Okay, so 1 Corinthians 10, I'd like to just look from verse 5 again there, just read this
beginning passage again but starting in verse 5. Obviously they're talking about the children
of Israel in the wilderness there. 1 Corinthians 10 in verse 5, it says, 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
the 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, as some of them also murmured
and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for in samples,
and they are written for our admonition upon whom the end of the world o'ercome. Wherefore
let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall. There hath no temptation take
you, but such is is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be
tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape,
that you may be able to bear it. And I told him my sermon this morning is learning from
mistakes, learning from mistakes. Can I just go to the Lord in a word of prayer before
we continue with this. Father, thank you for your word, thank you for the many lessons
you give us out of your word, and the lessons that I'm going to try and preach today, Lord,
about learning from mistakes, the mistakes of others, the mistakes of ourselves. Just
help me to preach this message that I've been thinking about the last few days. Just clearly,
Lord, and accurately and boldly, Lord, please fill in with your spirit. Please have everyone
to just have attentive ears, attentive hearts to your message, Lord, helping them to try
and apply it to their lives as well. In Jesus' name I pray all of this. Amen. So life is
littered with mistakes, isn't it, from outright sin to errors of judgment. Every single one
of us is going to make mistakes on a regular basis, okay. If anyone thinks that reading
the Bible a few times is going to make them the finished article free from error, I've
got news for you, okay. That's a load of nonsense, okay. You're going to make mistakes, you're
going to continue to make errors throughout your life. However, it's how we respond to
those sins, to those mistakes, that's what makes a difference, okay. And the big question
is are we learning from mistakes, okay. Are you learning from your mistakes or not? That's
what you want to ask yourself because they are inevitable, mistakes, errors, they're
all inevitable. But they are a great way of learning as well, aren't they? Look, I
was thinking about it with, you know, when you're training people, I used to coach people
with Thai boxing and you could shout at a young fighter to keep his hands up as much
as you like and they just happen to sit round by his chest until he starts getting punched
in the face hard and then suddenly the hands have a habit of going up, yeah. If they don't,
well, you know, you've got problems there, okay. And a lot of the time we'll learn from
mistakes, we learn from when we make errors and then it makes us change after that. And
that should be the same in a Christian life. The mistakes are going to come but are we
learning from them, okay. So don't be shocked when the mistakes come but what you should
be doing is trying to learn from those mistakes. And do you know what's one of the great things
about the Bible is that instead of just a list of dos and don'ts, we have the many mistakes
of others recorded to help us avoid them in the first place. So there are mistakes there
that are made by other people that should help you hopefully even avoid making those
mistakes in the first place. The title is learning from mistakes and point number one
is learn from the mistakes of old, okay. Learn from the mistakes of old. So the Bible gives
us historical events, visuals that we can recall, okay. It's not just a don't do this,
do do this. No, it gives us these actual visuals, these events that we should be able to think
about where people mess up and then we see the repercussions that come from them messing
up. And if you can learn this way, well, that's the easy way, isn't it? That's a lot easier.
It's a lot less painful but it does require some effort, doesn't it? Okay, it requires
effort to read, to keep reading the word of God, keep reading. Look, this is a big
Bible, isn't it? Okay, that's a lot of reading here, a lot of people. Look, if you were reading
about half hour a day, it's still going to take you six months to read through the whole
Bible, okay. You're not going to just suddenly recall every story unless you're just regularly
reading it through, reading it through, reading through, then that is work, isn't it? I mean,
studying the Bible is work, you know, study to show thyself approved, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly divine the word of truth. So it is work but as well preaching,
listening to the preaching, sometimes it comes a bit more alive when someone's preaching
it to you, doesn't it? Sometimes you can read through your Bible, your mind wanders a little
bit, you drift, you don't necessarily apply it to your life and then when someone's preaching
and preaching that at you, preaching that story, preaching those events. So again, but
that means turning up to church, that means being in church listening to the preaching
as we know is very different when you're listening to it online. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul is
teaching a Corinthian churchless principle about learning from the mistakes of others,
particularly these mistakes of old. Verse 1 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 baptised 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. So Paul's saying, yeah,
they all received a picture of baptism. Yep, they all received the meat and drink of the
word, but many of them still messed up. They still didn't succeed in the Christian life.
Verse 6 says, Now these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil
things as they also lusted. So there are mistakes to learn from old. And here he's talking about
collective mistakes by the congregation, basically the church in the wilderness. Okay, that's
what they ultimately are. This is a megachurch, okay. This is probably one of the only megachurches
which wasn't run by a false prophet, okay. This was a megachurch in the wilderness and
we're going to learn some lessons as a collective first that Paul wants us to learn from this
megachurch in the wilderness. So lust here, it isn't just sexual desire, okay. In the
Bible it can be to desire eagerly to long for something, okay. And there can be many
things that we lust after. Turn to Numbers 11, which for me is a good example of this.
And they did obviously lust after things a lot. Numbers 11 is a good example, though,
and we're going to look from verse number 4. So Numbers 11 and verse number 4 reads this.
Numbers 11, 4, it says, 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? So they're
lusting for different food to what God was providing them. They said in verse 5, 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. So basically they're lusting after old life, even though
it was hard bondage, okay. That old life, it wasn't a bed of roses, if you remember,
they were having to do double the workload. They were finding it really hard. They had
a hard life in the bondage of Egypt, but suddenly it's looking rosier, isn't it? Now
they're looking back. A lot of people do this, don't they? They look back on their past life
and suddenly look at it through these rose-hinted glasses of actually life was a bit easier
when I wasn't serving God. Life was a bit easier when I wasn't doing the things of God.
Yet it's a whopping great lie that people tell themselves the flesh tells them or the
devil tells them one way or the other. Now, he said in verse 6, But now our soul is dried
away, there is nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes. What was manna? Well,
look at verse 7. And the manna was as coriander seed and the colour thereof is the colour
of delium, which seems to be clear stones with a reddish brown tint. It looks pretty
beautiful. 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 a taste
of fresh oil. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.
