Liberating Truth, Part 2

Please take their Bibles and
turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 8. 1 Corinthians chapter 8. There’s a very sad feature to
a lot of people’s expression of their Christianity. Often
there seems to be no more life or power in their Christianity
than there is with those involved in false religions. Such a thing
would be tragic in any day. It certainly was tragic in the
city of Corinth with all eyes on this new religion of Christianity. How would these Christians stand
up to the many idolatrous cults in their city? How confident
were they in their God? How confident were they in going
before their God with their own petitions for their own needs?
How passionate were they about the worship of their God? These
are the questions that really matter when comparing religions. When all is said and done, how
sure are the adherents, the believers themselves, that they can even
come to their God with their needs? How confident are they
that He will answer? The Corinthians had all knowledge,
as we began to see last week, but their knowledge alone left
them stranded on an island of disagreement and ineffectiveness. They needed this basic knowledge,
but they were surrounded on all sides, deeply immersed in this
idolatrous culture. There were so-called gods enshrined
everywhere throughout the Greek and Roman world, and the worship
of these idols impacted every aspect of daily life. So all
Christians had a general understanding and opinions about idols and
idolatrous practices, but they couldn’t agree on how to handle
the questions that arose about some of those idolatrous practices,
not the least of which was food that had been offered to these
idols. Believers were deeply divided
about whether this food could be eaten. Worst of all, both
sides were callously abusing one another in the process. This
was just one more area of disagreement within the Corinthian church,
but it was a big one. Strife was building because one
side was flaunting their freedom, and the other side was pressing
their legalistic perspective. Both sides were fully aware of
the idolatry in their midst. Neither side, however, would
sympathize with the other about these questions. And it seemed
that the devil had them right where he wanted them, acrimoniously
divided. Paul knew well that whenever
Christians do not agree, On an issue, a matter of conscience,
a gray area, they tend to polarize at opposite extremes. Either
an attitude of superiority that shows itself in exercising their
freedom at all cost, parading their freedom in front of others
regardless of who might be offended, or at the opposite extreme, a
religious extremism, a legalism, a strong and inflexible position
that everyone around them is supposed to honor. Well, Paul
seeks to provide some wisdom on this matter. Here in chapter
eight, he does so by way of sound and timeless principles. because
these useful pieces of wisdom enable mature Christians to resolve
a wide range of questions that might arise in any day, in any
culture in which Christianity takes root. With these principles,
believers can not only navigate questions about idols, but other
similar gray area questions. So we need this wisdom as much
as did the Corinthians. Chapter 8, and I want to narrow
it down this week just to verses 4 through 6. Chapter 8, Actually,
we have time. Let’s just take it from the beginning.
Verse 1, chapter 8, verse 1. Now concerning things sacrificed
to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes
arrogant, but love edifies. If anyone supposes that he knows
anything, he is not yet known as he ought to know. But if anyone
loves God, he is known by him. Therefore, concerning the eating
of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such
thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but
one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on
earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for
us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things,
and we exist for him. and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by
whom are all things, and we exist through him. However, not all
men have this knowledge. But some, being accustomed to
the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrifice to an
idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. But food will
not commend us to God. We are neither the worse if we
do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. But take care that
this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block
to the weak. For if someone sees you who have
knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple will not his conscience,
if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? For through your knowledge, he
who is weak is ruined. The brother for whose sake Christ
died, And so by sinning against the brethren and wounding their
conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore,
if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat
again so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.” The question
that the Corinthians faced was the troubling question of meat
offered to idols. Was it just brisket? Or was it
inedible because it had been presented to an idol? This chapter,
as I suggested, breaks up into three major sections. The principle
of knowledge and idols, verses one through three. The principle
of truth and idols, which section we began to consider last Lord’s
Day. And then finally, verses seven
through 13, where Paul presents the principle of liberty and
idols. We hope to take that up next
Lord’s Day. In that first section, the principle
of knowledge and idols, which we considered two weeks ago,
there Paul is detailing for his readers the scope of knowledge. But knowledge alone, he says,
would not help the Corinthians navigate life’s difficult questions. We all have knowledge, he says. Neither will knowledge alone
