Essential for Salvation
A Sermon on Romans 10:9-10
Originally preached Nov. 15, 1963
Scripture
9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Sermon Description
What are the essential truths that must be made known for a person to be saved? Many say that the Bible teaches that one must only believe on the name of Jesus Christ to be saved. Others preach that one must believe in the person of Mary or that they must have extraordinary knowledge in order to be saved. In this sermon on Romans 10:9–10 titled “Essential for Salvation,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones shows the fallacy of both extremes. One temptation is to take away essential doctrines of the gospel in order to make it less offensive and more inclusive. The other temptation is to add more to the gospel than what is necessary, making it impossible for anyone to come to God and creating a works-based salvation. Dr. Lloyd-Jones shows through Scripture that the gospel message must include an explanation of who Jesus is, why He is needed, and why He is sufficient. This sermon will remind the listener of the biblical truth that a true evangelistic message must include repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ. In light of the truths presented in this sermon, the listener will be challenged to analyze their own beliefs and practices to see if they line up with the message of the apostles. Listeners will be encouraged to be bold in the proclamation of the gospel because it is the only true hope for the world.
Sermon Breakdown
- There are two main dangers in understanding saving faith: putting too little content or too much content.
- Putting too little content into saving faith leads to:
- Lack of understanding in what one is believing in.
- Inability to discern false teachings and counterfeit experiences.
- Lack of assurance in one's salvation.
- Inability to help others in their walk of faith.
- The way of salvation is coming to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:3-4).
- Apostolic preaching gave the facts of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection as well as their meaning and significance (1 Thess 1:9-10, 1 Cor 15:1-5).
- The book of Acts gives summaries of sermons, not full transcripts. We must consider the full content of apostolic preaching.
- We must have objective truth to test experiences and teachings.
- Putting too much content into saving faith leads to adding extra requirements for salvation not found in Scripture. Examples include Roman Catholic doctrines like the Immaculate Conception.
- It is not necessary to believe in election to be saved, though we should come to understand it. We are saved by faith in Christ, not by doctrinal perfection.
- There is a difference between preaching controlled by theology and preaching theology itself. Evangelistic preaching calls people to repent and believe the gospel.
- The great watershed is between relying on revelation vs. human reason and between justification by faith alone vs. reliance on works.
- We must keep the message of justification by faith alone plain and not add or subtract from it.
The Book of Romans
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.