Would you turn back to first
John chapter two? I've entitled this message denying
and confessing. Now the word acknowledgeth in
verse 23 is the word that's generally translated confessive. And somebody may look at that
passage of scripture and say, well, that word's in italics.
That means the translators put it there. But I read about this
passage of scripture and they said that there has been, I hate
saying this, but there has been manuscripts which have been discovered
that say this was not added by the translators. It was really
already there. And so this is about denying
and confessing. Now let's read these verses together. Who is a liar? But he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ. He is antichrist that denieth
the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the
same hath not the Father, but he that confesseth the Son. hath the father also. What an interesting question
he begins with. Who is a liar? Who is a liar? What David said,
I said in my haste, all men are liars. And when I hear that question,
who is a liar? I feel like I fit into that category. And if you don't feel that way
about yourself, you've lied to yourself. Who is a liar? Well, all men
are liars. David said, the wicked are estranged
from the womb. They go about as soon as they
be born, speaking lies. And think about an infant, an
infant, when he's or she's crying. They're lying. They're trying
to get your attention. That's literal. Somebody says
they can't talk yet, but they can lie. They really can. Paul said, let God be true, and
every man a liar. But here John says, who is a
liar? And he doesn't wait for us to
answer that question, does he? He says, who is a liar, but he
that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist that
denieth the Father and the Son. Now, somebody says, I don't deny
that Jesus is the Christ. Well, in order to be able to
say that honestly, you have to know what the Christ means. And
that's what we're going to consider tonight. What does it mean for
Jesus to be the Christ? Now, to deny means to contradict. to disown, to reject, to renounce,
to refuse, to accept. It's very strong language that
is a very strong affirmation of denial. It's a strong word. I deny that Jesus is the Christ. And like I said, you have to
know what that means before you can really understand what it
is to confess or to acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ. Now,
he says in verse 23, he that acknowledges or confesseth the
son hath the father. If you confess, the Son. If you confess the Christ, that
means you actually have the Father. That means you're one of those
people who could honestly say, if God be for us, who can be
against us? Now, what is it to deny that
Jesus is the Christ? What is it to confess the Son
of God? Now, first let me tell you what
this word confess means. To confess means to speak the
same thing. It's what all of God's people
confess. To speak the same thing, it's
to say the same thing God says concerning the Christ. It's to
say the same thing all of God's people say concerning the Christ. The confession is speaking the
same thing. It is to declare openly. It's
the word we use to confess our sins. We admit to, we confess
our sins, we plead guilty. The word is actually translated
praise in one place. What we confess is something
we praise God for. We're mighty happy about it.
And we promise, we promise this is what we really believe when
we confess something. Now, let me give you some scriptures
that teach us how important this subject is regarding denying
and confessing. In Matthew chapter 10, verse
32, the Lord said, whosoever shall confess me before men. This confession has something
to do with before men. There's something public about
it. Whoso shall confess me before men, him will I confess before
my father, which is in heaven. Boy, I want to get in on that,
don't you? I want him to confess my name before his father, which
is in heaven. And he says, whosoever shall
deny me before men, him will I deny before my father, which
is in heaven." Paul said in 2 Timothy 2.13, if we deny him, he also
will deny us. We read in John 12.42, among
the chief rulers, many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees,
they would not confess him. because they love the praise
of men more than the praise of God. Paul said in Romans 10,
9, with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. So we see this
is a salvation issue, isn't it? This thing of denying Christ.
If I deny him, I'm not saved. He's going to deny me. And if
I confess him, he will confess me. Now, what is it that the
liar denies? Who is a liar? What is it that
the liar denies? All liars are deniers. What is
it the liar denies? Well, he says, who is a liar?
