Participating with Demons

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.960 --> 00:00:04.320 If you're able to remain standing, please do and turn your attention with me 2 00:00:04.519 --> 00:00:26.980 to first Corinthians, chapter ten. First Corinthians, chapter ten versus fifteen through 3 00:00:27.739 --> 00:00:39.810 twenty two. Fourteen through twenty two. Therefore, my beloved flee from idolatry. 4 00:00:41.729 --> 00:00:45.490 I speak as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I say. 5 00:00:46.490 --> 00:00:50.439 The Cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the 6 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:54.719 blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation 7 00:00:54.799 --> 00:00:59.600 in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we, who 8 00:00:59.640 --> 00:01:03.239 are many, are one body, for we all partake of one bread. 9 00:01:04.310 --> 00:01:08.629 Consider the people of Israel. Are Not those who eat the sacrifices participants in 10 00:01:08.670 --> 00:01:14.790 the altar? What do I imply, then, that food offered to idols 11 00:01:14.790 --> 00:01:21.019 is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that 12 00:01:21.099 --> 00:01:26.579 what pagan sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not 13 00:01:26.939 --> 00:01:33.569 want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the 14 00:01:33.689 --> 00:01:38.609 Lord and the Cup of Demons. You cannot partake of the table of the 15 00:01:38.730 --> 00:01:44.209 Lord and the table of Demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to Jealousy? 16 00:01:45.129 --> 00:02:12.389 Are we stronger than he? Men, you may be seated, but passage 17 00:02:12.430 --> 00:02:21.939 in God's word this morning begins with a command flee from idolatry. Flee from 18 00:02:22.139 --> 00:02:29.460 idolatry. It's a very clear command, but we often don't obey it. 19 00:02:30.250 --> 00:02:38.050 A lot of people don't flee from idolatry. They dabble in idolatry. Perhaps 20 00:02:38.370 --> 00:02:44.210 you know or have met people who are what you might think of as fullblown 21 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:51.280 idolaters, people who regularly and and with great importance and ritual are involved and 22 00:02:51.879 --> 00:03:00.710 sacrific making sacrifices and offerings and prayers to offerings. But there are other kinds 23 00:03:00.750 --> 00:03:06.469 of people that don't flee from idolatry. Right there are people who who just 24 00:03:06.750 --> 00:03:09.789 kind of play around with it a little bit. Burn a little thing here, 25 00:03:10.509 --> 00:03:15.139 offer a little prayer. They're only when it's convenient or when something's important 26 00:03:15.139 --> 00:03:17.819 or maybe they're asked to do it by a friend. It's not like a 27 00:03:17.979 --> 00:03:22.099 big deal, they would say. It's not a regular part of their lives. 28 00:03:22.139 --> 00:03:25.580 They're not really serious about it. Maybe it's now. They're not even 29 00:03:25.580 --> 00:03:31.969 really sure what it is, but they're certainly not fleeing from idolatry. The 30 00:03:32.050 --> 00:03:38.849 scripture doesn't say kind of stay away from it if it's convenient. It says 31 00:03:38.250 --> 00:03:43.560 flee from it. And you know what fleeing right looks like? It fleeing 32 00:03:43.719 --> 00:03:49.319 is the recognition of a danger. It's recognition of something that is going to 33 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:54.750 cause you harm and in moving as quickly as you can away from that thing. 34 00:03:57.590 --> 00:04:00.949 There's another group of people, we might say, that don't flee from 35 00:04:00.949 --> 00:04:03.669 idolatry, and it's people that kind of think of it as a nonissue. 36 00:04:04.750 --> 00:04:10.819 They think of idolatry and the worship of idols and serving demons is something that's 37 00:04:11.580 --> 00:04:15.019 well, kind of ancient and weird, so doesn't really have anything to do 38 00:04:15.100 --> 00:04:18.899 with me. I live in a modern world, I live a modern life. 39 00:04:18.899 --> 00:04:24.930 I don't have to pay attention to things like spirits and God and, 40 00:04:25.529 --> 00:04:27.649 well, I don't know, but I just don't mess with that kind of 41 00:04:27.689 --> 00:04:31.129 stuff. I don't think about it. Well, we might be glad in 42 00:04:31.209 --> 00:04:39.800 a way that that person is is is not actively participating in idolatry, but 43 00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:46.240 they're not fleeing at other they're not fleeing it either. The Bible speaks very 44 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:51.720 clean plainly and clearly that there are spiritual forces at work in this world that 45 00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:57.550 would seek to do us harm. It's not a weird ancient thing, it's 46 00:04:57.589 --> 00:05:00.750 just a true thing. There are other things. There's lots of things in 47 00:05:00.829 --> 00:05:05.829 the world that seek to do US harm. There's predatory animals, they're viruses, 48 00:05:06.660 --> 00:05:13.139 there are other people, there are falling things from the sky. They're 49 00:05:13.139 --> 00:05:17.300 all. We can list many, many dangers. Why would we discount a 50 00:05:17.459 --> 00:05:25.410 spiritual one? We ourselves are partly spiritual creatures, we have souls. There's 51 00:05:25.529 --> 00:05:30.810 immaterial things in this world. Why would we discount automatically the fact what the 52 00:05:30.889 --> 00:05:38.120 Bible says is so plainly true, that there are spiritual dangers, even creatures 53 00:05:38.680 --> 00:05:45.160 that would cause us spiritual harm? We believe in other things that we cannot 54 00:05:45.319 --> 00:05:50.470 see and yet would hurt us, like viruses or maybe even animals hiding and 55 00:05:50.629 --> 00:05:55.149 bushes and things like that. Snakes right, we watch out, we look 56 00:05:55.269 --> 