1 Corinthians 10:1-15

[0:00] Good morning. Good morning. Being the New Testament this morning in the book of First Corinthians, chapter 10.

[0:10] Thank you, sir. Really, in First Corinthians 10, Paul addresses some things that he actually begins to address in First Corinthians, chapter 8 and on through chapter 9.

[0:38] Much of it has to do with idolatry within the church and amongst believers. Chapter 9 is a lot to do with how Paul using himself as an example of overcoming this.

[0:56] Then we get to First Corinthians chapter 10 and Paul gives several very good examples to some Jewish believers. But to the pagan crowd as well, the Gentile I should say, not pagan.

[1:15] But to the Gentile crowd as well. But we need to remember as we go, as we talk about this, just who it was that Paul was writing to, the church of Corinth was set in the middle of a nasty culture, a vile culture.

[1:33] It was evil and it was wicked, very sinful, it was polytheistic. They worshiped many gods in that culture. They had many different temples set up for many different gods, for the many different gods that they worshiped.

[1:49] And then somewhere in the city of Corinth, there was a gathering of believers in Jesus Christ. And this is who Paul was writing to. But what we need to remember is what culture they were coming out of and why Paul was having to address some of the things to them that he did, such the immorality issues, in particular the sexual immorality issues that Paul had to address with the church at Corinth.

[2:17] But this was the culture that these believers were coming out of. And naturally, when I got saved and when you got saved, I'm sure that you all had much the same experience that I did, that other people that were professing Christ were saying, well, I got saved too, 10, 15, 20 years ago, whatever.

[2:39] But I still do this and I feel like that's okay. And that's what these Corinthians were facing was these people saying, well, it's all right to do this and it's all right to do that.

[2:51] It's all right to eat meat that's been sacrificed, it's all right to attend the feast under these gods, you know, because I do it. But Paul actually addresses it in this book here and says, not to be a stumbling block, you know, those of you who are stronger Christians, those of you that have greater faith, you can be a stumbling block to those that are in the weaker faith, even if you go and you know what you can do and what you can't get into, you can be a stumbling block to someone who doesn't know that as well or doesn't have quite the faith that you do.

[3:31] So Paul goes through these things and that just did in a very small nutshell. And then he gets to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and he gives some really good examples of Jewish history here, namely for the Jews that were in Corinth, because understand the Gentiles would have very little knowledge, if any knowledge, about Jewish history.

[3:56] So he was writing mainly to the Jews within the church and then afterward they could relay to the Gentiles exactly what was going on here.

[4:07] So we'll begin reading in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 1. It says, Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, but that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all were 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 they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.

[4:39] 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 as they also lusted.

[4:51] Neither be idolaters as were some of them, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play, neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three in twenty thousand, neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents, neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer.

[5:17] Now all these things happened unto them for in samples, and they are written for our amundition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, let take heed lest he fall.

[5:31] There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that, ye are able, but will with your temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it.

[5:46] Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from my doletry, I speak as to wise men, judge ye what I say. We'll go back to the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 10, it says, moreover, brethren, I want you to pay attention to this word all, because Paul repeats it a few different times in these verses.

[6:05] 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 all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and the sea, and all did eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was crossed.

[6:28] So here we have Paul writing several examples to the church that is in Corinth, and that's something else we need to keep in mind here, that Paul was not writing to pagans, he was not writing to heathens, he wasn't writing to the Scythians or the barbarians.

[6:46] Paul was writing to people that had made a profession in Jesus Christ, people that had been preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, and these people had believed upon the name of Jesus Christ it reminds me much of the letter to the Hebrews, further over in the New Testament, that letter was written.

[7:06] Granite had many warnings in that letter, it had many things of doctrine, many things in that letter, but folks it was written to Jewish believers in Jesus Christ, and here Paul is addressing mainly the Jewish believers that are in Coranthus, and he said we all, all of our fathers were in this boat, he said they all passed through the sea, they were all baptized unto Moses, and unto the sea they did all eat the same spiritual meat, and they did all drink the same spiritual drink, in other words what Paul is trying to get through to these people is that they all had the same blessings that Moses did.

