We are thankful today to have
a family with us that were members here for many years. Brother
Fred Evans, his wife Cheryl, and their son Andrew, and their
daughter Audrey. We're thankful to have them visiting
with us today. Fred was called to preach as
a member of this congregation, went out, became the pastor of
a church in Kentucky, Louisville, Kentucky, the Redeemer Baptist
Church. And he's been there now for several
years, faithful preacher of the gospel. And Fred's going to bring
the message to us this morning. So let's give him our full attention
and pray. God will speak to each and every
one of us. You know, God's chosen to use
preaching to bless his people, to call his people. to build
up his people, to encourage, to strengthen. And I just love
when I'm able to hear preaching. And I'm so thankful you're here
today to preach. I'm looking forward to the message.
You come, if you will, Fred. It's a privilege again to be
with you. preach the gospel of Christ to you in fellowship together. I want to take this opportunity
to thank this church for your support, your prayers, your love. Behold your epistle. It is. And what a great thing
it is to have a faithful man as your pastor. Hope this doesn't
give me technical difficulties, but that doesn't matter. Well, let's see. There we go. It's just my security blanket
anyway. You'll take your Bibles and turn
with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. passage you, who are believers,
you know very well. If you've ever had any trouble
whatsoever, you understand this passage. 2 Corinthians chapter
12, verse 7, the Apostle Paul says, and lest I should be exalted
above measure through the abundance of the revelations There was
given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet
me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing
I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he, the Lord, said unto me,
my grace is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect
in weakness. And so here's the response. Most
gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities. What purpose? 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. This morning I want to
bring this message from this passage of scripture concerning
the thorn in the flesh. The thorn in the flesh The grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the response of every believer.
By God's grace, it is my heart's desire to speak to those who
are suffering. And listen, if you've been a
believer for any time at all, I know you understand that word,
suffering. Our Lord said, you shall suffer
tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Every believer suffering, every
believer in great heaviness and manifold temptations, it is my
heart's desire that God would, through this message, give you
such comfort in the very teeth of your trouble, in the very
midst of your persecutions. And I have this message divided
into three divisions this morning. First of all, the purpose of
thorns. The purpose of thorns, the apostle said, the Lord gave
me a thorn in the flesh. The second is the answer of Christ
to thorns. My grace is sufficient for thee. And the third thing is the response
of faith to the answer of Christ. I would rather glory in tribulations,
persecutions. infirmities, sicknesses, necessities.
Why? For Christ's sake. For Christ's
sake. And so let's see these together.
First of all, the purpose of our thorns. The apostle here
was greatly blessed of God. You think of any other man that
was more blessed than the apostle Paul? You'll be hard pressed
to find any believer in scripture that has more of the revelation
of the holy gospel of Christ than the Apostle Paul knew. He
was greatly blessed. He was given such grace. He was
born as one out of due season, a persecutor of the church, a
blasphemer. Yet God chose him, the most unlikely
one. The most unlikely one, no one
ever thought the apostle would be a believer. No one, no one.
There was a Peter, many preached a message a long time ago, surprised
by grace. And the apostle of salvation
was one surprised by grace. And everyone was surprised, even
Paul. Paul was surprised. He received such great blessings.
He was saved. He was a minister of the gospel
to the Gentiles to spread the word. And here in this text,
he expounds on such a great blessing. He was exalted to the third heaven. He saw things and heard things
that was not lawful for him to write. He was forbidden to write
such things as he saw and heard. What blessings? Who among us
would not desire to see such things or hear such things? And yet he was given these things.
Grace and privileges were given to him of God more than any other
believer. And yet we read this, lest I
should be exalted above measure. Through the abundance of the
revelations given to me, there was given a thorn in the flesh,
a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted
above measure. Some men speculate as to what
this thorn is. It really doesn't matter. Some
believe physical sickness or loss of sight or impediment in
speech. Some believe it was his conscience.