00:05:58.629 for Scorpions, these kinds of things. Why would we discount this? Well, 57 00:05:58.670 --> 00:06:02.990 we shouldn't discount this. Instead, we should flee from the things which 58 00:06:02.990 --> 00:06:10.139 would seek to do us harm, and God gives us here in his words, 59 00:06:10.220 --> 00:06:15.139 some very serious reasons a why we should do that. And the one 60 00:06:15.420 --> 00:06:18.810 reason, the main reason he gives why we should flee from idolatry. Is 61 00:06:18.889 --> 00:06:25.889 that it is, he says. Paul says participation with demons. Now he 62 00:06:26.009 --> 00:06:30.810 makes clear that idols have no power in and of themselves. If that was 63 00:06:30.889 --> 00:06:33.240 the case, pretty much everything would kill us, right, anything that you 64 00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:38.480 would make out or harmless in some way, because people make idols out of 65 00:06:38.519 --> 00:06:44.439 every kind of thing. Right, metals and enamels and precious, precious materials, 66 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:48.589 would all kinds of things. It's not the material, the matter itself, 67 00:06:48.829 --> 00:06:53.870 that does us harm, it's it's not anything, not anything that would 68 00:06:53.870 --> 00:06:56.990 do us value in an or do us harm in and of itself. That's 69 00:06:56.990 --> 00:07:00.660 what Paul saying. Otherwise we'd have to be watching out for bathtubs and wheelbarrels 70 00:07:00.779 --> 00:07:06.540 and anything right. So it's not the idol itself that is the problem. 71 00:07:09.339 --> 00:07:15.339 Even the idols. They're often named after dead people, past kings and Queens, 72 00:07:15.379 --> 00:07:19.930 or imagined people, imagined God's and we know that people are not capable, 73 00:07:19.970 --> 00:07:25.250 especially dead people, are not capable of doing us any real harm. 74 00:07:27.170 --> 00:07:31.879 So why are idols a problem if the things are themselves not that big of 75 00:07:31.959 --> 00:07:38.360 a deal? It's because, Paul says, the idols are in a way 76 00:07:38.519 --> 00:07:45.990 fronts for demonic spiritual activity and these demons, these evil spirits, do wish 77 00:07:46.149 --> 00:07:55.149 and are capable of doing harm. They love to trouble humans. They love 78 00:07:55.470 --> 00:08:01.899 to keep us from God and to receive his worship for themselves. Evil spirits 79 00:08:03.420 --> 00:08:07.459 use idolatry to accomplish these ends. And if you said, well, that 80 00:08:07.620 --> 00:08:11.220 sounds kind of tricky and deceitful, well you might be onto something about demons. 81 00:08:11.970 --> 00:08:18.569 They are tricky, they are deceitful. They will use the means necessary, 82 00:08:18.649 --> 00:08:22.810 as they see it, to hurt you, to harm you, to 83 00:08:24.009 --> 00:08:31.360 kill you and to keep you from God. Evil spirits use idolatry to accomplish 84 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:35.200 these ends and when we participate in idolatry, we participate with them, we 85 00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:41.389 fellowship with them. That's a problem, as I begun to hint at, 86 00:08:41.470 --> 00:08:45.470 for a number of reasons. Some people would say it's not a problem. 87 00:08:45.549 --> 00:08:50.269 I not worship evil spirits and there are people that do. It is a 88 00:08:50.470 --> 00:08:56.220 problem for I'll give two reasons. There are many. I'll give to one 89 00:08:56.299 --> 00:09:03.620 is that it's degrading. Human beings are made in the image of God, 90 00:09:05.379 --> 00:09:11.690 not the image of other creatures. We are made in the image of God 91 00:09:11.889 --> 00:09:16.450 himself. We have a dignity. That is very great. We have been 92 00:09:16.769 --> 00:09:22.610 honored with this great thing and we are called to exercise that image, to 93 00:09:22.809 --> 00:09:28.000 bear that image in our lives, with holiness and acting in his name. 94 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:33.120 Think about what happened in the Garden of Eden when Satan, the Great Evil 95 00:09:33.159 --> 00:09:39.950 Spirit, the devil, attempted our parents. What happened? They became naked 96 00:09:41.389 --> 00:09:46.830 when they fell and they gave into his temptation, when they participated and had 97 00:09:46.950 --> 00:09:54.980 fellowship with Satan, they found themselves naked, degraded, a shamed, embarrassed, 98 00:09:56.019 --> 00:10:00.059 banished from the tree of life, banished from the presence of God and 99 00:10:00.340 --> 00:10:09.809 entering into death. This is where fellowship and participation with demonic forces leads us. 100 00:10:11.370 --> 00:10:18.409 Did Eve get what she wanted? Not Really. Did Adam get what 101 00:10:18.529 --> 00:10:22.240 he wanted? Know, not really. Instead, they got denigration and despair 102 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:28.039 and death. That they become like God. Did they obtain this great knowledge? 103 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:35.950 Did they step out of their created spots and become divine? No, 104 00:10:35.230 --> 00:10:41.909 they became even low. They became low, low, perverted, distorted versions 105 00:10:41.950 --> 00:10:48.990 of what God had made, and this degradation was offensive to God. It 106 00:10:50.220 --> 00:10:54.179 is offensive to God as well. You could hear it in Paul's language he's 107 00:10:54.220 --> 00:10:58.059 like you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the Cup of Demons. 