First Corinthians chapter 9. In this chapter we've been going
through this and Paul is talking about the issue of support. supporting the ministry, supporting
the pastor. But with that, he is also making
it very clear, he wants to be very clear on his desire in the
ministry. And that's that men and women
might come to a saving knowledge of Christ. His desire is not
the money. It's just not the money. Support
is a necessity. It's a necessity over here on
the side, and that's what we've talked about. Without that support,
then the man can't be focused on the ministry. So it is a necessity,
but if that's not there, Paul said, I'll do what I have to
do. He wants men and women to come
to a saving knowledge of Christ. And I'll tell you this, I do
too. I do too. That's what I want. I want men
and women to come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I desire, if the Lord is willing,
we say, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. But
I desire, if the Lord is willing, that he would plant a seed today. That's my heart's desire. Today. Today is the day of salvation.
If it's His will, if it would be His kindness and His mercy
and His purpose, I pray the Lord would open blind eyes today. I mean today. Wouldn't that be
wonderful if it happened today? Today was the day. When God takes
my flesh out of the way, usually my flesh gets in the way. Everybody
knows what I mean by that. Our flesh, I don't care what
it is, our flesh can ruin it by getting in the way. But when
God takes my flesh out of the way, and when he gets me to the
heart of his calling, what he's called me to do, I don't need
a big church. I don't. I really don't. I am
so thankful for what he's given us here. I don't need a big church. I do not need men and women to
listen to me and respect me and hang on my every word. I don't
need that. I just don't need that. I want
the Lord God in mercy to save souls. That's what I want. I
want God to save as many as he would. As many as he would. With me or without me. I mean really with me or without
me. I want God to save souls. I want men and women to come
to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want them
to see Him as He is. That's my heart's desire. I want
them to see Christ as He is. If it strikes fear, fear it is. If they hit the dirt and bow,
that's what I want. I want them to bow the knee to
Him. I want them to fall in love with Him. I really do. Nothing would thrill me more
than for this place to be absolutely packed with people that love
Jesus Christ. People who are in love with Jesus
Christ. I think I'm in love with Him. And I want men and women to follow
Him. That's what I want. I want men and women to get into
this Word and see what He says. Say, that's what I think I want
to do. I want to follow him. And I know from this word right
here that salvation is of the Lord. I know that. And I know
that not one of his elect will be lost. There's not one soul
in Kingsport that will be lost. I know that. But our God has
given all of us a commission. He's given us a ministry. He
said, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. That's what he said. This right
here is the means that God has chosen to bestow mercy on sinners. This is how he's chosen to bestow
that mercy on sinners. If God is going to save sinners,
he is going to use this right here, the preaching of his word. Verse 19 in 1 Corinthians chapter
9 says, For though I be free from all
men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the
more. Paul said, I want to gain more.
More what? Brothers and sisters. I love
how he said down in verse 26, I therefore so run. That's what Paul said, I'm running
with the gospel. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly. We're not here to just jog around
religion. You know that? We're not here.
Let me tell you what we're not doing this morning. You know
what we're not doing? Buying time. What did y'all do today? We killed time waiting on the
Lord to return. Paul said, I'm not doing that.
He said, I'm running. I'm not just jogging around religion,
I'm running. Where are you running, Paul?
He said, I'm running to you and in Christ. I'm running to you
and then Christ. He said, I'm fighting. Verse
26, he said, So fight I, not as one that beateth the air.
I'm not shadow boxing. I'm not practicing the fight.
He said, I'm fighting. And I thought about the fact
that I could take 10 minutes right now and prove to us that
Paul is not saying all this for his own glory. And Paul is not
saying on this, believing that salvation is in his hands. I
got to save you. But we don't have time for that.
We're running. We're running. We all know that
Paul is committed to the charge God has given him. And he's a
wonderful example to us. He is a wonderful example to
us. Now he gives us right here. some
precious instruction for witnessing, as people say, to those who do not yet know
the Lord, whether they're religious or not religious. Verse 20, he
said, and unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the
Jews. And to them that are under the
law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the
law. To them that are without law, as without law, being not
without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might
gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak,
that I might gain the weak. I'll tell you the first thing
we see here is this. God can save anybody. That's the first thing we see
there. God can save anybody. Let me tell you what I think
sometimes in my flesh. Knowing what I know in the scripture,
this is what my flesh says. Well, God won't save him. That
guy's too religious. He's too far gone in religion.
Has no heart to turn from his religion. completely consumed
with his false religion. God won't save him. And then
sometimes I look at this one over here and I say, God's not
going to save him. He's too sinful. That guy is just, I mean, I've
seen bad. He takes it to a whole new level.
God's not going to save him. Just too sinful. God can save
anybody. anybody. I would adore personally
seeing the Lord saving the most religious person I've ever seen
in my life. Just because I know He can do
it. He can save anybody. When it
comes to saving the most sinful person I've ever seen in my life,
I've already seen that. If He saved me, He can save anybody. I mean really, He can save anybody.
