Now, what is a undercover Christian? Well, it's a Christian that's undistinguishable from the world. That's the bottom line. You can't really tell them from the world because they act like the world. They still talk like the world. They still go to the places the world goes and they shouldn't. They still look like the world. They still do the stuff that the world is doing. They're undistinguishable. They're invisible. They just take no stand. They just lay low, kind of clandestine and unseen, and they just keep to themselves, and they don't reach out to anybody with the truth because they lack a love for the lost. The Bible says that the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation. Welcome to Pulpit Power, featuring Pastor Tony Skeving, Senior Pastor of Fargo Baptist Church in Fargo, North Dakota. Today's message was previously preached before a church audience. And now, here's Pastor Skeving. Let's take our Bibles, if you have them, and turn to John chapter 12, the gospel of John. in the 12th chapter. There's a phrase, and I was doing a little counting recently, it's found 18 times in the Bible, and it's just a simple phrase, a little while, a little while. It's found several times here even in the Gospel of John, and that phrase, little while, it means there's something that's been happening but it's just about over. It's coming to a close, it's come now to this, and we find that expression here in John chapter 12 and in verse number 35, then Jesus said unto them, yet a little while. is the light with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you. For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. So he says, it's just gonna be a little while yet, and then you're not gonna have this light anymore. Whatever this light is, we're on the home stretch, it's about to come to a close. He goes on in verse 36, he says, while you have light, believe in the light, that you 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 that 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. Now, looking at those last two verses we read a moment ago, we see a sad truth here. There were some that, in spite of the opposition, they believed. They got saved. They were born again, but they were what I call undercover Christians, closet Christians. Nobody knew they were saved. Is that the way we in the 21st century ought to be? I don't believe so. And we're gonna be talking about that today as we talk about undercover Christians. But let's pray before we begin. Father, we thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to be in this wonderful place, the house of God on the Lord's day, with the word of God open, able to learn truth and glean from it something that'll help us at this time. Lord, we'll talk about doctrine today, and may we listen carefully and learn some things perhaps new to many here. But Father, we'll talk about old truths, but the one we want to drive home is this thought of not being an undercover Christian. Help us not to be in these days in which we live. Give us now a special grace, and we'll thank you for it. We ask it all now, in Jesus' name, amen. You know, back in the 30s, 1930s, when Hitler was trying to conquer the world, he had some opposition. There were some Bible-believing pastors in Germany and that region there who knew it was wrong, knew his attitude was wrong, but he pretended to be a Christian. He said, one of you, I'm a believer. And he said, you need to believe that the Jews are inferior and the other races are inferior and the Aryan race is the superior race. And of course, these Bible-believing Christians didn't buy into that. And as a result, they were rounded up and they were taken to the concentration camps like Dachau and Auschwitz, and they were put to death. But they were unwavering in their stand. We need to take a stand like that, folks, in the day and age in which we live. I mentioned before from this pulpit the Baptist preacher from the mid 1600s by the name of John Bunyan. John Bunyan took a stand and at that time they were saying the government had to grant you a license in order to preach and hold meetings and so on. He said, no, biblically, that's not it. And so he took his stand, they put him in the bed for jail. He had a three month term and they said, we'll let you out now if you'll stop doing this. He said, I can't. And so they put him back in jail and he served some more time. He served up to 12 years before they finally gave up trying to break him because he was firm in his convictions. He took a stand. We need to take a stand like that. We talk about a faith that does not compromise. We talk about a faith that cannot be intimidated. And then there are those who are undercover Christians. We find them in verse number 42. It mentions, nevertheless, among the chief rulers, also many believed on Christ, 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. Now, a few days earlier, the Lord Jesus Christ had made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The world calls it Palm Sunday to this day. And the crowd was all for him. I mean, it was Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, the son of David and all that. But shortly after he cleansed the temple, and the crowd turned on him. Public polls plummeted as far as his popularity went. And so we find him here. This is important. He's preaching his final public sermon. That's