Sermon Tone Analysis

Sermon text: I Corinthians 10:1-13

i.              Introduction:

a.       Have you been following what has been going on between Israel and the Palestinians lately?

I just feel so bad for all of the Israeli’s who had to walk away from their homes and become refugees in their own land.

How about all of us Christians here in the U.S. offer to switch places with them by giving them our homes, cars, jobs, etc. and we can go and live where they are.

Wouldn’t it be fun to trade places with them?

Some of you are shaking your heads, NO, and others are probably wondering if I hit my head on the way to church this morning!

We would never do that, would we?

The nation of Israel as we know it has a history of political, social, and economic difficulties.

God’s people of Israel have a long history of problems stemming out of their disobedience and rebellion toward God even before they became a nation.

What does this have to do us this morning?

b.

As the people of God in the twenty-first century, we need to heed Israel’s sin stained history and the plagues God’s unleashed on them as our warning to obey Him, and refrain from the immorality and idolatry that permeates our culture.

ii.

Historical Cultural Background

a.

The city of Corinth had a history of idolatry and sexual immorality.

In one of his works Plato used the expression “Corinthian girl” to refer to a prostitute.

b.

The city of Corinth had long been famous for the temple of Aphrodite and it’s 1000 prostitute priestesses

c.

Many of the temples also had dining rooms where meals were served using the meat that was sacrificed to idols

d.

Some of the Christians still struggled with turning away from their old immoral lifestyle which dominated their society

e.     Others held that Christ had liberated them from their bondage to sin and they could therefore eat the meat from these temples with a clear conscience

iii.

Review the Context

a.

In I Cor. 5 Paul writes to the Corinthian about the problem of sexual immorality within their church body, and then the importance of maintaining sexual purity in the second half of chapter 6.

b.

In chapter 7 he primarily speaks of Marriage obligations, and in chapter 8 he discusses their Christian liberty in the area of pagan worship.

c.     Chapter 9 focuses on the apostle’s use of liberty and then ends up speaking about rewards for exercising discipline and self-restraint in verses 24-27.

d.    Chapter 10 extends the discussion of Christian liberty by moving from the subject of rewards for practicing restraint to a warning of discipline for engaging in sin

e.     Read the passage, I Cor.

10:1-13.

f.

Pray that we might hear what God has to say in this passage.

I.              Paul’s Exhortation

a.

I do not want you to be unaware!

= I really want you to know this!!

b.    10:1 “Our forefathers” – As God’s people in the twenty-first century we have something in common with people of God in the OT, Israel….What is that?

II.

Israel had Spiritual Advantages (1 – 4)

a.     V.1b

– *The Advantage of God’s Presence*:  “They were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea” – Paul is speaking of the cloud that represented God’s presence in Ex. 13:21, 22. 

                                          i.

They had the assurance of God’s presence

1.

In the cloud that lead them by day and a pillar of fire by night

                                         ii.

They had awed at God’s power

1.

He made a way for them to escape the Egyptians by parting the Red Sea and leading them through it

                                        iii.

We have the Holy Spirit within assuring us of God’s presence (Rom.

8:16).

We know how He performs miracles by His daily provisions for us and His answers to prayer (Matt.

7:7, 8; John 16:23).

b.    V.2

– *The Advantage of God’s Promise*: “all were baptized into Moses…”

                                          i.

Baptized trans.

(from Gk. /baptizo/ – to immerse or submerge) refers not to a physical baptism but that they were initiated and established under God with Moses as his chosen leader.

1.     How were they established?

2.

By following God in the cloud and Moses as he lead them out of the land of Egypt through the Red Sea

3.     God made a covenant with Israel through Moses

                                         ii.

We have been baptized physically through immersion to demonstrate our identification with Jesus Christ.

He has also baptized us spiritually by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ the moment we trusted Him as Savior (1 Cor.

12:13)

c.     V.3, 4 – *The Advantage of God’s Provisions*: The food and drink that they ate and drank are called “spiritual”, but we know that they actually had real food and real water to eat and drink.

So what is Paul talking about?

i.

Paul is explaining that the food and drink God miraculously supplied his people with served not only as a means to nourish them physically, but were a picture of something spiritual that was to come – namely Christ.

ii.

He explains this in the second part of v.4, “For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”

iii.

In John chapter 6 Jesus speaks of His body and blood as true food and true drink (John 6:30-65).

iv.

At the last supper He instructed His disciples to remember Him using the bread and the wine reflect their redemption paid by His broken body and blood that would be shed.

(Matt.

26:26-29).

We carry out this memorial whenever we come to the Lord’s Table and have communion together.

III.

Israel Failed because of Sin (5 – 10)

a.     V.5 – Starts with “But…” – Paul points out that despite the advantages from the previous verses Israel failed to please God.

                                          i.

V.5 “But…” (Gk.

/alla/ – a strong negative)

                                         ii.

But God is used to being disappointed, and since he is such a loving and forgiving God they just got a smack on the wrist, right?

iii.

NO.

What does it say was the consequence of their failure to please Him?  “…Their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.”

iv.

*Lesson 1*: The great privileges of God’s people come with a significant responsibility

1.

But Israel must have really upset God by committing some horrible sin for that to happen, right?

2.     Such a severe discipline could be given to us, could it?

b.    V.6 - 7a “These things became our examples…”

                                          i.

What is the purpose of these examples?

1.

That we should not lust after evil things (6-10)

2.     That we do not become idolaters (v.7)

3.     That we do not commit sexual immorality (v.8)

4.     That we do not try God’s mercy (v.9)