What Is a Profession of Faith?

Well, this morning, we've had a wonderful opportunity to witness something that is very significant in the life of every Christian. Indeed, a wonderful moment in the life of every church, the public profession or confession of one's faith. We call that in our church, professional faith or in our Aussie way, pro faith. Just shorten everything. Pro faith doesn't mean that you're an expert expert level in faith.

You're a pro in faith. It means profession of faith. But what we've just witnessed is the culmination and the celebration of some very different backgrounds, very different family backgrounds, very different personalities, all coming together and finishing with the ultimate and final decision that these guys voiced this morning: I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord and my saviour and I will follow Him as His disciple. That's what every person up here professed and what a wonderful moment that was. But I think it's a good moment to ask ourselves the question as well this morning, a good opportunity.

What is it about this event? Why do we do it? What exactly is it? Is it necessary for us to be involved in something like that? Could Kyla and Anin and Hailey just have sat some online quiz and picked all the Sunday school answer boxes and passed, could they have signed a little certificate and that would have been sufficient?

I can tell you they probably would have preferred something like that. It's not comfortable standing up here on a Sunday morning and speaking publicly to so many people even though I'm sure all these people here love them very much. Well, I wanna look at a passage this morning that answers the question, why would you do something like this? We're going to look at Romans 10 and only two verses this morning. Romans 10 verses 9 and 10.

And we find this text sort of partway through a sentence, but it goes like this, verse 9: 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. Now straight away, you'll notice that in these verses, we don't find a layout or a liturgy for what happened this morning. We don't find those four questions that I asked them.

We don't have any instructions that this must take place at a church at 09:00 in the morning on a Sunday. But we do have some very key principles that we get from these verses that I'd like to reflect on this morning. And I believe that as we work through them this morning, you will see that they have definitely addressed what happened here this morning. The crux of the issue has come down to this idea of faith. This is what Paul is talking about here, faith.

What it means to say that you are a believer. What is it that you believe? What is it that makes you you? What is it that makes you a Christian? What does it mean to have a saving faith?

That is a faith which saves. And there are four points in only these two verses that we get. The first one is that saving faith is intended for those who are lost. Saving faith is intended for those who are lost. Before we go any further, we need to point out the obvious and I have a PhD in the obvious.

Romans 10 verses 9 to 10 is written for a particular person. It is written for a particular person, and this person is someone who is lost. Verse 10 says, the one who believes and confesses will be saved. Who is it that needs saving, however? Who needs to be saved?

Well, it's a person who is in trouble. A person who needs rescuing. The Bible often calls it like this, a person who is lost. This morning, we are reminded of the humbling truth that even these wonderful, beautiful young people this morning are utterly and completely lost in and of themselves. Today, you sitting in this church without the intervening work of Jesus Christ on your behalf, you are also utterly lost.

Now what is the implication for this? Well, I hope I don't lose my man badge for admitting this, but I actually have a really bad sense of direction. So I'm sorry. I'm perhaps with the girls on this one. I have to flip my older what do they call UBDs or directories when I drive and that sort of thing.

I don't have a good sense of direction. I don't have, like my dad does, a sixth sense of where north is and where I travel and has a mental map of roads and streets and all that sort of stuff. I would be a total wreck if I didn't have a GPS. Put my hand up to say that. Please don't think less of me for that.

But there's a few things that I've learned for having this really heavy burden of not being able to find my way. Few things that I've learned, you know, 01:00 in the morning, just driving down an empty street, few things I've realised about this lostness and being directionally challenged. First thing is that no one goes out purposely to get lost. Often we get lost because we are very self assured that we are on the right path. We don't get lost on purpose.

Nobody chooses to get lost. They just do. The second thing I've learned sitting in a car going the wrong direction is that I never know exactly when that happened. I've never crossed that line between I've never realised when I've crossed that line between I know exactly where I am to I know exactly that I'm not anywhere that I recognise. I have no idea where I am.

