Thus far we've proved that promise
is good. We'll keep you gratified with
love. We'll give you great joy when
you're young. We'll do it here when you grow
young. Still in him, let Israel trust. All right, let's go to 1 Corinthians
chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. I thought about going ahead and
dealing with the last part of chapter 9, but This chapter ten
deserves a message by itself. And this is a message, a subject
the apostle deals with that needs to be preached and considered
quite often. Quite often. The apostle just
wrote to them that he was Very serious about the race that he
was in. He said, I'm not running in a
race uncertainly. I'm not running in place. Nowhere to go. I've got an object. I've got to go. He said, I'm
not fighting as one that beats the air. Shadow boxing is a real
and present foe. You remember when the apostle
said, he was about to go to the Lord and said, I want a good
fight. And he did not, though the apostle
was a faithful man, a devoted man, yet he did not presume upon
his own salvation. But he said, look at verse 27
of chapter 9. keep under my body and bring
it into subjection, lest by any means, when though I have preached
to others, I should be accustomed. So he didn't presume upon his
own salvation, the great apostle Paul. And so how much less should
we presume? And so he goes on here in this
next chapter to warn the Corinthians and us, because look at verse
eleven of chapter ten says these things happen to them children
of israel for example they're written for our admonition or
a beautiful correction or instruction upon whom the ends of the world
come this thing's about over and we're in the last day so
these things happened and were written down for our admonition
the people at current As you noted, we've been studying through
that book that they were in a mess. They lived in a wicked material
world, just like the one we're in. Their situation is very similar
to ours, and with all the temptations
that they were enduring. They were in a world of politics,
arts, culinary arts, you know, and
so on, music, education was big, just like modern America. And
some of them had a knowledge of the gospel. And that's what
they were resting in. And they got in a mess. So the
apostle warns them by using the Israelites as an example. Are
you with me? We desperately need I do I need
all as I say it also. Took this to heart himself how
much more should I should we. And the Israelites had many advantages
you remember when Paul wrote that what advantages you have. What advantages do we have. So many instances. We've all
had so many. There were so many instances
of God's mercy, God's grace and God's providence to them. How about us? How about us? So very many. And yet, In spite of all those. Advantages of all those. Things the Lord clearly showed
most of them did not enter. Most of them. And so. How important. Why did they not enter. He sums
up these verses in verse fourteen. Verse fourteen where for that
is in consideration of all that my dearly beloved flee from our
knowledge. That's it. And we're going to
look at that in a moment what I doubt you all right let's go
back to verse one. A much needed study moreover
rather in addition to what I've already said I would not that
you should be ignorant Do not forget, do not be forgetful of,
but be reminded, remember, how that all our fathers were under
the cloud and all passed through the sea. Now, go back with me
to Exodus 13. Amazingly, people, I don't take
these acts of God's providence very
lightly. I'm amazed by them. What are
we studying right now? Exodus thirteen. And I didn't
plan these two chapters to coincide with one another. No way. You
know how we've been skipping back and forth. And but it just
happened at the very same time we're studying Exodus thirteen.
The apostle mentions that here in first Corinthians ten, which
we're studying on Wednesday night. Exodus thirteen, look at verses
twenty through twenty two. It says they took their journey,
the children of Israel, leaving Egypt, from Succoth and encamped
in Etham in the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them
by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way, and by
night in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day
and night. He took not away the pillar of
the cloud by day. It was always there. What if they took it for granted?