help us navigate our own questions. So Paul there doesn’t abandon
knowledge, but he does curb it. The beginning of real knowledge,
he concludes, is to love and to be known by God. Or, as Paul better explained
it, to love and be known by him. Once a person is known by God,
and he or she truly comes to know and love him, they are introduced
to a new field of knowledge, truth. Truth is an altogether
different kind of knowledge. It’s not theory. It’s not the
result of scientific conclusion. It cannot be debated. The only
proper use of truth is to receive it and to appropriate it into
one’s life. And so the second principle that
Paul introduces in verses four through six is the principle
of truth and idols. Look, if you would, back at verse
four, therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to
idols. Paul here just zeroes in on the
issue. The issue is not just about idols,
as he proposes in verse 1, but it’s the eating of things sacrificed
to idols, the meat that was left over from the idolatrous sacrifice
to a so-called God. Now, a Christian would certainly
never think of attending such an idolatrous worship event But
must he skip the barbecue sandwich? That’s the question. So Paul
returns again to this idea of knowledge. We all have knowledge,
he says, but he wants to get everyone on the same page, to
build a consensus by identifying some specific truths on which
they could all agree. And he names two specific truths
here in verse four. Would you glance at it? First,
he says, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the
world. And then secondly, we know that
there is no God, but one. There certainly are many more
truths in the world, but of all the things that we know, Paul
says, we know these two truths. And remember, we imagined the
Corinthian believers all sitting around, beginning to nod their
heads sheepishly. Yes, Paul, we know these things. First, Paul says, we know that
there is no such thing as an idol in the world. We looked
at this last week. And by this statement, Paul is
just declaring the absolute illegitimacy of idolatry. Paul is not saying
that there are no such thing as statues called idols. Every society throughout history
has had its idols. This is the inevitable filling
of that void left by rejecting the one true God. You could almost
say there has to be idols in a godless society. No, what Paul
is referring to here is not the image or the statue, he knows
those to be real, but that which the image or the statue are supposed
to represent. This is because idolaters believed
that their God, their so-called God, indwelled these statues. So much so that the statue became
as the God himself. But Paul says, there’s no such
thing as an idol. There’s no God inside of them.
They’re nothing but stone statues, or wood, or gold, or whatever
material out of which they’re made. Paul basically says here,
you can’t have a representation of something that does not exist. If Zeus is not real, then the
statue that represents him is insignificant. There’s no such
thing as idols, as Paul says. And in verse five, Paul provided
the proof that an idol is illegitimate. We consider this as well when
he begins by saying, even if he’s not making a concession
that idols may, after all, be real. This is an argument from
the hypothetical, assuming it to be true for the sake of argument.
And he’s quick to make it clear that because he identifies these
as so-called gods, he doesn’t believe in idols. These gods
are gods in name only. But when Paul goes on to say,
even if there are so-called gods, and indeed there are many gods
and many lords, Verse five, by that phrase, indeed there are,
Paul takes his readers behind the idol to a spiritual reality. That stone idol is real in a
sense. If you drop a stone statue on
your toe, you’re gonna feel real pain. But the supposed God that
the idol represents is not real. But that said, There is indeed
a spiritual reality behind these idols. When Paul speaks of many
gods and many lords, he’s referring to the spiritual beings behind
them. Satan, being as Jesus referred to him
as the God of this world. Satan is behind the idols and
is supporting lords, his henchmen, the demons. They function as
so many lords behind these false gods. There are demons behind
these idols. And it is these demons that are
the malignant forces of idolatry who turn the hearts of men and
women away from the true and living God to worship these false,
dead, lifeless idols. The demons behind this false
worship indeed are very real. And this only serves to reinforce
Paul’s point that these idols are nothing at all, while uncovering
the evil and the devilish force behind them. Paul doesn’t even
really conclude his thought there in verse five. We might have
expected him to end the sentence with something at the end of
verse five, something like, in reality, an idol is nothing.
But he doesn’t even have to do that because his point is clear
enough. No such thing as an idol in the world, so-called gods,
in reality, an idol is nothing. But I pointed out last Lord’s
Day that there are two pieces of special knowledge here, truths. Not only is there no such thing
as an idol, secondly, there is no God but one. That’s what we
want to spend our time considering this morning. There is no God
but one. That first truth that Paul presented
is the illegitimacy of idolatry, and the second truth is opposite
that in every way. Verse four, there is no God but
one. And it really is a poetic balance
of that first statement. Literally, it could be translated
like this, no idol in the world and no God except one. There
is no God, there is no other God, only one. These so-called
heathen deities were anything but gods. In reality, there is
only one God. And by this, Paul proclaims the
legitimacy of God himself. There is but one God, not many.