You remember, he was the one that held the coats while they
stoned Stephen. You imagine the pain and the
anguish that would come upon a man's conscience daily to buffet
him But the word of God is silent concerning this, and I believe
it's for a reason, so that every believer may put themselves in
this place. Every believer may put themselves
in this place. God is silent here for this reason,
that we may benefit from the lesson Paul learned. concerning
thorns in the flesh. And so I ask you this morning,
are you suffering a thorn in the flesh? Are you suffering? Are you overcome
with sickness, afflicted with pains of the body? Are you brought
to the dust of death? Are you suffering the thorn of
depression? of the mind and despairs, conscience. Are you afflicted
by your conscience of sin, your guilt? And listen, believer,
if you're not now, just wait a minute. Just wait a minute. You'll find the thorn. If you
don't have one now, praise God for it, but it will come. It
will come. It's in these times, then, what
happens? The messenger of Satan becomes our persecutor. It's then he
comes to buffet us in these times of grief and bring in railing
accusations against us. Ain't it always when we're sick
or infirmed, what's the first thing? What did I do? What did
I do? What sin have I committed that
would cause me such grief? These are messengers of Satan
against the conscience. The devil comes It's always the
same to accuse or to condemn or assault our souls for this
one purpose, to cause doubt. That's all he wants to do. He
desires to move you and me from the simplicity that is in the
gospel of Christ. He desires us to move our eyes
from the Savior and place them somewhere else. We begin then
to look to self. We begin to look to our works.
We begin to look to something other than Christ. In our afflictions,
we are tempted to look away from Christ for joy or peace. Believer in such a case, are
you in such a case as the divine providence of God? Now I want
you to know who brought the thorn. It was God. You want to know
who brought your thorn? God did. You remember who brought
those things upon Job, wasn't you? You remember God started
that. He said, have you noticed my
servant Job? It was God that started that. And God causes
these afflictions, these trials and difficulties. Why does God
permit these things? That's the question that comes
to mind, isn't it? Why? Why would God allow such
thorns in the flesh and permit Satan to buffet his children? Look at the text. Learn. The apostle says, lest I should
be exalted above measure. There it is. Pride. You know why you have these thorns?
Pride. Sin. Believer in Christ, consider
the abundance of the revelations given to you. Have you considered
that? I know you think you know nothing.
Now, I know this, every time I stand up, I confess, I know
nothing. Nothing like I ought to know.
But in truth, we do know. We know a lot. Matter of fact,
you know Christ, you know everything. You know everything there is
to know. You know Christ, you have abundant. Consider the millions
upon millions of people who have never, who ever walked upon the
face of the earth and yet God revealed himself to you. God chose you. God redeemed you. God called you. Such abundance. You have such abundance. So we, like Paul, have been blessed.
We have been chosen. We've been loved of the Father
with an everlasting love, redeemed by the effectual blood of the
Son of God, called by the power of the Holy Spirit unto life.
Behold, what manner of love the Father has shed upon us that
we should be called the sons of God. You got that? You're
a son of God. Is there anything greater? Can
you imagine anything greater than to have this revelation
that you are a son of God? This thing that God purposed
in eternity, he has now revealed to you. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God? I'm not waiting to be a son of
God. I am one. is let you know I've always been
one. I didn't know that at all times, but I have. I was always
a son of God. Chosen, adopted, purchased by
God. Consider the greatness of his
mercy toward us in that there is no more condemnation in Christ
Jesus. Brethren, God has put us in union
with his son. Is there anything greater than
that? You are one with the Son of God. One with him. He's justified you, redeemed
you. He's called you and he keeps you. The scriptures are clear
concerning God's purpose in all things and time and eternity
are only and always for your good. Everything works together for
your good. Everything. Our Lord tells us
that in the last day he will divide all men, and you will
be separated on his right hand, and he will say this to you,
come, you blessed of my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from before the foundation of the world. And yet, believer,
though we are heirs of all things, Though we should receive all
spiritual blessings that are in Christ Jesus, yet we know
this. We know that we're not what we're
going to be. That's what John says. He says,
Beloved now with the sons of God, yet it doth not yet appear
what we shall be. Go look in the mirror. Is that
what you're going to be? No, praise God. Praise God. This is this old body is not
what we're going to be. But when he shall appear, we
shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. God has ordained
this for our comfort. That we are to be conformed to
the image of the son of God by the new nature, yet we still
we still in this body have the old man constantly around our
necks. The old man of sin. The Apostle
Paul called it this body of death. You know what that is? That's
that Roman torture that they had put for prisoners, for criminals.
They had sewed that old corpse around the neck of the prisoner
and he had to drag it around until it fell off. Is that not
what you feel, you who are believers? This rotting corpse about our
necks. And so then we must contend with
this flesh and old man, this, the sin the apostle testifies
of in our text is the most abominable sin that any believer could have. And that is the pride of grace.
