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The Eleventh Sunday After Trinity
Our Faith of Salvation
August 19, 2007
This morning we will consider how the daily Scripture readings create a
direction for our worship thoughts—this morning we read the Old Testament lesson
of the prophet Samuel—explaining that he would live his life according to the
way God would have him live it—and he would expect God to be merciful to
him—Samuel was motivated to obey God in hope of God’s mercy and grace
Our Epistle lesson has Paul telling the Corinthians about the resurrection of
our Lord Jesus—and the Apostles and the hundreds of others who witnessed the
resurrected Lord Jesus—Paul was motivated by the grace of God—the God who chose
Paul from among the murderers of Christians—and made him an Apostle—a preacher
of the Gospel—a man who appreciated the grace and mercy of God as few men ever
could
And the Gospel lesson gives us the example of the Pharisee exalting himself and
criticizing the tax collector—the Pharisee thought he deserved to be in the
eternal presence of God—he considered himself to be righteous—God should be
pleased that the Pharisee would consider being one of His children—and the tax
collector does not even consider himself worthy to look up to where God is in
heaven
What can we learn from these three lessons?—how do they fit together?—we begin
as always—with a reading to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture—let’s go to
God’s Word and see what we can learn—how is it that we might become righteous in
the eyes of God—and not as the Pharisee thought he was righteous
NKJ 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all
things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and
has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has
committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for
Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's
behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for
us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
We should note that Paul said “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation”—not
all are in Christ—not all see Christ as their Savior—Jesus was sent by God the
Father to pay the debt of our sins—so that we might be saved—when thinking about
our salvation—the most quoted Scripture verse is most likely John 3:16—we will
include the verses immediately preceding to our lesson today
NKJ John 3:14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so
must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 "that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have eternal life. 16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life. 17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the
world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Not everyone will be saved—just as in the wilderness only those that looked upon
the bronze serpent with the faith of being saved—were saved—so it is with
Jesus—those who look to Him with the faith of salvation—will be saved—those that
do not see Him as their Savior—will not be saved—but will instead be condemned
eternally
Christ died on the cross—not that He was taken by force—but that He offered
Himself as a sacrifice on our behalf—He died for our sins—His resurrection was
our victory over death—this body dies—and the bones of this body remain on this
earth—but we Christians—those of us who believe—will be in heaven with our Lord
for eternity—heaven is our home
NKJ Philippians 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also
eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Christ offered Himself—died—was buried—and rose again on the 3rd day—just as He
promised—our righteousness before God the Father comes from our faith—the same
faith as every believer had since the promise of a Savior—the faith described by
Paul in his inspired words of Scripture
NKJ Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the
power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also
for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to
faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith." 18 For the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who
suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
There is nothing we can do to earn salvation—it is a gift of God—it comes
through faith—we are seen by God the Father as righteous—because He sees our
faith in His Son, Jesus the Christ—it has been that way since the beginning when
God promised a Savior—hence faith to faith—faith in the Old Testament that there
would be a Savior—faith in the New Testament that He has come—and that He will
come again in judgment
NKJ Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed,
being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God,
through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no
difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25
whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate
His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that
were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His
righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith
in Jesus.
A few words about faith are in order—the faith Paul is talking about here is not
the general faith that God exists—after all, even the devil himself believes in
God and knows His awesome power—there are many who believe there is a God—and
that God had a Son named Jesus—but they do not have faith that Jesus is their
Savior—the true faith of salvation
We started this discussion with our three readings—each with a lesson on
righteousness—specifically the righteousness of salvation—now let us consider a
Biblical example or faith—righteousness—and salvation
NKJ James 2:14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith
but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked
and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace,
be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for
the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have
works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works."
Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe --
and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works
is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac
his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his
works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled
which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness." And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man
is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the
harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them
out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without
works is dead also.
James gives us two beautiful examples of faith—one of Abraham and his
willingness to destroy the most important thing in this world—his son
Isaac—because of the faith he had in God—total trust—a willingness to obey even
the most ridiculous sounding command
James also gives the example of Rahab the harlot—the woman that hid the spies in
Jericho and helped them escape by letting them down with a rope outside the city
wall—she is also listed in the genealogy of our Lord Jesus—she was not a Jew—yet
she had faith enough in God to risk her life to help the spies escape
Considering the two examples of the fruits of faith given here by James—and
returning to the examples Jesus gives us in the Gospel lesson of the Pharisee
and the tax collector—we see that the works of faith are natural to the
believer—you cannot be a Christian and not show the fruits of faith in your
life—not necessarily as dramatically as Abraham was able to demonstrate the
fruits of his faith—but you cannot ignore the needs of your neighbor—nor can you
live your life without compassion for those who do not properly understand the
spiritual things of God—good works are automatic within the man with true
faith—no thought—just works due to faith
Luther said this in his introduction to a study of Paul’s letter to the Romans
“Oh, it is a living, active, energetic, mighty thing, this faith, so that it is
impossible that it should not work what is good without intermission. It
does not even ask whether good works are to be done, but before one asks it has
done them, and is ever doing. But he who does not do such works is a man
without faith, is fumbling and looking about him for faith and good works, and
knows neither the one nor the other yet chatters and babbles many words about
both.”
Stay in the Word—keep your faith strong and true—and your works of faith will
come without a thought on your part
ALL GLORY BE TO GOD!