Faith Comes By Hearing

Faith Comes by Hearing

Romans 10:8–17 NKJV

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,

Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

We now have come to the season of Lent in the Christian year. Lent is a time of prayer and reflection in which we consider how we are saved and how we should respond to God’s gracious offer to save us by the sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus, on the cross. The season of Lent properly started last Wednesday in which many have ashes from the previous year’s burnt palm branches from Palm Sunday. Ashes are a sign of repentance. The Jews would show their contrition by sitting in the dust and ashes. Ashes are the sign of the futility of our works and dust the decomposition of our physical bodies. We come from dust and return to dust. Our works are destroyed by fire. This means we have no hope in ourselves. This would lead one to despair. It is necessary we arrive at this conclusion, However, this is not the end of the story but the means to a new beginning. The same God who created us from dust and gave us constructive purpose is able to do what we cannot do. Only God can take this dust and ashes and recreate them. The God who created the universe out of nothing is certainly able to reconstruct us from the dust.

Salvation is entirely the work of God, a God who is Sovereign. Because God is all-mighty, He is able to save. He is not just the Most High. It is not enough that God is bigger than we are. Some people might be big and powerful. I remember hearing the story of one powerful knight named William Marshall. He was strong and brave. No one could take him in single combat. Perhaps he could fend off several enemies. But could he fend off an entire army. It would not be enough to be the most powerful knight in these circumstances. Besides this. William Marshall grew old and died just like any human. But the immortal God does not age, die, or weaken. The entire universe is unable to withstand Him. As Paul notes in Romans 9:18-20:

Romans 9:18–20 NKJV

Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”

However, the power of God to save is not enough. God must be also willing to save or none would be saved at all. This willingness is told us in John 3:16-17 and other places in Scripture.

John 3:16–17 NKJV

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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

So while we contemplate the ashes of our own works, we must also contemplate the fact that God desires to save us. But we must also remember that the Sovereign God has the right to create the means of salvation. How can anyone be saved if it were based upon our own works or keeping the commandments. As Paul tells us, the Law only shows our total lack of capacity. Thankfully, God did not make law-keeping the means of our restoration. He instead sent the Son to be our means of atonement. The Son became flesh and tabernacled among us. This Son who is fully equal in every respect with the Father and also the Holy Spirit became weak in the flesh. How the Sovereign Lord could weaken and die on the cross is the great mystery of the universe. Yet, God is God, and God can do anything. This is proved when Jesus was raised on the third day and then ascended after 40 days to the right hand of the Majesty on High.