Our text this evening is found
in our second reading, 2nd Corinthians chapter 12, and I'll read again verses 2,
3 and 4. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 12,
reading verses 2, 3 and 4, I knew a man in Christ about 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
or as the margin says which it is not possible for a man to
utter although He speaks in the third
person. It is evident from the context
that the Apostle is really speaking of himself. He goes on at verse
7 to make mention of the abundance of the revelations that were
granted to him. And what we've just read in our
text is clearly a most remarkable revelation that was granted to
this particular individual. Verse 7 Paul says, 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. And so, speaking in the third
person, The Apostle refers to himself and his own experience
and the subject I want us to consider is the exalting and
the humbling nature of this experience. It might sound somewhat paradoxical
but it's a truth, is it not? He was exalted and yet in that
He was also humbled, Paul's humbling experience. It has been observed
as the whole passage sets before us that humiliation which will
accomplish the experience of the grace of God. There are other
parts of the Pauline Epistles, as you know, where he also makes
some reference to himself, in Romans chapter 7, and again in
the opening two chapters of the Epistle to the Galatians. Furthermore,
in Philippians chapter 3, we see how this man who is a pattern
to them which should hereafter believe. He is a typical believer
as he declares when writing in 1st Timothy chapter 1. He is
moved in by the Spirit of God in writing these various epistles
to relate something of his own experiences because there is
that in Paul's experience. There are those various principles
that are applicable to all believers. Now, here writing to the Corinthians
in the second epistle we see how he is forced by the circumstances
that had arisen in the church at Corinth he is forced to defend
himself against false teachings and in the course of defending
himself he also has to commend himself He begins chapter 11
by saying, would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly
and indeed bear with me. He was not a man who really wanted
to be speaking of himself. He's loath to do such a thing. And so it's not surprising that
we see something of his modesty in the words that we've read
as our text in which he speaks in the third person. He doesn't
identify himself directly. It's as if he's speaking of another
person. So modest is Paul. But let us
look at what he is declaring in these verses. I knew a man
in Christ about fourteen 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 or it is not possible for a man
to speak. First of all then here he speaks
of the revelation how he was granted such a remarkable manifestation
of God himself. The Lord was pleased to reveal
himself to Paul And here we must mark the significance of these
parentheses that we have, these bracketed words which are to
be found both in verse 2 and again in verse 3. Whether in the body I cannot
tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth. these tell us something of what
he had experienced. It wasn't really a visionary
thing. It wasn't a visionary thing at
all. It was a revelation in his soul. It was a manifestation
that wasn't to do with his physical being. He didn't see some remarkable
light or anything like that. the Lord Jesus says, behold the
kingdom of God is within you and so it was here, the Lord
gave him some inward revelation and so he says he doesn't know
whether he was in the body or out of the body, it's not a bodily
thing that's not the important thing it was something that pertained
to the soul of Paul, it was an inward work of God. Now we know
from what he writes in the opening chapter of the epistle to the
Galatians that there was certainly such a revelation granted in
his soul when he was first called by the grace of God. There in
The opening chapter of that epistle, verse 11, he says, I certify
you brethren that the gospel which was preached of me is not
after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught
it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. How was this gospel
revealed to him? Well, he goes on to say later,
verse 15, He pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me. It's something inward. It was
an inward work of the Spirit of God, a revelation of the gospel
in his soul. He pleased God to reveal His
Son, Paul says, in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen
it was what God himself showed to him and that is ever the case
true religion is always a revelation and Paul as I said is a pattern
believer it wasn't just the experience of Paul something inward it was
also the experience of Peter back in Matthew chapter 16 when
he makes the confession that Caesarea Philippi Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the Living God. Remember how the Lord then
says to Peter, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee. Nothing to do with flesh and
blood, not some physical thing. Flesh and blood hath not revealed
it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. All this manifestation, what
is it? It is Christ, and it is Christ in you. The hope of glory. Now, we might ask, when was it? When
was it that Paul had this experience that he writes of? We know much
of his history from what we read in the Acts of the Apostles.
