But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven.But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven.
7 sermons cite this verse
… whoever confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven. to confess, to speak out that Jesus is the Son of God, to be willing to be counted, to be willing to be numbered, to be willing to be outed as a Jesus person boldly, without fear of the consequences, whatever they would be, is something that will flow downstream. You want to tell me about a master architect who does landscaping in your life? Show me the hill. Show me the turf. Show me the trees. And Jesus, John, is saying, well, if he's in your heart, lead to boldness in your life. And may heaven help us, all of us, to grow in our boldness. Amen? All right, number three, holiness. Holiness. There has never been revival without repentance. There has never been spiritual renewal without confession of sins, without an awareness and a weight that would come upon us that we would long to live holy lives. …
… 33, I'll read them to you. Therefore, everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven. You deny Him, and He will deny you." This is essentially apostasy. This is where you have affirmed Christ, and the message of the gospel, and the church, and you have defected, you have abandoned. And it's directly related to and relevant to our church life today, because Christianity has so many forms under just that broad term. There are heretical churches where the gospel is not taught, the deity of Christ is not believed. Modern liberal churches, we might call them. People sit in those churches not knowing the truth, and because there's no truth there, and there's no life there, and there's no power there, they fade away over time. There are cults, quasi-Christian cults, and in their case, it's not the real Jesus, it's not the real God, it's not the true gospel, it's not the true revelation, and people wander away from that. …
I knew a man who thought he would go to Heaven alone and never tell anybody that he was a Christian. But he lived in a village where there was a Prayer Meeting and he stole in once, and he liked it so much that he went again and sat in a quiet corner where he thought nobody would see him. But the Brother who was conducting the meeting said, "Will that friend in the corner be kind enough to engage in prayer?" He shook his head—he was like a snail in his shell and he did not mean to come out in that public fashion. But when he got outside, he thought to himself, "I am afraid I have almost denied the Lord Jesus by refusing to pray when I might have done so. However," he thought, "if I am asked again, (I hope I shall not be), I think I will just pray, but I shall not say much." He was asked another time, but again he was very timid and he did not pray. So, after the service, the leader said to him, "I am glad to see you here, dear Friend, though you do not pray with us. Do you like to be here?" He answered, "Oh, yes, I enjoy it very much." "Then," said the other, "I trust you know something about the Lord." And almost before he realized what he was doing, he had told all his secret out. He could not help it! And what is there, after all, that we should need to hide? If I really love my Savior and anybody says to me, "You also are one of His disciples," I ought gladly to answer, "Yes, yes, yes! And if He is not ashamed to acknowledge me as His disciple, I cannot be ashamed to acknowledge Him as my Master! Oh, that I may never put Him to shame! And, certainly, to confess Him as my Savior shall never make me ashamed." …
II. Now, secondly, we are to use our text as THE ARGUMENT FOR CHRISTIAN PROFESSION—"I believed, therefore have I spoken." Brothers and Sisters, true faith in the Gospel is not dumb faith. When a man believes it, he is bound to make an open profession of his belief. What is the Gospel? I will give it to you in our Lord's own Words—"He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." There is to be the confession of faith made in Baptism as well as the belief of the Gospel with the heart. Paul thus summarizes "the word of faith" which he preached—"If you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." You see how closely the confession of faith is connected with the faith, itself. And the promise of salvation is given at least in these two texts, to the faith that is united with the confession of it. It is the bounden duty of everyone who believes in Jesus to confess that he does so believe. You know how Christ Himself put it—"Whoever, therefore, shall confess Me before men, him will I confess, also, before My Father who is in Heaven. But whoever shall deny Me before men, (and denying is, in that verse, tantamount to not confessing), him will I also deny before My Father who is in Heaven." You have no right to say, "I am a Believer in Christ, but I do not make a profession of my faith." The profession of your faith is, under the Gospel, just as much your duty as the faith, itself, is! Indeed, I venture to say that true faith necessitates a confession of some sort. If a man believes the great Truths of which I have been speaking, he cannot altogether conceal his belief in them—his conviction of their truth is bound to come out sooner or later—and the sooner it comes out, the better. John Bunyan tells us that when he had found the Savior, he wanted to tell the crows on the plowed land all about it—which is to me an indication of the instinct which moves a man, when he has found Christ, to want to proclaim the good news far and wide! …
