All these things happen unto them for in samples and they are written for our admonition upon
whom the ends of the world are come.
Wherefore let him that thinketh he stand to take heed lest he fall.
There hath 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 you're able but will
with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it.
And what the Bible is teaching here in this scripture is that the things that happened
in the Old Testament, those stories that he alluded to a little bit earlier in the chapter,
were examples unto us and the Bible says that they were written for our admonition upon
whom the ends of the world are come.
Now a lot of people will foolishly disregard the Old Testament, not want to talk about
the Old Testament, and they'll kind of have this dispensationalist attitude of, well you
know that was written to them and that was written for them, you know, but we're in the
New Testament so this is written for us.
But the Bible is telling us here in 1 Corinthians 10 that those things were actually written
for us, even more so than they were written for them.
Now think about it, who do you think has read those stories more, modern day believers in
the New Testament or Old Testament saints?
There have been more modern day believers than there were Old Testament saints by a
long shot.
Not only that but the printing press has only been around for many centuries now and it
wasn't around back then, they were doing handwritten documents.
So more people have been reading these stories in the last several hundred years than ever
in the history of mankind.
And the Apostle Paul is saying to that church at Corinth of New Testament believers, he's
saying you need to read those stories and you need to understand that those stories
are examples for us and they were written for us.
God had us in mind when he wrote those stories and the admonitions were for us so that we
would not make the same mistakes that those people made back then.
Now a lot of people will come at you with an attitude that says, well things were totally
different back then than they are now.
You have to understand the culture back then, you have to understand the history because
things are just so different today.
I mean times have really changed but yet the Bible says that there is no new thing under
the sun.
And the Bible says right here in this passage, in this exact context in verse 13, there is
no temptation taken you but such as is common to man.
The things that you're going through, the things that I'm going through are the types
of things that people have been going through since the beginning of mankind.
And the things that the children of Israel went through in the book of Numbers are similar
to the things that you're going to go through in your life and that's why we have this example
to look back to and say, okay here's what they did that was right, I'm going to follow
that good example or here's what they did that was wrong, I'm going to avoid following
that bad example and that's what the Bible is telling us here that it's the same.
And by the way, Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday and today and forever.
I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.
God doesn't change, Jesus doesn't change and let me tell you something, human nature doesn't
change.
Man doesn't change.
The experiences that we go through in life don't change and these stories from the Old
Testament are just as relevant today as they were when they were written.
In fact, I believe they're more relevant because he's saying here it was written for our admonition
upon whom the ends of the world are come.
And as we approach the end of the world, these things become more relevant, now less relevant.
And so this idea of throwing out the Bible or parts of the Bible as old fashioned is
ridiculous because man is man, God is God and Jesus is Jesus.
And you say, well, but Jesus is a New Testament character, no, Jesus was throughout the Old
Testament.
Remember the sermon last Sunday night?
We saw the Old Testament appearances of Christ.
But not only that, right here in this passage, this is taught once again in verse 9 when
it says, neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted.
The Bible says that in the Old Testament, in the book of Numbers, they were tempting
Christ.
And the Bible also says in the book of Hebrews, they were tempting the Holy Ghost.
And it also says they were tempting the Lord, you know, they tempted the Father, the Son
and the Holy Ghost and the book of Numbers.
Now let's look at this passage.
Let's start in verse number 1.
It says, Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers
were under the 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.
Now right here in this passage we see that the things that we go through in the New Testament
are not that different than what they went through in the Old Testament.
Because they had a baptism of sorts, we have baptism.
They ate spiritual meat and drank spiritual drink, we eat spiritual meat and drink spiritual
drink.
They had a church, we have a church.
The Bible calls this group the church in the wilderness.
The pastor was Moses.
And the Bible says that they were in the cloud and in the sea.
What's that referring to?
That's referring to the cloudy pillar that they followed, which what is a cloud made
of?
Water vapor, right?
And then they also had the crossing of the Red Sea where they had a wall of water on
this side and a wall of water on this side.
So what the Bible is teaching there is that when they crossed that Red Sea, they had water
to the sides and above them, both.
And the Bible calls that being baptized unto Moses.
That was symbolic of the baptism that we do in the New Testament of dunking someone underwater
where they have water on all sides and above, and they are dunked underwater.
And the Bible says that we're all baptized by one spirit into the body of Christ.
The body of Christ is the local church.
And just as people today are baptized into the local church, in the Old Testament they
were baptized unto Moses and the church in the wilderness when they crossed the Red Sea
and went out into the wilderness and became that church with the tabernacle of the congregation.
Let's keep reading.
It says, but, in verse 5, 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.
So what was God's intent in writing down the stories about the children of Israel lusting
in the wilderness?
It was to the intent that we would not lust as they lusted.
And the Bible says, in verse number 7, neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them.
As it is written, the people sat down to drink and rose up to drink.
What is written there is referring back to the book of Exodus, where when Moses and I
getting the Ten Commandments, God was at the bottom with them, and they made the graph.
That's when the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play.
