1 Corinthians 10:1-13 - Part C

Here's the miracles of the wilderness and the covering of the cloud and the water from the rock and the parting of the Red Sea and the manna from heaven.

All of it's forgotten in a single trifling moment. And so it talks about in Romans that they complained, neither were they thankful. So start counting the blessings God has given you.

Skip Heitzig. Skip shares how you can counter complaining with gratitude so you can experience God's richest blessings. Now we want to tell you about a resource that shows you how God's love and grace empowers you as you live for Him. But God is a phrase that appears 45 times in Scripture.

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Call 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Okay, we're in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 as Skip Heitzig starts today's study. Something about these giants that they saw, these cities with fortified walls and towers and all that, all 12 of them saw the same things. It's not like Joshua and Caleb were in a restaurant drinking a Diet Coke when the giants walked by and only the 10 saw them. They all saw the same thing. They had the same experience. It was a shared experience. But their reports were so different.

Why? Because of the way they measured. They measured the circumstance, the situation, the 10 did by the giants that they saw. The two, Joshua and Caleb, measured the situation by the giant God they couldn't see. Joshua and Caleb saw a big God. When you see a big God, you see little men. But if you have a little God, you see big men and big problems. So I've said on many occasions, difficulty must always be measured by the capacity of the agent doing the work. Oh, this is difficult. Yeah, it looks pretty difficult for you or for me, but bring God into this situation. Everything changes.

Game changer. They're bred for us. No problem, let's take them. But their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things, verse six, boy, I'm poking along, sorry. Now these things became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. In the book of Numbers, it says they came to a place and they had intense cravings, intense cravings for leeks and garlics and onions and meat. The flesh pots, they're called in the Old Testament, or in the King James, called the meat, the flesh pots of Egypt. The pots that were served up with just enormous portions of meat.

They missed all that. Now God was giving them, I believe, all the protein, all the vitamins, all the minerals, all the nutrients in the manna. But it says, they said, our soul loathes this bread from heaven. Now you and I would love to see manna, would we not?

I'd love to go out and see manna, but I suppose if you're seeing manna every day for 40 years, it might get a little bit old, but that's your only choice. You're pretty stoked to have a manna burger, but they lusted or they craved, and we shouldn't do that. Verse 7, and do not become idolaters as were some of them, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Now he's introducing something that he's already introduced, and that is idolatry. Okay, so when the Corinthians ask, is it okay for us to eat meat that has been sacrificed to an idol? It's because Corinth was filled with worship systems and temples of gods and goddesses everywhere. All of social life was involved in the religious affairs of the Greek gods. So if there was a political rally, if there was a business meeting, if there was any kind of social function, it always involved some sort of sacrifice of a pagan god or goddess.

It was part and parcel of the life of Corinth, and some of the believers are struggling with, can I eat meat from those places, or what about people who see me eating that kind of stuff? So the idea of idolatry is being introduced from the children of Israel into this situation. But we shouldn't become idolaters as some of them, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

So what did they do with their liberty? They sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Now when they rose up to play, it's not when they rose up to play a game of golf or chess or checkers, they rose up to play and party sensually, and that was when Moses was up on that mountain receiving the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments from the Lord, and he came down and he heard them partying and God said, get down quickly, these people have already turned aside. So he gets, Moses comes down with the Ten Commandments, you know how it goes, and there's Aaron, and when Moses was up there, they said, you know, Moses has been up there a long time, we don't know what's become of that guy. They said to Aaron, we want some visible representation of God. So Aaron took an offering, got all their jewelry, their gold, and threw it into a fire and then he made a golden calf. But he told Moses, here's the excuse he said to Moses, he goes, yeah, Mo, it was really weird. I took their gold and I chucked it into the fire and out came this calf. It must have been a really powerful fire that had an automatic idol maker inside of it, because out popped this false idol that they worshiped.

Just a lame excuse. It was Billy Sunday, the evangelist, who said, an excuse is just the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie. And that's what happened with them in the wilderness and Aaron telling Moses it was the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.

The people sat down to eat and drink and they rose up to play. So they were eating food sacrificed to an idol. You get the connection, the idol of the golden calf in the wilderness. Nor let us commit sexual immorality as some of them did, and in one day 23,000 fell. Now he's picking out different portions of the wilderness wanderings and showing that the children of Israel who had liberty squandered their liberty. So in Numbers chapter 25, 23, 24, 25, you know that area. That's when Balak, the son of Zippor, called for Balaam to come and curse the children of Israel. So Balaam comes from Mesopotamia, comes to a place called Baal Peor, looks over the encampments of Israel, the tents of Israel, and sees God's people and begins to bless them. And basically say, these are God's people. God's blessed them. They're awesome. Look at that.

