Relationship Between Faith and Confession

Driving home: there is an inseparable relationship, there is an inseparable relationship, between faith and confession. And if I had a title for our study this morning, it would be Faith and Confession, the Siamese Twins of True Chris…

Martin introduces his organizing metaphor: faith and confession are 'Siamese twins of saving religion,' inseparably joined so that wherever one is found, the other must be present.

And having demonstrated the universal need of that righteousness among Jew and Greek, and then the adequate provision of that righteousness for Jew and Greek, he now then expands upon that great question, how is it that the announcement and application of that righteousness has made its way among the nations, namely among the Jew and the Greek? Now in the midst of opening up that theme, the apostle says some things that are very, very vital with regard to the obtaining of the gospel. And I am thinking of that righteousness whether by Jew or by Greek, and I am thinking particularly of verses 9 ...

7:29 - 8:54 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces his central metaphor -- faith and confession as 'Siamese twins of saving religion' -- explaining to younger listeners what Siamese twins are, then showing that…

Martin pauses mid-title, realizing children in the congregation might not understand 'Siamese twins,' then admits he lost his thought explaining it to them -- blaming a three-hour time change having just arrived at quarter to seven the previous night. A candid pastoral aside.

the Siamese Twins of Saving Faith and Confession. I'm sorry, the Siamese Twins of Saving Religion. I was thinking of the children just then. My mind was going ahead.

8:55 - 9:10 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces his central metaphor -- faith and confession as 'Siamese twins of saving religion' -- explaining to younger listeners what Siamese twins are, then showing that…

Martin explains for the children: Siamese twins are not twins born in Siam -- the Rigols twins would still be Siamese twins if born in Siam. They are twins born physically attached, not two separate individuals; wherever one is, the other is found. This defines the metaphor.

Well, be that as it may, for you kids, Siamese twins are not twins born in Siam. You see, the Rigol's twins would not be Siamese twins if they happened to be born in Siam. But they are twins that are born attached, so that they are not two individuals, though they are, but they are one. And wherever one is, the other is found.

9:27 - 9:49 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin examines the if-then structure of verse 9, illustrating from parental promises that conditional statements must be taken seriously, and introduces the two if-clauses he…

Martin illustrates the conditional structure of Romans 10:9 with a parental warning: 'If you walk on the newly seeded lawn, mummy or daddy will spank you.' The child must take the if-then seriously or face the consequence.

You have in this verse an if-then structure. If you confess with your mouth and if you believe in your heart then you shall be saved. Now whenever you find an if-then construction in the word of God, you ought to take it very seriously. Just as much as if mum or dad say to you, son, daughter, calling you by name, if you go out and walk on the newly seeded lawn, then mummy or daddy will spank you.

11:12 - 11:52 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin examines the if-then structure of verse 9, illustrating from parental promises that conditional statements must be taken seriously, and introduces the two if-clauses he…

A second parental analogy: if a child completes assigned tasks by five o'clock, daddy will take them to Carvel for ice cream. Failing to meet the condition forfeits the promise -- exactly the logic of salvation's conditions in verse 9.

Well you better take seriously their if-then statement. Or should they say to you, if you will by five o'clock today do this, that and the other, then daddy will take you to the local Carvel for an ice cream. Well if you want your ice cream you better pay attention to the if or come five o'clock you can't just say, daddy you said I will take you to the store for an ice cream. Daddy will say I didn't give that as a blanket promise.

11:52 - 12:24 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin expounds what it means to confess 'Jesus as Lord' -- an unreserved acknowledgment of his exaltation over all things, presupposing the full narrative of his virgin birth…

Confessing that Jesus is Lord is compared to confessing that a man was inaugurated as President in January 1983 -- a confession that presupposes knowledge of everything preceding inauguration day: primaries, general election, the whole process. Similarly, confessing Christ's Lordship presupposes his virgin birth, death, and resurrection.

Jesus who was a man approved of God by mighty signs and wonders. The Jesus who was crucified through weakness. The Jesus who was placed in Joseph's tomb. The Jesus who came forth on that third day in resurrection power and might. You see to confess Jesus as Lord is to confess him as Lord not only in terms of what the scripture says about the significance of his Lordship being the position of exaltation and dominion and power but it is a position to which he came by way of the virgin's womb the death of his cross and his triumphant resurrection. There will be a day in 1983 when someone will be ...

