Romans 10:5-10 – What do you need to be saved?

Topic: What do you need to be saved?

Reading: Romans 10:5-10

Introduction and Overview

Salvation is the key message of the New Testament. It is why Jesus came. And God did not design the message of salvation and the way to be saved to be hard. Understanding what you need to be saved is not a difficult thing to do. It is not based upon deep knowledge, great works, complex understanding, and so on. Instead, the message is simple and what you need to be saved is very basic.

God made it this way so that the offer of salvation could be received by everyone. If it required great wisdom and deep knowledge to be saved, then very few would indeed find salvation. Jesus made the point that it was not a difficult thing to be saved when He said:

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30)

When we are yoked to the Lord, it is not hard work. He has already borne the brunt of the work. And the message of salvation, or what you need to be saved is a simple message accessible to all.

These scriptures today explain in the most simple of terms what you need to be saved. They are easy to understand and do, so that all mankind can be saved if they do these two simple things. So, let us look at what these scriptures teach us.

Key points from reading:

  1. What you need to be saved is not a hard thing to learn and understand.
  2. The key to salvation is faith in God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ
  3. Acceptance of God’s word and following Christ is the way of salvation.

Discussion:

  1. Scripture: Romans 10:5
    • This verse talks about those who live under the law. Those who seek righteousness under the law have to follow the law. Every letter, every ordinance, and every precept of the law. They must live by it in its entirety if they are to try to find righteousness under the law.
    • Such people cannot pick and choose which laws they want to live by and then forget the rest. Nor can they presume that since Christ set them free from the law, they can decide which they want and reject the rest. They cannot do whatever they like.
    • Too often today we see in the church that the doctrines of the church are a mish-mash of law, the teachings of Jesus, and stuff the church has adopted from pagan religions and pure lies. They teach that Christ has set people free from sin and the law, then say that people must follow the Ten Commandments and tithe or fast, all of which were part of the law. You can’t do both. You can’t live in Christ Jesus and be under the law at the same time. As it says in Galatians 5:4, “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.” Trying to live under the law severs the ties between you and Christ. And being with Christ is a better way. So, what do you need to be saved?
  2. Scripture: Romans 10:6-7
    • The wonder of grace and the word of God is that you do not have to go far to find it. There are religions that insist on pilgrimages to find the way. They believe that their salvation lies in a place rather than the salvation being where they are.
    • For the Christian, what you need to be saved does not require you to go to heaven into the spiritual realm to find what you need to be saved. We know Christ is seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly places. But we do not need to go up to heaven to find Him and worship Him. The wonder of Christianity is that He will come to us and live with us in the Spirit.
    • Likewise, we do not have to go down into the depths of the abyss and the realm of the dead to find Christ. He is not there to be found since He was resurrected from the dead.
    • What you need to be saved can be found right where you are today. It is not in heaven, it is not in Hades, it is not in pilgrimage to far away places. What you need to be saved is right here, as the next verse shows us.
  3. Scripture: Romans 10:8
    • The way of salvation is in the words of Jesus. When we believe His words and hold them in our heart, we find salvation. Salvation is to be found in the word of truth that we accept in faith.
    • Jesus came to preach the gospel of salvation. He taught the message to His first disciples and commissioned them to teach it to the world. The simplicity of that message has been passed down from generation to generation and will continue as long as this world remains. I am often critical of the broad church because of the error that is preached in it. There are so many teachings that have no basis in scripture. There are many others that are pure lies. But still the simplicity of the word of faith by which we can receive salvation penetrates all of those things.
    • While I am often critical of the church, I do not reject what they can do. Any Christian church can lead a person to Jesus. All Christian churches at all levels and extremes offer at least one thing from which every person can benefit. That is, they can find the simple faith in Jesus Christ that will lead to salvation. They can answer the basic question as to what you need to be saved. And the answer to that question is found in the last two verse we will look at today.
  4. Scripture: Romans 10:9-10
    • There are just two things we must believe to be saved. The first is that we must accept and confess that Jesus is our Lord and Saviour. That is a statement of humility. It shows that we accept Jesus is greater than we are and that He is the one who saves. We put Him first rather than our own understanding. His is the way of salvation and this is the first thing to understand. Accept and confess Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
    • The second thing we must do is to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. This is the faith that we hold. We believe in the impossible and that God did the impossible. It is not possible for man to revive a man from the dead once they have died. Man believes life is some kind of electro-chemical reaction and that they can find a way to kick-start life after a person dies. They do not understand that death as we know it is the separation of the spirit of a person from their body. And God is able to join them back together; to remake the body and return the spirit of life into it.
    • When we believe and do these two things, that Jesus is Lord and God raised Him from the dead, we are saved. What do you need to be saved? Believe and do these two simple things. And anyone can believe and do these two things and so be saved. It does not require wisdom, knowledge, wealth, power, or physical prowess. It is just a simple acceptance and belief in the power, majesty, and authority of God and the Saviour, Jesus Christ. As the scripture quoted above says, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Key Takeaways:

  1. What you need to be saved is simple and accessible to all mankind
  2. Salvation is based upon faith and is received by those who accept two simple things.
  3. To be saved you must believe and confess that Jesus is your Lord and Saviour, and that God the Father raised Him from the dead.

Prayer Points

  1. Pray to the Lord and ask Him to help you recognise and understand these simple things so you can receive His salvation.
  2. Ask the Lord God to cut through all the noise and false doctrines of the church today to find His truth and to build on these simple words of salvation so you can continue to grow in the will of God.