1 Corinthians 10:1-13

TRANSCRIPT

1 Corinthians 10 verse one. For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud,

and all passed through the sea. And all were baptized into Moses, into the cloud, and in the sea. and all ate the

same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them and that and the rock was Christ.

Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took

place as an example for us that we might not desire evil as they did. This is the word of the Lord. You may take your seats.

Thank you, Tyler. Good morning, church. Good morning.

Yeah, I’ve definitely over the years learned to love Trey. And so, uh,

so funny. Uh, I’m Zach. I’m one of the pastors here on staff. I’m excited to be, uh, opening up God’s word with you this morning. Uh, another pastor update.

For those of you who don’t know, uh, I have the bestowed honor of being Frank’s son-in-law. And so I want to provide a

frank update for all of those curious folks here in the congregation. He’s doing well. He slept in today. He only

woke up at 3:00 a.m. Uh and he is now driving to Ohio. And so if you think of him, pray for him. Uh both for his

destination and for his drive. Uh but yeah, he’s doing well, enjoying the time away. Uh he misses you all a ton. Uh and

he’s excited to be back in October. And so, uh, that’s the Frank update. Uh, yeah, that’s all I got for you. Uh, we are in First Corinthians. We are

continuing our study. So, if you have your Bibles, 1 Corinthians 10 is where we’re going to be today. Uh, we’re continuing this study. Uh, that Paul wrote this letter to the church at

Corenth. We’re just about halfway through this series. Uh, we’re in week 21 of 39.

We’ve been looking at a particular section of this uh scripture that began all the way back in chapter 8 actually

uh chapter 8 and it carries over all the way into 11 verse1 and so we’ll be in it for the next few weeks but Paul is

primarily addressing the consumption of food offered to idols. He’s talking about food offered to idols in this

section. Uh an idol is any object of worship whether physical and or incorporeal uh that takes our eyes off of God and

then we in turn elevate that thing that object over God. That’s what an idol is.

That’s the act of idolatry is that elevation. And so in chapter 8, Paul is admonishing the Corinthians to count

their neighbors as more significant than themselves, the the weaker brothers and sisters. They’re saying, uh, don’t cause

them to stumble by your conduct. Love your neighbor. And then he points out that idols are also not gods. Uh, and

then he continues on in chapter nine where he provides this beautiful account of of his life and the example that he

has set forth in his life. Uh, he hasn’t caused weaker followers of Jesus to stumble. and he points out uh that uh he

is rejecting any grounds for boasting because the only thing he wants to boast about is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And

last week in chapter nine, we saw that Paul became all things to all people in order that he might save some that they might come to saving faith in Christ.

And as he does this, Paul is disciplining his body, not as a boxer who is beating the air, but as someone

who is seeking to uh have self-control and mastery over his body. He wants that imperishable wreath. And he’s striving

for that victor’s crown that is only found in Christ. And all believers are called uh in both of these matters with

the Lord’s help to do the same. We are called to imitate Paul as he imitates Christ.

And so if all of chapter nine was Paul providing this example of his life that we should emulate and imitate, we’ll see

today in the beginning of chapter 10 the example of Israel. And they are a people we should not imitate and we should not

try and emulate. Today we’re going to see Paul with his expertise of the Hebrew scriptures uh this robust knowledge he has. He’s going to bridge

the gap from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

We’ll see how Israel’s disobedience in the wilderness serves as our example and as a warning not to pursue idols and to

fall into complacency. Paul disciplines himself. Israel did not. And they disqualified themselves from God’s

promises in the these particular narratives that we’ll study. So a couple weeks ago, Pastor Tyler said, “You should read the Old Testament.” And the

Holy Spirit through Paul also thought the Corinthians should read the Old Testament. And so you’re going to see a lot of Old Testament today in this New

Testament text. And I’m pumped. This story uh of the Exodus is one of the coolest stories in all of the Old

Testament. And it points us to our beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ. And so let’s pray for eyes to see him today.

