There Is No God But One

Transcript

GR 1323
05-07-06
There Is No God But One
1 Corinthians 8:1-6
Gil Rugh


We're studying 1 Corinthians and we're in chapter 8, so if you would turn there in your Bibles. We're getting instructions on how we are to live our lives as God's people. We are not our own, we have been bought with a price; therefore, we must glorify God in our bodies as Paul has already written to the Corinthians. We must be in our lives, in our relationships, that God is honored and the transforming grace that has brought us salvation, made us new in Christ is to be seen in the way that we live together as God's people. Sad that when we think of the Corinthian church 2000 years after Paul writes, the record has been left and reminds us of a church that was divided, that was in conflict, that failed to function in love toward one another. And you look back and say, could have anything been so important that they sacrificed a strong testimony for Christ. I wonder, as we sing about heaven and being in the glories of heaven, that as these Corinthian believers now have enjoyed God's presence for these two millenniums, I wonder if they think, those divisions, those conflicts, those disagreements that I caused, they were worth it. Probably not, I doubt it.

So Paul is writing to correct some problems, he's writing to answer some questions. In chapter 7 verse 1 Paul began by saying, now concerning the things about which you wrote. And what he is doing from that point on is responding to issues that they have inquired about in a letter that they wrote to him. And the first area he covered had to do with sex, marriage, the single life—encompassed all of what we have as chapter 7 in our Bibles.

Then you'll note how chapter 8 verse 1 begins, now concerning things sacrificed to idols. I now want to turn your attention to the issue raised about eating food that had been sacrificed to idols. And he's going to spend chapters 8-10 dealing with the matter of our freedom in Christ, the proper use of our freedom, all in the context of the issue of idolatrous worship. And as we'll see when we get further along, this issue idolatrous worship does not just have to do with people who have certain wooden, stone kind of images, but it has to do with all kinds of false worship. The chapter will begin by talking about idol worship and food sacrificed to idols. And then when you get into chapter 9 you might get the idea that Paul has moved to a different subject altogether because he begins chapter 9, am I not free. He begins to talk about his own personal freedom and his position as an apostle and the rights he had. But you'll note when you come to chapter 10, and we'll just pick up in the middle for now, verse 14, therefore my beloved, flee from idolatry. So he hasn't left that subject but all he has to say in the context and with the background of how our freedom in Christ and the relationship we have with Him, now belonging to Him impacts us in any kind of involvement with false worship. And he'll build to chapter 10 where then he will unveil something of the seriousness of false worship. He'll move that way, culminating in the real issue of faithfulness to the living God.

Chapter 8 verse 1 begins, now concerning things sacrificed to idols. Idol worship was a big issue in Paul's world. Other religions permeated, all kinds of gods were worshiped. I was going to bring a list of the gods that were worshiped at Corinth during the time that Paul would have had ministry there, and it's a long list. And everyone worshiped some kind of god, and that was fine because everybody was tolerant and accepting of other people's gods. And oh you worship this god and sacrifice to him, I worship this god and sacrifice to her. And you have your gods and we have our gods and that's fine. Sort of like people today—you have your religion, we have ours, but they are all leading to the same place and God is pleased with us all. And so the Corinthians had to live in the environment. And as we're all aware, we live in a society, in a culture that we constantly struggle with as a believer in Jesus Christ and a follower of the living God, His servant, how much involvement and what kind of involvement do I have with the world. Periodically, different ones of you ask me about, do you think it's all right if I attend this church or this kind of service, or I'm involved in this way. Well that impacted the Corinthians.

And the particular issue that Paul was dealing with to start was what about food sacrificed to idols. Can I eat that? You have to understand that this is a permeating issue for a city like Corinth. Let me read you a couple of quotes that help set the setting of the day. The market, which included both the meat and fish markets, was controlled by civic authorities and was an important source of revenue for them. The offering of meat as a sacrifice before using it for consumption was a long-standing convention in the Greco Roman world. Before food was taken to market, it would be sacrificed to an idol. Another writer says, joining in meals was extremely in the ancient world because they served as markers of socioeconomic class divisions, as opportunities to converse and build friendships, and as a means to fulfill sociopolitical obligations. Anyone desisting from public sacrificial events was unfit for political functions. To rebuff the invitations of friends, neighbors and patrons, not only would cause one's social status to plummet, but would also mark one off as odd and repugnant. To shun gatherings that lubricated social and economic relations would make Christians conspicuous outcasts who held outlandish antisocial perverse religious beliefs. Now think about it, you live in a city and it was dominated by its worship system, all kinds of gods. And as the general practice, whatever god you worshiped, you sacrificed your food to that god. In fact the political and civic authorities who controlled the markets of the city, it's their practice to see that everything is offered to the gods of the city before it is sold in the market.

