Let's turn together to Luke,
the 12th chapter. Luke, the 12th chapter. Our Lord Jesus is speaking in
verse 8. And his words to you and me are
these, 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. Whosoever shall speak a word
against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But unto him that blasphemeth
against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven. And when they
bring you unto the synagogues and unto the magistrates and
powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer
or what ye shall say. For the Holy Ghost shall teach
you in the same hour what you ought to say." Now, here our
Lord gives us two serious, sober warnings and one blessed promise. First, in verses 8 and 9, he
speaks about confessing and denying Him. This word is spoken to men and
women like you and me, men and women who had followed Him for
some while, men and women who wore His name, men and women
who professed to be His disciples. It is these same men and women
to whom He said, the very hairs of your head are all numbered,
and promised God's protection and care as He warns them not
to fear what man could do to Him. And here He teaches us that
true faith confesses Him before men and will not deny Him. Read it again. Verse 8, whosoever
shall confess, the word is to acknowledge, to give allegiance to, to call upon, whosoever shall
identify himself with, whosoever shall confess me before me, him
shall the Son of Man confess before the angels of God. If
you confess me before men here and now in this world, he says,
I'll confess you before God's angels in the world to come.
But he that denieth me denies me, denies me before men. here in this world,
shall be denied in the world to come by me before the angels
of God. Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of God, but he that
doeth the will of my Father. Not everyone who takes up the
name of Christ shall at last be owned of Christ. Not everyone
who says, I believe in Jesus, will stand with God robed in
the righteousness of Christ in the last day. But those who confess
and continue to confess, who acknowledge and continue to acknowledge,
who identify with and continue to identify with me, in word
and in deed. Them I will confess, identify
with, acknowledge, and own before the angels of God. But those
who deny me and continue denying me in word, in deed, in behavior, who refuse to identify themselves
with me and continue to refuse, who refuse
to own me as their Lord and continue to refuse. Though with their
lips they continually cry, my Lord and my God, they deny me. will I deny in the world to come
before the angels of God. Now let me show you three things
out of these two verses, and we'll move on. Some of you here are yet without
Christ. Perhaps some of you who imagine
that you have long been in Christ. Hear the word of God. If you
would be saved, if you would live forever with Christ, if
you would find yourself at last among the redeemed in heaven's
glory, you must come to Christ. I mean by that you must believe
Him. You must trust Him. You must
come to Him. That is not a physical act, but
rather it is an act of the heart. It's not even an act of the heart
so much as it is a way of life for God's people. We are a people
who come to God by Christ if we're His. Now, this coming to
Christ is something Satan will confuse
you about if he can. Turn back to Matthew 28. Listen
first to our Lord's word, and then let me try to say something
to you about coming to Christ. Our Lord often, when He was upon
this earth, said to men, come to me by waters. He says, come
to the barrage. Come to the fountain. Come, eat,
drink, and be merry. Here in Matthew 11, 28, here
is our Master's word to you and to me. Now, men will wrangle and debate
and argue, say, well, is this a command or an invitation? Read
it any way you want to. Just hear it. Come unto Me. Well, does that mean I can come?
He says, Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. I qualify. Come unto Me, and I will give
you rest. I'll give you rest. Your laboring,
your heavy burden, your wearisome toil will come to an end. Come to me and I'll give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you. Bow down to me as your Lord and
Master. Slip under my yoke so that you
now serve me in all things. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart,
and you shall find rest unto your souls." Well, Pastor, that sure seems
like demanding a lot. Well, it is. Demands everything. Demands everything. You see, coming to Christ, believing
on Christ, trusting Christ is the giving of yourself to Him. Set down account to cost. That
means from this day forward, I have no will of my own, no
choices of my own. No property of my own. No time
of my own. No family of my own. I'm yours. I'm yours. Come on. Slip under my yoke. Slip under
my yoke. You're going to have to do it
for yourself. You're going to have to do it constantly.
