28 November 2018

HOW IS YOUR CONFESSION?

By John Ollis

I was challenged afresh as I read Hebrews 4:14 NKJV again recently.
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
I asked myself the question WHAT IS OUR CONFESSION ?  Is is Romans 10:9 NKJV
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Surely this is where it must all begin, do you remember that day when the Holy Spirit so convicted you of your sin and drew you to God, and put faith and grace in your heart to confess that Jesus took the wrath of God (that should  have been poured out on us) upon Himself and carried it away plus confess and believe Jesus also rose from the dead , and as a result we were saved. Paul in Romans 4:25 NKJV  expresses it like this who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

WE WERE DECLARED NOT GUILTY AND ACQUITTED

Ephesians 2:8 NKJV  spells it out so clearly For by GRACE  you have been saved through FAITH, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.
We could only make this confession because the Holy Spirit put this awesome truth in our hearts.  So when the pressures and temptations come with God’s continued help

LET US HOLD FAST OUR CONFESSION

An area that I have to work on in my life is to make sure:

MY CONFESSION ALWAYS LINES UP WITH THE WORD OF GOD

Romans 14:23 NKJV tells us whatever is not from faith is sin. 

WHAT IS THE OPPOSITE TO FAITH?

  • FEAR
  • DOUBT
  • UNBELIEF
  • NEGATIVITY

How easy it is for things to come out of our mouth that has their basis in these four things. Personally, every day when I begin my Quiet Time knowing that if I have sin in my heart God will not hear my prayer Psalm 66:18 NLT If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.  I ask the Lord to search my heart, and if my confession has not lined up with the Word of God would he please forgive me.
I guess there are many areas relative to confession we could talk about today, but let me just comment on one more area. Hebrews 4:14 NLT let us hold firmly to what we believe.
This translation sure opens it up, and as we are living in a time where fundamental truths are getting watered down, we need to know what we believe, and regularly confess them. Let me encourage you, that I believe it means commitment & confession of the essentials. Let us not get bogged down on the non-essentials. The Baptist church for example here in Victoria deliberately does not have a lengthy Statement of Faith, but are committed totally to the essentials. They hold the Holy Spirit is still shedding light on the Word of God, and we need to be like the Bereans and be open minded when it comes to those truths that are sure not essential to our Salvation, but that we let the Holy Spirit lead us into all truth  John 16:13. AMEN