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remind ourselves what Christian Liberty is because it's only as we are clear about what it is that we'll know what it is to it. If we aren't clear about what the Apostle is saying here we want be able to make sense of what he is warning us against and instructing us about.
BCF in Chapter 21 Of Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience has a brillant definition of Christian Liberty
Part Section 1The liberty which Christ has purchased for believers under the gospel, consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the rigour and curse of the law, and in their being delivered from this present evil world, bondage to Satan, and dominion of sin,
3. They who upon pretence of Christian liberty do practice any sin, or cherish any sinful lust, as they do thereby pervert the main design of the grace of the gospel to their own destruction, so they wholly destroy the end of Christian liberty, which is, that being delivered out of the hands of all our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our lives.
Section 3
Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware, NIV has ignorant ( 1 Cor 12:1) don't be in ignorance concerning, to have no discernment of, not to understand - Know -comprehend - being mistaken - in error constantly or repeatedly, customarily, a continuous habit.Context > Ch 8 Care with Christian liberty use it in love > brothers & sisters, last week Don considered Ch 9 Apostle liberty with respect to His ministry. Tonight the passage before us in Ch 10:1-13 we want to consider the misuse of our Christian liberty. Paul warns us by giving us a history lesson, an example of what happens when we misuse our liberty and how to avoid it. Ignoramuses Expound v1
The Corthinians where babies in Christ
¶1 Cor 3:1-3 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;
you ignoramus - I want to get into your thick skulls the most urgent warning - by way of example. Learn from our past for the present
Privilege because of liberty. They Couldn't bring about our Liberty so can't we. God gives us in Christ.
Need to know our privileges and as we shall see use them to not misuse our liberty in Christ.
"that all our fathers were under the cloud,"Ist thing they not to be thick about is Privilege of God's Protection v1b
Understand you Corinthians that God promised to protect your fathers, how with his presence and by guiding them. Moses records in Numbers 14:14 "They have heard that You, LORD, are among this people, who is seen eye to eye. You are the LORD, and Your cloud stands over them, and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
and all passed through the sea. all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
What a desperate they where in, the water was in front, towering mountains on either side and the Egyptian Army breathing down their necks. They were at a seeming dead end, trapped with nowhere to go. They could possibly save themselves, and then just in time God sends a wind to separate the Red Sea as Moses stretched out His hands over the waters. And we read in Exodus 14:22
"So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left."
What a dramatic event in human history... and the rest is history.. the Eygptians all drowned in the sea. God supernaturally saved His people, He rescued them when they couldn't save themselves.
Notice their baptism: With the giant cloud above signifying God's protection presence & guidance and them the damp sea floor squelching under their feet and great walls of water tower on their left and right they where literally immersed, baptized. They where only baptized into Moses > saviour figure.
Remember how God miraculously for 40yrs feed his people daily with manna - a type of bread - so they wanted be hungry. And how they where only to gather enough for each day and if they kept it for another it went off. And how they complained of being so thirsty and Moses struck the Rock and water flowed out to quench their thirst. It has tremendous theological implications, of coarse it was a physical provision provided by a supernatural act but it was much more than that because it was the work of God's Spirit the food was meant to feed them spiritually. How? Because it was a pattern the pointed to a person and as you know that person is Christ. How did the Rock follow them? Surely this points to Christ being with them in His pre-incarnate state.
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John 7:37-39 37 "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Didn't obey God - only Joshua & Caleb went into Cannan
Here the apostle remains them that though their fathers had the greatest privileges imaginable they can so easily be misused and spoilt. Knowing our privileges is really only the first step in helping us not misuse our liberty in Christ.
He now begins with an incredibly helpful statement which is really the second great tool to us not misusing our Christian Liberty
"Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted .MAJOR EMPHASIS
Now thse things became examples. The word examples. in the original means anything produced by blows, hence leaving a mark or impression, then a model, pattern, a figure, a copy> distintive badge (Show Nazi Badge) For the person who wore it, it helped identify them as being a Nazi, as belonging to the Nazi Party.
Heb 8:4-5 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; 5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."
Ladies most of you need the Pattern to make the dress, the Chocolate Model to make the Chocolates. Now the pattern is not the dress & the Choc mould not the Choc you need the to make the real thing - in the same way the Apostle is saying to the Corinthians and in turn us - These privileges that where real to our fathers - God's Sovereign protection, dranking physically and spiritually of Christ ...... now take this history lesson - take this pattern, this model and in light of your greater position and privileges in Christ use it as the most powerful antidote not to misuse your liberty in Christ.
