Navigating Temptation (I Corinthians 10:1-13)

We're gonna be in 1 Corinthians 10 verses 1 through 13.

1 Corinthians 10:1–13

Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

They all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink.

They drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.

Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, since they were struck down in the wilderness.

Now these things took place as examples for us that we will not be desire evil things as they did.

Don't become idolaters as some of them were, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and got up to play.

Let us not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in a single day twenty-three thousand people died.

Let us not test Christ, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes.

And don't complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer.

These things happened to them as examples.

They were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come.

So whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.

No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity.

But God is faithful, he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide a way out so you will be able to bear it.

And Lord, I thank you for your word, and I thank you for your love and for your care.

I thank you for the salvation that you have offered us through the blood of your Son.

For that sacrifice, and for that resurrection, showing that the price was paid.

And I ask, Lord, that you would fill me with your spirit to teach your word, that I would do so accurately, and that you would fill the hearers with your spirit to rightly divide and discern what is from you.

Please be glorified as we dive through this in your name.

Amen.

Alright, go ahead and have a seat.

This is an interesting, seeming right turn from where Paul has been, because we've been going through this book with the Corinthians, where it's, hey, considering this topic, here's something to think about in this, how to be a good member of the body, and also these things, whether that's marriage, whether that's food sacrificed to idols, whether that is giving up your rights for others in order to do that.

And then here he's like, oh, by the way, Israel.

Let's talk about that, which is a bit odd because uh the Church of Corinth is, we see that there isn't a Jewish presence, obviously, in Corinth, but it is a predominantly Greek city.

So he's giving them a bit of a lesson and then making an application.

So the things we have to ask are number one, why does he pick this lesson?

Number two, what does that have to do with its application?

And number three, what does that have to do with that church in Corinth and therefore with us?

So those are kind of things that we have to process through.

We're like, why did he go back to Egypt?

And also, what does that have to do with temptation?

And then, furthermore, what does that have to do with us?

So those are the things that we have to unpack as we go through these different things.

Especially because the last thing that we saw was him giving the example and the warning of not let anything hindering us so that we would be disqualified from proclaiming the gospel, from that prize and such.

And so that is a little bit of a tie into what we're doing here.

So we have to think back to Israel in Egypt and their subsequent exodus.

And depending on which generation you are, you either went Charlton Heston or you went cartoon.

Raise your hands if you went Charlton Heston.

Okay, raise your hands if you went cartoon, Prince of Egypt.

Okay, it's nice to see that we're all a multi-generational church in one body, which is cool.

So, think about this for a second.

Israel was in slavery in Egypt for approximately 400 years, 430 years, but approximately 400 years.

And we go, okay, but then there was the plagues and then there was the Exodus, and then we have all this.

400 years ago was the Mayflower Compact.

So that's a long time to be in slavery.

Almost as long, as for those of you who have kids, as it takes for them to get their shoes on and get in the car.

Hypothetically.

And 400 years they're crying out to the Lord for deliverance as they are in slavery.

What's going on as they're in slavery?

They're working, obviously, but there is a provision of food and there's a provision of housing in Egypt as such, as they are in slavery.

And then the Lord brings about their deliverance.

He splits heaven and brings on these ten epic plagues upon Egypt for the point of declaring his glory and humbling a Pharaoh who refuses to submit to him and refuses to obey him.

Plague after plague after plague, as the nation of Egypt is ravaged economically, physically, all of these different things, and yet he still refuses to let the people go until finally he submits and does that.

And the people are able to go up and leave.

But that wasn't the last cool trick because then they're at the Red Sea, which is big.

And the Egyptians behind them, they want their slaves back.

The Red Sea in front of them.

And God parts the sea to let the Israelites go through and destroy the Egyptian army.

So you have an Israelite people here who, for the first time in 430 years, are not slaves.

And of course that goes well.

Maybe not.

So that's where we're at in this passage.

He starts by giving them this overarching, all were under the same provision.

What does it mean here?

They were all under the cloud.

