All right, Hebrews chapter number five, and we're going to begin reading here in verse 12, Hebrews chapter five and verse 12. The Bible says, for when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again. Which be the first principles of the oracles of god and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat For everyone that useth milk unskillfully in the word excuse me for everyone that useth milk is unskillful In the word of righteousness for he is a babe but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Lord, we pray that you will help us as we consider thoughts from this passage as a continuance from last Sunday, teaching us, Lord, how to live sensibly in a very confused world. We pray that you will bless in the lives of these families and names as we have mentioned them this morning for your hand of healing, for your blessing, for your wisdom, for your provision, for your protection. And Father, we give you glory for your hand in our lives day by day. Please bless now your word. Help us, Lord, we pray. Help me, I pray, to be filled with the Spirit, faithful to the word, that you might be glorified. And may you find in the hearts of those that hear, receptiveness. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Last Sunday we started taking some thoughts from Hebrews chapter number 5. verses 12 through 14 here. And some of these thoughts were sparked by our trip to Pennsylvania and the environment in which we found ourselves as it relates to the multitude of belief systems and ideas about what life is, not only from life in the world to ideas about the future world and all that other kind of thing that we just observed from being in that place. And, you know, sometimes you ask yourself, how in the world do people come to all of these various conclusions? And so I got to thinking about that and realizing that the great need in order for us to avoid error and to avoid offense is found here in verse number 14. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even by those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. And so we would be talking here about the use of the Word of God in our life. The exercising of our senses by the application of the Word of God to our life so that we can rightly discern good and evil, as the Bible says here. How do we make decisions about how to live? And the great thing is that the Bible is a timeless book. Now, some of us may have come from an agricultural background. One of the great themes of the Bible, many of the great themes come from an agricultural setting. Other people have no idea. They, you know, I saw something recently where a guy saw a cow and he said, hey, is that an elk? No, dear, that's a cow. I mean, there are a lot of people that way. The only idea of a cow is the one that they have, the one on the Chick-fil-A sign. And they don't know that there are any other kind of cows. And so, anyway, I mean, you know, as we live in this world, we need to be able to have some discernment because it's a crazy world. And if we don't figure out how to lock in on what's truth, we're going to be in trouble. And so I'm thankful that though the Bible was written so long ago and across many, many, of course, decades, yet it is a timeless book. The Bible is as relevant today as it was all those years ago. And it's a matter of reading it, understanding it, and realizing its application to our life. Now, God gives us the Bible to reveal Himself to man. We have a progressive revelation of God from Genesis to Revelation. So, the purpose of the Bible is not just for us to assimilate data. The purpose of the Bible is to teach us about God so that we might know Him, as we read from Paul's words earlier. But then also, as we know Him, we begin to find out that God has a certain view of life And He instructs us how to live that life. And that is the right flow of instruction. You and I need to be careful that we, especially in our prayer life or in some other way, maybe in our conversation from day to day, don't give the impression that we are going to try to instruct the Lord. No, we need His instruction, amen. We need Him to guide us. He doesn't need any guidance. We need the guidance. And so thank God that He has given us His Word to guide us. And so what that means is, Long story short is we should have principles in our life. We should have Bible principles in our life that help us know what's right and how to live. And so we said last Sunday that there are basically kind of two major groups of people. First of all, those that are slovenly principled. And what I mean by that is that they're kind of sloppy about their principles. They're lazy about their principles. They don't really put any effort into disciplining their life to bring it in line with the Bible. And a lot of this mentality is revealed in the very popular philosophy of judge not, lest ye be judged. And we talked about that last week. But the Bible is not telling us there to throw out all discernment. What the Bible is telling us in Matthew 7 is to make sure that we are not hypocritical judges. I read something the other day about, maybe some of you will be familiar with the name of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He was a great preacher from generations ago there in London. He and D.L. Moody were good acquaintances together. D.L. Moody was an evangelist in America that was greatly used of the Lord. Every once in a while, they would preach for each other. It was D.L. Moody that visited Charles Spurgeon. And we talked a little bit about this matter of how to determine what's right and wrong and questionable things. And one of the things that Spurgeon did that we would not accept today is smoke cigars. And he smoked cigars. And somebody said, well, now, how long are you going to smoke those cigars? He said, well, I'm going to smoke them until it gets excessive. And somebody said, well now, when