Confession from our mouth is very important. Romans 10:8b-10 “‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
It is possible to confess Jesus with our mouths but our hearts can be far from God. Isaiah 29:13 “Therefore the Lord said: ‘Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men.’” Our mouths and lips need to confess Jesus as Lord but our actions must also confess him by the kind of life that we live. Our lives must prove that the confession we make with our mouths is made from our hearts and not just from our lips.
We have discussed the necessity of confessing Jesus as Lord. But there is another type of confession that is also very important. That is the confession of our sins. 1 John 1:8-9 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” As Christians, confession of our sins to God is necessary for Him to forgive us of our sins. God doesn’t want us to attempt to hide our sin or ignore it or explain it away or even delude ourselves that we have not sinned. James 4:6 “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” If we are too proud to confess our sins, He will not forgive us.
Jesus told us a parable about two men who prayed to God. Luke 18:10-14 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men — extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” God wants us to lay our hearts open before Him like the tax collector. He already knows everything about us. But it takes a humble heart that admits that it is guilty and freely lays itself openly before God. “I am guilty!” To me, there is an implied repentance here. When I confess my sins to God, I’m admitting my guilt and my desire to change and do differently.
We are even taught to confess our trespasses to each other. James 5:16 “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” This again requires humility on our part and a desire to be open about the condition of our heart.
God wants us to confess from our hearts. He wants us to be willing to confess our genuine believe in Him and His Son, Jesus Christ. He wants us to have genuine humility in confessing our sins to Him. God already knows our hearts, but he wants us to be genuine and confess from our hearts.