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I am reading in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. The Israelites who escaped Egypt wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before a remnant of them got to go into the Promised Land. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, and so they were overthrown in the wilderness. And they did not get to enter into God’s eternal rest, either (1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-16). And this is a lesson for us so that we don’t end up following in their footsteps and end up doing what they did.
Exactly! Just because we are under the New Covenant, and not under the Old Covenant, as they were, it doesn’t change God’s moral character nor his moral rules that we must abide by. For in Jesus’ death on that cross he did not do away with us having to obey our Lord’s moral laws. He just did away with all those Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, purification, sacrificial, and dietary laws and restrictions, which included the requirement of circumcision. But his moral laws remained intact.
And that is why he is using their situation as an example to us so that we do not desire evil as they did and face the same punishment, which was not just physical death, and which was not just that they did not get to go into their physical Promised Land, but that they did not get to enter into God’s eternal rest, i.e. into salvation from sin and eternal life with God in heaven. So this is warning us that if we do as they did, that it will end with the same result. And we will not inherit eternal life with God.
Therefore we are not to be idolaters, and an idol is anything that takes priority in our lives over our walks of faithful obedience to our Lord in holy living and in doing the will of God in doing whatever he has called us individually to do. For whatever gets our passion, desire, time, commitment, loyalty, and devotion, above God or in place of God, or that is of this sinful world and not of God, but against God and his Word, that is an idol. And so we are to cast off those idols and surrender our lives to Jesus Christ.
We must also not be those who indulge in sexual immorality. And to indulge is to give oneself up to something, to yield to, to wallow in, to abandon oneself to, i.e. to live in slavery (addiction, bondage) to, i.e. to make it one’s deliberate and habitual sinful practice that one returns to over and over again. And it can mean to become involved in an activity that is undesirable or disapproved of by God and by his word. So this is about addictive sexual immorality that one engages in as a matter of practice.
Again we are reminded that these things happened to them as an example to us and were written down for our instruction, so that we do not desire and indulge in evil as they did with the same results. And this is teaching us who are under the New Covenant that God still deals with unrepentant and deliberate and habitual sin against him the way in which he dealt with their sinful rebellion against him. For if sin is what we practice, and not righteousness and not obedience to God, we will not have eternal life.
So, if you are convinced that you stand based upon a once in a lifetime confession of faith in Jesus you made which you believe secures you salvation from sin and eternal life with God, then take heed lest you fall. For God does not promise us eternal life with him and salvation from sin based off lip service to him. We must now walk (in conduct, in practice) in holy living and in obedience to our Lord, and not in sin, or we don’t know God and we do not have eternal life with God, regardless of what we confess.
And to all of you who claim that you are “struggling” with sin, which usually means that you are habitually practicing the sin and yielding to it, and that you have not been able to conquer it or find a way of escape out of it, even though you know what the Scriptures teach on this subject, please know that God has already provided that way of escape for you. You just have to want it more than you want your sin. And then you just have to take the way out that he provided for you and stop making excuses for your sins.
For excuses don’t cut it with God. For he has already made the way for you to be delivered out of your slavery to sin, and he did this via his death on that cross and via his resurrection from the dead, and he continues to show us the way out as we yield control of our lives over to him and we choose him instead of our sin. For he gives us the ability to say “No!” to sin and “Yes!” to God daily if we will let him take control and if we will let go of control over our own lives. But we have to desire him more than sin.
[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Hebrews 10:23-31; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
Purity’s Principle
Why, my beloved,
Do you search near and far
For what never will satisfy
Your deep longings of heart?
Why must you flitter
From here and to there
Seeking for pleasure
In other affairs?
You seek not the wisdom
Of God in your heart.
From Godly counsel
You ever depart.
While playing your games,
The clock keeps ticking by
While you waste away time,
And God’s patience you try.
You certainly think that God
Does not keep track
Of your many adulteries,
While purity you lack.
Or else this you think –
God will not notice, not care
that although you snub Him,
you think you’re His heir.
So, let me be quick
To point out to you truth.
God’s Word not agrees with you
Who are uncouth.
God certainly cares when you
Leave Him for lust.
Yes, God is so loving,
But also He’s just.
Our Lord did not die
On that cross that sad day
Just to forgive you so
With sin you’d play.
Our Lord Jesus Christ,
Gave His life for our sins
So we’d live victoriously,
Holy within.
To sin and to self
We must die with our Lord,
And fellowship with Him,
Walk with Him, one accord.
The lust of our eyes,
Pride of life, must forsake,
If fellowship with our Lord God
We partake.
