you'll turn to 2nd Corinthians
chapter 12 you will find my text and my subject in verse 9 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 verse
9 this I have proved over and over
and over again this God has proved to me over and over and over
again my grace is sufficient for thee my grace is sufficient
for thee let's begin reading in verse 1 It is not expedient for me, doubtless,
to glory, to boast. I will come to visions and revelations
of the Lord. All visions and revelations of
the Lord are visions and revelation of our Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. I knew a man in Christ above
14 years ago. This is just about 11 years after
God had saved him. whether in the body I cannot
tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth. Such
an one caught up to the third heaven, caught up to paradise. And I knew such a man, whether
in the body or out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth, how
that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words Words
that can't be put into human language. Which it is not lawful,
it is not possible for a man to utter. Of such in one, I will
glory. Of this man, this man Christ
Jesus, this new man, Christ in you, the hope of glory, this
work of God's grace. Of this man I will glory. Yet
not of myself. I will not glory, but in my infirmities. For through though I would desire
to glory, I shall not be a fool. Any man who glories in himself
is a fool. For I will say the truth, but
now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which
he seeth me to be. Don't ever think of me, Paul
says, above what you know I am. Don't ever think of me above
what you know I am. A sinner saved by God's free
grace. Or that he heareth of me, verse
seven. And lest I should be exalted
above measure. Lest I should be lifted up, exalted. through the abundance of the
revelations that was given to me, given to me like a gift of
grace, given to me as God gives life and faith and blessing,
lest I should be exalted above measure, lest I should be lifted
up with over much self-worth. With overmuch self-esteem, with
overmuch pride, God gave me a thorn in the flesh. And then it tells
us what this thorn in the flesh is, the messenger Satan. The messenger Satan to buffet
me, to beat me in the face, lest I should be exalted above measure.
For this thing, for this gift of God, I besought the Lord thrice. I begged God three times that
it might depart from me. And he said unto me, my grace
is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect
in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. In the kingdom of God, everything
is exactly opposite to the way the world thinks. Everything. All spiritual things are exactly
the opposite of carnal reason. Now this really shouldn't surprise
us. Our Lord Jesus tells us plainly,
the world would not know us. The Apostle John wrote, the world
knoweth us not because it knew him not. In spiritual matters,
nothing, absolutely nothing is the way men think it is. Nothing. In spiritual things, nothing
is the way men think it is, or ought to be, and must be. In
the world, the way up is up. In the kingdom of God, the way
up is down. In the world, the man with the
greatest knowledge is the one who knows the most, about the
most. In the church of God, the one
with the greatest knowledge is the one who knows he knows nothing.
In material things, that person who has the most is the richest.
In the kingdom of God, that person who has nothing is the richest.
In natural things, he who has the most strength is the strongest.
In spiritual things, he who is weakest is strongest. In natural
things, he who is first is first. In the kingdom of God, he who
is last is first. Natural things he who is greatest
is greatest in the kingdom of God he who is least among you
is the greatest Now this is clearly the doctrine of our text the
Apostle Paul had been translated up to the third heaven up to
paradise We're not we don't even have a clue where it is I Third
heaven, up to paradise, where the Lord Jesus said to the dying
thief, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Paradise, where
the Lord Jesus, our Redeemer, our crucified Savior, having
accomplished redemption, entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. There he is in paradise. And Paul says, I was called up
to paradise. And then he returned to this
earth. He said, I don't know whether I was alive or dead. I don't know whether I was in
the body or out of the body. God knows. All I know is I was
called up to the third heaven. Now I know that there are many
today who like to talk about having near-death experiences
and death experiences and they talk about all the things they
saw and heard and all that stuff but don't pay those folks any
attention there was one fella who actually experienced it and
he said what I saw I can't tell you and what I heard I can't
speak to you not because I won't but because it can't be put into
human language These things are indescribably above natural understanding
and natural ability. But the apostle to the Gentiles
was caught up to the third heaven and heard things that no earthly
tongue can describe. And in this matter of revealed
knowledge and experienced grace, the apostle Paul stood head and
shoulders above everybody who lived in the world with him. You stop and think about that
a little bit. He said, with regard to the other apostles, he said,
I labor more abundantly than they ought. And he wasn't bragging.
He was just telling the truth. He was just telling the truth.
He said, God used me in ways he hasn't used any other man.
