Christian liberty, as explored in 1 Corinthians 9, is not an excuse for self-indulgence but a call to self-discipline and a servant's heart for the sake of the gospel. Paul's example demonstrates that true freedom in Christ empowers one to become "all things to all people" to win others to the faith, rather than pursuing personal rights or comfort. The sermon emphasizes that the gospel's power lies in its message of salvation, which includes both the bad news of God's wrath against sin and the good news of redemption through Christ's sacrifice. Ultimately, believers are urged to examine their lives, not for the sake of earning rewards, but to ensure they possess genuine faith and are actively engaged in the serious, lifelong struggle against sin, lest they become disqualified.
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In our Bibles this morning, the First Corinthians chapter nine, and we begin our reading at verse nineteen. First Corinthians chapter nine, verse nineteen. Were Paul dealing with the same subject of Christian liberty, or should I say the limitations of liberty, for the balance that love gives to it, In verse nineteen he says, For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain them all. And unto the Jews 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 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 am 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. Know ye not that they will run in a race run all, but one receiveth a prize, so run that ye may obtain.
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 under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a reprobate. For the word cast away there in your King James translation is translated disqualified in some translations. But the Greek word is a dakamas.
It's only found eight times in our New Testament. It is translated reprobate more than any other word. Now, in order to get the force of what he's really saying here in this last verse, lest I should be a castaway, lest I should be reprobate, you have to take into consideration chapter ten. And in chapter ten, you have five-fold blessing that was given to the people of God, and then a five-fold failure, five areas where they failed. Notice verse one.
Well, we won't deal with this this morning. I'm reading it because in the original text there was no chapter in verse division. And this automatically follows explaining what he says in the last verse of chapter nine. We're living in a day when that last section of chapter nine is put into the area of reward. Well, so what if I fail? I'll just miss a reward. That's not what the Apostle is saying at all. He's not saying that. I know if you have a certain Bible that it says that in the note at the bottom of the page.
But that's one area where I disagree with that Bible. And remember, notes in a Bible are not inspired. You have to listen carefully to the text and put it into the context. So let us solemnly read these opening verses of chapter ten and take a look at the failure of those who came out of Egypt. Notice it says in verse one, Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink.
For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as some of them were, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. If there's any verse in the Bible that describes our generation today, it is that verse. The people sat down to eat and to drink and they rose up to play.
No genuine goal that are spiritual, that are cut out. Now we can say, I can tell in which direction that person is going. We're floundering. The world has encased us. The people sat down to eat and to drink, and they rose up to play. Verse eight, neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Now all these things happened unto them, for examples, and they are written for us, for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the age are come. Let us pay close attention to the word of God. Now let's pray. Thank you. Thank you. How true that is to those who are stayed upon Jehovah for perfect peace and rest that is ours.
Now let us look to the Lord again. Father, now as we open thy precious word and meditate upon it, we pray indeed that the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart will indeed be acceptable in thy sight, that thy name will be glorified in our midst. For Jesus' sake, amen. We're dealing with the subject that the apostle began in chapter eight, that of Christian liberty. and the balance of the rights that we have as believers with love, love for one another.
In chapter eight it dealt with love for my neighbor in regards to eating things offered to idols. In chapter nine he deals with his own rights and from that point in chapter nine he begins to deal with a basic problem that affected the Corinthian church. For you know that the Corinthian church, I believe it was a large church. I think myself that it was the largest of the New Testament churches. There's a reason for it, because our Lord said in the eighteenth of Acts when he appeared to Paul by night, he said, Paul, hold not thy peace.
I have much people in this city. And if the Lord has much people there, I believe there is much people. And when the Lord says there are many, I take it that there are. And I believe this was a large church, but this was a church that you remember was man-centered rather than God-centered. They had their eyes on each other, and they were... split into factions. One group said, I'm of Paul. Another one said, I'm of Apollos. Another said, I'm of Peter or Cephas. And I believe the worst group of all was a group that said, I'm of Christ. I believe that that was the most, that caused the most bitter faction.
Now, in the Corinthian church, there were those who claimed they're right. They're right. They're right. They had learned a little something about Christian liberty. But Christian liberty must be balanced with love. And one of the problems that we face today in the world in which we live is a clamoring for our rights. Now, as we noted last Lord's day, Paul had rights. He had rights as an apostle. He didn't forego those rights. They were given to him by God. They were part of the trust that God entrusted to him. But then second, he had the right to be maintained by the church.
Paul did not have to work as a tent maker day after day to maintain himself, but he did. Even though he had the right because of who he was, he had as much right as Peter. He had as much right as anyone else to be maintained by the church. But he never claimed that right of Corinth. Why? Why didn't it? He didn't do it for the sake of the gospel. The gospel message at Corinth meant more to him than the money that he would get from them or the maintenance that he would enjoy in their fellowship. Now, that's what his language is all about in the ending of the ninth chapter of First Corinthians.
You see, Paul's rights as an apostle were created by the gospel. The gospel created those rights. He could forego the right of maintenance, but he could never forego the right or the joy of proclaiming the gospel and proclaiming the freedom of the gospel. Beloved, the message isn't dependent upon how much of a salary the preacher gets. The message in its reality depends upon who Jesus Christ is and how he is proclaimed to men as a gospel is preached.
You see, what the gospel is is very important to know. It is good news. It is because the cross is in it. And the cross of Calvary cries good news to sinful men. It is good news. But remember this. While the word gospel means good news. And while it is good news when we hear it. That Christ died for my sin. The greatest day in my life. Was the day that I came to know Jesus Christ. As the Lord and Savior. The greatest day in my life. If a person gave me a million dollars tomorrow, that day would never come near the day that I trusted Christ.
Never. See, I could lose a million the next day. But I can never lose the salvation that is mine in Christ. And when I think of all the promises that are made for time and for eternity, you can have everything else. I'm like... The woman who was in a bum shelter in Great Britain during the last war, she said, I have Christ, what, won I more. That's all she needed. And, beloved, in the final analysis, that's all we need. Now, that is good news. However, it is also bad news. And unless we hear the bad news first, we're not going to grasp and lay hold of the good news.
Now, that may sound strange, but let me explain it like this. One morning, my wife came to the bathroom door. I was taking a shower. She said, get a towel around you and come out to the phone. She said, the operator called. It's an emergency. I went to the telephone and a woman was on the other end. She said, I understand that you're a preacher who will visit the sick. I said, I certainly will. Well, she said, I want you to visit my husband. Well, that afternoon I went to visit her husband. I didn't realize that he only had two more days to live. I never knew that when I saw him. He was in terrible shape.
He was dying with cirrhosis of the liver. I had never seen a patient before who had cirrhosis of the liver, and it was a shocking thing. I looked the man in the eye and said, I have bad news for you, but I also have good news. Now you're not going to appreciate the good news until you hear the bad news. And I went over the bad news. Now I want you to turn with me to Romans chapter one. There isn't a chapter or a book of the Bible that declares the gospel more vividly, more succinctly, and more personally than the epistle to the Romans.
And I want you to notice Romans chapter one. And I'm going to begin at verse sixteen, and I want you to read with me as I'm going to read audibly. You just read silently, but follow with, for this is important. Paul writing to the Romans, I'm going to look up at verse fourteen, for I'm going to use this verse in a moment. He says there, I am debtor, both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, to the wise and to the unwise. So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. Why? Verse sixteen. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and to salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.
And then he adds, for therein, in the gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith, But notice the next verse. Because, don't miss this, the wrath of God, not the love of God. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth and unrighteousness. Man in sin is under the condemnation and the judgment of a holy God. The judgment hasn't fallen yet, but it will, just as sure as our Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead.
And that's part of the gospel. Paul, when he stood among the intellectuals on Mars Hill, he said in Acts chapter seventeen and verse thirty one, he said, God has appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man that he hath ordained. And he hath given assurance to all. He hath raised him from the dead. And as sure as Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, God's wrath is going to be revealed. It's suspended now. This is a day of grace. But the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men who hold the truth and unrighteousness.
So the gospel is first of all bad news. That day I went over the bad news for a long time. Then I turned to him and I gave him the good news. I'll never forget the expression on that man's face. The good news was received. So welcome. The next day I went to visit him, he was sitting by the window reading the little booklet that I had given him. He was sitting by the window and what a privilege it was. To see him sitting there. The joy that was in his soul. I didn't realize the next day he'd be called home. He'd be called home the very next day.
I tell you, friend, the gospel is bad news. And we've got to understand that. But basically the gospel is good news. It is the good news of what the Lord Jesus did for poor sinners who are under condemnation. And who are under the wrath. of a holy God. The Bible says he that believeth is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. You see, it is good news because there is redemption in it. God's complete remedy in Jesus Christ. It is good news because all the purposes of divine grace are expressed in the gospel, in this message concerning Christ.
We sing a hymn occasionally. It's based on Second Timothy chapter one and verse twelve. I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. A deposit was entrusted to the apostle. And that's what he's talking about here. He's talking about the fact that the gospel has made a deposit in his life. And he's entrusted with a message. And that message he's going to proclaim. And woe be unto me, he says, if I preach not the gospel. That you have back in the verses that we read last week in verses sixteen and seventeen.
He says, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. You know, beloved, Paul in the final analysis says God is going to take care of that deposit. He's going to take care of what he committed to me. And he's going to take care of what I committed unto him. Guard, he said to Timothy, guard that which God has committed unto you. Guard it. Use it. Proclaim it. You see, sometimes we waste a good deal of time trying to take care of God's truth. Oh, how we argue for it. Forgetting that God is able to take care of his own truth. Our God is well able to take care of it, and he will in due time.
We don't need to argue in flight. The truth will take care of itself. Our God is going to bring righteousness to life. Our business is to be sure that we proclaim the gospel in the right way. Now, in the proclamation of the gospel, Paul is laying down some rules that he uses in his own life. He was ready to forego any right at all and to become anything in order that he might win some to Christ. I want you to grasp this. In verse nineteen, he speaks of the freedom.
He talks about his right. He says, I'm free of all men. But I made myself servant unto all. And then he goes down the list of those to whom he preached. He said, if I preach to a Jew, I'll become a Jew that I might win some Jews. In other words, it doesn't mean he compromises his message. Oh, no. He doesn't compromise his message. What he's really saying is what we read in Romans one. When he wrote to the Romans, he said, I am a debtor to the Jew and to the Gentile, to the wise. and to the unwise. When he said, I'm a debtor, he says, I owe him something.
I owe that man a debt. I have something that has been put into trust that I have for him. I owe it to him. I have to tell him the gospel. That's what he's really saying. Now, Paul was not going to give up his rights in the gospel. He could give up the right of being maintained by the church. Oh, that's one thing. but he'd never give up his rights to proclaim the gospel to men. And he saw this. And he said to the Jews, I became a Jew that I might win some Jews. And then he speaks of those who are under law, those who are without law, the Gentiles. Then he speaks to the weak.
I became weak. And I made all things to all men. In other words, Paul has been mastered by the gospel. That message that he proclaimed had so mastered him that he could speak to anybody. It didn't matter where they were on what level of life they were living. And of course, back in the previous verse, in verse sixteen, I think it is. He says, woe unto me if I preach not the gospel. Now that word woe simply means he had a sense of agony in his soul. if he broke down and he failed in this matter of making the gospel clear.
That word, woe, simply means, alas, alas, if I fail here, alas, if I preach not the gospel. Now, let me just inject something here. You and I are living in a day where we hear the term, I just want the simple gospel. Well, now that may sound good, but be very careful with it. While the gospel is simple, God uses terms that everybody can understand. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried, and he arose again the third day according to the Scriptures. And while the message of the gospel, and we usually talk about the ABC of the gospel, But remember, the Bible also says that the gospel is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
And a lot of times we use First Corinthians chapter two and verse two. I determined to know nothing among you save Christ and him crucified. Well, you got to remember that's how Paul came to Corinth. And that's what Paul did at Corinth. But he didn't do that at Athens. He didn't do that at Athens. And Paul was in more than one place. He was more than in Corinth, friends. In Athens we have, I believe, one of the greatest sermons in the whole of the New Testament. And if you took time out to study Paul's sermon in the seventeenth chapter of Acts, let me just point out a few things very quickly by asking a few questions.
Suppose today you were put in front of a, to speak, in front of a people who didn't know, who were totally pagan, who had no knowledge of the Bible. They had never been to Sunday school. They had never been in a church service. They knew nothing of the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ, and they heard nothing of the Ten Commandments and the Old Testament Scriptures. That's where Paul was in Acts chapter seventeen. He was among people who could quote Plato and Aristotle and all the other Greek philosophers, but they knew nothing of God. And they knew nothing of the Bible.
They knew nothing of the Ten Commandments. Where would you begin? I'm saying this because I feel that it's so important. Paul began where everybody has to begin. He began where everybody has to begin. He began with God. God who made all things. Creation. He began with creation. And then he spoke of the transcendence of God, the greatness of God. How that God, while he brought creation into being, he is separate from creation apart from it, yet he's involved in it.
The transcendence of God. But then he spoke of sin. Ah, he spoke of sin and the fact that man has rebelled against God, that man is ignorant because of his sin, of who the one and only true God is. But then he spoke of the person of Christ, who is the answer to man's sin, who is the answer to the righteousness of God. And he spoke a man's need for repentance. So you see, beloved, we acknowledge that while the gospel is simple, the gospel is profound.
And when we see Paul's activity where he goes when he went to the synagogue at Thessalonica, you must remember he was going to a people who had an Old Testament background. And what did he do there? He argued. That's what the word means there. He reasoned with them. And the Greek word there for reason is he argued with them. And he didn't argue for heat. He argued for light. He was seeking to bring light to these people. And he showed them how that Christ is a fulfillment of all the Old Testament scriptures. He reasoned with them.
out of the Old Testament scriptures. In other words, he became all things unto all men, that he might by all means win some. So Paul was willing to give up his right for maintenance. But because God had saved him and made him an apostle, the gospel was entrusted to him. Now to be made all things unto all men. It calls for great grace, beloved, to accomplish this without compromising your message. We don't change our message. Paul didn't change his message when he got with the philosophers on Mars Hill.
His message to the great men on Mars Hill was, you must repent or you will perish. God now, present tense, commands all men everywhere to repent. For he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man he has ordained and he has given assurance to all. He has raised him from the dead. And beloved, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is a proclamation of coming judgment. You cannot avoid Jesus Christ. He is the one person in the universe. You cannot avoid. Paul knew this.
And Paul accomplished his purpose without compromising his message. Now Paul used great wisdom in presenting his message. You see, Paul knew the value of the message, and he knew the power of the message to convert sinful men. The power of the message. It is the gospel, beloved, that is the power of God unto salvation. The message preached. It isn't a preacher. It's a message preached. It is the gospel, beloved, that message concerning God, that message concerning sin, and that message concerning Christ.
Now, Paul illustrates all this when he comes to the close of the chapter. And what he's really doing is teaching what was called the perseverance of the saints. He is teaching this in a most unique way. He's teaching it in a way that's going to get underneath the skin of these Corinthian believers, for they were living loose lives in relation to each other, and they were living loosely in relation to the gospel that they professed. You see, every second year in Corinth, The Isthmian games, boy I had a difficulty with that.
I'm not going to pronounce it again. The games, the athletic contests were held at Corinth. And this was a vivid thing in their lives. You see, they attended these games and they knew what they were all about. So Paul uses these athletic contests as an illustration of what he was saying. He says to them, don't you know that they who run in a race run all? But one receive a surprise. Now we're going to have the Olympics again in a year or so. And those who are going to be in the Olympics as contestants for any country, they are already practicing.
They're training their body. They're preparing for that day when they're going to be in the real race, in the real context. Are you training your body as a believer in order that when you meet a poor sinner that you have the message that he needs? That's what Paul's saying. I am made all things unto all men. If by any means I may win some. And Paul, he says, don't you know that they who run in a race run all but one receive a surprise?
And then he speaks of those who enter the boxing ring. I remember when I was a kid in high school, we had a set of boxing gloves in school and you know who put them on. And you know who got beat. Me. I put them on with every boy in the class. Oh, I thought this is great. But you want to know something? I was so stiff the next day I could hardly put my coat on. Every muscle and joint in my body hurt. And I worked those days. It was in wintertime. And I had to wear a heavy jacket. I was a Western Union Telegram boy.
And I tell you, when I go to put that jacket on, I could hardly get my arms in it. I had no training whatsoever. you see and Paul speaks here of those who are in the boxing ring how that they don't beat the air they're not shadow boxing this is reality so in verse twenty six he says I therefore shall run not as one who beats the air and I don't fight not as well as uncertainly I don't run in an uncertain manner you see I remember having some games down on the beautiful beach in St.
Croix and the Virgin Islands when I was preaching down there. I want you to think with me for a minute. Here are two coconut palms at a good distance apart. And I get two or three young felons there. And I say, we're going to have a foot race. And the first one over to that tree, he's going to be the winner. Now get on your mark. Get set. Go. And there they run, and I look at their footprints right down the sand. One of them gets to the tree first, and then I take them aside. Now, I want you to notice why this fellow won. You see, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
He had his eye on the goal, and he went to the goal. And I say to this fellow, see, I noticed that here you zig, and then you zagged. And that's why you lost. But why did you do it? Well, he said, I looked back to see where the others were. And then you turned to the other, well, now why did you do it? Oh, he's my buddy. Every time he zigs, I zig, and every time he zags, I zags. You know, that's how a lot of Christians are. Every time their friends go zig, they go zig too. They don't know any better. They don't have any backbone to take a stand. They zig every time another person zigs, and they zig every time another person zags. But they're not going for the goal.
Beloved, the goal is before us. And our goal is to proclaim the gospel that makes all men accountable to God in reality. You see. And Paul here, he says in the final verse, I keep under my body. Now why does he use a statement like this? You see the body is a seat in the organ of sin. I can't sin without the body. I sin through the body. My body is the expression of me. And Paul says, I keep under my body. My body doesn't dictate to me.
I dictate to my body. He's the one who said in chapter eight, if meat causes my brother to stumble, I'll no longer eat meat while the world stands up. I keep under my body. You catch it? I keep under my body. I bring my body into subjection. If I preach to others that I'd be disqualified, that I would be reprobate. You see, the ordinary way of looking at this passage, and I hate to say it, is people have looked at this as, oh, I'm saved all right, I'll just lose some reward. I'd be very careful with that.
It is possible to lose your rewards. Beloved, that attitude shows something else. And that is what Paul is dealing with. For that Greek word adakamas, it means reprobate. It is translated rejected in Hebrews chapter six. It is only found eight times in the New Testament, and I can tell you every place that it's used. It's found in Romans chapter one and verse twenty-eight. It's translated reprobate. It's found here in first Corinthians nine twenty-seven. It is translated in the King James cast away. In the ASV it is disqualified. Then three times it is translated reprobate in second Corinthians chapter thirteen.
And then Paul uses it as he writes to Timothy. It's reprobate. Titus uses it. He's used to Titus as reprobate. And then in Hebrews is rejected. Adakamas. What do we have here? Here is a rebuke to the reckless and the listless Corinthians. They thought that they could safely indulge themselves to the very verge of sin. What a rebuke to them. In contrast to that, you see, the apostle considered himself as engaged in a life and death struggle in regards to salvation.
You see, usually we quote the verses that we like. Those great verses that declare unto us, I am persuaded that nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus the Lord. That's true. But you have to balance that verse with the one that Peter writes when he says, and I think Paul had this in mind, for Peter wrote, if the righteous scarcely be saved, it's a life and death struggle. And when I look at over Christendom the day, and I see how lightly the things of God are taken, I cry out in my own soul when I read the next what follows in answer to this for that word moreover in verse one of chapter ten it shows the seriousness of this of examining our own souls in the presence of the holy God am I truly his or am I not if the righteous scarcely be saved Peter wrote where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear for the more it is also written that The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence.
And Paul took these things seriously. You see, you have to have the balance. The one state of mind is necessary for the other. The only person who really has genuine assurance is the one who is conscious of a constant and deadly struggle with sin. That's a person who has assurance. It is the indolent and the self-indulgent Christian who is always in doubt. Paul says, I keep under my body. I bring it into subjection. I don't want to be rejected. I don't want to be rejected.
Friend, I wouldn't worry about losing a reward. But I would worry. about losing my own soul. I'm not trying to take away your salvation, but I want you to examine yourself to be sure you have it. Be sure you have it. I want you to examine yourself. We're living in a day of milk toast Christianity. It wasn't so with Paul. It wasn't so with it. How much do you keep under your body?
How much do you ask yourself the question? You see, they were all, everyone who came out of Egypt had all those blessings you read about in the first three or four verses of chapter ten. But look how miserably they failed. They were overthrown. You see, Paul realized how important the gospel is. The gospel is good news, beloved, that God saves. And he saves with an eternal salvation. But that eternal salvation designates a man as one of his sheep, and the sheep of God hear his voice, and they follow him. It is true in your life. Now, beloved, that's the gospel.
That's good news. It's good news whereby you can examine yourself and determine, am I real or am I not? I think we should sing a hymn in closing. Two hundred seventy-five. Three hundred seventy-five, excuse me. It's in the form of a question. Before we sing the first and second stanzas of this hymn, let's pray together. Three hundred seventy-five. Lord, I care not for riches, neither silver nor gold. I would make sure of heaven I would enter the fold. Three hundred seventy-five. But I like the second stanza.
Oh, Lord, my sins they are many, like the sands of the sea. But thy blood, oh, my Savior, is sufficient for me. Oh, there's the answer. That's the gospel. Now let's pray. Oh, Father, we ask you now. to take this word and with it search our hearts. Don't let us be content with nominal Christianity. Don't let us be like the person inoculated with smallpox, have just enough of it to keep us from the real thing. May we be satisfied with nothing but that which is genuinely of thyself.
We pray for Jesus' sake. Amen. Let's stand together and sin, shall we?