This morning I’d like us to continue our journey, our adventure through the book of Romans. And we last stopped last week at Romans 10 and verse 4 and how God says, “For Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness to everyone that believes.” After the sermon I went up to the Facebook, social media website and I wanted to see what are some of the thinking people had. And I was glad to see some of the posts here. I asked for permission to post it up. And some of our brethrens said, “God’s righteousness is so high, our own righteousness is nowhere, but Christ provides that righteousness.” And he’s right! It’s exactly what the Scripture has declared. God is so righteous! He’s perfectly Holy! There’s no flaw, no sin, no evil with God! He is perfect in righteousness. In contrast to that, man is absolutely sinful! And all our so-called ‘righteousnesses’ are like filthy rags in the eyes of a Holy God. Our righteousness is nowhere. But herein is the loving kindness and the grace, and the mercy of God that when man can never reach up to God’s requirements, He freely gave His Son for us. Jesus Christ went to the cross, suffered and died in order to give us righteousness. There on the cross, our sins are paid for by Jesus and the righteousness which He had, He gave it to us.

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Another brethren, he said, “Our… how great is the gulf, the chasm, the distance of God’s holiness and our unrighteousness. It’s as great as the mercy that bridge this infinite gulf.” So we thank God this morning we gather to worship a God of mercy, a God of grace, who freely gives us salvation, righteousness and life. We continue our journey in Romans 10 and we come to verse 5. It’s a very interesting verse whereby Paul says, “For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the Law.” So the Bible is saying, if you want to be righteous, if you want to be acceptable with God, actually there is a way to do it. You obey the law. So if you want to be righteous with God, sure! Obey the law. But do take note, if you want to obey the law, “The man which doeth those things shall live by them.” In other words, if you depend on your obedience to the law, if you depend on your works to be saved, then you must make sure you will live and die by it. And the big problem about obeying the law in order to obtain righteousness is this: “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law.” So Paul is saying, Sure, you want to be righteous with God in your own works, by all means. But this is the requirement. You must obey it perfectly, completely and entirely. It’s all or nothing.

0:03:41.6

Sometime ago I was with my wife at a restaurant. And when I got there, she told me something interesting about this restaurant. This restaurant has a challenge that is available to anyone who dares meet up to that challenge. And that is this: you are supposed to be able to finish this burger called the ‘Terminator Burger’. Wow, what a name! Terminator Burger! Terminates your hunger. The ‘Terminator Burger’ in twenty minutes. So in twenty minutes you are supposed to finish this burger which is er… made up of 5 patties. 5 Wagyu beef patties, each about 200 grams. So you are about to finish 1 kilogram of meat, plus cheese, plus mushroom, plus the bread and plus all the sides. Which is the fries and so on. I know of a friend who attempted the terminator challenge. I… er… he’s a big strong muscular guy like me… uh… no lah! (Laughter from congregation) He’s a big strong muscular guy and of all of us, I guess he will be the one who will be able to do it. But… in twenty minutes all he could do is to finish all the beef patties. He left the burger, he left the sides, the fries aside. He said it is just too much! To those who can accept and complete the terminator challenge, what they will do is they will waive the charge for this ‘Terminator Burger’ which is $48.00. And they will take a photo of you and put it in their wall of fame. (Laughter from congregation) You can go to this restaurant and you can see about maybe… 10, 12 people throughout history that have successfully completed the terminator challenge. Now if you fail the terminator challenge, if you do not wipe out everything in twenty minutes, then they will charge you the full price of $48.00. You see, it is all or nothing!

