Alright, let's turn to 1 Corinthians
10. The lesson this morning I titled,
A Strong Warning. And Paul's got some things to
tell us here that I believe is a strong warning. Now the letter
of Paul to the Corinthians is as pertinent right now as it
was in the day that he wrote it. It's as relevant today as
it was then. Corinthians were a people raised
in idolatry. They were a people, I suppose
you could say, of culture. Lots of people went and visited
that country because of the culture. They were wise. when the Lord used, wanted to
use one name to talk about wisdom or to sum up wisdom, he used
the Greeks. So they were a people that were
wise and they were cultured people, but they were a people raised
in idolatry. And they considered themselves
educated and wise in art and science and philosophy. They learned to live together with
people of different faiths and religions. And now the Lord's
done a work in some of these men, some of these women, and
He exposed their idolatry and ignorance. And now they worship
the one true and living God. And they worship in spirit and
truth. But they're still living where
they were raised, and they're still interacting with those
that they were raised with. Because God has revealed His
gospel to you, doesn't mean that He's revealed it to the next
guy. The things that the Lord's taught
you, you get in an open conversation with somebody down at the barbershop
or something, and they give you one of those looks when you're
talking to them. The Lord's revealed some things
to you, but that don't mean He's revealed them to them. Everybody that claims to be a
believer is not a believer. Everybody that says they're Christians
are not necessarily Christians. And we live and we go to school
and work with this unregenerate world. And what seems right to
them may be an abomination to God. And what seems perfectly
innocent to them might be vile in the eyes of God. So Paul begins
this chapter with an example of a people highly favored of
God, a people delivered by God. delivered out of captivity and
tyranny of people who enjoyed the presence and power of God
in their midst. They were Israelites. Verse 1,
Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant,
how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed
through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud
and in the sea. and did all eat the same spiritual
meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for the drink
of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ."
Now, try to get the picture that Paul is painting here. Israelites,
sons of Abraham to whom God had promised His blessed seed, called
out of Egypt. hauled out of Egypt, which God
overthrew by a mighty hand, and then led them through the midst
of this impassable sea. Brian and I were talking about
this yesterday. Try to get a picture of them
stretched out for miles. The most conservative estimate
was over two million, and it goes up from there. Well, they
couldn't just get a thousand wide, they were just, you know,
a certain number of people wide and you take that times two million
and that stretches out for miles and miles and miles. And then
add to that wagons and horses and all this kind of stuff. So,
and they were a great multitude is what Paul is telling us. A
great multitude of men and women and children and All of them
confessing their tithes to Abraham. All of them claiming to be sons
of Jacob. All of them claiming to be children
of the living God. And they were in the right place.
They were in the right place. They were with the right people.
And they were all hearing God's prophet and God's priest. Every
one of them. Verse 5. I Corinthians 10 verse
5. Here's this multitude stretched
out for miles and miles and miles, a great multitude, millions of
people. But with many of them, God was
not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness. I want to stop here and I want
to ask you a question. What does a man have to do to
please God? With many of these, many of this
multitude that went out, this multitude who professed to be
children of Abraham and sons of Jacob, children of the living
God, with many of them, God was not well pleased. What does a
man have to do to please God? Some of them did please God.
Some of them didn't. And with many of them, God was
not well pleased. Well, in Hebrews 11, the faith
chapter, it says of Enoch that he was translated that he should
not see death and was not found because God had translated him.
For before his translation, he had this testimony. He pleased
God. He pleased God. Now watch this. This, I believe, is the key to
this whole chapter. Hebrews 11, verse 6. But without
faith, it is impossible to please God. It's impossible. Jesus Christ, by virtue of His
own person and character and deeds, is the only one by and
of Himself that's well-pleasing to God. This is my beloved son. You remember on the Mount of
Transfiguration, the disciples that went up with him, Peter,
James, and John, they all went up there with him. And they saw
Elijah and Moses talking with Christ about his decease, about
his exodus. And they said, let's build three
monuments here, three altars here, in honor of these three
that's up on this mountain. And God shrouded that whole outfit
in kind of a fog. And they heard the voice of God.
