People of God | Who Can Be Saved?

Have you ever wondered if God could really save someone like you?
 Do you feel weighed down by shame or regret?
 What if the way to new life is closer than you think?
 Could Jesus be inviting you to trust him today?
 
 The good news of Jesus is not about climbing your way to God or trying harder to earn his approval. Jesus came for you. He died for sin, rose from the dead, and offers forgiveness, healing, and eternal life to everyone who trusts him. The gospel gives us a foundation that holds when guilt, fear, and uncertainty try to shake us. In Christ, salvation is not far away. The Savior is near, and his invitation is open.
 
 Romans 10 answers one of the most important questions we can ask: Who can be saved? The answer is stunning in its simplicity and hope. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. If you are searching for assurance of salvation, freedom from shame, healing for a wounded heart, or a deeper understanding of what it means to follow Jesus, this message points to the life changing truth of the gospel. Jesus offers a new life, a restored relationship with God, and a future filled with hope.
 
 Scripture: Romans 10:8 to 13
 “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9
 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13
 
 Belong at First Pres by taking the first step: join us for worship on Sundays in person. https://firstprescos.org/belong

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the first prediction podcast. We dive into scripture, truth, and discover how faith intersects our lives. God's word meets us where we are, challenging us, shaping, and calling us into something greater. No matter where you are on your journey, you belong here. And we're praying that this sermon might help you take a next step in faith towards Jesus. Hey, let's dive into today's message together.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Good morning, church. We're so grateful for the there's a lot of good fathers in the house. A lot of good fathers, amen. What a blessing. What a blessing. And all of you who uh lead others, who influence others, who uh share in uh the faithfulness and the goodness of God our Father in heaven, just grateful to celebrate with you. We're in Romans. You've had this scripture read by our elder Wendy. Thank you for reading that. I hope it's in front of you. We're studying Romans, and we're in Romans 10, 8 to 13. And so as we approach this word, let's pray. Father God in heaven, you spoke your word under the inspiration of your Holy Spirit. And now we're sitting here and reading it in our own times. And our prayer, Lord, is that by the power and clarity of your word, you would drive from our minds every false thought. That we can see you clearly and understand what you've done for us and believe. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Church said. Amen. Amen. Some things you say out loud, church, some things you say they change your life forever. Once you've said them, it changes everything. You know what I'm talking about? Here's an example wedding vows. Once you say that, you can't go back on it. Wedding vows. We've got a ministry in our church called First Press Fellows. First Press Fellows, Woo? Woo? Okay, good job. Good job, Will. I'm gonna give you Will gets the only credit for that. And uh, Will, First Press Fellows, this is a ministry we gather uh young people, recent college grads from around the country, we bring them out here to Colorado Springs, we settle them in our church community, and we help them to find an internship where they can sort of learn a work life that they're interested in. And uh, we teach them discipleship, Bible training, leadership, and then we graduate them, we send them out and say, now go out into the world and be world changers for Jesus. Amen. Let's go, fellows. Come on, go. And every now and then along the way, a couple of them fall in love. They're not supposed to, it's not in the rules. But it happens, it happens, and we really celebrate that. Last weekend uh we had a wedding. We were at a wedding, Abigail and I, and a bunch of us were at a wedding of two of our fellows who uh graduated from the class of 2025 and they got married last Sunday afternoon. And I gotta tell you, sitting in this wedding, it just kind of grabbed me. Just kind of held on to my heart and started squeezing the juice out of it. You know what I mean? It just touched me. Joe Farrell was leading it and this beautiful place, this beautiful couple. And they went through the ordinary things that you'd you'd remember. You know, you say the vows, the vows. Uh, for better or for worse, for richer for poorer. Yeah. Second service couldn't figure that out. They didn't get that one at all. In sickness and in. Yeah. One time I was doing a wedding and I accidentally said, in sickness and in death. Both of them turned and looked at me like, isn't there like a third option? In sickness, they went through, they said all these things, all these standard vows of looking at each other. And