I'll bring a piece of duct tape like a good engineer. Shall we pray? Father, we thank you that we have an opportunity to consider your word. May it speak to our hearts.
And we know that it can speak to our hearts in ways that words cannot express. We pray that there might be information and encouragement and strengthening and even light, especially light for those who may not know you. We pray your blessing upon our time together around your word in Jesus' name. Amen.
I think maybe I sang too loud and it's affected my throat. I'm sorry if you can hear the fact that I have a throat loss in my mouth. I actually don't like it when people talk to me when they have something in their mouth. I'm sorry I'm doing that to you.
I have to have something there. My message this morning is on the subject of confession. We will consider three people, Nathaniel, Simon Peter, and Thomas. Some time ago we thought about some men that were unlikely candidates to become Christians.
They were unlikely to be converted, as you might say, from an earthly measure. But they were. God's power and God's spirit can change lives. Even lives of people that you would not think might ever change.
These confessions of these three men in your New Testament are also interesting because of who they are coming from and that the fact that they are very ordinary men, ordinary people. They are not learned people. They are ordinary people. We should take some encouragement from that.
There is, however, in looking at these confessions, consistency of meaning, consistency of experience, and consistency of heart and mind that we can take instruction from. When a person is saved, they make a confession. But you know, if you are a believer, you also carry a confession. You continue on with your confession.
And that is a very interesting concept to me. We will read verses that speak of holding fast to your confession. How interesting. We might associate confession with getting saved and being saved.
The Lord God hold my life in 1977. And I need to hold fast to the confession. We also need to be encouragement. And there is encouragement to be had, of course, in the scriptures.
It's interesting. My wife and I have been doing ESL. And it's just also the way my brain works that I'm interested in taking apart words. And the science or study of the taking apart of words in their origin is called etymology.
I've always, if you want to do that, you know these days, you can go etymology confess. And you get goodies. You get interesting things that make you think about the core meanings of things. In your Greek New Testament, when you read confess, homologeses, that right away should say something to you.
Because you can recognize homo, and you can recognize logic. You can recognize, actually, in the New Testament, the concept of logos goes back to something more in the spirit and meaning of meaning. The idea of a word as a typed word. That is a different word in your Bible.
That is Ramata. The word for meaning is logos from which we get words like logic. In terms of how it came to our language, it did not come to our language via Greek, although many words do. It came to our language through Middle French, previous to that Latin, confesses, part of the part of all of confitieri, to acknowledge.
The con in general as a Latin prefix means along with, and the feteri expressing to declare or to a vowel. To declare or to a vowel something, but not just to do that, to do it in the sense of along with. In other words, there is something in your heart. There is something in your mind, and you speak of it.
You avow it. You affirm it. You acknowledge it. It is already there.
It is in your heart and mind. And so you speak it. And so your avowance is consistent with what is within you in terms of your understanding and your belief. There's a sense in which when the Christian may witness to somebody to use an old word, that that person is confessing their faith.
They are speaking of what they understand and believe in their mind and in their heart, in sharing their faith with someone else. That is an ongoing confession, one might say. One might say that it is consistent with the idea of an ongoing testimony. As I say, became a Christian in 1977 at the end of my, the middle of my fourth semester in engineering school.
And the profound emptiness of the world's philosophies and the meaninglessness of my life were a couple of things that pointed me in God's direction. And there were people that God used in my life to witness to me, to confess their confession to me. And that affected me. It affected how I thought.
And it put me on the road to finding Christ myself. I'm sorry, this is so looking so academic. We won't spend too much time here. The English language has one of my brothers said the other night.
It's a bit of a nightmare, no argument there. All languages have their sort of problems. As you know, my wife is Chinese and the Chinese written language. Now there's a problem.
The Chinese language has more homophones than any other language. That is words that sound the same and mean something completely different. In fact, there are less than 900 distinct sounds in Chinese. And how you can turn that into tens of thousands of concepts and words is amazing.
And we do have homonyms like scene and scene, and we have synonyms like shot and close. But when it comes to homologues, the core idea there in your Bible, you cannot find that in common speech. You have to go to science like biology and chemistry because in those sciences you can see the idea of the mirror ring, that's a hard word to say, mirror ring of molecules and genetic sequences. And in the sense that they are mirrors of each other but displaced from each other, they are homologues.
