God is faithful in forgiving.

Sermon for Trinity 9, August 18, 2019

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

1 Corinthians 10:6–13  ⁶Now these things took place as examples to warn us not to desire evil things the way they did.  ⁷Do not become idolaters like some of them—as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to celebrate wildly.”  ⁸And let us not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell.  ⁹Let us not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and so were being destroyed by the serpents.  ¹⁰And do not grumble, as some of them grumbled, and were destroyed by the destroyer.  ¹¹All these things that were happening to them had meaning as examples, and they were written down to warn us, to whom the end of the ages has come.  ¹²So let him who thinks he stands be careful that he does not fall.  ¹³No testing has overtaken you except ordinary testing.  But God is faithful.  He will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability, but when he tests you, he will also bring about the outcome that you are able to bear it. (EHV)

God is faithful in forgiving.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            It has been said that those who do not read are no better off than one who cannot read.  The person who chooses not to read makes himself functionally illiterate.  The same is true of those who do not prioritize studying God’s Word—both Old and New Testaments.  Sadly, it is readily apparent that in our day for the vast majority of people to have no functional knowledge of God’s Word, especially of the Old Testament.  Thus, they leave themselves illiterate concerning God’s message of grace.

What’s worse is that, today, even most Christian denominations no longer think it important to study the history of Israel or the messages of the prophets.  The result of this biblical illiteracy is that most people no longer view sin as all that dangerous.  The common view imagines that as long as no one gets hurt, everything and anything is okay, but the truth is, every sin hurts someone and usually hurts everyone involved in some way.  It has gotten so out of hand that, oftentimes, speaking out against real evil is considered the most disgraceful thing a modern person can do.

St. Paul was addressing Christians living in a society that was about as vile as ours has become.  Idolatry, sexual immorality, selfishness, and faithlessness were as rampant then as now, as was also so often the case among the Children of Israel in Old Testament times.  The message of our text this morning is that while God is unlimited in His grace, He also has a limit to His patience.  The message for our comfort is that God is faithful in forgiving.

Paul uses the shameful events recorded in Israel’s history to emphasize that God does have His limits.  Perhaps you have wondered why the Holy Spirit caused so many bad events to be remembered.  This is highly unusual when recording a nation’s history.  You won’t find anything like this anywhere else in the world.  Most governments try to cover up their sins.  Most people, too, want to show only the good stuff.  Well, at least that used to be the case.  Today, many people have become so emboldened in their wickedness that they publicly boast about the shameful things they do, and our society often applauds it. 

In the case of Israel, the bad stuff was remembered, too, but Paul explains that the Holy Spirit recorded these shameful things not to celebrate the evil, but so that you and I would know that God does limit His patient forbearance.  For those who turn away from His holiness, there will eventually be a judgment day.  Maybe not today, maybe not even this week, but at some point, God will have had enough, and the end of God’s patience brings destruction to the sinner.

Paul pointed his listeners to the episode of the Golden Calf in which the people, newly rescued from Egypt and their slavery, weren’t willing to wait for Moses to return from the Lord’s presence, so they turned back to worshipping idols like the Egyptians had.  The cost for their rebellion against God was forty years of wandering in the wilderness, and only Moses’ intercetion for the people turned God’s burning anger away so that the whole nation wasn’t destroyed.  Still, three thousand died that day.

When men of Israel gave into the temptations of the prostitutes of Moab, the Lord again responded by bringing judgment of death upon twenty-three thousand of those idol worshippers.  And when the people rebelled and complained about God’s care for them as they wandered during those years, God sent the fiery serpents and His avenging angel to bring judgment on those who refused His leadership.

Unfortunately, many people today read those lessons and claim that God is too capricious, or too judgmental or cruel.  However, the truth is, throughout history, God has used the law to make it extraordinarily clear that “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)  So, it’s not that anyone can honestly claim not to know that certain things go against God’s design and will.  Rather, by continuing to live in their wickedness, people convince themselves that evil is tolerable.

