In the flesh, in the flesh. In the flesh, in the flesh. In the flesh, in the flesh. Thank you, Jeanette. All right, back to 1 Corinthians
chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. This
is a very needful message. One of those messages which we
should perhaps look at every so often. This is a warning. A warning to the church of Corinth
to remember the children of Israel and what happened to them. And he said, these sayings were
written for our example, to the intent of the purpose that we
should not do as they did. So it's very important. And do you know that the story
of the children of Israel in the wilderness, He was very frank
with us. All right, so he gives these
dire warnings, and we need them. I need them. As I was reading
them for myself, I thought, Lord, help me, I need these,
and I'll tell you what to do." Verse 12, these two verses, 12
and 14, are a summary of everything he says, a conclusion. He says, verse 12, wherefore? That is, in light of what he
just said, let him who thinks with his standards that he must
defy. And then verse 14, wherefore? That is, in light of these things,
my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. You say, I don't worship idolatry.
Well, we'll go see. All right? Now, idolatry, idolatry,
what is it? Now, there's no mention in these
verses of the children of Israel bowing down before a wooden pole. There's no mention of gold or
cash, is there? He says, flee from idolatry.
What is idolatry? Well, idolatry is the love, the
worship, the service of anything or anyone, chiefly, other than
God. So you don't have to assign an
outward value to an image, necessarily. In Colossians 3, Paul said this,
covetousness is idolatry. In Ephesians 5, Paul said this,
no covetous man who is an idol. have any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ the God. Now or whenever we need this,
huh? We live in a dangerous time, a materialistic age, and we're
all susceptible to this. We need this. I need this. All
right, verse 1, he begins, Moreover, brethren, I would not that you
should be ignorant How that, or what happens to our fathers,
what they went through. And it begins with all of the
blessings that they have from God's hand. He begins, first,
with all the blessings, the mercy, the grace, the goodness of God
toward these people. And then he, after that, he tells, he
gives five blessings, and then after that he gives five things
that they were guilty of. He says, don't be ignorant. The
word ignore comes from here, doesn't it? One who does not
hear or eat or remember. or ignore the warning. Someone
said, if we do not study history or remember it, we will repeat
it. So Paul gives several blessings. Look at them. Verse 1, he says,
Our fathers were under the cloud. Do you remember the story of the
children of Israel, how the cloud followed them by day and the
children of fire by night? This cloud was a, you remember
it says it was a, it kind of protected them from their pursuers. And to Egypt, the Egyptians couldn't
get past it, couldn't get to the Jews across this cloud. So they were under the mercy
of God. Forty years. They were under
the leadership of God. The guidance of God was leading
them under the protection of their heavenly Father. We're
under that. Let's look at the next
thing. He said, they all passed through the sea. You remember that story,
don't you? They passed through the sea on
dry ground with no mud on their shoes. Nothing to bog them down,
but they reached the other side. But the Egyptians, who represent
the world, followed him, and they were drowned by that very
sea, which the Israelites passed through. And that's a spiritual
lesson. God's people passing through
this world. And this world is a sea of confusion,
a sea of sin, a sea which Scripture says drowns men in perdition. We're passing through. All right? We're passing through. This is
not a couple of stops in the middle of the city, and that's
part of it. We're passing through. We're
in a hurry. And they were all baptized under
Moses in the cloud and in the city. That is, they were with
Moses. Moses led them. Moses guided
them. Moses instructed them. Help them. Moses was their intercessor. Moses was their mediator. Or Moses was their spokesman
of the God and from God. Moses was their, they were with
Moses, and Moses was them. In everything. Most everything
they went through, Moses was there. What's that talking about? Christ. We baptized into Him.
Crucified with Christ. Found in Him. Given to Him. Chosen
by Him, very risen with Him to walk in newness and light. Christ is our life, isn't He?
