Lesson 23

Yellow Lights Flashing

I Corinthians 10:1-13

A flashing yellow light on the highway is a signal for caution, letting the driver know that he or she should move slowly through the upcoming area - there is a danger zone ahead.

I Corinthians 10:1-13, our text for this message, is the biblical equivalent of a series of yellow flashing lights. Every Christian needs to be cautioned and warned about potential dangers along the road of life. Sometimes Christians reach a level of spiritual maturity and become strong in the Lord and feel that they are immune to temptation. According to the Bible, however, every Christian is suseptible to temptation. Galatians 6:1 tells that in helping another Christian who has fallen into sin, we must "consider ourselves lest we also be tempted." Every Christian must be very careful that he or she does not become a spiritual castaway, disqualified in the Christian life because of sin. We must be aware of overconfidence in our strength and maturity. This text says "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall", v. 12.

Time Magazine once ran a story about a lady who collected poisonous snakes. She played with them and, in doing so, attracted a lot of attention. A photographer came to her house one day to photograph the lady and her snakes. She got out a Cobra and observed that it was nervously weaving from side to side. She reached out to put the cobra back into its cage and was instantly bitten. She pulled the fangs out of her hand after about 30 seconds and put the snake back into its cage. She looked for her neddle to give herself an injection of the antedote, but the needle had rusted and wouldn't work. The photographer took her to the hospital where she died and hour and forty five minutes later. She played with deadly snakes just once to often. This same principle is true in the Christian life. There are things which we may consider harmless which we are spiritually mature and strong enough to participate in, which have the potential of sinking their fangs into us and depositing their deadly poison into our lives.

It is some of these things which Paul warns about in I Corinthians 10. The Corinthians considered themselves wise and strong and liked to emphasis their liberty in Christ. They were not going to be restricted by rules and regulations. For instance, they felt that they could go down to the back door of the temple and purchase meat that had been offered in sacrifice to an idol, an idol which they had once worshipped, and not be tempted to sin, not be in danger of falling. Paul's commentary on this practice was long and detailed. It takes up three whole chapters of this book, 8-10. Paul certainly declares and defends our liberty in Christ. But along with liberty comes some dangers and some personal responsibilities. It is this that is spoken of in 10:1-13.

Blessings Of The Christian Life, 10:1-4.

Paul uses the Old Testament Jews, the Exodus event and the wilderness warning to illustrate both the blessings and the temptations that New Testament Christians have. In the first four verses, Paul lists the blessings God had given the children of Israel. It is important to notice the repetition of the little word "all" in these verses. "All our fathers were under the cloud ... all passed through the sea ... all were baptized unto Moses ... all did eat the same spiritual meat ... all did drink the same spiritual drink." Paul is saying to us here that some of the wonderful things that God did for Israel illustrate some of the things that He does for us today.

Guidance. "All were under the cloud." God miraculously guided Israel with a cloud. At night, when they could not see, He turned the cloud into a pillar of fire. As New Testament Christians, we, too, enjoy the guidance of God. We are "led by the Spirit of God" (Romans 8:14) and by the word of God. Psalm 73:24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. That fact is comforting in these days of confusion and chaos. People are looking into the maze of life for someone or something to guide them. How wonderful to be able to sing

"He leadeth me, O blessed thought

O words with heavenly comfort fraught

Whate'er I do, where'er I be

Still tis God's hand that leadeth me."

Deliverance. "All passes through the sea." The Israelites reached the Red Sea with the Egyptians close behind, when God miraculously and powerfully delivered them by rolling back the waters so that Israel could walk across the Red Sea on dry land. Not a drop of water touched them. We too have, are and shall yet be delivered from the penalty, the power and the presence of sin.

Assurance. Verse 2 says that they "were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." Moses didn't hold a baptismal service on the banks of the Red Sea, but in a sense, the whole nation was "baptized". There were surrounded by water (sides and above in the form of a cloud) and they were baptized unto Moses, that is, by following Moses across the Read Sea they were publicly identifying themselves with him. Water baptism does not save, but it is an outward identification with Christ. It symbolizes what has taken place in one's heart. By identifying ourselves with Christ we have an assurance that we are His and He will take us out of this Egypt, across the wilderness and into the promised land.

Sustenance. "Eat the same spiritual meat, drink the same spiritual drink." Paul is referring to God's provision of Israel's physical needs in the wilderness. God gave them manna from heaven on a daily basis and water gushed from a rock. Jesus provides the same things for us that He did for Israel. He is the water of life and the bread of life. He provides for every need of His children . He promises to "supply all our need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Dangers In The Christian Life, 10:5-11.

Verse 5 begins with a very important little conjunction, the word "but." Having written about the wonderful blessings that God gives, Paul now turns his attention toward the dangers and the failures that blight our Christian lives. In spite of blessing them, God was not altogether pleased with all of them. His displeasure was expressed when in Numbers 14:32 they were "overthrown in the wilderness." The Lord said, "Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness." Israel failed the Lord in the wilderness and died there, making their 40 wilderness wandering the longest funeral procession in history - their bones strewn along the way. One after another they died because they didn't heed God's caution signs. In verse 6-10, Paul list five failures of Israel. This list is like five yellow flashing caution lights warning us that we are not immune to temptation and sin.

