Ignorance Is Not Bliss - [1 Corinthians 10:1-5]

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Who said this? Very famous quote. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
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Many people say they came up with it. The oldest source that I found was George Santayana.
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Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. I was looking at some other history quotes that I found insightful relating to our passage today.
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Konrad Adenauer said, And history is the sum total of things that could have been avoided.
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Norman Cousins, History is a vast early warning system. Author unknown,
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Each time history repeats itself, the price goes up. Mark Twain said,
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Many public school children seem to know only two dates, 1492 and the 4th of July.
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And as a rule, they don't know what happened on either occasion. Do you remember what happened to Israel in the wilderness?
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Is your Old Testament history good? Could you say to yourself, The things that I struggle with currently aren't new.
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Matter of fact, I could go back and see how Israel struggled with them and how they made mistakes and how
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I should learn from Israel. Learning from Israel's sins.
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Why don't you turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 10 and that's exactly what this passage is about. Paul has been saying we have
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Christian liberty in chapter 8. As long as we don't do things that are morally wrong,
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Christians are justified by faith alone and they cannot change their justification to be any more justified by what they eat or don't eat, what they drink or what they don't drink.
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And then he says in chapter 9, Sometimes though, it's right for a Christian to deny himself for other people.
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And Paul said, I don't get a stipend from you Corinthians. I work for my own money.
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I could ask you for money, but I don't. And now we move to chapter 10 and the basic premise of chapter 10 is this, that those who want to exploit their freedom, use their freedom too much, walk up to the edge of freedom, sometimes fall over the cliff.
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Like Israel, lots of people ran the race in Israel and everyone was killed before they got to the promised land except two.
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I say promised lamb, promised land. Freedom is wonderful until you abuse it.
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Freedom is great until you say, you know what, how far can I go? And Israel walked up to the precipice and they fell over.
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Everyone except two adults. Pushing the envelope of liberty.
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Pushing it so far you fall into temptation and sin. If you look down at chapter 10 verse 12, this whole section is summarized by this one verse in 1
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Corinthians chapter 10 verse 12 as we just march through 1 Corinthians. By the way,
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I think we can finish by the end of next year. That's what I'm hoping for. And then we're going to do Romans, 16 chapters, 16 weeks.
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I promise. Just an overview. I'm not kidding. So that's where we're headed,
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Bethlehem Bible Church. But now we're just going through chapter by chapter and we move to chapter 10. And if you look at verse 12, this is the summary and you can see it with the therefore.
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Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
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How apropos that we had the alarm go off because this is really a passage that sends out the alarm.
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It sends out the red alert. Wake up, pay attention. And that's the way I'm going to try to preach this.
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I think if the passage is one of comfort and consoling and kindness, then it should be preached that way.
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But this passage, it's like the Spirit of God comes out and grabs your shoulders and says, you've got to pay attention.
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Remember what happened to Israel. Can you imagine?
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At the end of chapter 9, run to win. Run well. Keep running to the end. And now in chapter 10,
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Paul is going to say, and if you don't think, Corinthians, that you could fail in running, look back to Israel and everyone was killed who tried to run except two.
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And Paul's going to say, just because you have great blessings doesn't mean you don't have to run well. Do you want to know what the sermon is this morning, summarized in one sentence?
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It's this. Since you've been blessed by God through Christ Jesus, run well lest you fall.
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Oh, eternal security, perseverance of the saints. Well, right here, Paul is using these exhortations so that you do persevere to the very end.
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Let me read verses 1 through 6 of chapter 10. And here's what I want you to look for as I read it. Look for the alls.
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How many A -L -L words do you find? How many alls? Because here's going to be the deal. All Israel was blessed, but not all
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Israel made it. Matter of fact, only two did, Joshua and Caleb. They were cut down in the wilderness.
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They were all blessed by God in many ways. But God cut them down, except for two.
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So the application is going to be, run in such a way you don't get cut down. That'll pack a church out, by the way.
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Run well so God doesn't kill you. Look for the alls.
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I think you'll see five of them in English. Chapter 10, verse 1, For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food.
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Universal blessings. And all drank the same spiritual drink.
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For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.
