This week Bro. Leo continues us on a Biblical study that’s goal is to look at the life of Jesus through a lens of those who were there.  We want to study the circumstances of the culture and the religious system in which Jesus was ministering and moving, instead of looking at the life of Jesus through the prism of the year 2020 Holy Spirit led insight and the entire Bible.

In Last weeks study we learned in Matt.16:13-17 Jesus ask two questions, 1) who do men(people) say He is, 2) who do you say He is. Most of the time we are introduced to Jesus and the Bible by friends, family or a religion that we are brought up in. And our tendency is to believe what we are told, which is good if what we’re being told is the Biblical truth but not good if what we’re being told is in error. In Vs. 17 Jesus explains that our acknowledgement of who He is must come from God, not man, “flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”. It is God who initiates our seeking of who Jesus is, always (John 6:43-44). It is His Holy Spirit that will teach/reveal to us individually who Jesus is (John 16:7-9, 13-14).

In Matt.10:32 the word “confess” is translated from the Greek word “homologeō” the root of which is “homou” which means one in the same, a oneness of agreement in relationship.  The Greek word “logeō” means to confess or acknowledge the oneness to identify with or to stand with and for the person.  “homologeō” is a public acknowledgement of something that is completely believed upon to the point of full commitment and loyalty to.  Our hearts must agree with our mouths.

In order to “confess” that Jesus is the Son of God and our Saviour we must be in full agreement with everything Jesus said and taught.  When our confession is true to heart John 17:6-9, 11, 20-24 tells us that we enter into a personal relationship with God.

If we aren’t in full agreement of the teachings of Jesus we can not make a truthful confession saying so, therefore our confession is null and void in the eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ.  In Matt.10:33 the word “deny” is translated from the Greek word  “arneomai” which means to refuse or reject someone in the concept of a relationship, not to know someone, not to recognize someone.  Matt.26:72 gives the word “deny” and the definition ” I do not know the man”.

Without a completely agreed mouth and heart “confession” we can not enter into a personal relationship with Jesus and on judgement day Jesus will have to “deny” us (Matt.7:23).

Scriptures used in today’s study:

Joh 1:35 Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;
Joh 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!
Joh 1:37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
Joh 1:38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?
Joh 1:39 He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.

Mat 16:13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
Mat 16:14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
Mat 16:15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
Mat 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Mat 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

Mat 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 10:33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Joh 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Joh 17:6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
Joh 17:7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
Joh 17:8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
Joh 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Joh 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
Joh 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Joh 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Joh 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

Mat 10:33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Mat 26:69 Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.
Mat 26:70 But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.
Mat 26:71 And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.
Mat 26:72 And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.
Mat 26:73 And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee.
Mat 26:74 Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.

Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Mat 11:1 And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.
Mat 11:2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
Mat 11:3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
Mat 11:4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
Mat 11:5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
Mat 11:6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.