Standing Firm Against Temptation

Amen, please be seated. Well, let's again go to the Lord in prayer and give him the glory in our submission to him, our Heavenly Father. Again, your people are gathered together and we look to hear from you and by your Holy Spirit, Father, transformed into the image of Christ.

I pray again your blessing upon us this afternoon, even as you blessed us this morning. I ask, Father, that as we look again to your word, that you reveal Jesus Christ to us all the more clearly. We would come away knowing him better and having a greater appreciation for our Savior and what you, Father, have done for your people through and by Jesus Christ and none other.

And we thank you for these things in Jesus' name, amen. So, Standing Firm Against Temptation is the title of this message. And before I read this passage that we're going to look into, which is in 1 Corinthians, Jesus Christ said, Woe to the world for temptations to sin, for it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes.

Woe to the one by whom the temptation comes. And I immediately think of what James says about temptation. Let no one say when he's tempted, I'm being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, but each one is enticed when he's carried away by his own fleshly evil desires.

Some of that I added myself, but it's true to the text of James. And Jesus Christ then goes on to say, and if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the hell of fire.

So who is responsible for our temptations? From whence do temptations arise? Ourselves, is it not? Is it not we who tempt ourselves? Is it we who go too close to those things that we should know we cannot handle?

And that's really the core purpose of the text that we have before us in 1 Corinthians, which is 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verses, excuse me, chapter 10 and verses 6 through 14. Now last week in 1 Corinthians, we talked about how close one can come to the grace of God and how near you can be to the goodness of God and see it and be around it and yet be so far from faith.

And that's the situation Israel found themselves in. They'd seen, they'd benefited from God's mighty acts of deliverance in the Exodus. And yet by their short memories, by their lack of faith, they displeased him.

And this morning or this afternoon, we're going to look first and see examples of what they did that displeased God. And then in verses 12 to 14 of 1 Corinthians 10, we're going to look at the application that Paul makes to the church and that application is about temptation.

How do we resist this temptation? I ask you, what do you do when you're tempted? Do you even recognize when you're being tempted or do you allow yourself to be tempted as is usually the case for us? These questions we will be able to answer as we look at 1 Corinthians 10, 6 through 14.

So please stand as I read God's word. I will begin at verse 1 actually. 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 and all drank the same spiritual drink for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ.

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 evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were as it is written, the 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, nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyers. 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.

Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation is overtaking you that is not common to man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. God bless the reading of his word, please be seated. So temptation, do we recognize temptation when it comes upon us and when it does, do we do anything about it?

And if we're tempting ourselves in a way where we really want to go and indulge what that temptation leads to, are we even willing to stop and try to recognize it? What do you do when you're tempted to sin?

Well, first, as I said, you have to recognize that you're being tempted. We have to realize that we're setting foot into a pool that is really a cesspool, not a clear swimming pool where we can have recreation.

You need to recognize that temptation is what we're coming so near to. And then we need to be warned of the danger of temptation. That's much the point that Paul makes here, bringing Israel as an example.

The Corinthians, for their part, they're playing footloose and fancy-free with temptation. If they realized how dangerous such games were, if they realized how dangerous those games were, their attitude was a sort of smug, well, I've got this.

I can handle the temptation, it's not too great for me. I've got this covered. But what were they doing? They were maintaining contact with their old friends in old and pagan ways. And you can begin at 1 Corinthians 6 if you go home and read this, and start from there and read through to where we are in chapter 10.

And you'll see this. They were taking food that was offered to idols. They were ritual relationships with temple prostitutes. And even if they weren't engaging fully in that, they were getting ever so close to it, allowing themselves to be tempted to go back to these old practices and mix them with the pure faith in Jesus Christ.

And their trouble is really much the same that afflicts us today. We fail to recognize when we're in a state of temptation, and if we do recognize it, we do deceive ourselves. Do we not deceive ourselves with that smug attitude I mentioned a moment ago?

I got this, I can handle this. I can get through this. The temptation's not too great for me. Well, Paul sets forth Israel's failures as an example of how easily sin flows out of us when temptation is not recognized and dealt with immediately and sternly.