"Whoever, therefore, shall confess Me before men, him will I confess before My Father who is Heaven. But whoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father who is in Heaven." Matthew 10:32,33. INCESSANTLY do we preach, and do you hear, that salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ, that whoever trusts in Him shall be saved. This is the great and master-duty—the believing, the trusting. It is here that salvation hinges and hangs—"Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God." "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." We conceive that it is never possible to preach that Truth of God too often—that this ought to be in some sense the burden of every sermon—that it is the message, above all others, which every minister of Christ is sent to deliver! There is salvation in Him and in no other. We are to insist upon it perpetually and constantly, and never are we to forget it, that Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the very chief, and that, by Him, everyone that believes is justified from those things from which he could not be justified by the Law of Moses. …
Right speedily he saw the Spirit of God waiting to fill him—"that you might receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Ah, dear Soul, when you have come to see Christ, then the blessed Spirit will become dear to you and you will rejoice to think that He will dwell in you to sanctify you, to enlighten you, to strengthen you, and to make you a vessel of mercy unto others! One more thing that Saul saw, when his eyes were opened, was what some do not see, although their eyes are opened in other aspects. "He received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized." He saw the duty of Believers' Baptism and he attended to it directly. You who believe in Jesus should confess Jesus. And you who have confessed Jesus should gently stir the memories of those very retiring young converts who are afraid to put on Christ in Baptism. You know right well that salvation lies in the believing, but still, how amazingly the two things are put together, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." The two things are joined together by Christ, so let no man put them asunder! Surely, dear Friends, wherever there is a genuine faith in Christ, there ought to be a speedy obedience to the other matter! I once met a man who had been a Christian 40 years and believed it to be his duty to be baptized. But when I spoke to him about it, he said, "He that believes shall not make haste." After 40 years delay, he talked about not making haste! I quoted to him another passage—"I made haste, and delayed not to keep Your commandment," and showed him what the meaning of his misapplied passage was. Now, Soul, do not delay! As soon as Saul's eyes were opened, straightway he took upon himself the outward badge of the Christian faith and arose, and was baptized! Now I call upon you who love the Lord Jesus Christ not to play the coward, but come out and acknowledge your Lord and Master! You that are truly His disciples, confess it! I like to see a soldier wearing his red coat—it is the right thing for him to wear his uniform. It is the same with the soldiers of Christ. What are you ashamed of? Be ashamed of being ashamed, if you are ashamed of Christ! "Oh, but, I am afraid I might not hold on my way!" Whose business is it to make you hold on your way? Is it not His business who has bid you to take up your cross and follow Him, and who has said, "Whoever shall confess Me before men, him will I confess before My Father which is in Heaven; but whoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in Heaven"? …
III. VALID REASONS WHY WE SHOULD SPEAK ON GOD'S BEHALF, to which I will now draw your attention. Surely it is demanded of all Believers. We are bidden to confess with the mouth if we have believed with the heart. We have, moreover, the promise that, "he that with his heart believes, and with his mouth confesses, shall be saved." And this likewise, "He that confesses Me before men, him will I confess before My Father who is in Heaven." The alternative is fraught with judgment—"He that denies Me"—which signifies a non-confession—"he that denies Me before men, him will I deny before My Father which is in Heaven." If it is, then, the Lord's will, it is at your peril that you forget or neglect it! "He that knows his Master's will, and does it not, shall be beaten with many stripes." Hasten, then, you backward Christian! Make haste and delay not to keep this Commandment! Be convinced that you have yet to speak on God's behalf. Be assured that such testimony as you can and ought to bear would be a great comfort to the Lord's people. You do not know, some of you saved ones who have never confessed your faith, what pleasure it would give the minister. I know of no joy comparable to that of hearing that one has been made the instrument of the conversion of a soul. It keeps our spirits up and our Master knows that we have good need, sometimes, of some success to encourage us. He who thinks that the Christian ministry is an easy post—exempt from care and free and from trials—had better try it. It were better to be a galley-slave, chained to the oar, than to be a minister of the Gospel, if it were not for the strong consolations which support us in the present—and for the Divine reward which there will be at the last. He who diligently discharges this solemn vocation never knows rest or release from anxiety. His mind is always actively exercised in his Master's service. His heart bears about a load which it cannot shake off. He dreams of some who walk disorderly—and wakes to sigh and cry over others who grow cold or lukewarm. He must plow the stony ground and he can but regret the loss of his seed. He scatters the good seed on the way, and if it come not up, by-and-by, according to the promise, he cries, "Who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" As cold water to a thirsty soul, so would the news be of your conversion! You saved ones ought, for that reason, to speak on God's behalf! …