I Corinthians chapter 10, we
will begin reading there in verse 14. It says, Wherefore, my dearly beloved,
flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men, judge
ye what I say. The cup of blessing which we
bless, is it not communion of the blood of Christ? The bread
which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
For we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all
partakers of that one bread. Behold, Israel, after the flesh,
are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What say I then, that the idol
is anything, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols
is anything? But I say that the things which
the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to
God. And I would not that ye should
have fellowship with devils. You cannot drink the cup of the
Lord and the cup of devils. You cannot be partakers of the
Lord's table and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the
Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? All
things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient.
All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. Let
no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth. Whatsoever
is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience'
sake. For the earth is the Lord's,
and the fullness thereof. If any of them that believe not
bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go, whatsoever is
set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience' sake.
But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice
unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience'
sake. For the earth is the Lord's,
and the fullness thereof. Conscience, I say, not thine
own, but of the other. For why is my liberty judged
of another man's conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker,
why am I evil spoken of for that which I give thanks? Whether
therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the
glory of God. Give none offense, neither to
the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God, even
as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit,
but the profit of many, that they may be saved." Now, one
thing that the Lord has always set forth in His Word and would lay to the conscience and
mind of his people is that there is one God. He said to the children
of Israel, Thou shalt have no other gods before me, that is,
before my face. He did not say it is all right
to have other gods, just put me as number one. Now that's
kind of how the men of the world think about serving God. They
say, well, we believe in God, but then we've got all this other
stuff and we've got a pecking order for it. No. He said there's
nothing that is to occupy our thoughts or our affections in
the highest sense other than Him. And so that's what Paul
is saying here. He said, Wherefore, my dearly
beloved, flee from idolatry. That is, don't be entertaining
anything that would divide your affection between the Lord and
whatever that might be. Flee from it. Turn from it. And
of course, you know, as a man regards something in his heart,
as the Scripture says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is
he. So whatever a man regards of great value in his mind, there
is a sense in which that becomes an idol to him. The things that
are of this earth, we are to use them, Paul said, but not
abuse them. That is, they are just passing
things. What does it matter if we have the things of this world?
It does not really make any difference because God has given them to
us for a temporary time, but the thing that is important are
those things that we hold in our affection and in our heart. And he says, don't be guilty. Don't find yourself holding on
to anything that you would have regard to. He says, I speak as
to wise men. He says, I'm not talking to you
as people that don't have any knowledge of the truth because
I've come to you preaching the gospel of Christ. So I'm not
telling you things that you don't know anything about. He said,
I'm speaking to you as those who have the mind of Christ,
who have been taught of God. Judge ye what I say. Listen to
me. The cup of blessing which we
bless, that is that which is our focus, that which is most
important to us, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?
I mean, isn't that where our affection and our consideration
and our worship is to be centered around, isn't that true? The
cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the
blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is
it not the communion of the body of Christ? I mean, if we do these
things, if we come together to remember Christ, do we not center
our thought and our mind and all of our affections there?
Is that not our place of worship? Is it not that which we partake
of, not just we eat it? See, that was one of the things.
Now, of course, he's building his case as he gets later on
in the 4th, I believe about the 11th chapter, where he's talking
to them about partaking of the Lord's Supper. And he said, when
you come together, he said, some of you are coming together not
to eat the Lord's Supper, you're just coming together to eat.
And that's why he's coming together. He says, isn't this why we come
together? To commune with Christ as a body,
as brethren in the Lord. For we being many are one bread
and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread.
