Strong Reasons to Flee Evil

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.960 --> 00:00:16.789 First Corinthians ten versus one through fourteen. This morning, scripture speaks in various 2 00:00:16.829 --> 00:00:22.940 ways. Sometimes it speaks softly, sometimes it speaks low, it is sometimes 3 00:00:23.019 --> 00:00:29.539 it encourages and comforts. Sometimes it warns and threatens. Sometimes it teaches, 4 00:00:29.660 --> 00:00:34.340 sometimes it praises. It is manifold. God is manifold in the way that 5 00:00:34.420 --> 00:00:39.170 he speaks, and he always speaks to us in ways that we can benefit 6 00:00:39.210 --> 00:00:44.049 from and that he and he uses, is by his spirit, to benefit 7 00:00:44.130 --> 00:00:48.609 us. Today we have a warning, a warning to pay attention to, 8 00:00:48.770 --> 00:00:54.759 to be aware of, to give our our full hearts to. Let's do 9 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:58.840 that now. As we come to first Corinthians ten, versus one through fourteen, 10 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:03.390 the Apostle Paul writes, for I do not want you to be unaware, 11 00:01:03.510 --> 00:01:08.310 brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through 12 00:01:08.349 --> 00:01:12.310 the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the 13 00:01:12.390 --> 00:01:17.750 sea, and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual 14 00:01:17.829 --> 00:01:23.299 drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the 15 00:01:23.340 --> 00:01:27.299 Rock was Christ nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased, 16 00:01:29.180 --> 00:01:33.969 for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these things took place as 17 00:01:34.049 --> 00:01:40.129 examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not 18 00:01:40.250 --> 00:01:42.769 be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, the 19 00:01:42.849 --> 00:01:48.200 people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. We must 20 00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:52.480 not indulge in sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty three 21 00:01:52.599 --> 00:01:57.879 thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, 22 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:01.230 as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble as 23 00:02:01.310 --> 00:02:06.790 some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now, these things 24 00:02:06.829 --> 00:02:10.310 happen to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, 25 00:02:10.990 --> 00:02:15.180 on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, let anyone 26 00:02:15.219 --> 00:02:22.419 who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation is overtaken you. 27 00:02:22.580 --> 00:02:25.860 That is not common to man. God is faithful. He will not 28 00:02:27.020 --> 00:02:31.050 let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also 29 00:02:31.090 --> 00:02:37.129 provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, 30 00:02:37.250 --> 00:02:43.770 my beloved, flee from idolatry well and there for this morning, you 31 00:02:43.849 --> 00:03:00.229 may be seated. Well we have here this morning in general, even if 32 00:03:00.270 --> 00:03:05.189 you're not sure of what all the specific things refer to. Is a very 33 00:03:05.430 --> 00:03:08.830 clear warning, don't we? We have a warning and instruction that says this 34 00:03:08.870 --> 00:03:13.340 is how we ought to live, or rather these are the ways that we 35 00:03:13.460 --> 00:03:19.060 ought not to live, and and a word from God about his amazing grace 36 00:03:19.180 --> 00:03:27.250 to people that were continuously disobedient. So we could simply stop right here and 37 00:03:27.810 --> 00:03:30.530 take home the lesson and say, okay, I do not, I should 38 00:03:30.530 --> 00:03:35.250 not desire evil, and that would be true. I need to flee from 39 00:03:35.250 --> 00:03:40.479 idolatry and sexual immorality, and that would certainly be true. But we ought 40 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:45.039 to pay attention to what Paul says when he says I do not want you 41 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:49.599 to be unaware. Brothers, there's a kind of wake up call that he 42 00:03:49.719 --> 00:03:54.400 wants us, he wants us to have or to hear, and it comes 43 00:03:54.949 --> 00:04:00.870 through paying attention to the things that God has done in the past. In 44 00:04:00.990 --> 00:04:03.710 other words, it's not just the specific instructions and commands that he gives to 45 00:04:03.789 --> 00:04:06.629 us, but it's these things in the past that he wants us to know 46 00:04:08.310 --> 00:04:12.900 to learn from. They have a powerful way of speaking to us and reminding 47 00:04:12.979 --> 00:04:17.540 us of who God is and what he has done the history that Paul recounts 48 00:04:17.579 --> 00:04:21.899 here is the history of of God's work, and you could put it this 49 00:04:21.980 --> 00:04:28.850 way, it's our family history. He ascribes to these Gentile Corinthians the history 50 00:04:28.889 --> 00:04:32.970 of Israel and he calls them your forefathers. When we look at the Old 51 00:04:33.050 --> 00:04:38.329 Testament, this is our family history. As we open up a scrap book, 52 00:04:38.370 --> 00:04:42.399 as we look through the the record of our