In Hebrews chapter 13, verse
15, the passage of scripture I just read, the writer says,
by him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God
continually, nonstop. That is the fruit of our lips. That's the stuff of life. the
fruit of our lips, giving thanks. And as I said, that's the word
that is generally translated confessing. Confessing his name. Now that would be a description
of the life of the believer. And I dare say of every believer. that of confessing the name of
the Lord. Now, the idea of giving thanks
is certainly included in this. We're thankful for that name
we confess, aren't we? We are thankful for all of his
attributes. We're thankful for who he is.
We rejoice in who he is, but as I said, this is a description
of the life of the believer. We're called upon by Him. I love that, by Him. It doesn't
just say, praise His name. It says, by Him, praise His name. I wouldn't dare, by the grace
of God, come into God's presence and offer praise apart from knowing
it's Him that presents it to the Father. And I wouldn't want
it to be any other way. By Him. I love the way the writer
of the Hebrews says that. That's so other. That's so altogether
different than the way humans would think. But this is what
the Spirit of God inspires him to say, by Him. Now do you understand
that? Would you not dare come into
God's presence any other way but by Him? You and we pray in
His name. What are we doing? We're saying,
hear this prayer as He presents it before you. I know that in
and of myself, my prayer is no good. It must be Him presenting
it. And our word is always by Him. By Him, I love all that ever came before
me are thieves and robbers. I can't even bring a praise to
him except it's by him. Notice the phrase in verse 15, by him therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continuing. Now, if you read
the book of Hebrews, you're going to find this phrase over and
over again. Let us, let us, let us. And the
us is very important, and I understand who that us refers to. That's
the same us as if God be for us, who can be against us. This is not the privilege of
every son of Adam. This is only those who God has
saved. These are those Christ has died
for. These are those who have all their hope in by him. They
understand this thing of by him, and they wouldn't dare come any
other way. By him, let us. By him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifices of praise to God continually." Now, every time
you see a word, therefore, see what it's there for. It can only
be understood in the context of this passage of scripture.
In verse 10 of this chapter, we've looked at these verses
the last couple of weeks. We have an altar, the Lord Jesus
Christ, where if they had no right to eat would serve the
tabernacle that are still under the Old Testament economy. For
the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary
by the high priest for sin are burned without the camp. Wherefore
Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood. Suffered without the gate, let
us go therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach
for here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come
by him therefore let us offer. The sacrifice of praise to God
continually. Let me give you some examples of how this is used
in this book. Let us therefore fear, lest a
promise, being less us, of entering into his rest. Any of you should
seem to come short of it. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into His rest. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith, the confession of our faith. Same word. Confession
means agreement. It means to speak the same thing. Believers believe the same thing.
Well, I think there's some differences. Not really. Not really. Believers believe that Christ
is all. That's their confession. And they're all tenacious about
that. The only hope I have is that
Jesus Christ died for me. That's my confession of faith.
His righteousness is the only righteousness I know. And I love
this. I give thanks for this. Let us
hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering, without
going back and forth. Well, can a believer go back
and forth? Evidently they can because he said, don't waver.
Evidently some were. I love this. Let us come boldly
to the throne of grace. What a call. Let us, this is
every believer. Don't exclude yourself if you're
a believer. If you look to Christ only, let us come boldly with
confidence to the throne of grace. That's why we come boldly to
the throne of grace. that we may obtain mercy and find grace
to help in time of need. Hebrews 6.1, let us go on therefore
unto perfection, maturity. I hope that's a great desire
of every one of us. Let us go on to perfection, not
laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, not
having to lay these foundations again, but I'm settled. I'm grounded. I can't go on to maturity unless
that takes place. Let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience. Let us consider one another to
provoke unto love. and to good works. Don't forget
that. Let's not provoke one another
to irritation. Let's provoke one another to
love. May I treat you such that it provokes you to love me. Let us run with patience the
race that's set before us. Looking unto Jesus. Don't you
love that? It's so simple. Looking unto Jesus. Not looking
at yourself, not looking at your feet, not looking to the side,
not looking back behind you to see if your experience was right.
