Introduction:
That Can Happen to Me: Reality Check About God's People and Disqualification. (1 Corinthians 10:1-13)
-
Taking God's BLESSINGS for Granted: That Can Happen to Me. (1 Cor 10:1-6)
-
Falling into SIN: That Can Happen to Me. (1 Cor 10:7-10)
-
IDOLATRY. (1 Cor 10:7)
-
IMMORALITY. (1 Cor 10:8)
-
TESTING God. (1 Cor 10:9)
-
COMPLAINING. (1 Cor 10:10)
-
-
Claiming God's PROMISES When Tempted: That Must Happen By Me. (1 Cor 10:11-13)
God's Promises When You're Tempted (1 Cor 10:13)
-
COMMON. (1 Cor 10:13a)
-
BEARABLE. (1 Cor 10:13b)
-
AVOIDABLE. (1 Cor 10:13c)
-
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
00:36-00:41
Open up your Bibles with me, please, to the book of 1 Corinthians 10.
00:43-00:46
While you're turning there, let's just pause.
00:46-00:53
Please pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's Word clearly and accurately.
00:54-01:00
I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what the Lord is teaching.
01:03-01:06
Because as usual, There's something here for each of us.
01:07-01:08
Let's pray.
01:10-01:21
When all of God's people said, "Amen, we'll try next week." "That won't happen to me." Did you ever say that?
01:23-01:23
Did you ever say that?
01:23-01:27
"That won't happen to me." Do you know who says that?
01:29-01:33
Well, I think everybody, but do you know who most often says that?
01:34-01:38
in their teenage years and in their 20s.
01:39-01:40
That won't happen to me.
01:42-01:43
Right?
01:44-02:01
You're out somewhere and you see some little kid disrespecting their parents, and you're like, "When I have kids, that won't happen to me." And then you have kids.
02:04-02:14
Or, you see kids all glued to their screens, their iPads and their iPhones and all that, and you're like, "Look at that.
02:16-02:17
Those parents have their kid addicted to screens.
02:17-02:36
That won't happen to me." And then you have kids, and you're like, "Can't you just go play the iPad for a few hours?" "That won't happen to me." I think we've all said that in considering maybe some of the things that our parents have said.
02:37-02:50
I think back to when I was a teenager, hearing some of the things my dad would say, I'm like, "That won't happen to me." And now I find myself, even just the other day, "Who left the lights on?
02:50-02:56
"I don't work for Wes Penn." That won't happen to me.
02:57-02:58
You know what the biggest one though was for me?
02:58-03:09
I know this might sound dumb, but, As a much younger man, I see these people get married and have kids and then they get the minivan.
03:10-03:12
And I'm like, "That won't happen to me.
03:15-03:16
We've had too many vans.
03:18-03:20
That won't happen to me." You ever said that?
03:22-03:22
Have you ever said that?
03:22-03:29
"That won't happen to me." Well, before we look at this passage, just back up a verse.
03:31-03:49
Chapter 9, verse 27, Paul's given this sports athlete analogy, and he says, "But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." What's he talking about?
03:49-03:59
This whole section that we've been in these past few weeks, this Q&A section, the issue is should a Christian eat meat sacrificed to an idol?
03:59-04:03
And that turned into a whole discussion about your witness.
04:03-04:04
Like I don't want to offend.
04:05-04:13
And then he started talking about disciplining yourself so that you don't get disqualified.
04:14-04:15
He's talking about his witness.
04:16-04:25
Like I want to reach lost people, and if I'm disqualified, if there is sin in my life, I've shot my testimony.
04:26-04:28
He's not talking about losing your salvation.
04:29-04:34
He's talking about losing the opportunity to be used by God.
04:34-04:35
That's what he's talking about.
04:35-04:38
He's talking about your witness, your testimony.
04:39-05:02
And he says, "Last, after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified." And of course, people can read that in the Corinthians day and in our day and say things like, "Well, maybe you have something to worry about." But that won't happen to me.
05:04-05:05
That won't happen to me.
05:08-05:10
A lot of Christians have said that.
05:12-05:21
They see the sin of others and think, "That won't happen to me." And it did, right?
