Will You Confess Jesus?
Luke 22:31-34 & 54-62; Luke 23:44-46; Luke 24:1-12
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - May 31, 2009
*One time someone in a crowd shouted out to Billy Graham, “God is dead! God is dead!” With kindness, Billy Graham replied, “That’s strange, because I just talked to Him in prayer a few minutes ago.” (1)
*Billy Graham was not afraid to confess his faith in Christ.
*Today we usually think of confession in terms of admitting something we did wrong: confessing our sins to God or confessing to a crime. But from a Biblical point of view, “confess” simply means to “say the same thing.” So confessing our sins means to say the same thing about them that God says.
*And it turns out that God doesn’t just want us to confess negative things. He wants us to confess positive things. God doesn’t just want us to confess our faults. He wants us to confess our faith. For example, in Matt 10:27-33, Jesus said:
27. “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops.
28. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
29. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.
30. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
32. Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
33. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
*In Rom 10:9-11 Paul said that the righteousness of faith speaks in this way:
9. 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.
10. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.
11. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’’
*God wants us to confess our faith. And based on the Scripture today, here is our confession:
1. We believe that we will face spiritual tests. (Luke 22:31-34)
*In vs. 31 Jesus told Peter, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.”
*Satan is certainly still at work in the world today. Satan wanted to sift Peter, and Christian, you can be sure that he wants to sift us.
*In Bible days grain was sifted a couple of ways. One way was to toss the grain up, where the chaff and dust would be blown away, leaving the heavier grain in the basket or cloth.
*I remember my mom using a sifter when I was a kid. They either had a crank or a spring-loaded pull handle. We played with them like they were some kind of space death ray or something, -- but Mom’s sifter was really used to break up clumps of flour. Sifters separate things.
*I used to work for the State Highway Dept. in Georgia, and my main job was asphalt inspection. We had a chemical that would wash all of the tar out of the asphalt. Then we would shake the rocks through a stack of sifters with holes that got smaller and smaller all the way down. The top sifter had holes over an inch big. -- But by the time you got to the bottom, all you had was fine sand.
*Sifters separate things. And Satan wants to sift us. He wants to separate husbands from their wives. He wants to separate children from their parents.
-Satan wants to separate you from your family, from your Christian brothers and sisters, from church, from the Bible and from God’s purpose for your life.
-Satan wants to separate you from the good works and witness God wants in you.
-And worst of all, Satan wants to separate you from your faith in Jesus Christ.
2. We believe that we will face spiritual tests. -- And we believe that sometimes we will fail those tests.
*Peter was so sure of himself in vs. 33. There he told Jesus, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.” Of course, Jesus knew better, and in vs. 34 He replied, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.”
*That night Peter did miserably fail the Lord three times. Listen again to vs. 54-62:
54. Then, having arrested (Jesus), they led Him and brought Him into the high priest’s house. And Peter followed at a distance.
55. Now when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them.
56. And a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat by the fire, looked intently at him and said, "This man was also with Him.’’
57. But he denied Him, saying, "Woman, I do not know Him.’’
58. And after a little while another saw him and said, "You also are of them.’’ But Peter said, "Man, I am not!’’
59. Then after about an hour had passed, another confidently affirmed, saying, “Surely this fellow also was with Him for he is a Galilean.”
60. But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are saying!’’ And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.
61. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me 3 times.’’
62. Then Peter went out and wept bitterly.
*Have you ever denied Jesus? Our first reaction is to say, “No! I’ve never done that, and I never would do that.” Well maybe we haven’t denied the Lord actively, but how about passively? Have you committed the sin of silence when you should have spoken up about Jesus? I certainly have and I think all of us would have to say, “I have been silent when I should have confessed the truth about Jesus.”
*Peter missed 3 opportunities to take a stand for Jesus.
-How many opportunities have we missed?
*Penn Gillette is a magician and comedian that you may have seen on TV. He is also an atheist. But Penn has a clip on YouTube where he tells about a man who talked to him after a show last year. This businessman had been to the show the night before, and he came back, not to see the show again, but to see Penn after the show and give him a Gideon New Testament.
*The man told Penn, “I wrote in the front of it And I want you to have this. I am kind of proselytizing.” (We would usually say “witnessing” and today we would say “confessing.”)
*As Penn talked about that encounter, he was obviously moved and said, “He looked me right in the eye, and it was really wonderful. I believe he knew that I was an atheist, but he was not defensive. And he looked me right in the eyes and he was truly complimentary and kind and nice and sane. And then gave me this Bible.
*If you believe that’s there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life or whatever. -- And you think that well it’s not really worth telling this because it would be socially awkward.
-How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize them?
-How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?
*I mean if I believed beyond the shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you and you didn’t believe it, and that truck was bearing down on you. There is a certain point where I tackle you, and this is more important than that.
*This guy was a really good guy. He was polite and honest and sane. -- And he cared enough about me to proselytize and give me a Bible, which had written in it a little note to me and then like five phone numbers and an email address, if I wanted to get in touch with him.” (2)
*That unknown businessman passed the test with flying colors. Unfortunately, Peter failed the test, and in vs. 61-62:
61. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me 3 times.’’
