What Does It Mean to Confess Christ?

the gospel, the blessings of
our Lord, the fellowship with his dear people, the music, the
leadership God's given us. I don't know many pastors in
this United States who really look forward to meeting with
their deacons and elders. But this pastor does, does. I
love these men. They are God's jewels. I'm so thankful for them. What
a discussion we had tonight back there. Like Dale Simpson said, maybe
God will give me 30 more years around here. You hope not, but
maybe I will. But what a delight. how these
scriptures mean more to you when you experience them, how blessed
it is when brethren dwell together in unity. The way it ought to
be, shouldn't it? The way it will be if God's there.
It will be. All right, open your Bibles tonight
to Matthew 10. Matthew 10. Now I want you to listen to me
this evening. And I want you to listen carefully. My subject is, what is it to
confess Christ? What is it to confess Christ? And here's a most solemn charge
spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 10, 32. Matthew 10,
32. Now look at it. and look at it carefully. Matthew
10, 32, whosoever therefore, whosoever therefore, there's
no age there, there's no national distinction, there's no male
or female, that's that wide, wide word, whosoever, therefore,
shall confess me, me. There can be no doubt as to whom
and what we're to confess. He says it's me. Whosoever therefore
shall confess me before men, and there's no doubt as to where
we're to confess him. Whom, what, and where. Whosoever,
and who's to confess him. Whosoever therefore shall confess
me And what I'm going to talk about tonight is what it means
to confess me. That's not the existence of God
alone that we're confessing. James said the devil believes
there's one God and trembles. It's not to confess religion.
It's not to boast that I'm a Baptist or a Catholic or a Jew or a Protestant. It's not to confess the law and
my admiration for it. Now listen to me. It's not to
confess that I believe the Bible is the word of God. Or even to
confess that I'm a sinner. Most everybody knows that to
some degree. Christ said, if any, if whosoever therefore shall
confess me, me. Brother Bill Sasser preached
here last Wednesday night. He made a tremendous statement. He said the word God, the word
God can mean to a person whatever he wants it to mean. He used
the word God and it can mean whatever Saddam Hussein wants
it to mean. God's on his side. Well, his
concept of God is on his side. Someone else can say God is on
our side. Someone else can say God this,
God that, and God the other. Everybody talks about God, and
the word God can mean whatever you want it to mean. But when
a person acknowledges, when he comes to know who Christ is,
who Jesus Christ is, and why he came to this earth, and what
he did, on this earth, and where he is now, and who Christ is. When a person comes to acknowledge
who Christ is, and believes Christ, and loves Christ, and confesses
Christ, he rules out all other ideas, thoughts, and concepts
of any God except Jehovah. Isn't that right Bob? That's
it. The key is Christ. Without Christ, God can mean
whatever you want it to mean. But in Christ, God can only mean
one thing, Jehovah, God, my Savior, a just God and a Savior. That's
right, because no man knows the Father but the Son, and He to
whom the Son will reveal Him. So without a knowledge of God,
God can mean anything. But when you see Christ, when
Philip said, show us the Father, show us God. He said, he that
has seen me has seen the Father, therefore saying that a man who
has not seen me has not seen the Father. Isn't that right?
Jehovah reveals himself in Christ. Our Lord uses in the book of
John seven great I am's. And back yonder when Moses came
to the burning bush, and God spoke to him from the
bush that burned and was not consumed, And he told Moses he
would go into Egypt and deliver Israel. And Moses said, well,
when I go to them, they're going to ask me, who sent me? And what
shall I say? And our God said, you tell them,
I am that I am that sent thee. I am. Not I was or I will be. I am. The eternal, omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent God. I am. And when the Lord Jesus
Christ came to this earth, he said, I am the bread of life,
the bread from heaven. I am. He said, I am the light
of the world and the only light. John said, I'm not that light.
I'm sent to bear witness of that light. I am the light. He said again, I am the door.
