Luke 12:8-9

Book of Luke in chapter 12. Let me pick up reading with verse 4 and read through verse 9. Our focus is going to be on verses 8 and 9 this morning. And I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that they have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear, fear him which, after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell, yea, I say unto you fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two farlings? Not one of them is forgotten before God. But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Also, I say unto you. Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the son of man confess before the angels of God. He that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. And the Lord blessed to us is sacred and holy word this morning. At one point, Samson allowed the men of Judah to turn him over to the Philistines, their bitter enemies. It was shameful that his own people sided with the enemies of the enemies of the people of God that turned him over. and they were more worried about what the Philistines might do to them if he didn’t come with them and submit to this bondage before the Philistines. But Samson did not fear the Philistines because God’s spirit was with him. And so he courageously went. Whatever bounds they put on him at the time, he, he, immediately broke off after he got turned over to the Philistines and he made short work of the enemies of God with a jawbone of an ass he found he killed a thousand of them and had a thousand men to collect him and take him back and he killed them all he fearlessly faced the enemies of the people God for God was with him the Christian life requires the exercise of courage you live in a hostile world which hates Christ, hates the kingdom of God, hates everything about the Christian. And therefore, we find to confess Christ, before such a group of people, such a society, is bound to lead to some type of persecution, for the people of God. It’s just going to happen. Even worse, you may be put to death, as Jesus said in verse 4, don’t be afraid of them that can kill the body, and after that they can’t do anything else. But it shows you that some will. Passage, Jesus said, they think they do God’s service by putting you to death. There are those in the religious realm who have no clue about the things of God, really, and they would think that putting you to death would be a positive. Indeed, your fear of God should enable you to overcome the fear of man. And you should trust, as we said last week in God’s providence, that he will take care of you. And we looked at that in verses 6 and 7. But I want to speak this morning. on the duty of confessing Christ. The duty of confessing Christ is incumbent on you as a believer. Whosoever shall confess me before men, the first part of verse 8 speaks about. Now confessing of Christ on the part of the apostles, on the part of the Apostles, on the part of the 70, certainly would imply the public preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that he is the Lord and Savior, and the doctrines of the gospel would be proclaimed by them. They have a special duty to do this. Remember how Paul said in his Roman epistle, I’m not ashamed of the gospel of the gospel. Jesus Christ for it is the power of God under salvation to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. He’s not ashamed to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ before men, regardless of how they treat him. And if you read through the book of Acts, he wasn’t treated very well. Beaten, scourged, ridiculed, It’s life threatened and at one point even stoned. But of course some ministers might cower in fear when they have to face the hostility of the world around them. And so Jesus here certainly is indicating the need to publicly proclaim the message that they have been called to do. and not be silent. You remember what God told Jeremiah. He said, be not afraid of their faces, but I am with me to deliver thee, said, said the Lord. Yeah, I know it’s a difficult task, but don’t be afraid of their faces. Proclaim the message I’ve given you. Give them the very words that I’ve told you. Now, professing Christ must not be restricted to just those who preach. We have to understand that indeed, the warning here extends to all Christ’s followers, from the greatest to the least, that they have a duty to confess Christ before this world. That he is their Lord, that he is their master, that they’re trusting in him for salvation, that they believe in His gospel, and so forth. So that you, as a common believer, therefore, have a duty to speak and yourself to be a faith. follower of Jesus Christ. Now it is true that the Jews passed a resolution that if any man would confess Jesus Christ, they would be thrown out of the synagogues. That was the threat. And we read it was very successful. For the scripture tells us in John Chapter 12, verses 42 and 43, that many of the Jews who believed he was the Messiah, would not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogues, for they love the praise of men more than the praise of God. They wanted to be secret believers. But the condemnation is, you just want the praise of men. That’s more important to you than God’s praise and recognition. Do you remember the more, in John chapter 9? The man that was born blind, and Christ heals him, and he’s publicly talking about Jesus Christ in a very positive light. And even though the scribes and