[Steve Myers] Welcome back to our next session in the epistles of Paul. We left off last time in 1 Corinthians 9. We didn't quite finish last time, so we're down to the very last verse in 1 Corinthians 9:27. As you recall, we had talked about the Isthmian Games. Of course, remember Corinth is on the Isthmian Peninsula, and so that's where that name comes from. And as he's describing these games and making these spiritual comparisons, he uses the race as that chief one that he talked about in Chapter 9. But as he closes out, he turns to one of the other events in the games. So let's take a look at what he writes. In verse 27 of 1 Corinthians 9, he says...well, maybe we better back up because he does actually say it in verse 26.

1 Corinthians 9:26 So he begins, "I run thus not with uncertainty," so I'm not running with uncertainty, as we talked about last time. Now he says, "Thus I fight. This is how I fight, not as one who beats the air."

So now he compares our Christian calling to another athletic event, and it's boxing. Boxing, not as one who beats the air. What would boxers do as they prepare? They do shadow boxing or they're using a punching bag. So it's not like I'm doing that, Paul says. What does he do instead? Instead of that.

1 Corinthians 9:27 "I discipline my body and bring it into subjection."

So there's that discipline word, which connects to being disciples, we're to be disciples of Jesus Christ. We're not just followers, but I suppose the athletic metaphor here is we are adherence, we are committed, we are self-control, all those things that go along with being a superior athlete. We are disciplined disciples. We're disciples. And this particular word is an interesting one that he uses that I discipline my body, I discipline my body. The word here is hupotasso. My marker's kind of wearing out here.

And this particular word is an interesting one because it connects to this whole imagery of athletics. The Greek word here literally means to be beaten black and blue. When he says, I discipline my body, yeah, he's willing to get bruised and beaten just like a boxer would get beat up when they're getting punched by their opponent. And literally Paul could say, yeah, he disciplines his body. Could he say that? What happened to the apostle Paul? Yeah, he was beaten with rods. He was stoned. Yeah, he was certainly persecuted in so many different ways. So he literally was beaten black and blue, but here he's using...so he could speak to this idea so he could identify with this. But as Christians, we have to be disciples who are willing to go to that extreme, like a boxer who just gets absolutely buffeted. Those difficulties should discipline us so that we are better disciples because if not, he says, these kinds of things can help us in our spiritual battle.

He says, "I discipline my body. Bring it into subjection." Well, what was happening in Corinth? There were all kinds of things that distracted people from being disciplined, from being spiritually disciplined. They had the whole aspects of prostitution and sex worship and food, and they were a merchandise center. And the whole thing that society was off the rails in Corinth, almost like our world today in many ways. And he's saying, no, I have to have self-control. I have to bring my thinking into subjection, my body into subjection in order to fulfill my calling. And he even says, "When I preach to others," he says, "I have to be careful because I myself could become disqualified." And so it kind of speaks to this idea of don't take things for granted, don't take anything for granted.

This individual who is then disqualified, still talking about the games, what would happen? They took that oath and said they would compete by the rules, and if they didn't, they were disqualified. Well, we have our rule book, and if we don't play by the rules, if we don't follow the rules, if we don't discipline ourselves to follow God's way, what happens to us? We could be disqualified as well. So that word for disapproved or discredited, some translations even say, I would be cast away. I would be cast away. This particular word is the word is adokimos. Adokimos is the real deal, is absolutely genuine is kind of the meaning behind this word, dokimos, but the adokimos means not genuine. I'm not the genuine article. In other words, I'm not a real Christian. I might claim to be, but if I don't discipline my body, if I don't obey the rules, if I don't follow the rules, then I'm disqualified. And I think he makes an important point here. This person, spiritually speaking, they're cut off from God. They're cut off from God and they've...well, what's the example in their life? Well, if they're not competing by the rules, God's rules, God's guidance, His commandments, well then they're just out there running by man's rules, a man's thinking. So you're cut off from God. You're back in this sinful world and you're like an unbeliever. That's what he's talking about here. You're basically rejecting God if you reject His guidance and His rules and His law.

