CONFESSING JESUS
MATTHEW 16:13-16
JOHN 1:47-49
JOHN 20:26-28
INTRODUCTION...Innocent Prisoner, Today in the Word, December 4, 1992
There is the old story of a king who was once touring a prison. The prisoners fell on their knees before him to proclaim their innocence—except for one man, who remained silent. Inmate after inmate fell down and proclaimed their innocence except for one man. The king called to him, “Why are you here?” “Armed robbery, Your Majesty,” was the reply. “And are you guilty?” “Yes indeed, Your Majesty, I deserve my punishment.” The king then summoned the jailer and ordered him, “Release this guilty wretch at once. I will not have him kept in this prison where he will corrupt all the fine innocent people who occupy it.”
They say that confession is good for the soul. One of the most basic confessions in the life of a Christian is the confession one makes about Jesus. For the Christian, the confession is the door through which one walks to get into the room where God is. There is of course much more to it than that, but the confession we make as a Christian is the beginning. The Apostle Paul is definitely thinking about his in Romans 10:9 when he writes, “That if you confess with your mouth, ’Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Paul goes on to state that obedience to God will follow for the one who trusts in God.
I want us to think about confession today and what we mean when we say: ’I believe that Jesus is the Son of God.’ To do that, I would like to take a look at the confessions of three of Jesus’ disciples. Each of them confess something about Jesus that must be part of our meaning when we ’confess Jesus.’
I. PETER’S CONFESSING IN MATTHEW 16:13-16
READ MATTHEW 16:13-16
The confession of Peter that we just read is perhaps the most famous confession in Scripture. It is the one that we lead a new believer to confess when they come to faith for the first time. This confession of Peter did not happen in a vacuum. Jesus had been dealing with increasing opposition from the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Who were those people? Basically, they were the religious leaders and teachers of the day. They were pressuring Jesus with questions to try and trap Him and we demanding that He give them signs to declare who He really was. They were out to get Him. It was in the midst of this pressure that Jesus gets together with His disciples and asks them a few personal questions. Jesus first asks who the crowds of people think He is. He wants to know the gossip and the scuttle butt about who the people were thinking He might be. The disciples inform Him of the several possibilities that were floating around about His identity. Then He asks the question to end all questions, “Who do you say that I am?” (verse 15).
It is Simon Peter who answers, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (verse 16). Peter confesses two things that were extremely important then and are equally important today for us. Peter first confesses that Jesus is the ’Christ.’
* Jesus was the One promised in Genesis 3:15 who will crush the head of Satan.
* Jesus was the One promised to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 who would bless all nations.
* Jesus was to be the eternal priest for believers as promised in Psalm 110:4.
* Jesus is the One that was promised by God to make all things new in many other prophecies.
You see, by confessing that Jesus was the ’Christ,’ Peter is acknowledging that Jesus fulfills the prophecies about the Messiah in the Old Testament. He is the One that has been waited for... the deliverer. Peter’s confession means that He believes that God has kept all of His promises and they are embodied in the person of Jesus Christ.
The second thing that Peter confesses, and we will see this common thread in all of the confessions we look at, that Jesus is God. Not only is Jesus the Promised One, but He also is God.
II. NATHANAEL’S CONFESSION IN JOHN 1:47-49
READ JOHN 1:47-49
Nathanael (or Bartholomew) is one of those disciples that we really know nothing about. The unofficial traditions of the church, not Scripture, have Nathanael preaching in India and later was killed in Armenia by the royal family for having converted the King of Armenia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02313c.htm). All of that is of course unknown to us. What do we know about this person? We know what the Bible tells us. We know that when Philip introduces Nathanael to Jesus that He has nothing but good things to say about him. He is a true Israelite and someone with great integrity. Nathanael is not sure how Jesus knows him and Jesus describes a divine vision that he had of Nathanael before they met. Nathanael is obviously astonished that Jesus could have ’seen’ him under the fig tree even though He was no where around. What does Nathanael declare? What does Nathanael confess?
Nathanael, like Peter, confesses several things. I would like you to notice the very first word that Nathanael uses. How does he address Jesus? He calls Him ’Rabbi.’ This word in Hebrew literally means, “my great one.” It was a term used for a Jewish teacher. Nathanael was confessing, along with his words ’you are the King of Israel,’ that this Jesus had much to teach Him. Nathanael recognizes that he is the student and Jesus is the teacher. He recognizes that Jesus is above Him and is his master. Nathanael is saying to Jesus:
* Wherever You go I will go
* Wherever You stay I will stay
* Whenever You teach I will listen
* I will follow You
Nathanael confesses that Jesus has what he needs. He will sit and learn. He will accept instruction from His Teacher. The second thing that Nathanael confesses, and we will see this common thread in all of the confessions we look at, that Jesus is God. I would like to direct your attention to Philip’s introduction of Jesus in verse 45 and I want you to compare it to Nathanael’s confession.
How had Philip introduced Jesus? He introduced Him as ’the son of Joseph’ (verse 45).
How did Nathanael refer to Jesus in his confession? As the ’Son of God’ (verse 49). What a huge difference and what a faith Nathanael must have come to believe about this man Jesus and the leap that he makes in his confession. Not only is Jesus the One that teaches us, but He also is God.
III. THOMAS’ CONFESSION IN JOHN 20:26-28
READ JOHN 20:26-28
Thomas is not usually associated with faith. Usually when we think of Thomas we think of the exact opposite and attribute doubt and not faith to this disciple of Jesus. Thomas was told that the Lord was alive and Thomas would not believe. He wanted to see the nail marks (verse 25) and touch the side of Jesus (verse 25) that had been pierced by the spear. Thomas wanted to see Jesus before he would believe. Verse 26 tells us that a whole week went by. A whole week of the other disciples having hope and speaking of the resurrected Jesus. Thomas did not have the same hope. A whole week passes and Jesus is again among them.
What was Thomas’ confession? He cries out, ’My Lord and my God!’ Thomas, I believe, confessed two things that are essential in our confession of Jesus. He, like Peter, confessed that Jesus was God. Thomas confessed as Nathanael had done that Jesus was God. Yet he also affirms to Jesus that He is Lord. Thomas had probably been wandering aimlessly for a week. We are not even told in verse 24 why Thomas was not with the others when they originally encountered Jesus. Thomas had been living his life the way he wanted.
Now he is faced with the resurrected Jesus. He can see the nail marks. He can place his hand in Jesus’ side. Thomas declares that he will no longer live his life in aimlessness or according to what he wants, but will live according to all that Jesus has taught. He is Lord.
IV. OUR CONFESSION OF JESUS
When we look at all three of these disciples of Jesus, we see what it truly means to confess Jesus and to be a Christian:
#1 = To confess Jesus, means that we claim all that God promised has come true
#2 = To confess Jesus, means that we claim we will learn what He has to teach us
#3 = To confess Jesus, means that we claim to live our lives on His terms and not ours
#4 = To confess Jesus, means that we declare He is God.CONCLUSION