And he wrote that by inspiration. He wasn't bragging. He was just
telling the truth. But he had a problem. He had a problem. He had his thorn in the flesh.
He doesn't tell us what it is except by insinuation. the messenger
Satan the messenger of Satan who kept beating me in the face
every time I think about what God's done for me and what God's
allowed me to do every time I think about what God's taught me and
showed me the things I've learned and experienced of his grace
that I know most people don't have a clue Most people don't
have an idea of what I know. They don't have a thought about
what I know. He said, there's this messenger of Satan. If he
beats me, he beats me, beats me in the face. And I ask God
to take it away from me. And I ask God to take it away
from me. And I ask God to take it away from me. It wasn't a
physical thing. I have no question about that.
None at all. Somebody says, well, this may
have been Paul's poor vision. I don't have any question. Paul
had poor vision. But physical infirmity is not
a thorn in the flesh. Physical infirmity is not something
that is a burden to a man's soul. Physical infirmity is not something
that interferes with his relationship with communion and joy and fellowship
with God our Savior. No, Paul had something far worse
that he had to deal with. This man who was such a remarkable
example of grace constantly had a terrible struggle with pride. Horrible, horrible, horrible,
horrible, horrible pride. I suppose, Andre, you're the
youngest of my brethren here in the kingdom of God. And I
want to tell you something. Nothing will injure you, and
you will injure none of God's people so much by anything as
pride. Pride is the source of all strife
and division. Pride is the cause of all war. Pride is the cause of all injury
given and injury taken, all hurt feelings, all offenses. Pride
is the root of it all. It's the root of it all. Well,
no, not case with me. Yes, with you too. Pride is the
root of it all. Of all the abominations that
God hates, pride is number one. How we struggle with pride. This
infirmity of the flesh. Look at verses 8, 9 and 10 again. For this thing I besought the
Lord three times that he might depart from me. And he said unto
me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made
perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities, in my weakness in this body of
flesh. I'll acknowledge what I am, that
the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure
in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. Let me show you four things and
I'll be as brief as possible. May God speak through these lips
of clay by his word to your heart. Number one, I suggest that you write this
down and don't forget it. We never know what's best. We never know what's best. None of us knows what's best
for the glory of God. for the good of our souls, for
the accomplishment of God's purpose of grace, or for others. None of us ever knows what's
best. Paul said, for this thing, I
prayed earnestly three times that it might depart from me.
And the Lord said, Paul, you're gonna have to live with it. You're
gonna have to live with it. Because we don't know what's
best, we never know how to pray for anything as we ought. We know not what to pray for
as we ought. Romans 8, 26. We know not what
to pray for as we ought. Brother Larry just mentioned
Mike's sickness. Bessie, in her old age, taking
another fall. Y'all pray for them. And I try
to. I try to. You go through difficulties,
I'm aware. Many of the burdens you folks
have. And I try to pray for you. I really do. But I don't know
what to ask for. I don't know what to pray for.
I don't know what's best. I don't know what's best. You
see, prayer Unlike most people imagine is not for the gratification
of our carnal lust What a James Ellis You pray you ask and you
have not because you ask amiss Remember what is it that you
may consume it upon your own lust? I? What do you pray for,
really? I'm talking about in your day-by-day
routine of life as you try to pray. I'll tell you what you
pray for. Me and mine. Is that true? My health, my happiness, my well-being,
what I want. Prayer is not a means by which
God gratifies our lust. No, prayer, prayer. I don't pretend to know much
about it. You won't find me writing a book on how to pray. I don't
know anything much about it, but this much I know. Prayer
involves submission to the will of God. Prayer is not getting God on
our side, it's God getting us on his side. Prayer is not getting
God to do what I want him to do. Prayer is God causing me
to want what he's determined to do. You remember how the Lord
spoke to David and said, I'm going to give you a son. He's
going to sit on your throne and he's going to build me a house
and it's going to be unlike any house on this earth and I'm going
to make your son king forever. and your kingdom, a kingdom that
will endure forever. And he wasn't talking about the
children of Israel, he was talking about God's church and Christ
the King, our Redeemer, sitting on his throne. And do you remember
how David prayed? He said, Lord, do what you said
you was gonna do. Do as thou hast said. Therefore
hath thy servant founded in his heart to pray this prayer unto
thee, because this is what you said. This is what you said.
