Paul said, For though I be free
from all, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might
gain the more. The message tonight is something
that we don't hear or think about very often, very much. Most of us here tonight know
the gospel. certainly most everyone here
knows it in our heads mentally we have a if someone asks you
what's the gospel you could give probably a pretty good answer
to that question and we know what a sinner is by God's grace
don't we we know that it's not just doing some bad things or
being relatively comparatively evil outwardly It's a sin nature. It's a principle of the heart.
Sin is what we are. We are enmity with God by nature. We know that. But what we have
some insight into here in this passage tonight, Paul preached the gospel to sinners. And he says here in this passage,
why and with what attitude? He does so. That's interesting
to me as a preacher, and I know it will be to you as someone
who loves the gospel and regularly hears and rejoices in the gospel. Why do we preach and with what
attitude? How do we approach this thing
of the gospel, the preaching of it? Is it important to you?
Is it everything to you? Paul said, I do what I do for
the gospel's sake. The word free here, though I
be free from all, the word men is not in the original text,
but I believe he's talking about men because he goes on to say,
yet I've made myself servant unto all. And that's certainly
men he's talking about there, don't you think? So I believe
men is not inappropriate there, but he says free, I'm free from
all. What does he mean by free? It
means without obligation, not bound as a servant to any, not
bound to, not obligated to. Now, there's a sense in which
that's absolutely true. Obviously, Paul said that under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but there's also a sense in which
the preacher and all who know the Lord Jesus Christ are obligated
to others. And Paul knew that. He's the
one that said it in Romans 1.14. He said, I am debtor both to
the Greeks and to the barbarians. And that word debtor there means
to owe or be obligated to somebody. So it's just the opposite, isn't
it? It's just the opposite. He says here in Romans, I am
debtor. I am obligated to the Greeks
and to the barbarian, both to the wise and to the unwise. So
as much as in me is, listen to the context of why he says I'm
a debtor. I'm ready to preach the gospel
to you who are at Rome. I've got to preach the gospel
to you. Why? Because I'm a debtor. I'm obligated
to do it. By who? By God. God said go and
preach. He said, you will be my witness.
And he's obligated to God. There's also a sense in which
we're obligated to sinners, aren't we? In what way? Well, Paul here,
he's talking, as I said, about preaching the gospel and his
willingness and boldness to do that wherever a door is opened.
At Rome also, he said, there might be bonds, there might be
chains, there might be death awaiting me there, but I'm going
to go preach there anyway. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
I'm not afraid to preach it because he was obligated by the call
of God, but also because the gospel is the power of God unto
salvation. And there is that obligation
that any human being has to another human being to administer whatever
is needed, especially if it's life saving. especially if it's
vital. Now you think about that. If
a medicine is needed to save somebody's life and I've got
it, it's available, if I'll just give it and I withhold it, that
makes me a criminal, doesn't it? I'm criminal to do that. If not in the letter, definitely
morally. So there's an obligation in there.
If a rope is needed, somebody's hanging off a cliff, And I walk
by and I've got a rope in my backpack. And I say, well, you
know, you should have brought a rope with you. That's that's
tough, you know, or you should have been careful. I'm a criminal.
There's an obligation. And how can we know what we know
about Christ and who he is and what he did for sinners and see
them steeped in ignorance and tradition and foolishness and
not and pass by an opportunity to be a witness for Christ. It's
spiritually criminal to do it. And so there is a sense in which
he was obligated. And you are too. That's my point. And me too. But here in 1 Corinthians
he's saying that he had not received any support from these Corinthians.
He said, I use not my liberty by the word of God on the authority
of God. It's right for those who are
partakers of spiritual things to bestow physical thing he said
i haven't use that and i'm not there for bound by any obligation
to you that way he could've justifiably gone
and minister to those who did support would and did so and
there were those who the corinthian believers did support in verse
twelve he said others have this power over you so why not me
in barnes and so they were supporting somebody paul could have left
them to those to minister to them But Paul was gifted of God
to confirm the churches and to teach things that were being
left, being abandoned. Paul was gifted by God to warn
and to exhort regarding things that were necessary in the church.
