Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Living in Liberty Pt.6

The Scripture makes it clear, as we look at 1 Corinthians, and we want to get into chapters 8 and 10. I want to look at Matthew 18 and we're going to talk a little bit about the conscience and how it's established. How each one of us has our conscience formed in a unique way based upon, of course, the input, the external input: social, spiritual, and all of these different things. Cultural, being an aspect of the social that make us who we are, set our mores and begin to build this force that we call conscience. The Scripture talks about as it pertains to us that are spiritual beings, Christians, that as Christians we can have both strong and weak consciences. We realize that the conscience can be defiled. There can be a good conscience. There can be an evil conscience. The conscience can be seared, so there are many different things that can happen to this conscience of ours. The conscience is not synonymous with the spirit man. The conscience is a part of the soulical realm of which the spirit feeds. Also, as we have said, the social, and in many ways, even the physical can contribute somewhat to our conscience because our physical being can be apart of feeding the conscience. We can get pricked over the way we look, and it can then determine whether or not we should eat another gallon of ice cream or whatever it is. Those are all things that feed into the conscience.

The word "conscience" means "a knowing, a knowing within; an ability to perceive and in perception make distinct choices of what is right or wrong." The conscience is a voice that will try to tell you whether something is right or wrong. The conscience is not the strongest voice speaking, however. The strongest voice in every one of us, outside of the voice of the Holy Spirit--now some of you might think that the strongest voice is sin, or the strongest voice is Satan, outside of God--it's not. The strongest voice within each of us is the voice of will. The most powerful force in you, outside of the Spirit of God as a regenerated man, is the force of will. Will assists conscience as much as conscience determines will. We'll show you, hopefully, a little bit how all of this stuff begins to work and how they relate to one another.

Turn to the Romans passage in 15, 1 Corinthians 8, and 10; you'll want those passages for your notes. We'll go ahead and see if we can kick this thing off for the evening. Hopefully that gives you a little idea of where we will be going to be going and some of the things that we are going to be relating to over the next couple of sessions. I'll try to make clear the distinctions as we go on into the study. Paul, as he's speaking pertaining to the subject of conscience, much of what Paul relates to is what he refers to as meats. Meats in its most generic term has to do with food, but primarily we are going to talk about not just meat but food that is offered to idols that becomes a real issue in the Corinthian church. Two things that are going to be important for us to understand as Paul is relating to the Corinthians. Paul almost sarcastically says, "And we all have knowledge," because see this is what they prided themselves in. The Corinthians prided themselves in revelation, in illumination, in their spiritual communion. Paul, throughout the letter to the Corinthians, shames them and says, "What's wrong with you? Isn't anybody spiritual enough to judge? How is it that you guys that are talking in tongues and prophesying can't even deal with the obvious sin in your midst?" Paul is constantly telling them, "You are not as spiritual as you think you are." Because spirituality is perceived in two different things: how you love your brother and whether or not you're obeying the Word of God.

Then this issue of conscience begins to rise; so basically let me paint this scenario for you of the Corinthian church. You have people--now remember what they were battling. They were battling this force called Gnosticism. This was a powerful force that was trying to destroy and dilute the church in Corinth. You all know what Gnosticism was, pretty much. "gnosis" means "to know:" Gnosticism, Gnostics, gnosis, knowledge. Basically, it was a bunch of people that said, "We have a knowledge beyond the Scriptures. We've encountered God and we are an elite people that have a knowing beyond what the rest of you know and we'll bring you enlightenment. Paul may have said that, but God has told me." That's kind of what's happening. You have a bunch of people that are basically saying, "I have knowledge that allows my conscience to do these particular things." One of the things that these people said they could do as Christians was to go to the festivals at the temples.

