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There's a song in the air, there's a star in the sky, there's a mother's deep prayer, and a baby's low cry, and the star reigns its fire while the beautiful sea, for the manger of Bethlehem cradles the king, there's a tumult of joy o'er the wonderful birth, for the virgin, sweet boy, is the lord of the earth, high the star reigns its fire while the beautiful sea, for the manger of Bethlehem cradles the king, in the light of that star lie the ages and world, and that song from afar has swept over the world, every hearth is aflame and the beautiful sing, in the homes of the nations that Jesus is king, we rejoice in the light, and we echo the song that comes down through the night from the heavenly throng, I wish out to the lovely evangel they bring, and we greet in his cradle our Savior and King. All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father of the Lord, we just want to thank you, God, for another night that we get to gather in your house and hear your word preached, I pray, Lord, that you would just be honored and glorified through everything that's said and done, for it's in Jesus' name we ask all of it, amen. All right, take your song books and turn to song 380. Song 380, we'll sing He Was Not Willing, song 380. He was not willing that any should pay, rest Jesus enthroned in the glory above. He saw our poor fallen world, pitied our sorrows, poured out his life for us wonderful love. Perishing, perishing, thronging our pathway, hearts break with burdens too heavy to bear. Jesus would say, but there's no one to tell them, no one to lift them from sin and despair. He was not willing that any should perish, clothed in our flesh with his sorrow and pain, Caming to seek the lost, comfort the mourner, heal the heart broken by sorrow and shame. Perishing, perishing, harvest is passing, reapers are few and the night draweth near. Jesus is calling the haze to the reaping, thou shalt have souls in prayer. Plenty for pleasure but little for Jesus, time for the world with its troubles and toys. No time for Jesus' work feeding the hungry, lifting lost souls to eternity's joys. Perishing, perishing, hark how they call us, bring us your Savior, tell us of him. We are so weary, so heaven laden, and with long weeping our eyes have grown dim. He was not willing that any should perish, I am his follower and I longer at ease with the soul going downward, lost for the lack of help I might give. Perishing, perishing, thou wast not willing, master forgiven, inspire us anew, banish our worldliness, help us to ever live with eternity, values, and view. Amen, so welcome back to church on this Wednesday evening and just some general church announcements here. We have our normal church services on the list here so nothing's changing there as far as what's coming up this Sunday. This Saturday though we do have the women's prayer meeting this Saturday at 11 a.m. and also I guess you guys are doing some kind of like baby shower thing or something, right? So I guess that's happening in tandem there but be sure to be in your places there for that. And sowing times, we have all our sowing times are as scheduled here and so we'll have our main sowing time on Sunday at 1 p.m. and had a good day on Sunday last Sunday at Grafton so I think we had seven saved in Grafton, right? So a good time there, not too far away and then our chapter memory for the month is Jude so we're gonna do the book of Jude and 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 15 is our memory verse for the week. I studied to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. So it's a good verse to have memorized and as far as other upcoming things, I think we're gonna be trying, I think we're gonna try to do some kind of Christmas party. I know like my wife was asking me about Thanksgiving, I'm like well we had the harvest party so to me that kind of encompasses that whole time frame there. Plus I'm listening to Christmas music as it is anyway so I'm already in that mode so not that I'm against Thanksgiving but that being said we'll try to get something scheduled for that as far as like some kind of like Christmas get-together or fellowship. We got to figure out details on that but speaking of Christmas is the fact that any of the children that want to be a part of the kids' Christmas choir, I guess is what we call it, we're gonna start the Sunday, you guys good with that? So it's November but there's only so many Sundays until you get to the Christmas time. Plus you got to sing it before Christmas right so it's not, so we usually have them sing a couple Sundays but we'll pick out a couple Christmas songs so you know some avant-garde stuff like the Holly and the Ivy right, you're gonna do that one? No but obviously we'll pick out the songs or whatever that we're gonna do for that and then just general church announcement stuff I mean everything's the same mother baby room just mother and mothers and babies there and the offering box in the back there if you want to give it a tithe or an offering and then be in prayer for all the ladies on the pregnancy list and so just keep these ladies in your prayers but keep the ladies also that just had babies in your prayers as well the recovery process the whole transition of having a new baby just be in prayer for all them through that whole process. That's about all I got for announcements are they just gonna come and sing one more song and I believe brother Joseph's gonna be reading first Corinthians chapter 10 for us tonight. All right take your song books and turn to song 379, song 379 we'll sing bringing in the sheaves song 379. Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness, sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve, waiting for the harvest and the time of reaping, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves, sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows, fearing neither clouds nor winter's chilling breeze, by and by the harvest and the labor ended, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves, going for the weeping, sowing for the master, though the law sustained our spirit often grieves, when our weeping's over, he will bid us welcome, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. All right, take your Bibles and turn to 1 Corinthians, chapter number 11, 10. There we go. My brother, just read that for us. Tried to help you. 1 Corinthians, chapter 10. And if you found your place there, you'll say amen. Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and 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. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye 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 three and twenty thousand. 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, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye 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 my 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, for we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold 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 idol idols in anything? But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God. And I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of the devils. Ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord's 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 sake. For the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. If any of them that believe not bid you to feast, and ye be deposed to go, whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking 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 is showed it. And for conscience sake, for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Conscience I say, not thy own, but of the other. For why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that which I give thanks? Wherefore, 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 the Gentiles, nor the church of God, even as I pleased all men in all things, not seeking mine own prophet, but the prophet of many that they may be saved." Let's pray. Lord, thank you for another Wednesday we're able to gather together. Lord, we thank you for these pure and holy words you've given to us. Lord, I ask you be with us through the study of Corinthians and be with Pastor Robinson. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. So you're there in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and we are continuing our study through the book of 1 Corinthians. And if you go back to verse 1 there, the first thing that we see here is we're going to see some Old Testament references and examples. So if I was thinking of this chapter, I think of Old Testament examples, specifically examples of what not to do, but sometimes those are the best examples as far as what people did that were wrong and what the consequences were. And a lot of times that's going to be more of a motivation than if someone does something good, and then they get rewarded for it. But look at verse 1 there, it says, Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant. Now that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. So the first thing I want you to see here is that he's talking about their fathers, meaning those of Israel that came out of Egypt. Okay, so that's what we're going to be getting into is that they came out of Egypt, and then they went into the wilderness, and then he's going to get into examples of them being in the wilderness and tempting God, murmuring, all these different things. But the thing that we see here is that it says that when the cloud, if you remember there was a pillar of fire, and then there was a cloud that overshadowed them, so that basically at night they could see with the fire, but then in the day you had this cloud that would basically keep them shaded from the sun so that they wouldn't be faint because of the sun. Okay. And the idea here is that both the cloud and the sea, but particularly think about the Red Sea, and the fact that Moses parted the Red Sea, and then they went through the Red Sea, and that was likened unto baptism. And just so you know, when they went through the sea, they had a wall of water on each side of them, but then they had the cloud that was overshadowing them. They were completely immersed in that whole event of them coming through there. But that being said, it's interesting how the course of events from when they come out of Egypt and come into the Promised Land, how that represents salvation to just the Christian light. Okay. And so I want you to think about this. Think about the Passover. So what starts off this whole event? You have the Passover, and that's what starts off the First Covenant or the Old Covenant, and you have the Passover, which would represent salvation because you have the Passover lamb that's killed, and it's the blood applied to the doorposts and the lentils that saves them from death, and then you have them being baptized in the Red Sea. So from the Passover, they come out of Egypt, they're baptized through the Red Sea, and then they go through the wilderness, which the wilderness would represent the fact that we're in this world and the temptations of this world, but then after the wilderness, they go into the Promised Land, which is likened unto the rest. So there remains the rest for the people of God, let us therefore labor that we may enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. So if you think about it, the Passover, you have salvation, baptism, the Christian walk in this world, and then ultimately, we're going to be in heaven, we're going to be in the rest. Okay. So you kind of see that correlation. You say, well, is Egypt, is that likened unto, you know, what would Egypt represent? Well, think about this verse here in Deuteronomy 4 and verse 20, and obviously, it's a picture of it, you know, obviously, salvation is by the blood of Jesus and not by a physical lamb that was slain or the lambs that they killed during that Passover, but it pictures that. The crossing of the Red Sea pictures baptism and going into your Christian life as far as going into temptations and trials and all that stuff to try your faith in the wilderness, these are all basically examples. But it's interesting how it plays out in that exact order as far as how it should be in your Christian life. You get saved, you get baptized, and you live your Christian life in the world, but not of the world, and you go through trials and tribulations, and then you ultimately end up in the promised land, you end up in heaven because, you know, we die. We end up in heaven because obviously we're saved and all that. But in Deuteronomy 4 and verse 20, notice what it says here, it says, But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day. So it likens Egypt to an iron furnace, and hell is also referred to as a burning fiery furnace. And so the idea here is that they were saved from what? Hell. Okay, so Egypt represents hell, if you will. And there's so many things I could add to that, and it's probably a whole other summer for another day, but the idea of like Hosea 13, where it talks about how O death I will be thy plagues, and what did God rain upon Egypt but plagues on that, and then they ultimately saved them out of there. But that being said, is that you see this nice picture here of salvation, and even Jude, you know, we're memorizing the book of Jude, but it says that and of some, others saved with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh. It even talks about Israel being that firebrand plucked out of the fire. So you know, out of Egypt, out of that iron furnace, out of the fire, by what? The blood. And then you have all the pictures that are after that. Now look at verse 3 here, 1 Corinthians chapter 10, 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 3. I love this passage because this really shows you that Christ was there in the wilderness, that Christ was not just something that came to be at the virgin birth, that Christ was in the Old Testament, He was there, just as much as the Son of God was there, you know, in the burning fiery furnace, and Daniel and other places in the Old Testament, you have the Son of God, but we see that Christ is mentioned as being there with them in the wilderness. Okay? And verse 3 here, it says, And 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. So it's saying here that they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that was Christ. So Christ was following them in the wilderness. I mean, that's what the Bible teaches. And, you know, this reminds me of Hebrews chapter 4 where it talks about, you know, the gospel which we have preached unto you, or it basically says, let us fear lest the problems of being let us of entering into his rest, lest any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. That's the verse I wanted to get to. Sometimes you've got to go back a little bit to get to the verse you want to get to. But basically saying that the gospel was preached unto us as well as unto them, and he's saying that Christ followed them. Christ was their rock back then. Christ was in the wilderness back then, and they drank of that spiritual rock that is Christ back then, because it's always been by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what is that spiritual, what are we talking about? We're talking about drinking something. We're talking about drinking fountains of living waters is what we're talking about. The spiritual meat would be what? The manna. Now Jesus takes a lot of a chapter in John to talk about the fact that he's the bread that came down from heaven. Not like the bread that you ate in the wilderness, because obviously there was a physical bread that they ate, right? But it was him that was the important part. That was the spiritual meat that they needed to eat. And when it comes to the drink, they actually drank physical water from a rock. Go to Exodus chapter 17, Exodus chapter 17. So that physical rock actually represented Christ, but you know what the Bible's teaching is that it wasn't just that there was a physical rock that would represent Christ. No, Christ was in the wilderness. That they were drinking that spiritual drink of what? Everlasting light. The fountains of everlasting light. That what he was preaching to the woman at the well, guess what, that's the same thing that they were doing back then, because the same gospel that's preached unto us was preached unto them, and it was by faith whether it was profitable unto them or not. Now in Exodus chapter 17 verse 6 here, it says, Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shall smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink, and Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. So this is that famous story where he brings water from a rock, and he smites the rock, and the waters come out. Now obviously we can picture how that would represent Jesus, right, it even talks about smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered, even using that terminology of smiting Jesus, meaning that he needs to die, right. So Christ is going to die for us in order to give us that water, to give us that water of light, and unless Jesus died, that water wouldn't come out, unless he was smitten that water wouldn't come out. Now what's interesting about this story is what happens the next time they come around to this rock as far as, you know, water coming out of the rock. Go to Numbers chapter 20 because this story repeats, but I want you to notice the details as far as what God tells Moses to do, and notice the consequence for what Moses does here. So Numbers chapter 20 and verse 17. Now we're talking about a physical rock, okay, no doubt I believe you're talking about a physical rock. I don't believe there's like some spiritual ghost phantom rock that we're smiting here. No, there's a physical rock that water is physically coming out of, and they're physically drinking this water that when they drink it they're going to thirst again, okay, but it all represents the spiritual rock and the spiritual drink that, you know, Jesus obviously speaks about, and the water, you know, let whosoever will, let him take up the water of life freely. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about salvation, eternal life. Now in Numbers chapter 20 and verse 7 here, so Exodus 17, we haven't even got to where they received the Ten Commandments and he has the Ten Commandments written on tablets or anything like that, okay. We haven't even got to chapter 19 where he's saying this is the covenant I'm going to make with you and here's the terms, okay. So 17, that's like a very beginning. They're just coming, they're crossing the Red Sea and they're coming into these different areas and, you know, they're murmuring because they don't have water and obviously there's a miracle done there. But in Numbers chapter 20, we're in the wilderness for the, you know, 40 years that they're wandering around, okay. So just to give you a timeline as far as the separation between these two things, that they've, you know, they've already gone into the Promised Land and remember there was only two witnesses that gave back the good report, Caleb and Joshua, the rest were saying we can't go. They wanted to stone them and God said, all right, you're going to be in the wilderness for 40 years. And that's where we're at in this story here in Numbers chapter 20. In verse 10 here, it says in, I'm sorry, verse 7, it says, and the Lord spake unto Moses saying, take the rod and gather thou the assembly together, thou and Aaron thy brother. And notice this, speak ye unto the rock before their eyes. Do you see something very crucial here? What did he say to do to the rock? He said to speak to it. And it shall give forth his water and thou shall bring forth to them water out of the rock, so thou shalt give the congregation there and their beasts drink. Notice in verse 10 here, and Moses there gathered the congregation together before the rock and he said unto them, here now ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lift up his hand and with his rod he smote the rock twice. Now is that what God told him to do? Now notice what happens because he does this. So he was not supposed to even smite the rock once alone twice, but he smote the rock to begin with, that's where the water came out and God told him to smite the rock, but he didn't say to smite the rock, he said speak to it. So notice what happens here, it says, and the water came out abundantly and the congregation drank and their beasts also. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, because ye believe me not to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation to the land which I gave them. So the consequence of Moses doing this is the fact that he's not going to go into the promised land. That's a big deal and you read through Deuteronomy, he's like let me at least see it, and he's like alright get up on Mount Pisgah, but don't talk about this again. And it's just one of those things that God was making a point, you are not going into the promised land. Now that's obviously a picture because Moses is saved, I believe he's one of the two witnesses that are coming back. He's obviously a great prophet and the meekest man that was upon the earth at that time, but he messed up, he messed up the picture and the figure of that rock. And that picture was that the rock was only going to be smote once, once for all. And Jesus was going to die once for all and he's not to be smitten more than once. Now to give you what that would represent and why Moses was for sure not going to go into the promised land, go to Hebrews chapter 6, Hebrews chapter 6, and I know I preached on this before, I think I did a whole sermon on this, but all my sermons have been deleted. So we're uploading these things and half the time I'm like, did I preach on that? You know, and I used to just look it up, I'd go on our YouTube channel and I'd be like, and I'd type in something that was close to what I'm thinking about, like ah, you preached on that like two months ago. And so now I have to like just guess and wonder. But in Hebrews chapter 6, Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 4 here, it says, for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come if they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance. So we're talking about people that are reprobate, we're talking about people that knew how to get saved, they knew about the gift, they tasted of it but they didn't receive it, and the idea here is that they can't get saved. But notice what it likens it unto. Seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame. So when Moses smote that rock twice, now to him he was just angry at the people, okay, and I don't believe he was trying to mess this thing up and knew how bad this would be for him to do this, but when he smote that rock again, that's putting Christ to an open shame. It's completely ruining the picture of Christ being, the rock being smote once, and then the waters come out, and then that's it. That he's not getting crucified over and over again. And Hebrews talks about this and the fact that he did it once for all and that he's not suffering often since the world began, you know, that it's once for all, okay, and that's a huge picture and this shows you that, you know what, people that are reprobate, there's a term that is called, and I keep going back to Jude here, which is why it's not a bad book to have memorized, calls them twice dead. We're dead in trespasses and sins in this world, and when we get saved, we're buried with them in death and we're raised to walk in the newness of life, but if someone's twice dead, you know what that means, they have to crucify the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame. But you know what the story here about this rock in the wilderness shows you? That's not happening, not happening. They're not going to the Promised Land. As much as they would beg and want to go into the Promised Land, they're not going. And even Moses, who is obviously a saved person, but to drive home that picture, the fact that no this isn't happening, you smoke that rock twice, you're not going in. And so it's a great picture and just shows you how the Bible fits hand in glove, obviously with all of the correlations and what God's talking about when it comes to salvation and those that in this life have given up their ability to be saved, that Christ would literally have to die again for them to be saved, and it's not going to happen. He did it once, that's it, and it's not going to happen again. Go to 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 5 here. Now the end of this chapter, I kind of already hit when I was in chapter 8, so I'm going to hit on it a little bit, but I kind of already hit on that when we were dealing with idols and eating things, sacrificing the idols. I'm going to touch on it, but I don't want to just belabor that and be like, well, we're going to hit it again, you know. But so this is kind of the meat of the sermon here when it comes to this chapter, part of the meat of the sermon, but I kind of hit those other points when I was in chapter 8 a little more. So what we see here is we're going to see examples in the wilderness, the children of Israel that were in the wilderness, and examples of things not to do. And verse 5 here says, So notice that these things are there so that we don't do it. That's why it's written there. And notice in verse 11 there, and we'll get to the examples, it says, So when you think about these punishments that are dealt out and why these things are written for us to know, they're written for our admonition, they're written for our examples so that we don't do it. That's why we have it. So when people say, well, you know, what's the Old Testament for, you know, why are you reading the Old Testament? We're in the New Testament. Because it's for our admonition. Because all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. So it's all profitable for correction, for instruction in righteousness. You know, like that, to think that you would just leave out like three-quarters of the Bible just because we're in the New Testament, now obviously you should be reading the New Testament more than the Old Testament as far as if you're going to put a priority because the New Testament is the flashlight. The New Testament is the commentary, if you will, on the Old Testament, but you still need to be reading the Old Testament. And you know, I by and large just read it all the same, but obviously there's going to be times where I'm just reading the New Testament a little more and I'm going to be hitting that more. But at the same time, it needs to be, you know, something that you're reading, that you're taking, you know, heed to it and getting admonition from it. So let's look at these examples. So verse 7 here, there's going to be four different examples of them being in the wilderness and messing up. Okay, it