When we become self-confident spiritually, we may become nonchalant about the parents and the perils of sin. And today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg considers the Apostle Paul's timeless warnings about the dangers of temptation.
We'll learn why we are to deal with every temptation immediately and how to do so ruthlessly. Alistair is teaching from 1 Corinthians chapter 10. That we must acknowledge and then that there were examples that we must avoid. We looked at the first two of these examples, namely idolatry and then immorality.
We concluded there and we begin by picking up the third example that is to be avoided as Paul gives it to us. And you find it in verse 9, we should not test the Lord as some of them did and were killed by snakes. Now we read in verse 5 and following of Numbers 21, but turn back to Numbers chapter 11 to set this in further context. As the people of God, instead of waiting upon God, wanted God instead to fall in with their decisions and their demands. That is the kind of God that is attractive to most. Not a God before whom men and women bow and before whom we have to give an account and under whose provision and power we live our lives, but rather men and women want to try God to test him and to see if they can't make him fall in with their decisions and demands.
And it comes out in all kinds of ways. You hear people say, I don't like to think of God in that way. I'd rather think of God as this or I would rather think of God as that. And more often than not, what is actually being said is I want a God who will fit in with me. I want to be able to push, as it were, God to the limit.
I want to be able to try him and to test him and to have him comply with my designs. Now, whenever we're tempted to that kind of activity, we are right there with the people of the Old Testament. First of all, they're crying to God that they would have food. Then they get food, then they don't like the food they've got.
Just the way that children treat their mom so often. Oh, I'm starving. Could I have something to eat? There you are.
Oh, do we have to have this stuff again? Hey, you are pushing me to the limit. You're trying me.
You're trying my patience. That's exactly what is happening here with the Corinthian believers. They were testing God's patience.
And the whole of the Bible makes it clear that God's patience can and does run out. And so Paul says to the Corinthians, and in turn to us, make sure that we don't do that. Don't let's try and live up to the limits of the freedom that God has given us. As we said this morning, there were people going around Corinth saying, this is the age of grace. We are free. God is a forgiving God.
So why don't we just do what we want to do? And that notion is as prevalent tonight in Cleveland as it was in Corinth 2000 years ago. And what happened to the people in Corinth, we're told in verse 30 of chapter 11, was that because they tried and tested God in this way, because they refused to submit to his plans and purposes, Paul explains that is why many among you are weak and sick and a number of you have fallen asleep.
Falling asleep there is a picture of death. And these people were playing around with the Lord's Supper. They were abusing the privileges that he had given them. They were trying God.
And as in the Old Testament, God entered in and intervened in judgment. The fourth area that we are to avoid and stay away from in terms of a bad example is grumbling. Grumbling. Verse 10, do not grumble as some of them did and were killed by the destroying angel. You may find it interesting, as I do, that we have this progression that goes idolaters, immoral people, trying God people, and grumbling people. Grumbling or murmuring, as it's described in the Bible, is giving audible expression to unwarranted dissatisfaction.
Paul says you just need to read the history of your forefathers and you will find that that was part and parcel of their lifestyle. Whenever the people of God grumble and complain against God, what we're saying is this, we know better than you. We find ourselves challenging God's wisdom, his grace, his goodness, his love, and his righteousness. Every so often somebody points out that it's okay to question God, and it is, as the Psalmist makes clear, but it is not okay to grumble and complain against God.
Ask yourself the question, have you grumbled about your lot this week? Contentment glorifies God. A complaining spirit dishonors him. So these are the things, the examples we should avoid.
Take the test. Number one, idolatry. Are we worshipping anything other than God? Number two, immorality. Are we pure in our hearts? Number three, testing God.
Are we pushing him to the limits? Number four, murmuring. Are we able to say with Paul, I have learned in all circumstances therein to be content? Well then let's go to the third main heading which was part of our study from this morning, from the examples that we are to avoid to the exhortation that we must accept. Once again in verse 11 Paul makes clear what he said in verse 6, that the things that he is recalling for the Corinthian believers happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. For those of us, he says, who have the privilege of living in between the time of the arrival of Jesus and the reappearing of Jesus when he comes in power and glory, these warnings and examples are for us living at this point in history. And then comes this exhortation. So if you think you're standing firm, be careful that you don't fall.
Very simple. The Israelites had been sure of their position and they had reaped nothing but disaster. Remember back in the opening verses, the first four verses, they all passed through the sea, they all were baptized into Moses, they all ate the same spiritual food, they all drank the same spiritual drink, nevertheless God was not pleased with most of them, and all but two of them died in the wilderness. So it's a telling exhortation. The Corinthians were smug, they were self-satisfied, they were in danger of going down the same path. The principle is that of the proverb 1618, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling. Loved ones, don't let's miss the implications of this this evening, either as individuals or as families or as a church. Pride goes before destruction and the exhortation is to us as it was to the Corinthians.