Is there anything more horrific in your eyes than being proud
of grace? If you're ever proud of grace,
you have no idea what grace is. Like the Apostle Paul, the more
we see the grace of God, the more it shines on his benefits,
the perfect redemption of Christ. I know this in my heart, I praise
God, but with the flesh, it seems to move to pride. The flesh is
always drawn to seek glory, to steal glory from God. Therefore, we see the reason
then God's sin storms in the flesh so that we should not be
exalted. Let no man think of himself more
highly than he ought to think. How should you think? You should
think soberly. Soberly. What are you really? I'm a sinner. What is all your hope? The grace
of God. the blood of Christ, the righteousness
of Christ. That's how we should think every
moment of every day. And what do we need for this?
We need thorns. God sends thorns for this purpose.
Believer, what sort of people would we be if our God did not
send these thorns? Can you imagine how arrogant
and boastful we should be? If God would not correct us,
pride would surely consume us. Should God cease to chasten us
and give us these thorns in the flesh, we would exalt ourselves
highly. We should surely become proud
boasters and try to find some merit in our own righteousness.
Therefore, believer, you are pressed down by the omnipotent
hand of God. Consider the reason of these
thorns in the flesh is to keep you from such sins as pride. Now, in verse eight, the apostle
Paul is beseeching the Lord. Look at that. He gets this thorn
in the flesh. And what does he do? He cries.
Verse eight. For this thing, I besought the
Lord thrice, three times that it might depart from me. The apostle said, save me from
this thorn. Deliver me from this thorn. Comfort
me. From this rebuke, this messenger
of Satan, he sought it three times. Is that not what you do? Is that not what every believer
does? We cry unto God. Go to Psalm 77. This is not new.
Every believer in all of scripture has done this. Every time there's
been a thorn in the flesh. In Psalm 77, Asaph is one of
these men. Psalm 77. Ace of crying unto God in his
trouble, he said, I cried unto God with my voice, even unto
God with my voice. And he gave ear unto me. You
see, he couldn't contain it any longer. You've been there with
the thorn, you contain it. You try to put on a fake smile.
You walk through this life trying to suppress it. And he says,
I can't suppress it anymore. It has to come out. I have to
scream. I have to cry. And he does. He said, I cried not just inside. I cried outside with my voice.
And God heard me. In the day of my trouble, I sought
the Lord. My sore ran into the night. It
ceased not. Now listen to this. My soul refused to be comforted. You been there? That flesh. Have someone come near you, someone
come alongside you, and they comfort you with the Word of
God. They take what is the only comfort they can give you, is
God's Word, discerning Christ. And what does your soul do? It
refuses to even listen. That's a thorn. That's a deep
wound. I remembered God and I was troubled. I complained and my spirit was
overwhelmed. Anyone relate to that? Have you been so vexed and troubled
that you can't even look up? Feel so cast down to the dust
by your afflictions? And what should you do? You cry.
And what do you do after you cry? You hope God will come. You do. You hope maybe he'll
come. Now, listen, he always hears
you. That doesn't mean he always responds quickly. He may come. He may deliver you. He may, in
a moment, cause all your troubles to leave. He may cause you to
rise from the deathbed, like He did Hezekiah. He may part
the Red Sea, as He did for Israel. But what if He delays? The apostle asked three times,
and He gave him no response. until the last time. What if
God delays in coming? What if he will not deliver us
from the fire of affliction? Now, listen, we have no record
of Paul ever being delivered from this. Could suffer this thorn all the
way to death. Remember Lazarus, he begged at
the rich man's gate until he died with no relief. We know that this man was not
delivered. He was a beggar all his life until God took him.
We read of those in Hebrews 11, he said, some had trials of cruel
mockings and scourgings, moreover bonds and imprisonment. They
were stoned. They were sawn asunder. They were tempted. They were
slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins
and goatskins being destitute and tormented of whom the world
was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
mountains and dens and caves of the earth. Does that sound
pleasant? God never promised you pleasant
in this world. Never. Believer, what if God
has willed and purposed that we should suffer this thorn the
rest of our days? How can we rejoice in such pains?
What is the answer? Well, God never leaves you without
an answer. This is the second thing. Christ
gives you the answer. My grace is sufficient for thee. There's your answer. There's
your answer. My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in
weakness, suffering, afflicted saint. This is the answer of
God to you. You want an answer? There it
is. My grace is sufficient for thee. The Psalm Aesop said, he
said, I will remember the works of the Lord. This is how we endure. This is how, this is the purpose
of this book. This is why you have this book.
so that you might remember the grace of God. You might remember
in the midst of your afflictions that the grace of Christ is sufficient.
