Ever since the beginning of this blog I have spoken on how we are justified by faith and saved by grace alone. It is the most important message in all of Scripture and today, in Romans 10, we will get to the verse that describes how that transaction is made. I can only repeat myself so many times on how we are all sinners short of the glory of God, but in Romans 10 Paul provides a way for us to confess that to God and find salvation in Christ. It is not a complicated transaction. It is not something that will take eons of time or cost you tons of money, but it is a decision that must be made with the full heart and soul of a person.
"8But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." – Romans 10:8-11
Once again we come back to prayer. The power of prayer is amazing, and it is through prayer that we make this transaction. All we have to do is confess that we are sinners and we accept Christ's gift of salvation into our heart. That's it! It really is that simple, and if it is a message you truly believe in your heart as you sit here reading these words I urge you to take this step today. God may be leading you to do this, and it is what he wants for you. For some, confessing with their mouth takes on a different tone. Some are drawn to confess of all their sins in details, while others just know they have fallen short of the glory and confess they need the redemption of Christ. We are promised though that once we make this transition our sins in the eyes of the Lord are forgotten and we are made new in Christ. This is backed up in 2 Corinthians 5:17, where Paul states, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
As stated yesterday though, this is indeed a leap of faith. We must make that leap that we are separated from God and we cannot make that transaction to gain His favor through any act. We must make the leap of faith that Christ is indeed the living Son of God and has the power to forgive us in our brokenness. We must be humble in realizing that, as it says in Isaiah 64:6, our righteousness acts are like filthy rags. We know there was a need for salvation long before Christ walked the earth, and the book of Isaiah is just one example of it. It is through faith that we are saved, and since we cannot earn salvation, it is by faith alone that we must make that transaction and do the one thing we can do to be granted our salvation.
"17Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." – Romans 10:17
We see here that even our faith is not based on our own works, but in the works of the Holy Spirit within us. We are spiritual creatures at heart, and therefore we long to be with our Creator. Even before we knew Christ the basic elements of our soul called to Him. When we find Christ and accept His sacrifice we are merely returning home and feeding ourselves the spiritual nourishment that I wrote about in the God Eats Potato Chips section of the blog when I went over Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. This is exactly what God has in mind for us, we need only accept this gift.
If God is truly speaking to your heart today on this message I urge you to listen and accept this precious gift.
TODAY'S QUESTIONS:
- If our faith is not based on works, why must we do this simple act of prayer in order to be saved?
- How do we become a new creation in Christ?
- How does Christ work in our hearts even before we know Him?
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