you, you know, uh, 30 years of marriage, 35 years of ministry. It's hard to push off that little bit of you know cynicism where you're watching them say these things, you're just like, they have no idea. For better, for they have no idea what they're saying. And of course, nobody does, right? But then they turned, they stood face to face, they looked deep into each other's eyes, and they said, And to these promises, I pledge my vow. Just kind of so when you say that, that's not just a little shift, that's not just a little change, you're a new person. Listen, church, the gospel that we're going to be talking about today, the gospel is not an offer to slightly enhance your life. It's not an offer to make a little twist or a little change or a little adjustment. The gospel of Jesus Christ is an offer of a new life entirely. The old is gone and the new has come. For if you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Amen. As a church, if you haven't been with us, we've been studying along in Romans. We're going every verse, we're not skipping anything, and we've learned a lot. We have learned that this Roman church was separated into two kind of groups that were competitive with one another. There were Jewish background believers and there were Gentile background believers, and they were kind of in a contest of, hey, you know, who really belongs here? Who truly is at the core? And who's sort of a guest that's allowed in the house? And so they've been at each other, and the whole thing has been reframed by Romans. You're one church, you're one body. Jesus is Lord of all, he's sovereign over all, and he has a plan that includes Romans, includes Gentiles, includes Jews, but you're all coming in on one footing. No first class, second class. This is the plan, the story. And we've learned all this along the way in 10 chapters, and maybe we're getting a little lost in the muddle of it all. We say, Paul, look, man, you've helped me a lot. You've shown me what the nature of the world is and how it's fallen and how God intends to fix it, and you've shown us the kind of what sin can do, how it can mess us up. And you've shown us who Jesus is. You've talked about the sovereignty of God and his plan to restore all things and how Jesus is Lord over all, and we're all on the same footing in need of grace. And you've talked about some complex things like God's sovereignty and salvation, predestination, election. And Paul, if I have to be honest, I just need you to help me out. Can you put a point on it? Can you answer something for me? Who can be saved? Don't you want to know? Who can be saved? Who can be saved? Well, hope your Bibles are open. Last week we left things off on a little bit of a uh a cliffhanger. Who can be saved? Well, the first thing to say is you don't have to climb up a mountain to go get salvation. You don't have to go down into the depths of Hades on some subterranean mission like uh Odysseus or Theseus or some mythological venture. You don't have to do any of that stuff. Look at this. We're gonna roll back up the page to verse six. But the righteousness that is by faith says, do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down. You don't have to say that. Why? Because Christ is God come down. Or who will descend into the deep? That is to bring Christ up from the dead. You don't have to say that. Don't say that. Why? Because Jesus is God who went down into death and rose again from the depths. So we pick up where we are, but what does it say? What does it say? The word is near you, it is in your mouth. How far is it to get to salvation? How far do I have to go to get to where I need to be? The word is near you, and the word is in your mouth. It is in your heart. That is the message concerning the faith that we proclaim. Friends, the word is right here. The help is right here. The salvation is right here. The Savior is right here. He's present. Who then can be saved? There's a few places in Scripture where this is made more clear. Verse 9. If you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with the heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. We're going to come right back to that, but I want to teach the passage, so let's go on down. Verse 11. What else are we learning? What else are we learning? Let's talk through it first. Scriptures have been talking about this all along, and we've been quoting as we studied Roman from uh Joel, Isaiah, Deuteronomy, Leviticus. This is not an idea that's popping out in a vacuum. This has been uh something that God has been declaring all along. So verse 11, as Scripture says, anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame. So this isn't a new idea. This is a fulfillment of God's idea that he's been sharing with us all along. Anyone who believes in him will not be put to now what was that word? That's a heavy word, isn't it? Will not be put to shame. Let's talk about that for a minute. You know, guilt and shame are two different things. Do you know that? Guilt, listen, guilt can be very healthy. You know, if you've