is it going to get excessive? And he said, when I start smoking two at once. Well, D.L. Moody came to see him, and D.L. Moody didn't like the fact that Charles Spurgeon smoked cigars, and they got in a conversation about it, and D.L. Moody said, hey, when are you going to stop smoking those cigars? And the story goes that Spurgeon said, I'll get rid of my cigars when you get rid of this. And he punched him in his rather large stomach. Hello. And said, hey, you know, what is it hypocritical judge? Don't judge me. Hello. about my cigars and my lack of discipline there and my addiction to things there when you've got them in your own life. That was Jesus' point from Matthew chapter 7. Don't be a hypocritical judge. Not throw out all discernment. But those in our day have taken it and they're just sloppy with principles. You don't find principles much anymore. You don't find Christians that really stand on the Bible as much anymore. You don't find churches that stand with conviction as to Bible truth much anymore. And so, but the Bible tells us we should. We don't want to be slovenly principled, but then we also don't want to be senselessly principled. And we talked about that when the Lord was going through the fields with his disciples, and they began to pluck the ears of corn or the grain, and they would rub it between their hands, and they would eat that grain raw. But the problem was the Pharisees seeing that accused them of two things. One, harvesting on the Sabbath. And then two, sowing on the Sabbath, right? Because as they plucked the ears, they were harvesting, and as some of it fell to the ground, they were sowing. Madness, right? Some people live their lives that way. And they're always uptight. Uptight about something, and we're going to talk about that in just a moment. So we don't want to be sloppily principled. We don't want to be senselessly principled. We want peaceful, biblical balance. Peaceful biblical balance and that's what the Lord told the Pharisees when he said woe unto you for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin the very smallest of Spices they would tithe on those but he said you have neglected the law and judgment and mercy and faith You've lost your the big picture of things for getting tangled up in the t90s And so we need to be careful because our life can become the same thing and when that happens We are no longer living sensibly Look, I'm not worried about the nutcases in the world I'm worried about the ones in the church And I think I have Bible authority to be worried about that, because, you know, we find a lot of people, of course, that profess the name of Christ, and then they've got these crazy views of things that not only bring themselves into bondage, but others also. for senseless reason, for senseless reason. You know, when Jesus met the demoniac of Gadar after it was over, he was seated and clothed in his right mind. And my belief is that when we meet Jesus Christ as Savior and we rightly divide the word of truth, we'll be comforted, we'll be calm, we'll be confident, we'll be clothed, amen, and then we'll be in our right mind. Jesus, salvation in Christ does not make people nutcases. That's right. And there's something not right with that. And so we want to have a balanced approach to life. All right. So how do we do that is kind of where we began to look. And there are several considerations I'd like to share with you this morning, each touching upon some aspect of the relationships of our life. Because as we'll see in a moment, all of our life is some type of relationship. And if we'll take Bible principles as they relate to those relationships, it'll help us kind of divide truth from error and have a balanced approach to what we do. And so I'd like to approach these things, if you will, from the idea of relationships and look at them in somewhat of an ascending order. What I mean by that is we'll start with the least concern and kind of grow to the greatest. And maybe that'll help us to develop a stronger sense of balance and vision and discernment as we go. And so as we do, let's go to Romans chapter number 14. And we talked to you last Sunday about the idea of the various questionable activities of life. And we gave you a list of those there. Some people wonder, should I be in this? Should I be involved in that? Should I do this? Should I not do that? They get kind of tangled up in the web of it all when it comes to personal liberties. Now, as we discuss these things this morning, I want you to understand that there is no reason, there is no reason to reject clear Bible truth. We always follow clear Bible truth. But there are some things in life where the Lord has given us liberty. And we don't want to become overbearing, not only on ourself, but in the lives of others because of a failure to recognize that truth. And so we find these type things discussed in Romans chapter number 14, in 1 Corinthians as well. We'll look at a few verses there. But I want to begin, how do I get some discernment and balance in my life? How do I do it? First of all, I want to consider personal relationships. personal relationships, and I have three types of these listed here, that with myself, that with the saints, and that with the sinners. So, this has to do with my relationship with people. Now, I've got to live a certain way because I live among people, and I want to have the greatest impact I can on people. And so in order to be among people, I kind of have to be, I have to be comfortable, is the phrase that's used, comfortable in my own skin. So I'm going to start with the least important consideration, and that's self. Now the problem with us is we've jacked self all the way to the top. Our least important consideration is self. But the Bible does tell us in chapter 14 in verse number 5, one man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. So here's the thing. Are you fully