Mat 10:29-33 | PNT | STEP | Two sparrows . Among the smallest and least valuable birds, yet under the Divine care. So cheap as to be offered in pairs for an insignificant coin, but God notes the fall of one.

Matthew 10:29-33

Two sparrows. Among the smallest and least valuable birds, yet under the Divine care. So cheap as to be offered in pairs for an insignificant coin, but God notes the fall of one. The very hairs of your head are all numbered. An assurance of the most special providence over all Christ's disciples. Mt 10:32 shows to whom the blessed assurance applies. Whosoever will confess me before men. To confess Christ does not mean to accept some particular creed, but to publicly acknowledge the Lord, and to live before men as his servant. It implies, (1) A confession of faith in him with the lips, such a confession as Peter made (Mt 16:16), and the eunuch (Ac 8:37). Paul describes this confession in Romans (Ro 10:10). (2) An acknowledgment of Christ by obedience and by giving the life to his service. Confession is a demonstration of faith, (1) by public acknowledgment, and (2) by an obedient life. A verbal acknowledgment of Christ is not enough if the life is a denial, for then it shows that the acknowledgment was a lie. The two must correspond.

Him will I confess. Christ sitting on the throne of judgment promises to acknowledge as his own faithful brother every one who has thus acknowledged him before men. But whosoever shall deny me before men. The Jews denied him when they rejected him as Messiah. All who refuse to receive him as their Lord deny him still. The disciple who, through the cares of the world, turns away from Christian life, denies him.

Him will I also deny. Those who receive him will be received; those who reject him will be rejected; those who confess him will be confessed, and those who deny him, denied. See 2Ti 2:12.