If you think that you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall down. As believers tonight, the more self-confident we become, the less dependent upon God we are. The more careless we grow in our living. As carelessness increases, so we are more open to temptation.
As we're more open to temptation, our resistance to sin decreases. When we feel ourselves most secure, when we think our spiritual life is at its strongest, our doctrine is at its soundest, our morals are at their purest, we should be most on our guard and most dependent upon the Lord. Now what is the word here to us? Is it a word then such that we shouldn't have any sense of assurance that we are supposed to stumble and bumble our way through our lives as if we had no confidence that we would make it to the finishing line?
No, not for a moment. The Reformers very helpfully distinguish between two forms of assurance, that is two forms of confidence in going forward with Christ. The one they identified is that which rests in the promises of God. Whereby the believer, when recognizing who or what she is, is convinced in their heart that God will remain true to his word. Philippians 1.6, I am confident that he who has begun a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. That is the kind of assurance which the New Testament brings to the hearts of those who follow after Christ. It is this which gives the believer confidence to stand up against Satan, to resist sin, to be cheerful in the midst of discouragement, to be undaunted in the midst of the battle. It is not, however, a self-confidence.
It is not that which rests upon the fact that I have been doing well recently. It is not that which rests upon the completion of my duty, nor is grounded upon the fact that I have been in attendance upon the worship of God's people or have been effective in evangelism or I am involved in a Bible study. For as we saw this morning, we may do all of these things and die in the wilderness. The real question of assurance tonight is when the world and the evil one condemns us if our hearts are not condemned because we are confident in what Christ has done upon the cross. So that the ground of our assurance is the work of Christ and at the same time we recognize our own weaknesses, we recognize our fearfulness, we recognize our need of fresh replenishing of God's Spirit. But this kind of assurance, the Reformers said, was a holy thing and was united to faith. You read of it in Romans 8. What can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or peril or nakedness or the sword?
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. That is one kind of assurance. That is biblical assurance. But the other kind of assurance, and this was the stuff that was going around in Corinth and which is prevalent in our day, is an assurance which has its roots in nonchalance. When men and women are bursting with pride because of the gifts that they have, as we're going to see was happening in Corinth, they were able to say, Oh, you know that I can speak with tongues.
Oh, you know that I'm able to do dramatic things. And they were resting in stuff that even pagan religions are able to duplicate. And they were nonchalant about things.
They were quite unconcerned about their own situation. They believed themselves to be on the realm of danger. And the result was and is that whenever you or I live our lives that way, we are open to all the attacks of Satan. This has got to be the explanation as to why so many pastors are going down the drain. They are living out their theology and it's wrong. They do not have a theology of the fear of the Lord being the beginning of wisdom. They have got a nonchalant assurance, not the kind of assurance which the Spirit of God produces, which on the one hand recognizes that the south side of my house is warm, as I recognize that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, but the north side of my house, the house of my life is cold, because I recognize that the good that I want to do I don't do and the bad that I don't want to do I end up doing. And I say to myself, who will deliver me from this body of death?
What a wretched man that I am. But you see the nonchalant have no theology of wretchedness. They have no theology for a north side of their house. They make you believe when you're in their company that they only have a south side that is all sunny and warm and blessed and forgiving and encouraging and they know nothing of falling or tripping or failing. That is not right, loved ones.
That will turn you into a crazy person or into a liar. But it is not what the Bible teaches. And that Spirit of nonchalance produces in the hearts of churches and individuals and families that which lays the believer open to the most dreadful attacks of the evil one. It is the kind of assurance which Paul then says to the Corinthians, I want you to give up. Because he saw that they were self-satisfied.
They were resting on a senseless belief. And he says, come on now, let us run as those who win the prize. It's a timely word. Then finally, in verse 13, having given them a very important warning, he concludes with a very wonderful encouragement. No temptation, he says, has seized you except what is common to man. First of all, he says, I want you to know that nothing exceptional has happened to you Corinthians.
This is just standard stuff. Secondly, he says, I want you to know that God is a faithful God and he will not allow his children to be tempted beyond their ability to respond. Now it's important for us to realize that temptation, the word temptation, is used in the Bible in a good sense as well as in a bad sense. The word temptation is sometimes used in the way that we would use the word to test.
Indeed, it's used as much that way as it is to tempt. That is why we understand that in the good sense, God tests men so that they might prove themselves true. In this sense, we read in Hebrews of how Christ was tested and has come through with flying colors. In fact, we should probably just look at those verses, and you should write them down, because they're a tremendous help.