Toying with temptation is like playing catch with a bottle of nitroglycerin. It's extremely dangerous. And Paul's going to give these four examples in verses 6 through 11, examples of what happened to Israel during their wilderness wanderings, not the only times that they fell into sin after being tempted, but these four examples that relate to us and just given as a paradigm, if you will, of things that we need to watch for.

Four examples of temptations ignored, four examples of the dreadful consequences of the sin that ensued from the temptation. And before we go through those four examples, just really quickly, I want you to notice something in the text here.

In verse 6, now these things, these four incidents that are going to follow, these things took place as examples for us. And verse 11, now these things happened to them as an example, not random events.

And God's decree of will be intended as examples of our own weakness so we can look upon them and be warned ourselves, so we can look at what happened to them and say, we are no stronger, we are no better than they.

And so let us be careful about the temptations that we so easily get so near to. God had purpose in this also. The rest of verse 6 would say that we might not desire evil as they did. And then verse 11 again, the end of that, but they were written down for our instruction, for our admonition, for our warning, for our comfort.

All those words can be used for that word behind instruction. They're written down for our instructions that we should know, so we should look at those examples, see ourselves in them, and realize that God intended those examples to be written down so we could look and be instructed in what to do about temptation when we get too near to it.

You see, Israel's failures were meant by God to instruct us in how to resist temptation, how God provides escape before temptation blossoms into sin. Now, here's the sad incidents. Now, we're going to go through these very quickly.

If you look in most of your Bibles, 1 Corinthians 10, verses 6 through 14, are going to have the proper cross-references, one of them in Exodus chapter 12. We're going to go through that very soon, just a few seconds, really.

And the rest of them are in the book of Numbers. So if you want to do it for homework, just follow those cross-references and you can get the rest of the detail, which we don't have time for this afternoon.

Idolatry and the Golden Calf

The first of those incidents is at verse 7. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. That's the infamous golden calf, this thing that just kind of popped out of that bowl of gold.

You remember how Aaron said, I don't know, people put their gold in there and out came this calf and then they started worshiping it. Well, yeah, it is kind of funny. I think it was meant to be a little bit sardonic in that way, but ultimately not funny at all.

The infamous golden calf, this orgy of worship that they had, thanking Yahweh the calf for their deliverance. And what's happening here is that while Moses is up on Sinai receiving God's law, Israel was at the base of Sinai breaking God's law.

Now understand the pattern that was going on here, that Moses was 40 days, but I'm not sure it was a complete 40 days all at once because the scripture also says he came down, he told Israel what God said and they would say something like, all that the Lord has said and commanded we will do.

Then Moses goes back up and receives more revelation and he comes down. There's this back and forth as he hears from God, gets the word and comes and tells it to Israel. Does that relate to us? Well, in a way it does, in a very important way it does because I wonder how often we hear a sermon that might rouse our spirit, that steals us to be more holy, to become more like Jesus Christ.

And in that sense, your pastors have gone up on Sinai in a sense, not receiving from God the way Moses did, but truly receive from God in this living word what we want to bring to you. And then as Moses came down and proclaimed it to Israel, so we come out, stand here and proclaim it to you.

And I wonder how often we hear a sermon that gets us very excited and very committed to mortifying a sin or to confessing it and we're very convicted of it. We're saying, oh Lord, you really spoke to me through Pastor Brian or Josh or Conley, whatever the case is.

And then we get in our car. And we drive home. Then we go inside. We immediately imbibe the very sin that we have been so committed to mortify only an hour before. This is the example that Israel gives us.

As Moses told them the word of God, they said they would do it. They were excited to do it. They were committed to doing it. And as soon as Moses went away and they drove home as it were, there's that golden calf.

Does Israel's example not leap forward over the centuries and tell us that we are no better than they? Paul says we're no better than they because these examples are for us, for our admonition, for our instruction.

And there's also God's awful vengeance upon the sin. And each one of these incidents is going to have a very severe response from God. And in case I forget it towards the end, I want to say that we will not be punished in this way.

We cannot be condemned if we're in Christ Jesus, but we can be punished through discipline. God can bring into our lives those providences that will show us our sin, that will correct us because of our sin.

But condemnation was on Jesus Christ and will not be experienced by us. But God can still act upon our sin. Back in Israel's day, it's more than their sin. There's the awful vengeance in chapter 32, verse 27 of Exodus.

Moses says this, he says, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, put your sword on your side, each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.