I love what Brother Scott Richardson said one time. He said the preaching
of the gospel is a nobody telling everybody about somebody who
can save anybody. That's what preaching the gospel
is. It's a nobody telling everybody about somebody who can save anybody. Anybody. If he is willing He's
able. If He's willing, He's able. And
I tell you this, because we're still here and the earth has
not been folded up yet, I know this for a fact, God is not out
of business. Because the earth is still turning, He's going to save more. He's
going to save more. So Paul said, I preach it to
everybody. Now I want to get to the heart
of what he's saying here. In verse 20, He said, and unto the Jews I
became as a Jew that I might gain the Jews. The Jews do not
believe that the Messiah has come. If you run into a person
today who is a Jew and he practices the religion of the Jews, that
person does not believe that the Messiah has come. They're
still waiting on him to come the first time. They don't believe
that Jesus is the Christ. And I'll tell you this, the Apostle
Paul never pretended to believe that. Never. He never pretended to believe
that Jesus was not the Christ, that the Messiah had not come.
Verse 20 goes on to say, to them that are under the law, as under
the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. Those
who are under the law believe, this is what they believe, in
order to be saved you have to keep the ordinances of the law. These ordinances that God has
given us. And our Lord has given us some
precious ordinances. He's commanded us to keep some
precious ordinances. But the reason he gave them to
us was one reason only. It was to show us the finished
work of Christ. Every single ordinance. The Lord
said, Moses, you go get all my people and you bring them out
of Egypt. And as soon as they did, he said, now I want everybody
to kill a lamb. There's nothing wrong with that
ordinance. It showed us Christ crucified. Every now and then
we'll have the Lord's table. We have what the Lord told us
to have, unleavened bread and wine. There's nothing wrong with
that ordinance. It's precious. It shows us Christ
and Him crucified. Baptism was given for one reason
only. I died in Him and I've risen
with Him. It shows us Christ and Him crucified. Every single ordinance. But some
have missed Christ. And they're clinging to the ordinance
for salvation. They're looking to, trusting
in, hoping in, following after the ordinance. in their heart. You ask them, what's salvation?
I went under the water. What does our heart say? What
is salvation? And they're holding to this ordinance
instead of the one it represents. And I'll tell you this, the Apostle
Paul never pretended to believe that. He never pretended to believe
that an ordinance was salvation. and not the blood of Christ alone.
He preached it, he preached it, it's the blood of Christ alone.
What can wash away my sins? Well, Kingsport tap water. Nope,
nothing but the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, nothing. Verse
21, he said, to them that are without law, as without law being
not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might
gain them that are without law. Those that are without law ignore
the commandments of God Almighty. That's what they do. You know,
God, in the Old Testament, He gave all those commandments to
His people, Israel. And those that are without law
are these Gentiles, the heathens. And they didn't follow after
all the commandments God gave. That was nothing to them. Nothing. They ignore His commandments
and they think that they're all irrelevant. And that's a lot
of people today. That's a lot of people to this
day. It does not matter what God has said. I know that's what
the Bible says, but it doesn't matter. And I tell you this, Paul never
pretended to believe that. Never. Never. Verse 22 says,
To the weak became I as weak that I might gain the weak. Now
that word weak does not mean a weak brother in the faith. I always thought it did. That's
what I thought it meant, a weak brother in the face, somebody
who struggles over certain liberties. Paul would have already gained
him. He's in the faith. He might have
a mustard seed, but he's in the faith. Paul would have already
gained him. That word, you know, we have this concordance, a Bible
dictionary, it gives us the Hebrew and the Greek definitions of
all these words. That word is number 772. All right, that's
the definition of that word. Turn back to 1 Corinthians 8. And look at verse 11. And through
thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ
died. That one is number 770, 772,
770. I just tell you that to say they're different words. They're different words. This
one right here means feeble in any sense. In this case, he's
weak in the faith. He's weak and he's saying, are
you going to offend him? And we should not do that. We
should not do that. We ought to remember those who
are new to the gospel, those who have come out of religion,
we ought to not be an offense to them. Especially someone who has not
received faith at all. I don't want to be a hindrance
in any way, shape, or form. I want to point them to Christ.
But that's a different word. The one in our text means this.
It means without strength, literally, sick. That's what it means. Death, bed, sick. That one I
believe Paul became. because it was true, it was the
truth. Now Paul was not saying I was this way with one and then
another one over here came so I changed and I became this way
and then I found somebody else so I changed and then I changed. That would make Paul a hypocrite. That would make him a hypocrite.
A hypocrite means, the word means actor. On a stage, in a movie,
a hypocrite is a person pretending to be something they are not.
Now, what would you think of me if we were walking down the
street together, and we came up on a bunch of foul-mouthed
thugs, and I walked right up to them, and I just started cussing
like a sailor. Every word I've ever heard in
my life. And they loved it. All right, we'll see y'all later,
you know. We walk on down the street, and then we walk past
a church, and here comes the preacher, and here comes the
fine church-going people, and I say, how y'all doing today,
brethren? Dear sister, oh, I hope y'all have a blessed day. What
would you think of me? I'd be a hypocrite. I would be
a hypocrite. I fit in better with the thugs,
I tell you that. But I would be a hypocrite. Paul
was not a hypocrite. Turn with me over to Job 27. Job 27 verse 8, for what is the hope of the hypocrite? Though he hath gained, Paul said,
I'm trying to gain. I'm doing this so I can gain
more, right? And it says, what is the hope
of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away
his soul? Didn't Paul just say a few verses
before that? Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel. I mean, woe is unto me. What
is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God
takes away his soul? Look over at Proverbs 11. Proverbs 11, look at verse 9.