Prayer, prayer is submission to God's will, seeking God's
will. If I am God's child, if truly
I know him, I want what he's purposed. I want his will. And I will bow to his will. He'll see to it. He graciously,
sweetly, irresistibly, often with much pain and much heartache
and much sorrow, causes his child to bow to his will, surrendering
all things to him. Our Savior taught us to pray
like this. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. First concern, God glorify your
name. Sanctify your name. Honor your
name. Thy kingdom come. Build your
kingdom. Save your people. Thy will be
done. God do your purpose. In me and with me. In mine and
with mine. Thy will be done. On earth just
like it is in heaven. And from my knees provide for
me my daily bread. Forgive me of my sin. Oh God,
do your good pleasure. Do your good pleasure. Turn to
Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight for just
a second. Verse 26. Because we don't know how to
pray as we ought. And I'm not suggesting, I pray,
I've been praying for my grandson for 14 years. Well, he's 14 years
old. I've been praying for him for
almost 15 years. My granddaughter's 17 years old. I've been praying
for her for almost 18 years. Since the day I heard they were
conceived in the womb, I've been praying for them. I've been praying
for them. And I'll tell you what I pray for. God save them. God don't set the world in their
hearts. God hedge them about with your
goodness and force them into the arms of the Redeemer. Make
of them willing faithful servants to Christ our King. But I'm going
to tell you something. With shame, I've known your babies
all their lives and I've never prayed for them like that. We ask that we may consume it
upon our own lust. We pray for what we want for
ourselves. God teach me. Teach me to seek
your will and your glory and bow my will to your will and
your glory. Teach me to commit those children
to you and myself to you and my will
to you. Book of Romans 8 26. Since we
don't know how to pray as we all And we do the best we can. That's all we do. We just do
the best we can. The Spirit of God cleans up our
prayers and presents to the God, our Father, through our Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus, the true groanings of our hearts. Likewise, the
Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. Look what it says. For we know
not what we should pray for as we ought. We just don't know
what to pray for. We just don't know what to pray
for. My sister just had a heart attack. Well, let's pray God
will heal her. I don't know. I don't know. Let's ask God to
do what he will for her soul's good and his glory. Understand
the difference? We don't know what to pray for
as well, so we bow to him. Yes, you pray God help her. This
is my sister. You love her. God revealed Christ
in her. As you love your children, I
love my sister, God, for Christ's sake, save her for God, Christ's
sake. But we don't know how to pray as we ought. And the Spirit
helps our infirmities. And he does that with intercessions
for us, with growlings that can't be uttered. Now, I've read every good commentary
I can find on that verse of scripture. And I've probably told you this
before, but I'll tell you the best commentary I ever heard on it.
Better than anything I've ever read. Shelby used to go every
Monday to one of the senior citizens' homes in Danville, and she'd
go around and read scripture to folks and pray with them if
they wanted her to. And she did it every week, every Monday.
And you know, everybody gets to be old and they get religious.
And they're mean as the devil, but they're still religious.
And she'd try to read scripture to them, talk to them. She came
out one day, I went to pick her up, and she was just laughing
and crying and laughing and crying. I couldn't tell whether she was
happy or sad. And I said, what on earth's happened to you? She
said, I think I finally met somebody in here who knows God. And Ms. Kochenhauer, she was from a few
miles away from us. And one day she went in reading
Romans 828 to her, or 826 to her. reading the 8th chapter
of Romans, got this 26th verse. And Ms. Koganauer said to her,
she said, you know what I think that means? She said, no, but
I'd like to know. She said, I think that means that when we pray,
God the Holy Spirit takes out what ought not be there and puts
in what ought to be in there. That's just about right. Because
we don't know what to pray for as we ought. We just don't know. We don't know. Our Lord Jesus
taught us by example. What I'm trying to tell you,
our Savior, anticipating his death as our substitute, said,
now is my soul troubled. What shall I say? Father, save
me from this hour? We heard him pray like that.
If it be possible, let this cup pass from me. How do you understand
that? I understand it just the way
it reads. If it be possible, let this cup pass from me. This
was something so contrary to his humanity, so contrary to
his holiness, so contrary to his perfection. He's about to
be made sin, to suffer and die as our sin atoning sacrifice.
That which he willingly came to do is so contrary to his nature. He's willing and glad to do it
for God's glory, but he hates what he's about to experience.