By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and go in and
out, and find pasture." He said, I am the good shepherd. The Father
hath made me the chief shepherd, the good shepherd, the great
shepherd, and the shepherd of the sheep, and the shepherd of
the everlasting covenant. And my sheep, my Father gave
them me. My Father is greater than all,
and my Father gave me these sheep, and I must bring them, and they
shall be one shepherd and one foal, and I'm that shepherd.
And he said, I am the resurrection and the life. Martha said to
him, I believe my brother will rise again. He said, Martha,
I am the resurrection. There is no resurrection apart
from me. You don't even have any idea about a resurrection
apart from me. I am the life. I am the life.
I am. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man comes to
the Father but by me. I am the truth. So what he's saying here, whosoever
therefore shall confess me, I am. I am. And he said if you believe
not that I am, you die in your sins. It doesn't matter what
else you believe or whomever you believe, but if you don't
believe that I am, I am what I said, I am he, you die in your
sins. I can't overemphasize what I'm
saying here at this particular time. There can be no doubt as
to whom we're confessed. To confess, verse 32, look at
it again. Whosoever therefore shall confess
me, me, before me, him will I confess. Now what's this saying? Him will
I confess before my Father which is in heaven. These verses hold
out to us an unspeakable blessing, an unspeakable promise, indescribable. Whosoever, therefore, shall confess
me before me in him will I remember before my Father. This is what
the thief wanted. This is all he asked. Remember
me. And this is what Christ is saying.
I will remember him. Remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. Remember me. He said, I will.
He said, I'll own him. He said, Father, in that great
high priestly prayer, he said, Father, I will that those whom
you've given me be with me where I am. That they may be one as
we're one. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be one as we are. I will remember him. I'll own
him. I'll intercede for him. If any
man sin, we have an advocate. Whoever liveth to make intercession,
I will confess him. I will remember him. I will own
him. I will claim him. I will intercede
for him, and I'll never leave him. if you confess me before
me." Isn't that something? That's what makes what I'm trying
to deal with tonight so vital, so important for all of us, whosoever. There's not a name there, just
put yours there. There's not a nationality, there's
not a denomination, there's just a whosoever. Therefore shall
confess me before me. Him, that person, that individual,
I, I am, will remember Him, own Him, love Him, pray for Him,
stand for Him, and never leave Him before my Father. Now here's
an awful, awful thing in the next verse though, this great
judgment. But, whosoever shall deny me,
before me. Him will I also deny before my
Father which is in heaven. What shall a man do in that day
when the only mediator, the only mediator between God and men
disowns him? I never knew you. I never knew you. When the only
advocate, when the only redeemer When the only one who has entrance
into the presence of God won't take him with him, what's the
man going to do? I never knew you, depart from me. So what
an awesome thing we are faced with here. Whosoever therefore shall confess
me before me, him will I confess. So what does it mean to confess
Christ? What is it to confess Christ?
Well, it wouldn't be possible for me to cover all the areas
in which a man confesses Christ, but I'll give you four. And I've
thought about this carefully, and I speak to myself, and I
speak of myself, and I speak to you and of you. First of all, to confess Christ,
you have four very simple things. To confess Christ, first of all,
is to confess him in my own heart. to confess him in my own heart.
Now let's turn to Romans 10, the scripture that Brother Dove
read a moment ago. Romans chapter 10. The first
thing I've got to do, by the Spirit of God's power and grace,
is have some understanding in my own heart. Like he read a
while ago, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall
be saved, but how are they going to call on him in whom they've
not believed? And how are they going to believe in him of whom
they've not heard? And how are they going to hear without a
preacher? And how are they going to preach except God gives them
the message and sends them? So here in Romans 10, look at
verse 1. Here's the preacher's desire.
Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel. He's talking there about his
people. Paul was a Jew and he's talking about the Jews that they
might be saved. I bear them record, all of them. They have a zeal
of God. They know there's a God. They
talk about God. Everybody talks about God, but
it's not according to knowledge. They don't have any understanding,
any real knowledge of God. They've never heard the gospel,
the truth of God. They've never heard of Christ.
