All right, today we’re going to study 1 Corinthians, chapter 10. We’re going to get through the whole chapter again. Look at us, don’t worry, we’re going to slow down massively here soon, but we’re getting through all of chapter 10 today, so I’m excited. Father, we ask that you would open our hearts and our minds to understand wonderful things from your word, jesus. You are perfect, you are loving, you are the air that we breathe, you are the rock on which we stand. Jesus, we lay down all of our burdens to you. We pray for all these things that we need your help, but, above all, we have been called to intimacy with our Father through Jesus Christ, and so I pray that we would truly know you and Jesus, that you would live through us In your name. We pray Amen.
Today’s sermon is called the Shelf Life of the Self Life. The Shelf Life of the Self Life. Say that 10 times fast in your spare time. All right, we’re going to whoever coined the term expiration date. I think they really missed the boat. I think they missed a real opportunity. That should have been called a spoiler alert.
All right, so we are going to be looking at some examples in this chapter, chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians of why the self-life must be denied in a Christian so for you to be able to discover who God has made you to be and called you to be in the life that he has for you. There’s a competition going on for your attention, for your heart, and you’re only going to be able to discover what God has for you if you deny a competition going on for your attention, for your heart, and you’re only going to be able to discover what God has for you if you deny the self-life, the self-life. What is the self-life? Well, we’ll see as we go. So Paul is going to be pointing the church back to the book of Exodus as we go through this, to teach them the dangers of the self-life.
Self-life is self-trust, or you could say, self-sufficiency, self-sufficiency. Now we hear all the time in the world that self-sufficiency is a good thing, and in some ways it is a good thing Keeps you from dropping cups, keeps you from having your phone. Just kidding, self-trust seems like it’s an okay thing, but in our spiritual lives, self-trust alienates us from the life of God. It’s the self-life and that’s the way of religion. Religion is self-life. What do you mean? Well, religion, it’s the way of religion, not the way of Jesus.
Okay, I hate religion. Anyone else hate religion. I hate religion. I am not religious. People are like you’re a pastor, you’re religious and I’m like, absolutely not.
I am as far from religious as you can get, but I love Jesus and I have a relationship with Jesus, because being a Christian is not a religion, all the religions in the world. That’s not what this is. This is a relationship with God through faith in Jesus instead of faith in yourself. That’s what’s different Every other religion.
You are working your way to God. It depends on you, what you do. You meditate enough, you enlighten enough, you work enough, you serve enough, you give enough. It’s all about you and your good works. But with Jesus, he says no, I invite you into relationship through faith. You just have to trust what I do, not what you do, what I do, and you’re free. You’re my child and I come and live through you.
So religion is mostly faith in yourself and in your works to prove yourself to God, whereas Christianity is faith in Jesus instead of yourself. Let me just say that again Christianity is faith in Jesus instead of yourself. You know what doesn’t like that? Our pride, our thinking that we’re pretty cool, that we have. You know we got it going on. That doesn’t work with Jesus. With Jesus, you have to be broken, which is called humility, broken of the self-life, of that self-trust. I’m forgiven because Jesus died for me and I trust in that death. I’m made a new person because Jesus gave me a new heart, because Jesus was raised to life. He shares that life with me through his Holy Spirit. That’s the new life we get. So, with all that being said, that’s the big picture of what’s going on. The self-life is religion. We are not that. We have a relationship with God through Jesus.
So let’s begin reading. He says in 1 Corinthians 10, moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea and all were baptized into Moses. In the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. So Paul points the people back to the children of Israel being rescued from Egypt. You guys all remember that God rescued them.
If you haven’t read the book of Exodus, watch the Prince of Egypt. It’s a good cartoon. Same story Good stuff. It’s a pretty good story. It’s filled with miracles and plagues and battles and a last-minute rescue. Anyway, paul is helping his friends to see that we can miss out on the blessings God wants us to give us, that he’s already chosen to give us, if we choose the self-life instead of faith in Christ.
Okay, that’s our choice. Your choice isn’t. I’m going to be a better person, I’m going to be a good person. I’m going to try harder. I’m going to be a good Christian. Those are not your choices. Those are. That’s a fruitful life God will develop in your life if you trust him. Your choice is simply this always, I’m going to trust in Jesus or I’m going to trust in myself. That is the entire battle that we have going on here. So he says all our fathers.