Those of you that went with us on the trips to the Middle East, as we went into Corinth and realized that among the Corinthians were the great temples of that day. Part of this that was done and most of their idol worship and their pagan gods were worshipped around different aspects of sexual orgies that would take place as a part of the worship service. That's kind of hard to relate to. Isn't it? This was how they worshipped their gods. Why? They were celebrating these deities as fertility gods because, you see, you have to stop and think where the pagan mind was. Fertility was a big deal. They wanted fertile animals and the increase of the flocks. So, they would worship these gods; they were trying to appease these gods. They were worshipping fertility, whether it was in the flocks--strength in those days was how many kids you had and how big your family was. You hoped that you would have some sons and you could name them "Tiny" and "Ox." (Tiny, of course, you always name big people). You were looking for strong and healthy kids, and so this is pagan thought. They're looking for harvest of plenty and this became a part of it--to the idols where they would have the horn of plenty. They would offer these sacrifices to their gods. In the midst of all that, because fallen man being what he is because of the fear of lack, the superstition of appeasing these gods, they would participate in these festivals. Part of that was like the children of Israel around the golden calf, when we know that this orgy was taking place, the "children rose up and played." This was talking about their orgies and all of this stuff that was going on. If you do any kind of a study at all, you can go back and study the festivals and look at the different gods and see how always there was an emphasis of this.

I'm trying to paint a picture for you of what these people were being saved out of. These were the gods they worshipped. This was the lifestyle that they partook of, and now they were saved. There were some among them who were now so illuminated, had such knowledge, were so mature and had so much spiritual liberty that as Christians they felt they could return back to the temple and participate in these feasts. If you'll read some of the ancient Jewish writings, they're very interesting. You could learn a lot of different things and you'll see how it pertains to some of these comments that Paul is going to make here. You'll see that some of the Jews would even say that it was okay to go into a temple as long as your mind was on the one true God. The Gnostics said it another way. The Gnostics basically said you're spiritual beings and that all matter is evil and it doesn't really matter what you do with matter because it's all going to pass away. So as long as you're right in your heart, and as long as you're pure in your thoughts, it doesn't really matter that you are participating in these particular events.

The problem with many of us is in our casual reading. We make a mistake when we start reading about meats, brothers, their consciences, their liberty and these different things, and many of us with a casual reading get confused here because we're looking at these incidents as the same. There's a great distinction made between a brother at the temple and eating meat from the shambles. When he talks about the meat that was bought in the shambles, you have to remember what that is. Here's basically what the shambles were. The shambles were the meat houses. (As you walk through--those of you, again, that walked the streets in Jerusalem, how gross was that? You'd go down and the butcher shop, which is all hanging outside and the flies are all over the meat. "Which piece would you like?" You have to beat the flies off. With a big grin, the butcher proclaims, "Fresh!" You're saying, "Okay, yeah." It has this glaze over it and it's shining and you say, "No.") Here's what was taking place. Of the offerings that would be brought into the temple to be offered up to the idols, only a very small portion was actually offered up. The same in Judaism, as you look at the priests and what was brought to the temple, a small portion, a designated portion that was offered up in actuality to the Lord and in this case, to idols. The rest of it was given to the priests, the same among the pagan priests in these false religions. Then, what the priest would do, would be to take this meat to the local butcher shop and sell it, and that was their income. This is how they made their money. The people would bring the offerings, a portion offered up to the idols, the rest sold to the meat shop, and the pagan priests receive their money for it.

We ran into a little problem because of Judaism and the Jews that were in the church in Corinth that caused this to happen. As you read some of the historical writings, you'll find that this is something that took and, of course, you can read in Leviticus some of the ordinances. The Orthodox Jews, those that would strain at gnats and swallow camels, those that were more concerned with the washing of their hands that Jesus rebuked and said, "You're nothing but a bunch of whited sepulchers. You're clean on the outside and you're full of dead men's bones. You wash your hands and yet your hearts are evil, for out of the heart proceeds adulteries and fornications." Jesus was always talking about the fact that they wanted to appear spiritual but they needed to deal with their hearts. Well, because of this "appearing spiritual," they were under bondage, and the more questions you could ask and the more kosher you could be, the more spiritual you appeared!