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All, all, all, all, all, and now it's nevertheless with most of them.
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Boy, what an understatement. With all except two. God was not pleased. Not even with Moses.
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Remember, he didn't make it to the Promised Land. For they were overthrown in the wilderness. Ah, that's just ancient history.
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Another fact I have to remember. No, this is for you. Now these things Paul said to Corinth and I say to you, took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.
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Illustrations of failure for us so we run well. We've been blessed at Bethlehem Bible Church with all kinds of blessings.
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Well, Israel had been blessed with all kinds of blessings. And as Israel was blessed but many cut down, so the exhortation from Paul is going to be to Corinth and me to you, is going to be, run well so you're not cut down.
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Just because you're blessed, just because you have a lot of blessings, doesn't mean you shouldn't run well.
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Now let's go to 1 Corinthians 10 .1, and I want you to see the link between 9 and 10. Too often, we think these chapter verses are completely different thoughts.
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When these are connected, you could just draw with your pen or pencil, from the last word in 9 .27
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to the first word in 10 .1, and you would get the sense. 4, see the direct tie -in, connecting?
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4, I don't want you to become unaware. I want you to run well.
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Remember back in chapter 9, verses 24? Run that you may obtain it.
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Just because you've got a lot of blessings, doesn't mean you shouldn't be motivated to run well.
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Last week it was, see Paul's great example? He ran well. Positive example, positive role model.
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This week is, negative role model, look at Israel, cut down. Before we get into the text any further,
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I, any further, have you ever seen those demotivational posters?
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I've seen some of those demotivational posters. You go to corporate boardrooms and you see motivational posters that are supposed to get you all revved up to be motivated for success.
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Well, there's some demotivational posters I found. The one on committees, it says underneath it, just like teamwork, only without the work.
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Thought that was interesting. Motivation. If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate you, you probably have a very easy job.
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The kind robots will be doing soon. The one that says meetings in the demotivational poster, underneath it says, none of us is as dumb as all of us.
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The one that says winners, underneath says, because nothing says you're a loser more than owning a motivational poster about being a winner.
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Dysfunction, the only consistent feature in all of your dissatisfying relationships, is you.
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That'll motivate. But then the one that applies to Israel, that's very, very insightful and true and really
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Pauline, it shows a ship sinking. And the title of this is called
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Mistakes. And underneath it says, it could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.
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And for the wilderness experiences of Israel, that's exactly what
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Paul says. Look at the Old Testament and say, God, by your grace, I don't want to do that.
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And these people knew the Old Testament. They knew it well. Paul could just give a little comment and it would bring up all these thoughts.
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Yet for us today, I'm not so sure we know Exodus that well. So as we work through this passage, we're going to be going to the
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Old Testament a lot because I want you to see with your own eyes. What does Exodus 13 say?
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What does 14 say? What does 15 say? What does 16 say? What does 17 say? If you look back at chapter 10, verse 1, he says,
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I do not want you to be unaware, brothers. I've just challenged you to be disciplined in your running.
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And I want you to know this. This is just a figure of speech. This is a lie to tease. It just means this is important and I want you to know that it's important.
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They already knew it. Remember, they prided themselves as Corinthians as theological know -it -alls.
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He says, I know you know it, but this is a figure of speech to say it's important. Bold it.
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Underline it with yellow. Just because God has blessed you with all kinds of high privileges, it doesn't mean you are going to run well.
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You have liberty as a Christian, Bethlehem Bible Church? Amen, run well.
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People say, I have liberty to do whatever I want. I can drink, I can smoke, I can do this, I can do that,
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I can do a thousand things. Okay, I'll grant those things. But if you're the big promoter of liberty, then
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I'm going to tell you then run well. The higher you boast, I have liberty in Christ, the more Paul would say, run to finish.
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Israel didn't. They weren't disciplined. They got disqualified.
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Remember the end of chapter 9? Don't run outside the lanes so that the judge says
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DQ. And everybody but Joshua and Caleb were disqualified.
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Paul doesn't want that. He wants Christ to be honored. He says, Corinthians, you aren't the first ones who have sinned like this.
