07-07-2024 – “What does it mean to “Confess” Jesus?”
Links from Our Website:
Bulletin (pdf)
(AM Outline) - Sermon Notes (pdf)
July 2024 Calendar (pdf)
YouTube Video Sermons
Upcoming Events
FBCW Website Calendar
July 7, 2024
“What does it mean to “Confess” Jesus?”
Luke 12:8-10
Read Luke 12:8-10… What is Jesus saying here?
Matthew 10:32-33, “everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.”
What does the “Son of Man” mean?
Jesus’ humanity (cf. 1John 4:2), His humility (cf. Philippians 2:5–8).
Jesus ability to forgive sin (cf. Matthew 9:2-8), to give up His life, and rise from the tomb (cf. Matthew 28:1-8; Romans 1:3-4), to appear to His followers over 40 days, after which He ascended into heaven (cf. 1Corinthians 15:1-6).
Jesus renders judgment (cf. John 5:26-27); and is the sovereign ruler of an everlasting kingdom (cf. Daniel 7:13–14; Matthew 16:28).
The human Jesus, is the divine Christ, God the Son in the flesh of a Son of Man; He came to show us the Father, save us from sin, and grant us eternal life (cf. John 1:1, 14, 18 10:30; 11:21-27, 38-44; 14:6-7; Hebrews 9:27-28; 10:1-18).
Back to Luke 12:8-9…. Those genuinely unwilling to acknowledge Christ to friends and family, are not saved (1John 4:15), “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God [lives] in him, and he in God.” Jesus is talking about a person who rejects God’s Son, and does not have the Spirit of God.
See Luke 12:4-7…. True believers fear nothing!
See Romans 8:31-39; 1Peter 3:14-18…
Paul writes (Romans 10:9-10), “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
2Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
The object of your confession and belief is Jesus Christ, God’s Sovereign Message and Messenger, the Messiah, Lord and Savior, God in the flesh of a man; fully God, and yet fully Man, who can understand it?
See 1Corinthians 2:9-16…
2Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Romans 8:1-2, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”
No wonder Paul writes (1Corinthians 15:57), “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2Corinthians 9:15), “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”
Many call themselves Christians, yet they don’t confess Jesus (Galatians 2:20), “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Read again Luke 12:10… To speak evil against the Son of Man’s humanity, will be forgiven; but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit of God will not be forgiven!
Jesus asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit, to indwell those who belong to Him, as God’s possession (cf. John 14:15-17; Ephesians 1:13-14); but also to convict unbelievers of the unforgivable sin (cf. John 16:8-9), to reject God’s Son.
The Scriptures repeatedly declare (John 20:31), “these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name,” (Romans 15:13), “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
2Corinthians 13:5, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?:
J.C. Ryle writes, “There is such a thing as a sin which is never forgiven. But those who are troubled about it are most unlikely to have committed it.”
Everyone is born a sinner, unacceptable to God (cf. Romans 3:10-12, 23-24). The penalty for sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). All who confess God’s Son as Savior, are eternally forgiven all their sins [past, present, future], having been justified by the Spirit of God (cf. Romans 8:1-2), there is no longer any condemnation for those who belong to God through Christ!
1John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1John 5:1, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God,” 4-5, “[Whoever] is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 11-13, “And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Pastor Mike Hale