Looking unto him right now. Looking unto him only. Looking
unto Jesus. The author and the finisher of
our faith. And I love, let us have grace. that we may serve God acceptably
with reverence and godly fear. Now, the only real way I'm going
to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear is if
I have grace. Let us have grace. Lord, give
me the grace to serve you with acceptably, with reverence and
godly fear. Let us go, therefore, to him
without the camp. Let us offer the sacrifice of
praise to God continually. And don't miss his word, sacrifice.
Let's think about that for just a moment. Let us offer, by him,
I never wanna forget that. That's always gotta come first.
And really, if I don't settle on that, all of this is meaningless.
It's only by him that I offer this sacrifice of praise. Sacrifice. Now, sacrifice costs
you something. Do you remember when David said,
I will not offer to the Lord that which cost me nothing? old
bed or whatever the guy's name was, said, let me just give you
the wood for the burnt offering. And he said, no, I'm going to
pay full price. Well, you can have this. No,
I'm going to pay full price. I will not offer it to God. That would
cost me nothing. And really, to offer sacrifice,
it will cost you something. If it's worthless to you, it's
more worthless to God. Let us offer the sacrifice. Of what? Let us offer the sacrifice of
praise to God continually. Praise to God for who He is.
Praise to God for all of His glorious attributes. Praise to
God for His holiness. Praise to God for His justice.
Praise to God for His sovereignty. You love every attribute. Praise
to God for His independence. He has no needs. Praise to God
for Him making the way to be just and justify the ungodly. Oh, that's some reason to give
praise to our God for. And this is to be done continually.
Praise to God continually. Is there ever a time when it's
not appropriate to praise God in your heart? Oh, he's altogether
lovely, he's altogether glorious, and the fact that he's made himself
known to you, what grace, what mercy. Let us offer the sacrifice
of praise to God nonstop. That is the fruit of our lips. Now this is the stuff of life,
fruit. I like the way he calls this the fruit of our lips. That
is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. And like
I said, the word is literally confessing his name. Now, when you're offering the
sacrifice of praise, here's exactly what you're doing. You are confessing
his name. Now, before we get into what
it means to confess his name, and like I said, that is the
life of the believer. But before we get into what it
means to confess his name. Let's consider his name for just
a moment. I love the third commandment. It's so awesome. Thou shalt not
take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will
not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. You see, his
person is so holy. so other, so awesome, so transcendent,
that to take his name in an irreverent way is a sin worthy of the damnation
of hell. That is how holy his name is. Be careful the way you use his
name. Holy and reverend is his name. He said, I am jealous of my holy
name. That is the character of God. The name of the Lord is a strong
tower, an impenetrable fortress. The righteous run into it and
are safe. We run into his name, don't we?
We find no safety, no security, no salvation apart from his name. Now his name is who he is. I
love it when Moses said, who am I gonna say you are when you
sent me? He said, I am that I am. I love
the simplicity of that. He's not who men think he is. He is who he is. I am that I
am. This is his isness. The whole
Bible is a declaration of his name. Turn with me for a moment
to Exodus 34. Exodus 34. Now in verse 19 of chapter 33, he told Moses, I will make all my goodness pass
before thee and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee
and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show
mercy on whom I will show mercy. Now look in verse five, here
he is declaring his name. And the Lord descended in the
cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the
Lord. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth. This is his
name. Keeping mercy for thousands, that's his name. Forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin, that's his name. and that will by no
means clear the guilty. That's his name. And there's
no understanding of the gospel if I don't understand how he
can by no means clear the guilty and yet save somebody like me.
That is the mystery of the gospel. May I always be in utter awe
of that. The Lord's name is who He is. Psalm 106 verse 8 says, Nevertheless,
He saved them for His name's sake. Now, do you hear that?