108 00:11:00.299 --> 00:11:03.690 Chris Awsom gives this example of of being the kings son, one of the 109 00:11:03.809 --> 00:11:07.769 preachers in the fourth century, gives this example of being the king's son, 110 00:11:09.730 --> 00:11:13.649 eating at the king's table, being loved by this great King and then choosing 111 00:11:13.850 --> 00:11:20.799 to go sit in the dungeon with prisoners and people who have fought against your 112 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:26.240 father. What are you doing? Or, to use another example, imagine 113 00:11:26.600 --> 00:11:33.590 being imagine going and taking your let's say you're married to someone, and you 114 00:11:33.669 --> 00:11:37.590 go and you take the wedding ring of another person who's not your spouse and 115 00:11:37.750 --> 00:11:45.309 start wearing that instead. What are you doing? Why are you eating at 116 00:11:45.389 --> 00:11:50.779 that table? Why are you sleeping in that bed? The this is, 117 00:11:50.820 --> 00:11:54.460 of course, what Israel did. If you've been with us in the evenings 118 00:11:54.500 --> 00:11:58.419 as we've been going through the book of Ezekiel, or if you know something 119 00:11:58.460 --> 00:12:03.690 about the history of of the people of God and the Old Testament, you 120 00:12:03.769 --> 00:12:09.450 know this is exactly what happened. They brought in the idols, the false 121 00:12:09.570 --> 00:12:13.490 gods, into the very temple of God, into the city of God, 122 00:12:13.769 --> 00:12:20.679 into the Holy Land of God, and they gave themselves over to demons, 123 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:30.000 to false idols. It was degrading, it was disgusting, it was despicable 124 00:12:31.029 --> 00:12:37.710 and it led to death. It led to death in all kinds of ways. 125 00:12:37.830 --> 00:12:41.789 And this is the second thing to mention. Not only is it degrading, 126 00:12:41.830 --> 00:12:46.860 it's dangerous. When people go and worship idols, they don't do it 127 00:12:46.980 --> 00:12:50.340 because they think it's dangerous, at least think they usually do. They do 128 00:12:50.460 --> 00:12:56.419 it because they need things and they think that somehow worshiping idols will get them 129 00:12:56.539 --> 00:13:01.169 those things. If this worship can take all kinds of forms, it might 130 00:13:01.210 --> 00:13:07.009 be bowing down to idols, praying to idols, giving offerings to idols, 131 00:13:07.049 --> 00:13:13.240 kissing idols, burning things for them these idols, maybe right in front of 132 00:13:13.399 --> 00:13:18.039 them, or it may be in front of a big crowd. It might 133 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:22.120 even be virtual, not these days, or on the other side of the 134 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:26.519 world or or even in your mind. Demons don't really care what kind of 135 00:13:26.679 --> 00:13:31.389 idol you're doing using, whether it's a an online version or an in person 136 00:13:31.509 --> 00:13:35.909 version, or it's far away or it's in your imagination, as long as 137 00:13:35.950 --> 00:13:43.659 you're not giving your worship to the one true God, they're happy. Just 138 00:13:43.820 --> 00:13:50.980 last weekend there's over a hundred thousand people in our own city processing and worshiping 139 00:13:52.779 --> 00:13:56.970 not the one true God, but putting their prayers and hopes and dreams and 140 00:13:56.210 --> 00:14:01.970 prayer and and goals and all kinds of other things into a giant urn led 141 00:14:03.169 --> 00:14:09.250 by an attendant spirit community group. All of it then burned up into the 142 00:14:09.330 --> 00:14:13.159 heavens. If you go and you look at workshops and things that were done, 143 00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:16.440 people are calling on the spirit of Animism, the spirit of love, 144 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:18.679 the spirit of this and that. They were embodying these spirits all kinds of 145 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:24.429 things. Not Everyone, not all in the same way, but they did 146 00:14:24.509 --> 00:14:28.750 it too, as in their own words, release themselves, to open themselves 147 00:14:28.830 --> 00:14:35.110 up to things that are difficult to deal with in this life, to solve 148 00:14:35.230 --> 00:14:41.940 problems like grief and sorrow, passing of loved ones, hard things. They 149 00:14:41.019 --> 00:14:45.179 did it because they wanted a sense of community. They did it because they 150 00:14:45.259 --> 00:14:50.419 wanted to make an economic impact, something like twenty seven million dollars in the 151 00:14:50.539 --> 00:14:56.730 city of Tucson. It's a big deal. Brings a lot of positive things. 152 00:14:56.769 --> 00:15:00.210 That's why people go, that's why people participate in these kinds of things. 153 00:15:00.289 --> 00:15:05.450 As long as you think, though, as long as you think that 154 00:15:05.570 --> 00:15:09.600 you're getting something for this community, food, money, espouse, whatever. 155 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:15.279 People go to idols and they try to get these things. The here's the 156 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:22.470 thing. Demons don't give you what you want. They're tricksters, they're liars. 157 00:15:24.110 --> 00:15:26.389 They make it seem nice, they make it seem fun, they make 158 00:15:26.429 --> 00:15:35.429 it seem enjoyable, but it's not what it seems. We worship idols, 159 00:15:35.980 --> 00:15:43.259 we serve demons to our destruction. It leads on to death and you see 160 00:15:43.259 --> 00:15:50.090 it often in the acts of idolatry themselves. For example, remember when Elijah 161 00:15:50.250 --> 00:15:54.490 was on Mount Carmel. What did the priests do in their worship of bail? 162 00:15:56.570 --> 00:16:02.970 They beat themselves, they whipped themselves, flogged themselves, and that was 163 00:16:03.169 --> 00:16:07.120 not a one time thing. You read and about the history of idolatry and 164 00:16:07.159 --> 00:16:10.679 you watch. It's not the only thing that happens. Sure, sometimes it's 165 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:12.879 just you put an orange in front of the thing and it feels like no 166 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:17.759 big deal, but a lot of times it a lot more than