“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

I have seen this verse used many times as the magic formula for salvation. How many people have been told this is how they are to be saved? How many people have been falsely assured of their salvation with this verse? We have to understand that belief and profession mean absolutely nothing. The issue is faith. On the last day there will many who will confess to know Christ, saying, “Lord, Lord,” but they will spend an eternity in hell. As one man once put it, the question is not do you know Jesus, the question is, does Jesus know you. You believe Jesus died and rose again? To paraphrase the book of James, good for you, the devils also believe– and they tremble at what it means for them.

What does the verse mean then? The original historical context is essential. You see, we often forget that Paul was writing to Roman Christians– Christians who were being persecuted and killed for their faith, many times in an extremely cruel fashion. Paul was writing to assure these suffering believers that if, when faced with suffering and death, they were true to their Lord, they would without a doubt be saved. Paul, then, is talking about faithfulness unto death, a result and sure evidence of salvation, not a formula for it.

Just this week, I read a vivid example of this very thing. I was glancing through a children’s textbook of Church history that I found on my bookshelf, and the first chapter dealt with the early church. It specifically addressed the sufferings they experienced, and recounted the martyrdoms of Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp, two early church fathers. It demonstrates what Romans 10:9 meant in the lives of these two early Christians, and what the verse still means today.

Ignatius (A.D. 67-110) was ordered by the emperor to be arrested and was sentenced to be thrown to the wild beasts in Rome. He longed for the honor of giving his life for his Savior, saying, “May the wild bests be eager to rush upon me. If they be unwilling, I will compel them. Come, crowds of wild beats; come, tearing and manglings, wracking of bones and hacking of limbs; come cruel tortures of the devil; only let me attain unto Christ.”

Polycarp was the last one of those who had been personally taught by the apostles. He was arrested and brought into the amphitheater in Smyrna, which was filled with an immense multitude. Since there were no images of gods in the house of worship of the Christians, the heathen rightly concluded that the Christians did not in believe in the existence of the gods, and so they accused them of being atheists. The proconsul reminded Polycarp of his great age, and urged him to show his penitence by joining in the cry, “Away with the atheists!” Polycarp looked straight at the excited crowd, pointed his finger at them, and cried, “Away with the atheists!”

Then the proconsul said, “Revile Christ and I will release you.” But Polycarp answered, “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He has never done me wrong, how can I blaspheme Him, my King, who has saved me?” To the crowd the proconsul then proclaimed, “Polycarp has confessed himself to be a Christian.” The crowds yelled, “Let him be burned!”

Wood was collected and made into a pile. Polycarp asked not to be fastened to the stake. “Leave me thus,” he said, “He who strengthens me to endure the flames will also enable me to stand firm at the stake without being fastened with nails.” The woodpile was lighted. While Polycarp prayed with a loud voice, “Lord God Almighty, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I praise Thee that Thou hast judged me worthy of this day and of this hour, to participate in the number of Thy witnesses, and in the cup of Thy Christ,” the flames consumed him. Polycarp’s martyr death took place in the year 156 A.D.

-From “The Church In History” by B.K. Kuiper

Worship is to feel in your heart and express in some appropriate manner a humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe and astonished wonder and overpowering love in the presence of that mose ancient Mystery, that Majesty which philosophers call the First Cause but which we call Our Father Which Art in Heaven.

J. Gresham Machen was known for his defense of Scriptural truth. In a 1932 speech, Machen addressed those who made the claim that it is not loving to be discerning, and that we should never point out error or speak out against falsehood. Machen refers to one specific instance where a professor was challenging his students to avoid the controversies of the Bible and rather focus on the wonderul passage about love in 1 Corinthians 13. Machen responded this way: 

In reply, I am bound to say that the example was singularly ill-chosen.  That hymn to Christian love is in the midst of a great polemic passage; it would never have been written if Paul had been opposed to controversy with error in the Church.  It was because his soul was stirred within him by a wrong use of the spiritual gifts that he was able to write that glorious hymn.  So it is always in the Church.  Every really great Christian utterance, it may almost be said, is born in controversy.  It is when men have felt compelled to take a stand against error that they have risen to the really great heights in the celebration of truth.