So it sounds nice, doesn't it? And this is free, okay. This is free food, okay. This
is not for the hard bondage of Egypt. And yeah, you might be getting a bit of garlic,
you know, cucumbers and the rest of it. This is just completely free, okay. All they have
to do is gather it. Verse 10 says, There Moses heard the people weep throughout their families,
every man in the door of his tent, and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly. Moses
also was displeased. So for me, the picture here is those that lust off the things of
old instead of the Christian life, okay. That for me is a clear picture. In John 651, you
don't have to turn there, Jesus said, I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give is
my flesh, which I give for the life of the world. So though this is those sick of the
life of faith, of the word of God, they're lusting after their old life. Oh, that Bible's
getting a bit boring now. I'm getting a bit sick of all that Christian life. Now, I just
wish I could go back to my old life. It's that sort of thing. That's what we're seeing
a picture of. What was the result? What's the result of that sort of thing? What does
God think of Christians who not only have been saved by the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, but then start moaning and whinging and complaining about the Christian life afterwards,
about following the Lord, about the things of God, about going to church, about all those
things. Well, let's have a look, verse 18. And say thou unto the people, sanctify yourselves
against the morn, ye shall eat flesh. This is verse 18. For ye have wept in the ears
of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt,
therefore the Lord will give you flesh and you shall eat. You shall not eat one day nor
two days nor five days, neither ten days nor twenty days, but even a whole month, until
it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you, because that ye have despised the
Lord which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why can't we forth out of Egypt?
And what happens is that old life is just never the same when you go back to it. Okay?
If you ever have back-silling, you know people that have back-silling, you've seen people
try and go back to those things of old, it's never the same. It's loathsome. It becomes
loathsome. Look, the flesh seemed great until it's coming out of your nostrils. Okay? And
it's never the same. Jump forward to verse 33, and we see the punishment here even further.
It says in verse 33, And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed,
the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people
with a very great plague. And he called the name of that place Kibroth-Hateva, because
there they buried the people that lusted. So punishment, a plague, even an early death.
Okay? It's quite a hard lesson to learn, right? Okay? And that's a good lesson for us to try
and learn before we end up messing up and doing things the same. Go back to 1 Corinthians
chapter 10, and he said in verse 7, so we're going to keep obviously going back to 1 Corinthians
10, so keep something there if you haven't. 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 7 says, Neither
be ye idolaters, as were some of them, as it is written, The people sat down to eat
and drink, and rose up to play. Now this is referring to Exodus 32 now. Now turn there,
this is where Moses is in the mount receiving the commandments of God. Exodus chapter 32
we're turning to, and we look from the beginning from verse 1. So Exodus 32 and verse 1, it
says, And when the people, Exodus 32 1, and when the people saw that Moses delayed to
come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto
him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us. For as for this, Moses, a man that brought
us up out of the land of Egypt, we what not what is become of him. It doesn't take long
without proper leadership before these guys start turning to idols, okay? They're turning
to idolatry. Verse 2, it says, And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings which
are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto
me. I mean, at least he managed to get the earrings off those boys, okay? There is a
plus point that comes out of this as well. That's something I think a hang up from Egypt,
but let's keep going. Verse 3, And all the people break off the golden earrings which
are in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned
it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf. And they said, These be
thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw
it, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made proclamation, said, Tomorrow is a feast
of the Lord. So Aaron, he's trying to combine the two to appease them. As you see here,
he's, look, they're making this golden calf. However, he's saying, Tomorrow is a feast
unto the Lord, okay? It's combining the idol with the real God, okay? And they rose up
early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings, and the people
sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. What does it mean rose up to play? Well,
jump forward to verse 17, where we see what's going on. Verse 17 says, And when Joshua heard
the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in
the camp. And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is
it the voice of them that cry for being overcome. But the noise of them that sing, do I hear?
So they're shouting, they're singing. Verse 19, It came to pass, as soon as he came nigh
unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing, and Moses' anger waxed hot. And he
cast the tables out of his hands, and break them beneath the mount. So they're dancing
as well, not a good advertisement for the all singing, all dancing churches. And he
took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and
strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink it. So what were they doing?
They tried to influence what was the standing leadership. There's the worshipping of idols.
There's the merging of false gods with the true faith, isn't there there? And how often
do we see that out there? Yeah, you've got, oh, well, they claim to believe the Bible,
they claim to believe the gospel, they claim to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but they're
just making this idol, this repent of your sins, Jesus Christ. Or they're making this,
you know, lordship, salvation, Jesus Christ, or one of the many versions of work, salvation,
false gods idols, and merging it together with the true God, right? Okay, here they're
just merging their idol with the God of the Bible. But what happens? Well, the result
was a bloodbath. Okay, God didn't like this either. 3000 fell. And then verse 35 says,
And the Lord plagued the people because they made the calf, which Aaron made. So more chastisement
again. So again, you know, lesson to learn. And here is his kind of lessons. Remember,
he's talking to the Corinthian church. So we're starting off here with just lessons
to a church as a whole. Okay, don't start trying to get into that worldly idolatry stuff.
Yeah, don't start trying to influence the leadership to start trying to make things
a bit more like worldly for you, a bit more idly, a bit more what you want. Yeah, no,
it should be done as the Word of God says, shouldn't it? Okay, go back to 1 Corinthians
10 and verse 8, where it says, Neither let us commit fornication. This is verse 8 now.
As some of them committed and fell in one day, three and twenty thousand. Turn to Numbers
25 now. So we are going to be going backwards and forwards to the Old Testament here just
for a few verses. Numbers 25, which is another mistake of old to learn from here. Numbers
25 and verse 1 says this, Numbers 25, 1, And Israel abode and shit him, and the people
began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. Now this is fornication between the
men of Israel and the daughters of the Moabites. Okay, verse 2 says, and in case anyone's sitting
there wondering, what does he mean by fornication? Fornication is a physical relationship outside
of marriage. Okay, that's physical relations outside of marriage. Okay, and we're not talking
about adultery here. This isn't including a married person. This is committing fornication.
This is something that our world has just turned around on its head, isn't it? The Western
world especially, at least. Okay, where we're just seeing it just everywhere, where they
think like you're somehow abnormal because you don't commit or encourage fornication.