family, this is us 53 00:04:43.399 --> 00:04:46.279 and we ought to pay attention to that because, Paul says, I do 54 00:04:46.439 --> 00:04:51.360 not want you to be unaware. So what is it that Paul wants us 55 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:56.829 to know? What do we need to understand about the history that he recounts 56 00:04:56.870 --> 00:05:01.350 here? Well, it surrounds the exodus. Now, when Christians talk about 57 00:05:01.350 --> 00:05:05.550 the exodus, they're usually referring to that great event in which God brought his 58 00:05:05.829 --> 00:05:12.300 people that had become very great and numerous but had come under slavery in Egypt, 59 00:05:12.699 --> 00:05:15.660 when he brought them out of that slavery and took them into a promised 60 00:05:15.660 --> 00:05:18.540 land. It's a big story, covers a lot of chapters in a lot 61 00:05:18.980 --> 00:05:24.370 happens. Paul summarizes it down, not the whole thing, but he picks 62 00:05:24.410 --> 00:05:29.290 out a few key points to make this larger point and the point is this. 63 00:05:30.089 --> 00:05:35.639 They all experience these blessings. The whole people experience these blessings, rich, 64 00:05:35.800 --> 00:05:42.279 covenant spiritual blessings of God. And yet, and yet, they were 65 00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:47.879 overthrown. God was not happy. Was Not pleased with most of them, 66 00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:53.629 he says. It's a testimony to God's grace and it's also a reminder that 67 00:05:53.709 --> 00:05:59.069 God is willing to act as a father, to discipline those whom he loves. 68 00:06:00.310 --> 00:06:02.350 And so as we think about what he did for them and as we 69 00:06:02.589 --> 00:06:08.180 regotrinize, recognize that we are a part of this same family, we're supposed 70 00:06:08.180 --> 00:06:13.779 to remember that God will act in similar ways with us. But let's take 71 00:06:13.819 --> 00:06:16.139 a look at some of the specifics that he mentions here, because Paul does 72 00:06:16.180 --> 00:06:20.930 not want us to be unaware. So let's not be unaware. What is 73 00:06:21.009 --> 00:06:25.449 the first thing he mentions? He says he does not want us to be 74 00:06:25.529 --> 00:06:30.050 unaware that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. 75 00:06:31.290 --> 00:06:35.160 What is Paul mean by this? He's referring to the events that are 76 00:06:35.240 --> 00:06:42.560 recorded in exodus, chapters thirteen and fourteen. To summarize, the scriptures tell 77 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:45.839 us that, as God led the way to the promised land. He did 78 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:51.189 so very visibly. Imagine that you're in Egypt. God rescues out of Egypt, 79 00:06:51.230 --> 00:06:55.629 your your out and he tells you that there's this promised land. How 80 00:06:55.670 --> 00:07:00.069 are you going to get there? It's very practical problem. God doesn't give 81 00:07:00.149 --> 00:07:06.660 them a map. God doesn't even speak through Moses. Right, you might 82 00:07:06.819 --> 00:07:11.939 think that that's maybe what he would do. Instead, what he does is 83 00:07:12.540 --> 00:07:19.930 he covers himself in a pillar of a cloud and he leads them visibly. 84 00:07:20.810 --> 00:07:28.610 Imagine a giant cloud, a giant pillar of a cloud that would that you 85 00:07:28.689 --> 00:07:33.120 could see. They would see this cloud and the scriptures tell us that it 86 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:39.560 would lead them by day and at night it would become a pillar of fire. 87 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:44.629 God would lead the way and night a night, by night, in 88 00:07:44.670 --> 00:07:46.990 a pillar of fire to give them light that they might travel by day and 89 00:07:47.069 --> 00:07:51.509 by night. An amazing thing, can you imagine? That may have, 90 00:07:51.629 --> 00:07:55.310 but most of us have done some desert hiking at some point, even if 91 00:07:55.310 --> 00:07:58.660 it's just, you know, from your front door to your driveway with a 92 00:07:58.740 --> 00:08:03.339 flashlight, right to make sure there's no snakes or whatever here. Of the 93 00:08:03.500 --> 00:08:07.660 people of God, or walking through the wilderness with a pillar of fire leading 94 00:08:07.740 --> 00:08:13.329 the way. Do you think you might remember that it was God who is 95 00:08:13.370 --> 00:08:16.769 leading you in a moment like this. Now, just to be clear, 96 00:08:16.850 --> 00:08:22.410 there probably were not two different clouds, but one cloud on that within light 97 00:08:22.529 --> 00:08:26.519 up with fire at night. Exodus Forty thirty eight teaches us this when it 98 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:31.519 simply calls it the cloud and says the cloud of the Lord was on the 99 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:37.519 Tabernacle by day and the fire was in it by night, and the sight 100 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:41.070 of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys, numbers nine, tells 101 00:08:41.110 --> 00:08:46.110 us that what would happen is that this cloud would move, and when it 102 00:08:46.269 --> 00:08:50.870 moved, the people moved right and it's God moved, the people would move, 103 00:08:50.909 --> 00:08:54.350 and then when it stopped, well, God's not leading them anywhere anymore. 