He is our life, isn't He? Verse 3,
And they did all eat the same spiritual meat. They did all
eat the same spiritual meat. We eat mighty well here. And
I'm not talking about pork chops. I'm talking about the gospel
of the angels. People's world out there is, they think they're
eating them, they're chewing on husks. They expect sermons,
emotions, fleshly religion and all of that, while we're digging
down and getting meat. We're eating meat, our souls.
Are we not? We eat well here. We've got a
smorgasbord here. I love the passage in Psalm 23
that says, He's prepared us a table in the midst of our heaven. Oh,
what a table. We're eating just like Solomon
did. Feast. Feast. Our other world
is in a famine. It's so. It's so. We eat the same meat, all of
us, everybody here, everybody here tonight. You can come and
eat all you want. If you come hungry, you can just
gorge yourself on good food, anytime. And they did all drink
the same spiritual drink, verse four. They drank of that spiritual
rock, or this was the water, water of life. that sustained
their life, but could not live in the wilderness without it.
And that rock followed them, and that rock was Christ, the
name of Christ, the rock, water, light, Word, of which He is Christ. Now, let me ask you something. I thought about this. I love,
I enjoy eating and drinking around a table with a few people. We
actually went to, uh, uh, uh, what's your name? Hannah. We
went to Hannah's birthday party the other day, a bunch of us,
and had a good time. Wasn't it a good time? Just a
great time. Went to, uh, Jill's party. Before that, that was a big time. I just enjoyed that. I really did. But now, isn't
this the best there is? It really doesn't give me a bad
feeling, right here, around this table. This is, uh, this is me
in need and drinking this. That other has quit, but this
stays with me. Verse five, he says, but, but. With many of them, God was not
well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness." Now, these
were real people like you and me. They were real people like you and me. They
went through 40 years in the wilderness together, much like
we will. We would spend about 40 years
together, year one. They went through the same things
together, did they not? They all went through the same
thing. That's why you keep stressing. And so will we. Every one of
us will experience many, if not most, of the same things. Bereavement,
sickness, trial, whatever it may be, heartache, disappointment,
persecution, you name it. God was not well pleased. So they were overthrown in the
wilderness. They were overthrown in the wilderness. Overthrown means overtaken. They
were consumed. overtaken, overthrown, many of
them. Verse 6, Matt, he says, these
things were our example to the intent, or for the purpose, that
we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. He said, that's why these things
happened. These things were written for
our learning. And for the purpose of warning
us, as a matter of fact, the children of Israel did not have
the light that we have. We think, if I would have seen
the miracles that they saw, the obvious miracles that they saw,
I would have believed. And remember, they took place
over a period of 40 years, so they were forgotten. And people,
I beg to differ. We have seen miracles. We have
seen miracles, no less than they have. We have. But we have more
life than they have. We have a Bible. We have a Word,
the Word that we We know the end of the story.
They didn't. We know the end of the story. We have all of
these promises. We have 66 books. They didn't
have five yet. Huh? And all they heard, Binky,
was what Moses was writing them as he was telling them. They
couldn't go back and resort to it. They can't. So, uh, All right,
verse six, it says, These things were written, examples, to the
intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also
lusted. Now, what evil things did they
lust after? What evil things? And lust, lust is—don't just
think of sexual lust when you think of lust. Don't think—lust
is a craving for, an all-consuming desire for anything or in want. It's an all-consuming desire. We all have it. If you get something
in you, you've got to have it. You've just got to have it. That's
what lust is. What evil things were they lusting
at? What evil though? Now the Lord said there's nothing
unclean of sin. Know what he said? The Lord said one time, he said
there's nothing, no thing goes in your mouth without sin. So are things evil? There's nothing evil about things. food and drink and sexual intercourse and these
things. There's nothing evil about that. They're only evil
when we are consumed by them and that's all we think about
and that's all we go after to the exclusion of the one thing,
the evil. The first thing. All right? Evil things. I thought back,
what did they love about her? I remember them saying that she
would like to have some leeks and onions. You remember that? I'm not making
fun, not at all. They didn't love her. You know,
they weren't talking about houses and cars and plants and all that. There was a time when they thought,
oh, we'd like to have some weeks of uneasiness, too. Well, there's nothing wrong with
things, but here's the problem. Things aren't the problem with
us. The problem is with us, our flesh, our flesh. And this lust is a consuming
desire that leads to, always leads to, idolatry. It turns
into idolatry. Look at verse 7. Right after
he says, They lusted after evil things, neither be ye idolaters,
as were some of them. Now they did lust after Egypt. They wanted to go back to Egypt.
