Darkness and Light

“Darkness and Light” Part 1, 2, 3

(Oct. 4, 11, 18-2026)

Part 1: The urgency of responding to the Light

Part 2: The mystery and tragedy of unbelief

Part 3: The fear of man in secret discipleship

John 12:35–43

Introduction: Light and darkness are dominant themes throughout the Gospel of John.  John uses these themes not merely as symbols of good and evil, but as categories are spiritually diagnostic, that is they reveal humanity’s response to Christ. The theme appears from the very beginning of the Gospel: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4–5). From the prologue onward, Jesus is presented as the divine Light entering a world engulfed in spiritual darkness. Throughout the Gospel, John develops this contrast in several ways. The dominant contrast between light and darkness is that, on the one hand, light represents divine revelation, truth, salvation, life, and the presence of God manifested in Christ; on the other hand, darkness in John is more than ignorance. It is moral and spiritual rebellion against God. The main theme or main point of our passage this morning is this: the Light of Christ demands a response. Those who walk in the Light receive life and sight; those who reject the Light are given over to darkness and unbelief. In our text this morning, Jesus issues one final public summons to believe. Yet many refuse. Some reject Him openly. Others believe inwardly but refuse to confess Him publicly. The passage therefore confronts every one of us with a searching question (I am not lecturing and have never lectured from this pulpit): What will we do with the Light? We will consider three truths from this passage: First, the urgency of responding to the Light; Second, the mystery and tragedy of unbelief; Third, The fear of man in secret discipleship.

I. Invitation: The Urgency of Responding to the Light (vv. 35–36)

A. The Light is Present Only for a Little While

In vv 35-36 Jesus says: “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. ³⁶ While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”

Notice first what makes the urgent call of the gospel so urgent is the temporal and provisional and limited duration of Jesus’ earthly ministry! This is captured when Jesus says: “The light is among you for a little while longer.” Jesus’ earthly ministry is coming to an end. The door of opportunity for faith is real but not endless. This should remind us of the days of Noah before the universal Flood where Scripture presents a sobering picture of God’s patience eventually reaching its appointed limit. In Genesis 6:3, God declares: “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” Many scholars believe the 120 years refers to Noah preaching for 120 years while the Ark was being built. During that period of 120 years God was longsuffering before the flood. God did not immediately bring judgment upon a wicked world but gave a season for repentance while Noah, a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5), proclaimed God’s warning.

The flood demonstrates two truths held together:

1. God is abundant in mercy and patience.
   • He delayed judgment for many years.
   • He provided warning through Noah.
   • He provided an ark as the means of salvation.
2. God’s patience is not endless toward impenitent sinners.
   • A day came when the door of the ark was shut (Genesis 7:16).
   • Judgment fell.
   • The opportunity for repentance ended.

In 1 Cor 10:11 Paul says, “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come.”  Paul’s point is that God’s judgments in history are paradigmatic. The flood was a real historical judgment, but it was also written down to warn subsequent generations. Just as God judged the unbelieving world in Noah’s day, so He judges covenant breakers and unbelievers in every age and will finally judge the world at Christ’s return. Thus, the flood account is not merely about the past; it is a divinely inspired warning and instruction for those “upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” This is why God’s invitation comes with urgency because time is running out! The long fuse of God’s mercy is nearing an end! This was true of the days of Noah. This was true during the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry. In Matt 23 and 24 Jesus prophetically warns the nation of Israel that God will soon judge that nation with absolute destruction (which was fulfilled in AD 70). Just as the door of the ark did not remain open forever, so the opportunity before these hearers would not remain forever. The Light stood before them in the flesh. Yet within a matter of days Christ would be rejected, crucified, raised, and ascend to the Father. The moment of decision had arrived. Therefore Jesus says, “Walk while you have the light.” The command is urgent because the opportunity is passing.

