Alright, let's turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 9. Our Sunday school lesson this
morning is about a dedicated servant. That's what Paul's been
talking about all the way through the book of Corinthians. That's
what it's about. It's what his second letter is
all about. And he wants to emphasize this,
that if we serve God in His kingdom, we serve His gospel. Because
his gospel is the means he's ordained to call out his elect.
It's the only reason for us still being here. So let's look here
at verse 19. And he's been approaching this
subject from every angle there is. And he's not just talking
here about preachers, but he's talking about the church of the
living God. For though I be free from all
men, Now, if you look at that word, men, you'll see that it
looks a little different than the rest of the words in the
verse. And in the original, it's not even there. I Corinthians 9.19, For though
I be free from all, that's the way it should read, yet have
I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. Paul
considered himself to be a bondservant. Now, under the old Jewish law,
a bondservant was one who served out his time for a debt. He sold
himself into slavery for a debt. And he had to serve his time.
He had to pay for that debt. So many years were agreed upon.
He'd serve as a servant in this man's house. And over time, that
debt would be paid for by his service. And usually, it was
a number of years, a lot of years. And under the law, there was
provisions made for this servant. And after his debt was paid,
he was free to go. And so the master of the house
would bring him up to the front and tell him he's free to go.
There's the door, your debt's paid, you're free to go. Go back
out, start your own house. Go back out, raise a family. Do what you got to do, your debt's
been paid. But the bondservant says, no,
I will not go out. I love my master and I wish to
stay. I want to stay and serve him
for the rest of my life. That's a bond servant. He's free
to go. He's free. There's nothing there
to keep him, to motivate him, to cause him to serve his master
except his love for his master. That's where he wants to be.
And so they bore his ear through with an awl, and I believe they
put a ring in it, but it doesn't really say that, but I don't
see just a hole in the ear. doing anything. I think they
bored that hole in his ear and they put a ring in there. And
if you look at any of the pictures depicting that age, all of them
had a ring in their ear who served their masters. He was a bondservant. And Paul was free from all. He
was free from the curse of the law. The law had no hold on him. He was dead to the law. The law
had been kept in every jot and tittle. He was free from the
curse of the law. He was free from the yoke of
the ceremonial law. He was free from the unwilling
support of some of the churches. Yet because he loved Christ,
he became a servant to all. He gave in to them in every way
he could give in in order to bring them to faith in Christ.
Verse 20, unto the Jews I became a Jew that I might gain the Jews. 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 the law, as without law, being
not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might
gain them that are without the law. To the weak became I as weak,
that I might gain the weak. I made all things to all men,
that I might by all means save some." Now, Paul understood that
the ceremonial law was fulfilled in Christ. That is, all of its
Sabbaths. The Sabbath day was a day of
rest. Christ fulfilled that day. That
day was all about God resting from His works. And God could
not have rested from His works except that He trusted all things
into the hands of His Son, the Mediatorial King. How could He
rest knowing that Satan was in the garden? How could He rest
knowing that man would fall? God knows all things. He knew
all those things. So how could He rest? He rested
in His Son. He rested in Christ. He trusted
all things into His hands. And He rested. And so they had
a Sabbath day. And that Sabbath day was fulfilled
in Christ. Who is our rest? Come unto me,
all you that are weary and heavy laden. I give you rest. He's
our rest. And he knew that the ceremonial
law was fulfilled in Christ. And the Sabbaths and circumcision
and feast days and years of jubilee the priesthood, and the sacrifices,
and the Holy of Holies, and the veil, the ark, the candlesticks,
and on and on and on it goes. All of those things were fulfilled
in Christ. And Paul knew this and wrote
the entire book of Hebrews to declare this. Yet he was willing
in certain circumstances to observe some of these things in order
that some might hear the gospel. He was willing to worship on
their Sabbath day. If you go through the book of
Acts, you will find Paul when he was among the Jews on their
Sabbath day going into their synagogues and worshiping God. And he went in there to preach
to them. He went in there to teach them and to tell them and
to witness to them. He was willing to have Timotheus
circumcised because the Jews all knew his father was Greek
and it would have shut the door for his ministry to them in every
way had he not done it. He'd make himself to appear that
he was under the law to gain them that were under the law.
