1 CORINTHIANS 10:1-15 LEARN FROM THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Corinthians 10:1-15 Learn From Those Who Have Fallen

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2017. As we look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10 this morning, I've titled the message, Learn from Those Who Have Fallen.

Learn from those who have fallen. I don't know if you've ever had the experience. You probably had. Someone comes up to you and warns you that your shoes are untied. Have you ever had that experience? And have you ever had the experience of ignoring that warning and then...

stepping on your own shoelaces and tripping yourself up immediately afterwards. Now, I've done that as a child, and I've done that as an adult, and so I'm very familiar with that experience. And in a similar way, the Apostle Paul this morning is giving us a warning.

And for some of us, he's saying, hey, you need to pay attention because your shoes are untied. And you're in danger of tripping yourself up in your walk with God and in what God has for you. And you're in danger of missing out on the things that God has planned for you. And as we look at this passage here in 1 Corinthians 10 this morning, it is a direct continuation from last week's passage and last week's message here.

Last week we looked at the closing verses of chapter 9, where Paul was talking to us about running a prize-worthy Christian race. That is, our walk with God should be so good, so awesome, that it's worthy of praise.

a prize and an award from God. And Paul challenged us to run to become the best Christians we can be, to run to receive that eternal crown with strategic purpose, making sure that we live our lives to the utmost of what God has in store for us, and to run to finish well and not be disqualified.

And as we went through that message last week, I can imagine there would be many of us at different times in our lives who would be wondering, do we really have to run so hard? Do we really have to work so hard at being the best Christian we can be? Does that really need to be such a priority in our life? And in answer to that, Paul gives us 1 Corinthians 10, and he says, yes, it really is a serious thing that you work

would run the race in order to obtain the prize. At the end of chapter 9 in verse 27, Paul says, I discipline my body. I bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. And Paul said, look, you need to follow my example. And here's what I do. I work really hard to clean out my life.

to make sure that there's not issues that would disqualify me after I have called others to follow Christ. And to elaborate on that, he now goes into chapter 10 and he gives us the example of the children of Israel in the wilderness. And he says, look, this is why you need to run the race. This is why I work so hard to discipline myself and bring my body into subjection so that I don't become disqualified because here we have Israel in the wilderness and

who were blessed by God and called by God and experienced some great things of God, and yet they missed out on the promised land. They missed out on what God had for them. They were disqualified. Now, as we talk about being disqualified, I like the word that Paul uses here, disqualified, because he's not necessarily talking about losing salvation. So he's not saying necessarily that

This is a eternal issue in the sense of, you know, you're not saved if you're disqualified, but he's also not guaranteeing that if you're disqualified, that means you're still saved. It's a really a big question and it's an important thing to have and to consider because I don't know about you, but I don't want a huge question mark over my eternal condition.

I don't want a huge question mark about, I'm not really sure. I don't know if I'm really gonna enter into eternity with God. I don't want that to be a question. I want that to be a certainty which only comes...

From following what Paul exhorted us to do last week, and that is to run the race in such a way as to obtain the prize. That's the only way to have the certainty of knowing that you are with God for all of eternity when you are pursuing God and loving God with all of your heart and soul and mind and strength right now.

And so we need to learn from those who have fallen so that we are not disqualified. See how sad that guy looks? You don't want to be that guy. Now, even though you might be saved in the end, you don't want to end up like that. Now, here's the children of Israel. They were in the wilderness for 40 years. They could have been in the promised land for their whole life.

But instead, they were in the wilderness. Instead, they were out in the desert, wandering around in circles. And that's the reality today, that as we look at these things, we need to be encouraged to run to obtain the prize and to be warned, hey, your shoes are untied, so that we don't trip ourselves up and mess up

what God wants to do in our lives. So learn from those who have fallen. There's four points that we'll walk through this morning as we look at 1 Corinthians 10. Four points to help us learn from the bad example that is the nation of Israel in the wilderness. Here's point number one. Many blessed people have fallen. Here's what you need to know. There are many who are blessed by God and experience great works of God, and they fall.

