1 Corinthians 10:1

Moreover, brethren, I would not have you to be ignorant of how all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with many of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Father, as we look into Your Word, the opening verses of verse 10 are a bit of a somber reading. I pray, Lord, that You would help us to read it with a measure of sobriety, with our minds ready to receive from You and our hearts open to Your Word. We thank You, Lord, for giving us Your Spirit to guide us in all truth and to teach us all things. We certainly need to be taught by You, Lord. So, God, we pray that You would speak. Grant us mercy and grace to receive from You today and to apply the things that we learn. For we ask this in Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed, saying, Amen. You can be seated.

The tale has been told to me many times by my parents. Thankfully, I don't personally remember the event. In the story, my dad confidently asserts that he has a hold of me after being scolded by my mom, who is actually laughing because she knows the story quite well. He was scolded for having me on the handrail of the eight-foot-high deck in front of our old house. Apparently, he did not have as good a hold as he thought. That saying, "It's because you were dropped when you were a baby," really does hit a little close to home for me. Perhaps that is the reason for so many different problems.

Who knows? Presumption can be a very dangerous thing. In chapter 8 of 1 Corinthians, Paul presented the principle that although we Christians have the liberty to do whatever the Scripture does not forbid, which is morally wrong, we are at times to limit our liberty or forego those liberties for the sake of love, for God first and for our neighbor.

In chapter 9, Paul showed how this principle was at work in his own life. He lived a life of self-denial and discipline, all for the sake of the gospel and the purpose of winning people to Christ. We saw that in the last verses of chapter 9, where his desire was to win Jews and Gentiles, to win all that he possibly could. Paul was bold, and we should not misunderstand his boldness or miscategorize it as arrogance. His boldness stemmed from the surety he had of the message that he preached. He knew that the message was real and true.

The message that he preached in his Christian life was a continual exercise of humility. Such meek humility is on display in the last verse of chapter 9, where Paul expresses that his discipline and self-denial may have been considered burdensome or extreme by some he came in contact with. However, his aim was to never misuse the liberties he had in Christ in such a way that it might render him unfit to preach the gospel and do the work that God had set before him.

There was no place in Paul's life or ministry for presumptuousness. There was no assuming liberties on the basis of grace. Notwithstanding the church at Corinth, the believers there in that city, and the modern church today, they did not really follow Paul in this lifestyle. They were not imitators of Paul in this respect. They assumed God's grace and presumed a right standing with God, even when their actions were contemptible.

We've been reading through this book, studying and seeing that this was a church filled with divisions, seditions, and immorality, all the while crying that they have liberty in Christ. Paul says this just doesn't fit. It's incongruent. There's no way that you can live this way and still be in a right relationship with God.

They were, in their own eyes, wise. They considered themselves very spiritual. They were heady, high-minded, progressive, and tolerant, tolerating things in their fellowship that were clearly outlined in the Scriptures as being sin. They considered themselves saved and therefore safe. They believed they could do whatever they wanted because they were safe. They had been rescued from bondage, baptized unto salvation, and were partakers of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

The book of 1 Corinthians speaks to the fact that this was a church that did the very same thing we just did this morning. They partook of the body and blood of Christ in communion, the elements of communion. As a result of partaking of communion, as a result of this outward visible sign, apparently of the infilling of the Holy Spirit, they figured themselves safe. They were God's chosen generation, the elect gathering of God's church. So, what else was needed? They had all these things to their name. They were saved and safe, so it was okay to continue indulging in idolatry and immorality. They had Jesus now, and they thought it was okay.

But Paul's response to such thinking is very important, not just for the church 2,000 years ago in Corinth, but for the church here in the United States today. We should take note of what Paul has to say in this passage because he calls our attention back to those who came before us, those who came under the old covenant. He turns our attention to the children of Israel, back to the book of Exodus.

You remember this story. God had called His people up out of the land of Egypt and sent a deliverer. He sent Moses to go down there and say to Pharaoh, "Let my people go." How many of us have not seen that Charlton Heston classic reminding us of that exodus from Egypt? Paul reminded the church here at Corinth of that exodus as well. He says in verse 1, "Moreover, brethren, I would not have you to be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea."

Now, it's interesting that he says "our fathers."

