Take your Bibles, please, and
turn with me to the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 9. 1 Corinthians, chapter
9. I'd like to just look at the
first verse. 1 Corinthians, chapter 9, verse 1. The apostle Paul
says, am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen
Jesus Christ our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord? Let's pray together. Our Father, this evening we thank
you for this precious time to meet and, Lord, to consider the
scriptures. I pray that this evening would
you be pleased to bless this word to our hearts and these
things we ask for Christ's sake. Amen. The Apostle Paul in the
last chapter had dealt with the subject of Christian liberty,
but dealing with Christian liberty in the light of not abusing that
liberty if it caused a weak brother or sister to stumble. There may be some things that
the Lord has convinced you are not wrong to do. But if those things cause another
brother or sister to be offended or to question or to doubt, Paul
said, don't do them. Don't let your liberty be another's
stumbling block. It's not the right thing to do. So tonight he deals with another
question. Obviously he's being asked questions. He'd been asked, is it right
to eat meat offered to idols? Paul said an idol is nothing.
It's nothing. There's no such thing. It's nothing.
It's that little stone or whatever that is, that object, you know,
that somebody is saying as a God. There's only one God. Well, he
was asked another question and obviously it was concerning his
apostleship. Now, the apostles were those
that the Lord had personally called, personally taught, and
personally commissioned. Go into all the world. That was
to his apostles that he gave that commission. Go into all
the world, preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth
is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And these apostles were sent
forth and they were gifts. They were precious gifts. To the church, the scripture
says, Ephesians 4, 11 and 12, he gave some apostles, some prophets,
some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the perfecting,
for the growing, for the maturing of the saints, for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. So this
blessing, it was a blessing that the Lord would give Apostles. These men that Almighty God specially
blessed in the raising up, in the establishing of the early
assemblies. That's what they do. They were
taught. Taught of the Lord, taught by
the Lord, and sent by the Lord. So the Apostle Paul says in Hebrews
13, 17, Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves
for they watch for your souls as they that must give account. They may do it with joy and not
with grief for that is unprofitable for you." I've mentioned this
before, I read this again, Brother Henry Mahan's comments on those
that must give account. Whenever a preacher stands up
First of all, he gives account. I'm taking what I'm saying right
here into account. I'm having to give account to
myself of the truthfulness of what I'm saying and will say.
But also, I give account to you, the faithful, you that have been
taught the gospel, you that believe the gospel, that trust the Lord
Jesus Christ. I give, I preach this gospel
and I give account to you also. But also and especially we give
account unto the Lord, the one who called us. And that account
He says it is going to be given. He says here we must give account
that they may do it with joy and not with grief. And Brother
Henry's comments were this. He said there's going to be an
accounting obviously in the day of judgment whenever all stand
before God and pastors will give account over the assemblies. Now don't ask me what all that
means. I don't know. But he says that
they may do it with joy and not with grief. He said because that
won't be profitable to you. Now what does that mean? I don't
know. But I can tell you this. I must
be found accountable to myself, to you, and unto the Lord. So these apostles were sent,
taught, commissioned by the Lord to establish churches. These
assemblies, that's where these churches first came from. They
were missionaries that went out and had this apostolic authority
that had been given to them. There was twelve apostles and
the scriptures declare that one of them was the devil. Judas
Iscariot, the one who betrayed the Lord for 30 pieces of silver,
and his apostleship after He betrayed the Lord and he went
out and killed himself and went to his place, the scripture said.
And the other 11 got together and they were going to cast lots
and they were going to vote on who was going to be the replacement. And so they voted and a man named
Matthias was voted on and that was the first and last time that
you ever hear of him because that was not God's choice. That
was the apostles' choice. They voted and the Lord did not
receive the one that he didn't commission. So the Lord sent
a man named Saul of Tarsus I say the Lord sent him. The Lord was
directing him on his way to a place called Damascus. He was going
to take those of the way and he was going to take them and
bring them back to Jerusalem bound and everything and the
Lord stopped him. He called to him and he said, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? Who art thou, Lord? I'm Jesus
that you're persecuting. Lord, what would you have me
to do? Blinded him, sent him into Damascus, caused one of
his preachers in Damascus to go over and talk to him, preach
to him. Before the preacher went there,
he said, Lord, we've heard of this man. You know the story.