The things of Egypt. But this longing for things when
they had all that was needful led to me and idolatry. All right, he said, don't be
idolatrous. I told you what idolatry is.
Idolatry is a love for and a service toward anything or anyone, primarily
and foremost, you're either after that, you serve that, or that
person. That makes it an item. Now, there
are many gods, small g, there are many gods of this world which
people love, which people, I mean really love,
their whole desire is set upon, which people live for, which people serve, that is,
they use all their time and energy and efforts to serve that pursuit
of that love, or bow and straight in order to obtain it. So you
see what idolatry can do. People will bow—you don't have
to literally bow down before a cone of coal, but people will
bow and scrape before the idol of wealth, before the idol of
fame or self and sex. But here's several things, material
things. People bow and scrape and live
for and love and do everything their whole lives. serve the pursuit of things,
material things, whatever it may be, houses, land, and so
forth. Recreation. Recreation. It's no coincidence
that most of the major sporting events and things that people
are really interested in, which attract literally millions of
spectators, are on the large day. That's no coincidence. And this is proof, isn't it,
is it not, that most people are idolaters? I've started thinking about the
time we've spent together here in the Ways. What we've come
here to do is worry ourselves. This is, this is not a duty,
this is a privilege. It's a high honor, afforded to
few. The believer feels this to be
not a hazard or a duty, but a privilege, a pleasure, and a high honor. There's 168 hours in the week.
There are 168 hours in the week. Seven
times 24. We spend that. That's half our budget. That's
four hours of doing what we're doing. That's just not much.
For some people, that's too much. One hour to do four people. Don't
be idle. Recreation. Recreation. People live for it. Love it.
Pursue it. Occupation. Career. Ambition. Career. Occupation. Career. Don't
have time. Gotta work. Yeah. Food and drink. This is what Paul was saying. He said, their God is their belly.
Their God is their belly. Sex is on the minds of this country
and this world, is it not? Family can even be an item that
people will forsake God in the pursuit of and enjoy with their
own family. Don't be an idol. Don't be an idol. When I look at this crowd and
I think, why am I preaching this? Here we are. Here we are. And I have confidence.
And most of what I'm looking at is not. But you're not at
all. You're here. And we don't need this. I want
to finish. I'm a preacher. And I don't need this. Paul wrote
it. This has got to work. We need
it. And I'm not going to feel guilty
about it. We need it. This is a warrant. We're here. Here it is. I guess we may be
here. But we wouldn't be here. All
right. I'm going to continue. I'm going
to continue. All right. It says in verse 7,
people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Anything
wrong with eating and drinking? Why not? Our Lord said in Matthew
24, He said, as in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days
of the coming of the Son of Man. He said, as in the days of Noah,
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.
There's nothing awful in our ways, right? Marrying, coming,
without marriage. A promise. He sanctioned those
things by doing it. Don't you know He enjoyed eating
fellowship in the Holy Society? But now if those things get in
the way of or usurp the one thing people, then it becomes idolatry.
People sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. In other
words, I believe the children of Israel, that's all they were
thinking about at the time. This happened, John, when Moses
was up on the mountain to see the Tabernacle and the directions
to the Tabernacle. Moses was gone forty days and
forty nights. And while he was gone, the people
said, we don't know what's happened to this Moses. And so it says
they had a party. And that's when they made the
calf and so forth. That's when it happened. Well,
Moses tarried, and the people forgot. Now, here's what they
forgot. They forgot who they were. They forgot where they
were going. We're failing. We're restrained.
We're looking for a city. God promised us a land. This
is not where we're going. They were waiting, supposed to
be waiting on the Lord. They forgot what they were doing.