He remembered the grace of God in the deliverance of Israel
by the blood of the Lamb. He remembered the grace of God
in passing over in the Red Sea on dry ground. He remembered
these things. So then now in your affliction,
what do you need to do? Remember. Not just anything. Remember the
grace of God. Set your mind on the grace of
God. There are four things about the
grace of God you should remember. First of all, remember it was
by grace He chose you. It was by grace. How is it that
you were quickened to faith in Christ while millions will not
believe? You were chosen. You were loved. because God had
given you all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus before the world
began. Remember that God in sovereign
free grace, without any merit or value in you, he chose you
and put you in union with his son. And remember that this grace,
in grace, he adopted us to be his sons by the works only of
his son and not yours. That's good news. That's good
news. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, then he also called. Whom he called,
he also justified. Whom he justified, he also glorified. Our Lord Jesus Christ said this,
you have not chosen me, I have chosen you. Remember, you were
chosen. Second of all, believer, remember
this. Remember the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who sufficiently,
completely, and perfectly redeemed you. Behold your affliction. In your
affliction, the Son of God, who was set up to be your Savior.
You got that? Christ was set up to be your
Savior. God purposed him to be your savior. He said, the Lord
possessed me in the beginning of his way before the works,
his works of old, I was set up from everlasting. Set up for
what? To be your redeemer, to be your surety. Now, was this
against his will? No, he said, I was the delight
of the father and my delight was with you. Now, is that not
grace? My delight was always with you.
He was chosen to be our surety. In Isaiah chapter nine and verse
six, I love this, it says, for unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders.
That's a whole gospel right there, whole gospel. Unto us a child
is born, his humanity. prophesied. Unto us a son is
given, his deity proclaimed. And upon his shoulders, the government,
his elect, his kingdom should rest on his shoulders. In other words, he was to be
responsible for the salvation of all his people. You heard that? The buck stops
here. Christ said it stops right here. I'm responsible. If I bring
them not to thee, let me bear the blame. That's what a surety
is. One who guarantees. Christ, our
Savior, bore his people. He took responsibility. Look now afflicted even in the
midst of your suffering at your Savior's suffering. Can you compare
yours to his? What are you suffering right
now as you think could compare to his suffering? You can't. He bore your sin in his own body
on the tree. He bare the justice of God, not
just for your sin. but all the sins of all his people. In body and soul he suffered. He suffered. Awake, O sword,
against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, sayeth
the Lord. Smite the shepherd, the sheep
will be scattered. For this purpose, I will turn
my hand to the little ones. Behold the suffering of thy Savior, So then how can we in the midst
of our suffering then question his love? How can we question
his wisdom as to suppose we would know better what to do? What if the world were in your
hands? We can't even run our own households. It's all His. It's all His. Greater love hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life
for his friends. So great was this grace. that
after he suffered, God himself cannot find my sin. In those days, Jeremiah 50, 20,
in those days and at that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none. The
sins of Judah and they shall not be found for I will pardon. I will pardon them whom I reserve. You've been reserved. Is that not sufficient for you? What about the grace of our calling? Remember the grace of our calling.
Remember the Lord. How did he find you? Where did
he find you? Did he find you seeking him?
Did He find you searching for Him? Did He find you in righteousness? No, He found us polluted in our
own blood. He found us cast out to the loathing
of our person. That's where He found me. In
my sin. He found me not looking for Him,
but running from Him. found us in that waste howling
wilderness. That's what he says in Deuteronomy.
He said, for the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is a lot
of his inheritance. He found him in the desert land,
in a waste howling wilderness. And listen, he led him about.
You know, all my life, he led me about. Didn't know where I
was going, didn't know what I was doing. He was led me about. And
he led me right there to hear this gospel and to believe his
son. You think you're here by accident?
You just happen to be here. No. No, it don't work that way. God leads his people. He instructs
him. And listen, he keeps them as
the apple of his eye. Is that grace not sufficient
for you? He found us, he finds us, he keeps us. And what did
he find? What did he do when he found
us? What did we deserve when he found us? We deserve judgment,
justice, death. But what do you receive instead?
