Let's take our Bibles and turn
to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. I'd like to read verses 1 through
9. The Apostle Paul said, it is
not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions
and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above
14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell or whether
out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth, such in one caught
up to the third heaven. 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 which
it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such in one will I
glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.
But though I would desire to glory, I shall not be 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, or that he
heareth of me. 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 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. Let's pray together. Our Father, this evening, how
thankful we are, Lord, that we can call upon you. Thank you for the privilege,
the blessing, to be able to assemble ourselves together in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we ask, bless the service,
bless the preaching, bless the hearing. May Christ be exalted. Lord, may your people be comforted. For Christ's sake, amen. This is the commandment of the
Lord concerning preaching. The Lord said, Isaiah 40, Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably,
that is, speak to the heart. Speak to Jerusalem and cry unto
her that her warfare is accomplished. That is to say, the appointed
time of the conflict, though we will always be in conflict
while we are in this world, we will not be exempt from conflict. But while we're in this world,
we know this, the battle is won. That's comforting to God's people. We know. that we are more than
conquerors through Him who loves us. Tell her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned by the grace of God
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I think about that
glorious thought, her iniquity is pardoned. One of these days,
I'm going to understand that. One of these days, I'm going
to be thankful as I ought to be. Tell her that her iniquities
pardon, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. I've said before, it doesn't
mean twice as much. It means that all that was needful,
she's received double. All that was needful. for her
pardon, justification before God Almighty has been accomplished
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this evening, I'd like for
us to look at this scripture, these scriptures that I just
read, and I do pray that the Lord comfort us. There's not
a believer in this room tonight that does not need some comfort. Every one of us now, now I'm
looking around at everybody and I'm looking at people that I
know is going through some tough trials and you need some comfort. You've either got family strife
or family problems, you've got physical problems. We're not
exempt and we need some comfort. If Almighty God comforts us,
it's okay. Come what may, it's going to
be fine. We struggle with the flesh. We struggle with the fiery darts
of Satan from the oppression of men and we need some comfort. I want my heart to be settled. I want to lie down at night and
may my mind be comforted by the thought of His presence and His
mercy and His grace. When you wake up in the middle
of the night and you start thinking about something, as I've said
before, it's always worse at night, isn't it? I just wish
you'd get daylight. I wish the sun would come up. May I awaken with the realization,
with the awareness of His presence. You that know Him, you know what
I'm talking about, where you wake up and you just, you know
you're talking to the Lord. You know you are. Apostle Paul is going to relate
something about being comforted. And here's the word of comfort.
It's in verse 9. He said unto me, My grace is
sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Now, if the Lord is pleased to
teach me that, My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made
perfect in weakness. If he truly teaches me that,
you know when I'm going to learn it? When I'm going through trials. When I need it. I mean, I know
it's kind of a hopeful thing that we might be able to learn
that, you know, and we're really not going through anything. But
I tell you when you need to know that. is when you're in the midst
of trials. Now these words that were spoken
by the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of God's Spirit,
they're spoken for our learning, for our admonition, for our comfort,
for our teaching, for our correction. He starts and he says in verse
1, it's not expedient. He said it is not advantageous. It would not be to my, you know,
advantage, wouldn't be to the advantage of anybody. It is not
expedient for me, doubtless, to glory. I will come to visions
and revelations of the Lord. Now, here's what he said. He
said, in myself, I have nothing to glory in. I have nothing to glory in of
myself because the Lord has given me visions and revelations. And
he did. The apostle Paul was on the road
to Damascus and the Lord, the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Jesus of Nazareth, that's when Paul said, Who are you, Lord?
He said, Jesus of Nazareth that you're persecuting. Now you think
about this. The Lord spoke to him from heaven. And Saul of Tarsus heard him.
Who are you? There was a vision one night.