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Commentator Hayes said, Paul's use of Israel's story is crucial to his case. The God with whom we have to do insists, not merely that He's some abstract principle that sets us free from polytheism.
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The God with whom we have to do is the God of Israel, a jealous God who sternly condemns sin and punishes all those who dabble in it.
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So I have a question for you. Would you like to be the next example of what not to do?
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Sadly, we've had some of those at Bethlehem Bible Church. Here's an example of something that you should never, ever, ever do.
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So the outline in 1 Corinthians 10, 1 -6, Paul gives five blessings that Israel had, yet they still didn't finish well.
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That is, universal blessings, only a few finished. Point, we're blessed in Christ, finish well so you're not like the
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Israelites. So let me give you some spiritual warnings. Red alert. I just find that so fascinating.
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We had the fire drill and so now we have the red alert. Why didn't the alarm go on right now? That would have been interesting.
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About as interesting as this light not working. Let me give you some spiritual warnings learned at Israel's expense so that you might not become overconfident in your blessings as a church.
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Number one. Alarm one. Like with Israel, God gave you supernatural guidance.
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So finish well. Israel was guided supernaturally in the wilderness. We have been guided supernaturally.
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Israel didn't finish well. I want you to finish well. Let's take a look at the passage, 10 -1.
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These gracious blessings should have motivated Israel and they should motivate us. For Israel's context, it says in 10 -1 that our fathers were all under the cloud.
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They were under the cloud. Now, if you're thinking Englishly, you go, what does it mean under the cloud?
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Under the weather? But for the Jews and for the people who knew the
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Old Testament like the Corinthians, under the cloud, the pillar of cloud, the cloud that led, the cloud that protected, the cloud that guided.
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And he says, our fathers were all under the cloud. And he's talking about the Israelites as our fathers.
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There's a continuity in Paul's mind when it comes to the people of God. The people of God, Israel, the people of God, the church, all the elect between the
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Israelites and the church, they're our fathers. One people of God, the redeemed. I think there's a difference between Israel and the church, but this is one people of God.
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They were all under the cloud. What cloud's that? Let's turn our Bibles to Exodus 13.
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Like I said earlier, we're going to go back and forth between 1 Corinthians 10 and Exodus 13 so you can know.
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If I just say under the cloud and you know it, great, for the sake of other people, let's go there. Exodus 13, only a few verses here.
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We'll get back to almost all of chapter 14. So those of you who are saying, Mike, only covered two verses today.
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I only covered two verses in 1 Corinthians 10, but I covered many verses in Exodus.
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How's that? Paul is saying these things that happened, happened to everybody in Israel, but only two made it out alive.
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Exodus 13 .20, And they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness.
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And the Lord, Yahweh, personal name of God, Exodus 13 .21, went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, and here's the key, to lead them along the way.
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In a pillar of cloud. A pillar means a column, something standing up. And by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.
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The point is here, divine guidance, personal touch of God. Verse 22, The pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, did not depart from before the people.
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Imagine the kindness of God, the goodness of God, taking care of these people out in the middle of the wilderness for all those years.
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Hands on God's presence. This majestic cloud, the Shekinah glory of God, they're guarding, they're guiding.
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And all these Israelites, every single one of them, from 500 ,000 to 2 million, depending on how you count them, were all under the cloud.
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They were all guided by God out in the wilderness. Every single one of them. They all didn't make it to the promised land.
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So I asked Bethlehem Bible Church, we're guided in a different way, but it's still a supernatural way.
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I think of the Word, how it guides us. Thy Word is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path.
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Can you imagine the blessings we have? Better than the cloud, we have the resident truth teacher who dwells within us to guide us, that is the
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Holy Spirit. We have the Word of God. Christ Jesus Himself saying,
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And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Here's the point. Israel, you've been guided by God throughout the wilderness by God's presence.
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Run well. Easy application for us, even though 1 Corinthians 10 doesn't explicitly say it.
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The implicit thing to the Corinthians in us is you've been guided by God. Has not God in fact guided you?
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Can't you open up the Scriptures and say, I can learn about life, death, heaven, hell, redemption, propitiation, wisdom at jobs, wisdom at work, wisdom at home.