Application: The same is true for us today. When Jesus returns he will bring final judgment at the end of this age!  The gospel always comes to us as a present summons. Scripture never tells sinners to presume upon tomorrow. The same Christ who says, “Come unto Me,” also warns that opportunities neglected become opportunities lost. None of us knows how many sermons we shall hear, how many invitations to repentance we shall receive, or how many days God has appointed for us. Therefore the call of the gospel is always urgent. Today is the day of salvation.

B. Walk While You Have the Light

But notice that Jesus not only speaks of the brevity of the Light’s presence; He also issues a command. Jesus says, “Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you.” The urgency of the gospel demands a response.  Walking signifies one’s manner of life or lifestyle. Our lifestyle must match the light of God’s truth and holiness! The light of God’s truth guides both the direction and manner of our lives! 1 John 3:9 says, “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning…” In 1 John, John is not teaching that every sin excludes salvation, but that a settled, unrepentant pattern of sin is incompatible with being born of God. When he says those who “practice sin” are not of God (e.g., 1 John 3:6–9), he is describing a habitual way of life rather than isolated failures. The point is that genuine believers are marked by repentance and a new direction of obedience, even though they still struggle with sin. In short, faith is not merely intellectual assent but following Christ with a life marked by repentance and a new direction of obedience. Refusal to follow… results in being overtaken by darkness: “lest darkness overtake you.” In other words, the longer we walk in darkness the darker we become!

Application: Darkness is not morally neutral. The longer a person—or a culture—walks in darkness, the more darkness becomes familiar, acceptable, and eventually desirable. Sin does not merely produce isolated acts of disobedience; it forms habits, desires, and patterns of thought that make further disobedience easier. What was once recognized as wrong can gradually become normalized, defended, and even celebrated. You give sin an inch it will always take a mile! The inch of the Normalization of Sin happens to people, culture, churches, and church denominations. Case in point is the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Starkdale YOU did the right thing to separate from the EPC. I AM PROUD OF YOU! YOU COULD SEE THROUGH ALL THE GASLIGHING!

The Evangelical Presbyterian Church has officially embraced Side B Sodomy aka Gay Celibate Theology– in effect by permitting so called “Celibate” homosexual ordination. In short, the worldly ideology and false teaching of Celibate Homosexuality is now normalized. The Wilderness of the World has breached the Garden Walls of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and the walls are unmendable. The hedge has been compromised and the “briers and thorns” of homosexuality are now growing within; this trajectory will soon choke the life out of the Church (cf., Isaiah 5:5-6). The EPC is substantially now in the same position (mutatis mutandis) where the PCUSA was at from 1996–2011 regarding Celibate Homosexuality and ordination. The EPC has sadly “crossed the Rubicon.” The EPC has sadly normalized the sin of celibate homosexuality. It will now just be a matter of time before sodomy will be defended and celebrated! The EPC is now on the road of walking in the darkness.   

This is why Scripture repeatedly calls us not merely to reject individual sins, but to walk in the light (1 John 1:6–7; Ephesians 5:8–14). The danger is not simply that we might do something wrong; it is that continued participation in darkness can progressively distort our ability to recognize the light. The longer we walk in darkness, the darker we become. Conversely, walking in the light involves continual exposure to God’s truth, repentance, obedience, and conformity to Christ.

This happens when Christians backslide. Christians must beware of becoming comfortable with what God calls darkness. The danger is rarely that a believer wakes up one morning and consciously decides to abandon righteousness. More often, compromise begins incrementally. We tolerate what we once resisted, excuse what we once confessed, normalize what once troubled our conscience, and eventually defend what Scripture commands us to repent of. The longer we walk in darkness, the darker we become.

This can also happen through spiritual immaturity. A Christian may be genuinely converted and yet remain immature in faith because spiritual growth has been neglected, resisted, or arrested. Instead of progressing toward greater discernment, holiness, wisdom, and conformity to Christ, the believer remains spiritually dependent upon elementary truths and immature patterns of thinking (Heb. 5:12–14; Eph. 4:13–15). What should have been a temporary stage of development becomes a settled condition.