We've not come down here as individuals to worship the Lord. We've come
here together as God's people to worship the Lord. We want
to band ourselves together. It's not that I say, well, I'm
going to worship God in my own little way and you can worship
God in your own little way. Again, the religious world looks
at it, well, that's how you worship and that's how we worship and
we're just going to do our thing. No. There's but one object of
worship. There is but one true worship
and it is the worship of Christ and the breaking of His body
and the drinking of His blood. We being many, for we are all
partakers of that one bread. That's our whole consideration. That's why we come together is
to magnify Christ. We didn't come down here to teach
one another various duties and things that we ought to be doing
and gather up some kind of committee to go out and solve
some problem that has arisen in the community. That's not
why we come together. Now that's not to say that there
might not be some value in doing such things as that, but not
as the church. Because we have one reason that
we come together, and that is to worship Christ, to magnify
Him. Now all of those other things
are not in themselves necessarily bad, but they are just not what
the church of God comes together to do. We come together for one
thing, and that is to worship Him. Behold, Israel, after the
flesh, are not they which eat of the sacrifices, partakers
of the altar? Now who ate of the sacrifices
of the altar? The priests. Now this is kind
of a little different than most religious concepts, isn't it?
Because you see what the point he's making here is, he said
if the priests ate of the sacrifices of the altar and we eat of the
sacrifices, as it were, of the altar, why is that? because we've
been made priests and kings before Almighty God. We don't come here
in some sort of a hierarchy where we have some who are able to
reach God on a higher plane than we are, but we come together
as brethren. And we minister one to the other
as brethren, not in some hierarchical priesthood type consideration.
Are they not they which eat of the altar of the sacrifices,
partakers of the altar? Well, sure. I mean, that's the
right thing. We do eat of those things which
we offer unto the Lord, which He's offered for us, and we give
glory unto Him. Now what say I then that the
idol is anything? So he's saying, now what am I
saying? He said, when I tell you to flee
from idolatry, am I saying to you that, well, if you should
have something to do with one of these idols, that some of
these idols are in competition with God and you might really
fall into some sort of a place of condemnation? No, he said,
look, what am I saying? Is the idol anything? Or that
which is offered in sacrifice, is it anything? I mean, because
somebody has a piece of wood or stone or something and they
hold it up and they bring it into our midst, is that going
to paint us? I mean, if somebody brought a
statue of Buddha and put it here in the floor, would that somehow
or other cause us to be corrupt? Not at all. But why would we
do that? I mean, it's not anything. It
doesn't make any difference. It's just a piece of wood or
a piece of stone or whatever it is. These false gods, they're
what they are. Now, they're not anything to
us, and they can't in any wise harm us. They can't in any wise
bring us into condemnation. But why would we want to do that?
What would be the purpose of it? Are they anything? But I say
that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to
devils and not to God, and I would not that ye should have fellowship
with devils. So, he said it doesn't make any
difference. The thing itself is not the problem,
but it's the regard that people have unto it. Why would we have
any regard unto those things that men, the men of this world,
have regard to? Why would we hold them up in
our mind as being of some value? Don't they sacrifice these things
to devils? Isn't that what their purpose
is? Well, why would I want to have anything to do with it?
I would not that you should have fellowship with devils. I don't
want you to have fellowship with devils. Now, he didn't say that
if you take a statue of Buddha and put it up there, you're having
sacrifice with devils, did he? Because he said that doesn't
mean anything. But he said, I don't want you to have any regard to
it. See, I've known of people that they have some sort of a
reverence to some holy thing that somebody has said is a holy
thing. Brethren, there is nothing holy
in this world but Christ. They're nothing to be set apart
but Christ. Superstition is a form of idolatry. Some people have superstitions
about various things or others. Such things are idolatry. Flee from them. What are they?
They're nothing. Listen, the superstitions of the world are
just simply that. They're nothing. That's why we
won't have anything to do with them. You know, if a black cat
crosses our path, so what? And if we walk under a ladder,
so what? If a mirror breaks, so what?
You know, but I've known people that, buddy, I mean, it's like,
oh, Friday the 13th. Oh, my goodness alive! What difference
does it make? One day is the same as the other.
These things don't mean anything to us. They're nothing. Christ
is all. What difference does all of that
make? You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils.
