Latest / Reformed Thinking / Before Men, Before the Father: Confessing or Denying Christ (Matthew 10:32–33)

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Before Men, Before the Father: Confessing or Denying Christ (Matthew 10:32–33) · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to the Deep Dive, the place where we take serious
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  texts and specific theology and distill them into clear,
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  actionable understanding. We call this reformed thinking.
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  And today we are placing our attention squarely on 2 verses
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  that really stand at the center of Christian discipleship,
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  Matthew 10, verses 32 and 33. Yeah, this is the passage where
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  Jesus defines the absolute necessity of public allegiance.
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  It. Is and it's a necessity that is
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  constantly being challenged in our culture.
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  It really is. If you look at the atmosphere
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  today, the pressure isn't so much for, you know, outright
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  physical violence against believers, at least not here.
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  It's much more subtle. More insidious.
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  Yes, the world tells us. Believe whatever you want, just
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  keep it out of the public square.
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  Be spiritual, but don't identify with anything that causes
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  friction. Be kind, but don't stand firm on
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  doctrine. I mean, the request is basically
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  that faith be reduced entirely to a private opinion.
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  A personal hobby, something that never surfaces in the
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  marketplace or the political arena.
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  And this cultural request is well, it's weaponized, isn't it?
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  It's weaponized by the quiet threat of social consequences.
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  That's the real pressure point. It's the fear of lost
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  friendships, the concern over stalled opportunities or the
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  genuine pain of strained family relations that creates a kind of
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  pressure cooker. And that exact pressure point,
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  the social cost of uttering the one name that divides the room,
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  is precisely what Jesus addresses here.
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  He teaches that everyday conversations, worklace
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  silences, and our public speech. They aren't morally neutral.
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  They're not trivial matters right at all.
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  OK, let's unack this and get right to the heart of it.
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  The mission for us today is to gain a thorough, theologically
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  grounded understanding of why public witness is well required
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  for the Christian, why shrinking from that witness constitutes
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  denial, and how this all relates directly to our final standing
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  before God. That's right, because Jesus
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  connects this present choice to a future eternal verdict, our
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  stance now determines Christ's stance.
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  Then We had to pull back the curtain on the heavenly
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  courtroom to appreciate the ultimate weight of the choices
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  we make today about who we will identify with.
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  Let's start with that context then.
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  We can't let these verses float in isolation.
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  They carry the weight of everything Jesus has just told
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  his disciples. Absolutely.
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  Matthew 10.32 and 33. They're the heavy concluding
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  demand of Jesus's commissioning discourse, and that entire
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  discourse is a warning. A warning that discipleship
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  comes with real conflict, yes. The climate is set immediately
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  right in verse 16. Jesus is sending His apostles
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  out for mission, and He prepares them for the worst.
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  He describes them as like sheep in the midst of wolves.
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  And that image is not hyperbole. No, it's not.
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  It defines the emotional and physical reality of the early
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  mission. It means vulnerability, exposure
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  and the inevitability of intense opposition.
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  So that immediately reframes the whole challenge.
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  This is not a casual spiritual exercise.
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  It's a deployment into hostile territory.
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  A. Deployment.
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  Yes. And the opposition isn't just
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  some vague resistance. Jesus is strikingly specific
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  about where the heat is going to come from.
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  He names the sources. He does.
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  He talks about religious courts, the synagogues and civil
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  authorities, governors and kings.
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  And then, most painfully, he mentions betrayal within their
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  own families. Brother against brother, father
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  against child. And he says they will be hated
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  not for their moral failures, but explicitly for my name's
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  sake. That phrase for my namesake,
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  That's what cuts to the core, isn't it?
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  It demands A calculation from the disciple.
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  It forces the question Is identifying with Christ worth
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  losing my reputation, losing opportunities, or sacrificing
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  the peace I have with my own blood relatives?
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  Exactly. And it's precisely at that point
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  when the cost calculation rises and the temptation towards self
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  preservation gets strongest. That's where Jesus places his
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  ultimate question of confession and denial.
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  He expects that owning him will frequently mean speaking when
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  silence would be safer and standing with him when
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  distancing would be, well, a lot easier.
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  So if that's the climate, what's the core obstacle that prevents
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  confession? It must be something deeply
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  rooted in the human heart. It is.
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  It's the fear to man. Jesus recognizes the human
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  heart's deepest cravings for acceptance, for approval, for
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  belonging. And when the stakes are family
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  affection and social belonging versus loyalty to Christ, the
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  situation stops being academic real fast.