Social events take place at the idol temple. I was reading on homes in Corinth, and even the largest homes, archeology has searched out and so on, could not hold large numbers of people. You couldn't have 50 people in for dinner, even in a well to do home in Corinth. Where they went was to the idol temple, sort of like church fellowship halls. And sometimes they are used by groups that are not part of the church because they would like to have a place to meet and some churches open what we call fellowship halls up for those kinds of meetings. Well social events were held in these temples and food was served, but anything served in that temple of course would be offered to that idol. Then think about it, you work for a boss and he invites you to his home for dinner. You come to his home and of course his home will be marked by his worship system and the idols he serves, and as you get ready to eat he doesn't say grace, he just wants you to know that we have offered this food first to the goddess Isis because we do honor her and we know she has blessed our home and blessed our business and we want you to enjoy the meal. Now you're sitting here as a believer saying, do I eat this food. I mean he just told me he offered it to this goddess and it's in honor of her. I say, wait a minute, boss, I don't eat this kind of food. Well, maybe you don't work for me anymore either. Now I have pressure, what do I do?

So these kinds of things permeated the culture of the day. We think we live in such a difficult day, but in many ways not nearly as difficult as the people in Paul's day in the city of Corinth. So this issue has been raised. Is it all right to eat food sacrificed to idols, whether it's in an idol's temple, whether it's food I buy in the marketplace that is obviously marked out as having been sacrificed to an idol, or in someone's private home. And there was the know-it-all party at Corinth that believed that they understood an idol is nothing, it's a piece of wood, a piece of stone, a piece of metal. If an idol is nothing but a piece of stone and you offer food to nothing, what have you done? Nothing. So eating food sacrificed to an idol is okay because nothing happened because the idol is nothing. And they are right as far as they go. But Paul is going to say there are two things that have to condition your knowledge and the liberty and rights that you see yourself having with that knowledge. 1) Love for others, 2) there is a spiritual issue involved in all false worship. And even though idols and false gods are nothing, there are spiritual forces at work in all worship systems.

Turn over to chapter 10 verse 19, what do I mean then, that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not God, and I don't want you to become sharers in demons. Now there is an issue, but Paul will work his way to that point. First he is going to talk about the proper use of the knowledge you have and the freedom and the rights we have as believers. And these become guidelines for us as God's people today in the proper use of the liberty and freedom we have in Christ and the carefulness we have to maintain the purity of devotion to Christ, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11.

Well in the first six verses of chapter 8 where we want to start with focusing our attention, Paul is going to draw the emphasis on reminding them of God's uniqueness and our relationship to God. And that will shape everything else we do. Our God is unique and we belong to Him and we are in love with Him. And that then controls our conduct in our relationships together and any relationship we will have in idolatrous or false worship.

Let's begin with chapter 8 verse 1, now concerning the things sacrificed to idols. We know that we all have knowledge. Now the knowledge that we all have about idols, he'll pick up on beginning with verse 4, because he's going to take a little bit of a sidetrack, which is not a sidetrack, but it's a necessary clarification. Then he'll come back to verse 4 and say, now concerning the things sacrificed to idols, we know. And here is the knowledge we all have. And it will have to do with the fact there is only one true and living God. And all other gods, all other idols are nothing, because there is only one God. And everyone who is truly a believer in Jesus Christ knows and understands that. If someone said to you, I am a child of God, yes, I believe in Jesus Christ and I know that He is one of the many gods in the world. And other people believe in their gods—the Hindus have their multiple gods and the Muslims worship Allah but I worship Christ. He is just one of the many gods and as long as you believe in . . . [some god]. You say, wait a minute, you're not truly born again, you're not a Christian. Because everyone who has truly experienced the power of God's salvation has to have come to understand there is only one true and living God. And all the other gods of the world are no gods at all.

So concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. But before we go on to talk about this knowledge, let me tell you, knowledge makes you arrogant, love builds up. We could translate this knowledge puffs you up. Love builds you up. Knowledge fills you with wind, love builds up. And strong contrast here between knowledge and love. Now if you know anything about the New Testament you know that Paul doesn't disparage knowledge. In fact he's going to spend all of chapters 8-10 talking about the things we need to know to function properly here. But knowledge as an end in itself is not our goal. And all you have are certain facts about something, even if those facts are correct, all it does is fill you with hot air, blow you up like a blimp, a balloon. We would say, you're a windbag because you are just filled with air. That's what the word “arrogant” is, filled with air. One Greek commentator put it, the word means something pretentiously enlarged by virtue of being pumped full of air or wind.

Now back up to chapter 4. Paul had to use this word several times with the Corinthians, they thought quite highly of themselves. 1 Corinthians 4:6, and Paul says I have been writing the way I have for a purpose, the end of verse 6, so that no one of you will become arrogant, filled up with air, in behalf of one against another. Self-inflated, thinking you are better than another person. Down in verse 18, now some of you have become arrogant. There's our word again, filled with air. Verse 19, I will come to you if the Lord wills, I shall find out not the words of those who are filled with air, but their power. So again the contrast here between just being filled with air, like we would say, filled with hot air, or having true power.

Chapter 5 verse 2, you have become arrogant when you should be mourning. Same word. And in chapter 13, which becomes a development of an emphasis we're going to see in a moment in chapter 8, come to chapter 13, the love chapter, verse 4. Love is patient, love is kind, is not jealous. Love does not brag, is not filled with air, is not arrogant, is not puffed up with itself.

Come back to chapter 8. We all have knowledge about these things. All knowledge in and of itself does is fill you with hot air, make you a windbag, cause you to inflate yourself with self-importance. Love edifies. Love builds up. Dead ended knowledge only fills you with a sense of your own importance, that I know more than someone else, that I have better understanding than someone else. Whereas love focuses on the other person, and . . . you with how can I help them, how can I build them up, make them stronger in Christ, help them to become more mature, help them to grow. Paul says this was his goal in ministry, that the authority God had given him as an apostle was an authority to build them up. In 2 Corinthians 10:8 Paul refers to the authority God gave him as an apostle, to build them up, not tear them down. Says the same thing in 2 Corinthians 13:10, that he had authority as an apostle to build them up, not tear them down. That's our ministry as believers. Paul encouraged the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 with the fact that they should continue to do what they are already doing in building up one another. That's what they are to do, build up one another. It will become an emphasis when we get to the spiritual gifts in chapters 12-14, particularly in chapter 14 where Paul will emphasize again and again and again that we must function with the gifts God gives us to build up others, to build up the body.

So knowledge puffs you up, love builds you up. Our love is to be infused with knowledge, but if knowledge is not manifesting itself with love in our practice, then all it's doing is making us arrogant. And we find Christians that can parade around and beat on people with all the knowledge they have, and what they're saying may be true, but it's not used properly and correctly.

So Paul says in verse 2, if anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know. When you think you've arrived in knowledge, you're just manifesting your ignorance. I remember one time I was with a group of men and a new person was there and he came to the group, first time to the group. And he sat down and began to lecture on things and speak on things about the Bible and went on and on and on. Afterwards I had a number of these men come to me and say, did that man know he didn't have any idea what he was talking about? I don't think so, or he wouldn't have talked like he did. The word here, if anyone supposes that he knows anything, in the perfect tense, means if anyone thinks they've come to full, complete, settled knowledge, he really doesn't know anything. We're talking in the spiritual realm here. Doesn't mean that what we know to this point is not true, but if you've been a believer very long and have been growing in the Lord, you've come to understand, have you not, that I've just begun to scratch the surface in my knowledge of the living God. I've shared with you when I began my ministry many years ago, I used to wonder, what will I do when I take a church and have preached through the whole Bible. You know 40 years later now I wonder, it's too bad I'm not going to get done. Because I really realized even the books I preached through, I had to go back and cover the things I didn't cover. Because we realize we don't have exhaustive knowledge even when we have true knowledge. And the problem at Corinth, these people thought they had final, complete, closed understanding, but they don't.