And the Lord told him, he said, go thy way, for he's a chosen
vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings
and the children of Israel. So these apostles, these men,
of which Paul was one of them, were set forth by the Lord, called
by the Lord personally. Now, every time I consider that,
they were called of the Lord and they were taught the gospel
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ." So here's the apostle Paul. Now the question
in this 1 Corinthians 9 is whether or not Paul was really an apostle.
There were some qualifications of being an apostle. And we're
going to look at that qualification here, just see, was Paul an apostle? Did he truly have the authority? And let me tell you where I'm
going with all this. If Paul, or since Paul, let me
say it like that, was called to be an apostle, he then had
the authority from the Lord himself in the preaching of this gospel
right here. that this is absolutely the word of God, inspired of
God, and God gifted him to go and to preach this gospel, and
the gospel that Paul preached He mentioned that so many times.
I certify you, that's what he said, that the gospel which was
preached of me, I am giving you certification from Almighty God. I'm certifying this. God is certifying
this. I'm telling you, according to
these scriptures that I preach, it's not after man. I didn't
receive it of man, I received it of the Lord. And we're gonna
see in just a few minutes the importance of what this man preached. He was an apostle. of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, when these apostles were
sent by the Lord, they were gifted. They were gifted. I want you
to take your Bible, turn to Hebrews 2, 1 to 4. We're going to turn
a few places here. Hebrews 2, 1 to 4. Hebrews chapter 2, verses 1 to
4. Therefore, we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at
any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense of reward, how, now listen to these next two verses,
how shall we escape if we neglect So great salvation, which at
the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed
unto us by them that heard Him, God also bearing them witness,
both with signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of
the Holy Ghost according to His own will. Now here's what Paul
is saying. The gospel that was preached by the Lord Jesus Christ,
His gospel. And how many times have we considered
the Lord's words? How many times do we consider
who he prayed for? Who he died for? Who he came
for? Call his name Jesus. He'll save
his people, his people from their sins. I lay down my life for
the sheep. I pray not for the world. I pray
for those you've given me out of the world. Thine they were,
you gave them Me. All power has been given unto
the Son, He said. And He should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given Him. That's the salvation we're
talking about. Sure salvation. God's salvation. Sovereign grace. Now, here's
what the apostle said under the inspiration of God's Spirit.
How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the
first was spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by
them that heard him. Apostles that heard him. The
apostles that heard him. And what did he give to these
apostles? He gave them signs and wonders
and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to
his own will. Why? Why? To confirm to everyone
that they went to that these men were sin of God. They were
doing the same things that the Lord Jesus Christ did. Now what
gifts did Paul have? I want you to look at Mark 16. Before I look at Paul's gifts,
look at Mark chapter 16. Here's the commission of the
Lord. He's talking to his apostles now. How many? 11 of them. There's 11 of them. Judas is
not there. Judas is dead. He's talking to 11 apostles. Mark 16, 15. He said unto them, go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow
them that believe. In my name shall they cast out
devils. They shall speak with new tongues.
They shall take up serpents. If they drink any deadly thing,
it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick,
and they shall recover. Now these gifts, these gifts,
Who had these gifts? Well, back in Hebrews, those
that heard the Lord. The salvation that was first
preached of the Lord and those that heard Him. He gave them
gifts. Now these gifts are going to
follow these apostles. That's going to be preaching
the gospel, the salvation that the Lord Jesus Christ preached.
And how are we going to escape If we neglect that salvation
that was preached of the Lord, someone might say, well, you
know, I understand, but if it's not exactly the same salvation
preached of the Lord and by those that heard Him, it is not the
salvation of God. This is the gospel. How are we
going to know that what Paul, now we're reading these epistles,
Paul and Matthew, these writers. How are we going to know that
those signs, I mean those scriptures are truly authenticated? How
are you going to know? The Lord said, I'll tell you
how you're going to know. I'm going to give them signs to confirm
that I sent these men. These are the ones, and he was
talking to 11 now. What are these signs? Well, look
at Acts 16. Acts chapter 16, verse 16. Acts 16, 16. The apostle Paul says, that was
his question, am I an apostle? Well, Acts 16. Verse 16, the
Lord had said concerning those that he sent out, these signs
shall follow them. Look at Acts 16, 16. One of them
was casting out devils. It came to pass, as we went to
prayer, a certain damsel, possessed of a spirit of divination, met
us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. The
same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, these men are
the servants of the Most High God, which show unto us the way
of salvation. And this did she many days. But
Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command
thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. And he came
out. The same hour. You know how Paul
did that? God Almighty did it through him.
