2023 THEME: BECOMING BY BEHOLDING - Cultivating A Community of Christ-Centered Worshipers

1 Corinthians 10:1 ESV

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,

1 Corinthians 10:2–4 ESV

and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

1 Corinthians 10:5 ESV

Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

1 Corinthians 10:6–7 ESV

Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”

1 Corinthians 10:8–10 ESV

We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.

1 Corinthians 10:11 ESV

Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

1 Corinthians 10:12 ESV

Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

SERMON: PUT SOME RESPECT ON MY NAME: I AM STILL THE DESTROYER

GRACE IS NOT A COVER FOR SIN NOR AN EXCUSE FOR INDIFFERENCE

STORY OF MY DOG

THE PROBLEM OF CRAVING AND OR MISPLACED DESIRE

1 Corinthians 10:6 ESV

Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.

· We are in the wilderness

o Wilderness is dangerous because the options and the obstacles are many

· We cannot live how we want to in the wilderness because, as we say, we are under grace

o VV14-22

§ Focus: 21 and 22

· Jesus is still the Destroyer of unbelief.

o That is what sin is – fruits of unbelief

EXAMPLES

In general, Paul meant these examples to warn the Corinthians of the conditional nature of God’s blessings. If they failed to obey God, if they continued to abuse one another, God might judge them as he had judged Israel.

PRESUMING ON GRACE

The Message of 1 Corinthians ii. Their Sins (10:5–10)

Paul effectively told the Corinthians in their presumed spirituality not to boast about their spiritual condition. We are all in a perilous position, says the apostle, if once we allow ourselves the indulgence of thinking that sin does not matter. They thought that the combination of the sacraments and their spiritual experiences was sufficient to protect them from falling away. They were relying (in an almost quasi-miraculous way) on God-given means of grace and God-given experiences, rather than on God himself in Christ. Paul

1 Corinthians 10:12 ESV

Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

Psalm 19:13 ESV

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

SUCH CONTINUED BEHAVIOR WOULD SHOW THEIR HARDENED HEARTS

WE NEED THESE REMINDERS AND THESE WARNINGS TO LIFT US FROM THE PRESUMTION OF

SALVATION HISTORY

The First Epistle to the Corinthians (2) Four Specific Formative Models, by Way of Warning, from Scripture (10:7–13)

the future is promised but not yet. Hence “Presumption is the premature self-willed anticipation of what we hope from God; despair is the premature arbitrary anticipation of non-fulfilment.”121 By contrast to each, Christian faith lays hold on divine promise. In this context (1 Corinthians 8–10) it adopts neither the presumptions of “the strong” nor the anxious timidity of “the weak,” but moves forward in both wariness and confidence, with self-discipline and trust. Believers, Moltmann asserts (with Paul), live as the “exodus church.”122

I. JESUS IS THE DESTROYER OF IDOLATORS

(INDIFFERENCE???)

1 Corinthians 10:7 ESV

Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”

The First Epistle to the Corinthians (2) Four Specific Formative Models, by Way of Warning, from Scripture (10:7–13)

as to play, to amuse oneself.79

AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH

TODAY: IT IS MORE SO: TECHNOLOGY AND NETFLIX, ETC (NOT BASHING THESE PER-SE) ONLY STATING THAT THESE INVENTIONS HAVE CHANGED “AMUSING” OURSELVES TO BE LOUNGING AND ...

Exodus 32:6 ESV

And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

The First Epistle to the Corinthians (2) Four Specific Formative Models, by Way of Warning, from Scripture (10:7–13)

of Exod 32:6 is to make sport, allowing for a probably triple meaning: (i) “letting their hair down” in the absence of Moses with nuances of (ii) idolatrous dancing before the golden calf, and (iii) sexual license approaching orgy—all in contrast to the theological and ethical restraint and sober self-control (cf. 9:24–27) demanded of God’s covenant people.82

1 Corinthians 10:21–22 ESV

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

II. JESUS IS A DESTROYER OF THE SEXUAL IMMORAL

1 Corinthians 10:8 ESV

We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.

1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary 2. Idolatry and Its Lessons (10:6–13)

But Paul’s primary reference is to the incident in which Israel ‘began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women’, and ‘joined in worshipping the Baal of Peor’ (Num. 25:1, 3). Judgment

SEXUAL IMMORALITY IS CLOSELY TIED TO IDOLATRY SICNE IDOLATRY EXPOSES PEOPLE TO ALL SORTS OF EVILS -OPENED GATEWAY TO DESTRUCTION BECAUSE IT IS A PATH AWAY FROM GOD SINCE TO ENGAGE IN SUCH ACTIVITY

III. JESUS IS THE DESTROYER OF THOSE WHO TEST HIM

1 Corinthians 10:9 ESV

We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents,

The First Epistle to the Corinthians (2) Four Specific Formative Models, by Way of Warning, from Scripture (10:7–13)

The present subjunctive may have the force of let us no longer put, i.e., nor should we continue to put Christ to the test

THE PHRASE MEANS THAT WE SHOULD NOT try to see how far we can go with God and get away with it.” This can also be phrased as “nor must we try to see how much we can sin before God punishes us.”

DESTROY

The First Epistle to the Corinthians (2) Four Specific Formative Models, by Way of Warning, from Scripture (10:7–13)

a process before the eyes. Hence suffered the process of destruction by the snakes (including death throes as the effects become operative).

IV. JESUS IS THE DESTROYER OF THOSE WHO GRUMBLE

1 Corinthians 10:10 ESV

nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.

A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians 1 Corinthians 10:1–13

Grumble usually refers to a repeated voicing of one’s extreme displeasure

Exodus 16:7 ESV

and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?”

Exodus 16:8 ESV

And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”

Numbers 14:27 ESV

“How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me.

V. JESUS IS THE DESTROYER OF THE SIN IN THE WILDERNESS

CONCLUSION AND GOSPEL (HOPE IN THE MIDST OF HELL)

POWERFUL CONNECTION BETWEEN 13 AND 14. THE THEREFORE IN V 14 IS BASED ON THE TRUHT OF V 13

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians 10:14 ESV

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

PRINCIPLE: YOU ARE AS CLOSE TO GOD AS YOU WANT TO BE AND AS YOU ALLOW SIN TO KEEP YOU FROM HIM

I STARTED WITH THESE WORDS:

GRACE IS NOT A COVER FOR SIN NOR AN EXCUSE FOR INDIFFERENCE

END WITH THIS

GRACE IS HAVE COVERED YOUR SIN AND CRUSHED JESUS FOR YOUR INDIFFERENCE

Hebrews 4:15 ESV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.