First Corinthians. First Corinthians. And we'll continue where we left off this morning around. Verse eight. But meat commended us not to God. For neither if we eat, are we the better. Neither if we eat not, are we the worse. But take meat left by any means. this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. For if any man see thee, which hath knowledge, sit at meek in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him that is weak, be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols? And through thy knowledge, the liberty, or example, shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died. But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. Wherefore if meat made my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world stands lest I make my brother to offend. Now is over. Jerry and Jane for dinner today, and we were talking about what we were on this morning, and they were a little in the dark about some of the things we were mentioning this morning, the meat that was being offered to idols. So I tried to explain to them just what it meant, and the way they said they thought we should explain it that way to all the Christians. Well, the story is this, but back in those days, and of course in Israel's history as a nation, They had many huge convocations, their choral convocations, or protestables in Israel's history. And God speaks of them as holy convocations. Sometimes thousands of animals were slain on those occasions, on those occasions. Well, that was true, too, in reference to these other religions, or these idolatrous religions that were existing at that time, especially that of Baal, and also others that were there in court. These great events would come along, and each day, all under the name of religion. And so at that time, when this event was taking place, all the animals were brought. There were great families come together, and these animals were slain. A certain part of the animal was taken outside the camp, especially as far as Israel was concerned, and burned. that carries a hide, and other parts of the animal were not offered on the altar, nor were they edible. And so after that was done, they would come into their altars, and the priests of those days they would offer up a certain portion, and it was the best. They offered it up unto the Lord. And they would hold it up in their hands, and thus go through their ceremonies. And the priests were able to eat the very best of the animal. Today you have that carried on to a certain extent as occasionally. I went to one of the huge packing houses in Chicago one time and had a meeting there many years ago, and I saw the Jewish rabbi with a stamp, and he would examine certain parts of the animal, the beast, especially the liver and so on, certain organs. He would examine it. If he saw any blemishes, why he would put a stamp on it, indicating that not to go to the Poshamot for the Jews. But if he saw one, and it was in good shape, he put the right stamp on, and that did go for Poshamot. And so back in those days they did not allow anything that was in any way blemish to go to those offices. And the best part was offered up in the hands of those priests, and then they could take it and eat it. And then on those occasions, of course, there was a lot of meat offered up hundreds of animals laying, and it had been fixed each day, and hundreds, thousands of people, be feeding off this meat. Many times a lot was left over, and it was taken to the town market, and there it was sold. Very good meat, sometimes at a lower price. Well, my idea is this. You invite a young Christian to your home. He's just gotten saved. Before he was saved, he was a member of one of these religions that worshipped these idols and had these great feet laid. And he sits down, and you're just about to partake of the week, and something comes into his mind. He says, Brother Soong, so where did you get this week? Well, he said, I got it down for a month. Is it associated with idolatry? Well, you're hesitant to say, but yes. Well, he said, I can't eat that. I would violate my conscience if I ate that meat. He had in his background that everything was offered up to that false God, a God who did not exist, but anything associated with it. It was associated with idol. And his conscience was so tender along that line, so strict, no, I couldn't eat that. Now how are you going to react? Oh, brother, that's a lot of knowledge. I can eat it all. Don't be so foolish. Eat all you want of us. No, says Paul, you're not to do that. For you, yes. You have the right. You have the liberty. You know your salvation is not in any way affected with meat or food of any kind. Your salvation is in Christ. Yes, you can go ahead and eat it. But he says, not your honor. You consider that weak brother's conscience before you consider your appetite and your liberty. You're free to do it. You have liberty. It won't bother your conscience. But that brother hasn't learned what you learned yet. He still has a lot of what he was in before. And God says and Paul says, don't you, the old friend, that weak brother's conscience. But you might condemn him. If you do, you sin against Christ. Did you see that? We read that in one of those closing verses. Verse. Eleven, and through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish. Now he doesn't, he's not lost, but he struggles for whom Christ died. Now you know that he's a brother. But when ye sin so against the pleasure and groan their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. Now