We’re going to be in Corinthians again, continuing on there. Corinthians chapter 10, verses 1 through 13.

Corinthians chapter 10, verses 1 through 13.

Jonathan Edwards, I guess Jonathan Edwards, if you don’t know who he is, he’s considered kind of the greatest theologian in American history, which doesn’t go back that far. But Jonathan Edwards wrote the sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. It’s said he didn’t even look up once, he just read the thing and just walked out of the building. Jonathan Edwards. Edwards, you know, is responsible for kind of the beginning of the Great Awakening in America in that revival era. So he’s just a mighty man of God, and I love anything he writes. And Jonathan Edwards once wrote, we are free to choose, but we are always a slave to our greatest desire.

We’re free to choose, but we are always a slave to our greatest desire. And as we’ve been talking, talking about the Corinthians, there’s what’s right, there’s what’s godly, there’s what they know is right, and then there is so often what they desire. And Paul’s again writing this letter to say, alright guys, we’re wrong here, we’re wrong here, we’re wrong here, we’re really wrong here, you guys have got this wrong. And so we’ve been walking through that. And what Paul is writing to them tonight is about desire. You know, it’s not enough to just say we are a thing, to say we are a church, to say, again, we outwardly identify, do we really desire God? Will my will, what I choose, line up with what God desires for me? Do you desire, really, more than anything, God? That’s the question.

He says in verse 1, For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Never. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. So this is the first of three times in this passage where Paul says in different ways, I’m trying to tell you something by way of reminder, and it would be really important if you paid attention. He says, I don’t want you to be unaware about this. He says again in verse 6 and verse 11, I’m writing these things for your instruction. The things that I’m talking about that happened a long time ago, it’s written down for you. So it’s really important, Paul says, think about this, pay attention. And here’s what he wants them to really take note of. He says, all, all of our fathers, that’s his Jewish heritage, all the people of God in the Old Testament who came up out of slavery in Egypt. He says they were all under the cloud. They all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

What does Paul mean by that? He means that all of them, as God saved them out of slavery in Egypt, and maybe like the old Charlton Heston movie or cartoon versions of Moses leading the people out of slavery. He’s saying they all experienced God in a really mighty and powerful way. We learn in Exodus that as they were going up out of Egypt, there was a pillar of cloud by day and that would block them from the sun and also lead them to where they were supposed to go. And there was also at the same time when it became night, that pillar of cloud became fire to light the way for them. So God was always with them by cloud in the day and by fire at night. And all of them experienced in Saul when God would lead them into one place, the cloud would descend on the tabernacle and they were not supposed to stay. But as soon as the cloud would lift, that meant, okay, God’s ready to lead us somewhere else. We read in Exodus 14 that as they’re going through the Red Sea and it parts, that the cloud went behind them and held off the Egyptian army so that the Israelites could pass through. And then, of course, the cloud moved and the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea. What did they experience, all of them? They all experienced the presence of God, the power of God, the love of God, the leadership of God, and they experienced it in an explicit way.

When you think if you experience that, you would say God has exposed to us, who He is and what He’s like. He’s shown us how much He loves us. He’s shown us how great He is. He’s shown us how worthy He is. So much so that Paul can go on and say they were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Now, baptism, that’s an intimate term. Because if you’re baptized, it means you’re initiated into something. You’re now identified with something. So as God’s man led them up out of slavery, out of Egypt, to the promised land, as they went, they were identified as God’s people. They were baptized in this way. Their going through these experiences showed them to be God’s unique people. It was an outward proof of that.