persuaded? That's the Bible term. Now, this has to do with our inmost self. Are you fully persuaded that, you know, your choices would honor God? Are you? And then, are you sure? And here's why I ask that question, because some people do what they do because it just feels okay, but never have really thought about other aspects of it. Are you sure you have that assurance? Why is that important? Last part of verse 22 of chapter 14, hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God. Watch now. Happy is he that condemneth not himself and the thing which he alloweth. In other words, he's talking here about our own conscience. And so are we really sure that our conscience is clear? I'll get into this in a minute. I don't have time to do it now. I'll run out of time. There are some people that will defend their guilt rather than clear their conscience. And the reason for that is pride. But are you sure? Why? There is nothing more unsettling than being unsettled. Right? And we are often unsettled when the control room of our life is out of control. We're not exactly sure what button we should be pushing. We're not exactly sure why we're pushing it. And it causes unsettledness. And so this is why, when it comes to this matter of surety, we are not to be controlled by emotion alone. You don't allow emotions control your life. Now, we're not saying don't have emotions. You're not a corpse. Amen. The Bible intends for us to have joy and happiness. We just sing about it. The choir sing about it. Happy am I. And we need to have emotions in our life, but Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 17, nine, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I'm not gonna be able to trust my emotions. I'm gonna make a wrong decision. Matter of fact, a whole lot of problems have happened in people's life because they made a decision on emotion rather than Bible truth. So we're not to allow ourselves to be controlled by emotion. We're not to allow ourselves to be directed by opinion. And then we go back to chapter 14 in verse one, him that is weak in the faith receive you, but not to doubtful disputations. You don't want to receive somebody just so you can argue with them about personal opinions. And that's part of the problem. You know, this is one of the reasons why people say if you have friends, you'll lose them if you talk to them about religion and politics. Because people get emotion, they have emotional opinions about these things, right? And so we're not to be controlled by opinions, though. That doubtful disputations has the idea of questionable opinions. And when we begin to get into these things, we often find ourselves in the state of those warned in 1 Timothy. So if you'll go there with me, please, 1 Timothy, chapter number 6. First Timothy chapter number six and verse number four, we could just by way of context, he's talking here about verse number two, they that have believing masters, let them not despise them because they're brethren. He's talking about authority here really, but rather do them service because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort. If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, look here, he's proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, destitute of the truth. And so he warns us here to be careful about falling in to this idea of being controlled by opinions. Now notice a few things from this passage of scripture here. If you can hold your place in Romans 14, we'll be back there in just a moment. But just a few things that are rather challenging here, some indictments. that are made of someone driven by unwholesome, unbiblical opinion. And he even mentions it here in that fashion. Unwholesome words, unhelpful things. Notice a few things here. That they are, according to the Bible, they are proud. You see that? Now, ain't that right? When we get opinionated about something, buddy, our pride can get right in the way. That's right. It's going to be quiet today, I guess, but that's right. And our pride begins to take over. Our pride drives what should otherwise be something peaceful into that which is not. Again, Proverbs 13, 10, only by pride cometh contention, but with the well-advised is wisdom. And so when we fall into opinionated living, it's because of pride. And it'll be somebody then that'll have contention all their life until they get it right. So he says, such are proud. But now, watch, he also says that they are ignorant. Wow, I know that's not much acceptable today, but there's a lot of it going around. I don't understand why. I mean, you know, there's a lot of ignorance going around. And that's why we're having the problems we're having in our nation. But notice he says here to them, they know nothing. And that word means absolutely nothing. Nothing at all. And so as I thought of that, I thought of 1 Corinthians 8 too. And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing, yet as he ought to know. See, knowledge puffeth up. But charity edifyeth, and there's supposed to be a balance there. And so somebody that thinks they know everything, listen, I'm going to break your heart, they don't. Neither do you. Neither do I, when we start falling into the habit of thinking that we know everything. By allowing ourselves to do that, we are demonstrating ignorance. that we do not really understand the way of the Lord. So they're proud, they're ignorant. Now notice this word, they are doting. They are doting in verse four. He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting. Doting. Now we use that word, we use that word as a sense of loving. They have doting parents, they have doting grandparents. That's not the way the word is used in this sense. Matter of fact, the underlying Greek word for doting means sickness and disease. sickness and disease. It's used metaphorically meaning to have a sickly, listen, infatuation over something. In other words, I