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And I've been guided by God. God has led me. He's led us thus far.
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And I could put my Ebenezer here and I could say God led me here. And if God has been leading me, then shouldn't I say to myself, in light of that I should keep running well.
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Now don't turn to 1 Corinthians 10 yet, but let me give you the second warning. I'll tell you what it is, but we're going to stay in Exodus.
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The second warning is God supernaturally delivered you, so run well. First guidance, now delivery.
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All pass through the sea. If I ask you the question, everybody pass through the sea, what comes to your mind? The Israelites pass through the sea.
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Now the good news is most everybody here knows it, but let's go to Exodus chapter 14. Now this is just an unbelievable scenario.
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And if you have watched, what's the cartoon version of the Ten Commandments?
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The newer one in the last 15 years? Prince of Egypt. If you've watched something like that or if you've watched the
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Ten Commandments, who here has seen the Ten Commandments? Some of the younger ones haven't.
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It's almost better. It's better to read the book than it is to watch the movie. When you think of that, partly it's not fair because what can you do, at least with a
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Ten Commandments movie, to kind of picture this rescue, this divine rescue and deliverance?
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When you see what happens in this passage, I don't think you're ever going to forget how great the delivery really was. I'll just give you a quick question.
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In a few hours, how can you get 500 ,000 people, up to 2 million people through the
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Red Sea in the last watch of the night? In just a few hours. If you're going one by one by one, single file line, it would take days to get through.
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Just how wide did that sea have to be opened up? Just how big was that sandbar they all walked through on?
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Just kidding. Pretty shallow water that most of the Egyptians drowned in, but that's another story.
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Let's look at Exodus 14 and here's our purpose. To see what happens. They all made it through, but they didn't all get to the
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Promised Land. And so this is just a fascinating miracle. This is a supernatural deliverance through the
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Red Sea. Exodus 14. By the way, this is so great. 14 is the narration.
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But Moses and the people can't get over it, so in chapter 15 they sing about it. You want to know the details?
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It's in 14. You want to know how it expresses itself in song? Chapter 15. It's a double dip.
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Maybe today I might go to Dairy Queen and I'm going to get an ice cream cone and I'm going to dip it in chocolate. Doesn't that sound good?
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Last time we went as a church and there was about 99 % of the people in that Dairy Queen were all Bethlehem Bible Church people.
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I hope you were good tippers. But chapter 14 is like the ice cream cone.
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Well, forget it. That's a bad illustration. Let's go. I'm getting hungry now. But it's so fantastic.
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He gives the facts as a newspaper writer almost in 14. In 15, he sings about it.
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14 .1, Then the Lord Yahweh said to Moses, Deliberately make these people go into a trap and we're going to make it as a ruse for Pharaoh.
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I'm going to send the people to the wrong spot at the wrong time. Oh no, what's the text really say? Tell the people of Israel to turn back make them look to Pharaoh like they're confused and encamp in front of Pi -ha -eroth between Migdol and the sea and in front of Baal -zephon you shall encamp facing it by the sea.
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So over there is the sea. Over here is a mountain or fortress. Over here is a mountain or fortress. We don't know what these places actually were.
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And here comes Pharaoh's army. Trap them in. They have no way out. Purposely take them there. Deliberately.
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By the way, Pharaoh's idea of God would be this. His idea of gods would be sometimes
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God is with you and other occasions He leaves you. And so now Pharaoh with that kind of mentality is going to look and see what's happening with his spies and with his scouts.
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What's going on with Israel? And he'll say this, Surely God, their God, Yahweh has left them.
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Turn around. Verse 3,
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For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, They're wandering in the land. It's like sitting ducks. It's like shooting fish in a swimming pool.
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Is that the metaphor? The wilderness has shut them in. Yahweh left them there.
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Nice God. Verse 4, God holds king's hearts in His hand and He turns them whatsoever way
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He pleases. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart. So much for free will.
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And He will pursue them and I will get glory over Pharaoh. And all his host and the
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Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And they did so.
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And the king of Egypt was told that his people had fled. So he had scouts and spies. The mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed towards the people.
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From you know what? Get out of here you and your magicians to over my dead body. So hardened.