05:22-05:45
How many Christians have we seen who have ruined their testimony, maybe because it's been found out that they are guilty of some kind of abuse toward a spouse, toward a child, or it comes out that there's some kind of addiction that they've been keeping hidden for years.
05:47-05:48
That won't happen to me.
05:51-05:52
How about pastors?
05:52-05:54
How many pastors have we seen disqualified?
05:55-05:56
No longer usable.
05:58-05:59
They've ruined their testimony.
05:59-06:04
How many times have we seen that with affairs, with embezzlement?
06:06-06:07
That won't happen to me.
06:09-06:13
Well this section that we're looking at today is a warning to God's people.
06:14-06:15
And here's the warning.
06:15-06:20
Being blessed by God can make you think that you're above failing.
06:23-06:54
When you know God, when you're walking with God, when you're experiencing the blessing knowing God, the danger is you can get to the point where you say, "That won't happen to me." And the key to all of this is verse 12. Jump down there for a second. Chapter 10 verse 12, he says, "Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed, lest he fall.
06:58-07:10
So are you telling me that you think that people who have been so blessed by God, who have been so used by God in such powerful ways, you think they couldn't possibly fail?
07:12-07:22
You think God's people, even God's people, you think there's no way that they could be disqualified from being usable to God.
07:27-07:29
Well, let me tell you about Israel.
07:32-07:33
That's where Paul goes.
07:33-07:43
If you're jotting things down in your outline, the heading, "That can't happen to me." So this is a reality check, church.
07:43-07:48
This is a reality check about God's people and disqualification.
07:50-07:51
That can't happen to me.
07:51-07:57
Number one, right, just taking God's blessings for granted, that can happen to me.
08:00-08:07
Now Paul here is going into this illustration from Israel from Old Testament times.
08:08-08:13
And he's talking about Israel when they were going from Egypt to Canaan.
08:16-08:26
And if you're familiar with that story at all, you know that they were blessed incredibly.
08:28-08:37
They saw God's hand at work in their lives, in their nation, every step of the way.
08:39-08:39
Right?
08:40-08:41
They were so blessed.
08:42-08:43
Like, how?
08:43-08:45
Well, look at chapter 10, verse 1.
08:46-08:54
Paul says, "For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud." Stop there.
08:54-08:58
That's the first blessing that they experienced.
08:58-08:59
They were led by God.
09:00-09:03
This cloud - we're not going to look up all these passages.
09:03-09:05
We'll be here until Thanksgiving.
09:07-09:11
But Paul here is giving sort of a paraphrase of the history.
09:12-09:13
But you can jot them down.
09:13-09:14
You can look them up later.
09:15-09:16
What's the cloud? Exodus 13.
09:17-09:20
The Bible says this is how they were led.
09:20-09:23
By day, it was a pillar of cloud.
09:24-09:26
By night, it was a pillar of fire.
09:26-09:27
That's how Israel was led.
09:28-09:32
You realize, not one of the Israelites could have ever said they never saw God.
09:33-09:37
He was right in front of them every single step of the way, right?
09:37-09:38
So they were led by God.
09:38-09:41
Secondly, Paul says they were delivered by God.
09:42-09:43
Look at the rest of verse 1.
09:44-09:52
He says, "And all passed through the sea." You probably could guess what that is, right?
09:52-10:00
Exodus 14, God basically led Israel to a dead end.
10:00-10:02
He led them to a dead end.
10:03-10:05
And now there's the sea.
10:05-10:07
Here comes the Egyptians after them.
10:07-10:09
They're like, "We are doomed." Do you remember what happened?
10:10-10:12
God parted the waters, so they walked through.
10:12-10:14
The Egyptians followed them.
10:14-10:16
God closed the waters, drowned the entire army.
10:19-10:20
That's what He's talking about here.
10:21-10:25
So not only could none of them say, "Well, I never saw God." They did.
10:26-10:30
Not one of them could say they never experienced God's power to save.
10:32-10:33
They were all delivered by God.
10:35-10:39
Thirdly, they were given a great leader by God.
10:40-10:40
Look at verse 2.
10:44-10:56
He says, "And all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea." Baptized into Moses - that's just talking about their identification with Moses as a leader.
10:57-11:00
I mean, you think you have a great leader.
11:02-11:11
Well, they had, who is in my opinion, the greatest human in the Old Testament, Moses.
