“32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. 34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. 37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 10:32-39).

     The responsibilities of professing to be a Christian are really quite overwhelming. It is not something that should be taken lightly. Professing to be a follower of Christ certainly should never be done without careful consideration of those responsibilities. To call one’s self a Christian and then live in such a way to bring reproach upon the Name of Christ by living selfishly and sinfully is one of the most grievous things a person can do in this world.

     Such hypocrisy is so grievous because such a contradiction redefines the Name of Christ and makes His Name representative of something that is contradictory to Who He is. The issue of confessing Christ and denying Christ has to do with the commandment of Exodus 20:7. “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” Notice the grievousness of taking God’s Name in vain. “The LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” In other words, this is a sin that must bare punishment or chastisement. God cannot let this sin go without visibly chastising the one who commits such dastardly hypocrisy lest His Name be soiled before the world by someone professing to be His child.

     First, we need to be sure we understand what God means when He warns us about taking His Name in vain and the consequences of such hypocrisy. This is one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted Scriptures in the Word of God. The misunderstanding and misinterpreting lays in the misunderstanding and misinterpreting of the word “take.” It is translated from the Hebrew word nasa' (naw-saw'). It does not referring to how God’s Name is used or uttered. It certainly is blasphemous to use God’s Name in a common or unholy way, but that is not what this commandment is about. Nasa' (naw-saw') means to accept, bear, carry, take on, lift up, or take up. Never once is the Hebrew word nasa' (naw-saw') translated used or uttered in all the Bible.

     The issue in taking God’s Name is like a wife taking her husband’s name when they are married or the way a child takes his/her father’s last name when born. Taking God’s Name is about identity revealing a relationship. Everything a Christian does in this life reflects upon the Name of Christ and is a testimony for His Name or against His Name. To live in any degree of selfishness is taking the Name of God in vain. The warning about taking God’s Name in vain is about how we live our lives before the world.

“3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up {nasa’} his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah” (Psalm 24:3-6).

“7 Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: 8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: 9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take {nasa’} the name of my God in vain” (Proverbs 30:7-9).

The first instance of men taking God’s Name upon themselves in such a way as to identify themselves with Him as their God is found very early in the Scriptures.

“25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. 26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD” (literally, “then began men to call themselves by the Name of the Jehovah;” Genesis 4:25-26).

     It is clear from these many texts that God’s command about not taking His Name in vain is about how we live out our lives in testimony to our relationship with Him. Anytime we live in such a way as to bring reproach upon His Name or distort His Truth in any way by our selfish hypocrisy, we have taken His Name in vain. If we understand the how serious an issue this is before God, we will get very serious about how we live our lives before the world.

     The gospels give us the details of Christ’s calling of the twelve disciples who would become His twelve Apostles. The gospels also detail the training of these twelve men for the positions of leadership upon which Christ would build His Church. Critical to that foundation of discipleship and the foundation of the Church is the servant model of what true Christianity is to be. Without the servant model of sacrificial love for the Lord, for other believers, and for lost people, the Church would have died in the first generation of Christianity.

     The struggle to establish the living, sacrificial servant model was a constant problem for Christ in the training of the twelve. Nothing much has changed. Establishing the living, sacrificial servant model is the struggle of discipleship in every generation of Christianity and the struggle in the spiritual growth of every individual that confesses Christ as his Lord. Discipleship is about training spiritual leaders who know how to be servant models in very practical and evidentiary ways. One of these ways is spiritual boldness when it comes to being a living and vocal testimony for Jesus Christ. That is the context of Matthew 10:32-39. Christ was preparing sheep to engage the wolves and there would be no room for disciples who were not prepared to risk everything for Christ. Anything less than this level of commitment would be considered traitorous as expressed by the word “deny.”

“16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. 17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; 18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. 19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. 21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. 23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. 24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. 25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? 26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. 27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. 28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:16-31).

     The word “confess” in Matthew 10:32 is from the Greek word homologeo (hom-ol-og-eh'-o). It refers to a public proclamation of acknowledgement of something or someone. We know from Romans 10:9 that the substance of this public proclamation of acknowledgement is the proclamation that Jesus is Jehovah (“LORD”). Secondly, this public proclamation of the acknowledgement of the deity of Christ takes on a personal note. Jesus is also to be called on to be our personal Saviour (Romans 10:13). This confession (profession or proclamation) communicates an identity with Christ and a relationship with Christ that is extremely intimate. In fact, it is such an intimate relationship that all other human relationships and the responsibilities and loyalties to those other relationships pale compared to the believer’s relationship with Christ. Compared to the believer’s love for Christ, all other relationships will become inconsequential. When we put any other relationship before our relationship with Christ, we “deny” Him. In confessing Christ, we take His Name upon us and identify ourselves with Him in every detail of our lives.

“18 And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? 19 They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. 20 He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. 21 And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing; 22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. 23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? 26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:18-26).

      The word “deny” in Matthew 10:33 is from the Greek word arneomai (ar-neh'-om-ahee). It essentially means to public deny a relationship with Jesus Christ either verbally or by living contradictory to the commands of Jesus Christ regarding that which is forbidden or failure to do that which is commanded.

1. We deny Christ when we fail to testify to His gift of salvation to us and when we fail to tell others how to be saved.

2. We deny Christ when we compromise His Word to make Christianity more palatable or acceptable to people.

3. We deny Christ when any relationship with anyone in this world becomes more important to us than our relationship with Christ.

4. We deny Christ anytime we care more about what people say about us than we care about what people say about Christ.

5. We deny Christ anytime we allow our testimony for Him to be marred by our own inconsistencies and our own worldliness.

“15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. 16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Titus 1:15-16).

     It amazes me that professing Christians can do the selfish and wicked things they do and never even question if their professed faith in Christ is real. Maintaining and proclaiming our testimony for Christ is the practical reality of what it means to confess Christ before men. Each and every example of denying Christ is a manifestation of our own selfishness. In denying Christ to any degree, we have put our own wants, needs, or concerns about this life above our testimony for Christ. Whatever degree that we do so, we deny Christ to that degree. This was Christ’s criticism of the Pharisees.

“7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:7-8).

     I believe God has a special place in Hell for those who confess Him as LORD and then live like the Devil. They profess to be believers, but then live in unbelief and total disregard of how their lives pervert the testimony of all that is Christian. By their hypocrisy, they in fact make their professed Christianity actually Antichristian. Their lives are live in such a way that they constantly are taking God’s Name in vain and distorting and perverting all that His Name stands for.

“17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. 18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)” (Philippians 3:17-19)

“3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. 5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not” (James 5:3-5).

     Sadly, the self deception of selfishness and pride will not even allow these people to honestly look at their own lives and see that there is no evidence of having been “born again” of the Spirit of God. They will continue to live in their self deception and secret sin lives because their pride will keep them from declaring their own hypocrisy. They are willing to publicly confess Christ to be LORD, while continuing to secretly deny Him.

“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. 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? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21-23).

     The word “profess” in Matthew 7:23 is the same word translated “confess” in Matthew 10:32. Both are from the Greek word homologeo (hom-ol-og-eh'-o). “Confessing” Christ to be Lord connects the one confessing to responsibility to do or live the “will” of God (Matthew 7:21). Although no one will ever be able to perfectly do the will of God, the true believer will truly make the effort. It is by the degree of our effort to live God’s will that God measures the reality of our confession. The true believer will not profess one thing before the world and then live carnally and selfishly in secrecy.