You know they did. Nor the pillar of fire by night
from before the people. Look at chapter fourteen, verses
nineteen and twenty. This is good. It says, The angel
of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went
behind them to protect them from behind. And the pillar of the
cloud went from before their face and stood behind them. And it came between the camp
of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. And it was a cloud
and darkness to Egypt. But it gave light by night to
Israel. That's amazing that what was
light to the Israelites was a cloud and darkness. A cloud and darkness
to the Egyptians. What is this cloud? What is this
cloud? Well, I believe it represents,
and I've told you that any time I ask you a question, it can
be right 99% of the time if you answer Christ, grace, or the
word. They're interchangeable 99% of
the time. I believe this cloud represents
God's Word, which is cloudy or unclear to this world, is it
not? And so many vague and they think
contradictions, many contradictions and so forth. It's darkness to
the world, cloud and darkness, but it's light, isn't it? It's what leads us. Listen to
1 Thessalonians 5, verses 4 and 5, ye brethren are not in darkness.
You're all children of light, children of the day. We're not
of the night or dark. Why? Because his word is a lamp
under our feet, a light under our path. And this word has been
with us how long now? Don't take it for granted. The
cloud, cloud, God's word. Look back at the text. And they
all pass through the sea. What is the sea? Again, you could, you could,
you preach the message one time on that. I think he preached
it here. Brother Bob Coffey slipped in back there. He preached a
message on the Christ at the sea. Well, this sea in context
here, they pass through the sea in the context, I believe it
represents the world, which, listen to 1 Timothy 6, 9. You
remember the Egyptians drowned. And that's it. They were overwhelmed
by it and destroyed by it but the children of Israel passed
through it without even mud on their feet. They passed through
it on dry land, didn't accumulate anything on the way. They passed
through, they were heading to the other side, they weren't
pitching their tents in the midst of that sea. Timothy 6, 9 says,
They that will be rich fall into temptations, that is, those that
will have the things of this world, and a snare into many
foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and
perdition. So the world will be destroyed
by this very world which they have taken root in. We're just
passing through. Strangers and pilgrims, sojourners,
sojourners. Look at verse 2. And they were
all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. There's
a picture of Christ. We have professed faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ by actually believer's baptism, and yet we
are immersed into him. We have been placed in him. By
faith, by the Lord, by God. Of God are you in Christ, immersed
in Him, placed in Him, immersed into Him, and following Him like
that cloud through this world. Verse 3, And they did all eat
the same spiritual meat. What is it? What is it? That's the name of
it. What is it? It's the word manna. What does the word manna mean?
What is it? Remember when this bread came
down from heaven, this white, sweet-tasting bread from God,
the bread of God, just so light and Not something they made with
their own hands, it was something they just went out and gathered.
It was theirs, as much as they wanted to gather in one day,
they could gather. They couldn't gather it for the next day, they
had to the next day gather that day's bread. And they'd never
seen anything like it. Bread from heaven. And that's
what they said. What is it? What a picture of Christ that
is. He himself used that as an illustration of himself. He said,
I'm the bread. Moses didn't give you that bread, he said. My father
did. And I am the bread of heaven. I am the bread, which if any
man eat, he'll never hunger again. And when the angels announced
his birth, they said to Mary, that, what is it? That holy thing is from God. And we have tasted, and I hope
we've done more than that. I hope we have truly ingested
Christ, eaten, swallowed. There's some in Hebrews 6 that
said, have tasted the good water. But read on. It says, they did
all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink, verse 4, the
same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual
rock, capital R. that followed them and that rock
was right. And what a story that was I almost
had to turn over there to numbers but I thought no we'd get stuck
there for a long time. But that's a story in itself.
A rock that Moses the Lord told Moses strike that rock the children
were thirsty they were in a parched barren land the wilderness and
they were thirsty. And the Lord and this rock. The
Lord told Moses to strike that rock with a rod. And out of that
rock came a river of living water. And they all, the whole two million
of them, drank from that one rock. And that rock was cracked. Now he was smitten of God, wounded,
bruised, afflicted. And out of his side comes water
of life. which those who drink will never
thirst. And that rock followed them.
It wasn't a one-time thing. It wasn't, well, they got rock
and then they left, or got water and then they left, and they
had to find it somewhere else. The rock followed them. Now, this is real. This is not,
this is true. This rock followed them. And it was always there, water.
