Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter
10. I'd like to pick up where we
left off last time. This is actually, I've entitled
this part two of a warning to be heeded. A warning to be heeded. look into the Word of God. Let's
ask our Lord's blessing. Our Father, we call on you this
evening in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we ask you,
Lord, according to your good pleasure, cause us to hear, to
hear in power and truth, help us to worship, and Lord, forgive
us where we failed you for Christ's sake. Amen. Now, I'm going to
be turning back and forth from this passage in 1 Corinthians
10, and I'm going to be in Numbers. I'll be in Exodus. So if you
want to just jot down, because I'll tell you right now that
I'll be back and forth. So if you want to just jot them
down and go back and read them, if you want to turn, but just
so you'll know that I'm going to be planning to do more turning
than I normally do. But last time we considered,
this truth that the nation of Israel was actually brought out
of Egypt. And as they were brought out
of Egypt, all of the nation enjoyed the outward blessings of Almighty
God upon His elect. He was blessing His people. Everybody
else that was there They just were able to enjoy the blessings
of the Lord on His sheep for a while. They were able to partake
of that which was providentially provided for God's elect. But the reason that they were
brought out of Egypt was for an example for us. for God's
people. Throughout time, after that event,
they were brought out. Verse six says, for this reason,
1 Corinthians 10.6, now these things, what things? Well, they
were under the cloud, they came through the Red Sea, they came
all of those blessings, they ate manna, they drank water out
of the rock that followed them. These things, were for our examples,
to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as
they also lusted." Now, exactly what was it? that they lusted
after. Well, hold your place and turn
with me to Numbers chapter 11. Numbers chapter 11. I'm going
to read verses 4 to 6. Numbers chapter 11, verse 4 to
6. These things were for our examples,
our figures, our types, that we shouldn't lust, we shouldn't
fall victim, covet, crave, or desire evil things like they
did. Numbers chapter 11 verse 4 to
6, And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting. And the children of Israel also
wept again and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember
the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely. The cucumbers,
the melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlic. And now our soul
is dried away. There's nothing at all beside
this manna before our eyes. Now, I want you to notice where
the lusting started. The scripture said there was
a mixed multitude, a group of people, actually described in
Exodus chapter 12, but it was a group of people that were not
Israelites. Egyptians, just whoever happened
to be in the country at that time, whether they were mixed
in with the Israelites because of business, because of whatever.
Maybe they saw the miracles, the plagues that was spewed out
on the Egyptians. And they thought, you know what?
I think we just go with them. Looks like to me that this is
the group that needs to be, but they were a mixed multitude. And the scripture says that that
particular mixed multitude, they were the ones that began to lust
after some things. And they were lusting after things
that were in themselves not evil. They weren't evil. It was flesh,
fish, cucumbers, you know, melons. fruits and vegetables, things
that you would eat, anybody would eat. But the mixed multitude
started lusting, seeking, longing after, craving, desiring this
thing. And before long the scripture says that the Israelites wept
again. Now here's what the word wept
again means. They started crying, pouting,
like a spoiled child. They started throwing a temper
tantrum. They were weeping, and griping,
and complaining. And the scripture says concerning
those that were the mixed multitude and the Israelites that also
began to listen to what the mixed multitude was griping about.
And the scripture says that the Lord heard the pouting, heard
the crying, and gave Moses some instruction. Numbers chapter
11 verse 16. The scripture says And the Lord
said unto Moses, gather unto me seventy men of the elders
of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people,
and officers over them, and bring them unto the tabernacle of the
congregation, that they may stand there before me." That tabernacle
of the congregation, that was that outer court, you know, where
they could, you know, there was a tent, there was the where the
Holy of Holy was and everything and the brazen altar. It was
inside there was a big tent made of skins that went around that. You bring them inside. Bring
them inside. And verse 17, And I will come
down and talk with thee there, and I will take of the Spirit
which is upon thee, I'll put it upon them, and they shall
bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it
not thyself alone. You come and you get these elders
And I'm going to cause your spirit to come upon them, and I want
them to go back and relate to the people that are weeping and
pouting and throwing a temper tantrum. And say thou unto the
people, sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and ye shall eat flesh. For you have wept in the ears
of the Lord. You've pouted in God's ears.
and saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? For it was well
with us in Egypt, therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and
you shall eat. You shall not eat one day, nor
two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, but
even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils. And it will be loathsome unto
you, because that ye have despised the Lord which is among you,
and you've wept, you've pouted before Him, saying, Why came
we forth out of Egypt? Now here was the problem. When
it says they were a lusting, mixed multitude, the Israelites
began to listen to this mixed multitude that knew nothing of
the God of Israel. And they started griping, started
pouting. Started, you know, just a bunch
of hubbub. And the Israelites, some of them
started joining in with them. And they said, you know what?
We don't have any flesh to eat. We don't have fish, melons, leeks,
onions, you know. We had all this back in Egypt.
Why have you brought us out of here? The problem was that they
weren't satisfied with what God had provided. They treated His
provision with contempt and God was pleased to give them what
they wanted. He said, you want meat? You want
meat? I've given you manna. I've given
you heavenly spiritual bread. And you're griping about it.
You won't meet. Look at Numbers 11, verse 31.
The scripture says, and there went forth a wind from the Lord
and brought quails from the sea and let them fall by the camp. And it was a day's journey on
this side, as it were, a day's journey on the other side, round
about the camp, as it were, two cubits high upon the face of
the earth. And the people stood up all that
day, all that night, all the next day. They gathered the quails.
He that gathered least gathered ten homers. And they spread them
all abroad for themselves round about the camp. And while the
flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath
of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote
the people with a great, very great plague, and he called the
name of that place, Kibroth-Hattabah, because there they buried the
people that lusted. The Lord said, you want flesh? I'm going to give you flesh.
I'm going to give you exactly what you want. Let's be careful. what we say we want in despising
the Lord's provision. They lusted after what they thought
they wanted and it was to their own destruction. May God keep
us from this evil, this evil. Paul said these were examples. This all happened to them for
an example. Now verse 7, he said, neither
be ye idolaters as were some of them, as it is written, the
people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Now this
warning came from the account in Exodus chapter 32. Exodus
32. Exodus chapter 32 verses 1 to 6. And the people saw that Moses
delayed to come down out of the mount. Moses had gone up to get
the Ten Commandments. And the people gathered themselves
together under Aaron and said unto him, up, make us gods which
shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man
that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not, what
has become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break
off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives,
of your sons, of your daughters, bring them unto me. And all the
people break off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and
brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their
hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool after he had made it a molten
calf. And they said, This 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 drink and rose up to play. Now, one would think in his heart,
I would never, I'd never do something like that. I'm much too stable. I'm much too grounded. I'm much
too faithful to stoop to such behavior, but listen, but for
the grace of God, there is nothing that we wouldn't do. There is
not a person sitting in this congregation, especially starting
with the one standing in this pulpit, that wouldn't do something
like that. When we observe what actually
happened, now think about this. Who was it that told them to
take the earrings and bring them to him? It was Aaron, the priest. It was God's ordained priest. And do we not realize that within
every believer there is a heart just like that? There is a heart
of rebellion. Moses had gone up to meet the
Lord and the people, they doubted. We don't know what happened to
him. We need someone to make us some gods that will lead us
out, you know. But do we not find ourselves
wandering in heart, failing to trust as we should while our
Lord is away? Moses went up to meet God to
receive the Ten Commandments. Our Lord has ascended into heaven.
