“Nevertheless, many did believe in him even among the rulers, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, so that they would not be banned from the synagogue. For they loved human praise more than praise from God.” John 12:42-43 CSB https://bible.com/bible/1713/jhn.12.43.CSB

What keeps us from confessing Jesus as Lord before others? We fear something. Losing their approval, sales, respect, relationships, and other fears keep us from identifying ourselves with Jesus. We love something more, ourselves and the opinion of others about us, more than we love God and His approval. What is the consequence of such living? First, those whom we fear do not hear the gospel from us and so remain in their sins to spend eternity in hell for not receiving Jesus as their Savior. These people are in our lives for us to bring to Christ in obedience to His command to go and make disciples, beginning with where we live and expanding to the ends of the earth. If we truly loved the opinion of those we fear, we would love most their correct opinion of Jesus so that they can have eternal life. Second, we jeopardize our own souls in heaven. God in Jesus warned that those who deny Him before men will be rejected by Him before God. We think our omission of identifying with Jesus is not the same as overtly denying Him, but we are wrong. God is not deceived. He will not see a difference between our silent and spoken denial, for He knows that were we pushed to deny Him, we would since we are already ashamed of Him. What is the reward for confessing Jesus and identifying with Him before men? Praise from God before the entire host of heaven. Treasure in heaven that pays reward to us for all eternity. We will live forever somewhere, but it won’t be here. Why not live our best life with God in the future instead of trying to live it now when we know it will soon be gone?