The Four Sins in Liberty (Part 1)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendrop. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the Scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

Idolatry Exposed by an Outlandish Example

Worship to Thee, springing to life. And worship to Thee when born. Worship the cow, to Thy tail hair, and to Thy hooves, and to Thy form, by whom the heaven, by whom the earth, by whom these waters are preserved.

Worship the cow. Forth from Thy mouth the songs came, from Thy neck's nape sprang strength, O cow. Sacrifice from Thy flanks was born, and rays of sunlight from Thy bosom. From Thy forequarters motion was generated, cow.

Food from Thine entrails was produced, and from Thy belly came the plants. Call the cow immortal life. Pay homage to the cow as death. She hath become this universe, fathers, hath become the gods, men, and spirits.

The man who hath this knowledge may receive the cow with welcoming. So for the giver willingly doth perfect sacrifice and pour milk. The cow is heaven, the cow is earth, the cow is Vishnu, Lord of life.

The heavenly beings have drunk the outpourings of the cow. When these heavenly beings have drunk the outpourings of the cow, they in the bright one's dwelling place pay adoration to her milk. Worship the cow.

You should see your faces right now. You should see your faces right now. This true prayer causes us to say, who could do something like that? That's gross. It's crazy. I mean, when I was in 4-H and I would see the cows at the fair, I would look into their eyes and see their eyelashes and think, how could I ever have a steak?

Till later, then I would think, all right, I can do it. When I see cow, I don't see God. I don't revere her and bow down to her. It's sad that she has to go, but to God be the glory when it comes to steak.

When you see someone else do something wrong or sinful, it's easy to spot, it's easy to have disgust, disdain, pity, whatever it might be. But it's kind of hard to see it in ourselves. And it's interesting with this topic today, the topic of idolatry.

We think people bowing down to images or bowing down to a cow or any other created thing, we think that's bad and we think that's wrong. But for our society today, do we in fact not struggle with idolatry?

Power, money, success, career, sex, self. Calvin was right. Our hearts are like a perpetual idol-making factory. So what do we do? Let's turn our Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. As we work our way through 1 Corinthians, verse by verse.

Actually, let's go to chapter 9 to catch ourselves up to where we are now. Paul is basically saying this to the church of Corinth. You are a blessed group of people. And I can say it to Bethlehem Bible Church.

You are a blessed group of people. Supernatural blessings graciously given by God. Not earned, not deserved. The God of the universe has blessed us. And because of that blessing, our response should be gratitude, obedience.

And our response should not be, well, you know what? Now that we are forgiven, let's see how far we can go. Let's see how far we could push the limit. Let's get up to the edge of the precipice of this is do not touch, do not transgress, do not trespass.

And let's just see how far we could go. Remember when our kids were little, they were not allowed to go in the kitchen. And so there was the living area, the dining room and the kitchen, they were not allowed to go to.

And there's a little divider there between the kitchen tile and the other rooms, the dining room and living room. And those kids, they knew that if they touched that kitchen floor, they were going to get time out.

No, they're going to get disciplined. And they would go right up to that as close as they could. They could even wave their hand over it just so close. Look at how close I could get. That's what children do.

That's not what adults do. That's not what mature people do. We are blessed. And you know what? If you're a Christian, nothing you do can make you lose your salvation. Because God caused your salvation.

You can't lose your salvation because God can't lose a Christian. Christ can't lose a Christian. Once you're forgiven, you are completely forgiven. But with that knowledge, we don't want to say, therefore, let sin may it never be.

With that knowledge, then we want to honor God with the liberties we have. And that's what's happening in chapter eight, nine and ten of first Corinthians. Chapter eight, we have liberties. We are free in Christ.

We got a little of that from Galatians chapter five today as well. We're free in Christ. No longer under the law. Keeping the law to try to make God pleased with us. Christ did that in our place. But because of love, we can say no to our rights, say no to our liberties.

And so Paul does that in chapter nine. And at the end of chapter nine, he talks about running the Christian race well. To run well. We've been saved. Run well. We've been baptized. Run well. We've been taught well.

Run well. You lack no good thing. Run well. And look at Paul's example. Chapter nine, verse 24. You can just feel the sweat. And you can just see the muscles here bulge out as Paul is running. Of course, figuratively running the Christian life.

Chapter nine, verse 24. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it for a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control. Lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. And then speaking of disqualification, Israel was DQ'd in the race.

Verse one of chapter 10. They're tied together in the end of nine in the beginning of 10. For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud. See, they all had these spiritual, temporal rather blessings, temporal redemption.

And all passed through the sea and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 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. Nevertheless, with most, all, all, all, all, all. But nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased. For they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire or crave or hanker for evil as they did.

And now we move to our passage today, chapter 10, verses 7 through 11. See if you can spot these four sins to avoid. People who think they're strong, people who think they're strong in Christ. They have lots of liberties that they can engage in.