Is there any mention of what he's writing of here there in
the historic accounts that Luke gives us of Paul's ministry? Well, there are those who say
that he is here referring to events that occurred at Lystra
in Acts chapter 14, in that portion that we read. There seems to
be some evidence, it's reckoned that this epistle, the second
epistle to the Corinthians was written in the year 60, 60 AD,
and Paul was ministering at Lystra some 14 years previously. He was ministering at Lystra,
they reckon, in the year 46. So he's writing here in the year
60 and he says, I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago. Now, what was his experience
there at Lystra? Well, we saw how he was stoned
and he was actually left for dead. They thought he was a dying
man. There in verse 19 of that 14th
chapter of the Acts, there came thither certain Jews from Antioch
and Iconium who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul,
drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Albeit as the disciples stood
round about him, he rose up and came into the city. and the next
day he departed with Barnabas to Durban. It was that experience
where he was being stoned, where he was being left for dead, whether
in the body or out of the body. I cannot tell his sins. And if that was the case, it
was a very bitter experience to be stoned. And yet we see
how in all the bitterness of that experience he has this remarkable
revelation granted to him. Such a manifestation of Christ
in his own soul at that very point. And doesn't this accord
with God's dealings in other cases? Think of what happened
to Stephen. We have the account of his martyrdom
there in Acts chapter 7. And remember what he experiences
on the very point of dying. He says, Behold, I see heaven
opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. How
he was blessed, so blessed, so favoured in his soul. as he came
to die. Oh, we trust that in some measure
it might well have been the experience of our late brother Eugene Scottiefield. We know from visiting him and
conversation with him that he was at times favored in his soul.
He was very much rejoicing in God's goodness that ever he had
saved him, as our brother Cliff mentioned in prayer at the Lord's
table this morning. how he could testify to the goodness
of God and the sovereignty of that grace of God that took him
from the downhill and reconciled him to himself. God reconciled him to
himself in that precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. How
God, you see, is one who favours his people in their darkest hours
Isaiah tells us how he stayeth his wrath wind in the day of
his east wind. How God's ways are equitable
when he deals with us, when he brings us into difficulties,
trying circumstances. All things, naturally speaking,
might seem to be against the people of God and yet, In such
situations time and again God comes very close and makes himself
very real in the souls of his children. And this was a remarkable
experience of Paul. That's why I referred to the
margin reading there in verse 4 when he says that he heard
unspeakable words which it is not lawful The Martin said it
is not possible, he couldn't explain it, he couldn't find
words adequate to explain what he had experienced of the goodness
and the grace of God. All this remarkable revelation,
it was something really unspeakable. And in a sense that we might
say directs us to another truth. that whilst here we have Paul
writing of something that he'd experienced, a revelation that
was granted to him in his soul, a spiritual experience, yet here
he would, in a sense, direct us to that revelation that is
inscripturated, that revelation of God that we have here before
us in the letter of Holy Scripture. He says in verse 2, how he was
caught up. He was caught up to the third
heaven, he says. Now, what is the third heaven? Well, scripture speaks of three
heavens. There is the lower heavens, the
atmosphere that surrounds this planet Earth and is it not spoken
of there by Elihu in Job 35 and verse 5 look unto the heavens
he says and see behold the clouds which are higher than thou He
refers to the atmosphere, the azure blue sky that we see on
a beautiful summer's day, and then the clouds appear. That,
we might say, is the lower heavens. Then, of course, there is the
second heavens. There is that that is beyond,
that that is stellar space. When we look out into the vastness
of the universe. And the psalmist speaks of those
second heavens. He says the firmament showeth
the handiwork of God. Day unto day, night unto night
showeth knowledge. The firmament is referring to
the vastness of the universe. The sun, the moon, the stars. That is outer space, we might
say. But what the apostle refers to
here is neither the lower heavens nor the second heavens. He calls
it the third heavens. It is the heaven of heaven. And
when Solomon prays to God at the dedication of the temple
in 1 Kings chapter 80, he refers to that as the abode of God.