It'd be possible that this cup pass me. Shall I say father save
me from this hour? I can't ask that For this cause
came I into this hour Father Glorify thy name And a
voice spoke from heaven and said I have both glorified it and
will glorify it yet again All right. Here's the second thing verse 9 2 Corinthians 12 teaches
us this God's grace in Christ is sufficient to meet our every
need my grace is sufficient for thee most gladly therefore will
I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me Here, God's elect are assured of his grace, the
absolute sufficiency of his grace in Christ Jesus, always and in
all things. One name by which our God makes
himself known is El Shaddai. It means God all sufficient. and the grace of God in Christ
is truly all sufficient grace. It's sufficient grace because
it's effectual grace. That is, God's grace always accomplishes
his intention and his purpose. Nothing short of the grace of
Christ is sufficient grace, and it is always effectual grace. Let us ever remember that God's
grace is sufficient all the time, in all circumstances, for all
things. Wherever he takes you, wherever
he puts you, his grace is sufficient, sufficient to accomplish all
his saving purpose. He will save all his elect. His
grace is sufficient to pardon, justify, and regenerate the vilest
of sinners. None is beyond the reach of omnipotent
mercy. None beyond the reach of infinite
grace. None beyond the reach of God's
almighty hand, if he must stretch out his hand. God's grace is
sufficient in every time of need, When we
think ourselves fit and strong, His grace is sufficient
to show us ourselves weak and utterly unfit. You remember Peter? The Lord said, all of you are
going to forsake me. And Peter said, not me. Not me. James and John, I've always been
a little suspicious of them, but not me. So where'd you get
that? I know Peter. He and I are just
exactly alike. Those fellas, not me, I won't
do it. And the Lord Jesus said, Peter,
before the rooster crows twice tomorrow morning, you're gonna
deny me three times. Not me, not me. And just a little
while, Peter cussed and denied the Savior, and that rooster
crowed. Oh, how he must have trembled.
I tried to put myself where he was. John, I can picture Peter
saying, I've got to get out of here. The Lord said, before that
thing crows a second time, I'm going to deny him three times.
I can't do that. I've got to get out of here.
But he didn't have the ability. to do what he knew he must do. He didn't have the ability to
withstand the temptation in his own flesh. He didn't have that
ability, and he had to learn it, painfully had to learn it. He said, before the cock crows
twice tomorrow morning, you're going to deny me three times.
And Peter stayed right there and cussed and denied the Savior
three times. And our Lord's next word to him Read in its context has got to
be one of the most treasured words in all scripture. Let not
your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. That was a word to Peter. He
said, Peter, you're going to have to learn my grace and my
grace alone is sufficient in every time of need. It's sufficient
in health and sufficient in sickness. His grace is sufficient with
the birth of a child and sufficient when bereaved of a cherished
companion, sufficient in life and sufficient in death, sufficient
in judgment and sufficient to present us Faultless before the
presence of his glory with exceeding joy My grace is sufficient for
thee our Savior's name is Jehovah Jireh the Lord will provide Now
look at verse 9 again And learn this third thing His grace is made perfect in
weakness and My strength is made perfect in weakness. What on
earth does that mean? Obviously, our weakness doesn't
add anything to Christ's strength. What our Savior is saying here
is that my strength is made manifest. My strength is displayed. My strength is revealed and made
known to you in your weakness. I have no strength, no strength
to atone for sin, though I tried until I found out that Christ
is my atonement. I have no strength to obey God,
no strength to obey his law. I tried, I tried to reform my
life and start doing good and I couldn't learn how until I
found out that Christ is my strength and he obeyed the law for me.
