This message was preached by Adam. This is the transcript from Youtube:

How to Avoid Falling

1 Corinthians 9:27-10:22

Introduction

All right, let's take our Bibles and turn to the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter number 10. We're going to read verses 1 through 22 this evening. The last few verses of 1 Corinthians 9 really give us Paul's motivation for this chapter. In particular, the final verse leads us into chapter 10. So we'll start in chapter 9 verse 27, because that really kind of leads into what he talks about in chapter 10.

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:27-10:22

"But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others I myself should be a castaway. Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness."

"Now these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted, neither be idolaters, as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer."

"Now all these things happened to them for examples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it."

"Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, being many, are one bread and one body. We are all partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh, are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?"

"What say I then that the idol is anything or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything? But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God. And I would not that you should have fellowship with devils. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. You cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?"

Opening Prayer

Our Father, we thank you for this day you've blessed us with. Thank you for the time we've had to be in your house again tonight, the time we've had to sing praises to you and to give. And thank you for the good service we had this morning as well. I pray you would help us as we look into your word tonight, that you would give us understanding of the message here, of the passage of scripture, that your Spirit would guide us into all truth. Give us—open our eyes of understanding. I pray that Jesus would be exalted tonight. In his name we pray. Amen.

Understanding the Context

As I said, the last verse of chapter nine really gives us the context here. We talked about this idea of being a castaway. That word "castaway" there literally means disapproved. The idea, if you read the previous few verses, is of an athlete being disqualified from a competition for breaking the rules. You know, we could also use the analogy of someone getting benched for poor performance on a team. Paul wanted to avoid becoming unusable to God at all costs, and he also didn't want it to happen to these Corinthian Christians either, because they were certainly in danger of it.

He speaks of the importance of discipline and self-control because there are major consequences for failure in this area. I think the key verse of this passage is chapter 10 verse 12 where he says, "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."

So we're going to talk tonight about how to avoid falling—how to avoid falling into sin, falling short of God's calling in our life. How can we avoid that when others fall? We're going to look at three areas that Paul talks about here.

I. Learn from Positive and Negative Examples

Israel's Blessings and Privileges

Paul opens this chapter with a series of warnings from Israel's 40 years in the wilderness. But really, he starts with an explanation of their blessings, their benefits, their privileges that they all experienced. He explains that they all experienced the same deliverance from Egypt. They all enjoyed the same privileges. They all were led by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. They all passed through the Red Sea on dry land. They all ate manna from heaven every day. They all drank water from the rock on two separate occasions.

You notice you see the emphasis—they all did this. You see that several times in those first few verses: these were things that they all had in common.

He talks about this idea in verse four: "They did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ." Now there are two separate stories in the Old Testament, in the books of Moses, where Israel drank water from a rock. There was actually an old rabbinic legend that it was actually the same rock and it literally followed them throughout the 40 years. They believed this—it was the same rock, that the rock was literally following them. So I think that may be what Paul is referring to here when he talks about the spiritual rock that followed them.

But he makes it very clear that the true source of blessing was Christ, not a rock. Christ was the rock. So we must not forget that every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above. Paul's making it clear it was God who was the source of their blessings, not some magical rock that just happened to follow them the whole time.

Our Privileges as Believers

The point Paul is making here is: if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have incredible privileges. You have God as your Father. You have Jesus Christ as your Savior. You have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. You have God's word to guide your life. You are part of Christ's church, joining together with fellow believers to worship and serve Him. You have a home in heaven. You have been given everything you need to succeed in the Christian life.

So why is it that so many believers fall and do not live up to their calling? Why is that?

God's Displeasure

Paul goes on to explain starting in verse five: "But with many of them God was not well pleased." Now, "many of them" is a drastic understatement. Of all the adults who came out of Egypt, only two of them survived the 40 years in the wilderness: Joshua and Caleb. So it was all of them but two that God was not well pleased with. So what happened? What went wrong? Why was God so displeased with all but two over the course of those 40 years?

It's Not God's Fault

First of all, let's be clear that it was not God's fault then, and it's not His fault now when a believer falls. I've outlined the blessings He gave to them, and I've talked about some of the blessings He's given to us.

Turn with me to the book of Isaiah chapter 5. We're going to read verses one through four. There's this passage here in Isaiah 5 where there's a parable of a vineyard given that Isaiah gives and compares Israel to a vineyard and God to the keeper of the vineyard. It talks about this same issue here that Israel struggled with all throughout its history in the Old Testament.

