Confess Lord Jesus
ACT up part 2
12/20/09 AM
Text: Romans 10:9-10
INTRODUCTION
We began this month considering “our year in review”, the need to examine ourselves to ensure we are in the faith of Jesus (2 Corinthians 13:5.) We have learned there is great value in examining ourselves and our conduct by the word of God so that we may …keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. Philippians 3:16b ( NASB ) And last Lord’s day we saw in that same passage (Philippians 3:13-16) that the value of self examination does not negate our need to keep looking forward in our Christian walk, our need to …press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14).
This lesson continues a three-part series intended to help us reach forward to what lies ahead, not just in the coming year but into eternity as we reach for the prize of eternal life given to us by our God through His son Jesus. The series is called “ACT up” and addresses three key elements to successfully answer the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
The first element we addressed last week, the need to acknowledge God. We who seek after God must believe that He is – ever present, all knowing, all powerful. We acknowledge His sovereignty and accept His word as the standard by which we live our lives. Our God is the great I AM.
This morning we consider the second element: our need to confess Lord Jesus.
Romans 10:9-10 ( NASB ) 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.
I. Confessing
A. Confessing here is Professing
1. Greek: homologeō (phonetic: homo-lo-geh'-o)
a. to say the same thing as another, i.e. to agree with, assent
b. to concede
c. to profess: to declare openly, speak out freely
2. One must confess, or profess, to the gospel message of Jesus (2 Corinthians 9:13 “…for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ”
a. This then denotes a public declaration of our agreement with what God has declared, and extends to his doctrines about his own nature, holiness, and law;
b. Including all His declarations about our lost estate, our sin, and need of a Savior; about the necessity of a change of heart and change of life; and about death and the judgment; about heaven and hell.
3. Confessing Lord Jesus is acknowledging all God has done and professing our agreement to, and belief in, all that as been written concerning His Son.
B. Confessing comes from a believing heart
1. Romans 10:10 ( NASB ) “for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
2. Our confession is a profession of what is in our heart.
a. This is not a mere assent of understanding; it is a statement of faith, validating what we believe in our heart to be true.
b. Luke 6:45c “…for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.
c. Matthew 7:21 " Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
II. Confessing Jesus As Lord.
A. We acknowledge His authority over our lives.
1. Romans 10:9-10 ( NASB ) that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord,
2. We acknowledge Him as our master
a. The title Lord (kurios) carried great weight in Paul’s day. It was a title of great respect, a form of address for Roman emperors, a title given to Greek gods, and the title used in the Greek translation of Old Testament to translate the Hebrew word Yahweh.
b. When we confess that Jesus as Lord, we are acknowledging his rank or supreme place. We are pledging our obedience and worship; we are placing our life under his protection for safekeeping.
c. We are pledging ourselves and our resources to his control for direction and service. Lord is intended to represent the highest authority to which we submit.
B. Confessing Him before men
1. There is no set number of people we must confess to when we make our confession of faith.
a. 1 Timothy 6:12 “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
b. Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” A worship service can consist of as few as two people, and all that is required of us is to confess before those who are present whenever the Lord calls us to surrender to him.
2. Our one-time confession is sufficient for our salvation.
a. However we should still be confessing Jesus’ name on a daily basis out of our love for him and our love for others, as we don’t want to see anyone die without knowing Jesus Christ.
b. There is no need to be afraid to confess Jesus’ name before other people because we read here that “Whoever believes on Him will not be disappointed” (Romans 10:11).
c. What his tells us is that whoever, from the belief in his heart, makes the confession of Jesus Christ as Lord will not have to worry about being ashamed in front of other people.
C. Will Lead to Him confessing us
1. Luke 12:8 ( NASB ) “And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God;”
a. Jesus goes on to say in verse 9:
but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
2. Revelation 3:5 “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”
a. Our salvation begins with our belief and confession of Jesus as Lord it continues as we live to overcome this world.
D. All Will One Day Confess Him
1. The choice to confess Jesus as Lord is ours to make, God had given us the freedom to choose.
2. We may not confess him now, but there will come a Day that we will whenever we stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
3. Philippians 2:8-11 (NASB) Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
CONCLUSION
To seek after God, to follow His ways, means we must believe that His is – ever present, all knowing, all powerful. It means confessing His Son as our Lord and Master and living our lives not for ourselves but for the great I AM.
Invitation
