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Welcome to studies with Stearman. Join us as we look deeper into the Bible. Strengthen your faith with us, even as we see the day approaching. And now here's Gary. Last week we were concluding the ninth chapter, and we are in the middle of a discourse by Paul which started back in chapter eight, on the principles of Christian Liberty. Now, if you know anything about the teaching of Paul, his primary concern from the time he was saved until he died, he had one message, and that was Christian liberty. The fact that we become members of the body of Christ upon salvation, and that precludes every other single factor in our lives. The fact that we are made members of the body of Christ is so far above any other consideration according to Paul, that it's simply the only thing worth talking about. And basically, all of his epistles flesh out one or another aspect of the principle of Christian liberty. But particularly starting in First Corinthians 8, chapter 9, chapter 10, which we'll look at today, he focuses on this idea. And he started back in eight. One saying, knowledge puffs you up, but love builds you up. That's sort of his guiding principle. Now, First Corinthians is an answer to a letter sent to him, or maybe more than one letter. A number of letters had been sent to him with questions concerning practical Christian living. And this practical Christian living was for Corinth, which was a very, very evil place. It was about as wicked a place as there was on the face of the earth. Back in those days. Every kind of deviant behavior that you can imagine was going on there. And so people wrote questions to Paul about, how can we live? How should we live if we're going to be walking in a society that's this corrupt? And of course, this brings us right down to today, because we're walking through a corrupt society today and a society that's increasingly corrupt in communications. We concluded last week on First Corinthians 9, 1527, where Paul had done a very odd thing. He had talked about the Gospel in terms of his freedom to preach. And then he got into his freedom to make money as a preacher. And he developed the case that a pastor should be paid. He spent a lot of time developing a very strong case. You know, he quoted Moses, thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the grain, and so forth. And he builds a very good case for paying the pastor. But he turns right around at the end of 1 Corinthians 9 and he says, hey, I don't get paid. I don't take a Salary. After building up a case for taking a salary, he says, I don't take one. Why? Well, because I want to preach the gospel in terms of the necessity of preaching. The 16th verse of First Corinthians 9. For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of. For necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. In other words, my motivation for preaching is preaching. It is not for getting paid. And he made his living as a tent maker so as to separate the idea of income from the idea of teaching. This is how passionate he was. And look what he says. We didn't have time last week to talk much about this. Look what he says in verse 18. What's my reward then? Verily, that when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, free. And for him, this is very much a central feature. Because the gospel is a gospel of freedom. Why should it come at a price? That's basically what he's saying. And he then says, verse 19. For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that I might gain the more. Now, we ended on this thought last week. He says, you know, in Christ I am absolutely free. However, I'm free to make myself a slave. We spent some time talking about that last week. And there's a great irony in that. I'm free. And I'm free enough to make myself a slave. And it's my business whether or not I do that. And he doesn't suggest that anyone else do this. He just says, this is what I do. And then he says, you know, to the Jew, I became like a Jew. To the weak person, I become like one. Weak. He says, I become all things to all men because I am driven to preach the gospel. And then he says, and I'm going to read verses 24 through the end of chapter 9. 24, 27. Know ye not that they which run in a race run. All but one receiveth the prize, so run that you may obtain. In other words, Paul shows himself to be driven. He's a driven man. He is inwardly driven to do what he does. He feels like he's running a race. He feels as though he's operating as a defender of the faith. And he says, every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. In other words, you gotta get yourself in shape if you're gonna run the race. That's what he's talking about, gonna race, get in shape. And he says, people that race do it for a corruptible crown, crown of the victor, an olive leaf crown which is gonna fade away. It's gonna wither up and dry up, turn to dust. But he says, we do it for an incorruptible crown. I therefore run not as uncertainly. And he says, I fight not as one that beats the air. He says, I'm not shadow boxing. You know, fighters. And by the way, boxing was very much in the venue of Greek sports. They used to box. Well, they had several forms of boxing in Greek sport. Oftentimes one or another of the fighters died because they would wear just leather covers for their fists. And sometimes the leather had little spikes in it and things, nasty little stuff. They had sports back