Isaiah 5:1 says, "Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill, and he fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choicest vine and built a tower in the midst of it and also made a wine press therein. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes."

The question there—God asks, "What could I—what could have been done more?" What more could I have done for you? What did you lack that you should not be fruitful as I intended? And obviously the answer to that question is nothing. We cannot blame God for our failures. God has not left us short-handed. God has not left us empty. God has not left us lacking.

There is nothing that I have as a believer that you do not have as a believer. We may have different callings, we have different giftings, but we all have everything we need from Christ to live up to what He has called us to do and to be. So we cannot blame God for our failures. On the contrary, we will be held accountable for them when we stand before Him at the judgment seat of Christ.

Privileges Don't Guarantee Success

But I think the point Paul is trying to make here using these examples is that privileges do not guarantee success, and a good start does not guarantee a good finish. There are many people who start well but don't finish well. There are many people who start off at the top and don't finish at the top. They fall from the top.

So you cannot blame your circumstances for why you didn't succeed. There are many people who started at the top and fell to the bottom. There are many people who started at the bottom and worked their way up to the top. There are many rags-to-riches stories throughout history, not just obviously in Christian life, but just in life in general. Many people who started at the bottom and worked their way up. So we can't play the victim and blame our circumstances for why we don't succeed.

We need to make the most of what God has given us, because His spiritual blessings are more important than any material blessing or any lack thereof.

Avoid Coasting

I think we also have to avoid coasting to the finish line or living off of past successes. When we try to coast and we think we've got it won—in sports, that's how comebacks happen. That's how the losing team comes from behind to win. The winning team takes victory for granted. The winning team just assumes things are just going to keep going the way they've always gone.

Or sometimes, you see a great team fall off and suddenly they're not great anymore. They get complacent with the fact that they've won in the past. They live off of their past trophies, their past victories, and they don't have the same drive. They don't have the same desire to aspire to what they had been in the past.

We should be thankful—and we are thankful—for what the Lord has done for this church in the past. But we must keep moving forward and keep doing more for Him. We can't just live off of past successes. We can't just celebrate past successes. We ought to remember them. We ought to be grateful for them. But we can't just become complacent in what God has done before. We have to realize that God has more for us to do, more for us to be and to do and to serve Him in.

Don't Become Spiritually Stagnant

So we need to make sure we should not allow ourselves to become spiritually stagnant. We shouldn't let ourselves just become complacent and stagnant.

You know what makes the Dead Sea so dead? Nothing can live in the Dead Sea, right? That's why it's the Dead Sea—literally nothing can survive it. What makes it the way that it is? It's because it has no outlets. Everything comes in and nothing goes out.

The point is, we've all been given many great blessings from God, but sometimes we just sit on our blessings. We hoard our blessings. We keep everything to ourselves. We coast on what we've been given and we don't do anything with them. Don't rest on your laurels. Don't hoard your blessings.

If you want to stay spiritually vibrant, give out of what you've been given. Don't just keep it to yourself. Share the gospel with somebody. Serve in your local church. Find a place to serve. Faithfully pray for others. Help somebody in need. Don't just look in, look out. There's always someone you can help. There's always something you can do. There's always an opportunity out there. If you want to do something for God, God will give you an opportunity. God will open a door. You can rest assured of that.

Five Warnings from Israel's Example

Paul says in verses 6 and 11 that these things that he's sharing with us are examples for us. Life gives us positive and negative examples, and it's important that we learn from both of them. He gives several examples in verses 6 through 10. We don't have time to dive deep on all of them, so we'll kind of hit the highlights. He gives five warnings.

First Warning: Don't Lust After Evil Things

Verse six says, "Now these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted." So the first warning is against lusting after evil things.

This is a reference to Numbers chapter 11. Israel begins to lust after the things of Egypt. They start to long for the things they had in Egypt. That's the irony—sometimes we can have rose-colored glasses about the past and we think about all the things that were good and we forget about all the things that were bad, all the difficulties. They conveniently leave out the part where they were worked to the bone building bricks as slaves. They leave out that part. They remember the cucumbers and the onions and the garlic. That doesn't sound so great to me, but I mean, I guess to each their own.

