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 10:13 – ESV)
In 1 Corinthians 10:1-10 Paul uses the children of Israel in the wilderness as an object lesson about presuming upon the grace of God. Although they had escaped the bondage of Egypt, and had known of God’s grace and had experienced it (vs.1-4), nevertheless, many were still in bondage to sin, and they were judged (vs.5).
Indeed, from that first generation only Joshua and Caleb made it to the Promised Land (Numbers 14:30-32). Paul describes the nature of their offense as the desire for evil things (vs.6 / cf. Psalm 106:14), and then he gives us some specific instances which are representative of how they were confirmed in their sin.
· Idolatry (vs.7) (cf. Exodus 32:1-6)
· Immorality (vs.8) (cf. Numbers 25:1-9)
· Incitement (vs.9) (cf. Numbers 21:5-6)
· Indictment (vs.10) (cf. Numbers 16:41-49)
Paul then tells us that these things are a warning to us (vs.11). God dispensed judgment upon them in the physical realm and this is to be our warning about spiritual judgment, which might also have temporal, physical manifestations. He warns us to always be careful, because the minute that we think we have a particular sin mastered we are in danger of that very sin actually becoming our master (vs.12).
Now in context, verse 13, therefore, is telling us that we need to take the turn offs when they appear and stop traveling down the rotten road before those ways of escape disappear. The children of Israel presumed upon God’s grace and proved their lack of true faith. You have to continue down the grace road; if you do not, you are manifesting the lack of faith.
You can’t continue down the dark path and think that there will be an escape pod just waiting whenever you feel like turning back to God. People think they can coast, and then they wonder why this verse doesn’t seem to “work” for them. The examples Paul gives are a warning against precisely that. Repentance means we are turning back onto the Holy Highway. It is time to turn off of Temptation Street; believe me, you can’t afford the toll.
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This post was originally shown 3-20-09, but it didn't have the audio portion...
In other words, although we are mixing new posts with old posts, the old ones now have an audio, which also includes more information and discussion. You can hear these archived at SermonAudio, as well as at voiceofvision.org.
God bless you…
Of course, saving grace never actually runs out...but that is the point, those people who have actaully received saving grace make turn arounds by His grace, and there are many that may think they have received saving grace when it is just the common grace of God's longsuffering and mercy giving them opportunity to repent...
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