Two Religions

Trinity 11| Luke 18:9-14; Genesis 4:1-15| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| August 11, 2024

There are only two religions in the world. There is the religion of grace and the religion of works. The religion of works teaches that a person is justified before God by his works. The religion of grace teaches that a sinner is justified before God freely as a gift through faith in Christ. And these two religions have been opposed to each other from the very beginning. Two brothers, Cain and Abel brought offerings to the LORD. Where did they learn to offer sacrifices to God? Their father Adam taught them. Immediately after Adam and Eve fell into sin, God spoke to Satan in Adam’s hearing, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heal.” (Genesis 3:15) This was the first proclamation of the Gospel. A descendent of Eve would be born, who would defeat Satan and end his rule over humanity, yet He Himself would be bruised in the process. Then God clothed Adam and his wife in animal skins. By slaughtering an animal and clothing sinful and naked Adam and Eve in its skin, God foreshadowed how Christ would be slaughtered for the sin and shame of mankind, so that all who believe in Him could be clothed in His righteousness. This is what St. Paul teaches in Galatians 3, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” And St. John speaks of this in his vision of heaven in Revelation 7, “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

The religion of grace was established by God Himself immediately after our first parents fell into sin. He did this by promising a Redeemer from sin. And it is this religion of grace which Adam taught to his sons. That is why Cain and Able brought sacrifices to the Lord. Adam taught them to do this to confess their faith in God’s promise to send a Redeemer. God looked with favor upon Abel’s offering, but He did not look with favor upon Cain’s offering. Why? Because Abel offered His offering in faith. Hebrews 11:4 states, “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts.” When Abel offered the firstborn of his flocks and their fat portions, He was confessing that God would provide His Firstborn Son as a sacrifice for our sins, the very best He had to save us.

Why then was Cain’s sacrifice rejected? St. John writes in his first epistle, “We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.” (1 John 3:12) Cain’s deeds were evil, because he did not have faith. Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin (Romans 14:23). Cain rejected the religion of grace and instead trusted in the religion of works. That is, he thought God should consider him righteous because he deserved it.

Many assume that Cain must have offered rotten vegetables to God, while Abel offered more valuable livestock. However, it is more likely that Cain offered the best of his crops. The problem was not in the outer expression of his worship necessarily, but what was in his heart. Likewise with the Pharisee. His outward works weren’t bad. He wasn’t a thief or an adulterer. He practiced self-control and self-discipline. He’s the type of guy you’d want as a neighbor or a member of your church. He tithed even that which the Law did not command him to tithe. A congregation full of Pharisees like him wouldn’t worry about keeping the budget.

But the Pharisee went astray in his heart, like Cain did. He trusted in his works. He did what St. Paul writes in Romans 10, “For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Cain and the Pharisee rejected Christ and pursued their own righteousness based on their works. But the problem is, our works are always sinful. Isaiah calls our works filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). There is no one who does good and never sins (Eccl. 7:20). Most people think that they’ll be okay on Judgment Day, because their good deeds will outnumber their sins. People think that to be a Christian means to be a good person, and most people think they are good people.

But our good deeds cannot outnumber our sins. Our sins are worse than our good deeds are good. Because none of the good we do is without sin. Even if our best deeds were judged on their own merits, they would still be riddled with sin. Even when we do good, we still sin. Yet, our sin is only bad. So, the idea that you can make it to heaven by your own good works is a delusion. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) If you are to stand before God’s judgment throne with only your own good works, you will be condemned to hell.

Yet, this is the natural opinion of all mankind. Even after God wiped this religion of works away in a global flood, it still arose out of the people’s hearts. People think they can earn their salvation. This is what every religion invented by mankind teaches. If you are good enough, you can be saved. But it is a lie. And what does it lead to? Those who trust in themselves that they are righteous treat others with contempt. Cain killed Abel. They treat them with contempt, because they do not know God’s love and they do not know their need for God’s love.

