Romans chapter 10. I want to
read verse 10 for our text. Romans 10 verse 10. For with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. Now this text very simply divides
itself into two parts. It doesn't take a preacher to
divide this text into two parts. It falls out that way. It's just
like the preceding verse. Look at it. "...that if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved." There are two parts there. Believing with the heart,
confessing with the mouth. Verse 10, "...for with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. These are inseparably joined
together and cannot be separated. So my message this evening will
be one message with two parts, believing with the heart and
confessing with the mouth. If there's one thing clear to
me in the word of God, it is this, salvation is by faith. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. I have not one doubt about that.
If there's anything clear in the word of God, it is this.
Salvation is not by works, salvation by faith. Salvation is by faith. The Philippian jailer fell upon
his face before Paul the Apostle, the chosen messenger of Christ
to the Gentiles. He asked him point-blank this
question, What must I do to be saved? Now salvation by works,
here's a chance for Paul to state it. If salvation by church membership,
here is the place for Paul to declare it. If salvation by baptism,
here's the place to make it known. Here is an ignorant heathen. Here is an ignorant inquiring
Gentile who wants to know how to be saved. And he asks the
chosen apostle of the Son of God, picked out by God Himself,
separated from his mother's womb to be the messenger of Christ
to the Gentiles, to this people right here. And this man says,
What must I do to be saved? All right, Paul. If salvation
by baptism, let's hear it. If salvation by church membership,
let's hear it. If salvation by works, let's
hear it. If salvation by the law, let's
hear it. Come on now, Paul, what's your
answer to this point-blank question? What must I do to be saved? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thou
hast In John 3.36, the Apostle said, He that believeth on the
Son of God hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
of God shall never see life. Our Lord told His disciples before
He ascended back to the Father, Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. But, but this faith, salvation
by faith, no question about that, salvation by believing, but this
faith, and I want to be particularly careful here, we must be. This faith which saves is not
believing some facts in our head, although there can be no faith
apart from the mind, anybody knows that, A man who doesn't
understand something can't believe it. A man who's never heard something
can't believe it. A man who has no knowledge of
a fact cannot believe it. But saving faith is not of the
head, it's of the heart. That's emphasized in our text
very plainly. With the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. Now I want to point out two important
things here about believing in the heart. Faith that saves is
faith that has its work in the heart. Faith that saves is faith
that has its work in the soul. Faith that saves is faith that
has its work in the innermost being of an individual. We don't
believe some facts about Christ and then go our merry way. We
don't accept mentally some truths about the Son of God and then
continue on our present course. But when a man believes with
the heart, his affections are changed. When a man believes
with his heart, his affections are changed. He loves Christ. He not only believes Him, he
not only receives Him, he not only has a knowledge of Him,
but he loves Him. If any man love not our Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. And not only are the affections
changed, but the will is broken. My meat is to do the will of
him that sent me. Lord, you haven't had anything
to eat. My meat and my drink is to do
the will of him that sent me. I feed upon Christ. My thirst
is satisfied by the person of Christ and by the indwelling
Christ. Not only is our will broken,
but our souls are united to the Redeemer. Christ is my life. Longing, longing for Jesus. I have a longing in my heart
for Him, just to be near Him, to feel His presence. I have
a longing in my heart people heal. Saving faith is not head
faith. Saving faith is not mental assent
to some facts. James said, you believe one God,
you do well. The devil believes and trembles.
In John chapter 2, verse 23, it said, When they saw the miracles,
many believed on him, but he did not commit himself unto them,
for he knew what was in man, and he needed not that anyone
should testify unto him what was in man. He knew that this
was just head agreement, mental assent. It was not heart faith
that changes the affections, that breaks the will, that unites
the soul, that starts a love affair between Christ and his
beloved. That's what saving faith is.
It's heart faith. It's longing to be with Him and
longing to be near Him and longing for His company and longing for
His presence. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. And sin is not only acknowledged,
but it's felt. And union with Christ is not
only desired, but it's sought. And the law of God is not only
obeyed, but it's loved. And the will of God is not only
submitted to, but cheerfully. And the people of God are not
only our companions, but our preferred companions. And the
Word of God is not only believed, it's our meat and drink. And
Christ is not only our Savior, He's our Lord. With the heart, man believeth.
