Fear of Being Canceled

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; ⁴³ for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. – John 12:42-43

 

Introduction

Fear is a powerful thing. If you can strike fear into people, they will much easier do whatever it is you want them to do. This has been a strategy of so many different kinds of military operations throughout history. Governments like to do it, like they have done to their people this year with virus fear. As we see in our text, in this case, even many of the authorities are struck with such great fear that they act in a certain way. 

Love is also a powerful thing. Love can cause people to do valiant and brave things, or really psychotic things. In our text we are told that it is the object of the authorities’ love that drives them to make the decisions they made regarding a matter of eternal weight.

Glory is also a powerful thing. The desire for glory is a powerful thing. It is embedded in us. We were made for glory. Not at all glory is a good glory and people will do either valiant things for it, or shady and compromising things, such as we see in our text. 

The Lord Jesus is also a very powerful person. He will cause people to either love him or hate him. People will either want to kill him or die for him. His enemies will go to the greatest lengths to attempt to stamp out Christianity, and his followers will go to the greatest lengths to spread Christianity.

The fear, love, and glory in our text all center around the person of Jesus Christ. These things are at play because Jesus is there both hardening some, and drawing others. So I hope to show today how these powerful human experiences of fear, love, and glory tie together around the person of Jesus Christ.

Believing and Confessing

The first thing we are told is that “nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him…” This is despite the fact that many did not believe, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah concerning God’s hardening of their hearts that we looked at in the previous verses.

However, I would like to make the case here, as does Calvin for example, that this belief is not a true belief. It seems to be that they believe that Jesus is right, that what he is saying is true, they may even believe that Jesus is the Messiah that He says He is. Despite that, I would say that they are failing to appropriate that to themselves by faith. It is an intellectual or a factual agreement with the information, but it is lacking the root of faith, wherein we not only agree with the information, but also have our desires and loves and obedience reoriented to God. So this seems to be John’s dubious use of “believe” here. John has said this before, saying people believed in Jesus, yet he indicates, it was not a true faith. For example back in chapter 2 around verse 23-24, where it says that many believed but Jesus did not entrust himself to them because he knew what was in their hearts. So here’s why, just from our text today, I take this false belief to be what John is conveying to us: 1) it is said of those who believe that they did not confess it and 2) it is said that they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. The fact that the gospel writer shows that they did not confess what they believed because they loved man’s glory more than God’s means the writer is trying to show us that they did not have the root of true faith in them.

While it is true that real Christians can fall for fear in any given situation and fail to confess and act upon what they believe, like Peter denying Christ, we can’t throw out the necessity of confessing Christ.

1 John 4:15: “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”

Romans 10:9-10: “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Our confession is of course not the cause of our justification, it is something that comes out of a justified heart. Out of the heart, the mouth speaks. The mouth is a tattletale on the heart. Not only does what’s in the heart come out of the mouth, but what is not in the heart, will not come out of the mouth. Faced with an opportune moment to confess Christ, the authorities did not do so. They could say in the privacy of their own minds that they believed Jesus all they wanted, but in the moment of decision, with the spotlight and opportunity on them to speak and act, they did nothing. They believed with their minds, but not with their hearts, not with their desires. So it was shown to be a faith without works – dead. In our lives, we will be faced with moments where the camera will be pointed at us, the spotlight and eyes will be on us. There will be moments where you are looked at for your answer. What will it be?

There are some who look at this passage and say that it was a true belief they had, it was just a weak faith. While I don’t believe the exposition of this text leads to that conclusion in this situation, I can still agree with that principle in other situations. There are times when we don’t step up to the plate when we are called upon to do so. There are times where we give in to fear and fail to say what needs to be said. True Christians can do that. It is not a macho man strong faith that is required, but a true faith connected to Christ. In sinners like us, a true faith doesn’t always look very strong; but neither is it dead. We may have a weak faith, but a weak faith is still a living faith. And that is what matters: that the root of the matter is in us. True faith doesn’t always look strong; but neither is it dead.

This is incredibly important because not acting on what we believe could send us to hell. If we do not act on what we believe we don’t really believe it. It doesn’t mean we act perfectly or speak flawlessly. It may be a lot of stumbling, mumbling, and blundering, but it’s doing something. Because when God gives faith, He doesn’t give a dead faith.

Fear

So why is it that the authorities who believed in Jesus, did not confess Him? We are given several progressing reasons in the text, the first being fear.