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Difference is that some of us here, I know you guys are big appetite people. Some of us here might be able to successfully challenge the terminator challenge but none of us today can fulfil the demands of the law. It is like eating 1 million ‘Terminator Burgers’ in 1 second. You say, Pastor how can you do that? That is exactly the point! Nobody can obey the law fully and therefore no one can be saved by his own works. You see James tells us, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point.” That’s all it takes! You say, I’m an obedient guy. I obeyed every commandment, so surely God must accept me. God says, you just break one, you are guilty of all. Supposed a man hanging by the edge of a cliff by a chain of ten links. How many links need to be broken in order for the man to fall down to the ground and die? It just takes one. And all it takes today is to break one law in your life, your entire life, a law that is broken outside or inside and you will be guilty of all. Therefore Paul says, “No man can be justified by the works of the law.” Yes, you may want to attempt it. You may think you can. But let me tell you, you’ve got to obey all! And when you realised you’ve got to obey all, then this pathway to God is inaccessible. It is impossible. No man is justified by the works of the law. The law is not meant to save. There is no mercy in the law. No man is justified by obedience to the law. It works the wrath of God. It shows you your sinfulness. It is to condemn. It’s not to save. So route number 1 is impossible. 0:07:51.1

Paul however tells us, route number 2. The second way to obtaining righteousness is not by works but the Bible says is by faith. It’s by believing; it’s by receiving; it’s by trusting what God has already done when man can’t do anything. So you see there are 2 ways to have righteousness with God. One is by your works, the other is by faith. One is trying to achieve, the other is simply receive. One is saying “Do”, the other one is saying, “It’s Done!” Paul says the first way can never work. Righteousness is by faith. And he goes on to tell us in verses 6 and 7, that this way of righteousness by faith is easy. You don’t have to embark on Herculean task to save yourself. The hard part is already done. That’s why he uses this language which is taken from Deuteronomy, he says, “Say not in your heart, Who shall ascend unto heaven to bring Christ down? Or Who shall descend into the deep to bring Christ up?” He’s saying this way of salvation by faith is not impossible. In fact, it’s already done! You don’t have to go up to the heaven to say “I need a Saviour to come down”, neither do you have to effect the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God has already sent Christ down. God has already raised Jesus from the dead. And so the righteousness of faith is not what you need to do. It’s already done. It’s not impossible, it’s not difficult.

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Secondly, he tells us in verse 8, it is also not far away. It is not inaccessible, it’s really near you. Verse 8, “But what saith it? The Word, the message is near you, even in your mouth. You’ve been speaking about it, you’ve been discussing about it and in your heart: that is, the work of faith, which we preach.” So this is the point Paul is making. The way to heaven, the way to righteousness, the way to God by faith is not a difficult one. It’s also not a distanced one. It’s right here. God has already done the hard part. And it is by faith. And it is found in the message. It is found in the message of the Bible. It is found in the message of the Good News. It is found in the Gospel. This is the message I have been preaching, Paul says.

0:10:40.0

I want to ask all of us this question. I want to ask you a question. I want to ask you if your friends have ever asked you this question: “What must I do to be saved?” We’ve already seen, that a man cannot be saved by his works. It must be by faith. And this salvation by faith is found in the message. It’s in a doctrine. It’s in a teaching of the Bible. It’s what they call the word of faith. So what is it that you need to believe in order to be saved? And we need to know the answer isn’t it? I like what A.W. Tozer and author of time past had to say. This is the most important question of life: “To the question: ‘What must I do to be saved?’ We must learn the correct answer. To fail here is not just to gamble with our souls; it is to guarantee eternal banishment from the face of God. Here we must be right or be finally lost.”

