1 Corinthians 9, beginning with
verse one. 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? If I be not an apostle unto others,
yet doubtless I am to you, for the seal of mine apostleship
are you and the Lord. My answer to them that do examine
me is this. Have we not power to eat and
to drink? Have we not power to lead about
a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren
of the Lord and Cephas? Or I only and Barnabas, have
not we power to forbear working? Who goeth to warfare any time
at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard and eateth
not the fruit thereof? or who feedeth the flock and
eateth not of the milk of the flock. Say I these things as
a man, or sayeth not the law, the same also. For it is written
in the law of Moses, thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox
that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?
Or sayeth he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes no doubt
this is written, that he that ploweth should plow in hope,
and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his
hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great
thing if we shall reap your carnal things? If others be partakers
of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless, we have
not used this power, but suffer all things lest we should hinder
the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that they which
minister about holy things live of the things of the temple?
And they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar. Even so hath the Lord ordained
that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. Now, Paul has addressed in this
letter to the Corinthians the division, and remember in chapters
one and two, the division that he heard about in the church,
the vain boasting of various ones being disciples of this
preacher or that preacher and causing division because of their
pride in that he's dealt with the fleshly lusts being indulged
by some in this church. At some length, he harshly rebuked
them for going to court one against another. He instructed them at
length regarding marriage and remaining unmarried. and the
wisdom of both, depending on the circumstances. He's warned
them against offending weaker brethren in the faith, even if
there's nothing wrong with the thing itself that they are offended
by, such as eating meat that had been offered unto idols.
And now he begins to address yet another issue in this church. There were some in the Corinthian
church and elsewhere that questioned Paul's apostleship. And if you think about it, you
can see how that might be the case. The other 11 apostles were
chosen by Christ himself as he walked this earth, taught by
him, and the Lord walked with them for years on this earth
in view of everyone. Everybody knew them. They knew
them by name. They knew them by the different
miracles that they saw. They remembered those involved
and that followed the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul was chosen by Christ
to be the apostle to the Gentiles. But as Paul put it this way,
as one born out of due time, as one born out of due time,
because Christ had already been crucified and already ascended
into heaven before Paul, Claimed that he met him There were very
few witnesses to what happened to Paul on the road to Damascus
And it says in Acts 22 9 that those that were with Paul saw
the light and they were afraid But they didn't hear the voice
that Paul heard That spoke to him directly So
you could imagine how Paul's legitimacy might be questioned,
and Paul had to defend this, he had to defend himself, because
if Paul was an imposter, then no one would hear the gospel
that he preached. He says over and over, for the
gospel's sake, for the gospel's sake, if you read Paul's letters
many times, He mentions that as the motive for what he said
and what he did for the gospel's sake How could they hear what
Paul preached as the very Word of God if Paul himself was a
fraud? So Paul says in this passage
that it was for the gospel sake that he would not take any financial
support from the Corinthian Church and doubtless It was for the
gospel's sake that he defended his own apostleship. And he says
in verse one, let's look at verse one again. 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? Here the question is raised because
it had been asked about by this church and questioned by apparently
many. and seeing the Lord Jesus Christ
in person was part of what it was to be an apostle. There have
never been but the 12 and then of course Judas committed suicide
and then Paul was added. The lot was cast upon Matthias
but he's never mentioned as being a true apostle. The Lord chose
Paul. Appeared unto Paul and said to
Paul. I've chosen you I've chosen you
he's gonna be an Apostle for the Lord Jesus Christ. He wasn't
given a lot of choice in the matter The Lord said here's what
you're gonna do for me in and Paul did by God's grace but Paul
argues here that that he had seen the Lord Jesus, and therefore,
as one born out of due time, he was qualified in that way,
but also he argues that there wouldn't be a church at Corinth
at all if it wasn't for Paul's apostleship, if God had not chosen
him and sent him to the Gentiles. And as for the freedom that Paul
mentions here in verse one, Paul was free, as all believers are,
from the law, from the burden and yoke the bondage of the law,
being liberated by Christ's keeping of the law for us as our righteousness
and dying for our sins according to the scriptures. We're free
from the law. It's a good thing we are. If we're bound by the
law, then we're goners. We have no hope before God. So
Christ freed us from the bondage of the law by keeping it for
us as us and dying for our sins against God's law. And all of
us in that sense are free. Paul was free as an apostle from
accountability to men. And this may well be what he's
primarily referring to here. He was free from accountability.
