Believe with your Mentality
Romans 10:9-10
RO134-02

Salvation

But we are not free to make that decision. And we are not free to respond in an emotional way to the issue of millions of human beings who are on the road to Hell because they do not have the information of eternal life, or because they have rejected that information, and have come up with their own system.

The problem is that we're not free to make that decision, and we are not free to respond in an emotional way to the issue of millions of human beings who are on the road to Hell, because they do not have the information of eternal life, or because they have rejected that information, and have come up with their own system.

The Bible Is the Authority

I want to pause now to run through some verses to make it very clear that this attack against the Bible is well-taken. This attack against Christianity is well-taken. It is true that the Bible has a very allusive, limited, restricted way of salvation, and if you do not accept that way, there is no alternative. And if the Bible is indeed (as it is) the Word of God, then it's plain view. There is no other way. And you can get as emotional and distressed as you wish, as indeed, a normal human being would get over people having to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire, you may get as emotional about that as you wish, but it will not change the fact that if you do not come to Heaven God's way, you cannot make it.

A Narrow Way

Notice for example Matthew 7:13-14: "Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be who go in that way: Because narrow is the gate, and hard is the way, which leadeth unto life, [And then here's the kicker!] and few there be that find it."

The Bible is very clear that out of a mass of millions of human beings who have existed from the time of Adam on down, only a relatively few are going to find the way to Heaven. Only few will find that narrow gate and that constricted way into eternal life. And that's what this passage tells us, that it's a narrow entrance (specifically through the person of Christ), and that it's a narrow specific way, a gift from God of salvation.

Notice Matthew 22:14: "For many are called, but few are chosen."

The word "Called" means "invited." For many are invited. Many are given the information of the Gospel. But of all those who are given the information, God chooses some so that others He has not included.

John 14:6: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

It is clear that the Bible is very restrictive about how to go to Heaven. You either go to Heaven through Jesus Christ or you don't go at all.

Acts 4:12: "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

And that is referring to the name of Jesus Christ, the name, referring to all that He is, as the God/Man Savior.

Romans 3:28: "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law."

Here is a very clear statement that you cannot come to Heaven by what you do, how you live, your morality. A person is not justified, he is not qualified for Heaven on the basis of his good deeds and his good morality. That wipes out every other religious system that there is in the world.

Romans 11:6: "And if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace."

This verse makes it very clear that you cannot be saved partly by the work of Christ as a grace gift and partly by your own contribution of human works. The two are mutually exclusive.

Galatians 2:16: "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."

Here, very specifically, it says that the Mosaic Law will not take you into Heaven. It very specifically says that any system of human doing will not satisfy the justice of God against your sin.

Ephesians 2:8-9: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves [That is, that salvation is not of yourselves.], it is the gift of God - Not of works, lest any man should boast."

Here, the Bible is very clear that salvation is a gift from God; salvation is not a matter of how you live or the good things that you may do.

1 Timothy 2:5-6: "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."

Now, this is very restrictive. You see how, indeed, the attack is quite true. The Bible has a way of salvation that just wipes out millions of human beings because this verse says there's only one person that is the access point between you and God in Heaven, and that is the God/Man Jesus Christ.

Finally, Titus 3:5 sums it up this way, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit."

It is not by our good works that we get to Heaven, but as a result of God's mercy in choosing us for Heaven. And He saves us by rebirth, washing away our sins, as a result of our faith in Jesus Christ, the water of the Word washing away our sin and renewing our dead spirit by bringing us God the Holy Spirit into our lives.

So it is true, this attack against the Bible, while it clearly teaches the way of salvation that excludes most of the human race, from the time of Adam on to this day. Human beings from time immemorial have, of course, sensed within themselves a spiritual emptiness that they have sought to fill by creating their own religion.

Throughout history, however, God has demonstrated the intricacy and the error of man-made religion for securing salvation. It seems to people who created these systems that they had something significant but something comes along sooner or later, as when God brought the plagues upon the God's of Egypt in the day of Moses, to show that that religious system was completely defunct.

Proverbs 12:15 puts it this way, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is right."

These people were not intellectually dumb, they did not have lower IQs who created these religious systems. But they were fools relative to the truth.

Proverbs 14:12 puts it this way, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

In all the religious systems that have been created to fill that vacuum in the human soul, that desire for God, have been systems that had ultimately the consequence of eternal death. So, those were fallible. Only those whom God, the Sovereign Creator, has chosen to inform, through the Bible, have found the one true way of salvation.

