I'd invite you to take your Bibles with you, with me, to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Don't you just love common sense solutions? When somebody sees a problem and they can find just what makes sense. You know, they exercise good horse sense. They provide a reasonable solution. Sometimes we find in the Bible that God uses unreasonable solutions to solve problems. You know what's really annoying? You know what really irritates my comfortable Christian life? What frustrates my existence as a bare minimum believer? What startles my status quo of sainthood? when some other Christian takes the Bible and God too seriously. They feel it's their duty to make me feel bad about my stagnant and lethargic life. They make me feel like my pathetic Christianity has become useless. Well, the Apostle Paul is somebody who, in Scripture, highlights for us what it means to live a sold-out Christian life. God never desired that his children live a status quo. He invites us to take up a cross and follow him. And there's no cross that you can bear in this life that is a greater weight or burden than somebody who will spend eternity in hell. The Christian life is not to be lived in a realm of the reasonable. We're spiritual beings and God invites us to follow Jesus, to take our Christian life seriously. Paul's a preacher. He steps out of the accepted norms of stale Christianity. I mean, it would have been reasonable for him to do some things differently than he did. But we're gonna see in 1 Corinthians chapter nine that he made some choices in his life that seemed very much unreasonable. Paul had special circumstances, he had a special season of ministry, and he had a love in his heart that dictated the course for his life. So we'll look at today an unreasonable love. Look with me at 1 Corinthians 9, verses 11 and 12. We'll read it, pray, and then jump in this morning's message. 1 Corinthians 9, verses 11 and 12. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, it is a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things. If others be partakers of this power over you, are we not rather? Nevertheless, we have not used this power, but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. Let's pray together. Father, open our eyes now to your truth. Lead us by your Holy Spirit. We're thankful that the book we hold is in fact the very words of God. They have the power to change a life. Someone who's in darkness can find light today. Somebody who is blind can be made to see. Somebody who has been buried in sin can be set free. So help us now, speak to us in Jesus' name, amen. Love for Jesus Christ may lead you beyond common logic. God may lead you like He did the Apostle Paul to do some things that seem on the human level unreasonable, uncommon sense. Now as we were looking at last week in 1 Corinthians chapter 8 there was a controversial issue, a conflict in the church. Some of the people in the church were very concerned about not being able, not having the freedom or liberty to eat whatever they wanted. Specifically, meat that had been offered to idols. It may very well have been that most of the meat, the majority of meat that could be purchased or eaten in a home in the city of Corinth, may very well have been meat that had been offered to idols. So the Apostle Paul gave a number of explanations, and now probably, probably, He was answering appeals that were given to him by the Church of Corinth. And the four points that he gave in 1 Corinthians 8 were this. Number one, an idol is nothing. That's what he says in 1 Corinthians 8, in verse four. He says, we know, the end of the verse, we know that an idol is nothing. This is a figure, an image, that would be worshiped as a god. And he says, we know that's nothing. That probably was their first appeal. Number two, there is only one God. In fact, that's what it says in verse six. But to us, there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him, and the one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him. There's only one God. So an idol, nothing. There is but one God. The number three point, probably an appeal that they gave was this, meat that had been offered to nothing is nothing, okay? That probably, probably was their appeal. Now the Apostle Paul felt differently about this. In fact, there was a group of men that gathered together in Acts chapter 15, six years previous to this, called the Jerusalem Council. And they said, essentially, there's no place for a Christian, you don't eat meat that had been offered to idols. As Paul was addressing this church, there were those who were a part of the church at Corinth 2,000 years ago, and some of them had grown up worshiping idols. They've been bringing animals to be slaughtered, they brought home some meat to eat, or they went to the stores and they bought meat that had been offered idols, and they ate it as an act of worship. And so, in chapter 10, we're going to find out that those demons aren't just figures, they aren't just symbols, it's not just some sort of ideology. In fact, he says those false gods, those idols, are empowered by demons. I enjoy when we travel to go to art museums. This summer we were at the art museum in Philadelphia. It's most famous because it's the place in the Rocky movie where he stood up and raised his hands, and everybody goes and gets a picture raising their hands like Rocky the boxer. We did that, by the way. We ran up the stairs, raised our hands, did a couple of inhaler