[7:49] If you read over in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11, you'll read about the man Moses in that section of the great heroes of faith, and you'll read that it was because of Moses' faith that the Israelites were able to pass through the Red Sea on over to the other side to enter into the wilderness, on their way to the land that Almighty God had promised him, but it was because of the faith of Moses, it was not the faith of the Israelites, it was not the faith of those that were cowering in fear, that were saying here come the Egyptians on our backside, here they come, they're going to overtake us, they're going to kill us, it was because of the faith of one man that those Israelites were able to pass over to the other side, and here we are reading about how they did all the Israelites, they did eat of the same spiritual meat, they drank of the same spiritual drink, they were all blessed because of Moses, the Bible says they were baptized into Moses and in the sea folks, this doesn't mean that they were baptized into Moses the same way that we are baptized into Christ, it is an association with the man Moses that Paul is getting out here in 1 Corinthians in chapter 10, and when we are baptized into Christ, we are professing our association with the only way that has ever been made that we can get into heaven, we are publicly professing that we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, we are making a public profession that we believe in the death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that we have died with Him, we have been buried with Him and blessed God, we have been resurrected under life and eternal life with our Lord Jesus Christ, hallelujah.

[9:45] Folks, this was nothing more, what he's talking about here being baptized into Moses, he's talking about they were associated with Moses, had they not been associated with Moses folks, they wouldn't have obtained the same blessings that they got, but it was because of the faith of Moses, y'all remember the account at the beginning of the book of Exodus, when God goes to Moses, he was on the backside of the Sinai Desert, he was tending his father and lost sheep and God appears unto Moses in the form of a burning bush, he tells Moses he says to go unto Pharaoh and tell him I said to let my people go, God had heard the cries of his people, of his chosen nation, of his people that he had selected before the foundations of the world, wherever God had heard the cries of his people and he sent a man named Moses to deliver those people out of Egypt, but even while he was there, the people doubted, even after they had left town, even on their way toward the Red Sea, they were doubting and once they got on the other side of the Red Sea, they continued their doubt, but they all drank of the same spiritual drink and they all ate of the same spiritual meat, the spiritual meat being the manna that God rained down from heaven, they obtained this blessing from Almighty God,

[11:06] God said I will bring manna down upon this people, they all drank of the same spiritual water, this water that flowed from the rock, twice we find in the Bible that Moses smote a rock and the water flowed forth from it, for those Israelites that had no water, but what brought this to be, it was the murmuring of the Jews that brought it to be, it was the murmuring and the complaining, why Moses have you brought us out into this wilderness?

[11:33] Why are we out here? We'd be better off with the flesh parts back in Egypt, we'd be better off at least then, we had the leeks and we had the melons and we had the onions, we had food then, we had meat then, we had water to the plenty, why have you brought us out here to die?

[11:53] And we Christians sometime will do the same thing, will do the same thing, God, why are you allowing me to walk around in this wilderness? God, I feel like I'm starving, God, I feel like I'm first and foremost, maybe it's because you're not prayed up with God, maybe it's because you've fallen to the wayside, just a little bit, maybe it's because you haven't had your nose in the scripture, the way that you had, but folks we want to point the finger at Almighty God, we wanna say it is God's fault that I'm in this shape, it's God's fault that I feel this way when it is no one's fault, except for us, the believer.