He was not lawless. And he didn't do these things
to compromise what Christ had accomplished, but he did these
things to reach these people. And to them that were without
the law. Who was without the law? Who's he talking about there?
He's talking about the Gentiles. The Gentiles didn't have a ceremonial
law. The Gentiles didn't worship the
same God Israel worshipped. They didn't have the books of
the Bible. They didn't know who Isaiah was. They worshipped frogs
and snakes and queens and all sorts of things they had that
they worshipped. They were without the law. And
to these Gentiles, He would appear as being without the law. If
they ate pork, he ate pork. A good example of that is in
Galatia. When he went down there and Peter
came down and Peter was eating pork chops with everybody else.
It wasn't bothering him one little bit. But then some of the notier
men from Jerusalem came down and Peter kind of slid away from
the Gentiles and went over there by himself and gathered over
there with them and he wouldn't eat anything like that in front
of them. And Paul called him down to his face because of it. If they served pork chops, he
ate pork chops. If they met on the first day
of the week, he met on the first day of the week. He appeared
to the Gentiles as though he had no ceremonial law, as though
he was without law. And just in case we would misunderstand
that, he tells us he's not without law, that is, order, that he
was under the law of Christ. Christ was the authority over
him. And then he says to the weak,
he become as weak that he might minister to the weak. I don't know. I get the idea
sometimes listening to to preachers. I'm talking about false prophets
now, those on TV, the ones that you see. I don't go down here
and visit all these churches around. But the ones that I see
on TV, do you ever get the opinion that any of them are weak? I
mean, most of them are wealthy. They live in big homes. They
live on a big income. They look healthy to me and strong. And I never hear them talking
about being weak. I never hear them talking about
coming down to where these people are to minister to these people.
And yet Paul said he becomes weak. That is spiritually. He wasn't a weak physical person.
But he let them know. He said, when I come to you,
I didn't come with these enticing words of man's wisdom. But he
said, I was with you in fear and with you in trembling. He
becomes weak. He let them know He was in the
same shape they were. He was a sinner just like they
were. He needed the same salvation
they needed. And He'd do anything short of
compromising the glory of God to minister to God's elect. That's what He's telling us here.
Verse 23, And this I do, all these things that He's mentioned,
He's going to go off, though he was raised a Jew, strict under
that law. He said, as touching the righteousness
which is of the law, I was blameless. Paul would not compromise any
of those things. Sabbath day, he was at the synagogue.
He kept everything. He was circumcised the eighth
day after the order of the law of Israel. And as touching that
righteousness, he said, I was blameless. He didn't miss any
of these things. And yet, he'd go over to the
Gentiles, now he would appear as though he didn't do any of
these things. And he said, this I do. Now watch
this, for the gospel's sake. That's why I do it. For the gospel's
sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. Paul had two
great ends. two goals for which He is willing
to sacrifice Himself and all His benefits, even His liberty. First and foremost, for the glory
of God in Christ our Redeemer as is set forth in the Gospel
of Christ. I'm willing to give it all up.
Give it all up. The Gospel is the declaration
of the glory of God in the salvation of chosen sinners through the
person and work of Jesus Christ. That's the Gospel. And these
things, he said, I do for the gospel's sake. And his second
goal is that men of all sorts, Jews and Gentiles, should share
with him in the blessings of eternal life. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
I want folks to believe. Don't you? I don't want to just
sit and talk. When I sit down one-on-one with
somebody and they're asking me some questions And it appears
as though the Lords begin a work in their heart. I want them to
believe. I want them to hear what I'm saying. I'm not just
saying things to let my words go out in the air. I want folks
to believe. I want folks to see His glory
with their own God-given eyes of faith. I want them to see
for themselves. Not try to see through my eyes,
but see through their own God-given eyes. To see these things and
to see His glory and to taste in their own experience of grace
that the Lord is gracious. And from the day God revealed
the mystery of the Gentiles to Paul, he wanted nothing more
than to see everybody he preached to converted to Christ. What
was the first thing you did, some of you in here, when you
finally saw, when you really saw the glory of God in Christ?
