The Israelites, who wandered in the wilderness for 40 years after being delivered out of slavery in Egypt, all “drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness” (See 1 Corinthians 10:1-5).
1 Corinthians 10:6-10 ESV
“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 twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.”
Freedom from Slavery
The situation with the children of Israel being slaves in
Egypt and then God setting them free, and the circumstances of how their
freedom came about, and then their time in the wilderness, and then them (though
now few in number) entering finally into the Promised Land is a foreshadowing
of our salvation from sin, our walks of faith, and our finally entering into
heaven.
For before we believe in Jesus we are also bound in slavery,
but it is slavery to sin, and so God sent Jesus to set us free from our slavery
to sin. So, he became our sacrificial lamb who was slain and who died on a
cross, taking our sins on him. He died to free us from our slavery to sin. Thus
he put our sins to death with him so that we might die to sin and live to
righteousness.
And the Israelites had to sacrifice an animal and put the
blood on their doorposts, so they did this by faith. So this represents our
faith in Jesus Christ which applies what Jesus did for us on that cross to our
lives in obedience to our Lord so we will not die in our sins. But then we must
now live in that faith until the time that the Lord Jesus takes us to heaven.
Well, the picture here is that not everyone who professes
faith in Jesus Christ will end up entering into God’s eternal rest. Only those
who obey the Lord and who forsake their lives of sin will enter into his
eternal rest. So, this serves as a warning to us not to take God’s grace for
granted, for not everyone who says “Lord, Lord,” will enter into God’s eternal
kingdom, but only those doing the will of God the Father who is in heaven (Matt
7:21-23).
Idolatry and Immorality
So, we must not be idolaters as some of them were. We must
not give our complete hearts’ devotion to any other than our Lord God. We
should not be passionate, and loyal, and committed, and consumed by anything or
anyone else besides God, or at least not even close to the degree that we are
to the Lord, for certainly we should be passionate about serving our spouses
and our children, but God is to be above all.
We should not be those who are revelers and who live to entertain
and to be entertained, which seems largely what our society today is mostly all
about. So many people who profess faith in Jesus hardly ever talk about Jesus
to others unless it is Easter or Christmas or some other religious holiday or
unless they are at a gathering of what is called “church” where the
conversation is about Jesus Christ. But they know all the movies and the actors
and actresses and they know how to talk about them freely.
We are also not to engage in sexual immorality, but that is
probably the biggest sin issue in the church (or in what is called church)
today, at least here in America. For sexual immorality is everywhere, in
videos, in movies, in TV shows, in music, in games, on the internet (even on
some Christian sites), in news shows, and in some Christian music videos, etc.
And more than half of our men are engaged in pornography, as
are maybe a third of pastors, and then male children, and then women and girls,
too. But it isn’t just porn that is the issue. This stuff is everywhere, and it
includes sex texting and video games, and so much more that I probably don’t
even know about. And people’s lives are being destroyed by this.
And then the church – mostly the institutional market-driven
church – has altered church gatherings and the gospel to make them more
appealing and acceptable to human flesh and to the people of the world. “Sin”
is barely mentioned anymore or else it is lessened to something like “I messed
up,” which is more like, “I spilled a glass of milk,” and so it is not taken
seriously.
Most are now following the altered gospel which does not put
sin to death in the life of the “believer” in Jesus, but which allows sin to
still thrive, only now guilt-free. And it makes no requirements for submission
to Christ as Lord or for obedience to the Lord and to his commands. They call
that “works-based salvation” and so they discourage walks of obedience.
So, sin is running rampant in today’s institutional churches
and if you speak out against addiction to sin then you are being judged as
being judgmental, harsh, critical, unloving, hateful, hyper-religious,
self-righteous, and a teacher of “works-based salvation.” You may also wrongly
be accused of not forgiving because you are talking about addiction to sin
which covers more than just current sin but all sin which has not been repented
of and which has established a pattern of addictive behavior to sinful
practices.
Those who make a practice of sin are addicted to sin, and
they will repeat the same sinful patterns of behavior over and over in a
cyclical pattern which can include all aspects of that addictive behavior,
including lying ahead of time and after the fact to cover up the sin, planning
out in advance how to commit the sin, making excuses for the sin, blaming
others and not taking personal responsibility, and attacking those who try to
help them, etc.
And if you continue in addiction to sin, making sin your
practice, and if righteousness and obedience to the Lord are not what you
practice, then according to Scripture you do not know God, you are not in
fellowship with God, and you don’t have the hope of eternal life with God. And
it doesn’t matter what you have professed or confessed with your lips (Matt
7:21-23).
1 Corinthians 10:11-13 ESV
“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 has overtaken 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.”
Now, the Lord gave us these examples so that we would not set
our hearts on evil as most of those who were in the wilderness for forty years
did. And he had this written down for us to warn us that if we follow their
example that we will not enter into his eternal rest, either, but we will die
in our sins.
So, just because you prayed a prayer to receive Christ or
you confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, it won’t matter for eternity
if you do not follow that confession with a walk of holiness and faithful
obedience to your Lord, saying “No!” to sin daily and “Yes” to God and to his
righteousness. For, you don’t stand secure with God if you are not walking in
obedience to his commands and if you are not putting sin to death, by the
Spirit.
Now, there are no excuses for anyone professing faith in
Jesus Christ to continue living in sinful rebellion against the Lord, but many
do. Some do most of their lives. For when Jesus died on that cross he put our
sin to death with him so that we might die with him to sin and live to him and
to his righteousness in the power of God. He already made the way for you to
walk in freedom from addiction to sin. You just have to choose to take the way
that he provided instead of continuing to make excuses for why you are still
living in bondage and you are not walking in the freedom he provided.
How to be free? First, humble yourself before God. Repent of
(turn from) your sins. Surrender your life to Jesus Christ to now follow him in
his ways and in his truth, and then trust him with your life. Follow him in
obedience one day and one step at a time, and daily by the Spirit be saying “No!”
to ungodliness and fleshly lusts, and live self-controlled, upright, and godly
lives while you wait for the Lord to return.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn
15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1
Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Gal
5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal
6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb
10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Rev. 2-3; Rev
18:1-6; Rev 21:8, 27; Rev 22:14-15]
The Spirit Calling
An Original Work /
November 12, 2019
Hear the Spirit calling.
He’ll keep you from falling.
Tenderly He’s calling,
“Come and follow Him.”
Walk with Jesus daily.
Don’t give in to lazy.
Folks may call you crazy.
Fellowship with Him.
Follow where He leads you.
Eat what Jesus feeds you.
His love will renew you
If you follow Him.
Do what Jesus tells you.
Don’t let your faith fail you.
His love will avail you
If you walk with Him.
Jesus, Lord and Savior,
Reigneth now forever.
He gave us His favor
So we’d live with Him.
Turning now from our sin,
Holy Spirit live-in.
Holiness we walk in,
Purified by Him.
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