There is a Dayton, Ohio radio station that plays a recorded message each day that they believe tells one how to be “saved” in very few words. This is what the message says: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the LORD Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (See Romans 10:9). Of course, that is a true statement, but many fail to comprehend just what Paul was really saying in that statement. Notice that he says it is someone who confesses Jesus as LORD, believing in their heart (that is to the depth of their being) that God has raised Him from the dead, thus they have a LIVING LORD, they shall be saved, as that living LORD will guide, nurture and instruct them in all matters of a spiritual nature.
Paul used similar language when he wrote to the believers at Philippi, “Wherefore God has highly exalted Him (Jesus Christ), and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth (those now dead and buried), and that every tongue (of both living and dead) should confess that Jesus Christ IS LORD, to the glory of God the Father” (See Philippians 2:9-11). And WHY confess Him as Lord? “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke (having no sin in our lives to be condemned), in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (verse 15), as that living LORD is leading, guiding and empowering you to walk as He walked.
If we confess that Jesus is our LORD, then it naturally follows we are going to honor Him as Lord, allowing Him to dictate to us how we are to conduct our lives. The most important word in that verse in Romans 10 is the word “LORD!” All that verse is saying is that if we allow Jesus Christ to be LORD of our lives we most certainly will be saved. Millions miss that simple truth and, hence, miss out on salvation. Those who glibly quote Romans 10:9 to others, telling them this is how to be saved, need to emphasize what God Himself emphasizes again and again throughout the holy scriptures that in order to be saved by Jesus Christ we must accept Him as our LORD! Jesus Himself asked, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). One cannot accept Jesus as their Savior while rejecting Him as their Lord. He is both. That is rightly dividing the Word of God. Something few do.
Christ’s Aged Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley