Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Corinthians 10. Verse 12. Wherefore, let him that thinketh,
he standeth, take heed, lest he fall. When Paul says this,
He's really not talking about a fall in the sense of falling
into some particular sin, although that's certainly included. But
he's not talking about, for instance, being overcome with temptation
and falling. That's not what he's talking
about at all. He's talking about leaving the gospel, professing
to know Christ and believing the true gospel of grace and
having some experience in the things of God. And after all
of that, leaving Christ and going back to the world. Now, that's
a sobering thought, isn't it? It's a solemn thought. The thought
of having some experience in the things of God, some acquaintance
with truth and turning your back and going back to the world.
Do you fear this? Now, I'm looking at some people.
I know some people have been believers a long time. Do you
fear this? In 1 Corinthians 10, he gives
five Old Testament events that are given to us as a warning
and an admonition as to what will happen when one begins to
fall away. And there is no coming back after
one actually falls away. There's no coming back. Turn
to Hebrews chapter 10 for a moment. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 26,
For if we sin, willfully, after we have received
the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for
sins. But a certain fearful looking-for
of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries,
he that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three
witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment!
Suppose you shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot
the Son of God, And it's kind of the blood of the covenant,
wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and it's done despite
unto the Spirit of grace. Now, that's a passage of Scripture
that I used to tremble to read. It used to trouble me so much,
that thing of willful sinning, because how many times in your
experience have you known better than doing what you knew you
shouldn't do it? You felt convicted about it,
and you did it anyway. How many times have you done
that? It can't be counted, can it? As a matter of fact, every
time you've sinned, it's been willful. You never sinned against
your will. Every time you've sinned, you've
done what you wanted to do. And I remember I used to read
that passage of scripture and it would make me tremble, scared. What does this passage of scripture
mean? Well, notice what he says in the context, he's talking
about the gospel. Hebrews 10, talking about the atonement of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Where the remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. Now, if we sin willfully
after we've received the knowledge of the truth, the truth of how
God saves sinners by Christ, if we leave that after receiving
the knowledge of the truth, it's over for us. There remains no
more sacrifice for sin. That's talking about hearing
the gospel, receiving the gospel, believing the gospel, and then
going back. He says there's no more sacrifice
for sin. Somebody says, but aren't God's
elect secure? Is it not impossible for one
of the elect to be lost? Yes, it is. It is impossible
for anybody that Christ died for to ever be lost. Aren't you
thankful for that? He said, I give unto my sheep
eternal life and they shall never perish. They are preserved by
God's grace. And they are preserved through
persevering, through continuing in the faith, through continuing
to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are preserved through persevering. Now, the first warning Paul gives
us regarding this thing of falling is found in verse five and six
of First Corinthians, Chapter 10. Now, he talked about the
Israelites who had experienced so much, but he says, but with
many of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown
in the wilderness." Now, these things were our examples to the
intent that we should not lust after evil things, that we should
not covet evil things as they also lusted or coveted. Now, what he's referring to is
something that took place in Numbers chapter 11. Would you
turn with me to a Numbers chapter 11? Look in verse 34. And he called the name of that
place. This is Moses. After this event
that took place in Numbers 11, he called the name of that place
Kibrothatehava. What in the world does that mean?
Well, my marginal reference says that means the graves of lust,
the graves of lust, because that they buried the people that lusted. Now, he's talking about lust.
That is the subject, the graves of lust. And I've entitled this
message, The Graves of Lust. And these people were judged
by God and died on account of their lust, their desire. What
is lust? It's strong desire. And you know,
if you want to know what a man really is, what does he lust
after? That's what he really is. What
does he crave? What does he desire? And this
story begins in verse 1 of Numbers chapter 11. I think generally
when we think of the word lust, most people think of that in
a sexual connotation. And that's included, but that's
not even one millionth of the story of what this means to lust
or to covet or to desire. What's the last of the Ten Commandments?