[12:29] Shame on us for having that. Folks, we drank of the same spiritual drink, I drank of Jesus Christ, if you're sitting here born again, you drank of Jesus Christ too, I ate of the same spiritual meat, I ate of the manna from God, which is Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ said, I'm the bread, come down from heaven, I ate of the spiritual meat, if you're born again, you ate of the same spiritual meat that I did, we've all partaken in the same blessing of Almighty God, if you're sitting here and you are born again, we have all drank the same things, we've all eaten the same things, we've all been baptized into Jesus Christ, if you're born again, folks we have all done the same thing that Paul here is telling these Corinthian believers that their ancestors did, we've all partaken of the same thing, yet we're all guilty, we ain't careful of doing the same things that they do, but with many of them God, verse five, 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 as they also lust it, there are examples that says that God overthrew some of them in the wilderness, overthrew some of them, it says but with many of them God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness, but now these things are our examples and the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lust it, there are examples, what did they go for in the wilderness folks, that there was nothing wrong with them wanting water, there was nothing wrong with them wanting food and wanting to be fed in our natural state and our physical bodies, we know that we must have water and we know that we must have food, this is not what we're talking about here, that's why for the end of this passage that we read, just a little while ago Paul exhorts the Corinthians believers to flee from idolatry, this was the sin that got them, this was one of the sins that got them in the biggest trouble was idolatry, them putting something before God in their lives, them going to the outside nations, them going to the pagans and the heathens and adopting their gods into their culture and into their lifestyle and with their gods came their immoral culture and their immoral practices and the immoral worship of these false gods.

[14:57] And folks, the world tries to convince us of the same thing. I made a profession in Jesus Christ when I was five years old. I might be out partying now that I'm 30, I might be doing this and doing that, but I'm saved.

[15:12] And what's even worse is we have parents and grandparents making the same excuses for their children and for their grandchildren. They say, they made a profession when they were 10 or when they were 15 or maybe even when they were 18, they made a profession of Jesus Christ.

[15:30] It doesn't matter that they're out there in the world now, it doesn't matter what they're doing, it doesn't matter how drunk they get, how high they get, who they're shocked up with or anything else along those lines.

[15:41] I know that my child or my grandchild is saying that is not the teaching of the scripture. That is a sign of a worldly person, that is a sign of an unregenerate center that is bound for hell.

[15:58] If they are living in sin of any kind and have no remorse over it, and have no remorse whatsoever over their sinful sets, what would the problem with the Israelites were?

[16:09] They were so easily drawn into these other nations religions. They were so easily drawn into idolatry. And the Bible says that God overthrew some of them in the wilderness, verse seven, and neither be idolaters as were some of them as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

[16:28] This account that's being cited here is found in the 32nd chapter of the book of Exodus. The man Moses was up on Mount Sinai. He was receiving the law from Almighty God.

[16:40] And while he was up there, the Israelites came around there and they said, where's Moses been? Said, we know not what to become of him. We don't know where he's at. Make us an idol, make us a calf, make us something tangible, make us something that we can see that we can worship.

[16:57] And Aaron went right along with it. Well, right after folks, this wasn't long at all. After God had brought them across the Red Sea and they were begging for an idol to worship.

[17:09] Now, what's sad about that whole account? What the saddest part of that entire account is, is I believe those people had intentions of worshiping the true God.

[17:21] Because it goes on to say, the parents of tomorrow will have a feast under the Lord. Talking about Jehovah God, talking about the God that had delivered them out of Egypt. But folks, that's not what it became at all.

[17:32] It was a ritual and it was festivities just like the pagan nations around them had. It's what they learned while they were down in Egypt.

[17:43] It's the things that they saw while they were in Egypt, Egypt at that point in the scripture being a picture of the world. They learned these things from the world. And folks, if you learn things from the world, you will go out and you will do things that the world does.

[17:59] And God, that will get us in trouble. As believers or non-believers, it gets us in trouble with Almighty God. Believers are constantly, or non-believers are constantly in trouble with God.

[18:11] The Bible says that the wrath of God abides upon the wicked every day. Every day the wrath of God is upon them. But praise God, I've got Romans 8 once, as there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in cross Jesus.

[18:26] To them that are in cross Jesus, to them that have been saved, then that have been born again, them that have crucified the flesh, they've mortified the deeds of the flesh. They're walking up to the law.