What's the first thing you did? You wanted to share it with somebody,
didn't you? Huh? You wanted them to see what you
saw. And the biggest shock you ever got in your life is when
you told them and they just looked at you and patted you on the
head like you was nuts. Huh? Isn't that right? Paul said, I endure all things
for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Verse 24, know
ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth
the prize? So run that you may obtain. Now Paul was evidently a fan
of the Greeks. This is who he's writing to.
He's writing to the Greeks here at Corinth. And the Greeks were
the ones from which our Olympics came from. And they were big
on games. And they had races. And they'd
gather there. And they'd box. And they'd wrestle.
And they'd do all these things. And he was evidently a fan of
these Greek games and sports. And he often used these things
to illustrate what he was trying to preach. And here he speaks
of a great race. Many runners at the starting
line. But only one will obtain the prize. Now most all the writers
apply these things to the Christian walk of life and to all believers,
and there's an application for that here, to all believers.
But that's not his subject, or at least that's not his subject
in general. Paul's talking about the reason
behind our walk and the goal of it. And we're here for just
one reason, and that's to preach the gospel to God's elect. Just
as the runners were there for one purpose, even so the Church
of the Living God is here for one purpose. And like the runner
of the race, we're not to be distracted from our goals. Now,
we're easily distracted because we're still in the flesh. Everything
in the world distracts us from this one goal. Everything. Things are going on all around
us and it don't take much to distract us. And he said, this
runner is after the prize. What's the prize? Well, the prize
is to finish our course and do what God called us to do. When
Paul got down to the end of his days, he said, I finished the
course, my course. I finished it. And I kept the
faith. I kept the faith. So the prize
is to finish our course and do what God called us to do. The
prize is to see God's elect called out and established in the faith.
He told those Corinthians, he said, do I need letters of commendation
from you like other people? He said, you are my epistle written
not with an ink pen, written not with a leaded pencil or ink,
but written on the fleshly tables of the heart. The prize is to see God's elect
called out, and our prize is to do what God called and equipped
us to do. The prize is to see our Lord
glorified in all things. That's the prize. And runners
who do not run can never win the prize. They never see it,
never have it in their hands, never have it in their possession.
Why? They don't run. Now Paul says this, and what's
the next thing he says? Run. Isn't that what he said? So run. Run. Don't set up in the bleachers
and watch somebody else run. You run if you're in the race. Run. And runners who do not run can
never win the prize. You have to run. So run, he said,
that you may obtain. Verse 25, and every man that
striveth for the 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. But I keep unto my body, and
bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I preach
to others, I myself should become a castaway." Now, the illusion
here is to those in the Greek Olympics, or however you want
to refer to it in those Greek games, who wrestled and fought
for the prize. These were not runners. These
were fighters. And to be at the top of their
game, they must be temperate in all things. You watch these
athletes that come and compete on the Olympics today and you
look at them. They don't look like normal folk, do they? They're not an ounce of fat on
them anywhere. You know they don't eat like
you eat. They're temperate in all things. And they must be
temperate in all things. They're temperate in their leisure
time. To win any sport takes dedication and practice. And
those who are distracted by other things, they'll never win the
prize. You know what? You're going to be good at basketball,
you've got to play basketball a lot. You're not going to read
a book on basketball and be a basketball player. You've got to play a
lot to be good at it. And that goes with any of the
rest of it. And those who fight this fight,
do not go about it ignorantly. or half-heartedly. He said, not
as one that beateth the air. Paul's sitting watching these
boxers, and they're sitting back there shadow boxing. Ain't nobody
swinging back. They're just over there punching
and throwing punches and dancing around. He said, I'm not talking
about one that punches the air. I'm not talking about one that
beats the air. I'm not talking about somebody
who fights ignorantly. I look at a lot of these preachers
today, and I'm listening to what they're saying, and they're building
straw men, and they're beating it to death. And you know what
a straw man is. That's something that don't even
exist. Politicians are great at it.
