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Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for your blessings and your mercy and all good things that you've given us. Father, thank you for being our provider and I, our comforter and our mercy and all things and all struggles. And Father, thank you for washing our sin and taking it from us to make our crimson stainless white as snow. I pray as we go to your word now, Father, that you will be with us and your spirit will teach us and correct us.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Good evening, everyone. Welcome back. It's a pleasure to see all of you.
Tonight we're going to continue our study in first corinthians. And this week we're going to. We're going to cover the whole chapter of ten. But you'll notice as we get through tonight, I broke the chapter up. Weird.
And included just the first verse of chapter eleven in the first chapter. So next week we'll begin in verse two when we go to chapter eleven. And you'll see why as we get there. With that said, we are. We're going to complete this week the issues of gospel freedom and love.
So as we work our way through corinthians, we had talked about thanksgiving. We've talked about wisdom. We've talked about impurity. And the last three weeks, or including this week. Yeah, including this week, week we've been on gospel freedom and love, what it is to prefer loving our brothers or our neighbors over champion the freedom that we have.
We're going to finish that today and then next week move on to community worship for a couple weeks. Today. Our issue specifically, though, is going to be warnings, right? So we looked at the freedom that we have versus the love and knowledge and love in chapter eight, chapter nine. Last week, we looked at the example that Paul gave, what it really looked like to live out loving other people more than your freedom.
Today he's going to give us some warning. So as we now talked about all this stuff, he's going to warn us not to misuse that freedom and also not to think that we are so strong we cannot fall. So let's dive in. We're going to begin verses one through six. He says the following.
He says, now, I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea. Sea, and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them since they were struck down in the wilderness. It says, now, these things took place as examples for us so that we will not desire evil things as they did.
So Paul is shifting from the example of loving people over freedom to this warning here, which begins, he says, I don't want you to be unaware. Well, when I studied this, I had to look at the word unaware because some other pastors translated this. I don't want you to forget about Israel and what they went through. However, I don't find that, and I bring that up in case anyone's reading and sees the translation from other pastors. I don't see forget here to be applicable.
Paul, this is Corinth, right? While there may have been some jewish converts to Christianity in Corinth, this is a gentile church, a gentile population. So Paul is instructing them about the history of the church. And here's the thing. He says, our ancestors, remember, he's talking to a gentile population.
But what he shows by including, you know, when he says our ancestors is this, that whether you are jew or gentile, if you are brought into Christianity, the Jews are your ancestors. But we are adopted into that covenant family of God that began with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And we share, as Christians, we share that same history. Right? Christianity is not its own religion that just sprung up out of nowhere.
Christianity is rooted into Judaism. Judaism. It's from Judaism. So they are, their history is our history. And Paul wants them to be aware, to know what they went through so he can apply it to them.
He says this about them. They were all under the cloud. Now, the cloud that he is referring to here is they were under God. And we're not going to pull these scriptures up. And most of the scriptures I'll reference, they're in my notes for those who want them.
We're not going to read them tonight for sake of time. But in Exodus 1321 and 22, it is revealed that God went before Israel as a cloud, a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And he went before them, and he was behind them. And this cloud in the psalms is said to have spread out like wings, like a covering that covered Israel. So Israel, all of those people in Egypt, they were under that cloud of God.
They had his protection. They had his guidance. They had him to literally light their way and to follow him. This is important leading up to what he gets to. And he says they all passed through the, in the Exodus account when they.
In Exodus chapter 14, right. In verse 21, God parts the waters so that all of Israel can cross the Red Sea on dry ground. Now, you're going to notice the absence of dry ground in this passage. And the reason why Paul does not mention the dry ground is he wants to bring some imagery into this conversation here. But all of Israel, they pass through the sea.
And it says they were baptized into Moses and in the cloud and in the sea. Now, this baptism that Paul talks about here, about what these people went, this, this baptism is not a passive baptism where you stand in the water and somebody dunks you. That's kind of passive. You are, you are, you are dunked by someone or someone else is doing it. But this is a very active baptism.
