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.
The moment you confess Jesus Christ as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you shall absolutely, unquestionably be born again of God's Spirit. This is eternal life, you are now on your way to heaven and all hell can't stop you.
CONFESSION
An open, bold, and proclamation of one's faith. Acknowledgement.
Websters: to admit as truth; profess belief in.
Whatever a person believes is directly reflected in what he confesses. If you confess with your mouth at the same time you confess with your heart what the Word says, (Jesus as Lord of your life) you will have power (more abundant life). But if you confess with your mouth and heart the negatives of this world, you will manifest these crippling negatives (great need in your life).
There are two types of confession:
1) unto salvation, repentance (Romans 10:9)
2) to re-establish broken fellowship (sinning after being born again results in broken fellowship)
Philippians 2:11
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
When we confess that Jesus Christ is our Lord it gives glory to God the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
1 John 4:15
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God'
God dwelleth in him = eternal life. He in God = walking in fellowship
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we confess our sins (our broken fellowship), God is faithful and just to forgive us. Then once again we are re-established in perfect fellowship.
BELIEVE
To place one's trust in God's truth; one who takes God at His Word and trusts in Him with their will as well as their mind for salvation.
To much emphasis can be placed on the act of believing, as opposed to the object of belief, God, His Word and His Son. You don't work to believe, you work to build your believing.
There is power in believing. The power enables us to overcome our shortcomings and our difficulties. The law of believing brings phenomenal results to all those who apply and practice the principles.
Matthew 21:22
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
Mark 9:23
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
James 1:6
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
You have to stay focused on what you are praying for.
Mark 11:23-24
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Believing is the only condition for answer to prayer. Don't allow doubt to draw you away from believing, especially when things don't come to pass in your time frame. God knows whats best.
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
A literal translation:
Now believing is the title deed to things prayed for, the evidence they are yours before they are seen.
Hebrews 11:6
But without faith (a belief or confidence toward God) it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that deligently seek him.
Do you want to please God? You can by believing.
2 Timothy 1:12
For which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
To be fully persuaded is to know no matter what situation or circumstance you may face, that God would keep that which He has promised.
HEART
The inner self that thinks, feels, and decides (the mind)
The mind: thinks, understands, imagines, remembers, speaks to itself, makes decisions. Purpose, intention, and will are all activites carried out by the heart.
What we feed our hearts (minds) will become our everyday lifestyle. The most important duty of a man is to love God with the whole heart (Matthew 22:37).
Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto your own understanding.
Without humility of mind, there can be no genuine trust in God, and a person will lean to their own undestanding rather than trust the Lord. God is to be first in all our decision making.
Proverbs 4:23
Keep thy heart with all deligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
The thoughts a person puts in their heart makes them what they are. The key to your heart is your thoughts. And the key to successful thoughts is God's Word.
Proverbs 17:22
a merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
A literal translation:
A glad heart makes the body healthy; but a wounded life saps the strength from the body.
1 John 3:20-21
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
So long as man's heart, his innermost being, is condemning or accusing him for any reason, he cannot get answers to prayer because he does not have confidence toward God. He cannot believe and accept the simple promises of God's Word.
SALVATION
Rescued or set free from the power of sin; Redemption - freedom or deliverance from the bondage of sin by payment of a price.
DELIVERANCE FROM:
Danger (Jeremiah 15:20)
Condemnation (Romans 8:1)
Oppression (1 John 4:4)
Sickness (3 John 2)
Captivity (Ephesians 4:8)
Sin (Titus 2:14)
Wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10, Roman 5:9)
The salvation that comes through Christ may be described in three tenses:
1) Past - When a person believes in Christ, he is saved
Acts 16:31
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
2) Present - But we are also in the process of being saved from the power of sin.
Romans 8:13-14
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
3) Future - Finally we shall be saved from the very presence of sin.
Titus 2:13-14
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
A literal translation of verse 13:
Looking for that blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God is His Son. (the glory of the great God is His Son)
Ephesians 2:8
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
We didn't work for salvation, we didn't earn it and there certainly was no way any of us could have deserved it. But God is rich in mercy, He saved us by grace, it is the gift of God.
1 Timothy 2:4
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of truth.
God's will is for all men to be saved. He wants each of us to make His Word a reality in our life. Why not honor the knowledge of God's Word above the knowledge of the senses?
2 Timothy 3:15
And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
God's Word makes us wise unto salvationn, the Word of God builds believing so that a man can be born again by God's Spirit and filled by the power of the holy spirit.
1 Peter 1:23
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
Incorruptible seed is eternal life, it is God's seed in Christ in us.
RIGHTEOUSNESS
Websters: virtuous; blameless; just; worthy
Man cannot be righteous in the sight of God on his own merits. Therefore man must have God's righteouness imputed or transferred to him. We do not become righteous because of our inherent goodness; God sees us as righteous because of our identification by faith with His Son. Righteousness is from God and has nothing to do with how we feel, we become righteous at the time of new birth.
Philippians 3:9
And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Good works do not make a person righteous. Righteousness is obtained from God through the faith of Jesus Christ. All your tears, labor, prayers, or good works will benefit nothing. Righteousness is not by the cross that you bear, but by the cross that Jesus Christ bore for you.
2 Corinthians 5:21
For He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
When God justifies, He charges the sin of man to Christ and credits the righteousness of Christ to the believer.
Romans 5:17
For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.
When the Spirit of God in Christ is born wthin us, we are at moment and forevermore righteous.
Using the above information results in the following
literal translation of Romans 10:9-10;
That if you will openly and boldly declare with your will as well as your mind the Lord Jesus, and shall absolutely not doubt in the innermost part of your being, that God raised him from the dead, you will absolutely completely be delivered from the darkness of this world.
For with the innermost part of your mind you have complete confidence that God will impute the righteousness of Jesus Christ to you and with your mind and will you boldly proclaim your faith in God and His Son Jesus Christ, Who has delivered us from the tribulations and wrath to come.
God Bless and keep you.