This idea of polytheism, multiple gods, is an utterly unbiblical
idea. The Shema. the Jewish prayer
that every good Jew would utter several times a day, taken from
Deuteronomy 6, 4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our
God, the Lord is one. That prayer declares one God,
not many. This one God is He is one in
his uniqueness, as Psalm 86 8 says, there is no one like you among
the gods, oh Lord, nor are there any works like yours. And in
verse 10 of that same Psalm, you alone are God. He is utterly
unique because he is alone. There’s no one like him because
he is the one. I am God and there is no other,
Isaiah records in 46.9. I am God and there is no one
like me. Malachi 2.10 adds the same thought,
uniquely stated here. Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? the oneness or the solitariness
of their God, Jehovah, was the distinguishing feature of the
Jewish people, as opposed to the nations that surrounded them
with their many and multiplied so-called gods. Paul, in writing
to young pastor Timothy, made this point in his first letter
to Timothy three times, and in three different ways. Listen
just briefly, 1 Timothy 1, 17, the very opening of the book.
Now, to the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor
and glory forever and ever, amen. Paul mentions here the only God,
which theology speaks of as monotheism. One of the sad features of Christianity
today is that we tend to be embarrassed by that, almost apologetic. almost ashamed to say that there
is one God, that there is one Lord, that there is one way to
heaven. Our one God is unique. He’s incomparable. He’s all glorious. How sad it is that we’re afraid
to proclaim this principle. Paul wasn’t. He says the same
thing in chapter two of that first epistle to Timothy. First
Timothy 2.5, he provides the reason, listen to that. I mean,
it’s amazing. He provides the reason why we
should pray for others, especially for our leaders, because he says,
there’s one God. There isn’t one God for them
and another for us as if to say, let them pray to their own God
for their own souls. God rebuked Jonah for that same
thing, didn’t he? Should I not have compassion
on Nineveh? Of course God cares for sinners. There’s one God, and to him we
should pray. And there’s a third time in that
first epistle to Timothy, a third time where he speaks of the solitariness
of God. He drives this point home in
chapter six, verse 15. Speaking of the Lord’s return,
he says that he will bring it about at the proper time, he
who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of
lords. In other words, he is the one God. This is a quite
different claim than that of an idolater. Idolatrous worshipers
claim for their statue that he or she is a God. But the one true and living God
lays claim to the simplicity. As Paul says it here, there is
no God but one. One God, not a plurality of gods,
not so many little gods. The Christian can never be distracted
or overwhelmed by a plurality of objects of worship. We’re
called to worship one God. So when we come to our God in
worship, whether privately in prayer or together as a body
of believers corporately, we come not before a gaggle of so-called
gods and lords. We have one God whom we serve,
by whom we are saved, to whom we pray, and for whom we live. Just as Paul had done with his
first point, the illegitimacy of idols, he offers proof here
for the legitimacy of our one God. And he provides that in
verse six. Would you glance at that passage?
He says, yet for us, there is but one God, the Father. Verse
six resides under that same little word introducing verse five,
for. Paul is still giving his reasoning
here, his support that he began in verse five for his statement
about idols, and here in verse six for his statement about God.
And he says, yet for us, that is for believers, for Christians,
those who do not worship idols, For us, there is but one God
and Father. Our God is one God for whom Paul
provides three distinguishing descriptions. First, look at
this. First of all, Paul says that this one God is the Father. This is one of Paul’s favorite
ways of referring to his deity, God and Father. 34 times in his
epistles, he uses this formula, God and Father. For instance,
writing to the Corinthians, pardon me, the Ephesians in chapter
four, Ephesians chapter four, verses five and six, Paul echoes
the solitary nature of God. When he says this, there is one
body and one spirit, just as you were called in one hope of
your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father. One God and father of all who
is over all and through all and in all. He’s God, but he’s our
heavenly father, Paul says. And when he speaks of him as
God and father, Paul shows that our God is not a cold, lifeless,
aloof, austere God like the countless wooden statues. He’s a loving. caring, nurturing father. He’s a God who cares and hears.