Always there. All their day, quenching their
thirst. What about us? Christ, our Rock, Christ, our Rock, upon
which we stand, and all other ground, sink and sand, from whom
all blessings flow. Oh, Paul wrote in the Ephesians,
Blessed be God with the Father that blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, our Lord. The
Rock, our Rock, capital R. I want to say it, Stan. Stan
loves that Deuteronomy 32, where Moses said, now their rock's
not like our rock. Our rock is the rock upon which
we stand and provides for us all the days of our life. Verse
5, with many of them, with many of them, God was not
well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Overthrown,
Paul uses the word in the, or John does, in 1 John, overcome. Overcome, overthrown, overtaken
by something, succumbed to, overthrown. Paul just used the term of wrestling
or fighting, both, striving for the mastery, trying to overcome
rather than be overcome. And he said, some were overcome. They cried, Uncle. They gave
up and succumbed to it. Let us never cry, Uncle, and
let us cry unto him. Lord, save us or we perish or
we will succumb to it. We will be overthrown or overcome
by doubts. We all have doubts. Reflesh. It's hard for us to see spiritual
things. We're overcome with fears. We're
set with fears behind the fore, aren't we? An uncertain world,
a wicked world. We're overcome at times with
desire, cravings. I'm glad the Lord knows our frame.
Aren't you? That we're flesh. The disciples,
you know, they were weary and tired and they fell asleep three
times. That doesn't justify. That doesn't excuse us doing
that, but it explains it. And it shows how the Lord continues
to be merciful and gracious. He kept waking them up. He upbraided
them, but he woke them up. He finally said, sleep off, take
your rest. But we're overcome by so many
things, so many times, temporarily. We get tired of this race. The children of Israel. We're
passing through this world and they were seeing the people in
these cities that they were passing through. And you know. Nice houses. And comfortable
situations. No difficulties. Settle down. But they were wondering. The
Lord told them, you can't stay here. No, you've got someplace
else. I've got a better place for you. And you know, they were going,
this is a good little place to stay. Why can't we? No. Passing through. They got tired
of their sojourn, didn't they? Forty years. Do you? Sure you did. Sure you did. We all did. Verses six and seven. He said, Now, these things were
our example. To the intent, we should not
lust after evil things, as they also lusted, either be ye idolaters,
as were some of them. As it is written, people sat
down, eat and drink and rose up to play. Let's go back and
look at this. Exodus 32, that's where this
was found. Exodus 32, this story. Those
very words are recorded. evil things. He said they lusted
at it. To lust means to have an inordinate
desire for something, more than just an ordinary or passing desire. It means to have an overwhelming,
overcoming, insatiable longing for something where you're never
going to be satisfied until you get it. That's lust. forsake everything else. I have
that, you know, these things are consuming whatever that lust
might be. He said evil things. Now, our
Lord told us plainly that there's no thing unclean of itself, no
thing entering the mouth. There's no thing unclean or evil
of itself, but it becomes evil to us and in the sight of the
Lord when we are consumed with having When we put it before
the Lord Himself, when we'd rather have that than Him, or when we
want more than what we really need, then it becomes evil from
the sight of the Lord, and it becomes evil to us. It will be
positively evil, hurtful, possibly ruinous to us. That's why it's
called evil things. Exodus thirty two look at verse
one. Exodus thirty two one when the people saw that Moses delayed
to come down out of the mountain. People gathered themselves together
and you know that's where they asked Aaron to make them a cat.
Moses delayed. How long was he gone? Altogether forty days. At this time it's probably about
a week. It's not very long to wait, is
it? Ah, boy. They saw that he delayed. Moses
represents the Lord Jesus Christ, doesn't he? Peter wrote in 2
Peter 3, he said, the days will come, scoffers shall walk after
their own lusts, saying, where is the promise
of his coming? I don't see any sign. That's
just Christ. But he tells us, now don't you
be ignorant. Don't you be ignorant. Don't be like them. Seeing that
all these things shall pass away, what manner of people ought you
to be, Peter said. Not like the world. Exodus 32,
verse 6, it says, they rose up early in the morning on the morrow. Moses been away a while and offered
burn offering brought peace offering to this. People sat down to eat and to
drink and rose up to play. That's what they were consumed
with. It's a real possibility for us. I go back to the text. He said,
let us not be like them. Sat down to eat. drink. Paul
one time was writing, and he said, I say this now weeping
of some, their God is their family. That's what they're pursuing.