I have no strength. to give myself life and faith. And I'm reluctant to say things
with regard to personal experience, because I wouldn't want you to
try to make your experience compare to mine or mine to yours for
anything. That's horribly evil. But Brother Larry, I spent a
long time in utter despair of hope before God, trying to believe. trying to believe, trying to
trust Christ. And the more I tried, the more
I worked at it. And until God strips you of your
strength, you'll never trust him. That's true in the beginning,
and that's true now. We learn to trust the Savior
when we're at our wits' end. Never before. Never before. Personal difficulties, personal
adversities aren't terribly hard to deal with. I'm talking about
physical things. I've had some sickness, you know
that. And I, Shelby would tell you,
those things, I don't have any struggle with those things. Don't
have any struggle with those things. But when you have to sit by and
hold the hand of somebody else that you love going through those
things. That's another story. That's another story. And I'll tell you what you'll
do. You'll do everything you possibly can to figure out how
to handle it. I'll do this. I'll do that. I'll
go here. I'll go there. We'll call these
folks. This fellow knows something about that. I'll call him. We'll
talk to that one over there. Have we got enough money to take
care of this? What can we do here? Until at last, God shuts
you up and you realize there's nothing I can do. Nothing, when we're at our wits
end, then we call upon the Lord and find his grace is sufficient
and his strength is made perfect in weakness. You understand what
I'm saying? The Lord God proves himself gracious and shows himself
to be our strength when he fixes it so we're made to know that
we have none. We have no strength to resist
temptation, no more than Peter. But Christ is our preservation.
I have no strength to draw near to God. I try, I try. But my heart remains cold as
ice and hard as steel. I have no strength to adhere
to God but Christ is not only my way he is my life and he gives
me access to the father I have no strength to make myself holy
Christ is my holiness I have no strength to resist the devil
but Christ has bound the dragon of hell for me most gladly therefore
Will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me? Now I have no question at all,
I know exactly what the apostle is talking about there. Romans
chapter 7, the apostle speaks of his warfare in the flesh. The corruption of his nature,
our utter depravity. And it continues today. There is in me, as it were the
company of two armies, there is in me an old man called Adam. and a new man called Christ. An old man called sin and a new
man called righteousness. An old man that is sin and nothing
but sin and can do nothing but sin. And a new man that's righteous,
the very righteousness of God and cannot sin. And those two
are constantly at war one with the other so that you cannot
do the things you would. We delight in the law of God
after the inward man. But doing it, that's another
story. That's another story. The Lord
God has left us in this world, in this state, in perpetual warfare,
flesh and spirit, the two warring one against the other, lest we
should fake ourselves something when we're nothing. lest we should
be lifted up with pride, lest we should be exalted above measure,
causing us ever to look away from self to the Savior. And
I urge you, children of God, in all the days of your life,
in all your struggles, in all your adversities, in all your
trials, in all your emptiness, in all your ugliness, in all
your sin, in all your filth, in all your defilement, look
away to Christ the Redeemer and find strength in Him who is the
Lord, our righteousness. The Apostle Paul said, when I
am weak, Then am I strong. That's the last thing. He repeats
for us the words of Joel. Joel said, let the weak say,
I'm strong. Let the weak say, I'm strong. Now, there's no excuse for the
neglect of prayer and worship. No excuse for the neglect of
any duty. Duty is the poorest of all reasons
to do anything. That's the poorest of all reasons
to do anything. But when my wife doesn't feel like cooking and
cleaning the house and washing the dishes and ironing the clothes
and all that stuff, you know what she does? She just says,
well, let me have a Coke and a pack of Camels and I'll sit
down here and watch TV today. No, she doesn't. She goes right
on doing her duty when she doesn't feel like doing it. That's the
poorest of all reasons to do it. But duty is not to be ignored. And you and I have duty to fulfill
as God's people. We have responsibilities. I've
had preachers stand up and kind of have a show of humility to
start to preach. So I just don't feel like I can
preach. I'm not fit for it. If I thought
you were fit for it, I wouldn't ask you to preach. I don't feel like going to church
today. What's that got to do with anything?
I'm tired. What's that got to do with anything?
I've got a responsibility. I have a responsibility. to encourage
and help God's people and being here might encourage and help
somebody but this much I know exiting myself from the house
of God will not only harm me it will certainly discourage
and hinder others Now, duty is the poorest of all motives, but
don't neglect duty. There's no excuse in that, none
at all. No excuse for us in our ungodliness. But at the same
time, we recognize that we are strong when we're weak, and weak
when we think ourselves strong. Whenever we feel ourselves superior
to others, In any spiritual matter, we've got reason to be suspicious
of ourselves. When we're strong, then we're
weak. But when we're weak, then we're
strong. This is what Isaiah found out
in Isaiah 6. He saw the glorious holiness
of the triune God. Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty,
this thrice holy one. And Isaiah said, whoa, it's me. I'm a man of unclean lips. I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. The Lord took
a coal, put it on one of the angels, one of the seraphim,
preacher of the gospel, took a live coal from off the altar
and laid it on his lips and said, your iniquities purged away.
