Needing so much the help of the
dear Lord this evening, I would direct your prayerful attention
to the second book of Corinthians, chapter 12, and the last clause
in verse 10. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. The verse reads, 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. Paul wrote to the Corinthians
on at least two occasions. There were some of those that
say there were more than two letters. But we have in front
of us certainly the two books and although some say that the
second epistle really should be split between chapters 1 and
10 and then 10 to 13. We have it all in the one book,
the one epistle. Friends, he wrote these epistles
in A.D. 55. He wrote firstly to the Corinthians
having visited them on hearing that there were those false apostles
that had risen up in the church at Corinth, false apostles. How soon when the work of the
Lord is in the settlement of a church and that there are those
enemies that come in, and so it was in Corinth. And so he
writes the first book of the Corinthians very much against
that backlog. But before he penned and he wrote
to them from Ephesus and he wrote in very much a warning and laying
out clearly what he saw as the way of dependency upon the Lord
Jesus Christ and preaching Christ and him crucified be in the way
to glory. And then he went himself to Macedonia,
and later the same year, and he must have been a prolific
writer, friends. Before we go on, let's just ponder
that point, to be prolific in the things of God. I don't know
if you keep a diary. And I don't know, friends, whether
you put down some of the thoughts of your mind there. But, you
know, we're not very prolific, are we, in these things? Well,
certainly I'm not. But, oh, to be able to write
and to pen those things of spirituality which Paul did when he wrote
his letters. letters encouraging those in
the truth, but also bringing them, as it might be said, into
the right ways where there were those errant ways. But oh, keeping
our diary, jotting down here and there those little things,
those tokens, those signs, that perhaps one day others might
read them. Or even dropping a letter here
or there to others to encourage or to support them. This is what
Paul did in the faith. I know you could say, well, I'm
not the Apostle Paul. I'm not sent in that way. But friends, there is a work
for each of the dear Lord's children to do. And you know, there is
a lovely word where Moses stood before the children of Israel
and he said this regarding Joshua, but charge Joshua and encourage
him. and strengthen him. And that's
what we need to do as help for the Lord's servants, encourage
them and strengthen them. And that may be dropping them
a line in a letter. Oh, you say I'm too old back
to do that, but friends, to be unable to do it, and I hadn't
got these thoughts in my mind at all. But we're thinking of
Paul and his prolific writing of these letters in that year. One of them, they said, was written,
the first book of Corinthians, and there's a lot of chapters,
it's a long letter, was written in the spring and the second
in the autumn of that year. Now, he writes the second after
that he had a report from Titus that the church at Corinth was
broadly back into the lines in which Paul had established it. Although, and that's where we
see the split in the second book, that the first 10 chapters are
much I was going to put more softly written and then chapters
10 to 13 are a little bit firmer in the things of God to examine
themselves and the zeal that Paul felt and he talks much of
his afflictions but that he'd been sent amongst them. Yet,
even in those chapters, the reason for that was that, as I understand
it, there was a minority in the church that were also not following
the ways in which they had been established, but that broadly
the church was back in the way that was desired and set up and
established by Paul. So Titus came to him with that,
those good words to encourage him to write that second book. And I think Paul's, he signs
off so beautifully here at the end of chapter 13 that they should
greet one another and all the saints salute you and finally
brethren farewell. A lot of very positive words
at the end friends. And I feel written lovingly and
kindly to that church at Corinth. So this was the work of the Apostle
Paul. And he is very open, I think,
in chapter 12 about himself. Firstly, he talks in this chapter
about his own blessing, that he knew a man in Christ and really
refers to himself that was so caught up into the third heaven
and was blessed and favoured and saw paradise, had that view,
that vision really, that revelation and yet he goes on to say, but
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, do buffet me. Yes, lest I should be exalted
above measure. And friends, it is so, that we
will not, as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, be exalted
above measure. He will be exalted, not us. And so it is, friends, that we
come to the very back cloth of the text when therefore given
the thorn in the flesh which Paul desired three times that
it might depart but then the Lord gave him words to strengthen
him. He says, my strength is made
perfect in weakness and to glory in his infirmities so that the
power of Christ may rest upon him. and then he takes pleasure
in the infirmities and all these other things. Now it's interesting
that before chapter 12 he does mention infirmities much in chapter
11 and you can read it at your leisure after the service but
he talks of infirmities there but he does not talk of reproaches
which is interesting. So this is the first time that
Paul talks of reproaches, which really is those reproaching him
for the faith, those that would stand against him, almost ridicule
him as you were, for the faith. Now these days, friends, I feel
there's not a lot of that that we are subjected to. I mean,
in my workplace, there are those that know that I have a faith,
but I am not subjected to any, rather there seems to be, to
any, as it were, jokes on their behalf or fun.
