Flee Idolatry by Standing Firm in Gospel Faithfulness

Date: 24 August 2025, 9.30 am

Speaker: Ps Daniel Tan  Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-22

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TRANSCRIPT

Introduction

Blessed Sunday, everyone, both here in the sanctuary and those joining us online.

Last Sunday we heard the National Day rally from our Prime Minister. As is the tradition, in many of the initiatives announced, there was a face to it. Giving an example of what it would mean practically or someone that Singaporeans could emulate.

There were examples of how different Singaporeans have stepped up on their own accord and embody the Singapore spirit. Illustrating what it means to have the emphasis on ‘we’ and not ‘I’.  

So the rally highlighted Dignity Kitchen, a foodcourt that has been employing people with disabilities and also Empowered Families Initiative, which invests in lower-income families.

The idea of ‘we’, people plural, being united and journeying together should be no stranger to us as believers. We are one body in Christ.

Two weeks ago, when we went through 1 Corinthians 8. The big idea was Love over Liberty. Because we prefer the pronoun ‘we’ and not ‘I’, we were exhorted to choose the spiritual good of a brother or sister over exercising our personal rights.

Last Sunday through 1 Cor 9, Paul gave his own life as an example—laying down his rights for the sake of the Gospel.

Remember Ps Luwin challenged us, would our lives be lived each day like a missions trip?

During missions, we determine to focus not on our own rights, but the rights of whom we minister to. Typically that’s 5 days out of 365 days in a year.  

So we were challenged, use the same ratio, considering doing so for the 80 years we have on earth against the eternity that we will spend with God.

As we are aware, the overarching theme connecting 1 Cor 8 to 10 is that of idolatry and in particular food associated with idolatry.

Paul says now in 1 Cor 10, if you misuse your freedom, you can end up like Israel in the wilderness—blessed, privileged… and destroyed.

As the National Day Rally speech points out positive role models, Paul here in 1 Cor 10 will be pointing out negative role models.

In Singapore, we might not bow down to wooden idols in a temple, but we face different forms of idolatry—success, comfort, social approval, even ministry recognition.

And the question is, are we learning from the past and thus seek to stand firm in the Gospel, or are we following our ancestors and inadvertently walking towards danger.

Do not be presumptuous about your spiritual heritage (v1-5)

1 Cor 10:1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Turn with me to the first 5 verses of 1 Cor 10.

Paul's audience were Gentile Christians and yet he addressed them as 'brothers'. He indicates that both himself and them are all part of one body of Christ.

Significantly he tell them that our 'fathers', were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. He is referring to the Israelites who came out of slavery in Egypt, and saying they are my ancestors and yours too.

We share the same spiritual heritage.

For Paul, there was continuity between the covenant people of God in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.

The old were the nation of Israel and the new is the church.

In so doing, Paul is telling them that as part of the spiritual heritage of Israel, the Corinthians too have received God's blessings.

In connecting the Corinthians to Israel, we see also our connection to being God's chosen people.

Two blessings Israel received.

Firstly, they were delivered from slavery to identity with Christ

1 Cor 10:1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,

Israel spent 400 years as slaves in Egypt. In saving them, God parted the red sea for them and then closed the waters after them, drowning the Egyptians who were pursuing them.

Being under the cloud refers to God's presence with them as he guided them during the wilderness. Ex 13:21 tells us that God guided them by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

Notice here that in these 4 verses, the word 'all' is used to describe the Israelites. 5 times the word 'all' is used.

The repetition of the word 'all' gives us the picture that God's blessings covered every Israelite - both the young and the old, the male and the female.  There was oneness in that blessed experience.

In Paul using the word 'baptized' to describe the Israelites relationship with Moses, Paul is saying they were identifying with Moses.

The exodus was the pivotal turning point in Israel's history.  They were all rescued from slavery to freedom by Moses, the chosen servant of God.

So as the Israelites identified with God in Moses, now for the Corinthians, in their baptism, they are identified with Christ.

Through Christ, we have the blessings of the deliverance from slavery to sin.

Second blessing was that they were sustained by a divine source

1 Cor 10:3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

It's not that the Israelites ate spiritual stuff in the wilderness. But that the source of the food and the water that they ate and drank was from a spiritual source.

