Question here, have I committed an offense in abasing myself that you might be exalted because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely? Now, to get ourselves back in the mindset of this chapter, in this context, there were those in the Corinthian church who had accused Paul of being unimpressive in person, that he wasn't, he couldn't be a true apostle because he just didn't have the chops.

And Paul admitted that he used plainness of speech. He deliberately did so that he did not use enticing words of man's wisdom, that he didn't use eloquence and soaring rhetoric. He came to them in weakness and in much trembling. And of course, that wasn't impressive to somebody who needs their flesh impressed. The gospel is only impressive to those who love Christ, who know Christ, who are interested in who Christ is.

And so that weakness was preyed upon by Paul's enemies, by those who would make merchandise of the Church of Corinthians. And here he's asking them, was it a crime? Did I do you an injustice by coming to preach the gospel that way, rather than being a big shot like the false preachers? Did I do the wrong thing, just being myself and just speaking plainly to you when others false preachers came with enticing words of man's wisdom with great exaggeration of personality.

You know how big they are. They, you know, they work the whole stage, don't they? We don't have to imagine what they were like, do we? Because we've seen them ourselves. We've seen them for ourselves. It's the same people. They have deliberate intent to impress in the flesh because there's no spiritual substance to what they do and say. No message, no true message, no heart. These false preachers made much of outward show because of that, to compensate for that.

And again, we don't have to wonder what that looked like. We've seen it for ourselves, crying fake tears. Have you seen so many crocodile tears in your life? I don't watch it like I used to, but I used to, we used to watch it for entertainment. Vicki and I, sometimes we'd switch over just for entertainment. They used such dramatic language, you know, and the gospels, it's very simple and plain. It's not, it's not something to be bombastic about.

And it's threatening with hell all the time, threatening with hell and bribing with heaven. waving their arms and stomping up and down the theatrical stage. I've seen one with a massive big handkerchief that he would pull out and wave around. He dressed up like Blackula. I've heard many shout until they were red-faced and you thought the speakers were going to blow up, like people are going to learn something because you spoke so loudly. working up a dripping sweat, mopping their brow all the time, you know, make it look like they're doing something.

We used to watch, Vicky and I, this one, as I said, we'd be entertained by it, but he had an organ player that would play throughout in intervals throughout his message. When he would make a point, the organist would play some dramatic music, you know, to kind of emphasize the point.

And we used to laugh at that. but anything to make a show in the flesh to compensate for the fact that there's no depth or substance to their message or their method. It all makes a man who just gets up and speaks the truth of Christ in plain unadorned terms seem boring. And he probably would be boring if he didn't love the Savior. Because God's people don't come to admire the man or be entertained by the flesh.

They come to hear who God is and of his love in Christ, because that's our hope. That's our reason for living. That's our purpose. He's the cause of our life and he is the goal of our life. And we long to hear of him, as David said, as the little deer pants after the water brooks, so does my soul pant after the living God.

That's when the preacher won't be boring. That's when just plain speech won't be tedious to you. So Paul is asking, are they right and I'm wrong just to preach the gospel of God to you freely? Do I just do you a disservice by not being flamboyantly phony? He said, I've preached the gospel of God to you freely. This word freely is expounded in the next two verses, look at it with me in verse 12. And 13, but what I do that, well, I do. that I may cut off occasion from them. I'm sorry, it was, where do we start in verse seven? So it's verses eight and nine.

I robbed other churches, taking wages of them to do you service. And when I was present with you and wanted, I was chargeable to no man for that which was lacking to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied. And in all things, I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself. So he's not saying that he held up the church in Macedonia there or other churches in order to, he didn't literally steal from them, but he's saying he took what would have gone to their needs in ministry and gave it to the Corinthians for this very reason, not to be burdensome to them as a young church and to specifically, and this is so important. They're reminded of this deliberately, in direct and drastic contrast to the false preachers. Again, we don't have to wonder what they were like.

They're always asking for money. They always need money. They have a restaurant in their church so they can make money. They have vending machines in their church to raise money. They have garage sales and all kinds of things to make money, to raise money for something. They get funds.