They do not in any way persecute me. rather there seems to be
in a sense an admiration that I'm steadfast in going to chapel
each Sunday. And I think the young friends
you might find this different but I do wonder what days we
will see in our nation. Now certainly Paul knew what
it was to have these reproaches. But whatever it is friends, we
will have some of these things, infirmities, reproaches, necessities,
persecutions, distresses for Christ's sake. We must know these
things in the pathway if we are going to glory. Why? Because they weaken our strength
in the way. We do not go boldly on. We do not walk on in our own
strength because they will bring us to our very text. When I am
weak, when I am weak in myself, then am I strong in the Lord
Jesus Christ is what the text really means. You know, it's
a beautiful text because it almost reads the other way. I am weak. Am I strong? Then, which is the
word in the middle, am I strong? Which is the other way round.
And I thought how beautiful it was in this translation that
they didn't actually say, when I am weak, then I am strong. It's am I strong? And I felt
that strengthened the message. And it's almost as if that word
then splits the two parts of the sentence here. I am weak. Am I strong? And oh, the opposition,
you see, are the two different ways. Weakness and strength. Weakness and strength. And we
can't have both. But we can have both. in the
sense that if we have the Lord Jesus Christ, we will have strength
in our weakness. He will make us to feel our weakness,
friends, and that's the thing. He will make us to feel this,
that without me, ye can do nothing, nothing at all. Yes. Weak in myself, in him I'm strong,
says the hymn writer. Yes, he will have us to come
to that beautiful word that Paul wrote to the church in Philippi,
I can do all things. Yes, weak believer. Yes, poor
one that feels to be so far off from God. Yes, those of you,
the feeble faith of feeble belief tonight. Yes, I can do all things
through Christ which strengtheneth me. Oh, that he would give us
his strengthening grace. You know, friends, I want to
be careful how I speak, but I remember as a lad at school, we used to
do these arm wrestles to see how strong we were. Who was the
strongest? Who was the most powerful? And
then we would utterly respect the one that was strong that
none of us could bring his arm down to the table first. And
how that reflects where we are in nature. The creature wants
to be strong. We want to be powerful. We want
to be full of strength and might. and how we need spiritually to
have exactly that, but we can only have it when we are made
to feel a weakness. It's an oppositional work in
that sense. And yes, I must decrease and
he must increase. It's the only way that we're
taught in the things of God to find that we become stronger. Oh, that beautiful hymn, guide
me, O thou great Jehovah, which we know so well. But have we
ever looked at that word, I am weak? In the verse, I am weak,
but thou art mighty. Hold me with thy powerful hand. I am weak. You know, it is said
that William Williams, who wrote that hymn, He was a Calvinistic
Methodist in Wales. And it was said of that man that
he would pen a hymn when he was feeling down. He would pen a
hymn when he was feeling afflicted, when he suffered losses, and
he lost a child in infancy. And he had various crosses and
losses in his life, as the Lord's dear people do. Oh, friends,
beautiful hymn. Hold me, hold me with thy powerful
hand. Beautiful, isn't it? Well, that's
weakness. He knew his weakness. He couldn't
append it, friends. Oh, yes, you and I. Well, we come back to our diaries,
and I don't know why I'm wandering in that way, but oh, to show
our weakness. To show that we glory in our
weakness, in our infirmities, in our feebleness. Yes, ye feeble
saints, fresh courage take. The clouds ye so much dread,
and perhaps you do, something before you. We've got young friends
here tonight. You may have something you dread
before you. Oh, friends, be weak. Oh, say,
Lord, weaken me for that that I've got before me. And I mean
that spiritually, friends, so that I am strong in the Lord.
