And now we come to a most solemn
time. It is a time for preaching. To the natural man, the preaching
of the cross is foolishness. To the believer, the preaching
of the cross is the power of God. The commission of the master
to his disciples before he ascended back to the Father was, Go ye
and preach. Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. The strength of the Church is
its message, and the hope of the people is that the preacher
will have a word from God. The prophet Amos said, Behold,
the days come, saith the that I will send a famine in the land,
not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the
word of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea
to sea and from the north even to the east. They shall run to
and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it."
The importance of preaching is far beyond my understanding.
Well, the scripture tells us that men are saved through the
preaching of the gospel. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. The gospel, Paul said,
is the power of God unto salvation. And then faith comes through
preaching. Faith cometh by hearing. How does faith come? By hearing.
And hearing by the Word of God. Spiritual growth comes by preaching. desire the sincere milk of the
word that you may grow thereby. Comfort comes through preaching.
In 1 Thessalonians 4, 18, Paul said, wherefore comfort one another
with these words. Our Lord said to the prophet,
comfort ye my people, comfort ye my people, speak comfortably
to Jerusalem. Assurance comes through the word
of God. For John the apostle wrote in
1 John 5, These things have I written unto you, that believe on the
name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal
life, and that you may believe on the name of his Son." Now,
there are many forms of preaching, but the preaching I'm talking
about here is true preaching. And true preaching and true hearing
is more than mere words. Paul said to the church at Thessalonica,
Our gospel came not to you in word only, but it came to you
in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. What is
true preaching? Well, let me give you five things
briefly, which I believe are characteristic of true preaching.
Now, this preaching is so important. Like I say to the world, it's
foolishness. But by preaching, men are saved,
faith cometh, spiritual growth is given, comfort and assurance.
True preaching, number one, is the declaration of God's Word.
Paul said, Timothy, preach the Word. That's your responsibility,
to preach the Word. Preach the Word. It's not preaching
what we think ought to be preached, but it's preaching the Word of
God. The Scriptures are given by inspiration of God, and the
Scriptures are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for rebuke,
for instruction in righteousness. It's the Scriptures. So first
of all, true preaching is a declaration of God's Word. Secondly, true
preaching is always born of experience. A man cannot tell what he does
not know. He cannot preach repentance who's
never repented. He cannot preach faith who's
never believed. He cannot preach Christ who's
never met Christ. Now he can talk about those subjects,
but he can't effectively, in true preaching, declare any of
those subjects. In 1 John 1 verse 3, three times
John said, that which was seen and heard declare we unto you. That which we've seen and heard
declare we unto you. So true preaching, thirdly, exalts
Christ. It always exalts Christ. We preach
Christ and Him crucified. Paul said we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord. Ourselves your servants, for
Jesus' sake. But true preaching, you can measure
true preaching, you can test true preaching, you can examine
preaching by this test. It's a declaration of God's Word.
It's the preaching of the word. And secondly, it's born of experience. I can listen to a man preach
and in a few moments tell you whether or not he's experienced
what he's talking about. Whether that message has gripped
his head or his heart, I can tell you. Whether it's gripped
his head or his heart. True preaching comes from experience.
It's born of experience and it always exalts Christ. Always,
like Brother Shank says, it used to be I, I, I, now it's he, he,
he. And then fourthly, true preaching
is sent of God. There's a lot of preaching that's
not sent of God. He said in Jeremiah, I sent them not, I sent them
not, I sent them not. He said these prophets are out
here proclaiming things, but I sent them not. They're out
here preaching, but I didn't send them. I didn't send them.
Our Lord told his disciples one day, he said, lift up your eyes
and look upon the fields. They're white already under harvest.
Somebody says, well, let's get the workers out there. That's
not what God said. He said, pray ye that the Lord
of the harvest, that he'll send forth laborers into the field.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
But how shall they call on him in whom they've not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach? What? Except they be sent. I
sent them not. I sent them not. I've heard a
lot of men. I've heard a lot of them and I hear a lot of them
today, of whom it can be said. I sent them not. The church might
have sent them. Their pastor might have sent
them. Their mothers may have sent them. The board may have
sent them. The schools may have sent them.
God didn't send them. And I'll guarantee you a man
whom God didn't send doesn't have God's message. He won't
even accidentally preach it. God sends them. That's right.