He said, the gospel that I preach is not after man. I didn't learn
it from man. And he said in another place,
I'm not in the business of pleasing men. So he was not accountable. He was directly accountable to
the Lord himself. And so though he defended himself
for the gospel's sake, he wasn't answerable to those who questioned
what God had done. Paul was free from the obligation
to support himself as he addresses here. And so that may well be
to what he primarily refers. Sorry, I can't get enough water. He was free from the obligation
to support himself as he enlarges greatly upon that in this chapter.
As a laborer in the gospel. And so, am I not an apostle? Verse two, if I be not an apostle
unto others, and apparently he wasn't, yet doubtless I am to
you. How can you ask me about that?
How can you question that? For the seal of my apostleship
are you in the Lord. Paul might understand those who
didn't know him questioning him for the reasons we mentioned.
It would take a miracle for Paul to meet the Lord Jesus and be
personally commissioned by him. And Miracles are tough to believe
unless you see them with your own eyes But blessed are those
who have seen the Lord and his power and glory Or have believed
and yet not have seen hasn't have not seen but Paul Insists
here that these believers recognize God's authority in him by their
own experience and faith in the gospel faith in Christ it's all
or nothing and If you are saved by Christ, he's saying, if you
are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you believe the gospel
and have bowed to Christ and been saved by his grace, then
I'm an apostle. Because if I were a fraud, God
doesn't use frauds to preach him. He uses the weak, he uses
the base and the foolish. He uses things that are not to
bring to naught the things that are. But though Paul was all
of these things, he was able to say sincerely, I, brethren,
when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or
of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God, for I determined
not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear and in much trembling, and my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. I wasn't just trying
to Get a following or try to talk people into doing something
for me And couching it in language that made it sound religious
But in demonstration of the spirit and of power the apostles were
able to do miraculous things and that was God's way of Confirming
the word that they preached That your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Verse three, we'll read verses
three through six together. My answer to them that do examine
me is this. Have we not power to eat and
to drink? You expect us to starve to death?
Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as
other apostles? And as the brethren of the Lord
and Cephas, I only and Barnabas have not we power to forbear
working You see the the Lord's earthly brothers are mentioned
here. They weren't apostles and Yet there they were preachers
of the gospel dedicated to The ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ
Paul mentions the other apostles and how they were supported Their
families sister a spouse whoever is dependent on you and Dependent
upon who supports you He mentions the Simon Cephas
was Simon Peter specifically because he was married and I'm
sure others of the Apostles probably were He says why are myself and
Barnabas questioned in regard to this and Why are we singled
out and not supported by the likes of you and others? He mentions
here expenses for food and drink. He mentions supporting family
members as well as the preachers themselves and that he and Barnabas
as well as all those who are preachers of the gospel who devote
themselves to the ministry have the right not to have to do any
other work to support themselves. They should be dedicated to that.
And no one who preaches the gospel today claims apostleship. There are those who do, but not
to preach the gospel. But just as there was no way
that Paul, you think about Paul and the ministry the Lord gave
him to travel all over the place and in many places to be beaten
and incarcerated Suffer many things for the gospel sake to
stand toe-to-toe with people that that gnashed their teeth
because of his preaching of the gospel they saw it as Antinomian
ism is what we would call it today about they would say that
he destroyed the law by preaching grace the religious Jews were
all about the keeping of the law outwardly and Lord said you
clean the outside of the cup, but inwardly, you're full of
dead men's bones. We preach the Lord Jesus Christ
who does that inward work of a new heart and faith in him,
regeneration by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the
successful sacrifice of our Lord and his perfect righteousness
in our stead. Paul was hated for that, but
you think about how's he gonna hold down a full-time job in
this world to support himself and those that depended on him
and Do all of that to? dedicate himself properly to
that And that hasn't changed That
hasn't changed. I don't see anywhere in the scripture.