get hung up on the minutia of everything. And so it is one that is seized by something. These are the one-issue wonders in our churches. They've got one or two issues in their life, and they're very opinionated about them, and everything comes back around to them. Every conversation, every church fellowship, every something, this, that, or the other, it all comes back around to these one or two issues. That is, everything in their life revolves around some singular confined issue or set of issues. And so it generates here questions and strifes of words. You know what amazes me? Not how rare this is, but how common it is. To the destruction of the work of the gospel. People are doting, they're sick, unnecessarily infatuated with something that doesn't even line up with truth by Paul's own words. Wow. Every thought, every conversation comes back to this so that you wonder, remember one issue wonders, you wonder if their mind has any room at all for the rest of life and reality. Doesn't that describe opinions? We got hung up on those things. And to the point of it being destructive. Look what he says right here. Doting about questions and strifes of words. By the way, that word doting has the idea of my absolute affection. So, it's an idol. It becomes more important than God and His truth. Now hold on, I want to be charitable, but when you talk about doting parents, what's happened is their children have become more important than God. Their children become idols, and they're not even aware of it sometimes. That's a side note, no charge for that. But if you live in this world where everything's all about you and what you think, you're gonna cause problems. And that's what he says here, strifes of words, whereby cometh, or excuse me, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds. Let me tell you this, the longer a person gets wrapped up in a single issue, it's like a speaker that's feeding back. And it literally comes to the place here of being corrupted. Their thinking is corrupted. Their life is corrupted. They can't even make reason anymore for being hung up on some one or two issues. Nothing is clear. It's destructive. And sadly, our Christianity is full of this type of thing. Full of this type of thing. You know what concerns me is how Uptight? Some people are all the time. Always uptight about something. I don't know how in the world they hadn't already stroked out. But it's constant. And here's what I'm saying. It's not necessary. One of the things I'll say sometimes when I get in a little bit, and I used to do it with the teens, and they'd be playing a game, and everybody'd be wanting to win, and I'm like, oh, all right, everybody just calm down. That's what we need to do. Calm, isn't that what happened to the demonic aggadera? Calm down. When you're fellowshiping with Jesus, it brings a calmness to your life, not this constant unnecessary uptightness and tension. So what does the Lord say to do with them? You're not gonna like it, but you can read it right there. From such, withdraw thyself. Now watch, this happens naturally. And I'm gonna tell you why, and you don't want to admit it, but it'll be there and you will have heard it. They get on my nerves. I'm seeing smiles and nods. Thank you for honesty in the house of the Lord. It happens on its own, right? Because the Bible says that the Spirit of God works in us to peace, to tranquility. We're to pursue and ensue peace. We don't want to be you know, that kind of individual that's uptight and upset and upsetting. And so what does the Bible say? From such withdraw thyself. So my question is this. This is what happens, by the way, to the overly opinionated person. Their thought is that whatever they think is what God thinks. So I would have to ask this question then, are you sure? Are you sure? That is, confident not contentious. And there's a world of difference between those two things. You know, if you and I have a calm confidence about our belief in the Word of God, we don't have to come across as if we're trying to drive everybody into our stall in the barn. Amen? And, oh, I don't have time to get sidetracked. Are you sure? Now, here's the other question for you. We're talking about your relationship to yourself, trying to make some decisions here. Are you sure? But then I would ask this question of anything that you allow in your life, are you shackled by that thing? Look in your Bible, again, hold your place there in Timothy, and go to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter six, 1 Corinthians chapter six, and verse 12, 1 Corinthians six and 12. This is the freedom lover's verse. In verse 12, all things are lawful to me. Amen! See there? God tells me I can do whatever I want to. Let's keep reading, shall we? All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient. You know what that means? They're not good for you. All right, if you want to, you can have a large Big Mac, whatever, every day of your life. Yeah, whatever, not just for three meals a day, but all snacks in between. It's okay. It's not good. You have the freedom, but it's not gonna help you. You see what I'm saying? It's not gonna really help you. All right. So somebody's gonna say, yeah, but what about that guy that was in the news recently and he ate McDonald's every day just to test us, they're in lost weight. Well, there could be a reason how he lost it, but I'm not going to talk to you about that. But then also what they didn't tell you was he took one meal and cut it across three. Would somebody please put the whole truth in the headline, please? Huh? Yeah. Anyway, all right. So all things are lawful, but all things are not expedient. Are you shackled? That word power means to come under the authority or the rule or the reign or the bondage of something. Some people are in bondage to their opinion. Some people are in bondage to their liberties. So we need to beware because