And so he says, you don't want that. You don't want that. So there's this interesting connection here. He says, "We compete to receive the prize." Does he mean that we can earn that prize? No. We know the gift of God is eternal life. God gives us eternal life, so we can't qualify for it. But it's interesting here, we can be disqualified. So even though we can't qualify for eternal life, it has to be given to us. Yes, we have to compete by the rules. Yes, we have to follow God's will. Yes, we have to overcome and put on the character of Christ, all of those things, certainly. But God gives us eternal life. Here in this scenario, he tells us it's possible to disqualify ourselves. And so that's the important part.

And just to remind ourselves, if we take a look at Colossians for just a moment, notice what Paul writes here, probably has that same thought in mind, expresses it a little differently here in Colossians 1. As he begins this letter to those in Colossae, he reminds everyone where ultimately our strength comes from, where our support is and how eternal life is even possible in...where should we start?

Colossians 1:10 He says, "Walk worthy of the Lord fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." Okay, that's kind of like what he wrote to the Corinthians, run, run this race. You're called to this race. Run away from evil, pursue good. That's what he's saying, yeah. This time he uses that idea of walking worthy. Do you remember the phrase that we connected with walking worthy? That walk has to do with your Christian life, your lifestyle, your life choices. The way you live your life is your walk. And so how do we do this?

Colossians 1:11-12 He says, "Continue in these things," verse 11, "strengthened with all might according to His glorious power for all patience and long suffering with joy. God will give us what we need to overcome and grow." Then he also says in verse 12, "Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light."

So he makes that point, even though we can't qualify for eternal life, that comes as a gift from God, it comes from the Father. The Father qualifies us for eternal life. And so just imagine that scenario. Here's the apostle Paul saying with everything that he's done...and we've rehearsed some of those things as we've talked about Paul's life and what he went through and his dedication and his preaching and the sacrifices that he went through, can you imagine this? If Paul could become disqualified and he's writing to that very point, what does that tell us? Well, maybe that's something I'd better take a little bit more seriously. I mean, that's something I should be concerned about the direction of my life. And so Paul certainly reminds us of that very fact as he reminds himself, he himself could become disqualified if he doesn't...well, if he doesn't what? If he doesn't keep fighting that fight. If he doesn't keep running that spiritual race. If he doesn't put that spiritual muscle memory to work with praying and studying and fasting and drawing closer to God and putting on the character traits of Christ, yeah, then he could become disqualified. And so it certainly serves us all well to keep that in mind as we've been called to this awesome race, but not to forget God's going to give us what we need to really win that race. Okay.

So head back then to 1 Corinthians and we'll continue on from there in Chapter 10. Chapter 10. Now remember Paul's writing to the Corinthians. He's going to correct different issues, talk about some of the concerns that they had had, answer questions that they had written about on some of the issues that had been reported back to him as well. And you can't help but think as he begins Chapter 10, he's kind of pivoting a little bit here to address another issue to remind them about. Let's notice what that is in Chapter 10:1.

1 Corinthians 10:1 He says, "Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea."

So he is reminding them a little bit of history, right? Well, who passed through the sea? Who was under the cloud? Well, kind of interesting, the Corinthians probably mainly a gentile church. Would every one of them have been totally informed about what those Israelites went through as they came out of Egypt?

Well, he says, I want to make you aware of this. Some translations say, I don't want you to be ignorant, really, or say it in a positive way, I really want you to understand this, or here's the facts. The facts are the Israelites were under the cloud. And of course, probably going all the way back to Abraham, our spiritual father is maybe a thought that he has here, all the fathers went under the cloud and passed through the sea. And so he's making some points here as he talks about, okay, under the cloud, our fathers were under the cloud. What was that cloud? Well, it was the presence of God. God's presence was there with them. So being under the cloud, they're under God's guidance, I think you could say. They were in God's presence and it says they passed through the sea. So that automatically takes us back to the exodus where the Israelites were coming out of Egypt, leaving slavery behind.

1 Corinthians 10:2 Says, "They were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea."

So Paul loves to use these different metaphors. Got done using athletics. Now let's talk about history and use their experience to connect us to our calling, to our spiritual calling. So they were under the cloud, they passed through the sea. That was like baptism, like baptism, a symbolic burial. I mean they literally weren't under the sea, were they? No. The sea split apart and they walked through, dry land was what they walked on, but symbolically it was like baptism. They left Egypt. What was Egypt symbolic of? Sin, symbolic of the world we're called out of. Yea, and so they left that, and it says they were baptized into Moses. So that helps us to recognize, no, that's different than our spiritual calling.

