and let us turn to God's word
in that portion that we've read and the words I want to center
your attention upon for a while this evening are found in the
12th chapter 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 and the end of verse
11 those four words though I be
nothing, but we read the verse, 2 Corinthians 12, verse 11, I
am become a fool in glorying, ye have compelled me, for I ought
to have been commended of you, for in nothing am I behind the
very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. It is a great privilege and a
real answer to prayer to have the opportunity to stand here
to minister God's words once again and I do indeed thank you
all for your prayerful concern over these past days and weeks
and I must say how thankful one is to have two faithful deacons
who have stood in the breach as it were together with young
Andrew Robinson and so the ministry has been maintained here at Salem. During that period of ill health
and at times one felt very weak I was drawn to read this particular
chapter thinking of course of the words that we have in the
previous 10th verse where Paul speaks of his own weakness, but
that strength that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. I take
pleasure in infirmities, he says, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I
am weak, then am I strong. Well, I felt something of the
weakness that i didn't feel i could go on to say with the apostle
then am i strong but as i read on i was so struck by the words
that i've announced for a text these words at the end of the
11th verse so i'd be nothing because that was really how how
one felt i felt really a zero a cipher a nothing that was what
i felt in a physical sense or weakness and I was thinking well
if that's my physical condition what is my what is my spiritual
state surely if I'm weak in the natural sense I must be all weakness
before God and if one has anything of real religion in the soul
It must be something that has come from God, that's how I felt.
It must be the Lord who has given me anything at all if I have
that that is worthwhile. But as we turn to this verse,
I don't want to ignore the context. And so at the beginning I want
to say something with regards to the situation that Paul himself
is addressing, of course, in the verses that we've read. He is defending himself, as I
said, against those false teachers, those false apostles who had
crept into that church at Corinth. And so he reminds the Corinthians
here in verse 12 of his own ministry amongst them. He was the one
under God who had preached the gospel there and that had been
a great blessing. The church had been established
and he says here in verse 12, truly the signs of an apostle
were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders
and mighty deeds. back in that 11th chapter where
we commenced our reading he contrasts his own ministry then with those
false teachers and tells the Corinthians that they are false
apostles, that they are deceitful workers transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ and no marvel for Satan himself he
says he's transformed into an angel of life therefore it is
no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as ministers
of righteousness whose end shall be according to their work. So
bold and fearless the apostle is in denouncing these who were
the false teachers. Paul then is defending himself,
defending his own ministry and so he speaks somewhat in these
chapters of himself. It's not something that Paul
delighted to do though as I said on previous occasions there were
those situations that would arise in the course of his apostolic
ministry when he had to write the various of the churches and
speak of his own experiences. And so he does that here. And
in the midst of these experiences what is Paul taught. Now Paul
is very much being humbled by the way in which the Lord has
dealt with him. There's the humbling of the Apostle
to take account of here and we see it, do we not, in the very
words that I've read as our text when he declares, though I be
nothing, he might be one who is not behind the very chief
of the apostles. He could withstand Peter to the
face and yet he has to confess what he is in and of himself.
He's nothing. He was once something. He was
once a Pharisee. He was the son of a Pharisee
of course. He'd been schooled at the feet of the great Jewish
rabbi Gamaliel. and he was a proud pharisee when
he writes in Philippians chapter 3 and reminds them of what he
was as a pharisee and now he was brought of course ultimately
to denounce all of those things and to treat them as wrong but
there he spells out quite clearly what his privileges were verse
4 he says though I might also have confidence in the flesh
if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust
in the flesh I more circumcise the eighth day of the stock of
Israel of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrews of the Hebrews as
touching the law of Pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the
church touching the righteousness which is in the law blindness
But what things were gained to me, he says, those I counted
last for Christ. How the Lord humbled him. How
the Lord dealt with this proud man who considered himself to
be blameless before the holy law of God thought himself to
be a man who was truly a keeper of that law he really had no
proper appreciation or understanding of the spirituality of the Lord
of God he was thinking only in terms of his external behavior
but he was in that sense a blameless man but he was humbled and we
see it there at the very gate of Damascus in the ninth chapter
of the Acts He is brought to the very dust before the voice