Now, they didn't get wet, right? They walked through dry ground with the, the sea split and towering walls of Arkansas on either side of them, or so I imagine. And they walked through, however, this, here, they committed themselves in this very act of walking through the Red Sea. They committed themselves to reliance upon God in that very moment. They have said, we are now going to follow God.
We are going to rely on him for our providence, for our needs, for submit to his will. Trust me, it was not their will to walk through the sea. They thought they were trapped, but they submitted to the will of God in this act. And then it says that they all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink. Right.
The food that's being referred to here is found in Exodus 17 three seven. And you'll find it in other references. This is the manna from heaven. Remember, they complained and said, why did he bring us into the desert, save us from Egypt, only to let us die of starvation? And God brought to them manna bread from heaven.
Other times they complain and they why did he bring us to the desert? To die of thirst. And there are two recordings, at least, where Moses was instructed by God to strike the rock and water came out. Something we need to examine in this is that water was physical water, even if it came out of the rock, but it was physical water. And that manna from heaven.
Heaven was physical bread. It physically fell out of the sky, and they partook of it. But Paul causes spiritual food and spiritual drink. Why? He's not to say that they.
That they spiritually took of it because it was a physical thing. But the source of both this bread and this water was spirit. It was spiritual. There was no natural source of bread in the desert. This bread was provided from God.
It fell from the sky. Every morning they woke up, and there it was on the ground. It was just there. And they could collect and eat as much as they wanted for the day up to a specified amount, but it was there every day. They never grew wheat, never cultivated fields, never did any work.
It was just there every day. And the water as well. In these places they were at, there was no springs. There was no. No wells, no rivers, no lakes.
They were in a forsaken desert, a wasteland that called it the wilderness for a reason. And out of the desert came water, enough water to feed at least 2 million people. We know there are 600,000 soldiers, right, who come out of the exodus. And if there's 600,000 soldiers, we estimate at least two to 2.1 million Israelites crossed the Red Sea and followed Moses into the wilderness.
Now, think about the amount of bread that dropped from the sky every day, right? Enough bread every day to feed at least 2.1 million people. And enough water coming out of nowhere to provide for 2.1 million people, plus their livestock, plus everything else that they had brought with them. Their cleaning needs, their cooking needs, their bathing needs, had all come out. So Paul points out here that this was spiritual.
This was provided by God of supernatural means. And this is important because not only did they experience the presence of God in the cloud, the supernatural protection of goddess in the parting of the waters and causing their enemies to fall, but they also partook of the providence of God, like God provided for their needs. And it says they drank from that rock, that spiritual rock that followed them. The water came out of a rock, but the rock that Paul sees here is Christ, right? He is that firm foundation, that anchor.
And he followed them everywhere they went as they wandered the wilderness. Now look what he says. This is where so far, Paul is saying a lot of good things. He's comparing us to or Corinth, to Israel. And he says they were baptized.
They experienced the presence of God, the protection of God, the providence of God. And then, as if he builds us up to a very dramatic and positive feeling, toward the end, he drops the hammer and says, nevertheless, God was unpleased with them.
God wasn't pleased with them. How many times go and read the book of Exodus and go and read numbers. How many times did Israel complain against Goddesse? How many times, despite the fact that he brought them food and water, that their enemies, everywhere they went, their enemies fell before them. They had their shoes never worn out, their clothes had never worn out.
God never abandoned them. He was with them daily in a physical manifestation, though not as a person. They could see him in the that cloud and remember a pillar of fire by night. There was a visible manifestation of God with them. And they complained and grumbled.
And every single time you turn around, they say to him, why did he bring us here to kill us? If God wanted them dead, he could have closed the Red Sea over them like he did Egypt. If God wanted them dead, dead, he could have just left them there silent and let them starve or die of heat. This doesn't sound like someone who wanted them dead, who gave them food and gave them water and killed their enemies and made them flee from them. But every time you turn around, I'm not kidding, almost every other chapter in Exodus you read, and the people complained against goddess.
And then not only did they complain against God. We'll get to this in a minute. How many times in the wilderness did they rebel against God?
Cast idols, worship idols, say that they wish they could go back to Egypt constantly. And then to top it all off, in the book of numbers, God sends twelve spies into the promised land, and they come back and they proclaim, not even God can defeat these enemies. Right? And that is the moment in which God finally punishes them and says, you know, what? You will not enter the promised land.