They don't know Christ. And verse 3 says, being ignorant
of God's holiness, God's righteousness, God's salvation in Christ, they're
going about to establish their own righteousness. These Jews
were keeping holy days and Sabbath days and tithing and keeping
ceremonies and doing all these things to justify themselves
before God. To make themselves acceptable
to God. And they've not submitted themselves
to the true way of salvation, which is Christ. To the true
righteousness of God, which is Christ. For he says in verse
4, for Jesus Christ is the end, that is the goal. He's the objective,
He's the consummation, He's the summary of the law to all them
that believe. That's how we're saved, by believing
on Christ. Believe in Christ. God's holy,
man's a sinner. And how can this man be just
with God? He can't by his own efforts.
But if God sends down here another man, a man in our likeness, A
man is our representative, a God-man who can take upon himself the
responsibility of representing us before God. And he can do
for us what we can't do. He can keep the law. He can obey
the law. He can please the Father. And
he can bear our sins in judgment and justice and pay for our sins.
And he can do that for all of his people because of who he
is. The infinite God can provide an infinite sacrifice. Now that's
what, and if we ignore Him, then we have no righteousness. We
can't produce one. We can't keep or obey the law.
We can't please God. But Christ can. So if we believe
on Him, receive Him, He becomes unto us God's righteousness. Isn't that right? And that's
what he's saying here. So Christ, for me, is the finish. The summary, the goal, the object,
the consummation of the law. The law is satisfied. In Christ
I kept the law. In Christ I satisfied justice.
Now verse 5, Moses describes the righteousness which is of
the law. In other words, if you are going to try to be saved
by the law, then here you are. He gives it to you. Do it. The
man that doeth these things will live by it. In other words, if
you want to be saved by doing good, then don't Talk about it. Don't admire it. Don't brag on
it. Don't approve of the law. Don't
aspire to it. Do it. That's what Moses did. Do it. Be absolutely, infinitely,
unchangeably perfect. And God will receive you. But
that's beyond your hope. That's beyond your hope. But
the righteousness which is of faith, That is, through Christ
speaketh on this wise. Don't say in your heart, now
we've got to go up to heaven and bring Christ down. He's already
come. Or we've got to descend into the earth and bring Christ
up. No, He's already risen. In other words, what faith says,
it's done. The work is finished. Our Savior
has come. Our Savior has kept the law.
Our Savior has died. Our Savior has been buried. Our
Savior has risen as our justifier. Our Savior has ascended to heaven.
He that descended is the same that ascended. Here's what it says. The word
of faith, the word of salvation, the word of life is nigh thee. It's even in your mouth. A while
ago you were singing about it. You sang the gospel. My faith
looks up to thee, thy Lamb of God. It's in your mouth. Right
there in your mouth. It's in your heart. If you believe
on Christ, the word of faith which we preach, that is, thou
shalt confess. Confess. To whom? First of all to yourself. And
to God. In a private, personal way. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. One day our Lord preached and
a whole bunch of folks left, just walked off. And that left
the 12 disciples standing there, and he turned to them and said,
would you go away too? Ken, do you want to? Nobody's holding
you here. And one of the disciples said,
Lord, to whom shall we go? We believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's confessing
Christ. He said, I'm convinced in here.
I know in here. I know in here. Do you? To confess
Christ, first of all, is to confess Him in here. To settle this issue
in here. To come to some conclusions in
here. I believe it. I know my dad believed
it, but that's got nothing to do with me. I've got to believe
it. I know my mom believes it. I know my pastor believes it.
It's like Benjamin Franklin was going to hear George Whitefield
one time, and somebody stopped him and said, where are you going?
