93
John 12:42-43  MANY WHO BELIEVED IN JESUS

Introduction:
	
	Most of the Jewish leaders had rejected Jesus as the
Christ from the very beginning of His ministry.  Most of the
common people also rejected Him as the Christ in our text
last Sunday.
	In our text today John calls our attention to the fact
that not everybody rejected Him.  Some believed and got
saved.

I.  A review of the rejection of Jesus by the common people

	In spite of the fact that the Jewish leaders said that
Jesus is not the Christ, He had still remained very popular
among the common people.  They were attracted to Him chiefly
because of His many mighty miracles.  Jesus performed more
miracles within His short ministry than all of the Old
Testament prophets combined.  Jesus healed their sick.
There is no way of knowing just how many He healed, but we
can be safe in saying that He healed many hundreds of people.
	He healed all manner of diseases including leprosy,
which otherwise was incurable in that day.  He gave sight to
the blind.  He caused the deaf to hear.  He caused the dumb
to speak.  He caused the lame to walk.  He healed crippled
and deformed limbs.  He cast out demon spirits.  He fed
multitudes with only a few loaves of bread and a few fish.
He even raised the dead back to life again.
	So in spite of what the Jewish leaders said about Jesus,
the common people believed that Jesus was a prophet sent
from God who could do mighty miracles by the power of God.
	At one point they even acknowledged that He is the
Christ of God.  That is, they accepted Him as Christ in a
very limited way.  Even then they did not look upon Him as
the Christ who would save them from their sins, but they did
acknowledge Him as the Christ who could save their nation
from the Romans who ruled over them.  Many of them
accompanied Jesus as He made His triumphal entry into
Jerusalem from Mt. Olives and they shouted to the tops of
their voices proclaiming Him as the Christ of God and as the
king of Israel.  Then the great masses of people in
Jerusalem joined with them in anticipation of having Jesus
as their king who would drive out the Romans.
	But once the masses of people heard Jesus say that He
was going to be crucified, they did an about face.  They
wrongly concluded that if He was going to be the Christ.
They rightly understood the Old Testament Scriptures to
teach that the Christ will live forever, but they failed to
take into consideration the Old Testament Scriptures which
predicted His crucifixion and His resurrection.  He would be
crucified, but He would also arise from the dead and live
forever.
	But the common people now join the Jewish leaders in
rejecting Jesus as the Christ.  Since He is going to be
crucified, they conclude that He cannot be the Christ in any
sense of the word.  So now not only have most of the Jewish
leaders have rejected Jesus as the Christ, but most of the
common people also have rejected Him.

II.  A reminder that many common people had believed in
	Jesus

	Yet in our text today John, the writer of this book,
tells us that not everybody had rejected Him.  John did not
want us to get the impression that the ministry of Jesus had
been a failure.
	John had already told us in earlier passages that many
of the common people had recognized that Jesus is very
Christ of God and had trusted in Him as the Savior of their
souls.  Let me give you a quick look back to some of those
passages.  For instance in John 2:23 we read, "Now when he
was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many
believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he
did."  In John 7:31 John says, "And many of the people
believed on him..." In John 8:30 reads, "As he spake these
words, many believed on him."  In John 9:35-38 Jesus talked
with a man who had been born blind and to whom Jesus had
given sight.  Jesus asked the man if he believed on the Son
of God.  The man asked Jesus, "Who is the Son of God?" and
Jesus told the man, "I am the Son of God."  Whereupon the
man exclaimed, "Lord, I believe."  Again in John 10:42 we
read, "And many believed on Him there."
	It was because John had already repeatedly told us that
many of the common people believed on Jesus that John does
not say anything here about the common people believing on
Jesus.  He had already repeatedly told us that many of the
common people believed on Jesus.  Yet we should understand
the many who believed on Him were still few in number when
compared with the great majority who did not believe.  The
majority still rejected Him.

III.  Jewish leaders who believed in Jesus

	Yet not only did many  of the common people believe on
Him, many who were in leadership positions among the Jews
also believed on Him.  V. 42, "Nevertheless among the chief
rulers also many believed on him..."  Back in John chapter 3
we read about one of those men.  John 3:1-2 reads, "There
was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews.  The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him,
Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no
man can do these miracles which thou doest except God be
with him."  Jesus then proceeded to tell Nicodemus that he
must be born again and told him how to be born again.  He
must believe on Jesus in order to be born again.
	We will find evidence later in this book that Nicodemus
did believe on Jesus and that he was born again.  He was
saved.  We will likewise find evidence later in this Book of
John that Joseph of Arimathea, who was also a ruler believed
among the Jews,  in Jesus and was saved.  These are the only
two among the Jewish leaders who are specifically named who
believed on Jesus.
	Yet John tells us in our text that there were many other
leaders in the Jewish religion who believed that Jesus is
the Christ.  They believed , that He is the Son of God, the
Savior of men.  They believed and they got saved.  In Luke
chapter 8 we are told that a ruler of a synagogue by the
name of Jairus came to Jesus for help because his daughter
was dying.  She did die and Jesus raised her back to life
again.  I strongly suspect that Jairus was included in the
group of leaders that John was talking about.  Who the other
leaders were I have no idea, but according to John there
were many.