And that golden cap is the idolatry that God is rebuking, a molten image of an animal.
He says in verse 8, neither let some of them commit it.
And then the Bible says, let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed
of serpents.
Now turn back, if you would, to Numbers, chapter number 21.
Let's look at a few of these stories, because these stories are written for us.
They're our admonition.
They're an example for the New Testament believer and the New Testament church to learn from
and be admonished not to make these same mistakes.
The Bible says, let us not tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed
of serpents.
The Bible says in Numbers 21, verse 4, and they journeyed from Mount Hore by the way
of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom.
And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
And the people spake against God and against Moses.
Now first of all, do we sometimes get discouraged as we go through the way of our lives?
Of course.
And the people spake against God and against Moses.
Therefore have ye brought us out, up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there's
no bread, neither is there any water, and are so loatheth this light bread.
So we can see the exact parallels today with this story.
We're discouraged, and the wrong thing for us to do when we're discouraged is to start
blaming God or blame the pastor or blame another authority in our life.
You know, blame your parents or blame your husband or blame the boss, whatever.
The Bible is talking about here that the people are complaining and murmuring.
Now it says that they're claiming that they have no bread.
Halfway through verse 5 they said there is no bread.
But then look what it says at the end.
Are so loatheth this light bread.
So they're saying that they have no bread, but they really do have bread.
It's just light bread.
Well you know, it's not the bread that I wanted to eat.
Now look, is this something that people are guilty of in today's world?
Do you have kids?
Right?
Oh, I'm not hungry.
I'm not hungry.
You know, you put a nutritious, good meal in front of them.
They're not hungry.
They don't want to eat it.
And then all of a sudden, oh, snack, oh, I remember as a kid I did the same thing.
I remember, you know, I'm not hungry for that.
That little phrase at the end, for that.
Well I'm just not hungry for that.
Because you're like, well, I thought you're not hungry.
Why would you want ice cream?
You said you're full.
You said you can't finish your dinner.
Yeah, but I'm just not hungry for dinner, I'm hungry for ice cream.
You know, and look, even adults can be like this too though.
Spoiled brats who are not happy with what God has given them, with what their parents
have given them, with what their husband provides them perhaps as wives or whatever the case
may be, and just complaining and whining when God is only obligated to give us our
daily bread.
He didn't say give us this day our daily filet mignon.
Now that'd be great.
You know, give us our daily surf and turf.
You know, give us our, please with me, and I'll show you because I like meaning here
in John chapter 13.
Verse number 14, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, and that's a reference
back to Numbers chapter 21, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so
must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have
eternal life.
So right there the Bible tells us what that serpent on the pole symbolized when they just
had to look, and by the way, God said look to me all you nations and be saved, something
along those lines in Isaiah.
Look to me and be saved.
It's not hard to be saved.
I mean was it hard for these people to be saved?
I mean did they have to do a lot of works to be saved?
No.
He just said, and obviously it was a physical salvation from a physical snake bite, but
all they had to do was just look to that serpent on the pole, and just by looking at
it they would be saved, and the Bible says that Jesus was lifted up that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have eternal life if we would just believe on him.
Look to Jesus and be saved is what the Bible's teaching.
Now you say why in the world would Jesus be represented by a serpent on a pole?
You're thinking to yourself, well, you know, the serpent, that's like the devil.
Why would Jesus be represented by a serpent?
But here's what you have to understand.
He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we should be made the righteousness of God
in him.
You see, Jesus Christ was the perfect, sinless, spotless lamb of God.
He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.
But when he was lifted up, the Bible says he became sin for us.
The Bible says, who his own self bear our sins and his own body on the tree.
But think about it, he became sin for us.
So when Jesus was on that cross, he became sin, and wouldn't a serpent be a good symbolism
of sin?
That's why that serpent was lifted up, because he became sin for us, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him.
Now this brazen image, this molten image of a serpent that was put up on a pole represents
sin, because normally a molten image is sin.
Normally a serpent would represent that which is evil and satanic.
But that's why that symbol was chosen.
Now this serpent on the pole was to be lifted up one time as a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
But here's what the children of Israel did that was wrong, they saved it.
And then some people even worshiped it.
Now that was wrong.
God had known ten of them worshiping it as an idol, it's a bad symbol.
So a righteous king, I believe it was Jehoshaphat, came along and he destroyed the pole.
And he said we just need to get rid of this thing because you guys have saved this thing,
you know God didn't tell you to save it and worship it and everything.
He called it Nehushtan and he destroyed it and got rid of it and God was praising him
for doing that in the story that we read in 2 Chronicles.
So that's what this story is teaching us.
There's a lot of symbolism of the Lord Jesus Christ and salvation, but primarily it's to
teach us not to lust as they were lusting.
Now notice what it said, you don't have to turn back there, turn if you would to Numbers
11.
But in 1 Corinthians 10 where we were, that even pointed us to Numbers in the first place
said, neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted, watch this, and were
destroyed of serpents.
Now why were the people destroyed of serpents?