And he said, I've made myself servant unto all, though not
obligated to do it in this case. Why'd you do that, Paul? That
I might gain the more. Now, he uses this language that
I might gain the more. And then if you look down in
verse 19, I believe it's in verse 22. Yeah, look at 22. He said,
to the weak became I as weak. As he elaborates on what he means
by gaining the more, he said that I might gain the weak. I
have made all things to all men that I might by all means save
some. Interesting language, isn't it?
We don't go around saying, I'm trying to save people. And what
did Paul mean by that I might gain the more that I might save
some? The context refers to Paul's
work as a second cause in the ministry of Christ. Paul knew
who saved sinners. Nobody was used more than the
Apostle Paul to preach and teach the doctrine, the gospel of free
grace, salvation by free grace through faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Nobody was used more than he was. And he's not contradicting
that. God is the first cause of everything. And yet Paul uses common language
here that we do every day, attributing things to secondary causes, don't
we? We say, I preach, I study, I
do this. If I do anything, I do it by
God's power, don't I? In His strength. Especially if
it's something that's a work of faith, the fruit of the Spirit
is faith. And yet I do it. And we speak
that way. We understand what we mean. So
we don't get hung up on that. God is the first cause. We understand
that. It's by His ordaining grace,
by His predestination, by His power, in the preaching, all
through, from beginning to end, Christ said, I'm the Alpha and
the Omega. I'm the author of your faith and the finisher of
it, and everything in between. And Paul knew that. Paul preached
that and taught it. So that's not what he's saying
there. What he is saying is this. Nothing means more to me than
to see sinners saved by God's grace. That's why he did what
he did. And when he uses that language, don't concentrate on
the I so much as the save. That they might be saved. Mark's
desire and prayer to God for Israel, he said, is that they
might be saved. That they might be saved. His desire wasn't for support
or recognition. He said, I forego your support. And yet I minister to you. Why?
That I might gain some for Christ. It was for the glory of God and
the good of God's people that he did what he did. And you can
either believe that or not. You can say, well, Paul was a
hypocrite. He sure did brag on himself a
lot. I don't find it to be that way. Do you? He said, I'm nothing. Apollos is nothing. He that planteth is nothing.
And he that watereth is nothing. Thank God that He gave us the
blessing of doing some planting and some watering. I'm glad to
be in on it, aren't you? But we're nothing. Nothing. He didn't want the Gospel to
be put in a bad light. He wanted to serve men in the
cause of truth. Verse 18. He said, What is my
reward then? Verily that when I preach the
Gospel, I may make the Gospel of Christ without charge. I want to preach it in such a
way that no bad light is shed upon my gospel, upon the one
that I preach, that nobody has any occasion. You remember David's
great sin, God said, was that he gave occasion to the enemies
of God to blaspheme. Oh, I don't want to do that.
That's why God disciplined him pretty harshly, didn't He? Because
you gave occasion to the enemies of God to speak blasphemy against
God. I don't want to be there. And
neither did Paul. And that's what he said there.
And any preacher with any other motive than these, the glory
of Christ, the untainted, uninterrupted, unsullied glory of Christ. I want everybody to praise His
name. Even the enemies of Christ, when
He shone forth in His glory, they said, nobody ever spake
like this man. Even His enemies will have to
think highly of Him if we get our heart's desire. Is that how
you are? I know it is. And anybody with any other motive
than those, the glory of Christ and the good of His sheep, is
not God's preacher. He's somebody else's preacher.
You just mark that down. But I might gain them. Not gain praise or gain possessions
or gain worldly support, but gain men. for his glory." That's
what he...that I might gain some more, more. Now Paul's daily
desire was to preach the gospel everywhere a door was opened
by God to do so. In Colossians 4.3 he said, with
all praying also for us. Pray for it. Why, Paul? What
do you want me to pray for, Paul? That God would open unto us a
door of utterance. When you're just a voice, like
John the Baptist, What greater thing could you desire than a
door of utterance? That's what voices do. They utter.
