Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3011
“For with the heart, man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:10.
[For two other sermons on this text, see Numbers 519 and 520, Volume 9—BELIEVING WITH THE HEART and CONFESSION WITH THE MOUTH]
IN speaking of this important matter—confessing with the mouth what we have believed with the heart, I call your attention, first of all, to the order of the two things. Believing with the heart must come first. Confession with the mouth must and should come afterwards. To confess with the mouth what I do not believe with the heart would be hypocrisy instead of being an acceptable sacrifice. It would be an abomination in the sight of God. How dare I profess to have faith if I do not possess it? How dare I assume a form of godliness unless I have proven its power in my spirit? So first comes the heart’s believing and then follows the mouth’s confession. Do not reverse the Scriptural order, but take care that you do all things in their due course. Among the last words of the Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples are these, “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.” Note the order—not Baptism first and believing afterwards—but he who first believes and then is baptized upon profession of his faith, is the servant of Christ who obeys his Master’s commands in their right order—and he it is who “shall be saved.”
Having noted the order of faith and its confession, next, note the connection between them. Confessing with the mouth is to follow believing with the heart just as effect follows causes. We are to confess with the mouth because we believe with the heart. The heart’s belief is to be so potent and energetic a thing that it constrains us to confess openly what we have received inwardly—no confession is worth anything unless it is the outcome of the Grace by which we have received the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior!
There is a due order for faith and confession—and there is a clear connection between faith and confession.
Notice, also, the result of the two put together—“With the heart, man believes unto righteousness, and with the
mouth, confession is made unto salvation.” The result of faith and confession is salvation. I do not doubt that a man who
truly believes in Jesus is saved even before he makes a confession of his faith, but it is very remarkable that the blessing of
salvation is constantly connected with these two things rather than with either one of them alone—and we must not put
asunder what God has joined together. The same Truth of God is taught in the memorable sentence which I quoted to
you just now—“He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.” There is no saving efficacy in Baptism, yet belief and
Baptism are joined together by our Lord Jesus Christ and again I say, “What, therefore, God has joined together, let not
man put asunder.” I would not like to attend to one duty and neglect another when I found my Master laying both upon
me. The path of obedience is always the path of happiness and if any God-given command should ever seem to your
imperfect apprehension to be less important than another, remember the wise words of the mother of Jesus to the servants
because He commanded it, even though you cannot see any other reason for doing it. [For two other sermons upon this subject, see Number 2275, Volume 38—BLIEF, BAPTISM, BLESSING—and Number 2339, Volume 39—BAPTISM ESSENTIAL TO OBEDIENCE]
We have, on this occasion, to consider the lesser duty of the two, which is, nevertheless, most certainly enjoined upon all Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. In talking of it, I still have to speak of four things. First, what it is that we are to confess? Secondly, when are we to confess it? Thirdly, why we should confess it? And, fourthly, how and in what spirit should we confess it?
I. First, then, as BELIEVERS IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHAT IS IT THAT WE ARE TO CONFESS?
It is clear, from the text, that we are to confess with the mouth that which we believe with the heart. The same things which, through our faith in them, are the basis of our salvation, become the subject of our confession before God. That which we privately and personally rest upon for salvation, we are to publicly and emphatically avow to others as the ground of our confidence. And you know whom that is, Beloved. It is neither more nor less than the Person, work, Character and offices of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We build for eternity upon Him. He is the foundation and the chief cornerstone of the invisible, yet most substantial structure upon which all our confidence rests! And if any Believer should ask, “What am I to confess?” the answer is plain enough—confess JESUS CHRIST!
First, we are to confess that we believe Him to be the appointed Savior of sinners—that we look upon Him as being the long-promised Seed of the woman who came into this world to bruise the old serpent’s head and to recover His chosen people from among the terrible ruins of the Fall. We believe Him to be the Son of God, equal with the Father and the ever-blessed Spirit. And we accept Him and confess Him as our Savior, in whom alone we have confidence, upon whose unique Sacrifice we rely for pardon of all our sins and upon whose constant intercession we depend for our preservation unto the end. We confess Christ before men as King of kings and Lord of lords, as “the Apostle and High Priest of our profession,” the Messiah by whom alone can be fulfilled Gabriel’s prophecy to Daniel, “to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness.” We must confess Christ in all His offices and Characters—and if we lay stress upon any part of His life, or any attribute of His Character, it must be upon that which is most attacked in the age in which we live. The great point of controversy in Paul’s day was the Resurrection of Jesus and, therefore, wherever he went, he preached the Resurrection. He knew that this Truth of God would excite the ridicule of the philosopher and bring down upon him the fierce opposition of the Jews, but, nevertheless, this was always a prominent point in his preaching and writing, “Christ is risen from the dead.”