Father in heaven, we thank you. We thank you this morning for your faithfulness.

And we ask that you would give us eyes to see Jesus clearly in your word today.

Holy Spirit, give us the eyes of faith now. Lord, we love you and we praise you and we ask these prayers in Jesus name.

Amen. All right. 1 Corinthians 10 verse one.

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all were baptized into

Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And all ate the same spiritual food. And all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed him, and the rock was Christ.

Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Notice what Paul does immediately in verse one. He associates the Corinthian church with the people of Israel by

saying, “Our fathers.” there’s a collective our fathers there. So he’s tying the heritage of one people to the history of another.

This is significant because it bridges the gap between all of these things that he was talking about in chapter 9. His example, he’s kept giving us a pro and a

con list essentially. Uh do these things as I do them. Don’t do these things as Israel does them.

He doesn’t want a primarily gentile congregation in the church of Corenth to lose sight or to divorce their own salvific experience in Christ from the

history of God’s people in Israel. So hence he says our fathers to highlight this shared lineage. And if a church in

Corinth some 2,000 years ago has Israel as their spiritual fathers, that means a church today in 2026 in the Arcadia area shares in that same heritage.

The Old Testament is just as relevant for us today as it was for the Corinthians in the first century. And so the church as a spiritual successor to

Israel uh is then uh compared uh to in the Exodus. And so, uh, we got to see some of that in there. I’m going to have

all the Old Testament, uh, addresses there up on, uh, screen. So, take a picture if you want, write them down. I highly encourage you, uh, to read these

later in comparison to this text. It is so awesome what Paul is doing here. Uh, and so I’ll do my best over this time to

highlight uh, as much as I can. Paul is doing amazing work in his illusions and is referring to the account of the Exodus uh, in wilderness wanderings. And

he’s again showing us this commonality in four verses. Paul says the word all.

Five times. Five times he says the word all. He writes, “All our fathers were baptized in into Moses being under the

cloud and passing through the sea.” This is referring to Israel being led out of Egypt in Exodus 13 and 14. The cloud is

God’s presence and it’s leading them as they walked through the waters from slavery into freedom. And then Paul

likens that they were baptized as one into the name of their deliverer Moses.

The Israelites all then ate and drank the same spiritual food and drink. The spiritual food was this this quail that

was blown in on the wind and this mana that was found every day on the ground that they would go out and pick up and eat.

The rock that provided the water at Horeb in Exodus 17 and the rock at Meabbah in Numbers 20 provided the

water. This rock that followed him. This rock was Christ.

And what Paul is not saying is that a literal rock followed Israel for 40 years. That’d be kind of wild. At least

that’s not what I think is happening here. But the account of the rock in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20, well, Exodus

17 is the beginning of their journey on the Exodus. And Numbers 20 is near the conclusion of their journey in the

Exodus. And so what Paul is highlighting here is that this rock was with them the whole time. A human cannot live without water for three to five days. Uh I

looked that up online. Should have asked my wife. She has a medical degree. Uh hindsight, I guess. Uh

people need water and so we can safely assume that God had been providing water for his people for 40 years. All of

Israel experienced this salvation. All of them were nourished and provided to uh for by the Lord. The Lord was the one

leading them. He was leading them in the wilderness. and their uh misgivings and their their their disobedience did not

deter the Lord from providing from from the Lord providing for his people. He continually provided for them even when they desired evil.

And if the Exodus is a raffle prize that you win at a local carnival, then the gospel of Jesus Christ is a 100

billion dollar lottery ticket plus some more.

the Old Testament is about and points us to Jesus. It’s our shared lineage. And so when we look at the Exodus, we can

actually see the gospel at play. Paul is showing the Corinthians this truth by bridging the gap between these two

things, their testimony and the experience uh that they have walked through uh and comparing it to the Israelites. The Corinthians have been

baptized in the name of Jesus, in the name of a deliverer, fought infinitely greater than Moses, baptized into his

death and resurrection. This cloud, this spirit now dwells in all who call on the name of the Lord.