Verse 22, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ. Now what does Christ mean? Probably
most people in the United States think that's his last name, Jesus
Christ. What does Christ mean? It is the Greek word for the
Old Testament word, the Messiah or the anointed. God's anointed,
Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the anointed. Now in the Old Testament,
and this is where this comes from, there were three offices
in the nation of Israel where an anointing took place, where
oil, and this is what was meant to anoint, oil would be smeared
upon the subject who was being anointed. The prophet would be
anointed, the priest would be anointed. and the king would
be anointed. Oil would be smeared upon them
as a way of acknowledging their place in this office. The prophet, the priest, and
the king, and no man in the Old Testament in Israel ever bore
all three offices. Didn't happen. David was king. David was a prophet. David was
no priest, and he couldn't offer up sacrifices. He had to wait
for the priest to do it for him. Samuel was a prophet. Samuel
was a priest, but Samuel was no king. As a matter of fact,
whenever a man attempted to take upon himself an office that he
wasn't anointed to by God, God killed him. You remember Uzziah,
the king? He thought, I'm going to offer
Incense, I'm going to usurp the office of a priest. I can come
into God's presence as a priest. What did God do? He smote him
with leprosy. Anytime somebody tried to take
on an office that didn't belong to them, God killed them. This is how serious this thing
is. Now, the only one who holds all
three offices is Jesus Christ. He is God's prophet. He is God's priest. And he is God's king. Now do you remember in Matthew
chapter 22, where the scripture says that the Pharisees sought
to entangle him in his words. I always think that's amusing.
These fellows thought they could entangle omniscience. He can't
be entangled in his words, but they give it a shot. And they
use three different issues. You can read about this in Matthew
chapter 22. First, they talk about government. Should we have
to pay taxes to Caesar? And the next issue was eschatology. Seven men had this one woman,
none of them had babies by her, on the resurrection, what it's
gonna be like, whose is she going to be? And the third issue was
the law. What is the greatest commandment
in the law? They tried to entangle the Lord
in his words, bringing up these three issues, Christian involvement
in government, what's gonna happen on the end times, and what about
the law? And Satan is using those things
even today to try to take men off the real issue. And he turned
it around after they asked him these three questions. And he
said, what think ye of Christ? That is the most important question
that we can deal with. What think ye of Christ? This is God's issue with you
and with me. What do you think? When God looks
in your heart, what are the thoughts he sees that you have regarding
the Christ? What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? And they answered,
the son of David. They knew that. He said, well,
if he's David's son, Why does David call him Lord? And he quotes
that passage of scripture where the Lord said unto my Lord, sit
down my right hand to thy foes, be made thy footstool. If you
learn the answer to that question, you'll learn the gospel. Now
what think ye of Christ? Remember he says, whoso denieth
the Christ, that's the liar and he's also antichrist. So let's
consider these three offices. the office of Christ as a prophet,
the office of Christ as a priest, and the office of Christ as a
king. Only he holds all three offices. Now consider, first
of all, his office as a prophet. What is a prophet? A prophet
brings God's word to men. Here's a prophet. Thus saith
the Lord. This is God's word to men. The Lord Jesus Christ in the
scripture, I love this, he's called the word of God. When God makes known his mind,
here is the word that comes out, Jesus Christ. That is the whole
counsel. the mind of God. What's God like? If He describes Himself, what's
He like? What are the words that comes out of His mouth? This
is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased, hear ye Him. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. Hebrews 1.1 says, God who at
sundry times and in diverse manners, spake in times past to the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his
Son. Now all that God is, listen to
me carefully, all that God is, is expressed in the body of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Colossians chapter 2 verse 9
says, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead. Fullness of sovereignty, fullness
of justice, fullness of omnipotence, fullness of omniscience, fullness
of omnipresence. You say, well, how can Christ
be omnipresent when he's contained in a body? I don't know, but
he is. He's in heaven, and he's here right now. Somebody says,
explain that to me. I feel no need to. This is who
he is. There's all the fullness of the
Godhead dwells in him. You remember when he said to
his disciples in John chapter 14, you believe God? Believe also in me. Do you believe
God is eternal, that he never had a beginning? I didn't either,
because I'm God. Do you believe that God created
the universe? Well, it was me who said, let
there be light. Do you believe that God is omnipotent,
that he has all power? I have all power. Everything
you can say about God, you can say about me because I am God. He that has seen me has seen
the Father. Is God independent, having no
needs? Jesus Christ is independent. Is God immutable? Does he never
change? Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Is God just? He is that just
one. Is God love? Oh, the love of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is all that God is. When God brings his word to us,
this is the word. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. He's the word of God to man.
He is God's prophet. He is the word of God. Now, what
do you think about that? What do you think about that?
