Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
275.
Yesterday we were reading in First Corinthians chapter 10.
You got a thought as to where we should start, Bob?
There's five.
Sins chapter 10 and verse 5.
But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples to the intent. We should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be idolaters, as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day.
3 and 20,000 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted.
And were destroyed of serpents neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured.
00:05:05
And we're destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for in samples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Wherefore let him that think of thee standeth, take he lest he fall. There has no temptation taking you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful.
Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it? Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men. Judge ye what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?
The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
For we being many are one bread and one body.
Where we are all partakers of that one bread, Behold the Israel after the flesh. Are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What say I then, that the idol is anything, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything?
But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice the devils, not to God. I would not that you should have fellowship with devils. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. You cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.
Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth whatsoever is sold in the shambles that eat, asking no question for conscience, save for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. If any of them that believe not, bid you to a feast, and he be disposed to go.
Whatsoever is set before you eat, ask me no question for conscience sake. But if any man say unto you, this is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake. For the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. Conscience I say, not thine own, but of the other. For why is my liberty judge of another man's conscience?
Where have I, by grace, be a partaker? Why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks.
Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Give none offense neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God, even as I please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit.
But the prophet of many, that they may be saved.
Verse five of our chapter kind of introduces the next section.
Of those that God was not well pleased with them, they were in the company that came up out of Egypt.
And they were amongst that company that had been delivered from Egypt, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they were all saved.
And even amongst those that were perhaps truly saved, there were those that were overthrown or they did not make it to the.
Promised Land, and I think it's good to see that, that even Moses didn't make it into the Promised land, but it's God's governmental ways with his people. I don't think it's necessarily dealing with the question.
00:10:09
Of salvation here as it is God's government, and when we take up yesterday, we mentioned in verse 21 The subject of the Lord's table.
We're talking about a place where His authority is acknowledged. Doesn't say Christ table. It doesn't say Jesus table. It's the Lord's table because he has authority there. It's not our authority, brethren. It's his authority that we need to learn to recognize how important that is. And we're all learning.
And so in the next chapter, Paul speaks to the Corinthian believers. There was a lot of carnality in Corinth, But he says in the end of that chapter, many of you are sick and weakly and some sleep. What was it? It was God's governmental dealings with those people that had outwardly associated with the Lord Jesus Christ, as we had in the first verses of this chapter in baptism.
And so when we take up this, there's lessons to be learned. It's very clear in verse six and also in verse 11 That those things that were written in those Old Testament Scriptures about the children of Israel were for our learning. And so we cannot isolate ourselves from the scrutiny of the Scriptures here to say when we talk about the Lord's table, brethren, and.
I want to talk about this carefully because it's his table, not ours as we mentioned yesterday.
But it's a place where his authority needs to be recognized. In First Corinthians 5, we have certain conduct that is to be put away from among you. Paul wrote to the Corinthians people. And so we're responsible to take action on certain matters. But that doesn't cover everything because God has his government really in every area of our lives and so.
When we take up these things, it's to scrutinize each one of us. I feel myself under the scrutiny of the precious Word of God. Can we do things lightly? No, we cannot whatsoever man. So that shall he also read? Is there any exceptions to that? No, that applies across the board. And so if you treat the things of God lightly.
There will be the Lord is observing, maybe your brethren don't even notice it, but the Lord is observing and He will have the last word with every one of His people. And so as we take up these different things that are mentioned in the next verses, we need to take him up, perhaps in that context that we are before the eye of God.
I want to say this too, before I go any further. The Scripture speaks of the Lord's Table in verse 21. It doesn't say the Lord's Tables, plural. It's the Lord's Table. The Lord's Table is one fellowship in the whole world. Remember our brother, late brother David Heyho speaking about the Lord's Table? He says, I like to think of it as a table that goes all the way around the world, and there's some.
Breaking bread at that table.
In Asia, in Africa, in Europe, in South America, in North America and Australia, it's one fellowship. And as I said yesterday, it's a table that I believe truly, practically exists in this world. Some people say with all the confusion there is, they say.
Now you can. No place can be identified as the Lord's Table.
What I say, is Scripture practical, or is it just to be taken in a philosophical way? My own conviction is that there is a practical reality that corresponds to this. I'm not going to tell you. I remember our brother Chuck Hendricks saying, I'm not gonna tell you where that place is.
00:15:05
But if I had a conviction that I was.
To be somewhere else, I would not be here. This is my conviction. But your conviction, dear brother and sister and I speak especially to you young people, needs to be based not on what I say or anyone else says, but on what God says in His precious words. So important because that is solid ground that will stand the test of time. Lord, help us.
Have I done the the Beyond my place brother?
What do you think, Brother Jim? No, I think that's very helpful. And I'd like to just add in connection with what you said about the government of God, that we want to be sensitive brethren, to what His standard is. And we will only get that standard of holiness in what is acceptable to Him and to His presence by going to the Word of God. Because the problem today is, and I suppose it's always been true to some degree, but perhaps more and more as the world winds down for the judgment of God.
We become desensitized to evil. Evil today is not just practiced, it's been practiced from the Garden of Eden down, but it's preached and glorified. It's acceptable. And brethren, if you'll allow me to be very frank for a moment.
