1 Corinthians 10:1-13
2 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things 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 got up to indulge in revelry.” 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
There’s Nothing False About God’s Faithfulness
I want to show you something. But before I do, I have to warn you that it’s pretty grim. This is the picture that Paul painted for the Christians living in Corinth – a desert strewn with dead bodies. It was a truly tragic story that had started so promisingly but ultimately ended with a million or more very preventable deaths. And the saddest, the scariest part? Paul says it could happen to you.
It all started more than 3,000 years ago. The Israelites, the descendants of Abraham, God’s Chosen People, had just been delivered from 400 years of slavery in Egypt. They had just witnessed God’s miraculous power in the 10 plagues that devasted Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea that allowed them to cross over on dry ground to safety.
Even then, in the wilderness, after all their prayers had been answered, God still kept showering them with blessings. He led them with his personal presence in the form of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He fed them bread from heaven in the morning and quail at night. When the water got scarce, he had Moses strike a rock and miraculously provided them with all the fresh water they could drink.
You’d think at that moment God would have earned the Israelites’ eternal gratitude and undying love. Never in the history of the whole world, has there ever been a people more privileged to see God directly and miraculously provide them with all of their needs day after day than those Israelites. And yet a million or more of them died in that desert. Paul explains why.
They were idolaters. Despite the fact that they were still within sight of the smoky summit of Sinai where Moses was speaking to their Saviour-God face to face, they fashioned a false god out of gold and bowed down and worshiped it, rather than God who had been so good to them.
They were adulterers. Despite the fact that they had their own families and children, they accepted an invitation from a neighbouring nation to little better than an orgy. They ignored God’s will for marriage and violated God’s safeguards for sexual intimacy. They slept with whomever they wanted and did whatever felt good.
They were grumblers and complainers. From the moment they left Egypt they took God’s incredible, miraculous gifts for granted. Rather than thanking God for giving them enough food and water in a dry and barren wasteland for hundreds of thousands of people every single day for 40 years, they complained that there wasn’t enough variety. They grumbled against God and had the gall to say that they would have rather died as slaves in Egypt than live in the freedom he had granted them.
And a million or more of them died because of it. God sent venomous snakes among them. He had the earth swallow up entire families. He rained fire down on them. He afflicted them with plagues, and sent “the Destroyer” to take their lives. An entire generation died in the desert, and Paul says that the same thing could happen to you.
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us... So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall![1]
They say that if you cannot learn from history, then you’re doomed to repeat it. Well, what was the lesson here? What mistake did the Israelites make, and how can we avoid doing it too?
They were idolaters, adulterers, grumblers, right? That’s true. Not much has changed. It’s the same today.
Thanks to technology, we live at a time when God has never been so directly accessible, with the exception of the Israelites who saw his physical, visible presence every day. And yet, even though most of us have the ability to carry the Word of God in our pockets, how often don’t we take a page out of the Israelites’ playbook and live as if God doesn’t exist, or as if God doesn’t know or care what we do on any day that isn’t Sunday?
If you thought the Moabites had a monopoly on sexual immorality, then you’re blind to the world we live in. If the Word of God is accessible on these things, then so is pornography in a hundred unimaginable varieties.
And grumbling about our quality of life or the decisions our leaders make, complaining about the things God does or doesn’t do for us, taking God’s grace for granted? Where would I even begin? You walked past the baptismal font on your way in today. I’d guess that Greta and her parents appreciated it, but for those of us who were baptized more than a week ago was that font anything more than an obstacle you had to walk around on your way into church today?
We’re celebrating the Lord’s Supper this morning, where Jesus gives us his own body and blood given and poured out for you on the cross for the forgiveness of all your sins. Have you walked through your personal preparation for Holy Communion yet? Or will you just give that the 20 seconds it takes for Glenn to get to you after Donovan ushers you to the front?
It’s so easy to look at a desert full of dead bodies and shake your head. “What were they thinking? How could they be so blind?” But Paul says, “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”[2] This is about us, not them. This is about the temptations that you face and fall into. This is about our unfaithfulness to God, but his faithfulness to us.
There’s a subtle, but far from secret, theme that runs through all those cautionary tales from Israel’s past. It’s the presence of God.
Where was God when they were fleeing Pharaoh’s army? He was there giving Moses the power to part the Red Sea. Where was God when the food and water ran out? He was there miraculously providing them manna and water from a rock. Where was God when they were dying for their rebellion and sin by earthquake, fire, plague, and poisonous snakes? He was there forgiving their sin.
If Paul is using these moments from Israel’s past as cautionary tales to warn us not to fall into the same sins, he also uses them as a reminder of God’s constant grace and continual mercy.
One example: After the Israelites grumbled and God sent poisonous snakes to punish them – while they were dying with venom coursing through their veins – God had mercy. They deserved to be punished for their rebellious hearts, but God’s heart went out to them. He had Moses fashion a bronze snake and lift it up on a pole, and then promised that anyone who looked to that snake with faith would live.
That was just a preview of what God was going to do with Jesus. Jesus himself makes the connection in John 3: Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.[3]
Even though we fall into the same kinds of temptations that the Israelites did there’s forgiveness in Christ. Even though we so often take his grace for granted, he still gives it every day. He’s still with us. You may not remember your baptism every single time you walk past that font, but God does. He knows that you are his own dear child and that your sins have been washed away through water and the Word. You may not always work through your personal preparation for Holy Communion before you receive it, but God is always more than prepared to give you his body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins.
We face all the typical temptations. We often fail like so many so often do. But even though we can take even God’s grace for granted, he still keeps giving it.
Throughout all the typical temptations, God is still with you. As Paul says here: God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.[4]
The point here is that, even though temptation is all around us, even though we can be so weak-willed, you don’t have to sin. You don’t have to give in to temptation. God will never put you in a situation where sin is the only option. He will always give you a way out.
It’s never ceased to amaze me how blatant some of those escape hatches can be. You’re barrelling down the road toward sin and the phone rings. Maybe it’s your mother, who would be ashamed if she knew what you were about to do – who would support you in doing the right thing in that moment. Maybe it’s just a wrong number, but for a moment the spell is broken and you have 2 seconds of clarity to take a step back and look at what you were about to do and ask yourself, “Is this a good idea? Should I be doing this?”
Of course, it’s not always that blatant. Maybe your escape hatch was a Sunday School lesson from months, years, decades ago that taught you what to do if you were in the situation you’re in today. All you have to do is listen to God’s Word that’s stored in your memory banks and remember how Daniel would have rather faced death in the lion’s den than do something God told him not to do, how Joseph literally ran away from sexual temptation at the cost of his career and even freedom, how Paul in prison still prayed for the king who was persecuting him rather than grumbling and complaining about his godless government.
The point is, God is faithful. He will never put you in a situation where sin is the only option. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.[5]
God is faithful. God is with us. He forgives and restores you. He equips and upholds you. Stand firm in the Rock of your salvation. Amen.
[1] 1 Corinthians 10:11,12
[2] 1 Corinthians 10:12
[3] John 3:14
[4] 1 Corinthians 10:13
[5] 1 Corinthians 10:13