Silas
Beloved of All
Your heart to point people to Jesus and to His salvation is a beautiful reflection of God's own heart, and the Scripture you shared is the very center of the gospel.
Romans 10 says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. With the heart a person believes and is made right with God, and with the mouth confession is made toward salvation. That teaches us two things together. Salvation is not earned by our efforts or by keeping the law. It is by grace through faith, a gift of God that we receive when we truly trust in Jesus Christ alone. We cannot deserve it and we cannot add anything to it.
At the same time, the confession God desires is not empty words. To say Jesus is Lord means to submit your life to Him as Lord, to be willing to obey His commands and turn from sin. True faith lives in the heart and it transforms the life. The Bible says without faith it is impossible to please God, and it also shows that a living faith will always show itself in action. We are not saved by our works, but a genuine faith that saves will produce a changed life, the fruit of repentance and the work of the Holy Spirit within us. If a person says he believes but continues to walk after the flesh with no desire to follow Jesus, that confession is empty. Dead faith saves no one. Living faith trusts Christ fully and then begins to follow Him.
That is why you rightly add that we must confess and turn from our sins and follow and obey Jesus. Repentance and faith go together. We turn from our old way and turn toward God, trusting Jesus not only as Savior but as Lord.
Your encouragement to read the Gospels, beginning with John, is wise. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Miracles alone do not create saving faith, but the word of God does. As people read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and especially John, they will see who Jesus is, what He has done, and why only He can be the author of eternal salvation. He is the one who makes faith complete.
May the Lord use your witness to help many hear, believe with their hearts, confess with their mouths, and walk in new life with Christ.
Romans 10 says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. With the heart a person believes and is made right with God, and with the mouth confession is made toward salvation. That teaches us two things together. Salvation is not earned by our efforts or by keeping the law. It is by grace through faith, a gift of God that we receive when we truly trust in Jesus Christ alone. We cannot deserve it and we cannot add anything to it.
At the same time, the confession God desires is not empty words. To say Jesus is Lord means to submit your life to Him as Lord, to be willing to obey His commands and turn from sin. True faith lives in the heart and it transforms the life. The Bible says without faith it is impossible to please God, and it also shows that a living faith will always show itself in action. We are not saved by our works, but a genuine faith that saves will produce a changed life, the fruit of repentance and the work of the Holy Spirit within us. If a person says he believes but continues to walk after the flesh with no desire to follow Jesus, that confession is empty. Dead faith saves no one. Living faith trusts Christ fully and then begins to follow Him.
That is why you rightly add that we must confess and turn from our sins and follow and obey Jesus. Repentance and faith go together. We turn from our old way and turn toward God, trusting Jesus not only as Savior but as Lord.
Your encouragement to read the Gospels, beginning with John, is wise. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Miracles alone do not create saving faith, but the word of God does. As people read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and especially John, they will see who Jesus is, what He has done, and why only He can be the author of eternal salvation. He is the one who makes faith complete.
May the Lord use your witness to help many hear, believe with their hearts, confess with their mouths, and walk in new life with Christ.
