We're going to observe the Lord's
table together tonight. Look at our text once again in
John chapter 12, verse 42. Nevertheless, among the chief
rulers, these are the Pharisees, 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. I've entitled this message, Non-Saving
Faith. There is a kind of faith that
does not save. I think of what James said when
he spoke You believe there's one God, you do well. That's accurate. That's sound
doctrine. The devils believe and tremble. They had a type of faith, a faith
that was without works. And he tells us that that is
not saving faith. non-saving faith. I don't want to have a non-saving
faith. I don't want that for me. I do
not want that for you. Did these men we just read of
have saving faith? Once again, verse 42. Nevertheless,
among the chief rulers also many believed on him. Because of the Pharisees, they
did not confess Him. Did these men have saving faith? Now before we answer that, let
me read these scriptures to you. These are the words of the Lord
in Matthew chapter 10. Whosoever shall confess Me, Before
men, him will I also confess before my Father which is in
heaven, but whosoever will deny me before men, him will I deny
before my Father which is in heaven. Paul said in Romans 10,
if thou shalt confess, there's that word, if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. Now, those scriptures would tell us,
no, these men who are said to believe did not have saving faith. They had faith, but it was not
saving faith, non-saving faith. With the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. With the mouth, confession is
made unto salvation. What's it mean to believe with
the heart? With the heart, man believeth under righteousness.
With the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. This is
a very important concept, believing with the heart. Now, the scripture
tells us that the heart, Jeremiah chapter 17, verse nine, listen
to these words very carefully. The heart is deceitful above
all things. and desperately, and that word
desperately means incurably, incurably wicked. Who can know it? Now, the heart
that believes is not that heart. It's the new heart that he gives. With the heart, that new heart
he gives, You see, if he doesn't give me a new heart, I will not
believe. Faith is the gift of God. It comes from that new heart
that he gives. With the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. And what's truly believed in
the heart is confessed with the mouth. With the mouth, confession
is made unto salvation. Now, what is this thing of heart
faith? Have you ever thought, well, maybe I don't even have
heart faith. Maybe I just believe with my
head, not with my heart. Everybody's thought that. But
you know, what you really believe in your head is what you believe
in your heart. Understand that. What you really believe. in your
head is also what you really believe in your heart. You believe with your heart,
that new heart that has an understanding, that has a will, and that has
affections. These men did not believe with
their heart because they didn't have a new heart. All they had
was the old heart. So they knew nothing of heart
faith. And here is what betrays them. what they loved. Look what it
says about these men in verse 43, for they loved the praise
of men, the affirmation of men, more than the praise of God. The fact that they also believed
raises a red flag, it's a disclaimer as it were, like Salmon Magus,
remember him? He believed also. He didn't have
saving faith. You remember what Peter said
to him, thy heart is not right in the sight of God, for thou
thoughtest the gift of God could be bought, could be purchased. Now this is the kind of faith
that these men had. They believed also. A kind of
disclaimer as it were, look in John chapter 11 verse 47. Then gathered the chief priests
and the Pharisees, a council, and said, what do we do for this
man doeth many miracles? We can't deny what he's doing. We see it, but they did not worship
him. They did not believe him. This
is like Nicodemus, rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God. And he was convinced of that.
No man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be
with him, we know that. That is a kind of faith, but
it's not saving faith. It's a non-saving faith. Now, why did they refuse to confess
him? Verse 42. Because of the Pharisees, they
did not confess him. And we're going to consider what
that means in a few moments. Somebody's thinking, what's it
mean to confess him? Well, I hope I can answer that from the scripture.
But these people refused to confess him. Why? Lest they should be
put out of the synagogues. They would not risk being put
out of the synagogue. They would not risk excommunication,
they would not risk being ostracized by mainstream religion, and it's
because of what they loved. They loved the praise of men
more than the praise of God. What men thought of them was
more important to them than what God thought of them. They were
strangers to that song we sing, riches I heed not, nor man's
empty praise. Thou, mine inheritance, now and
always, Thou and Thou only, first in my heart, High King of heaven,
my treasure, Thou art. They loved human flattery more
than divine approval and that's what this means. They love the
praise of men more than the praise of God. Turn back to John chapter
5 for a moment. I want to read the 44th verse. The Lord said in verse 44, how Can you believe which receive
honor one of another and seek not that honor that cometh from
God only? The fact of the matter is you
cannot believe if you seek honor one of another and seek not that
honor that comes from God These men love the praise of
men more than the praise of God. Now, stop for just a second and
think about this. They love the praise of men more
than the praise of God. Does that mean that God will
praise somebody? That's an awesome thought, isn't
it? For God to praise somebody? They love the praise of men more
than the praise of God. There is somebody who God will
praise. Now what's that all about? How
can God praise somebody? Question, can God praise a man?