There's just a moment in that journey where I realise, wow, I'm really lost. And I believe that's spiritually true as well. People don't know when they got lost but there may come a moment when you finally realise, I'm lost. And then there's a third thing about getting lost. Wherever you are, the road you're on always determines where you end up.

Again, that's a very obvious statement. Well done, K.J. The road and the path I find myself on determines my ultimate destination. My plans and my intentions and my expectations of getting to Harbortown doesn't matter when I find myself on the M1 southbound heading towards Tweed. I could have had the best intentions to end up there, but I am on the M1 heading south.

Saving faith first and foremostly is intended for those who realise they are on the wrong path, that they are lost. And this path ends up in a place where they don't want to be going. So saving faith is intended for all of those who are lost and in need of saving. The second thing is that saving faith is centred on Jesus. The one and only place we find rescue from our lostness is found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And it is found simply by holding onto a deep trust that Christ died on your behalf to rescue you from the righteous punishment that our sins deserve. Saving faith is simply a trust that Jesus Christ has done this on your behalf. Just before we get to Romans 10 verses 9 and 10, we actually, there's a few verses here that lead up into that. Like I said, we sort of find this halfway through a thought. And we start in verse 6.

I just wanna read that. If you have your Bibles with you, maybe we can chuck it up on the screen. But verse 6, it says this: But the righteousness based on faith, that is a saving faith, says, do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does saving faith say? And there's a quote: the word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.

That is the word of faith that we proclaim. Paul is quoting here from a book called Deuteronomy, a time when Moses pleaded with Israel to simply take God at His word and to place their trust in Him. Paul makes the point that true faith, the faith which saves is centred wholly and solely on the gracious work of Jesus Christ whom God has raised from the dead. Saving faith rests entirely on Him. His dependability and the dependability of the gospel message is what binds us to this salvation.

And Paul is pointing out the very ironic mindset here in order to make this point. He is pointing out that unbelief in Christ, the person that says, well, should we go to heaven? Or should we go to the abyss to find this salvation? What do we need to do? An unbelief in a simple saving trust in Jesus Christ is paramount to understanding the opposite of what faith is about.

In other words, disbelief says in the heart, perhaps I can find some other way into heaven. Or it says, perhaps it is not worth it and I'll just end now and I will descend into the abyss, into death. Who can provide anything good for us? Unbelief is content simply to end with these questions, however. You know this, it's never a profession of faith.

And the irony is this. These questions, this unbelief is so dissatisfied with this simple message that anyone can understand, which is this: Jesus saves us from our sin. This belief demands another saviour. It says this is too easy. Or this is too horrendous.

Divine child abuse. God the Father sending His son to die for sinners. It is unproven. It is too difficult. Disbelief demands another saviour or no saviour or 50 different saviours.

But the irony continues because disbelief in Jesus often has an attraction to every new philosophy or every new belief system that may come out. It says this person has a novel idea. This new thing in the heavens that we can attain to. Another has just ferreted out a new idea and the person is not able to stand on the grace of Christ and they fly in every direction that the wind may take them. They try to go up into the heavenly realms to glean a new message from heaven or they despair of life and they want to go into the abyss where there is just death and it is an end to this life and to the struggle of living.

At one time, they are in euphoria with a lofty ideal. At another time, they have plummeted into despair. At one time optimism, at another time pessimism. But faith in Jesus is different. It takes a stand on Christ and it says, if salvation is anywhere, if it is to be found anywhere, it is found in Him.

Faith looks upon the cross and says, my life is here. My life is here. And if ever I am to be saved, I must be saved here. Faith sees Jesus in the tomb and watches and it beholds Him rise again from the dead. And as He rises, faith makes us hold our breath with delight because we see the hope of immortality and eternal life in Him.

Faith is not blind. It is not irrational. Faith goes beyond the quivering mess of scepticism and unbelief and it looks to the throne of the Most High of Jesus interceding for sinners and we know we are. And understand that Christ is carrying on this work on their behalf. And it ends with humble gratitude.