why every sentence, every word, every thought he's driving home here is important. This is his final public sermon. And so when he gets done here, it's time to render the final verdict. Are they on board or not? Are they in or not? Well, we find that there were many there that said, we're not. He's an imposter. He's not the Messiah. And if he's not the Messiah, who is the Messiah? They're asking those kinds of questions. And so it's come to this. It's about to come to a head here. There is a little while and then it's Calvary time. But before that time, we see first here in this passage what I call the stubborn unbelief, the stubborn unbelief. We find, turning back to verse 36, Jesus says this, while you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be the children of light. And then it says, these things spake Jesus and departed and did hide himself from them. And that's it. The next time they would see him, it would be crucify him time. So he says a little while. you have the light. A little while, you have the light. You're not always going to have the light. There is a window of opportunity for every person to get in before that window shuts. A little while, you have that light. A lot of people don't realize you don't have forever to get saved. You don't have forever to be born again. You don't have forever to be a child of God and receive Christ as your Lord and Savior and be converted. The Bible says this in 2 Corinthians 6, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Did you catch that? Now. You say, when should I get saved? Now. Now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. There is an expression commonly used. We put it this way. Don't send away the day of grace. Stop and think about that. Don't sin away the day of grace, folks. There is something in the Bible called an unpardonable sin, an unpardonable sin. You say, well, is it murder? I mean, that could never be forgiven. No, you can be forgiven for murder. You can get saved after you've committed murder. Paul did that. And so it's not murder. You say, pastor, is it adultery? I mean, if you commit adultery, can you still be forgiven? Yes, you can still be forgiven and you can still be saved. You say, well, maybe it's rape. No, you can be saved after committing such a horrible heinous crime. Even a child molester can be born again. Those are not the unpardonable sin. All of those can be forgiven. You can be saved still in spite of that. There's only one thing that is unpardonable. In fact, Christ makes reference to it in Matthew 12. All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. You say, Pastor, what is that blasphemy of the Holy Ghost? I believe it's this. I believe it's when the Spirit of God is drawing you, convicting you, showing you your need to say yes to Christ, to come to Christ, and you stiff-arm God, you put that off, you do not take care of that, And what happens is your heart slowly develops a film, yay, a callus over it, it hardens, and then you cannot get saved. If you continually reject the opportunity to say yes to Christ, I believe according to this Bible, there will be a last time, a last drawing, when God will say, that's it. Notice in verse number 32 here of John chapter 12, we kind of saw this before. Jesus said, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. Salvation takes a drawing. You say, well, I'll just make that call. No, it's not your call. The Bible says salvation is of the Lord. This is something the Lord must do. He must draw you. He must show you your need. We saw this last time. In John 6 the Bible says no man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him. Now this is Jesus Christ talking and he says no man, there's nobody who can come to him except the Father draw him. And so God must draw you but There was a limited time. There was a limited time for this. Remember the flood of Noah's day way back in Genesis 6? I mean, sin had got so horrible, it had come to a head in a place where really there was no way God could salvage anything on the earth anymore except for the family of Noah. And so God starts a stopwatch, if you will, and says, I'm going to give them this much time And we read this in Genesis 6.3, the Lord said, He names that amount of time and He says, when that time is up, it's all over. God has a limit on the time He extends for somebody to say yes to Christ. If we had time, I'd take you to Proverbs chapter 1, we'd see God personified as wisdom there, and we would read that and find out that the arm of God is stretched out saying, come to me, please come to me, now's the time to come to me. But if you refuse that, and you reject that, and you say no long enough, that drawing ends. And when that drawing ends, that's it. That's it. Even if you say, okay, now I'm ready, it's too late. There is a window of opportunity, and you have to get through it on God's timing. And I think of how sad it is that this crowd back here, 2,000 years ago from John chapter 12, saw everything that Christ had said and done, and they still rejected Him. And their opportunity is lost forever now. There comes a time when God says, that's it. You know, God was extending that arm of mercy to the people of Israel, and speaking through the prophet Hosea back in the Old Testament, and pleading with them to come to Him, to repent, and they didn't. And finally, in Hosea 4.17, God says