God dwells in the heaven of heavens. God dwells outside of time. God dwells outside of space.
God is the eternal one. Oh, what a remarkable experience
this was. If the commentators are right,
in saying that it was in what he experienced at Lystra when
he was stoned and left for dead he was caught up in the paradise that's what he says in verse
4 he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words which
it is not lawful not possible for a man to speak this experience is profound but
it's so difficult to speak of and yet he says here that though there were words
that to him were unspeakable and not lawful to be spoken not possible
to be spoken yet the implication is that there is a word a word
that is spoken a revelation that God has granted to us here in
Holy Scripture, there is a more sure word of prophecy. Why those
favored disciples who were with the Lord Jesus Christ on the
Mount of Transfiguration, when they were favored to see beyond
the veil of His humiliation, they saw beyond the the human
nature of Christ, they saw something of the glories of his deity,
they saw that he truly was the eternal Son of God and remember
what Peter says, writing in his first epistle, there in 1 Peter
1 at verse, sorry 2 Peter I should say, 2
Peter chapter 1 and verse 17, Peter writes, concerning the
Lord Jesus, have we received from God the Father honour and
glory when there came to him, when there came such a voice
to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. That was the voice that they
heard. Peter and James and John, they were with him there and
they heard that voice of God the Father, this is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him, it says in the Gospel.
And Peter says, this voice which came from heaven, we heard when
we were with Him in the Holy Mount. But then he goes on, we
have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well
that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place,
until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts, knowing
this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private
interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost." What is this more sure word of
prophecy? It is that word in Scripture.
It is that that the Holy Spirit himself gained when he inspired
those holy men. For this, friends, is the word
that we are really ultimately directed to. Yes, thank God for
such an experience as the Apostle is writing of and was favoured
to experience. But we're not to be those who
would be visionaries. we should ever come to the word
of God and test everything by the word of God to the law and
to the testimony if there is no light in them it is because they are ignorant
they are ignorant of the word of God we have this word, this
sure word of prophecy and what we want is that God himself,
God by his spirit would come in his words and reveal Himself by and through
His Word that it might be to us that engrafted Word or that
implanted Word we want more than the Word of God on the page of
Holy Scripture we want to know and feel something of its power
and its authority in our souls we want it to become meat and
drink to us in our experience Here then we see how Paul speaks
of this great favour, this great blessing that the Lord was pleased
to grant to him. And yet I want to say something
more about how Paul handles the whole situation. How we see so
much of his humility, his modesty. As I said at the outset, where
there is that real experience of the grace of God, it will
humble a man in his soul. We see how that Paul delayed
speaking of these things for many years. Never any inkling
of what he had known. I knew a man in Christ, he says,
above 14 years ago. And now, he speaks. Why does he speak? Simply because
he is having to defend himself and very reluctantly we go back
to chapter 11 verse 17 that which I speak he says I speak it not
after the Lord but as it were foolishly in this confidence
of boasting seeing that many glory after the flesh I will
glory also for ye suffer fools gladly seeing yourselves are
wise For ye suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour
you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man
smite you on the face. He's speaking of the false teachers
who had come in and stolen the hearts of these Corinthians and
turned them against Paul, who was a true apostle. Why they
were questioning his own apostleship. This is why he has to speak and
has to speak of his own experiences. He tells them here at verse 12,
"...truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all
patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds." Why how is
his apostleship was authenticated by those signs that did follow
his ministry there in their midst. Writing in chapter 9 of the first
epistle, he asks, am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ
our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord? If I be not an apostle unto others,
yet doubtless I am to you. For the seal of mine apostleship
are ye in the Lord." Why they were the very evidence that he
was the Lord's servant, the Lord's apostle. He's having then to defend himself
here. and so very reluctantly he's
relating something of his own experiences he's not making a
parade, he's not a big ego trick but there's lessons for us to
learn, there are those times when we need to speak and not
to be silent you see what they're doing here,
they're not only questioning his authority as an apostle,
but it appears that they would even query the reality of his
conversion. We go into chapter 13 there at
verse 5, he says, examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith. Prove
your own selves. No, you're not your own selves.