They build this big thing that's an issue, and it's not an issue.
And they beat it to death. And everybody gets behind them
because they've got this big thing that they're working on,
and there's no thing. There's nothing there. They're
just beating the air. Paul said that ain't the kind
of fight he fought. He didn't fight like one that's
just swinging at the air, swinging at nothing, not half-heartedly
and not ignorantly. We don't go about this fight
ignorantly or half-heartedly, not as one that beateth the air,
all show and no go, not as one who hasn't made up his mind or
being convinced of his calling. But he said, I keep under my
body and bring it into subjection. Now he's not talking here about
his natural body. That's not what he's talking
about at all. Although it could be inclusive in it, but what
he's talking about here is this body of sin. He's talking about
this old nature. As sinners, we need restraint.
And I believe the apostles here are talking about a daily restraint. Our hope is that we're dead and
our life is hid with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is
our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him
in glory. And he tells us in verse 5 of
Colossians chapter 3, having said what I just quoted to you,
he said, mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth,
fornication, and uncleanness, and inordinate affection, and
evil cupidousness, and covetousness, which is idolatry. The lust of
the flesh is just as active in the believer as it is in the
unbeliever. Just as active. Unbeliever walks down the road.
He looks across the street and back in the days when the miniskirt
was possible and he sees this young lady coming up the street
in a miniskirt and he looks at her and I don't have to finish
the picture. The believer comes down the road
right behind him. You know what he sees? The same thing. You know what goes through his
mind? The same thing. Now he said, I have to keep unto
my body. I've got to keep it under subjection. Why? Because it hasn't changed
one eye over. That's why. The lusts of the
flesh are just as active in the believer as they were before
his conversion. But now he understands what it
is. Now he has a better understanding
of the wickedness of those things, of the evil of them, and of the
consequence of them. He understands these things.
And he can never hope to be successful in his calling if he does not
resist this flesh. It must be resisted. And believers,
Paul tells us, are not debtors to the flesh. This flesh has
never given you anything. The only thing this flesh has
ever given you is a false hope before God. That's all it's ever
yielded to you, a false hope. Everything else that it produces
is contrary to God. And believers, Paul tells us,
are not debtors to the flesh to live after the flesh. Those
who live after the flesh, he says, shall die. But if you through
the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons
of God." That's Romans 8, verses 12 and 14. Now, I'm not talking
about progressive sanctification here. I'm not talking about people
being made better and better. The Bible don't teach that men
and women become better and better or more and more holy in their
works. You don't teach that. You can't
find it. But this is recognizing sin as a problem. It's a problem. Now, you can ignore it and say,
well, it don't matter one way or the other. You won't find
that in the Scripture. You won't find that anywhere
in this book. It is a problem. And faith recognizes sin as a
problem and as a deterrent. It's an obstacle. He calls it
a stumbling block, a stumbling stone. And believers do everything
they can to restrain it, to restrain it. And the word fight here in
1 Corinthians 9.26, it means to box. That's what the word
means. To fight, it means to box, to
swing. And those who have studied the
language, I'm not a linguist, but I do read men who were. And
men who have studied the language said that it means both to give
and to get bruised. Black and blue. Bruised and damaged. In other words, it means they're
serious in this fight. They're serious. I remember old
Scott Richardson saying one time, he was talking about Jacob wrestling
with God. And he said, I don't know about
you, but when I wrestle, I wrestle for keeps. I'm going to get you
down. That's what he said. I'm going
to get you down. I don't care if you strangle
me. I'm going to get you down. I'm serious in this thing when
I wrestle. I don't wrestle for the fun of
it. And that's what this word here
means. It means to both give and to
get bruised. In other words, it means we're
serious in the work. I've watched boxers on TV. I
like to watch boxers. And I watched boxers on TV who
were obviously afraid of getting hit. You ever watch the match
like that? They dance all around the ring.
