What does it mean to take heed lest you fall (1 Corinthians 10:12)?

See the connection between 'think' and 'stand'. If we think we stand, there is no security whatsoever. On the contrary we are very likely to fall. Our security depends not on our thinking but on faith: 'and thou standest by faith. Be not high minded, but fear' (Rom. 11:20). By such faith Abraham was kept from 'staggering': 'He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God' (Rom. 4:20).

The believer need not fall if he takes heed. Have we not received His wonderful promise: 'For I the Lord, thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee ... I the Lord . will hold thine hand, and will keep thee' (Isa. 41:13; 42:6). And even if we fall, we still have the encouragement of the Scriptures: 'Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand' (Ps. 37:24). All these promises are ours if we do not 'think we stand' but take refuge in the LORD who alone is our strength and our keeper.

Now the Spirit of God has recorded these things for our warning. The true believer is marked by confidence in God, and the more simple and absolute his confidence the better. But it is correspondingly true that he is marked by no confidence in himself, and the more deep his self-distrust the better. It is when we think that we stand that we are in danger of a fall. It is quite another thing when a saint has confidence that "God is able to make him stand" (Rom. 14:4).

And not only is God able to support us, but also He keeps a watchful eye upon us in His faithfulness, not permitting us to be tempted beyond a certain limit. The temptations that confront us are "common to man," or such as "belong to man." They are not of some superhuman sort. And again there is with them an issue, or way out. "Way of escape," might lead us to suppose that we may always expect some way by which we may escape the temptation altogether. It is not that, but that God always sees to it that there is a way through by which we may emerge unscathed at the other side. Temptation may be like a long dark tunnel, but there is always visible the light of day at the further end.

"Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10:12). That is true for all of us. We are not to think of ourselves as incapable of falling. Peter's history, and the history of thousands of God's people would show, alas, that when self-confidence comes in, "Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." Let us beware of self-confidence. Let us rather, as I Peter 1:17 exhorts us, "Pass the time of our sojourning here in fear." Sooner than we dream Satan will use our very confidence to trip us to our fall. How many of us, yea, can any of us be sure to stand a single hour without falling? Where shall we find human steadfastness sufficient to maintain us from dishonor to our Lord? God alone is "able to make us stand." Oh, to realize more and more that we have not strength to hold ourselves up a single moment, any more than those linen curtains, apart from the pillars. We must hang in faith upon our blessed Lord to be holden up. Thank God, we shall be holden up, for He is able to make us stand.

(Vv. 12-14). The Apostle, in searching words, proceeds to apply these warnings to professing Christians. He warns us against the natural self-confidence of the flesh; “Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall”. Let us not think that, because we have partaken of the Supper, we are safe from falling into the grossest sins. But, we are reminded, God is our resource. The temptations that come upon us are common to man, and God never allows us to be tempted without making a way of escape, though, alas, we may neglect the way. “Wherefore”, says the Apostle, “flee from idolatry”. Avoid all that would stir up lust, come between the soul and God, and lead to an outward fall.

"All these things," then, the apostle reminds us here, "happened to them as types." They are not merely things which may be applied in that way now, but that is the very meaning of the history for us as we read it. They are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages are come. It is not the ends of the "world," but the ends of the dispensations past, — those dispensations of trial which for us are closed by the death of Christ, in which the utter condemnation of man is reached, but in which, also, divine grace has reached us. We can look back now over those ages and find them all ministering to us their special lessons. How wonderful a place to be set in, to have instruction of this kind from every past generation! How important that we should heed the admonition of it, and how guilty shall we be in disregarding it! "Wherefore," says the apostle, "let hint that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." That, surely, is a great part of the admonition. Those dispensations were the trial of man as man. There can be no trial when there is no self-confidence on man's part, — when we have reached where the apostle was, and can say we have no confidence in the flesh. All self-confidence is confidence in the flesh. All true confidence is confidence in God alone. It is thus that we find ability to stand. We stand indeed, but we stand as He holds us up. If we think that we stand after any independent manner, we are on the very brink of a fall. Dependence is that which is proper to a creature; and we are not merely in a dangerous place, but we have, as one may say, already fallen, when we have lost our hold of the Hand that supports us.

