Articles
What It Takes to Be Saved – Man’s Part - Confession
What It Takes to Be Saved – Man’s Part - Confession
Mike Willis
We continue our study of what man must do to be saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. Previously we have learned that man must recognize that he is lost because of the sins he has committed. To be saved by Jesus, he must hear the gospel message so that he will know what to believe and to do in order to be saved. This means that he learns and has faith in the facts of the gospel. He then must make a commitment to follow Jesus and repent of his sins. In this article, we will see that being saved by Jesus also requires that one confess his faith.
A confession of one’s faith is required because that is the only way that a person can tell if another person believes in Jesus. Jesus said, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). Unless one believes, he cannot obey the gospel and the only way that one person can know that another person believes is for him to tell him. When one tell others that he believes in Jesus, he is confessing Jesus. Look at the passages that emphasize this point:
“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9).
“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 10:32).
“And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8).
“And that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:11).
“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God” (1 John 4:15).
When one turns to Jesus for salvation, he is asked, “Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God?” When he acknowledges his faith in Jesus, he is ready to be born again, which is the next step we will study.
Sometimes people are confused about making a confession. Some think that what is confessed is “I am a sinner.” Perhaps, they will then list out some of the sinful things they have done. This is not the confession that one makes in order to obey the gospel. The confession that is made before one obeys the gospel is “I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”
The fact is that the initial confession of Christ will be repeated many times in a Christian’s life. The first verse of the old hymn “I’m Not Ashamed to Own My Lord,” written by Isaac Watts in 1709, sums up what one must do in his service to the Lord:
“I’m not ashamed to own my Lord,
or to defend his cause,
maintain the honor of his Word,
the glory of his cross.”