You can't be partaker of the Lord's table and the table of
devils. Why is that? Because the Lord
said, Thou shalt have no other gods before My face. We flee
from idolatry. What do we want to have anything
to do with that for? It's of nothing. We have no regard
to it. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Do we want to? Is it our purpose? Is it our mindset to go just
as far as we can go and see just what we can get away with? You
know, that's how men think, isn't it? Well, you know, I'll be a
Christian, but I'll go just as far as I can. I'll go up to the
edge. No. You see, that's idolatry. That's the thinking of the way
of the world. Flee from such things. You know,
the purity of mind and thought is our quest. That's the thing
we desire the Lord will work in us, not to make us where we
can just do everything we can, but just stop, just short of
going over a certain line. Now, a lot of people, they have
lines in their life, and they say, well, I'll go that far,
but that's as far as I'll go. That's a form of idolatry, is
it not? You know, I can go this far, but I can't go that far.
Look, whatever is not unto the glory of God, and whatever we
do which is not unto the glory of God, we ought to flee from
it. Turn back from it. If we can't give God thanks for
it, as we'll see what He says here in a moment, do we provoke
the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? Do we
think that somehow or other we've got a better idea than he does?
How foolish! All things are lawful for me.
Now listen to his argument here. Now some people stop right there
and they say, see that? All things are lawful for me.
And it's a true thing. It doesn't change the fact that
because he already said it, what's idle? Nothing. It don't mean
anything. All things are lawful to me.
There's nothing that's not lawful to me. But he said, listen to
what he says here, but see, the emphasis, here's where he's placing
the emphasis. Now he's using the one thing
to set up the contrast and he's using the other to tell you how
you need to regard it. He says all things are lawful
for me, but that's not how we're to regard it, that's what we're
to understand about it. What he says here next is how
we are to consider it. But all things are not expedient.
So you see, the children of God are guided not by the principle
of what's lawful to them, but what's expedient, what's good,
what is beneficial. Now a lot of people say, well,
I have the liberty to do thus and so. I can't argue with them. Yeah, you've got the liberty. If Christ made you free, He made
you free indeed. You have the liberty. But dear
brethren, God's people are not to be guided by their liberty
except it be the liberty we have in Christ. You see, and what
is expedient? Now what is expediency? That
is that which is useful, that which is helpful. And as we'll
see here in a moment, that which is beneficial not simply to us,
but to our brethren. See, that's how we ought to regard
things, most especially when we are in the presence of our
brethren or around them. Our consideration is not simply,
what can I do? Because I can do all things.
I'm let liberty. I'm free. But because I'm free
doesn't mean that all things are good for me. It doesn't mean
that all things... I mean, I can eat a whole chocolate
cake. And I'm not going to be condemned
before the Lord if I eat a whole chocolate cake. But that is not
a very wise thing to do, is it? It's not helpful. It's not helpful
to me. It's not helpful to my brethren
to see me eat a whole chocolate cake. And it's certainly not
a thing I want to set an example unto others for, is it? So it's
not expedient for me to do that even though I've got the liberty
to do it. and nothing is going to bring me into condemnation
by it. All things are lawful to me, but all things edify not. Not all things are those things
which would bring honor and glory to Christ and all things that
would bring honor unto my brethren. All things do not build them
up in the most holy faith. That is what the word edify means.
That is where we get the word edifice. It means a building. All things don't build up. Let no man seek his own, but
every man another's wealth or another's benefit. Of course,
the word wealth is not even in the original language. That was
added by the translator. You see it's in italics. So it
just says, let no man seek his own, but every man another's. Our benefit is secondary to the
benefit of our brethren according to what Paul is saying right
here. Now that is not a very natural concept, is it? That
is unnatural. Why? Well, every man has got
to look out for his own self. I mean, did anybody ever have
to teach you that? You put three little kids in
a room, two years old, I guarantee you, you don't have to teach
them to want what's theirs and to look out for their own benefit.
Why not? Because they show the work of
the law written in their heart. I think they are what they are,
and we are what we are. And so that's just natural, but
you see, the way of Christ is opposite to that, is it not? He said, let a man deny himself. Now most people think what that
means is you don't eat meat on Friday or you abstain from this
substance or that substance and you deny yourself. That's not
what it's talking about at all. This is self-denial right here
when you seek somebody else's benefit. in substitute of your
own. Now it's okay a lot of times
we don't mind benefiting somebody as long as we're getting some
benefit out of it, do we? But see what he's talking about
here is we seek our brethren's benefit even at our own expense. That's what he's saying. Let
no man seek his own but every man another's. And then he kind
of shifts gears a little bit. He's going to come back to that
very thought. He says, Once whoever sold in the shambles that eat,
asking no question for conscience sake. Now, have you all been
to the shambles lately? Well, what that word literally
means is a meat market. That's what the shambles was.