The Lord guided them, literally guided them through the wilderness with a cloud by day and a fire by night, so that they could, because the wilderness is the wilderness.

And there's no Google Maps to get you where you need to go.

There's no Apple maps to get you where you didn't want to go.

There is they are following a pillar of cloud.

All passed through the sea, that supernatural way through.

And all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and sea.

They were given the law, they were given that leadership and such.

Verse 3, they all ate the same spiritual food.

They drank the same spiritual drink.

So they're in the wilderness.

People estimate as much as two million people going through.

Where are they going to get food?

Where they're going to get water.

God miraculously provided food, manna every day from heaven for them to eat, and then, and quail, and then also water, not only in different springs throughout there, but water coming from the rock.

Just miraculously here.

And that's what we see in verse 4.

They all drank the same spiritual drink.

They drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.

So Paula here is giving them that example that the provision that they had, that supernatural provision, the rock that was struck and the life water coming out of it, was a metaphor of Jesus.

We see Jesus referenced that himself in John 7, 37 through 39, when he says, If anyone's thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

And the one who believes in me, as the scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within it.

And he said this about the Spirit.

Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not but yet been given because Jesus had not been glorified.

And as a result, he would have the Spirit come within them, in like manner.

So these people at this point in time had that provision, direction, protection.

And then that sounds great, but then we hit verse 5.

Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, since they were struck down in the wilderness.

That's a kind of a crazy, like needle scratch in the story.

Why is Paul saying this?

That's the question at hand in this passage.

That will go into his application.

If they were given all this provision, why did most of them die in the wilderness?

That first generation, only two of them, Joshua and Caleb, did not die in the wilderness and entered the promised land.

Verse 6.

These things took place as examples for us, so that we will not desire evil things as they did.

So this is what Paul is bringing up this whole situation for.

So that we will not desire evil things as they did.

That's the example.

What did they desire here?

In verse 7, don't become idolaters as some of them were, as it is written.

The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to party.

So in Exodus 32, you have the people at Mount Sinai.

Crazy cloud, thundering, lightning to the point where they're like, I'm not going anywhere near that.

And God's presence on the mountain to where he says, you need to block off around the mountain so that people don't come here.

And Moses' like, Who's gonna go up there with all that going on?

He's like, just do it.

And the people are waiting.

Moses goes up 40 days, 40 nights, and then the people go, and they go to Aaron, Moses' brother, and say, so we don't know where this Moses guy went, so now you're in charge, and we want you to make gods for us that we can see.

So after all that provision that we have seen thus far, then they ask Aaron, who complies, to make them golden calves for them to worship.

And then they have this great big debauched party as a result with their idol.

So thus far God has given them all of this provision, and instead they chose to make gods for themselves.

Verse 8.

Let's not commit sexual immorality as some of them did.

And a single day, 23,000 people died.

So as they're going through the wilderness, they've been given the law, they've been given that moral code, and yet they commit sexual immorality with the Moabites, according to Numbers 25, 1 through 9.

We see that this was suggested by Balaam in Revelation 2.14, that the that's a whole long story, but he didn't just talk to donkeys, he also advised pagan kings to entice Israel into sexual morality.

So, and so at that point in time, they rejected God's moral law, instead chose to uh intermingle sexually with the Moabites, and as a result, in a single day, 23,000 people died.

Verse 9 Let us not test Christ as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes.

That's very specific.

What happened there?

We see in Numbers 21.6, they complained about the food, they complained about the journey, they complained about the water, they hated the manna.

You know, that bread that was coming from heaven, they say in Numbers 21.6, we hate this stuff.

Can't we have something else?

And so God has been giving them all of this provision.

And whether that is water from a rock, whether that is bread from the sky, but not only do they say, man, we really hate this stuff, but they keep saying, you remember how good the food was in Egypt?

You remember how our masters would feed us?

It was better to be in slavery.

Let's go back to Egypt over and over and over again.

Now I know that we're not like that.

That was totally an Israelite thing way back then, so we don't have that same tendency here.

And then in verse 10, don't complain as some of them did, and we're killed by the destroyer.

