Baptism Into Moses (1st Corinthians 10:2)

Introduction

I was getting ready to get up here and I realized my Bible is coming apart at the seams. That may be because I dropped it the last time I think I was in this pulpit or at least a couple weeks ago. But then I was comforted by the statement, the Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t. I hope that’s the case because in some ways I do feel like I’m coming apart at the seams this week. And I just want to say we love you guys. Thanks for being such a great example to us.

Tonight I’ll have some more things to say of a personal nature to this group. As we talk about passing the torch. Hope you can be back tonight at five. I know some of you will be traveling home. We wish you a safe journey.

King James Version says, but the newer versions do not, as it talks about the trampling of the courts and the way Israel was worshiping in that era. And I said, I love the King James rendering there. My soul hateth, God said. May our actions here today be anything but that. May we come favorably to the throne of a great God that we just sung about. With hearts full of devotion and concern for his will being done and his people. Most of you know I was visiting with my family over the weekend, and I’d already been working on this lesson because I didn’t know how much time I would have when I got back. Had less than I thought I was going to have. But I was at dinner with them one night, and I said, let’s talk about what we used to eat when we were kids.

You’re going to help me write this sermon I’m working on. Because I have a lot of vivid memories about meal time in the mock home when I was a little boy growing up in Indiana. My mom was a full-time school teacher. That being the case, mealtime was somewhat put together in a hurry. It had to be simple fare a lot of the time. And I remember telling Sherry early on in our marriage that one of our meals that was sort of on the regular slate of meals, the meat was Vienna sausages. But craft macaroni and cheese. And perhaps green beans or a vegetable. So I remember a lot of meals where we popped the top on the Vienna sausage. We heated them first. That may not be good.

But there were other meals that were a little better. Cube steak was a common meal that we had where my mom would flour it and make fried cubes steak. We called it minute steak. And you know, you get tired of that when you’re eating it every week. But now it’s whenever we get together as a family, and even Sherry likes this one. Minute steaks. One of my mom’s best things that she does. Now, part of that was because she was hurried. The other part of that is my dad has just about the most limited culinary palate you could ever have. I mean, the guy doesn’t even eat rice. And that’s what, I mean, he can eat sauerkraut, which that’s sort of weird. And of all the things that were wonderful that we grew in our garden behind our house, I’ll never forget the rhubarb plant.

My dad loves rhubarb. I know, kids, that’s what you were probably looking for lunch today, right? Rhubarb. But we’ve come a long way. Now we have, you know, can you believe I grew up without Tex Mex? How do you do that? How did I survive to this point without Tex Mex?

And now we have the version of Tex Mex that we like. I know there’s different versions that people like in our group. Their favorite Mexican restaurant varies from person to person. We have variety. Our culinary experience in this time, we are so very spoiled. I hope we realize how spoiled we are. And that we can display gratitude for all the luxuries of our lives that we have in abundance. Believe it or not, that’s the tie-in to the text that I want to share with you this morning. In 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 1 through 4. Israel was foiled, and they didn’t realize what they had. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, what is this whole text about and the baptism into Moses that Paul describes?

1. All Were Baptized Into Moses

For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud. And all passed through the sea. And all were baptized into Moses. Now, obviously, this is a figure because Moses is a man. And to do something like that literally, well, I can’t really envision that with my mind. This is obviously a figurative idea. They were all 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 were drinking from a spiritual rock, which followed them. And the rock was Christ. I don’t know if you noticed it. I’m sure you may have. There’s a word that’s repeated over and over again in those verses. It’s the word all.

Now, Paul must be making the point with the word all. He said, 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. So he’s making a point about what they had experienced as a whole nation as they were led, fed, and provided for by God in an extraordinary way that has never been experienced before or since.

It was absolutely extraordinary. And they were grumbling all along the way because at times they were thirsty and at times they were hungry. But when they were thirsty, God provided them water in abundance and sometimes from a thing so dry as a rock. And when they were hungry, he fed them directly from heaven every day, every morning. There it was.