That's why we desire a door of utterance to speak the mystery
of Christ, for which I am also in bonds. Pray for me that God
would open a door that I could go through and preach His name,
preach the glories of Christ. Whatever you do in this world,
if you're an auto mechanic or a salesman or whatever it is
you do, you need to understand also, this is not just talking
about preachers. Our business as believers in
this world is as witnesses of Christ. Go and preach. And you do that by supporting
the gospel where you are, and you do that by doing like Paul,
open a door. Somebody could be brought to
hear the gospel, I could somehow be an influence on somebody for
Christ. And that's the prayer of all
believers. And I want us to understand that. And look at verse 20. He said, unto the Jews I became
as a Jew. He said, I'm servant unto all. And now he's explaining that.
I became as 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 law,
as without law, that would be the Gentiles, those who had no
regard or tradition in the 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 made all things to all men,
that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's
sake that I might be partaker thereof with you." He didn't
say, and maybe it sounds like this on the surface, maybe you
heard it this way. He didn't say, I pretended to
be something I'm not in order to be popular with people so
everybody would like me. When I was around the Jews, I
acted like a Jew so the Jews would like me. You know what
that's called? A hypocrite. And it's never right
or good. to be a hypocrite, never. Not
to be popular with people so people will like me, or for personal
gain. I know those who have changed their message. They come to a
place and they know what is expected of them to preach, so they make
an effort at it so that they could prosper for their own gain,
for popularity, because they know what those folks wanted
to hear. That's hypocrisy. No, what he's
saying is this. In his heart, he became as a
Jew or a Greek. He put himself in their shoes,
in their place. You heard that saying, to walk
a mile in somebody else's shoes. That's a pretty good illustration
of what he's talking about here. From their perspective, I saw
the gospel and I preached accordingly. Now, let me explain that further. We know that he did not use certain
liberties that would have offended certain ones, and that was a
way in which he conformed to their different cases, but he
taught them in ways appropriate to their case. In other words,
to the Jew, he spoke of things concerning the moral law and
how those things are fulfilled in Christ, because that's what
they were taken up with, the moral law. trusted in their rituals
and ceremonies and traditions in their heritage and so Paul
preached to them a certain way that wouldn't have meant much
to the Gentiles if he had talked about how all these sacrifices
and things are fulfilled in Christ because the Gentiles never observed
those things anyway you see what I'm saying to them under the
law he became as under the law he put himself in their heart
in their shoes and said These are the things that they're trusting
in. These are their idols, so I'll
tear those idols down when I'm preaching to them. You see that?
That he might gain those that are under the law. And to the
Gentile, he preached a little bit different. And to the weak,
he understood their situation and their case and conformed
to that in the preaching. Not that the message was different,
but the way that it was preached was different. The Lord Jesus
Christ dealt differently with some than He did others. With
the weak, He dealt with them as being weak. He said at one
time, there are many things I need to tell you, but you can't bear
them now. Some may have been able to bear them, but others
may not, you see. There are those who are weak
and those who are strong. But to the Gentile, now the Gentile
was never bound to the moral law, but to them he spoke of
their false gods. You remember when he went to
Athens and he saw all of their false gods and he said, I perceive
that you're too superstitious. He preached different to them
a little bit in the manner of his preaching, in the way he
approached the gospel than he did to the Jew. He spoke of their
false gods and how there's one God. You've raised these statues
to all these gods, and then there's one that's to the unknown god.
Let me tell you about the one you don't know." You see, that
was different than how he preached in the temple, in the tabernacles,
in the Jewish synagogues. Those that were under the law
were bound to old things, old traditions, old customs, the
old covenant. And those who were not under
the law were concerned with always wanting to hear some new thing.
You remember what it says there in Acts chapter 17? We're going to look at it in
a minute. It says they were taken up all the time with just wanting
to hear something new. The Jews were looking at all
the old traditions, the old kind of... And the Greeks, they just
wanted to hear some new philosophy, some new angle on things. You
know, somebody's new opinion about what's truth, what the
meaning of life is and all that. Different. And so Paul preached
to them that were under the law as being under the law, and to
them that were not as being not under the law. In Hebrews 8,
verses 6 through 13, this is the language in which Paul spoke
to the Jews. Look at Hebrews chapter 8. and verse 6. He said, But now hath he, that
is Christ, obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he
is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better
promises. For if that first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when
I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,
because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them
not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind
and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God.
And they shall be to me a people. You see, this is not a covenant
of works. It's not this, this, this, thou shalt not, thou shalt.