done something wrong and you don't feel any guilt, that's kind of a problem, to be honest, right? Guilt can be very healthy. What does guilt say? Guilt says, I think I've done something wrong. Well, if you think you've done something wrong, well, then what is the healthy and mature way to respond to that, to navigate through that? Well, I think I've done something wrong. So what am I gonna do? I'm gonna recognize it. I'm gonna apologize for it appropriately. I'm gonna do what I can to make up for it. And you know, I'm gonna resolve not to do that again. That's all very healthy. That's a healthy response. I did something wrong. Shame is a different voice. It doesn't say I think I did something wrong. Shame says I think I'm worthless. I think I'm a waste. Hear me now. That's a lie. God has determined your worth. He made you, he sent his son to die for you. Guilt says, I think I've done something wrong. Okay, apologize, be forgiven, move forward. Shame says, I think I'm a worthless person. What this says is when you believe in Jesus Christ, when you are right with him, when you put your faith in him, you will not be put to what? It's gone. You can't have that. You can't have it. No one can call you worthless and make that claim stick because it's false. No one can say it. Least of which, you yourself. No more shame. Amen. For there are no longer no difference, for there's no difference, excuse me, verse 12, for there's no difference between Jew and Gentile. The same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him. Okay, this is one of those big problems that the Roman church is trying to get past, right? Two groups. Is it too much to call this a problem of racism? It's pretty close. The American problem with race issues is different from what the Romans were facing, but it's kind of the same family, folks. We just like to separate ourselves out and claim that we're better or different or other. And it's just so easy to crack that thing like this. And what have we learned? What we've learned is that the church is one. There's one Lord, one people, one blood, one humanity. No difference. Amen. One church. But let's be real. Are there differences? Yeah. I mean, there's differences. There's differences in where they came up, how they grew up, difference in language, difference in food, difference in the music that they dance to, difference in skin tone, uh, where they, you know, live in the city. There's differences, there's all kinds of differences, and what the gospel is saying, what the word of God is saying, is that those differences, those distinctions, are nothing but colorful paintbrush strokes on one beautiful single canvas called the church. The body of Christ. Telling you, this was a new thing in the world. And it still catches the world by surprise whenever it comes clear. The beauty. One church, one body, one blood, one people, no difference. For verse 13, would you say this with me, church? I want to challenge you, commit this to memory. Verse 13, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. It's quoting Joel. He's just quoting Joel. Everyone, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. The name. What does that mean? That means a lot more than just the proper name Jesus. That means a lot more than just saying Jesus, holding on to some like it's a magic word. Sometimes, even as we're singing the praise songs that we sing, it starts to sound like this word, this word has got some magic power. Name is much more than a single word. What is name? Name is reputation, name is character, name is everything you know about a person, who they are, are their trustworthiness, the reliability. The name of the Lord is everything you know Jesus to be, everything that he has shown you to be in his love and his care in your life. If you call upon the name of Jesus, it doesn't mean I'm saying the name Jesus, I'm pulling the name Jesus down as some kind of a magic word. What it means is you trust everything that you are, everything that you have into everything that you know of who Jesus is. And when you do that, when you pitch your faith, your life, your hope, your trust on everything you know Jesus to be, then you're calling on the name. And everyone who calls on the name will be saved. Amen. What an offer. What an offer. I'm telling you, church, this is why this is why we're here. We say in this church, you gather up, you give this is the longest day of the year, and you made a really good decision. I'm gonna give an hour of it to glorify God. Amen. I'm gonna give an hour of it to give glory to God in his name because he's worthy of praise. And the reason why we gather and worship God is that he is holding us together as a witness to this city to send out the good news of this offer, this good news of the gospel. We say in this church, we want to be light and life for the city. Have you heard that around? What do we, why do we say that? What? We want to run an electric company? Like, we're going solar or something? I don't know. Why do we say