Forgot what they were doing. And they had a big old party
in the wilderness. Well, let's not be like them,
he said. Let's not be like them. sat down
to eat and drink, and rose up to fly." Verse 8, "'Neither let
us commit fornication, as some of you have committed, and fell
in one day three and one in the hour.'" Turn with me to Revelation
18. Revelation 18. Now, Paul talked
about spiritual needs, spiritual strength. Did he not? And this
fornication is talking spiritual, it's a spiritual thing. So that,
the children of Israel, if you go back to Numbers, it talks
about them joining themselves, committing fornication, and Moab,
the daughters, and marrying, intermingling, and so forth.
Well, what happened was they joined themselves, these unbelieving
women, which led them to worship their gods, and they became,
well, arrogant. And this is the lesson here. Revelation 18, look at verses
1 through 3. After these things I saw another
angel come down from heaven, having great power, And the earth
was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a
strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen. And it has become the habitation
of devils." People, this has to be speaking of Rome, or at
least the city of modern religion, freedom. The habitation of devils. The whole of every file is here. A cage of every unclean and hateful
bird. I told you about that call I
got who's been looking for Father Mayhem. I got another one. I'm still looking for him. But there are about 60 people
involved in that mess, that one little episode in one town in
America. And that's just, that's it. It's Revelation 18. The habitation
of death is the holder of every foul spirit, the cage of every
unclean, hateful bird. All nations have drunk of the
wine of the wrath of her fornication. Kings of the earth have committed
fornication with her. Purchasers of the earth have
waxed rich in the abundance of her delicacies. She's talking
about religion, I think. She's talking about religion. How does the whole world live
in this bed of the great war and religion? How does politics
involve the kings of the earth, the merchants of the earth, this
great money, money, money, money? The whole world is a hold of
every foul spirit. Verse 4, I heard another voice
from heaven say, Come out and purge my people. Do you see that? Be not partaker of the first
sin, and receive not of the first plague. Do you know what Quantication
Paul is talking about now? Back there. Go back to the text. Do you know what he's talking
about? Not just physical, certainly that will reconhance Paul, Romans
1, but it's just talking about religion. Religion. The children of Israel were taken
away from the true God when they made close associations, marriages, Paul talked it with unbelieving
words. Paul, later on, wrote, how can
life have fellowship with us? How can it? Can it fail? No. They'll take you away. Now, true religion, listen, true
religion, the gospel, our religion, the church, true religion, is
a chaste religion. It's a virgin. God says there on Revelation,
He's going to present His people to chaste virgins. What's that
mean? They're for one man. They save themselves, they don't
disjoin us with anybody and everybody, because they've got one man that
they're in love with. They're chaste, they're devoted,
they're faithful to one, to God, to his Word, to his truth, to
his Christ, and any departure, any departure, no matter how
small, any departure from the truth, From God's Word, no matter
how small it may seem, it's in identity. The church can't tolerate it. God doesn't tolerate it. Any
tolerance, any tolerance, oh, they had two wives, but God didn't
want a bad man. No sir. You see the lesson of
the church? And I, at times, I think they
were too hard on people. They were too strict. I run into people, we have friends,
we have friends out there in the world, can't really call
them friends, but they're people, they're nice to them, they're
nice to us. And they seem sincere, especially
in their religion, they're so zealous. They really believe
what they, and they're good, fine, moral, outstanding people. I catch myself sometimes saying,
they don't do shit. They don't do that. They're sincere. The worshiping of God is faithfulness.
Well, this is an instance of what Paul said in Romans 10.
He said, I'm better than a wrecker, but you don't have to see what's
going on. It's not worth nothing. He said, they're going about
this stuff, they show no mercy. And it's not the right to subscribe. They have not submitted anything.
He said in Romans 9, he said, I have to put myself to work
first for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to faith. There is
your life. I've been with you, but... and it's strict and it's narrow,
it's straight, and do there be a binder? Those binders would
have been chosen or left. And what's wrong is this way
enlarges the bed in which the whole world is getting together.