104 00:08:54.389 --> 00:08:56.980 So this is where we camp, and that might be a couple days, 105 00:08:56.340 --> 00:09:00.779 it might be a couple weeks, it might be a month, and 106 00:09:00.980 --> 00:09:05.179 God would rest over the Tabernacle that he had given instructions to be made, 107 00:09:05.580 --> 00:09:09.649 and that's where they would stay put. The cloud did more than this. 108 00:09:09.809 --> 00:09:15.169 It not only led them in this way, it was also a constant reminder 109 00:09:15.289 --> 00:09:18.769 that it was God who is leading them, keeping them and giving promises to 110 00:09:18.850 --> 00:09:24.360 them. The cloud was a comforting and helpful presence. Some one hive. 111 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:28.720 Hundred and thirty nine says he spread a cloud for a covering and fire to 112 00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:33.879 give light by light by night. The cloud also pointed to God's holiness. 113 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:37.909 It was a covering for the people, but it was also a covering for 114 00:09:39.110 --> 00:09:46.789 God, and from it he would speak, sometimes promises and sometimes the threatenings 115 00:09:46.950 --> 00:09:50.950 of the law so on. Ninety seven says it was the place that God 116 00:09:50.110 --> 00:09:56.539 spoke his will to Moses, and that's exactly what happened when this cloud descended 117 00:09:56.779 --> 00:10:00.700 on Mount Sinai. You remember that. Right when Moses went up on Mount 118 00:10:00.779 --> 00:10:05.779 Sinai, there was this giant cloud filled with flashes of fire, lightning perhaps, 119 00:10:07.169 --> 00:10:11.289 and and God spoke with great rumblings and terror. The people were so 120 00:10:11.370 --> 00:10:16.970 afraid that they they didn't well, God told them not to touch it lest 121 00:10:16.009 --> 00:10:24.919 they die, and they didn't until they made a calf. The cloud was 122 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:28.799 a warning. It was both a comforting presence and it was also a terrifying 123 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:35.639 one. It spoke to God's holiness. The cloud came between Pharaoh and God's 124 00:10:35.710 --> 00:10:41.509 people as a visible warning, comfort to the people and a warning to Pharaoh 125 00:10:41.590 --> 00:10:45.549 to leave them alone. As they crossed the Red Sea. Now, imagine 126 00:10:45.590 --> 00:10:48.309 this. You come out of Egypt, you're coming out of Egypt, there's 127 00:10:48.350 --> 00:10:54.059 this great pit, this great pillar, a cloud and fire leading you through. 128 00:10:54.059 --> 00:10:58.340 You get to the Red Sea, and then what happens? God parts 129 00:10:58.460 --> 00:11:05.009 the sea. The people move through. Then the cloud if fire, instead 130 00:11:05.009 --> 00:11:09.570 of staying in front of them in this one instance, moves behind them and 131 00:11:09.809 --> 00:11:16.330 is essentially blocking Pharaoh and his armies. Can you imagine how terrifying that would 132 00:11:16.330 --> 00:11:18.120 be, or should be terrifying, if you were Pharaoh, to all of 133 00:11:18.200 --> 00:11:22.399 a sudden have a giant cloud of fire in your way blocking you from the 134 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:28.320 people of God? An amazing thing. And you know when Egypt didn't listen. 135 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:33.990 We read that quote. The Lord in the pillar of fire and of 136 00:11:33.149 --> 00:11:39.029 cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and through the Egyptian forces into a panic 137 00:11:39.669 --> 00:11:46.029 and it eventually led to their destruction. And this is the event that Paul 138 00:11:46.110 --> 00:11:48.899 is referring to when he says that our others were under the cloud and all 139 00:11:50.019 --> 00:11:54.340 passed through the sea. He's talking about this event when, in the exodus, 140 00:11:54.379 --> 00:11:56.899 he led them out and then he led them through the sea, protecting 141 00:11:56.980 --> 00:12:03.769 them. A spectacular, spectacular image in which Paul reminds us how God blessed 142 00:12:03.129 --> 00:12:09.289 and protected his people. This was not some Puffy, cute cartoon cloud in 143 00:12:09.490 --> 00:12:15.879 the sky. It was a cloud of power and Gloria, cloud reminiscent almost 144 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:20.240 of chariots right kicking up dust, a giant army, just filling the air 145 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:30.669 with with invisibility and power. God was marking himself, he was covering himself 146 00:12:31.190 --> 00:12:37.110 in a way, but he was also revealing himself as their divine warrior as 147 00:12:37.190 --> 00:12:43.230 he saved them through Egypt, or from Egypt and its idolatry, through the 148 00:12:43.389 --> 00:12:50.940 water of the cloud and see. Well, to help us understand and even 149 00:12:50.980 --> 00:12:56.659 more deeply what God was doing in this moment, Paul then puts these events 150 00:12:56.100 --> 00:13:05.289 in terms of baptism. Just as God uses water to mark our separation from 151 00:13:05.409 --> 00:13:09.970 slavery, a slavery to sin and the flesh and the devil, in our 152 00:13:09.129 --> 00:13:15.679 beginning to belong to a new covenant community, God