Take Heed!

We're going to look to the word of the Lord this morning. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. I want to begin at the first verse. We've covered part of the chapter a couple weeks ago when we did eight and we picked up 10. Kind of put together what Paul was getting at in those two chapters. Uh but we want to begin at this first part, a part we kind of skipped over back then. Says this, "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant. How that are all all our fathers were under the cloud and all pass through the sea.

All were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them. And that rock was Christ. But here's where it changes. With many of them God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these were things were for were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Either ye be idolattors as some were some of them were as it is written that people sat down to eat and drink and they rose up to play.

Either let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three and 20,000. Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye of some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for in samples for they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Take my title this lesson from this verse. Wherefore let him that thinkketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Take heed lest he fall. And I want to teach today on that subject. Take heed. take heed.

Good to see all the faithful saints of God in the house of the Lord today. Good to have you in his house and se several guests also with us and we welcome you today. Just glad you're here to join us. We spent the last two weeks looking at 1 Corinthians chapters 8-10. Chapter 8, we know Paul addressed our liberty as Christians, specifically the practice of eating foods that was offered to idols. And Paul acknowledged that an idol is really nothing, that eating the food offered to the one would not defile a person. However, he also knew he knew that although God gives us freedom, sometimes it's unwise to use it.

And so Paul refused to allow himself any liberty that might cause a weaker brother or sister to do wrong or to sin. So for us, that is the lesson to be learned and that's a lesson we focused on. We must strive not to offend our brothers and sisters. And we must be willing even to forgo our rights if it causes them to stumble. And so at the close of the lesson last week, Paul expressed his personal concern and and we we kind of focused on more of chapter nine, but when we got to the end of the lesson, I know it was a little bit hurried, but he expressed his personal concern that he be not disqualified.

He said, "I fear lest I preach to others that I myself would become a cast away." And he did not want to spend a lifetime preaching the gospel and reaching other people and and himself lose out. And so his concern caused him to discipline himself. I bring myself this body under subjection.

He said, "I deny it the things that it wants to do that the flesh wants that were maybe even things that were not sinful but possibly could become weights and that could weaken or hinder him as a Christian or in his walk with God." And so chapter 10 he says because of that moreover for that reason for what I have just discussed here keeping myself under subjection keeping myself in such a way that I run certainly and I I am careful about how I live he said so because of that I don't want you to be ignorant of some things and then he gives us a history lesson if you will from the nation of Israel and the things that happened there and so The lesson today is the really the other part, if you will, of Paul's instruction concerning eating of meats.

We focused on the idea that we must be willing to give up our rights to prevent someone else from stumbling. But now he gives us a strong warning. Don't live in such a way that we expose ourselves to unnecessary temptation. In other words, don't put yourself in the position where you think, well, I can do this and it won't affect me. but knowing good and well that where you are, the things that you are doing could cause you to fall or could maybe cause someone else to fall.

And so his illustration from Israel's history is to warn us, don't feel so secure in your Christian walk that you take advantage of the grace that is offered to us. Now, I'm thankful we can be secure in our Christian walk. I don't I don't think we have to go around worrying, I'm going to miss out. I'm going to backside. I'm just afraid I'm going to fail. No, you keep serving God. You don't have to worry about that. But if you're walking a line and if you're walking as close to the world as you can now suddenly that becomes an issue, right?

Suddenly it becomes you better take heat because you're living on an edge where you could fall into sin. And we need to be careful that we don't say, "Well, I'm living for God and I got the power of the Holy Ghost, so I can just live right here on this edge as close as I want." pastor illustrated that to us uh our bishop did a few weeks ago in his sermon. We need to be careful that we don't take that attitude. We know Israel was predestined to be God's people. He had chosen them. But really, they still had to make an individual choice to be part of that covenant with him.

