October 30, 2016
The Greatest Rock
Star of All Time NOTES NOT EDITED
1Corintians 10:1-13
SIS—Faith in Jesus
Christ will give you a rock solid life.
I’ve been reading
about Rock n’ Roll this past week as I prepare to preach this Sunday. I’m an
old “rocker”—well, I’m old and have a rocker, anyways. I’ve always enjoyed
listening to music. I even had a few years as a Minister of Music in a couple
of churches. I play the guitar badly. I play the bass a little less badly. I
love to sing. When I’m doing something that does not require a lot of
concentration, I like to listen to Rock n’ Roll. For devotional reasons, I don’t listen much
to groups I liked before, such as my favorite, Lynyrd Skynyrd. I still get
goose bumps when I hear Zeppellin's Stairway to Heaven. I read an article in the Mercury News about
the Scorpions, and their “final tour.” They are a German “metal” band that has
been around for half a century. They recently released an album “Comeblack,”
which offers newly recorded versions of their hits, plus covers of songs by bands
they’ve admired, including The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks and T-Rex
(copied).
That’s quite an eclectic collection of Rock n’ Roll from the Beatles to the Kinks! What struck my eye was on sentence in the article. One of the band members opined, “rock ‘n’ roll [is a] way of living, it’s all one thing.” To say this another way, “Rock n’ Roll is foundational.”
As much as I enjoy
Rock n’ Roll, I don’t think it will suffice as a foundation for life. That’s
the twist I’m going to put on my sermon this Sunday, Lord willing. There is a
“Rock” that does provide a great foundation for life. He is the “Rock” that
rolls through all eternity.
Let’s Read about
faith founded on the Rock of Christ. 1Cor. 10:1-13.
Our text describes
the Rock of Christ in four ways in the context of an ancient story describing a
time of Israel’s rebellion. It is a
story of God’s grace and guidance, but includes a warning. The Israelites
had been slaves in Egypt for over 4 centuries. God called a man, Moses,
and sent him to the most powerful man on earth, the Pharaoh. In fact,
Pharaoh (Ramses) was considered a god. Pharaoh as you recall was reluctant to
let the slaves go. They were important to the Egyptian economy making bricks
for the Pharaoh’s building programs. They were also important to his pride.
How would it look if a Pharaoh gave in to a rag-tag band of slaves? God eventually convinced Pharaoh to let the
Israelites go by sending 10 devastating plagues–including the final plague that
killed all the first-born of the Egyptians. Pharaoh in desperation sent
Moses away with perhaps as many as 2 million Israelites and much of the gold
and silver of Egypt. Then, Pharaoh changed his mind and pursued the
Israelites to slaughter many and recapture the rest. Moses and God’s
people came to the impassable Red Sea. Israel faced a sea before them and
army behind them. Moses raised his shepherd’s staff and the sea parted.
The Israelites all made it safe and dry on the other side. The
pursuing Egyptians were all drowned. Remember
that as God led the Israelites into the desert, God gave them guidance beneath
a cloud by day. Wherever the cloud moved, the Israelites followed.
Under the cloud of God’s providence, His people lacked nothing. On a couple occasions God caused water to flow
from a rock.
Hence, we have the
references in verses 1-5 to being “saved through the water,” or the Red Sea;
“baptized in the cloud,” or God’s Presence; and drinking from a rock where no
water existed. All these blessings
flowed from the “Supernatural Rock,” which is Jesus(vs. 4). What kind of Rock
is Jesus?
1. The
Rock of Resolution-The Solid Rock (12-13)
2 So, whoever thinks he stands must
be careful not to fall. 13 No
temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is
faithful, and He will not allow you to
be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also
provide a way of escape so that you are
able to bear it.
What is “Resolve.”
We sing the song:
I am resolved
to follow the Savior, //
Leaving my sin and strife;
Heed what He
sayeth, do what He willeth, // He is the living way.
Resolve means, “firm and fixed in purpose.” It means “stable and not wavering or easily moved.” The word “firm” does not appear in the Greek
text. The HCSB does not have the
modifier, “firm.” The NIV and the NLT
translations rightly supplies the adverb “firm” to describe how Christians
stand because it implied by the grammatical form of the word. The word translated, “stand” is a “perfect
tense” verbal form implying that “the condition of standing had started and
would continue unabated.” True
faith is “rock solid,” or “firm.” Paul
is cautioning us to make absolutely sure that the foundation upon which we are
basing our lives is faith in Jesus Christ.
In that since the foundation upon which one is standing is “firm, solid,
and indestructible.” Faith firmly
resting on the bedrock of Christ gives a Christian unwavering “resolve.”
Christ is the Rock of Resolution. True believers are “firm and
fixed in their purpose for life.” The Bible says,
(Psa 40:2) 2 He
brought me up from a desolate pit, out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on a
rock, making my steps secure.
