“Fear Not (the Final Word)” 2-23-25

Overview

Fear Not: God's Final Word

Of all the fears that grip the human heart—change, inadequacy, loneliness, even death—perhaps none is more paralyzing than the fear of not being saved. It's the fear that whispers, "Did I believe enough? Did I confess enough? Will Jesus really come for me?" Consider the dear saint near the end of her life who said plainly, "I'm not scared to die. I just hope Jesus comes and takes me with him." Her hope, and ours, rests not in the strength of our faith but in the object of our faith: Jesus Christ.

In Romans 10:5-13, Paul builds a careful case for righteousness—that condition acceptable before God. He begins by closing every door of self-justification. Moses wrote that the one who keeps the law will live by it Leviticus 18:5, but Israel's history—and our own—proves that no one keeps it. As Ezekiel 20 testifies, God's people rebelled against His statutes in the wilderness, and we are no different. Under the law, by our own works and words, we stand unrighteous and condemned.

But Paul turns to a different righteousness—the righteousness that comes from faith. Quoting Deuteronomy 30, he insists that we need not ascend into heaven or descend into the abyss to find it. Why? Because Christ has already descended in the incarnation and ascended in the resurrection. The righteousness of faith is concerned with one thing only: Christ crucified and risen for you. Faith, as Luther put it, "apprehends Christ"—it takes hold of Him and clings to His promise. Cloaked in His righteousness, sealed in baptism, you stand before God acceptable—not because of what you have done, but because of what He has done.

This is why Romans 10:9-10 must be read together. If we isolate the "if" of confessing and believing, we spiral into despair, measuring whether our faith is strong enough. But Paul's point is that faith itself—worked in us by the Holy Spirit—naturally tumbles out as confession on our lips. Strong faith and weak faith are both saving faith, because both lay hold of the same Christ. Remember Peter, who walked boldly on the water and then sank in fear, crying out, "Lord, save me!" Matthew 14:30. Jesus did not hesitate. He reached out, grabbed him, and pulled him close. He does the same for you.

"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" Romans 10:13. The promise is real. The promise is for you. Heights may still be unsettling, frogs may still startle you, and life this side of heaven will bring its share of troubles. But the deepest fear—the fear of standing condemned before God—has been answered once and for all in Christ. So hear God's final word over every fear that would grip your heart: Fear not.

Transcript

Ever since the beginning of the year, we have been in a sermon series entitled Fearless, 3s

overcoming fear in the new year. 11s

And we began by talking about the difference between being scared and having fear. 14s

How we can be scared of heights or as one person said, the scared of frogs, but there 20s

is a difference with fear, fear that grips your entire being that can paralyze you. 25s

For fear, for not knowing, we talked about the fear of not knowing God's will for our lives. 35s

We talked about the fear of change that we may experience. 42s

The fear of inadequacy or of not being liked. 47s

We talked about the fear of being alone. 52s

Last week, we talked about the fear of death. 57s

Today, we're going to wrap up this series on fear. 63s

And we're going to hear God's final word about fear and how we face our fears. 67s

A defining moment in ministry for me was early on in ministry when I had the opportunity 76s

to visit with a deer saint. 83s

This saint was ill and she knew that she would not be healed this side of heaven. 86s

And so this saint was facing her own mortality and she didn't have a fear of death. 93s

But as I got the opportunity to sit and talk with her, she shared how she had grown up in faith. 101s

And she had grown up knowing that God was with her and she shared how wonderful it was to have 109s

always been a child into adulthood and knowing that God was with her. 117s

And so she didn't fear death and she could look back on her life and see where God had been with her. 124s

But she did have a fear. 132s

She did have a fear. 136s

She said, I'm not scared to die. 139s

Her fear was in one statement. 144s

She said, I just hope Jesus comes and takes me with him. 148s

Her fear was not in the moment of death. 158s

Her fear was in the after death. 161s

She feared whether or not she was truly saved. 166s

The fear of not being saved is something that can grip every single one of us. 172s

Can stop us in our tracks and hold on to us, not letting us go spiraling us into despair or hopelessness, not knowing. 180s

Not knowing. 194s

Am I saved or not? 197s

I had the opportunity to talk with this dear saint and we began with the beginning and beginning with the beginning is to understand our place with God and understand our place before God. 201s

And so we walked through scripture together. 218s

As we look at our text for today, we're going to see how Paul builds a case of righteousness. 221s