Slip under my yoke. Now let me tell you what I've
experienced. I've experienced what he declared
right here. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. There
is no easy way to live but under his yoke. There is no way to walk through
this world with a light burden on your heart except under his
yoke. But pastor, how do I come to
Christ? I gave up a long time ago trying
to tell fellows you come this way or come that. You come to
him any way you can. Just get to him. But this coming to Christ involves
some things. I know this. If you come to Christ
in saving faith, you must come personally. personally. I can't believe God for my family. If you would come to Christ,
you must believe yourself. I can't give you faith, I can't
communicate faith to you, and no one else can. You must come
to Christ. Mom and dad, husband and wife,
no matter how much they want it, can't bring you to Christ.
You must come to Him. And I know this, you must come
to Him because you want to. Because you want to. Sincerely, with an honest heart. Persuaded not only that He is
the way, but tickled to death that He is. He says, my son, give me your
heart. Give me your heart. Give me your heart. You see,
in this marriage of our souls to Him, the heart is everything. Believe with your heart. Worship
with your heart. Come with your heart. And this coming to Christ is
a rational thing. It is not a leap in the dark. It is not deciding, well, I've
tried everything else. I'll give Jesus a try. But rather,
it is a reasonable, knowledgeable, rational trust based upon God's
revelation of Himself in His Word. If you would believe on
the Son of God, you must believe Him knowing what He saves you
from, your sin, your just desert, your condemnation, your guilt,
your corruption, your everlasting damnation. You must come to Him
knowing who it is that saves you. Christ alone. We trust Him. We trust Him. It's not a matter
of how much you know or what you know. It's a matter of knowing
who saves you. My Savior is the Son of God revealed in this book.
You must come to me. It's knowing how He saved you.
You can't possibly be saved and not know how. That's just not
possible. That's just not possible. I know
not how. I do. I know how He saved me. He saved me through the merits
of His blood, by the power of His grace, without me doing anything
or contributing anything. And I know why. I come to you, my Lord, knowing full well that you have mercy on me because
you choose to have mercy on me, according to the good pleasure
of your will, because you're gracious, because you look with pity and
compassion on me. I know this too. If you come to Christ, you'll
never quit coming. You'll never quit coming. Peter
speaks in this way in first Peter two. He says to whom coming to
whom coming. The gift of faith is a permanent
gift of God's grace. It is one of those gifts of which
Paul speaks when he says the gifts and callings of God are
without repentance. And those who come to Christ
come to Him forever, come to Him with no intention of ever
leaving Him. I have a very dear friend who's
faced with some decisions he has to make. He called seeking
my counsel. He started to speak a little
bit about wife and child. I've known pastors, missionaries,
and others who decided they would go here or not go there because
of concern for wife or child. I tried where I could to warn.
And where the warning wasn't heeded, I've never seen God bless
it. I've never seen God honor it, never. And I said to him,
we're God's servants. We're God's servants. That means what pleases my wife
or what pleases my daughter, what pleases me in my relationship
with my wife and my daughter, What I may want has absolutely
nothing to do with this decision. Nothing. Nothing. I've come to him. I've come to
him. And I'm tickled to death for
anybody to come along who wants to. But I've burned my bridges
behind me. I've come to him forever. And by the grace of God, there's
never any slight possibility of me being forsaken by Him. I'm resolved, I'm determined
to let nothing come between me and Him, but He's going to see
to it. He's going to see to it. If He
has to kill whatever comes between us, He's going to see to it. Now, having come to Christ, we
confess it. Look in Romans chapter 10. Romans
10 chapter. And let me help you with this
passage in Scripture. Verse 9. Religious folks everywhere quote
it. If you go to one of the churches in town tonight and have what
they call an altar call, of course, that's not quite as much in vogue
as it used to be. So they have other ways of doing
it, same tricks. And they get you to repeat after them, believe
on Jesus, confess Christ. They'll sure to come to Romans
9 and say, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
do you confess Christ now? Oh, yes, I confess him. Got nothing
to do with what Paul's talking about here. What's he talking
about? 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. Confess
me before me, and I'll confess you before the angels of God.
That's what he said, isn't it? But he don't. For with the heart,
man believeth unto righteousness. This does not mean that we believe
and thereby obtain righteousness, no sir, but rather with the heart
man believeth with reference to righteousness. We look to
Christ and look to Christ alone for righteousness in our hearts. With the heart, man believes
Christ is the Lord, my righteousness. He believes with reference to
righteousness. And with the mouth, confession
is made with reference to salvation. Paul is not saying here you get
to be righteous by believing you're righteous, and you get
to be saved by saying you're saved. That's not what he's saying.
