“For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” – Romans 10:10
You can win an argument and lose a heart, and salvation is all about the heart. Winning people and saving sinners from their sin is not something accomplished by mere argument or intellectual reasoning. Many people are given the truth, and understand it, but they aren’t saved from their sins. Why is that? Many people know and accept that Jesus is a real historical figure but remain aloof to Him. Many believe that eyewitness and archeological evidence supports the gospels as factual but reject the good news. Why? Many people have heard and even accepted that the Bible is validated by archeological and manuscript evidence, fulfilled prophecy and that its statistically preposterous to deny such data supporting the Bible’s reliability, but remain unmoved by such truth. Why? Many have been told that no archeological evidence has ever contradicted the facts of scripture but respond with a “So what?” attitude. Many people know this, and more, and yet are not saved from their sin. Why, why are people unmoved despite such insurmountable evidence?
Many know the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament, and persist in their unwillingness to admit their sins, repent of them, and trust Jesus as Savior. If salvation was merely a matter of mental assent, then demons would be going to heaven. “You believe there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe – and tremble!” (James 2:19). Demons probably have better theology than most people, and yet they are damned. Why is that? How can someone “know” or even “believe” the right things, the truth of God, and yet remain unsaved and destined for hell? Why is it you can win an argument and still lose a soul? Read on to find out.
God’s Requirement for Salvation
Romans 10:8-9 – “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):9 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.”
It’s all about the heart. Paul points his readers to God’s word for an explanation of what God requires for salvation. The answer to the above statement of course is accepting the gospel preached by Paul which he says is near them by quoting Deuteronomy 30:14 in verse 10:8. And then Paul gives one of the clearest statements on what the responsibility of humanity is. The responsibility of humanity in salvation is to simply receive the gospel in the heart.
How is one saved? Based on what Paul says here, salvation is received when the following happens in a person.
First, a person is saved when they openly confess Jesus as their Lord based on a firm conviction of that truth. Paul states:
Romans 10:9a – “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus . . .”
The word “confess” here is translated from the Greek term homologeo meaning, “to speak the same thing” (homos, “same,” lego, “to speak”), “to assent, accord, agree with, . . .to declare openly by way of speaking out freely, such confession being the effect of deep conviction of facts.” [i] Therefore, salvation occurs when one comes to the point where they can openly confess Jesus as their Lord from a deep conviction of the truth about Him.
Notice also that Jesus is to be confessed as “Lord” which points to obedience and submission to Him in life. Is this just another work to be righteous? How can this come to be in a person?
Secondly, a person is saved when they believe in their heart that Jesus is raised from the dead. Paul goes on to say:
Romans 10:9b- “. . .and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
The word “believe” is translated from the Greek word pisteuo which we have already studied in detail in Romans 4. Needless to say, “believe” here is a trusting dependence in the fact that Jesus has been raised from the dead. And if Jesus is raised from the dead then it is attached to the acceptance of Jesus substitutionary sacrifice on the cross. To be saved a person must accept the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as sufficiently paying the penalty for their sin and satisfying God’s just requirement as testified to in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
Faith is not a work. Some would classify “faith” as a “work.” Faith is the assurance of things hoped for the belief in things not seen; it is trust in something (Romans 11:1). Faith is not a work. Paul contrasts faith and works throughout Romans (e.g., Romans 3:27-31; 4:1-8), and elsewhere (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:4-7). Faith is merely living out the image of God our Creator created us with (e.g., Genesis 1:26). When we receive by faith the work of Jesus and Jesus Himself as our Savior, there is no glory for us in that. We as sinners, put Jesus on that cross. We should be humbled by our sin and humbly accept the gracious gift of God in Christ by faith.
Saving faith is repentant. Let’s not forget that earlier in Romans Paul spoke of the part of repentance in salvation. In sin we are walking away from God. By His grace, the Holy Spirit speaks to our heart, calling us to Jesus and His cross. We respond by one of two ways. We keep walking in our sin away from God. Or we turn around and receive Jesus with open arms. That turn around in faith is called “repentance.”
