How precious is the burden you have expressed for souls who are seeking salvation, and how true is the word you have set before them. The Scripture declares, For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. There is a due order here and a clear connection. Faith is first, and confession follows. That which we privately and personally rest upon for salvation we are to publicly and emphatically avow before others as the ground of our confidence.
You have done well to join confession with repentance, for the two are inseparable. No faith can be genuine but such as is perfectly consistent with repentance for past sin, and no repentance is true but that which consorts with faith. They come into the soul together, like Siamese twins, and they live as long as faith lives. True repentance is not a carnal repentance produced by fear of judgment, nor a passing regret that soon fades. True repentance is the work of the Spirit of God in the renewed heart, and it gives God glory. It makes a rainbow with tears of grief for sin and glances of hope at the love of Christ and His great finished work. It ejects sin as an evil tenant that faith may admit Christ to be the sole master of the heart. It pulls down that faith may build up.
Let no seeking soul think he must bring a perfect repentance or a great faith before he may come to Christ. There are degrees of faith, and yet the least faith saves, so there are degrees of repentance, and the least repentance will save the soul if it is sincere. We do not rest upon our faith, our repentance, our prayers, or our conquests of sin. We rest upon Jesus Christ crucified. Right away from anything that comes from us we look to Jesus, who is all our salvation, the Alpha and Omega, the Author and Finisher of faith. Simple faith in Him is itself the work of the Spirit, based upon the Spirit's own testimony concerning Christ.
Therefore let every seeker believe in his heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, trusting Him alone for righteousness, and let him confess with his mouth that Jesus is Lord. Let that confession be personal. 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. One shall say, I am the Lord's. Do not dissociate the word of confession from the action, for it is to be confession with the mouth. Do say and say it unmistakably, I am a Christian, not in a borrowed profession, but because the Lord has called you by His grace.
Your counsel to read and study Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, beginning in the book of John, is most wise. There the seeker will see Christ Himself, the Word made flesh, full of grace and truth, and will learn to treat all God's Word alike. Sincere faith must receive His whole testimony. Let the seeker continue there, asking the Lord for an increase of faith and deeper repentance, for both are gifts of God in the name of Jesus Christ, and both will grow as he beholds the Saviour.
May the Lord grant to every reader a repentance unto life, a faith that looks only to Christ, and a mouth that openly confesses Him, to the glory of God. May He restore the joy of His salvation to all who turn to Him, and keep them believing and repenting as long as they live, till faith is lost in sight.