Still, in spite of the tendency of all mankind that “the thoughts he forms in his heart are evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21), God is primarily patient with us sinners.  St. Peter assures us that, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient for your sakes, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)  Taking all of the Scriptures together, we should understand that though God is patient, His patience has a limit, and those who are not living in faithful repentance and humble trust in the Savior will be condemned to eternal torment.

Now, the word, repentance, literally means to turn completely back.  When God calls for us to repent, He is calling us to turn around from sin and death to the light of His face.  In our sins, God’s presence is too frightening to face and too holy to allow us in, but in the blood of Christ God cleanses us of all guilt and welcomes us into His divine glory as dearly loved children, just as He did with Israel in Old Testament times.

At the same time, if we should go back to the sinful ways of the world around us, we are literally repenting of God—turning our backs on His mercy and grace.  This is what Paul is warning against in this text.  The Corinthians believers were surrounded by wickedness of all sorts and multitudes of people who advocated for the wickedness of that world. 

In other words, the believers at Corinth were living in times just like ours, so Paul calls them, and us as well, to true repentance—repentance that turns away from sin to trust in the mercy of our loving God and the grace He has provided in Christ Jesus.  Paul wrote, “So let him who thinks he stands be careful that he does not fall.  No testing has overtaken you except ordinary testing.”  The challenges we face of living in a world that trumpets the fools’ gold of sin and idolatry is no different than any other generation has ever faced.  Rather than despair of the difficulty, or give in to the temptation, the Holy Spirit calls us to step up to the challenge, but He doesn’t call us to stand alone. 

St. Paul wrote by the inspiration of the Spirit, “But God is faithful.  He will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability, but when he tests you, he will also bring about the outcome that you are able to bear it.”  The Christian believer never stands alone.  Even in the vilest persecution, we are never alone.  Even when tempted beyond what any one of us would think we can bear, Jesus remains near.  Now, do we always see or feel Him?  We all know the answer is “No.”

However, when idolatrous Roman rulers marched Christian leaders and families into the stadiums to be destroyed by gladiators and wild animals, it wasn’t Rome that gained the victor but those who remained faithful and the Lord Jesus who had won for them eternal life.

You see, God is faithful—He has already won for you forgiveness of all sin and life everlasting.  No earthly force can take that away from you.  Therefore, you always have help to resist the ways of the world and the temptations the devil and his kind bring into your way.  The faithfulness of God doesn’t mean that we can sin freely for that would mean we have turned back away from God to walk with His enemies.  What it does mean, however, is that even if we should stumble and fall into grievous sin, God is faithful in forgiving.

The Holy Spirit implores us to live holy lives, but more than just telling us to do it, the Spirit enters us through the Gospel in both Word and Sacrament.  By coming into our lives, the Spirit gives us new life, a new heart of faith that desires to serve our living Savior.  By His power, we were washed clean in baptism.  By His Word, the body and blood of Jesus comes to us in His holy supper giving us new forgiveness and strengthening our weak resolve to live for the Lord who saved us. 

By God’s grace, he also invites and commands us to share His loving kindness with those around us.  When our children stray from the holiness Jesus lived, we can call them back to grace.  We don’t have to ask whether they are old enough to know better.  No one is ever too young or too old to be brought back into God’s loving embrace.  So, if we truly love those around us that we see falling into sin, or living in a way that makes the world rejoice, the loving thing for us to do is not to applaud their wickedness, but patiently and with all kindness, help them see what our holy God desires for their lives, both by showing His law, and especially by pouring out His saving Gospel on those who can see their sin and want to repent or turn back to the Savior who carried their wickedness to a cross to suffer and die in their place and ours.

Will this be an easy task?  Not usually in this world of sin.  But this world has been infested by sin and idolatry since Eve first listened to the conniving lies of a snake, and believers will always be opposed by those who like what that serpent says.  But God is good, and God loves His redeemed children with a love that never ends, poured out on the world in the blood of His owe dear Son.  It is through Jesus’ sacrifice that you and I have forgiveness, peace with God, and life everlasting, all because God is faithful in forgiving.  Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.