Words of Faith

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Sep 9, 2015 1554

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).

Matthew quotes Jesus as saying that “by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (12:37).

Jesus tells us here that words do matter. You can know the truth about a person – what their heart is like – by how they speak to others. Do you want to know if someone is truly converted? Only Jesus truly knows the heart; however he tells us here that our words are a good guide.

Tragically, it’s too often the case that the closer people are, the more truth they will hear from a person: tragically, often harsh, intolerant, arrogant and selfish words.

It is true that you become what you hear yourself saying all the time. We all struggle at times to speak cheerful, faith-filled words. Our hearts often drag us down into pessimism and despair. Jesus says that there are words that will condemn us on the day of judgment, and there are words that will acquit us. The words that will condemn us are the words that arise out of a heart full of evil.

What are the words by which we will be acquitted? We’re told about those in Romans 10:9:

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

There are two parts to this statement, both equally important. We declare with our mouth that, “Jesus is Lord.” But we must also believe in our hearts. Belief makes these not just empty words, but words that manifest the fruit of the Spirit. They will be words that arise from a heart that has been conquered by the Kingdom of Christ.