 Well, today we're in chapter 10 here in 1 Corinthians. I'll read to you verses 14 and 15, and we'll get into our study. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, introducing it by looking at verses 14 and 15, and going on back and sharing a few things, and then moving into the passage. Paul writes, Therefore, my beloved, flee from my doletry. I speak as to wise men, judge for yourselves what I say. Now as we've been going through 1 Corinthians, our last installment as we are here looking at verses 1 through 13, Paul had just warned the Corinthian church against four particular sins. He had spoken to them and warned them concerning idolatry, sexual immorality, tempting Christ and murmuring. And he had spoken concerning the fact that those are sins that had been practiced by the nation of Israel and it had actually resulted in them being judged by God. Now as he's been writing, he made it clear as he says in verse 11, all these things happen to them as examples. And so these were warnings that God was given to the nation of Israel, warnings against overconfidence. That's why he moved into verse 12 and said, Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. Because if you enter into this overconfident attitude, you're right in the place where you're going to be humbled. You're in a place where you're going to stumble and fail. And that's what he was trying to communicate to the people. It's been said there's no greater weakness than an unguarded strength. And that's true because we can begin to place our trust in our own ability to resist evil and that makes us vulnerable. So somebody gets saved after they've been an alcoholic for many years. They get filled with the Holy Spirit. They go out and they begin to do ministry. They're on the street sharing the gospel with people. And before you know it, they have a burden arise in their heart. And they want to speak to those who also had been or are in alcoholic, we'll say the clutches of alcoholism. And so what do they do? They go into a bar and they want to go in and share with the people, the patrons there in the bar. It's a very unwise thing to do because entering in there, that's your old stomping grounds. That's a place where your flesh found its greatest pleasure. And so you have to be careful that you don't go back to the area that you used to be simply because you think you have the strength now to resist that temptation. You have to be wise in these things because this unguarded strength is a great weakness. You have to be very careful. We can begin to place our own trust in ourselves and as a result, we're going to be vulnerable and we can fall. Proverbs 2826 says, he who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered. Proverbs 1318 says, poverty and shame will come to him who disdains correction, but he who regards reproof will be honored. So we need to be careful not to trust in our own ability. We have to be careful to remember we don't stand in our own strength. We stand in the power of God. We stand in the strength of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're empowered by his Holy Spirit. That's what Paul was saying in Ephesians 610 when he said, finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. That's why it's so very important for us to begin and to conclude our days and every moment we can in between that it comes to our attention. That's why we need to say, God strengthen me. You know, when I'm about to come out and teach, when I'm seated here waiting to come up onto the platform, you know, I'll, I'll pray and I'll say, God, give me strength. God, give me wisdom. God, give me the ability to, to present your message to your people. You never want to walk up in your own strength and try and do spiritual work because you're doomed for failure if you do. The Bible tells us in Philippians 413, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And so we rely on him. So it's not our personal strength and it's not our intrinsic abilities that we possess, but it's God's power in us. Like it says in Zechariah 4-6, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, sayeth the Lord of hosts. And so God wants to do a work through us. Be very careful that you do not get into position of trying to do spiritual work in the attitude and strengths of your own flesh because you are doomed to failure. God in Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24 says this, he says, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glories, glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercise loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth from these things I delight, sayeth the Lord. So without God, we are powerless against the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil. We need to remember that we're in a spiritual battle. We need to be armed with spiritual weapons and we have to be careful not to think that we're impervious to temptation because we can fail. Now in verse 13, he had said, no temptation has taken you or overtaken you except such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape. That you may be able to bear it. And so this temptation he's speaking about is a trial or a moment of proving. It really is testing your faithfulness, your integrity, your virtue, your constancy. And he's saying that victory is available, but we have to humbly reach out to Christ in order to have it. There can be an enticement to sin and it can arise from within or it can