MISSING THE CROWN
I CORINTHIANS 10:1-13
I. Our Salvation is not based on how we live our lives.
A. Ephesians 2:8-9
B. "I know I’m going to heaven, not because of what I’ve done but because of what Christ has done for me."
C. John Wycliffe, in Christian History, no. 3. "Trust wholly in Christ; rely altogether on His sufferings; beware of seeking to be justified in any other way than by His righteousness. Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for salvation. There must be atonement made for sin, according to the righteousness of God. The Person to make this statement must be God and man."
D. The repeated promises in the Qur’an of the forgiveness of a compassionate and merciful Allah are all made to the meritorious, whose merits have been weighed in Allah’s scales, whereas the gospel is good news of mercy to the undeserving. The symbol of true Christianity is the cross, not the scales.
E. One time in an evangelistic crusade the evangelist stopped the invitation and asked for every Christian to witness to the person next to them. A small boy turned to the gentleman standing near him and said, "Mister, do you know Jesus as your personal Savior?" Very condescendingly the man looked down at the little boy and replied, "Why son, I’m an ordained deacon." With all the innocence in the world, the little boy replied, "Mister, it don’t matter what you’ve done. God will save you anyway!"
II. Our Reward IS based on how we live our lives.
A. An individual does not become a Christian by professing to live a sinlessly perfect life, nor does he become a Christian by making a promise to be perfect but rather by accepting what Jesus Christ has done for him. However, once a person does accept Christ, according to I John, he does not habitually practice sin.
B. 2 Corinthians 5:10 "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."
C. James 1:12 "Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the CROWN OF LIFE, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him."
D. 2 Timothy 4:7-8 "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: [8] Henceforth there is laid up for me A CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."
E. Revelation 22:12 "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be."
III. Many of us will miss the crown because of the way we live our lives.
A. Verse 5 - "But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness."
B. Lust
1. Verse 6 - "we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted."
2. Lust = "strong desire"
3. Numbers 11:4-6 "And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes."
4. It is possible for Christians to fall by getting their eyes focused on the wrong perspectives.
? Psalms 73:1-3 "A Psalm of Asaph. Truly, God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked."
5. Mark 4:18-19 "And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful."
6. "Our necessities are few but our wants are endless."
7. A man walked into a mental institution one day and was taken on a tour. The tour saw one cell where the man was beating his head against the padded walls. He kept saying, "Linda, how could you do it? Linda, how could you do it?" The guide explained that the man was in love with Linda, and when Linda jilted him, he drifted off into the ozone. He couldn’t handle it. They went to the next cell, and there was a man saying, "Linda, Linda, how could this happen? Linda, Linda." The visitor said, "Who’s he?" The guide said, "He’s the man who married Linda." That’s the myth of the greener grass.
8. 1 Timothy 6:6-9 "But godliness with contentment is great gain. [7] For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. [8] And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. [9] But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition."
C. Idolatry
1. Verse 7 - "Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play."
2. Exodus 32:1-5 "And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD."
3. In his book, The Ultimate Priority, John MacArthur reflects on a story in the Chicago Tribune about an amazing tortilla. A New Mexico woman was making tortillas when she noticed that the skillet marks on one of the tortillas looked like Jesus. She showed it to her husband and neighbors, and they all agreed that Jesus’ face was burnt into the tortilla. She took the tortilla to have it blessed by her priest. She testified that the tortilla had changed her life, and her husband agreed that she had been a happier, more peaceful and submissive wife since the tortilla had arrived. After the reluctant priest blessed the tortilla, she took it home, put it in a glass case with piles of cotton to make it look like it was floating on clouds, built an altar for it and opened the shrine to visitors. Within a few months, more than eight thousand people made pilgrimages to worship at the shrine of the Jesus of the Tortilla. Everyone agreed that the burn marks on the tortilla looked like Jesus, except for one anti-religious newspaper reporter who thought it looked like former heavyweight boxer Leon Spinks. We shouldn’t be surprised. Few people know what worship is, and even in Christian churches worship is a battleground marked with confusion, misconception and prejudice. Most of us come to a church service with personal preferences and expectations. Few of us have any clear idea of what the LORD expects from our gatherings.
4. Billy Graham said, "We usually think of an idol as a religious figure carved out of wood or stone, perhaps in some primitive tribe far removed from civilization. But we have our "idols" today, because an idol is anything that you worship in place of the living God. Some people worship the idol of beauty or sexual pleasure. Some people worship the idol of money and security... Some people worship at the shrine of power."
5. "Whatever a man seeks, honors, or exalts more than God, this is the god of his idolatry."
6. The sin of idolatry that plagues the modern world is a "me first" attitude that gives God the leftovers in though and life. - W. Werning
D. Immorality
1. Verse 8 - "Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand."
2. Numbers 25:1 "And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab."
3. Matthew 5:28 "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."
4. "What one generation accepts in moderation, the next will accept in excess."
E. Tempting Christ
1. Verse 9 - "Neither let us tempt (try the patience of) Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents."
2. Tempt - try the patience of
3. Numbers 21:4-5 "And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. [5] And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loathes this light bread."
4. They felt that God and His leader Moses demanded and expected too much and they longed for the things of their former life in Egypt.
5. Hebrews 3:8-9 "Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: [9] When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years."
6. The believer can be too demanding of God. He can presume upon the goodness of God almost to the point of daring God to judge him.
F. Murmuring and Complaining
1. Verse 10 - "Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer."
2. Numbers 14:27-32 "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. [28] Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: [29] Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, [30] Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. [31] But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. [32] But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness."
3. It is so much easier to fix blame than to fix problems.
4. Philippians 2:14 "Do all things without murmurings and disputings:"
5. It is said that two kinds of birds fly over the California deserts: the hummingbird and the vulture. All the vulture can see is rotting meat, because that is all he looks for. He thrives on that diet. But the hummingbird ignores the carcasses and the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, he looks for the tiny blossoms of the cactus flowers. He buzzes around until he finds the colorful blooms almost hidden from view by the rocks. Each bird finds what it is looking for. What are you looking for? Better still, what are you finding? What you are finding tells what you are really looking for. Your expectations of life will determine your outcome. If you come to church looking for a blessing, you will find one. If you come to church looking for a fault or an excuse for staying home the next time, you will find that also. When you leave church with the great expectation and desire to worship and serve God during the week, you will find what you are looking for.
Conclusion: 1 Corinthians 10:13 "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