2. Spiritual Food, Spiritual Drink: The Rock Was Christ

What is it? That fell from heaven. And he led them. He led them all the way. So he’s talking about all the provisions that God made for all of them. There’s also an emphasis on the word spiritual. You know, the story of the Exodus, it’s pretty much physical, but there’s some tie-in here to spiritual. Did you see that? They ate the same. Wait, what? How was manna? Spiritual food. Or how was the water that came from rocks spiritual?

Because something was happening in the Exodus that was greater than any of them could have ever dreamed. The reason why the food was spiritual. The reason why the drink was spiritual is because they were the descendants of Abraham. They were the caretakers, they were the people of the promise. And the promise had tremendous and great spiritual and eternal implications. And while it was about physical food in the wilderness and spiritual and physical water that came from the rock, it was more about the spiritual purposes. They were tied to God’s spiritual scheme of redemption for man. That would be ultimately worked out in Christ. And so that rock, and that may actually be the rock at Horeb from which water flowed. That rock from which they drank was Christ.

Now, don’t see Jesus there necessarily. See Messiah. The promise of the Messiah, the one who would come and deliver the people from oppression and sin. That rock from which they drank was Christ. And that’s why it says in Hebrews chapter 11. Moses, when he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and chose rather ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. For he considered the reproach of Christ. Wait. He didn’t know the Messiah. He preceded the Messiah. But he considered the reproach of Christ. Again, he was identifying himself with the people of the promise. He could have basked in the pleasures of sin that Egypt had before. But no, sir, I’m going to identify with my people Israel because they have the promise of God.

The promise that was made to Abraham. And so he considered the reproach of Christ. And boy, there was reproach brought to him by the Egyptians. And even his own people.

3. Emergence Into Being the Covenant People of God

So we have this emphasis on the people connected to the promise. And all of them. So what the baptism of Moses or the baptism into Moses was all about. The Exodus and then the Red Sea crossing symbolized their emergence into God’s nation. And they would then covenant with him at Sinai, and the law would be given to them after this emergence from Egypt and from the sea. They would be delivered and they would come into relationship with God in a special way. And so this commemorated their beginning. It was emergence as a nation and into a new era. And in that sense, and I think this is why the word baptism is used. It is just like the role baptism plays in our salvation. It is our emergence into being the covenant people of God.

It is not an afterthought of the process. Baptism isn’t something you do when you’ve already been saved. It is the vehicle or means that by faith places us in covenant with God. That’s why the term baptism is used here. Because of what it means throughout the entire New Testament. Therefore, if any man is in Christ, is in Christ, is a partaker of this promise, he is a new creature. All things have become new.

4. But With Most of Them God Was Not Well Pleased

And our deliverance unto a new walk of life. But where does the text go after that? Two very ominous words. But most. And this is where the all comes in. Nevertheless. Or but with most of them God was not well pleased. For they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us that we should not crave evil things as they also crave. He’s saying all of them drank of the same thing. They all ate of the same thing, but most of them did not stay in the pursuit of the right course. What’s the point? He’s saying to us, those of us who have been baptized into Christ. Are you going to stay the course? Or are you going to be like them?

Did you see the word? Examples. They serve as examples to us. Negative examples. Most of them. And so this passage is an impassioned appeal from the apostle Paul for us to make sure that our deliverance is sure. That we continue the right course of things as his people. And now I want you to just briefly imagine this context in the entire context of 1 Corinthians. This is a church plagued with troubles. And he’s been pleading with them and will continue to do so in the final chapters about staying the right course and doing the right things. Because there’s all kinds of problems here.