be through outward circumstances. There can be adversity and affliction. And God can send these things into our life to allow us to be tested in order that we might demonstrate the reality of our character and our faithfulness to him. But the fact is no temptation has overtaken you except as is common to man. I can't tell you over the years how many people have thought of themselves as going through unique temptations and unique trials. And the fact is what you go through is not unique. It's what everybody goes through. In one form or another, there may be variations, but it's basically the same kinds of things. And sometimes we get all cut up thinking, I'm the only person who's ever gone through this. But if you were in a group and you began to share and you asked the people the question, how many of you understand what I'm talking about? Have you been there? Half of the people will raise their hands and they'll identify with you because they have been there. And those who don't raise their hand in a couple of years, they'll raise their hand because they will be there. Because that's what happens, guys. So there's no temptation taking you but such as is common to man. It is something that we all go through. And therefore, what we need to know is that with the temptation also comes a way of escape that God makes it possible for us to enter into, that we can go through and make it through to the other side and God will move. Now, we've been seeing that as we looked at those verses together. And so as we're gonna move on now, I'll develop a couple of more thoughts about that and then roll into verse 14. The thing that I'd like to say before we go into verse 14 is this. How do I respond to testings? When I go through testing, I can tell you what the normal response in my earlier days and it can still, I can still have this happen. It's just frustration and I can get angry and I can get tired and I can, whoa, unto God. I can say, oh God, I'm so tired of this. When is this going to stop? And I can even blame the Lord. I wonder if any of you have ever gotten mad at the Lord and blamed him for anything. I had the habit of doing that for quite some time. I've mentioned this to you before, but it bears repetition at this moment. When the Lord began to try to teach me not to blame him for everything. And the reason I blamed him for everything is because I knew he's sovereign. I knew he knows everything and therefore if you're sovereign and know everything, then you know this is gonna be something I don't like. So why did you allow that in my life? There was a logic to it, a carnal logic, but logic nonetheless. And I can still remember I got out of the military and when you've gone into the military, especially when I did in 1971, I used to have shoulder length hair and then you go into the army and then they have you cut your hair completely off. And so for two years, you have somebody telling you to cut your hair when you don't want to because you wanna let your hair grow. So I finally get out of the army and I start growing my hair and I started growing it for about a year, but I went to a Bible college that demanded that we cut our hair. And to be honest with you, I didn't like it, but everybody knows that Jesus had a very short haircut, I guess. And so Biola at that time had haircut regulations. If I was gonna go to Biola, I needed to cut my hair and I did not like the idea of having to cut my hair because it was just getting to the length that I liked it. But if I'm going to go to school, you have to cut your hair. So I go to this place to get my hair cut where I had gotten my haircut before, about three or four years before. And I went in and I said, look it, I'd like you to cut my hair and I described how I wanted my haircut. And so he goes, oh, okay, no problem, man. So I, you know, I'm there. And then he turns me around after giving me a haircut and he had given me a pompadour. And so my hair is like way out like that, like you're just wearing a round, you know, and it's all rounded and I'm looking and I hadn't worn my hair like that since I was 16 years old. And so I am not happy. He's cut all my hair off and now I've got this pompadour and I had a motorcycle. So I climb on my motorcycle. It was so sprayed so hard, I didn't need a helmet because if I'd have fallen off, it wouldn't have hurt my head at all. And I am angry and I'm driving from Whittier back to Norwalk where I lived. I still remember that. You can hear the wind whistling past my head, you know, and I get home. I go into the bathroom, I put my head under the sink and I start washing my hair. After I wash my hair and it dries, it begins to shrink up on me. So I look like a chia plant and I'm not real happy. And so I'm trying to comb it and it's just kind of standing just wherever it feels like it. I claim on my motorcycle and by that time I'm letting the Lord know how I feel about all of this. You know how I hate that I'm rubbing mine. You know how I hate this. I hate this. How come you allowed this to take place in my life? It's just a stupid haircut. Why couldn't you have, and I started to drive. I get to a corner and I'm yelling at the Lord. Why couldn't you, and I hit some oil as I was power shifting from first to second, spun the bike completely around. If I flew off the bike in the intersection and I'm there and I heard the distinct voice of the Lord say, stop yelling at me. I have never forgotten that lesson. I picked the bike up and dragged it to the side. Nothing was in, the bike wasn't scratched up or bent up or anything. It was just, I know it was the Lord. So he says, oh you're so superstitious, so be it. I know it was the Lord and I heard his voice say, don't yell at me. I have never forgotten that lesson. Don't be getting so mad. It's just a haircut. Your hair will grow back. I could have cut your legs off. I said, you know what, Jesus? You are good. Thou art good, oh Lord, thou art good. How do you deal? How do you deal with problems? How do you deal with testings? Well, one, when you enter into temptation, how do you deal with it? One, pray. One of the first things that we need to learn to do is to pray. You know, pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, Jesus said, but the flesh is what? Is weak. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Pray, God give me strength as we're going through this. I want to remain faithful to you. Secondly, trust. As you're praying, have an attitude of trust. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not into thine own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your path. So one, I pray, God help me to go through this. Lord, I'm going to trust you through this. And then a third thing is make sure you keep your eyes on the Lord through the testing. Keep your eyes on Jesus Christ. The apostle Peter and the boys are in a boat. There's a storm and out of the mist in the darkness comes a figure and it's Jesus and they begin to freak out. Well, I would have freaked out today. They're freaking out. It's the Lord. Someone cries out. Thomas says, I doubt it. That'll take you a moment. And here comes the Lord Jesus. And Peter cries out to him. If it is you, Lord, command that I should climb out of this boat and walk towards you. Jesus says, come on, climb out. And then you see the boys, all these guys in the boat as the only one who had the willingness to climb out and trust was the apostle Peter. And I can envision him in my mind's eye because I've been on the Sea of Galilee and I've been there when there've been some storms, not huge storms like this, but storms. And how choppy the water is and how the boat is moving back and forth. And you can see this guy climbing out and he steps down on water and it's like concrete. It's like he's walking on a sidewalk. Can you imagine that for a minute? It's so beyond me. And he begins to walk on water and it's so cool. I mean, imagine that. I am doing the impossible. But the Bible tells us that he sees the waves, how boisterous it is, he hears the sound of the wind and he takes his eyes off the Lord and it only took a moment to take his eyes off Jesus and what happens? He begins to sink. And I have to be honest with you, I think it probably was rather humorous because as he's sinking, you have a picture of Jesus reaching down and grabbing this guy and pulling him back out. So he's going down into the water. He's beginning to sink. Now he's being pulled back out of the water and now that he's pulled back out of the water, there he is with Jesus and Jesus, I can picture him with his arm around his shoulders and why did you doubt? Why did I doubt? I'm walking on water. I mean, come on, those guys are still in the boat. There was no argument. Why did you doubt? Well, the reason I did and I have little faith is because I took my eyes off of you and I noticed what was going on around me and it's not possible for me to walk on water. And the answer is, to that would be absolutely it's not possible unless God holds you up. And if God holds you up, then anything is possible with him. Isaiah 26.3, you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on you because he trusts in you. God will anchor you solidly because of your trust in him. So you pray and you trust and you keep your eyes on the Lord. This too shall pass and we go through trials. We don't stay in trials. The only way you stay in trials is if you have children. That's another story I'll talk to you about some other time. How do I respond to testings? I wanna pray, I wanna trust, I wanna keep my eyes fastened on the Lord. I will make it through. Why? He says here, that God will make a way of escape that I am able to bear it. Now, moving into verse 14 into 15, he says, my beloved flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men. So he's continuing his admonition against idolatry. Now some, we've already seen this in chapter eight, some were stumbled. Some were stumbled by meat that was offered to idols and then there are others in their group who were not. So this led to some not only having liberty to eat certain foods, but it also had led some to begin to engage once again in idolatry. You see, they were free to be around those who were pagans but they were not free to be involved in idol worship. They were there amongst those who practiced it but they themselves had been set free from it but now they're beginning to become entangled. You see, there's a prohibition against idolatry here that is found not only in the new but especially as we know it's beginning. We see this prohibition in the old. The Old Testament is very clear in other words that we should not be involved in idolatry. Leviticus 19 verse four, do not turn to idols nor make for yourselves molded gods. I am the Lord your God. But in first John chapter five verse 21, little children keep yourself from idols. So Old Testament, New Testament prohibition against idolatry and so