No Cheap Grace

 If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. – Romans 10:9

I grew up in a faith tradition that taught you could never be sure of your salvation. We did our best to follow the rules. When we messed up, we did what we could to make things right, and we hoped for the best. We believed no one got a free pass to heaven. Even if you lived a really good life, you’d have things you needed to set right when you die. So you’d go to a heavenly penitentiary for a while to clean yourself up, maybe a millennium or so, depending on the good works you’d already done this side of heaven, but eventually you’d be good enough to walk through the pearly gates.

That sounds reasonable, but it’s not what God’s Word says.

What did we think about Romans 10: 9? “Simply reciting a verse to get you into heaven? Oh, that’s just cheap grace. Do you mean to tell me you could go rob a bank, cheat on your taxes, or kill someone, and all you have to do is say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ for them to give you a free pass? Hogwash!”

Well, we got that right. That would be cheap grace. It was something I wrestled with for three years after I said the sinner’s prayer. Just ‘believing and receiving’ couldn’t possibly be all there was to salvation, right?

Yes and no. As Greg Koukl says, “never read a Bible verse.” Let’s add one to the one above.

If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. – Romans 10:9-10

Paul makes it clear that this declaration is more than just words. “With the heart, a person believes.” Does your belief extend from your head to your heart? Another way to put it is Do you have a “belief that” or a “belief in?”

It’s one thing to believe that a chair will hold your weight. But only by sitting in it do you demonstrate a belief in that chair.

Paul also says, “With the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” Words matter. If you say, “Jesus is Lord,” and continue to go your own way, your words are a lie. Lordship means that if you claim Jesus as Lord,  you are his bond-servant, his willing slave. Salvation isn’t cheap. It’s a surrender of ourselves to his will. Jesus is your Savior if and only if he’s your Lord.

Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? – Romans 6:16

We’re all slaves. Either slaves to sin or slaves to Jesus Christ. Choose well.