Sincere Faith: Confessing Christ Boldly.
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
In Acts 5:29, Peter tells the High Priest, "We must obey God rather than men."
The teaching of this verse is something that should be evident without much explanation. Many are ready to do this on the significant issues.
We at least say that we are willing to go to jail or death rather than reject Jesus,
and we would refuse to allow abortion or euthanasia in our family even if commanded to by the authorities.
The problem for most American Christians is not significant issues, but the small issues of our day to day life.
Peer Pressure is not something that only middle and high school kids face.
Adults are still facing the choice of obeying God rather than men in several areas of life.
We are asked to do unethical practices in our work life.
We are asked to ignore our church's worship service and the Lord's day by our friends and family.
We are asked to go to movies or parties that we know are not where the Lord would have us be.
Our desire to be liked and fit in wars with our desire to obey God.
A sincere faith requires rejecting hypocrisy, knowing how much God truly cares for us, and boldly acknowledging Him while trusting the Holy Spirit to guide and empower our witness.
1 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. 4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. 8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
This final part of this section
There is a connection between our hearts and our lips.
Our words and our hearts.
In this section, Jesus is calling his followers to a sincere faith.
Sincere faith works to reject hypocrisy in our lives.
Sincere faith is a faith that is rightly directed, not afraid of what others might do to you, but rather reveling in the power and care of the Lord.
Finally this morning, sincere faith is a faith that you acknowledge before others.
Our motivation for living a right life, making the effort to reject hypocrisy is a reverent fear of the Lord.
And because of the great love and care that He shows us, we ought to be motivated to acknowledge Jesus before others.
Jesus exclaims in verse 8
English Standard Version Chapter 12
everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God
Paul teaches us in Romans 10.
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
True faith always moves from the heart to the lips.
In reality, a lack of desire and willingness to confess Christ before others is a warning alarm.
Do we really have faith if we are not willing to share it?
Have we fooled ourselves into thinking/believing?
An unwillingness to acknowledge Jesus before others may be that.
Jesus stated back in chapter 9 after Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ of God - the messiah.
26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
That teaching is repeated here - we must confess Jesus - always!
There are other reasons we don’t share our faith.
One of the big reasons is that we feel inadequate.
Part of feeling inadequate goes back to the fearing man rather than God that we spoke of last week.
Another part though is that we don’t know how.
We have not been taught.
I shared a little while back in a sermon about creating your 2 minute testimony - has anyone done that?
I would still like, in reality for each of us to share our testimony with the rest of the church family.
That we might be mutually encouraged, but it also equips us to be ready to do what Jesus is saying to do here.
This significance comes in that if you acknowledge Jesus, other translations translate the word confess.
The greek word
to commit oneself to do someth. for someone, promise, assure
to share a common view or be of common mind about a matter, agree
to concede that something is factual or true
to acknowledge someth., ordinarily in public, acknowledge, claim, profess, praise
The questions arises in my mind, what does it matter about being confessed before the angels of God?
In the previous verses, Jesus made it clear the the fate of men at the last judgment depends on their attitude to Jesus here and now.
This image is continued with Jesus phrase here.
It is meant to conjure up in the minds of hearers/readers the judgment seat.
The place before which people will one day stand to give an account of their lives to God.
in 2 Corinthians 5 Paul told the Corinthian Christians why Christians strive to please the Lord: all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ to be recompensed for their deeds.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Picture this with me.
You find yourself standing in God’s courtroom.
He is sitting on the judgment seat in front of you.
You are asked to get up and give an account for yourself before God.
Every secret sin you have ever committed is made public.
As you begin, you say, I have embraced Christ.
At that moment, Jesus steps in as your advocate and says - this one is with me.
He confesses before the throne of God, and in the presence of the angels, that you belong to him.
God’s judgment is rendered - that’s enough - The threat of divine judgment is removed by divine redemption.
But as verse 9 says
9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
Those who deny Jesus will be left to their devices before a perfect and Holy God.
Those who deny Jesus, will face the ultimate denial.
Having refused to number themselves among Jesus followers, God’s choice will be ratified.
This person stands alone before God.
I don’t know about you, but just the thought of the weight of that is unbearable to me.
The good news is that it is not unforgivable.
It only requires that a person confesses Jesus as the Lord of their life.
This brings us to an often misconstrued and difficult teaching in scripture.
10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
Jesus speaks in this verse of an unforgivable sin.
We find it mentioned in Mark and Matthew as well.
28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—
31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
These verses are perhaps the most fearful admonition to come from Jesus.
Jesus the savior of the world, stating this thing is unforgivable.
And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.’
Many people have lived in mortal terror that they have committed, or might commit, the unforgivable sin and in turn cause themselves to live in an eternity of the absence of forgiveness.
In Matthew and Mark this same warning is set in the context of the Pharisees accusing Jesus of performing his miracles by the power of Satan.
The greater context of Luke actually references this as well -
15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,”
This context is the key to understanding precisely what Jesus has in mind.
Many great theologians throughout history have often stated this as the final and ultimate rejection of Christ.