IV.  The failure of those believers to make an open
	profession of faith in Jesus

  	(V. 42), "...but because of the Pharisees they did not
confess him..."  I have already called to your attention
that at this point John says nothing about the common people
who had believed on Jesus.  I pointed out that perhaps the
reason he does not mention them here is because he had
repeatedly told us in the earlier parts of this book that
many of the common people had believed in Jesus.
	Therefore, John here is not talking about the failure of
the common people to make a public profession of faith in
Jesus.  It is possible that there were some even among the
common folks who believed without making a profession of
faith, but if so, John does not mention it.  Here in this
verse, John is talking about the Jewish leaders who had
believed.  He speaks about many of the Jewish leaders who in
their hearts had come to believe in Jesus but had not yet
made a public profession of faith in Jesus.
	John tells us the reason they did not make an profession
open  of faith in Jesus.  (42), "...lest they should be put
out of the synagogue."  John said that it was because they
were afraid.  They were afraid that they would be expelled
from the Jewish synagogue.
	They had already seen at least one man expelled from the
synagogue by their fellow leaders and they knew the
temperament of those who were bitter enemies of Jesus.  They
knew that those leaders would not hesitate to expel anyone
--- even one of the very top leaders if that leader let it
be known that he believed that Jesus is the Son of God, the
Christ of God.
	To be expelled from the Jewish synagogue was no small
thing.  When one was excommunicated from the Jewish
synagogue in Israel would ruin him man financially.  He
would suddenly be unable to sell his products or his
services.  He would be without customers.
	It would ruin a man materially in other ways.  Even if
he could somehow manage to have money with which to make
purchases, he would be unable to find anyone who would sell
to him.
	It would ruin a man socially.  He would find himself
almost totally without friends.  His very best friends would
turn against him.  People who had known him all of his life
would turn against him.  His closest neighbors would not
speak to him or have anything to do with him.
	It would ruin a man's family life.  It would alienate
him from the members of his own household.  His father and
mother would no longer have anything to do with him.  His
brothers and sisters would no longer have anything to do
with him.  His grandparents would cut them out of their
lives.  He would be forced out of his own home and not
allowed to return.
	These people had seen it happen to others and they did
not want this to happen to them.  So they were satisfied to
just silently place their faith in Jesus and not say a word
to anybody about it.  They did not dare to breath a word to
anybody about it.
	I suspect that later some of these very people would
grow in grace to the point that they would be willing to lay
down their lives and die for Jesus.  But at this point they
had not worked up enough nerve to say anything to anybody
publicly about their newfound faith in Jesus Christ as their
Savior.

V.  John's criticism of their lack of courage

 	John does not excuse them for their failure to stand up
for Jesus.  V. 43, "For they loved the praise of men more
than the praise of God."  John just faced the facts as they
were.  There was no excuse in the world for anyone who has
been saved by Jesus Christ to fail to stand up for Jesus and
make his profession of faith public.  If a man has been
saved from eternal torment, if he has been given an eternal
home in heaven, if he has been cleansed from all his sin, if
he has been born again and given eternal life, then there is
no excuse for his failure to confess His Savior before men.
 	Those men feared what the other Jewish leaders would do
to them and they avoided a lot of suffering by simply not
professing Jesus publicly as their Savior, but they must
have cause a lot of suffering for other people.  There were,
no doubt, family members and friends, who were trying to
make up their minds whether or not to trust in Jesus as
Savior and who might have been persuaded to trust Him as
Savior if these men had made an open profession of faith.
But some of those very people were still unsaved when they
died and they suffer immensely because they are unsaved.  If
those leaders had just had the courage to profess Jesus
openly, at least some of them might have gotten saved and
would have been spared a lot of suffering.
	I will give them this much credit.  I suspect that some
of them later grew in grace and did make their professions
public.  In fact, some of them may have later become willing
not only to suffer for Jesus but to die for Him.  Some of
them probably did lay down their life for Jesus.
Considering
	There is not one good reason for any man who has been
saved by the Lord Jesus Christ not to openly profess Jesus
and follow Him in baptism.
	Neither is there any good reason for any believer in
Jesus to ever fall by the wayside and stop coming to church
and worshipping and serving the Christ who saved his soul.

Conclusion:
	
	If you are lost and you know that you are lost, then
come today and place your faith in Jesus.  After you have
trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior then profess Jesus
publicly before men.  If you have already trusted Jesus and
yet you have not made a public profession of faith and
followed Jesus in baptism then come this morning and present
yourself to this church that you may be baptized.
	If you are saved and you are in need of a church home,
then come and unite with this church and serve the Lord.