One Must Confess Jesus as Lord

November (Rom. 10:9)
Romans 10: 9 demands that two thing be done for salvation to occur: 1. one must confess Jesus as Lord; and 2. one must believe God raised Him from the dead. It is crucially important we know what it means to confess Jesus as Lord. I immediately connect three biblical principles to this confession: 1. it means we acknowledge He is God’s one and only Son in any divine sense. 2. it means we determine to allow Him to be our solitary guide to all of life’s problems and that His word be the authoritative, inerrant, word to which we turn for all answers. 3. it means we believe He is God the Son, the second person of the trinity, co-existent and co-equal to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

The major problem with trying to put the gospel into a tract is that the gospel is really contained in its almighty magnificence in the Bible from Genesis to the Revelation. We can give a condensed version of it in one really well thought out sermon, but we can’t begin to teach or learn the significance of something like election and predestination without a serious long term study on the topic. Some actually teach and apparently believe uttering the words “Jesus is Lord,” is all there is to it. Of course the Bible tells us otherwise. In Matthew 7:21-23 we learn that not everyone who calls Jesus Lord, Lord, not everyone who does miracles in His name, casts out demons, heals the sick, and prophesies will be part of His kingdom. He railed against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees for claiming to be followers of the Law of Moses while living like followers of the devil. Confessing Jesus as Lord means we strive daily, by the indwelling power of His Spirit who resides within us, to live like Jesus lived, caring for the poor, lame, downtrodden, loving the unlovable, being charitable, studying His word diligently, praying without ceasing, fellowshipping with the brethren, and anxiously awaiting His return.

I heard Donnie Swaggart, the son of the infamous Jimmy Swaggart, the other day ask his entire congregation to pray the sinners prayer after him. Upon completing the prayer he jumped and danced on stage like a circus clown and told his entire audience (I wouldn’t dare call them the church) if they prayed that prayer they were bound for the kingdom of heaven. I heard another preacher the same day suggest we don’t have any idea what heaven is going to be like but he was sure it was going to be wonderful. It’s little wonder when people meet together all over this land every Sunday they leave their meetings no more informed about their relationship with the Creator of the universe than when they came to them. Preachers are being ordained and graduating from cemeteries (intentional sic) all over America without a clue what the bible teaches about its most basic tenets, salvation and the kingdom of God. I would venture to guess less than 25% of churches in America teach anything about divine election and predestination, yet the Bible has hundreds of verses than make it abundantly clear that God determined before the foundation of the world who was going to be part of his eternal kingdom. Hundreds of verses speak about the effectual calling of the saints, yet I’ve never, in 38 years of following Jesus heard one preacher try to demonstrate from the Bible what the term even means. Dozens of verses address the idea of regeneration. How many times in your Christian experience have you had a teacher of scripture show you from scripture what it means? I challenge everyone reading this to ask themselves and their preachers how many people with whom they have shared an accurate presentation of the gospel.

I humbly suggest the problem is that most who claim to be disciples of Christ aren’t. I humbly suggest no one could be a child of the Creator of the universe and go through life not seeking every opportunity to help lost souls get found. If you confess Jesus as Lord, bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance. That means, if you haven’t already done it, you will so order your life that every part of it is geared to make you one who demonstrates by his life there is no other thing in it more important than Jesus. It means you will so order your life that you tell anyone who will listen how they too can begin their long, diligent, God blessed, persecuted walk to the cross with you. The promise of an abundant life by Jesus in John 10:10 is not to be interpreted to mean God wants you to be a happy camper. It means that in spite of the many trials, the overwhelming temptations to do evil, the persecutions, the temporary cold, hunger, or thirst one might encounter, the cold sleepless nights, the hatred from those who were once friends, the badgering from those who claim to be spiritual brothers, and even death, we rejoice and have complete peace because our Lord holds us in His arms, because our reward is in coming and assured, because the King of kings sees it all and promises both reward for those who are His and vengeance against those who aren’t.

If you’ve been sitting in churches for years and don’t have a clue how to so order your life, I urge you to leave that church and find one that preaches the gospel. If you can’t find one, call me. If you can get a few others who will meet faithfully two or three times a week and aren’t more than a couple of hundred miles from where I currently reside, I’ll come there and teach you. Otherwise I’ll be pleased to hold studies in my home for any who are willing to come to them. If you’re in a church that is properly preaching the gospel, you won’t be able to be there long before you begin leading others out of the darkness into the light. If you confess Jesus as Lord and yet don’t imitate His behavior, you’re a liar and the truth is not in you. And that’s God’s word for us today.