of the Lord Jesus Christ and he's blinded and he's led, we're
told, trembling and astonished into the city of Damascus, having
been apprehended, having been arrested by the Lord Jesus Christ. And there, of course, the blind
man then receives that visitation from Ananias, a disciple of Christ,
who is sent to And Ananias is reminded how that this man Saul
of Tarsus is indeed one who is a favourite of God, one who is
chosen of God to exercise. He is going to exercise a quite
remarkable ministry there in the 15th and 16th verses of that
chapter. The Lord says to Ananias, go
thy way For he that his sword of Tarsus is a chosen vessel
unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and
children of Israel, and I will show him a great things, he must
suffer for my name's sake. goes and enters into the house,
puts his hands upon him and says, Brother, saw the Lord, even Jesus,
that appeared unto thee in the way, as thou camest, hath sent
me, that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with
the Holy Ghost? And immediately there fell as
it were scales from his eyes, and he seized once again. He was one then who was much
humbled, but in humbling him, how God also favoured him. and he has that ministry to exercise. And as he says here in this 11th
verse, in nothing am I behind the very chiefest of the apostles. Oh, he is a man then who is a
true minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. remember back in verse
23 of chapter 11 he says are they ministers of Christ I speak
as a fool I am more in labours more abundant in stripes above
measure in prisons more frequent in deaths oft and so on and so
he begins to recount something of those experiences that he
that he passed through but then though the Lord favoured him
and when he comes here to speak of visions and revelations how
the Lord did indeed favour him and yet he must also be a man
who is truly being humbled by the Lord. Verse 7 he 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 Buffetman. He had to learn humility. The Lord had to deal with him
in these ways in order that he might be made a lowly man and
a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, that man of sorrows and
that man acquainted with grief. And how does the Lord humble
him? Well he speaks in terms here in this twelfth chapter
of the Thorn in the flesh that what he says in the seventh verse
that he should be exalted above measure there was given to me
a thorn he says in the flesh now I'm sure we know what it's
like to have a splinter even in our finger and now if not
removed it's painful it festers and we find it difficult even
to use that finger to use our hands properly it's crippling
in a sense, a thorn or a splinter and we're restless until it's
removed and surely this must have been the experience of the
apostle with regards to this particular thorn it made him
so restless it was so painful to him it was so crippling to
him he wanted to be rid of it. And notice where he speaks of
the thorn being. He speaks here of a thorn in
the flesh, in the flesh. It's a thorn in the old nature,
in a spiritual sense. It's something in the old nature.
Flesh is used in that sense in the scriptures. The Lord Jesus
to Nicodemus says that Which is born of the flesh is flesh.
That which is born of the spirit is spirit. And so a man must
be born again of the spirit of God. What are we by nature? We are flesh. And we need that
new life. We need to be partakers of the
divine nature. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. It never ceases to be anything but the flesh. And
Paul later reminds us how the flesh lost us against the spirit
and the spirit against the flesh and these two are contrary, he
says, one to the other and he cannot do the thing that he would.
How the flesh, you see, in a sense has that effect upon the spirit,
it's crippling. It prevents us doing the things
that are right before God. All the sense you see, the sights,
of what we are in our fallen nature, what we are in the flesh.
Isn't that like a thorn in the flesh? Again, when Paul writes
in Romans chapter 7, he speaks of the flesh, when he says, O
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this
death. What is the body of this death?
It's the flesh. It's the all nature. This is how God deals
with his people then. He humbles them and he humbles
Paul here in terms of a thorn in the flesh now God has his
own way in dealing with his people and he doesn't deal with all
his people in exactly the same way he deals with us personally
and individually and he doesn't necessarily deal with us in exactly
the same way as we read Paul was dealt with but God will humble
us God will humble us and one was made to feel something of
that in recent weeks when this verse or these four words seem
to speak so plainly to me though I be nothing and it reminded
me in some ways of the beginning I trust of the work of God in
my own soul because I had the opportunity of course to think
back and and to recall previous days and I was thinking about
the beginning and how the Lord first dealt with me and I've
often thought that the great truth that God taught me at the
beginning and I wasn't really in a favoured situation I wasn't
in a church that I would say was altogether sound it was a
general Baptist church a church in the Baptist Union there were
those there who were true believers I don't doubt that for a moment
but I remember being in that situation where one felt a desire
to believe, to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet to feel
such an awful inability to do that very thing. In other words,
God was making me feel, I understand it now, He was making me feel
something of my spiritual impotence, that I couldn't do anything.
