Confession of God’s Word Builds Faith

Mark 16:15–20 ESV

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.

Isaiah 41:10 ESV

fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Psalm 119:28 ESV

My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!

Psalm 119:130 ESV

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.

Mark 11:23 ESV

Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.

Lesson five: Confession of God’s Word Builds Faith

Central Truth: Confession is faith’s way of expressing itself. Faith’s confession creates reality.

It is always possible to tell if a person is believing right by what they say.

If their confession is wrong- Their believing is wrong

If their believing is wrong, their thinking is wrong

If their thinking is wrong, it is because their mind has not been renewed with the Word of God.

All three- Believing, thinking, and saying- go together.

God has given us His Word, to get our thinking straightened out.

We can think in line with God’s Word!

In this study we are looking at the subject of confession and we have dealt with three types of confession:

The confession of the sins of the Jews

The confession of the sinner today

The confession of a believer who is out of fellowship with God.

Now we are going to look at the confession of our faith in God’s Word.

We want to understand - whenever the word “confession” is used, we instinctively think of sin and failure.

But that is the negative side

It is important in it’s place, But there is a positive side, and the Bible has more to say about the positive than the negative

Confession’s Five Parts:

Confession is affirming something we believe

It is testifying to something we know

It is witnessing of a truth we have embraced

Our Confession should center around five things:

What God in Christ has accomplished for us in His plan of Redemption

What God, through the Word and the Holy Spirit, has accomplished in us in the New Creation Life (New Birth) and the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

What we are to God the Father in Christ Jesus

What Jesus is doing for us now at the right hand of the Father, where He ever lives to make intercession for us.

What God can do through us, or what His Word can do through our lips

Confession at Work- Preaching the Word

Mark 16:15-20 “ And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. 16 Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. 17 These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages.* 18 They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”

19 When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 20 And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.”

God Works through us by His Word through our lips.

Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. That is the way God Works through us

We carry the Word to the lost- If we do not carry the Word tot he World, then we waste our time praying for God to do something.

In other words, it would be useless to pray for someone who is lost if we do not carry the Gospel of salvation to them

If we could just pray and get people saved, we wouldn’t have to send missionaries all over the world

We could just pray all the sinners into the kingdom. However, the Holy Spirit works only in connection with the Word.

In Obedience to Christ’s command to go into all the world and preach, the disciples went forth preaching the Word everywhere, and the Lord worked with them, confirming the Word with signs following.

God didn’t do a thing until the disciples preached the Word - Then signs followed

Signs don’t follow an individual- THEY FOLLOW THE WORD!

GIVE THE WORD OUT AND THE SIGNS WILL TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES

YOU DON’T FOLLOW SIGNS- SIGNS FOLLOW THE WORD!

Kenneth Haggin-

“In the church I pastored, I became greatly concerned that there weren’t enough signs following my ministry. I shut myself away in prayer for several days asking God for more signs.

finally the Lord spoke to me and said, ‘You’ve been praying that i would confirm my Word and that signs would follow. But all you have to do is preach the Word, signs will follow. if the signs aren’t following, you are not preaching the Word.’

I was startled by this, but upon closer examination of my preaching, i discovered it was true. i had mingled a lot of tradition and personal opinion into my sermons. And God won’t confirm tradition with signs following.

As I began preaching more and more of the undiluted Word of God, I began to see more signs following. The more Word I preached the more signs I had!”

God moves only in line with His Word.

He has magnified His Word above His Name

Psalm 138:2 “  I bow before your holy Temple as I worship. I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name.

ESV-  I bow down d toward your e holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

We cannot expect to get help from God if we are taking sides agaisnt His Word, Even though it may be an unconscious act on our part

We Should treat the Word of God with the same reverence we would show to Jesus if He was present in the Natural in this room!

Confession Dispels Fear

Isaiah 41:10 “  Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.

Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you.

I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”

Have you ever noticed in reading the Bible how many times God told His children to “fear Not”?

there are 365 times God says

Fear not

Don’t be Discouraged

Don’t be afraid

Be strong and Courageous

Many preachers and teachers point out that this is roughly one for every day of the year, symbolizing God's daily reassurance to His people.