It says, And hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor. But through knowledge shall the
just be delivered. Through knowledge shall the just
be delivered. What that means is this. God
only uses the truth of the gospel to open blind eyes and set men
free. That's all he uses is the truth
of the gospel. Paul is not saying I've tried
to skirt around the truth. I've tried to I've tried to sneak
it in there without people really seeing it. This is the best way
I know to describe what he's saying. Go with me back over
to the text, 1 Corinthians 9. Verse 20, he said, to the Jews,
I became as a Jew. I put myself in their shoes. I thought about them. I thought
about what they believe. I thought about how they think.
I thought about their life. And I met them with the gospel
where they were. And we're going to see next week
that Paul always did it in love and compassion. But I met them
with the gospel where they were. If I was preaching to a beggar,
I preached as a beggar. to a beggar, telling him where
I found food. If I was preaching to a dying
man, I preached as a dying man, to dying men, showing them life
himself. That's what they need. That's
the only thing they need. I met them with the gospel where
they were. To the Jews, I preached Christ
the Messiah, God manifest in the flesh. Didn't he do that?
On Mars Hill? Didn't he do that everywhere?
To them that were under the law, I preached Christ, the fulfillment
of the law. To them that were without law,
I preached the holiness and judgment of God against sin. Seeing that
in the sacrifice of Christ. And to them that were literally
sick, I mean deathbed sick with sin, I preached Christ the great
physician. The gospel meets every sinner
where they are, every single one. The end of verse 22, he
said, I am made all things to all men that I might by all means
save some. I made all things to all men
that I might by all means save some." Now let me tell you what
he means right there. He means exactly what he said. He means exactly what he said. There are some that believe that they have the ability to
save people. They believe they're soul winners.
And they don't give Christ all the glory in salvation. And they're
in error. They're just wrong. It's just wrong. No sinner can
save another sinner. It's by the blood of Jesus Christ
alone. But then on the other extreme,
you have another extreme. There are some who believe that
election is salvation. And God chose a person. And if
God chose that person, that's it. That's just it. That's where we stop. That's
where we close the book. They don't have to hear the gospel
preached in spite of the fact that that's what the book says.
They don't have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in spite
of the fact that that's what God's Word says. They deny God's
means. That's what they're doing, denying
God's means. And that's error. It's just wrong. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. In just a minute, we're going
to have a message on faith and we're going to see what all that
means. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
How shall they believe in whom they've never heard and how shall
they hear without a preacher? Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
1 and I'll wrap this up. 1 Corinthians 1, look at verse
21. For after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." What did Paul mean right there?
Exactly what he said. I mean exactly what he said.
Here's what Paul was saying. If I don't preach the gospel
to sinners, They won't be saved. God's called me and called us.
He said, you go preach this gospel and all. And Paul is saying,
if I don't preach the gospel to sinners, they won't be saved.
We could try to skirt around that, you know, that save some
as soon as a believer sees that he's like, oh, wait a minute,
let's back up from that. We could try to skirt around that. we
could try to make excuses for it. But that's what the Lord
wrote. That's what the Lord meant. And
that's the truth. There is nothing more important
in life than the preaching of the gospel. Nothing more important
in life. I'm going to tell you this. I was talking with Brother Henry
years ago in Ashland. We were visiting. And he told
me, and just in the course of conversation, he brought up the
fact that he had the opportunity to preach to his 40th high school
class reunion. He didn't go to 10, 20, or 30,
and they called him and notified him, we're having a 40th reunion,
can you come? Over the weekend, he said, no,
I can't leave the pulpit. And they said, well, would you
preach to us? He said, I'll be there. So he showed up and he preached
and he said, I had the opportunity to preach to my whole class.
I thought, wow. And I thought about that for
a minute and I thought about that and I said, what do you say?
When you go into a place that you believe in your heart, I
don't know if anybody here knows the true and living God. I have
no idea if there's What do you say? What do you say? It always
helps me so much thinking I know at least one person believes
this truth. I'm preaching to this one person.
What do you say when you go into a place and hear all these people
that odds are they've never heard the truth? And he looked, I'll
never forget the look on his face. He looked at me like, that's
the dumbest question I've ever heard in my life. And I think
it was. I think that could have been
the dumbest question I've ever asked in my life. He said, you
preach the gospel. I said, oh yeah, sorry. But then
I asked him, I said, what was your text? What did you preach?
He said, John 19, verse 30, it is finished. You just preach the gospel. You don't compromise. You don't
go in and in season, out of season, Jew, Gentile, bond, free. By God's grace, we're going to
preach one thing. We're going to preach one thing. We're going
to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified, the gospel. All right,
you're dismissed.