Sermon Brief
Date Written: July 29, 2014
Date Preached: August 03, 2014
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: A Series in 1 Corinthians
Sermon Title: Paul’s Emphasis on Spiritual Freedom
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 [NLT] – read now
1For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3and all ate the same spiritual food, 4and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7Do 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.” 8We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11Now 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. 12Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13No 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. [clear screen after finish]
Essence of the Text: Paul used these verses as an illustration to explain spiritual freedom!
Essence of the Sermon: These verses give us a direction to follow regarding our spiritual freedom in Christ!
Main Question(s) of the Sermon: What is your attitude toward your spiritual freedom today?
Applicable Objective of the Sermon: You will hear the:
WORD PROCLAIMED: Paul gives examples of freedom & how it was abused by the Children of Israel.
WORD EXPLAINED: These illustrations are here to ‘teach’ us to avoid the same pitfalls the Children of Israel made…
WORD MADE PERSONAL: How can I avoid the pitfalls of spritiual freedom? Am I using my spiritual freedom to maximize the kingdom OR for my own desire?
Introduction
So where are we in our journey thru this letter from Paul? We have just learned that Paul called the Corinthian believers to discipline their lives to do ANYTHING they could to share the Gospel so that some would come to know Christ.
We know that Paul had illustrated how HE had disciplined himself to sell out… to give his ALL… so that Christ was proclaimed and souls were won! We also know that Paul loved this fellowship and did NOT believe it had yet lost its presence to witness for Christ…
BUT in v10 we find Paul giving the fellowship a warning. He believed God still WOULD use them if they were willing to sell out and discipline themselves to God’s plan… He knew that the false teachers could be disqualified and overcome if the people would discipline themselves to Scripture and sound teaching.
Paul had shared with many of them about their freedom in Christ, but here he warns them to NOT become complacent in that freedom. You see Paul had just told them to be willing to do ANYTHING for the Gospel… to go ANYWHERE to share Christ… BUT here he lays out a warning!
His warning is found in v12…[show v12 here] “12Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. Paul does NOT want the believers to feel so free that they begin to get careless in their actions.
Last week I told you we are free to GO anywhere, to DO anything (within the law of Christ) to share the Gospel and to see souls won… BUT there is a warning that goes with that!
The warning is don’t get careless in your freedom. My brothers and sisters we ALL know our weaknesses… we ALL know where we struggle… so we must guard our hearts and minds from those things where we most likely will stumble.
If you struggle with alcohol and drinking, it is best that you do NOT go into the lion’s den… into a bar to witness to a friend or co-worker. It’s best that you find another way… look for another opportunity.
With our spiritual freedom comes some spiritual responsibilities that we must put into place in our lives! God gives us a brain to use and we KNOW where we struggle, so why would you place yourself in the line of fire, if there was another way?
Here Paul warns the believers in Corinth by revealing 4 separate examples of those who believed they were stronger than they truly were…
Let’s look at the focus of the example…the people… this is found in v1-5:
The Focus of Paul’s Example – The Children Of Israel – Identifying WHO fell…[show v1-5 here]
1For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3and all ate the same spiritual food, 4and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Here Paul mentions, “Our fathers…” which is in reference to the forefathers of faith… specifically Moses and those who came up out of Egypt… those who were delivered from slavery by God!
He speaks about these people being: “…Under the cloud…” which is a direct reference to the cloud by day and the fire by night that represented the presence of God with the Nation of Israel after they left Egypt.
This cloud by day and fire by night led them and directed them… this was a TYPE of Holy Spirit among them… reflecting the presence of God in their lives, directing their path!
Paul speaks about the people passing through the sea… again this is a direct reference to God’s deliverance of the nation THRU their escape thru Red Sea from escape Pharoah’s army and slavery.
What we can learn is that both the ‘cloud’ and the ‘sea’ represent a form of baptism for the people. Paul makes the comparison of the nation of Israel that came out of Egypt and slavery AND the Christians being saved out of bondage to sin…
For us baptism is a physical event, but it represents a spiritual choice we have made in our hearts. We have chosen to follow Christ and accept His gift of redemption. Our baptism says to the world that Christ is our leader and we will follow Him!
