For no temptation--no trial regarded as enticing to sin [no matter how it comes or where it leads]--has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man--that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear. But God is faithful [to His Word and to His compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the way out--the means of escape to a landing place--that you may be capable and strong and powerful patiently to bear up under it. --1 Corinthians 10:13 (Amplified).The current sermon series at Gateway Church has been amazing. Called It Is Written, you can access the sermons at http://gatewaypeople.com/sermons. The first sermon in the series showed how, when Jesus had fasted 40 days and then was tempted by Satan, he always responded with Scripture. It Is Written. The three temptations listed in the Bible (there were doubtless many, many more) had to do with three basic human needs: Provision, Protection, and Power. The Bible speaks to each of these needs.
The fourth sermon in the series, just this past weekend, takes up the theme of temptation. But it all ties in to another concept: Idolatry. There are a lot of stand-alone verses in 1 Corinthians 10, and many of them deal with temptation. But what struck me, and I guess that I had never seen it before, was that the entire passage from verse 7 to verse 14 talks about idolatry. Verse 7 starts, "Do not be idolaters, as some of them were." Verse 14 ends with, "Flee from idolatry." So the whole passage invites one to read each verse with a new set of eyes, from a different vantage point.
All said, there are three specific temptations listed, "such as are common to man." I submit to you that succumbing to any of these temptations is tantamount to idolatry--that is, putting something else in place of God. We may not worship graven images, but we practice idolatry when we allow anything to have control over our mind, will and emotions. Let's look at these temptations that lead to idolatry in more detail.
Sexual Immorality
This is the most obvious of the three temptations listed in this passage. Yet it is the most prevalent temptation of our day. We have more opportunity, and less accountability, to indulge ourselves sexually now than ever before. But don't think this is a new problem. Paul warned the first century Christians in Corinth to avoid being tempted, starting in the second half of verse 7 and moving to verse 8. "As it is written: 'The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play.' We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did--and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died."
There are two Old Testament references here, the first one from Exodus 32. In the first, Moses had gone up on Mount Sinai to receive the commands of the Lord ("It is written on tablets of stone"), and Aaron was left to lead the people. The people convinced Aaron that something had happened to Moses, and that God was no longer relevant, so Aaron made them a golden calf. The people had a feast day in honor of this idol, and then after they ate, they indulged in pagan revelry. In this sense, sexual immorality was practiced as a form of worship to this golden idol.
The second reference is from Numbers 25:1-18. The men of Israel at that time lived among the women of Moab, and started intermarrying. When the Moabite women set up their households in the Israelite cities, they brought their idols, their images of Baal, with them. The men of Israel not only allowed this, but began to practice pagan rites, which included sexual immorality. It's a very graphic description--Phineas the priest, the grandson of Aaron, went in to the Tent of Meeting (what was used as the center of worship before a permanent Temple could be built). There he found an Israelite man on top of a Moabite woman, and he drove a spear through both of them. Due to the courage of Phineas, and his willingness to stop the degradation of the Tabernacle, God stopped the plague that had killed 23,000 people.
Now, many of us today might have trouble making a connection between them and us. We don't have temple prostitutes, we don't engage in coitus as an expression of worship to a god or goddess, and we sure don't have capital punishment for adulterers--or idolaters, for that matter. But we do indulge in all manner of sexual immorality. The Greek word used in 1 Corinthians was pornomea, the root of our word "pornography". Pornomea involves more than sexual images; it includes lewd acts, lust and adultery. The sinfulness of it is in our gratifying ourselves; putting more effort into fulfilling our carnal desires than we do in keeping our marriage vows, or keeping ourselves pure for our future spouse--not to mention pleasing ourselves over pleasing God. Remember, idolatry is putting anything or anyone (including yourself) above God and his holiness.
Tempting God
1 Corinthians 10:9 says, "We should not test the Lord." The Amplified Bible puts it this way: "We should not tempt the Lord--try His patience, become a trial to Him, critically appraise Him and exploit His goodness--as some of them did and were killed by poisonous serpents." Before we get into the Old Testament reference here, let's go back and study what it means to "test the Lord" or "become a trial to Him" or "critically appraise Him". When Jesus was on this earth, teaching and healing and revealing God to so many people who had never had access to God before, the one group of people who stood in His way the most were the Pharisees. They were certainly the most critical of Him. And in Mark chapter three, the had accused Jesus of blasphemy. Jesus took up their argument and turned it against them. "I tell you the truth," Jesus said. "All the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin." (Mark 3:28-29)
When Satan tempted Jesus by taking Him to the pinnacle of the Temple and daring Him to throw Himself down, so that the angels would come to His rescue, Jesus said, "It is written, you shall not tempt the Lord your God." Satan was in essence asking Jesus to put on a show, a circus act that would astound and amaze the people, but would not do them any good spiritually. We do much the same thing when we wish for a ridiculous blessing: "If God really loved me, He would let me win the lottery." This silliness can be forgiven. But many play lotto with our eternity. Many will say, "I know I should become a Christian, and some day I will ask God to save me; but not now." Friend, you don't know what the future holds, or how many days you have left. Don't tempt God, because pretty soon, it will be too late.