that, 167 00:16:18.590 --> 00:16:23.230 and that path goes to these very, very dark places. Israel, Oh, 168 00:16:23.429 --> 00:16:34.299 the the people of God, sacrifice their own children to idols. Demons 169 00:16:34.460 --> 00:16:41.139 want us to destroy ourselves. They want us to hurt ourselves. They don't 170 00:16:41.139 --> 00:16:45.100 give us what they want. They give us our own destruction, our own 171 00:16:45.220 --> 00:16:49.490 death. And you often see it in the acts of idolatry itself, whipping, 172 00:16:49.690 --> 00:16:59.570 burning, mutilating, beating, murder and so on, and even in 173 00:16:59.730 --> 00:17:03.000 the riotous kind of idolatry. These sort of that you often see connected with 174 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:10.359 idolatry, the giving over to fleshly pleasures, to drunkenness and orgies and despair 175 00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:15.789 and loneliness. These things men say me seem exciting and awesome in the moment, 176 00:17:15.950 --> 00:17:22.589 but they just tear people apart. They destroy people body and soul. 177 00:17:25.750 --> 00:17:29.430 Demons don't give you what you want. Idolatry doesn't get you what you want. 178 00:17:29.470 --> 00:17:34.180 It brings you danger, it brings you death, and it's all totally 179 00:17:34.220 --> 00:17:41.900 unnecessary because God, the true God, not these false pretender gods, the 180 00:17:41.099 --> 00:17:48.170 true God, promises to provide everything you need, body and soul. If 181 00:17:48.250 --> 00:17:52.809 you really really need to eat, he will give you food. If you 182 00:17:53.049 --> 00:17:56.609 need clothes, he'll give you clothes. If you need shelter, he'll give 183 00:17:56.650 --> 00:18:02.039 you shelter, and if you don't need it, he won't give it to 184 00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:07.200 you. And if we're honest with ourselves, and you've heard me say this 185 00:18:07.319 --> 00:18:10.720 many times, we pray, this pray in the Lord's prayer, and give 186 00:18:10.759 --> 00:18:14.349 us this day, our daily bread. We don't go to idols, we 187 00:18:14.470 --> 00:18:18.349 go to God. But consider for a moment what most of us eat. 188 00:18:21.430 --> 00:18:27.339 Do we eat daily bread? Our tables are so rich and full of good, 189 00:18:29.140 --> 00:18:34.660 fancy food from spices all over. Even the cheapest hamburger bought from a 190 00:18:34.700 --> 00:18:44.009 fast food restaurant is an amazing thing. When we consider what we really deserve 191 00:18:45.329 --> 00:18:48.769 and how good God provides for us. We ask for our daily bread. 192 00:18:48.809 --> 00:18:52.769 He's like here, here, here, here, here, over and over 193 00:18:52.970 --> 00:19:00.839 and over again. How many times have you eaten in your life? How 194 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:04.559 many times is God provided for you so that you could live another hour? 195 00:19:07.559 --> 00:19:11.269 We're all here and, as we'll get to in a little bit, God 196 00:19:11.349 --> 00:19:15.509 does even more than provide for our daily head. He gives his bread that 197 00:19:15.750 --> 00:19:23.980 is unto eternal life. He gives his bread that doesn't fail. But when 198 00:19:25.019 --> 00:19:29.500 we reject that, when we turn away from that, the one true source 199 00:19:29.539 --> 00:19:33.619 of life and sustenance and fellowship and community and all of these things that we 200 00:19:34.059 --> 00:19:38.329 need, that we want as those who bear the image of God, when 201 00:19:38.369 --> 00:19:45.049 we turn away from that, and serve idols and worship idols and serve demons. 202 00:19:45.650 --> 00:19:51.089 Not only do we reject the source of all good things, turn to 203 00:19:51.329 --> 00:19:56.559 deceivers and tricksters, people who want to do us harm and see us dead, 204 00:19:56.319 --> 00:20:02.039 but we also come under God's righteous wrath. We come under his wrath. 205 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:07.390 Who Rightly judges those and we just last time we considered examples from the 206 00:20:07.430 --> 00:20:11.910 Old Testament like this. The people came out of idolatry, they came out 207 00:20:11.950 --> 00:20:18.150 of Egypt, they came out of slavery and they found themselves in the wilderness 208 00:20:18.190 --> 00:20:22.859 and struggling to eat and to drink and to live. You know what they 209 00:20:22.900 --> 00:20:25.779 tried to do? They tried to go back to the idols of Egypt. 210 00:20:25.819 --> 00:20:33.900 They tried to go back to their slavery, and God Judge Them. Paul 211 00:20:33.019 --> 00:20:37.690 ends with this very strong questions. Shall we provoke the Lord to Jealousy? 212 00:20:37.730 --> 00:20:42.809 Are we stronger than he? Is this a game you want to play? 213 00:20:42.970 --> 00:20:52.880 Is this a road you want to travel down? No, flee from idolatry. 214 00:20:55.680 --> 00:21:03.079 So when we flee from idolatry, to what shall we flee? If 215 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:11.509 we escape from the slavery service to Demons, to whom shall we run we 216 00:21:11.670 --> 00:21:15.869 cannot run to ourselves, for we are those who are in need. We 217 00:21:15.990 --> 00:21:22.940 cannot become suppliers of our own resources, because we're finite. We're not capable 218 00:21:22.980 --> 00:21:26.299 of doing it. We're not capable of preserving our own lives, living forever 219 00:21:27.180 --> 00:21:33.009 outwitting the cunning one those who do turn to themselves and not to God is 220 00:21:33.049 --> 00:21:36.970 say, okay, fine, I'll reject pagan idolatry and I'll just worship me 221 00:21:37.289 --> 00:21:41.930 have, of course, just fallen into another trap. Right, if we're 222 00:21:41.970 --> 00:21:48.240 just worshiping ourselves, we've made ourselves another idol and the process begins all over 223 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:53.000 again, and the demons rejoice. There is only one place, only one 224 00:21:53.240 --> 00:21:56.720 person, to whom we can go, and that is to the true God, 225 00:21:59.079 --> 00:22:02.630 our heavenly father, as we read in Psalm Ninety six, a great 226 00:22:02.950 --> 00:22:08.869 king above all gods, the one who really made us and made all things 227 00:22:11.109 --> 00:22:15.859 the eternal and who, unlike the gods that you read about in stories, 228 00:22:15.940 --> 00:22:21.460 unlike the gods that people worship, he doesn't have a birthdate, he doesn't 229 00:22:21.460 --> 00:22:26.299 have a death date, he doesn't need to food or money or anything. 