The Bible's teaching us that sin will destroy you and that's what those serpents represented.
They were destroyed of their sins, they were destroyed of their lust, they were destroyed
of their covetousness.
Then the next verse says, neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed
of the destroyer.
Now look at Numbers 11 verse 1, more about the murmuring.
It says in verse 1, and when the people complained, it displeased the Lord.
What's the lesson for that today?
That when we complain, it displeases the Lord.
That's what the Bible's teaching us.
And the Lord heard it.
God still hears it today.
His anger was kindled.
God's still going to be kindled about it today.
And the Bible says that the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them that were
in the uttermost parts of the camp.
Now here's where people will get consumed, or I'm confused, yeah, they get consumed all
right.
This is where people get consumed.
No, this is where people get confused.
Because here's what you'll hear people say when you show them this story, when you show
them other examples in the Bible, they'll say this, well, I don't see God doing that
today.
Isn't that what they'll say?
You'll show them all these things that are clearly examples and they'll say, well, I
don't see God sending fiery serpents today, I don't see God raining fire on these people
today and burning those that are on the outside of the camp, I don't see these judgments today.
But what they're missing is the fact that God gave us these particular instances as
an example.
He doesn't do it every time.
Somebody complains, they get burned up.
But what he did was burned up one person and said, look, let me make an example here just
so you can see how I feel about this sin and what the repercussions of sin are.
Here you go.
Here's an example.
Now here's the thing.
People are being burned up every day in a place called hell.
It's not that God has changed and people will say, well, God changed.
He burned people up back then.
People are burning right now.
So it's not that God has changed because here's the thing, God didn't burn every person in
the Old Testament who complained either.
There are all kinds of people in the Old Testament who complained and didn't get burned up.
All kinds of people in the Old Testament who committed fornication and didn't get killed.
All kinds of people who tempted the Lord and did not get a fiery serpent biting them.
These are examples and I think people misunderstand the concept of what it means to make an example.
You know, you do it one time perhaps and just say, hey, this is to show you the seriousness.
I'm going to make an example.
Now all throughout the Bible we'll see this concept.
In the New Testament, for example, this word example is used a lot about Sodom and Gomorrah,
both in 2 Peter chapter 2 and in Jude he uses the word example in both places.
He says, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner giving themselves
over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering
the vengeance of eternal fire.
Now when you hear the term eternal fire, what does that make you think of?
It makes you think of hell.
And so what God's saying is that he literally rained hell fire and brimstone upon Sodom
and Gomorrah.
They suffered the vengeance of eternal fire which was symbolic or an example of hell because
of the fact that hell is eternal fire.
But not only that, it was just to show how much he hated that sin and how wicked it was
and his anger and wrath that was kindled toward Sodom and Gomorrah.
It was also an example of how God knows how to deliver the just because remember he pulled
Lot out of the city and how God will deliver us and so forth.
So there are all kinds of examples there but God doesn't rain fire and brimstone on every
city that is given over to Sodomy.
God does not kill every person who complains but God has not changed in his attitude toward
these sins and God's anger has not changed because the Bible says God is angry with the
wicked every day.
And so a lot of people miss the concept of what it means to be an example.
Let's keep reading in Numbers 11 here.
It says in the people cried unto Moses and when Moses prayed unto the Lord the fire was
quenched and he called the name of the place Tabirah because the fire of the Lord burned
among them and the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting and the children
of Israel also wept again and said who shall give us flesh to eat?
We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers and the melons and the
leeks and the onions and the garlic but now our soul is dried away.
There is nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes and the manna was as coriander
seed and the color thereof is the color of delium and the people went about and gathered
it and ground it in mills or beat it in a mortar and baked it in pans and made cakes
of it and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil and when the dew fell upon the
camp of the night the manna fell upon it.
Then Moses heard the people weep through their families every man in the door of his tent
and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly.
Moses also was displeased.
Why they're complaining about having to eat the same food over and over again even though
they should just be happy that God's providing them with their needs.
That's what God's teaching us today in the New Testament from this story but notice the
term that's used over and over about God's anger it's kindled.
So the fire where God sent literal fire is a picture of his anger who commits fornication
or why does God not send fiery serpents among every person who lusts.
Well part of the reason for that is because God does not show himself supernaturally in
this world on a daily basis because he wants people to believe that he is and that he is
a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
God wants us to believe in him by faith and if we were just constantly seeing all these
proofs of his existence, if you were just constantly speaking from the heavens, constantly
sending fiery serpents, constantly slaying everyone who does these grievous sins then
there'd be no need for faith.
What God doesn't say is he just makes some examples, puts them in the Bible and shows
us look this is how I feel about these sins.
This is what kindles my anger.
This is what displeases me and if you do wrong you'll be punished.
Most of the time he uses earthly circumstances to punish us.
He'll send not supernatural but that which is natural to punish us.
But he did these dramatic supernatural judgments to make an example for us that would be more
vivid and easy for us to see and understand.
