A Faith That Can Be Tested

A Faith That Can Be Tested

Let's take our Bibles together this morning, please, for our scripture reading in John chapter 12. Please turn there with me. I'd like to begin the reading this morning in John 12 and verse 35. Then Jesus said unto them, "Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you. For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light." These things spake Jesus and departed and did hide himself from them. But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. That the saying of Isaiah 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?" Therefore they could not believe because Isaiah 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." These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him. 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. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. And we want to conclude our reading of this text here this morning in verse number 43. We'll be looking at a number of passages this morning in this message, but this will be our text. And let's mark our Bibles there and bow our heads again in the word of prayer.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning for the stability of your word, the constancy of your word, even as we were speaking with our children this week about if we go away for a little bit and then come back, even if we're not there with them to tell them, they know what we have already told them. And it will be brought back to their remembrance of things that we've said. Our word doesn't change on what perhaps they need to do for a period of time, and in the same way we have your words. Should you walk, should you visibly join us here this morning in this worship service? You would tell us nothing different than what you have already told us. You would tell us to continue in the things that we have learned and been assured of. And so we thank you for the presence, even of the Holy Spirit in our lives that reminds us of the things that we already know, that brings them to our remembrance. And we thank you that we have this in our hands, we have to hold, and we trust in our hearts as well this more sure word of prophecy. Help us to take heed unto it. It is the basis of our faith. It is that in which we trust. And we pray that it will be like that light, like that lamp to our feet and that light to our path guiding us all the rest of the days of our lives. We thank you for it this morning.

We pray that as we open your word today that it will challenge us and that through it you may chasten and bless us, Lord, and then use us to be a blessing as we go out even this week. Strengthen us through your word, Lord. Help us to love you more. Help us to love your word more. Help us to delight in it. And to meditate on it like that blessed man we read about in Psalm one who is like a tree that is planted by the rivers of water, this bringing forth fruit in season. So much will be dependent upon our heart relationship with your word in our everyday walk. How do we meditate on it? How do we think about the word of God? Do we feed on it regularly? Help us to do that, Lord. Bless us. Bless this word to our hearts this morning. We pray in Jesus' name we ask. Amen.

This morning I'd like to speak to you about a faith that can be tested. A faith that can be tested. Faith means a lot of things in the public arena today when you hear the term faith. I said, you know how rare that is for somebody to not say I'm a Christian and of course, if you're a Christian you better say so. At the same time it's just almost a cultural thing now. I know and speaking with people that have lived in the Islamic world, even over in Pakistan, it's just an ideology. You better be a Muslim pretty much if you're in that part of the world because it's just almost like a political cultural type thing as much as it is religious. Now there may be some really, yes there are those that if you put them all by themselves they would still stand on their values, their Muslim values. But a lot of times it's just the crowd. You know what I mean? It's getting swept along with, well this is what everybody else is doing. We mentioned that bandwagon effect. And in the American South it's been customary to be a Christian. I mean and even more customary in this part of the world you had to be a Southern Baptist Christian, right? That's the norm.

But faith. What does Christian even mean? I think Sister Donna, now we're speaking recently, she said, maybe we should start using the term not just Christian but Christ-like. Are you Christ-like or are you a Christian but are you Christ-like? Well, that's what we ought to be as Christians, right? But faith can mean a lot of things. It can mean positive thinking in our world that we live in. And that's what some people mean when they say I've got faith. I have faith. Well I have positive thinking. Norman Vincent Peale, you know that's what they're thinking in their minds. In fact, they're our own president. Was birthed and bottled on Norman Vincent Peale. That's what frankly he means when he's talking about faith. I believe he surrounds himself with a lot of charismatic type people. But there's also sometimes people may say faith and they mean follow your dreams. Believe in yourself. Self-confidence. That's really when you strip the veneer off, that's really what they're saying. Maybe you don't even have to do that. They have faith. Isn't there a little song? I've confidence in me. In me. No, that's not faith. That's not Bible faith.

There's also a faith that believes in cherry-picked promises that come from God's word. Faith in the, well I believe this, this, and this, and this. Pastor Peacock, just to call it, Buffet style Christianity. Buffet style. We'll take what we want and leave the things we don't want. Buffet style. And that's probably one of the more common ones. In fact, we could be guilty of that in some aspects ourselves if we're not careful, even as true believers. We've got to be careful that we don't just take the parts we like, right? And then just say, well, we'll ignore, or we might not say it, but we, in practicality, we just kind of ignore the parts that we don't really, they don't make us feel good about ourselves, we might say. If we believe God's word, we must receive its doctrine, its reproof, its rebuke, its correction, its instruction, in righteousness.