From: Biblical Preaching

Thank you, John Piper, for articulating what has been on my heart so often recently. Why is their so little love of God and zeal for the truth among young people today? Let’s get over emotional buzzes and realize that God deserves our everything…not just a trip to a hip youth conference with a famous speaker. He deserves more than a t-shirt or bumper sticker or a week long “missions” trip to some exotic location. Let’s get over the world and sell out. 

Pastor Jeff Noblit of Anchored in Truth Ministries has been such a blessing. I would like to share a sermon that literally changed my life. I was at the meeting where this was preached, and I left with a new passion and zeal for the local church– as well as call to pastoral ministry. These clips are from different parts of the sermon and they are in no particular order. If you would like to listen to the whole sermon, you may download it here.

While we can write many things, nothing excells God’s Word. Psalm 12 sums up  my feelings every time I read the news and learn of all the sins, atrocities, and injustices taking place in this country and around the world. Right is wrong and wrong is right, people glory in shameful things and morality has been turned upside down. Indeed, help Lord!

Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:
Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

Even though this was said around 400 A.D., it still rings just as true today. The Gospel has always been under attack, and always will be. But, as James White says, we are called to proclaim the Gospel, not edit it.

“If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.”
St. Augustine

Those who point out error or address the teachings of false teachers are often perceived as mean spirited, arrogant and just wanting to pick a fight. While a proud and unkind spirit is certainly a danger to be guarded against, there is great value in pointing out the errors and heresies of false teachers. Slice of Laodicea posts a fantastic article by the late Dr. Harry Ironside on the good of pointing out untruth.

At a wedding the bride is the main character, the center, the start of the show – everyone else is supporting cast, but the glory goes to the bride/ …The Bride of Christ – of which the church is its local expression around the world – deserves the focus, the credit and the glory for faithfully serving their communities year after year.
– Rick Warren

Joseph Farah of WorldNetDaily recently posted a column regarding the above statement by Rick Warren. In his column, Farah concludes that the church really does not deserve the glory; all the glory should go to Christ. In his own defense, Mr. Warren responded with a piece that mangled and twisted Scripture– something that Warren excells at.

I have never seen a man abuse God’s Word so flagrantly. Either Mr. Warren does not understand basic English, let alone Greek and Hebrew, or he has no qualms about twisting God’s word to suit his purposes. If a verse does not say what Warren wants it to say, he will dig up a translation or paraphrase that says it in a way that suits him. To him, the Bible is not the sole authority for life and godliness, but it is rather a tool to manipulated and used to achieve his own personal agenda.

In regards to Mr. Warren’s desire that the glory be focused on the local church, I am compelled to wonder if he has ever read what Jesus said in Luke 17:7-10:

“And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’”

It is evident that Rick Warren doesn’t consider himself an unprofitable servant, but rather desires glory and thanks for all that he is doing to impact the world. Indeed, Warren unquestionably wields a vast influence, but I assure you he is on his own. God’s not in it. God’s not in it because He does not share his glory with Saddleback, Rick Warren, or anyone else. God himself said this in Psalm 42:8, “I am the LORD, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another….” God doesn’t change his mind, either.

As believers endeavouring to serve God, we should look for no reward, no glory, and no thanks. God does not smile upon those who are self-seeking and proud. Rather, he gives His grace to the lowly and humble; to those who fear Him and obey Him. “Thus says the LORD: heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made…but on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.” This is encouraging to those of us who realize that we are nothing, that we are weak, and that we can do nothing of value if God is not in it. God does not need us or our programs, our peace plans, our books, or anything else we have to offer– the whole universe belongs to Him. As one a godly man once said, He could raise up rocks to do what we do, and do it better. God forbid that we should desire share in God’s glory, as it was for this sin that the devil was cast from heaven.  Let us then be content to be nothing, to be unworthy servants, to never be recognized or thanked. Let all our work be to the end that the Lamb may receive the reward of His suffering.