Confessing Christ

I want to tell you a compelling story this morning and then I’m going to ask you a question. “What would make a man…a man like just you and me… endure such harsh & cruel judgment? WHAT CONVICTION COULD HE POSSIBLY HAVE WHICH WOULD DRIVE HIM TO SUCH GREAT ACT OF COURAGE AND BRAVERY?

Polycarp (AD 69—156 or 157) was the bishop of Smyrna and one of the last living disciples of John the apostle. The only writing by Polycarp that has survived is his epistle to the Philippians. In the 2nd C, the Christians were being told, under threat of death, to renounce Christ, and to confess that “Caesar is Lord,” and offer incense to the Emperor. One of the modes of torture/execution of Christians was to have them attacked by wild animals in a public arena. And after a number of Christians had been killed in this way, the crowds began to call for the blood of Polycarp. Polycarp initially wanted to give himself up to Roman authorities, but his friends prevailed upon him to try to hide or escape. However, he was eventually found and brought into the city.

The following excerpts are from J. B. Lightfoot’s translation of the Martyrdom of Polycarp: “And he was met by Herod the captain of police and his father Nicetes, who also removed him to their carriage and tried to prevail upon him, seating themselves by his side and saying, ‘Why what harm is there in saying, Caesar is Lord, and offering incense’, with more to this effect, ‘and saving thyself?’ But he at first gave them no answer. When however they persisted, he said, ‘I am not going to do what ye counsel me.’ “Then they, failing to persuade him, uttered threatening words and made him dismount with speed, so that he bruised his shin, as he got down from the carriage. And without even turning round, he went on his way promptly and with speed, as if nothing had happened to him, being taken to the stadium; there being such a tumult in the stadium that no man’s voice could be so much as heard” (Polycarp 8:2–3). The letter then describes Polycarp’s final minutes: “But as Polycarp entered into the stadium, a voice came to him from heaven; ‘Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man.’ And no one saw the speaker, but those of our people who were present heard the voice. And at length, when he was brought up, there was a great tumult, for they heard that Polycarp had been apprehended. “When then he was brought before him, the governor enquired whether he were Polycarp. And on his confessing that he was, he, too, tried to persuade him to a deny and recant his faith saying, ‘Have respect to your age,’ and other things in accordance therewith, as it is their wont to say; ‘Swear by the genius of Caesar....yet, Polycarp stood firm in his faith. “But when the magistrate pressed him hard and said, ‘Swear the oath, and I will release thee; revile the Christ,’ Polycarp said, ‘Fourscore and six years have I been His servant, and He hath done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?’” (Polycarp 9:1–3). Realizing that Polycarp would not recant, his captors threatened him with wild beasts. When that did not work, he was threatened with burning alive. That did not frighten him, either. A pyre was made, and the wood caught on fire but Polycarp was unharmed. Then a man stabbed him in the heart, and a great gush of blood came out and extinguished the remaining flames. After his death by stabbing, his body was burned.

WHAT CONVICTION COULD HE POSSIBLY HAVE WHICH WOULD DRIVE HIM TO SUCH GREAT ACT OF COURAGE AND BRAVERY?

There is only one answer to this question:

Romans 10:9-10: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Context of Romans

CONFESSION

....That IF thou shalt confess with thy mouth the LORD JESUS...

Exodus 17:14-15: “And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi:” THE LORD IS MY BANNER

Understand the significance of the name, “The LORD is My Banner.” The banner of any people was the thing around which they rallied. It was their focal point. It was their entire identity. From their banner a people draw their worth.

ROME- carry my burden

say Kaiser Kurios

Around the time the Book of Revelation was written, the emperor Domitian had his likeness stamped on a Roman coin with the words “Dominus et Deus,” “Lord and God.” But the Christians said, “We will not say ‘Dominus et Deus’ to the emperor for, while we are citizens of two realms, our ultimate political loyalty, what Paul calls politeuma in Philippians 3:20, is not to the empires and kingdoms of this world, which rise and fall, and come and go. We will not say ‘Kurios Kaiser,’ for there is another sovereignty we must acknowledge. Jesus alone is Lord, and him we must follow.” To be a baptized Christian was to have made this commitment, and there was no going back.

CONFESSIONS of FAITH:

Muslim Shahada-

“There is no god but God; Muhammad is the Prophet of God.”

one of the five pillars of Islam

the declaration of faith in one God (Allah) and His messenger. It is the most sacred statement in Islam.

Korean religion call Ch’ondogyo

indigenous Korean religion that combines elements of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, shamanism, and Roman Catholicism.

The essence of Ch’ŏndogyo is said to be contained in a 21-word formula (chumun) that is recited as the way to enlightenment. It is translated: “May the creative power of the universe be within me in abundance. May heaven be with me and every creation will be done. Never forgetting this truth, everything will be known.”

Judaism

Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:”

Biblical Christianity

Romans 10:9: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

I Corinthians 12:3: “Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.”

THIS IS NOT AN ACT OF THE PHYSICAL BODY, FOR ANY MOUTH CAN SAY IT… I remember speaking with a man who was not a Christian…he said, “I’ll say that Jesus Christ is God, but I won’t mean it.”

THIS IS AN ACT OF THE SOUL

HOW, THEN, CAN JESUS ASK FOR SUCH ALLEGIANCE?

