Preacher: Hershael York, Victor and Louise Lester Professor of Christian Preaching and associate dean of ministry and proclamation at Southern Seminary
Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
York began by discussing the song ‘I kissed a girl and I liked it,’ sung by Katy Perry, a song that promotes lesbianism. Perry has Jesus tattooed on her wrist and her parents are co-pastors of a church. In an interview, she said her gifts of singing are from God and the tattoo reminds her of her upbringing.
York noted that Brittney Spears was raised in a Southern Baptist church and Jessica Simpson’s father was involved in a Southern Baptist church.
York noted that ministers of the Gospel quickly shun such behavior, but no one can deny the power of sexuality and the temptations it contains. Sexuality is powerful and how one handles his sexuality reveals the content of his faith. Either you will be driven to true holiness or the emptiness of your profession will be revealed in the area of sexuality.
At the end of chapter 9, Paul speaks of beating his body and enslaving his body to keep it under control. For the body is an excellent slave, but a terrible master.
Scripture is clear that once a person has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, no one can pluck them out of the Father’s hand (John 10). This is an objective reality. However, there are many people in our churches who are self-deluded. They think that because they have prayed a prayer, walked down an aisle and go to church that they are saved. But Paul warns us that this is not the case.
Verses 1-5: Historical narrative telling us that appearances can be deceiving
Paul notes how the Israelites were all led by God from the same pillar of cloud; all followed the same leader (Moses) and possessed other similar national, external traits. However, many of them did not obey God from the heart.
If we ever guilty of preaching the doctrine of eternal security to make people think they can accept Christ with one hand and hold unto their sinful lives with another hand, then we have mistakenly taught this doctrine.
Verses 6-13: Warnings for us from the example of the Israelites
The four sins Paul lists are all symptoms of one root problem revealed in verse six: the Israelites desired evil.
Do you sin as much as you want to? Those who have the Holy Spirit in them and who are controlled by the Holy Spirit, sin more than they want to. They don’t like their sin. Those who are not led by the Holy Spirit love their sin and aren’t grieved by its presence.
Paul mentions four sins:
1. Idolatry
Idolatry is desiring a god other than the true God. We want a god who wants us to be happy, healthy and wealthy, so that is the god we create and thereby become idolaters.
Your view of God will shape your view of sexuality.
2. Sexual sin
If you see God as oppressive and out to spoil your fun, then you will have a negative view of sexuality, even marital sexuality. If you have a more positive view of God, then you will view sexuality as a tremendous gift from God when done within the confines of marriage.
Sexual sin is a sin of a different category because of the sacred nature of the act. Sexual sin touches your soul. As wonderful a gift as sex is, it must be controlled.
3. Tempting Christ, tempting God
One tempts God when he does whatever he wants to and expects God to bless it.
We have to examine ourselves: do you get discouraged by the things the Lord prohibits? Do you forget that all of God’s commands are for your good? Do you lose sight of that? Are you guilty of tempting Christ?
The fact that God sent serpents when they tested him tells us that they did not receive salvation. They did not truly believe in Him. You can go to Sunday School or be part of the WMU or even be a pastor, and not know God.
4. Griping, complaining
Though Israel did religious rituals, many of them did not obey God from the heart. Many people today do externally religious things, but such acts do not issue from repentance and faith.
If the passage ended here, we would have no hope. But God does not stop there. Verse 13 tells us that God is faithful and He will not let us be tempted beyond our ability to endure.
God promises that He will not give us more temptation than we can bear. This does not mean that He won’t give us more burdens than we think we can bear. But we never have to sin in the midst of such burdens. We can never say, ‘The devil made me do it.’
Though the sinful desires of our flesh are sometimes strong, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in reliance upon God, we can resist temptation.
When the temptations of the flesh tempt yourself to express yourself sexually in a sinful way, the Holy Spirit comes along and says, ‘Christ is enough for you. You can live in a godly way as a single person. You can live in a godly way as a single person…’
When you are relying on the Holy Spirit, you will find greater joy in God than in your sinful flesh. Then you will be able to say, ‘I passed the test and I liked it.’