And just saying together, you are my life, my all, I belong to you, is going to be explored and tested and challenged through the text of scripture that the Lord has for us this morning. And I'd like to ask you to turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians. And I want to ask you to go to Chapter 1. You may have noticed in our service guide that we are going to pick up where we left off our study Wednesday night in Chapter 10. But on your way to Chapter 10, I want to have you start in Chapter 1 this morning. I'm having us do that because I haven't for many months reminded us of an expression that the Apostle Paul uses of the people of this church in Corinth. When he, in verse two here of chapter one, addressed them as the recipients of his letter, he referred to them, first of all, as you can see, as being of the church of God, which is at Corinth. He also referred to them as sanctified in Christ Jesus, set apart from their sin unto Christ, But then he also used this expression called to be what? Called to be saints. And that expression called to be saints was regarded to be so significant by a commentator named Robert Gromacki that he adopted that phrase as the title of his commentary. And I had to purchase that commentary as a textbook in undergrad Bible class at Maranatha, and I have used it ever since. the expression saints or also what is the expression holy ones there they both come out of this same greek expression that expression refers to those who are separated from what is at a minimum common or what might in some cases be defiled and are consecrated to what is special and what is pure. In this case, because you're talking about the church of God, a saint is at least one that is set apart from a godless culture and is someone who is consecrated to God himself, This is what the members of that church, and this is what we that are members of Faith Baptist Church in Easley, we are called to be people who are consecrated to God out of a godless culture and in the midst of a godless culture. I'm not going to retrace all of the background information we gave in our introduction to the book and to this city, but this city of Corinth that, again, this church was called to live consecrated in, this was a city that was known for being especially immoral and especially pagan. And against that backdrop, I do want us to move to chapter 10. If you'll come forward to chapter 10, when you are living in that kind of a culture, and when you are wrestling with and you are debating just how connected a consecrated one can be to their culture, In what way should a consecrated one be or not be connected to their culture? If you are wrestling with that, you really need to heed the admonition of 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 12. Notice verse 12, wherefore, let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he do what? Lest he fall. Now we're gonna zero in on one specific illustration that Paul used as he made the case for this admonition. But it would be good before we even get to that one for us to note now in a general way that strong, healthy, mature Christians live cautiously. about the pathways that can lead to false. I'll even say it, consecrated Christians live cautious about the pathways that lead to false. Spiritually healthy Christians don't live carefree. They certainly don't live resistant to even the discussion of potential dangers of connections with our culture. If you've been with us for our recent studies in chapters eight through 10, or you've studied this book in another setting, you might recall that the specific issue at hand in these three chapters was, again, whether someone called to be consecrated to God, whether they should be allowing themselves the liberty of attending the feast that were held in the pagan temples. And if that question just seems strange to us from this vantage point, we have to remember that the draw to that practice would have been that the temple in that day was not only a place of worship, but in many cases, it would have been the one facility in an entire community that could host large social gatherings. from weddings and receptions to retirement parties to major birthday parties and so on. You can read about these things historically in the first century. Many of these were held in the temple and its precincts because it was like the conference center of the day. It was like the banquet room of the restaurant of our day. But to go to a social function like that in the temple or its precincts, you would be going to a place where the entire event was still dedicated to one or more pagan deities. And in addition, some of those pagan temples were well known for cultic immorality. And at least one of the temples in Corinth was infamous for that dynamic. The temple of Epaphrodite was known as the temple of a thousand prostitutes. These are the pagan temples of that day. Well, some of the members of the church in Corinth were still claiming the right to attend those social functions, and were doing so with, I'm sure, the strong affirmation, they're not going to worship any false gods. They are certainly not going to worship the devil and any of his demons. And a further argument we know from chapter eight was their knowledge that food is essentially, you know, just food. It's a matter of moral neutrality. And even something like the idols, they had made this discussion, the idols that would have been scattered all over the facilities like that. I mean, those are just sticks, stones, precious metal. You know, look, I'm settled on the right object of my worship. And all of those accessories of worship in the pagan temple, I mean, they're just accessories after all. They aren't the essentials. They aren't even matters of morality. But if you were to think based on that kind of reasoning, that your standing with God is firm and that idolatry in particular is not something you would be vulnerable to being