Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Epistle Lesson just read, from 1 Cor. 10. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- Our text leads us into a very interesting conversation. Put one way, it is about “once saved, always saved.” That is, the Scripture assures us that we are in God’s hands, and “no one can snatch us” out of God’s hands.
- However, our text, and many others in Holy Scripture, warn us about “falling away,” and becoming apostates from the faith. There is no question that we can “leap” out of God’s hand, so to speak, by abandoning His Word, His people, His church. In our text, the apostle uses the example of the children of Israel during the Exodus.
- While all of this may seem confusing, it is really a matter of God insuring that the right Word be spoken to the two different parts of children of God. The new nature needs to be strengthened and bolstered in faith, by the assurances of God’s eternal love for us. However, the old sinful nature needs to be threatened and coerced so that we can control him. Hence the warnings.
- I am fairly certain that it is a common Christian failing to at some point in time conclude: “You know, I think I’ve done my fair share. I’ve had enough Bible classes, listened to enough sermons, served on enough boards, done enough for the church and others. I need [and deserve] a rest of sorts.” But this is our sinful nature speaking, and so Paul warns us to “BEWARE OF THE SINFUL FLESH.” For it is certain that:
I. Prior Spiritual Blessings Do Not Guarantee Safety From Falling Away From God
Text: “I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.”
Heb. 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him.”
Statement: This is a common temptation – to presumption. Whereas our new man rejoices to hear of God’s gracious mercy and forgiveness, and takes great joy and delight in God’s love, our sinful nature immediately argues that this means God doesn’t care that much about whether or not we sin, and whether or not we learn and heed His Word. This is a lethal line of reasoning, and to succumb to it is spiritually deadly! This is what Paul warns us of in this text.
Application: It is not that we are to cease drinking from the “spiritual Rock,” or that we should forsake Christ because we have these temptations to evil and spiritual sloth. No, just the opposite. We must be all the more vigilant in hearing and studying God’s Word, and receiving His sacrament; and all of this genuinely and seriously. For this is God’s hold on our hearts and minds! By these means He keeps us in faith. But we still must take care for:
II. Desiring Evil And Indulging In It Can Lead To Loss Of Faith And Life
Text: “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.”
Statement: You see, this is what happens when we become presumptuous, and think that God’s forgiveness is license to indulge our sinful impulses and desires. We all have such sinful and destructive temptations and weaknesses, although they vary widely from Christian to Christian. Any of us could fall into such sin and feel perfectly comfortable and justified in it! This is how wretched and evil our sinful nature truly is.
Application: Thus this kind of warning to us! Pride, arrogance, envy, malice – all of these things are just as destructive and deadly. And these things also come so naturally to us, and seem so reasonable. So the apostle urges us:
III. Let Us Take Heed
Text: “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”
A. Our Temptations Are Not Insurmountable [We Always Have Repentance And Faith To Turn To]
Text: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.”
B. God Is Faithful To Keep Us In Repentance And Faith – Through His Word
Text: “God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.”
C. God Is Faithful To Help Us Endure And Escape Temptations
Text: “God is faithful . . . and with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
Statement: Here we must remember Luther’s explanation to the Sixth Petition: “We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep so that the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature would not deceive us or seduce us into misbelief, despair, or other great shame and vice.” The goal of the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh is not just to lead us into great sin, but to drive us to despair and unbelief of God’s gracious mercy and love, and finally to drive us into some form of misbelief.
Application: By His Word God informs us that though our sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. [Is. 1:18] This and this alone, the assurance of His full and complete forgiveness and pardon, in His Word, protects and preserves us from the ultimate temptation – that of unbelief – and keeps us in repentance and faith.
Conclusion: The devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh will not give up on us. When Jesus had been tempted in the wilderness we read that the devil “departed from Him until an opportune time.” If he didn’t give up on Jesus, neither will he give up on us.
So we must “BEWARE OF THE FLESH” and all other evils, and pray God to help us remain in repentance and faith. And remember that God is faithful and will provide us with a way of escape so that we can endure all temptations and overcome them.
Thanks and praise be to God for His love and care for us. Let us also allow Him to do this for us, through His Word, His Sacrament, and the fellowship of His Church. Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.