I've gone to eat at restaurants with people like this but not over this issue. It had to do with whether they had the right sauce or not. If you went to the restaurant with one of these guys, you would sit down, the food would be brought and the real spiritual dude would say, "Was this lettuce tithed on?" Because a good Jew could not eat any vegetables or fruit or any type of substance if it hadn't been tithed on. "Has this lettuce been tithed on? The parsley?" Hey, the parsley we all throw it out; you're not going to eat it anyway! So, we ask the questions, "Has this been tithed on?" The meat, now we have to start with the meat. "What type of meat is it? Was it a cloven hoof? Did it crawl on its belly? So now we've got to find out if it's clean or unclean? Did it die of natural causes? Was it bled properly?" A Jew couldn't eat meat if the thing had been killed and the blood had remained in it. It had to be bled before it was prepared. How many of you know that dinner--you could spend a long time! But this dude is spiritual and he has to know all of this. "Did it die of natural causes? Did the guy that prepared it touch a dead body today?" I'm not kidding! If you'll read some of the records, these are some of the things that precipitated what Paul's talking about here in these chapters. If you can see how ridiculous some of this gets, it may answer the question as to whether or not we're to live by everybody else's conscience and how offended some people can get. What if you had to live by this dude's list and you had to do everything he believed was kosher or he would be offended? I tell you one thing, I'm not going to dinner with this dude! Amen? You might. We are going to talk about what happens if you do go to dinner with him and if he is a true believer, weak and bound by all of this puffed up knowledge. The apostle says, "I'll forego eating the meat if it's going to cause my brother to stumble and I'll abstain from eating it until the end of the world, because I can do with or without it. I don't have to have it. I don't have to prove my liberty. I don't have to have a steak tonight." You just tell them, "Bring me a TV dinner or one of those protein drinks. I'll abstain for this moment."

So, what we're looking at here is how we relate to one another and how our consciences are arrived at. Do you think that maybe this brother that's straining at gnats and swallowing camels, he's so worried, he is absolutely so concerned with all of these external rules but at the same time, might be seditious? "Sedition" just means, "to separate yourself." "I'm too spiritual to be around anybody else," and that's a sin that's going to destroy him. It's a sin which, the Scripture says, if this is in you, you can't inherit the kingdom of God. Paul said, "You've got to understand something, dude. You can eat that food and get to heaven but you can't have that judgmental heart and get to heaven. You can't have that critical spirit and get to heaven. You can't be bound by self-righteousness, and think that by abstaining from all of these different things that you're going to be right, you're some kind of super Christian and that's going to make you better than everybody else. That's going to kill you!" This is part of what Paul's trying to get across here. So in other words it's saying, "I don't overtly involve myself in exercising my liberty when it can cause somebody else to stumble, but at the same time, I'm not going to leave them weak. I'm going to speak toward their weakness because we all," Paul says, "have knowledge."

With that, trying to set the stage of what's going on in Corinth, how these people were approaching this and making the distinction, a great distinction between meat that was purchased at the shambles. Okay, here's how this works. You invite me to your house. We sit down and we're having McDonald's. So, there it is, unclean things. I ask the question, "Was this offered to idols?" You say, "I don't know. It could have been. There was this big image down there with orange hair." Paul says, for conscience sake, don't ask the question. Eat the food, because idols are nothing. It's not going to hurt you. If somebody offered it up to an idol, don't worry about it. It's not going to hurt you. You're not worshipping the idol. You're eating the meat. Meats are to be received with thanksgiving. Everything that is received with thanksgiving, God is the Author of all of this food, so eat it with thanks. Don't get caught up in all of this. However, if you're sitting there and they say, "Was this offered to idols?" You say, "Yeah, I saw them down there and they chanted, 'Oh, Ronald' and then they made the burger." Then you say, "Slap her on the plate!" But the other guy says, "I can't eat that." You say, ("That's smart!") "Why not?" "It was offered to idols." "Idols are nothing. Come on, dude. We're Christians. We've been set free. The Scripture says we can receive everything with thanksgiving." And the guy says, "No, I don't think so. I was raised in a family where we used to worship Ronald and I've been freed from that. Everything that has to do with clowns offends me." You're sitting there and you say, "Well, that's stupid, man. If you were full of the Spirit, then you would have liberty like me to be able to eat. Now, watch this." (And he slurps down the burger!) Now, this brother begins to be emboldened. "Well, I'm as spiritual as he is, and if he says that this is liberty and we should have this right, then I don't see anything wrong with it." Paul says, for this other guy to partake then is what? Sin, because he's moving contrary to his conscience, what he believed.