230 00:22:26.660 --> 00:22:30.809 He's not trying to figure out how, he doesn't get bored and figure out 231 00:22:30.849 --> 00:22:36.650 how to mess around with humans. He doesn't. He doesn't decide randomly to 232 00:22:36.769 --> 00:22:42.170 do crazy things. He doesn't sleep around, he doesn't. He's totally self 233 00:22:42.329 --> 00:22:52.160 sufficient, totally content, perfectly eternal and holy in every way. He doesn't 234 00:22:52.279 --> 00:22:56.680 change, he doesn't die, he hasn't been born, he doesn't need anything. 235 00:22:57.240 --> 00:23:02.750 We go to him, a true God, and we go to Jesus, 236 00:23:03.349 --> 00:23:06.910 the son of the true God and whom, the Scriptures say, the 237 00:23:07.390 --> 00:23:17.059 fullness of Deity, the fullness of Deity Dwells Bodily, Eternally, begotten, 238 00:23:17.619 --> 00:23:23.539 not made, the creator, not a creature. That's why the Jews are 239 00:23:23.579 --> 00:23:27.890 so upset. When Jesus says I am working, as my father is working, 240 00:23:29.250 --> 00:23:36.089 say what that means? That your God? Yes, that's who he 241 00:23:36.329 --> 00:23:40.809 is. How do you know? Because he takes an invalid for thirty eight 242 00:23:40.809 --> 00:23:42.200 years, is couldn't do anything, and he says, get up, take 243 00:23:42.200 --> 00:23:45.079 up your bed and walk, and he walks. And then, on top 244 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:52.400 of that, he tells him not to sin. Jesus forgive sins. Jesus 245 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:57.990 heals bodies. Jesus, yes, dies, but it was a death unto 246 00:23:59.069 --> 00:24:03.109 life, so that we wouldn't have to die. He conquers death, itself, 247 00:24:03.150 --> 00:24:10.380 where idolatry and demonic worship as always surrounding death, involving death and destruction 248 00:24:10.460 --> 00:24:15.299 and all of these things. Jesus dies to conquer death and to enter into 249 00:24:15.380 --> 00:24:18.259 life, and he does, and we know it by his own resurrection from 250 00:24:18.259 --> 00:24:22.579 the dead. We go to Jesus, we go to God, we go 251 00:24:22.779 --> 00:24:33.769 to God the Holy Spirit. We go to him and we worship him because 252 00:24:33.809 --> 00:24:37.849 it is by his power that we have life. We have life in the 253 00:24:37.009 --> 00:24:41.480 son and by the will of the father. He is the true God. 254 00:24:42.440 --> 00:24:47.640 And as we worship God, Father, son and Holy Spirit, one God 255 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:52.029 in three persons, we worship him who made us, who brought us to 256 00:24:52.190 --> 00:24:59.950 life and causes us to be him, who makes us his son, his 257 00:25:00.549 --> 00:25:04.990 bride, his sheep, and when he puts his wedding ring on us, 258 00:25:04.990 --> 00:25:10.940 when he gives promises us and inheritance, as he leads us to paths of 259 00:25:11.059 --> 00:25:15.619 still water, he promises that, when we trust in him, he will 260 00:25:17.380 --> 00:25:22.970 provide for us every single thing that we need, not only for this life 261 00:25:22.529 --> 00:25:33.289 but also for the life to come, and he gives that to us, 262 00:25:33.450 --> 00:25:41.319 of course, in Jesus himself, he provides for us. God provides for 263 00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:48.680 us food, but he never promises that our daily bread will give us eternal 264 00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:55.230 life. He never promises that perishable things will give us imperishable wife, nor, 265 00:25:55.269 --> 00:26:00.029 according to God's wise economy, could they. The only source of eternal 266 00:26:00.069 --> 00:26:03.980 life is sharing in the life of Eternal One. Does that make sense? 267 00:26:06.140 --> 00:26:11.259 The only way to have eternal life, as those who don't have it naturally 268 00:26:11.460 --> 00:26:18.490 in ourselves, is to draw it from an eternal source, or to put 269 00:26:18.490 --> 00:26:22.490 it in terms that are maybe a little easier to understand. Just as we 270 00:26:22.650 --> 00:26:29.250 eat and drink food to sustain our lives here and now, knowing that it 271 00:26:29.369 --> 00:26:33.720 doesn't last forever, we must eat and drink of some kind of eternal food 272 00:26:36.279 --> 00:26:42.200 so that we may last forever, and that eternal food is God, to 273 00:26:44.039 --> 00:26:45.960 put the metaphor that way. This is, of course, an analogy. 274 00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:49.670 Right to eat and drink unto an eternal life, and God is the only 275 00:26:49.750 --> 00:26:53.269 one who is eternal. We must eat and drink of of God. This 276 00:26:53.430 --> 00:26:59.109 is an analogy. It's a word picture to help us to understand what we 277 00:26:59.190 --> 00:27:03.859 must do. When God says, when Jesus says, you must eat my 278 00:27:03.099 --> 00:27:07.740 flesh and drink my blood, he's not saying that we should eat and drink 279 00:27:07.779 --> 00:27:14.660 him exactly in the same way we eat and drink food. God does not 280 00:27:14.700 --> 00:27:21.809 change, he doesn't break apart in our mouths, he doesn't get crushed by 281 00:27:22.089 --> 00:27:29.769 our molars, he isn't divided into a thousand pieces. That would be impossible. 