The danger of arrested spiritual development is that the immature Christian can eventually become comfortable with his immaturity. He may mistake familiarity with Christianity for maturity in Christ, religious activity for spiritual growth, or theological knowledge for holiness. Because his capacity for spiritual discernment has not developed, he may increasingly accommodate attitudes, desires, and behaviors that Scripture calls him to put away.

Thus, walking in darkness does not always look like an explicit rejection of Christ. Sometimes it looks like a Christian who continues to profess Christ while failing to grow into Christ. The call of the gospel is not merely to begin the Christian life but to persevere in it—to grow in grace, to mature in discernment, and to be progressively conformed to the image of Christ.

This is why the author of Hebrews rebukes Christians for remaining infants in the faith. The problem is not that they were once immature; every Christian begins there. The problem is that they had failed to grow. Though they had been Christians long enough to be teachers, they still required “milk” rather than solid food (Heb. 5:12–14).

Spiritual immaturity, when it becomes permanent rather than transitional, is itself a form of darkness because it leaves the Christian increasingly vulnerable to the darkness around him. What I mean is, persistent spiritual immaturity can become a form of darkness because it leaves the Christian increasingly vulnerable to the darkness around him.

C. Believing Leads to Sonship

Following Christ leads us into the blessed reality of Sonship. In verse 36 Jesus says, “Believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” Faith itself does not save us as though it were a work; rather, faith unites us to Christ. It is through our union and communion with Christ that we receive all the benefits of redemption. We are justified because Christ and His righteousness become ours. Yet union with Christ brings more than justification. When we receive Christ, we receive a new identity. We become new creations; the old has passed away, and the new has come. United to the eternal Son— we are adopted into the family of God as sons and daughters with all the privileges of divine Sonship. Thus, following Christ in faith leads not only to forgiveness but to adoption, fellowship with God, and life as children of light.

Also, in Scripture, to be a “son of” something often means to bear its character. Sons of light are those whose lives increasingly reflect the Light to which they belong. Because they belong to Christ, the Light of the world, they increasingly display truth, holiness, and obedience.

Finally in verse 36b Jesus says: “When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.” This is the climax and closing of Christ’s public ministry. These are among the final public words Jesus speaks before His crucifixion. The King gives one last public invitation before He withdraws from the crowds. The urgency of the appeal is intensified by the fact that His public ministry is coming to an end. The withdrawal of Jesus from the crowds is itself an acted parable of judgment. The Light that had been shining before them was now departing. The One they refused to receive would no longer plead publicly with them. Their rejection of the Light would soon be followed by the darkness of unbelief described in the verses that follow.

Concluding Application:

Do not presume upon future opportunities to repent.

Jesus says, “The light is among you for a little while longer.” The day of grace is now. None of us knows how many opportunities we will have to hear and respond to the gospel. Therefore, do not delay repentance and faith.

Christ calls for immediate faith and obedience.

“Walk while you have the light.” Saving faith is not mere intellectual agreement but a present trust in Christ that leads to following Him. The proper response to Christ’s call is not procrastination but immediate faith and obedience.

True faith changes one’s identity and direction.

 Jesus promises that those who believe in the light become “sons of light.” Union with Christ brings a new identity, new affections, and a new way of life. Christians are not merely forgiven sinners; they are adopted children of God who are called to walk in the light as those who belong to Christ.

Faithful expository preaching confronts and exposes a church.

Faithful preaching brings with it spiritual confrontation and diagnosis. One of the reasons I love expository preaching is that it allows Scripture to set the agenda and by doing so it confronts and exposes a church. Unlike lectionary and topical preaching, expository preaching allows the text of Scripture to set the agenda. Lectionary preaching limits sustained attention to a book’s context and argument, while topical preaching tempts the preacher to select texts that support a predetermined subject. Expository preaching instead submits the preacher to Scripture’s own context, argument, theology, and emphasis, allowing the whole counsel of God to shape the sermon and confront the congregation on God’s terms rather than the preacher’s.

