Tempted and Tried

1 Corinthians 10:1–16 NASB95

For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; 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 were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.” Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; you judge what I say. Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?

INTRO: As we veer back into our study of 1 Corinthians, I want to briefly remind you of a couple truths we must continue to carry with us.

The church exists to glorify God.

Everything we do in life, we do as citizens of Heaven. Our role as a body and as individuals in this world is to live in such a way that those we influence will see the majesty and glory of God.

The world needs the Gospel.

All of humanity is desperately broken; separated from God by their sin. The only answer is the Good News of Jesus Christ.

We have been commanded, that is you and me, LRBC - to make disciples of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.

We do that by ENGAGING the unsaved with the truth of the Gospel, EQUIPPING one another with the knowledge and understanding of God’s Word, and EMPOWERING one another to GO and replicate our faith in the lives of others.

These truths are the big picture. Now, the reality is that we often lose sight of the big picture because we have a million small-pictures in front of us at any given time. Like the old adage says, “We can’t see the forest for the trees.” Yet, one of my responsibilities as your pastor is to help you connect the small pictures to the big picture.

I hope to do that in our time together this morning.

Have you ever heard the saying, “People who do not learn from the past are often doomed to repeat it?”

Of course you have- that’s why we believe that we should preserve and study history, not try to re-write it. Indeed, we ought to try and learn from our past and the pasts of others where possible. This is how we create better communities, better churches, better jobs, etc. If we refuse to learn from the past, then we will likely make the same mistakes all over again.

I believe that the Apostle Paul was giving that same kind of warning to the Corinthian church in 1 Cor. 10. If you remember, the Corinthian Church was located in the midst of a city that was consumed with idol-worship, sexual sin, false teachers, and every kind of immorality you could imagine… perhaps a little like living in the US.

Thus, this letter we are studying has addressed many of these sins head-on. In this chapter, Paul uses history to teach the church about the dangers of temptation.

A person is only tempted to do evil… We are not tempted to give generously to the church. We are not tempted to serve in ministry or to go to the mission field. We are not tempted to worship God or to share the Gospel- to love our family.... No, we are tempted to lust, to turn from God, to seek the glory of self, to lie, cheat, steal, hate, etc. Even with our diets we are tempted not to eat celery or salad, but chocolate cake and ice cream!

My hope is that we will be able to look in and learn together and, prayerfully, be better equipped to face the temptations we encounter.

The sermon is entitled, “Tempted and Tried: A Warning from History”. If you picked up a bulletin on your way in, I invite you to make use of the sermon guide located on the inside flap.

The first verse of chapter 10 introduces us to the teaching. Paul says, “I do not want you to be unaware...” IOW, I want you to be aware! I want you to know! I want you to learn and triumph.

Me too, Paul… me too! So, let’s walk through this together. The first lesson Paul wants to teach us is:

Temptation is Definite (1-5)

Let’s begin by reading v. 1-5 again (READ)

Opening the history books, Paul points to the account of Moses and the Israelites. These folks had lived their whole life as slaves in Egypt before being miraculously delivered. If you are not familiar with this story, you can read the account in the OT book of Exodus.

What is important to note is that these folks got to see the power of God demonstrated on multiple occasions.

They saw the plagues that eventually convinced the Egyptian Pharaoh to let them go.

They walked across the dry land as God split the Red Sea.

They saw the guidance of God’s presence in the pillar of smoke by day and fire by night, leading them to the land God promised to give them.

They ate the manna that God dropped from heaven

They drank water that poured forth from a rock that Moses struck with his staff.

They experienced so much that they had every reason to trust God. He had raised up Moses to deliver them, they saw the miracles and took part in them, they had been given the promise of both deliverance from bondage and the special status of being God’s chosen people.

But temptation still came. If you remember, it was early on in their trip across the desert that Moses went up on Mt. Sinai to commune with God. He was gone for a while and the people got scared and were tempted to worship a false god.

They had every privilege, yet temptation was always just around the corner.

This should not surprise us. That is the reality of sin and Satan. God’s Word tell us

1 Peter 5:8 NASB95

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Temptation is a tool of Satan to lure you into sin. And temptation will come in ways you might never expect. For the Israelites, their temptation began with doubt- Was it really God who saved us from the Egyptians? We can’t actually see God and the man who pointed us to Him is gone... How do we reconcile this?

And of course, that’s when the people decided to melt their jewelry and form a golden cow so they could worship it.

For you and I, we might think that this is silly- but much of what these folks had experienced in Egypt was idol-worship. This was familiar. It was normal. The same was true in Corinth. Idol-worship was the norm, thus a real temptation.

And many Israelites, through their time in the desert, fell into these temptations. (v.5)

The point is this: You will face temptation. Even though you are part of a church. Even though you have heard the truth of God’s Word proclaimed. You will be tempted to sin. Every one of us is on “Temptation Island”. You and I must be on alert: Temptation is Definite.