And in that vision, a man from Macedonia says, come over and
help us. Paul was taught some things through
visions. Revelations, we don't have visions
and revelations anymore. We've got the word of God. Peter
said we've got a sure, more sure, more sure proof, confidence. These scriptures right here,
Paul and John and Peter was talking about we were eyewitnesses. Peter
said I was on the Mount of Transfiguration. John said, I touched him. Our
hands have handled the word of life. And Peter said, I'll tell
you, I'm telling you we were there. I'm telling you, I saw
him. I looked at him. But he said,
we've got a more sure confidence than my eyewitness. And you see
scriptures right here. According to the scriptures,
this is the final authority right here. But Paul said, I've had
visions, I've had revelations, and I don't have anything to
glory in. Having had those visions and
had those revelations, it was nothing in me that God saw that
merited Him speaking to me. Nothing. But he said, but by
visions and revelations of what the Lord has been pleased to
teach, Paul and his people. How they're brought to a greater
acquaintance of the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ
because of what we learn through those visions in Revelation.
Paul said, I don't have anything to glory in. I'm the recipient
of God's speaking to me and nothing in me worthy. of Him even talking to me. But,
because of what we learn through the Lord, He says, I will come
to visions and revelations of the Lord. That's why He's going
to talk about it. That's why I'll relate to you. Not to bring
glory to myself, but to teach God's people. He said, verse
2 and 3, I knew a man in Christ, above 14 years ago, You know,
I read that just a few minutes ago. I was sitting at the desk
and looking over that. You talk about the grace of God.
Fourteen years ago, and this is when he wrote about it, you
know, I know just enough about myself I, uh, and I'm speaking foolishly
here, but I think we all understand. I mean, if we, uh, we see something
in scripture and we're so excited, we want to just talk about it.
You know, I see something in scripture. I'll run home. I preach
just about every message to Glenda at least once, you know, before
you hear it. And, uh, I mean, I'm so, I'm
just excited that the Lord show me anything, but here was a man
14 years ago. I knew a man in Christ above
14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell or whether
out of the body I cannot tell. God knoweth. Such in one caught
up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether
in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. God knoweth. Here, the apostle Paul, was speaking
of himself. I know that because verse 7 says,
and lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance
of the revelation that was given unto me. So I know it's the apostle
Paul. And he says that all of this
that I'm about to tell you, I'm going to tell you as much as
I can perceive, as much as I know. He said, there was a man in Christ. Now there's a message right there.
I mean, you know, chosen in the Lord Jesus Christ before the
foundation of the world, glorified in Christ, buried with Christ,
died with Christ. Paul says, I was crucified with
him. Here's a man in Christ. And that's a description of himself,
a man in Christ. by the grace of God, put there
by God's good pleasure. A man, he says, that was caught
up, seized, and taken by force to the third heaven. Now I know,
according to verse 4, that it was paradise because the Apostle
Paul says that he was caught up into paradise. So that eliminates
all speculation on what this third heaven was. And again,
based on what our Lord told the thief on the cross. He said,
today you'll be with me in paradise. Based upon the words of our Lord
saying where the thief would be with him that day, I'm not
trying to presume on the Lord. I don't want to go beyond what
the scripture has revealed, but I would speculate. And that would
be as far as I'd want to say, you know, if the scriptures is
silent on something, be very, very cautious about how dogmatic
you get about it. But based on the words of our
Lord, talking about paradise, Paul caught up to paradise, I'm
going to speculate that that was the place of departed saints,
the souls of departed saints. The place where the souls are
with the Lord. The Lord told the thief, you'll
be with me in paradise today. And also, we could relatively
safely assume If the Lord be pleased that this is also the
place that in the day of the second coming, it will be caught
up together with the Lord, to ever be with the Lord. When the
Lord was in His high priestly prayer, John 17 verse 24, Father
I will that those that you've given me, your elect, those that
you've chosen, those that you've given me, that they be with me
where I am, that they may behold my glory, the glory that you've
given me, for you've loved me from before the foundation of
the world. So the Apostle Paul says about 14 years ago, He said, whether he's in the
body, out of the body, whether I was body and soul or just spirit
or something, he said, I don't know. I don't know. God knows. How that he was caught up into
paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful,
it's not possible for a man to utter. He doesn't say anything
about what he saw, so there's no need, there's no reason to
even speculate what he saw. He only mentions what he heard,
and what he heard was this, unspeakable words. Now, I tried to look and
tried to see what the apostle may have meant, and it either
meant that they were impossible to utter, unspeakable, either
unspeakable in the sense not possible to utter, or impossible
for men to comprehend, or both of them. He heard some things, and was
not able. It was impossible for him to
relate what he heard. It was impossible. It was an
impossible language. It was impossible words. You know, men, I'll say you will too on television
every once in a while, somebody's had one of these death experiences
and they died. They died on the operating table
or they or something like that. They were under the water for
a while and they actually died and went to heaven, they say.