So all of that being said, they get to the promised land after two years in the wilderness, two years, get up to the land, they spy it out, they have 12 spies come out, ten of them in Numbers 14 go, okay, the land's good, the produce is good, everything's looking good, but we cannot take this land.

The people are giants, they're too many for us.

Let's go back to Egypt.

And as a result, number one, the two spies that said, No, God can do this, He's done this this far, He can take us, those are the only two that entered the land ultimately.

But as a result, not only were the people then fated to wander in the wilderness for another 38 years until that whole generation died off, minus Caleb and Joshua, but also those people who brought the negative report, according to Numbers 14, 37, were struck down there.

So the destroyer took care of them in that sense.

At this point in time, many of you may be going, I woke up an hour early for this.

Wow.

So, this is the example, this is what we've seen.

And then in verse 11, he says, These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction on whom the end of the ages have come.

The second time he says these things were written as examples, and they were written for our instruction.

So he's asking the church in Corinth to learn something here on whom the ends of the ages have come.

Is it interesting that, I mean, all the way back in the first century AD, they're saying, like, this is the end, this is the very end, Jesus coming back now, 2,000 years.

We're still saying the same thing, and that's good.

That's not a bad thing.

But there's a there's an aspect of following the Lord that comes with an expectation of his return.

And then we have to grapple with how do we live in the meantime.

And that's what we're seeing here for the Church of Corinth.

So, there is an example here.

What is that example?

Verse 12.

Whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.

And again, some of you are looking at this and going, like, we're already in verse 12 out of 13.

We're gonna get out of here early.

You must not know about me.

So, with that, here's the example.

Whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.

And this is where we enter the application largely about temptation.

Just as a whole, temptation, testing, trial, same thing, same word, which is interesting because we tend to split these things up into very distinct things according to our experiences.

A temptation is something that, of course, God will never do, he will never cause us to go into, but a test and a trial, he'll definitely put that on us.

That's the same word.

So it doesn't necessarily work that way.

Ultimately, God will never test us.

We we see that in James.

But but with that, here's how I like to put it.

God calls us to stand on him and remain in him, right?

And a temptation is going to try to pull us away from him to something else.

And a trial or a test is going to try to push us off of him onto something else when things get hard.

But it's the same concept because it's the same idea of remaining in him and what's going to cause us to move, whether it's something that's enticing us or whether it's something that is uh frightening us or disturbing us, which makes sense because we see number one, that uh there's a serpent in Genesis who is deceiving them.

There is, uh we see in 2 Corinthians that Satan can uh appear as an angel of light to entice us in that way, but then also we see in 1 Peter that he comes as a roaring lion seeking to devour to frighten us.

In that same way, there's a push and there's a pull, and what we're called to do is remain and remain in him.

And that's the issue here.

Whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.

What does that have to do with what we just went through in the history of ancient Israel as it pertained to that chunk of time in the wilderness?

Here's the big thing.

What was the context we just went over last week?

Running, well just read it.

In verse 24.

Don't you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize?

Run in such a way to receive the prize.

Everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything.

And they do it to receive a perishable crown.

But we an imperishable crown, I don't run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air.

Indeed, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

And that's 1 Corinthians 9, 24 through 27.

There is an aspect of discipline, of endurance, and of keeping an eye on the goal.

So here is the big thing that I see from what he's bringing up in Israel.

They were ecstatic to be set free from slavery in Egypt and yet refused to submit to Jesus' lordship, to God's lordship.

So I'll say that again in a different way.

When they were slaves in Egypt, they wanted to be set free.

Now, what that meant was that ultimately they would have to look to him for provision, for food, and for water in the wilderness.

They would have to trust in him to deal with their enemies in the promised land.

They would have to submit to his moral law.

And categorically, time and time again in that situation, they said, no, we're going to do what we want.

And that is the lie from the very beginning.

All the way back in Genesis 3, when the Lord tells Adam and Eve, you can eat from any tree in the garden, except this one tree, for in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die.

And the serpent says, No, that's not true.