that's a serious thing. God is so jealous about a weak sister, an unstable sister. Even the Lord Jesus mentioned that anyone who penned one of these little ones, it was better for him that a millstone be hanged about his neck than if he drowned in the depths of the sea. Isn't it remarkable? You know this over in Ephesians, when the Lord is speaking about the husband and wife, he puts the wife first in Pilate. And when he speaks about the parent and the children, he puts the children first. And when he speaks about the master and the servant, he puts the servant first. It seems that in God's mind, the weaker one has special attention. And God is so happy that these people... associated they were with such idolatry that when they got a glimmer of gospel life, it trailed the heart of God, and here's someone else, he swore. He can eat all in life. God said, but don't you stumble that little one. To do so is like hitting a triple. Let any man hit a triple on the street and the public be ready to react. And that's what it's like. by and some will even give the appearance of stumbling young, weak, feeble Christians. It's a lot to learn, given time to learn. So I think it was something I read this week. I do have it here. I was by Spurgeon. I thought it was a lovely thing, and I'm going to read it through. When I go to Monica, the grounds of the gambling hell there are the most beautiful in the world. I never go near them anywhere. Not because I think there is any danger of my passing through those gardens or the gambling tables. No. But a friend once related the following incident to me. One day, Mr. Blanche, the owner of this round, met me and asked me how it was I never entered this round. Well, you see, I said, I never played. And as I make no profit whatever to you, I hardly feel justly fine of availing myself of the advantage of your lovely garden. The Blanche describes you make your great mistake. If it were not for you and other respectable persons like you, who come to my garden, I should lose many of my customers to attend my gambling salute. Do not imagine that because you do not play yourself, you do not, by your presence in the ground, contribute very materially to my revenue. Numbers of persons who would not have thought of entering my establishment, feel themselves quite safe in following you into my garden and from bench to the gambling tables, and the transition is very easy. Mr. Spurgeon says, I never went near. You see, the danger of example, this shrewd man, he had his gambling den, and he had a beautiful god, all kinds of lovely flowers, peaked there for people to grin and sit quietly, walk around, little ponds of fish, and ducks and so on. Back in that direction, there was gambling den. And this man wanted respect to those people. People he knew wouldn't gamble. He wanted them to go into that ground. And other people would see them, but... And they didn't. They didn't have the strength of people away from being inquisitive and going into a gambling bin. And so many of them didn't. And that's the point he's trying to get across here. This possibility of being a bad example, a bad example. I thought before I came out here of an instance I had up in Canada, talking about a rather easy meat. Not only was it the kind of meat on this occasion, that often to I was, but even other kinds of meat, one can be a bad example. I'd only been saved about two years, and I went to the big Massey Hall in Toronto for a big conference. Sometimes three thousand people went to that conference. There were as many as fifty preachers. They all didn't preach, of course. just some of the best. But those days, when they fed all these people, and they did, three meals a day, and all those assistants in those many assemblies, under the forty-fifty assemblies, they fed all those people for those three days. Lots of people came in off the street because of the crowd, and they'd been a meal. And the conveners of the conference knew that many times they were short two, three dozen, four, and spoons and knives. I actually saw one woman lady who thought she was naturally putting in knife, fork, and spoon in her bag. So these things were going on quite frequently. On this day, this man sat right across the table from me. A big fella weighed about two hundred and some pounds and bald head. And he really was packing it in. And I looked at him and I thought, well, he's a bum of off the street. And he reached for everything he was doing in the reach of his arm. Well, I'll tell you, he was really stacking the way. And I sat there, and I didn't know whether he got mad or played with the fool's arm. I actually sat there and see how long he was going to go ahead. Finally got up, parted away, parted away. So the afternoon session took the first week of that afternoon of that night. I didn't hear a word he said. I want to leave, he ought to talk. He acted anything but like a Christian. It had a bad effect on me. I didn't want to listen to it. And so thought easily, how easy we can stumble others by things we do. Now that's the situation we have here, and I thought that'll deal somehow with you. Now let us get to that first thing. Ten, but I want to read. For if any man she be, which has knowledge, Now this man across the table, he acknowledged, the gifted seeker, sit at meek in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols? In other words, the danger is the weak brother might be encouraged to do what his tongue contends. Well, I'll tell you one thing, I didn't want to