he's saying flee idolatry. Now how do I flee idolatry? I make sure that I don't put myself in immediate danger of its influence. Idolatry is something that produces death in our lives. Turn with me for a moment to Psalm 115. I wanna show you something in that passage. Psalm 115, you say where is Psalm 115? I'm just starting to open the Bible. Psalm 115 is right next to Psalm 114 just before Psalm 116, that'll help. Psalm 115 verses two through eight. Why do the nations say where is their God? Our God is in heaven. He does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold made by the hands of men. They have mouths but they cannot speak. Eyes but they cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear. Noses but they cannot smell. They have hands but cannot feel. Feet but they cannot walk. Nor can they utter a sound with their throats. But listen to what he says. Those who make them will be like them and so will all who trust in them. There's a principle. You become like that which you worship. You become like that which you worship. Idolatry, he says you carve these things out from wood you'll place something over them. Silver or gold. And you basically with one portion of a tree, cut it up Isaiah says and you use the wood as the wood that you use to cook your meals. And then the other portion you fashion into a God and you say you are my God. And the Psalmist is saying how useless it is for us to have graven images, for us to have false gods, idols, because there's no life in them. They have no ability to save. They have eyes they can't see, ears but can't hear, noses can't smell, mouths but can't speak. Hands but can't reach and touch your feet and they can't walk to deliver you. And the problem is as you become just like them you're just as dead as they are. Because there's no life in idolatry. There's no way that you can be saved through your idols. There's no way that a statue is gonna be there to save you. It's an interesting thing but I've had people in our fellowship even after getting saved asked me questions related to the little statues that they at one time used to have all around the house and they say what should I do with those statues? What should I do with them? And I said it's a matter of conscience. You need to determine what you're gonna do with them. I've told you this before when Marie and I started dating just before we dated and just before she gave her heart to the Lord Marie had a little statue of her favorite patron saint, St. Joseph. And she had that little statue on the dashboard of her car. And I guess, and his face was facing traffic and his hands were over his eyes because she scared him half the time. And the sun had melted him so he looked more like Saint Hunchback of Notre Dame. Marie used to carry in her wallet a little brown scapular because in the Catholic church, how many of you know what scapulars are? Raise your hand. She had a little brown, was it brown or green? Well, they're different colors. I mean, she had a rainbow. It was brown, right? It was a little brown scapular, you know? And I've told you the story before. I was going through her wallet looking for money and also looking at, I wanted to take her to a real nice place. I wanted to make sure she had enough to pay for it. And as we were, I was looking through her wallet, I said, I thought you were my girl. And she said, I am. I said, no, you're not. You've got a boyfriend. And she says, yeah, it's you. I said, no, it's not. You're going out with Joe. And she said, Joe, what are you talking about? And I pulled out this little picture of St. Joseph. I said, you're still carrying Joe around with you? And so early in her Christian walk, she still had these little items from her past religious faith. She felt that that scapular, the bearer of the scapular, if you die, you go straight to heaven. She thought that there was truth to that. The little statues, she thought that there was a benefit of her blessing to have that. When she grew up, her mother would walk in. Her mom would go to church and bring home holy water. And Marie would be in bed and she'd feel water sprinkling all over her. And it was her mom with the holy water, you know, St. Grace, my mother-in-law, you know, putting water on her. And that's what she grew up in. You know, and for me, I grew up with the same background. And so I knew the little prayers, you know, related to various things where blessings would come if you recited these prayers. I knew those prayers and I did those things. And I didn't have any problem with little statues and little reminders of heaven, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But the Bible says to us, stay away from those things. Stay away from those things. God says he would not have us to have graven images. Nothing representing heaven. Why? Because he's the invisible God. And anytime you try and create God in a three dimension, in a dimensional, you're reducing him from what he is. And not only that, but you begin to trust in those things. They become your good luck charm. That's why some people will wear their little rosaries. You know, if they're afraid that there's a demon at the house, they will bless all the doorways with holy water. I mean, there's an awful lot. You guys who come from the Catholic tradition understand what I'm talking about. There are so many things. Little, little statues with candles that you light and you name it. And it all takes away from the Lord. It