then, serious sports. And he said, I'm not shadow boxing. He says, I am literally working on myself to keep myself in shape, to bring my body under subjection, lest by any means. He says, when I have preached to others that I myself should become a castaway. Now, he doesn't mean that he would lose his salvation if he failed to preach to others. What he's saying is, I might be disapproved. That word castaway is the Greek word adakimos, which means failing to meet approval. And Paul is always measuring himself as one who will one day have to stand before the Lord and be approved or disapproved for those things done in the body. And Paul regarded this as like training for a sporting event, whipping yourself into shape, keeping yourself in shape, never letting yourself slip, because in the end, you don't want to meet disapproval. Now, that's where he left us in chapter nine. Let's look at chapter 10. And this is a fascinating chapter because it weaves together two subjects. One subject baptism, the other subject communion. And it interweaves these two ideas together into one. Usually those two ideas are not woven together. He says, moreover, brethren. And when he says, moreover, here he's saying, in addition to what I just finished saying, I want to add something else. The Greek construction here in the emphatic would say something like this, Lest by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway. And don't forget this, brethren. I would not that you should be ignorant how that our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea. Now, here he's talking to Jews, writing a letter to the Corinthians, but he's now speaking to the Jews in the audience. Today, when you go to a typical church, there may be a few Jews who have received Jesus, you know, sprinkled throughout the Congregation. But in those days, the majority of the congregation would be Hebrew Christians, what we would call Hebrew Christians or Messianic Jews today, probably more like Hebrew Christians, that is, Jews who have become Christians. This was especially true in Corinth. Corinth was a gentile city dedicated to the pagan gods. Very, very pagan city. And yet it had a lot of synagogues. And the chief converts to Christianity in these years were Jews. So he's writing to his brother Jews here who are Christians. And he says, moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant how that our fathers were under the cloud. That all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Right here in the middle of a discourse on Christian liberty, Paul turns back to the Exodus. Now, the Exodus is known for the giving of the law, but Paul's gonna use it as an illustration of Christian liberty. This is really interesting. And furthermore, he's talking about baptism here. And then he adds verse five. But with many of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. So he goes back and brings up a familiar subject, the idea of Moses and baptism. He says, I don't want you to forget something. Our fathers were under the cloud. That was the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire that led them through the desert. If there ever was an act of God, a visible act of God in the history of the world, that had to be it. To see God visibly manifested, guiding you along by a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. And he says, and all passed through the sea and were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And, well, when you first read that, you say, aha, there it is. Water baptism. Boy gotta get dunked to get saved, right? Well, remember, when they went through the sea, not a drop of water, right? They went through dry shod, says the Bible. The waters parted. And I would imagine that, you know, if you went out here and parted the waters of Lake Hefner and walked across the bottom would be kind of muddy. Not the Red Sea. They went across dry shot. Now, how did God work that out? I don't know, but he did. And yet, though there was no water there, they were baptized unto Moses in the cloud. And in the sea. Here again, we come up with problem that we face when looking at the epistles of Paul. We see this problem over and over and over again. Namely, we have a linguistic problem because the translators of virtually every language. I mean, you can talk about Spanish, German, talk about Danish, Swedish. I don't look at a Bible. And the word baptism is usually transliterated. It is not translated. Baptizo. Our translators did not translate that word where it says we're all baptized unto Moses is simply a transliteration of the Greek word baptizo. And that word does not have anything to do with water. That word has to do with identification. That's what it means in the Greek. The Greek verb baptizo means to identify with or to be identified with. Now, we practice water baptism here. If someone wants to be baptized, we do that. But we do not practice baptism as an artifact of salvation, but rather as a testimony. Baptism is identification with someone. And so Paul's making a point here. The Israelites were baptized unto Moses when they went across the desert under the cloud. When they walked through the sea of reeds, dry, shod, and they got to the other side, they all ate the same spiritual meat. Verse 3. That would be the manna in the desert. Manna from the Hebrew word man, or if you add the che ending on it, manna, which is Hebrew for what is it? Which I think is a wonderful thing. It's Hebrew for what is