to the prophet, Ephraim is joined to his idols, let him alone. Ephraim's joined to his idols, there's no unjoining him, let him alone. Let him alone. And we find that that opportunity was lost forever. So back here in John chapter 12, we find Christ saying in verse 36, while you have the light, believe in the light. While you have the light, believe in the light. Take advantage of that opportunity to believe in the light. Now, who's the light? Who's the light? That's the question asked here. And there are some who say, well, it's talking about God, it's talking about this, it's talking about that. No, it's talking specifically about the Lord Jesus Christ and his message, the light that it brings. While you have the light, take advantage of the light. receive the light. He's not talking here about being religious. There are a lot of people who are religious but don't know Christ as their Lord and Savior. He's not talking here about going to church. I believe in going to church. I thank God you're in church today. But that's not what he's talking about here. He's not talking about having faith. Somebody says, well, I have faith. and they don't even understand what that faith's all about, what that faith needs to be in. They say, well, I believe in God. Well, that's fine, but the demons believe in God too, and they're not going to heaven. There are some people and they're sitting right on top of the truth. I mean, they understand the virgin birth and the Trinity and a lot of Bible stuff and then faith and all that, and they're sitting right on top of the truth, but they've never been born again. They've never been saved. Being born again is recognizing you're lost, and we're all born into the world that way, spiritually dead, on the road to hell, the wages of sin is hell, we're all sinners, they're non-righteous, no, not one, but there's a gift God is offering to us. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And it's not a matter of just standing back and believing in that gift like, okay, there's the gift. and looking at the gift, it must be received. Have you had a time when you received that sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross and made Him the Lord of your life? I mean, if you're not saved, you're running your life. You're the Lord of your life. You're calling the shots. You're doing your thing. But when you get saved, you crown Him Lord of all, and you accept that sacrifice. And so Jesus is saying here, while you have the light, believe on the light, that you might be children of the light. You say, well, aren't we all God's children? No, you become a child of God when you are born again spiritually into his family. You know, there are children of the world, there are children of darkness, the Bible calls them. In fact, in Ephesians 5, Paul says to Christian people, for ye were, sometimes in time past, Darkness, but now are you children or are you light in the Lord? Walk as children of light. He says in time past, you were children of the darkness. You were in the darkness. He says, now are you light in the Lord? And then the admonition is to walk as children of light. And so we find Christ here. He's given the final warning to this crowd and telling them, you have time. And he summoned them a number of times with his preaching. He had been in Jerusalem a number of times. He had healed a man at the Pool of Siloam, at the Pool of Bethesda. He had done miracles. He had raised people from the dead, like Lazarus, just a couple miles away. He had healed the lame and the leper and done all of these things. And now he's making his final appeal. And when he does, you'll find he moves on. And I believe he will move on with a broken heart. Because he loved those people, those very people rejecting him, he loved them enough to die for them. And he would die for them. What more could he do? You talk about an intense love. He loved them enough to die for them. He loved him up until his final word of this message before he moved on. You know, the love God has for us is a love until the end kind of a love thing. You know, that backstabbing Judas who had betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ, even at that last supper, we read this in John 13, one, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, having loved his own, which are in the world, He loved them unto the end. As he's offering that sop to Judas, he's loving him unto the end. He's saying there's still time to repent. That's the kind of love God has for us. He loves us unto the end. Now, back here in John chapter 12, verse 37 says this, but though he had done so many miracles before them yet, They believe not on Him, though He had done so many miracles. In the four Gospels, we find 36 miracles in all recorded. That's not all of the miracles Christ did. He did many, many more, but we find miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle, day after day after day. He's doing all these miracles, and here's the people haven't seen all those miracles, still rejected Him. They had absolutely no excuse for rejecting Him. The evidence was massive. I mean, He was fulfilling all those prophecies, like over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament, all about Him. He's fulfilling all of those, and yet, They think he's an imposter. They execute him. They reject him in spite of all of that. Can you imagine