He said, I'm going to hear a preacher named Whitefield. He said, you
don't believe what he preaches. Franklin said, no I don't, but
he does, and I want to hear him. That won't help us though. It's
good to hear a man that believes it. But what he's saying here,
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe
in thine heart, God raised him from the dead. I should be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made to salvation. So here's my first
point. Confessing Christ doesn't start with your getting up and
coming down here. Not where it starts. Not here. Brother Mahan, I'm convinced,
and I'll tell you what Brother Mahan will speak to you, I know
beyond a shadow of a doubt this Word is the Word of God. I know
beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is immaculately, infinitely,
unchangeably holy. I know that I'm a fallen son
of Adam, a sinner by birth, by nature, by choice, by practice,
in everything about me from the sole of my feet to the top of
my head. It's of no use for me to put forth any pretense or
claims or superpiety or holier-than-thou. I am a sinner. And I have no
hope and no help at all in ever approaching a holy God or ever
standing in His presence unless somebody able and willing and
powerful undertakes for me and does for me what I can't do for
myself. And I'm persuaded that the one
and only person who has done that is Jesus Christ the Lord. And He's God Almighty. He's the
Son of God. He's the revelation of God. He's
the very express image of God. He's the brightness of God's
glory and God was in Christ justifying the world in Himself. And I believe
that right here, come hell or high water. Do you? Now don't
get any of this, that, and the other about it. Do you believe
that? Do you believe that? You're not going to doubt Him
and question Him. You're going to believe it. I
believe it. And that's where it starts right
there. That's where it starts. To confess what I don't believe
is hypocrisy. And to believe what I don't confess
is not to believe it. All right? To confess what I
don't believe is hypocrisy. God won't have it. Don't pop
off about what you believe if you don't believe it. That's
hypocrisy. But to believe what I'm not willing to confess is
to show that I really don't believe it. If I did believe it, I'd
stand for it. And I believe it. Your preacher may not be the
best preacher in the world, but he's the most confident one in
the world. That my message is the message. Somebody says, you don't make
room for anyone else. I make room for everybody who makes
room for Christ. And if a man doesn't have room
for Christ, I don't have room for him. That's what Paul said.
If anybody preaches any other gospel, let him be damned. This
is the gospel. Jesus Christ is God Almighty. He's our Savior and our only
Savior and Redeemer. I believe that. Oh, and secondly,
what is to confess Christ? Then it's to confess with my
mouth. Well, I believe in my heart. With a heart man believeth
unto righteousness. That's where it starts. And then
with the mouth. Well, how do I confess it with my mouth? I'm
not a preacher. I'm not a theologian. I'm not an elder. I'm not a teacher.
I'm not a public speaker. Then God has given you the way.
If you'll turn to Acts chapter 8, I'll show you. Acts chapter
8. You believe this gospel? I do. I do. And I believe you do. I believe some of you do. Well,
here was a man who was seeking the Lord. And here was a man
to whom God sent a preacher, one of his choice preachers,
Philip. And Philip took the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures,
and preached Christ to him about how he was wounded for our transgressions
and bruised for our iniquities. And as they were riding along
here in the chariot, Acts 8, verse 34, he talked about Isaiah
53 there, he was reading that, and the eunuch said to Philip,
Acts 8, verse 34. I pray thee, of whom speaketh
the prophet this? Of himself or some other man.
It was a man. He understood that. It was a man in Isaiah 53. And
Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and did
what I did a minute ago, preached unto him Jesus Christ. And as
they went on their way, see this man's heart was filled as he
revealed Christ. in the scriptures to him. This
is my Redeemer, this is my Savior, this is my hope. I find my hope
in Christ Jesus. He did all that God requires
and all that God demands and all that I need. And so they
came to water and the Ethiopian eunuch said, see here's water. What does hinder me to be baptized? Why does he want to be baptized?
He wants to be baptized because he wants to confess this Christ.
He wants to declare openly and outwardly what he believes inwardly.