You're not gonna die.

In fact, you'll become like God.

You will be self-determinate at that point in time if you do this.

And it's the same thing we see here, to where they wanted God's help to get out from the yoke of Egypt, but when it came to take under, to go under the Lord's easy and light yoke, they were like, no, we sorry, not happening.

We want our own idols, we want our own law, we want to go back and get our own food and water, and there's no way that you're gonna take care of us.

So that's the big lie, a part of being a human being, is that we can ultimately come to a place where we can be in control, where we can be our own gods and our own masters.

And it doesn't work that way.

It's you you're going to be enslaved to something, or you're going to serve the good God.

There's no middle ground in that to where we come out winning in that sense.

And so he says here, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.

They had it so good in that sense, and then they all died in the wilderness as because of a lack of a lack of submission in that, but then also succumbing to temptation, whether that was idolatry, whether that was sexual morality, uh, to fear, all of these different things.

So, what does that have to do with the Church of Corinth, and what does that have to do with us?

Well, he continues in verse 13.

No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity, but God is faithful.

He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation, he will also provide a way out so that you may be able to bear it.

So, in those moments, those crucial moments of testing, of trial, of temptation, where they don't know where Moses went 40 days later, which is a long time.

They don't know where they're going to get food.

They don't know where they're going to get water.

They have the opportunity to satisfy their sexual desires.

They don't think they can take over these giants and these enemies.

Those are all situations where it's are we going to do what we think is best?

Are we going to give in?

Are we going to succumb, or are we going to submit to the Lord?

And that's what we're looking at here.

So breaking down verse 13, because this is really the big crux point of this.

Number one no temptation has come upon you except what is common.

To humanity.

So, congratulations, you're not special.

That is, it is easy to think that nobody understands what we're dealing with.

Nobody has experienced the temptation that we have experienced.

Nobody has the same context as us.

Nobody has the deck stacked against them like we do.

Nobody, and this is a weird, unique situation to where all of the uh scriptural exhortation and exhortation from the body of Christ around us, well, no, that doesn't apply because this is different.

Paul here says, No temptations come upon you except what's common to humanity.

We all have ultimately the same temptations here.

It may look be packaged a little differently, but it's all normal with that.

And here's the difficult thing.

It's not a secret trap.

When we look back in Genesis 3, God told them what the temptation would be.

The one tree.

You can have all this, you cannot have this, here's the consequence.

Nowhere do I see Adam and Eve in the wilderness.

Or not in the wilderness, in the garden going, I wonder what's going to take us down.

What's coming next?

What is the next issue that is going to sneak up on us and steal our faith away?

It's a tree and it's right there.

They know exactly what it is, and yet that is exactly what they're drawn to.

I will say this over the last chunk of years, the last decades, um, it's become increasingly popular to have this idea that there is something out there that is unknown that is going to try to steal away your salvation or your faith or your joy or your orthodoxy.

That it's there's an unknown out there and it's not here, it's out there, and it's scary, and you don't know what it is until it's too late.

There are numerous authors, and I'm not going to give them any more credit, uh, that have like made a career out of this whole thing about how it's the out there, the scary, the thing, or whatever.

The things that are the most dangerous to us are the very real present things that are in our lives now.

So, and why is that?

Because it's easy to fear the unknown, but we tolerate what's known.

We tolerate what's actually right there within us and in our current context because it's familiar.

What's familiar is often not scary.

So, and here's a good example with this that I like to use and just horrify everyone.

When we lived in Northwest Arkansas, that is known as the headquarters and vacation resort of brown recluse spiders.

And the forplex that we lived in with our two and four-year-old as well was infested.

And no matter how clean we kept it, you know, if the neighbors weren't that way, it could just kind of hop into the wall and come over, and you know.

And it got and it got offensive, honestly, because like we're sitting there, they're nocturnal, right?

They're hunters, and we're sitting there eating dinner, and we just see them just waltzing across the carpet in daytime.

And it's like, this is our time.

Stay in your lane.

And of course, they're like, oh yeah, but they're normally like this big.

