In water pollution, you ought to get a job around here. Hope you will. Chapter eight of First Corinthians and verse one. Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we are, we all have knowledge, knowledge puff of up, but love edifies. If any man thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet, as he ought to know. But if any man loved God, the same is known of him. As concerning, therefore, the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called God, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be God's many and Lord's many, so-called. But to us, there is but one God, the Father of whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. How be it, there is not in every man that knowledge. For some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled. But meet commendeth us not to God, for neither if we eat, are we the better, neither if we eat not, are we the worse. But take heed, lest any, by any means, this liberty of yours, become a stumbling block to them that are weak or the unenlightened. For if any man see thee which hast knowledge, you are really born again and saved, and he sees you sitting at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak or unenlightened be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols? Aren't you setting a bad example? and though thy knowledge and through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish or be stumbled for whom Christ died. But when ye sin so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. That's a solemn statement. Wherefore if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh. while the world standeth lest I make my brother to offend or unless I stumble him." Now here's a strange situation developing in Corinth. Here is a man, he gets saved, and the moment he gets saved, he rejoices in what he has found, and all his past life, whatever it may have been, he just sees nothing to that. All that tradition, I found Christ Now I have the real thing, and I can just go and eat any meat I like, and practically do as I like, within the compass of a clear conscience. But I may be using my liberty and stumble another young brother who's had a background that I didn't have, and he may see me go to that place and eat some of that meat that has been sacrificed to some idol. And this young brother could be stumbled. And so he's bringing out the point here, our trying to be a good example, and a Christian should be able and willing and ready to give up some of his rights and privileges as a born-again Christian in order not to stumble a weak Christian. One who's had a different background to what I had or to what you had. Now we know something of the liberty or the license of liberty. A number of years ago, there were demonstrations all over our country, and the cry of the mob was, we want freedom. We want liberty. We want liberty. But they didn't mind infringing on other people's liberties, burning down buildings, destroying property. All they wanted was liberty to express themselves, and they found themselves on many occasions, infringing upon other people's liberties, even to the extent of breaking the law. So liberty is one thing, but control it. And Christians have a wonderful liberty. We have a liberty in Christ. Now, evolutionists, they wanted the freedom and the liberty to teach evolution in our schools and universities. But they didn't like the idea of others teaching the Bible. And you know what happened? But I'm thankful to God that out in California only recently they had the vote and the Bible was put back into the school, those able to be taught, to balance up evolution. There are always those. For instance, communism. always crying out against capitalism. They want deliverance of... Only to enslave those who follow communism in a worse bondage. This is what Paul is talking about in the Church of Corinth. He had gone in there with the gospel, and he preached the gospel, and all kinds of people in Corinth. Worshipers of idols. They were brought up that way. They knew nothing else but worshiping an idol from a little kid. And anything that was offered to that idol was sacred. And you'd see the little idol sitting around in the house. And they would bow to those idols or make signs to those idols and offer sacrifices to those idols. Also, there were some Jews there, and they were brought up under the Jewish economy. God in the Old Testament made it plain that Jews were to eat some kind of meat and others no. God gave them a dietary law. There were things that were clean. There were things that were unclean. And oftentimes in the New Testament you find where here are two Jews. One, he gets saved. And it's so real to him, the Apostle Paul, for instance, he's one. And he tells her about that. He got complete deliverance from his past involvement. He said, now there's another young Jew. He's got saved all right, but he just doesn't seem to realize he has a liberty in Christ that sets him free from all the Old Testament legality. Now he said, I'm not going to eat any meat as long as the world standards have I offend that young Christian. For that young Christian belongs to Christ, and if you do stumble that young Christian, you have sinned against Christ. That's pretty serious, isn't it? And Paul is laying it on the line. When we get saved, we do have liberty. It tells us, in the word of God in Galatians five, one, stand fast in the liberty where with Christ has made us free, and don't become entangled again with the law of Moses. If Christ therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Christians have a wonderful liberty, a wonderful freedom. We're in Christ, and the New Testament tells us, but we're not obligated to abstain from certain meats. Every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused. I could sit down anywhere and eat all the meat I want. I don't have a conscience against it. My background didn't pause me to have a guilty conscience. They could tell me this big piece of beef or this roast beef or this t-bone steak, it was