So everything that happened in the Old Testament to the nation of Israel was written as an example to all of us. Okay, so you have this small group of people. You know the nation of Israel and they were just you know. But if you compare that with the size of the church for the past 2,000 years, the church is the big thing. Okay, there’s been billions of people in the church, whereas the nation of Israel was the small thing, but all of it was written and all of it happened very specifically for our example, and he’s going to teach us why right here.
He says this group of people, symbolically, they got saved, just like you and I got saved. So all of this is a picture or it’s an illustration. So picture them crossing through the Red Sea. You remember what happened? Pharaoh’s army is barreling down on them. God says Moses parts the sea and the sea goes up on either side and they walk through the middle. God divides the ocean. They walk across. It’s a supernatural salvation, something man could never do. That’s the whole point. Man couldn’t do it. They got saved. We got saved in a way man could never do also.
So it says they were under the cloud and passed through the sea, both water. So there was a cloud that followed them, that protected them, and it was God’s presence and it was his glory and it would follow them wherever they went. It would actually lead them. And both of these, he says, are a picture of their baptism. That means they started a relationship with God. They got baptized. He says all our fathers were under the cloud, passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. So they had an experience of baptism. It’s something that they experienced.
And then it says they had some food and drink. So it says they all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink. The same as what? The same as us? What is he talking about? They drank from the spiritual
rock which followed them, and that rock was Christ. So God fed them with manna from heaven. Do you remember this? It was angel food, and they were complaining about being hungry. So God said here, here, angel food. And they were complaining about being hungry. So God said here, here’s food. And he gave them food every morning and they would go out and get it and water would fall. Did you get that picture? So this picture. Have you guys ever seen this before?
So, at Mount Sinai, which is in Arabia, at Jebel al-Laz, you can go on Google Earth and see all this stuff. They have found this rock right at the base of Mount Sinai, and this rock is the rock that they camped at, that Moses struck. It’s called the Split Rock at Horeb. Horeb is the name of the mountain and you can see it. There’s thousands of pictures online of this rock. All the rocks below it are water washed, they are eroded as if a giant water and the entire thing flows into a basin that would have been like even up to three miles wide, where two million people could have gotten their water and bathed and everything. So this is the split rocket morgue. You can go there and you can see it if you go to Saudi Arabia and don’t get killed. So it’s there, okay, so we found that today we know that this is all true.
Moses struck this rock. And what does this say? He struck the rock and water came out and it watered all the people. And it says the rock was Jesus. Now, does that mean the rock was Jesus? There’s some people sitting in the very bottom of the rock right there. Well, it means that Jesus. It represents Jesus. Jesus is with us. Jesus provides all our water, but he had to be struck, right? He had to be crucified and that’s how his life was able to flow out of him into us. Is that he was struck? Okay? So we see both experiences. They were baptized and they ate of the spiritual food and the spiritual water, which speaks of communion, baptism and communion.
Baptism and communion these are the two Christian sacraments. You ever heard of sacraments? I don’t like that word because it sounds really churchy, but it’s the things that we do to remember Jesus, to things we do in our life to celebrate what Jesus has done for us. Here’s the thing. This is the reason why I don’t like sacraments in our world.
People fake it all the time. Okay, so we haven’t even taken communion together, and even that is weird. Communion is supposed to be a meal that we share together and we remember Jesus while we eat that meal. We will get to where we’re doing that more often as a church together, whether in big groups or in small groups. We’ll figure it out. Baptism is something that we’ve done. I remember I baptized. You helped with Matt, way to go, turtle Taylor, and baptism is something that we’ve done and we celebrate.
But guess what? People fake it all the time and say they want to get baptized and then they get baptized. And then what happens? If it was fake? Does baptism save you? No, does taking communion save you? Absolutely not, because you could have faith in communion and that’s not Jesus. You could have faith in baptism and that’s not Jesus. Those are both works. They can be good works if you’re celebrating Jesus, but they aren’t. Works that save you? Does that make sense? So they had baptism and communion, which means they were saved. They did religious things, things they can trust in. But then what happens? It says. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. So here’s where we get to the important, crazy part.
They were supposed to go into the promised land. They were supposed to do that. This represents the victorious Christian life, the life of walking with God and serving God and presenting yourself to God and loving on him. They were supposed to experience the blessings of God, but they completely missed out on it. How many of the two million people that went in to the desert, how many of them made it to the promised land? Anybody know? Two. You were halfway there, half of Jesus, half of Jesus, point for Nate.