in the presence of Almighty God on our behalf and but for the
keeping grace of God. We would do exactly what they
did and worse. And a believer knows that. Anybody
that says, I would never do that. I would never do that. I have
great reason to doubt. Moses was a man that met with
God, instructed of God. And Almighty God dealt with these
people based on what they had been taught by the Lord through
Moses in their rebellion. They committed this heinous crime
of idolatry. And just prior to that, they
had said, all that the Lord has said will we do. and be obedient. That's what they said in Exodus
24. Jeremiah, though, reveals this about our hearts. Now listen,
every one of us. For an unbeliever in this room,
you have one heart. It's a wicked, sinful, dead,
rebellious heart. For every believer in here, you've
got two. You've got two natures, two men. You've got the same
heart that you were born with and you've got a new heart. that
loves God and is respectful to Him. But concerning that old
heart that we all possess, the heart is deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked. Desperately wicked. Who can know
it? Who can know the depth of this
heart that's within all of us? We would do this. The only reason
we don't do it is because Almighty God keeps us. The Spirit of God
moved upon the psalmist to write and to remind us concerning this
horrible evil. The scripture says in Psalms
106.19, they made a calf in Horeb and worshipped the molten image. Where was Horeb? That's the very
place. where God appeared with thunder
and lightning and met Moses in that very place. Now remember,
listen, these things, the scripture says, were for our examples to
the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they
also lusted. Committing adultery, this idolatry,
I meant to say, that they fell victim to that. So they wanted
a God that they could see, that's what they wanted. We want a God
that we can look at, and we do too. We want to see something,
we want to look at something. Remember when I told you when
they printed these Bibles, I told them they had a Had a cross on
the end of it, had a cross right here. And I called him, I told
him, I said, but I don't want a cross on that. He said, you don't want
a cross? I said, no. I want to say Holy Bible. That's
all. I don't want a cross, I don't
want a fish, I don't want an angel, I don't want, no, no,
no. I just, just Bible. The Bible. That's what, they wanted something
that they could see. They wanted to, you know, how
merciful. The Spirit of God moved upon
the Apostle John to write 1 John 5.21. Little children. Now listen
to this. If we didn't need to hear this,
he wouldn't have written it. The Spirit of God wouldn't have
written it. Little children. Keep yourselves from idols. Strive to keep yourselves from
anything that you'd set your heart upon which would tend to
lessen our reverence for the Lord, anything or anyone that
would occupy the place of first attention. Anything. Anything. Anything that takes the place
of the worship of God. Anything that takes the place
of the worship of God is an idol. It's an idol. He is first. First in obedience. First in
respect. Keep yourselves from traditions,
keep yourselves from this self-righteous religious practice, from things
that would steal our time, our attention from Him who is our
life. We need God, they said. Aaron
said, bring me some gold here. I'll make us one. I'll make us
a God. Made a golden calf and they fell
down and worshipped. And back in 1 Corinthians 10
verse 8, neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed
and fell in one day, three and twenty thousand. Now this is
referenced in Numbers 25, Numbers 25 verses 1 to 9. Neither let us commit fornication. Numbers 25 verses 1 to 9. And
Israel abode in Shittim. And the people began to commit
whoredom with the daughters of Moab. Now they were told, this
is when Balaam, when Balak wanted Balaam to curse the people of
Israel, and everything that Balaam said sounded right, but in the
end he said, well, let's just let the men mix with these Moabites,
which was an abomination to God. They were not to do it. And Balaam
suggested, let them do that and God will curse the people. So
Israel abode and shunned them and the people began to commit
whoredom with the daughters of Moab. They called the people
unto the sacrifices of their gods. And the people did eat
and bowed down to their idols. What did they do? They started
going to their services. They started going to their services and seeing their gods. Now they're
starting to mix and match. They're beginning to commit whoredom
with the daughters of Moab. Now they're starting to go to
their religious services. They're starting to take up their
practices. And Israel joined himself unto Baal Peor, and the
anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord
said unto Moses, now listen, this is what happens. When you
start, starting to get back and starting to, you know, go against
what the Lord has commanded to do, come out from among them,
saith the Lord. Be ye separate. Don't listen to a false preacher. Listen, let me say it again.