The Lord gifted this man to cast out devils. He was gifted. Look at 1 Corinthians 14, 18.
We're going to come back to Acts, so you may want to hold your
thing. 1 Corinthians 14, speaking in tongues. Now you
know what speaking in tongues is, it's not this gibberish mess,
foolishness that people get in these assemblies and they start
all this foolishness. Speaking in tongues was the gift
to be able to preach in a known language, maybe not known to
you, but a known language. A language that you had never
learned before. On the day of Pentecost, there
were 120 of them preaching. And there was, you know, Carthage,
and from Parthia, and Mesopotamia, and all these countries. And
they said, these men are Galileans. These
men are Galileans, and we're hearing it in our own language. What happened? These men had
been gifted by God to preach the gospel in tongues, languages,
languages that they had never learned before. Now these signs
shall follow them. They'll speak with new tongues.
Look at 1 Corinthians 16. I'm sorry. I did say it right the first
time, 1 Corinthians 14, turn back there, 1 Corinthians 14,
verse 18. I thank my God, I speak with
tongues, and again, it's languages. I don't know how to speak Russian,
I've told you that, I don't know how to speak Russian. I don't
know how to speak, I barely, I really don't know how to speak
English, but I stab at that. But I really don't know how to
speak anything else. But these are languages that
Paul had never learned prior. He says, I thank my God. I speak with tongues more than
ye all. Yet in the church, I'd rather
speak five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach
others also than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue. Brethren,
be not children in understanding. How be it in malice, be ye children.
But in understanding, be men. Paul said, I do. The Lord has gifted me. when
it was appropriate to speak in languages that he had never learned
before. Who did the Lord give those gifts
to? His apostles. His apostles. He gave them to those 11. These
signs are going to follow them. Turn back to Acts 28. Acts 28
verse 3. How about taking up serpents? You know this one. Acts 28. Three
to five, they're on an island of Melita, and Paul gathered
a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire. There came a viper
out of the heat and fastened on his hand. When the barbarians
saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves,
no doubt this man's a murderer, whom though he escaped the sea,
yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast
into the fire and felt no harm. How did that happen? The Lord
gifted him. That venom snake didn't bite. Laying on hands, same chapter,
Acts 28 verse 8 and 9. Came to pass that the father
of Publius lay sick of a fever and a bloody flux, to whom Paul
entered in and prayed and laid his hands on him and healed him.
So when this was done, others also which had diseases in the
island came and were healed. So here's the fact. The Lord had gifted his apostles
with gifts of healing and signs to confirm that the Lord had
sent them. Now this foundational authority,
that authority of being an apostle, this authority, Paul says, is
not to be brought into question. He wasn't saying that to exalt
himself, but to bring to the forefront the distinguishing
grace and wisdom of God to set forth the Lord's mercy, not only
to the church at Corinth, but also to the churches throughout
the time remaining. Paul the Apostle, who penned
these words, I can tell you for a fact, God Almighty moved upon
this man's hand to write these words. These are the words of
God sent forth by a man who was called an apostle. Paul asked
this question, am I not an apostle? So now Paul, the apostle, He
was like every God-called object of God's grace. He saw himself
as being the chief of sinners, but one that was called and one
that was kept by God, not worthy, he said, to be called an apostle.