the scribes who made copies of the Old Testament and daily were writing down these very prophecies about Christ missing their Messiah? Can you imagine these Pharisees steeped in all the ritualism and Judaism and the trappings of the law and the tradition of the Old Testament? And they had all of that going for them. They were shackled with that. and yet they miss Christ. Like many people, they're chained to a false religion or a bunch of traditions, and the Bible tells us, but though he had done so many miracles, yet they believe not in him. The commentator John Phillips put it this way, they deliberately, persistently, stubbornly tore up his credentials. That's it, that's what they did. Now in verse 38, It says 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? This is taken from a very famous chapter of the Old Testament, written 700 years earlier, Isaiah 53. It starts out this way. Back in Bible college, we had to memorize this. Who hath believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord revealed? so on. It's a very, very famous verse here, and we find out that it's about to make a point from this that is very, very important. It's talking in that particular chapter of the Bible about the suffering of Christ, his passion, his agony, his death, and it starts out by saying, who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? It's asking who believed in Christ as the Messiah? And the answer is very few. Very few, even at the time in which he walked this earth. And even yet today, folks, sadly, there are very, very few who are saying yes to Christ as their Lord and Savior. Oh, a lot of people go to church, get baptized, and take communion, be religious, and all that. But being born again is something totally different. And to me, one of the most staggering, sobering, saddest verses in the Bible is this one behind me right now. Christ says in Matthew 7, because straight or narrow is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. That word straight, stenos, in the Greek means it's very tight, it's very restricted. There are very few getting in that gate, very few on that narrow road. There are very few that are truly saved, and that is incredible. So here we find these folks back in the first century after all these miracles, after three and a half years of the ministry of Christ, they still are stubborn in their unbelief. We see the stubborn unbelief, but secondly, we see the skewed understanding. In verse 39, the Bible says, therefore they could not believe because that Isaiah said again, he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart. Now, there's a very important principle that I wanna teach right now, and it's very important that you listen carefully and you remember what you're about to hear. But we find here that it goes from they would not believe to they could not believe. That's sobering. They wouldn't, and now they can't. Now, in Isaiah 55, 6, the Bible says, There's that while again. And so if you feel the tug of God at your heart, the drawing of God in your soul to come to Christ, to make him your Lord and Savior, you better seize the moment. Seek you the Lord while he may be found, call you upon him while he is near, or you could take that next step, going from would not to could not. They would not, now they can. That is a very dangerous step to take. There was a preacher years ago by the name of George W. Truitt. He pastored the First Baptist Church of Dallas. He was famous in his day nationwide. This is a cover of Life Magazine at the time. And George W. Truitt tells the story of a godly young lady in his church, probably in her early 20s, that had such a dynamic Christian testimony that passed away. quite suddenly. And he did the funeral. The father of that girl showed up and they rode in the hearse together to the cemetery afterwards. And the father of this young lady was not a believer. He had never been born again. He had come to church years ago, time after time. And as he was riding in that hearse with Dr. Truitt, he said, you know, Pastor, there was a time when I used to come to church and boy, when you got done preaching and you gave that invitation, it took everything I had in me to hold onto that pew and not walk the aisle and come forward and receive Christ as my Lord and Savior. And man, my knuckles turned white some Sundays trying to hold back from doing that. And week after week, man, when you preach, the spirit of God was on you and it moved in my heart. And after a while, it didn't affect me like it did before. And pretty soon, I could just sit there and hear it. And that was a nice sermon. And I don't know what happened to your preaching. I don't know what happened to the power of God on the church. But it just doesn't get to me the way it used to. And Dr. Truitt thought, what a tragedy. He dared not say it to the man. But he had in the car with him a man destined for hell, as much as the fact he were there already because he had hardened his heart to that place to where he could not say yes to Christ anymore. There is a dangerous progression here and Christ talks about it in verse number 39. It says, therefore, they could not believe because that 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. Now you read that and you say, pastor, wait a minute, that is not fair. It sounds to me like God hardens their heart so they can't get saved. No, let