For the nation of Israel Paul taught that they were: “…baptized in to Moses…” which is NOT that Moses was their Savior, but it is a physical reference to Moses being their leader.
This ‘baptism’ Paul speaks about is evident in that the people made the choice to follow Moses to freedom. This was NOT a spiritual baptism but represents the the fact that he led them and they followed him!
When Paul teaches that they all ate the same spiritual food and drink he is alluding to the MIRACLE feeding and providing of water that God accomplished with the people in the wilderness.
Their spiritual food was the manna… provided by God each morning for their daily needs and was ALWAYS there… The spiritual drink was the rock that Moses struck and the water came forth… life giving water provided by God through a miracle!
Paul is also makes the bold statement that this rock was also the Messiah who is the life giving ROCK upon whom our salvation rests!
But in spite of ALL that God provided in their deliverance, the people were selfish and rebellious. They took advantage of God’s grace to satisfy their own desires! AND we know that God di not allow those who rebelled into the Promised land but fell instead they fell in the wilderness!
You see MANY of the people who were delivered out of Egypt took their freedom to mean that they could live as THEY pleased and they used that freedom to satisfy their own lust and desire… but they were delivered by God so that they could become a nation that glorified Him and be a witness to all the nations…
Paul uses the nation of Israel as an illustration and in v6 we have a transition statement: Basically Paul is saying: “I reminded you of them to warn you to NOT repeat the mistake they made…”[show v6 here]
6Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.
Paul did not want these believers to fall prey to the same attitude about ‘freedom’ as the children of Israel in the wilderness…
So Paul has identifed WHO his example was… the Children of Israel who were being delivered from Egypt and slavery TO the promised land of God!
The Focus of Paul’s Example – The Children Of Israel – Identifying HOW they fell…v7--10
Paul has identified WHO fell, and now he describes HOW they fell. He actually gives 4 examples: [show v7 here]
7Do 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 of these examples happens fairly QUICKLY for the nation shortly after they cross the Red Sea. They had JUST escaped Egypt and God had not only provided escape but had provided resource to survive after they had left Egypt.
But soon after they crossed the Red Sea… they camped and Moses went up on the mountain. While Moses was on the mountain many people grew restless & decided to take matters into their own hands.
They demand Aaron to do something, so Aaron takes their jewlry and makes a golden calf so they can worship it as their god. This is the 1st of MANY times when the Nation of Israel turns away from the real God to a false idol…
Paul mentions here in v7 that idolatry of the people made them begin to act in a way similar to the pagan worshipers God detested. v7 tells us that the people, “…sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play…”
[clear screen here]
This a reference to their willingness to present their own bodies as offerings to the false god… their focus was a desire to please their bodily desires, by whatever means that pleased them…
When God saw this He was furious. They had turned their back on God by when the 1st sign of adversity had come… when there was a lull in the battle plan this happened… they demonstrated that they had no patience for God’s plan, but believed their own way to be the best way.
We know that great tribulation comes upon the people for this particular disobedience as over 3000 men were killed that day by the priests as they found them worshipping the false god…it was a sad day in Israel, but even sadder that this would not be the last time they fell…Paul gives us another example in v8.
[show v8 here]
8We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.
Later in the wilderness journey the people were instructed to NOT intermarry with other cultures that lived around them because they did not believe in God… They did NOT nor would they choose to follow God as Yahweh! We can find this story in Numbers 25.
BUT the people rebelled again, seeking to please their lusts they began to intermarry with the foreign women against what God had commanded. But they were not just intermarrying, but they were having their way with their women and also flaunting the fact that they were ‘with’ the women of Moab.
Paul tells us that God’s anger burned bright against them and a plague killed 23,000 for their immoral behavior. Some make an issue that Paul says 23,000 and the actual OT story reveals that 24,000 perished.
I don’t think we need to get caught up in the semantics of numbers here, but what is important was that God quickly & severly judged those who sought after their own pleasure.