says in verse 7 here, Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. So what are we talking about here? Well go to Exodus chapter 32. This is where the people made a golden calf. So if you remember Moses is going up into Mount Sinai to get the Ten Commandments written on the tables of stone and they already heard the Ten Commandments, you know, God obviously spoke to them. And remember they were like, we don't want to hear, you know, we're afraid. So there's that whole story, but there's a lot of judgments that are given and shown to them as far as what God had to say. But then he goes up to get these Ten Commandments written by the finger of God. Okay, so that's where Moses is at and he's there for 40 days and 40 nights and they're basically impatient. So they're saying we should have been, we should go back to Egypt, we got to go, let's make a golden calf, you know, like, well actually they don't say to make a golden calf, they just tell Aaron to make us gods, you know. So he basically, in verse 3 here, he basically has, he's bringing all your sons and daughters to give me their earrings and in verse 3 here it says, And all the people break off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool after he had made it a golden calf. And they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it and Aaron made proclamation and said, Tomorrow is a feast of the Lord. And they rose up early in the morning, I'm sorry, early on the morrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings and the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. So that's exactly what we're talking about here when he's saying that they were idolaters because they had this golden calf that they're worshipping. And it, you know, this whole story is crazy because Aaron, you know, when he's called out for this, like, you know, when Moses comes back, he's called out for it. He's like, well, you know, they gave me all their earrings, I threw it in the fire and this calf came out. You know, he's just like, yeah, it just popped out of the fire, you know. And, you know, it does show you how long suffering God is with Aaron. Right? I mean, think about that. That he bent, he didn't, not saying that Aaron wanted to do it, but they basically were pushing him to do this and Aaron was ashamed, right, because he made him naked because of their shame, right. But at the same time, like, he should have said, No, I'm not making you anything. You know, basically, you know, step off. But he doesn't, but yet God still uses him. But here we see idolatry. And this is the whole story where, if you remember, God wanted to destroy them all. He's like, I'll destroy them all and I'll raise up a view of great nation to Moses. And Moses had to go back and forth with them and basically say, No, you know, then people are going to say that you brought them out and you weren't able to deliver them. And, you know, he's basically like playing the card, like, what will people think, you know, if you brought them all out here and then you just killed everybody. But it's interesting because there's other stories in the Bible where God is, you know, that where he destroys everybody and he says, You know what the nations are going to say is that they didn't listen to their God. And so you can use both, you can see both arguments there. But at the same time, God does, you know, repent and turn from his wrath and doesn't destroy them. And Moses interceded for them. But that's obviously the story of the golden calf. It's interesting because, you know, when the kingdom split after Solomon and you have Jeroboam and Rehoboam, what does Jeroboam do? What's the major sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat? He makes two golden calves. It's interesting there's only one golden calf here, but they say these be our gods. It's interesting that you have one calf but multiple gods, isn't it? And how that works. But it's interesting how Jeroboam took that to be like, All right, I'm going to make two calves. One in Dan and one in Bethel. And you know, that's the major sin that's just mentioned throughout the kings in that northern kingdom, that they're getting destroyed because the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. That's what he's known for. Everybody knows Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. You read through 1 Kings and 2 Kings, you're going to know about Jeroboam, the son of Nebat and about his sin, which he sinned and then everybody follows suit with him. And I don't know what it is about a golden calf that people want to worship. But apparently people in India would probably, you know, have some sentiment to that because apparently they think like cows are sacred and that we shouldn't eat cows and all that. So I don't know what it is about calves. I mean, I know that the cherry bins, one of their faces is the face of a calf. So I don't know if that has something to do with it, you know, or why they would, you know, why the calf is so something to worship. But to me, I would be more sympathetic to like the Romans and the Greeks where it's like Zeus, you know, he's like this big guy, you know, he's like throwing thunderbolts or something like that. I mean, that to me is at least more like, okay, that makes sense. But a calf, like a golden calf? So that being said, you know, the Bible is teaching us here that it comes down to this. When it comes to idolatry, obviously it's wicked, but they use that to basically do whatever they wanted. And ultimately, when anybody goes away from God and goes away from the true God, it's all because they want to do what they want to do. They want to do that which is right in their own eyes, and they want to sit down, they want to eat, drink, and be merry. That's another way of seeing that they sat down to eat and drink in Roselle of the Play. They want to eat and drink and be merry, they just want to live in pleasure and not have any consequences, and they want a God that's for those type of things. And no marvel that there's a bunch of false gods out there that are all about pleasure. And that's what you're dealing with here, and God is telling us, don't be those people. Don't be idolaters. I'll get back to that because this chapter kind of deals with idolatry in general. So it kind of hits on this and then hits on some other things. Now go to Numbers 25, because the next thing that's mentioned in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 8 is, neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. So you're going to Numbers chapter 25. So you notice that there's two things that are kind of being brought up a lot in 1 Corinthians. Fornication and idolatry. We see fornication obviously being brought up in the earlier chapters, especially in chapter 5, but even in chapter 6 and all that about your temple being, your body being the temple of the Holy Ghost, it's not for fornication. Chapter 7 is all about avoiding fornication, right? And chapter 8, you get into idolatry. And there's things that are mentioned, you know, think of the churches in Asia, right? What was the doctrine of Balaam, right? To commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And that's what this chapter is dealing with here in chapter 25. Verse 1 here, now the New Testament kind of shows us that he taught Balak to put a stumbling block before Israel. So you know the story that Balaam was trying to curse Israel, God wouldn't let him, Balak was trying to get Balaam to do it, Balaam was like, I can't do it, you know, God won't let me. You know, essentially, paraphrasing. But essentially that's what's going on there. And in chapter 25, this is how he gets them. He puts a stumbling block in front of them and appeals to their pleasure, and he destroys them from within. And so really, in the end, you know what, the world can't curse us. All the haters of God can't curse us and bring the curseings of God upon us, but we can do it to ourselves, right, because the only way that we're going to get destroyed in this world is if we do it to ourselves. We do it from within. And that's exactly what happens here in Numbers chapter 25, verse 1, it says, and Israel abode and shit them, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods, and the people that eat and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baal Peor, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. So this is obviously eating things, sacrificing the idols, and committing fornication. You see this kind of over and over again throughout the epistles and in the book of Acts, they're kind of hitting on this and the fact of what are the Greeks, you know, what are they really hitting on when you're dealing with these Gentile nations is fornication and idolatry and eating things, sacrificing the idols. And in chapter 8 of 1 Corinthians and chapter 10, you're dealing with both those things, right, you're dealing with eating things, sacrificing the idols and idolatry, all that stuff. And so this is obviously a big deal. But