WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.980 You know, I am going to be very frank with you 00:00:03.980 --> 00:00:09.080 today. And I'm going to make a statement that 00:00:09.080 --> 00:00:15.199 probably you will not agree with. You may be 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:18.940 amazed to hear me say it, but I'm going to say 00:00:18.940 --> 00:00:23.059 it just the same. I'm getting sick and tired 00:00:23.059 --> 00:00:28.690 of hearing about this generation gap. And I mean 00:00:28.690 --> 00:00:33.829 exactly that. We hear so much talk about the 00:00:33.829 --> 00:00:40.109 new generation gap that must be bridged. We hear 00:00:40.109 --> 00:00:43.810 it on every side of us. We hear the politician 00:00:43.810 --> 00:00:48.429 talking about it. We hear the newscaster. The 00:00:48.429 --> 00:00:52.929 statesman. The average person on the street. 00:00:53.710 --> 00:00:58.899 We hear fathers and mothers. speaking about this 00:00:58.899 --> 00:01:03.700 new generation gap. Ministers are discussing 00:01:03.700 --> 00:01:09.939 this new generation gap and just how it must 00:01:09.939 --> 00:01:14.359 be bridged. You can scarcely pick up a magazine 00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:18.879 about their articles written regarding this new 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:25.719 generation gap and how to bridge this new gap. 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:29.659 Do you want to know something? I'm afraid to 00:01:29.659 --> 00:01:34.640 tell you. There was a generation gap between 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:40.000 my parents and their daughter Catherine. Oh, 00:01:40.120 --> 00:01:47.200 and sometimes that generation gap got mighty 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:52.640 wide between Mrs. Jo Kuhlman and her daughter 00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:56.109 Catherine. But do you want to know something? 00:01:57.269 --> 00:02:01.730 I'll tell you how that generation gap was closed. 00:02:01.930 --> 00:02:06.890 When Mama took me down the basement and when 00:02:06.890 --> 00:02:14.210 her hand hit my rear end, that gap closed very 00:02:14.210 --> 00:02:20.330 quickly. And five minutes later, there was no 00:02:20.330 --> 00:02:24.939 generation gap. between my mother and her daughter, 00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:31.199 Catherine. And there'll be no generation gap 00:02:31.199 --> 00:02:38.840 between your son and daughter and you if you 00:02:38.840 --> 00:02:42.719 fill it the way it should be filled and according 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:46.120 to God's Word. And then, of course, the amazing 00:02:46.120 --> 00:02:51.520 thing is, along with this discussion, of filling 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:56.460 this new generation gap. I find ministers of 00:02:56.460 --> 00:03:04.759 the gospel who will use a scripture quoting Paul 00:03:04.759 --> 00:03:11.639 when Paul says, we are to be all things to all 00:03:11.639 --> 00:03:17.939 men. And immediately we find the compromise. 00:03:19.340 --> 00:03:23.560 in their lives, in their teaching, in the preaching 00:03:23.560 --> 00:03:28.139 of the gospel. I'm going to talk to you about 00:03:28.139 --> 00:03:30.939 something that I feel is mightily important. 00:03:32.819 --> 00:03:38.780 We can use the Scripture to cover up many of 00:03:38.780 --> 00:03:45.840 our acts, but we must be careful how we use the 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:50.009 Scripture. And there are many today who are misusing 00:03:50.009 --> 00:03:56.129 Paul's words when he said in the ninth chapter 00:03:56.129 --> 00:04:01.689 of 1 Corinthians that I am all things to all 00:04:01.689 --> 00:04:05.430 men. Turn, if you will, please, to the Holy Scripture. 00:04:05.889 --> 00:04:07.969 It's the highest authority in heaven and earth. 00:04:08.409 --> 00:04:12.550 And we must never take the Scripture out of its 00:04:12.550 --> 00:04:16.959 setting. That's one thing we dare not do. And 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:19.199 here in this ninth chapter of 1 Corinthians, 00:04:19.500 --> 00:04:23.779 this portion constitutes a part of Paul's answer 00:04:23.779 --> 00:04:26.079 to the question that the Corinthians had raised 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:32.300 concerning things sacrificed to idols. There 00:04:32.300 --> 00:04:35.199 does not seem to be very much in this passage 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:39.379 on the subject, but as we proceed, we see the 00:04:39.379 --> 00:04:44.699 reason for that omission. in the last analysis 00:04:44.699 --> 00:04:49.319 the whole question must be considered in the 00:04:49.319 --> 00:04:54.660 light of christian liberty and its limitations 00:04:54.660 --> 00:04:59.660 there are some folk you know who feel that christian 00:04:59.660 --> 00:05:05.459 liberty has no limitation there are those who 00:05:05.459 --> 00:05:12.160 by their actions tried to prove to the rest of 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:19.180 us that Christianity has no limitations when 00:05:19.180 --> 00:05:24.819 it comes to Christian liberty. The Word of God 00:05:24.819 --> 00:05:30.079 is contrary to the actions of some of these people. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:37.899 There are limitations to Christians' liberty. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:43.819 Paul dealt with that matter in chapter 6, saying 00:05:43.819 --> 00:05:50.279 these words, All things are lawful for me, but 00:05:50.279 --> 00:05:55.600 not all things are expedient. All things are 00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:59.600 lawful for me, but I will not be brought under 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:04.980 the power of any. And then in chapter 10, the 00:06:04.980 --> 00:06:08.889 23rd verse, he continues by saying, All things 00:06:08.889 --> 00:06:13.470 are lawful, but all things are not expedient. 00:06:15.110 --> 00:06:20.389 All things are lawful, but all things edify not. 00:06:21.670 --> 00:06:26.509 That no man seek his own, but each his neighbor's 00:06:26.509 --> 00:06:31.529 good. And then he goes on. Whatsoever is sold 00:06:31.529 --> 00:06:35.610 in the shambles, eat. Read this portion of the 00:06:35.610 --> 00:06:40.420 Word of God. It's most enlightening. He is still 00:06:40.420 --> 00:06:45.079 in that region of things sacrificed to idols. 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:50.879 The passages show that the whole question raised 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:55.420 now about things sacrificed to idols there in 00:06:55.420 --> 00:06:59.519 Corinth and all similar questions of conscience 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:03.120 arising in the minds of Christian people must 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:07.399 be considered in the light of Christian liberty. 00:07:08.120 --> 00:07:17.540 and its limitations. Liberty is limited. That's 00:07:17.540 --> 00:07:21.959 one of the characteristics of our liberty. All 00:07:21.959 --> 00:07:28.740 things are lawful for me, but not all things 00:07:28.740 --> 00:07:33.930 are expedient. All things are lawful for me, 00:07:34.009 --> 00:07:38.149 but I will not be brought under the power of 00:07:38.149 --> 00:07:45.769 any. There is the whole matter. Read that entire 00:07:45.769 --> 00:07:52.730 9th chapter of 1 Corinthians before you come 00:07:52.730 --> 00:08:02.620 to that 22nd verse where Paul says that I am 00:08:02.620 --> 00:08:08.680 made all things to all men. You dare not take 00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:12.579 just one verse of Scripture out of its setting 00:08:12.579 --> 00:08:16.420 and use it. You dare not take just one sentence 00:08:16.420 --> 00:08:23.540 from the Word of God and use it to suit yourself. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:30.800 You must keep it in its context and in its setting. 00:08:32.330 --> 00:08:37.529 Now to summarize, what he was not going to give 00:08:37.529 --> 00:08:41.190 up were his rights in the gospel. He could give 00:08:41.190 --> 00:08:44.809 up his rights of maintenance, his support, but 00:08:44.809 --> 00:08:48.389 not in the gospel. That's what he now argued 00:08:48.389 --> 00:08:53.889 at length. He said, necessity is upon me, constraint, 00:08:54.330 --> 00:08:59.070 something from which there is no escape, constraint 00:08:59.070 --> 00:09:04.580 is laid upon me. imposed upon me. I am mastered 00:09:04.580 --> 00:09:09.419 by this thing. I cannot get away from it. Necessity 00:09:09.419 --> 00:09:14.379 is laid upon me to preach this gospel. I've got 00:09:14.379 --> 00:09:21.860 to preach the gospel. I cannot escape it. God 00:09:21.860 --> 00:09:27.919 has given me this call. I'll die if I'm not true 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:31.169 to him in the preaching of this gospel. That's 00:09:31.169 --> 00:09:33.830 what it means to have a real, honest -to -goodness 00:09:33.830 --> 00:09:38.070 call from God to preach the gospel of the Lord 00:09:38.070 --> 00:09:41.590 Jesus Christ. If you've had a real call, you've 00:09:41.590 --> 00:09:45.710 got to do it. As we say in Missouri, come hell 00:09:45.710 --> 00:09:49.250 or high water, you've got to do it. You'll do 00:09:49.250 --> 00:09:52.590 it if you'll starve to death. You've got to do 00:09:52.590 --> 00:09:54.590 it even if you know that it would cost you your 00:09:54.590 --> 00:09:59.340 life. And if you do not have that kind of a call, 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:04.399 then you better get out of the ministry. I mean 00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:11.039 that. That's what a real call to preach the gospel 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:21.019 is like. And that is what Paul was saying. I've 00:10:21.019 --> 00:10:25.299 got to. I can do without your material gifts. 