1 00:00:00,740 --> 00:00:04,480 Portion by portion as we encounter it, but 2 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:06,680 may I just give you this brief word 3 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:07,320 of introduction. 4 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:10,900 In the city of Corinth, every kind of 5 00:00:10,900 --> 00:00:12,300 idolatry was known. 6 00:00:13,300 --> 00:00:16,200 The idolatry of Rome, of Greece, of Africa, 7 00:00:16,340 --> 00:00:19,820 all had its expression and its manifestation in 8 00:00:19,820 --> 00:00:20,140 Corinth. 9 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:24,620 It is very possible that most of the 10 00:00:24,620 --> 00:00:27,080 meat that would be sold in the shambles 11 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:30,400 or the butcher section of the market would 12 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:34,500 have been brought from the temples where the 13 00:00:34,500 --> 00:00:36,600 beast had been slain as a sacrifice. 14 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:40,620 It would be likewise true that much of 15 00:00:40,620 --> 00:00:43,440 the meat in the family home, in the 16 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:46,580 home use, would have come from that portion 17 00:00:46,580 --> 00:00:49,100 returned to the one who brought the sacrifice. 18 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:52,880 This is very likely the case in most 19 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:54,460 of the pagan homes. 20 00:00:54,460 --> 00:00:58,260 It would therefore be almost impossible for a 21 00:00:58,260 --> 00:01:01,720 Christian to go with relatives or friends without 22 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:05,700 eating meat that had been sold, offered to 23 00:01:05,700 --> 00:01:06,300 the idols. 24 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:10,900 Now Paul was vitally concerned about this matter 25 00:01:10,900 --> 00:01:13,940 of the Christians relating themselves to the culture 26 00:01:13,940 --> 00:01:14,720 of their day. 27 00:01:15,820 --> 00:01:19,560 You see, Christianity is practical. 28 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:22,520 It's not simply a bundle of doctrines and 29 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,620 a box full of ideas, but it is 30 00:01:25,620 --> 00:01:29,500 a life related to the sovereignty of Christ 31 00:01:29,500 --> 00:01:33,740 and the extension of Christ's sovereignty, therefore, must 32 00:01:33,740 --> 00:01:37,240 reach into every area and every department. 33 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,460 How thrilling it is to realize that there 34 00:01:40,460 --> 00:01:42,340 is no part of your life that is 35 00:01:42,340 --> 00:01:47,300 so mundane and commonplace and insignificant that God 36 00:01:47,300 --> 00:01:48,380 has overlooked it. 37 00:01:48,380 --> 00:01:52,320 He has expressed himself concerning you. 38 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:53,760 He knows you. 39 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:56,420 He knows the problems you're going to meet, 40 00:01:56,540 --> 00:01:58,700 the difficulties that you'll encounter. 41 00:01:58,780 --> 00:02:00,460 In fact, he has gone so far as 42 00:02:00,460 --> 00:02:03,280 to say, there's no temptation overtaking you, but 43 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:04,900 such as is common to man. 44 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:08,400 Just as in the Old Testament, he gave 45 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:14,640 specific instruction, detailed instruction for almost every part 46 00:02:14,640 --> 00:02:16,520 of the life of his people Israel. 47 00:02:16,900 --> 00:02:19,780 So in the New Testament, he's made provision 48 00:02:19,780 --> 00:02:24,820 for the life on equally detailed basis but 49 00:02:24,820 --> 00:02:26,240 in a different manner. 50 00:02:26,900 --> 00:02:30,680 Here it's not prescriptions for the minutiae of 51 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:36,180 your daily life, but principles, glorious principles which 52 00:02:36,180 --> 00:02:39,260 are applicable to every situation into which you'll 53 00:02:39,260 --> 00:02:39,580 come. 54 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:42,440 You see, he said in the New Testament 55 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:45,420 that he would take away the heart of 56 00:02:45,420 --> 00:02:49,740 stone that rebellious heart that refused to have 57 00:02:49,740 --> 00:02:50,980 its life ordered. 58 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:54,420 He'd take away the heart of stone, and 59 00:02:54,420 --> 00:02:57,020 he'd give a heart of flesh, and he'd 60 00:02:57,020 --> 00:03:00,700 put his spirit within us and cause us 61 00:03:00,700 --> 00:03:03,340 to walk in his statutes. 62 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,420 The difference is that he instructed and commanded 63 00:03:07,420 --> 00:03:11,020 Israel, but in the New Testament, he causes 64 00:03:11,580 --> 00:03:14,080 us to walk in his statutes. 65 00:03:14,330 --> 00:03:18,280 The statutes haven't changed, but the difference is 66 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:21,300 that instead of your trying to hold out 67 00:03:21,300 --> 00:03:24,400 or hold up, as many often offer as 68 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:26,860 an excuse for not becoming Christian, you know, 69 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:31,240 I can't hold out, I can't hold up, 70 00:03:31,300 --> 00:03:32,780 I can't carry it through. 71 00:03:33,300 --> 00:03:36,440 Well, you see, the principle is entirely different 72 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:36,860 now. 73 00:03:37,260 --> 00:03:39,720 It isn't you holding out, it's he holding 74 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:40,440 you up. 75 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:43,040 He said he would come in and do 76 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:45,900 for you and through you what it was 77 00:03:45,900 --> 00:03:49,700 that his people Israel had not done for 78 00:03:49,700 --> 00:03:50,100 him. 79 00:03:51,020 --> 00:03:53,600 Now we would consider this under the branch 80 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:54,900 of Christian ethics. 81 00:03:55,620 --> 00:03:58,380 Perhaps we could just say this, that ethics 82 00:03:58,380 --> 00:04:01,460 is that branch of moral government which is 83 00:04:01,460 --> 00:04:04,700 concerned with human character and conduct. 84 00:04:04,700 --> 00:04:08,500 But it seeks to determine the principles by 85 00:04:08,500 --> 00:04:12,800 which his conduct is to be regulated, having 86 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:14,700 to do not merely with what is, but 87 00:04:14,700 --> 00:04:15,540 what ought to be. 88 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:19,120 And thus Paul is endeavoring to give to 89 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:22,920 this people a Christian ethic in relation to 90 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:25,800 the pagan world in which they were living. 91 00:04:26,620 --> 00:04:28,900 Now we're going to see this in the 92 00:04:28,900 --> 00:04:33,440 form of three challenges that are presented by 93 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:33,780 Paul. 94 00:04:33,780 --> 00:04:37,580 First, the challenge to the Christian to rightly 95 00:04:37,580 --> 00:04:41,680 view his superior knowledge, verses 1 to 3. 96 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:46,100 Now, as touching things offered unto idols, we 97 00:04:46,100 --> 00:04:48,600 know that we all have knowledge. 98 00:04:48,820 --> 00:04:52,580 Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifyeth, love edifyeth. 99 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:54,880 And if any man think that he knoweth 100 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:57,580 anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought 101 00:04:57,580 --> 00:04:58,080 to know. 102 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:01,400 But if any man love God, the same 103 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:02,840 is known of him. 104 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:06,000 Undoubtedly, the church at Corinth had written to 105 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:10,820 Paul saying, now, what about our relationship to 106 00:05:10,820 --> 00:05:14,460 our pagan relatives, and friends, and neighbors, and 107 00:05:14,460 --> 00:05:17,780 family reunions, and all the things that we'd 108 00:05:17,780 --> 00:05:19,100 like to take part in? 109 00:05:19,300 --> 00:05:21,080 Now, Paul, you don't need to bother about 110 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:24,780 writing to us concerning idols and meat offered 111 00:05:24,780 --> 00:05:25,400 to idols. 