282 00:27:29.970 --> 00:27:33.319 God is, after all, Spirit. We are more capable, put 283 00:27:33.400 --> 00:27:38.599 this way, we're more capable of eating air than we are of eating God, 284 00:27:40.279 --> 00:27:47.269 who is spirit, not material. So God, in saying, and 285 00:27:47.349 --> 00:27:49.750 Jesus in saying, that we must drink his blood and eat his flesh, 286 00:27:51.109 --> 00:27:53.950 he's giving us an analogy, a word picture. He's saying that, just 287 00:27:55.230 --> 00:28:00.339 as food and drink are the source of perishable life, he must be the 288 00:28:00.579 --> 00:28:07.980 source of imperishable life. So why speak this way? One of the reformers, 289 00:28:08.019 --> 00:28:11.500 Theodorebeyza, put it this way to show us how close our union with 290 00:28:11.579 --> 00:28:17.650 Christ is through faith, for nothing joins us together more than food and drink, 291 00:28:17.730 --> 00:28:22.809 and without these no one can move through this life. Right. So 292 00:28:22.970 --> 00:28:26.849 we must have him in the same way that we have food, the way 293 00:28:26.890 --> 00:28:30.200 the food nourishes and sustains us. The Lord Nourishes and sustains us for eternal 294 00:28:30.279 --> 00:28:33.680 life. But that, of course, leads us to this question, which 295 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:37.200 is how exactly do we eat right? If we can say well, we 296 00:28:37.319 --> 00:28:41.029 don't eat God like we eat bread, how do we eat him? How 297 00:28:41.150 --> 00:28:49.829 do we partake of his eternal nature? How do we partake of him and 298 00:28:49.990 --> 00:28:56.740 the benefits that he offers? The scriptures answer this both in terms of God's 299 00:28:56.819 --> 00:29:00.779 part and our part. For our part, we gain the eternal life of 300 00:29:00.900 --> 00:29:06.819 God, fellowship with him, by receiving Christ, his son, and all 301 00:29:06.940 --> 00:29:15.049 his benefits through faith. Through faith, in other words, by simply receiving 302 00:29:15.170 --> 00:29:18.369 and resting in the promise that God has given to us his son, for 303 00:29:18.490 --> 00:29:23.880 the forgiveness of our sins and for the reward of our glorification. We receive 304 00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:30.400 the sun and all these benefits. For God's part, for his part, 305 00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:37.200 he gives himself to us to buy us by uniting us to the sun by 306 00:29:37.240 --> 00:29:42.430 the Holy Spirit. We receive him as he has first received US in Christ. 307 00:29:44.309 --> 00:29:48.069 This is the feeding. It is a feeding of faith. God promises 308 00:29:48.150 --> 00:29:52.099 himself his life to us and we believe it and we know that this is 309 00:29:52.380 --> 00:29:56.619 the eating that he speaks of, because he tells us, put your faith 310 00:29:56.660 --> 00:30:00.539 in me and I will give you eternal life. That's the mechanism. If 311 00:30:00.579 --> 00:30:06.259 we could put it that way. It's the instrument through which we receive these 312 00:30:06.539 --> 00:30:11.250 blessings, these eternal things, to eat for this life. In other words, 313 00:30:11.289 --> 00:30:18.089 we receive into our mouths the perishable things which nourish this perishable life, 314 00:30:18.170 --> 00:30:25.319 to eat for eternal life. We receive into our hearts the eternal one who 315 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:32.359 nourishes us for eternal life. Without eating, bread and drinking, we starve 316 00:30:32.559 --> 00:30:40.470 and we die. Without faith, we starve and we die. This is 317 00:30:40.509 --> 00:30:44.869 the way that the Scriptures speak to us about Christ. To make this, 318 00:30:45.750 --> 00:30:52.259 this analogy, more clear and a deeper reality in our lives, God does 319 00:30:52.380 --> 00:30:57.700 this amazing thing. He not only tells us about this reality using this analogy, 320 00:30:57.740 --> 00:31:04.609 using this word picture, he also shows us this word picture by using 321 00:31:04.809 --> 00:31:12.490 and ordaining the use of actual food and the elements that he picks for this 322 00:31:12.730 --> 00:31:18.799 food. He ordains this ceremony for us to use actual food to remind us 323 00:31:18.839 --> 00:31:22.400 and impress these things on our hearts. And the elements he picks for the 324 00:31:22.440 --> 00:31:27.759 food are very specific. Right. God doesn't just make something up and say, 325 00:31:27.880 --> 00:31:32.119 well, here might be a or we don't just make something up and 326 00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:33.910 say, well, this might be a nice way to think about divinity. 327 00:31:34.309 --> 00:31:38.069 No, God says. Here's what I want you to do, and I'm 328 00:31:38.109 --> 00:31:44.470 going to use this as a source for faith and encouragement in your faith. 329 00:31:45.829 --> 00:31:49.059 So, eating and drinking, right. What does God pick? It's right 330 00:31:49.140 --> 00:31:56.460 there. What does God pick? He picks a liquid. He picks a 331 00:31:56.539 --> 00:32:02.049 solid. This comprehends the eating and drinking again, Unto Eternal Life, and 332 00:32:02.250 --> 00:32:07.730 he ties both the liquid and the solid to the means of our access to 333 00:32:07.849 --> 00:32:15.799 God, which is the incarnate son. So Jesus is how we come to 334 00:32:15.960 --> 00:32:21.240 know God. It's in him that the fullness of Deity dwells, body lie. 335 00:32:21.319 --> 00:32:23.559 He says. If you've seen me, you've seen the father. Simple 336 00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:28.400 as that. He is the one true God. He does the deeds of 337 00:32:28.519 --> 00:32:31.230 God. He is our salvation, and we know that he provides that through 338 00:32:31.829 --> 00:32:37.509 his a, just through his incarnation in general, but by dying on a 339 00:32:37.630 --> 00:32:42.029 cross, shedding his blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus is a 340 00:32:42.190 --> 00:32:50.660 sacrifice so that