You know, I am going to be very frank with you
today. And I'm going to make a statement that
probably you will not agree with. You may be
amazed to hear me say it, but I'm going to say
it just the same. I'm getting sick and tired
of hearing about this generation gap. And I mean
exactly that. We hear so much talk about the
new generation gap that must be bridged. We hear
it on every side of us. We hear the politician
talking about it. We hear the newscaster. The
statesman. The average person on the street.
We hear fathers and mothers. speaking about this
new generation gap. Ministers are discussing
this new generation gap and just how it must
be bridged. You can scarcely pick up a magazine
about their articles written regarding this new
generation gap and how to bridge this new gap.
Do you want to know something? I'm afraid to
tell you. There was a generation gap between
my parents and their daughter Catherine. Oh,
and sometimes that generation gap got mighty
wide between Mrs. Jo Kuhlman and her daughter
Catherine. But do you want to know something?
I'll tell you how that generation gap was closed.
When Mama took me down the basement and when
her hand hit my rear end, that gap closed very
quickly. And five minutes later, there was no
generation gap. between my mother and her daughter,
Catherine. And there'll be no generation gap
between your son and daughter and you if you
fill it the way it should be filled and according
to God's Word. And then, of course, the amazing
thing is, along with this discussion, of filling
this new generation gap. I find ministers of
the gospel who will use a scripture quoting Paul
when Paul says, we are to be all things to all
men. And immediately we find the compromise.
in their lives, in their teaching, in the preaching
of the gospel. I'm going to talk to you about
something that I feel is mightily important.
We can use the Scripture to cover up many of
our acts, but we must be careful how we use the
Scripture. And there are many today who are misusing
Paul's words when he said in the ninth chapter
of 1 Corinthians that I am all things to all
men. Turn, if you will, please, to the Holy Scripture.
It's the highest authority in heaven and earth.
And we must never take the Scripture out of its
setting. That's one thing we dare not do. And
here in this ninth chapter of 1 Corinthians,
this portion constitutes a part of Paul's answer
to the question that the Corinthians had raised
concerning things sacrificed to idols. There
does not seem to be very much in this passage
on the subject, but as we proceed, we see the
reason for that omission. in the last analysis
the whole question must be considered in the
light of christian liberty and its limitations
there are some folk you know who feel that christian
liberty has no limitation there are those who
by their actions tried to prove to the rest of
us that Christianity has no limitations when
it comes to Christian liberty. The Word of God
is contrary to the actions of some of these people.
There are limitations to Christians' liberty.
Paul dealt with that matter in chapter 6, saying
these words, All things are lawful for me, but
not all things are expedient. All things are
lawful for me, but I will not be brought under
the power of any. And then in chapter 10, the
23rd verse, he continues by saying, All things
are lawful, but all things are not expedient.
All things are lawful, but all things edify not.
That no man seek his own, but each his neighbor's
good. And then he goes on. Whatsoever is sold
in the shambles, eat. Read this portion of the
Word of God. It's most enlightening. He is still
in that region of things sacrificed to idols.
The passages show that the whole question raised
now about things sacrificed to idols there in
Corinth and all similar questions of conscience
arising in the minds of Christian people must
be considered in the light of Christian liberty.
and its limitations. Liberty is limited. That's
one of the characteristics of our liberty. All
things are lawful for me, but not all things
are expedient. All things are lawful for me,
but I will not be brought under the power of
any. There is the whole matter. Read that entire
9th chapter of 1 Corinthians before you come
to that 22nd verse where Paul says that I am
made all things to all men. You dare not take
just one verse of Scripture out of its setting
and use it. You dare not take just one sentence
from the Word of God and use it to suit yourself.
You must keep it in its context and in its setting.
Now to summarize, what he was not going to give
up were his rights in the gospel. He could give
up his rights of maintenance, his support, but
not in the gospel. That's what he now argued
at length. He said, necessity is upon me, constraint,
something from which there is no escape, constraint
is laid upon me. imposed upon me. I am mastered
by this thing. I cannot get away from it. Necessity
is laid upon me to preach this gospel. I've got
to preach the gospel. I cannot escape it. God
has given me this call. I'll die if I'm not true
to him in the preaching of this gospel. That's
what it means to have a real, honest -to -goodness
call from God to preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. If you've had a real call, you've
got to do it. As we say in Missouri, come hell
or high water, you've got to do it. You'll do
it if you'll starve to death. You've got to do
it even if you know that it would cost you your
life. And if you do not have that kind of a call,
then you better get out of the ministry. I mean
that. That's what a real call to preach the gospel
is like. And that is what Paul was saying. I've
got to. I can do without your material gifts.