11:11-11:13
I don't think there's anybody greater than Moses.
11:13-11:14
He was their pastor.
11:16-11:16
Awesome.
11:18-11:19
Given to them by God.
11:20-11:22
All right, they were also provided for by God.
11:22-11:24
Look at verses 3 and 4.
11:26-11:42
It says, "And all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ." They were provided for by God.
11:42-11:43
How did they eat?
11:44-11:44
Manna.
11:45-11:47
It was food that God just put on the ground.
11:47-11:55
They gathered it up every day, except the Sabbath, but God just put this perfect food for them on the ground.
11:57-11:59
And He gave them water from a rock.
12:00-12:03
God handed them everything they needed.
12:03-12:17
By the way, when it says, "The rock was Christ that followed them around," Paul is telling is that somehow, these provisions that Israel received literally came through Jesus.
12:17-12:22
Paul is saying Jesus Christ was literally with them every step of the way.
12:25-12:30
But you notice in these first four verses the word "all." He says it five times.
12:30-12:30
All.
12:30-12:31
All.
12:31-12:31
All.
12:31-12:32
Five times.
12:34-12:40
Every single Israelite experienced God's presence and His provision.
12:41-12:41
Alright?
12:42-12:58
He says in verse 5, "Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness." With most of them, God was not pleased.
13:00-13:05
Most scholars estimate there was about two million Israelites in the Exodus.
13:06-13:08
Most of them God was not pleased.
13:08-13:11
There were, do you know how many there were that God was pleased with?
13:12-13:15
Two, Joshua and Caleb.
13:16-13:18
I did the math on that.
13:19-13:21
Two people out of two million, do you know what that is?
13:22-13:30
That's 0.00001% of the people God was pleased with.
13:31-13:32
All the rest.
13:35-13:36
The rest, Paul would say most of them.
13:38-13:41
They were disqualified.
13:43-13:51
God's like, "You're not usable to Me because you refuse to be faithful." They were disqualified to death.
13:53-14:00
So Paul's point here in these first five verses is just simply this, Old Testament Israel, They saw all they saw.
14:00-14:06
They experienced all they experienced, and they got disqualified.
14:09-14:09
So what's the point?
14:10-14:11
That was like thousands of years ago.
14:13-14:14
Why are you telling us this?
14:16-14:34
Verse 6, he says, "Now these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did." So this is an example for who?
14:36-14:37
It's an example for who?
14:38-14:49
It's an example for us, because those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, right?
14:53-15:12
made everything they saw. Everything they saw. Like, what was the problem? It tells us right here what the problem is. They desired evil. That's the problem. They desired evil.
15:12-15:23
See, the problem was God was with them, but their hearts weren't with God. And Paul says Hey, He's talking to us, church.
15:25-15:27
Their story is our story.
15:27-15:29
You know those provisions we just listed?
15:30-15:31
Can we say the same?
15:32-15:40
I would argue we can say God's provision for us has been greater than God's provision for Old Testament Israel.
15:41-15:42
Here's what I mean.
15:43-15:47
We just said they were led by God, right?
15:47-15:48
Are we led by God?
15:50-15:54
Much greater than a cloud and fire, as awesome as that was.
15:54-15:56
You realize how God leads us?
15:56-16:05
He put His Spirit in us, and He put His wisdom down in this book so that we can have guidance directly from God Himself.
16:07-16:07
Wow.
16:11-16:13
Have we been delivered by God?
16:15-16:16
If you know Jesus Christ, you have.
16:17-16:24
And again, as awesome as the Red Sea had to have been, do you realize your deliverance was so much greater?
16:25-16:39
That because of your sin, you were heading to hell, and God sent His Son to die in your place to bear the wrath of God on Himself while He suffered on the cross, and then to raise from the dead so that we can have eternal life.
16:40-16:41
We have been delivered.
16:46-16:47
We've been given great leaders.
16:49-16:53
I couldn't possibly overstate the greatness of the elders that lead this church.
16:57-17:00
We have been blessed with great leaders in this church.
17:03-17:04
All of our needs have been met.
17:07-17:09
So much more than manna and water from a rock.
17:09-17:12
You have so much more than any of these Israelites ever had.