But God thinks it's wicked. Okay, it's wicked. And we don't care how messed up our world
comes, we believe what the word of God says. Okay, it says, And they called the people
to bow down to the sacrifice of their gods, and the people did eat and bowed down to their
gods. Why are they bowing down to false gods? Because basically they're chasing unsaved
women. Because they're being led to it by these unsaved women. And you'd be surprised
how far men will go when they're basically chasing women. Okay, you'd be surprised how
many of their standards and everything will start slipping, how much they'll end up compromising
on so many things when they're basically chasing a woman, chasing females. That's just the
sad truth of life, isn't it? Okay, and you will have seen it all over the world where
people just start just behaving and acting and doing things that they would never have
done to try and impress a woman and try and please a woman to try and chase some sort
of woman. Verse three says, And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor, and the anger of the
Lord was kindled against Israel. Now this is the God of the Moabites, but it's just
another play on the word Baal, it's Satan. Okay, it's Satan obviously behind all false
gods. And interestingly, according to Revelation 2.14, although you don't have to turn there,
this whole ploy was a tactic of Balaam to destroy Israel. Okay, this was on purpose.
This was a tactic to lure God's children through fornication and idolatry. Okay, he couldn't
curse him, God didn't let him curse him, so instead he taught them to cast his stumbling
block and basically to lure them through fornication. And I'll tell you something, that hasn't changed.
Okay, God's children, the men of God, are constantly being targeted, men before, obviously
this is unmarried men, by the temptation of fornication. Because once it starts, and
once they start going that way, the chance of them serving God and doing the right things
are already gone. Okay, that is a tactic of the devil, all day long. And you've got to
resist that, okay? And in this day and age, I think it's probably harder than ever, isn't
it? Because it's literally everywhere. They're just trying to push it, promote it and everything
else. What was the result? Well look at verse four. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all
the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord against the sun. Now he's
not talking about, you know, giving them, lifting them up and putting them on a pedestal.
He's all about chopping off the heads, okay? That the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned
away from Israel. And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. And
just a quick heads up there, if you go, what does it mean plague but then they're cutting
off heads? Plague isn't just sickness, it's just judgment from God. No, it can be sickness,
it can be illness, it can be disease, it can literally be people having their heads chopped
off, okay? This is the plague from God, it's judgment from God. Here twenty-four thousand
died and according to 1 Corinthians 10.8 where we were, twenty-three thousand of those died
in one day, okay? And look, that's some judgment of God. That's what God thinks about fornication.
That's what God thinks about his children committing fornication. That's a great lesson,
isn't it? Go back to 1 Corinthians 10.9 now, where it says, Neither let us tempt Christ
as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. Right, sorry, we're going back
to Numbers 21 now, okay? In the back to Numbers 21, who were they tempting, by the way? What
it just said, it said, Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them, the children of Israel,
also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. Wait a second, I thought Jesus Christ just
was born in a manger in Bethlehem two thousand years ago. No, Jesus Christ always was. Jesus
Christ was from the beginning. In the beginning, you know, in the beginning was the Word and
the Word was with God and the Word was God, yeah? The same was in the beginning with God,
okay? Jesus Christ is the Word. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Jesus Christ is God in
the flesh. Jesus Christ was in the beginning and Jesus Christ was being tempted by these
people back in the book of Numbers, okay? And just a quick point on that, just because
a lot of people seem to get confused about this sort of stuff. We're going to Numbers
21. And in Numbers 21, they've just had a great victory against Canaanites. And verse
4 says, 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. So a bit of
hardship and now they start to speak against God and Moses. Look at verse 5, And the people
spake against God and against Moses. Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die
in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth
this light bread. And we can do the same, can't we? Okay, we can often just have a blessing
from God and soon after we're complaining when things don't go our way. Okay, that's
a common theme. We'll see that a lot. And we'll see that as church. A lot of the time
you'll start to get an inkling of maybe a wind or a complaint coming in a church as
a whole because so often it's contagious, this sort of thing. This is a whole group
doing it, okay? And obviously you can apply this individually and you can apply this to
church life as well. They're complaining that something's not gone their way now at this
point and when you're complaining against God, you are tempting him, okay? You're tempting
him. Here they're complaining against the leadership but ultimately against God. They've
gone beyond the lusting, okay, now and it's just full complaining. So instead of just
saying, well, they really desire this, now they're just complaining. They're foolishly
charging God and obviously Moses here too. What was the result? Verse 6 says, And the
Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people and much people of
Israel died. Now, the result here is that he sends fiery serpents and again you could
just say, well, some chastisement from God. You could argue that it's a picture of maybe
devils getting into the camp, infiltrators, false prophets, that sort of thing. It's like,
okay, you want to complain? Here you go, have some of that, you know, and that I think happens,
you know. Churches sometimes, you'd be surprised sometimes, I think, how churches can suddenly
just have this sort of influx of bad people. Well, here he sent fiery serpents, which again
as we know, who is the serpent, the devil, among the people, and they bit the people
and much people of Israel died. Now, go back to 1 Corinthians 10. Okay, that was them tempting
the Lord. They're complaining outright. But then there's another way of complaining as
well. Verse 10 says, Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed
of the destroyer. Okay, we're going back to Numbers again, Numbers 16 now. Okay, so he
said, Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer.
So the murmuring is different to the tempting, where it's grumbling and complaining quietly.
Okay, it's in a low voice. It's not as much of an open complaint, at God or the leadership,
excuse me, but the often purposeful result is for it to spread more. Because it's one
thing to go up and complain to a leader about something or complain to God and just go,
I'm unhappy, I'm angry about this. But it's another when you're whispering it, when you're
murmuring it, when you're grumbling it to anyone that will listen. Okay. Now, regularly
the children of Israel are murmuring against Moses and Aaron. And I believe that this here
is referring to Numbers 16. This is straight off the attempted rebellion of Korah, Dathan
and Abiram. Okay, look at verse three, where it says, This is what happened, and they gathered
themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much
upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among
them, wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord. So this
is a rebellion. Okay, this is a rebellion. And obviously, you know, this is this is nothing
new for church life, either this sort of thing. What's the result? Verse 31, jump forward
to verse 31. What was the result of this rebellion? And it came to pass, as he had made an end
of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them, and the
earth opened their mouth and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that
appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They and all that appertained to them went
down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the
congregation. And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them, for they
said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed
the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense. So pretty obvious what God thought
about this rebellion, right? Okay, the ground clave asunder under them, they literally go
straight down to the depths of hell. Verse 14, it said this, But on the morrow, back
to verse 14, it said, All the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against
Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord. So, look, Korah is
mentioned in Jude's passage about reprobates, but they've got them down as people of the
Lord, haven't they? They're just like, yeah, these are great godly people, and they're
murmuring against Moses and Aaron because of this. And this is obviously something that
we see in church life, people stand against the leadership, but instead of people just
accepting it and seeing it for what it is, what they do, they often will then murmur.
