power of Jesus name. Let's all
stand together, number 42. All hail the power of Jesus'
name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth a royal diadem and
crown him Lord of all. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of Israel's race,
ye ransomed from the fall. Hail Him who saves you by His
grace, and crown Him Lord of all. Hail Him who saves you by
His grace, and crown Him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every
tribe, bond this terrestrial ball. To him all majesty ascribe,
and crown him Lord of all. To Him all majesty ascribe, And
crown Him Lord of all. O that with yonder sacred throng
we at his feet may fall, we'll join the everlasting throng and
crown him Lord of all. We'll join the everlasting song
and crown him Lord of all. Please be seated. Good morning. You'd like to open your Bibles
with me, we're going to be in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. 1 Corinthians
chapter 9. I've titled this study on these
last few verses of this chapter, Run for the Prize. Run for the Prize. Let's pray together. Our merciful
Heavenly Father, we're thankful that we're able
to To sing from the heart. About
the glory of my dear son. I know how we pray. That he would be crowned. That
you would enable us to set our affections on him. We pray that
he would be lifted up. The preaching of your gospel.
The teaching of your word. We pray Lord that you would be
merciful to us and that. She would minister grace to our
hearts as we experience thy forgiveness. And Lord, we ask that you would.
Cause us to. To set our our goal on the prize. We ask it in Christ name. Amen. You have your Bibles open with
me to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Beginning in verse 24, Paul begins
with, Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one
receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. What is it that we are seeking
to obtain? The Lord said to Abraham, I am
thine exceeding great reward. Christ is the prize. Paul said
in Philippians chapter three, he said, I've not yet apprehended
that which has apprehended me. But this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, I press towards the mark for
the prize of the high calling. That prize is Christ. The gospel
of God's free grace in the glorious person and finished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ is what Paul's talking about, running after.
He's not talking about running after success. He's not talking
about running after happiness. He's not talking about some sort
of purpose-filled life. Men that write those kind of
books, they're talking about gratifying your own sense of
purpose in this life by being a servant to others, being forgiving,
having some goal to achieve in this life, being successful. That's not what Paul's talking
about. He's talking about remaining faithful to the gospel. Turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter
4, because I want us to... He's not talking about overcoming
trials. He's not talking about developing
a spirit of humility and sacrifice in this life. He's talking about
remaining faithful to the gospel. And those who are in Christ will
be kept, and they will remain faithful. Turn to me. You have
your Bibles open to 2 Timothy chapter 4. Look at verse 6. He says, For I am now ready to
be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have
fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I
have kept the faith. What is the faith? Faith is the
substance of things hoped for. It's the evidence of things not
seen. Faith is trusting Christ for all your righteousness before
God. Faith is looking unto Him as
the author and the finisher of our salvation. Christ is everything
in faith. Faith is believing God. It's
trusting Christ. It's trusting His sacrificial
death on Calvary's cross as the only means by which my sin can
be put away before God. It's being satisfied with what
God's satisfied with, and God's only satisfied with Christ. And
God said, when I see His blood, then I'll be satisfied. When
I see the travail of his soul, then I'll be satisfied. And he
did see the travail of his soul, didn't he? And God was satisfied,
for he bore the iniquity of many. And so, that's the whole... He's talking about running this
race, and he says, he said, I've kept the faith. Now, is Paul
taking credit for having kept the faith? No, he knows that
the same one that gave him that faith, that called him out of
darkness into the marvelous light of the gospel, is the one who
kept him in the faith, kept him from falling, and is now ready
to present him faultless before God with great joy. But now notice
the next verse, because in our text, He's using the analogy
of a sporting event, a race, where one person gets the prize.
And he said, run like that. Does that mean that only one's
going to get the prize? No. Look at the next verse in 2 Timothy
chapter 4. Henceforth there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness. What is the crown of righteousness
that we long for? Well, in that place there's nothing
but righteousness. What a glorious thought. To see
Him as He is and be made like Him. To have this mortal changed
into the immortal. To have this corruptible made
incorruptible. To be shed of sin once and for
all. That's a glorious goal. That's
what Paul says, I've got a crown of righteousness that's coming
which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day
and not me only but all them also that love his appearing. So Paul's saying, I've set my
goal on seeing Him and being made like Him. And the gospel
of God's grace is that is the race and all that love His appearing
are all that love Him. And that's their goal. That's the race that we're in.
