Sermon -- 3rd Sunday of Lent (March 8, 2026)

FAITH KNOWS, ASSENTS, AND TRUSTS.

GENESIS 12:1-8

In the name + of Jesus.

     You’ve probably seen it on a poster or some other decoration.  It especially comes out during Christmas time.  It is a simple, one-word motivational slogan: “Believe.”  It’s supposed to be uplifting, but the message fails spectacularly on one point: Believe what?  Believe the Tigers will get to the World Series?  Believe that we are done with snow for the year?  Believe that you can win a contest, make new friends, or discover a secret for weight loss that doesn’t restrict your diet?  If that one-word motivational slogan is to mean anything, there should be an answer to the question, “Believe what?”

     The Christian faith is not reduced to a vague, open-ended slogan, “Believe.”  Faith that just floats in the air is a dream or a wish.  The Christian faith rests on something solid.  In fact, faith has three components: Faith knows.  Faith asserts.  And faith trusts.

     In the case of Abraham, his move was not prompted by an itch for a better life.  “The LORD said to Abram, ‘Get out of your country and away from your relatives and from your father’s house and go to the land that I will show you.  I will make you a great nation.  I will bless you and make your name great.  You will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse anyone who dishonors you.  All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you’” (Genesis 12:1-3).  Abraham moved because of a specific word from the Lord.  Faith knows what it believes.

     So it is for you and me.  Faith rests on knowledge.  We know God’s Commandments, so we know what is good and what is evil.  Because we know them, we also know the truth about ourselves.  We are sinners.  God’s Commandments expose us.  We confess, with the Psalms, “I admit my rebellious acts.  My sin is always in front of me.  Against you, you only, have I sinned, and I have done this evil in your eyes.  So you are justified when you sentence me.  You are blameless when you judge” (Psalm 51:3,4).  God’s word exposes our iniquities so that we can know them, confess them, repent of them, and flee from them. 

     We also know the Savior whom God sent for us.  Faith knows.  The Gospels proclaim what Jesus taught, what miracles he performed, and how he suffered, died, and rose from the dead.  The words and promises of God are repeated and pondered by us week after week, year after year.  And we stand to make confession of what we know every week as well.  Faith knows what it believes.

     Faith also assents to what it knows.  That means we agree it is true.  Abraham assented to God’s command to him.  Now, how did Abraham know that he had received a word from the Lord?  What convinced him that it was true?  Our best answer comes from what Moses wrote in our reading: “The LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘I will give this land to your descendants’” (Genesis 12:7, emphasis added).  Whenever the Lord appeared to people, there was a dread sense of awe.  The message regularly began, “Fear not,” because the presence of the Lord or one of his angels produced such fear.  It seems likely that Abraham experienced that fear so that he could attest that it was God who spoke to him.  So, Abraham did not have some strange feeling or a weird dream.  He had a specific word.  His faith was based on knowledge, and he assented to what he knew.  It was the word of God; it must be true.

     So it is with the Christian faith.  It is not enough just to know facts.  That is not faith.  Atheists know the facts about Jesus.  They know what Christians say about Christmas and Easter.  But they deny that Jesus is God.  They deny that Jesus rose from the dead.  They deny that there is a judgment or a hell.  They may know what the Bible teaches, but they do not assent.  They will not confess that the Bible is true.

     Faith assents to what it knows.  We not only know the Commandments of God, we assent that they are right.  We not only know the Bible’s claim that Jesus lived a perfect and holy life, we assent that it is true.  We not only know that Jesus died by crucifixion, was buried, and on the third day rose from the grave with a glorified body; we assent that it is true.  Our assent is not based on what we wish to be true.  You might wish that Jesus promised that you will never know sorrow or pain.  You might wish that Jesus promised you will always have lots of money and friends.  But you don’t have promises about those things.  To believe them is only a wish.  But we have evidence of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.  Jesus suffered under the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.  Jesus died by crucifixion which Pontius Pilate confirmed before he handed Jesus’ body over to Joseph of Arimathea.  Jesus rose bodily from the grave, and eyewitnesses testified to it.  In fact, those eyewitnesses chose to be persecuted, imprisoned, and killed rather than renounce their message.  We even have testimony from non-Christian historians about Jesus.  The facts come with overwhelming evidence.  Faith knows these facts, and faith assents that they are true.

