If you confess with your
mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him
from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto
righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For
the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For
there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all
is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the
Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:9–13
The apostle Paul tells believers who have been born again in Christ that God the Father “has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13–14). Notice that there has been a change of location. You used to be under the power of darkness. But the moment you believed in Jesus, you were moved and placed under the blood of Jesus, where there is perpetual forgiveness of sins.
The apostle Paul tells believers who have been born again in Christ that God the Father “has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13–14). Notice that there has been a change of location. You used to be under the power of darkness. But the moment you believed in Jesus, you were moved and placed under the blood of Jesus, where there is perpetual forgiveness of sins.
To understand the total forgiveness of sins, we have to understand
the value of the person Who sacrificed Himself on the cross for us. He alone,
because He was sinless, could pay for all the sins of every man. When our Lord
Jesus died at Calvary, He took all of humanity’s sins with one sacrifice of
Himself at the cross. He took the judgment, punishment, and condemnation for
all sins upon Himself. That’s the value of the one Man, Jesus. He is an
overpayment for all our sins.
Now, does that mean that everyone is automatically forgiven? Of
course not! Read today’s scripture carefully. While everyone’s sin is paid for,
every individual needs to make a personal decision to receive the forgiveness
of all their sins by receiving Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. Jesus
is the only way to salvation. There is no other way except through Jesus and
His shed blood.
There is no ambivalence in scripture as to how a person becomes a
born-again believer in Christ. To be saved, you have to confess with your mouth
that Jesus is your Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the
dead. Therefore, anyone who tells you that everyone’s sin is automatically
forgiven and that you don’t need to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior in
order to be saved is scripturally inaccurate. Such teachings are heretical and
are lies from the pit of hell. There is no salvation without Jesus. There is no
forgiveness without the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. There is no assurance
that all our sins have been forgiven without the resurrection of Jesus.
But today, as born-again believers in Christ, there is forgiveness
and the amazing assurance that our salvation is secure and we will never be
put to shame! This is our reality today—we can enjoy His presence, His
righteousness, and His help every day and in every season. (Article
& Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).
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