Sermon | Romans 10:9–10 | 2026 May 03
Title: Sermon | Romans 10:9–10 | 2026 May 03
Scripture: Romans 10:9–10 (ESV, reference only)
Date: 2026 May 03
Speaker: Rev. John Chen
Translated & edited by: Joseph Wang (Yufan)
Scripture: Romans 10:9–10.
Title: The Way of Salvation (May 3, 2026).
Theme Statement: Through the new way of salvation, we are made to be more grateful to Christ, to trust in Christ, and to live out Christ.
Question Statement: What is this other way of salvation?
Transition: This other way of salvation has the following aspects.
Keyword: Aspects (what)
Introduction: Today we continue to study the Book of Romans.
We seek to understand the similarities and differences between justification by the law and justification by faith.
In the worldview of humanity, the first division concerns whether there is eternity and whether man has a soul. Those who believe there is no eternity and no soul are atheists and materialists; those who believe there is eternity are theists.
The second division in the human worldview concerns how a person obtains this eternity. This is further divided into two kinds: one relies on one’s own behavior and cultivation to enter eternity (by works); the other relies on the Lord Jesus Christ and enters solely by faith.
Justification by the law means that the Jews believed that according to human behavior, one could be justified before God. This is a typical example of relying on one’s own works for salvation. This is the covenant of works that God established with Adam, in which Adam needed to perfectly obey God’s law in order to be saved.
But the revelation of Scripture is very clear: after the fall of Adam, the path of works for justification has already been completely blocked. One can only rely on Jesus Christ, who shed His precious blood for our sins. When we receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, we can obtain eternal life. This is the covenant of grace. Therefore, it is obvious that these two are different.
But what do these two have in common? That is, the covenant of grace, with respect to Jesus Christ, is the covenant of works. He fulfilled the content of the covenant of works and thereby brought down the covenant of grace for us. Therefore, from this perspective, the covenant of works has not been abolished but has been fulfilled.
This concept is very important for us to understand the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, we will belittle the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ and think that everything we have received by grace is deserved, forgetting that the accomplishment of this covenant of grace was actually obtained through the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Understanding the content of confessing with the mouth and believing in the heart.
The condition for entering this covenant of grace is to confess with the mouth and to believe in the heart.
Then, what is the content of this confession with the mouth? It is to confess that Jesus is Lord. What does this mean? It means to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Lord of all. To acknowledge that He governs everything in the universe, including, of course, the political powers of this world and our own lives.
We are not confessing other things with our mouths, not merely acknowledging the existence of heaven and hell. Rather, we must acknowledge that we have a Master on this earth. We are not people without a master, nor are we people who are our own masters. We are servants. We have no opinions of our own on this earth; we must listen to the opinions of our Master.
Secondly, we confess that this Master is called Jesus, not some political party, not some ideology, not some god of wealth, not power, not the pleasures of the flesh, but Jesus.
What is the content of faith? It is to believe that God has raised Christ from the dead.
What we believe is not that we will certainly become wealthy, certainly succeed, or certainly have a prosperous life on earth. Many Christians believe wrongly; they think that after believing in Jesus, they will have physical health, prosperity in all things, and thriving business. But they are mistaken. Jesus has never promised us these things.
What we are to believe is that Christ has been raised from the dead. This content may seem somewhat strange: it concerns a Jew who lived two thousand years ago, who was crucified, and on the third day rose again from the dead. Moreover, He will not die again; He ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father, and will come again from there to judge the living and the dead.
What does this resurrection from the dead mean? It means that we believe the Lord has borne our debt of sin, and that He has already received the acceptance of God the Father and has been raised.
Understanding the meaning of confessing with the mouth and believing in the heart.
What does it mean to confess with the mouth? It is to express through one’s own mouth. Confessing with the mouth includes praise, supplication, and thanksgiving. It is to acknowledge Him as the source of all things. This concept that Jesus is Lord needs to, and indeed should, change our worldview and values. The concept of “Lord” is unfamiliar to people today, but in that era, the concept of a lord meant a master who governed everything about you.