Thou shalt not covet. And really, covetousness is a
summary of breaking all Ten Commandments. Look in verse 1 of Numbers chapter
11. And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord, and the
Lord heard And his anger was kindled, and the fire of the
Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost
part of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses, and when Moses
prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched. And he called the
name of the place Tavara, because the fire of the Lord burnt among
them. This story begins shortly after
they had departed from Egypt. As a matter of fact, the 40 years
wandering did not take place, if you'll remember, until Numbers
chapter 14. That's when the spies brought
the evil report and they believed the spies. And that's when the
Lord said, you're going to stay here in the wilderness for 40
years. So this happened just shortly after they were delivered
from Egypt. They had not been out of Egypt
very long, and the bondage was not a distant memory. What a
miserable life they'd experienced, and the Lord has brought them
out. And now they begin to complain. What that complaint was, we're
not informed, but any complaint was wrong, wasn't it? After all
the Lord had done for them, and it angered the Lord. And the
Scripture says fire came out and burnt those on the uttermost
part of the camp. Verse 4, And the mixed multitude
that was among them fell a lusting. And this is what Paul's referring
to in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. The mixed multitude that was
among them fell a lusting. They lusted a lust, a strong
desire. And the children of Israel also
wept again and said, Who will give us flesh to eat? Now, who's this mixed multitude?
They're mentioned in Exodus chapter 12, verse 38, as leaving with
the children of Israel in the Exodus after the Passover. They
were not Israelites. They were Egyptians. They were
the offspring of mixed marriages between the Israelites and the
Egyptians, and they're called the mixed multitude, and they
represent something. They represent mixed principles. They represent the mixture of
law and grace. They represent the mixture of
truth and error. They represent the mixture of
the world with the gospel, a hybrid, something derived from different
sources, a mongrel, something compound, not something that's
pure, but something that's mixed, different sources. What this
is, this mixed multitude, this is the introduction of the word
and and the taking away of the word alone. That's what this
mixed multitude represents. The introduction of the word
and and the taking away of the word alone. We believe Scriptures
alone. Do we? We surely do. Not our
confessions, not our creeds, not our... Scriptures alone. Here's where there's trouble.
Scriptures and. Oh, we believe the Bible is the
Word of God and. Any introduction of the word
and is a wrong introduction. We believe Christ alone as my
only ground of acceptance before God. Only who He is and what
He did, that's what makes me acceptable before God. Christ
alone. What happens when you get Christ
and? You've got to mix a multitude, don't you? Christ and something
I do to make what He did work for me. We believe grace alone. Grace alone. Grace and is a denial
of grace in the first place. Grace alone. Where we really
get in trouble is grace and we believe in faith alone. Faith
in Christ alone. We get in trouble when it's faith
and something else. God's glory alone is the only
acceptable motive. All other motives are wrong motives.
Where we get in trouble is when it's the glory of God and we'll
say the good of men and love for souls and so on. But what
we end up doing is we end up prostituting the gospel when
we say things like that. It's the glory of God alone. The mixed multitude is the tares
among the wheat. It's the influence of unbelievers
on believers. The mixed multitude fell a lusting,
a strong desire, and the children of Israel were affected by it.
And don't think that you will not be affected by unbelievers. If you make unbelievers your
friend, they will always bring you down. every time, they will
always bring you away from Christ. The mixed multitude fell a lusting,
and look what happened to the children of Israel as a result.
Verse 4, the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting,
and children of Israel also wept again and said, Who shall give
us flesh to eat? We're tired of manna. We want flesh. We want meat. We want steak. We want chicken. We want fish. We're tired of
manna. The children of Israel were affected
by the mixed multitude. Now that manna, you know, is
Christ. He said, I am the bread that
came down from heaven. The manna is the gospel, and
through the influence of the mixed multitude, the children
of Israel grew tired of the gospel. There was nothing but manna before
their eyes. They said, all we have is this
manna. Is that a bad thing? If all you had to eat was manna,
is that a bad thing? If all you have is Christ, is
that a bad thing? But their souls had been corrupted
from the simplicity that's in Christ Jesus through the influence
of the mixed multitude. Let's go on reading in verse
five. They say, we remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt
freely. and the cucumbers and the melons
and the leeks and the onions and the garlic. But now our soul
is dried away. There's nothing at all besides
this manna before our eyes. Now, their memory of Egypt. Where did they come up with this?