Do not crave evil things as they did. And then he would say in verse 11, he would come back to this term again. And he says, Now these things happened to them as an example. And they were written for our instruction. Upon whom the ends of the ages have come. That promise they could not see. They could not see what God was doing. They could not see the spiritual implications of the promise. They couldn’t see Jew and Gentile in one body. As the church of our Lord that we are experiencing today and basking in the riches of his grace. They couldn’t see all of that. They couldn’t see where God was going with all of this. But you and me, this is where we are.

In this part of the promise. And I wonder, do we really grasp and appreciate where we are and what we are as God’s people? That’s why I’ve always loved about verse 11. That’s who Christians are. If you’re in Christ, if you’ve been baptized into him, you are those upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

This is God’s plan from eternity.

5. We Are to Learn From Their Example

We are to learn from their example. We are to appreciate what they struggle and many fail to appreciate as we are involved in even greater things, and we must spend in these things. Verse 6. We should not crave evil things as they crave. Then it’s simple. Look at this carefully. Do not be idolaters as some of them were. God’s substitutes they have. The people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to play. Well, that sounds like the United States of America. This is our times in our culture. The people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to play. Nor let us act immorally as some of them did. Little example, 23,000 fell in one day. You can look that up. Numbers 25.

Nor let us try the Lord as some of them did. Even the most patient God got weary of their awful and poor behavior, and he sent fiery serpents among them. Nor grumble, that gets to the appreciating part, nor grumble as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.

6. Let Him Who Thinks He Stands Take Heed

And we need to stand. Wait a minute, wait a minute. That next verse. It says Let him who thinks he stands, verse 12, take heed lest he falls. What do you mean by standing? Sounds like standing’s a bad thing. Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. Our standing in Christ is no occasion for haughtiness. Look at me. I stand in Christ. Or carelessness. Well, here I stand, but I’m going to give little thought to the way I think and live. He is definitely telling us in these verses, is he not? As we learn from them, as we grow in appreciation for the promise of God and what it means in our lives, and as we stand in those things, that we need to make sound, healthy decisions about what we’re going to love.

About where our affections are set and the choices that we’re going to make in regard to our behavior and conduct.

Standing is a metaphor. And the point is not that we should not stand, but he is telling us to consider how and why we stand. Because in other places, Paul would say.

Conclusion

Just stand, Romans chapter 14 and verse 4, and Jude verse 24. So he’s not against standing per se, but he says, you need to understand why and how you stand and not be careless, and not be reckless in the practice of your faith. I want to say a word as we come to the conclusion of this about the danger of unbelief. What is it that happened to Israel that can happen to us? What is Paul saying? Those who have been baptized into Moses didn’t realize the great privileges that they were basking in and enjoying as the true people of God. And sometimes we can fail in the wilderness as well if it happens to us like it happened to them. If we lose sight of what we have.

If we walk by sight and not by faith. And if we choose temporary threads over eternal promises.

May it not be yours. This passage speaks to all of us who are in Christ. It actually speaks to anyone here today who is not in Christ and says, you need to get to where the blessings are. You need to be among those upon whom the ends of the ages have come. You need to realize the purpose for your very life and breath, and you need to get in the game spiritually. But it is saying to those who are already in the game, and that was Paul’s primary intent in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. He says, you need to realize what you have, appreciate what you have, and you need to stand in it always. And he’s saying this. And this is my concluding admonition to every one of you.

That’s what Paul’s telling. As most of them were laid low in the wilderness. You can ride a different ending to the story. And I want to challenge you, as Paul challenged the Corinthians. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. And God is faithful, as we have sung. He will not allow you to be tempted up beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from every God substitute. Anything that would place, would replace God in the appropriate place of the affections of your heart. Anything. Any technological item, any kind of television programming, any disappointing Star Wars movie. I think I just saw one of those.

Flee from it. Put God in his proper place. You can write a different ending to the story. Whalen wrote a different ending to the story.

What’s the end of your story?

And if you’re not in Christ, choose identification with the promises and the people of God. While there’s time and opportunity.