00:10:27.950 --> 00:10:31.070 I am willing to waver my right when it comes 00:10:31.070 --> 00:10:36.950 to the material maintenance, but not in the necessity 00:10:36.950 --> 00:10:43.769 that is laid upon me. Then he says something 00:10:43.769 --> 00:10:50.409 else, that if I fail there, what then? Woe is 00:10:50.409 --> 00:10:55.700 unto me if I preach not the gospel. We should 00:10:55.700 --> 00:10:59.399 understand that woe, as it's used here, is not 00:10:59.399 --> 00:11:02.919 really punishment. Or that he is suggesting that 00:11:02.919 --> 00:11:06.279 he would be punched if he failed to preach the 00:11:06.279 --> 00:11:09.500 gospel. That's not what it means here. It is 00:11:09.500 --> 00:11:14.639 rather a sense of agony in his own soul if he 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:19.539 should break down and fail. The word woe means 00:11:19.539 --> 00:11:28.330 alas. Alas to me. I cannot help it. Necessity 00:11:28.330 --> 00:11:31.450 is laid upon me, imposed upon me. I am constrained. 00:11:31.970 --> 00:11:37.470 I am bound up. It is part and parcel of my very 00:11:37.470 --> 00:11:46.490 life and nature. Alas, if I fail here. Alas, 00:11:46.490 --> 00:11:51.830 if I preach not the gospel. No, no, he said. 00:11:52.789 --> 00:11:58.070 There are rights. Rights that I cannot give up. 00:11:58.789 --> 00:12:02.769 There are rights of my apostleship and the whole 00:12:02.769 --> 00:12:06.850 of them are found in the gospel and the necessity 00:12:06.850 --> 00:12:15.710 for publishing it. Then he goes on. Verse 19. 00:12:15.870 --> 00:12:20.330 He speaks of the method by which he is carrying 00:12:20.330 --> 00:12:24.309 this out. He's coming bondage to all. For what? 00:12:26.029 --> 00:12:30.289 In order to gain. Always in order to gain what? 00:12:30.490 --> 00:12:32.830 The winning of men for the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:12:32.990 --> 00:12:36.289 The winning for the gospel. The gain of human 00:12:36.289 --> 00:12:38.830 lives. The bringing of them under the mastery 00:12:38.830 --> 00:12:45.549 of the gospel. Setting them free from their bondage 00:12:45.549 --> 00:12:49.129 and its power. And bringing them into the glorious 00:12:49.129 --> 00:12:52.909 liberty of the children of God. He says he became... 00:12:53.120 --> 00:13:00.059 all things to all men. It's remarkable that he 00:13:00.059 --> 00:13:02.779 says to the Jew that he became as a Jew, that 00:13:02.779 --> 00:13:07.200 is, those under the law, as though he were under 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:12.820 the law. To those without law, he became as without 00:13:12.820 --> 00:13:21.440 the law. He would take his place. by the side 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:29.039 of a Jew or Gentile. And be as that one. Make 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:34.799 no mistake. He is not free from law. He's under 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:38.320 the law of God, the law of Christ, but always 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:44.100 to gain. It's a great grace when a man can do 00:13:44.100 --> 00:13:49.470 that without any compromise to his gospel. is 00:13:49.470 --> 00:13:57.350 no compromise for the gospel. Know that. If I 00:13:57.350 --> 00:14:01.110 sit down with a Jew or hold a communion with 00:14:01.110 --> 00:14:09.730 a Gentile, I become all things to all men. That 00:14:09.730 --> 00:14:14.669 did not mean that he lowered the flag or minimized 00:14:14.669 --> 00:14:26.299 the gospel. Woe is me, he said, if I fail. Yeah, 00:14:26.360 --> 00:14:37.860 there it is. Liberty is limited. That is one 00:14:37.860 --> 00:14:42.879 of the characteristics of our liberty. If in 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:46.740 exercising our liberty, We put a stumbling block 00:14:46.740 --> 00:14:54.320 in the way of a person. Then we sin in exercising 00:14:54.320 --> 00:15:01.340 that liberty. You know, the ultimate victory 00:15:01.340 --> 00:15:04.620 of love in the forming of a judgment is the foregoing 00:15:04.620 --> 00:15:08.600 of a right. And perhaps that's the supreme thing. 