now that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates but I
trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates." Or there
were some who questioned the truth of the Apostles conversion. Was he a man who had really known
the grace of God? Now these false teachers had
come and as the instruments of Satan had
drawn them away from the ministry of this man who is able to speak
with authority as a true apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ a man
who had had a remarkable experience of the grace of God and not just
at the beginning as we said he writes of the beginning of his
experience there to the Galatians when the Gospel was first revealed
to him but he had subsequent experiences you see how in verse
7 he uses the plural he speaks of the abundance of the revelations
that was given to him how we need that living experience,
that ongoing experience when people give a word of testimony,
often they think that a word of testimony is confined just
to that first work of grace that they believe that they have experienced
at the good hand of God, but we need a testimony that is ongoing. If we are those who are walking
with the Lord, will He not be revealing Himself to us? Paul
is speaking of himself, yes, we see his humility, he is so
loath to speak in this fashion but he must do so see what he says at verse 5 he
says of such and one will I glory this is this man that he's spoken
of in the third person of such and one will I glory yet of myself
I will not glory but in mine infirmities. He doesn't really
want them to understand that this is altogether himself that
he's speaking of. He doesn't want to glory in anything
of himself. But we're not to think that in
any way he is a man who despises his experiences. As we've said
in several of the epistles, he has the right of his experiences.
And he had experiences. And the The psalmist says, those
familiar words in Psalm 66, come and hear all ye that fear God
and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. It is not wrong
to declare what God has done for our souls. In no way is Paul
condemning that sort of word of testimony. We are to be ready, says Peter,
always to give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of the
hope that is within us." Or do we have a hope? Well, let us
be those who would be ready to speak of that hope, not wanting
to berate ourselves. We've known something of this
grace of God that Paul is speaking of. He delights speaking, and he does it simply because
of that humility that had come with his experience of the grace
of God. And when he does speak, he speaks
indirectly. He doesn't identify himself. It's interesting, he just refers
to a man. I knew a man. Ah, but that man,
he says, was in Christ. And then he goes on to speak
in the third person. Well, the great thing with this
man, you see, is the fact that he's in Christ. What was the
ministry of Paul? Well, he tells his Corinthians
in the very opening chapter of his first epistle, I determine
not to know anything among you, he says. Save Jesus Christ and
him crucified. That was his determination, not
to speak of himself. He just wants to speak to them
of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus. Not to know anything,
say, Jesus Christ. There's the person. There's the
promised one, the Messiah. His human name is Jesus. He is
God. And he is God manifest in the
flesh. That's the great mystery. of godliness that's the person of the Lord
Jesus but not only is his determination to know Jesus Christ but also
he says and him crucified him crucified, there's the work of
the Lord Jesus his obedience, he was obedient unto death even
the death of the cross He's obedient in the life that he lives. He's
obedient in the death that he dies. This is all Paul wishes
to speak of. Again, here in chapter 4, he
says, we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ, the Lord. Oh, he doesn't want to speak
of himself then. He wants to speak of Christ, this man who's
in Christ. this man to whom Christ is all
and in all. But now he is brought to recognize
this that he's been so favored, so blessed that now he must experience
the buffetings of Satan. That's what he says here at verse
7, 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." Why, it's an experience of exaltation, but
ultimately, it's an experience of humiliation. He, together with Barnabas, had
said to those men who would have done them homage, we read it
there in Acts chapter 14, They referred to Barnabas as Jupiter,
and they referred to Paul, the chief speaker, as Mercury. But what do they say? We are
men of like passions with you. We're but men. And now, in spite
of all this experience, Paul is reminded of his humanity,
his mortality. There was given me a thorn in
the flesh, he says, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I