In Romans 2, Paul is speaking specifically to those with a Jewish background. He said:
Romans 2:4 (NKJV) – 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
Repentance isn’t a separate work needed for salvation. Saving faith is by nature repentant. Saving faith is when we turn from the world to God. It’s not a work; it simply turning to God in Christ.
And we turn with our heart. Remember also what Paul said at the end of Romans 2. It’s not about some outward work but anything that happens on the outside of us is a fruit or product of the Spirit’s work inside of us, in our heart:
Romans 2:28–29 (NKJV) – 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
We need to cut away from our heart the idea that we are righteous by our works and rely wholly on the completed work of Jesus on our behalf.
The Work of the Holy Spirit
Salvation is a matter of the heart. And when it comes to the spiritual heart surgery we need, our Surgeon is the Holy Spirit. Jesus said when the Holy Spirit comes He would convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit shows the sinner that their rejection of Jesus is their greatest sin. The Holy Spirit shows the sinner they can’t work their way to heaven. The Holy Spirit lays out the profound undeniable truth that the sinner who chooses to remain in their sins is destined for judgment along with the devil (John 16:8-11). The Holy Spirit is the One who shows us our sin cancer, offers spiritual surgery, performs that surgery when we agree, and then does the greatest heart transplant anyone could ever hope for. What you read in these pages is about the work of the Holy Spirit. We are saved “through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:4-7).
God’s Plan Aims at the Heart
Romans 10:10 – “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Salvation is not based on a simple superficial assent to certain stated facts; it involves a heart belief that bears fruit in life. God’s sovereign requirements are heart belief that results in life confession. God wants our heart. The heart is the target of God in salvation. Why is the heart so important?
What is the “heart”? Paul refers to the heart five times in this chapter of Romans (Romans 10:1,6,8,9,10). The word “heart” is translated from the Greek term kardia which occurs 160 times in the New Testament (translated 159 times “heart” and once “brokenhearted”). Kardia can refer to the physical organ of the heart that pumps blood to the body or more importantly, it refers to the center and seat of all spiritual life. [ii]
Why is the heart so important? The heart is the center of the human being. If you want to know the person, you have to get to the heart. The heart is the heart of a person. The Bible speaks very clearly about this, and the following reasons are given to support the centrality of heart in importance.
First, the heart is where the issues of life are considered. In Proverbs it states:
Proverbs 4:23 – “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”
Proverbs 23:7a – “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”
What we allow in and what we let out of our heart should be closely attended.
Second, the heart is where sin lodges itself. Jeremiah said:
Jeremiah 17:9-10 – “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?10 I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.”
Jesus pointed this truth out when He spoke about the content of sinful people’s hearts saying:
Matthew 15:18-19 – “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.19 “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” (Luke 6:45)
Notice to the close connection between the condition of the heart and the words spoken by a person. If you want to know the condition of yours’ or another person’s heart, just listen to the words the proceed out of the mouth of each.
In Hebrews it states:
Hebrews 3:12 – “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;”
Humanities problem is a heart problem. We could mention many more verses here but suffice it to say that because the problem of sin is in the heart, God aims the gospel at the heart of sinful man.
Third, it is in the human heart that God has put an inherent desire to know Him. Solomon recognized this when he was inspired to write:
Ecclesiastes 3:11b – “Also He has put eternity in their hearts, . . .”
God created humanity for His good pleasure (Revelation 4:11 KJV). He desired humanity to have fellowship with Him and be the object of His love. Sin separated humanity from that fellowship with our Holy God (Isaiah 59:1-2). A person will never find contentment or true meaning in life apart from having fellowship with God restored. Human beings were created to have fellowship with God, to live in worship and praise of their Creator, and until they find that there will be a continual void and emptiness. That is the “eternity,” the eternal purpose, the eternal longing created in the hearts of humanity.