Check it out. And Balaam just gets torqued. And he says, I called you here to curse the children of Israel and you're blessing them. He said, how can I curse what God has blessed?

And so this happened a few times. Balak said, well, go over on this ridge and curse them over there. And he goes over to that ridge, blesses them over there.

Well, that didn't work. Go over to that ridge and curse them over there. Goes over there, blesses them again. So when Balak is at his limit and so upset with Balaam, and saying, you know, go home, get out of here, you're not worth anything, Balaam said, well, I can't curse the ones God has blessed.

But you could do something, Balak. You could have the Moabite women, your women, go into the camp of Israel where the Israelite men are, the soldiers, the front line of a possible battle, go into the men, get those women who are idol worshipers, and introduce them to your worship system. Now, their worship system is they would come on to a guy and offer sexual favors. That's how the gods of the Canaanites and goddesses were worshiped.

They would often engage in a procreative act. They would bring out their little idol. They would say a prayer to it. And so what Balaam was saying is, look, if you tempt them sensually, sexually, and then bring in the idolatrous thing, you don't have to have me curse them. God himself will curse them. You'll bring a curse.

They'll bring a curse on themselves if you introduce that kind of idolatry. So that was the idea behind what Balaam did to the children of Israel. So that is exactly what happened. And when that happened, on that day, they started dropping like flies. It says 23,000 fell in one day. Now, some of you who know your Bibles go, no, wait a minute, Skip. I've actually read Numbers 25, and it doesn't say that.

It says 24,000 fell. And so what you have is you have people who go, see, there's a discrepancy in the Bible. There's so many discrepancies in the Bible. You know, there's always contradiction.

They love this stuff. But every time they do that, they're digging a hole for themselves when they try to do that. Because here's the argument.

First of all, Paul the Apostle, a Jewish rabbi, knew the text of Scripture. That's plain and simple. Do you think he was like an idiot? Oh, I forgot to add that. I hadn't read it recently, so, you know, I'm just rounding up the number. No, he said here, listen, 23,000 fell in one day.

You know, you don't have to be brilliant to figure this out. 24,000 died in the entire plague on one day alone. It was 23,000, and a total of another 1,000, 24,000 died. But Paul's point is 23,000 died.

This judgment was swift, and it happened in one day. Nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents. Now, that is yet a different story.

That's Numbers chapter 21. The people were complaining, you know, oh, bring us water, bring us food. Our soul hates this horrible, junky manna. I'm tired of banana bread and manicotti. I'm tired of it. I'm done. And so the Lord allowed serpents to crawl through the encampment of Israel by people, and they died from these serpents as a judgment upon their attitude.

But you know the rest of the story. Moses cried out to God. God said, you know, Mo, you can cure this plague if you take a serpent, a brass serpent, make one out of brass. Really quickly, just shape one. Just get a piece of brass. Shape it, a serpent.

Tack it up on this pole. Lift up the pole and tell people, look at the brass serpent. Anybody who looks at that serpent will be healed. Just look at the serpent.

You'll be healed. So Moses did it, put it up. Hey, you guys, look. All the people looked, and they were healed. But I'm sure there were people on the other side of the encampment of Israel.

I mean, it's a mile and a half away, the whole encampment of that many people thought, I'm not going to walk, or a half a mile away, I'm not going to walk a half mile across the camp. Somebody said, look at a brass serpent, and I'm going to be healed. That's the stupidest non-scientific thing I've ever heard. The science says, only medicine will cure you. Moses said, look at a brass serpent. He's denying the science.

It was unscientific. It was illogical, but it worked. So whoever looked by faith was healed. Now, the corollary is what Jesus said to Nicodemus.

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man will be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. You tell people, believe in Jesus. All you have to do is trust in Jesus, and He will give you salvation from your sin.

Your past is washed away. He will not hold it against you. He'll promise peace and meaning in the present and eternal glory in the future. All you've got to do is look to Jesus. Look at Jesus, Christ crucified. Look to Him, the look of faith.

Trust in Him. Oh, that's so unscientific and illogical. But it works. Ask anybody who's done it, whose life has been transformed. Check it out.

It really works. Nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents. Nor murmur, verse 10, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now, all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition on whom the end of the ages have come.

Just a word about verse 10, nor murmur. You know, murmuring and complaining is an easy thing to get into the habit of doing. It's a bad habit, and some people are really good at it. Some people have perfected the art of complaining. I mean, they see a negative in everything, and they complain, and they're bitter, and they're bummed, and they murmur, murmur, murmur. Next time you feel tempted to complain about something, fellow American, just remember, your garbage disposal eats better than 30% of the people that live on this planet. Nor let us murmur, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed by the destroyer.