offered to some idol. Well, there's no idols, so that idol can't in any way have anything to do with the taste of that beef. I just eat it. But supposing another person came up and they just found Christ and they were unenlightened to them. And they saw me in that place, and I was eating meat that had been offered unto an idol. He'd be stumbled. I can't understand you. Don't you know that that meat is associated with idolatry? And I could stumble that young man. We don't have those conditions today, but I'm just trying to explain what the difficulty was here in court. It just simply means that here was a situation rare. And a Christian in those days had to walk. because Christianity was so new. And here these people, they get saved, and they're set free. They're not under the law, but under grace. They pay no attention to all this idolatry that goes on around us, and there was plenty of it in those days. But Paul says, now it's up to us, and he's tried to differentiate between the two. A weak brother is not weak mentally. He is not weak physically. He is not weak spiritually. He's unenlightened. He just means to learn something. Whereas the strong brother is the brother who is set free. He's strong spiritually. He sees how Christ has delivered him from all traditions. We're not redeemed with such corruptible things as silver and gold from our vain conversation received by tradition of our fathers. But with the precious God of Christ, I'm set free from all traditions. Now, I'm going to make a statement and maybe parallel with what we have today. I've seen quite a number of Roman Catholics saved in my meeting. But they still have in them, ingrained in them, what they've been taught about Catholicism. And you could easily stumble them. Some of them don't seem to see all the light that is there. Now, what do we do? What does that first verse say? Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffed up. It certainly can puff you. But love, Edipah. Love is the running mate to knowledge and liberty. You can have knowledge that will puff you up like a balloon. But if you have love, Love can anchor that balloon and keep it from getting too high and bust. And so here you have love that is a running mate through knowledge. He says, we all, writing to these Christians, we all have knowledge. They have the knowledge of what? They have the knowledge that their sins were forgiven. They have the knowledge they had peace with God. They had everlasting life. They had never perished. They'd found out that their good works wouldn't save them. Their character wouldn't save them. Only Christ could save them. Wonderful. But that didn't mean that they could throw everything to the wind and just do as they liked. Liberty is not licensed. Paul said, I'm not under law as to Moses' law, but I'm in law to Christ. I live and operate under another law. That's the law of love. And I'm not going to stumble a weak brother if I can help it. And it can be so easily done. So you see the situation in Corinth, and quite a situation at once. Richard, you could look at it this way. Here's a boy. He's ten years of age. He's in school. He's in a good grade, making top grades. He's healthy physically. He's healthy mentally. But he's got a lot to learn. A lot to learn. And remember, Christian, when a person gets saved, they've got a lot to learn. And in many cases, you have to unlearn a lot of things before you learn the truth. So much tradition gets into the human body and into the human heart. And in final analysis, we are what we are taught. I was a Protestant because I was brought up a Protestant. Other people are Catholic because they were brought up Catholics. Others are Jews because they were brought up Jews. You put a Jew and a Catholic in my home, he'd have been brought up like I was. We are what we're taught in ninety-nine percent of the case. But a time comes in a man's life when he's got to investigate the Bible. You can't even take your parents. authority. We've got to go by the book. And after I got saved, as much as I revered my parents, I got into this Bible to find out to see if my parents taught me the right thing. The moment I got saved, I knew they taught me the right thing about salvation. But what about other things about church truth and so on? I investigated this book. And I'm not preaching what my parents taught me. I'm preaching what the Bible teaches. And that's the way to get all on same level ground. And here you have this boy, and he's brought up, and as I say, ten years of age, and he's making good grades. Nothing wrong with this mentality or his physical condition, but he's still got a lot of it. And we have a lot to learn. Some people, they're so strict about the denomination they were brought up in. They can't seem to realize that that denomination didn't go back to the Lord Jesus Christ. No, friend, it didn't. We've got to learn the liberty we have in Jesus Christ and unlearn a lot of other things, a lot of trappings, traditional trappings, to get into the liberty that is ours in the person of Jesus Christ, not only as a savior, but as a gathering center for his people, the heart, of the church. The very axle of the church is Jesus Christ. He's the meeting place. He is your life, not only as to being saved, but as your life to live. So you see the situation that was going on here in Corinth. And Paul is trying to instruct the Christian to be a little patient, exercise some love concerning other people. didn't have the background that you had, but were in still with something else. Traditions of various kinds, such as I've mentioned, even being a Jew or being a Catholic or something else. And so God wants us to get into the perfect law and liberty, law of liberty, which is found in our Bible. And so he goes on to verse two. And if any man thinks that he knoweth anything, He knows nothing yet, as He offers the Lord. In other words, people can talk about their knowledge. Knowledge can puff up. And seven times in Corinthians, Paul speaks about puffed up, puffed up, puffed