 Good morning everyone. Welcome back to a new week. Before we begin, would anyone like to open us in prayer? That's fine. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you under the name of Jesus. We thank you for this day. We thank you for the time of class we're about to have because we just pray that you will help us to understand more about who you are and more about what you have did for us as we are listening to the classes that will bring a transformation in our mind about the revelation of who you are, Jesus. God, I just pray and I bless with them in the name of Jesus. Be with her. Fill her with your wisdom and knowledge as she's teaching the class first, Jesus. And God, I pray for a good Wi-Fi connection throughout the session. Let there be no disturbance. Let this be a time where we get acute in your work. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Thank you. So we will just do a small recap of all that we covered last week and then go into this week's content. So last week we covered from, let me just find the exact passages from 8.4 to 10.4. Chapter 8 verses 4 to chapter 10 verses 4. Jeffrey, would you like to take us through whatever we covered? Yeah. So in verse 4, in chapter 8 verse 4, we saw how the Trinity was mentioned in one verse, the Father, the Son, everything was mentioned in the verse. We saw that. And in verse, maybe chapter 9 verse 3, we saw that Jesus was being the means for all the creation and how an idol cannot bring things into existence. But we have a God in whom there is life who brings things into existence. And we also saw the difference of Jews and the Gentiles, the distinctions they had between the rich and the poor. How the poor didn't get, actually the poor actually depends on the temple to get meat. I think that's one of the things that you mentioned. So that's one of the reasons they wanted to know whether they can eat the food from the temple or not. And we saw they get food from two places, the temple and the marketplace. And one of the things that I understood as we were reading the scriptures and listening to the classes is there are verses that says even our knowledge can destroy someone when we have too much when our knowledge is puffed up that can destroy someone's fate. And that's why our knowledge should be covered with love every time, whatever we learn, whatever we impart into people, we should do it out of love. And in Chapter 9, we saw Paul's role as an apostle. We saw the three categories of a apostle. And then we saw Paul talking about being a servant of Christ. We saw his sacrifice, his stewardship, his self-discipline. And we saw how Paul was asking a question and then answering it. He said, am I not an apostle? I have the power and authority. He said, am I not free? My service is pure. And have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? And he remembered that he had been covered with God. And are you not okay with my work with Lord? We see the fruit of his work. So he was answering all the questions that were placed upon him. And we also saw that an action or a muscle was straight out of the grain. So we just saw the expressions of it and we just saw that we should always choose the spiritual things over the material things. Yeah, I think there are so many things that we saw like this. So Paul was explaining how we can willingly work and unwillingly also we can work as a stewardship of God. So when we willingly work, we get the reward for it. And sometimes we just unwillingly work. We just want to be obedient. And we saw that there is a freedom from Jewish law but Paul still chose to be a slave to God's law. And he became the lower class to share the gospel to the lower class. So then he was ready to change in any form just so that the gospel can be shared. And we also saw that we should not run without a specific purpose. And when we do the act of service, we should always see there is a transformation. How is house stewardship? What are the sacrifices we are doing? And we should always willingly enter into the world whenever we serve someone. And we should have that self-governing ability. And we saw how it all is related to the idol worship in chapter 8. What is the real relation? And we saw that Paul was ready to keep talking about giving up on the rights, giving up on the freedom, being a Jew for the Jew. And that all helps us to relate it with idol worship. So yeah, I think that's it. Thank you, Jafina. So yes, so we just covered those two chapters. The one where Paul specifically addresses eating foods offered to idols, that is in chapter 8. And in chapter 9, he talks about his own life as an example and talks about how he has given up his own rights. He has given up things that he could easily claim for himself for the sake of the gospel. And so he is encouraging these Christians in the Church of Corinth saying, for the sake of the gospel, it's worth giving up certain things. And in this case, he's talking about eating food sacrificed to idols. So from there, we continue into chapter 10. We did start a little bit with chapter 10 last week. I think we covered the first four verses. So we continue from there. Let's just take a quick look. Yeah, maybe we can just start from the beginning of chapter 10. Would someone be willing to read 10 verses 1 to 14, please? Chapter 10 verse 1. Moreover, President, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ. But with most of them, God was not well pleased for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lust it and do not become idolatrous as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Nor let us commit sexual immorality as some of them did and in one day 23,000 fell. Nor let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents. Nor complain as some of them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer. 