(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Now, the reason he starts off this chapter in that manner is because if you remember in chapter number 7, you'll see on a continual basis that you'll say something to this extent. I speak by permission. I give my judgment. This is not a commandment of the Lord. So a lot of what was said in 1 Corinthians chapter number 7, yes, it was the commandments of the Lord, but there'll be portions of chapter 7 where Paul gave his own opinion. Why? Because it wasn't really clear what God's judgment was on that specific topic and the details of that doctrine. But luckily, of course, we obviously know that the apostle Paul was a spirit-filled man. And because he was a spirit-filled man, he can give his proper judgment on that specific doctrine. Now, so go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. Look at verse number 6. It says here, but I speak this by permission and not of commandments. So we see there, he speaks by permission, not by commandment. Look at verse 25. Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord, yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. Skip down to verse number 39. The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth, but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will only in the Lord. But she is happier if she so abide after my judgment, and I think also that I have the Spirit of God. So you see over and over again, sometimes the apostle Paul would just say, look, I don't really have a specific commandment. God didn't really tell me specifically what to do in this area, but I'm going to give you my judgment, and I think I have the Spirit of God. In other words, he's saying, I think I'm right about this. That's how he finishes off chapter number 7. And now he starts in verse number 1 of chapter 8. Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. So what is he saying there? Now this is not a matter of permission. This is not a matter of me giving my judgment. He says, we know what the Bible says. We have knowledge of these things. You see, this is not a black and white area, is what he's saying. We have commandment of the Lord. Don't we have a lot of Christians today that they think is a gray area, certain doctrines, they think it's like a gray area when God is clearly commanded or He's clearly stating His word. What is the specific doctrine that He wants us to teach and preach and to believe? But what do we have today? We have Christians that say, well, you know, that's your judgment. You know, that's what you think, or that's what's right for you is not necessarily right for me, and vice versa, but you know what, we all have knowledge about this. And we can look at the Bible and say, no, this is what God said. It's not what you think. And they say, well, no, no, no. Well, that's what you think the Bible says. No, no, no. Comparing scripture with scripture, we can make the call that this is what God hath said. And obviously we can apply that to so many different doctrines. You know, we're in a homo pride month, you know, Sodom pride month right now. Okay. And you know, all the faggots and by the way, they're not just pride for one month out of the year. You guys know that, right? They're prideful 365 days out of the year. You know, and what a wicked country that they would celebrate sodomy for an entire month to praise these faggots for being so filthy and wicked. You know, and by the way, the majority of the population don't even agree with that garbage. I mean, you look at that stupid video that YouTube came out with. You know, I forgot what it was called, something about being prideful, being creative or something, and they did this entire video for sodomites, and it got more thumbs down than it got thumbs up. And when you look at the comments, it's like, this is disgusting, this is filthy. These unsaved people agree with us. We just got the stones to say it, to preach it, to record it, and to post it on YouTube. But even the unsaved people agree with us on that stuff. Okay. Now, here's the thing is that when it comes to the reprobate doctrine, that's something that the Bible says. Well, that's your judgment. That's your interpretation. Look, no prophecy of the scriptures is given of any private interpretation. Okay. You know, we don't just look at the Bible and say, well, I'm just going to pick and choose, and I'm going to cherry pick the Bible to see what I want it to say. No. You can base it off of the clear teachings of scripture and say, this is what ultimately the Bible teaches. Oh, but 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse number 10. Okay. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse number 10 agrees with me. All right. Now, let's say it didn't, which obviously it does. 10 scriptures, 20 scriptures already are in agreement with what the reprobate doctrine is. That means you're getting that one wrong, because if you think they're both saying two different things, then you don't believe the Bible's inspired by God then. Okay. But we could apply this verse to so many different areas. Why is that? Because he's saying this. I'm not giving my judgment. We all have knowledge of what God says in this regard, okay. He has a command, but we already have the commandments. God has already judged this. It says, knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. Now, he says this. So we have knowledge. We understand what God has commanded us to do, but you've got to understand something about this coin. There's two sides to this coin. Knowledge puffeth up. We need knowledge, but charity edifieth. Okay. Now, we live in a day and age where people go to two extremes. They have all the knowledge, but they have no charity. Okay. Or they have a bunch of charity, and because of that, they compromise on the knowledge. Okay. You have the people who have the knowledge, but guess what? They're not out there preaching the gospel. You know, they know about all the conspiracies and all the things that are going on in this world and all the craziness, but they're not getting their butts out there to go sowing. They have no charity, but then you have the flip side of that coin where you have people who have charity. Maybe they do go sowing, but guess what? They don't have knowledge. They don't know what the Bible says, and therefore, they compromise on key doctrines, and they allow false doctrine to come into their church. No. We need to have both. Okay. No. You're not a sissy if you have charity. You're not a sissy if you love people. That's commanded of the Lord. We need to make sure that we keep a tender heart for people, because it's very easy to have so much knowledge that you actually become hardened to people sometimes. You dismiss everyone as being a reprobate. Okay. Let me just remind you guys, not everyone is a reprobate. Okay. Now, the faggot who's saying he's a faggot, okay, he's a reprobate. Case closed. But not everyone's