We're preaching the gospel ever became a part-time afterthought
of an endeavor and there are those that are proponents of, they're not interested in having
a pastor, and yet I know one that speaks against it and that
sits under one, a pastor that is supported by the church, and
rightly so. But they believe that that's
something of the past or something, and now anybody should just stand
up and say good things from a pulpit somewhere. and not expect any
support in that. There are not too many that are
that way, but there are, I know some personally. There's a considerable
amount of scripture regarding this. But I wanna focus quite
a bit tonight on the four things. And again, Paul does not limit
this authority to the apostles only. Verse 14 is clear about
that. Preacher of the gospel should
live by the gospel. And that's not just talking about
him and what he deserves or however you wanna say it. That's talking
about, that's how the gospel should be preached by somebody
that doesn't do anything else but that. That lives for that. That studies and brings the truth
as their primary purpose in life. That's how God does it. He's
always done it like that. Paul mentions the priests in
the temple. They lived for that service and
were supported in that service. That has never changed. Show
me where it did now. But anyways, they're not worth
arguing with really. But what I wanna focus on quite
a bit tonight are these four things mentioned in the next
several verses. Listen to these verses carefully, look at them
with me, seven through 10, seven through 10. And while you're
already there, but I'm gonna get another drink anyway. Okay, verse seven, who goeth
to warfare any time at his own charges? That's number one. Who planteth a vineyard, and
eateth not of the fruit thereof? That's two. Or who feedeth a
flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? That's three. Say I these things as a man,
or sayeth not the law? The same also, for it is written
in the law of Moses, thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox
that treadeth out the corn. You wouldn't even treat an animal
that way. Does God take care for oxen? Is that all that's about? It's
not that he doesn't, but is that all that's about? God put that
in the scriptures so that we would treat animals right? The
scriptures are about the gospel, the preaching of the gospel.
That's what he's saying there. Or saith he it altogether for
our sakes. For our sakes, no doubt this
is written, that he that ploweth should plow. in hope and that
he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. Why would God, if this is just
some past thing that's not relevant anymore, why would it
occupy so much of the eternal word of God? So you've got a soldier, a farmer,
a shepherd, and a laborer. Laborer and first of all a soldier
that that's probably as far as we'll get to that I want to look
at these things because Paul didn't pull these randomly out
of thin air This is the ministry that you and I are involved in
this is what we do is this is a beautiful illustration Of what
it is that we do in this world Why don't we just take Sundays
and Wednesdays and do other things that? would maybe profit us personally. Maybe we shouldn't spend so much
time looking into the scriptures and worshiping. Are we spending
our time wisely? What are we doing here? What
is this? Well, look first at this thing
of being a soldier. Paul wrote at the end of his
life in 2 Timothy 4, 7, how is the apostle Paul, you think about
this, how is he gonna sum up The whirlwind that he lived in
since the Lord called him, you think about his life from the
time the Lord knocked him into the dirt and he had time as an
old man to pause and think back on it all. What's he going to
describe it as? I fought a good fight. I fought my heart out. Is that
bragging to say that? I hope we can say that, don't
you? I hope we can say that. I don't wanna lay there as an
old man thinking back on my life and say, man, what in the world
was that for? What a waste of time. Because
of Christ, it's not a waste of time, is it? It's not. I've fought a good fight. I've
finished my course. I've kept the faith. If you look
at the context of that, he's not bragging on himself. He also
wrote this in 1 Timothy 6, 12, and instructing another in the
ministry of the gospel. Fight the good fight of faith. And I think about this quite
a bit. If it's not a fight for us, then something's not right,
is it? If it's not a fight, So unbelievers don't have this
fight. They don't have this battle. They have one nature. They have
one purpose in life to increase themselves. And you say, well,
people support their families in this world. Yeah, but they're
doing it for themselves. They're selfish in it. Sin nature permeates everything
that we do even the stuff that looks commendable And benevolent Fight the good fight of faith
if you're not fighting Then what are we doing? Why not
Why would Paul describe it this way? And yet for you, that's
mysterious to you. It doesn't make sense in your
case. Maybe you haven't identified
the enemy. All you got to do is look in the mirror. But most people will never do
that. Never do that. Fight the good fight of faith,
lay hold on eternal life. Where into thou art also called
