Wednesday, September 29, 2021 PM

Luke 12: Confession, Denial, Blasphemy, and an Answer

Of the lesson is, what do you say, or what do you say, if you do it. Luke chapter 12 verses 8 through 12. I'm gonna start reading back at the beginning of the chapter so we can hear the context. Let's start with a word of prayer.

Father, I thank you for the time you've given to us. Thank you for the meal and those who prepared it. Thank you for those who have come tonight and pray that you bless our reading of your word and our discussion and our prayer time tonight.

Lord, I pray that you would watch over us and bless the whole matter and that you would be honored and glorified in our hearts. We pray that you would help us to pay close attention to the words of our Savior and Sovereign, Jesus Christ.

It's in his name that we pray. Amen. Okay, so chapter 12 beginning in verse 1. In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together so that they trampled one another, he began to say to his disciples, first of all, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore, whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

And I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell.

Yes, I say to you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear, therefore, you're of more value than many sparrows.

Also I say to you, whoever confesses me before men, him the Son of Man will also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him.

But to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven. Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say.

For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. So there are four words here in our passage, verses 8 through 12. There are four words that we need to pay attention to, and these are words about our words.

And the first word is confession. And Jesus says, also I say to you, whoever confesses me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. This word is here in verse 8. It's the word confession.

Every Christian should know this word confession. It is of utmost importance. You can't be a Christian and live as a Christian without living a life of confession. Even if you don't know what the word means, or even know to apply that word to what you do, this is a key term for the believer.

The word simply means to say the same. To say the same. And now it's important, the referent, to say the same as God says. To say the same as God says. So this same word is the word... our words have to agree with God's words.

When the Bible talks about confessing your sins, that's what the Bible is talking about there in 1st John 1. If we confess our sins, that means not simply... that doesn't mean we talk about our hang-ups and instincts and our mistakes given our particular circumstances and the way we were raised and so on.

That's not confession. Confession is calling sin what God calls it. Using His adjectives to describe it. Taking God's side against yourself in the matter. I'm with you God. I agree with what you're saying about me.

That's the kind of... that's what confession means, to say the same. If we're not saying the same thing about our sin as God is saying, then we're not confessing our sins. Now in this context, we have the word confess.

The very same word, but it's different. Jesus is saying, if you confess me... that's what He says... if you confess me before men, then the Son of Man will confess you before the angels of God. So we still have this word confess.

So what does it mean to confess Christ before men? What does that... bring to mind? What does it mean to confess Christ before men? Exactly. So we're saying the same thing about Jesus as He would say about Himself, and to do that before men.

Okay, so Jesus came and declared Himself to be the Son of God, the Son of Man, declared Himself to be the Savior, declared Himself to be all these different titles, and declared Himself in accordance with the Scriptures, all these fulfillment of all the promises of the Old Testament.

So confessing Christ before men can be as simple as saying, Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Alright, that's confessing Christ before men. That's what He said about Himself.

That's what the Bible says about Him. So when we say that, we're in agreement with Him, and that's confessing Christ before men. Now, why do you think... or what does it mean, then, if we confess Christ before men?

We're saying what He said about Himself. Now, what does it mean for Christ to confess us? If we confess Him before men, He will confess us before the angels of God. What does it mean for Christ to confess us before the angels?

So, He's going to talk about who we are, not based on what we say. Again, God is still the referent. God is still the standard. So, if He's going to confess us before the angels, it means He's not... it's not Him saying what we say about ourselves before the angels.

He's going to declare who we are in the eyes of God, according to the Word of God. He's going to declare who we are according to the Word of God to all the angels, to the heavenly courts, so that the entire courtroom of God, all of the witnesses there, the angels, they will all hear who we are in Christ.

Now, when you think about that, this doesn't feel like an equal weight. I mean, confessing Christ before men... who knows what kind of person this may be, but confessing Christ before men... that's important.

That's important. When you think about Christ confessing us before the angels, it seems like an entirely different thing, but Jesus connects them. He connects them, and so what we say about Christ and what He says about us seems to be of the utmost importance.

What we say about Christ and what He says about us seems to be of the utmost importance. Now, the next word is denial, and that's in verse 9. You see that in verse 9? But he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.

