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Sermon #115 — Romans Series

Title:               “Thou shalt be saved.”

Text:                Romans 10:9

Subject:         Confession, Faith, and Salvation

Date:              Sunday Morning — April 9, 2017

Reading: Leviticus 16:1-34[i]

Introduction:

Hear these four words: “THOU SHALT BE SAVED.” That is the title of my message. And that is the message of my text ⸺ Romans 10:9. What a message it is. This is the word of faith God has sent me to preach to you.

(Romans 10:9) “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

This is God’s message to every sinner in the world who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. “Thou shalt be saved!” Are you a sinner, guilty, helpless, lost? Do you believe the testimony of God concerning his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ? Then this is God’s word to you. ⸺ “Thou shalt be saved.”

May God the Holy Spirit give me your ear and cause you to hear his message to you. I have nothing new, nothing profound to say to you this morning. I have no intention of entertaining you with eloquent speech, stirring your emotions with pathetic stories, or intriguing your minds with precise logic. Knowing your desperate need, and knowing the terror of the Lord, it is my earnest desire, by the power of God the Holy Ghost, to persuade you who hear my voice to come to Christ and be saved. I intend to speak directly to each of you, and simply tell you how salvation comes to sinners through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Proposition: I want you to see, to hear, to know, and to do but one thing. I want you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and know this: If you believe on Christ as the Scripture has said, “Thou shalt be saved.” As I preach, may God be pleased to give you faith in his dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Divisions: I will give you my message in five, plain, simple, straightforward statements.

1.    The gospel proclaims salvation to lost sinners.

2.    Saving faith concerns itself only with the Lord Jesus.

3.    Saving faith has a confession to make.

4.    Saving faith trusts Christ’s finished work of redemption.

5.    Salvation is promised to all who believe.

Salvation Proclaimed

1^st ⸺ The gospel of the grace of God proclaims salvation to lost sinners. ⸺ “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

When Paul says, “Thou shalt be saved,” the obvious implication is that you are by nature in a lost and ruined condition. Will you hear me, my friend; if you are without Christ, you are lost. ⸺ You are estranged from God by reason of your sin. You are spiritually dead. You are a guilty sinner, deserving of God’s eternal wrath. You are under the curse of God’s holy law, condemned, dying, and under the sentence of eternal death in hell. You are so far off from God that you cannot and will not return to him.

·      You were lost by the sin and fall of our father Adam (Psalm 14:2-3; Romans 5:12).

(Psalm 14:2-3) “The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. ⁽³⁾ They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”

(Romans 5:12) “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

·      You are lost by reason of your own natural depravity (Psalm 51:5; 58:3).

(Psalm 51:5) “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

(Psalm 58:3) “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.”

·      You are lost by reason of your own willful rebellion against God. ⸺ “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6).

You are lost, but you will never know your lost and ruined condition until God the Holy Spirit reveals it to you. Before God lifts you up, he will bring you down. Before he clothes, he strips. Before he heals, he wounds. Before he gives life, he slays. Before he makes whole, he withers. Holy Spirit conviction always precedes and prepares the way for Holy Spirit conversion (John 16:8).

If you know your lost and ruined condition before God, it is God who has revealed it to you. And I have good news for you. The gospel is for you. It is sent to you who need it. If you are not lost, you do not need a Savior. If you are not fallen, you do not need restoring. If you have no sin, you do not need forgiveness. But if you are lost, Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost! The gospel is for you! Is there a lost sinner in the house?

God has sent me to tell you what Christ has done for you. I am not here to tell sinners what they must do for God. I am here to tell you what God has done for sinners in Christ (Isaiah 40:1-2). I am not here to tell you what you must bring to Jesus. I am here to tell you what the Son of God has brought to men.

(Isaiah 40:1-2) “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. ⁽²⁾ Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins.”

The Lord Jesus Christ brings salvation to guilty sinners (Luke 4:18-19).