this stuff? Manna? Well, what it is is spiritual meat, according to verse three here, verse four. And did all drink the same spiritual drink? And you know what that was? The giant rock at the foot of Mount Horeb. Moses struck the rock and water flowed out enough for literally millions of people. No one knows exactly how many, but it was certainly approaching 2 million people out there in the desert, plus all their cattle. That wasn't just a little trickle out of a little rock. It was a river. This is the spiritual drink that's mentioned here in verse 4. For they all drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. The rock in the desert was a picture of Christ. Struck once, split wide open, water flowed out. Our Lord was crucified. And when he was struck, that enabled us then to drink of that spiritual drink and to eat of that spiritual food. The rock is Christ. If you go back to Exodus 17 and read about it, it's fascinating. In fact, it's so fascinating that we could spend the rest of the morning on it, on just this message, because it's one of the Great messages in the Bible. Exodus 17:6, where the Lord is talking to Moses and he says, take your rod up there. Stand in front of that rock. And verse six says, behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it so that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel and called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because the chiding the children of Israel, because they tempted the Lord, saying, is the Lord among us or not? That was just before they got water. And the people were very upset. They were saying, moses brought us out here in the desert to die. This brings up another idea, and that's mentioned here as we go on. The idea of faith is mentioned in this context. The Israelites didn't have much faith, and Paul uses that as a point. Let's continue on. But with many of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to Play. That's Exodus 32. 6. The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Gives you a little insight into their mindset out there. They were sort of playing a game of, let's see if we can forget where we are out there. They never did get with the program. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed and fell in one day. 3 and 20,000. Go back to the book of Numbers, Numbers 11, 4. The mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting. And the children of Israel also wept, again, saying, who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt for nothing. We had all the fish we could eat. The cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlic, gourmet food. But now our soul is dried away. We just feel like we gotta have some good stuff or we're just gonna die. There's nothing at all besides this manna before our eyes. Just all we have to eat is manna. And we're bored because we wanna mix up our diet. You know, we're used to eating good food where God gave them what I take to be the perfect food. But they could not be satisfied with that because they wanted to satisfy the flesh. Now, a word about our own Society and a word about the Corinthian society. They were absolutely devoted back in Corinth to trying everything new. Roman cuisine was absolutely amazing. If you've ever read a Roman cookbook, they had recipes upon recipes upon recipes, and they always were talking with each other about trying some new taste, or, boy, they're eating this over in Rome right now and got to try this. Caesar's own chef has concocted this amazing thing. This was their mindset. And it's sort of the mindset in America today concerning food. You've always got to taste some new thing. All of this falls under the heading of lust. There's nothing wrong with enjoying food. On the other hand, if it becomes an obsession, it can eclipse the things of the Lord. It can sort of take your mind away from your faith and the faith in the provision of the Lord. If you look at numbers 25, 9, there's a plague. As children of Israel journeyed up toward the land, they came into northern Midian and up toward the land of Moab. In famous incident of Balak, where King Balak hired Balaam to prophesy against Israel. Balaam was not able to prophesy against Israel because the Lord stopped him. However, he was able to do one thing. He gave Balak some advice. He said, you know, if you can't curse them, corrupt them, get them to marry those Moabite women, and that will destroy the spirituality of the camp. And, you know, that's exactly what happened. So they began to have illicit relationship with the Midianite and the Moabite women. And a plague entered into the camp. Can you say std, anyone? That's what I think was the plague that entered the camp. And that's in numbers 25. Moses 25, 5 said unto the judges of Israel, slay ye every one of his men that were joined unto BAAL Peor. BAAL peor is a reference to the elevation of sex to the status of worship. And behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, in sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of congregation. That's what Paul is talking about here in his Letter to the Corinthians. He says in First Corinthians 10, 8, neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed and fell in one day, 3 and 20,000, 23,000 people died in one day. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted were Destroyed of serpents. And you remember the plague of serpents in the desert. Why? Why did all these things happen in the desert? Because the people lost faith. They were given everything. They lost faith. By the way, speaking of faith, did the Israelites really have faith back in those days when they went through the wilderness Experience with Moses? No. If you carefully read the Torah, you will discover that it was Moses who had faith. And the people followed Moses. Remember, Moses took them down to the edge of the sea of reeds. And what did they say to him? They said, oh, praise the Lord. He's going to rescue us by taking us across the sea. They did not say that, did they? They all but killed Moses because they said, you've brought us down here to kill us. We're going to drown. And the Egyptians are coming up behind us. They had no faith at all. But Moses had faith. That's why Paul is saying that they were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and the sea. In other words, Moses could do for them what they could not do for themselves. This is exactly our relationship with Christ. We are baptized unto Christ. He can do something for us that we cannot do for ourselves. And yet, like the Israelites, we can mumble and moan and grumble and complain and say, lord, you're not treating me right. You brought me out here to die and so forth. Right? We can mumble and moan just like the ancient Israelites did. That's why Paul says here in verse nine, neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. Tempt or test the idea of testing Christ. Neither let us test Christ. Verse 10. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured. And were destroyed of the destroyer Abaddon, the destroyer, the destroying angel. Now all these things happened to them. For examples, they're written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. And he's speaking here now to the church, the body of Christ. And he says, we are those upon whom the ends of the world are come. Upon whom the ends of the. And the word world. Here is a translation of the Greek word ion, which is in English, aeon. Age. The church as a body is referred to by Paul as the body upon whom the end of the age has come. In other words, the church, the body of Christ will be collected from among men until the end of a particular age occurs. The thing about the church is that it's gathered together out of the people of the world in a particular way to witness to the power of God. God could destroy the whole thing, he could let the whole thing collapse. But he has for 2000 years been gathering out a people for his name. And this people gathered out for his name are going to be witnesses of a particular wherefore. Verse 12. Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. Self examination. You know, Paul ended up the ninth chapter, the chapter just before this one, by saying, every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. He says, now they do it for a corruptible crown. We do it for an incorruptible. He says, I therefore so run not as uncertainly, and I don't fight like a shadow boxer. He says, but I keep my body in shape. I bring it into subjection, lest by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be cast away. Well, this is a reflection of what he's just said. He says, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. And you know, this is a great admonition. Now, what this doesn't mean is that you should check yourself every day to see if you're a Christian, because you are a Christian. There is a type of Christianity called experimentalism, and the people who practice it are called experimental predestinarians. I love that term. I just love it. Experimentalists. What are experimental predestinarians? Well, basically they are those people that get up in the morning and they walk into the bathroom mirror half asleep, and they look in the mirror and they say, am I a Christian today? I can't even get my eyes open. Am I a Christian? And they say, well, all who have believed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. And I believe in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ as my means of salvation. Therefore I am saved. So then, having performed that experiment, they can then shave or whatever you do in front of the mirror and then go on with the day. And the next day they do it all over again. They get up in the morning and go through the same exercise. Well, that's not what Paul's talking about. He's not saying test yourself to see if you're a Christian every day because you are. Once you're saved, that is, once the effective salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ has become part of your life, you're saved. You're a Christian. You don't have to ask the question every day as to whether you're Christian, but you do have to ask another question. And that is, am I walking as I should be walking? Based upon what I know now that's not asking whether you're a Christian, but it's asking something else. And that's the whole idea in chapter 10. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. That was one of my, I think maybe my first memorized Scripture after I became a Christian. First Corinthians 10:13. That struck me so much that I memorized it. And it's a reassuring idea. The temptation or testing that I'm undergoing is common to man. And furthermore, God is the faithful. What does that remind us of Moses? Moses was faithful. Hadn't been for Moses, those Israelites wouldn't have stood a chance. But Moses was faithful and he took them out, he delivered them. I mean, he spoon fed them for 40 years. So much so that he would go to the Lord and say, lord, I don't know whether I can take another day of this. And the Lord would always encourage him and lead him on. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted above that you are able. God will not allow you to be tested above your ability to take it. That's a staggering thought when you stop and think about it. Have you ever known Christians who are really, really, really tested and you think, wow, how in the world did they get through that? Well, God knew exactly what they could take and he knew exactly what he was doing. The application here is really simple. If you trust in the Lord, nothing will separate you from his love. That reminds me of another memory verse, Proverbs 3, 5, 6. I think a lot of people have memorized this. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding in all thy ways. Acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. What's the heart? And everybody who's been listening to me for any time at all should know immediately what the heart is. In Scripture, the heart is always the symbol of one's motivation. If your heart is in something, you're going to move in that direction. If your heart's not in it, you're not going to move in that direction. The heart is a symbol of motivation. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. There are things that you don't understand. Just trust there are things you don't understand. I tell people sometimes there are parts of the Bible you'll never understand. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not to thine own understanding. There are a lot of things that you won't understand. But you have to trust, even if you don't understand, in all your ways, acknowledge Him. In other words, you have to see him as cutting through your life in every aspect of it, and he shall direct thy paths. You either believe that or you don't. And it's easy not to believe it. It's really easy not to believe it because you think of yourself as kind of like a little ball in a pinball machine comes down from the top and it's bouncing off all the little obstacles and it goes ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, click, click, click, pop, pop, pop. And when it gets to the bottom, you know, it disappears. And you think, well, I'm kind of like a ball in a pinball machine. But if you really understand what the Bible says, you're not a ball in a pinball machine. You're a little ball that trusts the Lord. And you don't understand exactly everything, but you trust him anyway, and you acknowledge Him. And he will direct your path so that when you go down from the top to the bottom of that little pinball machine, it's not going to be random. It's going to be the way. God guides you. You can either believe that or not. If you're secular, you believe that life is what, a lottery. And there are winners in life's lottery, and there are losers in life's lottery, Right? You've probably heard that said, if you are not a believer, if you are a secular man, hey, life's a game of chance, period. It's the little ball of the pinball machine. But if you are a believer in God, it's not a game of chance anymore. He is directing your pathway just like Moses directed the children of Israel, grumbling and fighting and complaining all the way. Nevertheless, they got there and they ate spiritual food and they drank spiritual drink. And to all of those faithful who followed Moses, they got to the Promised Land. So Paul's using this as an application. They were baptized unto Moses. His faith linked them to the one true God, not their own faith. His faith, the faith of Christ, links me to the Father, back in the days when I had no faith at all. The Lord lifted me up and delivered me and directed my pathway to the Father. And I was baptized into him that as I was identified with him, just as the children of Israel were identified with Moses. And here's the end of the story. Paul says, just like a lot of those Israelites grumbled, complained, moaned, lusted, engaged in all kinds of things they shouldn't have, and they fell away. Some of them fell into a giant crack in the desert. Others died. He said, take heed. Watch your own progress, lest you fall, because you could fall just like some of those children in the wilderness. Nevertheless, the Lord will not allow you to be tested above your ability to take it. You have to believe that. Wherefore. Verse 14. My dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men, judge you what I say, so I'm speaking as to wise men. Now, Paul brings in a subject here that we talk about very often, namely fellowship at the Lord's table. Now, eating, we've said this many times before, diet, communion, eating together. The whole idea of the love feast is very much a part of the Christian walk of faith. And Paul uses communion as an emblem of the Christian walk. And so in verse 16 and following, he's talking about fellowship at the Lord's table. And basically what he's going to be saying in these verses is that fellowship at the Lord's table requires there's separation, that is, separation from the world. He says, this 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? For we, being many, are one bread, one body. We're all partakers of that one bread. Behold, Israel, after the flesh, are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? And of course, the answer is yes. What say I then? That the idol is anything, or that which is offered and sacrificed