This is what we're going to get into idolatry. An idol is anything
you love and adore and spend your time and you just adore
it. Something you You cannot live
without. And you put it before all. And
it can be anything. It can be different things to
you than to me. It's not just a wooden image
or something that people bow to. Scripture says, Covetousness
is idolatry. Well, look at the text here.
1 Corinthians 10, verse 8. It says neither let us commit
fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three twenty
three thousand in one day. That's nothing compared to the
to the statistics now where the earth
is covered with human beings who are just like beasts right. Now this is literally speaking
of fornication or sex illicit certainly our society is consumed
with this. Is it not? Just like Egypt, the
gold, or the world they pass through. This is foremost in
our society. This is the thing that our society
is consumed with. Is it not? You don't have to
look very far to see that. But now, we have a deeper understanding
of this. The Revelation talks about a
great And this is biblical. A great horror in which the whole
world is committing spiritual fornication. And that represents
religion. Modern religion, like fornication,
is a thing just for self-gratification. It's a fleshly thing. It's a
feel-good religion. Spiritual fornication is It must
make you feel good about yourself. Well, and there's no love, true love
to Christ. No true love in that. There's
no commitment. You want to know what true love
is and what God honors and the bed that God says is undefiled? Commitment in marriage. Totally
undefiled. And so is commitment to Christ,
love from the heart, true love from the heart to Christ, not
just the desire for self, self gratification and so forth, to
feel good. It's fidelity. True religion is fidelity to
the Lord Jesus Christ, faithful to his glory, to his honor, to
his word, to all things concerning him. and won't hear of and won't
go after anybody or anything else. Is that a good illustration? Fidelity. God's people are faithful
to one husband. They won't go after anybody else
but him. So let us not commit that. And there's a temptation. We
all have friends and relatives who are in this stuff and they're
sincere and they're sweet and they're kind and they're moral
and And we even admire some of them and maybe their ways even,
and we might even think they're better people than we are and
so forth. Well, that can't be surely somebody that sincere. Don't be caught up in that. Don't be caught up in that. Don't let that tempt you away
from Christ. Verse 9, neither let us tempt
Christ as some of them also tempted. and were destroyed of surplus.
I was going to be turned down. I'm not going to run out of time,
but it numbers twenty one. What does it mean? They tempted
Christ, the Israelites, the Jews, tempted Christ. What does that
mean? They backtalked Moses. They were backtalking Moses.
They were murmuring and complaining against Moses. But now the Lord said, to his
apostles and prophets and so on. They hear you go here for
me. And that's what they did. Moses was just a man. He knew it more than anybody. Just a man. He didn't want the
job. He tried and tried and tried to get out of the job. The Lord
put him in so necessity was laid on that's not for me but we just
have with. A dispensation was committed.
Woe is unto him if he did. So he did. And there were people
like the core of the sons of Cora who said that we know we
know just as much as you do. And we think we you know we don't
you take too much on yourself. They didn't take anything. The
Lord put it on. Well they murmured against Moses,
verse 10, and they were destroyed of serpent. Oh, and I didn't
turn there because we would have stayed there while the brazen
serpent. Maybe we should have. Well, verse
10 says, neither murmur he. Don't murmur, as some of them
also murmured. It says they murmured in their
tents. You go back and read it. They didn't always murmur in
front of Moses, but they did it in their tents. Honey, are
you tired of this? Did you know so and so is...
