like to turn there. 1 Timothy
chapter 6. Paul is declaring unto Timothy,
he calls him his son in the faith and he's declaring unto him what
a good confession is and that's what I want to look at tonight
is a good confession. So many people and me included
in false religion thought that I had the right answer. I thought
that I had the right words. I thought that I had a good confession
until the Lord showed me the truth. And I realized I did not
have a good confession. If our confession for salvation
hinges upon anything, and you can fill in that blank with anything,
when I say anything, on what we do or what we don't do, we
have not a good confession. But if our confession is Christ
Jesus is all, that's a good confession. That's a good confession. By
man's standard, most have a good confession, but what does God
say? That's what I wanna know tonight. I need to know I have
the confession he's pleased with. And Paul gives us two examples
of a good confession. That's what I've titled the message.
So let's read our text here in 1 Timothy 6 verse 11. But thou,
O man of God, flee these things and follow after righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight
of faith. lay hold on eternal life, whereinto
thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before
many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight
of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who
before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession. that thou
keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the
appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall show,
who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of
lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no
man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to
whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. What does it mean to have a good
confession? Now, here in verse 12, you have the word profession
and that word profession and that word confession is exactly
the same word. It's the word homologia. Homo
means one and the same. We're familiar with the term
homo means one or the same. Logia means to speak. So confession
and profession here in this text, homologia, simply means to speak
the same thing as God speaks. To speak the same thing as God
speaks. He tells us what that is in verse
13. I give thee charge in the sight of God who quickeneth all
things and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed,
witnessed a good confession, which means bore witness to. Christ Jesus bore witness to.
He had a good confession. He bore witness to his father.
He bore witness to the truth. This was the Lord's confession.
This must be our confession, the truth. Christ Jesus testified
what he knew to be true. And the only way we can speak
the same truth as he does is if we believe on him. And the
only way we can believe on him is if he gives us the faith to
do so. So the only way that we can speak the same thing that
he speaks is if we believe him. And the only way we can believe
him, if he does it now, if he doesn't reveal himself. As in
verse 16, who only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no
man can approach unto. So he's dwelling in a place we
can't approach unless he reveals himself. We have no hope of having
this confession. We have no hope of having his
truth. This is a work that the Lord must do in the heart. This
is all by grace. He must shine this light. He's saying he dwells in the
light. Well, where do we dwell then? There's a contrast here.
If he's in the light, we're obviously in darkness. If he is good, we're
obviously bad. If he's truth, we're obviously
false. This is the contrast between
man and God. And the only hope that we have
is if he reveals his truth and gives us this confession. He can't be discovered. He can't
be found out. No matter how much we seek, no
matter what we do, he must do the revealing. He can't be constrained
by us. He can't be restrained by us.
He must seek us out. He must call us by name. He must bring us to the knowledge
of this truth. This is not something that we
can educate ourselves to find out. The scripture says, ever
learning. Men are ever learning and never able to come to the
knowledge of what? The truth, not a truth. Oh, they
have many truths, don't they? Many facts. We were talking today,
me and Bobby, and there's something called El Nino that's apparently
brewing in the Pacific Ocean, and apparently they're saying
we're supposed to get a bunch of snow, and I don't know how they predict
all that, but that may be true, and that may not be true. And
being here for a year, I hope we're ready. You know, I pray
the Lord give us grace in that. But they're guessing, it's a
guesstimate. They don't know, they don't know.
And whatever it is, we bow to it as the sovereign purpose of
God. If we get five feet of snow, Lord, praise His name, you know,
we needed the snow. We trust Him in that. But they're
guessing, aren't they? It's not true. It's only true
when it comes to pass with God. He's infinitely true. And before
it comes to pass. He's true. It can't be changed
because of who he is. He is truth. Our only hope is
that he gives us that confession, that he is true and we are false.
If we don't see it as him seated, as him sovereign, we will go
about thinking we have the right confession and we will fool ourself
because our heart is deceitful. It's deceitful by nature. It's
deceitful by practice. It's deceitful by choice because
it is in darkness. Lord, give me your confession.
That's what it makes us cry out when we hear that, isn't it?
I've got to have your confession. How can God be seen by man? Only by revelation. Only by his
revelation. How can a man or a woman speak
that which is pleasing unto him? Only if he puts the words in
my mouth. Only if he gives me a new heart. David said he pulled
me out of the miry clay and he put my feet upon the solid rock.