But they start longing for the things they used to have. They got sick and tired of eating manna every day. They wanted something else. They could not say no to their fleshly appetites. They let their fleshly appetites get the better of them. In His mercy at the end of the chapter, God gives them quail, but He also sends a plague that kills many of those who are guilty of this evil lust.

So the lesson is: don't take God's blessings for granted, and don't go looking elsewhere for quote-unquote "better blessings," because you won't find them. Even if you get what you want, it will not satisfy you if it has been gotten apart from Christ. Lust always leaves you wanting more. It robs us of contentment. It robs us of fulfillment.

We remember what Jim Elliot once said: "God gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him."

Second Warning: Don't Be Idolaters

Verse seven gives us a second warning: "Neither be ye idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play."

This is referring to the story of the golden calf—a very familiar story. Moses has been up in Mount Sinai for many days receiving the Ten Commandments and instructions for building the tabernacle, and the people get impatient. They get tired of waiting. So they take matters into their own hands and they convince Aaron to make them a golden calf. They create their own idols.

Now we don't worship statues anymore, but that doesn't mean we no longer have idols. Biblically speaking, an idol is anything that takes God's rightful place in your life. That's what an idol is—anything that takes God's place. It could be money, possessions, a job, a relationship, sports, video games, your phone, social media, what have you.

When you're listening to Bible teaching and preaching, or when you're in church service, what does your mind wander to when you get distracted? Don't tell me you never get distracted during church service—it happens to all of us. But where does your mind go? What do you drift to when you get distracted? That may be a clue as to what may be an idol in your life. What grabs your attention when you should be focusing on the things of God? What does the devil distract you with? That's the second warning.

Third Warning: Don't Commit Fornication

The third warning, verse 8, says, "Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty thousand."

So the third warning is against fornication. Biblically defined, fornication is any sexual relationship outside of marriage. The story he's referring to here is from Numbers chapter 25. Many Israelites commit fornication with Midianite women, and 23,000, as it says here, die from a plague as a result of their sin. These Israelites were also worshiping Midianite idols in the process.

Unfortunately, idolatry and fornication often go hand in hand. In verse seven, when he talks about being idolaters, it says "the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play." That "rose up to play" is kind of an innuendo for sexual fornication. He was using a lighter term that was common in pagan religious ceremonies. Sexual activity was common in pagan religious ceremonies. It was very common in those days for these pagan religious ceremonies to involve sexual activity.

So when we get our eyes off of a holy God, when we start breaking His boundaries—keep your standards for holiness and purity high. We should want to be holy because He is holy.

Fourth Warning: Don't Tempt Christ

Then verse nine says, "Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents."

The fourth warning is against tempting Christ. This reference is to Numbers chapter 21, when the people complained. They've been in the wilderness for a very long time—we're getting close to the end of the 40 years. They're kind of sick of it, as you probably would be too. You've spent 40 years in the desert; you're probably ready to be done with it too.

They complain that this is never going to be over, God's just going to abandon us to die, we're never going to see the promised land. They start complaining. And God sends poisonous serpents among them. Moses ends up building a bronze serpent, puts it on a pole, and those who look upon it when they're bitten will live.

So what does it mean to tempt Christ? What does that mean? Obviously, the tempting here is not about tempting God to do evil, not about tempting God to sin. Really what they were doing is they were questioning the goodness of the Lord and they were ignoring what He had done for them previously. That's really the idea—they were testing God in a sinful way.

Sometimes one of the things I've learned as a parent is sometimes your kids love to test you. They love to see how far they can push the boundaries before they get in trouble. Jack—that's something Jack is experimenting with: how far can I push the boundaries before I get into trouble? I think that's kind of what they're doing here. They're seeing how far can we test God's limits, right? And they found it the hard way.

Fifth Warning: Don't Murmur

Then the fifth and final warning, verse number 10 says, "Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer."

The word "murmur" means to complain discontentedly. Now there are many instances of Israel murmuring against God. That's probably their most common sin. You see it many times throughout the 40 years in the wilderness. But the example referred to here about being destroyed of the destroyer may refer—it could refer to either Numbers 14 about the 10 spies who complained about the giants and they died as a result of a plague, or it could refer to Korah's rebellion in Numbers 16, where they complained about Moses and Aaron as the Lord's choices for leadership. As a result, Korah and his co-conspirators were literally swallowed up by the earth. The ground opened up beneath them and swallowed them up. And those who murmured about what happened to Korah were also struck dead by a plague.

