Before I come back to these verses
that June has caused us to ponder, and I'd like to ponder them and
Lord willing ponder them again and again, but it's a glorious
description of the Lord's grace, its sufficiency, but it's also
a wonderful description of the Lord's work in the lives of His
people. And as I was singing that hymn,
I was thinking of the words that the Lord said to Jairus. Jairus, his daughter was dead.
They were having a whaling ceremony. I witnessed stacks of them in
India where there was just so much. The idea was that the more
whaling you did, the more beneficial it was for, I don't know whom,
but anyway. But in India you were trying
to sort of bring some blessing from whatever gods they were
looking to, but it was just, anyway. There's a serious wailing
going on and that the Lord Jesus Christ had said, don't be afraid. And then he says, believe only. Don't be afraid, believe only. The previous story, if you remember
in the Gospel accounts in Mark and Luke, is that the Lord Jesus
had been on his way to Jairus' house and he was interrupted.
He was interrupted and the interruption would have caused Jairus and
the family that were anxious about the daughter great consternation
because he stopped. There was a crowd, wasn't there?
And there was a lady who came into that crowd and she'd been
bleeding for 12 years and no doubt she'd done all the religious
things she could and no doubt she'd done all the medical things
she could and she only ever got worse. And she believed, didn't
she? She said, if I may touch his
clothes, I shall be whole. And the Lord Jesus allowed her and brought her to
himself and she touched the hem of his garment. He is the high
priest and that anointing oil goes down to the hem of the garment.
And so it's a picture of him being the one that carries his
people into the very courts of God. And she was immediately
healed of that plague. And the Lord Jesus said, knowing in himself that virtue
had gone out of him, power and sympathy and empathy had gone
out of him. And there was a communication
between the Lord Jesus Christ and that woman that no one else
there knew. And such is the Lord's dealings
with his people. And such is the prayer of all
of God's servants that that virtue that goes out of him that he
and she knew about. Peter didn't know about it. No
one else in that crowd knew about it. There is a secret operation
of God, the Holy Spirit, in the hearts of God's people. And it's
a blessed thing to be a witness to it. And we just glimpse it,
but it is a secret and a special thing. The Lord allowed our dear
sister June to touch him and virtue went out of him and went
to her. And that's exactly what salvation
is, isn't it? It is that special communication
between the Lord Jesus Christ and his own. So turn with me
back after that introduction to 2 Corinthians 12. And I want us to, and in light
of the difficult situation that Kay and Rob and their family
are facing as well at this time, I want us to meditate once more
on these amazing verses that We were led of God by his work
in our Sister June to contemplate and he said unto me in the midst
of all of the trials, in the midst of all of the opposition
that he had, it's extraordinary isn't it, the apostle to the
Gentiles as the other apostles and as all of the Lord's servants
throughout time have always had to prove that they were the genuine
article. They always have their position
as God's servants challenged by people. And it's an extraordinary
thing, isn't it? This remarkable man who had this
remarkable testimony and this remarkable life and this remarkable
witness of the Lord Jesus Christ should in the churches have to
defend himself. It's a shocking thing, isn't
it, to contemplate? It is a reminder to us of how
precious the true church is and how rare it is and wherever the
true church is there is more opposition to it than anything
else. And the apostles were led and the early churches were led
through all of these things in the time of the writing of the
scriptures so that we would now have the the comfort of what
was written, because when our experiences are their experiences,
we have that comfort. When our joys are their joys,
we have that comfort and we have that joy and peace of believing. He says, My grace is sufficient
for thee, for my strength is made perfect in you, weakness.
I'm going to make you weak, Paul. I'm going to make you weak. I'm
going to make you weak. And look how often he was made
Paulingly weak. Most gladly therefore will I
rather glory in mine infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. He says in verse 13, in that
same chapter, he says, For though he was crucified, verse 4 of
chapter 13 if you're on the same page, for though he was crucified
through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also
are weak in him. The challenge of the false teachers
is always their extraordinary ability, their extraordinary
charismatic personality, the power of all of the things that
they do and say and the extraordinary numbers and influence that they
have on people. Men of the flesh are always drawn to the things
of the flesh and find the things that they would like to have
exalted in themselves when they see that in others. They think,
wow, this must be God at work. This must be God at work. And yet, where was God? He was
always in the weak, wasn't he? He was always in the small. So
these letters are written for us and these experiences that
these apostles went through so that when the scriptures are
written and John puts the pen down at the end of Revelation
22, it's finished and all we ever need for the rest of our
time here is just what God has said. These are his words to
us. He says, therefore, in verse
10, and we haven't looked at this in any detail, but he says,
therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, which means want
of strength and just weakness, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses. And I want us to spend some time
contemplating these next three words. For Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am
strong. So let's just look at these things
that Paul is taking pleasure in. Infirmities, that means want
of strength, lack of strength. Weakness, feebleness, in health
or in sickness. Want of strength and capacity
to understand things. Want of strength, lack of strength
to do great and glorious things. Lack of strength to restrain
corrupt desires. As much as we ought to restrain
them, we find ourselves, like Paul, caught up in things that
are embarrassing and sinful and wicked. We don't have the strength
to bear any of it, do we? We just don't have strength.
