Text:\u00a0 1Corinthians 10: 1-13<\/p>\n
Last week, we met Jesus on the road to Jerusalem.\u00a0 We met our Savior whose commitment to go the way the cross was unshakable.\u00a0 He was that committed to his Father’s will, that committed to save us from ourselves that he traveled that road. And if you remember the movie, the Passion of the Christ, you got a glimpse of what your God and Savior went to suffer for you and me and all people.<\/p>\n
He traveled that road to a place where he was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our sinful failures.\u00a0 And now through faith in him, we get to travel a much different road than before to a much different destination.\u00a0 This life in Christ is not a road that ends with our last breath.\u00a0 It is not a dead end journey.\u00a0 Because of Jesus, we travel a road that leads to the promised land of heaven.<\/b><\/p>\n
But drive down any road and what will you see? Sooner or later there will be a sign to warn you.\u00a0 Watch out for that sharp curve.\u00a0 Watch out for that railroad crossing.<\/i>\u00a0 Watch out or something terrible could happen.<\/p>\n
Well here St Paul uses a tragic example to teach us.\u00a0 Watch out , there is danger we dare not ignore\u00a0 — and yet every step of the way, we can know.\u00a0 We do not travel this road alone.\u00a0 So we say:<\/p>\n
ON THE ROAD TO THE PROMISED LAND
\n<\/b>I.\u00a0 Get careless, you could fall.
\n<\/b>II.\u00a0 With your faithful God, you will stand.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How could it happen?\u00a0 He had so much going for him?\u00a0 Why did he choose to do such a foolish thing and throw it all away?\u00a0 Too often we see people do that in their lives.\u00a0 Or maybe we’ve seen it in our own.\u00a0 Bad choices that brought sad consequences.\u00a0 How could it happen?<\/p>\n
We might say that about the Israelites that God rescued from slavery and put on the road to the promised land of Canaan.\u00a0 How blessed they were. How blessed they as they followed Moses, the man, God provided.\u00a0 When their backs were up against the Red Sea and the Egyptians threatened to slaughter them, God made the waters part so they could safely escape.\u00a0 Then there was that towering pillar of cloud that they could look to and be assured, God was with them. How blessed they were.\u00a0 Then as they made their way through that dry, barren Sinai desert God provided for them.\u00a0 Who else but these Israelites could speak of how God made water gush out of rocks for them — and day after day. \u00a0Who else but these Israelites could tell us how the Lord provided manna from heaven for forty years?<\/p>\n
And here the apostle Paul makes an amazing statement.\u00a0 Christ accompanied them. Like us, they could not see him. But he was with them every step of the way in that dry, barren desert.\u00a0 How blessed\u00a0 they were.<\/p>\n
5 <\/sup>Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert<\/span>. What had happened?\u00a0 They got careless. Careless about their relationship with God. Careless about their life as God’s children.\u00a0 If you read on, you’ll see what I mean.\u00a0 Some turned to idols.\u00a0 Others to sexual immorality which went along with idol worship.\u00a0 Others refused to be content. They grumbled and complained bitterly against the Lord and his servant Moses.\u00a0 They got careless and they fell.\u00a0 They fell under God’s judgment.\u00a0 They fell in the desert on the road to the promised land.<\/p>\n But how could they?\u00a0 What they had seen and experienced!\u00a0 God’s faithful love.\u00a0 God awesome power wielded to bless them.\u00a0 With each step God was bringing them that much closer not just to a promised land but to one who would one day be born there.\u00a0 One promised to Abraham who would be a blessing to all peoples.\u00a0 How could they have forgotten?\u00a0 How could they ignore all this? How could they fall?\u00a0 But many did.\u00a0 Only a few who left Egypt survived to enter the promised land of Canaan.<\/p>\n Why did Paul bring this up to these Christians in Corinth, most of whom were not Jews. Why did he hold up this sad chapter in Old Testament history?\u00a0 Well not so that they or we would sit back, shake our heads and say:\u00a0 What fools they were. 11 <\/sup>These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. <\/span><\/p>\n For we too are blessed, even more than those who saw God make an escape route through the Red Sea.\u00a0 We are so much more blessed than they. For the Christ has come just as God promised.\u00a0 He lived for us and shed his blood for us.\u00a0 And he has risen.\u00a0 He has risen that we can know and believe. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.\u00a0 He is the good shepherd.\u00a0 He is the resurrection and the life.\u00a0 How blessed we are.<\/p>\n But Paul wants us to look back and see what can also happen to us.\u00a0 Get careless, careless about your life with God, and you could fall. So Paul writes here with the love of a father for his son or daughter, if you think that you are standing firm, be careful you do not fall.