We are confessing that this Master is not a boss, not money, not a leader, but Jesus.
Since Christ is Lord, then our lives must be carried out according to the requirements and teachings of the Lord. Whatever the Lord says is good, we must regard as good; whatever the Lord says is bad, we must regard as bad. That Jesus is Lord means that Jesus is the Lord of all, the only one in our lives, and this Lord must rule over everything in our lives.
He is our God, and we are His people—what does this mean? First, it means that we must obey Him. Second, all His benefits, including life, will forever be ours.
What does it mean to believe in the heart? It is to believe through one’s heart. Faith and works must be strictly distinguished; this is something we must take seriously. Faith is not works, and works are not faith. The two are fundamentally different, yet they also have a certain continuity.
It is not an outward or pretended belief, but a belief in the heart. It is to completely accept and fully trust this truth, and to live out such a life.
This kind of belief must be transformed into action. God will also test us to see whether we truly believe, and we must use our actions to prove our faith.
Resurrection means that the only goal of our lives is resurrection, not anything on earth. Compared with resurrection, everything on earth is but a passing shadow. We must fix our eyes on eternity. The resurrection of Christ proves that He is our Lord, and we believe that the obtaining of this salvation is through His death and resurrection.
Obtaining the effects of confessing with the mouth and believing in the heart.
Justification. This refers to a person’s status before God. To become a completely righteous person before God. This is the highest peak of life; it is our hope. We can stand gloriously before the Lord of heaven and earth and say, “O God, I thank You for leading me into heaven.” Justification is the most beautiful and blessed thing for a creature. To be righteous before God is like receiving the highest award of all humanity; obtaining this award is the greatest glory for a creature. However, this award is not based on our own merit, but on the merit of Christ.
The expression of the creed is: to receive the adoption as sons, to be counted among His people, to enjoy the liberty and privileges of the children of God, to have God’s name written upon us, to receive the Holy Spirit, to come boldly to the throne of grace, to receive fatherly compassion, protection, provision, and discipline, and never to be cast off.
This is the true assurance.
Salvation. From the perspective of judgment, the result of justification is salvation. How blessed it is to escape danger. To be in a desperate situation and unable to save oneself is truly pitiful; yet to be able to escape death is the greatest blessing. In the judgment, we are spared from perishing, reconciled to the Lord, and receive the blessing of the new heavens and the new earth.
Just as in the days of Noah, through the ark, Noah’s family was saved, so now we also, in the Lord Jesus Christ, can escape the destruction of all mankind. The actions of the world are indeed but a shadow. Consider the generation of Noah—everything they possessed was ultimately swept away by the flood. What meaning did it have? And what about Sodom and Gomorrah—where is all their abundance now? Everything is but a passing shadow. Therefore, what is important is to be in Christ and to do for Christ. This applies equally even to secular work. If there is no Christ, everything we do has no value.
Conclusion: May God lead us to truly understand the content of confessing with the mouth and believing in the heart, so that we may obtain true salvation.
Questions:
How is humanity divided at the level of worldview?
What should we confess, and what should we believe?
How do the contents of our confession and belief change our lives?
After we truly confess and believe, what blessings will we receive?
I. Understanding the Similarities and Differences Between Justification by Law and Justification by Faith What do these two have in common? These two passages of Scripture will shed light on this. We must first understand the human worldview. The first dividing line is whether human beings have et... Read more
I. Understanding the Similarities and Differences Between Justification by Law and Justification by Faith
What do these two have in common? These two passages of Scripture will shed light on this.
We must first understand the human worldview. The first dividing line is whether human beings have eternity and a soul. The first type of person believes in eternity and believes that human beings have a soul. The second type believes that humans have no soul and no eternity. This is the first great divide in the human worldview. In China, the mainstream ideology denies eternity and the soul. In the West today, atheistic and materialistic beliefs are also growing — this is a sign of corruption. This is the distinction between those with religion and those without.