like that, and just because someone doesn't like you, or they say all manner of evil against you, even the people who would be considered our enemies, they're not a reprobate. We need to make sure that we keep a tender heart towards people, towards the lost, towards other Christians. And look, it goes without saying, we ought to make sure that we still love even the brethren that don't like us, yea, even the ones that hate us, okay, because there are a lot of Christians who are saved that I believe hate our guts, but you know what? We shouldn't reciprocate that hate, and look, they often confuse, you know, us exposing them as hate. That's not hatred. Okay. That's just doing what the Bible tells us to do, to preach the word, be in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. It doesn't say to hate them. So just because we expose them for what they're doing, and because it's not biblical, it doesn't mean we hate them. And we need to make sure that we don't have a hateful spirit towards those who hate us who are saved. Okay. We need to make sure we differentiate the two. Now, we strongly rebuke them, we reprove them, because that's biblical, but we don't hate them. Okay. But the Bible says there, the knowledge puffeth up. Why? Because if you just have knowledge, you just become proud. You know, you think of the apostle Paul who, you know, was caught up to the third heaven, and in the very next verses, it talks about how he was given a thorn in the flesh. Why is that? Because, you know, he had a lot of knowledge. Jesus Christ imparted into him a lot of knowledge. He knew the word of God. He spoke great mysteries. He knew about the Bible. He knew about the truth of God's word, but a thorn was given to him so he could be humble. And look, have knowledge, but don't be proud, because God might inflict you with a thorn in the flesh to keep you humble. Okay. You might have a corner on the truth and say, well, yeah, I'm post-trip, and I'm replacement theology. Amen. But you know what? You ought to be thankful that you're post-trip, pre-rap, and that you're replacement theology, and that you know the truth. That ought not to cause you to be proud. Okay. So how do you counter that? If you have knowledge, have charity, because knowledge puffeth up, and in order to keep you from being puffed up, you have charity, which actually builds up someone else. See what I'm saying? So the knowledge you take is the people who just have knowledge are just building themselves up. But those who have knowledge and then they have charity, guess what? They look to build other people up. They look to disciple people who, brand new people who come into the church. You know, it's good to come here and get fed, but you know, you ought to do as well as when someone new comes into our church, you immediately attack them in a good way, okay? You know, what's your name, you know, where are you from, and man, I'm glad you're here. You know, you have to show this thing on your face called teeth by way of a smile. Don't just walk past people and just ignore them. Walk by them, shake their hands, and smile. Show some charity. Show that you care about people. All you sound like a liberal, that's Bible. To have charity, to love people. Obviously, the best way to love someone is just to go out there and preach the gospel, but what if after they get saved, according to the Bible, we have a new commandment, that's to love the brethren. So once they come to church, we need to love them unconditionally as Christ loved us, okay? So knowledge is important, okay? And go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 13. So we're not excusing one over the other, you need both. I mean, I can't stand a guy who only has charity but has no knowledge. It irritates the fire out of me. You know, these liberal pastors and their mega churches and, you know, they have all the charity, which by the way, they don't have charity. That's a show, okay? They're putting it on a show to make it look as though they have charity, but you know what? They're a bunch of false prophets who are greedy of filthy lucres, what they are. We want to make sure we're balanced. You know, have both. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse number 2. It says, and though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, by the way, that would be nice, you know? To be able to understand all mysteries, you know, you're reading through the book of Daniel, reading through Revelation, and you just understand everything. That would be awesome. I mean, I would love that, you know? That's a great thing to be able to obtain to, to be able to understand all mysteries and have all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, amen. It's like, man, I got faith that I'll, you know, faith that can move a mountain, that can see a bunch of people saved, that I can do great works for the Lord according to Hebrews chapter 11, you know, the flight of the aliens, you know what I mean? And all these things that you can do, stop the mouths of lions, I mean, you can do a lot with faith, right? But look what it says, and have not charity, I'm nothing. So it says, you can have knowledge, understanding, discernment, faith, but if you don't have charity, you're nothing. It goes to show you how valuable charity is to God. He's saying, look, you can have all these things, but if you don't love people genuinely, you're nothing. Why? Because the Bible says God is, finish it, love. God is love. You know, I know that's the liberal's favorite verse to use, and that's the only verse they have memorized, but you know what? It's in the Bible, though, you know, and God is love. And he's saying there, look, you need to have charity, you can't, don't be a nothing, don't be a nobody, have both. Look at verse 13, and now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity, the Bible says. Man, I mean, God places a heavy emphasis on this matter of love and charity, to be charitable towards someone, to be kind to people. It's very important. Now, go to 2 Corinthians, chapter number 8. I'll read to you from 2 Peter 3, 18, it says, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to Him be glory both now and forever, amen. So the Bible says we ought to grow in grace, we ought to grow in knowledge. I'm not telling you don't learn, we need to learn. We have too many biblically illiterate Christians who don't know anything about the Bible. The most irritating thing to me is a person who tries to correct me on my doctrine, but they've never even read the Bible through once. He said, you're just repeating what other people say, I've had people tell me this, try to tell me about the Sabbath, you know? And I asked them, sincerely, have you read through the Bible once? And they'll say, well, no. Almost like silently, they're saying, why would you ask such a stupid question? He literally told me, he's like, well, no, of course not, I haven't read it. You