That is a meat market which they had in the city of Corinth. Of course, they made all these
offerings daily and constantly were making all these flesh offerings
to these various gods in these temples. Well, they'd go down
there and offer it up to the temple. Well, then they didn't
want to throw good meat away, so they'd take it down to the... Well, that's probably a likely
thing. And so it was like, in keeping
with that thought, you know, the Jewish custom is they have
to have a rabbi go and bless certain food for it to be kosher. And so if you see something in
the store that's got a K on it or a pariv on it, it means that
it's been blessed by a rabbi, and so perhaps you're correct
about that. But in any event, this meat was sold in these markets,
and it had been offered unto these gods. He said, go down
there and eat it. You know, it's meat. Why? Why
is that? I mean, is that meat tainted
because it was offered to some god? No. Why? Because the gods are nothing.
That does not mean anything. That is just superstition. Something
is on the minds and hearts of other people. He said, Whatsoever
is sold in the shambles, eat it, asking no question for conscience
sake. You do not even have to think
about it twice. He says, Just eat. Eat it. For
the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. God made all
things to be received with thanksgiving. If you want to eat a buzzard,
eat it. Just be thankful for it. I mean, I'm not going to
eat a buzzard, but if you wanted to, it's all right. Al said it
was tough. So you know, it doesn't make
any difference about it. Receive it with thanksgiving
for it belongs to the Lord to start with, and He gave it to
men. And then He says something kind of in contrast to that.
He says, if any of them that believe not bid you to a feast,
and ye be disposed to go, whatsoever saith before you, eat, asking
no question for conscience sake." He said if somebody invites you
over to their house and they're having a feast and they want
you to come and you know or you don't know, it doesn't make any
difference if you knew it or you didn't know it, that they
had offered these meats or food in this feast unto an idol. He
said, just go and eat it. It doesn't make any difference
if you're disposed to go. Whatsoever said, before you eat,
ask him no question for conscience sake. It can't bring you into
condemnation. But then here's a big but. And
this makes all the difference in the world. Because he said,
but if any man say to you, We've offered this to idols. He said, Don't eat it. Because
you see, that makes a difference. Not for you. I mean, it doesn't
make a difference to you. I mean, you can eat it. You've
got the liberty to eat it. See? He said, Idols, nothing,
don't make any difference. It's not tainted meat. But He
said, if He says to you, This is offered in sacrifice unto
idols. Eat it not for His sake that
showed it to you. Don't eat it. Why? Because by eating it, He will
be thinking that you're saying that's a good thing to offer
this meat unto idols. And He said don't eat it. Eat it not for His sake that
showed it and for conscience sake. Now you're going to do
it for conscience sake. Same reason that you ate the
meat to start with, He says, don't eat it. Same conscience.
Isn't that amazing? Because what is the conscience?
He said, for conscience' sake, for the earth's and the Lord's
fullness thereof. See, the same argument that He gave to eat
the meat is the exact same one that He says, don't eat the meat.
Because He said, this belongs to the Lord. And He said, it's
how men regard it. that makes all the difference
in the world. He said we have no regard to any God other than
Christ. So it doesn't make any difference
to us what meats meat. But he said to some, it does
make a difference. And he said for their sake, for
their sake, conscience sake, not your conscience, but theirs.
He said for conscience sake, conscience I say not thine own,
but of the other. For how can my liberty be judged
of another man's conscience? It can't. See, another man can't
judge my conscience. And he doesn't know why I would
do or not do something. But he said, don't do it for
his sake, because you don't want him to be emboldened to eat these
things. Conscience, I say, not thine
own, but of the others. Well, why is my liberty judged
of another man's conscience? For if by grace I be a partaker,
for why am I evil spoken of? For that which I give thanks. Whether therefore ye eat, or
drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give
none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor
to the church of God, even as I please all men in all things,
not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that
they may be saved. So what he's saying here is this.