The second divide exists among those who believe in the soul and eternity: one group holds that the soul is saved through one's own efforts, while the other holds that the soul can only be saved by trusting exclusively in Jesus Christ. This is the distinction between true religion and false religion. False religion emphasizes personal cultivation, discipline, and the necessity of certain deeds. Jewish people fell into the trap of false religion — they sought to be justified by their own ability and works.
How does Buddhism enter nirvana? Through self-cultivation and good deeds.
True religion believes in a Savior. Human beings cannot come before God unless there is a Mediator — and He must be both fully divine and fully human, otherwise it is impossible to enter into God. True religion is justified by trusting in Jesus Christ. The Jewish people fell into the trap of believing that salvation could be obtained through the Law — that by doing good works and obeying the Law of Moses, one could be redeemed. But after the fall of Adam, it is impossible for anyone to be justified along that path. Justification comes only through Jesus Christ, who took on flesh and shed His precious blood for us. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we are made perfectly righteous. The former is called the Covenant of Works; Adam already failed under it, so the Lord Jesus came to establish a new Covenant of Grace — by trusting in Jesus Christ, one is justified.
So what do the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace have in common? This is the point to be made clear today. The Covenant of Works requires that we be justified by our deeds — something we are unable to do — and so Jesus opened the way of justification by faith. Yet the two covenants are continuous. For Jesus Christ Himself lived under the Covenant of Works. God judges all of humanity, because the Covenant of Works applies to all mankind. Whoever fails to meet God's standard must go to hell. Therefore the Lord Jesus could not establish the Covenant of Grace arbitrarily — the Covenant of Works had to be fulfilled in Jesus Christ; its demands had to be satisfied before the Covenant of Grace could stand. And so Jesus Christ took on flesh and obeyed the Law. The Covenant of Works is the prerequisite for the Covenant of Grace.
Moreover, Jesus Christ also had to win back what had been lost. Satan had, so to speak, a score of 11 to 0 against Jesus — Satan had won a round. Jesus Christ had to reclaim that loss. Not only did He have to satisfy the Covenant of Works Himself, He also had to bear the debt of our sins. And only the shedding of blood can cover sin. Our debt under the Covenant of Works had to be dealt with — so Jesus became the most perfect sacrifice, offering Himself up to redeem us. Jesus not only had to score a perfect 100, but He also had to bear the penalty for the failing scores of sinners, and so He had to descend into the realm of the dead. Thus Jesus accomplished two things: achieving the perfect score, and bearing our debt. He had to simultaneously bear shame and the burden of sin while also performing perfect righteousness. And so for Jesus Christ, accomplishing this righteousness was an immense ordeal — beaten, humiliated, He had to obey the Law even in the midst of a twisted, sinful world. Jesus said, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." This was the price the Lord Jesus paid. As the Scripture asks, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Jesus gives us the robe of righteousness — and He places it in our hands with great solemnity, a robe stained with His blood. Therefore, we must wear it with the same solemnity.
II. Understanding What We Confess with Our Mouths and Believe in Our Hearts
Confessing with the mouth that Jesus is Lord. We must say it aloud: Jesus Christ is Lord. We acknowledge that we are servants, that there is a Master, and that we are to give Him our whole lives and follow Him. Is it possible for someone to say one thing and mean another? It is. Paul says the heart must be aligned. If you confess with your mouth, you must live out the life of Jesus Christ. We tend to think of ourselves as autonomous, as the masters of our own lives — but we are not. We are servants. We are declaring that there is a supreme Lord over our lives: Jesus Christ.
What are we to believe in our hearts? Some people came to faith hoping they would find a job or a spouse after joining the church. But what should you actually believe? You should believe that Jesus rose from the dead. We confess with our mouths that we have a Master, and in making that declaration, we surrender the full sovereignty of our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. When we say "Master," we are calling upon our Lord.