And so, even after the Israelites were delivered from Egypt, an entire generation, we read, perished in the wilderness. You know, God is going to have a people to serve him, but to be numbered among those people, we have to choose to receive and to abide in his love and grace. We need to be careful how we live. And Paul knew that not all Christians in the Christian Corinthian church were practicing idolatry. He knew that wasn't the case. But still, by living in Corenth and living around all the sinful things there, they were continually exposed to idolatry and to its effects.

And because they face the influence of the things there daily, they needed to continually be aware of that danger. They needed to take heed, if you will, and to say, I need to be careful. So, in the midst of the warnings offered by Paul to the Corinthians, there are types and shadows, and that there are same I I think that show us that really we need to take these same example from them. No other nation of history has enjoyed the blessing of God and the freedoms of God as the nation of Israel. He chose them. You're my peculiar people. You are the ones that I chose.

Now, they rejected him and they continually face judgment when they did because they abused their privileges and they were judged by God for their unbelief, for their murmuring, for their complaining, for their spi sin. And in spite of being delivered miraculously from Egypt, God overthrew that generation in the wilderness. They were a delivered people. Yet many of them, most of them never, the ones that came out of Egypt, only a couple entered into the promised land. Only a very few and most of them did not because they refused what God had promised.

We should learn from their mistakes of God's people in the Old Testament. And so in the first four verses that we read from chapter 10, Paul goes through some of the freedoms and the blessings that Israel had received from God. It's interesting to note that the word all is repeated five times in that passage. I would not have you to be ignorant that all our fathers were under the crowd. All cloud, all pass through the sea, all were baptized. They did all eat the same spiritual meat. They all did they did all drink the same spiritual drink. And so he said they all took part in the blessings of God.

All of them got to see God working to them. And it reveals that all in Israel experienced God presence. God didn't exclude any of them. So there was no excuse for any of them not to enter into God's blessing and not to enter into the promised land. And so let's look at this. And and we can see through this thing a type of our salvation. He begins. He said, "Moreover, don't be ignorant. All our fathers were under the cloud." He is quoting there from Exodus 13:21.

The Lord went before them day by by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them in the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light and to go by day and night. And that cloud was a constant was a daily reminder to the people of Israel that God's presence was always with them through the wilderness journey. Aren't you thankful? He is always with us. God never forsook them. the pillar of cloud, the fire as symbols of God's presence among his people are comparable to the fact that he abides in us. He said, "I will never leave you or forsake you." And he puts his spirit in our lives.

And and yes, Israel did many different kinds of things and many and they're hard hard stiff necked as the Bible called them and and they were rebellious people. And yet that God didn't just say, "Well, I'm just going to take the cloud away. I'm just going to take the pillar away." He stayed with them even though they were rejecting him. God gave the cloud for their guidance. And when the cloud moved, they moved. And when it stopped, they stopped. And God's cloud showed them the way through the wilderness. The cloud was given to them for protection. It was there.

When the army of Pharaoh was causing in behind them and trapping them against the Red Sea, the cloud came and moved between them and Pharaoh's army and Israel and kept Israel safe. And it it completely enveloped them. They were protected. He spread, the psalmist said, a cloud for a covering and a fire to give light in the night. And so it was there maybe to protect them from the heat of the desert and give uh warmth in the evening times. It was there all these benefits of the presence of God that was with them. And he said they all experienced it.

And I'm thankful that you can all we can all experience the Holy Ghost working in our lives. It is our guide. It's our protection. It's our shield. It's our light. It's our comfort. It's our strength. It is there for all of us to receive and to enjoy. And then he goes on. He said, "They all passed through the sea." In Exodus 14, it says this, "The children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground, and the waters were a wall on them in the left left and on their right.

And so the Lord rolled back the waters and they walked through." And the Egyptians, we know, when they tried to follow, the waters closed in. God removed the obstacles. He took away the problem, if you will. He took away the thing that was chasing them and the thing that was threatening them. And I'm thankful when we go down and water in Jesus' name, he takes away those sins. He washes them out of our lives. And so that miracle of the Red Sea reminded them that they were the elect people of God, that God had separated them, that he had taken care of the problem, if you will.