Maybe today you’re here with us for the first time. Maybe someone has been sharing with you about God, about righteousness, about sin and how you need to be saved. And you’ve come to a stage in your life where you say, “Alright, I know that God is real. He is righteous, I am sinful. But what is it really I need to know in order to be saved?” What must I do to be saved? My friends, this is the message for you. Or maybe today in your life, God has given you opportunities to speak with others who are outside the faith. They do not know Jesus. They are not yet Christians. They are not yet saved. And they’ve asked you this question: “Hey John! What must I do to be saved?” “Hey Jane! What must I do to be saved? Can you help me?” And you’ve struggled with coming out with the right answer. And this answer is very important, because if we fail without knowing the Gospel, a man cannot be saved. So you know the importance of this question but you’ve been struggling with the answer. I want to encourage you that you can find the answer in the Bible. And it is so exciting. This is one of the most beautiful and one of the most quoted verses in all of Scripture. It’s found in Romans 10 and verses 9 and 10. It answers this question: “What must I do to be saved?” You say, “What must I do to be saved, Paul?” Paul says to you this: “That if thou shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” I hope today we’ll look at Scripture and find the answer herein. What must I do to be saved? What is the message of salvation? What is the word of faith about? It’s found here. Remember these verses. Those who are going through ‘Two Seven’ in our discipleship journey, this will be a memory verse. You might as well memorise it now. It’s a great verse.

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The message of salvation as I see it in this passage has several realities you must grasp. Number one, in this passage, I see that the message of salvation revolves around a person. Ahh… you must catch this. The message of salvation revolves around a person and he is the Lord Jesus whom God had raised from the dead. The message of salvation is found in a person and not in your performance. You see we tend to think it’s about what we do and how we deserve it in order to get to heaven. But no, the message of salvation is not found in man’s performance but in the person of Jesus Christ. Christianity without Christ is not Christianity. You take away Christ we have nothing left. Jesus is the focus and the central person of the message of salvation. And this message is an apostolic message. In other words, this is the message that the early church preached.

We see in Acts, chapter 3. “But you denied the Holy One and the Just…” So the apostles preached Christ and they preached Christ resurrected. Jesus and his resurrection. Again in Acts 17, this is Paul preaching, and he says, “… he preached unto them (what?) Jesus and the resurrection.” So this is the biblical message in the New Testament church. And this is what Paul says you need to pr… you need to know. You need to preach that people need to confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus.

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There are two things you need to know about Jesus. Number one is that He is Lord. Number two is that God had raised him from the dead. Let’s tackle the first one. Jesus is Lord. In our King James Bible, which is the verse, or the version we used here. It says, “That if thou shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus.” It’s not strong enough, I think. It’s not forceful enough. It’s almost saying, “Yah yah yah, he’s Lord Jesus.” But in other versions, it’s a bit stronger. It is in the NASB: “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord…” and then in the RSV: “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord…”. In NLT: “Jesus is Lord.” In NIV: “Jesus is Lord.” I hope you get the point. ESV: “Jesus is Lord.” This is the declaration of the mouth that Jesus is Lord! 0:16:56.9

So you ask, what is ‘Lord’? Jesus is Lord, what does it mean? What is the meaning of the word ‘Lord’? The word ‘Lord’ is the word ‘Kurios’ in the Greek. It means God. It means sovereign. It means ruler. It means the supreme one. For any man to be saved, he needs to see Jesus as God, as the supreme one, as the sovereign ruler and not just as a prophet. Not just as a good man or not just as a miracle worker. Jesus is God! The very God! You’ve got to know it. Remember in those days in Matthew 16, Jesus gathered his disciples and asked them, “What do men say that I am?” That’s a great question right? Jesus loves to ask questions and he asked his disciples, “What do men say that I am?” Some of them say you are… you are… sorry… you are… (Response from congregation) yes, I hear that. Elias, alright? You are Elias. Some of them say you are Elijah the prophet. Some says you are… (Response from congregation) John the Baptist. Other says you are… Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Jesus then asked his disciples: now that is what they say. What do you say I am? Who am I to you? And the first person to answer of course is, Mr Peter. And Peter opened his mouth and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus said, “Blessed are thou Simon Bar-jonah. For flesh and blood have not revealed unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven.” So Peter recognised Jesus is Lord, the Son of the Living God. This word ‘kurios’ in the Greek, is actually a translation of a Hebrew word and this Hebrew word is a significant word. Do you know what the Hebrew equivalent of ‘kurios’ is? Yes, Mike, yes? Adonai? Uuurrgh… er… ok…another one. Not Adonai… Adonai is Lord, yes, that’s right but… sorry? Yahweh… you’re absolutely right. Now I want to prove to you that it is the word ‘kurios’ equivalent of Yahweh. Looking at verse 13 of Romans 10, ‘For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.’ This word is ‘kurios’.