allowances can become hindrances. All right? This verse in itself should do away with some of these vices that Christians are now arguing about whether or not. I mentioned to you earlier about smoking. Nobody knew back when Spurgeon was smoking cigars how bad they were for your health. And I'm going to tell you one thing, if Spurgeon believed, and I know he did, if Spurgeon believed that his body was the temple of the Lord, he would not have said, I can smoke these cigars to the glory of God. Which he did say. He didn't know. There are a lot of things in life we don't know. I'm more concerned about the ones that we do. And we're allowing ourselves to become in bondage to our liberties. And so this verse would deal with the issue of alcoholic drink. And somebody said, well, now I can control it. Yeah, well, that's what every drunk said. OK, then. Beware, your allowances can become hindrances. So the Bible says in Romans 13, 14, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. This again is talking about boundaries on your life. We're talking about your relationship, if you will, with you. Are you sure? Secondly, relationships, we go from self to saints. Are you others-minded? Are you sure? Are you okay with yourself about this thing for the right reasons? Secondly, are you others-minded? Now, this takes us back to Romans 14. And verse 13, let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but judge this rather, look, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. Are you others minded? Will it make me a stumbling block or will it make me a stepping stone? And so there are several considerations as we look into this that we see in the first four verses of Romans 14. We notice that we're to receive our brother. You see that clearly verse one and two, him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. Now notice the word doubtful's in there so that we'll be reminded we're not talking about issues that are based on Bible doctrine and a clear rejection of Bible truth. We're talking about those choices in life, about eating and not eating, about holidays and all that that are listed there. And people have various points of view. They have various opinions on these things. And so the Bible says basically that we are to receive our brother. Now you'd say, well, that seems pretty clear. Yeah, but some people it's not. I mean, if you don't agree with their opinions, you're going to hell. Opinions, not Bible truth. That word receive means to take into one's company. The point is that you and I ought to be able to fellowship one with another. Of course, we'll have to leave off some of this, and I'll get to that at some point maybe next year. I have no idea. But anyway, receive your brother. Secondly, respect your brother. And this is what really boils down to. Opinionated people don't have any respect for others. That's the end of it. They are the be-all and end-all. So, they don't respect you. But notice verse 3. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth. There you go. You're meeting right in the middle. We're respecting others' sensible view of these things. Watch now, for God hath received him. Now, that's a shocker. Some people, you've heard it said, you know, there's going to be a lot of folks in heaven that are going to surprise others that thought they'd never make it. God received him. Just like God received you, just like God received me, God receives them. All right. So I need to have respect for my brother regarding their relationship with the Lord. I want to respect my brother. I want to receive my brother. Now watch. Then I want to release my brother. Look at verse 4. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? Notice the word I say, I use the word release because there are people in this world that think the whole world should answer to them, should come in line with them, should fall under their authority, if you will, of judgment. Release them, and in releasing them, we release ourselves. I never have known a person that was overly unscripturally opinionated that was a happy person. Do you know why? Because they're trying to make themselves God. And they're not cutting the mustard. It creates a misery in people. That's right. And so, okay. I want to release them, and then I release myself. You know, we say all the time, there is a God and you're not him. Yeah, well, there are some people that bothers. But the rest of us, thank God I'm not God. Amen. And there are things in this world I'm glad I don't have to sort out. I'm glad God's gonna take care of it. Amen. And he will. It releases us. It releases them from the bondage of our judgment. In verse 3, we respect them as being received by the Lord. Now we release them in recognition of their accountability to the Lord. Now here's the thing. When somebody becomes a judge, they're trying to take God's place. And it's not just then a disrespect for people, it's a disrespect for God. It's a disrespect for the Lord as their judge. And we can fall prey to this attitude. James mentions it in James 2 and verse 4 when he said, Are you not then partial in yourselves and are become judges of, or the idea they're being with, evil thoughts? Notice this phraseology, ye are become. He didn't say God made you a judge. You made yourself a judge. You are carrying burdens that are not yours to carry. And that's why they're heavier than you can bear. And that's why everything in life and every action of somebody else drives you crazy. And so some, again, people have the idea and therefore the attitude that somehow or another the whole world must account to them. What a terrible burden to place on others. What a terrible burden to put on ourselves. We need to release our brother and realize that the Lord is their judge. Paul referred to that in 1 Corinthians 4, too. Moreover, it's required in stewards that a man be found faithful. But with me, it's