Confess with Your Mouth
..because, 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. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame”. Romans 10:9-11
Tonight I was privileged to pray for and witness the salvation of two new children of God. The angels were rejoicing in heaven while we rejoiced with these two at their kitchen table!
Our conversation with them started like many I’ve had or heard before. They were certain of their spot in heaven because they had been good people. Individually they believed that because they had not deliberately hurt anyone or stolen anything or lied on a regular basis that they were as good as most and better than some. They believed this had earned them their spot in heaven.
What a privilege to be able to confidently point out that scripture so clearly tells us that heaven is a free gift – we CAN”T earn it. It is only received by faith in the work that Jesus accomplished on the cross for the forgiveness of sin.
It’s a frightening thought that we usually set our standards by what other people do. Many of us can look pretty good based on the behavior of others. But the Bible sets a standard based on what Christ did. Since He was perfect, earning our way into heaven would require that same perfection — no sin. The Bible says that ALL have sinned so there is no one who can achieve that goal of perfection.
The Good News is that this is the sole reason why God sent His one and only Son to take our sin. When He died on that cross it paid the penalty for my sin, your sin, my new brother and sister in the Lord’s sin and the sin of all who place their faith in that Truth.
Is there some sin that you think is keeping you out of heaven? Jesus died for all sin. 1 John 1:9 says that if we confess our sin God is faithful and just and will forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We are clean before God if we repent and believe that the blood of Christ paid the debt we owe God who said that “the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life.”
Have you confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in your heart that God raised Him from the dead? Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame. That shame is hell, the gift of eternal life means heaven.
If you have NOT confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, why not?
If you HAVE confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, who will you tell so they too can confess Him as Lord? Let the angels rejoice!