Faith certainly considers the 500 witnesses who attest to Christ's resurrection. It is not blind. It pays attention to the testimonial accounts of those who were there. The Matthews and the Marks and the Lukes and the Johns. And faith delights in all of that.

But the faith that we need for our rescue is ultimately centred on our rescuer, who is trust worthy, who is dependable. The third thing we see is that saving faith needs a clear decision, however. Paul says that every person who confesses with their mouth will be saved. Now why is this important to outwardly express this belief? Especially if so much of Paul's teachings has been dealt with, it's a matter of the heart, would he say.

Doesn't he? Faith by grace. Why does Paul make a point of talking about confession with the mouth? Well, it's because genuine faith in Christ and an outward expression of that faith will never be separated. They go hand in hand.

If you truly believe, you will be radically altered in your way of thinking, in your lifestyle because of the deep gratitude you have, the understanding that has permeated your life, the blessings that you have received influencing how you do and view life, saving faith needs a confession. We'll have a confession because saving faith produces a confession in us. You may say, well, I prefer to live my faith quietly. I don't need to tell anyone because God knows my heart. Well, firstly, I would be the annoying guy that says, well, what do we make of Romans 10 verse 9 and 10?

What do we make with that verse? But secondly, I think there's something significant about confessing with your mouth, outwardly declaring, in other words, your faith in Jesus Christ. I believe that an outward confession is a powerful delineation with the world. When a person says, I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and my saviour, it more often than not is as good as saying to the world, I'm done with you. I'm not following your rules anymore.

I'm not singing from your hymn book anymore. It cuts some powerful spiritual ties when a Christian stands up and says, I have put my trust in Jesus Christ to save me from myself and from this sinful world. If we are quiet about our faith, and I'm sure we have experienced this in our various contexts, whether at work or university or whatever, if we are quiet about our faith and no one knows that we are a Christian, you find yourself and the tendrils, the roots, the weeds of this world growing over you. And it will start to suffocate you. It will try to press you against itself and hold you to become its own.

It will. But like a spiritual hot knife through butter or one of those awesome electrical hedge trimmers, it slices those vines. It slices those weeds when you say, I believe in Jesus Christ. He is my Lord and my saviour, and I am His disciple. It just changes things.

Things. His secondly, an outward expression of your faith indicates that you have actually thought this through. And you have weighed up everything and can articulate some of the deep experiences that you have had rumbling inside your mind and your heart and your soul. It means you don't just fall into Christianity. Don't just stumble in it.

We heard them say several times, these young people, now I make this my own. I thank my parents. I thank my Sunday school teachers, but I am making this my own. A confession is not a falling into Christianity. It is a standing up for Christianity and being counted.

And I can attest that these young people have debated and discussed and questioned Christianity as we work through this together. From start to finish, they have wrestled with their questions. They have made their conclusions. But likewise for every person here, you have to make a conclusion. You have to make a decision.

Is Christ your master? Have you verbalised this? Have you drawn the line in the sand? Or has the world in your silence gripped you in its web? Let me encourage you to make your stand.

Let me encourage you to stand for Christ and cut yourself free from all that entangles. And the last point we see, the fourth point here, is that saving faith has the greatest comfort to experience and enjoy. You notice that our passage says that a Christian believes in their heart that Christ, that God raised Christ from the dead. Why do you think it's important that our hearts believe in the resurrection? Why is this the defining mark?

Why not the death of Jesus, the justifying death, the punishment that He bore on our behalf? Shouldn't His death be the defining hope? Well, the resurrection is mentioned here because it is in its implication a summary of all of Christ's work. If He was raised from the dead, it means that He must have died. If He died, He must have lived.

If He lived, He must have been born as the incarnate God. And so it is a summary of all of Christ's work, His life and His death and His new life that is summarised in a confession and a belief in the heart of the resurrection. But in the resurrection, we also see the moment that God the Father confirmed that the life and the death of Jesus was a sufficient fulfilment of this sacrifice on our behalf. The payment, in other words, was accepted. It was rubber stamped and God raised Christ in glory and majesty to show that it was done sufficiently and eternally.