Do you actually want a master? Not in the least — that much is clear. And yet that is exactly what this means: you are the servant, and He is the Master. You want to push God's Word to the side. In your heart, you are resistant. First, you do not want to be a servant. Second, you do not want Jesus to be your Master — because Jesus is just a Jewish man who was nailed to a cross two thousand years ago; what does that have to do with you? But hear this now: you must acknowledge Him as your Master. The truth is, you do not yet understand the blessings of having such a Master. Jesus gives you the robe of righteousness — it would be entirely unreasonable to refuse it. When Jesus gives you that robe, it is only fitting that you live according to His ways. You may not like it. But God also gives you the blessings that come with it. You may not want to be God's people or listen to God — yet when God says, "I will be your God," that means all His inheritance belongs to you. You receive eternal life. God is saying: you will not perish; there is a glorious new heaven and new earth waiting ahead. God shares with you His own attributes and glory. He is telling you: you possess eternity; the new heaven and new earth are yours. In Him there is no darkness, no death — you will not die!
A Buddhist must prostrate tens of thousands of times, leave home, and shave their head before they can hope to enter nirvana. We are not like that. Simply by confessing with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, every blessing of Jesus — life, light, and the highest joy — is given to us. What can Pharaoh give you? Pharaoh makes you a slave. What can God give you? Eternal glory and the highest joy.
To believe in Jesus is not to believe in something vague — it is specifically to believe that Jesus rose from the dead. Everything therefore rests on the foundation of the resurrection. Your heart's hope is in resurrection after death, and this completely transforms your entire worldview. You come to see this present life entirely from the perspective of eternity: "I believe in the resurrection of the body." You may recite the Apostles' Creed as though it were a nursery rhyme — but do you truly believe in the resurrection of the body, in the resurrection on the third day, in eternal life? This is what you are meant to believe — not that you will get rich, or that you will benefit from moral corruption and immorality. Every article of the Apostles' Creed challenges your original worldview. As someone who has a new heaven and new earth to look forward to, how can you still set your heart on the world's money, still contemplate sin? That is wholly incompatible with eternal life.
Confessing with the mouth means acknowledging a Master. This is not a bad thing. Yes, it means submission — but you also share in everything that belongs to Him, all His divine nature and all His blessings. As a creature, to have God say to you, "I will be your God" — there is nothing better than this. What you believe in is not physical health or financial prosperity, but everything contained in the Apostles' Creed. This reorients your entire outlook on life. You are no longer pursuing material things — you are pursuing abundant life. The things of this world, its immorality and corruption, have nothing to do with you anymore.
III. Grasping the Full Meaning of Confessing with the Mouth and Believing in the Heart
This is something you must be willing to lay your life down for. In the era of the Roman Empire, everyone was required to worship Caesar and offer sacrifice to him. Everyone had to say, "Caesar is Lord," and burn a little incense. Christians could not do this. Christians have only one Lord: Jesus Christ. To declare "Jesus Christ is Lord" in the Roman Empire meant you were going to die. You say Jesus Christ is your Lord? The Roman Empire would put your faith to the test. If you stood before the statue of Caesar and said "Caesar is Lord," you were immediately free to return to your normal life. But if you confessed Jesus as Lord, you were immediately thrown into the arena to be killed. Does Jesus not care about this? Jesus is testing your faith. This is the meaning of confessing with the mouth and believing in the heart — your faith will be tested.
Why did God lead the Israelites on a march around the land of Canaan? The Israelites might have simply charged straight in. Instead, God had them send out spies to report back — wasn't that something? It completely terrified them. Twelve strong, capable men went out and returned saying: the land is good and fruitful, but there are giants of enormous stature. It is not Caesar who is testing you — it is Jesus. Why is there testing in your life? Jesus is testing your faith.
Many people treat believing in Jesus like receiving a license to sin. You say Jesus is your Master — but the temptation to do wrong is strong. And the thinking goes: after I've done something bad, Jesus will still save me! And so this is the test. Will you fight to take Canaan? Caesar says he is Lord; you say Jesus is Lord and you will die for it — are you afraid of death? Your life must be trained to reach this point. Come the Lord's Day, your boss calls, there's overtime to work, and so you abandon the Sabbath. Jesus places you in this experiment to test who is truly your Lord, and who it is that truly provides for you. Today, as long as you are working, that is treated as something "sacred" — whatever the boss says is everything. In daily life, God calls you to live holy; God calls you to be faithful in marriage and to live a pure life. In this age, immorality is everywhere — is that really of no concern? Jesus is Lord. These are things you must actually live out before "confessing with the mouth and believing in the heart" means anything. Why did God test the early church? Jesus was using Caesar to test them: who is Lord? Can we live it out — rather than living in complete disorder? Repent immediately. For all who engage in bribery or who neglect the Lord's Day, God will discipline severely. Jesus intends to fully apply His law to your life. Holy living is not optional. Otherwise God's wrath and fury will come upon you.