But there's also an understanding about God. We might, can we say it's academic? Well, I believe I have faith because I have an understanding about God, but there's a difference between knowing about God and knowing Him. There's a difference between those two. I might be able to say, I believe in the Orthodox position of faith, or I believe in the Orthodox Creeds. I could sign my name to that. Well, Brother George has mentioned a previous church that you were in, now they had a confession of faith from the wall and, you know, just the things that went on in that church that were so contrary to this law, that the large thing hanging this frame over there on the wall. Pastor Peacock said many times, faith is simply taking God at His word, simply taking God at His word. And all that that implies, and all that that implies, a faith that costs us nothing is not worth anything. A faith that can't be tested is not, if we listen to James, it's not genuine faith. If it does not make sacrifice, if it does not have anything to show for itself in the sense that it's just in word only, then it's not genuine faith. Brother James has made that clear to us. It must be a faith that can be put through the test.

You know, you can have gold and it may not be 24 karat gold, but it's gold, it's gold and it has impurities. The impurities can be purged out, but you can't make a gold ring, a 24 karat gold ring out of something that's not even gold. That's not even genuine. It's not even the true metal. It's impossible. And yet in our lives as Christians, if we have true faith, yes, that faith is going to be tested. What's the purpose that it's going to be tested? It's so that it can be purged and purified. And that we can be conformed to the image of Christ. I remember, as we've been going through the study of the kings of Israel, we saw we're David. King David, he's sinned in numbering the people. Remember how his heart smote him in chapter 24, Second Samuel 24? His heart smote him. And that was a step in the right direction for sure because there were times when his heart hadn't even smitten him like it should have. And the prophet had to come to him and say, now are the man, now are the man. But now he's almost like the child that says, Father, I've done wrong. I'll go ahead and get ready for my correction here. I'll go ahead and I know that I deserve it. And the Lord through the prophet, Gad, told him you have three options of correction, of punishment for what you have done. And of course, David deferred to the Lord's preference in the matter. And we see that that correction was carried out.

But ultimately, ultimately, we see that David would say, as he in that passage. Let's look over there in Second Samuel 24. I want to read these words so we all get the right, say it correctly. And I don't want to paraphrase it and get it wrong. But Second Samuel 24 in verse 21. And it's there in chapter 24, verse number 21 that we read this. And Araunah looked and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah, the same passage here after the Lord has dealt with David here in this passage. He, Araunah went out and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground. And Araunah said, wherefore is my Lord the king come to his servant? And David said to buy the threshing floor of thee. To build an altar unto the Lord that the plague may be stayed from the people. And Araunah said unto David, let my Lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him. Behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice and threshing instruments. And other instruments of the oxen for wood. All these things did Araunah as a king give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king the Lord thy God accept thee. And the king said unto Araunah, nay, but I will surely buy it of thee. Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was entreated for the land and the plague was stayed from Israel. David didn't argue with the Lord about the correction that he sent. And there was this desire in David's heart with a faith tested and purged that he wanted to offer a worthy sacrifice unto the Lord.

You know, as a Christian, if you sin, you ought to know right away it's your fault. You ought to know the Lord is not at all to blame or even somebody else is not to blame for this. It's me. I must take full responsibility for my own sin and get it right with the Lord and move forward for the Lord. When David offers, when he purchases this threshing floor of Araunah, or in, I believe it's in Chronicles, isn't it called the Threshing Floor of Ornan? Ornan, I believe it was, but it's here that he purchases this. It's, he doesn't, I don't know if he fully realizes the significance of this. Maybe he did that this was the place, the same place where 2 Chronicles will tell us that Abraham offered up his only son Isaac. Now this is the same place ultimately where the Lord Jesus is going to pay the ultimate price and offering up himself for us.