that? Because Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Because Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. And we know our mission is to make him known in this city. Amen. This is the offer. The offer of the gospel, the good news of the gospel, is not an offer to, again, to enhance your life with a fresh set of philosophical ideas. It's not an offer to learn new spiritual insights and learn new rhythms that somehow satisfy or work better for you. That's not what this is about. That's very nice. That's not what the gospel is. The gospel is an offer to put your whole life into the hands of Jesus, to trust in him, to believe in him, and to move from eternal death to eternal life. It's an offer, first of all, to have a relationship with God. A right relationship. Because look, we all have a relationship with God. He made us. You have a relationship with God. The question is: do you have a right relationship with God, or do you have a wrong relationship with God? All of our relationships, we love when they're right, when they're in order, you know. We love them to be clear. You're my boss, I'm your employee. That's a clear relationship. And it's actually helpful if it's clear. You're my teacher, I'm your student. You know, that works. That we can be, we know who we are, what we're doing. What doesn't work is when I'm the student and I think I'm smarter than the teacher, right? Okay, come on. Any students in the house? How many of your teachers are you smarter than? Just puts your number in the air, raise your fingers. Like, no, you can't do that. Because when you do that, you're the coach, I'm the player. Well, if I can trust you to coach me well, then I'll be the player. Well, if I don't trust you, then it creates this real tension in the relationship. Like, I think I'm and it feels good when it's in the right order. Listen to me, when you when you name Jesus Lord because that's who he is, it's more than a relief of tension. That truth begins a new life. The old is gone, and the new has come, and you are saved. If you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. You will be saved. This is the end, church, of what we call the Roman Road. If you were here in March, we talked through this way of explaining the gospel news and walking through Romans and four verses. The first one was Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That means we have a loving God who wants to be in relationship with us. Our relationship is broken because of our sin. And what is God gonna do about that? Turn away from us and leave us to be destroyed? No. The next step was Romans 5.8. While we were yet sinners, God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. When does God give up on you? When you turn away and shake your fist? No. While we're still calling ourselves enemies, he declared us friends and he died for us. Jesus' death on the cross was not an accident of history, it was an intentional sacrifice for sin to pay the penalty that we owed. He died for us. He died in our place. And then it comes to Romans 6 23. This verse, um this verse is actually the first verse I ever underlined in my Bible. And I was so scared. You know? Someone said, You can write in your Bible. Like, no, you can't. No, hey, it's the Bible. No, you can underline it. Oh, I was so frightened. I got out my a very special red felt tip pen and got my ruler out. You know? And why did I want to underline it? I could still see it. Because this is the verse over which I became a Christian when I was 12 years old. And the gospel was declared to me, like it's being declared to you right now. What do you want? For the wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. What do you want? Do you want what your sin has earned, or do you want what Christ has earned on your behalf? And then it comes to this final stop. Romans 10, 9. For if you declare with your mouth, if you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Well, why does that? Why is that where it has to land? Why? Because it has to come home. It has to come into you, in your mind, in your heart. You have to bring this into your life and trust in it. Otherwise, it's just some idea of what Christ may or may not have done on your behalf. It's just something sitting out there far from you. You have to bring this home to your heart. If you confess with your lips, if you believe in your heart, then you will be saved. Declare with your mouth, it says. Some translations say, confess with your lips. Confess with your lips. This is very material. This isn't an idea. Like put it on your social media, or million. This is really, it's right here in your body, your mouth, your lips, that hole in the front of your face. Can we all locate it? And he's saying, you gotta say it. You may believe in Jesus Christ. You may trust in him. What's the last time you said it out loud? Counselors use something called talk therapy to help people find healing. They know how important it is to say something out loud. They just ask you questions. Say that again. Say that. Why? Because when you say something out