Out of the 2.1 million people to leave out of Exodus, the 600,000 men, 20 and old, plus their wives, only two people entered the promised land?
That's it. Two. And there were two of the spies sent into Canaan. The two who came back and said, God can deliver us. Right?
And those two are Joshua and Caleb. They are the only two to enter the promised land. So God says, nevertheless, he was not pleased with them. And here is the evidence. They were struck down in the wilderness.
Now, this phrase struck down, it sounds pretty self explanatory, right? They were struck down. They were slaughtered. They were killed. However, the word, the greek word for struck down is a whole lot more graphic than that.
I'm going to turn to my word study here that I did so I can tell you what this word struck down is.
So this word struck down, I do not speak Greek. I'm going to butcher. It is cadastrothason. And here's what it means to be spread out.
That's what it means to be spread, to be scattered. What happened in Exodus, right? Or not in exodus, but in numbers, or even through exodus for 40 years. And through numbers, what they got do to them. He suffered for that generation.
Until everyone 20 and older dies, you will wander the wilderness, right? And they come and spend a couple months in one location, and they get up and move to another location and spend a few more months and get up and move to another location to spend a few months. And they do this all through the Sinai desert until everyone who was 20 were older at that time died. And they leave bodies throughout the whole desert. Right?
God doesn't just strike them down, but he scatters them. They're buried all over the Sinai desert. They're everywhere. And this is the evidence that God is not pleased with them. So what starts out as a very great thing, Paul, turns into a very strong image.
Just because you experienced protection from God or you experience providence from God, or you explore, you partake of the communion or you are baptized, does not mean that you cannot fall, right? Look at. Look at Judaism. But by the point of this writing, Christ has already been killed. And what did the jews say before they killed him?
They said, we have Moses. To us as a father, but we have the law. And because we have the law, we are godly people, right? Just having the law doesn't make you godly people. But having the law probably makes you more ungodly because it reveals to you every single thing that you do wrong.
But they didn't follow the law, but they had it. And they. They have become self reliant upon themselves because of their identity. Now the same thing is happening in Corinth. Remember going all the way back to chapter one.
Paul's issue with Corinth at the very beginning was they boasted in their wisdom, in their knowledge, they thought, because they had knowledge, because they. They had information that they were better than everyone else, and they relied in their knowledge.
There's other things that people right today rely, and let's be honest, today, there are people who rely on their religion. There are billions of people who rely on their religion and think, because they belong to a certain group or come from a certain line, that they will enter heaven on that basis. But there are many people who rely on their knowledge today, less in the religious sense and more in the secular sense. But there are people today who rely on their knowledge and believe because of that knowledge, they are better than everyone else. There are people who rely, even in their faith, more than in Christ.
Right? That's a dangerous one right there. People who, when they begin to get in doubt, they don't look to Christ for help, but they look instead to the strength of their faith. Right. Well, my faith is strong.
My faith is secure. I I placed my faith in Christ 2000, you know, two, two years ago, four years ago. And what they're doing is they're relying on themselves and what they did and not on Christ. Someone pointed out to me a couple years ago when I was talking about my faith, and they're like, you know, you talk a whole lot about your faith, and you rely. It sounds like you're relying not on Christ, but you're relying on whether or not you can rely on Christ.
We're frail people. We can slip and slide and tumble and have ups and downs, but Christ cannot. And if we. If what we're relying on is whether or not we think we trust in Christ, we're still being self reliant. So Paul's whole warning here is that even if there are unsaved people who've experienced protection from God and there are unsafe people who've experienced providence from God, because we know that all good things come from goddess.
Whether you know him or not, he still loves each of us and gives good things to each of us. That does not mean you cannot fall. So look here at the next passage, seven through 13, he says. Now, these things took place as examples for us, so that we will not desire evil things as they did.
Don't become idolatators as some of them were, as it's written, the people sat down to eat and drink and got up to party. Let us not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did. And in a single day, 23,000 people died. Let us not test Christ, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes. And dont grumble, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer.