What was there purpose of this Pattern, this model that pointed to the reality? v6b"to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted .MAJOR EMPHASIS
Notice he gives them a series of commands >history of their fathers
Notice too ..catalogue of nasties -constituted the misuse & spoiling of their liberty and ours
v6 "we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted...
According to Numbers 11:4 ¶ Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; heres their lust so the children of Israel also wept again and said: "Who will give us meat to eat? Remember God had miraculously provided manna in the wilderness daily for them to eat..
God gave them their desire ... and we read v33 But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was aroused against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague.
The first nastie that spoils their liberty and ours is lust -
This is something they are not to become...idolaters who is literally a servant to an idol, image, a phantom. It doesn't have to be a physical object it can be an image of the mind.
Idolatry often gives birth to sexual immorality, What is incident is he referring to here?
Corthin with it's main temple Venus was notorious for sexual immorality,
Remember in at the beginning of Chapter 5 He said, "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles----that a man has his father's wife! (1 Cor 5:1)
"And such were some of you...(1Cor 6:9-11)
They complained about their lack of food and water,
When we put these two thoughts together - their privileges and the Pattern of their privileges - we can begin to understand what the Apostle is saying in v6 "These privileges that our fathers enjoyed, salvation, baptism, being spiritually feed and watered by Christ are for you a pattern, a model of what Christ has achieved in saving you from the power & bondage of sin,
They a pattern whose express purpose is that you should not sin. Every time you are tempted to lust, commit sexual immorality , tempted or test Christ or complain this Pattern, a Model that can be at the front of our mind pointing us to the reality, the substance the real thing.
"Why would I want to lust after ... when Christ has saved me from the power of sin and Satan, He has brought from death to life from darkness to light, I have been baptized into Him. When He died I died with Him, when He was buried I was buried with Hin, When He rose to newness of life I rose to newness of life. So why would I want to lust, commit idolarty or have sexually impure thoughts.
He now gives us them and us the third tool so we want misuse our liberty in Christ
Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
upon whom the ends of the ages have come
He now returns to the Corthinians minds, in v1 he informed them,
The "All these things" is the historical information he's told them in v1-10
"and they were written for our admonition," Of course he's referring hear to the old testament scriptures.
What does this word admonition mean and why does he use it.
. It's a rich word meaning firstly a putting into the mind. - we get the word nous from it - not used much these days - He's not using his nous - his mind. But it also carries with it the idea of to set right, to impart understanding . The stress being on not just the intellect , but the will and disposition. It can be also translated to warn. correct and encourage. Putting into anothers mind God's expectation but also God's way of meeting that expectation which he gives us in the Bible.
Eph 6:4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
Application:
Some of us have tremendous knowledge of the Bible, we know verses and doctrines but how effective are we at taking the bible and applying it to numerous situations of our life. Those of us who struggle in implementing God's word in our lives need the courage to ask for help. And those of us who have made real progress in putting the Bible into practice need to be willing to encourage and train those of us who struggle. This has great application to those of us who may struggle in our marriages and with bringing up our children. We are our brother's keeper when it comes to these things.
He concludes with the final two tools we should use if we are going to make real progress in not misusing our Christian liberty.....
Corinthians arrogance & pride In light of all that I have been saying, you who think your doing O.K when it comes to these Nasties > sins Idolatry v7 Fornication v8 Tempting God v9 Murmuring v10
Proverbs 16:18-19
Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty/Proud spirit before a fall.
Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, Than to divide the spoil with the proud.
at being admonished over all those nasties they are not to do.
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience."
but God is faithful,
Not only Holy as we have seen but He is Faithful -
Hebrews 2: 17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.
so we endure the test God shows us what to throw overboard
To those of us who are Christians
As we go into this week lets use the recall the Pattern of our privileges in Christ so we want misuse the glorious liberty we have in Christ.
To You Who Are Not Christians Tonight
You are still living in rebellion to God,
You know nothing of the liberty that Christ has purchased for Christians by his death burial & resurrection.
You know nothing of what it means to be free from the guilt of your sins.
Your sins are no different from the ones in this passage lust, idolatry, sexual sins, tempting Christ and complaining.
Yyou rebel because you live life as though God doesn't exist
You are condemned by God - He is angry with you, in fact you have broken His law and so under the curse of it.
Your in bondage to Satan, and under the power of your sins.
You are not been delivered from this evil world,
Come with your rebellion and lay your sins at Christ's feet - come to Him now and drink and your will now eternal satisfaction in Him alone and true freedom from your rebellion
Jesus said "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." John 4:13
Amen