And God said, this is my beloved son. Hear ye him. God's well
pleased. He said, this is my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye him. He's the only one
of and by himself with whom God is well pleased. He's pleased
with us by faith because of the object of our faith, which is
Christ. That's what's well-pleasing to
God. Jesus Christ, God's dear Son,
came into this world as a representative man. He didn't come here as other
men have come, as individuals responsible and accountable for
themselves. He came to represent a people
given to Him by the Father before the world began. And the only
thing that makes us to differ from everybody else in this world
is the free and sovereign grace of God that chose us and blessed
us by virtue of our spiritual union with Jesus Christ our Lord. And faith looks to Christ alone. It doesn't see all around, see
this and see that and look behind and look. It sees Christ. That's what faith does. It focuses
on Christ. It rests in Christ alone. It's
satisfied with Christ alone. It doesn't need anything else.
It finds everything it needs in Christ, a full sufficiency
in Him. A full sufficiency of His righteousness
alone. It trusts in the sufficiency
of His blood and His death and His suffering alone. It sees
only Christ. It eats only Christ. It drinks
only Christ. It walks in Christ. And some of these Israelites
had this faith. They might not have had it to
the degree that some of us enjoy it today, and with the clarity
that we have it today, but they had this faith. And they knew
that those sacrifices pointed to Christ. They knew that that
rock, that smitten rock, pointed to Christ. Some of these Israelites had
this faith, and some of them were just there because of extenuating
circumstances. They were relatives. They were
relatives. They were children, wives, strangers
living among them. Some were there for the sheer
glory of what had taken place. They saw what took place in Egypt. And some had faith in God's coming
Redeemer, the Christ. And those without faith were
overthrown in the wilderness. They were tried and found wanting.
But Paul tells us in Hebrews 4, 2, For unto us was the gospel
preached as well as unto them. It was preached to them same
as it was preached unto us. But it did not profit them, now
listen, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
They heard it. It was given to them. It was
given to them in type and picture. It was given to them. It was
preached to them. But it didn't do them any good
because it wasn't mixed with faith in them that heard it.
For we which have believed, the true believer, he enters into
rest. He rests in what he sees. He rests in Christ. And these
unbelievers were overthrown in the wilderness because they would
not walk by faith. All right? Hebrews 10.6. Now
these things were our examples to the intent that we should
not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be
ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written, the people
sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." Idolatry is
the worship of anything that's not God. That's idolatry. And faith is not just persistence. I was listening to a man trying
to describe faith on one of the religious broadcasts. And when
he was done, what he had to say, the sum of it was this, that
faith was persistence. Well, faith is not just persistence. It's not just an act of continuing
on. But faith acts on an understanding. It has an understanding. It knows
what it believes. And it knows whom it believes.
And it acts upon the revelation of truth which God has given
to it. And it acts upon the knowledge
of God in Christ. And it acts upon the gifts of
grace which we've received, imputed righteousness and justification
and sanctification and redemption. It acts upon a divine work in
the heart, regeneration and the fruit of the new birth. The scripture uses words to describe
faith like this, established in the faith. Just think a minute. Think about
faith and then listen to these words that he describes faith
with. Established in the faith. Now you know what it is to be
established. You know what it is to be settled
and grounded, persuaded, rooted, built up. Faith is not blind,
ignorant persistence. Faith has an understanding. Faith
knows whom it believes, and it acts on what it knows. True faith,
though. And millions of Jews came out
of Egypt, but not all had the faith of God's elect. Some came
because they were the children of the parents who went out there.
I have children. Not all of them believe. I have
children. And when they come here, they
usually come with me down here to the service. But not all of
them believe. And the same thing out in this
multitude that was crossing this wilderness. Some of them were
sons and daughters. Some came because they were wives. Some came because they hoped
for prosperity and gain. And some came because of that
tyranny that they experienced down in Egypt. And it was more
than they could bear. But for whatever reason they
came, they had not faith. They had no understanding, no
revelation, no godly persuasion. Now listen, they ate the Passover
physically. They physically took it. They
ate the Passover. But spiritually, they didn't
understand what they did. had no spiritual impact on them
whatsoever. They physically followed Moses
through the sea. He tells us that at the beginning
of this chapter. They physically followed him
across the wilderness. They physically gathered the
manna and drank from the smitten rock. They physically came to
the tabernacle and offered their rams and goats and heifers. They
physically kept certain days and feasts and ceremonies, but
they had no spiritual understanding of it whatsoever. They had no
faith. And because they had no understanding,
they had no satisfaction. Satisfaction comes with understanding. It comes with being persuaded.