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  It does, which is why Jesus gives them repeated instruction.
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  He says essentially, do not fear them because boldness isn't a
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  trait disciples just acquire by chance.
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  They have to be equipped with a different view of reality.
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  OK, so he provides 3 specific reality checks to loosen the
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  paralyzing grip of human fear. It's a carefully structured
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  argument. He starts by challenging our
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  perspective on time itself. Right in verse 26.
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  This idea that the truth will ultimately be revealed, Yes.
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  The first check shifts the timeline.
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  He says that all hidden compromises and secret motives
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  will be exposed. Nothing is covered that will not
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  be revealed or secret that will not be known.
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  And that's not just a generalized proverb, but being
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  honest. No, this is a profound judgement
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  shaped statement about the end of time.
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  The day is coming when all loyalties, whether they were to
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  Christ or to self preservation, will be publicly made plain.
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  So hiding your allegiance now is just a short term failing
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  strategy that will be undone in the long term.
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  And the second check flows from that imminent revelation, the
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  command for open proclamation in verse 27, right?
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  Since everything will eventually be known, silence just makes no
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  eternal sense. The message itself isn't
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  designed for private containment.
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  What the apostles heard in the dark, they must shout in the
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  light. What was whispered privately
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  proclaim on the housetops? Exactly.
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  The Kingdom of God by its very nature, create public witnesses.
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  Not, you know, merely secret admirers tucked away in their
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  spiritual closets. But the decisive reality check,
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  the one that truly reorders our priorities, is in verse 28, the
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  proper object of fear. Jesus changes the very
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  definition of what we should worry about.
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  This is the centerpiece of the entire argument.
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  Jesus says and do do not fear those who kill the body but
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  cannot kill the soul, rather fear him who can destroy both
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  soul and body in hell. This is the moral, the
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  theological logic that frees A believer to confess.
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  It is. It is.
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  But hold on, if the fear of God is the ultimate antidote,
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  doesn't that just replace 1 terror with another?
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  How is that pastoral comfort? That's a good question.
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  It requires a careful distinction.
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  The fear of man is a slavish dread that compromises our moral
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  conviction and leads us away from truth and goodness.
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  It's a paralyzing fear. It is the fear of God, however,
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  is a reverent reality shaped awe based on His infinite holiness
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  and ultimate authority. The comfort comes in knowing
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  that while man's threats are temporary and finite, they can
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  harm the body or your career. They cannot touch the soul's
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  eternal standing before God. But God's judgment is final.
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  It's final, total and inescapable.
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  Yeah. So when we choose to fear God,
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  we gain the freedom to ignore man.
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  So it's a pivotal shift. We exchange the heavy,
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  capricious weight of human opinion for the perfect
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  liberating weight of God's settled judgment.
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  Precisely. But Jesus doesn't leave his
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  disciples paralyzed by dread After that terrifying warning.
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  He immediately pivots to the pastoral turn, wrapping this
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  call to fear God in the comfort of his fatherly care.
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  Which we see in verses 29 through 31.
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  This is Providence as the ultimate cushion.
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  It is He provides the illustration of the Sparrow,
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  which is such a humble, ordinary creature.
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  Sparrows are sold for a penny, yet not one falls to the ground
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  apart from the Father's will. And even more intimately, he
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  counts the hairs on their heads. This is the antidote to anxiety.
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  This is the assurance that makes public confession rational.
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  It illustrates that the sovereignty of God extends to
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  the smallest, most granular details of the disciples lives.
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  Their lives are not random or accidental.
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  So the persecution they will inevitably face, even the loss
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  of their lives, it isn't meaningless chaos or evidence of
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  God's abandonment, no. It is measured, permitted, and
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  somehow made to serve God's sovereign and loving purposes.
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  They will not suffer one bit more than their Father allows.
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  And this leads directly to the logical conclusion in verse 31.
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  Fear not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.
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  And because the Father is sovereign over every detail and
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  holds the final judgment, disciples can walk into hostile
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  spaces without surrendering their allegiance.
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  That theological logic leads directly into the command to
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  confess. Having neutralized the fear of
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  man, Jesus now raises the ultimate stakes.
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  He pulls back the curtain to the heavenly courtroom.
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  The decisive audience isn't the mob or the Co worker or the
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  family dinner table. The decisive audience is the
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  Father. And the decisive spokesman is
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  the son. Right.
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  Christ promises to publicly own his people or publicly repudiate
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  those who disown Him. The future verdict reaches back
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  into the present, filling our most ordinary moments with
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  eternal weight. OK, so now we come to the great
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  promise, verse 32. So everyone who confesses me
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  before men, I also will confess before my Father who is in
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  heaven. What's striking immediately is
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  that Jesus places himself at the center.