Well, who is that solid rock? That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when he did that, it says he put a new song in my heart,
which is praise unto God. That's the confession. That's
his confession. Christ is all on Christ, the
solid rock. I stand all other ground is sinking sand. The only
way we can see that is if he has given us his confession. Seeing Christ is salvation. Seeing his truth is salvation. And if we see him, we will believe
him. If we see him, we will believe
him and we will confess. We don't confess to believe him.
And we don't believe him in order to see him. We see him because
he's made us believe. And therefore, we're going to
confess because we believe. You see, in religion, it's all
backwards, isn't it? You have to do something to make
it effectual. Make God effectual. No. No, he has to do something
in order for me to confess. I would never know who he was.
He's going to have to turn the light switch on, for lack of
a better term. Or I'm going to be in darkness. I'm going to be
left in darkness. He is the one that chooses to
do it or not to do it. In this hour, I want us to see
what a good confession is. I want us to look at the Lord's
confession before Pilate. So if you'd like to turn with
me to John chapter 18, since Paul's using this example to
Timothy, we're going to spend a great deal of our time here
and towards the end, we'll turn back to first Timothy, but Pilate asks Christ a profound
question after the Lord has been interrogated by the high priests
and he's been interrogated by the people that are there putting
him on trial and saying he's done this and he's lied about
this and he's done that. The Lord doesn't answer any of
them. Lord doesn't give a, typically
in a jury, you'll have the plaintiff and you'll have the defendant
and the defendant's given the opportunity, whether it's by witness or by
themselves to be put on the stand and to defend themselves. And
when his time came, didn't open his mouth. The Lord didn't say
anything. He didn't say, well they are wrong. They are accusing
me falsely. He didn't say that. Let's see
what he said here. Let me tell you the question
that Pilate asks him and we can look for that. The question is,
what is truth? That is the question that Pilate
asks our Lord. What is truth? Now let's read
this John 18 verse 33-38 says, Then Pilate entered into the
judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, Art
thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou
this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate
answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief
priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? Jesus
answered, and I love the Lord doesn't even acknowledge his
question. Look what he says right here. My kingdom is not of this
world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight? That I should not be delivered
to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore
said unto him, art thou a king then? Jesus answered, thou sayest
that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for
this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth. That was his purpose, bearing
witness to the truth. Everyone that is of the truth,
heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, what is
truth? And when he had said this, he
went out again unto the Jews and saith unto them, I find in
him no fault at all. I find in him no fault at all. What a profound question to ask
our Lord. It's the question that if revealed
is eternal life. Make no mistake about it. If
the Lord reveals it, now understand what I mean. If the Lord reveals
the answer to the question, what is truth? then you and I will
see it's not a what, it's a who. The Lord Jesus Christ is truth. He is the way, he is the truth,
and he is the life. It's not plural, it's all singular,
isn't it? And him being the truth and seeing
him is eternal life. Understand this and this makes
me shudder when I was studying and thinking about it. We know
this from previous times where the Lord will be speaking to
somebody and they can't see who he is, but pilots talking to
God face to face, just like I'm talking to you. Pilots in a position
of judgment, pilots in a position of authority. And as a matter
of fact, he tells Christ in the next chapter, we're not going
to get there tonight, but he says, do you not know I have
power to crucify you and I have power to set you free. Now the
Lord rebukes him for the first time and he says, you have no
power at all, lest it be given to my father. See, the Lord didn't
answer whenever he was being accused falsely, but he accused
the father. The Lord spoke up and said, no,
you have no power. It's all of my father. Pilate
is in a position of authority though, as far as man is concerned
and he is speaking to God and cannot see him. He doesn't know
him. Pilate could see that he was
innocent. could see he was innocent but he could not see that he
was God. He could see him as not being guilty of what they
were accusing him of but he could not see that the very ground
he was standing on was created by the man he was speaking to
right in front of him. Think about that. That's you and I
by nature. We can't see him. He passed,
how many times we read, he passed right through them. They couldn't
touch him. They couldn't, they wanted to throw him over the
cliff. They couldn't touch him. Why? His time had not come. They tried
to kill him. They took up stones. They wanted
to kill him. He passed right through them. They couldn't see,
he disappeared. It wasn't a magic trick. He just didn't, he didn't
reveal himself to them. He's God. He doth whatsoever
he will. This is God speaking to Pilate.