We'll turn to first Corinthians chapter one. Verse 5, therefore, judge nothing
before the time. What time? When God judges, the
day of judgment. I wish you and I, 1 Corinthians
chapter 4 verse 5, I see people, did I say that wrong? Sorry,
sorry. Slipping once again, getting
old. Lynn told me when I get so bad,
people can't stand it, she'll let me know, so. 1 Corinthians chapter four, verse
five, therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord
come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness,
and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts. And then shall
every man have praise of God." Now do you hear that? Obviously
it doesn't mean every man with that exception. He's not gonna
be praising those people in hell that have rejected his gospel,
but he's talking about every single believer without exception. Then shall every one of those
men have praise of God. Now, how can that be? Well, if you're a believer, you
are his workmanship. Is that what the Bible says?
We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. We are his workmanship. And he will praise them for what
he has done in them as though they themselves did it. Now that's
how real union with Christ is. When he did good, I did good. And he praises me for that. Every believer will have praise
of God. If his righteousness is my righteousness,
he will praise me for my righteousness. It's his. God praises what he
does. He that doeth truth cometh to
the light, that his deeds might be manifested that they're wrought
in God, wrought by God, done by God. You know, I'm not ashamed
or afraid to bring anything to the light that he has done, I'm gonna have praise of God.
He's gonna say to me, well done. And he's gonna say this to every
believer. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou
into the joy of thy Lord. He's going to praise every one
of his people. You see, it's God that worketh
in you, both to will and to do His good pleasure. And He's going
to praise His people. And this is what we want, His
praise. Not man's empty praise, not human
flattery, but His praise, His approval. I love to think about Cain and
Abel. This goes along with this. There's
not a more significant story in the Bible than the story of
Cain and Abel in Genesis chapter four. Most people have heard
of the story of Cain and Abel. It's the first thing recorded
after the fall of man. Now we have the story of two
men, Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve. And we read
where both of them brought an offering to God. Cain brought
the fruit of the ground, that which God had already cursed.
He'd already cursed the ground, but this was Cain's best, the
fruit of the ground. I'm sure he brought it before
God and probably felt a sense of, this is good. I'm okay with
this. Surely God will be okay with
it. And Abel brought a blood sacrifice. He realized, he understood
that he couldn't bring anything that God would accept. And he
was saying, accept me through that coming Lamb that will come. He believed on Christ just as
much in the Old Testament as a believer does in the New Testament.
He hadn't come yet, but his only hope was in the Lamb which should
come. And the scripture said, God had
respect to Abel and his offering. What an awesome thought. Now, Abel could not be separated
from the offering, could he? God had respect to Abel, not
just Abel, but Abel and his offering. But to Cain and his offering
he had not respect." Now for something to gain the respect
of God it must be glorious. Abel had the respect of God. And Abel could not be separated
from his offering. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
was his only plea. By faith, the writer to the Hebrews
said, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,
by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his good works? No, of his gift. His only ground of acceptance
was what he brought, that which pointed to the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he obtained witness that
he was righteous in that. God would praise this man. God has respect. You know, the
worst thing you can feel with regard to somebody else is that
they disrespect you. Disrespect, it's a difficult
thing to deal with. But what a glorious thing to
have God respect you. And he can only do that through
the offering of his dear son. Now turn with me for a moment
to Romans chapter two. Remember we're asking, can a
man actually have the praise of God? These men love the praise
of men more than the praise of God. Now look in Romans chapter
2, verse 28. For he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly. Do you hear that? That outward Jew, the man who
was born a Jew, who perhaps was born in Israel. He's not a Jew. He's not a Jew. He's not a true
Jew like Abraham the Jew. He's not a Jew, which is one
outwardly. I don't care if his bloodline
can be traced all the way to Abraham physically. He's not
a Jew. He's not a Jew, which was one
outwardly. Neither is that circumcision,
which was outward in the flesh. Somebody that's physically circumcised,
that's not circumcision. And that's strong language, isn't
it? But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly. And circumcision
is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter,
whose praise, there we have it, whose praise is not of men, but
of God. actually praises this one who
is a true Jew. He's not a Jew which is one outwardly,
but one inwardly. Physical circumcision is not
circumcision. He's a Jew that's one on the
inside and his circumcision is that of the heart. And notice
how he says, He speaks of the letter and the spirit in spirit and not in the letter. You know, Paul said in 2 Corinthians
3, 6, that God has made us able ministers of the New Testament,
not of the letter, but of the spirit. Now, what is this all
about? The letter and the spirit. Well, the letter is how to spell
something. And he can be able to pronounce it. Maybe it's a
difficult word to spell. Difficult word to pronounce,
but I know how to spell it, and I know how to pronounce it. You
know, I remember I was thinking about this when I was a kid,
spelling bees. I lusted to win one. I remember
I wanted to be that last one standing so bad. Oh, I wanted
to be the winner. Never happened. Some idiot would
get the thing ahead of me, and I might have known how to spell
it, but I didn't know what it meant. That's letter in the spirit. You know how to spell, you even
know how to pronounce, but you don't know what the word means. The letter of the law is do and
live. Don't do and die. That's the letter of the law.