And they come back and they're going to relate. They're going to say what they
heard and what they saw and something like that. This right here completely
exposes all of that to be a farce. That's not so. That is not so. Here's the Apostle Paul under
the inspiration of God's Spirit, caught up by God Himself, and
Paul said, I was there, in the body, out of the body, I don't
know, God knows. But I heard words that were unspeakable. Verse 5 says, That is, of such
an experience, is what he's talking about. Of such an experience
will I glory, yet of myself I'll not glory, but in mine infirmities. Paul knew, again, you notice
how often he continues to express, there's no merit in me. I am the recipient of God's grace. I am what I am by the grace of
God. A vessel of His mercy. And my, that takes the grace
of God. I know it does. Think of what
this man was taught. What the Lord was pleased to
show him. He knew that in himself he had
nothing to glory in. It was the thing that he gloried
in. was that this was the Lord's
revelation to him. And if there was going to be
any glorying, and I'll show you this and turn back to chapter
11 and verse 30. If there's any glorying, Paul
says, here's what I'll glory in. I'm going to glory in what
God has been pleased to teach me through infirmities. That's
what I'll glory in. I'm going to glory in what the
Lord taught me and saw fit to give me in infirmities. Look
at 2 Corinthians 11.30. If I must needs glory, I will
glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. Think about
what you've learned through experience. We don't really know anything,
as I've said before. You don't really know anything
until you go through it. You don't know how to relate to anything. Unless you've been there. Unless
you've actually been there. Unless you've experienced what
somebody's going through. And you say, well, I understand.
Well, you really don't. You don't know. Paul says, here's
what I know I can glory in. I glory in what the Lord was
pleased to teach me. Thankful that He was pleased
to teach me. Those things that He taught me
through trials, tribulations, infirmities. He says, for though,
verse 6, I would desire to glory, I know this. What he's saying
is, I know something about myself. If I chose to boast, whichever
man absolutely possesses an old heart to do so, and here's the
new man speaking, he said, I shall not be a fool. I will say the
truth. But now I forbear. I abstain. lest any man should think of
me above that which he seeth me to be or that he heareth of
me." I'm going to forbear lest that somebody would consider
me to be more than what I am. I said a while ago, a sinner
saved by the grace of God. Then 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." We want to know Him. We want to know. Hopefully last Sunday I tried
to deal with what we don't know. Paul said, oh, that I might know
him. And what we know, we know in
part. We see through a glass darkly.
And as soon as we think we know something about the Lord, we
realize just listening to the Lord speak to Job, we don't know
anything. We don't have anything to brag
about. We don't have any glory in save Jesus Christ and him
crucified that the Lord would show mercy. unto us. But I can tell you this, unto
whom much is given, much is required. The Apostle Paul was taught. Now these precious scriptures
that were written, Paul penned many of these epistles. And the
Lord taught that man much. And because of the much, And
the natural tendency of a man, if God teaches him something,
is to be lifted up in pride. That old nature of pride is with
us. It is of the devil. It's the
nature of Satan. It's the nature of Lucifer. Lifted up in pride. When God
Almighty cast him out of heaven, For this attitude, I will exalt
myself above the Most High. I will. I will. The nature of I will is the nature
of pride. And Paul said, because of these
glorious revelations, what were they? They're unspeakable. What did the Lord say to him?
