Epistles of Paul 40

Well, good evening, brethren. Paul has been addressing a number of issues on 1 Corinthians, but the underlining theme is Christ is not divided.

In last week's study, we explained the profound significance of being baptized into Christ, and we do so in Christ's name, that is, by Christ's authority. So we went through that quite in depth, and in fact we even went through the baptism ceremony words showing you how it fits those very instructions.

Therefore, through that baptism, we are part of Christ's body. Obviously, Christ's body is the spiritual body, and it's the church, and we, as individuals in that body, should not, should not be pulling in different directions.

And that is part of the learning process and overcoming process that we all are going through.

And that means we have to be submissive to one another, just like Christ is submissive to the Father, and so submission to one another is absolutely key for unity, for us to be one as they are one. Therefore, once again, the theme, and what Paul has been explaining in this epistle, is that we should not be divided, because Christ is not divided. And last week we were reading in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 4 through 6, and in verse 4 we see that the rock that was with the Israelites, that rock that followed them, that basically led them and guided them, that accompanied them, you know, was followed them in the sense of accompanying them, that was with them, was, I beg your pardon, was Christ. But there was one big problem in that time, and that is highlighted in verse 5, which says, but with most of them God was not well pleased.

And so, basically, those people, those brethren, had not repented, had not repented, and so God was not well pleased with them. So, there is, therefore, the difference that we have to have, and the difference is that we must be repented. We must be changed. We must be different.

That is the whole point here, that God was not pleased with them, because, and therefore, their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. You and I need to put on Christ.

This is a very important principle that is highlighted here, and Paul also highlighted it in Galatians. Let's just look at that very briefly in Galatians chapter 3.

Galatians chapter 3, and we're going to read in verse 27.

And yeah, we read, for as many as we're baptized into Christ. So, we're baptized into that spiritual body of Christ, and then he says we have to put on Christ. We have to have Christ around us.

We've got to put on Christ. So, that is very important. That's what we need to be doing.

And then Paul, in fact, in Galatians, explained, therefore, if we are in Christ, in other words, if we are part of Christ's body, obviously, Christ's spiritual body, right, we, therefore, are not necessarily gentiles of this nationality or of that nationality or the other nationality. We're not slave or free, but we're all one. We need to be one. Unite. He has that unity again, and one in Christ. That's what he reads in verse 28 of Galatians chapter 3. And if you are Christ's, so if we are one in Christ, and if we are Christ's, so if we are part of that body, right, then you are Abraham's seed because Christ descended physically speaking from Abraham, and therefore that body, in a spiritual sense, is a descendent of Abraham. Was that physical body? And then was resurrected and changed into a spiritual body, but God gave Christ a body, a body of a human being that then became immortal.

He's put on immortality. So it says, therefore, in verse 29, if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and his according to the promise. We have a big promise for us, a big promise, but the promise, there was promise to Christ. And that's why it says we'll be coheres with Christ, heirs of God, and coheres with Christ, as it reads in Romans 8. So we have a great promise, and it is difficult for us to really grasp this. It's difficult for me. It's difficult for all of us. It's really, it's something that we have to continuously think about it, because it's such a big promise. And so continuing back to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 5, God was not pleased with those Israelites because they had not repented. Their mind remained carnal.

They had not changed from the old man to the new man. That baptism into Moses was not a commitment of change. Our baptism into Christ is a commitment from our side that we are changing from the old man to the new man, a commitment of repentance. And therefore he says, in verse 6, what happened to them is an example to us if we don't repent. A example to the intent that we should not do like they did, and our Paul lists five different examples of things that they did. The first one in verse 6 is that we should not last after evil things as they also lasted. So let's just look at one example of how they lasted after evil things, and that is in Numbers chapter 11. Numbers chapter 11. In Numbers chapter 11, we are going to read verse 4. Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving. Intense craving. The King James version says lusting, intense craving, intense lust. And so the children of Israel also wept again and said, we'll give us meat to eat. We want meat. They had intense craving, and they were not happy with what God was giving them, and they craved for other things.