True preaching is sent of God. Sent of God. You cannot deny
that. True preaching sent of God. And
then fifthly, and this may shock you a little, but I guarantee
you, I guarantee this, true preaching will produce results. I guarantee
it. Now the results you may not like.
The results may not be success, but true preaching will always
produce results. Now listen to me. Let's go back
over those four marks before this one. True preaching is a
declaration of God's word. What did he say, Bob? My word
will not return unto me, boy. My word will not return. Now
a lot of preaching, a person can go hear it and be totally
indifferent and totally neutral, but not true preaching. It's
God's word. And I'll tell you this, I don't
know, I remember something Brother Thornberry, Brother Jeff told
me one time about his father. He said he was a good father,
but a very stern father. And he'd tell us to do something
one time. And if we didn't move and do
it, he'd look up over his glasses and clear his throat. And that
meant move or get it. That's the Word, the Word of
the Father. And I'll tell you this, when
the Word of the Father goes forth, it's going to get results. I
guarantee it. Preaching is a declaration of
God. Now, if it's a rehearsal of our little doctrines, and
a rehearsal of our pet creeds, and a rehearsal of our denominational
dogmas, and all of that sort of thing, we can be here and
go away, and we won't even remember we've been here, and God won't
even remember we've been here. But if it's God's Word, it won't
return, it'll produce results. And then you talk about this,
preaching is born of experience and exalts Christ and is sent
of God. Turn to 2 Corinthians for a moment,
2 Corinthians chapter 2. This is Paul talking here in
2 Corinthians chapter 2. And what I'm saying is this,
true preaching, if it's sent of God, if it's God's Word, it'll
always produce results. Now listen, in 2 Corinthians
2 verse 14, Now thanks be unto God, Paul said, which always
causes us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour,
that's not saviour, that's savour, that's fragrance, odour, smell,
of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a
sweet savour of Christ, a sweet odour of Christ. both in them
that are saved and in them that perish. To the one, to those
that perish, where the smell of death unto death, our preaching
adds to their condemnation, our preaching increases their condemnation,
our preaching reveals their condemnation, savor of death unto death. And
to the other, the savor, the sweet smell of life unto life. New life, new refreshing, new
reviving, new assurance, new confidence, new comfort, life
upon life. Who's sufficient for these things,
Paul said. Who's sufficient for these things.
So this is the burden of preaching. This is the awesome task and
responsibility of preaching. It's a declaration of God's Word.
It's born of an experience. experience. It exalts always
the Lord Jesus Christ, always, invariably, infallibly, got to
point to Christ. It's not preaching that doesn't
point to Christ. We preach Christ. God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of Christ. We preach not
ourselves, but Christ. I'm determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's true preaching.
and true preaching sent of God. God sends it. I don't know why
God sent the message to Ashland, Kentucky and not to New York
City, Washington, capital of the United States, London, someplace
like that. He sent it your way. God sent
the gospel. And it'll get results. It'll
produce results. There's nobody going to go away
from hearing what God says indifferent. He'll hold a man responsible.
And Barnard said one time that that caused me to do some thinking
years ago. He said, and you might give this
some thought, a man is not only responsible for what he heard,
but what he could have heard, what he could have heard. And some of this, a little grasp
or understanding of what I'm talking about here will bring
you to understand why I'm so strong about babies crying in
church and people getting up wandering around and folks doing
other things and writing notes and laughing. True preaching
is a solemn duty. It's a solemn duty. He that hath
ears to hear, let him hear. Take heed what you hear. Not
only how you hear, but what you hear. And I've got to, woe is
unto me if I preach not the gospel, but under God, woe is you if
you don't hear the gospel. And we're not here to chuckle
babies under the chin, and we're not here to prance up and down
and to do other things. We're here to hear from God,
if God's pleased to speak. And our preaching tonight is
from Luke 12. Luke chapter 12, and the title of this preaching
tonight, this sermon, is The Difference in Professing and
Confessing Christ. Now, if there is a difference,
if there is a difference, which I believe there is, it needs
to be looked into. If there is a difference, if
this is God's Word, if what I'm saying tonight is of God, it
ought not to have to be said again. It ought not to have to
be told to me again and again and again. Who said God owes
me one warning, let alone two? If Jeff's father, being a man,
can give him one word of instruction, expect him to obey, why shouldn't
the Lord God of heaven give me one instruction, expect me to
obey? Especially when it has to do with his glory, his son,
and faith in his son. That's the reason I'm a little
bit impatient with folks who keep putting off this thing of
confessing Christ, of laying hold on Christ. I don't know,
it just may be your day of grace is back around the other corner.
