Radical Christianity: Are you truly saved

Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved…”

I lead a Bible study with three young men in high school. The other night, I asked them this question, “is a person truly a born-again follower of Jesus if they only ‘confess with their mouth’ but never ‘believe in their hearts’ that Jesus is Lord?” They stopped to think for a moment and replied… “no.”

Why not? Why can’t someone just talk the talk? Why can’t words just be enough?

When you truly believe something from the “heart,” it changes the way you live! If all I had to say was “the prayer” to accept Jesus as Savior, then who wouldn’t just do that to spend eternity in heaven and live as they please?

Matthew 7:21 sends chills down my spine! It says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

In other words, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” There is only one way to heaven: accepting the free gift of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ. It frightens me that many young people are casually going through life thinking they can live and behave as they please because “Jesus will forgive me.”

John MacArthur once said, “A person’s outward deeds are the surest evidence of his inward spiritual condition.”

This all means that we ALL should stop and take a look at our lives from time to time. How we behave communicates what we believe whether we are aware of it or not. Paul said in the book of Philippians chapter 3 and verse 21, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” There was no confusion about who he was or Who he represented. Can you and I say the same for ourselves?

The first step of living a radical life for Jesus Christ is actually knowing and having a relationship with Him as your Savior, not your acquaintance.