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What God said would happen to Pharaoh's heart that He would do to Pharaoh's heart, hardened it is now happening.
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The calloused heart of Pharaoh now says I'm going to get him. He's ready to leave and go until God made
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Pharaoh change his heart. Because God changed his heart. I can't help myself.
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Just a side note. Aren't you super glad that if you know someone who's not a Christian and they've put their forehead against you and God and the gospel.
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You know what it takes God to save an unbeliever? Bang! They're done.
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They're the most antagonistic, agnostic, atheistic, God -hater. And then
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God says on the Damascus Road, I own you. I love that. That's why
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I'll never preach the false god of free will. Because it exalts man and it debases
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God. God is the one with free will and He says I will do whatever I want, when I want, as often as I want.
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And the other person's will will obey. I'm going to have to take my jacket off for that one.
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What's free about Pharaoh's will? He's already enslaved to Satan. He's enslaved to his own bondage.
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He's enslaved to sin. Enslaved to the devil. And now God says I own you. What is this we have done?
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That we have let Israel go from serving us. He was fine until God hardened his heart. So he made his chariot ready and took his army with him.
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You can feel the pace start picking up. It's this narration. It's this prose that you just go, yep, here we go. It's going.
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It's moving. He did this and then he did that. And he took 600 chariots. Chosen.
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Choice. The best. Sometimes these chariots had a warrior in them too. And it was a two -man deal.
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And all the other chariots of Egypt. The non -choice ones with officers over all them. Top -notch.
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Best. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
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The most powerful man in the universe. First we have this.
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Then we have that. Then we have the other. He hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
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And he pursued the people of Israel. He wouldn't have pursued him if his heart wasn't hardened. While the people of Israel were going out defiantly.
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Well, at least for now, boldly. The Egyptians pursued them.
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All the Pharaoh's horses. And all the king's men. And the chariots and his horsemen and his army.
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This is meant to say a lot of people. The cream of the crop. The nuclear silos were opened.
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And they overtook them and camped. Now here's the three spots. Pharaoh's here. Every direction's covered.
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North, south, east, and west. Pharaoh's south. Camped by the seas north.
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And these two fortresses are mountains. Left and right. When Pharaoh drew near, verse 10, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes.
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And behold, the Egyptians were marching after them. And they were not being bold anymore.
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They were what? And they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the
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Lord. They said to Moses. Here's what their crying out was.
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To the Lord it was, oh please. And then to the Lord's servant it was, how could you? Listen to the sarcasm.
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Now remember, Egypt loved graves, loved tombs, loved death.
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Tutankhamen and all the stuff that went along with death. If there was ever a society that mastered death, graves, burial, and elevated it to some kind of shrine almost, it was the
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Egyptians. And now listen to what the Israelites say. They said to Moses, it is because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness.
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What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? I guess you can bring
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God's people out of Egypt, but you can't get the Egypt out of God's people. I told you so.
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Have you ever said that to anybody? When it comes out of my mouth, I just feel like I want to reel it back in with my
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Zebko 808. Is this not what we said to you?
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Did you make your kids obey? Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians.
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I mean, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than die in the wilderness.
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Moses said to the people, fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the
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Lord, which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians who you see today, you shall never see again.
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And here comes the divine warrior. The Lord will fight for you. Your job, pick up the javelins, pick up the spears, pick up the pitchforks, and you have to be silent.
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That's your job. Can I say it in front of your kids? You shut up, God will save. Stand firm and see
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God's deliverance. Be still, God works on your behalf. The Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to Me?
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Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff. Stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it.
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He's lifted up his staff two other times. Turning the water into blood, chapter 7.
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Making frogs in the Nile, chapter 8. Now the third time, stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel, 500 ,000 to 2 million, may go through the sea on the dry ground.
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I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them, because who could be crazy enough to take a chariot into the sea?
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And I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots and his horsemen.
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And the bottom line, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.
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Then the angel of God, who is going before them, the pre -incarnate Christ, before the host of Israel moved and went behind them and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, now moving from guidance to protection, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel.
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And there was the cloud and the darkness and it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.
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You know the story. I'll just read it. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the Lord drove back the sea by a strong wind.
