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1 Corinthians 10:1,13 -Our Escape- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2024-06-23

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This this is this is got a lot of information. We might be here for a couple hours. There there is so much here. There's so much. And, maybe I should have taken just one verse or two verses, but we got 13 verses that we're gonna cover. And, just, take what you can, chew on what you can, and, you can get the tape and you can go back over it later. You can study further, but, I've got a gift of speaking really fast when I know I gotta cover a lot a lot of ground. So just keep up. Alright? First Corinthians ten one through 13. Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under cloud and all passed through the sea and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ. But with many of them, God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be idolaters as were some of them as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day, three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye at some of them, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now, all these things happened unto them for our examples and they are written for our admonition and upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, let him that thinks he stand take heed lest he fall. There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will with the temptation also may a way make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it. Father, thank you for your holy word. Lord, we know what it is to fail. We know what it is to fall. We know what it is to be tempted, be tried, to be tested, and fail the test. But Lord, we're so very thankful that you're there to pick us back up, that you're there to wipe us off like you did with with Peter, Lord, as you met him there at the at the shore of the Galilee. And Lord, is he so dejected, he's going back to fishing, he feels like such a failure, having denied you three times in one evening when you needed him the most. And Lord, you're so gracious, you're so kind to to wash us off, to encourage us, to get us back to work, get us doing what we're supposed to be doing. You prepare a nice little spread there, broiled fish. Children come and dine. We can see the picture there, Lord. We can see your kindness, your love, and then you just directly speak to Peter, and Lord, you restore him right there and then. And Lord, he realizes that he cannot trust in himself. If any man thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. And Lord, you're there to pick him up and to empower him and to help him to fulfill his ministry as he relies upon you. So teach us, each of us Lord these lessons. Over and over again, may we be reminded of our human frailty. That is mean that that is in my flesh dwells no good thing, but Lord that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. So bless now we pray in Jesus name, amen. Would you please be seated? Paul warns of the dangers of overconfidence, the danger of pride of thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to think. He warns in verse 12, let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. How do we escape ourselves? That pride, that self sufficiency, that I did it my way, you know, mentality. I'm gonna do it my way. Where's the way of escape? What will assure victory in the day of trial? The day of testing when God proves us. How do I keep from being disqualified? Last week in chapter nine, Paul talked about, being disqualified, adakimas. And so we're in this race, we're in this fight, we're serving the Lord, but we gotta be disciplined. We can't be involved in fornication. We can't be involved in idolatry. We can't be doing the things that Paul's gonna grab from the old testament, the children of Israel, all the ways that they they experience failure as they're being tested, and, and he wants us to learn from them. These are our examples. And so as Paul's alluding to, look at the example of the athletes. Look at the way they discipline their bodies. Look at the way they, you know, guard very carefully over what they eat and all. And they don't just shadow box their training. They're wanting to hit the mark. They're wanting to hit the target. And so we need to be disciplined as Christians and even more disciplined than those in the physical realm, emotional realm, but in the life of the spirit, recognizing that we're fighting not against men, but against spirits and principalities of the air. And Satan's a real good student of human behavior, and he knows the scriptures better than us, and he's studying you and I. He's studying you and I, and he's wanting to bring you and I to the place of failure where we'll quit. And so when we're faced with trials, when we're faced with testing, when we're faced with things that are too big, for us to handle, how do we handle it? How do we cope? Where do we go? Do we turn to alcohol? Do we turn to drugs? Do we turn to money? Turn to spending? Do we turn to illicit sexual activity? What what is it? What's our escape valve? What's our default setting that when we're really put under pressure, you find we turn back to the bottle. We turn to the joint. We turn to the, whatever it may be, the the pornography, the wickedness, the evil. It it could be a myriad of different things, areas of the flesh where we're weak, and rather than getting the victory and living the life of the spirit, we succumb to the pressure. There's tremendous pressure upon us. We're living in a time of great pressure today, a time of, you know, occultic type pressure, the powers of darkness wanting to destroy our families and destroy our children, destroy our minds, people committing suicide and giving up and all. How are we as Christians to be different? How are we to find that place of escape? Number one, by considering his favor, his grace in your life. Paul gives five areas of favor enjoyed by the nation of Israel. Now don't you love this? The Paul reaching back to the old testament. We hear like guys like, you know, Charles Stanley's son, Andy Stanley, and a lot of people saying, you don't need to teach the old testament, just teach the new, you know. And I love the way the bible teaches the bible. I love the way that we can use the treasury of scripture knowledge, in case you don't know what that is. There's scholars, in the times of the putting forth the King James. You have your Strong's Concordance. The Strong's Concordance is key to the King James Bible, possibly New King James also. So what's the Strong's mean? Well, if there's a word here that I wanna know what it means, if I have a Strong's Concordance or a computer program with the Strong's Concordance, I can click on that word and I can I can look at that word and I could say, well, what's this word lust mean? What's this word, you know, baptized mean? And when I click on it, it'll give the the number and then it'll give the the root and then it'll give the meaning. And so that's wonderful for me as if I'm trying to do inductive bible study to allow the bible to teach the bible, allow the bible words have meaning. Well, now I got the word. Well, then I can go and I can say, well, how many times is this word used in the New Testament or the Old Testament? How's it how's it, you know, translated in other ways? And so I go through a word study, and then I look at it and I say, well, what about usage? How many times is the word apostasia used in the New Testament and and where is it used? And so I'll take and I'll hit the treasury of scripture knowledge, which is also keyed to the King James Bible, and now I'll be able to scour from Genesis to Revelation verses that teach the same truth. And so I'll see it taught, you know, more than once, maybe several different times. Like, let me give you a word today. If you were to do a study on the word rock, just the word rock that we're gonna see here in verse four, They all drink of that same spiritual drink, that spiritual rock. If you take and study that, you're gonna find several places in the old and the new. In Deuteronomy 32 and Psalms and Isaiah, Jesus said, upon this rock, I'll build my church and the gates of hell not prevail against it. You're gonna have a wonderful wonderful study that we call a word study to see in the types. In Hosea 12 verse 10, the Lord teaches us that the Lord spoke through the prophets and he also speaks through similitude. A similitude is a type, so types within the bible. And we're gonna see types here, in our text, maybe the manna. The manna in John six is Jesus, the bread of life, The word of God that you feast upon, you know. And so the typology and there's a lot here, a lot to a lot to dig in and pray that the holy spirit would teach us, but there's there's the overview. He's he's gonna use the old testament to try and teach the church of Corinth that when the children of Israel engaged in fornication, because the church of Corinth is engaging in fornication, and if you guys wanna live a defeated Christian life, if you wanna be disqualified from the race, then continue in idolatry, then continue in fornication. Here's examples of what happened to Israel when they acted that way, when they murmured, when they complained, when they didn't appreciate the word of God, this is what happened. So it's important for us to to see that the holy spirit hasn't edited out the failures of others except when we get to Hebrews 11 by faith by faith by faith by faith and the holy spirit edits out the failures of all these heroes of our faith, know. So eventually, we make it without faith. It's impossible to please God for they that come to must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. So Paul gives five areas of favor enjoyed by Israel. He says verse one, moreover brethren, so the moreover points back to chapter nine. It points back to it's linked to the disqualification warning as he's transitioned here grammatically. He says, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant how that all our father Do you wanna be ignorant? I don't wanna be ignorant. I don't like