(Numbers 16:41–50; Numbers 25:1–5)
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And I do not wish you to be ignorant, brothers, that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,
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and all were immersed into Moses in the cloud, and in the sea;
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and all ate the same spiritual food,
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and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking of a spiritual rock following them, and the rock was the Christ;
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but in the most of them God was not well pleased, for they were strewn in the wilderness,
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and those things became types of us, for our not passionately desiring evil things, as also these desired.
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Neither become idolaters, as certain of them, as it has been written: “The people sat down to eat and to drink, and stood up to play”;
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neither may we commit whoredom, as certain of them committed whoredom, and there fell in one day twenty-three thousand;
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neither may we tempt the Christ, as also certain of them tempted, and perished by the serpents;
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neither murmur, as also some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer.
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And all these things happened to those persons as types, and they were written for our admonition, to whom the end of the ages came,
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so that he who is thinking to stand—let him observe, lest he fall.
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No temptation has taken you—except that of man; and God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tempted above what you are able, but He will make, with the temptation, also the outlet, for your being able to bear [it].
Flee from Idolatry
(Exodus 20:22–26)
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For this reason, my beloved, flee from the idolatry;
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as to wise men I speak—judge what I say.
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The cup of the blessing that we bless—is it not the fellowship of the blood of the Christ? The bread that we break—is it not the fellowship of the body of the Christ?
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Because one bread, one body, are we the many—for we all partake of the one bread.
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See Israel according to the flesh! Are those not eating the sacrifices in the fellowship of the altar?
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What do I say then? That an idol is anything? Or that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything?
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[No,] but that the things that the nations sacrifice—they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not wish you to come into the fellowship of the demons.
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You are not able to drink the cup of the LORD and the cup of demons; you are not able to partake of the table of the LORD and of the table of demons;
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do we arouse the LORD to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
All to God’s Glory
(1 Peter 4:1–11)
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All things are lawful to me, but not all things are profitable; all things are lawful to me, but not all things build up;
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let no one seek his own—but each another’s.
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Eat whatever is sold in the meat-market, not inquiring, because of the conscience,
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for the earth and its fullness [are] the LORD’s;
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and if anyone of the unbelieving calls you, and you wish to go, eat all that is set before you, inquiring nothing, because of the conscience;
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and if anyone may say to you, “This is a thing sacrificed to an idol,” do not eat, because of that one who showed [it], and of the conscience, for the LORD’s [is] the earth and its fullness:
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and conscience, I say, not of yourself, but of the other, for why [is it] that my liberty is judged by another’s conscience?
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And if I partake thankfully, why am I spoken of [as] evil, for that for which I give thanks?
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Whether, then, you eat, or drink, or do anything, do all to the glory of God;
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become offenseless, both to Jews and Greeks, and to the Assembly of God;
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as I also please all in all things, not seeking my own profit, but that of many—that they may be saved.
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