**This post comes from a sermon preached on February 19^th, 2023. You can find it here…Building Blocks of Faith: A Declaration…beginning at 36:12. It is part of a series of posts on the subject of faith. **

The Apostle Paul says…

Romans 10:9–10 (ESV)

¹⁰For with the heart one believes and is justified (you also might have “results in righteous” or “made right”), and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

It is the work of God, through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus, that provides the avenue through which all men and women are given the opportunity to be saved. From the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross comes capability people to be cleansed from their sins and be given an invitation to an eternal home in heaven.

But it’s not enough to simply believe in those absolute truths. Believing is the act of placing one’s confidence fully in Jesus Christ. Paul is clear on that aspect. Belief is only the beginning of our response to Christ. A genuine response involves more. Among the other ingredients of true faith, Paul also says there must be a declaration of that faith.

To “confess with your mouth” is to make a declaration to the world that you are all in on Jesus Christ. But what does “confess” look like for us? For one thing, it means that we recognize that this confession of Jesus fits perfectly with believing in the Messiah, It’s the normal outcome of belief. We can’t have one without the other.

To confess is to state a belief in or to place one’s trust in Jesus. It’s not simply some kind of empty statement nor is it simply word vomit. Confession isn’t just words.

This confession is an expression of what lies deep within one’s heart. It’s a confession that is wrapped in conviction. As Paul sees it, those confess Christ as their Savior are declaring that they are fully committing to Jesus, even to the point that they are willing to stake our very lives for Him.

What “confess” means, then, is we are making the statement that Jesus is our Lord and that we are determined to live a life for Him. We are declaring that what Jesus said is true…that He is indeed, the way, the truth, and the life.

John 14:6 (ESV)

⁶Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

We are acknowledging that without Jesus we are lost, and that, without Him, our very lives are empty and are lacking. We need Jesus in our lives. Otherwise, all we do will be in vain.

Luke 19:10 (ESV)

¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

And we are stating that we believe that:

Jesus the Christ died on a cross for our sins

He was buried in a tomb

3 days later He rose, and

He now sits at the right hand of God Almighty as our priest and advocate.

Hebrews 8:1–2 (ESV)

¹Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,

²a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord has made…

One of our first responses that grows from hearing and believing the message of Christ is to boldly proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Is that a declaration that you are willing to make?