the propaganda. I don't like the dummying down. I don't like the way that people get their news from the mainstream media. They're incredibly ignorant. It's hard to have a conversation. I've said this many times over the last ten years. When I grew up, I thought that I had a mediocre intelligence. I could look at the kids in school and alright. Sometimes I get 11 a's, two b's one time. Most part, I'm I'm like a b, maybe c plus. But man, I'm a proverbial genius today. I'm like a genius because these people are so stupid. It's just it's mind boggling. So when you become a Christian, you become a student and you begin to dig in to God's word and God's word opens your eyes to so many different things as you discern the idiocy of the times in which you're living. People don't have proof. It isn't the science. You didn't follow the science. You're an idiot. You're an idiot if you think that hydrocarbons, c o two is causing the planet to get warmer. You guys are idiots. And yet you're using this religion to impose this control upon the rest of the planet. And no matter how many times you say it, we still don't believe you. We will not believe you. It's not true. We're not gonna eat meal worms and crickets and these sort of things, you know. God's given us meat and we're gonna use our carnivorous teeth here to thrash and rip meat, you know. And we're we're we're just not the soy boys. So you you fight against the lies is the key thing. You're fighting against the lies, you're exposing the truth, and more and more people that wake up rather than acquiescing to their lies. You know, Paul doesn't wanna leave these people ignorant. He wants to give them a proof text. He wants to show them. He wants to build an argument to reason with them that it's just not profitable to live a life contrary to God's will. If you guys wanna be blessed and you need need to be consistent with God's will, what he decrees, what he says. I mean, he judges own people Israel. So you think you're gonna get away with it, church of Corinth? If he if he's gonna judge the nation of Israel, certainly he's gonna judge America. Right? If he judged Sodom and Gomorrah, certainly he's gonna judge America. Right? So what don't you understand? Well, we're ignorant. Should be ignorant how that all our fathers underline that word all, all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea. So he's, I would not that you should be ignorant. So consider God's favor, his grace in your life, his unmerited favor. He says how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea. So the word all is used five times in four verses here. It speaks of the oneness. It speaks of all are blessed. All were under the cloud. All passed through the sea in the book of Exodus. And so God parted the sea, parted the Red Sea so that the children of Israel could cross on dry dry land in the Exodus. He allowed his Shekinah glory, the great Shekinah glory, a fire by night to guide them and, to shield them. And then a cloud, the cloud of glory. Jesus is coming in the clouds and it's not these kind of clouds or chemtrail clouds. He's coming in the Shekinah glory, cloud. And, as the temple filled, a cloud filled the temple and the cloud was a means of shade, a means of shading them from the desert sun. And so the Lord protected them with this cloud and also with this fire from, any any of the, of their enemies that would try to pursue them, you know, thereafter. And so God parted the seed to deliver his people from four hundred years of bondage. Christ crucified, the Lord Jesus delivered you and I from bondage. In Exodus thirteen twenty one, the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them in the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and night. So day and night, they were being led of the Lord. They didn't need to, look at their phones and hit the map and all that. The Lord's leading them. The Lord's the Lord's supernaturally leading them, guiding them wherever they need to go. Notice verse two, and we're all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And so baptism, identification with Moses as a type of Christ, they went in the water, they came out of the water, and, and so identified with Moses a type of deliverer. When, the children of Israel, or excuse me, the disciples were before Jesus, he asked them, who do men say that I am? He wanted to know the general consensus. Who do people think I am on CNN? Who do people think I am? Well, some say you're that prophet, Speaking of Moses here, the deliverer. Some say you're Jeremiah. Some say you're Elijah. Some say you're John the Baptist, you know. Who do you say that I am? Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Blessed art thou Simon Bar Jonah for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven. And I say unto thee that our Peter, little stone and upon Not pope Peter. I'm gonna build my church on you. And I say to you, they are Peter, little stone And upon this rock, Petra, massive rock, I'm gonna build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against us against it. And that's the the picture that we're gonna get here in verse four, but the identification there of Moses included there. And did all eat the same spiritual meat. So the food that these guys ate was manna. And then there was a late singer who died in a plane crash named Keith Green. And so he had a song about how they took this manna and they tried to create all creative kinds of ways to eat it, you know, put it in your eggs, put it in your meat, put it put it in everything you would have. So he'd sing like manicotti, you know, things like that. It made it kinda kinda funny. And I I went to a Keith Green concert one time at the Anaheim Convention Center. It was the most powerful concert I've ever been to. The guy was so incredibly anointed. There was no scamming, no weirdness, no no glitter from the sky. The guy just was in love with Jesus playing that piano and singing. And man, it was just awesome to be with so many people truly, not entertaining, but truly all of us worshiping Jesus. They did all eat of the same spiritual meat, the manna. In, Psalm seventy eight twenty four and twenty five, it says this was angels food, coriander, it come down from heaven, tastes a little bit like oil, fresh oil. In John six forty six forty eight, Jesus said, I'm the bread of life. I'm the manna come down from heaven. And these guys, became tired of the manna. They didn't want any more manna. Maybe you're tired of the word of God. Maybe you're tired of God's word. You've already got too much of God's word. I told you we got a long way to go. Now that door opens that way and it comes back this way. And so if you can't handle it, if you want some psychology, you're gonna have to go somewhere else. If you want a feel good message, therapeutic message, if you want a pastor who's in denial and doesn't wanna teach any prophecy in that, this isn't the right place for you. But if you love Jesus and you love the word of God, you if have an appetite, the key is do you have an appetite for the word of God? If you have an appetite for the word of God, you love manna. You love manicotti and manna whatever, you know? You love it all. You know? Because Jesus is the bread of life. And did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ. And so Paul's given us help here, letting us know that that rock in the old testament represents in typology, represents Jesus Christ. And everywhere they went, that rock of ages was with them. When they're thirsty and they're complaining and whining, they they they needed to drink, the Lord instructed Moses to smite the rock. What's that's a picture of? It's Jesus is smitten once upon the cross of Calvary and the water flowed. If any man thirst, Jesus said, let him come unto me and drink. He that believes in me out of his belly shall float torrents of living water. Moses, you blew it. Because they were in Horeb later and they were once again thirsty and the Lord instructed Moses with his brother Aaron there, speak to the rock. What's the type? What's the type? In Hebrews, he's smitten once. We don't go to Catholic mass every day and watch Jesus be recrucified. This isn't the literal body and blood of Jesus tran, you know, substantiation. That's that's erroneous. It's heretical teaching. It's symbolic. This is the elements are symbolic of his body and his blood that are broken. Nor do we crucify him afresh. We don't keep crucifying him. He's smitten once. Once. Unlike the priest every year on the day of Yom Kippur, the great day of atonement, the priest would go in and they'd have to continue with the blood sacrifices of the animals. Because it was pointing future that one day as John the Baptist said, behold the lamb of God who doesn't just cover sin anymore, the kaphar, but takes away the sins of the world. Your sins have been taken away. There's no record of wrong in the ledger anymore. He paid it in full, past, present, and future. And he remembers your sins and my sins, you know, no more. The rock that followed them, Jesus was smitten once and we freely drink of his life. We just speak to the rock. Now Moses, he didn't get to enter the promised land because of that that rebellion. Must we rebels bring forth water for you? You know, he's if any man thinks he stands, take thee, lest he fall, Mo. Hey, Mo. Calm down. Calm down, Mo. And he smites the rock. He's supposed to speak to the rock. You just need to speak to the Lord. You don't need to go do any kind of work at all just through prayer. Speak to the Lord. Ask the Lord. Ask, seek, knock. Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking. Are you hungry? He's got the word of God for you. Are you thirsty? As the deer pants after the water brook, so pants my soul after the eel, God. He's the only one that can fill that God shaped hole in your heart and mind. He's the only one that can bring that sense of fulfillment and peace and joy and blessing. Just speak to the rock. Moses. Moses, where'd you go? Didn't get to he was up on Mount Nebo and he's like looking at the promised land. He didn't get to go in. He died there. Yeah. Moses died. But I see him in Matthew 17 on the Mount Of Transfiguration. That's a pretty good place to be. Better to be there than with all those murmuring and whining people, you know, that he had to be with for forty years, you know. So God did Moses a favor. And his, excuse me, and his discipline is because he broke the type. The Lord wanted everyone to be asking the question, what did he do that was so wrong? Well, he he ruined the type. Jesus is smitten only once. He's only gonna go to the cross once. And we have access now because the veil of the temple was rent in two, and we can boldly come before his throne of not of judgment anymore, but his throne of grace to find help, to find grace, to find mercy in our time of need. And so he the types that are there. What a beautiful blessing. God's grace is favoring our life. So our escape is by considering his favor and secondly, our escape is by crucifying our flesh. Verse five. But with many of them, God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness. So those twenty years and and, younger were able to to continue. Those twenty years and older, the older ones would perish, God said, because of all their murmuring and complaining. So only Caleb and Joshua were able to go in with the second generation of people. Now what they did is they said, Lord, you just brought us out here to kill us, and then they accused God of being a hitman for their children and our children. And God says, guess what? I'm gonna get your children in the promised land and it's only a few miles into Canaan, but I'm gonna cause you to go in a circle for forty years. Your shoes aren't gonna wear out and I'm gonna feed you with manna. I'm gonna give you water out of the rock, but I'm sick and tired of your murmuring and you're complaining, you mixed multitude of people. So I'm gonna purify you. I'm gonna purify a generation of young people that are gonna enter in to the promised land and Caleb and Joshua. Caleb was 80 and five years old when finally they got into the air of Hebron. And he reminded Joshua, I'm as strong this day. Don't ever tell me I'm too old. I'm as strong this day as when I was 40 and I'm still a giant killer. Let me after those giants. And so Caleb, there's no stopping a guy like that. He's a fighter to the end. He wasn't gonna give up and he and his family secured the area of Hebron. They removed the giants, got rid of the giants. What giants are in your life that you're in bondage to, that you're filled with fear toward? What are the things that are causing you to be defeated in your life? Bring those things to the Lord. If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you say to this mountain, be thou removed and it be cast into the sea. Nothing be impossible for you. You may not be able to do it yourself, you can't do it yourself. Your escape is Jesus, but the Lord Jesus will fight for you if you honor him and if you look to him rather than the flesh. In Psalm seventy eight thirty two, for all this they sin still unappreciative. They were unappreciative and believe not for his wondrous works. Therefore, their days did he consume in vanity and their years in trouble. And so they they they got tired of the manna and in that in Numbers chapter eleven four through six and Numbers 11 verse 31, what had happened was is they were murmuring, complaining about the manna, the bread of life, the the word of God. And there's churches today where people are complaining about the word of God. Pastor, you teach too much of the word. Pastor, you quote too many scriptures. Pastor, you're all over the bible. We can't follow you. Well, I'm not gonna acquiesce and give in to you, you little little babies. I'm gonna I'm gonna challenge you to grow up. So I'm gonna give you milk and veggies and meat and I'm gonna challenge you to grow up. And many of you when you're first here, it's a shock. It's like, you know? And and, you know, I mean, it's only supposed to be twenty minutes, bro. Twenty minutes, but we wanna we wanna sing for an hour. Well, it's the opposite here. And and the reason being is because we don't get to meet every day. We don't go to church every night of the week. We don't even have a midweek. We got a bible study tomorrow night in the Old Testament, but, I get you I get you twice a week, Sunday, Monday, and I'm gonna pour into you. And those of you that'll submit yourself and yield to the holy spirit, you're gonna grow. Not because of me, but because God's word doesn't come back void. God's word, when it goes forth, it does the job. It gets into your heart and life and it compels you. It causes you to grow. So my job is to feed you. Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. It's the word of God we're gonna feed you with. We're gonna give you the manna, the the word of God, the incarnate word of God, Jesus. We're gonna give you Jesus. Keep giving you Jesus. And as you get to know Jesus, all your problems, all your difficulties, everything that you've been wrestling with, you won't need counselors anymore. You won't need drugs anymore. You won't need alcohol anymore. Because as you get to know Jesus, not a watered down version of him, not a little tiny bit of Jesus because you can't handle the word, but the full counsel of God, you become addicted to this type of feeding. You become addicted to the word of God. You gain discernment. Remember we talked about Hebrews chapter five, by this time you should be teachers, but they weren't teachers because they were still babes in Christ. They're still on the milk. But he said if you if you graduate, if you grow and you begin to feast upon solid food as carnivores, then, you're gonna have discernment between good and evil. But babies are easily deceived by the wicked one. You know the truth, the truth will set you free. The best way to counteract the lies of the wicked one is to know the truth. Know the the truth incarnate, get to know Jesus. And so these people were angry with Moses, they were tired of the manna, tired of the teaching of the word of God, the bread of life. And in John six, the people are only following Jesus, a huge segment of them, because he was given out happy meals. He was given out free food. And they were following him. It says and the word used is his disciples. These are people that actually were church goers. Hey, universal basic income. I don't need to work anymore. Jesus is gonna turn to fish. A little boy's sack lunch, the loaves and the fishes. He's gonna keep turning it into happy meals for us. We get a toy too. We get a little toy. And Jesus said, you're not following me for me. I know what's inside of you. You're following me for the Bennies, for the blessings now, the best life now. You're following me for the loaves and the fishes. You need to follow me for my flesh and my blood. You need to follow me for me. And it says, many of them, many of his disciples no longer walked with him after that in John six. And then he turns to the 12. Are you gonna leave me also? And what they say, where are we gonna go? You have the words of eternal life. You're you're the only source. You're only source of food. You're only source of truth. You have the words of eternal life. You see? They were following him for him. They wanted to hear more and more and more as Jesus would teach. The people said, never a man spake like this man. Never a man taught like this man. The word of God. But they lusted. They lusted after meat. I hope it's not a sin for me to lust after meat, Lord. And the Lord gave them quail. And for a solid month, they got to eat some meat, some quail till it says it came out of their nostrils. But God put leanness in their heart. They couldn't enjoy it. They didn't have fellowship, communion with God. It was an external thing. It was simply for the flesh to satisfy the desires of the flesh. They were hitting homers of quail. They were coming in with a with a shiraco wind, a warm wind was bringing in these flocks of quail, belt high, and they're hitting them, hitting homers of them. So they're picking them up and they're eating quail till it's coming out their nostrils. And the Lord caused many of them to perish. He caused the plague to break forth because all they were doing was trying to satisfy the desires of their flesh. So they're disqualified because if giving into the lust of the flesh, their evil desires it says. So Paul emphasized the necessity of self control, a buffeting his body into submission in chapter nine. Romans eight verse 13, it says, if you live after the flesh, we're in the flesh, but if you live after the flesh giving into the flesh the appetites of the flesh, you shall die. But if you through the spirit do mortify, what's the word mortify mean? To kill. Mortician. If you mortify the desires or the deeds of the flesh of the body, you shall live. Galatians five two says, they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. So there's a battle going on between the flesh and the spirit. And if I feed the spirit, I get victory over the flesh. I have to starve the flesh. I can't allow through the eye gate and the ear gates and all the different influencers into my life to bring their pollution, their corruption in my heart and life because a man as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. I gotta I gotta get rid of the filth that's coming into my home, come into my car, come into my life. I can't control it at the shipyard banger. I can't control it at at the office. Everybody's talking about just blasphemous stuff. But when I come home, need a bath. I need to be washed in the word. When I get my car at lunch, I need to read God's word halfway through the day. I need to put Christian real Christian worship music on my drive home or a bible teaching on my drive on my way home. I need to wash, have my feet washed. I need to remove the defilement, the filth that's wanting to stick to me. I don't wanna infect my family. I don't want my family giving in to the television or Facebook or any social media that brings filth in their hearts and minds. I wanna pour the word of God into my life. I want the word of God to be poured in to the lives of my