And that's half of the goal of it. Now, a lot of the time, these people will get destroyed,
they'll just get exposed, but half the goal is to then, is to upset the apple cart, is
to then, you know, start to shake other people. Okay, and obviously, that's what we see here.
What was the result? Like we said, they end up getting swallowed down into the pit. And
then it says, and the result of the murmuring, though, is, look at verse 42, it says, And
it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron,
that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation, and behold, the cloud covered
it. And the glory of the Lord appeared, and Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle
of the congregation. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Get you up from among the congregation,
that I may consume them, as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces. And Moses
said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put farther in from off the altar, and put on incense,
and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them. For there is wrath
gone out from the Lord, the plague is begun. And Aaron took as Moses' command, and ran
into the midst of the congregation, behold, the plague was begun among the people. And
he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. And he stood between dead and
living, and the plague was stayed. Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand
seven hundred beside them that died about the matter of Korah. And Aaron returned unto
Moses, and to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the plague was stayed.
So more death and destruction, that's what God thinks about that as well. Okay, it wasn't
just the rebellious ones, the ones who are then murmuring after it, God ends up wiping
them out. Okay, go back to 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 11, where Paul then says this in
1 Corinthians 10, 11. Now all these things happen unto them for ensamples, and they are
written for admonition upon whom the end of the world comes. So basically a sample, it's
a sample of things, a very tangible example, isn't it? Okay, a very real life tangible
example. They're here for us to learn from, basically for everyone to learn from. Okay,
all these things are for us to learn from. And look, these are just like I said, the
mega church ensamples. There are lessons from individuals in the Bible, individuals that
have messed up in various ways, families, families that have messed up, good people
that have messed up, bad people that have messed up. There's so many examples in the
Bible, aren't there? The repercussions, what they did wrong, what happened. I mean, so
much of it, so much of the Bible is for us to learn from other people's mistakes, isn't
it? Okay, and to learn from other people's mistakes. The total is learning from mistakes.
The point number one was learn from the mistakes of old. Okay, now that's the easy way. But
there's another easy way to learn from mistakes as well. Number two is to learn from the mistakes
you see. Okay, learn from the mistakes you see. They're the mistakes that you see all
over life and then the results of. From the back-slidden Christian to the alcoholic that
you come across soul-winning. Okay, there are so many real examples in life of mistakes
made that can prevent you and help you from making the same mistakes. It's said in verse
12, which is our verse a week, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest
he fall. Don't look at the backslider and think no chance. Okay, don't think, oh, well,
yeah, they back sinner but that ain't going to happen to me. Don't look at the unsaved
sinner and think, well, I've got God, I've got the Bible, that's not going to happen
to me. Okay, that's foolish. Okay, if you, you know, wherefore let him that thinketh
he standeth, take heed lest he fall. Look at the mistakes and the results of them and
learn from them. That's what we should do, shouldn't we? One of the reasons that, by
the way, I'll continue to preach about those jokers that used to attend our church is because
they're such a great visual for so much sin, aren't they? They're just a great visual
example of people who claim to be in the Christian life, who claim to be saved, who claim to
love the Lord and come to church, and just a great visual of how we shouldn't behave
in so many areas. And you might be like, oh, man, it's getting on for a year, look, I'll
keep preaching about these guys 10 years down the line. And extras that are added to the
cause, you know, because it's so effective, right? Look, you're not going to accidentally
become some reprobate false brethren, okay? That's not going to happen. But maybe you
have a tendency to boast a bit. Maybe you're just one of those who's a bit of a boaster
and reminders of Doreen and Elena are going to help keep that in check, aren't they? Okay?
Because maybe when you start to boast, you just say, I don't want to sound like those
two. I mean, that was ridiculous, wasn't it? Absolutely. I mean, anything they could think
about to boast about all day long. And some of it was, they tried to be clever with it,
but it wasn't really ever that clever. Maybe it's covetousness, okay? Maybe it's
covetousness, and you've got a kind of bit of a temptation with that sometimes, a bit
of a tendency to it. And Ben and Nick's dying cats help you to see where that leads to,
you know, where suddenly they're cleaning up after all these sick, vomiting, diarrhoea
filled cats, you know, day after day, because they were just so desperate to make more and
more and more money, you know? Maybe that's a good, good, good one for you. Maybe it's
moaning and complaining. Maybe you're just a bit of a kind of you've got a bit of a tendency
to want to murmur, want to murmur, want to complain. And Holly and Alex's whispering
helps you to keep that in check, because I don't really want to come across like those
guys who were just in the background, just constantly whispering and trying to complain
whenever they had like one, only one witness, and they could get away with it, you know?
