Denying Christ

By Ron Graham

 

 God’s word is awesome, it never changes. Read it, study it, and digest it, no matter how many times we read through His word, choice little nuggets appear, like digging for gold, only with God’s word we’ll never run out of discoveries. If we continue studying our Bibles, inevitably, new and priceless nuggets appear providing us with rich new perspectives and challenges.  

 

This happened to me recently as I was reading through The New Testament again. I was in the book of Matthew when suddenly one of the verses I had read many times before just jumped off the page at me. It was as though the Holy Spirit was speaking to me, saying “Stop here Ron and take a closer look”.

 

Here’s the verse that stopped me cold. "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 10:32, 33. Presumably, these two verses are quite familiar, and their meaning is fairly straight forward. Confess Christ and you’re in; deny Christ and you’re out. Only this time look real hard at the word deny. In the Greek the word for deny is arneomai, simply translated it means refuse. Knowing the truth as Christians, but refusing to confess Christ when we’re given the opportunity is a sin. Basically it’s an attitude of rebellion and it’s contrary to the command given us by Jesus Himself. Maybe we could all use a refresher course here “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” Mark 16:15. Well OK, what is the Gospel? Simply put, the Gospel is Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. It’s not that we don’t confess Him, but the fact is in many instances we refuse to confess Him. We must see this refusal as an act of rebellion against God. Be assured Christian, that’s the way God sees it.

 

According to the scriptures we not only confess Jesus Christ with our lips, but also with our actions, with our life styles, and with our attitudes.  Even our bodies being the temple of God can be a confession or a denial of Jesus Christ as our Saviour and LORD. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” 1 Corinthians 6:19.

 

Confessing with our mouth but not with our lifestyle can also be a denial. Conformed, oh no here we go again. I know, I’ve been through this subject before, and while I’m probably running the risk of another ton of controversy exploding around me like grenades, I’ll say it again. Born again believers in Christ are not to conform to the world. This non-conforming admonishment my dear brothers and sister is from God, not me, I’m only a messenger. Conforming to the world is a denial of Christ. “whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 10:33. “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”, Romans 12:2. The Greek word used in this instance by Paul the Apostle is syschēmatizō, and its meaning is, to conform one's self (i.e. one's mind and character) to another's pattern, to fashion one's self according to, in this case the world. Does this mean we can’t confess Jesus Christ to the world if we are conformed to the world? No, what I’m saying is our confession or our witness might not be well accepted if we’ve taken on the characteristics of the ones we’re witnessing to. I’ve heard popular Bible teachers admit that if you decide to mark up your body with tattoos and piercing that’s fine, as long as you have a good reason such as for witnessing purposes. These so called Bible teachers even go as far as to tell their audience that God won’t condemn you to Hell for marking up your body, but they never mention that it’s not your body any longer it’s God’s property.

 

Are you fearful to confess that you are a follower of Jesus Christ out in public because you are worried you might go through some kind of persecution? "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”. Matthew 10:28

 

Remember what Jesus said, “"Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven” Matthew 10:32, 33. If you’re one of those Christians setting back thinking, I’m in good shape because I know the truth. I’ve nothing to worry about because I’m saved. You’d better take a closer look at Matthew 10:33.

 

We deny Christ by keeping silent, and also if the world can’t tell the difference between us (believers) and them (non-believers) this to can be a denial. If we live as the secular humanist of this world, what does that say about our testimony? No, we are told in the scriptures we are to live in the world and to occupy until He comes, but we’re not to be of the world. The question is when you are out in the world are you professing or denying Christ?

 

Think about it.

 

God bless you all,

 

Ron Graham

 

 

 

Email:  twotug@embarqmail.com