It's not good enough just for the Lord to provide a church, a local church, and to give them what they need, but they have to be worldwide. We have to get donations from all over the place. order to support this church, and you find out the preacher has two or three vacation homes and drives a Lincoln Continental, well, that's probably not the, that's no longer the example, is it? I don't even know if they still make those. But you know what I'm talking about.

They got rings all over their family. They don't even try to hide it. They don't even try to hide it. How much do you think Joel Osteen's worth? Is that a problem naming somebody? False preachers. Without hesitation, I call them that. And I could name you a bunch of names. But the word freely here, you see what he's saying by that. There were no strings attached. There were no ulterior motives.

I just came and told you the truth about God. Is that wrong somehow? Did I do you a disservice? Did that inconvenience you? And it's striking to me that false preachers haven't changed. They make deals with the devil in order to finance their religious empires, then as now.

And it's striking that the one thing that characterizes, if you went around and asked people, you know, and name names, you know, Olsteen and these guys, if you had to name one thing that characterizes their ministry, they'd say money. Everybody knows they're money growers, every one of them. And Paul went overboard in the opposite direction. I will not, even when traveling there or whatever his expenses were, he got it from other churches to make sure that this church in Corinth couldn't accuse him of anything. And that's exactly the word he uses later. But false religion, they beg, borrow, and steal money.

And it's all about that all the time. And of course, they give great reasons for it. You know, we've got to reach the world for Jesus and that type of thing. Well, maybe you could sell one of your rings or maybe one of your vacation homes and reach somebody for Jesus or whoever it is you're reaching somebody for.

Paul went to great lengths to avoid having anything to do with that. He would not appear to be a fake by any means. He robbed other churches, of course, not literally, but took money that others could have used And in order to take care of expenses involved in preaching to the Corinthians, he took money from them so that the Corinthians didn't have to pay anything.

And he said in verse 9 that he was chargeable to no man in this. Chargeable to no man. In other words, you might accuse me of being unimpressive, but you're not ever going to be able to accuse me of fleecing you. You're not going to be able to accuse me of that because it's not that way and you know it's not that way. That's what he means by, I will not, nobody will take this boasting away from me. I took nothing from you. And you can't claim I did, and nobody else can either.

And look at these other idiots that have come in. Look at the difference. And make the assessment for yourself. And in Paul's teachings, we see in the New Testament that Paul had every right to be supported by all those he preached. A workman is worthy of his hire.

But when it came to this church, he was so averse to, and others too. We'll see that in a minute. But other churches too, he was very reluctant to take anything that wasn't necessary. He didn't want to appear to be a hireling. And so he refused to. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians.

Here's another example, 1 Thessalonians 2.4. 1 Thessalonians 2,

4. But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak. You see the attitude? He says, what a privilege. We were allowed of God. We were allowed of God. We didn't go looking for it. We didn't volunteer for it. There's too many volunteers these days. There's too many self-made preachers. The Lord Jesus arrested Paul on the road to hell and brought him on his face before it and charged him with the business that he gave him to do. Made him an apostle to the Gentiles. And the Lord found those fishermen and that old man John, you know, going about their business. He put them in the ministry. There wasn't anybody going around, you know, I want to be a preacher, you know, I'm just looking for somebody to preach to.

I've heard that. No, no, that's not how it happens. That's not how it works. We were allowed of God to be put in trust. What a sacred trust with the gospel! Not that God Almighty trusts our flesh, but to be entrusted in it with the sense that, of course, it's His purpose and His design and His doing that we're in the ministry, and He, you know, has us preach His Word faithfully. He causes that. But what a trust that is given to us in that.

Even so, we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, These men were displeased with Paul's appearance and his manner and his lack of enthusiasm or whatever you want to call it. He said, I'm not interested in pleasing you. I'm not interested in entertaining you or impressing you in any way whatsoever.

For neither at any time, but God, which trieth our hearts, but God which sent us and knows why we do what we do. He knows, as he said in our text, God knows. What's my motive here? God knows what it is, whether you do or not. You may call me an imposter, but God knows. He tries our hearts. For neither of us at any time used we flattering words as you know.