follow here to that. I've been brought up in a decent old. And if I'd have eaten like that, I'd have got to whack around my ears. It wasn't that I wanted to eat like he ate. I knew it was that. He was giving a bad impression. A lot can depend on it. I don't mean to draw attention to myself, but I just thought of it this moment. A young lady is up in Durham with a open-heart surgery. A lovely character, and I hope you're grateful because they have no hope she'd ever go through this operation. The name is Mickey Petrie. Her husband offered a big restaurant in Sanford, North Carolina. In fact, it was a big family there now. When I was up last fall in Burlington, they had a big gut together, and they say from all around there, they're trying to give me a kind of a homecoming. They tried to think I was going to stay up in North Carolina. So they came from all around. One after another, they got up and told some incidents. Any teacher else talking on the phone, he called me right after the surgery, telling me that Mickey had come through wonderful. He said, well, the first time I ever met or saw a brother of him, he said, he came into my restaurant. And he said, I knew by the pictures in the paper that he's the one who was having a meeting in his big pomegranate. So he said, I watched him. He said, if I was prejudiced against preaching, And he said, I watched every move he made. He said, he ordered his food. And so I stood at the till and I watched him. And he said, he did stop it. The first time I ever saw it in my restaurant, he bowed his head and gave thanks for the food. After he got through it immediately, he mowed the till, and he said, How much do you owe it? He had it slipped. He said, Just about every creature either wanted a free meal or a fisher's gift shop. And I said, well, you're a freak, aren't you? Yes. But I said, here, I want to pay him a bill. I put him up. And I gave him the full amount. And Ed mentioned those two things. He said, and I watched them every day for a minute. The other one was, he got saved. And he was moved to Atlanta now. And so you don't know who's watching. Look, and who's watching you in little insignificant things. These things are constantly in the gospel. Dr. Russell watched. our behavior wherever long. And so we read about the weak sister, these gentlemen. Notice verse eleven. He says in verse eleven, And through thy knowledge, or thy liberty, and example, shall the weak brother perish, or be stumbled, for whom Christ died? But when ye sin so against the present, and wound their weak tongue, Ye sin against Christ. Now isn't that a serious thing? Ye sin against Christ. That's a crime for an older Christian to sin against a younger Christian and stumble a younger Christian. Stomp that young Christian, it may not grow. Wherefore it is called, if meat makes my brother to offend, or that I'll tame the young Christian and violate his tongue, I will eat no less. While the world stands at death, I make my brother to a death. These are strong words. The sin against Christ is the highest price. When Saul of Cossack was persecuting the Lord Jesus, how he was arresting the members of Christ. He was arresting and punishing the members of the body of Christ. And when he did... The head complains in heaven. The head of that body complains, and Christ said, Paul, Paul, I persecute this army. Christ, the head is complaining about what's being done to his members on earth. That's one of the reasons the Apostle Paul suffered as it is, for the Lord will remind them. I'll show him how much thing, how many things he shall suffer from my name. He made my people suffer, and he will get a taste of it. And he did. Here you have Christ from praying about the way the members of his body are being treated. Honor, these things are precious things, and I trust we all enjoy them. And then he says in verse thirteen, I have, yes, in verse thirteen, wherefore if make my brother to attend, I will eat no flesh, while the world standeth less by make my brother, I have the right to do this. I have the right to do that. But there's a greater right. And that right is to forego, that right for the sinful spirit, the well-being of a weak brother. I'll forego my right as a stronger person to give that young person the right to appear confident. And that's the way God wants it. There are many ways in which one can apply that. Can you think of the point where humanity comes near the deity? It is when God gave his son. That's the nearest point where humanity came like unto deity, or deity that came like unto humanity. Christ saved himself. And he says, you to give your cells to the brethren. That was the greatest sacrifice that made Calvary. The Lord Jesus, he gave up his life. Do you not say that in Philippians chapter two? He thought it not. Robbery said he equal with God. He had equal rights with God. He had equal power with God. He was on equality with God. But what did he do? He laid down his life. Thought of not robbery to evil, but God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon himself out the form of the servant of the crown, and cast into the man, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the poor. There you have the Lord Jesus, setting the example of giving up his life for the blessing and welfare of others. I think true that when it comes to our side, human nature reach is at summons when it's ready to give. Hipsa himself occurs themselves for others, that he may lay down your life for the presence of the apostle. Now leave a strong