That's why the Bible says, and here's the solution. If you're kind of given to that, you know what the antidote to murmuring is? Thanksgiving. Making sure you're the kind of a person that thanks God for the tender mercies.

It was C.H. McIntosh, one of my favorite old dead guys, who said 10,000 mercies are forgotten in a single trifling moment. You know, here's the miracles of the wilderness, and the covering of the cloud, and the water from the rock, and the parting of the Red Sea, and the manna from heaven. All of it's forgotten in a single trifling moment.

And so it talks about, in Romans, that they complained, neither were they thankful. So start counting the blessings God has given you. Wow, I had breakfast today. Wow, I can drive a car today. I have friends around me. I have a roof over my heads.

Turn into a thankful person. These things were written for our examples, for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore, let him who thinks he stand take heed lest he fall. Really important scripture, really great text, one of my favorite. Let him who thinks he stand take heed lest he fall.

Maybe that is a truth that simply could be stated this way. You are not as strong as you think you are. Oh, I can handle that temptation.

Oh, I can handle those people. You're not as strong as you think you are. When you are self-confident as a person, the world would say that's a great trait. And it's good to have a confidence, but I think it's misplaced if it's all self-confidence. If you are in Christ and it's a God confidence, so you're confident in God working through yourself, yes, good. But self-confidence by itself is a bad trait because self-confident people don't depend on God or depend less and less on God. The more self-confident you are, the less and less you depend upon God. That's why Paul in 2 Corinthians will say, God showed me that his strength was perfected in my weakness, the thorn in the flesh, 2 Corinthians 12. So I'm going to boast in my weakness because when I'm weak, then I'm strong.

I'm not self-confident. I'm confident in Him, but I know my own weaknesses and my limitations. So really great text of Scripture in Proverbs 16 that I think this is based on.

You know it well. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.

Think of examples in the Bible of those who were self-confident. Peter, when Jesus said, Peter, you're going to deny me. Oh, Lord, I'd never deny you. I'll go to death with you. The other flaky disciples of yours, they might deny you.

But I'm Peter, the rock, remember? I'm good. Self-confidence. The church at Laodicea, self-confident in Revelation 2 and 3, the seven letters to the seven churches, they said, we are wealthy.

We have need of nothing. That's self-confidence. Jesus said, actually, you are wretched, miserable, naked, and blind.

So your evaluation of yourself is very different than my evaluation of you. So, therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. Here, I'm ready to go through the whole chapter and then some, but, yeah, probably just end here. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it.

The caveat is this. God gives you a way to escape the temptation. You and I, we need to look for the way and take it and hightail it there as quickly as possible. The temptations are going to come. We are taught to pray, lead us not into temptation. The Lord will never personally Himself lead us into a temptable place, but He does allow Satan, He allows us to be in the world controlled by Satan, and so we do get tempted, but no temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. And God is faithful.

He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. So the children of Israel, this is their history. This is their background, and we'll take that example next week and using that example, springboard into the whole Liberty thing and tie up some loose ends. If I only had two hours to go through the text, it would be better, but I don't, so... But let me say this. When the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt and there was the miracle of the Red Sea, the miracle of the manna and the water and all those provisions, they were off to a great start, but a good start doesn't guarantee a great finish. They started well, they finished poorly, and so often we talk about finishing well, and I had a dear brother in our fellowship who said, I'm praying for you, Skip, that you finish well. Thank you. Pray for that.

I want to finish my course well. That's what Paul said. In Acts chapter 20, he was on his way to Jerusalem, and he said, I know, the Holy Spirit has told me that things are going to happen to me in Jerusalem and I'm going to get beat up and arrested. None of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear unto myself that I might finish my race with joy and the ministry that I have been given of the Lord. Jesus said, my food is to do the will of Him that sent me in to finish His work. So let's all be about, we've been delivered, God has given us glorious freedom, glorious liberty in Christ.

Let's not squander the liberty, let's not abuse the liberty like Israel did. And again, I said last week, we're going to tie it all together next week for how chapter 8, 9, and 10 should be taken as a whole under this theme of Christian liberty. That's Skip Heiting with a message from the series Expound First Corinthians. Now, here's Skip to share how you can keep this broadcast going strong, connecting you and many others to the Lord.

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800-922-1888. Thank you for your generosity. And come back tomorrow as Skip Heitzig shares why the Old Testament is as important as ever for your life today. The Old Testament is relevant to New Testament believers. In fact, the Old Testament anticipates the New Testament. It was the Old Testament, you remember, that predicted a new covenant. God said, I'm going to make a new covenant in Jeremiah with the house of Israel. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on His Word. Make a connection, a connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.