Verse 1 says, Verse 2 says,

As Paul goes into chapter 10 now, remember that chapter breaks are added later on by the translators. So this was not, you know, Paul saying, all right, close chapter nine. That's a whole different subject. Now chapter 10 is a brand new subject. He's continuing on. He's saying, I discipline my body so that I am not disqualified. And so I want you to know, brethren, I don't want you to be unaware, but you need to recognize these things and you need to know these things. These are important points for you to consider today.

and to understand. And as he goes in to talk about the nation of Israel in the wilderness, notice the alls that Paul repeats over and over again in verses one through five. In verse one, he says, all our fathers were under the cloud. And then also in verse one, he says, all passed through the sea.

Verse 2, he says, all were baptized. In verse 3, he says, all ate the same spiritual food. In verse 4, he says, and all drank the same spiritual drink. But then notice the contrast in verse 5, but with most of them, God was not well pleased. And notice the picture that Paul is painting. All of them, every single one of them experienced these blessings, these works of God in their lives. And

But that doesn't mean that God was pleased with all of them. Although they all experienced these great works of God with most of them, and most is really an understatement. Because as you look at the account there in the book of Exodus, the reality is that there was two men out of the whole nation. So the three million that...

left Egypt, two out of three million. I don't know what kind of percentage that is, but it's really low. It's really small. So when he says most of them, God was not well pleased, that's true. That was 298, no, 299 million. I'm not going to do the math in my head. That's really hard. But three million minus two, that's how many God was not pleased with. How many was God pleased with? Two. That's it. And so he says with most of them, although they all experienced these works of God, they

God was only pleased with two of them. Only two of them got to experience what God really had in store for them. And so this is important for us to understand that Paul is painting this picture to help us recognize that we can't count on, we can't just say, hey, God has worked in my life and so I don't need to run to win the prize.

Because I've got God working in my life. And he gives us some examples for us to consider from the nation of Israel about how Israel was blessed. First of all, he says that God led them supernaturally. Here in verse one, he says, And here he's making reference to God

The cloud of Exodus, you can read about it in Exodus chapter 13. God had set his presence there in their midst as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Here, the children of Israel had a real physical manifestation of the presence of God. And it was such that God directed them with the cloud.

So this cloud extended over the whole congregation of Israel in the wilderness. And when it went forward, that was God saying, go forward. When it went to the right, that was God saying, everybody go to the right. When it went to the left, God was saying, everybody go left. And by this, God was directing them with a cloud by day and fire by night. And he never left them. That cloud by day and that fire by night was with them throughout the whole time in the wilderness as they were led forward.

By the Lord. God led them supernaturally. So that any time the children of Israel needed to, they could look up and say, oh yeah, I'm right where God wants me to be.

That would be really nice, right? I think we could wish for that kind of clear direction and leading. God has chosen to lead us in different ways today than that, but this is what they experienced, that clear direction. So they looked up and they saw the sky. They knew, oh no, I'm in trouble. I'm not where God wants me to be. They had the clear leading of God in a supernatural way right there in front of them.

They were also blessed, as we continue in verse 1, because, well, God protected them miraculously. There in verse 1, at the end, he says, All of those who were delivered out of Egypt were covered by this cloud and led by God supernaturally, but...

They were also protected miraculously as they were in this difficult spot with two mountains on one side, the Red Sea in front of them, and then the army of Egypt coming up behind them. They were stuck, nowhere to run, nowhere to go until God said, Moses, hold your staff over the water. And then the Red Sea parted.

And it was such a great parting that it describes it as walls of water being on either side. It wasn't, you know, just like a little trickle of a Red Sea. It was a full Red Sea. And they passed through on dry land with walls of water. Now, I don't know if they did this, but I think I'd be kind of like running my hand along the water, like as I'm walking, like just see what that's like. But they're looking. They could see. Look at the fish, you know. They could see the walls of water on either side. They cross over.

And then as the Egyptian army chases after them, the Lord closes the water back and delivers them from that attack. And you can read about that in Exodus chapter 14. And Paul's making the point here, every single one of them experienced that. Every single one of them got to feel the sand between their toes on the bottom of the Red Sea.

They got to see the walls of water around them. They got to watch God do this miraculous work and protect them miraculously. Israel was blessed, led by God supernaturally, protected miraculously. And thirdly, he goes on to say they were blessed because God gave them a godly leader. In verse two, he says, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

They all were identified with Moses and became a part of the work that God was doing through Moses as God chose Moses to be the deliverer and to lead the people out of Egypt across the Red Sea. And the original plan is for them to now be led by Moses into the promised land. They were identified with Moses. That's the idea of baptism, immersed into the life and ministry of Moses. God gave them a godly leader, right?