But rather, we believe with reference to righteousness that Christ
is our righteousness. And we confess with reference
to salvation that Christ is our Savior. For the Scripture says,
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is
no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord
over all is rich unto all that call upon him. Do you see what
he's doing? He's explaining to us exactly
what he's been talking about. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. The word is whoever worships And God Almighty
revealed in His Son, He saved. Men began to call on the name
of the Lord. It's not talking about... I heard
a fellow say one time he was preaching, he said, I couldn't
believe it. Well, I could. I've heard other
folks say this, but he claimed to believe better. Paul said
earlier in this chapter, the Word is nigh thee, that in thy
heart and in thy mouth thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus. He said, if you work in you, Take and smash your thumb
with a hammer and you say, oh, Jesus, that's it. No, that's
not it. That's blasphemy. That's not
it. You're just about to die. Oh, Jesus saved me. That's not
it. That's not it. That dying thief
didn't cry out, Jesus saved me. That dying thief began to worship
the Son of God. This is what he's talking about,
worshiping Him. Confess Him if we're His. It begins right here in the waters
of baptism. Let me show you what baptism
is about. Turn back to Romans 6. It'll do us good to be reminded.
Romans 6. Verse 3. Know ye not that as
many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into
His death? Most of you here have been in
this baptistry right here. We were baptized into the death
of Christ. Now, let me remind you of what
that means. Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into
death, symbolically. We are testifying to Christ. to God our Father, to the world
around us, to God's church. We're testifying to the angels
of God and to all of hell. We're testifying, I died with
Christ when he died. That's my hope, that like as
Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in the newness of life. I was buried. Thirty-five years ago. But I didn't stay down there.
I was raised up out of that water. I didn't raise myself up. Somebody
else raised me up. And thereby I testify to God,
and to Christ, and to the church, and to the world, to the angels
of God, and to hell, that I now live in Christ, with Christ,
and by Christ. And I'm his. Lock, stock, and barrel. Like
Jephthah of old, I've raised my hand to God. I can't go back.
I'm his. I'm his. To walk with him in
newness of life. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness
of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with him. Crucified with him that the body
of sin might be destroyed that henceforth We should not serve
sin Our Lord is also talking about confessing him in our day-by-day
conversation before the men of this world Identifying ourselves with him
with his gospel with his truth with his word with his worship And it tells us here if we deny
Him before men in this world, He will deny us before the angels
of God. And you look at that and you
say, but Peter denied Him. He did. So did all the apostles
and all His disciples. They all forsook Him. But our
Lord is not here talking about an act of denying Him like Peter
did. Such a horrid thing a believer
often does. How often I have clammed up when
I should have spoke. How often I have denied Him by
my actions before folks that I influenced. But our Lord is rather talking
about a person who denies Him and goes on denying Him, who
persists in denying Him. He's talking about one who ceases
to worship Him, who ceases to need Him, who ceases to identify
with Him. who ceases not by saying, well,
I gave him up, I tried that, and I'll forget that. No, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no. Then he's talking about somebody
who just doesn't need him anymore. Because they're rich and increased
with goods and have need of nothing. If we deny Him, He also will
deny us. Children of God, let us take
care that we confess Christ. Confess Him with our lips, yes.
Now, I'm not talking about button-holding people. I like what B.B. Caldwell did.
He lived down in Greenville, South Carolina, where Bob Jones
University is. And that school, like what I
went to, they have evangelism responsibilities. Folks are supposed
to go out and get so many decisions a week, you know. And these two
boys came up on this old man sitting in the park. He was feeding
pigeons. They asked him, said, sir, are you saved? And he responded by saying, well,
if I ain't, what are you two goober heads going to do about
it? And that kind of shocked him.
I'm not talking about button-holing folks. I'm not talking about
trying to get a decision out of folks. I'm not talking about
being obnoxious and showing your religion to folks. I'm talking
about living before men, family and friend, in union with Christ. And as God gives opportunity.
