You Shall Be Saved (in 8 Minutes)
9 because, 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.
Passage
Romans 10:9 - You Shall Be Saved
Conditions
Freezing morning, sufficient warmth in the family and around the table.
Time
A good example of having almost no time, but still doing family worship.
Teaching
With very little energy this morning, we turned to Spurgeon’s chequebook and found Romans 10:4. It’s a simple devotional exhorting faith as well as profession, and emphasizing the solidity of the promise: “You shall be saved.”
I read Spurgeon and made two points. (1) Spurgeon loves to highlight the promises of God and encourage the church to take them to the bank! He thinks we should say to God: ‘Hand it over,’ so to speak. When God has promised it, we can have it, and we should ask for it. It’s a good correction to some hesitancy in prayer in reformed circles that emphasize God’s freedom and sovereignty.
Sometimes we pray more as though the Lord has predestined things rather than promised things. These need not be in conflict. But it is interesting how frequently Scripture locates predestination with assurance and judgement, whereas the promises of God are located with prayer and faith.
I did wonder, as we were talking, about the revivals of history and how consistently they are accompanied by prayer.
And (2) Romans 10:4 is a good reminder to believe in the heart what we proclaim with the mouth. Believing only with the mouth is to turn the vehicle towards hypocrisy. If a disconnect is begun between heart and mouth, it won’t be long before this has spread to the heart and hands as well.
Reflection
There was almost no time this morning, just barely 10 minutes. But we turned to a trusty help (Spurgeon), and I was content to make only a couple of points. And there was even time to take the guitar (which is strategically by the dinner table) out to sing two choruses of a new song we’re learning and the doxology.
We don’t always need a lot to do a lot in family worship. Just show up, do what you can, and do it as regularly as you can. The Lord will take this and do what He can.