The Bible clearly states that people must come to Jesus, and what happens to a person who refuses to come, even in their last breath.
They are not forgiven.
That is the thing that will keep a person out of the kingdom of God.
We need Christ to get into the kingdom of God, and certainly the rejection of Jesus is linked to blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
But what makes this statement of Jesus’ so difficult is that he distinguishes between sinning against him and sinning against the Holy Spirit.
Jesus says in theses verse that sin against the Son of Man can be forgiven.
Remember the context though - Jesus accused of being in league with Satan.
It is in this setting that Jesus warns the Pharisees to be careful not to blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit appears to be a verbal sin.
Many theologians link blasphemy against the Holy Spirit with blasphemy against Christ in this way:
when a person has become aware of the true identity of Jesus through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, if that person then calls Jesus the devil, that is the unforgivable sin.
When the Pharisees accused Jesus of working miracles by the power of Satan, Jesus,
knowing they didn’t have the Holy Spirit in their hearts, warns them that they should have recognized him by now.
They are perilously close to the unforgivable sin,
and if they continue to make those statements after the Holy Spirit reveals to them that Jesus is the Christ, there will be no forgiveness.
I remember some question and answer times in Bible college, this question would come up - what is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?
Can I commit that?
Often, the people asking that question were some of the most genuine, Christ following individuals.
The very proper types.
The truth of the matter is, those who are most worried about committing the unforgivable sin, ought to be the least worried about committing it.
On the other hand, it is those who are oblivious to it that ought to be concerned.
It is often said, and I think quite helpfully, that if we are anxious that we have committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit,
then we need not fear, because that blasphemy is always accompanied by a complete indifference to that notion.
So the individual themselves is not going around saying, “Oh, I hope I haven’t done that!”
The individual could care less whether they had done it, and they are defiant in any notion concerning any member of the Godhead at all.
When a person has had conversion to Christ explained to them, obedience to Jesus has been made plain.
But they determine it to be false.
Say that there is no truth to that at all.
Saying that they do not believe a single thing concerning the Holy Spirit and His making Christ real.
That person is in danger.
That is the very sin that Jesus is addressing, just he addressed the Pharisees who were ascribing to the Evil one the work of God that Jesus was doing.
It is the person who defiantly rejects the pointers and promptings of the Holy Spirit that is guilty of this sin.
Jesus closes these verses with some more encouragement -
11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
We should rejoice that in the moment we face trials before other people, the Holy Spirit is with us.
He will be there to give us the words that we need in those moments.
If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit is with you.
A sincere faith is a faith that must be shared.
Yes that is done in part through how we live our lives.
Through our actions.
But it also must be done with words.
This passage begs us to ask the question again, how do we share our faith?
How do I acknowledge Jesus before other men.
Well the Holy Spirit will help you for one.
But you also need to be ready to share your testimony in a concise way.
Life before Christ.
Life before Christ.
The phrase there was a time in my life when - is a great opener.
What are two words that defined your life before you Christ began His saving work in you?
I would encourage you to pray about these words, ask the Holy Spirit it help you.
If you have a story like mine where you came to faith at an early age, and don’t remember life before Christ, this can be a problem or situation that has arisen since following Christ.
My two words are lost and aimless.
I felt like I was without a purpose.
When you met Jesus.
When you met Jesus.
Next is the part of your life that you heard the Gospel and followed Jesus. This is how you met Jesus.
Or if you have a situation similar to mine, this is how Jesus helped you though that difficult time in your life.
What are two words that define how that took place for you.
My two words are redeemed and follow.
I fully realized what Christ had done for me and rededicated my life to following Christ.
Life since following Christ.
Life since following Christ.
The third part of your testimony is your life since you have followed Christ -
Again seek the Lord in prayer, ask the Holy Spirit to help guide you in selecting a couple of words that define your life since you have followed Christ.
Or again if in a situation similar to mine.
What are two words that describe how has your life been since Jesus helped you through that difficult situation.
These are words that have defined your life since Jesus has changed your life.
Invite a response.
Invite a response.
Finally is the question - an invitation for others to share their story with you.
What about you?
Do you have a story like this?
Our responsibility as Christians is to study the Word, live the Christian life, let the Holy Spirit do His work (John 3:8),
and look for opportunities to share the gospel.
It is a privilege to be a part of spreading God’s good news to the world.
As we fulfill the Great Commission, we have Jesus’ wonderful promise, “Surely I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20).
What have we to fear?
I want to encourage each of you to go home and put this together this week.
Take some time and seek the Lord, ask for His help to craft this tool to open doors for conversation.
So you can be ready to share the hope that is in you when the opportunity arises.
Something else that would be really cool I think would be if we actually shared them with one another.
I would love for each of you to write out your story and share it with the church.
I know it can be a terrifying thought, to share in front of people.
But we are not ordinary people, we are family, and as a family, we NEED to hear your story.
So craft that testimony and lets share them!
Crafting your 2 minute testimony.
Life before Christ.
When you met Jesus.
Your life since following Christ.
Invite a response.