You know this. See, people get, get caught up in things and they get misdirected or moved aside from what they know to be true because of somebody with flattering words or somebody with a magnetic personality of some kind, and they leave what they know to be right. They know that's not right.

Paul said to King Agrippa, you know what I'm saying is true. This ain't down in the corner. You know, I'm telling you the truth. But knowing it in your head is not going to change your heart. God has to do that. Nor a cloak of covetousness nor coming in. cloaked one way, but our real purpose is covetousness. Our real purpose is money all the time. God is witness. You see that?

Nor of men sought we glory. We didn't seek anything of yours, and we didn't seek any glory either from you. neither of you nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ, we might have insisted on certain respect and help with the ministry, but that's not what we're about. That's not our method.

But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children. So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because you were dear to us. You were dear to us. For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you. We preach unto you the gospel of God.

So since Paul's motive was not personal gain, and his method was not to impress and entice the flesh, what was Paul's motive? And what was Paul's method? We don't have to look outside of our text for either of those things. His motive is clearly seen in verse seven of our text. Go back to chapter 11, verse seven, where we started. Have I committed an offense in abasing myself that ye might be exalted? Because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely, that ye might be exalted.

Paul was willing to abase himself for their sake, for their spiritual good. He was willing to lack any support from them, which would have been nice, I'm sure. He traveled far, and like any man, he worked for what he gained. And he didn't get anything from them, but he was willing to do that for their spiritual good. They were lifted up, that's the word there, not exalted in glory, you know, like God is exalted. But they were lifted up in his purpose and in his practice while he himself was burdened. He said, that's fine, that's fine, I'm fine with that. He spent resources, he spent time, he spent effort so that they could receive. and be lifted up in understanding of the gospel.

So Paul's motive also is clearly seen in verse eight of our text. Look at verse eight. I robbed other churches, taking wages of them. Here's the last phrase. To do you service. He was their servant. That's his motive. I'm your servant. And that's by God's design. Listen to 2 Corinthians 4,

5. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. You know, whenever Paul or anybody else in the scripture says what it is they preach, Philip preached unto him Jesus. Paul said, we preach Christ and Him crucified. I didn't preach myself, but what? Christ a person. It's always the son of God himself that's preached. And ourselves, your servants for Jesus' sake. We're just servants, we're not to be elevated. You know, there's the clergy and then there's the, I forget what they call the lay people or whatever, I don't know what that means. But there's none of that. There's no hierarchy. There's no bishops and cardinals and popes. We're your servant. And we act like it by God's grace. We're not just servants in word, but in deed. And that's it. That's all we are. Nothing more than that. To do you service. Now Paul's motive also is clearly seen in verse 11 of our text.

Wherefore? Why do I do all this? Why is this a thing? Why has God arranged it this way? Why was I gentle with you as a nurse cherished her children as he said to the church in Thessalonica? Why was I that way with you? Why did I suffer want and rob others for your sake, to lift you up, to exalt you? Did I do that because I don't love you or because I do? That's what he's saying there. Did I do that because I don't love you?

Does that make any sense? God knows. God knows. The difference between a hireling And a true shepherd or under shepherd is in John 10, 11. If you want to turn there quickly, I don't want to take too much time so that we get wearied tonight, but John 10,

11. Listen to this now, because this is our savior. And here he shows the difference between these false preachers that came and followed after Paul that were perverting the gospel, and him by the grace of God. John 10, 11, I am the good shepherd, this is of course the Lord Jesus speaking, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, he just hired to fill a shift, to work a shift. Because the shepherd was sick or something.

And he comes in there, and they're not his sheep. He seeeth the wolf coming, and he's like, oh, well, you know, what am I gonna do about that? I don't, you know, he leaveth the sheep, and he flees. He runs to take care of himself. And the wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep. The harling fleeth, because he's a harling, and careth not for the sheep.

That's why these false preachers have the method and the message that they do, motive that they do. That's why they are doing what they're doing. That's why they're saying everything that they're saying. And still today doing the same way because they don't give a hoot for God's sheep.

They care about themselves. I believe it's Jeremiah maybe that prophesied that the Lord said they feed themselves and not the flock. They don't care for the sheep. But Christ said, I lay down my life for my sheep. Now what does that have to do with us?

