1 Cor 10:1-13 Learn From the Past
Paul makes his concluding remarks here in chapter 10 still on the subject of exercising self-control and not becoming a stumbling block to others.
• We have rights and freedom but watch our conduct because not everything we do is beneficial.
• In the preceding section covered by Bro Lester last week, Paul emphasizes the importance of self-control in the Christian life.
• Runners or boxers in the Corinth games discipline themselves but only to strive for a perishable prize (a wreath).
• But for us, we do the work of God for an imperishable (ESV) crown that lasts forever (NIV).
It takes self-control and hard work but we want to because we want to finish the race and “win the prize” of hearing the Lord says: “Well done, good and faithful servant” when we see Him again.
• Hence Paul says we do not want to run this race “aimlessly” or like “beating the air”.
• We want to discipline ourselves and achieve something worthwhile and significant.
Paul concludes in our text today with a stern warning on the exercise of their freedom.
• He returns to the subject at hand – the insistence of some Corinthians on the freedom they have in attending the pagan feasts in the Temple claiming that they are just “eating meat” and not really “worshipping idols”.
• Earlier Paul stated the need to restrain themselves for the sake of their weaker brothers. Now he warns them of the danger of eating at these feasts.
Paul raised two reasons for this:
• (1) 10:1-13 - the danger of exposing themselves to temptations, and
• (2) 10:14-22 - such conduct is incompatible with the Christian life.
Paul cites the lessons from Israel’s history as warnings for them.
1 Cor 10:1-13 ESV
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.
Twice Paul uses the words “happen as an example” and twice “it is written”.
What has happened in the past now serves as examples for us – in verses 6 and 11.
• 6“Now these things took place as examples for us.” and
• 11“Now these things happened to them as an example…”
The past is not useless; they are not bygones. Our past teaches us and makes us wiser if we learn from them.
• God uses our past experiences, particularly our failures, to teach and warn us of the consequences of our mistakes and the folly of repeating them.
• Israel has experienced God’s blessings and privileges, and yet a fair share of failures and sinful mistakes. They are lessons for us today.
And twice Paul says, “as it is written” in 10:7 “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.”
• He quoted from Exo 32:6b. The context: Exo 32:5-6 “5When Aaron saw this [the golden calf they made], he built an altar before the calf and proclaimed: “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” 6So the next day they arose, offered burnt offerings, and presented peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to indulge in revelry.”
• And again in 10:11 “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.”
God has inspired people to pen down the encounters of Israel not just as historical records but as divinely inspired Scriptures for our instruction.
• They are words and acts of God meant for us to learn and gain understanding.
• Paul writes in 2 Tim 3:16-17 “16All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
God’s dealings with Israel have been written down for our instruction, so learn from the past and do not repeat the same mistakes.
• Paul argues against the practice of visiting the Temples and participating in the feasts by drawing lessons from the past, to counter the prideful Corinthians who claim that they are only there to “eat the meat” and not “worship the idol”.
• Paul highlights the idolatry of their forefathers and the many times they had fallen.
LESSON FROM THE FOREFATHERS WHO HAVE FAILED (10:1-5)
Israel’s forefathers experienced God’s deliverance from their bondage in Egypt.
• They were delivered through the sea by Moses and Paul describes it as a type of “baptism” – like all of them being saved through the sea and delivered from bondage in Egypt.
• Paul uses a picture to prefigure the Corinthians’ conversion; it’s like their salvation and baptism in Christ.
And our forefathers were sustained in the wilderness when God provided manna and water for them supernaturally.
• All of them ate the “spiritual food” and drank the “spiritual drink”. They drank from the Rock and the Rock was Christ.
• Again Paul uses a picture that prefigures the Lord’s Supper that the Corinthians are participating in today, remembering Christ for their salvation.
Israel experienced God’s salvation, through the sea and divine sustenance, just like the Corinthians’ experience of baptism and the Lord’s Supper in remembering their salvation in Christ today.
• YET despite this great deliverance and the blessings they had, their forefathers turned their backs on God. They rebelled against God.
• The Lord declared in Num 14:21-23 “21But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD, 22none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.”
• 10:5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. (ESV) NIV: “… their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.”
• They perished in the wilderness because of their unbelief.
This is Paul’s warning, expressed in 10:12 “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands, take heed lest he fall.”
• Do not be presumptuous and think that you will not be tempted and fall into idolatry.