children, grandchildren, those I care for. Can't force feed them, but we can certainly as salt, you know, when you go to the movies, why do you think they put so much salt on your popcorn? They want you to buy one of those $20 drinks, man. Make people thirsty. Be salt. Cause them to compel them to wanna drink of Jesus. They wanna drink what you're drinking. They're thirsty. They're famished. Nothing satisfies out there and they know it. And all that they were relying on is ending very quickly and they know it and they're getting nervous. He says verse seven, neither be idolaters as were some of them as it is written the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. So Paul's reaching back to Exodus chapter 32 verse four where Moses went up Mount Hore, Mount Sinai to get the law, to get the 10 commandments, the tablets. And as he's up there for forty days and Joshua at the base, no animals could even get on that mount or they'd be they'd die. And Moses is there and he's receiving. He's gone forty days. And now Aaron, his brother, second in charge. People are getting nervous. People are starting to question things and speculate and come up with all kinds of YouTube profit ideas. And so the people are like, alright, what are we gonna do? This Moses who we were trusting and he's gone. It's over. We need to go back to Egypt. Who are we gonna worship? We need some help. So he says, take off all your earrings, all you men and women. Take your earrings off and all your gold and bring it here to me. And so he fashions a mold of a calf which reminds them of Egypt, the idolatry of Egypt, the gods of the Egyptians, those of the world, the things you did when you're in the world that you worship. And he fashions through this molten image a a calf And then it it stimulates them in the belief system. It in inflames them is a better word. They rose up to play. And when Joshua heard the noise, he thought it was the noise of war. And Moses says, no. It's not the noise of war. It's the noise of a burning man orgy. Everybody's naked. People do that today? Worshiping false gods, idolatrous images, the reemerging in western Christian culture of the occult of paganism, of heathen pagan belief systems all over Europe, all over western society. Why is Christianity Christianity waning? And yet, as weak as we are, we're still the resistor. The holy spirit's working through us, the devil, and all these people can't get all they want. These big tech companies that that sponsor Burning Man and sponsor it in Israel also. I I read Amir's article. He says in Israel, they have a small minority of people like we do who are many of these wealthy tech kind of people who are secularists who want nothing to do with God. And they're trying to influence the entire country away from, their roots as Israelis and bring in a secular worldview predominant. And so the golden calf idolatrous orgy, 3,000 people died because of it. Verse eight, neither let us commit fornication. So you got you got murmuring complaining, you don't like the food, you don't like the word of God, that's not looking good. You you're into idolatry, you're fashioning things that they got mouths but they can't speak, they got ears but they can't hear, They got throats but they can't singers or whatever. And and yet you bow down and you worship these things. Now you're in Romans one. You suppress the truth and you get into this idolatry of worshiping mother earth. You reject the God of creation, his revelation unto you through creation and you worship and serve the creature rather than the creator who is blessed and God gives you over to your base reprobate minded desires. Men with men, women with women. It's unnatural. God did not make men to lie with men and women with women. God made them in the beginning male and female and the two come together as one. Marriage is God's idea. Procreation, having children is God's idea. He's the engineer of all creation. The devil is a created being. You worship and serve the creature, the devil, more than you do the creator who is blessed forevermore. Nothing new under the sun, is there? As people suppress the truth in Romans one, as you reject the truth, the holy spirit's trying to reach you. The holy spirit's trying to reveal himself to you through creation. I was walking along the our our yard yesterday, giving the dogs a walk and walking. There's so many flowers everywhere. The grass, just beautiful meadow of daisies, Kathy's favorite flower. They're everywhere. You go on a bike ride up and swim, they're everywhere. It's so beautiful. You look at the water, you look at the mountains, you look at the trees, you look at the sky until they chemtrail it after two days. God, they just drive me crazy. These demons blocking out the sun, causing all these metals for us to breathe in and such, and we're all coughing up our respiratory problems all the time now, poisoning our food and our air and everything. What are we? A bunch of useless eaters they wanna get rid of? God's not like that. He gave us a great environment. Good water, good food, good air to breathe. He does things right and yet we reject them and we go after the the garbage. Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and it fell in one day three and twenty thousand. So now Paul's reaching back to numbers chapter 25 verse one. Balaam was hired by king Balak of the Moabites and he wanted to somehow curse Israelites. He tried five different times to curse the Israelites and every time he tried to curse, it turned into a blessing. This hireling this Balaam. So the doctrine of Balaam was such that he taught king Balak, here's how you do it. God will judge him for you if you tempt them into immorality, into fornication. So the king got it. The light bulb went on. So he put his Midianidish prostitute women there and the Israeli men began to engage in this idolatrous orgy, this whoredom with the daughters of Moab and 23,000 perished according to the apostle Paul, but there's another 1,000 of the leaders who were hanged. And so a total of 24,000 and you can see that in verse four, another thousand were were hanged. Chapter 25, one through nine. So neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents. I mean, is a lot of history here. This is a lot of the old testament. I can go back as I did and I can read all the accounts of this. Chapters after chapter after chapter to refresh my memory. Man, this is this is good. And Paul's reaching back and gonna use that each verse pertaining to a situation there. That's good teaching. It's not his ideas. It's the word of God. He's substantiated. He's proving by using the word of God that fornication doesn't work with God, that idolatry doesn't work with God, that being ungrateful doesn't work with God. There's no second Jesus. There's no alternative. He's the only way. If you're dissatisfied with Jesus, if you're dissatisfied with his word, there is no other way. There there isn't this in, you know, inclusiveness where you include everybody and every guru. No. We're talking the exclusivity of Jesus Christ because he was crucified, buried, raised himself from the dead. Until somebody can be crucified and raised himself from the dead, Jesus is the only way. All else are pretenders. Destroy this temple in three days. I'll raise it up. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. The only sign you're gonna get is the sign of the prophet Jonah. As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. There's your sign. The resurrection. If Christ, Paul says in first Corinthians 15, if Christ be not resurrected from the dead, if you don't think he's resurrected from the dead, then we are all men most miserable. We ought to eat and drink today for tomorrow we die. We have no hope. We have no future. You don't worship and follow a dead man. Who would do that? Who would follow a dead man? Who would follow Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius? They're dead men. They might have some things to say, but why follow a dead man? Much more, our savior, resurrected lord, and that's the hope we have that of the resurrection. Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempt and were destroyed of serpents. This is numbers 21 verse five. The people spake against God and against Moses, they were tempting. Wherefore, have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness for there is no bread neither is there any water and our soul loaths this light bread and the Lord sent fiery serpents among them, the people and bit the people and much people of Israel died. Don't tempt the Lord. They were testing God. And you remember when Jesus was led out of into the wilderness after his baptism in Matthew chapter four, and the Holy Spirit came down and shaped like a dove upon him. He's filled the spirit upon him and he's driven out into the wilderness to be tempted. God's gonna tempt you. God's gonna test you. God already knows what's in you and me, but he's gonna tempt and test us to show us what's within and also to help us to grow, help us to yield, help us to come to the end of ourselves that we might discover our way of escape is only Jesus. Our only way of escape from from this this vile, filthy existence as a man, as a woman, as a human being is the last Adam, is the son of man. Our only escape is Jesus. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That's the only place I have to go. And so what is happening here is Jesus is out there and he hasn't eaten and Satan comes along to tempt him, test him if if conditional, if you're the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. The devil comes along to you and he says, hey, you're single now. You can't have sex. You've gotta live a celibate lifestyle now. But, man, I still got this urge. I still got this desire. I still have this appetite for for companionship. What do I do with that desire? The devil says, engage it. Command that these stones be made men. Command that these stones be made women. Engage. Feed yourself. And that's what the devil did to Jesus. The strong desire for food, forty days of fasting. If you are the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Jesus didn't make any excuses that, hey, it's right to eat and all that. He said it is written. So he reaches back to the scriptures. He reaches back to Deuteronomy chapter chapter six. Excuse me. Chapter eight. And he says in verse 13, it is written thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God and him only shall thou serve. Or no, excuse me. He said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. I just wanna see if you're listening. And then the second temptation, and that's the Deuteronomy six verse 16, is Satan says, I know scripture too. And I'm gonna quote Psalm ninety one ten eleven. Hey, Jesus. I'm taking you up on the pinnacle of the temple. Why don't you jump off the pinnacle of the temple? And as he says in Psalm ninety one ten eleven, he says, he'll give his angels charge over you lest you dash your foot against a stone. And Jesus again, he he says, thou shall not tempt the lord thy god and him only shalt thou serve. He quotes Deuteronomy six sixteen. Then he takes Jesus upon a high mountain, shows him all the kingdoms of the world. And you know the story, you know the temptation. He says, if you bow down and worship me, I'll give you all these kingdoms of the world and you won't have to go by way of the cross. You won't have to suffer. And that's the offer Satan is making to you and to me. You don't have to suffer. If you throw Jesus under the bus and you follow me, you worship the devil, I'll give you all the wealth you ever wanted, all the fame, all the all the everything you your flesh has ever desired. Just sell your soul to me. Give me your soul like the king of Sodom, one of the souls of the man. And Jesus said, it is written, thou shall worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve in Deuteronomy six thirteen. Thou shall worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve. Three times the Lord Jesus resisted the devil with the word of God. How do you resist temptation? With the word of God. The devil's a liar. He's gonna lie to you. He's gonna say to Eve, you won't die. You can eat of the tree of knowledge and good and evil. You won't die. And yet death began their separation from God. And so the fiery serpent, the people were crying out to Moses because these serpents were biting them. Moses, what do we do? The lord instructed Moses to take a brass serpent, fashion a serpent out of brass which speaks of judgment and put it upon a pole. And anybody that would look to that serpent would be saved. That serpent is Jesus. That serpent, that brass serpent is Jesus. Second Corinthians five twenty one says, he that knew no sin became sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from my roaring? God the father poured out his wrath upon God the son because of your sin, because my sin, he that knew no sin became sin. The sins of the whole world, past, present and future were placed upon him. And when Jesus is speaking in John three to Nicodemus, he told him, he says, as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, so shall the son of man be lifted up. Whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. Again, types. Types. The bible's filled with types. He speaks through similitudes, the types that are there, the serpent. Verse 10, neither murmur ye as some of them murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. My early Christian walk was one of constant murmuring. My Christian walk today is still murmuring, but not as much. I'm a murmurer. I shake my fist to God when I was younger. Now I suffer from more of skepticism or challenge him foolishly. And I try and catch myself and I try and stop. I try to repent right then because I don't want it to become a pattern of my life. But I remember early on as a Christian, I I'm not like I was early on. I was very very aggressive toward wanting to be a good guy and being blessed like everyone around me in the Christian world. So I made a mistake that Paul told Timothy to be aware of. People they think godliness is a means of gain. So I was disciplined like Paul said in chapter nine. I was making sure nothing bad's in my life and I was posturing myself that God would be obligated to bless me because I'm such a good guy. And then when he wouldn't, I'd get angry. I said, why why are you doing this to me? You keep doing this to me. I get so close and then you pull the rug out on me. I shake my fist at him when I first went to bible college and and I had to quit after two months and get back to work to take care of my family. My guys ran my business into the ground. And I'm like, God, if you don't want me to to to serve you, what do you want me to do? Let me go for it. And so I went through a lot of fainting fits and fights and that sort of thing and it's kinda like a little child throwing a temper tantrum and holding their breath till they turn blue, and the Lord just kinda laughs and lets you get it out. Because you're an infant, because you're a baby. He just lets you get it out. But it's even worse as an adult. It's even worse as a pastor to charge him foolishly to not believe him and trust him. Well, Lord, can't understand why you would allow this. I just can't reconcile it. Rick, that's where faith comes in. Just continue to trust me. So all of us have these areas of our life where we might question God and challenge him, but these guys, they did it so much that it just got on the Lord's ears. Neither murmur you as some of them murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. The angel of death that destroyed the firstborn is now destroying them. And this was in number 16 where Korah, Dathan, and Abiram thought that Moses took too much on himself and that they would go back to Egypt. And Moses says, hey, this time let let's, you know, you guys take the censors, 250 of you who's a priest or whatever. I mean, God's made you priests. Why wouldn't you be appreciative of God calling you to be a priest? Why do you wanna take my gig? I didn't want this gig to begin with. I got the dead guy duty. I don't want the dead guy duty, you know. And I told the Lord that I can't speak anymore and I don't want this. I was content in the deserts of Midian with my wife and two children and serving alongside my my father-in-law Jethro and all. But God came to me in a burning bush when I was with the goats and the sheep and told me you're gonna go to Pharaoh and tell him let my people go. And I'm telling Pharaoh no way. I'm telling God no way. You got the wrong guy. And God says, no, you're gonna go. And so why aren't you guys content with who God's called you to be? Why do you want somebody else's office, somebody else's gig, somebody else's calling? So Coradathen and Abiram, they were challenging Moses and alright, watch what happens. So they're consumed by fire and then the ground opened up and swallowed them and their entire family, you know, into the ground. Fourteen thousand seven hundred died from a plague because of the rebellion of God's will. Murmur means to mutter. It's a low tone. You could even come to a place where you make a song out of it and you're kind of mocking God. It's a denial of the goodness and mercy of God. Every single day, we must wake up and thank the Lord for his goodness and his mercies that are new each morning. If you meditate upon the past and the things that were taken from you or you thought you deserved or entitled or whatever, you're gonna live a miserable life. But if you seize each and every day as in Matthew six, you're thankful, a grateful heart, the Lord's gonna speak to your heart and speak to your mind and you're gonna enjoy sweet fellowship with him day by day and nobody can take that from you. An entire generation perished in the wilderness because of murmuring complaining except for Caleb and for Joshua who made it. They went into the spy of the land, 10 came back with an unbelieving report and it was poison. The unbelief was poison that permeated the hearts of the people. They all began to complain and murmur, but Caleb and Joshua said, let's seize the moment. Let's go now. But they had to wait forty years as God caused all those twenty years and older than 20 to perish as they went in circles. So where's our escape? Our escape is considering this favor, crucifying our flesh, and continuing in faith. We might have started out in faith, but we have to continue in faith day by day, every single day. If we don't continue in faith and we grieve the holy spirit, we quench the holy spirit, we don't enjoy the lord like we should, and we may be backsliding imperceptibly. We may not realize it, but we may be in a condition of gradual backsliding. The first way you know that you're backsliding is you don't desire the manna anymore. You don't desire the word of God. You're not reading the word. You have no time for it, no desire for it, no appetite for it. That's the first indicator, and you're gonna select a church maybe to go to that doesn't teach the word. You can't tolerate the word of God. You don't like being convicted. You don't like thinking. You don't like dying to self. You don't like crucifying your flesh. You wanna indulge the flesh. It's all about you And the word of God is constantly used as a mirror to show you where you're at and you don't like looking into that mirror. So you live a life of denial. Continuing in faith. Now all these things happen under them for our examples and they're written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. That word admonition means a warning. Examples of those who failed to enter into God's rest because why? Because of unbelief. The writer to the Hebrews expressed this, that they failed to enter into God's rest. Hebrews chapter three verse eight, he says, harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness when your fathers tempted me, proved me and saw my works forty years where for I was grieved, you can grieve the holy spirit with that generation and said they do always air in their heart and they have not known my ways. So I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest. He says, take heed brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. We greatly underestimate underestimate