Many who have received the true gospel of salvation have rejected it. That was Paul's distress over the Jews. So, Paul grieves over this action on the part of his fellow countrymen. God had made the provision for the Jews justification but they kept seeking for their own salvation through the Mosaic Law system in Galatians 4:4-5.

The Word of Faith

In Deuteronomy 30:14, he first speaks about on your lips, the information of salvation is on your lips. And so, Paul speaks about confession first in Romans 10:9. And then Deuteronomy 30:14 speaks about information of salvation in your heart, that is your mind. And so Paul then speaks in Romans 10:9 about believing the gospel.

The one who seeks salvation from the Lake of Fire believes two basic things about Jesus Christ. One, he declares his belief that Jesus is Lord; that is, that He is deity. Secondly, he believes that Jesus Christ died for the sins of mankind, and that He has been resurrected. Those who believe these two facts are born-again spiritually; they are saved from Hell and saved for Heaven.

The Way of Salvation

This is the normal order of mental faith and verbal confession in grace salvation. The way of salvation in Romans 10:10 obviously does not contradict the rest of the plan of salvation in the Bible. In the rest of the Bible, it is very explicit that you get saved by believing the gospel. You do not get saved by standing up and making some public profession. And so the relationship between faith and confession has to be placed in the proper order.

He says, "If you believe something with the heart." This is the common Greek word "kardia," and this means "the mentality of the soul." You do not believe something with your heart, which in our society is associated with emotion, you believe with your head. And it indicates this emphasis upon knowing the gospel and then making a decision about it.

Those who with the heart do something with the information they believe it. The word "believe" is the Greek word "pisteuo." "pisteuo" means "to exercise trust in some object." Here it is in the Greek present tense which means anytime that you trust in this specific object, which here it is Jesus Christ, the result will be passive. You believe and it is interesting that even the faith is passive, that is that God enables you to believe.

So don't compliment yourself that you are smart enough to believe the gospel, while so many are foolish to reject it. The only reason you believed it was that God gave you the capacity to believe it. And it is astounding to look in the Greek Bible and see this word "believe" in this passive voice! It is passive in that it did not arise out of yourself but arose out of something that God caused you to do. It is indicative mood, the statement of a fact.

Justified

Believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and receiving the gift of absolute righteousness always go together in the Bible. You cannot receive God's righteousness without believing the gospel. And that is the trouble with all human systems of religion, they're all looking for righteousness, but they do not seek it through believing the gospel.

Romans 4:3 says, "For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness."

Righteousness always comes through believing what God has said. The imputation of absolute righteousness to the believing sinner results in his justification before God which means that he has no moral guilt on his record. So, belief in Jesus Christ results in our being born-again spiritually (We read about that in John 3:3, John 3:7, 1 Peter 1:23.) and it results in receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit taking us into Christ (We read about that in 1 Corinthians 12:13.).

Now, that's what salvation is all about. It is being born-again spiritually. It is being placed into Christ by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

So the first thing to do if you want to go to Heaven is to believe the gospel. If you do that, you will receive absolute righteousness from God, and you will be fully qualified to spend eternity in Heaven. And that is exactly what you will do because your faith in Christ is a result of you being baptized into Him by the Holy Spirit and you will be therefore in the beloved and as good, in the eyes of God the Father, as His Son Jesus Christ. Now that's salvation. At this point to Him it is all done with, there is nothing more to be added.

The Mouth Confesses

Paul follows this up however with a secondary associated fact, but this associated fact is not part of salvation.

This may seem very simple to you, but it is only in the last couple of weeks or so that I had a man look at me and say, 'Well then, you mean you don't have to be baptized to go to Heaven?' He was talking about infant baptism. And just the very fact that he asked that question seemed to show his need because it tells me that he is looking forward to some kind of human action, some kind of personal ritual or work, to get him into Heaven. No, this is it, it is all this word, "pisteuo:" you believe, you have absolute righteousness. It's just as simple as that!

But the apostle Paul says, 'you do something with the mouth.' That is, "And with the mouth," he is referring here to the organ of speech. And this comes first in the sentence, he's emphasizing "with the mouth." It makes a "confession." The Greek word for "confession" is "homologeo." "homologeo" means "to declare something that you believe; to admit a fact." It is something again, that you do personally, constantly, but it is passive voice. You make this admission as a result of God doing it for you, God leads you to do this.