did it exactly the same 153 00:13:15.720 --> 00:13:20.120 thing with Israel in this moment. They just did it all together. Instead 154 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:26.509 of being baptized one by one, they were baptized all at once as they 155 00:13:26.629 --> 00:13:33.830 passed through this great tribulation of these waters and they pass through safety. But 156 00:13:33.990 --> 00:13:39.350 one other difference that is mentioned here. Paul doesn't dwell on it, but 157 00:13:39.470 --> 00:13:45.539 it speaks to other important things, is that they were not baptized into the 158 00:13:45.580 --> 00:13:48.299 name of God's son, as we are, but they were baptized in the 159 00:13:48.340 --> 00:13:54.889 name of God's Servant Moses, which means that these magnificent events, as grand 160 00:13:54.929 --> 00:14:01.730 and as marvelous and the spectacular as they are, are less desirable and less 161 00:14:01.889 --> 00:14:07.450 important than the baptism God has given you in the new covenant. Does that 162 00:14:07.529 --> 00:14:11.600 make sense to you? In other words, if you had to choose between 163 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:20.200 the baptism that you have, when a Minister of the Gospel put water on 164 00:14:20.360 --> 00:14:24.830 you and baptized you in the name of the father and the whole son and 165 00:14:24.870 --> 00:14:30.990 the Holy Spirit, that is more desirable than this amazing event of going through 166 00:14:31.029 --> 00:14:33.789 the Red Sea with the pillar and all that, because they were only baptized 167 00:14:35.470 --> 00:14:41.340 into Moses. They were baptized into a covenant that would be broken. We 168 00:14:41.460 --> 00:14:48.139 are baptized into the sun, who comes and fulfills the law for US perfectly 169 00:14:48.700 --> 00:14:54.409 and completely. Yeah, I think on that and praise God. So this 170 00:14:54.570 --> 00:14:58.730 is what happened, right. This is the blessings which they had here, 171 00:14:58.250 --> 00:15:03.169 Israel had as they were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 172 00:15:03.730 --> 00:15:07.720 That's number one. A second thing Paul mentions is that they all ate 173 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:13.120 the same spiritual food. So the first thing we were reminded of was the 174 00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:18.559 work of God in the cloud and coming through the cloud, the whole community 175 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:22.669 was blessed and safe from the armies of Egypt. The second thing Paul reminds 176 00:15:22.710 --> 00:15:26.909 us of is that they all ate of the same spiritual food. Now here 177 00:15:26.110 --> 00:15:31.389 Paul's referring to events that happen in Exodus Chapter Sixteen. To summarize what happens 178 00:15:31.429 --> 00:15:35.419 here, just a couple months, about two and a half after these events 179 00:15:35.700 --> 00:15:39.340 that we just spoke of, still being led by God and the pillar of 180 00:15:39.379 --> 00:15:45.980 the cloud, the people getting grumbling against Moses and Aaron. That's a word 181 00:15:46.019 --> 00:15:48.259 that comes up right aget in the commands of things that were not supposed to 182 00:15:48.259 --> 00:15:52.409 do. Grumble against God, and that's what they were doing. Why were 183 00:15:52.450 --> 00:15:56.370 they were grumble? Why were they grumbling? They're grumbling as most of the 184 00:15:56.690 --> 00:16:00.169 the same reason most of US grumble. They were hungry, right, they 185 00:16:00.210 --> 00:16:06.960 were hungry and they were wishing they were back in Egypt. Now, being 186 00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:11.360 hungry is not a sin, right. The God designed our bodies to need 187 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:15.320 food. The proper response, though, is to ask God to provide for 188 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:19.070 us, to ask God to sustain us and give us our need. And 189 00:16:19.110 --> 00:16:23.230 instead of that, they wanted to reject God, this very one who had 190 00:16:23.269 --> 00:16:27.389 done all of these things, and go back to Egypt, go back to 191 00:16:27.549 --> 00:16:32.980 idolatry. They were so unhappy, as is putting it mildly, they wanted 192 00:16:33.059 --> 00:16:37.659 to kill Moses. Now, in response to this, what did God do? 193 00:16:38.500 --> 00:16:42.500 Well, he did not strike them dead in this instance, but instead 194 00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:49.409 he graciously rained down on them from heaven bread enough for them all to eat 195 00:16:49.690 --> 00:16:55.049 and to have enough food for every day. God would give them meat to 196 00:16:55.250 --> 00:16:59.809 quail in the evenings, bread in the morning. And by this sign, 197 00:16:59.970 --> 00:17:03.200 we read God, God says, you shall know that it was the Lord 198 00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:08.119 who brought you out of the land of Egypt. The Egyptian gods didn't help 199 00:17:08.200 --> 00:17:14.000 in this instance. It was Yahweh who brought them out. Next to this, 200 00:17:14.039 --> 00:17:15.670 one thousand six hundred and ten we read that as soon as Aaron spoke 201 00:17:15.710 --> 00:17:19.589 to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked to the they 202 00:17:19.710 --> 00:17:25.910 looked toward the wilderness and behold the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 203 00:17:27.029 --> 00:17:30.460 But, as with the sea, this event that God blessed his people 204 00:17:33.259 --> 00:17:37.500 with was not just about full bellies. It was about learning who God is 205 00:17:38.220 --> 00:17:44.529 and learning to live in him, as God tells the next generation after this 206 00:17:44.730 --> 00:17:48.130 and Deuteronomy eight, three, three, a passage that Jesus quotes during his 207 00:17:48.289 --> 00:17:52.769 temptation in the Wilderness. Speaking of this event, he says, Moses writes, 208 00:17:52.849 --> 00:17:59.160 any humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with Manna, which 209 00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:03.359 you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make 210 00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:07.079 you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by 211 00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:11.440 every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. The bread and, 212 00:18:11.950 --> 00:18:17.869 as we'll see in a moment, the drink to they're called spiritual because they 213 00:18:17.910 --> 00:18:22.829 do spiritual things by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit being the one who 214 00:18:22.869 --> 00:18:27.539 brings the will of God to come to pass. The Lord and Giver of 215 00:18:27.700 --> 00:18:33.900 Life, he feeds not only the bodies of his people but also their souls. 216 00:18:33.940 --> 00:18:38.660 He uses these elements of food and drink in the Wilderness to point the 217 00:18:38.740 --> 00:18:44.210 people to the word of God, to the promises of God, to the 218 00:18:44.410 --> 00:18:48.369 hope of God, much as he does now in the Lord's Supper, where 219 00:18:48.369 --> 00:18:55.690 he uses physical elements to bless our souls by conveying in them the promises of 220 00:18:55.799 --> 00:19:00.119 Heaven, the Word of God, the bread of life and even Christ himself. 221 00:19:00.759 --> 00:19:04.559 This is what God was doing with his people, and so, as 222 00:19:04.599 --> 00:19:07.920 with the baptism at the sea, so also the feeding in the Wilderness. 223 00:19:08.200 --> 00:19:18.109 We see that all of the community was blessed. Now, if you're unfamiliar 224 00:19:18.269 --> 00:19:22.750 with these things that we're talking about, if these old testament stories are in 225 00:19:22.869 --> 00:19:29.460 familiar to you and you're feeling a little bit overwhelmed, it's okay. It's 226 00:19:29.500 --> 00:19:33.859 okay. Let the overwhelming, I would suggest, even be a blessing to 227 00:19:33.900 --> 00:19:37.500 you, as you are reminded of how much there is to know about the 228 00:19:37.650 --> 00:19:41.569 Lord, how much it goes on and on and on. They will never 229 00:19:41.730 --> 00:19:45.730 be enough time, enough space, to contain all that God has done and 230 00:19:45.890 --> 00:19:52.920 to reflect on it all. But let's try a little bit more and consider 231 00:19:52.039 --> 00:19:57.240 the spiritual drink that he mentions next. The events surrounding the food, as 232 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:02.839 I mentioned, were recorded in Exodus Chapter Sixteen. The events surrounding the drink 233 00:20:03.079 --> 00:20:07.269 Paul mentions are in exodus seventeen, just as they found themselves hungry, and 234 00:20:07.390 --> 00:20:14.670 Exodus Sixteen, they found themselves thirsty in exodus seventeen. As the cloud moved, 235 00:20:14.789 --> 00:20:17.430 they moved, but now they were in a place where the cloud had 236 00:20:17.630 --> 00:20:23.460 stopped and there was no water. A problem. Exitus seventeen too, says. 237 00:20:23.500 --> 00:20:27.579 The people quarreled with Moses and he said give us water or they said 238 00:20:27.579 --> 00:20:30.819 give us water to drink, and Moses said to them, why do you 239 00:20:30.859 --> 00:20:36.250 quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord? Again, it got 240 00:20:36.369 --> 00:20:41.410 so bad that they wanted to stone Moses. So Moses cried to the Lord 241 00:20:41.450 --> 00:20:45.410 and the Lord answered him. He told Moses to take his staff, the 242 00:20:45.529 --> 00:20:49.400 same staff that he had used to touch the Nile and turn it into blood, 243 00:20:51.079 --> 00:20:53.720 the same staff that he used to leave the people out of Egypt, 244 00:20:53.920 --> 00:20:59.000 and he was called to strike the rock at Horeb, and out of this 245 00:20:59.240 --> 00:21:04.549 rock would come water, and not like a little trickle, but enough water 246 00:21:04.910 --> 00:21:12.670 for all of the people to drink. Amazing. Well, this place, 247 00:21:12.869 --> 00:21:17.549 that how this happened, came to be called Maraba, which means contention, 248 00:21:18.309 --> 00:21:22.259 or Massa, which means testing. They tested God, they grumbled, they 249 00:21:22.339 --> 00:21:29.099 complained, they threatened, they desired murder. All to turn back to Egypt, 250 00:21:29.460 --> 00:21:33.289 back to idolatry, back to sin. But, as numbers twenty thirteen 251 00:21:33.410 --> 00:21:40.130 tells us, it was there that God showed himself as holy through this mighty 252 00:21:40.250 --> 00:21:42.890 act. Regarding the drink, as with the food, he blessed people with 253 00:21:44.009 --> 00:21:48.759 