Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20010204.htm

1 CORINTHIANS: MINISTERING TO BELIEVERS WITH DEEP PAGAN BACKGROUNDS
Part XVII: Bearing Up Under ALL Temptations To Sin
(1 Corinthians 10:1-13)
  1. Introduction
    1. Sometimes the pressures against continuing to do what is upright seem almost impossible to resist! Fears of the loss of friends or income in the workplace, pressures to fulfill unmet physical, mental or aesthetic needs, or pressures of oppressive overseers make a believer just churn inside!
    2. This challenge is answered adequately in Paul's admonition to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13:
  2. Bearing Up Under ALL Temptations To Sin, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13.
    1. God expects us to overcome temptations to sin as He did ancient Israel in the wilderness, 1 Cor. 10:1-12:
      1. God through Paul used Israel as a warning of what not to do in yielding to temptations, 1 Cor. 10:1-6:
        1. The nation of Israel was identified with Israel's God, even with the Pre incarnate Jesus Christ: (a) Israel was united with Moses in leaving Egypt and passing through the Red Sea, and eating of the manna from heaven, 1 Cor. 10:1-3, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftns. to 1 Cor. 10:1; 10:2 and 10:3. (b) Israel drank from the water miraculously supplied from the rock by God, 1 Cor. 10:4a. (c) In reality, it was the Lord Jesus Christ Who went with the nation and provided these things, 1 Cor. 10:4b (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to 1 Cor. 10:4: Ryrie notes that "a rabbinic legend held that a material rock actually followed the Israelites. Paul, however, says that it was Christ who was with Israel all the way" in clarifying what was really involved in Israel's wilderness experience!
        2. Yet, in spite of this unique identification with Christ in His Pre incarnate presence and provision of grace, many of the Israelites physically perished in the wilderness due to sin, 1 Corinthians 10:5.
        3. This happened in part as an example to us today who are united with Christ: it is a warning for us not to lust after evil things as the people of Israel lusted lest we also perish as they did, 1 Cor. 10:6!
      2. Then, God led Paul to itemize specific failures of the people of Israel in regards to temptation, 10:7-12:
        1. Israel was judged for relying on substance abuse and immorality instead of seeking fulfillment in obeying the Lord, 1 Corinthians 10:7-8 (with Exodus 32:4, 6, 19; Numbers 25:1, 9).
        2. Israel was judged for failing to trust God for her livelihood provisions, 1 Cor. 10:9 (Num. 21:5a,b).
        3. Israel was judged for failing to be satisfied with what living provisions God had already given to the nation for its use, 1 Corinthians 10:9 (Numbers 21:5c).
        4. Israel was judged for complaining that God's human leaders were not righteously making their administrative decisions or performing their ministries when they were actually being led of God to do what they were doing, 1 Corinthians 10:10 (Numbers 16:41), Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to 1 Cor. 10:10.
    2. God supplies adequate provisions for us believers to overcome all of our temptations to sin, 1 Cor. 10:13:
      1. God is fully aware of all the ways we can be tempted as nothing new by way of temptations crops up in history anymore, 1 Cor. 10:13a. God is thus prepared to know how to help us handle all temptations!
      2. God is thoroughly reliable to be willing and able to protect us from uncontrolled failure to resist sin at our personal levels of spiritual maturity, 1 Cor. 10:13b. He carefully gauges our individual experiences to take into consideration what we can handle by way of personal precedents and maturity!
      3. God uses the temptations we face to open doors of escape from sin so that we never have an adequate excuse to fail any temptation we face, 1 Corinthians 10:13c.
      4. Thus, whether our temptations include the lure of substance abuse and immorality, or fear of livelihood provision lacks, or dissatisfaction with the provisions the Lord has given, or unhappiness with the functions of human leaders over us, or for any other temptation, God is aware, able and willing to give us victory over every temptation just as He revealed in Israel's various temptations in the wilderness!
Lesson: Every believer today, as was true for every Hebrew in the wilderness wanderings, is without excuse for overcoming every temptation by the same power of Christ available in both cases!

Application: In OURSELVES, we WILL soon cave into sin. However, we have a great GOD, the Lord Jesus, Whose equipping help makes sin inexcusable, so we had better rely upon Him in handling temptations or be disciplined by that SAME Lord as were the sinners in the wilderness wanderings!