How can you be saved

Romans 10:9-10

How can you be saved?

Romans 10:9-10, 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. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

The words of the Messiah of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 19:41-44, Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, ⁴⁴ and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Matthew 23:37-39, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! ³⁸ See! Your house is left to you desolate; ³⁹ for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ” Both of those passages our Lord pronounced what amounts to judgment on the people of Israel.

What caused this judgment? What caused God to bring down a ringing condemnation on the people of Israel from which they still suffer? Romans chapter 10 answers that question. In dealing with the doctrine of justification by grace through faith, the apostle Paul must explain the unbelief of Israel.

For anyone who listens to him might be prone to question and say that if your new gospel is true, why didn't the people of God accept it? Paul must explain, as a defence of the validity of his message, the unbelief of Israel.

Romans 9, he began to explain that from God's viewpoint.

God had planned it that way. God had sovereignly designed it that way. God was not surprised by the unbelief of Israel. It was in the plan. Romans chapter 10 deals with it from the side of Israel. Romans Chapter 9 God knew about it, it was in the plan, it didn't surprise God. That was God's part.

On the one hand you have the plan of God, On the other hand, you have the will of man. Romans chapter 10 at the fact that Israel rejected Messiah, Israel rejected the gospel of grace, the gospel of justification by faith, the work of Jesus on the cross.

They rejected that because of wilful unbelief. V 3, that they were ignorant. In their unbelief they were ignorant. Five reasons for the unbelief of Israel to rightly understand the Lord Jesus Christ. 1. The person of God, 2. The provision of Christ, 3. The place of faith, 4. The parameters of salvation, 5. The predictions of Scripture.

Israel was ignorant of the person of God. They thought God to be less than He really was and so they thought they could come up to God's standard by their own works.

Luke 16:15, And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

They thought God would accept certain things that God would not accept. V 3, For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

They made a terrible error in not understanding the person of God, how holy He is, how righteous He is. They did not understand the provision of Christ. V 4, For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

They didn't understand the provision of Christ. They didn't believe that He was the only one who could provide a righteousness they had to have.

They thought they had no need for Him, they could get there on their own. Their works would get them there and so they didn't understand the provision of Christ. Christ is the termination of law for righteousness. The moment a person sees Christ and understands who He is and what He's done, he knows that legal, ritual, works religion, is a thing of the past and all self-saving efforts are over. The soul is abandoned to the redeeming grace of God in Christ and therein lies true righteousness.

Israel was also ignorant of the place of faith. V 4, For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. All about believing, which is another word for faith, comes from the same Greek root. Righteousness is available. The righteousness that pleases an infinitely holy God through Christ through faith, it's to everyone that believes. Faith is the issue.

To verify that righteousness comes by faith, Paul goes on to quote from Moses.

Leviticus 18:5, which says the man who does these things shall live by them.

The righteousness which is of faith speaks like this, and he quotes from Deuteronomy 30:12-14. Moses says you don't have to ascend into heaven, you don't have to descend into the pit somewhere, into the sea, into the depths down to the caverns of the earth, you don't have to go beyond your ability above or beyond your ability below to attain righteousness. It's near you. It's in your mouth.

Christ came to bring us the gospel, went into the grave to triumph over death, and coming out of the grave assures us of the truth of the gospel. So, Moses saw that there was righteousness by grace, by God's grace, sending a message to us so that we don't have to climb up some ladder of legalism.

It is the word of faith which we preach, which we continually herald, which is the heart of the apostolic message. Everywhere they went they preached that message. It wasn't something you had to hunt for. So, the righteousness that comes to men is a righteousness that's very high because it must meet the infinite standard of the holiness of God.

It's a righteousness that we can't gain on our own and so Christ provides it for us.

It is appropriated to us by faith, by believing, not by pursuing it, not by trying to ascend to heaven or descend into the depths, but by receiving it.

How do you receive the righteousness of faith?

How do you receive the righteousness of God? In Christianity there seems to be confusion on this issue.

How does a person really become saved? Answered in verses 9 and 10. Two words are critical, faith and confession. Those are the two words that dominate these two verses. V 9 that first comes “confess” and then comes “believe.”

The apostle Paul is following the sequence of verse 8 because his text here is Deuteronomy 30. The word "righteousness"is equated with the word "salvation." They are referring to the same thing. With the heart man believes unto righteousness, with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

➢ You confess to righteousness, you believe unto salvation. ➢ You believe to righteousness, you confess unto salvation. They are synonymous.

What's their distinction? One is positive, the other is negative.

What's the positive one? Righteousness.

The negative one? Salvation. When you come to the confession and conviction that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and you believe in Him, confess with your mouth, you receive the righteousness of God. God imputes to you His holy character, His holy nature. He makes you righteous.