all does. It takes your eyes from God. And it puts it on candles. It puts it on rosaries. It puts it on holy water. It puts on everything but Jesus Christ. Stay away from idols. Stay away from anything that keeps you away from Jesus Christ. What idolatry does, it actually gives rise to compromise. And Paul wanted the Corinthians to be free from the sin of compromise. You cannot have Jesus and the world at the same time. In Luke 16, 13, we read no servant can serve two masters. He either will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Now, as he's speaking about this, he uses as an illustration what we call communion. Notice what he says in verse 16. The cup of communion or rather the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body for we all partake of that one bread. And so the cup of blessing, this cup that he's speaking of the cup of blessing is the last cup drunk at the end of a meal as a final thanksgiving for God's blessings. But it is also what is called the third cup of the Passover celebration. And this was the cup that became part of the communion service that is done in remembrance of Jesus Christ. And I was reading on this and I wrote this down. The third cup is taken after the meal. It is called the cup of redemption which reminds us of the shed blood of the innocent lamb that brought our redemption from Egypt. This was not just any cup. It was the cup of redemption from slavery into freedom. This is our communion cup. And now we do that in remembrance of Jesus Christ. So he begins to speak concerning this, this cup of blessing. And he goes on to develop this. And by the way, when we get to chapter 11 I'll give you a full teaching on communion. But he says in verse 17, we be in many are one bread and one body. We all partake of that one bread. This to me is one of the most important scriptures. I have certain things that I take to. I know that I should take to the whole Bible and it should make me into a whole Christian. I realize that. But there are certain things that matter to me. This is one of those things. And what it is is this. And I want you to see this. For we be in many are one bread and one body. We all partake of that one bread. In the body of Christ, there's neither Jew nor is there Gentile. There's neither slave nor free. There's neither male nor female. We are all one in him. That I honestly believe is a message that a lot of people have forgotten. And maybe some have never, never even, even learned. It means an awful lot to me without going into a lot of detail as to why. I believe that the church needs to live this out. We belong together. And it doesn't matter whether you're, whatever color you are, whether you're brown, whether you're white, whether you're red, whether you're Asian, whether you're black, we gotta put those things away. We have to. We have to put those things away. Because when we get caught up with our ethnic identity, we're dividing the body of Christ up. And those who are not part of that identity feel left out. And we have to be sensitive to that. And sometimes people aren't. In my experience, people very often are not sensitive to that. Prejudice is an evil thing. And it should not be in the body of Christ. And prejudice isn't just white people not liking people of other colors. Every ethnicity has their own prejudices. Everyone does. And when we exalt one over the other, we're dividing the body of Christ up. That's why you hear me say as often as you do, we are one in him. We are one, not Juan, we are one in him. We are one in Jesus Christ. Please, and I know I'm speaking to people understand this. I know that. But in case somebody may not, this will go over the air. In case somebody's listening right now, this isn't true to you. It is true in the Bible. We are by one spirit baptized into one body. And that one body is to manifest God to the world. But when we get caught up saying, no, I've got to go to the Hispanic church, or I've got to go to the Anglo church, or I have to go to the African American church, or the Native American church, I understand the cultural realities of that. I do understand that. And I'm not knocking it either way. I understand that. But at the same time, there isn't a Mexican church. There isn't a black church. There's just the church, the body of Christ. We belong together. We need to understand that. And when people walk in to the room, they ought to feel like they're part of the family, regardless of what their ethnic background may be. We have to understand that. It's something important for us. We really need to understand that. And so we, being many, are one bread and one body. We are the one body. Unity is visibly expressed through our participation in the communion service. And the body of Christ is that one body. It is not to be marked by division. It is not to be marked by schism. What keeps us together? What keeps us together is not the name of the church. What keeps us together is the love of the Lord. You wouldn't have hung around with me in the world because you wouldn't have liked me. I wouldn't have hung around with you unless I could take advantage of you some way. In the world, you chose friends and those you hung around with based on the value that you got from being with them. That's not the church. The church isn't that way. We are united together by the spirit of God and we operate together through the love of God. And when people walk in to groups like this, those who don't know