You've already passed it. Could be possible. Now let's
look at our text in Luke 12, verse 8. I say unto you, I say
unto you, Christ said, I say unto you, whosoever shall confess
me, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son
of Man also confess before the angels of God." Now what's commanded
here? Our Lord said, Whosoever shall
confess me, confess me before the world, before men. before
himself, his family, his friends, his business associates, the
world in general. Whosoever shall confess me."
Now there's a difference in professing Christ, which all of you do,
all of us do. And most of Ashland professes
Christ, that's right. There's a difference in professing
Christ. And I'm not talking about any
little Jesus, I'm talking about Jesus Christ. I'm talking about
the creative Christ, the creating Christ, I'm talking about the
incarnate Christ, I'm talking about the majestic sovereign
Christ, I'm talking about the ruling reigning Christ, I'm talking
about the interceding Christ, I'm talking about Christ the
prophet, priest, and king, all the record that God has given
concerning His Son, Jesus Christ. Now there's a difference in professing
Christ and confessing Christ. Now confessing Christ involves
professing Christ. But a man can profess Christ
and never really confess Christ. Yes, he can. He can profess it
and never confess it. Let me show you something. Professing
Christ is something anybody can do, and most people do. For example,
a son or a daughter may profess Christ, Jesus Christ, and his
doctrine as the religion of his father and his upbringing. Most
of us. I think Brian gave us an example
of that this morning. He professed Christ. He was raised, just like I was,
Jay was, you were, most of you, in a religious home. You were
raised in a very strict religious home, where it went to church,
and they believed the Bible, and they believed Jesus Christ
was born in Bethlehem, grew up, and died, and was buried and
rose again. If you ever known, Paul, a time
in your life when you didn't at least profess that, Not a
time. And most of us say the same thing.
We profess it. It's the way we were raised.
It's the way we were taught. If you'd have asked me when I
was the age of these little boys down here, do you believe Jesus
Christ lived on this earth? I said, yes, sir. Yes, sir. I
profess to believe that. I profess Christ. I'm not a heathen. I'm not a Muslim or a Buddhist
or anything like that. I profess Christ. I was raised
in the doctrines of Christ. I knew the fundamentals, the
blood, the book, the blessed hope. I professed it, alright? A man may profess Christ as opposed
to being an atheist. Do you believe in Jesus Christ?
Oh yeah, I'm not an atheist. You walk around the streets in
this town and say, do you believe in Jesus Christ? Everybody here
in this town say, well, yes, yes, I'm not agnostic, I'm not
a skeptic. I believe, I profess to believe
in Jesus Christ. I've never accepted Him, they'll
say that. I've never accepted Him as my
personal Savior. But I profess to believe. A man
may profess Christ as a means to obtain God's eternal favor.
People do that all the time. They come down the aisle, the
preacher says, now there's a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. And
if you'll confess Jesus, or profess Jesus Christ to be your Lord
and Savior, your personal Savior, come down here in front of the
church. And people come down and they make a profession of
faith, a profession of faith. And they say they're saved, they're
baptized, they join the church. And then a man may profess Christ
as a means of respectability. or morality. Now, I want to know
who would reply no to the question, do you believe in Jesus Christ?
Now, who's going to say no to that? Now, not many folks. I don't know of anybody I've
ever met. I've got some kinfolks who are never darken the door
of anybody's church, who know nothing about the gospel. And
if I were to walk up to any of them tonight and say, you believe
in Jesus Christ, they'd say, well, sure. Sure they believe
in Jesus Christ. They certainly wouldn't say no.
They profess to believe, and a man may profess Christ as a
creep, as a creep. For God so loved the world, he
gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. The scriptures are plain
to the intelligent that Jesus Christ, they may not believe
he is God, but they believe he came. They may not believe all
these things about him, but they know that he came. The history
book says that. The calendar tells you that.
So this professing of Christ, a man may profess Christ and
never confess Christ. For confessing Christ goes a
step further. It goes the step commanded. Turn
to Romans chapter 10. I want you to look at this verse.
