Taking the Lord's help again
this evening, I'd like to draw your attention to the chapter
that we read together first, Corinthians chapter 10, and the
text you'll find in verse 12. Wherefore, let him that thinketh
he standeth take heed, lest he fall. very searching passage of the
scripture as it gives us a warning to warn us
of the behaviours of people that have had their sins recorded
in days gone by. The apostle uses examples that
are written down in the scriptures of the Jews as they left Egypt
through the Red Sea and then wandered in the wilderness. And
he uses their examples of their sinful behaviour to warn us that
we are to take note of how they sinned and how God dealt with
them. And so he says, these things
happened unto them for example is that they are written for
our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. And
so their lives are over but the record of their lives is written
down for a warning. we are to to take note of the
way in which they sinned and the way in which God had dealt
with them and so there are warnings from the past. We're all used to warnings in
our health and safety mad culture. There are warnings all over the
place and You go up to Beachy Head and there's warnings there,
beware, do not go too near the cliff and the danger of rock
falls. People don't listen to warnings. Some do, some don't. You find
people there sitting on the edge, tourists taking pictures. You
go down by the river and it says danger, the deep water or undercurrents
and people, some people listen and some people don't. And so
we're very used to seeing warnings and Warnings are there for a
reason, for our safety, for our protection. But whether we listen
to them or not is really up to us. And so the scripture here
has a warning and it's a warning that we are to heed to or to
listen to lest we fall. lest we fall into the same sinful
pattern of behavior that took place many many many years ago
and so what took place and why it was recorded it is for our
warning. It was written for a reason that
people who read it are able to learn from the mistakes of others
If someone warns you, you're walking down a path and they
come back and they tell you, be careful, I've fallen into
a deep hole. I've just about managed to get
out. And then you continue and you
walk down the same road and you fall into the same hole that
that person had just warned you about. You would be classed as
a foolish person because you had not listened to the warnings
and you fell into the same hole that somebody else has already
fallen into. And so the scripture warns us.
that we don't fall into the same holes that others have fallen
into, the same sins that others have fallen into, we are warned
to keep ourselves, to keep watch of ourselves, to take heed lest
we fall. You remember a few weeks ago,
I think, speaking about the armour of God and how we were to keep
watch and to stand firm I use the example of those little meerkats
and how they stand on the top of the rock and look out for
any danger. And then we went to the zoo on
Saturday, we saw them there, a little one standing on top
of that termite mound, looking around, looking up in the sky,
looking all about him so that he is aware, he's taking heed
of what is going on around him, looking for danger that he might
be able to warn his fellow animals, his fellow flock or whatever
they are, of the danger. And so the scripture tells us
that we are also to be like that, to be looking out for the attacks
and tricks and the temptations and the holes for which we might
fall. We're to take heed of it. It tells us that those sins which
those people fell into We're not to extraordinary sins. They're not sins that they are
going to fall into but you and I are not going to fall into.
They are described as sins that are common to man. Verse 13. There is no temptation taken
you but such as is common to man. And so as those who have
gone before, they carry the same bodies of flesh that you and
I carry. They have the same sinful tendencies
that you and I have, that we have. Just because they're from
another era in that period of time doesn't mean that they're
any different. The Bible tells us that our hearts
by nature are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
And that's throughout the whole human race from Adam right to
the end. Every heart is deceitful. And
so the sins that were committed by the ancient people are just
as likely to be committed by you and I. They are sins that
are common to man. They're not extraordinary sins
that you and I will not fall into. We're told we're to take
heed lest we fall into the same sins as them. And what were their
sins? Verse six says, these things
were our examples. the intent that we should not
lust after evil things as they lusted, neither be ye idolatrous
as some of them were. As it is written, the people
sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. In Exodus 32 it tells us of that
account when the children of Israel had crossed over the Red
Sea and they'd come to Mount Sinai and God had called Moses
up into the mountain and the people began to be impatient.
They said, as for this Moses, we don't know what has become
of him. Make us a god. And so they made,
Aaron made them a god of a golden calf. He fashioned it with his hands
and a graving tool and he made a molten calf and they said,
these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of
the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built
an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and
said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early
on the morrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings.