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. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. 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. Thank you sister. So we see what we covered last week in the first few verses. Paul uses the example of the history of the Israelites talking about their exoduses from Egypt and their wandering in the wilderness until they reached the Promised Land. So while they were in the wilderness, although God showed all of them the same miracles, God led them the same way. Every one of them saw the pillar of cloud, everyone saw the pillar of fire, everyone went through the Red Sea. All of them had God's provision of food and water in all of these things yet most of them. So all of them saw these miraculous things but most of them didn't enter the Promised Land. Right? That whole first generation of people who left Egypt all died in the wilderness. And it was the next generation with Joshua and Caleb who entered the Promised Land. So he's saying don't think that just because you are in the church, just because you are seeing miracles and you have been baptized, just because you have gone through all of this and you are receiving scripture, you are taking part in things in the church, don't think that that is what is going to take you to that final destiny in the presence of God. That is not your assurance. Your assurance is where you walk in obedience to God and so he continues to mention some of the things that Israelites did that were against God and then he says, make sure you don't fall in the same ways that these people fell. So he'll go on to verse 6. Now these things became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they lusted. So he gives a few examples here of things that the Israelites did. So one was they lusted, they were idolaters, they committed sexual immorality, they tempted God or they tested God, they complained. So these are some of the things he mentions that they did and these were the things that made God upset with them and these were the things that brought judgment on them. So we look at each of these things. So verse 6 talks about the last for evil things. We'll also read the references that are mentioned there. So numbers 11, 4, 5 and 34. Numbers chapter 11 verse 4, 5 and 34. Would someone be willing to read that for us? Chapter 4 verse, numbers chapter 11 verses 4 verse 5 and verse 34. 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? 34. So he called the name of that place, Kibrot Hatava, because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving. Thank you. So yes, in verse 5 verse 4 we see that there was a mixed group of people who had left Egypt. It was not only Israel. They say the rabble with them or the mixed group of people with them started to long for other foods. And so when those people started to cry out for meat, the Israelites joined in with them. And we see in verse 5 we say, we remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost. So they are looking back at their time as slaves and looking at it as if it was a memory that they cherish because of the meat that they enjoyed there which they are not able to have now in the wilderness. So the problem was not that they wanted meat. There was nothing wrong with wanting meat. But it was that they were asking for meat at a time when God had provided other things and they were asking for it. They were not asking but they were complaining and also looking at their time in Egypt as something that they wanted to hold on to. When God had saved them and rescued them from Egypt, they still wanted to hold on to that for something as insignificant as meat. So they would rather be slaves in Egypt than eat meat than be free in the wilderness without meat. That's what they are saying here. And so God then brings judgment on them. We just provide the meat but then all of those who have yielded to that craving or to that lust for meat are under judgment and all of them actually die. So this is one of the group of people who die in the wilderness. We'll see in the next verse, chapter, verse 7, it talks about those who worshipped idols. So do not become idolaters as with some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. So if someone can read that Exodus 32 verses 1 to 8. Exodus 32 verses 1 to 8. Now in the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain. The people gathered together to Aaron and said to him, Come, make his gods that shall go before us. For as per this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. When Aaron said to them, Drake of the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wise years, sons and your daughters and bring them to me. So all the people broke up the golden earrings which were in the ears and brought them down. And he received the golden earrings 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 Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow is a feast of the Lord. And 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. And lots of Moses, go get down for your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf and worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, This is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. So here we see that Moses had gone up the mountain to meet with God and to receive God's covenant with the people. And when he's gone, the people get tired of waiting for Moses. They think he's not coming back. And so they decide to make a God for themselves instead of waiting for Moses to come back with God's word to them. And in this time, they actually make their ideal with the very things that God had blessed them with, right? When they were leaving Egypt, all of the jewelry that they got was God's favor upon them. That the Egyptians gave them so much jewelry, gave them so many things as they were leaving, as they were coming out. And so