The Running Theme

You see kind of a running theme. There's a recurring theme that runs throughout all of these warnings. In every instance, if you kind of boil it down, the Israelites questioned the goodness of God and they were not content with what God had done for them and what He was doing for them. They became focused on their own desires, on what they wanted, and what they didn't have—not about what they did have, but what they didn't have.

We have to learn the secret of 1 Timothy 6, where it says, "Godliness with contentment is great gain. We brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out." We need to trust God's goodness even during the darkest and most difficult times of life. It'll keep you upright even during the fierce storm and trouble. Recognize God's goodness even during the most difficult times.

So number one, the first way to avoid falling is to learn from positive and negative examples.

II. Leave Yourself Room to Escape Temptation

Verse 11 says, "Now all these things happened unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come."

So Paul reiterates these things are examples, admonitions for us. He's saying if it happened to Israel, it can happen to you. Do not make the mistake of thinking this is for someone else and not for you. We all need to examine ourselves to make sure none of these things have crept into our lives, especially in light of the fact that we're living in the last days. That's what Paul means by "the ends of the world," right? We live in the age in which Jesus could come back at any moment, so we must be prepared for His return.

Paul believed that Christ could return during his lifetime. We have no less reason to believe the same thing ourselves. If you knew Jesus was coming back today, what would you do differently? If you knew for a part of you knew that Jesus was coming back today, how would you live differently? We ought to live that way every day with a hope and expectation, knowing that we could see Jesus today. Jesus could come back today, and that ought to affect the way that we live.

Don't Think It Couldn't Happen to You

Paul warns those who think they're standing on secure ground to be careful so they don't fall. In other words, don't think it couldn't happen to you. I think Brother Matt preached a great message kind of along those same lines. One of his main points was: don't think you're above this. Don't think you're above falling. When you have that attitude, you become careless. You let your guard down. You leave yourself open to attack when you think you're above it, when you think it's not going to happen to me.

We also have to be careful to avoid thinking that we've conquered temptation or that we will eventually grow past it. As long as we are in the flesh, it's something we will have to deal with in life. You can spend years building up a testimony and lose it in a moment if you're not careful and on guard against temptation.

There's a verse in Ecclesiastes: "Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor." Just a few flies get in the ointment and it ruins the ointment. Ruins a good ointment. It only takes a little bit. It only takes a little moment, a little fall, and what you've built up can go to waste. That's what we have to guard against.

Two Pieces of Good News About Temptation

Verse 13 is a very well-known verse. It says, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it."

So there are two pieces of good news for us as Christians about temptation that we find in verse 13.

Good News #1: You're Not Alone

The first is that every temptation you face isn't unique to you. Others have gone through what you're going through and they have prevailed. That gives us hope that we can overcome it as well. What one believer can do, another believer can do.

So we cannot think that, well, nobody's ever dealt with what I'm dealing with. Nobody's ever faced what I'm facing. Nobody's ever had it as bad as I have it. We've got to be careful not to have that kind of pity party where we think we've just got it worse than everybody. Nobody's ever had it as bad as me. But the Bible says very plainly we all face the same general temptations.

First John chapter 2 tells us we all deal with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Those are all those areas in which we deal with temptation on a regular basis. So the good news is other people have dealt with the temptations you deal with and they've overcome them, so you can too.

Good News #2: God Provides a Way of Escape

The second piece of good news is that God is faithful and wants to help you escape your temptation. It talks about He will make a way to escape. That phrase "way to escape" literally means He'll make an exit.

The Lord allows trials and tests to come into our lives, but His goal is always for us to succeed, never to fail. He will never give you anything that you cannot handle with His help. That's the key there: with His help. It's not your ability, it's His ability.

God provides us with an off-ramp, and it's up to us to take it. When the devil knocks on your heart's door with temptation, let Jesus take care of it. Let Jesus answer the door.

This way of escape isn't relief from the pressures of temptation—because as we said, that won't happen until we reach heaven. It doesn't mean it's an easy way, but it is the way to safety. It is a way of safety from temptation.

Being Tempted Is Not Sin

It's also important to understand that merely being tempted is not a sin. Just the act of being tempted is not a sin. Everybody faces being tempted. It only becomes sin when we surrender to temptation by dwelling on it and acting on it. That's when temptation becomes sin.