00:15:09.159 --> 00:15:14.620 We may have a perfect right to eat. These things 00:15:14.620 --> 00:15:22.480 that some feel are a sin to eat. We know that 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:25.580 there is nothing in these temples and idols and 00:15:25.580 --> 00:15:30.240 sacrifices because of our knowledge of the word 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:34.399 of God. And we have a perfect right to eat these 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:37.740 things. But wait a minute. Love will suggest 00:15:37.740 --> 00:15:42.179 that we forego the right and restrain from eating. 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:46.860 if by so doing we may be helping the man who 00:15:46.860 --> 00:15:50.899 lacks our spiritual knowledge. Nothing can be 00:15:50.899 --> 00:15:55.159 clearer than this teaching. If there are acts 00:15:55.159 --> 00:15:59.419 that offend, even though we have perfect liberty 00:15:59.419 --> 00:16:04.600 to do these acts, one has not perfect liberty 00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:11.100 through the love -mastered life. Read the entire 00:16:11.100 --> 00:16:18.419 9th chapter of 1 Corinthians. His rites of support, 00:16:18.659 --> 00:16:23.879 found in the 15th and 18th verses. Then his rites 00:16:23.879 --> 00:16:30.080 of apostleship, 16 and 17. Then in 19 to 27, 00:16:30.340 --> 00:16:36.580 we continue. And right here in the middle of 00:16:36.580 --> 00:16:42.889 it all, He uses that scripture that so many have 00:16:42.889 --> 00:16:50.649 misused. When he said to them that are without 00:16:50.649 --> 00:16:57.549 law, as without law, being not without law to 00:16:57.549 --> 00:17:01.110 God, but under the law to Christ, that I may 00:17:01.110 --> 00:17:06.309 gain them that are without law. To the weak became 00:17:06.309 --> 00:17:10.500 I as weak. that I might gain the weak. I made 00:17:10.500 --> 00:17:13.940 all things to all men that I might by all means 00:17:13.940 --> 00:17:19.240 save them. For this I do for the gospel's sake, 00:17:19.420 --> 00:17:25.319 that I might be partaker thereof with you. He 00:17:25.319 --> 00:17:30.400 did not sacrifice any Christian principle. Wore 00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:37.730 that very closely. He kept the law. Paul did 00:17:37.730 --> 00:17:44.309 not once even infer that he sacrificed any Christian 00:17:44.309 --> 00:17:51.309 principle or any part of the gospel in so doing. 00:17:54.289 --> 00:17:59.670 He did not let down the bars for one moment. 00:18:01.210 --> 00:18:07.509 Again I say, it's a great... when a man can do 00:18:07.509 --> 00:18:11.730 that without any compromise to his gospel. For 00:18:11.730 --> 00:18:17.509 there can be no compromise when it comes to the 00:18:17.509 --> 00:18:23.950 things of God. You can't do it. Don't stop there. 00:18:24.329 --> 00:18:28.910 Go on further. Read the rest of what Paul is 00:18:28.910 --> 00:18:35.380 saying. He took a wonderful illustration. pertaining 00:18:35.380 --> 00:18:39.519 to Corinth, the great city of learning and luxury. 00:18:40.339 --> 00:18:43.680 They all knew the figure of the race and the 00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:47.819 arena. And he showed them a man in the race and 00:18:47.819 --> 00:18:51.299 in the arena. And then he continued by saying, 00:18:51.920 --> 00:19:01.220 So run that you may obtain. Let me read it. Know 00:19:01.220 --> 00:19:07.539 ye not? that they which run in a race run all, 00:19:07.799 --> 00:19:14.539 but one receiveth the prize. So run that ye may 00:19:14.539 --> 00:19:18.220 obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery 00:19:18.220 --> 00:19:23.759 is temperate in all things. There's no compromise 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:28.019 there whatsoever. There's no letting down the 00:19:28.019 --> 00:19:34.059 bars whatsoever. Every man that striveth for 00:19:34.059 --> 00:19:39.819 the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they 00:19:39.819 --> 00:19:46.039 do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an 00:19:46.039 --> 00:19:56.000 incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, 00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:02.279 so fight I, not as one that beateth the air, 00:20:02.519 --> 00:20:12.079 but I keep under my body, and I bring it into 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:18.279 subjection, lest that by any means, when I have 00:20:18.279 --> 00:20:23.420 preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:33.650 It wouldn't be religion. if it was modern. You 00:20:33.650 --> 00:20:38.230 don't modernize the gospel of the Lord Jesus 00:20:38.230 --> 00:20:46.369 Christ. You don't modernize the Word of God to 00:20:46.369 --> 00:20:53.309 fill a generation gap. I've given you the Word 00:20:53.309 --> 00:20:53.670 of God.