We're looking at Luke chapter
12 one more time, and we'll have several messages from this chapter.
It has 59 verses, but no need to be in a hurry. No need to
be in a hurry. Luke chapter 12, I'm going to
bring a message, Lord willing, from verse 8, and my intention
is to finish with verse 12. I'm not sure that I'll get that
far, but we'll see what happens. Now, I'm entitling the message
from what is said in verse 8, what the Lord declares here in
verse 8, confessing Christ before man. Confessing Christ before
man. Also I say unto you, whosoever,
that's a big word, isn't it? Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever shall confess Me before
men, him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels
and before God Almighty." Confessing the Lord Jesus Christ. What does
that mean? What is involved in confessing
the Lord Jesus Christ? You read just a moment ago, from
Romans 10, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved. Now, confessing the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is what saving faith is
blessed to do. Confess the Lord Jesus Christ.
The faith of God's elect is never ashamed of God our Savior. The faith of God's elect is never
ashamed of the Christ of God, but always ready, willing, and
able to confess Him. And to own him, as the Apostle
Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. We sang
just a moment ago, and that chorus from that song comes from 2 Timothy
1.12, almost word for word. Let me read verse 2 to you. For
the which cause, Paul said, I suffer these things, nevertheless I
am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed,
and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have
committed unto Him. What has saving faith committed
unto Christ? Everything. Everything in salvation
is committed to Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. He saves us by
His grace. So, look at verse 8 and 9. I say unto you, Luke 12,
Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him shall the Son of Man
also confess before the angels of God. That is, if we own him,
he will own us. But he that denieth Me before
men, shall be denied before the angels of God." So we see here
the importance the Lord Jesus Christ puts upon confessing Him
as all of our salvation. Now, it is an issue in salvation
to confess the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not saved by confessing
Him. But saving faith does own Him
as all of our salvation. Now, what is involved in this
confessing Christ? Well, let me tell you what it's
not, first of all. This is not making a mere religious
profession before men. Now, everybody has some sort
of religious profession before men. I think there is a distinction
between profession of religion and confessing the Lord Jesus
Christ. In my 65 years and the last 35
years of being a public minister, I've never met a person that
did not have some flimsy hope or a fault refuge of lies to
hide in of some kind. Not one time. And I've met a
lot of people. In the 35 years that I've conducted
a public ministry, I've talked to a lot of people, and I've
never talked to one person that did not have some kind of hope,
even if his hope was the fact that he didn't have a hope. He
was hiding in some sort of refuge of lies. So this is not just
making a mere profession of religion. Most people have done that many
times and are doing that. This confession of the Lord Jesus
Christ is to take sides with Him against ourselves. This confession
of Christ is to line up with Him. It's to take sides with
Him. It's to be one with Him in that
covenant of grace. And it is to be found in Him. And it's to take a public stand
for Christ. As the Apostle Jude says, that
we are to contend for the faith that was once delivered unto
the saints. Now, you can't contend for the
faith if you don't confess the Lord Jesus Christ as all your
hope. Also, this confessing the Lord
Jesus Christ also confesses that all else but Christ is nothing
but religious tradition and religious Rubbish! That is, the believer's
hope is the Lord Jesus Christ only and always. Not in feelings. Well, I feel like I'm saved today.
Well, next week, tomorrow, I'll probably feel like I'm not. Aren't
you glad it's not based upon feelings, but rather the faith
that God gives us? This confessing the Lord Jesus
Christ is counting everything else lost, dung, and ruined that
we may win Christ and be found in Him. Now notice carefully
what it says in Luke 12 verse 8. Whosoever shall confess me. You see that? Now, this is not
just confession. This is just not a profession.
This is confessing the Christ of God. Whosoever shall confess
me before men. Now, this is confessing the Christ
of God. It's owning Him as the Christ
of the Bible owns Him as all in salvation. This confessing
Christ is to trust Him, is to commit all of our salvation to
Him, is to come to Him by faith continually, looking unto the
Lord Jesus Christ, looking to Him to provide all things for
us in salvation. As the Apostle Paul said, My
God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory
through the Lord Jesus Christ. The gift of faith is a permanent
gift. Did you know that? Every good
gift and every perfect gift is from God, and we know that faith
is a gift of God. The gift of faith is a gift of
God, is a permanent gift. It's a perpetual gift. A believer
never stops believing. A believer never stops confessing
the Lord Jesus Christ and looking to Him. It's a permanent gift,
this gift of faith. It's a perpetual gift, ongoing,
to whom coming, looking. It is a perfect gift. Everything
God gives is perfect, is it not? that never stops confessing,
coming, and looking to the Lord Jesus Christ as all of our hope.