He said, I'm not worthy to be called an apostle. Why? Because
I persecuted the church. Paul was saying, when I did it
to one of you, he said, I was doing this to the Lord. When
I hurt one of God's people, I did it to Him. Why are you persecuting
me, Saul? Whenever anything is done to
one of God's people, I can tell you this, anything that is said
against God's people, I'm saying it against Him. He takes it personally. Paul said, I'm not worthy to
be called an apostle. But nonetheless, the Lord Jesus
Christ called me to this office and did it to His glory and for
the good of God's people. So why is Paul being so emphatic
concerning this calling? It's for God's glory. The Lord
was pleased to send His Word, was sending His Word through
men who penned these scriptures. and called these apostles and
sent them to the establishing of his churches. And so the gospel
that Paul preached, he said, this is the gospel. You want to know what God has
to say? Read what the Lord has said through his men, through
his apostles. And then he asks, or sets forth
these three other statements concerning his apostleship. He says, Am I not free? Though Paul readily admitted
himself to be the Lord's bond-servant. Remember a bond-servant was one
that served his master. He did his time and he was free
to go. But if he didn't want to leave,
he wanted to, I love my master, I don't want to leave. I want
to stay right here. I like being your servant. They'd take him
and bore his ear with an awl. They'd take him and put a hole
in his ear. That was a mark. This man is
a bond servant. He's a servant because he wants
to be. That's what Paul is. He said, I'm a servant, a bond
servant. of the Lord Jesus Christ, one that freely, thankfully gives
himself to the Lord and his master. Here he declared his freedom. Freedom and owing any allegiance
to any other. He said, I'm not a man's servant,
I'm the servant of the Lord. Am I not free concerning His
calling? God chose Him, ordained Him,
taught Him, sent Him as an apostle. Paul said, I'm a free man, the
Lord's servant, and I'm free. Free from what, Paul? Free from
what? Free from the penalty of the
law. free from the terror of justice, the terror of God's
judgment, free from the bondage and the curse and the dominion
of sin. I'm free. I'm free. If the Son
of Man makes you free, you're free. Paul said, I'm a free man. I'm not in bondage. Christ has
paid my debt and freed me. Free from all. Not only did the
Apostle set forth his authority of being an Apostle, stating
his freedom in Christ, he declared himself to be an eyewitness of
Christ's glory. Like the other Apostles, he was
a witness. Now a witness is somebody that
has first-hand information. If you witness a crime and you
tell me about it, And they don't want me on the stand. Why? Well, I didn't see anything.
I don't know anything. I know what you told me. A witness is somebody that has
first-hand experience, first-hand knowledge. This is a witness.
Here's his question in authenticating his apostleship. Have I not seen
Jesus Christ our Lord? Paul saw him? Well, this was
the qualification. I'm going to show you something.
Look in Acts 1. Acts chapter 1. Whenever they
were going to choose, they were going to vote on these two men. One of them was Verse 23, one of them was Barsabbas,
who was surnamed Justice. The other was Matthias. But here in verse 22 was something
that was needful for apostleship. Verse 22, beginning from the
baptism of John until that same day that he was taken up from
us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. Now let me just tell you what
Peter just said. The apostle Peter was not stating
that the replacement for Judas, that the apostle must be one
that witnessed the Lord from the time of his baptism. But
what he was saying, and I'm going to go back, I'm going to read
it in a way that you can understand what he said, and then I'm going
to go back and read these scriptures and you'll see what I mean. The one
that would replace Judas must be a witness of the surety of
Christ's resurrection. to be counted as an apostleship. What Peter was saying was this,
wherefore, of these men who have accompanied with us, the eleven,
this is what he's saying, these eleven that have accompanied
with us, all the time that the Lord Jesus was conversant among
us, I mean we who heard him speak on this earth. We who saw Him
and walked with Him beginning from the baptism of John until
the day He was taken up from us. We who were eyewitnesses
of all this from the beginning of His earthly ministry must
one of them be made a witness with us of His resurrection. Peter was saying these eleven,
we were all from the beginning when the Lord started His ministry.