112 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,820 We know about that, is the word that 113 00:05:28,820 --> 00:05:29,840 they give to Paul. 114 00:05:30,420 --> 00:05:33,680 Well, Paul answers in terms of what they've 115 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:36,440 written, and he says, now, as touching things 116 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:40,800 offered unto idols, we know that we all 117 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:42,120 have knowledge. 118 00:05:42,300 --> 00:05:44,480 We know that we all have knowledge. 119 00:05:44,860 --> 00:05:46,780 But you see, you could almost read it 120 00:05:46,780 --> 00:05:47,400 this way. 121 00:05:47,780 --> 00:05:50,840 We know that we all have knowledge. 122 00:05:51,740 --> 00:05:54,340 You know, he is implying that there's something 123 00:05:54,340 --> 00:05:57,520 beyond knowledge, something that's needed in addition to 124 00:05:57,520 --> 00:05:58,080 knowledge. 125 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,240 He concurs with them, but there's a bit 126 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:02,420 of irony here. 127 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:04,960 These were the people, you know, who were 128 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:07,160 so wise that they had fallen into the 129 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:08,160 snare of the devil. 130 00:06:08,780 --> 00:06:12,040 These were the people that served as a 131 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:14,080 homiletical judging society. 132 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:17,400 They would judge Apollos, and Peter, and Paul, 133 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:19,980 and they said, well, we're for Paul, and 134 00:06:19,980 --> 00:06:21,860 we're for Apollos, and we're for Peter. 135 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:26,920 They judged genealogies, and they judged business success, 136 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:29,140 all of the things which were there. 137 00:06:29,220 --> 00:06:31,560 They were the wise people in the wise 138 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:34,340 church, and Paul, bearing in mind all that's 139 00:06:34,340 --> 00:06:37,080 been said, says, we know that you have 140 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:39,200 knowledge, all right, you have knowledge. 141 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:43,220 But Paul then makes a statement, begins his 142 00:06:43,220 --> 00:06:47,640 correction by this rather, shall we say, unsubtle 143 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:51,020 statement, knowledge puffeth up. 144 00:06:52,280 --> 00:06:53,800 Knowledge puffeth up. 145 00:06:54,460 --> 00:06:56,640 Well, there's not much that we can say 146 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:56,900 about it. 147 00:06:56,900 --> 00:06:58,220 You know, when a thing is puffed up, 148 00:06:58,300 --> 00:07:01,100 it just means that it's bigger and really 149 00:07:01,100 --> 00:07:03,480 less, the density is less, it's full of 150 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:04,640 nothing but air. 151 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:09,620 And so said he, knowledge inflates, knowledge causes 152 00:07:09,620 --> 00:07:15,900 one to become proud of what he has 153 00:07:15,900 --> 00:07:17,500 learned and what he knows. 154 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:20,240 Having said this, let me hasten to say 155 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:24,500 that Paul here, nowhere else either, makes any 156 00:07:24,500 --> 00:07:26,020 slur upon knowledge. 157 00:07:26,180 --> 00:07:31,200 Obviously, ignorance is a great handicap, and Paul 158 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:32,280 isn't praising it. 159 00:07:32,300 --> 00:07:34,560 It cannot be praised or used. 160 00:07:35,780 --> 00:07:38,760 We must have knowledge, and we must dispense 161 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:41,080 knowledge to dispel ignorance. 162 00:07:41,810 --> 00:07:45,400 He is not putting his approval upon ignorance 163 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:47,420 and stupidity in any sense at all. 164 00:07:47,900 --> 00:07:51,500 He's simply saying that knowledge alone can prove 165 00:07:51,500 --> 00:07:53,020 exceedingly dangerous. 166 00:07:54,660 --> 00:07:57,220 He says it tends to inflate the mind 167 00:07:57,220 --> 00:07:58,180 with conceit. 168 00:07:58,900 --> 00:07:59,880 It puffs up. 169 00:08:00,740 --> 00:08:05,400 He proceeds to say that, by implication at 170 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:08,520 least, that having caused one to become inflated 171 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:12,220 in his own evaluation of his knowledge, they 172 00:08:12,220 --> 00:08:18,100 proceed almost immediately to become intolerant and cruel. 173 00:08:18,660 --> 00:08:21,040 Some of the cruelest people I have ever 174 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:24,100 met have been people that have had a 175 00:08:24,100 --> 00:08:26,120 great deal of knowledge. 176 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:28,500 There's one man that I recall from the 177 00:08:28,500 --> 00:08:30,520 South and to whose home I came by 178 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:33,240 no choice of mine in the city for 179 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:35,120 meetings with the company of believers. 180 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:37,960 And I was asked to stay there in 181 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:39,059 this particular home. 182 00:08:39,179 --> 00:08:40,860 Well, the man was well taught in the 183 00:08:40,860 --> 00:08:43,400 things of the Lord, and many of the 184 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:47,000 things which he said he assumed I disagreed 185 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:48,980 with, but actually I held to be very 186 00:08:48,980 --> 00:08:52,340 dear and self-evident from the Scripture. 187 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:55,420 But, you know, after two days of his 188 00:08:55,420 --> 00:09:02,060 sarcasm, his intolerant cruelty, his vituperative accusations against 189 00:09:02,060 --> 00:09:06,980 all who didn't agree with him, I simply 190 00:09:06,980 --> 00:09:09,380 told him and his good wife, I said, 191 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:11,960 I can't stay with you. 192 00:09:12,540 --> 00:09:13,980 I can't stay with you. 193 00:09:13,980 --> 00:09:15,880 I'm not going to stay in your home. 194 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:18,780 You have opened it to me, but I'm 195 00:09:18,780 --> 00:09:22,280 sure the one who invited me here had 196 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:25,100 no idea that you were going to react 197 00:09:25,100 --> 00:09:25,980 as you have. 198 00:09:26,020 --> 00:09:27,520 And so I said, in spite of the 199 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:29,340 fact that I do agree with much you 200 00:09:29,340 --> 00:09:33,480 say, the intolerance and the cruelty, that the 201 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:36,500 acid expressions that you've made are of such 202 00:09:36,500 --> 00:09:38,640 a nature that I am not going to 203 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:40,520 stay with you any longer. 204 00:09:41,180 --> 00:09:44,000 Now there was a clear case of someone 205 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,840 having knowledge, but you see the knowledge had 206 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:51,080 become an infection in his spirit. 207 00:09:51,680 --> 00:09:54,820 It had caused this particular man to become 208 00:09:54,820 --> 00:09:57,380 conceited and cruel. 209 00:09:58,260 --> 00:09:59,820 Now this can happen. 