“…for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue…” They did not confess Christ because they feared the Pharisees and did not want to be put out of the synagogue. This should remind us of John chapter 9 with the man born blind. We are told there that the Jews had decided if anyone was to confess Christ they would be put out of the synagogue. So the blind man’s parents, out of fear, would not defend their son, and the man born blind refused to denounce Christ, and so the man was cast out of the synagogue. This is another reason I believe that it is not a true faith the authorities who believe Jesus have here in chapter 12: there is a contrast between these two events. Unlike the man born blind, their fear of man kept them from confessing Christ. You can certainly see a contrast there between the man born blind who spent his life as an outcast and the authorities who probably got their prestigious positions by being liked by man. Now that what they have spent their lives working for is on the line, they are given over to fear of man, so that they would not lose their life’s work. 

This is so many people today: in order to remain in your position of authority, or employment, you have to violate your conscience. And that is a dangerous place to be. For it is neither right nor safe to go against conscience.

A. W. Pink says, “They were determined to retain their good opinion even though at the expense of an uneasy conscience.” Don’t violate your conscience. Fearing man and violating your conscience could send you to hell.

Here is A. W. Pink again, “Of what avail would the good opinion of the Pharisees be when the hour of death overtook them?” For you today, what good will the approval of men be on judgment day? The authorities in John 12, and many of us today, our thinking is so shortsighted and temporal minded that we forget there is going to be a judgment day when those who are fear-mongering over us will stand and give an account of that before God, and where we also will stand and give an account to God for what we did in that situation.

One of the solutions to a fear of man, is replacing it with a fear of God. Fear God for He is the one with authority to throw both soul and body into hell. Man can’t do that to you. Fearing God cures other fears, “…for God gave us a spirit not of fear…but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7).

I love what John Calvin says, “When any person has fixed his eyes on God, his heart will be invincible, and utterly incapable of being moved.”

Being Canceled

We are in, and it seems as if we are entering further into difficult times. We already live in a time of “cancel culture” and censorship for saying and believing the “wrong” things as defined by the ungodly society around us. If you are bold enough to say things online like “men and women are different,” or “pride and homosexuality is sin,” or “abortion is murder,” or a number of other very basic things you will risk losing your corporate job because a social media mob went after you with their virtual torches and pitchforks. I am not saying that Christians should be online or are obligated to say certain things online, I am just saying that this is the culture we live in. The point is, that the mob wants us to be afraid. They want us to be afraid to say or believe certain truths that mankind has known to be true since time began. And they want us Christians to be afraid because fear makes for weak people. Fear neutralizes people. And when you can neutralize a people with fear, you can implement your agenda with little or weak opposition. This is one of the plays that is being run on the American church at this moment, and it is coming from different quarters. It is coming from large parts of the society and from our own civil government.

Our job is to keep our eyes so fixed on God that our hearts are steadfast and unmoved by fear, or mobs, or cancel-culture. The Pharisees had put such a fear, not only into the people, but also into the authorities, that the authorities did not uphold their duty to uphold the law, and Jesus was unlawfully put to trial and death (of course it was by the sovereign will and determination of God to save His people through His death). While I don’t believe we have any government authorities or police officers here with us today, I want to say this so that if anyone in such an office were to hear this online it would speak to them. We know that there are many police officers, police chiefs, and sheriffs who see the illegal and tyrannical encroachments the government is making that they are being told to enforce, and they don’t agree with it because they know it’s wrong and illegal. Some police officers have done the right thing and refused to enforce it practicing the moral doctrine of interposition, and others have kept their head down, violated their conscience and enforced it because they’re “just following orders,” because they are afraid of being put out of a job. I want to tell police officers that we love you and pray for you, and your job is to enforce godly laws, and it is also to refuse to enforce ungodly laws and mandates. Or what about the abolition of abortion bill we had the opportunity to pass in Missouri but it died before seeing a vote? We’ve got a majority of Missouri State congressmen who want to talk all day about how they are pro-life, but not a single one of them came to Mike Moon’s side to co-sponsor the abolition bill, because that could get them put out of acceptable establishment Republican circles, and be bad for them politically. They were cowards. And I want to tell everyone in a place of authority: you are going to stand before God and be judged by Him one day, and that’s what you should fear, not man! And if you do that, this church has your back.