puffs. But as that art museum, as most art museums, usually have some section of ancient art. And as you think back, art, we're talking art that's 2,000 years old, 5,000, some of it up to 7,000 years old. But almost all of it is some form of idol. And so idolatry has been around since Well, probably the Tower of Babel. Some have suggested that first Tower of Babel was actually a tower of idolatry. It's been around for a long time. What does that tell me? God has put within every heart a desire to worship something. Every human being who has ever been born has within them a desire to worship. that the God who made us invites us, instructs us, implores us to worship Him and Him alone. But human beings' hearts are rebellious. I saw a chalkboard yesterday in Wapakoneta, and the first two words were do not. And it said read. Then it gets smaller, the next sentence. And it said, you little rebel, I like you, come on in. You know what my natural desire is? It says do not, I wanna find out what I can't do. The natural desire in every human heart is to resist the instructions given by God that we are to worship Him and Him alone. To love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. That's our calling. God who made you loves you. He designed you for one purpose. You were designed to worship him. There's all kinds of things that God created in the world and the clouds and the wind that blew in today are doing exactly what God designed them to do. The animals that are, the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, they're all doing exactly what God designed them to do. We as a human, we as a species, are the only ones who do not always do the one thing we were designed to do, and that is to love and worship God. So the Apostle Paul, as he's addressing this church, they had come to faith in Christ. They had believed on Jesus. They were no longer idol worshipers. And they thought, hey, we know, an idol is nothing. And there's only one God. Meat that has been offered to nothing is nothing. And whether or not it really is nothing, we're gonna find out a little bit later. But their last point was this, eating it cannot defile you. I mean, let's just say, okay, let's just say we had several people, let's just say we had 20 people who came to our service this morning. They all had a similar background. Let's just say they were a part of a false cult, okay? And part of their worship was to gather together three times a week at Subway, okay? And if they came to this church and they received the gospel, they heard, God loves them, even though they're sinners. Jesus Christ died for them to pay for their sins. He was buried and he rose again. And if you believe on Jesus, you can be saved, and they do. Let's say all 20 of these people who used to be a part of this Subway cult, Okay, come forward and we want to be saved and several of you are jumping in taking your Bible I want to help you and I'm going to show you it and they get saved hallelujah like revival and Then they're newly saved and guess what? Guess where they're probably not going to be going again Subway You know, but you don't think anything of it it's nothing to you you didn't you weren't part of that cult You know, on Tuesday afternoon, you're there at 12.30 p.m., and you're getting your bag of chips and your drink, and you're pulling out your footlong sub, which costs like $100 now, and you're there, and they're driving by, and they're thinking, that was the guy who opened his Bible and showed me how to be saved this week. What is he doing at Subway? How dare he? And in that moment, We may need to have a little church meeting, like, okay, we don't wanna hinder these new Christians. Well, pfft, Subway's Subway, I got a coupon, I got a discount card. It supports the local football team, free 12-inch sub every month, whatever. It's a good deal and it's good food and whatever, but here we have these people. We might need to do something like the Apostle Paul was doing here. Hey, you live in a city that was filled with idolatry. And there were people in your church who are new Christians. He calls them weak. I mean, they were so particular. We don't want to do wrong. We want to do what's right. But they were struggling. And so there were some people in the church say, it's no big deal. Paul, we're appealing to you. Could you just kind of override that command that had been given earlier about meat offered to idols? Because it really, you know, we don't, what else are we going to do? This is pretty much what we eat in the city. And Paul is explaining to them, he gives his own personal testimony of a way in which he made personal sacrifices for the gospel. And he's gonna use his life as an illustration for the church at Corinth of how they should do the same. He's not saying that they should do exactly as he did. And he's not saying that every one of us should do exactly as he did. But he is giving us a life illustration of what it means to sacrifice your own personal rights for the sake of love, love for God, and a love for others for the sake of the gospel. And so as we read this, as we think through this, that's the context. So verse 13, this is what Paul said. Wherefore, if meet make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh. While the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend, and he says, if me eating any meat is gonna cause a problem, I don't want to hinder the personal growth in the life of another believer. Okay, so he took that very seriously. There were reasonable and logical arguments that the church at Corinth had given to Paul, but they weren't watertight. There was a spiritual dynamic that they hadn't considered. Look with me again in verse one of chapter eight. As touching things offered to idols, we know that we have knowledge. And notice this is really important. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifies. See, the church there, they had the head knowledge, but they were missing the heart knowledge. There's something that they were missing. Charity is the idea of love. They were missing the love for their fellow believers. You know, here's the truth for us. Every one of us in this room, we are all influencers. We all influence other people. People are looking at you, people are looking up to you. People are thinking about how to live their life according to how you live your life. That's true, it's a fact of life. We are all influencers. Our choices impact others. And knowing, having the knowledge, isn't enough. We have to also demonstrate love. So the Corinthians, they were not an ignorant church, but they were an immature church. There are a number of problems that they were dealing with in the body, and this is just one of them. This is a question that they offered to Paul, and how they respond to it will be a test of their maturity. Are they willing to grow in the Lord? Are they willing to grow in their love towards one another? or are they gonna continue on to the status quo of being divisive and broken up into factions within the very same church? In chapter nine, Paul illustrates two thoughts I want you to think about. First is gospel dexterity. Paul is flexible. He begins in verse one, am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? Let me stop. Some in the church were questioning Paul's words. And to do that, they were questioning his authority. The Apostle Paul was an apostle. He bears the marks of an apostle. He had to have seen the resurrection Lord Jesus Christ. And he had also had to receive a call from Jesus, specifically. And that would have made him an apostle. You say, well, did he do that while Jesus was living? No, he actually, on the road to Damascus is when he saw him. He had a vision of Jesus Christ from heaven. He saw him. And he received his call from him. And so he's explaining that he is an apostle. Verse two, if I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you. For the seal of mine apostleship are ye that are in the Lord. And he says, if you're doubting me being an apostle, If you're questioning my authority in speaking to you in these controversial matters in the church, all you have to do is look around. The people in Corinth, the believers in Corinth, had either come to faith in Jesus Christ because of Paul's preaching, or because of the influence of others who came to faith in Jesus Christ through Paul's preaching. So, essentially, he's the great grandpa there. I mean, he is the one who brought the gospel to these people. And so, And he said, if you wanna see the proof of my apostleship, it's you. Another place he says that ye are our epistles, written in our hearts, known and read of all men. In other words, you're a living book, you're a testimony to how God used me. Him being an apostle, he was a preacher of the gospel, pushing the boundaries where the gospel had never been heard. He was an apostle to the Gentiles. And then in verse three, he says, my answer to them that examine me is this. And he's going to give here, again, a life illustration of limiting his rights for the sake of love. The first right we find is basic provisions. He says, my answer to them that do examine me is this, verse four, have we not power to eat and to drink? He says this, there are basic things in life that I really am entitled to. As an apostle, he was entitled to having people provide for his needs, to resource him, to be able to do what he was called to do, right? It was a legitimate thing. Look at verse five. Another basic right is to take a wife. Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as brethren in the Lord, as Cephas? And he says this, I would have the right to take a wife and bring her along with me as I travel. And the word sister there is a sister in the Lord, right? Somebody who is saved. And he said, I would perfectly have that right. Now earlier, we saw that he extolled the virtues of singleness. He said, in your certain situation, the dangerous times, the persecution that's coming, it might be wise for you to consider remaining single. That was what he held up to them. He said, I wish you were like me. I wish you could be free to serve the Lord with all you've got. He had talked about that at length. But here in this passage he said, you know what, he personally very well could have taken a wife. And he gives the example of Cephas, that's Peter. Also Jude and James were apostles and they had wives, okay? We know that. We know that from the Bible, we know that from history. This was something, this was a normal, natural right that the Apostle Paul could have, he could have taken a wife. He didn't for the sake of the gospel. He says that sin, no, it was not a sin if you were to take a wife. You're sure to be with him and travel with him. Perhaps it would have been a great blessing to him to have a wife with him with the kind of things he endured, but that was not how God led him. It would have been reasonable to take basic provision. Also, he could have received