For Our Learning
Notes
Transcript
Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
In this evening’s text, the apostle Paul continued his instruction from the fathers who came out of Egypt under Moses. Earlier he focused on the good things that God had done for his people: he protected them by placing them under the cloud, allowing them to pass through the Red Sea, and feeding them spiritual food and spiritual drink. But they rejected God’s mercies and he scattered their bodies in the desert.
Verses 6 through 12 expand on this negative note, telling us precisely what the Israelites did that aroused the Lord’s displeasure. Paul mentioend four things in particular: idolatry in verse 7, fornication in verse 8, tempting Christ in verse 9, and murmuring in verse 10. Tonight we’ll look at each of these in turn.
But before we do that, I want to preface our discussion with two comments.
The first is explicit in our text. Twice Paul wrote that these things were written for our learning. We see this in verses 6 and 11. Verse 6 says, Now these things were our examples. And verse 11 repeats the same thought: Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples. The Spirit of God, knowing the needs of the church at Corinth in the first century and the needs of the New Testament church overall, preserved these historical incidents from Israel’s history to teach us that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Calvin wrote,
… by these examples, like so many pictures, we are instructed what judgments of God are impending over idolaters, fornicators, and other contemners of God. For they are lively pictures, representing God as angry on account of such sins.
The second comment that I want to make is more implicit than explicit, and it is this: when sinners rebel against God, they are never content with one sin. Rather, one sin leads to another, which leads to yet another, and so on. We sin, then we lie to cover it up, and before long we’re so deeply in that our pride won’t let us out. From this we learn that sin is a horrible pestilence that must be nipped in the bud. There’s never an excuse for letting it linger.
Idolatry
Idolatry
The first sin that Paul mentioned for our learning is idolatry. Verse 7 says,
Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
The historical reference here is unmistakable. In Exodus 32, while Moses was up on the mount, his brother Aaron gathered the people together, collected their gold, and formed it into the image of a calf. When the people saw it, they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt (v. 4). Aaron then built and altar and proclaimed a feast. Then verse 6 says,
And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
The making of the golden calf was clearly a violation of the second commandment — representing and worshiping God by means of an image. But it involved more than just bowing to statue. In pagan ceremonies, after people ate and drank to honor their god, they also played. The word play (παίζειν) usually involved sexual sin. That’s where idolatry often leads.
Since idolatry had been a common problem for the ancient Israelites, and continues to be a problem for us today whenever we substitute our own evil will for the perfect and righteous will of God, Paul wasn’t satisfied merely to mention the problem in verse 7. Instead, he followed it up in verse 14 with an explicit command:
Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
But pay attention to the wording of verse 7: Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them. The original suggests that some of the Corinthians had, in fact, already given themselves to this particular sin. In fact, they had given themselves up to all the sins mentioned in our text. Paul told them to stop. Such blasphemous behavior is unacceptable for those who belong to Jesus Christ.
Instead of idolatry, we must give ourselves exclusively to the worship and service of Jesus Christ. No idol can satisfy the deepest longing of our souls.
Fornication
Fornication
The second sin in our text is fornication. Verse 8 says,
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
Here, again, we have no trouble identifying the incident that Paul had in mind. In Numbers 25, when Israel abode in the valley of Shittim ready to enter the Promised Land, the men of Israel committed whoredom with the daughters of Moab (v. 1).
One reason why this is particularly interesting is that it’s exactly the opposite of what we just saw. While it’s true that idolatry or spiritual fornication often leads to physical fornication, it’s just as true that physical fornication leads to spiritual fornication. And that’s what happened here. After the men of Israel succumbed to the temptation of the Moabite prostitutes, the next verse says,
And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.
The intimacy that we have with God and the intimacy that we have others — whether a prostitute or a spouse — inescapably affect each other. There’s no better illustration of this than King Solomon. The first few verses of 1 Kings 11 tells his story:
But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.
So, please, young people, be careful whom you marry. Marry only in the Lord. Choose believing spouses with whom you are spiritually compatible, one who can help you move forward in your walk with the Lord.
Before moving on, I should probably say a word about the large number of men who died in this incident. Numbers 25:9 says it was twenty-four thousand, but Paul wrote twenty-three thousand. Unbelievers like to make a big deal about the difference, but it seems obvious that both numbers have been rounded off.