Now, you've got to understand. Our conscience, as I've shared before, is dynamic. It's not static. Our conscience is always changing. That's why you can't let it be the final authority. The Word of God has to be the final authority. The Word of God has to be the primary source of building your conscience. The Word of God judges your conscience as strong, weak, pure, or defiled--evil conscience, pure conscience. It's dynamic and it's going to change based upon the illumination, the knowledge that I have, and the relationship that I have with God. But for me to go against it is to sin. Why? Because everything that is not of faith is? Sin. You see, I'm doubting; I'm not sure. Part of what we want to do in this study is ask you, "What are your convictions? What do you really believe? Are there things that you don't do because you think that's what the church does? Where's your conscience? Where are your convictions? What are you doing out of conviction? Because if you eat, you'd better eat in faith," Paul says. "And if you don't eat, you'd better abstain in faith and you're both right at that moment." These are some of the principles that we want to address.

The eighth chapter of 1 Corinthians, "Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge." That was, as we said, the word in the Corinthian church. They were so proud of their gnosis. How many of you, from reading the epistles, realize that Paul could really be sarcastic? Not in a sinful way, but these things were inspired as the Spirit of God was speaking through him. Many times, the sarcasm, if we want to use that word, and again it's authored by the Holy Spirit, would really cut through and make the point of how foolish that position was. Paul speaks and he says, "You guys need to know one thing very clearly. Look at it. "Knowledge puffs up, but charity [loves] edifieth." "Builds up" that's what the word "edify" means. Knowledge puffs up the individual and tries to put him above everybody else. "I'm the expert. I'm mature." Paul says, "We need to love each other and not look about being puffed up but building up and making the body strong." What can we do to make each other stronger in the faith? What can we do to be able to free us from the bondage of the sin that is in our members, the draw of the world's system?

These people were no different than you and me. They didn't have as accessible the things that we have today. They didn't have the Internet, televisions, radio, DVDs and all of the stuff that's available that feeds us with the secular that potentially can be destructive and vexing to our spirit; or many of these things can be used to our benefit. On the DVD, Internet, television and on the radio, we can put that which builds us up, that edifies us. The technology isn't evil. What's the message? How are you using it? In their day, they didn't have all of the technology but they still had all of the stuff. They had the theatre that they would go to. They had all of the same vices that we do today. As you go into the city and down the streets of Corinth, you would see the different temples. You would see the great theatres. If you go into Ephesus--you all remember when we went into Ephesus--the great theatre, and the great library of Ephesus. It was one of the great wonders. They prided themselves in their academia, culture and the arts. A slight difference in the way that their society functioned and a great place was given to prostitution. You all remember, as we went into the different ruins there, they had very obvious places for the prostitutes. They were seen as a great social service, and we know that at that particular time and those cultures that basically women were seen as chattel. There was a whole different perspective at that time.