resources from the churches he preached to. He could have received some kind of a payment. He says in verse six, or I only and Barnabas have we not power to forebear working? And Paul and Barnabas and their missionary journey worked with their hands. Paul was a tent maker by trade. When I think of tent maker, I'm usually thinking of like canvas or nylon or some new modern fabric. He was using animal skins, okay? It was not a neat, tidy factory job. It was kinda gory. You go to the riverside where they're bleaching out the skins and they're preparing them to be made into tents. But that was his, you could say that was his day job. Paul, by trade, was a tent maker. And he and Barnabas, They worked their way through their missionary journeys, but they didn't have to. I mean, they could have been provided for. Okay, he says in verse seven, who goeth to warfare any time at his own charges, or who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not the fruit thereof? Who feedeth the flock, and eateth not the milk of the flock? And so what does he give? He gives some, these are some reasonable things. It would be reasonable for him, just as it would be for a soldier, a vine dresser, or a shepherd to receive provisions to do their job. The example is, you know, does a soldier go to war and does he have to pay his own way? Does a president or a prime minister or a king, you know, are they responsible themselves to finance a war or a battle? No, of course not. No, that's the responsibility of the country, of the nation. He says, who planteth a vineyard and eateth not the fruit thereof? And if you're a vine dresser, you're taking care of the grapes. You know, it's okay, while you're taking care of the grapes, to have some. Years ago, my wife sent me a picture, there's a couple little boys, used to go to church here, she'd babysit TJ and Tyler Knott. She sent me this cutest picture, and she had taken the boys raspberry picking, and they were just covered, their whole face was covered in raspberries. I don't know how much went in the bucket, but a lot went on their faces. But you know, it's the right of the worker to receive payment for the work. That's kind of the idea here. And the last one, he says, he that, or he that feedeth a flock, a shepherd, eateth not the milk of the flock, whether it's in milk form or cheese or sour cream. If he's tending the flock, it's a right and privilege of the shepherd to receive something from his labor. That's kind of the concept he's saying. What is that? That's reasonable. That's a, That's a truth and a fact of life, and he's gonna make the application here, particularly to an apostle or a minister of the gospel. It's not only reasonable, it's biblical. Look at verse eight. saith not these things as a man saith not the law of the same also for it is written in the law of Moses thou shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn doth God take care of the oxen or saith he altogether for our sakes for our sakes no doubt this is written that he that ploweth should plow in hope and that he that thresheth in hope that they should be partakers of this hope. And he's gonna give Bible examples, but from the law, from Moses' law, he says, the oxen, when they're treading down the corn and they're raking it down, don't muzzle them. By their being able to eat some of what they're treading down, they're gonna have more strength to do more work. It's gonna be a benefit. And this was included in the law. He says the same is true with a minister of the gospel. Not only it's reasonable, but here's a Bible principle. They can partake, they can live by the gospel they preach. And so he says, you don't muzzle the ox, you let him eat. And then he gives the other picture of the person who's working the fields, a field farmer. And he says that they're gonna partake in, they're gonna enjoy part of what they work, they have a hope. I'm planting this seed, I've been taking care of this field, I'm looking forward to harvest and I'm gonna get to enjoy some of that fresh baked bread from the wheat field. I'm working in anticipation of some kind of resource being provided to me. And then he gives two other ones. Let me pick up at verse 11. He says, if we have sown unto you spiritual things, it is a great thing if we shall reap unto you, reap your carnal things or material goods. And he likens to his preaching the gospel to an investment that was made, work that was offered. He says, we've sown unto you spiritual things, sowing the seed of the Word of God. The preparation and the proclamation of God's truth takes time, it takes work, it takes effort. It's not just logistics and it's not just study. It's seeking the Lord, it's praying, it's waiting on the Lord, listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit. It's examining your own heart day by day to make sure that you're somebody worth listening to and you have a message worth sharing, that it's true. It's not just a matter of manufacturing messages. It's a life calling. And for those who are called to it, it's not a wrong thing. to receive payment for that ministry. He says in verse 12, if others be partakers of this power over you, are we not the rather? Nevertheless, we have not used this power, but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. And here's what Paul is saying. Because I love Jesus, because I love you for the gospel's sake, even though I have this right to take a wife, to take payment and resources from you so I can continue