Mercy, grace, love, pardon, forgiveness, peace. You received everything
you didn't deserve. Grace, grace is what you found. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, where? in the beautiful face of Jesus
Christ, by which we see him now through a glass darkly, soon
face to face. Soon. Therefore, as we remember
the grace of God, our Father chose us, the grace of the Son
who loved us and redeemed us, and the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, it is not this grace sufficient then to keep That's
the next thing you need to be looking at, is his keeping grace.
His keeping grace. In the midst of your trouble,
remember, he didn't say, my grace was sufficient. He said, my grace
is sufficient. Ever, presently, now sufficient. See, believer, in the midst of
your afflictions and thorns of the flesh, the grace of Christ
is now even perpetually, eternally and presently sufficient, not
only to save you, but to keep you. Why is it that you have not gone
away? I've seen many of you for years. I know you're not here because
David's handsome, right? You're here because of what he
preaches. Now, why are you still here?
Many have gone away. I've seen people that have not
been in this church, and now they're gone. Why is it you still believe? Because you are kept by the power
of God. That's what our brother just
read in his lesson there. And Peter, he said, you are kept
by the power of God unto salvation, ready to be revealed. at the
last time unto him who is able to keep you from falling and
present you blameless, spotless before the presence of God. And so then what's the response
of faith? What is the response to such grace? Well, look what
our Lord said here. He said, my grace, back to your
text, my grace is sufficient for thee. Four, my strength is
made perfect in weakness. It is the purpose of our afflictions
to manifest our perfect weakness. Isn't that what that does? When the thorn of the flesh comes,
what does it do? It manifests your perfect weakness. I know this. I've known for many
years of my perfect weakness. But the more I grow in the grace
and knowledge of Christ, the more it's manifest to me of my
perfect weakness. That's what God does. He's showing
you how real. You think you know how weak you
are? We've just not begun to scratch the surface. That's what
this does. It shows us our weakness, our
perfect weakness. Believer, we must recognize that
we could not cure ourselves from anything. You cure yourselves
from a cold? No, you're weak. How much more
of these spiritual things, spiritual afflictions that come, can you
cure yourself of this? No. We are taught by the grace
of God that salvation is of the Lord completely and absolutely
of his hand, that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. The meaning of Jesus' words here
is that the strength of Christ is made to appear, is illustrated
and shines forth in his perfect glory in supplying and supporting
and strengthening his people under their weakness. If we are
not made to see our perfect weakness in ourselves, then His strength
will not be manifest. He's manifesting His strength
by your weakness. Believers, see then the reason
of the thorn is to show the sufficiency of His grace. The thorn is to
show you your weakness and to make glorious His perfect strength. Isn't he perfectly strong? Is there anything too hard for
God? Anything? No. How do I know that? I'm weak. And in my weakness, yet I'm still
here. That's grace. That's strength,
not of myself. So what is the response? Most
gladly, therefore, I would rather glory in my infirmities. that
the power of Christ may rest upon me. Do you want your strength
or his? I want his. Now, what does that
cost? Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter
what it costs. If I have his strength, I'll
be able to bear it. Whatever it is. In your strength, you can't bear
anything. In his, you can bear anything and everything. Are
you afflicted? Robert Hawker said this, I want
to quote this, it's very good. It is as if Jesus said unto you
and to me, to each, to all, my grace is sufficient for thee,
meaning that there is sufficiency of grace laid up for each and
for all and always ready to be given out at the very moment
of need. Christ's grace is in the extent
corresponds to the want of each. It is laid up for that child
from everlasting. It is as if Jesus said, I foresaw
the very portion which would be required and have kept it
and do keep it for the time foreseen and provided for. Our Jesus is El Shaddai. God all sufficient. Friends, if I have Christ, I
have everything. If I have Him, I have need of
nothing. Why? His grace is sufficient. Therefore, I take pleasure in
the infirmities and reproaches. And Paul's not just saying I
take pleasure in hurting. He said, I do it for one reason,
for Christ's sake, that his grace might be manifest. Let me ask you. If you read through
his epistles, is not the grace of Christ manifest through his
weakness and his infirmities? It was. Friends, God uses his
church. He uses these afflictions. He
uses these things for the good of his people, for the furtherance
of his gospel. Do you know the grace of Christ? Do you know the grace of Christ? Have you believed on the Son
of God? That's evidence, isn't it? If
I've ever been elected, if I've ever been redeemed, faith is
always the evidence of that. Have you believed? Then you know
His grace is sufficient. In whatever thorn He decides
to give us, May He comfort you and strengthen
you.