In Exodus 16:15 and 17:6, the Lord miraculously provided manna for food and water for drink.

The blessings the Israelites received was a divine creator that sustained them for 40 years in the wilderness.

Paul goes one step further to say that, the rock which sustained the Israelites with life-giving water is none other than Christ.

Here we see that the pre-incarnate Christ was caring for them and fulfilling the needs of His people.

Today when we partake of communion, we have the spiritual presence of God in the communion elements.

As we remember the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, He sustains us spiritually to be all that He wants us to be.

Do we have the same blessings today? Yes we do.

Let us not be ignorant of our spiritual heritage. The Scriptures are our spiritual heritage. Through the covenant of grace, we are linked to God's people throughout the ages.

The blessings of deliverance from slavery to identity in Christ and of spiritual sustenance that the Israelites have, are ours too in the 21st Century. 

Let’s pause and reflect, are our lives correctly portraying gratitude towards God for our spiritual heritage?

Why pause, because v5 says 'nevertheless'.

We see that even though in the first 4 verses, all receive the blessings, yet, God was not pleased with most of them.

In contrast with the word 'all' in the first 4 verses, v5 says, with most of them, God was not pleased and they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Though all the Israelites of the exodus had the same experience of redemption, they did not all respond to it in the same way. They all started out the same, but they did not end up the same way.

Scripture records:

Num 32:11 ‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me, 12 none except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord.’

The Straits Times ran a story about a CEO whose company got millions in government contracts. Yong was the CEO of Evergreen Group Holdings and was even featured in the Super Rich in Korea.

They had resources, connections, top staff—but it all collapsed because of reckless decisions and arrogance. He was arrested and charged for falsifying tax invoices amid investigations into investor fund misuse.

They had every advantage… and still failed.

That’s Israel’s story. And Paul’s saying—don’t let that be our story.

We must not be presumptions about our spiritual heritage.

For those of us who have many years of walking with the Lord, we have experienced His grace and mercies, we have years of servant leadership and contributions to the faith community, they are a blessing.

But let’s not be overconfident and prayerless. For when that happens, we may be in danger of falling like Israel did.

The encouragement today is that the most important commitment is a close watch on your walk with God.

Church, as we look at Gospel faithfulness (the last part of the sermon title), it means we must not be presumptuous about our spiritual heritage.  

Take heed lest you fall (v6-13)

From reminding the Corinthians that Israel was presumptuous about their spiritual heritage, Paul drives home the point by giving them very concrete examples.

V6 and v11 are like bookends and they highlight that everything contained within them are to be seen in a specific light.

1 Cor 10:6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. 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.

The bookends emphasize that this particular set of history is recorded down as examples that should not be followed.

Why, because these examples are evil, they are extremely harmful.

Let’s take a look at the examples from the text.

V7 is the first example - The Golden Calf (Exodus 32)

Here is the sin of idolatry.

Moses was up at Mt Sinai for 40 days and the people thought that Moses was taking too long a time and so they ask Aaron to make them some gods.

The phrase “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” is lifted from Exodus 32:6.

In Exodus 32, we see that Aaron described the golden calf as the god that brought them out of Egypt, the ceremonies they did at the altar was also what was to be done for Yahweh - they sacrifice burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings (Ex 32:6).

No matter how sincere the Israelites were trying to do it, they were combining the pagan influences receive while they were in Egypt with the worship of the true God.

It’s one thing to say we should not worship idols, but we must also be careful that we do not also worship God the wrong way.

Here is the warning for us Christians today. Any concept of God which is not biblical is false. If we believe, follow and worship God in such a manner, that is worshipping an idol.

The end of Exodus 32, in judgment, God used the Levites to cleanse the people by killing 3000 men that day.

V8 is example 2 - Sexual immorality with Moabite Women (Num 25)

The Corinthians were in a sexually permissive society. Religion and sex were closely inter-twined with the temple of Aphrodite.

It is fitting that Paul reminds them of Numbers 25.

The Israelites indulged in sexual immorality with Moabite women and this led them to sacrifices to the gods of the Moabites.