The church at Corinth was a mixed multitude of both Jews and Gentiles, but even the Gentile believers could say that Abraham was their father by faith because he is the father of the faithful. Paul reminds them that all of their fathers were under the cloud and passed through the sea. This takes us back to Exodus chapter 13. After the ten plagues had been leveled upon Egypt and their king, Pharaoh, the children of Israel came out of Egypt, and God protected them.

Exodus chapter 13, verse 21, states that the Lord went before them by day with a pillar of cloud and led them in the way. By night, He provided a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and by night. As they left Egypt, this pillar of cloud was in front of them and even covered them, as one of the minor prophets mentions, to protect them from the heat of the day in the desert. At night, that pillar of cloud transformed into a pillar of fire, representing the presence of God in His Shekinah glory as He guided and protected His people.

God guided them in a seemingly strange way. He led them to a place where, from a human perspective, they appeared to be trapped. The Red Sea was in front of them, two mountain ranges flanked either side, and the Egyptian army was bearing down upon them because Pharaoh had changed his mind and no longer wanted them to leave. There they were, seemingly trapped.

But you remember this story. God spoke to Moses and told him to stretch out his hands with the staff, and the Red Sea parted, allowing the children of Israel to cross over on dry ground. Paul relates this event to baptism in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 2, stating that all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. The children of Israel were redeemed from the bondage of Egypt, which in the Scriptures is a picture of the world, and they were freed from the slavery they had endured for over 400 years in the land of Egypt. God called them forth and brought them out through the deliverer, Moses, whom He had sent for them.

As they journeyed, God continued to protect and guide them. He led them through the Red Sea, which they crossed on dry ground. This event is likened to baptism; they went down into the water and came up out of the water, just as we do in baptism. We believe in submersion or immersion in baptism, and it serves as a perfect picture for us.

Because they left the world of Egypt behind, they died to that world and rose to walk in a newness of life. When the waters of the Red Sea covered over, there was no going back. They were redeemed; they could not return to Egypt any longer. It was not available to them. For all intents and purposes, the children of Israel were redeemed from the bondage of this world.

The church at Corinth had experienced the same thing. Many of the people in that fellowship said, "We have been redeemed from the bondage of this world." Many people here today would say the same thing: "I have been redeemed from the bondage of this world." I have been buried with Christ through baptism, as Paul speaks about in Romans chapter 6. I have come up out of the waters to walk in newness of life. That old life has been crucified with Christ; I reckon it dead.

If that's the case, how then can we live any longer in that old life? This is exactly the problem that the Corinthian church was facing. They had been redeemed, they had been baptized, and they had said with their words, "We no longer identify with that old world, Egypt." Yet now they were still living that way. The things they would look out at in their own city and point the finger at, saying, "That is sin. You're going to be judged for that," were the same things they were allowing to take place in their own lives. They would say, "We have liberty in Christ, and God is a forgiving God, and we're God's chosen people, so it's okay." But is it? Is that what God meant when He gave us liberty? Is that what He meant when He set us free?

Paul continues to turn the attention of the church to the Old Testament, to the story of Israel. He says in verse 3 that the children of Israel did all eat the same spiritual meat or the same spiritual food. After they had come up out of the waters of the Red Sea and entered the wilderness, just a few days later, they realized they had no food. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps, traveling through the wilderness, this great camp of people, found themselves without sustenance. They cried out to God, and in His mercy, He provided miraculous food for them.

Exodus chapter 16 says that when they woke up in the morning, Moses had told them the night before, "Tomorrow morning, God is going to give you food." When they woke up, they found a substance on the ground in front of all their tents. They didn't even know what it was. They looked at it and began to say, "What is it? What is it?" The word "manna" means...

What is it? I think Moses probably said, "I don't know, but eat it. It's bread from heaven." God has given you bread from heaven. They were to go out every single morning and gather this manna, this "what is it," this bread from heaven. This bread that came down. Jesus, in John chapter 6, says, "I am the bread that has come down from heaven. I am the bread of life." He calls us to partake of Him.

The children of Israel of old ate this miraculous food from heaven that God gave to sustain them in the wilderness. God has given us life through His Son, the bread of life. We have partaken of this. They all ate that same spiritual food. Every single one of them came through the Red Sea. Every single one of them ate of that spiritual food in the wilderness.