15:59 - 17:04 Read in full sermon

Driving home: to be saved means nothing less than becoming a possessor of the salvation which is the heart of the gospel Romans 1 16 the gospel is the power of God unto salvation that is deliverance from the guilt and from the bondage…

Martin argues that belief in the resurrection is not merely assenting to a historical event but grasping its theological significance: vindicating Christ's person (Romans 1:4), validating his work (Romans 4:25), and initiating him into his intercessory ministry.

rejoined that body there was a literal physical resurrection from the dead according to Romans 1.4 the vindication of the uniqueness of his person declared to be the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead and was also the validation of his work Romans 4.25 raised again for our justification it constituted his initiation into newness of life and into a new sphere of activity he ever lived to make intercession for us now the apostle says that this fact that God has raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead understood in its biblical categories the resurrection being not just bare h...

20:00 - 21:28 Read in full sermon

The point: True evangelism must be pervasively doctrinal. You cannot earnestly seek the salvation of men without expounding the facts and implications of Christ's Lordship and resurrection.

Martin cites the doctrinal content of Romans 10:9-10 to argue that this assembly's insistence on doctrinal preaching is not narrow-mindedness but fidelity to the text: you cannot earnestly seek the salvation of men if you do not expound the facts of Christ's Lordship and resurrection.

within its orbit the great doctrines that cluster around the resurrection the resurrection as vindicating Christ's work validating Christ's claims initiating the risen Son of God into a life of perpetual intercession and this assembly insists that true evangelism is pervasively doctrinal this is why we make the insistence it is not because we are doctrinaire it is not because we are narrow minded and we want to exclude others it is because our consciences are bound by the word of God and if confession of the Lordship of Christ belief in the resurrection of Christ are essential to salvation how...

25:54 - 27:22 Read in full sermon

The point: True evangelism must be pervasively doctrinal. You cannot earnestly seek the salvation of men without expounding the facts and implications of Christ's Lordship and resurrection.

Martin anticipates the objection: what about someone who cannot speak? He answers that God takes the willingness for the deed; where true faith is present, the desire to confess will also be present even when the tongue cannot form words.

to confess with your mouth you will not be saved if you believe in your heart God raised him from the dead you shall be saved if you will not believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will not be saved the Bible knows nothing of a true belief which is unconfessional willfully now someone says yeah but what about a person who is dumb and can't speak God takes the willingness for the deed that's why I said willfully silent is someone perverse enough to ask that question willfully silent and where God sees that because a man's tongue cannot frame words or because he was born a d...

28:51 - 30:20 Read in full sermon

The point: True evangelism must be pervasively doctrinal. You cannot earnestly seek the salvation of men without expounding the facts and implications of Christ's Lordship and resurrection.

Martin cites those who 'profess to know God but in their works deny him' as the scriptural example of confession that lacks heart engagement -- proving that mouth-confession alone is vain.

heart this is why the Bible says that a confession without faith is vain Titus 1 16 they profess to know God but in their works they deny him there is no living faith that works by love so they profess to know there's confession of the lips but there's been no engagement of the heart and surely any professed faith without conversion is a spurious faith for Jesus said whosoever will confess me before men him will I confess before my Father who is in heaven well let's hurry on to the tenth verse having seen in the ninth verse the inseparability of confession and faith in relationship to salvatio...

30:20 - 31:48 Read in full sermon

The point: No one will believe unto righteousness until they are made painfully aware of their need for a righteousness other than their own. The law of God must do its convicting work before the gospel of grace is received.

Martin says that believing unto righteousness means personally experiencing the argument of the book of Romans in one's own heart -- passing through the conviction of Romans 1:18-3:20 before reaching the provision of Romans 3:21.

starts first of all with the heart being engaged unto the appropriation of the righteousness which is offered in the gospel and in a real sense that means nothing less than experiencing in your own heart the basic outline of the content of the book of Romans how does one with the heart believe unto righteousness well one will never believe unto righteousness until he is made painfully aware of his need of a righteousness other than his own so in a very real sense every person by one means or another over a short or lengthy period of time it may be fifteen minutes or fifteen years must be broug...

33:17 - 34:44 Read in full sermon

The point: No one will believe unto righteousness until they are made painfully aware of their need for a righteousness other than their own. The law of God must do its convicting work before the gospel of grace is received.

