Let's read this verse again in
1 John 4, verse 15. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God,
God dwelleth in him, and he in God. I've been taught of this
message, the reason behind confessing. The reason behind confessing. Now, when someone does make this
confession, and there's something public about a confession, when
I confess something, I'm doing so before men. It's not just
something I'm saying in my heart. It's something I do before men.
I confess. that Jesus Christ is God the
Son. Now wherever that confession
is made, there is a reason behind that confession. The infinite,
eternal God dwells inside of that person. And that person
dwells in God. Now if the person sitting beside
you is someone who confesses that Jesus Christ is the son
of God the infinite God dwells in that individual and that individual dwells in
God. Now this verse begins with one
of my favorite words in the Bible. Whosoever." What a precious word. It's the same whosoever that
is used when we read in Romans 10, 13, whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever. The enemies of free grace maintain
that God's electing love and the effectual redemption of Christ
for the elect render it impossible to sincerely call upon men to
believe? No, it doesn't. This is easy
to say. I don't care who you are. I don't
care what your walk in life is. I don't care where you're at.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. John 3 16 God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever. Oh what a
word. Believe it on him should not
perish but have everlasting life. The Lord said in John 6 37 all
that the father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh
to me. There's the promise. I will in no wise, for no reason
whatsoever cast out. Now, whosoever shall confess
that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God.
And this is better than if it said in writing, if Todd Nybert
confesses that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God dwells in
him and he in God. It's better, this whosoever is
better than this, because there are other Todd Nyberts in the
world. I don't know how many but there's
quite a few other. It might not have been me. It might have been
some other Todd Robert. But thank God for this word whosoever. That means this is a command
to you. This is a command to you. Are
you a whosoever. God is speaking to you. Whosoever shall confess. Now as I've already stated there's
something public about confession. The Lord said whosoever shall
confess me. Before me. Him will I confess
before my father which is in heaven. And whosoever should
deny me. Before me. Him will I deny before
my father which is in heaven. Confession has something to do
with before men. We read in John chapter 12 verse
42. Nevertheless among the chief
rulers many believed in him but because of the Pharisees they
would not confess him. You see, the Pharisees had agreed
that whoever confessed him would be excommunicated, put out of
the temple. And it said of these men that
they loved the praises of men more than the praises of God. They believed. It says they believed. They had the same faith that
demons do. You believe there's one God,
you do well. The devils believe and tremble. That is not saving faith where
there is an unwillingness to confess him. Now if there's no
confession there is no saving faith. But let me say this. This is important. It's of vital
importance. There's always something that
precedes confession. Heart. Faith. Now this is a biblical term,
heart faith. Not just faith, but heart faith. Now to call it heart faith does
not mean it's not in the head. It sure is. But let's look what
the Bible means by heart faith. Would you turn with me to Acts
chapter 8? Now preceding this confession,
There will always be this heart faith. Beginning in verse five. Then
Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ
unto them. And the people with one accord
gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing And seeing
the miracles which he did for unclean spirits, crying with
loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with him.
And many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that
city. But there was a certain man called
Simon. which before time in the same
city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving
out that himself was some great one, to whom they all gave heed
from the least to the greatest, saying, this man is the great
power of God. And to him they had regard because
of a long time he bewitched them with sorceries. But when they
believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom
of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men
and women. Then Simon himself believed. also." He believed also. Look down in verse 18 of the
same chapter, and when Simon saw that through the laying on
of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them
money saying, give me also this power that on whomsoever I lay
hands he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him,
Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought the gift of
God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot
in this matter, for thy heart, thy heart is not right in the
sight of God. Look in verse 35 of the same
chapter. Simon believed, but something
was wrong with his heart. Verse 35, then Philip opened
his mouth and began at that same scripture and preached unto him,
Jesus. And as they went on their way,
they came into a certain water and the eunuch said, see, here's
water. What does hinder me to be baptized? What a question.