Paul goes on to say in verse 4, "And did all drink the same spiritual drink?" It was shortly after that event in Exodus chapter 16 that we find they were near death because they had no water. In Exodus chapter 17, verse 6, God tells Moses, "I want you to take the staff and go to that great rock, the rock of Horeb. Go and strike the rock, and from the rock will come water." So Moses did. He struck the rock, and water came forth, and the people had water in abundance. They had food every morning delivered to them from God in heaven. They had water miraculously coming forth from the rock.

Paul says here that they drank that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Christ was there with them in the wilderness, not incarnate as a man, but sustaining them and taking care of them as they traveled through their 40 years of wilderness wanderings. They all went through the Red Sea. They all were redeemed from Egypt. Every single one of them ate of that manna that came down from heaven. Every single one of them was sustained by that water that came forth from the rock.

Not just in Exodus 17, but also in the book of Numbers many years later, again they didn't have any water. God spoke to Moses, "Now I want you to go and speak to the rock. Speak to the rock, and I'll bring water forth from the rock." Well, if you've read the story before, you know that in Exodus 20, verse 10, Moses disobeyed. He transgressed God, and instead of speaking to the rock, he was so at his wit's end because of the complainers that were with him that he struck the rock twice with his staff.

Water came forth, but essentially, he misrepresented God and transgressed. Paul says to the church at Corinth that they had been redeemed, baptized, and had eaten of that spiritual food, the body of Christ. They had drunk of that spiritual drink, which symbolizes His blood shed for us, as Mark spoke about this morning. They all had gone through these events, these sacraments, if you will. They had all experienced these things.

Yet, the children of Israel, as we read in verse 5 of chapter 10, faced a grave reality: with many of them, God was not well pleased. This is the classic understatement of the Bible. With many of them, God was not well pleased because, if you study the Old Testament, you know that all but two of that entire generation died in the wilderness. With many of them, with most of them, with all but two of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. The word "overthrown" there could also be translated as "strewn through the desert" because of their sin.

What sin do we see here? It says that God was not well pleased with them. Why was God not well pleased with them? In Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6, we read that without faith, it is impossible to please God. So, why were they displeasing? They didn't believe. They didn't put their confidence, their trust in God, the one who had delivered them from Egypt. They didn't daily put their trust and faith in Him. Thus, with many of them, God was displeased.

They all were redeemed from Egypt. They all went through the baptism of the Red Sea. Every single one of them ate of that spiritual food. Every single one of them drank of that spiritual drink. Yet, all but two of them fell in the wilderness because of the sin of unbelief. Many other sins are listed, but that was really at the root of all of it.

Paul speaks this to the people in Corinth as an example, as he says in verse 6. All these things were our examples. The events that happened to Israel were put forth for us as an example. The New Living Translation reads, "Now, these things happened as a warning to us." We should consider what happened to the children of Israel.

As a warning for us, Paul goes on to say, "To the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted." The Greek word that's translated as "lust" here is also translated in other passages of the Bible as "desire." It's not always used in a negative form or context. However, Paul points out that the children of Israel lusted after evil things. They desired things that were not in God's plan for them and craved things that were actually against God.

The Apostle James tells us that all sin begins at this level; it always starts with desire. Desire, in and of itself, is not bad as long as those desires are directed to the Lord and every thought is brought captive to the obedience of Christ. But when desire begins to attach to the things of this world and craves after those things which God has said, "No, you're not to go after those things," it leads toward sin.

In James 1, verse 14, he says, "But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust or desire," or "epithymia" in the Greek, the very same word that we find here in 1 Corinthians 10. Everyone is tempted when they are drawn away by their own desires and enticed. We can never say, "The devil made me do it." That's a lie. The devil didn't make you do it; it's our desire.

When desire or lust has conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin, when it is finished or born, brings forth death. Sin always leads to death. The story of the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness is a perfect picture of that. When desire is conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.

Desire, again, is not sinful in and of itself. However, it often leads toward sinful things. The seed of sin is always in our desires. What that means is you will never be tempted by something you don't already desire. It just will not be a temptation to you. It may be a temptation to somebody else, but for you, it won't be.

Unless the desire is already there, a perfect example of this is the newest Lego set that came out and is down at Toys R Us. It probably won't be much of a temptation to you here this morning. Well, maybe, but probably not. There's a good possibility, though, that some fifth graders next door might be tempted to steal it if given the opportunity because they really have a desire for it.