He was a leader who loved God and loved the people. He was a leader who would intervene and stand in between judgment and the people and put himself on the line. He was a leader who genuinely cared for the people and wanted God's best for them. They had a great leader in Moses, one that God had prepared and raised up for this very occasion.

Well, the next thing as we move on to verse 3, we see that they were also blessed because God provided food daily. Verse 3 says they all ate the same spiritual food. Here he's talking about the manna.

how God provided for them. They're in the wilderness. There's not a lot of provision. There's not a lot of food options in the wilderness. And so God provided for this massive congregation, 3,000 men. Beyond that was women and children. We don't know the total number of the congregation, but you can understand that's a lot of mouths to feed. And so God provided for them. He worked out

the food situation by providing manna. So that each morning there would be on the ground ready for them. They just had to pick it up and then prepare it for whatever type of meal that they wanted, manna tortillas or whatever it might be that they put together with this provision that God gave them every day. Understand this, that every day for 40 years, they partook of this supernatural food that God provided.

All of them experienced that. They all ate this food. They all got to experience directly firsthand. This wasn't their grandparents told them about how God worked. No, they themselves got to have the cloud above them. They got to go through the Red Sea. They got to have this godly leader that had been provided and partake of this food that God had provided.

And then Paul goes on to say in verse 4 that they all drank the same spiritual drink. And here's the fifth way that they were blessed. God provided water graciously. The children of Israel in the desert get thirsty and they don't handle it very well. And I don't know, maybe, I don't know what you call it when you're, you know, we say hangry whenever you're angry because you're hungry. So, hangry? I don't know. They were thirsty and grumbling because how thirsty they were and it was better off in Egypt and

complaining against God and slandering Moses, and yet graciously God provided water out of the rock. Miraculously, supernaturally, boom, he gave them water to drink. That's in Exodus chapter 17, but it happens again later on when they're thirsty again, complaining again.

And God provides water graciously. Even though they're grumbling and, you know, hating on God, he's graciously giving them the water that they need. And Paul goes on in verse 4 to elaborate and say there's a more spiritual side to this as well. And that rock that provided the water was Christ. And

And so there's a spiritual side of this as well that I'm not getting into, but just looking at how God met their needs, how God had blessed them and worked in their lives, that they had firsthand direct experience with the blessings of God, with him leading supernaturally and providing miraculous protection, providing a godly leader.

daily food and water when they were thirsty. They all, every one of them experienced this. And yet again in verse five, but with most of them, God was not well pleased for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. And so this is what Paul is calling our attention to. Look at the contrast. Even though every single one of them experienced all these amazing works of God, only two of them out of the 3 million, God was pleased with.

The rest, their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. And what Paul is doing here is he's addressing our tendency because there is a danger for us to see the work of God in our lives and then conclude, well, look at how God is working. So it really doesn't matter how I live. And maybe we know better than to say that out loud. But many times that is the type of life that we live. That is the way that we behave. That is

I know God's working. I see God's working. I have these blessings. I see what has been taking place and the way that God has been working. And so I can kind of relax. I don't have to run in such a way as to obtain the prize, like Paul said in chapter nine. I'm not worried about being disqualified because look at how God is working in my life. And Paul's exact point is that

Look at these who were so blessed and God worked directly and they experienced that firsthand. And yet that was not an indication that they were going to experience all that God had for them. It didn't mean that they couldn't be disqualified or wouldn't be disqualified. In fact, most of them were disqualified.

The commentator Leon Morris says, although God had given them such signal manifestations of his power and goodness, the majority failed to enter the promised land. God was not pleased with them. God was not pleased with them. And so they did not enter into the promised land. Now, please understand that the picture of the promised land is not heaven. Again, this isn't necessarily heaven.

about eternal security, the promised land is a picture of the life that God intends for you, often referred to as victorious Christian living, the life and life more abundantly that Jesus promised, the Romans chapter 8 type of life, that the fullness of all that God has for you is the picture of the promised land. And there is the potential for us

as those who have believed in Jesus, as those who have looked to Jesus for salvation, there's the potential for us to follow the pattern of the nation of Israel. And although we've experienced such a great work of God, we can miss out on so much of what God has for us as we trip ourselves up, as we disqualify ourselves.

recognizing that just because we've experienced these things, just because we've been baptized, just because we partake of communion, just because we go to church or read the Bible or experience or see God work in our lives, that does not mean that we're guaranteed to experience all that God has for us. It could still end up that God is not well pleased with most of us. That's what Paul is saying. This is why he's saying, I work hard.