Look at the four sins that people who think they have a lot of liberty can easily fall into. Can you spot the four? Do not be idolaters as some of them were. As it is written, that people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did. And 23 ,000 fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents. Nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer.

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. Did you spot those four? Four sins that people who have a liberty in Christ and who like to push it could easily fall into.

Do you see the four? Idolatry, verse 7. Sexual immorality, verse 8. Putting Christ to the test, verse 9. And grumbling or complaining, verse 10. Paul says, you know, when you have freedom in Christ, when you can say, you know what, whether I eat or drink anything, whether I do anything, whether I act a certain way, I can still fall into sins.

And so take heed lest you fall is Paul's point. Flaunting liberties is hazardous. So let's look at the first one today. I don't know how much farther we're going to get. Probably just this first sin to avoid.

In light of your deliverance, not from Egypt, but spiritually, how then do we live? The first sin for you to avoid, especially knowing that you have these great redemptive blessings, is number one, do not be an idolater.

Do not be an idolater. Look at verse 5 and 6 again, because I didn't talk about this much last week, this segue between our last section and this section. But I think you'll find it interesting. Look at verse 5 and 6.

Let me read those again. Nevertheless, with most of them. Boy, that's an understatement. Two million people in the desert and out of all the adults, let's say a million of them are adults. They're all cut down except for two.

With most of them, God was not pleased. Matter of fact, with all of them, God was angry except for Caleb and Joshua and those under 20. So he flips this whole thing around. It's almost like the opposite.

With all of them, God was angry. He was upset. But the way Paul writes it is a very fascinating way. With most of them, God was not well pleased. For they were overthrown in the wilderness. People have done some calculation.

You'll find this interesting. After this happened, about 38 years left in the wilderness, we know from the Bible 600 ,000 males were in the wilderness. So let's just say there are 600 ,000 females. And they were all cut down except for two.

38 years, 1 .2 million people. How many funerals is that a day? Calculate how long does it take? How many does it take to have 1 .2 million people die in 38 years? 90 funerals a day on average. 90 people a day die.

And they were laid low. They were overthrown in the wilderness. God was not happy. I haven't done 90 funerals in 15 years. Coming up on 15 years of gospel ministry, I haven't done 90 total. Can you imagine how they were just corpses littered through the wilderness?

90 a day. That's amazing. A daily reminder 90 times a day. God was angry. God was not pleased. They were blessed. They were just taken out of Egypt by the mighty hand of God through the Red Sea. And they go into the wilderness.

And they become idolaters. They become sexually immoral. They put God to the test. And then they grumble. And God cut them down. 90 a day. So what is Paul trying to do? Paul is trying to say, learn from the Israelites.

Don't do the same thing. Oh, that could never happen to me. Well, if you say that, then this message is especially for you. Oh, I never grumble. I never have something vying for my affections. I never look at anyone with lust.

No, these are so practical. They're for our own good. God with an understatement says, I'm not well pleased with any of those people. You enjoyed my favor, but you were not pleased. So take heed. Now, some of you might be saying, wait a second.

Can I lose my salvation? And as I said last week and the week before, I'll say it again now. Moses, will you see Moses in heaven? I think so. After about a billion years of worshiping Jesus, I'll say, hey, Moses, what's up?

No, you will see Moses. You'll see him in Hebrews 11 says, by faith. Moses, he is in heaven worshiping Jesus, the lamb. But was Moses cut off in the wilderness? And did he get to the promised land? He was cut off.

He didn't get to the promised land. So we're talking here about people who have eternal security, yet don't run well. And God cuts them off. Don't you want to run well for the Lord Jesus Christ? Absolutely.

And so Paul is saying Moses, of course, was redeemed. He was a believer. He was justified by faith alone in the Messiah to come. But he was cut off. So Corinthians, you are saved. You're secured. You're called by Christ.

You're sealed by the spirit of God. You can't lose what you didn't gain, salvation. But in light of that, run well. It's not lay back and let God. It's God saved you. So run for him. I mean, if we'll see runners at the Olympics, they run with strength and training and diligence and fortitude for a country and for the applause of a country.

Shouldn't we do much more for the Lord Jesus Christ in light of our salvation? The risen King deserves it. So Paul says Israel is a great example. And that's why we want to study our Old Testament and read the accounts there.

They're examples. Do you see verse 10? Now these things took place as examples. The text really says as types. That's all a type is. Nothing technical about a type. It just means an example that we might not desire evil as they did.

This reminds me of Romans 15. Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. So here's the message.

Israel craved sex. They craved illicit sex. They craved idolatry. They grumbled. And so Paul says, learn from them and don't do it. So let's get back to verse 7. Our first and probably only one today.

The first sin to avoid knowing all the blessings you have in Christ Jesus. Do not become an idolater. Verse 7. I'm just using the language of the text. Why have some alliteration when this will help us remember, I think, better.