17:14-17:14
Right?
17:18-17:20
We have the same problem, don't we?
17:21-17:22
We have the same problem.
17:22-17:24
We - what do you say?
17:25-17:25
desire evil.
17:30-17:39
Even as redeemed people, those of you who know Christ, even the redeemed, we live in in this fallen flesh.
17:41-17:44
And this fallen flesh still hungers for sin.
17:46-17:49
That's why we've been talking about self-control.
17:50-17:59
And I remember as a young Christian, I prayed so often that God would remove any desire from me for sin.
17:59-18:01
I prayed that so many times as a young Christian.
18:02-18:06
And then as I grew in my faith, I realized that's just not how it works.
18:07-18:11
Because as long as you live in the flesh, you're gonna have a desire for sin.
18:12-18:17
Instead, what I needed to pray for and what I continue to pray for until today is self-control.
18:18-18:19
That is a fruit of the Spirit.
18:19-18:20
That's how God works.
18:20-18:21
That's what he's commanded us to.
18:25-18:30
So Israel failed to get their hearts devoted to God.
18:32-18:33
That's the moral of that story.
18:34-18:45
"How are you doing? How are we doing, church?" You're like, "Well, how did Israel fail?" Well, let's get specific, shall we?
18:46-18:49
That takes us to number two, "I'm falling into sin.
18:51-18:56
That can happen to me." First, they took God's blessings for granted, as we do.
18:57-19:01
Secondly, falling into sin, that can happen to me.
19:02-19:05
Sin hasn't changed, you know that.
19:06-19:15
And these blessed people under Moses fell into the same sins that we can fall into.
19:16-19:16
It's the same.
19:18-19:20
Specifically, jot these down.
19:20-19:21
We're gonna go through these quickly.
19:22-19:27
Pastor Taylor's gonna be unpacking some of these on the series in July.
19:29-19:31
Letter A, idolatry.
19:35-19:37
The sins they fell into that we can fall into.
19:37-19:38
Idolatry, look at verse seven.
19:39-19:42
He says, "Do not be idolaters as some of them were.
19:43-19:53
"As it is written, "if people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play." Idolatry.
19:53-19:54
We've talked about this.
19:54-19:56
It was a big issue in Corinth, wasn't it?
19:57-19:59
And it was a big issue in Israel.
20:02-20:05
Now here he's speaking specifically of the golden calf incident.
20:05-20:06
Are you familiar with that?
20:07-20:09
If not, just jot down Exodus 32.
20:09-20:11
You can go back and read this later.
20:11-20:15
But what was happening was Moses was up talking to God.
20:17-20:20
Moses was in like the ultimate business meeting with God.
20:20-20:22
God was giving Moses the 10 commandments.
20:23-20:26
And what were the people doing while Moses was talking to God?
20:26-20:34
praying for Moses, fasting, excitedly seeking the Lord, you know, wondering what is God going to do for Moses?
20:35-20:41
You read your Bibles, what you see is instead, Israel just got tired of waiting.
20:44-20:45
We don't know what happened to Moses.
20:45-20:54
So they go to his brother Aaron, and they're like, "Can you make us like a God that'll go before us?" Golden calf.
20:56-21:00
And the point is this, idolatry, you're going to worship something.
21:02-21:16
And if it's not the living God, if you're not worshipping the living God, if Jesus Christ is not everything to you, something else is going to get your attention and your affection.
21:18-21:20
Idolatry, look, that can happen to me.
21:22-21:23
That can happen to me.
21:23-21:28
I can take my eyes off of Christ, and all of a sudden, something much lesser is so much more important.
21:29-21:30
That can happen to me.
21:32-21:37
By the way, it says they sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.
21:41-21:45
To play, that doesn't mean shoots and ladders, okay?
21:46-21:47
That leads us actually to letter B.
21:47-21:48
Write this down, immorality.
21:50-21:50
Immorality.
21:53-21:55
Sexual immorality bleeds right into this.
21:56-22:08
He says, "We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and 23,000 fell in a single day." That's Numbers 25.
22:09-22:10
You can read that.
22:11-22:18
Israel saw the daughters of Moab and went hubba hubba.
22:21-22:24
God sent a plague that killed 23,000 people.