1 Corinthians 9, 27, I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified. There's a chance, Paul says, and I don't want to be following the example of the nation of Israel. I don't want to be one of the bodies scattered in the wilderness. And so again, the question, do we really need to run so hard? Do we really need to give everything that we have to become the best Christian that we can be and know God as best we can be and love him with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength? Paul says, yes. Yes.

Because you can't just look at the works of God in your life and think, I've already got it. I've already attained. I have everything that I need. Paul says, no, look at how they had everything. And yet God was not pleased with most of them. And what was it that wrecked them? What was it that caused them to fall? Well, moving on to point number two here in verses six through 10, blessed people fall because of sin. The issue was for the nation of Israel, their sinful hearts.

their cravings, their desires. In verse six, Paul says, now these things became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Paul said, these are our examples. They're a model for us. Now there's a saying that says experience is the best teacher, but then there's a saying that goes along with that. And it says, it doesn't have to be your own experience. You can learn from other people's experience. And that's what Paul is saying here.

We're looking at the nation of Israel because they're an example of what not to do. They're a bad example. And so we can learn from their experience how to better handle and live our own lives. The reality is we can be blessed and have God working in our lives, but we can be disqualified. We can trip ourselves up because our shoe's untied.

as we get involved with sin. What caused Israel to fall? Paul lists several things in these verses. First of all, here in verse 6, he says, lusting after evil things, this is what caused Israel to fall. Now, we typically associate the word lust with a sexual type of desire and that kind of thing, but the word lust is really just describing any kind of desire. It's like a craving, a

Now, if you're craving ice cream, that may not be so bad. But if you're craving evil things, like Paul is saying here, well, that's an issue. And it's not just the issue that they had the craving. That wasn't so much the problem, but that they were unable to restrain themselves so that when they craved evil things...

Well, they participated and partook of evil things. And that was their pattern throughout their time in the wilderness. They continued to chase after things that were not good, things that were not of God. They did not have the discipline, the self-control, the restraint to say, God says no, and so I'm not going to participate.

But instead, they would have these cravings and they would be like, oh man, I can't rest until I satisfy that craving. I have to fulfill that craving. And they lusted after evil things. They participated. They engaged in things that God had said, that's not for you. That's not what I have for you. Right along with that, moving on to verse number seven, the next thing that we see that caused Israel to fall was idolatry. Verse seven says, do not become idolaters as some of them.

as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Idolatry messed them up. Now, Paul here is referring to Exodus chapter 32. In Exodus chapter 32, we find that Moses is on Mount Sinai. And you might remember that he, well, he was up there for quite a bit. He was up there for 40 days and 40 nights, receiving the 10 commandments from God and

the, the revelation from God for the tabernacle and all of that. He was up there with the Lord, meeting with the Lord, but, but he was gone for 40 days. And so the children of Israel, they decided, you know, we don't know what happened to Moses. We're not sure what's really going on here. Is Moses ever coming back? I don't know if Moses is coming back. So they come up with their own plan. They come to Aaron, Moses's brother. He's the assistant pastor. They say, Aaron, we don't know where Moses went. He's

We need a God to worship. Can you help us do something about that? And so Aaron says, okay, everybody gather your gold, all your earrings and all that. Let's put all the gold together. In Exodus chapter 32, verse four, it says, he received the gold from their hand. He fashioned it with an engraving tool and made a molded calf. And they said, this is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt.

They fashioned this calf out of the gold and then presented that to the nation and said, okay, Moses has been missing. He's up there with the Lord apparently, but here's your God. Here's the one who delivered you out of Egypt. And they set up this calf, this image as an image of God, as a substitute for God. And they began to worship this calf as God. And that's really what idolatry is. It's about worship.

setting up something else, giving someone else the worship, the credit, the attention, the passion that God deserves. And they replace God with something else, in this case, a golden calf. And in the worship of this golden calf, it tells us that they sat down to eat and drink and then rose up to play.

