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“Confessing Faith Saves” (Romans 10:5-13)

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Series: Unexpected Truths”

Pastor Nate Walther

13th Sunday of Pentecost (08/23/2026)

Confession feels like a dirty word.  Maybe it conjures up images of a child squirming before mom or dad with something broken in the background.  Maybe you think about that feeling in your stomach when you know you’re going to have to admit something to your spouse.  Maybe it’s even the kind of thing that can drive people away from church: they don’t like to confess their sins, it makes them feel bad, so they don’t come.  Why, then, do we have confession?  It’s because God simply tells us in his Word today that CONFESSING FAITH SAVES.  Confession is not the negative thing we often make it out to be.  It’s a positive thing that gets at the heart of God’s plans for us.

            In today’s sermon text from Romans, the Apostle Paul approaches this topic from the question of righteousness.  What makes us right in the sight of God that we might be saved?  He lists two possibilities. Verse 5 explains the first: there is “righteousness that comes by law”, which means you have to do all the things the law says to be righteous, as the remainder of the verse explains.  So how about that one?  Would you bank your salvation on it?  Keeping God’s law all the time? When he’s not just some cop where you can speed up again once you’re out of sight on the interstate?… Of course not!  That’s why it’s a good thing God has revealed a second possibility in verse 6: “righteousness that comes by faith,” which doesn’t require any heroic deeds, as the following verses demonstrate. It doesn’t mean going to places we cannot reach (like heaven, verse 6), or coming back from places we cannot come back from (like the grave, verse 7). All it requires is faith.  And let’s make sure we define it correctly.  This is faith that is about more than a feeling. This is faith based on something concrete and real. 

As an example of it, Paul describes faith that is grounded in God’s Word (verse 8).  That means it is ultimately accessible to all people—regardless of who they are or what they have done or any limitation—because anyone can pick up a Bible and read it.  Then, Paul additionally describes such faith going hand-in-hand with confession (verse 9).  The thing about confession is: there’s actually something real there to identify and, therefore, confess!…  But it’s not just sin.  Paul ultimately directs our attention to the message of Christ. This is about confessing what Jesus did for our sin. Jesus, who brought heaven down to us as the son of God. Jesus, who conquered death for us as a son of man.  And that’s why Paul concludes these verses (10-13) by making it clear that everyone who confesses Christ and calls upon him will be saved.

So… confession.  It’s true that there’s a “negative” side to confession.  Take the positive things we just heard. How can we be saved unless there is something we need to be saved from?  How can Jesus rescue us from death unless there’s something to kill us?  And today, even as we talk about the most basic topic of faith, we see such sin clearly.  1) We see it when people turn faith into an empty label, almost like a good luck charm.  As long as they can claim faith—as long as they’re on the membership roster at some church, somewhere—they may assume God is OK with things.  But they don’t really worry about what God says. They don’t worry about doing what he says is right, or believing truths he says are important in the Bible.  Do you realize that God condemns this viewpoint here?  It’s still about righteousness that comes by faith – you don’t just throw out what is right and embrace the opposite!  And faith still confesses the truth – it depends on real, quantifiable things!  But if faith becomes little more than a feeling?  It’s great when it feels great.  It’s not when it doesn’t.  And if that’s all your faith is—not based on anything real, right or true—it will fail you when you need it most… 2) By the way, that’s not the only pitfall.  Faith can become an empty label just as much in the opposite way, when people makes faith all about heroic deeds that ultimately reel salvation in.  Yes, they would agree that God saves them “by faith”.  But don’t you have to be good enough? God wouldn’t let some bad sinner into heaven, you have to clear some bar!  Except, where will it end?  No matter how high you climb, you still haven’t reached heaven, even if you clear every other human obstacle in the process.  And then you’ll still die, there’s still something inside of us that kills us and puts an end to the life God intended to last forever… Which of these two pitfalls do you struggle with?  Do you go back and forth between the two?… In our sermon text, God describes all needing to be saved from this sin.  So confess it!  We need to confess our sin!!  Not confessing it will not change the fact that this is a problem!!!

