Day 127

Today’s Reading: Romans 10

Today’s chapter contains one of the most well-known passages that brings people to salvation.

Recently I was rereading Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. It’s even better the second time. Lewis reminds us of the greatness of salvation. Consider his words:

"Christ offers something for nothing: He even offers everything for nothing. In a sense, the whole Christian life consists in accepting that very remarkable offer. But the difficulty is to reach the point of recognizing that all we have done and can do is nothing."

That is how amazing salvation is. And it was Jesus’ mission—why He came. Salvation is for humanity. Andy Stanley said it like this: “We are not mistakers in need of correction. We are sinners in need of a Savior. We need more than a second chance. We need a second birth.”

Let’s read what Paul says about salvation, the second birth: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9-10).

This is so simple, that’s what makes this incredible. The old Baptist pastor from Dallas, W. A. Criswell, said every time someone was speaking about salvation in the Bible, they could describe how to be saved in one sentence. Romans 10 is no exception. Here it is: Confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, and you will be saved.

It doesn’t get simpler and clearer than that.

This is the ticket price into the stadium. This is the ticket to eternity, to heaven. There are people who will try to change the ticket price. That’s called ticket scalping.

These ticket scalpers will say, “You have to be water baptized.” It doesn’t say that.

“You have to speak in tongues.” It doesn’t say that.

“You have to take communion.” It doesn’t say that.

The thief on the cross could never have gotten to heaven if he let people change the ticket price.

Some say you have to stop doing certain things before you can become a Christian. That’s not what this verse says. You don’t get good and come to Jesus. You come to Jesus, and He makes you good. Some people then cry, “What about their bad habits? They can’t become a Christian if they’re cursing, smoking, gambling.” They sure can. We can’t change the ticket price.

Remember this: “God loves you just the way you are, and because He loves you the way you are, He refuses to leave you the way you are.” That means God wants to get us in His family, baggage and everything, and then He will deal with the junk that hurts and hinders our lives. But the ticket in to salvation is simple.

Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord. “Lord” means He is the boss. He is in charge. He has veto power in your life. If you come to a point where what you believe and think is different from what God thinks, then God wins if He is Lord.

And second, you must believe in your heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead. Paul is careful that this is not just saying the right words, but that you also believe it to the core of your being. So you are saying the words because you believe them in your heart.

That’s how we get to heaven. Some may say, “I’m not sure this is the way.” Will Houghton said, “If you decide you want to go to heaven then you have to go God’s way because it is God’s heaven.”

Listen closely, if you wanted to come to my house, I think I can give you the best directions to my house. Because it’s my house. Heaven is God’s home. And God knows how to get to His home. He knows the best directions. If you want to go to heaven, let God give you the directions.  And God did, and they are simple.