They're backpedaling and going here and going there, but they
never throw a punch, and they never get near enough to get
punched. And at the end, the scorecard shows it. And the fans
boo it from the get-go. They boo, boo, get them out of
here. If you're afraid of taking a
shot, don't get in the ministry. Don't get in the ring. If you're going to spend your
life running from the enemy, don't enter the ministry. And
if you're afraid of throwing a punch, don't get in the ring. Bible language alone ought to
tell us something about this fight. He said in Romans chapter
8, mortify. Mortify. It means to kill, to
put to death. And in Colossians chapter 3,
the word mortify means to subdue to death. Get him down and don't
let him up until he quits breathing. Subdue to death. And while these
verses have a bearing on all our lives, it is especially true
of ministers. There are those who claim a part
in the ministry whether as supporters or ministers in the strictest
sense, who have no constraint, no moderation, no resistance
to the sinful flesh. And that's what Paul feared the
most. That's what he feared the most, that having preached to
others, he himself should be after all a castaway. There are a multitude of things
in the world which are a deterrent to the gospel ministry. They're
called weights. in the Scripture called weights. And those who are running for
the prize don't need extra baggage. You look at them runners when
they run. They got a little old t-shirt,
usually sleeveless, and a short pair of shorts on. And that's
it. That's it. A pair of tennis shoes. That's
it. They don't want one. And those
things are made just as light as they can get. They don't want
no restraints. They don't want nothing binding.
They don't want nothing heavy. They want to get rid of all the
weight. And Paul said, let us lay aside
every weight. Now watch this. And the sin,
which does so easily beset us. And let us run with patience
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author
and finisher of our faith. In Ephesians 5.15, the apostle
tells us, see that you walk circumspectly. not as fools, but as wise. Wherefore, be ye not unwise,
but understanding what the will of the Lord is." That word, circumspectly,
means exactly. It means perfectly. We don't
make things up as we go. We do not launch out without
a plan. Believers, and especially preachers,
are to serve God with an understanding of His redemptive will. I used to get some rainy day
help in the cabinet shop. These were roofers, commercial
roofers. You've seen them up there with
mops, putting that hot stuff down on the roof. They were roofers
and laborers and they didn't know anything at all about cabinetry. Nothing. And they were good for
carrying lumber and good for cleaning up. After that, they'd
just end the way. They'd just end the way. And
men and women with no understanding of the redemptive will of God
are a burden, not an asset. They get into ministry, and they
don't know anything at all about it. They don't know half of what
they're talking about, and they get up, and they blabber on and
on and on. And they don't say anything,
and they don't do anything, and they're not a help. They're a
hindrance. They're a hindrance. And if we'd serve our God honorably
in our Christian service, we must have a good understanding
of the redemptive will of God. We must walk circumspectly and
not as fools, redeeming the time, he said, because the days are
evil. Here's what Paul said. I must put things in their proper
perspective. I've got to put these, that Christian
liberty, marriage, children, family, home, all these, I have
to put them in their proper place. And I have to put my service
to the Lord in the Gospel in its proper place. When we come
to worship, the gospel has to have preeminence in worship.
It has to be put in its proper place. I must know what things
are first and foremost and what things come below that. And I
must recognize how Satan operates in me and operates in others
to be able to resist him. Why do you tell us all these
things about false religion? Because I want you to understand
how Satan operates. That's why. You can't resist
what you don't know. You may be feeding the wrong
fire. I think Brother James used to
pastor this church. He had a saying. I might get
it wrong. I hope I don't. But he said, it's like having
two dogs in you. And somebody said, well, which
one wins? He said, the one you feed the most. the one you feed
the most. If you're unaware of how Satan
works, you might be feeding the wrong dog. You might be feeding
the wrong dog. I must recognize how Satan operates
in me and operates in others to resist him and to teach you
how to resist him. I must understand the grace of
God, the glory of God, and the mercy of God, and let these things
have the preeminence.