He goes on to say, and they all ate the same spiritual food,

verse 4, and they all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

Now that’s amazing, because when we think about the Old Testament, we think about God in general. Like God’s doing this stuff. And it’s not until the New Testament and Jesus starts walking around, we get a clear picture of who God’s Son is and what He’s doing. And this is amazing, because He’s pointing us all the way back and saying all the way back there, where God was explicitly preaching the Gospel even to His people in the wilderness, because it was not just God in general, it was Christ leading them. It was Christ guiding them. It was Christ providing for them. Jude tells us that in his book as well. But here we read, when they drank from the rock, Rephidim, when Moses hits the rock and the water comes out, Paul’s being really clear they weren’t just getting some blessing from God, they were having, having for their water, the source was Christ. It was Jesus there with them. It was Jesus meeting their needs. In an obvious, explicit, unique way. And he says it’s the same spiritual food and the same spiritual drink. So in this unique dispensation way back then, he’s saying as you and I take communion today, and when we see the cup and we see the bread, and in those visible signs, there’s this invisible reality that there’s this spiritual kind of understanding that Jesus is my food, Jesus is my drink. He’s saying it wasn’t any different for them. Christ was being communicated to them through their baptism back then. Christ was being communicated to them through God’s physical provision so they could see a spiritual reality.

Yet, verse 5, nevertheless, nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Or you could translate that, they were laid low. You could translate that, they were struck dead. You could translate that, they were cut down. You could translate that, their bodies were scattered. And that’s what God says in Deuteronomy. He says, because you’re so wicked, none of you will come into the promised land. Your children will, you won’t. And God says multiple times, your body shall fall dead in the wilderness.

So I want to say to us this evening, if we really desire God, really, we want to know God, we need to see, we need to understand the potential blessings and also the potential danger of being exposed to this great God.

Is it enough to be baptized?

Is it enough for us to be baptized? Is it enough for us to take communion? Is it even enough for us to make a verbal, outward profession of faith?

I think the answer here is resoundingly no. They were exposed to these things. They did these outward signs. They participated. But it didn’t save them. Those things didn’t keep them. They failed to see and savor the spiritual reality of God. Even Christ Himself. They failed to see God at work saving their souls through these signs.

So why do we take communion as a church? Well, because Christians are supposed to. Nope. Why do we get baptized? Well, that’s like our version of hazing, I guess. We’re just supposed to do that, put people underwater. I don’t know.

Friends, we take communion because we’re supposed to do that. We believe that Christ has come to be the spiritual food and spiritual drink to give us eternal life. The physical sign is a blessed gift to show me the spiritual reality. When someone is baptized, it is them saying by faith, I have been crucified with Christ. I’ve been buried with Him. And in the Spirit, I have been resurrected to brand new life. And I’m clean. I was dirty, but Jesus died to all my spiritual dirt. And now, I am in Jesus a brand new thing. I don’t just make a vocal profession of faith because, well, that’s what they told me to do to be saved. It’s because it’s what’s happening in my heart.

And you could say the same with other things. Do Christians go to church because they’re supposed to go to church? No. Christians go to church to meet with their God. Well, Christians pray because they’re supposed to pray. No. I pray because I want to know and be with this Christ. Christians read the Bible, because you’re supposed to read the Bible? No. Because the Bible is the conduit through which I know more about Christ. So the question is always, does my heart long to be identified with this God who longs to be identified with me through His Son, Jesus? The visible Son speaks of the spiritual reality. And when you and I embrace the spiritual sign, the spiritual sign, the visible reality communicates the wonder of that spiritual reality to us. It’s what it does. It’s a grace to you and me. God’s design and desire is to not communicate religion to you. It’s not to communicate a bunch of rules to you. God’s design and desire all the way back in the Old Testament, and Paul’s made it so clear here when he mentions Christ, and obviously the New Testament makes it so clear God wants to communicate one thing to every human being, and it’s just Jesus. That’s what God is communicating. Is that what you’re seeing? Is that what you’re hearing? Because here’s the thing. If you come to Christianity for the outward signs, I just want to go to church and I’ll say the thing and I’ll take communion, whatever. That’s what you call behavior modification.