(Luke 4:18-19) “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, ⁽¹⁹⁾ To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Salvation

The gospel of God proclaims salvation to every sinner who believes on Christ. “Salvation!” What a blessed word! What does it mean to be saved?

Salvation is deliverance from the punishment of sin. Anyone who confesses the Lord Jesus and believes in his heart that God has raised him from the dead is saved from the penal consequences of sin (Galatians 3:13; Romans 8:1).

(Romans 8:1-4) “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. ⁽²⁾ For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. ⁽³⁾ For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: ⁽⁴⁾ That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

(Galatians 3:13-14) “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: ⁽¹⁴⁾ That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

Salvation is deliverance from the guilt of sin. Not only does the blood of Christ deliver us from the penal consequences of sin, but also from the guilt of sin. Christ saves us from any charge or accusation of sin, by blotting out and removing our sins. God’s forgiveness is a complete removal of sin and guilt (Isaiah 43:25; 44:22; Hebrews 9:26; Jeremiah 50:20).

(Isaiah 43:25) “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.”

(Isaiah 44:22) “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.”

(Hebrews 9:26) “For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

(Jeremiah 50:20) “In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.”

Illustration: The Scapegoat

Salvation is deliverance from the dominion of sin (Romans 6:11-14).

(Romans 6:11-14) “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. ⁽¹²⁾ Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. ⁽¹³⁾ Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. ⁽¹⁴⁾ For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”

Read Paul’s words as both a precept and a promise. We must not live under sin’s dominion. And, if we are born of God, God here promises by his Spirit that by his grace working in us we shall not live under sin’s dominion.

·      Under the Yoke of Sin’s Guilt.

·      Under the Power of Sin’s Rule.

Our Lord does not in this world remove sin from us. But he subdues sin in us by the indwelling power of his Spirit. It is not by our might, but by his, through the Spirit, that we mortify the deeds of the body and live (Romans 8:13).

The Lord God says to his elect, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” And, knowing both ourselves and our God, we respond…

(Psalm 119:117) “Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.”

Salvation, ultimately, is deliverance from the presence and the very existence of sin (Colossians 1:22).

(Colossians 1:22) “In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.”

Salvation is complete, perfect, absolute deliverance from all sin and all consequences of sin, past, present, and future. It comprehends heaven itself and all the bliss of eternal glory. “Thou shalt be saved” reaches down to the gates of hell and lifts the sinner up to the throne of God. Salvation snatches the sinner out of the jaws of death, and raises him up to the white-robed throng. Though by nature children of wrath even as others, every believing sinner shall be made like the Firstborn, like Christ himself! That is my first point. — The gospel of the grace of God proclaims salvation to lost sinners.

Faith’s Object

2^nd ⸺ Saving faith concerns itself only with the Lord Jesus Christ himself (Romans 10:6-9). The object of faith is Christ alone.

·      Unbelief is speculative. Faith deals with facts.

·      Unbelief questions. Faith receives.

·      Unbelief is curious about many things. Faith is interested in one thing — the Lord Jesus Christ.

(Romans 10:4-9) “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. ⁽⁵⁾ For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. ⁽⁶⁾ But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) ⁽⁷⁾ Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) ⁽⁸⁾ But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; ⁽⁹⁾ That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

True faith, that faith which brings salvation, is concerned about nothing except the glorious Person and gracious work of him whom God raised from the dead. Faith is riveted on Christ.

·      Unbelief looks at its feelings. Faith looks to Christ’s sufferings.

·      Unbelief looks at what it can do. Faith looks to what Christ has done.

·      Unbelief looks at its own repentance. Faith looks at Christ’s righteousness.

·      Unbelief says, “I’m too sinful.” Faith says, “The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin.”

·      Unbelief says, “I can’t hold out.” Faith says, “Christ is able to save to the uttermost.”

·      Unbelief says, “I have no strength.” Faith says, “Christ is the almighty God.”