The reason you can be saved is for His name's sake, not because
of anything in you. Does that encourage you? You
don't have to have anything that, I gotta do this before he can
save me. No, I gotta stop that before, no, he saves for his
name's sake. David said in Psalm 25, for thy
name's sake, oh Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it's great.
I can't find any other reason why you do it except for your
name's sake. Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of thy name, and deliver us and purge away our
sins for thy name's sake. Our help is in the name of the
Lord. This is the name that we're confessing. I love This scripture that's
repeated over and over throughout the scripture, first beginning
in Genesis chapter 12, where Abraham called on the name of
the Lord, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. And when I'm saying, calling
on his name, I'm saying, Lord, save me by who you are. Save
me by your justice in a way that completely honors your justice
and blots out all my sin. Save me by your sovereignty.
Will my salvation. Save me by your omnipotence. Save me by your power. Save me
by your grace. Save me by your love. Save me
by your mercy. You're calling upon all the attributes
of the Lord. Lord, save me by who you are. That's what it means to call
upon the name of the Lord. Oh, I'm calling on his name right
now. By his grace, Lord, save me by
who you are. I can't save myself. Save me
by who you are. El Shaddai, Lord God Almighty,
Lord, save me by your omnipotence. El Elyon, the Most High God,
Adonai, Lord, Save me because of your Lordship, because you
are the Lord. Jehovah Nisi, the Lord, our banner,
save me by the message of the gospel. Jehovah Rapha, the Lord
is my shepherd, be my shepherd. Jehovah Raha, the Lord, I'm the
Lord that heals thee. Lord, heal me. He healed them
that have need of healing. Lord, heal me. I'm sick. Heal
me. Jehovah Zekinu, the Lord our
righteousness. Lord, save me by your righteousness.
Give me your righteousness. Let that be my righteousness.
Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our peace. Lord, make my peace. Jehovah
Jireh, the Lord will provide. Lord, provide everything that
I need because I can't provide a thing. El Olam, the everlasting God,
save me eternally. His name shall endure forever. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. Matthew 121. Thou shalt call
his name Jesus. For he shall save his people
from their sins. Isaiah 9, 6, his name shall be
called Wonderful Counselor. The mighty God, the everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. Paul said in Philippians 2.10,
wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
shall bow. When we were singing that song,
Drew, one of the words was, bow to him, you must. And I was thinking,
that's true with regard to everybody in the world. Bow to him, you
must. You say, I won't. Yeah, you will.
You've got no choice. Everybody's going to bow the
knee to him. This is God's will. At the name
of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue should confess.
Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God the Father. Turn with me for a moment to
Acts chapter four. Peter and John have been arrested
for preaching the gospel. And we read in verse five of
Acts chapter four, it came to pass on the morrow that their
rulers and elders and scribes and Annas the high priest and
Caiaphas and John and Alexander and as many as were the kindred
of the high priest were gathered together in Jerusalem. And when
they had set them in the midst, they asked, by what power or authority? Or by what name have you done
this? Remember, they healed that man
that was lame in the name of Jesus, rise up and walk. He got
up, started leaping, and it caused commotion. And they got arrested
for this. I mean, this was messing up their
religion. And they got arrested for this. And so they bring them
out. By what name have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, said unto them ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel
if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent
man by what means he is made whole be it known unto you all
and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jehovah no
if he would have said that it had been true but he would have
been compromising the gospel Be it known unto you all and
to all the people of Israel by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
whom You crucified whom God raised from the dead, even by him. There's that phrase by him. Don't
you love that phrase by him? Even by him that this man stand
here before you whole. This is the stone which was set
at Nod of you builders, which has become the head of the corner.
Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other
name under heaven given among men whereby We must be saved. Such is the power and the glory
of this name, that this name necessitates the salvation of
everybody he saved. What a name. Now the name of
the Lord is first mentioned, just that phrase, the name of
the Lord is first mentioned in Genesis chapter 12, verse eight. When Abraham built an altar,
What's the altar for? Sacrifice. Pointing to the perfect
work of Christ on the cross, and there when he built that
altar, he called upon the name of the Lord. Never forget this.
The name of the Lord is identified by the sacrifice of Christ. Every
attribute of God is displayed in the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, I love giving thanks to
his name because I'm so thankful for everything his name represents.
You are too. We love his name. I love that
hymn I love to sing of Christ our King. And hail him blessed
Jesus, for there's no word here ever heard so dear, so sweet
as Jesus. I love to give thanks to his
name. That's the name by which we're saved. But that can just
as easily be translated confessing his name. Now you gotta know
the person behind the name before you can confess the name. But
let's think of the importance of this thing of confession before
we see what it is to confess his name. The Lord said, whosoever shall
confess me before men, Him will I confess before my Father, which
is in heaven. But whoso denieth me before men,
him will I deny before my Father, which is in heaven. If thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart
that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Every spirit
that confesseth, that's public. What a man believes is what he
preaches and confesses publicly, not what he talks about privately,
but what he preaches publicly. What you believe is what you
have to hear publicly. You can't hear something if it's
not the confession. You can't. Not if you love the
gospel. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. You confess
he was before he came, you confess he came in the flesh, and you
confess he did precisely what he came to do. Whoso confesseth
not That's a public identification, a public pronunciation of that
message. Whoso confesseth not that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, but is that of
that spirit of antichrist. Nevertheless, listen to this
scripture from John chapter 12. Nevertheless, among the chief
rulers, many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees,
they wouldn't confess it. Did they believe? No. Let me
answer that real quick. No, not really. If they believed,
they would confess. What you believe in your heart,
you will confess. But because of the Pharisees,
their fear of the Pharisees, they would not confess him for
lest they should be put out of the synagogue. Well, we'll get
kicked out of the church for that. For they love the praise
of men more than the praise of God. So what does it mean to
confess his name? The word, I'm going to try to
pronounce it. I don't know if I'm pronouncing
it right, but in the original it's homolegio and it means literally
to speak the same thing. And what we're really doing is
we're speaking the same thing God does. We're in agreement
with what God says. When we confess our sin, that
does not simply mean that we're articulating, yeah, I did it.
No, we're agreeing with what God says with regard to our sin.
We're at full agreement. He's right and I'm wrong. That's what confession is. It's
an agreement with God. The confession of faith is what
all believers believe. It's speaking the same thing. Now, you confess, you declare,
that you believe that the one that name represents, the God
of glory, all of his attributes as they're revealed in his word,
the Lord Jesus Christ is the God you believe, trust and love,
the God of scriptures, the gospel scriptures and anything else
is false and you confess that. It's got to be who God reveals
himself to be in the word. Now when you hear something that's
contrary to any of the attributes of God, It's false. I don't care how good it sounds.
It ain't good. It's false. You confess the only
God you believe is the one who matches up with this book. You
confess that the Jesus Christ that you believe is the one who
matches up with this book and anything else is non-existent. When I confess Christ, I love
what Paul said in Acts 24, 14. He said, he'd been arrested.
He said, they can't prove any of the things they're accusing
me of. I didn't do what they said I've
done, but this I will confess to thee. I plead guilty to this
after the way that they call heresy. So worship I, the God
of my fathers, believing all things that are written. Jesus
Christ is the way. Here's how much he's in the way.
If you're in the way, you're in heaven because he's there.
That's how complete That's how sure your salvation is. He said,
I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes in the Father. but by me. Do you realize that
the only way you come to the Father is not you saying, I'm
only coming by Christ. No, it's you being in Christ.
And when Christ comes to the Father, you're there too, because
you're in him. That's your only hope, being
in him. That's what we confess in baptism.