How many Christians
do you know who slip and slide in the mud and mire of life, or are sucked under
by the quagmire of the own attitudes between faith and worldliness. I
know many. But, the true believer is “fixed and firmly established on the
Bedrock of Christ.” The true believer is not easily swayed by life’s
circumstances or the opinions of the masses.
When I was young
preacher I read a story that has stuck with me for many years. It was a
story about a young merchant sailor that had sailed in the icy, treacherous
waters of the North Atlantic, near the Arctic Circle. Dangerous icebergs
dot the shipping lanes of this reason like great land mines ready to send an
unwary ship to an icy grave. He said it was such an eery experience to
pass close by one of these frozen behemoths. They had a ghostly glow
beneath a cloudless moonlit sky. What impressed him was their stability.
Even on a great sailing vessel the rough seas would cause the massive
ship to rock and sway. But, these great icy behemoths of the north, never
bobbed. It was as if they were anchored
to the sea bottom. This young merchant marine learned the secret of
the iceberg’s resolute stability–7/8ths of the iceberg was far below the rocky
surface of the ocean. It was the iceberg’s depth that provided it’s
stability.
Likewise, it is the
depth of our faith that provides our stability and resolve. If we are going to
have a “fixed and firm purpose in life” we need to attach ourselves to the Rock
of Resolution, Jesus Christ.
2. He is
a Rock of Redemption (V1)
“They
all passed through the sea.”
There is a great
gospel song that says,
God leads His
dear children along.
Some through
the water, some through the flood,
some through
great trials, but all through the blood
Some through
great sorrows, but God gives a song,
In the night
season and all the day long.
Jesus Christ is the
Rock of Redemption. The Word says,
(1 Pet 1:18-19) For
you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from the fathers, not with
perishable things like silver or gold 19 but with the precious
blood of Christ, like that of a
lamb without defect or blemish.
To “redeem means to
buy back or release on receipt of a ransom.” Many translations reflect this
idea by using the word, “ransomed” instead of “redeemed” (NET, ESV, NLT). For 4 centuries God’s people were in bondage
as slaves of Egypt. This is symbolic of being in “bondage as a slave to
sin.” Through Christ we are redeemed from sin and delivered as through a
flood, or sea. Jesus Christ is the Rock
of Redemption.
I’m sure you are
quite familiar with how a ransom works.
Someone kidnaps someone and then holds them until the family pays a some
of money. Well, that’s how it usually
works. The fact is, not every body understands how a ransom is supposed to
work.
One blonde lady fell
upon hard times. She needed money
desperately and quickly, so she decided to kidnap someone in order to receive a
ransom. She went to a local park,
grabbed a little boy, took him behind a tree and wrote this note. "I have
kidnapped your child. I am sorry to do this but I need the money. Leave $10,000
in a plain brown bag behind the big oak tree in the park at 7 AM." Signed,
"The Blonde". She pinned the
note inside the little boy's jacket and told him to go straight home. BUT WAIT
. . . the story gets better. The next
morning she returned to the park to find the $10,000 in a brown bag behind the
big oak tree, just as she had instructed. Inside the bag was the following note. "Here is your money. I cannot believe
that one blonde would do this to another.”
Some people may not
get how the idea of “being ransomed from
our sins by Jesus Christ,” but as the Rock of Redemption, He paid the debt
of sin that we could never pay.
3. He is
the Rock of Restoration (6-12)
We are not redeemed
to live as we please but to live
so as to please the
Lord. Look at verses 6-12:
6 Now these things became examples
for us, so that we will not desire evil
things as they did. 7 Don’t become idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, The
people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play. 8 Let us not commit sexual
immorality as some of them did, and in a single day 23,000 people fell
dead. 9 Let us not test
Christ as some of them did and were
destroyed by snakes. 10 Nor
should we complain as some of them
did, and were killed by the destroyer. 11 Now
these things happened to them as examples, and they were written as a warning
to us, on whom the ends of the ages have
come. 12 So, whoever
thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.
At the time 1Corinthians
was being written there was a major false religion called gnosticism.
The gnostics believed in part that all they needed to do was to
discover the “secret knowledge,” or correct religious formula, and they would
be saved. Many gnostics believed that if you knew the right formula, that
is were part of the right religious group, you would be saved no matter how you lived. You could
indulge in gluttony, drunkenness and all manner of immorality and still be
saved. Paul is warning us, “Examine your life to see if your lifestyle
reflects a true, rock solid faith in Jesus Christ.”
The Word says, “(1
Cor 6:20) you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with
your body.
This passage
emphatically denies any such notion that we can live our lives anyway we
please, and still say we are saved. This text uses three illustrations
from the Old Testament that describes lives that eventually were destroyed in
the desert because of sin. Redemption is the beginning of a process of
restoration. Restoration takes place
when we acknowledge that what we say we believe does not match how we are
living our lives. There is not place for
blatant, unrepentant sin in the life of a true believer.