Do not listen to someone that is not preaching the gospel of
God's free grace. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. The anger of the Lord was kindled.
They started going and doing what God had told them not to
do. And here's what the Lord did. He said to Moses, take all
the heads of the people, hang them up before the Lord against
the sun. that the fierce anger of the
Lord may be turned away from Israel. What are you going to
do? Hang them. And Moses said unto the judges
of Israel, slay ye every one, his men, that were joined unto
Baal Peor. Kill them. And behold, one of
the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish
woman in the sight of Moses. and in the sight of all the congregation
of the children of Israel who were weeping. Now this word weeping
is they were bewailing what they saw going on. This, this and
this not, they weren't pouting here. I mean this, that word
right there, they were actually broken for what they saw. God
had told them, don't mix, don't mix with that false religion.
Don't do it. Don't do it. And they did it. And God said, I want you to take
it, take the heads of the people, and hang them. And behold, one
of the children, they came a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses,
sight of the congregation, who were weeping before the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation, when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar,
the son of Aaron, the priest, saw it. He rose up from among
the congregation and took a javelin in his hand. Israelite and he took one of
these Midianitish women and was going to have her. And the scripture
said he took a javelin in his hand and he went in after the
man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through the
man of Israel and the woman through her belly. So the plague was
stayed from the children of Israel. And those that died in the plague
were 24,000 people. Scripture says that these things
were given as an example for us. He said, don't do it. But how amazing to the regenerate
mind is it to think that something so openly done, one could fall
into a sin such as this against his own body. But my brethren,
remember David. Somebody said, here was a man
after God's own heart. Paul said these things were written
for our examples that we should be careful not to do these things. He goes without saying, but we
should be warned against the gratifying of our fleshly desires
of immorality, warned against giving in to the wicked indulgences
of our flesh, like those that came out of Egypt and died in
the wilderness, but especially spiritual adultery. And that's
the worst, the eternal part, that spiritual fornication, being
seduced by the wiles of the mother of harlots, false religion. Again,
come out, separate yourself. I know you have too, but I've
seen many that I thought would never, never go back. They would never leave. They'd
never leave the sound of the gospel. They'd never quit coming. I thought they would never do
that. And it happened. And but for
the grace of God, I'm leaving too. You may think I would never
believe that Marvin would have gone and gone back to a free
will church. But for the grace of God, I'll
be gone tonight. Believe me, it's only by God's
grace that we're kept. These things were written for
our examples, that we should not lust after evil things as
they did. Look at verse 9, and neither
let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed
of the serpents. Now whenever the word tempt is
used when it's applied to man, it means to present motives or
inducements to sin, but God can't be tempted to sin. So whenever
we talk about neither tempt ye God, what that tempt right there
means, to call God into question. Now listen, I'm talking about
now, here again, I'm gonna talk to me, and you just listen in,
May the Spirit of God speak to all of us. But in heart. In heart. We'll never say this
outwardly. We would never say this outwardly.
But I'm talking about in heart. To tempt God. Neither tempt ye
God. Like they did and died of the
serpents. You know. It means to call God into question. Or to judge His power, His faithfulness,
are His patience. Let me just sum it up like this.
Don't be presumptuous with God. Don't just assume that God is
going to act a certain way. And if He doesn't, then you call
Him in heart into question. Why are you doing this? Why are
these things so? To tempt the Lord is to not be
satisfied with His will or His way, but to, in our hearts, challenge
Him or provoke Him. This is what was done in Exodus
17, verse 12. Exodus 17, 12. I mean, 17, 2.