I don't like the way they're doing things. You know what Aaron
did? In their tents. But the Lord
heard it. The Lord heard it. Bad mouth. It will badmouthing
off what it was down in the mouth badmouthing everybody and everything. God forbid that we should be
like that. Those badmouthers every one of
them died of the plague. So. Go back and remember, don't be
ignorant of what happened to the children of Israel. Bad mouth
and murmuring, complaining all the time, until God said, OK.
OK. No. Don't do that. These things are
written for our example. Verse 11. happened under the empire. And
they're written for our admonition. My pastor used to say, and you've
heard me quote it often, scriptures are full of promises. Lest we despair. Bless God for
the promise. Thank God for the promise. Full
of promises. I'd venture to say there are
more promises than warnings. Perhaps. But the scriptures are
full of warnings, lest we presume. Warnings. Let every man take
heed. Take heed. This is the following
verse. It says now, they're written
for our admonition. Admonish means to correct. You remember Brother Marvin telling
us what chastisement means? It means to instruct. True instruction,
a real chastening, is not always pleasant. Sometimes it takes
a hard, a painful lesson to really learn, to really get something
across, doesn't it? Something really painful, you
know, to take a bad fall to understand that I better cinch up a little
tighter. I better not do that again. Right,
Justin? Upon whom the ends of the world
are come. This admonition is to us in the
last day. Paul or John. The Lord in Revelation
said to the church, he said, you strengthen the things that
remain. So one of the church. Things were so. He said, you
just strengthen things that remain. We don't see a great outpouring
of God's spirit, do we? These are the last days. Don't
see. Men being called out on the field,
harvest is getting sling into the world of commerce twelve
wherefore let him that make a piece and. Take heed less people. Let him that make a piece and
take heed less people. Examine yourself all said whether
you be of the faith you don't look at yourself or within yourself
for evidence is that you're spending you don't look within yourself
to see if you You're still keeping on keeping on you look to cry.
Don't look to yourself, you won't find anything. You'll despair
if you look to yourself. But you keep looking to cry.
And so what he's saying here, let him to think that he's saying
that he's writing to some of these Corinthians who were puffed
up, remember, puffed up with their knowledge of doctrine and
so forth, and I understand that, and you know, and I can't be
taught anything. The old man thinks he knows anything. Let's start all over again. He
let's little children know. Let him to think if he standeth.
Now, if you're looking to Christ, you're not looking to yourself,
you're looking to him. And then you'll not fall. Let
him to think. And I bet you, let me just say
this, in light of this verse, I believe, I truly believe that
the person who fears falling, will never do so. You'll never. Ever lose that
fear. Now he says in verse thirteen
there have no temptation taken you know trial no difficulty
nothing you've gone through on this earth but such as is common
to man something that somebody has gone through. I love this, I didn't write it
down, I hope I can find it. Go to 2 Peter, I think you go
to 2 Peter chapter, no, 1 Peter 5. I wish I had written that down. Yeah, it's here somewhere in
the first Peter 5, where it says the same afflictions are accomplished. There it is, verse 9. He says
in verse 9, "...whom resist, that is, the devil, steadfast
in the faith, looking to Christ, knowing that the same afflictions,
same difficulties, same trials, same things, temptations you're
going through, the very same things, are accomplished in your brethren
in the world." Do you use the right word? Afflictions accomplished? What do afflictions accomplish?
Well, trial. James, Peter, all of them wrote
the trial of your faith. The trial of your faith being
much more precious than gold that perishes. It will be tried
with fire. It might be found. It might be
found. Truth. Remove the dross and so
forth. Afflictions accomplished. And
these afflictions temptation trials difficulty are such as
are common to every single believer from the beginning of time. And. The very first pair. They suffered everything that
we did. Come with your. Right? Difficulty working, laboring. On and on. On and on. Trouble
in childbirth and on and on. The same afflictions. The same
afflictions. You're not alone. You're going
through the very same thing that all of God's people are going
through. Yours are not unique. You're
not unique. Whatever you go through, whether
you're young. I thought growing up in the 60s
and 70s was a tumultuous and terrible time, you know, a tough
time to raise. Well, I was a teenager going
through that. I'm sure my parents thought this
is the worst generation ever. I'm glad mine's not going through
this one. Well, what about in the twelfth
century? Well, they ran around naked,
you know. Well, no difference than that. Common, young, old,
old people, male, female, no matter what, who you are, whatever.