The Old Testament reference to the time when people were killed by poisonous serpents is found in Numbers 21:5-6. In that story, the people of Israel started griping. They spoke against God and against Moses, saying, "Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread or water; and we hate this miserable food!" On the small scale, they conveniently forgot that when they were in Egypt, they were slaves, and had to toil in the sun all day to earn their bread. What they had now was freedom from slavery, and free food, provided by God Himself. On the larger scale, what they were really saying was that God's plan was no good, that their plan would be better. Again, this is idolatry--putting themselves in a position above God and His perfect will for their lives. Much like the man who says he will trust in God some day, but not now. He is essentially saying that he knows better than God what he should do with his life; that he would rather gratify his own desires now and put off following God, instead of bowing to God now and being subject to His will. James 4:14 says, "Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? You are [really] but a wisp of vapor--a puff of smoke, a mist--that is visible for a little while and then disappears [into thin air]." (Amplified).
Complaining
The third example of a temptation that leads to idolatry is found in 1 Corinthians 10:10. "And do not grumble, as some of them did--and were killed by the destroying angel." This is possibly a reference to the sons of Korah in Numbers 16. When God set apart the people of Israel, He gave the rights and responsibilities of the Priesthood specifically to the Levites, the sons of Aaron. The sons of Korah rebelled against this hierarchy, because they wanted to be priests themselves. God's anger burned against them, and as an example to the people, God killed them. A great chasm opened up in the ground and swallowed them. But instead of humbling themselves before God and seeking His will for their lives, the people complained. "Those people put to death yesterday--they were good and godly people," they said. "There was no good reason to treat them like that." In essence, they put themselves on the same level as God; they put God on trial as if they were a jury of His peers (forgetting that God has no equal).
Here is what happened next:
The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. "You have killed the Lord's people," they said. But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it, and the Glory of the Lord appeared. Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and the Lord said, "Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once." And they fell facedown. --Numbers 16:41-45.Moses interceded for the people, and Aaron gave a sacrifice of atonement for them, so the wrath of God was turned back, but not before He had sent a plague that killed 14,700 people, in addition to those who had died because of Korah.
Many of us today shake our heads and cluck sadly at the news headlines. "That should never have happened," we may say. "Why do good people suffer? Why do the wicked prosper?" We tacitly agree that if we were in charge, things would be different. We would certainly put an end to suffering. We would steal from the rich and give to the poor, take the wealth of the 1% and distribute it evenly among the 99%. We would make things fair for all, once and for all.
And this, my friend, is the spirit of idolatry. Deciding we know better than God.
Let me tell you something else, my friend. But for the blood of Jesus covering us, God would have wiped us all out centuries ago. Just like Moses stood between God and the people, just like Aaron offering a sacrifice of atonement for them, Jesus gave His life to atone for us, whether we know it or not. The time will come, however, when Jesus returns to gather up the faithful, those who overcame temptation and shunned idolatry. And when He takes His church out of the way, there will be nobody there to intercede for you. God will judge you on how you dealt with temptation. Did you put yourself and your needs, your desires, above God? You will be humbled, you will be brought low. There is no denying it: you will be judged.
God has provided His own Son as a sacrifice for your sin. If you are covered by the blood of Jesus, God will turn away His wrath, and will not see your sin. Jesus will be your means of escape, and heaven will be your landing place.
In the distance I can see the storm clouds coming my way,
And I need to find a shelter before it starts to rain,
So I turn and run to you, Lord,
You're the only place to go,
Where unfailing love surrounds me,
When I need it most.
You're my hiding place,
Safe in your embrace,
I'm protected from the storm that rages,
When the waters rise,
And I run to hide,
Lord in you I'll find my hiding place.
I'm not asking you to take away my troubles, Lord,
Cause it's through the stormy weather I'll learn to trust you more,
But I thank you for the promise,
And I have come to know,
Your unfailing love surrounds me,
When I need it most.
You're my hiding place,
Safe in your embrace,
I'm protected from the storm that rages.
When the waters rise,
And I run to hide,
Lord in you I'll find my hiding place.
So, let your people seek you,
While you may be found,
Cause you're our only refuge,
When the rain comes pouring down.
You're our hiding place,
Safe in your embrace,
We're protected from the storm that rages,
When the waters rise,
And we run to hide,
Lord, in you we find our hiding place...
Lord, in you we find our hiding place.
Read more: http://artists.letssingit.com/steven-curtis-chapman-lyrics-hiding-place-brf7fsb#ixzz2sVcNHsCs
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