Christ Is Lord
“That if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
In order to be saved, according to Paul the apostle of Christ, we must believe that Jesus is Lord, and we must be willing to confess that fact with our words. We must never be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ in any way. In our hearts, we must trust in Him as our Savior and follow Him as our Lord. You cannot be saved without believing in the Lordship of Jesus Christ because of its effect on your life. It brings you into contact with Him in a living, saving way. There is no merit in just
mentally assenting to the fact that “Jesus is Lord,” as opposed to some other religious leader or teacher being the Lord and having the authority of God. It is that you believe JESUS is Lord and entrust your life to that fact that matters. That you accept the fact that Jesus Himself is Lord. Salvation is tied to Christ. Salvation IS Christ. So faith means believing and confessing and accepting and living like you believe that Christ is the Lord and Savior and the only Lord and Savior.
Jesus said all authority has been given to Him in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). That is what His Lordship involves—His power and His authority, as well as His splendor and majesty. Christ is beautiful in every way. He is good in every way. He is Lord in every way.
We can acknowledge this now by choosing to acknowledge it. Anyone who wants to be saved can be saved by making the decision to believe in Jesus. At any point in your life, you may decide to trust in Christ and change your life. You can go from being lost, headed for eternal destruction, to being saved, headed for heaven to spend eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Everyone will eventually confess that Jesus is Lord. Philippians 2:11 says, “every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Those who choose to confess this now in their words, and in their way of living will benefit from it by receiving the free gift of salvation. Gifts must be accepted on the giver’s terms. God’s terms are turning to Jesus, repenting of your sins and trusting in Christ as Savior and Lord and confessing that faith to the world by being baptized, living for Jesus, confessing Him before others. Jesus said that if we do not confess Him in word and in deed in this world, then He will not know us before the Father (Matthew 10:32-33). It is a serious matter to reject the Lordship of Jesus. Don’t wait until it is too late. Everyone will confess Christ eventually, but not everyone will be saved by doing so. When He comes to be glorified (2 Thessalonians 1:10), everyone will know that He is Lord, but it will not save them then. Confess Him now before He comes. Confess Him now before you die. To confess Him as Lord is to believe it, tell others that you believe it, and live like you believe it.
When Peter preached the Pentecost sermon that is recorded in the second chapter of Acts, he summed up his message about Jesus by saying that God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ (2:36). Christ is Lord. And when the people heard that Christ Jesus, who died for their sins, was indeed the Lord and the anointed one of God—which is what “Christ” means—they publicly confessed their belief in Jesus and confessed it also by being baptized in His name (2:38-41).
We need to recognize that the Holy Spirit leads us to confess that “Jesus is Lord” (1 Corinthians 12:3). If you are being led by God, truly led by God’s Spirit, then you will believe that Jesus is your Lord and you will act like it. Isn’t that simple? We should say with Thomas that Jesus is, “my Lord and my God” (John 20:28).
Believing that Jesus is Lord, confessing that Jesus is Lord, living like Jesus is Lord, all expresses your faith in Him as a person, and your belief in and confidence in the importance which God the Father has assigned to Him (Hebrews 1:1-3). You are accepting reality and affirming your belief in the divinity and power of Jesus. You may not understand everything about it, but you choose to believe it because you know that Jesus is the truth. He does not just speak truth. He IS the truth (John 14:6).
“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).
Bryan Dewayne Dunaway