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  It's about confessing me. It is a personal allegiance, and
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  that's key. Christianity is not a
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  philosophical system or a list of ethical principles.
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  It's union with the living Lord. So confessing Christ isn't just
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  admitting he exists. No, it's owning him.
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  It's identifying yourself with Him as Savior and King, taking
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  His name upon your lips without compromise, and standing with
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  Him when standing with Him costs you something, dear.
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  The world is always tempting believers toward a kind of
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  spiritual vagueness. You know I'm a person of general
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  goodwill, or I follow a path of love.
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  But the text is clear. Jesus is not confessed by mist
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  or generality. Confession has to be specific.
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  It has to be. It is the simple refusal to
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  pretend that Jesus is optional or peripheral to our existence.
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  It is stating with integrity and humility, I belong to Christ.
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  I rely on his finished work. Let's submit to His word.
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  Which brings us to the Greek term for confession, homology.
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  Yes, homology. It literally means to say the
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  same thing. It implies agreement.
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  So what are we agreeing with? Well, that's the core concept.
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  It combines homos, same and Lego to speak theologically.
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  To confess Christ is to agree with the Father's verdict
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  regarding His Son. It's to look at the despised
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  Nazarene, the one rejected by the world, and say.
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  I agree with God, this man is the King of glory, the unique
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  mediator. That implies A deeper shared
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  reality than just stating objective facts.
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  It does, and the original Greek structure reinforces the
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  solidarity in a a truly striking way.
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  If Matthew intended just a simple statement of fact, the
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  text would use a direct object. Confess me.
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  But that's not what we find. Now instead we find a
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  construction that is heavy with theological weight.
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  Homologous say on a Moi, which means confess in me.
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  Confess in me that preposition on suggest something profound is
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  that the act of speaking flows from the status of being
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  connected. Precisely this structure
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  suggests that true confession flows from a position of organic
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  union and solidarity with Christ.
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  The confessor speaks as one who is incorporated into the sphere
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  of Christ's life, like a branch speaking from the vine.
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  So the ability to confess publicly isn't based on some
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  extraordinary burst of human willpower.
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  No, it flows from the fact that you are already in Christ.
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  This grounds public courage firmly in Reformed teaching on
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  justification and sanctification.
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  Right. It means the confession is the
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  external evidence of the internal reality of
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  regeneration. A redeemed heart will eventually
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  speak. It has to.
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  Now let's turn to the arena before men.
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  This is where the pressure hits home for the modern listener.
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  It's about visible identification in the social
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  world, where the stakes are reputation and convenience.
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  And it means refusing to reduce discipleship to a purely
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  interior, private spirituality. Before Men covers the
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  conversations at work, the debates in the university, the
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  discussions at the family dinner table.
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  All the countless moments when the simplest way to preserve
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  comfort and social capital is to just keep Christ unnamed.
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  Yes. A Christianity that is invisible
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  in the presence of other people is simply not the Christianity
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  Jesus commands here. That's the plain truth of it.
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  It is confession refutes the pursuit of comfort through
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  silence, the very means of confession that God has
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  ordained. Baptism, membership in a
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  confessing church, public worship.
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  They are not optional accessories.
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  They are public oaths, visible declarations of fidelity.
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  And refusing them because they are public acts of
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  identification is denying Christ's terms for belonging.
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  But the emphasis moves quickly from our fragile, costly action
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  to Christ's glorious promise. I also will confess before my
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  Father, who is in heaven. This is the stunning asymmetry
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  of the verdict. The structure is reciprocal.
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  You know your confession is answered by his confession, but
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  the weight is incomparable. Your speech is made before
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  fickle, finite men who can at most cause temporary suffering.
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  But his confession is made before the ultimate decisive
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  audience, the Father, whose verdict is eternal and absolute.
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  Right. This is the courtroom analogy
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  brought to its stunning conclusion.
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  The disciple is on trial in the world now, facing human
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  tribunals, but the true everlasting court is heavenly.
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  And the final irreversible verdict will be announced there.
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  To be confessed by Christ before the Father is to be owned by
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  Him, acknowledged as is publicly vindicated, as one who belongs
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  to the Son, and by association is received by the Father.