me explain this to you. In fact, I'll use the example in the Old Testament of Pharaoh back in Exodus there. We find that Pharaoh sees nine incredible miracles, I mean plagues upon Egypt, and one at a time, he won't let the children of Israel go. He hardens his heart. Finally, the firstborn in Egypt dies, and he says, okay, you can go, but after that, he changes his mind, and of course, it leads to the Red Sea story and all of that, but we find out a truth here that when we harden our heart, God allows the natural process of our heart being hardened, and in a sense, he hardens our heart. Now, it works both ways. If you draw an eye into God, he'll draw an eye into you. You take a step toward God, he'll take a step toward you. But if God is drawing you and you take a step back, you're gonna see him take a step back, and you take another step back, he'll take another step back. Let me just say this about unbelief. It compounds. It compounds. And we find out here that Pharaoh started the whole thing by hardening his heart. We read in Exodus 8.15, but when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart and hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had said. Now, God knew it was gonna happen. God knows everything. In his foreknowledge, he knows absolutely everything, but it was Pharaoh who made the decision, he hardened his heart, and we find out that these two men, Pharaoh and Moses, who grew up in the same palace, take totally different paths. One, because he submitted to God, Moses. The other, because in his unbelief, he said no to God. And never forget this about unbelief. compounds. Unbelief compounds. I put it this way, unbelief is self-propagating. Follow me? Unbelief is self-propagating. I mean, first it's you won't repent, then it's you can't repent. You can't repent. In Hebrews 3, the Bible says, today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart. You say, well, why would God harden Pharaoh's heart? Why would it say here in John 12, God hardens hearts? There's something automatic, folks. I would call it built in. And take heed to what we are reading here. If God is drawing you, this is not something to put off, because your heart will harden. We read in Romans 128, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. Notice, they didn't want anything to do with God. They ignored God, so what happened? God let them have their way. God gave them over to a reprobate mind. You say, what's a reprobate? A reprobate is somebody who cannot get saved, biblically speaking. When you reject and you stiffen up, and you deliberately make ungodly choices to say no to God, that is spiritually fatal. That is spiritually fatal. We read in Hebrews 10, for if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment." Folks, that's sobering. That's Bible. I didn't write that. I'm just reading it to you. This is how it works. God has wired it this way. It's built in. So we read on in verse number 41. These things did Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him. Now, what's it talking about? These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and he spake of him. If you're taking notes, right in your margin, Isaiah 6. It's making a reference to when Isaiah saw God high, holy, mighty, lifted up. We read about it here in Isaiah 6.1. In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah says, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up. Who is this Lord that he saw here? I want to show you in just a moment. It was the Lord Jesus Christ. Because in our passage here, in the context of what we're looking at, it's talking about not rejecting God. If you do, you're going to harden your heart. That's what this chapter here in Isaiah 6, it goes back and it makes reference to that very thing happening here. Isaiah being sent to those people to preach to them, they wouldn't listen, they'd harden their heart and God would harden their heart in the process. This is a very, very special chapter of the Old Testament and it's one that the scribes copied over and over and over again. The scribes at the time of Christ had seen it many, many times and yet they didn't make the connection. This one that Isaiah saw was the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. It had to be the Son of God that Isaiah saw that day, high and lifted up. You say, well, why? because God the Father is invisible. You'll never see him. John the Baptist said, no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, they're one and the same, he hath declared him, exposed or revealed him. So if you wanna see God, you're gonna have to see Jesus Christ. This is actually a proof text of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, there are cults that'll knock on your door in this town and bring with them the false doctrine that Jesus Christ was not God. Folks, He was. Isaiah saw Him high and lifted up, and the angels just having a spell, talking about Him and singing about Him and bringing Him glory. That was Jesus Christ. This is a proof text of the deity of Christ. And so we find once again that there's that stubborn unbelief, there's that skewed understanding, and you and I need to take heed to this passage and say, wait a minute, if God is summoning me to come and receive him today, I need to seize that opportunity. Well, we see the skewed understanding finally. We see the spiritual