The God Who Pardons Iniquity

The Gospel of Luke and the Parables of the Lost Sheep and Coin

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke.

The 15th chapter. Now the tax collectors and sinners.

Were all drawing near to hear Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled saying this man receives sinners and he eats with them. So he told them this parable. What man of you having a hundred sheep if he has lost one of them does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it.

And when he has found it he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home he calls together his friends and his neighbors saying to them rejoice with me for I have found my sheep that was lost.

Just so I tell you there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Or what woman having ten silver coins if she loses one coin does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it.

And when she has found it she calls together her friends and neighbors saying rejoice with me for I have found the coin that I had lost just so I tell you there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

This is the gospel of the Lord in the name of Jesus. So there's false gods that abound out there and I'm going to make a statement. It's going to seem a little bit rude but alas I'm prone to being rude from time to time.

And that is this. That the God that the self-righteous believe in is a terrible God. Let me explain. So in self-righteousness you've got to earn your salvation. You've got to be intentional. You've got to be obedient.

You have to be diligent. And you cannot let your toe step out of line because your entire salvation is in jeopardy. And if you've ever hung around people like this who believe this way they are intolerably hypocritical.

And I mean that in the truest sense. Intolerably hypocritical. In fact they'll say things like this. No true Christian would ever get a tattoo. If you have a tattoo you're going to go to hell. And you sit there and go do you have a biblical text that says that?

No. But nobody would desecrate God's temple like that. Ah okay. I see how this works. And nobody who's a true Christian would ever drink alcohol. This is always my favorite when they do things like this.

I sit there and go well you are aware that Jesus drank alcohol right? He says of John the Baptist that John the Baptist came neither eating nor drinking but the son of man came eating and drinking and he's accused of being a glutton and a drunkard.

Jesus drank and on top of it the Lord's Supper which he instituted happens to be partly of wine. Bread and wine. They always have an answer for you on these things. They sit there and go well you have to understand that wine back then really meant new wine which means it had very little or no alcohol content.

And you sit there and go how is it then that the congregation in Corinth was getting drunk on the communion wine and got rebuked by the Apostle Paul for doing so? And of course then out come the fangs.

And the fangs look something like this. Well the problem with you Rose bro is that you have head knowledge. You need to just humble yourself and you need to have more heart knowledge. Oh ad hominem now I see how this works.

And so the God that they believe in is basically a mean old grumpy pants and if you don't get your act straight he's going to send your scrawny little carcass into the lake of fire because you did this that or the other thing.

When I was in Nazarene you weren't allowed to go to R rated movies. If you were caught as a teenager in an R rated movie you'd be in trouble. In fact the high school that I went to there were parents on Friday nights who would go to the Eastman Theater and they would park in the parking lot and they would have binoculars looking to see which of the kids from our high school were going into the theater and which movie they were going into.

And believe me if they caught one of the students going in to see an R rated movie there would be hell to pay. Right? Sitting there going what kind of deity is this? It's an awful deity. This is a deity that cannot be placated.

That is dead set on sending you to hell and if you step out of line he cares nothing about that. It's all on you. Off to hell you go. I'm not interested in that god at all because I can tell you right now I have fallen way short of the glory of God.

Just a little bit of time of confession here. The glory of God. You've heard the text. All have fallen short of the glory of God. Do you know that the word harmartia which is the word in the scripture used in the New Testament for sin.

It means to miss the mark. Let's just be honest here. Your pastor has horrifically missed the mark. Let me just give you a metaphor. Back in the day when my son was younger and we was in the Cub Scouts we went to Cub Scout camp and Josh can attest to this.

One of the activities that we did was archery when we were at Cub Scout camp and I was rather foolish when it came to the archery thing and here's the reason why. When I grow up I was practically a feral child.

My parents were the epitome of the latchkey parents. Gen X is what we grew up with. We lived in the foothills of Monrovia, California and my parents thought it would be a great idea to let me have an archery set when I was growing up.

I spent my days as a kid basically being like Peter Pan and out investigating the woods and the hills and the things like that with my bow and arrow in hand and I could hit targets really easily with my bow and arrow when I was a kid.