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  It's adoption made public. A declaration of union with
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  Christ openly recognized. Every earthly rejection we may
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  face becomes meaningless in the face of that heavenly
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  acceptance. The Christian may be slandered,
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  mocked, or misjudged here, but Christ's acknowledgement there
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  is the final word. This role, it reveals who Jesus
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  understands himself to be. He's not just a historical
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  figure giving a pep talk on courage, no.
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  He is speaking as the mediator and High Priest who stands
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  before the Father with the judicial authority to
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  acknowledge and defend his people.
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  He is the advocate whose word is determinative in the final
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  standing of every human soul. So if we look for the true
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  source of our security, it's not in the steady quality of our own
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  voice or the eloquence of our defense.
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  Not at all. It's in Christ's advocacy and
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  ownership. When he promises to confess us,
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  He is promising to finish the work of salvation.
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  He is describing the public vindication of those whom he has
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  redeemed. He identifies them as those
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  united to him by faith. And declares them accepted in
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  the Beloved on the basis of His perfect finished work on the
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  Cross. OK now verse 33.
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  This is the sobering counterpoint and tend to strip
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  away any comfort found in secrecy.
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  But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my
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  Father, who is in heaven. That but signals the terrifying
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  reciprocity. It does.
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  This passage just cuts through the fuzziness of how we often
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  talk about faith today. Jesus draws a clear, straight
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  line from a person's public posture toward him in the
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  present. To his own public verdict about
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  that person in the presence of the father.
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  It's stark. Let's define denial clearly.
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  What does the verb Arnie am I actually mean?
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  Right. Let's get into that.
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  Arnie am I is a powerful, uncompromising term.
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  It means to disown, to renounce or dissever a connection.
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  It is the language of apostasy, A deliberate turning away.
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  It's the choice to treat Jesus as someone you will not be
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  identified with when the cost of identification goes up.
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  That's it. It is the temptation that comes
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  when the wolves snarl and the sheep begins to calculate that
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  by distancing himself he can save his reputation, his job, or
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  his family peace. I think we've all had that
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  moment right at the family dinner table or in a
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  professional meeting where the conversation turns and you
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  realize that silence, the path of least resistance, is a
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  momentary choice for self preservation.
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  And that's exactly what Jesus is targeting.
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  Denial rarely arrives as a dramatic, televised
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  renunciation. It often comes as subtle,
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  practiced omission. So it hides behind the
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  convenient excuse of privacy. It does, because the world is
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  perfectly happy for you to have a private Jesus as long as you
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  do not have a public Christ who challenges its moral authority.
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  Denial is evasion, not just open renunciation.
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  Let's dive deeper into those soft denials.
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  Give us some detailed modern examples of how this plays out.
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  Because this is where the listener lives everyday, OK?
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  Consider the university student who is asked by a peer or even a
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  professor about their faith. Denial looks like replying I
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  believe in universal kindness, or I'm figuring things out
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  because correcting the assumption that they are not a
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  Christian would invite conflict or awkwardness.
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  Or think of the professional who works for a company engaged in a
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  clearly unethical practice. Right.
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  They remain silent in meetings. They refuse to voice objection
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  because speaking up would mean stepping out of line for a
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  promotion or even risking their job.
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  So even laughing along when Christ is mocked or editing
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  biblical convictions to remove any offense like never
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  mentioning sin, wrath, or judgement because pushing back
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  would cost social ease. These are the quiet compromises,
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  and they're often baptized as wisdom or cultural sensitivity.
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  The crucial pressure point is the social world.
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  Disciples are not tempted to deny Christ in secret, but in
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  the public places where allegiance would cost them
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  something. The text shows us that
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  neutrality is a myth. It is in the hour of pressure.
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  Refusing Christ is not a harmless strategy.
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  It is a spiritual posture that places a person in direct
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  contradiction to the Lord they claim to follow.
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  Now let's discuss the sheer terror of Christ's reciprocal
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  denial. I also will deny this isn't an
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  emotional outburst from an offended friend.
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  This is a judicial verdict. It is the language of a judge at
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  the bench. When Christ denies the person
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  before my Father, He is issuing A definitive, eternal verdict.
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  This one is not mine. This person chose comfort over
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  my name. This isn't a warning about
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  losing a few temporal rewards, this is a warning about
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  exclusion from the Kingdom. Yes, it's the dreadful reality
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  of standing before God without the only necessary mediator.
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  If Christ does not confess you, you cannot be confessed.
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  There's no appeal beyond His verdict because He is the
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  appointed judge and advocate. And this is the most terrifying
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  culmination of the warning, the very before men that the
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  individual feared becomes nothing compared to the before
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  the father they did not fear. The world's displeasure is
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  fragile and fleeting. But Christ's denial is total,
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  final, and eternal. This raises a serious pastoral
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  question, then. If a listener recognizes moments
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  of past cowardice or soft denial in their life, and who hasn't
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  experienced that? They might panic.