This is a covenant of grace. I'll put my law in their hearts. And I'll be their God. And they'll
be my people. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord, for they're all going to know me. Why? They shall all
be taught of God. from the least to the greatest,
for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness." Not if, I will
be. And their sins and their iniquities.
That's the gospel that Paul had to preach to these Jews because
they were looking back at that old covenant and said, if we
observe this just right and do this on this day and don't do
that ever, then God will be pleased with us. He's saying, they didn't
keep it, you're not keeping it, no sinner has ever kept it. What
you need to hear about is the new covenant. the covenant of
grace wherein God said, I'll be your God and you'll be my
people and I will be merciful to you. That's the gospel they
needed to hear and he preached to them that way. And in verse
13 he said, in that he saith a new covenant, he hath made
the first old. Quit cutting the throats of lambs. Christ is our lamb. Quit shedding
the blood of animals. Christ's blood is the only blood
that God will accept. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. Quit trusting in those things,
Jew. And then listen to how he talked to the Gentiles now. To
those concerned with new things, he spoke the ancient truth of
God. Listen to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17 verse 20. for thou
bringest certain strange things to our ears." These are the Athenians
wanting to know what Paul is talking about. What in the world
are you saying, Paul? These things are strange to our
ears. We would know, therefore, what these things mean. And they
were excited to hear it because, look at verse 21, for all the
Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in
nothing else but either to tell or to hear something new. You've
got a different angle on things, Paul. Let's hear it. We want
to hear it. Okay? Then Paul stood in the midst
of Mars Hill and said, You men of Athens, I perceive that in
all things you're too religious. For as I passed by and beheld
your devotions, your worship, I found an altar with this inscription,
To the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare
I unto you, God that made the world. That's getting back on
there pretty old, isn't it? That's a long time ago. He started
at the beginning. You see, with the Jews, they
were trusted in the old things, the old traditions, the old covenant. And Paul said, let me tell you
something about the new covenant. But these wanted to hear something
new. So he said, let me tell you about
the God that made the worlds. He started back there. Seeing that he is Lord of heaven
and earth. Take these idols down. The One
that made you, He's God. And you can't make a picture
of Him. You can't carve Him out of stone. He made you out of
the dust. You don't make Him. Oh, do you
see that? And He dwelleth not in temples
made with hands. Don't worry so much about the
place of worship. He told that woman at the well.
She said, You worship here and there and we worship there. And
He said, The time is coming and now is that they that worship
this God They're not going to worship Him on a mountain or
in a valley. They're going to worship Him in spirit, wherever
they are, and in truth. That's who God is right there.
And that's how He's worshiped. Not in temples made with hands.
It don't matter where you are. It's heart worship of a person,
of a spirit. Neither is worship with men's
hands as though He needed anything. Seeing He giveth to all life
and breath and all things. You don't give Him shape. He
gives you life and breath and everything you have. And hath
made of one blood all nations of men. He made Adam. And everybody from Adam. The
first Adam. And then He begins to tell them
about the second Adam. We'll skip down for the sake
of time. But look at verse 31. He said, because God, this God
I'm telling you about that made the world and everything in it,
and you and everybody else, he hath appointed a day in which
he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained,
the new Adam, the second Adam, whereof he hath given assurance
unto all men in that he raised him from the dead. That one that
came out of the grave like he said he was going to in three
days, God's going to judge you by him. You better bow to Him. You better go to Him. You better
trust Him. You better believe on Him. And
so you see, He preached unto them the ancient gospel, the
gospel that God has been declaring from the beginning of time. He
hath ordained. He hath appointed a day in which
He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained
of old before the worlds were made. That's what they needed
to hear. It's the same gospel, isn't it?
But you have to see from their perspective. In our day, the
religious people of our day need to hear of the sovereign God
who does what He wants to, when He wants to, with whom He wants
to. You know why? Because they're
coming from a religious background that says God is waiting over
in a corner for you to do what He wants you to do. And we're
going to have to speak to them as how they are, And that's why
we preach like we do. It's the same gospel. It's Christ. But we speak a little differently
to different ones, don't we? I don't preach to you necessarily
in the same manner that I would if I was invited to preach somewhere
else where they perhaps didn't believe. Not that I would cut
or compromise the message. God forbid that. But you see,
the perspective is different. To the Jew, he preached as to
the Jew. and to the Gentile as to them
that were not under the law. And so look at this again. Now Paul's motive is established
in this. Whoever he was preaching to in
whatever manner, however he approached it, from whatever perspective
he perceived them to be coming from and therefore addressed
certain things because of that, stressed them, here's why he
did it, for the gospel's sake, not for popularity. If anything,
the message has got to be more offensive to the Jew he preached
in such a way that all of their old traditions were destroyed.