<\/span>\u00a0 Be careful that you do not fall and lose what you now have.\u00a0 For what a tragedy that would be for someone like you or me ON THE ROAD TO THE PROMISED LAND.<\/p>\n Yet God has more for us here than words of warning.\u00a0 He helps us to make our way.\u00a0 \u00a0Yes, GET CARELESS, YOU COULD FALL.\u00a0 BUT WITH YOUR FAITHFUL GOD, YOU WILL STAND.<\/p>\n Do a police ride along and it’s a real eye opener.\u00a0 You get to see up close and personal some of the people we share the road with. Some are drunk and impaired and pose a real danger to the rest of us on the road.<\/p>\n Well on this road, we face some hazards. Think of the day in which we live. \u00a0Our Christian beliefs are under attack.\u00a0 Some insist the creation account is just a myth.\u00a0 Others like Bill O’Reilly the other night, claim the Gospels are full of errors.\u00a0 Some even say they are just made up stories.\u00a0 Sadly, some who claim to be Christian.<\/p>\n And we are tempted every day.\u00a0 We are tempted to go with the flow of this godless culture where evil is sometimes called good and good, evil.\u00a0 We are tempted by the sinful nature that lives in each of us. And the devil is no dummy. He always seems to come at us where we are weakest<\/p>\n So we might wonder. We might look at our children and ourselves and wonder.\u00a0 How can we stand? How can anyone live and die a faithful follower of Jesus in this day in which we live?\u00a0 I know some of you worry about that.<\/p>\n Well the first thing to realize is this.\u00a0 13 <\/sup>No temptation has seized you except what is common to man<\/span>. Notice Paul doesn’t say that standing against temptation is easy and painless.\u00a0 It’s not.\u00a0 But he does say this.\u00a0 What we experience in our lives is not something unique to me.\u00a0 It’s not like Satan has brought out the big guns and trained them on you alone.\u00a0 Every person struggles with doubts and discouragement. Every person struggles with sinful desires and impulses. That’s what we find out when we get to know each other as God’s people.\u00a0 We’re not alone in the struggle.<\/p>\n And here is what we have going for us on the road to the promised land.\u00a0 God is faithful.<\/b> Say that:\u00a0 God is faithful.<\/i>\u00a0 He is our faithful Father in heaven who has promised never to leave us or forsake us. He is our faithful Lord and Savior who bled and died for us. And he is the faithful Holy Spirit who has come to live in your heart as a guarantee of the hope that is yours in Christ.\u00a0 Yes God is faithful.<\/p>\n Here your faithful God promises. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.<\/span>\u00a0 It’s like the Lord has a weigh station along the road of your life. No, that one’s too much for my child. But that one he can bear.\u00a0 He can hold on to his faith, even grow in it.\u00a0 He can stand against it —and you can.<\/p>\n Now of course, you might ask, why?\u00a0 Why does God allow any temptation to come your way.\u00a0 You’ll have to come back another time for that answer–when I’m not here.\u00a0 For I can’t tell you why.\u00a0 But I can tell you this.\u00a0 Here your faithful God promises:\u00a0 when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.<\/span>\u00a0 Our God gives us a way that we can stand against those doubts.\u00a0 He promises us a way to stand against those depressed feelings that can lead us to despair.\u00a0 That way is often so clear. \u00a0Let God’s Word speak to your doubts, those depressing thoughts. Come to his supper where Jesus comes to you. \u00a0Come together with your fellow Christians.\u00a0 And then there is prayer.\u00a0 Have we trials and temptations…take it to the Lord in prayer.<\/i><\/p>\n And when those urges and impulses come at us I would suggest one way that God provides is this: \u00a0Look to the cross and see what God thinks of that which tempts us.\u00a0 Look there and see what those sins cost the innocent Son of God. Then turn away. Turn away from it. \u00a0But then look once more at your suffering Savior.\u00a0 For there you see your faithful God who has shown you the way of forgiveness.\u00a0 There’s the way for all the times you and I have fallen into sin. His forgiving love in Christ.<\/p>\n And He calls out to us now.\u00a0 Every one of us who have stumbled and fallen. From a cross, an empty tomb, in a cup of wine and bread, in the water of your baptism, in this Word.\u00a0 Jesus calls out to us now.\u00a0 Your sins are forgiven. Now come. Follow me. Follow me on the road to the promised land.<\/i>\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text:\u00a0 1Corinthians 10: 1-13 Last week, we met Jesus on the road to Jerusalem.\u00a0 We met our Savior whose commitment to go the way the cross was unshakable.\u00a0 He was that committed to his Father’s will, that committed to save us from ourselves that he traveled that road. 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