Activating Faith
By Ryan Bridgeo
Avery County
Romans 10:10 says, “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.” In this verse, we see two parts of faith. Part one is believing from the heart. Part two is, with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Now, this is not talking about the confession of our sins. Verse 9 said, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” So, with your heart, you believe Jesus is Lord. With your heart, you believe that God raised Him from the dead. With the heart, you believe unto righteousness. This is faith in our hearts in what Jesus did, and through it, we receive the gift of righteousness.
But it is with our mouths that we confess unto salvation. This can be a bit confusing. So, we believe in receiving righteousness, but we confess to receiving salvation? Now you might say, well preacher, I thought righteousness and salvation were the same things. Well apparently, they are not or there wouldn’t be a distinction here. Righteousness is our right standing with God. Our salvation is the benefits we are to receive because of our right standing with God.
The word “salvation” comes from the Greek word Sozo and is used 110 times in the New Testament. The word means to save, to keep safe and sound, to save from injury or peril, to save from suffering ex: from disease, to save from our sin, and to save from the penalties of judgment (Hell). The word also means to heal, to make well or whole, to restore to health, to deliver, to protect, and to rescue from danger or destruction. The writers of the New Testament showed the fullness of the word “Sozo” by using it in its many different forms, displaying the other aspects of our salvation. For example, Luke 19:10 (NIV) says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” The word “save” is Sozo. In Mark 6:56 (NIV), “And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside— they placed the sick in the market-places. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.” Here the word “healed” is Sozo. Luke 8:36 (NAS) says, “And those who had seen it reported to them how the man who was demon-possessed had been made well.” And here, “made well”, referring to the man’s deliverance is the word Sozo. Sozo means saved, healed, and delivered. Therefore, salvation means saved, healed, and delivered.
These are all part of our salvation benefits that we now have access to because we are in the right standing with God. We now have access to the forgiveness of all our sins, and we now have access to the healing of all our diseases. We now have access to deliverance from any demon. But we receive these benefits by the confession of our mouths. You can believe these things all day. But unless you confess it with your mouth, you will not receive the benefits of your salvation.
Let me show you this in another verse. 2 Corinthians 4:13, “And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak.” There are so many Christians today who are living below their salvation privileges. They believe they are saved but they don’t believe they are righteous when salvation is a benefit of righteousness. Many are not even sure if they are righteous or saved.
And guess what, they say so with their mouths. And according to their faith, it is done unto them. And by their words, they are acquitted and by their words, they are condemned. They don’t know what to confess because they don’t know what they believe. All they have been taught is to confess their sins. Not how to confess unto the benefits of salvation. And because they have not been taught, they are living below their salvation benefits.
I want you to notice something about Romans 10:9-10. “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.” Notice how it says to confess with your mouth first, then believe, in verse 9. Then it says to believe first and then confess in verse 10. This is the process of faith. Let’s say, you believe Jesus is Lord. You believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. But you are struggling with believing that you’re righteous or that you’re born again. Well, confession needs to come first to help you believe. Confession brings possession. Confession will remove doubt and unbelief that tries to steal the truth from you. Confession will bring feelings to your soul. Sometimes we are believing first and then confessing and other times we are confessing first and then believing. This is the process of faith.
Holiness preacher George Watson said, “I have seen hundreds and hundreds who didn’t have one bit of feeling or emotion stand and say, “Well, I will dare say it; the blood cleanses.” And they kept saying it, and it wasn’t five minutes before their faith had brought consuming fire down from heaven. Why? Because your faith is not perfect until that faith comes out of your mouth.”’
George summarizes this lesson well when he says, “An inner faith and an audible confession are the two wings of religious life. God has in infinite wisdom ordained them both as conditions of His blessing. Faith in the heart is the condition by which we obtain the fact of God’s blessing, and confession with the mouth is the condition by which we obtain the experience or emotion of God’s blessing. Heart faith and mouth confession are twin-born of the Holy Spirit, and that which God has joined together, we dare not put asunder.”
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Ryan Bridgeo is the Pastor of Plumtree Church in Avery County, NC. If you would like to know more or how you might become involved in this ministry please reach out to Pastor Ryan at pastor@plumtreechurch.com or call 828-765-6919.
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You’re preaching to the choir. You should be preaching in Dearborn Michigan.