Faith bows at Bethlehem’s manger, and says, “Here is God come to save. Immanuel brings hope to men.” Faith follows the steps of Jesus of Nazareth, and sees him stitching together a spotless robe of perfect righteousness by which she hopes for acceptance with God. Faith stands at the foot of Calvary’s cross, hears the cry, “It is finished,” sees the Lamb of God die, and says, “This Lamb is sacrifice enough to satisfy a holy God. This blood is sufficient payment for my sin. If ever I am saved, I must be saved here. If ever I live, I must live by virtue of his death.”

Faith sees the Lord Jesus in the tomb, and says, “He carried my sin into the grave.” Faith beholds the risen Christ, and says, “My Lord and my God!” Faith sees Christ ascend back into glory, and says, “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” Faith sees King Jesus on the throne of glory, and says, “Victory is sure! Soon, this mortal shall put on immortality! Soon, I shall be raised in his likeness!

Do you understand what I am talking about? Faith is only interested in Christ. She needs nothing but Christ. She wants nothing but Christ. She trusts nothing but Christ.

Did you get my first two points? (1.) The gospel proclaims salvation to lost sinners. (2.) Saving faith concerns itself only with the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Now here is the third things our text teaches us.

Faith’s Confession

3^rd ⸺ Saving faith has a confession to make. ⸺ Paul says, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. ⸺ For with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

You will notice that confession is put first, not because it comes first, but because it is the first act of faith in the heart. There must be faith in the heart, or the confession of the mouth would only be an act of hypocrisy. But the faith of the heart can never be known unless there is the confession of the mouth. And this confession, as Paul states it here, is the necessary and inevitable result of faith in the heart (Matthew 10:32-33). This confession with the mouth is the confession of the heaven-born soul’s heart before God and men.

(Matthew 10:32-33) “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. ⁽³³⁾ But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”

What is it that must be confessed? ⸺ Paul says, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus…thou shalt be saved.”

·      We are to confess that Jesus is God (John 20:28).

·      We are to confess that Jesus is Lord, that he is our Lord and Master (1 Corinthians 12:3).

·      We are to confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior whom God has sent (Matthew 1:21).

·      We confess that Jesus is the Christ (1 John 5:1).

How is this confession to be made? ⸺ The confession required by our text specifically says, “with thy mouth.” I take it then that God requires an open, public, vocal confession of Christ. I stress the fact that the confession is not in any way the cause of salvation. But with equal emphasis I must stress the fact that where there is no confession of Christ, there is no salvation.

Baptism is the believer’s first public confession of Christ. ⸺ “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned.”

·      Baptism is an act of obedience to Christ, by which we demonstrate our submission to him as Lord.

·      Baptism is a symbolic picture of our faith in Christ as our Substitute and our salvation by his finished work, the symbolic fulfilment of all righteousness (Matthew 3:13-17).

·      And baptism is a confession of our allegiance to Christ (Romans 6:4-6).

(Romans 6:4-6) “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. ⁽⁵⁾ For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: ⁽⁶⁾ Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Still our text requires a verbal, oral confession of Christ. — “With the mouth.” Our Lord requires his disciples to publicly own him in the face of his enemies. I did not write these words; and I dare not alter them. We must confess Christ, or we shall not be confessed by Christ. Christ is the Banner. I call you to rally around the Banner. If you love Christ, confess him. If you would have Christ’s salvation, take up your cross and follow him.

Still, above all else, this is a matter of the heart (Romans 10:9-10).

(Romans 10:9-10) “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. ⁽¹⁰⁾ For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

·      In every truly regenerate soul, there is a heartfelt acquaintance with the Person, and work, and glory of Christ. Our Savior calls it seeing the Son of God and believing him (John 6:40).

·      In every child of God, thus taught of God to know Christ, who he is, and to believe in him for salvation, there is a heartfelt enjoyment of him and his finished work, as the only desired means of salvation (1 Corinthians 1:30).

·      In every heaven-born soul there is a daily, heartfelt coming to Christ, an entire leaning upon Christ, a full cleaving to Christ for all grace, all forgiveness, all righteousness, all strength, all salvation (Song of Solomon 8:5).