That's by nature. We think we're in a position
We're in a position of authority. By nature, we think we're in
a position of authority over the Lord, whether to accept or
reject or whether to do something with him or make something he's
done effectual for us. And it's not true, is it? Not
when he's given us the true confession. Christ Jesus is Lord. He's the
only one with absolute authority. He's the only one with any authority,
isn't he? We don't have any authority. That's the revelation of Christ. Pilate did not believe him and
we know why. The scripture says, because the carnal mind is enmity
against God. Now that word carnal is very
simply put, flesh. The flesh is enmity against God. That word enmity means opposed. The flesh opposes God, period. The flesh opposes God. In all
things, the flesh opposes God. This is why Pilate couldn't see
him. By birth, everyone is opposed to God. We don't arrive at enmity,
we're born at enmity. We don't come to an understanding
of God and then become enmity towards Him. We are born that
way. We are born that way. The Lord must do something or
we will remain that way all the days of our life. We will live
in enmity against Him. Aren't you glad He chose to do
something? He didn't just leave us in that
place of our flesh hates God. Our flesh wants to be God. Our
flesh wants to be the pilot and say, I have the power. No, no
pilot. You don't have any power. We don't have any power. We can
confess that, can't we? We believe that. I have no power.
I can't choose him. I would never come to him. He told me I wouldn't. I know
he's right. We believe that, don't we? It's because everyone
can only confess what they know to be true and only the Lord's
people are given the truth. You can only confess and I can
only confess what we have been convinced is the truth. Who did the convincing? If a
man does the convincing, then another man can talk us out of
it. I was talking to Joe here, Joe Terrell, the church we were
at last weekend and a few days ago, whatever. He was talking
about how he was in seminary and one man would say this and
another man would say that. And anyways, the Lord was able
to reveal the truth to him throughout all of that. But he would go
to one theological class and then another theological class
or different things like that. And what I gathered from it is
one would be saying this and he would begin to ask questions.
Well, that made the professor mad because the professor is
like, you don't have the right to question me, young man. And
he's like, but you're a teacher. That's your job. I'm supposed
to learn here. What am I saying? Well, if one man can talk you
into it, another man can talk you out of it. But if you're
learned of the Lord, if the Lord's the teacher, we're not looking
for the truth anywhere else, are we? We're not trying to find,
we're not lifting up rocks anymore trying to find, we have the truth. What is the truth? Christ is
all. Christ is all in salvation. Christ
is all in redemption. Christ is all in justification
and sanctification. Christ is all in keeping his
people. Christ is all. It's the only
way we can speak truth is because it's been revealed. It's not
what we know, it's who we know. You've heard me say that a bunch,
but understand everyone else refuses to see the truth. They
refuse to acknowledge the truth. This is something that's given.
This is something that's received by faith. The Lord gives faith
and we receive because he's given sight. He's given faith that
just looks to Christ, that believes him. Most can see that there's some
bad in their self, but the lie is is that there's something
we can do to fix it. That's not the truth. That's what we heard
came from Stephen Allen. I'd like to take the time to
thank you men for standing. I meant to say that earlier. You forgive
me, my mind was clouded, but appreciate you all so much and
what the Lord allowed you men to do and. But Cain was mentioned
on Sunday as well. And. He believed he was good
enough on his own and what he presented to the Lord. He knew
there was a problem. If he didn't believe there was
a problem, he would never have brought a sacrifice, would he? He acknowledged
his sin, but the problem was is he didn't acknowledge that
he couldn't fix it. That's what most do by nature. That's because
we're enmity. We're opposite of the Lord. We
think different. I've got to be good enough for him. I can
do this and I can, it's a, I can clean up my life. I can fill
in the blank. I'm picking on any particular
denomination, name it. I can do this ordinance. I can
abstain from this. I can do this or that. It's not
true, is it? The Lord is looking for one thing,
the blood. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
he's looking for the blood of the lamb, he's not looking at
me or you, thanks be to God, he's not looking to us. Because
if he is, we're hopeless, we're helpless. Cain completely disregarded the
truth. God wants the blood, he's looking for the blood. Now the
most interesting part is, is that when the Lord comes to him
and says, where is thy brother Abel? Cain says, I know not. Am I my brother's keeper? Did
he really believe he could lie to God? Did he really believe
he, yes. Do you and I by nature believe