If we sit before a screen and watch that which is acceptable to the world today.
We're going to become desensitized and over the last, I would say 50 years.
The enemy has been very successful by using those kinds of instruments. I'll be, I'll be very blunt, television, the Internet, and so on in desensitizing us in bringing in those things so slowly that when we look at them, I don't think sometimes we even realize how far things have deteriorated. I, I think it's a hundred and 43rd Psalm. Just turn to it for a moment because it's a very helpful verse in this connection.
No, it's not the 143rd sum. I I'm looking I'm thinking of the verse. That's where David said take not the spirit of holiness from me 5051 fifty. Yes, thank you is confession. Yes, let let's just go to that and read it. It's a little you you need to get it in the Darby translation to get the real sense of it. Umm, give me the verse verse 11. Thank you.
Cast me not away from my present, and then this is the part of the verse now.
It's not quite clear in the King James, but in Mr. Darby's translation, he says, take not the spirit of holiness from me. David had sinned and sinned grievously with a serious moral sin, but he got into the presence of God. And in his confession here, he makes this statement, which I believe is a good, good thing for all of us to consider because we can, I say again, becomes desensitized to sin. And I found it helpful in my own life to pray this little prayer. Lord, don't let me get used to sin and its effect.
Because we see it. We hear it on every hand, at work, at school, in the day-to-day operations where we.
Li where we operate from day-to-day, and how are we going to be to have a sense of what is acceptable to God. It is, I say, to walk in the presence of the Lord and to have his standard, the word before us. And so the children of Israel in the wilderness, they, I believe they got worn down, they got used to sin and its effects. They didn't always come back to the presence of the Lord in the way that they should.
So I just say that and brethren, the older I get, the more I realize the government of God is very real in your life and mine. It has nothing to do with our security as far as our the Father's house and being with the Lord Jesus in a coming day. But the government of God is very real in our lives. When I was growing up, I got away with a lot of things that my parents never found out I did. But we don't get away with anything as the children of God and also He loves us too much.
To let us go our own way. I wanna repeat that. He loves us too much to let us go our own way. You know, your children and young people. Why do your parents correct you? Why do they seek to direct you in the right the the right path? Because they love you. Not because they wanna be hard. I know as parents, sometimes we swing too much one way or the other. No earthly parent is perfect. But we have the Father of lights. We have one who chastens us not for his pleasure, but not for our hi his. Not because it's pleasant to him.
00:20:07
But for our profit. And so I made many mistakes as a parent, I'll be the first to admit it. But I am thankful that as the children of God, we have a Father who perfect knows us perfectly through and through. He chastens us for our profit because He loves us. And I say again, He loves us and desires our blessing too much to let us go our own way. Oh, be careful. Let's live in the presence of the Lord so that that which we have in these verses does not.
Affect us or become part of our daily routine?
Given in these verses, in verses 6789 and 10:00. And if you look up their references, you'll find that they are not in a historic order. Instead, they're presented in a moral order. And the five things that are given here, I would suggest, correspond to those same five things we find with the churches of Ephesus, of Pergamos, Thyatirus, and Laodicea.
It begins, first of all, with lusting.
After that which attracts the flesh and giving up of first love, then proceeds to idolatry. That may seem in allies that idolatry is a terrible thing, but idolatry ends with Christianity in a very subtle way. Christianity was presented to a people that was largely illiterate, and so having images before them was a way to present in the eyes of those that created them the truth and I and and in the his Israel's history too.
We find out that they say, well, we don't know what became of Moses. Give us something we can look at. And Aaron created the golden cops and said, let's have a feast unto Jehovah. It entered in a very subtle way, and I won't go through all of these things, but it progressed from idolatry, just fornication, and then from fornication to despising his grace and finally with apostasy. They're saying, let us make ourselves a leader and return back to Egypt. And so we have a little outline of the church, church's history here, of your preferred, the history of Christendom.
But these things too, we're a part of that. But these things also affect us individually. The same Satan makes the same efforts in our lives individually, first trying to draw away our affections after those things in the world around us, and then that proceeds into idolatry and then spiritual fornication and so on. So, as I said, these five things present us a little outline of the history of what we find in Christendom.
We'll associate those with the churches eventually. So beginning with Ephesus leaving a first love with Pergamus, we have umm, uh, offer eating of things offered to idols with fire tire. We have the spiritual fornication.
Then with saddest, with Sardis, we don't really get the truth of the Reformation, but the Reformation ultimately became, which was despising the very grace of God. That was umm, uh, revealed in, in the Reformation and finally, ultimately apostasy spewing out of the mouth. And, and in Israel's history, that was in Numbers 14 where I think that that chapter where they say, let us make a leader and return back into Egypt.
I'll just follow up with that.
Those who are doing some excavating on these verses, if we, these verses from 6 to 10 are all taken from the book of Numbers, every one of them, if we go backwards and they're not necessarily as umm, as Nick has said in uh, historical order, but a moral order. So if we go backwards, uh, the 10th verse is Numbers 14. The ninth verse is Numbers 21. The eighth verse is Numbers 25, the seventh verse.
