Last Sunday we looked at the fact that Jesus is the end of the law for those who believe. Now the law is very important. Jesus did not come to abolish the law he came to fulfill it. He satisfied the demands of the law for every believer. Now we find the Apostle coming back to Moses and comparing two kinds of righteousness. Righteousness that based on the law demands that we keep all of it. And, that is impossible! Righteousness based on faith does not make such a demand. Faith does not require an effort on our part, instead, the way is provided by our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God! We do not have to drag him down or lift him up. He has done it all!
We have in today's passage a summary of the gospel of Jesus Christ. A content is given, a commitment is demanded and a confession is called for. Here Paul is stressing the importance of understanding the fact that we cannot do anything to save ourselves. The New Testament is filled with references to the fact that Christ Jesus himself did everything necessary for man's salvation. Of course, it is necessary for man to respond. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak,… (2 Corinthians 4:13)
The spirit of faith calls forth a confession. Elvina Hall penned these words more than 150 years ago:
I hear the Savior say, "Thy strength indeed is small,
child of weakness, watch and pray,
find in Me thine all in all."
Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe;
sin had left a crimson stain,
he washed it white as snow.
It is extremely important for us to know what salvation is all about and how we arrive at it. We need to know that faith has content, has character and gives confidence. Now let us look at…
The content of saving faith.
Too often today people are called "Christian" simply because they have had an experience that, they were told, saved them. Folks, reading a list of propositions and saying "I believe" does not make a person a Christian. James reminds, us in his little book, the demons believe and tremble. I would go further and say that of course the demons believe! They have seen with their own eyes the glory of heaven and yet they joined the rebellion and were driven out along with Satan. Belief in God is fairly common worldwide. The vast majority of that belief is intellectual. People believe something about Jesus or, they simply believe that he once existed.
There needs to be much more than "head belief". What we believe in must be correct in content. Our salvation is not based on a series of intellectual beliefs. Our salvation is based on a person. The content of Christian faith is, "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved". That is it!That is the content.…
Jesus is Lord! Read with me please, Philippians 2:9-11, Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus came to earth as a baby in a manger. He lived in a Carpenter's house and did a Carpenter's work. Being found in human form he humbled himself to the point of going to the cross to die for us fulfilling the law on our behalf! At the same time, He is God Almighty The King of the Universe! In fact to confess that Jesus is Lord is the same as confessing that he is God. The Greek word used for Lord is used throughout the Greek Old Testament, translated by the Jewish leaders, in place of YHWH. We do not know how to pronounce this name because the Israelites stopped pronouncing it early in order not to take the name in vain. I would that we were as respectful of the name of God in our society. So to confess that Jesus is Lord is to confess that Jesus is Jehovah.
All of this happened as a result of God's plan for meeting the needs of sinful mankind. The result of Jesus' life and death is that his name is exalted above every name and, ultimately, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He proved his Lordship, not on the cross but instead in the empty tomb. He gave his life for his chosen people but the grave could not keep him.
God has raised him from the dead. Read with me,1 Corinthians 15:12-17, Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
Too often, in presenting the gospel, we simply say, "You must confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord" and we end there. Friends we have to go on. Salvation is serious business! The resurrection sets Christianity apart from all world religions. Some of the world religions claim that their founder was taken up from the earth into heaven. But none of them have any historical evidence that their founder died and came back to life by the power of God. The Bible is an historical document and it has never been shown that any of it is inaccurate. Whatever the Bible speaks to it speaks truth. So Jesus' resurrection is recorded as an historical event. It was witnessed by his close followers expanding outward, according to Paul, to more than 500 believers that saw the risen Lord.
Now, people may argue that these people lied, or, some kind of mass hypnosis made them believe something that was not true. First of all, if the authorities had possession of his body after the claimed resurrection they would have produced it and put an end to the faith at its very beginning. Secondly, if his followers had hidden the body they would have known he did not raise from the dead. And as Paul said in the above reading, our "faith is futile".
On the night of Jesus trial the disciples ran and hid. Peter, the boldest of the group, denied that he knew Jesus three times. They hid in an upper room from the authorities until the 3rd day when he appeared to them as their resurrected Lord. And then, on the day of Pentecost, they went out into the streets proclaiming that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. They did that knowing that the same authorities that crucified him could easily kill them as well. You just don't do that if you have been perpetrating a fraud. They went on, all but John, to become martyrs for the faith because they knew that Jesus had been raised from the dead and was therefore the Lord Jehovah himself.
The 1st century church, those who had personal knowledge of the teaching of the apostles, gave their lives gladly rather than say, "Caesar is Lord." That is powerful belief and I just pray that if I am called upon to give my life for my Lord I will be as brave as they. I join the apostle Paul in this prayer, "… it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death." (Philippians 1:20)
We've talked about the content now let us talk about…
The character of saving faith. The mouth confesses but…
The heart believes. Turn with me to Luke 24:25, And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
Here Jesus uses the same analogy of the heart believing. In the Bible the word "heart" is often used to designate the entire personality. We usually use the word "heart" when we talk about emotions. In fact, in modern time that is almost always the way the word is used. Our text says, "… with the heart one believes". Here, clearly, the word "heart" means the very center of one's personality. Or, it means the entire personality — the totality of one's being! Confession with the mouth has its foundation in believing with the heart. Without heartfelt belief the confession is just words without authority. This is not a matter of the intellect …
It is a heart condition. See what the psalmist had to say in Psalm 14:1, The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good.
