Also I say unto you, whosoever
shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of Man also
confess before the angels of God. But he that denieth me before
men shall be denied before the angels of God. You know what's wonderful about
that? I don't believe that the Lord arranges these sermons around
the events of our lives. I believe he arranges our lives
around his word. And I'm so thankful for that. Clearly, this is a vital issue
to be denied before the angels of God. Is eternal damnation
to be denied by Christ? When the Lord says to those in
Matthew chapter seven, I never knew you. That's Him denying
them. I never knew you. And this is
what we're saying when we confess Christ. When we confess Him.
I know you. That's what we're saying. I know
Him. He is what I know. He's all I know. He's all I have. And so, this is a vital matter. It's a matter of eternal life
and eternal death. And then secondly, this whole
thing hinges upon an understanding of what it means to confess Christ. And there's a threefold definition
of this word in the original Greek that's translated here,
confess. And it's a definition that's
very, very helpful in understanding what this is. Primary to the
definition of the word is this. To say the same thing as another. You wouldn't have come up with
that, would you? If I asked you what does it mean to confess,
you probably wouldn't have said that. I wouldn't have either before
I looked into this. To say the same thing as another. To agree
with, to assent. You're not really confessing
Christ unless you're saying the same thing that he did. Let's
talk about that for a minute. What is it that Christ said?
What did he say? And is it necessary for you to
say what he said? If you're going to confess him
it is. If you're going to confess him.
Christ identified himself. That's what he did everywhere
he went. He preached himself. I am. How many times did he say
I am? I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life.
I am the door. I am the bread. Think about this. Are you really confessing someone
if nobody knows who you're confessing? You can go around like religion
does, saying I love Jesus and I know the Lord, I confess Christ,
but there are many false Christs. As we saw in our lesson this
morning. If you're really going to confess a Christ, you're going
to have to identify him. And in order to identify the
Christ of this book, you must say what he said. He said he was God. Do you say that? If not, you're not confessing
Christ. He said he was God. If your Christ
is not God, Be still and know that I'm God. God does as he
pleases, when he pleases, with whom he pleases. Is your Lord
Jesus like that? If not, then you're not confessing
the Christ of the Bible. He said if you've seen me, you've
seen God the Father. He was and is the eternal Godhead,
dwelling in a body. God is spirit, and yet the eternal
Godhead, Colossians 2.9, dwelt in a body. That's who we confess. He's God in human flesh. It behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
faithful and merciful high priest in things pertaining to God. He said he was sovereign. To
confess him means to say what he said. Who are you confessing?
I'm confessing the God of heaven and earth. When David was questioned
about him, where is your God? He said he's in heaven. He's
doing what he wants to do. He's doing whatsoever he pleases.
That's confessing Christ right there. Is that what you're doing? Is that what you did when you
were baptized? Is that what you're going to do? He said to his father,
you've given me power, authority over all flesh, that I should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given me. Now, I
don't have to tell you that Jesus of this religion is not that
one. He offers eternal life to whoever will do something for
him, but he don't give eternal life to anybody. Mine does. I confess this Christ. who has authority to give life
or to not give life. And he that hath the Son hath
life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Well, who
has and who hasn't? Those whom he gives himself to
has him. He said in John 5.21, for as
the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so
the Son quickeneth whom He will. He gives life. He don't offer
to whom He will. He don't offer to everybody.