If there's anything that's keeping me from being baptized, I want
to know. And Philip said, if thou believest
with all thine, what? Heart. Thou mayest. Now we're going to come back
to Acts chapter 8 in a moment, but turn with me for a moment
to Romans chapter 10. Verse 8. But what saith it, the word of
faith? What saith it? The word is nigh
thee. And I can say this to everybody
in here, the word's not you. How close? Even in thy mouth
and in thy heart, that is the word of faith, which we preach,
that if thou shalt confess, there's that word that has something
to do with a public confession, that if thou shalt confess before
men with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath 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. Before
that confession unto salvation is made, that man believes with
the heart. Now what's that mean? Does it mean that there's something
other than something going on in my head and that there's some
kind of experience my heart has to experience, there's something
kind of nebulous that I can't put my finger on but it's just
heart faith? Is that what that means? No. No. What you really believe in
your head, you believe in your heart. What you really believe. I got to repeat what you really
believe. A lot of folks don't really believe
what they say they believe. But what you really believe in
your head, you believe in your heart. Now, what is meant by
the heart? The heart is the whole man. The heart is your intellect. The heart is your affection,
your emotions, your feelings, what moves you. Your heart is
your will. That's what is meant by the heart,
it's the whole man, the understanding, the affections, and the will. Now in religion, and I'm talking
about false religion where there's false faith, you might have an
intellectual faith, you might have a feeling kind of faith,
a feel good kind of faith, you might have a faith that is the
product of your will. We see this in pretty much the
three branches of Christianity. You got the reform faith. That's
intellectual. I see the Bible teaches that.
There's no doubt about it. I've got to believe it. There it is
in black and white. The Bible teaches election. No
doubt about it. That's the intellect. And then
you have more of the charismatic movement that goes on feeling,
how you feel, the feelings of joy and the feelings of excitement
and the, let's work up a feeling. That's what's going on in the
charismatic service. And then in the Arminian service,
which covers, I guess, 99% of Christendom, you have your will. Your will is what saves you.
You've got to choose as an act of your will. You've got to choose
what Christ has done and accept it and that's what will make
it work for you. Now if you've made that choice you've got faith.
Now all three of those things are false faith. All three of
them are. They're not real. But in heart
faith Notice how Paul says in verse 10, for with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. Now there are other things we
could use other than righteousness but this is what the Holy Spirit
has chosen. He's talking about righteousness.
Now intellectually I understand that the righteousness of Jesus
Christ is the only righteousness I have. You understand that? I mean, it really doesn't have
anything to do with your personal righteousness. It's a righteousness outside
of you. I understand that. The only way
I can be saved is if Jesus Christ's personal law-keeping and obedience
and righteousness is my actual righteousness before God. Understand
that. But not only do I understand
it, this is what moves me. This is what I love. I love being
saved by His righteousness. I do, God's my witness. I love
being saved by His righteousness. And thirdly, this is what I want. This is what I desire. I don't
desire anything else. This is what I want. This is
what if I'm given the choice. This is the way I'm going. I'd
whole lot rather be saved by his righteousness than my own.
With the heart, man believeth. With the intellect, with the
affections, with the will, with the whole man. Now that's what
that means. It's not talking about some kind
of unexplainable something that goes on that you can't really
put your foot, no. It's the mind, it's the affections, and it's
the will. Now let's go back to Acts chapter
8. Verse 36, and as they went on
their way, they came unto a certain water, and the eunuch said, See,
here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe. Now this comes before the confession.
If you believe this, you will confess this. But this is what
precedes the confession. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. Now, wherever there's hard faith,
it doesn't have anything to do with what you think about yourself. I believe that God's done something
for me. I believe God has blessed me.
I believe that Christ died for me. I believe that God has saved
me. I believe that I'm one of the
chosen. I believe that I've been born
again. That's not faith. Every one of those things I mentioned
has something to do with what you believe about yourself. Heart
faith has wholly to do with what you believe concerning Him. It doesn't have anything to do
with what you think about yourself. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the eternal Son of God? Do you believe He's the Creator?