Also interesting too, baptized into Moses, was that the end of the journey? No, they were just getting started, right? They were just starting. So that's a good point for us as well. In our spiritual journey, baptism isn't the end. It's really just the beginning. It's the beginning of our spiritual journey. It's the beginning of that spiritual race. That was the beginning of them leaving the sin of Egypt toward the promised land was where they were heading. So even for us, we can recognize that very fact that baptism is not the end of the journey. It's really one of the first spiritual steps along the way. Continuing that connection there, look at verse 4.

1 Corinthians 10:4 It says, "All drank from the same spiritual drink."

They had spiritual food in verse 3. What was the food that they were given? Manna. That's right. Good old what's it, right? What is this stuff anyway? I don't know. It's manna. So they were given food, interesting that he connects that to spiritual food. And then he says spiritual drink, they all drank the same spiritual drink. Well, what would that be? Because they really weren't spiritual. I mean most of 'em never had God's spirit. So in a sense, how does that fit then if they ate spiritual food and they drank spiritual drank? That's where Paul has to explain that a little bit. He says, "They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ."

So Christ's presence was there and it would be like eating and drinking. When you're in the presence of God, you take it in and God protected them and watched over them. And that in a sense you could almost connect that spiritual drink. What do you drink? Oftentimes you're thirsty, you drink water. Water many times in the Bible is connected to God's spirit and there are times through their journey, yeah, water was coming out of rocks. Exodus 17 talks about water coming out of a rock. And so here we see this connection from the example of the Israelites to us, that it was Christ that was there guiding them, leading them, directing them, that he is that spiritual rock. He is the one that gave them drink and gave them something to eat.

And it's really clear here in 1 Corinthians 10:4, who was the God that interacted with the Israelites as they were coming out of Egypt? That was the God who mainly interacted with them throughout the Old Testament. Well, it says that rock was Christ. And so the manna that they ate, the water that they drank was a type of the spiritual bread of Christ, the spiritual drink to come, the Holy Spirit. Those things all fit together to show the spiritual side of things. And so we could certainly say that Jesus Christ was that rock. He was the God that interacted with ancient Israel. And there are those who would try to disagree with that and say, well, no, no, no, that wasn't Christ with the Israelites. That had to be the Father who was interacting with them in the Old Testament.

So when you think about that, can we verify one way or the other what God this is talking about? Is it talking about the Father or is it talking about Christ? Well, I think we could compare some different passages and it becomes much clearer when we look at those other references. And there are many, I won't take a lot of time to do this, but it's interesting. This points to Christ, seems evident, but some argue with that. So let's take a look in the Old Testament for just a moment and verify this one way or another. We could begin by looking back, if you hold your place in 1 Corinthians 10, go back to Numbers 14.

In Numbers 14, we find a reference here that connects with the passage that we were just reading. In Numbers 14, we can see this in...well, let's see, where should we pick it up? I suppose we could pick it up in verse 11 just to give it a little context. Numbers 14:11, God talks about obeying him and the people need to obey Him, His people, the Israelites need to obey Him. And it says in verse 11.

Number 14:11 "The Lord said to Moses, 'How long will these people reject me?'"

So the Lord here, the Lord that's mentioned here is the all caps, LORD. And what does that signify? The YHVH or the YHWH, the Tetragrammaton. This is the eternal, the covenant name for God that's mentioned here. So this Lord said to Moses, so is this the Father? Does YHVH, YHWH always refer to the Father? No, no. Here's a good example that points that out. Let's notice what it says.

Numbers 14:12-14 So what does he say? "If they're going to keep disobeying," verse 12, "I'll strike them with pestilence and disinherit them. I'll make you a nation greater and mightier." Then Moses says, "Well, the Egyptians will hear it that you brought the people up and they'll tell the inhabitants of this land," verse 14, "they have heard that you Lord..." there's that same reference, the Tetragrammaton once again. "That you Lord are among these people,that you Lord are seen face to face, and your cloud stands above them, and you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night."