What is the spirit of the law? The spirit of the law is to teach
you that You've not kept it one time, and you must look to Christ
alone. That's the intention. You know,
the law never was intended to save a man. Never was! Scripture
says that. The intent of the law is to show
me and you our need of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, letter and
spirit. All the letter of the law does
is condemn disobedience, but the intention of the law is to
show you your need of Christ. The letter do and live the spirit
of the law is show us Christ. Now the letter of circumcision
notice what he says in Romans 2 29 for he is a Jew which is
not one which is one inwardly and his circumcision is that
of the heart. Now can you I can understand why
someone who has no understanding of the scriptures, they would
read about circumcision and they think, weird, what is that all
about? And I would understand that kind
of response to this thing of circumcision. Well, what is the
letter of circumcision? We take the skin, cut it off,
and cast it away. What is the spirit of circumcision? Any hope you have in salvation
in this flesh, cut it off, cast it away. That is spiritual circumcision. That is the intent of circumcision. He is a Jew, verse 29, which
is one inwardly, And circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit,
not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. Now back to these men who believed
also, they were in reality, a stranger to a circumcised heart. They had no understanding of
believing with the heart. Now circumcised heart, here's
what it looks like. Scripture tells us. Philippians 33, we
are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit. What does it mean to worship
God in the spirit? It means to worship God in the
spiritual nature given to you by the Holy Spirit in the new
birth. The flesh cannot worship God. It's too simple. No true worship
there. We are the circumcision which
worship God for who He is. We worship Him as He's revealed
in His Word. We bow before Him as He's revealed in His Word.
We love Him as He's revealed in His Word. We worship Him for
who He is. What's that look like? We rejoice
in Christ Jesus. Now that word rejoice isn't the
word that means happy or glad, although we are happy or glad
in Christ Jesus. It means we boast, we glory. We have confidence only in Christ
Jesus. Anybody who worships God, here's
the evidence, they rejoice only in Christ Jesus. And the third
thing he says, we have no confidence in the flesh. No confidence,
none whatsoever. Not in my flesh, not in yours. Now that is the circumcised heart. And these men who believed also,
were strangers to this. They'd never received the love
of the truth. They knew nothing of Solomon's admonition, buy
the truth and sell it not. They did not confess him. They knew that if they did, they
would be put out of the synagogues. And they didn't realize that
would be an honor for they loved the praise of men more than the
praise of God. And you know what that is? It's
what John calls the lust of the eyes. Remember that admonition,
the lust of the flesh, the desires of fallen human nature, the lust
of eyes, the eyes being more concerned about what men see
than what God sees. Being overcome by a desire to
please men rather than please God. and the pride of life, self-righteousness. These men were dominated by the
lust of the eyes. Being more concerned about how
other people see you than how God sees you. I love what the
Lord said, fear not them that kill the body. And after that,
there's no more they can do. But I will warn you whom you
shall fear. Fear him that after he is killed,
hath power to cast body and soul into hell. Yea, I say unto you,
fear him. Now what does it mean to confess
him? This is so important. They believed
on him, but they didn't confess him. And there is no true heart
faith without mouth confession, whatever that means, whatever
it means to confess. They believe, but they didn't
confess because they love the praise of men more than the praise
of God. Now, what does it mean when someone
confesses him? Now, if you believe in your heart,
that's the heart he's given. new heart. If you believe it
came from the heart that He has given. You understand faith is
His gift. You understand repentance is
His gift. You understand love is His gift. They all come out
of the heart that He gives. Not the natural heart, but the
new heart that He gives. If you believe with your heart,
with your understanding, you understand that Jesus Christ
is all in your salvation. You really understand that. You
know You're not looking to your works. You not only understand
this, this is what you want. This is your will. You want to
simply be found in Him. This is your desire. You wouldn't
have it any other way. This is believing with the heart.