There was two Aaron Huh, what Caleb? That’s right. Caleb and Joshua. I said Aaron. I was wrong. Aaron died.
Caleb and Joshua were the only two, because they were the only ones that really believed and trusted in the Lord during that time. So they all missed out on it, and God wasn’t happy that they were missing out on it either. He wanted them to go into the promised land, just like God wants you to experience a blessed life. I’m not saying that you’re going to be rich. That’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about a fruitful life, a life that’s valuable and has glory or weight, a life that means something that you’re satisfied with, that he’s satisfied with. That is what his desire for. So he wanted to give them this promised land, but they wouldn’t have it. They chose not to believe in him, and so they missed out on all that God wanted to give them. Now, again, they started a relationship with God, but they couldn’t continue in that relationship because they wouldn’t believe him fully. So, yes, they were saved, but they never entered in to the promised land.
Now, what does this say? Why did all this happen? Now, these things became examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted, and do not become idolaters as some of them, as were some of them. So the people of Israel and all that happened to them and the choices they made, and God’s work with them it’s all written for you and for me to learn how to trust in Jesus today, in 2025. That is what this is all about. How can I trust in God today? Well, they and their mistakes. It’s going to give me warnings and it’s going to give me teaching of how I can trust in God today. They made a really, really dumb choice. They made lots of dumb choices, but we do too, and I find that you know, if we’re not careful, we can destroy our own chance of seeing all that God has in mind to bless us with.
God wants to give you a future and a hope. That’s his declared purpose. He has a future and a hope for you. He wants to use you. He has a special purpose. Even if that means you’re going to die in some special way, that can still be a special purpose. Your life will have meaning. Your life will have meaning. Your life will not end with death. You have so much that God wants to give you. They made lots of dumb choices. We can too. His plans are to bless you with a future and a hope. He wants you to know, above all, that you’re his child and that you are special. He wants you to know that and to believe it. We can sabotage ourselves by choosing idols instead of Jesus in our life today. In our life today, you can sabotage all the blessings that God wants to give to your life by choosing idols.
Idols offer competing promises with God. It’s like you got a used car salesman on one side and someone telling you the truth on the other side. Idols offer fulfillment. I hate shopping for cars, Do you guys? I’m not going to get into it. Idols offer fulfillment. You’re going to be so happy with this car. You’re going to love what I have to give you. Idols offer joy. Hey, you’re going to be happy. They offer meaning and value. Your life will actually have meaning. If you get this thing, or have this or do this, you’ll have it. They even offer healing of your pain. Oh, just partake in this and you’ll be set free.
But they
never deliver on their promises, and our hearts lust after these things. Our hearts want to be satisfied. Now, is that necessarily wrong? To want a life that’s satisfying, to want to be happy? No, the essence of that desire comes from God. You want to have joy, but the way that it’s offered to you is two different ways. There’s the idol way or the Jesus way. Our hearts lust after the idol way. We desire satisfaction, we desire love, we desire value and joy. We desire relief from the pain. Jesus promises us that his grace is sufficient for all these things, and more so. He knows that you need some of it, but your heart wants a lot. But Jesus says I can satisfy all of it for you. You have to trust in me alone, though. You can’t trust in anything else. Anything you trust in when you could have trusted in Jesus is an idol. That’s what idols are, so we just defined it. Anything that you could have trusted in Jesus for, but you turn to this thing instead, or this person or this idea, whatever it is, that is an idol. We have to choose to trust him or turn to an idol instead. Everything we do is that choice. An idol is anything we turn to when we should have chosen Jesus. So how did they choose idols? Let’s look at what he says as it is written.
The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play that is a little poem that they used to say, for they participated in sexually immoral things. So he says so. He says so. The first example of the self-life is sexual fornication, sexual immorality. He says this is the first way you can sabotage getting the blessings God wants from you is sexual immorality. They chose to participate in sinful relationships, and the result was death. 23,000 people died in a day.
So what’s the lesson for us? Sexual immorality, sexual sin can sabotage your life Because your heart is committed to pleasing itself instead of trusting in Jesus to meet your needs. So you can see that the promised land that he wants to give you. But you can’t get there because you’re choosing to trust in yourself and you won’t trust in him. You won’t believe in him. Instead, you believe the idol.