They are in a greater hole. But they are in a sense reflections of each other. It doesn't quite work, does it, in our concept this morning. If you have in your mind a concept, in a sense what it is is an analog of what is in your heart.
There is some correspondence between the way that you are thinking and the way that you are feeling. So it's perhaps somewhere in between an analog and a homologue in terms of a confession. Who are the people that I want to speak about this morning? Nathaniel, Simon, Peter, and Thomas.
Before doing that, I want to talk a little bit about a realm of theology known as soteriology based on what you might say is a very famous verse amongst Christians and within Christian teaching that is Romans 10 verse 9. And I will close this morning with an application or two. The, notably the confessions that we will consider are all pre-church. They are pre-holy spirit.
It's important to keep that in mind. Two of them are pre-resurrection. The idea in Romans 10 is prefaced by these words in boldface taken from Deuteronomy 30. But the word is very near you.
It is in your mouth and in your heart. God's intent for the earthly children of God was to have the word of God and to meditate and make it part of your life and their life. And that would then guide them. Sadly, that did not pan out very well.
In that many of the earthly children of God departed from following God. They departed from following God socially and politically. And even in their interpersonal relationships, the degradation of the society continued as you go toward the end of your Bible, the Old Testament, you will find that the minor prophets speak about things like moving boundary stones that people can't even observe the ordinary understanding of property law. And that people would be stealing from each other.
And these are supposed to be the children of God. So the situation would degenerate from having the principles of the law in the heart and the mind to a situation where people were actively disobeying fairly obvious things in their Old Testament Bibles. And the, I believe that part of the beauty of this chapter and part of the thrust of Paul's message in Romans 10 is that the word that the Jew had was a written word and was an instruction. And as happens frequently in the book of Romans, Paul's argument is how much more?
How much more for you? You have more than just a text, don't you? Therefore, you should live like this. Therefore, you should understand like this.
Therefore, your confession should be thus. So these words preface my Romans 10 verse 9, which is a key verse this morning. When we think of the idea of being saved, it is clear that there is no such thing as being a closet Christian or a Christian without ever admitting it. I was saddened to hear that someone who had passed through Halifax some time ago and had shown interest in the faith had said to us that unfortunately, because this person worked now for the Chinese government and the requirement is that you be a party member, that that person has not to this day confessed his faith.
Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a hidden faith. Baptism is known in theology in your Bible and Christian teaching not to be a prerequisite of salvation. It is possible to become a Christian and never be baptized and still be saved. That is conventional Christian doctrine.
On the other hand, a person who has an opportunity to confess their faith must do so, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. There's no such thing as a hidden Christian. That is my theological preface.
It is also for us before our very eyes in our New Testament coming from the Lord Jesus himself in Matthew 10, where it says, so everyone who acknowledges me before men. I also will acknowledge before my father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my father who is in heaven. There is no such thing as a secret Christian. The first person of the three is Nathaniel, often associated with the name Bartholomew in the book of Matthew.
This disciple who became one of the sent ones, one of the apostles, is believed to have reached out to Armenia in terms of the outreach to the world and possibly to India, although it is well known that Thomas did go to India. Where is the where is some of the instruction that we might take from this confession? Let's just look at this passage quickly. Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, we have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
Nathaniel said to him, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, come and see. Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him instead of him. Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.
Nathaniel said to him, how do you know me? Jesus answered him before Philip called you, you were under the fig tree. I saw you. Nathaniel answered him, Rabbi, you are the son of God, you are the king of Israel.
Jesus answered him because I sent to you. I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these. So we have the presentation of a man who had a prejudice and we live in a world in which there are many prejudices.
Many people have preconceived ideas about God and about the Lord Jesus Christ. And it was good that Nathaniel set them aside. It was good that he inquired. It was also good that there was someone to point him in the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That being Philip, Philip influenced this man who was skeptical and had a prejudice. But he says, well, let me set aside my skepticism and my prejudice and make inquiry here. And he is greeted by Christ. And then he is, you might say, struck by Christ.
And I think that's a lovely vignette of what can often happen when a person comes to the Lord. They need someone to point them in the right direction. They need to set aside their prejudices and preconceived ideas and skepticism. And if they do, if they do and they encounter the Lord Jesus Christ, things will happen.
