“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom. 10:9-10).
This Scripture gives us the second type of Bible confession. Paul talks about confessing with our mouths, so he’s talking about a verbal, audible confession. What do we confess? We confess that Jesus is Lord. This is the kind of confession that leads to salvation.
Just after I got saved, I went with a particular college campus group to Daytona Beach to share Jesus with people at the beach. I used to tell people, “If you’ll confess your sins, God will save you.” But technically, that’s not true. The new birth does not come as a result of confessing all your sins. (You couldn’t remember them all anyway.)
Paul didn’t say, “If you will confess with your mouth every mistake you ever made.” No, he said, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus [or that Jesus is Lord], and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
The Bible says, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Is the Gospel bad news? No, it’s good news. A lot of times, we’ve given people bad news: “You old rotten sinner, if you don’t get saved, you’re going straight to hell.”
But what is the Good News? Look at 2 Corinthians 5:19: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them….” Jesus, the Lamb of God, came and took the sin, iniquity, sickness and disease of the world upon Himself.
Your sins have been paid for; God isn’t holding them against you. So, you see, the confession of salvation is not a negative confession—it’s a positive one. It’s not the confession of sin. It’s the confession of Jesus as Lord.
Jesus, I call upon Your name. I believe in my heart
God raised You from the dead, and I confess You as Lord
of my life. I receive You as my Lord, my Savior and my healer.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
For over 40 years, Pastors Mark and Janet Brazee have traveled throughout the world sharing the Word of God and the Spirit of God. Together they've shared the powerful truths of faith and healing in more than 50 nations.
Today Mark and Janet pastor World Outreach Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they base their ongoing outreach to the world. The Brazees still travel as the Lord leads, and they are raising up a congregation who share their passion to reach Tulsa and the world.