I please the Lord to bless our
souls this evening as we consider his word. Let's turn to the Gospel
of Luke, chapter 12, and we'll read verses 8 and 9. The Gospel of St. Luke, chapter
12, and reading verses 8 and 9. 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. we have a wonderful record in
the Word of God of many words which the Lord Jesus spoke when
he was upon the earth. And those words that he spoke
covered a very wide range of subjects and a wide range of
exhortations, none of them in vain, none of them to be ignored,
none of them to be turned away from. And here we have in these
verses a statement from the Saviour himself and it is an important
statement and perhaps it's something that all of us fail to follow
out as we should in our lives. The Lord says, whosoever shall
confess me before men, him shall the Son of Man also confess before
the angels of God. Perhaps in the day and age in
which we live, perhaps in the environment we live in, there
is to a large extent a solemn lack of confessing the Lord Jesus
Christ before men. And this is a general statement,
it does not say just to the household of faith. It says, confess me
before men. Well, I'm sure if we're honest,
we fail. We fail in this particular. We do not follow the words of
the Lord as we should. And so often, perhaps we pass
over or pass by opportunities Because, it may be, the fear
of man brings a snare. We're fearful what people might
think of us, and what people might say about us. But in reality,
such things are really quite irrelevant, because we know that
the Church of God are a suffering church. and we should not think
that we shall escape suffering in this world. We might think
by keeping quiet and not saying anything that we shall be absolved
from any suffering and people will not know who we are and
what we are. Well, the solemn truth is that
by such actions surely we are therefore denying the Lord. I suppose we ought to ask ourselves,
well, what value do we place upon the Lord Jesus Christ? What is the value that we place
upon Him? If we think carefully about that,
we surely have to recognise that the thoughts we have of the Saviour
and how we think of Him are so vitally important, because If
we have wrong views of the Saviour, then our religion is wrong. And
if we have right views of the Saviour, then we can hope that
our religion is right. And surely if we have right views
of the Saviour, it is to realise that He is our Saviour. And as He is our Saviour, to
think of what cost it was to Him to be our Saviour, and we
as such unworthy, wretched sinners of the earth, who never deserved
any notice, and yet to think that this God, the almighty God,
the ruler of the universe, graciously has condescended to look upon
us, to remember us in our lowest state, and blessed with a hope
in his mercy, a little hope in his favour, then do we carry
on and do we ignore such exhortations? Do we ignore the word of God? Do we somehow think that such
statements do not apply to us, or if they do apply to us, we're
not very concerned about it? often think that the problem
is the day and age in which we live. We live in a material world,
not only here in the western world, but there is materialism
really throughout the world to a greater or lesser extent. And people are more concerned
about natural accumulation than they are about spiritual blessings. They are more concerned about
laying up treasure on earth rather than laying up treasure in heaven. These things are very subtle
and we have a great enemy of our souls, the devil, who knows
what to place before our eyes. He knows that by nature we are
covetous. All of us are covetous and yet
the Word of God tells us as we read together that account of
that rich man who built barns and then he sat back and he said,
he's got much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease,
drink and be merry. But God said, thou fool, this
night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall those
things be which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure
for himself. and it's not rich toward God. How important it is that we have
a right view of these things, because the devil again attracts
us to those things which we're attracted to, naturally. And before we know it, our minds
are taken up with these poor things. Well, the Lord says,
to the disciples, I say unto you, take no thought for your
life. What you shall eat, neither for
the body, what you shall put on. You think of that for a moment. We spend a lot of our time, don't
we, thinking about what we're going to eat, what we're going
to dress. And well, to eat is necessary,
but do we spend too much time on thinking and planning what
we're going to eat, are we concerned what we're going to wear, what
we're going to dress like, so that people are impressed by
the things we wear, do we spend time, do we look in the mirror
to see how good we look or how bad we look? Well, the word of
God is so clear, take no thought for such things. And on the other
hand, here we have a statement, We are to confess the Lord before
men. That's a far more consideration. I'll be more concerned about
that than we are about the things of this vain world. I remember
our late friend John Broome spoke to me probably on two or three
occasions. He told me that when he was a
schoolteacher, And when he was at school, if he prayed to God,
the Lord would give him openings to speak to the students about
the things of God. The Lord provided openings. And
you may know that John Broome has used a number of cases to
bring people who never knew anything about God into the fold of Christ
in his teaching days. And he also said, He said, if
I didn't pray, if I didn't ask God, then, he said, opportunities
did not occur. And that's a very salutary statement,
isn't it? And I'm sure, if we're honest,
I wonder how often we pray that we may have opportunities to
confess the Lord. Opportunities to confess the
Lord. Or are we concerned about opportunities
to do other things? to try and impress people, because
naturally we won't impress people by confessing the Lord, but we
shall be doing the Lord's will. We shall be following the gracious
words of the Saviour, and then remember the Lord encourages
us therefore to take no thought. He doesn't say that we won't
be fed, He doesn't say we won't be clothed, and He gives us a
very salutary example. Consider the ravens, for they
neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouses nor barn, and
God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than
the fowls? And which of you, taking a thought,
can add to his stature one cubit? You know, we can't make ourselves
grow, can we? You know, you young people are probably, you like
to grow and you're pleased when you do grow. when you can't make
yourself grow physically yourself. But it's God that does this.