But don’t stop there.  Because although we do this every church services—although we make a big point of talking about sin in every Bible study and counseling session and in what we teach kids in our school—it’s never the last word.  It wasn’t in our sermon text.  That’s because the highlight of confession isn’t law but the gospel.  Now we can see what makes Jesus so good.  Jesus, who literally brought heaven down to us.  Jesus, who brought God’s presence to people in a way they could endure their Maker face-to-face.  Then he cleared the bar we could never clear.  Even confession: though he had no sin of his own to confess, Jesus always perfectly confessed his Father in heaven before others.  Then he went to the cross.  Jesus suffered for every time we have failed to confess our sin or failed to confess God’s truth before others when the situation called for it.  Then he went down to the depths.  And Jesus defeated the gravest consequence that sin would ever wreak on our lives: death itself.  It’s why Jesus could suddenly talk about the kingdom of God being near people when he was near them!  And it’s near to us too.  Jesus is the Word made flesh, and we find him in the Word as well, in this message of all that he does for us.

Finally, that’s what we confess.  Faith is not some passive thing where you are just taking in a performance.  It’s active and it claims something immense for oneself.  But we don’t swing too far in the opposite direction.  No strenuous heroics are required here, just standing on the already bold claims of Christ.  It’s why we end each confession of sin with an announcement of Christ as Savior from sin, because that’s what makes that confession complete.  It’s also why also why we confess our faith after the sermon, after hearing about the good things God has done for us.  Fittingly, we even stand for these confessions.  Think about that, the only other times we usually stand in the service are to honor Jesus himself: in the Gospel lesson which highlights his words and works, and in the Sacrament which gives us his very body and blood.  Confession isn’t about being left with sin.  Confession is about being left with Jesus who frees us from sin.  So confess that!  We need to confess our Savior from sin!!  Not confessing it will not fix the problem!!!

So now, let me ask you this: what does this actually look like?  I ask the question because the Apostle Paul isn’t describing Sunday morning worship in our sermon text.  Rather, he’s describing Christian living and righteousness as a whole.  Which means it’s not just about confession for one hour on a Sunday morning. Confession is for every hour of this life.  What does that look like?…  Take the example of Wisconsin sports teams.  They matter to me. I care about them, probably more than I should. So what goes hand-in-hand with that?  I talk about it!  I confess it!  (A few of you may have heard me talk about that 22-0 drubbing the Brewers gave the Marlins the other night!) That’s just it: if a sport or a hobby matters to you, you talk about it, you just can’t help it!  So also, if faith matters more to us than sports or hobbies, than our jobs or even our families—all things we quickly and gladly talk about!—talk about faith too.  Confess it…  What if we normalized that?  What if you’re struggling with a sin, so you went to your pastor and privately confessed it, all so that he could help you and personally assure you of forgiveness for that sin in Jesus?  Or, what if you know you’ve messed up with your family, so you didn’t just hide it or ignore it – you confessed that sin to your spouse or to your children, and then you made a renewed effort to live in the righteousness to which God has called you?  Or, what if you have a friend who’s caught up in a sin, or they’re struggling with some of the truly bad thing of this world, so you made a point to talk to them about how God addresses these topics in his Word?… If we don’t, it empties our faith and weakens it.  If we do, we’re so much better off. Haven’t we all experienced it?  Those times where the guilt is eating at you, yet you don’t want to confess your sin.  But then it gets out into the open always, and you are forced to confess it!  Except, that’s where somebody actually forgives that sin, and only then do we realize we’re finally move on. What better feeling in the world is there than that?  It’s exactly what God has designed our faith to do!  And it’s what he always offers us freely through the blood of his Son Jesus

Let me ask you again, does confession feel like a dirty word? I hope after hearing God’s Word today, we would all say, “No! We’re glad our church does this!”  Because confession is a hallmark of saving faith.  It’s faith’s fingerprint – faith’s indication that there is something real and consequential and transformative here.  To be sure, it can be hard.  But that doesn’t make it worth avoiding.  Not when confession goes hand-in-hand with salvation, with righteousness, with all the good God wants to give us.  That won’t come by holding on to our own sin.  It will only come by letting go of sin, letting Christ take hold of it, and then holding onto him.  That’s what confession is all about.  Sin is the lesser part of it.  And the moment we talk about sin, Jesus gets the last word.  It’s why confession is only good. Amen. 