[18:36] They love the statutes of Almighty God. They love the word of God and they do their best to please the God that saved their souls. These Israelites though, that Paul's given the example of, he says, neither be ye adulterers, as were some of them, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

[18:55] There's nothing wrong with eating and drinking. The folks, they were eating and drinking to a false God, to an idol that they had errand to make. And it says, they rose up to play. These were the festivities that they would have learned down in Egypt.

[19:10] In verse eight, neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fill in one day, three and 20,000. This account, you can find in numbers chapter 25. If you all use reference bottles, I'm sure it refers you back to numbers 25.

[19:24] Now the thing is, there's a controversy because in Romans, in numbers chapter 25, it plainly states that there was 24,000 that were killed in that.

[19:39] But here, when Paul says this, he says 23,000. But Paul specifies it was 23,000 in one day. The book of Numbers, it specifies 24,000, but it says nothing about one day.

[19:53] So evidently, some of those carried over into the next day, but this account, and the only reason I told you that is because you're going to have somebody say that the Bible's contradicting itself, that it's not keeping up with itself.

[20:03] But in numbers chapter 25, they were guilty of idolatry. They were guilty of, once again, the festivities of these pagan nations.

[20:14] You read where they had adopted the practices of some of these pagans and some of these heathens into their own culture and of the culture that God had given them into the religious practices that God had given them and God smoked these Israelites for it.

[20:31] In fact, he had Moses bring them up. And he had Moses, or Moses told the priests to go out and to slay these people. And they slayed 24,000 people all together according to Numbers chapter 25.

[20:49] And they fell in one day, three and 20,000. Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents.

[21:00] This will be the account that you find in Numbers in chapter 21. There was a king, there was a king and a king named Erad. And he came against the Israelites there. And the Israelites, they went to God and they said, if you'll deliver us out of the hand of this king, we'll worship you, we'll do whatever it is that you want us to do.

[21:20] And sure enough, God delivered the Israelites out. And the very next thing you see the Israelites doing is murmuring against God. They're murmuring not because of manna and not because of water.

[21:31] But the Bible says that they went out, they went around the way of the Red Sea. They were murmuring because of the way that they had to go. Folks, these people would murmur about anything, but this was the way that God had said before them, we as Christians, sometimes we murmur about the way that we are in.

[21:52] We murmur about the way that God has sent us on. We murmur and we complain against God. But folks, I promise you, if God has set you on a path, if God has said, you go this way, you go at this time and you go in this manner, God has got plans for you.

[22:09] He is done it for your good and for his glory. The same way that he'd done for these Israelites here. But they complained. They complained about the way, you turn the numbers 21, you'll see, they complained about the way that they were on here.

[22:25] And it says, neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents in this account. God sent the fiery serpents into the camp.

[22:37] And it was biting on the, and they were biting the Israelites and killing the Israelites. And we should all be well familiar with this story. This is what Jesus was referring back to in John chapter three, when he was talking with Nicodemus.

[22:50] And he said, as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up. The serpent was lifted up there by God's command, by God's order.

[23:01] There was a brawn serpent, there was a brazen serpent that was raised up in the wilderness and praised God, any man that laid eyes upon that serpent, they were healed of the, of the bites of the fiery serpents.

[23:13] I love that bit of the scripture. It was the serpent, it was raised up and it was any man that was able to lay eyes on him. It wasn't any man that could make his way to the serpent.

[23:24] It wasn't any man that could crawl his way. It wasn't any man could do this or do that. All they had to do was simply gaze at the serpent and it calls that was God's way of healing then.

[23:36] Folks, all we gotta do is trust in Jesus Christ. All we gotta do is trust in the one that was raised up as that serpent was done. It doesn't matter how blind you are, it doesn't matter how deaf you are, it doesn't matter how dumb you are, or anything else.

[23:52] All you have to do is trust on the only way that has ever been made that man can be saved. The Bible says that Jesus Christ, the teacher that Jesus Christ is the only way under salvation there is but one mediator between God and man and that is the man.