Becomes pretty clear that rock that followed them, that spiritual drink, that spiritual rock, that their fathers were under the cloud, what God was with them. Numbers makes it pretty clear. This Lord, this YHWH, that being was the one who became Jesus Christ. So that connects those two thoughts with the pillar with 1 Corinthians 10, as well as I think we can at least make one other connection. If we go over to Judges, go to the book of Judges 2 for just a moment, and here we'll find another example that connects that scenario together. So if you go to the beginning of the book of Judges, Judges 2, we'll find an example here, right at the very beginning of that chapter. Judges 2:1, interesting connection here in Judges 2:1 pointing out Christ as the rock in the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire, not only followed the Israelites, but also led the Israelites.

Judges 2:1 It says, "The angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim and said..." What is the angel of the Lord? Now this is the angel, the malach is the Hebrew word there, the messenger of Yahweh. There's that covenant name for God once again. So this is the angel of Yahweh. The angel of the Lord said what? "I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers. And I said, I'll never break my covenant with you."

And so here we have the angel of Yahweh being the one who led them, and how did he lead them? He led them from Egypt. So interesting connection here that we have Yahweh mentioned as the one in the cloud, Christ mentioned as that in Chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians, and another name for the word for the one who had become Christ, the angel of the Lord, all pointing to the same being, all pointing to the same being because we have the connection of what's the experience, what's the scenario? It's leaving Egypt, it's going through the Red Sea, it's being under the cloud. All those are connecting the very same individual. And of course the interesting part of that is it also then connects us to the experience of the rock. Remember that was part of the reference there in 1 Corinthians 10, that rock was Christ, the spiritual rock. It was Christ the rock.

Now, we can verify that if we go over to Isaiah, and it's interesting when you put these different passages together, you can't come to the conclusion that this is somehow the Father. Certainly sometimes the designation of the Lord, the YHWH does refer to the Father, but by the context, we can separate that out to see whether or not it's referring to the Father or referring to Christ. And so that's why I think it's important to remember, and sometimes we forget this, that when we read about God, especially in the Old Testament, when we read about God, remember God is a kind of being, just don't think when it says God or it says the Lord that that must be the Father. No, God is a kind of being, that's showing a divine being. It could be talking about the one who became the Father. It could be talking about the word, the one who became Jesus Christ. We know that by the context because it's referring to either one of them. A good example of that is when we go back to Genesis where it talks about, "Let us make man in our image." There's more than one God. More than one God. So who are we talking about?

Well, here in Isaiah, if you've got over to Isaiah...I'm talking and not turning. So Isaiah 8, let's see where we should pick it up here, verse 13. Isaiah 8:13, here we have Isaiah recording for us interesting connection between these different passages here.

Isaiah 8:13-14 Notice he starts out, "The LORD of hosts," and there's that all caps. It's the Tetragrammaton, it's Yahweh, once again. He says, "The LORD of hosts, the LORD of angelic armies," it says, "Him you shall hallow. Let Him be your fear. Let Him be your dread." Then verse 14, he says, "He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of a fence to both the houses of Israel as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem."

So what do we have here? Okay, we've got the Lord being mentioned. We've got the rock being mentioned all in one area here, and that it's not just any rock, it's a rock of offense. The people are going to be offended by this rock. And so when we put these various passages together, it is interesting how it does come clear.

Take a look at Acts 4, and here we can see these different concepts all coming together here in Acts 4. Of course, here we are at the beginning of the New Testament church, and here at the beginning of the church in Acts 4, notice here they're preaching, they're teaching the disciples. Now, apostles are preaching, they're teaching the way, and as they're instructing the people...let's see where we pick it up, down in verse 9. Here we've got a man being healed by the disciples here and interesting that they're taken and criticized for that. And we see in verse 9.

Acts 4:9-11 They say, "If we this day are judged for a good deeded done to help a helpless man by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead by Him, this man stands here before you whole." The focal point is Christ. It's by His power, right? By His name, by His name, this man is here. Well, who is Christ? Well, they explain, verse 11, "This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone, nor is there salvation and any other. There's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

And so here we see Christ is the cornerstone. He is the rock. He is the one that they stumbled over. Isaiah 8 connects here with Acts, which connects back with 1 Corinthians 10:4. The rock that was with them was Christ. He is the angel of the Lord. He led them and brought them up out of Egypt. And so it's undeniable to say that that refers to the Father. Well, then you're saying scripture disagrees with itself. It contradicts itself. Well, it doesn't.

