Silas
Beloved of All
What you have shared from Romans 10 is the very heart of the gospel and it is good to lift it up for anyone who is seeking salvation. 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 one believes and is made right with God, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
That promise rests entirely on faith in Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace through faith, and that faith itself is a gift from God, not something we earn. No one receives the Holy Spirit or right standing with God by keeping the law or by doing good works. The law was never given to make us righteous. It shows us our guilt and our need, and then God provides the answer through faith in Jesus who bore our sins and was raised for our justification. When we trust in Him, God counts that faith as righteousness, just as He did with Abraham long before the law was given. Because of that justification by faith we have peace with God, access to His grace, and joy in Him.
The Scriptures also help us understand what true saving faith looks like. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It sees beyond what is visible and trusts the promise of God even when we do not yet see its fulfillment. Without such faith it is impossible to please God. And while works can never produce faith or take its place, genuine faith will always produce a changed life. Faith comes first, and then that faith moves us to live differently.
This is why the Bible says that faith without works is dead. It is not that our deeds save us, for we are justified by faith apart from the works of the law. It is that a living faith in a living Lord will show itself. Saying we believe is not enough by itself, even the evil spirits believe that God exists and tremble. True faith works together with obedience. It turns from sin, it confesses Jesus as Lord, it follows and obeys Him not to earn salvation but as the proof and fruit that salvation has truly been received. If there is no evidence of a changed heart and life, that kind of faith is to be questioned. If faith is real, it will be seen in what we do.
Your encouragement to turn from sin and to follow and obey Jesus reflects that truth. Repentance and confession are the natural response of a heart that has truly believed. And your counsel to read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, beginning with John, is wise. John so clearly presents Jesus as the Son of God so that those who read may believe that Jesus is the Christ and by believing have life in His name. Continuing in the Word helps a new believer grow in understanding of who Jesus is and what He has done.
May the Lord continue to use your desire to point others to Christ, and may everyone who hears that invitation respond with simple, wholehearted faith in Jesus alone for salvation.
That promise rests entirely on faith in Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace through faith, and that faith itself is a gift from God, not something we earn. No one receives the Holy Spirit or right standing with God by keeping the law or by doing good works. The law was never given to make us righteous. It shows us our guilt and our need, and then God provides the answer through faith in Jesus who bore our sins and was raised for our justification. When we trust in Him, God counts that faith as righteousness, just as He did with Abraham long before the law was given. Because of that justification by faith we have peace with God, access to His grace, and joy in Him.
The Scriptures also help us understand what true saving faith looks like. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It sees beyond what is visible and trusts the promise of God even when we do not yet see its fulfillment. Without such faith it is impossible to please God. And while works can never produce faith or take its place, genuine faith will always produce a changed life. Faith comes first, and then that faith moves us to live differently.
This is why the Bible says that faith without works is dead. It is not that our deeds save us, for we are justified by faith apart from the works of the law. It is that a living faith in a living Lord will show itself. Saying we believe is not enough by itself, even the evil spirits believe that God exists and tremble. True faith works together with obedience. It turns from sin, it confesses Jesus as Lord, it follows and obeys Him not to earn salvation but as the proof and fruit that salvation has truly been received. If there is no evidence of a changed heart and life, that kind of faith is to be questioned. If faith is real, it will be seen in what we do.
Your encouragement to turn from sin and to follow and obey Jesus reflects that truth. Repentance and confession are the natural response of a heart that has truly believed. And your counsel to read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, beginning with John, is wise. John so clearly presents Jesus as the Son of God so that those who read may believe that Jesus is the Christ and by believing have life in His name. Continuing in the Word helps a new believer grow in understanding of who Jesus is and what He has done.
May the Lord continue to use your desire to point others to Christ, and may everyone who hears that invitation respond with simple, wholehearted faith in Jesus alone for salvation.