I am willing to waver my right when it comes
to the material maintenance, but not in the necessity
that is laid upon me. Then he says something
else, that if I fail there, what then? Woe is
unto me if I preach not the gospel. We should
understand that woe, as it's used here, is not
really punishment. Or that he is suggesting that
he would be punched if he failed to preach the
gospel. That's not what it means here. It is
rather a sense of agony in his own soul if he
should break down and fail. The word woe means
alas. Alas to me. I cannot help it. Necessity
is laid upon me, imposed upon me. I am constrained.
I am bound up. It is part and parcel of my very
life and nature. Alas, if I fail here. Alas,
if I preach not the gospel. No, no, he said.
There are rights. Rights that I cannot give up.
There are rights of my apostleship and the whole
of them are found in the gospel and the necessity
for publishing it. Then he goes on. Verse 19.
He speaks of the method by which he is carrying
this out. He's coming bondage to all. For what?
In order to gain. Always in order to gain what?
The winning of men for the Lord Jesus Christ.
The winning for the gospel. The gain of human
lives. The bringing of them under the mastery
of the gospel. Setting them free from their bondage
and its power. And bringing them into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. He says he became...
all things to all men. It's remarkable that he
says to the Jew that he became as a Jew, that
is, those under the law, as though he were under
the law. To those without law, he became as without
the law. He would take his place. by the side
of a Jew or Gentile. And be as that one. Make
no mistake. He is not free from law. He's under
the law of God, the law of Christ, but always
to gain. It's a great grace when a man can do
that without any compromise to his gospel. is
no compromise for the gospel. Know that. If I
sit down with a Jew or hold a communion with
a Gentile, I become all things to all men. That
did not mean that he lowered the flag or minimized
the gospel. Woe is me, he said, if I fail. Yeah,
there it is. Liberty is limited. That is one
of the characteristics of our liberty. If in
exercising our liberty, We put a stumbling block
in the way of a person. Then we sin in exercising
that liberty. You know, the ultimate victory
of love in the forming of a judgment is the foregoing
of a right. And perhaps that's the supreme thing.
We may have a perfect right to eat. These things
that some feel are a sin to eat. We know that
there is nothing in these temples and idols and
sacrifices because of our knowledge of the word
of God. And we have a perfect right to eat these
things. But wait a minute. Love will suggest
that we forego the right and restrain from eating.
if by so doing we may be helping the man who
lacks our spiritual knowledge. Nothing can be
clearer than this teaching. If there are acts
that offend, even though we have perfect liberty
to do these acts, one has not perfect liberty
through the love -mastered life. Read the entire
9th chapter of 1 Corinthians. His rites of support,
found in the 15th and 18th verses. Then his rites
of apostleship, 16 and 17. Then in 19 to 27,
we continue. And right here in the middle of
it all, He uses that scripture that so many have
misused. When he said to them that are without
law, as without law, being not without law to
God, but under the law to Christ, that I may
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 them. For this I do for the gospel's sake,
that I might be partaker thereof with you. He
did not sacrifice any Christian principle. Wore
that very closely. He kept the law. Paul did
not once even infer that he sacrificed any Christian
principle or any part of the gospel in so doing.
He did not let down the bars for one moment.
Again I say, it's a great... when a man can do
that without any compromise to his gospel. For
there can be no compromise when it comes to the
things of God. You can't do it. Don't stop there.
Go on further. Read the rest of what Paul is
saying. He took a wonderful illustration. pertaining
to Corinth, the great city of learning and luxury.
They all knew the figure of the race and the
arena. And he showed them a man in the race and
in the arena. And then he continued by saying,
So run that you may obtain. Let me read it. Know
ye not? that they which run in a race run all,
but one receiveth the prize. So run that ye may
obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery
is temperate in all things. There's no compromise
there whatsoever. There's no letting down the
bars whatsoever. 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 I bring it into
subjection, lest that by any means, when I have
preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
It wouldn't be religion. if it was modern. You
don't modernize the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You don't modernize the Word of God to
fill a generation gap. I've given you the Word
of God.