When you put 'em all together, you could see very clearly that the rock was Christ. Paul got it right. Christ was with them, leading them, guiding them, and they drank from that spiritual rock. That doesn't mean the Father wasn't there, that he had no connection with the Israel. No, that's not the case either. We can save some of that for another day. But there's no doubt that when we're talking about that God that interacted with Israel as they came out of Egypt, that was the one who became Jesus Christ. There's many, many more passages that we could connect, even just with that sense of what the rock is all about throughout the Old Testament as well that continue to point that way. I mean all the way back to Genesis, the stone of Israel. It talks about all the way back in Genesis 49. And so there's some pretty cool connections there. If you ever want to do a study on that, you could just pull out the word rock or the stone and connect those different things, and the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire and how that connects to Christ as well. It's really kind of an interesting study.

Okay, so let's head back then to 1 Corinthians 10, and we'll pick it up there as they drank from that rock, which was Christ. Oh yeah, there's one other thing we're not quite done with yet that's also kind of a cool connection here, but saving it up for a verse or two down the line here. Let's take a look at verse 5.

1 Corinthians 10:5-6 It says, "But with most of them..." Who's them? Most of the Israelites, "God was not well pleased for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness." You remember the story. They disobeyed God, they wouldn't follow. They died in the wilderness. They didn't enter the promised land. Verse 6, "now these things became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted."

And so you could see why this would apply to the Corinthians. Talk about challenges in Corinth, that would certainly have been a difficulty. I mean, they're just surrounded by just this perverse society all around them. Well, don't get caught up in that. Don't be like the Israelites. They are an example for us.

And in this way, I think it's interesting to think of them as, well, what kind of example were? They were a bad example. Could they be a good bad example? Can you think of it in those terms? They were a good bad example. Can we take their experience and get some good out of it? Yeah, they're the epitome of a bad example when it comes to following God. So they're a good example for us to recognize, all right, learn from this. It's always good if you can order your life to learn from other people's mistakes. Some of us have older siblings that went before us. Keep an eye on what happened to them and don't repeat it if you want to stay out of trouble, right? Some of us looking at our sisters or others. Yeah. Can you learn from or do you have to be the kind of person that says, "Well, I have to experience myself in order to learn something?" Boy, that's going to be a tough life if that's the way it is.

You don't have to learn the hard way. You don't have to learn...That's part of what Paul's getting at. Don't go after what you shouldn't have, what you shouldn't even want, and try to learn from somebody else's example. If we can learn from someone else's example, we can profit and benefit from that. And so he talks about what they did all the way back to idolatry and worshiping the golden calf. He says that in verse 7.

1 Corinthians 10:7 "Don't become idolaters as some of them." As it's written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play."

Yeah, he's not talking about getting out your Hot Wheels cars and playing and...no, not that kind of play. Yeah. What kind of idolatry would the Corinthians have been involved in? Well, we talked about the meat offered to idols. We talked about the sex worship that was so prevalent in Corinth, the prostitution as well, all of those things. Well, that was the story of the golden calf. That's what they were doing. Yeah, not only worshiping idols, but doing that kind of thing with the prostitution and the sex worship was all involved.

So Exodus 32, you can read all about that back then. And so he says, yeah, let's not be like that. Let's not commit sexual immorality. There's that word pornea. Remember that word, pornea? All kinds of sorts of sexual impropriety there, he says. One day it says 23,000 fell, 23,000. So here you have this sexual unfaithfulness connected to spiritual unfaithfulness. What's this referring to? This takes us all the way back to Numbers 25. Numbers 25. In fact, maybe we could turn there for a moment really quickly. Hold your place here in 1 Corinthians 9. So this is taking us all the way back to Israel after they've come out of Egypt. Numbers 25 tells this story. It reminds us of what Paul's talking about, talking about sexual morality and the penalty that came along with us. Numbers 25 describes the Moabites influence the Israelites, and what happened to them? Well, it becomes pretty clear what their behavior became. Here they're at Acacia Grove at Shittti, and verse 1.

Numbers 25:1 "They began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab."