It was an issue that they made the golden calf and worshiped the golden calf, but then they added on to that with this feast and then party. This rising up to play is not, you know, they weren't playing bunco or something like that. They were getting involved in immorality. And so this idolatry led them to, well, further away from God and to further involve themselves in things that were not of God. It caused them to fall and many of their bodies were scattered everywhere.

through the wilderness. Paul goes on into verse 8 to give us the next thing, that was sexual immorality. What caused Israel to fall? Verse 8 says, Some of them committed sexual immorality, and in one day 23,000 fell. Those bodies that were slain and scattered around the wilderness, well, some of those were from their direct involvement with immorality.

Now the rising up to play from verse Exodus 32, 6 and what we just read, that's part of it. That was some immorality going on there. But this number that Paul is using references a different time in Israel's history. It's in the book of Numbers. And you might remember Numbers chapters 22 through 25 where we're introduced to this prophet named Balaam. And Balaam was an interesting guy because he was a prophet. He spoke on behalf of God, but he

He had some real character flaws. And so God told him not to go when Balak, the king, hired him to curse Israel. And so he didn't go initially, but then later he really was asking God if he could go. And so finally God says, okay, you can go, but you can only speak what I tell you to speak. And so Balak takes Balaam up to a mountain overlooking Israel and says, all right, okay, curse them so we can defeat them. And Balaam opens his mouth and out comes a blessing. He's unable to

even though he wants to, because this king has offered him all kinds of riches and great things. And he's like, I really want that stuff. But he speaks blessing because that's what God gives him to speak. That's what God allows him to speak. So he says, well, let's try it again. The king takes him to another mountain overlooking. Okay, now curse him. And he blesses him. And now the king's frustrated. He tells Balaam, look, your God has kept really great things from you because I would have given you half my kingdom. I would have given you riches. I would have given you honor. I

But your God has kept that from you. And you know, that really spoke to Balaam. He wanted all those things. And so because he couldn't pronounce a curse upon them, instead, he gives counsel to the king. And he says, I can't curse them for you. God's preventing me. But let me teach you how to get them to curse themselves. Moses references this in Numbers chapter 31, verse 16.

He talks about the women who caused the children of Israel to trespass through the counsel of Balaam. And Balaam said, look, what you need to do is send your young ladies down and get the Israelites involved in harlotry. Get them involved in sexual immorality. And you know what? Because the

get involved with that, God's going to deal with them. God's going to turn against them. And so they'll bring curses upon themselves as they disobey God. And so here's how you can entice them and accomplish the cursing, even though I can't directly curse them for you. Balaam, motivated by his greed, gives this king some

horrible ideas, but they're effective. And Israel does do that. They fall into that. They fall prey to that. And they receive judgment. And as a result, 23,000 in one day die. They are slain. Their bodies are scattered in the wilderness because of sexual immorality, because they engaged in that activity that God had forbidden. Now, this was something the Corinthians were dealing with as well.

Back in chapter six of 1 Corinthians, Paul says, flee sexual immorality. Every sin that man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. And then he goes on to say, or don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?

He says, you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body, that this was an issue for them. And in Corinth was a temple with these priestesses who, the way that you worshiped their God was to engage in immorality. And so this was something that was part of their life and their society that they understood very well. And so Paul is bringing this up and saying, look, this is an issue you're struggling with. This is one of the things that caused Israel to fall.

They missed out on what God had for them because they were involved in sexual immorality. This is a warning that is appropriate for us today as well. Moving on to verse 9, we have the next thing that caused them to fall, and that was tempting Christ. Verse 9, Here Paul is referring to Numbers chapter 21.

Where the people begin to slander God and complain against God. Why have you brought us out of Egypt just to die? There's no food. There's no water. And our souls loathe this worthless bread. We're sick of the manna. We're just so unsatisfied with what God has given. Tempting Christ. Because here's God saying, why I ought to...

Leads right into the next thing in verse 10, complaining. Verse 10, nor complain as some of them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer. Here he's referencing Numbers chapter 11. When the people complained, doesn't even tell us exactly what they complained about in that scenario, but they complained and there was a fire from the Lord that burned amongst the camp and several thousand of them died as a result of that.