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Where is this verse taken from? Well, it’s taken from Joel chapter 2 and verse 32. And Joel 2:32 says, “And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the… Lord shall be delivered.” The word ‘Lord’ here is L-o-r-d in capital in your English Bible because this is the word that is the Hebrew name Yahweh. YHWH written in our English alphabet.

The name Yahweh is a name that the Jews are very reverential about. In fact, we don’t even know how to pronounce His name. It’s just what we think it should be - Yahweh. But really nobody knew. Because we think… the Jews were so reverential about God’s name they wouldn’t want to mess around with it. And Jesus, Paul says, is Yahweh! Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ shall be saved. And this is a very bold statement to make in those days. In those days, the Jews have always been fighting Jesus, isn’t it? Jesus said, before Abraham was, I AM. Wow, they got very angry! How can you say you are “I AM”? “I AM” is the name of God. How can you said you are the… you are God! And they were angry with Jesus. They were angry with Jesus because He said He was the Lord of the Sabbath. Meaning He is God. And they were angry with Him. They were angry with Jesus because Jesus said He could forgive sins. And they said only God can forgive sins. And so the Jews hated Jesus because they have always felt that He is not Lord, He is not Yahweh, He is not God and He is blaspheming the name of God. So for any man during Paul’s time to say Jesus is Yahweh is a highly significant matter. Not only for the Jews but also for the Gentiles. The Gentiles are non-Jews. And for Gentiles in those days, to say Jesus is Lord is also very dangerous. You know why? Why is it hazardous for a Gentile in those days to say Jesus is God or Jesus is Lord, Jesus is supreme? Anybody knows? Because… (Response from congregation) that’s right! Because they have been told to say “Caesar is Lord.” So when you say this carpenter’s son is Lord, Jesus is Lord, you are in danger of capital punishment. Treason! Because you are not saying “Caesar is Lord.”

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But you see for any man to be saved, this is what he needs to know. It’s not just Jesus the prophet, Jesus the miracle worker, Jesus the moral man, Jesus a good guy, he needs to know Jesus is Lord. He needs to accept that. He needs to understand that God came in the flesh to save us from our sins. Nothing less! It’s interesting when you look at the book of Acts. Today we like to call Jesus the Saviour but we forget that Scripture actually put more emphasis on Jesus as Lord. In the book of Acts, Jesus as Saviour is mentioned 2 times. Jesus as Lord is mentioned… 92 times. Huge, huge disparity. In the New Testament, entire New Testament, Jesus as Saviour is mentioned less than 10 times. Jesus as Lord is mentioned about 700 times. Paul is consistent. You need to know that Jesus is Lord! He’s a sovereign, supreme God who came in the flesh. So that’s point number one anybody needs to know. You say what must I do to be saved? You got to believe and confess Jesus is Lord. He’s Lord. He’s not here to be your servant. He’s not here to do your beck and call. He is God. He’s the supreme one.

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Number two, you’ve got to know that God had raised Him from the dead. That’s the second reality Paul says you need to believe and confess. For any man to be saved, you got to know this: God had raised Him from the dead. You say why? Why is it not about the birth? Why is it not about the life? Why is it not about the death and crucifixion? Why the resurrection? Answer: Paul is very consistent. He goes in Romans 1, right in the beginning of the book of Romans, he had already declared this. Jesus is declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by what? By the resurrection from the dead. How do we know that Jesus indeed is the Saviour? Indeed is the conqueror? Indeed is the Lord? Indeed is God? Because he was raised from the dead. A dead man today cannot be your Saviour. And that is what you need to believe. That God had raised Jesus from the dead.

