Faith still comes by hearing

Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 11

2 Samuel 22:21-29  +  Romans 10:4-18

In the First Lesson you heard David pray these words: You will save the humble people; but Your eyes are on the haughty, that You may bring them down. Very similar to what Jesus said in Sunday’s Gospel, isn’t it? For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Also similar to the Magnificat, the Song of Mary:     He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. That’s a recurring theme in the Scriptures. God humbles or “brings low” the proud, the one who has lifted himself up. But He exalts or “lifts up” the one who has brought himself low.

Think of David in the Old Testament. He didn’t push his way forward to be anointed king when Samuel came to visit. He showed up last out of all his brothers, expecting nothing. But God chose him and raised him up. Even then, after he was anointed but while Saul was still king, David didn’t try to put himself up on the throne. He didn’t oppose Saul but served him faithfully. And when Saul persecuted him and raged at him and falsely said all kinds of evil things against him, David still didn’t try to lift himself up. He waited for God to do it, and He did. And then David sang the words recorded in the First Lesson, words of faith.

Where did that faith come from? I mean, for years David had to live on the run; he had to live in hiding, in isolation from Israel, gathering a band of stragglers and malcontents and foreigners as his only allies. How could David live like that? How could he remain humble? How could he wait for the Lord to lift him up? He could do all that, he could live like that, because he had a promise from the Lord: that he would one day sit on the throne of Israel as its king. Armed with that promise, he trusted that the LORD would shield him from harm. He had confidence that his enemies would not be victorious over him. He could endure all the hardships he had to. And, of course, his confidence proved to be well-founded.

Now, those were earthly enemies from whom the Lord had delivered David, according to His promise. We have promises of earthly deliverance, too, and earthly rewards as we trust in Him and as we live as those who trust in Him, though the promises we have are not as specific. David had God’s promise that he would survive Saul’s attacks; the Lord hasn’t promised any of us another day on this earth. Here’s what we can say: Our times are in His hands. And we can say that, and live by that, and take comfort in that, because of the promises God has given for an even greater deliverance and for even greater rewards. St. Paul deals with those promises in our Second Lesson.

The Law of Moses made promises of its own: The man who does those things shall live by them. That’s not a promise that comes from grace. Grace is God’s free-of-charge favor. The Law doesn’t include favor, doesn’t require favor or kindness or mercy. It’s a simple transaction, a simple bargain: You do your part, you do everything the Law commands—loving God wholeheartedly, loving your neighbor in all the ways God commands you to love him—and God will do His part; He’ll pay you the wages you earned: You will live; you won’t die. At all. Ever. You won’t suffer. You won’t get sick. You won’t be harmed. Great promises! But good luck fulfilling your end of the bargain. To date, no one ever has, except for Jesus Himself.

That’s why St. Paul urges people so urgently to abandon the Law as the way to avoid death and obtain life, as the way to satisfy the God who controls the door to heaven. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Stop trying to offer God your supposed goodness, like the Pharisee did in Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Also, stop despairing over your very real badness, like Judas did after he betrayed the Lord and abandoned all hope of forgiveness. Instead, listen to the word of faith which we preach: if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is the Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness; and with the mouth a person confesses, resulting in salvation.

The “word of faith.” The message of faith. This is the Gospel in a nutshell, just as much as John 3:16 is. It’s a beautiful summary of everything God has revealed about how He wants to save us, how He wants to rescue us from sin, death, and the devil. He wants us to confess, as Peter did, that Jesus is the Lord, the Christ, the Son of the living God. He wants us to believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead, which means we also have to believe that He was delivered over to death for our sins, and that His was the death that satisfies God, His was the death that fulfilled the Law’s demands for punishment. God wants you to believe that He will justify you freely when you trust in Christ, freeing you, through faith alone, from everlasting death and condemnation.

He also wants you to confess this with your mouth. And if you believe it, then you can’t do anything else. People who say they believe in Christ but hesitate to confess Him—how can they believe in Him? If Noah had said he believed God’s word about the coming flood but hesitated to build the ark, could he really have believed God? If Abraham had said he believed God about his offspring coming through Isaac but refused to put him up on that altar when God commanded it, could he really have believed God? No, faith is certain. Faith is bold. And if we really believe that God gave His Son into death for our sins and raised Him for our justification, and if we really believe He reigns at God’s right hand and is coming back soon, then we can’t be silent about Him when we’re called upon to confess Him.

God wants all people to call upon Christ Jesus as Lord and to know that by believing in Him we’re safe, we’re saved from everything that could harm us. We Christians want all people to believe that. But, as Paul points out, no one can believe it unless they hear the Gospel, and no one can hear it unless a preacher has been sent to preach it. Faith comes by hearing, and the hearing by the word of God.

So hear. And believe. And confess in whatever setting God has placed you in to confess, with whatever people, with whatever audience. Even being here in church on a Wednesday or on a Sunday is an opportunity for you to shine as lights in a dark world, showing the world that, yes, you actually believe the Gospel that you’ve heard, and so you have to keep coming and hearing the voice of your Savior. You have to keep worshiping the God who has saved you by grace alone, through faith alone, which comes by hearing alone. Amen.