Jesus, if they walk into a group like this, they ought to say, there's something different about these people here. There's something different about these people. Now what is it? Because guys, when I first went to Calvary Chapel as a 20-year-old kid, and I was raised, and sometimes I get people mad at me, oh, you're knocking the Catholic Church. I could have been raised a Baptist. I could have been raised a Presbyterian. I wasn't. I was raised a Catholic. So that's my testimony. Being raised in the Catholic Church, I would go to church and there would be people there giving the greeting to one another and all of that who couldn't stand one another. I mean, if they walked out of the church, they wouldn't even look at each other and they didn't like each other. So when I grew up, I was in a group of people, and I don't want to sound like I'm judging them because God knows that human beings being human beings. We can do that here too. It's just my experience. When I walked out of the church, it was like I went to visit God for a while and then I left. But it wasn't as if he was in me and the church was gathering together. I was going to a location so that we could all go to church together. I didn't have a clue what it meant to be a Christian. I didn't have a clue what it meant to be part of a church. And so it was just for me just the place where there was it just wasn't otherworldly. It wasn't a taste of heaven for me. It was just a group of people gathering in a building. So the first time I went into Calvary Chapel, there was something different there. I had a feeling when I walked in. And it was all packed and all these kids were seated on the floor and filling the pews and up there in the stage area. And I remember walking in for the first time in the summer of 1970. I was 19, 20 years old. And I walked into that room and I had I drank some beer and I smoked some pot before I went to church. I went in barefooted fully expecting to get kicked out of the church, fully expecting to. Looking forward to it so that I could say you're all hypocrites. All of you are the same. What's the difference? They had to kick me out of the Catholic church. They kicked me out of your church. What's the difference? And they accepted me there, which freaked me out. And I remember seeing Lonnie Frisbee, who was the youth minister there walking out there and he was a freaky looking hippie and I thought well this place is different. This place is different. Something different about this place. Well it's like that phrase looking past the hair and straight into the eyes. I was talking to one of the members of Love Song the drummer, his name is John and he said when he met Pastor Chuck Smith he was a brand new Christian. He had shoulder length there and I met Pastor Chuck and he said and he looked past my hair straight into my eyes and I remembered that song. It's one of the lyrics in Love Song one of their songs Little Country Church and I remembered that and I said yeah but this is something else I remembered when I was speaking to him. It's been almost 42 years since I gave my heart to the Lord and so I remember when we first got saved I would walk into a Bible study and you would walk up to somebody the first thing you did is you hug them the first thing you did you would walk into the house and you would hug them then you would say what's your name? because we didn't even know them we would walk in and we would hug them what's your name bro and then the next thing we would do is we would look in their eyes and when John was telling me that I said you know I forgot that's right we would look in their eyes because a brother in the Lord would look back at you and there would be just a recognition you would look back at you and you'd say this guy doesn't know God yet you would know it because there was no connection and so there's something very mystical in the body of Christ that we're forgetting that we're forgetting when you come in here well you know most of these people they come in you see them you know whatever but it hit me and I told John that because when he was talking to me he was staring in my eyes and I was just smiling looking back and he hit me this is the kind of connection we used to have at the age of 20 when we would walk in and that's how we knew if someone was a brother that's why when Jehovah's Witnesses came to my door and I looked at them I said these people aren't for real because the Holy Spirit was speaking in me there was no kinship there was no sense of belonging to one another see I don't want this church to become just a group of people hanging around in the same location now I'm not saying please turn and look into that person's eyes next to you I'm not saying that or take out a mirror because you're sitting by yourself oh I'm not saying that I'm just saying there's something deeper to be in the body of Christ than we allow ourselves to see and communion when you take communion it's a unity of heart over the essential reality of Jesus dying on a cross for us and we together enjoy this communion because we're one in him what keeps us together the name of the church the location the times that we go to church no the love of God that's what keeps us together now I've gone a long time and I still have a few verses to go verse 18 observe Israel after the flesh are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar what am I saying then that an idol is anything or what is offered to