• You can have all the wonderful, external experiences – like the baptism and the Lord’s Supper – and yet be tempted into idolatry.
• The external experiences do not automatically translate to faith in God. The “baptism” and the “spiritual food and drink” did not keep them from rejecting God.
• They failed to gain the prize of entering Canaan because they lacked “self-control”.
Paul went on to list out the various temptations they faced – idolatry, sexual immorality, putting the Lord to the test, and grumbling against God and His servants.
LESSONS FROM THE ISRAELITES WHO HAVE FALLEN (10:6-13)
10:7 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.” (cf. Exo 32:6)
• The context, as I mentioned earlier, is the situation in Exodus 32 when Aaron led the people to feast before the golden calf, while Moses was still on Mount Sinai.
• When he returned, he ordered the Levites to execute God’s judgment. Exo 32:28 “And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell.”
10:8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.
• The context is likely Num 25:1-9 where the people were indulging in sexual immorality as they worshipped the Baal of Peor (again idolatry).
• God’s judgment of a plague killed 24,000 (Num 25:9). Paul could have recalled wrongly when he put 23,000 here.
10:9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents… [Paul uses Christ and not Lord as it prefigures Christ’s salvation]
• This third example refers to the Israelites’ complaint against God and Moses in Num 21:4-7 because they have no food and water and hated the manna.
• The poisonous serpents killed many until God asked Moses to make a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. All who looked to it lived.
• Paul was inferring that the Corinthians must not put Christ to the test by eating at His table (the Lord’s Supper) and also at the table of demons (at the pagan meals).
10:10 … nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.
• This context might be taken from Num 14:2-3 after they explored Canaan “2And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And God pronounced judgment that they would not enter Canaan.
• Another situation could be in Num 16 when Korah (the Levite) and his followers caused an uprising against Moses and Aaron and God opened up the earth and swallowed them up.
• In the aftermath of this, the people accused Moses and Aaron: “You have killed the people of the Lord.” (Num 16:41) The Lord sent a plague against them.
• Moses asked Aaron to take a censer with incense and pray for mercy. Num 16:47-49 47So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. 48And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. 49Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who died in the affair of Korah.
Paul draws all these warning examples to a close and said in 10:11-12
• 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.
Behind these happenings lies the eternal purposes of God, who knows the end from the beginning, and has ordained these be recorded in the Scriptures for our instruction.
• This is the reason why Paul and we today hold the Scriptures in high regard.
• It is not just some historical records but the message of God to a lost world.
THEREFORE, with all these lessons from the past, Paul urges the Corinthians to exercise self-control and not be proud or presumptuous.
• 12… let anyone who thinks that he stands, take heed, lest he fall.
• No one is immune from temptations, not even Christians who are baptised and taking the Holy Communion. There is no special privilege or immunity.
• We are all vulnerable and susceptible to temptations and sin. Hence the need to exercise self-control.
So FLEE FROM IDOLATRY, that’s the punchline for the next section (10:14-22).
• But before that, Paul interjects one more line in 10:13. He does not want to end all these warnings with a serious word of threat.
• 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.
Temptations cannot win over us if we do not allow them.
• We do not need to succumb to it because we have the promise of God’s help.
• Our faithful God helps us in two ways:
(1) He will not let us be tempted beyond our ability to bear.
(2) With the temptation God will also provide a way of escape.
So that we “may be able to endure it”, in order words there will be some enduring and persevering involved but we can win it. We can win it because we have divine aid.
CONCLUSION Lessons for Today:
(1) Learn from the past and gain wisdom.
• Don’t waste the past. Don’t dwell on the past. Don’t live in the past. Don’t regret the past, just learn from it and be a wiser person today.
• Take the lessons that we have learnt and apply them to our lives today.
• Understand why things happened in the way that they did, and then use this knowledge to make better decisions today.
• Look at what God has done, understand His will and live to honour Him today.
(2) Watch our conduct and exercise self-control.
• Set boundaries. Keep away from temptations. “Eat your meat elsewhere, not at the pagan feasts in the Temples.”
• No one is immune from temptations. No one is exempt from sin.
• The one who thinks he is immune might have already sinned – pride.
Prayer
You can hear the sermon and view the slides at https://youtu.be/eC4B4sj91oY
Earlier sermons with slides are at https://tinyurl.com/KTCC-EnglishService
