“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” (Romans 10:9 ESV).
The apostle Paul explained that being made right with God could not be achieved through trying to keep the law. For all have sinned and fall short of God’s glorious standard of righteousness (Rom. 3:23). Yet the righteousness of God has been revealed in Jesus Christ. So although righteousness cannot be achieved through self-effort, it can be received by faith in Jesus, the righteous Son of God.
How is this righteousness received? How can we be made right with God? By faith, by believing in the One whom God has sent (John 6:29). Namely, we must believe in Jesus. So, what does this faith, this believing in Jesus look like?
First, it means to “confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.” Confessing means to agree that Jesus is Lord, that He is the Son of God and therefore the King and Master of your life. Confessing with your mouth means to say it aloud, professing Jesus publicly.
Second, it means to “believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.” This means that you believe the facts of the gospel that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day. You believe that as a fact.
Finally, this “righteousness based on faith” (Rom. 10:6) promises that “you will be saved.” Saved from what? The wages of sin, which is death. And not only that, but by faith you receive the free gift of God, which is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 6:23).
PRAYER: Dear Father, we have confessed and believed and we have received by faith Your salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. You have exchanged our sin for His righteousness and our death for His eternal life. We freely and openly confess and proclaim that Jesus is Lord to everyone. In Jesus’ name, amen.