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So now God's supernatural work, through a secondary means, the wind, by a strong east wind, all night, and made the sea dry land and the waters divided.
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Whenever I read a liberal, I call their comments about anti -supernaturalism weasel words.
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And so there's a weasel word that Israel crossed over a tidal basin during low tide.
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Well, if that's the point, it was just a human means, then why does
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God use in the New Testament the delivery of Israelites out of Egypt as a metaphor, as a story, as the paradigm for supernatural salvation?
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Our part is to be silent. We do nothing. God is the deliverer. What happens, the people of Israel went in the midst of the sea on dry ground, verse 22, and the waters being a wall...
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By the way, there are different words in Hebrew for wall. There's a little wall. You see walls out here made of rocks. There are little walls.
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This is city wall. This is a city wall. So the city wall is super big, super tall.
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I wonder just how high that wall of water must have been in the air. Just a small little retaining wall.
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Massive wall. The waters being a wall to them on their right and on their left.
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What does the angel of God do in the Egyptians' pursuit and went in after them in the midst of the sea and all the
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Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, his horsemen? And in the morning watched the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud look down on the
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Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic. Now, first God hardens their hearts.
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Now He says, I'm going to make you mentally unstable. I'm going to put you in derision.
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Some kind of dizzying confusion. They don't know what to do. Frenzied. Threw into confusion.
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Making them panic. Panic attacks. They're not going to do the right thing. What else happens?
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Verse 25, Cogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, Let us flee from Israel for the
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Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea that the water may come back upon the
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Egyptians, their chariots, and their horsemen, etc. Most fascinating thing about God and supernatural being,
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He can differentiate between Israel and the Egyptians. Waters returned and covered the chariots.
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Verse 28, And the horsemen and all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.
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By the way, what Josephus said, the historian, the unbelieving historian, the
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Jewish historian, said that the wind pushed all those dead bodies up to the sea, the side of the sea where Israel was, to the shore rather, pushed it up to the shore, so then they could go get all their weapons.
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I don't think it happened. But here's one thing I do know. Verse 30, Don't miss it, mark it.
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This is the paradigm. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day. He was all of God.
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Saved. Only God. God alone. Monarchistically. No one else. Alone, working
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God. So here's what I'd like you to do. Turn to Colossians chapter 1.
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And I want to show you two verses in Colossians that basically come from this
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Exodus 14 passage. Paul uses that Exodus rescue as a paradigm for us.
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They saved temporally. We saved supernaturally, spiritually. They were saved from Egypt.
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We're saved from our sins. And if you know the language of the Old Testament, it's easier to see the connection.
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If you look at Colossians 1, 13 and 14, you're going to see the words delivered and redeemed.
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And those are right from Exodus. Delivered and redeemed. When you hear delivered and redeemed, you can just go backwards to Exodus and think of delivered and redeemed.
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I could give you the Greek words and the Septuagint and all that, but you don't need to know anything except rescue, deliver, save, redeem.
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By the way, stop and think. We always say this. Brother, are you saved? Have you ever went up to an unbeliever and said, are you saved?
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What would be another synonym that you could easily go up and ask them? Brother, are you rescued?
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What would be the Exodus paradigm word that you could go up and ask someone? Sister, are you what?
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Delivered. But it's like the hyper -charismatic movement has taken that word from us, so deliverance ministry now means when people excise the demon of post -nasal drip out of us, then they've stolen that word.
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Deliverance ministry is a good word and here's what it means. God delivering you from your sins like God delivered
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Israel from their bondage. Why am I yelling?
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Every time you see the word deliver in the New Testament, you think saved, redeemed, paradigm of the
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Old Testament. This is it. Short of the fall and maybe a few other things, Yom Kippur, this is it.
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This is what you've got to get. You will not know the New Testament fully and completely and comprehensively until you see how it's set right here.
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Paul knew it. Verse 13 and 14 of Colossians 1. You can just feel
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Israel and Egypt in here, except now it's spiritual deliverance. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness.