Whosoever shall confess me before men." I love that word, whosoever. It's a big word, isn't it? It's
a wide word. I'm one of those whosoever, by
the grace of God, that does call upon Him for all of salvation. True faith, then, the faith of
God's elect, confesses. Now, I've jotted down these five
things. The true faith of God, the faith
of God, God's elect confesses and trusts the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, His person, His person,
who He is. Now, who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
Some say He's a prophet, just a prophet. Some say He was a
historical figure. Some say he was a teacher, a
healer. Whom do you say that the Lord Jesus Christ is? He's
the Christ of God. He's the Christ of God. So true
faith confesses his person, his person as God. Who is the Lord
Jesus Christ? Plainly as I can tell you, He
is God manifest in the flesh. He is called God, our Savior. So we trust Him in the deity
of His character. The deity of His character is
that He is the eternal God. He is the holy God. He is the
immutable God. He never changes in His character.
Saving faith confesses who He is. We own Him as our God and
as our Savior. you The Word in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,
and that Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and full of truth. The Apostle Paul put it this
way without controversy, True faith confesses His person,
who He is. We own Him as God our Savior,
the God-man mediator. They're just one, they're not
another, is there? There's one God and one mediator
between God and men, that is the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, true faith confesses
the Lord Jesus Christ as the God-man mediator who actually
came and accomplished our salvation. That's what Saving faith confesses
that the Lord Jesus Christ actually came and redeemed His people
from their sin with His own blood. Now, never think of the Lord
Jesus Christ coming to try to save His people. He didn't put
all men everywhere in a position that they might be saved. The
Lord Jesus Christ came and actually accomplished their salvation. He put away their sin by the
sacrifice of Himself. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all our sin. The faith of God's elect
confesses that the Lord Jesus Christ put away all the sin of
God's elect. None for whom He died, none for
whom He died can perish. There's no one in hell. Nor will
there ever be anyone in hell that eternally perishes for whom
the Lord Jesus Christ put away their sin. That cannot be. He appeared to put away sin by
the sacrifice of Himself. He laid down His life for His
sheep. In other words, we confess His
atonement was effectual to accomplish God's purpose in the completion
of our salvation. He obtained for us eternal redemption
with His own blood. That's what we confess, don't
we? His person, who He is. And his work, what he did, he
is our high priest who actually put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Thirdly, we also confess that
the Lord Jesus Christ is part of our salvation. Now you'd be upset if I said
that, didn't you? Admit it. The Lord Jesus Christ
is not part of our salvation. He's no part Savior. He's all
our salvation. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and in Christ we stand complete. He's
no part Savior, part-time Savior. He's no half Savior. True faith
confesses the Lord Jesus Christ as all of our salvation. Salvation
than a person. He that hath the Son hath life. It's looking to Christ. True
faith confesses the Lord Jesus Christ as our all and all. All. He said, I'm the way, I'm
the truth, I'm the life. No man come to the Father but
by and through me. We confess that. Neither is there
salvation in any other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He's everything
in our salvation. That's what true faith confesses. We confess Christ as all of our
salvation. Fourthly, we confess the Lord
Jesus Christ as all of our righteousness before God. Now, we read that
just a moment ago in Romans 10, remember? He said, "...for they,
being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God." You see, the believer confesses that
he's not trying to earn a righteousness or establish a righteousness
by what he does or what he does not do. True faith confesses
the Lord Jesus Christ as all of our righteousness that justifies
us before God. Now, did you get a hold of that?
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without
works. You mean God gives me a complete
justifying righteousness and I don't do one thing? That's what I'm saying. He freely
gives us all spiritual blessings because it pleases Him to do
so. Saving faith confesses the Lord Jesus Christ as all of our
righteousness. Now you know this scripture very
well, 2 Corinthians 5.21. Most of you could quote it. God
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be
made the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God, that's
the righteousness that's revealed in the gospel, Christ our righteousness,
the righteousness which is of God. That's the righteousness
we enjoy. Saving faith confesses Christ
as all our righteousness. Jeremiah said, He's the Lord,
our righteousness. Now, fifthly, we also confess,
this is what saving faith does, the faith of God's elect. We
also confess His absolute sovereign Lordship over us. That is, we
bow to His authority over us. We confess that He is Lord. He
is Lord in heaven and earth. Of Him and through Him and to
Him are all things. We bow to His absolute sovereignty
in creation, in providence, and in salvation. He is sovereign in creation,
sovereign in providence, sovereign in salvation. Is that right?