the Pharisees tried, and all the Jewish leadership really, they tried to get him to denounce Jesus Christ as a sinner. He heals on the Sabbath day. You know, he’s doing all these evil. things. He wouldn’t do it. And what did they do? They threw him out of the synagogue. They threw him out. And so we see this was a real threat. And it should be noted that this only escalated to the point where the opposition was such that you would be imprisoned. You would be put to death if you confess Christ. And we read, and you’ll read about Saul. and let me just read from Acts 9 and Saul yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of Christ. This is this is how it was. The martyrs were confessors of Christ. They wouldn’t deny Jesus Christ even when the Roman government threatened them with all kinds of death, all sorts of tortures. They refused to deny Jesus Christ. My friends, there is no way to be a secret Christian and hide your faith. Christ expects you to publicly confess him and your allegiance to him. And there’s no way around that. There are many who claim they believe in Christ, but they’re too timid. to publicly confess him. They have a desire to blend in with the world so that they do not receive the criticism and the hatred and the ridicule. In other words, they can avoid any shame this way. They don’t want to suffer for Christ’s sake. Followers of Christ cannot be neutral. You must take your stand with Christ or with the world. one of the other. Christ says you have to confess me before a minute. Remember a story about a man during the Civil War period who lived on the Mason-Dixon line? He had a farm right there on the line and he didn’t want to get involved on either side. So he wore a Confederate top but a Union pair of pants and hat. The only problem is he got shot at by both of the men. sides. It didn’t work out so well for him. My friends, you can’t escape and expect to escape the hatred of the world and the scorn of the church by playing neutral. The church will scorn you and the world will still hate you. Christ expects you to publicly confess him in your daily life through this evil world. That is the clear teaching of this text of scripture. You are to be a witness for Christ in your family, among your relatives, with your co-workers, before your neighbors. Now you remember the maniac of Gadaerod that Christ healed. He was back in sanity and cast out the demons that were troubling him. and what did he tell him? He wanted to follow Christ and go with Christ. What did Christ tell him? Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord had done for thee and have had compassion. Publicly confess me before your family and friends and so forth. And that’s what he did. One of the Gospels that tell us that he went beyond his own city and spoke to others in the area about Christ and what he had done for him. You should simply use your daily opportunities that you have to speak for Christ and to declare the gospel. If you love Christ, there will be, this will be something you would desire to do because it honors your Savior. so you must not be ashamed to confess Jesus Christ. I think that’s obvious. Now let me say, secondly, here, under this first point, is you will find it difficult at times to confess Christ. Let’s not make it something that’s not hard. It’s not always an easy thing. This world is hostile. there are things of God. And it’s getting more hostile in our own country all the time. It will expose you to laughter, ridiculed, contempt, mockery, enmity, and persecution. What you need is Christian courage. God can make the righteous, as he says in Proverbs, as bold as the lion. I’m reminded of John the Baptist. he comes before King Herod and he says to him, it’s not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife. Now that was a bold thing to say to this evil man. Of course, he ended up in prison because of his boldness. But he told him the truth. He spoke for Christ. My friends, it requires courage to be able to withstand persecution. In the book of Jeremiah in chapter 38, Jeremiah the prophet boldly proclaimed God’s message to the people at Jerusalem who are under siege by the Babylonians. If they remain in the city, they either die of pestilence of the sword. But if if they remain in the city, they either die of pestilence of the sword. But if, they would defect to the Babylonians, they would live. So God advised the Israelites to surrender to the Babylonians, for God had given the city over to the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. It was as simple as that. However, the Israelite princes weren’t very happy with Jeremiah proclaiming this message from God. And so they went to the king. We got to shut this guy up. We got to throw him into the dungeon. They threw him into the dungeon. And it was interesting that Jeremiah was cast into the dungeon in the courtyard of the prison, and they lowered him into this dungeon. And he sank down, it’s like a well of some sort, it seemed like, and he sank down in the mud at the bottom of this well. and my friends, he would have died. Had not someone went to the king and pleaded his case, and the king changed his mind and said, well, okay, get him out. And you remember they took some rags and things and ropes, and he had to put the rags under his armpits, and they pulled him out of that mud. That’s what he got for proclaiming the message of Christ. took courage to do that. It’s no wonder he was told at the