[clear screen here]
This story was not only about marrying foreign women, but was about worshipping the idols those foreign women worshipped. His name was Ba’al – a fertility god. They abandoned God’s direction & God himself by turning to their own pleasure & direction & for this they were punished.
The 1st example was about a lack of faith or trust in God, no patience for God’s plan…the people could not see God’s plan and thought they had to take matters into their own hands.
The corinthian church was beginning to take on this attitude as these new teachers had come forward telling them that what they had been taught was no longer valid, but that THEY had a better answer.
Some had bought into that new attitude and answer… but Paul was trying to keep many from falling prey to these teachings.
So they began to express a lack of faith in God’s plan thru Christ… they began to place their faith in the ‘plan’ brought by these men who had infiltrated their community of faith.
Paul also then points out in v8 that not only did the nation have a lack of faith in God, but that led them down a pathway to sinful behavior.
Another example in v9: [show v9 here]
9We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents,
In this example the children of Israel were NOT sexually impure! This was an example of God NOT being enough for them… or what God provides was not good enough for them.
God had provided food and water, but they complained about it and LONGED for what they had in Egypt. God sent a horde of snakes into the camp and they began to bite the people and many died from the bites…
God provided a means of deliverance by telling Moses to make standard to hold up with a snake formed at the top of the standard… all the people had to do was to turn their eyes TO the standard and look upon it and they would be healed. Still many died because of their lack of trust in God and lack of faith in the path of delivery he had chosen for them!
[clear screen here]
People we find ourselves complaining about what we DO NOT have, when in reality we should be rejoicing in what we DO have! We should NOT grumble and mis-trust the Lord for he has promised that he will deliver.
Thousands of Israelites died that day simply because they were unhappy with how God was doing things and they refused to look at the ‘standard’ God has made to heal them…
Distrust in God’s leading, sexual immorality AND a lack of gratitude in their attitude led the nation of Israel to great difficulty and pain… but unfortunately Paul does NOT stop there, he has ONE more illustration of HOW they fell in the wilderness… look at v10 with me: [show v10 here]
10nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.
Now there are those of you here today that may believe that you have the ‘right’ to disagree with God…and we HAVE been given free will and a mind of our own to make choices, but I am telling you this… to disagree with God is to grumble against Him and we do not want to be on the wrong side when it comes to God and judgment.
Many of the Israelites believed they knew better than Moses, even though Moses had proven his worth to them on many occasions… so they began to grumble!
This verse is in reference to what happened AFTER the 12 spies returned from the promised land… 10 had visions of doom and 2 (Joshua/Caleb) had visions of great victory!
The people were moritified that they had come this far only to see defeat… they were already defeated in their hearts. It did not matter what God had shown them in the past.
It did not matter what God had done for them in the past… their faith was in their sight… and what they saw frightened them and they wanted to go back to Egypt. [clear screen here]
Moses interceded for the people for God to spare them and God did spare them from immediate death, but vowed that NONE of those who had rejected His promise on this day would enter into the promised land. No one over 20 would survive the wilderness, but would succumb to death… the only 2 were to be Joshua and Caleb.
Now you might think ‘grumbling’ is not that bad of a thing for us to do…I believe many believers feel that grumbling is their spiritual gift!
But here we find Paul telling us that grumbling is NOT only a bad thing, but it leads us to destruction. Grumbling calls God’s plan into question… it reflects a basic mistrust of the One we call Savior. Are you grumbling in your life today?
So Paul tells us of the WHO and the HOW of those who had fallen in the wilderness… NOW Paul explains WHY he brought these illustrations to light, look at v11 with me:
[show v11 here]
11Now 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.
Paul was telling the believers about how ‘freedom’ had been a great thing for the nation of Israel. God had brought them out of bondage into freedom and had a great promise for them… BUT they had abused God’s granted freedom and they had sought to live as they chose and not as God directed.
Paul illustrates that the poor attitude about ‘spiritual freedom’ that was being taught in the church at Corinth AND that was being lived out in the lives of those in the church… that poor attitude toward our freedom ‘in Christ’ will only lead to destruction, JUST like it did for the children of Israel!