we can lie to God? Yes. Yes, we do. Lord, you're gonna have to give
me the truth or I'm gonna lie myself all the way to hell. That's
what'll happen. Lord, you're gonna have to let
me know that it's not casting out demons in your name and doing
wonderful works in your name, but it's what Christ has done,
not what I've done. I'm gonna lie to myself and I'm
gonna lie to you, but I'm not lying to you. You know my heart,
that it's deceitful. I need a new heart. Cain lied
to God just like everyone does by nature until the Lord reveals
truth. He didn't reveal the truth to
Cain. Cain was not his sheep. He left Cain to himself. And
it's interesting because the scripture says Cain sought repentance
with tears and never found it. He never found repentance. What
does that mean? I thought repentance is whenever
you come to the Lord and you're sorrowful and you're crying and
you're remorseful. No. No, he never changed. God never
changed his mind. That's what repentance is. God
has to do the work and changing our mind. And when he gives us
the truth and when he changes our mind, we realize there is
nothing we can produce or do that God is pleased with. But
the Lord Jesus Christ did. He did it all. There's rest. There's our hope. There's our
confession, isn't it? Don't look not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, unto thee give glory and honor and praise. Cain refused to confess the truth. Proverbs 28 tells us, he that
covereth his sins shall not prosper, but who so confesseth and forsaketh
them shall have mercy. If we confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Does that mean I have to confess
them before he forgives them? No, I confess them because he's
forgiven them. It's cause and effect. If he
hadn't forgave him already, me doing something's not gonna change
it. No, we confess, we believe, we look to Christ because he's
put away the sin, because he successfully redeemed, because
he said live, believe, see. What rest there is in that? Men and women lie to themselves
and they lie to God. And we know why Christ said,
you won't come to me that you might have life. And he tells
us in John six, why you have not the love of the truth in
you. You have not the love of the truth, but the Lord's people.
We have the love of the truth, don't we? Just tell me the whole
truth. What is it they say when you put your hand on the Bible
in the court of law? You swear to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God.
Well, that's the charge of every gospel preacher. I can tell you
that. We better be telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth. Who is that? That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's what the Lord's people want to hear. Just give me him.
Don't lie to me. Don't make me feel good about
myself. Tell me the truth. The truth is Christ is all. Give
me the love for the truth. Christ told those Pharisees,
you can't hear my voice because you're not my sheep. He said,
before Abraham was, I am. They took up stones to stone
him. Told them the truth. They didn't want to hear it,
did they? But what does the Lord also say? My sheep hear my voice. No, we don't take up stones to
stone him, do we? We want to be planted on him
the solid rock No, we love him and his gospel. Those that are
his sheep have the truth, and therefore they have a good confession.
Christ is all. Christ is all. Psalm 32 5 says,
I acknowledge my sin. We read this earlier. I acknowledge
my sin. Mine iniquity have I not hid.
See, there's the problem. Cain was covering up the issue.
Cain was not really confessing he was as bad as he thought he
was. He thought there was something he could do, something, whatever,
fill in the blank. It doesn't matter. It's not true. See, that's the issue. We cannot
hide our sin from him. He knows the truth. And his people
have been made to know the truth. And you know what that truth
does to his people? It doesn't condemn them. The law no longer
condemns them, the law sets them free. The truth of the Lord sets
them free, why? Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. Christ is truth and grace to his people.
That's what sets us free, Christ and his righteousness. David
goes on to say, I said, I will confess my transgressions unto
the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. So there's
that cause and effect again. Because the Lord has forgiven
the iniquity of his sin, He acknowledged his sin, he acknowledged his
iniquity, he did not hide it, and he confessed his transgression.
There's the pattern. That's the confession. Because
of what he has done, we confess Christ is all. Christ is all. The confession is the result
of forgiveness, not the cause. I gotta say that, I wanna say
that like three or four times, but I'll just say it one more
time. The confession of the Lord's people is the result of forgiveness
and not the cause. It's because they've been forgiven.
That's why they confess Christ because not not so it'll happen. No, it's not that if we confess,
then he's obligated. No, no. Faith doesn't obligate
God. Faith looks to Christ. Faith doesn't obligate God. Faith
is the result of life. Faith is the result of life and
it looks to Christ. What glorious news it is to the
believer to hear that God is not waiting on me to do anything.