But as we think back to our text today in John 12, we see these chief rulers. The general word that Isaiah had given was that this people, this people, though they have so much light, their eyes have been blinded. Their heart has been hardened lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their heart. You know, he would also say that they draw near to me with their mouth, but their heart is far removed. Their heart is far from me. And here these chief, and yet there's this statement in the middle of that, in picking up in verse 42, nevertheless, among the chief rulers, these members of the Sanhedrin, these prominent Pharisees and Sadducees, these leaders of the synagogue, you know, these men of prominence among them. There were those, we're not told how many. We're just told that there were those among them that, as it says here in verse number 42, believed on him. They believed on him. And yet it says, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him. Why didn't they confess him? Well, they didn't confess him for the same reason that the parents of the man born blind that was healed didn't confess that it was Jesus who had healed him, because they were afraid of being put out of the synagogue. They, they knew it in the text specifically says in John that they did not say that they, they withheld information because they were afraid that they were going to be put out of the synagogue. They were afraid of what might happen to them for telling the truth, for telling the reality of the situation. So we see that these men were, they had a lot to lose. They were men of high social religious standing. And therefore, they did not say, well, they did not confess the Lord because they knew that that would result in them. And that being put out of the synagogue as soon as they, they put it out there. Well, and it says, furthermore, that they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Well, it's just the truth. The Lord still could change their hearts, but that's the reality of the situation that they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. They had us, they were, they were compromised. They wanted to believe on the Lord, but they also had this fear, they had this fear.

Now, I want to take you back through, when I got turned all these passages, but I want to take you through somewhat of a journey in the mind this morning through some key figures, I believe, in the scriptures. I want to let your own memory, I want to draw upon your memory of these individuals to paint a picture of what genuine faith looks like. If you think back to Abel, for instance, and of course you could read Hebrews 11 and a number of these that I'm going to mention this morning are found right there in Hebrews 11, aren't they? But in Hebrews and Abel, we see in Abel that he was a man whose faith in God and what God had told him to do, cost him his life. It cost him his life because he, he offered up an obedient sacrifice to the Lord. He wasn't looking to die, it just resulted in that for him because he, he did not lower the standard just because his brother was not willing to come up to the standard that God had set. We see that this produced jealousy in his brother which led to Cain obviously killing him.

We see Noah, his faith, cost him, or it was just, we should first of all say that his faith led him to fear, to trust what God was saying enough that he feared God and was moved that fear to the point of building an ark as God had warned him a flood was coming. He said, build this ark, there's a flood coming and he believed it and he was moved with fear of God to build that ark to prepare for the coming of this flood that never had seen before him because nobody had ever seen such a flood. What did it cost Noah, cost him ridicule, they cost him reviling, mocking, scoffing, Peter alludes to this, although he's talking, he does not explicitly say all of that, he indicates that we're going to face that. As we get ready for the return of Christ just like it was in the days of Noah, as I said in that day, they said, well where's the promise of his coming? All things continue as they were since even back going back to the flood. So it cost Noah, ridicule and reviling, his peers mocked him and scoffed him. And this is in stark contrast, isn't it, to what we see among the chief rulers here. They were not willing to pay the price for the ridicule and the scoffing were they. Because it was going to be a high cost for them to pay it to pay. We might say they had a fair weather faith. I thank the Lord that he's going to sort all of that out one day. But from a biblical standard, they had whatever kind of faith they had. It was not a faith that was consistent with the faith we see set up as an example for us from cover to cover in the Bible. We are told this.

Moses had a faith that cost him the comforts and luxury of Egypt. Now I'm not saying, well we look at Moses. Are we looking at Abraham? Are we looking at any of these people we're going to talk about this morning? They were always immediately. The first time they put it all on the line. I'm not saying that's true. It was not always true. In fact, Abraham lied. He lied about the truth of who he was on occasion. But that wasn't the commentary of his whole life. He moved forward with the Lord and got that matter right. But we see that we see that these chief rulers. That's the commentary we're told so far about them. Moses, well it was that these chief rulers were they were scared of men. Moses left the pleasures of Egypt that he could have indulged in the suffering of affliction with the people of God. We have Abraham as we mentioned he left Ur of the Chaldees. He left to go with and ultimately come to a land that the Lord had promised him. He left the idol worship behind in Ur. Ultimately, many acts of faith in his life, which we think often of Mount Moriah where he would ultimately offer up or be willing to offer up his only son Isaac on that altar. It would cost him that which was very precious to him, his faith in God.

Jacob, he sought to work things out for many years in his own strength. He sought to try to serve God in his own way, but ultimately in his life, we see that he came to a place of humbling and he had the reminder of he had the significance of the thigh that was halting and he hobbled on that leg as a reminder of his faith in God and God's mercy towards him. He would ultimately even remember he took his family and they buried their idols in their trinkets under that tree as a sign that their faith cost them something. There was a difference. It made a difference in their lives from the world around them because they served the God of heaven. We see that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's faith cost them something. Daniel's faith cost him something. Even when it was pressure, heavy pressure on him, hide your faith, he didn't do that. He didn't go out and buy a few billboards and say everyone look at my faith, but no, he just kept doing the things faithfully that he'd been doing, praying three times a day. He did not change his life for God just to avoid trouble for himself, to avoid cost to himself.