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During the times of Jesus, his enemies gathered together and asked him for a sign. And this is what Jesus said about the sign. How do you know that I am the Saviour? How do you know that I am God? He said this: “He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; (You want to look for a sign to prove I am the Son of God?) Well, there shall no sign be given to this generation, accept the sign of the prophet Jonah.”

Last night, before my son went to bed, I read Jonah with him. Great story! Er… because he was just being rebellious, er… he was angry, he was throwing things, he was angry. I said to him, So… Shawn, can you see yourself here? And the picture Bible is so cute, you see that rebellious stubborn face of Jonah and I saw Shawn’s face changed. He was embarrassed to look at it. And it is so. The story of Jonah is about a rebellious prophet. But that’s not the point that Jesus is making. Something happened to this prophet and what happened to this prophet became a picture of the work of Jesus Christ. Jonah, because of his rebellion, was casted into the sea. The fish ate him. Not ate lah… I think swallowed him. Ate would be digested. Swallowed him and as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So what Jesus is saying is this: Jonah, being there three days, three nights, is a picture of how I will die and be in a grave, three days, three nights, but I will come out alive again. I will come forth, I will be resurrected again. This is the sign! The unmistakable sign! That I am indeed the son of God!

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Again in 1 Corinthians 15 and 17, “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins.” So the foundation, the bedrock of any Christian’s faith today is the resurrection of Jesus. If Jesus is not risen, we are of all man, most miserable. Because Jesus didn’t pay, didn’t atone for our sins. So Paul says, this is what you need to share and this is what you need to know. It’s not just uttering a statement: “I believe in Jesus.” Oh no, no, no, no! Wait a minute, you’ve got to confess, you’ve got to believe that Jesus is Lord. Number two, that God had raised him from the dead. This is what they need to know. Salvation is given not when someone simply recites a prayer without thinking, without understanding. He’s got to know this. The minimum. This is what God says.

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But secondly I want to share with you not only the person in this message but the posture you need to have. The posture a man needs to have is that he must believe in his heart. What is the posture required? A posture of humility. A posture of dependence. A posture of saying I submit to the Lordship, I submit to the Saviourhood of Jesus Christ. That He indeed is God, who came to save me from my sins. You require a belief in the heart. I think this phrase ‘in the heart’ is so important. Because there are plenty of people today who can believe in the head but not in the heart. The devil also believes but it’s in the head, but not in the heart. What is the heart, you say? In the Bible, the heart speaks of the total being of a man. Guard your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. The heart therefore, is not just about the intellect, it involves the emotions, the personality, the will and the volition of man.

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It’s the whole of a man. That’s what a heart is. And when you believe in Jesus as Lord and that God has raised him from the dead, you believe Him with all your heart.

The message of the Bible is not something that you digest and you deal with and you respond to only in the head. You’ve got to respond to it in your heart. The total being. And when God works in a man’s life, he does not only work in his mind, though that is necessary, but he also works in the total being, the heart. You see the Scripture tells us, in Acts 2:37, “When they heard this, they were pricked in their heart.” Sssss… the emotions are stirred. Desperation comes in. They are convicted. They do not just understand, they are convicted. Something is happening, is happening in the depth of their being. The Gospel message is not something you give and you say, you just understand it and that will be enough. No! You’ve got to tell them, you’ve got to believe with your heart. Not in some cold, detached intellectual way but it’s an entire being believing.

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Pricked in their heart. When the Ethiopian eunuch asked the question, “What must I do to be saved?” Philip replied in Acts chapter 8: “If you believe with all your heart.” This is not an intellectual mind game. It’s a soul decision. All of your being.

