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WHEN SOMEONE says he is a Christian, we must see beyond the words of his mouth. Many confess Christ Jesus with their mouths, but doubt Him in their hearts.
The mouth and the heart of a hypocrite say different things, but the mouth and the heart of an honest person say the same thing.
True Christianity lies in the purity of the heart. The word “heart” means spirit. People who genuinely confess the lordship of Jesus Christ to be saved earlier believed in Him with their hearts that God the Father raised Him from the dead.
The mouth makes a confession of a specific message the heart has received and believed. It is not a motivational message. It is not a message of financial prosperity either. These are good messages, but they do not make disciples of Christ.
Biblically, confessing Christ with the mouth and believing in Him in the heart are based on hearing and receiving the gospel – the message of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Paul, the apostle, teaches about this in Romans 10:8-10: “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
The Apostle calls the message Christians preach the word of faith because through it faith is built in the heart of the believer by the Holy Spirit.
It is not proper for people to merely confess Jesus Christ as their Lord with their mouths to be saved. It does not work that way. A believer’s confession must be based on the word of faith which is the gospel received in the heart.
A believer is expected to have this word both in his heart and on his mouth. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. In other words, the believer knows the message; he has it both in his heart and on his mouth and so can tell others about it. Paul says, “the word of faith that we preach.”
It is not only pastors who preach the message, but all believers. Paul confirms this in 1 Thessalonians 1:8, “For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.”
Now, a believer receives the gospel to dwell in the heart through meditation. Unless the gospel or the word of faith dwells in the heart of a person, he cannot genuinely confess Christ Jesus with the mouth to be saved.
People who have heard the gospel, leading them to believe in Jesus Christ, leading them to confess Him their Saviour, leading them to repent of their sins and leading them to be baptised receive the promised Holy Spirit as a seal for the day of redemption.
By James Quansah
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James Quansah is the Executive Director of Christ-Conscious Leadership Centre (CLC) and lead Pastor of End-Time Christ’s Commissioners (ECC), Kumasi, Ghana. James is also a journalist by profession. He is married with four children.