With the heart. With the heart. Faith that has
not reached the heart is not saving faith. Faith that has
not broken the will is not saving faith. Faith that has not changed
the affections is not saving faith. Faith that has not united
the soul in an inseparable union and a vital union and a personal
love affair with Jesus Christ is not saving faith. A Christ
that can be forgotten is not a king. The second thing about
this heart faith is this. Faith that saves is not only
faith of the heart, but it's faith that's set on the right
object. Now the object of your faith
is the most important subject in the world. I want you really
to listen to me right now just as as keenly as you can concentrate
on what I'm about to say. Too many people are thinking
too much of their faith. Do I have faith? Do I have enough
faith? Do I have the right kind of faith?
Do I have sufficient faith? Too many people are thinking
too much of their faith and too little of the object of their
It's not the strength of your faith that saves, it's the object
of your faith that saves. People ask themselves if they
have the right sort of faith. It'd be better to ask yourself
if your faith has the right foundation. That's the key. You see a post out here, an iron
post, and there's a vine growing around that post, and it grows
way up in the sky. And you stand back and you say,
that's a strong vine. No, it isn't either. It's holding
on to a strong post. You remove that post and that
vine will be crumpled mass of weakness lying on the ground.
And you remove my Christ and I'd be nothing. It's not the
strength of my faith. It's the strength of my Lord,
the object of faith. That's the key. It'd be better
if we'd ask ourselves, not questions about our faith, but what and
who is the object of my faith. I know whom I have believed.
What's important there? The word believe? No, sir. Whom. That's the important thing. In
whom I believe. It's better to have a little
faith in the right person than a lot of faith in the wrong person. It's better to have a little
faith in the right object than to have a lot of faith in a false
foundation. That's awfully important right
there, awfully important. I know whom I have It is better
to have a little faith in Jesus Christ. I don't have much faith. Somebody said to an old woman
one time who lived out over there in Spurgeon's Day, she was supposed
to be a woman of great faith, and somebody came to her and
said, Are you the lady of great faith? She said, No. I don't
have much faith, but what little faith I have in a great Savior.
That's the important thing. Faith that saves is faith that
rests in Christ incarnate. God was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And saving faith, hard faith,
living faith, redeeming faith, believes this mystery of godliness
and makes Him our representative and rejoices in Him our federal
head. The faith that saves can see
God in the flesh. living among men, tempted in
all points, crucified on a tree, buried in weakness in a tomb,
and rising again triumphant." Somebody wrote one time, "'Til
God in human flesh I see. My thoughts no comfort find. The holy, just, and sacred three
are terrors to my mind. But if Emmanuel's face appear,
my hope, my joy begins. His name dispels all my fear,
and his blood removes all my sin." Faith sees Christ incarnate. And faith that sees Christ in
his life, in his perfect life, in his perfect obedience, sanctified
wholly before God's perfect searching law, tempted in all points as
a man, yet never committing sin. Faith adores his holiness. Faith
adores his purity. Faith exclaims His righteousness
is my righteousness. I count all things but dumb that
I may be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness which
is of the law, but the righteousness which is by faith in Jesus Christ
my Lord." Faith that saves not only sees God incarnate, and
faith that saves not only sees Christ in His holy life, but
faith that saves rests in Christ crucified. Standing at the cross,
the heart beats. That heart, faith, causes the
heart to beat as it looks upon that mysterious spectacle of
God in human flesh, bleeding and dying for my sins. And faith hears him cry, My God,
why hast thou forsaken me? And faith hears him cry, It is
finished! The dead is paid! The sacrifice
is complete. And faith stands by the empty
tomb, and hears the angel say, He's not here, He's risen! And
faith lifts its eyes to heaven and sees the risen Savior at
the right hand of the Father calling my name. And faith rests in Christ interceding
at the right hand of glory, pleading my cause on the merits of His
blood, on the merits of His obedience. Christ is my righteousness. Christ
is my advocate. Christ is my lawyer. Christ is
my intercessor. Christ is my life. That's the
object of faith. My faith may be weak, my faith
may be small, but my salvation depends not upon the strength
of my faith, but the strength of my Lord. Don't be asking yourself,
how much faith do I have? You may have a whole lot of faith
in an idol, in a false god, in your own self, but a lot of faith
in the wrong object will send you to hell. But a little faith
in a living God who cannot fail will save your soul. Somebody
said one time, not a jot or a tittle, and that's awful small. of faith's
foundation is found out of Christ. Not a jot or a tittle of faith's
foundation is found out of Christ. Faith does not build on experience. I'll tell you, I'll be perfectly
honest with you. I'm glad that God did not give
me an unusual experience when he saved my soul. I'd be afraid that I would be
tempted to place some merit or some degree of importance on
that experience. Faith does not build not one
jot, not one matchstim, not one toothpick on experience or feeling. I'm glad that I'm a pessimist.