He who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. So, this is the other side of the coin. The idea of denial here is written as this is the ongoing stance of a person. Not like Peter, who he denied Jesus... he denied he knew Jesus.

He denied he knew who he was, you know, three times. But that was not his ongoing stance. It wasn't like Peter gave up on Jesus and stopped believing in Him. So, this denial is also not something where you have to go point by point and utterly disregard or contradict every facet of who Jesus is.

This denial has the idea of... this doesn't have to be a direct assault. It can be kind of moving off slant or leaving something behind or kind of giving up on something. It could mean a direct assault of, you know, I didn't I deny that Jesus was was divine or whatever.

But it could also be just kind of leaving things behind and giving up on to stop talking about or affirming. That's captured here in the idea of denial. So, why... Jesus brings this up, you know, he who denies before before men, he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.

Now, he just talked about some things previously that help us answer this question. But why would they, those he's talking to, why would they deny Christ before men? Why would they do that? Because they're maybe afraid of man.

Men who will threaten to kill them if they don't be quiet or so on. Now, why would we deny Christ before men? Fear of the consequences. Same thing, fear of man. We would have similar similar temptations as the disciples would.

And now, you know, how would you deny Christ before men? What does that entail? We kind of talked about that a little bit. Just kind of giving up on certain aspects of who Christ is. There are all sorts of things about Jesus that just doesn't square with sinful man.

Things about his authority. If he's king of kings and Lord of lords and all authority's been given to him in heaven and on earth, well that doesn't really fit well with people who don't want to be under someone else's authority.

They don't want there to be some objective moral standard backed up with real power and eternal consequences hovering over their lives. They want to pretend like there there are no moral absolutes and no eternal consequences and so on.

So there are aspects about who Christ is and the promises that he has made that there is a temptation to be soft on or to not talk about. Some people don't like Christ's exclusivity. Jesus said, I am the way, the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes unto the Father except through me.

That sounds like a very narrow road. Yes, narrow gate, narrow road. Yes, indeed. Well that's not very popular and either that doesn't get talked about or it gets kind of left behind or it gets questioned and so on.

People will do that because they're afraid of what men may say or what men may think about Christianity because of who Jesus is. Now just to think about this for a second in verses 8 and 9 as they hang together there.

If we confess Jesus before men, the Son of Man will confess us before the angels. If we deny Christ before men, we will be denied before the angels of God. So we're either with Christ, in Christ, and for Christ, and by Christ, and thus robustly represented in the heavenly courts by him, or we're not with him, we're not of him, we're not through him.

And even though at some point some have said, Lord, Lord, Jesus says depart from me, I never knew you. He's not going to confess everybody before the angels, only those who are with him by that gracious union of faith.

And of course, the faith that we have in our inner persons, our faith in Christ comes out as confession. We say who he is in agreement with what he has said. But notice the connection that our confession on earth, or denial on earth, is directly connected to confession and denial in heaven.

What are we learning about heaven and earth? What are we learning about heaven and earth? That they're connected. They're connected. We think of heaven and earth being separated. No, they're connected.

And they're connected straight through Jacob's ladder, who is Christ. The vision that Jacob had of the angels ascending and descending upon the ladder, that vision that he had, Jesus brings up in John chapter 1 when he talks to Nathanael, who's under the tree, and he says, you will see the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

Talking about himself. So Jesus says to Nathanael, I am Jacob's ladder. Heaven and earth are connected, indeed even reconciled, ultimately through Christ, the one mediator between God and man. And so how we view him, how we confess him, how we love him, how we trust in him, in the here and now, matters even now in heaven.

It will matter forever in heaven. Heaven and earth are connected. There is not a... they've not been severed. They are connected in Christ. So we have confession, and we have denial, and then the third word is blasphemy.

Oh, is it just verse 10? Just verse 10. So he says, and anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.

So he has used this title for himself, Son of Man, there in verse 8, and he uses it again here in verse 10. Who is the Son of Man? I thought he was the Son of God. Yeah, he's not denying that. Okay. What does Jesus mean when he says that he's the Son of Man?

He uses that phrase a lot about himself, the Son of Man. What does he mean by that? There's something very special about him or in regards to man. The Bible calls him the second Adam. This is absolutely true.

