By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC 10:45am Svc, 2009-11-22

Text: John 12:37-50

This morning we want to learn what God's Word says about the awfully high price a person will have to pay if he does not believe in Christ. This may be helpful for anyone who is still seeking and considering whether he or she should turn to Christ for salvation or not. There are 3 questions every person should should consider carefully in this life: The first question is: Is it worthwhile not to believe in Jesus in order to gain the praise of men, but lose the praise of God? The second question is: Is it worthwhile not to believe in Jesus in order to gain worldly wealth, but lose eternal blessings? And the third question is: Is it worthwhile not to believe in Jesus in order to lose all affiliation to God's Word but gain eternal judgement? We shall begin with the first question which is: Is it worthwhile not to believe in Jesus and confess Him:

I. To Gain the praise of men, But lose the praise of God?

Here in our text we see a group of people who apparently thought that it was worthwhile to do this. Look at vv.37,38 'But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?'

Here John the apostle expresses his great dismay and regret that in spite of the abundance of miraculous signs Jesus had performed, many people still remained stubborn in their unbelief. We will recall that by this time, Jesus had turned water into wine at Cana (ch.2); He had healed a nobleman's son without even having to visit him (ch.4); He had made a man who was paralysed for 38 years walk again (ch 5); He had fed 5,000 people with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes and had walked on the water (ch.6); He had opened the eyes of a man who was born blind (ch.9); and finally, He had raised up Lazarus who had been dead for 4 days (ch.11). And besides these miracles that were recorded in the Gospel of John, there were also many others Christ performed, which were recorded in the other 3 gospels, plus many more unrecorded ones.

One would think that all of these combined together should provide such overwhelming evidence of the truth of the claims of Jesus that none would hesitate to believe in Him. But unfortunately man's heart is so intractably sinful that despite such a strong, solid case for Christ, people still reject Him.

And the more they reject Christ, the more difficult it may become for them to be converted later on. After a person has initially refused to believe in Jesus Christ his heart often becomes more hardened to the gospel. This truth is reinforced by John, as he quotes the Word of God from the book of Isaiah. Look at vv. 39-40: 'Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.' 

One example was the Pharaoh of Egypt in the time of Moses. Despite all the miraculous signs shown to him, incuding the plagues of Egypt, he hardened his heart, and refused to release the Israelites. Because of this, God also hardened his heart from the 6th plague onward. This was a judicial hardening.

Now, this truth has very serious implications for everyone. It means that the attitude of unbelief is extremely dangerous to one's soul. Whenever unbelief is allowed to take root in the heart, it tends to grow and increase until the heart eventually becomes impenetrable to the Gospel of Christ. 

Therefore if you have not believed yet in Christ, please be very careful of the sin of unbelief. It will close your heart's door to Him, and one day that door may become completely sealed up to Him. 

Now, if you do not want this to happen, then you must keep a receptive attitude to the truth. Be willing to listen and consider very carefully, the wonderful gift of salvation from Jesus, and the evidences of His many miracles which support all His claims. Be willing to be led to a response of surrendering your heart to Him. 

Let me give you an illustration. The message of salvation through Christ is like fire. Fire has very different effects on different objects depending on what the objects are made of. If the object happens to be a newly-made pot of clay, the fire will harden the clay, until it becomes so hard and brittle that it breaks to pieces when it falls. But if the object happens to be a candle made of wax, the fire will melt the wax, causing the wax to yield itself to the flame and make it burn even brighter. So let me ask you this: 'Is your heart like wax or is it like clay?' Does the Gospel melt your heart or does it harden your heart? Be careful not to have a heart like clay. Do not condition your heart against the wonderful salvation that Christ brings.

Now you may ask: What can possibly condition your heart against being saved? The answer is found in v.43 of our text: 'For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.' The verse just before this tells us that these people were the chief rulers. It says that they did believe on Jesus. However, their faith was not saving faith because they did not want to confess Him out of their fear of men. In Romans 10:10 God's Word tells us, 'For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.' This means that faith that does not produce a willingness to confess Jesus publicly is not saving faith.