By the time Joshua was a young lad in Cub Scouts it had been a good 15 -20 years since I'd shot a bow and arrow but I thought it was like riding a bike. So what did we do? We went to the archery station and there we stood on the line and there was a big fat archery target.

Big circle with a red meatball right in the center. All you had to do was hit it. I was thinking I was going to gloriously show my son my archery skills from years past. But I forgot a certain thing and that is that when I was a kid I usually wore a wrist guard when I did archery and there was a good reason why.

Because I wasn't very attentive to the angle of attack that I was using with my bow and arrow and so the wrist guard would protect me. Well, when it came to be my turn and I was going to show my son how great I was at archery I stood on the line, took that arrow, stuck it in the string, pulled it back and of course I bent my wrist like this and then when I let it go I was thinking it was going to go right into the center of the target.

No, there was this horrible katwang sound as it skidded off of my wrist and it left a bruise that lasted for a couple weeks. And of course my arrow it didn't go straight. No, in fact it didn't hit the target that was in front of me.

It kind of careened off, not one lane down but two lanes down, missed the target in that lane and then went right into the hay bale that was holding up the target. So much for my days of glory. But let me use this as a sermon metaphor, shall I?

Sin is missing the mark and when it comes to my sin I can legitimately say I've missed the mark and it's worse and more embarrassing than what happened at Cub Scout Camp. Not only did I not hit the target, I didn't even hit somebody else's target.

It was really a mess. Same thing with sin but here's the thing, that's the same with you and me. And so what kind of God do you want? Do you want the God who's going to scold you? Oh, you missed the mark.

What were you thinking? I know you took your best shot but man, you should have applied yourself better to taking that shot because you only get one shot and you've missed so off to hell with you. Is that the God you want?

That's not the God of Scripture. Let me read our Old Testament text. Micah writes, who is a God like you, speaking of Yahweh, pardoning iniquity, passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance.

He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love. And I would note this is a reference to the Psalms. The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. He delights in his own steadfast love.

He will again have compassion on us. And listen to the next words. He will tread our iniquities under foot. It does not say he will tread us under his foot. This is the God of Scripture. This is the God who has compassion.

This is the God who forgives. This is the God who sent his son to bleed and die for your sins and mine. And then it goes on to say, you will cast all of our sins into the depths of the sea. Beautiful picture.

Baptismal imagery indeed. In fact, I would note something here, is that at Kongsvinger Lutheran Church, when we perform baptisms, we don't do anything special with the baptismal water when it's all over.

You know what we do with it? We pour it down the drain. Which then, it goes into the Red River and down to the sea. A good way to think about it is this, is that everybody who's baptized here, all of their sins are washed away into the baptismal fountain and that water is drained out and off to whatever ocean it goes into.

So that we can then picture our sins as being sent to the depths of the sea. Having been removed from us, us being pardoned and forgiven. And so this is the God who is. Which then leads us to our Gospel text.

If you remember last week, Jesus was invited, he was the guest of honor, at a party put on by the Pharisees. And we also noted last week, kind of the fly on the wall perspective, that Jesus really didn't behave himself very well at that party.

He used that banquet for the occasion of confronting them with their narcissism, confronting them with their self-righteousness, their hypocrisy, and then took one of their favorite doctrines and just smashed it against the wall.

What a great guest Jesus is. And I would note that's probably the most loving thing that he could have done. And yet, that's how it went down. And so, the next day, chapter 15, Luke chapter 15, the next day the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Jesus and the Pharisees and the scribes, they grumbled saying, this man receives sinners and he eats with them.

Now a little bit of a note here. From time to time I like to see my family whinge and cringe. And so one of the things I've been doing is applying myself to learning Gen Z terminology. Gen Z terminology like sus and cap, or that's Ohio skibbity, and things like this.

And so I use these terms and my family just rolls their eyes and they just stop it, don't say things like that. So let me remind you all that it wasn't Gen Z who came up with the idea of coming up with their own lingo.

When I was a young junior high Gen Xer, we had our own lingo too. In fact, one of the phrases that you may be familiar with, we the Gen Xers came up with it. And believe me, the boomers are shaking their heads going, what on earth does that mean?