If you believe in your heart, it'll come out in your confession. Now what does it mean to confess
Him? Notice He said they would not
confess him lest they be put out of the synagogues. What does
it mean to confess him? Well, if I confess him, I confess who
he is. I confess, and there's something
public about this. This is not private. This is
public. This is before men. It's confessing
Him before men. I confess what He did. I confess why He did it. I confess where He is now. This confession. I confess who
He is. Listen to me. I confess that
He is God the Son. The God-man, fully God, fully
man, the creator of the universe, the only savior of sinners. I
confess who he is. And if I can't confess it as
well as I'd like to, as far as articulate it, I sure do identify
with those who do. Birds of a feather flock together.
I'm with them who confess him. That's who I want to be identified
with. That's my tribe, those who confess Him. I confess who He is. I confess
what He did. What did He do? Well, He told
us when He said it is finished. He finished salvation. My salvation, I'm trusting. I've
heard people say, I don't trust the finished work of Christ.
I trust Him who finished the work. Well, I agree with that,
but I trust the finished work of Christ. I have faith in His
blood. I have faith in what He has done. I confess what He did. He accomplished
my salvation. Salvation has nothing to do with
my works. I confess that. It's what He
did. And I confess why He did it.
I know why He did it. He did it to glorify His Father.
That's His first reason in everything. He did it to glorify His Father
and He did it to make a way for God to be just and justify me. I confess that. And I confess
where He is now. sitting on a throne high and
lifted up in absolute control of everything and everyone. He's Lord. I confess where He
is right now. Now this is confessing Him. We
confess who He is, we confess what He did, we confess why He
did it, and we confess where He is right now. Now, the word confession means
to speak the same thing. That's what the word means, to
speak the same thing. It means I speak the same thing
God speaks with regard to him. I'm in agreement with God. God
says, this is my well beloved son. Yep. I agree. I agree with everything
God says. This is the son of my love in
whom I'm well pleased. I'm well pleased that you're
well pleased with him. I'm a complete agreement. I love that scripture. that says that we should be to
the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. Who first
trusted in Christ? The Father. He trusted Christ
for everything in my salvation. I do too. I am at agreement with
God. To confess means to speak the
same thing. You know, we talk about a confession
of faith. Do you know every believer believes the same thing? agreement. We confess. He is all. That is our confession. We believe
the same thing. We're in complete agreement with
what God says to confess to means to admit of guilt. If we confess
our sins, I said this recently, maybe the
last week, it doesn't mean to confess every one of them individually.
You don't know what they all are. Most of the sins you've
committed, you're ignorant of. I am too. And there's not enough
time in the day for me to confess all my sins. But this is an agreement
with God. I agree with what God says about
my sins. I take sides with God against
myself. A confession is an admission
of guilt. I love what Paul said in Acts
chapter 24 verse 14. He says, all the stuff they're
accusing me of, they can't prove it. But there's one thing I'm
confessing to that they're accusing me of. Guilty as charged. This I confess unto thee. 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."