And which of you would take his thought and add to his statue
one cubit? If he then be not able to do that thing which is
least, why take his thought for the rest? And so he goes on,
and as we read together about the lilies, how wonderful they
are. You look at a lily, look how
beautiful it is. The closer you look, how much
more wonderful it is. And as God does that, He said,
even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.
If then God so clothed the grass, which is today in the field and
tomorrow is cast in the oven, how much more will He clothe
you, O ye of little faith. You see, the Lord will give us
those clothes that we need to wear, and those things which
shall be good for us. So he goes on with regards to
eating, and seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall
drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. Again and often we are
doubtful, you see. Here we have a word of encouragement. And he says, but rather seek
ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto
you. Perhaps we react in a reverse
way, and we take more concern and more care for the things
of the world, hoping that spiritual things will be added unto us.
But the Word of God directs us in the opposite way. I believe
in the day and age in which we live, there is a failure to a
large extent to follow the gracious instruction of the Saviour, to
do those things which are spiritually good, but rather Seek ye the
Kingdom of God. That's the important thing. That's
what we want to know, surely, that we are in the Kingdom of
God and that we are walking before the Lord in the light of His
countenance. We're doing those things which
please the Lord and not pleasing to ourselves. Seek ye the Kingdom of God. Oh, how wonderful it is that
God gives us that grace to do that with a single eye to His
honouring's glory. A single eye. And that means
what it is for His honour and glory. You know, we sometimes
have a double eye, don't we? We want something for ourselves
and then something for God. Or that we might have a single
eye for His honour and for His glory. So that we might indeed
be, like the Apostle, confessed he was less than the least of
all saints. The Lord greatly blessed the
Apostle Paul, but he recognised his place, he recognised where
he came from, he recognised the favour and blessing of God towards
him and therefore he was able to say that he was less than
the least of all saints. But he also said this, by the
grace of God, I am what I am. And so that is so. You and I
are what we are by the grace of God. And we should not belittle
that which God has done for us naturally in our natural life
or that which God has done for us in our spiritual life. To realise that we are what we
are by the grace of God is nothing that we've done of ourselves.
And we should always realise that God gives us our minds. God gives us business acumen. God gives us the right understanding.
It's God that's given us all these things. We didn't somehow
work it up ourselves. God gave us these things. Let's
never forget that all we have and possess are minds. Our very
being, God has given. So, to remember the truth of
the word of God, you're not your own. You are bought with a price. And what a price that was, oh
that you and I might ever consider it and realize it more and more,
that cost of our redemption, the price, the price of blood,
the price of the Saviour who shed his blood so that we might
receive that gift of eternal life. Now you see this is indeed
treasure in heaven. Yes, to know my Jesus crucified,
says the hymn writer, by far exceeds all things besides. Now we might find that difficult
to understand, but nonetheless the hymn writer did get it right.
He didn't get it wrong. and so you and I might be concerned. Then to be able to join with
him in such words as this, to know my Jesus crucified by far
exceeds all things besides. It goes on, knowledge of all
terrestrial things, that means knowledge of all the things of
this world, ne'er to my soul true pleasure brings. There is
a certain pleasure in knowledge, to learn things and to appreciate
them, but it doesn't bring us true peace. It doesn't bring
us true joy. But you see, spiritual blessings
in Christ Jesus brings with them that peace and joy in believing. It is a blessed thing to be favoured
with that joy and peace and believing. Now, this is those things which
the Lord gives. And if the Lord has given these
things to us, and remember that anything that we have, God's
given it. We didn't really deserve it ourselves. And just think
tonight, you know, the clothes you're wearing, God's given them
to you. You might say, well I bought
them myself and I worked for the money and I've been able
to purchase them. Well, God gave you the ability
to work for them. And God gave you the opportunity
to work. It wasn't something that you dreamt up or were able
to produce yourself. It was God that did it. And you
should think of the many, many people in this world who virtually
have no clothes to wear, just a few rags. Are you any more
deserving than they? Well, of course you're not. We're no more deserving than
beggars, are we? No more deserving. And then as we look at ourselves
and realise, well, perhaps we haven't got one suit of clothes
or one dress or whatever, perhaps we've got many, perhaps our wardrobes
are bulging with clothes. Do we appreciate from whence
they came? Do we realise that our God has
given these things to us? We didn't deserve them ourselves.