You can do a great number of things that seem right, you can do a great number of things that appear to make you part of the church really or part of Israel back then, but the outward signs for that person are a show. The only way for my behavior to be modified in such a way that it’s pleasing behavior is for it to start with the heart. It’s for God to get a hold of my heart and soul and transform it into the image of Christ and then my behavior changes in a way that’s meaningful. Then I’m not going to be a Christian. I’m not just forcing myself to do what I don’t want to do. Christ has transformed my soul so that I’m doing what He wants me to do and that’s also my desire. That’s where the will and desire become one thing as we talked about in the beginning. So real discipleship then must be spiritual discipleship. It must be God getting a hold of your heart. God’s never pleased with shows of religion, is He? We can make it as fancy as we want to make it. Well, you can make it as rigorous as you want to make it. Well, if you prayed 10 hours a day and you starved yourself and you never had one nice thing and you try to keep all these rules and do all this stuff, is God in heaven like, yes? No. Because there’s only one person that pleases the Father. There’s just one person that pleases the Father. There’s only one life that’s added up to the holiness and righteousness of God. You know who I’m going to say?

It’s Jesus. So friends, if you and I are not in Christ, if the Spirit of Christ is not filling us, we are apart from God.

So don’t get stuck on external shows. Don’t get stuck on what I think I’ve got to do to keep God happy. Only Jesus has made God happy. So receive Christ by faith and then you will be at peace with God. Then you will truly be at peace with God. Then you will truly be a part of His family, truly a part of His church. Then Christ will be God’s presence, power, leadership, food, drink, and your life. See the difference between religion and being religious and knowing Christ? That’s why Jesus said when He was on earth, He said, if anybody would come to Me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. That’s why Jesus said to the woman who had been with five men and the man who had been with five women, and the man she was with wasn’t her husband, He can say to her, if you would just ask Me, I would give you a drink of My water and you would never thirst again. Because it’s eternal, living water.

Christ, then, you see, is the only rock on which to build your life. Christ is the only one on which to build your family. Christ is the only thing that lasts. There’s no substitute for that.

So that’s the blessing, as I said. But what’s the danger? The danger is the same thing in the beginning when I have that exposure to God. I have exposure to His presence. I have exposure to His power. I have exposure to His love. I’ve been told it all. I’ve seen it all. Just like there were so many Israelites who had experienced God the same way that a handful of Israelites did that really trusted and had faith in God. They all had experienced God in the same way. Yet after having experienced, the explicit testimony about God to them, it says they fell dead. They fell dead. It says with them, God was not pleased. They were spiritual slaves in Egypt. And Christ had come to bring them up out of that spiritual slavery. So their physical salvation from slavery, there is again, it’s a sign showing us what? Christ is saving you from your sin, from your sin. From your bondage and slavery to sin and the devil. But they said, no. I don’t want it. I’m not living for it. There’s nothing more dangerous, friends, than having knowledge of God and rejecting that knowledge. There’s nothing worse than knowing who Christ is really, knowing what it means to follow God, knowing you should do it, and saying, no. I’ll have an arm’s length relationship with God. He says, brothers, don’t be unaware. They had the same exposure to God’s salvation as you did. And yet at the very same time, God was unhappy with them because they did not come believing on Christ. They fell dead. So it’s not about what you need to do to please God. It’s about what we need to do to see Jesus and Jesus alone has done everything to already please God.

And there’s no work of religion, religion that you and I can do to make God happy. We can only surrender to His Son, Jesus.

And I do want you to think about how explicit, how explicit is God in Christ for you now on this side of the cross? I know His name. Jesus. That’s going to be His name forever. They didn’t know that. I have this thing called the Bible, and I can read the whole story of His life and His death and His resurrection, and I see Jesus breaking the bread of the disciples, and I see Jesus baptizing, and I see the New Testament church baptizing, and I even have the end. I can go all the way to Revelation and I can read about how Jesus is going to come back and He’s going to cut all His enemies’ heads off. I can see crystal clear how great and how wonderful Jesus really is. How much more responsible are we for having the blessed knowledge of all that? And say, nah.