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I was with a lady this week and she was troubled and she was asking me: “How do you know there is God? How do you know Jesus is real? How do you know the Bible is true?” And she asked questions like this and I tried to explain as best as I can, as logically… I believe the faith is a very logical faith, as best as I can. But at the end of the day, I say to her, I truly believe in my heart. From the core and the depth of my being, I believe Jesus is Lord and God had raised him from the dead. A man who is saved, anyone of you who is born again. You have that conviction within. You know it from the bottom of your heart. You see, it’s not something intellectually you process. It’s a conviction. It’s a commitment that comes along with it. We see in Acts chapter 16, when God is going to use Paul to save Lydia, what does God do? The Bible says, “Whose heart the Lord opened.” It’s not the mind only. It’s the heart. The entire being of the person. God opened her heart. It’s my prayer that if you are here today, you do not know Jesus, that God today will open your heart. That you will not just intellectually process these things, but you say Lord, help me to believe you with all of my heart. You see, a man is saved when God does a change in your heart. This is a great passage. I know Ezekiel is not a familiar, er… it’s not a favourite devotional book to read. It’s tough! But herein is a precious jem. Herein is a precious promise from God. That when a man comes to know Jesus, something amazing happens, it’s a total heart transplant. God did not just change your brain. He changed your heart!

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He took out a stony heart and gave you a heart of flesh. Because that’s what Salvation is. It’s about the heart. So I asked you today, friends. If you want to be saved, what must you do? This is it. I must believe in my heart that Jesus is Lord and that Jesus is raised from the dead. It’s not something I played around with, in my mind, but I am fully convinced and I commit myself to this reality. See, faith is more than comprehension. There’s comprehension, absolutely necessary, but there is also conviction. You know it is real. You reckon it to be true for yourself. And then there is that commitment to Him. It’s not just knowledge. Head knowledge is not enough. You need it but it is the heart commitment. So there is the comprehension, the conviction within and the commitment to Jesus Christ.

0:34:48.0

We’ve looked at the person of the message. We’ve looked at the posture of the message. I want to… I’m sure you are thinking about thirdly, the con… or the profession in this message. “That if you shall confess with your mouth…”, and then he repeats again in verse 10, “… with the mouth confession is made...” Confession is a profession. So what do you say? Why? Because out of the abundance of the heart, a man speaks. If you truly believe with all your heart, you will speak of Jesus. If you truly believe He is the Lord and God had raised Him from the dead, you will speak of Jesus. It’s natural! Out of the heart, the abundance of the heart, a man speaks. Now, let me be clear. God is definitely not saying, all you need to do to be saved today is to say: “Jesus is Lord.” I could do that today you know? I could ask all of you to repeat after me, 1-2-3, Jesus is Lord. But that would make no one saved. I could teach a parrot to say Jesus is Lord. Angegehhh…bab… Jesus is Lord. It doesn’t make a parrot saved. Merely mouthing it doesn’t save. I have Biblical basis for that because in Matthew chapter 7, we have a people who said, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord! But Jesus said to them: “I never knew you!” And you realise today there may be people walking around and said: “Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!” but they may not be saved. Because it’s not just the mouth you see. It is not the manifestation, it’s what is inside that is most important. Only when the roots are right, then would the fruits matter. Nevertheless, if a man truly comes to Jesus, he believes with all his heart, he will make a profession. He will confess that Jesus is the Lord. That’s natural in life.

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When a baby is born, what is the first thing a doctor looks for? Or what is the first thing a doctor must ensure? Or try to achieve? Huh? Like that ah? (Response from congregation - whacking action) No lah, if it’s already crying, then don’t do it lah! (Laughter from congregation) Don’t, don’t… don’t er… abuse the baby when it’s born. If it’s not crying, then you better give it a good whack. That’s what happened to my son, born 4 years ago. When he was born, no sound. Now he talks so much. But when he was born, no sound and for a few long seconds, I was really concerned. Because as a doctor I was trained to know this is very important in the health of a baby. You don’t cry, you are not taking in oxygen, you may have brain damage. So for like 4, 5 seconds, ‘bo sia’, (Hokkien dialect words meaning no sound) smack, smack, smack, nothing comes out. And you will be worried isn’t it? If a man says he believes but he doesn’t confess Jesus, something is wrong, there is no life. The cry of life is natural to a baby. And the confession of a Christian, of a believer is natural to him. You will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.