we wouldn't die ourselves. Now this is our Lord. Imagine 341 00:32:50.700 --> 00:32:53.180 if you are God for a moment and your try and you're going to pick 342 00:32:53.299 --> 00:32:58.460 the elements for food and drink based on its connection with Christ. What would 343 00:32:58.460 --> 00:33:04.250 you choose will. God chooses for the liquid blood, and I think this 344 00:33:04.410 --> 00:33:07.170 is a natural choice, because not only does it stand as a symbol for 345 00:33:07.369 --> 00:33:13.319 life in general. Right blood is as a symbol of life, but it 346 00:33:13.440 --> 00:33:16.359 also reminds us that it was by blood that the incarnate son of God, 347 00:33:17.880 --> 00:33:22.640 by his blood that we have the atonement, it was by his blood that 348 00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:30.309 we have our redemption. The blood speaks particularly to our acceptance in God through 349 00:33:30.470 --> 00:33:36.710 the work of Christ. Because of his shed blood, we can stand before 350 00:33:36.829 --> 00:33:42.460 God as those who are justified and not condemned, as those who are received 351 00:33:42.500 --> 00:33:47.819 and accepted into his presence, as those who belong there. His blood and 352 00:33:47.940 --> 00:33:53.180 his sacrifice is said to wash away our sins, to cleanse and to purge 353 00:33:53.180 --> 00:34:00.930 us so that we can be righteous before him. But the scriptures tell us, 354 00:34:02.009 --> 00:34:06.970 with all great praise to our father in heaven, that we are not 355 00:34:07.210 --> 00:34:13.400 merely accepted by him as righteous through the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, 356 00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:21.920 but we are also continually nourished by Christ for the vinification, for the vivication, 357 00:34:22.159 --> 00:34:29.150 for the enlivening in the the growing and the the salvation of our souls 358 00:34:29.269 --> 00:34:35.829 and our bodies too. We don't just stand before God as righteous. He 359 00:34:36.670 --> 00:34:40.179 makes us, day by day, more and more holy, until one day 360 00:34:40.300 --> 00:34:49.300 we will receive that reward of perfect glorication. Zero Sin, zero pollution, 361 00:34:49.460 --> 00:34:53.090 zero corruption. Right now it's a battle. Right now, the spirit is 362 00:34:53.250 --> 00:34:57.489 in us and we have his life in us and he's producing the fruits of 363 00:34:57.570 --> 00:35:00.809 the spirit in us. But it's a battle, it's hard. Right the 364 00:35:00.929 --> 00:35:06.409 flesh is still there, abiding sin is still there and every day, Ma'am 365 00:35:06.969 --> 00:35:08.599 Bam, we fight, we fight, we fight, but there is coming 366 00:35:08.679 --> 00:35:14.920 a day when there will no more be a fight because the victory will be 367 00:35:15.199 --> 00:35:20.639 complete. God is perfecting us, he's nourishing us, he's strengthening us, 368 00:35:20.920 --> 00:35:25.510 he's maturing us. And so for the analogy, on the food side of 369 00:35:25.590 --> 00:35:30.190 things, on the eating side of things, God chooses the body of Christ. 370 00:35:30.230 --> 00:35:36.300 Again. Is there a better choice? By using the body, God 371 00:35:36.420 --> 00:35:40.980 points us to our need for the whole Christ, or the whole of Christ? 372 00:35:43.059 --> 00:35:45.500 By choosing his body, he points to us and tells us that we 373 00:35:45.659 --> 00:35:55.130 need all of him. Now it's important that we understand, even against some 374 00:35:55.329 --> 00:36:02.809 other Christians understandings, that his body is a true body. This is part 375 00:36:02.849 --> 00:36:07.800 of our the importance of our salvation. His body as a true body. 376 00:36:07.960 --> 00:36:12.920 It is not just like your body, it's not everywhere all at the same 377 00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:19.349 time, to quote Beza again. Just as we know the signs of bread 378 00:36:19.429 --> 00:36:24.150 and wine are on earth and not somewhere else, so also we hold that 379 00:36:24.269 --> 00:36:29.710 the actual substance, that is Christ himself, according to the flesh, is 380 00:36:29.869 --> 00:36:35.260 contained in heaven and not some other plays, as we gather from the Scripture 381 00:36:35.380 --> 00:36:40.780 and from all the Orthodox fathers. The great mystery, then, is, 382 00:36:40.900 --> 00:36:45.539 how can we benefit from the Lord's body, which is in heaven, when 383 00:36:45.579 --> 00:36:51.849 we are here on earth? That's a very far distance, right. How 384 00:36:51.889 --> 00:36:57.650 can we gain from the benefits of his life, his resurrection, his power 385 00:36:57.929 --> 00:37:02.960 and an all of these things, when we're here and finite? Do Anybody 386 00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:09.320 have a ladder? Anybody have some sort of process by which we can climb 387 00:37:09.480 --> 00:37:19.070 our way up to God? First not. So, how does it happen? 388 00:37:20.789 --> 00:37:25.349 Well, it happens when Jesus gives to us his spirit. And you 389 00:37:25.590 --> 00:37:31.380 he unites us to himself, not by changing his body into some kind of 390 00:37:31.860 --> 00:37:40.820 mysterious nonhuman phantasm thing. He does it by connecting us by the Holy Spirit. 391 00:37:44.139 --> 00:37:49.409 The power of the spirit, basis says, and the efficacy of faith 392 00:37:49.650 --> 00:37:54.530 exceed our perception. In other words, whatever you how powerful you think the 393 00:37:54.570 --> 00:38:01.639 Holy Spirit is, he's more powerful than that. And however efficacious or useful 394 00:38:01.639 --> 00:38:06.960 or powerful or effective you think faith is, it's more than that. Jesus 395 00:38:06.960 --> 00:38:13.030 talks about faith moving mountains. Most of us don't believe that it's powerful. 