I quoted a few verses from Philippians chapter 3 a moment ago. Turn
with me there. Here's the goal. Rejoicing in
Christ. uh... service sacrifice forgiveness
all those things are uh... are good and uh... things that
the lord will work in us and cause us to do but that's that's
not the race it's not it's not gratifying ourselves with some
sense of purpose in life it's it's it's looking to christ who
is our life Philippians chapter 3, Robert. Philippians chapter
3. We'll begin at verse 1. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. In another place he said, and
again I say, rejoice. Rejoice in Him. Delight yourself
in Him. Knowing that He has saved you
and that He will keep you. To write the same thing to you,
to me, is indeed not grievous, but for you, it is safe. It's safe for you to be told
over and over and over again about who Christ is and about
what He's accomplished. Christ does not give meaning
to life for the child of God. Christ is our life. He is our life. Outside of him
there is no life. In Colossians Paul said, in him
he is all and he is in all. That's the race that Paul's talking
about. Now there's a lot of things in
this life that hinder us from running that race, and he's going
to talk about that in a moment. But look here what he says, beware
of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. Who
were the concision? That was the circumcision. That
was the ones who were adding works to grace. The saying, you've
got to go back to the Mosaic Law in order for your life to
have meaning and purpose. And he's saying, beware of them.
For we are the circumcision, circumcised in the heart by the
Spirit of God, which worship, worship God in the Spirit. Isn't that what the Lord told
the woman at the well in John chapter 4? The father seeketh
them who worship him in spirit and in truth. The only way we
can worship God in the truth is by the Spirit of God. And
this matter of worship is a matter of the Spirit. It's a matter
of the heart. And so we worship God by the
Spirit, in the Spirit. And what's the next phrase in
that verse? And rejoice in Christ Jesus. We rejoice in Him. He's the one we're looking to.
He's our life. He's everything. And then he
finishes that verse by saying, we have no confidence, no confidence
whatsoever in the flesh, in our flesh. Though I might have confidence
in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof
he trust in the flesh, I the more. If the confidence of my
salvation was based on anything that I did, I've got more to
boast in than most men. For I was circumcised the eighth
day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew
of Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee concerning zeal. I
persecuted the church, touching the righteousness which is in
the law. I was blameless." Now, who can
say that? Paul said, as far as my behavior
was concerned, as far as my outward behavior was concerned. No one
could accuse me of living a lawless life. I was blameless. Did those things save me? No.
No. Matter of fact, those are the
things that kept me from being saved. I was looking to my pedigree
and my accomplishments as the hope of my salvation. And so
he goes on to say, and what things were gained to me, those things
that I thought were to my advantage, those I counted loss for Christ."
It's not men's shameful behavior that keep them from Christ, it's
their righteousness. It is their righteousness. It's
a... I was talking to a man this week
and of his own of his own confession he had lived his entire adult
life in debauchery uh... just indulging himself in all
the pleasures of the flesh and uh... and now he's a a born-again
christian and uh... and he doesn't do those things
anymore And he's looking to the change in his life as the evidence
of his salvation. And the more we talked, the more
evident it was that all he did was change one addiction for
another. And it reminded me of the story
the Lord told about the man who had a demon in his house. And
he got sick and tired of that demon being in his house, so
he got rid of him. And he turned over a new leaf,
reformed his life, and garnished his house with religion. And
when the demon came back, he saw that the house was swept
and cleaned, and he brought back seven friends. And I thought,
in talking to this man this week, I thought, you know, I'd a whole
lot rather have talked to you before you got born again. You'd
probably been a whole lot more open to the gospel before you
had that religious experience than you are now. And so, you
know, we're That's what, that's, that's the
Paul said, I count those things but law heap. I, yea, doubtless
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all
things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ. You know, and talking to this, to this person.
He was rehashing some of the things he used to do as if, you
know, as if they were, you know, I don't, I don't pleasure myself
in those things. Paul calls them dumb. He said
that, you know, the things that I used to trust in for my salvation
are dung to me. That I may win Christ and be
found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. Paul said, I've kept the faith.
This faith is a gift of God. What is this faith? This faith
is causing me to look to Christ for all my righteousness. And
Christ is now my life. And he goes on to say that I
might know Him and the power of His resurrection. That's the
race I'm on. to believe that when Christ was
raised from the dead that I was found in Him and that I was raised
with Him. That's I'm not looking anywhere else.
I'm looking to what Christ accomplished in conquering death, in conquering
the grave, as the hope of my life. And I've not yet fully
apprehended that. I'm looking, I'm seeking Him,
that I might know the power of His resurrection, the fellowship
of His suffering. Now, Paul's not saying, well,
I want to suffer more. I'd like to be persecuted a little
bit more so that I could prove myself to be a Christian. No,
he's saying that I could identify with the sufferings of Christ
in satisfying the justice of God for my sins. That he bore
in his body upon that tree my sins and that I fellowshiped
in his suffering being made conformable unto his
death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead." You see, he's talking about that goal. Not as though
I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow
after, if I may apprehend, that which also I am apprehended of
Christ Jesus. And then he goes on to say, I've
not yet apprehended that which has apprehended me. This one
thing, notice in verse 13, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended,
but this one thing I do. for getting those things which
are behind and reaching forth to those things which are before.