He’s a God who knows our needs even before we utter them. He’s
a God who’s eager to help and to give and to show mercy to
his children. The thought of God as our father
stirs in us the most ardent affection. As our God, we know that all
of creation is his doing. But as our Father, we know of
His loving care of His creation. Most chiefly, it is shown to
us in our redemption and our reconciliation to Him. Even once
we’re redeemed, His care of us doesn’t come to an end. Our Heavenly
Father always stands ready to relieve our earthly heartaches
and miseries. He’s accessible to us. We can
call out to him as to a child of a father. We have the privilege
as his beloved children to knock on his door, to draw near to
him in prayer. He is our father and as such,
he carefully watches over us and tenderly cares for us. Listen to how replete this idea
is in scripture. John 1.12, as many as received
him, to them he gave the right to become children of God. You
are a child of God. Romans 8.14, all who are being
led by the Spirit, these are the sons of God. Galatians 3.26,
you are all sons of God through your faith in Christ Jesus. Galatians
4.6, because you are sons of God, he has sent forth the spirit
of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, Daddy. 2 Corinthians 6.18, I will be
a father to you. You should be sons and daughters
to me, says the Lord Almighty. 1 John 3, beautiful verse, see
how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would
be called the children of God. He’s our Father. And as such,
we look to Him lovingly and trustingly and obediently. The Apostle Paul
did so. Listen to the tenderness of the
language that Paul uses to speak of his relationship with the
Heavenly Father, Ephesians 3, 14. For this reason, I bow my
knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and
on earth derives its name. He’s my Father, Paul says. The
fact that God presents himself to us as our Heavenly Father
warmly invites, it beckons us to Him, doesn’t it? Not to a
cold, stone, lifeless statue, but to a warm and loving Heavenly
Father. His son Jesus spoke also of this
relationship, Matthew 6, 8. Jesus is admonishing his disciples
against using those meaningless repetitions, just blah, blah,
blah. And he explains the reason against
those vain prayers when he says, for your father knows what you
need before you ask him. Did you ever sit down to pray
and think, let me get this, let me get this down first. I want
to make a, you know, I want to approach God in an erudite manner. I want to impress him with my
deep theological understanding of God doesn’t need that. He already knows. Our Father
is no austere, preoccupied, grumblesome deity. He’s our Heavenly Father. Nor says Jesus in that same passage,
are we to be anxious? Verse 32, your heavenly father
knows you need all these things. Our God is no dead idol. And
so when we come to our God in worship, whether it’s privately
in prayer or corporately together as a body of believers, we come
before a loving Heavenly Father, eager to meet with us, to hear
our voice, and to hear our heartfelt concerns. But there’s a second descriptive
phrase by which Paul characterizes our God. Would you look again
at verse six? Verse six, yet for us there is but one God,
the Father from whom are all things. These are God and Father
from whom are all things. This captures God as our creator
and sustainer. He is the originating source
of everything. God is the eternal fountain from
which everything that ever comes into existence and thrives, orients. When his tour of Athens was complete,
remember, Paul eagerly introduced the Greeks there to what they
had referred to as the unknown God, remember? And he said of
them that he is the one who gives to all people life and breath
and all things, Acts 17.25. He is no needy statue. He’s no statue that needs to
be appeased because he says in the very next line in 1728, in
him we live and move and have our being. He’s our creator. He’s our sustainer. People sometimes,
they develop this warped perspective of God as if he just set creation
in motion and stood back to watch it unfold. There’s a beautiful
outline of Psalm 104, if you ever have a chance to glance
at that passage. The first portion of that Psalm
speaks of the God of creation. It tells us first about God.