know, they're getting their information from Wikipedia, so, well, Wikipedia says this. I was like, but what does the Bible say? I said, have you read, okay, have you read Hebrews? No, I haven't read Hebrews. I mean, the guy didn't even have the audacity to lie to me. I mean, most of these guys who try to correct us, they'll even lie and say, yeah, I've read through the Bible scores of times. This guy didn't even say it, he's like, no, I haven't read that. I said, have you read Colossians 2? No, I haven't. It's like, then come back to me when you read the Bible at least once. He goes, are you trying to tell me that I need to read through the Bible once to understand this? I was like, well, at least Hebrews, at least Colossians 2. And yeah, it would be good for you to read the entire Bible. So you're not missing anything. So how do you correct someone in their doctrine when you yourself don't even know that the person who's opposing you in your doctrine is correct or not if they've read through the Bible? Right. Growing grace and knowledge. We need to be reading the Bible, okay? We need to make sure that we're spending time in God's word learning. By the way, don't force yourself to just be some biblical scholar. You need to pace yourself. Amen. But you need to read the Bible. You know, if you read through the New Testament a couple times, okay, now it's time to get into the Old Testament. Don't let the Old Testament scare you. Some of the most awesome stories are in the Old Testament. I mean, I remember I led this guy to the Lord and I was telling him how to read the Bible and I was showing him and I said, look, the Old Testament is like better than Hollywood, Hollywood movies. And he started reading, he told me, he goes, it's better than Hollywood. You might run into some amazing stories in the Old Testament. Now, obviously, there's some areas where it's going to take, it's going to just grind your mind a little bit, okay? But you don't read through it and over the years you'll understand it more and more, but you need to read through the Bible. You need to read through, if you've been a Christian for more than a year, it's time to read through the Bible. You'll gain credibility when you start speaking of the things of God, okay? Look at 2 Corinthians 8, verse 7 says, therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith, in utterance, in knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see thee abound in disgrace also. So it gives a list of things we need to abound in, faith, utterance, the ability to communicate, knowledge, diligence, and it says, in love toward us. You see, it should be that the older you get in the Lord, the more you ought to love the brethren. You know, the longer you're a Christian, the more you want to love people. Why don't you measure your love for one another tonight? You know, see where your love's at, you know? Are you still selfish? You just care about me, myself, and I, and all these things. You know, it goes to show how shallow you have grown in the Lord. Why? Because the longer you are in the Lord, the more you need to abound in your love, one for another. Go to Philippians chapter number 1, and obviously, no one's perfect, and we all regress, we all fail at times, but you know what? We need to be pressing towards the mark. We need to be growing in that love, okay? Look at Philippians 1, verse 9, it says here, And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere without offense till the day of Christ. So I like what it says there in verse number 9, because it says we need to abound in love, but what? In knowledge and in all judgment. So it's not just this like, well, just love everyone, right? It's not like, well, we're just gonna love everyone, and that's why, you know, we're better than you guys, because we love the homosexuals. No, we need to grow, abound in love, that's found in knowledge. So in other words, look at the boundaries of love found within the word of God, okay? Look where the boundaries are, look where God's limitations are on love, because we're not supposed to love out of the scope of what God tells us to love. You understand that? There is a limit to our love. If there wasn't, then he'd just say, just love everyone, but the Bible doesn't say love everyone. He gives specific limitations to our love. That's why, because it's valuable. You don't just love everyone, especially those who hate the Lord, okay? And it says this, and in all judgment as well. So we obviously know that when we love people, we gotta love them through the filter of the word of God. Okay, and look, I said this before, and I'll say it again, if you don't have a proper and healthy hatred, you don't have a proper and healthy love either. You're imbalanced, because you've gotta have both. Because how can you express, how can God express his love toward us without showing us a glimpse of his hatred through hell? I mean, how do we know how much God loves us if we wouldn't have known about hell? You know, the fact that he loves us was expressed through the fact that he sent his son to Jesus Christ to die for us. Well, that would mean nothing to us if hell didn't exist. Hell's an expression of his wrath, of his anger, of his hatred. Therefore, we could look at the contrast of that and appreciate his love. Well, you know what? That's a perfect template for us to follow. In order for us to properly love people, we need to have a proper hatred as well, okay? And this sermon's not about that, but it's important. Go back to First Corinthians, chapter number eight. So he says there that we need to grow in knowledge, read the Bible, learn, okay? But also, we gotta make sure we have this charity wife, because charity builds people up. And I'll get into it just a little bit. Look at verse two, it says, and if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing, yet as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the same is known of him. Verse two says a lot, doesn't it? He's saying, look, if any guy thinks he knows a lot, he don't know nothing. That's why we need to be humble. And don't go around boasting as if you think you know everything. Be humble and keep learning. By the way, people resist a proud, arrogant person who thinks they know everything, and they just dismiss them as some babe in Christ. But you know who is very admirable? You know who's someone that people gravitate and are attracted towards? Are those who you may think that they know a good amount, but that person doesn't express that. They actually express humility and a desire to learn more. They wanna learn more, and they're like, I haven't arrived yet, can I learn more? I'd like to learn, I didn't know about that. Can I learn more about that? But when you just know everything, like, oh, I know, I know, I know. By the way, that's a horrible way to live your life and to start relationships. Starting every sentence with, I know. Like, you're about to drop some