That's what we are, you see, in our fallen nature. we have
no ability at all we are dead in trespasses and in sins we
have no life spiritually if we have that we must receive it
immediately from God himself and though there were those who
sincerely wanted to be of help to me and to persuade me you
know how people in more general circles would speak they try
to persuade you they advance their various persuasive arguments
as it were they're going to convince you that you have to believe
in what you've got to do you see the whole notion of duty
faith comes in but I couldn't believe I couldn't believe and
this is what I was made to think upon though I be nothing though
I be a cypher and I think in some ways over recent weeks it
made even a deeper impression in my own soul the weakness that
is ours so naturally speaking and that is a very humbling experience
is it not when we are brought to that place where we are completely
at the end of ourselves Moses in his prayer the man of God
Moses in Psalm 90 uses that expression thou turnest man to destruction
and sayeth return the children of men when God turns us to destruction
brings us to the end of ourselves makes us feel our nothingness
and then God himself utters the word return all you see is God who speaks
life into our very souls but here coming back to the apostle
he speaks of the thorn in the flesh the thorn in the flesh
and he says this the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I
should be exalted above measure." Here he speaks then of the messenger
of Satan buffeting him. Now, the verb to buffet, to buffet
me, it's derived from the noun for the knuckles or the fists. were to think in terms of the
pugilists we can think of what I suppose over a hundred years
ago probably 150 years ago now there was bare knuckle fighting
as it was called not boxing as we would know it today but bare
knuckle fighting and this is what Paul he's speaking
of, this is the imagery that he's using with regards to Satan.
He felt as if he was being mauled by Satan, beaten by Satan, and
so fiercely assaulted by that great adversary that he was left
in such a condition that he could hardly discern any feature of
God's work in his own soul. That's what happens when Satan
is let loose. This thorn in the flesh is a
messenger of Satan to Buffetman. And how Paul was brought into
great depths of course. He had such a terrible sight
of himself there in Romans chapter 7 where he speaks of the wretched
man and he is speaking very much of himself. Oh wretched man that
I am he cries out. He had such a sight of himself. This man who was once Saul of
Tarsus, the proud Pharisee, how he was humbled by God. Lest I should be exalted above
measure, he says here in verse 7. Oh, it's no wonder, is it,
that this man, when we see him as Paul the Apostle, is very
reluctant to speak about himself. He doesn't really want to talk
about himself. Look at the beginning of verse 11, I have become a
fool in glorying, he says, ye have compelled me, for I ought to have been commended
of you. He shouldn't really need to defend himself, to speak of
himself, to defend his apostleship, to glory as he is glorying, he
doesn't like this. He doesn't like to speak of himself,
he doesn't want to speak of himself directly in this chapter. How
does he speak of himself? Well, he speaks here of a man.
Look at verse 2, I knew a man, he says. He doesn't tell us who
this man was. He speaks in the third person,
in verse 4, he tells us how he was caught up, this man was caught
up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which is not lawful for
a man to utter. He doesn't want to speak of himself.
As I've said many a time, Paul is of course the pattern of a
believer. 1 Timothy 1.16 he says, a pattern
or a type to them which should hereafter believe. That's Paul,
he's the pattern of what it means to be a believer. But he doesn't like speaking
of himself, he's such a modest man, he's compelled them. because
he must speak of himself. He doesn't just deal in his epistles
then with great profound doctrines, he doesn't just deal with the
practical outworking of those doctrines, but there are those
portions where he speaks of himself and his experiences. There's
those experimental parts of the epistles. There's doctrine, there's
experiences, practice here. But this man doesn't like to
speak of Paul. What does he say to the Corinthians
in the first epistle? I determined. I determined not
to know anything among you, he says. Save Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. This is the great burden of Paul.
He wants to speak of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He wants to exalt the Saviour,
Jesus Christ. God's manifest in the flesh,
the God-man. Or the one who is the only saviour
of sinners in that great work. His obedience in life, his obedience
unto death. Even the death of the cross. And so again he can say to the
Corinthians, we preach not ourselves. He doesn't want to speak of himself.
