Sermon -- 5th Sunday after Epiphany (February 9, 2025)

ROMANS 10:12-17

IT NEEDS TO BE SAID.

In the name + of Jesus.

     There is a question that is often posed to Christians about salvation.  It goes something like this: “Is it fair that someone would go to hell just because he has never had the chance to hear about Jesus?”  It is usually a challenge, implying that God’s love is disingenuous.  The one who issues this challenge is probably not interested in hearing the word of the Lord.  Rather, such a person seeks only to exalt himself at the expense of God, believing himself to be more righteous, more loving, and more gracious.  You may have wondered about this yourself.  Maybe you have been hesitant to ask because it sounds like you are accusing God of wrong-doing.  But it is a legitimate question, asked with a genuine concern for the lost.  So, let’s consider it.  What about people who have never had the chance to hear about Jesus?  What becomes of them?  Are they automatically condemned?  Do they get a pass because they were stuck in a bad spot or lived at a bad time?

     To start answering this question, we have to remember a few key facts.  First and foremost is this: Everyone enters this world as a sinner.  Everyone begins outside the kingdom of God.  No one stands on neutral ground, much less begins in God’s good graces.  The Bible reminds us, “The mind-set of the sinful flesh is hostile to God, since it does not submit to God’s law, and in fact, it cannot.  Those who are in the sinful flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8).  Sinners want to do their own thing.  Sinners lash out at God for daring to give them standards to live by.  And sinners are insulted that they should be judged by those standards.  This is everyone; for everyone enters this world a sinner.  If anyone is condemned, it is not that God expelled them from his kingdom.  They were already outside of it.  At the final judgment, they remain forever outside of it.  And yes, that is tragic.

     Another key fact is this: If anyone is going to be delivered from eternal death, God must be the one who rescues them.  We are naturally dead in sin, so God must give us new life.  We do not save ourselves.  We cannot save ourselves.  The very definition of being saved means that you are doomed if you are left alone.  Someone else must step in to prevent your doom.  That is what God has done for you.  In fact, he has done it for all mankind.  St. John wrote, “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son” (John 3:16).  If you are in the world, then God revealed his love for you by sending Jesus Christ into the world for you.  St. John also wrote that Jesus “is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2).  Once again, if you are in the world, then Jesus paid for your sins.  No one was left out.  Jesus’ sacrificial death satisfied God’s wrath as the full payment for all sins.  So, no one should have to perish in their sins.

     Some will reject Jesus.  They will hear his words of promise and salvation, but they won’t care.  They will learn that Jesus took away their sins, but then they will take them back.  Their problem is not ignorance, but stubborn unbelief.  Their condemnation will be without excuse.  But now what about those who never heard?  Do they get excused because they are ignorant?  Do they get to heaven if they have never had a chance to hear?  First, let’s remember that ignorance is not innocence.  They are still in their sins.  But if it is argued that people who never had a chance to hear get a free pass into heaven, then the worst thing we can do is preach the Gospel in all the world.  If the confession about Jesus can be snuffed out of existence, then no one will ever have a chance to hear.  And if that allows them a free pass into heaven, then more will be saved by not preaching the Gospel than by preaching it.  But that is not what Jesus taught. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).  Therefore Jesus gave this command: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.   Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16).  It must be said if people are to be saved.

     This is what the Lord says: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).  With Jesus Christ, there is no condemnation.  Apart from Jesus Christ, there is no salvation because there is no forgiveness for any sins.  Apart from Jesus Christ, there is no one who can pay for your sins or deliver you from death.  And this leads to another key fact: Sinners are saved only by faith in Jesus Christ.  If you are to be saved, you need to know who your Savior is.  The Lord has made that known in the Bible.  And since no one just picks up a Bible to see what it says (or, it is quite rare), it needs to be said by those who have had God’s word taught to them.

     In order for people to know God’s love for sinners, God has to make that love known.  In order to know that the payment for your sins was made, you need to know how that payment was made.  In order for you to be sure that the curse of sin has been removed and that God’s favor rests upon you, you need to know who secured that for you.  None of this can be assumed.  It needs to be said so that it can be believed.  Sinners are saved by faith in Jesus.  This “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).  It needs to be said.