Yes, sir, we know Esther laid her neck on the line so to speak, moved by faith to do so, the fear of God more than the fear of man to come out and identify herself as being a Jew, to the king, not knowing, not knowing what the consequence for that would be. We have Zerubbabel. He was challenged by the Word of God. Look at, you could probably, maybe not every single one of them, you could find their weak point. Maybe we don't have the full record, but think about Zerubbabel. He and the people had stopped building the temple. Why? Because they were afraid. They were afraid. They were afraid that what might happen if they kept building that temple, so what did they do? They went to home improvement efforts. They went back home and began, and it would have been a comfortable life just to live out the rest of their lives. That's just glad we got as much of the temple built as we did. You know, got the foundation laid. No, the Word of God came to them through what was it, Haggai and Zechariah. You must. If you believe in God, you trust God. You're going to get back out there. You're going to build that temple. And he did. And God was with them.

Moses. Remember how long he was on the run? And the Lord got a hold of him and brought him back to, I'll be with your mouth. I will help you to lead this people. You cannot come up with any excuse that's greater than my ability to help you. And so many words, faith. The disciples. Remember how the disciples, the Lord would say of them multiple times. They would say in a number of different ways, oh, you have little faith. You have faith, but you have a little faith. Just a little. It's weak. It's flickering. Going back to the prophet Elijah. I know we jumped over him, but Elijah, think about Elijah. We were just looking at Elijah this morning. Elijah, what did it cost him when he stood up against the prophets of Baal, the payroll prophets? It cost him very well what was going to cost him his life. It could have cost him his life for standing up. And then he became despondent, didn't he? He ran and said, well, just take my life before she takes it. Take my life. And yet the Lord was with him. The Lord that had preserved him through the famine was still going to preserve him and protect him because he had a purpose in his life.

We have John the Baptist. His faith actually cost him his life, didn't it? His faith cost him his life because he was willing to speak the truth to a king and a queen to speak in a situation that was, you know, it was taboo. You shouldn't really say those things, but it was the truth. And because of that, it cost him his head. It cost him his head. Jesus' own disciples. Remember how they were weak? We talked about, oh, ye of little faith. They had a faith that was very much like a flickering flame in many instances throughout. And even when the shepherd was smitten, the sheep were scattered at the crucifixion. But after our Lord ascended, arose and ascended, we see that Pentecost came and there was a great boldness. They were willing to die for the testimony of their Savior. They were willing to live now, not often known, but they were willing to live by the faith of the Son of God who loved them and had given himself for them. They were confident that he was risen and ascended back to the right hand of the throne of God.

I want us to think about, we've read about these chief rulers this morning, and perhaps there were some in that number that they left off. I don't know how many of these people, these chief rulers that are mentioned here, how many were there? There were some among them, it says, that believed, but they would not confess the Lord. They were not confessing because they did not want to be put out of the synagogue. Did that ever change? Was there a point in time where they came to the reality of, if I say that I follow the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm going to have to confess Him because he literally said that I wouldn't need to do that. If I would deny myself, take up my cross and follow Him, it'd be my disciple. If you confess me before men, I will confess you before the Father. But I believe that we can see that there are two of them that did believe that. There are two of them that came to that realization. There's two men, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, among the chief rulers. So look at, if you will, turn with me in your Bible to Mark 15 this morning, Mark 15, and verse number 1. And actually, before we read verse number 1, I want to read verses 42 and 43. I know this is a little backwards here, but let's read verses 42 and 43 of Mark chapter 15 this morning.

It says there in verse number 42, and now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, an honest and honorable counselor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came and went in, he went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. He went in boldly. Well, that sounds different than what we read in general about the chief rulers. He was a counselor. He was part of that. It seems part of that Sanhedrin council. He was a chief man among the religious leaders of that day. He was well known. But we also would read, hold your thing. I'm staying here in this text, but I wanted to read to you what it says in John 19, verse 38. In John 19:38, it says, and after this Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for the fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore and took the body of Jesus. He came and took, so we're told two different things here. We're told not contradicting, but they're different accounts. We have one saying in Mark where we just read just a moment ago that he went in boldly. He was one that waited for the kingdom of God. And we're also told in John that he's a disciple, but that he was a secret disciple. He was a disciple secretly because he feared the Jews. Jesus said, if you continue in my word, you might disciples indeed. There comes a point, even when we see weak Peter. The Lord gave us this example for a reason in Scripture, even the weakness of faith, to encourage if we have weak faith that there is power in our Lord. The power is not of us. It's in hearing what God's word says and laying hold of it and letting whatever doubts there may be in our hearts be purged out so that we may have a bold faith in the Lord. We may have a boldness of faith in our Lord.