The reason I ask you to turn over there is I want you to look
at this verse of Scripture. Now if you understand what I'm
saying, first of all, a man may profess Christ. He may profess
Christ and not be saved. Profess Christ. He professes
to believe the fundamentals. He professes to believe that
which is orthodox or scriptural or the things that God has been
pleased to show to all men. He professes. But now what's
this? Romans 10, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth,
Jesus to be Lord. Confess. Confess. Not profess that such a person
lives. Not profess that he's the only
hope of dying men. Not profess that he's the Son
of God. Not profess that you're theologically
sound. Not profess, but confess him. And isn't that what our text
said? Let's go back and look at it again. Let's look at this
thing now. Luke 12, verse 8. I say unto
you, whosoever shall confess me before men, I'll confess him. Verse 9 says, he that denieth
me, a man may profess Christ and deny Christ. For confessing
Christ means this right here. Now watch it. And Martin Luther
dealt with this. He said, now listen to this. Strongly, I profess Christ in
every area but that specific point where the glory of Christ
is being challenged at that time, I have not confessed Christ.
Isn't that what he said? I may, in other words, I may
go up and down this land and I profess the Bible to be, and
this is what a lot of these big time evangelists are doing. It's
not what they're saying. It's not what they're saying,
my friend. It's what they're not saying. In other words, there are a lot
of big-time evangelists who are preaching from that Bible, but
they're not preaching those issues which are at stake right now,
and those issues which are being, that are under attack in people's
hearts and minds and lives. They just don't deal with those
things. It's not what they're saying, it's what they're not
saying. Martin Luther says this, now here's what he's drawing
a picture, here's an army at war. And there's where the enemy's
attacking, right there, right over there. When over here there's
supplies being counted, counting how many guns we got, how many
shells we got, how much ammunition we got, that's important. And
over here, there's the flag being made and designed, you know,
to raise on the flagpole, and that's important. Over here,
they're training troops, you know, training young preachers
in the seminaries and colleges and all, getting them ready to
go out to battle. And I'm actively engaged in all these things,
except right over here, where the enemy's fighting. I stay
away from that. That's where you shed blood.
I'm not getting in there. That's where you can get hurt.
That's where you put your life on the line over there. Now all
this is, this is important, it's important to us to teach love,
it's important for us to teach giving, it's important for us
to talk about the second coming, it's important for us to talk
about, but over here where it says man is totally depraved
is where the enemy's hidden. Over here where it says the death
of Christ is effectual and sufficient to redeem, that's where the enemy's
attacking, that's where Satan's in. Over here where it says God
is sovereign, and God has a people, and God's going to redeem those
people, and God has not failed, that's where Satan's attacking.
That's where the battle is. It's right over there. And Luther
says you may be faithful in every area, but if you're not engaged
in battle where Satan is attacking, you're not confessing Christ. That's right now. And brother,
this is what it is to confess Christ. There are two sides.
You ask me which side I'll take? I am with Jesus Christ. Spurgeon said this, that this
verse of Scripture reads like this. I don't know where he got
his information, but he said verse 8 of Luke 12 says, I say
unto you, whosoever shall confess to be in and with me before me. in with me. I'm in with Christ. I'm in with Christ. That's what
he's saying. I don't just believe such a person
live, but I'm in cahoots with him. I'm one of them. I'm one of them. Those folks
over there that believe so-and-so, yeah, I'm one of them. That's
confessing Christ. Those folks are teaching that
Jesus Christ is sovereign. Yeah, I'm one of them. I'm one
up. That's confessing God. I'm in
with Christ. There are two sides, sir. You
ask me which one I take? I'm in with Jesus Christ. There
are two kingdoms, sir, the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of
God's dear Son. I'm in with Christ. There are
two righteousnesses, sir, that of men and human merit and that
of Jesus Christ. I'm in with Jesus Christ. That's
where I am. God Almighty has a flock and
a fold. I'm in with Him. There are two
yokes, sir, that of world and that of Christ. I'm in with Christ.