But the one that replaces Judas must be one that was a witness
of his resurrection. They must have actually seen
the resurrected Lord. Now look at verse 22 again. Beginning
from the baptism of John until that same day that he was taken
up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his
resurrection. Wasn't saying he had to be there
from the time of John's baptism, but all of them who were from
the time of John's baptism and came up to actually witness the
Lord's resurrection, whoever is replacing Judas must be one
that did see the resurrected Lord. So in Acts 10, Verse 39
to 40, I'll read this Peter's preaching. He said, We are witnesses
of all things which He did, both in the land of the Jews and Jerusalem,
who they slew, hanged on a tree. Him, God raised up the third
day and showed Him openly. Peter was saying, we saw him
from the time of his earthly ministry, he died, he was raised
from the dead, and we've seen him. But then the Apostle Paul,
the scriptures declare Acts 9.17, after Saul of Tarsus now was
stopped on the road to Damascus, and he sent into Damascus, sent
in there, Ananias went his way, entered into the house, and putting
his hands on him said, Brother Saul, now if we want to know
if Saul of Tarsus, Paul the Apostle, if we want to know if he saw
the resurrected Lord, the Spirit of God moved on this writer to
pen this, on Luke to pen this in the book of Acts. Putting
his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that
appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest has sent me that
thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost. So here's what we know, that
the resurrected Lord appeared to Paul. On the road, Saul of
Tarsus. On the road to Damascus. Someone
said, well I thought it was just a vision. I thought it was just
a voice. I thought, well the Spirit of
God said it like this. that the Lord Jesus that appeared
unto thee in the way as thou camest. So here's what ends it. The Lord appeared to him. That's
what he said. Listen to this, Paul was visited
by the Lord while in prison, Acts 23, I'll read this to you,
23 11. And the night following, the
Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer, Paul. For as thou
hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also
at Rome. So Paul, like all the other apostles,
He was an eyewitness of his resurrected glory. That's what Peter wrote
of. Whoever, well the Spirit of God moved on Peter to say
this. Whoever is a replacement for Judas, he must be a witness,
an eyewitness of the resurrected Lord of which Paul was. So there was two. Am I not free? Have I not seen the Lord? And then the third point, are
ye not my work in the Lord? The last answer concerning Paul's
authority and confirmation of his apostleship. Has the Lord
not been pleased, this is what he says, has the Lord not been
pleased to raise up a church in this place, in this place
here in Corinth, he was talking about, and bless the gospel?
that I've been taught and commissioned to preach as an apostle? Has
the Lord not gifted me, gifted me with these witness gifts,
you know, of healing the sick and speaking in these unknown
languages and all. Has the Lord not, am I not free? The Lord was pleased to bless
the gospel. that Paul had been taught and
caused men and women to come out of spiritual darkness in
Corinth. And then Paul says, he said in
verse 2, and this will be the last, I said we're going to look
at one, I'll just mention this. If I be not an apostle unto others,
yet doubtless I am to you. For the zeal of mine apostleship
are ye. in the Lord. Paul here is saying
this, if others deny or refute my apostleship and the gospel
that I preach, he said, you don't. The proof of my office, he said,
is you. You are. Are you not my work? In the Lord, you're the living
evidence of God's hand upon me. You're the living evidence of
the power of God blessing the work that the Lord has sent me
to. You know, whatever he was to
others. You know, he was one especially
sent of God for the good of their souls. Paul said in 2 Corinthians
3, verses 2 and 3, ye are our epistle, written in our hearts,
known and read of all men. For as much as ye are manifestly
declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written
not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not in tables
of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. Now, in closing,
listen. Obviously, we never assume that
a faithful preacher of the gospel is not the Lord's called minister
because of an apparent famine of converts. Noah preached for
120 years, and there was Noah, and his wife, and his three sons,
and their wives. That was it. 120 years Noah preached. So it's not, if the Lord is not
pleased to bless, if there's an apparent famine, it's not
a sign. If a man's preaching the gospel,
he's preaching the gospel. He's doing exactly what the Lord's
called him. And we don't preach the gospel merely for the sake
of numbers. We preach and we wait upon the
Lord, knowing that the word preached is going to accomplish the purpose
for which it was sent. But, without a doubt, according
to these scriptures, is what I'm referring to right here,
there's no greater proof of God's blessing upon the faithful proclamation
of the Lord's gospel than the conversion of the Lord's people. Paul said concerning the blessing
of God's word, my work in the Lord, of the wolves that had
been called out of darkness from the time that this church was
brought together by the Lord. Are ye not the evidence of God's
blessing that the Lord would cause you to hear the gospel
of God's grace? He called you and gave you a
heart to call upon the Lord, confess Him, baptism. Is that
not an evidence of God's blessing? Paul says this is the evidence
of my apostleship. I'm an apostle. He said I'm free. The Lord made me free. I'm not
in bondage. I'm not in bondage. Bondage to
the works of the law. This authority that was given
to this apostle was penned in these scriptures.
The Lord blessed, and we read them tonight. And the message
that we preach tonight is the gospel that God blesses to the
salvation of His own. Oh, that the Lord might be pleased
to call out His people for His honor and for our eternal good. Amen.