Second, expository preaching not only confronts, but exposes a church. This is one of the reasons I love expository preaching: over time, it does two things: on the one hand, it matures believers; and on the other hand, it exposes spiritual immaturity and nominal Christians.

A spiritually immature Christian is a genuine believer who needs to grow, yet resists the growing pains that accompany spiritual maturity, resulting in the arrested development of his or her soul, jumping from church to church seeking to have their ears tickled and backs scratched!

A nominal Christian may profess Christ without possessing genuine saving faith. The immature Christian needs to grow; the nominal Christian needs to examine whether his profession is genuine. Both can contribute to a culture of shallow Christianity.

When the whole counsel of God is preached week after week, there is nowhere for shallow Christianity to hide. The Word exposes nominal faith that has no root, and it exposes carnal faith that refuses to grow. In contrast the mature believer hungers for the meat of the Word, while the immature believer often resists it, and nominal Christians eventually recoil from it.

Many will assume that the preacher or his preaching creates this problem. The preaching did not create the problem—it uncovered it. The light did not create the darkness—it exposed it. When God’s Word is faithfully preached over time, our sustained response to that Word reveals something about our spiritual condition.  So when a church or Christians resist faithful biblical preaching, the question may not be, “What is wrong with the preaching?” but, “What has the preaching revealed about the soil of this church?” And after ten years of laboring in the Word together (can’t believe God called me here 10 years ago this month), I think that is a question we ought to be willing to ask—especially in this season as Starkdale transitions from the EPC into a more faithful and durable Reformed communion within the historic Presbyterian tradition. What has these years under the faithful preaching of God’s Word revealed about us? How has it changed you? How has it changed me? What has the Light exposed? And are we willing to follow that Light wherever Christ leads us?

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II. Rejection: The mystery and tragedy of unbelief (37–41)

This takes us to our second point: The tragic consequences of rejecting the gospel in vv 37-41.

A. Israel’s Unbelief Despite Overwhelming Evidence (v. 37)

The first thing we notice about the tragedy of rejecting the gospel is unbelief despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. In vs 37 says, “Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe.” The issue is not over a lack of evidence. John makes the point that there were plenty of miracles to confirm that Jesus was the Messiah. In fact that’s why Jesus and His apostles performed miracles. Miracles were to confirm two things: miracles authenticated the prophet of God, and miracles are tokens of the age to come, that God’s kingdom of New Creation has broken into the middle of this age. Miracles were a sneak preview of what heaven on earth will be life when Jesus returns! Concerning the former, miracles authenticated Jesus as God’s appointed Prophet, Messiah, and Son. Just as the miracles of Moses authenticated his divine commission, so the miracles of Christ testified that the Father had sent Him. Concerning the latter, miracles were signs that the kingdom of God had broken into history through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Every blind eye opened, every disease cured, and every dead person raised was a foretaste of the new creation that Christ will bring in its fullness at His return. The miracles were previews of heaven on earth—small glimpses of a world free from sickness, suffering, death, and sin. Yet, in spite of this the Jews refused to believe. Despite witnessing these mighty works with their own eyes, most rejected Christ.

Here we discover a sobering truth: unbelief is not fundamentally an intellectual problem but a moral and spiritual one. The same sun that melts wax hardens clay. The same signs that brought some to faith only intensified the resistance of others. This is the tragedy of the human condition. Fallen sinners do not merely lack information; apart from God’s grace they suppress the truth that stands plainly before them. The crowds saw the miracles, heard the teaching, and witnessed the evidence, yet they still rejected the Light of the world. Their unbelief stands as a warning to every generation. It is possible to be surrounded by spiritual privileges, exposed to biblical truth, and even witness remarkable displays of God’s power, yet remain hardened in unbelief. Evidence alone cannot save.

Yet, this raises a few questions. First, if the Jews refused to believe (who alone in the ancient world knew the Scriptures and lived in God’s holy city) then what hope does anyone else will have. Second, if God has gone to such lengths and such pains to send His only Son to offer salvation to the World (beginning with the Jewish world first, then Gentile world) to only be broadly rejected then does this not suggest that God failed, that salvation history ended in a bust?