These things happen to them as examples. And they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall. No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful.
He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. But with the temptation, he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it. Okay, this is a, this continues off of the last image we just saw. He says these things, the fact that they were strewn out over the wilderness, the fact that all the things that had taken place, he says, is an example for us. Right?
There's a famous quote, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Right? Well, Paul is saying essentially, well, this is history. It didn't just happen. It wasn't recorded for the sake of a story.
It was recorded as an example. It was recorded so that we can learn and grow from what they went through. Through, so that we could not repeat the same mistakes, so that we cannot, would not have the same fate that they have. And so here's what he says. He says it was written right.
It was recorded so that we will not desire evil things.
He identifies right here the problem that Israel had. They desired evil things. Now, what's really interesting, as we get through the, through more of this chapter, he's going to start talking about meat sacrifice to idols again. And I want to focus specifically on what the evil things the Jews had desired. Now, this will talk about sexual immorality, it'll talk about grumblings.
But if you look through the Book of Exodus, what is the thing that they desired every day that they constantly grumbled about? And that was food and water.
Now, I want to ask something. Is it evil to desire food or water? No, I don't believe so. There's nothing evil with me desiring. Hey, tonight I want stuffed bell peppers for dinner.
Nothing evil with it, nothing wrong with it. However, the problem that they had is they coveted it to such a point, to such an extent, that it was the focus of their being. They weren't content with the bread or the quail or the water. That God gave them. They wanted more and they wanted more to the point that they would even test God, but to the point that rather than thanking him, they would complain, you brought us here to die.
You brought us here to kill us. You brought us here to leave us in lack and want. They were so consumed with this desire for food and for water that it governed their lives. Now this phrase, evil things. Here, Paul is bringing in some imagery.
Specifically, he's talking about covetousness. I have a couple. I do have two scriptures here. They're one verse each that we're going to bring up. Will you bring that first one up for me, Shaunie?
So this first scripture that I have here, it's Ephesians five five. Look what Paul, he talks about covetousness here. He says, know and recognize this. Every sexual, immoral, or impure or greedy person is an idolitator but does not have inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and our God. So he specifically points out here that sexual immorality and.
And those who are sexually impure are committing idolatry. Right. The. One of the greatest forms of idolatry is sexual immaturity. Right?
It's as if you were cheating on God. However, he also says those who are Greedy. Right. Greed stems from covetousness, from. From casting your eyes, fixating your eyes upon something thing, and desiring it to the point that you'll do anything for it.
Right? Paul likens greed, covetousness to idolatry. Here, look. He says it again in our next passage.
In Colossians three five. He says, therefore put to death what belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, love, evil, desire. And then look at this, he says, and greed, which is idolatry. Right? So greed is idolatry.
Covetousness is a form of idolatry because when you covet something, you said that you're not content with God, you're not content with what he's given you, and you begin to cast your eyes upon something else and place it above goddess, right? So whatever it is that you covet, you idolize. Paul says, we should not do that. And he says, do not become idolatators as some of them were. And he references a specific event.
He says, the people sat down to eat and to drink and got up to Party. He's referencing Exodus 32. Moses is up on the mount. He's receiving, and he's there communicating with GodDeSse and receiving the law. And while he's up there, the people take the gold that they have gathered from Egypt.
And they cast it into two cows and worship the cows. And then they sacrifice food to the cows and they party and they drink.
Paul says, do not commit sexual immorality as some of them did. Right? There's an act in numbers 25. There's sexual immorality going, and God sends a plague. And here it says 23,000 people died.
If you actually go and look at numbers 25, it's worse than that. 24,000 people are said to die, right? So tens of thousands of people died in a single day as a result of sexual immorality. And then look at, he says, do not tell. Test Christ as they did and were destroyed by snakes.
Again, in the book of numbers, chapter 21, they begin to test God, and he sends feminist snakes to them. Now, here is the thing about testing God. This isnt even the simple God. If you want me to do this or do that, show me or God, I'm asking you to, to help me right now and give me a sign. Now, let me say this, asking for sign after sign after sign after sign.
I'm being obsessed with signs. It's not okay, right? But they did more than just that. They pushed God to the limit. They wanted to see.
