was at that meeting that Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again.

We also know that Nicodemus defended Jesus before the Sanhedrin after they tried to arrest our Lord.

JOH 7:50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, [a Pharisee], asked,
51 "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?"
52 They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee."

Another person who would have been considered a leader in Israel was a man by the name of Joseph of Arimathea. He is spoken of by Luke after Jesus had died on the cross.

LUK 23:50 Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man,
51 who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God.
52 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body.

Both Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea are indirectly referred to by John in our text as secret believers. In fact, John goes so far as to directly name them as secret believers later in this gospel.

JOH 19:38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away.
39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.
40 Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.

Again, the question, can a true believer be a secret believer? Can a true believer be silent when it comes to acknowledging Jesus Christ? Before we answer this there is something else we need to consider, and that is the whole issue as to what a true faith is.

We know for example that when our Lord was teaching and performing miracles all throughout Israel there were those who followed Him publicly and were associated with Him to the degree that they were considered His disciples.

JOH 7:30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.
31 Still, many in the crowd put their faith in him. They said, "When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man?"

JOH 11:45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.

JOH 12:10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well,
11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.

It would certainly appear that these people had made a conscious choice based on what they heard and saw and decided that they would place their faith in Jesus. And yet, early on in Christ's ministry we see a similar situation of people believing on the Lord, but Jesus questions their faith.

JOH 2:23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.
24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.
25 He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.

What John is saying there is that Jesus would not entrust Himself to them because their faith was not a saving faith, but a faith which was short term for their own self interests. And the case could be made for many of the same people in the verses we just quoted who apparently put their faith in Christ because many of those same people who hailed Christ as King were the same ones who shouted, crucify Him, when given a choice between Jesus and Barabbas.

Well, now I'm more confused than when we first started. Apparently, some who place their faith in Christ, according to what we just read, are not true believers. And some who deny Jesus, like Peter, or those who secretly confessed Christ can be true believers.

What is all of this about? It's about two things. It's about the grace of God and the heart of man which only God ultimately knows.

For example, Jesus tells us that there will be those who outwardly call themselves Christians, and yet inwardly their hearts are far from God.

MAT 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'
23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

It's amazing to me that people will jump through all sorts of religious hoops to make themselves feel better, but who, in their heart of hearts, when it comes right down to it, do not know God because the faith they claim to have is only superficial and intellectual.

They can reason in their minds, they can act with a certain amount of religious conviction, but the truth has not made it to their hearts which is where it really counts. Because unless a person has come to grips with the fact that he must totally be sold out to the idea that he is a sinner deserving death before a holy God, and that his only source of forgiveness and life is found in trusting Jesus Christ, will it make an eternal difference.

And yet, what also amazes me is how a believer can come to that true faith in Christ and treat that faith and his or her Savior with little regard when it comes to a conviction which the world can see.

It is certainly possible that some of these people who were "secret believers" whom John refers to in our text are not true believers. But it is certainly possible that some of them were. As I quoted from John 19:38-39, it seems pretty clear that John regards both Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus as true believers, who up to that point were not willing to publicly confess Jesus Christ.

But, even if we give these "secret believers" the benefit of the doubt by saying they were true believers, there is one thing that is abundantly clear. John was not commending them and neither should we. Note what he says in our text.

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.

How sad this is. If some of these men were true believers they were willing to put their own self interests ahead of God's. Their outward show was more important than their inward faith.

They didn't want to place themselves in a position where they might lose that high position they earned as Pharisees or Sadduccees. To be put out of the Synagogue is the equivalent of being excommunicated from the church.

Excommunication is that act of church discipline which Christ instituted, where the leadership carries out such discipline on one who is accused of serious offenses, but who is not willing to repent.

Unfortunately, church discipline does not carry the weight it once did because the one who is excommunicated often just finds another church which usually is more than happy to receive him into its midst, even when they know that such discipline has been enacted. But that's another issue. Don't get me going.

But it seems that these people in our text who supposedly place their faith in Christ didn't want to chance such discipline even when they knew that they were not pleasing God with such a decision.

This is precisely what John was saying when he added in verse 43, "for they loved praise from men more than praise from God."

In other words, they weighed the outcomes of their decision and decided that praise from men was favorable over praise from God. And yet, these learned men who claim to know Christ with their words were not willing to put their faith into action as did the blind man, for example, who was healed by Jesus.

Remember him? Earlier in this gospel John records for us that there was a certain man born blind whom Jesus healed. When the religious council got together to examine the validity of this healing the man's parents were called in to verify that this was their son.

JOH 9:18 The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man's parents.
19 "Is this your son?" they asked. "Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?"
20 "We know he is our son," the parents answered, "and we know he was born blind.
21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don't know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself."
22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.

And yet, this brand new baby believer who placed his faith in Christ after our Lord healed him put his faith into action. He had decided as did Peter and the rest of the apostles, in the book of Acts, that he must obey God rather than men!

He didn't fear the council of men because he was now aligned with God. In fact, his response to the Sanhedrin is classic.

JOH 9:26 Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"
27 He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?"
28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses!
29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from."
30 The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.
31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.
32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.
33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."
34 To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out.

Now some will argue that this man had nothing to lose. He didn't have a prominent position in the Synagogue like the Pharisees. He was a nobody who had spent most of his life begging on the streets.

But these rulers in our text had everything to lose. If they were put out of the Synagogue then their sphere of influence would be greatly hampered. In fact, if they would be excommunicated they could reason that they would no longer be able to argue for Christ's case in front of the very people who could do something in convincing the rest of Israel.

