The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart . . . because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. - Romans 10:8b-10
Beginning today, over the next seven Sundays until Easter, and after that the next seven Sundays until Pentecost, I would invite you to come with me on a journey of intentional and intensive fellowship with Jesus. Each week we will lift just one single, simple point of contact with God in Christ out of the scriptures for a focus. We are assured that if we will draw near to God he will surely draw near to us, and that if we diligently seek after God He will reward us with Himself. Today the focus of our meeting with Jesus is found in the word confession, and all that that word means.
CONFESSING IS ONE PLACE WHERE GOD IS NEAR
The text says "The word is near you, in your heart, on your lips"
CONFESSING IS ALWAYS GOD-ENABLED (God initiates every meeting with Himself) AND YET 'WHOSOEVER WILL' MAY COME !
If you have any desire to God, you are welcome on this wonderful journey!
CONFESSION—"JESUS IS LORD!"— IS THE 'LAUNCHING PAD TO LIFE'
To say "Jesus is Lord!" is the beginning point of an eternal Friendship (but) CONFESSION SHOULD ALSO BECOME A WAY OF LIFE "Jesus is Lord!" is not a one-time statement! (We say "I love you!" at the altar when we get married— but that shouldn't be the only time that we say it!!)
CONFESSION IS SIMPLE, YET IT IS GOD-ENABLED!
This verse is wonderful for what it DOES NOT say!
It does not say "If you believe like ME you will be saved ... or If you become a seasoned Christian and get your act together you will be saved . . . or "If you tithe" or "If you join a particular church"
No, it simply says if you (recognize how near God is and) say with your mouth JESUS IS LORD! and (truly) believe in your heart JESUS IS ALIVE: you will be saved!
Romans 12:3 says "No on can say "Jesus is LORD!" in this way except by the Holy Spirit! WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
CONFESSION IS MORE THAN JUST THE WORDS BEING SAID
More than a creedal confession ( that is necessary) It is a heart confession— it becomes a covenant confession!
CONFESSION IS LIKE THIS:
Abandonment of all other means of salvation "No other gods!" Jesus is our ONLY Savior!
Admission of personal inadequacy "I am not my own master— JESUS is Lord!"
Confession means admitting our need, our sin against God - It will involve "confession" in the other sense of the word
Confession will mean restitution "confessing Jesus" before those we have wronged . . . paying back what we have stolen; not as a 'works' to earn salvation, but as part of the confession of Jesus as Lord (Zaccheus/ RYR)
CONFESSION IN THE CHRISTIAN'S LIFE
We confess our Lord when we are baptized, and when we take communion; the SACRAMENTS of the church become meeting points; God comes very near!
Testimony and witnessing are also ways in which we confess "Jesus is Lord!" We need to tell other Christians! We also want to tell those who do not yet believe!
Confession is a constant "course correction" to keep us in step with Jesus.
I John 1:9; 2:1,2 is for Christians!
CONFESSION IS 'AN OVERCOMING GRACE'
The Gospel lesson for today is about the wilderness temptation of Jesus. If we believe that story— and with all my heart I tell you that it is true— if we believe that story that Jesus was tempted and overcame by the word of his own testimony then we too, in covenant with Him and by the same power He used and gives us we can overcome sin and temptation in our lives.
Jesus could say "No!" because He had already said a greater "YES!" to the Father's will. He would not break covenant with the Father.
WE can say "No!" to temptation and sin through the power of CONFESSION! When we say "YES!" to God by confessing 'JESUS IS LORD!"
497 "I'll Live for Him" is both a prayer to Jesus AND a confession that Jesus is Lord
Confession means abandoning all other hope Confession means covenant Confession means admitting need Confession involves admitting sin Confession includes Confessing Jesus as Lord is one of the holy places where God and man meet.
Every meeting with God is always initiated by Him. Apart from grace we are helpless even to reach out to receive His touch. The way we have confidence to confess Jesus, and draw near to God through him is by the gift of faith.
Confessing faith in Jesus Christ is the launching pad of the journey into life.
If you have any desire, any interest at all, the scriptures make it clear that you're welcome to come and begin to get to know God. This is an adventure on which every one of us is invited. Every one of us has a tiny bit of 'faith' in us— a 'God-responder' that is God's gift.
Confessing Jesus is not human effort or works.
Confessing Christ as Lord comes as a response to the gift of God's love: "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Our scripture text says, "If we believe in our hearts Jesus is alive— and if we say with our mouths that He is Lord, we shall be saved. That is what confessing Christ is.
It seems too simple to say, "Jesus is Lord!" as the basis for our salvation. But in fact it is a miracle of grace when those words are spoken from a God-given faith. The only way we know we can confess Jesus is by this gift of faith. We confess with our mouth, but we believe with our heart. Both of these are involved in confession— the outward testimony and the inward persuasion. If we have been granted the conviction that Jesus came, and died, and rose again for our salvation- - if we truly believe in our hearts that God has raised Jesus from the dead— then that inner persuasion is revealed truth. It is a gift of God.
It seems so simple just to say: Jesus is Lord! And yet a wonderful miracle happens when for the first time someone deliberately says that from the heart. A permanent covenant is established. Jesus Himself said, "I say unto you, everyone who confesses me before men, the Son of Man shall confess him before the angels of God; but he who denies me before men shall be denied before the angels of God."
-------
Dr. Russell Metcalfe is Pastor Emeritus of the Wollaston Church of the Nazarene. Permission to reprint or publish this material is GRANTED as long as the reprinting or republishing is not-for-profit.
You can access more of Dr. Metcalfe’s sermons at his scripturally indexed sermon archives web site. Now with MP3 audio sermons and audio bonus material. http://russellmetcalfesermons.nazarene.nl/Sermons/Sermons.htm