Wherefore the people did chide with Moses and said,
Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why
chide we? Why are you mad at me? And wherefore do you tempt the
Lord? Why are you calling into question
Almighty God's providence? Why are you questioning the good
providence of God? Why are you not satisfied? with
what God has provided. But that part of the serpents,
turn with me, Numbers 21, 5 and 6. Numbers 21, this is where
they tempted the Lord. This is what that reference was
to concerning the serpents. Numbers 21, 5 and 6, the people
spake against God. People spake against God, against
Moses. Wherefore, now think about this,
they spake against God and Moses. I know it's always, you've heard
this before, they can't get to God, so they'll get to God's
man. That's the one they're mad at. They're mad at God, but they'll
take it out on God's man. That's the one, they're calling
God into question. The people spake against God,
against Moses, wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt
to die in the wilderness? For there's no bread, neither
is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of
Israel died. Brethren, the Lord has complete
authority. over us. He's our king, He's
our governor, the one who orders our steps, and He's promised
to never leave us, never forsake us. And let us not tempt Him,
putting His faithfulness to the test, and tempt Him by impatience,
discontent. That's what they did. They weren't
content with what God had provided. Again, He gave them Everything. Everything. Lit up the night
for them. Guided them with a cloud. Brought
them through the Red Sea. Gave them manna. The shoes never wore out for
40 years. Why did you bring us out here
to die? God could have killed them in Egypt if He was going
to kill them. He said don't tempt the Lord. Back to 1 Corinthians
10 verse 10. Neither murmur ye, as some of
them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now, to murmur against God, neither
murmur against God, is to grumble or to complain. Whenever we're
not satisfied. Now listen, now you talk about,
there ain't nobody in here that's guiltless. All of us are guilty. Nobody's sitting here innocent.
We're all guilty. Neither murmur against God. I'm
the first to complain against God's providence. I mean, let's
just be honest about it, Lord. It's me. I need forgiveness. Lord, forgive me. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. Why is it like this? Why isn't it like that? Why have
you left me here all these years? Neither murmur against God and
grumble and complain. Numbers 14. Number 14, 2 to 4. Numbers 14, 2 to 4, and all the
children of Israel murmured against Moses, against Aaron, and the
whole congregation said unto them, would God that we died
in the land of Egypt, or would God that we 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 they said one to another,
let us make a captain and let us return to Egypt. The ground
of their complaining seems to be that they felt that they had
been disappointed by God through Moses' leadership. That's what
they were griping about. God says, you've disappointed
me. They grumbled that they'd been
bought out of what they thought was a land of plenty. They thought
we had everything back then. And now you've brought us into
a place of complete lack and insufficiency. And their murmuring
was based upon the complaint that instead of being led into
the land of promise, they were left to perish in the desert
and complained to their leader about their leader Moses and
expressed their desire to go back to Egypt. And because of
their murmuring, the scripture says they were destroyed of the
destroyer. They were destroyed of the destroyer.
Now, what does that mean? Well, I'll tell you exactly what
it means. It means the Lord killed them. They were destroyed of
the destroyer. Deuteronomy 32, 39, See now that
I even I am He, and there's no God with me. I kill and make
alive. I wound and heal. Neither is
there any that can deliver out of my hand. They murmured and
were destroyed of the destroyer himself. The just God. God said, I kill. I'm the one. Like in number 16. They were
destroyed of the destroyer in the way that God was pleased
to destroy them. Korah, Dathan Abiram, remember
that group, the heads of their families, they rose up against
Moses, the one that God had placed in that position as God's servant
and God's leader of the people and told him, he said, you've
taken too much on yourself. You've lifted yourself up too
high above this congregation. We're all holy people. Moses,
being directed by the Lord, instructed these rebels and 250 that stood
with him, take your censers, put fire in them, meet me the
next day and God will decide this case. The three heads, Nathan,
Dathan, and Abiram. And those 250 princes of the
assembly that stood with them to meet, they met the next day
and God opened the earth. You know that. And they all went
down with their families, alive, into the pit. And the Lord says
that the earth closed upon them. Now, number 16 relates a very,
very amazing thing about that event. Number 16, I'm just about
done here. Number 16, verse 41, now think
about this. Moses told the people, because
they were murmuring, because of their griping, because of
their complaining, that was the continual lot. They were just
complainers. Moses said, let's meet tomorrow.