If a man that believes not bids you to a feast, and you don't
know where that meat comes from, when you go there or when you
leave, he says, eat it with thanks. But he said if you're invited
to come to it to partake of something that he is in his regard is unto
another God, don't go. Not for your sake, but for His. Because why would you want to
put a stumbling block in His way and have Him to think that
you believe that in some way you could offer sacrifice unto
Christ and offer sacrifice unto idols at the same time? It can't
be so. You can't do it, He said. Flee
from it. Don't be a part of it. you eat or drink or whatsoever
you do, do all to the glory of God. Now, he said, whether therefore
you eat or drink, now whether you eat or drink, if you eat
it, do it to the glory of God, but if you don't eat it, because
of the reason he just set forth there, do it unto the glory of
God, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do,
because whatever you do, If you can't give glory to God in it,
why are you doing it? Think about that. If whatever
it is you're doing, you can't say, Lord, thank you for this.
What on earth do the people of God have to do with doing such
a thing as that? Now, what did He say? He said,
Give thanks for all things. May the Lord give us a conscious
void of offense in all things so that we might give glory to
Him in all things, but that we might not be idolaters in any
sense, having regard to any sort of God or consideration, superstition
or whatever outside of Christ, for they are of no value whatsoever. And give none offense, neither
to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God. We're not sent into the world
to offend men. We're not sent into the world
to straighten men out. Now I know that's a letdown,
isn't it, in a lot of ways. I mean, the Lord hasn't sent
us to correct anybody, but He has indeed taught the people
of God that we need to be mindful of our own self, don't we? And
how we consider. And most assuredly, we ought
to consider how what we do affects our brethren. That is important. And be mindful of it. And to
be neither judgmental towards our brethren, who for conscience
sake either abstain or partake of some things. See, this thing
goes both ways. As brethren in the Lord, as he
says up here, conscience I say not thine own, for why is my
conscience judged of another man? See, God's people aren't
set forth as lords over one another, but we're given to be examples
and set forth in that fashion. Give none offense. That should
be our desire, that we be not offensive. unto men, but that
we live peaceably with all men as much as life within us, not
to the Jews, to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God, to
anyone. That covers everybody. Even as
I please all men in all things, I seek to help other men. I seek to be a benefit to other
men. I seek to go forth into the world
to be a servant to all men. See, we're especially a servant
unto the people of God, but dear brethren, we're also servants
to all men in the world insofar as we can be. We're not sent
off to go off out here and be some old crusty, irascible person,
you know, that's hard to get along with and wants her own
way and all of that thing, but we're sent into the world to
be the servants of men. Now, if we wonder whether or
not that's true, who do we need to look at? Christ. I mean, just look at Christ.
That's how we're to be. I mean, he said, follow me, did
he not? I mean, when he was reviled,
he reviled not again, but he prayed for those that despitefully
used him. Now, what I'm telling you there,
that's most difficult. Now, it's impossible for anybody
to imitate Christ, but we are given the commandment to follow
in his steps, are we not? That is our desire. That is the
place He's called us to. And we believe the exhortations
that are given to us in the Scripture are sent to us to remind us what
we are by nature to cause us to fall on our faces and say,
Lord, if you don't work this in me, it won't happen because
I can't be like Him. I desire to be. Lord, cause it
to be so. even as I please all men and
all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of
many, the profit of others, that I might, that they may be saved,
that they may be delivered." See, I desire to see men delivered. We're not happy. I mean, it's
not humanly our place to just rejoice that some folks are perishing. Now, I rejoice in the purpose
of God. And I understand that in the
purpose of God some are going to perish, but as a human being,
you know, as one knowledgeable of the fact that the Lord alone
has made me to differ from another, it's not anything that I did,
but it's the mercy of God, I desire that other men might partake
of that mercy, that they might have it. And I ain't got a minute's
power on earth to give it to somebody, but it's my desire. and to go forth and to be a servant
unto men, even as the Lord said, and most especially to my brethren
in Christ.