It's actually a quotation from Exodus 32, but you pick up on it from Numbers 33 and the 15th verse in the, in the, umm, in the various, uh, uh, stations that the children of Israel stop that. And then the sixth verse is the 11Th of numbers. It's interesting that the, the, the book of Numbers is a wilderness book. The, the 1St 15 chapters of numbers are the first two years that they pulled out of Egypt.
So the 1St 15 chapters are the first two years. The next 5 chapters are the next 38 years. That's quite something, isn't it? 38 years for five chapters. And then the last 16 or the last 17 chapters of Numbers are the last year before they went into the promised land. So it's helpful to look at that breakdown of the Book of Numbers as we go through these verses. But maybe, uh, it would be helpful to look at least the first one, and that is Numbers 11. Let's go there.
00:25:11
So in our chapter we have now these things were for our examples of the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted numbers 11.
And verse 4.
It's interesting this is just as they embark on that 38 year travel. Notice the first verse of the chapter.
And the people complained. Is it any surprise that there were so many difficulties through that 38 year trip when this is how it started and they complained? So let's pick up on the quotation from our chapter, which is the 4th verse. And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting. There's a lusting in our verse, in our chapter.
The children of Israel also wept again and said who will give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt. Cucumbers, the melons. And did they have fish to eat? No. Did they have melons? No. Do they have cucumbers, onions, leeks? No. Did they have garlic? No. So did they have those things to feed on? No, they didn't have them. They lusted after them.
They were tired of the manna. They were tired of it. It says down, down further. Uh, speaking about the mana in the sixth verse. Now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes. You know the it's interesting that.
The first symptom.
That we see.
That something is wrong with one of our children. You sit at the supper table, you give thanks for the food. They all dive into the food. One of them says I'm not hungry. I'm not hungry. Now it may have been they have eaten something before, but not necessarily. It's a symptom that there's something wrong inside. And that is the first symptom with ourselves when there's something wrong inside.
When we lose an appetite for the Word of God, that is the first thing.
And it says here in our chapter.
To the intent that we should not lust after evil things. You, you look at that list of things that we just read about and we think, So what, what's evil about eating a cucumber? So what's, what's, what's evil about, uh, about having a, a, a fish dinner. That's not the point. It's something that has displaced an appetite for the mana.
And in our own souls experience.
The first symptom that there is something wrong, it's that very thing we lose an appetite for that which is so precious that we have here on our left and we we spent quite a bit of time on yesterday that which we need to have.
An appetite for the Word of God.
Might be good to turn to Hebrews chapter 3. There's a little synopsis there that the apostle gives in connection with these principles.
And why they didn't enter into the land. Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 15. While it is said today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation for some of them, and for some when they had heard did provoke. How be it not all that came out of Egypt by Moses, but with whom was he grieved 40 years? Was it not with them that had sinned?
Whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, and to whom he? And to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believe not. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
And so these five things could be summarized by these three things. The reason why these ones didn't go into the land of promise. A little picture of all of the truth that we have that is in Christ in the heavenlies, that is bound up in the person of the Lord that was that is ours, our inheritance. And so it's the the first one is in verse 15. They hardened their hearts. They knew what the truth of God was. They knew that the man had been provided by the Lord.
And yet they hardened their hearts against the Lord, and so they could not enter in. And then it says in the end of verse 17 that it was with them that had sinned. They were lawless. They wanted their own way. And in John's epistle, I think it's chapter 4, it says Mr. Darby's translation, sin is lawlessness. And then the third thing is in verse 19. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
00:30:24
Those three things.
They hardened their hearts, they sinned, and they were filled with unbelief. It's quite an indictment. But isn't it marvelous, the grace of God to point these things out to us so that we would be warned? And that's why he points them out in this epistle. He says that they're given to us for our learning, that we might learn in verse 11. All these things happen unto them for in samples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the end of the world are come.
We have a wonderful Savior, a gracious God. We have sinful natures and we're going to have those sinful natures until we see the Savior, until perhaps we, some of us are called to be with the Lord. But, uh, while we go through this wilderness scene, we have the same tendencies, but we are responsible. And so he brings in the fact of responsibility not to live in this way. And so no marvelous. So we can be thankful to the Lord that he teaches us in this way.
I want to say a word more about the government of God because sometimes it's presented as something to make us fearful. And in a sense that's true. But I notice as I travel around that when there is a family where their children are loved and at the same time there is strict government in that house, those children are confident children. I remember seeing a family in South America that.
Uh, I think I could say the parents truly love them, but they didn't control them very well. Those children were terribly uneasy and had no idea where they stood. I say the fact that I have a father who has government in his house makes me confident I'm not gonna get out of the way too far before he's gonna speak to me, and I'm thankful for that.
The grace of God.
And the government of God run through scripture as the two rails of a railway track, and you cannot divorce the one from the no another. We could not be before God if unless it was by his grace. But at the same time God has his government. And so she read down these lists of of sins that are mentioned Lust in verse 6 idolatry verse 7 fornication verse 8 tempting Christ verse 9, murmuring verse 10.
Are these Christians?
Are they talking to Christians? Yes, that's who Paul was speaking to in Corinth. And so like your brother has just brought out these things. We have a nature that can do these things. By the grace of God, we trust we can hold that in check and reckon ourselves to be dead to sin and alive to God. But sometimes we get out of line, brother, and thankfully we have a father who is completely.