He declares you righteous. You stand right before Him. Now that's something that happens to you positively. You receive that as a positive benefit.

• It means forgiveness of sin.
• It means acceptance with God.

• It means access to His presence.

The infinitely, holy God, too pure to tolerate sin, too holy to look on evil, will never admit into His intimate fellowship anybody who is covered with sin. So, when you believe and confess, you are covered with righteousness. That positive thing faith makes it happen.

Philippians 3:8-9, Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

When you become a believer, you receive the righteousness of God by faith. That's positive. The word "salvation"is negative. Righteousness says what you receive, salvation talks about what you don't receive. You are saved from something.

You are delivered from something. Very often we refer to salvation only in its negative terms.

Have you been saved? When we could just as well say: "Brother, have you been made holy? Brother, have you been made righteous?" I have been saved, I have been delivered from hell. That doesn't say a whole lot about where you are at.

But when you say to someone

Have you been made perfect before God? Have you been made holy in the eyes of God? Have you been covered with the righteousness of Jesus Christ? So don't camp on the word "salvation." It's a great word, I am glad to be delivered from my sin and death and hell.

Glad for that deliverance part, but that's only the negative element of it. As Christians we need to do a lot more talking about the other side of it and it would really affect our evangelism. If we said to someone, "Have you been made righteous in Jesus Christ?"

Some people might be stunned, especially if you find somebody who appears to be very indifferent to the things of Christ but once came to church.

Have you been saved? Yes, I was saved long years ago, But if you said to them, "Have you been made holy in Christ, have you been covered with the cloak of the righteousness of Christ?" They might stop and think about that.

It's a positive approach. ✓ Righteousness has to do with what we become. ✓ Salvation has to do with what we don't become. ➢ Righteousness has to do with what we receive. ➢ Salvation has to do with what we don't receive, punishment.

✓ Righteousness has to do with entering blessedness. ✓ Salvation has to do with escaping cursedness. Two great terms describing two sides of God's saving work. V10, For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Being made righteous, being saved, starts with the heart believing unto righteousness. Righteousness or salvation is the result of the heart believing. V 9, 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.

V 9 is personal, you believe in your heart. V 10 is general, with the heart man believes. So, it goes from a personal invitation in verse 9 to a general statement of fact in verse 10. It covers the same ground twice, once personal, once general.

But both affirm that righteousness and salvation are received by believing in the heart.

Proverbs 4:23, Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. It's the core of personhood.

Proverbs 23:7, For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you,

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Matthew 12:34, For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

The heart is not the seat of emotion to the Hebrew, it's the seat of personhood. It's the deepest inner part of us, where thought, will, and motive are generated. The heart is the basic seat of human personality. That's where it all happens. Men must believe in their hearts.

John 8:24, Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” Believe.

John 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

The same contrast. ➢ Should not perish, that is the negative. ➢ Have everlasting life, that is the positive.

Everlasting life is another word for righteousness. Perishing is another word for being delivered from judgment.

John 20:31, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. God's life, divine life, it isn't just quantitative, it's qualitative.

When you are saved you receive a new kind of life.

What kind of life? Righteous life. Holy life. So, it is an affirmation in the deepest part of man. It is an affirmation in the deepest part of man that says this is true. I affirm it as true that Jesus Christ died and rose again for my justification. He is the Son of God who paid the penalty for my sin on the cross and that if I receive Him He will give to me righteousness. And deliver me from my sin and death and hell.

It is a deep down in the soul affirmation that that is true. That's what it is to believe.

Do you know you believe it? It comes from deep within me.

What is it you are to believe? With the heart man believes unto righteousness.

What does he believe? V 9, 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. You believe deep down in your heart, in your inner person, and you say I believe that God raised Christ from the dead.

Why this? There are so many other things. I must believe that God is. I must believe that God communicated to men in the Old Testament. Don’t I have to believe that God sent His Son into the world, virgin born, lived a sinless life, died on a cross?

I must believe everything up to the resurrection. Why does He isolate the resurrection out of this? Because the resurrection from the dead proved that Christ was and did all He said He was and said He would do. The verification and the proof and the validity of the ministry of Jesus Christ is the resurrection. That's the key.

Romans 1:1-4, Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God ² which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, ³ concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who [a]was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, ⁴ and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

The resurrection from the dead is the way that God finally declared that Jesus was His Son, in an utterly incredible display of divine power and divine approval. When God raised Jesus from the dead, He was saying this is My Son in whom I am well pleased.

Christ had accomplished the work and the Father exalted Him out of the grave and lifted Him to His own right hand as an affirmation that He indeed had done that work.