My only hope is that when he lived, I was in him, I lived.
When He died, my sins were paid for because I was in Him. When
He was raised from the dead, I was raised too because I'm
in Him. That's in Christ, according as He has chosen us in Him. All
of God's blessings are in the Lord Jesus Christ. I confess guilty as charged,
if that's what I'm being charged with. I believe the way. The way they call heresy, they
say, well, that's heretical. So worship I, the God of my fathers,
believing all things that are written. To confess Christ is to declare
openly by way of speaking freely. Paul put it this way, seeing
we have such hope. Oh, what hope? A hope that's
absolutely sure? That doesn't have anything to
do with my works? That has wholly to do with what
Christ did? 100%? Only come by Him? Seeing we have
such hope! We use great plainness of speech. I'm not trying to bring this
in the back door. I'm proud of this. I'm proud
of the gospel. I love what Paul said. I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God unto
salvation. I'm proud of the gospel. It glorifies
God. It saves me. The gospel we believe
can't be improved on. You believe that? I know you
do. What a gospel we believe, and we, as the confession, we
use great plainness for speech, such confession being the effect
of the deep conviction of the truth of the name you believe
and confess. Now, this is important. Let me read this scripture from
Titus 116. They profess that they know God,
and that's the word confess. They confess that they know God. I know God. But in works, they deny him. In conversation, in conduct,
they deny him. Being abominable and disobedient
and to every good work, reprobate. Now, if I hear someone make a
loud confession and that person is not poor in spirit, if that
person does not mourn over their own personal sin, If that person
is not meek before God, if that person doesn't hunger and thirst
after the righteousness of Christ because they believe His righteousness
is the only righteousness there is. Now remember, I'm giving
the Beatitudes. This is what the Lord describes
a believer is. I mean, this is not some man's
thoughts, here's what I think. No, this is what the Lord said.
Blessed are these people, the poor, They that mourn the meek. They that hunger and thirst after
righteousness. Blessed are the pure in heart,
that pure heart that believes the gospel, the new birth. Blessed are the merciful, people
who are truly merciful. The peacemakers, preaching the
gospel of peace. Those who are persecuted for
righteousness' sake. Now, if somebody makes a loud
confession, and they're not that, that confession is worthless. an abomination. And remember,
that description of the believer, I suppose there's not a better
description, is there? What the Lord gives in the beatitude
to He declares is blessed. The name you confess is the name
you praise. By him, let us offer the sacrifice
of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks for his name. Now, the name you confess is
who you from your heart. Now, this is what I'm not talking
about what you say to me or what I say to you. I'm talking about
what God sees. You know, isn't that all that
counts anyway? What God sees. Here's what God sees. When he
sees a heart that's confessing his name, he sees a heart that
is truly grateful for this verse of scripture. Be ye kind, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another even as God, you know the rest of the
verse, for Christ's sake. He has no other reason. He has
no need for another reason. That's the name we're talking
about. That's the name we glory in. That's the name we rejoice
in. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Why did he forgive you? Because
you asked. Because you were sorry. Because
you promised to straighten up and fly right. One reason. For Christ's sake. No other reason is needed. Don't
we love his name? And may this be the description
of our life. I realize that we're all sinners. We all have weaknesses.
We all have... I could just go on and on about
that. I know that. But, oh, I want
to be somebody like this. By Him. By Him. Therefore, let us offer the sacrifice
of praise continually. That is the fruit of our lips,
confessing his name. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for that
name that's above every name. Lord, how beautiful is his name? Lord, to have his name as our
name, to think that his name is the Lord, our righteousness,
and our name is the Lord, our righteousness. Lord, the new
name that you give, how we thank you for the name of Jesus Christ,
our Lord. And we ask that we would be Supernaturally,
divinely, by your grace enabled to confess your name in this
generation for the glory of your son. How we thank you for your
name. In Christ's name we pray, amen.