That's what the Word teaches. He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes, even so, father,
for so it seemed good in your sight. The Lord prayed in John
17, Father, You've given me power over all flesh, that I should
give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given to me. It's
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
who shows mercy. We confess that He is sovereign
in salvation and we bow to His Lordship. Here's a good confession
I like to read. Thomas said this when the Lord,
risen Lord, appeared before him, and Thomas said, My Lord and
my God. That's my confession. That's
my confession. That's my name too, Thomas. Thomas. And every believer confesses
that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's what
we confess. We own his Lordship. Now notice,
true confession of the Lord Jesus Christ is not private. He says,
whosoever shall confess me before men. Now that's what we're all
doing here today. We're confessing the Lord Jesus
Christ as all of our salvation. We confess Him before men. That
is, we own Him publicly. Now, let me ask you this. How
do we as believers confess the Lord Jesus Christ as all of our
hope before men? Well, let me give you this. The
scriptural way to confess Him before men publicly is by identifying
with Him in believer's baptism. Now, baptism is not salvation. Baptism is not essential to salvation. But baptism is essential to obedience
to the Lord's command. Whosoever believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Baptism is not salvation or regeneration. But it is the way that God has
ordained for us to confess Him publicly, and we see that all
the way through the book of Acts. In the book of Acts, we see Peter
and Paul and Stephen and others, Philip, preaching the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Preaching the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And when God blessed the Word
to those hearers, what did they do? They confessed the Lord Jesus
Christ that God had done saved them already. Paul didn't say,
now you be baptized and you'll be saved. No, he said be baptized
because you have been saved. Now, I want to take a little
bit of time and I want to look at this this morning. If you'll
turn to the book of Acts chapter 2. The book of Acts chapter 2. And we see this pattern set forth. There is the preaching of the
Gospel. You remember what we read just a moment ago? How then
shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how
shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? There has got to be the preaching
of the Gospel. The preaching of the Word of
the Lord. Now turn to Acts chapter 2. You know, this is Peter's
sermon at Pentecost. And he declared the lordship
of Christ. He declared the effectual atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter preached the gospel. He
said in verse 36 of Acts 2, Now therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom
you crucified, God hath made Him both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, what
did they hear? They heard the gospel. They were
pricked in their heart. That's conviction of sin. That's
repentance. It's a gift of God. And Peter
said, Peter and the rest of the apostles and the brethren. Now
when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and they
said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren,
what shall we do? as to do something to obtain
salvation, Peter said, you don't need to do anything, but repent,
that's the gift of God, and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ. Now that word for can be rightly
rendered because the remission of your sins, and you shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now look at verse 39, "...For
the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all
that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."
They heard the gospel, they were granted repentance, conviction
of sin, they confessed that they were sinners, God gave them faith,
and then they received the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and confessed
Him in believers' baptism. confessing that their sin had
been remitted by the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
let me give you another example. Turn to the book of Acts chapter
8. Philip was sent to one man, a
eunuch, from Ethiopia, and he was returning from Jerusalem,
and he was reading Isaiah, the prophet, Isaiah 53, Acts chapter
8, verse 32. Peter said in verse 31, How can I except some man guide
me? That is, do you understand what
you're reading? And he desired Philip that he would come up
and sit with him. And the place of the scripture
which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter, and like a lamb done before her shearer, so he opened
not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away. Who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered
Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet
this of himself or some other man, Philip opened his mouth
and began the same scripture and preached unto him the Lord
Jesus Christ. And as they went on their way,
they came to water, a certain water, and the eunuch said, See,
here is water. What doth hinder me from being
baptized?" Now notice the answer. Philip said, If you believe with
all your heart, you may. And he answered, I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That's what we confess. His deity,
the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot
to stand still. They went down both into the
water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized them. And they
were come up out of the water. The Spirit of the Lord caught
away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no more. But he went on his
way rejoicing. So what happened? God sent a
preacher. He preached the gospel, the eunuch
was granted repentance, granted faith, and he confessed the Lord
Jesus Christ in believer's baptism. Now, let me give you a third
example. In Acts chapter 10. Here we have Peter being sent
to a Gentile named Cornelius. In Acts chapter 10. Cornelius
declared, we are all here present before God, verse 33, to hear
all things that are commanded thee of God. There is the preaching
of the Word, the preaching of the Gospel. Peter opened his
mouth and said of the truth, I perceive that God is no respecter
of person, but in every nation that feareth Him and worketh
righteousness is accepted with Him. and the word which God sent
in the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, that He
is Lord of all." There's the preaching of the gospel. Now,
look at verse 44 in Acts 10. While Peter yet spake these words,
the Holy Ghost fell on them which heard the word. The Holy Ghost
wrought conviction, wrought repentance, wrought faith in their heart.