[24:09] Cross Jesus, you look under cross and have life. You look under cross and have live and live. You look under cross and have salvation.

[24:20] Hallelujah. Praise God. Praise the Lord. Verse nine, I'm sorry, verse 10, neither murmur he, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed, other destroyer folks, from the time, actually before they crossed the Red Sea, but we'll fast forward just a little bit, from the time they crossed the Red Sea, they murmured and they complained.

[24:45] They murmured and complained against Moses and against Aaron. They murmured and complained against two of God's men. Now I'm not gonna get into a whole thing of touching up my anointed and all like that, but then coming against God's men and the things that God had told Moses, Moses simply relayed to the Israelites, then coming against Moses and saying the things that they did and threatening to kill Moses at times in the Old Testament.

[25:14] Then doing that, it was a direct assault and an affront to God because all Moses did was relay the words and relay the instructions to the Israelites that God had given him.

[25:28] And it says, neither murmur he, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. God killed these people when they murmured against Moses and against Aaron.

[25:40] And it was because, not because they had offended Moses, not because they had offended Aaron or anything along those lines, it was because of their unbelief. That there is the same reason, when they got to the edge of the Promised Land folks, a lot of people don't realize this, but over in the Old Testament, when the real pilgrimage, the real 40 years of those Israelites being in the wilderness, when it truly, truly began, they were at the very edge of the Promised Land.

[26:10] They were on the brink of entering into the Promised Land at that point and God turned them away. God said, you have tempted me these 10 times and because of this temptation, because of what you have done, because of what you have said, you shall not enter into the Promised Land.

[26:29] Why was it? It was because of their unbelief. Remember those 12 spies that they sent into the land, 12 of them come back out and only two of them, only two of them, Joshua and Caleb, truly believe the word of God.

[26:43] God had already told them, I will go before you. I will give you this land that is flowing with milk and honey. I'll go before you. I'll destroy your enemies before you. Don't you worry about a thing. And 10 of the 12 did not believe God and they convinced everybody else in that camp to not believe God.

[27:00] The only two that did was Joshua and Caleb and they are the only two of the original Israelites that came up out of Egypt, that entered into the Promised Land. But that is when their true wonderings started right at the edge of the Promised Land.

[27:16] God help us. God help us. Neither murmur, as some of them also remember, they were destroyed of the destroyer.

[27:27] Folks, God did not completely forsake His people as He let them wonder. He didn't. Their garments didn't wrought off of their bodies.

[27:38] Their feet didn't blister. God took care of His people. He continued to rain Manadown for them. He continued to supply water for those Israelites. Wow, they were out there in the wilderness.

[27:48] Once again, this was God's chosen people. He didn't just completely forsake them, but He told them your carcasses will rot in this wilderness because of your unbelief.

[28:00] Verse 11, now all these things happen under them for in samples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. All of these things, all of these things are written for our in samples.

[28:13] All of the things that we've just been over, folks, all means all in this context. All of the things that are brought up here are written for our in samples. What we need to recall is the all that begins in verse number one in 1 Corinthians 10, where it says, how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea.

[28:33] All were baptized under Moses in the cloud and the sea. All did eat the same spiritual meat and all did drink the same spiritual meat, folks.

[28:45] All is all in this context. And when He says that all these things were written for our examples, I know we've talked about this morning and I preached about this morning, some of the bad things that happen to these Israelites, but what we've also got to understand is that all means that they all have the same blessing of God.

[29:03] They all have the same fire or cloud of fire and the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud that was with them, folks, that was God's presence with them in the wilderness.

[29:16] They all had the same men and they all had the same water. They all had these blessings from God. They had God the very presence of their Redeemer with them. And we need to take that into consideration.

[29:29] It wasn't just the punishment that came on these Israelites that was written as an example for us or as an in sample, as the scripture says. Folks, it was also their blessings.

