It is a blessed and hopeful thing to hear of souls seeking salvation, for there is no greater inquiry a man can make than how he may be right with God. The word you have quoted is faithful and true, 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.
Mark well the due order and the clear connection between faith and confession. With the heart man believes first, and that faith looks away from self altogether and rests upon Jesus Christ crucified. We rest not upon our faith, nor upon our repentance, nor upon our prayers, but upon Jesus who is all our salvation, the Alpha and the Finisher of faith. Simple faith is itself the work of the Holy Spirit, and through the Spirit we continue to exercise it. Then out of that inward believing there comes the outward avowal. That which we privately rest upon for salvation we are to publicly and emphatically avow before others as the ground of our confidence. Say it and say it unmistakably, I am the Lord's. Let your confession be personal, your own faith, your own coming to Christ, for nobody can perform your religion for you.
And be it laid down as a great truth that 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 are as Siamese twins and come into the soul together. The repentance which brings salvation is not a carnal regret that fears only punishment, but a holy work of the Spirit which gives God glory, which purges the soul from dead works and admits Christ to be the sole Master of the heart. It is a repentance that ejects sin as an evil tenant. It lives as long as faith lives, not only at the beginning but all our days, making a rainbow with tears of grief for sin and glances of hope at the love of Christ and His finished work.
Faith is the morning star of obedience. When faith and holy fear are wrought in the heart they bring forth good fruit. Prove that you have grace by your accurate obedience. No man is really saved unless he is in his heart obedient to Christ. You will not be perfect at once, but you will desire to be so, and you will obey the Lord exactly and carefully in the way of faith, not the obedience of a slave in terror but the obedience of a child in love. The more of faith in Him you have, the more of obedience to Him you will manifest, beginning at home and in the daily path.
Your counsel to read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and to start in the book of John, is wise. There you will see the Lord Jesus set forth as the Son of God, that believing you might have life through His name. Treat all God's Word alike, believe His teaching, trust His work, and rest in His salvation. Sincere faith receives the whole testimony concerning Christ.
May the Holy Spirit lead every seeker to believe with the heart, to confess with the mouth, to turn from sin and to follow Christ in love and obedience, looking to Jesus alone for righteousness and salvation.