And I'm like, really?

Because we're catching them on sticky traps that are this big.

We're capturing up to a dozen a day in sticky traps.

It was awful.

By the way, I am freaked out by spiders.

Just, you know.

So and yet when you talked to the people who lived there and have grown up there, so many of them were like, Yeah, I don't even know if I'd be able to identify one if I saw one.

I don't know.

Yeah, I don't think I'm like, well, they're everywhere.

And they're terrifying.

And very venomous in that sense.

But it's really funny because they would also, and you know, like it's like the uh the maintenance guy at the forplex, and he's like, you know, picking things up, picking up our couch, like putting his hands under there without looking, going up into the uh vents and different things, and I'm just like, oh my goodness.

And yet he's talking at the same time, going like, yeah, but you know what really freaks me out?

Black widows.

I'm like, the things that stay on the web in the dark spaces where I choose not to go.

But he's like, yeah.

So why on earth am I talking about this?

Because what we're familiar with isn't all that scary, and we may not even identify it, but that which we don't really know and experience is terrifying in his death.

And it's a really weird mental thing that we're often like, oh, this isn't going to kill me.

This isn't gonna take me down.

That thing out there, that's gonna take us all down, that's gonna steal our joint, steal our faith, and gonna destroy us.

But the very things that struggle with we struggle with in our own temptations in our own life, we're like, it's just a struggle.

So, with that in mind, no temptation has come upon you, which is common to humanity.

And then the next line: we are faithful.

That's not what it says yet.

God is faithful.

That's the blessing in that.

God is faithful.

It is not up to our faithfulness in that sense.

He didn't tell the Israelites, go get food, go find some water, get better.

He didn't get them through their, you know, in their last few years of prepping and survival training before they went out into the wilderness so that they could take care of business in that sense.

God is faithful, he provides.

Here's the cool thing, especially as it pertains to temptation and trial and such, he actually wants us to overcome, to be victorious.

You know how I know?

Because he died for it to happen.

Prior to him, prior to his death and resurrection, we were slaves to sin.

And for those of you who want more information on that, we went through the book of Romans.

Not doing it again.

So, a lot of it's in there and it was really good.

So, yeah, in that, we were slaves to sin prior to Jesus' death and resurrection.

And now we have life in him, and we have a new master, Jesus.

And with that in mind, God is faithful, and he actually wants us to be able to walk in his victory.

That's the joy and the blessing in this.

God is faithful.

He didn't tell them, go get your own food.

All they had to do was receive and not complain.

And obey, even in things that were scary.

And it's easy, you know, it's really easy to pick on the Israelites because it's like two years between the sea splitting and them going, yeah, there's no way that we can actually take these enemies down.

And you go, well, that's crazy.

And it's like, yeah, but Wednesday Ben doesn't agree with Monday Ben.

It's just, it really, you know, we're we're very fickle creatures in that sense.

And so, and the blessing too is that ultimately when they go into the promised land, the first place they attack is Jericho.

Attack?

You know, it involved marching and the impregnable walls that were keeping them from what from having victory with what that was it.

You can see a little French peas on top of them if you so design.

So God is faithful, and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.

That's a blessing.

We are not put in a situation that we cannot escape from or be free from or endure.

It may feel that way, but scripture says we will not be put in a situation that is too strong for us.

But with the temptation, we'll also provide a way out so that you may be able to bear it.

Okay.

We usually hear half of that sentence.

With that temptation, he will provide a way out.

Period, good, close, get in the car, get to the buffet on time.

So that you may be able to bear it.

Live under it.

Endure it, if I may say that.

That's interesting.

Because what's being described here is a way out so that you can endure what you're in.

It's not an escaping from, it's an enduring in.

The Lord didn't take the Israelites straight from Egypt and go, promised land.

Or when things got hard, go, that's okay, guys, we're taking you out of this, we're good, good, you know, we're we're gonna airlift you out of here out of this temptation, and we're good.

They still were, and there were very good reasons for that.