     But there is an important, third component to the Christian faith.  Faith trusts.  Just knowing the facts is not saving faith.  Even knowing they are true is not saving faith.  The devil knows the facts.  St. James wrote, “You believe that God is one.  Good for you!  Even the demons believe that—and shudder” (James 2:19)!  Oh, yes, the demons know Jesus!  St. Mark wrote, “Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down in front of him, crying out, ‘You are the Son of God’” (Mark 3:11)!  They knew Jesus.  They assented that Jesus is the Son of God.  But they did not believe in him. 

      So, we not only know the facts about Jesus.  We not only assent that the facts are true.  We also know why they matter.  The Lord has told us the “why.”  “God so loved the world.”  How did he demonstrate that love?  “He gave his only-begotten Son.”  Why?  So “that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). 

     We have specific promises from God.  So, we know and assent not only to the “what” of the Bible’s message, but we know the “why.”  The prophet Isaiah declared, “It was because of our rebellion that he was pierced.  He was crushed for the guilt our sins deserved.  The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.  … The LORD has charged all our guilt to him” (Isaiah 53:5-6).  Therefore, we don’t just hope that God loves us.  We don’t just wish for forgiveness of our sins.  We don’t just dream of eternal life.  Faith knows these things.  Faith assents that they are true.  Faith trusts in them and receives the benefit of them.

     God had revealed his word to Abraham.  He extended promises to Abraham.  He worked faith in the heart of Abraham.  This means that Abraham knew God’s word, assented to God’s word, and trusted that word.  That is what moved Abraham to leave his father’s home with its idols and false worship.  Abraham, at age 75!, traveled hundreds of miles.  His destination?  “The LORD said to Abram, ‘…Go to the land that I will show you’” (Genesis 12:1).  It seems that Abraham did not even know the destination when he left.  Perhaps Abraham had never left his home before, which means that every step of this hundreds-mile-long journey was foreign to him.  Why would he go to an unknown destination and settle in a land that was utterly unfamiliar to him?  Abraham trusted the word of the Lord.  He did not know what he would face, but he trusted God who told him to go.  What’s more, God promised, “I will give this land to your descendants” (Genesis 12:7).  Abraham never saw this promise fulfilled.  It was not realized for more than four centuries after Abraham.  Nevertheless, Abraham trusted God’s promise.  Faith knows.  Faith assents.  And faith trusts. 

     You and I have been given many promises from our Lord.  And since we know God’s promises and assent that they are true, we can trust them at all times.  We can trust that our Father in heaven will hear and answer when we pray to him.  We can trust that a place in heaven awaits us when we die.  We can even trust in promises that seem to defy what we see and feel. 

     Consider this promise: “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).  This promise does not say that we will know how the difficulties we suffer will work out for our good.  It does not say why we should have to endure them, or that we will like them.  Just as Abraham did not see the fulfillment that the land of Canaan would belong to his descendants, so also you may not see how God worked a tragedy out for your good in this lifetime.  But remember what God’s goal is for you—that you be delivered from a world of sorrow to the heavenly kingdom.  And if it means that you must bear a cross, then God will use that for your ultimate good to bring you to the kingdom of glory.  Faith knows the promise.  Faith assents that is true.  And faith trusts that God’s word will not fail you.

     Abraham not only received God’s promises.  Once he knew them, assented to them, and trusted in them, he began to proclaim them.  “He moved on from there to the hill country east of Bethel…  There he built an altar to the LORD and proclaimed the name of the LORD” (Genesis 12:8).  Abraham proclaimed what he knew to be true.  All the families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham.  Therefore, Abraham proclaimed the Lord’s promises so that all the families of the earth could know them, assent to them, and trust in them for their eternal good.

     This is also why you and I gather in God’s house.  We hear the promises and ponder them so that our faith is informed, corrected, fed, and strengthened.  Those who do not hear God’s word will probably not forget the stories or the promises, but eventually, they no longer assent or trust in them.  “Faith comes through hearing the message, and the message is word through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).  Faith comes, that is, it continues to be sustained as God’s word is heard. That’s why we keep on listening.

     Once that word is heard, known to be true, and trusted, it is to be proclaimed.  God’s salvation is meant for all.  Just as Abraham proclaimed it, so do we.  No one can know God’s promises, assent to them, trust in them, and benefit from them unless those who have the promises proclaim them.  This is how saving faith came to you.  It is how it comes to others.  The Lord works faith in us; then he rewards us for the faith he gives and sustains in us.  We know it.  We assent to it.  We trust in it.  And we are saved by it.

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