And the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. Remember that Moses, when he
came down from the mountain, he says, they thought it was
the noise of a war. such as the shouting. They realised that it was the
noise of his people worshipping this god. And so they had seen
and witnessed all that the Lord had done and yet through impatience
they decided to create a God that they could see and they
fell down and they worshipped it and they said this is the
God that brought us out of the land of Egypt and they rejected
the true and the living God and created a God that they could
see. And so they were idol worshippers. You and I, maybe we haven't got
a little statue that we worship, that we look to. Or maybe there
are other things in our lives. It's been said our heart is a
factory of making idols. We can make idols of anything,
of anything and anyone. The world in which we live is
obsessed with making idols of sports stars and celebrities
and singers and of things. People idolize their cars, their
houses, their clothes, their children. success and self. And so there's so many things
that we can bow down and worship. Anything that knocks God off
the throne of our hearts. The things that occupy our thoughts
and what drive us and occupy our time. So he says they were
idolatrous. They turned away from the living
God and created a God that they could see. And our hearts, our
nature is, as I've said many times, it's not good at walking
by faith. We are so prone to visual things,
things that we can handle and feel. And it's very easy for
us to be distracted by these things and to turn away from
the true and living God if we get impatient. We lose faith
and we turn aside and we look to other things to help us out. And so one of these things he
says, take heed, lest you also fall like them. He says, neither
be ye idolaters as some of them were. Goes on in verse eight,
neither let us commit fornication, have some of them committed and
fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Fornication is any sexual immorality
whether it be heterosexual or homosexual or anything that we use our bodies for as
an instrument for sin. In the world in which we live
there is a free fall. God has, as Romans 1 tells us,
he has given them up to a reprobate mind and there's no limit to
the the way in which people will
use their bodies as an instrument for sinful and sexual immorality. And he says, neither let us commit
fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day, three and
20,000. In Matthew, the Lord Jesus tells
us that it does not have to be actual literal fornication or
adultery. We live in a day that is pumping
out immorality everywhere. There are things that are shown
on the television, there are things that are put in shops,
there are things that are advertised that 40 years ago would never
have been thought of. And yet today it is pushed to
the forefront of society. And we are forced to accept these
things as normal behavior, even to the way in which people dress,
completely immoral and sexual. And the Bible tells us we're
to flee fornication and immorality and the Lord Jesus tells us it's
not just the very act but it's even the thoughts and the intents
of the heart which is counted before God as adultery. You have heard in Matthew 5,
it says, you have heard that it was said by them of old time,
thou shalt not commit adultery. That was the physical act. That
was the law of God written in the Ten Commandments. You shall
not commit adultery. But I say unto you, whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with
her already in his heart. And so as the Lord Jesus Christ
says it's not just the act but it's the thought process that
takes place in the mind. And as I've said it's in the
society that we live in it is steeped in this immoral behaviour
and it's seen as normal. pornography on the internet that
is just easy to access. They have films that although
they are rated, yet it is seen as normal to be able to watch
immoral behaviour and is almost joked about. We have these marches
that take place in our streets that are immoral and completely
against nature. And these things are presented
for Christians as we walk through this life. We have to see these
things and witness these things. And they affect us. the Apostle says, neither let us commit fornication,
not just the act but also corrupting our minds by the things that
we see and trawling over in the vain imaginations of things within
our hearts. Jesus says that is as though
you have committed adultery as you look upon a woman to lust
after her. And so we're to be kept from this perverted society in
which we live. In Corinthians it tells us, Corinthians chapter 6, verse 18, it says, flee fornication. Every sin that a man does is
without the body. He that commits fornication sins
against his own body. So there are sins which are done
outside of the body like stealing and all other manner of sin. But the sin of fornication is
using your body which is as a believer the temple of the Holy Spirit.
But it is your body which God has commanded be holy as I am
holy. It is a body that has been given
to be used specifically for how God intended that body to be
used for. when that body is used in a wrong
way it is a sin against the body. Do you not know that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have
of God ye are not your own And so our bodies are given to us
by God and they're not to be used as an instrument to do whatever
we like with. They're to be used in a pure
way whether that be what you look at or how you act, how you
use that body. It's to be used in a pure way.