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  They might think, Have I denied him?
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  Am I an apostate? We need to spend time
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  distinguishing between a momentary collapse under
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  pressure and a settled repudiation.
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  This distinction is vital for a clear conscience and for solid
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  theology. The warning is real, but so is
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  the grace of perseverance. Scripture gives us the example
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  of Peter. His denial?
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  He denied Christ three times, even swearing oath that he
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  didn't know the man. That was genuine, grievous sin.
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  However, Peter possessed the root of faith.
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  When the rooster crowed, he remembered Christ's.
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  Word. And he went out and wept
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  bitterly. He wept bitterly.
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  That act of brokenness shows the true state of his heart.
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  Yes, Peter's bitter weeping demonstrates that his momentary
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  failure was a collapse of will, not a permanent change of
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  allegiance. And Christ restored him fully.
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  So this shows that a momentary, even a terrible stumble or
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  failure is not the same as the settled, unrepentant repudiation
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  of an unregenerate heart. A heart that permanently prefers
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  the world's safety. So the warning is primarily
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  aimed at those who, when the cost comes, choose Christless
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  safety as a settled pattern of life and refuse to return those
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  whose denial flows from the underlying lack of faith.
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  OK, so the mark of the true disciple is not sinless courage.
• 19:58
  But persevering faith. A faith that may tremble, may
• 20:02
  fall, may repent with tears, yet it cannot finally make peace
• 20:06
  with denying the Lord who purchased them.
• 20:08
  So the warning functions powerfully.
• 20:10
  It does. It exposes the false professor
• 20:13
  who wants the benefits of Christianity without the shame
• 20:15
  of the cross, and it restrains real believers from flirting
• 20:19
  with apostasy by showing the catastrophic consequences of
• 20:22
  such a choice. Let's transition now to the
• 20:23
  theological coherence of all this, because Matthew 10.32383
• 20:28
  If you hear it in isolation, it might sound like a bargain.
• 20:31
  If you speak, I speak. If you shrink, I shrink.
• 20:33
  Right, but we have to align this with reformed soteriology.
• 20:37
  Confession cannot be the ground of justification.
• 20:39
  That is the most essential distinction.
• 20:41
  It is. Jesus is not setting up a
• 20:44
  contract of merit suggesting that heaven is earned by a quota
• 20:47
  of courageous words. Confession is the ordinary fruit
• 20:51
  and necessary evidence of saving faith.
• 20:54
  We are justified by grace alone, through faith alone on account
• 20:58
  of Christ alone. So Christ does not reward
• 21:00
  bravery with salvation, no. He produces confession in those
• 21:04
  whom he has already made his own through regeneration.
• 21:07
  This links directly to the teaching of the Apostle Paul in
• 21:10
  Romans 10, which ties the heart and the mouth together.
• 21:13
  If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe
• 21:15
  in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
• 21:18
  saved. Exactly.
• 21:19
  The outward action flows organically from the inward
• 21:22
  reality. A refusal to confess publicly
• 21:25
  exposes a heart that is not truly received.
• 21:27
  Christ as He is offered in the gospel as King and Lord.
• 21:31
  True faith is rooted in what we call effectual calling.
• 21:34
  Can you elaborate on how effectual calling relates here
• 21:37
  for a listener who knows the term but needs the connection
• 21:39
  spelled out? Certainly, effectual calling, as
• 21:42
  it's described in the Westminster Confession of Faith,
• 21:44
  is the sovereign work of God's Spirit that irresistibly draws
• 21:47
  the elect Sinner to Christ. It changes the heart, making the
• 21:51
  person willing and able to embrace Christ.
• 21:54
  So when God unites us to Christ, he changes our desires, our
• 21:59
  loyalties, and our voice. He does.
• 22:02
  Therefore, confession isn't the price for acceptance, it is the
• 22:05
  speech of the accepted. The faith produced by effectual
• 22:08
  calling is never a dormant, invisible seed.
• 22:11
  It is a living root that inevitably produces the fruit of
• 22:13
  public profession. A secret Christian in this
• 22:16
  theological framework is a contradiction in terms.
• 22:20
  So that denial warning therefore doesn't contradict the doctrine
• 22:23
  of the perseverance of the Saints, it actually protects it.
• 22:26
  It functions as a preserving warning.
• 22:28
  God keeps His people through means, through the Word, through
• 22:30
  promises, and yes, through threats and warnings.
