Romans 10:8-13, First Sunday in Lent, Year C

Straight AheadWords have power and they have meaning. The "word of faith" is very powerful. It is able to save our souls if we confess our sins and "believe in your heart that God has raised" Christ from the dead. In our hearts, we believe unto righteousness, and with our mouths, we confess unto salvation. When we speak of the "word of faith," we are not talking about the "word of faith" movement that is so popular among some charismatic and fundamentalist Christians. We are talking about the word that is preached, the word of God which is grounded in Scripture and submits to God's will. When we read the epistles, we need to remember to whom they are written. They are written to Christians, to people who go to church, just as most of us do. In other words, they are not written to people who are formally trained in theology or philosophy. This is very important because often, someone will say that these doctrinal passages are so profound or complex that most Christians cannot be expected to understand what the apostle is teaching. Some people would rather skip the doctrinal passages of the epistles entirely and simply read the New Testament gospels. The epistles, however, provide the needed apostolic exposition of doctrine on which Christ established the early church. The words of the epistles have power; and the content of Paul's epistle to the Romans is among the most vital and vibrant writings of the great apostle. In this passage, Paul is defining true righteousness. He is reminding his readers of what the ultimate goal is in the Christian life--namely a growing faith in Christ. He is saying that this goal is nearer than they may realize. It is not a remote word, or a difficult truth to discover. There are seekers and searchers today who often travel a very convoluted and difficult path, trying to find the real meaning of life. Understand that the only objective worth seeking is to be right with God! There was always an element of faith, even in the Old Testament. The Old Testament prophets, priests, and children of Israel were saved the same way we are being saved today--by faith in God's promise of a Messiah. Even though they had the Old Testament law of God, that's not what saved them. They were justified by faith as we are. The only difference is that the Promised Messiah had not yet appeared on the scene. But those who believed in God's promised One were saved by faith, and not by the works of the law. The covenant of grace was in effect, almost from the moment Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. At that moment, the covenant of works was no longer valid. Some people today believe that faith is sufficient to make us right with whatever gods may be; but they don't clarify the object of the faith or the God in whom they believe. That is not saving faith. Some today have faith in science, in education, in the values of the secular culture. This kind of faith, too, will prove ineffectual in the end. Faith must be placed in Christ alone--for fulfillment now, and for eternal life in the world to come. The faith of which Paul speaks must be placed in a very particular God and a very specific Saviour. Public confession of that faith in Christ is also important. For Christ warns us elsewhere in Scripture that if we deny Him before men, He will deny us before His heavenly Father. I certainly cannot say what will happen to the souls of all those secret Christians who, for fear of their lives, have been reluctant to proclaim their faith in Christ in places where the church has been under persecution throughout history; but I would not want to put my soul in peril by willfully denying Christ, should the occasion arise when Christians come under persecution--perhaps even where we currently reside. Yet even so, our salvation does not depend so much on our faith in God, as His faithfulness toward us; for it is His Holy Spirit that makes it possible for His children to come to Him in love and enables His church to continue to bear a faithful witness. One writer comments that we need to sing "less of our pitiful love for God, and more in praise of His great love for us. God will not mock our faith or embarrass us or put us to shame who believe in Christ alone. As someone else has said: "We cannot be trusted to do right; but God can be trusted to forgive our sins through Christ. I remember a lady who said once in a Sunday school class: "Well, if I can brag about anything, it's my humility." I tell you, this lady did not yet fully appreciate her desperate condition. We can't compare ourselves to others, or play one god against another. It has to be all or nothing of faith by grace. We cannot take pride in our faith. God will not compliment us when we do something that turns out for His glory. Even then, we are but unprofitable servants. This is a very appropriate epistle lesson for Lent. It invites us to put aside all pride, all dependence on ourselves in the matter of our own righteousness. We cannot make ourselves acceptable to God, no matter what we do. We cannot improve our status with the Almighty. If you want to give up something for Lent as a spiritual discipline, I have no argument with you; but if you think that such a sacrifice somehow makes you more holy, more righteous, or more deserving of salvation or God's approval, you misunderstand the nature of the cross. The only sacrifice that saves the soul is the sacrifice made once and for all by Christ at Calvary. His blood atoned for our sins and our sinfulness. In the words of the gospel song, "Jesus paid it all."