And so Paul is rebuking them for the pride that characterizes them. And he puts it in proper perspective. If anyone loves God, he is known by Him. Let's put this in proper perspective. If anyone loves God, he is known by Him. And he puts the two together here, love and knowledge, but in a different context. The love we have for God and the knowledge He has of us. And foundational to everything is the relationship we have with the living God. It is founded on facts, truth, the gospel of Jesus Christ. So we're not just saying let's not talk about knowledge, let's not talk about what the Bible says, let's just talk about loving God as though it were some feeling that comes over us. Understand, the foundational thing here is we are known by God and we love God because He knows us. If anyone loves God, He is known by Him. God is the initiator, and His knowledge of us has manifested itself in His love for us, which now enables us to love Him. The foundational thing is our relationship to Him, because of His knowledge of us, which means He has placed His favor on us.

Come over to 1 John 4. And listen while I read you Galatians 4:9. Paul says, but now that you have come to know God or rather to be known by God. Because you understand God is the initiator. I speak of you knowing God, but I have to speak of God knowing you first. And because you have been known by God, remember Amos 3:2 concerning Israel God says, you only have I known among all the families of the earth. Among all the nations on the earth, you're the only ones I have placed my love on, I have chosen for a relationship of intimacy with you, I have known you. So we have been known by God and now we know Him. In 1 John 4:6, we are from God. He who knows God listens to us, he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. So he's in the context here of revealed truth. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. So you see the love of God and the knowledge of God go together. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. So you see to understand the love of God, you have to understand certain truth.

By this the love of God was manifested in us or to us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Paul is going to talk about this in a moment in 1 Corinthians 8. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us. So we talk about loving God. But you understand, God is the initiator in that. We love God because He first loved us. So Paul can say in writing to the Corinthians, if anyone loves God he is known by God. In other words, God was the initiator in that love. He knew us first, He loved us first and now we love Him and have a relationship with Him.

Not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the “propitiation,” word that means the satisfaction for our sins. He paid the penalty for our sins. He satisfied the demands of righteousness. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. Verse 14, we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love. The one who abides in love abides in God, God abides in him. Verse 19, we love because He first loved us. Verse 21, this commandment we have from Him that the one who loves God should love his brother also . . . connection of love, and God's love for us and our love for God. And if we love God, we love the people of God. Verse 21, the one who loves God should love his brother also.

So Paul has brought in a very condensed way what is elaborated in other places by scriptural writers. If anyone loves God, he is known by God, because we love Him because He first loved us. And we are known by God and therefore we know God. Because 1 John 4:7 said, everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. So the very fact we have that biblical love that is produced by the Spirit, for the fruit of the Spirit is love, agape love, that self-sacrificing, self-giving love, to do what is best for the other person.

So come back to 1 Corinthians 8. Understand, just having a collection of facts in and of itself is not what we're talking about. Even though what the Corinthians are saying about idols is true as far as it goes, is correct, but the first problem Paul has to deal with is you're not using your knowledge in love. And then secondly, you have to function in light of the uniqueness of the living God, your relationship to Him that he'll get to in chapter 10.

So with that as a foundation, knowledge in and of itself is not enough. Let's come back in verse 4 to the subject of eating things sacrificed to idols. Therefore, concerning the 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. There is only one God. Idols are nothing, there is no God but one. All the believers in the Corinthian church knew that. If you don't know that, you are not a child of God. If you think that the god of the Mormons and the god of the Muslims, and the gods of the Hindus will all work and they are true gods and you can go to heaven by believing in them, then you don't belong to the God of the Bible. You are not known by Him, you don't love Him.

So, we're going to talk about food sacrificed to idols, all of us as believers know there is no such thing as an idol in the world. Now there are things called idols, but it has no reality, because an idol is supposed to be a manifestation of God, and if there is no God the idol is just a block of wood. The thing that makes and idol an idol is it's said to be a god or represent a God. But if there is no God the idol just ends up being a block of wood. There is no such thing as an idol in the world and there is no God but one, no God but one. Hear on Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, Deuteronomy 6:4. There is only one God. We’ll say more about that in a moment.

Verse 5 says even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God. So Paul says, I know, I say there is no such thing as an idol in the world, but I know many people call things gods and lords. And these idols represent their gods and the lords. Doesn't matter. We as believers know there is only one God.