You see, Ananias and Sapphira were the ones who lied to the Holy Ghost in Acts chapter
5 and if you remember in the New Testament in Acts chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira, they
sold a piece of land and they claimed that they were going to give the whole price to
God.
They said we're going to sell our land and give it all to the church.
Now other people had done that and they were trying to keep up with the Joneses.
People had sold land and given the money to the church.
So they said we're going to sell all this land and we're going to give all the money
to the church.
But here's what they did.
They kept back part of the price.
Now when Peter rebuked them, he made it clear they didn't have to give any of the money.
Nobody's telling you, hey, you have to sell your land and give it to the church.
He said it was in your own power.
You could have done whatever you wanted with it.
But it was the fact that they had lied to the Holy Ghost and lied to the church to try
to get glory of men by saying we're giving everything.
And they lied and they kept back part of the price.
And God struck Ananias dead for doing that.
And then when Sapphira, his wife, comes in, he says to her, yea, did you sell the land
for so much?
Yea, for so much.
He said you're going to die too.
She falls over dead.
Why?
An example.
He doesn't kill everybody who lies like that.
He doesn't kill every hypocrite and every phony.
But he killed Ananias and Sapphira to make an example.
And the Bible says that everyone who heard that, great fear fell upon them.
And people thought twice about, you know, selling land and coming in, lying about it
and trying to get the glory of men.
The Bible talks about that our giving should not be something that we do to be seen of
men.
To glory of men.
That's what the Pharisees and the hypocrites do when they sound a trumpet when they give
and they want to get all the accolades and the glory.
Those are an example.
You know, another interesting point is when you think about the story of Onan that I preached
about a few weeks ago in Genesis 38.
And that story is another story where God personally killed someone.
You know, the Bible says what Onan did displeased the Lord, wherefore God slew him also.
And what's funny is when people try to explain away that story, it ceases to become an example
unto us today and it loses the intent for which God gave that story.
And I've even heard somebody, I've shown somebody that story of Onan before and here's
what they said.
Because they were, they were, you know, participating in that which Onan did in Genesis 38.
And they were doing exactly what Onan did.
And this is what they said.
Well, God hasn't killed me so far, so he must be okay with me doing that.
Now think about that logic.
Well, God hasn't killed me yet, so it must be okay.
But this is the foolishness of not understanding that God gave us these things as an example
unto us.
Now it's, people say this.
Experience is the best teacher.
Have you heard that saying?
But let me give you a better saying.
Someone else's experience is the best teacher.
We shouldn't have to go through it all ourselves before we apply it to ourselves.
You know, we don't want to apply the story of the children of Israel to us because when
we complain about our food and when we refuse to eat our breakfast, lunch, or dinner or
when we whine and grumble that we're not eating oysters and clams and steaks and lobster,
you know, that's different.
You know, and the proof is that there's no fiery serpent in my bed at night.
That's the proof.
But do you see how foolish that is?
In fact, if you really read the story about the children of Israel, I think most people
today, if they read and understood the story about the children of Israel, they'd say what's
the big deal?
Why is God mad?
Because I would do the exact same thing.
I mean, if you had to eat corn flakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 40 years,
you'd be complaining too.
But you know what?
It'd still be wrong.
Just like it was wrong for them, it'd be wrong for you.
And we are sitting there and justifying our own sins because of the fact that God hasn't
clouded up and rained on us yet.
But you know what?
By the time God clouds up and rains on you, sometimes it's too late.
When you're dead, it's too late.
Or when God irreparably destroys your life, it's too late.
It's better to learn from the example.
God say, look, you don't have to be killed.
You don't have to be eaten of fiery serpents.
You don't have to be destroyed of the destroyer.
All you have to do is just read the example I gave you.
And then just learn from someone else's error and don't do it.
Don't make the same mistake that they made.
And a lot of times, God's judgment is slow in coming, but it comes.
So this attitude of, well, I haven't been punished yet, keep on going, is a very foolish
attitude.
And if you have been committing sin and have not been punished for it, to this point, remember,
whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourges every son and we receive it.
Look, the smart thing to do would be before the punishment comes, go to God and get on
your knees and say, God, I've done wrong.
I'm sorry.
I'm going to get it right.
That way God will be merciful.
Because think about it.
What if my children were guilty of something and I knew about it and I'm going to come
down on them and they came to me first and confessed it to me first before I confronted
them about it, they came and confessed it to me first and said, listen, Dad, I'm sorry.
I've done this.
It was completely my fault.
I've done wrong.
You're going to be way more merciful.
And by the way, when you get an apology from someone before you ask for it, it's worth
more than after you ask for it.
You know, when you come to somebody, hey, you need to apologize to me, sorry.
That's not worth as much as when they come to you.
Does anybody agree with me?
Where they come to you and say, you know what, I'm sorry.
That was wrong.
I shouldn't have done that.
So that's how we need to be with God.
But not only that, notice in all three of the stories that we looked at there, you notice
that they apologized to God and they apologized to the person that they did wrong.