We preach not ourselves, he says, but Christ Jesus, the Lord. He
wants to speak of Christ and so what does he say? Though I
be nothing. Paul is nothing. The Lord Jesus Christ, you see,
is everything to this man and everything in the ministry of
this man. He doesn't really want to speak
of himself. That's why he speaks as he does in this chapter of
a man and he uses the third person. And he even delights speaking
of himself and speaking of his own experience. I knew a man
in Christ, he says, above 14 years ago. These things had happened long,
long ago. He had not said anything to anyone
concerning the great blessing that he had known, the great
favour with regards to such a revelation when he was caught up into the
very paradise of God. He had not gone about speaking
of his experiences and boasting He doesn't even now want to speak
of these things, but he must do so. Why? Because he has to
defend himself. He has to defend his ministry,
he has to defend his apostleship. I am become a fool in glorying,
he says. Ye have compelled me. And so, going back to verse 17
in that previous chapter. That which I speak, I speak it
not after the Lord, he says. 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. They have compelled him. And
why has he got to speak? Because of the truth, and the
truth of the Gospel. and the vanity and the great
danger of the false teachers and their false doctrines. Remember the words that he goes
on to utter here at verse 12, truly it says, the signs of an
apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and
wonders and mighty deeds. It's spoken also in the first
epistle in terms of his his ministry and his apostleship. There in
chapter 9 he said, 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. This is why
he he had to speak of these things that had occurred over 14 years
previously because he had to defend his own ministry amongst
them but not only his apostleship there were those you see who
it seems were querying his very standing in Christ they were
querying his conversion in the next chapter We have that exhortation
in verse 5, examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith,
prove your own selves, know you're not your own selves, know that
Jesus Christ is in you, except he be reprobates. Of course that's
very apt. We have to examine ourselves
in respect to the table of the Lord, do we not? Let a man examine
himself, says Paul. So let him eat of that bread
and drink of that cup. We have to look to ourselves,
looking for anything of worth or value in ourselves. Surely
as we come to the Lord's table we come as those who can say
with Paul, though I be nothing. We're not worthy in ourselves
to take the crumbs that fall from the table of the Lord. But
we come as those who are sinners and we come as those sinners
who are looking to Christ and trusting in Christ and we want
to remember Christ And we want to know nothing save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. But we have to examine ourselves
as we come to partake of that high and holy privilege. We take that cup of blessing,
or the cup of blessing which we drink, is it not the communion
of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is
it not communion of the body of Christ? but a privilege is
ours then to partake of these things and so we have to examine
ourselves privilege brings great and grave responsibility but
we are thinking of Paul and see what he goes on to say here to
these Corinthians in the very next verse I trust ye shall know
that we are not reprobates they were those who would reprobate
Paul and so he has to defend himself
and he is so loath to speak of himself but he must, he must
it's not that in being loath to speak of self that he despises
these experiences no the scripture of course reminds us of the importance
of experiences those words that we considered at the recent baptisings
come and hear all ye that fear God and I will declare what the
Lord hath done for my soul Peter reminds us that we are
to be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks
a reason of the hope that is within us. Oh, Paul, though you
see, he's been so humbled by the way in which the Lord has
dealt with him, I have become a fool in glorying his sins.
Ye have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended
of you, for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though
I be nothing. By the grace of God, he can say,
I am what I am. Here is a man then who was truly
humbled in the way in which the Lord dealt with him. Greatly
favoured, yes, but he mustn't be exalted above measure. The
Lord will also humble the man. But then let me just briefly
say something concerning the way in which Paul is honoured.
The honouring of Paul is also to be taken account of, surely
it is. I ought to have been commended
of you, he says, for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest
apostle. how this man was truly favoured
of God, favoured of heaven. He had a revelation, he experienced
a revelation, a divine revelation of Christ to his soul. Now remember
he's the pattern, and I would say these friends, in all seriousness,
all earnestness, if we have never had a revelation of Jesus Christ
to our souls, we do not know him. Real religion is a revelation.
The Lord must come and he must make himself known to us. A man can receive nothing, said
John the Baptist, except it be given him from heaven. We cannot
make ourselves Christians. It is God who makes the Christian.
And how does God make the Christian? There is a blessed revelation
to the soul. Something that we're talking
about that concerns the natural science. You see, when people
read the visions and revelations, look at verse 1. I will come
to visions and revelations of the Lord, he says. But what does
he go on to say? Twice he says this, whether in
the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell.
God, Noah. This was not something physical.
This was something that was truly spiritual that came to Paul,
this revelation that he received in his soul. When he writes to
the Galatians, remember how he speaks in the very first chapter
of his authority as an apostle. The Gospel that was revealed
to Paul didn't come from man, it came from God. He says there,
verse 11 in Galatians 1, 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. Now that must be true of all
of us. The gospel that we've received, where did it come from?
Oh yes, God is pleased to make use of means, the ministry of
the word, the preaching of the gospel and so on. or maybe conversation
with some individual who has been a great help to us, but
ultimately it's the Lord. It's the Lord who comes and makes
himself known to us. And so it goes on, when he pleased
God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
his grace to reveal his Son in me. All that blessed revelation,
it wasn't just a revelation of Christ to him, was it? how important
are those prepositions someone said the theology is there in
the prepositions in Paul when he pleased God to reveal his
son to me no he says when he pleased God to reveal his son
in me it was truly an inward revelation that he experienced
what a blessing Christ in you he says the hope of glory oh
is the Lord Jesus Christ in us We say that Christ in me, the
hope of glory. Remember John chapter 6. Now
the Lord is there as a multitude following him at the beginning
of the chapter but his ministry is such a winnowing ministry.
How that vast number are sifted and they begin to fall away.