What’s the situation in your life? What are you at risk of losing to confess the truth? How are you going to tell God you handled it when you stand before Him one day?

This fear and cowardice is a big problem and a dangerous thing, because Revelation 21 tells us that the cowardly are among those who are cast into the lake of fire and sulfur, which is the second death. If you are too afraid of losing your status and position in this life, you’re going to lose everything in the next.

Jesus was not afraid of being canceled and cast out. Time and again throughout this gospel we have seen Jesus confront the Pharisees. We’ve seen Him speak the truth directly, without fear, without cowardice. Each perfect word at each perfect time. Jesus was not just our perfect example, but most importantly, He was and is our perfect substitute.

Jesus was canceled for us. He was cast out for us. He was put out for us. He was despised and rejected for us. He was nailed to a cross for us. He was given our sin on His shoulders. He bore the weight of our guilt and shame. He endured the wrath of God being poured out on Him for our sin. That’s what we deserved. We deserved to be punished for our sin. We deserved to be rejected by God and cast into hell. We deserved death. We deserved to be spit upon and mocked. We deserved to be cast out. But Jesus was instead – in the place of His people, so that we could be brought into the presence of God. Jesus was cast out so we could stand before God, justified, and righteous, and forgiven, and accepted. 

The cross tells us that we can’t be canceled by ungodly men because we’ve already been canceled. Why would we care what man thinks of us when we know what God thinks of us. And that is that we were once His enemies, but through Christ have been  brought near and made God’s friends; indeed, His Sons. You know how the world does it. They go and search out your transgressions and sins from years and years ago and bring them up to your face to try and cancel you. But they can’t cancel the Christian, for we know that both us and our sin has already been canceled. “That sin you’re bringing up, it’s already been canceled. I’ve already been thrown out for that, in Jesus Christ. I died with Him in His death. I rose with Him in His resurrection. I am invincible.” We and our sins have already been paid for and dealt with in the cross of Jesus Christ. We’ve already been nailed to a cross, and raised back to life with Jesus Christ. The world can’t cancel someone who has already dealt with their sin. They can’t cancel someone who has already decided in their heart being canceled is nothing. They can’t cancel someone who isn’t seeking or needing their acceptance. In Christ, God accepts us, and that’s enough.

Love and Glory

The authorities feared being put out of the synagogue. But their fear problem wasn’t just a fear problem, it was a love problem. They loved the wrong glory. Loving glory isn’t the problem, loving the wrong glory is. They loved the glory from man more than the glory that comes from God.

Man is motivated for glory. Man does certain jobs to be accepted, man conquers certain feats to be praised, and man acts a certain way to be respected and honored. Glory is a great motivator and incentive. And some kinds of glory is a very good thing that we were made for, some of it is honorable things to be desired. But some of it is rotten to the core. Some of it is deadly and dangerous, such as vainglorious praise and acceptance by ungodly men, for sake of maintaining certain positions. The ironic thing is that if you love man’s glory it ends up making you a coward. We end up just seeking to please man rather than doing what is right, honorable, and noble. But if you love glory from God more, it makes you brave. It gives you courage. Our fears of ungodly wicked men dissolve at the incentive of eternal glory from God. We should act for glory, out of love for glory – the glory that comes from God.

Jesus did what he did for glory – the glory that comes from God, to be glorified by the Father. Like a mighty warrior he acted for glory. Like a king.

But in order to act for the eternal glory from God, we cannot listen to our fears. And how do we overcome fear? By loving the glory from God more than the glory from man. 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.”

Fearless people get glory, because they love the glory from God, because they’ve seen it and have been loved by God. Where do we see this glory from God? In Christ, at His Christ, where it has been revealed to us. Jesus loved us perfectly there. Jesus loved the Father perfectly there. There was no cowardice in Jesus there. He loved us first, and we see it there. And we love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).

Conclusion

As glory seekers, we have sinfully sought the glory that comes from man. When we seek the glory of man, it makes us fearful of man. When we are fearful of men, we are weak. This sin casts us out from God. So the Father sent Jesus the Son to be cast out by the Pharisees, to be cast out by men, so that Jesus could bring us back into God. He did not seek their glory, therefore He did not fear them. This makes Him strong to save weak sinners like us. That makes us strong. That chases our fear away. We can now stand before God, only in Jesus Christ. And if you can stand before God, you can stand before kings.