Trusting Christ

4^th ⸺ Saving faith trusts Christ’s finished work of redemption. Faith has a confession to make with her mouth, because she holds, believes, and depends upon certain, undeniable facts in her heart. Read the text again ⸺ “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Saving faith is a heart work. It is a firm reliance and confidence of the heart upon the merit and efficacy of Christ’s finished work.

I have often wondered, “Why does Paul specifically say that we are to believe in the resurrection of Christ? Isn’t the primary article of faith the substitutionary death of Christ?” Indeed, it is. But —

Faith in the resurrection of Christ implies faith in the entire redemptive work of Christ.

·      If I believe “that God hath raised him from the dead,” it is certain that I also believe that he died.

·      If I believe that he died, I must believe that he once lived in the world.

·      If I believe that he lived, I must believe that he came down from heaven.

·      If I believe in my heart “that God hath raised him from the dead,” I believe that God has accepted his life of righteousness and his sin-atoning death as the Representative of his people.

The resurrection of Christ is God’s public confirmation of the fact that redemption’s work is done (Romans 4:25). By raising his Son from the dead, the Father publicly declared that his Son had finished the work he was sent to perform.

(Romans 4:25) “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”

The resurrection of Christ from the dead is the source of my heart’s best comfort. My salvation is secure. The empty tomb is the proof of complete atonement. My Surety, my Substitute, my Mediator is risen, and I am risen in him (Ephesians 2:6).

·      Christ died, and we died in him.

·      Christ arose, and we arose in him.

·      Christ is accepted, and we are accepted in him.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the object of our trust, not ourselves. We are in him, and as he is so we are. We shall rise to glory, because he rose to glory. We shall dwell in heaven, because he dwells in heaven. Our union to Christ is the foundation of our hope. The ground of salvation is not in the sinner, but in Christ, the sinner’s Substitute. Our place at the Father’s right hand is as secure as our Substitute’s place. The resurrected, sin-atoning Substitute, whom I trust, is the comfort and assurance of my soul (2 Timothy 1:12).

1.    The gospel proclaims salvation to lost sinners.

2.    Saving faith concerns itself only with Christ himself.

3.    Saving faith has a confession to make.

4.    And saving faith trusts Christ’s finished work of redemption.

Salvation Promised

5^th ⸺ Here is one last fact that I trust God will graciously lay to your heart — Salvation is promised to all who believe. ⸺ “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Did you catch that singular pronoun, “thou”? That means you! God is speaking to you out of heaven. Hear what he says. — “Thou shalt be saved!”

This promise is made to every sinner who believes, without exception or qualification. It matters not who you are, what you have done, or how you feel. If you believe, salvation is yours!

This is an absolute promise of eternal salvation. There are no “ifs”, “buts”, or “what ifs” in the text. When God says, “shall”, omnipotence is present to perform the work.

This promise implies a certain passiveness on your part. The text says, “thou shalt be saved.” It does not speak about what you are going to do. It speaks of something done for you and in you. It is true, you will confess Christ and believe Christ. But if you do, that faith and that confession are evidences that God has done something and is doing something for you and in you. God has raised you from the dead.

Illustration: Lazarus came forth from the tomb; but he came forth not by his own power, but by the power of God.

Application

(Romans 10:9) “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

I am calling upon you right now to trust Christ and confess him. Do you cast yourself, sink or swim, on Christ? Then you shall be saved. If you are not, then I am a liar, this Book is a deceiver, and God the Holy Spirit has borne false witness. And that cannot be! Among all the multitudes that sink into hell, there is not one confessing believer, not one believing confessor.

I know whereof I speak, for with my very heart and soul, I have verified this blessed text of Scripture. Believing Christ, I confess him. And confessing Christ, I am saved, saved by the blood of the crucified One.

Oh, weary sinner, come, come and welcome to Jesus. Come at once. Believe him, confess him, and “Thou shalt be saved!”

Amen!

Don Fortner

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