But it wasn't just harlotry. How's this connect to Corinth? They invited people to the sacrifices of their gods and the people ate and bowed down to their god. There's that connection, meat offered to idols, connecting with the sacrificial offerings to idols. I can become...or this god can become part of me if I eat these. That seems to be part of this as well.

Numbers 25:3 "Israel was joined to Baal of Peor and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel." And so what happens? We see the consequences of their sin. And so we see it says, "Take the leaders and kill his men that were joined to Baal of Peor."

And so that's exactly what they did. And so they started killing them. And then this highlights the example of Phinehas, the son of the priest, Eleazar.

Numbers 25:8 "He went into the tent and thrust two people through with a spear," verse 8, "and the plague was stopped among the children of Israel." And so here we have that event referred to here in Numbers 25.

So worshiping the god of the Moabites and interesting that that is connected then to the Corinthians as well. So he says, wow, 23,000 fell is what Paul refers to. Maybe I'll just make a quick note because if you kept reading here, it says 24,000 died in the plague. Well, how is that? Is that a disconnect between what Paul says, 23,000, and this says 24,000? No. Talking about the same numbers. Paul says, this is how many died in one day. So in one day, 23,000 died. But overall, how many died? In the complete plague, there were 24,000. So that explains the difference between those two references. So maybe we head back to Corinth for a moment then. So he says, don't do that. Learn from their bad example, learn from their bad example. Let's not get involved in that way.

Now, here's the interesting part that connects this together as well with verse 4. Remember verse 4 said that rock was Christ. We looked at the rock back in Isaiah 8. We looked at the rock back in Numbers as well. In Numbers 14, in Judges 2, that rock, that stumbling stone was Christ. Here's another great example.

1 Corinthians 10:8-9 After saying, "Don't commit sexual immorality as they did," verse 9, "nor let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents."

So who was the God that was with ancient Israel? Who was the God that was leading them? Was it the Father or was it Jesus Christ, the one who became Christ that was leading them, that was interacting with them? Well, here he says, "Let's not tempt Christ as some of them tempted and were destroyed by serpents." All right, what story is that referring to?

Well, that takes us back to numbers 21. Numbers 21 is the example that this one refers to. And it's interesting that it becomes very clear in Numbers 21 that they were caught up in this false worship. It says...let's see, where should we pick it up here? Verse 5. The people were not happy with Moses.

Numbers 21:5-6 "They spoke against God and against Moses, 'Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There's no food or water and our soul loathes this worthless bread.'" So they're complaining about miraculous bread from God. They're complaining against God. They're complaining against Moses. Not a smart thing. There's a bad example. So what happens? "The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people. Many of the people of Israel died."

So serpents are sent among the people and they die. Moses then is told to make a fiery serpent, put it on the end of the pole, and when they look to this bronze serpent, then they will be saved and they'll live. And so then that ultimately stays the plague of these snakes. Now, the interesting part of this is as we look at this, who sent fiery serpents among the people? What's it say in verse 6? The Lord, the YHWH, Yahweh sent them. And what does 1 Corinthians 10:9 tell us? They were tempting Christ. They were tempting Christ. Christ was the one with them leading them. And so it makes it so clear. So if you held your place there, if you head back to 1 Corinthians 10:9.

1 Corinthians 10:9 And so he says, "Let's not tempt Christ as some of them also tempted."

Hard to dissociate those two things. Who were they tempting? They were tempting Christ. We can't do that like they did and they were destroyed by serpents. So they were testing and tempting the God that was with them in the cloud. That was the rock, those references. Boy, it's undeniable to connect that to Christ. They tempted Christ. So Paul makes that point. We can't do that. Don't do that. Going on from there, if you're back in 1 Corinthians 10:10.

1 Corinthians 10:10 "So don't tempt Christ, they were destroyed by serpents, nor complain as some of them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer."

So that's the complaining, not just simple complaining, but it ties in with the murmuring and griping and grumbling and whining and the whole thing. That stirred up bigger problems with more people then. And so he says, we can't do that. That idea of discontent. Boy, somebody starts whining and complaining about here the leadership, not only the leadership of Moses, but they were complaining about the leadership of God Himself. And boy, we can't do that. We can't do that. He says that discontent is what led to their destruction. And so the lesson then, not only for Corinth but for us, look at verse 11.