Things will happen. It's almost an amusing account in the sense that the way that the Lord Jesus reacts is to say, this is such a tiny thing and look at your reaction. In some sense, this man who may have been studying the Word of God under the fig tree as a good Jew, in fact, there is a metaphor for sitting under the fig tree amongst Jewish scholars that is, that has the meaning, a place of studying the Word of God to sit under the fig tree. I saw you.
I saw you. He's a seeker. He's a genuine seeker. He's a knowledgeable seeker.
He thinks about who the Messiah could be. And someone points him in the right direction in spite of his skepticism and prejudice. And a very, very simple thing. A very, very simple thing strikes him that the Lord Jesus knows him before he got there.
And that is true of everyone. The Lord Jesus knows you before you come to him. He knows you better than you know yourself. And so it is a lovely picture.
A lovely picture of what one might say is a naive person from a spiritual perspective who is not even born again. He has not formed spiritually, but he has come and he has acknowledged. And so he begins a journey which will be far beyond anything that he remotely imagined. Isn't it interesting when you jump ahead to John 14 and you think of Philip?
Well, Philip was the guy that pointed Nathaniel in the right direction. And this same Philip, after listening to the Lord Jesus says, as it says here, you can see at the end of verse 9, show us the Father. That's what he requested. Lord, show us the Father.
That's quite amazing to me. I mean, you think of a man who had seen thousands of people being fed, who had seen blind men, given back their sight, who knew of Lazarus coming back from the dead. And in spite of all of these, you might say inexplicable events, these miracles. He would say, well, I'm not there yet.
I need you to show God to me. This morning we considered the prophet Moses, who was tasked with leading the earthly children of Israel. And God said yes. In spite of everything, I will go with you again.
And then Moses said, show me your glory. He personally needed the spiritual boost. He personally needed that experience of God, impacting him personally in order to continue to lead those people. I can understand that.
In living my Christian life, there's one thing that keeps me going. That's God himself. It's true that Christians can encourage me. It's true that singing can lift my heart.
It's true that teaching can enrich my mind. So you begin to get the sameness of the head and the heart in the confession. But the experience of God himself is between me and God. And there is no substitute for it.
So in a sense, we might forgive Philip for his skepticism and his desire for an experience of God at a personal level. Simon Peter, this is a very famous one. Matthew chapter 16. And he, Jesus, asked his disciples, well, who do people say that the son of man is?
And they said, some say John the Baptist. Others say, Elijah. And others, Jeremiah are one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am?
Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon, bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. But my Father, who is in heaven and I tell you, you are Peter. And on this rock I will build my church.
And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Peter's confession is the same one that is needed of everyone. Peter's confession in a sense leading the way for all of us to make the same confession. Everyone and anyone who wants to come to Christ needs to make this acknowledgement, this prototype acknowledgement.
It has nothing to do with the pope. I can assure you it has nothing to do with the pope. The requirement to acknowledge the pope is a requirement in order to be a Catholic. There's nothing to do with that.
It has to do with acknowledging who is the Christ. That is the bedrock. That is the foundation of the beginning of faith and of belief, knowledge of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. The word rock appears 32 times in the book of Psalms, more than any other book in the Bible.
How is it used? Is it used in the geologic sense? No, it is not used in the geologic sense. It is used in the figurative sense by David, who says things like, I love you, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Over and over again, God is my rock, my rock. The place where I stand, my stability. Where is the first time that that appears in your Bible?
That appears in your Bible in Exodus 33, at the same very place where Moses said, show me your glory, show me something of yourself so that I can lead these people in the same very place. And God did that. And the first thing that God did was to take Moses and put him on a rock. That's what we need.
First, we need to stand on the rock that is Christ. It's an ongoing theme through the New Testament that the Lord Jesus is our rock, the rock of our salvation, someone in whom we can hide and take refuge. Because the second thing that God did, you may know the hymn, He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock. Direct reference to Exodus 33, because that's what God did next.
He put Moses in the cleft of the rock, that hiding place. And the Lord Jesus is indeed the hiding place of the believer. Paul could say, for your life is now hidden with Christ in God. And so I have these three verses here.
I forgot that I actually put them inside the PowerPoint. The 17th speaking of the water coming out of the rock. And Exodus 33, speaking of first being put on the rock as the place to stand. Somebody prayed this morning, don't build your foundation upon sand.