And Isaiah heard Christ speak. who shall I send and who will
go for us? And the Lord Jesus stands in
his stead and says, here am I, send me, and found strength in
his weakness. When I'm weak before God's holy
law, Christ is my wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctification,
and my redemption. When I'm weak before my trials
and temptations in this world, Christ is my strength. How often
David's saying, the Lord is my strength. The Lord is my help. The Lord is my deliverer. When
I'm weak, I find his grace is sufficient. When I'm weak before
all my cares in this world, then I'm strong. Then I'm strong. I'm like you, I have cares too.
And I have fears. People pretend not to have fears.
I wish we'd learn to quit pretending, quit trying to show off. This
is what David said, what time I am afraid, I will trust in
thee. What time I'm afraid, I will
trust in thee. I fear as a husband, what happens
to my wife when I'm gone. I have those fears just like
any other man does. I fear as a father for my son-in-law, my
daughter, my grandchildren, just like you do for yours. I fear
for what lies before them. As a pastor, I fear for the church
of God. Foolish fears. Foolish fears,
I'm aware of that. But fears nonetheless. What's
going to happen to those folks in Danforth when I'm gone? What's
going to happen to them? Well, God's been taking care
of him for a long time. His church survived 2,000 years without
me. I'm not that important, but I still have the fears. I still
have the cares. I have fears, fears. But what time I'm afraid, I will
trust in thee. I got ready to come here and
preach tonight. And taking the last step up here,
Still cried in my soul, knowing the power of the gospel, knowing
what God does with the gospel. It's a saver of life or a saver
of death to everybody who hears it. Oh God, who's sufficient
for these things. And so far, the Lord God sings
back in my soul with an echo from all the prophets and preachers
of all ages. Our sufficiency is of God. Our sufficiency is who am I to
preach? Who am I to lead you in the things
of God? Who am I to minister to others?
Who am I to declare the things of God to men? Who am I to stand
here and open the book of God? Nobody and nothing. But God put
the work in my hand. And if God put the work in my
hand, God is my sufficiency to do the work. In my soul, in all
things spiritual, I'm weak with the infirmity of this body of
sin and flesh and death. Oh, how weak, how weak. And it may be that when I lay on my deathbed, I
may linger a while and you will come to visit or you will hear
somebody say, well, I went to see Brother Don. He sure was
struggling. He sure sure doesn't seem to
be leaving this world with much confidence don't be surprised
don't be surprised I'm just human flesh just like you I'm just
sin just like you and if Peter could sink in the water don't
be surprised if I shrink from the chilly waters of Jordan's
River when the Lord is about to carry me over don't be surprised
at that when I'm weak then am I strong and I'll tell you what
In that day, the good shepherd will still have his sheep on
his broad shoulders and he will carry me safe to the other side. So I say to you, my brother,
my sister, be like the little rabbit scared to death. That's
a good place to be. That's a good place to be. Got
these two military fellas here, man, you should take a look at
them. I remember when I did that stuff. You wouldn't have anybody
see you, you know, standing in the mirror. I remember. I remember, yeah. Best thing on this earth you
can do in spiritual things is be like a rabbit scared to death
and run to the rock. Run to the rock. The Kodis are
but feeble folk. Yet they make their houses in
the rocks. Christ is my rock, my refuge. God give me grace ever to know
my weakness and run to the rock, Christ Jesus. The Judaestus used
to sing for us one of my favorite hymns you'd see. Let me read
it to you. If I could sing, I'd sing it
to you. Fearful days I remember when I first saw my sin, saw
the law that I'd broken, saw my judgment so grim. But then
I cried out to Jesus and his word came to me, child, my grace
is sufficient, sufficient for thee. Off the tempter accuses
when I fall on my face. How can you be a Christian? You're
such a disgrace. I know of only one answer. Just
one thing can I plead. His grace is sufficient. Sufficient
for me. Oh, sometimes I fail him. Sins
I hate, I embrace. Now I'm sure I'm forsaken. and
I've fallen from grace. But I bow down before him and
find mercy so free, for his grace is sufficient, sufficient for
me. I was lost, but he found me wandering
far from my home, clothed in garments so filthy, yet he gave
me his own. And through eternity's ages,
this my glad song shall be. Yes, his grace is sufficient. sufficient for me. Amen.