The word which you have set before us is faithful and true, that 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. What mercy is this, that salvation is of the Lord from first to last. It is older than creation, and as it was of the Lord in planning so it was of the Lord in execution. No one hath helped to provide it, God hath done it all himself, Jehovah Father, Son and Spirit hath provided everything, and in the application and sustaining and ultimate perfection of the work, salvation is still of the Lord. Whosoever believeth in Jesus is as free from the guilt of sin as Christ is, for our Lord stood as Head for his body, took the sins of his people and died in the sinner's place, and being himself set free, all his people are set free in their Representative, risen for our justification.
And you have well added that we must confess and turn from our sins, and follow and obey Jesus. Our Lord commenced his ministry with this double command, Repent ye and believe the gospel. Faith and repentance are inseparable. No repentance is worth having which is not perfectly consistent with faith in Christ, and no faith is saving which leaves the heart in love with sin. True repentance unto life is not a terror which worketh death, but a godly sorrow unto salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is a perfect hatred of sin because it is hateful to the heart of Jesus, and a mourning because we pierced the Lord, and a dread of sin because Jesus suffered so bitterly to deliver us from its flame. It is the gift of God, to be preached in the name of Jesus, and the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Remember also that repentance lives as long as faith lives. It is not a thing done once at the beginning and then forgotten, but a grace that abides with us as long as we live, and he who commands it also bestows it.
Therefore let every seeking soul take your counsel to follow the Lord fully and to read and study the holy Gospels, beginning as you wisely advise in the book of John. There you shall see Jesus, who is not only the Worker of salvation but salvation itself, God's salvation set forth for sinners. Wherever our eyes spiritually light upon the Christ of God, there we see God's salvation, beheld in his life and death and in his rising from the tomb, where death hath lost its sting and the grave its victory. Look to him with the heart and confess him with the mouth, for Jesus our Lord must be owned as Lord indeed, even as Thomas said, My Lord and my God. He who began the work will carry it on and perfect it unto the day of the appearing of our Lord and Saviour.
May the blessed Giver of all repentance unto life grant to every seeker such repentance as glorifies God, and such faith as lays hold on Christ alone for salvation. May the Spirit open the Scriptures to you as you read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and show you the Saviour in every page, till believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Amen.