Let me tell you what I think about that. Amen. Amen. He is the Word of God. He is God's Word to men. We could not hear from God apart
from this man, Christ Jesus. God is a consuming fire apart
from Christ. Oh, I'm so thankful for the prophet,
the man, Christ Jesus. Not only is he the anointed prophet,
Remember when Moses said, a prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto
you, like unto me, him shall you hear. It's him. He's God's
prophet. But what about God's priest?
What is a priest? He's the anointed priest. A prophet
is someone who brings the word of God to men. A priest is one
who brings men to God. It's that simple. A priest is
one who brings men to God. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. I need him to bring me to the
Father. I can't get there on my own.
I can't, I'm not coming behind him. I'm not coming beside him.
I'm not coming pleading his name. The only way I can come to the
father is if I'm in him as my great high priest. And he brings
me to the father. And he said in John 17, nine,
I pray for them. I pray not for the world, But
for them, what you have given me, here's my question. How secure
were those people he prayed for? How secure? When he said, Father,
forgive them. They know not what they do. Was
there anybody that he prayed for that wasn't forgiven? When he said, Peter, I prayed
for you, but your faith failed not. Could Peter's faith have
possibly failed? You see a priest, God's anointed
priest is always successful. He always does what he intends
to do. If he prays for you, you must
be saved. You can't be anything but saved.
Turn with me for a moment to Hebrews chapter nine. Verse 12, neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood. He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Look in verse 24, for Christ
has not entered into the holy place made with hands, which
are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself now to
appear in the presence of God. And look those last two words
for us. Now that's the intercession of
the Great High Priest. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25 says,
Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
them. He is 100% successful as God's
Great High Priest. And to deny that in any way is
to deny the king. It's to deny his priesthood. You know, if you believe, for
instance, if you believe that Jesus Christ shed his blood for
everybody, every man to ever live, and some of those people
that he shed his blood for seeking to be a priest, for them end
up in hell because they didn't do what they needed to do in
order to make what he did work for them, you've denied his priesthood. You've denied Him as the Christ.
That's what you've done. This is a serious thing. You've
denied Him as the Christ. Somebody says, why don't deny
that Jesus is the Christ? Do you deny that His work as
a priest, offering His blood before the Father could possibly
be unsuccessful? If you do that, you deny that
He's the Christ. That's how this works. He's God's prophet. He's God's priest, and he's always
successful. Oh, if he represents you like
he did Peter, I love it when he said to Peter, Peter, I prayed
for you. And oh, how I love to think of
him saying, Todd, I prayed for you. I prayed for you. He's prayed for every one of
his people just like he did Peter, and they must be saved. He's God's prophet, he's the
word of God, he's God's priest, and he is God's anointed king. You remember when David entered
the room after his brothers had been refused to say, surely this
is the Lord's anointed, but it wasn't. Finally, you got any
boys left? Well, there's one out watching
the sheep, but I know it's not him. Bring him in. He comes in. Samuel says, Arise and anoint
him, for this is he. Christ is God's anointed King. To the Son he saith, God the
Father saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever. Yet have I set my
king on my holy hill of Zion. Now this king, this anointed
king we're talking about, I love thinking about this. He's not
an elected official who we can impeach. He's the king. You know what
that means? That means his will is always
done. That's what a king does. He reigns. He rules. He's in absolute control. You are in this king's hand right
now, and your eternal destiny is totally up to him. What do you think of God's Christ?
What do you think of his kingship? The fact that He rules and reigns
absolutely and He's in control of everything. His kingship is
speaking of His absolute lordship and sovereignty. He's the Lord
of creation. He created the universe. It was
Him that did this. He controls everything in providence.
Everything that happens, He's the first cause behind. I don't
care what it is. You say, are you making Him the author of
evil? I'm saying evil is under his thumb and there wouldn't
be any without him and he's in control of it. And he allowed
it to be for his own holy and sovereign purposes and he's king
over evil and he can make good come out of evil. He's the only
one who does that but he is Lord of all. That's what Peter said
to Cornelius when he came unto him, Jesus Christ is Lord of
all. That is kingship most especially. He's Lord of salvation. The Son
quickens whom He will. Your salvation, your eternal
destiny is in His hands. Now what think ye of the Christ?