a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. And then he goes on to say, yea, I judge not mine own self. Somebody said, well, that's offensive. Paul said, I don't even care about you judging me. That's really not what he's saying. We'll see that at some point. That's not what he's saying at all. But he goes so far as to say, look, I don't even have the ability to judge myself. Why? Because the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it? For I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judges me is the Lord. The only way we make proper judgments are in those areas where God has told us how to divide it. And so I need to receive my brother, I need to respect my brother, I need to release my brother, and then I need to remember my brother. And we see that in verse number 13. Let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. For I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself. But to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Now remember here, He's talking about the weaker brother, which is one that has a lot of basically rules in their life, because they want to keep their life in order, and this is how they know how to do it. Try to honor God. Now, the rules can become an idol. That's clear. We know that. But the fact of the matter, here's what Paul is saying, and he's going to allude to it in just a moment. I mean, he'll make it clear in just a moment. And that is this. You and I must live with a sensitivity to the concerns of other people. lest you and I in some way or another become a stumbling block to them. Look at verse 15. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat. Okay, hold on now. He's talking about food. And of course, the meat offered unto idols and all that, and there were some Christians that didn't want to buy this meat offered to idols that was in the shambles because it had been offered unto idols and they felt like they were partaking in the sacrifice to the idols if they ate this meat. It was cheaper, but they didn't want to buy it because they were afraid that they would partake. Other Christians said, you know, there's only one God but one. God is only one God, true and living God, and those are not gods, and that meat is just gonna be wasted on something that's not even real, and it's cheaper, and I'm gonna go to Walmart and buy it. And Paul said, hold on a minute. Huh? Isn't that what he's saying here? But if thy brother be grieved with thy... Now you want to talk about crossing into an area that gets a lot of Christians up in a friction. Start telling them that every area of their life they have to watch. Because of the impact it has on other people. That's what he's saying here. Look at that middle section and this ties it up, doesn't it? Now walkest thou not charitably. What's charity? It's agape. It's God's love. It's a willful giving of self for the sake of others. In this case, a willingness to give up for the sake of others. So watch the last part of verse 15. Look. Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died. I love the contrast in that phrase. idea of food across from the eternal saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Here's basically what this says. You are making mountains out of molehills. You've lost the big picture. You're more consumed, no pun intended, with the food you put in your mouth than for the peace of your brother in their walk with God. Yeah. So I need to remember my brother. And here's the point, we are our brother's keeper. We are our brother's keeper. And so, some people, when you come to this idea, they like to quote Cain in Genesis 4 and 9, when the Lord said unto Cain, where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am I my brother's keeper? But let's be careful not to quote the words of a murderer. For permission of our own motivations. We are our brother's keeper. But that does not mean we are our brother's judge or our brother's jailer. But we are to watch out one for another. First Corinthians 1024. Let no man seek his own, but every man another's will. And so when we're trying to make these decisions about life, we're to prioritize our brother, we're to prioritize our consideration, or consideration, I should say, we're to prioritize consideration of others. And I need to receive, respect, release, and remember. I must prioritize consideration. And that's where a lot of folks aren't doing right. The only person they consider is themselves. They have no consideration for the much worse, not just for their brother, but for Christ and his testimony. And the work of the gospel. While they live, if you will, a free for all. And so we are to prioritize consideration. We are to prioritize edification. You see that beginning in verse 16. Let not then your good be evil spoken of, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink. Remember I was talking about the person that gets all hung up in hair splitting opinions a little bit ago? The kingdom of God is not in all of that. The kingdom of God is not in these lesser things. The kingdom of God is not in meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith, here it is, one may edify another. Now notice that phrase follow after. It really depends on what you're living for and what you live about, doesn't it? What are you following? Now here's what I'm gonna tell you. He says there are certain things we should follow, which means there are other things we should just let go. I followed that to its end. There are certain things in life that while they may be okay, we just need to let them go, because they may be a hindrance to peace with my brother. Huh? Look, y'all are probably glad for this, but I gave up a long time ago with any interest in thinking about wearing skinny jeans to church. Amen! Right? Why? It would certainly offend some. Just like this fellow up on Capitol Hill changed his dress right, and people thought that's not