this work, even though I have that privilege and that right by the Bible, even though I have that, I haven't taken it. Because you're a special case, Corinth. You have special needs. And if I came there because of the nature and the temperament of your community and your church, If I was here taking payment for my preaching, people would expect that that's all I'm doing it for. That I'm preaching the gospel so I could get rich. And he says, I can't do that here. We pick up verse 13. Two more Bible examples. Do you not know that they which minister about the holy things live of the things of the temple? And they which wait for the altar are partakers with the altar. And he's giving an example again from the Old Testament temple worship. And that the priests, part of their payment was actually some portions from the sacrifices, the meat that would be brought in. And he talks about those who work at the altar, same thing. They get to live partly because of what they're doing and offering these sacrifices. But look at verse 14, even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. So it's biblical, like an ox that you don't muzzle or field farmers, priests or altar workers. It's right, it's reasonable, it's biblical. But he says, I'm not doing the reasonable thing. Paul demonstrates for us unreasonable love. An unreasonable love for God and an unreasonable love for the people at the Church of Corinth. He loved them so dearly. He did not want in any way to hinder them. He didn't want to keep them from being able to live a God honoring life. And so he made some sacrifices, personal sacrifices. Look at verse 15. But 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 than that any man should make my glorying void." Paul was called of God. He was on a mission. He was a servant of Jesus Christ. In a sense, he's saying, I don't need a pat on the back for what I've done. I'm doing what God told me to do. But what could he glory in that he took his responsibility so seriously, his love for God, love for the people, that he sacrificed himself. That's where the glory in came in. Verse 16, for though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of. Necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe unto me. Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. This is what God told me to do. He said, what's the gospel? That's the good news. Jesus Christ died, was buried, rose again. That's the good news of the gospel. Friend, have you received the gospel? Jesus gave his life so you could have the gospel. Guys like the Apostle Paul and many others throughout history have given their lives to get the message of the gospel out. Friend, have you received the gospel? He said, well, what does it matter? Everything matters about that. Where are you gonna spend eternity? Will matter whether or not you have received the gospel. So here's an example of somebody who does, he personally sacrifices out of love for God and love for others, and he offers this service to God. Look at verse 17, for if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward. but if against my will a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. In other words, if I willingly make these sacrifices, God's gonna bless me for that. God's gonna honor me and reward me for that. His calling was to preach the gospel, and everybody, every man who has a calling of God to preach the gospel, his attention and focus should be on the work of preaching the gospel, trusting God to pay the bills, to meet his needs. If his focus is on the dollar signs, watch out. A friend told me years ago, there's three dangers for every preacher of the gospel. Laziness, lucre, money, and ladies. He says, beware. Well, every pastor needs to be careful. Paul would exhort Timothy, make sure. He said, remember, the love of money is the root of all evil. Don't let that be your passion and your pursuit. The apostle Paul demonstrated it by his own life. He was willing to work so he could preach the gospel. William Carey was a missionary to India, and he was a shoe cobbler by day. He wasn't a very good one. He was a shoe cobbler. And somebody asked him what his vocation was. He says, my vocation is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I cobble shoes to pay my expenses. And there should be a willingness. My calling, my mission, vocation, whatever you want to say. Paul's mission was preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, no matter the cost. And so for him, He said, I'm gonna do this for the Lord, and I'll let God take care of rewarding me for that. You say, well, why is Paul telling them? Is he trying to manipulate them to listen to him and feel sorry for him? Is this some kind of a backdoor sympathy trip he's taking them on? No, no. He's not even challenging them to live the same way. He's using his own life experience. He only brought it out because he had to. He's only telling them his own motivations because they needed to hear it. The Apostle Paul is saying, here's the things that I have done out of love for Christ. I'm asking you to forego eating meat offered to idols if it's gonna cause other brothers and sisters spiritual harm. He's made this enormous sacrifice to not take a wife. to not be provided for materially by this church, to pay his own way so he could preach the gospel. He has sacrificed dearly. There were times in Paul's life when he did. The church at Philippi, Philippians 2 and Philippians 4, we're told that God used them to provide