And here's the phrase, no duh. So let me explain. The Pharisees and the scribes grumbled saying, this man receives sinners and he eats with them. And all the Gen Xers said, no duh. Which basically means, what a boneheaded thing to say, because you know why this is so stupid and boneheaded?

Because there is no other type of human on the planet. Poor Jesus, if he couldn't eat with sinners, he'd be eaten all by himself. There's Jesus all by himself. Well, he can't eat with sinners, you know.

And the weird bit is that the Pharisees are so delusional, they don't see themselves as that group. The sinners. But what does the scripture say? If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us.

But, if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have no sin, we make God to be a liar. The text says. So here you have the Pharisees grumbling, Jesus eats with sinners.

You guys are blind. You are self-deceived. You don't think you fit into that category? Do you not need a Savior? Of course they do. In fact, this is the scary thing about how sin impacts us. When self-righteousness really gets embedded into our nature, and we make it into a religion, we deceitfully, self-deceptively think that we are no longer sinners, that we can somehow walk on water.

Any guy who comes up to me and says that he's attained Christian perfection, I say, let me just have a chat with your wife. We'll get this sorted out in about 30 seconds. Right? This man receives sinners and he eats with them.

Well, Jesus rather than doing the Gen X thing and going, no duh, he decides he's going to use this as a teaching moment, and he tells a very long parable. A parable in three chapters, but our text only has two of them, and we'll focus on those two today.

So Jesus told them this parable. What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he's lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? Always and again, you read the commentaries, no shepherd does this.

A good way to think about it is that if you have a hundred sheep and you lose one of them, here in the United States, you know what you do? You write the lost one off on your taxes. It goes down as a business loss, and you don't have to pay as much taxes regarding that.

It's just that simple. Plus, who wants to be chasing after an ornery sheep that's gone astray? Seems like a complete waste of time. And who's going to risk the safety of the 99 while going to search for the one?

So what Jesus is saying here doesn't really make a lot of sense, but that's kind of the point, isn't it? God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. God doesn't do the thing that we expect him to do.

Today you confessed your sins, and rather than receive a tongue lashing and a scolding, you received an absolution and the forgiveness of all the iniquity that you've committed. So this fellow, this shepherd, he goes out, and when he's found his sheep, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost. Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.

And here, this is where you're going to need to pay theological attention. Because Jesus here is describing biblical repentance. And so I would ask the question, what exactly did this sheep repent of?

How is this a picture of repentance? So there's that sheep on the shoulders of the shepherd being carried back. Hey sheep, what are you doing up there? Well, I've been bad. Well, we know that about you, right?

Well, I'm repenting. Really now? Is that what repentance looks like? To the God who is, that's exactly what it looks like. Because he works in us repentance. Through his word, he convicts us of our sin.

Through his law, he convicts us and shows us that we are guilty before him and through the gospel. He raises us from the dead. Gives us faith to grasp onto the promises of the forgiveness of our sins.

This is what repentance looks like. And if you're sitting there going, well, maybe that sheep did something. Well, then Jesus in the next part says, or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it.

And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors saying, rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost. Just so I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

Last time I checked, coins don't do anything. I happen to have a silver coin. I have a couple of them actually, but my favorite one is an old, old, old coin. It's a piece of eight from the 1500s. It's in a nice little place that I keep it on my desk.

And you know what? That piece of silver, that piece of eight, goes nowhere. It does nothing. In fact, it will be exactly where I left it when I get home today. And next week, after having not moved it, it will be in the same place.

And then when I finally get around to dusting my desk, I will lift it up and there will be a little circle of dust. And I will dust the spice off and put it back in its place. And you know where it's going to be?

The same place it was today. Six months it will be in the same spot. Because coins don't do nothing. So here this coin got lost. But then this woman goes and finds it. What did the coin contribute to its repentance?

Its lostness? What do you contribute to your repentance? Your own sin? And the need to be found in the first place? But God doesn't sit there and scold you and say, well, you were stupid enough to get lost.

You made your bed, now lie in it. That's not the God who is. Again, hear the words of Micah, who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity, passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance. He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love.

He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. He will cast all of our sins into the depths of the sea. In our epistle text today, the Apostle Paul is speaking. And I would note that Paul's speaking here, in what he wrote, is a good reminder for us of a few things.