What do you think of Him as a prophet? What do you think of Him as a
priest? What do you think of His kingship? I know this, I need him to bring
me the word of God. I need him to represent me as
my priest. I can't come into God's presence.
And I need him to rule and reign over me and cause me to do his
will. I need him to cause me to believe.
I need him to cause me to repent. I need him to cause me to persevere
all the way to the end. I need for him to cause me to
love him and to love you. I need him as my king. Now turn with me to Daniel, the
book of Daniel chapter nine. Daniel chapter nine. Daniel in
this passage of scripture gives us six marks whereby we can identify
God's Christ, God's Messiah. We're going to look at verse
24, but first let's look in verses 25 and 26 and we'll know this
is talking about the Messiah, God's Christ. Know therefore
and understand that from the going forth of the commandment
to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall
be seven weeks and three score in two weeks, the streets shall
be built again and the wall even in troubleous times." Now, I've
got to make this comment. This is where those who hold
the pre-millennial position talk about how there's going to be
a temple built again and there's going to be the wall built up
and there's going to be all kinds of Old Testament things happening
again. It never says that. This is all
speaking typically. And to hold that position is
very fleshly. As a matter of fact, the scripture
says there is no temple because the Lamb is the temple thereof.
That's in Revelation 21. So this is not talking about
coming and building this kingdom for this millennium. And then
after that, Christ is going to return. Let's go on reading.
Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of
the commandment to restore to build Jerusalem under the Messiah
the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks
the street shall be built again, and the wall even in troubleous
time, and after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah, and
that word Messiah is anointed, same thing, the Messiah, the
Christ, shall be cut off, but not for himself. Speaking of
the death of Christ, and the people of the Prince that shall
come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof
shall be with a flood, and to the end of the war, desolations
are determined. So we see this is talking about
Christ. Now look back up to verse 24. 70 weeks are determined upon
thy people and upon the holy city. Now, when Daniel says this,
70 weeks is 490 years. That's what that means. 490 years,
77s, 77 year periods. Now when Daniel wrote this, it
was about 490 years before the death of Christ. And when the
Magi, the wise men from the East, they were the wise men who'd
been studying the book of Daniel, they came at this time because
they'd been reading and they knew this is the time the Messiah
would come. And they came asking, where is
he that's born King of the Jews, the Messiah? That's what they're
looking for. So here we have this 490 years, and here's what's
gonna take place when Messiah comes. Six things. He's going to finish the transgression,
to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity,
to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy,
and to anoint the most holy. Now here are the marks of the
true Messiah. And anyone that is not just like
this is a false Messiah, an antichrist, someone who masquerades and tries
to come in the place of Christ. Now what about the Messiah? Well,
first notice we have these three words in this text, transgressions,
sins, and iniquity. You know anything about that?
Transgressions, sins, and iniquity. Those three words are repeated
over and over together throughout the scriptures. Transgressions,
sins, and iniquity. And the Messiah is going to come
to do something about transgressions and sins and iniquities. And that's precisely what I need
done for me. I need something done with regard
to my transgressions my sins and my iniquities. Now, first it says he will finish
transgressions. When he said it is finished,
transgressions were finished. And then it says he will make
an end of sins. First John 3, 5 says he was manifested
to take away our sins, and that's exactly what he did. He took
away our sins, and in him is no sin. The end. The end. End of story. He's made an end
of sins. They are no more. Now a Messiah that doesn't make
an end of sins, He's no Messiah at all, is he? And thirdly, it
says in verse 24, that he shall make reconciliation. And that word reconciliation
is the word that generally translated atonement. He shall make atonement. He shall make reconciliation. He shall cancel out. He shall
blot out. He shall make not to be iniquity. He shall atone for iniquity.
His atonement works. His atonement atones. His redemption
redeems. The Messiah is someone who actually
makes reconciliation, who actually atones for sin. Now let me repeat.
If your Messiah can die for your sins and you can wind up in hell
anyway, He's a false Messiah. He's not real. He's not true.
