May it please God to bless his
word to the prophet of our souls this evening. Let us turn to
the second epistle according to the Corinthians and read part
of chapter 12. The first, second epistle, rather,
according to the Corinthians and chapter 12. And we'll commence
at verse one. 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 an 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 an one will
I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. For 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, would
I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. We'll leave the reading there,
and now, as God may help us, we'll turn again to the Galatians
and continue our meditation in the fourth chapter. And that's
the fourth chapter of the Galatians, and this evening we'll read verses
12, 13, and 14. That's the fourth of Galatians,
and reading verses 12, 13, and 14. Brethren, I beseech you,
be as I am. For I am as ye are. Ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how through infirmity
of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my
temptations, which was in the flesh, ye despised not, nor rejected. but receive me as an angel of
God, even as Christ Jesus. As we continue our meditation
in the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, and as most of you
will remember, Paul's great concern is that the Galatians were not
to keep trying to return to the law, the law of Moses and the
ceremonial law, but to realise the great and glorious freedom
that there is in Christ. And therefore, as we come down
to this twelfth verse, or perhaps the eleventh verse, which we
meditated on before, which says, I am afraid of you, lest I have
bestowed upon you labour in vain. You see, what the Apostle had
done, he'd been at pains and at length to try and establish
the great and glorious freedom there was in Christ. And now
he comes, he says that he's afraid of them. lest he laboured in
vain. That means they hadn't listened
to what he'd been speaking. And of course he was under the
blessed influence of the Holy Spirit, so they should have listened
to him and they should have taken it to heart. But many of course
wanted to return to their own traditions. We have to be very
aware of these things, to be a a true follower of the Lord,
and not the follower of a tradition of man, which may be right in
some ways, and may often be right, but may have elements which are
not right and not God-honouring. And so Paul tells us that, and
then as he comes down he says, I'm afraid of you. He really
indicates even further, he's really concerned that they might
continue in those things which were not good. And now he comes
and says, brethren, I beseech you, be as I am.' Now the Apostle
had clearly displayed the work of grace in his heart and how
he'd been delivered from the law and brought into the glorious
Gospel of Jesus Christ. And therefore he addresses them
as brethren Although it would seem that many were not walking
in accordance with the words he'd spoken to them, yet there
was love in his word, and we should always remember that,
to love the brethren, and even if they do appear to err, to
not speak harshly, but to speak kindly and lovingly. And so he
says, brethren, I beseech you. And that again is a very powerful
statement. It wasn't just a mere desire,
he was really concerned. He says, I beseech you. be as I am." And he was, of course,
a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he had been shown
the glorious liberty there was in Christ. We can read so much
about the Apostle's life and the blessed influence he was
under through the Holy Spirit to bring him into that liberty.
So here he is speaking to these people, be as I am. He wasn't boasting
that he wanted people to follow himself, but he wanted to follow
the things that he had been taught, which were the true and blessed
gospel, and not to be left to follow those things which did
not profit. And then he goes on to say, for
I am as ye are. He was the same person as the
Jews and the Gentiles. He was the same flesh and blood.
He wasn't any different from that perspective. He hadn't suddenly
become a superhuman person. He was still under the blessed
influence of the power of Almighty God. And so he says, for I am
as ye are. And then he says, you've not
injured me at all. They may have been concerned,
perhaps, that through their condition, through their position, through
their statement, they might have injured him. Injured him, perhaps,
spiritually. But, you see, he was well-founded
in the Gospel, and his great concern was that the Gospel might
be spread far and wide, and those who were under the influence
of the Old Testament law and ceremonies might be delivered
from it and not returned to it. That's really his great thrust.
He comes on now and he says, You know how through infirmity
of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first, and my
temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected,
but received me as an angel of God. even as Christ Jesus. Now again, we're not told physically
what this was, but we are told it was an infirmity of the flesh. So it would seem it was therefore
likely to be a bodily affliction. But notwithstanding, although
he had that infirmity, he still preached the Gospel. That was
his life. What a blessing it was that the
Apostle was so taken up So whatever affliction or infirmity he had,
his great desire was to preach the gospel. And he did. I preached the gospel unto you
at the first. And he said, my temptations,
which was in my flesh, ye despised not. And we don't know what it
was. It may have been something which was not pleasant to look
at. But nonetheless, there it was,
and the apostle had to bear it and that's really why I read
this part of this twelfth chapter because the Apostle refers in
this to the affliction that he had and he tells us the reason
why he had it he said unless 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. You see, the Lord knows how to
balance everything in our lives. How to balance blessings with
hardships, and hardships with blessings. The Lord knows how
to perfectly balance these things. And of course, the Apostle was
wonderfully blessed. As we read, he was caught up
into the third heaven. and saw amazing things which
it wasn't right to tell people about and yet here we are told
he had this thorn in the flesh an infirmity and he said 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 but 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." What a wonderful statement that is. He was willing
to bear the infirmities, which were possibly those which are
referred to here. And glad he was that the Galatians,
although he had these infirmities, they didn't turn against him.
They didn't as though go by on the other side. they were willing
to receive him. And what a mercy that is to know
that. But receive me as an angel of
God, even as Jesus Christ. Indeed he was God's messenger
to declare the great and glorious gospel of Christ. So in these
verses, which are not very easy really to understand, may we
consider these points and recognize the relevance of them to the
Apostle Paul's case and written in the Word of God for the Church
of God in our lives. So sometimes we may come into
situations which we don't really understand, we don't really know
the reason for. Well, may we be able to come
and lay our life alongside those saints in the Word of God, and
perhaps the Apostle Paul, and therefore to recognise it is
the Lord, let him do. what seemeth him good.