B. Isaiah’s Prophecy Fulfilled (vv. 38–41)

Yet, this raises a few questions. First, if the Jews refused to believe (who alone in the ancient world knew the Scriptures and lived in God’s holy city) then what hope does anyone else will have. Second, if God has gone to such lengths and such pains to send His only Son to offer salvation to the World (beginning with the Jewish world first, then Gentile world) to only be broadly rejected then does this not suggest that God failed, that salvation history ended in a bust? These two questions are on John’s mind. Unlike many modern evangelicals who revert to “free will” arguments. They will say “just as you can only bring a horse to water but can’t make him drink, likewise all God can do is present you with the evidence and then leave it up to you to accept and deny it.” But John does that argue this way. Notice that John does not solve the problem by appealing merely to human free will. He takes us back to Scripture. John does not minimize human responsibility, but neither does he minimize divine sovereignty. He brings us face-to-face with both.

. John argues this way by pointing to what Scripture teaches in Isaiah 53:1 and Isaiah 6:10. In these two passages from Isaiah, John shows us that Israel’s rejection of Jesus was not a failure of God’s redemptive plan. It had been foreseen and ordained within God’s sovereign purpose. How does John argue this from Scripture.

C. God’s Judgment Upon Persistent Unbelief

He first quotes Isaiah 53:1: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

This verse comes from Isaiah’s famous prophecy of the Suffering Servant. Long before Christ was born, Isaiah foresaw a Servant who would be despised, rejected, and ultimately crucified for the sins of His people. The prophet understood that when God’s salvation was revealed, many would refuse to believe it. The “arm of the Lord” refers to God’s saving power. The irony is striking. God’s mighty power was displayed before their very eyes through Christ’s miracles, yet they remained unbelieving. The problem was not insufficient revelation but a resistant heart.

John does not stop there. In verse 39 he makes an even stronger statement:

“Therefore they could not believe.”

Notice carefully what John says. He does not merely say they would not believe. He says they could not believe.

Why could they not believe?

Because Isaiah 6 had also written: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”

This is called Judicial Abandonment where God judges by hardening people, institutions, and nations by abandoning them to themselves. God confirms sinners in the path they have chosen.

John simply applies this passage to the Jews who rejected Christ despite His many signs, John is explaining why so many remained unbelieving. The sequence is important:

1. They repeatedly rejected the light God had given.
2. God judicially hardened them in that unbelief.
3. As a result, they were unable to believe.

God does not create unbelief in innocent hearts; rather, He righteously withdraws softening grace and gives sinners over to the blindness they desire. As John Calvin observed, the same sun that melts wax hardens clay. Divine sovereignty and human culpability stand together in agreement.

D. Isaiah Saw Christ’s Glory (v. 41)

John says in vs 41: “Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.” What John means is this:

• He identifies Jesus with the glorious Lord of Isaiah 6.
• The One rejected by Israel is none other than Yahweh incarnate.
• The glory revealed in the temple is the glory revealed in Christ.

Application:

• Beware the danger of persistent resistance to God’s Word.

• Repeated rejection hardens the heart. The light rejected today may not shine with the same clarity tomorrow.

• The greatest blindness is spiritual blindness in the presence of divine light. The crowds saw Christ’s signs, heard His words, and yet remained unbelieving.

• A faithful church does not sin by leaving a denomination that has become substantially unfaithful to Scripture and the Reformed confessions in order to unite with a more faithful ecclesiastical body. When faithful congregations depart, the resulting weakening of the denomination may be understood as one of the consequences of its own theological and ecclesiastical course.

• Closer to home regarding our departure from the EPC, Starkdale is not abandoning the visible church. Rather, it transferred its allegiance from one particular church body to another in pursuit of greater faithfulness to Christ and His Word. This warning applies not only to individuals but also to churches and denominations. No church should presume upon God’s patience. Persistent resistance to God’s Word has consequences, and God may give people and institutions over to the course they have chosen.