Maybe you think, actually, I don't want to sound like that. And maybe these things can
be useful for that and many other obviously type behaviour that we talked about. Turn
to Proverbs 24, because it's not just the people you know, though, okay? It's not just
people that you know. One of the great things about the kids coming out soul winning, for
me, look, one of the great things about about bringing your family out soul winning is that
they see the state of the drunkards, for example. Okay, they see the state of the people, they
see these guys that you knock on the door, and the recycling box is filled up with cans
and bottles, and they come to the door and they can barely stand up sometimes, they can
barely talk to you, they're barely audible, their faces just look like, what on earth
has happened to you? They're just everything about them. And you go, that's an example
of a drunkard. You're like, oh, we better not mention it. No, it's a great lesson, isn't
it? Learn from the mistakes of others. Go, don't end up like that. That same guy, when
he was a kid, when he was whatever, a teenager, he was probably thought he was cool. His buddies
probably thought that was a cool guy, you know, because he was drinking early, he was
drinking young. He was going out drinking, now look at the state of him, look at his
life. Some depressed guy that says, I know, I know I'm a sinner, I know I'm going, would
you like me to show you? No, not interested, endorse that. What on earth? I mean, they
get to that point, don't they? Or the point where they, you literally can't even get through
to them, because their minds are so just frazzled by whatever cocktail of alcohol, drugs or
anything else. They see the lazy spaced out trying to sound profound stoners out there,
don't they? My kids see that a lot, they know what it smells like, because we smell
it all the time. And then you knock on the door and all you can smell is weed. And then
they open the door and they're like, yeah, man, yeah, you know, I'm really spiritual
as well. Well, what if, you know, God was actually like an alien? You get that stuff,
don't you? He gets that stuff on the door, yep. Same answers, yeah. What a great advertisement
for, don't ever smoke that rubbish. Yeah, and they're just lazy, their eyes are glazed,
they're just, it's terrible, isn't it? But again, we can learn from the mistakes of others,
can't we? They see the pride filled work salvationists. Wow, what a great example that is, isn't it?
They see these work salvationists, they see that pride and see where that leads them,
where the people they, you could show them verse after verse after verse in the Bible
saying it's grace through faith, it's not of works. You read Romans 4 to them, it's
not of works, okay? You know, for by the works of the Lord shall no flesh be justified,
you just keep showing them verse after verse. And they're like, still got to repent of your
sins. So it's about me, I can earn salvation. It's a pride. But what a great lesson about
pride when you go to the doors, you knock on doors, or even, it might not even be that
guy who's been in a false church and listened to all that work salvation. It might just
be that person that's like, what do I care? I'll wait and let him decide. You ever get
that one? I'll just wait and see what God decides. You're like, yeah, but the Bible
says it, I think I've done all right, basically. Basically, I think I'm good enough. I'll take
my chances. I don't need God. I don't need Jesus Christ. I don't need the Savior. And
again, what a great lesson. They also see the sluggards houses, don't they? Turn to
Proverbs chapter 24. Did I tell you to turn there? Turn to Proverbs chapter 24, because
they do see the sluggards house. Proverbs 24 verse 30 says this, I went by the field
of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding. And lo, it was
all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall
thereof was broken down. Then I saw and considered it well. I looked upon it and received instruction.
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands asleep, so shall thy
poverty come as one that travelth, and thy want as an armed man. And for me, that's talking
about the desperation that will come in the end to the lazy, okay? Their poverty be as
one that's basically traveling everywhere, so they're not really working. Their want
as an armed man, okay? Someone who basically, for me, that's someone who need to be armed
to try and take money off people. That's what I see that as. That's the desperation. That's
what comes. That's the end of lazy people. And you know what? That is just an example
of learning from the mistakes you see, isn't it? That seeing that slothful person, going
to that house when you go soul-winning, you can barely get into the front gate because
it's all overgrown, the thorns are coming across and everything else. Do you expect
to see just a sensible, well-kept, normal person when you knock on the door there? No.
Usually you just have someone who's usually, by that point, not even half interested if
they can even open the door because of the trash and the junk and everything else that's
in the way. And sometimes it's even worse than that, isn't it? It can be pretty bad,
but again, what a great lesson. What a great lesson about laziness, about being a slothful.
How often do you see that when you're out soul-winning? That's learning from the mistakes
you see. But it's not just about obvious sin, okay? It's not just sin. Maybe it's poor decisions
that you see someone make, okay? You can learn from that, can't you? It could be financial.
Could be a poor choice in friendship. You see people make decisions and make choices
in your life. You think, I'm not going to repeat that. An unwise decision in leadership
that you see, okay? Or perhaps it's even explained to you because, look, in the future, when
I'm training men to go out from here, men in other places, well, look, I'm going to
teach them not to make the mistakes that I've made in this job, okay? Maybe they will have
seen that and maybe I could go, well, you know, when I did that, that was a wrong mistake.
That was actually, I should have done this differently. And again, it's just constantly
learning from the mistakes you see, the mistakes you hear, the mistakes that people will tell
you about. Maybe it's the wrong paths that you've gone in your life that you will then
teach your kids to avoid, okay? That's other stuff that you can give them a vision of that
and go, look, you don't want to follow what I did and waste that 30-odd years of life
in the world where you could have just been serving God and living such a more fulfilling
life and so much that we can teach. We should be constantly trying to learn from the mistakes
that we see, the mistakes that even we're told about. Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter
10 where verse 12 says, Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest
he fall. Because there are people out there that just won't learn from mistakes. They
just won't learn. And it's pride so often, isn't it? There are people that you can preach
the word of God to them, you can preach about behaviour, preach about all these sorts of
things and they'll just sit there and just stiffen up and they just can't take it. They
cannot take the word of God. They won't learn. They won't take heed. And I'll tell you what,
when those people fall, they crash and burn. It's bad when that happens. Now, we need to
learn from others' mistakes, not think that we're somehow immune to it. And you're in
1 Corinthians 10, but Proverbs 11 says, When pride cometh, then cometh shame, but with
the lowly is wisdom. If you get prideful about this stuff, if you just can't imagine yourself
ever being able to fall, if you stiffen up, harden your neck to this sort of thing, for
me, the shame is going to come, with the lowly is wisdom. That's the humble really
there. Now, the title is learning from mistakes. Number one, learn from the mistakes of old.
Number two, learn from the mistakes you see. Point number three is learn from the mistakes
you make. Learn from the mistakes you make. And even with points one and two, we're still
going to make mistakes in life. Anyone here think they're never going to make mistakes
in life? I hope not. We're going to get things wrong. We're going to screw up one way or
another. Just take from me, you will get things wrong. You are going to screw up in
some way or another. You've just got to accept that. And look, when it comes to sin, that
doesn't mean you downplay or excuse it, though. It's not like, oh, yeah, well, I'm just a
sinner. You get these people, oh, I'm just saved by grace. I'm just a sinner. No, look,
sin is serious. Sin is so serious that one sin, if you weren't saved, would take you
to hell. One lie. That's why all this maintaining salvation is such nonsense. Look, you're saved.
