With the mouth confession is made unto salvation

'With the mouth confession is made unto salvation'

— Romans 10:10

Our Lord said, ‘Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh’ (Matt. 12:34). That which a man knows, he can explain. That which a man believes, he can tell. That which a man has experienced, he can put into words. If you cannot tell anyone what you believe and why you believe it, it is very likely that you do not really believe. There are multitudes who say, ‘I believe in Jesus Christ.’ Almost everyone does. The devils believe in hell, but they do not know him. They are not saved. And those people who say they believe in Jesus Christ are like the devils they are not saved. There are very few people in the church or out of it who can tell you anything about the Lord Jesus Christ. They cannot answer the most simple, basic, elementary questions about the person and work of Christ: ‘Who is he? What did he do? Why did he do it? Where is he now? What is he doing there? There is a reason for man’s ignorance in these matters. He simply does not know Christ. You cannot tell what you do not know any more than you can come back from where you have not been. If you know Christ, you can come and will confess Christ. That which a man has experienced in his heart, he can and will confess with his mouth.

A faith that I cannot explain is no faith at all. Peter says, ‘sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear’ (1 Peter 3:15). A hope that I cannot explain is it false hope. A salvation that I cannot confess with my mouth, according to the Word of God, is no salvation at all. I do not say that a man must have great learning and knowledge in order to be saved. I do not say that a person must be a good speaker to be a child of God. But I do say that a person who has a good hope of salvation in Christ must be able to tell what his hope is. Where in the New Testament do you ever find that men were called Christians who knew nothing about Christianity? It is written, “Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. (1 Peter 3:15)