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Want to show you a verse here in Luke 12. The Bible says, “Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: But he that denies me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.” So confession is natural. You’re not ashamed. Because you have believed with all your heart. He is the Lord! And you will be bold to confess it. In 1 Corinthians 12, a great text also, reading just the yellow portion, “… no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” You see, again I’m sure you understand, Paul is not saying nobody can mechanically say these words, of course, anyone of us can. But to really mean it, to believe it and then to say Jesus is the Lord, this is the work of the Holy Spirit. Where He takes away the stony heart and gives you a heart of flesh. When a man truly believes in Jesus Christ, by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, he would say Jesus is Lord. It’s one of the distinctions of whether you are a child of God or not. It is.

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I want to show you a fascinating passage. I never realised this. I’ve read this passage for many times, I’ve never saw it until this week as I studied this passage. And it is here: In Matthew 26, this is a story of the last night Jesus was with his disciples, because the very next day, he’s going to the cross. And in this very poignant, last moments, last night with his disciples, Jesus broke the bad news. Jesus said, “Let me tell you something, one of you will betray me.” And the disciples became very sorrowful and began every one of them to say unto Him, “Lord is it me?” Peter will say, “God is it me?” Andrew will say, “Lord is it me?” John says, “Is it me Lord?” Thomas, Nathaniel, Philip, everyone would say, “Is it me Lord?” They were concerned. Until you come to verse 25, then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, “Master, is it I?” Ahh… I find this very fascinating. Everyone used the word ‘Kurios’, and this little fellow used the word ‘rhabbi’, which means ‘rabbi’, which stands for ‘teacher’. Judas couldn’t get himself to say ‘Kurios’, Yahweh. He couldn’t. That’s why he could betray Jesus. He never saw him as Lord. He never saw him as the Saviour. Rabbi, is it I?

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You see, the profession of the mouth reflects the inward reality in the heart. You can fake it of course. But when you are real on the inside, it will manifest on the outside. That’s the point. And so this is the profession in this verse. You should confess… I don’t think this confession is once in a lifetime, like… like the church ask you if you want to be saved, raised your hand, walk the aisle, say it with me. I think this is a confession of a lifetime. Everyday, Monday to Sunday, I would say Jesus is Lord. It will be manifested in me because that’s the reality. Before my friends, before my family, before my colleagues, I would say Jesus is my Lord. If I truly believe Jesus is Lord, I will say it! It will be manifested. Maybe you can extend the application to baptism, to Lord supper, to being in a congregational worship on the Lord’s day. You are not ashamed of Jesus because He indeed is Lord and you believe Him with all your heart.

0:42:40.6

Finally friends, I say in this verse there is a promise: ‘Thou shalt be saved.’ Not will be saved… or may be saved, or possibly saved. You shall be saved. There’s no doubt about it. And therefore this is a great verse. If you are sharing with your friend, I say, don’t try and reinvent the Gospel. Understand the divine revelation in Scripture; understand how Paul inspired by God says, “This is what man needs to do in order to be saved: that if he shall confess with his mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in your heart that God had raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.” That’s it! But unfold to him the meaning of what it means to have Jesus as Lord, God raising him from the dead, believing in the heart and having that profession in the mouth as a manifestation of what is inside, you shall be saved. 0:43:38.4