Every follower of Jesus, the church at Corenth, they eat of the bread of life and they drink of the water of life and where they will never hunger nor thirst

again. and they’re being led by the rock, the founder and perfector of their faith, the son of God and the son of man, Jesus Christ.

Since page three of the Bible, and really since be before the Bible was even written, God has been pursuing his

people that he created in his image in order that he might restore them back to right relationship with him. And we know

that is fully revealed and realized in Jesus.

So Paul shares that all of God’s people experienced this. All of them experienced deliverance out of the land of Egypt. They passed through the

waters. They were under the cloud. They were provided for. All of them were led by the rock. And despite this incredible deliverance and these continual miracles

that the Lord did, Paul tells us in verse 5 that they were overthrown in the wilderness. Their bodies laid dead, scattered in the desert.

So, how can a people who experienced firsthand these these wonderful works of the Lord

be found to be strewn about dead in the wilderness at the end of their journey?

Why did Israel fall and why does it matter? In short, Israel lost sight of

the beauty of the one true God and his wonderful works. They forgot to remember.

They forgot to remember and they began to fashion for themselves idols idols of their own heart’s desire.

We’ll read about those continuing on in verse six.

Now these things these things took place as an example for us that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be

idolattors as some of them were. As it is written the the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. We must not indulge in sexual sexual

immorality as some of them did and 23,000 fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor

grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our

instruction on whom the end of the age has come. Ages has come.

If Hebrews 11 contains the hall of faith that we are to emulate and find encouragement from, I would like to

posit that 1 Corinthians 10 6-11 is that antithesis, a negative example of a lack of faith in

God that we should learn from and steer clear of. You’ll see in verse 6 and 11, Paul intends for us to be instructed. He

has this little inclusio around this whole example of Israel’s disobedience. He says both times that these things took place for our example.

For example, it’s to change our desires and to instruct us in the way that we should go. It’s a mirror being held up for the Corinthian church and it’s a mirror being held up for us.

Uh we learn by example. Uh I am a big movie guy. Uh I learn things from the movies that I watch and sometimes I

learn things from movies that I don’t watch. uh when I was in high school uh that was 2006 to 2010.

Uh I got my license in 2008 and that was on the heels of the smash hit film uh the Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift

which came out in 2006 and I didn’t watch it but I can tell you what the movie is about. It’s about

drifting in Tokyo and and I wanted to drift in Phoenix. And so

I had this cool 1996 Nissan 200SX that I would drift anywhere I could. If I saw a parking lot and it was dark, I was

drifting. And yeah, and so I was doing that all kinds of crazy times. And then my mom was like, “Your tires look weird.

Let’s go to Discount.” And I was like, “All right.” So we went and the guy’s like, “Someone’s been drifting in this car.” And my mom looked at me and she goes, “Have you been drifting in this

car?” And I straightfaced, “No.” My mom saw through that and and I had to pay $600 to repair or replace my tires.

And I’ve learned a very valuable lesson from the movie, The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift. It doesn’t pay to drift. I

learned that lesson and I’ve not drifted since. Actually, very brief aside, very brief aside. Right after the first

service, someone came up to me and was like, “I don’t know what drifting is.” And I was like, “I’ll show you.”

[laughter]

[snorts]

All right, back to the text. Uh, again, I’m going to throw the Old Testament references that tie into the passage that we’re looking at, verses 6 through

11. Uh but in verse 7 or before that in verse six we see that the word all is being employed again he says now these

things took place as an example for us that we might not desire evil as they did and then he’s going to get into

these sums. He’s going to say some did this, some did that. And all of these sums are going to come together uh for

the all the sums of all evil. Verse seven, some were idoltors. This is uh

directly referring back to Exodus 32, the incident of the golden calf. I’m sure many of you are familiar with it.