That's the reason he wants to be baptized. Because baptism,
you see, shows the life of our Lord, the death of our Lord,
the burial of our Lord, and the resurrection of our Lord. He
died for our sins, he was buried and rose again. And also baptism,
as evidently Philip taught him, tells people, I am crucified
with Christ, I am buried with Christ, and I am risen, not the
same old man that was put in the water and in the grave, I
am risen a new man in Christ Jesus. My life, my love, I give
to thee, thy Lamb of God who died for me. I'm Christ, I belong
to him. Jesus is all the world to me,
my life, my joy, my all. That's what I'm saying. buried
and risen with Christ. That's what this man wanted to
do. He was seeking the Lord. God sent him the gospel. He believed
it. And he asked for baptism that
he might confess Christ. There was a lady called Lydia,
a merchant woman, a business woman in Philippi who heard Paul
preach. And he sat down and talked to
her about Christ, about who Christ is, what he did, why he did it,
where he is now. And she said, I want to be baptized.
There's a man called Cornelius. Peter came to him and told him
about the gospel one time. He didn't hear it for 40 years
like some of you heard it one time. And he confessed Christ. There was a man, a Philippian
jailer, that God brought down to realize his need, his sins,
and he heard it one time. And he said, I want to confess
that Christ. And he was baptized. And this is, the Lord has given
us this way and this opportunity to confess Christ. It says something. It's more than just going down
an aisle. It's more than just shaking a
preacher's hand. It's like the Lord's table. Now
everybody here who's a Christian, who's a believer, knows that
his body was broken for us and his blood was shed for us. But
there's something special, and this is the reason the Lord gave
it to us. There's something special about putting down here the unleavened
bread, which is a picture of his sinless life without leaven,
and the wine, which is a picture of his spotless blood and sinless
blood. And us actually breaking that
bread, this is my body broken for you. Eat it, receive it into
yourself, and we do that. And we take that wine, and it
said, this is my blood shed for you, and we take that wine and
drink it. And he said, when you do that,
you show, you show, you show my death and your confidence
in it till I come. And I'm not saying that baptism
is a prerequisite for salvation or even a necessity for salvation.
But I tell you this, it's the way people in the New Testament
confess Christ. That's just so. They do. They
confess Christ. Like coming to the Lord's table.
I announce it to you ahead of time. I tell you when we're going
to have it. Some of you come, some of you don't. But I come.
I wouldn't miss one. And I come because I want to
say before God, and I want to say again before this congregation,
and I want to say from my own heart, and I want to say before
my family. His body was broken for me. That's my only hope. And His blood was shed for me.
And I don't want any question about it, any doubt about it,
or anybody even suspecting anything about it. Christ is my Lord.
Take every opportunity to confess Him. And somebody said, well,
you believe baptism is necessary? It is absolutely essential for
anyone who doubts it. That's right. Isn't that right?
The Pharisees would not be baptized of John. They just wouldn't do
it. So any Pharisee to be saved had
to be baptized. Because that was his point of
rebellion. God will meet everybody at their point of rebellion.
He'll break you. He'll break you. You talk about
breaking a wild ass's coat, he'll break you if you're going to
be his. You're going to be a submissive child. You're not going to be,
I'll do it my way. No. Your way is no longer involved. It's His. Thy will be done. I'm
telling the truth, Tom. So if you want to confess Christ,
it starts right here. And it winds up right there.
I'm saying to the whole world, He's my Lord. And then thirdly,
Acts chapter 2. What is it to confess Christ?