knowledge, and before you can even start the sentence, it's like, I know that, yeah, I know. It's like, okay, I guess I can't teach you anything else. Yeah, what else do you know? You know anything about me? Does your knowledge have any limitations? And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing, okay? Why is that? Because we're always growing. We don't know everything, right? Obviously, we need to know some things, though, okay? We need to know the basics about salvation, and if you're in a church like this, you should know the basics of what a position is on the end times. I'm not saying you have to have a great in-depth knowledge of it, but it'll be good if you grow in that, though. Do you understand more and more about it, replacement theology, you know, the Reprobate Doctrine, Old and New Testament, whatever it may be, but just know this, you don't know everything, okay? I don't care how long you've been saved. You don't know everything. You need to keep growing and learning more. Now, do you know more than maybe the guy to the left or to the right of you? Probably, maybe, I don't know, but the fact remains is that that still doesn't mean you know everything, and look what it says in verse three. But if any man love God, the same is known of him. Isn't it interesting that typically those who think they know a lot are the ones who proclaim it with their own mouth that they know a lot? But when someone actually has love, the love of God, it's actually known of him. In other words, people see that in that person. They don't have to talk about it. They don't have to claim it. They don't have to say, yeah, I love you. Hey, you know I love you, right? Hey, you know I love you. You all know that I love you. You know, it's already known if you truly love people. Why is that? Go with me if you would to, go to First Thessalonians chapter four. Love is something that we know that others have. And this is a saying that I used to hear a lot back in my old church, and it's true. They used to say, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care, okay? Sounds pretty cheesy, but at the end of the day, it's actually true. You know, people really don't care how much you know until they know how much you really care, you know? Because the person who's just trying to just drop knowledge left and right, but they don't really care about you, you know, you don't really care what that person has to say. But if that knowledge is coupled with some love and some charity, you know, you're attracted to that person and you want to learn from that person because obviously the love of God is manifested through that person. Look at First Thessalonians four, verse nine says, but as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another, the Bible says. The Bible says we're taught of God to know these things, okay? God is the one who teaches us if we read the word of God. God who's the one who teaches us as we spend time with Him, as we pray, as we walk with Him, He teaches us these things. And look, as you come to church, you'll begin to love the brethren. I love the camaraderie in our church. I love the fellowship in our church. You know, I enjoyed going to Steadfast Baptist Church, it's one of the most awesome churches I've ever been to, but I missed home. You know why? Because I miss my people. I miss the camaraderie, I miss the fellowship, the late nights, going to arts, you know, whatever. Every topic we talk about. I mean, on a regular night, we'll stay here pretty late. You know what I mean? And it's just, we'll talk about it, we'll save the world five times older. And then when we're finally finished saving the world the fifth time, it's like, all right, it's time to go. Sarah, get the kids, you know. My kids are like crying and stuff. I love our church. You know, and the more time I spend here, the more I love the brethren, the more I love being around these people. You see, I remember when I first came to our church, when our church first started, it's like, dang, I don't know anybody here. You know, I was like, I know Alex, I know David, but it's just like, they're all new faces and you almost feel like a fish out of water, but you know what, the Bible's true that the longer you meet people, the longer you're around them, the more you love them. Especially if you have core beliefs. You know, the more you have core beliefs and you relate to one another as far as your beliefs are concerned, not about our backgrounds, we all have different backgrounds, different races, different backgrounds. I'm talking about our core beliefs. And what happens is there's a camaraderie there. There's love there. There's a love for the brethren is what it is. We need to grow in that, okay? Have genuine love for the brethren. Now, with that in mind, let's read, go back to 1 Corinthians, chapter number eight. So he starts off that first, those first three verses talking about knowledge and the importance of knowledge. We have commandments of the Lord concerning things offered unto idols. And then he says this, but we need to make sure we have charity. And he emphasizes that point, okay, of having charity. Now look at verse four. 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. So what is he saying here? He goes, okay, what do we know? We know this, that an idol is nothing. Okay, stone, gold, silver, doesn't matter how demonic it looks, how scary it may be, it's nothing. Why, because we know there's one God who's something, okay? Now, go to Psalms, hold your place there, go to Psalms 115. And look, if you don't know what an idol is, okay, obviously different cultures have different idols. Brother Polydes and I were sowing today and we saw an altar built unto an idol, okay? We have a lot of Chinese and Buddhists here and you'll see that very commonly. We see oranges, you know, on the altar there, they're offering, you know, you go to these, you go to these restaurants sometimes and they'll have like a full-blown chicken offered to Buddha or whatever, you know? Or some of these houses that are Buddhist, they'll have food. They're offering these things unto some fat Buddha who's burning in hell right now. And they think, and you know, they even have the cat. You guys seen that? That's an idol. And the reason it's there is because basically they're calling the money to come in. I believe that's what it is. It's like a lucky charm. And that hand is, basically what it's doing is it's calling all the money to come in to make their business successful. That's an idol. But we understand that's not bringing any money in. That's a stupid plastic cat that you got at the 99 cent store. And it's gonna run out of batteries. It's nothing. But to them, it means something. But look at Psalms 115, verse number three. But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes they have, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle not. Feet have they, but they walk not. Neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them. So is everyone that trusteth in them, the Bible says. So there it's telling us, look, these are just work of men's hands. They can't see, they can't touch, they can't speak. And it's interesting that he says there that they that make them are like unto them. Why, they're blind too. People who trust in them, they're just as blind as the idols that they make. But you know what? That doesn't take away the fact that people actually believe that these things are real. And by the way, obviously there's a demon behind every idol. There is a demon, but let me say this. Those specific physical idols can't harm you. It's not gonna fly from across the room and hit you and just like exorcist style poltergeist or whatever and just start attacking you. The cat's not gonna come like get you one day because you're a Christian. If you think that, you're watching too many Hollywood movies. And you bought into this thing of Hollywood just instilling fear in you based upon their storylines and all this junk. They're idols, they can't do anything. I'm not saying that, look, if you have an idol in your house you oughta obviously get rid of it, burn it, trash it, break it into pieces. You say, well, I thought you said, well, what happens if I don't? Didn't you say they can't do anything? No, here's the thing. God will do something to you. You see, we're not afraid that the idol's gonna do anything. You know what we're afraid of? God. Because God can judge us for the idols that we have in our home, okay? The cat or the Buddha or the Virgin Mary little idol that you have that your grandma gave you or something that means so much to you or something. Trash that thing. You know, burn it. And if it can't burn, just throw it away. Get rid of it. Curse it as you throw it. Show your hatred for it. Why? Because we fear God. And God can judge us for those idols, okay? And look, this is big in Hispanic homes. Go to First Samuel chapter five. This is big in Hispanic homes. Hispanic homes, I know all of them have idols. I just grew up in Hispanic homes, so it's like, it's rampant. It's always there. You know, they have all kinds of idolatry all over the place. And they'll say, well, you know, just leave that. You know, great grandma gave that to me. And they have more loyalty for their family members who gave them that stupid idol than to God. Even if you show them, look, the Bible says that's idolatry. They're like, yeah, have a great, great, great, great, great, great grandma handed this to me, I think, you know? And it just, it means, it has sentimental value. Forget your sentimental value, you know? You need to take God's sentimental values for the word of God and have sentimental value toward what God says, okay? Now, just to give you an example of the fact that idols can't do anything, we're gonna read a story that's pretty funny in the Bible. I love this story. It's the story of Dagon. Look at the Bible says in First Samuel, chapter five, verse one, and the Philistines took the ark of God, this is when they stole it, and brought it from Ebenezer into Ashtad. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. So they grabbed the ark of the covenant, and they put it right next to Dagon, their god, okay? And when they of Ashtad were rose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon and set him in his place again. They're like, that's weird. Who dropped them? Pick them back up again, put them up. Well, if you're so powerful, why don't you just pick himself back up, right? Verse four, and when they rose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon, and both of the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold. Only the stump of Dagon was left to him. So he cut them short. So the first time he just dropped them, and then they picked them up, and he goes, okay, this time I'm gonna drop them, and I'm just gonna just basically dismember him. God did it, by the way. He didn't send someone to do it for him. No, God did it, okay? Verse five, therefore, neither the priests of Dagon nor any that come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon and Ashtad until this day. What a bunch of idiots. So I hope, do you understand what just happened? So basically, since that happened, I mean, let's say, for example, if you were unsaved and that happened to you, hopefully you would have some sense to say, okay, I think I'm gonna convert to Christianity now. Because obviously God is real, and this Dagon is just a wimp. He can't even keep himself up, you know what I mean? So let's just forsake Dagon and worship the true God. But you know what they did? They're like, well, now this is holy ground, you know? This is where he fell. This is where his hands were. Stupid, man. But you know, it said in Psalm 115, the day that make them, the day that trust them are just like them. That's a perfect example of that. They're dumb. Verse six, but the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashtad, and he destroyed them and smote them with emerods. What are emerods? Hemorrhoids. You guys know what hemorrhoids are? I won't go into detail what hemorrhoids are. Just look it up. Okay? Let me just say this. God will hit it where it hurts. I mean, he said emerods. God didn't say, I'm gonna smite them with the flu. He didn't say, I'm gonna give them a cold. No, he said, no, I'm gonna give you hemorrhoids. That's bad. I mean, it goes to show you that God has a sense of humor. Even Ashtad and the coast thereof. I mean, everyone had this. Everyone even to the coast had hemorrhoids. So when you see people, I mean, people have probably seen everyone walk around all weird, and no one was asking why. Everyone knew why. Verse seven, and when the men of Ashtad saw that it was so, they said the ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us, for his hand is sore upon us and upon Dagon our God. And obviously you can read the rest of the story. They send the ark back, they're like, man, we can't handle this. But do you see Dagon, was Dagon the one who smote everyone with hemorrhoids and hemorrhoids? No, it was God who did that. He chastised them for that, he judged them for that. You see, our motive to get rid of the idols in our life is not because we're afraid of those stupid idols, because they're nothing. We do it because we don't want to be judged by God. We don't want emerods. Okay, hey, I don't want that. Go to First Corinthians, chapter number eight. Go back to First Corinthians, chapter number eight. So don't, and look, the reason I say this, because sometimes Christians can even be superstitious themselves. You know, they still believe in the black cats and all these stupid things. And look, Hispanics have this like crazy. They call them old wives fables, tales or whatever you call them. Where it's like, you know, oh, the baby's sick, rub a egg on the baby. And if you crack the egg and it turns black, it means it has some sort of