210 00:09:59,820 --> 00:10:02,700 Actually, of course, you understand that when one 211 00:10:02,700 --> 00:10:06,040 is conceited over his knowledge, it's mere proof 212 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:08,280 of the immensity of his ignorance. 213 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:13,020 He doesn't understand the greatness of the object 214 00:10:13,020 --> 00:10:14,920 about which he has some knowledge. 215 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:17,540 And of course, it proves that he has 216 00:10:17,540 --> 00:10:20,840 never had really a clear glimpse of God 217 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:21,800 or of himself. 218 00:10:22,260 --> 00:10:25,140 For if he had ever clearly seen God, 219 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:28,180 by which view alone he can rightly see 220 00:10:28,180 --> 00:10:31,100 himself, he would have understood that in him, 221 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:33,440 in his flesh, there is no good thing. 222 00:10:33,680 --> 00:10:38,020 There is nothing so humbling as a revelation 223 00:10:38,020 --> 00:10:39,520 of God to the human heart. 224 00:10:40,300 --> 00:10:44,240 There is nothing that so strips of conceit 225 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:47,220 and of pride as to see what you 226 00:10:47,220 --> 00:10:49,140 are in the light of what God is. 227 00:10:49,980 --> 00:10:54,500 There is nothing that so causes you to 228 00:10:54,500 --> 00:10:57,100 rejoice in the fact that all that you 229 00:10:57,100 --> 00:11:00,620 have is a gift of his grace, as 230 00:11:00,620 --> 00:11:03,320 much as to get a clear vision of 231 00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:06,240 how much more there is in Christ than 232 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:07,520 you've ever seen before. 233 00:11:08,460 --> 00:11:12,380 And so Paul here uses great directness of 234 00:11:12,380 --> 00:11:14,540 speech in correcting this mistake. 235 00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:16,240 Look at verse 2. 236 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:19,180 If any man think that he knoweth anything, 237 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:22,600 he knoweth nothing yet, as he ought to 238 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:22,920 know. 239 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:25,880 Perhaps I could give you a more literal 240 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:29,640 translation and bring out the verb tense, as 241 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:31,740 we have it from Lenski, who's done such 242 00:11:31,740 --> 00:11:34,140 an excellent work on 1 Corinthians. 243 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:37,520 If one thinks he has come to know, 244 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:41,140 and then still feels that he knows anything, 245 00:11:42,180 --> 00:11:44,880 not yet did he get to know actually 246 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:46,140 as he ought to know. 247 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:50,100 If one has come to know something, really 248 00:11:50,100 --> 00:11:52,100 come to know something, and still feel that 249 00:11:52,100 --> 00:11:54,840 he knows anything, well, he didn't really come 250 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:55,880 to know it as he ought to know 251 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:56,080 it. 252 00:11:56,760 --> 00:12:00,260 Because when you once have found that the 253 00:12:00,260 --> 00:12:03,420 truth that you hold before you is a 254 00:12:03,420 --> 00:12:05,560 part of the whole, and you see it 255 00:12:05,560 --> 00:12:09,600 in relation to the whole, then you feel, 256 00:12:09,860 --> 00:12:13,780 as I believe it was Pascal who said 257 00:12:13,780 --> 00:12:16,480 at the close of a lifetime, I have 258 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:20,140 been as a child picking up the pebbles 259 00:12:20,140 --> 00:12:24,900 of truth along the ocean shore of God's 260 00:12:24,900 --> 00:12:26,020 omniscience. 261 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:30,600 And this is all that can ever characterize 262 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:31,280 the true child. 263 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:32,860 So said Paul, if any of you think 264 00:12:32,860 --> 00:12:34,900 you know anything, if you do know anything, 265 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:37,400 and you still think you do, you've missed 266 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:37,920 the point. 267 00:12:38,540 --> 00:12:41,820 What you have actually known ought to have 268 00:12:41,820 --> 00:12:44,560 been revealed as part of a whole so 269 00:12:44,560 --> 00:12:47,060 immense that you can't grasp it. 270 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:50,880 In this matter of spiritual progress, you know 271 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:53,740 the only place that anyone can feel superior 272 00:12:53,740 --> 00:12:57,100 to another is when he looks down. 273 00:12:57,240 --> 00:12:59,100 It's like as though we were all climbing 274 00:12:59,100 --> 00:13:02,620 ladders of a thousand rungs against the wall 275 00:13:02,620 --> 00:13:03,260 of eternity. 276 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:07,860 And some are a little more sprightly and 277 00:13:07,860 --> 00:13:11,060 able than others, and quickly climb up to 278 00:13:11,060 --> 00:13:14,220 rung 50, and they see the weary down 279 00:13:14,220 --> 00:13:18,400 there laboriously getting up over rung 5 and 280 00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:19,280 rung 6. 281 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:23,160 And looking down, they say, oh, these sluggards, 282 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:25,860 how slow, how indolent. 283 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:28,920 But you see, the only way that anyone 284 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:32,440 can ever have any consolation in how far 285 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:34,500 he's come in the things of Christ is 286 00:13:34,500 --> 00:13:35,760 because he looks down. 287 00:13:36,380 --> 00:13:38,260 For if he ever looks up and sees 288 00:13:38,260 --> 00:13:41,840 the 950 rungs before him, he's going to 289 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:45,520 be so humble that he'll say it is 290 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:48,780 but as a child that's run a step 291 00:13:48,780 --> 00:13:51,600 or two ahead of his fellows and never 292 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:53,300 reached the goal that's before him. 293 00:13:54,020 --> 00:13:56,020 This is what Paul wants them to see. 294 00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:59,020 Yes, said he, you do have knowledge, but 295 00:13:59,020 --> 00:14:00,820 do you have it properly? 296 00:14:01,580 --> 00:14:04,480 Do you know anything as you really ought 297 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:05,100 to know it? 298 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:06,780 You have knowledge. 299 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:09,720 I can't dispute with the facts, they're there. 300 00:14:10,060 --> 00:14:12,560 But you lack in the proper manner of 301 00:14:12,560 --> 00:14:13,040 knowing. 302 00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:18,020 You are unable to use the knowledge that 303 00:14:18,020 --> 00:14:19,120 you have rightly. 304 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:22,020 This is what is implied in that second 305 00:14:22,020 --> 00:14:22,520 verse. 306 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:25,400 Then in the third verse, you will see 307 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:29,080 Paul establishes once and for all that something 308 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:31,820 is needed in addition to knowledge. 