Sunday, August 12, 2018 am
OUR NEED TO CONFESS
Matthew 10:32-33
a.
Defined – it can mean to
admit to something (usually guilt), OR it can be a profession of what
one believes in.
We see both in our society.
i.
1) Criminals confess
their crimes, and people confess their bad (or good) behavior;
ii.
2) It is not uncommon
for someone to “confess” their views and who they stand with.
In a sense, one endorsing a politician or political view is a
confession of where you stand.
These can be either good or bad.
BOTH usages are also found in scripture.
i.
We need to confess our
guilt and sins;
ii.
We need to confess
Christ. That is, to declare one’s
belief in Christ.
NOTE: The Greek word for confession is ὁμολογέω, (homologeō) and has
meanings similar to those in our English dictionary.
One observation made by numerous Greek NT scholars is how this
word addresses: 1) public acknowledgment and/or 2) agreement, as in
standing together with one.
b.
There are 3 elements
necessary for proper confession
i.
You need to believe in
your heart something is true
ii.
You must decide to stand
up for what you believe to be true, even to the point of letting others
know it.
iii.
You open your mouth and
acknowledge, profess or declare that which you are convicted of.
(www.gospeway.com)
c.
Confessions in scripture
i.
John confessed that he was not the Christ,
and in so doing, he professed who the Christ was - John 1:20,
He confessed, and did not deny,
but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
ii.
Confessing our sins – 1 John 1:9, etc.
certainly that is needed, as we will see in another lesson
iii.
Confessing their deeds – associated with confessing sins, Acts 19:18, in Ephesus as
Paul preached and did works, we read,
And many who had believed came
confessing and telling their deeds.
iv.
Confessing Christ – that is the focus of our lesson.
v.
Hold fast our confession – Hebrews 4:14. The usage of the term here seems to be more
inclusive. It certainly
involves confessing Him with our mouth as above, but includes everything
associated with serving Him.
Also, Hebrews 10:23 – hold fast the confession of our hope without
wavering
vi.
There are other ways in
addition to these, some of which we will address.
a.
Do we need to confess as
part becoming Christians?
The answer is, Yes!
We must acknowledge our belief in Jesus before we can be immersed for
the remission of our sins. 1
Peter 3:21 notes how baptism saves us – and that it is the answer of a
good conscience, meaning we have understanding of what we are doing.
b.
NOTE: It is NOT
confessing that you have already been saved before baptism.
Much of the denominational world will not baptize you unless you
“confess” something like, “Do you believe that God has forgiven you from
your sins?” or “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?”
Show me the text that even remotely declares this!
NOR is this
confessing your sins!
There is a place and time for confessing our sins.
Even in God’s plan of salvation that is a part of our repentance
(renouncing the man of sin).
c.
Romans 10:9-10 – a passage that clearly shows that with the heart we believe (in Jesus
and His resurrection), and WITH THE MOUTH we confess the Lord UNTO
salvation. Clearly, this
confession is something that is needed BEFORE one is saved.
Baptism is the final step which saves us (Acts 2:38, 22:16, 1
Peter 3:21), but it is meaningless without faith and confession.
d.
1 Timothy 6:12-13
– Timothy made “the good confession”.
What was that confession?
Jesus made it before Pilate – Matthew 27:11 & John 18:36-38 –
Jesus admitted that He was King, the Christ!
The point is that Jesus admitted who He was.
That is what we NEED to understand to become Christians. NOTE: He
made this “confession” in “the presence of many witnesses” – it was a
public confession.
e.
Acts 8:36-38
– the Eunuch. We have here
an example of this confession.
Philip is teaching the Eunuch about the death of Christ and clearly
included the subject of baptism in preaching Christ to him.
NOTE: This confession is not in some of the earliest manuscripts which
is why some translations 9ESV, NET) do not include vs. 37.
Though most all translations
include some sort of footnote (or bracketed text), which is true even of
versions that DO include this text.
BUT, consider the following:
i.
Did the Eunuch is some
way need to confess (acknowledge) his belief in Jesus as the Christ?
ii.
I believe the earliest
manuscripts that contain this are the 6th century.
HOWEVER, Irenaeus in the 2nd century (Against
Heresies, III, xii.8) quotes the eunuch making the confession we have
recorded. Thus, there is
early evidence of its existence.
iii.
We have Romans 10:9-10
and 1 Timothy 6:12-13 BOTH of which mention the need for the “good
confession”.
iv.
About differences in
manuscripts – there are NO variant texts whose doctrinal points cannot
be proven elsewhere in scripture.
In other words, if someone has a problem with this verse, don’t
use it – there are others that clearly state what we need to do.
a.
Jesus is the Son of God – Jesus is deity.
He was with God the Father at creation and all things are created
through Him.
Matthew 16:15-18 – He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
1 John 4:15, we read, Whoever
confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in
God.
John 1:49 where
Nathaniel acknowledged who Jesus was.
Compare this with John 1:1-3.
Something John sets out to establish.
Note also Matthew 26:63-64 – the Jewish leaders understood
exactly what this meant!
John 9:35-38 – the blind man given sight by Jesus.
NOTE: This was simply declaring “yes” or “I believe”.
John 11:27 – at the scene of the death of Lazarus, when Mary sees Jesus
and asks if she believes He is the resurrection.
Mary declares, “Yes, Lord,
I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into
the world.”
IN these examples we find “confession” by believers who Jesus is.
While they occurred during the life of Jesus (before the church
and our dispensation) they illustrate how followers of Jesus had to
believe in who He was.
We MUST believe that Jesus IS the Son of God.
He is deity! Not some
special, created being.
He is Immanuel (God with us).
This adds significance to our following Him.
b.
Jesus is the Christ
– the anointed One. The One
God intended to save us all along.
The one spoken of in prophecy so that none could deny His place.
All of these descriptions meant hope where the Jews were
concerned.
Ephesians 3:10-11, speaks of the church being according to His eternal
purpose, “accomplished in
Christ Jesus our Lord” In
Acts 8:30ff, the Eunuch was reading from Isaiah 53 (vs. 32).
Philip began with that scripture and preached Jesus to him.
Matthew 16:15-18 – Peter acknowledges Jesus as the Christ, the Son of
the living God.
1 Timothy 6:12-13 – Paul mentioned the good confession as that made by
“Christ Jesus”.
c.
Jesus is our Savior – clearly, when we understand our sinful state, we realize that we need
Jesus as our Savior.
John 4:42, the Samaritans, after the woman told the village about Jesus.
After some time, they realized who Jesus was.
They confessed, “Now we
believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him
and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
Paul said, This is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of
whom I am chief.
d.
Jesus is Lord
–
Acts 2:36, on the day of Pentecost, preaching to a Jewish audience,
Peter declared that God had made Jesus, “both Lord and Christ”.
He was both their Anointed One and their Lord.
When we think of Jesus as Lord, we see Him as our head. He is our King
ruling over us. He is
Master and we need to confess allegiance to Him.
We certainly need to understand this as we obey the gospel.
Romans 10:9-10 – we confess the Lord Jesus.
We are making His OUR Lord.
Notice it is with the mouth that we speak.
Luke 6:46 – why call Me Lord and do not do what I say?
e.
Clearly, we are called
upon to understand WHO Jesus is and a willingness to follow Him.
If we are unwilling to obey His word, we cannot truthfully
confess Him leading to our salvation.
I
conclude with this observation.
Philippians 2:11, Romans 14:11 tells us that we will all stand
before Him in Judgment.
Every knee shall bow and every
tongue shall confess. The point is that all will confess Him.
The only question is, WHEN?
What about you, are you willing to confess Him?