That's not becoming something to be more popular, is it? He's
preaching different than he would to the Gentile, but not to get
them to like him. If anything, they would hate
him the more for preaching in the manner that he did to them.
because he deliberately tore down their idols. And to the
Gentiles, the same thing. They had different idols. Their
idols weren't the traditions and customs of the Mosaic law.
They were statues and philosophies. Paul ripped them down, too. And
not to be popular, he did it for the gospel's sake. And that's
the same thing as saying, for Christ's sake. Because it was
Christ that said, go and preach. And He's the reason we do. It's
the gospel cause that Christ has commissioned us to give ourselves
to. And as part and parcel of honoring
Christ in his gospel, Paul wanted those to whom he preached to
be partakers of the favor of God in Christ. Did you see that
in the language there? And this I do for the gospel's
sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. I like the
way he said that. He didn't say that you might
be partaker thereof with me. as though He were ahead of them
somehow, or greater than them in some way, but that I might
be partaker with you. I want us all together to be
partaker of the grace of God in Christ." And he said that
in such an humble way, I think. But also, he said it that way
in this sense. God said, I'll have His gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation. It's how God can have mercy on
a sinner and still be God. God said, I will have mercy.
I will give sinners life. And this life is in my Son. And
Paul said, I just want to be in on that. You see that? I just
want to be a partaker of the Gospel. Do you have any greater
aspirations than that? Any greater ambition? I just
want in on it. I don't want a bigger mansion
than anybody else. I don't want some crown with
a bunch of jewels in it. All the glory goes to Him. I just
want to be in on it. I want to be a partaker of it.
Do you see that? I thought that was beautiful.
And now look at these three words. By all means. This is Paul who said, I could
wish myself a curse from Christ for my brethren. They have a
zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. They don't know
who God is. They're out praising God and
worshiping God and loving Jesus and getting everybody saved,
and they don't know who God is. They have a zeal, but not according
to knowledge. And he said, my prayer and my
heart's desire to God for them is that God would save them.
You see that? And as for my part, by all means,
by all means. Paul uses an analogy here of
sports that we're going to look at in a moment. So I'll use an
analogy. When I was in business and many obstacles arise in business, you know,
one of the ways that salesmanship is described is overcoming obstacles,
overcoming objections. We learn how to do that. But
one of the things that we always said, and this is probably something
that Ken has heard and any of you that are in any kind of a
sales background has heard before, whatever it takes. Have you heard
that before? All of you have heard that saying
before. But in the context of business, I heard that a lot.
Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes. If you've
got to work 20 hours a day, 22, 16, whatever. Whatever it takes. If you have
to be smarter, if you have to invest, go to school, learn,
whatever. Whatever. Whatever encompasses
a lot, doesn't it? And I'll tell you what else encompasses
a lot, by all means. Everything that doesn't compromise
the gospel. Whatever God gives me grace to
do. Whatever God shows me to do. Are you willing to do it? For the sake of God's sheep?
Christ said, if you've done it to one of them, you've done it
to me. And are you concerned? Let me
ask you a question that I asked myself as I was studying this. Do you care whether sinners go
to hell or not? Man, you ought not to be asking
stuff like that, Chris. I'm not trying to be funny. I'm
in dead earnest about that. Do you care? I asked myself that. And I'm not real proud of the
answer that I came to. Because I'll tell you this, our
flesh doesn't give a hoot. Did you know that? We don't give
a hoot by nature whether everybody goes to hell except me or not.
Maybe me and just a few others that I love, and the motive in
that is selfish. Are you honest enough to admit
that? But by the grace of God, Do you care? Does it mean anything
to you? Paul said, by all means. He said, I suffer loss. We suffer
all things, he said, in this very context. Why, Paul? For
the gospel sake. Was he bragging on himself or
was he just being honest? Every believer now is committed
to this. By all means. The flesh doesn't much care.
