Knowing God through His Word … Day by Day

…..because, 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. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. —Romans 10:9-10 ESV

John Piper gives four observations on saving faith, in a sermon, “How Shall People Be Saved, Part 1”:

Saving faith believes on Jesus as Lord and calls on him as Lord from the beginning.

You can see that mainly in Romans 10:9, “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.” If you don’t confess Jesus as Lord, you are not saved. Romans 10:9 makes plain that the “Lord” that we call upon to be saved in verses 12 and 13 is the Lord Jesus. That is what saving faith does. It calls on Jesus as Lord.

Some have been taught that their experience should be interpreted like this: I accepted Jesus as my Savior, and not much change happened. Then I later surrendered to him as Lord, and more change happened. That is not a biblical description of what has really happened. It would more biblical to say: I trusted Christ but understood little of his great salvation and sovereign rule in my life; I was immature in my faith and in my affections for Christ. Later I had experiences that opened my heart more and more to the richness of Christ as mighty Lord and beautiful Savior and more and more of my life was conformed to him.

For some this happens in a series of crisis events; for others it happens gradually and without crises. But it is wrong to say that there is saving faith where there is no submission to Jesus as Lord. Saving faith is faith in “the Lord Jesus Christ,” even if at first we grasp very little.

The other three observations are listed below, but you will have to go to the sermon link here to read the explanations for each. Click here:

2) The second observation to make about saving faith is that it believes facts. It is more than believing in facts, but not less.

3) Saving faith is more than belief in facts; it is also a personal confidence that these facts mean Christ has saved me and will fulfill for me all God’s saving promises, including eternal joy with him.

4) Finally, saving faith includes a spiritual satisfaction for all that God is for us in Jesus.

Here is an article written by Sam Storms about the Lordship Salvation Debate