He's not relying on me to do anything. He's not looking at
me to do anything. He's not. I love this. He's not
trusting me to do anything. I'm trusting you to do your part.
Aren't there's rest and knowing that that's not true. He's not
trusting me to do anything. He trusted Christ. That's who
he trusted before you and I ever trusted him, the father trusted
his son and the son performed everything according to the will
of the father. He did the work on his own according to his will. This good confession is the gift
of God, it's speaking the truth that Christ is the truth, Christ
is our hope, Christ is all. Unless the truth is given, we
can't confess him. We can't confess him. Aren't
you glad when he asked the question? He already knows the answer.
He's drawing a confession. Cain lied to God because the
truth was not in him. Where's your brother? I know
not. What did he ask Ezekiel? Two opposite ends of the coin. It's daylight and darkness, isn't
it? It's a sheep and a goat. What did Ezekiel say? He said
to Ezekiel, can these bones live? He didn't say, he didn't say,
I don't know, did he? No, Lord thou knowest. See, that's what faith does.
Faith doesn't examine the circumstances. Faith doesn't compute the probabilities.
Faith says, Lord, you know, these bones are going to live. You're
going to have to do it. And I believe. that thou art the Christ, the
son of the living God. That's what Peter said. This is the confession,
isn't it? This is the good confession.
Lord, if those bones are going to live, if this dead corpse
is going to live, you're going to have to say, live. You're
going to have to do it all. You're going to have to do every
bit of it. Cain said, I know not. Ezekiel said, oh Lord, thou
knowest. Ezekiel said, you are God. You're
God. I'm not God. I have no power.
You have all the power. I have no ability in myself.
I can't make them live. But you can. I have no power. The opposite is Pilate saying,
I have power to crucify you and let you go. And Ezekiel says,
I have no power. I have no power at all. So what
did Christ say? You have no power except to be
given to my father? Ezekiel already said that. Lord, you know I have
no power to raise these bones. That's the confession, isn't
it? I have no power. I have no ability. I have no,
I'm dead. I have nothing to bring or present. Lord, you're going to have to
do it all. Lord's people love him having
all the authority, don't they? I don't have any authority. I
can't command anything. God commanded the wind. I love
that. He told the wind to stop and
it quit. You and I can't even will away a cold. I'd love to
if I get sick sometimes, but cold be gone. I'd love to do
that. I can't do that. God said, peace be still, the wind stopped.
The wind said, truth, Lord. And that's what he does for his
people. It's the same miracle. He says,
live, and his people live. The Lord speaks, he gives faith,
and he makes his people speak the truth that Christ is all.
Christ is all. Is that your confession? Christ
is all. If it is, you've been given a good confession. You've
been given the good confession. It's the acknowledgement by faith.
that Christ is all. Only God can cause us to acknowledge
God. I understand what I mean by that.
Everybody says that there's a God, but to see him high as Isaiah
saw him, that's the gift of grace. Isaiah said, I saw him high and
lifted up. I no longer am examining the people I'm around or examining
myself. I see that I am wretched, I am
vile, but I see him as high and lifted up. And I see His glory
fills the temple. He's got all the glory in this.