Num 25:3 says, the Lord's anger burned against them. God sent a plague and Paul tells us that the day that the plague started, 23,000 died.

In the first example, they followed their hearts and worshipped not God but something else that they thought could represent God.

They moved even further away in the second example by joining the pagans in the worship of their gods. They were led astray by the seduction of sex with people not of the same faith community.

Paul was warning the Corinthians, you are in the same situation. You think you are wise, strong spiritually to resist the temptations? Let me tell you that you are not.

You want to play with fire, you will get burnt. Immorality is to be fled from, not flirted with.

Christ has given us freedom so that we may serve him more effectively in righteousness, not so that we can see how close we can get to unrighteousness.

Are we in the same situation today? Are some in our congregation, contemplating about marriage with people of different faiths?

V9 is example 3 - Trying God at Mt Hor (Num 21)

With the phrase, 'killed by serpents', Paul brings to mind Numbers 21.

Numbers records for us that the Israelites spoke against God and Moses. They said, why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread, there is no water, and we detest this miserable food.

They were relentlessly complaining, questioning God's goodness and trying His patience. They had no concern for pleasing God, only for Him to please them.

They have been freed from slavery to serve God better but instead they were demanding that God serve them better.

Are we like that? Can we check ourselves as we pray to God, as we live life, do we expect God to be our personal genie?

God - you must take care of this for me, God, you must get me that life partner, God, what kind of salary is this, how am I going to live on this?

The word 'God', has become an exclamation mark of frustration. Not as how it should mean 'Elohim' - meaning, the mighty one, powerful one, the judge.

God sent venomous snakes and many Israelites died.

The Israelites discovered that under freedom, there are limits. God will punish those who cross over the limits He has set.

Paul is warning the Corinthians, we are also being warned today.

Final example from v10 - Do not be complaining (Num 14,16,21)

In three chapters of Numbers, the Israelites were described as grumbling or complaining. Let’s look just at Numbers 16. 

Num 16 - there was a rebellion led by Korah, Dathan and Abiram against Moses. The  Lord judged against them and the earth swallowed them up.

Numbers 16:41 says, the next day, the whole assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and grumbled that Moses and Aaron had killed the Lord's people.

God judged them and sent a plague which killed 14,700.

The Israelites grumbled, they murmured.

What's that? That’s inner dissatisfaction with God's sovereign will for our lives and the lives of others.

The examples show us that God does not take this lightly even in view of His grace.

When we question or complain, we are challenging God's wisdom, His grace, His goodness, His love and His righteousness.

In all 4 examples, we see the sin of pride, the sin of self is very evident.

We need, we want, we prefer, we desire. We make ourselves the idol. God is not Yahweh, God is not Lord.

In warning us to take heed of the negative examples, Paul says, take heed also of the solution God provides. Oh, what needful encouragement that is.

1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. 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.

Three key things we want to get right in our application of God’s encouragement.

Firstly, our temptations are not unique. To think that our temptations are unique is the lie of Satan. When we fall into the devil’s trap, we will think nothing can save me. No existing method is good enough.

No, we all face temptations that are common to mankind.

Secondly, we must remember that God is faithful. In the depth of temptation, know that God is still there with us. Remember that as believers we have God the Holy Spirit in us.

Yes, on this side of eternity, we will still stumble and fall, but by the grace of God, He will give us the ability to yield to our temptations less and less.

It is again the devil’s lie to get us to think that God has abandon us in our temptations or that God hates us thus we are being tempted.

No, God is faithful and He is faithful to His character of being holy and just and loving and merciful and gracious.

Finally, God’s solution is not to take us out of our temptation, but God’s way is for us to be able to endure through it.

God does give us an escape route, but it’s might not be the way we want it to be.

Scripture says God provides ‘the’ way of escape. It’s a specific way, and that is His strength to endure through it.

Church, as we look at how to remain standing firm (the middle part of the sermon title) it is when we take heed not to follow negative examples and take heed of God’s solution for our sinful challenges.

Flee idolatry by wholeheartedly embracing the Lord’s Table (v14-22)

1 Cor 10:14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? 19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22  Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

After recounting the blessings and the discipline of the Israelites, Paul says, finally, to sum it all up, flee from idolatry.