They apologized to both.
They went to God and to Moses, you know, whoever they had wronged.
That's who they were grumbling to and complaining.
You know, that for you, that could be your parents, you know, or that could be your spouse
or that could be someone at work or that could be a friend or whoever the case may be.
That is the Moses that you've grumbled at or complained at or murmured at or whatever
the case may be.
And so we need to be smart enough to learn from the experiences of other people that
God has given us.
And God did us a great favor by raising.
And he knows that you're going to say, my situation's different.
That's why right after giving you a bunch of examples from the book of Numbers, from
chapter, you know, 11, chapter 21, chapter 25, he gave you some stuff from Exodus.
And then he says, look, there's no temptation taking you, but such is his common demand.
You're not doing anything new in your life.
Is there anything whereof it may be said, this is new, behold, it has been already of
them which were before us.
It's all been done.
There's nothing new under the sun.
And so don't sit there, well, my situation's unique, baloney.
There's a biblical example.
There's a biblical teaching to guide you and to govern you in your life today in 2015.
Just as much as it was back then.
It's even more relevant upon us, upon whom the ends of the world are come, the Bible
says.
Look, let me just make this real simple.
God was thinking about us and the day we live in when he wrote the Bible.
Think about that.
It says, these things were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world
are come.
God's saying, you know what, I'm going to write this for the admonition of those upon
whom the ends of the world are come.
And that would include us.
He said, I'm going to write this for the members of Faithful Word Baptist Church so that they'll
know how to live their lives and so they'll know without me having to just the same day
they sin, you know, sending the judgment, they're already going to know that it kindles
my anger.
They're already going to know that I don't like it.
They're already going to know what they should and shouldn't be doing and I'm going to write
the book of Numbers for them to read.
That's why we need to read the book of Numbers in 2015.
See, oh, that's too boring.
Read it in 2015.
The book of Numbers, cover to cover, the whole thing, it's what God wants you to do.
Well, there's too many numbers in there.
I'm not into math.
You don't have to do any calculations, just read it.
God does all the calculations for you.
He lists all the component numbers and then he says, so the total number is this.
He gives you the answer.
Just read it.
And don't skip anything.
Well, I'm going to skip it, it's a list of names.
Sometimes in that list of names there will be a nugget of truth or admonition in that
list just mixed in and God puts that hidden manna there for those who will seek after
the truth and they will find it.
And so God wrote these things for our admonition.
And when you look, for example, at that story about Onan, you know, where basically he did
not want to give seed unto his brother's wife so he spilled it on the ground, you know,
if that's written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Because God took a substantial portion of scripture there.
He took quite a chunk of a chapter there and tells us that story about killing one guy.
And again, it's not often that God is killing one guy.
We need to find a way that that could admonish us today.
And you know what, I don't think that God wrote that story and put that much emphasis
on it and gave us many verses on it and a nice chunk there just so that we could know
that we're supposed to raise up seed to our brother's wife when our brother dies.
Because that is such a rare situation that it's not even, I mean Onan's exact situation
is so rare it wouldn't be much of an example.
I mean it's just an extremely rare situation that a guy is going to marry a woman and then
he's going to die and then his brother's going to marry her and then he's going to
spill it on the ground and then he's going to die and then the next brother is supposed
to be given to her and he's given to somebody else.
No, actually God's giving us a real clear admonition there that when you marry a woman
you don't spill it on the ground.
You actually should have kids.
You know, that would make more sense to look at it that way and say, okay, God's giving
us an example here that says, you know, God wants us to be joined unto our wife and he
wants us to be fruitful and multiply like he told us 20 different times to do and he
doesn't want us to just go in and just commit that act with our wife and then use birth
control.
And I believe that the example of Genesis 38 is telling us, hey, don't use birth control.
That would make more sense because it's the only example in the whole Bible where somebody
used birth control, the only example.
Show me another one.
Same time.
And God killed the guy.
That's an example for us to say, hey, wait a minute, God doesn't like people refusing
to procreate.
You know, and a lot of people will twist what I'm saying right now and claim that I'm teaching
all these things that I'm not teaching.
I'm just teaching that God wants us when we're married to procreate and that we should not
be using birth control.
We should trust in the Lord and do it the normal way and have kids.
I'm not saying, and people will say, oh, you're teaching that it's only for procreation.
That's not what I said.
I mean, look, if it was only, if that physical act within marriage were only for procreation,
my wife and I wouldn't be doing it very often because it's like, oh, she's pregnant again.
No more for the next nine months.
You know, she's infertile while she's on the lactation amenorrhea, you know.
I guess my wife and I have only done it eight times.
No, my wife and I have done it thousands of times and only eight of those, you know, produce
a child that's here today.
So the bottom line is that I'm not teaching any of that, but the Bible teaches that we're
supposed to be fruitful and multiply about 20 times.
The Bible teaches that a guy who went in unto his wife and purposely said, I don't want
to have a child with this woman and did something to stop doing it, was killed.
That is an example that we can connect with in 2015 because it's something that people
do every day, all the time.