Turn back to the Old Testament, I want to look at three passages with you, just to remind you what God has said about idols. We'll start with Psalm 115. And you'll note in each of these passages there will be a contrast between the one true and living God and all the gods that exist in the world. You know we say today you should never make fun of someone else's religion. The prophets didn't know that, and it didn't add to their popularity, because they did mock other people's religions. They were false, they were the figment of their imagination. And they didn't have any problem in showing just how stupid such beliefs were.

Psalm 115 starts out, “Not to us, oh Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory. . . .” You see the uniqueness of God. The Psalmist says, not to us, not to us, but to your name give glory because of your lovingkindness, because of your truth. Why should the nations say, where now is their God? But our God is in the heavens, He does whatever He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths but they cannot speak, they have eyes but they cannot see. They have ears but they cannot hear, they have noses but they cannot smell. They have hands but they cannot feel, they have feet but they cannot walk. They cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, everyone who trusts in them. Oh Israel, trust in the Lord. Isn't that true? You'll watch sometimes on the news and in another country in another part of the world Hindus or whatever that have multiple gods, they're carrying their god through the street. They brought him out of the cupboard for the holiday. He doesn't walk down the street because like the Psalmist says, they have feet but they can't walk. They have carved a nose on its face but you know what? You can stuff a Kleenex up its nose and it won't make any difference because he can't smell. With all the food going on around, you know what? He doesn't eat any of it because he can't even open his mouth. And you can holler in his ear and it doesn't hurt his eardrum because he doesn't hear. And you can wave all around in front of his eyes but they don't move. That's what he's saying. They don't understand any of it.

Come to Isaiah 44. You know sometimes believers get the idea to be nice we have to act like people who are believing things that are false spiritually, that's nice. That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Why would you worship that? There is an article in the paper this week where a pastor in town was speaking to a group and telling them about all the different religions and God loves them all and they're all doing good and . . . I said, why would anybody believe it? He didn't have any quote why that was true, he just said it. What made it true? It's not true.

Listen to what Isaiah says in Isaiah 44 as God speaks through him, Verse 6, “Thus says the Lord the King of Israel and His redeemer, the Lord of hosts. . . .” Note the distinction made here that Paul will make in a moment. The Lord, the King of Israel and His redeemer, the Lord of hosts. I am the first, I am the last and there is no God besides Me. I am the first, there was no one before Me; I am the last, there will be no God after Me. There is no God beside Me, I'm it. No one before Me, no one after Me, and no one in competition with Me. The end of verse 8, is there any God besides Me or is there any other rock? I know of none. Those who fashion a graven image are all of them futile. Their precious things are of no profit, even their own witnesses fail to see or know so that they will be put to shame. What has fashioned a god or cast an idol to no profit? Behold all his companions will be put to shame. For the craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them tremble, let them be put to shame. They ought to be ashamed. The man shapes iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arms. He also gets hungry and his strength fails, he drinks no water and becomes weary.
Now think about the stupidity of this. First man has to make the instruments that he'll use to make the god. Then while he's making the god he gets tired, hungry and thirsty and he made the god. What kind of god is this?

Another shapes wood, he extends a measuring line. I love this, he even outlines it with red chalk. I mean, he wants to get it right, you don't want your god to look funny. He works it with planes, outlines it with a compass, makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of a man so that it may sit in a house. Surely he cuts cedars for himself, takes a cypress or an oak and raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir and the rain makes it grow. Then it becomes something for a man to burn so that he takes one of them and warms himself. Takes part of the tree to use for fire to warm himself. He also makes a fire to cook his food, make bread. He also makes a god and worships it. He makes a graven image and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over this half he eats meat. As he roasts a roast he is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, oh I'm warm, I've seen the fire. And with the rest of it he makes a god, his graven image. He falls down before it in worship. He prays to it and says, deliver me, you are my god. I mean, think about that. Does he ever think, half my god is burning in the fire? Here I am warming my hands and there he goes. And now I've made the other half over here and I bow down and honor him.