Let it flow!

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Look, how good and how pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!  It is like the precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes.  Psalm 133:1-2

Let it flow!

It was the perfect treat for a hot summer day.  I had a scoop of Culver’s Flavor of the Day, the Andes Mint Avalanche.  My wife had a scoop of their Lemon Ice with added raspberries.  We highly recommend them.  But because it was a hot summer day, as your family has undoubtedly learned, one needs to eat their frozen treats before they melt.  Otherwise ice cream has a way of flowing down over the hand and dripping down onto whatever clothes (or newsletter article) one happens to be wearing or working on at the moment.  It is a good problem to have.

In the same way, our psalm writer paints a messy sounding picture when describing the blessings found in Christian unity.  He speaks about the anointing of the High Priest, Aaron, and of how that precious oil flows off his head and down his beard and onto his robes in abundance.  And it’s a unity that the author, King David, did not always have the luxury of experiencing during his lifetime.  From his interactions with King Saul to his rebellious son Absalom, David did not always experience unity within the kingdom or within his own family.  Here in Psalm 133, he pauses to reflect on the pleasantness that comes from God and rejoices in the true peace he can bring to believers.  These moments were made extra special as the people gathered together in fellowship for worship in God’s house.

Such unity must begin with our God.  As Jesus is the head of the church, heavenly blessings originate through him and are thanks to him and to his saving work.  The devil despises our closeness to God and does all he can to disrupt Christ-centered fellowship.  And on our own, our sins would disqualify us from any unification with a holy and righteous God.  But thanks to Jesus’ payment for the cross, we have forgiveness.  Thanks to the Father’s plan we have a place with him now and eternally in his family of believers.  And thanks to the Holy Spirit’s work he helps us grow in our faith and better understand our lives within God’s kingdom.  

Such unity is ours thanks to a shared faith in Jesus.  We may not as a church have the same shared political beliefs, degrees of gifts, or opportunities for service.  But we do have the same faith based upon Christ.  And with him as our collective head, we the members of his body receive great blessings from our God in heaven as his love, help, and encouragement freely flow down to us from heaven.

What does such unity in Christ look like with his church?  As believers we find fellowship together in worship, we want to preserve God’s truth, and we look to apply his words in love so that more souls are saved.  While the church will not be perfect on this side of heaven, it means that as we have opportunities we will embrace grace over grumbling, forgiveness over frustration, and Christ over conflict.  It means that we celebrate the shared gifts and abilities in serving Jesus together.  Think of it!  You share in the work of the pastor who visits the precious persons in prison or who are hospital-bed-bound with God’s words of peace.  You share in the long hours of love and care that go into the service of parents and teachers as we value the gift of Christian education.  You share in the unique abilities and special opportunities of the many members who are active in serving Jesus.  Our service situations might be different, but in Jesus our faith is united, our abilities shared, and our mission is the same!     

So this summer, go ahead and enjoy that tasty treat or extra scoop of custard.  Let it flow!  And as you scramble to keep up with the melting goodness, think about the picture we are given in this psalm – and rejoice!  Thanks be to God who has unified us in the love of Jesus, given us the fellowship of faith, and causes his blessings in Christ Jesus to flow freely upon us.