Once saved, always saved. One sin. The wages of sin is death. Jesus Christ paid for your
past, for the future sins. Amen. What an amazing gift that is. But that doesn't mean then sin
is no longer important. That sin is sometimes something we laugh at and that we just fob
off. However, we also need to accept that we're going to fail. So we don't take it lightly,
but we are going to fail. But then we can also learn that when we do, we can learn from
the mistakes that we make. OK, so the point is, is that you're going to fail. You're going
to mess up. You're going to sin. You're going to do things wrong. You're going to make errors.
You're going to make mistakes. But are you going to learn from that? OK, and that's what
we need to make sure we're going to do, right? If you're going to improve, you're going to
learn from the mistakes you make. And the first lesson to learn is how to avoid it in
the future. OK, so for me, the first lesson to learn is how to avoid that, that mistake,
that error, that sin in the future. Look at verse 13, where it says, 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 year able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape
that you may be able to bear it. So according to Paul here, God will not let you be tempted
above what you're able to deal with and will also give you a way out. Yeah, OK, that's
pretty clear, isn't it? So first question when you fail for me is what could I have
done differently? What could I have done differently? What was the way to escape? So that's a good
thing to do, is it? Go back and have a think, OK, so I messed up there. I sinned there.
I did something wrong there. Analyse it. What's wrong with doing that? Why don't you analyse
it? Kind of post-match analysis style, but instead of a load of old waffle with people
trying to sound intelligent and learned, work out what you could have done. What could I
have done differently in that situation? And now one obvious area for this is marriage.
OK, and this is just a clear teaching about marriage. It applies to everywhere in life,
turn the first p to three. Because a big part of marriage is learning from the mistakes
you make for me. Because the modern philosophy of giving up divorce if things aren't a continuous
fairytale romance sets couples up for definite failure, OK? Because believe me, there is
no marriage in the world which is just this ongoing fairytale romance, OK? It requires
work. It requires both parties to work, et cetera. And look, don't get me wrong, marriage
is a great thing. Marriage is a wonderful thing, OK? And I would never change that,
and I hope none of the married couples here would feel the same. However, it does require
some work, doesn't it? And especially at the beginning, OK, for those of you that are newly
married as well or when you get newly married, you've got to understand, that's when you
lay the foundations. That's when you ultimately a lot of the time do the hardest work. That's
when you have to set up that beginning and start to understand each other and everything
because you don't know each other before that, really, OK? How it should be, which
isn't that you're living together for 20 years before you get married, OK, it shouldn't
be like that. And it should be that you get to know each other as you're married. And
1 Peter 3, verse 1 says, 1 Peter 3, 1 says, likewise, you wives, be in subjection to your
own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the
conversation of the wives. So this is continuing the thought from the previous chapter about
employees basically being in subjection at work to their employers, OK? And it's such
an ironic world we live in where that's fine, but somehow a wife being in subjection to
the man that loves her isn't. Oh, it's fine to go to the workplace and submit to someone
else's husband. Oh, no, no, that's all right. What's wrong with that? Fine to go to the
workplace and submit to someone I barely know, but I will not submit to my husband. Well,
but the Bible says to be in subjection. OK, however, let's keep going. While they behold
your chaste conversation coupled with fear, and that's behaviour there, OK, who's adorning,
let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold and of putting
on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible
in the ornament of Amiquite spirit, which is in the cycle of great pride. Now, I always
have to repeat this when I go through these, because there are people that will take little
bits of a verse and then try and run with it. See, women can't plait their hair. You
know, you ever heard that one before? No plaits, banned, OK, because he said who's adorning,
then not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair. But he also said in the wearing
of gold, OK, yup, no joy, or of putting on of apparel. Oh, wait a second, that's clothing.
OK. Oh, what's going to happen there? Well, no, it's talking about what you're adorning
is, what you're adorning by, what you're beautified by. What are you known by? Let it be the hidden
man of the heart. OK, it should be your heart, not the outward appearance in that which is
not corruptible, even the ornament of Amiquite and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of
God a great price. Do you know that? Yeah. By the way, girl power is a load of wicked
nonsense. OK, that's not a meek and quiet spirit. OK, that's something that God hates,
all that prideful rubbish. Verse five says, for after this manner in the old time, the
holy women also, trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands.
Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, and by the way, that was in her heart,
whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well and not afraid with any amazement. Now,
look at verse seven. Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving
honour unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together to the grace of
life, that your prayers be not hindered. So as much as all that subjection and submissiveness
that God expects and requires of wives to their husbands, men are also required to give
honour to their wives, OK? It's not to lord it over them, it's not to treat them like
dirt, and it's to love them, we're told, we're commanded to love our wives, but we're also
told here to dwell with them according to knowledge. Where does the knowledge come from?
I'll tell you where it comes from, often from previous mistakes. Do you know that? Your
knowledge of your wife will come from previous mistakes you've made. You know, for example,
so she doesn't like my pet name for her after all, you know, because every time I call her
my little piranha fish she seems to get annoyed. Now I've learned not to call her that pet
name, yeah, et cetera, yeah, there's many things that we should learn, shouldn't we?
It's not like, well, I'm the boss, I'll call her what I want, you know, that's not dwelling
with them according to knowledge, that's not loving your wife, that's not giving honour
done to her, yeah, you get the idea, right? OK, so the idea is that we don't then repeat
those mistakes, and it is a constant learning curve, the tricks to learn from the mistakes
and not repeat them. And it's the same with parenting, isn't it, as well? Because often,
look, we're learning not to repeat mistakes, we're learning from errors we make, we're
all going to make errors, OK, no one here is perfect. And also, you know, as a couple,
you know, as parenting children, just in friendships, you're just learning what makes people tick,
you're learning how to make people happy, you're learning how not to offend people,
you're learning how to keep your wife happy, your wife is learning how to keep you feeling
loved and respected and everything else, and it's a constant learning curve, isn't it?
And what are we ultimately learning from when we've messed it up? Because you are,
you're going to get it wrong, you're going to say things wrong, and then you're going
to learn, maybe now's not a good time to talk about this, maybe this isn't a good time to
bring this situation up, you start to learn what makes them tick, how to do things right.