And so these five things, Paul says, these are some of the things that caused Israel to fall. I love how God, he does this a lot, where he lifts some serious sins and issues and then throws in one that we would think, oh, that's such a little thing. Complaining? I mean, sexual immorality. I understand that. Yeah, that's a big one, God. You should talk more about that. But complaining? You ever complain? Complaining and grumbling is a sin.

And it's part of what caused Israel to fall. And again, Paul is going through all of these things. He's saying, they're an example for us so that we don't follow their pattern. They're an example for us so that we learn not to do the same things. They're an example for us so that we...

Don't get tripped up because our shoelaces are untied, because we've allowed complaining to be a part of our lives, because we've allowed sexual immorality to be a part of our lives, or idolatry, or tempting Christ, or lusting after evil things, because we've allowed sin to become part of our lives. We can disqualify ourselves and miss out on what God has for us. We can miss out on the promised land, the abundant life,

We could be disqualified. Blessed people fall because of sin. That's what's Israel. They were blessed, but they fell. Leon Morris says, no one who seriously considers what God did to the sinning Israelites will lightly follow their example. That's the point. Paul says, I want you, don't be unaware. Think about all the blessings that they experienced, and yet they missed out. And why did they miss out? Well, let's think about some of the things that they did in the wilderness.

Some of the causes, some of the reasons why they missed out on the promised land, why they were stuck in the wilderness, because they got to the edge of the promised land, and when it was time to enter in, they said, oh, we're scared. We can't enter in. They didn't have...

The faith. They didn't trust God to provide for them victory over the giants. They were fearful of the giants. They sent in the spies, 12 spies. The 12 spies came back, 10 of them saying, oh yeah, there's giants in the land. We gotta take off, man. We can't defeat them. We can't go into the promised land. Meanwhile, Joshua and Caleb, the two guys that God was pleased with, they said, no, there are giants in the land, but God's on our side. We can do this. Let's believe God and enter in.

But the people listened to the 10 spies. Unbelief. Now, where did that unbelief come from? Even though they'd seen all these great miracles, even though they had the cloud over them, telling them, it's time to go in. Where did that unbelief come from? Well, it was nurtured by all of their sinful lusting and activity through that time in the wilderness. It was nurtured. It was their hearts. You see, we look at complaining and we think, oh, that's not that big of a deal. But you need to understand that's a symptom of

of a greater issue of unbelief. And it's not so much that complaining is such a big deal that God says, all right, that's it. You're not going to get anything, I promise you. He has a right to do that. But the reality is, is when we're complaining, when we're involved in sexual immorality, when we're involved in idolatry, that's the symptom of a heart of unbelief, a heart that is far from God. And those behaviors and that lusting after those things reveals the condition of our heart, the state of our heart,

And that's why Paul says, I discipline my body. I need to make sure that I catch those things because it reflects what's bigger issues that are going on in my heart. And I'm working hard to allow God to work in my heart. So I don't want to foster those things. I don't want to allow those things to continue because it will allow my heart to continue in unbelief. And so he looks to Israel as the example for us to learn from that we would not follow their path and follow their pattern.

Moving on now to verses 11 and 12, we have point number three, and that is take heed lest you fall. He applies it now directly to us in verse 11. He says, Notice what Paul says. Again, he says, these are our examples.

They happened to them as an example for us, and they were written for our admonition. Now, this happened to the nation of Israel, and that was the reality. This is the history of what took place in their hearts as they were far from God, even though God was working greatly in their lives. But why was this written? Why do we have the record of Exodus and Numbers? Why do we have these things written down? It's not just that it's written down because that's what happened.

But Paul says it's written down so that we could look at it and learn from their example. Paul says these examples apply directly to us today. He says, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. This is written for us. We're living in the last days. This is directly for us that these things were recorded so that you and I could look at this example and learn from

not to lust after evil things like they lusted, and not to engage in sexual immorality, and not to be tempting Christ and complaining, not to follow this pattern. It's not that these are just old stories about what they did and it's irrelevant to us today. Paul says this is directly applicable. This is, you need to pay attention. This is something that we need to recognize and pay attention to. So he says in verse 12, therefore,

Because this is the case, because it's so pertinent to where we are and what we're going through, therefore let he or let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. So if you think I'm good, if you think you stand, if you think, hey, I've already in the place to win the prize, no need to worry about being disqualified for me. No, I'm good. Paul says, you better watch out. You're not good. You're not set. Nobody's set for life as far as winning the prize. You're not set for life.