They wanted to know God, will you dare to pass judgment on me? That's what they wanted to see. Would you dare to judge us? Would you dare to become jealous? Right?
They sexual sins, murders, lies, and, and doubt, constantly grumbling about food. But then on multiple occasions, physically making idols and worshipping them in place of God. In one instance, they literally named the idols. They made Yahweh.
They literally made cows and proclaimed, these cows are Yahweh, who brought us out of Egypt. They tested God to the point as if to see if he really would be moved into action.
And he says, don't tempt Christ, but don't put him in this position. Look, while God and his grace in the New Testament is much more visible than it was back then, God is still God and is still not to be tempted. And the problem with Corinthians strength is they are tempting God, right? That they're tempting him and they're pushing the limits. But aren't don't we maybe sometimes have tendencies to do that, too, really to push the limits?
How far can I get? How far can I go before God acts, before he, he punishes me or before he takes notice? And Paul says, don't do that and don't grumble. Right? When he says, grow, what he's saying is, don't be a complainer there are people who you can never please at all.
But I, I happen to, to live close to such a person. No matter what you do, there, there are some people. You cannot please them, you cannot satisfy them. No matter what nice things they have or what good things come their way. It's not enough.
And rather than being grateful for it, they grumble that it wasn't done to their expectations or it wasn't the way they wanted it, or it's not everything they wanted. And they're just complainers. It's all they do.
Paul says, don't grumble. Don't be a complainer.
But specifically in context, we're looking at number 16, where God struck down people for doing evil things, and then they complained that God exercised justice. So specifically, if you are chastised by God, don't complain. You probably did something to deserve it, but don't complain. Don't grumble. He says, all these things that happened is written for us.
He says, on whom the ends of the ages have come. Look, guys, in the wilderness. The stakes were high. They were on their way to the promised land, and only two of them made it. But the stakes are even higher now.
This is the end of times. Christ has come, he has died, he has risen, and he is seated next to God. And the stakes are high right now. We're not. The stakes right now are not whether or not we get to go live in our dream home or in our favorite state or country or city.
The stakes right now are whether or not we end up in heaven or in hell. That's, the stakes are there. And he says, it's the, you know, he says, the end of the ages have come. The stakes are high. Now is not the time to be playing with the stakes.
Remember last week, he said, run the race as if to win the prize. This is not the time to be playing the stakes. And he says this to whoever thinks he stands as a result of all of this. If you think you stand, if you think you've got it, if you've got it made, he says, be careful not to fall, but pride goes before the fall. And specifically, he's hinting at the fact that the Corinthians, they are self reliant right now.
They feel like we've got it made right. We stand because we have knowledge. And Paul says, be careful not to fall. But even today, don't think that sitting in church makes you a Christian. Sitting in church doesn't make you a Christian.
Going to Bible study doesn't make you a Christian. Any more than parking yourself in a garage does not make you a car.
It doesn't make you a Christian. It doesn't make you a car. What makes you a Christian is that relationship, relationship with God, with Christ. And then he says this. There is no temptation that has overcome you, that has come to you.
That is not something common to humanity. Look, whether it's pornography or sex or drugs or lying or theft or whatever your temptation may be, it's different for each of us. He doesn't say that the temptation you have is a sin that I have, but he says it's common to humanity. There's no temptation that you have that someone else hasn't had, that that from the beginning of time humans have not faced. So there's no temptation you have where you are just a special circumstance where you can just say, I'm sorry, God, but this temptation, no one knows what this is like.
This is new. This is unlike anything before. And so I can't overcome this. But there's no temptation you will ever have that's not common to humanity. And so he says this, know this, God is faithful.
Well, you may be tempted. Well, you may be sinful. God is faithful. And it says he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. Now, this does not mean we cannot misinterpret this.
This doesn't mean that God will not give you more in life than you were able to bear. That's a false interpretation. The idea that God will never give you more than you can stand, that's a made up idea. God gives each and every one of us more than we can stand so that we can rely on him. But he will never let you be tempted with sin greater than you can bear.
He will never allow you to be tempted so great that your only choice is to sin. He will never put you, allow you to be in that position where you're in a rock and a hard place and you have to sin or you have to sin. He won't do it. You will never be there. Any temptation that comes to you, it says he will provide a way out.
So no matter what it is, drugs, sex, pornography, alcohol for alcoholics, whatever it is, there is a way out. You are able to stand it. It comes down to whether or not you're willing to persevere and trust in God. Moving on, he says in the next passage we're going to be in verses 14 through 22. He says, so then flee from idolatry.
I'm speaking to sensible people. Judge for yourself what I'm saying the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ and the bread that we break? Is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread. We who are many are one body, since all of us share the one bread.
Now consider the people of Israel, do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? What am I saying then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything? Without an idol is anything. No.
But I do say that what they sacrifice will sacrifice to demons and not to goddess. I do not want you to participate with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord's table and at the table of demons. Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy?
Are we stronger than he? For the sake of time, I'm going to move quickly through this section. He begins with talking about the communion, right? The bread and the wine or grape juice or water that we. And he says that there is one Christ, right?
One Lord, and we all partake of him. And even though we are all individual, we are also one. We are one united body of Christ. And then what he is trying to show, though, is that partaking in the communion, partaking in Christ, is to have a sharing him is right. Is to have a share to participate with him.
And then he shows, using the sacrificial system of the temple in the Old Testament, right? Those who worked at the altar, who participated at it, also ate the food from the altar, right? They had a share in it. Now he's moving back to eat and meat sacrifice to Isaac. He wants to say, this food is nothing.
Food, whether it's sacrificed to idols or not, has absolutely no meaning. It's not good for you. It's not bad for you. Eating food that was sacrificed to an idol, it's not going to harm you, and it doesn't dilute you any. And idols are nothing.
Idols are false gods. They're not real. However, what he does say is this. If something is sacrificed to an idol, while that idol is not real, it is driven by demonic activity. While false gods that we make up are not real, demons most certainly are real.
And so he says, there's still a unseen, a spiritual influence behind what that was sacrificed to, and it's sacrificed to those spiritual elements. And he says, I don't want you to participate with demons. Now, in our next passage, he'll get more into this, what is and isn't allowed in this context. But the same is true even today, while we don't necessarily. Well, we don't go to temples and sacrifice things today.
That's not to say that there aren't demonic things that exist. That's not to say there isn't music that is geared toward. Toward the enemy and geared toward demonic activity and bad things. And to take in that is to share with it. That's not to say that there isn't other things in life that we need to be aware.
Is this influenced by unseen spiritual forces that are enemies of God? And he says this, you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. What he says is you cannot fellowship both of God and the devil. Christ says it a different way. In the book of Matthew.
He says, you cannot serve God and money, but you can't. You cannot serve two masters. Another way I've said this before is you cannot sit on the fence. You can't have 1ft on both sides of the line. Because remember, the fence, it's not right on the line.
The fence is 10ft into the devil's side. So if you have 1ft on both sides, you're in the devil's territory. Even if you're straddling the fence, you cannot have communion with God and with the devil. You can't have both masters. Finishing up here, we're going to read the last section of verses 23 through chapter eleven, verse one.
He says, everything is permissible to me, but everything is not beneficial. Everything is permissible, but not everything builds up. No one is to seek his own good, but the good of the other person. Eat everything that is sold in the meat market without raising question for the sake of conscience. Since the earth is the Lord's and all that is in it.
If any of the unbelievers invite you over and you want to go, eat everything set before you without raising questions for the sake of conscience. But if someone says to you, this food is from a sacrifice, do not eat it out of consideration for the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience. And I do not mean for your own conscience, but the other person's. For why is my freedom judged by another person's conscience? If I partake with thanksgiving, why am I criticized for something for which I give thanks?
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. Give no offense to the Jews or the Greeks or the church of God, just as I also try to please everyone and everything, seeking not my own benefit but the benefit of many so that they may be saved. Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.
I love this passage here. So he says, everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. But that's a quote that he made earlier in first corinthians 620. However, he continued, in first corinthians 612, he said, everything is permissible, but I will not be mastered by anything. He says, while I may be able to do anything, I will not let anything master be a master over me.
