THE REWARDS FOR CONFESSING CHRIST
OR
THE DANGERS OF DENYING CHRIST
SUNDAY SEPT. 26, 2021
Scripture To Consider:
“Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit it will not be forgiven.”
“Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
Luke 12.8-12
Something To Consider:
The apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans, describes the greatest of rewards and the method whereby a person receives that reward. In Romans 10.9-10, Paul wrote, “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. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.”
Paul then added, “For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him [Jesus] will not be put to shame.’” And yet, according to Jesus, our denying Him will bring great shame by His denying us in the presence of the angels of God. Matthew, in his gospel chapter 10, reported Jesus saying, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him [or her] I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.”
There are great earthly and eternal rewards for confessing Christ and for confessing our sin. David declared in Psalm 32.5, “I acknowledged [confessed] my sin to You [God], and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.’ And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.” How often would it be wise for us to do as David often did?
Something Else To Consider:
There are many rewards awaiting those who confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Just as there are many dangers in denying the Lordship of Jesus in a person’s life. The greatest of these dangers is that salvation is not inherited by those who deny Christ. The joy of salvation and the freedom from sin can never be experienced by a person who chooses to deny God’s Son.
Another clear and present danger for a person to continue to deny Jesus is that denial may eventually lead to blasphemy against or speaking irreverently against the Holy Spirit. And all blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, according to Luke, Matthew, and Jesus, will not be forgiven.
Daniel, the Old Testament prophet God used to reveal and to record major end time events, was probably said by most onlookers at his life, that he had reason to deny God, but he did not! In approx. 604 B.C. Daniel was as a teenager, taken captive from Israel to Babylon. There he and others were trained for the king’s service.
The name Daniel means judgment of God. Chapter 9 of Daniel’s prophecy is one of the most referred to chapters by those studying and or teaching end time prophecy. And yet, Daniel began chapter 9 praying for the people of God who were also taken into captivity. In verse 5 of Daniel 9, his prayer is one of confession. “We have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts [Scriptures] and Your judgments .”
Daniel continued in verse 6, by stating, “Neither have we heeded [obeyed] Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, to our fathers, and all the people of the land [of Israel].” Therefore, God delivered them into captivity for their denying Him and His Word! What then is to be America’s fate in the future? Do we endeavor to assume we will escape the judgment and punishment of God for our abandoning God, Jesus Christ, and the Word of God? Absolutely not!
Something More To Consider:
According to Jesus, why can the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit not be forgiven? Why has this been named the unpardonable sin? Could it be because as long as an individual or group speaks evil against the Holy Spirit, they are at the same time rejecting His gentle drawing of them to Jesus?
And without the Holy Spirit leading a person in the direction of realizing their need for salvation, forgiveness, and repentance, a person remains forever a prisoner held captive by their sins. Without the ministry of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life the dangers of denying Jesus are both real and they are eternal.
But, on the other hand, the rewards are everlasting for confessing Jesus as Lord and Savior and soon coming King; and they extend from generation to generation. Therefore, have we taken full advantage of the divine help offered us by way of God’s Holy Spirit? We would be foolish not to!
A Few Final Words:
Daniel spent the first twenty-one verses of Daniel chapter 9, confessing the many sins of the people of Israel. The final six verses of Daniel chapter 9 concern God’s sending the angel Gabriel to Daniel to reveal the future to Daniel regarding the first coming of the Messiah [Jesus] and His death due to the sins of the world.
And in verse 27, Gabriel affirms to Daniel the coming of one who shall confirm a covenant with many for seven years. But in the middle of the seven years, three and a half years later, or 1,260 days later according to the Babylonian calendar of 360 days to a year, Satan’s evil Antichrist shall bring an end to the sacrifices and offerings that are to take place in a newly built temple in Jerusalem, and he shall bring about what both Daniel and Jesus describe as the abomination of desolation.
And at that point in history, all hell will break loose. And according to Jesus in Matthew 24.21-22, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake [those truly born-again enduring to the end faithful followers of Christ and not religion] those days will be shortened.”
And we know Jesus is speaking of end times because in the following verses, 29-31, Jesus described things that have never taken place but will take place just prior to His second coming. And even the angel Gabriel told Daniel that these things would take place at the end of the age. But, the revelation of end time events were not revealed to Daniel until after he confessed his sin and the sin of the nation of Israel before God.
Are we confused concerning end time events? If so, have we confessed our sins while confessing Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior? Our confessing Jesus Christ and our confessing our sin, brings rewards of eternal value, while denying Jesus will lead a person or persons to a place they do not wish to go. In the end during the rule and reign of the Antichrist, the temptation to deny Jesus will be extremely great. Do not take this lesson of a lifetime lightly!
Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, let us as Your people find comfort in confessing Christ before men, women, and young people, while there is yet time to do so. In Him Always, Amen!
According to Jesus 