So this lust, this craving, was something they had. Read that also in verse 33 and 34 of Numbers 11. And while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. You see, God was not pleased with them. That's why their bodies were scattered in the wilderness, as we read in Corinthians. So we call the name of that place Kiprof Atava, which basically means literally graves of craving. And then it says, because they were, because they buried the people who yielded to craving, who yielded to lust. And so, as we see in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 6, this is one of the examples. We must not be lusting for other things. Maybe God has only provided us specific things. If what God has provided for us, we're not happy with, we're not content, maybe it could be interpreted as lusting, lusting for what God did not give us, for evil things, because then that lust becomes evil. Now, then he goes on in verse 7, and do not become idolatrous, as with some of them, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. So let's look at that example of idolatry, which is in Exodus 32 verse 6. Exodus 32 verse 6. Yah is the situation about the golden calf when Moses came down from the mountain, and it says, you know, it's because Moses was delaying, they then made this golden calf. And then let's look at verse 6. And they rose early on the next day offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings, and people sat down to eat and drink and rose to play.

In other words, they made this golden calf, as we read in verse 4, and they called this golden calf, this is your God of Israel, idolatry, because clearly the commandment says you shall not make any idols or anything or any images of anything to worship them. And so they were, that's what they did. And so there is idolatry. And as a result, they did, as it was quoted in 1 Corinthians 10, they, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose to play. This rising to play is, as some commentaries mention, sexual activity in incorrect, ungodly, immoral sexual activity. And that's why then, in the very next verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 8, 10 verse 8 says, let us not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did. And in one day, in one day, 23,000 fell. In one day, it's not saying that that was the total number. It's saying that in one day alone, 23,000 fell.

So let's look at that example, which is in Numbers 25 verse 1 through 9. Numbers 25 verse 1 through 9.

Numbers 25. And now, Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit oratory with the woman of Moab. And you know the story. The story is the story of Balaam and Balak. And Balaam then instructed the Moabites to incite the woman to go to Israelite camp under the pretense that seeing that he could not curse the Israelites, if the Israelites disobeyed God, they would therefore now be cursed.

And so he encouraged that conduct. And so we see that the Israelites people began to commit oratory with the woman of Moab. And then we read in Numbers 25 verse 1. And they invited the people, these are the women, following pagan gods. They invited the people to the sacrifices of the their gods, the Moabite gods. And the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So there it is, woman coming in, in this case, woman being led to follow pagan gods. Now, yeah, is the point that we need to be careful about not being unequally yoked. Because when one is unequally yoked, when one is in the church, another one is not in the church, there's going to be problems and difficulties. And this is particularly important to remember before one is married. Now, once one is married, if one leaves the faith, we're now talking about a different story. But before we get married, we should be careful to not be unequally yoked. So then it continues. So Israel, because of this pull by those that were not godly to lead these relights to follow their gods, he says, yeah, so Israel, verse 3, was joined to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel. Then the Lord said to Moses, take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the Lord out in the sun that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel. And Moses said to the judges of Israel, every one of you kill his men who are joined to Baal of Peor. So and indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a media night woman in the sight of Moses. So he challenged basically the authorities, ha ha, I'm going to do what I want to do. And I'm going to break God's laws right in front of Moses.

Right. And in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Now when Phineas, the son of Eliezor, the son of Aaron the priest, so yeah, we have the grandson of Aaron, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through the man of Israel and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. And those who died in that plague were 24,000.

In 1 Corinthians, it says that we're 23,000 in one day. And so a few more died either the following day or the day before. So a few more died, total being 24,000.

And so the example of these relights, they were not repented. And we saw they lasted, they had idols, and now we see here in Corinthians that they committed sexual immorality.

