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Sunday, August 12, 2018 am                                           Confessing Christ Part 2

 

OUR NEED TO CONFESS
Matthew 10:32-33

         In our text, we find a saying of Jesus that we often refer to as we cite the plan of salvation.  While confessing Christ is certainly part of becoming a Christian, is that where it ends?  In our lessons today, we want to talk about confessing Christ.  This morning we want to address our need to confess Him as part of God’s plan of salvation.  Tonight, we are going to address confessing His as the saved. 

    I.                     What is confession?

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.

 II.                   The good confession

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. 

 III.                 It is confessing:

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. 

 And thus we can see the need for confession as we obey the gospel.  One point worthy of note, is that we do not have a creedal statement that must be made before one is baptized.  BUT let it be clear, one needs to understand who Jesus is and publicly let that be known, confessing Him as Lord.  That has been the premise of this lesson.

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?