unbelief. We may have a portion of faith where we trust God for certain things, but as we're tested, the Lord's exposing, you really don't trust me. You're putting your trust in Donald Trump. You think he's Cyrus. You think he's gonna save your nation. Why don't you trust me? Well, Lord, we can only trust you for salvation. We we we gotta we gotta figure this out. We don't have many options, you know. They only give us two guys to vote for. And he's gonna he's gonna bring all the glory days back, you know. We got seven mountains to to grab hold of, you know. We gotta grab hold of the media, government, education, and these seven mountains, Lord, these seven pillars here. We're we're gonna we're gonna storm these things and and then you can come back when we get it all set up for you. Okay? Because we got the Donald and he's gonna lead us. He says verse 12, wherefore let him that thinks he stand take heed lest he fall. The pride, the self confidence. Hitler's phrase for Germany after World War one when they had to pay reparations when they were in a bad way was make them make Germany great. Same phrase you've been fed, make America great. It's a distraction. It's simply a distraction to give the globalist more time to implement their central bank digital currency. Our dollar, your dollar is crashing right now. All they did was a dog and pony show to buy them more time. That's all it is. And they're almost there. And once they get to the point of controlling every transaction digitally, it's game over. The greatest degree of tyranny that any human leadership's ever enjoyed is gonna be the mark upon the right hand of the forehead of everyone. They can't buy or sell rich or poor without it, a prelude to the beast system. They needed more time. That's why nothing gets done. That's why nobody's arrested. The swamp isn't drained. That's why there's no exposure or accountability for anybody. It's a dog and pony show and it's rooted in pride. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Five stages of backsliding. Take inventory. Number one, already told you. You don't like the manna anymore. You're tired of the manna. You started out really excited, learning the bible, but trials came. The different types of soil, remember? Remember the first soil is the wayside soil. The wayside soil, the seed comes down, it sits on the top of the pathway. The devil, the birds come and take it away. It doesn't germinate and grow. The second type of soil is the rocky soil. Not that the farmer's gonna throw it into rocks, but there's a rock ledge beneath the surface and so the soil goes the seed goes into the ground, it germinates, grows, but there's rock ledge there so the roots don't go deep. The sun begins to beat upon it which is representative of Jesus interprets this one for us, is trials. And because of the trials and you're so excited about Jesus, but you're shallow. You'd be going to a shallow church, a church that doesn't challenge you with the truth of God's word. So as soon as there's difficulty, you wilt and you want out. And so you go back toward you're not you don't you don't like the word of God anymore. You want something else, something that stimulates you, that meets your e egotistical needs that you wanna hear. So you want feel good sermons. You want therapeutic sermons, you wanna be made whole through the help of men and their ideas, rudimentary ideas. The second level of backsliding is Christ Jesus is replaced by what? By idols. You find an idol, you polish that idol. Could be your house, Could be retirement. All the places you're gonna go and do. You don't have time for the Lord anymore. Idols in your life. You've left your first love, church of Ephesus. And then comes the immorality. Now you're engaging in things and doing things like you used to do when you're in the world. Becoming increasingly more and more immoral. You compare yourself to the world and you say, I'm better than than those in the world. At least I'm not a pedophile. Well, you're pretty close. That's that degradation. That's that downward spiral. When you get tired of where you're at, you're gonna want the stimulation, you're gonna look you're gonna look to even more debase, more degrading, more reprobate. Ideas begin to enter your mind. Then the fourth stage is you become a skeptic. You're an expert. You begin to tempt God. Think you're so smart. Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. If any man thinks he stand, take heed lest he fall. And the fifth stage of backsliding is you go back to Egypt. I'm going back to the world. I don't like living out here walking by faith day by day. I'd rather be a slave to the globalist government. I'd rather have nothing and be happy living in a fifteen minute city, a smart city, where I get $1,500 a month put in my bank account. I give up my car. I'll eat the food that they want me to eat. I'll do what they say. I'll let them put cameras on me and and surveil me and I'll give up all my freedom for security. I'm tired of walking by faith. I'm gonna trust in the government. I'm gonna trust in the beast. I'm gonna trust in the antichrist, the beast system. He says verse 13, there has no temptation taking you but such as is common demand. So all all of us go through temptation. Your testing, the tests that you've gone through, Maybe you've gone through cancer, maybe you've gone through divorce, maybe you've had a mom and dad that divorce and you've lived in a home where there's no, you know, no family. Mom raised you, dad raised you. Maybe you're an orphan. All of us have a story. All of us have trials and testing and things that that come at us. The difference between you and I, between we as Christians in the world, the world has the same trials as us, The same things that take place. People in the world are not isolated from cancer. People in the world get cancer. People in the world get heart attacks. People in the world suffer and we as Christians, we suffer. We go through the same things. All of us are tempted and tested. The beauty for you and I is when the storms come, the storms of life, Jesus is in our boat. Jesus is at sitting there. The whole place is going crazy. The worldly people are going to the Ronald McDonald house because their child is dying just as your child is dying. They're putting their hope in the doctors just as you are. You're wanting the doctors to alleviate this suffering, but underneath that, there's a foundation of faith that you have. You're trusting in Jesus. And so there's a peace that surpasses all understanding that guards your hearts and mind as Jesus is in your boat. He's ministering to you as you go through this trial. He's your escape. That's the difference. He ever lives to make intercession for us. He's there to help you and I. The word temptation means to test or to prove. If you pass the test, it becomes proof of your righteousness. If you fail the test, guess what? You're not you're not thrown away by the Lord. He doesn't blot your name out of the lamb's book of life. He doesn't say you're disqualified from being a child of mine. He just said you gotta retake the test. Just retake it. You you failed your driving test? Sign back up. Retake it. Just tell everybody to get off the sidewalks. Just just put your phone down. You ever seen more crazy drivers anywhere? It's insane out there. I'll be glad when they take their cars away from them. I loved I loved the COVID lockdowns because I didn't lock down. And I went everywhere and everywhere and there was nobody out on the road. And big old jainsley signs are up there by squirm going, stay in, save yourself, you'll save people's lives. And I'm like, right on. Right on. Stay in. Stay home. Yeah. Everything was open to me, man. It's if they just locked down again. There's too many people driving on Wheaton Way. You can't even move anymore. They're developing a smart city over there. Do you see the smart city coming in there? Do you see the kids at transit? Do you see the stack and pack apartment buildings and all the there there there's there's just a 15 mile radius for these people. Who would have ever thunk it? Gonna bring people from all over the world to live in there. Crazy, isn't it? I'll stay out in the in the burbs. Right? Going once a week. Get my food. See, retake it. I failed so many times. Continue to fail. But the Lord lets me retake the test. I said, Lord, alright. I'm tired. I'm tired of whining, complaining. Lord, alright. Please forgive me. Lord, Lord, I wanna get right with you. And say, Rick, where were we? You ready to retake that test? Yeah, Lord. I'm ready. I'm ready. Psalm a hundred and five seventeen, it says, he sent a man before them, even Joseph. Joseph sent before the 70. Joseph sent before his brothers. Joseph's got a coat of many colors and Joseph has an in with God, a great relationship with God and his brothers are jealous and they sell him into slavery and they lie to dad and they say, dad, here's his coat, it's all bloody, he must have got eaten by a wild beast, you know. And he's about 17 years old when this happened. The brothers are tormented by the memory and Joseph gets elevated to second command of that of only pharaoh. But before that, Joseph is tested. Joseph and read here in Psalm one hundred and five seventeen, send a man before them even Joseph who was sold for a servant whose feet they hurt with fetters. As a as a slave, this Midianite group that was going toward Egypt, these slave traders who bought him put him in fetters and chains. He was laid in iron. Until when? How long is this trial, Lord? How long is this trial going to last? Lord, I like microwave trials. They're over quick, you know? Well, what if it lasts for years? What if what if you go through a trial of testing like Abraham and Sarah that last twenty five years? What if you go through a trial like Joseph that lasts from your 17 till you're 30 and people are lying about you? Potiphar's wife is after you and you maintain your integrity and you say, how could I do this great evil against God and she lies. She lies and said you wanted to lie with her. No. I ran. She grabbed my coat, my outer robe and