SERMON: February 28, 2016
RESPONSIBILITY AND CONSEQUENCES
1 Cor 10: 1-13
Old Testament Examples
1 “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea,
2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
3 all ate the same spiritual food,
4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.
7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’
8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell;
9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents;
10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
Sometimes you may read a difficult Bible passage. You read it again and you think about it and you think again and then you put it away to study it later. Eventually you may be tempted to give up studying it!
You really do not understand what it is about.
This passage COULD be one of those for you, I don’t know, so if it is, let me try to open it up for us all.
The writers of the Translation for Translators Bible say this about this passage:
“Our Jewish ancestors all experienced God's power, but almost all of them died in the desert because they sinned against him.”
(Translation for Translators, p.1283 “QUOTATION TAKEN FROM A TRANSLATION FOR TRANSLATORS, © 2008 BY ELLIS W. DEIBLER, JR. USED BY PERMISSION.” Copyright © 2008-2014 Ellis W. Deibler, Jr.) (The whole Bible is just over 11 Mb!)
The master of understatement rides again, or I should say WRITES again.
“I am not ashamed” says the Apostle Paul, “of the gospel of Christ.”
What he means is that he boasts in Christ, in Rom 1:16.
There are several “I am… statements” Paul makes:
“For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle”
(1 Corinthians 15:9)
He says this even though he was in fact the Lord’s appointed leader of the Gentile Church! In Acts 9:15 God says Paul was “a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.”
Yes, understatement is a characteristic of the Apostle.
It comes out again when he writes to the Christians living in Corinth,
“But with MOST of them God was not well pleased.” (1 Cor 10:5)
Every part of the sentence is an understatement.
Most of them? Well, 23,000 people died!
And if God was “not well pleased,” you do not want to be around when He is angry! Let alone when He is furious!
23,000 people! IMAGINE!
When God was “not well pleased” with them, He sent poisonous snakes among the people to bite them!
He sent “the destroyer” to, guess what?, destroy some of them.
Well, even if it was only one incident that the Apostle was referring to, and I think it was more than one, there was a very severe outcome!
Why was God so tough on these people?
Because He loved them!
What? But God left so many of them dead in the wilderness, Ray!
Twenty Three (23) thousand of them (v. 8) in one day!
But He sent them snakes, Ray, and destroyed them!
Many were destroyed! How terrible was that?
As the Apostle Peter says “…it would have been better for them not to have fully known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandments…” (2 Pet 2:21)
What we need to remember is that these people were not just any old people; not at all, there was NO randomness about it. They were God’s people!
They belonged to God because of God’s love for them. God chose them from among the nations. Out of Egypt. (Ex 6:6-7)
They were called out to be committed to God, by God’s holy covenant.
The covenant or agreement was made to bind the two, God and His people together: a committed relationship.
It was a covenant or agreement created by God and God sustained it.
So how did God describe the relationship?
Ex 6: 7, “I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”
“I will take you…
I will be your God.
I am the LORD your God.
I bring you out. I deliver you from slavery!”
V1-4 tells us all were blessed by God Himself, all, all, all.
All were blessed by God, but some died in judgment. This does not mean all went to hell. It means they were judged and not allowed into the Promised Land. Moses was not allowed in because of his sin regarding the striking of the rock instead of speaking to it. (Num 20:8-13) He lives, however, as we see him speaking with Jesus at Jesus' Transfiguration! (Psalm 95:8-11; Mark 9:4)
Did God break the covenant? NO, the people He loved did.
Did God stop loving them? NO, they stopped loving God.
How do I know? They stopped doing what He had told them to do.
He had told them what He expected, but they decided to go their own way and disregarded God’s voice.
So was this a big thing, was it a big deal?
They resisted God! They tried to ignore God’s commandments, which is the same as ignoring God’s will, which is the same as rebelling against God.
Do you know what had happened to the population of the nation before they arrived at the Promised Land?
Well, I’ll tell you!
They thought they would have been ok if they just knew the rules.
But rules can be accepted or resisted. You can call them commandments, but some people will still not obey them.
God called them his holy commandments Rom 7:12; 2 Pet 2:21 for example and at Mt. Sinai when God gave the people the commandments, but some people “sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” V. ¬7, (See Ex 32: 1-10)
There the people of God are described as corrupt, idol worshippers and stiff-necked!
The Law and Respect
Now if you resist the rules, you resist God.
Why? Because God’s character is connected to His word of honour.
His word expresses His character and His will and whether we do His will is the question here…
Did these people dishonour God’s character?
If you go into court, you are expected to honour the law, even if you have broken it.
What do I mean?
Well, when these people who stick up their fingers (for the TV cameras), when they are sentenced and taken out of court, they disrespect the judge, they disrespect the law, and the lawgivers and they disrespect you and I because the law exists to protect us all!
Obedience.
If you are doing what you are supposed to be doing, you are a happy person.
If you decide to resist or live as though the rules do not apply to you, you create your own tensions with your own decisions and behaviour.
Roman 13: 1 “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.”
You don’t feel bad just because rules and standards exist, you feel bad when you resist them.
Rom 13 v. 3 “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil.”
ILLUSTRATION
Imagine you are driving along the road, and the road sign says 50, 70, or 100 MPH.
You are going along around the speed limit and you see in your rear vision mirror, Oh, No! a Traffic Cop!
But you feel relieved when you look down at your speedo, and you are going along within the limit, within the law, within the rules.
You could go through a whole line of Traffic Cops, “line them up at the side of the road right now,” you say to yourself!
If you are doing what you are supposed to be doing, you don’t mind someone checking up on what you are doing, do you?
The only time you mind being checked up on is when you are not doing what you are supposed to be doing!
But there are rules and standards to live by.
If you obey, you can expect a certain outcome.
If you resist, you can expect a different, a separate consequence.
1 Pet 2:20 “For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.”
As Dr. Henry Brandt, the Biblical Counsellor says, “I didn’t like that verse.”
So the only reason there are some verses we do not like is that we are not doing them. In other words, we are not doing what God says!
And we wonder: Why was God so hard on these people?
Did He not love them?
So, by whose standard are we measuring the story of God’s people?
Our human standard or God’s Holy Standard?
By whose standard are we judging?
But, Ray, that’s the Old Testament, it doesn’t apply to us!
We are sophisticated, we have an education, we know the truth and we are freed by the gospel!
Are we? Are we free when we are bound by sin? That’s not what the Bible says.
Yes, you can accept the commandments and obey them or resist them.
What is to be done?
You need to repent of your sins. That repentance comes only through the power of God. It involves a transaction between you and God. You must enter into His presence. We are told in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The Lord won’t ever turn you away! He’s there anytime you want to call on Him. So come to God and repent of your sin.
Tell God:
1. “I’m wrong and I have sinned.” Tell God your exact sin.
2. “I’m sorry.” Tell God you are sorry you offended Him
3. “Please forgive me.” Because Jesus Christ died for my sins.
4. “Cleanse me.” By Your Holy Spirit’s power in my life.
5. “Lord, empower me.” To stay free from sin I need Your power in my life to live for You as I should.
Repentance involves a dependence on the Lord for the rest of your life. It is a wonderful gift you have been given, and to accept that gift will keep you from repeating your sin. Amen.