309 00:14:34,060 --> 00:14:39,540 But if any man love God, if any 310 00:14:39,540 --> 00:14:41,440 man love God, the same is known of 311 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:41,700 him. 312 00:14:42,740 --> 00:14:44,660 You see, it isn't what you know about 313 00:14:44,660 --> 00:14:47,760 God alone, said Paul, it's what he knows 314 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:48,500 about you. 315 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:50,440 He knows about you. 316 00:14:51,220 --> 00:14:53,360 And the little crumbs that you've gathered like 317 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:56,220 the greedy squirrel that's taken them and put 318 00:14:56,220 --> 00:14:59,800 them into the nest is so inconsequential in 319 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:03,920 terms of all that God has, all that 320 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:06,200 he has, all that he wants to teach, 321 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:07,900 all that he wants to show. 322 00:15:08,700 --> 00:15:12,180 And so Paul makes it clear that in 323 00:15:12,180 --> 00:15:15,000 addition to knowledge, all that you can accumulate, 324 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:17,460 all that you can gather, all that'll ever 325 00:15:17,460 --> 00:15:21,680 come to you, there must be love. 326 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:25,760 The only one that can rightly employ his 327 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:29,600 knowledge, therefore, is the one in whose heart 328 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:31,980 the love of Christ has been shed abroad 329 00:15:31,980 --> 00:15:33,660 by the Holy Spirit. 330 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:37,380 When you have that, when his love fills 331 00:15:37,380 --> 00:15:41,320 you, then your knowledge is not ever going 332 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:43,300 to be used to hurt or to injure, 333 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:45,440 but it's going to be that in your 334 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:48,720 heart is a deep desire to secure the 335 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:52,700 greatest blessedness and good of others, and your 336 00:15:52,700 --> 00:15:54,840 knowledge is going to be that which you'll 337 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:56,120 use wisely. 338 00:15:56,760 --> 00:15:59,740 Thus, the fruit of the Spirit, love, is 339 00:15:59,740 --> 00:16:04,160 indispensably the control of knowledge. 340 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:07,400 Though I have the gift of knowledge and 341 00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:11,800 fathom all mysteries and understand all secret lore, 342 00:16:12,500 --> 00:16:15,060 said Paul, and I have not love. 343 00:16:16,460 --> 00:16:19,900 It's just a banging gong and a clanging 344 00:16:19,900 --> 00:16:20,660 cymbal. 345 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:22,100 It's just words. 346 00:16:22,260 --> 00:16:23,240 It's just noise. 347 00:16:23,780 --> 00:16:27,860 It's imperative, therefore, that we should understand that 348 00:16:27,860 --> 00:16:31,260 knowledge is only rightly used by that person 349 00:16:31,260 --> 00:16:34,220 that is filled with the fullness of God. 350 00:16:35,020 --> 00:16:37,260 It is only that one that is walking 351 00:16:37,260 --> 00:16:38,740 in the fullness of the Spirit. 352 00:16:38,740 --> 00:16:42,340 Only when you are filled with the Spirit 353 00:16:42,340 --> 00:16:44,880 of God are you going to be able 354 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:48,680 to value the knowledge properly and use that 355 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:52,360 knowledge in solving the perplexing problems of others. 356 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:56,380 It's indispensable, therefore, dear heart, that you should 357 00:16:56,380 --> 00:16:59,480 recognize that with all of your getting of 358 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:04,040 theological truth, all of your getting of eschatological 359 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:09,680 facts, with all that you've learned, the indispensable 360 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:14,579 ingredient to make the whole meaningful is the 361 00:17:14,579 --> 00:17:15,500 fruit of the Spirit. 362 00:17:15,980 --> 00:17:18,760 How many times some have come into a 363 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:20,940 company of people such as this that have 364 00:17:20,940 --> 00:17:23,619 had through the years, perhaps, can I say 365 00:17:23,619 --> 00:17:28,860 without overemphasis, deeper teaching than certain congregations. 366 00:17:29,360 --> 00:17:30,960 I do not know whether that would be 367 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:33,140 true or not, but I have known since 368 00:17:33,140 --> 00:17:35,700 coming of some that were babes in Christ, 369 00:17:36,500 --> 00:17:39,320 and someone in the congregation with superior knowledge 370 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:41,800 would go to them and with a tongue 371 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:46,160 sharp and cutting would criticize something they had 372 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:49,900 or did or said or wore, criticize and 373 00:17:49,900 --> 00:17:52,040 hurt the same way you know that a 374 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:54,580 person seeing a fly on a baby's forehead 375 00:17:54,580 --> 00:17:56,860 would come over with a stick and kill 376 00:17:56,860 --> 00:18:01,300 the fly but permanently injure the baby. 377 00:18:01,300 --> 00:18:04,480 This is knowledge gone amok. 378 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:08,620 This is knowledge wrongly used. 379 00:18:09,380 --> 00:18:10,860 God didn't intend that. 380 00:18:11,460 --> 00:18:12,720 He didn't intend that. 381 00:18:13,300 --> 00:18:16,260 You know, perhaps, that what someone is doing 382 00:18:16,260 --> 00:18:19,780 isn't right, but I also assure you that 383 00:18:19,780 --> 00:18:22,760 when the Spirit of God has penetrated you 384 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:27,600 and saturated you and filled you, you'll be 385 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:32,020 so careful how you use that knowledge because 386 00:18:32,020 --> 00:18:34,580 you will understand that it hurts and it 387 00:18:34,580 --> 00:18:37,360 injures and it grieves and it wounds. 388 00:18:38,420 --> 00:18:39,600 Paul saw that. 389 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:41,360 There was a division. 390 00:18:41,620 --> 00:18:43,680 Someone said it's all right to eat and 391 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:46,760 someone said it's wrong, and so using their 392 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:49,460 knowledge, each injuring the other. 393 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:52,260 Paul said, now wait a moment, wait a 394 00:18:52,260 --> 00:18:52,520 moment. 395 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:57,480 Knowledge is only meaningful when it's saturated with 396 00:18:57,480 --> 00:18:58,760 the love of the Holy Ghost. 397 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:01,500 Now, the next thing we see is the 398 00:19:01,500 --> 00:19:04,240 challenge to the Christian to rightly view his 399 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:04,800 liberty. 400 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:06,820 Verses 4 to 8. 401 00:19:07,700 --> 00:19:10,360 As concerning, therefore, the eating of those things 402 00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:13,460 that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we 403 00:19:13,460 --> 00:19:15,420 know that an idol is nothing in the 404 00:19:15,420 --> 00:19:17,340 world, and that there is none other god 405 00:19:17,340 --> 00:19:17,860 but one. 406 00:19:18,420 --> 00:19:20,680 For though there be that are called gods, 407 00:19:20,780 --> 00:19:22,360 whether in heaven or on earth, as there 408 00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:25,160 be gods many and lords many, but to 409 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:27,420 us there is but one God, the Father, 410 00:19:27,820 --> 00:19:29,600 of whom are all things and we in 411 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:32,600 him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom 412 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:34,680 are all things and we by him. 413 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:37,800 Howbeit there is not in every man that 414 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:40,840 knowledge, for some with conscience of the idol 415 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:43,080 unto this hour eat it as a thing 416 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:45,680 offered unto an idol, and their conscience being 417 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:46,820 weak is defiled. 