But what about when it's just blatant sin? So what about when it's just blatant sin,
how do we learn from that? So that's kind of in relationships, in couples, and that
could be in anything, that could be in working relationships and everything else, we're just
learning from maybe mistakes we've made in the past, but what about when it's just our
own blatant sin? Maybe you can't resist certain sins, because look, it's one thing going,
well just don't do it, but some people, it's an impulsive thing, isn't it? Maybe for some
it's impulsive anger, which then leads on to sin, doesn't it? Look, there is a time
for anger, a lot of the time it's not righteous anger though, is it? There is a time for that,
maybe that leads on to something else, turn to 1 John 1, and the first thing, or first
things first is this, is take it seriously. Sin isn't something to excuse, to laugh off.
Proverbs 49 says this, well you turn to 1 John 1, Proverbs 49 says, fools make a mock
at sin, but among the righteous there is favour. Okay, so first things first, you need
to get your heart right, because there are those that just go, well I'm just a sinner,
I just, well I, you know, people, well, when I get angry I do this, when I, you know, whenever
I see this, or I, you know, am tempted by this, this is how I behave, you know, so what?
I know, in fact we'll just make it into a big joke, and then I'll call you like a Christian
shamer if you dare to say something about it, or say, well I try not to behave like
this or anything else. No, like, fools make a mock at sin, okay? Nothing funny or amusing
or anything else about sin, okay? Sin is sin, sin is wicked. Yeah, we're all sinners, but
we should take it seriously, right? Okay, fools make a mock at sin, but among the righteous
there is favour. We need to get our heart right with it, we need to take the Lord in
prayer. 1 John 1 and verse 8 says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us. Okay, so anyone out there that seems to think that once you're
saved you're going to live a sinless life is a liar and the truth isn't in them, okay?
That's nonsense, okay? If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is
not in it. You think you don't have sin, the truth's not in you, okay? You're not saved,
and any of these guys that stand up around these churches around this nation trying to
act like they're some sort of sinless perfect pastor or whatever else, they're liars and
they're false prophets, okay? It's nonsense, okay? However, if we confess our sins, verse
9, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Okay, we have to confess it to God, okay? To God this is talking about. This isn't talking
about to some queer priest somewhere who, goodness knows, I mean what sort of enjoyment
they're getting out of all these just stories coming to them on a daily basis. I mean these
guys are wicked reprobates all day long. That's not what it's talking about. It's not talking
about confessing all your sins to everyone in the church every time you walk into the
church. Just giving him a quick list of what went on this week, okay? It's talking about
confessing it to God and when we confess it, he'll forgive us and cleanse. Now this has
got nothing to do with salvation, okay? This is talking about your daily life as a Christian.
This is believers, okay? This is written to believers. This is talking about a believer
going forward in life and confessing the sins of the day to the Lord, okay? If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all our righteousness.
Now first off, what does it mean that well God doesn't forgive all our sins anyway?
Look, on your account, on your eternal account, yes. However, on your day-to-day life, you need
your loving father to forgive your sins otherwise you're going to get a whooping, okay? You're going
to get chastisement. You're going to get a beating and that comes in various ways and I've
talked about this a lot recently because I think a lot of people just don't even want to
chastise and that's just for the worst people. No, look, there's a lot of stuff in the Bible which is
bad stuff. We can talk about that a bit later tonight which in God's eyes is really bad even
though the world's kind of changed how we view those things, okay? And God chastises but if we
confess our sins to him and I always give this example when I have to deal with this on the door
with people is like, look, if my kid, if my two kids have been up to some bad stuff, one of them
I have to literally force it out of them and they still won't really talk about it or admit it and
the other one comes up to me and says to me, Daddy, I'm really sorry but I did this. I shouldn't have
done it. I'm confessing it to you now. Who am I going to go easier on? Yeah, the first one. In fact,
I might even, if I can see enough remorse, they might even get away without chastisement because
I'm like, okay, I can see they actually mean this. They really didn't want to do that. That chastisement
isn't necessarily going to be, maybe not even chastisement at all. I might go, okay, they've learned
their lesson but the other little brat who's just trying to deny it and not, you know, won't admit to
it and just trying to, oh, it doesn't really matter, does it? Oh, it didn't matter that I, you know, did
whatever it is, some bad sin. Oh, it doesn't, you know, grace, man. I mean, that kid, I'm gonna whip
him, aren't I? Okay, that's the same with God but if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, it says in verse 10 as well, if we say that we
have not sinned, just to remind you that again, we make him a liar and his word is not in us,
okay, just to remind you that. Now, as well, people that are like that, they'll just try and claim
that they're sinless, they don't do anything wrong, they're fine, you know, I can't, I've got no sin about
that, what a lot of nonsense, okay, you're making him a liar and your word is not in us. Now, you might say, yeah,
but I confess it, okay, I confess it but I keep doing it, okay, I keep doing it, he's not cleansed me
because you can look at this verse and go, wait a second, I've been confessing this sin, this problem
that I have in life, this mistake that I'm doing and I'm not learning from it because I keep doing
it, I keep going to that same point, I keep just, I keep just failing, right, why is, I'm, look, I don't
want to, I'm confessing, I'm saying, God, I don't want to behave like this, I don't want to be like, I
don't want to slip into whatever it is and I'm not necessarily talking about some wicked sin, it can be
anything, right, just something impulsive, something that you find yourself doing. Why is he not cleansing
me? Well, here's a question because a lot of the time I think we like to think of God like this kind
of genie magic kind of type God, yeah, now don't get me wrong, God can do anything, right, okay, but
that's not really how it works, okay, how does he cleanse us on a day-to-day basis? Turn to John
chapter 17 because another word for cleansing is to sanctify, okay, we've just read, if we confess
our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Okay, another word for cleansing is to sanctify and in John 17 and verse 17, talking of the disciples,
Jesus says in John 17 17, sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth, so he cleanses us
through his truth, that's the word of God, when you mess up, find the answer in the word of God, okay,
that's the point, okay, he will cleanse us but he cleanses us through his word, it's like, well,
I've confessed, confessed, right, no more sin, okay, and then it's vanished out of your life,
okay, that's not how it works, he cleanses us through his word, you find the answer in his word
and when it comes to dealing with hard to resist sins, sins that you just don't seem to be able to