up. We'll be speaking on that in one of our messages, the seven references. It's so easy for a man to be puffed up with this knowledge. But love builds up. Love builds up. is what levels off our knowledge and makes a good running mate. It keeps us in check. It keeps us humble and low. It's sad to have a great big head and a little shriveled heart. We love with our heart. And God wants our heart to be just as big as our head as to our thinking on spirituality. We have these two running together. Yes, he says, knowledge brought about, but love edified. Love for another who has just found Christ and needs to learn a whole lot. So we have this situation, and it was inherent, as I say, in these people, these Jews, and these other Gentiles in Corinth. I'd love to think of what we've got in that verse about what we know in verse three, verse four, as concerning, therefore, the eating of things that are offered unto idols, we know an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. Behind all these idols, there is no reality. Why worship something that doesn't exist? And yet millions of people are doing it to this day. They're falling down to idols. And there's no reality behind those idols. None whatever. Just superstition. And God tells us in Psalm one thirty-nine, he says, you're God's They have hands, but they handle not. Feet have they, but they walk not. Ears have they, but they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell not. Tongues they have, but they talk not. He said, why? You're just as dead as your idols. Day that worship them are like unto them, says God. An idol is a dead thing. A dead thing. You know that when the Old Testament here, the Philistines had their idol. and they brought the ark of God in, the very presence of God, and they put their ark in the very house of the God of the Philistines, pagan, their God, and their God fell down and broke up. Because God cannot allow any competition that idols had to fall. And this is true. Remember the case in Elijah's case. Here they were worshiping their God, Bale, and how they pled with Bale to come in and deliver them. They had offered their big sacrifice. And Elijah just taunted them. Oh, he says, keep calling to your God. Maybe he's on a journey. Maybe he's taken to sleep. Keep calling on Bale. And they called on him all day and nothing happened. Elijah said, all right, now I'll show you who the living God is. My God's a living God. And he built that altar. He put the wood on and the bullet on it. And he got a twelve barrels of water and poured it on the trench. And twelve more and so on till the trench was full. He saturated the whole thing. It was usually impossible to ignite that sacrifice. Then he called upon God, his God, the living God, to answer by fire for the people that agreed, the God that answers, he shall be our God. And so when Elijah prayed, The fire of God came down from heaven, consumed the sacrifice, consumed the stones, and licked up all the water that was in the trench. God's a living God. And how tragic to think all over the world today. And if you go out to the East, especially idols, idols, idols, of every kind and fashion. And there's not a thing behind this mythology. There's only one God, the living God. Then here are people, and they're being shackled. They're made to believe that there's reality behind that idol. There's no such reality. And yet you've got to consider them. Here's where your love comes in. If that person gets saved, you've got to consider his background. Some are snapped into out of it like that. Well, then do that. But others need to be taught. They need to be shown what the gospel is and how the living God is to replace all these other things. One can go into a lot of things that we can stumble others with. Paul says, I will eat no meat as long as the earth is standing. If I make my brother to offend, I'm not going to stumble another Christian. I could stumble him with my dress, my clothes. I could stumble him with some of my habits. I could stumble him with some of the places where I go. And if that's the case, no. If I do that, I sin against Christ. And that's a serious thing. Christians, God wants them to be living examples. of what real Christianity is. The Lord Jesus said in praying to his Father that he is the living and true God. There's no mythology in connection with the living and true God. He's the real God. None of the gods but him. I trust we as Christians realize that. A man can be his own God. He worships himself. He prides Himself in superiority over others. And He bows before Mr. Self. God abominates that thing. And yet in Corinth, anything that would bring about a discussion or a dispute, they're ready for it. And here they are arguing in Corinth, dividing that church between idols and the living God. And sometimes when you boil a lot of things down what divide Christians and split churches, sometimes it's very minor and not major. Now, I agree with you about this aisle thing. That's quite major. To think that any other God should compete with my God will be put on the same level. But here, as I've said, when a person's been schooled in this thing for thirty, forty, fifty years, You've got to be slow and be patient and be gracious. God has to open their eyes. Some things are very minor that cause Christians to argue and have strife. I read an instant about a true farm, and they were arguing over a line there, down the fence line. And I was involved about one foot on the property. And one said, he should have that book. He said, oh, he should have that book. And they argued, and they argued, and they argued. And got very hot in the argument. So they decided they were going to sue a lawyer. And both of them went to this one lawyer. And this lawyer said, well, he said, well, I'd like to represent both you men, but he said it's not legally right. I can't represent both you. But he said, tell him what I can do. I'll take one of you, and I'll recommend another lawyer. And one of you can take another lawyer. And I'll take the ones that