Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually.

human opinion your viewpoint the things

you come up with

are not good enough to make it in this

life

god says i have a brighter tomorrow

for you don’t throw away your confidence

don’t stop moving forward just because

there are headaches in your way

stay the course god wants to heal

and he will not heal if there’s

unforgiveness because he went to the

cross

for forgiveness this is not a time

for casual christianity

god has opened up a window it is time

now for the men of god to walk through

it

in the name of his son jesus christ

[Music]

you and i are living in a day

of no shame

evil is being publicly paraded

it should be clear today that

christians have lost the home field

advantage

we are the visiting team

the culture no longer assumes as we have

said

a judeo-christian ethic as normative

it has been rejected in all the systems

of the culture

at varying degrees

there’s no place to run and no place to

hide

there was a time when you could hide

around your religion

or in church but today you and i are

being called out

because the standards have been

rejected across the board

education media

politics entertainment

it has become crystal clear

that whatever remnants of a christian

nation that we had no longer exist

and now we’re at the stage where the one

entity

that was designed

to hold the line crumbles too

you will now discover that to follow

jesus christ is not to go to an ice

cream social

the christian faith

is seeking to be silenced

unless you’re so vague nobody knows

where you stand

and so i want to call on me you and us

to make the decision to be unapologetic

christians

because that is what’s needed today

we saw that jesus says

in verse 32 everyone who confesses me

before men

i will also confess him before my father

who is in heaven

but whoever denies me before men

i will also deny him before my father

who is in heaven he brings up the issue

of

confession if you confess me

i’ll confess you if you deny me i will

deny you

now this was not a statement said to

pagans

this was a statement said his disciples

he’s not talking to non-christians when

he talks about confession and denial

he’s talking to his so-called followers

to confess means to publicly

identify with

it is the verbal and visual

identification of yourself

to be in league with jesus christ

i love the way that

ii timothy

puts it when

when he paul tells his

son in the faith in 2nd timothy 1 8

therefore do not be ashamed

of the testimony of our lord

or of me his prisoner but join with me

in

suffering for the gospel according to

the power

of god he says

don’t be ashamed of your identification

he says if you confess me before men

i will confess you before my father and

don’t be ashamed

we live in a day of no shame

you see things on television you would

never have thought

you would see on television

you hear language that you never thought

you would hear or you see parades that

you would never thought you would have

seen

because there is no shame

and i don’t hear anybody apologizing

in other words what they’re saying to

everybody else is a just

because this is the way it is

jesus says i want you to confess me

before men

why won’t we do that so many of us

because we’re like the folks spoken

about in saint john chapter 12

verse 42 and 43 look at what it says

nevertheless many even of the rulers

believed in him they became christians

but because of the pharisees

they were not confessing him

for fear that they would be put out of

the synagogue

for they loved the approval of men

rather than the approval of god

he says don’t let your

fear of people outpace your feeling lord

it says they believed on him they got

saved

but they didn’t want to be rejected by

people

they didn’t want to lose their

popularity they didn’t want to lose

their

notoriety they didn’t didn’t want to

lose their

public acceptance and so they believed

on him

they’re on their way to heaven but they

didn’t want to lose acceptance on earth

and so it says they wouldn’t confess

there wouldn’t they would be secret

agent christians

today we live in a world of political

christians

christians who use politics and

wrap their christianity and the flag

rather than in the cross

we live in a day of cultural christians

who wrap their christianity

in the subject of race

rather than in the primacy of christ

we live in a day of convenient

christians

who want to use god for their blessing

but who don’t want to represent him

in the culture unless they’re in church

says unless you confess me before men

he’s talking about

public identification notice

you must confess him

not just his father in other words

saying god won’t cut it

that’s vague christianity he says you

must confess him

jesus christ why because jesus christ

has been assigned by the trinity

to represent the godhead on earth

in history in time and space

you become a christian by faith alone in

christ alone

apart from works but once you become a

christian

you have now entered into the realm of

discipleship

that is what baptism is it’s saying i’m

willing to

publicly be identified as a follower of

christ

so the question is on your job

where you work in your neighborhood if

you are accused of being a christian

would there be enough evidence to

convict you

or will you be found innocent of all

charges

or are you an apologetic christian

he says in matthew 10 verses

24 and 25

he says a disciple is not above his

teacher

nor a slave above his master it is

enough for the disciple that he becomes

like his teacher and the slave like his

master

if they have called the head of the

house be else above

how much more will they malign the

members of his household

he says the whole idea of following

christ is to be like him

in the same way he reflected the

standard of his father

we are to reflect the standard of our

savior so

are you a confessing christian

meaning publicly identifiable

not privately before men he says

now having said that

what’s the issue here of confession

he had spoken about that already in

matthew 10 when he went down and he said

that verse 38

does not take up his cross follow me

he’s not worthy of me

there is an unsettled issue

by many christians

it has not been settled and it affects

the issue of confession

it’s an unsettled issue

the unsettled issue is the issue of

lordship

the issue of lordship let me show you

what i mean

from romans chapter

10.

