Key verse: 11 - "Now all these things happened unto us for examples..."
LearnandLive,not Liveand Learn.
Revelation saves us the expense of experience.
Christianity is not something recently discovered. It has a past as well as a present. Today is the results of millions of yesterdays. The Bible, God's Word, is filled with the wisdom of yesterday.

• The Tradition - vs. 1-5
  • -The Israelites were not the Church but they were the spiritual soil out of which the Church sprang. We find that the Old Testament is the Jewish background while the New testament is the Christian foreground. They both merge at the CROSS.
  • -Paul appeals to tradition and precedent to warn the Corinthian Christians. The Israelites, like Christians, were not aimless wanderers in a strange new world - both had means of wisdom and strength.
  • A. The Israelites experienced "the clouds"and "the sea."
    • a) The cloud represented guidance - a certainty to reach their intended destination.
    • b) The sea represented deliverance - a certainty of divine aid in their experience.
      The Israelites experienced the foreshadowing of baptism and communion. The cloud and the sea were the means of exitand entrance.By one, they left their old life - Egypt. By one, they entered a new life - Canaan.Through them came the pledge of life and loyalty to their new leader - Moses.These are the elements found in Christian Baptism.
    • c) The cloud and the sea were the means of a new beginning and a new sustaining. They were not dependent on the food of Egypt, but "spiritual meat" and "spiritual drink" - pointing to Christ. These are the elements found in the Lord's Supper.

• B. Reasons for failure:Despite new experiences and abundant provisions, many Israelites proved unfaithful. Not because provisions were inadequate, but because of compromise.
  • a) They looked at the world around them and lusted for what they did not need.
    This is the danger to Christians today and the reason Paul says in verse 6 - "our example." These are models of experience recorded for our benefit in case we become too confident, too sufficient and prove unfaithful to the great trust we hold. Christ is in the Old Testament - concealed and in the New Testament - revealed. He is the Rock.

• The Application - vs 6-13
  • The application isspecific and definite. It applied to them as it applies to us, today.
  • a) verse 7 - Idolatry
  • b) verse 8 - Sexual sins
  • c) verse 9 - Tempting God
  • d) verse 10 - Coveteousness: desirous of possessions and pleasures of others.
    These actions and attitudes bred a spirit of discontentment with the ultimate outcome of shame and defeat. We should not be content with instruction alone, but we should let truth become our life.
  • A. Examples of Admonition - v.11
    • These were not recorded merely to serve as historical events of fact, they have spiritual value. They have personal value. The more we know Scripture, the better we know the true manner of life.
      The specific intent of these scriptures of the Old Testament was to meet the needs of a certain people. They are those, "upon whom the ends of the world are come,"(the end of a period of time in world affairs, the last days.)
      We need to refuse the mould of paganism and modernism and live as examples of disciples of Christ.

  • B. Warnings Against Over-confidence - v.12
    • Self-confidence without Christ-consciousness is over-confidence and over-confidence is the beginning of spiritual disaster. It is the thing in which we excel and the privileges we enjoy that constitute our greatest perils.
      Frome the divine standpoint our security rests in "our position".
      From the human standpoint our security rests in "our condition".
      It is our responsibility to see that our condition equals our position.

  • C. Assurance of Endurance - v.13
    • 13a, the human element
    • 13b, the divine element
      The faithfulness of God is the foundation and promise of our security and victory.
    • 13c, preventive providence
    • 13d, protective providence
      The Father does not necessarily intend for us to escape the temptation or trial, but He is the means whereby we are able to bear them. God does not shield us, He sustains us.
  
  

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  The Church and it's Present
  vs. 14-33

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