faith, and it means that Christian needs to be in fellowship with the Lord and enjoying the Lord when he's prepared to make this happen for the faith of others. After all, that's what Christianity is, others. It's only a display of a divine apathy. For God so loved the world that he gave. Christ so loved the church that he gave. And let's shake them up. For the shake of us. For the man or the woman who lives for a chef is an unhappy person. If you live for others, it's a wonderful thing. You see others left. You see others left. That's a wonderful thing. see others there, through it to the attendee. How terrible when you see others hindered, stumble, hurt, and find the place. By something I said, by something I did. They're looking on. They're watching. You do not have the situation. If they had Moses, we're talking about this meet offer to idols. We don't have that situation. But remember the principle is here. He's talking about violating the conscience of another. Here's the principle. What way should I violate the conscience of another? Well, he says in this last verse, He says, Wherefore if meek make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth him. If me makes my brother do ahead. Now you fill that in. Get a piece of paper when you go home. And start out with that if I make my brother stumble. Listen, if I make a brother or sister stumble because of my clothes the way I dress, you know that can stumble some of them? If I were to get up here sometime with some gaudy other thing, with rings on my fingers, no bells on my booze, but if I were to get up there dressed up, big, loud, taller, church, everything, I know what some people say. I think they'd be disgusting. If I wore some chest of clothes, and everybody could see they were expensive. Here was the latest thing that came out of Hollywood. I can just imagine what some people would say. But you'd go up the other street. Suppose that I went to the other street, and I got up to get an old pair of savvy jeans, and I hadn't saved for a week. And I got up to get with an old shirt on, and an old pair of shoes hadn't seen polished for a year. I think that would offend some people too. Doesn't he recognize where he is and who he's represented? Doesn't he realize that the people of the Gospels will have some dignity and respect about it? So they are but to extreme. God wants us to avoid going to extreme. Give no offense. Give no offense. Don't give people any cause for being scumbled or hurt or given away. That's the point he's trying to get it wrong. If I make my brother, you'll say, nothing. If I make someone stumble by a cigarette, yes, I'll smoke no more. Think about it. I know all the men who smoked around young ponder, and I know the effect These things come home. And I had a lady come into the chapel recently. I went to visit them. She said, Brother Wilson, what do you think about a social drink? I said, I couldn't do it. She said, another thing. You go to a place and a young person just found twice. And I said, one thing, they think that everybody's born again are angels. They think they're the best on earth. And then they see you pick up from this tea. Just the souls will drink. That's enough. If you can drink it, so can I. Where's that young sister going to end up? If I make my brother to attend, my social drink, I'll drink nothing of that time as long as I will last. I didn't want to. What about then, Dad? And I have no time for dancing. And yet young Christians have been stumped. And there's one text of scripture that could answer all these questions. Whatsoever you do, in word or deed, you all to the glory of God. Can you take a social drink to the glory of God? Can you smoke a cigarette to the glory of God? Can you take a young woman out on the dance floor? and do it for the glory of God, fire. But I'm going to answer that, if these things are going to stumble on us, then I'm not going to do it. I've got to consider their conscience. Also, it comes through shady stories. And all the Christians can tell a shady story and stumble and hurt the conscience of another person, another church. These are things of Paul Jenningham. Now the principal is there. Back in those days, just eating a piece of meat. And it was just associated with idle. And yet this young priest hadn't advanced far enough to see that meat ain't nothing. If you don't get to heaven by eating meat, you're not eating meat. No, but it's just that young a person of conscience. Associate that piece of meat. with that island. Therefore, I must consider his counsel. These are very searching things, and the principal is here. Same thing with Moody. But the only time I've gone is when something like the one they had here a little while ago, no working, no place to hide. Was that the final? No hiding place. I knew everybody in town knew what that was, and I was. But I went one time to hear something like that or see something. There was a good one. But I'll tell you, it put on a film about fifteen minutes before it that disgusted. It just caught the devil had to get into his legs. And a fifteen minute film before that other film, it disgusted. How careful we've got to be. These are things that come to your life than mine. Suppose you came to my apartment sometime and caught me unaware, and I was sitting there listening, or looking at, some sexy, filthy shit on TV. What would you think of me? You could think of evil of me, and rightly so. In other words, it is a bad impression. We've got to watch you. They say, well, future works in the New