Hebrews 1:3, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

The resurrection was Christ showing that He had won the battle over hell and won the battle over sin and Satan.

✓ He showed His power. ✓ He showed His victory. ✓ He showed that He had indeed accomplished our salvation. ✓ He won the battle. Father God approved by receiving Him to Himself and setting Him at His own right hand.

Romans 4:24-25, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵ who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

We must believe the resurrection because the resurrection proved that He accomplished our salvation on the cross. What happens if He dies on the cross and never rises?

• He lost.
• He didn't purchase any salvation.
• He didn't conquer death.
• He didn't conquer sin.
• Sin killed Him.
• Death killed Him.
• Satan did hold Him in bondage.

If Christ doesn't rise, there's no hope for anybody anytime anywhere.

If He did, if God lifted Him up then He had done His work, conquered death, conquered sin, conquered hell, conquered Satan and is delivered and lifted and exalted because of that perfect work being accomplished.

Acts 13:22-23, And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’ ²³ From this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Saviour— Jesus— God's promises are all fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Acts 16:30, And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

Acts 16:33, And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.

What does baptism signify? When you go down in the water and you come out, what's that an identification with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Acts 17:31, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” How did God give assurance to all that this in fact was the Messiah, the judge, and the coming king? Raised Him from the dead.

1 Peter 1:3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1 Corinthians 15:3-4, For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,

The resurrection was the ultimate approval and verification of the ministry of Christ. It showed that He indeed was God in human flesh, able to conquer death, hell, Satan. It showed that He had lived a perfect life for death had no right to hold Him.

It showed that He conquered death, all of that, that the Father approved of His work on the cross and took Him out of the grave and set Him at His own right hand.

Philippians 2:6-11, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but [c]made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. ⁹ Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The resurrection was the Father's stamp of approval. An infinitely holy God put His stamp of approval on the work of Jesus Christ. So, when you say you are to believe in your heart that God had raised Him from the dead that you believe that this is the incarnate God who came into the world. God in human flesh, lived a perfect life. Died a substitutionary death. Went into the grave and conquered death. Came out the other side having purchased salvation for us. He is now seated at the right hand of God the Father. Someday will come as the Father's appointed

judge and King to judge men and to rule the world forever. That's all bound up in the resurrection. If Paul had picked another event, it wouldn’t have been as significant as this. ✓ The resurrection says He is Son of God.

✓ The resurrection says He is Messiah, He is Saviour. He is the ultimate Lamb, the sacrifice for the sins of the world. He is the perfect one, the sinless one, the one exalted at the right hand of God, the one to be the judge, the one to be the King.

The only Saviour, the judge of all men, the conqueror of death, the coming King, the eternal monarch of glory. The Greek word in one form or another for faith and believing is 484 times in the New Testament.

John 8:30, As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.

There wasn't any resurrection yet so they couldn't believe that.

What did they believe? They believed He was a prophet. They believed His words were true.

They believed that He was a messenger from God. They believed He was a miracle worker. They believed He was a teacher.

John 8:31, Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. Something more than believing.

There are people who believe Jesus is the Son of God. They may believe that He died on a cross and that He came out of the grave. But that's not saving faith because it doesn't imply that they embrace in the deepest part of their being all that His work meant.

John 2:23-24, Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. ²⁴ But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men,

It wasn't adequate. James talks about the kind of faith that is dead faith. Because it has no product.

What kind of believing is this? Superficial believing. Shallow believing.

That is why in Romans 10 Paul says you must believe in the fullest sense from the deepest part of your person that God raised Him from the dead. Believe in your heart and Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord.

James 2:19, You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

What is the kind of faith that demons have? Just believe! People in John 8 did that. People in John 2 did that, People in James 2 believed but they had dead faith and that's demon faith. What do we need to know about demon faith?

Demon faith can have the right theology. The demons know who God is! The demons are monotheists. They know there's only one God in three persons. They know God's nature better than we do. They are more intelligent than we are.

They have been around since before the creation of the world when God made them.

They have seen more of God's works than all the men of the world combined. They know the saving power of the work of Christ. They were around when He was on the earth. They know what He's done throughout history since that time.

They understand Scripture properly. They know who the angels are. They understand men. They know men are sinful. They know about heaven. They know about hell. They have been through a lot of religious experiences. They have supernatural knowledge of the invisible world.

They really do believe it. They know Jesus Christ is the Son of God in human flesh and died on a cross and rose from the grave. They are afraid of judgment. They live in fear of judgment. It says right here they tremble.

So here you have individuals who have all this knowledge. They believe in an orthodox theology. They have a fear of judgment. Not only that, but they also feel guilty for their sin. They know judgment is coming on them. They know they have been justly condemned to hell.

