Peter Barnes: Handling Temptation, 1 Corinthians 10:13 (Sunday 19 April 2020 Morning Service)
Oscar Wilde: ‘I can resist anything except temptation.’ It sounds like Wilde – wit without wisdom. Calvin and Paul Barnett see v.13 as ‘a word of hope’, but it is both a consolation and a warning. Thomas Schreiner says the only temptation is apostasy, but it is surely general.
1. No temptation is unique. – 10:13a. The temptations which the rustic Israelites faced in the wilderness in the 15th century B.C. are much the same as those faced by the swinging Corinthians in the first century A.D. and are much the same as what we face today in the 21st century. – 10:6-10. Idolatry, immorality, murmuring and complaining. Sins do not change, only the details.
2. No temptation is beyond our strength. – 10:13b; James 1:13-15. – Acts 2:23. The Father sent His Son to die, but it was the fault of the people who crucified Him. See Ex.9:12 and Ex.8:32. – Gen.13:6-13. Lot played with the egg, and ended out with a serpent. Ps.51:3. – Martin Luther: ‘We cannot stop the birds from flying over our heads, but we must take heed lest they build their nests in our hair.’ 2 Tim.2:13.
3. No temptation is inescapable. – 10:13c. See Gen.39:7-12. Be decisive – Prov.4:14-15. We can never say: ‘I just cannot help myself.’ Thomas Chalmers: ‘The best way of casting out an impure affection is to admit a pure one; and by the love of what is good to expel the love of what is evil.’ John Boys: ‘It is our duty to feel sin, to fear sin, and to flee sin as far as we can.’
Watch the service below.