[29:40] They had God with them. They had God with them. We the church, we have God with us. We talked about that in Sunday school this morning. When I will say God came to dwell on the inside in the form of the Holy Spirit of God, God Himself is with me.

[29:56] He tabbler knuckles within me. And folks, if you're sitting here and you're born again, God tabbler knuckles with you as well. This is how we get to the last couple of verses here.

[30:08] All these things happened to them for examples that they were written for our abundishment upon whom the end of the world would come. Whether, wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.

[30:21] Why would Paul insert this here? That all these things were written for our own samples. Let him that thinketh that he standeth, take heed lest he should fall. This was the Israelites problem.

[30:32] Or this was the Israelites problem. They thought. They thought that because they had the presence of God, they thought because they had the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire.

[30:43] They thought that because God was showing them favor with the manna and showing them favor with the water, showing them favor with all these things, they thought that that was what ultimately redeemed them.

[30:57] They thought that that was enough. But folks, what did God want? What does God want now? What has God always wanted with His creation? He has wanted a relationship with His creation.

[31:09] It's been like that since the time of the garden. God created Adam and Eve. He created them to commune with them. He created them to have fellowship with them.

[31:19] He gave the task of keeping the garden unto Adam. He told them to go forth and to multiply, to bring forth more human beings, to have relationship with us all.

[31:33] But then sin entered in. But all God has ever wanted was relationship with His creation. He could have chose cows. He could have chose horses.

[31:44] He could have chose whales or tortoises or any number of other things. But folks, He chose us. He formed man out of the dust of the ground and He breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of Adam.

[31:59] And man became a living soul. And He done this to commune with man. But what has man done? Man has rebelled against him.

[32:10] Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he should fall. Folks, if you're sitting here lost this morning, if you're sitting here lost, you may have sinned in your life, unrepented sin.

[32:24] You may go out and paint the town red as it's put sometimes and say, well, God hasn't punished me. Folks, just because God's forbearance is there doesn't mean that God's approval is there.

[32:37] God is merciful and God is patient and God is kind and God is long suffering in these things. But there will come a time though. There will come a time when you'll answer for that sin.

[32:48] There'll come a time if it stays in an unrepented sin and you never come to Jesus Christ in faith and repentance, there is a time that you will pay for that sin for all of eternity.

[32:59] Jesus Christ has already paid the penalty for that sin, whatever it might be. Jesus Christ took your sin upon himself, he took your shame upon himself, he took your guilt upon himself, he took everything that you've ever done, everything that you've ever thought upon himself on a tree that covering that you can believe on him and have life.

[33:21] But if you go on an unrepented state and you think just because God hasn't killed you over, that God must be all right with what you're doing, take heed lest you fall. Take heed lest you fall, it's just a prideful thought to have.

[33:34] Me and God so tight I sin all the time and God don't do anything to me about it. God is long suffering and God is patient. That's exactly what it boils down to.

[33:45] But that doesn't mean God approves of your deeds. Wherefore then, think of these things, take heed lest you fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man.

[33:56] But God is faithful, praise God. Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able. But with all the temptation, also make a way to escape the ye may be able to bear it.

[34:08] There hath no temptation taken you such as is common to man. Hope that applies once again, Paul specifically writing to believers in Jesus Christ here.

[34:19] There ain't no reason that you need to feel alone in this thing. There ain't no reason that I need to feel alone this thing. Paul here writes that there hath been no temptation taken you but such as is common to man.

[34:32] In other words, the temptation that comes to you and it comes to me, temptation in the form of trials and the form of suffering, temptation in the form of sin, it comes to all men.

[34:43] I don't care how good they seem. I don't care how wicked they seem. I don't care how mediocre they seem. Whether they're a pastor, a lay member, a deacon, a Sunday school teacher or anyone else out there temptation comes to us all.

[34:58] It is something that comes to every Christian and we all have to deal with it. But God has made a way. That's where we get in trouble. God has made a way instead of going to God and saying, God, I'm being tempted with this once again.