This is what deep faith looks like. Many people rarely truly encounter Jesus, while the desires of the flesh dominate their daily lives. Caesar tests you — are you afraid to die? There are even those who agonize over whether to tithe. "Whoever does not love me more than his wife and children is not worthy to be my disciple."
Luke 14:25–35 (ESV):
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
This is what it means to confess with the mouth and believe in the heart. A person follows Jesus because he recognizes Him as the Messiah. Jesus adds, “and even his own life”: if believing in Jesus required you to sign your name, and by signing you would lose your job, would you dare to sign? If you are not prepared, then make peace with Satan rather than with Jesus. Whom will you follow—Jesus or Caesar? To follow Jesus is to face the cross; it means you cannot live recklessly but must live under discipline and order. If you cannot accept this, Jesus says, then surrender to Satan without delay.
If one does not renounce everything, including one’s own life, one cannot be His disciple. Verses 34–35 belong together with what precedes: Jesus says that if you follow Him, you are salt; if you do not, you are salt that has lost its taste. If you follow Satan rather than Him, you will be cast out. This is true faith: confessing with the mouth and believing in the heart. If you do not believe in this way, you must repent. To be salt is to be salty; to be light is to shine.
IV. Receiving the Fruit of Confessing with the Mouth and Believing in the Heart
There are two things you receive: justification and salvation.
Justification means that at the final judgment, when the prizes are awarded, you are declared righteous. How does that make you feel? This is your greatest joy. Among all people, you are the one who is the most holy, the most pure, the one most commended by the Teacher. Like the most successful businessman, like the Olympic gold medalist — this is what "justification" is like. At the final judgment, before all people, God will say: "This person trusted in Me and is declared righteous — enter into heaven." That is justification. To be justified is the most blessed moment a creature can ever know. Every hardship and sacrifice you endured will have been worth it. When Stephen was being stoned to death, he said he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God in heaven. The most glorious moment for any creature is the moment of being declared righteous. God says to you: "Well done, good and faithful servant." This is justification — and it surpasses the fleeting pleasures of sin beyond all comparison.
Salvation means this: when judgment came in Noah's day, the whole world was swallowed up in a vast flood. You too may have trembled with fear — but your ark was safe. Even as we preach right now, at the gates of Hades and of Paradise, how many are being judged? Hell is full of familiar faces — singers, Nobel Prize winners, celebrities — all of them are there. Were they not impressive people? When Noah's flood came, only eight people were saved. Imagine a room filled wall to wall with trophies and awards — when the floodwaters rise, what good are they? The king of Sodom bargained with Abraham — but where was he when Sodom was judged? This is what salvation means. I used to love keeping up with the news, but now I find I no longer pay it much attention. Salvation has become far more important to me. Salvation is what your life should be most concerned with — whether or not a robe of righteousness will be given to you on the day of judgment — that is what truly matters. You are no longer so preoccupied with the affairs of the world. What matters is whether you can be saved. A small pay raise at work — that is not so important. Salvation turns your entire life completely upside down.
For us, salvation can feel unreal — Noah's flood feels unreal, Moses parting the Red Sea feels unreal, elite armies being drowned feels unreal, the fire that fell on Sodom feels unreal. But Jesus has already told you all of this! In the flood, every civilization, every material possession, every palace was judged. Confess with your mouth, believe in your heart, and receive the most glorious resurrection — this is the most beautiful thing of all. This world will pass away; the Word of God endures forever. No matter how beautiful this world seems, it is nothing more than a shadow. How can you still cling to it with such longing? It is time to let go.
Thank you brother ！