To confess Christ is to be identified To be identified with those things
that are of Christ. To be identified, positively
identified, with those things that are of Christ. Those things
that are His, here where you live. Why where you live? What am I talking about? I'm
talking about His church. I'm talking about His church, and
His people, and His word, and His gospel. That's how I'm identified
with Christ. Where in Ashland is a people
who believe the Word of God, who really believe it I mean,
and who preach the character of God, the condition of sin,
the effectual work of Christ, the covenant of eternal grace,
who Christ is? Right here. Right here. I guarantee you can go anywhere
in this area and somebody asks you, You believe in election,
you'll say yes, the next question they'll ask you, do you go to
13th Street Baptist Church? I guarantee you. Isn't that right,
Terry? That's the next question they'll
ask you. Because this place is identified with the sovereign
grace of God. And if you're going to confess
that you believe it, you'll confess it right here. You'll be identified
with these people. That's so. That's so. There's
not any possibility. that a man can worship with and
fellowship with and walk with people who hate the God of the
Bible and at the same time confess him. Isn't that right? That's right. Look here in verse 41 of Acts
2. Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized. What did they do? They received
his word. What did they do? They were baptized. This is Pentecost.
And there were that same day added unto them about 3,000 souls.
And what did they do then? They continued steadfastly in
the Apostles' doctrine. Not in the Baptist doctrine,
Protestant doctrine, the Apostles' doctrine. Watch it. And fellowship with whom? The
people who continue in the Apostles' doctrine. And the breaking of
bread, that's the Lord's table, and in prayer. When the people
of God met, they were there. I didn't mean they never missed,
but I'm saying they were identified. They were identified with them. Some of our people got upset
with the former Attorney General, Ramsey Clark, who made that speech
on TV the other day. Sounded like he was on another
side, didn't he? Let's don't ever sound like we're
on another side. And further, verse 43, came upon
every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles,
and all that believed were together, and they had all things common.
And they sold their possessions and goods and parted them to
all men, as every man had need. They took care of one another.
They saw that everybody had something to eat and everybody had something
to wear. They had all things common. They had a common Lord,
a common God, a common faith, a common doctrine, a common salvation. They walked together in a common
faith. That's right. Every one of them. And they continued
daily with one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house
to house, and did eat their meat with gladness and singleness
of heart. Do you understand what I'm saying?
How can a man confess the Christ of the Bible? This is what I
asked a dear lady recently who wrote to me from another city,
who said she believed this gospel of God's grace, but she went
to a church where they didn't preach it. I simply asked her
the question. I said, I'd be interested to
know how you can do that. How can you support preaching
that's contrary to the word? How can you support a preacher
that hates God's sovereign grace? How can you support a preacher
that emphasizes man, who grieves the Holy Spirit? How can you
abide in that particular situation? You can't confess Christ and
do that. Confessing Christ is being identified
with Him. And being identified with Him
is being identified with the things here on this earth that
are of Him. Here it is. Here they are. It's this gospel. It's his gospel. And then fourthly, what is it
to confess Christ? Very simple, isn't it? To believe
it in him. It's to follow him in baptism. It's to identify with his people.
Cast your lot with his people. If you're walking with Christ,
I want to walk with you. I don't want to walk on the other
side of the street. I want to walk with you. I may
not like everything about you, because you won't like everything
about me, but you're just not liking one another, it's loving
Him. If you love Him, you've got to love me. If I love Him,
I've got to love you, because He's in you. Isn't that right? And then we have to put up with
each other's faults, and that ain't hard when you know how
many you've got. And then fourthly, we confess Christ in our walk.
And I walk, turn to James chapter 2. Here it is, here it is to
confess Christ, it's in our daily walk. In James chapter 2 verse
14, James says, Now, brother, my brethren, James 2.14, what
doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith?
He boasts of his faith in Christ. He boasts of his Christianity.
He boasts of his doctrine and belief. And he doesn't have works. He doesn't have works. He doesn't
have love and peace and joy and compassion and graciousness and
generosity. He doesn't have those things.
Can that kind of faith save him? Can a faith that doesn't produce
works, can that save? And if a brother or sister be
naked or destitute of food, and you say to him, or them, depart
in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding you don't give
them those things that are needful, what does it profit? He said
claiming a faith without works is like saying to a naked man,
be warmed. Your words ain't going to warm
him, and your words ain't going to save you. See what he said? I say I believe in Jesus, but
there's no grace and no faithfulness and no compassion and no righteousness
and no honesty and no integrity and no truth. Can those words
mean anything? No, they're empty words, just
like if a man's hungry and you say, well, be filled. That's
not going to fill him, but I tell you what will, give him something
to eat. That'll fill him. And that's what he's saying here.