loud, you can deal with it a little bit differently. You can measure it, you can sift it for inappropriate negative thoughts or falseness, or you can untangle knots of emotions that are keeping you blocked. There's all kinds of help that comes when you just say it out loud. In fact, research says that when you say something out loud, it changes the neural pathways of your brain. It changes this brain in here to say something out loud. What's the last time you confessed with your lips? What's the last time the name Jesus went across your lips? Somewhere maybe other than church. Paul knew as he wrote to the Romans, you Romans, you need to say it out loud. You need to say it out loud. It's got to come out of your mouth. It's got to cross your lips. You've got to say the name Jesus. You need to confess. You need to put this out there in front of you. You need to believe this with your words. You need to say it. Why? And what do they need to say? If you confess with your lips that, do you remember what it says? That Jesus is Lord. That's a big word. In Rome, that was used to talk about the provincial governor, the uh the emperor, the Caesar in Rome. If you say that Jesus is Lord, if you're caught saying that, you're saying that Caesar is not. There can be only one. If you say Jesus is Lord in ancient Rome, you're putting your whole life on the line, your business, your family, everything you are. Paul says you gotta say it. Until you say it, you don't really believe it. But this isn't slogan Christianity, slogan salvation. This isn't speak the magic words and get your prize, kind of a thing. Maybe you've been in a camp environment or a Christian meeting or a church where there's a lot of emphasis on getting you to say exactly the right words. And maybe you said them, but you didn't believe them. You need to confess with your lips. Let's see it again, verse 9. For if you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. What you say, it's got to come from the heart. What do you believe? And look at this now. What is it that they need to believe? That God raised him from the dead? The resurrection. Well, that's a lot to believe, isn't it? That's a tall ask. People die, they don't come back to life. Do I have to believe that? Is that really at the core? Yes. Why? Because that is the gospel. That is how God saved. That is what Jesus did to bring about your salvation. Jesus did not save by sending good ideas, by passing a note or publishing a book on how to live a good life. Jesus saved by coming. Jesus came and he took on flesh, and he took that flesh to the cross, and he died on the cross, flesh and blood, as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. And he laid down cold and dead in the grave. And on the third day, he rose again to new life, and he opened up eternal life for all who follow him. And when he rose from the dead, when God raised up that body and resurrection life, this was a publication, a declaration to the world, to the cosmos, that what Jesus did on the cross, it worked. It mattered and it happened and it was efficacious. It was true and it was good. And because he died for you on the cross, the penalty is paid. It has been done, and the blood was worthy. And God is saying that's over now. Your sins will not be held against you when your faith is in Jesus Christ. He opened up eternal life. Amen? That's how he's saved. That's what you gotta believe. He rose again from the dead. If he confess with your lips, if you believe in your heart, then you will be what? Saved. Last part. What does that mean? Last part, and then we'll go to prayer. What does saved mean? Well, it definitely means what you think. It means in ancient Greek, saved means rescued from peril. Like if someone uh rushed out and saved you from drowning, jumped off the ship, grabbed a hold of you, pulled you out of the water. I got saved. I got saved. Rescued from peril. But you know what else it means? It means healing. It means wholeness. It means everything coming back together. If you confess with your lips, Jesus is Lord, if you believe in your heart that he rose again from the dead, you will be saved. Well, what does that mean? Well, number one, yes, it means rescued from peril. When you are in your sin, you have divorced yourself from the author of life, you have put yourself on a path, a trajectory of guaranteed eternal death, separation from the source of all life, peril, damnation, death, eternal. That's for real. When your faith is in Christ, when you are saved, that's off the table. It's gone. Forget about it. You've been saved. What else does it mean? Well, it means healed. When you come into a right relationship with God and Jesus Christ, when you call him Lord, for so he is, healing comes into your life from God. There is immediate healing, and there's a beginning of a long walk, a program of total healing and restoration, regrets, pain points, broken things in your life, psychological baggage. Jesus is in the game with you, bringing healing. That's what it means. Rescued, healed. You know what else it