It's what the world will teach you to do.
They'll teach you to be an onan.
Then the story makes more sense.
What is God telling us in the story of Ananias and Sapphira?
And again, what am I trying to show you here?
You can't just think, okay, I'm going to go with the exact situation of onan.
You know, next time I'm in a situation where my brother's wife dies and I marry my brother's
wife after he's dead, I'm going to be sure not to spill it on the ground.
I mean, that's just stupid.
That'd be the same logic of saying, okay, well next time I'm wandering in the wilderness
for 40 years and God's raining manna from heaven, I'm not going to complain about it.
I mean, wouldn't that be dumb?
If you just try to make it the exact situation, you know, if God ever feeds me with manna,
I'm going to like it.
That's not what he's teaching.
Well, you know what, if I'm ever told to hit a rock once, I'm never going to hit it twice.
You know, I mean, is that what God's teaching?
No.
If I ever sell a giant piece of land and decide I'm going to give the whole thing to God,
I'm going to give the whole thing to God or I'm going to admit that I only gave part of
it to God.
I mean, is that the only application you're drawing from these stories?
No, it makes a lot more sense to get the overarching principle.
What's the overarching principle in the onan story?
Don't be selfish.
Don't use birth control.
Okay, those are things that are just universal principles.
What's the overarching story or the overarching principle in the stories that have to do with
the children of Israel and Egypt?
Don't complain and don't complain especially about your food and that sometimes in life
you have to eat the same food over and over again.
Look, I didn't complain when I had to eat Chipotle every day for years and years when
I was on the road all the time traveling.
That's because Chipotle is awesome.
And sometimes I got a little burned out and I'd go into Chipotle and I was just like,
I don't know if I can do another burrito and then it was like the crunchy tacos.
It's totally different.
It's a totally different meal, you know?
And then, you know, and then that got me through.
So you know, we need to apply this to our life in a way that's real to us.
And you say, well, that's not what it was intended.
That's exactly what it was intended.
These stories were intended to be applied to today and to be applied into our situation,
not to just be kept, oh, well, that was just for Corinth.
You know?
Oh, that was just for the children of Israel.
Oh, that was just for them.
No, they were written for us upon whom the ends of the world are come.
That's who it was written for.
And we need to stop and understand, hey, God doesn't, and I hope every child is listening
because, you know, children are the ones who complain about their food the most, aren't
they?
You listen up, children.
Young kids, listen to me.
God's anger was kindled when people complained about their food and when they complained
about having to eat the same thing repeatedly.
And you know, I don't know what the menu is like in your house, but whatever it is, you
need to stop complaining about it.
Your parents work hard.
They love you.
They're putting nutritious food in front of you.
And I know you wish that you could have sugary cereals and hot dogs and cheeseburgers at
every meal, but you need to broaden your little palate a little bit and eat what they give
you.
And God, and the Bible says, even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be
pure and whether it be right.
Even God is looking down upon children and expects children to obey the Lord and expects
children to do right.
And he said, children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.
Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may
be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth.
God is saying your life will be cut short.
You'll be punished.
It will not go well for you.
If you do not obey your parents and honor your parents, say, well, I'm 18 now.
If you're still living at home, you obey your parents, period.
When you get married and establish a family of your own is when you can start being the
boss.
But when you're living at home with your parents, you obey your parents.
Well, I'm 13, I'm 15, I'm 18, I'm 21.
That means nothing.
You're under authority.
If you're living in their home, they're the boss.
And so we need to apply these teachings to ourselves today.
Turn if you would in your Bible to James chapter five, James chapter number five.
James chapter five.
So we can see how people are rejecting huge portions of the Old Testament and neglecting
huge portions of the Old Testament by making a few mistakes.
These are the mistakes that they're making.
Then First Corinthians 10 corrects all of it.
Here are the mistakes they're making.
Saying, oh, well, God was different back then.
No, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Or they'll say, well, Jesus is different than God.
No, that's a lie.
Jesus is God.
And the Bible says that Christ was with them in the wilderness.
The rock that followed them, the rock that they drank from, that rock was Christ.
Who believes that that rock was Christ?
Well then, look, Jesus was right there with them.
You think Jesus was saying, no, Father, don't send the fiery serpents.
He sent the fiery serpents, okay?
And so what we see is that these mistakes people are making in biblical interpretation.
Act specific situation, notion upon will or come that we can.
And then because God said, look, I'm going to kill this guy one time, Onan, or I'm going
to kill the children of Israel one time, or I'm going to kill Ananias and Sapphira one
time as an example to save you from being killed, and to save you from having to go
through the same thing.
You can learn from someone else's mistake.
Look at James chapter 5, verse 10, it says, take my brethren the prophets who have spoken
in the name of the Lord for an example, affliction, and the question is, do you know how to apply
it?
Do you know how to read?
Are you going to just read it and say, well, that's a neat story.
That's an interesting story.
Or, wow, God really tore that guy up.
Turned the page.