22:26-22:29
Israel disqualifies from usefulness, disqualified to death.
22:30-22:36
And we've talked so much these past few weeks about sexual immorality, but here it is again, it comes up again.
22:36-22:38
Look, it's gonna disqualify you.
22:39-22:50
If you choose to engage in sexual immorality, unrepentant, you're gonna be disqualified.
22:52-22:53
That can happen to me.
22:55-22:56
That can happen to me.
22:58-22:59
Idolatry can happen to me.
22:59-23:01
Immorality, that can happen to me.
23:02-23:03
Letter C, testing God.
23:04-23:06
Testing God, look at verse nine.
23:07-23:17
He says, "We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents." Testing God, right down on Numbers 21.
23:19-23:29
Numbers 21, Israel spoke against God and Moses, the Bible says, "You brought us here to die." Right, was that your plan, Moses?
23:29-23:31
You brought us out of Egypt to die.
23:31-23:33
Moses is like, "Yeah, that was my plan.
23:34-23:36
You caught me." Sarcasm.
23:38-23:41
They said, "You brought us out here to die, Moses.
23:42-23:44
You brought us out here." They said, "There's no food.
23:45-23:45
There's no drink.
23:46-23:50
All we have is this worthless manna." They said that.
23:53-23:58
Can we just pause for a second and acknowledge how horrific that statement is?
23:59-24:00
Worthless manna?
24:01-24:02
Worthless manna?
24:02-24:06
Do you mean the supernatural food that God provided for you every day?
24:07-24:08
That worthless manna?
24:08-24:16
Do you mean the stuff that all you have to do is bend over and pick it up and stick it in your mouth?
24:16-24:18
You mean that worthless manna?
24:18-24:23
Oh, and by the way, manna was the perfect food.
24:23-24:25
It was absolutely perfect.
24:27-24:27
How do you know?
24:28-24:28
Did you have any?
24:28-24:29
No, I didn't have any.
24:29-24:30
Not today.
24:33-24:40
But you know, in the Old Testament it talks about how their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
24:40-24:41
You ever see that in there?
24:41-24:51
Like, "Well, their feet didn't swell, what's that mean?" There's a disease called beriberi that's a result of malnutrition, and it makes your feet swell.
24:52-24:57
And what the Bible's telling us is this food was perfectly nutritious, so they were not malnourished.
24:59-25:01
Banana was perfect food.
25:02-25:28
And Israel gets in God's face and says, "All we got is this worthless stuff that you gave us." Well, God sent serpents, serpents that bit many of the people died, and that's when God told Moses to make the bronze serpent on the pole look to this, "You will live." Jesus said that was a picture of Himself lifted up when you look to Him.
25:29-25:30
You'll be saved.
25:33-25:34
Testing God though, testing God.
25:35-25:36
What's it mean to test God?
25:37-25:43
It's when you have this hard attitude towards God where you say, "God, why did you do this?
25:44-25:45
Why did you do this, God?
25:46-25:51
God, you don't love me because God, if you loved me, this wouldn't be happening to me.
25:52-25:54
God, what have you done for me lately?
25:55-26:24
Or God, you need to prove yourself to me." testing God. That can happen to me. That can happen to me. How much irreverence do you think God tolerates? How much? I would say, let's not find out. But I imagine it's not Not too much.
26:24-26:31
When your attitude is constantly accusing God, testing God, he says don't do that.
26:34-26:36
Letter D - complaining.
26:37-26:38
Complaining.
26:38-26:45
Verse 10, he says, "Nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer." Complaining.
26:45-26:50
Literally, it's expressing unwarranted dissatisfaction.
26:51-26:54
expressing unwarranted dissatisfaction.
26:54-26:55
That's what complaining is.
26:56-27:00
That's what this literally is talking about in this passage.
27:00-27:03
You're like, when did the Israelites complain?
27:03-27:04
When did they ever complain?
27:10-27:14
If you're looking for some examples, numbers 11, numbers 14, numbers 16.
27:16-27:19
Complaining though, you're like, complaining really?
27:19-27:21
How did that make the list?
27:22-27:26
I mean, everyone does it.
27:27-27:27
Right?
27:28-27:30
I mean, everybody complains now and then.
27:30-27:34
I mean, is complaining really that big of a deal?
