›I Corinthians 10:1-13
›The Common Experience
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
(I Corinthians 10:1-5, ESV)
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6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 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.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 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. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No 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.
(I Corinthians 10:6-13, ESV)
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›Main Point
› These verses provide Old Testament examples of those who were disobedient and undisciplined
› Though they had their own baptism, spiritual food, and spiritual drink, they did not survive the wilderness
› Let’s not be like those who came before us
› Let’s learn to turn to God in obedience being disciplined in the faith He has given by His grace
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›Application Points
›The Common Experience
– No one has experienced the kind of temptations, struggles, or even failures we experience
– There may be a sense of truth to this
– You cannot feel everything I feel, I can’t think everything you think, we can’t all have the same internal experience
– But that does not mean we cannot have the same external experience
– Let’s say you and a friend witness a crime take place
– You were, perhaps, able to see the front of the person
– Your friend was able to see their back
›Application Points
›The Common Experience (2)
– Temptation is the same way
– Because of our internalization it can lead to different forms of struggle
– For some, they are a tank and the temptation has a bow and arrow
– For others, the same temptation can be reversed
– The temptation could be the same thing
– One person senses the temptation and immediately defeats it by God’s grace
– The other person struggles not to lie, fighting hard against the temptation to do so
– In the end the common experience is the temptation to lie at all
– The simple truth is, all of these things are common temptations which we have all experienced
›Application Points
›The Common Experience (3)
– Despite having experienced God’s grace so majestically in the Exodus…the people still rebelled
– They were tempted to sin
– Some, like Caleb and Joshua, fought well and overcame the temptations, a majority, however, did not
– We should not presume to be much different than those in the wilderness
– We have been freed from a greater enemy, sin and death
– Yet we have not yet made it to the promised land
– The same temptations that came to them come to us as well
– The gods of our hearts, money, esteem, sexuality etc.
– The idols become manifested through out pursuits of these things
›Application Points
›The Common Experience (4)
– Likewise we are tempted to sexual immorality
– Our culture echoes the ancients, let love be love
– Why accept God’s morality when we can invent our own?
– The more I see that this world truly has a deep desire to test God
– They are willing to do what is morally corrupt and they are willing to dare God to do something about it
– Do we ever gripe against God?
– Do we ever get angry with Paul and the Apostles for teaching this or that teaching?
– Is it possible we are far more like the wilderness generation than we care to admit?
– Is it possible that what Paul is so desperately trying to teach the Corinthians about discipline and self-control has as much applicability to our own lives?
›Application Points
›The Common Experience (5)
– This is the common experience
– We are saved from death to life, and yet we are in the dry arid place between the ages where mirages in the desert make a paradise of a broken and sinful world
– There are many who believe that the danger of the wilderness are for those outside of the Church
– What has been the warning thus far?
– Is this written to those who have not partaken of baptism and communion or those who have?
– It is not to those outside that this exhortation is written, but to those within
– We are still called to be responsible through discipline and self control
›Application Points
›The Common Experience (6)
– Far too often we have allowed ourselves to be duped not only by the culture, but by wolves within the congregation
– Leaders who tell people what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear
– Instead of warning people to have self control, we are being told to do whatever we please
– It is justified through the misreading of the Scripture, through the lack of context of the written Word
– We are told that God does not have any expectations of us, as such to count the cost means that there is nothing to count
›Application Points
›The Common Experience (7)
– The warning is clear, while we remain in the time between ages, we have choices to make
– Will we strive for eternal life, or will we lay down and die?
– Will we embrace the gift of Christ’s baptism, the spiritual food and drink He gives, or will we gripe, moan, and complain about the cost?
– If we should each face the same demonic forms of temptation and if we each must resist such temptations, then let us at least guard one another
– We are not alone, God is gracious to us
– Let’s learn from those who have come before us, both the faithful and the faithless
– Learn from the examples set before so we refrain from falling into the same snares as they
›Application Points
› The Gospel of Christ
– Origins
– Fall
– Redemption
– Glorification
