Saving Faith

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

Message: You can be saved.

Doctrine/Teaching: Salvation

Response: To call on the name of the Lord for salvation.

I. Introduction

A. Have you ever seen someone saved? One day, I was at a swimming pool and there was a young lady who was not a good swimmer. She got tired out and started to go under the water. The look of terror on her face was horrible as she panicked. Suddenly, a lifeguard saw her and threw her a life preserver. She grabbed on to it and held on with all her strength. The lifeguard pulled her to the side of the pool and helped her out of the water. She was saved!

B. Every person on earth needs to be saved in a spiritual sense because we are all swimming in a pool of sin. If we are not saved, then we will die an eternal death. The situation is desperate.

C. Thankfully, God has provided a life preserver to help us escape the pool of sin. This life preserver is found in Romans 10:9-10.

II. To be saved, you must confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord (10:9a)

A. What does it mean to be saved?

1. What is sin? In the beginning of time, God created the first man and women named Adam and Eve. They were created prefect and every day God walked with them and talked with them. But then one day, Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command. God told them not to eat from the tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden and they took the fruit from the tree and ate it. This sin caused them to be separated from God. They lost their relationship with God because of sin.

2. Sin causes us to be separated from God. When Adam and Eve sinned, a great gap or separation appeared between God and humanity. For many centuries, humanity has tried to get to God by crossing this gap. Some people think that if they are smart enough, they can figure out how to get to God. Others think that if they get rich enough, they can buy their way into a relationship with God. Others think that if they can be religious, and pray many times each day, that they can get to God. But it is impossible for humanity to cross this gap through their own efforts.

3. Once, two men had a jumping contest. One was an Olympic champion of the long jump who was in perfect shape. The other was a fat man who huffed and puffed just walking. They decided to have a contest to determine who could jump across the Grand Canyon. The obese man could barely run. He waddled up to the edge of the cliff, leaned forward, and managed to jump two feet. He fell to his death at the bottom of the canyon. Next, the champion long jumper warmed up and ran as fast as he could at the gaping canyon. He jumped over thirty feet…but, unfortunately, he ended up at the same place as the first man: the bottom of the canyon. No matter how good we are, it is impossible for us to make it to heaven through our own works. The world’s most religious man and the world’s worst sinner both end up in the pits of hell without accepting Christ’s help.

4. Let’s take a look at what sin looks like to God. Romans 3:10-18 says, “As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”“ Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”;“ Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

5. You have sinned and become separated from God. Paul says in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” We have all made mistakes. We have all disobeyed God’s commands. We have all lied, and stole, and cheated, and had hate in our heart toward our brothers.

6. The price for sin is eternal death. This eternal death is permanent separation from God. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.”