They do not know, verse 18, nor do they understand, for he has smeared over their eyes so they cannot see and their hearts so they cannot comprehend. No one recalls nor is there any knowledge or understanding to say I have burned half of it in the fire, I have baked bread over its coals, I roast meat and eat it. Then I make the rest of it into an abomination, I fall down before a block of wood. He feeds on ashes, his deceived heart has turned him aside. He cannot deliver himself nor say, is there not a lie in my right hand. He has no ability to sort it out. That tells you the futility of an apologetic that is based on causing unregenerate man to see the stupidity of his position. He has not ability to do so. God has smeared over their eyes. Fallen, sinful, rebellious man cannot sort out things. He cannot even see the stupidity of the obvious that I just made a god out of a tree.

Jeremiah 10, hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, oh house of Israel. This is where Paul will have to go to by the time we get to chapter 10. Thus says the Lord, do not learn the way of the nations, do not be terrified by the signs in the heavens even though the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the people are delusion because it is wood cut from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. They decorate it with silver and gold, they fasten it with nails, with hammers, so it will not totter. You don't want your god to fall over and get broken. Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they. That's pretty blunt. This is our god, welcome to our home, this is our little area of worship. This is our god. We were going through an open house in Lincoln one time a while back and there was room we couldn't go into because it was their room for their gods and worship. Like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch. It's a delusion.

They cannot speak, they must be carried, they cannot walk. You know when you knock on the door the god didn't come and open it up. The people weren't home so the god couldn't do anything, because they are nothing. Do not fear them, they can do no harm, nor can they do any good. There is none like you oh Lord. You are great. Great is your name in might. He goes on to talk about idols again. Verse 10, but the Lord is the true God, He is the living God, the everlasting king. Verse 11, thus you shall say to them, the gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens. It is He who made the earth by His power, who established the world by His wisdom. By His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. That's where Paul is going, we serve the living God who is the creator of all things. And He is the Savior.

So with that background, you come back to 1 Corinthians 8. We all have knowledge of this as believers. The gods of the world are nothing. There is only one God and that must shape the way that we live. Now this living God has brought us to Himself and given us the knowledge of who He is. And loved us and filled us with His love. We don't have a god of stone or wood. We have a living God and so we become partakers of the divine nature. That's why it's such a travesty for them to be bragging about knowledge but not manifesting the love of God in their relationship to the people of God.

Yet for us there is but one God. Interesting the way Paul develops this. There is but one God, verse 6, for us. And then he breaks it down. There is 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. Grammatically, these two are joined so closely together that there can be no doubt he is declaring them both to be the one God. You say, well, Paul, you've confused things here. People think now we have two Gods—the Father who did this and then Jesus Christ who did this. I thought you just said we have one God. You said we have one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, who is distinct from the Father. Isn't that confusing? I mean, if you've ever had one of the cults to your door, they say to you, you believe in many Gods because you believe that Jesus Christ was God and you believe His Father was God, and you believe the Holy Spirit was God, so you have at least three Gods. Or you have another cult that comes and says well, no, we just believe we're all gods. And they're all wrong. There is one God, comprised of three persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You say, I don't know that I understand that. I don't that I understand it, either. I mean; I'm not God. There is no one like Him. I have some knowledge of Him by His grace. You have some knowledge of Him by His grace. My knowledge of Him is not exhaustive. The knowledge I have of Him is true and correct because it is knowledge He has given. But that doesn't mean I have final perfect knowledge and understanding of Him, He is the infinite God.

There is one God, three persons, they don't make three Gods. Nor is there one person manifesting Himself in three different ways. Modalistic monarchianism is the name for that heresy in church history. You know we sometimes illustrate, God is like a man, he can be a father, he can be a husband, and he can be a worker. No, that's modalistic monarchianism. That's just one person manifesting himself in three ways, in three modes. That's not a good example of the trinity. In fact, I have never seen a correct perfect example of the trinity, because the trinity is so unique. And all of our examples collapse, and if we're not careful we end up trying to give an illustration to the trinity and then spend the rest of the time trying to defend our illustration. I have to say I take it by faith. There is one God, eternally existing in three persons. And there is order in the persons. Here we are told, there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, out of whom are all things. He is the source of everything and we exist for Him. He is the goal of everything, the purpose for everything. All things are for His honor and glory.

And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. Deuteronomy 6:4, hear oh Israel there is one God and one Lord. But now Paul breaks them out. There is only one God but He exists in three persons. Here he identifies two of the persons—Father and Son. The Son is the one by whom or through whom all things exist. So the Father was the one out of whom all things come and He created all things through the Son. And the other scripture makes clear, using the Spirit as He brooded over the face of the waters, as Genesis begins.

