Text: Deuteronomy 26:1   “When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, 2 you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. 3 And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’ 4 Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God.
5   “And you shall make response before the LORD your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. 7 Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror,* with signs and wonders. 9 And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God and worship before the LORD your God. 11 And you shall rejoice in all the good that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.

Romans 10:5-13: 5   For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 or “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Introduction

When’s the last time you showed your loyalty to a cause? When presidents and politicians assume their offices, they take oaths of office in which they pledge to uphold the Constitution of the United States. When we go to sporting events, we say the Pledge of Allegiance in which we pledge our loyalty to our nation — right before we show our true colors by screaming our lungs out for our team!

When we come into the Kingdom of God, we pledge our loyalty to Christ through our baptism. Christian baptism demonstrates to the world that we are members of His family, joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). Even more, our baptism demonstrates we are born again, for Christian baptism for the born again publicly declares our loyalty to Christ and our subjection to His lordship. For centuries, people have pledged their loyalty to Christ, knowing they can trust Him with their lives and their very souls.

Sermon

When we look at the passage in Deuteronomy, we see that Moses commanded the Israelites to pledge their loyalty to God through offering the firstfruits of their harvests. The Israelites were to bring their offerings to the priest and say the ritualistic words beginning with, “A wandering Aramean was my father.” The pledge of the ritual retold the Hebrews’ history, beginning with Abraham and going through their slavery in Egypt to their arrival in the Promised Land. This ritual pointed to St. Paul’s words in Romans in several ways.

First, we need to remember our history to know why we pledge our loyalty to a cause or a person. Every nation teaches its history to its children so they will understand the reasons for their loyalty to their nations. In the case of the Hebrews, this history lesson reminded them of their humble beginnings, their oppression, and their deliverance.

Secondly, this ritual reminded the Hebrews why they worshiped their God. The ritual reminded them they had “cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers” for deliverance, and He deliverred them from the Egyptians. These words reminded the Hebrews that their God was worth their loyalty; He had earned their loyalty through His gracious deliverance in their time of desperate need.

Lastly, this ritual reminded them of the cost of their allegiance. If God had delivered them, He expected their loyalty; He expected their obedience in worship and in their lives. God expected them to serve according to the Law, and He expected them to demonstrate their faith in Him in their sacrifices. The act of sacrificing the firstfruits demonstrated the Hebrews expected God to bless their crops with other harvests.

Was God worthy of this sacrifice? Was God worthy of worship? Of course He was! While the Hebrews remained faithful and obedient, God blessed their obedience with peace from their enemies and with bountiful yearly harvests.

Now, let’s fast forward a few centuries. (Remember Moses wrote Deuteronomy around 1406 B.C.) St. Paul wrote to the Romans about humanity’s desperate need: We needed deliverance from sin. Humanity remains in far worse oppression than the Hebrews suffered at the hands of the Egyptians. Would God work to deliver us in our time of need?

St. Paul built an excellent argument that yes, God cared about fallen humanity and would work in His love to bring deliverance. When the Hebrews needed deliverance from the Egyptians, God sent Moses. When we needed deliverance from sin, God the Father sent Jesus Christ, His only Son, to deliver us.

At this stage in the book, St. Paul had just discussed God’s mysterious working through choosing an “elect” to accomplish His will. This choosing, called “predestination,” pointed out that God had chosen the “elect” from all fallen humanity for deliverance from sin, for salvation and eternal life.

Unfortunately, many people never get past chapter 9 of Romans. These people fail to understand why God would choose to save only a few rather than all. Therefore, they argue, God has let us down; He has not delivered us at all. In so arguing, people fail to realize that God could have chosen to save none of us; He could have chosen to allow all of us to perish in our sins as we really deserve.

However, there’s a great hope in Romans that people miss: everyone who hears the call receives an opportunity to respond and accept God’s deliverance through Jesus Christ. In fact, St. Paul ends chapter 9 with the bold proclamation that “whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” Did you notice the word “whoever”?

This brings us to this passage in chapter 10. St. Paul reminds us of Moses’ expectation that “the person who does the commandments shall live by them.” Even in the time of the Law, the time before Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins, only those who faithfully lived by the commandments actually benefited from doing them. Here’s an important lesson: Ritual for the sake of ritual accomlishes nothing. Ritual works only when accompanied by faith.