On the other hand, that new GMC truck probably wouldn't mean anything to them. However, for some here, the new Ford truck might draw your attention. It might captivate you, and you might desire it to the point of coveting it. You'll never be tempted by that which you do not desire first.

Paul says all of this was written as an example, an admonition, a warning, so that we would not do the same thing that they did. You see, that desire for evil things, that lust, is always the beginning of sin. It's the first step in the progression. Look at what verse 7 says: "Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them." As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play."

Idolatry is ultimately the result of lust and desire. It's what draws us into that place of idolatry. Paul references, again, the story given in Exodus chapter 32, which Mark hinted at this morning a little bit in the communion devotional. In Exodus chapter 32, we read the story about how the children of Israel came to Mount Sinai. Moses went up on the mountaintop to receive the law from God, and he was there for 40 days.

While he was there, the people down the mountain got restless, wondering what had happened to Moses. They came to Moses' brother Aaron, who was another leader in the nation and would eventually become the high priest. They said, "As for this Moses, we don't know what's happened to him. We want you to make us a God that we can worship."

Aaron acquiesced. He said, "Okay, give me your golden earrings. Give me the gold that you have." He took it and molded it into the image of a calf, a bull. The people began to worship it and dance around it. It says here that they sat down to eat and drink, having a feast to this God, saying, "This is the God that brought us out of Egypt." Then they rose up to play. Now, the word "play" there...

It has a much deeper meaning than just passing the football out here in the wilderness. There is a sensual foundation to it, and this is speaking of immorality. The people began to worship this golden image, this idol. Idolatry always leads to immorality.

Notice what Paul says in verse 8: "Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed and fell in one day, three and twenty thousand." Let us not lust or covet after evil things, which leads to idolatry and immorality. The children of Israel, although they all came from Egypt, went down through the sea, and ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink, yet many of them—save two—transgressed. They began to covet after evil things and became idolaters in the wilderness. They found themselves involved in immorality on several occasions, both in Exodus chapter 32 and again later in Numbers chapter 25.

In Numbers 25, which is likely the passage Paul is referencing, the children of Israel were going through the area of Moab, which is modern-day Jordan. They began to get involved with the Moabite women, who brought more of their idolatry among the people. As a result, a plague came upon the children of Israel. Paul states that in one day, 23,000 were killed. The book of Numbers chapter 25 says the total was 24,000. This generation died because of immorality that began as a desire for evil things and then moved into idolatry—worshiping and bowing down in the heart and mind to those things that are against God—before they began to commit immorality.

Another point is made in verse 9: "Nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted and were destroyed of serpents." Paul directs the attention of the Corinthian church back to Numbers chapter 21, the story where God was providing miraculously from heaven with manna. However, the people grew tired of manna. Morning, noon, and night, it was manna—Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, manna all the time. They began to complain against God, tempting Him and testing Him, asking, "Can't God do anything more than this?"

And so God allowed them to be judged. These serpents, these snakes, came into the camp, and each person that was bitten by a snake faced a death sentence. They cried out to God and to Moses. Inspired by God, Moses provided them with a way of deliverance from these serpents. Nevertheless, many people died because of their testing of God and their lusting after evil things. They became involved in immorality and idolatry, trying and testing God. Then they began to murmur and complain against Moses and the Lord.

In verse 10, it states, "Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer." The destroyer mentioned here is likely a reference to the same angel, the destroying angel, that God used on the night of the Passover to kill all the firstborn of the children of Egypt. Fast forward a number of years, and the children of Israel are in the wilderness, guilty of the exact same sins that the people of Egypt committed. Once again, God allowed the destroyer to come because they murmured against the Lord. They grumbled and complained against His provision and protection, leading to their overthrow in the wilderness.

They were proud, arrogant, and presumptuous, thinking, "We have Abraham as our father; we have Moses as our deliverer. God destroyed the Egyptians because of us. They were destroyed through the ten plagues, and their armies were consumed in the Red Sea. We came up out of the Red Sea. We've been redeemed from Egypt. We've been provided for by God. We've been protected by God. Surely, we can do whatever we want. We have liberty." In doing so, they displeased the Lord and were judged for it.