for him, to meet his needs. But here at Corinth, he didn't. Why? Because it was a service for God. Look at verse 17. For if I do this thing willingly, I have reward. But if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. That's kind of confusing, the end of that verse. Isn't that confusing? The idea is even if I preach the gospel and I make these sacrifices and I'm not doing it willingly, either way the gospel is being preached and I'm doing what God commanded me to do. He just won't have that reward for the sacrifices he made. I wanna give you two applications, okay, and we're done today. Number one, here it is. Love God more than your essential rights of life. There are things that you might say, these are my rights as a human being, or these are my rights as an American citizen. Be willing to let your love for God be greater than your love for your essential rights of life. Be willing to love God and others so greatly that if necessary, the very thing you say, well, I'm free as a Christian to do as I wish, to live as I please, and you can't say anything about it, that's not the right attitude. Do you love God? Are you concerned about the gospel of Jesus Christ going forward? Are you concerned about Christians growing in the Lord? Then that may mean that you need, at times, to limit yourself for the gospel's sake and for love for Christ. We're gonna find out in the next chapter in a couple of weeks. There's also gonna be times when we have to ask ourselves, do I love God enough to expand my preferences beyond what I'm usually comfortable with? And the Apostle Paul gives examples of doing both. Do you love God more than your essential rights of life? Number two, do you love people for the gospel more than your own life? That was Paul's attitude. He said, it were better for me to die, in verse 15. Then he says in verse 16, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Do you love people for the gospel more than your very own life? That's something every Christian should wrestle with. Does their eternal soul matter more than my temporal comfort? Which is more valuable to you? Often we make choices based on comfort. If we're all to walk around a furniture showroom today, I mean, what chair would you pick out? If we're gonna say, go pick out any chair you'd like, probably the one that's the most comfortable, right? We like comfort. We recently replaced the couches out here. They may not be as comfortable as you like, but everybody in this room can get out of those couches, that's good. The other ones were very comfortable. We had a lot of sleeping out there. Very comfortable. We live for comfort as human beings, right? But the gospel of Jesus Christ demands something greater of us. Do you love God? Does it show? Christ does not always call us to common sense solutions. For Paul, singleness and sacrifice. A gospel-driven faith would be unreasonable were it not for the unseen realities of God's infinite love and of living souls that are dying in their sin. Great sacrifices for God seem completely unreasonable until we look at the cross of Jesus Christ. We're told in 2 Corinthians chapter five, Paul would give his motivating factor for his life, it was this. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 14. For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead. Verse 15. And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. Jesus Christ changes everything. He changes the discourse. He changes the purpose of our life. If He died for me and died for everyone, isn't it reasonable that I would live for Him? Romans 12, one tells us to present our bodies a living sacrifice, which is your reasonable service. Now, humanly speaking, that seems very unreasonable, but to a child of God who's been born again by the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, you've received the forgiveness of sins. You know for certain not only that you are forgiven, but you are gonna go to be with God one day forever in heaven redeemed, justified, forever. Is it unreasonable then that we would make sacrifices today to get the gospel out, to make sacrifices today to help new Christians grow? Is it unreasonable today that you and I would limit ourselves because of love? No, obviously it's not. Christ gave his life to give the gospel. Countless have given theirs for the gospel. Friend today, would you receive the gospel? Do you understand today before God, you are born guilty, born dead in trespasses and sins. You were born with a need. Every one of us was here born spiritually dead. But God loved us so much he sent Jesus to this world. You've been hearing a lot of people, athletes and politicians, and they're stepping to the mic after games, and they're going to give speeches, and there's many of them in the last several weeks who have given credit to the Lord Jesus Christ, to his death on the cross, to his burial, to his resurrection. One of our Buckeyes said this last Tuesday, he said, there's something that's happened this year that's much better than us winning the championship. It's the lives that have been changed by Jesus Christ. I said, hallelujah. He doesn't just save and change Buckeyes. He changes everyone who believes on him. And you may be here today and you say, I don't have a clue what you're talking about today, Pastor. Can we just be done? Not yet. Because the gospel of Jesus Christ is the most important thing that we have. If you're here today, have never come to the point where you understood in