[35:15] We fight it ourselves. And folks, that's a vain fact. We need to go to God. We need to pray to God. I need your strength. God, I need your deliverance from this temptation.

[35:28] But we try and do it in and of ourselves. Folks, it's an impossible thing. It's an impossible thing. He says, there are no temptation taking you but such as is common to man.

[35:39] But God is faithful. God is faithful. Folks, we're not even faithful to ourselves. But God is faithful. We're not faithful to those around us.

[35:50] But God is faithful. We're not as faithful to the churches we should be. But God is faithful. We're not as faithful to ministry as we should be. But God is faithful.

[36:00] God has ever been faithful and God ever will be faithful. He says, no temptation has come. And it's taking you but such as is common to man.

[36:10] But God is faithful. Who will not suffer you to be tempted. Folks, it doesn't say who may not. Says who will not. God is faithful.

[36:21] Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able. Folks, that tells me that the temptation is going to come. Now God doesn't send simple temptation in our path. God does not tempt us to send the Bible, seraph and the book of James.

[36:35] And God cannot be tempted in either temptancy any man. But every man has grown away of his own lust and lust when he is conceived. Bring it forth sin and sin when it is finished.

[36:47] Bring it forth there. Folks, it begins in your heart and it begins in my heart. God does not throw sin in our path. God does not tempt us to sin.

[36:59] God makes a way out of the temptation. But this verse, this verse here, it says who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able. This tells me that while God is not the one doing the tempting, it's got to pass through God.

[37:14] And it must be weighed to see if I can withstand that or not. To see if I can take that temptation or not. So when sinful temptation comes my way, God knows all about it.

[37:25] God knows all about the temptation that has been thrown out there before me. But will with the temptation also make a way to escape. That you may be able to bear it again.

[37:36] When we are tempted with sin, when we are tempted to go against the laws of God, when we are tempted to grieve the Holy Spirit that lives within us, God has made a way that we can escape this temptation, that we can escape this evil God has made a way through Jesus Christ.

[37:54] I tell you now, I can say as the Psalmist said, he said, I will look out of the hills from which come my help. My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and of earth.

[38:06] This is the way out of the temptation. How I will you. Peter said God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations.

[38:16] And he also knows how to reserve the wicked under judgment. These are the words of Peter, not Spencer. God knows how to deliver the godly. And he has made a way that we can be delivered from the temptation.

[38:28] We have no right to point a finger at God. We have no right to look at God and say, why have you allowed this to happen? Why have you allowed this sin to come my way? You know how I do with this.

[38:39] And you know how to do with this. You know this is the very thing that you saved me from. That temptation did not come from God, but God has waited out. And God has allowed it to come your direction.

[38:51] Now, that being said, sometimes we get ourselves in the trouble. If you know there's certain sin that you're more susceptible to falling to than others, stay away from that sin.

[39:07] If God saved you from the bars and the honky-tonks, don't go to him. If God saved you from the bottle, don't go to him. If God saved you from dope, don't go to him.

[39:18] If God saved you from blowing every dime that you've got, instead of on your family, on blowing it on lotto tickets or gambling or whatever the case is, don't go back to that.

[39:30] Don't go back to the sin that God saved you from. Some of that falls in our left, but I promise you, if it is something that has been set in our path by the tempter, by our enemy, by the demons of this world, God has made a way for us to escape out of that.

[39:50] God's already dragged us out of most of the sin that gets us in trouble, but we know how certain sins made us feel. We know how much we liked them, and we know how much pleasure we got out of them.

[40:03] Folks, that was the problem with the Israelites. They saw the pagan festivals, and they saw the heathen practices, and they said, this looks pleasurable.

[40:14] And folks, as the Bible teaches, sin is pleasurable for a season, but folks, I can promise you, it is but for a season that sin is pleasurable. Child of God, I tell you now that sin is not worth.