Let me remind you about the Apostle Paul's history and how this then fits perfectly with Jesus' description of repentance. If you remember the Apostle Paul, before he was the Apostle Paul, he was a fellow by the name of Saul of Tarsus.

And talk about a sketchy start. When he shows up as a character on the scene in the book of Acts, he's not spoken of kindly. He's spoken of in words that basically describe him as the ancient world's version of Darth Vader.

You start to get this now. All of that being said, listen to this description. At the end of chapter 7 of the book of Acts, the first Christian martyr, Stephen, is about to lose his life. When he was on trial in this kangaroo court that they'd set up to basically bring charges against him, Stephen made zero effort to defend himself.

Instead, he used the occasion to preach the word and to rebuke those who were resisting the gospel and the work that God was doing. And as a result of it, the people who were putting him on trial went into a rage, Saul of Tarsus being one of them.

The text says,. Now when they heard these things, they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at Stephen. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Now, I always like to point this out. The word standing stands out in this text, and the reason being because we just confessed in the Nicene Creed that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father. We say the same thing in the Apostles' Creed.

Christ sits at the right hand of the Father, and this is what monarchs do. They sit on thrones, right? But for the very first Christian martyr, the man who's about to lose his life for confessing Christ, Christ isn't sitting.

He's standing. He stood for the occasion to watch from heaven as his dear Saint Stephen was about to lose his life. And so Stephen said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

So they cried out with a loud voice. They stopped their ears, and they rushed together at him. And then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

And as they were stoning Stephen, Stephen called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

The very last words of the first Christian martyr were words of prayer, words of forgiveness. Lord, please forgive them. Do not hold this sin against them. And God, hearing Stephen's prayer, decided that he was going to answer it.

But answer it in a most unexpected way. The text goes on to say,. And Saul then approved of Stephen's execution. And there arose that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except for the apostles.

Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, entering house after house. He dragged off men and women, and he committed them to prison. Darth Vader indeed.

Now, here's where if the text then read that Jesus showed up, grabbed Saul by the scruff of his neck, and yeeted him into the closest volcano, we would have all been sitting there going, Yeah! Great job, Jesus!

We would have paid money to watch that yeeting take place, right? But that's not how this went down. Chapter 9 says, Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. Totally unhinged fellow, if you ask me.

He went to the high priest, and he asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way, which is the first name for Christianity, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him, and falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? This was not what he expected.

So he said, Who are you, Lord? I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Now note, little note here, Scripture is very clear that we as Christians, when we suffer for the faith, we are participating in the sufferings of Christ.

I know that sounds odd, but it's very clear in 1 Peter that that's the case. And so you'll note then, when Christians are being persecuted, they are not persecuting you, they're persecuting Jesus, and he holds them personally responsible.

I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, and at this point we're all good, but then he says this, but rise and enter the city, and you'll be told what you are to do. Wait, what? You didn't kill him? This murderous thug who's ravaged your church, you didn't kill him?

You told him to rise and go into the city, he's going to be told what he's supposed to do? Yeah, exactly, because again, who is a God like you pardoning iniquity, passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance?

And at this point we can say that the good shepherd Jesus has now found his lost sheep, this lost, feral, almost wolf-like sheep. He's found him. Note that Saul here has not exercised his free will. Jesus has exercised his sovereignty and his will over Saul.

Now the men who were traveling with Saul stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground. Although his eyes were open, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

For three days he was without sight, neither ate nor drank. Three days to reconsider his bad life decisions. Good on him. One day for each of the members of the Trinity. Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias.

And the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, here I am, Lord. Note here, God can communicate and people know exactly who's talking to them. You'll note that it doesn't say anything about Ananias paying $500 to get a prophetic activation from Jennifer LeClaire's prophetic school so that he can learn how to hear the voice of God.

Jesus talked and he knew exactly who was talking. Yes, Lord. Here I am. Jesus said to him, you rise and you go to the street called Straight. And at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul.

For behold, he is praying. And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. Note the specificity, the detail that Jesus gives here. He gives him the address, the names of who's going to be there and what's going on.