But Paul was able to say, by God's grace, if I have to do
without, suffer all things, it's alright if it's necessary to
this end, that I might save some. Now you can, I know religion
has talked about getting people saved and winning souls and nonsense
like that. Forget about them. What does
the Bible say? What does the Bible say? And
what's your business? What kind of perspective does
that put upon your life and what you do? By all means. That's humbling, isn't it? Verse
24. Know ye not that they which run
in a race run all. Everybody's running. But one
receiveth the prize. So run, that you may obtain. And every man that striveth for
the mastery is tempered 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 under my body and bring it into subjection,
lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I
myself should be a castaway." There's a lot of I in that. But
you know, the context here is Paul is setting himself forth
as an example here. I do this, I do that, and it's
by God's grace. He said, I am what I am. There's
a couple of I's in that too. By the grace of God. And he said,
you be followers of me as I am of Christ. And that's what he's
saying here. I do this and I do that. And
I give you examples sometimes that are my own testimony, if
you will. I don't know your testimony.
I can't talk about you like I can about me. I can give you my examples
sometimes, not to puff up myself, but I can't speak for anybody
but me. You understand that? And neither
could Paul. But he said, as far as I'm concerned, I'm running
this thing to obtain. Now, what did he mean by that?
So run. He said, so run. Now, he's making a comparison
here, and he said, Here's what happens in this scenario. Now
you do this. He's making an analogy here.
Now there are obviously ways in which a race does not typify
the gospel or hearing the gospel or the cause of the gospel. It's
not a competition where we want to be honored instead of others,
to receive glory and recognition for ourselves like some would
run in a race or in the Olympics or whatever. And we know that
from Matthew chapter 20. You remember the mother of Zebedee's
children? And she came with her sons, worshiping
Him and desiring a certain thing of Him. And He said unto her,
What wilt thou? She saith unto Him, Grant that
these My two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand and the
other on the left, in thy kingdom. Jesus answered and said, You
don't know what you're asking. And I'll skip a little bit for
the sake of time. When the ten heard this, that
they were wanting to sit on his right hand, the other ten, they
were moved with indignation against the two. I probably would have
been too, wouldn't you? It's not a competition. It's
not, you know, we want to sit on your right hand, not them,
you know. We want the glory. And Jesus called them unto him.
He said, okay, y'all come here. You twelve, come here right now.
And he said, You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise
dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority
upon them. They're big shots, and then they're
underlings. He said, It shall not be so among
you. This is not a competition. This
is not for my glory, for me to get to the top of the heap. That's
how this world operates. It's not going to be like that
among you. Can you hear the Son of God saying that to His choice
disciples? And he said, I'll tell you something
else. Whosoever will be chief among you, get on your knees
and serve. Let him be your servant, even
as the Son of Man. You want an example in this?
God Almighty left His throne, not to be ministered unto, but
to minister. The Son of God came down here.
And as the Son of Man, He came not to be ministered unto, but
to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. Would that
make an impression on you, if the Lord Jesus said that to you?
After you just got through saying, I want to be the big shot in
heaven. I want that big mansion on the corner, you know. Or an
extra couple of jewels in my crown. It shall not be so among
you, my friends. No, no. So Paul's using this
analogy here to illustrate only in the ways that he specifies.
And you notice it. That you may obtain. A runner in a race has one goal. One goal. Were you here Sunday? One thing have I desired of the
Lord. And that's what I'm going to
run after, David said. That's what I seek after. I'm running
for this, that I might behold his beauty and inquire in his
house." And Paul said, you got one goal,
to get to the finish line and receive the prize. What's the
prize, Paul? Philippians 3.12. Not as though
I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow
after. if that I may apprehend that
for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." What's your
salvation, Paul? You getting a hold of Christ?
No, he got a hold of me. That's my salvation. But I'm
fixing to run after him, too. You watch me. I got to get to
him. I got to have him. Brethren,
I count not myself to have apprehended, but here's what I do, this one
thing, one thing, one thing I do. forgetting all my righteousness."