Kill the calf people. 3 ,000 fell on that day to the Levitical swords. That's the first incident where we need to look and say God had this written for our instruction. Be instructed by this about what happens when temptation is not recognized and immediately resisted in the strongest way we can.

Sexual Immorality and Baal of Peor

The second is in verse 8, where they mix idolatry with immorality. Paul writes,. We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did. And 23 ,000 fell in a single day. That's when Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor and with the Moabite women who worshiped that idol.

That's in Numbers chapter 25. Now, how bad was this? How bad was it? Just on the surface, it's pretty bad, isn't it? Well, Psalm 106, 28 says,. They ate sacrifices offered to the dead. Hosea chapter 9, verse 10 says,.

They became like the detestable thing that they loved. They became like Baal. As the psalmist says elsewhere, Those who worship dumb idols become like them. You become like that which you worship. And they were there worshiping that Baal of Peor and mixing with all those practices.

God's response to that was, Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the Lord. That's chapter 25, verse 5 of Numbers. Cursed is he who hangs on a tree, but take them and hang them before the Lord.

Just leave them there. And then he says, Each of you kill those men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor. Numbers 25, 9 says, 24 ,000 died. That's Paul's 23 ,000. That's the number we're not going to reconcile this afternoon.

God was furious at this. Does this not speak to us? What it means to toy with these things. What it means to get our foot ever so close to them. As though we have the inner strength on our own to resist, which we do not.

And that's the example God intends us to draw out from these four from Israel. The third, excuse me, an idol. I need to define an idol. What is an idol? They're worshiping an idol. They're supposed to worship the true God.

In Exodus 12, they raised up their idol so that they could see the God they worship. Now they're worshiping an idol. It has nothing at all to do with God. It's anything we cherish more than Christ. Anything, even in a moment that we choose to sin, knowing that we're going to sin, knowing what the scripture says about whatever it is we're going to do, this left turn that we decide we're going to make, and we do decide at that moment, I love that more than Christ.

I have to set aside my love of Christ at least. I have to ignore it at least for that moment and go this direction where I've tempted myself to go. When I click on that site, I love that more than Jesus, even if only for that second.

And on the screen, what do we have? That's my idol. We have hidden idols of the heart. We have offenses that are cherished and left unresolved. My idea, this is just me, why do we not resolve things with people?

Why do we not tell them where they've offended and work it out like Jesus says to, commands us to? I think so we have a kind of spiritual superiority with them. Oh, I know what you did wrong. I know why I'm better than you because you did this, and I'm not going to tell you what it is.

Why? Well, because if I tell you, I might find out that I'm wrong. So we cherish these things in our heart. We refuse to reconcile things. We desire worldly wealth, and we hide that with outward holiness.

There's bitterness, there's covetousness, there's all the things that we hide and treasure in our heart. Very similar to the immorality that Israel engaged with the Moabites when they attached themselves to the Baal of Peor.

Idol is anything we cherish more than Christ. As they cherish that sensuality at that moment more than Yahweh, more than God himself, who had been revealing himself to them. We need to hear these examples.

Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, puts these forth and say they're examples of us. They speak to us of who we are. Verse 9, in 1 Corinthians 10, we must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents.

Now, this was when Israel despised God's provisions. That's in Numbers chapter 21. And it says there, and the people spoke against God and against Moses, and they hear what they said. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?

For there's no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless bread. This manna coming from heaven daily that filled their need. This manna on the day before the Sabbath was double the amount so that they wouldn't have to go out and work on the day that they're supposed to remain worshiping God.

We loathe what God has provided to us. Oh, the Lord. He was outraged at their weak memories because they'd been seeing this provision day after week after month. He was outraged at their weak faith and the insults that they sent against him.

So what did he send to them? The serpents. Many commentators think these were cobras. These are deadly, aggressive snakes. So after many fell to the cobras, to the snakes, to the serpents that were sent, they finally confessed in verse 7, we have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against you, meaning Moses.

So that's when God commanded Moses and he constructed that bronze serpent and anyone who looked at it with repentance and faith were healed. And Jesus Christ said that bronze serpent was what? It was a sign of me, a prototype of me.