tripped up by and falling into, then you need to look at verse seven, which is the next section of our study in this text. Verse 7 says, neither be ye idolaters as were some of them. I'm going to pause before I finish it to briefly make sure that we're on the same page as to who the them is. Who were the idolaters? Some of them were idolaters. Well, it's referring to, back in verse one, an entire generation in Israel that you can see followed the cloud of God that led them to pass through, at the end of verse one, the Red Sea. And you remember that God miraculously parted the waters to deliver them from Egyptian bondage. They did it, in verse two, under the leadership of Moses, in verse three, they ate food miraculously supplied from heaven. In verse four, they drank water miraculously provided out of a rock. And yet in verse five, they were an entire generation, save two men, Joshua and Caleb, an entire generation that God was not pleased with. And a whole generation that he, you can see the word, were overthrown. They were thrown down by God in judgment all over the wilderness of Sinai. And here in verse seven, the particular sin that some of them fell into. that provoke God's judgment was idolatry. And again, you might say, Pastor, out of all the sins I could potentially fall into, I just don't think this one is one that I'm vulnerable to at all. And my response to that would be, I wouldn't be so sure. Look at the rest of verse seven. As it is written, the people sat down to eat. and drink and rose up to play. And with that, you might be more perplexed than ever and wonder how that describes idolatry. I mean, what is so evil about eating and drinking and rising up to play? That almost sounds like a church fellowship. Right? And I will just mention that after our Bible Institute tonight, a couple of our young married men are grilling smash burgers, not hot dogs tonight. They're grilling burgers tonight. and you'll be able to wash those burgers down with some bottled water and lemonade. And then you can go out and play some cornhole if you like, or volleyball, or spike ball, or participate in some other activity. So how could eating and drinking and rising up to play be a matter of idolatry? While we do have a passage, we can turn to and attempt to understand this episode better. Most of you have an Old Testament reference in your margin because this phrase came from a very specific context. The reference is, you can say it, Exodus and chapter 32. Exodus 32, and we need to go back there. Exodus chapter 32, turn back there with me. The specific reference to people sitting down to eat and drink and rising up to play is going to be found in verse number six. To catch what is going on here, we have to start back in verse number one. As you look at Exodus 32 and verse one, You can see a reference to the people being aware that Moses had delayed to come down from the mountain. God called Moses up into Mount Sinai to receive the law. And again, it refers to him delaying to come down. Well, back in chapter 24 in verse 8, we're told that Moses was up there for 40 days. So he goes up into the mountain to receive the law and nobody had seen anything of him in 40 days. Then as we read to the end of the verse, the people say they don't know what has become of him, which is really to say that they fear that Moses is what? Okay, he's gone up into a mountain and he's died up there. So the people plead with Aaron to make for them a substitute. which look at the expression still here in verse one, a substitute that shall go before us. Notice, up make us God's, which shall go before us. Because this man Moses, we don't know what's happened to him. We think he's probably died. So for a sense of, you know, maybe comfort, security, leadership, They wanted a tangible object to follow as their rallying point. I mean, Moses had served that role, and now they want a replacement for Moses. So they were not at this point, and they would not be later in this episode as we see it, they are not suggesting they want to turn away from the worship of Yahweh, of Jehovah God. They just want a different kind of aid to following Him. They want, you know, Moses is gone, maybe there's another way, a different approach, a different method, a different aid in following God. And they had a particular object in mind. In verse number four, if you'll look there, we see a reference to the making of a molten, or we would say today, a golden, and we have this word calf, and it is the Hebrew word for a bull calf. Well, the Egyptians, in the land from which they had just come, had a bull god named Apis. and the bull symbolized strength and fertility in the ancient Near East, and it was used to depict a range of gods throughout that entire region. So what the people are proposing here is a syncretism. What they're proposing is, let's get us one of those symbols of strength and fertility, like the symbols for some of these other gods. Let us get one of those symbols for the worship of our Jehovah God. Let us blend our religion with some of the religious practices of the pagan land we left and some of the religious practices of the people around us. Let us have a blended worship, syncretistic worship. And it's worth underscoring that this proposed syncretism, in this case, originated with the people. Look again at verse one. It says, and when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron. And it's the people that said unto him, up, make us gods. When the people a leader is serving make these kind of proposals, it becomes a great test for that leader. When the people want a religious life and a worship experience that is more fashioned after their culture, when they want a religious life and worship experience that is more blended with their culture, that is not nearly so exclusive and out of touch with their culture. When they want some of the same kinds of bells and whistles and sights and sounds. Listen, when they