When Jarius sought out Jesus to heal his daughter, Jesus told him, “Fear Not; believe only, and she shall be made whole” (Luke 8:50)

When Jesus is preaching to His disciples he says in Luke 12:32, “Fear Not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”

When the Lord appears to Isaac in the old Testament, renewing His covenant He had made with Abraham his father, The Lord Said in Gen 26:24, “Fear Not, for I am with you, and I will bless you”

Now if God Just said “Don’t be afraid,” and then just left it there, we might say, “But I can’t help but be afraid.”

But he didn’t just say “Fear Not”- He also said, “I am with Thee”

Can we really believe that He is with us and still be afraid or controlled by fear?

No, if we are afraid, it is because we are doubting Him.

Now Someone might say, “I am so weak,” - God said, “I will strengthen thee” (Isa 41:10)

“But I am so helpless” - God Said “I will uphold Thee”

Psalm 119:28 “ I weep with sorrow;

encourage me by your word.

Esv-   My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!

Psalm 119:130   The teaching of your word gives light,

so even the simple can understand.

It is true that in ourselves we may be weak and helpless, burdened down with cares and problems - but in our weakness we look to His Word for Strength! “The teaching of your word gives light, so even the simple can understand.”

Our confession can be “God is with me.”

We can say, “Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the World” ( 1 John 4:4)

We can Say, “If God be fore me who can be agaisnt me” (Romans 8:31)

you may be faceing some problem that seems impossible, but instead of talking about how impossible it is, Look to Him who is inside you and say, “God is in me now”

You will find your confession of faith will cause Him to work in your behalf.

He will rise up in you and give you success

the Master of Creation is in you!

Face Life fearlessly because you know that greater is He who is in you than any forces that may be arrayed against you!

This should be your confession of Faith

Confession Increases Faith:

There is no faith without confession- Confession is faith’s way of expressing itself

Faith, like Love is of the heart- of the spirit

We know there is no love without word and action

We cannot reason love into people, nor can we reason love out of them.

it is in your heart

Faith too is in the Spirit or the heart

We can safely says that there is no faith without confession

Faith grows with confession

The Confession of the believer does serval things for them:

It locates Him

It fixes The landmarks of their live- He will never have more than his confession

Mark 11:23 “I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart.”

If we say we can’t do something then of course we can’t.

But if we says we can, then we can

According to Mark 11:23 we can have whatever we say or confess- whether it be belief or unbelief, success or failure, sickness or health

The Reason a majorirty of Chrisitans, although sincere, are weak is because they never have dared to make a confession of who and what they are in Christ.

They must find out how God looks at them and then confess it

These privileges are found mostly in the New Testament epistles, because they were written to the Church.

when you discover all that God has for you, boldly confess what the Word declares you are in Christ.

As you do faith will abound- will increase

The Reason faith is held in bondage is because you never have dared confess what God says you are.

Remember: Faith never grows beyond our confession

Your daily confession of

what the Father is to you

What Jesus is doing for you now at the right hand of the Father

what the Holy Spirit is doing in you

these confessions will build a solid, positive faith in your life.

You will not be afraid of any circumstances.

You will not be afraid of any disease

you will not be afraid of any conditions.

You will face life fearlessly, a conqueror- and to be a conqueror must confessvyou are one:

Romans 8:31

Look at Romans 10:10 ‘For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”

in seeking anything from God, you first must believe in your heart, because the Word said it.

Then You must confess with your mouth that it is so.

For Example to be saved, a person must believe in their heart and confess with their mouth that Jesus died according to Scriptures and was raised from the dead for their justification.

Then Third He will receive that answer to His prayer

Believe it

Confess it

Receive it

Mark 11:23

As you study God’s Word and learn what His Word says you are, who you are, and what your have in Christ Jesus, even though it may not seem real to you at first, start confessing, “Yes that’s mine, according to God’s Word.”

You will then find that FAith’s confession creates reality

Memory Verse:

Marks 11:23, “I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart.”

Lesson in action:

James 1:22 “Be doers of the Word, not hearers only…”