That's our confession, isn't it? Lord, you have all the glory. Well, Pilate, and this is very
interesting. Pilate says the right words,
but he didn't confess them because he asked them. He didn't say
it. He didn't confess it because it wasn't in his heart to confess
it, but he did ask He had the right words, he just had them
jumbled up a little bit. Let me show you what I mean. Look
in verse 33. Then Pilate entered into the
judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, Art
thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou
this thing of thyself? Or did others tell it to thee
of me? Now look at Pilate's answer here,
am I a Jew? What he meant was, is what difference
does it make? Just answer the question, what difference does
it make? Now the question is, art thou the King of the Jews? Now if you change those first
two words to thou art, and you take that exclamation, or take
that question mark off the end and put an exclamation, it would
read this way, thou art the King of the Jews. There's a difference
there, isn't it? It's just, he had the right words,
he just didn't have them in the right order. Seeing Christ as
King, Seeing Christ as King, and we read that already and
we're going to see it again in Timothy. But he said, the only potentate,
King of kings and Lord of lords. It's not that he's just Savior
Jesus, but he's the Lord Jesus Christ. See, there's the confession
of his people. That's what must be revealed
from the Father. You and I, when he sends his spirit, unless he
does that, you and I would never have that confession. The reason Pilate didn't declare
this or confess this is he didn't believe it. Our only hope is
having this confession and the only way we have it is if he
gives the faith to believe it and he gives the faith to confess
it. Truth is, brethren, that confessing
Christ Jesus as both Lord and Christ is the gift of grace,
and it is the only confession unto eternal life. What I mean
by that is, is if God gives you faith to believe the Lord Jesus
Christ, you and I will have this confession. Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father, and we believe that He is God
in every sense of the matter. and everything he purposed to
do in the salvation of his people, it was not an attempt. He came
to accomplish it, and he did. You and I can't, we can't even
say that we're guaranteed to get home tonight, can we? But
do you believe that if God purposed you to arrive home safely once
you leave here, that it'll happen? Truth, Lord. That's the confession. What about sickness? Can we will
away sickness? No. But what if I'm diagnosed with
an incurable disease? Do I believe that if God wants
that disease gone that he can command it to be gone? Do you
believe it's gone then? Truth, Lord. You can do that. All power. Lord, can these bones live? You know. Truth, Lord. If they're
going to live, it's going to be you. This is the confession
that God is sovereign over the inhabitants of the earth and
that everything he purposed was accomplished on the cross of
Calvary. Salvation was not an attempt,
salvation was accomplished. 100% for his people, and in time,
he reveals this truth, and he gives faith that believes him,
and that faith causes us to cry out, Christ is all, to the glory
of God the Father. Confessing Christ Jesus as both
Lord and Christ is the only confession into eternal life because it
is the gift of God to his elect sinners. He's the one that put
it there. It's not if we confess that, then we've obtained salvation. It's that we've obtained salvation.
Therefore, we confess that. It's backwards. I love that.
I love that. The only way we have it is if
he gives faith to believe it. Well, we started by asking the
question, what is a good confession? We must speak the same thing.
We must homologia, speak the same thing. That's what confession
means. The word confession and profession
was the same there. We must speak the same thing
as God. Well, what did God say? This
is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He didn't say,
this is you that I'm well pleased. He said, this is my beloved son
in whom I am well pleased. Is that your confession? Are
you well pleased with Christ? That's a good confession. He
said, when I see the blood, I will pass by you. Not your works,
not your righteousness, but the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is your plea, Lord, give me the
blood lest I die. That's a good confession. That's
a good confession. Matthew chapter one, he said,
call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin.
Do you believe that he saved his people from their sin? Is
that your only hope of everlasting life? Is that he put away your
sin? That's a good confession. That's a good confession. We've
been made to know we can't save ourself. We've been made to know
we can't put one sin away. And even if we could, it wouldn't
do any good. It wouldn't really, We're utterly sinful, aren't
we? We're utterly sinful. It's his choice, his doing all
by his grace. His people believe his truth.
That's what he says in verse 39. Look, look, before we turn
back to first Timothy here, verse 39 says. That is not what I wanted to
read, I'm so sorry. Well, what did he tell him? He
said that, he told him that only his people
hear his voice. He told him that only his people
receive the truth. Where is that located at? I can't
seem to find it. 37, Pilate therefore said
unto him, art thou a king? Then Jesus answered, thou sayest
that I am a king. To this end was I born and for
this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto
the truth. Unto the truth, everyone that is of the truth heareth
my voice. Everyone that is of the truth,
that's pretty simple, isn't it? Everyone that's of the truth.
But that means you're not your own, I'm not my own, we're of
him. We're of the truth, therefore
we hear the truth. See, it's not that we decided
to hear the truth, it's because we're of him, therefore we hear
the truth. Everyone that is of the truth
heareth it. God is the doer of it. And the Lord Jesus Christ
is revealed as the truth of God. He's revealed as the righteousness
of God. He's revealed as the wisdom of
God, the sanctification of his people, the justification of
his people. Christ is all. Is that your confession? Truth, Lord. That's my only hope
that Christ is all. Then you have a good confession.
In closing, turn back with me to first Timothy six. First Timothy 6 verse 13 says,
I give thee charge Timothy in the sight of God who quickeneth
all things and before Christ Jesus who before Pontius Pilate
bore witness to a good confession. That's what that witnessed means.