And then in verse 9 it says, or 1 Corinthians 10 verse 9, nor let us tempt Christ. Oh, they tempt. Who did they tempt? God, of course. But they were tempting Christ because Christ was the God being that was with them. As we said, He was with them, He followed them, He accompanied them, and that rock was Christ, as we saw in verse 4. And so in verse 9, it says, let us not tempt Christ as some of them also tempted Christ, of course, and were destroyed by the serpents. It was tempted the God being, which John describes as the word, which became flesh and then became known as Christ. So they tempted that being, which is none other than Christ. And so we see that in Numbers 21. Numbers 21. So let's go back to Numbers now, chapter 21, verse 5 through 9. Numbers 21 verse 5 through 9. And the people spoke against God and against Moses. Why you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there's no food and no water and our soul loves this worthless bread. So they were tempting because they spoke against God. But from reading in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, we see they were tempting Christ because Christ was the God being that was with them. And so the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people and many of the people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned. We have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he may take away the serpents from us. You see, so they always say, oh well, we've sinned. But there was no genuine repentance. So Moses prayed for the people and then the Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole. And it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at that pole with that serpent in it, when he looks at it, he shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. And so it was. If a serpent had bitten anyone, when that person looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. And so yeah, we have a situation that they spoke against God, against Christ, and yeah, it's a symbol that by putting that serpent on that pole, in an analogy or in a way of a symbol, it represents a sin offering that Christ did for us by dying for us on a pole, on a storars, on a cross. So Christ died for us. This ties together with 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21. For he made him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us. So Christ became a sin offering for us. Okay, so obviously Christ did not become sin, because this is a figure of speech.

They call this type of figure of speech a metonymy, which is the substitution of the name of an attribute or a gent for that of the thing meant. For instance, you will say, oh well, the suits ever arrived, the men in suits, which means, you know, the business executives. So that thing, like the suits, was used as a figure of speech to reflect or to mention that it was business executives. Or for instance, you say, well, we went to the track, and that could imply that we went to see a horse races, who went to the track, the racetrack, the horse racing, or could be a car race, or whatever it is, we went to the race. So that the actual thing, the name of that thing is substituted for what it is meant. And therefore, it says Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin. In other words, was made a sin offering. That's the thing that is meant. It meant he was a sin offering for us. And so that example of the bronze serpent being put on the pole, it gave a symbology looking into the future of what Christ did for us to forgive us. And when we repent and we look to Christ, he forgives us and allows us to live. And so continuing back in 1 Corinthians, we finish reading verse 9. And now in verse 10, it gives us the first bad example, which is, no complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. And we see that in Exodus 16, verse 2 and 3, for instance, in Exodus 16, verse 2 and 3. Exodus 16, verse 2 and 3. Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. See, they were complaining. And the children of Israel said to them, Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt. When we sat by the pots of meat and we ate bread for the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill the soul assembly with hunger. And so we can see, they were complaining. They were complaining.

And so continuing in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, we saw various examples of that these Israelites had not repented examples of lust, of idolatry, of sexual immorality, of tempting Christ, and of complaining. And continue now in verse 11. Now all these things happened to them, to the Israelites, as examples to us, as examples. And they were written for our admonition, for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. So these are examples for us.

Therefore, verse 12, therefore, let him who thinks his stance take heed lest he fall.

He who thinks that his stance. It's important he had to understand. He thinks, or we think, that we know so much. Meantime, be careful, because you might be spiritually blind.

Or I'm increased with goods, and I've got all these things. And he says, beware, because maybe, you know, you need to have your eyes washed, because you're blind. If we think we stand, be careful.

Lest he fall. You see, in many cases, it's a case of, for instance, people have a conviction in their conscience that their heart is right with God. Or they have a conviction in their mind that their mind is in the truth. We've got to be careful. We've got to be careful. Because if we are arrogant about what we think in our heart, in our mind, we might then be amongst the ones that God is not well pleased with, as we read in verse five. So we've got to be careful about thinking in our hearts that we are okay, we're good with God.

In Jeremiah 17 verse 9, Jeremiah 17 verse 9, it says very clearly that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Who can know it?

So we've got to be careful because our heart is desperately wicked. But in verse seven of the same chapter of Jeremiah 17 says, blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord.