Remember that it's what you look at goes into the mind, into the
heart. And Jesus says you can commit
adultery in your heart. You can commit fornication in
your heart by what you look at and how that manifests itself
in evil thoughts and evil thought processes. He says, don't you
know If you're a believer that your body is the temple of the
Holy Spirit, which is in you, you are not your own. You cannot,
as a Christian and even as an unbeliever, use your body as
you see fit, because God has designed it for a specific purpose. And then he says, you are brought
with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your
spirit, which are God's. And so he says, flee fornication. He says, neither let us commit
fornication as some of them committed and fell one day in fell one day three in 20,000.
This was when the people of Israel came into the wilderness and
they began to commit whoredoms, the Bible says, with the women
of Moab. In other words, the women of
Moab sold themselves to the men of Israel for money. And the
men of Israel used these women as a means of pleasure. And so
he says, don't be like them. You may think that that is a
sin that takes place in the olden days. That is a sin that just
takes place in the world. But the Bible tells us our hearts
are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And these
sins can take place within a church and within the lives of a believer
because we because we can be tempted by
those things round about us. And so the warning is there.
Don't be idolatrous. Don't commit fornication, whether
external or whether fornication within the heart. Neither let
us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed. Verse four it tells us, and did
all drink of that same spiritual drink for they drank of that
spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ. When the children of Israel came
into the wilderness there was no water and Moses struck the
rock and that water flowed out and it followed them and they
were able to drink of it. In Numbers 21. In verse 4 it says, and they journeyed
from the Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea encompassed about
the land of Eden. And the soul of the people was
much discouraged because of the way, and the people spake against
God and against Moses. Wherefore you have brought us
up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there is no bread,
neither is there water, and our soul does loathe this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents. to bite the people and much of
the people died. In the chapter before it tells
us there of the water being provided and so the water has been provided,
they've given bread and now they are grumbling and complaining
about the hardness of the way. not only do they grumble and
complain they complain against Moses and against God. God had provided for them water
and food and then they complain that they don't like what God
has given to them and this is seen as tempting Christ and so
the Lord sent fiery serpents amongst the people to bite them
and many of them died and so they were unsatisfied with the
pathway that the Lord had brought them into. Parents have often said to their children,
don't push me, don't test me, don't see how far you're willing
to go. I'm willing to go. Sometimes
you say to them, you don't do that. And they continue and you
say to them, don't push me. And so when Paul says they tempted
Christ, it's like they were pushing him. to react. He had provided
everything that they wanted and yet they wanted more and they
were pushing for a reaction. How long would it going to take
before the Lord intervened? And so they tested him, they
tempted God by grumbling and complaining. He says, let us not tempt Christ
as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of the serpents. As the apostle Paul writes to
these people of Corinth, they had been saved. They had heard
the gospel and many of them had believed and yet they were still
entering into the temples, the idol temples, and they were still
participating in some of the idol worshipping feasts. And
it's like he's saying they were tempting Christ. They'd been
brought out of the darkness yet they were going back into the
darkness. They'd been saved from the power
of Satan and yet they were going back and fellowshipping with
that power, with those false gods. He says they're not gods,
they are devils. And so we have to be careful
as believers. We've been called out the darkness. We've been called out of the
world and we've said many times we don't want to get so close
that we're almost testing God. How close can we get to sin? How close can I be without God
intervening and disciplining me? It's tempting God to react. to bring about this thing. Like
a child, don't go near the water, don't go too close to the edge
and they move forward, they move forward, they're testing you.
How close can I get before mummy and daddy come and grab me? And we shouldn't be testing Christ.
by abusing his grace and his mercy, by his patience towards
us, by seeing how close can we get. Neither let us tempt Christ
as some of them were tempted, some of them also tempted and
they were destroyed by serpents. In verse 10 it says, neither
murmur ye of some of them also murmured and were destroyed of
the destroyer. Numbers 14, he's speaking about
when the people murmured against God and they grumbled. Numbers
14, and all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried
and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel
murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation
said unto them, would God that we had died in the land of Egypt,
or would God that we had died in this wilderness? And wherefore
hath the Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword,
that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not
better for us to return to Egypt? And this is the response that
was given from the children of Israel. as Caleb and those who went with
him went over into the promised land and they came with a bad
report. Caleb we know was the only one
who came with a good report and they brought an evil report.
And so the response was not a response of faith but a response of complete
defeat. It is better that we had died
in the land of Egypt or in the wilderness rather than to be
killed as we cross over into the promised land. And so the
people grumbled and they complained. And they were punished for it.
Remember the reply of the Lord was that all of those over the
age of 20 would die in the wilderness because of their unbelief. All
that they had seen, they had witnessed the hand of God, the
deliverances over the plagues of the Egyptian gods through
the plagues of Egypt. They had seen the Red Sea open
up. They had seen all these wonderful
things. and God even leading them and
directing them by the cloud and by the fire. And yet when it
came to the end, they had no faith to believe
in the God that had brought them thus far. And so they murmured
and they complained. They lost sight of who God was
and what he was able to do. And they complained against him
and against Moses. In the book of Hebrews, It tells us there. Chapter 3, verse 16, For some,
when they heard, did provoke, howbeit not all that came out
of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved
forty years? Was it not with them that had
sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom
swear he that they should not enter into his rest? unto them
that believed not. So we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief and so they were punished. Their
unbelief that God was able to deliver them and to make a way
for them caused them to murmur and to complain and to doubt
God and he punished them by making them wander in the wilderness
for 40 years. It was unbelief, a lack of faith. A lack of faith, lack of belief
in what God was able to do and they murmured. And so he says, as you have heard
all of these things, as you have seen the warnings that have been
written down in the scripture, take heed lest you fall. And so the scripture is very
important to the believer of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the
word, the word of God. And Timothy tells us, Paul writes
to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter three, it says, verse 15 that
from a child thou has known the holy scriptures which are able
to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine or for teaching for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
that the man of God or the woman of God may be perfect, thoroughly
furnished unto all good works. And so it coincides, it links
together with the Apostle Paul as he writes that these things
are written for an example. that the scripture is profitable,
beneficial, it is the inspiration of God for doctrine, reproof,
correction and instruction in righteousness, that we will not
fall down the same hole that our ancestors have fallen down. We are to learn from their sins,
that we will not be tempted, that we will not murmur, that
we will not commit fornication, that we will not be idolatrous,
Because if we fall down in the same hole as we are we will fall
into the same punishment that they fell in or bring about the
same shame that they brought on the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But also it shows us that walking
with the Lord's people does not guarantee salvation or does not
mean that we are saved. You see he tells us right at
the beginning of the chapter. They all were brought through
by the cloud. They were all baptized unto Moses
in the cloud and in the sea. All did eat of the same spiritual
meat. They did all drink from the same
spiritual drink and they all drank from that spiritual rock
that followed them and that rock was Christ. But with many of
them God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the
wilderness. And so we see that just coming
and being amongst believers does not guarantee a person's salvation. Even being baptized does not
guarantee that a person is saved. What it is is that continued
testimony of walking in faithfulness to God, a continued walk of faith
being able to overcome sin with the spirit indwelling in our
hearts and bring in a constant state of repentance and sorrow
over sins committed by the day and having our eyes fixed upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it wasn't all of the people
that got to the promised land. They didn't enter in because
of unbelief and they died in the wilderness but only some
have made it through and we need to be careful that we're not
just swept along because we're in a Christian family or we come
to chapel. We need to know that the Lord
Jesus Christ is our saviour and that we are walking worthy of
our calling. We are on the narrow way that
leads to life pursuing after godliness and holiness and having
an experimental knowledge of the Lord Jesus. But also it shows us that saved
people fall. Saved people, those who are born
again of the Spirit and walking with the Lord Jesus Christ are tempted and sometimes in
their temptations, they fall into open sin. Think of David. Think of Peter,
who said, Not I. This night thou shalt deny me
thrice. Do you remember when the Lord
Jesus was around the table with his disciples and he says, one
of you is going to betray me? They asked the question, is it
I? You see they were able to see within themselves that they
were not as strong as they thought they were. They were not as strong. They saw that potential for falling. Is it I? Peter there in his own
strength he said, not I Lord. And yet we find that he denies
the Lord Jesus Christ. He brings open shame upon the
name of the Lord Jesus and his testimony of the Lord Jesus.