That thou keep this commandment without spot unrebukeable until
the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. which in his times he
shall show who is the blessed and only potentate King of kings
and Lord of lords who only I like that word only he alone. who only hath immortality dwelling
in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath
seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. He must reveal this in order
for us to have this confession. He must show this according to
his will. Salvation literally is being
caused to look to Christ as all as all believing Christ Jesus
both as Lord and Christ confessing. Confessing this not for faith,
but because of faith. Confessing this not to believe,
but because we believe. Confessing this not for righteousness,
but because righteousness. Confessing this not for justification,
but because of, he's all of these things, isn't he? Because of
our justification. Faith doesn't obligate God, faith
confesses Christ. Now most people have it backwards,
And I don't want to spend much time on this, but they say if
I confess, then he is faithful and just. No, he's faithful and
just, and therefore we confess. It's not that we're making him
faithful and just because of our confession. He was faithful
and just to forgive us our sin, therefore we confess. If he wasn't
faithful and just before, what good's it gonna do for us to
confess anything? He was faithful and just first, wasn't he? He's
the first cause of all things. If you find yourself confessing,
You find yourself believing that he is faithful and just, and
you're confessing your sins, it's because he did that. He
causes us to confess to him. We confess because. Men say, if I confess and believe
in my heart, I will be saved. No, we confess and believe in
the heart because we've been saved. God who has saved us and
called us, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. We confess and believe because
we already have been saved. Now, the last place I want to
turn is Romans chapter 10. I had us turning there contingent
upon time, and I believe we have the time, so I wanna show us
something. Verse eight through 10 says,
but what saith it, the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth.
Now how is the word gonna be nigh unto thee? The Word's a
person. The Word's a person. Remember
that. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Word. So how is he gonna
be nigh? Well, I can't get to him. Timothy just told me, Paul
just told Timothy that he is in the light and we're not in
the light. The only way I can get to him is if he comes to
me. He's gonna have to do it first. The Word is nigh thee,
even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is, what word? The Word of faith, which we preach. that if thou shalt confess 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. Now that word
confess that he says is saying the same thing. I would remind
us it's the word homologia. It's the saying the exact same
thing as God says. The word has been put in the
heart of his people. Therefore, therefore they confess. Therefore they say the same thing.
See, it's not that we decide to confess. It's that it's been
gifted to us. It's been bestowed upon us. And
therefore we confess him. Do you agree that we are fully
persuaded that everything necessary for salvation he accomplished?
Yes. Yeah, I agree with that. Every
single thing he required, I believe he accomplished. Everything he
required, everything necessary for salvation, he accomplished.
Not one thing left to do. See, our confession is the result
of his finished work. It's not to make the finished
work effectual. It's because it is effectual.
Therefore, we confess it. The last word he says here, and
I want to bring this to your attention, last two words in verse 10 is
unto salvation. That word unto is because of,
because of. So what he's saying here is,
for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the
mouth confession is made because of salvation. I love the wording
there. The Lord did that. But the translators
put unto, they could have used because, they could have used
unto, they could have used different things. And I've used that analogy
before about robbing a bank. If you have a wanted poster,
you could want somebody for robbery, for the need of robbing a bank.
you're interested in robbing a bank. So you say, I'm, I'm
putting a wanted poster in order to, uh, hire you to help me rob
a bank. And that's that word unto right
there. It's not a result. See, the confession is not to
cause salvation. It's the result of it's because
of salvation. It's because he said it is finished.
Therefore, what do we confess? It is finished. Christ is all
there's our confession. There's our confession. Do you
believe that Jesus is God and redeemed His people successfully? Because He is Lord, if you believe
that, you have a good confession. Not to make Him Lord. We don't
confess to make Him Lord, do we? No, we don't say, okay, He's
Lord and Savior, therefore I've made Him Lord and Savior. No.
No, if we confess that He's Lord and Savior, it's because He has
made us see Him as Him always being Lord and Savior. Romans 14 says, For it is written,
As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow and every tongue
shall confess to God, what do they confess? Jesus Christ is
Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. Now every knee's gonna bow and
every tongue's going to have the same confession. They're
going to have this good confession that we're talking about. Oh,
the infinite grace and mercy to bow right now in the heart
and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Everyone's going to
do it. One day, when time stops, everyone
is going to do it. But for the grace to, Lord, cause
me to have this confession right now. If I've never had it, if
I've never had this confession, Lord, make this the moment that
you give me this confession. Make this the moment where you
shut me up to Christ as all. Cause him to be my only confession to his people. To his people,
he is the good confession, isn't he? Can you say amen to that?