you have no advocacy, you have no one to defend you. You go to prison, but the Lord gives you a gift of interpreting dreams and you're able to interpret the dreams of the butler and the and the baker and the butlers restored the service, the baker gets his head cut off and people hear. And then you have a dream concerning all of Egypt that there'd be a famine upon the land and you instruct the pharaoh, you let the pharaoh know it behoove us to store up food, to begin to store up to be a prepper, store up as much grain and much vitamins, as much everything that we can and put them in a, you know, in storage. Because when the famine comes, when the dirt comes, we're gonna be able to get the property of every single person out there because they'll give everything they have to live another day to buy some food from us. And he sees the wisdom of Joseph and then his father, Jacob, in the '70, they come down, the boys go first and they get some food and it's just breaking Joseph's heart as he can recognize his brothers, but he's all dressed up like an Egyptian. They don't recognize him. They even hear him talking and all. He's wondering if Benjamin's still alive and he's weeping behind the scenes and he stores up a bunch more food in their bags and puts in some money and accuses them of stealing something just so he could he could grab hold of one of the guys to hold back. And it brings dad down, it brings Jacob and the 70 down and they have favor with the pharaoh and they are able to to be in the area of Goshen. The Egyptians hated shepherds, but they got this beautiful fertile land and there came a time where the pharaoh knew not Joseph. Four hundred years you're down there and you turn into slaves. You become slaves and you're making bricks with with no straw. You're you're just at your wits end. But Joseph went through these trials and when his brothers finally came to him after dad died, he let them know that you meant this for evil but God meant it for good to save many people this day. And that's a beautiful place to be at the end of the trial where you realize God knew what he was doing all along. And that I'm a type of Christ and I'm reminding people of Jesus Christ who is mistreated, who is crucified. And when you're crucified with Jesus, I'm crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ live within me. And the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Joseph's a type of Christ. He comes to service at the age of 30, the same age as Jesus. He was a type, another type. He was sold into slavery for 20 pieces of silver, Jesus for 30. And he's a deliverer. And it's great to get to the end of the trial where it all makes sense where you can say to those as they're going through it, all things are working together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. God's got a purpose in this. God's got a plan for your life. He's working it all together for good that God might be glorified, that people would see you crucified, they'd be reminded of his crucifixion, his death, his burial, his resurrection. They're reminded of your quality of life and suffering. You rise above it, you live the life of the spirit, there's great joy, there's great songs emanating from your heart, Silas and Paul at twelve midnight as you're after having been beaten. You bring the house down because there's a quality of life that people are attracted to and that life is Jesus. Sir, we would see Jesus. The trial will make you better or the trial will make you bitter. You don't know what flavor Christians are until they're put in hot water. We're like tea bags. Some of us come out of it all bitter. Some of us better. It brings out the best in us as people smell the fragrance of Christ. In Job twenty three ten, Job says, he knows the way that I take. This is no accident. God's on the throne, he's sovereign, he's in control, he knows the way that I take and when he's tried me, I'm gonna come forth as gold. It's metallurgy. He's burning off the impurities. How do we know you're at that place of purity when you can see Jesus? The face of Christ in the metal. Now you're purified. When people see Jesus in you, that's the testing, that's the purpose. Though he slay me yet will I trust in him, Job said. I'm still gonna trust him. Even if he kills him, I'm still gonna trust him. Naked came I in the world, naked I'm a go. The Lord giveth, the Lord take it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. I know that my redeemer lives and that he shall stand on the latter day upon the earth. I'm hoping in the resurrection. The day of my death is better than my birth right now. I'd rather die than live scraping yourself with a potsherd. But I know that my redeemer lives and he shall stand on the latter day upon the earth. Jesus is gonna stand upon the earth. And though after worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. I've got a new glorified body awaiting me. Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory been swallowed up? There's no longer any fear of death. By faith, Abraham when he was tried, Hebrews eleven seventeen offered up Isaac and he that had received that promise offered up his only begotten son. How would you respond to that? How would you respond? You'd say, oh, that Ishmael might live before you. The work of my flesh going into Hagar. I helped God out, but there's a thirteen year silence. The Lord didn't speak to Abraham and Sarah for thirteen years after Abraham heeded the suggestion of his wife. Let's help God out. We're sterile. We can't get pregnant. And yet, we're changing our name to Abraham, father of many, but I don't have any. Who's gonna be my heir? Let's work it in the flesh. Let's do this in the flesh. So you bring forth Ishmael, the work of the flesh. But God comes to the camp of Abraham and Sarah and says this time next year, Sarah's gonna be pregnant. She's 90, you're 100 next year and she's gonna conceive. The Lord will wait. What how how long Lord? How long is this trial? How long? As long as it takes until it's impossible for you or anybody else to do it because I want the glory. And so then you have that crowning achievement. There's laughter in your tent. The child's name is Isaac and there's great laughter, belly laughter. We're just so stoked, man. Isaac is born. Then he's a young man about 17 and God says in Genesis 22, you can read it, and God did test Abraham. Why now? For you and I, for us, for God's glory, take thy son, thine only son, and offer him upon a mount that I'm gonna show you. And he began to pack the mule and pack it immediately. It was an immediate obedience, no questioning God. And the obedience of Isaac, a type of Christ. Abraham, a type of God the father. Father, we've got the wood. Father, we've got the knife. Father, we've got the fire. But father, where's the lamb? Jehovah Jireh, God will provide. And so we see Isaac, a type of Christ laying down upon that altar, all roped up, complete submission to his father. And we see Abraham, father of many, in your seed all nations of the earth would be blessed. But Abraham knew Ishmael can't live before you. The promise is the promise seed. And Isaac shall they seed be called. God, you've got the problem. My mind, my intellect can't figure this out, but Lord, I'm gonna pass the test. I'm gonna lift the knife. And he lifts the knife and the Lord he hears the Lord say, stop. Stop. There's a ram caught in the thicket. That's Mount Moriah. That's where Calvary, where God the father would offer his son. Jesus said, Abraham rejoice to see my day and he saw it and was glad. The gospel was before preached to Abraham, Paul said. Abraham knew, he understood that Jesus would one day go to the cross of Calvary upon Mount Moriah, upon Calvary that he'd be crucified, that he'd be buried, that he'd be raised from the dead. The types, the tests, the victory of faith. Elijah thought that he was the only one left after the 450 prophets of Baal were slain. God says, have 7,000 that have not bowed their knee to Baal. Jesus understands the trials that you're going through. He wasn't insulated or isolated from the frailty of being a human being. He took on the form of a man. He didn't come as an angel and he didn't come as a prince in a palace. Just as Joseph went to prison, Jesus suffered. It says in Hebrews four fifteen, we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Jesus can help you. He's the lone person, the one person that can help you through this trial. In Hebrews two eighteen, in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to secure, that means to help them that are tempted. He's tempted. He understands your frame. He understands that you're made from the dust of the ground. His expectation of you and I is not as great as our own expectation. He knows our human frailty. He knows that Peter's gonna deny him. He knows that you and I are gonna blow it and fail over and over and over again. If we were to bring it to a batting average, pretty low. Pretty low. We whiff a lot. We strike out a lot. But he's only going to record in Hebrews 11, the home runs you hit. He's not recording any of whiffs. None of them. It's edited out. He's imputed your account his righteousness. You're the MVP every year with him. Say understands your frame. He understands what it is to go through what we go through. There is no temptation taking you but such as is common to man, all of us. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you're able. And this is this is the part where I stop and I say, if somebody's going through a trial, don't minimize it and just set it aside and say, oh, he won't give you more than you're able. Quit wimping out. Quit quit worrying about it. He's not gonna give you more than you're able. Yes, he is. Let's read on. Because what's your threshold of pain? I've reached it. It's a 10. Oh, here. Bite on this stick. That's my sensitivity. Just bite on the stick. Get over it. Die, cat. Die. Gotta die. Too much of you still alive. Die. But we're with the temptation. So you're wanting him to take away the temptation because your pain level threshold is 10. Lord, take it away. Remove it. I can't take it anymore. He says, no. But will with the temptation also make a way of escape. What's that escape? Is it gonna cause me to escape from it? It's over. I don't have to go through it anymore. Did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego get saved from the fire? Didn't they have to go through it and Jesus is there with them in that fire? What's their way of escape? Relying on Jesus? Surrendering their lives to Jesus? Hey, old king. I saw this on VeggieTales. You guys remember this. We're not careful how we answer you in this matter. It's a no brainer. I'm not wearing a mask. I'm not shutting the church down. We're not taking the jab. We're not afraid of you, o king. You wanna shut the church down? You wanna destroy all the Jews, Haman? It's a no brainer. We're not complying. You're a liar. We're not bound down to your image. We're not idolaters. Our God is able. Is there anything too hard for God? Our God is able to deliver us and he will deliver us. But even if he doesn't, we still won't bow down to you. And Nebbe's face went into a rage and he caused the fire to be heated up seven times greater and even the guys that threw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego into that fiery furnace were burnt up, destroyed. And the only thing burned up in that fire was the things that bound Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They were free. They were free in that trial. They were free in that fiery furnace. So are you. All the things that held you back that you're afraid of are burned up. You're passing the test. You're in the test. You're in the crucible but you're passing it. And how are you doing it? How are you getting through it? Did we not throw a three in there and yet there's a fourth and he's as the son of man. Jesus is there with you in that trial. How else would you get to know Jesus to that depth, to that measure, to that degree of intimacy had you not yielded and surrendered to his hand upon your life, to his will, and been non compliant with evil. Save yourself. Save yourself. If you be the son of man, save yourself. Get down from the cross. That's what the devil and his people are shouting to you. Save yourself. Get out of that trial. Compromise. Leave the ministry. Leave your marriage. It's too hard to continue. The grass is greener on the other side. Find another way. And yet you say, no. By faith, I'm staying where God has me. I'm staying in the crucible. I'm staying in the trial. I'm gonna stay till the Lord releases me. And I'm gonna enjoy the fellowship with Jesus while I'm in this trial. Because outside this trial, it's only Nebby. Why would I wanna leave this trial and go be with Nebby? He's ugly. He's mean. He's nasty. I'd rather be in this trial with Jesus and in these trials, plural, and this suffering with the body of Christ than to be out in the world. What's it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what a man give in exchange for his life? I'd rather live the life of a Christian being persecuted and suffering and being molded and shaped and changed in the image of Christ from glory to glory. As we pass the test, he'll get us through. The word escape means only one way, not around it, but through it. Jesus will take us through it. Either I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil for thou art with me. The Lord is with me as I'm going through these trials. The word bear it means to endure. Jesus endured more. So the lord's gonna help you to bear it, to endure the trial. Not save you from it. There that way of escape is not from it. It's through it. Reliance upon him, dependence upon him. Jesus endured far more. He is our escape. He will get us through. Put your faith in him, not in yourself, not in man. Vain is the help of man. And so when we come to the end of ourselves, where Jacob and finally finally finally, the day of my comeuppance is is happening. Esau, I was twenty years with Laban, I met my match in Laban, I'm with my wife, my children, my flocks and tomorrow I'm gonna meet Esau, the one I stole the birthright from, my brother who hates me. And I gotta get a little sleep. I got a huge amount of anxiety in my heart. So he steps aside from the family and he goes over near the brook and he and he tries to get some sleep. He puts his head upon a rock and all of a sudden, there's an angel, but it's not just an angel, it's a theophany, a Christophany. Jesus is there and he begins to wrestle with Jesus. Would you like to wrestle with Jesus? They begin to wrestle and they tries a headlock on him and a choke hold and all these different holds and all, and none of it's working. And then the Lord Jesus takes and touches the hip, the sinew of Jacob. Jacob, his name means heel catcher, a conniver, always trying to do it with his own intellect, his own problem solving abilities. He's not gonna be able to problem solve Esau tomorrow with his armies. Very vulnerable. And he touches, Hosea tells us, trying tears and he and he and he conquered. He prevailed. But how did he prevail? By losing. The Lord dislodged his hip. I've got a sciatic condition in my right hip right now. It's nothing compared to have a hip displacement. The joint being displaced or a shoulder displacement but he displaced it. He dislodged it. He crippled. God will cripple you. God will break you. God will change you. That shouldn't sound cruel. It's necessary. It's part of his plan. It's part of bringing us to the end of ourselves to be broken before him that God might use us to a greater measure, that God might change us from within. God changed the name of Jacob to Israel, that he would be a prince of God, that he'd be governed by God. Prior to that prior to that breaking, we talk about the alcoholic, the drug addict, they haven't come to the end of themselves, they haven't come to that breaking. So to all of us as Christians, Christians, we don't know what flavor you are till you put in hot water. A lot of us were so blessed, we don't even know who we really are, but God's gonna show you here and there with a trial here and there. And when you come to the realization of just how ugly in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing, the heart's deceitful above all things desperately wicked and who can know it? God knows your heart. He's changing your heart. You must yield to the potter. You're the clay, you yield and he's fashioning you as a vessel of honor. A vessel that he gets glory and honor from there thereof. Not a not disqualified. He's our escape through him. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Jesus never fails. He's our escape. Jesus is our escape through trials, through suffering. The apostle Paul, his life came down to one thing. He considered everything that he once had as dung as refuse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. All that he had And his gist of his life, the purpose of his life was summed up in Philippians three verse 10, that I might know him. That's all that matters. I wanna know God. I wanna know Jesus. I wanna know him and the power of his resurrection deliver me from death and the fellowship of his sufferings, plural, being made conformable unto his death. That's the desire of Paul. Jesus is also our escape from the wrath to come. The wrath that he's gonna pour out upon the world. Jesus said, pray always that you may be able to escape these things that are coming and to stand before the son of man. Are you praying? Are you looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior? Jesus saved us from the wrath to come. In first Thessalonians chapter one verse 10, he delivered us from the wrath to come. Not the cross because he's already suffered the wrath upon the cross. There's no fearful looking to have judgment of you and I of salvation. It's eschatological in first Thessalonians one verse 10. But also first Thessalonians five verse nine says that we're not appointed under wrath. How are we gonna escape this wrath? The rapture. The rapture of the church. We're watching. We're looking. We're ready and Jesus is going to come and he's our blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus said to the religious leaders in Matthew 23 verse 33, you serpents, you generation of vipers. That's some strong words. They began to cry and they began to say, where's our safe place? I need to find my safe place. No, they didn't. They were angry at him. They're plotting to kill him. You serpents, you generation of vipers. How are you going to escape the damnation of hell? They didn't know that Jesus is their escape, That salvation is in him. He's calling them out. How will you escape the damnation of hell? You've already escaped. Your name's already in the lamb's book of life. You've already been saved. So as we go through these trials, we rely upon the Lord. He's our escape. He continues to to cause us to grow and to yield and to gain victory through the trials, the difficulties, the sufferings we go through. We don't recant, we don't quit, we don't backslide, we continue to share the glorious good news of his coming kingdom. We know that we know that we know that all things are working together for good, for those who love God, and are called according to his purpose. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much. Lord, we are learning, we're growing, we don't have it figured out, but we thank you Lord that you're you're teaching us moment by moment, that we were faced with trials, we fail sometimes, sometimes we get it right. We thank you for the measure of love, the work of your Holy Spirit to empower us to love, to be kind, to be filled with joy, to sing, to worship. And Lord, we loathe, we hate when we complain, we hate when we murmur, we hate when we fail the test. Make us more and more worshipers Lord. That we'd simply worship. We'd be who you created us to be, that of worshipers. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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About This Podcast

Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Sunday Service

Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.

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