your life, I need Jesus, I need to be forgiven for my sin, I need to receive his salvation. By faith, my friend, today you can do that. You can do it right now. You don't have to wait for the end of the service, you don't have to wait to talk to me afterwards. Right now, agree with God. God, I'm a sinner, I can't save myself. Believe on him. God, I believe Jesus came to this world, lived a sinless life. He died on the cross, was buried, rose again. I believe that. He died so I could live. And I receive that. I want to be saved right now. Save me, Lord. Forgive me. Cleanse me. I'm yours. And he will. And he will. And your life will never be the same. My great grandfather was not a godly man. He was living for himself, he had a wife and kids. His youngest son, Harold Junior, said up until the age 13, it wasn't unusual for Saturday night dad to come back from the stag club, stand at the door, couldn't even get himself in the door. They would open the door and they'd push dad in. Mom would put the kids to bed and then she'd put her drunk husband to bed. That was my grandpa. My great grandpa. Three things happened in a two-year time period in his life to get his attention. He had one son who wanted to join a club. In order to join the club, you had to curse, and Herbie refused to curse. And they said, well, then the other option is we're gonna hang you by a tree by a leg and one arm. They threw the rope over the tree, they tied him up one leg and one arm, they lifted, dropped, lifted, dropped, lifted, dropped. For the remainder of Herbie's life, he walked with a gross deformity. He had a bone disease that he contracted because of that. That was the first thing. Number two, he had two sons and two years time die of scarlet fever. And then the third thing, or the fourth thing, he was out working in the cold, got in frostbite, and had his leg amputated. There's a pastor, not his pastor, he was a member of a church, but was not a believer. There was a pastor of First Baptist Church in Rockford, Illinois, who showed up at his house at four o'clock one morning when he heard that the first son had died. When the second son had died, that pastor and his wife were there again. When he was in the hospital, getting ready to have his leg amputated, that pastor was there again. And every time he would say, Harold, you need to believe on Jesus Christ. You need to be saved. You need to be forgiven. And finally, after that amputation, he leaned over to his wife and Harold said, God's got me. He can have me. I'm not fighting him anymore. And it may be today that you have been fighting God. He's been working in your heart. He's been calling you to himself. The Bible's open. You don't even want to look at it because he's calling you and you need to be saved. Well, praise God, Harold Roland did get saved. He would go to that pastor's office weekly for times of discipleship and training. He went on to plant the Kishwaukee Street Baptist Church and was a pastor until he died of a heart attack. His family that didn't know God because of his influence came to know God. In my office, I have two Bibles from two great-grandfathers who had a very similar story. Both came to faith in Christ later, and it changed my family. I was able to be raised in a Christian home because these grandfathers came to Christ and sought to point their families to Christ. And it may be today that you are uncomfortable, disturbed, you don't want to think about your life ending, but Jesus Christ today holds out the offer of salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Philippians 2.8 tells us he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Hebrews 12.2 tells us we're to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. and is set down to the right hand of the throne of God. And then it says in verse three, for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Christian, are you having a difficult time? Are you struggling with first world problems? Didn't get a good parking spot this morning. It's a little bit rainy. Should've stayed home. No. What are you willing to sacrifice for the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you love him enough to be willing to set aside your own petty preferences, your own conveniences, to live out a life that magnifies Jesus Christ and points people to his precious gospel? Are you willing to do that today? This is one of those toughen up passages. But it comes by way of an illustration. It's never commanded in this passage, it just comes by the example of the Apostle Paul. Here's somebody who said, there's something that's more important than my comfort. There's something that's more important than what's reasonable. There's something that's more important than Paul. It's Jesus Christ and his gospel. Do we value Christ and his gospel? that much. Father, thank you for your word and I pray that we would be helped by it today. There's one here who has never trusted Jesus. I pray even right now they would call out in faith. They believe on you and they would be saved. Father, for a Christian who's been struggling, maybe stumbling in their sin, maybe they're struggling with the sins of other Christians, I pray that you would give them the faith to look to you and your word alone. I pray that we as Christians would be sensitive to the leading of your Holy Spirit, that we would be willing to sacrifice when necessary to restrict ourselves so that the gospel can go forth with power and clarity. In Jesus' name, amen.