weekly sermon
9-30-07
Confess and
Claim
Last week we talked about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Gifts that only God can
unwrap in our lives, and how we are to use them and benefit from them.
This week we will talk about the last message in our series on, "How to live a
Christian life".
Turn in your Bibles with me to 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." To confess Jesus before man is to let others to
know that you have a belief in Jesus Christ. This is a confession like no other.
We hear the word confession quite often. We hear it most often in reference of
confessing our sins. But this confession here is the confession of Christ to
man. Confessing Jesus before man shows Him that you are NOT ashamed of Him and
that you are faithful to Him. If we can not confess Jesus to mankind, then He
can not stand up for us to His Father.
The best way to confess Jesus before man is, what us Christians would call,
soul-winning. We have talked about this in the past, if you have read any of the
archives. We talked about spreading the gospel to every creature. Spreading of
the gospel is a way of confessing Jesus before man and winning souls. We should
be busy at soul-winning and keep occupied in all phases of Christian work
possible.
Look with me in Proverbs 11:30, "The fruit of the righteous [is] a tree of life;
and he that winneth souls [is] wise." Soul winning, it states here, is wise, and
is a part of what makes a soul-winner righteous, so that he may receive the tree
of life. The fruit of those righteous is the gift of giving them eternal life.
We strive to be wise as God tells us in this verse here in Proverbs. In Daniel
12:3, it says, "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the
firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and
ever." All this is saying is that the wise are as bright as the sky, and if they
win souls then they will shine as the stars for ever.
It only seems fair to say that, since we were created by God, we should be
knowledgeable of God and His works. If we look in 2 Timothy then we will see
that it in fact states this. 2Timothy 3:15-17, "And that from a child thou hast
known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation
through faith which is in Christ Jesus. (16)All scripture [is] given by
inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness: (17)That the man of God may be
perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." This simply says that God
instilled in us, from birth, the scriptures so that we may do the will of God,
just as Jesus did while He was on this earth.
Now we have confessed. We confess our faith in Jesus before man. We have read
our Bibles, as we learned about a few weeks ago, then the learned the
scriptures, we applied the scriptures, by spreading the gospel, and started
winning souls. This spreading of the gospel is our way of confessing our faith
in God. And if we are going to confess our faith then we should justly claim all
the benefits of the promises of God and appropriate by faith all that He has
promised.
To make our claim turn with me to 2 Peter 1:1-4, "Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us
through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: (2)Grace and
peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our
Lord, (3)According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that
[pertain] unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called
us to glory and virtue: (4)Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and
precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." These verses
talk about a man that was truly a great Christian. A man that walked the
Christian life that we have been speaking about for the past many weeks. Peter
was the type of apostle that was confused at times, kept his foot in his mouth
most of the time, but had such faith that Jesus referred to him as the rock on
which Jesus would build His church. If we can only hope to obtain the type of
faith that Peter had, we would surely receive those precious promises stated in
verse 4. This shows us here how we are to act to make the claim that we have
been discussing.
We have talked about this many times in the passed many weeks, that we are to
love one another with such love that we care so much for the eternal lives of
man that we would do everything in our power to bring this soul to Christ. We
are the few, the just, that call ourselves Christians. We are the ones, with the
faith, that are to stand and profess Jesus Christ as our saviour, and confess
Him to the rest of the world that they may have that same saviour. Romans 1:17,
"For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is
written, The just shall live by faith." This is the faith that we have been
talking about.
We have been put here to do one thing, the same thing that Jesus came to do.
Jesus came to earth for one purpose, to do His Fathers will, being that of
winning souls to God. Jesus, as I have stated before, came for one reason only,
to die on the cross that we may have eternal life. There is no way sinful man
could ever face a perfect God, except that there was a lamb sent to not cover,
but wash our sins away, that we might be able to have everlasting life with a
gracious God. John 3:16, " For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life."
To me it is very sad to think, that Jesus came to this earth, was ridiculed,
beaten, spit upon, abused, and crucified for one reason, to save sinful man, and
yet we do nothing about that one reason. If we do NOT share this gospel, to save
souls of others, then we lose the real meaning of why Jesus died. Jesus came
KNOWING that He was going to die for us, yet He came anyway, and died to save
our souls. Let us make sure that the saviour we most love did NOT die in vain.
Let us make sure we spread this gospel and confess our faith that we may do the
will of our Father in Heaven.
If you know the Lord as your saviour, then it is your just duty to tell someone,
anyone, everyone, about Jesus, that they may also have everlasting life. If you
do NOT know about this saviour, then please look deep in your heart, hear the
little voice telling you that this is the emptiness you have been looking for to
fill your void. This is the ONLY way you will live the eternal life that we have
been talking about, to accept Jesus as your personal saviour. If you have never
done this, then please say a simple prayer with me.
Dear Lord, come into my life and forgive me of my sins, and give me the gift of
everlasting life. Amen.
If you have said this simple prayer, then we believe that you have received
salvation. We would love to rejoice with you, so please drop us a note, in our
link, to let us know and confess Jesus before man, so that we may send you a few
things that we hope will help you in your new Christian walk.
With Love in Christ,
Pastor Stone