As God opens the door, speak as one of His. Speak as one of
His. As God opens the door, identify
with Him. As God opens the door, testify
of Him. As God opens the door, identify
yourself with Him, His people, and His cause. Let me see if
I can illustrate it. I don't walk around. the store over here
at Walmart when I have to go. And that's more often than I
like. But I don't walk around in there
and say, sir, do you know Shelby Fortner? Let me tell you about
Shelby Fortner. Folks would soon think this fellow
is something wrong, something bad wrong with him. But I never
miss an opportunity to talk about her if it affords itself. And
when I speak about her, when her name is raised, yeah, I'm
married to her. And if I didn't, both she and
those who observe what I do would have serious reason to question
my love for her. Let us identify ourselves with
Christ in our day-by-day conversation if we refuse to own him. He'll refuse to own us. If we
refuse to plead His cause, He will refuse to plead our cause.
If we refuse to speak for Him as His witnesses, He will refuse
to speak for us as our advocate. Now secondly, in verse 10, our
Lord warns us of that sin which shall not be forgiven neither
in this world nor in the world to come. Whosoever shall speak
a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But
unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not
be forgiven him. I will say no more about this
than the Scriptures say, but I will say no less." Somebody
says, do you believe that such a thing is an unpardonable sin?
It's not a matter of whether I believe it or not, our Lord
says so. Yes, sir, there is such a thing. Many who spoke against
the Son of Man while he walked upon this earth, many of them,
were later converted. He said, man speaks a word against
the Son of Man, it'll be forgiven him. It'll be forgiven him. There
were folks standing before him who did not know who he was,
who did not know what his claims were. They did not recognize
him as the Messiah. They didn't know what they were
doing. Paul said if they'd known who he was, they wouldn't have
crucified him. They wouldn't have done that. And many were
later converted. That thief who hung on the street
beside him, He joined all the others railing against him, mocking
him and deriding him. But soon, soon that thief said,
Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. That centurion
who watched him die said, surely this man is the son of God. But our Lord says something about
blaspheming the Holy Spirit. after the Holy Spirit was poured
out on the day of Pentecost, identifying Him as the Messiah. And in this age when God has
given us His Word, and God by His Spirit causes His Word to
go forth with power, and men are convinced it's so, convinced
of God's truth, but persistently, steadfastly, hardened their necks
and refused to bow to the revelation of God in his word. That was
preeminently the crime of the Pharisees, preeminently the crime
of the nation of Israel, for which God says he has hardened
their hearts. And it is something that is persistent
in our day. In 1 John 5, John says, there
is a sin unto death. I would not that you should pray
for it. Now, this does not in any way
contradict the plain teachings of Scripture. With God, nothing
shall be impossible. The blood of Christ, God's Son,
cleanses us from all sin. If we confess our sin, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. He declares, He that believeth
on the Son of God hath everlasting life. But still, our Lord speaks
of this unpardonable sin. What is it? What is it? Let me
show you three scriptures. I'll be as brief as I can, but
look with me. First is 2 Corinthians 2. 2 Corinthians 2. I can't tell you how I struggle
with this business of preaching. I struggle, and I'm tense. When it's time for me to preach or
get ready to preach, I'm restless. I don't, I'd like to acknowledge that
I'm a little touchy, a little irritable, a little testy. Bless
her heart, Shelby's learned to put up with it all these years,
but that's the way it is. How come? Because West Roseboom,
if God speaks by me, you're not going to be the same when you
walk out those doors. That's how come. This thing of
preaching the gospel has eternal consequences on everybody. On everybody. Listen to what
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2 verse 14. Thanks be unto God which
always causeth us to triumph in Christ and maketh manifest
the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. I'm making
known to you the knowledge of the living God. And we are unto
God a sweet saver of Christ. In them that are saved, bless
His name. And in them that perish, bless His name. In them that
are being saved and in them that are perishing, to the one we
are a saver of death unto death, to the other a saver of life
unto life. Now hold your hands in Luke 12
and turn back to Proverbs chapter 1. I'll show you what Paul means
by this statement. As often as the gospel of God's
free grace in Christ comes to you, as often as the gospel is
preached to you in the power of God's Spirit, this is what God says to you.