want to feel more of the same sensations. When they want to operate on more of the same kind of schedule. when they want to come in the same kind of attire as their culture comes on in its various gatherings. That puts enormous pressure on the leadership. And with all of that pressure, there's even a pressure to preach a gospel that doesn't call for casting down and doing away with the people's darling idols. And part of the pressure comes from what leadership even is. Okay, we will say things, and rightly so, we will say things like, you aren't a leader if no one is what? If no one is following. And when it seems like it is the leaders who are giving the people a more blended approach that are actually gaining a following, A leader can even start to think, you know, I'm not hearing anyone say that they are turning from the true God. They still have the right object of their worship. They just want something that's gonna help them feel more connected to their God. They want more familiar forms to express their worship of their God. when you look at verse 2 and and following in this case as in so many other since then the leader followed the followers the leader followed the followers appeals and then he goes ahead and takes the lead in promoting and carrying out the idolatry. It was Aaron that said, okay, bring me all the jewelry and this is what we're gonna do, and he carries it out. And in verse five, if you'll look there, he gave it all the more legitimacy by building an altar before that bull. And at the same time, look at this phrase, proclaiming a feast to who? He proclaimed a feast to the Lord while the altar that he's built is for that bull. And then we read verse six. They rose up early on the morrow and they offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And now the phrase that Paul quotes, the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. And as far as we can see, while there might not have been universal participation, because we don't know that, like did everyone do it? There might not have been universal participation, but there's also no mention of a protest. There's no mention of opposition. There's no one it seems to be willing to make a scene and to say stop it This isn't right There's going to be an awful price to pay for this. You can't do it And in these kind of settings There typically are multiple groups present and There clearly are some that, like those in verse one, were insisting on the new blended religion and worship. There are some that are like, you've got to give it to us. There are some, it would appear, that deep in their hearts knew it was wrong. Like in verse 26, I know I'm getting way ahead, but you can just get a little feel of that. Moses stood on the outside of the camp and he comes down and he asks, here's where we get the phrase, who is on the Lord's side? And the sons of Levi joined him. They went to war against a number of, it seems, the most serious offenders. All right, but brethren, even these men who knew in their hearts it was wrong, even they stayed initially quiet. And there was likely another group, as there are in all kinds of groups like this, in these kind of settings, there was likely another group that was very confused about the entire situation. And at least part of the confusion was because of who ended up promoting the blending? Who ended up promoting the syncretism? I mean, who made the claim that this is essentially all okay with the Lord? In fact, we can even do all this as if it's unto the Lord. Who did that? It was Aaron. And brethren, let's be clear about this. Aaron was a God-appointed, we can even say this, Aaron was literally a God-anointed man. Aaron was a God-called, God-anointed spiritual leader. But he was dead wrong when he initially followed instead of leading. and gave those insisting on the blending what they wanted. He was dead wrong about that. And he was dead wrong when he compounded it even further by using what was left of his now very compromised leadership to give it all a feel of legitimacy and credibility. People are inclined to think, can it really be so wrong when pastor or Evangelist, or Dr. So-and-so, who's clearly a gifted preacher, who so many people have recognized the hand of God on him. who so many people can vouch for his being a sincere servant of the Lord. I mean, I know him personally. I don't just know him, you know, outside of there and peripherally. Like, I know him personally. I know his walk with the Lord. I can vouch for that. And when so many people can say, the pastor, the evangelist, the doctor, so-and-so, who has been God's man and been used of God and is very sincere, When he affirms the legitimacy of the blended changes, it is incredibly confusing. And this is how churches and mission boards and Christian colleges and camps can fall and ultimately fall faster than anyone really thinks they would fall as far as they have gone. And at first, the people don't even think what they're watching or participating in is a fall. I mean, some might be suspicious at first, but again, you look at verse number six, look at what they brought. They're bringing the burnt offerings. They're bringing the peace offerings. And they're still doing the things that they were, you know, the law tells us to do. And again, back in verse five, Aaron said, they've still got the right object. They're doing it to the Lord. So they don't even think they're participating in or watching a fall. But in order to convince themselves that they aren't watching a fall, you know what they're gonna have to be willing to do? They're gonna have to be willing to look the other way when in verses 17 and 18, you start to hear music that sounds like a war. And you're not even sure what you are hearing. And you're gonna have to turn the other way when you get to verse number 19 and there is a kind of dancing involved that provoked Moses to indignation that God affirmed was a righteous indignation. And