Do you see how easy it is to justify inactivity? Do you see how easy it is to justify not following after Christ? John is clearly saying in our text that "secret believer" is a contradiction in terms that needs to be exposed, even as he does here.

So, what do we do with this information from a practical standpoint? How do we treat people who claim to know Christ and yet in fact we know that from all outward appearances they don't?

Well, let me just say this first of all. If someone claims to know Christ and they have made a credible profession of faith and yet their lives don't exhibit such faith, then we need to do one of two things.

We need to either treat them as unbelievers and give them the gospel, or we need to treat them as believers and encourage them to repent as we point them back to Christ as we give them the gospel as well. Now, when I use the phrase treat them like unbelievers, I don't mean treat them with disdain. In fact, I mean treat them with love and patience. But treat them in such a way where you give them the truth which can save them, if they're unbelievers, or allow them to repent and turn back to Christ if they are true believers.

Don't ever assume that someone who claims to know Christ, and yet whose life is no different, actually knows Christ. They may have a false sense of security. Maybe they walked down an aisle in some church because of an emotional appeal. Maybe it was their emotions and not their hearts and minds which caused them to walk.

I've actually heard of incidents where people got up, as they followed the crowds down to the front of the church or auditorium, and when they got to the front they didn't know why they were there. They just followed the herds of people as their emotions were flooded with all sorts of stimuli. They weren't interested in receiving Christ as Lord and Savior, they just wanted to be a part of the whole charged atmosphere.

Now, that doesn't mean that some of those very people didn't in fact come to Christ later, even if they rejected the gospel at that time. And I believe we need to be very careful here if we think that simply because someone rejects Christ that they don't ever get another chance.

Think back when Christ was crucified. Remember, that some of the very people who were shouting hosanna when our Lord came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, were undoubtedly some of the very people who finally rejected Him.

Our first reaction to them is if you would offer up a man who claimed to be your Messiah and who never did anything to you but good, then you deserve to be eternally shut out from any chance of going to heaven. And yet listen to what Peter told the Jews after the Lord used him to heal a lame man.

ACT 3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.
14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.
15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.
17 "Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders.
18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer.
19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
20 and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you -even Jesus.

Did Peter let these people off the hook for their responsibility when it came to the crucifixion of Christ? Absolutely not. But did Peter love these people enough to point them back to the One who so loved them that He would die for their sin as well? Absolutely.

But what do we do with those secret believers who are true believers? What do we do with those believers whose lives are just as content doing nothing for Christ though they are more than happy to take His salvation?

As I said earlier, and as John clearly points out, this is an aberration. This is not what having salvation in Christ is to be like. It is a contradiction in terms. We need to be honest with people as was Peter, but we need to be compassionate and loving enough to come along side them and point them to the truth.

Now, granted, it has been my experience that many of these people in this see-saw existence with Christ, are not interested in having you come along side to confront their sin and point them to the one who can strengthen them.

And in those cases you may have to love them at a distance and pray that the Holy Spirit opens their eyes to their need to get serious with Christ. But if we are given that opportunity to help them see what our Lord desires of them we need to do it in such a way where the truth is not neglected.

Sometimes it may involve the kind of confrontation that might seem hard. Other times a gentle approach is best. The Lord will lead you. But the bottom line is that we must be willing to help strengthen our brothers and sisters in Christ who are struggling.

We sing a song here that is actually taken from Scripture. The chorus goes something like, "raise up my hands that are hanging down, strengthen my feeble knees." God is in the business of doing that but He often does it through His people who come along side the weak.

ROM 15:1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
2 Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

Those who are strong in the Lord are not those who are necessarily perfect in everything, but who are following the Lord in love and obedience to the best of their ability as they rely on the Spirit of God to strengthen them so that they can serve Christ and His church.

If I need the strength of another believer I'm not going to go to the "secret believer." I'm not going to go to the one who looks like a Christian on Sunday morning but takes a time out from God Monday through Saturday. Why? Because I need to know that the one I go to is hearing from God and is able to pass on the strength and wisdom they gain from their relationship with the Lord.

But there comes a time in all of our lives when we must take personal responsibility, as we are disciplined, to come out of the closet and take a stand for Christ as we seek His strength to be those lights in a darkened world.

By the way, I believe that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus came out of the closet, if you will, the day they prepared our Lord's body for burial.

The writer of Hebrews points this out in the context of the Lord using discipline to help us become stronger. Not the kind of discipline that necessarily is associated with punishing, though that may be part of it, but a discipline which forces us to deal with life as a boxer deals with the discipline of training for a goal.

HEB 12:10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.
11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.
13 "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

The kind of discipline that causes us to be stronger for Christ is always a good thing even though at the time is may seem difficult. When I played football in high school we put in a lot of hard work every day to be able to shine one day a week in the game. I hated practice. I hated running sprints. But I loved playing under the lights on Friday night in front of the whole school. The reward was worth it.

I love the way Paul put it to the Corinthians when it was time for them to take personal responsibility for their lights to shine for the world.

1CO 16:13 Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
14 Let all that you do be done in love.

We need to be there for each other, but the bottom line is that you can't live my life for the Lord for me, and I can't live yours.

We will all stand before Christ one day and will give a personal account. But hopefully part of that account will involve your participation in the life of another believer as you directed them to the Lord and was there to help raise the hands and strengthen the feeble knees of those in need.

But to do that we must be strong. Let me end with Paul's exhortation to the Ephesians.

EPH 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

May we love praise from God more than we love praise from men, and live our lives accordingly.

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