Faithful. And we're reminded of that in verse 13.
That's so important where you put that because as you say, sometimes we think of the government of God as being someone who holds a big stick over us and says don't you dare step out of line or here it comes, well, God is a God of government and as you say in a well ordered home there is discipline that is necessary at times. But why does God warn us about these things so strenuously?
Why does he draw our attention to Israel way back in the Old Testament and what they went through? Oh, it's because he knows that indulging in these things deprive us of that which is real joy. Indulging in these things takes us right back to where we were before we were saved, where we found at least some of us, but nothing satisfied.
And the natural man finds that nothing in this world can satisfy his heart. And we will find the same if we try to find our joy in these things.
00:35:05
The world says, and I've seen bumper stickers to this effect, how can it be so wrong when it feels so good referring to some of these things? The fact of the matter is it's the pleasure of sin for a season, isn't it? And so the Lord and Bob has pointed this out very out, very actually doesn't distinguish here particularly as to whether the ones to whom He is speaking are truly his or perhaps unbelievers. That isn't the real point here.
He's writing to an assembly.
Of believers, even though sad to say in court, there may have been some that weren't real. But in Israel of old, the same situation was there.
It doesn't matter, as Bob has already said, whatsoever we so we are going to reap. Why? Because God wants to recall us to Himself, to give us that which really satisfies. And so let's never think of these things as God depriving us of something good, depriving us of all the fun in life or anything like that. Absolutely not. No, God is warning us because He knows.
Where the ends of these things are, and He wants to fill us with that which will give real and lasting joy.
That called into question their very salvation whether they truly were saved or not. This chapter actually just follows from the previous chapter where Paul speaking. There he says I keep under my body and bring it into subjection less than by any means when I have preached to others. I myself should be a castaway.
Just a word on apostasy. I wasn't here Paul suggesting that he might lose his salvation, but you can preach the gospel and still be found a castaway if umm as uh, was read there. In the case of Israel, those that died in the wilderness died because of their unbelief. That's so important to see. We cannot lose our salvation, but if we never had that belief in the 1St place, we can go along with like Israel, those that. This chapter begins with another five things 5.
Privileges that all Israel enjoyed in coming out of Egypt and being baptized to Moses.
But you can go, you can be in the assembly, you can carry on and pretend.
But if there's not mingled with belief, then you most certainly can as an individual apostasize. Interestingly, that word only appears, I believe twice in the in the New Testament and and neither time is it translated apostasize. But one of those times is in Thessalonians, chapter 2 where it speaks of a falling away. That word falling away is apostasize, apostasy. And with that is the day in which we're living in a day of falling away, a day of giving up. We're we're in a day where.
The, the, the, the weight and the tears are being put together in bundles that there is we're being tried and Israel was tried and it was exposed who really had belief and who didn't have belief. This is the day in which we live in Christendom. We're being tested and it's being revealed as to who is real and who is not real.
But we can go ahead, Bill.
Little comment to add to what Nick said, uh, just to say a hearty Amen to it because as you say, Nick at the end of the previous chapter, Paul in no way is concerned that he might not be saved. But he's really saying that the real proof of my Christianity is not my preaching, but rather my life. And that is the message that we are having, shall I say, impressed upon us in this chapter. The world is not listening so much to what you say.
As it is observing the way you live and the way I live, and that is what is going to lend the weight to our words.
It's not left up to us to decide who is an apostate and who is a backslider. The Lord knoweth them that are his.
You get that mixture in Second Timothy where the House of God has become this great House of profession and reality, but it is not up to us. And so in the parable that Nick alluded to, the Lord is going to, uh, in the coming days, sort all that out.
And I would just say this too, in connection with what has been said, that the children of Israel, they lusted for the things of Egypt.
And when Stephen in the 7th of Acts sums up the history of the children of Israel in the wilderness.
He says in their hearts they returned into Egypt. Thank God they never got back their positionally. And so a true believer will never lose his salvation. But in our hearts we can return into Egypt because it really is a question of the heart. And when I was growing up, Brother Gordon Hayhoe used to use this little expression. It's possible to be unbelieving believers. And that was really the problem with the children of Israel when they sent in the spies in the 14th of Numbers.
00:40:25
And the spies came back. They wouldn't believe the good report that Joshua and Caleb brought up.
And God says because of their unbelief, they were going to have to wander in the wilderness until all that of that those of that generation passed away.
And died in the wilderness. And there's only two that we read of for sure from scripture of that generation, 20 years.
That generation that, that got in to see the land and that was Joshua and Caleb, because I believe it was from 20 years and up that they were to fall in, in the wilderness. Just say this too, in connection with, uh, Thomas. You know, we often talk about doubting Thomas, but that's not what scripture calls, says about him. Thomas, when they brought him the report that they seen the Lord, he said, except I, I see.
I will not believe in that. Interesting. Thomas was a true disciple, unlike Judas. Thomas was a true disciple, but there was a moment when Thomas became an unbelieving believer. So we want to be careful that in our hearts we don't return into Egypt. If you just allow me to make one other comment in connection with what Dave said earlier, we won't go back to the 11Th of Numbers, but if you read on there just a verse or two later, not only did they get tired of the manna in the simplicity in which God gave it, they tried to do other things with it, you know?