uneasiness. We find these folks here that did believe, but they were undercover Christians. They were uneasy about coming out of the closet as a believer, and so they were clandestine kind of Christians. Some would call them Clairol Christians. Remember the old Clairol, only your hairdresser knows for sure. There are some, you know, only God knows for sure that they've been saved because they don't say anything about it. There's no evidence there. You know, there was a guy who got saved, he was a born-again Christian, and he got a contract to go work at a lumberjack camp for a year. And a friend of his in the church said, I don't know if I'd take that job. I mean, it's really rough there, and if they find out you're a Christian, they're going to give you a hard time. Well, he went and he did his contract, he was there a whole year. He came back and he met up with his friend. He said, well, did they give you a hard time? He said, no, they didn't give me a hard time at all. And he said, how could that be? He said, they never found out I was a Christian. Now, whose fault is that? They never found out I was a Christian. Really? You know, that is not just compromise, folks. That is cowardice. That is cowardice. And we find some of those folks here in verse number 42. It says, 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. Now notice, first of all, the nevertheless. So it's talking about these who saw these miracles and they still rejected the truth, but nevertheless, there were some who got saved, and I praise God for that. There's always that remnant, that nevertheless crowd. They see the truth and they're willing to receive it. And we find no less chief rulers in Jerusalem who said, yes, did you catch that? In verse 42, nevertheless, among the chief rulers, also many believed on him. So these were men of the cloth, clergymen. Guys with the the phylacteries and the the robes and and and stood in in in in podiums and pulpits and and took the holy scrolls and and read them and and now they were followers of Christ. They believed he was the Messiah. but they knew it would be at a cost and a price if they came forward with that. You know what it cost them? Well, they'd be put out of the synagogue. It would cost them their job, their livelihood. We saw this back in chapter nine. Remember that blind man who gets saved and he takes a stand for Christ, but his parents don't? It says in verse 22, the Jews had agreed already that if any man did confess that he, Jesus, was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. And so that was a dreaded punishment. Boy, to get booted out of the synagogue, the blind man got booted out of the synagogue. And I call him the man who lost his religion and went to heaven. You say, that's kind of backwards. No, that's exactly what happened. His parents, on the other hand, chickened out. And we don't know what became of them. But we find out in verse 42 here that among the chief rulers, many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him. They didn't come forward. And verse 43 tells us why. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. That's the bottom line. Now, what about us? We'd put it this way. Do we care more about what the world thinks of us than what God thinks of us? Is the praise of men a bigger deal to us than the praise of God? Sadly, we find in the Bible this is something common. I mean, it's not just these guys. We've seen Nicodemus already. We've seen the parents of the blind man. We've seen Joseph of Arimathea. We're going to see Peter even go undercover and hide in the closet here. In Matthew 10, Jesus said, will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." You say, you mean you lose your salvation? No, you can't lose your salvation. There's no losing your salvation. But it's talking here about shaming the Lord. That's what Jesus is talking about, shaming him. Now, what is a undercover Christian? Well, it's a Christian that's undistinguishable from the world. That's the bottom line. You can't really tell them from the world because they act like the world. They still talk like the world. They still go to the places the world goes and they shouldn't. They still look like the world. They still do the stuff that the world is doing. They're undistinguishable. They're invisible. They just take no stand. They're like the lumberjack. They just lay low, kind of clandestine and unseen, and they just keep to themselves, and they don't reach out to anybody with the truth because they lack a love for the lost. The fact that the lost are lost and are on a road to a Christless eternity, and so they never give any indication that they're a Christian. They don't carry tracts around, they don't pass tracts to anybody, they don't invite anybody to church, they never speak up. And normally it's because they're pretty much into themselves, not really seeing the fields that are white unto harvest and seeing the need out there. And so they'll focus on themselves. By the way, they'll study the Bible and they'll fill their mind and heart with a lot of doctrine and so on. And they'll spend endless hours Studying theology and learning theology and they'll they'll have a ton of knowledge But they'll they'll end up intellectual as far as Bible truth goes and and and they'll have this Intellectual pride they'll be filled with this pride. They won't be filled with the Holy