very beginning of his prophecy. Don’t be afraid of their faces. You’ve got to tell them what I told them. I told you to tell them. So these things happen. The scripture says this. Be of good courage. He shall strengthen your heart, O ye that hope in the Lord. Psalm 31.24. Don’t be overwhelmed. Be of good courage. He’ll strengthen you. He’ll help you. He’ll help you. If you’ll be determined to do what’s right. A great testing of your faith is going to take place sooner or later. Are you willing to testify for Christ? Is it your faith genuine or is it not? So your faith needs to be able to withstand any type of ridicule or persecution. And yes, it requires courage to bear reproach for Christ’s sake. I’m reminded of Moses when he was being raised as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. But he saw his own people subjected to bondage. And he threw his lot in with the people of God. He cast aside all the glitter and glamour of the position. that he had as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Remember? And the Bible says he esteemed the approach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt for he had respect under the recompense. Think about that. This was called the reproach of Christ to cast himself in with the people of God. For Christ’s sake he did so and he expected that the Lord would reward him and he’d come out ahead in the end which of course we know we did. That’s what the scriptures tell us. Here’s what Isaiah 51, verse 7 and 8 say. Harken unto me ye that know righteousness, the people and whose heart is my law, fear ye not the reproach of men. Neither be ye a afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment and the worms shall eat them like wool, but my righteousness shall be forever and my salvation from generation to generation. Don’t be afraid. First Peter 4.14 says, if ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye? For the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. My friends, it is going to require some courage to speak to our relatives, to our friends, to the world at large. It requires courage to testify of Christ before government officials, which many people of God had to do. Courage involves a couple of principles. Let me mention one, a hope and the mercy of God. If God is on your side, you need not fear what man can do unto you. You’re trusting in his mercy to take care of. Two, a trust in God’s providence. God will work all things for your good ultimately and will not test you above that what you’re able to bear. You should be able to do this. He’ll give you the courage and strength to do it. The third thing I’ll mention is this. Reflect upon the biblical examples that we have. Peter and John were beaten by the Sanhedron body for preaching Jesus Christ at the temple. They were told, you must not go out and preach about Christ anymore or worse. They were come upon. Paul says this, for I am ready not to be bound only but to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. I’m willing to take the gospel to Jerusalem and to the people there even if it means imprisonment or even worse death. And he did take the gospel. Don’t let fears with regard to the future overwhelm you. You can have God’s peace rest upon you because you’re doing what he requires of you even though it may be the hardest thing you ever do. I have found that we all have fears. It’s not that you that people aren’t afraid. It’s that people overcome their fear. And that’s what we have to do. We overcome our fear by doing what God has commanded us to do. So if you’re afraid, that’s nothing new. That’s natural. You do it anyhow. You speak up for Christ the best you can, regardless of how fearful you may be. Consider the exhortations and promise of God. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen you. Yea, I will help you. Isn’t that what he tells us? He’ll help us. He’ll strengthen us. We should be much in prayer for the grace of courage to be upon us. I like this story in Acts where the apostles were threatened, as I mentioned, by the Jewish religious leaders, not to teach anymore in the name of Jesus Christ. You stop preaching to the people. So, So what did the apostles do? They go back, they explain to the other apostles and the disciples that were there. This is what they’ve threatened us. So what did they do? They prayed. The Bible says they prayed under the Lord. That despite these threats, God would grant them a holy boldness to proclaim Christ anyway. And you know what? The scripture tells us? and the Lord filled them with the Holy Ghost and enabled them to speak the Word of God with boldness. That’s in Acts 4, verses 29 through 31. Isn’t that what we should be doing? Pray for it. For boldness to speak, for Christ. If he did it for them, he could do it for us. I hope that we’d be such that it the truth burns within us so much that we can’t withhold it in. We have to say something. My friends pray for the courage to do so. Wait upon the Lord, be of good courage, he shall strengthen thine heart. Psalm 2714. It’s incumbent on every believer to confess Christ in this world. I don’t think there’s any question about that. I think this verse is very clear. And he says, whosoever shall confess me before men. That’s the duty. Him shall the son of man can also confess before the angels of God. But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. The second main point this morning is this. Your great motive in confessing