And if the Son of Man is lifted up and those who look upon him with faith and repentance will be healed of a snake bite, of sin, healed of the ultimate eternal consequences of sin because Jesus Christ, when he was lifted up on the cross, died for our sin.

They're destroyed by the serpents because of what they did. Jesus Christ destroyed on the cross for what we did. But not ultimately destroyed because God raised him from the dead. But this is still an example that the Scripture gives us of ourselves.

What was their sin? They spoke against the Lord. They said, can God spread a table in the wilderness? That while the manna was coming day to day, while water was gushing from rocks? And who is it who's being challenged here?

The example to us. This thing we need to look at and say this must instruct me. Who is being challenged here is Christ. We must not put Christ to the test as they did, says the Apostle Paul to the church.

Perhaps they didn't know it was Jesus Christ the way we know, but it certainly was nonetheless. They challenged Jesus Christ. They put him to the test. He was their rock. He was the protective cloud by day, the illumining fire by night.

And how easily we forget God's good gifts. How easily we forget that excitement when God first revealed Christ to us. Do you remember that day? The enthusiasm you had for him? You just had to dance for joy and tell others about him?

That Jesus Christ has revealed himself to me? His spirit has come upon me? And I'm forgiven of my sins? And how quickly we forget that and get back into the regular routines of life. And forget the enthusiasm we had to mortify our sin.

To have a life of repentance before him. How easily they forgot. This example is here for us to be instructed. It's too easy to forget God's gifts and to demand more. It almost becomes that we deserve this.

We expect this. Who is God to stop flowing the treasures from heaven upon us? Sometimes Gideon's fleece is nothing compared to the way we test Jesus' spirit. The fourth example is in verse 10. He says, nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer.

That's in Numbers chapter 11. The rabble among Israel that came out of Egypt with them, they wanted meat, not manna. And their dissatisfaction spread like wildfire. And what does the Apostle Paul say about that?

When we listen to those discontented spirits. Those divisive spirits. He says, bad company corrupts good morals. And here we see it happening so easily. The rabble wanted something better than what God had given.

And soon that leaven leavens the whole loaf of Israel as it were. So what does the Lord do? He sends quail. Do you remember that? He sends quail. And quail. And quail. And more quail. You know, I like steak.

I like steak a lot. But I don't think I could eat steak after steak after steak after steak after steak. Eventually you're going to want something else. But the Lord was so furious that he gave them what they wanted.

He gave them quail upon quail upon quail. And while the quail was in their teeth. It says in Numbers that he became angry at them again. And he afflicted them while it was still being chewed. I wonder about that.

Why is that? It's because upon sending it. It says the quail were some number of cubits high. Forget the amount. Some cubits high. Even when he gave them that. So much quail that they have to get sick of it.

They refused to repent. They refused to look back and say. We have fallen into our own temptation. And we've gone and followed the temptation to sin before God. And this food is sinful. And we need to repent.

And I think that's the reason God got so angry again. Paul's point. After God sends him that very great plague in Numbers 11. Paul comes back and he makes his point. He's saying that they're toying with idolatry.

The Corinthians are. They're toying around with the old ways. They're allowing themselves to be tempted. And he's saying that what is this? But a grumbling dissatisfaction with Christ. He's not enough.

God provided for their needs by sending his son in a cloud and fire. The Corinthians' attraction to their old idols. Implied that Jesus Christ wasn't enough to hold their own interest. Now those are just examples.

Meant by God for us to take heed and apply to ourselves. And we don't need to search hard to see how to apply this. It's right here in the text for us. He tells us plainly in verses 12 to 14 of 1 Corinthians 10.

There's two therefores. One in verse 12. Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. And a therefore in verse 14. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. Now most of your Bibles, that's going to be the beginning of the next paragraph.

I'm in line with Matthew, Henry. It belongs at the end of the upper paragraph. Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation is overtaking you that is not common to man.

God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

The key here is very simple. It's humility. It's humility that confesses I have tempted myself or allowed myself to be tempted. I've let this person tempt me or this TV show tempt me or this image on the screen tempt me.

I have allowed myself to be tempted or I've tempted myself. Either way, it's I. And the key to getting out of this quagmire is what the Apostle Paul gives us here. If you think you stand, take heed lest you fall.

If you have the pride that says I've got this, I can do this on my own. If you think you're standing, turn around. Take humility instead. Go to your medicine cabinet. Get a big humble pill and take it over and over again.

Because thinking that you can stand is nothing but pride. And pride will keep you from recognizing temptation. Pride will keep you saying I've got this. I can handle this. I can go past that bar even though I've been free from drink for X number of years.

I can go past that sight. I can do these things on my own. I can be so close to it because I'm tough. You're not. I'm not. Take heed lest you fall. Become humble. He says in verse 13, no temptation is overtaking you that is not common to man.

It's humility again. Your temptation is not special. Your challenges are not unique. You're not the only one who's ever handled those. You have brothers and sisters in the Lord who have. And have gotten through them.

Or not gotten through them. But they're not unique to you. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.

What's the way of escape? I would suggest it's the means of grace that he gives us. It's church. It's brothers and sisters in the Lord. It's finding that brother or sister who's gone through the same.

Or even if not, we've all been tempted. We've all had our challenges. It's prayer. It's sitting under the teaching and the preaching of God's word. It's all the things that God gives us for us to grow together into the image of Christ together.

To build one another up. To edify one another. But we have to recognize first that we're able to be tempted. That the temptation comes from us. And that we can't handle it. You can't handle it. And I can't handle it.

God provides the way of escape. And I believe it's right here amongst us. It's not an escape room. How many like escape rooms? You don't have to raise your hand. Because I won't be your friend anymore.

I've been in one. It was a simple one. I can't stand it. I can't stand trying to find clues. I don't like mystery shows on TV for the same reason. But see, God doesn't make it complicated. It's not an escape room where you have to find the clues and put them together.

And then a door opens and you can finally get out and get some food or a drink or something or whatever you do in those escape rooms. God makes it plain. He gives you the means of grace. He gives you in the scripture had the Holy Spirit write these for us these four examples.

And he gives us each other to help us out of it. Will you take the time to humbly look to yourself and see where you are being tempted. And then even more humbly go to a brother or a sister and seek help.

Or one of your pastors. Say, Pastor, I'm being tempted. Temptation itself is not a sin. Christ was tempted. He was tempted in the wilderness by the devil. He was tempted in his life. Tempted in all ways as we are yet without sin.

Temptation is not the sin. When we fail to recognize it the sin is just knocking at the door. Just like Cain. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. And that kind of wraps up the whole thing. Paul's been talking to the or writing to the Corinthians about idolatry, the things they've been tempted by allowing themselves to be tempted by tempting themselves with however you want to put it.

It's all idolatry. It's idolatry of the heart the things that we keep hidden. It's idolatry of loving the things of the world whatever your particular issue might be loving that for that moment more than Christ.

And there's your idol. And that's what Paul's been arguing against throughout. Israel's bones were strewn in the desert and there are testimonies to God's displeasure. The Corinthians need to take that to heart and do what we must do.

Must apply Israel's conduct to our own conduct. Paul says these are an example to us. Therefore, our instruction, read these. Follow the cross references and say this speaks not to me that's an expression we use a lot.

This speaks of me. And by that be humbled. Every one of us has our own weaknesses. Our own detraction to a sin we left behind. The world tempts us to return and we tempt ourselves by hovering oh so close to it.

God gives us a way of escape. Humility that says I don't got this. Humility that says I need to go to Christ and pray to his spirit and say you Lord help me. You Lord help me to confess this and not to fall into the sin.

I'm not able to stand. I'm about to fall. There's prayer. There's communion of the saints. There's confession and there's reading Israel's examples to see God's view of these things and what the consequences were to them.

There's one key to all the bewildering clues if this were an escape room which it is not but there's a simple key to it. Repentance and faith. Repentance for your sins and faith in Jesus Christ. Acknowledgement of your weakness and your inability to withstand it.

Confess the temptation is before you and ask God pray to God to give you another direction to keep you from it. Trust in the Lord that he's better than whatever it is that temptation would lead to. Amen.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father I do thank you again for the day that you've given us for a day of worship and for the Holy Spirit Father I pray that we would come to you often in the power of the Spirit and in the name of Jesus Christ and you Father would make us able to endure the temptation and by enduring not fall into sin and not displease you in the way that Israel did so often.

Thank you for those examples and I pray that we would humbly apply them to ourselves. We ask it in Jesus name. Amen.