conquer, that you want to stop but you just can't, okay, there's a verse in the bible for me, some
wisdom that just says it all, okay, now this is some wisdom that you know is important because
it's written identically in two places in the book of wisdom, okay, so if you turn to Proverbs
chapter 22, you turn to Proverbs 22 for a verse that is identical in Proverbs chapter 27 as well,
so you're turning to Proverbs 22, this is the exact same verse in Proverbs 27 and verse 12
and Proverbs 22 and verse 3 says this, Proverbs 22 3 says, a prudent man for seeth the evil
and hideth himself but the simple pass on and the punished, Proverbs 27 12 says exactly the same,
you don't have to turn it, you can if you want, it says a prudent man for seeth the evil and
hideth himself but the simple pass on and the punished and when it comes to those sins that
you just can't resist, those impulsive ones, those hard to break habits, know what the triggers are,
right, know what got you there in the first place, know what opens that door,
how to avoid that temptation in the first place, does that make sense for see the evil and then
avoid that in the first place, maybe that's putting a block on your devices, maybe that's
putting some sort of, you know, I'm sure there are things you could put yourself which like
family-friendly blocks on your phones, your whatever, so that it's the sort of thing that
kids can view if you've got issues with clicking on the wrong sorts of websites,
maybe it's cancelling the cable subscription or whatever the version is, right,
maybe you just can't resist but just sit down and watch junk and just watch, you know,
casting wicked things before your eyes and by the way I'm not just talking about the most kind of
obvious wicked thing, I'm talking about most of TV, most of the series, most of it is just
brainwash ungodly rubbish, right, maybe it's putting, maybe it's avoiding certain routes to work
which can maybe tempt you in certain ways, maybe it's avoiding and that could be anything,
that could be maybe walking past the betting shop or whatever the issue is,
maybe it's avoiding stressful conversations on an empty stomach, maybe you just find that certain
times maybe spouses have this or maybe it's, you know, whoever it's with, maybe it's families,
maybe it's with your kids and stuff that you're choosing now is the time to discuss this issue
but it's always, it's going to go wrong, it always ends up in sin because you're not foreseeing the
evil and hiding yourself, do you see what I mean, look yeah you can't necessarily deal with your
impulsivity but you can deal with the triggers and the things which are going to result in that
impulsivity resulting in sin, maybe it's avoiding screen time before bed to get a good night's sleep
and avoid morning anger where you then just slip into sin, yeah, maybe it's trying to think of ways
to make sure that you get a good night's sleep so you don't wake up and just start the day kind of
being mean and horrible to whoever it is, you know, there's many things aren't there, maybe
it's making a covenant with your eyes and we talked about this for the men especially, maybe
it's making that covenant and going no I will not put those things in front of my eyes so then when
it happens and you can't avoid it you, you know, already your heart's in the right place right and
your eyes will help you out, maybe it's getting a new job, maybe it's like extreme stuff you've got
to do, maybe look that job I'm just constantly sitting in that job, okay well foresee the evil
and hide yourself, get a new job, move house, do something drastic, take it seriously right
and sometimes it's worth doing some serious, serious overhauls of life to try and avoid then
that evil to be able to hide yourself rather than being that foolish person that's punished right
and that's the answer and it's in the word and you're sanctified by the word
because thy word is truth isn't it and look there's always an answer in the Bible, sometimes
you've got to look hard but there is always an answer for me when you see a verse written
identical in two places that's an important verse of the Bible okay and it's something that we can
really take on board because then you're learning from the mistake instead of going well I just keep
every time I see that I do that or every time you know this happens I just lose my temper and then I
start using a lot of cuss words and whatever else and I'm you know saying all these things and
blasphemy or whatever else I just keep turning on God because I'm angry well how can you avoid that
anger in the first place you know whatever do you see what I mean and there's so many things like
that a prudent man foreseeeth the evil and hideth himself but the simple pass on and are punished
and it for me look that's learning from previous mistakes and avoiding them in the future
analyzing it looking where what was my way out and your way out might have been before you even
got in that situation okay being prudent for seeing evil and hiding yourself there is a way
out go back to 1st Corinthians 10 there is always a way out yeah we're going to fail but there is
always a way out otherwise God wouldn't have told us there was there is always a way out
1st Corinthians 10 and by the way who's the because people love to go to other examples who's
the ultimate example in the bible of showing that that there is always a way out the Lord Jesus
Christ the Lord Jesus Christ lived a sinless life he knew no sin there was no sin in his life okay
he did no sin at all now yeah we're all going to sin I'm not trying to tell you you're going to
reach the sinless perfection however how can we learn from that mistake when we do what was the
way out he said in verse 13 there's no temptation taking 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 so there is a way out you've just
got to find it you've got to learn from the mistakes you make learn from the mistakes think
about the triggers take it seriously as well I don't want to behave like that I don't want to
do that I don't want to commit that sin I don't want to make those errors how can I how can I
learn from the mistakes I've made and often it's going to be finding a way to avoid getting in that
position in the first place the title is learning from mistakes number one learn from the mistakes
of old number two learn from the mistakes you see and number three learn from the mistakes you make
and on that we're going to pray
father thank you for um well that just the many teachings in your word lord the fact that that
you you are there to cleanse us from all unrighteousness however we've got to understand
that that's just not an automatic kind of magical thing it's something that that comes from from the
word of God it comes from studying your word from not just studying not just reading it not just
being hearers but also doers of the word too lord from from reading learning and applying it to our
lives applying all the many the wisdom the advice the guidance learning from the mistakes of those
in the bible learning from the mistakes of those around us and learning from the mistakes that we
make help us to to just apply this to our lives lord in in the right way lord not to just kind
of listen to this message and then just just fob it off and just go back to kind of just repeating
the same old things just help us to actually try and make changes in our lives lord help us to to
also to to now get out this afternoon and find people that want to hear your gospel help us to
keep sort of safe in in the heat as well and you know for us to just be sensible with it as well
especially with the young children and help us to just get many people saved lord in return for this
evening service just known for all of this amen