Do not be idolaters as some of them were as it is written. Now where's this quote from? Where's he quoting this from? The people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. What's that from? When you read that, NAS shows it all capital.

So you say, oh, that's an Old Testament quote. But even as you read it, where is this coming from? Exodus chapter 32. The golden calf. And when you read this passage here, the people sat down to eat and to drink and stood up to play.

This is not like kind of Thanksgiving where everybody sits down to eat and then they stand up and then the kids go outside to play. What kind of language is this? This is, and I thought to myself, do I dare say the word?

But it was in Galatians 5 and Pradeep read the word today. And so I'll say the word because it's a biblical word and it's a gross word. This is a euphemism for a sexual orgy. That's what it is. They indulge in idolatry.

And then from idolatry is a horrible, filthy, unmentionable act in Exodus 32. Why don't we turn there and figure out what's going on? They were engaging in idolatry, which is deadly. And Paul records what happens after the idolatry.

Let's go to Exodus chapter 32 and see what's happening here. This is one of the most interesting chapters. By the way, if you were in Bible college and I said, what's one of the key chapters in the Old Testament?

You should say Exodus 32. There are many, but 32 is what you should know for sure. We had a professor in seminary and you could just say any chapter of the Bible, Ezekiel 23, and he would know what was in Ezekiel 23.

I wonder, could you do that? If I said to you, Galatians 6, what's in Galatians 6? Leviticus 16, Genesis chapter 1. How about Exodus 32? Well, today you've got Exodus 32. I don't know how many chapters there are left in the Old Testament, but we've got time.

Exodus 32, the golden calf, the golden calf. All right, here's one thing that you have to know about Exodus 32 to make sure you understand what's going on. Exodus 32 is hooked to the last part of Exodus 24 chronologically.

Let me read you Exodus 24, 18. And Moses entered the midst of the cloud as he went up to the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. And he was receiving the blueprints to the tabernacle.

Chapter 25 all the way through chapter 31. Even 35 and 40 do the same thing. So here's the scoop. Chronologically, Moses goes up to the mountain. And now this is what's happening below the mountain. You can't say to yourself, well, now Moses is up on the mountain chapter 24 and chapter 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31.

All kinds of other historical stuff is going on. No, the stuff in the middle is what God is telling Moses here. So plans for the tabernacle here. And now on earth down below plans for the calf. When you get that right, you're going to see this evil congruence.

Like Bernard Ram called, it's so evil. Things are so out of order. It's like a rape at a wedding. Something's wrong. God's giving the plans for the tabernacle and how he the holy God wants to be worshiped in holy array.

And down below it's orgyville. That's what's going on here in the mind of the author. And Paul uses that because this is just as crazy as it could get. Two greater opposites, a plus and a minus, negative, positive.

This is crazy. It's like one man said, clowns that show up at a funeral. Exodus 32. When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down, remember he's up there on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. They're getting, as my mother would say, ants in their pants, restless.

The people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

He's dead in that fire. The fire came down and killed him. He's lost in the smoke. He's never coming down. God had told them in Exodus 24, remain there. Now, remember, this is all happening. The people gather themselves together.

They come to Aaron and just in the background is the mountain. It's the glory of God on the mountain. That's the backdrop. Make us a God. Actually, here's what's happening. They want a representation of Yahweh.

They're not making some cow God, some kind of Vishnu God. They're making Yahweh, but they're making Yahweh in the image of a cow. We need to see things. Seeing is believing after all, isn't it? Actually, I love 1 Peter 1.

Although you have not seen him, you love him. And though you do not see him now, but believe in him, you would greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth generations of those who hate me.

Chapter 19, all the words which you have told us, we will do. Chapter 24, all of the words that you have told us, we will do. Later in chapter 24, all the words that you have told us, we will obey. And here, Aaron is a horrible leader.

He didn't say stop, quit. And here, these impatient people forget God. It's probably a good side lesson. Practically, impatience often leads to sin. Where's her? Where are the elders? Verse 2, you know the passage.

So Aaron said to them, let me give you the Hebrew sense. As fast as you can, rip the stuff out of your ears. Tear it off. Here it says, take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, your daughters, and bring them to me.

This is, you know what it's almost like? If we stop and think about it, we're gonna quit. But if we just rush headlong, pell-mell into this frenzied-like thing, we won't stop to think, you know, God doesn't like this.

So rip the stuff off. Tear it off. Yank it out. And by the way, I think they had a lot of stuff, because did they not, in fact, receive as a blessing from God? All the booty from Egypt. Remember, they plundered them and gave them all their gold.

And now the gift from God becomes what they use to make God. So all the people, you could feel the pace, right? You could feel Hebrew pace. So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

He said, stop it. Repent. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it a golden calf. Worship the cow. These are your gods. It's probably, this is your God, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

He's not introducing a new god. This is the physical representation of Yahweh. And compromise is leading to more compromise. When Aaron saw this, I mean, this is just as bad as it can get. Listen, think through this.

When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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