And if we're made weak, we're made strong. We don't have the
strength to bear the trials and troubles. I'm glad, he says,
I'm glad that I'm weak, for Christ's sake. I'm glad that I have a
lack of strength, for Christ's sake. I'm glad, for Christ's
sake, of reproaches. Reproaches. That word is the
word from which we get our English word hubris. And the reproaches
come from people who are proud and haughty and insulting. At talks of injury,
mental injury, words hurt, brothers and sisters, and he was attacked
in the most vicious way. How on earth could you, so weak
and so pathetic in your looks, be an apostle of God Almighty? When we are so weak, we are so
strong and so proud. I boast, I'm glad and I take
pleasure in infirmities for Christ's sake. I take pleasure in I take
pleasure in what comes from the pride and haughtiness and insolence
of men who claim to be believers around me. I take pleasure for
Christ's sake. I take pleasure for Christ's
sake in necessities. in a calamitous state. It means
to be in distresses, it means to be constrained by the circumstances
where you have no other place to go but God Almighty has to
take you there. He says in 2 Corinthians 6 verse
4, But in all things approving ourselves as minister of God
in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
for Christ's sake. Don't forget it's all for Christ's
sake. You can go through all of these things in this world
for your sake. These are for Christ's sake.
This is for Christ's sake. This is because you stand up
in this world and proclaim the gospel of free and sovereign
grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. I, for Christ's sake, take pleasure
in persecutions. I take pleasure in persecutions. Not in my flesh, but for Christ's
sake. When I'm persecuted for Christ's
sake, I can take pleasure in it. For Christ's sake. For Christ's
sake. I can take pleasure in distresses
for Christ's sake. That means to be in extreme affliction
and anguish for Christ's sake, for Christ's sake. Because Christ
has taken me here. Christ has led me here for Christ's
sake, for Christ's sake. The apostles Eleven of the twelve apostles
were put to death for their faith. The only one that lived to a
ripe old age is John. Paul lived to an old age, but
John's the only one that didn't suffer at the end. And our brothers
and sisters throughout history have been through this and they
have, they with the presence of God with them endured all
of those things for Christ's sake. The first three centuries
of church history until the church became the official religion
of the Roman Empire and began its very, very serious decline,
every generation of believers knew other believers who were
put to death for standing up for Christ's sake. And if a believer
was put in jail, the only way he survived in jail is that you
had to go and feed him, which means you had to identify with
him. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, I love the fact that
it was characterised in an empire, in an evil empire, in which 50%
of the population were slaves and had no right to their lives
at all. The Church was characterised by its membership of slaves and
women. And it was one of the criticisms
of the church that slaves and women, the weak people of this
world, had found a home in the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he does that, doesn't he, to bring the world down, to show
that his power is sufficient and the power of Christ rests
upon those people. For when I am weak, Brothers
and sisters, we will suffer afflictions. It's appointed unto you. It is given. It is given in behalf
of Christ, not only for you to believe, but to suffer for his
sake. For his sake. For the sake of
his names. That's what he promised his disciples
that night in the Last Supper, isn't it? He said, they'll persecute
you because they persecuted me and they'll persecute you for
my name's sake. For my name's sake. Blessed. It's a blessing of God when people
separate from you. Listen to the blessing that he
speaks of in Luke chapter 6. He says, blessed are you. That means to be in a happy and
enviable state. Blessed are you when men shall
hate you, when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you and cast
you out, and cast out your name as evil for the son of man's
sake. There is no home for the child
of God in the religion of this world. There is no home for the
child of God in the place where this world is esteemed. So Paul
I just want us to remember this is for Christ's sake. This is
for Christ's sake. This is our afflictions, the
afflictions of the children of God come to us by the power of
God. We are fools, he says. We are fools, 1 Corinthians 4.10. We are fools in the world's eyes,
aren't we? We are fools for Christ's sake. The world considers us fools
for Christ's sake. You're wise in Christ, and we
are weak. You are strong, you false teachers,
and you are honourable. That's how the religious world,
the professing Christian world... So don't forget the context,
isn't it? They are in an empire that is evil. They are in an
empire that is evil and it's religious. The whole world is
religious. The whole world has a faith system of some sort.
