Romans 10:10-13 “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
In verse nine of this chapter, Paul gave us a great assurance: there is deliverance in believing and acknowledging that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. We must understand that to be able to acknowledge anything about God indicates that God has already begun a work in us. Since God is a spirit (John 4:24), it takes a spiritual mind to recognize Him and His work. The natural man does not receive the things of God because they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor 2:14).
For any man to believe in Jesus Christ with the heart indicates that spiritual life is already present. Not only has God already begun a work in the heart of that individual, but He has also begun to grant discernment. This spiritual discernment allows us to understand in our heart that our righteousness is in Jesus Christ. We cannot do the second part of Paul’s statement here until we have laid hold on this first part.
Only by believing in the very core of our being in the righteousness of Jesus Christ can we confess with our mouth the great salvation of God. Confessing with confidence that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God and our righteousness is another evidence that God has wrought His work of salvation in our hearts and revealed it to us by the Holy Spirit. Our confession does not give us deliverance. Instead, it is the testimony of the Spirit that God has already delivered us.
Being given faith by God in the righteous work of His son has nothing to do with our lineage. It does not matter if we are born rich or poor, male of female, from the north or the south. Whether we were raised in a family of church-going people or never saw the inside of a church building until we were able to take ourselves there has no bearing on the work of God in our lives. We are truly brothers and sisters when God reveals His Son in us.
We have one Lord over us. We worship one God who has seen fit to manifest Himself as three; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Regardless of our natural background or physical attributes, He is the same to us all and is rich to all who call upon Him. We recognize that feeling a need to call upon Him is the result of His work that He first began in us. The natural man, left to himself, would consider calling on God an act of utter foolishness (1 Cor 2:14).
For we who believe, there is no shame in calling on God the Father in the name of Jesus. We are delivered from any feeling of shame or foolishness for doing so. We are delivered from the terror of facing life’s obstacles alone because we have One who is faithful and rich in His mercy toward us. There is indeed salvation in calling upon the name of the Lord.
May it please God to firmly settle the righteousness of Jesus Christ in our hearts, and may we with joy confess this great salvation without shame!