And interestingly enough, this is the only direct Old Testament citation in this passage we’re studying. Everything else is just illusions and references

here. Paul is calling to this mind calling to mind this golden calf incident. Uh long story short, basically Moses was up on the mountain with God

and Israel was growing very very impatient waiting for 40 days. And so they went to Aaron. Uh Moses is number

two and they said, “Uh Moses is gone. We don’t know if he’s going to come back.

Why don’t you make a visual representation of who God is that we might worship it?” And Moses or uh Aaron’s like, “Sure thing. Give me all

your gold.” And he fashions this golden calf. And they begin to celebrate. They begin to have feasts and they begin to to to

yeah just have a grand old time. Well, God gets mad and then Moses gets mad when he comes down the mountain with the Ten Commandments. He drops them and

breaks them and he goes up to Aaron and he goes, “Dude, what happened? It’s 40 days.” And Aaron does does this crazy

thing. It’s one of the worst excuses you’ll hear in all of scripture. He goes, “I threw the gold in the fire and out came this golden calf.” Come on, Aaron. Uh, I should have said that.

I just was driving my car and the car drifted. I don’t It’s interesting in this text that Paul

doesn’t actually cite the incident of the golden calf. He actually cites Israel’s response to seeing the golden calf.

They were feasting and celebrating around it. And the reason he does this is because this is exactly what’s happening in the church of in Corinth.

It’s why he’s writing in this section chapters 8- 11.

They’re going into places and communing with people who are celebrating and rejoicing and sacrificing in the presence of idols and eating the food

that’s offered to these idols. And they’re not communing in an evangelistic way. They’re communing in a way that uh builds up their own social clout that they have.

And so in verse seven or sorry that was verse seven. Verse 8, some of the Israelites were sexually immoral. This

is a reference back to Numbers 25. Here Paul points us to Israel beginning to with the daughters of Moab, a

country nearby where Israel would be established. The the Moabites in turn begin to lead the Israelites away uh to

sacrifice to their gods. And it is said that Israel yolked themselves to Baal,

to a false god. They turned away from God and turned to idols. And this kindled the Lord’s anger. He sent a plague that killed uh according to Paul

here 23,000. Uh if you read Numbers 25, you’d be shocked because Moses wrote 24,000.

Scholars vary on why there is this difference in the text. Uh did Paul forget what the exact number was? Uh did

he mix up different events to kind of do some math to kind of be all-encompassing? Uh, I don’t think it necessarily matters because because

Paul’s point is not lost when we when we actually try to understand what he’s writing here. He’s getting at that

yoking oneself to idols and pursuing sexual immorality provokes God’s jealousy, his wrath, and eventually his

judgment. And so whether it was 23,000 or 24, his wrath was provoked.

And then in verse 9, some tested the Lord. This is numbers 21. The Israelites were wandering and frankly they were

quite tired of wandering. They raised yet another complaint against God and Moses. They go, “Hey to Moses, why are

we wandering? We’re going to die out here and this food stinks.” Uh that’s my translation of that text. Uh we laugh,

but we are I’m that petty when it comes to the Lord sometimes and I’m sure you are as well. uh when things don’t exactly go our way. And so the Lord

responds to their complaints by sending sending fiery serpents, fiery snakes into the camp. And there were biting

people and these people were dying and they had to lift up a bronze snake and look at it to be healed. And that sounds like my actual nightmare. Uh I [snorts]

I was looking up averages. Uh the average human can run about six to eight miles per hour. Uh there are some snakes in the world. Uh they can get up to 10

to 12. That’s faster than me and us. Uh the fastest snake in the world uh is a

Sidewinder and it can get up to 18 miles hour, which is very fast. And they’re very native to the southwestern United

States, which is where we are. Uh he who has ears, let him hear. Uh and then in verse

10, nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. These grumblers can be found in numbers 14.