Martin describes the state of conviction: 'I stand under the canopy of his wrath for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness' -- a vivid spatial metaphor for being covered by divine wrath until grace delivers.

demands upon us being brought to see how holy God is how high is his standard how it touches every thought and word and motive and attitude of heart and how for short I fall of all of this and I stand under the canopy of his wrath for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness and then it is to come into the orbit of the proclamation of God's righteousness in Christ Romans 3 21 and following that this same God against whom we have sinned and before whom we have no righteousness of our own in the person and work of his son has made a righteousness avail...

34:44 - 36:13 Read in full sermon

The point: No one will believe unto righteousness until they are made painfully aware of their need for a righteousness other than their own. The law of God must do its convicting work before the gospel of grace is received.

Martin describes saving faith as coming to the point where one despairs of 'fixing myself up and concocting and constructing my own righteousness' and is prepared to 'throw myself upon' the righteousness God provides -- a dramatic image of self-abandonment unto grace.

up and concocting and constructing my own righteousness and I am prepared to throw myself upon her in the language of Romans 10 submit to the righteousness that God provides that is believing unto righteousness and then the apostle says when that is so then the mouth will make confession unto salvation the heart having been engaged with respect to its own sin on the one hand and God's glorious provision on the other and the heart having gone out in living faith to a living savior and the glorious provisions in him whatever has the heart will in necessity have the mouth for out of the abundance...

36:13 - 37:42 Read in full sermon

The point: No one will believe unto righteousness until they are made painfully aware of their need for a righteousness other than their own. The law of God must do its convicting work before the gospel of grace is received.

Martin quotes both the Psalmist ('I believe therefore have I spoken') and Jesus ('out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh') to show that what the heart possesses, the mouth will inevitably express -- grounding the argument in both Old and New Testaments.

up and concocting and constructing my own righteousness and I am prepared to throw myself upon her in the language of Romans 10 submit to the righteousness that God provides that is believing unto righteousness and then the apostle says when that is so then the mouth will make confession unto salvation the heart having been engaged with respect to its own sin on the one hand and God's glorious provision on the other and the heart having gone out in living faith to a living savior and the glorious provisions in him whatever has the heart will in necessity have the mouth for out of the abundance...

36:13 - 37:42 Read in full sermon

The point: No one will believe unto righteousness until they are made painfully aware of their need for a righteousness other than their own. The law of God must do its convicting work before the gospel of grace is received.

Martin argues that confession does not 'weave one thread into the fabric of an already perfect robe of righteousness' -- our righteousness in Christ is perfect and complete -- but confession is the necessary manifestation and evidence of real faith.

in him we now desire openly to acknowledge our identification with him and apart from that open acknowledgement there is no grounds to claim that the faith of the heart is real that's why Jesus could say in Matthew 10 32 whoever confesses me before men him will I confess before my father who is in heaven whosoever denies me before men him will I deny before my father which is in heaven you see our confession does not add some little dimension to an otherwise imperfect salvation no the righteousness with which we believe that is the object of our faith we believe unto righteousness as we lay ho...

37:42 - 39:10 Read in full sermon

The point: No one will believe unto righteousness until they are made painfully aware of their need for a righteousness other than their own. The law of God must do its convicting work before the gospel of grace is received.

Just as a professed faith that does not produce obedience is spurious (James), so a professed faith that does not produce confession of Christ is spurious -- Martin draws the precise parallel between the faith-and-works argument and his faith-and-confession argument.

confess him before my father not because our confession in any way weaves one thread into the fabric of an already perfect robe of righteousness but it is the inescapable attendant and the necessary manifestation of the validity and reality of the professed faith so all confession without the heart is a sham all professed belief of the heart without confession is deceptive but the one gives birth to the other now have examined the teaching of the two verses in the few moments that remain this morning let me draw out some practical implications from these verses having seen from verse 9 the ins...

39:10 - 40:38 Read in full sermon

The point: If you have believed in your heart but are experiencing cycles of assurance followed by crippling doubt, examine whether refusing to confess Christ openly is grieving the Spirit and undermining your assurance.

Martin proposes a pastoral diagnostic: some have real assurance on Monday morning after the sermon but by Wednesday are back in crippling doubt. The reason may be that they are grieving the Spirit by unwillingness to confess Christ, since confession and assurance are connected.

in the world to come you have now to varying degrees a sense of peace and assurance that you are forgiven on the grounds of the righteousness of Christ you have believed with the heart but you have yet to confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord you have yet to openly identify yourself with him listen to these words my friend how long can you go on with having any degree of real assurance that you are saved if you will not comply with this word of direction if you confess with your mouth for with the mouth confession is made unto salvation could it be that that's why some of you on Monday morning...