and has professed a good profession before many witnesses. It's evident,
it's manifest that the Lord has gifted you Timothy and blessed
you and called you to preach. Now fight. Turn to this one with me if you
would please, 2 Timothy 2.1. 2nd Timothy 2 1 Thou therefore my son be strong
in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things that thou
hast heard of me among many witnesses and The same commit thou to faithful
men who shall be able to teach others also. Now think about
Timothy's life and Paul's life as leaders of God's church in
that day. And think about it in terms of
what it would be in any day really. Think about all the things that
are addressed in just this Corinthian church. Think about what they
were up against. there's a very real sense in
which we're up against the world. The world, the cares of the world
would choke out the word. Just in this Corinthian church,
and Paul, he mentioned among being beaten and floating around
in the ocean for a couple of nights, and being left for dead,
stoned, He mentioned among those things,
the care, the daily care of the churches. And it's a great privilege
to have anything to do in the Lord's church. Would you rather
be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents
of wickedness? By God's grace, do we really
feel that way? And yet it is a burden. The gospel
is called, much in the Old Testament especially, the burden of the
Lord. The burden of the Lord. It's
a weight that we carry in this world. Why would he say, be strong? Why would you need to be strong
to just stand up and say a few words, you know, a couple of
times a week? It just depends on whether you're
in the fight or not. Are you in the fight? Or are
you just playing? Are we just playing? Am I just
playing? Be strong in the grace that is
in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast
heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful
men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure
hardness, What hardness? Were people trying to kill Timothy
too? I don't know. But that's not what Paul mentions
so much when he talks about the fight, the warfare. Here's what he's talking about.
Listen, in your hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, why?
Because people might stone you? No. No man that warreth entangleth
himself with the affairs of this life. How hard is it to deny yourself? How hard is it to go and sell
everything you have and give it away and follow Christ? How tough is it for the flesh
to even do a little bit of that? That he may please him who hath
chosen him to be a soldier. You see, he's not talking about
the physical difficulties that he endured,
which were many. He's talking about the spiritual
warfare that goes on within each one of us and outside of us that
we're engaged in every day. It's not just preachers of the
gospel that are Things but these are reasons that the preacher
should live of the gospel because as a preacher of Christ were
devoted in these various ways as a farmer as a Laborer and an ox just labor
as a soldier And no other desire no other
ambition I don't wanna do anything else. You think God has something
to do with that? If you know me, you probably
might think that, yeah, that maybe God did something there. By God's grace, I don't ever
wanna do anything else but preach the gospel to you. But all of us are part of this
ministry. If we are, we are if we are. This is the effort we're involved
in, warfare. We're in a constant fight against
our own flesh, against the principalities and powers that Paul wrote about
in Colossians that we've been looking at recently on Sunday
mornings. That is the false doctrine, the
love of wisdom, the love of man's wisdom, the love of will-worshipping,
anti-Christ, free will, man-centered religion that damns the souls of those
around us. Does that have anything to do
with us? I fight by God's grace, we fight
against error concerning vital things. We have to fight that
under the roof of our own house. We may be called upon to fight
that in this world. I don't recommend picking fights
with regard to spiritual things at work or with friends, but
we should all be ready to give an answer, a reason for the hope
that lies within us, because it's the only hope they have
too. And because Christ, To be had
in reverence of all them that are about him Not swept under
the rug when it's convenient We fight against those who would
destroy souls I Wish everybody in this within
a 50 mile radius of here could be called out on the lies that
they tell constantly about God and warned and given real hope
in Christ, don't you? Maybe the Lord will open a door
And maybe the sound of the gospel could go out around here, maybe,
we'll see. He said, feed my sheep, and that's,
what an honor, what a privilege. But maybe the Lord has some sheep
out there that just don't know they're sheep yet. You reckon,
I don't know. I don't know. But we fight against those who
destroy souls with their lies. And they do it with a religious
grin on their faces and their chest puffed out. We fight against error in those
that know the Lord. There are those that we believe
know the Lord. And there's constantly something,
there's constantly some kind of a buzz going around. that
would take our eyes off of Christ. It doesn't matter what it is.