Whatever the idol is, whatever your sexual thing is. That’s immoral. You trust in that thing. That that’s what I need to be satisfied, instead of Jesus meets my need. Jesus says I’m not just a good guy that died for your sins, I’m God. I bought your life. I bought you Not because I’m mean and I want you to be my slave, because I love you and I want what’s best for you. But make no mistake about it. Your body is now my body and I’m sharing your body with you. So I’m going with you into all the dirty stuff you’re getting involved in and I don’t like it. It grieves me. So love is how he motivates us and how we can see his blessings in our life.
I want you to turn over to Hebrews, chapter 3. In your Bibles and I don’t have it up on the screen but in chapter 3 of Hebrews and chapter 4, it’s talking about this exact same time in history of the children of Israel, but it gives us some really cool information. Okay, so I’m going to start in chapter 3, verse 12. Beware lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily, while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. So he’s saying sin is really deceitful because you think you’re going to be happy, but it’s going to suck, you’re going to feel the pain. So don’t be deceived and you should encourage each other to believe what Believe. Jesus meets your needs, not this sin, this idol, for we have all become partakers of Christ. If we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said today, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end while it is said today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. Then he brings in the children of Israel. Right here.
He says for who, having heard rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses. Now, with whom was he angry those 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear they would not enter his rest? But to those who would not obey? So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief. Unbelief.
So then he says in verse 4, therefore, since a promise remains of entering his rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them. But the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest. Okay.
So he says, we as a church we need to. He doesn’t tell you to be afraid of very much. He doesn’t say be afraid of dictators and be afraid of the government, or be afraid of Democrats or Republicans. He never says that. He says be afraid that you don’t enter into my rest. What does that mean? Be afraid that you don’t believe that I can meet your needs, if you don’t believe Jesus has already met your needs, you’re going to be striving after all the things, you’re going to be searching for love in all the wrong places. Searching for love in all the wrong places.
So the people in Israel they chose the self-life and God said they couldn’t experience. I was angry that they did that because I wanted to bless them. That was his purpose. How many blessings have we thrown away? How much peace have we sacrificed because we chose our own way? How much of God’s love are we missing out on Because we refuse to let go of all the stuff, all the idols, the things we trust in? He says. Nor let us tempt Christ back in 1 Corinthians, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents. Nor complain, as some of them complained and were destroyed by the destroyer.
Okay, so this references two more stories. As they were in the desert, they’re like God doesn’t love us. They didn’t believe God loved them, god cared for them. They believed he was a harsh deity up in the sky up in heaven and he just wanted slaves and deity up in the sky up in heaven and he just wanted slaves and peons to do his bidding. And this isn’t true. And if you believe that, like they did, it will kill your spiritual life. So God sent them snakes and the snakes bit them, and everyone who got bit by snakes was dying. And all the people are dying. If God doesn’t love me, then I need to love myself, I need to take care of myself and be self-focused. That’s self-life 101. And it’s a snake. It’s a snake bite. It will kill your spiritual life. It leads to destruction.
By the way, what was the solution? God sent the snakes. And then Moses is like can we get a salvation here? Can you save us too? And God’s like sure, make a bronze snake, put it on a pole and set it up, and everyone who looks at the snake will be healed. So Moses makes a snake out of bronze, puts it up on a stick, and everyone who looked at it was healed. And 23,000 people still died.
How stupid are you that you don’t want to just look at the salvation God has given you? What does that mean for us today? Jesus was put up on a stick, on a cross. Jesus became a snake. He became sin for us, and we are commanded. Every human being is commanded. Look at him, put your faith in him and you will be healed. You will be saved. That is where all of it is at, not by you doing anything. It’s not what church you go to, it’s not how many times you go to church, it’s not how much money you give to church. It is a free gift, it’s yours. He became sin for you so that you could be healed. And it’s a beautiful, beautiful story, it says.
Now, all these things happened to them as examples. They were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. What is he saying here? We have to deny the self-life idols, so either we can enter into the promised land of God’s abundant life that Jesus has promised us.
Denying these self-life idols isn’t work. You’re not working to get into the promised land, it’s simply faith. All you have to do is believe Jesus is sufficient and he does what
he says he would do. So how do we really get this abundant life of grace? Well, we just learned.