God's going to settle this thing. Moses said, now this was for
an example that we should not lust as they did. God opened
up the earth and sent them all into the pit alive. Moses didn't
open up the earth. God did. God sent them to hell. God closed the earth on them.
And the scripture says in number 16, Verse 41, but on the morrow,
now listen, you know what that means? That means the next day. Now can you imagine? You'd seen
God open up the earth and send all those people to hell and
close the earth up. On the morrow, all the congregation
of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron saying,
Ye have killed the people of the Lord. My friend, they weren't the people
of the Lord. And Moses and Aaron didn't kill
them. God killed them. And it came
to pass when the congregation was gathered against Moses, against
Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle. Now what they're
doing is they're going to turn on God's preachers. Now listen
up. He looked toward the tabernacle
of the congregation, and behold, the cloud covered it, and the
glory of the Lord appeared. And Moses and Aaron came before
the tabernacle of the congregation, and the Lord spake unto Moses
and said, Get you up from among this congregation, that I may
consume them in a moment. And they fell on their faces,
and Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer. and put fire therein
from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly into
the congregation, and make an atonement for them. For there
is wrath gone out from the Lord. The plague is begun. And Aaron
took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation.
And behold, the plague was begun among the people. And he put
on incense, and made an atonement for the people, and stood between
the dead and the living, and the plague was staged. Now they
that died in the plague were 14,700, Beside them that died about the
matter of Korah, and Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation, and the plague was stayed. The problem is that they murmured. They murmured against God. Paul says, neither, verse 10,
neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were
destroyed of the destroyer. How did God kill them? Whatever
way God was pleased to kill him. Paul said don't do that. Verse 11, Now all these things
happened unto them for examples, and they were written for our
admonition upon whom the ends of the world He said all these
things that happened, all these things that God left them to
themselves to do, to do what they truly wanted to do. He allowed
all these things to befall them for an example and for a warning
to us not to do those things that they did succumb to, those
temptations. Paul said these were written. Those things happened to them,
for example. And it was written down in this
book for our admonition in the Holy Scriptures to admonish us
and teach us by good instructions who are now coming to the end
of this world, this life. We're living in the last days.
The last of the periods has been allotted for this earth before
the coming of Christ. We are in the last days. And
the things happened to these Jews for our examples, our instruction. It really happened to them. In
verse 12, last one. Wherefore, let him that thinketh,
he standeth, take heed, take heed, lest he fall. Take heed. No spiritual or outward
spiritual. knowledge justifies the lack
of caution. Now let me say that again. No
outward amount of spiritual knowledge that we think we have ever justifies
the lack of caution. No believer is found persevering
in the faith that is not continually watching himself, not others,
If we're concentrating on somebody else, we're looking in the wrong
spot. Right here, right here. Examine Marvin, Marvin. No, a
continual examination of oneself is right. Overconfidence, overconfidence
is one of the strongest evidences that we are in danger. overconfidence. Those who are most safe are those
who feel that they're most weak. When I'm weak, Paul said, then
I'm strong. Because I'm now looking to the
Lord. Those who see themselves as most
feeble, who feel their need of divine aid and strength, that's
one that's got some hope. In our self-confidence, feeling
ourselves to be truly able to resist temptation is nothing
but false security. None are so liable to fall as
those who think that they won't or can't. Come unto me, all ye
that labor heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Paul said
these things were written for our examples. that we should
not lust after these evil things. What things? Things that in themselves are not evil. What's
wrong with this? What's wrong with this? If that's
not what the Lord's been pleased to give you, and that's all we're
wanting, they're evil to us. May the Lord teach us, keep us,
for Christ's sake,