The content of this confession is determined by what we learned in Romans 10:9. And that is, we confess with the mouth "Jesus is Lord." So what this confession of the mouth refers to here is the expression of the conviction of your mind about Jesus Christ as Savior, He is God.

This is why liberal Protestantism leads people into the Lake of Fire, because they deny that Jesus is God. If you do not believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, that is Deity, you will not go to Heaven.

So the confession of the Lordship of Jesus Christ is the expression of your conviction that He is the God/Man. The act, however, of trusting in Christ, must precede your confession of your faith in Him. The confession that Jesus Christ is Lord is in effect your confession of your faith in Him as Savior. This confession and this belief are really two sides of the same coin. When you believe in Christ as Savior, you are also, at the same time, admitting that He is God. And so, you are not doing something separate, it is one in the same thing.

A public profession of faith in Jesus Christ, like some overt act of walking the aisle or raising your hand, that is a human work. That's not what this confession is referring to. That cannot be a requirement for salvation because that would contradict the rest of the Bible. We have already seen in Ephesians 2:8-9 that we are saved by grace and it is very explicitly not by works.

So, many people who have unfortunately made public confession of salvation, some silver-tongued preacher has inspired them to walk down an aisle, to raise their hand, to go down in church, to make a contribution, to do something, have found themselves, when they died, in the Lake of Fire because they were trusting in this external act of public confession when in fact they were still lost. They did not understand that what they needed was to trust in Christ as Savior. A ritual act will take you into the eternity of Hell.

Matthew 7:21 says, "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

That is, the will of the Father is to trust in Christ as Savior. You can call Him Lord until you're blue in the face, but He is not your Lord unless you have accepted Him on the basis of His sacrifice for you.

Salvation

So, Paul says we make this admission with our mouths, we verbalize it, not necessarily to a public group, but to ourselves and to God, "unto salvation." The word "unto" is the Greek preposition "eis," and it means "resulting in." We verbalize this belief in Jesus Christ unto our salvation. The word "salvation" is "soteria." This refers to personal preservation of your body, of your soul, and of your spirit from spending eternity in the suffering of the Lake of Fire.

That's what it means to be saved, to be saved from Hell! A confession of faith in the Lordship of Jesus Christ results in an eternity of happiness in Heaven. Believing the gospel of Jesus Christ and confessing the Lordship of Jesus Christ are the same thing. They result in your personal salvation.

The apostle Paul actually is not making a sharp distinction between absolute righteousness and salvation in this verse. They are two sides of the same thing. He's just expressing it in different ways. So he says 'with your mind you believe, and you get absolute righteousness;' he says 'with your mouth you make a verbal admission of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and you get salvation.' It's two ways of describing the same thing. Absolute righteousness unto salvation comes from believing in Christ; salvation also comes from confession of Christ as Lord in providing atonement for our sins; two sides of the same thing.

It should be very simple to us, so you see, this is the issue all the religious systems and all the cults have missed. It is so simple. It is so precise, and yet that is the point in which people are leaving the way, and they end up in the Lake of Fire. The Confirmation Romans 10:11-13 conclude this section with a confirmation. He goes back to the Old Testament Scriptures and he says 'Now let me show you how true this is from the Old Testament Scriptures on because that was the Bible that was important to the Jews. Romans 10:11 says, "For," introducing this proof of salvation by faith alone.

"For the Scripture says." This word "Scripture" is the Greek word "graphe," and it refers to a writing. This word "graphe" means a writing here it means specifically the Old Testament Scriptures. And, in this case, he is referring to Isaiah 28:16. Isaiah 28, the last part of verse 16 is what he is quoting from, where we have this phrase: "He that believeth shall not make haste."

Universal Offer

So under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul adds the word "whosoever" to what Isaiah had said. And what is it again that Paul and Isaiah both say? They say "whosoever believeth." And Isaiah is speaking about salvation, "pisteuo," that standard word for trust. Here, constantly it is a truth, that 'anybody who exercises personal trust in Jesus Christ (that is the believers, those who believe, on Him, Jesus Christ,) will not find themselves in a certain condition (and I should tell you that the word "not" is the Greek word "ou," which is the strongest negative word, it absolutely cannot happen), that you will be ashamed, "kataischuno."'