Yes, the clouds ye so much dread are big with mercy and shall
break. in blessings on your head and
you will prove your strength is in him. Yes. It's wonderful friends. The opposition
for, for, for is a preposition in the English grammar. It means
it pre-proposes. There's something before that
has to then follow after. And the before things are the
persecutions. The before things are the distresses. The before are the infirmities
and the reproaches. And the after is this. The after
is when I am weak. The summary of it, then am I
strong. Or you say, I can't pray for
these things then. How do I pray for these things,
these persecutions and these reproaches and these other things? Friends, not easy is it? But we know that God will give
us strength. according to his word and will
help us to plead that he might be with us in the infirmities
that we carry. And oh friends, we do need to
be humbled. Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time, casting
all your care upon him for he careth for you. You know, friends, some of the
weak things that have confounded the wise, the foolish that have
confounded the wise and the weak things of this world that have
confounded the strong. And that's how the Lord does
it, you know, we're going to be weak in the ministry and ourselves
so that there may be strength through our Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ. We cannot and we have to prove
that we do not have strength in ourselves but this you see
he gives us strength each of us in the pathway and in our
spiritual journey strength enough and none to spare and Paul writes
to the Ephesians saying that he would grant you according
to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by
his spirit in the inner man. What does that mean? What does
it mean by the inner man rather than the outer man? Oh the outer
man might look strong outside. Oh they might look as if they're
powerful, be well built and tall perhaps and strong and fit and
healthy, robust. But the inner man, That work
that's going on in the soul, even in such a robust person
as they outwardly look, is where their, as it were, need to be
strengthened because they feel their weakness. They feel that
they're a weak believer. You know, there's a beautiful
hymn in our book and it says above it, weak believers encouraged. And I'm not sure that I can find
it immediately, but friends, yes I can, 3.30. And when it
talks of those weak believers, they've left their harps on the
willows as it were. They cannot bring them down.
They're like the children of Israel. They're in a strange
land. They're in a strange land. They
cannot bring them down. Your harp, ye trembling saints,
down from the willows take. Loud to the praise of Christ
our Lord, bid every string awake. And so on, but weak believers
encouraged. And oh, I do believe we feel
our weakness in the faith. Oh, as I say, we may be, and
others can look on, and that's the thing, friends, where we
need to be so careful, looking at other people's pathways and
looking at their experiences that we know and can see to us
that are observable. Because you see, we make a judgment
and we say, well, they don't seem to be walking in the trouble
and the difficulty that I am. But we don't know what's going
on inside. We don't know what's happening
in the inner man. Oh, that he would grant you according
to his riches in glory to be strengthened with might by his
spirit in the inner man. Oh Lord, refresh my inner man,
strengthen my inner man. that I may go on, my soul seeking
him, my soul wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from
him. Friends, that's strengthening
grace. And you know, there's a wonderful
promise. And so beautifully put in the early part of God's word,
in the Mosaic books, in Deuteronomy. Oh friends, we don't have to
wait long for the Lord to reveal his strength and power, do we?
And he says this, thy shoes shall be iron and brass, and as thy
days, so shall thy strength be. According to your need in your
days, strength will be given. Oh, strength in your weakness,
strength and might from above. Yes, and it is through the Lord,
it's not by might, not by power, but by strength that's given
from above. Oh, that strength, the strengthening
hand that alone can come with God. And you know, we do judge,
going back to my comments about others, we do. Oh, that lovely
story of William Gadsby, you know, there he is, he's looking
down on the young men, smartly dressed and in his congregation.
And he knows, you know, they're looking well-established, strong
young men, how useful they will be in the church. and he's preaching
the sermon and even as he's looking on them he's thinking that may
the word enter into their hearts that they may be used in God's
house. Quite understandable friends,
what a good exercise, right exercise. And then he gets called, he gets
called to a house where there's a poor crippled boy. And the
crippled boy is dying. He's only about 12 or 13. And
he gets called to his house, one in complete weakness of body,
who they think won't even live. And there was an imperative for
him to go. And he didn't know the address.