It is fantastic. And we see that happening in the gospel and the book of Acts when we see how this changes people's lives. The disciples who were snivelling, quivering messes turn into these giants. And the defining moment is that they saw the resurrected Jesus. They see Jesus back from the dead.

No other event could have given them so much audacity and courage to face what they endured. The resurrection put steel in their spine. And it does so for every believer who thinks of the empty tomb and says, yes. Yes. I hold to that.

My hope is alive because He is alive. Now speaking on this passage, Charles Spurgeon, that great preacher of the previous century says, believing in your heart that Christ was raised from the dead lays claim to these powerful promises. He says, to see Jesus dying for our sins is to see ourselves dead in Him. To see Jesus risen from the grave is to see ourselves risen in Him. To see Jesus accepted by God is to see ourselves accepted in Him.

And he finishes by saying, we shall rise to glory, friends, because He rose to glory. And we shall dwell in heaven because He dwells in heaven. Friends, this is our hope. If we put our trust in Christ, this is our hope. But I wanna finish with this.

Why does Paul use the word heart when he talks about this faith. Why not the mind? Why not a statement of I've investigated all of this and it just seems the logical rational thing to do right now. It's because this is meant to be felt, friends. This is something that gives comfort to you.

This is something that gives incredible, unsurpassable joy if you get it, if you know it's yours. To believe in your heart that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead gives you joy. Friends, if you're magnificent. You are you are and will be seated with Christ. Jesus being alive conquers any hardships we may go through in this life because at the end of the day, Christ has won, and that victory is wonderful.

But if you're not a Christian, I want you to hear this invitation again. I want you to respond positively to it. I want to remember how He has called you over and over and over again to put your trust in Him. Don't hold yourself from Him any longer. God invites you to the greatest happiness and satisfaction you can come to in this world.

But you may have said, excuse me. He invites you to a happy reunion with loved ones whose faces have faded away in the heartache of the grave and you have said, excuse me. He invites you to the most satisfying way to live your life in the service of others and you say, excuse me. And yet, every day He bears with you in patience and in love, but a time will come when He will say to you, I take you at your word, and you are excused. And you will not get to participate in the fellowship of His pardon and His grace.

Don't wait until it's too late. Investigate Him. Throw your hardest questions at Him, go to Him, ask of Him yourself. If He is real, He will show you. I don't doubt that.

If His love is true, you will find it. But friends, this morning, we hear that every lost sinner is welcome back to take hold of Christ's love. Is it necessary to have these public professions of faith? I believe it is. It is a statement of faith that the whole world can't see anyone could have walked here this morning and seen it.

People online listening to this message, this service will hear about it. And where family and friends have come, they've witnessed it as well. A statement and a decision that echoes throughout eternity. That's what we witness today. That's why I urge everyone and anyone that has never done a profession of faith, and you may be 70, to make this faith their own and do so.

And what we see this morning is a wonderful moment where individuals have laid claim, laid onto the claim of the riches of God's grace. And the doors today have been flung open to them. And they've been welcomed in with open arms. And they've said, yes, you are family. You belong here.

You are welcome here. Today, we celebrate the grace and the power and the love of Jesus Christ who is their saviour. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this moment that we could witness. We thank you, Lord, for a reminder of Your incredible love.

But we are also reminded, Lord, that this is our faith. This is a witness and a testimony to all of us sitting here to renew our trust and our hope in You, to go to You again if we have stumbled, if we have lost our way. Oh, God, will You please forgive us? Will You please restore us? Will You please purify our hearts?

Lord, I pray for Your spirit to be at work in us, to refine us and to strengthen us, to give us the courage to cut those ties to the things that ensnare and strangle and suffocate. And Father, give us the courage in every place we find ourself to boldly profess, to simply lay claim that Jesus Christ is my saviour. That I was lost, but am now found. Was blind, but now I see. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.