Uh 12 spies were sent into the land of Israel. And all of 12 of them came back.

10 of them said, “We are not going to win this fight.” Two of them said, “The Lord is with us. We will win this fight.” Uh and the people grumbled as a

result of all of this. Moses intercedes, goes before the Lord and says, ‘ Don’t wipe out my people. And God promises uh judgment on them in the closing verses

of 14. His promise of this judgment is that their bodies would fall in the wilderness. And that’s what Paul just wrote in verse 5 of our passage today.

Paul said that most of God’s people were overthrown in the wilderness. So it seems that these things came to pass.

And when Paul writes most, what he means by is basically everyone, uh, everyone

who experienced the Exodus account, uh, the the the walking out of Egypt through the Red Sea, of all of those people, two

of them entered the promised land. Two of them out of seemingly almost a million people, Caleb and Joshua.

These examples for the Old Testament from the Old Testament are given for Corinth and they’re given for us. After 430 years in bondage, we see this in

Exodus 12. God redeems and saves his people out of slavery. Slavery again, presumably a million Israelites.

They watched the Red Sea be parted and they got to walk through it. They watched the Egyptians be defeated behind them as the sea came back in on itself.

They were supported and nourished with mana and quail and water every day for 40 years in the wilderness. And yet the

majority of them fell. They took their eyes off the one true God. And they fashioned for themselves an idol to worship and feast in the presence of.

They forgot the commandments of the Lord and began to engage in sexual immorality with the surrounding nations who would then lead them away from God to idols who we know are not really gods at all.

They tested the Lord by saying that being in bondage was better and the food was better than being free with the Lord’s provision.

They grumbled at the Lord’s plan of salvation and they ultimately provoked the Lord to execute judgment for their disobedience.

And again, only two of them entered into the land. This recounting of Israel’s bad example for us reveals to us that

God cares very deeply about who his people worship enough so that he would exercise judgment for unfaithfulness and

disobedience. And Paul shares this because the church in Corenth is just as prone to this foolishness,

to this faithful unfaithfulness. They’ve heard the gospel proclaimed and they’ve responded to it and they’ve entered into the fellowship of all believers. Yet

some were forsaking their baptism in the Lord’s name and his supper to dwell in temples and houses where food was offered to idols and it was served and

consumed. This is all of chapter 8 9 10 and verse one and chapter 11. Some were engaging in sexual immorality and

celebrating their transgression. That was all of chapter 5 through 7. Some were testing the Lord by turning back to former things and caring more about

their social status in culture than their standing before God. And some were grumbling at the restraints that gospel

living was seemingly putting on their lives. And that’s basically the majority of what Paul is responding to in the whole letter.

And just as Israel desired evil, Paul is warning the Corinthians not to fall into that same pattern, not to fall into the

sins of their fathers as some already have.

So if this recounting of Israel’s history is to be a mirror for the Corinthians, then surely both Israel and Corinth experience is to be the mirror

for us. We are an evil and covetous generation and we have less of an excuse because we have the Israelites and we have Corinth.

We have the Old Testament and we have the New Testament. And just like the the Israelites and just like the Corinthians, we need deliverance. The

Corinthians experienced it and we need it as well.

There is a gift of deliverance available to us that is far greater than freedom from physical bondage that the Israelites uh ex uh experienced. And

that deliverance is found only in Jesus Christ.

Jesus is fully God and fully man. And he came into the world to set captives free from spiritual bondage, from spiritual death.

He left heaven and he took on human nature in order to represent us perfectly. He achieved this salvation through his death, entering into the

baptism of death on a cross to be raised to new life again because of his sinless perfection.

He ascended and he now reigns at the right hand of the father. And he didn’t take off his working hat. He’s still at work praying and interceding for you, for me, for us.

Paul writes this to his protege Timothy.

And I think it’s important for us to hear these words today. This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full

acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am foremost. Paul said that. I’m saying

that. And if you are in Christ, you should say that, too.