appropriate. But it's not just that. There are certain things that we say, hey look, we probably could do this if we wanted to, but it's not the best thing in the big scheme of things, so here's the deal, I'm just gonna let it go. I'm just gonna let it go. Let me rub one or two before we close. For all the years, most all the years, that we were with Baptist International Missions, men were not allowed to grow beards with BIMI. Now, some people say, well, now, why in the world is that, you know? Why? Well, because some of them didn't know how to maintain the thing. For others, it had a connotation with kind of a slovenness. Now look, y'all got beards. I'm not saying that this morning. I'm not worried about that at all. Here's what I'm saying. Jesus had a beard. I knew it! B-I-M, I said, shave your face. And I said, okay. The kingdom of God is not in a beard. Huh? Now listen, I've had people tell me, I would never serve in any place where they made me shave my face. And then they joined the military. All it depends on how much money. Huh? Yeah. So my response to that has always been, I'm not going to let a beard get in the way of an opportunity to serve God. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to get hung up on something that's not absolutely necessary to my existence. It's foolish. And so we need to prioritize edification. All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. You know what I want to do? I want to live my life in such a way that I'm not a hindrance to edification. I'm not going to live my life in such a way where I deny truth. Huh? But I'm going to live my life in such a way where I am not going to be an unnecessary offense to somebody else. That's the point of all this. This is why we believe we should have some principles, some balanced principles about our life. Because we're to prioritize consideration, we're to prioritize edification, and then we are to prioritize restriction. Now, I did use the word prioritize and restriction in the same sentence. And I'm going to show it to you here. from verse 21, where Paul said, Look, it is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. We don't prioritize setting them straight. We prioritize restricting our life, So that we, as I said, are not unnecessarily offensive to others. And I'm going to tell you, there's a great deal of Christianity that just will not go here. Because self is their God. The pleasure of self is what they're shooting for. And so we're to prioritize restriction. Again, 1 Corinthians 8 and 13, Paul reiterates this when he says, Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world stand. Ain't that something? Lest I make my brother to offend. All right, all of this I'll have to continue into next week. We're talking about how we use our personal relationships here with self, lowest priority, saints. And then I want you to see this in the idea of our testimony to an unsaved world. Look at 1 Corinthians 10 with me. 1 Corinthians 10, if you wouldn't mind, please. And somebody's going to say, and I think the Lord of the Bible reads it ahead because God knows us. Well, now, why in the world should I restrict my life because somebody don't get it? Huh? That's their own fault. That's their own loss. That's just their own, they'll figure it out later. Hold on, God addresses that beginning in verse 29. Conscience, if you look at verse 27, if any of them that believe not bid you to a feast and you be disposed to go, whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake. But if any man say unto you, this is offered in sacrifice unto idols, you're not gonna believe the deal I got on this. Right, and they're already at the dinner table. Eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake. For the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. Again, the focus on the Lord. Verse 29. And a conscience I say, watch, not thine own, but of the other. My conscience is to be clear that I've not hurt the conscience of someone else. For why is my liberty, there it is, judged of another man's conscience? For if I by grace be partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that which I give thanks? Watch verse 31. Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all the glory of God. Verse 31 is basically answering verse 29 and verse 30's question by saying this, it's not about you. It's not about you. It's about God. Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Watch, give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God. And he names all three groups of people right there. The Jews, the Gentiles, and the church of God. We're to live our, if you want to call it, we're to live our life above reproach globally, to the best of our ability. Watch, even as I please all men, now he's not being a man pleaser, but what he means is there he's conscious of the impact of his life on others. Even as I please all men in all things, look, not seeking mine own profit. That's a real problem, isn't it? But the profit of many that they may be saved. And so we're to prioritize consideration, prioritize edification, Prioritize restriction, I'll eat no meat. That's important to me. I'll eat no meat while the world is standing. In an effort to prioritize salvation, that people might be saved. Let me tell you this, one of the problems our lost dark world is having is that the church has lost her testimony. The church is no longer separate from sin under God. Matter of fact, some places now preach and flaunt things that are clearly called sin in the Bible. The church has lost its testimony so that the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is hindered in the hearts of those that may otherwise believe. Look, we're talking about your relationship to yourself and to saints and to sinners. Look, it's not about you. You need principles in your life because it's really not about you. Let's stand together and bow our heads.