I'm His servant, I'm His soldier, I'm His son. There are two families,
sir, the family of flesh and the family of Jesus Christ. I'm
in with Jesus Christ. Birds of a feather flock together. There are two hopes, sir, the
hope of religion, works and deeds, and Christ who is our hope. And
I confess unto you, I'm in with Jesus Christ. I'm in with Christ. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and his righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, my holy lean on Jesus' name. His oath, His covenant,
His blood support me in the overwhelming flood. When all around my soul
gives way, He alone is my hope and stay. Now you can get along
with the religious world and profess Christ. You cannot get
along with the religious world and confess Christ. That's a
fact. And there's a difference. You
can profess Christ, but those who confess Christ are those
who are on the battle line where the enemy is attacking. And they're
not trying to appease the enemy, console the enemy, and comfort
the enemy. They're engaged in a warfare
with the enemy. I'm confessing Jesus Christ. I'm in with him. I'm in with
him. And what does a man do who confesses
Christ? Well, number one, he follows
Christ in baptism. Now, all the way through the
New Testament, it says again and again, they that received
his word were baptized. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself
was baptized. He said to John, suffer it to
be so to fulfill all righteousness. At Pentecost, those who believed
were commanded by Peter to repent and be baptized. Our Lord Jesus
Christ sent his disciples out to preach the gospel and says,
he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. When Lydia came
to learn the gospel, she was baptized. Cornelius learned the
gospel, he was baptized. When the Philippian jailer heard
the gospel, he was baptized. When the Ethiopian eunuch heard
the gospel, he was baptized. And I know men today have marred
this ordinance by reducing it to drops of water on heads of
infants. That's a disgrace. It's a disgrace. It's not scriptural, it's unscriptural.
But it consoles the enemy and it gives him some comfort. And
he goes back and picks up Roman Catholicism and puts approval
on it. It's a shame. Some are even wanting
to do away with baptism. And I say unto you that baptism
is mentioned ten times in the New Testament for every one time
we read about the new birth. That's a fact. at least 10 times. There's more talk about baptism
than the Lord's table. There's more talk, I'm not lessening
any of the command of God, all God has to say is one time, one
thing, one time. But I'm saying if you're going
to do away with baptism, my friend, you have cause to do away with
a lot of other things first. Baptism is a confession of faith
in Christ. Whosoever shall confess me before
me. Confess me before me and that's
the scriptural way of confessing Christ. Baptism. Now that's just
so. And you go through the book of
Acts. I challenge you to do that. Quit reading Dr. so-and-so's
book on sprinkling, Dr. so-and-so's book on anything
else and read the word of God. And see what example is set for
you and what commandments are set forth for you. They're baptized.
And secondly, Turn to 2 Corinthians 8, that man who confesses Christ
will follow his Lord in baptism, and then in 2 Corinthians 8 verse
5, that man will give himself to the Lord and to his church
himself. He'll give himself to the Lord
and to his church. I belong to Christ. I belong
to his church. Look at 2 Corinthians 8 verse
5, and this they did. Not as we hope, but first gave
their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God. Brethren, here I am. I'm in with
Christ. Will you take me as a brother?
Will you take me as a brother? Will you accept me as a brother?
Can I be a part of the fellowship of Christ? The church is not
a social club, the church is not a humanitarian society to
do good deeds around the town or to keep the picture shows
closed. The church is a family, a fellowship
of believers who worship Christ, who unite together in heart,
who forsake not the assembling of themselves together. And those
who belong to Christ belong to his church, his family, his people,
they're part of that family. They can't be happy without a
fellowship with believers. Then another thing this man will
do, the union with Christ will be seen in his whole life. Turn
to 2 Corinthians 5, back two pages, verse 17. Therefore, if
any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things have passed
away, behold, all things have become new. Now, he doesn't put
a sign in the window and says, I'm a Christian. He didn't put
a bumper sticker on his car. Don't be embarrassed because
you don't have one of those silly things on your car. If you got
one, scrape it off. That's not the way to confess
Christ. Don't change the name of your company to the Christian
Construction Company. That's ridiculous. That's not
the way you confess Christ. You don't confess Christ that
way. You don't confess Christ by wearing some kind of thing
up here. That's not confessing Christ. You know how you confess
Christ? You act like a believer in your family circle. That's
how you confess Christ. You act like a believer. You
act like a Christian. You conduct yourself. You talk.
You treat other people in the family circle like a Christian.
That's confessing Christ. And when you go down to the place
where you work, a man confesses Christ by putting his back behind
the wheel and doing a good day's job. That's confessing Christ.