396 00:38:13.909 --> 00:38:17.349 And by faith, the scriptures tell us, I would not say this, 397 00:38:17.710 --> 00:38:22.389 okay, if the scriptures didn't say it, but the scriptures tell us that 398 00:38:22.630 --> 00:38:30.179 by faith we receive Christ himself. That is a very bold claim, but 399 00:38:30.300 --> 00:38:37.340 I'm claiming it because that is what Christ says, that's what he did, 400 00:38:37.539 --> 00:38:43.130 and he rose from the dead. And our participation in Christ is manifold. 401 00:38:43.210 --> 00:38:45.730 It's so many ways. We are legally united to him in such a way 402 00:38:45.730 --> 00:38:50.849 that his sacrifice counts for our own, his death counts for our own death. 403 00:38:51.489 --> 00:38:54.130 We are united with him in an act of celebration as he, as 404 00:38:54.170 --> 00:38:59.559 a host, invites us around his table and says eat with me, my 405 00:38:59.840 --> 00:39:06.360 friends, my bride. We are one with him as we benefit even from 406 00:39:06.400 --> 00:39:13.389 his own body, his own person, and we benefit from him with the 407 00:39:13.510 --> 00:39:16.750 hope of promise that one day our bodies, as we benefit from him, 408 00:39:16.750 --> 00:39:22.710 will be like his body, Paul tells us in First Corinthians, later on 409 00:39:22.909 --> 00:39:27.940 we'll get to it, our resurrection will be like his, that the resurrection 410 00:39:28.139 --> 00:39:35.619 has already begun. And so the Lord Ordains these symbols of bread and of 411 00:39:35.820 --> 00:39:40.090 wine to point us to Christ, to teach us these things, but to 412 00:39:40.250 --> 00:39:45.650 also, by the power of the Holy Spirit and the efficacy of faith, 413 00:39:45.929 --> 00:39:53.159 to help us to participate with Christ and actually receive those benefits, not by 414 00:39:53.199 --> 00:40:00.079 Christ's coming down out of heaven before he promises to come again, but by 415 00:40:00.119 --> 00:40:08.949 the spirit uniting us to him where he is. Isn't God good? He 416 00:40:09.070 --> 00:40:13.829 gives to us all of these things, he tells us these truths, and 417 00:40:13.949 --> 00:40:19.429 then he gives us a ritual, a a practice, a sacrament, a 418 00:40:19.590 --> 00:40:24.699 mystery by which we might by which he might not just tell us about these 419 00:40:24.780 --> 00:40:30.460 things, but show them to us as well and confirm in our hearts, 420 00:40:30.500 --> 00:40:34.780 which are so prone to idolatry, that we don't need to go after those 421 00:40:34.820 --> 00:40:39.289 things, because we have him in his body, in his blood, in 422 00:40:39.449 --> 00:40:47.889 his death and in his resurrection. These symbols and word pictures are sufficient for 423 00:40:49.050 --> 00:40:53.000 helping us to understand and to believe in Jesus, that he is God the 424 00:40:53.119 --> 00:40:59.559 sun come in the flesh, not to trick us, not to deceive us, 425 00:40:59.599 --> 00:41:05.710 not to harm us, but to save US unto eternal life. Do 426 00:41:05.829 --> 00:41:09.829 we go to the table flogging ourselves, beating ourselves and sacrificing our children? 427 00:41:12.190 --> 00:41:16.989 Oh, we go to the table celebrating the promises and the word of God. 428 00:41:24.739 --> 00:41:34.130 All this together, we come to this conclusion and this grand view of 429 00:41:34.289 --> 00:41:37.809 Christ, with a deeper understanding of who he is and what he's done, 430 00:41:38.050 --> 00:41:44.289 of the forgiveness of our sins, of our sanctification Unto Eternal Life, of 431 00:41:44.409 --> 00:41:51.000 the way that he is now offering himself not only to unbelievers who need to 432 00:41:51.159 --> 00:41:54.519 hear and to believe for the first time, but to believers who need there, 433 00:41:55.000 --> 00:42:00.920 but who need Jesus Christ. As we go on our way, as 434 00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.429 we wander through this wilderness, as we go through this time of exile, 435 00:42:04.909 --> 00:42:07.829 we need help, but we don't need to get that help from idols, 436 00:42:08.349 --> 00:42:12.750 we need it from him, in from him alone. We need to flee 437 00:42:13.150 --> 00:42:16.780 idols. and to WHOM DO WE FLEE? We flee to the one who 438 00:42:16.900 --> 00:42:22.940 provides for us, who doesn't disgrace us, but honors us, lifts us 439 00:42:22.980 --> 00:42:28.659 up, glorifies us with his own name, name of the father and the 440 00:42:28.820 --> 00:42:32.489 son and the Holy Spirit. He doesn't degrade us, he lifts us up 441 00:42:32.610 --> 00:42:37.809 and honors US and glorifies us. He doesn't destroy US and lead us into 442 00:42:37.889 --> 00:42:45.239 death. He leads us into righteousness and life. This is how we flee 443 00:42:45.280 --> 00:42:53.000 from idols, BY FLEEING UNTO Christ. The final end of Satan and evil 444 00:42:53.039 --> 00:43:05.309 spirits is wrath and death. Shall we go from being placed as children of 445 00:43:05.429 --> 00:43:12.349 God in eating at his table to going after demons and things of death? 446 00:43:14.539 --> 00:43:21.980 We shouldn't. Romans are sorry. Revelation twelve and says this, and I'll 447 00:43:22.019 --> 00:43:28.010 read this now. The Salvation and the power and the Kingdom of our God 448 00:43:29.210 --> 00:43:35.210 and the Authority of Christ have come for the accuser of our brothers. This 449 00:43:35.369 --> 00:43:40.250 is speaking of Satan has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night 450 00:43:40.409 --> 00:43:46.199 before our God, and they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb 451 00:43:46.280 --> 00:43:53.000 and the word of their testimony. For they love not their lives, even 452 00:43:53.199 --> 00:44:00.030 unto death. When the world says if you don't worship, if you don't 453 00:44:00.070 --> 00:44:06.349 participate in our idols, you will die, we will kill you, we 454 00:44:06.510 --> 00:44:12.860 say so be it. I'm not going to give my honor and my worship 455 00:44:13.139 --> 00:44:16.699 and my life to one who would seek to kill me. I give it 456 00:44:16.860 --> 00:44:22.420 to the one who died for me so that I might live forever. Let's 457 00:44:22.460 --> pray