Refined By Fire Series

Refined by Fire

1 Corinthian Series

CCCAG 10-26-2025

Scripture- 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Introduction –

About a thousand years before Jesus was born, a small band of men huddled in a cave in Judah.

They were hiding from a posse of trained killers—soldiers sent by the king to hunt them down and slaughter them, because the king saw their leader as a threat to his throne.

That leader sat in the back of the cave, quill in hand, papyrus spread out before him.

By the flickering light of an oil lamp, he poured out his thoughts to God in the poetic Hebrew of his time.

In those writings, he called for God’s vengeance on his enemies, for protection from their schemes, and for God’s glory to be shown in his life and actions.

Years later, that same man finally sat on the throne of Israel.

And when he did, he wrote one of the most beloved passages in all of Scripture.

He didn’t write about his kingship, his victories, or the long struggle to get there.

Instead, his heart looked back to his boyhood in Bethlehem—to the hills, the sheep, and the God who had guided him through every valley.

He wrote:

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” (Psalm 23)

In his youth, David’s psalms often cried out for God to destroy his enemies—to bring vengeance, to bring justice, to prove Himself through David’s victories.

But now, as an older man, his focus has changed.

Where once his prayers centered on his circumstances, now they rest on his Shepherd.

Where once he demanded God’s action, now he delights in God’s presence.

Psalm 23 is not the song of a warrior in hiding — it’s the song of a saint who has learned to trust that even the dark times in the valley has purpose.

David’s story is the story of every believer who walks with God long enough to see His faithfulness proven in the fire.

As a young man, David saw the hand of God deliver him from trouble.

But as an older man, he learned that sometimes God’s greatest work is done through trouble.

The shepherd’s rod that once drove away lions now guided his own heart through fear, loss, and failure — all so that he could say with confidence, “He restores my soul.”

The Apostle Paul is making the same point a thousand years later when he writes to the Corinthians.

He reminds them that everything Israel went through — every desert, every disappointment, every temptation — was not wasted.

It was all part of God’s shaping process, teaching them, testing them, and ultimately transforming them.

Just as God used the wilderness to shape Israel and the caves of Judah to mold David, He uses every pressure, every temptation, and every hardship in our lives to shape us into the image of Jesus.

Because His goal is not just to deliver us from danger — it’s to develop in us the heart of His Son.

Let’s read what the bible has to say about these ideas this morning-

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Scripture Reading – 1 Corinthians 10:1–13 (CSB)

Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, since they were struck down in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, so that we will not desire evil things as they did. … So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall. No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it.

Prayer

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Transition-

Many of us struggle with hardships in this life.

Spouse that is not meeting our needs

Kids that are fulfilling your parents curse that they hope they will be just like you.

Bosses or jobs or family that are testing your last nerve.

Or friends and neighbors that make you want to move.

In all of this, God has a purpose in our lives, and that is the first thing we will look at in the light of the bible’s words in 1 Cor 10.