“Who will sustain you to the end, guiltless, in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ?”
– 1 Corinthians 1:8
1 Corinthians 1:8, that is one awesome verse. Now, it obviously comes in the middle of a context that starts all the way back up in verse four where the Bible says, “I give thanks to my God, always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.” And then Paul starts talking about all the ways that God has been gracious, how he’s poured out his mercy and his blessing on those who trust in Jesus. And then you get to the end kind of that section, it’s kind of a run on sentence in a sense, starting at verse four, and in verse eight talking about God, it says, “He will sustain you to the end guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Christians should take great comfort in a Savior that promises to cause His saints to persevere until the end.
So 1 Corinthians 1:8 is a picture of where all of eternity is headed and really each of our eternities headed. There’s coming a day when we will stand before God in judgment. And on that day will you be sustained? This is what the Bible teaches here, and what Paul tells these Christians in Corinth is that they will be sustained to the end. How? Through faith in Jesus and all who trust in Jesus. All who hold on to Jesus, God will sustain to the end.
One of my favorite kind of modern hymns is “He Will Hold Me Fast.” If you’ve never listened to that song, I would encourage you. Search for it, find it, listen to it, soak it in. “He Will Hold Me Fast.” That’s a biblical truth. We see all throughout scripture. I just think about Jesus saying in John 10, “My sheep, I make sure I never let go.”
Romans 8, “Nothing, neither death nor life, nor angels, nor demons, nor the present, nor the future, nor any powers. Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. All who are holding onto Jesus, God will sustain to the end.” And even that the holding on to Jesus, this is a promise that God will persevere his saints to the end so that we will stand guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:8 Reminds Us to Cling to Christ
Like what a word, guiltless sinners. Guilty of sin, found guiltless in that day, how is that possible? It’s only possible because the gospel, because of God’s love for us in Christ. So God, we pray that you would help us just as you promise to do right here. Help us to hold on to Jesus, sustain us to the end, we pray God, through temptation’s coming our way today, this week through trials that we’re walking through right now.
God, I know there’s some people who are walking through some really hard things right now. I pray that you would sustain their faith, sustain their faith to the end and pray that you would sustain all of our faith to the end. Just as you have promised here, as we look to, as we trust in Jesus, and we praise you for this reality, that on that day when we stand before you in judgment, that we will be found guiltless. What an amazing thought.
God, thank you for your grace. We praise you. We will praise you forever for this grace that we’re found guiltless before you. Through faith in Jesus, not based on our own merit, but totally based on your mercy. God, we praise you for this promise that you will sustain us to the end guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