romans chapter 10.

he says in verse 9 if you confess

with your mouth jesus as lord

and believe in your heart that god has

raised him from the dead you will be

saved

for with the heart a person believes

resulting in righteousness

but with the mouth he confesses

resulting in salvation

so guess what he talked about you

opening your mouth

notice when you believe you are made

righteous

that is you get saved in the way we use

it you’re on your way to heaven

but he says with your mouth that is

public identification

is where you get deliverance

god through christ will only

join you in history if you’re not

ashamed of him

if you’re not apologetic about him if

you hide behind the word god

so you don’t have to deal with the

inconvenience of jesus

there can be no divine reset

without recognizing

the law of the kingdom i call it you

wouldn’t be in the kingdom

there would be no i turn it to eternal

destiny there would be no eternal future

if somebody hadn’t paid the price

and you can’t confess him

lovingly responsibly appropriately but

clearly

there shouldn’t be an uncertain sound

when it comes to jesus christ

because as acts 10 36 says he is lord of

all

as ephesians 1 22 and 23 declares

that all things have been placed unto

christ

he is to be confessed

i love the way romans 14 puts it

verses that you should remember 8-10

romans 14 8 to 8-10 or 8-9 says

for if we live we live for the lord

and if we die we die for the lord

therefore whether we live or die we are

the lords

for to this in christ died and lived

again

that he might be lord both of the dead

and of the living

he goes on to verse 10 and talks about

us before

the judgment seat of christ so when you

and i stand before the judgment seat of

christ

there’s going to be one major question

was our lord

the only reason you up here is because

i’m savior

but i want to know while i left you on

earth was i

lord that is did i own you

philippians 2 10 and 11 makes it clear

every needs gonna bow and every tongue

is going to confess

confess that jesus is lord

you can do it voluntarily now and

mandatorily later

but everybody is going to do that and

his lordship recognizes his deity titus

chapter 2 verse 13

says he is savior and god john 20

verse 28 the apostle says my lord

my god

it is the recognition that jesus is not

just some nice

human figure that ought to be respected

he is the son of the living god who

ought to be

worshipped so how do you know

whether you have made the lordship

decision how do you

how do you know that how do you measure

that

because anybody can say oh jesus is lord

in my life

that sounds evangelically accurate

anybody can say that so let me tell you

how jesus says you can know whether the

lordship

issue has been addressed in your life

in luke 6 46 he says this

how do you call me lord lord and do not

do what i say

how do you use the term and you call me

lord

and then you telling me you’re doing

something opposite to what i say

i say this about a man you’re saying

something else i say this about a woman

you say something else

i say this about marriage you say

something else i say this about finances

you say something else yeah i keep

saying what i say

and you keep coming up with all this

stuff you say and then gonna call me

lord

he says how do you call me lord lord and

don’t do what i say

if i’m lord that means you adjusting

we live in a world where

christians are asking god to adjust so

we can make folk happy in the culture

we are to be sensitive sure we ought to

be kind

compassionate loving to not do that is

also not to do what he says

but you do not do that by jettisoning

truth

to placate a society that has already

rejected your savior

now what you must understand is a simple

principle

but i must understand what we the church

must understand that it’s having trouble

getting this it’s pointed out in saint

john chapter 2

verses 24 to 25 it says jesus

knew what was in man and he would not

commit himself to them

and he’s talking about those who

believed on him it says they believed in

him so they became christians

but he wouldn’t commit himself to them

because he knew what was in them

let me put it another way jesus doesn’t

have the same commitment

equally to every christian

we’re all equal children but he’s not

equally committed to every child

because if you are ashamed of him it

says he would not commit himself to them

even though they believed

romans chapter 5 verses 8 to 10 god

demonstrated love toward us that while

we were sinners christ died for us

but then he says having been justified

by faith you’re saved

he says we shall be saved or delivered

by his life

so you’re already saved but his

involvement with you

in history is tied to your confession of

him

and then he says in romans 10 13

it says anyone who calls on the name of

the lord will be saved

the problem is or what people don’t know

is the only

time that phrase is used in the new

testament of calling on the name of the

lord

is by christians not not non-christians

in other words you can’t call if you

can’t confess

if you can’t confess don’t bother to

pray

first corinthians 1 verse talks about

the saints in corinth

who call upon the name of the lord

acts chapter 7 verse 59 it says when

stephen was ready to die

he called on the name of the lord