Now, we see that in Mark 15, verse 1, back in Mark 15, verse 1, it says in straightway in the morning, the chief priest held a consultation. We read that Joseph was a counselor. They held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council and bound Jesus and carried him away and delivered him to Pilate. I don't know the answers of the question I'm going to ask, but I'm going to ask it anyway. What triggered, I guess we can say, in Joseph's soul, his heart, I cannot remain secret about this faith I profess in Jesus Christ. I cannot remain secret about this any longer. Peter said after Peter was one that denied the Lord, right? But he would say, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. Thou hast the words of eternal life. I've learned a lot from Peter. Peter was a man, though he was weak. Even when he fell, he fell towards upon God's Word and upon his promises and said, thou hast the words of eternal life. We see here that now Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea, he sees that Jesus has died on the cross. What thoughts are going through his mind? And that body, when the centurion comes along, when the soldiers come along, they check the body and they're going to break the legs. They realize this man's dead. He's dead. And so what do they do? They pierce that side and the blood and water came out. And even when Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and said, Pilate, give me the body. He craved. He begged for that body of Jesus. Pilate couldn't believe he was dead. Already he's dead already. Yes, he looked over, called a centurion over. Probably the one who had already checked the body. He said, he's dead. Well, Pilate delivers this body to Jesus. If you deliver this body to Joseph, I should say. Although he was surprised, he did deliver this to Joseph.

You know, Joseph, it makes me think of a passage where we read that Paul says something in Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1, as I was thinking on this, this came to my mind in Philippians chapter 1 verse 12. Remember what the apostle Paul says here. It's an encouraging passage in Philippians chapter 1 verse 12. And he makes this observation. In verse number 12, he says, but I would you should understand that the things which happened unto me. These not good things, bad things, hard things have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. It would seem that these would be counterproductive things that have happened to me. Maybe I'm imprisoned and persecuted and all of this. But instead is fallen out rather to the furtherance of the gospel. So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all of the places. And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Because I have been, because the Lord has been with me as I have taken my stand for truth. And I have even been put in prison for that stand. It was same that this is a bad thing, but actually it's a good thing. Actually, it's been a very positive thing because there are some that have taken it with so little. And now they have seen, it's interesting how the church has actually grown stronger in times of persecution, hasn't it? They've seen the things I've suffered, but it's not about me, but it's now that they have gotten down to business. Can we say that? They've gotten serious about the faith that they profess in the Lord and they realize they've waxed confident. Because of my bonds, they've waxed confident in the Lord, not in me, but in the Lord.

You know, as we see those words, as we read these words, I can't help but think that perhaps is this something similar to what is going on with Joseph of Arimathea here? Well, in the law, it said in Numbers 19:11, that he that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. We're on the eve of the Passover here. We are here at a very, you don't want to miss the Passover, especially as a man of his prominence. You can't just sort of slip out and nobody notices. Everybody's going to be saying, well, where is Joseph? Where is Joseph of Arimathea? I thought he was here and then somebody says, you know, I saw him taking that body of Jesus, that blasphemer. I saw him taking him down from that cross. What is he thinking? Has he lost his mind? What is going on with this man? I thought he was one we could rely on.

Well, in Mark 15 verse 46, it says, And he bought fine linen and took him down and wrapped him in the linen and laid him in a sepulcher, which was hewn out of a rock and rolled a stone onto the door of the sepulcher. You know, probably you and I, if we were living in that time, we would not have had probably wouldn't have had the financial ability to do what Joseph of Arimathea is doing here. This is, I understand for what I read that, well, first of all before I make that statement. Let's look over in the passage that talks about it in John 19. I want to read this before I say what I'm about to say about this, this expense. But in John 19 verse 39, it says there in verse 39, John 19 verse 39, it says this that, And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes about a hundred pound weight. The understanding of the pound, this would have been like a Roman equivalent to a pound, which in our weight today would be more like 75 pounds. But of myrrh and of aloes that he would bring, and it says then took they the body of Jesus and wound it. Notice who is involved in this here, who came? It was Nicodemus as well, right? The one who came to Jesus by night is the one bringing this mixture. And they took the body, he and Joseph took the body of Jesus and wound it in linen clothes with the spices as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden and in the garden a new sepulcher wherein was never man yet laid. There, laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day for the sepulcher was nigh at hand. It is estimated, that was hard to get a hard and fast number on this, but somewhere in the hundred to hundred fifty thousand dollar range of just the spices or the, you know, the burial spices that they brought to bury our Lord and to wind his body in that fabric and that linen.

