“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10, NLT)
The Bible says in Romans 1:17, “The Good News shows how God makes people right with himself” (NCV). How does God make you right with himself? Through Jesus. Here’s an explanation of what that means:
You can’t make yourself righteous. Heaven is a perfect place. There’s no sin, sadness, evil, or injustice. But here’s the problem: All people are imperfect, and God can’t let sinful people into heaven because then it would be full of sin too.
Romans 3:20 says, “No one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are” (NLT). The only people who think they can keep God’s laws are those that don’t know them — because God’s laws are perfect, and none of us are perfect. We cannot be made right on our own, and so God made a plan to rescue us from our sin and bring us into a relationship with him.
God sent Jesus to pay for your sins so you could be declared righteous. When you break man’s laws, you pay man’s penalty. When you break God’s laws, you pay God’s penalty, which is eternity in hell. Somebody must pay for all the things you’ve done in life that hurt other people, yourself, and God. And so God sent Jesus on a rescue mission. He essentially said, “I’ll send my Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty. He will take your place so you don’t have to go to hell. You can be with me forever.”
Do you understand why the Gospel is called Good News? The Gospel says that everything you’ve ever done or will ever do wrong in life has already been paid for by Jesus Christ on the cross. Through Jesus you can be made right with God. That’s Good News!
The Bible says, “[God] saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:5, NLT).
You need to accept by faith what God did for you. To be made right with God, you need to believe and accept by faith that Jesus paid for your sins when he died on the cross. The Bible says, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved” (Romans 10:9-10, NLT).
Prayer
Lord, I believe that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, and that I am nothing but a sinful human being. Forgive me, and give me Your mercy and peace so that my life with reflect Your glory and truth. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Stay encouraged!
Pastor Mike