He builds a case of righteousness. 230s

And through this today, we are going to find God's final word on fear. 233s

If you would please open your Bibles to the book of Romans, the 10th chapter, we're in Romans 10. 241s

We are, if you're using a Pue audition of the Bible, this can be found on page 140 in the New Testament Romans chapter 10, beginning in verse 5. 248s

We're Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit writes, 262s

Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law that the person who does these things will live by them. 266s

Now to understand righteousness, we need to understand that righteousness means the condition that is acceptable to God. 276s

So here he is saying that Moses wrote about the condition that is acceptable to God from the law. 286s

Well, what does Moses write about that? 296s

In due to ronomy, the fourth chapter he writes, what other great nation has a God so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him. 299s

And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today in Leviticus the 18th chapter. 310s

Moses records the words of the Lord where he says, my ordinances, you shall observe and my statutes you shall keep following them. 322s

I am the Lord your God. 333s

You shall keep my statutes and my ordinances by doing so one shall live. I am the Lord. 336s

In the prophet Izekiel in the 20th chapter, it's told that the Lord gave the statutes and showed them his ordinances, but the house of Israel rebelled against me the Lord says in the wilderness, they did not observe my statutes, but rejected my ordinances throughout Israel's history. 345s

Throughout Israel's history we find this rebellion that they are rejecting God's law, they are rejecting the ordinance, the statutes that he had put in place for their good and their well being. 368s

And so under the law they could not stand righteous in a condition that is acceptable to God. 384s

We are not far off from those Israelites. We also have God's divine and holy law for our good, for the good of our lives to function this side of heaven. 394s

But when we look at the law of God and we look at the holiness and the prescribed statutes and ordinances of holiness, we see how wofully short we fall. 409s

And we see that under the law we aren't righteous. 424s

Under the law according to the law we do not stand before the Lord in a condition that is acceptable to God. 429s

Because in our sin, in our nature we are just as the Israelites were. 443s

We rebel against God's perfection. We rebel against his holiness. We rebel against God himself. 450s

But righteousness is not found in the law. 463s

And you can never create for yourself by your works, by your words, a condition that is acceptable before the Lord. 468s

No matter how hard you try, no matter how good you've been. 483s

In your own efforts, you stand unrighteous and condemned a sinner before the Lord. 488s

Because you in your flesh are not acceptable to God. 505s

Understanding where our own efforts get us, understanding where our own efforts take us, that is the first place in understanding the righteousness and what makes us righteous before God and what makes us saved. 515s

So Paul writes that Moses wrote concerning the righteousness that comes from the law. 537s

He continues in verse 6, but the righteousness that comes from faith says, do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven. 543s

That is to bring Christ down or who will descend into the abyss. 553s

That is to bring Christ up from the dead. 557s

But what does it say? 561s

The word is near you on your lips and in your heart. 563s

That is the word of faith that we proclaim. 569s

In due to Ronomy chapter 30 that Paul is quoting Moses in, it says, it is not in heaven that you should say, who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it. 574s

Neither is it beyond the sea that you should say, who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and get it for us, that we may hear it and observe it. 587s

No Moses writes, the word is very near to you. It is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe. 597s

You see, there is no external mystical place for the believer to go to find righteousness. 606s

There is no climbing into heaven or descending into hell where we can seek out our righteousness because the righteousness of faith is concerned with one thing and one thing only and that is the Christ. 614s

Righteousness of faith is concerned with a Christ of whom both the Ascent and the Descent are true. 632s

Righteousness of faith is concerned with the Christ, the second person of the Trinity who descended from heaven. The incarnate, second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ fully man, fully God, entering into humanity to live under the law. 647s

As you and I are called to live and yet cannot live, it is this second person of the Trinity, fully God, fully man who dies the death under the law and rises victorious over sin, death and hell. 672s

It is the righteousness of faith that is concerned with Christ and what he has done for you. 697s

Christ incarnate and risen is here already and is yours. 708s

It's God's gift to you. 716s

It's God's gift of faith for you. 720s

Christ crucified. 725s

Christ incarnate and resurrected is the word of faith that we proclaim. 727s

Moses said, the word is near you on your lips and in your heart. 734s

Jesus is the living word, the word made flesh of God and he is near you because he is in you. 740s

It is he that abides in you and you that abide in him. 753s

And faith takes hold of Christ. I love how Martin Luther writes. He says that that faith apprehends Christ. 759s

What is it to apprehend? It's to capture when someone is apprehended. They are taken hold of. They are captured. They are kept. 769s