James 1:13-15 tells us, "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

So we cannot blame God for our failures. Temptation becomes sin when we get drawn away by it and we give into it. The act of being aware—we all face temptation. It's all a matter of how we handle it.

The Key: Escape, Don't Resist in Your Own Power

But again, it's important to recognize that God did not intend for us to stand against temptation in our own power. The key to overcoming temptation isn't a matter of willpower. It isn't getting as close to the line as possible without crossing.

I feel like a lot of Christians live that way. They want to see: how close can I get to the line without it becoming sin? How much like the world can I be without becoming too much like the world?

The key is escaping, running away, getting out, getting away as quickly as possible. We tend to think of running away as an act of cowardice, right? That's sometimes why we think we don't want to run away. We don't want to be cowards, especially as men. We don't want to be the one who ran away from a fight.

But for the Christian, it is an admission of weakness. We recognize we cannot handle sin in our own power. Paul in verse 14 says, "Flee from idolatry." Back in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, he tells them, "Flee fornication." He tells Timothy a couple different times in 1 and 2 Timothy, "Flee youthful lusts. Flee these things."

The story of Joseph—when Potiphar's wife tried to tempt him into committing adultery with her, he fled. So there are times we need to learn to run away from temptation. Get away, get as far from it as possible. Don't leave yourself in a position where you can be open to being tempted, open to falling.

III. Avoid All Appearance of Evil

So that leads us to the third point. The third way to avoid falling is we need to look to avoid all appearance of evil—not just avoid evil, but to avoid the appearance of it. We are to avoid sin so thoroughly that we shouldn't even go near the appearance of evil.

The Question of Meat Sacrificed to Idols

Starting at verse number 16, Paul really continues a discussion he began back in chapter 8. In chapter 8, the question of whether it was okay for Christians to purchase or eat leftover meat from idolatry sacrifices that was sold in the market afterwards. They had a question: is it okay for us to eat meat sacrificed to idols? Even if we don't partake in the ceremony, even if we just buy it when it's sold later, is it okay for us to do that?

Now, in that chapter and in this passage here, Paul recognizes obviously these idols are not real gods. And there is nothing inherently wrong with eating meat because it's just food. As Jesus said in Mark 7:15, it's not what goes into your body that defiles you. Meat does not defile you in God's sight. It's what comes out of your heart that can defile you.

But he had told the Corinthians to be mindful of weaker brethren when it comes to matters like this. It is better to voluntarily restrict your own rights and liberty to protect their conscience than to just flaunt your freedom in their faces.

Attending Pagan Festivals?

So Paul kind of continues it here in chapter 10. Paul's talking about the idea of: is it okay for believers to attend a non-Christian religious festival? They would have these festivals where they would eat—obviously they would have the meat sacrificed to idols. Paul said that's just meat. So now the question is: well, is it okay for us to attend even if we don't participate? Is it okay for us just to be in these pagan temples? Can we just go to these pagan temples and just eat it there?

Fellowship Equals Identification

But really, to sum up his argument, Paul says eating with others is an act of fellowship, and fellowship equates to identification. There is an implied approval or agreement when you fellowship with somebody through meals and through things like this.

Example #1: The Lord's Supper

Paul uses the Lord's Supper as an example. Verse 16 says, "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body. We are all partakers of that one bread."

Now this is not giving credence to the Roman Catholic idea of transubstantiation. It's not saying that literally the bread and the cup are the body and blood of Jesus Christ. He's saying it's not about the sacrifice of Jesus. It's about the Lord's Supper itself—the communion that we share over the Lord's Supper table.

We are having fellowship with Christ through observing the Lord's Supper. That's why—we're having fellowship with Christ and with fellow believers. When we have the Lord's Supper, it is an act of fellowship, an act of identification as Christians with other fellow Christians. When you partake in the Lord's Supper, you are identifying yourself with Christ and identifying yourself with other believers who are also participating in the Lord's Supper.

There is a tacit approval of the teaching of the Lord's Supper, even if not spoken aloud. We are showing that we have something in common with everyone else who is there doing the same thing we are. Community—you think of there's community and there's union. You have communion. That's the idea.

Example #2: Old Testament Sacrifices

Paul also uses the Old Testament sacrificial system. Verse 18: "Behold Israel after the flesh, are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?"