And baptism takes care of that sin problem in our lives. And all of Israel went into the Red Sea and God brought them up and out of it. And the Apostle Paul compared their going through the sea to our New Testament baptism and water. He said, "We are buried with him in baptism." And you are risen with him through faith at the operation of God who raised him from the dead. And in verse two, he said, "They were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud in the sea." Aren't you thankful for the waters of baptism? Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death?

Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, even though so also we should walk in newness of life. And that happens at baptism. We already mentioned the cloud. Jesus told the disciples, "John baptized with water and you're going to be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence." He goes on, Paul goes on in verse three, he said, "They did all eat the same spiritual meat or the same spiritual food." And we know that from Exodus 16.

It said, "When the dew that lay upon the ground was gone, the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing as small as frost on the ground. And and when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" Mana, "What is it?" And Moses said to them, "This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat." Without exception, all Israel ate of that food. Said they all enjoyed it. They had to. That was all there was, right? It wasn't common food. It was called, the psalmist called it the corn of heaven. He said they did eat angels food. And so it was given to them by God.

They ate the mana that came from heaven, which symbolizes that fellowship we have at communion time and the Lord's table. When we take eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Jesus said in John 6:35, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. Amen. See, we can see these parallels between what they went through and what we have today. And then he said in verse four, they did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. All Israel drank water from the same source.

They were out in the wilderness. There was no water anywhere else. And they they complained because there was nothing to drink. And of course, we know the story. Moses walks over to the rock and he strikes it and water comes forth. And they enjoyed that water. I I don't know exactly how that worked. Uh some of the Jewish tradition said the rock followed them around. I don't know if that's true or if it just the water that ran out of the walk rock became a stream that they followed. And but however it worked, there was water for them. God provided for them and he is still the source of water today.

He is still the thing that can quench your spiritual thirst. John told the woman at the well in John 4:13, "Whosoever drinkketh of this water from the well that you're at, lady, will thirst again. But whosoever drinks of the water that I will give him, you'll never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Aren't you thankful for the well of the Holy Ghost, the spirit that comes in us? For by one spirit, Paul writes in 12:13, 1 Corinthians 12:13, we are all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, bond or free.

And we have all been made to drink into one spirit. We have an opportunity just as Israel did for all to enjoy the presence of God, to all to enjoy separation from a sinful life. all to enjoy the provisions and the things that God gives us in our lives through his great plan of salvation. It is all available to us. And so Paul starts here showing them here are their advantages. Nobody else could walk through the wilderness and have the protections they had. No one else walked through it and had water and the mana and all those things to eat, but God gave them those things.

And so he emphasized the fact that they all experience the miraculous presence of God and keeping of God in their wanderings. But then he warns them that God's blessings are no guarantee of ultimate salvation. I think that's important that the defections of Israel were not due to a lack of spiritual experiences. those that fell, those that rebelled was not due to the lack of God doing his part, but it was rebellion of them against doing their part. And that's why Paul is warning them, take heed, be careful. Even though they were freed from physical slavery, they were never free from that mentality.

They were delivered out of Egypt, but Egypt was still in them and the ways of Egypt. And so he says in verse five, and now this is where it changes that sentence we pointed out as we read it. But with many of them, God was not well pleased. There was no well done, you good and faithful servant. There was no this is my beloved and whom I am well pleased. There was none of that because they refused to follow him. And so it said they were overthrown in the wilderness. That's a that's a very stark word when you look at overthrown there in the original.

We think overthrown, okay, you were defeated or or something happened that way. The word literally means they were strewed all over the ground. Their bodies were laying throughout the wilderness. They laid waste in the wilderness because they refused to follow what God had for them. And so in verse five, he turns to God's discipline of Israel. In spite of all his blessings, in spite of everything, God was not pleased with them because they rebelled against his provisions and against his commands. Can I tell you that past blessings do not guarantee future righteousness?

And we can't look back and say, "Well, God did this and this and this for me, therefore, you know, he's just going to continue." God punished them for disobeying his commands and his will. And so the Bible says that many of them never entered the promised land because they refused what God had to them. And that's why Paul brings this up because he self-disipline and obedience to God is necessary to a Christian life. Be careful how we walk. Take heed what we do. Be careful how we live. and verses 6 through13 are written to the Corinthian church as a warning to avoid the sins that overthrew Israel.

Now, now we said earlier that as we've studied these three chapters that Paul is still in some ways he's still on this subject of eating of meats, but he's he's making it a lot broader than that. He's basically talking about anything that is sinful or that comes from the world. The things that the world is offering and and the things how much freedom do I have to enjoy these things and still maintain my walk with God. And so he believed that Corinthian church was following Israel's path and maybe not even realizing it.

If you remember back in uh chapter 8 and he he talks we know we know and he he mentions that earlier in chapters one and two you have knowledge and he talks about that these Corinthians felt like they just had this special knowledge of God and they thought that because they had that that they they could live pretty much right on the edge because hey I know the things of God and I know what is right and wrong and I know those kind of things and Paul's thinking that your attitude and your thoughts are are unsafe. You're you're walking in a place where you should not be walking.

And so he said, "Now these things, they were our examples. They were given to us for this reason so that you don't lust after evil things as they al also loved it." So you don't desire the things of the world is what he's saying. So you don't walk right there close to try to enjoy the things of the world, but at the same time trying to live for God. The Christians in Corenth had been saved. They'd been delivered from pagan worship and much of which was sensual and sinful. And they lived and worked with people who lived for the fulfillment of fleshly desires.

And Paul observed that there were those still in the Corinthian church who were drawn to those pleasures connected to these pagan feasts. And so in the context of the chapter we've been studying, there were some who continued to go to the idol temples and enjoy and take part in the feast. Now they would say, "Well, I'm doing it. I'm just enjoying a good meal because it's there and it's good to eat." And but they were in a very sinful environment. They went to sinful places because they felt I'm spiritual enough that this will not impact me, that I can live above it, above it.

And because of its sensual and sinful atmosphere, Corinth, it was just a breeding ground for evil. And Paul warned them about some of these. He warned them about lust or or inordinate desires or desiring things that we should not have. We must always be on guard against fleshly desires, which stem from the heart of a natural man. Lust often originates out of normal, natural, God-given desires that really go where they should not go and go out of control. and the mankind by human nature. We have these these desires and drives and urges natural part of it.

But we need to make sure that we control them into the right places. That word lust translates from the Greek word which means a longing especially for something which is forbidden. Think about where the Bible talks about the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. It's that longing for something that you told no, something that you should not have. We think about that. That's what happened in the Garden of Eden. She looked upon the fruit and saw how good it was. That was something I desire that fruit. I cannot have it. So therefore, I want it.

And that's the way that's the way we are, isn't it? Tell somebody no and that's what they want. Tell them you can't have that. That's what they want. That's what they're going to go for. And so the def defines this as it's a desire. It's a craving. It's a longing. It is a desire for what is forbidden is what lust is. James tells us this. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Notice he doesn't say the devil made you do it. He said it's you. If you're not careful, your own fleshly desires will draw you away. They will entice you.

Now, the devil will do the enticing, but it's your own desires. He's not going to entice you with something that doesn't appeal to you because he knows that doesn't help. But when he knows where our weaknesses is, that's what he's going to dangle in front of us. And then when that desire has conceives, when that lust conceives, it brings forth sin. And that when it's finished brings forth death. Death. It leads us to a dissatisfaction with the things that God has, doesn't it? We always want something different. I given you this and I He gave them mana. He gave them water. He gave them protection. Gave them light.

He gave them heat. Gave and they still wanted something else. And they complained and they murmured. And when the people complained it, the Bible says it displeased the Lord. And the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled. and the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. So lust, we need to be careful of that idolatry. Now that's as again when we talked about idols in the last couple of weeks, we we talked about an idol is nothing. It's stone. It's wood or it's something you build and and and then bow down to worship. That's not something we do.

At least not in the way they did. We don't look to it as our gods. We don't create something and stand it up in the corner and say, "This is who I'm going to bow down to and worship to and do obedience to and all those kind of things." Uh, do you ever notice the first three commandments all focus on the fact that there's only one God and you you should not worship anything else or bow down to anything else. God is a jealous God and he will not share his glory with anything else. And so Paul writes, "Neither be you idoltors of some of them." As it is written, they sat down to eat and drink.

And he's talking here while Moses is up in the in the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments. And people are saying, "Well, where's Moses? We haven't seen him. It's been a long time. Is he coming back? I don't know. He didn't say anything. I haven't heard any reports. There's there's nothing on Instagram. There's nothing on Facebook. Nothing anywhere. We don't know what's going on with him." So they go to Aaron and he builds them the molten calf and they begin to worship. They sat down to eat and drink. What he's talking about there, they begin to worship this idol and they rose up to play.

Word there talks about they rose up to begin to basically do the sensual and sens sensual things and illicit things that they did in Egypt at the temples of the Egyptian gods. It is impossible to completely separate idol worship from the worship of human pleasure. It kind of goes hand in hand. We need to be careful. We need to avoid those things. Verse eight, he referred to the story in numbers chapter 25. Some of the Israelites began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. They went into fornication which led them into idolatry.

They all kind of worked together and went went together and he said they bowed them down. And so he said in verse 8, "Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day 20,000." We covered that in another lesson. But this this relationship of idol worship and fornication was very close and that church was located in such a bed of iniquity and was bound to be tempted and affected by those things. And there were those who were giving into these temptations of Corinth were flirting with evil and tempting God. So Paul brings that up next.

He said, "Neither tempt us Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of servants." Tempting Christ saying, you know what, how far can I go? You know, that's the wrong question to ask. And that's usually what we do ask. Well, give me scripture and verse. Why can't I do this? Why can't I go there? Why can't I be a part of that? What you're doing is you're tempting. Is it sinful? Is it because of simple sinful things? Is it around a sinful environment?

Can I go and enjoy it even though I'm not going to be sinful and I'm not going to take part in what they're doing, but I'm just going to go there because I like the vibe or I like what's going on there. We need to be careful. Don't tempt God. And that that's what Paul is talking this. That's why he's saying take heed. It's so easy to just how close to the world can I get? How close can I live to it and still make it to heaven? Given this example before who have heard it from several years ago, you don't get married and say, "What can I do to make you divorce me?" Write it down.

And as long as I don't do that, I know I'm safe. Let's see how close I can go. But you said, you know, you won't divorce me unless I do this and this. Well, I didn't do that, so we're okay. That's no way to live in a marriage. And it's sure no way to live for God. And that's really what we're saying when we look and say, God, give me a scripture verse, and if it ain't in there, then I'm good with it. To think about it. And then he talked about murmuring. Talking about talking. Israel was often guilty about that. They were always murmuring about something. We loathe this light bread. We're sick of this.

We want meat to eat. We don't like what what God's provided for us. We don't like that Moses seems like he's in charge and nobody else gets any credit for anything. And we don't like this. We don't like that. Corin, his followers begin to say, "You know what? God's spirit's on us, too. We can do it.

We don't need you, Moses. were just as we're people of God also and begin to murmur against him and he Paul said neither murmur ye of some of them also murmur and they were destroyed of the destroyer for those that attend APC you can probably see brother Rever up here saying murmur murmur grumble grumble cry cry cry it's what they did the psalmist said they forgot their savior which had done great things in Egypt wondrous works in the hand land of Ham and terrible things by the Red Sea. So, but in Egypt and and when they came out of it, he did terrible things. He did great awesome things to them.

Yet they despised the pleasant land. They despised the promised land that God was given it was leading them to. They believed not his word. They murmured in their tents, and they hearkened not to the voice of God. Therefore, he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow them in the wilderness. We got to be careful because murmuring is easy to get into, right? It's easy to happen. It still goes on today. We need to be careful if you're raising kids. You don't speak against the pastor and leaderships of the church.

And you begin to murmur against things or I don't like this and I don't like that and who thinks why do they think this and why does that person get to do this and why can't that? and we openly question the decisions and we need to be careful we don't murmur do their grave children a grave and justice but we also need to be careful that we don't do ourselves one it was Miriam and Aaron Moses' brother and sister that came before them and they murmured Moses you know you're a brother but we got the same God you have I'm the Aaron you're priest, you're my mouthpiece.

And and Miriam, you've been the worship leader and everything else. And they begin to, well, we have just as much right as you do. And God says, well, good. You can have some leprosy for a while. And finally, Paul warns us, this is probably one of the most dangerous things, overconfidence. Thinking that, well, I got the Holy Ghost. I've been baptized in Jesus name. I got the power of God in my life. I can go in these sinful places or do some of these sin, you know, and not sin. I can do that. I I can avoid sin because of the power of God in my life.

So, I can go enjoy the things of the world where they're being sinful and and still be okay. Yes, there is a security in Jesus Christ as long as you're staying under the shadow of his wing. Think I said this last week. We can go to a place. We can partake of something. But your question would be, would you be comfortable taking Jesus there with you? If you got the Holy Ghost, you are. Is this a place he would want to be in? Is this an activity he would enjoy partaking in? I'm not talking about necessarily that you're in sin. I'm talking about things that could lead to it falling.

And we must understand that falling is a real possibility if we become careless and overconfident.

Wherefore, because of this, because of the things that we just read, the first four verses where we read that because God poured out his blessings, because God has brought us out, because God has provided for us, because he has given protection, because he has given us spiritual drink, spiritual meat, because of all these things, and because God was not pleased with them and they were led into lusting after evil things and being idolattors and fornicators and all these other things that they were doing because of all that.

Wherefore, because he's blessed us and because we tend toward sin, let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. We never get to the point we say, "I'm above sin. It can't affect me. You're on dangerous ground. That's how you feel. That in myself I can live the way I want. Paul says in another place, use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh. Don't live that grace with the grace that God has put in the spirit that I'm free. Free. You know, I'm so thankful for the freedom of the Holy Ghost and because of that, I can do whatever I want to do. And we use that liberty to do what the flesh wants to do.

Take heed. Be careful. He said, "All these things, what are they there for? Why do we have this Old Testament? Why didn't when the church start, we just throw away the Old Testament and start with the New? Let's just start with Jesus and go from there. We'll just forget 4,000 years of history in the Old Testament." Paul said, "No, because they are an example for us. They're something that is going to point out some things that we need to know. They are written for our admonition. They're to admonish us. They're there to teach us something. Who we who on whom the ends of the world are come?

We in this last day." And and we do look at it. That's an interesting verse scripture there. Upon whom the ends of the world are come, we realize we're living in the last days. We also realize that things that we face or the technologies and the things that are so completely alien and foreign to what was going on as they're wandering through the des wild wilderness and desert with a bunch of animals behind them and carts and I mean we're in such a different world. But what Paul is saying is guess what? You face the same flesh. You face the same temptations. You face the same things.

And you can think, well, we're above all that stuff that they did. We're above all that idol stuff that they used to do. You know, we don't believe in any of that stuff anymore. And we're all beyond that. But if we're not careful, we will fall down the same path they do. And so he says, "Take heed. Be careful." This history was written for our instructions. And the instruction is that sin and weakness are common to everyone throughout all time. And you've got to learn for those things. But here's the assurance. Here is the assurance. Let him take heed thinkketh he stand takes heed lest he fall.

Verse 13, we didn't read it in the text, but he says it here. Therefore hath no there hath no temptation taken you but such as common to man. That's the first thing. It's common to man. What Israel faced, you're going to face. what they faced in the day of book of acts. You're going to face the temptations they were faced with. We are going to taste. We're we're going to see it is no different because people are still the same. This carnal nature does not change if we let it. But here's the thing. But here's another one of those. Yes, there's no temptation taken you which says is common to man.

But God is faithful. Aren't you thankful to know that God is faithful? It's reassuring to know that we serve a God who has overcome the world and he has overcome the wicked one. John tells us in 1 John 5 and 1 John 2, we serve a God who overcame his fleshly temptations and he can help us overcome ours. The writer of Hebrews said, 'We have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. You can live a life that is pleasing to God. You can live a life without sin.

But we don't do it by claiming, well, I'm just so spiritual and so holy like the Corenth church did. You know, we're so far beyond all these other churches and everything else because, you know, this is Corinth and this is this great. We have the gifts of the spirit working. Everything is just great and so we can pretty much live like we want. No, he said he was tempted like us yet without sin. God has promised that whatever the temptation, it will not be greater than the strength he gives to resist us. Resist it. But we got to depend on him. Paul did not promise there would never be temptation.

But he did promise that God would provide a way of escape. It's up to us to follow the escape route. get on a plane and nobody pays any attention, but you got somebody up there doing calisthenics, you know, above here, that'll drop down. Put it on ask help this exit doors are here and here and everybody's reading magazines looking at their phones, you know, before before we get in the air and the phone can't get on my phone and nobody's paying attention. But there's escape routes. Anything happens, here's where you go. Paul's saying, "We've got some escape routes. He's made a way. Know where they're at.

I think what it is is know yourself. Know your own weaknesses. And when you get in those situations, know that God's made a way of escape. And sometimes you just have to flee, right? God is faithful. Here's what it says in second Peter 2:9. The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations. And he knows how to reserve the unjust until the day of judgment to be punished. basically saying there's two roads. You take the Lord's way out, you'll be okay and if you go your way, there's a judgment day and a punishment. Says in verse 14, "Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry." Flee from.

And we could put so much in there because he's talking about all these different things that Israel did. the murmuring, the complaining, the fornication, the temptations that they the idolatry, all the things that they were doing. That's what he's saying. Flee from all of that stuff. Get away from it. And then he goes into what we covered a couple weeks ago when we were talking about verse eight. Talks about the blessings that we have. This communion of the blood of Christ and the bread we break. It's a communion of the body of Christ.

And he said, "When you partake of the things of God, what you are showing that we being many, we're one body. We're all partakers of that one bread. We're like Israel when they say they all enjoyed this and they all enjoyed that." And he said, "Because of that, they all parttook of the flesh to eat of the sacrifices of the altar. They were all there." And then he turns and he talks about the Gentiles sacrificing to devils and he said don't have fellowship with the devils. So he does come back full circle to that idea of eating of meats offered to idols.

But what he is saying is that we've got something so much better church. Aren't you thankful what God has placed in your life? Aren't you thankful when you repented of your sins that there was forgiveness? Aren't you thankful that when you went down in Jesus' name, those sins were washed away and they were removed? Aren't you thankful that when you rose to a newness of life and he put his spirit in you, that you received the power of the Holy Ghost to live above those sinful things. But he also gave you the power to make right choices and to do what's right.

Take heed unless we decide to go back to making our own choices, not doing what God wants us to do. Let's stand. Take heed. Let's just ask God to help you do that. Lord, help us this morning to take heed of the things that are written in your word to be careful. Bless when we think we're standing, we're doing okay, we find ourselves in a places and positions that we should not be that will lead us into sin and lead us away from you. Help us to live righteously, holy, and godly in this present world as your word says. In Jesus name we pray it. Jesus name. Amen.