There were very good reasons for the Lord not doing that, which we'll see if you can, and that's a sermon for another day.

But ultimately, there were reasons why he didn't bring them directly into the promised land.

Because it's not that far away.

Instead, they were, but with that in mind, it's not escaping from a temptation, it's an enduring in.

Name one time in Scripture that the Lord healed somebody of their temptation.

Now, is that possible?

Yes, of course it is.

I mean, we can anecdotally say, well, he does that in our lives, you know, ultimately.

However, we've created a bit of a culture where that is supposed to be the norm, where it's I was I had this issue and I had this struggle, and the Lord miraculously took it away, and now I don't even have to deal with it anymore, and I'm exempt from being called out on it.

Here's the thing.

What does temptation do?

What do trials do?

What do tests do?

They grow our character, they increase our reliance on Him, they grow us as a body closer together.

And so I always have to be a little skeptical whenever I'm told basically I had this struggle, and then the Lord did something supernatural and just plucked that struggle out of my life.

Whether that's a sin, whether that's a uh any kind of thing to where he's like, it's like, okay, I had that, and then it's like, and now it's gone, and I don't have to worry about it.

And if you start to see remnants of that still in my life, no, it's fine.

He took care of that.

Worries me a little.

Why?

Well, because it's not just about victory from temptation, it's about the growth that he does in him as a result.

I don't like to hear that.

I don't like it when it applies to me.

But ultimately, he is giving us a way out to bear in it.

Why?

Because the most important thing in this whole passage is being with God and submitting to him and following him.

That's the point here.

The whole thing of this.

He keeps in the story heaping provision on them, he keeps taking care of them, guiding them, leading them, and all they had to do, all we have to do is follow and submit and not complain in that sense.

And but that's really hard for us, all of us, in that sense.

So ultimately, that is the goal is our proximity to the Lord.

So trials, freedom from trials, deliverance from temptation is not the ultimate goal in the Christian life.

Now that's a byproduct, that's a part of following Jesus.

But ultimately, the goal is being with him.

The goal is growing into his image, and the goal is doing so together.

That's usually where we have struggles.

Because who here loves to confess sin to one another?

Who likes to look like they're struggling?

Who likes to look like they are struggling with doing the wrong thing, even?

Is that something that we're like, oh yeah, love that?

That's great.

And yet, he builds us in a body so that we can bear one another's burdens, so that we can take care of one another, hold one another accountable, encourage one another on in that sense.

So, what kills victory over temptation?

What is it that actually keeps us from walking in that victory?

Um the biggest thing I see today is pride.

And that's it categorically.

Not just the you know, those other people on the other side of the wall, they struggle with that, not us because we're cooler.

Uh it is a universal categorical thing that oftentimes, hypothetically, I am not willing to tell somebody in my church body that I am struggling with this and that I'm struggling in a difficulty, or even tell them I'm struggling in a trial.

I am not willing to.

And we see that the the easy uh the easiest ones involve addiction, of course.

And it is basically the question of if you're going to have victory over this, can you get accountability for that?

No.

Are you willing to confess this to your spouse?

No.

How do we have victory in that sense if we're really if we are literally not willing to shine light onto darkness?

That's the difficulty in that.

And so pride, unwillingness to follow in hard, scary places, number one.

Number two, a deflection from the real danger or the issue, because we tolerate it, because it's in our life.

We've basically, if it's something we've struggled with for a long time, it kind of like seems like it's become our pet.

And we can like you look at James and it talks about uh sin growing up, and desire becoming sin, growing up and becoming death.

And we tend to kind of treat it like that to where, oh, this is the little thing that I deal with, and it's just it's just a part of my life, and it's there.

And it's like, yeah, but it's gonna grow up and it's gonna kill you.

So that's the danger, is the familiarity with those things, and then ultimately idolatry and self-reliance.

That's the difficulty in that.

Uh, he talks a lot about idolatry in this, and then his next line in verse 14 so then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

There's a big sense in that, is that uh we want to be free from this, and yet our heart may desire that we put this on a pedestal and serve this and glorify this and have this be our ultimate rather than God.

