A Blast from the Past

1 Corinthians

Series: Christ & Culture

Theme: Paul calls the Corinthian Church to be a holy church in a challenging culture.

Text: 0

Title: A Blast from the Past

Introduction

The late Dr. Warren Wiersbe said, “Paul reminded the experienced believers who were strong in the faith that they had better not grow overconfident in their ability to overcome temptation.” [Wiersbe, Warren W. The Bible Exposition Commentary. Vol. 1. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996. Print.] [Central Idea of the Text]

Paul reminded the experienced believers who were strong in the faith that they had better not grow overconfident in their ability to overcome temptation.

Central Idea of the Text

[Wiersbe, Warren W. The Bible Exposition Commentary. Vol. 1. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996. Print.

When we leave today, my hope and prayer is that we learn from the Corinthians and the Israelites that we cannot let our guards down when it comes to temptation. [Main Objective of the Sermon]

I. Remember God’s Protection (1-2)

1 Remember our history, friends, and be warned. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraculously through the Sea.

2 They went through the waters, in a baptism like ours, as Moses led them from enslaving death to salvation life. (Msg)

“When Paul says that the Israelites were “baptized into Moses” (), he means that they were put under Moses’ control and direction. Thus, baptism into the name of the triune God signifies control and direction by God himself.” [Packer, J. I. Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1993. Print.]

When Paul says that the Israelites were “baptized into Moses” (), he means that they were put under Moses’ control and direction. Thus, baptism into the name of the triune God signifies control and direction by God himself.

Packer, J. I. Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1993. Print.

II. Remember God’s Provision (3-4)

3 They all ate

4 and drank identical food and drink, meals provided daily by God. They drank from the Rock, God's fountain for them that stayed with them wherever they were. And the Rock was Christ.

2 They went through the waters, in a baptism like ours, as Moses led them from enslaving death to salvation life.

“and the rock was Christ” = Christ was the ever present source of their refreshment and life, both physical and spiritual. God’s providence is all exercised through Christ.” [Strong, Augustus Hopkins. Systematic Theology. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1907. Print.]

“and the rock was Christ” = Christ was the ever present source of their refreshment and life, both physical and spiritual. God’s providence is all exercised through Christ.

Strong, Augustus Hopkins. Systematic Theology. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1907. Print.

III. Remember Israel’s Problem (5-10)

5 But just experiencing God's wonder and grace didn't seem to mean much - most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased.

Be careful and don’t get at ease in Zion.

6 The same thing could happen to us. We must be on guard so that we never get caught up in wanting our own way as they did. (lusting, cp. )

7 And we must not turn our religion into a circus as they did - "First the people partied, then they threw a dance." (idolatry, cp. )

“Worship is the time that we bring the gods we have made to the God who has made us.”

8 We must not be sexually promiscuous - they paid for that, remember, with twenty-three thousand deaths in one day! (fornication, cp. Num. 25)

4 and drank identical food and drink, meals provided daily by God. They drank from the Rock, God's fountain for them that stayed with them wherever they were. And the Rock was Christ.

9 We must never try to get Christ to serve us instead of us serving him; they tried it, and God launched an epidemic of poisonous snakes. (tempting God, cp. )

“to test v. — to put to the test in order to ascertain the nature of something, including imperfections, faults, or other qualities.” [Witthoff, David, ed. The Lexham Cultural Ontology Glossary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014. Print.]

to test v. — to put to the test in order to ascertain the nature of something, including imperfections, faults, or other qualities. [Witthoff, David, ed. The Lexham Cultural Ontology Glossary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014. Print.]

Witthoff, David, ed. The Lexham Cultural Ontology Glossary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014. Print.

10 We must be careful not to stir up discontent; discontent destroyed them. (complaining, cp. & 16)