like, you know, evil spirit or something like that. Stupid stuff. I've had, and you said Christians don't, I've known Christians who believe that. You know, the Bible does say not to give it to old wives fables. And he's telling Christians that, why? Because Christians give into that retarded scene, okay? I just made up that word, but it's a proper word for them. I mean, there's people who believe that, okay, they have this thing and we're gonna go off the Bible just for a little bit, all right? But this is, they believe it's called El Ojo, which means the eye. People who have the eye basically to ruin your whatever concoction you're making or something. If you look at it, you know, you'll mess it up or whatever. And they specifically will say, oh, this guy has the eye. Don't let him come around to me when I'm cooking. Because if they look at it when I'm cooking, they'll mess it up or whatever. They believe it wholeheartedly. They have the red thread on the finger. What is that? What is that for? Come on, you Mexicans, I know you guys know. What is that for? Is that for El Ojo? Okay, so that's what, so you don't get Ojo. Is that what it's for? So you don't get it. So they tie a red ribbon around the finger of the child. Right? They tie it around the finger of the child so they don't get El Ojo. And the list goes on and on. And I remember this one guy, he was saved and he was telling me this. And I'm like, do you really believe that? And he goes, it's just nature, you know. Like he didn't want to say it was like a spirit or something. Because obviously he's a Christian, but he was just like, it's just nature, you know, nature is. I'm like, that's not true. I was like, do you really believe that? I was like, these idols are nothing. Why? Because greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. We know that there's only one God who's omnipotent, he's omnipresent, he's almighty. He has power over these things. Not some stupid thread. Some egg that you crack. I mean, that's crazy. Now obviously that gets into a lot of like witchcraft and stuff, you know, where they take them to a witch doctor, you know, and all these weird stuff that they do there. And you know, that's a whole sermon in and of itself. And that's wicked as hell. But at the end of the day, guess what? These idols are nothing. They can't do anything, okay? Now look at verse number five, it says, for though there be that are called gods, lowercase g, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods many and lords many, but to us there is but one God. So he's saying this, even though we say that they're gods, you know, like these idols and they're, you know, there's lords and stuff, lowercase g, lowercase l, at the end of the day, we understand there's one God. Now the modulus will say, see, there you go, you say there's one God. Well, we gotta finish the verse. 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. So even the apostle Paul knew the difference between God the Father and God the Son. So the verses, verses one through six spend time, a good amount of time explaining the fact that we have this knowledge, we know this commandment. Look at verse seven. Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge. So, you know, the baby in Christ who just gets saved, they don't know these things. You know, if they come in here, they're probably like, why is everyone laughing? You know, I got an idol, we gotta make sure we don't, we gotta, you know, bow down and all these things. Some people don't have the knowledge of these things. Like that guy who was telling me all those things, he literally believed that that was just like nature that was responsible for all that, okay? For some with conscience of the idol unto this hour, eat it as a thing offered unto an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled. Now, go to Romans chapter 14. Hold your place there. So keep this in mind. Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 8, and 1 Corinthians 10, they all deal with the subject of eating, things that are offered unto idols, and how we oughta walk charitably unto those who are weak in the faith, and so on and so forth. So it's important to reference these portions of scripture so that we know, so we're clear on what the Bible says about it. So a baby in Christ who has not read the Bible cover to cover doesn't know what the Bible says in regards to this sometimes, okay? Now, Romans 14, verse 21 says, "'It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine, "'nor anything whereby thy brother's thumb blit "'or is offended or is made weak.' "'Hast thou faith? "'Have it to thyself before God, "'happy is he that condemneth not himself "'in that thing which he alloweth? "'And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, "'because he eateth not of faith, "'for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.'" So that works in tandem with verse seven of 1 Corinthians chapter eight, where it says that their weak conscience is defiled, okay? Why is that? Because they haven't grown, and they don't know what the Bible says. When they eat something offered unto idol, their conscience is defiled. That's why the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, eat asking questions for nothing. So if something's said before you, all right, and you just eat it, it's like, I'm just gonna eat it. I'm not gonna ask any questions. And then if they tell you, obviously, the Bible says if they tell you that it's offered unto idol, don't do it. Not because you think it's gonna harm you because it was offered unto idol, but for the sake of their conscience. So they don't say it like, oh man, this person who says he's a Christian, he believes in God, he's eating things that are offered unto a God, another God that's not Jesus Christ, that's not God, you know, that's sinful according to his standards. So we don't do it for our sake, we do it for their conscience' sake, okay? Now, the person who just does that, who's saved, they're just, they become weak, they're defiled, okay? They just need to read Romans 14. They need to read 1 Corinthians chapter eight. They need to read 1 Corinthians chapter number 10. They need to read 1 Timothy chapter number four, where the Bible tells us that if we just pray for the food and we give thanks to it, hey, it's cleansed, good to go. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 10. Now obviously, Romans 14 is more applicable to veganism and vegetarians, because it talks about the herbs and the contrast of that of meat, and the Bible says it right there, that those who eat herbs are weak, okay? And you can get mad about that all you want. You know, people were mad at me when I said that and when I preached on Romans 14, but the Bible said it though. It's like, don't get mad at me, the Bible says that you're weak. And if you don't want to be weak, just read the rest of the Bible, believe what it says and eat meat, then you won't be weak anymore, physically and spiritually. Okay, 1 Corinthians 10, 12 says, Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Now, this is interesting, because obviously we apply these verses to just sin in general, but this is actually talking about idolatry. Look at verse 13. There is no temptation taking you, but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Verse 14, Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry, it says. Okay, so it's in context of idolatry. Now, the Bible says in verse eight of 1 Corinthians eight, But meat commendeth us not to God, for neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we not are we the worse. Okay, so it's saying there, look, if you eat a steak, or you're a vegetarian or vegan, that doesn't make you more spiritual than the next person, because there's a bunch of vegans who are gonna split hell wide open. Okay, and there's a bunch of people who eat meat, who are gonna split hell wide open. That doesn't mean anything. So don't think that based upon your diet, or based upon the food that you eat, or who you get it from, are you less godly or more godly, according to the Bible. It doesn't commend us unto the Lord. It doesn't elevate us to the Lord, because those things don't matter. Okay, in fact, Romans 14 verse 17 says, For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that is in these things serveth Christ as acceptable to God and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and the things wherewith one may edify another. For meat destroy not the work of God, amen. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense, the Bible says. So it's teaching us there, hey, if you want to have your diet to yourself, then have at it. But that doesn't make you more spiritual than the next person, okay. And look, I'm all for non-GMOs, amen. And I wish we can have more of that. In fact, you know, that's what we're shopping at, what's that store called? Aldi's. You know, they have non-GMOs, and it's very organic and stuff like that. Amen to that. But you know some people who can't do that? Does that mean they're bad Christians? No. Maybe they're just broke, okay. So you can't really get on some people if they're not eating as healthy as you are, okay. Or if they have a burger and you don't. You know, don't look down upon someone for that. And vice versa, don't look down on someone because, you know, they eat not a burger, or they have more of a vegetarian, more of a healthy diet. Don't look down upon them either, okay. We need to make sure that we understand that the food that we consume does not determine how spiritual we are, all right. It's the commandments of God that we need to keep, that's what's important. Now verse nine of 1 Corinthians eight says, but take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. Isn't that interesting that in 1 Corinthians 10 it says, take heed lest he fall, right, talking to the person. And then in here, in 1 Corinthians eight, speaking to the person who's dealing with someone who's weak, it says, take heed that you don't be a stumbling block to them. It says, take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. So he's talking on both ends, you know. Now, you know the Bible teaches us obviously that we have liberty in Christ, okay. But we ought not to use the liberty as an occasion to the flesh, the Bible says. So what's liberty for? Well it says in Galatians chapter number five, to love and serve one another. See now we have the liberty to actually love someone with the love of God, to be sacrificial towards someone with the sacrificial love of God. But we ought not to use our love as an occasion to the flesh to cause someone else to stumble, okay. Now, you say, well so are you saying that if some vegan walks in here and are you not gonna eat meat because you know you're trying to walk charitably to them? No, here's the thing, I won't eat meat in front of them. You know, that really causes them to stumble. But this is what I would do. I would show them 1 Timothy chapter number four. And a saved person will adhere to 1 Timothy chapter number four. A saved person will adhere to Romans chapter 14. If they don't, then they're not saved. Are you dismissing someone based upon the food that they eat? You're not listening. I'm talking about the word of God in general. If you show them a verse from the Bible, and you say look, this is what the Bible says, obviously charitably, I'm preaching right now, but if I were to talk to them, obviously I wouldn't come at them aggressively like this. Just what the Bible says. No, I'm saying like, if I say look, look this is what the Bible says, you understand, and they're like, I don't agree with that. Then that person's not saved. Because they're rejecting the word of God. But if I teach them and say hey look, 1 Timothy four says this, okay, and if they say yeah, okay, I believe that, but I'm still gonna be vegan because I think it's good, I think it's good, and I say yeah, it's fine, you know. That's all right, I just want you to know that someone who eats meat is not bad or they're sinning. What I am against is militant vegans. Militant vegetarians who teach that you need to have their diet, and you need to eat the way they eat. If you're not, you're not right with God. That's what I'm against, okay. So I'll walk charitably towards those who obviously are weaker in the faith and in the sense they're babes in Christ, but I think any saved person, if you show them what the Bible says in 1 Timothy four, Romans 14, and these other scriptures, they can come to the conclusion, okay, it's not sinful. It's healthy for me, but it's not sinful, so I can't judge someone else and say that they're less spiritual because they're not adhering to my diet. Does that make sense to everyone? Now, 1 Corinthians chapter eight, verse 10 says, for if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be, I'm sorry, we're in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered unto idols, and through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died? So it's telling us there, I think it's actually chapter eight, sorry. What it's telling us there is this, is like, look, when you choose to walk not charitably towards your brethren, you're actually emboldening them to commit sin, okay? Because now they're basically using your actions or your standard as a reference, not the Bible. You see what I'm saying? And that's why it's important that when we lead, we lead according to the scriptures, not according to necessarily an example. Our example needs to be in tandem with the Bible. You see what I'm saying? That's why standards, they're not bad, but you know what? When you start teaching standards as doctrines, then it becomes bad, okay? We need to make sure that our standards match up to what the word of God says. So it says there that if any man see thee which has knowledge, chapter eight, sit at meat 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, and