these very same things that God had blessed them with, they've used now to make an ideal. So it's important even for us when we are in a time of maybe not hearing from God very clearly or not seeing God move in our lives in a way that we are wanting him to move or expecting him to move. For us to just stay faithful in those times because it's very tempting for us to go and resolve the situation for ourselves. We see that also in the life of Abraham who God promises that he will have a descendant. But Abraham decides to find his own solution to that in taking Hagar and having a child with her. And so we can come up with our own solutions sometimes that are completely against God's will. And so it's important in these times of waiting to just keep trusting in what God has told us last, whatever he has promised us or whatever he has commanded us to just stay faithful to that, to keep believing him, believing those promises, to keep declaring those promises and waiting through those times of inactivity or silence to see God fulfill what he has said in his own time, in his perfect time. Let's go to verse 8. So from idolatry, he then gives us an example of sexual immorality. He says, let us not commit sexual immorality as some of them did and in one day 23,000 fell. This is from Numbers 25 verses one to nine. Would someone read that for us please? Numbers 25. Now Israel remained in a gaseous group and the people began to commit heraldry with the women of Moab. They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods and the people ate and barred down to their gods. So Israel was joined to barl of pure 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, even one of, every one of you kill his men who were joined to barl of pure. And indeed one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren or Midianite women in the site of Moses and in the site of all the congregation of the children of Israel who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Now, when Phineas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he arose 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 24,000. Thank you. So here we see the example of sexual impurity. So before this is where the king of Moab calls, Balaam calls him to come and pronounce a curse on the people of Israel. And Balaam tries three times to pronounce a curse, but every time he tries to do that instead the words that come out of his mouth are words of blessing. So he recognizes that God has blessed these people and he cannot overpower God's blessing that is already upon them. And so he chooses another way to bring them or to cause them to fall. And that is to bring in the temptation of women, to bring in the temptation of sexual sin. And he tells the king of Moab that this is the way to make these people fall. And so through the women of Moab, the Israelites are tempting and they are drawn away not only to the women but also to their gods. And so God's judgment again is upon these people. They have abandoned God and they have gone after these foreign women and their gods. So we look at the last example and then we look at why Paul is actually bringing up all of these things in this context that he's talking about. So verse 9 says, Nonretas tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents. So this is in reference to Exodus 17 and 7 where what is recorded is they tested or they tempted the Lord saying, Is the Lord among us or not? And later on we see the other reference of being bitten by snakes. So that's Numbers 21, 4 to 6. Let me just pull up that. I'm not sure if that actually tells the whole story. Numbers 21 is just the time that they complain about not having water and yes, they speak against God and they ask Moses, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There's no bread, there's no water and we test this miserable food. And then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them. They bit the people and many Israelites died. So we see here again that word of tempting God or tempting Christ means to test God or to question him, to question his purposes, to question his goodness and to wonder, Is he really there? Is he really faithful to do what he has said he will do? And so it is when they were questioning God this way that they were testing God or asking God to prove himself and God had already walked with them through the wilderness, led them through so many things to then turn back and question God and say, Are you really there? Are you really going to provide for us? Are you really going to take care of us? Was to not acknowledge what God had already done. God had already been so faithful, but they were not acknowledging any of that. They were only focused on that current situation and the challenges they were facing at that time and they couldn't remember God's faithfulness in the past. So that is something for us to learn as well when we are in times where we are challenged where we are facing some kind of discouragement. How can we remember God's faithfulness in the past and trust that he will continue to be faithful even through the present challenges that we are facing. We do not, we should not question or doubt God's goodness just because at this present moment we don't have exactly what we need. Because we know that God has been faithful, he will continue to be faithful. That is his nature, that is his character. And then verse 10 says, Not complain as some of them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer. So here we see about the Israelites grumbling against both Moses and Aaron and also against God because God had chosen Moses and Aaron to lead them. So when they were complaining about their leaders, they were complaining about God as well. So that is important for us also to recognize that the leaders God has given us are people whom he has entrusted with this