418 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:50,200 But meat commendeth us not to God, for 419 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:52,120 neither if we eat are we the better, 420 00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:55,080 neither if we eat not are we the 421 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:55,560 worst. 422 00:19:56,060 --> 00:19:59,140 You see, the Christian is called to liberty, 423 00:19:59,700 --> 00:20:01,100 not to legalism. 424 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:03,340 I remember some years ago being in a 425 00:20:03,340 --> 00:20:06,460 young people's conference down south, and the speaker 426 00:20:06,460 --> 00:20:10,700 announced his subject for that particular day from 427 00:20:10,700 --> 00:20:13,860 Colossians to this group of maybe 150 young 428 00:20:13,860 --> 00:20:14,240 people. 429 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:19,300 And the text was, Touch not, taste not, 430 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:20,400 handle not. 431 00:20:21,180 --> 00:20:23,820 Here he was giving biblical instruction to a 432 00:20:23,820 --> 00:20:24,820 group of young people. 433 00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:27,040 Well, if you'd bother to read the text 434 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:30,620 later, you'll discover that Paul says just following 435 00:20:30,620 --> 00:20:33,200 that, which all are to perish with the 436 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:36,320 using, all are to perish. 437 00:20:36,420 --> 00:20:39,440 In other words, this legalism that binds in 438 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:42,320 the strictures of touch not, taste not, handle 439 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:47,100 not, is a Judaistic principle that comes in. 440 00:20:47,220 --> 00:20:50,960 We're called to liberty, not to legalism. 441 00:20:51,140 --> 00:20:51,600 Why? 442 00:20:51,780 --> 00:20:54,060 Because of what regeneration is. 443 00:20:54,460 --> 00:20:57,260 It is the impartation of the divine nature. 444 00:20:57,860 --> 00:21:01,860 It is God communicating new life to that 445 00:21:01,860 --> 00:21:02,760 which was dead. 446 00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:05,720 It is one partaking of the divine nature 447 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:07,400 in such a sense that he is said 448 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:11,580 to be a new creation, a new creation. 449 00:21:12,740 --> 00:21:14,720 Something happened when he said to me, we 450 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:15,900 sing in the little chorus. 451 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:16,760 Indeed it did. 452 00:21:17,340 --> 00:21:18,960 God gave you a new heart and a 453 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:20,600 new nature and a new life and a 454 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:22,000 new spirit, and he made you a new 455 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:22,520 creation. 456 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:26,080 Now we understand from 1 John that when 457 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:27,900 God gives you this new nature, he gives 458 00:21:27,900 --> 00:21:29,440 you a new attitude toward the law. 459 00:21:30,060 --> 00:21:32,320 The attitude of the sinner is, I want 460 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:33,880 to please me, but the attitude of the 461 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:36,700 regenerated heart is, I want to please thee. 462 00:21:36,700 --> 00:21:39,260 It's a change from, I delight to do 463 00:21:39,260 --> 00:21:42,840 my will, to, I delight to do thy 464 00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:44,420 will, O God. 465 00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:47,000 And John went so far as to say, 466 00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:49,900 if we say that we have, he that 467 00:21:49,900 --> 00:21:53,680 saith, I know him, and keepeth not his 468 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:57,140 commandments, is a liar, and the truth is 469 00:21:57,140 --> 00:21:57,700 not in him. 470 00:21:58,100 --> 00:21:59,820 Now he didn't say you keep the commandments 471 00:21:59,820 --> 00:22:00,600 to be saved. 472 00:22:00,700 --> 00:22:02,860 He simply said that because of what salvation 473 00:22:02,860 --> 00:22:05,680 is, when you've been born of God you 474 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:07,320 have a desire to please God. 475 00:22:07,360 --> 00:22:10,820 Now this is presupposed whenever you mention liberty. 476 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:13,700 I am of the opinion that for the 477 00:22:13,700 --> 00:22:16,940 last fifty years in America, evangelicals have had 478 00:22:16,940 --> 00:22:19,480 to erect a fence, about a five-barred 479 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:21,780 fence of separation from the world. 480 00:22:21,940 --> 00:22:23,640 You can put your names on your own 481 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:25,620 bars if you wish, and maybe it'll be 482 00:22:25,620 --> 00:22:26,600 higher than five. 483 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:30,520 But they've preached an easy-believe-ism salvation, 484 00:22:30,660 --> 00:22:32,420 a tip-your-hat-to-Jesus, sign-a 485 00:22:32,420 --> 00:22:33,380 -card salvation. 486 00:22:33,380 --> 00:22:35,940 And then they put up this high-board 487 00:22:35,940 --> 00:22:39,840 fence and put their unconverted converts inside, trying 488 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:42,100 to get the devil's children to behave somewhat 489 00:22:42,100 --> 00:22:44,820 like Christians, in order that they won't be 490 00:22:44,820 --> 00:22:47,280 discovered for the poor workmen that they are. 491 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:51,040 And we pastors and evangelists have been guilty 492 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:55,210 of creating a Judaistic system which has all 493 00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:58,040 of the earmarks of Phariseeism. 494 00:22:58,980 --> 00:23:00,720 Now do you say, what do you mean 495 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:01,100 by that? 496 00:23:01,100 --> 00:23:04,000 I say we're called to liberty, we're called 497 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:07,140 to freedom, we're called to a relationship with 498 00:23:07,140 --> 00:23:09,860 the living God that transforms the old. 499 00:23:11,100 --> 00:23:13,240 Now, when we've said that, what else do 500 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:13,580 we say? 501 00:23:13,660 --> 00:23:14,760 Go out and do as you want to, 502 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:15,160 yes. 503 00:23:16,260 --> 00:23:18,060 Because my friend, if you want to do 504 00:23:18,060 --> 00:23:21,180 certain things that God's Word forbid and you've 505 00:23:21,180 --> 00:23:23,260 professed to be a Christian, the want-to 506 00:23:23,260 --> 00:23:25,680 is the proof that you aren't the Christian 507 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:26,620 you profess to be. 508 00:23:27,900 --> 00:23:30,660 A man is what he wants, not what 509 00:23:30,660 --> 00:23:31,140 he does. 510 00:23:31,900 --> 00:23:33,620 I can put a man in prison and 511 00:23:33,620 --> 00:23:35,440 he won't do anything, but he is what 512 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:37,320 he wants to do, not what he's forced 513 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:40,820 to do, by social pressure, emotional pressure, religious 514 00:23:40,820 --> 00:23:41,340 pressure. 