We need to continue to run, to pursue God, to work at our relationship with God, to put God first in our lives, to love him with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength. That's what Paul's saying. If we back off on that, we, well, we need to take heed because when we think we stand, we think we're good. Look at how God has worked in my life. Look at all the things that God has done. Look at how God is moving and leading and directing and protecting and guiding. And so that gives us then excuse to

I don't have to be so serious about dealing with these issues of sin. I don't have to be so serious about pursuing my relationship with God and growing in a relationship with the Lord. I don't have to be so serious about that. Paul says, you need to take heed because those who think they stand, they're in danger of falling. Listen, there are men and women who are much godlier than you who have fallen. Men and women who have known the Lord much longer and

In a much deeper way than you who have fallen. There's men and women who have seen God work miraculously in their life to a greater degree than you have in your life, and they have fallen. They've been disqualified. None of us are safe. Now, not that we have to live in panic. Again, we have security as we put God first in our lives and live for him and run to obtain the prize. But none of us are safe in the sense that we can just kind of kick back and be like, hey, yeah, no big deal.

It's not that important that I really get to know God, that I really develop in my relationship with God. None of us get to a place where I've read the Bible enough, I know God enough, I love God enough, I could just kick back now. None of us. Let him who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall. None of us are invulnerable. We are all in danger. If we are not seeking after God and pursuing God, we are in danger of being disqualified, missing out on the promised land, missing out on what God has in store for us.

Adam Clark, the commentator, says, the highest saint under heaven can stand no longer than he depends upon God and continues in the obedience of faith. He that ceases to do so will fall into sin and get a darkened understanding and a hardened heart. No matter how long we've walked with the Lord, no matter how strong in the Lord we are, the highest saint under heaven, he says, can only stand as long as he depends upon God.

There has to be this continual cry out to God and this continue in obedience of faith, this continue to walk with God and obey God and to pursue God. And if we stop doing that, our understanding will be darkened and our hearts will be hardened. That's the reality. That's the warning that Paul is giving. He's saying, look, your shoes are untied. You're not serious about the race. Your shoes are untied.

You're not serious about running to win, to obtain the prize. Your shoes are untied. Look at these issues. Look at these warnings in your life. You're going to trip yourself up. You're setting yourself up to fail. You're setting yourself up to fall. Paul says, tie your shoes. That's what we need to do. Take heed lest you fall. Tie your shoes. Put things back in the right priority and perspective and put God first in your life.

All the runners in a race run, but only one wins the prize. Run in such a way that you may obtain it. Paul says, I'm setting the example for you. I discipline my body. I bring it into subjection so that after I've preached to others, I myself wouldn't be disqualified. I'm being careful to make sure my shoes are tied. I'm being careful to make sure I don't have these outstanding things going on in my life because I need to run the race in such a way that I obtain the prize.

Well, finishing it up in verses 13 through 15, here we have point number four, and that is flee temptation to keep from falling. The threat to fall is there for all of us. And any one of us entertaining sin, entertaining things that are not of God, we're in danger of falling. We're in danger of tripping ourselves up and missing out on what God has for us.

And so Paul says, here's the answer. Verse 13, no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it. Here is Paul addresses this idea of temptation. He says, first of all, you need to understand that the temptations you face are not unique to you.

Sometimes we feel so alone and isolated in the temptations that we face and the struggles that we have. But first of all, you need to understand, we face maybe not exactly the same temptations as each other, but we face exactly the same temptations as many others throughout the world and throughout history. We all have similar struggles. We all have similar issues. And you might think that some people don't struggle like you do, but no, they do.

Your struggle is not so unique and so severe that you have to give in while other people don't have to give in. That's what Paul is saying. Your struggle is not so unique and so severe that you have no choice. You're destined to fail. No, that's not true. You have the same kinds of temptations that other believers have. It's not a destined to fail type of situation because he says God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. God is in control in your life to such a degree that

He filters out anything that is beyond your capacity to handle. He filters out any temptation that would come that would be inevitable, that you would have to fail. There is no temptation that you face that you have to fail in, that you have to fall in. None. Because God filters those out. He is faithful, Paul says, to do that. He goes on to say, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it.

