Imagine if you had been offered a very valuable gift, and you had to figure out how to receive that gift, but you were never told what to do. You tried to figure out how to receive it, but you never figured it out, and thus, you lost out. That wouldn’t seem very fair, would it? We have been offered the most wonderful and valuable gift there ever was, that of salvation, of spending eternity in heaven with God. There are some people that say we can never know for sure whether we will go to heaven, and that there is no way of knowing exactly how we can receive salvation, but that is not true. As we read today’s Scripture from the Book of Romans, we will see that God told us very plainly what we must do in order to receive His gift of salvation. Let’s see what the Scripture says here.
As we begin our passage, we read very plainly that God has clearly revealed the way of salvation (vs. 8). It is by faith. The message of faith is the way to God. It is not by making a pilgrimage, not by fasting a certain number of days. It is not by crawling on our hands and knees to a certain holy site, or even reading through the Bible a certain number of times. It is by coming to God through faith.
One of the most important verses in the whole Bible for anyone to know is right here in verse 9. “That 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.” Salvation can only come through faith in Jesus Christ. We confess it with our mouth to put our faith into action, and to affirm that we are accountable to Jesus.
This is not just a simple acknowledgment that Jesus is God. Even Satan and the demons acknowledge that to be true (James 2:19). This confession is a deep, personal belief and conviction, without reservation, that Jesus is one’s own Savior from sin. We believe in our heart that Jesus has triumphed over death. We confess that Jesus is the Lord of Glory, and the Savior of mankind, and that He died on the Cross that we might be saved.
We also believe that Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus Christ’s resurrection was the supreme validation of His ministry. Belief in the resurrection is necessary for salvation because it proved that Jesus is who He claimed to be. It also showed that God the Father accepted the sacrifice of Jesus in place of sinners.
What we read in these verses of our Scripture passage is not just saying some magic words, some special, magical formula. The mouth testifies of the grace of God in Christ, which we have received in our hearts by faith (vs. 10). We must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts, and that His sacrifice of Himself atoned for all sin.
We can trust that God will keep His side of this agreement (vs. 11). Those who call on Him will be saved. God will never fail to provide righteousness to those who believe. The quote from verse 11 is a reference to Isaiah 28:16 and Isaiah 49:23. This shows that salvation by grace through faith has always been God’s plan. No one, including Gentiles, was ever to be excluded (vs. 12).
Verse 13 is a quote from the Prophet Joel in Joel 2:32. Salvation is available for people of all nations and races. It is open to every person, regardless of who they are, or what they have done. The promise is to whoever puts their faith in Christ will be saved and have eternal life. It is guaranteed to whoever. God will never reject anyone who calls upon His Son. However, you have to call upon Jesus as your Savior. Those who don’t will not be saved.
Salvation is as close as our mouth and heart. It is not a complicated process. If we believe in our hearts, and say with our mouths that Jesus is the risen Lord, we will be saved.
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