But the more important point is the seriousness of the sin: a lot of people sinned, and a lot of people died. Sexual sin is not something to trifle with. Once again, the Word of God says, “Stop!” We must keep ourselves pure for the service of Jesus Christ.
Tempting Christ
Tempting Christ
Verse 9 takes us to the third sin in tonight’s text, viz., tempting Christ. We tempt the Lord by willfully and boldly challenging his authority. Our text says,
Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
The incident mentioned here is recorded in Numbers 21:4–9. The Israelites had just defeated the Canaanite king Arad when they came upon the kingdom of Edom. Not wanting to go around the Edomites, as the Lord had commanded them, they were confident that they could beat them in battle. Thus, they blasphemed God, denounced Moses, and complained about the provisions God had given them. For their sin, God sent poisonous snakes into the camp and many people died.
Eventually, the people of Israel confessed their sin and Lord gave a remedy for their snakebites. Moses fashioned a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. Whenever anyone who was bitten looked to it, he would live. Here the bronze serpent was clearly a type of Christ, who promises to save everyone who looks to him in faith. That’s what Jesus told Nicodemus:
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
But not only was the serpent a picture of Jesus, Jesus was also the one whom the Israelites blasphemed. Numbers 21:5 says that they spake against God, but our text says that they tempted Christ. This is clear and unequivocal testimony to his deity. And it reminds us that every one of our sins is against our incarnate God. They all scream, “I don’t need Jesus,” just like the ancient people thought they could defeat Edom in their own strength.
Again, this is no minor matter. We don’t know how many people died in the wilderness from snakebites, but it was a lot. Moses wrote, Much people of Israel died (Num. 21:6). They had to die because their sinful behavior, like all sin, was a grievous denial of God’s promise to save his people.
Here we’re reminded of what the writer of Hebrews said:
He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Murmuring
Murmuring
The final sin highlighted in our text is murmuring. Paul wrote in verse 10,
Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Murmuring was such a constant problem among the Israelites that it’s hard to connect this verse to one specific incident. But there are two good possibilities. One comes from Numbers 14. The ten spies who gave bad reports, which resulted in the Israelites grumbling against God, died instantly of a plague. The other possibility, more likely in my opinion, is the rebellion of Korah in Numbers 16, in which two hundred and fifty leaders withstood Moses. Korah, Dathan and Abiram died when the earth opened up and swallowed them and all their property. The others were consumed by fire. Then, when others murmured about this the next day, another 14,700 died of a plague.
To be sure, neither of these incidents mentions the destroyer, but it’s clear in both passages that the destroyer is either God himself or someone sent by God to carry out his judgment. They remind us that we must all stand before the holy One. Paul wrote about the final judgment in 2 Corinthians 5:10:
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
I suspect that we’ll all be a surprised in this judgment. The number of our sins will be much greater than we ever imagined. We tend to overlook our sins, downplay their great evil or fail to recognize them as sins at all. We brush them off and forget about them. Thus, we constantly need the admonition of verse 12:
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
The fact that this is true only emphasizes the importance of being covered by the blood of the Lamb. Know that you belong to Jesus and never doubt his faithful love.
But it’s also true that the Lord judges us in this life. Peter wrote,
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
For that, we trust the Lord’s never-failing mercy. The churches in the book of Revelation had their sins, some of which were alarming, but the Lord proved to be far more gentle than they deserved. What would Jesus say to us, if he came to us today? What would he say to us individually if he visited in our homes?
In closing today, I want to go back to the beginning our text to emphasize another point. Verse 6 seems to include all of the sins that we’ve talked about this evening under the broad head lust. As Paul wrote, we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
Lust was the number one problem with the ancient people. The lusted after meat. Numbers 11:4 says,
And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
Psalm 106 adds,
They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel: But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.
Lust is a problem because it’s really where all sin begins. As James wrote,
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Thankfully, the Bible gives us an answer for lust. As we grow in the Lord Jesus Christ and become more and more satisfied with his goodness, we lose the desire for things we have no right to — idolatry, sexual pleasure, demanding our own way or complaining about God’s provisions. Paul wrote,
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
and again,
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
If we really believe that Jesus died to give us an abundant life of covenantal blessing, then we are the ones upon whom the ends of the world are come, as our text says. All previous ages of history have found their fulfillment in Jesus. He should be all that we need. How could we want anything more? Amen.