And what is God’s “living message”? It is the revelation of faith for salvation, which is the message that we preach. For if you publicly declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will experience salvation. Romans 10:9 TPT
Right start. If there is a living message, you can bet that there is a dead message. What defines if a message is living? You go back to the source of the message. Who or what is the message? Who or what is backing up the message? It is very important to establish the source, essence, target and purpose behind the message, so we can define what it says, what it is and how we have to respond.
And the message is this: there is a salvation plan worked out by God that no man could earn or deserve. It is simply by faith; nothing more or less. And it is a revelation because the mystery behind how it works is as revealed by God and nobody can explain it outside of the One who reveals it. How does blood lead to the cleansing from sin? How does simple faith in the plan lead to my eternal redemption? How does a simple message about faith lead to eternal life? This is the mystery of salvation and God's plan.
Paul was a beneficiary of the blessing of this revelation. If you consider where Paul was coming from, you would see he wasn't the type of person you would award usually offer salvation: a living, breathing contradiction of a man with zeal, hungry to make impact for a way of life he did not fully understand. Thank God he met with grace, and got saved. His message is: I have seen this revelation at work in me and I can speak about it. For me, do I even know what I claim to have? Is it so real that it has become a matter of life and death to me?
Like Paul, the way to enjoy the blessing of the revelation is simple: 2 things. One is to publicly declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. That declaration is a testimony to what you believe. Your lips don't move without an imprint first on your heart. Your lips must clearly match your lifestyle. If there is hypocrisy in it, time will tell. If you only mouth the words and don't mean it, time will tell. The second one is to believe in your heart that Jesus was raised from the dead. The two are connected: the key to salvation is to believe in the finished work of Jesus on the cross, that his death and resurrection have opened the door to heaven for all who believe and that as I declare it with my lips, with my life matching those lips, then I receive what is on offer, which is salvation.
So, there is a hidden part that no man sees, and a part that is revealed to men. There is a part that is personal, and a part that is public. As long as any one is faked, what you hold is not the real deal. I can say the right words, keep up appearances, pretend all day, but as long as I do not have what God offers, I cannot get the full measure of all that God offers. May the Lord help me to be real with him, so that I can get all that He has on offer. Eternity is at stake here. His time of favour is here.
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