notice in verse 9 here, what's the punishment? It says in verse 9, and those that died in the plague were 20 and 4,000. So just for sake of time so I don't have to read all these stories, essentially God punished them with a plague, and 24,000 people died in total. Now when you, you know, the so-called contradiction, right, is the fact that, well, you know, in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, it says that it was only 23,000. Well that's because it says, fell in one day, 3 and 20,000. So overall, 24,000 people died, but in one single day, 23,000 people died. So that is an intense judgment because of fornication. So what did we learn? Don't be an idolater and don't commit fornication. Now go to verse 9 of 1 Corinthians chapter 10, 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 9, it says, neither let us tempt Christ, notice this, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. This one's very interesting because it's kind of like the rock, the spiritual drink and that rock which was Christ, is the fact that the Bible here is showing us that not only were they drinking of that spiritual drink from Christ in the wilderness, but they were also tempting Christ in the wilderness. Now let me ask you a question, how can you tempt Christ in the wilderness if Christ isn't already in existence and isn't already a thing at that time, right? The idea here is that Christ was from the foundation of the world because Jesus has always been the Christ. He's always been the chosen one. He's always been the Messiah, the anointed, but it wasn't until he came to the Virgin Mary that he fulfilled that role of being the Christ that he already was. But the thing here is that they tempted Christ in the wilderness. Now let's look at that story. Go to Numbers chapter 21, Numbers chapter 21. So we're actually going to be sticking here in Numbers and if you know Numbers is the book dealing with them wandering in the wilderness. So Exodus, obviously you're dealing with the Exodus out of Egypt and you're getting into the judgments and all that and Leviticus is, there's pretty much only one story in Leviticus and that's Neda having to buy you dying from offering strange fire, right? But pretty much Leviticus is just all about the sacrifices and the laws, right? Numbers, when you get to Numbers 14, right, that's where you're 13, 14, you're getting into them going into the Promised Land and them not going in because they were afraid to go in. From that point on, after, until you get to the end of Deuteronomy, and Deuteronomy, a lot of that is just for, you know, it's like just in one day Moses is just telling the law over again. All of Numbers is dealing with those 40 years in the wilderness. I mean Numbers talks about Miriam dying and Aaron dying. So you're dealing with that whole 40 years in that book. So what's interesting about this is how 1 Corinthians chapter 10 is actually going from Numbers 25 to Numbers 21 back to Numbers 16, so it's kind of going back. So we had Exodus, right, the first one was in Exodus, you know, when Moses is up getting the tables of stone, but then it goes numbers like coming back towards where they started in the wilderness, or started their 40-year tour, if you will, through the wilderness. But in verse 21 here, notice what it says in verse 5. It says, and the people spake against God and against Moses, wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loateth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died. So this is the story where it says they tempted Christ. They tempted Christ when He sent the serpents, right? So what did they do? They were speaking against God and against Moses, and they were loathing this light bread. So what did that light bread represent? The bread that was sent down from heaven. That represents Christ. That manna that came down from heaven, it represents the Lord Jesus, and it says they loathed it. So they were tempting God, they were tempting the Lord, they were tempting Christ in this, and God sent for serpents to bite them. And out of all the plagues, this is a bad one, okay, I hate snakes. And the idea of the Lord just sending serpents, or anybody sending serpents unto me, and getting bit by these things, that's horrific. I mean, give me the locusts, although, you know, that'd still be bad, right? It's kind of like, would you prefer a serpent or a scorpion? Now the army of 200 million with these horses that have serpents on their tails, you know, their tails are serpents, I mean, that is a horrific sight. But the idea here is that He sends these serpents and a lot of them die, and notice what it says in verse 9 here. It says in verse, Numbers 29 and verse 9, it says, and Moses made a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. So this is that, you know, think of that song we sing, look and live, my brother live. And the Bible even says in Isaiah, you know, look unto me all the world, and be ye saved. And this is interesting because this is the portion in the wilderness where it says they tempted Christ, and He sent unto them serpents, but this is the same story where that serpent of brass is lifted up, and there's a famous verse in the Bible that comes before one of the most famous verses in the Bible, and the fact that in John 3, 14, it says, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man also be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. So it's interesting how those things correlate and they fit hand in glove that they're tempting Christ in the wilderness, He sends them serpents, and they lift up the serpent that represents Christ for them to be saved. So it's interesting how all these things work together, and so obviously we're not to be idolaters, we're not to be fornicators, we're not to tempt Christ or tempt God. And go to Numbers chapter 16, and the next one, or the fourth one here, it says in verse 10 of 1 Corinthians 10, neither murmured yet, some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now this one, it doesn't give you a lot of, as many clues, I guess. Like obviously when it says He sent them serpents to bite them, I mean that story is, I mean it's pretty easy to find that one, right? Where did God send serpents and they were biting people and all that, right? And you think about the other ones where it's like they rose up the play, I mean it's literally the same, you know, pretty much a quotation. So when you look at some of these, you're like these are easy to find, they're not hard to find or anything like that. This one, I'm going to show you what I believe it is. I believe you're dealing with the story of Korah, the gainsaying of Korah. And Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and these were Levites that basically, they were murmuring against Moses and Aaron saying, you know, basically who are you? Why are you above us? And here's the thing, the Korahites, that's who Aaron and Moses and all them, they're all of that tribe of Korah, the Korahites, right? So the Kohathites, I'm sorry, the Kohathites, the Kohathites, but they're all that same family, right? But here's the thing, the priesthood is not counted of that family, it's counted of Aaron, not even of Moses, but of Aaron. So the priest's office to burn incense and do all the service of a priest was only to Aaron, not even Moses, but definitely not to Korah and, you know, even though he was of that tribe. Now, they had special positions, you know, as far as working in the, you know, the, with the tabernacle and all that stuff, but basically they didn't like that, they wanted more authority, they wanted to be in that position of power, that position of being a priest or whatever the case may be, and they were murmuring. So to show you that they were murmuring, look at verse 8 here, it says, Moses said unto Korah, Here I pray you, ye sons of Levi. Now this is the passage where he says, you take too much upon you, you sons of Levi. This is where they're like, you take too much upon yourself, Moses, and he's like, you take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi. It's just a, I don't know why, but that is just a cool phrase, it's just like he's just putting it right back in their face, and God obviously defends Moses here. But notice what it says in verse 9, Seameth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of the tabernacle, the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to, I'm sorry, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto him. And he had brought thee near to him, and all thy brethren, the sons of Levi, with thee, and seek ye the priesthood also. So as I explained, they had a job to work in the tabernacle, but not to be a priest. That was only for Aaron and his sons, and the lineage coming down from Aaron. Verse 11, for which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the Lord, and what is Aaron that ye murmur against him? So we're talking about they murmured, right, they're murmuring. Notice in verse 28 here, notice what Moses does here, or