515 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:43,980 You are what you want. 516 00:23:45,300 --> 00:23:46,560 You are what you want. 517 00:23:47,340 --> 00:23:49,200 And though you may be a nicer neighbor 518 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:52,080 to live with, because you conform to certain 519 00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:53,860 outward patterns that are set for you by 520 00:23:53,860 --> 00:23:56,700 people such as myself, the fact that you 521 00:23:56,700 --> 00:23:59,360 conform is not proof that you've been born 522 00:23:59,360 --> 00:23:59,940 of God. 523 00:24:00,820 --> 00:24:03,100 The proof that you've been born of God 524 00:24:03,100 --> 00:24:06,240 lies in what you want to be, in 525 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:07,600 what you want to do. 526 00:24:08,360 --> 00:24:10,560 You are what you want. 527 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:12,640 You are what you want. 528 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:14,980 And perhaps if you were to do what 529 00:24:14,980 --> 00:24:17,600 you want to do, you'd discover what you 530 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:21,200 will ultimately discover if you pretend to be 531 00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:23,240 a Christian and play act the Christian life, 532 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:25,560 and come to that hour when you hear 533 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:28,540 him say, away with you, I never know 534 00:24:28,540 --> 00:24:31,380 you, I never know you. 535 00:24:31,940 --> 00:24:33,920 Better that you find out what's in your 536 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:35,960 heart and that you do what needs to 537 00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:36,800 be done about it. 538 00:24:37,380 --> 00:24:40,120 Now, having said that, I prehasten to say 539 00:24:40,120 --> 00:24:45,780 that the Christian views, idolatry, and idols, and 540 00:24:45,780 --> 00:24:48,760 the world in all that it is, for 541 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:50,440 the foolishness that they are. 542 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:53,260 Paul said, we know about idols. 543 00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,420 There aren't any gods, Venus and Jupiter, they're 544 00:24:56,420 --> 00:24:57,160 not gods. 545 00:24:57,540 --> 00:24:59,060 They're not gods at all. 546 00:24:59,460 --> 00:25:00,380 We know that. 547 00:25:00,940 --> 00:25:02,420 We understand that. 548 00:25:03,360 --> 00:25:05,920 And to us it means nothing, the world 549 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:08,040 and what's in it, it has no hold 550 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:09,420 on the child of God. 551 00:25:09,860 --> 00:25:12,200 The true child of God can walk through 552 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:14,320 the world the same way that a diver 553 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:16,740 enclosed in a diving suit can walk through 554 00:25:16,740 --> 00:25:19,140 the sea, and he's in it but not 555 00:25:19,140 --> 00:25:20,600 of it, and he's in it and not 556 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:22,620 part of it, and he uses it but 557 00:25:22,620 --> 00:25:23,580 he doesn't love it. 558 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:26,660 He has his own atmosphere, he's been born 559 00:25:26,660 --> 00:25:28,700 of God, he's been born of God. 560 00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:33,070 However, said Paul, the true child of God 561 00:25:33,070 --> 00:25:36,130 recognizes that Satan is the god of this 562 00:25:36,130 --> 00:25:38,950 world, and whereas there's no Jupiter or Venus, 563 00:25:39,670 --> 00:25:44,370 there is Satan, and he uses idolatry, and 564 00:25:44,370 --> 00:25:47,270 there are demons who associate with idols and 565 00:25:47,270 --> 00:25:48,950 idolatry, he recognizes that. 566 00:25:49,610 --> 00:25:53,210 And he recognizes that there are multitudes of 567 00:25:53,210 --> 00:25:55,710 people who are under the control of Satan 568 00:25:55,710 --> 00:25:57,850 and know not that it is Satan whom 569 00:25:57,850 --> 00:26:00,410 they serve, but worship the idols. 570 00:26:00,930 --> 00:26:03,950 And were he thus to do anything that 571 00:26:03,950 --> 00:26:08,370 would incline someone who is weak toward idolatry, 572 00:26:08,970 --> 00:26:11,410 he would be guilty of their blood upon 573 00:26:11,410 --> 00:26:11,870 his heart. 574 00:26:11,870 --> 00:26:14,910 So Paul introduces an entirely new thing here, 575 00:26:15,410 --> 00:26:16,950 an entirely new thing. 576 00:26:17,810 --> 00:26:21,770 He says the Christian must realize that whereas 577 00:26:21,770 --> 00:26:25,010 he can eat or not, he's not the 578 00:26:25,010 --> 00:26:28,190 better for eating or for refraining, as you 579 00:26:28,190 --> 00:26:29,090 see in verse 8. 580 00:26:29,810 --> 00:26:31,790 The kingdom of God is not in meat 581 00:26:31,790 --> 00:26:35,110 or in drink, it is in righteousness and 582 00:26:35,110 --> 00:26:37,590 in peace and in joy in the Holy 583 00:26:37,590 --> 00:26:38,130 Ghost. 584 00:26:38,710 --> 00:26:42,410 Ah yes, said Paul, idols are nothing, these 585 00:26:42,410 --> 00:26:43,370 things are nothing. 586 00:26:43,530 --> 00:26:45,710 The child of God can walk through the 587 00:26:45,710 --> 00:26:47,630 midst of them and be there, and it 588 00:26:47,630 --> 00:26:49,930 has no meaning, has nothing to touch him 589 00:26:49,930 --> 00:26:50,370 at all. 590 00:26:51,210 --> 00:26:54,230 He's above them, he's apart from them, and 591 00:26:54,230 --> 00:26:56,790 the meat is nothing, the idol is nothing, 592 00:26:56,890 --> 00:26:59,130 but ah, wait a moment, there are others, 593 00:26:59,590 --> 00:27:01,730 there are others, there are others. 594 00:27:01,730 --> 00:27:04,010 And so, whereas the child of God is 595 00:27:04,010 --> 00:27:07,910 called to liberty, he is also challenged to 596 00:27:07,910 --> 00:27:10,150 a Christian view of responsibility. 597 00:27:10,690 --> 00:27:12,870 We see that in verses 9 to 13. 598 00:27:13,710 --> 00:27:17,290 But take heed, lest by any means this 599 00:27:17,290 --> 00:27:20,770 liberty of yours become a stumbling block to 600 00:27:20,770 --> 00:27:21,610 them that are weak. 601 00:27:22,310 --> 00:27:24,590 For if any man see thee which hath 602 00:27:24,590 --> 00:27:26,790 knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, 603 00:27:27,350 --> 00:27:29,230 shall not the conscience of him which is 604 00:27:29,230 --> 00:27:31,370 weak be emboldened to eat those things which 605 00:27:31,370 --> 00:27:32,270 are offered to idols? 606 00:27:32,870 --> 00:27:35,690 And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother 607 00:27:35,690 --> 00:27:37,750 perish for whom Christ died? 608 00:27:38,150 --> 00:27:40,750 But when ye sin so against the brethren 609 00:27:40,750 --> 00:27:43,430 and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against 610 00:27:43,430 --> 00:27:43,970 Christ. 611 00:27:44,630 --> 00:27:47,450 Wherefore, if meat make thy brother to offend, 612 00:27:47,990 --> 00:27:51,650 I will eat no flesh while the world 613 00:27:51,650 --> 00:27:55,910 standeth, lest I make my brother to offend. 614 00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:59,670 The Christian view of knowledge, the Christian view 615 00:27:59,670 --> 00:28:04,290 of liberty, now the Christian view of responsibility. 616 00:28:06,790 --> 00:28:09,590 If you refrain from certain things because I 617 00:28:09,590 --> 00:28:11,690 tell you when you meet something I haven't 618 00:28:11,690 --> 00:28:13,430 told you about, then you'll have to come 619 00:28:13,430 --> 00:28:15,130 running back and say, now should I do 620 00:28:15,130 --> 00:28:15,570 this? 621 00:28:16,130 --> 00:28:17,970 But then I become your conscience. 622 00:28:19,110 --> 00:28:22,150 I become the means by which your life 623 00:28:22,150 --> 00:28:23,990 is governed, and you have added into a 624 00:28:23,990 --> 00:28:26,030 legal system of which I am the lawgiver. 625 00:28:26,030 --> 00:28:28,310 You do that for your children, you do 626 00:28:28,310 --> 00:28:29,890 that for others in the same way, and 627 00:28:29,890 --> 00:28:32,170 it becomes equally damaging. 628 00:28:32,410 --> 00:28:34,510 But my friend, when you can bring someone 629 00:28:34,510 --> 00:28:37,590 into a relationship with Christ so that they've 630 00:28:37,590 --> 00:28:40,010 been born of God and are indwelt by 631 00:28:40,010 --> 00:28:42,810 God and have partaken of the divine nature, 632 00:28:43,450 --> 00:28:46,270 then they have an unction from the Holy 633 00:28:46,270 --> 00:28:46,690 One. 634 00:28:46,970 --> 00:28:48,750 The teacher is in them. 635 00:28:49,230 --> 00:28:50,510 The teacher is in them. 636 00:28:50,850 --> 00:28:53,770 It's much better that you should have in 637 00:28:53,770 --> 00:28:57,050 you the one who can give you discernment 638 00:28:57,050 --> 00:28:59,490 at the time such discernment is needed. 