The idea that someone doesn't live by some sort of faith is
a nonsense, isn't it? Everyone believes something about
what they're doing is worthy in some way at all. Anyway, there
is. So this is a religious world
that we live in. a world that is a spiritual world,
a world that is taken captive by Satan to do his will among
them. And the darkness of that world
is there to reflect the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and
to reflect the way he takes his people and he keeps them and
he preserves them in the midst of all of the enemies who are
around them and in the midst of all of what's within them.
For Christ's sake, when I am weak, When I am weak, then I am strong. For Christ's sake. He says in
Romans 15, he says now, verse 30, Now I beseech you, brethren,
for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit,
that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for
me. For Christ's sake. For Christ's
sake. Strive together. Ephesians 4.32
is one of my favourite verses in the Bible and I pray that
the Lord writes it on my heart and causes it to be my response. And he says, Be ye kind, be ye
kind to one another, be ye kind to one another, be you sympathetic,
be you empathetic to one another. You're sinners. I'm a sinner,
brothers and sisters. I need to be treated with the
gentleness of a sinner who's weak. tender-hearted, be kind,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, has forgiven you. The Lord Jesus Christ and his body
is united together. You cannot expect that you'll
walk through this world and not go through the same things that
he and his apostles went through. He says in Colossians 1.24, he
says, Now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which
is behind in the afflictions of Christ. When the Lord Jesus
Christ was afflicted, When his people are afflicted, he is afflicted
as well, isn't he? The afflictions of the Lord Jesus
Christ in a sense to his body will not finish until this world
is finished, is it? Until the last is done. Paul
bore in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. He bore
that which was a testimony to the afflictions that he suffered.
He bore that which was a testimony to his weakness. This world can
take him and beat him to a pulp if they wish to. I just love
it. Anyway, I love what he says when
he's weak. What a great way to think about
how we are to live in this world and how precious it is for the
children of God to be the children of God in this world. For when
I am weak, For when I am weak, then I am
strong. That is the word of God, isn't
it? When I am weak. He goes on to say, in that verse
that we read in the next one, he's nothing. Paul was reduced
to a nothing. Abraham, the father of the faithful,
was reduced right down. What did Abraham declare himself
to be? I am but dust and ashes. Isaiah
was reduced, wasn't he? Isaiah was reduced to a man of
unclean lips, a man who pronounced woe upon himself. Job was reduced,
wasn't he? to a nothing. I'm just vile,
I'm just vile. I see what I am in the presence
of God. Isaiah and Daniel, you go through
the saints in the Bible, they're reduced. John the Baptist was
reduced. He must increase and I must decrease. The Lord Jesus Christ is determined
to get all the glory in the salvation of all of his people, and he
says he takes the nothings. God has chosen the foolish things
of the world, 1 Corinthians 1.27, to confound the wise. God has
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty, and the base things of the world. And the
things which are despised, it means the things that are set
at nothing. God has chosen and raised the
things that are not to bring to naught the things that are.
God's way of dealing is to bring his people down so that his glory
would be revealed in his grace and his mercy and his love. And
we will be brought to the place, brothers and sisters, by our
Heavenly Father when we have no power in this world whatsoever. And then how strong are we? How
strong are we? The day of our greatest strength
is the day of our greatest weakness. It's glorious, isn't it? Nothing
in myself, but I'm a new creature in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm
nothing in power, but I'm strong in Him. I haven't got any righteousness
and it's the glorious liberty of the children of God is that
I have no righteousness and yet I have perfect righteousness
before God. I have no obedience to the law
of God and I've got perfect obedience to the law of God. I have no
holiness in myself and I have perfect holiness before God.