He don't offer it all. He does. He accomplishes. He works. He succeeds. He saves. That's what His name
is. His name is He shall save. who
he wants to save, who he came to save, his people. For the Father judgeth no man. We've talked about this a few
times, but let me just emphasize it again. This is who we confess
now. He said, as the Father raiseth
up the dead and quickeneth them, only God has life. Our brother
just read that. The first Adam had life. Where
did he get it from? The second Adam gives life. Isn't
that what it said? The second Adam is the one that
gave it to him and gave him spiritual life and gave it to you if you
have it. Even so the Son quickeneth whom
he will, for the Father judgeth. Now what does judgment have to
do with this matter of giving life and not giving life? The
word judgeth there means to separate, to pick out, to select, to choose. He not only has the ability to
give life, he has the authority to give it who he wants to give
it to. He picks out certain ones and he gives it to them. Because
it pleases Him to do that. Do you confess Him? There's a price to confessing
Him before man. And that'll be the second part
of the definition that we'll look at in a minute. But what
did He say? We got to say what He said. He
said, I give life to whom I will. Do you say that? Then you're confessing the Christ
of this book. Most religious people do not. He said that you only need him.
Did he not say that? One thing is needful. One thing. I was going to read that passage
again, and you know what I'm thinking? Why not? We've read this so many
times. Luke 10 38. Now it came to pass
as they went, that he entered into a certain village and a
certain woman named Martha received him into her house and she had
a sister called Mary which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard
his word. Now you've got to picture this
in your mind. That's what the Lord gave us minds for. To see
Him. Picture this. Here's Mary sitting
at the feet of the Master. While Martha's busy about all
this other stuff that's important stuff. Mary is sitting at the
feet of the master, hearing his word. She's hanging up on every
word. Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. She
had some understanding of that and nothing else was important.
She said, I've got to hear from him. I've got to know him. But Martha was cumbered about
much serving, and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not
care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore
that she help me. She was helping Martha, did you
know that? What is the best thing that you
can do for those that you love? Honor him. Do I need to say that
again so that I'll maybe know what I'm saying and hear that.
The very best thing that you can do for those that you love
is honor Him. And Jesus answered and said unto
her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many
things, but one thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen that good
part, which shall not be taken away from her. What Mary chose was that good
part because one thing is needful. You need Christ. You need to
know him. And if you know him, you'll confess
him. To believe with the heart is
to confess with the mouth. And to confess with the mouth
is to say what he said. To say he's who he said he is.
Who are you confessing? God in human flesh, the sovereign
Christ who is successful and invincible and almighty. And he saves whom he will. He
saves everybody he came to save. His blood is powerful and mighty
to save. You will say what he said about
everything. But really he's everything. To confess Christ also means
to confess one's self guilty of what one is accused of. That's exactly what Paul did
in Acts chapter 24. He was falsely accused of some
things by the religious Jews and arrested and when he got
an opportunity to answer for himself this is what he said.
In Acts 24.10, then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned
unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou
hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more
cheerfully answer for myself, because that thou mayest understand
that there are yet but twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem
for to worship. And they neither found me in
the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people,
neither in the synagogues, nor in the city. What they are accusing
me of is false. Neither can they prove the things where they now
accuse me of, because they didn't happen. But this I confess, I'm
guilty of something. That after the way which they
call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing
all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. You remember what it said of
the Lord In Luke 24, I believe it is, he began with Moses and
all the prophets in the Psalms and expounded those things concerning
himself. To confess Christ is to associate
yourself with him, to identify with him in his suffering and
shame in this religious world's hatred of him. Christ is the
way that they call heresy. Every heresy known to man is
because of Christ. That's why it's called anti-Christ. Christ is the way they call heresy,
and that's how we worship God. By Him, through Him, because
of Him. It's to identify with Him in
the offense of His cross. That's confessing Christ. Is
that what you did? Is that what we do? Is that what
we're going to do? By the way, they still do call
him heresy. Christ is the way that we worship
God. The God of our fathers in the
faith. He is the way we worship. We come to God by Him. No man comes any other way. He's
the way, the truth, and the life. And later in that chapter, Acts
24, as Paul continues to have to answer the accusations, the
false accusations against him, his doing that is described this
way in verse 24 of that chapter. After certain days, when Felix
came with his wife, Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for
Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. That was Paul's confession. He said, I didn't know what they
say I did. But I confess Christ. I've been accused of some things
that I didn't do, but the real reason I'm being accused and
arrested and hated is because of Christ and his gospel and
everybody knows it. And I'm guilty. I'm guilty of
him. Are you in on that? Are you in
on this world's hatred? Are you in on the offense of
the cross? You will be if you love and believe
on Him. Guilty and we wear it as a badge
of honor. I'm guilty of Him. I'm guilty
and happy to confess that Christ is all. If you have a problem with Him,
you're going to have a problem with me. You just are. I hope that's not the case, but
if you do, you will. And that goes both ways. I'm
glad to say if you love him, you'll love me too. You'll love
those that love him. The offense of his cross lies chiefly in the success of
it. The reason that people hate Christ
crucified is because he was victorious on that cross. Because he did
what he came to do. That's why people hate his cross.