None of this, I need you to go and tell the world on YouTube that there's going to be a season of suddenlies that is going to be released in the next Shemitah season. Nonsense, right? So Ananias, hearing this from Jesus, said, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem.

And here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call on your name. But the Lord said to him, go. He's a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. So Ananias departed. He entered the house and laying his hands on him he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. And then he arose and he was baptized. Taking food, he was strengthened. Isn't this exactly what Jesus described? The shepherd goes and finds the lost sheep, picks him up, carries him back.

What did Saul do here in his repentance? He was found by Christ. He was confronted by Jesus. And then he was preached the gospel and then he was baptized. This man does not deserve to be a Christian. Neither do you.

And I would note something here. Anybody who would say, no true Christian would drink that, smoke that, or do that. I would note no true Christian would murder other Christians either. Paul sure did. And you know what Christ gave him?

Mercy, forgiveness, pardon, grace. If God can forgive him, surely he can forgive me and he can forgive you. That's kind of the point that Paul's then making in our epistle text. Hear then what Paul writes.

And I'm going to back up into the context because I want you to see this. In our epistle text today, I know it starts at verse 12. But put the context back into it and you start to see a little bit more of what Paul's getting at.

So he says to young Pastor Timothy in his second to last letter, the one that is the last is 2 Timothy and shortly after he is finished writing that, Paul will have his head taken off of his shoulders for refusing to deny Christ.

But Paul writes to young Pastor Timothy, as I urged you, when I was going to Macedonia, I want you to remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine. There's people coming in and they're teaching false doctrine.

And listen carefully to the false doctrine that he's warning them about. Don't tell them not to teach any different doctrine nor to devote themselves to myths, to endless genealogies which promote speculation rather than the stewardship that is from God by faith.

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, they've wandered off into vain discussions, desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

Ah, the self-righteous have arisen within the church. And what are they preaching? Law, more law, with some law in between that and a law sandwich. And what gets lost when you preach all law and no gospel and you want to be preaching law, law, law, law, law, law?

You know who gets lost? Christ does. You know who gets preached about? You do. Because you're the one who's going to go out there and conquer and do these things and be the obedient one. And you know what gets lost in the mix then as well?

The gospel. The very gospel's at stake from all these people who want to be teachers of the law, but they don't even understand a bit about the law. So Paul then says, we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully.

Did you know that there's an unlawful use of the law? People should be arrested for unlawfully using the law. The unlawful use of the law is using the law to save yourself, to rely on it for your salvation.

That's an unlawful use of the law. You'll note that we recognize as Lutherans there are three proper uses of God's law. First use of the law, it's used by the government to curb evil, right? Second use of the law shows us what our sin is.

Third use of the law shows us what a good work is. Ah, but always with the legalists, there's a fourth use. The fourth use shows you how to be saved by obeying it. And so Paul here is warning young Pastor Timothy to not make any concessions with these legalists.

Don't let them in. They've swerved away from the truth. They've wandered off into myths. They want to teach the law, but they don't even understand it, and they're using the law unlawfully. So understanding this, the law is not laid down for the just.

Now this is going to sound a little bit weird. Work with me here. Y 'all are not governed as Christians by God's law. You're governed by the Holy Spirit. So the law was not given for those who are just.

The law was given for the lawless. Okay? So the law is not laid down for the just. It's laid down for the lawless, for the disobedient, for the ungodly, for the sinners, for the unholy, and for the profane, for those who strike their fathers, breaking of the fourth commandment, and their mothers, for murderers, fifth commandment, the sexually immoral, sixth commandment, men who practice homosexuality, sixth commandment, enslavers.

Man, do I even need to talk about that? Right? By the way, there's a group of people with invisible Lutheranism that are calling for the re-enslaving of African-Americans. How do they get around this text?

Those who strike their fathers and mothers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, the enslavers, the liars, the perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine. That's right.

The whole list of that is contrary to sound doctrine in accordance with the gospel, the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. So in this context of Paul speaking yet again against a legalistic sect rising up and teaching false doctrine within the church, and he not being able to put it down himself personally, he's entrusting this task to the man whom God the Holy Spirit has called to deal with it, young Pastor Timothy.