Notice Paul's application in verse 11: "Now, all these things happened unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come." Two thousand years ago, Paul recognized that we were living in the last days. I would say we are living very far advanced in the last days now if we fast forward two thousand years. He states that all those events and all those things that took place in the lives of the Israelites serve as examples for us.

The children of Israel in the Old Testament, specifically the first five books, were given a record that serves a purpose. The whole of the Old Testament was written down for a reason. It was written for the church to learn from. All of these things were written for our instruction; they were examples for us. It was written for our admonition and our warning.

Sometimes we look around the church today, especially in the West, and we wonder why all these problems are happening in the church. Why is it that there are people falling into all sorts of different sins within the church? Why is there such a tolerance of sin within the walls of the body of Christ? Perhaps, in some way, it has to do with the fact that we have not considered the examples of the Old Testament.

There are many in the church today who say we don't need the Old Testament because we are a New Testament church. However, Paul didn't say that. He said all these things were written for us. They are examples for us so that we would learn, be instructed, and be warned. George Santayana is attributed with the quote that has been used many times: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." It is so important for us to consider those who have gone before us. How much more blessed it is to learn from the mistakes of another than to learn through your own mistakes.

Has anyone here today learned from your own mistakes? Paul would say to consider them. Consider those who have gone before. All of our fathers passed through the sea. All of them ate of that spiritual food and drank of that spiritual drink, yet with many of them, God was not well pleased. They were overthrown in the wilderness. They were shown to not be children of Abraham by faith.

They trusted in their lineage, their leaders, and the priesthood. They relied on the fact that they had the temple and the covering of God's presence. They trusted in those positional things, but they did not possess the promises. They never entered into the promised land; they never entered into the rest that God had for them. The children of Israel experienced great blessings as the chosen people of God, but God was not such a respecter of persons that He would not judge the descendants of Abraham because of their sin.

They had Abraham as their father, but just because Moses was their leader did not entitle them to continue in sin. This is such an important lesson for the church today. We often start to say, "Well, we have Jesus as our Lord. We pay tithes, partake of communion, and attend church. It's okay that there are other things in our lives that aren't quite glorifying to Him because He is a forgiving God and gracious."

Yes, He is a gracious and forgiving God, but our liberty in Christ does not give us the opportunity to pursue those things and hold on to them. So what if you've been baptized? So what if you attend church? So what if you sacrifice in tithes to the church and to the Lord? If you perpetually continue in sin, Paul would say, "Shall we sin that grace may abound?" Certainly not. God forbid. How shall we who have died to sin live any longer in it?

Wherefore, he says in verse 12, "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." Israel thought they stood. They believed they stood on the basis of the covenant made with Abraham, their father. They saw God's blessing; they were brought out of Egypt by God's power and grace. They experienced God's redemption, protection, and provision, and yet they fell in the wilderness. They were consumed and did not enter into God's rest, as stated in Hebrews chapter 3. Although that rest was available to them, they did not taste of the promised land. Although it was set right before them, they never entered in.

There are those who think that they stand. Take heed, Paul says, when you think you stand. There are those who think they stand, but they are approaching a fall. Then there are those who, like Paul, do all that they can to stand. In Ephesians chapter 6, verse 13, Paul says, "Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, stand therefore."

Now, I absolutely believe that God is able to keep us from falling. I am convinced that those He calls, He sanctifies, He justifies, and He will one day glorify them. But it is not...

It is guaranteed that we cannot fall. There are so many warnings given in the Scriptures so that we would not fall. Yet, we have justified ourselves to think it's okay to continue in sin that grace may abound. Paul says, "God forbid! Certainly not."

You see, the liberty that God has given to us is not a liberty so that we can walk the line and see how close we can get to sin. He has set us free from the power of sin so that we can flee and no longer walk in it. The person who does not know God, who has not been transformed by the new birth, cannot help but walk in sin. They walk in sin every day before God, and they are slaves to sin. But God has redeemed us from the power of sin. He has redeemed us from Egypt and said, "You can go free from that now." Cross the Red Sea of baptism; you don't have to go back to it anymore.

Yet, the church has taken this to mean that we have liberty. We can see just how close we can get to the world. We think we are just trying to identify with the world, to be in the world so that we can really grab hold of them. It is okay if we hang out where they do, do the things they do, talk the way they talk, and think the way they think. Not so. Paul says, "Let's flee those things. Leave them behind."