When God gave it to them in its simple form, it tasted like wafers and honey. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Wafers and honey. But they got so tired of it. They said, well, we gotta eat it anyway. And what did they do? They beat it in a mortar. They baked it in pans and and so on. And what happened? It tasted like fresh oil. Wasn't palatable. I'd rather eat wafers than and honey than fresh oil. And I just pass on this little warning. Brethren, we want to be careful.
That we don't try to not sure how to say this to dress up or fancy up the word of God. I can't think of a better way to put it. It's the the word of God presents the simplicity of it that is in Christ and to thank God for ministry that explains it and is helpful written ministry, oral ministry and so on. But let's take the word of God in its simple in in the simplicity in which the Spirit of God has presented it to us.
The simplicity of Christ and that is what is going to feed our souls, and that is what is going to keep us from lusting after evil things.
And when Steven mentions in the 7th of Acts that they returned in their hearts, they returned into Egypt, what's the next thing? If you notice the 40th verse of that chapter, the very next thing he talks about is idolatry. They said to Aaron, make us an idol, make us a calf. And so if we don't take the word of God in its simplicity, enjoy it in the way God has given it to feed and to satisfy our souls, we're gonna lust after evil things and then we're gonna turn to idolatry. You say, But we don't bow down to images like the heathen do, but rather.
And we perhaps can have a word on it. There's a far more subtle form of idolatry than the idolatry that some of us have seen on a regular basis in other countries. What do you think about that, Bob? Definitely. And I think we have to recognize that North America is an idolatrous country or continent. Like you say, it's not after images that are made by human hands, but anything that takes the place of.
The Lord Jesus in our hearts is an idol, and so we need to be wary of that brother to keep the Lord Jesus in all His glory. I often think, brethren, the moment we step from this life into His glorious presence, we will wonder why our hearts were so attracted to other things down here. God has for us an object that will enthrall our hearts for all eternity.
And how can we be attracted to other things and yet we are, we have to admit it. We need to confess it to the Lord and ask Him to help us to judge that evil of idolatry. I'd like to read a verse in Isaiah 2 and that connection that I think is is we can apply and is relevant. Isaiah chapter 2. Now again, I re realize this is referring to Israel and the physical idolatry, the images that they set up.
00:45:12
Chapter, chapter 2 of Isaiah and verse 8. Their land is also is full of idols. Now notice this. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. Now again we see the folly of bowing down to an image of wood or any other commodity. I've just come back from Guyana, which is a very idolatrous country, very strong Hinduism. There's a Hindu temple about on every corner and you see those hit really hideous looking idols. We see the folly in the wrong of that. But brethren, aren't there many things that we've made with our own hands?
That we're looking to for deliverance that really we're putting between US and Christ. As Bob has has said, inventions and thank God we can use these things. There's a way to utilize the unrighteous mammon for God's glory. But we want to be careful as Bob has said that the things we've made with our own hands don't displace the the the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I was impressed recently in going through the 119th Psalm. How many times the Psalmist speaks there of our whole heart.
Or wholeheartedness. He doesn't just want half our heart. He doesn't want us to to have an idol that takes up even 10 percent, 5% of our heart, and he gets the other 9095%. No, he wants wholeheartedness. Oh, brother. And I say we need to be careful. We live in a society where idolatry is very real. And John said, little children, keep yourselves from idols.
I think.
Go ahead. And I think too, there's an intellectual idolatry that we suffer from in North America and the Western world in general. An idol was, uh, an image of God that the person made according to their understanding or their, what they interpreted God to be. And I think intellectually in this country and in Western world, intellectuals have created a God of their own liking. They don't like this about God. They don't like the fact that hell exists. They don't like this other point of God. So they created God of their own liking. And whenever man creates a God of his own liking, he'll create a God just like himself.
And so in Psalm 50, it says in verse 21, thou thoughtest that I was altogether such as one as thyself. So man, whenever he's created gods from his look at the Roman gods, you always created God that is just like himself.
In Isaiah 2 where Jim was reading, I'd just like to read a little bit further on in that chapter because it will show what gives them to throw away their idols and I think this is something to be considered. Verse 17 says the loftiness of man.
Shall be bowed down in the haughtiness of men. Shall be made low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day, and the idol as he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His Majesty, when he rises to shape terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold.
Which they made each one for himself to worship to the moles and to the bats, and to the go into the clefts of the rock, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His Majesty.
When he arises to shake terribly the earth, O brethren, the manifestation of the Lord Jesus when he comes back is going to be so overwhelming, those idols will be taken and be thrown to the bats of the earth.
That's their proper place to be abolished. And when we get in view the glorious person of the Lord Jesus, how can we countenance idols?
Brother Dave, you're gonna say something. Sorry.
This is not a general reference to idols. It's a specific reference to idols. You know, umm, it's interesting that umm, just look at another reference. You remember when, umm, when Rachel stole her father's idols, she, she took them and she hid them. That is characteristic of us is we take those things, we don't want anybody to see them. We don't want anybody to know that we have them and we hide them.
