How does faith come. Faith comes as we hear God speaking to us by His Holy Spirit, through His Word.
There are three great musts of faith, three things that must go together with faith.
First, faith must be confessed.
Second, faith must act.
Faith must be confessed.
First, we need to understand the way the word to confess is used in the Bible. The word to confess has two main significances.
First, it means to say something out boldly and in public.
But secondly, it means to say the same as. And in this connection, the thing that confession is related to is the Scripture, the Word of God.
So, it means that we say the same with our mouth, as God has said in His Word. Or you can put it this way, we make the words of our mouth agree with the word of God.
The word of God is already established. It’s permanent. It doesn’t change.
Confession is bringing the words of our mouth into line with the word of God. So, confession has two meanings, each of which is relevant.
First, it means to say something out boldly and publicly.
Secondly, it means to make the words of our mouth agree with the written word of God, the scripture.
In Second Corinthians chapter 4, verse 13, Paul speaks about the relationship between believing, that is, having faith, and speaking, saying something with our mouth.
He says this, but having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke. We also believe, therefore also we speak.
Paul is quoting one of the Psalms from the Old Testament. What he’s saying is, I believed, therefore I spoke. We also believe, therefore we also speak. Believing must lead to speaking. There’s a connection. What you believe in your heart must be expressed through your mouth.
In Matthew 12: 34, Jesus makes a general connection between the mouth and the heart. He establishes a general principle. He says, for the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. I express it this way, when the heart is full, it overflows through the mouth in speech. The mouth is the overflow valve of the heart. And what flows out of the mouth tells us what’s in the heart.
You cannot have one thing in your heart and something else coming out of your mouth.
So, to have the right thing in our heart, we have to say the right thing with our mouth.
And on the other hand, when we say the right thing with our mouth, we’re filling our heart with that thing. It works both ways, from the mouth to the heart, from the heart to the mouth.
This principle is stated three times over by Paul, where he’s speaking about the basic requirement for salvation.
In Romans chapter 10, verses 8 through 10, he says, the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is, the word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, or Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
That’s the great basic requirement for being saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Three times Paul joins together the mouth and the heart. He says in verse 8, the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, and he puts mouth before heart.
In verse 9 he says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And again, mouth comes before heart.
But the third time he reverses the order. In verse 10, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
So, we see that there’s a linking up there by scripture between the mouth and the heart. The heart is expressed through the mouth, but what we say with the mouth affects what is in our heart.
How do you learn something by heart? I think in many schools today, there’s very little learning by heart that’s done. And I think that’s unfortunate because we miss out on something. But the way you learn something by heart is you keep repeating it with your mouth.
The principle is that if you want to get something into your heart, you repeat it with your mouth. And vice versa, what’s in your heart will naturally come out from your mouth. We’ve established the connection between the mouth and the heart. Now we need to look at Paul’s statement.
With the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. Notice, entering into salvation is a process indicated there by the word unto. Salvation is the all-inclusive word in Scripture for all that has been obtained for us by the death of Jesus on the cross. It’s the one all-inclusive word for all the benefits, spiritual, physical, material, temporal, eternal, they’re all included in that one word, salvation. So that’s a very important statement.
Confession is made unto salvation because it tells us how we can enter into all the benefits that Jesus has purchased for us by his death on the cross. And the process is confessing unto salvation. In other words, whatever area of salvation we need, whether it’s the forgiveness of sins or the healing of our bodies or financial provision, we confess what the word of God says about it.
We confess it not so much because we feel it or because our circumstances make it look as if it’s true, but because we believe the Bible is the word of God and it’s true anyhow.
And so, we discipline ourselves, we discipline our mouths, we make our mouths say what God’s word says about that specific need or that specific situation. And I want to tell you right away that if you think this is easy, just try it and you’ll find that bringing the words of your mouth into line with the Word of God is a process of self-discipline and it builds character as almost nothing else will do.
Let’s suppose that we’re attacked by guilt, and many Christians are. From time to time, they feel a sense of guilt and unworthiness. They wonder whether God really could have forgiven all the sins they’ve committed. And of course, the devil is the accuser of the brethren, so he’s right there on the job, piling guilt on them by one accusation after another. How do we confess unto salvation? Well, here’s one simple example out of many.
Romans 8, verse 1 says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now that’s a general statement, we have to make it particular. So, I make it particular this way. I say I’m in Christ Jesus, I am a believer in Jesus Christ, therefore there’s no condemnation for me. I’m not under condemnation, and I won’t accept the condemnation that the devil is trying to put upon me.
So, I confess into that area of salvation. Or suppose I’m attacked by sickness. I’m getting pains and all the symptoms and everybody around me is going down with something and everybody’s waiting to see if I’m going to catch it next. What’s my response? How can I confess unto salvation in the area of physical healing?
In Matthew 8.17, Matthew quotes Isaiah and he says about Jesus, Jesus himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases. That’s a general statement. How do I make it particular?
I say, Jesus himself took my infirmities and carried away my diseases.
In 1 Peter 2.24, Peter says about Jesus, he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, for by his wounds you were healed.
How do I make that particular and personal? I say, Jesus himself bore my sins in his body on the cross, that I might die to sin and live to righteousness, for by his wounds I was healed.
You see, confession makes it specific and personal. You confess yourself into the benefits that God has provided for you. It is not mind over matter.
First, the limits to what we confess are set by God’s word. We don’t, we are not entitled to make any assertion that is not scriptural.
Secondly, we depend for the fulfillment of what we say, not upon our own ability or even our own faith. But upon God’s faithfulness, so that, in two ways, distinguishes it from anything that could be called mind of a matter.