Here he changes it. He says, not everything builds up. Remember, everything we've talked about over the last three weeks is preferring to love one another over exercise whatever rights we think we have. So even though we might be able to do something that may not build up the person next to me, though I can drink and do so without sinning against God, that does not build up the alcoholic who is in the room with me. It doesn't help them.
It tears them down. So while everything is permissible, not everything builds up. So he says this, do not seek your own good. That's not to say that we go around seeking our harm. But what he is to say is it is preferred above and over ourselves to seek what is right, what is good for the other person, to live my life in service to someone else so that they could be saved and then switch them back to me.
Meat to summarize real quick, what he says. He says, don't eat in the court of the temples. When he says, I do not want you to partake with the, with the demons. He says if meat is sacrificed on an altar of an idol and served in their temple, do not eat it. That is communion with the devil.
But here's what he says. He says, if you go to the marketplace, you can buy me and you can eat meat. But look what he says. He says, without raising questions, don't go seeking to know, was this sacrificed in a temple? Was this given to a demon?
Was this used for this purpose? He says, just buy it and eat it. Here's the reality. Meat that somebody sacrificed in a temple, an animal, and then took it and sold it to me at a meat market, it's not tainted meat if I don't know it was sacrificed. It has no negative or beneficial consequences over buying meat that was not sacrificed.
He says it's not inherently sinful to partake of meat just because it was sacrificed. Now, this has not a whole lot of bearing today because we don't sacrifice meat today. But it still, there's a lesson here today that we are to be conscious of our actions to other people because look what he says. He says if somebody invites you to their house, eat whatever they serve you, but don't ask questions. Don't ask questions, lest that person tells you it was sacrificed in a temple.
But look what he says. Ultimately, if you are told it was sacrificed, don't eat the meat. He says, for the sake of the conscious. Now, here's the thing. He's not saying, for the sake of your conscience.
There might be music that doesn't bother you, but will bother someone else to the point that they fall. Paul doesn't say, you can't listen to that music, but he wants you to be careful if it will cause someone else to fall. Paul said, it's not a sin to drink, but you can drink your wine, but it is a sin to drink it in front of somebody who's an alcoholic. It's not a sin to eat meat that was sacrificed to an idol, especially if you don't know. But it is a sin when you know it and someone else knows it, to eat it in front of them, that their conscious could be bothered.
That they could. But maybe there's another christian there who would be offended if you did it. Or maybe it's an unbeliever. And when you know that it was sacrificed to an. To an idol and you partake of it with them, knowing that, you edify what they're doing, what they are doing is wrong, but you almost give approval when you partake in the it with them, and so you actually.
You approve their conscience, which is doing a bad thing. So it's just for the sake of other people. Don't do these things. But there are things that are not sinful. And I won't stand here and tell you are sinful.
But as Paul says, I will also say, be careful of who you do certain things in front of, lest you cause that person to fall away from God. That is the sinful action that Paul wants us to avoid. And then here's what he says. He gives two reasons why it's not sinful, inherently sinful to eat meat. Sacrifice to idols, especially if you don't know.
First, he says, the earth is the Lord's and everything that's in it. The earth is God's. The plants are gods, the animals are gods. So the meat is godse. And just because somebody sacrificed it to an idol and then sold it to you unknowingly at.
At a meat market doesn't change the fact that it's God's. But also, look what he says here. He says, how can I be judged? How can I have a bad conscience or be criticized if I partake of something of thanksgiving. Now, I struggled with this one to.
I struggle to understand what Paul meant, so I had to get some help, and someone clarified for me. He says this essentially, how could you give thanks to some? He says, you cannot give thanks to God for something you know is sinful, right. If I'm able to sit down and thank God for the meal, I have right to praise him for it and glorify him for that providence. I can't do that with a bad conscience about that food.
Now, it might be different if I'm sitting in the idol's temple partaking. There's no way I could thank God for it, right? Because I know what it is. But he says, if you are able to thank God for it, chances are you can do it with a good conscience, because it's not possible to thank God for something sinful. I cannot grab my phone and look at pornography tonight.