He didn't even know the name. But he went. Oh, and the dear
boy. He calls out and says, oh, through
your ministry, my soul has been blessed. He said, but I never
saw you in the chapel. He was looking on all these others. I never saw you. He said, no,
sir, because I'm a crippled boy. I had to go up in the stairs. And when everyone had gone into
the chapel, found a place in the stairway up into the gallery,
the gallery stairs. You know, Gatsby was so humbled. He said, I'm working in the pews. The Lord is working in the gallery
steps, stairs. And so it was. One that was weak
was given strength through the preaching of the gospel. Oh,
you see, friends, there's a man who was a mighty man in the things
of God, but he made the same mistake that you and I can. Oh
we don't know, we look on people and we make those judgments friends
but the Lord knows and he will weaken our strength in the way
if we go into heaven. He will have us to lean harder
upon him and harder still. And the only way he does that
is by showing us our utter inadequacy to resolve the situation regarding
our never-dying soul and to resolve the situations that he brings
us into in life. Yes. Thy whole dependence on
me thicks. Lord, I'm weak when I have to
do that. You won't, if you're strong,
you're not going to put your dependence on him. Thy whole
dependence on me thicks, nor entertain a thought. Thy worthless
schemes remind to mix, but venture to be nought. When we're nought,
we're weak friends. Oh, the beauty in weakness. Lord,
make me weak that I might be strong in the things of God.
And make me weak that I might be strong in the matters of faith. Yes. Oh, friends, it's lovely,
isn't it? But, oh, as thy days, so shall
thy strength be. You know, I think possibly one
of the strongest men that ever lived, of course, was Samson.
And we read of his almighty strength, which of course lay in his long
hair. But in the end, he was betrayed
by his wife. And oh, that man, he needed his
strength. The enemy, the Philistines, they
gouged out his eyes. He couldn't see. And they're
going to bring him to an end. But oh, what a sweet prayer that
man does unto the Lord, because he's lost his natural strength,
which was A great thing he cannot see, but he wants to avenge that
which has been done against him by the wicked Philistines. And so he says, Oh Lord God,
remember me, I pray thee and strengthen me. What? The strongest man perhaps, one
of the strongest has ever lived and he's praying to be strengthened.
Oh, friends, this is where the Lord will have us to be. And
I know this was in a natural sense, although we believe the
man knew he was about to come to the end of his life. We have
to leave that. But he took hold of the two middle
pillars and he said that I may be avenged of the two of the
Philistines for my two eyes. Remember me, I pray thee, strengthen
me only this once, O God. And so the Lord did, and as we
know, he slew more at his death than he did in all his life.
And you know, he slew many in his life, which you can read
off, friends, in Judges. But you see, strength, strength. Isaiah saw it. Isaiah realized
it. He gave it power to the faint.