Paul, by the Holy Spirit, is injecting the wisdom of God into that type of a culture, wanting to raise the responsibility of man to walk free from the lusts of the flesh, the responsibility of man to assume priesthood, the Christian of his house, the responsibility to see ourselves as the Kingdom of Light, free from the secular. "...Come out from among them, [Paul says in these passages] "and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." Paul's writing these epistles not only to put the church in order but also to show how the church relates to the culture. He says, "We're unique. We are a royal priesthood. We are a holy nation. We are a peculiar people." "Peculiar" meaning, "separate," "set apart." "Our call is to show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light." We're different. We're not like the world. We are unique. We are distinct. We are separate." He said, "You guys are majoring in knowledge and bantering back and forth about who knows the most," and he said, "If you want to be spiritual, stop being puffed up and start building up. Now, if any man thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing." That's something for most of us to grab hold of. When you think that you've got it together, you're in trouble. When you think you know, "I've got this thing figured out. I know how to deal with this Christian stuff. I've got all of this stuff on liberty figured out. I've got all of this stuff on sanctification figured out." You know nothing, as Sergeant Shultz would say, "You know nothing." That's for you old guys. ("I know noth-ing!") "But if any man love 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" (1 Corinthians 8:3-4).

Now, get that as your foundational principle. Paul is setting this down as the foundational principle. You're going to see a whole bunch of "we know" and "I know," whatever. The accurate statement is this that Paul makes. He's not saying that idols don't exist. He's not saying that there are not demonic powers that are associated with idols, that give apparent power to these gods. In fact, he goes on in the epistles and says, "Look, with many of these idols there are demons that are associated, that are able to bring about answers to prayer, that are able to affect the minds of people. There are people that truly believe in these idols and are committed, willing to die for their faith and their belief." But Paul says, "We know that they are nothing." What he means by "nothing" is there's only one God. They are designated as gods, men have pronounced them as gods, but they are nothing. They're sticks. They're rocks. They're whatever they might be, the different paintings, and totem poles. But there is only one true God. "For though there be that are called gods, [verse 5] whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) 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. Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge..."

Many of the people were fearful of these other gods and many that were abstaining were not just abstaining to be pure, many were fearful that they would anger the gods, so they still felt a little bit of an obligation. "What do I do? I don't want to get these gods ticked off, so maybe I'll go and make these offerings, but I don't really believe." Paul is saying that you have to come to true knowledge that these gods are nothing. Now, some still think that maybe there is some power there and with conscience or with a thought of that then, they'll still engage themselves. Others, thinking that they are real, will no longer have any relation, as we said earlier, "I can't eat anything that was offered to Ronald," or whatever. They're very fearful in that way that anything pertaining to that deity would somehow defile them. But we know that there is only one God. That knowledge is not in every man. "...for some [verse \ 7] with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; [and think there was a true god and that this idol was real and that there was somehow honor being given to him or that somehow we had to appease him, whichever position they were taking,] and their conscience being weak is defiled."

Turn back to the book of Romans for just a second. In chapter 14 and we'll see if we can define the strong and weak conscience and show you what we're talking about. Romans, chapter 14, verse 1, "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. [That means take him in, fellowship with him but not for the purpose of just trying to set him straight.] For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eats herbs. Let not him that eateth [the meat] despise him that eateth not; [I mean, bless God, everything that is set before him, he'll eat that thing. Slap that thing on the table and he'll eat it, even the box that the pizza came in] and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him." Now, here we go. Strong, don't despise the weak. "What's wrong with you, man? Grow up, for crying out loud! Here we are, and we order a pizza and you want to know if the thing's been tithed on. You want to know if that mystery meat was offered up to an idol. Just eat it! We're tired of you coming out here and always bringing confusion, dragging us down and trying to put a guilt trip on us. You're paying again!"