And we exist through Him. We have come into redemption through Him. So the Father did not die on the cross, the Son, Jesus Christ, died on the cross to provide our redemption. The Father did not directly create everything. He brought everything into existence through the Son. We'll talk about this more as move through Corinthians and the order within the Godhead. But you understand that order existed before the fall into sin and before the creation, because even at the beginning when God was going to create, the Father was the source of it, carried out through the Son. We sometimes think well Father, Son and Holy Spirit, they just all sat on three thrones just like this, no distinction, until after sin. And then Christ came into the earth so He stepped down here. And in a sense He did, but you understand there was order in the trinity before the fall, before the creation. In fact, after all sin is dealt with, after the millennial kingdom is over and we move into eternity, the Son will be subject to the Father. So the Father is all in all. We get to that in 1 Corinthians 15. I don't know, this is . . . Feels like your head is starting to spin. God said it, I believe it, and I hope to understand it better. If God said it, I believe it, I mean, it's truth. You know how we say, God said it, that settles it, I believe it. I'm in the process of growing to understand it. I begin from the presuppositional foundation, this is God's Word, everything He said is true. And I'm in the process of growing in my understanding.

So there is one God, the Father; one Lord, Jesus Christ. They both partake of the essence and nature of deity. John 1 begins, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, the Word was God. And then we're told, all things came into being through Him, the Word who existed with God, face to face with God. And He was the instrument through whom creation was brought into existence. We say, well why did God the Father do it through God the Son? Why didn't either one of them do it independently? Because that's not the way God operates. I can't create God, I can only learn how God is and who God is and how He functions by what He reveals. And He is an awesome God and redemption is in Him.

Now this becomes foundational. Paul is going to talk about our relationship to God through Christ, and how that impacts now how we use the liberty and knowledge we have our rights as God's people. And then the commitment and relationship we have with Him that requires that we keep ourselves separate from all idolatrous or false worship. Because even though there is only one true and living God, there are spirit beings who oppose God and desire to take worship from God for themselves. Just like there are human beings who try to do that, present themselves as some great being, some spiritual being worthy of worship. We cannot be involved in any way and that's where chapter 10 will take us. But first we have to understand how now those who have been redeemed by God's grace, belong to Him because of the finished work of His Son and His work in sovereignly bringing us to faith in Christ, now are to use the knowledge and understanding we have that the world. . . . There is only one God, all these things are nothing. But how do I use that knowledge and understanding in the context of loving you as a child of God and helping you to grow and understand the rights and liberty I have now, are to be used to honor my God and allow His purposes to be accomplished in and through my life.

Do you really belong to the living God? You know for some people going to church is just another form of idol worship, just another activity of man thinking he is going to do something to make himself acceptable to God. That's just a form of idol worship, worship devised by man, the concept of his mind, the work of his hands. There is only one true and living God. There is only one way to Him. There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. It's only when we come to understand that He is the only Savior, that I am lost in my sin and I turn from my sin trusting in His death on the cross alone that I experience forgiveness. Not trusting in Christ and other things, my baptism, my church, my confirmation, my good works. Trusting in Him alone. That's when salvation comes. Everything else is just another form of idol worship, worshiping what man has constructed. Even though it might not be a physical image, it is what man has constructed, to turn the glory away from the living God and the worship from God to man.

Let's pray together. Than you, Lord, for who you are. How privileged we are to know you, or rather to be known by you. What a privilege it is to love you because you first loved us. Lord, how sad that our thinking would be confused, we would fail to understand and appreciate the fullness of what it means to belong to the living God, to know that there is only one true God, to know His Son through whom we have been redeemed. Lord, I pray even as we move through your Word and consider what you have said we be careful that the knowledge that we have and are building upon is being used to produce your character, that we might be submitting to the Spirit and desiring that He would take this precious truth and use it to nourish our souls, that He might produce the beauty of your character in us, so that your love might be seen in our love for one another, that we might grow together as your people. Lord, for anyone here, maybe even confused in thinking that because they attend this church that will enable them to get to heaven. May they see that there is only one Savior, that is the one who loved them and died for them. We pray in His name, amen.