1 Corinthians 10:11"Now, all these things happen to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come."

So it's not just a record of what happened, it's not just, well, for those that would come along immediately after that timeframe, it's not written for the time, only of the time when the disciples walk to earth. It's not just, oh, he says here pretty plainly, it's for us. It's for us, "Upon whom the ends of the ages have come." That positions the timeframe to where we are today. So what do we learn from all this? Well, remember the Corinthians were gifted people and they thought they had their spiritual state in the ultimate condition.

1 Corinthians 10:12 But Paul says in verse 12, "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heeded lest he fall."

Lest he fall. And so that's where they were at. So you better be careful. You better be careful about these things. You think you're in good spiritual condition, but watch out, he says, watch out.

1 Corinthians 10:13 He says, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man."

We all deal with similar things, different situations, different circumstances, but similar difficulties that other people have suffered through, have struggled with. But whatever it is we may be tempted by, whatever it is that we may struggle with, Paul makes the point, God is faithful. God's not going anywhere. He's going to be there for us. And so he says, "God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it."

So what we begin to see here is an important point that he makes, difficulty, a temptation of itself. Is that sinful? Is that something that's unique to us? He says, no, no. Sometimes it's our own desire. Sometimes we're being tempted, enticed by Satan. Sure, no doubt about that. Sometimes we're just going through difficulties. We're just going through a trial. Life has presented itself to us and there's some roadblock. There's some difficulty. We're having trouble running our race. We're having trouble being consistent as God's people. Is that something unusual? He says, that's life, but God's faithful. God can help us through those things. Where do we turn during those circumstances? Do we turn to God? Do we seek help from him? Well, he says God won't allow us to be tempted beyond what we're able. But sometimes it may seem that way, may seem that way.

Sometimes God has more confidence in us than we may have in ourselves. And I think we have to take this verse to heart that God's going to be with us, whatever the difficulty, whatever the trial, whatever the temptation. He also gives us a promise here, it says, "He'll also make the way of escape." He'll make the way of escape. So God promises to give us a way out. It's interesting that oftentimes we think of that as God's going to remove the temptation or he's going to remove this trial. Or maybe it's a physical thing. Maybe I'm suffering with a physical ailment. God's going to automatically heal me. Could that happen? Yeah, he might take it away that way. He might make a way of escape in that way. But is that the whole promise here?

He says He won't tempt us more than we're able. When we turn to God, we are competent. We are in a situation that we can overcome the trials and the difficulties and the temptation. He says he will make a way of escape. He is faithful. So we have a promise that God will give us that way. But he also says part of the way of escape, he says, is that you may be able to bear it, which I think speaks to the idea that sometimes it's...maybe it's like a hurricane. You know the hurricane's coming. You're going to go through a terrible storm. Life can bring some terrible storms. Sometimes before the hurricane gets there, it veers off and goes in another direction. You could say, wow, God made a way of escape. He removed the storm completely. He took the trial away. He healed me. He solved my issues. Yeah, we could say that, He was faithful in that.

But the challenge is sometimes the hurricane doesn't go a different direction. Sometimes it comes right over us and we're in the eye of the storm and we get both sides of the hurricane, both when it's on its way and when it's leaving. Terrible, terrible storm. How is that fulfilled in this verse then? You see what He tells us then, He's faithful that sometimes you may go through the storm, you may go right through the eye of the storm, but God's faithful to give us the strength, as He says here, that you may be able to bear it. So to pray that God just removes a struggle, removes a trial, heals us every...well, He's not going to heal us every time, is He? No, because we're physical beings. We're going to die. If God healed us every time we prayed about it, well, we'd never die and why would we need eternal life? That's not going to happen.

But will He give us the strength to get through whatever the trial may be? That's where we can take that promise to the bank. Yes, mankind has gone all through difficult situations and challenges over the ages. The fact is God is faithful. We can trust Him no matter what, that even if He doesn't take away the trial or fix the issue that we're dealing with, He will give us the strength we need that we're able to bear it. So we can pray in that regard that God...pray that you take this away, but if not, give me the strength, give me the strength to bear this because that you have promised to do. And so we can take that promise to the bank that even though the storm may pass right over us, God's promise to be trustworthy and faithful and will be with us no matter what. And so what a blessing we have that God is faithful.