GETTING IT ALL Part 4
“Faith Suckers”
1 Corinthians 10:1–13 (NKJV) Moreover, brethren,
I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all
passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the
sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink.
For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was
Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well
pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
The children of Israel could not enter into their
inheritance because of unbelief. The faith that brought them out of Egypt could
not bring them into Canaan. What had happened?
They had faith. Yes, but they did not develop the faith that would allow
them to conquer. Instead, they lost faith. Things came along and sucked that
faith right out of them! Let’s see what these
faith suckers are.
1. Lust:
desire for things
1 Corinthians 10:6 (NKJV) Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.
Numbers 11:4-6 (NKJV) Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to
intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will
give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the
cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole
being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”
Psalms 106:14-15 (NKJV) But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, And tested God in
the desert. And He gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul.
2. Idolatry
1 Corinthians 10:7 (NKJV) 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.”
Exodus 32:4-6 NKJV) And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned
it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, “This is
your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” So when Aaron
saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said,
“Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.” Then they rose early on the next day,
offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down
to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
3. Immorality
1 Corinthians 10:8 (NKJV) Nor let us commit sexual
immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand
fell;
Numbers 25:1-9 (NKJV) Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began
to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. They invited the people to the
sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So
Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the LORD was aroused
against Israel. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the
people and hang the offenders before the LORD, out in the sun, that the fierce
anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.” So Moses said to the judges of
Israel, “Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor.” And
indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a
Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation
of the children of Israel, who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of
meeting. Now when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw
it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand; and he
went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the
man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among
the children of Israel. And those who died in the plague were twenty-four
thousand.
4. Testing
the Lord
1 Corinthians 10:9 (NKJV) nor let us tempt Christ, as some of
them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents;
Numbers 21:4-6 (NKJV) Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red
Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged
on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you
brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and
no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” So the LORD sent fiery
serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of
Israel died.
5. Complaining
1 Corinthians 10:10 (NKJV) nor complain, as some of them also complained, and
were destroyed by the destroyer.
Exodus 16:2-3 (NKJV) Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel
complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of
Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land
of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full!
For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly
with hunger.”
These five things
will suck faith out of your life; let’s talk about them individually…
Lust: Desire
for things
James 1:14-15 (NKJV) But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own
desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin;
and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
Desires comes from drives: hunger, thirst, sex, revenge…
Temptation to fulfill God-given drives in the wrong way or
wrong time…
Desire says “I must
have it right now” but Faith believes
God will provide what I need at the perfect time and in the perfect way!
Idolatry
Exodus 20:3 (NKJV) You shall have no other gods before Me.
Other people or things become more important than God’s
will! We feel we can get whatever we
want! It’s all about me!
Idolatry says I can
provide what I want but Faith believes God will provide what I need at the
perfect time and in the perfect way!
Immorality
I Corinthians 6:18-20 (NKJV) Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside
the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do
you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,
whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a
price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Isaiah 59:1–2 (NKJV) Behold,
the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, that
it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your
God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.
Immorality deadens the spirit and empowers the flesh…
Fasting is valuable to weaken the body and the soul and fine
tune the spirit…
Immorality says “there
is nothing wrong with what I am doing” but Faith believes God will provide what
I need at the perfect time and in the perfect way!
Testing
the Lord
How is this defined?
Exodus 17:1-7 (NKJV) Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out
on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of
the LORD, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to
drink. Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water,
that we may drink.” So Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do
you tempt the LORD?” And the people thirsted there for water, and the people
complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of
Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses
cried out to the LORD, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are
almost ready to stone me!” And the LORD said to Moses, “Go on before the
people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand
your rod with which you struck the river, and go. Behold, I will stand before
you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will
come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of
the elders of Israel. So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and
because they tempted the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
Deuteronomy 6:16 (NKJV) You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in
Massah.
Matthew 4:5-7 (NKJV) Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on
the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw
Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’
and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a
stone.’ ” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the
LORD your God.’ ”
Acts 5:9 (NKJV) Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed
together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have
buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”
Frederick K.C. Price, Faith,
Foolishness, or Presumption
Testing can be presumption…
Testing can be doubting…
Testing can be “the Lord doesn't see”…
Psalms 50:17-21 (NKJV) Seeing you hate instruction And cast My words behind you?
When you saw a thief, you consented with him, And have been a partaker with
adulterers. You give your mouth to evil, And your tongue frames deceit. You sit
and speak against your brother; You slander your own mother’s son. These things
you have done, and I kept silent; You thought that I
was altogether like you; But I will rebuke you, And set them in order
before your eyes.
Psalms 94:7 (NKJV) Yet they say, “The LORD does not see,
Nor does the God of Jacob understand.”
Testing God says “I can
do anything I want” but Faith believes God will provide what I need at the
perfect time and in the perfect way!
Complaining
It has been said the 11th commandment is “Thou
shalt not whine!”
15 references to Israel complaining in the wilderness…
Finding fault with God’s provision…
Philippians 2:14-16 (NKJV) Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you
may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst
of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the
world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of
Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.
1 Peter 4:9 (NKJV) Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.
The cure for complaining is contentment, believing that God
has provided everything I need to be happy!
Complaining says “God
has not provided for me” but Faith believes God will provide what I need at the
perfect time and in the perfect way!
When we put anything between the Lord and us, faith is
diminished because we cannot see or hear Him clearly. The thing becomes bigger than God!
What is
the answer? F-A-I-T-H: Forsaking all I
trust Him!
1 Corinthians 10:11-13 (NKJV) 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. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands
take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is
common to man; but God is faithful, who will not
allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will
also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
1 John 5:4b (NKJV) This
is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
