Posted on 02/19/2015 4:42:30 PM PST by pastorbillrandles
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; 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. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.(Romans 10:8-11)
Israel is currently exiled from her high calling as the Holy Nation of Priests and Evangelists of the New Covenant. Why?
According to the apostle Paul, it is due to Israel’s ignorance of the true nature of Righteousness (Right Standing) with God, and because of her stubborn insistence that she could construct a Righteousness of her own, earning God’s favor through the performance of ‘Mitzvot’, i.e. good works.
She has rejected the Righteousness that God has provided, which is simple faith in the Messiah Jesus, who came and died for our sins upon a Roman cross, but who was proven to be the Son of God, when God raised Him from the dead on the third day.
True Right Standing with God can only be entered into by the one who is willing to “Confess with His mouth the LORD Jesus, and Believe in His heart that God has raised him from the dead.”
This ‘Righteousness’ through a substitution sacrifice, is contemptible to the proud do-gooder religionists. There is nothing in it that is glorifying to man, in fact it is deeply humbling because it presupposes the total spiritual bankruptcy of mankind, and brings glory to the mercy of the Holy God.
We have examined how the ongoing belief that Jesus is the LORD, that is God in the flesh, transforms the sinner into a saint. The most determinate aspect of any person is what he believes, rightly or wrongly, about God.
When a rebellious sinner’s heart is broken by the gospel which tells him that the eternal God humbled himself and became a man, in order to save him, this belief wrests the control of sin and rebellion from the heart, and restores the sinner into what He was intended to be, a worshipper of the only true God!
Now Paul tells us that “Confession (of the Lord Jesus) is made unto salvation”.
What is it about the confession of Jesus that saves us?
There are many terms for salvation, because it is a multi-faceted experience, which we will admire for eternity, never plumbing the depths of the mystery of it. We speak of being “born Again”, and becoming a “New Creation”, being “crucified with Christ”, “reconciled to the Father”, “Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb”, and “Justified”, “Washed”, renewed”.
Each of these expressions and many more, focus on one aspect of the mystery of salvation, and each address different aspects of that out of which we are being saved.
When Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, we are told he exhorted his hearers, to
“… Save yourselves from this untoward generation.” (Acts 2:40)
What did He mean by this terminology? The Apostle was telling his hearers that one of things they need to be rescued from is their own generation, the age they were living in. They urgently needed to turn to Christ and to be willing to be identified in and with Him, that they not perish with their own (perishing) generation.
When we confess openly, with our mouth that “Jesus is Lord”, we are ‘saved’, i.e. separated out from among this “Wicked generation”. Confession is a very powerful way of identification. Identification with Jesus in the midst of the Messiah rejecting world, glorifies God.
Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.(Luke 12:8-9)
The perishing, hell bound world confesses that ‘man is LORD’ or that ‘SELF is Lord’ or even that ‘Caesar is LORD’, or ‘Allah is LORD’, but the Christian subscribes to a different confession, and that confession separates him from all others.
What are we saying when we say Jesus is LORD? We are proclaiming that God became a man and dwelt among us. As Paul tells us, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself…”. We cannot truly say “Jesus is LORD’ but by the Holy Spirit.
The confession of Jesus is ongoing, it is not a one time experience. We take up the good confession, bearing it as Jesus bore the cross in his time. By our adherence to it, we are “Crucified to the world, and the world is crucified unto us…” for the confession that Jesus is LORD upends every worldly supposition about both God and man.
The Righteousness of God that the Jews have thus far refused to ‘submit to’, is attained by simple faith in Jesus, His death, resurrection and Deity.
Forme it was in the simplicity of a prayer something like this, that I found God, and peace with God;
“Jesus I believe that you died for my sins, and that God has raised you from the dead. I admit that you are LORD, Jesus you are my God. Come into my life, and wash away my sins and save my soul.”
Romans 10:8-11For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Simple enough to not be beyond the grasp of any child, free for the asking so that the poorest of the poor can avail themselves of it.
Difficult to the death for the proud at heart. Self does not want to die and doesn't give up easily.
Many people are staying out of heaven, tripping over the simplicity of it all.
Foolishness to the Greeks (intellectuals) and a stumbling block to the Jews (religious).
“Simple enough to not be beyond the grasp of any child, free for the asking so that the poorest of the poor can avail themselves of it.”
One of THE most beautiful truths in Scripture is Isaiah 55:1...
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”
What appears at the end of the Revelation?
“The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” (22:17).
Amen.
Without price = not money and not works.
What a glorious simple truth! There go those educated “theologians”.
Colossians 1:27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Philippians 3:8-9 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
1 Corinthians 1:30-31And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 2:2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
are you being sincere or sarcastic?
We each have to go to God through Christ to even BEGIN to appreciate the paradigm altering truth in this verse. Today the Hebrew Roots movement is trying to drag people BACKWARDS, telling them "Nothing new here, move along...and keep!" You know they're a synagogue of Satan because they minimize the finished work of Jesus and refuse to enter HIS rest! They refuse His further revelation of Himself and kick against the goads of the provoking riches of the Gentiles.
How hard it is to kick against the goads!
Where in all of Scripture before Christ ascended on high did Gentiles have CHRIST IN YOU? Paul was used mightily of God to perfect us, move us FORWARD to full assurance and maturity as one new man. I yearn for Jews to come to know "Christ in you". The last thing I want for them is to stay stuck in a way that is not The Way. We have something Better, why would we want anything less for them?
PS...I don’t believe ALL those in and around the HRM are “a synagogue of Satan”. Some are detoured babes in Christ. The recalcitrant false TEACHERS of said babes? Be warned!
Thanks Lears, and I hope you took no offense(It doesn’t seem so). I found the answers through a series of God ordained events. I read the New Testament one tome, (it occurred to me that how could I be literate f I hadn’t read the Bible?). The sermon on the mount deeply convicted me of my sin, especially Jesus’ teaching on the spirituality of the LAw.I stayed under del conviction for about five months, going to church, answering altar calls but not really having faith. One day I read and re-read a passage in 2 Cor 5:21, but was so depressed and distracted I didn’t know what I was reading. But a clear thought penetrated the fog, saying “Understand what you are reading’. I am sure it was the Holy Ghost, for when I looked again at the passage I saw substitution clearly, that Jesus had taken my place in judgment and died for me.
A fuller understanding of the gospel has been an ongoing process since my initial conversion. But I believe I received saving fath when I had that thought to look at what I was distractedly reading(2 Cor 5:21) and to understand it. Suddenly I realized the meaning of the cross, that Jesus took my place as a sinner, that I might be granted his status as a son of God. I then became a sponge for reading scripture and for evangelical etching. I hope this answers your question.
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; 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. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.(Romans 10:8-11)
This what a say in my prayers almost every day.
The Apostles Creed
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of Heaven and Earth;
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into Heaven,
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy universal 2 church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.
I also met a occult spell casting women who told me she was a Christian. Under the unction of the Holy Spirit I asked her if she remembered The Apostles Creed. She said "yes." She tried to repeat it. When she was supposed to declare born of the virgin Mary she manifested a demoniac voice declaring "there are Many gods." Truly astounding revelation. I was watching and hearing the 1 John 4 test right before me.
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
What I learned was a possessed person could never confess it.
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