Do you believe He's God the Son, the absolute sovereign of the
universe? Do you believe that? Do you believe He's the Father's
darling? The altogether lovely one, do
you believe that he is the son of God? No, I don't. Okay, you're not
a believer. That's settled. Yes, I do. That's saving faith. I had a man tell me that's too
simple. Try to do it then, huh? If it's
a simple. 1 John 5 says this, Who is he that
overcometh the world, even he that believes that Jesus is the
Son of God? Whom do men say that I am? Well,
they say some pretty good things, but whom say ye that I am? Not
whom say you that you are. Whom say ye that I am? Peter
said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Does that come out of your heart? Do you believe right now that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God? Will you also go away? The Lord
said when he watched the people who claimed to be disciples moving
on and leaving him, Peter said, to whom shall we go? It's not
like we have any options. Thou hast the words of eternal
life and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ. son of the living God. And the Lord said, have not I
chose you twelve? That's why you believe. And one of you is the devil,
that's why you don't believe. The Lord said to that man who
had been healed of his blindness, do you believe on the son of
God? He said, who is he, Lord, that I might believe? thou hast
both seen him, and as he which talketh to thee, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him." Now,
this is always the issue with regard to heart faith. What think
ye of Christ? Whose son is he? Now, if you believe him, everything
else is settled. What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? Now, wherever
there is this hard faith, you're going to have this confession.
Notice it says back in our text in 1 John 4, 15, whosoever doesn't
say shall believe, but whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the
son of God. Now wherever there is heart faith
there will be this confession. What you really believe you will
confess and what you will not confess you do not really believe
in your heart. Now what is this thing of confessing?
It's a different word. What does it mean to confess
that Jesus Christ is the son of God? Well the word is made
of two words. which means literally to speak
the same thing. It's that simple. To speak the
same thing. Now the word is used with regard
to the confession of sin. If we confess our sin. He is
faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Now you know what it means to
confess your sin? It doesn't simply mean the admission of
guilt. It means you speak the same thing
God says about your sin. You're in agreement with God.
That's what it means to confess your sin. You take sides with
God against yourself. You're on the Lord's side. What
he says is right. You speak the same thing. Paul said this, I confess to
thee after the way which they call heresy, so worship I. I'm confessing this. I'm pleading
guilty to this. This is where I am at. Now, confession. It's public. Whoso shall confess me before
men, him will I confess before my father which is in heaven.
Whoso shall deny me before men, him will I deny before my father
which is in heaven. How many people have you, how
many of you have heard of confessions of faith? Confessions of faith. They're documents, some long,
some short. You have the smaller creeds,
the Nicene Creed, the Apostolic Creed. You have the more advanced
confessions, the Westminster Confession, the Heidelberg Confession,
the Philadelphia Confession, the London Confession. I mean,
there's just all kinds of confessions. And they're real long documents
based upon the scripture. And they say, this is what we
believe. You've got to agree with this
if you're going to be sound. And very intelligent men have
crafted these big, long confessions, men that are much smarter than
me and know a whole lot more than I do. But you know what? I think all that stuff is a waste
of time. I think it's a bunch of bunk.
Now, you're speaking awful strongly, I know, but how can you improve
on the Bible? How can you improve on the Bible? If you got the
Bible, why do you need that kind of stuff? You don't. You don't. You see, I'm not going to say
I'm going to, I don't care how sound it is. It could be real
sound, but if an uninspired man wrote it, something's wrong somewhere.
Amen? Something's wrong somewhere if
an uninspired man wrote it. And I'm not going to try to put
my, soundness on some document that
some man has written that actually is wrong in the first place because
all we got to do is have the Bible. What do you believe? What
God says in his word. But there's a lot in there. I
know, I believe it all. I do, I believe it all. I believe
it exactly as he says it. And I have no use for any of
these human documents they call confessions of faith. I'm not
concerned about being in agreement with the London Confession or
the 1689 Confession, but I sure am concerned about being in agreement
with what God says. And that's all I'm concerned
about being in agreement with. Speaking the same thing God says. Now listen to what God says.
This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. You know what? I'm in complete
agreement. You know, preaching is just saying
what God's already said, isn't it? Speaking again what God has
said. And I really believe that Jesus
Christ the Lord is the well beloved of the Father. And that all of
God's salvation, all of God's pleasure, all of God's acceptance
is in him. I agree with what God says. And
I say the same thing God says with regard to his son. All that God has for the sinner
is in Christ. And I believe that. I'm in complete
agreement with what God says. All God's mercy, his holiness,
being without blame, his love, his acceptance, redemption, election,
whatever you're going to say, it's in Christ. It's in Christ. And I say what God says. The father knows his son is all. We do too, don't we? We're in
complete agreement with what God says. Every believer is. They speak the same thing God
does. When we confess our sin, we're
agreeing with what God says about our sin. Now this word confession
has to do with confession of sin. Turn with me for a moment
to Psalm 51. I want us to notice David's confession. There's been so many sermons
written about what does it mean to confess your sin. There's
been so many sermons preached about what does it mean to confess
your sin. And all we got to do is write Psalm 51 and we'll find
out. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy love and kindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies. Blot out my transgression. Wash
me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for
I acknowledge my transgressions. My sin is ever before thee, against
thee, and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when you speak and be clear when
you judge. You know, David's saying, I am
in complete agreement with your judgments against me. Whatever
you say is just and right. I'm at complete agreement. Now
that is the confession of sin. Nothing less than that is the
confession of sin. Complete agreement with God. Now to confess means to speak
the same thing. Does God say his word is inspired?