the knowledge of his provision and of His Holiness. I think this is why 254 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:55.440 the food and the drink are called spiritual. It's because they do spiritual things 255 00:21:55.960 --> 00:22:02.230 by the Holy Spirit God provides for them. God gives them life and he 256 00:22:02.430 --> 00:22:07.950 directs them to theology, he directs them to a greater understanding and of the 257 00:22:08.069 --> 00:22:12.509 knowledge of God. And again, all the people were blessed by this. 258 00:22:15.150 --> 00:22:18.660 So let me read what Paul has written so far. He says, I 259 00:22:18.819 --> 00:22:21.660 do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all 260 00:22:21.740 --> 00:22:26.259 under the cloud and all passed through the sea and all were baptized into Moses 261 00:22:26.339 --> 00:22:29.900 in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food 262 00:22:29.940 --> 00:22:33.650 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock 263 00:22:33.809 --> 00:22:40.809 that followed them, and the Rock was Christ nevertheless, with most of them, 264 00:22:40.849 --> 00:22:45.039 God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, 265 00:22:45.160 --> 00:22:49.559 before we turn to verse five and the consequences that flow from there, 266 00:22:49.799 --> 00:22:55.640 what does Paul mean by the Rock that followed them? Some people have trouble 267 00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:59.390 this one because we have no record in the Old Testament of a rock following 268 00:22:59.509 --> 00:23:03.269 the people of Israel. Some people of sometimes speculated that maybe the rock that 269 00:23:03.789 --> 00:23:08.349 Moses struck somehow went with them or something like that, but the scriptures don't 270 00:23:08.349 --> 00:23:15.180 say anything about that. So what does Paul mean? Well, Paul tells 271 00:23:15.220 --> 00:23:19.019 us the answer. By the Rock, he is not referring to some event 272 00:23:19.500 --> 00:23:26.660 that is unknown or unrecorded in the scriptures. He's recruit he's referring to God 273 00:23:26.700 --> 00:23:34.009 himself. He's referring to even Christ himself, who is God. He says, 274 00:23:34.170 --> 00:23:40.170 and I'll read it again, they drank from the spiritual rock that followed 275 00:23:40.289 --> 00:23:45.799 them, and the Rock was Christ. In other words, this blessing of 276 00:23:45.880 --> 00:23:48.759 the water, as he just spoke about, that came from the Rock, 277 00:23:48.279 --> 00:23:52.759 was ultimately not from the rock. God Use the Rock. It was his 278 00:23:52.920 --> 00:23:57.390 means of grace to provide for his people, but he was the one doing 279 00:23:57.470 --> 00:24:03.150 the work. The Rock, the capital, our rock, was the one 280 00:24:03.230 --> 00:24:07.509 to really pay attention to, and that's what they kept forgetting. They kept 281 00:24:07.549 --> 00:24:11.220 looking at their circumstances, they kept looking at the situation, they kept looking 282 00:24:11.220 --> 00:24:15.099 at Moses, when they should have been looking to God, the God who 283 00:24:15.180 --> 00:24:18.900 saved them, the God who is in the cloud, to the God who 284 00:24:18.900 --> 00:24:26.690 would rescued them out of Egypt, the one true God. That rock was 285 00:24:26.809 --> 00:24:30.529 the one that followed them, even Christ himself. Who is that rock? 286 00:24:33.130 --> 00:24:37.569 Now? Not only does Paul say this here, but he does so based 287 00:24:37.690 --> 00:24:41.279 on the Old Testament scriptures, as Greg Beale and Don Carson point out in 288 00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:45.240 their commentary on the Old Testament. Use of the Old Testament, the New 289 00:24:45.319 --> 00:24:52.200 Testament rock or the rock as the name of God. That's used five different 290 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:56.109 times in Deuteronomy thirty two. So, for example, thirty two for the 291 00:24:56.230 --> 00:25:02.069 Rock. His work is perfect, for all his ways are justice, a 292 00:25:02.630 --> 00:25:07.500 god of faithfulness and without iniquity. Just and upright is he? Well, 293 00:25:07.579 --> 00:25:14.299 interestingly, the only other place in Deuteronomy that that word rock is used is 294 00:25:14.500 --> 00:25:18.980 in connection with this event, with the water of the Rock. So Deuteronomy 295 00:25:18.019 --> 00:25:25.089 eighteen we read that God brought you water out of the Flinty Rock. So, 296 00:25:25.210 --> 00:25:27.650 in other words, in the Old Testament itself, in Deuteronomy in particular, 297 00:25:29.210 --> 00:25:33.769 God connects his name with this event, and Paul picking up on this. 298 00:25:34.289 --> 00:25:38.039 He tells us this and he but he adds to it. He tells 299 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:44.960 us that this one who followed them was God, the same God we worship 300 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:49.990 in the person of Jesus Christ, and with those words that rock was Christ. 301 00:25:51.069 --> 00:25:56.309 Paul teaches us why we call these men and women of Israel are forefathers, 302 00:25:57.109 --> 00:26:03.309 because we're the same family. We're born of the same God, guided 303 00:26:03.349 --> 00:26:07.900 by the same Lord, under the same guide by the same Lord, in 304 00:26:08.019 --> 00:26:11.819 an Assemblar and, in a way, under the same kind of grace that 305 00:26:11.900 --> 00:26:15.619 he gives in baptism, then the supper and the protection of the spirit, 306 00:26:15.740 --> 00:26:21.329 just as they were, and I hope you know this, brothers and sisters. 