1 Corinthians 10:12-14 "12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 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. 14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
A Plan...
Context: In our scripture this morning, In the course of warning about idolatry, Paul is addressing followers of Christ, who are resting in many false assurances. For some their religious heritage - or some resting on God’s miraculous provision in the past - for some the fantastic leaders they are associated with. Even calling up the 1st chapter where not only were some resting in Moses, they are resting in the fantastic teaching of Peter, and Apollos, and even Paul himself. The warning he issues has to do with Standing… and falling. There is a real danger for you when you make assumptions about your stability. You stop being careful… You better take heed. Nobody is to big to fail...
1 Corinthians 10:13 "THE way of Escape”: The end in duration, or the completion of the times, or the route of escape…a way out for every trial, or temptation, or a way through every testing in your life.
So, what is to be your response to the TTT that comes your way?
The overall of teaching of scripture is that there are three major responses: one of which is highlighted here.
1. There are times you are to Engage and fight.
D.L. Moody, “I thought when I became a christian, all I had to do was lay in the bottom of the boat and drift along. But I I soon discovered that I would be going against the current.”
1 Pet 5:9-11 “Satan roams about like a lion....Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
This is consistent with Paul: Eph 6:10-11 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”
J.C. Ryle wrote in his classic book Holiness, “True Christianity is a struggle, a fight, and a warfare. . . . Where there is grace there will be conflict. The believer is a soldier. There is no holiness without a warfare. Saved souls will always be found to have fought a fight” (53–54).
1 Tim 6:12 “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life...”
1 COr 9:25 “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.”
Phil 3:12 “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”
2 Tim 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”
Psalm 119:11 “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” Psalm 119:11.
Heb 2:14-18 “… For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.”
Matt 4:10 “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”
2 Cor 10:4 “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”
Matt 6:13 “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
2. There are times we are to Endure in faith
Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.- William Barclay
Rom 5:3-5 “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Heb 10:36 “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.”
James 1:12 “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”
James 5:10-11 “As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”
3. There are times we are to escape in flight.
A.W. Tozer, “ An idol of the mind is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand.”
1 cor 6:18 “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”
1 cor 10:14 “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”
2 tim 2:22 “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
1 Tim 6:11 “But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.”
Commentary: So, then … we are both to run away from spiritual danger and to run after spiritual good, both to flee from the one in order to escape it and to pursue the other in order to attain it. This double duty of Christians—negative and positive—is the consistent, reiterated teaching of Scripture. Thus, we are to deny ourselves and to follow Christ. We are to put off what belongs to our old life and to put on what belongs to our new life. We are to put to death our earthly members and to set our minds on heavenly things. We are to crucify the flesh and to walk in the Spirit. It is the ruthless rejection of the one in combination with the relentless pursuit of the other which Scripture enjoins upon us as the secret of holiness. Only so can we hope to be fit for the Master’s use.
Conclusion:
I was reading about the Nepoleonic Wars… The Battle of Garcia Hernandez.
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.
“Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” Romans 6:11-12.