Even so, verse 17, faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead.
lifeless. It's what you say. It's just
words. Yea, a man may say, well, you
have faith and I have works. Will you show me your faith without
your works? I'll show you my faith by my works. And that's
what we do. He said, let your light so shine
before men that they may see your good works and glorify your
Father which is in heaven. I'm simply saying that we confess
Christ by our conversation. You're around a bunch of people. If you have grace in your heart,
your conversation will be seasoned with grace. And they'll recognize
it. In your home, around your children
and loved ones, and they watch you and listen to you. And you'll
either show that you love Christ or you'll reveal you don't love
him. You'll reveal you don't love
him. Our works, our walk, our conversation, where we are, where
we are. And that person, that individual
may not be a believer, but he sees there's something different
about you. You are different. You're different in your attitude,
you're different in your conversation, you're different in your conduct.
They see a difference. And by our lives, we adorn the
doctrine of God our Savior. And we're confessing Christ.
So what is it to confess Christ? Well, first of all, primarily,
is to believe Him in you. Do you? Can you say tonight,
I believe? When that man asked for baptism,
Philip said, If you believe, you may be baptized. He said,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe that. That's confessing Him. And then
he went down in the waters of baptism. He said, I want to be baptized.
I want to confess what I believe. And my friends, you don't have
to know everything there is to know to confess Christ. You just have to know Him. I'm
not asking that you be able to give a theological paper on how God saves sinners,
but if you can just say, Christ died for my sins. He's my savior,
my lord, my hope. I trust him. Follow him in baptism. Confess him. Be identified with
his people. Love the gospel. Love to hear
it. Love to rejoice in it. Love to
be taught the Word of God. Then in our conduct, and in our
conversation, and you will. Like I said, if a man believes
something, he'll walk in it. That's just so. If he believes
something, it won't be an effort that he'll have to put forward.
It'll just be spontaneously, if he really believes it. If
you'd like to confess Christ, I can help you with three of
the things. I've preached this gospel to
you. Do you believe it? And I can baptize you. And I'll be happy
to. I'll be happy to. I'll be happy
to give you an opportunity to come in that water and confess
Christ. And then the third thing that
I can do, I can teach the word to you as you come here and I
lead you in worship. We'll worship the Lord together.
I'll stand up here and some of you men stand up here too and
we'll worship the Lord. We can do that for one another.
And then I believe if you believe this in your heart and you love
his word, out there yon yon. But you're really not alone because
he's with you and he'll give you the strength and he'll give
you the grace. You won't be alone. You won't fight the battle alone.
He'll be with you. He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you. I'll be with you always. Even to the end of the earth.
Bob, that's clear as I can make it. That's clear as I can make
it. That's all I can do. Now, do
you believe it? Starts right here. I do. I do. And if I could be baptized for
you, I would. But that won't help. You got,
if you believe it, Confession and baptism. Walk in the light
God gives you and he'll give you more light. And be identified
with his people. Don't let anything in this world
take you away from this assembly. Unless you can find another one
like it close by, that's fine. Oh, that's very fine. That's
more than fine. I'd be happy to strengthen other
assemblies. We have so much gifts here and
so much talent, ability. I'd share with another preacher
half this congregation if I could, to help him to worship the Lord. Wouldn't you? I'd be happy to
do that. But be where the gospel spreads. That's confessing Christ. And
I've never in my life been able to understand how anyone could
listen to the Lord maligned from a pulpit and sit there without
saying, wait a minute, you're talking about my Lord, and I
object. That's confessing Christ. Don't
say that. Adorn the gospel. All right,
Michael, you have a song for us to close with.

What Does It Mean to Confess Christ?

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What Does It Mean to Confess Christ?

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