And watching your language and your conduct and your attitude
toward other people working on the line with you, that's confessing
Christ. And when you buy money down at
the bank, you pay it on time, that's confessing Christ. And
when you do this other things involving business, when you
and a man got a business deal, you give your word, you keep
your word, that's confessing Christ. Huh? I'm telling the
truth. If somebody says they ain't preaching
that, it's the truth. That's confessing Christ. Don't
put a sign in your window. Don't do it. I don't wear a clergy
sign on the car I'm driving. Somebody kid me and say, you
got your name on it. Well, that's my name. You don't want to know
who I am. But confessing Christ is conducting
yourself in such a way that Christ is glorified. That's something. And I wouldn't give you a nickel
for all the bumper stickers and signs and and lapel pins, you
go on wearing them. But there's a whole lot of folks
wearing those that aren't confessing Christ. That aren't confessing
Christ. If you're a believer, it'll leak
out on you. And if you're a hypocrite, that'll leak out on you too.
And then the man who confesses Christ, his voice will be heard
in behalf of the glory of Christ. Turn to John 12. His voice will
be heard. His voice will be heard in behalf
of the glory of Christ. It says in John 12, 41, John
12, 41, these things said Isaiah, when he saw his glory, he spake
of him. When he saw the glory of Christ,
he couldn't be still. What the disciples say, I can't
help but speak those things I've seen and heard. That's confessing
Christ. In other words, I'm sitting around
a circle. and the glory and honor of my Lord is challenged. Now,
I'm not going to get in a fight with a fellow. I don't want to.
I've gotten in some before, but I want to try to restrain that
sort of thing. But I'm going to declare what I believe the
Scripture teaches for the glory of Christ. His voice will be
heard. Now, let me give you these points in closing. Why is a confession
of Christ commanded? Let's look back over here at
our text again. Our Lord said, Whosoever therefore shall confess
me, And we're not confessing our denominations or our church
or even our confessions of faith, we're confessing Him. Him before
me, Christ the substitute, Christ the sacrifice, Christ the surety,
Christ the only mediator, Christ the Savior, Christ our Lord and
King and prophet and priest, Christ who loved us and gave
himself for us, Christ who put away our sins, Christ who imputed
us a perfect righteousness, the sovereign Christ, the reigning
Christ, the eternal Christ, confess Him. He's my Lord. He's my Lord and Savior. Why
is it such a confession necessary? Let me give you five things here
that are so powerful. And this helped me, and I saw,
when preparing this message, I saw the difference in professing
and confessing Christ. I hope that I've shown you the
difference. I hope the Holy Spirit has. There is a difference. A
man can profess Christ who does not confess Christ. But it's
confessing Christ that saves. It's confessing Christ that redeems. All right, why? All right, take
this. First of all, the very character. The very character,
this is the heading of the whole thing. I'll give you some points
under this. The very character of Christianity requires that
we confess Christ. Now think with me a moment. The
very character of what we call Christianity, the very character
of redemption requires that I confess Christ. Why? Well, number one,
redemption is light. L-I-G-H-T. It's like Christ said,
I am the light of the world. He says, ye are the light of
the world. This is no secret society. I know the masons protect
their secrets. That's a secret society, and
they protect their secrets. And I know the Eastern Star protects
their secrets, and I know a lot of other secret organizations
protect their secrets, but our Lord Jesus Christ has no secret
society. Everything in the kingdom of
God is open and above board. And Christ said, I'm the light
of the world. That's like trying to hide the sun. You can't hide
the sun. You can't hide the light of Christ.
Wherever the light of Christ is, it'll be seen. You see what
I'm saying? It'll be seen. It's so dominating. It's so powerful. It's so overpowering. The light of Christ will be revealed. Can't keep it under. You can't
put it under a bushel. Redemption is light. And then
watch this. Redemption is life. L-I-F-E. Life is sure to be known
and felt. You mothers who carry infants, one day you feel a kick. He'll
let you know He's there. And if He's alive, you'll know
it. Now here, you get disturbed if there's no kick, don't you?
Huh? You get disturbed. He's not moving. Huh? He's not moving. Scares
you to death. And then you feel Him move and
you're just relieved. Redemption's life! If life's there, Jay, it
moves! It moves! It controls! It lets you know it! There's
no way to have the life of Christ and not know it. There's no way
for a mother to carry a life in her womb and not know it.