what Moses says here to where, what's their punishment? Now what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 is that they were destroyed of the destroyer. In verse 28 it says, And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me. Now notice what he says there, he's basically saying, you know what, if these guys die a normal death, that a normal person would die, he's like, then I wasn't sent from the Lord. Notice what happens here, because they don't die a normal death, okay. And it says, But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit, then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words. So he's like literally just kind of ending what he's saying here, it's like this happens. So it's not like this happened, you kind of think there's a story where, and I can't remember the King exactly, but basically, where they kill all the King, the seed, it's not the seed royal, I think it's where it's Jeroboam's, it's when they kill all Jeroboam's kids, right. And there's that story, and the one that survives, the one son that survives basically says, you know, puts this curse upon them, and that doesn't happen until later, right. It's like later down the line, in Judges, that actually happens. Here it's like instantaneous, he's like, you know what, if I'm of the Lord, if I'm here for, you know, if I'm sent by God, then this is going to happen. So it came to pass, as he made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all that the men that appertain unto Korah, and all their goods, they and all that appertain to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the congregation." Literally hell opened up, they dropped in, and then it closed up again. I would say that's a new thing. I would say that's not a normal everyday death, okay. And you say, well, how's the destroyer involved in this? The destroyer, if you remember, you know, we're talking in Revelation chapter 9, Apollyon, Abaddon, right, that name literally means destruction, but what was he, or who is he? He's the king of the bottomless pit. He's the angel of the bottomless pit. Sound familiar? We're talking about the pit being opened, and them falling down alive into the pit. We're talking about them falling into the bottomless pit, into hell, if you will. And they're falling down in there. Now, here's the thing, if you say, well, is the destroyer involved? Well, I'd say he is, because the Bible says he is, but if he's the king of the bottomless pit, he could very well be the one that opened up the pit, you know, God used him, obviously, he's the king of the bottomless pit, he opens it up, they fall down, he closes it back up. I would say they were destroyed of the destroyer. But how about this, keep reading there, Numbers 16, verse 34, And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them, and they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. Yeah, wouldn't you? I mean, if the earth just opened up and everybody's falling into this thing, I'd be running for the hills. Even if I was right, even if I was like, I'm on your side, Moses, but I'm going up here a little higher, you know, or away from where these guys are. It's kind of like that whole thing, you know, like, when someone like blasphemes God, you'd be like, I'm stepping away, because when lightning strikes you, I don't want to be anywhere near you. But, so they're obviously afraid, and they're kind of fleeing away, but notice what it says in verse 35, And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense. So that could very well be the destroyer, I mean, you've got the king of the bottomless pit here, okay, a bat, a polyon, that I believe opened up hell, had them fall in, and literally probably took the fires of hell and just like consumed these two hundred and fifty men. Now why do you say he did? Because that's what it says in 1st Corinthians chapter 10, that it was, they were destroyed as a destroyer. And so I believe that's what happened, I believe that's who you're dealing with. So, but, you know in Jude, going back to Jude, I'm trying to get you to memorize Jude, okay. In Jude, verse 11, it says, Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. Korah, Korah, however you want to say that. Now when you read that verse, they perished in the gainsaying of Korah, now you know what it's talking about, right? And you know it's talking about hell opening up and being destroyed as a destroyer, okay, so that is a horrible thing. And you also see that murmuring is synonymous with gainsaying, right? And when you think of to stop the mouths of the gainsayers, you're dealing with people that are murmuring against the Bible, murmuring against the truth, and were not to be murmurers. And murmur is kind of like an onomatopoeia type of word, and onomatopoeia means like something that the word kind of has, it kind of sounds like the action, right? I'm trying to think of a word that kind of sounds like the action, but I think the word barf, I don't know, that kind of sounds like the action, okay. But murmur is like murmur, you know, like you kind of think of like someone talking under their breath. It's like peeping and muttering, right? Like it kind of has that, in the word you kind of feel the action as far as when you say it, it kind of has that action. Anyway, it has nothing to do with what I'm preaching on besides the fact that murmurers are people that obviously are basically talking trash and a lot of times they're doing it, you know, not to where everybody can hear you, they're doing it behind your back, back biters type of stuff, stuff like that. So go to 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 12, 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 12. And so we got through all the examples that are for our admonition. And again, anytime you're going through the Bible, and I know I've said this many times, when you see a story or a reference to something in the Old Testament, go back and see that story, read that story. Because that's going to give you a lot of meat to understand, okay, why is he bringing this up? What exactly happened here? And a lot of times the New Testament is not going to just give you the whole story again and just have this whole like intermission of like telling you this whole story about the serpents or about the murmuring and want you, you know, to go back and read it. So in verse 10 here, I'm sorry, verse 12. So 1 Corinthians 10, verse 12, it says, Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taking you, but such is common, as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted, above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it. So when you see these temptations and you look at the Old Testament, you're like, oh, you know, I wouldn't do that. Aren't there cases where you're just like, you're looking at it and be like, man, what in the world are you doing? But what you have to really look at is in all those cases, and even the golden calf, I know it's hard to believe, but even with idolatry, you have to look at that as far as, you know what, that's something that I could do. It's a temptation that's common to man. See, all those temptations that are mentioned right there or all those things that they did, those are all common things that people can do. You know, be an idolater, commit fornication, be a murmurer, tempting God, right? Those are all things that anybody can do. So don't think that you're above that or think that you won't fall to that. And that's the key is to have that mentality that you could fall. And know this also that God's not going to give you this temptation. He's not going to put you through trials that you're not able to bear. Now I preached the Old Sermon about being between a rock and a hard place, and there are cases where you can put yourself in a position that God didn't put you in. So when I'm talking about you having temptations or trials that He's not going to put you into trials and temptations, I'm talking about Him putting you into that. So you have to understand that you can put yourself into a position that you did yourself, you kind of made your bed, you had to sleep in it kind of thing. But if you're living a Christian life and you're doing what you should be doing, God's not going to throw things at you that you're not able to bear. And notice what it says in James chapter 1, James chapter 1, dealing with temptation. So God's not out there just like throwing these things, trying to make you fall. No, a lot of times He's trying your faith so that you'll come out as gold, right? And a lot of times temptation or tribulation work with patience. And patience, hope. And the idea there is that trials and tribulations will make you stronger. And so the reason that God puts you through those things is so that you're not weak and that you have experience. See, experience will give you the strength and hope to endure hard temptations that may not be given to you by God, but more so are given by the world and by the devil and all that. God's