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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Only Christ |
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John
14:6 Second
Sunday After Easter April
26, 2009 We are looking at the “onlys” of the Bible. The “onlys” are exclusive claims of authority and truth that are found in the Scripture. Last Sunday we looked at “Only God,” meaning, only God is God. All other “gods” are idols, or “images of nothing.” For this to mean anything to us personally requires us to say, “Only God is my God.” I might add that it requires us to serve God His way, not according to our own desires or innovations. It also requires us to accept God as He is, not according to the way we would like Him to be. If, indeed, He is God, then it is we who must conform to Him, not He who must conform to us. This naturally leads us to two questions. First, how can I know God as He is? Second, once I know Him, how can I know that I have peace with Him? The answer to this question brings us to our second “only” of the Bible, only Christ. Or, as the reformers might have said it, Christ alone. How can I know God as He really is? Only Christ. This is simply another way of saying Christ is the revelation of God. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him,” or, “revealed” Him, (Jn. 1:18). Jesus is the Word who was God and became flesh and showed to us the glory of God. If we have seen Him we have seen God (Jn. 14:9). He Himself said, “I speak that which I have seen with my Father,” (Jn. 8:38). One of the greatest passages in the Bible is also one of most overlooked, and it speaks to this very issue. Found in Hebrews 1:1-3 it is one of the clearest teachings on the ministry of Christ as the revelation of God. “God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake
in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days
spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by
whom he also made the worlds: who being the brightness of his glory, and
the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of
his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high… .” If only Christ reveals God, what about all the other religions and religious leaders? I do not deny that they sometimes catch glimpses of truth. Taoism, for example teaches that there is a way to live which leads to tranquility and harmony, and we should pursue that Way, the Tao, as a life-style. Christ also teaches a way of life that is the way of harmony. The difference is that the Taoists believe we can achieve this on our own because it resides within us, while Christ teaches that it is the gift of God through His sacrifice on the cross because we cannot achieve it by our own efforts. As Christ Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by me” (Jn.14:6). Many of the world’s religions see important glimpses of the eternal truth of God, but they see them incompletely, as though from a great distance, shimmering in the heat like a mirage. Like a single peanut, they leave us wanting more, but they cannot give it. The hopes and dreams of other religions, whether of the great world religions, the new age syncretism, or the humanism that has become so prevalent and dominant in Western culture, can only be realized in Christ Jesus. The others glimpse the dream, but are powerless to bring the dream into reality. So, Christ alone is the revelation of God, and that revelation is preserved for us in the Bible, which we will talk more about at a later date. For now let us examine the question of how we can know that we have peace with God. It is obvious that we are not naturally at peace with God. We see clearly that there is some barrier between ourselves and Him. This barrier is not just the fact that He is Spirit and eternal and all knowing while we are flesh and temporal and finite in our knowledge and limited in our understanding. Adam and Eve were people as are we, but their humanity was no barrier to peace with God. The barrier was created when they sinned against God. The barrier was caused by their own unwillingness to walk with God. Like them, in fact, in them, we too have gone astray from God like lost sheep. We have torn down the relationship with Him, and there is nothing we can do to rebuild it again. The whole point of the Bible is to tell us that God has rebuilt that relationship through Christ. We are told in Romans 5:1, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and in Colossians 1:20 that Christ made our peace through the blood of his cross. The peace we are talking about here is the cessation of hostilities. It is the end of war between ourselves and God because God has offered to treat us as friends rather than enemies. God has offered a peace treaty unto us, but the terms are unconditional surrender. It needs to be said here that we are the ones who started the war. God is the victim, not the criminal. He is the attacked, not the attacker. He is the rightful King of all creation, to whom we owe absolute obedience and love. But we have run away from Him, and, in His own Land, we have set up rival kingdoms with ourselves as king or queen. We have abused His land. We have abused his people. We have used them selfishly and wickedly and foolishly. We have broken His good and just laws. We have altogether rebelled against Him. And now we see that our rebellion is doomed. He is invincible, and will bring us to the bar of His justice as surely as He caused the sun to rise this morning. There is no escape, but there is hope. Though we could never appease His justice, save by giving our souls to suffer for our sins, He has provided a way by which He remains just, yet also pardons the crimes of the rebellious. That “Way” is Jesus Christ, who suffered and died in your place as the sacrifice for your sins. To return to Him as your King, to repent of your crimes, and to trust that He has born them in His own flesh rather than requiring them of you, is to receive His pardon for your crimes. He is the way back to God. He is the way of life. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” He said, “no man cometh to the Father but by me.” Only Jesus. Let us pray. Holy Father, who has taught us that only Jesus is the Way, and that no man comes to You but by Him; teach us also to trust in Him as our Lord and Saviour. In His name we pray. Amen. The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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