The Incarnation is the only way for salvation. So something is absolutely vital that not only is he fully divine, but he's also fully man. Now, when he says Son of Man, there's a Jewish idiom that the Son of references destiny or direction or ultimate direction.

So when you read things like Sons of Wrath or Sons of Destruction, it's not that they bring the wrath and bring the destruction themselves, but they are destined for it. It's a Hebrew idiom. And in this sense, Son of Man, humanity, mankind has its destiny in Christ.

What humanity will be, the humanity, the real true humanity that is left ultimately in the end of all things is going to be defined by Christ, is defined by Christ, who is the firstborn of the resurrection is another way to say the Son of Man.

Since he's the firstfruits of the resurrection, what he is now, we will be in that glorified, resurrected humanity. Now, the other way we can get at what Son of Man means is in a total agreement with that, and the title comes from Daniel chapter 7.

And it's interesting that the title shows up in just a small area of the Old Testament, but Jesus grabs that title and uses it all over the place. And in verse 9 of Daniel 7, we hear something very similar to Revelation 5, 4 and 5.

I watched till thrones were put in place, and the ancient days was seated. His garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire.

A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. A thousand thousands ministered to him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. It sounds like Revelation 4 and 5, doesn't it?

I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking. I watched that the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, given to the burning flame. As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season at a time.

I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man, there's the title, coming with the clouds of heaven. And where does he go? He goes up. He came to the Ancient of Days. Remember who's enthroned in the heavens, right?

And they brought him near before him. Then to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.

So, you see, it's a very royal title full of power and promise. And when Jesus is using this title of himself, he's using a royal title. A royal title as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And again, the ultimate figure of humanity.

Now, why would the Son of Man be opposed? Well, again, because of his authority. Because of what he represented as, no, it's not going to be your agenda, or your agenda, or your agenda. It's going to be my agenda.

And that rubs, you know, obviously that doesn't go over very well for people who want to be autonomous and self-ruled. And so many spoke out against him, of course. Solitarsis, for one, spoke out against this Son of Man.

He didn't believe in him. He was persecuting and calling him false, and so on. But he found forgiveness. All kinds of people spoke out against Christ, who later found forgiveness. If anyone speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him, Jesus himself on the cross.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. But he says, to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven. Who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit. Now, what does blasphemy entail?

What does that word mean? Blasphemy. Disrespect for the name, for the title. Has the idea of outrageously false smearing of someone's reputation in reference to God. Use the name in a nasty way. Right.

Let's review our Trinitarian theology. We've already been talking about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit here in this small passage already. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God, and God is one.

And the Father is not the Son or the Spirit, and the Son is not the Father and is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father and not the Son. But each person of the Trinity is fully God, co-equal in glory, co-eternal.

Each person of the Godhead is as worthy of worship as the other persons of the Godhead, all the same essence. So, why is it that you get to blaspheme the Son and get forgiven, but then if you blaspheme the Spirit you can't get forgiven?

That seems a little odd. Part of it has to do with the fact that in God's... and we can't explain everything... but in His mysterious and wondrous grace towards us, what the Father planned, the Son has performed, and the Spirit then applies.

And the Spirit didn't die on the cross for our sins. Neither did the Father. The Son did. And it just reminds us that the different persons of the Godhead have different roles in our salvation and the bringing about of redemption.

Now, what about the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit... when was the Holy Spirit promised? The Holy Spirit was promised to arrive at Pentecost, but how long had the people been waiting for the Holy Spirit to show up?

Oh, a long time. That they would be circumcised of heart, like Deuteronomy 18, the promises of the New Covenant in Ezekiel and in Jeremiah and Isaiah. Everyone was waiting on the arrival of the Holy Spirit.

That would be... the Holy Spirit was at work throughout the Old Covenant, but you could be a member of the Old Covenant and have no spiritual life at all. I mean, you could be a member of the Old Covenant and have zero spiritual life.

You were in simply because you were born in Abraham and you got circumcised, and you better follow those feasts otherwise you're going to be in a world of hurt. In the New Covenant, the promise was, is, that every member of the New Covenant is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

That's the difference. You cannot be a member of the New Covenant and not have the Holy Spirit. That is the significant difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. There are plenty of spirit-filled people in the Old Covenant.

