The Confession of Our Faith
by John F. Moreland
© JAN 2004
(Rom 10:9-10) {9} " … that if you confess with your
mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the
dead, you shall be saved;
{10} for with the heart man believes, resulting in
righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."
These are two of the most well known verses to the
evangelical community. It is probably the ‘text verse’ for most evangelists.
It is true! A confession from the heart brings the lowest, the worst, even
the best(?) of sinners into a personal relationship with our Lord. Without fear
of contradiction, it is the only way that one can come into the redemptive
fellowship of Jesus Christ.
It, then, is not only the most well known Scripture for
salvation, but is also the most essential. One simply cannot come into a
personal relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ apart from it. It is the
entrance into the great act of reconciliation of God our Father. Our Lord Jesus
verified this when He told His disciple Philip:
(John 14:6-7) {6} "Jesus said to him, "I am the way,
and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.
{7} "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father
also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him."
It is important to know this, for there is only one
way. Just because all religious faiths worship a god, it cannot be stated
that all religions worship the God! Our Lord Jesus is Himself the Way,
the Truth and the Life. Nothing can be added to Him.
I do not write this because I am unkind or prejudiced toward
other religions. I would not even deny that other religions may have many truths
or principles by which they live. But, great principles or religious facts do
not bring salvation. I write this out of love and compassion, that they may come
to know the true God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus died for all
mankind, that all should be saved. His Word declares that He is not willing that
any should perish but that all (mankind) might come to repentance (be saved).
The True Gospel
There is only one true gospel. It is the gospel
of the Kingdom of God. It was the message of our Lord.
(Mat 4:23) "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching
in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing
all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people."
There are two other verses in the Gospels which confirm this,
i.e., Matthew 9:35 and Mark 1:14. It is defined in many ways such as the gospel
of grace, the gospel of God, the gospel of Christ, etc., but they are all simply
facets of the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Please note, it is never
called the gospel of the Church.
Its significance is greatly enlarged when our Lord declared
it was to be the message of the end times.
(Mat 24:14) "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be
preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the
end shall come."
An Incomplete Gospel
It seems to me that so much of the present preaching of the
gospel has been incomplete. "Just believe in Jesus and you’ll be saved", or
"Just believe in Jesus and you will go to heaven", etc., is really not the
Biblical definition of our confession of faith. The Bible declares that the
devils believe and tremble, but the confession is not just about believing some
fact. It is the confession that Jesus is Lord. It is a Kingdom
confession.
We sometimes hear also that we need to make Jesus Lord. It is
impossible! We cannot make Him anything. He is Lord. It is not
just believing that He is Lord. Our confession is one which acknowledges
and receives Him as Lord. We become subjects of the King! We become
citizens of His Kingdom. His is either your Lord or He is not your Lord. You are
not longer your Lord. He is your Lord. It is simple. We must not dilute the
message for the carnal mind, nor corrupt the gospel to some "easy-believism".
Redemption may be free, but it is not cheap. We change dimensions,
from the course of this world to the Kingdom of God, a radical change.
It is true, salvation is of the Lord. If He were not Lord, He
would not be the Savior. Salvation is therefore in and of the Kingdom of God.
A New Dimension, The Kingdom of God Culture
This new dimension is best described by the words of the
apostle Paul when he wrote in Ephesians 4:4-6.
(Eph 4:4-6) {4} "There is one body and one Spirit,
just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;
{5} one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
{6} one God and Father of all who is over all and through
all and in all.
These things define the dimension of the new man. Christ’s
earthly life as well as His death on the cross demonstrated God’s love for all
mankind. By His death on the cross He reconciled all mankind unto God the
Father. This new dimension is of the heavenly realm, where our life becomes His
life, and His life becomes our life. The apostle Paul described it in this
fashion.
(Gal 2:20) "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in
the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave
himself for me."
Thus, we have been translated from the course of this world,
the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of His dear Son.
(Col 1:13) "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath
translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:…"
We are now, not only citizens of another Kingdom, but we are
participants of a new culture. Culture is defined in the American Heritage
Dictionary as "the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts,
beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought." In
describing the culture of the Kingdom we can change the definition to fit the
Divine culture as follows. "the totality of Divinely transmitted behavior
patterns, arts, beliefs, and all other products of Divine work and thought."
Our natural history no longer determines our culture, because
we are in the Kingdom of God and are of a new culture, a new manner of life.
The Problem with Earthly Cultures
Cultures and sub-cultures can be described in many ways.