Hebrews 2 and verse 18, and then Hebrews 4 and verse 15. Hebrews 2 and verse 18, Jesus himself suffered when he was tempted, and because he did, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Verse 15 of chapter 4, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. Now when you turn over a couple of pages to James chapter 1, James makes clear that while God brings circumstances into our lives to test us, God's tests are never a solicitation to evil. Verse 13, when tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. Just staying in James for a moment, let me say a number of things about temptation, because it's very, very important. Three in fact, and I'll just hit them with you.
If you want to note them down, you should. Point number one about which we should be in no doubt is this, God is never and cannot be the source of temptation. There is an inescapable logic contained in this, because God is incapable of tempting others to evil because he himself is absolutely insusceptible to evil. You cannot have a good God tempting people to engage in evil.
Now that is a very important principle. The second principle that James lays down is this, that temptation begins with our individual desires. As verse 14, each one is tempted when by his own evil desire he is dragged away and enticed. That doesn't mean that all of our desires are evil, but it does mean that as a result of the fall into sin, all of our desires have an unhappy potential for evil.
Despite the fact that we may like to hide behind our heredity, or our present environment, or our evil companions, or even the devil himself, the fact is that we cannot escape personal responsibility for our actions. And we're told, thirdly, that temptation, when it is succumbed to, leads ultimately to death. James 1 15, then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death. In verse 12, he has said that there is a process which leads to the crown of life. He now says there is a process which leads to the dust of death. An inner craving demands action. It either must be acted upon, or it must be resisted.
And every day as we live our lives, as the Corinthians lived their lives, they were facing all kinds of temptations like these, and the way to victory is to nip our temptations in the bud. There is no magic in this at all. I want to say to young people, there is no magic in this.
There is no formula. There is no little funny little trick that you can do. The only thing you can do is run. That's it. You mean that's it?
I mean that's it. It's the refusal to allow our eyes to wander, to allow our minds to settle, to allow our hearts to conceive and our imaginations to linger. So a thought reap an action. So an action reap a habit. So a habit reap a character. So a character reap a destiny. The Bible is an intensely practical book. Paul's concern for the Corinthians was an intensely practical concern. He says every sin is an inside job, but get this.
God will not suffer you to be tempted beyond what you can bear, and when you are right up against it in terms of temptation, he will with the temptation provide a way of escape. The word that is used there is a graphic word. If you like old Western movies, the scene is clear. All the cowboys get themselves trapped in a canyon. The Indians are all around. They're surrounded on three sides by Indians. There is no way out, because behind them there's just a huge cliff and rock formation. So they are totally trapped. But they always have a scout, and the scout goes away, and the drums are beating, and the faces are getting closer, and it looks as though they're destined to destruction, and the word comes back. I have found a passageway through the canyon. There is a way of escape.
And so they make their journey out into liberation and safety. How well can I remember the headlights of my father's car fulfilling the promise of 1 Corinthians 10.13 in my teenage years? The ring of the telephone in a moment of temptation, the arrival of a friend, the delivery of a book, the prayer of a loved one. Hey, it's tough. It's wild.
It's wicked. But Jesus says it's not unbearable. None of us are experiencing anything save that which is common to man. In an experience of it, we remember that Jesus was tempted and can now help us. The promise is that we will be able to stand up in the temptation, and we will receive a way of escape.
So don't let's go despondent into mundane. You go through the temptation. You don't go around it. You don't go over it.
You go under it. You go through it, but through to victory. Not the victory of the nonchalant, the victory of the realistic. May God grant to us that kind of holy realism. That is Alistair Begg with both a vital warning about temptation that each of us need to take to heart and a comforting reminder of God's faithfulness.
You're listening to Truth for Life. As Alistair pointed out in today's message, pastors are vulnerable to temptation just like everyone else, particularly if their theology is not rooted in scripture. Here at Truth for Life, our mission is to teach the Bible with clarity and relevance, encouraging pastors to remain faithful to God's word. And we're excited to release a new website feature that is designed to support those in ministry, specifically to provide free and low-cost materials to pastors in churches. If you're in pastoral ministry or in church leadership, check out truthforlife.org slash churches. And if you're a teaching pastor at your church and you're looking ahead to Advent, when you visit truthforlife.org slash churches, you'll find a five-week Advent preaching guide drawn from Alistair's insights.
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That way you'll be notified when new free materials are made available. By the way, there are just a few more days left for you to request your copy of the book Gospel People, a call to evangelical integrity. A copy of the book is yours today when you donate to Truth for Life at truthforlife.org slash donate or call us at 888-588-7884. Thanks for studying the Bible with us today. God is clear that he will help us when we face temptation, but does that give us the freedom to play around with sin? Clearly the answer is no. We'll hear more from Alistair on Monday. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.