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We could easily say He has delivered Israel from the domain of Egypt and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved
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Son and transferred Israel to the other side of the Red Sea in whom we have redemption, in whom
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Israel has redemption. But for us, we get something that Israel didn't have included in their rescue and that is the forgiveness of sins.
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God delivers us. So here's my point. Here's Paul's point. Everybody was saved going through that Red Sea.
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By the way, I forgot to tell you that it would have had to be at least one -half mile wide to get everybody through on that last watch.
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Can you imagine one -half mile of dry ground and everybody scurrying to get through?
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I can just see it in my mind. There are slower people, those that need help, the elderly, the kids, people tripping.
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You're thinking the Pharaoh's back there, mountain here, mountain here, sea there. You're going right through the middle of it.
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One -half mile wide during the last watch at least and here we have no longer the cloud leading, but now the cloud protecting
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Egypt, not protecting people from Egypt so they couldn't get through there. Now for us, these people were all blessed but they didn't all finish.
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They all made it over there and everyone was killed except two. So Paul says, Corinthians, I say to you, you've been blessed, you've been forgiven of your sins.
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Run well. All this, I'm free to do whatever I want. You know what you're free to really do? You're free to run well.
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Oh, you know what? I'm not really into that Christianity that much. I used to be when I was younger, but now my world revolves around career and money and hobbies and everything else.
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Friends, if I was going to quote Johnny Cash, God is going to cut you down. Ever heard that song?
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It's an amazing thing. God is going to cut you down. That's exactly what he's talking about. Now automatically, your mind is just having smoke come out of its ears going, eternal security, once saved, always saved, perseverance of the saints, preservation by God.
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I'm not denying that. But I'm not denying this passage either. Run so God doesn't cut you down because you know how
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God keeps His saints to the end? Through warning passages that say run well. Every time you see a verse that somehow makes you think, well, you know,
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He who endures to the end shall be saved. Is that true? How do you endure to the end?
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By God telling you, endure through the end. He has means. The end is you will endure if you're a
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Christian. But the means of endurance is God saying, in light of your blessings, all the sins that you've committed and God has forgiven you, run.
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Of course you have to work. Of course if you're married you have a spouse and kids and things that you have to take care of.
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But those are all the means to the end, to the glory of God, to run well.
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God has delivered us. But that doesn't mean because we've been redeemed from our sins that we can just...
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What did Thoreau say? Here's Thoreau's famous words. Walden Pond. I saunter.
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Sauntering's not bad. If you're a horse... No, just kidding. Do they saunter? I don't know what they do.
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I feel like if I was teaching, you know, some four -year -old kids in Sunday school, I would get up there and start trying to saunter, you know.
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Sauntering through the Christian life. If that's you, the good news is God loves repentance.
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And God grants repentance often through Scripture. And so look at Israel. They were redeemed.
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They sauntered. God cut them down. Hence, I've been redeemed. I've been sauntering.
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God, thank you for not cutting me down. Help me to honor you with my life. You exist to have Christ Jesus' name exalted.
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That's why you exist. You don't have to be in full -time ministry. But if you're not with full -time thinking, the reason why
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I exist in business, in the military, as a student, is to show forth
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Christ Jesus in His name, you're sauntering. The Corinthians, prideful, privileged, just like Israel.
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When you read the word delivered in the New Testament, I want you to forever think of Exodus.
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I'm not going to tell you where it is. I'm just going to read it to you. Grace to you and peace from God our
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Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age.
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Exodus paradigm. That's Galatians chapter 1. Hebrews 2. Jesus came to destroy the one who has power of death.
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That is the devil. And deliver all those through fear of death who are subject to lifelong slavery.
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Can you imagine what you've been delivered from, Christian? When was the last time you thought about hell?
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Jonathan Edwards said, Consider. Consider attentively how great and awful thing eternity is.
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Although you cannot comprehend it the more by considering, yet you may be made more sensible that it is not a thing to be disregarded.
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Consider what it is to suffer extreme torment forever and ever. To suffer it day and night from one year to another.
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From one age to another. And from one thousand ages to another. In pain, in wailing and lamenting.
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Groaning and shrieking and gnashing your teeth. With your souls full of dreadful grief and amazement.
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And with your bodies and every member full of wracking torture. Without any possibility of getting ease.