In this context, he said, I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, dung, lost for the sake
of Christ now. And forgetting those things which
are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize. What prize? The high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. I want to be found in not having
mine own righteousness, but the righteousness of God, which is
by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ." That's the prize. So
run that you may obtain. Don't stop running until you're
in His presence. Is that what Paul said? To not reach this goal and gain
this prize is to be a reprobate. Verse 31, he said, I do this
lest when I've preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
The word is reprobate. Reprobate. Now we know that it's
not our ability to run that saves us. Because we live in the Christian
life and we're just so good at it. But we do run. We do run. We do run. When God said to King David,
I've delivered the Philistines into your hands, now go fight
them. You think David fought with any less zeal because of
that? You think when a Philistine squared
off with him on the battlefield, he was just, you know, kind of,
yeah, let me get my sword out here. What do you think would
have happened to him if he would have been like that? There is discipline, endurance,
and striving in this race. That's why he compares it to
a race. Hebrews 12 wherefore seeing we also are compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every
weight and the sin which just so easily beset us and let us
run with patience that's endurance run with endurance run and keep
on running and when it hurts run some more and when you can't
run no more keep running run with endurance the race that
is set before us Looking unto the finish line. Looking unto
Jesus. The author and finisher of our
faith. It's not our running that gets
us there. He's the author. He's the one that authored our
faith. He's the one that gave it to
us. The fruit of the Spirit is faith.
And He's the finisher of it. We're going to get there because
of Him. We started in this race because of Him. We run in His
strength. And we're going to get there
because of His grace. I think it was Spurgeon that
said, if I'm one step from the gates of glory and God leaves
me there, I won't make it. I won't get in. He's going to
have to carry me in. Or I'm not getting in. The author
and finisher of our faith. Here's an example for you again.
Who for the joy that was set before Him, who for the goal
that was put before Him in the race, He endured the cross. For that joy, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest you be
wearied and faint in your minds. Are you weary? Have you done
too much? Have you fought too hard in this
battle? Consider him," Paul said. You have not yet resisted unto
blood, striving against sin, Paul said. Have you? I hadn't either. He's
right. He got me. Paul describes this
running in two final ways that are very instructive. He said,
Here's how I do it, the running and the fighting. He describes
this in two ways here, in negative senses. Not this way, uncertainly. Do you know what the goal is?
Do you know where you're going? Do you know what the object is?
Are you still thinking that there's something to this world? Are
you undecided maybe a little bit about it? Or with all of
your heart, are you committed to Christ? You see, that's uncertainty. That's being double-minded. Double-hearted. Well, yeah, I want to go to heaven
when I die. And you know, I agree with the
doctrine. I've always loved Jesus. But
you know, I've got my life. The Lord Jesus said, He that
saveth his life shall lose it. And he that loseth his life for
my sake The same shall save it. I'm not getting on you tonight.
I'm just telling you what this book says. And this is not to
bring believers under a yoke of bondage again. That's not
what this is. That's not saying if you don't run hard enough
and if you don't strive enough, you know, you're not going to
make it. That's not what this is. All this is saying this.
Those who know Christ are committed to Him. than those who don't or not.
They're not. They're not even in the race.
Are you? If not, then you need to fix
your eyes on the goal, on Christ Jesus and the favor of God in
Him. And you need to run to Christ.
You don't need to act more like a... You don't need to run harder. You're not even in the race.
You see, the answer to your problem, if you're not committed to Christ,
is not more commitment. That's not it. You don't need
to act better. You need Christ. And if you are
committed to Him, then this is an exhortation to you and an encouragement. Run with
joy. Run with perseverance. Don't
be weary in well-doing. He said in another place. Because
in due season, we're going to reap. We're going to be with
Him. The sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that we're going
to have with Him forever. So don't be weary. Don't be weary. That's what this is. And then
he said, Are you uncertain about what this is about? It's about
Christ and His glory and getting to Him. I pressed toward the
mark. for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ. And then he said this, here's
another way that I don't fight. As one that beateth the air.
You know what that is now? Somebody that's shadow boxing,
just punching the air. You know what they're doing?
They're practicing for a fight. He said this is not practice.