Now, I confess, I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of
God. You confess that? Our only source of information, that doesn't
sound like the right way to say it, but it's all I can come up
with right now, but our only source of information is the
Bible. Not man-made doctrines and confessions, but what God's
word says. I confess that. And I confess
that I believe the God that the Bible presents. I believe God
is one God and three distinct persons. God the Father, God
the Son, God the Holy Spirit. I believe that God is as the
Bible says he is. I confess that. I confess that
I believe God is God. God is absolutely sovereign according
to the scripture. He controls everybody and everything. Every thought going through your
mind right now that you're thinking freely and uncoerced He controls
everything. He controls everything that happens
in time. He's God. Every event that happens, He's
in control of because He's God. Salvation is of the Lord. I confess
that if me and you are in God's hands, He can save us. He can
damn us. Whatever He does is right. I
confess that. I confess that men are wicked. Beginning right here. Sinful. Dead in sins. That's what the
Bible says. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses. I'm in agreement. I confess what the Bible says,
that God elected a people before time began to be saved. I confess
that. I'm not ashamed of it. I love it. I love who he is. I confess that Christ accomplished
my salvation. make me savable. He didn't offer
salvation to me, he saved me. He saved me. I confess that his
grace saves. I confess him. And there's something public
about this confession if you confess me before men, if you
confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. And the word also means
It's what you praise God for, what you confess. It's celebration
and praise. Hebrews 13 says, by Him, let
us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the
fruit of our lips giving thanks. And the word is confessing His
name. We are confessing His name, giving
thanks for these things we're confessing. I confess Him. by my works. Turn to Revelation 14 for just
a moment. Verse 13. Revelation 14, verse 13, and
I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write, blessed are the
dead which die in the Lord. From henceforth, yea, saith the
Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." Every believer that enters heaven There are works that prove they
really believed what they said they believed. Every single one
of them. I confess Christ by my works. Now, does that mean I'm looking
over my works and say, yeah, I fit the bill. You know, I'm
good to go. I've got the works to prove it.
That has nothing to do with what that means. If you can look at
your works and think, I must be saved because of my works,
you've missed the gospel. But I know this, everybody that
enters heaven, there are going to be works that demonstrate
that they really believed what they said they believed. It wasn't
a put on. It wasn't an act. They really
believed what they said they believed. Now, where do I begin
in this thing of confessing Christ? This is our last scripture, Mark
chapter one. Mark chapter 1, and this is very
fitting that we're going to have a baptism this morning. Mark
chapter 1, verse 4. John did baptize in the wilderness
and preach the baptism of repentance for And that could just as easily
be translated concerning or unto. He preached the baptism of repentance
concerning the remission of sins. Everybody naturally believes
the forgiveness of sins is the end of some process that I've
gone through to get. I'll be forgiven if I fill in
the blank. When you hear the truth, God
gives you repentance regarding that. You find out that salvation
begins with the full, complete putting away and forgiveness
of sins. And it didn't have anything to
do with your works. That's what this repentance is. Repentance regarding the remission
of sins. Verse 5, And there went out unto
him all the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem, and were all
baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
Now, what does that mean? Does that mean a candidate for
baptism got up before he went under the water, he started confessing
to everybody everything he'd done? I'm gonna come clean, I'm
gonna tell you what I've done. No. No, that's unclean in itself. Don't. Here's what they're saying. The
only way I can be saved is by what baptism depicts. I am so
sinful. I, I'm talking about somebody
else right now. Just forget everybody else. I
am so sinful that the only way I can be saved is if I was in
Christ when He lived and He obeyed the law for me. And I was in Christ when He died
and my sin was put away only by what He did. Oh, there's power in His precious
blood and I was in Him when He was raised again and that was
my justification, that is my justification before God. I am
so sinful is what that is saying. It's not talking about them confessing,
well I did this and I did that and no, I'm so sinful the only
way I can be saved is by what baptism depicts. When He lived,
I lived. When He died, I died. When he
was raised, I was raised, and I am confessing that in baptism. And in that sense, baptism is
my public confession of Christ. I might not be able to articulate
everything. You know, there are people who
can't articulate very well. what they believe, and they will
come to be able to in the Lord's time and the Lord's grace. But
here is what I am articulating. My salvation is 100% in being
in Christ. That is what baptism depicts. And I'm confessing that in believers'
baptism. And that's what he meant when
he said they were baptized of him confessing their sins. That's my confession of Christ.
My only hope is in him. Let's pray. Lord, we confess by your grace that thy blessed
son is everything in our salvation. We agree with what you say with
regard to him. And Lord, we're so thankful that
everything you require of us, you look to him for. And Lord,
everything you require of us, we look to him for. Lord, give
each one of us, for Christ's sake, saving faith, not a non-saving
faith that doesn't confess you, but a saving faith that confesses
you, that loves your approval, your praise more than the praise
of men. Lord, show us the empty praises of men and what men approve
of is nothing and cause us to seek only that which you're pleased
with, your son and being found in him. Teach us your gospel.
Bless us for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen.