Sermon 3-24-2019 Third Sunday in Lent 1 Corinthians 10 By Pastor Christopher Miller So far in Lent, we kind of seem to be on a trend. We've talked about resisting temptation two weeks ago, and listening to what God tells you to do, and doing it, last week. This week, in our reading from 1 Corinthians, Paul starts getting serious about what we are supposed to learn from stories like we heard last week in Jeremiah. 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 In 1 Corinthians, Paul is writing to the Corinthians church about various problems they've been going through, and guiding them through it. He starts out giving them the place they also could be looking for their answers. ***read 1-5*** Now, Paul is connecting the story of the water from the rock, and Christ himself. This is what we need to do with the Old Testament: wherever God is, there Jesus is too. We need to acknowledge Jesus' presence there to fully understand what God is doing in the Old
Testament. We should go back to look at the drink that Paul is referencing. Exodus 17:1-7 Just three chapters before this, the Israelites went through the parted Red Sea. And yes, they're already complaining. This is in fact their third complaint since the crossing of the Red Sea, and the second involving water! ***read*** God provides. And he provides abundantly. How is that not an image of Christ? God did not even withhold his own Son from the people that he loved. But the people still have a hard time acknowledging him. It's what all the complaining is about from the Israelites. He provides for them time and again, but they don't believe that he'll do it the next time. In fact, did you know that this is not the only story of "water from a rock" in the Old Testament? In Numbers 20, the story happens in nearly the exact same way, but with one major difference: even Moses doesn't acknowledge God in the miracle. He doesn't give glory to God. This is why Moses doesn't enter the promised land. He acts as if he's the one doing it, not God. And all these people, because of their
lack of trust in God's provision and promises, were scattered in the wilderness, including Moses himself. So, why does Paul bring up the Old Testament here? He tells us in 6-10. ***read 6-10*** Paul lists off all of these events, because he wants us to learn from them. By the way, I'm going to give you the references for every one of these examples, so you know Paul isn't just blowing smoke. The idolatry refers to the Golden Calf in Exodus 32. The sexual immorality comes from Numbers 25, when the men went after Moabite women, who brought them into worship of their gods. Paul actually underestimated the number who died here. Numbers 25:9 says it was 24,000. The testing is Numbers 21, when they complain even about the food that God has provided, and so the snakes come. Notice something. Paul describes this as "putting Christ to the test." In this story, God commands Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole, so that anyone bitten may live. Jesus cites this story to describe how he will be lifted up on the cross. It all comes back around. The grumbling is from Numbers 14, the height of their grumbling, the
rejection of entering the Promised Land that causes them to wander the wilderness for 40 years. And ten of the twelve spies who scoped out the Promised Land, the ten who said "we can't go in," all died that night. These are the examples Paul gives us to "keep us from setting our heart on evil things." We need these reminders. Because we know our sinful hearts. And Paul knows our sinful hearts too: he said as much in Romans chapter 2. After going down this huge list of Gentile sins, he turns to those who know the Law. At that time, it was his Jewish audience; now, that's us. And he shows us that we have committed the exact same sins. Everything that Paul lists here, the doubt of God, the idolatry, the immorality, the testing, the grumbling, we've done it all. And here's Paul's major point here: we still do those things. Look back at the first part of the 1 Corinthians reading. They ate the same spiritual food, drank the from the same spiritual rock, and that rock was Christ. And even when they had done that, they still sinned. And even when we do that, we still sin. This is one of the many reasons we need forgiveness constantly, because we sin constantly, even when we don't
know what those sins are. And we need to remember them, in order to avoid them. ***read 11-12*** Here's where that theme comes back around. Pay attention! Listen! Do! At the same time, we need a close look at verse 13, because this verse provides some important things for us to remember. 13a: No temptation has overtaken you except that which is common to mankind. Everything has been seen before. There are people who have struggled mightily against all sorts of sins. In fact, if there is a sin you struggle against, I would put money on there being a Biblical character who has suffered the same struggle. God knows how hard this stuff it, because he's seen it all. 13b: And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. This is the closest thing we've got in Scripture to "God won't give you more than you can handle." But this is about temptation, not life situations. Those first words are the context for the rest, though. God is faithful. It's the very thing that we've been doubting this entire time. And he is
going to watch out for you in these very real temptations. And I love the third part. 13c: But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. A way out. A way out is a way through. In our flesh, we will have to endure many temptations, but we have a way out. That way out is Jesus Christ. He will shelter you under his wings, and lead you through the darkness of temptation and sin. He's the only one that can do it. Even if you say "Jesus, watch over me," and then go running off your own way, that's not how this works. He is the one who walks you through everything, every single day. Trust him. This is what he does. This is what he did for Israel. This is what he does for the church. And this is what he does for you. AMEN.