27:36-27:40
Well, apparently to God, it is.
27:43-27:48
Because the Bible says were destroyed by the destroyer.
27:48-27:50
Look up those passages.
27:50-27:51
Read the book of Numbers.
27:51-27:55
You'll see so often when there was complaining, do you know how God responded?
27:57-28:00
Fire, swallowing people by the earth, sending plagues.
28:01-28:05
God is not a fan of complaining at all.
28:06-28:10
He takes complaining very seriously.
28:13-28:21
You're like, "What's the big deal?" Well, just imagine you take your kid to Disney World.
28:22-28:27
If you don't have a kid, just imagine you've got a niece or a nephew, or you take a kid to Disney World.
28:29-28:30
And you're like, "You know what?
28:32-28:33
You can have whatever you want.
28:34-28:40
You get them the Fast Pass, they ride all the rides, they get the mouse ears, right?
28:40-28:43
and everything they want.
28:46-29:04
And then partway through the day, as you've provided everything, you just kind of lean down and you say, "So how do you like Disney World?" And they say, "Disney World stinks!" Like, what's the matter?
29:04-29:08
They're like, "I wanted curly fries, They were straight fries.
29:11-29:12
How would you react to that?
29:14-29:15
Not good.
29:17-29:18
Are you kidding me?
29:19-29:20
And see, that was Israel's story.
29:21-29:49
God was handing them everything, and they're like, "We don't like man anymore." We can point the finger, but that is so me, and that is so you, that God showers millions of blessings on us every day, and we have the audacity to complain about the two or three things in our lives that we don't prefer.
29:51-29:52
That can happen to me.
29:54-29:59
So idolatry, sexual immorality, testing God, complaining.
29:59-30:00
Well, sin hasn't changed.
30:03-30:05
People haven't either, right?
30:06-30:06
Can happen to me.
30:08-30:08
Can happen to me.
30:11-30:14
It's a reality check about God's people and disqualification.
30:16-30:20
Taking God's blessings for granted, that can happen to me.
30:20-30:22
Falling into sin, that can happen to me.
30:24-30:25
Let's change gears, all right?
30:26-30:32
Number three, claiming God's promises when tempted, that must happen by me.
30:33-30:35
That must happen by me.
30:35-30:37
Claiming God's promises when tempted.
30:38-30:39
Look at verse 11.
30:39-30:53
He says, "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." End of the ages, he just means we live in the last days.
30:53-30:54
That's all that means.
30:54-31:03
"Ever since Christ ascended, until He returns, we're living in the last days." That's an example for the Corinthian church, and we're in the same days as them.
31:04-31:06
But notice again, this is an example.
31:06-31:07
He said it in verse 6.
31:07-31:09
This is an example to instruct us.
31:10-31:13
Okay, verse 12, the key verse in all of this.
31:14-31:23
He says, "Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed, lest he fall." It's a warning.
31:24-31:26
This whole passage is a warning against pride.
31:29-31:30
You think you stand.
31:30-31:31
You think you stand.
31:32-31:37
You think sin is something that affects other people.
31:37-31:43
You think getting disqualified from ministry and being usable by God, that only happens to others.
31:44-31:46
That won't happen to me.
31:48-31:50
And Paul says, "You better humble yourself here.
31:52-33:03
think you stand, you think you're on a different level, you better humble yourself because it absolutely can happen to you. It can. It is a scary thing, church, but do you realize you are, each of you, each of you are one bad decision away from ruining your life. Do you know that? You are one bad decision from wrecking your family. You are one bad day away from destroying your testimony. Do you realize that? You're like, "Well, I don't want to be disqualified." Great, because here's the encouragement. This is where Paul lands. It doesn't have to happen to you. It doesn't have to. Because look at verse 13. He says, "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.
33:03-33:11
But with the temptation, He will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to to endure it.
33:14-33:28
We pray as our Lord taught us, rightly we pray, lead us not into temptation, but there will be times temptation shows up at your door.
33:32-33:34
So here's God's promises when you're tempted.
33:35-33:35
Alright?
33:37-33:48
I was going to give you like the ABCs of it, after studying through this, it's CBA. It's CBA. That's just how it is, right?
33:49-33:56
CBA. Remember God's promises when you're tempted. The first one, "C" is for common.