Now, God doesn't filter out all temptation, and he doesn't even filter out severe temptation necessarily. But when he allows temptation, he also provides the way of escape. He also provides the means to bear it. That is, to go through it correctly, uprightly. We don't have to fall. We don't have to fail. Sometimes we feel that way. The enemy loves to scream in our ear and convince us,

You have to fall. You have to give in. You have to cave. You have to feed that craving, that lust after evil things. You have to. Paul says, that's not the truth. That's not the reality. You don't have to give in. And so then what? Verse 14, therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. Flee from idolatry. Flee from any pursuit that is not helpful in your walk with God. Flee from anything that is

endangering your relationship with God and you're experiencing the promised land and all the promises that God has for you and the abundant life that he has for you, flee, tie your shoes and run away. Run to God, but run away from those things that will trip you up. He finishes up in verse 15 saying, I speak as to wise men, judge for yourselves what I say. The reality is at the end of this, it's your choice. He's given us the warning.

And I could come up to you and say, hey, tie your shoes, man. You're going to trip. I'm not going to bend down and tie your shoes for you unless you're my wife. Everybody else, you're on your own. Your shoes are untied. You better tie your shoes, man. It's your choice. Now it's up to you. Are you going to shape things up, get your life right with God, and run the race to obtain the prize? Or are you going to think, hey, I'm an adult. I know how to walk. Even if my shoes are untied, I'm not going to trip.

I can handle this. Not a big deal. Shoes untied. I got this. No problem. If that's your attitude in your heart, in your Christian walk, take heed lest you fall. Setting yourself up, putting yourself in a very dangerous position, missing out all that God has for you. Again, Paul says, I discipline my body and bring it into subjection lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. Greater men than you.

have been disqualified. Greater women than you have been disqualified. You're not safe to just continue relaxed and casual in your relationship with God. You're not safe to just continue allowing elements or areas of sin in your life. You're not safe to just mess around and not take the Christian life seriously. You're in danger of being disqualified. So Paul says, I discipline myself. I bring my life in order

according to the word of God, so that I don't find myself tripping up over my own shoelaces, sabotaging myself with these practices. Ending with a quote from Pastor Dave Guzik, he says, the displeasure of God with the Israelites was evident because they never entered into the promised land, but died in the wilderness instead. For all their blessings and spiritual experiences, they never entered into what God really had for them. Don't let this be

the closing statement on your life. For all the blessings that you had, the experiences that you had, and the ways that you got to see God work in your life, you never really entered into what God actually had for you. Listen, there's so much that God wants to do in our lives. He wants to. He has worked, he has blessed, he has provided, and he wants to continue to do that even to a greater degree. But he calls us to walk in obedience and to run the race, to take our life seriously,

and run to win the prize, and approach our walk with God as those athletes approach the Olympic Games, giving everything that we have to know God, to love God, to walk with God, and to be pleasing to God. That is the life that we're called to live. Learn the lesson from those who have fallen. Tie your shoes and get engaged in a relationship with God the way that he calls us to. Let's pray.

God, I pray for each one of us here. And Lord, you know the exact condition of our hearts. And you know, Lord, if we do have our shoes untied, spiritually speaking, and that there's some issues that are about to trip us up or maybe even already tripping us up, I pray, Lord, that you would help us to recognize those issues, to recognize those areas.

Lord, that we might repent, that we might turn from them. And God, I pray that you would help us to heed the warning that is given by Paul here, that you would help us to take these things to heart and recognize this is for us directly today, that, Lord, you want us to pay attention to how they lived, how they died, so that we don't follow that same pattern. And teach us, Lord, to run the race that you've set before us in such a way that we would win the prize, Lord, that we would give our all

to know you, to love you, to walk with you. And Lord, you're worthy of that because of all that you've done for us and the salvation that you've provided for us through Jesus Christ. Lord, you gave your all for us. Help us to follow suit, to learn, to avoid the warnings and the dangers from those who've gone before us. Help us to put you first and to live our lives for your glory. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.