they're gonna have to further just look the other way when you get to verse 25 and something really shameful is happening. The word translated naked here is translated in several other places uncovered. That's where the idea of naked comes from. This same word is also translated as let loose. It's translated as neglected. It's translated as unrestrained. It's translated as out of control. Some say the idea of breaking loose, running wild is the concept. Whatever the specifics were, and think of this, think of the accumulation. You've got music that you're not even sure what you're hearing. Is it the sound of war or is that people singing? And you have some kind of sensual dancing. And you've got people that are uncovered at some level and out of control. And whatever the specifics were in the situation, it was something that clearly at the end of the verse, it was, look at it, it was shameful. And you can see right here in the verse the mention of Aaron's contribution. Even Aaron that God called man had lost a sense of contributing to the shame. It is not a good thing when the people of God and when the leaders of God's people can't be horrified anymore and can't be ashamed anymore of how far we have shifted so fast. The people that have been there and at some level have just made peace with the gradual implementation of the blended practices. They may hardly even recognize much of what has happened, but somebody that's been away for just a little bit of time can drop back in and say, what in the world is going on here? I hardly even recognize this place. What happened to the church? I knew just a few years ago. What happened to the college? I went to a decade ago. What happened to that camp? What happened? I don't even recognize the place anymore. I mean, I know the buildings but What in the world And while all either participate or silently watch it happen. You can go back to verse seven where we left off. The Lord said unto Moses, go get thee down, for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have done what? Corrupted themselves, and they have turned aside quickly out of the way, which I commanded them. Now, don't go back to 1 Corinthians yet, but what we really need to zero in on is the fact that in Paul's note of warning to the Corinthians, to when they think they stand, take heed lest they fall, the verse from here in Exodus that he cited is verse what? It is verse six. I'm not trying to insult any of your intelligence, although sometimes we can use a little shake up, all right? If he, listen, if he just wanted to rebuke idolatry, then he could have cited verse one, where the people say, make us gods. If he just wanted to rebuke idolatry, he could have cited verse four, where they're looking at the bull and they're saying, these are your gods that brought you out of Egypt. Instead, he chooses verse six, which speaks of the accompanying activities. It speaks of the accessories. It speaks of the non-essentials. It speaks of the morally neutral elements. And I know I'm referring to what Paul cited, but brethren, who infallibly superintended all the words Paul wrote so that we have the very words that our Lord wanted us to have? Who did that? It is the Holy Spirit. This is Holy Spirit given scripture. Would you please hear this? Whatever else you may wrestle with in the illustrations and applications I use, would you hear this this morning? That the spirit of God is intent on bringing the Corinthian church and all of us here today to the place of recognizing you can violate the commandment regarding idolatry by participating in practices directly associated with it. You could participate in the supposed non-essentials, in the morally neutral accessories. And your association with those morally neutral, non-essential accessories of idolatry could bring you to violate God's commandment. Associations matter. It's hogwash to say, well, association, that's one of the lower arguments. Someone should have told Paul. He apparently quoted from the wrong scripture in Exodus 32. No, it's the Spirit of God who is using Paul to help us all know associations matter. And what else matters? Accessories matter. even the ones that in isolation, without the association, might be morally neutral. But while so many today keep making these arguments about non-essentials and moral neutrality, their associations with the gods of our culture are getting closer and closer and closer. And I seriously do want to ask all of us this morning, when will you draw the line? Where will you stop? Is there anything that you can still be ashamed of? Is there anything that can still stir you up to anger Will you ever be able to distinguish again where consecration to God is truly at odds with the culture? Like, seriously, isn't our Christian college students and recent college grads advertising their fandom of Taylor Swift? when they advertise that they loved her concert in Atlanta on a Saturday night, before they try to go to the Lord's church on the Lord's Day on Sunday, when you can walk into a Christian college chapel and have an employee, a student employee of the college, asking her peers, what's your favorite Taylor Swift song? While they're on their way into chapel, Can we ever get to the place where we can grieve and get upset and bow in shame and say, how did we get here? What contributed to this? What part have I had to it? Will anybody say enough's enough? We got to draw a line somewhere. Here's a question. Who's on the Lord's side? In 2008, a pastor from Indiana posted a poll on a forum that advertised as a forum for discussion amongst fundamentalists. I mean, it's right in the heading. This is what the form is, a form for fundamentalists. So this pastor, I went back and had to find the date this week, but the title of the poll was, once worldly and sinful, now okay and tolerable, have you changed? Once worldly and sinful, now okay and tolerable, have you changed? When he initiated