No, you should think about it as, wow, what can I do so I don't get all toe up like this
guy got all toe up.
You know, we shouldn't just sit there and just look at it as a theoretical, long, long
ago, in a far, far away place, in a totally different dispensation, you know, and just
have this disjointed, no, it's today, and that's how we need to read Genesis, and that's
how we need to read Exodus, and that's how we need, look, every page has an application
for us today, every single page, all of it.
You say, well, how can I apply, what about when I read all these sacrifices?
How do I apply that?
Because all those sacrifices picture Christ.
And when it talks about the sacrifices, he'll talk about, for example, sinning through ignorance
or sinning presumptuously.
You can apply that to your life and say, hey, there's a difference when I'm sinning ignorantly,
and when I know it's wrong and I go out and do it anyway, God's even more angry.
So every page has important teachings, Leviticus 1, Leviticus 2, Leviticus 3, Leviticus 4,
it's all there for us to help us, to teach us, you know, what do I learn from the story
about Adam and Eve?
Lots of things to learn from the story about, I mean, it's all so relevant.
And I want you to let this sermon this morning sink into your ears so that when you read
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, you're asking yourself all the time, what
is God telling us upon whom the ends of the world are come?
What does God want me to take from this story in 2015?
You say, well, I disagree with your interpretation.
Fine, get your own interpretation, but you know what, you better apply it to today.
And don't give me this dispensational garbage.
You know what they're doing, just rejecting the word of God for their tradition?
Their little tradition of dispensational theology, you know, that's their tradition.
And then they make void the word of God by saying, oh, different dispensation, different
dispensation, different dispensation, different dispensation, you know, just repeating that
over and over again.
But when reality, it's all for us.
Look, if the book of Numbers is for us, everything's for us.
I mean, you know, if you're going to say one thing doesn't apply, you'd say the first five
books, the law, not under the law, you know, twisting and misinterpreting that.
Paul said, no, book of Numbers was written for you.
Exodus is written for you.
And you know, what about all these laws about, you know, if my, if my ox, if I don't keep
my ox in its crib and it goes out and gores a man to death, I don't have an ox.
You know, you have a crib, but you know, you don't have an ox and it's like, you know,
how does that apply to me?
But you know what, there are applications to that today because some people have like
a vicious dog and you know, it could be, it could be applicable there or, or, you know,
somebody could have something else whereby they might hurt somebody, you know, a car,
you know, whatever vehicular manslaughter.
I mean, there are just a lot of ways that you could apply it because the principles
always ring true and that's what God's trying to tell us.
But God said in James 5, you know, take the positive example of men of God of the Old
Testament, be like them.
He didn't say don't be like those guys.
Those guys were some bad dudes, but you know, in the New Testament, that's not gonna work.
Is that what he said?
No, no, no, learn from these guys, you know, follow their example.
He says in Hebrews 13, 7, remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto
you the word of God, whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation.
Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday and today and forever, be not carried about with divers
and strange doctrines.
What's he saying here?
Don't be carried along with the trendy new doctrine because Jesus is always the same.
And he says people that have spoken to you the word of God is similar to what he said
in James 5, the prophets who've spoken in the name of the Lord.
But notice what he says at the end of the verse in Hebrews 13.
He says at the end of verse 7, considering the end of their conversation.
What's he mean there?
He's saying look at the prophets of the Old Testament and notice how they end up.
How do they end?
What's the end?
And he's even saying look at the preachers of your day who've preached unto you and look
at how they end.
Look at the end of their conversation.
What is the end?
What does that mean?
God's saying if you see people who faithfully serve me and they ended up in a good place.
He's saying if you faithfully serve me, you're going to end up in a good place.
You're going to be, if they were blessed, you're going to be blessed.
Why?
Because God's not a respecter of persons.
So if these people complained and God was angry, that means if you complain, God's going
to be angry.
If these people patiently endured and God blessed their latter end, that means if you
patiently endure, your latter end shall be blessed.
Because Jesus Christ is the same.
And it really will bring the Bible alive to you when you realize this stuff is all
relevant.
You know, one of the big buzzwords of churches today when they're advertising their churches
is relevant.
Have you noticed this?
If we were to flip open a yellow pages right now and just look at all the ads for churches,
we would see over and over again relevant, relevant, relevant, relevant, relevant, relevant.
It's the buzzword.
Relevant preaching.
Relevant Bible teaching.
We're keeping it relevant.
You know what they're, you know what they mean by that?
What they're implying?
That something in this book is not relevant.
Because why don't they just say Bible preaching?
Because they're not going to preach the whole Bible.
They're only going to preach that which is relevant according to them in their mind.
They don't think that a lot of this stuff is relevant.
So I'm going to preach what's relevant to you, bro.
You know, I'm going to teach you what affects your daily life right now, man.
You know, we're not going to get bogged down in all this theology, all this Old Testament
and you know, the wrath of God, fire, brimstone preaching, man, I'm going to bring it where
you live.
I'm going to make it relevant to you.
But that's what they're doing today.