307 00:26:22.210 --> 00:26:25.769 I want to take just a moment to emphasize this, because so many 308 00:26:25.809 --> 00:26:30.490 people, even Christians, ignore the Old Testament or, worse, they hated 309 00:26:33.920 --> 00:26:37.839 they think it's a wret, irrelevant or even bad. Some false teachers even 310 00:26:37.839 --> 00:26:42.319 encourage us to stick only to the New Testament, so as to stick with 311 00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:48.390 Christ, they say. But don't you see, Jesus isn't just in the 312 00:26:48.470 --> 00:26:52.910 New Testament, he's here in the old Paul says as much. The scriptures 313 00:26:52.390 --> 00:26:57.029 of the Old Testament themselves affirmness, active with the father and the spirit, 314 00:26:57.230 --> 00:27:02.900 doing miracles, winning victories, bringing about the salvation, just as he does 315 00:27:03.579 --> 00:27:07.099 in the new. If you wouldn't want to skip over the accounts of Matthew, 316 00:27:07.220 --> 00:27:11.539 Mark, Luke or John, why would you skip the accounts of Christ 317 00:27:11.859 --> 00:27:18.650 in Genesis, exodus, Leviticus, numbers and Deuteronomy? It's true. We 318 00:27:18.769 --> 00:27:22.849 have a treasure two thirds of our Bible. We have a treasure in the 319 00:27:22.930 --> 00:27:29.049 Old Testament and instead of being unaware of it, as Paul Begins, let's 320 00:27:29.089 --> 00:27:33.559 learn it and learn it well, for God is in it, even the 321 00:27:33.720 --> 00:27:42.400 Promised Messiah himself. So with that, what is the lesson that Paul wants 322 00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:47.430 us to learn here? Well, one, as he wants us to see 323 00:27:47.470 --> 00:27:51.990 the connection. He doesn't want us to be unaware. He also wants us 324 00:27:51.990 --> 00:27:56.029 to have a greater sense of the blessings that we have. We are those 325 00:27:56.109 --> 00:28:00.180 who, like them, have heard the word of God, we have been 326 00:28:00.259 --> 00:28:04.579 baptized, we have received God's meal, his spiritual food, is spiritual drink, 327 00:28:04.579 --> 00:28:08.940 and these are not small things. They're part of his work of grace 328 00:28:10.059 --> 00:28:12.970 in our lives. They are part of our the rescue operation that he's doing. 329 00:28:14.650 --> 00:28:18.130 I'm for US and getting us out of the dominion of darkness and bringing 330 00:28:18.250 --> 00:28:21.930 us into the Kingdom of his son. And, as I mentioned before, 331 00:28:22.009 --> 00:28:25.809 and these things in some ways are bigger and better than what came before. 332 00:28:26.369 --> 00:28:30.000 The Gospel is clear in them. They are closer and anticipate the end. 333 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:37.119 They are available to gentiles as well as Jews. Second, Paul also wants 334 00:28:37.160 --> 00:28:41.630 us to reflect on what took place before so that we might see and what 335 00:28:41.869 --> 00:28:49.990 happened after. Despite all of these things, they disobeyed and God did not 336 00:28:51.230 --> 00:28:59.140 just go whatever. He punished them. He did. We read about that 337 00:28:59.339 --> 00:29:03.380 here. We read about people that were overthrown. We breed about some of 338 00:29:03.420 --> 00:29:07.900 them. Twenty threezero people falling in a single day. God is so patient 339 00:29:08.019 --> 00:29:12.970 with them. They're wanting to stone Moses and he gives them meat and bread. 340 00:29:17.490 --> 00:29:19.890 He does it, though, not because he winks at sin, not 341 00:29:21.049 --> 00:29:26.039 because he doesn't see the sin. And there are times when God will discipline 342 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:30.559 us, sometimes even with death, that we might learn who he is. 343 00:29:33.039 --> 00:29:36.200 That's a hard teaching, but Paul will say in First Corinthians Eleven, the 344 00:29:36.279 --> 00:29:38.589 next chapter, we're coming to that some of the ways that the people were 345 00:29:38.670 --> 00:29:48.509 taking the Lord Supper was causing them to get sick and even die. God 346 00:29:48.710 --> 00:29:52.900 adopts this family, God calls them is chosen one, and then he treats 347 00:29:52.980 --> 00:29:59.500 them as a chosen one, as his child. Hebrews six warns us in 348 00:29:59.579 --> 00:30:03.619 the New Testament, says beware or less you taste and enjoy these spiritual benefits, 349 00:30:03.660 --> 00:30:14.289 these heavenly benefits, and then fall away. God gives us these outward 350 00:30:14.329 --> 00:30:21.130 blessings, even inward blessings, but that doesn't mean he won't discipline us as 351 00:30:21.130 --> 00:30:26.200 a father does his children. And want to read to you a passage as 352 00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:30.559 we come to a close here, from first Peter. This is something we've 353 00:30:30.599 --> 00:30:33.119 been studying in our west side fellowship and I'd encourage you to attend if you're 354 00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:40.190 able. Our discussions are really enjoyable and rich. In First Peter, Chapter 355 00:30:40.349 --> 00:30:45.829 One, we are told that