God has given them. You see, faced with this on the
one hand, and then as we think not only just of these natural
things, but if you like, in a spiritual way, that God has given us the
benefit and the facility of a Bible to read. Again, what a gift this
is. to really, really prize this
gift, the Bible to read, which tells us the truth of God. Yes, the wonderful words it contains,
the grand truths, from Genesis to Revelation. Think again of
the many in this world who do not have a Bible, many in this
world who do not have a Bible in their own language, Men in
this world who cannot read the Bible, and we today are blessed
with a wonderful favour. It's God's gift to us. Again,
we didn't deserve it, but by God's favour we've been born
into a land where we have these benefits and these blessings. What are they? They're God's
gifts to us. And then to be granted also the
blessing of being able to gather with God's people, who understand,
who know, who experience the truth contained in the Word of
God. What a favour this is, to be
able to dwell with like-minded people. These are indeed great
blessings. So as we think of these things,
Good it is to pause and consider what we have, what God has given
to us. So then we have this statement.
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. It's a very wonderful statement
and a very solemn statement. And all of us will come one side
of the line or the other. We will either be amongst on
that side of the line that the Son of God confesses, the Son
of Man confesses before the Angel of God, or those who are denied. You and I stand on one side of
the line or the other. We do that tonight. We should
do it through our lives. We should do it before we die. We should be found on one side
of the line or the other. So here we have the gracious
words of the Saviour. Whosoever shall confess me before
men. Now, there are no extenuating
circumstances. There's no reasons why that we
can hide behind and not hear the words of the Saviour. Many people will try and make
excuses. Perhaps we've all tried to make
excuses. I'm sure we do still make excuses
that we didn't speak when we should have done. Perhaps some
of us regret many occasions when we could have spoken, but
the fear of man brought a snare. And we didn't speak. And we went
on our way. Perhaps our conscience smote
us. Do we want the Lord to deny us?
Here we have such a clear word. Whosoever shall confess me before
men, And perhaps the reason is that we don't pray that we may
be able to do this, that we may lose sight of the fear of man. Our concern may be for the honour
and glory of our God, who has done these gracious and wonderful
things for us. And yet, we are really unthankful we're really not grateful for
the many blessings that we have. Really, we're no better than
the heathen, who've never heard about God. It's a very sad thing,
isn't it? In this day and age in which
we live, to be found perhaps we are like the heathen. And again, perhaps there's People
say, well of course it's not just speaking, it's our walk.
Well of course it is our walk. And we are to walk rightly and
uprightly in this present evil world. But it doesn't speak like
that here. It speaks about confessing the
Lord before men. And perhaps we try and hide under
the fact that, well we try and walk an upright life. And really
that's my witness, that's my testimony. What the Word of God
tells us here, confessing me. That means speaking, doesn't
it? Confessing me before men. Him
shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God. Confess
the Lord Jesus Christ. Confess who He is, the Son of
God. Confess what He's done. He's
come to save sinners. Again, sometimes people hide
behind that verse which says we're not to cast our pearls
before swine. Well, I believe that relates
to perhaps our personal experience that God has graciously given
to us. Perhaps He's blessed us with particular signs and particular
revelations and views of the Saviour. which are special to
us. We are not to, perhaps, vaunt
those before the ungodly world. They wouldn't understand. Therefore,
we are not to cast those pearls before swine, but we cannot hide
beneath such a verse as that. We are to confess the Lord before
men. I say unto you, whosoever shall
confess me before men, him shall the Son of Man also confess before
the angels of God." There are a number of words in the scriptures
which encourage us. In Samuel's day, we read in the
book of Samuel, those that honour me, I will honour. and those
that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." Well, these are the
words of God, aren't they? And perhaps that's how we've
treated the Word of God. We have not honoured the Lord
as we should have done. And so the Word tells us, those
that honour me, I will honour, and those that despise me shall
be lightly esteemed." Well, have we honoured the Lord? Do we desire
to really honour the Lord? The Lord knows whether there
is that true desire to honour Him, or whether such a statement
might be hypocritical, when we do have the opportunity to honour
the Lord, but we avoid it, we turn away from it, and yet on
the one hand we've received so many benefits from our kind and
gracious God, and yet sadly we're reluctant to honour Him. Those that honour me, I will
honour. That's a promise, isn't it? That's a promise. And therefore,
as we think of that, as we desire in our little way to honour the
Lord, to testify of what he's done. There's a blessing in it. And there's the answer of a good
conscience. And as there is an honouring, he says, he will honour
us. Surely, surely we desire the
Lord will indeed come and honour us. Those that despise me, see
by our actions, by our lack of words, perhaps we despise The
Gracious Lord. Isn't it a solemn thought, isn't
it? Solemn thought, isn't it? To
despise such a kind and gracious God. Yes, effectively, we turn
our back upon Him. That One who fulfilled the law
on our behalf, who endured such contradiction of sinners against
himself. Oh, that blessed Saviour, who
suffered to the uttermost, that you and I might receive the gift
of eternal life. Those that honour me, I will
honour. Well, it's a blessed word, isn't
it? From the Saviour Himself. and Psalm 119. He tells us this. He says in Psalm 119, So shall I have wherewith to
answer him that reproaches me, for I trust in thy word, that
the Lord will not fire us, I trust in thy word. And take not the word of truth
utterly out of my mouth, for I have hoped in thy judgments.