Picking and choosing the parts of the Bible that they think are relevant when the Bible
says all scripture is given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctors.
You know what they need?
Get rid of relevant and replace it with profitable.
Instead of relevant Bible preaching, profitable Bible preaching.
What does that mean, Pastor Anderson?
That they'll preach every word of the Bible.
What is irrelevant to us?
I don't get it.
And I remember I told a fellow pastor when I first started the church, we were kind of
chatting.
And this guy was a successful pastor that you know, had a church, an independent fundamental
Baptist church with hundreds of people in it.
He's a good guy.
He's a successful pastor.
And I told him, I said, he was asking me what I've been preaching, you know.
So I said, well, you know, I said, you know, here's what I'm preaching on Sundays.
And then I said, on Wednesdays, I'm going through a different book of the Bible and
just go one chapter a week on Wednesdays.
Just one chapter a week, just preaching through the whole Bible.
One chapter per week.
And he told me, he said, yeah, I don't think that's a good idea.
I'm like, why not?
He said, well, you're going to end up spending a lot of time on stuff that's not important.
Now, if I'm preaching one chapter per week, so in 23 and a half years on Wednesday nights,
I'll have preached, you know, one sermon on each chapter of the Bible, 1189 chapters.
He said, I'm going to spend a bunch of time on stuff that's not important.
It makes you think that maybe God wrote a bunch of stuff that wasn't important.
I mean, if I'm spending one week per chapter in the book that God wrote, it's like, he's
all the same.
Well, you're going to end up spending a lot of time on stuff that's not important.
No, you know what it, you know why I like Wednesday nights?
Because it gets me to preach things that I never would have preached.
If I were just picking the sermon, because on Sundays, I just pick the sermon.
On Sundays, I just decide, what do I want to preach on?
I just pick the sermon.
There's no rhyme or reason to it.
I just pick what I want to preach.
You know, I hope that God's leading me and that the Holy Spirit's guiding me as I pick,
you know, in all thy ways acknowledge him, he shall direct thy paths, but I just pick
sermons.
But you know what?
On Wednesday nights, I don't really get to pick, because on Wednesday nights, I come
to a chapter, and that's the topic.
And there have been many times that I preached a sermon on Wednesday night and thought to
myself, you know, I never would have chosen this sermon.
I never would have preached this.
I never would have done, and you know what, that's good, because it's getting me to preach
the whole counsel of God, whether I want to or not.
And a lot of preachers, they get stuck on their certain pet issues, and I, you know,
I have to be careful of this, and I really try to preach a balance, and not just every
sermon's about the same thing, same thing, same thing.
You know, try to get variety, and the Wednesday night forces you to get into stuff that you
never would have thought of, you never would have preached on.
But a pastor said, hey, you're going to end up focusing on stuff that's not important.
Maybe you are wrong about what's important.
You know what I mean?
Who decides what's important?
Look, everything in the Bible's important.
There's not a chapter in this book that's unimportant.
You know, and I believe that it's a little bit blasphemous to say that, that there is.
Like you're setting yourself up the judge, hang on, hang on, let me decide what's important
real quick.
I'm going to decide what's important about this book, no, shut up and take the book that
God gave you and preach the whole thing.
Who do you think you are deciding what's important?
I mean, there are pastors today who decide which parts are appropriate and which ones
aren't.
I think this part's a little bit graphic.
This is a little too violent.
You know, oh, that's a bad word.
You know, okay, thanks, Tipper Gore.
You know, I don't need your help deciding, what, are you going to put a parental advisory
on the Bible?
Warning, graphic language, warning, you know, strong language, parental discretion is advised.
If it, look, I go to the Bible and say like, okay, let's figure out what's appropriate.
Oh, God's saying that, that must be appropriate to say.
Oh, God's not saying that?
I better not say it either.
Oh, God's not going into detail about this?
Well, maybe I shouldn't either.
God's using a euphemism?
Well, so will I. God's using strong language?
So will I. I mean, that's what it should be like.
Oh, God chooses to leave this part out?
I'll leave that part out too.
Instead of going to the Bible and trying to make the Bible conform to us, we need to be
conformed to the Bible.
And so please let this sink into your ears as you read your scriptures this year from
cover to cover, and you need to decide to do that, that you will take every verse and
every chapter and every page and read the Bible thinking about your own life, not just
applying it to someone else in a faraway place.
Apply it to you and find an example that you can take from it.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord.
We thank you for the positive examples, Lord.
Great men and women, Lord.
There are a lot of examples for ladies in the Bible, of really strong female characters
in the Bible, the Sarahs, the Rebeccas, the Ruths, the Esthers, a lot of great examples
for women, the Deborah and Miriam and different ladies that they can learn from, Lord.
Help us to learn from the men in the Bible.
Help us to learn from children in the Bible.
And also, Lord, help us to watch out for those bad examples, and there are plenty of them.
Help us not to wait until you chastise us, but help us to preemptively go to you and
say that we're sorry when we've done wrong before the punishment comes.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.