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Last week I read from I Corinthians 9, where it tells us to run the race and to fight the fight, not as one beating the air. Why is Paul so relentless in his strivings? So that after preaching to others, he himself should not be disqualified (like the preachers mentioned in Matthew 7). If we continue from chapter 9 into chapter 10 we will see further illustration of this concept of slavery and affection, and we will be given another stern warning which we would do well to heed for the good of our soul.

I Corinthians 10:1-5
Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

This is an account of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. We are told that all of Israel lived through the same miracles, they all followed the same cloud and the same flame. They all passed through the same Red Sea, and they all ate the same manna from above and drank water from the same rock. All of Israel witnessed God’s power in stunning ways, and yet they all perished in the wilderness for their rebellion and unbelief, all of them except for Joshua and Caleb. Did Joshua and Caleb have inside information? Were they smarter than the rest of Israel? Was their decision to stay the course better informed than everyone else’s decision to flee? No. They all saw the same things, they all received the same promises and commandments. The final deciding impulse must have come from outside of them. Joshua and Caleb had their blinders lifted, while the rest of Israel continued in darkness. The lesson, here, is that those of us in the church also have front row seats to God’s glory, but if we see only with our natural eyes, we will live in spiritual apathy and rebellion just as Israel did. In our natural condition, we are incapable of beholding and loving God’s glory so let us be desperate that he open our ever-closing eyes. If we do not, the consequences are serious. Let’s continue the passage.

I Corinthians 10:6-12
Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

These things were written for our example. This passage, then, could be the summation of my primary intent this morning. God promises and delivers terrible things to those who will not be satisfied in Him. These historic examples of tragedy and death are given us to place a healthy fear of God in our wandering souls. Be careful, the Bible tells us. Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

I have listed in front of me this morning eight other passages which I wanted to introduce, passages that contain significant warnings to we who attain to heaven, but clearly our time together is coming to a close. As such, I will hold off on these verses and conclude by examining a warning of a slightly different nature. Beyond the Bible’s many threats to our soul, there is another threat that is just as real, if not so far reaching. God tells us that those who are His children will be chastened for their disobedience. Let’s read Hebrews 12:3-11:

For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES." It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

As children of God, we would to well to take some lessons from the parent-child relationships here on earth. What does a child risk in disobedience? Certainly not their status as children. They sacrifice, rather, their own well-being, both for the punishment they will receive and for the ramifications of whatever destructive choice they have made. Punishment is not designed to harm, though it is painful in the present, but rather to spare, to spare the child from destructive behaviors. Such is the case with God. His chastening produces holiness in His children, without which no one can see God. If we are Christians, then we will be chastened for disobedience so let us not have the attitude, which often exists subtly in the back of my mind, that sin has no ramifications for me, as a justified sinner. I will be chastened, it will complicate my relationships here on earth, it will compromise my testimony to those around me, and it will hurt. Like the rebellious child, I sacrifice my immediate well-being when I sin, even though my Father’s punishment is keeping me from sacrificing my eternal soul.

In closing I want to share a brief quotation from J.C. Ryle’s book Holiness, a book that is extremely helpful on these topics of warring and

If the Bible be true, it is certain that unless we are ‘sanctified’, we shall not be saved. There are three things which, according to the Bible, are absolutely necessary to the salvation of every man and woman in Christendom. These three are justification, regeneration and sanctification. All three meet in every child of God: he is both born again and justified and sanctified. He that lacks any one of these three things is not a true Christian in the sight of God and, dying in that condition, will not be found in heaven and glorified in the last day.

If we think of justification as what God does and sanctification as what we do, we make a glaring omission. Justification is a free gift from God and so is sanctification. And what is the gift of sanctification? It is us, a changed us, so that our desire is no longer for wickedness, but for righteousness. We are all bound to our affections so fight to align your affections to Scripture. Don’t complain that the gift is too complicated or hard to understand. Be thankful for the gift and continue the fight, knowing that God’s gift to us, as it applies to sanctification, is the effort to stay in the fight, so heed the warnings and stay in the fight.

Let’s pray.