What we're so thankful there is that restoration when he is
restored and commissioned again to go into the world and to preach
the gospel. David also is forgiven. The Lord has put away thy sin
but he suffered the consequences of his actions. The sword will
never leave thy house. And so when believers sin And
that sin is external, known by others. It brings shame on the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and it has far-reaching effects that when pastors fall and preachers
fall, it has devastating effects on the church. no man is exempt from falling
but the scripture warns us take heed wherefore let him that
thinks he stands beware take heed lest he fall. Peter had that self-confidence
not me It's not going to happen to me. I'm a strong Christian. I'm going to go even to death
with you, Lord. You would deny me. Nobody is
exempt from falling. We're to heed the warnings that
the scripture tells us that when we become self-confident, self-sufficient,
self-reliant, proud, It is there that Satan will come and he will
cut us down and in cutting us down it brings shame on our testimony
of the Lord Jesus Christ and especially if it's a preacher
or a pastor. It brings so much doubt into
the minds of those who have sat under the ministry, those who
have been blessed by the ministry through him. It brings a massive
ripple effect in the whole church. And so we are to listen to the
warnings and never think that we are exempt, that we can cope
or we can go here, we can go there and not be tempted. We
can look at this and not be tempted. I can watch this film and not
be tempted. I can do anything and not be tempted.
Don't test the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't push him to his limits. Because remember, when they pushed
him, they were destroyed by serpents. But in his mercy, he gave Moses
that command to raise a rod like those serpents that were bitten
and those who looked, lived. In Hebrews chapter three, my
last reference here, from verse 12, it says, take heed, brethren, Lest
there be any of you. Lest there be any in. Take heed brethren. Lest there
be in any of you any evil heart of unbelief in departing from
the living God. But exhort one another daily
while it is called today. Lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin. we are made partakers of Christ
if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the
end. And so there is to be that exhorting
one another, encouraging one another in the way, asking one another, something
that is totally alien to us in our churches, of asking people
how are they getting on in their Christian walk? How are they
coping with specific sins? Have you been tempted today?
Have you been drawn aside today? How are things with you? So he
says encourage one another. I don't think there has ever
been in the history of the world such a time of temptation for
the believers. We are small, we're becoming
oppressed, there is so much going on in the world which is attracting
to the flesh. We live in a material society
and we are told we have to walk by faith and we meet together
three times a week to edify and to encourage one another to continue
pressing on in the way lest we become hardened by the deceitfulness
of sin. Remember Satan is a liar, sin
is deceitful and there are many counterfeit pleasures that the
world has to offer us but exhort one another daily while it is
today that we're to press on. lest we be we think we stand
take heed lest we fall or may the lord add his blessing amen We conclude our worship with
singing from Hymns for Worship, number 125. 125, just as I am, without one
plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidst
me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. 125 from Hymns for Worship. ? Oh, say does that star-spangled banner
yet wave ? ? O'er the land of the free and the home of the
brave? ? Lord, to win my soul. Oh, what
a plot! To thee, earth, the grand plan,
which part our land. Oh, Lord, I We've made the conflict, we've
made the doubt. Fighting the conflict, fighting
the doubt. As I am, O Ancient Thine, Thy
precious being of love mine, We'll float upon a clean sea
Because thy promise I believe In the Lamb of God, my God O come, O come, O come, O come,
O come, O come, O come, of the free love, the breath,
lengthen and heighten proof, therefore as it is unbearable, Almighty God, we pray that Thou
help us to heed the warnings of Thy Word as we heed the warnings
that are written round about us for our safety. We ask that
we may be kept by the power of God that we may walk worthy of
our calling and do help us, Lord, to flee from temptation, flee
from fornication, flee from anything that may bring shame upon our
testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask, Lord, that we may be
kept unto that very day. when we leave this earth to be
with thee, which is far, far better. Do dismiss us, we pray,
with thy blessing. Do return us here on thy day
in peace and in safety. And now may the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and the communion of the Holy Spirit, do rest and abide with
us each now and for evermore. Amen.