Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3405
“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.
But, Brothers and Sisters, there are other matters beside faith. And while believing in Christ is the great and the main thing, yet it would be unprofitable for you—it would be unfaithful on our part—if we were to neglect other commands of Christ which come after this foundation, faith, and have a very close relation to it. Now, I am persuaded that there are in this professing Christian England hundreds and thousands of persons who have some kind of faith in Christ, and I trust, also, a sincere one, who, nevertheless, pass over in silence the plain command of Christ about professing Him before men. And there may be some, even in this congregation gathered here, who, having given Jesus Christ their hearts, have been slow to think of the next thing which He requires, and will, perhaps, feel as though I break their quiet all too roughly when I shall try to press upon them that they go a step further and, having believed with the heart, will remember that the promise is, “He that with his heart believes, and with his mouth confesses, shall be saved.” “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.” The outward confession is as much commanded as the inward believing—the one the natural fruit and expression of the other.
We shall, therefore, first of all, consider what is the duty taught here. And secondly, why it is a duty. And then, thirdly, what are the sanctions of reward and penalty appended to the performance or neglect of this duty
I. What Is the Duty Here Mentioned?
“Whoever shall confess Me before men, him will I confess.” Observe the word. It is not “profess.” It means that, but it means more. It is “confess.” I take it a difference worthy of observation. To “profess” Christ may be work which anyone would do, especially in soft and silken times, when a profession may even be remunerative, when it may even add respectability to a man’s character and make his path smooth! But the “confession” has this difference in it—it is a kind of thing that comes out when a sort of accusation is brought. A man professes Christ before his brethren because they will all be pleased with him for it. Another man in the midst of enemies, who will revile and persecute him, pleads guilty to the blessed impeachment of being a Christian. He confesses that what they count a crime, he counts a virtue—while they have him brought up, as it were, before their judgment seat. The crime alleged is that this man is a follower of Christ and, therefore, to be scoffed at, to be badgered and otherwise maltreated! The man says, “I am guilty, if it is guilt. I am thus vile, and rejoice in it—and I hope to be viler in it! I confess Christ, that He is mine and I am His.” I think that is an obvious difference between profession and confession—there may be other differences, but we shall not be detained with them now. This seems to me to be clear beyond dispute. To “profess” Christ is but an easy thing. To “confess” Him implies that the circumstances make that confession a deed of courage, exposing the confessing soul to peril and penalty.
But he gladly accepts the suffering or the shame, and confesses that what may seem to be a foolish thing to others, is a wise thing to him. He confesses Christ.
I will also remark that in the Greek it is, “Whoever confesses in Me before men,” by which is meant that he makes a confession of being in with Christ He holds Christ’s Doctrines—desires to imbibe Christ’s Spirit, to follow Christ’s example. He does in effect say, “There are two sides, Sirs. You ask me which I take—I confess that I am in with Christ for the battle of life. I am His servant, His soldier, I will follow His banner and, come what may of it, I throw down the gauge of battle to all His adversaries. I confess in Christ. You may confess in the world, you may confess your love for pleasure, for wealth, for sin, but I will make my confession in Christ.” That is, without doubt, the meaning of these words. It is not the profession by taking up the name of Christian—it is the confession, under dangerous circumstances, of the whole of Christ’s teaching and Kingdom—and taking all the consequences thereof.