Believe, that’s faith and humility. I need it. Just learned Belief, that’s faith and humility. I need it. God, I believe I need you. I don’t need these other things, I need you. That’s humility and faith. I’m going to trust you, not myself. Therefore, he says. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. That’s a great definition of humility, isn’t it? I can’t succeed if I trust in myself. He said that’s how to live in Hebrews. We should all be afraid that we’re going to live the self-life. We should be afraid that we’re going to not enter his rest. That’s what this fear looks like. I’m scared that I’m going to trust in myself, because if I trust in myself, I’m going to make a mess of my life, and that’s why we preach the gospel so forcefully and so consistently.
These idols are tricky. They’re tricky, but if we have a heart of humility, we could see the danger coming and we can cling to Jesus instead of falling into their traps, because he is where the blessing and the safety is. He will get us safely into the promised land. By the way, what was the name of the guy that took the name Petron of Israel into the promised land? Joshua, right. And what’s Jesus’ name in Hebrew? Joshua? You think that’s a mistake? No, moses couldn’t take them into the promised land because he represented law, religion, trying hard. None of it could get you into the promised land. But Jesus can get you there Because he says here, no temptation has overtaken you, except such as is common to man. So all this talk about idols? Now he’s going to tell us this is how you resist those idols.
Every man is going to face the same battle Will we trust in Jesus or something else? Are you going to trust in Jesus or are you going to trust in an idol? That’s the temptation that every man is going to face. There’s always something else, there’s always an alternative to Jesus. You can always find something else to seek out life in, and our life or death is going to be determined by which we choose to put our faith in.
Trust me, you’re going to live by faith, but you’re either going to live in faith in the idol, which is really faith in myself, or faith in Jesus. The idol will let you down, jesus will lift you up, it says. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation, will also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. One thing important to say there is that God isn’t tempting you. He’s not bringing the temptation, but he does allow the devil to tempt you. Okay, satan is just doing what God allows him to do, and Satan is serving a purpose right now, and the purpose is he can tempt you so that your faith can be refined. It’s like a fire that refines the gold or the silver. Satan is here. He will tempt you to trust in all these other idols. Tempt you to trust in all these other idols, but Jesus says it’s for a purpose and it’s not going to be bigger than you can bear.
Jesus is the way of escape from any temptation to sin, and all you have to do is look at the snake. What do you mean? Look at the snake? Remember Jesus became sin. What do you mean? Look at the snake. Remember Jesus became sin. Sin is why we are in such trouble, and when we look at Jesus, that sickness is healed in us, and so we’ve got to remember that. We remember his sacrifice, remember him dying on the cross, and then his risen life is made accessible to us as we trust in what he did, not what we did.
All temptation is really just a temptation to idolatry. Look at something else. Look at this thing, this idea, this relationship, this philosophy, this identity, before you look to Jesus. It’s an idol and you won’t be able to experience what God has for you. The only solution is to lift our eyes in faith to Jesus. It’s never about trying harder, changing man’s wisdom or, you know, things like accountability groups or programs. They can sometimes be helpful, but if our eyes are on something the Bible says that we can do, he claims to be the only solution to sin.
So then Paul says therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. See, idolatry is the key to temptation. My beloved, he says, flee from idolatry. So where do we flee from idolatry? To Jesus, just run to me. Jesus says. If you’re tempted, run to me. He will always be there to give you what you need.
The only reason we don’t run to him the Bible said in Hebrews 4, was unbelief. We don’t believe he’s there and that his arms are open to us or that he’s really willing to help or there’s really salvation with him. Every time we don’t run to him, it’s because we didn’t believe that he was there and Jesus is like. That’s why the battle is all in the believing place, because if you believe it’s there, each one of you is sitting in a chair right now because you believe that it would hold you up and that belief was not difficult. It wasn’t a work. I didn’t see anyone inspecting the chairs to see is this going to bear the weight that I contain? No, every single one of you just pulled it out and sat down because your experience tells you it’s accurate, it’s going to hold me, it’s strong enough. And Jesus is saying believe in me the same way, trust in me explicitly I will take care of you.
We think idols have something for us, but Jesus says they don’t. So why does Jesus always work when we’re tempted? Why does running to Jesus always work when we’re tempted? Why does running to Jesus always work when we’re tempted? Because of our union with him. That’s why you share his life and only his life. So, as a believer, you have no other life except Jesus. You can’t obtain life or find life in any other source. God will not share you with an idol. You can try, but you know what you will not find Peace, joy, satisfaction. Oh yeah, before you were saved, that tough stuff made you really happy. All the stuff, all the sinfulness. It met your needs. But once Jesus lives inside you, he will not allow those things to satisfy you in the long term. Your peace will go bye-bye and you will be like why am I so sad? Why am I discouraged? Why am I depressed? It’s because we’re trying to meet our needs in something that’s an idol instead of Jesus. He says this I speak as to wise men. So Paul’s telling his church listen, you guys are smart, judge for yourselves what I say.