• 22:33
  Matthew 10.33 is one of those preserving warnings, The
• 22:36
  regenerate. Here they tremble, they examine
• 22:38
  their consciences, and in that trembling they are driven back
• 22:41
  to cling tighter to Christ. While the hypocrite hears it and
• 22:44
  finds an excuse to avoid the cost.
• 22:46
  Because for them, Christ is a religious accessory, not a
• 22:50
  treasured Lord. This framing is necessary
• 22:53
  because the temptation to sever the heart from the mouth is
• 22:55
  ancient. We see this vividly in the
• 22:58
  historical controversy John Calvin faced during the
• 23:00
  Reformation regarding the Nicodemites.
• 23:03
  This is one of the most powerful historical case studies on this
• 23:06
  text. Calvin coined the term
• 23:08
  Nicodemite for French Protestants in the 16th century
• 23:11
  who faced intense persecution. And to protect their lives and
• 23:14
  property. They outwardly conformed to
• 23:17
  Catholic rituals, attending mass, observing Catholic
• 23:19
  holidays, sometimes even praying to Saints, while claiming
• 23:23
  inwardly we reject the Roman Church.
• 23:25
  Our hearts are pure before God. They were using the ultimate
• 23:28
  excuse of privatized faith. God looks at the heart, so my
• 23:32
  outward actions, my public conformity do not matter.
• 23:34
  And Calvin recognized this is a grave theological error and
• 23:39
  ruthlessly dismantled it. He argued that this attempt to
• 23:43
  divide inner belief from outer action was a form of neo
• 23:46
  Gnosticism which despise the body and the physical world.
• 23:50
  He stressed that since Christ redeemed both the body and the
• 23:53
  soul, both must be consecrated to His truth and publicly
• 23:56
  visible. What were his specific
• 23:58
  criticisms of the Nicodemites? He had three core critiques.
• 24:01
  First, he said it was a violation of the third
• 24:03
  commandment, taking the Lord's name in vain because they were
• 24:06
  actively representing Christ falsely by participating in
• 24:09
  idolatry. Second, it was hypocrisy,
• 24:12
  denying the truth of the gospel to their neighbors by their
• 24:14
  silence in their outward actions.
• 24:16
  And 3rd, and most powerfully, he argued, it was denying Christ
• 24:20
  lordship. If Christ is King, He is king
• 24:22
  over your social life, your professional life, and your
• 24:24
  physical obedience. So for Calvin, silence in the
• 24:27
  face of error or visible compromise was a practical
• 24:30
  denial of Christ before men. It was.
• 24:32
  That historical polemic gives the Reformed tradition a sharply
• 24:35
  defined stance against the modern trend of privatized
• 24:38
  faith. The choice is always whole
• 24:40
  allegiance. We have to hold law and gospel
• 24:42
  together here then. We must the law.
• 24:45
  Exposure is real, Fear of man is sin, and silence that springs
• 24:49
  from unbelief is sin. Jesus does not flatter our
• 24:52
  coward, as he names it, but the gospel remedy is equally real.
• 24:56
  Christ receives repentant cowards and restores fallen
• 25:00
  disciples. The ultimate comfort is that
• 25:02
  Christ does not demand perfect bravery to earn salvation, but
• 25:05
  demands allegiance because He is the one mediator who stands
• 25:09
  before the Father. Our security is in His finished
• 25:12
  work and His advocacy. Right when he says I will
• 25:15
  confess him before my father, he describes the public vindication
• 25:18
  of those whom he has purchased. He owns them as his property,
• 25:21
  not because their confession was perfect or unwavering, but
• 25:24
  because they are united to him by faith.
• 25:26
  He speaks for them and that is what matters eternally.
• 25:28
  OK, this text is a battering ram against the ideologies that
• 25:32
  tempt the modern church to silence.
• 25:34
  We have to use it to drive the application deep into our lives.
• 25:38
  Let's start with confronting the idol of secular privatization.
• 25:41
  This is the prevailing heresy of our time.
• 25:45
  The idea that faith is a private hobby meant for the home and the
• 25:48
  church building, but strictly banned from the public square.
• 25:51
  Jesus command to confess before men completely destroys this
• 25:55
  idea. There is no moral or spiritual
• 25:57
  neutral ground. There isn't.
• 26:00
  The attempt to be a neutral citizen on Monday while being a
• 26:02
  passionate Christian on Sunday is a denial of Christ's lordship
• 26:06
  over every square inch of creation.