62. Then Peter went out and wept bitterly.
3. Peter failed the test. Sometimes so will we, but we have hope, because we believe that Jesus is always faithful.
*We may fail, -- but Jesus never fails! We first see the Lord’s faithfulness even before Peter denied the Lord. In vs. 31-34, the Lord knew all about Peter’s coming failure, but the Lord did not forsake His follower. Jesus was faithful to Peter, and in vs. 32 He told Peter, “I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
*Jesus didn’t say to Peter “IF you return to Me.” No. The Lord said, “WHEN you return to me, strengthen your brothers.”
-There was never any doubt about it, because our God is faithful! Peter may have failed, but his faith never failed, because Jesus was faithfully praying for him. -- And Christian, the Lord is faithfully praying for you.
*Rom 8:34 in the New Living Translation asks, “Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us, and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.”
*Jesus is faithful to pray for us, but the best way He showed His faithfulness was in dying for us. The arrest and trial had already started when Peter denied the Lord. -- And in just a few more hours, Jesus would die on the cross for us.
*The VBS Scripture for this key part of the story is Luke 23. In vs. 44-46:
44. And it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. (That is, from noon ‘til 3.)
45. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two.
46. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, `into Your hands I commend My spirit.’ ’’ And having said this, He breathed His last.
*In vs. 44&45, the sun refused to shine, because nobody ever died like Jesus died. Yes, thousands more died on a cross, but only Jesus was the spotless Lamb of God who died to take away the sins of the world.
-Only Jesus could have completely avoided death.
-Only Jesus died so that we could live forever.
*Again in vs. 45, “The veil of the temple was torn in two.”
-You see, in the Old Testament, God was almost unapproachable. His glory rested on the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem.
-Only the High Priest could go into the Holy of Holies, only once a year. -- And only by the sprinkling of blood to protect him from death.
*There was a thick curtain in front of the Holy of Holies. Church this was no ordinary curtain. It was 4 inches thick! And when Jesus died on the Cross, God split that curtain from top to bottom. God was showing us that the door to Heaven and to Him was opened through the cross of Jesus Christ.
*One pastor was telling the children how this curtain miraculously split open.
-A little boy asked, “How big was the hole?”
-And the preacher answered, “Big enough for anyone to get through.” (3)
-Big enough for anyone who puts their faith in Jesus.
*We should trust in the Lord, because He was even faithful to die on the cross for us. In vs. 46, “When Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, ‘Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit.’ And having said this, He breathed His last.”
*Faithful to the Father, faithful to Peter, faithful to die, faithful to us, -- Jesus is faithful!
4. Here is our confession: We believe that Jesus is always faithful. -- And we believe that we will live forever with Jesus.
*Jesus was faithful to die, but He is alive! Jesus rose from the dead, and we see this in Luke 24:1-12:
1. Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.
2. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
3. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.
5. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?
6. "He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee,
7. saying, `The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ’’
8. And they remembered His words.
9. Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
10. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.
11. And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.
12. But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.
*Peter was still confused in vs. 12, but Jesus was alive! And later that same day Jesus appeared to His followers. In vs. 36-39:
36. As they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, "Peace to you.’’
37. But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit.
38. And He said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?
39. Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.’’
*It would take 40 more days of seeing the Risen Savior. It would also take the coming of the Holy Spirit for Peter to get a good grip on what had happened. But Jesus was alive! And the one who denied Jesus before the cross would never deny Him again, because he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that Jesus was risen from the dead!
*Jesus Christ is alive! He is our Risen Savior! -- And because He lives, we can live forever with Him, if we will trust in Him and receive Him as our Savior and Lord. Then we will be able to confess Jesus to the whole world, because we will know Him in a personal way.
*Teresa Eppinette is one of the ladies in Mary’s Sunday School class. Her family has gone through a lot this past year. A nephew was struck and killed by a car a couple of weeks ago. And Teresa’s sister Beth has been in the hospital most of this year. Last year, Teresa’s mom died after a long battle with cancer.
*Several weeks ago, Teresa’s dad told me about her mom’s last hours in this world. Mrs. Stapleton was too weak to talk with her family or even hold their hands. -- But as God often does, He seemed to pull back the curtain so Mrs. Stapleton could see to the other side. She would raise her hand toward Heaven and say, “Lord Jesus, I love you so much. Jesus, I love you so much.”
*Over and over: “Lord Jesus, I love you so much.” May God help us to have this kind of confession -- today, tomorrow and for ever. It all comes back to Jesus: Confess Him. You can do that today. The first step is to call on the Lord. Let’s pray.
1. Found in “What Is Your Response to the Resurrection?” by Eric Ritz - Mark 16:1-8 - (Series: “The Last Seven Words of the Cross” - www.sermons.com)
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JHS8adO3hM
3. 03/13/02 email from Sermonillustrations.com