In Revelation, at the beginning, Jesus comes to the church in Ephesus and He says, I have this against you. You’ve lost your love for Me. You’ve lost your love for Me. You’re going through the motions of religion. And with that, Christ was not pleased. I want to ask you that question then tonight. Do you know really that Jesus is King? Do you know that Jesus is King? Do you know that Jesus deserves Do you know really that Jesus is King? Do you know really that Jesus deserves and demands your full surrender? That you’re just living in cruise control? You’re living for yourself? You’re not letting Jesus lead? You’re not living in the love of Christ? Friends, Jesus calls us out in this passage and says, don’t be unaware. Don’t be unaware. Christ is the greatest blessing to us when we come to Him and feast and drink on Him. But God’s a just God. And so if we have not been found righteous, and clean in Jesus, Jesus will be a great terror and dread to us on Judgment Day. Christ will be every judge of every soul. And what dread and terror it will be on the last day to be found outside of Christ when Jesus judges the whole world. So believe in Jesus.

Pray, if you’re a Christian and you know Christ, pray for fresh love. Pray for fresh faith. Pray for a stirring and an awakening in your soul. Use every advantage and means that God gives you. Right? The Word of God is an advantage to you to see and know God, to let God speak to you. The community of the local church, it is an advantage that God has given you to keep you and grow you. The preaching of God’s Word is a means and a tool God uses to keep you and grow you. Making communion. That’s something God tells us to do as the church because in that visible sign, I’m constantly brought back to the place of faith and believing in the spiritual reality that Jesus is my food and Jesus is my drink.

Second thing, we desire God. We need to see the great danger of living in constant exposure to evil. Constant exposure to evil. Verse 6.

He says, and here’s the second time I’m told you he’s going to say it. Now these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did.

We’re going to crave it.

It’s the thing he’s saying. He’s saying, why has God given us the Word of God? Why do we have all these stories? And even when Paul’s writing this, they don’t have a Bible like you and I have a Bible. They have the stories that oral transmission were passed around. And he’s saying, why do we have all these stories? What benefit is it for you to know how God’s people lived disobedient lives centuries before? So you don’t do it. That’s why, which take that as a cue, even if we’re in the church, we have to be on constant guard so that we don’t crave and desire what’s evil. So he gives us a list of these little stories here. I’m not going to exhaustively read each story for time’s sake. But verse 7, he says, do not be idolaters as some of them were. As is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Now what is that story? It’s a story when they were out of Egypt and God called Moses to go up the mountain. He was up there for a long time. He was up there for weeks. And up there, as he’s getting the law from God, which was for the people’s good, the people are at the base of the mountain saying, we want to see God. We’re tired of waiting. We want to do things our own way. And so what did they say to Moses’ brother Aaron? Hey Aaron, you make an idol for us. You make a golden calf for us so we can see our God.

So Aaron foolishly says, well, I guess give me all your gold rings and jewelry and we’ll do it. So they melt it all together and they say, ah, this is our God. Recounting this in Acts, it says they rejoice in the work of their hands. There’s two huge problems with this. The first huge problem is this. God says, so we’ve all heard of the Ten Commandments. Second commandment, do not, you don’t make idols. Right? And now what God is meaning is not other idols like other gods. He’s saying there is no image you could create or put together that could ever be an appropriate representation of me. Don’t make images. That’s what they were doing. They weren’t saying we don’t want God anymore. We want a different God. They were saying, let’s make a golden calf and that will represent God. Yet the word, if God says they rejoice not in God, they rejoice in the work of their hands. In other words, there is no image that can contain God. And when we try to put that in an image, our hearts begin to say, this is my God. I can see this thing. But our God says trust and believe. Our God is a God of faith. I’ve heard one preacher say it. We’ve been given the Word of God. The next image that we need is Jesus busting through the clouds coming back to take us home. That’s the next image that you and I need. In creating that image, they begin to worship. They begin to worship that image. Now here’s the problem with that. In ancient culture, if you had an idol you made, you wanted to please that idol. So when it says they ate and drank and rose up to play, they weren’t throwing frisbee. Here’s a modern translation of that. They had a giant drunken orgy together.

Sin gives way to sin gives way to sin. They said we want to do things our way, not God’s way. We don’t want this leader Jesus.