So shall I keep thy law continually, for ever and ever. And I will
walk at liberty, for I seek thy precepts. I will speak of thy
testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed." You
see, to speak of the Testimonies of the Lord, to speak of the
things of God, those things which are revealed in his word. The
psalmist says, I will speak of thy testimonies, and I will delight
myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. And these are gracious
commands of God. They're wonderful truths. And
the psalmist says here, he delights himself in these things, in thy
commandments, which I have loved. Do we love the commandments of
the Lord? Or do we hate them? Do we love
them? And if we love them, surely we
should come under this category. I will speak of thy testimonies
also before kings and not be ashamed. Well, I will. Whosoever shall confess me before
men, him shall the Son of Man confess before the angels of
God. You may remember the Apostle
Paul also speaks along these lines when he wrote to the Romans. He wrote very true words and
he says, in the 10th chapter of the Romans, that if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the law of Jesus, and shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. Surely that is the concern of
every one of us, I hope here tonight, that we might be amongst
those who are saved, who are saved The Apostle starts his
chapter by saying, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Surely it is
our desire that you all might be saved. So here we have this statement,
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt
believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. You see, there's a believing
and there's a confession. And these go together. Don't
divide them. Don't separate them. Don't think
that they are different. They are together. For with the
heart, man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession
is made unto salvation. Salvation, of course, is the
saving of the soul. And here we have this statement,
and with a mouth confession is made unto salvation. For what the script for the scripture
said, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. There is no difference between
the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon him, those who pray to the Lord. He's rich toward them, those
who call upon his name. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. What a wonderful gospel
text that is, isn't it? Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. So just follow this backwards
as it were. There is then the preaching. There is then the
hearing. There is then the believing.
There is then the being saved. It is through the foolishness
of preaching. The apostle goes on to say, for
they have not all obeyed the gospel. Isaiah saith, Lord, who
hath believed our report? So then, faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. Also I say unto you that whosoever
shall confess me before men, shall the Son of Man also confess
before the angels of God." Well, I hope tonight that we all desire
that we may be amongst those whom the Lord will confess. Unworthy
as we are, the Lord will confess us before the angels in glory. And it is to those who then confess
Him. We might be numbered amongst
those who do confess the Lord. Now then, remember, the Christian
path is not an easy path. The Apostle Paul knew what it
was. He tells us, they'll therefore
endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. no man that
woreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that
he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier." It goes
on, Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they
may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with
eternal glory. It is a faithful saying. For if we be dead with him, we
shall also live with him. If we suffer, we shall also reign
with him. If we deny him, he also will
deny us. If we believe not, yet he abideth
faithfully, cannot deny himself. Of these things put them in remembrance,
charging them before the Lord, that they strive not about words,
to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers, study, to show
thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth." So, let us remember,
if we suffer for the name of Christ, happy are ye. It's an evidence of the life
of God in the soul. If we suffer with Him, we shall
also reign with Him. The promise, here in the Word
of God, to live with Him forever and ever. But on the other hand,
if we deny Him, He also will deny us. Let us not be amongst
those who deny the Lord, either by failing to confess His name,
or by turning round and avoiding the situation, changing the conversation,
How sad it is when you see people who profess the name of God,
at least in an outward form, speak to them of the things of
God, and what do they do? They change the subject. They want to talk about the things
of time, rather than the things of God. Well, may you and I be amongst
those who are concerned to be spiritually alive and to walk
before the Lord in the light of His countenance, to speak
of Him, to confess Him, what He's done. Oh, my friends, what
a Saviour. At this time of year, just ponder what He's done. Dying upon the cross at Calvary.
Such great sufferings. Shedding His most precious blood
and then rising from the dead. Oh, what a Saviour we have. And
here we have recorded in the Word of God, His Word, for our
eternal good. Eternal good, my friends. Not
something which fades with time, but something which is eternal.
Something which stands in good stead. Or may we be amongst those
then, who hear the gracious words of the Saviour, and follow His
exhortation, 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 denies me before
men shall be denied before the angels of God. Amen.