We in the fight. We're in it right now. This is
it. Have you realized that lately? This is it, my friends. In 30,
40 years, 50 years from now, every one of us is going to be
dead. All of us, except maybe our smallest children here. Just
a little while, we're all going to be gone. We're in the fight
right now. I don't know about you, but I have a feeling King
David fought harder knowing that God had already given him the
victory. Don't you reckon? He said, I have doubtless delivered
them into your hands. Let me get my sword out. You
know what I'm talking about? If you know Him, I believe you
do. I believe you do. Run with joy. Run with joy and
run hard. Run hard. This is not warm-up
time. It's time to fight in earnest. Paul said in Romans 13 and 11
that knowing the time that it is now high time to awake out
of sleep. Why, Paul? For now is our salvation
nearer than when we believed. Not because if you don't, you're
going to go to hell when you die, but because, look, the end
of the race is coming. Let's run harder. When you see
that finish line, that's when you pick it up, isn't it? You're
not going, oh, well, I'm almost there. I think I can slow down
now. No, when I see the finish line and I'm close, that's when
I leave it all on the table, don't you? Leave it all right
out there on the field. Whatever is left. And Paul is
saying our salvation is nearer than it was when we first believed
on Christ. Therefore, let's wake up. Let's
wake up. Let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness and put on the armor of light and walk honestly
as in the day, not in writing and drunkenness, not in chambering
and wantonness, not in strife and envying. Put away these childish
things. Be a man. Be a woman. Put ye
on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a good way to say it,
isn't it? Put on Christ. And make not provision for the
flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. In Hebrews 2.1, he said, Therefore
we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. Or do you hear
the gospel earnestly? How shall we escape if we neglect,
if we're careless of so great salvation, which at the first
began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by
them that heard him?" Are we in earnest regarding the gospel?
Now, in the next chapter, Paul reminds them of some examples
of some in the Old Testament that weren't in earnest, that
weren't running for the prize, that weren't committed to Christ. They weren't in the race. They
proved that they weren't. And he shows how God dealt with
them. And he does so as a warning. And we'll see that next time.
But as I said, this is not to put believers under bondage.
If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, you're committed to Christ. Take
this exhortation to heart. And when you're discouraged,
Paul said, consider Him. You haven't yet resisted unto
blood. This affliction that we have
in this life is light affliction, isn't it? There's not much to
it. Be encouraged. Be exhorted in the race, in the
fight. And if you're not committed to
Christ, if this language is foreign to you, just because you have
Christian parents or come to church every once in a while,
don't hope in that. Don't trust in that. Set your
heart on Christ. Seek Him while He may be found.
Call upon Him while He's near. And run to Him with all your
heart. He's God's salvation. He's the
only righteousness a sinner has before God. And the only sin
offering whereby we can come before God. And He'll say, I
accept you. Let's bow in prayer. Lord, we do thank you for this
time as our brother thanked you before we got started. It's so
good to come together as a family and to cast aside every weight for
a little while, all the things that hinder us, all the things
that take our attention away from that which is important.
And for a little while to meditate upon, be built up in the the
knowledge of the Lord Jesus and to worship Him. What a privilege
it is to worship Him. And we don't even know now, but
one day we'll worship you like you're worthy to be worshiped,
and we won't ever cease to do so. Help us to appreciate it
now, what it is to be privileged to know Thee and to be enabled
to worship you by your grace. Thank you for that privilege
and blessing. Bless this church, Lord. Be with
us. All the needs that you're intimately
familiar with that we perhaps don't know anything about, we
do groan in this flesh, Lord, waiting for the adoption to wit,
the redemption of these bodies. While we're here, we groan and
we travail and we do have affliction like you promised we would. And
we pray, Lord, that you'd use us to bear the infirmities of
the weak and use others to bear us up when we're weak. Help us
to be what we ought to be for one another, to love one another,
and to serve one another as you came and ministered unto us.
Bless us, Lord, and use us. for your glory. Be with your
people everywhere, all of our friends. We pray for the conferences
coming up, all those who will come and pray that you'd bless
us, Lord, with your special favor, your presence. When your gospel
is preached, Lord, that we might have ears to hear. Truly worship
you and rejoice in our hearts to hear of the Redeemer. Just
be with all aspects of it, Lord, and let every detail of it, small
and great, redound to the honor of Christ.