• Churches, denominations, and individual Christians alike should hear the warning of John 12: persistent resistance to God’s truth brings hardness, while humble submission to Christ brings light, life, and healing.

III. Division: The fear of man in secret discipleship (vv. 42–43)

A. Secret Believers Among the Rulers (v. 42) Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;

“Many even of the authorities believed in him.” Some of the leadership—including Pharisees, Priests, scribes, etc.—believed. What does John mean by believe? It means simply that civil and religious magistrates (Religious leaders were also delegated by Rome as civil leaders) were intellectually persuaded, that they intellectually consented and were intellectually convinced and persuaded that Jesus was who he said he was: the eternal Son of God, the Light of the World! Yet, they would not openly confess Jesus. They hid their intellectual conviction. In short, they were all “secret disciples.” Let me elaborate what I mean by these official believing. 

The nature of their “belief” becomes clearer when placed alongside James 2. James reminds us that there is a form of belief that consists in intellectual recognition of theological truth without the corresponding obedience that genuine faith produces. “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder” (James 2:19). The demons possess no deficiency of intellectual awareness concerning God. They know that God is one. They recognize the truth of what they confess. Yet their knowledge does not produce obedience, submission, or faithful action and good works. Their belief therefore cannot be called saving faith.

James’s point is important for understanding the rulers in John 12. John does not say that these authorities merely heard Jesus or were curious about his claims. He says that they “believed in him.” They had become persuaded concerning Jesus. Yet their belief did not result in the public confession that should have followed their conviction. “For fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue” (John 12:42).

Here we see the same fundamental distinction that James establishes between belief and obedient faith. There can be an intellectual apprehension of truth that does not govern one’s actions. One may recognize the truth concerning Christ while refusing to act publicly upon that truth when doing so becomes costly.

James 2 therefore helps us understand an important biblical principle: faith is never content to remain merely intellectual when obedience is demanded. Genuine faith acts. Genuine faith obeys. Genuine faith makes itself visible in the life of the believer. James therefore asks, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?” (James 2:14). Is not whether faith possesses intellectual content. It certainly does. The question is whether that faith produces the works that necessarily accompany living faith.”

This makes the rulers in John 12 a sobering example of the danger of secret discipleship. They possessed belief, but their belief did not produce confession. They were persuaded concerning Christ, but they were unwilling to bear the public consequences of that persuasion.

The biblical question is therefore not simply, “Do you believe?” It is also, “What does your belief produce?” James answers: faith that is genuine will manifest itself in works.

Application: When Belief Does Not Become Public Allegiance

1. Private conviction is not the same thing as public confession.

A person may be intellectually persuaded about Christ and yet remain unwilling to identify publicly with him. The fear of losing reputation, relationships, institutional standing, employment, influence, or social acceptance can expose the weakness of a profession that remains private.

The question is therefore not merely whether we have arrived at correct conclusions about Christ. Will our convictions govern our conduct when obedience becomes costly?

2. The greater the position of authority, the greater the significance of public allegiance.

John deliberately identifies these men as “the authorities.” Their refusal to make a public confession is therefore not merely a private spiritual problem. Their positions meant that their convictions had potential public consequences.

This raises an important question for anyone entrusted with authority:

What happens when the person who governs others is himself governed by the fear of man?

A ruler can possess knowledge, position, education, influence, and even conviction concerning Christ, while nevertheless allowing the expectations of the surrounding culture to determine what he will publicly affirm and how he will exercise his authority.

We see this same temptation in contemporary political life. A politician may say, “I am personally a Christian,” or “I am personally Catholic,” while simultaneously insisting that his religious convictions must remain completely neutral when he enters the public sphere of politics and law.

But such a conception of neutrality raises a fundamental theological problem. How can a Christian confession be compartmentalized so that Christ is acknowledged as Lord in private but deliberately excluded from the exercise of one’s public vocation?