We must not think of ourselves that we're okay. We must not trust in ourselves. Oh, I'm okay, my heart is good, and I know the truth, and I'm okay. We are a trust in God.

Not in our knowledge, not in what we think we know. We are a trust in God because our hearts are deceitful. And yeah, maybe we're maybe right about certain things, but in that process of being right, we may come across as being judgmental, and we have to be so careful, so careful.

Look at Proverbs chapter three. Proverbs chapter three.

And Proverbs chapter three, verse five and six.

Proverbs chapter three, verse five and six. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

We really have to trust in God, not in our hearts or in our minds. We are a trust in God. And it says, lean not on your own understanding. We are going to rely on God.

Look at also, verse six, in all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. Acknowledge God, and God will direct you. In His own time, God will direct you. Look at Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16 verse 18. Proverbs 16 verse 18.

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Or if you think I know it all, be careful. Be careful. We're going to trust in God, not in our own mind and our thinking. We're going to trust in God, because if we think we stand, it actually might be a little bit of a problem with pride. We've got to be careful with that.

Look at just one page behind, probably in your Bible, Proverbs 13, a bigger part of 15, verse 33. Proverbs 15 verse 33. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility. So we've got to respect and respect for God, trusting, and that respect and trust for God leads us to wisdom, to wisdom, to make the right choices.

And a key for that is humility, because before honor is humility.

And so pride and the haughty spirit bring us trouble. We've got to be humble.

Going back, still a few more pages, in Proverbs 11 verse 2. When pride comes, then comes shame, but with the humble is wisdom. With the humble, humble is wisdom. In James chapter 4 verse 6, James says God resists the proud. James chapter 4 verse 6, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And as we go, for instance, to the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5, a big beginning foundation principle of Christianity is being poor in spirit. In other words, being humble as we read in Matthew 5 verse 3.

So let's continue then with 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and let's now read verse 13.

No temptation has overtaken you, except such as is common to man.

But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will with the temptation, will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it. Doesn't say that you won't have it, because he still says that you'll be able to bear it, but gives you like a release valve, a way of escape that you are able to bear it.

So no matter the trial, we have to trust God. We have to trust God, and He will give us the capability to endure. We have to trust Him, then He will give us the capability to endure.

Let's now read on verse 14. Therefore, my beloved, flee from my adultery. You know, flee, avoid, put other things before God.

And some of those other things might be ourselves. Make a God of my own thoughts, my own ideas, and we think that we stand. So flee from my adultery. I doubt that He might be just my own selfish thoughts, that I'm okay, Jack. So we've got to be careful. Flee from my adultery. And then he says in verse 15, I speak as to wise men. Is He being sarcastic? I mean, after all this, He's probably being a little bit sarcastic and saying, I'm talking to you as wise men. So judge for yourselves what I say. So consider what I'm saying. Think about it carefully. And now He gives the example of the Passover. And He says, the cup of blessing, which we bless, is not a communion or the fellowship or the sharing of the body of Christ. And so at a Passover, when we take that cup, aren't we sharing Christ's blood? In other words, we're all sharing of His sacrifice for sin. In other words, His forgiveness. On the condition that we repented, right? Because we've been baptized, and baptism is a commitment to change from the old man to the new man. So that cup that we take of blessing is the sharing of the body of Christ, of His gift to us, to forgive us, and to redeem us from all our sins. You see, so we are in Christ, we are part of Him, and we're all together. Christ is not divided. And then He goes on. And the bread with which we break, that bread at the Passover, is not the communion, the fellowship, the sharing of the body of Christ. Of course, symbolically, isn't it? The sharing of the body of Christ. You see, because by His stripes we are healed, emotionally and mentally, and of course physically, but also mentally and emotionally.

And so it continues now with the symbolism here. For we, though many, are one bread and one body. So we are that bread, which is the communion of the body of Christ. We are that one bread, and therefore we are that one body, which is the spiritual body of Christ, which is the Church of God, the spiritual organism. We are, we should be one.