So Paul says guard your heart because you can so easily turn away from faith. Don’t want to do things your own way. Verse 8. We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did. And 23,000 fell in a single day. Now this is the reverse. Here’s what’s happening in this story. The Word of God says they hoard after the daughters of the Moabites. So they began to sleep with widely, largely cult prostitutes and they started to give themselves to the pleasures of the pagan nations. So remember, God’s people are separate and different. We’re holy. God says you’ll be different. You’ll be holy. You’ll be different from the nations. Yet we read in Numbers 25 that they hoard after the Moabites. And in doing so, God brought a horrible plague on them because not only did they commit gross sexual immorality in joining in sin, the Moabites said, hey, why don’t you also come and worship our gods and idols with us? So in the first scenario, they went from let’s make a golden calf and then they worshipped it by sinning. Now they’re saying, hey, let’s be friends with this pagan nation. And as they became friendly with the world, they started to worship the same God the world worships. What did Jesus do? What did James say in James chapter 4? Friendship with the world is enmity with God. So Israel became an unfaithful people. They became an unfaithful people. And by the way, I’ll note this here because it’s worth noting.

After this happens and God confronts them and there’s this horrible plague going through Israel because of this gross sexual immorality, there’s this guy, and I’m paraphrasing for time’s sake, there’s this guy, and he rolls up in the camp with his pagan wife. It says they’re weeping. They’re weeping for what they’ve done. Moses is weeping.

Aaron’s weeping. They’re all weeping. And this dude rolls up in the camp with his pagan wife. And we’re told that one of the high priests goes and gets a spear and impales both of them. And in impaling both, both of them through their stomachs, the plague stops. And God even says that He has subsided His wrath because He did that thing. If you know about somebody that’s sexually immoral, don’t impale them through the stomach. So this is a different dispensation. This is under Old Testament Israel. It raises the point though in Old Testament and New Testament how serious sexual immorality is. And I don’t think sexual immorality is, even a big deal, inside the walls of the church anymore. And I’m not saying that there’s not grace for failures, but we don’t hold marriage in the marriage bed in high honor in the way that God expects us to do it. And this story reveals to us what God really thinks about sexual immorality. It’s a great offense. So they were unfaithful. They had great infidelity. They had great infidelity towards a God that was nothing but faithful to them. Verse 9. We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents. What happened in that story? In that story, there’s so many of those stories, and they came to Moses and said, hey, God’s misled us. We’re hungry and we’re thirsty and we’re out in the wilderness and we don’t want to be here. And God releases this plague of snakes and the snakes start biting everybody and they all start dying.

They were hostile towards God. Yes, God. But it says in verse 9, Christ. We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did. And they were destroyed by serpents.

Lastly, verse 10. They grumbled and they were destroyed by the destroyer. I know there’s a lot of people out there who say, that’s a great plague in which they spoke against God. And friends, what are all these little stories? They’re reminders of this, that nobody, nobody, nobody is free from the susceptibility of sin. If you are not constantly on guard, you will be overtaken. Remember all the way back in Genesis, Cain doesn’t have the right offering to God as his brother Abel did. And God comes to Cain and says, sin is crouching at your door. It’s ready to overtake you. And these Corinthian Christians had gotten lazy. They had gotten lazy in the faith. They were just wandering along in the Christian faith and they were veering back to who and how they were before they came to Christ. And Paul says to them, this is for our instruction so that you don’t do these things. And here you are doing them.

He’s written them down. He’s written them down for us so that we would not live this way. He’s given us all these really tragic, aren’t they? I mean, they’re sad stories of people experiencing these consequences because God doesn’t want you to experience these same consequences. God doesn’t want that for you. He wants you to what? Thrive in Christ. He wants you to remain focused on Christ.

These things happened to them as examples. They were written down on our instruction for our instruction on whom the end of the ages have come. Now, that’s a great phrase on whom the end of the ages have come. There’s several things to note here. First of all, and we’ve said this, if God is willing to punish ancient Israel for those sins, He’s just as willing to punish us for the same sins thousands of years later because God is willing to punish us for those sins. God’s justice doesn’t change. Here’s the second thing though, when we read the end of the ages has come on us.

