Trinity 11

Good Shepherd

2004 Pass Rd, Biloxi, MS 39531

Draft Gen 4:1–15; 1 Cor 15:1–10; Lk 18:9–14; Ps 50:7–23; antiphon: v. 14   –     08/31/25

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Last year I explained to you some of the weaknesses of the English translation of today’s Gospel reading. Once those weaknesses were cleared up, the plain meaning of the text shone more brightly: The justification of the sinner before God, by God’s grace through faith. Jesus in His parable has the tax collector invoke God’s promise of mercy, pointing to the Hilastarion, the Mercy Seat on the ark of the covenant where the high priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrificial lamb on the Day of atonement. By pointing to this event with the tax collector’s words, Jesus points to His own death on the cross, where He will shed His blood to cover the sins of all the world. In the parable, God declares the tax collector righteous because of the man’s faith in God’s promised mercy. But the Pharisee, who looks to his own great works of piety, goes home still under condemnation because his sins remain—he trusted in himself that he was righteous, and treated others with contempt. These two paths lie before all men.

[Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ This man we already know is supposed to be part of God’s people—he goes to the temple, he prays, he even prays to the true God and teaches others about God—but he prays to brag and judge. He is merely the stand in for false Christians who are haughty. His type is everywhere present among the unbelievers also. Secular religion, which allows for the possibility of both heaven and a lower case ‘g’ god, teaches that mere social and political good deeds are sufficient to merit heaven—we could say much the same for the different denominations of Christianity. These pagans believe that if they are generally good, they go to heaven. They think only the most horrid and wicked people go to hell, like Hitler, Trump, and their hick cousins who quote the Bible, warn them about their unbelief, and believe demons influence politics toward baby murder, divorce, sodomy, and transgenderism. What does God say, though?

David prays in Psalm 143: Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you (2). And St. Paul writes, None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one…. all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 10:10–12, 23). And St. John, By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother (1 Jn 3:10). And Isaiah explains further, We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you (64:6–7). The good deeds of the pagans do not count before God because whatever does not proceed from faith is sin (Rom 14:23). Thus all their good works are like menstrual garments in God’s eyes. All men are by the nature they have inherited from Adam sinful and uncleaned. All men do not seek for God because in their sin they cannot. All men look to themselves for justification and salvation.

The Augsburg Confession lays this out clearly: “man’s powers without the Holy Ghost are full of ungodly affections, and are too weak to do works which are good in God’s sight. Besides, they are in the power of the devil who impels men to divers sins, to ungodly opinions, to open crimes. This we may see in the philosophers, who, although they endeavored to live an honest life could not succeed, but were defiled with many open crimes. Such is the feebleness of man when he is without faith and without the Holy Ghost, and governs himself only by human strength. … For without faith human nature can in no wise do the works of the First or of the Second Commandment. Without faith it does not call upon God, nor expect anything from God, nor bear the cross, but seeks, and trusts in, man’s help. And thus, when there is no faith and trust in God all manner of lusts and human devices rule in the heart. Wherefore Christ said, John 15:5: Without Me [you] can do nothing” (AC XX, §31–4, 36–38).

Just as the works of the unbelievers are vain, so ours can be as well, if they are not done in faith. What does that mean? First, as the Augsburg Confession also teaches, we must understand “that our works cannot reconcile God or merit forgiveness of sins, grace, and justification, but that we obtain this only by faith when we believe that we are received into favor for Christ’s sake, who alone has been set forth the Mediator and Propitiation,” that is, He is the payment for sin, For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5), “in order that the Father may be reconciled through Him. Whoever, therefore, trusts that by works he merits grace, despises the merit and grace of Christ, and seeks a way to God without Christ, by human strength, although Christ has said of Himself: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (Jn 14:6; AC XX, §9–10).

Second, faith does not mean mere knowledge of history, such as the ungodly and the devil have, but faith believes the history and the effect of the history, “—namely, this article: the forgiveness of sins, to wit, that we have grace, righteousness, and forgiveness of sins through Christ. Now he that knows that he has a Father gracious to him through Christ, truly knows God; he knows also that God cares for him, and calls upon God; in a word, he is not without God, as the heathen. For devils and the ungodly are not able to believe this article: the forgiveness of sins. Hence, they hate God as an enemy, call not upon Him, and expect no good from Him. Augustine also admonishes his readers concerning the word ‘faith,’ and teaches that the term ‘faith’ is accepted in the Scriptures not for knowledge such as is in the ungodly but for confidence which consoles and encourages the terrified mind.” (§23–26)

Lastly, “it is necessary to do good works, not that we should trust to merit grace by them, but because it is the will of God” (§27). We do good works not thinking that by them we earn any good will before God, but rather understanding that God has given them to us to do, as St. Paul says in Ephesians: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (2:10). “It is only by faith that forgiveness of sins is apprehended, and that, for nothing. And because through faith the Holy Ghost is received, hearts are renewed and endowed with new affections, so as to be able to bring forth good works.” (§28–29) And earlier it says, Men “are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight.” (AC IV)

Faith is not mere head knowledge, for the demons have that and it does not save them (Js 2:19), but rather trust in all that God has promised, that apart from anything you do He has saved you through the substitution of His Son in your place, Who took your sins upon Himself and died your death. It is trust that God will provide all your needs of body and soul, as He has promised, in addition to forgiving your sins and giving you eternal life with Him in heaven. It is trust that God has given you your job, your vocations, father, mother, brother or sister, laborer, mentor or the like, because He delights in the life and activity of you who are His children through baptism and faith. This trust which leads to peace of mind and peace in your heart because you know that all things, whether good or ill, are in God’s hands, and that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Rm 8:28). Thus St. Paul says, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 5:1).

Hitler was evil, like every human since Adam, just with many more murders to his name, Trump not so much, though it seems he believes the secular version of Christianity. But the hick cousins of the world who pray for our nation, warn people about unbelief, and understand that our battle is not with men, women, and poor deluded men who think they are women, but demons (Eph 6:12), are right. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to, God, propitiate, God, make atonement for me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house [having been declared righteous], rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

Every day the devil and his demons will tempt you to look to your own works, to think that they make you a good person. He and his minions will also tempt you to hate and despise people who are not like you, such as the man who attacked Annunciation School. Do not listen to them. Was that man evil? Without doubt. He knows that about himself now just as he knows the errors of his way since he is suffering the eternal condemnation of God in hell. Rather pray for those like him, that they would not be like the Pharisee and trust in the righteousness of their own cause, but that they would humble themselves, repent of their rebellion, and so be saved from their sins and from the demons who mislead and possess them. Pray that they would listen to those few faithful Christians in their lives that speak like Joshua: if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (24:15).

Likewise, repent of your own pride in yourself, repent of your anger toward strangers and those you know. Plead to God that He would silence the devil and his demons, and that the Word of God would predominate in your life and the life of your family, so that you may do those good works He has prepared for you beforehand, trusting in His justification and not your own labors. Then, in turn, you may be living witnesses of the love and mercy of God to those who yet walk in darkness, who are yet blinded like the Pharisee. May they see your love, your faithfulness, your joy that you are justified, and then also pray, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

Now the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.