And why did the chief rulers not want to confess that they believed what Jesus said? Look at v.42 'Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue.' These rulers were afraid of being cast out of the synagogue. This means being excommunicated or ostracised from the community. Was their fear real? Yes it was. Earlier on, in John chapter 9, a man who was born blind was cast out of the synagogue after he confessed that he believed that Jesus was from God. He was not afraid of the consequences of believing in Jesus and confessing Him, in direct contrast to these chief rulers, who were afraid of being cast out.

It is a sad thing that many today have conditioned their heart against believing in Jesus and confessing Him, because they are very afraid of what others will think of them. Some may be afraid of being ridiculed or rejected. Others are afraid of losing the respect, friendship and love of their closest peers. For instance, if you happen to be from a very closely-knit family of staunch Buddhists, you might be afraid that if you believe in Christ you will become the 'black sheep' of the family, causing a lot of heartbreak and strife in the family, and bringing an end to the unity and peace of the family. Why change things, you may say, why 'rock the boat'? It is so painful and inconvenient. 

But whatever the cause of fear may be, one thing must be made very clear: If a person allows such fear to prevent him from receiving Christ, then he is more afraid of men than of God. He wants to gain man's approval, and not God's approval. He wants to please men, and not God.

I hope you can see how foolish it is to do this. Which do you think is better - to be approved by God or to be approved by men? Don't you think that what God thinks of you is far more important that what people think of you? Whatever people think of you will only be helpful for the time you spend here in this world, and after that it will be completely forgotten. But what God thinks about you will be helpful for all eternity, and will never be forgotten.

Bearing this in mind, it is my prayer that anyone here who has not committed himself or herself to Christ yet, will carefully count the cost this morning: Is it worthwhile not to believe in Jesus and confess Him in order to gain the praise of men, But lose the praise of God? It is time for you to consider this question seriously. And as you do this, here is another question that you must also consider: Is it worthwhile not to believe in Jesus:

II. To gain worldly wealth, but lose eternal blessings?

This is another thing that may condition a person's heart against receiving Christ: The prospect of making much material gains in this world. Some would say to themselves: 'Why should I live for things in heaven, or for spiritual things which I cannot see at all? There are already so many things in this world for me to gain and to enjoy in this present life. I want satisfaction, and I want it now.'

Among the 12 disciples of Jesus, there was one whose thinking was just like this. And he was Judas Iscariot. According to the gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke, it was at this particular point of time that Judas went to the chief priests to make a deal with them to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. There is no record of this transaction here in John 12, but when we come to the next chapter, John 13, we see that Jesus is already at the Last Supper with His disciples. In John 13:21-30, Judas is identified as the one who betrays Jesus.

To see the earlier transaction he had made with the chief priests, let us turn our Bibles now to Matthew 26 and read verses 1-5 'And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.'

Now look at vv.14-16: 'Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.'

What was it that motivated Judas to 'sell' his master to the chief priests? Was it not his greed? Was it not the prospect of making money for himself? From an earlier glimpse of Judas in the gospel accounts, we learn that he was put in charge of finance. Let us look at John 12:6 - 'This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag and bare what was put in.' Judas was the treasurer of the 12 disciples, and it was learned much later that he actually stole funds from the money they had committed to him to keep. That is why John called him a thief in this verse. He was able to cover up his tracks so well that no one suspected him, even at the Last Supper.

But we all know that later on, after he betrayed Jesus with a kiss, he felt the weight of his guilt so heavily that he eventually killed himself. What was it that had caused all this? It was his love for money. God's Word tells us in 1 Timothy 6:10 - 'For the love of money is the root of all evil.' Judas was an example of this. 

And those who refuse to turn to Christ because of their pursuit of worldly wealth are just like Judas Iscariot. Now, I think that no unsaved person would ever take kindly any suggestion that he is just like Judas Iscariot when he refuses to believe in Christ. But when our pursuit of worldly wealth becomes a stumbling block that prevents us from believing in Christ, then aren't we doing the very same thing that Judas did in valuing the 30 pieces of silver more than Christ?

And if we adopt the very short-sighted policy of living for what we can get out of this life, instead of living for blessings in eternity, will we not end up the same way that Judas did? Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 16:26, 'What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?'