And if those things that are a real problem, but you know, we can make all kinds of excuses for them. It's very interesting if you look at this particular reference.
00:50:08
Which is, uh, it's Exodus 32. We won't turn to it, but, but you know, the reference, uh, Moses is up in the mouth and, uh, he's coming down the mountain, you know, Joshua says, uh, it's getting kind of noisy in the camp. And uh, Moses says, well, you know, let's, let's go check it out until they go down and, umm, and uh.
They, they get there and, and, and here's, here's Aaron, he's kind of sheepishly standing there and there's this golden calf and, and Moses says, uh, uh, what's going on? And, and Aaron says, well, you know, umm, the people, they gave me their earrings and they gave me this gold and we rounded up and we threw it in the, uh, in the, in, in the river and out popped this cap. Oh, really? Is that really what happened? You know, that, that it's just a ridiculous comment and yet we make the most ridiculous excuses.
For the things that we bring into our lives that we think, oh, well, they're very necessary or well, you know, umm, I, I really need this. Uh, I know it could be a problem. Uh, you know, these things that, that we want to hide from everybody so nobody else sees. But there are a real problem in our own lives. And it was a real problem here with the Corinthians. We looked at water work, verse 6 together, verse six. But with many of them, God was not well pleased. Excuse me, verse six. Now these things were, are examples to the intent that we should.
Not.
Verse 11.
Now all these things happened under them for in samples or examples.
And they were written for our Imam and nation, in other words, to, uh, Amanishas.
Let me read one more verse in Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 5, Hebrews 8 and verse five who served? And they're talking about the Aranet priest here, serving the shadows.
And Christ served in the realities of them, but who serve unto the example in the shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the Tabernacle. Foresee saith, that thou will make all things according to the pattern showing in the mouth.
There's 3 words on there, example shadow and pattern.
In the packages that we've been reading, these examples are negative examples and we're being taught by mistakes of others. I've often said out of my mouth that I don't learn well by other people's mistakes. I've learned by my own mistakes, but the Word of God uses mistakes by other people to teach us.
To set as an example.
So that these are negative ones, they're an increase. We're on the positive side. There are positive examples that teaches in the word of God and then thank the Lord that he sets down a pattern in everything perfect and correct that we can be taught by that. Titus chapter 2 has pattern in it. I have Dave behind me that the body man. I have Troy beside me that the body man. Both of them know about patterns.
There's only one certain Fender that'll fit that exact year, that exact model of the car. No matter what, that pattern has to be exactly 100% perfect and correct. And those are the patterns that we have in the Word of God that are exactly perfect and correct in God's way. And right now we are learning in this passage from things that we should not, things that admonish us, and they are God's word and we need to learn from them, but thankful that there are positive things and there are patterns, things in God's Word.
Examples that we have, I'd like to look at Exodus 16. We're we seem to be dancing all around it. But if we just look at the pattern, the perfect pattern that we have before us, we'll see what they turned away from.
It gives us these, uh, five things that they turn to. But what did they turn from? From the Lord himself in, uh, Exodus 16, verse four, it says, then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will reign bread from heaven. So it's a type of Christ, the heavenly man. And then we have in verse 14 that when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness, they were lay a small.
Round thing, it speaks of His humility, His smallness, and His the roundness, I believe brings before us His eternality, His deity. And then so it was small as the hoarfrost on the ground. He was a lowly man. And then a little bit further on in the chapter in verse 31, it speaks of the House of Israel called the name thereof manna. And so it was that provision that God had made.
00:55:25
It was something of a regulated life that they were to gather day by day. And then it speaks of the coriander seed with light, the coriander seed, the source of life itself. Christ, God has given His Son that we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly. And then it was white. It speaks of purity. He was holy without sin. And so instead of being occupied with those things, that they were occupied with idolatry and.
Fornication and so on. They could have been occupied with the holiness of God. And then it says it was like wafers made with honey. It speaks of the sweetness of Christ. And so they turned away. God gives us a very clear picture that they turned away from the person of the Lord Himself, and they turned to other things. And so the remedy, I believe, is to have Christ before us, and all of His sweetness and all of His humility.
And if we have those things that come into our lives that displace Christ as an idol does, the answer to for us is to get into the presence of the Lord and to read the scriptures and to the occupied with Christ the heavenly man, the source of life and the sweetness of Christ will bring us back into fellowship. No no doubt self judgment as well as to why we got to where we got.
But it may be necessary to set something aside in our lives to get it out of our lives and exercise self judgment unsparingly. That that's helpful, and I think it is. You're Speaking of, conversely, what you see with the Thessalonians believers when they got saved, it doesn't say they turned from idols to God. It says they turn to God from idols. In other words, what they found when they got saved was so much greater that than the idols, the dumb idols they had once worshipped and looked to for deliverance, that it was no difficulty to cast off those idols because, as I say, what they found was so much greater.
But isn't that true, as Robert has said, in our Christian life as well, you know, sometimes we think of giving up things in separation from evil as a hard thing.