Paul likely thought that Jesus was going to come back in His day.

Paul and Peter in the early church didn’t think that it was going to be much longer until Christ came back. Here we are 2,000 years later and Christ has not come back. In other words, we’re 2,000 years closer. Now, I don’t know if it’s going to be like a week or 10,000 years, but I know we’re a lot closer. And if Jesus is coming back tomorrow, I don’t want Him to find me as someone who lives at the end of the ages being unfaithful. I want to be found faithful when Christ returns at the end of the ages.

Thirdly, it’s a reminder, don’t throw it all away. Life is so short. Why live for these temporal pleasures and sins and doing things your own way when it’s so short and if you just endure to the end, you’ll be in glory with God and you’ll make it and you’ll have it. You’ll have the joy and you’ll be perfect. Don’t give up your eternity for this brief moment of pleasure. We live at the end of the ages. Life is short. Even if Jesus doesn’t come back for 20,000 years, you’ve got a good 50, 60, 70, 80 years if you live that long and poof. Live for what’s eternal. Live for God, not the fleeting pleasures of sin.

We all stand susceptible to sin, to our own weak flesh, to the power of the earth, to the enemy and the world around us. And it’s a grave mistake to go in cruise control mode and just try to make it by. Sin will find us there. Temptation will find us there and it will overtake us. Don’t think,

well, I’ve put enough years into church life. I’ve read enough of the Bible. I’ve done it enough. I’ve sacrificed enough, you know. It’s probably a good time for me to roll back a little bit. But I’m not going to do that. Until you’re six feet under, hey, you haven’t put enough time in yet, alright? And as soon as you want that mentality, be sure sin will overtake you.

Let me also say to you, if you’re reading all these stories and you go, oh, that could never be me. I would never do something heinous like any of these stories. Like I’m square, I’m good, I’m clean. Spiritual maturity is not

becoming less susceptible to sin. That’s not spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is not having a greater understanding of how susceptible you are to sin. So when you think, I’m spiritually strong enough, I can never fall in that way, you better watch out because you’re primed and ready to fall.

If the great King David, who God said, this is a man after my own heart. God said that about David. David slept with a man’s wife, killed the man.

Peter said, I’m going to go with you to the death, Jesus. And what did Jesus do? He denied him three times. Church, we are growing up in the faith. When we do that, have faith. Hey, it’s just Jesus keeping me from whenever I become a believer to when He brings me home in glory. Jesus, I need you and I am so weak and I am so susceptible. Like I need you alone if I am going to be kept to the very end. I see my weakness. I see my own folly. I see how willing I am to give in to the pressures of the world to be like them. I see how powerful Satan is in comparison with my strength. But church, I want to say to you, look to Jesus. You and I cannot not be exposed to evil. You can’t. Unless you’re going to live under a rock, which you should not do. You’re going to be exposed to evil all the time because we are on this side of glory and evil is at work. And Satan’s at work. And you’re around influences. And you are you. And you’re bad, right? You’re sinful. And you’re constantly tempting yourself to do wrong. So it’s not that we can not be around it. It’s only that if we would look to Christ and Christ alone, He would sustain us in it. So we do need wisdom though in our influences. You know, media is something… We do. We live in a media-driven world. We live in a world driven by content. Right? On our phones. And that controls culture. I want to encourage you. What is the lyric content you’re allowing into your head and heart? What’s shaping you in the TV, in the movies you’re watching? Are you letting things shape you well? Are you letting social media shape you? Are you letting whatever the popular movement of the day shape you? Because you might be like the Israelites and unwittingly, you sin the way they sin because you’re trying to make friends with the world. And what’s the reality? You’ll only be drawn into worship their God. So guard your heart. Guard your mind. Secondly on that, I would say, we all need self-awareness. We all need to have a magnifying glass on ourselves all the time and do what the psalmist said. And what did the psalmist pray in Psalm 139? Lord, search me, know me, show me if there’s any grievous way in me. Like God, if there’s something in me that’s not right, can you expose that and get that out of my heart, out of my life? So that’s not the opposite of humility. I think we said that last week. Humility. Did we say that last week? Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but only thinking of yourself less. So it’s not against humility to think of yourself in terms of, Lord, where am I not looking like Jesus? So constantly put yourself under the Spirit’s magnifying glass and say, Lord, where do I need to change and where do I need to grow?