Persuasion comes by understanding. And the man or woman who finds
Christ, has a revelation of Christ, and sees who He is, and understands
what He's accomplished, knows why He came, and knows where
He is, and knows what He's doing. That man's a satisfied man. He's
not looking for anything else. He's not hungry for anything
else. He's satisfied. He's content. Now listen to what
verse 5 says again. But with many With many, not a few, not one
here and there, but with many, he was displeased. They displeased
God. And they were overthrown in the
wilderness. And they lusted after evil things. The appetite of the flesh is
insatiable. It's not capable of being satisfied. I don't care what it gets. It
wants this, wants this, wants this, and it gets it, and it
wants something else. And it gets that, and it wants something
else. And as fast as it gets one thing, the newness is off
of it. It goes in the drawer and wants
something else. The flesh is incapable of being
satisfied. He calls covetousness idolatry
in the Scripture. Did you know that? Covetousness,
he said, which is idolatry. These unbelievers were idolaters. And Moses went up on the mount
to receive the commandments of God. And when he got back, the
high priest had made a golden calf. And here is all of Israel
down there dancing naked around a golden calf. Numbers 25 records the history
of Israel committing whoredoms with the daughters of Moab and
going with them to offer sacrifice to their idols. And God killed
24,000 of them at one time. I don't know how many who tempted
Christ. It says here that some of them
tempted Christ. And how did they do that? They said, our soul loatheth
this light breath. And I don't know. He caused it
to rain fiery serpents down. And I don't know how many thousand.
It doesn't really give you a number. But thousands upon thousands
of Israel died. And each time they committed
these atrocities before God, God killed many of them, many
of them. And then when He got to the promised
land and they came back with a bad report and refused to go
into the promised land, that's when God swore that none of them,
none of them above 20 years of age that was numbered in Israel
was going to enter into that promised land. who murmured against him. They
tempted Christ. They lay around and dream at
night about those old flesh pots back in Egypt. But they couldn't
stand the thought of eating one more slice of that light bread.
They just couldn't do it. Because they had no faith, no
understanding, no revelation, they murmured. They murmured. That's what dissatisfied people
do. They went with the congregation,
but they murmured. They murmured. They went and
gathered the bread, but they murmured. And they came to the
threshold of the promised land, but they murmured. All right. 1 Corinthians 10, 11. Now all these things happened
unto them for examples. And they were written for our
admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Beloved,
spiritual idolatry is to worship with idolaters. Spiritual fornication is to get
into bed with them, join their ranks, participate in their worship
services, participate with them. And then murmuring is dissatisfaction
with Christ, with His righteousness and sacrifice for sins, with
the glory of His person, His offices, His accomplishments,
and His present reign and glory. Murmuring is discontentment with
His means and messenger. Murmuring is looking upon the
providence of God and grumbling about it, knowing that His providence
is for your good and His glory. And murmuring is the unwillingness
to give God all the glory. He gets all the glory. I Corinthians
10 verse 12. Wherefore, wherefore, let him
that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. What do you think this morning?
What do I think? Do we believe we stand under
our own power and strength? Is that what we believe? Do we believe in a perseverance,
some kind of a perseverance based on our own tenacity, on our own
persistence and stubborn will? Do we believe that we, that where we are, that we're
here by our own power, by our own decisions, by our own will? Do we believe we stand as a result
of doing the best we can? Let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed, lest he fall." There is no calling, no walking,
no standing, no persevering apart from faith in Christ, which is
the gift of God's free grace. There is no standing except in
His grace. And so believers say in their
hearts with Jude, now unto Him, now unto Him, that's able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise
God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and
forever. And this is what this whole study
in Corinthians is about. Now, this is a warning. He's
telling us it's impossible to please God except to walk by
faith. Everything else that you do,
you start getting a little bit of pride and a little bit of
nose in the air because you do this and this guy don't do that,
and you come more often than they do, or you give more than
they do, or you dress prettier than they do. All of these things
that we do, and slowly but surely, that self-righteousness, self-righteousness,
building up, building up, building up. Pretty soon, you think you
stand under your own power. And this is why the gospel, Paul
said, it's not a hard thing for me and it's good for you that
I repeat these things over and over and over. And that's why
the gospel must be preached. It got to slay this thing of
self-righteousness and pride. And the only place you're going
to go where that's slain is somewhere where the gospel is being preached.
You go out here in religion, and they'll brag on you. Go out
here in religion, they'll puff you up. They'll tell you, oh,
how good you are, how sweet you are, and how much they need you,
and how much this and that. And you won't find that in gospel
church. In the gospel church, the preacher cries, all flesh
is grass, and all the glory of men is like the flower of the
grass. And it fadeth. And it's good for nothing to
be raked up and burned.