York Times. I can do it. And they're emboldened to do it. You're stumbling. What about literature? The whole thing, you saw me reading some literature and phonography. What did you say? Kept me maybe in the restaurant for a while, reading something like that. People are watching me, he said. People are not reading the Bible these days. They're reading those who say they believe the Bible. How about Christians? That's the point. If I make my brother to offend, or if I stumble and I'm saved for him, if that's Christianity I don't want, Paul says I'll never do. Never will I do that again. If I go to places that are not sympathetic with the principle we stand for at this chapter are not here. That would imply that I am not satisfied with what these ideas, and I am crying out for it. I want people to know that I am one hundred percent satisfied with the principle we believe in at this chapter. I do not want them to think that I am not satisfied. Jesus' appointment God wants us to look at and examine our hearts in it. There's a light of what is worthy. Hardly think we've got time to go into what I was going to get at tonight. Maybe we just openly hear the verse of nine, chapter nine. Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are not he my worst in the Lord? Now these Christians, for us, they're writing a letter. They've written this letter to the Apostles. They're asking them a lot of questions. And isn't it strange that quite at the back of it, they're questioning his apostles? They're questioning whether he's got the authority to answer those very questions. They're praying, shouldn't they, that they should write them such a letter and ask me his advice? asking questions, and yet there's a question mark in their mind as to whether he was the true apostle. And he begins answering there, sir. And if you read this chapter through, you'll find seventeen interrogation marks, seventeen question marks, and therefore the writing that opening verse. Am I not an apostle? That's the first verse. Am I not free? That's the second. Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord? He throws four questions back to them. Rightly so. They question his apostles. How could they? Didn't he have every evidence to prove that he was an apostle? He says in that very verse, Have I not seen Jesus Christ? And in those days a man had to see Jesus Christ or be one of those who have seen Jesus Christ in the flesh. He was a true apostle. Well, the apostle Paul did not see the Lord Jesus in the flesh, but he saw him in heaven. He saw Christ in glory. Therefore, he was an apostle, or he wasn't among the twelve. He wasn't among the twelve, but he said himself, I am one born out of two times. The apostle Paul was just as much an apostle as any one of the twelve, because he had seen Jesus Christ. And so he put that question to them. We might entitle this chapter to one that wrote it. You could entitle it. Yield it right. The Apostle Paul is going to yield a certain right. And they'll take that up next Sunday night, Lord. The privilege of the preacher. What privileges do preachers have? Or you have the gentle, genuine article that put that in the paper. And this is how the apostle in this chapter, by putting these seventeen questions through them, he proved he was a genuine idol. There was no foolishness with the apostle Paul. And also you have faulty judges and the fact that he's Christian. And he certainly laid it on the line with them. He told them they were carnal men. He told them they were babes. He told them they were not qualified to judge. He says not one wise man among them. And he said, you're fine with it. You won't take care of discipline in your midst. And here they're questioning you. Faulty judges, right enough. But Paul's example of self-denial is brought out in this chapter. In a way, I don't think you'll find it in any other chapter. Our times are about up. These are things that will be taken up next Sunday night. Paul's apostleship being questioned. The moon is... of all the people who should question his apostleship, question his authority, who are the very ones who owe their salvation to the apostles. What did he say? Are ye not my works? Here in the verse one, are ye not my works in the Lord? If you're questioning my apostleship, you're better questioning your salvation. If you have any justice for my authority, you'd better judge whether you're faithful. I was the instrument God was pleased to use in your salvation to establish that attention. So he says, Are ye not my works in the Lord? A hard time didn't run that one, didn't he? He addressed them, I thought. How did you come into existence? How did you get saved? How did that assembly get passed? And the saints, the priest, he said, As falsely as they were, the soul challenged the Apostle Paul. I will take up the seventeen questions next Sunday night, Lord Lord. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus, thank the Son before thee. We thank thee for thy precious word. How keen, how cunning, how searching, dry word is. Father, we thank thee for it. Thank thee, Father, for the privilege of reading it, and even the privilege of obeying it. And we can enjoy it. Will we ask thee to bless thee, strange to our heart, even when thou tither tendeth thy soul. Will we thank thee for thy loving kindness toward thy children? Thy people, they possibly must. Will we praise thee for our relationship with thee? As thy blessing now upon us will be separated. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.