This is why St. Paul can boldly state that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” The confession — and we’ll have to unpack that word momentarily — is not merely a ritual; confession here implies worship and sacrifice, just as the offering of the firstfruits implied worship and sacrifice under the Mosaic Law.

Now, let’s turn to the word “confess.” When we think of “confess” in our society, we think of someone telling everyone what he’s done. We think of criminals owning up to their crimes. While we all have crimes against God to claim, St. Paul had something else in mind here.

The Greek word for “confess” is the verb “homologeo.” This verb means literally “to state the same thing.” In the early Church, every new believer proclaimed the statement of faith at his baptism. Therefore, Christian baptism gave new believers the opportunity to say their “Pledge of Allegiance” to Christ.

Like the offering in Deuteronomy, the believer’s declaration reminded everyone of their history. When we see people born again today and witness their baptism, we all remember anew that we, too, wandered in sin. We, too, needed deliverance, and as He did with the Hebrews, God responded with love and a miraculous deliverance. Jesus Christ came to live among us, to die for our sins, and to rise again that we might have the certainty of eternal life. Jesus’ resurrection is inextricably tied to His crucifixion. One cannot become a Christian without believing both in His death and His resurrection.

In His submission to death, Jesus proved He is worthy of our sacrifices; He sacrificed heaven and His life for us. In His resurrection, Jesus proved He is worthy of our allegiance; He has conquered death and given us the certainty of eternal life. Therefore, we “confess” Him as Lord of our lives; Jesus deserves sole allegiance. Through His sacrifice, Jesus rightfully claims it. We “believe” — have complete confidence in the fact — that God raised Jesus from the dead. When we do these 2 things, we are “saved.” We are delivered from sin and set free from its effects. We receive a spiritual life within us that will continue to grow throughout our physical life and into our eternal life.

St. Paul then told the Romans, “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” When one believes in the heart, one is “justified,” or declared innocent before God. We are not innocent; we all sin. However, when we believe in Jesus as the way of our deliverance from sin, God declares us innocent of sin and gives us standing to come before Him and claim Him as Father.

Then, notice the repetition of the wonderful news: “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” And, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Everyone! St. Paul used the word twice. Would St. Paul have repeated himself if it weren’t true?

Are you worried about whether or not you can be saved? Believe; call on the name of the Lord. Are you worried whether someone in your life can be saved? If they believe and call on the name of the Lord, they, too, will receive deliverance from sin.

Conclusion

In his masterpiece Confessions, St. Augustine told the story of Victorinus, a renowned Roman philosopher who had achieved great fame. The Romans put a statue of Victorinus in the forum, an honor reserved for precious few. Victorinus had often defended the empty rituals of sacrificing to Rome’s pagan gods.

However, a Christian named Simplicianus, a friend of Victorinus, continued to urge him to read the Scriptures. After a careful study of the Scriptures, Victorinus told Simplicianus, “I want you to know that I am now a Christian.” Simplicianus told Victorinus, “I shall not believe it or count you as a Christian until I see you in the Church of Christ.” Victorinus would laugh and say, “Is it then the walls of the church that make the Christian?”

Finally, Victorinus told Simplicianus he wanted to be baptized. It turns out Victorinus had read in the Gospels where Jesus said He would deny those who denied Him before men, and Victorinus realized the necessity of a public confession of his loyalties. Victorinus told Simplicianus, “Let us go to the church. I want to be made a Christian.”

When they arrived at the church, Victorinus was told that some prominent Romans became Christians through private confessions. Victorinus replied that “there was no salvation in the rhetoric which he taught, and yet he had professed it in public. If he was not afraid of uttering his own words before a crowd of madmen, why should he be frightened to name [Jesus’] Word before [the] meek flock?” Augustine recorded that “he made his declaration of the true faith with splendid confidence, and all would gladly have seized him in their arms and clutched him to their hearts.” (St. Augustine, Confessions (London: Penguin Books, 1961), pp. 159-161)

If you’re here and you have never confessed Jesus as Lord of your life, know He is worthy of your trust. Know that He accepts everyone who confesses Him as Lord and believes God raised Him from the dead. If you’re here and you’ve confessed Jesus as Lord, know that He expects your allegiance, including your lifestyle as well as your words.

Will you confess Jesus as Lord? Will you receive His forgiveness and deliverance? No one who has ever accepted His Lordship has ever regretted it. Forsake slavery; live in the freedom of Jesus’ deliverance.