The person who says that there is no God is a fool. Such a person is corrupt and dangerous. We live in a world that is more and more dominated by the philosophy of atheism. I am not talking about a communist type of atheism I am talking about a pagan atheism that recognizes there are many spiritual beings but refuses to recognize the one true God. Christians will find themselves more and more marginalized in the years ahead unless there is a real revival of real faith. That revival needs to come soon. Please, pray daily that the Spirit of God will move in power and that a new "Great Awakening" will happen even in our lifetime.
We have looked at the content and the character of saving faith now let us move on to…
The confidence of saving faith.
Confession with the mouth. Read with me, Luke 12:8, “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God,…” That is a powerful statement! You confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and Jesus says that he will confess your name before the Angels of God. That is an awesome thought. So we should make a habit of confessing the name of Jesus, acknowledging him before men. They will try to prevent us by every means possible. All across the land there are court cases forcing people to not use the name of Jesus in public. When there is not a court case, there is public pressure.
For example: In a letter to the editor of the News-Leader newspaper in Springfield, Missouri, Jane Pitt wrote that she was a Christian and planned to vote for Mitt Romney in November. They were comments that initially attracted very little attention.
The letter cited Romney's pro-life views and said he shares her "conviction concerning homosexuality". The letter stated that Pres. Barack Obama is a liberal who supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage.
That is when the roof blew off the house. It was made public that Jane Pitt is the mother of popular actor Brad Pitt, and the storm struck with all the angry contempt of those who hold ungodly views in our society.
Jane Pitt was attacked on the Internet to the point that she has refused to comment any further. By the way, this is not an endorsement for Mitt Romney.
This is just one example of many that could be offered. Those who demand "tolerance" of lifestyles that are clearly condemned in Scripture are totally intolerant when Christians speak out boldly and publicly.
When Peter and John were arrested because they boldly spoke out before the Council after they committed the "crime" of healing a crippled man in the name of Jesus. The court commanded them to speak no more to anyone in this name. May we be as bold as they in the same circumstance. Let us look at what they had to say. Acts 4:19-20, But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
"We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." Those are powerful words that need to be spoken again and again throughout our society. Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus — believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Remember, he must be Lord in every respect. This is not for the fainthearted. Throughout history literally millions of Christians have lost their lives, on this earth, because they found they had to speak what they had seen and heard.
Today, we live in a relatively free society. We can thank God for that but if the opponents of God get their way we will not be a free society long. Yes, we need to confess with the mouth but we also need…
Confession in baptism. Remember Jesus' last words on Earth according to Matthew? Turn with me to, Matthew 28:18-20, And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
A clear command is given by Jesus. Based on his authority, which is total over all the universe, as we go about our daily lives we are to make disciples of all nations. They are to be baptized in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. Then they are to be taught all that Jesus has commanded.
The process is pretty clear, 1st they are to come to faith then, and only then, they are to be baptized and enrolled in a training program. There are many examples of this process in the Book of Acts. Let's look at the day of Pentecost.
Turn with me to…
Acts 2:37-41, Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
In his sermon Peter was very clear. "Repent" and then "be baptized" because of the forgiveness of your sins. This passage does not teach that person has their sins washed away by baptism. That would be inconsistent the rest of Scripture. This passage states that when a person repents he, or she, is to be baptized because their sins have been forgiven.
Again and again throughout the Book of Acts the process was followed. Repentance, leading to baptism, leading to involvement in the church. Baptism should be seen as a part of a person's confession of faith. Confession with the mouth — confession in baptism and…
Confession by lifestyle. Turn with me to, Acts 4:13, Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
My prayer is that my life will reflect the fact that I have been with Jesus! I hope there would be sufficient evidence to convict me, if I were arrested for being a Christian. There are changes that come about in a person's life upon their confession of faith in Christ. It is said, during the great revival in Wales, in the early part of the 20th century, that the ponies who worked in the mines had to be retrained because the workers no longer cursed and swore. The animals just did not understand sanctified language! During the revival in the Hebrides, Scotland, in the middle of the 20th century a similar event occurred. In both cases, for a period of time, the police had so little to do that they formed choirs to sing at evangelistic meetings. The courts had little to do because of the change in of the lives of people when they were born again. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. He went on to list a large number of recognized sins. Then he said, And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11) Praise God, though some of them had engaged in horrible sin they no longer did. Justification and sanctification now marked their lifestyle. I have seen many who have turned to the Lord Jesus and then dumped their booze, trashed their smokes, burned their magazines, stopped going to the bars because they were no longer interested in that lifestyle. They confessed that Jesus is Lord and it affected their lifestyle.
I will conclude with a quote from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a man gifted by the Spirit of God in biblical exposition. "If we really believe in the glorious and wonderful love of God; if we believe that, in spite of the fact that we have rebelled and sinned against him and have no claims upon him at all and deserve nothing but his wrath and eternal punishment, yet God in his great and eternal love has sent forth his own son;that as the apostle has put it so eloquently and wonderfully, He 'spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all' (Romans 8:32) — if we really believe all that, then it is inevitable that we should give expression to it."
We need to go from here in the confidence of saving faith and give expression to that faith.
All Scripture quotes are from, The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
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