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread
which we break, is it not the communion with the body of Christ? See what I said. I said it was our union. That’s how this works, and he says it right there. It’s our union. We are in communion with Jesus.
Where is our blessing? Well, jesus brought it to us with his blood and he gives it to us as bread. It’s his blood. He said literally I am the bread, the wine is my blood, my life, it’s me giving it to you. His sacrifice and his life is the only source for our life. You don’t need anything else. You don’t really desire anything else as a Christian, that is what your heart longs for is his life and your life to be lived as one.
Jesus says I love my Father and my Father loves me, and now I’m going to love you. The exact same way. We’ve been invited into the same relationship Jesus had with his Father. We have with our Father, with Jesus, all together. He says for we, though many, are one bread and one body, for we all partake of that one bread.
So now he says all Christians are unified together and with Jesus by eating his bread. Which is what Jesus says if you want to eat my body, drink my blood. And his disciples are like you’re crazy, what is this talking about? And Jesus is like believe my words. That’s what this is about. If you believe my words, that’s the same as eating my body and drinking my blood. Believe my words. That’s what brings all the unity in the church and connects us to God is when we believe his words. And so back then they really understood this, because if you ate a meal with someone, the same bread that I eat and that you eat becomes a part of us. So it makes us one, it makes us unified because we ate at the same table. So you would never eat at the table with your enemy, only people who you’re like. My life is just the same as your life and I love you that much. Now, that’s what eating a meal together symbolized. So he says that’s important to understand.
Observe Israel after the flesh. Are not all who eat of the sacrifices, partakers of the altar. So the nation of Israel was unified with God because they had faith in the sacrifices the priest made. So he’s going to. He’s giving us all these illustrations of unity, how our union with each other. When you eat a meal, you’re unified with each other. The nation of Israel was unified with God because they trusted in the sacrifices. So he’s talking about all these ideas of unity. They’re all based on faith.
If all these things cause a union this is Paul’s point If all these things cause union when you eat together and when you believe in the sacrifice of the altar, if all these things cause a union, then don’t mess with idols. That’s what he says. Don’t mess with idols. When you mess with idols, you’re inviting major trouble, because you’re unifying your life to a deadly thing, a poison, through the self-life. The self-life is a poisoned life. It’s a sin. Life, self-sufficiency is a poison.
So he says what am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? He’s saying, no, it’s not about them being magical, it’s about you being stupid and linking yourself to sinful things. He says, rather, the things which the Gentiles sacrifice. They sacrifice to demons, not to God and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. That’s what Paul says. He says. That’s why all of this is important. When you fall to a temptation, you’re chilling with a demon is what he’s saying, because they’re the ones that inspire that you won’t go to hell or lose your salvation, but you won’t experience the promised land either, and that is the worst place to be. Demons are simply trying to keep you from the fruitful life of Jesus, so they’ll offer you anything you will look at. Let me tell you this Demons are not concerned with Heathen Joe on the street. They’ve already got him.
All the spiritual battles in this world are not with unbelievers. They are with Christians. To simply get you to not believe Jesus is your everything. That is all spiritual warfare. They just want to offer something else, and for pastors they’ll offer fame, respect. They’ll offer different Christians, no matter what your role is. It’ll be money, influence, power, sex, all the different things, idols, and they know they can’t drag you to hell, so they’re just going to distract you. So your life at least doesn’t make a difference here on this earth, because they all know they’re going to hell, but they want to drag as many of us. Isn’t it crazy that the souls of men are worth so much that both God and Satan are singularly focused on us. All of the spiritual world is focused on men. It’s amazing.