Fourth, we seek God and find Him when we search for Him with our heart. It is with the heart that one believes in Christ and is saved (Romans 10:10). If salvation is an arrow shot by God in grace, it is aimed at the heart of people. The Bible repeatedly emphasizes the need for people to come to God wholeheartedly or with all their heart. The following verses attest to this:
Deuteronomy 4:29 – “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Jeremiah 29:13 – “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Joel 2:12-13 – “Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.”
A person is saved when they turn to God with their heart. A person may understand a great deal about God, but to be saved a person must come to know God and they can only do that when they come to Him with their heart. Then God is able to give the sinner a new heart.
Fifth, God wants ALL your heart. God wants to be LORD in your heart. Notice in the verses above and those that will follow, God wants all our heart. That is why salvation is based on a heartfelt confession that Jesus is your Lord. Read what the Bible says about giving God your entire heart:
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 – “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”
Deuteronomy 10:12 – “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,” (Deuteronomy 11:13; 26:16; 30:2,6,10; Joshua 22:5).
Deuteronomy 13:1-3 – “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,2 “and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’3 “you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”
From the very beginning, God has revealed that He wants our heart.
Jesus taught the importance and priority of giving God all your heart. On one occasion He was asked what the greatest commandment of God was and this is what He said:
Matthew 22:37-39 – Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all you’re your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mid.’ This is the first and great commandment.39 “And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27)
Is Jesus your Lord, or is something or someone else ruling your life? Repent and invite Jesus to sit on the throne of your heart, your whole entire heart.
How Do We Reach a Heart?
If salvation is a matter of the heart, then how can we reach a sinner’s heart? To reach a sinful heart you must use the Law of God.
The purpose of the Law. The Bible clearly states that the Law is God’s ordained means to reach hearts:
1 Timothy 1:8–11 (NKJV) – 8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, 9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.
God gave the Law to reach sinful people. The Law strikes at the heart of the sinner. The Law makes and incision in our heart and exposes the sinful cancers within it. The Law is given by God to convert the soul (Psalm 19:7), to stop sinners from self-justification (Romans 3:19). The Law exposes and reveals the sin within (Romans 3:20; 7:7). The Law makes sins covered in darkness crystal clear in the light of the Law (1 John 3:4). The Law humbles the sinner (Psalm 51:4; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5-7). The Law leaves us wrecked in our self-effort and brings us on a stretcher to Jesus as Savior (Galatians 3:24).
A.B. Earl, a 19th century evangelist who was used by God to save over 150,000 souls, shared:
“I have found by long experience that the severest threatening of the Law of God has a prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy. They’ll not escape danger until they see it.”
Ray Comfort, a prominent and effective contemporary evangelist states in his book Hell’s Best Kept Secret:
“The Law doesn’t help us; it just leaves us helpless. It doesn’t justify us; it just leaves us guilty before the judgment bar of a Holy God. . .. With the Law He breaks the hard heart. With the Gospel He heals the brokenhearted.” [1]
If you want to reach a heart, the Law of God is the scalpel you need to do it.
God’s Salvation is a Matter of GIVING GOD ALL YOUR HEART
In the book of Acts when Philip meets up with the Ethiopian Eunuch by Divine appointment the Eunuch asks Philip to baptize him, and Philip tells him about the condition by which he can be baptized (or saved). The account of the conversation is as follows:
Acts 8:36-38 – “Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.”
Now notice, the Eunuch’s salvation is not based on his being baptized, but upon whether or not he believes in Jesus with all his heart. Salvation is a matter of the heart, not any ritual or ceremony done apart from the heart. And God wants all our heart. What is missing in the world and even in the church today is a wholehearted devotion to God. You can repeat all the Spiritual Laws or salvation plans in the world, but if you haven’t given God your heart, you haven’t been saved!