Sometimes there weren't very many of them. They were called a remnant. But the New Covenant work that Christ came to begin, the New Covenant in my blood, was going to be worked out through the power, the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, you know, book of Acts.

All these different things that the Spirit was doing. The Spirit of Christ was doing powerful things in the lives of His people. So, to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, and think about the historical context, who's trying to kill them?

Well, the people running the synagogues, the magistrates and the authorities of the cities that Jesus just told them, you need to go through all the cities of Judah. You need to go through all the cities of Israel.

You need to go through all the villages of Israel and preach the gospel. That's what he told them to do in the previous chapter. So, who's going to be opposing them? The people who are denying the New Covenant.

Jesus, by the time that this is going to be going on, what He's warning them about, because He's going to say, hey, they're going to bring you between synagogues and magistrates and authorities and so on.

Don't worry about it. The Holy Spirit will help you in that time. He's telling them what's going to happen to them when they go out preaching the good news of the kingdom. Hey, the New Covenant has arrived in Christ.

The New Covenant in His blood. And He died and He rose again and He has sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The people blaspheming the Holy Spirit are the ones who are denying the New Covenant. So, the ones blaspheming against the Holy Spirit are the ones who are rejecting the gospel proclamation itself.

Denying the new birth. Denying the new temple which the Holy Spirit is building, who the Holy Spirit is indwelling. Denying the whole thing. We don't need a new temple filled with the Holy Spirit. No, we've got our old temple.

We like our old temple, thank you very much. And we're going to hug it until it gets destroyed by the Romans. So, these are the people who are blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. And so also anyone today who utterly rejects conversion, rejects the idea of the new birth, the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit to save, and so on.

You can't have forgiveness if you reject forgiveness. I just finished reading Magician's Nephew to my kids, and there's a line in there where Aslan has some comment about the drunk crazed uncle about all of the misery that men put themselves into trying to protect themselves from what will help them.

And blasphemy against the Holy Spirit leaves you without a gospel witness, so there's no forgiveness. And finally, the last word is, give an answer or make a defense. When they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.

The word answer there, verse 11, do not worry about how or what you should answer. It's the Greek word apologia, apologetics. That's where we get our word, make a defense of the faith. We've already talked about, you know, synagogues.

We haven't gotten, you know, any of us, we haven't ever... have you been threatened by a synagogue lately? A synagogue sending you threatening letters? No, that stopped in 1870. The magistrates and authorities, people in charge, might feel very threatened by the spread of Christianity.

We see that in the book of Acts. The spread of Christianity was always a political matter, always political. You couldn't avoid it. When you went out and said, Jesus is Lord, and the mantra of the day was, Caesar is Lord, you can't help but having an impact on everything.

Those who have turned the whole world upside down have come here too, right? So he says, don't worry about it. In other words, you don't have to come up with some kind of legal strategy that will get you off, get you out of trouble, some sort of nifty little turn of phrase.

You don't have to scheme the system. Rather, depend on the Holy Spirit, because the situation is going to be different for everyone. You know, getting pulled into before magistrates in Indonesia is different than getting pulled before magistrates here in the United States or in Canada.

It's going to be different, but the point is to confess Christ before men. That's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to confess Christ before men, so the Holy Spirit will help us. That doesn't mean that you... this is not something where we say, well, we don't do any kind of preparation or anything like that, but what we... what this is saying is that we are depending upon... don't worry, don't have anxiety about how we're going to manipulate men, but how we're going to... but our concentration should be on how are we going to confess Christ.

And the Holy Spirit will help us do that, because again, confessing Christ isn't... you know, having begun by the Spirit, are we going to continue by the flesh? You know, having been born again and saved by grace, are we going to succeed in these kinds of situations by our own strength, by our own arm?

No. These are opportunities to profess Christ before men and His authority overall. So four words... confession, denial, blasphemy, and then you can either put down give an answer or make a defense. And Jesus is concerned for His disciples to consider what they say.

Okay, any questions or thoughts? And Jesus said that the ministry of the Holy Spirit includes Him bringing to mind... bringing to our minds the things that Christ has taught us. And so, rather than coming up with some sort of men's words to try to manipulate the magistrate, if we get pulled before a magistrate, it's time for God's Word to be declared by the power of the Holy Spirit.