I press towards the mark for the prize. This is every believer's
experience. The question that you and I have
to ask ourselves is what is our prize? What is our hope? What is our goal? And it'd be
best to change that word what to who, wouldn't it? Who is the
prize? Who's our life? Who is it that
we're looking for? Who is it that we're waiting
for? That's what Paul's talking about. That's the race that I'm
running. That's the race that I'm running. All right, go back
with me. Now, before we look at more of
these verses, let me In light of everything that we know, we
compare the spiritual to the spiritual and we test scripture
by scripture, don't we? The scripture interprets itself.
And it is true that the word castaway in verse 27 in the original
language is the word reprobate. Now, most times the word reprobate
is referring to someone who is not one of God's elect. They
were passed over. They will spend eternity separated
from the Lord. But that can't be the meaning
here. Paul knew that he wasn't reprobate. It would be contrary to everything
else that the scripture teaches. He said, being confident of this
very thing, that he which began a good work in you will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. He knew that. In another place
he said, I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded, I am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him
against that day. I'm not living my life trying
to prove myself not to be a reprobate, not to be... but what he is concerned
about is being cast away, not being useful. to give the enemies of the gospel
a reason to blaspheme, to no longer be useful as an ambassador
of the gospel. That's what he's talking about.
And so he says, Verse 25, Every man that striveth for mastery
is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible
crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly
so fight I, not as one that beateth the air. He says, I'm not shadow
boxing. I'm not just spinning my wheels. I have an objective. The objective
is the glory of Christ through the preaching of the gospel. And I don't want to be useless
in that endeavor. I want to lift up Christ. I want to be able to preach Christ. And so he's talking about Well,
look at verse 27, "...but I keep under my body and bring it into
subjection, lest that by any means, when I preach to others,
I myself should be a castaway." Y'all useless in the ministry
of the gospel. Now what he's talking about is
this body that we live in and how contrary to the gospel everything
in our body is. The Lord told the disciples,
He said, the Spirit is willing. That's what Paul is saying, the
Spirit is willing. But the flesh is weak. It's weak. And if I
give in to my flesh, If I let my body have everything that
it asks for, everything that it wants, it's just going to
crave more. And I'm going to become useless in the declaration
of the gospel. So he's talking about keeping
his body in subjection. Now, let me look at a couple
of verses. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
2. What is it to bring the body
into subjection? Well, one thing that it's not
is becoming subject to the ordinances of religion. The rules and regulations
and commandments and doctrines of men. That's not what he's
talking about. You have your Bibles open to
Colossians chapter 2. Look at verse 20. Wherefore, if you be
dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though
living in the world, are you subject to ordinances? Touch not, taste not, handle
not. You know, people get religion
and they fall into the to the touch-not-taste-not-handle-not
of whatever religion they join. And they think that that's keeping
the body into subjection. You know, I won't, I won't partake
of this. I won't do that. I'll dress like
that, you know, and certainly there's, there's things we ought
not to be doing, but, uh, but that's not, well, look at, look
at the next verse, which are all to perish with the using
after the commandments and doctrines of men, which things have indeed
a show of wisdom in will worship and humility. It's just man worshiping
his own will. The man I was talking to this
week, you know, we've got to discipline our minds and discipline
our bodies. And, you know, he's obviously
very proud of the fact that he wasn't doing the things that
he used to do. And the neglecting of the body,
not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. The flesh is still flesh. They are of no value against
the sinful indulgences of the flesh because these things do
not glorify God. So what does glorify God? What
glorifies God? The gospel is what glorifies
God. Faith in Christ is what glorifies God. Looking unto Jesus,
the author and the finisher of our faith, is what glorifies
God. And so Paul's saying, you know,
the monastic life of fasting and prayer and discipline and
separation from the world, many have tried it, Many have tried
it in an attempt to keep the body under subjection. And actually,
in doing so, all they've done is add to their guilt before
God. They've added to their sin self-righteousness
and pride. And Paul's not talking about
that. Sin is a matter of the heart. You can reform the body without
the heart ever being changed. And so when he says, I want to
keep under my body subjection, he's talking about dealing with
this sin issue in the heart. I'm not, I'm not interested in
just controlling the behavior of my body. I'm interested in
God doing a work of grace in my heart. And, uh, well, turn, uh, turn with me
to, um, to Romans chapter six, Romans
chapter six. Verse 8, now if we be dead with
Christ, remember that's what Paul said, I'm crucified with
Christ, buried with Christ, raised with Christ. If we be dead with
Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that
Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death hath
no more dominion over him. Death has been conquered. The
grave has been opened for all of God's people. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once, but that in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Likewise, verse 11, likewise reckon ye also yourselves to
be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Reckon it to be so. That word
reckon means account it to be so. Why? Because it is so. This is not the power of positive
thinking. This is God saying to you and
me to believe what has been accomplished. What's been accomplished? The
putting away of sin Christ bore in His body upon that tree our
sins. And a body thou hast prepared
for me. Sacrifice and offerings thou
wouldest not. The Lord said, I'm not pleased
with sacrifice and offerings, but a body thou hast prepared
for me. For lo, I have come to do thy will, O God. The Lord Jesus Christ, the only
one that ever controlled his body, completely subjected to
the will of God in everything. What did Paul say about his body?