It don't matter how logical it is. It don't matter how much
sense it makes. If it takes our eyes off of Christ
and fellowshipping in him and worshiping him and gets us bickering
and taking sides, it's antichrist is what it is. We fight against this wretched
world and its influence upon those that we love. I don't want to lay down in that
fight, do you? This world is vain. The fashion
of this world passeth away. Those that we love are living
to go to work, to make money, to buy beans, to get the strength,
to go to work, to buy, to get the money to buy beans. And that's
all, they're going to do that their whole life and go to hell unless God has mercy. And you
know how he does that? He sends his people out to fight.
That's part of it. A good soldier of Jesus Christ
doesn't tangle himself up in the affairs of this life. But declares the hope that we
have in Christ to those who have no hope as of yet. It's a constant pull. This world's
a constant pull upon us. to compromise the truth or to
compromise ourselves. And we fight against that. We
fight against the despair that threatens our souls. Isaiah said,
who hath believed our report? What's the point? Is God gonna reveal himself to
anybody? You know what Elijah said, let's
just end, let's wrap this up, Lord. It's a loss. We fight against that. As Paul
said in 2 Corinthians 4, we're troubled on every side, yet not
distressed. We're perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast out, but not destroyed. God help us, keep us in the fight,
Lord. We can't do anything without
you. We fight against all that would take our eyes off of Christ
and what he accomplished for us on Calvary. Paul said, I determined. He fought against everything
else. I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. That takes a determination. That
takes being in the fight. The storm might make us look
away from Christ crucified, but also
the gold might. The rocks might take us off course,
but also might the treasures of this world. We might be hardened
by disappointment and failure, but we also might be softened
by convenience and luxury. It's a fight. The soul damning lies that we
fight against are subtle. False preachers play upon the
sentimentality and fleshly pride of the lost while impugning the
very character of God himself. We can't sit down for that. How
can we? God loves everybody might sound
so wonderful to the ears of the damned until they are actually
damned, notwithstanding the strange and awful love that was promised
them. We don't shout out the window
of the ark to those outside of Christ, reassuring them of God's
love for them. We impress upon sinners that
God's love and mercy are in Christ. His favor is in Christ alone. And that refuge can only be found
by coming to him, bowing to him, believing on him. Whose righteousness is the sinner's
only stand before God, our only stand. And his successful sin atoning
sacrifice, the sinner's only plea. This is a fight for souls. Make no mistake about that. Now,
it's not a fight whose outcome is in question. The outcome is not in question.
All that the father giveth to his son shall come to him, and
him that cometh to him he will in no wise cast out. Isn't it
glorious to fight and not be able to lose? Oh my goodness. 2 Samuel 5, 19, David inquired
of the Lord saying, shall I go up to the Philistines? Have you
ever heard anything more glorious than this? There's a fight. There is a fight that must be
fought. Lord, are we gonna win it or
are we gonna lose it? We can't just let the Philistines
do what they're doing. We can't let them get away with
it. And we can't live with it. Shall we go up? Will you deliver
them into mine hand? And the Lord said unto David,
go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand. He didn't say go home, for I
will doubtless deliver them into thine hand. He said, go up. Do
you know what it means to go up? Do I know what it means? We're going to find out. God give us grace to go up.