not testing us and kind of, you know, almost, you know, it's almost like practice, if you will, if you want to think about it that way. Practice for the really hard tribulation that the devil would bring at you or the world will bring at you and this will make you strong instead of just going into that hard tribulation and never having any troubles in your life ever. You know, you're just not going to be ready for it. But in James chapter 1 and verse 12, it says, blessed is the man that endured temptation for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. So when you think about, you know, there's no temptation taking you but such as is common to man, know that we all have similar, you know, temptations. I mean, even Elijah says he's a man of like passions, right? So when you look at these prophets, it's not like there's some like elevated God-man figure. I mean, he was just a man like us that had the same kind of passions we have and had the same kind of temptations that we had and but know this is that, you know what, God's not going to put you in a position to where you're not able to bear it but if you bear it, there's a reward. So know that there's a reward for that and here's the thing, I showed you the consequence of not bearing it, right? The consequences could be death, could be torturous, it could be just really bad things that could happen but there is a reward if you basically endure that temptation. Verse 13 there, let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted with God for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man, meaning he doesn't tempt you with evil, right? He's not tempting you with sin, okay? He puts you through trials and tribulations but he's not like dangling sin in front of you. That's Satan, okay? So in verse 14, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed then when lust has conceived, it bring forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. And so ultimately what you have to realize is that really it's our own temptations and our lusts that bring us into these situations. Now God can obviously get you out of those type of things and help you to endure it and all that. Now go to 1 Corinthians 10 verse 14 and we're going to get into the passages that I've already hit on with chapter 8 but let's go through these again and just make some points here but we're dealing with idolatry here or things sacrificed unto idols. Verse 14 here it says, wherefore my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry and speak as the 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, for we are all partakers of that one bread. Now this is where you think of like taking communion, okay? And when you think about the Lord's Supper, that's what he's dealing with here is the fact that, you know, obviously the cup of, you know, the grape juice represents the blood of Christ, the bread represents the body of Christ and it symbolizes that. It symbolizes obviously the spiritual aspect of that and obviously the body of Christ, you know, as a church we're the body of Christ and all that's true on a spiritual level and everything else. But this passage here, the reason I bring this up is because this is why when we get the first Corinthians chapter 11, and I'll probably come back to this a little bit, is the fact that why when it says examine yourselves, you know, so that you don't take the cup or the bread unworthily, is because if you're in idolatry, if you're eating things sacrificed into idols and you are literally an idolater, then there's going to be a punishment. And the reason that there's a punishment is because you can't take of the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils at the same time. And the reason that I believe that that's what is being said at first Corinthians chapter 11 when it talks about who not, you know, like a saved person not to take the Lord's Supper is because in first Corinthians 5 it says that if, I'll just read this in verse 11, it says, but now I have written unto you not to keep company of any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such in one know not to eat. Specifically, we're talking about eating, but I believe you're talking about the Passover, which is Christ our Passover, the Lord's Supper, the communion of the Lord, which is the cup and the bread, and the fact that you can't be in idolatry and drink of the cup and eat of the bread, okay? So that's a specific example that why you say, well, when should a believer not take, because some people maybe say, well, you should always take, well, that can't be right because what in the world is he talking about in first Corinthians chapter 11? I mean, there's got to be somebody that shouldn't take it, okay? And we're talking about believers, but he's talking about being chastened of the Lord, so he's not chastening bastards, he's only chastening children of God. So that being said, I believe first Corinthians chapter 10, five and 10 show you exactly what he's talking about in first Corinthians chapter 11 as far as who shouldn't take it and why some people are sick and some people sleep because there were fornicators in the church and there are probably idolaters in the church and you say, well, they should have been, yeah, well, I mean, he's kind of writing to him about that, isn't he? Like, you know, put away from yourself that wicked person. But here's the thing. Why do you need to examine yourself? Because there are people that could be in those sins that I have no idea about. That make sense? Like, I don't know everything and I don't read your thoughts and I don't like stake out your houses and watch every move you do, okay? I don't know if you have a Buddha that you bow down to. Obviously it's silly, you know, we don't deal with that here, but at the same time, like, I don't know those type of things, but if you were to take the Lord's Supper, I don't know that, but the Lord does. So meaning if I knew about it and I knew that was a grievous sin that you were in, you would have to be kicked out of the church and you wouldn't be able to take the Lord's Supper. But if I don't know about it, then you know what, that's where you kind of have to step in and, you know, save yourself from judgment and not take it because you shouldn't even be there in the first place, okay? So that's what I wanted to kind of point out there. Notice in verse 18, so 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 18, it says, Behold Israel after the flesh, are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? I love how he says after the flesh. He's making a clear distinction here. Israel after the flesh. Now, if there's not another Israel, let me ask you a question. Why would he need to say that? Because there's obviously, they are not all Israel which are of Israel, because they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of promise are counted for the seed. There's obviously a distinction between spiritually Israel, because if it's not of the flesh, what is it of? But of the Spirit, okay? So he's saying, he's making a distinction here, he's like, he's not talking about those that are Israel that are of the commonwealth of Israel now because the middle wall partition is broken down, he's talking about literally just fleshly Israel people that are doing sacrifice under the altar. So he's not condoning this, okay? That's the main point I want to get across here, he's not condoning doing sacrifices here in 1 Corinthians 10, but in verse 19, it says, What say I then, that the idol is anything or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything? That's a rhetorical question, right? We know that the idol is nothing, okay? So it's a rhetorical question, obviously it's nothing, but I say that the things the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God, and I would not that you should have fellowship with devils. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and a cup of devils, you cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? Obviously that's a rhetorical question because we're not stronger than him and we should not provoke him to jealousy like they did in the wilderness. And so it's the same thing while you're dealing, instead of dealing with actual physical sacrifices like children of Israel were doing, we're dealing with the Lord's table, we're dealing with the Lord's Supper, the Lord's communion, and the fact is is that you can't be mixing in the cup of devils with the cup of the Lord. You can't be an idolaterer and take the Lord's Supper and not expect consequences just as much as when they did idolatry and murmured and tempted and did all those things in wilderness, you can't expect them not to get punished because they did. So when you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and people are dying and they're sick because they took the cup of the Lord and they ate the bread unworthily, you know what, how much more in the New Testament and how much more, since we have the New Testament, are you going to be punished? And that's where Hebrews 10 comes in, the fact that if we sin willfully, you know, I mean under Moses' law, those that despised Moses' law died under two or three witnesses without mercy. But how much sorer punishment is he thought? He trodden underfoot the Son of God and counted the blood wherewith he had sanctified an unclean thing. I'm misquoting that, but forgive me. But that being said is that how much more are we accountable? Because you think, well, you know, God's just so harsh in the Old Testament. We're going through Revelation, you know, we just read about the army of 200 million with the horses with fire coming out of their face, like when they're lions and all these different things. So it's the same God. But how much more when you're tempting the Lord here in the New Testament, when you have the Holy Ghost living inside of you, how much more are you accountable for the sins that you do in your body when you have the Holy Ghost living inside of you? So that's what 1 Corinthians is really hitting on a lot here. But the thing is, you know, you say, well, idolatry, I don't have anything I'm bowing down to, I'm not clapping to wake him up in the morning and, you know, all these crazy things that, you know, all these polytheists do in other countries. But look at Colossians chapter 3 and verse 5. So let's put a little application to us when it comes to this. Colossians chapter 3 and verse 5, it says, "...mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." Oh, that one kind of can hit, right? It's interesting because in 1 Corinthians 5 when it's talking about people that can be cast out of the church or covetous or an idolatry, it kind of puts those two together or really close together anyway. But the idea there is that, you know what, covetousness is just like idolatry, it is, which is idolatry. So idolatry, if you think about idolizing things, you're coveting after things. You could have idolatry towards material things. Or even people, I mean, aren't people idols, like they have idols? And what are you doing? You're worshipping, if you will, or venerating somebody that's a person even. And so even if it's not, but you know what, just as much as they're worshipping this inanimate object and bowing down to it, you know what, people do that every day with houses, with cars, with different things like that to where, you know what, they're putting that above God, they're putting other gods before God. So something to be aware of. Bible also says that stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. So covetousness and stubbornness, you know what, those things are being linked with idolatry. So wherefore let him that think that he is an idolater – obviously there are things that would apply – this is a sign for me to shut it down – good thing I kind of already preached this last portion here. The last thing I want to say here is verse 23, because I want to read this passage here. I didn't even drink coffee. Verse 23, it says, 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. So what he's going to get here is that I have all kinds of freedom, I have liberty in Christ, you know what, I can do a lot more now than what they could do in the Old Testament because he's kind of free from all these carnal ordinances and all these different things, and you know what, everything's sanctified by the Word of God and prayer, you know, I can eat whatever I want. But what you have to understand is that instead of just seeking everything for yourself and everything being about you, you need to seek the wealth of others. Not seek their wealth like I want their money and their things. Seek their wealth, meaning that for their prosperity, for their good. And notice it says here in verse 25, for whatsoever is sold in the shambles that eat, asking no question for conscience' sake. So shambles is a term that we don't use this way, but it means like a slaughterhouse. If you look it up in the dictionary, it's going to be there. This isn't really archaic, it's just that someone probably said this place is in shambles and likened it onto a slaughterhouse, and then that term just got used so much that way that that's how we view it. That's pretty much I'm sure what happened with that word. It's kind of like when you're like, this place looked like a tornado, you know, went through here. This place looks, you know, and they would just describe it to somebody as that because a slaughterhouse is obviously going to be a little messy, right? But if you said this looks like a slaughterhouse in here, that would be intense, wouldn't it? So but that being said is that that's what we're dealing with here. It's basically saying, you know, if you buy something at the meat market, who cares? Like what, you know, where it came from, you know, just eat it, asking no question, right? Obviously I'm not saying that you can't ask whether it was grass fed or it's organic or they're pumping it full of steroids or something like that, okay? But what we're dealing with particularly here is dealing with, you know, is it like wrong to eat because of like idolatry? And notice what it says here in verse 26, for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. So it's basically like, you know what, you can eat whatever you want. It's not a big deal. Even if they did sacrifice them, the idols just don't ask about it. Verse 27, it says, if any of them that believe not bid you to a feast and you be disposed to go, whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question, for conscience' sake. But if any man saying to 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 judged of another man's conscience? For if by grace, for if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? Man, some of this is like tongue twister to say. Whether therefore you 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 mine own profit, but the profit of the many that they may be saved. So this is where you're not seeking your own but another man's wealth. You're not seeking your own profit, but someone else's profit, and you're basically putting aside your liberty. You're like, I know I can eat this. I know I can do this, but it's not for my sake that I'm not eating it. It's for their sake. And abstaining from all appearance of evil, that's why you do it. It's not to look super righteous. It's not to, you know, basically look at yourself and be like, man, I'm just so good. I'm just cutting myself off from all this stuff. You know, the reason you cut yourself off from things that you could eat or could do is because you're doing it for the other person. You're being selfless. Okay? And that's where charity comes in and the fact that, you know, it's not puffed up, it's vaunted by itself. And the idea there is that you're putting others above yourself, and that is the definition of meekness, you know, of putting others above you. And that's what Christ did. And that's what we need to emulate, and we need to think about that when it comes to our liberty. Even though we have tons of liberty as Christians, sometimes we need to, you know, step back and think about others, and getting people saved is the ultimate goal. In chapter 9, that's what he just got done saying. He said, I made all things all men that I might by all means save some. So if not eating something is going to get someone saved, then I'm not going to eat that. I mean, what's, you know, meats for the belly, the belly for the feet. It's kind of one of those things. It's like, you know, what's it matter? If I'm going to get someone saved, it's worth not eating bacon a little bit. And I know that's hard, okay, because I love bacon. But at the same time, you know, that's what we need to do to get people saved. We need to just kind of take a step back and, you know what, maybe suffer a little bit. So that we can, you know, win more people to Christ. But 1 Corinthians chapter 10, like I said, the thing that I normally think about when this chapter is those examples in the Old Testament, that rock was Christ, you know, the spiritual rock, and just those things dealing with how, you know, Jesus was there in the Old Testament. Jesus was there with them in the wilderness. And you know, how that is true throughout the Bible. But let's end with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for today. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the book of 1 Corinthians. I just pray that you be with us as we continue through the study. Help me to teach it rightly and help us to learn everything that we can learn so that we can use it for your glory. And Lord, we love you and pray also in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Everybody, they would come and sing one more song. And that will be dismissed. All right, song 389 in your song books, song 389, if you would stand, we'll sing Bring Them In, song 389. It is the shepherd's voice I hear out in the desert, dark and drear, calling the sheep who've gone astray far from the shepherd.