Romans 10:8b-13 (NIV)

“Meaning What We Say”

Romans 10:8–13 (NIV)

But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim:

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.

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

To obtain salvation, there are two things we must do:

Confess with our mouth

“Is it possible to believe in the Risen Savior and NOT want to go ‘Tell it on the Mountain’?”

“Have there been any times when you want to hide the fact that you’re a Christian?”

“Maybe you were scared?”

John 12:42 (NIV)

Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him.

But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue;

“POLYCARP”

On February 22, A.D. 156, Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna, was burned at the stake.

As he was being driven to the arena two of the city officials, who had respect for him because of his age and reputation, tried to persuade him to comply with the demand to honor Caesar.

“What harm is there in saying, ‘Caesar is Lord,’ and burning incense … and saving yourself?” they asked.

But Polycarp refused.

Later, in the arena, he explained his position, saying,

“For eighty-six years I have been [Christ’s] slave, and he has done me no wrong; how can I blaspheme my king who saved me?”

Polycarp refused to call Caesar “Lord,” because “Lord” meant “God” and there can only be one God.

If Polycarp had called Caesar “Lord,” then Jesus could not have been “Lord” for Polycarp.

That is what belief “with the heart” is all about. It means “sincerely” or “wholeheartedly.”

It is the way the Bible uses the word when it commands us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37).

“Not Fear...Love For Something Else”

John 12:43 NIV

for they loved human praise more than praise from God.

It implies the Holy Spirit’s work.

When we look at what the Bible says about the hearts of men and women, we see, on the one hand, that the heart is “deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jer. 17:9)

On the other hand, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to revive wicked hearts (“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them …” Ezek. 11:19; cf. 18:31; 36:26).

This began to be fulfilled at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit operated through the preaching of Peter to bring three thousand people to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

It is being fulfilled in our day whenever people hear the Word of God, turn from sin, believe on Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, and confess him before others.

“Confessing With Our Mouths”

Do we really have to confess with our mouths?

Matthew 10:32–33 NIV

“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

Deuteronomy 30:14–20 (NIV)

“No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life...”

IF THAT IS WHAT YOU “MEAN” WHEN YOU DECLARE JESUS AS YOU’RE LORD AND SAVIOR…”SAY IT LIKE YOU MEAN IT”

How can we confess him?

Let me suggest the following eight ways.

In public worship.

The first and most obvious way in which you can confess Jesus Christ is by assembling with other Christians in public worship.

The mere fact of your joining with other believers to worship God can be a useful and significant confession that you are indeed a Christian.

By the sacraments.

A second way in which we confess Christ openly is by our participation in the sacraments: baptism and communion

Through fellowship with God’s people.

Not all our associations with other believers are formal, that is, in worship services and sacraments.

We also associate with them informally, proving by our identification with these others, of whatever race, nationality, or status in life, that we belong to the same Lord and confess the same gospel.

By how we conduct our business.

How you conduct your business or how you work in someone else’s business also testifies to whether or not you belong to Jesus Christ.

“Trying to live righteously is a rare business these days.”

In reaching out to others.

Spurgeon said, “I believe, my brethren, that a Christian man can hardly carry out his confession with his mouth, unless he goes a little out of his way at times to bear testimony.”

In temptation.

There is never a better and more hopeful opportunity to confess Jesus as Lord than in a time of temptation.

Remember Joseph.

He was pursued by the wife of his Egyptian master, Potiphar. But he refused to sleep with her, proclaiming, “… How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9).

The temptation gave him an opportunity to state his true allegiance.

In severe trials.

This is your opportunity to show the world that you are not like those who have no knowledge of the true God or of his Son our Savior.

It is a time you can say, “I am not afraid of what is coming, for I belong to Jesus Christ. He has shown his love by dying for me, and I know that he will not desert me.

Even in the face of a loved one’s death, says Paul, though we grieve we do not grieve “like those, who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13).

The last thing we do.

Some of the greatest testimonies of believers to the grace and power of God have been given on their deathbeds.

When he was dying, William Carey, known as the father of modern missions, said to a friend,

“When I am gone, say nothing about Dr. Carey; speak about Dr. Carey’s Savior.”

John Bunyan, the Bedford tinker who left the world the immortal Christian classic The Pilgrim’s Progress, said as he died,

“Weep not for me, but for yourselves.

I go to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will, no doubt, through the mediation of his blessed Son, receive me, though a sinner.

We shall ere long meet to sing the new song, and remain everlastingly happy, world without end. Amen.”

CONCLUSION

Let it be your deep desire to believe on Jesus as Savior and Lord wholeheartedly.

We do not have long to live.

Let us use our time well and wisely, above all by trusting wholly in Jesus Christ and by confessing Him boldly in every possible way.