Confess the Christ

Intro:

Good evening.

Tonight we will have our second to last sermon on the plan of salvation.

So far we have looked at “Here the Gospel,”

and “Believe in Christ.”

We’ve talked about hearing the Word of God to the extent of actually listening to what God’s Word says.

We’ve talked about believing that Word and believing in Christ, which is not mere acknowledgement of the Christ, but following through on our belief with action.

Tonight, we are going to look at confession.

And then next week, we are going to look at “Repent, and Be Converted” (Acts 3:19).

Let’s begin tonight by looking at …

Romans 10:9-10:

Romans 10:9–10 NKJV

that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

This is written to Christians at Rome.

If you look earlier in the chapter at verses 1 and following, Paul is talking about his brethren, the Jews, who had not accepted Christ.

They were zealous for God, but not according to knowledge.

He goes on to talk about how salvation is in Jesus Christ, and that a crucial element of salvation in Christ is that we must be willing to confess Christ as Lord. (Read verses 9-10 again).

A common mistake that is made in trying to understand these verses is that many use them to teach faith only.

Well, faith only and confession only — But how can that be?

You see, if it’s faith only but also confession only, that’s two only’s!

Of course, our faith-only friends understand that confession and faith go hand in hand!

But so do the rest of the steps in the plan of salvation!

So we don’t need to let this trip us up — Every step in the plan of salvation can be shown using Scripture as clearly necessary for salvation.

Confession is one of those!

I want to tell you about a girl named Rachel.

RACHEL SCOTT:

Rachel was a student in high school in 1999 in the state of Colorado.

Rachel’s life sadly came to an abrupt and tragic end at Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999.

She is said to have been the first victim of the depraved Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold who committed the atrocities on that day.

A year to the day before her death, she wrote in her personal diary about persecution she was facing from her friends and classmates at school; she wrote: “Now that I have begun to walk my talk, they make fun of me. I don't even know what I have done. I don't even have to say anything, and they turn me away. I have no more personal friends at school. But you know what, it's all worth it.”

What made people turn away from her?

She professed to be a Christian, including changing certain things about her life, and her friends didn’t like it.

“On many occasions throughout Scott's adolescence, her family observed her in prayer both at home and at church. Her mother said that her daughter would regularly pray on her knees, with her head bowed, her hands upon her face, and that often, these particular prayer rituals brought tears to Scott's eyes. On one occasion, this included writing a prayer for one of the future perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre.”

Fast forward one year later after her diary entry, and Harris and Klebold did what they did.

According to a witness, Harris asked Rachel if she still believed in God after he shot her — She said, “You know I do.” Harris then reportedly said to her, “Then go be with him,” and shot her again, killing her.

Now, there is some disputing over the facts of this story, but regardless, still a valid point for us to think about is this — If it had been us, and if the shooters had asked, “Do you believe in God?” …

Would we have said yes or no?

Look with me to …

Matthew 10:

Let’s read Matt. 10:27-33 our Bibles the Bible.

(Read and comment. Notice that Jesus tells us not to fear those who can kill the body but not the soul).

Do not fear the Eric Harris’s and Dylan Klebold’s of the world; rather, fear God!)

And then Jesus brings up confessing Him before men!

And so it absolutely is a valid question - If someone were to come up to us and say, “Do you believe in God? If you say yes, I’ll shoot you.”

What would we answer in that moment?!

Would we be a Christian martyr? Would we honor our Lord, even in death?

Let’s notice a few other things about confession tonight and then the lesson will be yours.

First, there are …

Those Who Refuse to Confess Jesus:

Just as we saw last week that it is possible to believe in Jesus to the point of acknowledging Him, but not actually following through with obedience, now we are going to see those who believe in Jesus, but refuse to confess Him.

Let’s go to John ch. 12.

(Read John 12:36-50).

What was the hangup for those described in vs. 42-43?

The average Jew was not accepting of Jesus.

Even still, these are rulers of the Jews who (not like those in verse 27) DID believe in Jesus, but they not to the point that they were willing to confessing Him publically.

Why?

Because they couldn’t bare the thought of being put out of the synagogue, the center of their lives!

Why might someone refuse to confess Christ today?

Could it not be for the same reason?

Think about people living in the Muslim world today - Might it be difficult for them to confess Jesus because of the consequences?

Extremely!

We need to think about that — Confession isn’t always easy! Sometimes it’s extremely difficult!

Look with me at 1 Timothy ch. 6.

Timothy Professed the Good Confession:

Was Timothy’s confession of Christ easy?

Is confession/profession of Christ meant to be easy?

Notice what Paul says about Timothy’s confession in 1 Tim. 6:11-16.

1 Timothy 6:11–16 NKJV

But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate (Pilate asked if Jesus was a King, and Jesus confessed that He was - Mt. 27:11), that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.

4. Paul essentially says that we have to live a life compatible with our confession of Jesus Christ!

5. We have to flee sinful things, and purse the various godly things he mentions in vs. 11ff.

6. We need to live lives worthy of our confession of Jesus as the only Potentate, King of kings and Lord of lords.

7. Finally, tonight, let’s go to a classic example of one who confessed Jesus clearly as part o the plan of salvation — Acts ch. 8.

Ethiopian Eunuch’s Confession:

(Read Acts 8:26-40).

(Emphasize especially vs. 36-38).

Conclusion:

Tonight, we have looked at confession’s role in the plan of salvation.

We talked about how many of the Jews were not willing to confess Christ — They didn’t want to lose their status in the synagogue.

In Romans 10, Paul said they had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

But in Romans 10:9-10, Paul emphasizes that our salvation hinges upon the fact that we MUST confess Jesus Christ, as Jesus Himself said the same in Matthew 10:32-33.

We have seen examples of people who would not confess Jesus, we’ve seen examples of people who DID — Timothy, the Ethiopian Eunuch, etc.

The question is — Will WE?