No, let us not be guilty of that. Don't be guilty of that. We cannot depart. It's in fidelity
to our God. In fidelity to the truth, to
our Christ. Verse 9, it says, "...neither
let us tempt Christ, and some of them also tempted, and were
destroyed a serpent." What do you mean, tempt Christ? Back
then. Tempt Christ? Well, who, who, who did, God
never spoke to Israelite in person. Who did He speak to? Moses. Moses. So Moses was their spokesman.
And this is what happened, when it says they tempted Christ.
When Christ said, later on He said to His apostles, they received
you, they received Mary. If they won't receive you, they
won't receive me. If they don't hear you, they
don't hear me. If they want to hear from me,
they want to hear from you. That's what he said. Moses was
just a man. And he was. He was just a man. He showed that in time. And the people, particularly
the sons of Korah, One time, they said, they got, they got
tired of this. And, you know, you get that way
when you hear one voice all the time. And they finally, they said,
a couple of them said, for his son and a bunch of other fathers
and said, Moses, you're just a man. Nobody does that more
than Moses. And they said, we have a spirit
within us too, Moses. You're not the only man of God.
Moses said, I know that. And they said, we're just going
to do what we feel like doing. And Paul, Paul here calls it
innocence of Christ. They rejected the man. Moses
was just a man. But the fact is, anyone who rejected
him, or didn't hear him, or didn't heed him, Verse 10, He said, Neither murmur
ye, neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were
destroyed. The children of Israel were more
guilty of this than anything. We would have, probably would
have done the same thing. Yea, we do the same thing. We have more than they have.
And so any murmuring on our part is bad. Neither murmuring is. And some of them also murmured.
And were destroyed, it was destroyed. Verse 11, Now all of these things,
he said, happened unto them for example. They happened as examples. They're written for our admonition.
Paul said that if all scriptures are possible for doctrine, for
proof, for correction, as admonition, to admonish us, these things
aren't pleasant on us. They're not pleasant, but whom the Father
loves, chasten. Thank God for the promises to
us poor, weak sinners. Thank God for the promises. But
we despaired, wouldn't we? If there weren't more, there
are more promises in the morning, aren't there? Well, we see that. Thank God for the promises. And
we hear more promises here than we do warnings. Thank God for
the promise of the Spirit. Thank God for this warning. I
don't warn everybody else's child, but you. You see kids on the
street and grab them by the collar and say, you better straighten
up. I don't do that. Have somebody
else do it. Do you warn your boys? Why? You better. So it is with God's
people. We need to warn him. Scripture's
full of promises, lest we despair, but warnings, lest we presume.
That's why he said, verse 12, Let him that think he sinneth,
that he lest be called. I'll take these things first.
I'll take all these bad decisions first, if you'll join me. I'm guilty of all the things
he's become. You know, I sure am. Anybody feel good with me? I'm the man of life
passions like you. I like things. You like things
too? Whatever you want on the planet. Oh my, don't be idolatrous. Nothing
wrong with things. But don't be an idolatrous. Keep your faith. One feller lost
his soul on a mess of angels. I don't know, but I think it
descended. Oh, I believe the gospel. I think it descended,
that he blessed to fall. There it is, verse 13. Oh, this
is wonderful. Here we go. We're back to the
promises of Matthew. There hath no temptation taken
you, but such as is common to man." The very things that the children
of Israel went through, we go through. Nothing different. You
know, this age that our children are
growing up in now, it's a tough age, isn't it? I've heard people say, You
know, it's a hard age to grow up in. I grew up in the 60s. Those of you who grew up in the, like
the 20s and 30s, there aren't many 20s in here, a couple. 30s
and 40s and 50s was a good age. It was a pretty good age, except
for war. 40s. Fifties, you know, except
for bigotry and prejudice and hatred. Well, anyway, at least
for a dandy gripper, you know. Sixties and seventies, man, whoo! That's a bit off. Bad times. Well, I was, uh, I was out talking
to somebody and said, at least, uh, He said, you know, at least back
when we grew up in the 60s and 70s, you had to work back in
the shop. And he thought, I don't have a gun. Now, this is a tough
time. But now, really though, the 60s,
70s, don't cover now, now, and again. We're all going through
the 20s. They had their hearts in the
fresh food. Nothing, no temptation has taken
you. You haven't gone through anything.