And that's the difficulty.

And that could be in situations like pride, that's us putting ourselves on a pedestal.

How dumb is that?

But that's what we do, or this other thing, and in churches, it's a really big issue, obviously.

Like we built a culture around this about putting people on pedestals, and so ultimately, these are big things that can kill victory over temptation.

And yet, who's faithful?

God! Sunday school answer.

Well, Jesus, but Jesus is God, and it's the same thing we win.

So that's a star on my chart, darn it.

Um, but uh with that, God is faithful.

The problem is when we look at our temptations and our trials and our difficulties in that, uh, our insufficiency is terrifying.

We're not able to drive out the inhabitants of the land, and therefore, I don't want to go there, I don't want to look at it, I don't want to deal with it, I want to go back.

Our insufficiency should be liberating and encouraging us and driving us to God.

Because, again, our goal is abiding with Jesus.

Our goal is not first deliverance from sin.

That is a byproduct of abiding with Jesus as going to happen as we abide with Jesus.

And so ultimately, our insufficiency should encourage us to do that and should encourage us to dig into being a part of a church body together.

Being able to confess sin to one another, struggles with one another, being able to encourage one another in trials and in difficulty and such.

So the question is, what is preventing us from submitting to our new master?

That's the big question in this.

What is it that in our own hearts is causing us to go?

I am willing to be set free from this.

I am not willing to call him Lord.

And that's the difficulty in these things.

You can get worried, you can go down a crazy rabbit trail with that, you can get legalistic with that, as you could with anything else.

But ultimately, is there something, whether that's the pride of standing and being careful not to fall, going like I got it all together?

Whether that is a deflection from the real danger of the issue, going, eh, it's not that big of a deal, or whether there's an idolatry and attachment to something else.

What is it that is doing that?

Only we can answer it for ourselves.

But ultimately, what is the goal here?

When you look at the Israelites, they all had the same blessings and provisions and protection and deliverance.

Most of them died in the wilderness because they would not submit to God as their master.

And the good news is that God is faithful.

And what does that start with?

That starts with repentance.

Ultimately, that's how our salvation journey begins.

Is to confess our sin, to uh confess that he is Lord, to have faith, believe that his payment is sufficient, that his blood is enough, and to agree to have him be our Lord.

That's not a one-time thing.

That's not a I did this once.

That's a continuous, continual thing of confession, of faith and belief and submission to the Lord.

There's a blessing in that because again, if you hear anything in this whole passage, hear those three words, God is faithful.

Because He is the one.

He's the one who got them out of Egypt, He's the one who provided for them all the way, He's the one who ultimately brought them into the land and settled them.

All they had to do was follow and obey.

And that's the same thing with us is that if you hear any application in all of this, number one, stay close to Jesus and abide in him, dwell in him, dig deep in him, dig down roots in that.

And then also be willing to function as a body that supports one another in good things and in hard things and in temptation and in trials and in blessings.

And just in closing, in James 1, 2 through 4, we see it says, consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, when you experience various trials.

Same word, trials, as the temptation here.

Because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

Let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

There's an encouragement and a joy in trials, because it brings about endurance, maturity, completion in Jesus.

God is faithful and he goes through it.

Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you so much for your faithfulness, your goodness.

I thank you, Jesus, for the salvation you have brought to us through your blood on the cross, through your resurrection in victory.

I thank you, God, that you are a good master.

That when we follow you and we serve you, we can do so with confidence.

That you will not destroy us, lead us astray, give us too much.

I thank you, Lord, that it's not that you won't give us that what we can't handle.

You'll give you won't give us what you can't handle.

And I ask that we would continue to dive deeper into you, that we would continue to support one another as a body, that we would be willing to confess our sins with one another and celebrate our victories with one another.

And for those who hear this, who have never confessed to you, who do not have a relationship with you, I ask that by your spirit you would work on them to want to have that freedom in you, that victory, to be set free from the power of sin and death, to be brought into the goodness of your kingdom and your blessing.

Be glorified in your name.

Amen.