Yes, he does. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. I say the same thing. You know,
I know the Bible is the Word of God, inspired of God. Does
God say that he's sovereign? Well, he said, I create the light
and Create darkness. I make peace. I create evil.
I, the Lord, do all these things. Whatsoever the Lord please, that
did he in earth and sea and all deep places. I say the same thing.
I say what God says about himself. He's absolutely, utterly sovereign
and everybody and everything is in his hands. He's in complete
control. You're in his hand. I'm in his
hand. The thought's going through your mind right now. He's in
complete sovereign control of it. Does that get me off the
hook for the badness of it? No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. If you're thinking something
awful, that doesn't get you off the hook, but it's still true
that God's in control. He's God. We speak the same thing
God says concerning himself. Does God say that salvation is
all of grace? By grace are you saved altogether. You know, we say the same thing,
don't we? We love his grace. And if you're at agreement with
God, and if you say the same thing he does, and I'm at agreement
with God, and I say the same thing he does, you know what?
There's true unity in there. There's a true unity of spirit,
union of spirit, people who truly believe the same thing. And when
we confess before men, and remember this confession always has to
do with public, there is a willingness. there is a willingness by God's
grace to suffer whatever consequence might come about by confessing
him. You see, the gospel we believe
is a gospel worth dying for. And we realize that apart from
God's grace, we'll chicken out and we won't confess him. We
realize that, don't we? Apart from his grace, apart from his
hand upon us, we'll chicken out. and will fail to confess him. But we ask for grace to confess
him. I love that passage of scripture
in Acts chapter five where they departed from the council rejoicing
that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. Now this thing of confession,
Taking up your cross, taking up, someone says, oh, I got my
cross to bear as my, some kind of trial they're having. No,
no, I mean, I'm not taking away from that trial. I'm sure it
is grievous. But taking up your cross is the confession of Christ
that people won't like, the confession of the cross. Now, whosoever
shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, What's the reason behind that?
Why would somebody make that confession? Well, you say, because
they have hard faith. That's true, but that's not the
answer. That's true, but that's not the
answer. That's putting some kind of emphasis on their faith. The
faith you have is a gift of God. It's not something you came up
with. It's not something to commend you for or me for. Here is the
reason behind someone making this confession God dwells in him. The infinite, eternal, incomprehensible,
immeasurable, holy, eternal God dwells in him. And he dwells in God. Now you take a little cup you
can think of, a little teacup, dimple, whatever, and you throw
that little cup in the ocean. The ocean dwells in that cup,
doesn't it? And that cup dwells in the
ocean. With every believer, God dwells
in him and he dwells in God. We abide in Christ. That's a
conscious desire to only be found in him. That's what it means
to abide in Christ. That means you only want God to see you
in Christ. You don't want him to see you independent of Christ.
You don't want him to see you in your works. You want him to
see you in Christ. And the only reason somebody
abides in Christ is because Christ is in them, Christ in you, the
hope of glory. Now, the reason someone believes,
the reason someone confesses is wholly supernatural. God dwells
in that person. And the evidence that he dwells
in that person is they dwell in him and they look only to
him. Now, here is what I find amazing. I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. And I confess that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. And that means God dwells in
me. And it means that I dwell in
God. Let's pray. Lord, take this word that was delivered
by a sinful man who no doubt said things he shouldn't
say and left out things he should have said, and bless it by your spirit for
your glory. and enable each person in here
to be one who believes in their heart that Jesus Christ is thy
son. and that confesses before men
that Jesus Christ is thy son. And Lord, do this by you dwelling
in us and us dwelling in you. Bless the word for Christ's sake.
In his name we pray, amen.