So, here it is and there's a despising, looking down at, and "Why don't you grow up?" He says don't do that because to do that [and we're not going to get into it tonight] is to cause them to sin. You cause them to stumble. You become an offense to them, a stumbling block. Now, many of us here think we have liberties and rights. You've got to be very careful that we don't become a stumbling block, because if you offend one of the little ones, you are better off to have a millstone tied around your neck and be cast into the sea. Those of us who say, "I have rights, and I don't care what they think; I'm going to do this and that." If you have that kind of an attitude, you are just being fitted for a millstone. Every time you open your mouth, you're just putting a noose around your neck. Paul said, "Be very careful that you do not kill him for whom Jesus died." That's a powerful statement, beloved. Every time we try to get somebody to be as "liberated" as we are, in the definition of going to the world and not the true liberty that we're going to speak of here. Those that are using their liberty as an occasion to the flesh, pursuing their own interests, and are not edifying the body. Those that are not using their time, energy, and talents for the glory of God. Then, over here are justifying why because "I have liberty," you're in a very dangerous position. You're emboldening their spirit. "Hey look, man, I'm a Christian. I don't pray, read the Bible or do anything it says, but 'I love Jesus.'"

It's bad enough that every one of us has to fight the devil in our own flesh, but Satan's evangelists of liberty, wolves in sheep's clothing, who through fair speeches, good words, deceive the simple, we need to be aware of that and protect ourselves against that and not go against our conscience. Constantly be strengthening your conscience with knowledge, for he that's weak eats herbs. The weaker you are, the more dependent you are upon works. The weaker you are, the more you have to say, "Oh, I can't do that and I can't do that and I can't do that because I want to be spiritual." The spiritual man doesn't say "I can't do that and I can't do that and I can't do that." The spiritual man says, "I am spiritual and I won't do that. I can, but I choose not to!" The other person says, "I can't!" I know that for me to do that isn't sin, but it is also not necessary and "I'll not be under the power of any of them," Paul says. "All things are lawful but they are not all expedient and I will not be under the power of any." That's the spiritual man. I can eat that meat offered to idols but I'm not going to. I could go out to dinner tomorrow, order a beer and drink it. Not a problem. Wouldn't feel guilty. Wouldn't look for any lightning bolts to come down. But I'm not going to, so you don't have to follow me around, you, the president of the herb eating coalition. "I am an herb eater and proud of it, bless God!" (Barley, the grain club.)

You see, what Paul is saying, I can do that. That's not sin. It's not a sin to drink a glass of wine. It's not a sin to drink a glass of beer. "Praise God!" For you, it is. You just gave yourself away. You just revealed your own heart. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. For you, it is wrong. "Then, how come it is right for you?" Because I don't have to and I don't want to and I'm not going to. "Why, because you used to be a drunk?" No. "Why, because there's a history of alcoholism in your family?" No. I want to tell you something. The curse stopped with me. The sin of my ancestors isn't on me. It stopped. I'm clean by the blood. I choose righteousness. Sin no longer has dominion over me. I am a partaker of the divine nature. I am a new creation; what used to plague my family, doesn't plague me. I'm part of the family of God. Now, I wasn't an alcoholic by any stretch of the imagination. My grandfather was. Many of my uncles were. My dad drank quite a bit. I drank as a kid. You know, people talk about they like the way alcohol tastes. I never particularly liked the way it tasted. "Ahh, that bourbon was so smooth!" Yeah, right! I didn't drink it for how "smooth" it was. I drank it to get drunk. I was a 151 proof Bacardi guy. Get me some of that and a nice shot of a big bottle of 100 proof Smirnoff and I was happy. I could do some damage. The problem was, I was a mean drunk. I'm a nice guy sober. Like the Hulk used to say, "You wouldn't want to see me angry." You wouldn't want to see me drunk. I wasn't a really good drunk. When I drank, I'd get in trouble and do stuff that I didn't particularly want to do. So, it's not good. I'm saying all that to say this: I know what it means to be drunk. I also know that you can't get drunk if you don't take a drink. Impossible! I choose not to do that, but I can.