He’s a creator, but it tells us first about Him. And then
the second portion is the creation of God, and a beautiful description
of all that God has made. But the third portion, the portion
that we often forget, is God’s sustaining of his creation. The
very fact that the sun rose this morning, the breath of air in
your lungs, the food that we ate. Our God is no needy, puny
statue that needs to be appeased. Paul says it this way in chapter
11 of this very letter, all things originate from God. First Corinthians
11, 12, why do we think that we can sustain Him. The third descriptive element
of this one God is that He’s not only our heavenly Father,
He’s not only the one from whom are all things, look at the third
line there in verse six, we exist for Him. God the Father is to
be the culmination of all things. That is, all things are to his
glory. This only makes sense that every
created thing should be for him and to him. There could be no
greater, no higher, no better aim than God himself. Would you
turn briefly to Romans chapter 11? Keep a finger there, just
a few pages. Keep a finger there in First
Corinthians. I want you to see the way that
Paul wraps up 11 chapters of deep theology, culminating in
this articulation of the sovereignty of God in verses 33 through 36.
Romans 11, 33. which passage we heard read in
worship of God earlier this morning. Oh, the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are
his judgments and unfathomable his ways. For who has known the
mind of the Lord or who became his counselor? Or who has first
given to him that it might be paid back to him again? For from
him and through him and to him are all things. to him be the
glory forever, amen. That doxology is arguably one
of the most comprehensive descriptions of God and his creation in the
Bible. That final verse essentially
answers the question of verse 34. Just glance at it. Who is
first given to God? Isn’t that what idolatry is?
Who is first given to God? Who has put God in some kind
of debt? The answer is nobody. Instead,
God himself is the giver of all. That is, the entirety of the
universe, all of creation. The whole statement of Romans
11, 36 is really an echo of 1 Corinthians 8, 6. God is the original source. God is the divine means. And
God is the ultimate end of all things. He’s the creator, He’s
the sustainer, He’s the recipient of all things. Some of the exact
phraseology is used in Romans 11, used in 1 Corinthians 8. From Him and to Him, same exact
words. Paul basically concludes with
the same thought here in Romans 11, 36, when he says that to
Him are all things, Back, if you would, to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians, he says the same
thing with different words here. We exist for Him. All creation
is to or for God’s glory. The entire universe, everything
in heaven and earth, everything, including our salvation, is to
God and His glory. The world thinks that happiness
is man’s great end, but Scripture consistently presents a different
idea, that God is to be the object of everything, not only that
we think and do, but that all creation is to God’s glory. There could be no greater goal
than that. And so the entire desire and aim for the Christian
ought to be to glorify God in all that we do. It is to God’s glory alone that
all creation exists. All things are to him, including
us as believers, we exist for him. And we as well as all creation
are to worship and glorify him alone. And so, When we come to
our God in worship, whether it’s privately or in prayer or together
corporately as a body of believers, we come to a God whose designed
purpose in our coming is for His glory. and true to his savior who died
in his place, redeemed him and called him into service. Just
as Paul says that there is one God, he exclaims that there is
one Lord. Look at the passage once again,
verse six. There is one Lord, Jesus Christ,
by whom are all things and we exist through him. Unlike the wooden or stone statues
behind which are many gods and many lords, angels and demons,
of his God, Paul speaks of only one God and one Lord. Jesus Christ is the sovereign
Lord of all creation. The cults and the false religions
of the world tout their many lords over their many territories
and dominions. Poseidon, why he’s God only of
the ocean. Zeus, he’s one of their gods,
but he’s God only of the sky. Ares, the troublemaker, is God
of war only. Aphrodite, she has a difficult
job. She’s the goddess of love only. These are those who are
no gods and no lords at all. But our one Lord, the Lord Jesus
Christ is truly Lord over all creation, the earth and the sky
and the heavens and everything in it. He is the one great sovereign
Lord, the King of the universe. And Paul presents the Lordship
of Jesus Christ so well in Ephesians chapter one. Would you take a
minute and turn there briefly? Ephesians chapter one. In Ephesians chapter one, Paul
explains some things to these believers. He wants them to know
the nature of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Pick it up, if
you would, in verse 20. and all. Wow. He’s Lord of all. Back to 1 Corinthians,
if you would. He is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all. And so when
we come to God in worship, whether privately in prayer or corporately
as a body of believers, we come to no other than our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord of all. And just as he did with
regard to the idols and regard to our God and Father, Paul presents
proof here as well for our Lord Jesus Christ. He expresses two
things about him, that by him are all things, and that we exist
through him. The first statement, I’ll tell
you, presents our Lord’s role in creation. And the second statement
refers to Christ’s role in our salvation. By this initial descriptive
phrase, by whom are all things, Paul tells of Christ’s work in
creation. He was not a passive bystander.