Faith Looks Forward

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Pastor: Pastor Horton

Date: August 10, 2025

Passage: Hebrews 11:1–3,8–16

Three summers ago we began to receive the first images from the James Webb telescope.  It is unique because it’s in orbit and therefore free from earth’s atmospheric interferences.  And what has this powerful telescope been able to see?  Hundreds of billions of stars both, for the lack of better terminology, being born and passing away, massive black holes, and galaxies even beyond where human science assumed to be the border of the big bang.  This telescope has allowed us to look forward through traveling light years, and see the illuminated expanses of the created universe.  We’re told today that “By faith we know that the universe was created by God’s word.”  It’s humbling to look forward through the cosmos and to be able to see what God has done. 

The people of the Hebrews were being asked to look forward as well.  They didn’t have a telescope, but rather they had the inspired word of God, which was more powerful and more useful when it came to their salvation.  They were to fix their eyes on Christ by faith, and look forward to salvation won through Jesus alone.  And yet we’re told: that came with hardships for them.  Because they had an Old Testament way of life with its regulations and cultural heritage and family traditions all attached to the past.  To look forward instead to all that they had in Jesus was a much needed reminder.

In this famous chapter from Hebrews 11, the listeners are asked to consider the founding father of their people, Abraham, as he looked forward by faith.  There must have been hardships for Abraham as well.  After all, as the reader was reminded, his family and his heritage was not that of a native believer from Israel, but rather he was the son of Terah from a place called Ur, beyond the Euphrates River.  His religion?  The family already had at least one.  Scripture tells us that his father’s house already had “other gods.”  And his wealth?  He had earthly means and didn’t need to relocate or restart or rebuild his life.  To ask Abraham to blindly go wherever God would send him and become a tent-living traveler and stranger and foreigner in the land?  That’s a big request!  I may have been tempted to say “no thank you, I’m okay right where I am.  I know what I have here and it’s a lot, but out there, who’s to say?”

And yet marvel at our words for today, “By faith Abraham obeyed.  By faith he lived as a stranger in the Promised Land, as if it did not belong to him, dwelling in tents along with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.  For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”  Home, as he knew it was no longer behind him, but ahead of him in heaven.  Home in heaven wasn’t going to be temporary or transient – as if it’s something one hopes for one day and gone the next.  No!  Home in heaven was secure in the promise of his coming Savior.

And did you notice that these timeless truths were passed on to the future generations in his family?  Promises echoed to Isaac and Jacob and later Joseph and beyond.  God had Abraham look forward by faith and see that his wife would conceive at an old age.  “Impossible!” shouts human reasoning, for this senior citizen and his barren wife!  But not impossible when it comes to God.  Abraham “considered him (God) faithful who made the promise.”  And from God’s faithfulness in fulfilling the fullness of that promise came a numerous people, and a spiritual Israel as vast and diverse as the galaxies in the sky (you are part of that promise fulfilled), and that promise included a Savior for the world.  That’s an impressive sequence of fulfilled events illustrating God’s faithfulness – all in that promise made to a man who was “as good as dead” and standing under the starry sky.

We find in those early patriarchs people whose faith continued to look forward to their heavenly home.  Far from perfect people they lived in a far from perfect world with sin and died.  “One by one, all of these died in faith, without having received the things that were promised, but they saw and welcomed them from a distance.  They confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth….Instead, they were longing for a better land—a heavenly one.”  We have the same God they do, and the same Word full of truth, and are given faith like they were.  But what about those days when I feel like my faith can’t compare to theirs?   

What exactly is this faith given by God?  Faith is not merely a human hope or a human feeling.  As in “I have faith that the Brewers win the World Series since they have the best record in baseball and swept the Dodgers twice.”  That kind of faith is based upon my wants and wishes.  Faith, as described in the Bible, is far better than that.  Faith is assurance in God’s Word as the Holy Spirit has converted your heart and drawn you closer to Jesus through the saving gospel.  Faith is trust and confidence that God is and will work all things out for the eternal good of his children.  And faith is based securely upon Christ Jesus, who is today risen, living, ascended, and in total control of all things and who dwells actively in your heart.  This is faith according to Scripture, a gift from God graciously given to you and to me and to Abraham.  And faith points our focus forward and to Jesus and throws wide open the promise of heaven.