When when faith apprehends Christ and Christ crucified, it captures Christ. 779s

It captures the beauty of the promise that is for you in Christ. 788s

Faith takes hold of Christ and it's this faith that makes us right before God. 796s

Because we stand not in our own made condition of righteousness but we stand in the righteousness of Christ. 805s

Cloked in the garment of His righteousness. 817s

And because we are cloaked in the garment of His righteousness, we stand before the Lord in a condition that is acceptable to God. 824s

Because the sacrifice has been made for you. 836s

And the righteousness has been claimed for you and you have been claimed by God through the waters of baptism and sealed in the promise of His Holy Spirit. 843s

The promise of that righteousness that is for you. 862s

So we understand in the grand story of salvation, we understand that the starting point as I shared with the dear St. 870s

are starting point is to understand that no one is righteous. No one stands in His or her own efforts before the Lord acceptable. 881s

But Scripture, after Scripture first, after verse tells us how we are accepted in the blood of Christ that it is His sacrifice made for you that makes you in the right condition acceptable before the Lord. 894s

This is the word of faith that we proclaim. 916s

Paul continues in verse 9, because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 921s

In verse 10, He says, for one believes with the heart and so is justified and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 932s

I think it's very, very vital that we keep those two verses together because if we separate those verses and we read nine in and of itself for what it says, there is this looming is. 942s

If you believe, if you confess and in our selfishness in our fear, we get stuck on the if word. 957s

And we so easily can slip in a spiral of despair and hopelessness wondering, did I confess enough? Do I believe enough is my faith strong enough? 971s

But Paul, Paul is building a case of righteousness of faith. 985s

He says, we're not righteous under the law, we're not righteous under the law, we're all clear on that we cannot stand before the Lord right under the law. 992s

But it is through Christ and the righteousness that He imparts to us through His sacrifice on the cross that we stand before the Lord righteous and redeemed. 1002s

And he says, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved and he continues as an explanation. 1015s

For one believes with the heart and so is justified and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 1024s

The thoughts of a man's soul are verbalized by the mouth. 1035s

Christ and the faith that apprehends Christ as your Redeemer, it works in you by the grace of the Holy Spirit and it is that faith that tumbles and spills as a confession upon your lips. 1042s

Are there those that are mature and faith absolutely? Are there those that are weak and faith absolutely? 1061s

Are both saved? Absolutely. 1069s

Think of Peter in our gospel reading for today, Peter who so confidently in faith walked out on the water, going toward Christ. 1075s

So confident. 1087s

And then he got scared. 1091s

And his faith was weakened and he became feeble in faith and he started to sink. 1096s

And he uttered one of the most beautiful prayers in all of Scripture. 1105s

Lord saved me. 1114s

And Jesus did not hesitate. 1120s

He reached and grabbed and pulled him to himself. 1125s

In our faith that apprehends Christ, we cry out, Lord saved me and Christ unhesitatingly, reaches out, grabs us and pulls us to himself. 1136s

And we cling to the promise that we have in Christ. 1155s

Paul continues in verse 11. 1167s

The Scripture says no one who believes in Him will be put to shame. 1170s

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. 1175s

The same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on Him. 1177s

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. 1183s

The promise is true. 1190s

The promise is real for all who call on the name of the Lord. 1193s

All who call upon Jesus Christ. 1202s

All will be saved. 1209s

God's salvation is available to everyone. 1212s

God's salvation is available to everyone. 1218s

Praise the Lord that we have heard this gospel. 1226s

Praise the Lord that we have heard the good news. 1231s

Praise the Lord that He in grace has created in us a faith that apprehends Christ crucified and Christ risen. 1237s

That dear saint, that dear saint, that wondered, 1253s

wondered if Jesus would come to take her, hoping that Jesus would come to take her. 1262s

She knew before the end of our conversation that Christ had died for her sin. 1273s

That Christ was risen victorious over her sin and that Christ would indeed come and call her to be with Him eternally. 1288s

That promise was right and true and real for her. 1301s

And today she is in the church triumphant singing the praises of God Almighty. 1306s

That promise is real and right and true for you too. 1314s

Are you saved? 1324s

Yes. 1327s

Are there things this side of heaven that we may be scared of? 1331s

Yeah, frogs may still be scary. 1335s

Heights may still be scary. 1338s

We may still be claustrophobic. 1340s

But do you need to fear? 1346s

God's final word for you is fear not. 1351s

Fear not. 1364s