639 00:29:00,150 --> 00:29:02,270 It's much better, I say, than that you 640 00:29:02,270 --> 00:29:04,050 should have a list of fifteen things that 641 00:29:04,050 --> 00:29:05,870 I have proscribed for you and said you 642 00:29:05,870 --> 00:29:07,390 mustn't do this or this or this. 643 00:29:07,830 --> 00:29:10,070 For if you have been born of the 644 00:29:10,070 --> 00:29:12,590 Spirit and are indwelt by the Spirit and 645 00:29:12,590 --> 00:29:15,350 have partaken of the divine life, when you 646 00:29:15,350 --> 00:29:18,130 do that which grieves him whose name is 647 00:29:18,130 --> 00:29:20,110 holy, you will sense it. 648 00:29:20,690 --> 00:29:21,890 You will sense it. 649 00:29:22,550 --> 00:29:25,030 But, you see, it's a terrible alternative. 650 00:29:25,670 --> 00:29:28,430 It seems as though, said Paul, that people 651 00:29:28,430 --> 00:29:30,590 here in Corinth were eating. 652 00:29:30,750 --> 00:29:33,070 They said, this doesn't mean anything to us, 653 00:29:33,150 --> 00:29:34,710 we're not bound by idols. 654 00:29:35,190 --> 00:29:38,670 But in the eating, they were causing pagans 655 00:29:38,670 --> 00:29:42,010 to say Christianity has no significance, and they 656 00:29:42,010 --> 00:29:46,130 were causing the Christians to say, these people 657 00:29:46,130 --> 00:29:47,230 do not love Christ. 658 00:29:47,230 --> 00:29:50,150 In other words, their good was being evil 659 00:29:50,150 --> 00:29:50,990 -spoken of. 660 00:29:51,770 --> 00:29:55,130 Paul said, you have to recognize that you 661 00:29:55,130 --> 00:30:01,470 have a responsibility, a responsibility not only to 662 00:30:01,470 --> 00:30:04,610 act in the liberty which is yours, but 663 00:30:04,610 --> 00:30:07,130 to act in such a way that you 664 00:30:07,130 --> 00:30:11,550 share with God his concern for those he 665 00:30:11,550 --> 00:30:13,590 loved and for those for whom he died. 666 00:30:13,590 --> 00:30:16,570 Let me illustrate what I mean by this. 667 00:30:18,060 --> 00:30:22,250 Your liberty can become a stumbling block to 668 00:30:22,250 --> 00:30:25,130 the lost in a very real way. 669 00:30:25,270 --> 00:30:28,570 I recall hearing some years ago now about 670 00:30:28,570 --> 00:30:31,050 a young man that was in court being 671 00:30:31,050 --> 00:30:32,150 tried for murder. 672 00:30:34,310 --> 00:30:36,550 Hearing about it, an old friend of the 673 00:30:36,550 --> 00:30:39,130 family and of the lad came into the 674 00:30:39,130 --> 00:30:42,210 courtroom and sat in one of the back 675 00:30:42,210 --> 00:30:45,730 seats where the spectators were. 676 00:30:46,990 --> 00:30:49,970 And after a while, when the young man 677 00:30:49,970 --> 00:30:53,990 was called upon to give his witness, and 678 00:30:53,990 --> 00:30:56,690 the question was asked by the prosecuting attorney, 679 00:30:57,330 --> 00:30:58,630 he said, now I want to tell you 680 00:30:58,630 --> 00:30:59,250 what happened. 681 00:31:00,970 --> 00:31:04,470 He said, back there is my former Sunday 682 00:31:04,470 --> 00:31:05,110 school teacher. 683 00:31:06,330 --> 00:31:08,430 She took us, a group of youngsters, to 684 00:31:08,430 --> 00:31:11,010 her home and she taught us to play 685 00:31:11,010 --> 00:31:11,530 cards. 686 00:31:12,070 --> 00:31:13,910 She said she'd played for years and it 687 00:31:13,910 --> 00:31:14,730 hadn't hurt her. 688 00:31:15,630 --> 00:31:17,090 And then she took us one time and 689 00:31:17,090 --> 00:31:18,370 she gave us something to drink. 690 00:31:18,490 --> 00:31:20,050 She had had it in her home and 691 00:31:20,050 --> 00:31:20,930 it hadn't hurt her. 692 00:31:21,890 --> 00:31:23,430 But she didn't know what it was doing 693 00:31:23,430 --> 00:31:23,910 to me. 694 00:31:24,610 --> 00:31:26,550 That first game of cards I played under 695 00:31:26,550 --> 00:31:29,390 the tutelage of my Sunday school teacher and 696 00:31:29,390 --> 00:31:31,830 that first drink that I had sent me 697 00:31:31,830 --> 00:31:33,990 on a course that ended with this murder. 698 00:31:35,130 --> 00:31:37,830 And she's the one that started it. 699 00:31:38,730 --> 00:31:41,310 You see, to her, apparently it had no 700 00:31:41,310 --> 00:31:43,110 significance, had no meaning. 701 00:31:43,470 --> 00:31:45,010 It was something that didn't bother. 702 00:31:45,550 --> 00:31:48,050 But to this one, this lad that came, 703 00:31:48,450 --> 00:31:50,670 it had been the means of his destruction. 704 00:31:52,150 --> 00:31:54,190 This is what you must understand that Paul's 705 00:31:54,190 --> 00:31:54,950 talking about. 706 00:31:55,370 --> 00:31:57,050 This is the kind of thing you must 707 00:31:57,050 --> 00:31:57,350 see. 708 00:31:57,870 --> 00:32:00,190 Therefore, the person that's been born of God 709 00:32:00,190 --> 00:32:02,150 does not seek things that are his own. 710 00:32:02,250 --> 00:32:04,390 He looketh and seeketh the things of others, 711 00:32:04,730 --> 00:32:06,450 and he's concerned about others. 712 00:32:06,670 --> 00:32:08,470 And it isn't a question, can a Christian 713 00:32:08,470 --> 00:32:09,590 do this and be saved? 714 00:32:09,690 --> 00:32:11,110 Can a Christian do that and be saved? 715 00:32:11,290 --> 00:32:14,990 The question is, what about others? 716 00:32:15,570 --> 00:32:16,630 What about others? 717 00:32:17,270 --> 00:32:18,210 What about others? 718 00:32:18,830 --> 00:32:19,850 This is the rule. 719 00:32:19,990 --> 00:32:21,030 This is the touchstone. 720 00:32:21,030 --> 00:32:24,910 This is the principle that's established for us 721 00:32:24,910 --> 00:32:26,350 once and for all. 722 00:32:27,470 --> 00:32:29,870 How many there are that have been emboldened 723 00:32:29,870 --> 00:32:32,030 by the example of the strong to do 724 00:32:32,030 --> 00:32:34,290 something that even the strong could do without 725 00:32:34,290 --> 00:32:38,130 hurt, but being weaker, have been plunged to 726 00:32:38,130 --> 00:32:38,410 ruin. 727 00:32:39,090 --> 00:32:42,290 Charles Spurgeon, during his latter years of ministry, 728 00:32:42,510 --> 00:32:46,630 illness would go at times to Monaco in 729 00:32:46,630 --> 00:32:49,050 France, the south of France on the Mediterranean 730 00:32:49,050 --> 00:32:50,030 for rest. 731 00:32:51,210 --> 00:32:53,790 And occasionally, he said that he enjoyed walking 732 00:32:53,790 --> 00:32:56,850 through the gardens there at the casino, the 733 00:32:56,850 --> 00:32:59,190 most beautiful gardens then in the world, they 734 00:32:59,190 --> 00:32:59,950 were said to be. 735 00:33:00,570 --> 00:33:03,430 But one day, the one that was in 736 00:33:03,430 --> 00:33:05,850 charge of the casino saw him and said, 737 00:33:05,930 --> 00:33:07,710 I haven't seen you in the gardens of 738 00:33:07,710 --> 00:33:08,070 late. 739 00:33:08,790 --> 00:33:11,090 Well, he said, I don't patronize your casino. 740 00:33:11,310 --> 00:33:12,530 I don't ever go in. 741 00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:15,170 I feel that it isn't right for me 742 00:33:15,170 --> 00:33:16,270 to use your gardens. 743 00:33:16,390 --> 00:33:18,190 You put them there for those that do 744 00:33:18,190 --> 00:33:20,170 patronize your casino. 745 00:33:21,090 --> 00:33:22,970 Oh, said the man, that's all right. 746 00:33:23,030 --> 00:33:25,130 Feel perfectly free to use them anytime. 747 00:33:26,070 --> 00:33:28,830 You see, you really bring great advantage to 748 00:33:28,830 --> 00:33:29,170 me. 749 00:33:29,610 --> 00:33:32,970 For when people see such as you walking 750 00:33:32,970 --> 00:33:35,750 in the gardens, they feel that there really 751 00:33:35,750 --> 00:33:38,530 must not be anything too bad about it. 752 00:33:38,530 --> 00:33:41,530 And they will come in and walk in 753 00:33:41,530 --> 00:33:44,970 the gardens, and then they'll make bold to 754 00:33:44,970 --> 00:33:45,950 go into the casino. 755 00:33:46,670 --> 00:33:50,110 And we profit greatly from having people such 756 00:33:50,110 --> 00:33:52,030 as you use our gardens. 757 00:33:52,850 --> 00:33:55,970 Oh, that somehow it could be understood, somehow 758 00:33:55,970 --> 00:33:59,870 it could be understood that an example may 759 00:33:59,870 --> 00:34:02,610 cause others to go far beyond it and 760 00:34:02,610 --> 00:34:04,170 to bring destruction to them. 761 00:34:04,930 --> 00:34:09,810 Liberty that becomes a snare to another becomes 762 00:34:09,810 --> 00:34:13,270 a sin to you, and their blood thus 763 00:34:13,270 --> 00:34:14,630 falls upon you. 764 00:34:16,639 --> 00:34:19,360 Mr. Ellis, a missionary from the South Seas, 765 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:21,900 gave an illustration from the chief, a former 766 00:34:21,900 --> 00:34:25,860 cannibal, offering human sacrifice that had been won 767 00:34:25,860 --> 00:34:26,480 to Christ. 