The Terms Of Salvation Series

ROMANS 10: 8-13

THE TERMS OF SALVATION

George Swanson had a plan to get to heaven. He was buried in His corvette. He planned to drive His white corvette down the highway to heaven and arrive at "the Pearly Gates in style" the newspaper column said. That was George Swanson plan. Unfortunately for him, it is not God’s plan. God’s plan is found in the Roman Road to salvation and heaven which we have been studying. To get to heaven, you must go by the way of the cross. God’s plan is to give His priceless salvation as a free gift to all who trust Him and demonstrate that faith publically by confessing Christ Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

God’s plan of salvation is applicable to all people; from the irreligious to the religious, from the bad to the good, the illiterate to the educated, the young to the old, the poor to the wealthy, the sick to the healthy, the feeble to the strong, from the nutty to the wise. It is an all encompassing plan. God has opened the door of heaven and bids all men everywhere to call upon Him and come to His eternal home.

Here in Romans 10:8-13 God explains to us "The Terms of Salvation," so simply that any one could understand, and all who understand could proclaim them. God explains how a man can be saved by faith, then who and what he is to have faith in, for it to be saving faith. God’s plan is that you must personally and publicly transfer your faith for your salvation to Jesus (CIT). You must personally and publically transfer your faith to who Jesus is and what He has done for you. A person is saved by personal faith and public confession.

Our text has three points:

I. THE PROCLAMATION OF FAITH, 10:8.

II. THE PLAN OF FAITH, 10:9-10.

III. THE PEOPLE OF FAITH, 10:11-13.

1st, THE PROCLAMATION OF FAITH (10:8).

Have you ever asked, "how do I become a Christian?" The following verses give you God’s beautiful answer. Salvation is as close as your own mouth and heart. People think salvation is a difficult endeavor, but it is not. Verse 8 teaches us that faith in Christ is readily accessible. "But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart"—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,

Since Christ has come to earth and died for sin and rose again, He and His gospel are near. Righteousness or salvation by faith is "near" or readily available to those who will listen to or read the word. How near is it? How available is it? It is as near, as available as, " the word" (rh ma, "saying") of faith the Spirit is proclaiming [rh ma, "the spoken word" is also used in Eph. 5:26; 6:17; 1 Peter 1:25]. The gospel, "the word of faith," is available and accessible to all who will truly hear it. All one needs to do is receive the implanted word of faith (Jas. 1:21).

God opens you heart to speak faith into your heart by His Word. As Romans 10:17 teaches, "Now faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ." God builds faith in the heart through our receiving, believing, and obeying the Word of God.

God is not distant and nebulas or undefinable. He is a person, near and intimate. He through His Spirit is present in the preaching of the Gospel. He is known not through mystical and indescribable experiences. He is know by making Himself known through the Word Incarnate and through His witness to the Word in its preaching and proclamation. This is "in the word of faith we are now proclaiming" (Heb. 4:12; 6:5). God has done it all. Our part is to believe His saving message.

II. THE PLAN OF FAITH, 10:9-10.

In verses 9-10 Paul stated the content of that message of faith in which we place our faith. The word of salvation, the word of righteousness and its confession is found in verse 9. "that 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;

"The word of faith" is something to confess as well as believe (2 Cor. 4:13-14). Saving faith has two ingredients: inward belief and outward confession. These essentials of faith belong together. Confessing with the mouth that Jesus is Lord is mentioned first. Their order, however, is less important than their inseparability [James Edwards, Romans, New International Biblical Com. 1992, 255]. Belief without confession is denial and confession without belief is ritual.

The confession with the mouth is public acknowledgment elicited by or because of an agreement with God in the inner being. What is to be acknowledges is not only that Jesus Christ is God but that you are proclaiming Him your own personal Lord. Lord is from kurios, which here signifies sovereign power and authority. Scripture never separates Christ’s lordship from His saviorhood. In the entire New Testament Jesus is referred to as Savior ten times and as Lord over seven hundred times. [MacArthur, John. Romans. MacArthur NT Com. 1994. 75]. If Jesus is not your Lord, He is not your Savior.