If you do not know this savior, turn to him. Call on his name and he will set you free. He did it for the Israelites.

He did it for the Corinthians. He can do it for you now. He will breathe new life in you. And he will give you his

provision and guidance all the days of your life until he either calls you home or he comes again. And he is coming soon. We see that in verse 11.

But they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come.

Christ is coming. And when he returns to call and reclaim his bride and to bring her into his presence and into eternal

into eternal bliss, will you be found seeking after idols? Or will you be found disciplining your body and keeping

it under control in order to not be disqualified like the Israelites? Will you follow the example of Paul or will you follow these Israelites?

To close our time, the Holy Spirit working in Paul has a word of warning and a pastoral encouragement. Verse 12,

therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands, take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overcome you. That is not

common to man. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide a way of escape that you may be able to endure it.

Arcadia, take stock. How will the example of Israel, the example of Corenth instruct you? In verse 12, Paul

gives a final warning. He says, “Therefore, take stock. Where are you standing? On what foundation will you be found?

reflect on your life. Just because you have entered into the waters of baptism and partake in the Lord’s supper does not mean that you can forget and forsake the grace and the mercy of God.

Just because you say that you are one in Christ does not mean you can yoke yourself to useless idols.

If you think you stand, be sure that you stand. Look at the foundation at which you stand upon because if it is not Christ, you will fall.

So, Arcadia, what or who occupies the throne of your hearts? From where is your assurance coming? Is it the one

true God revealed to us in Jesus Christ through the gift of his spirit?

Or does something else occupy your heart, in your mind, in your soul? Are you all about the pursuit of what you

can experience here and now today? Does your hedonism feed your own lusts or pleasures or comforts or desires?

Are you all about the acquisition of things for yourself and coveting what other people have? Is your inner life one of ravenous greed or jealousy?

Are you concerned with your own autonomy, your own freedoms, your own glory, your own name being being proclaimed, or your deeds or your

affiliations being made known over God’s name?

All of these things are sin. So, more simply put, Arcadia, do you continue in sin?

Paul encourages the Romans in his letter to them. He says, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” By no means.

By no means, church, do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and

patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Or do you discipline your body and keep it under control with your eyes firmly fixed on the Lord?

Have we, as we’ve seen in our text, it’s not just enough to say, “I know Jesus.” Anyone can say that.

You can’t call it good there. We have to lean into him and show ourselves to be disciples of him by disciplining ourselves and taking our bodies under

self-control with his help. We can’t do it without him, but we have to do that work.

Writing on this passage uh in his commentary, David E. Garland writes, and he’s also quoting John Calvin, which is a win-win for me. Uh he writes, “The

assurance that Paul is attacking here is not the assurance of faith that rests on the promises of God.” The Corinthians aren’t resting on the promises of God.

Their assurance has its roots in nonchalants. They’re saying, “I’ve been baptized. I’m fine. I’ve taken

communion. I’m fine.” Israel took for granted the grace of God

and they fell. The Corinthians are actively taking for granted the grace of God. Arcadia, don’t be nonchalant. Be

zealous for the things of the Lord. Uh, Pastor Tyler a few weeks ago, he said, “Don’t be lukewarm.”

And if that was heavy, and if verse 12 serves as our warning, verse 13 serves

as our encouragement, hope, the pastoral encouragement that Paul leaves for his church.

Verse 31 13 is uh worth reading again in full. No temptation has overcome you.

That is not common to man. God is faithful. Church, hear that again. God is faithful

and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure

it. What encouraging words. God is faithful. And in your temptations, in our temptations, he’s with us. Despite

all of Israel’s unfaithfulness that we focused on in this text, don’t lose sight of how faithful God was to them.

He led them out of Egypt. He destroyed the Egyptians that were in pursuit of them. He provided for them and led them through the Red Sea. And then he gave

them food and water day in and day out for 40 years. He was their firm foundation who protected them from their enemies and the surrounding nations.

this uh this transient group of people. He was their rock.

