1 Corinthians 9:27 - Homiletics

Hell after preaching.

"But I keep," etc. These are terrible words, and they teach at least three things.

I. THAT DELIVERANCE FROM HELL DEMANDS THE MOST EARNEST SELF DISCIPLINE . "I keep under my body." I subdue the flesh by violent and reiterated blows. The reason for this mortification of the flesh is, "lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." Self discipline may be said to consist of two things.

1. The entire subjugation of the body to the mind. The body was intended to be the organ, the servant, and the instrument of the mind, but it has become the master. The supremacy of the body is the curse of the world and the ruin of the man.

2. The subjugation of the mind to the Spirit of Christ. Though the mind governs the body, if the mind is false, selfish, unloyal to Christ, there is no discipline. The mind must be the servant of Christ in order to be the legitimate sovereign of the body. These two things include spiritual discipline.

II. THAT THE NECESSITY OF THIS SELF DISCIPLINE CANNOT BE SUPERSEDED BY THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PREACHING . "When I have preached to others." Paul had preached to others. He had preached to many in different lands, preached earnestly and successfully, preached so that thousands were converted by his ministry, preached so as no one else has ever preached; yet his preaching, he felt, did not do the work of self discipline. Indeed, there is much in the work of preaching that has a tendency to operate against personal spiritual culture.

1. Familiarity with sacred truths destroys for us their charm of freshness.

2. A professional handling of God's Word interferes with its personal application.

3. The opinions of audiences, favourable or otherwise, exert an influence unfavourable to spiritual discipline. In connection with all this, Satan is especially active in opposing the growth of spiritual piety in the preacher's tone. So that there is a terrible danger that, whilst the preacher is cultivating the vineyards of others, he is neglecting his own.

III. THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PREACHING MAY BE FOLLOWED BY ULTIMATE RUIN . "I myself should be a castaway!"—rejected! Who shall fathom the meaning of this word? A successful preacher a "castaway"—be rejected! The Tophet of him who has offered mercy to others which he has despised, urged truths on the credence of others that he has disbelieved, enforced laws on others which he has transgressed, will burn with severer fires and peal with more awful thunders. A magnifying glass held in a certain position by the hand of a child may convey sufficient fire through it to wrap the neighbourhood in conflagration, albeit the glass through which the fire has passed remains unheated, cold as flint. So a man may convey to others the rays of the sun of Righteousness, and yet his own heart remain cold as ice. Truly a terrible fact this.