responsibility. And so we should honor our leaders and we should be careful about what we say about them. So it was in this complaining and murmuring that judgment came upon the people of Israel as well. So why are all of these examples stated here? Last for evil things, idolatry, sexual immorality, tempting Christ, complaining and murmuring. All of these things can be connected to what the Corinthian church was doing or what they were facing in the church. The first thing is the last for evil things. So as the Israelites were asking for meat in the wilderness, what they were saying is this meat is more precious to us than our salvation from Egypt. So this is a similar thing to what the Corinthian church was saying. They were saying we'd rather eat the meat sacrificed to idols than protect the salvation of our brothers and sisters. So if it's going to cause someone to fall, someone to fall away from their faith or to enter into sin, it's okay as long as I'm able to eat my meat. So elevating that satisfaction of our fleshly desires over salvation, over the gift of salvation that comes from God. The second thing was idolatry. So among the Israelites, they explicitly worshipped the idol. They made an idol and they worshipped it. But in the Corinthian church, although they may not have been going and standing for the idol, by taking part in this food sacrifice to idols, they were honoring the gods that had been worshipped with that food, that that food had been sacrificed to. So they were taking part in the worship of those idols. And so that's why Paul is stating this example of idolatry. The third is sexual immorality, which is what Paul has talked about previously in the letter. One of the issues that he addresses in the Corinthian church is sexual immorality. So he's saying just as the Israelites came under God's judgment because they took part in sexual sin, this is something for you to be careful about. So warning to you that you cannot dishonor God and dishonor your bodies by taking part in sexual sin and expecting that you will still receive that full salvation and be in the presence of God when Christ comes back. So calling them to reflect on what happened to the Israelites that they did not enter the Promised Land because of one of the reasons for sexual sin. The fourth is tempting Christ, testing God. So again to tell them not to test God, a question God, rather to be obedient to his word and to trust him. And the fifth, complaining and murmuring. So don't complain against your leaders, which again is what the, in some ways the church was doing, right? When they were saying, I follow Paul's, I follow Paul, they were putting down one leader, raising up another leader. And so again here, this is the reminder from Israel's history that when they complained and murmured against Aaron and when they complained against Moses, God was not pleased with them, with their behavior. So Paul is taking these examples from Israel's history and connecting it to exactly what the Corinthian church was dealing with. If we read Psalm 106, it's actually a beautiful summary of everything that happened in the wilderness. I'll just read parts of it. I'll read from verse six onwards, Psalm 106. We have sinned even as our ancestors did. We have done wrong and acted wickedly. When our ancestors were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles. They did not remember your many kindesses and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his namesake to make his mighty power known. He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up. He led them through the depths as through a desert. He saved them from the hand of the foe, from the hand of the enemy he deemed them. The waters covered their adversaries, not one of them survived. Then they believed his promises and sang his screams. But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold. In the desert, they gave in to their craving in the wilderness. They could go to the test. So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease among them. In the camp, they grew envious of Moses and of Heron, who was consecrated to the Lord. The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan. It buried the company of Abiram. Fire blazed among their followers. A flame consumed the wicked. At horror, they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal. They exchanged their glorious God for an image of a bull which eats grass. They forgot the God who saved them who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. So he said he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen one stood in the breach before him to keep his thoughts from destroying them. Then they despised the pleasant land. They did not believe his promise. They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the Lord. So he swore to them with uplifted hand that he would make them fall in the wilderness, make their descendants fall among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. They yoked themselves to the Baal of Pure and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods. They aroused the Lord's anger by their wicked deeds and a plague broke out among them. But Phineas stood up and intervened and the plague was checked. This was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come. By the waters of Melba, they angered the Lord and trouble came to Moses because of them. For they rebelled against the spirit of God and rash words came from Moses' lips. So that was up to verse 33. Then it continued from verse 14. Therefore the Lord was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance. He gave them into the hands of the nations and therefore was ruled over them. Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power. Many times he delivered them but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin. Yet he took note of their distress when he heard their cry. For their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented. He caused all who held them captive to show them mercy. So we see actually this is a beautiful summary of everything that Paul has shared. It's almost like he's gone back to Psalm 6 and those main points or the points he brings is Psalm 106. And he brings up all of these same points in this chapter. And the point of Psalm 106 is to say to recollect everything that God had done for the Israelites and how the Israelites had sinned against God. So God had been faithful but they had forgotten God. They had abandoned God. They had strayed away from God and they had prostituted themselves with other gods. So they had gone and worshipped other gods and left the God who rescued them from Egypt. And so in the same way Paul is calling these people back to Christ. He's saying don't choose other things over Christ. Don't choose that need of the Israelites. Don't choose sexual sin. Don't lust after other things because all of these things are idolatry. All of these things will take you away from God and you are elevating these things above God himself when you do things that are not in line with God's desires for you and for the church. And so from here he goes on to verse 12 and says, Let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. So don't be so confident in yourself or don't be so assured that you are okay, that you are right before God. But watch yourself, judge yourself, examine your own heart. Make sure that you are walking in line with God because if you don't do that, then you will fall. So it's a reminder for us to never come into a place of pride about where we are spiritually. That was something that we see among the Corinthians about them posting in their leaders, posting in their spiritual freedom, posting in their knowledge. There's so much pride in the church. And so as believers, it's very easy for us to come into a place of pride, especially the longer we've known Christ, the longer we've been in faith. It's very easy to come to a place of pride. So to always take a posture of humility to always be dependent on Christ and recognize that we need him and to be in a place of obedience and submission to Christ is important. We'll continue verse 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 a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. So everything that comes to us, we know that God also makes a way for us to escape it. There's no temptation where there's no escape for us. Like there's no other way for us to get out, but to give in. There's never going to be a temptation like that. So temptation could be any form of testing, any trial that comes to us. Sometimes it may be in trouble or some kind of hard situation that we are facing. Other times it might be just a desire or something that is drawing us to do something that is against God. So it may be the challenges we are facing or that kind of something that's drawing us away from God. So in either of these cases there will always be a way of escape or a way where we can turn away from the sin and turn to God. And so that is something for us to remember that when we are faced with temptation, we can run through the exit and we can resist till that temptation comes to the end. So that temptation will end. It's not going to be there forever. So we can keep resisting Satan, we can keep resisting the temptation till that time of testing comes to an end. Verse 14, therefore my beloved flee from idolatry. So all of these sins actually are a form of idolatry because they are all taking us away from God. So whether it's sexual immorality, whether it is eating food, sacrifice to idols, all of these things are, if we choose them over God then it is idolatry. But Paul emphasizes idolatry here because he's going to take us back to that topic of food, sacrifice to idols. So he talks about it from the perspective of idolatry specifically. So let's go on to verses 15 to 18. I think we just have a few minutes, maybe we can just start with it and then we'll take a break minutes time. Can someone read verses 15 to 18 for us? I speak as to wise men, judge for yourself 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, so many are one bread and one body, for we all partake of that one bread. Observe Israel after the flesh are not those who eat of the sacrifice, partakers of the altar. Thank you. So here he is in verse 15, Paul is kind of reminding that you have wisdom. You are wise people so you can judge what I am saying. It's not that you are unable to see truth from falsehood. And so he reminds them you have this wisdom. So you make a judgment as to what I'm saying, whether it's true or whether it's false. And then he gives us, gives them the example of the Lord's table. So the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion? So he's here reminding them of the significance of the Lord's table. When we are partaking in it, when we are having the cup of blessing, that is the wine, we are sharing, we are participating in, we are receiving the full blessings of the cross. So how is this done? We first bless that cup, right? The cup of blessing is a blessing that we receive through the blood of Christ, which we bless. So there's a blessing that is spoken over the cup and then we partake in it, then we share in it. It is a communion of the blood of Christ. We receive and we become participants in the benefits that are asked through the blood of Christ. So it's a communion in the blood of Christ and a communion in the body of Christ, so that we all become a part of the body of Christ. So as we receive the body of Christ, we all are saying that we are one spiritually when we all share in this body that belongs to Christ. So we continue from there. We'll take the 10 minute break and we'll be back. Thank you.