Jeremiah 3.15, I will give you pastors according to my heart, which will feed you knowledge and understanding.

Jeremiah 3.15, the good shepherd said that about his under shepherds and his sheep. And that word pastor there, means one that tends the sheep. God gives his heart.

I can't explain that, but he just does. Y'all aren't worth shooting, but I love you anyway. I'm not worth shooting anybody either, but somehow I think y'all must love me because still hadn't thrown me out. It's we love the Savior, don't we? And he causes us to love one another more and more. more and more in spite of ourselves. God will always, how many times have I said this before? God will always send you somebody that loves you. He will not send somebody to you. If it's of the Lord, they're gonna love you. They're gonna love you.

He says, Paul said, I haven't preached any motivational content. I haven't shamed people into giving and, and attending, you know, having perfect attendance and I haven't promoted myself. I haven't manipulated people trying to get them to do something for God. You know, everybody, you got to do something. You got to make some kind of decision today or we're not going home. We'll sing just as I have 26 times until somebody does something for God. No, no, that's not worship.

There's no manipulation. Just preaching the unadulterated, clear, simple, powerful words of eternal life, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul's method, his motive now, we talked about, for your service, to lift you up, because I love you. What was his method?

We saw it in 1 Thessalonians 2.9. For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail, for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preach unto you the gospel of God.

How are you going to do anybody service? How are you going to lift them up? What is love? What's the greatest thing that a man can do for another sinner? Preach the gospel of God. Tell you who God is. and gather together and rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ and his power to save, in his sovereign salvation, the champion of sinners, he who loved and gave himself and obtained eternal redemption for his sheep.

You see, men have confused God with us. They say, well, you know, I've done my best. You know, my child, my son or my daughter went astray, but I did my best. I did my best for them. Well, God doesn't have that problem. He doesn't do his best. He saves people. He saves sinners. He brings them home. That's what he does.

Paul's abasement of himself, we see it in our text. Of course, he said, I preached to you the gospel of God. I have preached to you the gospel of God freely, freely with no ulterior motive. His labors, his abasement of himself, his trials, which are listed below in our chapter 11. If you want to read them later, you probably remember his sufferings of want, and a bodily pain was all for the purpose of telling sinners of the Savior, the sovereign Savior of sinners.

That's it, that's it. Paul went from a cushy, highbrow occupation of great respect and privilege and no doubt compensation to being the off-scouring of the earth because the Lord Jesus Christ arrested him ployed him and sent him with a message, a message of hope for wretched, vile sinners like you and me, and to tell them that salvation is of the Lord. It doesn't matter how far you're going because it's not about you. It's about his power to save and his eternal love for his own.

Paul preached the cross with the offense of the cross intact. which is that a sinner must abandon all hope in himself, all hope in his own so-called good work. He must despise his own imagined righteousness. Paul said, not having my own righteousness, I look for Christ's righteousness. He must renounce his own non-existent prerogative to decide anything good, to choose anything rightly, and cast his soul without reservation or contribution on the rock of ages.

The gospel of God, the sovereign God, the God who saves to the uttermost those who believe on Christ, the God who reaches way down for sinners and his hand is not shortened that he can't save you. He preached that sinners or to look to the almighty unfailing champion of salvation. Not a weak, pathetic, done my best, waiting for you now. There couldn't be a greater contrast in any of our estimation or imagination than that, than the sovereign God and the pathetic Jesus of this religious age and all religious ages. Paul preached that sinners must utterly despise any pride of place, face, race, or grace. All pride, pride, where is boasting then?

It is excluded. It is excluded because salvation is by grace through faith and that's not even of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast and acknowledge his own willing and striving to be impotent. It's not of him that willeth nor of him that striveth. Impotent! Failure!

And resign our soul to the mercy of God who willeth, and whose very glory is part and parcel to the mercy that he freely bestows on whom he will. That's the declaration of the God of heaven and earth. When they asked David where his God was, he said, My God is in the heavens. He has done whatsoever he has pleased. Bless his holy name. It pleased him to bruise his son for wretches like us.