We don't know. But I tell you, whatever he said
was needful. It was needful and expedient
for us to learn. We glean from what the Apostle
Paul was taught. 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, to buffet
me. I've read that many times. You have too. It's one of those
scriptures that we're real familiar with. But I got to looking at
the word buffet. Buffet. And I thought buffet. Satan to buffet me. And I thought
If somebody asked me, he said, what does Buffet mean? I would have said, well, slap with the hand. He said, lest I should be exalted
above measure through the abundance of the revelations that was given
to me of thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to...
Hey Paul, huh? To Buffet me. to slap me with
a hand, slap me, buffet me. So painful, so trying, so tormenting
were these buffetings. So readily was Paul's frailty
brought to the forefront to suppress pride. That was the reason. God
knew just exactly what Paul needed, lest I should be exalted above
measure. A messenger of Satan. And here
again, you know, we could, you know, I read all these, you know,
people say it was this, it was a, it was a, he had a problem
speaking. He couldn't, he couldn't, had
a, problem, some say it was this, some say it was that. The Apostle
Paul did not relate what it was. The Spirit of God didn't tell
us what it was. So to speculate on it is no need. Whatever it was, whatever it
was, the Apostle Paul knew why he had it. He realized, this
is why I'm going through what I'm going through. The Lord has
been pleased to give me this. It was not that the messenger
of Satan chose to buffet Paul. The scripture says that because
of the being exalted above measure through the abundance of revelation
there was given to me a thorn in the flesh. Who gave him that
thorn in the flesh? You know who gave it to him.
The same one that told Satan when he could go and set Job
in trials, tribulations, heartache. The Lord who rules and reigns
in this heart. The Lord who worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will. God gave it to him. And God gave it to him for a
particular reason. to suppress pride, arrogance,
and being exalted above measure. And Paul the apostle said in
verse eight, for this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might
depart from me. The Lord wisely knew Paul's need. I need to remember, all of us
do, to remember While we're going through these trials and tribulations,
these sufferings, weaknesses exposed in our bodies, in our
dealings with others and heartaches, while we're going through this,
there is a reason for it. The Lord does not send these
trials for no reason. It's for our good. lest we should
be exalted above measure. You think of what He's taught
His people concerning being chosen. Chosen in the beloved. Now let me tell you what the
old man is going to do with that. Well, I'm one of God's elect.
I'm one of God's elect. And a lot of those folks out
there aren't. unless we should be exalted above measure. The
Lord is going to send trials, tribulations, chastisements,
and it's going to be for our good. Paul said, I ask the Lord
to take it away. And here's the comfort. He said unto me, my grace is
sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect
in your weakness. My strength is set forth. My strength is glorified in you
being buffeted. It's good that we've been afflicted. It's good to be reminded. Paul said, the Lord has taught
me My grace is sufficient. When we go through whatever we're
going through, as I said at the beginning, may the Lord teach
me this truth right here. His grace is sufficient. His
grace is sufficient. His strength His might, His power,
His good pleasure is made perfect, set forth perfectly in our weakness. Lord, help me. A man in Christ,
a man in Christ is a taught man. A man in Christ is a humbled
man. A man in Christ is a man that
seeks God for deliverance, direction. A man in Christ is a man that
God hears. And a man, by the grace of God,
that bows to God's wise and merciful and compassionate will. Paul
said a man in Christ taught some things. The thing that he taught
me concerning those things that he revealed to me was that his
grace was sufficient to keep me in the midst of those gracious
trials that he sent me to suppress pride. Lord, bless these words
to our heart for Christ's sake.