and saw jesus standing on the right-hand

side of the heavens

if you won’t confess don’t bother to

call

because he has no obligation to folks

who deny him

now i have to tell you the whole story

because

matthew 10 makes it inextricably clear

about the price tag

about the price tag of confessions and

he explains what he means in verse 37

he who loves father or mother more than

me

is not worthy of me and he who loves

son or daughter more than me is not

worthy of me

okay so let’s talk about the sword of

confession

once you are willing to appropriately

lovingly compassionately

all that but clearly identify jesus

christ it will create a divide

john you just need to know that and it

will create a divide now

more than ever because there is the

public denial of him

and it will even happen he says in your

own family

father mother daughter mother

father son mother-in-law daughter-in-law

he says

because when you are clear

those who reject me will reject you

it’ll happen at work

it’ll happen in the neighborhood it’ll

happen in the pulpit

because to take your stand on god’s word

to take your stand on jesus’s

perspective

on the issues of our day and there’s so

many of them to take your stand there

will create a conflict

he who found his life verse 39 will lose

it and who has lost his life for my sake

will find it

he says when you lose because of your

confession you win

when you lose there is there’s a

division there’s a rejection

because you have been publicly

identified

with me you lose in terms of

what the deniers are saying with them

but you just won with me

and the life you lost you find i love

the way luke 14 puts it

now large crowd was going along with

jesus with him

and he turned and said to them anyone

who comes after me and does not hate

his father mother and wife and children

and brothers and sisters yes

and even his own life he cannot be my

disciple now you’re not talking about

going to heaven

he talked about being his disciple on

earth and he says

anybody who trumps me you lose me

and i don’t care how much you love them

and he says and if you don’t do that you

can’t have me

you cannot be my disciple

we have a lot of christians who are

bailing out on jesus

you know why we’re bailing out because

we haven’t told the whole story

we want to talk about the blessing not

the sword

so we got so when folks hit suffering or

difficulty

or problems they bail

that’s because we don’t have enough

pulpits telling the whole story

in luke 14.

therefore verse 34 salt is good

but if even salt has become

tasteless with what will it be salted

or seasoned it is useless

either for the soil or for the manure

pile

it’s thrown out he who has ears to hear

let him hear

he talks about salt that’s no longer

salty

it’s lost its taste guess what

that’s useless salt salt is not salty

you don’t have time for

okay because you can’t do anything with

it you don’t taste it

it’s lost its seasoning power

you know he’s talking about my people

he’s saying i got a lot of useless

christians

got a lot of useless christians they go

to church

but when push comes to shove they deny

me

they get so compromised by the world and

want to make the world happy they do it

at my expense

and i can’t use them because they want

to satisfy the populace

not represent me so the question is

for me for you

is are you ready to confess and are we

not talking about your belief in god

we’re talking about the lord jesus

christ

are you willing to confess that

so um it’s time to cast your vote

where do you take your stand so that god

can do a divine reset in our culture if

christ be not come

because with our divine without a divine

reset

this nation is going to hell

and that divine reset must start with

his church

we’re not perfect i’m not perfect you’re

not perfect

we have flaws that’s why he created

repentance

so that we could get realigned

and cast our vote

so

if you confess me before man i will

confess you i will endorse you

before my father but if you deny me in

public

yes i will deny you before my father

who is in heaven it is easy to forget

what this is supposed to be all about so

if you want to change what you do

you got to change who you are

but the way to change who you are is to

grow who you become

with the seed being expanded within you

i said why would god call me all the way

down here and then allow me to get sick

i remember him saying blessed be the god

of all comfort who allows us to go

through things that we might be able to

comfort others you need some people

that’ll be in your life that

tell you that you’re tripping and that

you’ve lost your ever loving mind

and that you need to get back on the

narrow path

if you become a regular abider in the

scriptures

you’re going to show yourself to be a

real disciple

this is one of the occupational hazards

of being a pastor

people don’t think you have to wage war

against sin like they do

and what’s even worse is that sometimes

we think we can’t lead them

if we act like we’re just as vulnerable

as they are

god gets at us in different ways doesn’t

it

there are some things that god’s people

are going to get to know about us

regardless of how we started god

will empower your actions he will not

replace your actions

we can’t fake it and make it

in front of the word

you