Holding Fast the Good Confession

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Holding Fast the Good Confession

• you made the good confession in the presence of
  many witnesses
• 1Timothy 612b

Presented by Bob DeWaay July 3, 2005
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Truths about Christian Confession

• Christians Must Confess Christ Publicly
• We Must Live Out the Implications of our
  Confession Consistently
• Silence or Evasion Equals Denial
• Overcomers are Those who Consistently Confess in
  Word and Deed in the Face of the Hostility of the
  World

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Holding Firm in Our Confession

• Hebrews 1023
• Let us hold fast the confession of our hope
  without wavering, for He who promised is
  faithful

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Peter Failed to Live out What He Believed and
Paul Corrected Him

• Galatians 211, 12
• But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him
  to his face, because he stood condemned. For
  prior to the coming of certain men from James, he
  used to eat with the Gentiles but when they
  came, he began to withdraw and hold himself
  aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision.

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Failing to Practice Publicly What One Believes
Privately is Hypocrisy

• Galatians 213
• And the rest of the Jews joined him in
  hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was
  carried away by their hypocrisy.

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Failure to Consistently Practice the Implications
of the Gospel

• Galatians 214
• But when I saw that they were not
  straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I
  said to Cephas in the presence of all, If you,
  being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like
  the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles
  to live like Jews?

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Evasion Equals Denial

• Matthew 2669, 70
• Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard,
  and a certain servant girl came to him and said,
  You too were with Jesus the Galilean. But he
  denied it before them all, saying, I do not know
  what you are talking about.

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When the Fear of Man Causes a Failure to Confess

• John 1242, 43
• Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in
  Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not
  confessing Him, lest they should be put out of
  the synagogue for they loved the approval of men
  rather than the approval of God.

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We Must Confess Christ Publicly

• Matthew 1032, 33
• Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before
  men, I will also confess him before My Father who
  is in heaven. But whoever shall deny Me before
  men, I will also deny him before My Father who is
  in heaven.

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Many Claim to Speak for God

• 1John 41
• Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test
  the spirits to see whether they are from God
  because many false prophets have gone out into
  the world.

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Only Those With a Valid Confession Speak from God

• 1John 42, 3
• By this you know the Spirit of God every spirit
  that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the
  flesh is from God and every spirit that does not
  confess Jesus is not from God and this is the
  spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard
  that it is coming, and now it is already in the
  world.

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What We Confess Determines Who Is Willing to
Listen

• 1John 45
• They are from the world therefore they speak as
  from the world, and the world listens to them. We
  are from God he who knows God listens to us he
  who is not from God does not listen to us. By
  this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit
  of error.

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Deceivers Do Not Confess Publicly and Accurately
the Doctrine of Christ

• 2John 17
• For many deceivers have gone out into the world
  who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the
  flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
  (NKJV)

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Confession, homologia, Means Say the Same Thing

• 1Timothy 612
• Fight the good fight of faith take hold of the
  eternal life to which you were called, and you
  made the good confession in the presence of many
  witnesses.

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Christians Who Support the Gospel are Obedient to
Their Confession

• 2Corinthians 913
• Because of the proof given by this ministry they
  will glorify God for your obedience to your
  confession of the gospel of Christ, and for the
  liberality of your contribution to them and to
  all,

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True Worship is a Form of Confession

• Hebrews 1315 (NIV)
• Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually
  offer to God a sacrifice of praisethe fruit of
  lips that confess his name.

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The World is Hostile to Our Confession But
Christ will Help Us

• Hebrews 414
• 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.

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The World is Hostile to Our Confession But
Christ will Help Us

• Hebrews 415
• For we do not have a high priest who cannot
  sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has
  been tempted in all things as we are, yet without
  sin

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The World is Hostile to Our Confession But
Christ will Help US

• Hebrews 416
• Let us therefore draw near with confidence to
  the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy
  and may find grace to help in time of need.

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Often Ones Confession is Costly Financially

• Hebrews 135, 6
• Let your character be free from the love of
  money, being content with what you have for He
  Himself has said, I will never desert you, nor
  will I ever forsake you, so that we confidently
  say, The Lord is my helper, I will not be
  afraid. What shall man do to me?

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Overcomers Are Confessed Before the Father

• Revelation 35
• He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white
  garments and I will not erase his name from the
  book of life, and I will confess his name before
  My Father, and before His angels.

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The Most Important Act of Confession

• Romans 109
• that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as
  Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised
  Him from the dead, you shall be saved

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Application Overcomers are Those who
Consistently Confess in Word and Deed in the Face
of the Worlds Hostility
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All True Believers Are Overcomers

• 1John 54, 5
• For whatever is born of God overcomes the world
  and this is the victory that has overcome the
  world-- our faith. And who is the one who
  overcomes the world, but he who believes that
  Jesus is the Son of God?

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Gods Promise to Those Who Hold Fast the Good
Confession

• Revelation 217
• He who overcomes shall inherit these things,
  and I will be his God and he will be My son.

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