[40:25] God chastising your backside over. Lost person that's never known Jesus Christ, I promise you that sin is only going to be pleasurable here in this life, but in the life to come, if you remain unrepentant, then remind and remain, not having faith in Jesus Christ, you will pay for that sin for all of eternity.

[40:46] I'm glad Jesus paid it for me. I'm glad that Jesus paid for my sin. I've said it many times, Christ took the wrath of God upon himself that I might not know what the wrath of God feels like, and I thank God for that.

[41:01] Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. It's what we're just kind of covered. Flee from idolatry, flee from sin. But flee from idolatry specifically here, Paul is getting at.

[41:16] Don't run to it, and if it comes your way, run the other direction. Don't try and be a prideful Christian and say, I can take this. Don't be a prideful Christian and say, I can withstand this when the Bible plainly gives us commandment to flee from idolatry.

[41:36] There's so many Christians out there that say, I can handle this sin, I can handle that sin. Throw it on at me, fire them darts, devil. I got on the full armor of God, I can withstand it.

[41:47] Let me tell you something, you can't withstand anything without God. You can withstand nothing without God. It's God that give us that armor. It's God that give us the instructions of wearing that armor and God that told us what each piece of that armor represents.

[42:03] We can withstand nothing without God. And if we are prideful, the Bible gives strict warning on being prideful. Since pride goes before destruction and a holy spirit before fall, hope that applies to lost people, and it applies to same people, just the same.

[42:18] We cannot let our pride get us into predicament like that. Wherefore my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise man, judgey, what I say.

[42:28] Since I speak as to wise man, I'm speaking now as I would speak to wise man. In other words, you know these stories that we've been talking about.

[42:38] You know the story in Numbers 21, you know the story in Numbers 25, you know the account of Exodus 32. You know all these things that I've been talking about here, and you know how God was with his people that are in the wilderness, and you know how God punished his people there in the wilderness.

[42:54] This is I speak as to wise man. I'm speaking as to wise man folks. He's saying learn of these things. Let these things make you even wiser. Learn these things, absorb these things, consider these things, think on these things, meditate on these things.

[43:10] What I am telling you here, and it will be for your good. That's what Paul's trying to get across to the Corinthians. You think of the words of Jesus Christ.

[43:20] You think of the examples Jesus Christ gave, Matthew chapter seven. Who was it that Jesus Christ lockened unto a wise man? It was the man that built his house upon the rock and not upon the sand.

[43:35] You look at the account of Matthew chapter 24. Who was it that was a wise and faithful servant, the one that done his Lord's bidding, the one that done what his Lord asked him to do? You look at Matthew chapter 25.

[43:48] There were 10 virgins there, only five of them were considered wise. Those were the ones that had more on their lands. Those are the ones that kept their wicks trimmed. He says, I speak unto you as wise man. These are the wise examples here that we just talked about Jesus giving in scripture.

[44:01] These are the people that had learned. These are the people that not only heard the way, but they done the way. It's just like the book of James says, be doers of the word and not hearers only.

[44:12] Folks, if we're sitting in service after service, listening to the word of God, but we are not doing the word of God, it will do us no good in our Christian walk. And if you're here lost and you've heard the word of God preach all of your life, and you've heard it and heard it and heard it, but you're not doing it and you're not giving, and you're not believing in Jesus Christ in faith and repentance, you haven't come to him in that manner.

[44:34] You are still sitting here lost. I speak these things as to wise man. I speak as to wise man, judgey, what I shall say.

[44:45] Judge everything that I say. Judge everything that he's gonna say after that. We're not gonna get into what he gets into after that this morning. They says he's speaking to that as he's speaking to wise men.

[44:56] Wise men learn. Wise men continue to learn. They don't depend upon themselves. They don't depend upon the fact that God hasn't struck them down just yet.

[45:10] They don't depend upon their church attendance. And they don't depend on how many sermons they have preached or how many sermons they have listened to or anything along those lines. They depend upon God.

[45:21] They depend upon God. This is what wise people do. God bless you all. That's my message for this morning.