We should not be pulling in different directions. And therefore He says, we are one bread, and we take off that one bread. Do you remember when Christ in John chapter 6 was talking to the Pharisees about Him being the bread of life? Let's just look at that in John chapter 6 verse 31. John chapter 6 verse 31. He says, our Father, our day is called in, O our fathers ate a man in the desert as it's written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. So yeah, we better hear because we are. And then Jesus said to them, most surely I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven.

The true spiritual bread from heaven, that's not what Moses gave you. But my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world, gives eternal life to the world. That is the true bread, the nourishing food, spiritually speaking, that will give us life, eternal life. And they said to Him, Lord, give us this bread always. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.

See, I am. This is quite telling for them. And then we read also in verse 48. Not that anyone, bigger part, verse 48, I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead because there was not the bread of life. But this is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. In other words, we will not have eternal death. We will have eternal life. If we eat of it, if we part of this bread of life, if we part of this body of Christ, which is the living bread, verse 51, I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. That's his body. He is suffering through his stripes. We are healed. And it's for our life. He gave his body, and it's for us, for our life. And then they said, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Verse 52 and 53, then Moses said to them, Most surely I say to you, I will kiss you eat to the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood.

And that's what we do symbolically at the Passover. You have no life in you. We will have no eternal life. And that's why when we eat that bread, we need to be converted through Christians, committed because for us to be in that body, we need to be baptized into that body by Christ's authority.

And then we are partaking of that communion, of that fellowship of taking the blood and the body, as we read in 1 Corinthians, continuing here in verse 55, For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me an INM, as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live, eternally, of course, because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your Father ate a manna, and not it. He who eats this bread will live forever. And so continuing in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, as we read the symbolism here in verse 17, For we thou many are one bread and one body, we all partake of that one bread.

We all partake it, because we're part of that body of Christ, converted, repentant, committed to be a new man. And then he goes on in verse 18. What am I saying? Big apart. Observe Israel after the flesh. Now, look at the Israelites in the flesh. The Israelites then, at that time, they were offering sacrifices, right?

And he says that an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols? I beg your pardon. I should be reading verse 18. I've jumped. Observe Israel after the flesh. Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? In other words, look at the Israelites in the flesh. They have sacrifices in the temple, in the altar, and they eat of those sacrifices. In other words, symbolically, Christ is supposed to be in us. And that's what it is. They're partakers of the body.

Just like we, at the Passover, we partake of the body of Christ. So that's the analogy that is bringing them. Now, verse 19. What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? No. What is offered to idols is nothing. And that's the product. That the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. And I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You see, so don't partake of religious, of pagan religious practices. Although an idol is nothing, as Adam Clarke puts it, I'm quoting from Adam Clarke, although an idol is nothing, as neither power nor influence, nor are things offered to idols anything the worse for being thus offered.

Yet, as the things sacrificed by the Gentiles are sacrificed to demons and not to God, those who partake of them, in the words of the pagan practices, have fellowship with demons, and those who profess Christianity cannot have fellowship both with Christ and the devil.

End of quote from Adam Clarke. So, we are not to partake of pagan religious practices. That's what it says here in verse 19 and 20. We're continuing in verse 21. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons. You must be committed to God's way all the way, not a little bit here and a little bit there. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? We need to be very conscientious and to be spiritually pure. Now, in verse 23, and it says, all things are lawful to me.

In verse 23, in a sense, he's going back to the point of not offending others as per 1 Corinthians chapter 8, meet offered to idols. But as I mentioned before, he's talking about, is Christ's body divided? No. And therefore, we should not hurt or offend other people. We should not pull in different directions. We should be kind to others. So, and when he's talking, then he talked about meet offered to idols, and meet offered to idols, he says, he's nothing.