In the Old Testament sacrificial system, you had some sacrifices that were whole burnt offerings—they burnt the whole thing. There was nothing left. But in many cases, there were leftovers. In the peace offering in particular, the offerer and the priest who made the sacrifice would split the leftovers and they would share in the meal together. They would have a fellowship meal with the leftovers of the peace offering.

So again, this is an act of fellowship, identification. It carries with it an implied agreement with what that offering represents.

The Demonic Reality Behind Idols

While Paul recognizes in verse 19 that an idol is powerless and any sacrifice made to it is meaningless, there is demonic activity behind it, and Christians should not flippantly expose themselves to it.

He says in verse 20, "But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God, and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils."

We recognize we are in a spiritual warfare. The Christian life is not a game. He's saying they should avoid giving the appearance they are showing approval or agreement with this false god.

You Can't Have It Both Ways

Christians can't have it both ways. We can't claim to be fully committed to the Lord while also playing around with the world. You can call it harmless flirting, but it looks like unfaithfulness to anybody who sees it.

I remember back when Mike Pence was the vice president, he publicly had this policy that he would not be alone with a woman, and he was routinely mocked by unbelievers for having that standard. But Mike Pence never had a scandal about having an inappropriate relationship with a woman. He made sure he avoided all even the appearance of infidelity. He avoided putting himself in a place where either he or the woman could be falsely accused. He avoided even the very appearance of it. He stayed as far away from the situation as possible.

Practical Applications

I think the idea of avoiding the appearance of evil means that we shouldn't go to places where we will be with people who will be engaging in sinful activity. I would not go to an event where people I'm with will be drinking alcohol.

For example, my 20th high school class reunion was last year, 2024. I got an invitation to it, and part of me wanted to go because I haven't—I was friends with some of them still on Facebook, but I haven't seen most of them since I graduated high school. But then I saw the invitation said there's going to be an open bar. I said, "Well, I guess I'm not going." That kind of made my decision for me, because I'm not going to be around that.

I wouldn't go to any sort of activity where I know the people I'm going to be with are going to be consuming alcohol or things that I do not believe a Christian should be involved in. Even if you do not drink, people see you with someone who is drinking and they could assume the worst. They could assume incorrectly and you could damage your testimony.

And again, it doesn't have to be true—that's the thing we don't understand about testimony. It doesn't have to be true to damage your testimony. We say, "Well, I didn't do it." But if people believe you did it, it does the same kind of damage.

Obviously, you can't control what random people over there at a restaurant will do, a place where they serve alcohol. You can't control that. I'm not saying don't go to any restaurant that serves alcohol. If you want to have that standard, you're welcome to. I know Miss Amanda's dad—that's his standard. He doesn't go to any restaurant that serves alcohol, period. He won't go anywhere. That's fine, having that standard.

But I'm just saying you can't control what random strangers will do, but it's different when it's the people you will be spending time with. It's when it's people that you're going to be sitting at the same table with, people that you're going to be associated with, people are going to see you with. That's why it's important to avoid even the appearance of mingling the testimony of Christ and His church with the testimony of the world.

Be Separate

Flip over with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Next book over, 2 Corinthians chapter number 6, and find verse number 14. This is a well-known passage that has the same idea here.

2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 14 says, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

Now, you can be friendly and compassionate toward the lost, and you ought to be. That doesn't mean you should do the things they do and go to the places they go. There has to be a separation. There has to be a line of demarcation there.

What Example Are You Setting?

We talked about the first point about learning from positive and negative examples, but it's also important to remember: as a Christian, you are setting a positive or negative example of your own. What kind of example are you setting? What kind of example are you setting for those around you? Those who are going to come after you and follow after you—what kind of example are you setting for them? Something we need to think about, examine, make sure that we are not setting ourselves up for a fall, that we're able to avoid falling here.

Closing Prayer

Let's pray and we'll have Pastor Brother Ken come and lead an invitation tonight.

Our Father, we thank you for this day you've blessed us with. Thank you for the time we've had to look in your word. I pray that it was helpful. I know it was helpful to me as I was studying it, but I pray that your word would do its work in our hearts and in our lives. Father, if there's anyone here that is getting too close to sin and getting themselves set up for a fall, I pray that they would see the danger and that they would turn from it. They would flee from it. I pray you'd just help us to stay close to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.