As the Lord Jesus said, your house needs to be built upon a rock. And then God put Moses in that hiding place. Then we come to a confession, very famous confession. Not long ago, a Muslim who has a desk not 25 feet away from mine at work challenged me where does it show that Jesus is God, that Jesus is divine.
And this was the example. This is a very good example, because what we read here is a confession that Jesus did not refuse or deny. He accepted it. I'm sure you know the story.
It is not a story. It is a historical account. Thomas knew that the others had seen the risen Christ and he said, I'm not. I can't buy that.
I may have seen a lot of things, but I can't buy that. Unless I see the holes, unless I see his pierced side. I'm not buying into this. Eight days later, his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them.
Although the doors were locked, Jesus came instead among them and said, peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands. Put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.
Thomas answered him, my Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. I can vouch for the last statement.
I didn't lay eyes on the piercing hands of Christ, but I believe. I believe in the risen Christ. It is my personal experience to be ministered to by him every day. So I enjoy that blessedness and that blessedness is available to anyone and everyone.
Let's take a moment about a couple of applications and then I'll be done. The idea of holding fast. Paul writes to Timothy, Timothy would become a church leader in Asia Minor. He was from Lystra.
Some things that he then ministered there and in Ephesus. He may have been helping John and as a mature Christian who had been on missionary journeys, he's getting instruction from his mentor, the Apostle Paul. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Take hold of it. Grab hold of it. You've made the confession. It was public.
Everybody heard it. Stick to it. Stick to it. So that's an instruction from one Christian to another.
Here's an instruction from a Christian to a church or to a group. I shouldn't say a church. There was no church of the Hebrews per se. This is a general epistle, but it applies corporately to Christians, not to an individual.
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace that we may find mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Amen.
Let us hold fast our confession. The idea of understanding something in the depths of your heart, understanding it in your mind, that's perhaps valid enough. But salvation transcends these things. It transcends what you understand is your heart.
It transcends what you understand is your mind. Because when you are saved, the Holy Spirit gives you light that you will not get any other way. But having been given that light, we are instructed to hold fast, to hold fast, to hold on, to take hold, take hold, hold fast. I looked up the meanings of these words.
The idea of taking hold can be linked more to the idea of continuing to adhere, to adhere, to stick to, right? To adhere. Stick to what you know. Stick to what you have confessed.
I don't know. Sometimes Christians are like, I've been on a missionary journey. What do you need to tell me that for? There's nobody that's immune to failure.
If the Apostle Paul says to his missionary traveling companion and elder of a church and Asian miner, take hold. Take hold of your confession. Take hold. Take the confession that you made.
Don't forget about it. Well, all the more for us, right? All the more for we who I don't think we are of the spiritual stature of the Apostle Paul and of the elder Timothy. How much more for us that we need to adhere, that we need to stick to what we know in our hearts and minds.
Hold fast. It's actually the word from the Timothy verse with the prefix cat in front of it, which is down. It's an intensive form. You might say hold down.
When we were raising the four kids, my wife would go out by herself once in a while, which wasn't actually very often. She would say, I'll hold down the fort. I'll just try to keep things under control and we'll manage. I'll manage.
Hold down the fort, people. You are a group of believers. You are an assembly. You can together.
Hold on. Hold down. Hold fast to what you know in your hearts and minds. You can do it individually and you can do it together.
Going back to that important verse, if there's anyone here who's a bit like Nathaniel and says, you know, there really is something to this Jesus Christ. There really is somebody and yes, he most certainly is. He was the promised Messiah and you are thinking of going in the direction that maybe a Christian friend has pointed you. Do it.
Do it. Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Will you always be able to find him?
Will the opportunities always present themselves for you to confess his name? Or will you go on in your life having a suspicion that there was something to this Jesus Christ and I never pursued it. I never looked into it. I'm just going to let it go.
Everything is impossible for you to be saved because 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. For with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Shall we pray? Father in heaven, we marvel at the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We marvel at his patience with his disciples and Lord you have been patient with us. Help us Lord to respond, to respond to the call, the call to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust in him from the heart, to acknowledge with the mind and to confess. We thank you for this time that we've had around your word in his name. Amen.