Now we're gonna get a scolding. Now we're gonna be told to do something hard. But as Robert has said, if Christ is everything to us in the measure in which you and I are enjoying the person of Christ, the wafers and honey, the man has been brought before us in that measure, we're not even gonna want those other things. Those things were gonna drop off. Those things were going to leave because the heart is satisfied. You know, it's interesting even with the quails in the wilderness.
He did feed them with meat, He allowed that, but he never satisfied them with it. It says in the Psalms, He fed them with me, He satisfied them with the bread from heaven. And so those things that are not of God, those things that are of the earth.
And nothing wrong again with meat, but the point, the spiritual lesson we learn is that it is what speaks of Christ. It's what comes from God through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we had yesterday, the water from the rock, the Spirit of God, to make that good to our souls and give us that refreshment, that is what is going to satisfy us. So if there's an idol in your life, instead of trying in a hard way to cut it off, get into the presence of the Lord and start enjoying the Lord.
Enjoy the sweetness of Christ. You'll go home and you won't even Washington Washington think about or or desire hanker after that, which was once an idol. Let's try to keep moving through these verses, brother, and else we're not going to get down to that section. We only have one more reading left. But I'm not saying that this is not profitable. I'm sure it is. But in verse eight we have fornication.
Illicit, sexual.
Uh, relations and it can be used in the spiritual way. It's illicit relations with those that we should not have relations with. God has made the sexual, uh, relations between a man and a woman who are married one of the most beautiful things there are in nature, yet man takes that and profanes it. He uses it outside of the bonds of marriage.
01:00:03
And it results in destruction and it results in down grading that which God made to be enjoyed. You know, in Hebrews chapter 12, Esau is called a profane person, and it says he was a fornicator. It doesn't tell us in the Old Testament that he committed fornication, but fornication is dealing with what is sacred as if it were common.
Don't do that. Sex is sacred. Young people only contemplated within the bonds of marriage. And so it is in connection with spiritual relationships too. In the case of Esau, what did he deal with that was sacred? He dealt with it as common. It was the birthright. God gave him a birthright and that was sacred. He said, oh, what use is that? To me, it's not any more worth than a in a bowl of pottage. Give me a bowl of pottage.
That's why he's called the fornicator and a profane man and so the Lord help us to deal with these things properly and then we have and I I don't wanna cut off anybody else that has specific exercise in verse nine is tempting Christ. If you go back to the 21St of numbers. It is where they were discouraged. They got their eyes on the circumstances and then they despised this light bread.
And that was.
Not pleasing to the Lord, and they were destroyed of serpents. And then there was murmuring. Verse 10.
Not content with what God gives us, wanting something further. These are things that afflict us all, brethren, and it's interesting that it comes in this very chapter about the Lord's table rather than I think it has something to say to each one of us.
These things the Lord help us in our meditation, but I'd like to just mention before we go on. In verse 12, it says, Wherefore let him that thinketh, he standeth. Take heed lest he fall. None of us can say we're all right. We've got it together. We have to stand and exercise because we are talking about a God who sees everything, brethren, everything is naked and open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
And there are things in my life that I don't realize that are there even, and so I tremble in his presence, but I thank God that he has taken me into his family and that He will deal with me faithfully. And notice verse 13. It's beautiful. I'm pushing ahead. But then there might be other comments. There is no temptation taking you, but such as is common to man Notice this.
Next statement. God is faithful, That is a bulwark. Brethren, we can count on God's faithfulness. Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.
The Lord help us, brother, and this is a wonderful promise. God is faithful. He cannot be anything but what he is. He is faithful. He will always be that way.
I would suggest that these two verses, 12 and 13 are the two serious difficulties that come about with temptation or testing. Verse 12 is referring to what Bob has just mentioned, where we think, I'll never be tempted by that. I'll never fall into that kind of a sin. I'm immune to that.
Very dangerous attitude to take, isn't it? And I'm reminded of the story, which has often been told before, about the wealthy man in years gone by who was looking for a coachman to drive his coach. And he raised the question to all of the potential applicants, how close could you drive to the edge of a Cliff without dropping a wheel over it? And several made various.
Confident assertions about what they could do and how close they could come.
Driving horses with a coach and not drop a wheel over the edge.
The one that got the job was the one that said, Sir, when I'm driving along the edge of a Cliff, I stay as far away from it as I possibly can. He got the job, and unfortunately the world today tries to provoke us to get as close to the edge as we can without falling over it.
01:05:18
We need to be careful because we're all vulnerable.
But verse 13 is the other side of the coin. It is succumbing because we say the whole tide of things in this world is so strong and so overwhelming that I find it too difficult to swim against the current. I find it too difficult. The Lord has allowed me to be in a spot where the testing is too hard for me to overcome. And allow me to say that I have heard.
Dear people of God, say that to me, and I don't pretend to be above it myself, not at all. But I have heard those whom I knew to be real Christians, true believers who love the Lord. And yet when I pointed something out to them, they have said, well, but look at this circumstance and that circumstance in my life, and look at what I have to pass through as much as to say, Don't you think the Lord cuts me a little slack in those situations?
I like that comment you made, Bob, out of verse 13. God is faithful and He never allows us in a circumstance where He doesn't give the grace to overcome it. He never puts us into a situation where I have to say there's no way of standing against this. We do make allowances for some who under very difficult circumstances have succumbed. We feel for them. But I say to my own heart.