Maybe I'll go do that tomorrow. Let me think about it. I'll let you guys know if I do. I probably won't, because all things are lawful but they're not all? Expedient. It's not necessary. It's not productive. It doesn't do any good, so why should I? I'm sure not under the power of it. How do I stay free? How do I stay to where it does not have power over me? By keeping power over it and saying, "You have no power. I've already designated you out of my life. I don't need you. You are worthless. You cannot build me up. You do no good for me spiritually, so I don't even entertain you." Therefore, when I'm doing my husbandly duties and I'm walking through Safeway--oh, they don't have alcohol here do they? This is Virginia. So that when I'm running errands and go by the ABC Store, there are not all these voices calling me, "Only one drink. It's lawful. We won't hurt you. Remember how good we used to taste." No, I didn't like you then anyway. I just drank you to get drunk. Now I'm drunk in the Holy Ghost. Amen? Be not drunken with wine wherein is excess but be drunk with the Spirit. I've got a new drink. No hangovers and I'm only mean to the devil. It's that simple, beloved, and that's how we walk in true liberty.

But to have to try to seduce others and convince them that what we're doing is freedom and liberty and we have rights, you're in bondage still. Let me go ahead and finish. We'll finish with this one. No, we're done.

Father, we thank You for Your Word, and as we prepare to study the conscience, the law of liberty that lets us love unto edifying and not the offense that would stumble others and would destroy others, let us see that liberty is building others up and denying ourselves. Let us see that liberty is not how much we can partake of, but how strong we are to reject what the world would offer and seek the things that are above where Jesus is seated at the Father's right hand. Strength, in the spirit, is having new treasures, new goals, and new pleasures. The world is forsaken by us; we've forsaken, as Hebrews says, all of the treasures of Egypt and we choose a new treasure--to be mocked and to become the laughingstock of the world as we seek the riches that are eternal. The new treasure of communion with You. The new freedom of the awareness that sin no longer dominates us, I'm free to choose righteousness, to deny my own flesh, to seek others wealth and good and not my own and to see this principle become a reality as it pertains to our daily walk.

"Are you saying that we can never have fun, go on vacation and have recreational activities?" I'm not saying that at all. If that's your thinking--you're still carnal-minded and under the bondage to your lusts, and fear is still dominating you--that God doesn't want you to have fun and that somehow we are not natural beings and that we're just totally spiritual beings. We are natural. We have fellowship. We have fun. We have life in the natural as well as in the spiritual. If you're fearful and you're taking that up, you're still carnally minded. The spiritually minded man approaches things this way. You know what a round of golf is? You know what a trip to Disney World is? You know what a week in Ocean City is? You know what a drive down Skyline Drive is? You know what having a picnic with the family is? It's the blessings of the Lord that make rich and add no sorrow with them. What am I saying? God will give you sufficient. God will give you abundant. Let God give it and not you take it. Let God give it and you not have to have it. Let it be a blessing and not a right and it will make you rich and add no sorrow with it. Father, make that real, we ask, in Jesus' name, amen.

Let's stand before the Lord. As the Lord speaks to us and we take these next few sessions to study on conscience and offenses that might come, Jesus said, "Offenses are going to come. People are going to get offended, but woe unto him by whom they come." That doesn't mean that you get upset because I happen to wear a gold ring and you belong to the "Pentecostal Church of God" out of--I'm trying to remember if it was Anderson or which one it was. "We don't believe in wearing jewelry." Well, praise God, brother. Have your faith unto yourself, because you're no better off by not wearing your wedding band and I'm no better off by wearing one. But you do what you do as unto God and you do it by faith, but don't require it of me if it's not an obvious, universal doctrine for the church who's being conformed to the image of Jesus. That's where we want to grow up, so that we don't judge one another by our own opinions but judge righteous judgment, the Word of God. Judge this: am I loving? Judge this: strong man, are you despising the weak? Judge this: weak man, are you judging the strong? Are you putting everybody under condemnation because you're under condemnation? Let's grow up into Christ. That's the message that the Holy Spirit has for us.

So, Father, as You make this a reality, we'll be careful to give You all of the praise and glory in Jesus' name, amen. Before you go, turn to someone next to you and say, "Those that the Son has set free are free indeed."

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