I'm glad that I'm a realist. I'm glad that I don't build air
castles. I'm glad that I don't see visions
and dreams. I'm glad. I'm glad I walk down
here in the mud, because as long as I'm walking in the mud, I
keep my eyes to the Lord. That's right. Because faith does
not build one thing on feeling. And faith does not build on graces. Don't despair that you can't
speak with the tongues of men and of angels. It's a good thing
you can't. Don't despair that you don't
have the talent and ability of an apostle Paul. Maybe it's a
good thing you haven't. Faith does not build on praying. Faith builds on Christ. And the
lesser man has and knows it, the more he'll rest in Christ.
The weaker, Paul said, when I'm weak, that's when I'm strong.
Maybe it's a good thing God doesn't make us strong, because we'd
probably take a little glory in it. Maybe it's a good thing
God doesn't let you knock a home run, because then you'd praise
yourself. But when you strike out, you
have to look to Him, don't you? Maybe it's a good thing the Lord
knows what He's doing, and He puts us through these trials
and afflictions and temptations and gives us these thorns in
the flesh and makes us what we are, that we'll glory only in
Him. With the heart, with the heart,
man believeth. With the heart, he sees God incarnate. With the heart, he sees Christ
in his perfect obedience. With the heart, he sees his Redeemer
making the atonement. With the heart, he sees Christ
at God's right hand. And Christ becomes the most important
thing in the world to him. Not only person, but thing. That's
heart faith. Now the second division of this
message, briefly, is with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. Now there must be no confession
with the mouth if there is no faith in the heart. To profess
a faith which one does not have is to be a thief and a liar. There must be no confession of
the mount if you don't have that heart faith. I'm not talking
about withholding your confession if you're not perfect. I'm not
talking about withholding your confession if you don't feel
worthy. I'm not talking about withholding
your confession if you are a weak person. I'm talking about withhold
your confession if you don't have heart faith. if you don't
have hard faith. But if you have true faith, this
true hard faith will produce works, and among those works
is a constant confession of Christ. I believe that this confession
with the mouth embraces the whole life, and it's more than just
saying, I believe in Jesus. Confession with the mouth is
more than just walking down an aisle, taking a preacher's hand.
Confession with the mouth is more than saying, I believe that
Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and rose again. Confession
with the mouth here, like heart, faith, goes a lot deeper than
just giving mental agreement to some facts. First of all,
and let me give you about seven things here. With the heart man
believeth, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
But this mouth confession is a confession by act and by deed
and by word. First of all, a confession of
faith, a mouth confession, is obedience to the two ordinances
left by Jesus Christ. Now the old Jewish fathers were
careful to have their sons circumcised to be identified as an Israelite. It was unheard of for one of
those Israelite boys not to be circumcised. He was a Jew, and
it had to be done. And the fathers saw to it. Every
home was careful to observe the Passover feast as prescribed
by Moses. It was unheard of for a Jewish
family not to observe the Passover feast once a year. Our Lord has
commanded that His disciples be baptized, and to me it's unheard
of for an individual who believes on Christ, with this heart to
whom Christ is everything, to whom Christ is his life and
his refuge and his hope and his strength, it's unheard of to
me for that individual to so disregard the commandment of
his Lord, who says, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
And go ye into all the world and baptize them in the name
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's just unheard of
for someone to refuse to follow his Lord in baptism. I'm not
saying that baptism is essential for salvation, but I'm saying
this, a man who is saved and who loves his Lord will honor
his Lord's word and will obey his Lord's commandments and he'll
be baptized. And then to observe the Lord's
table, to me it's unheard of as I stood up here tonight and
told you that this bread represents his body. It's unheard of for
that bread to be passed by you and you refuse to take it. Or
that wine to be passed by you and you refuse to take it. Do
it if you don't know the Lord. Please do! But if you know him,
you want to observe that table. Your heart brings you to that
table. Your desire is to take that bread
and drink that wine and show forth your Lord's death till
he come again. That's confession. I confessed
Christ tonight with my mouth when I took the bread and the
wine. I confessed Christ when I followed
the Lord in baptism. Secondly, another type of confessing
with the mouth is association with the people of God. That
confesses faith. Now Ruth said to Naomi, her mother-in-law,
she loved Naomi. Her heart was knit to that of
Naomi. They were one. She wanted to
be with her. She found her joy in her presence. And she said to Naomi, where
you go, I'll go, and where you lodge, I'll lodge, and your people
shall be my people. As I said a while ago, real heart
faith not only has as its companions people of God, but real heart
faith prefers the companionship of the people of God. Now this is something I've never
understood. I know I'm a minister. I've never
understood how those who love Christ can seek out the companionship
of those who hate him. Never understood that. If you
hate my wife and children, don't expect me to run around with
you. I wouldn't find any joy in your
company. I've never understood how the
people who claim to love Christ can seek the companionship of
those who take his name in vain. I understand why you have to
work with them. I understand that perfectly. You have to earn
a living. You can't leave the world. You can't go out there
in that space platform and earn a living. You've got to stay
down here in the mud and grime. I know that. But why you want
to work with them and play with them is what I don't understand.