He says here you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can’t partake of the Lord’s table and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? So he says, mixing your life between faith in Jesus and faith in self gratifying life will never work. He says you can’t do it, you won’t succeed. How many of you are thinking right now well, that’s what I’ve been doing for like 80 years. And yeah, life sucks when I mix faith in Christ with faith in self. Now we’re growing in this. We’re growing to trust in Jesus, and that’s what we’re doing here. You got too much Jesus to be happy in sin, but you got too much sin to experience his fruitful life, and that’s the conundrum that we find ourselves in. The only way to really live is full faith, extreme Jesus, freak faith. You know, jesus freak was my very first CD. My mom’s like don’t listen to that rock and roll Because it had electric guitars in it. She hated it. Full, exclusive trust in Jesus. That’s what he asks for. He says that is what gets you the promised land. And guess what? Every single one of you already knows how to do this. Let me prove it to you.
When you asked Jesus to save
you, was there any hope that you could still save yourself? Or were you absolutely convinced he was the only person that could save you? Right, you had no other hope. There is no. Well, I’ll put 10% of my hope in Jesus and 90% in helping old ladies across the street and 90% in helping old ladies across the street. There’s none of that. You are not born again.
If you have any hope in yourself, that we have no hope outside of Jesus. So that’s how to live every day. Also, that’s how to avoid the temptation of idols. All of it’s the same thing Live by faith, but not faith in yourself. Faith in Jesus, because you’re going to live by faith, but you get to choose.
And it says here God is jealous for your heart. He’s not a bully, he’s not mean, he’s not trying to ruin your life and take away all your fun. He wants your love and your heart because he wants to bless you. He offers you his own life to be your strength. That’s why 2 Timothy 2.1 says you, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Jesus Christ. You do not need to come up with this faith yourself If you feel like Jesus.
I know I haven’t been living by this faith. I just don’t know how I can turn away from this life, from this identity. But, jesus, you tell me it’s by your grace and it’s a free gift. So, jesus, I can’t do it. But, jesus, give it to me, give me your faith, give me your grace. I want to trust in you exclusively. He will answer that prayer instantaneously. It’s yours. That is the promise of the Word of God. But he will wait until you ask him. He’s not just going to boss you around, because he’s a gentleman, he has real love and he’s given you free will. He will wait until you choose to ask him.
What does all this mean? It means the temptation is to live a life centered on me, whatever I want, and Paul warns us that this will not lead to life at all, only frustration and death. We are freed from the law. The law doesn’t tell you what to do anymore. You are not under it, but also you’ve been given love. His love lives in you and you will only be satisfied by letting his love flow through you. So we’re going to see how this applies to specific examples here in this church and we’re going to end it. We’re going to wrap this up pretty quick.
He says all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. Edify who Edify others. So love other people. Yes, you can do whatever you want. You will be forgiven. You can live your life however you choose to live. But if you choose to live it on self, you’re going to be walking around the desert. If you choose to live it edifying others, loving other people, you’ll be good.
So he says let no one seek his own, but each other’s well-being. Eat whatever is sold in the meat market. So he says and you desire to go eat what is ever set before you, asking no questions, for conscience’ sake. But if anyone says to you this was offered to idols, then do not eat it for the sake of the one who’s told you and for conscience’ sake, for the earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness. Conscience, I say not of your own, but that of the other, for why is my liberty, judged by another man’s conscience. But if I partake with thanks, why am I so? He’s saying it comes back to how we treat others. Are we going to treat them with love or are we going to focus on ourselves, he says. He says he says giving no offense either to the Jews, or to the Greeks, or to the church of God, just as I please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many that they may be saved.
So that last part there is. You have all this liberty to live with freedom, but what are we limited by? Not by rules, but by love. So, yes, you’re free to live your life super selfishly, but you can’t, because God’s love is in you and you will never find joy, happiness, by the idols of self-fulfillment. So what do you do? Love other people In everything you do. Love other people. Idols will cause me to choose myself over loving others. This is robbing me of the abundant life of God’s blessing. I’m just going to read one verse and then we’re done so as you guys can come up here and we’ll sing a song.
Mark, chapter 8, verse 34 and 35. He says this. Then, calling the crowds to join his disciples. He said if any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways. Take up your cross and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it, but if you give up your life for my sake and the sake of the good news, you will save it. God’s desire is for you to love and to be an illustration to this world of how much he loves them, to save them, and we can do that only if we deny self, cast down those self-focused idols. Okay, does all this make sense? Okay, if you have any questions, email me, text me, we’ll get it straightened out. This was a really challenging chapter to teach, but I was super excited when I got it all kind of in my mind how it all worked. So I hope you guys are blessed, because I was really excited about today. So thank you guys for going 12 minutes longer than I usually go.