33:57-34:37
Common. Did you see that? Look at verse 13 again. He says, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man." That's the first promise from God. Look, When you're struggling in a sin, any kind of sin, whatever it is, whether it is sexual, whether it's with your mouth, whether it's coarse joking or gossip or fits of rage or whatever sin you struggle with, Satan loves to come along and lie to you and convince you you're the only one. You know this problem you have? You know in the history of mankind you're the only person ever had that problem.
34:40-34:42
And you're like, "I am a sin freak.
34:43-34:48
I'm doing something that nobody in the history of mankind has ever done." That is a lie.
34:49-34:54
The thing that you're dealing with has been dealt with by countless other people.
34:56-34:58
You are not the only one.
34:59-35:00
You're not the only one.
35:00-35:04
And you're like, "Well, why is this happening to me?" Do you know why it's happening to you?
35:04-35:05
It's just your turn.
35:09-35:10
It's common.
35:12-35:18
You have never, you will never face anything that hasn't been faced by countless others before you.
35:18-35:19
And that's encouraging.
35:20-35:21
That's encouraging.
35:23-35:27
That when you're faced with temptation, you can say, "Oh, this temptation, it's nothing new.
35:27-35:31
"Others have resisted, I can too." Right?
35:31-35:32
So it's common.
35:32-35:34
I'll let it be as forbearable.
35:36-35:37
Be as forbearable.
35:40-35:57
Look at the middle part of verse 13, he says, "God is faithful and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability." By the way, this is the most misquoted verse in the Bible, I think.
35:59-36:17
How many times you're going through struggling of some kind, you're suffering, you're going through some kind of trial, the storms, you're going through the storms of life and somebody comes along and says, "Well, you know, the Bible says God won't give you any more than you can handle." And that's just not at all what this says.
36:19-36:20
It's just not.
36:21-36:28
Actually, I think God will give you way more than you can handle so that you learn to depend on His strength and not your own.
36:29-36:34
But this verse, three times in this one verse, He says temptation.
36:34-36:36
He's talking about temptation.
36:36-36:39
He's not talking about suffering and trials and storms and all that.
36:40-36:41
He's talking about temptation.
36:43-36:54
And the reality is, church, God does not tempt, James 1.13, God does not tempt, but nothing happens to you without God's permission.
36:56-36:57
There is nothing that's coming into your life.
36:58-37:02
No temptation is coming to you that God doesn't okay first.
37:04-37:09
And God has promised that He's not going to allow you to face more than you can handle.
37:10-37:12
And this is individualized, by the way.
37:13-37:14
He knows.
37:15-37:15
God knows.
37:17-37:20
No one can say, "You know what?
37:20-37:21
I sinned.
37:21-37:21
Yes, okay.
37:21-37:22
I sinned.
37:22-37:23
I'm guilty of sin.
37:23-37:24
But you don't understand.
37:25-37:26
I sinned because I couldn't help it.
37:27-37:28
It was just too much for me.
37:29-37:32
God makes sure that it's never too much for you.
37:32-37:33
That's the promise.
37:34-37:35
He makes sure.
37:37-37:46
And this might be a tough pill to swallow, but according to this verse, maybe it's why you don't have more money.
37:49-37:51
For some of you, you're like, "You know, I've tried and I've tried.
37:52-37:53
Financially, I just can't seem to get ahead.
37:54-37:59
Why do I not have more money?" Because God knows that more money would be too much temptation for you.
37:59-38:02
I was like, "I don't want him to go there.
38:02-38:07
I'm going to make sure that he doesn't." For some of you, you're like, "I don't understand.
38:07-38:08
I applied for this job.
38:08-38:09
I was a perfect candidate.
38:10-38:11
It would have been the perfect job.
38:12-38:14
Why didn't I get the job?" I'll tell you why you didn't get the job.
38:14-38:20
God knew something was going to happen at that job that was going to be too much temptation for you.
38:20-38:30
Whatever that is, God's like, "No, they're not going to be able to handle that, so I'm I'm not going to let them have that job." Maybe for some it's a relationship.
38:30-38:37
You're like, "Man, I was so into this person and we just kind of started dating and I really thought it was going to be a long-term thing that worked out.
