Sermon on Pride

“Check yourself, because our God is not to be tried”

1 Corinthians 10:1-12

10 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,[a] that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown[b] in the wilderness. 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ[c] to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

Main point: God overthrew His people who chose sin instead of God, He left us these details so that we won’t repeat their history.

The fallacy of our human strength
- Vs 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
- This is a warning for believers “Who thinks he stands”
- The moment that our attitude says I’m good, we are beginning our decline towards a fall. This is because we forget that it is not on our two feet that we stand, but it our standing is in Christ, our firm foundation
- There is a certain arrogance, a certain misplaced confidence in the flesh to think “I stand”
- Similar to our passage recently, “if anyone thinks he knows anything, he knows nothing”
  - Jesus says this about the flesh and its contribution to our walk with Christ
  - John 6:63
- It is the Spirit of Christ in you that helps you to stand!
- Gospel – He conquered in His righteous flesh sin and death, so it is in Him you can stand!
- This is a temptation because in life, anything we practice we get good at it, but at a spiritual level, we will never be completely “good”
- Spiritual gravity will always be weighing us towards our earthly sin nature
- Therefore we must always be careful, be watchful, take heed that we are standing in and on Christ alone
  - 2 Corinthians 13:5 (examine yourselves)
- Reread vs 12
  - This text details the spectacular fall of the Hebrews that God rescued and began to lead by the hand to their promised land of milk and honey.
  - Lord Keep us from repeating History

Lets go back to vs 1-4
- Background
  - Exodus 13:21-22
  - Spiritual food, spiritual drink, straight from the source which is Christ
  - They had everything…They ought to have been in spiritual ecstasy and at the top of spiritual comfort. Their faith ought to have been at 100, their trust at 100, their gratefulness at 100.
  - Verse 5-nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
  - Here again is the warning of this passage, being around the word is not enough, being around the saints is not enough, being in church is not enough, seeing and being aware of God is not enough.
  - You must believe God, you must truly repent, you must commit to obeying God, if you do this, you will never be overthrown and laid waste by the living God
  - He will keep you! John 6:37-40 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out!…
  - For they were overthrown in the wilderness
    - Lets look at what happened to them and why
      - 6 they desired evil
      - 7 idolaters
      - 8 sexual immorality
      - 9 & 10 tested God and grumbled/talked to crazy to God or in His presence
    - Understand, no true child of God would engage in this consistently. Meaning, we ought not be desiring evil, we ought not be worshipping things more than the creator, we ought not be disobedient and conforming to the flesh in sexual matters, we ought not be reckless in our words and actions towards God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
- Vs 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
- For all of these sins, God killed thousands of them by the burning of His wrath, and disqualified all, but 2 from seeing the promised land.
- For us, on whom the end of the ages has come, we have also been given great and precious promises.
- That we will finally see our home in heaven
- That we will experience the joy and pleasure promised to us
- But the warning of our passage, and this warning is for someone, that if our feet are not truly planted in Jesus, if we have not truly repented, if we aren’t truly following Jesus, we too will be destroyed.
- Lets end by reading a passage in Hebrews 12:18-29