idols is anything but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons you cannot drink the cup of the Lord in the cup of demons you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy are we stronger than he and so when Israel made their offerings some of that offering would be offered to the Lord but some of the offering would be eaten by the priests and some of the offering would be eaten by those who are making the offering the point he's making is everyone was involved and everyone identified with that which was being offered when he says in verse 19 what am I saying then that an idol is anything or what is offered to idols is anything he's simply saying I'm not giving credibility to idolatry an idol is made of wood and rock and an idol has no life what I am saying is when you involve yourself in this kind of service you are identifying with all that it symbolizes and therefore do not identify with what is offered to demons in verse 21 you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy are we stronger than he this isn't a piece of advice it's a simple fact we all know this you can't love Jesus and you can't love Satan you can't choose which one you're going to love which one you're going to serve no man can serve two masters I've been thinking about the claims of Christ recently in a new way in a new fashion perhaps not so much new but in a renewed fashion and the more I read Jesus' words the more radical he becomes to me because he didn't say follow me part time did he he didn't say love me with a little bit of your heart that's cool if that's as much as you can then I'm fine with that did he he said I want you to die daily I want you to pick up your cross daily and follow me he said you've got to make a choice who is it that you're going to serve you know one of the greatest problems I see in the church today is people trying to serve two masters you can't you can't it's going to be one or the other but it can't be both it can't be both it has to be one or the other either it's the Lord or it's his enemy but you can't serve both of them you have to make a choice you cannot partake of the things that killed Jesus you can't partake of those things with pleasure and still love Jesus you can't do that it's either all Jesus or it's nothing now when it becomes all Jesus what that simply means is today it's all Jesus I go to bed tomorrow morning I wake up and I say Lord today it's all you and then I wake up the next day and I say Lord it's all you today see sometimes people think oh if I say it's all Jesus and the first thing he's going to do is he's going to send me to Saudi Arabia to be a missionary I don't want to do that I'm afraid what he's going to do because we think his will for us is bad but when you're in the center of the will of God that's the safest and best place to be when you're in the center of the will of God it's running from the will of God that causes you all the problems and you want to know something about the hound of heaven he doesn't stop hounding you he pursues you until he obtains you so the best thing you can do is give up now why fight him for a week a month a year ten years give up now it is safer to do that it's better to do that just give up Lord here I am what do you want to do with me today if you'd have told me years ago when I first got saved and I've been thinking a lot about this lately and I've come out in other studies forgive me for repeating myself but if you'd have told me years ago that what I'd be ending up doing is what I'm doing right now I'd have thought you're crazy I'd have thought you're nuts I'd have thought are you kidding me you're saying that one day I'm going to stop drinking stop doing the drugs stop running around and I'm going to become a man who tells the truth and doesn't steal and is faithful to a woman and I'm going to raise children and be a pastor are you kidding me what kind of plans I have for you or beyond any imagination you might have when you let go when you let go you will be amazed at what God will do in your life when you let go you can't plan your life better than he's planned for you you can't come up with a better scheme for yourself when you float in the will of the Lord and allow God to move you according to his will every day is an adventure it's really an amazing life following Jesus Christ but when we get caught up saying oh no I've got a plan my own life out no so what I learned to do and I'm learning to do is to love the Lord today with as much as is within me and then tomorrow I'm going to love him with as much as is within me and guess what tomorrow I'm going to be able to love him more when I first married my wife the day we got married I said to her I love you but over the years I have come to realize that I did love her then but I didn't even know what love is until now until now I love her more today than I did yesterday and I will love her more tomorrow than I do today that's how it works and she well she has every reason to love me look how wonderful I am what a deal for her God is good if you love the Lord tomorrow you're going to love him more because he gives you more to love him for it's so easy yet it requires death it requires me dying to myself so I die daily and I ask the Lord help me to live for you I will not try to worship God and worship an idol simultaneously I will be one with Jesus Christ and that communion represents that oneness I have with him I will pursue him and him alone