There with God in heaven is that “better land” the early believers longed for.  There is the goal of our faith.  There is an eternal country beyond our best dreams.  The leader there is never corrupt or tyrannical, but selfless in serving and providing for all our needs.  There our enemies have no voice – fear and sorrow gone forever.  There in that land exists the very best health plan where we will be completely free from sin and death and all that disturbs the body, mind, and heart.  There in that heavenly land, constructed by God with you in mind, we will have perfect relief, perfect contentment, perfect stability, perfect joy, and perfect love.  This is what the believers of old, by faith, “saw and welcomed from a distance” and is ours through Jesus.

Like those Hebrew believers we need that constant reminder to look through the lens of the Word at what is coming through Christ.  How often do we try to convince ourselves that we can have that better land right here and now apart from Christ by thinking, “if only that family or financial situation was fixed, or I have that new job or new relationship, or the country improves – then everything will suddenly be better!”  Maybe sometimes better, but not perfect.  And we become so earthly minded that we forget where our true home is and where our true treasure is.  Pastor Lauersdorf, the People’s Bible commentator, wrote beautifully, “‘I’m but a stranger here, heaven is my home,’ we love to sing, but in life’s reality it is often so different. “Eyes that should be raised heavenward are riveted on earth.  Feet which should be marching toward Canaan’s shores are mired in earth’s swamps.  Hands that should be reaching for eternal treasures are wrapped around gaudy marbles.  Backs that should be straining in effort for the kingdom are bent over in valueless pursuit of earthly wealth and gain.”  And yet try as we might, this place will never be our real home.  The gift of faith in Jesus helps you and I to look forward.

By faith Abraham and the fellow believers, our brothers and sisters in the Old Testament recognized this fact. They lived in mobile tents and in earthly bodies.  These men and women passed away without receiving the Promised Land and without meeting the Savior.  Yet they died knowing he would come to earth, knowing he would die and rise for them.  Why?  Because God is faithful.  That’s why the author says, “Faith is being sure about what we hope for, being convinced about things we do not see.  For by this faith the ancients were commended in Scripture.”  And there the Bible, in both Old Testament and New, Jesus is held up, who is the foundation of our faith.

Consider all that your God-given faith sees and knows.  Faith sees Christ lying in a manger.  Faith sees Jesus living a sin-free life in your place.  Faith sees Jesus being heavenly-minded all the time – he even speaks that way: “the kingdom of heaven/God is like, I want to be with my Father, etc.”  Our heavenly-minded Savior set the wants of the world aside, he went to the cross to win forgiveness for you before God, he gave you his perfect life, he covered you in his righteousness like a glorious dress, and he rose from the grave so that heavenly land is yours one day.  That is what our faith sees and believes.  Like Abraham, faith sees a glorious heaven and looks forward to it.  Faith understands that in this day of grace, we have work to do in sharing Jesus, and yet faith also longs for that day when we will pass over the threshold of death to life, and say, “Thank you, Jesus, I’m finally home.”

Dear brothers and sisters, as you take that final summer camping trip, or find yourself under a starry sky, remember God’s promises to Abraham.  We have a God who is faithful, we can do the impossible, and who gives us a faith to hear, believe, and rejoice in his promises.  Press on, share the good news with those inside and outside your home, and keep your eyes on the coming Christ.  The good land and heavenly home awaits.  And by faith we look forward.  Amen. 

Small Group: The Case for Faith

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A new session of small group Bible study is starting up on August 21st. The topic will be going over the book “The Case for Faith” by Lee Strobel, and will meet twice a month in Waunakee on Sunday evenings for about 60 – 90 minutes. It’s very casual, and a good opportunity to meet some of your fellow Christian brothers and sisters. Please contact the church office if you have any questions or would like to join.

Kids are welcome, and babysitting will be available!