means? It means an end to your existential crises. All those nights lying in bed, am I worth anything? What is life all about? What am I doing here? Am I ever going to make a difference? That's over. When you know Jesus as Lord, when you are in a right relationship with Jesus, you are now living a life of purpose and of meaning. And you belong to Him, your Father in heaven. It means you're rescued. It means you're healed. It means the existential crisis is over, you're at peace. And you know what else it means? It means that you are invited into God's mission of redeeming and rescuing and restoring all this lost world and creation that He has made. You're suddenly picked up and used a child of God for good. You're a force of healing, a force of rescue, a force of salvation. He uses you for shalom, the completeness of all things. If you confess with your lips, if you believe in your heart, this is the core of it. This is the beginning of the Christian life. That's why we're here. Jesus said in John 10, he said, I am the gate. I am the gate. It's a fairly weird thing to say, isn't it? If you pass through, I am the gate. All who pass through me will be saved. The offer of Jesus is not an offer to enhance your life with Christian ideas. The offer of Jesus is to pass through the gate, to pass through the cross. The old is gone, the new has come. Jesus said in John chapter 3 to Nicodemus, he said, Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. It's that big. The old life gone, the new life come. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth in another letter. He said, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, a new creation has come. It's that big. New creation, the whole world is different because you have come home to your Father in heaven. The old is gone, the new is here. So who can be saved? Everyone who's ever known salvation in Jesus Christ sat in a chair like you're sitting in right now, hearing a message like you've just heard, and felt the presence of the Lord before them. And you know what they said? They said, I believe. We're gonna take a moment to pray and do just that. Hey, maybe you've known the Lord for a long time. You've been walking with Jesus, you can remember a time when he said this first, you've been pursuing Jesus. It's wonderful. Say it again. What's the last time you said it out loud? Some of you here are seeking, you're trying to get questions answered, and you know there's something missing. Maybe it's found in Jesus. I'm telling you, not all your questions will be answered. They never will all be answered. But there comes a moment when you have to trust and believe and say, Jesus, that's enough. I believe in you and I trust in you. That moment might be right now. Some of you, I want to look at the kids in the room. Look at the kids in the room. Yeah, like Will. How many of you kids? Look up, you kids. You've been oh oh, ducked down behind the chair. You've been growing up in the church. You've been coming to church Sunday after Sunday. You know, one day you need to answer for yourself who Jesus is in your life. Maybe that day is today. And some of you have been sitting in church for decades, 10, 20, 30, 40 years. But if I got to you alone and asked you, you'd say, I don't know. I don't know. You can know. Open your heart to Jesus Christ. Enough fussing around. Enough messing around. Amen. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna lead you in a time of prayer, and I'm gonna offer a prayer up here. I'm inviting you to repeat that prayer phrase by phrase. And as you repeat that prayer, I want you to pray to Jesus Christ. I want you to pray to the Lord in response to what he has done for you. And this is the moment, this is it. It's it's not complicated. The word is near you. It's in your heart, it's in your mouth. All you gotta do is believe, trust, say it out loud. Would you bow your heads where you are? Let's go to the Lord in prayer. This is a moment of salvation. This is a place and a time. The gates of heaven are open. Jesus is present with us. Would you pray? Repeat after me. Jesus, I believe. I believe that you are Lord. I believe my sins deserved death. I believe you paid my debt on the cross. I believe you rose again from the dead. I believe life is in you. I believe you gave your life for me. Now I give you mine. In Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

Amen. Hearing God's word is just the beginning. What connected with you? What challenged you today? Maybe it's surrendering something, stepping into community, or simply trusting Him more deeply. Whatever it is, don't leave it for later. Act on it today. We're praying that this message moves you closer to Jesus. And we'd love to walk with you in that journey and answer any questions you've got. Connect with us by visiting firstprints.org. Today's message encouraged you to take a moment and subscribe so you never miss an episode. And share it with someone who needs to hear it. Check in next week and we'll continue to grow in our faith together. See you next time.