Now you think about that. The problem that people have,
and this is remarkable, the problem that religion has with Christ's
atonement is that it was and is successful. It just saved people. His precious
blood washed sins away. That's what people hate about
it. Wow, why would you hate that? If you're proud and self-righteous,
if you have a God now that leaves things up to you, you destroy
somebody's God and see how they feel about it. They're not going
to like it. And that's why they hate our God. Our Lord and our
God. And this goes back also to what
he said about himself now. I saved this one for a little
while, to the next point. This goes back to what he said,
what did he say about himself? He said that he is the invincible,
almighty, successful savior of his people. He said that he came
to save somebody and did it. That's what he said. Now John
chapter 10, among many other places in the scripture, You
really need to read the whole of John chapter 10 to get the
message of it. But for time's sake, let's talk
about it a little bit. You'll have some memory of it. And if
not, jot down a few notes as we talk and go look at it later.
Christ said in that chapter that he is somebody and that he did
something. He is the good shepherd and he
laid down his life for his sheep. That's the clear message of that
chapter. He identified his sheep as those who believe on him And
clearly stated that the reason they believe on him is because
they're his sheep. Those that believe not on him
did not believe on him because they were not his sheep, the
religious Jews in that context. Not the other way around. It
wasn't that they weren't his sheep because they didn't believe. Then he spoke of some inevitable,
certain, definite results of who he is and what he did for
his sheep. Because of who he is and what he did, his sheep
know him, and they follow him. They hear his voice, and they
have eternal life, and they shall never perish, simply because
of him being their shepherd and laying down his life for them. I'm going to make a simple gospel
statement right now that utterly destroys the core doctrine of
all false, anti-Christ, free will, man-centered religion.
Are you ready for it? It's deep. It's real deep. You're going to have to listen
real hard. If Christ died for you, you are saved. Isn't that deep? Not really. Not really, but it's wonderful.
That destroys all false religion, does it not? If he died for you,
you're saved. Do you confess him in that? In
his character as the almighty champion of your soul. He came down here for the express
purpose of saving you. And nobody could stop him. Nobody
could stay his hand. Nobody could even question him
for it. He got it done. May God give us grace to confess
him this morning if we never have before and even if we have
let's just keep on listening If that statement is true Then
all false religion has to shut up now they have to shut up Christ
crucified is salvation. He is the one thing needful of
And people hate him to confess him. If you're really going to
confess him before men, now those who hate him, they're going to
have to hate you too. Now think with me for a second.