You say what is salvation, I think there are 2 great words here we see. Righteousness and salvation. They are the same things. They are really the same thing. Two sides of the same coin. Salvation is spoken of it… or the word Salvation is used to imply the negative aspect. The righteousness word is used to imply the positive aspect. Salvation is what you are saved from. What you will not have. Righteousness is what you will have. Salvation is saving us from sin, from death, from judgement, from hell. Righteousness is what God gives you, acceptance with him, access with him. So they are two sides of the same coin and if anyone will confess with his mouth, believe in his heart the Lord Jesus and that God had raised him from the dead, you will receive that. You shall be saved. It’s not far away. You don’t have to go to an Odyssey to find this. You don’t have to perform Herculean tasks. It’s right here, right now, right beside you, right before you, believe in your heart, confess and you will be saved. The message today is very, very simple, I hope. Question is: what must you do to be saved? And if, your friend, Mr Tan comes into your life and asks you, “Hey John, what must I do to be saved?” Can I recommend you, open your Bible, go to Romans 10 and read to him. My friend, that if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in your heart that God had raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart, man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth, confession is make unto salvation. Read to him this verse. Share with him, let him read it and then repeat my sermon. (Laughter from congregation)

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In a nutshell, not in everything but remember to focus on the person. It’s not about what you do, it’s about what Jesus has done. And you’ve got to acknowledge and believe that He is the Lord and that God had raised him from the dead. These are the cardinal truth, foundational truth. He must know. Number two, encourage the person to have the posture of faith. To believe, not just in the head but in the heart, with all of his being. Believe, urge him too, plead with him too, pray for him too. And then tell him that if you truly believe, it will manifest with a profession. And finally tell him the beautiful promise in Scripture, you shall be saved. Evangelism need not be complicated. We complicate things, that’s all. Man comes out with humanistic ideas, truth, but it is needful for us, even in the book like Romans, to come to the fundamentals and answer this question, what must I do to be saved? May the inspired words of the Holy Spirit help you today. Friends, if you have not come to Jesus, look at Romans 10. I pray God will have mercy to save you and you will believe. Let’s bow for a word of prayer this morning.

0:47:00.2

This morning as we look at the Scriptures, we are greatly helped because we don’t have to come up with some grand plan or some clever tactics and words. Scripture directs us and informs us. And today I want to plead with you my dear friends, who are here and you do not know Jesus. Can I say to you, God is Holy and He will judge sin. And in yourself, you cannot stand before the Holy God of Israel, you can’t. You have no righteousness. God sees you as a sinner. But my friends, this God of Holiness is a God of love. In that while we were yet sinners, He sent His Son to die for us. His Son is called Jesus. And the Bible revealed to us that He is the Son of the Living God. He is Yahweh, He is God, the very God. He came to be born as man, that He may go to the cross and die for your sins. There on the cross, He proclaimed Jesus. He proclaimed: “It is finished!” It’s not what He proclaims only because three days later, God raised Him from the dead. And there it is! The stamp of approval from the Holy God, My son has satisfied my wrath! The payment for sin is fully settled.

0:48:49.7

And here is the message: that if you know that Jesus is Lord and God had raised him from the dead, you’ve got today to believe with all your heart. And the promise of Scripture is that you shall be saved. It’s not complicated! It’s believing in Jesus with all your heart. It’s about Christ. It’s about him. I know you… some of you are not yet believers of Jesus. Can I plead with you? There is no other way you can be saved. None! None! And you know not what life holds for you. I know not whether you will be able to come next Sunday. The word of faith is nigh your mouth. It’s right in front of you this morning. God has spoken to you this morning. Believe in Jesus and you will be saved. Come to the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Come and believe in Him. The Son of God loves you so much, He died for you and pay it all. Believe.

So Father you know, every heart that is gathered here this morning. I pray as you have done so for Lydia’s heart, you’ll do so this morning also. I pray that the message of the Gospel will find good soil today and by your Spirit, bless, blossom and grow this seed. I pray for my friends who are gathered here this morning, that they will humble themselves and yield themselves entirely to Jesus Christ who is both Lord and Saviour. Father may this day be a day of salvation that you will be glorified. We trust in your blessed Holy Spirit to draw man to Jesus, your Son. Father I pray today for your church, those who have believed in you. That we will be effective witnesses, that we will know the Scripture and lead others into this life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ too. Help us dear Lord, to have those beautiful Gospel feet to go and to proclaim the glad tidings that Jesus saves. Bless your people, we pray these now in Jesus’ name. Amen. God Bless.