And there's no way for the life of Christ to be in a home and
not know it. He's dominating. He's controlling. There's no way for you to run
around with a bunch of fellas. Now let me tell you something.
I've known preachers to go and stay at churches for some time
and say, well, they don't know yet what I'm preaching. I don't
know whether you're preaching it or not. Now, brother, if Christ,
if there's life, somebody's going to be shaken up. That's truth. There's life. Life. Christ is
life. Life cannot be kept a secret. You can go in a room. And if
there's somebody in that room, you're going to know for how
long he's in there. Now, if you go in a room and everybody in
there is dead, well, you may stay in there the rest of your
life and never know there's anybody in there. But if there's life,
they're going to move. They're going to move. And you're
going to know they're around. And that's right. This is why
confession is necessary. Confession is necessary because
of their character of salvation is light. And we're sitting here
in the darkness and somebody walks in and flips on that switch,
there's nobody here going to say, well, you know, there's
no, it's still like it was. No, it's not like it was either.
And life, now watch this, thirdly, redemption, Christ said, will
be a well of water springing up within you. Did you ever try
to stop water? If you ever had a pipe that was
running water, the spigot broke, and you put your hand over it
and stop it. Boom! You can't stop water with any
force. Well, springing up, you can't
stop it. Nobody can stop it. And I'll
tell you, when Christ is bubbling up in a place or in a heart or
in a church or a pulpit, everybody's going to know it and can't be
stopped. And then redemption's true love. Brother, I tell you,
I can see some of these young people get interested in one
another, and I can spot it. I see true love in the eyes,
in the movements. You can see true love. You can't
hide true love. You can't hide affection. You
can't hide feelings. After a while, it comes out.
And a person's not ashamed of that which he loves. It's evident. A love for Christ cannot be hid. That's ridiculous. And then redemption
thrives with gratitude. With gratitude. Thank you, Lord,
for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me thy great salvation so
rich and free. Someone comes to you today and
presents you with a fine gift. Well now, gratitude itself causes
you to reach out and say, I thank you. Your very expression, your
very attitude, your very handshake, your very conduct, everything
says, I thank you. I thank you. So that's the reason
confession is. It's a total impossibility for
a man to know Christ and not confess Him. It's a total impossibility. He may profess Him. He may be
working among men that don't even know what he believes. He
can profess Christ and do that. Now he can, but he can't confess
Christ to do it. He can't confess Christ. And he, look at the results here.
Verse 9 of Luke 12, he said, Whosoever denieth me before me,
and I'll deny him before my Father which is in heaven. Now I hope
you take these words home with you and do what you will with
them. I'm done with my exhortation, but somebody gave an illustration
one time, said the crowd sat around and discussed religion.
and discussed Jesus Christ and discussed his claims and discussed
his word. One man sitting there did profess
Christ, but he was too respectable to lower himself to confess that
he really believed these things, that he really was in with Jesus
Christ. And one day Christ was too respectable
to confess him. And one day Christ was too respectable
to lower himself to confess him. Now you think about that. And
I think about these young men who can go to liberal seminaries
and sit and listen to liberal professors and not openly, publicly
start a war. We're going to have a fight if
he starts talking about my Lord. That's a fact. One man sat in
my study and said, that when they give a test and ask certain
questions, he wrote down the answers that the professor wanted,
and not the truth, in order to get a grade. That's not confessing
Christ. That's professing Christ, but
that's not confessing Christ. And that's not a mark of salvation.
Call it what you want to. It's not confessing. There's
a difference. You can profess Christ. You can
hang around anywhere with anybody and be acceptable and accepted
and be honored and all of the same. But when, where the glory
of Christ is challenged and the name of Christ is challenged,
that's where his soul is going to draw soul. And you're going
to hear from him because he's full of light and life and gratitude
and a well of water. And it'll be felt, confessing
Christ. I hope, you know, let's sing,
I wanna sing a closing hymn, Brother Ronnie, number 400. Now
the tune of this is just as I am. Martha, you and Carolee play
just as I am. But this is a great hymn. And I hope that I've made clear
what I've tried to push tonight. And I want you to give it some
deep, sincere consideration. And I'm talking about confessing
Christ. And this is the word, whosoever
therefore shall confess me, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
Jesus to be Lord. I'm saying there's a difference
in professing religion and publicly before me in confessing Jesus
Christ.