45:02 - 46:27 Read in full sermon

The point: If you have believed in your heart but are experiencing cycles of assurance followed by crippling doubt, examine whether refusing to confess Christ openly is grieving the Spirit and undermining your assurance.

Martin cites Peter at Pentecost ('repent and be baptized...unto the remission of sins') and Ananias to Saul ('arise and be baptized, washing away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord') to show that in Scripture forgiveness and baptism are placed in close proximity -- not because grace is in the water, but because heart belief and public confession are inseparable.

own ordinance of baptism it's not the means we've established because we're the Trinity Baptist Church no no it's the means he's established has it ever troubled you that in certain text in the New Testament forgiveness of sin and baptism are put so close together you think you get forgiveness through the baptism that ever troubled you when Peter said in the day of Pentecost Acts 2 38 repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord unto the remission of sins repent be baptized unto remission of sins well I thought remission of sin came through faith in Christ it does but what k...

46:27 - 47:55 Read in full sermon

The point: If you have believed unto righteousness, obey God's appointed ordinance of baptism as the first public confession of your faith, and follow it with ongoing verbal witness to friends, work associates, and neighbors -- dis…

The Ethiopian eunuch, no sooner believing in the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, sees a pool of water and is baptized by Philip -- illustrating how genuine heart faith immediately seeks its outward expression, not to complete an imperfect salvation but to confess an already received one.

seeing a standing pool of water Philip takes him down into that pool and he is baptized why not to complete something that was inadequate in the work of the suffering servant of Jehovah not that grace was there in the water and he could only have it under the water according to the teaching of the Campbellites no no but because there is this inseparable relationship between belief with the heart and confession with the mouth and I'm speaking to some of you sitting here today who are disobedient in this area and I would issue from this text a call to you having believed unto righteousness it is...

47:55 - 49:24 Read in full sermon

The point: If you have believed unto righteousness, obey God's appointed ordinance of baptism as the first public confession of your faith, and follow it with ongoing verbal witness to friends, work associates, and neighbors -- dis…

Martin explicitly rejects the Campbellite (Church of Christ) teaching that grace is conveyed through the baptismal water, affirming that baptism is the outward symbol of an inward work already accomplished.

seeing a standing pool of water Philip takes him down into that pool and he is baptized why not to complete something that was inadequate in the work of the suffering servant of Jehovah not that grace was there in the water and he could only have it under the water according to the teaching of the Campbellites no no but because there is this inseparable relationship between belief with the heart and confession with the mouth and I'm speaking to some of you sitting here today who are disobedient in this area and I would issue from this text a call to you having believed unto righteousness it is...

47:55 - 49:24 Read in full sermon

The point: As you grow in knowledge of the gospel and the implications of Christ's Lordship, your boldness as a witness ought to increase in direct proportion. Growing knowledge with diminishing zeal to confess is a self-contradict…

Martin asks: did you ever have to encourage someone who just got engaged to talk about their beloved? No -- they become a nuisance. What engages the heart finds a direct pipeline to the lips. Grace does not violate this natural law; it lays hold of it and puts teeth in it.

of the mouth did you ever find in all your years that you had to encourage someone who just got engaged to talk about his or her beloved did you ever have to come up to someone who just had the young woman say I will and say hey I heard the news you're engaged but you haven't whispered a word about it for three weeks would you mind just telling me a little something do you ever find such a person turn around and say mumble a few words change the subject now generally speaking they become a nuisance they talk so much about the person you find yourself changing the subject same way with the youn...

50:51 - 52:19 Read in full sermon

The point: As you grow in knowledge of the gospel and the implications of Christ's Lordship, your boldness as a witness ought to increase in direct proportion. Growing knowledge with diminishing zeal to confess is a self-contradict…

Martin pictures a newly engaged young woman with 'almost a spastic activity in her left hand' -- everywhere she goes it is hanging out there, wanting you to ask about it. The ring is the confession of what has captured her heart, just as verbal confession flows from heart faith.

of the mouth did you ever find in all your years that you had to encourage someone who just got engaged to talk about his or her beloved did you ever have to come up to someone who just had the young woman say I will and say hey I heard the news you're engaged but you haven't whispered a word about it for three weeks would you mind just telling me a little something do you ever find such a person turn around and say mumble a few words change the subject now generally speaking they become a nuisance they talk so much about the person you find yourself changing the subject same way with the youn...

50:51 - 52:19 Read in full sermon