768 00:34:27,540 --> 00:34:30,159 One day he came and said to the 769 00:34:30,159 --> 00:34:34,460 missionary, last Sabbath afternoon, when I was walking 770 00:34:34,460 --> 00:34:38,400 through my gardens, I saw some ripe plantains 771 00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:40,860 hanging from the branch over the path. 772 00:34:41,500 --> 00:34:45,020 Being hungry, I thought to reach them and 773 00:34:45,020 --> 00:34:45,760 to have eaten them. 774 00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:47,400 Would it have been all right? 775 00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:51,020 And the missionary said, well, I don't see 776 00:34:51,020 --> 00:34:53,060 why there would have been any particular harm 777 00:34:53,060 --> 00:34:53,460 in it. 778 00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:55,540 But let me ask you, did you? 779 00:34:56,060 --> 00:34:57,340 And the chief said, no. 780 00:34:58,220 --> 00:35:00,080 You see, I had some of my attendants 781 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:02,860 with me, and I knew that home in 782 00:35:02,860 --> 00:35:04,800 my house I had fruit that had been 783 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:06,180 prepared the day before. 784 00:35:07,420 --> 00:35:09,700 And even though I felt then that I 785 00:35:09,700 --> 00:35:11,360 might have eaten it with no harm to 786 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:14,580 me, my attendants might have seen it and 787 00:35:14,580 --> 00:35:16,200 felt that it was all right to gather 788 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,380 fruit on the Sabbath day, on the Lord's 789 00:35:19,380 --> 00:35:22,020 day, and thus would have been established something 790 00:35:22,020 --> 00:35:25,140 that would have broken the deep meaning of 791 00:35:25,140 --> 00:35:26,000 this holy day. 792 00:35:26,420 --> 00:35:29,660 So he said, for their sakes, I didn't 793 00:35:29,660 --> 00:35:29,960 eat. 794 00:35:30,660 --> 00:35:32,400 This we must understand. 795 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:35,280 It's love which seeketh not its own. 796 00:35:35,940 --> 00:35:37,960 It isn't a question, can you do it? 797 00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:39,960 That's not the issue at all. 798 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:41,840 It's what of the weaker one. 799 00:35:42,260 --> 00:35:43,940 It's what of the one that sees you. 800 00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:46,480 It's not a question, do I have liberty 801 00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:47,400 to do this? 802 00:35:47,700 --> 00:35:50,120 But it's a question, what of those little 803 00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:52,040 children in the father's family? 804 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:54,740 What of those outside of Christ? 805 00:35:55,210 --> 00:35:58,320 It is that I am not concerned primarily 806 00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:00,420 about what pleases me now that I've been 807 00:36:00,420 --> 00:36:01,080 born again. 808 00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:05,100 It's what pleases him who saved me and 809 00:36:05,100 --> 00:36:06,000 who called me. 810 00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:09,540 Dr. Ironsides illustrates it in one of his 811 00:36:09,540 --> 00:36:10,340 lovely books. 812 00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:12,420 He tells of being with a group of 813 00:36:12,420 --> 00:36:15,640 Christians on an outing in Michigan. 814 00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:19,680 They had just a lovely time of fellowship 815 00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:20,220 together. 816 00:36:20,780 --> 00:36:23,280 He was talking with one that had been 817 00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:27,800 one from Islam, from Mohammedanism, Mohammed Ali. 818 00:36:28,500 --> 00:36:32,900 And this dear man from Pakistan, incidentally, had 819 00:36:32,900 --> 00:36:37,160 really a glowing testimony and a wonderful ministry 820 00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:37,580 there. 821 00:36:38,340 --> 00:36:42,520 He said that they were talking together, Ironsides 822 00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:46,360 and Mr. Mohammed Ali, when one of the 823 00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:48,240 girls that was serving came up with a 824 00:36:48,240 --> 00:36:49,240 platter of sandwiches. 825 00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:53,360 And he, she offered them and said, now 826 00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:57,180 I have ham here, two kinds, we have 827 00:36:57,180 --> 00:36:59,280 minced ham and then we have sliced ham. 828 00:36:59,340 --> 00:37:00,560 He said, is there any beef? 829 00:37:00,740 --> 00:37:01,040 No. 830 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:02,180 Any chicken? 831 00:37:02,300 --> 00:37:02,420 No. 832 00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:02,920 Any cheese? 833 00:37:02,980 --> 00:37:03,100 No. 834 00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:04,820 Just the two kinds of ham sandwich. 835 00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:07,700 Said, well, thank you, I won't have any. 836 00:37:08,380 --> 00:37:09,800 And the girl looked at him and said, 837 00:37:09,940 --> 00:37:13,560 but Mr. Mohammed Ali, you've been a Christian 838 00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:18,020 surely this prohibition against eating ham doesn't have 839 00:37:18,020 --> 00:37:20,600 any continuing effect on you, does it? 840 00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:22,660 Oh, no, no. 841 00:37:23,240 --> 00:37:25,760 It doesn't mean anything to me now, either 842 00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:26,920 to eat or not to eat. 843 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:28,600 I'm not the better for eating or the 844 00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:29,620 worse for not eating. 845 00:37:30,300 --> 00:37:31,520 Said, it doesn't mean anything. 846 00:37:31,580 --> 00:37:34,360 But you see, back home in Pakistan, I 847 00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:35,920 have an unsaved father. 848 00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:38,300 And every year I go to see him. 849 00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:41,260 And the first thing that he will say 850 00:37:41,260 --> 00:37:42,820 to me when I come into his room, 851 00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:48,180 he will say, Mohammed, have those Gentiles, have 852 00:37:48,180 --> 00:37:51,780 those pagans that you've been with, those people 853 00:37:51,780 --> 00:37:55,440 in America, those heathen, have they gotten you 854 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:58,280 to eat the filthy flesh of a swine? 855 00:37:59,500 --> 00:38:01,240 And I can look at him and say, 856 00:38:01,380 --> 00:38:05,780 no, father, no, swine flesh has never passed 857 00:38:05,780 --> 00:38:06,380 my lips. 858 00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:09,780 And then I can preach Christ to him. 859 00:38:09,780 --> 00:38:12,360 Or as if I were to eat, he'd 860 00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:15,020 never hear another word I have to say. 861 00:38:15,420 --> 00:38:19,340 Better that I never eat, that in eating, 862 00:38:20,100 --> 00:38:22,840 I close the door to witness to my 863 00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:23,520 needy father. 864 00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:27,980 Here it is, the challenge to rightly view 865 00:38:27,980 --> 00:38:33,120 knowledge, the challenge to rightly view liberty, the 866 00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:36,240 challenge to rightly view responsibility. 867 00:38:36,860 --> 00:38:40,380 Not only to those for whom the Savior 868 00:38:40,380 --> 00:38:44,220 died that know him not, but the wee 869 00:38:44,220 --> 00:38:48,460 babes in Christ that need to know him 870 00:38:48,460 --> 00:38:48,760 better. 871 00:38:49,720 --> 00:38:53,260 This, I believe, answers so many questions that 872 00:38:53,260 --> 00:38:54,860 arise in the Christian's life. 873 00:38:55,780 --> 00:38:58,720 May the spirit of God plant his answer 874 00:38:58,720 --> 00:39:01,780 deep in your heart today. 875 00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:04,380 Shall we stand for prayer? 876 00:39:06,240 --> 00:39:06,940 Amen.