Matthew 10:32

It should be known that not even Pagans can deny the existence of God, but the infidels may deny that the Son as well as the Father is God. The Son confesses men before the Father, because by the Son we have access to the Father, and because the Son saith, Come, ye blessed of my Father. (Mat. 25:34.) Or, He confesses Jesus who by that faith that worketh by love, obediently fulfils His commands; he denies Him who is disobedient.

"Whosoever therefore shall confess in Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father Who is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father Who is in heaven." He exhorts them to bear witness …

Whosoever shall confess me - Publicly acknowledge me for the promised Messiah. But this confession implies the receiving his whole doctrine, Mark viii, 38, and obeying all his commandments.

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men,....

These things, though primarily intended for direction to the apostles, are of use to all Christ's ministers, with whom, by his word, Christ, and will be always to end the world.

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men - That is, whosoever shall acknowledge me to be the Messiah, and have his heart and life regulated by my spirit and doctrine. It is not merely sufficient to have the heart right before God; there must be a firm, manly, and public profession of Christ before men. “I am no hypocrite,” says one; neither should you be. “I will keep my religion to myself” i.e. you will not confess Christ before men; then he will renounce you before God.

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men--despising the shame. him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven--I will not be ashamed of him, but will own him before the most august of all assemblies.

To do good to souls in this world is very hard. All who try it find this out by experience: it needs a large stock of courage, faith, patience and perseverance. Satan will fight vigorously to maintain his kingdom; human nature is desperately wicked: to do harm is easy; to do good is hard. The Lord Jesus knew this well, when he sent his disciples out to preach the Gospel for the first time. He knew what was before them, if they did not.

To do good to souls in this world is very hard. All who try it find this out by experience: it needs a large stock of courage, faith, patience and perseverance. Satan will fight vigorously to maintain his kingdom; human nature is desperately wicked: to do harm is easy; to do good is hard. The Lord Jesus knew this well, when he sent his disciples out to preach the Gospel for the first time. He knew what was before them, if they did not. He took care to supply them with a list of encouragements in order to cheer them when they felt cast down. Weary missionaries abroad, or fainting ministers at home, disheartened teachers of schools and desponding visitors of districts would do well to study often the nine verses we have just read. Let us mark what they contain. For one thing, those who try to do good to souls must not expect to fare better than their great Master. “A disciple is not above his master, nor a servant above his lord.” The Lord Jesus was slandered and rejected by those whom he came to benefit. There was no error in his teaching; there was no defect in his method of imparting instruction, yet many hated him and called him Beelzebub. Few believed him and cared for what he said. Surely we have no right to be surprised if we, whose best efforts are mingled with much imperfection, are treated in the same way as Christ. If we let the world alone, it will probably let us alone; but if we try to do it spiritual good, it will hate us as it did our Master. For another thing, those who try to do good must look forward with patience to the day of judgment. “There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid that shall not be known.” They must be content in this present world to be misunderstood, misrepresented, vilified, slandered and abused. They must not cease to work because their motives are mistaken and their characters fiercely assailed.

INCESSANTLY do we preach, and do you hear, that salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ, that whoever trusts in Him shall be saved. This is the great and master-duty—the believing, the trusting. It is here that salvation hinges and hangs—"Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God." "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved."

INCESSANTLY do we preach, and do you hear, that salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ, that whoever trusts in Him shall be saved. This is the great and master-duty—the believing, the trusting. It is here that salvation hinges and hangs—"Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God." "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." We conceive that it is never possible to preach that Truth of God too often—that this ought to be in some sense the burden of every sermon—that it is the message, above all others, which every minister of Christ is sent to deliver! There is salvation in Him and in no other. We are to insist upon it perpetually and constantly, and never are we to forget it, that Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the very chief, and that, by Him, everyone that believes is justified from those things from which he could not be justified by the Law of Moses. But, Brothers and Sisters, there are other matters beside faith. And while believing in Christ is the great and the main thing, yet it would be unprofitable for you—it would be unfaithful on our part—if we were to neglect other commands of Christ which come after this foundation, faith, and have a very close relation to it. Now, I am persuaded that there are in this professing Christian England hundreds and thousands of persons who have some kind of faith in Christ, and I trust, also, a sincere one, who, nevertheless, pass over in silence the plain command of Christ about professing Him before men.

Whosoever therefore shall confess me ... - The same word in the original is translated “confess” and “profess,” 1Ti 6:12-13; 2Jn 1:7; Rom 10:10. It means to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ, and our dependence on him for salvation, and our attachment to him, in every proper manner. This profession may be made in uniting with a church, at the communion, in conversation, and in conduct. The Scriptures mean, by a profession of religion, an exhibition of it in every circumstance of the life and before all people. It is not merely in one act that we must do it, but in every act. We must be ashamed neither of the person, the character, the doctrines, nor the requirements of Christ. If we are; if we deny him in these things before people; if we are unwilling to express our attachment to him in every way possible, then it is right that he should “disown all connection with us,” or deny us before God, and he will do it.