How blessed to realize again that in the midst of a world full of testing, such as this is, in which the history of the Church has repeated for us in so solemn a way the history of Israel, in which man has been tested under grace (although that was not the object of grace) as he has been so thoroughly, still with the same result! When we look at ourselves, and think of how little we are able to stand against all the trials of the way, how blessed to realize the limits which the apostle sets to the trial! There is no temptation but such as belongs to man; and then, God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able. He is speaking, of course, of a soul in the true condition of conscious helplessness before Him. If we are self-confident, we shall find that the least temptation is something above what we are able; but if we are in a right condition, (which should be the normal one of the Christian,) God will not suffer temptation to he too strong for us, but will with the temptation make the outcome of it also a deliverance in due time, that we may be able to bear it. He adds, significantly, as one great lesson of it all: "Wherefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry." Idolatry was but one feature of that history of Israel, although a notorious one; but for us, is it not, in fact, in a heart that wanders from God which makes in this way, however little conscious it may be, a false god of its own, — is it not in this that all departure from Him, we may say, is found? Here is the root, the basis of it. If God Himself, the God that we know, the God that has been revealed to us, is the God of our hearts, the God whom we serve and follow, how safe and how blessed will be our condition! Christ is the manifestation of God for this, and thus we are indeed far better provided than was Israel in the knowledge of this God who claims our obedience and our affections. What is it for us to depart from One who has revealed Himself to us after this manner?

So will it be with any of us, if self-confidence, or a spirit of boastfulness be found in our hearts. The day that a saint falls is the day that he ceases to fear to fall. So long as the fear is in the heart the feet will be kept of God.

Verse 1 I insists that all these things happened to Israel for types. It is not that they occurred by chance, and are taken as convenient lessons; but that the wisdom of God Himself designed the history in such a way that we should have these specific types from which to learn. While they may not have been written to us, yet they are written specifically for us. In fact, Israel could not realize the significance of these Old Testament types in such a way as can believers today; and we must not lightly estimate their present value. For upon ourselves is come the end of the ages. The probationary ages of conscience, human government, and of law had an end in view, that is, the pure grace of God revealed in the Person of His Son; and we, the recipients of this glorious revelation, are therefore those who, by the Spirit of God, are privileged to benefit the most greatly by past history, which has been designed by God for this very purpose. Let us not ignore or forget a truth so transcendently wonderful.

And one who thinks he stands is warned test he fall. Is his confidence in himself? Peter had this, and he sadly fell, though not as did Judas, who had no faith whatever. For one who is not born again, that confidence in himself only leads to eternal ruin: on the other hand, as to a believer, self-confidence will lead to a painful fall, but for which there is recovery by the grace of God.

So that verse 12 presses the faithfulness of God, and that it is upon this only that we can safely depend. If temptation comes to a believer, it is not a completely new thing: others too have been similarly tried, no matter how unusual the thing may seem. But God will not allow one to be tempted above his ability to endure it. Let us therefore remember God's faithfulness, and depend thoroughly upon it. He will provide a way out in His own time, that the individual may have grace to bear it. The important thing here is the confidence of faith in the Living God that is the opposite of self-confidence. We cannot stand alone, but God is able to make us stand.

To trust Him fully, if He be all in it, is surely well, and what I ought to do; but, on the other hand, I ought to distrust myself. "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest, he fall." But if I am not to think I stand, and yet my salvation depends upon my standing, ought I to be at rest?

Surely the Spirit of God had His reasons for giving us a fourfold account of Peter's miserable fall. It is an abiding warning against self-sufficiency in any of us. "Let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall." (1 Cor. 10:12). What Peter did yesterday, both reader and writer may do to-morrow, unless upheld by infinite grace. The absolute unreliability of flesh, i.e., of human nature, stands out vividly in the story of Peter's denial of his Lord. In all that he vowed beforehand his spirit was indeed willing, the Lord Himself acknowledging it (Matt. 26:41). Yet, when the test came, he found himself as weak "as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again" (2 Sam. 14:14). In the presence of armed men in Gethsemane where there seemed to be real danger, Peter was bold enough; but in the presence of servant maids later, where there does not appear to have been any danger at all, Peter was cowardice personified. John was with him when he was questioned as to his association with Jesus of Nazareth, and was apparently in no peril (John 18:15-16); how then could there have been any real cause for alarm for his friend?

Then it is obvious that great religious advantages will not, of themselves, protect against grievous sin. Who could have had greater advantages than Gehazi? He lived with one of the greatest prophets the world has known — one who, again and again, is described as a man of God — and yet Gehazi fell. "Let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall."