I Corinthians 9, and I want to
read this one verse, verse 16, and I want to tell you what I
want to look at from this verse, and then I want to go back to
the first of the chapters in just a minute. In I Corinthians
9, verse 16, this great apostle was speaking of himself, and
he said, For though I preach the gospel, and that's my first
point. I preach the gospel. Secondly,
I have nothing to glory on. And then thirdly, why does he
preach the gospel? For necessity is laid upon me. And then the fourth point is
this. If this man did not preach the gospel, if he refused or
negligent in some way or another, how would he feel of himself?
How would he face his conscience? Woe is unto me. if I preach,
not the gospel. Now, I want to look first of
all here at two things. I want to consider an issue that
was confronting this great apostle at this time. There were two
things that were being called into question. It wasn't so much
that the Christian people in these churches at Corinth were
calling this into question, but false teachers and false apostles
had come down here at Corinth, and many of them had got among
the church, and they were questioning these two things concerning the
Apostle Paul. And first was his apostleship. How can he be, and is he really,
a true apostle? And secondly, his motives in
preaching the gospel. Now here in chapter 9, in verses
1 and 2, he deals in this chapter with these two things. First
of all, here in verses 1 and 2, he addresses his qualifications
briefly of being an apostle. And you see, he begins here with
asking these questions. Am I not an apostle? Well, of
course he was. Was somebody questioning them,
his authority as apostle? Yes, they were. Now, brothers
and sisters, if you're not interested in this this morning, to have
proof that the apostle Paul was indeed an apostle, then think
of this. What if he wasn't? If he wasn't
an apostle of Christ, where does that leave you and where does
that leave me? These epistles that we have written
from his hand isn't inspired at all. It's just one man's opinion. So it's very important that you
and I know this man was an apostle. And he just briefly here proves
that he was. Am I not free, he says? And we'll
see that in a minute. But look at this. This is proof
of his apostleship. Have I not seen Jesus Christ
our Lord? We're told in different places
that this is one of the qualifications for being an apostle. That they
would have had to see Jesus Christ. And these false apostles were
saying, and false teachers were saying, Paul was converted when
Jesus Christ was in heaven. Peter is not an apostle, and
James and these other men, but Paul is not an apostle because
he has never seen Jesus Christ in the flesh. But he did see
Him, didn't he? Remember on the road to Damascus
before Paul's conversion that this light shone from heaven
around Saul and knocked him to the ground? And who did he see? The Lord Jesus Christ appeared
unto him. And Paul saw Him. So he did see
the Lord Jesus. And in 1 Corinthians chapter
15, you remember when he was given proof that many had saw
him after his resurrection, before he went back to heaven? And he
said, last of all, he was seen of me. He said, if you question
my apostleship because I haven't seen Christ, he said, I did see
Him. I did see Him. And you know,
there was another time Paul told us that he was caught up into
heaven. Wasn't that an amazing thing?
That never happened to anybody before, to be caught up into
heaven and come back down to this earth and tell us what they
saw. Who do you think he saw there?
He saw Christ. He saw the resurrected Christ. I am an apostle, he says. I have
seen the Lord Jesus Christ. But notice this, he gives a second
proof here in verse 2. Notice this. If I be not an apostle
unto others, yea, doubtless I am to you. For the seal of my apostleship
are you in the Lord. The apostle comes to you and
he says, you remember when I came among you? and you were lost,
you were idolaters, and I preached the gospel to you, and that gospel
went home to your heart in the power of God. God put His hand
and stamp of approval upon my preaching. I not only did miracles
among you, but when I preached the gospel, it saved your soul."
He says, if these false teachers tell me that I'm not an apostle
to them, you can't say that. Because you know God is more
witness to your soul than I'm an apostle to you. So he offers
that proof that he is indeed an apostle. I've seen Jesus Christ,
and you are my apostleship in the Lord. Now, he does that quickly,
but now beginning here in verse 3, he goes to this whole thing
about motives. And I'm so interested in this
this morning. This great man's motives. They
were saying he's preaching for gain. He's just preaching to
make a living. He's just preaching to have men
to look up to him. He's preaching for some temporal
advantage. That's what they said his motive
was. And the first thing Paul does
here is beginning in verse 3, and he proves that he has a right
as a preacher to expect their financial support. He says, we
have a right that you support us. Look what he says in verse
3. My answer to them that do examine me, they examine my apostleship,
and they examine my motives in preaching. This is my defense. Have we not power to eat and
to drink at your expense? Should you not support us? as
we preach the gospel to you? Shouldn't you provide food for
me? Shouldn't you provide drink for
me? Shouldn't you provide enough
expense that I should be clothed and perhaps have a place to live?
Don't we have the right to receive that at your hands? And look
in verse 5, he quickly says, we have a right to a wife and
the comforts of a family life and to raise children. We have
a right to that. Look in verse 5. Don't we have
the right, the power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well
as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?
They all had wives. Paul said, we have a right to
do that. There'd be nothing wrong if I wanted to do that. In verse
6, are I only and Barnabas? Don't we have the right to quit
working, to refrain from working? And then he uses that example
in verse 7. Who goes to warfare anytime at
his own charges? Some of you brothers here know
what that means. When you went into the services, the military,
did you pay for your basic training? Did you pay for your food? Did
you have to earn enough money to buy your uniforms? Some of
you went off to war. Clerks, did you have to buy your
own rifle? You didn't, did you? When you go to a warfare, Whoever sends you supplies your
needs. He supplies your uniform and
your ammunition and your weapons. Who goes to war for any time
in his own charge? And he says this, Who plants
a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Well, nobody
does that. If you're planting a vineyard,
you have a right to eat of the fruit, don't you? And he says,
or who feeds the flock and does not drink of the milk of the
flock? If you've got an old cow down in the stall, and you're
feeding water in her, you're going to milk her and drink the
milk, aren't you? That's just natural. And he says,
say I these things as a man, or saith the law also. And then
he begins to quote in verse 9, and he gives us scriptural reasons,
God-given reasons, Why we should support the preachers of the
gospel, especially with our finances. Notice how he says, For it is
written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth
of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care of oxen,
or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no
doubt this is written, that he that plows should plow in hope,
and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of the hope."
If you have an old steer, in our day it would be an old mule,
and I've plowed many a field of corn out with an old horse.
And sometimes he'd reach over and get him a big old mouth of
corn, and he'd go on. And my dad said, don't stop him
from doing that. My goodness, if you're going
to work him, at least let him eat. And that's what Paul said. If you're going to work a man,
if you're going to shut him away in a study and let him pray and
seek God for a message, at least let him eat of your carnal things. That's what he's saying. Paul
said, I have a right to that, don't I? They said he's preaching
for money. Paul said, don't I have a right
to it? Look what he goes on to say in verse 11. If we have sown
unto you these spiritual things, if I preached unto you the riches
of Christ, Is it a great thing if we reap your carnal things? If I have studied and got a message
and preached and it has blessed you, should you bless me with
what you have worked for, your carnal things? If others be partakers
of this right or power over you, are not we rather? Now look at
what he is beginning to say. We have used none, we have not
used this power, but suffer all things, lest we should hinder
the gospel of Christ. Then he goes back to his proof
again. Do you not know that they which
minister about holy things, they live of the things of the temple?
And they which wait at the altar are partakers of the altar? Even
so hath the Lord ordained. that they which preach the gospel
should live of the gospel." Now here he gives all kinds of proof.
That he says, some have accused me of preaching for financial
gain. He said, don't I have a right?
Don't I have a right to reap your carnal blessings if I preach
them to you, these spiritual things? We do, don't we? I'm
not complaining here at all. You folks support me much, much,
much, much better than I ever deserve. We need nothing. This is not to you, bless your
heart. But this is just going to say that when God calls a
man to preach, if he's preaching to a congregation, they should
be willing, and God has ordained it, support that man as you're
able to. Support him as you're able to.
And Paul said, I've got a right just as anybody. He said, I've
got more of a right. Because look at the blessings
I have bestowed upon you by the grace of God. But now look in
verse 14 and verse 50. But I have used none of these
things. I have used none of these things.
Neither have I written these things that it should be done
unto me. For it were better for me to die. Die of starvation. Die of thirst. thy destitute,
thy naked without clothes to shelter me from the elements,
then that any man should make my glory in vain." Well, Paul
denied himself of the pleasures of a family life, and he denied
himself from this church of any financial support that he may
preach the gospel with pure motives. He says, if some men say of me,
and their opinion of me is that I'm just preaching for gain,
he says, I'll not take a penny from you. I'll not take a penny
from you. Look over here to your left just
a little bit. In chapter 4. Look in chapter
4. And look in verse 11. Look in
verse 11 and 12. Even at this present hour, we
both hunger, we thirst, we are naked, we are buffeted, we have
no certain dwelling place. Boy, he's like the master, wasn't
he? And we labor, working with our own hands. What did he mean by that? Let
me read you a couple of verses. Listen to 1 Thessalonians 3.
When we were among you, we behaved not ourselves disorderly, neither
did we eat any man's bread for naught, but we worked with labor
and travail day and night, that we might not be chargeable to
any of you, not because we don't have the right, but we wanted
to make ourselves an example to you. Listen to 1 Thessalonians
2 now. You remember, brethren, our labor
and travail, for laboring night and day, because we would not
be chargeable to any of you, we preached unto you the gospel
of God." Paul said it's lawful, it's right to receive financial
aid from you, financial help and support, but he says, I refuse
nothing. I have nothing, I have refused
anything and everything from you that I may preach unto you
the gospel. It were better for me to die
than any man stop me of this glory." Now, what was his glory? What was his glory? Do you know
what his glory was? Look back over here again in
1 Corinthians 9. This is so wonderful. In 1 Corinthians
9, back here in our text, in the last part of verse 15,
it's better for me to die than any man should make my glory
in void. What was his glory? Well, look
down in verse 17. Look at this. For if I do this
thing willingly, If I preach the gospel willingly, I have
a reward. If I preach the gospel of a ready
mind, if I don't have to be forced to do it, if I have a heart to
preach the gospel, that's my reward. That's my reward. Now, how many times do you and
I do things with an unwilling mind? How often do we give? How often do we come to worship?
But we don't have a willing mind. We do many things, but our mind,
our heart's not in it. Did you ever notice that about
yourself? The Apostle Paul never preached the gospel except his
heart was in it. You know, you don't even find
this in all the men in the Bible. That they did what they did from
a free will in their souls? Remember when the Lord called
Moses? And He said, Moses, you go speak
to Pharaoh. Remember what Moses said? Please
don't send me. Send Aaron. He can talk, but
don't send me. Remember what Jonah did when
the Lord appeared to him and said, you go down and preach
to the Ninevites? He went down the other way, didn't he? He
appeared to Jeremiah, and Jeremiah said, I can't speak, I'm just
a child. I tell you, it's a blessed thing. What a reward it is, brothers
and sisters, when we do something from a willing heart, when our
mind and heart is in it. I've noticed this in my own preaching,
that days, days, days, my prayer is in my study, Lord, give me
a willing heart. When you labor and your heart's
not in it, And you don't have a will to do it. I tell you,
you can't be sincere in it. I may get up here and preach
the truth to you, but if I don't do it from a willing mind, I'm
not sincere. And if I'm not sincere, God isn't
going to bless it. I may tell you the truth, but
it's not just the truth. It's sincerity we need. And that's
what having a willing mind is. What a great reward then. For
this apostle to say, I've not preached for money, I've not
preached for any temporal gain or temporal advantages, I've
preached from a willing heart. A willing heart. And notice this in verse 18. Here's another motive that he
gives. Not just from a willing heart,
but notice verse 18. What is my reward then? Here's
another reward. First was a willing mind. What
is my reward then? Verily this, when I preach the
gospel, I make the gospel of Christ without charge. I abuse not my power in the gospel. I don't do it to promote myself.
I don't do it to bring glory to myself. I don't do it to make
a living. I preach the gospel with no charge. No charge attached to it. I don't
charge you a thing for preaching. The gospel must come to us without
money and without price. Isn't that what Brother David
told us? Come you to the waters, come
buy wine, buy milk without money and without price. You can't
pay for it. And I tell you, no man should
preach it for money. If you can't buy it for money
or any other reason, then you and I should never preach it
for gain. When the Lord Jesus called His apostles there in
Matthew chapter 10, and He sent them out to preach and to heal
all manner of diseases, you remember what He told them. Freely you
have received. Freely give. This is a free gospel,
brothers and sisters. And if somebody tries to pay
you to preach it and say, no, no, if I can't preach it freely,
I'm not going to preach it. I'm not going to preach it. There
have been men that have left their families. They've left
their homelands, a good job. And they spent what money they
had to get into some foreign country just to preach the gospel. That's preaching it freely, ain't
it? When you give up everything you've got and say, I'm not seeking
after gain. This is my motives. Freely. Freely. I'm going to preach it
freely. Look here over to your right.
Hold this and look over to your right and look in 2 Corinthians.
Look in 2 Corinthians 11 and look here in verse 7. He's dealing
with the very same thing here in verse 7 of 2 Corinthians 11. Have I committed an offense in
abasing myself, that you might be exalted? Because I have preached
to you the gospel of God freely, I robbed other churches, taking
wages of you to do your service. And when I was present with you
in warning, I was chargeable to no man. For that which was
lacking in me and to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia
supply. And in all things I have kept
myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep
myself. As the truth of Christ is in
me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia."
What was he boasting about? His motives. His motives. I preach from a willing heart.
I preach freely. Oh, brothers and sisters, you
talk about a reward. If you and I can serve the Lord
with a willing heart, and we can do it freely, Shall we receive
good at the hands of the Lord and not evil? Shall not we serve
Him for naught? Wherefore, because I love you
not, God knoweth, verse 12, that what I do, that I will do, that
I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion, that wherein
they glory, They may be found even as we. I wonder what, look
in verse 13, for such are false apostles, deceitful workers. I wonder what they were glorying
in. Look down here in verse 18, seeing that many glory after
the flesh. These were false apostles. And
Paul said they're glorying after the flesh. Can you imagine what
they gloryed in? They gloried in how eloquent
they were. They gloried in their education.
They gloried in their high birth. They gloried in the fact that
they were Jews and circumcised and keeping the law and their
moral ability and the power of their free will. I don't know
what all it means to glory in the flesh, but that's what they
were doing. But Paul said, I've got something to glory in. I
can glory in my pure motives. My pure motives. Now, back over
in the text, and here are my four points quickly. I want to
give these to you quickly. May God in heaven give us grace,
as He gave this apostle, to serve Him willingly. It won't be accepted. Nothing is accepted if it's done
with an unwilling mind and heart. And may we serve God freely. Now, here in our verses, let's
look at these Four points, and first of all is this, in verse
16. For though I preach the gospel. That's the first point. I preach
the gospel. Now, there's something about
this apostle, and I think we can say it even above all the
other apostles and above all the other prophets, that no man
preached every aspect of the gospel. as fully as this man
preached. He preached the whole counsel
of God. He preached election. He preached
particular redemption. He preached effectual calling.
He preached the perseverance of the saints. He preached the
depravity of man. He preached the whole gospel,
every aspect of the gospel. Their men today, they're preaching
the gospel, but I tell you what, they're not preaching every aspect
of it as Paul did. And I'll tell you something else
about it. He preached the gospel in its purity. Nobody preached
the gospel any purer than this man did. There have been times,
I'll be honest with you, when I've got up and I've took my
text and I've had to sit down, and Lord, I'm sorry, I didn't
set forth the gospel in its purity. as I should have. I mingled some
law and grace. I set Christ down by Moses. Shame
on me. But not the Apostle Paul. Look
over here in 1 Corinthians, just over to your right, right quickly.
I preach the gospel. Here's an aspect of the gospel
that he preached so clearly. Look in 1 Corinthians chapter
15. Here's one aspect of the gospel,
and only one aspect, but you know, it's a wonderful aspect. It's the aspect of the gospel
that must be preached, and you and I must hear it and believe
it if we're saved. And that's the aspect of the
gospel of substitution. Substitution. And look how he
says it in verse 1. 1 Corinthians 15, look in verse
1. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you." I preached the gospel
unto you. Notice these things he says about
the gospel and these people. "...which also you have received."
You've received the gospel. How did they receive it? They
received it as all of their salvation. They received it as their life.
They received it for their justification, their acceptance with God. This
gospel was their all and all. They didn't mix it with a bunch
of other stuff and then receive it. They received this pure gospel,
they received it how? Into an empty heart. They received
it into a needy heart. They received this gospel into
a guilty conscience to cleanse them. They received it into a
dead soul to give them life. A guilty soul to justify them. They received this gospel. Oh, you received the gospel.
With all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all
your strength. You remember that, don't you? You remember that? What Clarence
was telling me about this morning. Boy, you got into trouble. You
got into trouble. And I'm telling you, you didn't
say, I'll take this part of the gospel and I don't want that
part. Man, you received it into your heart. With all your heart. You received it. Notice the second
thing about it. He says, wherein you stand. Wherein you stand. You stand
in the gospel. Clarence quoted that verse for
us this morning in Psalms. Who shall stand? If God should
mark iniquity, who shall stand? Brothers and sisters, think of
this. You and I are poor sinners, and God is a holy God. How can
we stand before Him and be justified? How can we stand before Him and
be accepted? One place, the gospel. Wherein
you stand. You think of this. When the Lord
summons this world to come up before Him in heaven and give
account of itself, how can any man stand in that day? How do
you suppose we're going to stand in that day? When the wicked
are bound by these angels and carried off and put in the fiery
lake, how shall we stand? When the Lord says, bind them
and carry them away, how can you stand? And how can I stand?
Here Paul tells us. in the gospel. It provides everything
we need. It provides everything God requires
for now and for all eternity. As we live our life in this world,
and when we go into that world that is to come, there is a place
to stand. And that is the gospel. Wherein
you stand. Remember that little story I
used to tell you about the wagon train going west. And they saw
the fire, the prairie was on fire and the smoke was coming
at them. And they burned out a huge place
and circled all the wagons in it. And they watched the flame
that came and the black smoke rolling. And as they got closer,
a little boy tugged on his daddy's pants leg and he says, Is that
fire going to burn us up? No, son, it's not going to burn
us up." So he got closer and he began to smell the smoke and
feel some heat from the flame. And he said, Daddy, are you sure
this fire is not going to burn us up? And he said, Son, you've
got nothing to worry about. So he waited a minute and he
tugged on his Pentleg again, he said, Daddy, are you sure? How do you know? How do you know? And he said, Son, we're standing
where the fire has already been. Standing. You don't have to fear
the wrath of God if you're standing where the wrath of God has already
been swallowed up. You don't have to fear death
if somebody has died in your stead. You don't have to fear
a guilty conscience if someone else has bore the sin standing
in the gospel. And notice how else he saves.
In verse 3 he says it like this, "...by which also you are saved."
You're saved by the gospel. We're not saved by morality.
The gospel brings morality. The gospel will make you moral,
but we're not saved by morality. We're not saved by certain frames
of mind and sorrow of heart, or getting our act together,
or walking the aisles, or baptism. I need to be baptized. Are you
saved? I need to join the church. Are
you saved? No, I ain't saved. Well, here's
something that'll save you. The gospel will save you. It'll
save you from your sins. It'll save you from the wrath
of God. It'll save you from a guilty conscience. It'll save you to
a joyful life, a holy life, a life of peace with God and happiness your after. It'll
save you from the devil and darkness and ignorance. Saved. Saved. Now, that's what he's
been saying about the gospel, and they received it. What is
this gospel? Look here in verse 3. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received. Here it is. Here's the gospel.
How that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture. Boy, that don't seem like much,
does it? Christ, this glorious person, this God, this Creator
who was in heaven, who was before all worlds, He was before eternity,
He came down from heaven in our humanity, sin accepted, And everything
he did, everything he thought, everything he said was perfect. His motives, you talk about pure
motives, he had pure motives. He never sinned, had no thought
of sinning. He was tried and tempted and
yet never yielded. And yonder on Calvary's tree,
outside the city of Jerusalem, he bore the sin. of all of those who would ever
believe on Him, He was punished for sin. Christ died for our
sins. Oh, just a little short statement.
And if you're here this morning and you've got no concern about
your sin, and you're not concerned about standing before God, you're
not concerned about facing eternity, And you don't fear the eternal
God? You can hear this and you can
go on your way unchanged. It's just like when you're driving
down the highway and you see a sign that says, Christ died
for you. Won't you do something for Him?
That's not what we're talking about. But I'll tell you what will change
everything. When the Holy Ghost comes to your conscience and
He smites your conscience, And He makes you feel the weight
of your sin and your guilt? When He makes you feel your helplessness
and your hopelessness before God? And He makes you to know
that you're without God and without hope in this world? I tell you
then, when you hear, Christ died for your sin, that'll be the
best good news you ever heard in your life. Oh, I preach the gospel. I preach
the gospel. And you're saved by it. And I'll
tell you when you'll be saved by it. When He makes you need
it more than you need your next breath and your next heartbeat. Seems awful simple, doesn't it?
That's what Paul said, I preach. I preach the gospel. My second point is this. Yet,
yet, I have nothing to glory of." What's Paul's meaning? He says, I can't glory in my
preaching the gospel to save me. Now, he just said he gloried,
but he gloried in his motives, personally, in his own conscience.
But now his meaning is here, when I stand before God, even
though I'm a preacher of the gospel, And even though I preach
it with pure motives, I can't glory and say, God, receive me
now. God, save me now, because I'm
a preacher of the gospel. I can't glory in it before God.
Abraham had a lot of things he could glory in. You imagine offering
up your own son as a sacrifice to God. And the Scripture says
if Abraham could be justified by works, he hath more of the
glory. but not before God. Can't nobody
glorify glory before God to save himself. Remember those people
that stand before the Lord on the Day of Judgment. Have we
not preached in your name? Paul said, I can't glory in that,
boy. I can't glory in that. Look back over where you were.
I'm sorry I had to turn you. But look back in 1 Corinthians
again, verse 15. Look at this. Look what Paul
says. Why couldn't he glory in his
preaching to save him, to justify him? It added nothing to his
salvation. I'm telling you, it didn't. Look here what he says. Look here where he gives the
glory for his salvation and all he was and hoped to be. Look
in verse 9, 1 Corinthians 15, 9. This was such a humble man, humble
apostle. Preach like he did with such
pure motives. Preach the gospel freely. And
look here what he says. For I am the least of the apostles,
that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted
the church of God. For by the grace of God I am
what I am. And this grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than
all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God which was within
me." Paul said, my preaching does not save me. It does not
add anything to my salvation. Paul, why not? You are such a
good preacher. Because I am saved by grace. Brothers and sisters, if you
and I have been brought to repentance this morning, it's because God
has granted us repentance. If we truly believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, it's because He's given us faith. And if you're
here this morning, you can't glory in being here. Who put
it in your heart to be here? Who got you here by His kind
providence? We are what we are by the grace
of God, not what we do. Everything we do, if it's done
acceptable, it's by His grace. And you know something? If this
man could say, my preaching can't save me, how much less can it save anybody
else? How much less can works save
us before God if this man's preaching couldn't save him? and the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then he says this, and I'll
go on quickly. The third point is this. First,
when I preach the gospel, then I can't glory, I can't save me,
that's not my salvation. And thirdly, for necessity is
laid upon me. It's necessary that I preach
the gospel. Now, he doesn't preach it for
gain. He doesn't preach it for men to praise him and get a better
business proposition somewhere. He's not preaching for anything
like that. Why did he say necessity is laid upon me? The first reason
is this. It was God's will that he preach
the gospel. In chapter 1 and verse 1, listen
to this, Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through
the will of God, by the will of God. He says it's God's will. God made His will known to me
that it was His will that I preach the gospel. You know something?
If you fear God, When the eternal God reveals something to you,
He makes you know that it's His will for you. You know what you
think about it? It's necessary. That puts me
under a divine obligation if I know that's God's will. Those
who run off just every way, to the left and to the right, just
go on and do whatever they want to do, without any regard for
God's Word and His will, they don't know His will. I'm telling
you, when He makes you to know His will, you're going to say,
it's necessary. Necessity is laid upon me. You're going to do it. You're
going to do it. That's the first reason. Necessity is laid upon
me because it's God's will. It's God's will. Secondly, because
Christ had called him to it. When the Lord Jesus appeared
to Paul on the Damascus road, here's what He said to him. He
said, Arise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared unto
you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness
of what you have seen and heard, delivering you from the people
and the Gentiles, unto whom now I send you." If you love the
Lord Jesus Christ and He sends you, you'll go. You'll go. It's not an option. Necessity
is laid upon me. Why? Because Christ has sent
me. He sent me not to baptize, but
he sent me to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus. The Lord said,
Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? That's a good
question, isn't it? I don't know. Yes, you know.
Peter didn't say, Lord, I'm just not for sure. I've been thinking
about this and it just ain't really settled. No, it's settled.
It's settled. You love me, Peter? Lord, I love
you. Peter, do you love me? Lord,
I love you. Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know I love you.
Feed my sheep. I've called you to feed my sheep.
You feed them with wisdom and with understanding. I've given
you my Word. Study it and feed my sheep. And you know what Peter could
have said? Well, I'm going to do it. I'm under a divine obligation. It's necessary. It's necessary. And thirdly, Paul said necessity
is laid upon me for this reason. He knew the redeeming glory of
God was revealed in the Gospel. And if a sinner ever saw the
glory of God, there was but one place to see it, and that was
the Gospel. So he said, I've got to preach
it. I've got to preach it. Necessity is laid upon me. Paul
said, God has shined in my heart. Didn't he say that? God has shined
in my dark heart. Paul, what did he do? What are
you talking about? To give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God. in the face of Jesus Christ.
And he turned right around and said, we have this treasure in
earthen vessels. And God has put this treasure
there of the gospel, and what we do? We just pour it out. We
just pour it out. And as we pour it out, poor sinners
see the glory of God. If we want men to worship God,
you know what we're going to have to do. We're going to have
to preach the gospel of God. Moses asked the Lord, said, Lord,
show me your glory. Show me your glory. And the Lord
showed him his glory. And what did he do? He bowed
down and worshipped, didn't he? If we want men to worship God,
then they're going to have to see the glory of God just like
Moses did. Where is that glory? It's in
his Gospel. That reveals the glory of God.
How God can be just and justify the ungodly. If we want men to worship God,
then necessity is laid upon us. Preach the gospel of God's glory. And if it ain't preached, they'll
never see it. They'll never see it. Preach. Preach the gospel. And my last point is this. Therefore,
Paul said this. I preach. And there in verse 16, I don't
glory in it as my salvation. Necessity is laid upon me. And
then he says this, Woe isn't to me, yea, woe isn't to me,
if I preach not the gospel. Can you imagine how this man
would have felt? Knowing, first of all, it was
the will of God for him to preach. Knowing that Christ had sent
him and even equipped him And then he didn't preach the
gospel. He was negligent in the gospel.
How could he face his self? How could he face his conscience?