When you recognize idolatry, flee. Urgent action and it must be in the completely opposite direction.

Remember in 1 Cor 6:18, the same advice is given – flee from sexual immorality.

Idolatry and the Christian, they don’t mix. They should be as far apart as possible.

And so Paul appeals to their logical thinking. They see themselves as wise and so, as sensible people, he brings an analogy to help them see the stark difference between Idolatry and the Christian.

Paul refers them to the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion.  

Hey, Corinthians, we all agree that the bread and the cup represent the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And when we have Holy Communion, we say that the real, spiritual presence of Christ is with us.

The Westminster Confession of Faith puts it:

WCF 29.7 – Worthy receivers of this sacrament, outwardly partaking of its visible elements, also inwardly by faith-really and indeed, yet not physically but spiritually-receive and feed upon Christ crucified and all the benefits of his death. The body and blood of Christ are not physically in, with, or under the bread and wine, yet in this ordinance the body and blood of Christ are present to the faith of believers in a real a spiritual sense as the bread and wine are to their physical senses. (1 Cor 11:28, 1 Cor 10:16, 1 Cor 10:3-4)

There is this vertical spiritual relationship that is happening when we partake of Holy Communion.

V17 then instructs that we also have this horizontal relationship. That in Holy Communion we break and share one bread.

The idea of unity and identity and fellowship is thereby associated.

Then, in v19 and v20, Paul drops the bombshell.

Yes, in chapter 8, I did say that idols are nothing. But that does not mean there are no spiritual realities behind them. They are not gods, but behind idols are demons.

This idea of demons is not new for Moses already mentioned it in referring to the idolatry of the Israelites:

Deut 32:17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded. 18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

Scripture therefore commands, flee idolatry. You cannot have split loyalties. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.

In 2015, the story broke of how SingTel’s marketing agency Gushcloud was involved in a covert smear campaign against Singtel’s competitors, M1 and Starhub.

Gushcloud instructed bloggers to post negative comments to boost Singtel’s appeal. SingTel cancelled their ties with this agency subsequently calling it a breach of trust and professional standards.

One of the bloggers apologise saying

"I...apologise to anyone affected for posting negative comments towards M1 (while on a Singtel campaign) and not explicitly stating or revealing that I was on a campaign with Singtel," he wrote.

But he added that he had not lied, and that he had been "unhappy" with his service provider, M1.

This incident illustrates that we cannot serve two masters or dine at two tables.

Just as SingTel had to cut ties when trust was broken, we too must flee anything that competes with Christ for our hearts. You cannot partake in Holy Communion and still flirt with idolatry.

The table of our Lord demands exclusivity.

And so Paul ends today’s text with a stern warning. Do not provoke the Lord to jealousy. Remember what God did in His jealously towards the Israelites in the earlier part of chapter 10.

Church, why we should flee idolatry? The reason is that the Lord’s Table is exclusive.

God is spiritually present with His children at Holy Communion. And because of that, God will jealously guard those who are His.

Conclusion

Paul’s warning is clear: God has redeemed us for Himself. Israel’s story is a caution: great blessings, but great downfall when hearts wandered.

The good news? The Rock who was with Israel is with us now.

At the cross, Jesus took the judgment our idolatry deserves. At the Lord’s Table, He gives Himself to us—our covenant Lord who will keep us to the end.

The Gospel both warns and assures: Flee idols, and run to Christ.

We are not called to share our hearts with rivals, but to give them wholly to the One who gave Himself wholly for us.

That’s why as we close, we’ll sing O Great God.It’s not just a song—it’s a prayer:

“O great God of highest heav'n, Occupy my lowly heart, Own it all and reign supreme, Conquer every rebel power”

That’s the cry of a church that has fled idols to feast at Christ’s table.

Reflection Questions: 

1. There is only one God, but demons do exist and have an influence in our world. As such, idolatry is a real danger even within the Church. What events/practices do you encounter in your life today that might run the risk of participation in idol worship?

   
   

2. What are some practical ways we can take to prioritise loyalty to God in every aspect of our lives?

   
   

3. How might we better or more tightly embrace the Lord’s Table and thereby stand firm in Gospel faithfulness?