Someone that preaches a universal redemption like that does not
know God and does not preach the gospel. And I make no apology
for saying that. The true Messiah shall make reconciliation,
shall actually atone for sin so that it is no more. And look what it says next, this
fourth mark of the true Messiah. He's going to bring in everlasting
righteousness, a righteousness that never had a beginning, and
a righteousness that'll never have an end. And that is the
righteousness every believer is clothed with, an everlasting
righteousness, one that knows no beginning, and one that knows
no end, because it's the righteousness of God. It's the righteousness
that Christ worked out on Calvary's tree. For He hath made Him to
be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Isn't it any wonder Paul said,
Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having my
own righteousness, which isn't the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ. The righteousness which is of
God by faith. The true Messiah. will bring
in everlasting righteousness. And look next, he's going to
seal up the vision and prophecy. What that means is he's going
to fulfill the scriptures. All scripture he must and will
fulfill. The true Messiah, every Old Testament
type, he's gonna fulfill. Every sacrifice, every feast
day, every holy day, he's gonna fulfill. Now, does your Messiah
fulfill all the Old Testament prophecy and vision of Scripture?
Was he born of a virgin? Is he the one who's called the
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace? Is he the
one that put away sin by the sacrifice of himself? He's going
to fulfill all the Old Testament Scriptures, and next it says
he's going to anoint the Most Holy. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, for he hath anointed me, Christ said, to preach the gospel
to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives, and the recovering of sight to the blind. He hath
anointed me. And you know what? Because he
is holy, every believer is holy. As he is, so are we in this world. And we have this anointing that
he spoke of. You have an unction, an anointing, and you need not
that any man teach you. Now those are the six marks of
the true Messiah. And any denier of these six marks
is a denying of the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now let's
go back to our text in 1 John 2. Let me wrap this up. I love John's language. You know,
he doesn't leave Anything for imagination. He just puts it
out there, doesn't he? Who is a liar, but he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ. He's an antichrist that denieth
the father and the son. You see, if you deny the son,
you deny the father too. Verse 23, whosoever denieth the
son, the same hath not the father, but He that acknowledgeth or
confesseth the Son hath the Father also. Now when I confess the
Son, I speak the same thing the Father speaks of Him. I believe
the same thing the Father believes of Him. And this is the confession
of every single believer. Every one of them. You know,
there's different confessions of faith, but they're not really
confessions of faith, are they? If they're different. That's
why I have almost, not almost, a real disdain for confessions
of faith. We've got the Bible. Why would
we want some kind of confession or document written by men? We've
got God's word to confess who he is. Now, I confess. That means I'm speaking the same
thing God does and what all of God's people do. I'm publicly
acknowledging this. I'm professing to be guilty to
this. I'm saying this I'm praising
God for I'm thankful for. I'm saying this is I promise
this is the only hope I have that Jesus is the Christ. I confess that He is the Word
of God. I confess that He is the Priest
who is always successful. If He prays for me, I'm saved. If He represents me, I'm saved. I confess He's God's Priest.
I confess He's God's King, ruling and reigning, controlling everything. I confess He's the Creator. I
confess He's the Sovereign of all of Providence, controlling
everything. I confess that He's the Savior. I confess that He
finished transgressions. I confess He made an end of sins. Notice in this confession, I'm
not saying anything about me. It's all about Him, regarding
Him. I confess He made reconciliation. He accomplished complete atonement. I confess He brought in everlasting
righteousness, and that's the righteousness that every believer
possesses. I confess that He is the Scriptures. He fulfilled
everything in the Scriptures. I confess He's all in the Scriptures.
And I confess He anointed the most holy. And He made a way
for a holy God to accept somebody like me. I confess that. Now,
look in 1 John chapter 4, verse 15. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in
God. Do you confess that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God? There's only one reason. God
dwells in you. If you make that confession from
your heart, and you will confess it publicly, He's the Son of
God. If you do that, God dwells in
you, and you dwell in God. May we be delivered from denial. that Jesus is the Christ, but
glory and confess and be happy that Jesus is the Christ, the
son of the living God. Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you. How we
praise you. that Jesus is the Christ, your prophet that brings us your
word, he is the word, your priest that brings us to yourself, your
king to rule and reign over us, and how we thank you that he
finished transgression He made an end of sins. He made reconciliation
for iniquity. He brought in everlasting righteousness. He fulfilled all your holy word
and he anointed the most holy. And Lord, what do we think of
Christ? We think he is altogether lovely and our only desire is
to be found in Him. Lord, truly, truly, He is all
that thrills our soul. In His blessed name we pray.
Amen.