that poll, and you can't put a lot of stuff on the poll other than he eventually gave some categories, but he said, have your views changed over the years on these controversial subjects? And they're all listed down there. And then he followed that up by saying, I've come around completely on something like ballroom dancing, which my wife and I teach to our youth group. So I've got categories like this. I used to think ballroom dancing was worldly and sinful. I've come around and now a pastor in Indiana teaches that to his youth group. So I'll ask this, does ballroom dancing have any accessories that have a consistent connection to activities the scripture would condemn? So he listed it, and on the forum of professed fundamentalists, 27% of them replied back and said that they used to regard it as sinful. They now regard it as OK and tolerable. That was in 2008. I'm sure the percentage has gone way up now because it's wedding after wedding after wedding of our recent college grads that are dancing at their receptions. But the reason why the whole thing caught me then is because the same week as the poll came out, I was coaching a sixth grade community football team. And I came into practice one afternoon, and before I could get the guys' attention and get them into our practice, the big news amongst these sixth graders was of one of our players slow dancing with a girl at some middle school event the night before. And the thoughts and comments of those boys were about as far in the gutter as I thought a sixth grade boy's mind could be. A pastor who's teaching teenagers in his church ballroom dancing is, at a minimum, overlooking the total impact of all of the accessories involved. He had to go hang out with some sixth graders and try to evangelize them and watch the wreck and ruin of their families. 50% of these fundamentalists indicated they had changed their views of contemporary Christian music, and they now regard it as OK. But brethren, certain sounds have been associated with sensuality since the days of this very scene in Exodus. And when pop musicians of various flavors testify that their music is primarily about uncommitted lust with a bit of drugs and violence and rebellion thrown in, they're telling the truth. and the art forms and all the accessories and the performance practices they have chosen to utilize are part of the communication. They keep saying it and we just keep adopting more and more and more of it. 48% of these fundamentals, I'm going down through their poll, all right, so the thing he set up and people responded to. 48% of the fundamentals changed their views on attending the movie theater. Did the content and all the accessories of the world's movie theaters go through a massive cleanup in the last 30 years? See, really, let's be honest about this. The changes that are taking place are not because the culture at large has become more cleaned up and supportive of scriptural truth. The changes that are taking place all around us and within us are happening because in far too many cases we've become more and more comfortable with our associations with the accessories of a godless culture. But brethren, you and I and our entire membership needs to be reminded that we are called to be saints. We are called to be holy ones. We are called to distinctive consecration to God in a godless culture. And at some level, That's going to involve refusing association with even the morally neutral accessories of current idolatry. If you're going to be consecrated to God and be on the Lord's side, it's going to involve refusing association with even the morally neutral accessories of current idolatry. You could work that out and wrestle with it, but you can't debate that's what the scripture says. And if you want to keep excusing and defending the broadening of all of your associations, you at least need to do this. You need to take heed when you think you stand. Because better men, better churches, better institutions have fallen and have fallen far and fast. to the place of God just overthrowing them in His wrath. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Would you, at a minimum, do where we started? Would you say, Lord, Help me to heed the caution. Help me to recognize it is spiritually healthy. It is spiritually mature. It is spiritually wise to be cautious. Lord, help me not be carefree. Help me not be dismissive. Help me not be resistant and get prickly and upset at even the challenge about this. and give me a tenderness that would be willing to, again, subject the patterns of the choices I've been making, even in regards to accessories and morally neutral elements. Help me to consider the associations of all of those accessories and what I'm getting more and more connected with. what it's doing to me, what I'm contributing to, and the atmosphere around me. We're going to need more time. We always do. It's not just this message. We always do need more time to continue to let the Word have its place in us, to move. But we do need a heart to say, Lord, I do want you to deal with me. Our Heavenly Father, we do pray that you would give great grace that you've promised to all those that would be humbled before you. Give the grace that would grant wisdom. Give the grace that would grant courage. Give the grace that would grant the nurturing of faith. And Lord, we pray that you would also Show your mercy to us on corporate levels. And Lord, give us some corporate course corrections in our homes, our churches, and institutions we're all connected with. Give us what really is to be ongoing all the time because of all the new challenges. Lord, give us The craze to make these course corrections. Before we fall. Before more of our children fall. Before in exodus we lose 3000 plus. We seek you for your mercy, your grace, your kindness, your long-suffering. But Lord, a work that would correct us and change us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.