But we noticed that now this is Jesus, our, this is Joseph and Nicodemus. They're touching a dead body. They're not going to be able to be involved in the Passover. They're not going to be able to enter the temple for a week and everybody's going to know why they weren't in the temple. Seven days is pretty conspicuous. Must have touched a dead body and the word gets around. People observe them doing this. They can, this is not in the corner of their doing this. They're going up to the cross and taking our Lord down and bringing him and transporting him. You think Pilate helped them? No, take him. You can have it. But even, even Joseph risked scoffing from Pilate for even asking the question. What in the world do you want this body for? And this was no common burial. This was a kingly burial that he gave him. A great honor for the body, for the corpse of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You remember the man born blind? How he said to those religious leaders that day he said, will ye also be his disciples? Will you also be his disciples? You see the difference between his words and his parents? His parents were skirting the truth, trying to stay out of trouble. And he just, he was a man that had met the Lord. And he said, well, you be his disciples as well? Well, Jesus opened his eyes. This man, Joseph here in this text, is doing all of this knowing. It's going to cost him. What's it going to cost him? He's going to cost him. He's going to be, he's going to be banned from being a counselor. I'm sure he's going to be banned, perhaps probably from the synagogue. He's going to be banned from all of these things and associations and friendships that he had with all of these people. It's going to cost him dearly. There's a stigma that's going to follow him around. People are going to talk bad about him. Well, I should have never been ashamed to confess the Lord before now. Maybe he said. But the point was that he did. Peter denied the Lord, and went fishing, but thank the Lord. He, the Lord told him when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

We noticed that in all of these examples this morning fear keeps us from living by faith. Oh, we might have, we might have genuine faith, but it's little. But may the Lord help us, may the Lord help us, the Lord might have to send something, he might have to send something traumatic in our lives. He might have to send something deeply challenging to us, to shake us up and say, you know what, Haggai, Zechariah, you're right. We've sinned. We have left off the building of this temple and we must get back to it. We must build. If we say that we trust God, we must deny ourselves and take up the cross and follow. Take up our cross and follow him. We must proclaim the truth, even if we die for it, like John the Baptist, or Elijah did, it's far more likely that we'll just suffer scoffing and mocking for telling truth and taking the right stance upon God's word. Like we saw in the case of Noah, but may God help us if there's anything that's keeping us from confessing him unashamedly boldly making it clear, declaring plainly that we're pilgrims and strangers in the earth, may the Lord purge that out of us. May we have an unashamed faith in the Lord, like Joseph did, a faith that's willing to go to a cost because we realize my Lord has given his all for me. He's laid down his life for me. What cost could be too great for me to pay for him? I can never repay even the debt of love that I owe to say nothing. I shouldn't try to pay for sin, Daddy's already paid that, but may the Lord help us. We say we have faith. May we show our faith by our works, not work to get faith, but no, to demonstrate the faith we have, the confidence we have in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by simply obeying His Word, by simply obeying what He tells us in His Word. The statement is made in Matthew, or Luke chapter 18 verse 8, when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? Well, this is the kind of faith I believe the Lord is looking for, right? Anyone biblical faith, faith that takes God at His Word, let's pray, heavenly Father.

We think of the words of that hymn, child of weakness, watch and pray, find in me, thine all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. As our brother Joseph of Arimathea saw his Savior hanging there on the cross, did He? Was His heart smitten? We don't know all of the details, but we do know. We do know that it says to us that He was a disciple only secretly for fear, but I believe we believe, Lord, that there was a bold proclamation. It says He came boldly. There was a bold proclamation of His faith that day. I am tired of being a secret disciple of the Lord. I must not be afraid of what can happen to me. My Lord has given His all for me what can I give for Him. May we have that faith, may our faith increase, Lord, may our faith be strengthened. May we not be cowards in these days in which we live, may we be bold in the Lord, not in our own strength, but bold in the Lord. We pray and ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.