and to them that have no might, he increases strength. Oh, friends,
if you feel to be so weak in the things of God, look to Jesus,
he increases strength. Even a youth shall faint and
be weary. Of course, we look on that a
bit like me with my arm wrestling back at the school. We look at
that and when we're young and youthful, we feel to be full
of strength, full of might. Well, even the youth shall faint
and be weary, the young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait
upon the Lord. Help me to wait upon me, O God. Help me to wait for thee, because
my time is always ready. Help me to wait, but they that
wait upon the Lord might, could, Oh friends, how
powerful are the words, shall, shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles, oh that powerful bird, the eagle. They shall run and
not be weary, and they shall walk and not fight. Yes, when I am weak, then I am
strong. Then am I strong? Yes. Oh, friends, how beautiful. How beautiful to be weakened,
to feel our weakness. Oh, to feel weak. We cannot go on. You know, when
it comes to my mind, there was Elijah. He's so weak. He's seen
the Lord. Have you not seen the Lord appear
in past life, friends? He's seen the Lord appear, most
remarkably. But now, there he is, under the
juniper tree. And he can't go on, and he feels
his weakness in the way. And an angel came and touched
him, and rise and ate. For the journey is too great
for thee. That's what you need, poor sinner,
tonight. The Lord to come and to say,
arise and eat. The journey is too great for
thee and I will help thee in that journey. I will help thee
to take the next steps in faith. I will help you as you walk on. Yes, I will be with thee. Israel
passing through the fire. When I am weak, then am I strong. And friends, I have been reading,
and I'm sure some of you have, that lovely book on The Joy of
a Chapel Tented in History. And you know, I thought about
that dear lady in weakness, Louise Cooper. who died just at the age of 51. She came, I think, from Fennstanton
and down to, and live in gyre houses there at Tentenden, but
she had an affliction from the age of 19, and she could not
really, she was bedridden, and she could not, her body was rigid. And she could, all she could
do really, friends, was to lie in bed and they, she joined the
church there, transferred her membership. But, oh, they said
what a godly support she was to them. She wrote hundreds of
letters from her bed and she would write the letter, half
of it one way up and the other the other way because she could
not write the whole page with her cramped up hand. But you
see the afflictions of the flesh in that dear lady did not stop
her in praying, did not stop her in strength supporting that
church and indeed supporting those who serve the Lord. You
know she spoke directly to Mr George Dempson and said to him,
exercised about the ministry, and that godly woman had been
shown it. Friends, you see weakness, weakness,
there is strength in it, strength in Jesus. Oh, friends, you know,
we don't know how weak we'll have to come, but he will have
us to lean harder. as we said earlier, or to lean
totally upon him, to prove that underneath are the everlasting
arms and that our strength is entirely in him and not in us
and not in the flesh. you know, he knew so much of
his need of being strengthened. He writes in many, and certainly
he writes here about the weakness, there's much in this chapter
that we read about weakness, or in these chapters, two chapters,
he says in chapter 13, that a proof of Christ speaking in me,
which to you would is not weak, but he's mighty in you. For though
he was crucified through weakness, and therefore even speaking of
the weakness, it says in verse four there, for though he was
crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him,
but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. Friends, what strength there
is. Why is there strength in the Lord Jesus Christ? Because
he rose again. Because he was triumphant over
the death and thus he's triumphant over sin and therefore the weakness
that we have, which really comes down to the sins that so overtake
us. Because he has put away sin. Yes, he has put it away behind
his back. so that the slate is wiped clean,
friends, completely clean. And we are completing him as
we quoted in prayer. Oh, friends, a beautiful word,
isn't it? To be complete in him. You know, there's one woman who
came to the Lord Jesus and it does not say she is weak. But
I believe this woman was a weak person. And that's the woman
of Canaanite. Why do I say that? Because she
needed mercy. She cried and begged. And, you
know, she was not weak in the faith because he answered her
not a word. And maybe that's where you feel
you are. He's answered me not a word. Do not turn away thy
face, Lord, mine's an urgent pressing case. Such is my weakness. But she was weak in the sense
that she knew that she could not resolve the situation with
her daughter that was vexed with the devil. But she knew she had
great faith. So she must have been weak in
herself, friends. How beautiful it is that she
said to the Lord that the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall
from the master's table. And Jesus answered and said,
oh woman, great is thy faith. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. But not once in that chapter
does it infer that she is weak. But I saw in it that that's the
place the place of weakness is this friends, Lord help me. And oh, may we take it away.
May it be the word of prayer for the week ahead. Lord help
me. Oh, I am weak, but that will
be, that will be, our strength will be made, his strength will
be made perfect in our weakness. You know, if he helps us, if
he helps us to take one more journey in the step, in the journey
of faith, If he helps us to go on in our belief, if he enables
us to continue, yes. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. Well, may the Lord help us to
consider further, or you to consider, friends, prayerfully, because
there's so much in this word and I have just been scratching
the outside of the tin of grace. That's all we've been doing.
But you see, friends, that the Lord would open it up to you
and to realise that his strength is made perfect in your weakness
and that when you are weak, then is the Lord Jesus Christ strong. Oh, the strength that is in him. Amen.