Verse 7 describes the
idolatrous partying around the Golden Calf while Moses was upon the mountain
meeting with God. Verse 8 calls to remembrance a time when the Israelites
joined in the sexual immorality of a pagan desert people called, Moabites. Verse 10 warns against the habit mumbling and
complaining about spiritual leaders, as Israel did so often in the
Wilderness. Every body has faith in
something. Paul is warning about a
“false faith” not reflected by Holy Living.
Jesus can restore those who have fallen into sin, just like God restored
Israel in these times mentioned in our text—but, a person has to repent—that
is, reject such behavior and turn back to Christ.
Most of you probably
know someone who likes to buy old cars and fix them up. This is referred
to as “restoring.” The “buying” of the car is simply the first step in a
process. The purpose of “buying” the car is so that it can be restored to
its original luster and glory.
You probably have
also known someone who “bought” and old, beaten-up, rusty car to restore it and
did nothing with it. It still sits in the yard continuing to rust and
decay. There was a “buying” (ransom given) for the car, but there was
never any restoration to a life of holiness.
In this case the Bible warns, “be careful lest you fall because the faith
your standing on is not real faith.”
Do we not see this
every day and everywhere in churches. The lives of people who profess to
be Christians but are rusting and decaying because of pride, lust, and obstinate
disobedience to their God-given leaders. I did not say that, “God’s Word says
it.” God’s providence moves on two wheels. Look at verse 2:
They were all
baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
There is always human
element in the act of redemption. Moses,
the man, combined with a supernatural element, the cloud, representing God,
resulted in the deliverance of Israel through the sea. It was “complete restoration.” They did not
go partway through the sea, but all the way to the other side. Moses was an O.T. example (type) pointing to
another man, the God-Man Jesus, who would “baptize us” with the Holy
Spirit. Jesus did not “ransom” us to
leave us to live in sinful rebellion.
The Rock of Redemption is also the Rock of Restoration.
4. Jesus
is the Rock of Rejoicing (3, 4)
3 They all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.
Eating and drinking
are often used to picture the believer’s blessings. A relationship with
the Rock of Rejoicing brings great joy into the life of a true believer.
I believe you can often gauge the spiritual temperature of a person by
the level of joy that is portrayed in their life. Jesus said that “praise
is the natural response of creation to the Creator.”
(Luke 19:37-40)
37 Now He came near the path down the Mount of
Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with
a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen:
38 The King who comes in the name of the Lord z is the blessed One. Peace in
heaven and glory in the highest heaven!
39 Some of the Pharisees from the
crowd told Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” 40 He
answered, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out!”
Isn’t this an
astonishing verse!!! Jesus had been healing the sick, raising the dead, lifting
up the fallen. Miraculous signs were taking place. People were
raising their hands and voices praising the Lord: “Blessed is the king who
comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”
People all over the towns and hamlets were rejoicing in God’s
presence.
But there were
“some. . .” Some
in the crowd did not like the rejoicing. What does Jesus say? Let
me tell you first what He did not say. Jesus did not say, “You are
right. These people should not be carrying like this.” What Jesus did say was, “If
those created in God’s image will not rejoice in the Creator, then the
very stones which have no soul will cry out.”
But, that’s not what
is so astonishing about this verse. What is so astonishing about this verse is “who”
the “some” were — the religiously devout Pharisees. They
were so captive to the ritual of their religion that they could not take part
in the rejoicing over a relationship with The Rock.
Wow! What a
condemnation of a JOYLESS RELIGION. Jesus is the ROCK OF REJOICING. From Him we
“eat spiritual food and drink spiritual drink.”
Have you taken your “spiritual
temperature lately?” Are you so full of the blessing and joy of God that you
are about to erupt like a spiritual volcano in a great cacophony of praise! Most of us, are not as spiritually hot as we ought
to be because we are not resting firmly upon the Rock of Rejoicing.
The Bible says, “Let the inhabitants of the rock sing,
let them shout from the top
of the mountains” (Isa. 42:11, KJV).
Faith in Jesus
Christ provides a rock solid foundation for life.
Jesus Christ is “that
spiritual Rock”– the rock of resolution the rock of redemption, the rock of restoration,
and the rock of rejoicing.
My hope is built
on nothing less,
Than Jesus’ blood
and righteousness,
I dare not trust
the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on
Jesus’ name.
Sing that chorus with
me . . .
On Christ, the
solid rock I stand;
All other ground
is sinking sand,
All other ground
is sinking sand.
The Israelites owed
their lives to that spiritual rock that was Jesus. He led them out of
bondage, kept them safe in the wilderness, and eventually placed those that
were willing in the “land that flowed with milk and honey.” The
Israelites owed every thing to The Rock, Jesus Christ. That is still true
today. We owe everything to God’s grace delivered to us through Son, by
faith.
There are many rocks
in the world, but only one Rock that is solid, redeeming, restoring, and leads
to unimaginable rejoicing.
“That Rock is Christ.”