38:38-38:46
Why did it not work out with this person?" Because God knew that there was going to be too much temptation for you there.
38:47-38:50
He says, "I'm just...I'm not going to allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear.
38:50-38:57
I'm not going to do it." And you know, that's encouraging, church, because God knows me better than I do.
38:59-39:01
And He's not going to put me in a hopeless situation.
39:03-39:04
All right?
39:04-39:07
So the CBA is here of temptation, God's promises.
39:08-39:09
It's common, it's bearable.
39:10-39:13
And letter A, it's avoidable.
39:14-39:15
It's avoidable.
39:15-40:23
Look at the end of verse 13. He says, "But with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it." God promises that when temptation comes, He's always going to provide a way out. You know, for the person that says, "I had no choice but to sin." I had no choice but to sin. That's that's not actually how we say it. You know how we say it? It's an addiction. And look, I'm not denying that addiction is a real thing. I know addiction absolutely is a real thing, but I think a lot of Christians have just slapped the addiction label on any sin propensity, and all of a sudden now it's not my fault. I can't help it, I have an addiction." Well, maybe the problem isn't you have an addiction, maybe the problem is you chose not to look for the way out that God provided.
40:26-40:35
Because if you're like, "Well, I was forced to sin, there was no option, I was just forced to sin," well then you're basically calling God a liar because He's promised that there's there's always going to be a way out.
40:35-40:40
He's going to make sure that you're not cornered into some "I must sin" situation.
40:42-40:44
There's no excuses.
40:44-40:46
There's no one to blame but myself when I sin.
40:48-40:51
And I will remind you that temptation isn't sin.
40:51-40:52
Jesus was tempted.
40:53-42:07
But it is on you to find the way of escape that God has provided so that you can avoid in to the temptation. And that's encouraging. That means I'm never forced to sin. God always provides the way out. "Oh, that won't happen to me. That won't happen to me." Remember blessed, tempted to sin, not exempt from disqualification. And we are just like Israel, but today we have an opportunity to make different choices than many of them did. I just have to ask you, is your reputation worth it? Is your testimony worth it? Is Jesus Christ worth it? Will you bow your heads with me, please?
42:10-42:13
Father, we just want to pause and we want to thank you.
42:16-42:26
Sometimes we idealize Old Testament Israel, but your word here reminds us that we're just like them.
42:29-42:51
Father, I pray for my brothers and sisters here, that we would make better choices, is that we would not lean into the craving for evil that we have, but instead, Father, I pray that we would claim and live the promises that You have given us regarding temptation.
42:52-43:02
Father, we thank You that we know there's nothing that we're going to face today that hasn't been faced by countless people before us.
43:02-43:04
That's encouraging to us, Father.
43:04-43:04
Thank you.
43:06-43:16
Father, we thank you that you're making sure that we're not suffocated by temptation, that we're in some kind of a hopeless situation.
43:16-43:23
Your word is clear, God, that you have promised that you are not going to allow us to be tempted beyond our ability.
43:24-43:28
Thank you, Father, for that individual care that you give for every one of your people.
43:31-43:33
God, I thank you that you provide the way of escape.
43:34-43:36
I just ask, Father, you give us eyes to see it.
43:38-43:48
Yes, we need to avoid situations where we might be tempted, but when we get in those situations, Father, show us very clearly the way out.
43:50-44:03
Father, above all, give us humility today, because I'm sure there's gonna be people walking out the door still thinking that it can't possibly happen to them when your word so clearly says otherwise.
44:04-44:05
Humble us, Father.
44:06-44:08
Give us the faith to humble ourselves.
44:08-44:10
We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
44:39-44:40
Small Group Discussion
Read 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
In what ways has the church been blessed as Old Testament Israel was? How can these blessings make us feel exempt from being disqualified (i.e. no longer useable by God)?
What does it mean to “test the Lord”? How can people do that today (1 Cor 10:9)?
Why is complaining (1 Cor 10:10) such a serious sin in the ears of God?
Many people, talking about trials, wrongly quote 1 Cor 10:13 by saying, “God doesn't give you any more than you can handle.” Explain why this statement is wrong when it comes to suffering. What is 1 Cor 10:13 actually saying?
Breakout
Pray for one another.