to idols is anything? But I say, the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God. And I would not that you 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 the table of devils. What Paul is saying in a nutshell here is that for some people, and we've been through this before, back in chapter eight, for some people in Corinth, to eat meat which had been sacrificed to idols would be idolatry. You have to examine your heart in this matter. Now, Paul goes into a very detailed description of idolatry. And you remember, we've been through this, starting back here in chapter eight, the Weak brother. You remember the meat market in Corinth was a pagan temple. It's where you went to buy your meat. They were the butcher shops. Meat would be offered to idols and the bulk of the meat that had been butchered would then be sold right next to the temple. As a matter of fact, there are a number of records, including there's a well known painting that was painted back in the days of Rome which shows, by the way, was uncovered in Pompeii, the city that was destroyed in the eruption of Vesuvius back in about AD I think 69. I may be wrong, but that's pretty close to the time. So this is during the time of the apostles that this eruption occurred. And there's a famous painting that they discovered on the wall in one of the buried houses that shows a temple of Caesar. And right next to the temple of Caesar there's a meat market and people are coming to buy meat at the temple of Caesar. So it's a perfect illustration of what the Corinthians were asking about, eating the meat that had been purchased at a pagan meat market. Is it okay to do that? And he concludes back there in chapter eight, of course it is, except for one thing. You don't want to insult a weaker brother. If that's going to be offensive to someone whose faith is not complete, then don't do it. He takes his argument one step further here in First Corinthians 10:14. And following now, he's saying something else because he's saying not only should you consider a weaker brother in your worldly habits, but you should also begin to examine what it means to glorify God. That's just a little step further. It's one thing not to offend a weaker brother, but it's another thing to say, am I glorifying God? That's a little step higher. And so he says, what say I then? Verse 19, that the idol is anything, or that which is offered sacrifice to idols is anything. But I say things which the Gentiles sacrifice. They sacrifice to demons, not to God. I would not you should have fellowship with demons. Cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can't be partakers of the Lord's table, the table of demons. He's now inserting a little extra thought here. And that thought is the highest thought that Paul ever expresses. It's the thought of love. We are to seek the welfare of others. A Christian's life should not be directed primarily by the concept of liberty, although we are Free. Remember what Paul said. We're free. In fact, back here in 1 Corinthians 6:12, he said, all things are lawful to me. I can do anything I want to do, but all things are not expedient. And here he's extending that argument to the realm of love, which is the realm of the highest form of worship that you can express. Verse 22. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? He says, all things are lawful for me. But, oh, there he's repeating himself. The same thing he said back in chapter six, 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. So he's now taken this first argument about the weaker brother, and he has said this. A Christian's life is based on liberty, but liberty must be limited by love. You're free to do anything. However, it should be the concept of love that directs your life and not liberty or total license. Your freedom must be tempered by love, the love of God. Interesting thought. It makes you think, wow, I'm free to do anything. But now that I know how free I am, hmm, what can I really do? And how do I regulate that love? The agape love of God is the regulator of liberty. It is the thing that directs your Christian liberty. It's the thing that glorifies God. It's the thing that was missing until Jesus came and sacrificed himself. Greater love hath no man than to give up his life for his brethren. Moses had faith, and he guided the people across the desert. But if you stop and think back to Exodus, how much love was there out there on the desert? It was not love. It was law. It was, do this or die. And millions died out there. Jesus came. It was not law anymore. It was love he gave himself. And when he did, he gave us access to his love, and we could follow him and exhibit his love to other people. And love becomes the regulator in our life. Boy, is that tough. Because as I've said many, many times, the hardest thing in this world to do is exhibit the love of Christ. Really, it is. And yet this statement By Paul, verse 24, Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth. He says here we're to seek the welfare of other people. A Christian's life shouldn't be directed by what he can get away with. It should be directed by Love. The 25th verse, Whatsoever is sold in the meat market. And that's what it says, by the way, There's a Latin word, machelum, which means meat market. And the Greek word is machelon, and it's used here. He says, whatever's sold in the meat market, eat it, asking no question, for conscience sake. For the earth of the Lord and the fullness thereof. If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, you be disposed to go whatsoever set before you eat, asking no question, for conscience sake. But if any man say unto you this is offered in sacrifice to idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, for conscience sake. For the earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof. You see, you're free, but yet you're not free to wound someone else's walk of faith. You're not. You must be hypersensitive to the status of another believer's faith. And that hypersensitivity is directed by love, the love of God. Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other. For why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? For if by grace I be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of? For that which I give thanks. Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Now, you couldn't do that. You could not do that unless you had personally experienced the love of God through Christ. You couldn't do it. Impossible. Because a human being doesn't have that in him. A sinful human being doesn't have that love in him. Only through Christ do we develop that love. It flows from the heavens down through us toward other people. And that's why it's so difficult. That's why a lot of people kind of throw up their hands and say, I'm sick and tired of this love business. I'm going to go back to law. It's a whole lot easier to memorize a bunch of laws. Thou shalt do this. Thou shalt not do this. Thou shalt do this. Give me 31 laws I can follow, and I'll be a happy camper. But this love thing, I'll tell you what, it'll let you down. You know what I mean? It does take practice to exhibit the love of Christ. But it is the goal. It is what we're working toward. Verse 30. Paul says, for if I, by grace be a partaker, why am I evil? Spoken of for that which I give thanks. That word partaker there is an amazing word. That's the Greek word metakos. And it's the Greek word that means a business partner. What it means, and it's used quite often it means that you are a business partner with the Lord Jesus Christ. When you become a Christian, you are in every sense a business partner. You're part of the family business, God the Father, Christ, by which you have access to the Father, you have the body of Christ. And all of you are in the family business. You're partakers. And he says, wow, if I by grace be a partaker, why am I ill spoken of? For that which I give thanks, whether therefore ye eat or drink, whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God, give none offence neither to the Jews, nor the Gentiles, nor 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. That's love, friends. That is love. And he concludes his argument in the first verse of the 11th chapter. Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Remember when Jesus was alive, he used to walk up to somebody and he would say, follow me. And that's what he would say. He didn't say, you better follow me or it's going to go hard for you. No, he didn't ever say things like that. He'd just say, follow me. Your choice. You can follow him or not. Paul says, be followers of me even as I am of Christ. And that's the name of Christianity. It is to be a follower, to exhibit the love of Christ, to glorify God. It's a tough job, but he'll help you. He'll make it possible for you to do it. I thought we would end today, since we were speaking here of the cup of blessing in verse 16, of the blood of Christ and the body of Christ. We would end on a high note today with communion, because communion is the very emblem of love. The body of Christ. The blood of Christ. He gave his blood and his body for one reason. That is so that we could experience the love of the Father that he had had with the Father throughout eternity. And you know, if he hadn't done that, we would not be able to experience the love of God. That's a truth. And so let's take the communion at this time and come forward and collect the elements of the communion as family groups. We'll take communion in John, chapter six. Jesus spoke to the people and it's interesting what he said. He said, verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. That's interesting, isn't it? Moses had faith and he took the children of Israel out, but he did not give them the bread from heaven. He was unable to do that. They had manna, but they didn't have the true bread that had to await the coming of Christ. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, giveth life unto the world. Jesus says, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. Did you ever stop and think about that difference? Wow, that's profound. We have the living bread, not just manna. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. And when we take the communion and break the bread which represents his body, we're just remembering what he's done for us. Let's break the bread right now. And Also in John 6, Jesus said something which the people could not understand. He said, verily, verily, I say unto you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. And he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. And when he said that to the Jews, they were infuriated because they thought he was referring to something cannibalistic. But no, no, he's talking about something spiritual. And when we take the cup, we just remember that we have what he said. He dwells in us, and we dwell in him. Let's take the.