stick with me. He said, I'll give you a letter of commendation to another lawyer. And so he wrote it out and put an envelope and handed the two lawyers. Well, they went off, still arguing about that line. Then finally, a little curiosity came into their mind. Who's he sending us to, anyway? Well, what's in that letter? Finally, they opened up the letter. And this is what they read. Dear John, I am sending two fat geese. You pick one and I'll pick the other. And when they read that, first of all, they looked at one and then they both burst out with a laugh. And they one hooked their arm and came on back. And you take that foot. No, you take that. No, you take that. It was all settled over just the little line things, or where the line exactly what. Sometimes you'll find Christians doing the same thing, majoring on minor things. But when it comes to the Bible and what the Bible teaches, there can be no compromise, none whatever. It's just a case of the grace of God, realizing what God has done for us and exercising patience and greatness with others. Many things in the Bible, you take the subject of baptism. I know what the Bible teaches about baptism. I have no scruples about that. It teaches baptism by immersion after people are saved. Baptism won't save you, but it's the answer to every good conscience toward God that will save you from having a guilty conscience. although I know that's the truth. Sometimes we allow people to fellowship here until they see the light. On a few occasions, we've allowed a person to fellowship with us here who didn't have eternal security. But they were sincere. If it was in the Bible, they really wanted to do it. But their background may have come into the picture. And so they're hesitant. You have to have patience until they see it. And sometimes they say, well, I see it now. I see it now. I can't belong. I'm saved. I'm saved for that. This is where love and patience, we're not dealing with idols and meat, such as they were in Corinth, but we have a lot of other things in this day that God wants us to carry out and carry out just as soon as a person sees it from the book. Don't do it for my sake. I presume some people would do it because I told them to. Do it because God says it. You'll get no reward doing it because I asked you to do it. You will be rewarded if you do it because God tells you to do it and you're willing to obey God's precious work. So here you have the unlimited love of God. Knowledge is limited. But love is unlimited. And God wants you to see this and balance up your knowledge with L-O-V-E. Now there's a wonderful text here we want to see. It's verse six. But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. What a wonderful, convincing point the Apostle Paul brings up. Here was this church split over these sacrifices to idols. And he comes out with a thundering crash. We know there's only one God, not many God. There's just one God and one Lord Jesus Christ. And if that's settled, that'll settle all that they're arguing about as to idols. Only one God. That's a marvelous verse. One God. One Lord Jesus Christ. And when you speak of one God and one Lord Jesus Christ, that means one cross. One cross. One altar. Back in those days, altars were everywhere as the different people who worship different gods had their altars. But there's only one altar as a Christian, or as a Christian. You read that over in Hebrew. We have an altar that they have no right to serve who worship other items. In other words, our altar is the Lord Jesus Christ. One priest. Not all these other priests. One priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the only great high priest. And one sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ is all three. He's a priest, and he offered the sacrifice, he offered himself. And where did he offer at that one altar of the cross? So Jesus Christ is priest, he's offering, and he's the altar. He's all three. The answer to all idolatry is at the cross. He is prophet, he is priest, he is king, he is mediator. Christ is everything if you got Christ. You have everything. One God and Father, one Lord Jesus Christ. And then he speaks of this one sacrifice, this one altar, There's one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. And if people would get this settled, it would settle all these other problems. I wonder if you've got that set. It's not this denomination, it's not that denomination, it's not this ritual and that ritual that's going to save you. The ground around Calvary's cross is level ground. It's here where the rich and the poor meet together. There's the only place you can be saved at the cross. There's one God, the Father. In other words, he's the source of everything. He's the creator of everything. God, the Father. But it says about the Lord Jesus Christ, one God, the Father of whom are all things, all things come from God, and we by him, and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things. He's the channel. One God, the Father. And one channel that flows from the Father to man, and that channel is the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. I am the door by me, if any man enter in. He shall be saved and shall go in and out. He's the door that lets you in to the presence of God to worship and pray and let you out to serve is Jesus Christ. No church. No church. No doctrine other than that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is the message Paul brings to the experience. It's the only way any man can be saved. He said, And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Money tells us in verse eight, But meat, commend of us not to God. For neither if we eat, are we the better. Neither if we eat not, are we the worse. He's trying to get at the foot of this thing and the foundation of it. You people are depending on eating something or not eating, for you're being accepted by God. And he tells us elsewhere what God's salvation, Romans, verse seventeen, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. What you eat, what you're told, it's not going to take you to heaven. not going to have anything to do with your fellowship with God. The kingdom of heaven is righteousness. You've got to have righteousness, and Christ is our righteousness. He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. And so the kingdom of heaven is not meat nor drink, but righteousness, peace. Christ is our righteousness. Christ is our peace. And he's our joy. That's what the Bible says. He tells you right in that verse. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he that envies things in this righteousness, joy, and peace, serveth Christ. He is acceptable to God and approved by God. How wonderful all this is. Everything we need is in Christ. And God wants you to know this one and only Christ. and I trust you'll know this morning, in and through him. And when you stop to think what true Christianity is, it's self-denial. For a Christian to have patience with another young Christian who doesn't know because of his background, you've got to have patience until he learns, unlearn something to learn God's way. It takes patience. A denial of yourself. You'd like to change that man's mind right away. No. You've got to have patience. It may take a few weeks. It may take a few months. It may take a few years. They'll see it. Paul says, I'll not eat meat. It's my privilege, too. I've got the liberty to. I know that food doesn't have a thing to do with my getting to heaven or my fellowship with God. But if I'm going to offend a young Christian, I'll not eat any meat. as long as the world standard. That was self-denial. Christ gave himself. That's where Christianity comes in. The Lord Jesus teaches self-deniality. He gave himself. He had the right to stay with the Father, but he gave up his rights, and he came to earth to save you, to save him. He gave up his life. going to close with this. Henry Morehouse, I read a biography before I came south, came from England. He preached seven times on John III, sixteen, opened the eyes of D.L. Moody. D.L. Moody said, I was never the same man after I heard this fellow, Henry Morehouse. Henry Morehouse was staying with a very well-to-do man, and he was a man of learning, an influence. And in Henry Morehouse was being entertained with this man, and this man had a very lovely daughter in her teens, and she was anticipating a world of old great time in the future. Lots of money, her dad was well off, and all she thought of was a life where she could enjoy everything. She walked in one day unexpectedly into the living room, and there sat Henry Morehouse. reading his Bible, pouring over his Bible. And of course, when she saw him, she excused herself, went to the, well, no, he says, you don't have to leave. So she kind of apologized, and Morehouse looked at her, and he said, are you saved? She looked at him, no, Mr. Morehouse, I'm not. She thought that was the end of it. He says, would you like to be? And that's something else. She hesitated for a minute. She thought, now, sometime I've got to face this. Do I want to be saved? She turned to Mr. Morehouse. She said, Mr. Morehouse, I do want to be saved. When it came back with a third one, do you want to be saved now? Well, he's coming pretty close. She thought for a minute or two, she said, yes. I want to be saved now. He said, you have a Bible. Yes. Would you mind getting it? And start reading in Isaiah chapter fifty-three and begin about verse three. And put in I, me, mine. Make it personal, personal pronoun. First you began reading and this is what she read. He is despised and rejected, that is Christ is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with me, and I hid, as it were, my face from him. He was wounded for my transgressions. He was bruised for my iniquity, the chastisement of my peace was upon him, and with his stripes I am healed." Here she realized that Christ had suffered for her on the cross. She didn't realize it. But the Lord Jesus was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted for her. And she burst into tears. Anywhere in her house didn't intervene. Finally, she dried her tears and continued to read. And as she read on, she finished it up. He was put to death for my iniquity, who suffered for all my sins. The chastisement of this peace, my peace, was laid upon him, and with his stripes I am healed. And she was hesitant for a minute, and she thought. Then she turned to Henry Newell House. Oh, Mr. Newell. Yes, I am saved. How do you know, he said. She said, God says I am saved. With Jesus' stripes I'm healed. Yes. He says, do you believe God? Why, certainly I believe God. I couldn't do anything else. I believe that Jesus Christ died for me. He suffered for me. He begged for me. And he rose for me. And he said, God's right hand is coming for me. And she left that drawing room happy because she had found Christ. Now, when she went in there, she didn't expect to see the preacher there. But he put the questions to her, and she left a child of God on the way to heaven. Friend, maybe when you came in this auditorium this morning, you didn't have any idea of being saved, but you may can be saved. You can be saved right now. The Lord Jesus Christ took your place. God put all your sins on him. He suffered for those sins. He bore those sins. All your sins were laid upon them. Jesus bore them on the tree. God who knew them laid them on them. And believing you are free. God says, why don't you believe? Believe. And thou shalt be saved. God has used to believe it now. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, will come before thee and thank thee for thy wonderful salvation. We thank you, there is one God, and only one. We thank you, there is one Lord Jesus Christ. We thank thee for the Holy Spirit, the Triune God. And we trust that this morning the Holy Spirit will strive with soul. We might trust the Savior, then the Spirit will reveal to them that they are accepted in Christ. They'll be quickened to new preachers in Christ Jesus. We ask these things in the Lord Jesus' precious name. Amen.