Once again it is my prayer that anyone here who has not committed himself or herself to Christ yet, will count the cost carefully this morning: Is it worthwhile not to believe in Jesus and confess Him, to gain worldly wealth, but lose eternal blessings? It is time for you to consider this question carefully. And as you do this, here is one more question that you must also consider: Is it worthwhile not to believe in Jesus:

III. To lose all affiliation to God's Word but gain eternal judgement?

This question deals with another thing that may condition a person's heart against receiving Christ: The desire to live one's life freely without being bound by anything at all, and especially without being bound by the Word of God. This is the outcome of the independent spirit of our present time. Among all who have been confronted with the Gospel, the majority will admit that this is the main reason why they are not inclined to believe in Christ. They say, 'I want to live my life in my own way. I want to be my own master. I want to be free to do whatever I want with my life, without anyone telling me what to do. So please don't come and preach to me or tell me what I should do or what I should not do with my life. Just leave me alone.'

But many who say this may not realize that no one is completely free to do whatever he wants with his life, because he is already bound by the sinful nature within him. He cannot be his own master, because sin is his real master. The freedom he claims to have is only a freedom to walk in darkness.

If you want real freedom there is only one way to have it. Real freedom of the soul can only come from believing in Jesus Christ. Look at what Christ said about this in v.46 'I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.' Only by believing in Christ can you be liberated from the awful darkness of sin, and enjoy true freedom.

And those who refuse to listen or to have anything to do with the Word of God are only cutting themselves off from this one and only means of releasing them from the darkness of sin in their lives. And the greatest irony of it all is that they will eventually have no choice but to listen to the Word of God one day, on the Day of Judgment. On that day there will not be any more good news for them from God's Word, but only bad news: The news of suffering the eternal consequences for rejecting Christ and His Word. Let us look at vv.47-48: 'And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.' 

When that day comes, it will be too late for regrets. When you stand before Christ at the Last Day, you can only say this. 'If only I knew and believed a long time ago that one day I would be standing here before God and experiencing His awful judgment, I would have listened to God's Word, I would not have rejected Christ. How could I have been so foolish not to receive Christ and be saved when I had the opportunity to do so? How blind I was to the things that are of real eternal value. All the wealth and fame and power that I was so proud of - where are they now? All are gone forever! There is nothing I can do now. There is none who can help me. The only one has the power to help me is God. But since God is now against me, there is no one else to help. There is no escape from this. I have no choice now but to face Him with much regrets, to pay the high price for my unbelief.'

Sometimes I wish I could transport a person to that future time, so that he can see exactly how absolutely pitiful his plight will be if he does not change his ways right now. But I don't need to do that for all of us here, because here in this Book, God has permanently shown us for all time, the terrible nature of the eternal judgment that will befall us if we do not believe. How glad we should be, that we have been warned about this long beforehand!

And since you now know about what awaits you, it is time for you to consider this very carefully. If you have not yet believed in Christ, think very carefully now, about these 3 questions: Is it really worthwhile to gain the praise of men, but lose the praise of God? Is it really worthwhile to gain worldly wealth for a short time, but then lose eternal blessings? And is it really worthwhile to be free from all affiliation to God's Word but to face eternal judgment by that same Word on the Last Day?

Please count the cost with great care. How will you respond, dear friends? Will you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour or reject Him? If you receive Him into your life now, you will have every reason to look forward to the time when you will meet Him face to face.

Towards the close of World War II a soldier who had spent more than 3 years in the South Pacific, sat in a railway coach with a look of joyful anticipation on his face! The train was speeding to his home town. 'How fast are we travelling?' asked the soldier of the porter. 'We are travelling as fast as the train can go - 160 kmh,' the porter replied. 'How far are we from our destination,' asked the soldier. 'A little over a 160 km, sir.' The soldier took his duffle bag and bundles down from the overhead rack, and said, 'I'm going to be the first one to get off the train!' Why was he so eager to reach his destination? Because his father, mother, brothers, sisters, friends and sweetheart were all waiting to give him a hero's welcome!

But there was another soldier in the same coach. He looked extremely depressed and dejected. He was in handcuffs and there were military po1icemen keeping watch over him. He wished with all his heart that the train would not travel so fast, as he was not eager to reach his destination at all. There would be no friends there to meet him or loved ones to greet him. Only shame, judgment and punishment awaited him there as he was to be court-martialled for a serious crime that he had committed during his military service. Are you like the first solder or the second one? 

Our Lord Jesus says to you, 'Come, let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.' (Revelation 22:17) Will you come to Him today?

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