Luke 12 (2)

Pray Psalm 71.14-16.
But I will hope continually,
And will praise You yet more and more.
My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And Your salvation all the day,
For I do not know their limits.
I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD;
I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.

Sing Psalm 71.14-16, 3.
(Solid Rock: My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less)
But as for me my voice I raise to sing in hope and constant praise!
With saving grace my voice will swell Your never-ending grace to tell.
Refrain v. 3
A Rock of habitation be; command Your Word to rescue me.
My Rock and Fortress ever be!

Read Luke 12.1-12; meditate on verses 8-12

Preparation
1. What did Jesus teach about confessing Him?

2. How does the Spirit help us in confessing Jesus?

Meditation
We recall that, in the Great Commission (Matt. 28.18-20), Jesus taught the disciples to teach us everything He had taught them. Here Jesus is teaching the disciples about confessing Him “before men”. Clearly, it is every believer’s duty and privilege to confess their faith in Jesus as the Lord gives opportunity to do so (v. 8). If we fear God rather than men, we won’t fear men when it’s time to tell them about Jesus (v. 9).

And we have Jesus’ promise that, when it’s time to confess, and we perceive that a wide door of opportunity has opened before us, the Spirit of God is ready and able to help us through it. We don’t need to fret and wonder about what we might say to that colleague at work, neighbor across the fence, or fellow student. When it’s time to confess Jesus, just open your mouth and begin speaking in His direction. The Spirit will meet that simple act of obedience and “will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say” (v. 12). Imagine that! Perhaps you have a hard time imagining yourself telling the Good News of Jesus to anyone. If so, imagine beyond that situation to the Spirit, Who first enabled you to cry to God as Father (Gal. 4.6), engaging your words and voice and using you to confess Jesus as Savior and Lord. Focus on the Spirit, not on yourself, and you’ll fulfill your calling as a witness for Jesus (Acts 1.8).

To blaspheme the Spirit is to deny His witness to Jesus (v. 10). It is to say He is a liar.  Deny Jesus and you may have only postponed a later confession. Deny the Spirit – speak or act consistently as though He does not bear witness to the truth – and you keep the forgiveness of God from reaching you by His Word.

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were not impressed with the king’s new rule of bowing down to a golden idol when they heard Nebuchadnezzar’s new personal praise band play all kinds of music. The penalty for the infraction was to be thrown in a fiery furnace. Here is how they responded with their Spirit-filled words: “…our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Dan. 3.17, 18).

Well, there you have it. The perfect reply to persons who threaten us. “God may choose to save us in this life; but He may not. Whatever He does, we stand with Him and will not deny Him.”

Didn’t those three men exemplify Jesus’ desired response from us? “Whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God” (Lk. 12.8, 9).

Wisdom spoke this warning: “…he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; all those who hate me love death” (Prov. 8.36). We are to love wisdom, love the Word of God, and therein keep our souls safe.

Peter wrote of the way to stay strong in the Lord Jesus, and to continually be bolstering our courage and commitment to stand firm in our faith: “…giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren
nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1.5-11).

If we do these things we will be able to deny denial, and confirm confessing Jesus, through the power of His glorious Holy Spirit. The One upon Whom we are to focus.

For reflection
1. What does it mean for you to confess Jesus in your Personal Mission Field?

2. How do you expect the Spirit of God to help you in confessing Jesus?

3. Summarize Peter’s instruction for making sure we make progress in the Kingdom of God.

To profess Christ in this passage is truly to publish the truth of the gospel, that is, constantly to acknowledge Christ to be perfect God and man and to be the only salvation and righteousness of the world, by whom the faithful are justified. And so we see that it is not enough for a Christian to have Christ in his heart, unless he will also profess him openly before others… Heinrich Bullinger (1504-1575), An Ecclesiasticall Exposition upon Saint Mathewe 10.6

Pray Psalm 71.1-6.
Pray that God will strengthen you for this day, that He will be your refuge, rock, and fortress as you serve and confess Him among the people in your Personal Mission Field.

Sing Psalm 71.1-6.
(Solid Rock: My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less)
In You, O Lord, I refuge claim; O let me never be ashamed.
In righteousness deliver me; incline Your ear and hear my plea.
Refrain v. 3
A Rock of habitation be; command Your Word to rescue me.
My Rock and Fortress ever be!

From wicked hands redeem me, Lord, from all who wrest and break Your Word.
My hope, my confidence from youth, my praise forever reaches You.
Refrain

T. M. and Susie Moore

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (Williston: Waxed Tablet Publications, 2006), available free by clicking here.