Discuss: What are some ‘norms’ that we might be tempted with?

Having established this point, Paul reminds the Corinthians (and us) that we have the experiences of the Israelites to teach us and to warn us about giving in to temptation. This warning is that:

Sin is Destructive (6-11)

Note: Temptation is not sin. But sin is the result of temptation that is not resisted. Let’s read v. 6-11 again (READ)

Again, this is a warning. We see that the Israelites had turned their temptations to return to what was normalized in Egypt into their reality. Paul quoted Ex. 32:6 here in v.7 to remind us of their gold cow experience.

The problem is that we actually crave sin. Jesus said in John 3:19,

John 3:19 NASB95

“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

When we crave the sinful things, we will reap the consequences. If we think back to the metaphor of the prowling lion, we can imagine that if you are devoured, it’s not a good thing. Sin is down-right deadly!

Look at the other examples Paul lists- The people acted on their sexual lusts and other immoral desires and God brought judgment through a plague (Num. 25:9). They spoke against God and Moses, calling God a liar and accusing Moses of leading them to death. And God sent poisonous serpents as judgment. They complained and accused Moses of genocide and again God brought a plague of judgment.

These folks fell into their temptation to sin against God and in their sin they met destruction. And you and I should learn from that!

ILL: It’s like walking behind someone who falls into a pit. We see the pit. We should learn from this person’s mistake.

I like the way the Eugene Peterson puts it in the Message Bible:

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Chapter 10

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. And we must not turn our religion into a circus as they did—“First the people partied, then they threw a dance.” We must not be sexually promiscuous—they paid for that, remember, with 23,000 deaths in one day! 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. We must be careful not to stir up discontent; discontent destroyed them.

11–12  These are all warning markers—DANGER!—in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes.

The lesson here is that when we give into temptation, we are choosing something else over God. This is idolatry. It’s the same as bowing down to a golden cow and calling God a liar. If we do that, we will face dire consequences. Paul warns the Corinthians that if they give in to the temptations that surround them, they too will find themselves in the position of their ancestors… Temptation can lead to sin and Sin is destructive.

Discuss: How are sins destructive? Why do we find sin tempting?

Learn from the mistakes of the Israelites so you do not suffer as they did! Finally, we see that Paul points us not simply away from temptation to sin, but toward the solution. Look with me to v.12-16 where we see:

Christ is Our Victory (12-16)

(READ)

Let me try and break this down: Paul states a couple of facts that are important in v. 12-13

All temptation is common across humanity.

You might think you are uniquely tempted, but as Solomon taught us in the OT, there is nothing new under the sun. Satan has the same schemes as he did in Genesis 3. Men and women have the same weaknesses.

HOWEVER, God is faithful.

The writer of Hebrews explains that Jesus was tempted in every way but without sin (Heb 4:15). He knows and understands what we face. You and I are not alone trying to win this battle against the temptations to sin. Instead, Paul tells us that God will provide a way of escape.

That reminds me of how Joseph in the OT was faced with the sexual advances of Potiphar’s wife (Gen 39). (Do you remember reading about that?) The text tells us that Joseph ran away! He was fleeing that temptation!!

So, Paul tells us in v. 14, FLEE IDOLATRY.

It is important that we catch this. Our sin is rooted in idolatry because in choosing sin, we are choosing to put something else as lord and master of our lives. Jesus said that those who practice sin are slaves to sin (John 8:34). We choose our lust, our pride, our fear, etc. all over Jesus.

By doing so, we are demonstrating that we have not trusted God. We have not placed our faith in Him, though He is faithful, though He is powerful, though He is good.

But our victory is in Christ alone.

Paul points the Corinthians to the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, which we will look at in detail in a few weeks. But he reminds them in v.16 that we share in a new covenant with Christ. The reason we take that cup is to proclaim that Victory over sin has already been obtained!

Thus, as a body, we hold to our profession of Christ as Lord. We aren’t wondering around seeking for hope in the things of this world. That battle has been won!

As that old Hymn says,

O victory in Jesus, my Savior, forever! He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood; He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood

Here is the bottom line: The way that we overcome temptation is to flee from it to Christ. Christ is our victory!

As we close our time together, let me give you a 3 quick ways to put this into practice in your life: You know temptation is coming and you know it can lead to destructive sin, so…

Be accountable to other godly people. (Life Group is a start)

Remove known temptations- Use Covenant Eyes, internet filters, avoid going to places where you are tempted, etc.

Spend time with God. God’s Word has a way of changing our thinking.

Friends, perhaps you are facing temptation this morning. Maybe you are in the throws of Satan’s lies and are wrestling with the temptation to gossip, to lust, to lie...

This morning I want to invite you to flee from that temptation into the arms of Jesus.

[PRAY]

Discuss: How is sin idolatry? What practical steps can you take to overcome temptation in your life?