God is faithful to his people and that faithfulness continues for his church.

God is faithful. I cannot I cannot stress that enough.

God will not let you be tempted beyond your ability and will provide you with a way of escape that you may be able to endure. You just have to turn to him.

The social scorns of following Jesus that these Corinthians were experiencing are but a light momentary affliction

preparing for them an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. This is true for us as well. Church, turn to him.

Along with the Corinthians, we are to lean into our new reality of being new creations in Christ. We have passed through these waters of baptism into

Christ’s name into covenant membership with his church. If you haven’t been baptized, be baptized. It’s amazing.

It’s one of my favorite things we get to do here on Sundays. It’s like the only time you’ll ever catch me crying uh is when I watch people proclaim through

baptism that Christ is their Lord and they enter into his death and resurrection. It’s amazing.

We’re to be nourished by the bread and water of life that is Christ. In the Lord’s Prayer, Matthew writes, “Give us

this day our daily bread.” Jesus’s words and how we ought to pray.

Turn to him for our daily bread. We are to remember that our foundation, our true foundation is Christ, the rock. And

if you don’t know Jesus, turn to him today.

Turn to him for the first time because time is short. The end of the ages is here. Call on his name. Believe that he

died to save sinners and the faithful God will make himself known to you.

We call on the name of the Lord and he holds us fast and he helps us to remember all of the promises that he has made. And that that is how we endure

temptation. Not avoid but endure. The Lord has given us his spirit as a seal of our inheritance in him to encourage

us and to strengthen us and to sustain us until he comes again until the end.

And as the great Puritan Thomas Watson wrote in his body of divinity, if God will give his people a kingdom when they die, he will not deny them daily bread while they live.

He will provide for his beloved because God is faithful. So church, remember that. Remember that God is faithful.

Remember his wonderful works. And may he be your help in your time of need. Amen.

Amen. Let’s pray. Father in heaven, thank you for your word and its truth.

God, as hard as it was to recount the sins of your people, how amazing that

those are washed clean by you, Lord Jesus. Lord, how amazing that you came and died the sinner’s death, that we might be made right before you, Lord.

That when you see us, you see your son’s righteousness. And so, God, as we continue in worship, help us to proclaim

your excellencies. Help us to see that you are faithful and help us to treasure you as we go into our weeks. Lord Jesus, we love you and we praise you and we ask

these prayers in your name. Amen. Each week uh we respond, we’re going to enter into that time of response now. Uh we

sing songs uh not to end our services but to continue and to prepare our hearts to enter into our weeks.

We give. We joyfully give of what the Lord has given us and blessed us with because he has blessed us fully and

completely in his son Jesus who is our rock. We pray. We call on the name of the Lord. And so if you need prayer,

we’ll have pastors, elders, deacons, staff in the wings who would love to pray with you. You can pray with each other. The spirit is in you if you’re in Christ. You can pray with each other.

and we we call on his name because he promised to be a very present help in our time of need. And we receive

communion. We uh this is a time of confession and and proclamation. Uh for those who are not in Christ, for those

who wouldn’t confess Christ as their Lord, we’d ask that you would just pass by or either stay se in your seats. Uh

this is just bread. It’s just juice. Uh if you’re not in Christ, it means nothing. Um and so we would ask you not to confess something that you don’t

believe. But for those of you who are in Christ, this is everything. This is our confession of our sin, the sin that put

Christ on the cross, but it’s also the proclamation that he has defeated death through his death and resurrection. And so when we eat that bread, we’re

reminded of his body broken for us. And when we drink of that cup, we’re reminded of his blood spilled for us. This is the blood of the new covenant.

And his word says that every single time that we eat of this bread and drink of this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes again. That’s amazing. So

when you step out in that aisle, you’re confessing and proclaiming Christ as Lord. And so let’s do that now.