If Christ is Lord, he is not merely Lord of the private conscience. Christ alone is Lord over your conscience—but he’s not Lord over your conscience alone! He is Lord of the whole person and therefore Lord over every legitimate vocation in which that person serves.

James’s warning is particularly relevant here. “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder” (James 2:19). Intellectual assent by itself is not the biblical definition of living faith. Even demons possess correct theological knowledge. They know that God is one. Their problem is not deficient information but the absence of obedient allegiance. Politicians who privatize and neutralize their faith, James say, resemble devils!

Therefore, the Christian cannot say, “I believe Christ is Lord, but that confession has no relevance to the way I understand or exercise my public vocation.” That would be precisely the kind of compartmentalization and privatization James warns against. Faith that never manifests itself in obedient action is dead faith.

The point is not that every Christian politician (including every Christian in their station and vocation) must govern as an ecclesiastical officer, nor that civil government becomes the church. Civil authorities do not become an ecclesiastical officers by acknowledging Christ’s lordship, any more than Christian physicians becomes a ministers of the church by practicing medicine as a Christian. The point is more basic: the magistrate remains a Christian while exercising civil authority. His vocation does not suspend Christ’s lordship.

Indeed, the distinction between the church and the state makes this point more—not less—important. The magistrate does not need to become a minister of the gospel in order for his civil vocation to be exercised under Christ. He remains a civil magistrate. But he is a civil magistrate under the authority of Christ.

Thus, John 12 and James 2 confront the notion of a purely private Christianity. A faith that acknowledges Christ privately but refuses to confess his lordship publicly whenever that confession becomes costly is precisely the danger John places before us in the example of these rulers.

This brings us to our second point…

B. Fear of Exclusion (v. 42) Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;

John has therefore exposed the contradiction of secret discipleship. These rulers were persuaded concerning Christ, yet they would not publicly confess him. Their belief remained hidden because something else governed their public conduct. John now identifies the motive: fear and shame. They feared the majority designated by John as “the Pharisees,” and they feared the consequences of public identification with Jesus. Their problem was therefore not merely that they possessed insufficient conviction. Their conviction was being overcome by a competing allegiance—the desire to preserve their place within the community. John now moves from the fact of their secret discipleship to the motive behind it: the fear of exclusion.

Their fear of exclusion was concrete: it was fear of excommunication from the synagogue. There is a concrete consequence attached to confession. What do they stand to lose?

They stand to lose:

• community
• religious standing
• institutional belonging
• reputation
• relationships
• social legitimacy
• potentially their position and influence

Why did they fear exclusion? Because they valued human approval.

Thus, their problem was not necessarily that they possessed no conviction concerning Christ. The problem was that their conviction did not govern their conduct. Their belief remained secret because the fear of man was stronger than their willingness to confess Christ publicly. Their conduct reveals the power that the fear of man exercised over their lives.

And this becomes particularly significant because they were rulers. The passage therefore moves beyond the question of private religious conviction and into the sphere of public authority. These men possessed positions of influence, yet their public conduct was constrained by the desire to preserve their standing among men. Their example demonstrates that the fear of man can affect not only private discipleship but also the public exercise of authority.

John shows us rulers whose belief failed to produce public confession because they feared man and where ashamed of Christ.  The synagogue represents loss of status, acceptance, and security. To follow Christ is to carry a cost!

So far FOUR questions have been answered:

What did they believe? — They had believe about Christ.
What did they do? — They concealed their belief.
What did they fear? — Exclusion.
Why did they fear exclusion? — Because they desired human approval.
Yet, ONE question remains:

What did they love? — The glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