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Without any possibility of moving God to pity by your cries. Without any possibility of hiding yourselves from Him.
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Without any possibility of diverting your thoughts from your pain. Without any possibility of obtaining any manner of mitigation or help or change for the better.
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Consider how dreadful despair will be in such torment. How dismal will it be when you are under these wracking torments to know assuredly that you never, never shall be delivered from them.
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To have no hope when you shall wish you might be turned into nothing, but shall have no hope of it.
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When you shall wish that you might be turned into a toad or a serpent, but shall have no hope of it.
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When you would rejoice if you might have but any relief. After you shall have endured these torments millions of ages and shall have no hope of it.
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After you shall have worn out the ages of the sun, moon and stars in your groans and lamentations without rest day and night, or with one minute's ease, yet you shall have no hope of ever being delivered.
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After you shall have worn out a thousand more ages, you shall have no hope, but shall know that you are not one wit near to the end of your torments, but that still there are the same groans, the same shrieks, the same doleful cries, incessantly to be made by you, and that the smoke of your torment shall still ascend up forever and ever.
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Your souls which shall have been agitated with the wrath of God all this while will still exist to bear more wrath.
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Your bodies which shall have been burning all this while in these glowing flames shall not have been consumed, but will remain to roast through eternity, which will not have been at all shortened by what shall have been past.
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Jonathan Edwards, The Eternity of Hell's Torments. And every person in this room deserves that and more.
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But, we Christians have been delivered. Delivered from the wrath of God.
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Delivered from sin. Delivered from the holy law pressing up against us because we have a representative,
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Christ Jesus. We have a substitute. We've been delivered. What would you do in a life of gratitude for someone who got you out of such a great dungeon?
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Oh, God's for Sunday. I'll give you a challenge right now. How about next Sunday, dads?
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Well, you know, our family, we stay at home on Christmas, and we open presents, and then we have the figgy pudding, and then we have this other stuff.
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Friends, God has summoned you. Come and worship me. Why do your traditions even exist for corporate worship?
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The saints get together on Sunday and lie to the king and worship. Now, I'm not saying, hear me rightly,
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I'm not saying you're going to go to hell if you're not here on Sunday. But God's going to cut you down.
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I'm just kidding. I'm not saying that. I'm saying in light of what God has done, and in light of what the
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Scriptures say, you say, I exist for one thing. To say thank you to the
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God that delivered me from hell, sin, myself, Satan, and the wrath to come. God, I'm yours.
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I'm in. I'm in your army. I'm drafted. Actually, these kind of messages should promote some men in this church to go into gospel ministry who aren't even qualified, because they're so enraptured with,
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I will do anything. And they think, wrongly, that the only way they can serve God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength is in ministry.
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Whether you're a mother or a child, sell copiers, sell golf clubs, you can work for the glory of God.
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The Corinthians knew what they were blessed with, and they had forgotten. They had forgotten the blessings of God, like Israel.
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They knew what God had done, and they were running back to their own vomit of, the leeks and the garlic in Israel were better.
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So Paul says, follow me and run well. Not one person in the history of the world who's a
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Christian do I respect who didn't look somewhat like Paul. Hudson Taylor, Mary Schleser, that's exactly what they did.
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But when you look at Israel, here's the negative example. Don't be an Israelite.
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What would I do? Not I, but what would Israel do? WWID? I wasn't trying to be funny.
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What they would do is say, thanks a lot, God. Thanks for the hell insurance. You're not
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Lord over me. I'll do what I want. And God cut them down.
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Our Heavenly Father, thank you that you ransomed us, as Peter says, from the futile ways inherited from our forefathers.
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Not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
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Father, thank you for such a great salvation. For salvation, redemption, deliverance, greater than Israel's, because we're delivered from our sins.
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And Father, in light of having our souls purified by you and your
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Son's work, help us now to run well. Lord, we don't know when your
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Son will return, but help us to run well today, as if today's the day. Father, increase our church's brotherly love, service, earnestness, evangelism.
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And Father, help us to remember it's not because we want to be greater in your sight, it's because you're great and we would like to respond with gratitude and thankfulness.