In holiness now we must walk,
Faith within,
Empowered by God,
Holy Spirit live in.
An Original Work / May 26, 2020
“Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 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.’ We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.” (1 Corinthians 10:6-10 ESV)
Exactly! Just because we are under the New Covenant, and not under the Old Covenant, as they were, it doesn’t change God’s moral character nor his moral rules that we must abide by. For in Jesus’ death on that cross he did not do away with us having to obey our Lord’s moral laws. He just did away with all those Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, purification, sacrificial, and dietary laws and restrictions, which included the requirement of circumcision. But his moral laws remained intact.
And that is why he is using their situation as an example to us so that we do not desire evil as they did and face the same punishment, which was not just physical death, and which was not just that they did not get to go into their physical Promised Land, but that they did not get to enter into God’s eternal rest, i.e. into salvation from sin and eternal life with God in heaven. So this is warning us that if we do as they did, that it will end with the same result. And we will not inherit eternal life with God.
Therefore we are not to be idolaters, and an idol is anything that takes priority in our lives over our walks of faithful obedience to our Lord in holy living and in doing the will of God in doing whatever he has called us individually to do. For whatever gets our passion, desire, time, commitment, loyalty, and devotion, above God or in place of God, or that is of this sinful world and not of God, but against God and his Word, that is an idol. And so we are to cast off those idols and surrender our lives to Jesus Christ.
We must also not be those who indulge in sexual immorality. And to indulge is to give oneself up to something, to yield to, to wallow in, to abandon oneself to, i.e. to live in slavery (addiction, bondage) to, i.e. to make it one’s deliberate and habitual sinful practice that one returns to over and over again. And it can mean to become involved in an activity that is undesirable or disapproved of by God and by his word. So this is about addictive sexual immorality that one engages in as a matter of practice.
“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. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:11-13 ESV)
Again we are reminded that these things happened to them as an example to us and were written down for our instruction, so that we do not desire and indulge in evil as they did with the same results. And this is teaching us who are under the New Covenant that God still deals with unrepentant and deliberate and habitual sin against him the way in which he dealt with their sinful rebellion against him. For if sin is what we practice, and not righteousness and not obedience to God, we will not have eternal life.
So, if you are convinced that you stand based upon a once in a lifetime confession of faith in Jesus you made which you believe secures you salvation from sin and eternal life with God, then take heed lest you fall. For God does not promise us eternal life with him and salvation from sin based off lip service to him. We must now walk (in conduct, in practice) in holy living and in obedience to our Lord, and not in sin, or we don’t know God and we do not have eternal life with God, regardless of what we confess.
And to all of you who claim that you are “struggling” with sin, which usually means that you are habitually practicing the sin and yielding to it, and that you have not been able to conquer it or find a way of escape out of it, even though you know what the Scriptures teach on this subject, please know that God has already provided that way of escape for you. You just have to want it more than you want your sin. And then you just have to take the way out that he provided for you and stop making excuses for your sins.
For excuses don’t cut it with God. For he has already made the way for you to be delivered out of your slavery to sin, and he did this via his death on that cross and via his resurrection from the dead, and he continues to show us the way out as we yield control of our lives over to him and we choose him instead of our sin. For he gives us the ability to say “No!” to sin and “Yes!” to God daily if we will let him take control and if we will let go of control over our own lives. But we have to desire him more than sin.
[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Hebrews 10:23-31; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
Purity’s Principle
Why, my beloved,
Do you search near and far
For what never will satisfy
Your deep longings of heart?
Why must you flitter
From here and to there
Seeking for pleasure
In other affairs?
You seek not the wisdom
Of God in your heart.
From Godly counsel
You ever depart.
While playing your games,
The clock keeps ticking by
While you waste away time,
And God’s patience you try.
You certainly think that God
Does not keep track
Of your many adulteries,
While purity you lack.
Or else this you think –
God will not notice, not care
that although you snub Him,
you think you’re His heir.
So, let me be quick
To point out to you truth.
God’s Word not agrees with you
Who are uncouth.
God certainly cares when you
Leave Him for lust.
Yes, God is so loving,
But also He’s just.
Our Lord did not die
On that cross that sad day
Just to forgive you so
With sin you’d play.
Our Lord Jesus Christ,
Gave His life for our sins
So we’d live victoriously,
Holy within.
To sin and to self
We must die with our Lord,
And fellowship with Him,
Walk with Him, one accord.
The lust of our eyes,
Pride of life, must forsake,
If fellowship with our Lord God
We partake.
In holiness now we must walk,
Faith within,
Empowered by God,
Holy Spirit live in.
An Original Work / May 26, 2020
