02.09. The Power To Confess
THE POWER TO CONFESS Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
What is impossible with man, is possible with God. Our sufficiency is from Him. An upright confession comes from the heart, which is God’s gift, and fruit of the working of the Holy Spirit. Had Christ finished everything, it would have been without fruit, had He not sent His Holy Spirit Who leads into all truth, after He ascended into heaven. For all the world stands over against Christ and loves darkness rather than light. But the Holy Spirit came to witness of Christ in the midst of the world. He is the only, but at the same time the Almighty witness of Christ. All others scorn Him, but the Holy Spirit glorifies Him. All others condemn Christ, but the Holy Spirit justifies Him. AIl others reject Christ, but the Holy Spirit takes His side and pleads His cause in man’s conscience. All others call Christ accursed, but the Holy Spirit says, that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
He witnesses of Christ in the Word, and by prophets and apostles He wrote that down in a book. He witnesses of Christ in a world, which He reproves of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He witnesses of Christ in the congregation, who confesses Him as her Lord and her God. He witnesses of Christ in the heart of every believer, who thereby knows himself to be a child of God and calls, "Abba Father". Nothing, and no one is able to stand up against that witness of the Spirit. As soon as He couples His Almighty power with the word, the hardest heart is broken, the most daring mouth is stopped. All our thoughts and considerations mean nothing. No one, speaking by the Holy Ghost calls Christ accursed, and everyone who receives the Spirit confesses Him as his Saviour and Lord. But then, when faith is planted in the heart, the working of the Spirit, which makes faith change into word and deed, is needed in all the many temptations. For it is God, Who not only works in us to will, but also to work after His good pleasure. From Him is the strength to believe and the courage to confess. That is why David prayed, that God would not take His Spirit from him, but renew a right spirit within him. When Peter and John stood before the high council, and being let go, they told their experiences to the brethren, and said, "Now Lord behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word" (Acts 4:29). When they finished praying the place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and spake the Word with boldness. Even Paul requested the congregation to pray for him, that the word should be given him in the opening of his mouth with boldness, to make known the mystery of the gospel. This boldness to speak and testify is in the first place indispensable for the preacher and furthermore for all believers. It is a fearless testimony to each and all, of God’s truth in Christ. It is based on the blessed awareness that our guilt has been taken away, boldness to come before the throne of grace, and to make known all our desires before Him. It is strengthened in us by the many examples of courageous and steadfast confessions that we find in Scripture and history.
There is first of all the example of Christ. In Himself He was the Word, the Truth, the complete Revelation of God. He came to a world that lay in sin and served the lie. Only His appearance, without more, was a protest that must awake the hate and enmity of the world. The world could not suffer Jesus. His existence was their condemnation. That is why the world attempted the utmost to destroy Jesus. But Jesus remained faithful to the Father and obeyed Him unto the death of the cross. He resisted all temptation, He endured all enmity, before the Jewish council He held up His Divine Sonship, and under Pontius Pilate He confessed a good confession. That is how He showed Himself to be the true and faithful witness, the apostle and High priest of our confession, Who left us an example, that we should follow in His steps.
There is furthermore an innumerable company of angels, to whose fellowship believers came in Christ Jesus. They too encourage us to persevere. For they accompanied Christ in all His ways and ascended and descended on the Son of man all the days that He walked here on the earth.
They followed the congregation on its way throughout the world, and are sent out to minister to those who shall inherit salvation. They are desirous to look into the mysteries of salvation and rejoice in every sinner that repents. In the Lord’s prayer they are set for our examples for their perfect obedience, and must through us be made known with the manifold wisdom of God.
There is also the great cloud of witnesses around us, A the Church triumphant, who by their example encourage us to follow them. Some of them were afflicted, suffered bands and prison. But they were not ashamed to confess a good confession and persevered unto the end. And their number is multiplied daily. A multitude that no one can number form the spirits of just men made perfect, taken up in heaven, who are our leaders and examples of a true confession of the Lord Jesus.
There is finally the church militant on earth, that is our support by holding on to the immovable confession of hope. It has been said, and truly so, that although many around us fall away, the Christian’s faith must be so steadfast, that he remains immovable. But in general, man is not destined for such loneliness. The Lord will grant grace, that although forsaken by others, we will run our race rejoicing. But as a rule He keeps us standing in and through the communion of the saints. So we being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. As such all believers have communion with the Lord Christ, of all His treasures and gifts, and we all must use our gifts willingly and joyfully for the other members. So the confessors of Christ are never alone. They may at certain times and in certain places feel lonely and forsaken. But even then it appears that there are the seven thousand that with them did not bow the knee for Baal. And when their souls are oppressed and they look at all the earth, throughout the ages, they are members of a fellowship, who from the beginning of the world unto the end thereof are gathered, protected and kept from all generations, in the unity of faith, by the Son of God. The congregation of Christ is the core of humanity, the salt of the earth, the light of the world. Whoever is a living member of that Church, counts the best and most noble of our race, prophets and apostles, Church fathers, martyrs and reformers, among his brothers and sisters. And more than all is the faithful Witness, the Firstborn from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth.
There is no reason in our fatherland, to be discouraged and withdraw from the world. For Christians are never and nowhere a sect, even though they are contradicted, at least they are not like that in Holland, for this nation was born out of the Reformation. Christianity here is truly national (early 20th Century, Tr.), and the confessors of the Reformed religion are no strangers and foreigners, but citizens, children of the fathers, who fought with good and blood for the truth. When we think of all these things, we must be truly faithful in confessing and holy conversation! A strong faith is needed to bear up when people spake evil of us for the sake of the gospel, although they speak lies. The influence of the masses is like a charm cast on the individual. The danger is always great to submit to the majority. On the other hand, believers may be encouraged by the thought that together they came to Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to the general assembly of the first born, who are written in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and the spirits of men made perfect, and to the Mediator of the New Covenant. So we have nothing to be afraid of, for those that are with us, are more than those that are with them.