They're going to have to. He said they would. This world hated
me before it hated you, he said. Don't be surprised when they
hate you. Because they're going to. Now if they don't hate you,
listen carefully. If they don't hate you, if this
world does not hate you, if you're a friend of the world, you're
the enemy of God. If they don't hate you, you haven't confessed
him to them. Now, if people who hate Christ
do hate you, it may just be because you're an idiot. It doesn't mean
you've confessed him just because the world hates you. You see
what I'm saying? But if they don't, you haven't confessed
him. If people who hate Christ do
not hate you, if they do not reject you because they reject
your Lord, then you have not confessed your God to them. And
that may be fine. You don't have to confess him
to everybody, you see. Your auto mechanic may have no
idea who your God is, and he may never. But if he ever finds out who your Lord is, He's either
going to love you or hate you based on how he feels about him. That's how all-inclusive and
all-encompassing Christ is in our lives. We identify with Him
and the offense of His cross. We're guilty with Him of everything
that He is and everything He said. The way that they call
heresy, I'm in on that. Guilty. And He is that way. The third
part of what it is to confess Christ is this, and this is very
brief, to profess, to declare oneself the worshiper of one,
to declare and to praise and to celebrate somebody or something. We praise and we celebrate Him.
That's confessing Him. We rejoice in Him. We attribute
worthiness to Him. We publicly worship Him. We openly
celebrate Him. When you're baptized, you are saying what he said.
Isn't that what that's all about? You're
saying what he said. Because he came in the flesh
and died as a man. He had to come in the flesh in
order to die for his people. He died and was buried and has
risen again for me. Because of that, I've been raised
from the spiritual dead with Him to walk in newness of life.
He is my life. And only because of Him, as pictured
in baptism, only because of Him, do I live, do I love, do I believe,
do I serve. only because of Him. He didn't
make salvation available to me and now I'm doing something.
Him crucified is my salvation. That's what I say. I say what
He said when I'm baptized. You're pledging your allegiance
to Him. You're identifying with Him in His suffering and shame
in the world's contempt for Him. You're owning the offense of
His cross. Our Lord said in Luke 9, 26,
for whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him
shall the son of man be ashamed when he shall come in his own
glory and in his father's and of the holy angels. You hear
this world and their hatred of the Christ that we preach and
you shy away from confessing him. You don't know him. If we know him, The approval
of this world will mean nothing to us. Paul said in Romans 1.16, I am
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of
God unto salvation. Ashamed of Him? To everyone that
believeth, you're saying to this religious world, You can make
all the decisions you want to, but all of your decisions are
your problem, not the solution. God decided something. He decided
to save me, and because He did, He sent His Son to redeem me.
And because of His decision to have mercy on me, He sent His
Holy Spirit to give me life and faith in His Son, and that's
what I confess. That's who I confess. And when you're baptized also,
you're celebrating the Lord, what he did for you. You're praising
him for saving you with his own precious sin-cleansing blood. It's worship. To be baptized
is worship. Like at his table, we do show
his death, do we not? In the water of baptism, until
he comes. And hear me now, one final thought. What you say in the water of
baptism, you say from then on. Don't miss this. You say it from
then on. You don't say it once and then
unsay it. You keep on saying it. You keep
on saying what he said. My life of love for, and faith
in, and service to the Lord Jesus Christ. You confess Him all through
your life. From now on, are we confessing
Him this morning? Kind of seems like it, doesn't
it? By gathering in His name, in the name of the Christ of
the Bible, and worshiping Him, Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5.14,
these words are very familiar, I believe, to us. But how appropriate to the occasion.
Let me say it again very simply. What you say in the water of
baptism, you say from then on. For the love of Christ constraineth
us. Because we thus judge. This is the way we reckon things
now, by His grace, because of His love, not ours. Our love
is because of His love. His love constrains us because
we thus judge. This is how it constrains us.
It changes our thinking. He changes our mind and heart.
And now, here's the way we think, that if one died for all, then
all were dead. Why did he die for you, Chris?
Because I was dead. There wasn't but one way to give me life,
and that was by his death. He had to die in my place. And that he died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves. This is
confessing him now. Should not henceforth live unto
themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. That's what's pictured. That's
what we confess. We confess him. And we just keep
on doing so. May he give us opportunity upon
opportunity. and the grace to confess Him
more and more fully. Give us grace to love Christ
more deeply, Lord. Believe on Him more fully and
serve Him more faithfully. How we need His grace. Brother D is going to lead you
in a song or two.