They're saying in Egypt we had it made. We had leeks and onions. Everything was great. Everything
was wonderful. Now, wait a minute. They were
in bitter, hard bondage. mistreated. There wasn't anything
good about their life, but yet when they talk about this, they
said we had it made. Really, their memory was not
real. They had miserable lives. They
said our souls are dried up by this man. Hold your finger there
in Numbers and turn to Psalm 106. There's two references to
this in Psalms. Verse 14. They lusted exceedingly
in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert. And He gave
them their request. He gave them what they wanted,
but He sent leanness unto their soul. When we become lean, the
gospel no longer rings our bell. It becomes dull and uninteresting. The same old, same old, same
stuff over and over and over again. It's not stimulating,
and instead of rejoicing, it seems to be dry. Oh, the preacher's
dried up. He's dried up. He's not giving
us anything to interest us. It becomes old and stale. And look what they say. They
say in verse 6, Our soul is dried away. There's nothing at all
beside this manna before our eyes. Now, this way of thinking
is based upon a lie when they say, For there's nothing but
manna before our eyes. For one thing, Man ought to be
enough. Isn't that so? Man ought to be
enough. But look back with me to Exodus
chapter 16, beginning in verse 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, I've heard the murmuring of the children of Israel, speaking
to them, saying, And even you shall eat flesh, and in the morning
you shall be filled with bread, and you shall know that I am
the Lord your God. And it came to pass that even the quails
came up and covered the camp. And in the morning the dew lay
round about the host, They got the manna in the morning and
they got flesh at night. Now, were they getting off on
saying, oh, we have manna? That's not true. Their objection,
their lust was based upon something that was absolutely not true.
Now, you think, how could they make a mistake like that? I mean,
if the flesh came there every night, the quails dropped on
the ground, how in the world could they say there's no quail,
there's no flesh? How did they make a mistake like
that? But same way you and I would. Same way you and I would. Here's
what I thought about. Would you turn with me to Mark,
the book of Mark chapter 6. Mark chapter 6, verse 42. This is after the miraculous
feeding of the 5,000. And they did all eat and were
filled. And they, the 12 disciples, took
up 12 baskets full of fragments and of the fishes. And they that
did eat of the loaves were about 5,000 men. Now, can you imagine
What the disciples were thinking after seeing this miraculous
food being created, 5,000 people being fed. You reckon they'd
remember that? Now let me take you to an event
just a few days later. And these are the disciples we're
talking about. We're talking about the twelve. Look at Mark
chapter 8. And in those days, verse 1, the
multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus
called his disciples unto him and saith unto them, I have compassion
on the multitude because they've now been with me for three days
and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away fasting
to their own houses, they'll thank, by the way, for divers
of them came from afar. And his disciples answered him,
From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in
the wilderness? What happened? The same thing
that happens to you and I every time we don't believe the gospel.
Every time we are plagued with unbelief. In there, just a couple
days later, from whence can a man come up with this? Back to our
text, Numbers 11. And the manna, verse 7, and the
manna was as a corander seed, and the collar thereof, as the
collar of Bedellium, and the people went about, and they gathered
it, and they ground it in mills, or they beat it in a mortar and
baked it in pans and made cakes of it. They did everything they
could to try to get a little variety. You know, variety is
the spice of life. I don't want to eat the same thing all the
time. They did everything they could to make it taste different,
taste better, or taste different. It wasn't enough. But look what
the Scripture says about this manna. It still had the taste
of fresh oil. It tasted good. And it didn't really need all
these things that they were trying to do. Verse 9, And when the
dew fell upon the camp of the night, the manna fell upon it.
Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every
man in the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord was
kindled greatly. And Moses also was displeased. And Moses said
unto the Lord, now Moses is affected by this. There is nothing commendable
about what Moses is saying here. He says, Wherefore hast thou
afflicted thy servant? And wherefore have I not found
favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this
people upon me. He complains to the Lord. Now,
if the Lord gives you a burden, and he does, if the Lord gives
you a burden, he always gives you the grace to bear up under
that burden. Did Moses have any right to say what he was saying
at all? Moses was wrong. He was affected by the complaining
and the murmuring and the mixed multitude. Look what he says
in verse 12. Have I conceived all this people?