I can understand why you have to be with somebody while you
go there, but when you don't have to, you have to explain
that to me. I don't understand it. I don't
understand it. Association with the people of
God. I like to be with those who love my Lord. I like to be
with those who worship the Lord. I don't like to run around folks
who don't go to church. I have no joy and pleasure whatsoever
in their company. I don't want to be with them.
I'd like to be with you. And I don't understand how you
can enjoy the company of people who vote every Lord's Day to
shut the churches of America. Now, you explain that to me,
and I'll be glad to receive your explanation if I can understand
it. But up until this time, and I'm 47 years old, I've never
understood that. I can understand why people have
to be with folks who work with them. That's a different story.
But when you seek their companionship, and when you seek their company,
and when you turn your back on those whom you could be with,
who love your Lord, and who love his word, and whose conversation
will edify you while you seek the companionship and the company
of people whose conversation damages your soul and grieves
your righteous soul, you're like Lot who chose to live in Sodom.
Why he chose to live that, I can't explain. And then the third way
to confess Christ is this. A love for the gospel is a confession
of faith. You mean you love Christ and
you don't love his word? I know there are a lot of preachers.
You have to listen to some fellows, and I find it difficult to listen
to some because they don't exalt Christ, they don't magnify Christ.
But I believe that Christ is magnified here. I believe that
he's exalted, his word is read. I know you've had to listen to
me for twenty-some odd years, but I try to seek the leadership
of the Holy Spirit and find the message that will contribute
something to your spiritual edification and to your spiritual growth
on Sunday, and I believe that people who love Christ will come
out to get whatever little that is. I really do. I believe that
they so love the gospel and so love Christ that they say with
David, I'm glad somebody said, let's go to church. I'm glad
when they said to me, let's go to the house of God. And David
said, I'll just be honest with you. He said, I'd rather be the
doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell in honor in the
tents of the wicked. You know, we were having vacation
Bible school here a few weeks ago. On the last day, I put the
microphone down here in front, and I asked some of the children,
they'd like to come down and tell what they liked about Bible
school. I didn't care what they said.
That's their business, you know. If they like recess, that's all
right by me. If they like snack time, that's
all right, too. If they like Bible time, I just
wanted to hear what they liked about it. Next year we'd have
more of it, maybe. But I'd call them down. And one
little girl came down, and I was listening carefully to her. I
said, what did you like about Bible school? She said, I was
just glad that I could be in the house of the Lord. I was
just glad. I'll tell you another way you
confess Christ. A declaration of your faith will
be made among your family, the people of your kinship. You know Joshua, I like what
Joshua said. As for me and my house, I want
it understood by all my relatives, we're going to serve the Lord."