He said, well, in my flesh, in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth
no good thing." This matter, this sin nature that's in my
old man, it's always nothing but sin. But now he's going to
talk about whether or not the body the members of the body
are subject to the old man or the new man. So the key to that
is reckoning yourself to be dead indeed unto sin. Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness
unto sin, but yield yourself unto God as those that are alive
from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
unto God. For sin shall not have dominion
over you." Why? Because you're not under the
law, you're under grace. You're under grace. What's the
only thing that's going to keep this sinful nature from controlling
the members of my body? And that's what Paul's talking
about. He said, I don't want my body to be subject to my sin
nature. If I do, I won't be able to preach
the gospel. I'll be a castaway. And my race
is is the gospel is Christ that's my race so it's everything to
me how am I going to how am I going to control the passions of my
flesh when it comes to breaking out in my body well in another
place in second Corinthians chapter 10 he said though we walk in
the flesh we do not war after the flesh We don't fight flesh
with flesh. We don't say, well, I'm going
to be more disciplined. I'm going to pray more. I'm going
to fast more. I'm going to take on the monastic
lifestyle and somehow that'll... I think I told you all one time
we went to a monastery in Ukraine one time. They took
us down in the catacombs of this monastery where these monks back
in the 9th and 10th century had put themselves into a room where
they had to stand up. The room was just that, there
was a little hole in the wall with a door and there was a little
window. And they would feed the monks
through that window. And they would stay in that room
until they died. And then that little cubbyhole
became their... What were they doing? They were
trying to subject their bodies, weren't they? They were trying to control the
passions of their flesh. Down the hall from those rooms
was another large room where they had unearthed hundreds of
bones of babies. The other side of the monastery
was for the nuns. Well, you can draw the conclusions
from that. So, you know, here's what men
do. They try to atone for their sins by buffeting their bodies. And what's Paul say? You're not
under the law. You're under grace. Though you
walk in the flesh, you're not going to walk after the flesh.
The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They're not carnal. They're mighty through God to
the pulling down of strongholds and bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ. Looking to Christ. Looking to
His perfect obedience. His life lived in a perfect body. A body Thou hast prepared for
me. born of a woman, born under the law. That's why it was necessary
for him to be, he didn't have a flesh nature. He had a body. Hebrews chapter two, let's close
with that. Let's turn to Hebrews chapter
two. Verse 14, for as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil. So Christ
came in the likeness of sinful flesh, but he didn't have sinful
flesh. God made him sin who knew no
sin. and deliver them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage for
verily he took not on him the nature of angels but he took
on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful
and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. Tried and tested in all ways
that we are, yet without sin. Why? Because he had perfect faith. He had perfect faith. He didn't
have a sinful nature. His body, the members of his
body always did exactly what they were supposed to do in every
way. For in that he himself hath suffered,
being tempted, he is able to succor or help them that are
tempted." We are sanctified through the
body of Jesus Christ once and for all. So when Paul, let's
go back to our text and finish this. When Paul's talking about
not beating the air, he's talking about his goal.
His goal is to preach the gospel and to be found in Christ. And he knows that this body that
he has is weak. And not only is the body weak,
but the nature that would control the body is nothing but sin.
And so, in fear that he would do things in his body
that would make him unable to preach the gospel, what is he
saying? He's saying, I'm looking to Christ.
I'm looking to Christ. He's the only one that can control
this body. He will work in you, causing you to will, and to do
of His good pleasure. But it's not going to be because
of the law. It's not going to be because of discipline. It's
not going to be because of effort on your part. It's going to be
because of faith enabling us to look to Christ and to be not
under the law, but under grace. It is the grace of God and the
goodness of God that constraineth us, isn't it? It's the only thing
that keeps our bodies from being overtaken by our flesh. All right, let's take a break.