And right before I view it, pray to God and say, God, thank you for this pornography. I can't do it, and neither can you. No one's conscious will allow them to thank God for the pornography they're about to view.
That's his justification.
He says, why is my freedom can't be judged from another person's conscience if I partake with thanksgiving, right? Because if I'm able to thank God for it, it's not going to be sinful or damaging to my conscience. So he says, whether you eat or drink meat or wine or whatever, or anything else you do in life, he says, do for the glory of God. Guys, if everything we do, we do with this question of mine, will it glorify God today? If I do this, will God be glorified, or will he be demoralized?
And that is the founding question behind everything we do.
We will persevere. And then finally, he says this. Paul tells us to imitate him, but look what he says. He doesn't say, follow me, church. Follow me.
He says, follow me as I follow Christ. Paul says, look, don't follow the bad things that I do, but don't follow me down a wicked path. But as I follow Christ, as I imitate him, as I do what he would do, you do the same.
As we come to an end tonight, as we end the session or section of corinthians, I plead a couple of things with everyone. First, I plead that we are aware of not only the freedom that we have, but how are we utilizing our freedom. Are we utilizing our freedom in a way to glorify God and in a way that will build up our neighbor. Second, I.
I ask that as we leave here tonight, that we are intimately aware of whether or not what we do glorifies God. That we do everything for God, but for those who, who are here tonight. And you do not know God, but you do not know him. The end of the ages is here. And I know we've been saying this for a long time.
We've been saying this for the last 2000 years. And what that really means is it's a whole lot closer now than it was when this was written. That's what it means. The end of the ages are here. And you can have that freedom, that same freedom we have.
You can have that forgiveness of sins. You can have all those great blessings of God because Christ came and he died for you. We partake. We talked about the communion briefly today. We partake of that because of the body that he gave us and the blood that he poured out for us.
And next week in chapter eleven, we'll talk a little more in depth about the communion. But you can have it if you are willing to. Not if you believe that you're a sinner, that the life that you live is wrong. And look, you already know it. I'm not asking you to believe it in the sense of you agree or disagree with me because you already know it.
I'm asking you to believe in the sense that in your heart you can admit what's wrong and allow someone to change it. And if you can do that, and if you can believe, if you can admit that Jesus is God, that he really did come here and he lived and died, that the evidence is overwhelming. So I'm not, again, I'm not asking you to believe with just the mere mental belief, but I'm asking you to believe with the heart, in your heart that he did it, that you will, that you can trust him and fully commit yourself to him and then confess him as your lord. Right again, not a. Not a tongue confession of, yeah, Jesus is God, or Jesus is king.
But that full confession of I, God, I will commit my life to you because I believe you did these things. Because I believe your creator, because I know what you did for me. I will follow you. You. I'm done following myself.
I'll follow you when you can have all these things. Paul writes to us in Romans telling me, if you confess at your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised them from the dead, you would be saved. If you're ready for this gift tonight, as we go into our closing prayer, I'll lead you in verbalizing that to God. You can repeat after me again. As I often say, that prayer does not save you.
It's that belief and that trust in God. We're just going to verbalize it tonight. After the prayer, we'll partake of communion for anyone who would like to stick around. I welcome you to join us in that tonight. And then I'll see everybody else on Wednesday at 630 as we continue our study in Luke, chapter three.
Let's pray. Father, I admit that I'm a sinner. I admit, Lord, that I can't say myself and my ways are wrong. And I believe, Jesus Christ, that you are the God man who created the heavens and the earth, that you stepped down into creation, and you lived and died for me. And I believe, I know that you rose again the third day.
And I confess to you, Lord Jesus, as my God and king. I will no longer fall on my crown, but I'll submit to yours. And I ask you for this free and precious gift. Father, I pray tonight that each of us will be aware of where we are with you. And be aware, Lord, that if we are trusting in ourselves, that not only can we fall, but we will fall.
So I ask, Lord, that our trust will be placed in you, that will. That we will run this race as if to win it. And I pray, Father, that everything we do will be from a posture of love for our brother or sister, and our love for you, that it will glorify you. And I pray, Father, that you will glorify yourself in us as you help us to do that. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.