Spirit We read that knowledge puffeth up It makes us proud. And so these are people they'll learn a lot of Bible, but they'll never understand point anyone to Christ. And the day will come when they will stand before Christ and give an account for that. Why they didn't tell anybody. Why they were an undercover Christian. They knew the good news, but they didn't have the heart to share it with anybody else. You know, first century Christians after the resurrection, they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They were apt to give the truth. Is it possible in the 21st century to be that kind of a Christian? Is it possible in this day and time we're living in, today's world, to share the truth with people? I think so. I think definitely. I think people today are more empty than ever. There's more stuff for them to get into, but I think they're empty, and they've realized it. And so they might act confident on the outside, but they're a bowl of worms on the inside. They're people you work with. They're people you live by. People who, they lack a purpose. And so, there we are, afraid of what they're gonna think of us, when really, they're waiting for somebody to bring them something worth living for. Don't be intimidated by them, folks. I think it was Will Rogers who put it this way. Too many people spend money they haven't earned to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like. Isn't that about the bottom line? And so there's really no reason to hold back. God, help us to brighten the corner where we are and light up the room when we go to work, try and make a difference in that way. Don't shrink back. Don't shrink back. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 29 that the fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. Just let people know. Let the whole world know. Let them know where you stand. Do it appropriately and in love and kindness and not being obnoxious and abrasive, but when you go to work, let them know you're a Christian and make it known. You know, there was an official in Cyprus years ago at a time when Christians were being heavily persecuted, and he received a letter from a man he knew well, who was a heathen when he knew him by the name of Donatus, and this is what he said. He said, it's a bad world, Donatist, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret. They have found a joy which is a thousand times better than any of the pleasures of our sinful life. They're despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. And these people, Donatist, are Christians. and I am now one of them. I am now one of them. I am too, are you? I am now one of them. And so I want you to consider the people in your circle of influence, the people that you know, the people that follow you on social media. By the way, is your social media enough for folks to know you are truly a born-again Christian? Do the people at work know? Do they know you're a Christian? The people in your neighborhood, do they know? Do they know? Your relatives, do they know? That person at the gas station where you get your gas, do they know? That person down at the gym, do they know? Those people you meet every single week, do they know? Jesus said, neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. And it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. God, help us to let the whole world know. I think verses 42 and 43 are some of the saddest verses in the Bible. They believed, but they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. God, help us to let this world know. There was a little girl who came home from Sunday school one Sunday morning. She was riding in the car with her mom, and she said something the pastor said today confused me. First of all, he said that God is bigger than any of us. Is that true? Yes, God is bigger than any of us, Mom said. Well, then he also said that God lives inside of us. Is that true? Yes, God lives inside of us. That's true. If God is bigger than us and He lives inside of us, then wouldn't He show through? That's how the little girl put it. Wouldn't He show through? You saw her little wheels turning. And the answer obviously is yes. If God lives inside of us, folks, let Him show through. When we get saved, God doesn't call us to live some clandestine life, some place in a monk, some place in a monastery, and pull away from society and live a cloistered life out in a colony somewhere out of town. He leaves us here amongst people. and he wants us to make a difference. God help us to make a difference in the 21st century. You know, in the first century, when they got saved, and the Bible says they knew the truth. We read this, and I'll close with this, therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. That's really what salvation ought to do for us. It ought to scatter us everywhere letting people know. May God give us the boldness not to be an undercover Christian. You've been listening to Pastor Tony Skeving of the Fargo Baptist Church in Fargo, North Dakota. If you would like a CD of today's message, you can obtain one by sending a gift of $2 to Fargo Baptist Church, 3303 23rd Avenue South, Fargo, North Dakota, 58103. That address again, Fargo Baptist Church, 3303 23rd Avenue South Fargo, North Dakota 58103. We hope you'll join Pastor Skeving next time right here on Pulpit Power. Pulpit Power is a production of Heaven 88.7.