I can't use that as an excuse, can I?
We have these five steps, uh, of increasing, umm, moral decline presented in this chapter in the wilderness. And then we have the Lord's table. It's it, it, it reminds me of that question that us in Psalm 78. And I know this is perhaps taken out of context, but the 19th process says, yeah, they speak against God. They said, under these circumstances, is it at all possible for God to provide, to furnish the table in the wilderness?
I grew up in a circle of believers where the answer to that question was given as no, it is not possible for God to provide a table in the wilderness. But I believe that we can answer that question and say, yes, it is possible for God to furnish a table in the wilderness. We don't have to succumb to the world and its temptations and say we cannot go on in that which God has given us, but it is so important as to what we are identified with.
And with the Lord's Table we have the idea of fellowship, and as the chapter goes on, it speaks of identification.
When we remember the Lord at the Lord's table, we are identified with other believers that they're with us and with what is held in conjunction with what is practice. And so it says, you know, it ends the point. This whole chapter, umm has various threads through it to be sure, but in verse 14 he reiterates wherefore my delay daily beloved plea from idolatry. It does matter what we're identified with. But yes, God can indeed punish a table in the wilderness.
Length when it.
13 He not only can, but he will. God will secure a victory over.
When it says that we're not able to bear, but He is able, He can and He will secure a victory over that 4th. And so we're turning into the positive things here, aren't we, that He has laid down for us here and then moving on into the Lord's Table and the beauty of it.
Of unbelief and how we can be unbelieving believers. And in Second Timothy where you have a day of ruin and a day of mixture of profession and and reality, it says there if we believe not, he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. I find that again a great comfort. And it's very interesting in Second Timothy that Timothy is not only told to go on as an individual. That's true.
And we often say the last days are characterized by individual faithfulness. That is true as well. And Timothy's told continue thou that's individual. But in the second chapter of that epistle epistle, we find he's also told.
01:10:02
To go on with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. In other words, he's told Timothy, there still might be, There's still those who are faithful to my name. There's still those who are faithful to the truth that you have been taught by the apostle Paul and the truth of Scripture. That's the collective side of things. And I say that as a warning, brethren, because I have heard people say that, well, in the days in which we live, it's such a day of ruin and such a day when things are broken up and fragmented that it doesn't matter anymore.
And you really can't discern the Lord's table or where the Lord is in the midst of his people, the gathering center. However, it is what and it just doesn't matter where we fellowship anymore. As long as we go on individually and follow and serve the Lord brethren, it does matter. It does matter. He cannot deny himself. We're to go on with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Even with all that was going on in Israel, there was still God's ability to furnish, as Nick has said, a table in the wilderness.
Here in Corinth, with all that was going on.
And there was appalling situations at the Lord's table, brethren, they were drunk at the Lord's table. They were in fornication at the Lord's table. They were doing things they ought not that were awful. But was God faithful? He could not deny himself. And I just say this too, as we sum up the the what, the what we've had before us, that the wilderness teaches us 2 great lessons. It teaches us, first of all, our own hearts.
And brethren, we need it for the to take up the wilderness journey. For that reason, what we have in connection with Israel and the wilderness is a reflection of really what's in our own hearts. But it also teaches us the heart of God. So it teaches us, as someone else has said, that the flesh profits nothing, but God is faithful. And brethren, if we learn that from what we've had before us in these readings already, then I believe we have learned a great lesson. Again, the flesh profits nothing teaches us our own heart, but it teaches us that God is faithful and.
That through the resources he gives, it is a it is possible to go on. Dear, beloved Caleb, dear beloved Joshua. They went on. Think of what they saw around them. They saw their own generation fall around them in the wilderness. They saw sin on every hand. They heard the murmuring and complaining and the fault finding and the governmental hand of God upon them, 'cause they say, well, we're going to follow the Lord, but we're not going to go on with those rebellious people anymore. We're going to find our own way to the Jordan and across to the Promised Land. No, they went on quietly. They never compromised.
But they went on quietly and they received a real blessing as a result of their faithfulness. They were faithful amidst unfaithfulness. And brethren, we can with the resources that we have, because God is faithful, you and I can go on to the very end. We don't have to compromise the truth. And we're gonna find there are others with a similar exercise and desire, and that God's desire still is to have a place where we can sit down at the Lord's table to partake of the Lord's Supper.
Before we sing that, I'd just like to make the comment because I think that is good. What Jim said is that the Lord Jesus or the.
Apostle Paul gives the instructions in the next chapter that we are to, uh, remember the Lord until He comes.
If that has the request that the Lord has made, he's not going to make it an impossible situation. He's going to make it possible at a designated place that He has ordained called His table. So I want to leave that with you young people.
As a reason that I believe that there is a true place to do it.
Excuse me?
#76.
Umm.
Perhaps I don't know what we have to do in my life once I have closed down rain.
Nsnoise.
Number six, before we pray just for our encouragement.
In uh, Galatians chapter 6.
Versus 7-8.
God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap, for he that soweth to the flesh shall love his flesh. Reporruption.
But either soweth in spirit, shall love the spirit, reap life everlasting.