Abel offered an acceptable offering to God through faith. And so did the tax-collector. But wait, you say. The tax-collector didn’t offer anything? He just beat his breast and said, “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” Yes, the tax-collector did not offer anything of his own. Rather, he offered the only thing that can appease God’s wrath against sin: the atoning death of Jesus Christ.

The word the tax-collector used for “have mercy” is a different word than is normally used to ask for God’s pity. It means, “be propitiated” or “accept the sacrifice of atonement for my sake.” The tax-collector is not simply asking that God have pity on him, because he is so helpless, he is appealing to the only sacrifice that can ever take away sin: the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. He and the Pharisee are in the temple where lambs are sacrificed to make atonement for sins. The lambs themselves do not make atonement, but they point to Christ who does. The religion of the Old Testament looks forward to what the religion of the New Testament looks backward: Christ, the promised Redeemer, who makes atonement for our sins by His death on the cross. This is what adherents to the religion of grace offer to God instead of their works. They appeal to Christ’s sacrifice for them.

This is why the religion of grace depends on faith. Faith does not earn your salvation. Faith clings to the promise and appeals to Christ, who has earned your salvation. This is why the religion of grace is opposed to the religion of works. Not because good works are bad. On the contrary, it is faith in Christ which enables you to do good works that are pleasing to God, as God’s grace enabled Paul to work harder than any of the other Apostles (1 Corinthians 15:10). But the religion of grace opposes the religion of works, because if your salvation is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of your works, otherwise grace would not be grace (Romans 11:6). Trusting in your own works for salvation hinders your faith in Christ, who alone can save you from your sins.

This is why faith requires repentance. St. Paul, after listing all his righteous credentials, declares in Philippians 3, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” (vss. 7-9) Paul doesn’t simply repent of his most evil deeds. He renounces all his works. He won’t bring a single one before God’s judgment throne. The only righteousness he will appeal to is Christ’s righteousness.

This is exactly what the tax-collector does. He says, “Have mercy on me, the sinner.” He doesn’t list off every sin. He doesn’t simply apologize for what bothers his conscience most. He acknowledges that he is a sinner and that all his works are riddled with sin. The only way he can be justified is if God forgives him for Christ’s sake. And that is what He does.

This is why we poor sinners have such confidence in our salvation. We come to church truly remorseful over our sins. We have offended God by our thoughts, words, and deeds. We look at the Pharisee and see how we have failed to take God’s Word seriously, how we have been greedy, lazy, lustful, and undisciplined. We have regarded the Ten Commandments as suggestions instead of what they truly are, God’s commandments for how we should live our lives.  Yet, Christ Jesus has not only suffered and died for our worst and most embarrassing sins, the sins that bother our conscience and make us ashamed. He has made atonement for our entire sinful nature. God is fully satisfied by Christ’s obedience and sacrifice for our sins. And so, we do not offer our works to God to make us righteous before Him. Instead, confessing ourselves to be sinners deserving of His wrath, we appeal to Christ and plead that God find us righteous for His sake. And He does.

The religion of works, whether it comes in the form of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Mormonism, Atheism, or legalistic Christianity is a false religion. It will not produce good works pleasing to God nor will it cultivate true love toward your brother. The religion of works only results in condemnation. The religion of grace, which was founded by God Himself when He offered us a Savior from our sins is the only religion that saves. The religion of grace is only revealed in Christ Jesus, who made atonement for our sins. We are justified before God and saved, not on account of our works, but through faith in Jesus Christ, who has appeased God’s wrath against our sin. And the religion of grace actually produces good works, which please God and cultivates true love toward your neighbor.

If we were honest with ourselves, we would humble ourselves before God, because we have nothing to offer Him, but our sin. Yet, when we humble ourselves, we appeal to Christ alone. And it is Christ, our gracious Savior, who makes us righteous in God’s sight. So, take courage dear sinner. Cast your sins behind you and cling to Christ Jesus, who makes atonement for them. And you too will go down to your house justified before God.   Amen.