They of the circumcision, that is the Jews which believed, were
astonished, as many came with Peter, because that only Gentiles
would also pour out the gift of the Holy Spirit. The gift
of the Holy Spirit is faith and repentance. Conviction of sin. For they heard them speak with
tongues, and magnified God. Then answered Peter, Can any
man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which
have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded
them..." You see, baptism for a believer is not optional. "...he
commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,
Then prayed they, and he tarried with them certain days." Now
here's the third, the fourth example rather, turn to Acts
16. We confess Him with our mouth,
we confess Him in believers' baptism, and then we also confess
Him in our conduct. as believers living in this world.
Now, in Acts chapter 16, you're familiar with the story here.
Paul and Silas had been put in jail for preaching the gospel,
Acts 16, 25. And at midnight, Paul and Silas
prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard
them. Then suddenly there was a great
earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and
immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bands
were loosed, and the keeper of the prison Awaking out of sleep,
seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would
have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had fled.
But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for
we're all here. Then he called for a light, sprang
in, came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and
brought them out and said, Sirs, now here's what the jailer said,
what must I do to be saved? And Paul corrected him. Verse
31, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved
in thy house. So the gospel here again, the
gospel was preached. And they spake unto him the word
of the Lord, and to all them that were in his house. And he
took them the same hour of the night, washed their stripes,
and was baptized he and all his house straightway. And he brought
them into his house, set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing
in God with all his house. Now there's a pattern set forth.
The preaching of the gospel, the sending of God the Holy Spirit
in conviction and granting faith, and then there's a confessing
the Lord Jesus Christ, identification with Him by believer baptism. So there's confessing of Him
sincerely by faith, with the mouth, confessing the Lord Jesus
Christ in believer's baptism, and then confessing Him always
in our conduct and conversation before men. Now let me read you
this in Philippians chapter 1. I want to let your conversation
be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come
and see you or be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you
stand fast in one spirit, standing for the gospel, with one mind,
That is the mind of Christ, the glory of our God, striving together
for the faith of the gospel. That's what saving faith confesses. Now, turn back to Luke chapter
12, and we'll end with verse 9. I'll deal with this second
part of this about the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. We'll
look at that next time. But here's the flip side of Confessing
Christ, the flip side of that is to deny Him before men. You
see that? But he that denieth me before
men shall be denied before God and the angels of God. Now here's a horrible flip side,
is it not? Now, I want you to hold your
place there and find John chapter 12. I want you to see this, John
chapter 12. Saving faith never denies the
Lord. Not in His character. Not in
His person. Now in John chapter 12, look
at verse 41. These things said Isaiah, when
he saw His glory, he spake of Him. This is Isaiah 6. He confessed
Him. He confessed and owned Him. Now
look at John 12, 42. God, I want you to see this.
Nevertheless, among the chief rulers, also many believed on
Him, But because of the Pharisees, they did not confess Him, lest
they should be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the
praise of men more than the praise of God." They would not confess
Christ as all their hope of salvation. They were ashamed to do so. Now,
those who deny Him, Those who disown Him as the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lord will disown them in that last day of judgment. Those who live denying Him and
die in their sin denying Him will forever be separated from
the love of God which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember the
Lord said in Matthew 7, Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity,
I never knew you, You see, the Lord said, if you believe not
that I am, you'll die in your sin. If you believe not that
I am God, you'll die in your sin. And know this, if you die
in your sins, you'll be raised in your sins, you'll be judged
in your sin, and forever condemned in your sin. May God give us
grace in our heart to confess the Lord Jesus Christ as all
of our salvation. Let's read those two verses one
more time. Luke chapter 12 verse 8 and 9. Also I say unto you, whosoever
shall confess Me before men, Him shall the Son of Man also
confess." You're mine. You're one of mine. You're one
of the sheep for whom I died. Before the angels of God. Before
the angels of God. Hold your place there. Let me
just read this to you. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,
when he shall separate the sheep from the goats, the sheep on
his right hand and the goats on the left. But he that denieth
me before men shall be denied before my Father. I never knew
you." It's a serious matter, isn't it? I confess him now as
all my salvation and I pray that God will give you grace to confess
him as well.