Confess Christ!

Confess Christ!

Chuck Sligh

May 5, 2019

NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com. Please mention the title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon in my archives.

TEXT: Matthew 10:32-33 – “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”

INTRODUCTION

SHOW VIDEO: Where Does Your Boldness End?

Let me begin today by asking you a question: If you were arrested on suspicion of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? The only way anybody can know that you’re a Christian is if you confess Christ. If you did that, when an investigator asked your friends and co-workers, “Did Mr. So-and-So ever indicate that he was a Christian?” they would say, “Oh yeah, we KNEW he was a Christian because he was open about it.”

The title of my message today is “Confess Christ!” Every person who comes face to face with Christ must do one of two things about Him—either CONFESS Him or DENY Him—There’s really no neutral ground. You might tell me, “Well, Pastor, I don’t confess Him, but I don’t deny Him either.” That’s impossible, for Jesus said in Matthew 12:30 – “He that is not with me is against me…”

God wants every believer to openly confess Christ before others. What does it mean to confess Him before others?—To confess Christ means to identify yourself with Jesus Christ by openly acknowledging him by life and lip. (REPEAT)

I want to talk about that today. I want to talk to you about three reasons you should confess Christ, three reasons people may not confess Christ and some practical ways you can confess Christ.

I. FIRST, YOU SHOULD CONFESS CHRIST BECAUSE THE BIBLE ASSUMES IT AS A NATURAL RESULT OF TRUE FAITH.

The Psalmist says in Psalm 107:2 – “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed…”

The most natural evidence of a genuine conversion to Christ is a willingness to confess Christ as your Lord and Savior. It’s something you will do naturally, joyfully, gladly, if Christ is in your life and if you are still in love with Jesus. Nowhere does the Bible sanction a secret and silent believer.

In John 9 is the story of the man born blind whom Jesus healed. When he returned able to see, people naturally asked him how he could see. He didn’t say, “Well, now that’s private. I keep those things to myself.” He didn’t say, “I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings or offend anybody, so I’ll have no further comment about that.”

How could he keep quiet about such a wonderful miracle? His real response is recorded in verse 11: “He answered and said, A man… called JESUS made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash’: and I went and washed, and I received sight.” (John 9:11)

Well, the Pharisees were upset over this miracle because Jesus healed on the Sabbath, so they set up court to gather evidence (and they did this on the Sabbath, I might add!). First, they hauled in this man’s parents and said, “If this is your son who was born blind, how in the world is he now able to see?” Trying to stay out of trouble, they said, “He’s of age; ask him yourself.”

So, they called him in and said, “Give God praise, because we know this man, Jesus, is a sinner.” I love his answer because he wasn’t afraid to call confess Christ. He said in verse 25 – “Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.” His theology on Christ’s divinity wasn’t nailed down yet, but one thing’s for sure: he confessed Christ openly and without hesitation—just like you and I should!

II. THE SECOND REASON YOU SHOULD CONFESS CHRIST IS THAT IT IS GOD’S ORDAINED MEANS OF REACHING THE UNSAVED WITH THE GOSPEL.

The spread of the Gospel depends upon you and me continually confessing Christ. This has been Christ’s plan from the dawn of Christianity.

The world—even many of your friends and loved ones—would tell you to just keep your religion to yourself; it’s a private thing; hide it in the privacy of your own home—but don’t take it to the market place; don’t go seeking converts—let them come to you—“Don’t call us; we’ll call you” idea. Well, why don’t we listen to what JESUS said?...

• In Jesus’s Parable of the Great Supper, when the original invited guests would not come to the supper, the lord said to his servant: “…Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel [persuade] them to come in, that my house may be filled.” (Luke 14:23), a parable Jesus told to illustrate our witness.