God's people have gone through it and are going through it right
now. Are you lonely? I know. There's a story in Luke
chapter two of a woman named Anna, a prophetess. She was a
widow for 44 years. Sickly? Are you sickly? Am I
going through and enduring a long illness? It was a woman with
an issue of blood. well. Charles Spurgeon they say suffered
thirty eight. Timothy. Had often. Sick all the time. When he says here in verse thirteen
he says God is faithful. All that deserves a message by
itself does not. God is faithful, he's true. True
is word, true is promises. You can trust him. He's faithful. You can truly trust God, trust
his word, what he says. He's faithful who will not suffer
or allow you to be tempted or tried above that you're able. I was talking to a man one time
who was enduring difficult times and he said, I can't take anymore.
And I wouldn't go through what he was going through. It was
tough but you know later on. I said to him. Where you did
it. You were able to take. The work. So he said he would he would
he will not allow you to be tempted to try it or. tested above that
you're able but we all with the temptation with the trial make
a way to escape that you may be able to bear to endure it
go through it away what is the way. I'm asking you what is. The way. To escape. All right I said I
am the You don't need a self-help book
on how to, or if you'll just do, no, no, Christ said, call
on me. I'm a very present help. We're
talking about a person here. We're not talking about a how-to.
We're talking about a person who himself bears us up. Casting all our care, where? On him. Why? He cares. He's the way. Prayer is not a
thing. But prayer is calling on him,
who alone can bear us up, can get us through. A way? The way. The way. Christ, the way. To
escape. That's what we're looking for,
to escape from not being overcome by not being overthrown in the
wilderness, but to escape the clutches of the adversaries to
escape those who would have us. You know, like Pilgrim, just
running out of the city of destruction to the celestial city, put his
fingers in Christ, not listening to anybody. They wanted him to
stay. Oh, no, I've got to have Christ.
Way to escape. Like Joseph running from a temptation. Well, that's what he said in
the last verse, verse 14. Wherefore, in light of all this,
my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. Flee it. You know, more people
have fallen from this than the children of Israel did. All the
adults did. Idolatry. That is the things
of Egypt. They lusted for the things of
the world, and they failed. Flea from where for a lot of
all this flea from about what the flea from some. Flea means to run ever fled.
They'll run from somebody. Well you've got to have a place
to go to. If you're running from somebody
you've got to have a place you can get to have. that they can't
get you listen to it. See we're accomplished about
so great a crowd of witnesses let us lay aside every weight
sin unbelief which does so easily to set up and let us run. With patience. It's America. The race that is set before the
human race looking. A man is a hiding place. Paul
said, I pressed to mark the prize of
the high calling of God, which is where? In Christ Jesus Christ. This is not, this is real. It's
a real race. It's a real striving and fight,
but I can't do it. But in Christ I can do all things. Flee from idolatry. And play
the crowd. Daily like our family. Thank you so much for your words,
your silence, your love, and every time you speak to us. We are no better than the children
of Israel. The works we've done can break your heart as well.
Thank you. My favorite song. But we're diverted
upon to feel it, to take it and embrace it, to do it, to let
the possibility grow, and then we attempt to do that. So it's
a time to meet children's fears, and our affections tell things
about what Christ did right here in this room. So I ask you to thank Christ
for that. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. I don't know what I'm doing. uh... uh... you the the I'm not sure. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I'm not going to lie to you.
I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm going to go ahead and close
the door. I'm going to go ahead and close
the door. Okay. I don't know. I don't know. uh... Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. you