should be exalted above measure. All the buffetings. The buffetings
of Satan. It's interesting that what we
have here, the verb to buffet, is derived from the noun for
the knuckles, or the fist. That's the buffeting, it's a
fist fight. Corinth was, as we know, a Grecian city, and these
in the church at Corinth would be familiar with those ancient
Grecian games, and amongst other things there would have been
fistfights, pugilists, and this is what Paul is speaking
of. This is how Satan attacked him,
assaulted him, buffeted him. all these trials that came upon
him he was mauled by Satan and he was so mauled he could hardly
at times discern any of the features of the work of God in his own
soul in Romans chapter 7 we see how
he speaks there of not only the maulings of Satan but that old
nature The good that I would, I do, not the evil that I would,
not that I do. Oh, wretched man, he found himself
to be a wretched man. He has his thorn in the flesh,
whatever that may have been. But he, in all of this, was given
such a sight of himself. And it was a terrible thing,
it is a terrible thing, when we get a true sight of ourselves,
what we are, by nature, what we are, as those who are sinners
before God. It's a terrible thing. to see
ourselves. And when Satan came and buffeted
him and so disfigured him, what could he see now of that image
of God that had been restored in his soul as a true believer? The hymn writer says when we
get that sight of self Shocked at the sight, we straight cry
out, can ever God dwell here? Or can ever God be in such a
heart as this? This is how Paul is being humbled. Yes, he'd had that remarkable
vision, that revelation, that manifestation granted to him,
but now he is made to see something of himself. And what does he say at the end
of verse 11, though I be nothing? That's what he's brought to see
in himself as zero. A nothing. A cipher. And it's all part of his experience.
It's all part of his experience of the grace of God being exalted,
but not exalted above measure. Oh no, there must also be that
that will humble him. And yet how profitable it all
is because it brings him to this. He is moved to pray to God, to
plead with God. He says as much in verse 8, for
this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from
him. He wants this messenger of Satan
buffeting him. He wants this to depart from
him. And the word that he uses means to draw away, to stand
off. We can think again of the boxing
match with pugilists. This fist fight. And now the
referee must step in and part them. Tell them to stand off. He wants God himself then to
appear. I besought the Lord. Oh, he wants
this thing to depart from him. He wants to be delivered. But
what do we see here? Satan, you see, is no free agent. In all of this he is brought
to recognize the absolute sovereignty of God. We know that Satan is
no free agent. In that remarkable book of Job,
both in chapter 1 at verse 12 and then again in chapter 2 at
verse 6, we see that for the devil to do anything with Job
he must first obtain permission from the Lord. He comes, it says,
and he appears amongst the sons of God. It's God who is in these
things. That's the great mystery of the
sovereignty of God. It is absolute. Shall there be
evil in the city, says the prophets, and hath not the Lord done it?
Any calamitous thing? It's the Lord. We have to recognize
God's sovereignty and Paul does that. And so, in all of these
experiences, there is great profit to this man's soul. He himself
is humbled in it. And the Lord God is the one who
is exalted. Always remember this, that in
all of these things as we've said, there is a pattern. As he says there in 1 Peter 1.16,
he is a patent to them which should hereafter believe. He's a type. And there are those
profitable principles that we can draw from this man's experience. We won't have that same depth
of experience. I don't believe for a moment
we will. He was an apostle. And the church
is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, no more prophets,
no more apostles. The foundation has been laid,
laid here in the New Testament. But when we read the writings
of this man, all there is that we can draw from his experience. Can we not plead with God that
we might be favoured in a similar fashion, that we might know such
gracious manifestations, the Lord coming and making himself
real, even those times when we find ourselves in such dire circumstances. We have many fears without There
are many fightings within, but to know that in such circumstances
the Lord oftentimes is pleased to come and to grant such a gracious
revelation of himself. Oh, the Lord then, grant that
we might know something of the man, the woman, who is found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That that might be you, and that
that might be I knew a man, he says, in Christ. May the Lord
grant his blessing upon his work. Amen.