You come to the end of that chapter and there's the apostles and
the Lord turns to them will they also go away? always ministry
is such a separating ministry you see a faithful ministry without
that effect there will be those who are offended those who refuse
to receive it those who depart from it but what does Peter say
Lord to whom shall we go? to whom shall we go? we believe
and know that thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God. There is nowhere else to go,
you see. And isn't that a mark of the work of God's grace in
the soul of a man? Look at what he says concerning
this man that he knew. I knew a man, he says in verse
2. But he doesn't finish there, does he? He says I knew a man
in Christ. Or to be a man in Christ. in Christ. Of him are ye in Christ
Jesus. Who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that he that
glorieth must glory in the Lord. If Christ is in the man, all
that man surely is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says then
though I be nothing. But that's not all. If you turn
back, turn back to chapter 6 and verse 10 and see what he says
at the end of that verse. Chapter 6 and the end of verse
10. As having nothing, he says, and yet possessing all things.
Nothing himself, you see. Having nothing, I'm nothing.
And yet, in Christ, he's in possession of all things. He's that other
side I said at the beginning I was thinking when I read the
chapter those few weeks ago now with those words at verse 10 where he speaks of his weakness
and yet of his strength when I am weak then am I strong and
I felt well I can't really I couldn't come in there, you see, then
am I strong, I just felt the weakness. But there is the other
side, thank God. There is the other side, and
I did come to that. I was thinking of words, I thought
they were in Psalm 119, but they were words in the 118th Psalm,
and they were words that really came with some power to me. And I felt that I could pray
over the words, and I could plead the word, but they weren't in
Psalm 119. I found them in the previous
psalm, Psalm 118 and verses 17 and 18, where it says, I shall
not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord
has chastened me sore, but he has not given me over unto death. They were very precious words
that one could think of and meditate on and pray on. I also came to
verse 14, the Lord is my strength and song and has become my salvation. My strength, my song, my salvation. Oh, when the Lord, you see, is
pleased to grant to us that revelation of himself, that knowledge of
himself, We might be all weakness, we might be as a cipher, a zero,
but in Christ, in Christ we have all things, do we not? Here then,
Paul experienced the blessed revelation, but then, I want
to finish on this, I want to finish on this note, how the
revelation is ultimately inscripturated, it's inscripture, it's to the
word of God that we have to come. See what he said, he was caught
up, he tells us in verse 2, caught up to the third heaven. There are three heavens, are
there not? There's the atmosphere, roundabouts, this planet, Earth. That's the first heaven and we
can go beyond that. We can go into stardust ice,
the second heaven, the vastness of the universe, And men say,
you see, well, what's beyond that? Well, there is something
beyond that. There's the third heaven. That's eternity. That's the heaven of heavens.
That's the dwelling place of God. And all he says was caught
up to the third heaven. Whether in the body, I cannot
tell. Whether out of the body, I cannot
tell. He says, God knows, it was such a remarkable experience
that he had. Caught up to the third heaven.
But then he calls the third heaven paradise. In verse 4, caught
up into paradise, he said, and heard unspeakable words which
it is not lawful for a man to utter. What he heard, you see, was unutterable,
unspeakable. And why so? Because there is
a more sure word of prophecy. It's not visions and revelations,
is it? It is the word of God, it's that
sure word of prophecy, it's that word that Peter speaks of at
the end of his opening chapter in the second epistle. He speaks of being there on the
Mount of Transfiguration where with James and John he saw something
of the glories, the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ shining
through the veil of his humanity. And he says this, verse 17, He
received from God the Father honour and glory when there came
such a voice to him from the excellent glory from the third
heavens. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and
this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him
in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy where I'm sure you do well that you take heed as
unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn
and the day start arise in your heart knowing this verse that
no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation
for the prophecy came not in all time by the will of man but
holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost
that's the more sure word of prophecy you see those holy men
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost all scripture is given
by inspiration of God this is where we come to the word of
God. The psalmist says thou hast magnified
thy works above all thy name. So what do we turn from? Oh,
we turn from ourselves, our weak selves, our feeble selves and
we turn to this blessed book, this more sure word of prophecy. God has given his promise here
and God has confirmed his promise with another. this blessed book. And one was made to feel how
the scripture is indeed a living book. But this is not the case. Time and again when we find ourselves
in trying situations, trying circumstances, our God comes
to us. And our God is pleased to speak
to us. And how does he speak to us?
He speaks to us in and through His Word, though I be nothing. May the Lord be pleased to bless
to us His Word tonight. Amen. Let us now sing the hymn number
172 of Jude Walton, 430. Jehovah's awful name revere,
in humble praise, with holy clear, in glory throne, divinely bright,
all worlds are nothing in his sight. Hymn number 172.