UPON WHAT FOUNDATION CAN HE MAKE SUCH CLAIMS?

The CORONATION of the King

…and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead...

Romans 1:3-5: “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:”

It is the resurrection that lends credibility to everything that Jesus claimed to do and claimed to be.

“If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that He said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.”

CS Lewis: “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Jesus— liar, lunatic, or lord— you can’t have it more than 1 way— and only you get to answer that question…If he is a lunatic, chalk Him up to thousands of false messianic figures....If He is a liar, place Him upon the trash heap of megalomaniac humans who hallucinated in the divine— but IF He is Lord....IF He is all that He claimed to be, you will reckon with Him now or face Him at the Great White Throne Judgement— but neutral, you CANNOT BE!

Luke 24:50-53: “And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.”

How could those who so greatly loved Him and came to depend upon Him so greatly rejoice at His departure from them? THE RESURRECTION…and the purposes of it!

Their Joy Emanated from Two Sources:

they realized WHY He was leaving- it was His coronation as King

Christ becomes King in the highest possible sense of Kingship.

Philippians 2:5-11: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

To reign over His kingdom (Hearts) in anticipation of His reign over all the earth in the end of days. TO THOSE WHO FOLLOW HE DECLARES Matthew 6:33: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

they realized WHERE He was going

to the Father

to the right hand of the Throne of God

Hebrews 1:3: “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;”

Hebrews 4:14-16: “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

Romans 8:34: “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”

I John 2:1-2: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

WHY IS A BELIEF IN THE RESURRECTION SO NECESSARY? Because of the resurrection...

Jesus’ death has, as one author noted, “divine interpretation and endorsement”

Romans 1:4: “And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:” The resurrection amounts to the Father’s clear signal that Jesus is the powerful Son of God who has conquered death and reigns as Lord of all (Romans 1:4; 4:25). The resurrection demonstrates that Jesus’ “blood of the new covenant” saves His people from their sins. Apart from the resurrection, there would be no reason for the cup of memorial at the Lord’s Table because there would be no reason to anticipate the cup of new wine in the Father’s Kingdom (Matthew 26:28).

our resurrection is guaranteed

John 11:25: “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:”

I Corinthians 15:20: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.”

John 5:29: “And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”

all of Jesus’ promises & prophecies are reliable. If Jesus did not rise from the dead after promising many times that He would do so (Matthew 12:40; 16:21; 17:9, 23, 20:19; 26:32), He should be pitied or scorned, not believed and obeyed (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:16-19).

the resurrection provided a foundation for and fire in the church (Matthew 16:18). Do you know what excites the disciples who went everywhere preaching? Was it Jesus feeding of the 5,000? No! Was it Jesus healing of the impotent, blind, or deaf? No. Was it all of the prophecies of His 1st coming? No! Now, certainly all of those are miraculous and wonderful to consider! However, what excites these 12 men— what gives them reason to die if necessary— is that Jesus Christ is alive!

Acts 1:1-3: “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:”

the sacrificial life is proven most blessed. Jesus embodied and demonstrated the oxymoron of the crucified life, that a self-centered life is misery, and that genuinely abundant living occurs only when one dies to self-interest (Matthew 10:38-39; 16:24-28; 20:26-28; 23:12). Paul developed this further, teaching us that Jesus’ followers died with Him to the old life and arose with Him to life anew (Romans 6:1-11). But this transformative model of the cross leading to the crown is a farce if Jesus’ suffering did not lead to His resurrection and heavenly reign. Paul’s basis for teaching the Philippians to live in humility and unity is simply to tell the story of Jesus, centering on how His past humility led to His future exaltation (Philippians 2:1-13).

there would be no eschatological peace and justice to right all earthly wrongs and renew the world (Matthew 19:28-29).

Without the resurrection...

The martyrs whose blood cries out from the ground for justice would never be vindicated (Matthew 23:35; Revelation 6:9-11).

The untold millions of injustices perpetrated in this world by human beings throughout history would never be made right.

There would be no ultimate reckoning for sin. There would be no conclusion to divine justice. Why?

John 5:25-28: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,”

Satan would win the cosmic battle.

so, AGAIN— HOW, THEN, CAN JESUS ASK FOR SUCH ALLEGIANCE? WHY IS CHRISTIANITY BASED UPON A CONFESSION OF JESUS AS LORD?

UPON WHAT FOUNDATION CAN HE MAKE SUCH CLAIMS? WELL, HE IS LORD BECAUSE HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD. HE IS LORD OF THE GRAVE. LORD OF DEATH. LORD OF LIFE.

ILL. RANDY ALCORN, who wrote a famous book about Heaven, recently lost his wife. Here what his statement on social media:

DEATH WILL NOT HAVE THE LAST WORD. LIFE WILL!

SUFFERING WILL NOT HAVE THE LAST WORD. HAPPINESS WILL!

SIN WILL NOT HAVE THE LAST WORD. RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL!

SATAN WILL NOT HAVE THE LAST WORD. GOD WILL.

The Consequence of Confession

Romans 10:13: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

This is where the Apostle Paul comes in. In the book of Philippians, we read of the nature of confession and what it means to have Jesus and own His as Savior.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SAVED?

Romans 5 (KJV 1900)

Therefore being justified by faith,

we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and

rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be

saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled,

we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom

we have now received the atonement. (reconciliation- peace with God in light of Christ’s propitiation)