But if for that person, because of his consciousness, something, then be careful. Don't offend others. And so now, in verse 23, he is in a sense going back to that point after, let's call it this detour of explaining that we are part of Christ's spiritual body through baptism. And so he says, all things are lawful to me, but not all things are expedient. In other words, everything that is lawful, that is within the law, are lawful. Of course, all things are lawful. So, so, sorry, I saw somebody raising a hand, but probably it was an accident. So maybe let me continue. All things are lawful. In other words, are that are within the law are lawful, of course.

But at times, those lawful things are not expedient. In other words, we cannot say, well, because this is lawful, I can do it. Maybe there is a time when a lawful thing is not expedient. It's not the right time to do it. He says, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful to me, but not all things edify. At certain times, doing avoiding to do certain things maybe is not the right thing. So, so sometimes for the sake of unity, we have to deny our rights.

That's a case of we need to be perceptive. We need to be very sensitive about certain things, because sometimes people can exaggerate things. Sometimes people can misquote. Sometimes people can misinterpret. And so we're going to be very careful, very careful that what we say does not cause division and then causes hurt feelings. Because if something does not build up faith and unity in the church, even if it is legal, don't do it, because we are concerned about glorifying God and representing God in a correct way.

Verse 24, let no one seek his own, but each one the other's well-being. So, therefore, it's not what I want, even though it might be legal, might be right, but in this situation is not expedient. Therefore, let me not do it. It's for the other's welfare. It's not for my welfare, but it's for the other's welfare. And so we can serve in many ways, but for the other people's welfare.

And some people have amazing talents to serve others in certain ways, while others do not have those talents, and then serve in other ways. So that's okay, but provided we edify and building. And again, in brackets, don't blow your trumpets. Oh, well, I am better than you, because you are not doing this, but look at it.

I've done this, I've done that, and I'm better than you. That's not edifying. That's not edifying. Be careful. So let's read now verse 25 and 26. Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscious sake, for the earth is the Lord's and all its fullness. You see, if what is sold in the market and had been offered to an idol, which was sold in a market because it came from a pagan temple, as we went through in 1 Corinthians chapter 8, the meat is not defiled.

But if it defiles, in other words, if it offends somebody else, don't buy it. In other words, for conscious sake of the other person, don't hurt the other person, don't offend the other person.

So if on the other side the other person is not offended, don't ask questions, that is okay. Leave it with that. Verse 27. If any of those who do not believe, invite you to dinner and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, obviously, provided obviously is within God's law, right? Eat whatever is set before you, asking no questions for conscious sake, for their conscious. You see, now you look at the point here. In verse 25, it says, for conscious sake. In verse 27, it says, for conscious sake. And also, in verse 28, it says, for conscious sake. Look at verse 28. But if anyone says to you, this was offered to idols. So if one of those people, in their conscience, says, whoa, whoa, whoa, this was offered to idols, then do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscious sake.

For the earth is the Lord's and all its fullness. In other words, the wording for the conscious sake is repeated to draw attention to the principle, to be sensitive to other people's feelings, to other people's conscience. That's why it says, in verse 29, conscious. So I'm saying about conscious, which conscious? I say it not your own, but that of the other. For why is my liberty charged by another man's conscious? Why? He explains now, in verse 31, therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

So if the other man's conscious sees something wrong and you are aware of it, don't do it because you want to glorify God. You want to do everything for the glory of God. So don't give offense.

In other words, don't hurt the other man's conscience, not either to the Jews or to the Greeks or the Church of God. So whether they members in the church or members in the world, don't hurt, don't offend them, don't offend anybody.

You know, Breve, this is really difficult when someone comes for instance across you and attacks you. And it says, and you've done this and that, and you claim you're a Christian and look. So we've got to be careful at what we do and how we come across, making sure that it's not just that things are lawful, obviously those things within the law, but that they are expedient. In other words, that they're helpful and that they edify.

And so, verse 33, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit. In other words, I try and not to offend the other people's conscience. That's what it means.

But the profit of many, so it's not for my own profit, but it's for their own benefit, ultimately, that they all may be saved. And in the next study, we'll then start from 1 Corinthians 11.