Now you will notice in Isaiah he wrote, "shall not make haste." Here in the New Testament, we have this word "kataischuno," which means "to be ashamed." That's what this word means, it means "to be humiliated, or to be put to shame." Actually, he is saying the same thing as Isaiah is saying because when a person is embarrassed, when a person is ashamed, on some occasion, what does he want to do? He'll want to get out of there.

You'll say, 'Oh, I said this to this lady, and it came out wrong. And I just wanted to fall through the floor! I just wanted to evaporate. I just wanted to disappear. I was so embarrassed. I was so ashamed of what I had said.' What are you saying? You're saying you wanted to 'make haste,' you wanted 'to make tracks.'

Now, that's the same idea here in Isaiah and Paul clarifies it in the New Testament when he uses this word "ashamed," humiliation, the result of some action which causes you to be dismayed and then wanting to get on out of there. The idea here is of the shock of being rejected, the dismay of being rejected, for Heaven when you face God.

This word, you will not be ashamed, you will not be disturbed, you will not be humiliated, is in the future (At any point when you face God, you can rest easy.), passive (This will not be done to you.), it's indicative (It's a statement of a fact.). So here is a very dramatic statement.

In Romans 10:11, the Scripture quoting Isaiah says 'when anyone who is a believer on Jesus Christ will not be disappointed in eternity for having trusted in Christ for salvation. Anyone who trusts in Christ as Savior is not going to be dismayed when he faces God to discover that he has been a fool in how he thought he could qualify for Heaven. That's what we're talking about.

The Vanity of Rejecting Christ

You don't have to worry that you will be shocked to discover that you played the fool. The Jews, the Muslims, the Hindus, the liberal Protestants, and all unbelievers will be humiliated, will be disappointed. They will be shocked when they come into the presence of God to discover that their hope for Heaven is in vain, and they are sent into the Lake of Fire. Millions of human beings who reject the Bible will experience this shame, this disappointment, when it's time to go into Heaven, and they discover that what they have trusted in is vain.

So, all the Buddhists who trust in Buddha are going to find it's all in vain. All those who worship their ancestors are going to find it's all in vain. All those who, like Hindus, thought there was a deity and a power within themselves to take them into Heaven are going to be ashamed and humiliated. The shame of Adam and Eve set the pattern. When they broke out from God's order, they wanted to get away from Him.

Now, the apostle Paul says, 'You will not be shocked, you will not be dismayed, you will not be humiliated by finding that you are told to get out the door and go into the Lake of Fire. You will find that exactly what you had hoped for will be fulfilled if you are trusting in Jesus Christ.

Universal Applicability of Faith

So, it is crucial to know what the Bible says. The Bible says it's by means of faith. The Bible says that the object of that faith is Jesus Christ. The Bible says that Jesus Christ can save all who trust in Him because His death on the cross was for all mankind.

We'll tie it up with Romans 10:12-13. Romans 10:12-13 finish the impact of what Paul is saying by stressing universal application. Again, he begins Romans 10:12 with the word "For," which is introducing proof of the "whosoever" in Romans 10:11. In Romans 10:11, he says "whosoever believes," anybody who believes. Now he says "For," proving that "Whosoever" is indeed a true application.

"For there is no," and here again, the Greek Bible is very strong with that "ou," that strong negative. There is absolutely no difference.

And this is very hard for the Jew to believe. The word "difference" is the Greek word "diastole," and it refers here to God's plan of salvation.

You know, we pre-millennial dispensationalists are sometimes accused of having different ways of salvation. That is false; we do not believe that the Jew is saved by his keeping of the Mosaic Law and that we today are saved by faith in Christ through grace. That has never been taught by pre-millennial dispensationalists; that is only part of the misrepresentation of the Reformed group who are stuck with many parts of the Bible that they cannot put together because they do not separate Israel and all of it's teaching from the Church and all of its teachings. You cannot mesh the two together. You cannot reach into the Old Testament and quote a Scripture to a Christian and say, 'here's what God has for you.' You can only use Old Testament Scriptures as general illustrations of New Testament truth.

Only One Salvation

But at the very first of the Book of Romans, Romans 1:16, the apostle Paul says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth [that same phrase again, "to the believer," whoever he is,] to the Jew first, and also to the Greek [the Greek being the Gentile]. So that Paul made it very clear that this is for Jew and Gentile alike but it was the same salvation.

So here in Romans 10:12 he says there is no distinction "between the Jew and the Greek." The word "Greek" is the word "Hellen" in the Greek language, and it stands for the Gentiles. There is no difference relative to salvation whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, "for the same Lord over all." The word "Lord" is the word "kurios" again which refers to the deity of Jesus Christ. He is referring here to the same divine person who is over all mankind. Both the Jew and the Gentile is going to have to face Jesus Christ for salvation. Both face the same God. Both face the same judge.

Acts 2:36 says, "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." The very same one!

And then, Acts 10:36, stressing that same principle, that the Jew has to face Jesus Christ, Acts 10:36, "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord over all :)"

He is Lord. He is God. And therefore, whether you are a Jew or Gentile, this same God/Person, Jesus Christ, is over all! Both Jews and Gentiles are lost sinners and they need the provision of this Lord Jesus.

Rich beyond Measure

This refers to the riches of God's grace in Christ Jesus. The apostle Paul in Ephesians 2 puts it in a very beautiful way.

Ephesians 2:4-7: "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath made us alive together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."

What the apostle Paul says is that if you think that you have experienced the riches of God's grace now in saving you, you haven't seen anything yet! You cannot imagine the riches He's going to pour upon you for all eternity. You are not ever going to come to the place where you feel you have received everything that God has. Every day in eternity is going to be a step upward to new expanded riches of God's grace. This is a tremendous word, this word "plouteo," describing the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is a person who has capacity spiritually beyond any measure for us.

Call Upon

This passage of Scripture has been distorted by the professional preachers who like to have public activity in the church service. Preachers have an innate desire, I have discovered, to cause people to act like fools in a variety of ways. The Charismatics are experts beyond measure in that respect, in causing people to act like fools in a public meeting. And there are preachers who believe that what you should do is stand up, and moan, and cry out to God, and call upon Him to save you, to come forward to a mourners' bench and kneel, and weep, and cry, and wail.

But the Word of God does not mean that when it says to "call upon Him." What it means is to call upon Him in the way that God has told you to place the call to Heaven: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Calling upon Him means to trust Him as your Savior. This is present tense, constantly true. And interestingly enough, in the Greek language, this "call upon Him" to save you is in the middle voice, which tells us it is going to be for your personal benefit.

If you really want to do yourself some good, if you really want to give yourself a tremendous Christmas present, then call upon Jesus Christ by trusting in Him for salvation and receive God's unspeakable gift in the person of Christ as a result of that faith in Him. And it's very specifically, in the Greek Bible, the word "Him" is separate in order to stress that salvation is available today as a result of trust in this specific person.

True for Gentiles, true for Jews, neither Jew nor Gentile will come to Jesus Christ until they realize that He is the only source of salvation. The only righteousness which will pass Heaven's test is the absolute righteousness of Jesus Christ He'll give you.

Then, Paul concludes, in Romans 10:13, by quoting another Scripture. He swings over to the Book of Joel. Joel 2:32, and in Romans 10:13 he quotes that.

Joel 2:32 says this: "And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered," is the first part of that verse.

Whosoever Will

At any point in time, you can do yourself a good favor, if you choose to do so, by calling upon Christ to save you by trusting in His work in your behalf, and the result will be eternal life.

Specifically here, it says "call upon His name." And the word "name" in the Bible refers to all that a person is. To call upon the name of the Lord (the "Kurios," here it is the Lord Jesus that is in view,), and the result is that you will be saved! The result of trusting in Christ will be that you will "be saved" ("sozo"). This word means that you will be preserved from spending eternity in Hell, and you will be preserved to spending eternity in Heaven.

Again, the grammar is important. Future, any point in time out in the future that a human being trusts in Christ as Savior, you're going to be preserved from that point on from a destiny in Hell. And again, passive, it means that it's done for you! If it were active voice here, it would then give you a ground for saying, 'Yes, it's my morality, it's my good works.' No, it's not that! It's something that's handed over to you as a gift. And it's indicative mood, a statement of fact; you will be saved.

And this is the thing, before you do anything else tonight, that you must settle. Your destiny through calling upon the name of Jesus Christ, calling upon all that He is as the sinless God/Man by trusting in Him. You will feel better if you have not done it.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1988

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