Christ is his acknowledgement of you as one of his children. The Lord declares that if you do not confess him, he will not confess you before the angels of God. And you might say, well, what’s all about of confessing this before the angels of God? I think a considerable part of the happiness of glorified saints will they will be that they will stand and in high regard or esteem in the sight of the holy angels. They will love them, they will honor them, and own them, as Christ’s servants too. In other words, you will be accepted as fellow servants and companions of the holy angels who are carrying out God’s will. Because you’re both serving Christ. Now, Matthew’s Gospel on his scripture reference on this section says this, something else, before his father also was in heaven. Not just the angels, but his father also, you’ll be recognized. Now, if you don’t do this, on the day of judgment, in the presence of his father, in the present of his father, in the presence of the holy angels, in presence of the assembled universe, he will not own you as his own. He will say, I never knew you. You will not hear. Well done, thou faithful, thou good and faithful, sir, enter ye into the joy of the Lord. You won’t hear that. You will hear, depart from me. You worker of an that’s what you’ll hear. He will refuse to acknowledge you as one of his people. And my friends, that’s not the place you want to be cast aside by Christ because he’s your only hope of entering in the heaven. You’ll be disowned. As cowardly, as faithless, as a deserterter. He will not deliver you. from the raft to come, but cast you into the lake of fire. You will stand before the judge as helpless, as defenseless, as unforgiven, and condemned as a lost sinner deserving of eternal health. You see how much hinges here on you confessing the Lord Jesus Christ before men? It separates the sheep from the goats. It separates Christ, friends from his enemies. It separates the wheat from the tears. It separates the true believer from the hypocrite. Now, it’s not every denial of Christ that will necessarily bring with it a judge casting aside on the last day. Thankfully, we also read a Peter denying Christ at one point in a terrible manner. He denied he he was the disciple. Christ said, I don’t even know the man. But you know what? He was brought to repentance. And afterwards, he went out and declared on the day of Pentecost and afterwards Christ had publicly confessed him. He didn’t stay in that state. We may have a moment of weakness. We’re talking about those who will not come out and do it at all. Peter was not of that stride. On the other hand, and I’ll say this. Not every confession of Christ will necessarily cause the Lord to own you as his own on the day of judgment. There are those who preach Christ who are still lost. Not everyone that said unto him, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Have we done this in your name? Have we cast out demons in your name? Devils? Have we done all these miracles in your name, Jesus? It’s not the faithless, hypocritical, or temporary confessor that is truly confess in Christ. Your confession must be sincere and genuine and genuine and the outcome of a saving faith. For with the heart, man believeth under righteousness, and with the mouth then, confession is made under salvation. If the heart doesn’t believe and the righteousness of Christ, isn’t applied so that they’re saved, then the mouth can’t confess Christ properly from the heart. If your heart is unbelieving, your confession is not under salvation. That’s all there is to it. It’s a false confession. So how do you stand today? Do you confess the Lord Jesus Christ before others or have you refused out of fear to do so? You see what Jesus Christ plainly says here. Don’t ignore it. Don’t consider it un- essential. Don’t think that you can be the secret Christian. It’s not to be. It’s not to be. Let me close by saying this. It was shameful. That Samson’s all people. Turn them over. to the Philistines, their enemies. Why shouldn’t they stand with their judge? God raised them up, him up, to deliver them from the Philistines and it wouldn’t stand with them. Fear of man. Fear of man. In a similar way. Why will not those who proclaim the believe in Christ confess him openly as shameful and sinful sinful sinful fear of man. You claim to be believers in Christ. Pray that you will confess the Lord properly and that he would grant you the boldness to do so. Remember, perfect love of the Savior will cast out any fear of man that we might have. If you truly love Christ, it will overcome any fears or hesitation you may have. Let’s close with the word of prayer this morning. Heavenly Father, we pray that we may be a people that are willing to do as you’ve commanded us in this text. We know, Father, confessing of Christ in our day is not always an easy thing. But I pray would do it anyhow. I pray that we would have a witness for Christ wherever we go. and that we carry the gospel with us and speak up for the Savior. Help us not to be fearful of men. And we pray you’d bless us as your people. As we do, as we go about doing this, you give us souls for our labor. You give a testimony of the gospel before this world. And we’re trusting in you, Lord, to protect us. to help us and to encourage us and to strengthen us to do this. We asked all these things in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, with Thanksgiving. Amen. Let’s stand for the better…