Not only that, but they also desire to be delivered. They would like to escape from judgment. They have been in the church for years masquerading as false teachers and leaders, disguised as angels of light, very religious.

There are many people who have knowledge and are not saved. Hebrews chapter 5 and 6. They have knowledge, yet they are not saved. There are many people who believe the truth and are not saved. There are people who fear God's judgment.

There are people who desire eternal life like the rich young ruler who comes and says, "What do I have to do to have eternal life?"and was not saved. There are myriads of religious people who have the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees but will never enter the kingdom.

You can believe what you have to believe, you can fear God's judgment, feel conviction for your sin, desire eternal life, be religious and go to hell. It must be more than knowing, believing, fearing judgment, desiring forgiveness, eternal life, being religious.

The rich young ruler in Matthew 19. Jesus rejected him. V10, For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

What is confession? The word comes from a verb homologe. Homo means the same, Logeo, logic or ology, like any ology, biology, theology, “a study of.” Simply means is to say the same thing. Confession is to say the same thing. So, if your mouth says the same thing, it's unto salvation.

What is it your mouth is supposed to say? V 9, 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. You should confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord.

Do the demons do that? No. When Jesus went to Gadara one of them said, "What have we to do with You?"

They don't acknowledge Jesus as Lord. Perhaps they have no capacity for that. It isn't only believe. It is believe and confess Jesus as Lord. True saving faith acknowledges Jesus as Lord, not just Lord in the sense of deity because that would be included orthodox theology.

I have all the knowledge. I believe it. I fear judgment. I want deliverance from my guilt. I want eternal life. I want to know God.

Will you acknowledge Jesus as your sovereign ruler? That's the issue. The rich young ruler said forget it. Jesus said to him, "Sell everything you have, give to the poor, come follow Me." The Bible said he was very rich, so he went away. He believed all the right stuff, came sliding in on his knees in a worshipful attitude.

What do I need to do?

Asked the right question, eternal life, felt the guilt of his sin, desired to receive from Christ eternal life or at least the way to eternal life. Jesus put him to the test, "Follow Me." He gave him a very simple order, "Sell everything you have and give to the poor."

Why?

Do you get saved doing that? No, no, otherwise philanthropists would be saved. But what He was doing was saying, let's find out who is in charge, and I will just give you step one. The point was, "Come and follow Me,"and when he wouldn't follow Him, he was unwilling to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ. That was the issue.

Some disciples showed up in Luke 9:57-62. 1. Comfort 2. Inheritance 3. Relationship Jesus comes to Galilee to be baptized by John in Matthew 3.

Matthew 3:17, And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Matthew 17:5, While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” "Listen to Him." Jesus, My Son is in charge.

The Father affirmed that Jesus was Lord, that Jesus was sovereign. Over and over again Jesus said that the Father had committed into His hand’s judgment. The Father had committed into His hands authority, the Father had given Him power.

Romans 14:9, For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. His resurrection was to affirm that He was Lord.

1 Corinthians 12:3, Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

When the Spirit of God does a work in the heart, it is a work that results in the proclamation of the lordship of Christ.

Ephesians 1 everything is put under His feet.

Philippians 2:9 He is exalted. Matthew 28, all authority is given unto Him.

The book of Acts affirms the lordship of Christ. The words of Thomas are very familiar to us.

John 20:28, And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” “Lord” is the word that indicates sovereign power, sovereign control. “God” is the expression of deity.

The true heart that really believes understands the fullness of who Christ is and willingly submits to His authority. People want us to believe that the lordship of Christ is only an issue of deity, kurios only means “deity.” It only means just that He is God. But it doesn't mean that. It means a controlling authority. It means a sovereign ruler. That's been its historic meaning.

The book of Acts He is called “Saviour” 2 times and “Lord” 92 times. The whole New Testament the word "Lord"appears about 700 times. “Saviour,” appears about 10 times.

The context here of Romans 10 fits right into the standard understanding of this word kurios, that it is a word of sovereign rulership.

Romans 10:13, For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” A direct quote out of Joel.

Joel 2:32, And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls. In Joel 2:32 is “Yahweh,” the full title of sovereign God. In the Greek it's kurios. So, the New Testament writer, when longing to express the full sovereign, the full person of sovereign God chose the word kurios, so it embraces way beyond deity, just that fact that He's

God the fact that as God He rules all. Lordship is inherent to Jesus Christ. He is Lord. He is Lord as affirmed by the Father in His resurrection, when He exalted Him and made Him Lord.

Salvation is to believe that He is all of that and to affirm that you take your place under His sovereign rulership.