Paul shares that this is not just HISTORY that he is relating, but it is object lessons that God wanted them to use to avoid falling prey to this attitude. It was written down so that they would not repeat the mistakes and sins of their forefathers in the wilderness…
Paul shares about the WHO of his illustration…
Paul shares about the HOW of his illustration…
Paul shares about the WHY of his illustration…
Finally we have Paul sharing about the WHAT of his illustration… look at v12-13 with me. Here is the MEAT of this passage! [show v12-13 here]
12Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13No 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.
Paul wanted the believers in Corinth to understand that ‘freedom’ in Christ does NOT mean freedom to meet and satisfy their desires! AND when we stand on our freedom and under our own power… we are going to fall and fail!
Look what Paul says, [show v12 here] “…let anyone who thinks that he stands…” This was Paul letting the believers in Corinth know that they were NOT able to exercise spiritual freedoms without the guidance of the Holy Spirit!
The children of Israel even HAD the cloud of God’s presence and they STILL went astray. So don’t think that you are able to stand up and live like YOU desire… it will lead to destruction!
Paul then acknowledges the broken world we live in and the reality of temptation and trials that we WILL encounter. V13 is often used incorrectly… [show v13 here]
13No 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.
Most people will condense this verse and say… ‘Well you know God ain’t gonna put more on me than I can bear…” which is NOT what Paul is saying here! Paul addressed that attitude in v12 when he warned us against trying to stand on our own…
It is NOT about what YOU can bear, but it is about your willingness to listen to God in your life and be obedient to His direction.
What v13 is all about is that God’s leading will deliver us from any situation, but we must be willing to follow HIS direction… look at the key part of the verse with me!
[show highlighted v13 here]
“…he will also provide the way of escape…”
the key to this phrase is that HE will provide the means or pathway of escape so that we can endure the temptation. NOT US… but HE will!
We will NEVER be able to meet temptation head on under our own power… we will ALWAYS fall prey to its alluring power over us because of our sinful nature and our natural desire to please ourselves! HOWEVER, God’s Holy Spirit dwelling within us gives us the power and the focus to discipline ourselves to take the path God lays out for us!
[clear screen here]Taking God’s path is NOT something we do with ease, but it is often a struggle, for it is a NARROW path, a path that seems almost impassible BUT with God’s direction we are able to make it through. God is going to provide for us!
Paul was sharing that God’s provision was greater than these believer’s selfish hearts and that He would provide them the path of deliverance… he was warning them NOT to pridefully stand on their freedom in Christ and seek their path, but to submit to the path of God and be willing to be led by God’s direction!
People this speaks to US as believers as well… we MUST be willing to DO anything for Christ and do EVERYTHING to win people to Christ, but we must NOT think that WE are able to stand against the temptation that comes with our spiritual freedoms!
If we stand on our own… we will fall… we will fail… we will falter! If we submit to the leadership of Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we will have a pathway cleared for us to avoid the temptation that can harm us…
So as you implement your spiritual freedom, understand that you are not free to do whatever YOU choose, but your freedom lies in the presence of Christ in your life and that in Him you can do ANYTHING!
The paradox to spiritual freedom… the strange truth about it is that we find great freedom in our willingness to submit to the authority of Christ in our lives and to be led by the Holy Spirit!
Invitation…as Jason comes to play for the time of prayer and confession, I ask:
The BELIEVER… you ARE free in Christ. Free from the bondage of sin, but not free to live as you please. Our freedom in Christ is subject to our willingness to surrender to His leading… are you willing to submit to the authority of Christ in your life?
The NON-BELIEVER… you can know freedom today… the sin that bogs down your life… the places where you know you have failed God and failed yourself… God knows as well and it is HIS desire to make you whole!
He lived, died and conquered death so that He could provide you with a way to be whole… You can know redemption and peace in Him! [show Matt 11:28 here]
Matt 11:28 tells us that we can find REST in Him… ALL who are weary and heavy burdened… Come to Him and HE will give you rest! Bro Jason please lead us …[go to song here]