So, verse 13 here. It says, No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, He will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.

That feels heavy, doesn’t it? I think when you read that, you go, if those Israelites couldn’t make it, I don’t think I could make it. Let’s be honest. I read that at first. I’m like, that’s heavy. I’m probably one of these people whose body is going to fall dead in the wilderness. I have that fear at first, but then I come to verse 13 and I start with, no temptation has overtaken me that’s not common. In other words, and that’s such an encouraging word, you’re not going to experience anything in your life that someone else hasn’t experienced in some way. There’s no sin struggle that’s so unique to you that no one else has walked through it, nor has God been present and powerful over it. So He can say then, no temptation has overcome you that’s not common to man. Here it is. God is faithful. God is faithful. What does He drive us to do in the midst of this seemingly unavoidable potential to fall apart and defect and walk away from God? He says, He says, to this God who has so explicitly exposed Himself to you in Christ Jesus, who is our leadership, who is our wisdom, who is our food, who is our drink, who is the rock beneath your feet. And if you would look to Christ, you would see how strong, you would see how good, you would see how powerful God is when you don’t have the ability to keep you in every temptation. And He will provide the way of escape, which is Himself. God will always, provide Himself when you seek Him.

The psalmist says, the Lord says to us, seek me and you will find me. Seek me and you will find me. So I want to leave you there where we started. Do you desire God? Really and truly? Because if you do, He’ll show Himself to you and He will be God over you and He will be the rock beneath your feet. Let’s pray.

Father, we are so tempted to stand on sinking sand. We’re so tempted to find satisfaction, to find our answers, to find purpose, in something other than just Jesus.

And Lord, so as we read about the inescapable reality that we cannot please You and we cannot live up to where You are, God, we are so grateful for this Word that You are faithful. And if we turn to You, You will turn to us. And if we long and desire for You, You will call us Your own Christ Jesus.

So Lord, we just pray for a greater faith to see the spiritual realities, to believe the spiritual realities, to experience the spiritual realities of Jesus, our food, Jesus, our drink.

Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

Turn us towards Christ.

Turn us towards Christ.

Amen. This evening, we’re going to take communion together and celebrate the Lord’s Supper. So if you’re a believer and you place faith in Jesus and you’ve been baptized and you know you’re a Christian, this is for you. So as it’s passed out, I’m just going to ask you to pray and get your heart right with God, confess any sin, and we’ll come back together here in a moment and take communion together.

Let’s do that.

Thank you.

It was a total accident that this was Communion Sunday. I was preaching on communion. But I think it’s powerful to be reminded, you know, especially for those of you who have grown up in the church, like taking communion, you know, it just kind of becomes like old hat. You just do it because you do it. But Jesus commanded us to do this together. He said, as often as you do this, remember me. And so there is this chronological looking back at what Jesus did and remembering what he did on the cross to save us. But there’s also a present thinking. There’s a present remembering that Jesus is here now. Now, if we have the spirit, we are feasting on Jesus’s flesh and drinking his blood, as he said. And so you are kept right now. Take that as such encouragement. I spilled some juice. Take that as an encouragement wherever you are in life and whatever you’re going through. Jesus is enough to get you through that thing. And so as you as you take the physical sign, believe the spiritual reality of it. So I’m going to read it here in Corinthians 11 and 23.

It says, for I received from the Lord, but I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

The same way, also, he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is a new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Thank you, Jesus, that it all depends on you. You’ve shown yourself to be trustworthy and you’ve shown yourself to be good. Oh, Lord, grow our faith. Grow our faith. We love you. And we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.