Jesus, the High Priest of our confession

Yesterday we’ve looked at Romans 10:10: “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”, and we’ve seen that it is very important to have the right confession, because it is in saying the Word of God out loud, not only believing in our hearts that this confession is made unto salvation,. Notice this word salvation - it's one glorious all-inclusive word for all the benefits that Jesus has obtained for us through His death. The very thing we're talking about. Salvation covers the forgiveness of sins, the gift of eternal life, the healing of your physical body, deliverance from demon power and the preserving power of God to keep you in every situation in life - it's all wrapped up in one glorious word - salvation. Just to reduce salvation to having your sins forgiven is to whittle it down in a way that scripture does not justify. Salvation is the full inclusive provision of God for us through the death of Jesus Christ - the very thing we're talking about - our inheritance.

Now to enter into our inheritance we have to confess with our mouth. Confession is made unto salvation. The suggestion is progress. You start by having your sins forgiven, by receiving the gift of eternal life. And as you go on confessing with your mouth everything that God says in His Word, you move into the fullness of God's complete salvation which covers every area of your life - the whole of time and the whole of eternity - and all of which is made available to us on the basis of the death of Jesus Christ.

We need to understand that Jesus has a ministry in heaven which is very important and is often overlooked. In heaven, Jesus is our High Priest. He represents us directly to God the Father, but He's the High Priest of our confession. He can only minister as High Priest on our behalf when we make the right confession with our mouths on earth. If we say the wrong thing or if we say nothing about our faith, then we tie the hands of Jesus as our High Priest. He loves us, He wants to bless us. But He cannot do all that He would because we have not made the right confession. Listen to what it says in Hebrews chapter 3, verse 1:

“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.” (NASB)

We're told to fix our eyes on Jesus and think of Him as the High Priest of our confession. So if we want His High Priestly ministry on our behalf, making effective the promises of God's Word and the provision of His atonement, we have to make the right confession to releases His ministry as High Priest on our behalf.

And then in the next chapter of Hebrews, chapter 4 and verse 14 the writer says again:

“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” (NASB)

If they say to you in some situation, "Fasten your seat belt," it's a kind of warning that there's going to be motion and you may need to be firmly held in your seat. So when the Bible says, "Hold fast your confession..." it's really a kind of warning you're going to be subjected to pressures that might cause you to back off what you've said. But don't back off - hold fast profession or confession, it's the same word.

So first, we make the right confession - we make the words of our mouth agree with the words of scripture. We say about what Jesus has done for us exactly what the Word of God says. We say, "By his stripes we are healed...He became poor that we might be rich...He tasted death that we might have life...He took the curse that we might receive the blessing..." That's the right confession. We make it and then no matter what pressures come against us, no matter how much things may seem to go the wrong way, we hold fast our confession. That's what makes our faith effective and that's what releases the High Priestly ministry of Jesus on our behalf in heaven.