1 Corinthians 10:1-5 ESV
“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they 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.”
Even though the Israelites were God’s people by natural birth, as physical descendants of Abraham and Sarah, they didn’t all have faith, i.e. they didn’t all obey the Lord. But many of them continued to follow after the passions of the flesh, instead, in rebellion and in disobedience to the Lord. And so God was not pleased with them, and so many of them were overthrown in the wilderness, and thus they did not enter into God’s eternal rest.
Today this would be similar to the gatherings of the church. Not all who are gathering together as “the church” are people of genuine faith in Jesus Christ. Even though they participate with the church (or with what is falsely called church) in their gatherings, and even though they may or may not be taking in the truth of God’s Holy Word on a regular basis, and even though they may or may not be professing faith in Jesus, they don’t really follow him. They are also living in rebellion and disobedience to the Lord Jesus.
And if we, as professing Christians, continue to walk in sin, in sinful rebellion against our Lord, in deliberate and habitual sin, as did most of the Israelites at that time, we will be overthrown, as well. We will not enter into God’s eternal rest, but we will die in our sins. And we will face the wrath of God, too, because we refused to submit to Christ as Lord and to forsake our sinful practices and to walk in obedience to his commands, in his power.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]
1 Corinthians 10:6-11 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. 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.”
Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do you fully grasp the meaning of what that just said? It is saying to us who profess faith in Jesus Christ that if we do as they did that we also will be overthrown and we will face the wrath of God and we will not enter into God’s eternal rest, i.e. we will not inherit eternal life with God.
And now we are given more specifics as to the types of things which they did which were displeasing to God. They were idolaters and they were revelers. They followed after the things and the pleasures of this world rather than following after God and his holiness and righteousness. Their “god” was not the God of heaven and earth, but a man-created god who would permit them to live in open rebellion against the Lord without consequence.
And this same “god” is the one that many professers of faith in Jesus are following today. For they are being convinced that they can merely profess faith in Jesus (once) and now all their sins are forgiven and heaven is guaranteed them when they die regardless of how they live. And so many of them are living in open rebellion against the Lord in the practicing of sexual immorality, revelry, and idolatry, in grumbling against God, and in putting Christ to the test by their sinful behaviors, taking his grace for granted.
But again, these things happened to them and they were written down for our instruction so that we might not desire and practice the evil that they desired and practiced, so that we don’t also end up dying in our sins and not entering into God’s eternal rest. So, we need to take these warnings seriously, for they are here to warn us of the consequences of sinful rebellion against our Lord and of refusal to bow to him in obedience.
Should I Not Preach Jesus
An Original Work / July 4, 2013
Based off 1 Corinthians 9:16-10:13
Woe to me should I not preach Jesus.
I’m compelled to preach the full gospel.
I make myself a slave to ev’ryone
To win their hearts to Christ.
All this I do for my Lord Jesus,
And for the sake of His Name;
Do it for the sake of His gospel,
So that I, its blessings gain.
Scripture notates the sins of others;
Written down for us as examples
To keep us from setting our hearts
On evil as did those of old.
Do not worship other gods of man;
Do not give your hearts to them;
Not partake in immorality.
Do not test your Lord and King.
So, be careful if you think you are
Standing firm in your faith in Jesus.
God has given his word to warn us,
So through faith we will not fall.
No temptation has o’ertaken you
Except what is commonplace.
God is faithful to not let you be
Tempted past what you can bear.
He gives the way of escape.
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