God is our father and we are we are, 356 00:30:47.150 --> 00:30:49.019 he says in Verse Fifteen. But is he who would called you as 357 00:30:49.059 --> 00:30:53.299 holy? You also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written 358 00:30:53.619 --> 00:30:57.579 you shall be holy for I am holy. And if you call on him 359 00:30:57.619 --> 00:31:04.369 as father or who judges impartially according to each one's deeds. Conduct yourselves with 360 00:31:04.650 --> 00:31:12.529 fear throughout the time of your exile. He's our father and that's not going 361 00:31:12.650 --> 00:31:18.839 to change. But knowing the kind of father he is, that he wants 362 00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:22.599 us to be righteous, that he wants us to be holy, that he 363 00:31:22.680 --> 00:31:27.480 wants us to be like him, he's a good dad, a perfect father, 364 00:31:30.039 --> 00:31:33.630 that he's not going to just ignore us when we go astray. He's 365 00:31:33.670 --> 00:31:38.109 going to chase after us and sometimes he's going to wait let us learn our 366 00:31:38.150 --> 00:31:42.829 lessons on our own. Sometimes he's going to give us caught, very direct 367 00:31:42.910 --> 00:31:48.619 and specific consequences so that we might learn these things according to his father's wisdom. 368 00:31:48.660 --> 00:31:52.579 But the point Peter says here, in line with what Paul says in 369 00:31:52.700 --> 00:31:57.420 First Corinthians, is that, knowing who God is, knowing that he judges 370 00:31:57.500 --> 00:32:05.170 impartiality, we ought to conduct ourselves with fear, but we also do so 371 00:32:05.529 --> 00:32:09.970 knowing something else, and Peter Continues Knowing. He says in verse eighteen that 372 00:32:10.130 --> 00:32:15.359 you are ransomed from the feudal ways you inherited from your forefathers, not with 373 00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:21.279 perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, 374 00:32:22.880 --> 00:32:30.000 brothers and sisters, as one motivation for obedience. We look at the 375 00:32:30.029 --> 00:32:35.349 grace of the Lord. God's grace doesn't spur us on to say, well, 376 00:32:35.390 --> 00:32:38.029 now I can do whatever I want, I don't care. It doesn't 377 00:32:38.069 --> 00:32:42.829 make sense, does it, when God has given us all of these things, 378 00:32:42.910 --> 00:32:46.460 God has adopted us as children. God has given the very blood of 379 00:32:46.660 --> 00:32:54.059 his son to ransom us from our sins. How much more ought we to 380 00:32:54.140 --> 00:33:00.130 be people that pursue righteousness? How much more ought we to be people that 381 00:33:00.329 --> 00:33:04.490 reflect on His grace? We can look at the things in the past and 382 00:33:04.569 --> 00:33:07.130 the Old Testament, the things that happened in Christ, that Christ did for 383 00:33:07.210 --> 00:33:15.319 us in the new and let us not desire evil anymore. Instead, let 384 00:33:15.319 --> 00:33:19.160 us put to death the deeds of the flesh. Let them die in those 385 00:33:19.799 --> 00:33:27.309 that that watery flood right and and and and be purified and find new life 386 00:33:27.430 --> 00:33:32.630 in Christ. Do not be idolaters, he says. Let's not indulge in 387 00:33:32.789 --> 00:33:42.220 sexual immorality. Let's not be grumblers, because God is faithful. And, 388 00:33:42.380 --> 00:33:45.700 as he concludes the section, he says he will not let you be tempted 389 00:33:45.779 --> 00:33:51.900 beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will provide way of escape that 390 00:33:52.099 --> 00:33:54.930 you may be able to endure it there for my beloved flee from idolatry. 391 00:33:58.289 --> 00:34:02.650 The good news of Christ, for those who accept it, startling an eye 392 00:34:02.650 --> 00:34:09.239 opening. The God would love his people so much that he would die for 393 00:34:09.400 --> 00:34:14.079 them, that he would send his only son to come into the world, 394 00:34:14.400 --> 00:34:17.559 to shed his own blood, to be a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. 395 00:34:17.599 --> 00:34:22.880 That's what he did. That's how we are in the place that we 396 00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:31.510 are, and because of that, let us pursue righteousness and flee from idolatry, 397 00:34:31.630 --> 00:34:37.789 not by our own strength, because that would be idolatrous. Let us 398 00:34:37.829 --> 00:34:43.780 flee from idolatry by looking to God when we're hungry, when we're thirsty, 399 00:34:44.539 --> 00:34:46.780 when we're scared, when we don't know what's going to happen next, when 400 00:34:46.820 --> 00:34:51.539 we don't know the way, instead of turning to our own passions, instead 401 00:34:51.579 --> 00:34:54.289 of turning to our own flesh and our own plans, let's learn to wait 402 00:34:54.329 --> 00:35:01.449 on the Lord. Ask Yourself, is he trustworthy? Can he provide? 403 00:35:02.170 --> 00:35:07.239 Can he rescue? Can he take care of us? And if you look 404 00:35:07.239 --> 00:35:09.880 at the Old Testament and if you look at the New Testament, if you 405 00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:15.000 look to Christ, who is the sum of all of these things, you 406 00:35:15.039 --> 00:35:19.880 will see that the answer is yes, yes, yes, yes. God 407 00:35:20.039 --> 00:35:23.230 is faithful. Put Your faith in him. Let's pray.