Brother Barnard one time said this. He holds meetings everywhere,
you know, and people come up and they say, Brother Barnard,
we couldn't be in church this morning. My sister was visiting
with us, or my uncle was visiting with us, or my cousin was visiting
with us. And Brother Barnard turned to
me one time and he said, Don't anybody here have any relatives
that love the Lord? Don't anybody have any relatives
that love the Lord? Do your relatives know you love
the Lord? That's confessing Christ. I'd
leave them home and let them make their own toast on the Lord's
Day if they wouldn't go to the house of God. Just leave them
there. It might hurt their feelings,
but it might keep them out of hell. See, you might give them
a testimony. They might say, well, if that
old boy loves the Lord that much, I want to go down and see what
he's got. If church is so important to him that he hadn't seen me
in two years, he walk off and leave me, I'm going to go find
out what he's got. But you know, if you go their
way, it may be that you will add to their condemnation. We
confess Christ swiftly when we live before men as those changed
by his grace. You're sitting at the table with
a man who's an unbeliever. You're a believer. There's a
deal that comes up. Both of you can pick up a little
extra money on this deal, but there has to be just a little
bit of shade about it, you know. What are you going to do? What
are you going to do? My friend, I appreciate you,
and I understand what you've got in mind, but you see, and
I'm not trying to flaunt my religion, but you see, the Lord's changed
my heart, and He's my Savior and my Lord, and I just can't
go into this particular deal with you. Now, if you do, that's
your business. I'm not trying to be a holy joe,
and I'm not trying to be overly pious, and I'm not trying to
condemn—I'm just saying I can't do it. What you do is your business. That's confessing Christ. That's
confessing Christ. We confess Christ when we bear
trial and loss patiently. People are watching us. And when
God puts us through the valley and we bear it patiently, bowing
to the will of God, I think it's witnessing a good confession.
And then we confess Christ when we commune with him in prayer. When we privately in our chamber,
when we around our table, when we in the men's prayer room,
when we in the congregation of the righteous call on our Lord
in believing prayer, we confess Christ. With a heart man believeth
unto righteousness. That's where it all takes place.
That's where the change takes place. That's where the work
of grace is performed. Somebody said one time he had
a vision that the King came in his glory. King Jesus. And the fundamentalist
was counting the crowd. Look how many is here. And the
theologian was counting the horses to see if he could find a number
divisible by seven. And the legalist was inspecting
everybody's robe to see if everybody had the right thing on. And the
moralist was smelling everybody's breath. And the denominationalist
was checking everybody's I.Q. card. But the man who was looking
for his Lord didn't see anything but Christ. Oh, he's come again. unaware that there's anybody
else around him. All he could see was his Lord.
Totally unaffected by the crowds and unaffected by the majesty
of it all, all he could see was Christ! Our Lord said something
about that. He said there were two sisters.
He went to have supper with them one night, and one of them named
Martha. She had to make sure that the
pots and pans were in order, that they had so many forks on
one side and so many knives and spoons on the other, that there
was a napkin at every place and that the silverware was shined
up, that there was chair for every person, that the food was
exactly right. And bless Mary's heart, she was
in there sitting on the floor looking up in the face of Christ
just feasting on His Word. And Martha came to the door and
she said, Lord, don't you care, don't you care that I'm having
to do all this serving by myself? Tell my sister to come in here
and help me. And the Lord Jesus said, Martha,
Martha, you're cumbered about with so much care. You're so
interested in so many details. Mary's chosen the good thing,
to sit at my feet and hear my word. You can eat later, Martha.
You can count the knives and forks and spoons later, Martha.
You can do all these things later. The important thing is to hear
my word. That's the heart faith. With
the heart, man believeth unto righteousness. With the mouth,
confession is made unto salvation. One of the greatest hymns ever
written. Jesus, shall it ever be, a mortal man ashamed of thee? Ashamed of thee whom angels praise,
whose glories shine through endless days? Ashamed of Jesus, that
dear friend on whom my hope of heaven depends? No, when I blush,
be this my shame, that I no more revere his name. Ashamed of Jesus,
yes, I may, when I've no guilt to wash away, no tear to wipe,
no good to crave, no fear to quell, no soul to save. But till
then, nor is my boasting vain, till I'll boast a Savior slain,
and oh, may this my glory be, that Christ is not ashamed of
me." I wonder if we could sing that in closing, Ron. Is that
in our book? Ashamed of Jesus, that dear friend
on whom my hope of heaven depends. The title of it is Jesus Shall
It Ever Be. We sing that to the tune of Just
As I Am. Okay. Number 400. Number 400. And 400. Sing it to the tune
of Just As I Am. Let's stand together and sing
all five verses of 400. Jesus, and shall it ever be,
a mortal man ashamed of thee, ashamed of Christ to give their space. The shapes of Jesus soon apart,
their evening flash to He sheds the veins of light divine
for this united soul of mine.