It is good and right that you have brought this burden before the Lord, for there is no theme more urgent than the salvation of souls. The word which you have quoted is true and faithful, 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.
We do rejoice that any should be led to seek the Lord, and we pray that those who are now inquiring may find in Christ a complete and divine salvation. Salvation is of the Lord in the planning, in the providing, and in the applying of it. It was His infinite wisdom that devised it and His free grace that bestows it, so that all who are saved will join to say with Jonah, Salvation is of the Lord. We rest not upon our faith, our repentance, our prayers or our likeness to Christ, but upon Jesus Christ crucified, who is all our salvation, the Alpha and the Finisher of faith.
Take heed that the repentance you preach and the repentance you seek be true repentance. There is a repentance that comes of excitement or of fear which has in it no submission, no faith, no love, and which does not glorify God. True repentance is inseparable from faith. They come into the soul together. Faith is trust in Christ, and repentance is that godly sorrow which loathes sin because it is hateful to the heart of Jesus, and which sets the sinner ever afterwards craving after holiness. Do you rejoice in Jesus crucified, do you love Christ and trust Him, do you leap for joy at the thought that God hath set Him forth to be a propitiation for sin, this is repentance that needeth not to be repented of. Lord, sink me low as hell in repentance, but lift me high as heaven in faith.
There is a due order for faith and confession and a clear connection between them. With the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. We must not put asunder what God hath joined. The same truths which through faith become the ground of our salvation are to become the subject of our open confession before men. Let that confession be personal and sincere. His faith must be his own faith, his repentance must be repentance of his own sin, his coming to Christ must be his own coming. Do not borrow another man's experience, but let every one say, I am the Lord's, with his own mouth and from his own heart. A general religion will not save, it must be a personal laying hold upon Christ.
To those who are seeking, we would say, look at once to Jesus. Believe on Him now. The gospel challengeth you that you believe in Jesus now. Turn from your sins, not in your own strength but as the fruit of that faith which the Spirit works in the heart. Simple faith is always the work of the Spirit, and the Spirit never takes a man off from Christ but establishes him more firmly in confidence in His righteousness. And that counsel to read and study Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, beginning in the book of John, is wise. There you will see the Lord Jesus set forth as the Word made flesh, full of grace and truth, that you may have a practical, workday faith in Him for every need of life.
We pray for all who are now looking for salvation, that the Lord would grant them that faith which believeth unto righteousness and that grace which makes confession unto salvation, that they may know the joy of His salvation restored and kept, and may follow and obey Jesus all their days. May the Lord grant such repentance and such faith to every seeking soul, and may He perfect that which concerneth them, for His mercy endureth forever.