Listen to me now. Proverbs 1.23. Turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit
unto you. Well, how does that jive with
predestination? Take it up with God, why don't you? Hear what
he says. Turn you at my reproof. I'll pour out my spirit unto
you. I'll make known my words unto you. Because I have called. I have called. He called by the
preaching of the gospel. And you refused. I stretched
out my hand. Come unto me, O ye that labor
heavily. And no man regarded. But you
have said it not all my counsel and would none of my reproof. I also will laugh when your calamity
cometh. I will mock when your fear cometh.
When your fear cometh as a desolation, your destruction cometh as a
whirlwind. When distress and anguish cometh upon you, then
shall they call upon me. When you get in trouble, when
things are bad enough, then they'll call on me. But I'll turn a deaf
ear to them. I'll not answer. They shall seek
me early, but they'll not find me. Once God shut Noah in the
ark, the door was shut. Didn't matter how hard folks
beat on that door, it wasn't opening. For that they hated knowledge. Here's why. They hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of
my counsel. They despised everything I said, despised all my reproof. Therefore, when you go to hell,
you're going to eat the fruit of your own way. Do you see that?
They shall eat the fruit of their own way and be filled with their
own devices. For the turning away of the simple
shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But, oh, how gracious, whoso hearkeneth
unto me." Today, if you'll hear his voice, harden not your heart. Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall
dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil. The wise man
says again, Proverbs 29.1, he that being often reproved, hardeneth
his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. Now, some of you I know are sitting
there with terror in your souls, thinking, have I committed this
horrible crime? Have I committed this unpardonable
sin? Have I committed this blasphemy against the Holy Ghost? Whatever this sin is, it is a sin accompanied with
utter deadness, hardness, and insensibility of heart. When
the Lord God spoke to His prophet Jeremiah and said, don't pray
for this people, those people had no interest
in Him praying for them. When God said, don't prophesy
to them, they had no interest in hearing Him prophesy. The
person whose sin shall never be forgiven him is precisely
the person who never seeks it, who never wants it, who will
not seek the Lord, who will not call on him for mercy and seek
forgiveness. Oh, call on him to stay out of
hell, yes, but not to seek his forgiveness in Christ. You see,
that's the very essence of his condemnation. When God's left
him alone, he's twice dead. He's dead and doesn't know it
and doesn't care. His conscience is seared with
a hot iron. That means his conscience is
untouched, unmoved, unaffected by anything spiritual. Now, pastor, sounds to me like
I ought to be very cautious. Oh, you ought to be very cautious.
Don't play games with God. Don't do it. Don't trifle with
the things of God. If I had any real understanding
of the weighty seriousness of things I've been talking about,
Benji, I wouldn't... I don't reckon I'd ever rest any. But
I know this. These things, this business of
worshiping God, this business of calling on the name of the
Lord, this business of confessing Christ, this business of following
Him, is dead serious business. You ought to treat it as the
most serious thing in the world to you, and me too. Now here's
God's promise. When they shall bring you to
the synagogues and magistrates and powers, take you no thought
how or what thing you shall answer or what you shall say. Primarily,
this is talking about those folks who are hailed before persecuting
nations. And you say, well, boy, what
am I going to say when I come before the king? What am I going
to say when these folks bring me to judgment? My life's at
stake. The Lord said, don't worry about that. Don't you worry about
that. For the Holy Ghost will teach
you in the same hour what you shall say. But surely there is
an application for us. Indeed, there is. Whatever your trial may be, my
brother, my sister, whatever your difficulty, as surely as
God is on His throne, He who brings you into the trial will bring you through it. And he will do it in such a way
that it's obvious that he did it. He'll give you what you need
when you need it. So my brother, if it costs your
family dear to serve Christ in the middle of Africa, you won't
lose a thing. If it costs dear to do the will
of God, it won't cost you a thing. Weigh nothing in the balance
with Him. Nothing. He'll give you what
you need if you're His, enabling you to persevere in the faith,
enabling you to serve Him, enabling you to honor Him. And honoring Him here before
men, He will honor you forever before
the angels of God. That's His promise. Amen. Lindsay, you come lead us in
the hymn, please.