He wasn’t uninvolved in creation as God’s son, nor does this present
a contradiction about the Father’s role in creation. Creation was
of or from God the Father, and it was by or through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Jesus was the creator. God the Father was a creator. The Father was the originating
source, but he created by means of the word, through Jesus Christ,
his eternal son. Paul presents this truth in Colossians
1. By him, that is by Jesus Christ,
all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth,
visible and invisible. All things have been created
through him and for him. And so by telling us that all
things have been created through Him, Paul indicates there that
Jesus was the great means that the Father used to effect creation. Just an astounding thought. The
Apostle John says the same exact thing in verse three of the opening Verse three of the opening of
his first chapter, listen to this, all things, everything,
everything that’s ever been made, all things came into being through
him and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come
into being. If it exists, it came through
the agency of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so there again, God
was the effective cause He was the originating source, but Jesus
was the means. He was the instrument by which
God moved. So that we might grasp the fullness
of Christ’s involvement in creation, hear the words of faithful commentator
John Eady. Listen to this. Christ’s creative
work was no local or limited operation. It was not bounded
by this little orb. Its sweep surrounds the universe. Every form and every kind of
matter, simple or complex, the atom and the star, the sun and
the clod, every grade of life, from the worm to the angel, every
order of intellect and being around and above us, the splendors
of heaven and the near phenomena of earth are the product of the
firstborn, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, Christian, when you come
to God in worship, whether it’s alone, privately in prayer, or
corporately together as a body of believers, you come to our
eternal Lord, who is the very means of all created things. There’s one last descriptive.
Not only are we brought into existence, given physical life
through Jesus Christ, by whom are all things. But the second
piece of proof that Paul provides here about our one Lord Jesus
Christ is that we exist through Him. Now he’s either making the
same point twice, which I don’t see, or Paul is closing with
this thought as proof that our one Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ,
brought us into existence through him in a special way. It’s not
a reiteration of the previous points, by whom are all things.
Paul’s first proof is that Jesus is the means by which we are
created, our physical creation. But this second point brings
into focus our, get this, re-creation. Paul’s use of the word we is
a dead giveaway. Because not everybody can say
this. We expresses the thought of believers. We are those for
whom Christ died. We are those that Jesus redeemed
by his death on the cross. We are those who have been saved
by faith in him. Not all men can say we in that
regard. that we exist through Him. Everything that believers have,
they have through the Lord Jesus Christ, their Savior. I want to just, I mean, I looked
at dozens of verses in this regard. I want to just present four to
you all from the same chapter. Would you turn to Romans chapter
five? And then I think we’re done turning and flipping. give your achy hands a rest.
Romans chapter five, watch this. In Romans chapter five, I think
one of my favorite chapters in all of scripture, I know you’ve
heard that before. Romans chapter five, look at verse one. He tells
us in that incredible chapter that we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse nine. We are saved
from the wrath of God through Him, that is through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look at verse 11, that we have
been reconciled through our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 20,
which tells us that we have eternal life. through Jesus Christ, our
Lord. We have peace with God. We’re
saved from the wrath of God. We’re reconciled to him. We have
eternal life, all because it’s through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Back, if you would, in closing to 1 Corinthians 8, Paul says
the same words, just slightly differently to the Ephesians,
in chapter two, verse 10, we are his workmanship. created
in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand,
so that we should walk in them. This is the truth that Paul is
declaring in 1 Corinthians 8, that we exist through him. This,
it has been said, is our spiritual recreation. In John chapter 10,
Jesus makes it very plain, doesn’t he? He says that I am the door.
If anyone enters through me, he will be saved. You will go
in and out and find pastor. It’s only through Christ. I am
the way and the truth and the life, John 14, six. No one comes
to the father, but through me. No person comes to the Father,
but through the Son, we are called to God the Father through His
Son into a new existence. We exist through Him. Paul tells us that same thing
in 2 Corinthians 5. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creature. The old things have passed away.
Behold, new things have come. When we come to God in worship,
whether privately in prayer or corporately as a body of believers,
we come to the very one by whom and through whom we are redeemed
and forgiven and saved. Would you humble yourself before
our God and our Lord?