The reason we see so many Millard and Mildred Milktoast wishy-washy Christians in the church is that they likely have never truly given God “all their heart.” The cause of carnality, lukewarmness, and that which is repugnant to Christ is that many who claim to be Christian have never given all their heart to Jesus. Perhaps you are like the church at Ephesus who left your first love (Revelation 2:4), or perhaps you have never truly given Jesus all your heart and are lukewarm in indecision worthy of the Lord spitting you out of His mouth (Revelation 3:15-16). Understand that Jesus wants all your heart. Salvation involves giving Jesus ALL your heart.
The Sanctification of the Heart
Once we are saved from our sins, God begins a sanctifying work in our heart. Sanctification is how Christian grow and mature in their faith. Sanctification is a tremendous blessing from God. What is it?
Sanctified hearts. We are saved by giving God our heart through faith in Jesus Christ. We are sanctified when by the Spirit’s power we set up Jesus as Lord in our hearts. Peter referred to this when he was inspired to write:
1 Peter 3:15 – “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;”
The word “sanctify” (Greek hagiadzo) means to be set apart. The idea is one of uncommonness, extraordinary. The sanctified person is the person who is set apart to God for His service. The sanctified person is different; they stick out from the crowd of ordinary unsaved people. Too often Christians do everything they can to “fit in” with the crowd while in effect God calls us to be different in a good holy way. When we come to Christ as Savior and are forgiven our sins and regenerated by the Holy Spirit, life from that point on is going to be different if we are genuinely saved. The Holy Spirit at that point begins His holy transforming work in us. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit begins His holy work in us, the “holy” will naturally stick out from the “unholy” in this world, light puts out the darkness, gold is purified as the dross is burned away.
Sanctify Jesus in your heart. But Peter here says, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. . ..” Here we see the other side of sanctification. We as Christians with the Holy Spirit working holiness into our heart and lives, we, each of us, are to sanctify, or set apart Jesus in our heart. That means nothing in our heart should be on the same level of priority as Jesus is for us. That means Jesus is preeminent in our heart. That means Jesus is our top priority, our primary concern, our lens through whom we see everything. Why would Peter instruct us to “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts”? Because when Jesus is sanctified or separated and made extraordinary in our heart, when we converse or interact with others, we will be “ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” When Jesus is your top priority, you can’t help but speak about Him and share Him with others. When Jesus is your Lord and Master, your King of kings and Lord of lords, Savior, Shepherd, you will be ready to share Him with those around you.
We have already studied in Romans 8 that it is the Holy Spirit who does this holy sanctifying work in us. If salvation is giving Jesus all your heart, then sanctification is keeping all your heart under the Lordship of Jesus. Here in 1 Peter 3:15 we see sanctification as keeping Jesus as Lord in our hearts. Jesus’ rightful place on the throne of your heart ruling as your Lord and Master will come under many challenges. Sanctification is keeping at bay those challenges and challengers to the Lordship of Jesus in your heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the Spirit we can knock down and knock out every would-be usurper to our Lord and King of hearts in us. The Holy Spirit enlightens the believer to discern challenges to the lordship of Jesus in our heart and empowers them to remove them. It is only by the help of the Helper that we can set up or sanctify Jesus as Lord in our hearts o that we are “ready,” and we might add, unashamed to be used by God in His sovereign plan of salvation ministry for the lost.
That is the heart of salvation. That is the heart of sanctification. This is what God wants to do in every person who trusts Jesus as Savior with all their heart. How’s your heart, still dirty with sin? Give the Lord your heart and all that can change. How’s your new heart? Is Jesus set apart as Lord in your new heart? Are you reaching out and sharing the gospel with others; are you using the Law of God to do so? How is your heart when it comes to salvation and sanctification? I pray you love God supremely in your heart and love those around you sacrificially. The best way to do that is, share the gospel with the hearts around you. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
[1] If you’re interested in learning how to share the gospel, or need a great source of effective evangelistic tracts, I encourage you to visit the Living Waters website of Ray Comfort where you will find all you need to share the gospel with the lost – https://livingwaters.com/
[i]W.E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger and William White, Vine’s complete expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1996.
[ii]Strong, J. 1996. Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship: Ontario