     Of course, if it needs to be said, someone has to say it.  St. Paul reasons, “How can they call on the one they have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the one about whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without a preacher?  And how can they preach unless they are sent” (Romans 10:14-15)?  If you do have concern about people who have not had the chance to hear about Jesus, then we need to increase our efforts so that everyone does have a chance to hear about Jesus.  I suspect that you are not ready to go to distant lands to proclaim the Gospel to the lost.  But there are missionaries who do go, and we get to support them with our mission offerings.  We can pray that God will send more pastors and missionaries into the world so that more will preach and more can hear and more will believe and more will call upon the name of the Lord and be saved.  This Gospel needs to be preached for these reasons.

     It needs to be said, but don’t let your mind go only to the far reaches of the world.  The city of Novi has over 50,000 people living in it.  I can tell you that nowhere near that many are going to church.  This Gospel needs to be said to those who are in our community and among our friends.  Just because it is familiar to you, don’t think that it is known by others.  It needs to be said. 

     And do not overlook the most obvious mission field there is—your own household.  Children and grandchildren need to be taught about God’s love.  Parents have been entrusted with this most noble and essential task.  Parents are willing to do just about anything for the good of their children.  What greater good can you do for them than to bestow the gift of eternal life through the word of God?  Faith does not come through your fondness.  God’s love is not bestowed because you love someone.  It needs to be said because “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). 

     In our Gospel, Jesus called Peter and Andrew, James and John to be fishers of men.  They were trained by Jesus for three years and were commissioned to be apostles.  None of us are apostles; but we are all confessors of God’s word.  Do not think that you are ill-equipped to speak about these things.  You know the basic facts.  All are sinners.  All need the Savior to deliver them out of sin and death.  Jesus is the Savior who suffered and died to pay for the sins of the world.  And this needs to be said so that people can hear, believe, call upon the name of the Lord, and be saved by him. 

     St. Paul encouraged the faithful preaching of God’s word, but Paul also acknowledged the sad reality: “Not all obeyed the gospel.  For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who believed our message’” (Romans 10:16)?  Even though Jesus has paid for the sins of the world and left no one out when he gave his life for that payment, many are not interested.  Some stubbornly cling to their sins.  They like them.  They will not apologize for them or repent of them.  Others insist that they are good enough and don’t need a Savior.  “If I’m a good guy and my friends say I’m a good guy, then let God judge me fairly.”  Sadly, God will honor their convictions.  If they reject the Savior, the remain outside the kingdom of God and will for all eternity.

     And for those who never hear?  By all means, pray for such people.  But rather than find fault with God that some did not hear the Gospel, our goal is make sure that all will hear about Jesus Christ.  If the Church is lax in preaching, teaching, confessing, and going into all creation to do it, it is not God’s fault that people have not heard.  We live in a day and age when God’s word is more accessible than any other time in history.  The internet allows people all over world opportunities to hear the Gospel.  The Bible has never been more accessible than at any time in history.  If you have a phone, you have a Bible at your disposal.  But for people to come to faith, the words will need to be preached.  It is a consistent truth: Faith does not come through an app.  Faith comes from hearing the message.  It needs to be said, from one person to another, and God’s people are the ones who must confess it.

     And you need to continue in it yourself.  Listen again to St. Paul’s words: “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).  That is a present tense.  Faith comes from hearing the message.  Not “faith came to you once when you heard the message.”  No, faith needs to be fed and nurtured.  A faith that is not being fed is being starved.  A plant that never receives water is going to die sooner or later.  In the same way, faith that does not hear God’s word will also die, because faith comes by hearing, is sustained by hearing, and is strengthened by hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ.

     So, it needs to be said, again and again.  Just as a wife likes to hear her husband say, “I love you,” and in fact needs to hear it, so the Church needs to hear Jesus declare his love again and again.  And Jesus delights in doing it.  He knows we need to hear God’s declaration, consolation, and salvation.  He wants you to know and to believe and to be saved.  He wants this for all people because God so loved the world.  The world needs to know, so it needs to be said. 

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.