You might say, "Pastor, you don't understand. It's so difficult out there. You live in a cult, a little world that's a bubble, a Christian bubble. You work in a Christian bubble, and you go and work at church with Christians. You don't understand the temptations out there."

Notice what Paul says in verse 13: "There has no temptation overtaken you but such is common to man. But God is faithful." Would you reach over and circle that in your neighbor's Bible? "God is faithful. God is faithful. God is faithful." Yes, at times we are faithless. Yes, we fall. But God is faithful.

I am so thankful that those exact words are used by John in 1 John 1:9, where it says, "If we sin, we are to confess our sins, and He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us." He wants to cleanse us. He wants to remove it from our lives. He is faithful. He will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able, but will, with the temptation, also make a way of escape that you will be able to bear it or endure it. The Greek word translated "temptation"...

is also translated as "test" in other places in the Bible. What God intends to use as a test in my life, the enemy would love nothing more than to use as a temptation in our lives to draw us toward sin. But we have a choice in that. God has given us a choice. The unregenerate individual has no choice; they will sin. The person who has been saved by the righteousness of Christ has been given the choice by Christ to no longer sin. He has not only given them the choice but also the power. He will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able. But with the temptation, when the test comes, He will make a way of escape.

Now, here's the problem. We think the way of escape means that He is going to pluck us up out of that bar, away from that pornography, or grab us away from that dishonest situation. We think that He is going to rapture us away from the temptation. That's not what happens. He makes a way for us to endure it, to be strengthened in the midst of it. There are many pitfalls in this journey and this walk we are in as Christians. God does not promise to remove the pitfalls, but He does aid us in navigating this journey.

Yes, Jude 1:24 says He is able to keep us from falling, and I am so thankful that He is able to keep us from falling headlong into such things. However, we must recognize that we are safest when we run to Him in the midst of temptation. We have wrongly assumed that it is weak to flee or retreat, but actually, it is the mature thing to do to flee from immorality, to flee from idolatry, to flee from youthful lusts, and to flee from anything that is not of Him and run to Him.

We ought never in our Christian life to test our liberty to see just how close we can get to the things of this world; you are setting yourself up for a fall. The children of Israel were led into the wilderness for the very purpose of testing them. In Deuteronomy 8:2, Moses says, "And you, Israel, shall remember all the way in which the Lord your God..."

Did He lead you these 40 years in the wilderness? He led you in the wilderness to humble you and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. God has allowed us to stay in this world to experience the temptations of this world, which fall into one of three categories, if not more. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. All the temptations in this world are the same. They are common to every single one of us. None of us have ever experienced something so unique that nobody else has gone through.

Oh, you don't understand what I'm going through. No, it's common to man. And God makes a way of escape because He is faithful. But God has allowed us to remain in the midst of these things to prove us, to test us, to try us, to transform us, but also to humble us so that we would not be those who think that we stand, but that we would stand upon the foundation that is Christ.

So, what is Paul's final application, which we'll look at more fully next week? Verse 14 states, "Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee. Flee from idolatry." To Timothy, he says, "Timothy, flee from youthful lusts." Why didn't he tell the church at Corinth to flee from youthful lusts? Well, because the big problem in their city was idolatry. Corinth, flee from idolatry. The big problem for the young man Timothy was youthful lusts. He says, "Timothy, flee from youthful lusts."

You see, God speaks individually to each and every one of us. He knows our weaknesses. He knows our frame, that we are dust. He created us, and He says to us, "flee." And then He fills in the blank. He knows what it is that we struggle with: flee idolatry, flee immorality, flee lust. Whatever it is, flee, and God will give you the power to do so. Amen?

It's a challenge, a warning, and an exhortation that if we respond to in faith, it will bring great victory in our lives. Let's stand and pray. Amen. Lord, I ask that You would plant Your word deep in our hearts as we prepare to go. Remind us of these things.

This afternoon, Lord, when we come to a place where we are sensing temptation, help us to recognize that it's a test and you've counted us worthy of that test because you've prepared us.

I pray that you would enable us to rely upon the way you've equipped us. You've given us your Spirit. When confronted with a temptation, which in reality is a test, teach us to cry out to you so that you would show us the way to endure it.

We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you.