• 26:08
  The world pressures us to remain silent on moral issues, the
• 26:11
  sanctity of life, the definition of marriage, ethical economic
• 26:14
  practices under the guise of keeping politics out of
• 26:17
  religion. But silence in the face of moral
• 26:20
  evil or consciously editing biblical conviction to avoid
• 26:23
  offense is essentially bowing to a secular Caesar.
• 26:27
  This is a denial by omission. The cost of confession is the
• 26:30
  loss of worldly reputation and approval.
• 26:33
  We have to choose to be willing to face being cancelled by
• 26:36
  culture or dismissed as intolerant rather than be denied
• 26:39
  by Christ before the Father. Secondly, let's confront the
• 26:42
  idol of pragmatism and the seeker sensitive impulse that
• 26:45
  has permeated much of modern church life.
• 26:47
  Yes, this is the philosophy that assumes that to attract the
• 26:51
  world, we must cater to the world, Softening the gospels,
• 26:55
  challenging edges. A church driven by pragmatism
• 26:59
  operates on opinion polls and attendance metrics rather than
• 27:02
  divine revelation. They.
• 27:03
  Curate sermons to be safe. Exactly silencing the terrifying
• 27:08
  warnings of judgment like the one in Matthew 10.33 for fear of
• 27:12
  losing attendees or popular esteem.
• 27:14
  This is a betrayal of the prophetic Commission Christ
• 27:16
  gave. Jesus did not hide the cross
• 27:18
  behind a curtain of entertainment.
• 27:20
  A church that refuses to preach sin, wrath, or judgment for fear
• 27:24
  of losing numbers is in practice denying Christ before men.
• 27:28
  The. Engine of pragmatism is
• 27:29
  fundamentally the fear of man. It substitutes fleeting human
• 27:33
  approval for Christ's eternal command, and it makes the Church
• 27:36
  look exactly like the world it is commissioned to confront.
• 27:38
  And this leads to 1/3 idol. We should confront antinomianism
• 27:42
  or the idea of easy believe ISM. Right.
• 27:44
  The error that suggests 1 can accept Jesus as Savior without
• 27:47
  bowing to him as Lord. It creates a category of people
• 27:50
  assured of heaven despite perpetually denying Christ's
• 27:53
  commands by their behavior or silence.
• 27:55
  The structure of Matthew 10 .33 speaks directly against this
• 27:59
  position. It does because Jesus connects
• 28:01
  the public stance of the supposed to lever directly to
• 28:05
  their eternal destiny. The faith that justifies is
• 28:08
  never silent. If a person claims to have fire
• 28:10
  insurance but persistently denies Christ by their lifestyle
• 28:14
  or their strategic silence, they're acting as a functional
• 28:17
  atheist. We must guard against the notion
• 28:19
  of cheap grace. Grace without discipleship.
• 28:22
  Grace without the cross. Grace without the necessary
• 28:25
  fruit of confession. Now let's apply confession to
• 28:28
  the ordinary means of grace God has established.
• 28:30
  Allegiance is expressed powerfully through the Church's
• 28:33
  practices, starting with baptism.
• 28:35
  Baptism is the initial visible public oath of allegiance.
• 28:39
  The practice in the early church was understood as putting on the
• 28:42
  uniform of the King. When you enter the waters of
• 28:44
  baptism, you are making a public testimony identifying yourself
• 28:48
  with Christ's death and resurrection.
• 28:50
  So refusing baptism while claiming secret faith is
• 28:52
  disobedience. It is.
• 28:54
  It's an attempt to claim the benefits of the covenant without
• 28:56
  wearing the public badge of the covenant.
• 28:58
  It is a denial of the public nature of faith.
• 29:01
  And the Lord's Supper, which we participate in regularly.
• 29:04
  Paul says that by coming to the table, we are proclaiming the
• 29:06
  Lord's death until he comes. To participate in the Lord's
• 29:10
  Supper is to preach a sermon without words.
• 29:13
  It is a public visual testimony that you are a Sinner saved
• 29:16
  solely by his finished work. It's an unmistakable corporate
• 29:21
  and weekly testimony of allegiance.
• 29:24
  So to neglect the gathering of the Saints or to avoid the table
• 29:27
  is to mute your public testimony.
• 29:29
  It is. Let's apply this sharply to the
• 29:31
  vocational sphere, the before men that we deal with on Monday
• 29:35
  morning in the marketplace. For students, the classroom in
• 29:37
  the university are tribunals where truth claims are
• 29:39
  constantly assaulted. When a professor mocks biblical
• 29:43
  truth, or when the entire academic culture derives the
• 29:46
  exclusivity of Christ as intolerant.