Have I begotten them that thou shouldst say unto me, Carry them
in thy bosom, as a nursing father bareth a sucking child into the
land, which thou swarest unto their fathers? Wherefore should
I have flesh to give all this people? For they weep unto me,
saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. I am not able to bear
all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if
thou deal'st thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand,
if I found favour in thy sight, lest I see, so I won't see my
wretchedness." Now, where is Moses coming up with this? What
made him think that the Lord was expecting him to provide
for these people? He saw the man falling down and
the quail falling every night just like everybody else did.
Why would Moses think the burden of these people was upon him?
Once again, this was self-righteousness. He said, just kill me. Don't
let me see my wretchedness. Have you ever been there? Sure you
have. Sure you have. Verse 16. 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 with thee. And I'll come down, and
I'll talk with thee there, and I will take of the Spirit which
is upon thee." Now, was the Spirit upon Moses? It was on Moses,
enough to give him the grace to bear whatever the Lord gave
him to do. Of course it was. But what does
the Lord do when Moses complains like this? He loses an honor
he would have had. He takes away the spirit that
he had and just gives it to these other people. That's where this
ended up. Look, take it the spirit which
is upon thee, and 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 know, the Lord will give
you what you ask for. That's a scary thought sometimes, isn't
it? With regard to what you ask for, ask the Lord to give you
what you need. I tell you what, I'm afraid to ask him to give
me what I want because that might be the worst thing for me. Ask
him to give you what you need. And say, verse 18, say unto the
people, sanctify yourselves against tomorrow and you shall eat flesh.
You're going to have they ask for flesh. OK, you're going to
get it. For you wept in the ears of the Lord, 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 of your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you, because
you despise the Lord which is among you. And if you wept before
Him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt? And the Lord tells
them what He was going to do. We want flesh. Now, wait a minute. May God give me grace to say
what needs to be said at this time to myself and to you. Let
your conversation be without covetousness and be content with
such things as you have. Hebrews 13, 5. For he has said,
I'll never leave thee, nor forsake thee. I want to ask you a question.
In Colossians chapter 3, verse 11, we read, Christ is all. Now, here's a question I want
to ask you. Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is all to God? I love that hymn, that special
that was sung this morning, All to God He Surrendered. He surrendered
all. I looked at that hymn and I thought,
well, we'll never see. I surrender. What have you given?
He is all. Do you believe that? Do you believe
He's all to God? Do you believe that He's all
you need to make you perfect before God? Do you believe that? Do you believe He's all you need
to satisfy you? Do you really believe that? What
is there to covet? If you've got all, there's nothing
left to covet, is there? If you really believe that, if
you believe you're complete in Him and you have all in Him,
there is nothing to covet. You know what? Well, right now,
I really believe that. I've got all things. There's
nothing else I need. I'm perfect in Christ Jesus.
I'm so satisfied with that. There's got to be more. No, there's
not any more. This is everything. This is everything.
I believe this. I'm perfectly satisfied to be
saved by Christ. Christ Jesus is all. He's all
of God. He's all of the Scriptures. He's
all of me. What is there to covet? What is there to be dissatisfied
with? What this lusting is about is lusting for something other
than Christ. Desiring something other than
Christ. If you really believe He's all,
if you really believe that, you'll be satisfied. Let's go on reading. Verse 21, And Moses said to people,
among whom I am are six hundred thousand footmen, and thou hast
said, I'll give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. Shall
the flocks and the herds be slain for them to suffice them? Or
shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them
to suffice them and satisfy them? And the Lord said unto Moses,
Is the Lord's hand whack short? What a question. Is the Lord's
hand whack short? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? With God, the scripture says, nothing shall be impossible. Listen to this. Is it too hard
for God to make you completely satisfied with Christ? No, not
at all. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto
thee or not. And Moses, verse 24, went out and told the people
the words of the Lord and gathered the seventy men of the elders
of the people and set them round about the tabernacle. And the
Lord came down in a cloud spake unto him, and took of the Spirit
that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders." You
see, nothing was gained, it was just distributed in a different
way. And it came to pass that when the Spirit rested upon them,
they prophesied and did not cease. But there remained two of the
men in the camp that came, the one Eldad, the other Medad. And
the Spirit rested upon them, and they were of them that were
written, but went not out into the tabernacle, and they prophesied
in the camp. And there ran a young man and told Moses and said,
Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua, the son
of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered
and said, My Lord, Moses forbid them. And Moses said unto them,
Envious thou for my sake? Would to God that all the Lord's
people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit
upon them. And Moses got him into the camp, he and the elders
of Israel, and they went forth. And the wind from the Lord And
there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails
from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were, a day's
journey on this side, and as it were, a day's journey on the
other side, round about the camp, and as it were, two cubits high
upon the face of the earth. And the people stood up all that
day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered
the quails, and he that gathered least gathered ten omers, and
they spread them abroad for themselves round about the camp. And while
the flesh was yet between their teeth, Oh, it tasted so good,
we finally got us meat. Ere it was chewed, the wrath
of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote
the people with a very great plague, and He called the name
of that place, Kibroth-Hat-Tay-Avoth, because there they buried the
people that lusted. And the people journeyed from
Kibroth-Hat-Tay-Avoth unto Hazeroth, and abode at Hazeroth. Graves
of lust. Now, Paul said, any man that
thinks he stands, take heed, be aware, take heed lest you
fall. And the first example he gives
is the children of Israel lusting, lusting for meat. Now, remember
the desires you have that cause you to be anything other than
completely satisfied with Christ. They're all based on a lie. That
meat was there. Those desires you have. And you
have them. Listen, I have them. I mean,
we're always tempted to look somewhere other than Christ.
Those desires you have are all based on a lie. Secondly, in
Christ you have all. What is there to desire? If you
have all, there's nothing to desire. David put it this way.
He said, One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I
seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all
the days of my life. to behold the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in His temple. Now if David's saying, I just
want to hang out in the temple all day long and I want to just stay
there and not get out and get exposed to the world, that's
not what he's saying. Who's the house of the Lord?
Christ Jesus Himself is the house of the Lord. And I want to simply
abide in Him. And in Him, I find such satisfaction,
such rest, such joy, there's nothing else to lust after. I
don't want to fall away from Christ, do you? I do not want
to fall away. Lord, give me grace to see the
world for what it is. And when I see the world for
what it is, it will only be by seeing Christ for who He is.
When I see that He is all, I see the world for what it is. One
last scripture. Would you turn with me to Galatians
chapter 6? Paul says in verse 12, As many
as desire to make a fair show in the flesh. And isn't that
what man's religion is all about? A fair show in the flesh. He said, they constrain you to
be circumcised. They tell you, you need to do
this. Yes, you're saved by grace, but you need to do this also.
He's talking about the law. But the only reason they do that
is lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For
neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law. But
they desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh.
Look what an influence I've had over them. I've influenced them
for good. Oh, I feel good about myself. Look what Paul says.
But God forbid that I should glory. save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the complete salvation that I have in Him,
by whom the world is crucified unto me. In light of the gospel,
I see this world in all of its pomp and circumstance, I see
it as nothing more than vanity. Do you see that? I do. You know,
I'm not impressed with this world. I'm impressed with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I'm impressed with the Gospel. And you know, I'm
impressed with people who believe on Him. You want me to tell you
what kind of person I'm really impressed with? Is it somebody
with a lot of money? Is it somebody highfalutin? Not at all. I'm impressed with
somebody who actually trusts the Lord Jesus Christ at all
in their salvation. That's who I'm impressed with.
I'm impressed with somebody who loves Jesus Christ. I'm impressed
with somebody who delights in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm impressed with somebody who really believes salvation by
grace. I'm impressed with somebody who believes the Bible is the
word of God. I'm impressed. And I know that it's only the
grace of God that caused them to be that way. But that's the
person I'm impressed with. The world, I'm not impressed.
It's the world that hates the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Paul
said, in light of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, I glory
only in the cross of Christ, by which The world is a crucified
thing to me, and I'm also a crucified thing to the world. You want
me to tell you who the world will not be impressed with? A
disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody who actually loves Christ
and believes on Him. Well, may God give us grace to
truly find our satisfaction, our self-image, our everything,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. I take the miracle of God's grace
to do that, but that's what I desire for myself and that's what I
desire for you. Let's pray together.