We're taught in this gospel of God that the only difference between God's sheep Only difference. By birth, by nature, there is no difference plainly declared in the word of God. But there is a difference. God maketh a difference between his people and all the nations of this world. He puteth a difference. But the only difference between God's sheep and a reprobate is the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord, and which love is defined by the shedding of his precious blood. and the giving of His very life on the cross for His sheep, and making His own soul an offering for our sheep. That's He's the difference.

There's one, and it's the Son of God. For that blessed hope, for that good news for wretched, vile sinners, For that message of eternal life and the crucified Savior, God's servants spend and are spent in the service of the Master. That simple. That's what Paul's simply saying here. Our charge, our mission is unambiguous and its outcome is not in doubt. Let's look at those two scriptures together. It's not unclear whatsoever.

Look at Ephesians 6.18. We'll read this as if we didn't just read three other places. His method in serving, in lifting up, in loving, was to preach the gospel of Christ. That's it. There's no other method. There's no entertainment. There's no motivational, trying to get you to do something. Our method is to preach Christ and what He did for sinners.

Listen to that, Ephesians 618, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there into with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Don't quit praying. Don't stop praying for me. I'm talking to you. I'm not talking as Paul. Don't stop praying for me. Don't stop praying for me.

God, help me and help you. help us to love him more and more and each other more and more and not to profane his name here, because that's our tendency with our selfish behavior and unforgiving spirit. And then he said this, while you're praying, pray for me. Verse 19, pray for me. While you're praying and for me, what did he ask for?

I just don't have, I don't have, you know, I'm just struggling all the time. I need, you know, more money. No. Pray for me that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, to make plain that which is hidden.

That's the preaching of the gospel. the truth of who Christ is and what he did that cannot be seen, it can't be figured out, it can't be argued enough about to come to the truth, it can't be philosophized about long enough to figure it out. The only way you're gonna know him is if somebody preaches the gospel. That's it. That's how that which is hidden is made known by the gospel and God sending faith with the gospel. He mixes faith with the hearing of the gospel. His people understand. He has given us an understanding. He has given us an understanding. For which I am an ambassador in bonds, that there yet I may speak boldly. as all to speak. It's not ambiguous, is it? It's not. The charge that we have, the commission that we have from our savers, not unclear, is it?

We've got no business with all the other stuff, you know? If we want to see a Christmas program, you know, let's go see, you know, I forget what they're called, that band that plays all the Christmas music, whatever, whoever they are. We'll go see them together. Those are the professionals. That's not a church, that's not a worship service.

If we wanna be entertained, let's go watch the ones that we can still stand to look at, entertain us, and then come worship God at the appointed time. We have one charge, go and preach, go and preach. And whoever hears you and believes you, I'll save them, he said. And whoever doesn't believe you, I'll throw them in hell. That's how serious this is. It's not unclear, though, is it? And then it's not in doubt, Romans 1 15, so as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. There's a lot in that statement. Rome was called the seat of Satan. Paul would not be welcome in Rome. He was not welcome in Rome.

But he said, I'm gonna go there anyway, and I'm gonna preach the gospel to you huddled few that will listen to me. And he said in another place, I don't know what to expect except this, there will be affliction, there will be trouble because The Holy Spirit witnesseth in every place that there's tribulation facing us and trouble, whatever, whatever.

But I'm ready to preach the gospel even in Rome to you also, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel, Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. When the gospel is preached and a sinner believes on Christ, unless God can be thwarted, what did the Lord say? The gates of hell will not prevail against my church. His people are gonna hear him preached and they're gonna believe on him and he's gonna save them.

And that's the very power of God exerted. That's not up to chance. That's not up to the whims of men. That's the powerful, undeniable, unfailing purpose of God Almighty. It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. If you believe on Christ, it's by His power, not yours. It's His gift, not your will. And it's wonderful to know that we have a clear charge and an unfailing mission.

Paul said in another place, whether it's the saver of death unto death, or the saver of life unto life, And it may be both here tonight. Maybe both. But either way, he said, it's a victory. It's a victory, because God always gives us the victory. And either way, it's going to be a sweet smelling savor of Christ unto God. Christ, whenever Christ is exalted, that's a win. That's a win. But may he cause us to bow before him and fall in love with him. Amen.