Your trials and troubles and temptations and struggles are
not any different, not any special than anybody else has gone through
it. There's been women, 46-year-old women in the neighborhood, gone
through every night of the month, every year. All from 60 years. I bet he,
I guarantee he was the first one, went through everything.
But she lived 900 years. 900 years. We don't have 700
years of trouble. And he said this, but God is faithful. God
is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that
you are able. God doesn't tempt us, neither
tempteth He any man. He tries, sends trials, yes,
but this temptation here that they were talking about, the
children of Israel, He tells us to ask Him, leave us not in
temptation. He will not allow us, let's put
it that way. Here's the very strong, He will
not allow us. Above that you're able, but here's the problem.
Will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you
may be able to prevent? Oh, I love that. Okay. What's the way? What's the way to escape? Where are you running to escape
from? And if you're running from somebody's pursuit, try to hide
it. You've got to find a hiding place. Say there's a storm coming. Where
are you going to run? You need a shelter. You need
a haven, a place. You need a high tower. Christ,
the God of the Word, this is it. You can always run no matter
how great the temptation, no matter if you succumb to it,
you can always run back. The children of Israel for 40
years succumbed to various things. Did they not? They were tempted
and fed terribly for 40 years. But God saved them. God was merciful
to them once for 40 years. Made a way to escape. That tabernacle was with them,
but where was it? Wherefore, my dear little love,
in light of all these things, flee from I, Dollar Tree. Flee from I, Dollar Tree. A way to escape. I started this out by talking
about how vital this time we stand together is, and how little
time we do stand together. It's just made me examine, quite
often, how much time we spend in this business. Do I preach
to you at home? Do I not preach to you at home? We have too many
servants, we don't have enough time. Well, the fact of the matter
is, we need to at least take advantage of what we do have.
So, where is it? Now, it reminds me of a story.
uh, that we've been going through in March. Remember, they were
in the midst of crowds all the time and trouble and chaos and
confusion and all that. What did the Lord do to them?
Remember? Put them aside and they all got
in a ship together. They traveled. You know, there
were times, Kelly, that they were in that ship. away from
the crack of it. It's just Thomas, Bartholomew,
Matthew, and Judas, and Thomas, or all those disciples, Peter, James,
John, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and
so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth,
and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and
so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and
so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth,
and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so
forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and
so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth,
and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, and
so forth, and so forth, and so So, and I close with this. The flea from idolatry is the
slave of Christ. The Lord keeps me from it. Keeps me from it. Takes me out.
The Lord has pulled him out of that crap. When he said over
there in Revelation, he said, come ye out of the womb. How? When it has such a pull. When
this world has such a lure. When it has such a pull on us.
How? Let's pray for the God who grabbed
hold of the lock. Huh? The angel of the Lord's
mercy who grabbed hold of the lock and said, you're coming
out. A lot later, really. Pray for the Lord who pulled
Peter up from under the tree. Christ saved him. Praise the
Lord who took them apart into a better place of life, that
you come with me. You're mine. You're mine. Flee from my doctrine. Let's
not be like this world at all. All right, let's sing. Our Lord, we thank you for the
words of admonition, reproof, correction, as much as we thank
you for promises and words of comfort. We thank you for it.
We know that as a father correcteth chasteneth his children, so you
do those you love. We thank you for it. We would
not change a word of it. We ask that you would use your
word to correct us. to set our feet in paths of righteousness,
to turn not to the right or the left, but straight on, look straight
on, follow me, is our prayer. We ask you for your help. Lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Thine is the kingdom,
and we hope and pray we're in it. May the Lord bless you. In Christ's name, amen. You're dismissed.