There are ethnic cultures, national cultures, religious cultures, institutional
cultures, political cultures, social cultures, and others. Everyone of these has
a life all it’s own. I like to describe it as a "camp mentality" or culture. I
take this definition from a statement in Hebrews 13:13 which is, "Hence, let
us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach" As long as we let
our personal "cultural camps" dictate our lives, our beliefs and our behavior
patterns, we can never fully enter the culture of the Kingdom. In fact, it may
very well keep us from His Kingdom. The very heart and life of any culture is to
protect itself, regardless of how it may be defined.
Our identities and values are generally products of our
culture. Those institutions, mores and customs are born out of the cultures they
represent. It is evident in the United States today of the great lengths
different cultures will go to preserve and strengthen themselves. Not everything
in earthly cultures can be classified as bad or evil, only those things which
keep us from the Kingdom of God.
The Word defines the weakness of the many cultural divisions resident in our
nation today. It states, (Mat 12:25) "…Every kingdom divided against itself
is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall
not stand:…"
There is only one thing that can and will stand, and the Lord is bringing
this to pass.
(Heb 12:26-28) {26} "…but now he hath promised,
saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
{27} And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the
removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that
those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
{28} Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be
moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence
and godly fear: … "
The Lord is shaking everything that can be shaken so that only one culture
remains, the Kingdom of God. It is the only government and power that can bring
the unity we are destined for.
The Culture of the Kingdom of God
The very nature of the Kingdom of God is different from the
domain of darkness. The nature of the domain of darkness produces the deeds or
fruit of it.
(Gal 5:19-21) {19} "Now the deeds of the flesh are
evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,
{20} idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy,
outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
21} envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like
these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who
practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
In contrast, we find the character and nature of the Kingdom
of God as follows.
(Gal 5:22-23) {22} "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
{23} gentleness, self-control; against such things there
is no law."
The Kingdom Culture, A Culture of God’s Love
The 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians gives us the
evidence (vv. 1-3), the nature (vv.3-7) and the power (vv. 8-13) of God’s love,
which cannot come from our natural nature. It is a most remarkable chapter in a
most remarkable Book, the Bible. It follows in its entirety.
(1 Cor 13:1-13) {1} "If I speak with the tongues of
men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a
clanging cymbal. {2} And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all
mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove
mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
{3} And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor,
and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me
nothing.
{4} Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous;
love does not brag and is not arrogant,
{5} does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own,
is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
{6} does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices
with the truth;
{7} bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, endures all things.
{8} Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy,
they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is
knowledge, it will be done away.
{9} For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;
{10} but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done
away.
{11} When I was a child, I used to speak as a child,
think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with
childish things. {12} For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to
face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have
been fully known. {13} But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the
greatest of these is love."
I would encourage you to read these verses several times
before you read further. It is what our confession of faith is designed to bring
us into. It is the nature and culture of the Kingdom of God!
A Relational Kingdom
The Word is crystal clear in this matter.
(Eph 2:19) "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you
are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, …
When writing of the body of Christ, the apostle Paul defines us as members
one of another.
(Rom 12:5) " .. so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and
individually members one of another."
So then, we are not merely members of a Kingdom, but we are
joined, by the life of Christ, together in one body.
This being true, we now find the Biblical expression of our
conduct as fellow citizens with the saints. The great command concerning our
conduct is found in 1 John 3:23.
(1 John 3:23) "And this is His commandment, that we
believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as
He commanded us."
This love is to be expressed in a particular manner.
(Gal 5:13) {13} "For you were called to freedom,
brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh,
but through love serve one another.
{14} For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the
statement, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself."
The phrase love one another occurs 13 times in 12
verses in the New Testament. We are a loving, relational Kingdom of God’s own
people.
The apostle Peter described it in this manner:
(1 Pet 2:9) "But you are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people for god’s own possession, that you may
proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light; … "
The Purpose of This Writing
Becoming a Christian, a child of the living God is an awesome
thing. I have endeavored to put it in proper perspective. Our confession of
faith is a life changing confession. It comes from faith out of the heart and is
a declaration of our manner of life from that point in time. We recognize Jesus
as Lord, and by His life within us we walk as citizens of an eternal Kingdom, a
subject of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We relinquish control of our
lives unto Him. We no longer have personal agendas, but live according to His
eternal purpose. We no longer are captives of the course of this world, but are
citizens of a new kingdom, a kingdom not of this realm. The Word describes it in
this fashion. (2 Cor 5:14) "For the love of Christ controls us …."
We become controlled by the love Christ has for us, and desires to manifest
through us.
I want to once again write a statement written earlier,
concerning this marvelous redemption which is ours. Redemption may be
free, but it is not cheap.
May God grant us the revelation and grace to so live that we
may demonstrate the excellencies of Him Who has called us out of darkness into
His marvelous light! Amen.
