[a 5 minute read)

If thou shall confess with thy mouth the LORD JESUS,

and believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead,

THOU SHALT BE SAVED.

Romans 10 v 9

Many people, whether religious or not, believe in Jesus. I have spoken to many Muslims who have said to me: “we love Jesus”. I have spoken to atheists and Buddhists who alike believe Jesus was a good person – an example to follow. There are Hindus who willingly add Jesus to their pantheon of deities. Almost everyone has some belief in Jesus, but that does not mean that almost everyone is saved.

In our last article: ‘Salvation – a FUNDAMENTAL matter’, we learnt that Jesus alone can save. Today we are going to learn that it is not enough to apply the name ‘Jesus’ to any saviour of our own creation. We must understand who Jesus Christ really is. There are facts about His person, and facts about His provision that really matter. Indeed, if we ignore, dismiss or deny them, the name of Jesus Christ becomes an empty moniker, meaningless and powerless to save. For salvation to have any meaning or reality, it must be a matter of objective FACT, not subjective opinion.

We will consider what these facts are in a moment, but first, notice that when we do ‘confess‘ and ‘believe‘ the truth about Jesus Christ, salvation is not just a possible or probable, SALVATION is PROMISED. With such a God-given guarantee set before us, let us consider the facts that must be confessed and believed.

Facts about His Person

Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus

Romans 10 v 9

1. We must confess that Jesus is God – the Lord.
   • To confess ‘the Lord Jesus’, is to confess Jesus as my Lord, and of course, that is a place reserved alone for God, therefore to confess Jesus as Lord, is to confess that He is God, but is this true?
     • In our last article we learnt from Acts 4 v 12, that Jesus alone can save. If however, I turn to the Old Testament, to Isaiah 45 v 22, we hear the LORD God say: ‘Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else‘. This is no contradiction for there is a clear way to reconcile both Scriptures by understanding that Jesus is God – consider the evidence.
     • We saw in Acts 4 that the claim was backed up by physical, eye-witness evidence of a lame and impotent man, healed and made whole. This, of course, is only one of many, many miracles that Jesus did, manifesting forth His divine glory both before His death, and after His resurrection and ascension. Indeed, the evidence was so clear in His life that the reactions were starkly different:
       • Some bowed before Him in thankfulness and worship, owning Him as Lord.
       • Some took up stones to stone Him for blasphemy, for they understood the claim to deity that Jesus was making, and would not believe it.
       • What is your response?
2. We must confess that God is Jesus – the Saviour.
   • To confess ‘the Lord Jesus’ is to confess that the One who is my Lord, my God, is the One who humbled Himself, became a man by virgin birth, and was given the name of ‘Jesus’, for He came to save by the sacrifice of Himself, but how can this be?
     • Because God is Triune, and ‘the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the World’ (1 John 4v14).
     • Because God is Love, and ‘gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life’ (John 3:16)
     • Because God is Gracious, and ‘though He were rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich’ (2 Corinthians 8:9)

Facts about His Provision

Believe in thine heart that God raised Him from the dead

Romans 10 v 9

1. We must believe that Jesus Christ rose again from the dead, confirming that He has by dying on the cross:
   • fully paid the price of sin
     • ‘He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ (Isaiah 53v5,6)
   • fully borne the penalty of death
     • ‘for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord’ (Romans 6v23)
   • fully conquered the power of Satan
     • ‘forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He [the Son of God] also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.’ (Hebrews 2v14)

These are the FACTS that must be believed. If you do not believe in the above truths concerning Jesus Christ, as revealed in Holy Scripture, then you are not believing in the Saviour of Scripture. Your faith is in a Jesus of your own making, who does not exist, and therefore cannot save you.

Simply accept Jesus Christ as He is; own Him as Lord and Saviour; and you can rest in the PROMISE of God – ‘thou shalt be saved‘.