• 29:48
  Silence is not a neutral position.
• 29:50
  You must be immovable. Yes, not aggressively rude, but
• 29:54
  humbly and firmly committed to the truth.
• 29:56
  Do not, along with an intellectual lie, is to deny the
• 30:00
  truth Incarnate. And for the employee, the
• 30:02
  pressure to conform to unethical practices or compromise for job
• 30:05
  security is immense, especially when the financial risk is high.
• 30:08
  This is where the rubber meets the road, the idol of pragmatism
• 30:12
  whiskers. If I speak up about the
• 30:14
  financial irregularity or the moral compromise, I will lose my
• 30:18
  job. But Jesus demands that we fear
• 30:21
  God more than the loss of reputation or job security.
• 30:25
  Your distinct Christian ethics. Your refusal to participate in
• 30:28
  gossip. Your integrity with money.
• 30:31
  And giving explicit credit to God for your success.
• 30:34
  These are all forms of the required confession in the
• 30:36
  marketplace. We must also consider the
• 30:39
  domestic sphere. Jesus warned in this very
• 30:41
  chapter, just a few verses after our main text, that He came to
• 30:44
  bring a sword that divides households.
• 30:47
  For those in genuinely difficult family situations, confession is
• 30:50
  often less about initiating sermons and more about chaste
• 30:53
  conduct. But there will come a moment
• 30:55
  when family loyalty demands a compromise of biblical truth or
• 30:58
  denial of Christ's authority. And in that moment, you have to
• 31:01
  humbly but firmly choose Christ. You must The terrifying line
• 31:05
  Jesus draws elsewhere is whoever loves father or mother more than
• 31:08
  me is not worthy of me. That is the hard surgery
• 31:12
  necessary to free us from the idolatry of family approval.
• 31:14
  Finally, let's return to the listener whose conscience is
• 31:17
  wounded by past silence or cowardice.
• 31:20
  If you are grieved by your past silence, that very grief is the
• 31:24
  evidence of the spirits work within you.
• 31:26
  Do not run from Christ in shame. The law exposes your cowardice
• 31:30
  so that the gospel can magnify Christ's perfect courage.
• 31:34
  One to him in repentance, not away from him in fear.
• 31:37
  Yes, Christ stood silent before his accusers, the tribunals, the
• 31:41
  high priest, the Roman governor, so that he can gain the
• 31:44
  authority to speak for us before the Father.
• 31:47
  He was denied so that we, through faith, could be
• 31:50
  accepted. The blood of the covenant is
• 31:51
  sufficient to cleanse the sin of your past silence.
• 31:54
  It is the warning in Matthew 10.33 is meant to drive you to
• 31:58
  the throne of grace, where the very one you failed is the one
• 32:01
  who pleads your case. Your security is not in the
• 32:04
  perfection of your past actions, but in the perfection of his
• 32:06
  current advocacy. So Matthew 10.32 and Thong 3
• 32:09
  leave us with no safe middle ground.
• 32:12
  Jesus does not allow discipleship to be reduced to a
• 32:14
  private sentiment that never risks the cost of association.
• 32:17
  He permanently ties the present to the final court before men
• 32:22
  now, before my father. Then the decisive audience is
• 32:26
  the father, and the decisive spokesman is the son.
• 32:29
  The world's approval is fragile, temporary and ultimate without
• 32:33
  consequence. Christ's acknowledgement,
• 32:35
  however, is eternal and life defining.
• 32:37
  Therefore, the wise Christian measures every earthly pressure
• 32:42
  by that coming heavenly reality. Confessing Christ means owning
• 32:45
  him plainly by your words, your loyalties, and your obedience,
• 32:49
  because He has owned you by His blood.
• 32:51
  The path of life is not to barter with God through self
• 32:54
  generated bravery, but to abide in Christ by faith and because
• 32:58
  you are, is to confess Him openly and steadily.
• 33:01
  Here's the final thought for you to consider this week, rooted in
• 33:03
  the text we've analyzed. If true confession flows from
• 33:06
  union with Christ, what one specific public action in your
• 33:09
  vocational or social sphere this week will you take to make your
• 33:12
  allegiance unmistakable? Better to be rejected by the
• 33:15
  world and confessed by Christ, than embraced by the world and
• 33:19
  denied by Him. Live now in the bright certainty
• 33:22
  of that coming verdict, trusting that the one who commands
• 33:25
  confession also provides the grace and the courage to carry
• 33:29
  it out.