through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died? I don't think it means like perish as in like they'll die and go to hell, okay? I think what it means is just they'll die spiritually in a sense of their faith will be questioned, okay? They'll stumble is what they'll do. Now, you say, why do you believe that? Well, simply for the fact that later on it says thy brother, talks about a brother. Now, I think obviously we could apply this to someone who's not saved, and then they can see a bad example, and based upon that, they will reject the gospel, et cetera. First Corinthians 10, 19 says, what say I then that the idol is anything or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything? But I say that the things which the dental sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God. And I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. He cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. He cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? Now, why does it say that we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Because in Exodus chapter 20, it specifically says in regards to worshiping other gods, I am a jealous God. He's just visiting the iniquities of the fathers and to the children, to the third and fourth generation. He says, I am jealous. So, but it's just a little idol. He's even jealous of the little idol. The little Buddha that you keep tucked away in your drawer on the corner that no one sees. He's jealous of that. Because you should have no other gods before me, the Bible says, okay? Now, in first Corinthians 10 verse 23, he shows us the balance again. He says, all things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things what? Edify not. What does verse one of chapter eight say? You know, knowledge puppeth up, but charity what? Edify it. So again, he's saying, look, all things are lawful unto us. We could eat meat offered in tithes if we don't know about it. If they don't know, we could just eat it. Nothing's gonna happen to us, but we gotta make sure that we do things that edify. Okay, not just what's expedient. We need to do things that edify. Verse 24 says, let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth whatsoever sold. Verse 25, in the shambles that eat, asking no questions for conscience sake. Shambles simply means like the meat market, okay? For the earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof. If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go, whatsoever said before you eat, asking no question for conscience sake. You know, you go to a Buddhist home, you know, they put a bowl of pho right before you, just eat it. You say, what if it's rat? Just eat it. Amen. You know, what if it's dog? Yeah, eat it. Amen. Just do it, man. Don't ask any questions, just do it. Of course, pray for it. Then it's sanctified, then you can eat it. Verse 28, but, and if any man saying to you, this is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it. And for conscience sake, for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Conscience I say, not thine own, but of the other. For why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that which I give thanks? Again, it's reiterating what it's saying in First Timothy chapter four. Whether therefore you eat or drink, and whatsoever you do, do also the glory of God. It's like, man, this double-double. It's for the glory of God. Whatever I do, I'm doing it for the glory of God. I'm thanking the Lord for this. Verse 12, but when he sinned so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, he sinned against Christ. Why, because you're not walking charitably towards them. Wherefore, if me make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend. And what is he saying there as far as not eating, that's showing the amount of love that he wants to show for his brethren. And he's like, look, for the sake of my brother, I won't do it, okay? And in fact, at the last two verses of First Corinthians 10 says this, give no offense, neither to the Jew, nor to the Gentile, nor to the church of God, even as I please all men in all things, not seeking my own prophet, but the prophet of many that they may be saved, the Bible says. So he says, look, I'm trying to walk terribly towards my brethren who are weak in the faith, but I'm also trying to walk terribly towards those who are not saved, so that they can be saved. It's like priming the pump for the gospel is what it is. It's good, obviously we need to preach the gospel, and the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, but you know what helps is being a good testimony as well. Because who wants to listen to a jerk of a witness? Who wants to listen to some potty-mouthed, bad testimony Christian? No, you want to make sure that you're the best testimony so that when you're preaching the gospel, you have some credibility behind you. You know, this person's obviously charitable, he loves me, he's not a hypocrite, he's not perfect, but obviously he's a Christian, and it looks like he wants to live as a Christian, you know, I want to listen to this person. You know, we ought to do it for the sake of edifying the brethren, but also to save some as well. So this chapter's not very long, but it is packed out with a lot of principles, a lot of teachings, and I don't think anybody in our church struggles with this, in a sense, but it is great to learn. And I think if you don't take anything away from the sermon, take this. We need to grow in love, okay? Be loving, okay, and part of being loving is obviously being patient with people, people who are brand new in the faith, or they're struggling. I'm not talking about tolerating sin, we're not gonna tolerate sin here, okay? We're not gonna tolerate anything that the Bible tells us that, hey, because we have a commandment of the Lord in regards to that, right? We have commandment, God's already judged that. We're talking about things that we don't have commandments for, we don't have a specific permission for, or that we know that this person is not knowledgeable about, we need to be loving towards them, we need to be charitable towards them, okay? Be loving, and also couple that with knowledge, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day, thank you so much for 1 Corinthians chapter number eight. Help us as your people to have knowledge and not to be ignorant of the scriptures, but also to grow in our charity, our love for one another. Not just the unsaved, but also the brethren that are here. And God, I pray that you would mature us more and more, and that we would not just come to church and find the person who we love to talk to the most, may we look for new people and do our best to get to know the new people in our church and to walk charitably towards them, to be patient, to bring them along lovingly, and that they may mature as well. And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.