I have no Nothing in me that would want to be declared as
love for God, and yet I have perfect love in the Lord Jesus
Christ for him. When I'm nothing in usefulness,
I'm useful in him. When I'm nothing in my doings,
I can do all things through him who strengthens me. When I'm
nothing in esteem of men, I'm highly esteemed in him. I'm nothing
in this world. I've got an existence in the
world to come. My home's not here, brothers
and sisters. My destiny's not here. I'm nothing
in my father Adam, but I'm an heir of the universe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. How wealthy are we? Why run around
after the trinkets of this world and make them special? I find
it very difficult to love myself, but I'm loved in the Beloved.
I'm accepted in the Beloved. I'm graced in the Beloved. I
just wanted to close with this story which I've read for you
before. I got some copies of it. My printer was wickedly disobedient
this morning, so I ended up printing more. This is the story that's
told of a huckster. He was called Jack, was a poor,
wicked fellow who'd gone about from village to village swearing,
drinking, huckstering, perhaps stealing, pilfering. Some thought
him half-witted, but the story would show his mind to be sound
enough. He heard a poor woman singing
somewhere. I am a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. He remembered the
words, and what was better, he felt their sense. He kept on
humming them to himself till God's good spirit engraved them
on his heart. And there they were recorded,
and Jack was a new man and a saved man. And so he attempted to join
himself to the church, but the brethren looked suspiciously
at him and inquired, what's your experience, Jack? He said he
had no experience but this, I am a poor sinner and nothing at
all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. The good elders properly
asked, are you converted? Have you been born again? And
Jack replied, I don't know much about these things, but this
I do know and I'm sure of. I am a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. They put him back
for a while to see if he would grow in his knowledge. But he
never went an inch beyond that first standard. He knew what
he did know, and he held fast. I am a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. Well, they must take
him into the church, and they couldn't refuse a man with such
a confession of faith. And he was in the church walking
with the brethren. He was happier than the rest of them, which
they greatly marveled. And one said to him, Brother
Jack, don't you sometimes feel doubt and fears? Doubt, he said.
What do you mean? I never doubt that I am a poor
sinner and nothing at all, for I have daily proofs of it. Why
should I doubt? And why should I doubt that Jesus
Christ is my all in all? Because he says he is, and I
must believe him. Ah well, said one, sometimes
I enjoy good frames and feelings and get very happy, and I lose
them and sink in spirit. And Jack answered, I never get
lower than I am, for I am down at the bottom, a poor sinner
and nothing at all. And I cannot get lower than that,
can I? But I'm also at the top, for Jesus Christ is my all in
all. And I cannot get higher than
that, can I? They tried him in many ways with
their blessed experience, of which you and I have got cartloads,
perhaps wagonloads, but he could not be drawn out of one firm
position. They tried him with their various
attainments, depressions, anxieties, quibbles and questions, but still
the huckster would not budge. He had bought the truth and would
not sell it, so he stuck to it. I am a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. I love what the proverb
says, isn't it? The rabbits are feeble folk,
yet they have their habitations among the rocks. They are safe,
but they keep to their hiding place. Just wanted to read a
few words that's But if you and I, brethren, are
poor sinners and nothing at all, we may with firm and resolute
grip lay hold of the other line. But Jesus Christ is my all in
all. Christ's fullness is meant for our emptiness. Christ's righteousness
is meant for our sin. Salvation is for the lost. When you and I are no longer
sinners, Christ is no longer our Saviour. When you and I no
more need Him, then we shall not have Him. Our need is our
warrant. And if that be gone, all is gone. Jesus did not bleed and die to
be superfluous to us. He came to meet a grim necessity. As long as we are nothing, Christ
is our all in all and we may be sure of that, that it is just
the gospel in a nutshell. I want to preach that same gospel
this morning in the hope that after days this word may be scattered
far and wide and some jack, the huckster or someone like him
may find himself to be utterly empty and undone and may then
know that Christ is ordained to be his salvation. Jesus came
into the world to save real sinners, not sham sinners, for he is a
real and not a pretended saviour. He saves those who always confesses
of sin, always needy in themselves and therefore always glad of
him. Even in their best state, the saved ones need the Lord. Even when we walk, even if we
walk in the light as God is in the light and have fellowship
with Him, we still sin. And still the blood of Jesus
Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. May the Lord bless
His words to our hearts and with thankfulness to our dear, dear
sister who's been rejoicing. I don't know what eternity's
like. I don't know what it's like to
live in a place where there is no time. But that's our destiny,
brothers and sisters, poor sinners, and a glorious savior who saves. He just saves, doesn't he? He
really saves. Amen.