Woe is me if I preach not the gospel. How could I this morning face
the Lord if I looked around me and saw His sheep? And they were
hungry. And they were thirsty. And they
were weak and they were straying. And I took all my time to satisfy
my own personal needs and my own personal pleasure. And I
did not feed the sheep. How could I face myself? How
could I face you? Woe to me if I see His sheep
hungering and thirsting and straying and I don't feed them. That I
don't pray and I don't seek Him in His Word for a message to
bring and feed His sheep. Woe is me, woe is me if I preach
not the gospel. When we look around us and see
such spiritual darkness, and I tell you, have you ever in
your life seen such spiritual darkness? Terence was at a funeral
last week and he told me, he said, I've never seen the darkness,
such darkness in a family. Such ignorance, such spiritual
ignorance. Woe isn't to me if I don't take
the light of the Gospel and shine it into these dark places and
give light. Woe isn't to me. And when you
and I see lost souls standing on the brink of eternity, and
we don't try to pull them back, when we Remember the preciousness
of a man's soul. What would a man give in exchange
for his soul? And we don't preach the gospel to
that individual. Woe is me! Oh, when you and I think of the
preciousness of the soul and the exceeding greatness of the
loss of it, how great is a soul! The Lord Jesus said it's worth
more than the world. What would a man give in exchange
for his soul if he gained the whole world? Brothers and sisters,
look how rich this world is. Look how rich it is in minerals
and precious stones and gold and silver and beauty and worth. And yet the Lord Jesus said if
you could add all the worth of this world up, it's not worth
as much as one soul. How precious is a soul! And to
think that a soul could leave this world and lay for eternity
under the wrath of God? Oh, woe is us if we know this
and we do not preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus. The gospel
is the only thing that can save a soul. Woe is me if I preach
not the gospel. There is an old song that says,
You met me day by day, and you knew I was astray, and yet you
never mentioned Him to me. Oh, woe be to me if I preach
not the gospel. When we think of the greatness
of the soul and the loss of it, And woe is me if I preach not
the gospel when I think of all the good that this gospel can
do to a poor soul who believes it. I asked one of my grandchildren
the other day, two of them, they didn't want to come and hear
the gospel. I got a little too upset with them, got too firm
with them. I do that sometimes. I get aggravated at even children
who will do anything who will begin to connive two or three
days before Sunday to make sure they don't have to sit under
the gospel on Sunday. I've never seen anything like
it. Then Joe was talking, I think, just this morning. Mental children. Little CC. I don't want to go
hear him preach. He's boring. I don't want to
hear it. I don't want to go, she's talking
about this morning. I don't want to go down there.
Depravity. Depravity. But you know something? When
that poor soul believes the gospel, can you imagine the good that's
done that soul? It removes that indifference,
you see. It changes the heart. It gives new life, new motives,
new loves, new desires. It makes the soul happy. It makes
the soul rejoice! It puts the soul to loving God
and knowing Christ and living for Him. And I tell you what
it will do when this life is over. It will raise that poor
soul up to heaven and give him an eternal home there in those
mansions in the sky. And he will be eternally happy.
Oh, the good that the gospel does to men and women. Woe is
unto me, then, if I don't preach it. And I told my two granddaughters,
I said, what if you were eaten up with cancer? If you were eaten
up with cancer? And you knew it. And you knew
that somebody down in Newcastle had a cure for your cancer. And you just took the medicine
and it was gone. They said, oh, there ain't no
such thing. You know how kids are. They start trying to play
and twist you up. I said, wait a minute, I'm talking.
Wait a minute, I'm telling the tale. I said, let's suppose this
is the case. And you're to eat up with cancer.
And you knew somebody had the remedy, the cure. What would
you do? Oh, we'd run down there and get
it. We'd take it in a minute. And they would. How much more so then? when we
tell men and women and boys and girls that you eat up with sin. That it's killing you. That death is going to feed on
you for all eternity. And there was a healing stream. There was a balm in Gilead. There's
a physician that can heal your soul of its sin sickness. Don't
you think you ought to run to him? and get at His feet and
embrace Him and say, Lord Jesus, heal me. Heal my soul. And it just shows utter depravity
when we don't do it. Oh, preach the gospel. Preach
the gospel. God help us to preach it in its
purity. Don't add anything with it. It
don't need anything. A dear friend of mine, years
and years ago, he told Brother Mahan, we just met Brother Mahan,
he told Brother Mahan, he said, we ought to soak the gospel in
our tears. And Brother Mahan said, Dear
Brother, you don't need to soak the gospel in anything. You don't
need to mix anything with it. Just preach it. Just preach it. Don't add anything to it. Just
preach it. And I tell you when you hear
it, it will do you good. It will do you good. Let's pray.