The first warning is against lust, v. 6. He is referring to Numbers 11:4 - Israel's impatience with the manna and their craving for the flesh pots of Egypt - the onions, the leeks, and the garlic of their old life. The word "lust" includes all those things which we crave or desire which are outside of God's will. Satan will tell us that God, or maybe some other Christian, is prohibiting our participation in certain things because He (they) are not interested in giving us what is best for us. We should know, however, that Satan is a liar. The Bible says in Psalm 84:11 "No good thing will God withhold from them that walk uprightly." Yet Satan tried to tempt us to crave those things from the old life. do you ever face those temptations? Do you ever have a sense of boredom in serving Christ? Is there ever a hankering in your heart for the things of the old life? Be warned about what you are craving.

The second warning is against idolatry, v. 7. The reference here is to the golden calf episode reported in Exodus 32. Moses had gone up into the mountain to receive the law from God and had left Aaron in charge. When we came down from the mountain, he discovered that the people had melted their gold and forged it into a calf. They were dancing and playing around a idol. they wanted a god that could be seen and touched. They wanted a tangible religion. Idolatry seems primitive and unsophisticated to us today, but it still exists. We live in a land of idol worshipers where people worship other people, themselves, where people love pleasure more than God. Be warned about what you are putting ahead of Jesus Christ.

The third warning is against fornication, v. 8. Paul is referring to Numbers 25, when the children of Israel went into the land of Moab and took heathen wives. By doing so, they rejected God's plan for marriage and chose immorality instead. God judged Israel severely for their immorality. And in the New Testament, God promises to judge whoremongers and adulterers. We live in a world where immorality abounds. TV, movies, magazines, books, and music all glorify it. But even in this world, God expects us to flee fornication, I Corinthians 6:18. Be warned about the danger of sexual sins.

The fourth warning is against tempting Christ, v. 9. Jesus quoted the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy when He said, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." What does it mean to tempt God. It is the sin of presumption. It is to presume on God's grace. It is the attitude that no matter how irresponsible I am, God will somehow get me out of my predicament. I can jump off the pinnacle of the temple and not get hurt. I can misuse my money and God will keep me from going broke. Tempting Christ is presuming on the grace of God. It is an "I can always get forgiveness" attitude. It is seeing how far we can go before the Lord punishes us. It is testing God's longsuffering and patience. Israel did that in wilderness and were "destroyed of serpents." Be warned about the danger of presuming on God and tempting Christ.

The fifth and final warning is against murmuring, v. 10. Murmuring by definition is an audible expression of dissatisfaction. Israel did this constantly. During their whole time in the wilderness they were constantly complaining about something. I feel pity for Moses. He "pastored" a congregation of two million and all but two of them were backslidden and grumbled about everything for forty years! In spite of all the blessings I've already mentioned, they did nothing but complain. According to our text, this is a sin. It seems to me to be a very popular sin in every Christian community. I suspect that most of things that we complain about doesn't really amount, as my mama would say, to a hill of beans. We live life with a whine, always complaining that roses have thorns when we ought to be grateful that thorns have roses! Do you think that the Lord get tired of grumbling Christians. We worship in beautiful buildings, sitting on padded pews, with an air conditioned atmosphere and glorious music and a host of other conveniences. Yet, instead of falling on our knees and praying for people to be saved, we'd rather whine and fuss and grumble. And that's a sin! Be warned about the danger of murmuring.

Realities In The Christian Life, 10:11-13.

All of these things, Paul says, serve to warn us, v. 11. The text concludes on a positive note of hope. We all need to have an awareness of temptation. Don't be overconfident in your spiritual maturity and strength, that you are immune from sin, v. 12. The Titanic was said to be unsinkable but sank on its maiden voyage and many perished at seat. Beware of overconfidence. "Take heed" - be careful - exercise caution - "lest you fall."

And understand this. It isn't a sin to be tempted. In fact, according to verse 13, the temptations that you face are neither new or unique. Satan keeps using the same old tricks and people keep falling for them. He used them on Israel; he used them on the Corinthians; he uses them on us.

But remember, just because you are tempted, doesn't mean you have to sin. Verse 13 contains three of the most wonderful promises in the Bible to the people God. Promise #1: God is faithful. He is on your side. Promise #2: God will not allow you to be tempted at a level that you cannot resist. God is not responsible for the temptations that we face, but he does adjust them to a level that we can handle. Promise #3: With every temptation from Satan, there is a way of escape from God.

In the Christian life, there are great blessings - guidance, deliverance, assurance, sustenance. But there are also some real dangers to aware of - craving the old life, putting something ahead of God, sexual sins, presuming on God's grace, complaining. Identify those flashing warning lights in your life and claim the promise that you can overcome temptation.