This brings us to vs 43…

C. The Root Problem (v. 43) for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

Indeed, John’s next verse reveals precisely what stood between their belief and their confession: They loved man’s approval more than God’s approval. Their fear of losing human approval prevented their professed belief from becoming public allegiance. This is John’s diagnosis. Human approval and praise and affirmation became an idol in their hearts, displacing and replacing God! Love for man’s approval eclipses love for God’s approval! That’s the essence of idolatry! This reminds me of Herman Bavinck’s notion of sin. His diagnosis of the human heart regarding sin is that the Root Principle of Sin is unbelief. The Organizing Principle of all Sin is Love of Self. Beloved loving the approval of man over the approval of God is saying to God…I don’t trust you! God! I don’t love you! God! I trust myself! God! I love myself! Beloved, this is the sin of man-pleasing. The man-pleaser may think he is merely protecting his reputation, position, relationships, or influence. But John exposes something deeper. When the approval of man becomes more valuable than the glory of God, the issue is no longer merely social pressure. It is worship. The question confronting the ruler is not whether he will worship, but whom he will fear, whom he will love, and whose glory will govern his exercise of authority.

Concluding Application:

1. The danger of man-pleasing

The most obvious application is that the fear of man is ultimately a worship problem.

A person may think:

“I just don’t want to offend anyone.”

But John forces us to ask:

“Whose approval matters more to me—the approval of man or the glory of God?”

Man-pleasing can disguise itself as politeness, wisdom, prudence, diplomacy, or maintaining relationships. Sometimes those things are legitimate. But they become sinful when obedience to Christ is sacrificed to preserve human approval.

Ask yourself these pressing questions:

• Will I speak truth when speaking truth costs me?
• Will I identify with Christ when identification costs me social acceptance?
• Will I obey Scripture when obedience costs me relationships? As a church we were obedient to God in leaving the EPC and that obedience may have cost some of you relationships? I know it has with me!
• Will I be willing to be misunderstood rather than disobedient? People will defame you and slander you, but Jesus reminds us that Christ must always come first.

The clearest passages are:

• Matthew 10:37–38 — “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”
• Luke 14:26–27 — “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters… he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
• Matthew 10:34–36 — Jesus says He came not to bring peace in the sense of avoiding all conflict, but that His coming would divide even families: “a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.”

The point of “hate” in Luke 14 is not a command to feel personal hostility toward one’s parents. Jesus is using deliberately absolute language to establish supreme allegiance: loyalty to Christ must take precedence over every other human loyalty, including family.

2. Reputation can become an idol

This connects with our status, acceptance, security, and influence.

The rulers weren’t necessarily afraid of physical death. They were afraid of losing something they valued.

Anything we cannot bear to lose can become something we have begun to worship.

If I cannot bear losing:

• my reputation,
• my position,
• my friendships,
• my influence,
• my career,
• my platform,
• my social standing,

then the question becomes: What has become more precious to me than faithfulness to Christ?

3. The cost of discipleship

Finally—“To follow Christ is to carry a cost!”

The gospel doesn’t promise that public allegiance to Christ will preserve our social standing.

Jesus himself repeatedly teaches that following him can involve:

• rejection,
• suffering,
• loss,
• persecution,
• misunderstanding,
• exclusion.

If our Christianity costs us nothing, we should at least ask whether we have ever allowed our allegiance to Christ to become visible when obedience was costly.

4. Private Christianity versus public Christianity

The rulers demonstrate the danger of saying, in effect:

“I believe in Christ—but I don’t want my belief to affect my public life.”

Christ cannot be Lord of only the private compartment of our lives.

Not because every Christian vocation becomes ecclesiastical, but because every legitimate vocation remains subject to Christ’s lordship.

This applies to:

• the physician,
• the lawyer,
• the teacher,
• the business owner,
• the parent,
• the professor,
• the citizen,
• the public official.

The question isn’t whether these vocations become “church work.”

The question is:

Does my allegiance to Christ actually govern how I inhabit the vocation God has given me?

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Conclusion to Part 1, 2, &3

John closes Jesus’ public ministry with a stark contrast:

Two Paths

The Path of Light

• Believe in Christ.
• Walk in obedience.
• Become children of light.

The Path of Darkness

• Reject the Light.
• Persist in unbelief.
• Love the praise of men more than the glory of God.

The great question of the text is not whether the Light has come.

The Light has come.

The question is:

Will we walk in the Light while we still have the Light?

“Believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” (John 12:36)