That song says, come thou fount
of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace. Tune my heart
to sing thy grace. Oh to grace, how great a debtor,
daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a fetter
bind my wandering heart today. Just such debtors to grace, aren't
we? Such debtors to grace. Go with me, if you would, back
to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. The apostle Paul was a man who
was well acquainted with trials and sufferings. Very, very well
acquainted. I would think that no man ever
endured the trials and sufferings that Job did. especially in the
Old Testament. In the Old Testament, no man
endured the trial and the suffering that Job did. And in the New
Testament, I would say that no man endured the trials and sufferings
that the Apostle Paul did. He was so, so well acquainted
with heartache. and suffering. He endured the
pain of his physical suffering, much physical suffering. That
man was beaten. That man was tortured. That man
was imprisoned and imprisoned and imprisoned. He was stoned
and left for dead. They left him because they thought
he was dead. But he also endured the pain
of his mental and emotional sufferings before God stopped him. God in
mercy, he was on his way to Damascus. He was carrying letters to harm
God's people and God stopped him and God revealed himself
to him. But before God stopped him and
saved him from what he was and what he was doing, Paul beat
and tortured and imprisoned and killed the Lord's people, his
brethren, all those things that happened to him. He was beaten. He was tortured. He was in prison. Well, that's the very thing that
he did to God's people. His brethren. And Paul had to
live with that. He had to live with that. He
had to deal with the memories and the guilt. How many times
do you think those things just played over in his mind and he
just smote upon himself saying, oh my goodness. Self-loathing, I mean true self-loathing. He cried, I'm a wretched man. You know that feeling. Every
now and then your mind goes back to something in your past and
you think, oh, you think about Paul. Well, he said right here in our
text that he had a thorn in his flesh. a thorn in his flesh. I don't
know if that was just everything that he endured in his sinful
flesh, or if that was just one thing that happened. Our Lord
was not pleased to tell us what that thorn in the flesh was.
So many men have tried to speculate on it and think about it. But
our Lord, in his absolute wisdom and in his kindness, He was not
pleased to tell us what that thorn in the flesh was, because
if He did, we would associate the comfort that goes along with
that thorn with that one thing. But because our Lord was not
pleased to tell us what it is, we can associate this comfort
with every single thorn that comes to our flesh. Whatever
it is that we're going through, we can apply our Lord's words
to the thorn. Every trial, every suffering,
every pain, all of it. In verse seven, 2 Corinthians
12, verse seven, Paul said, lest I should be exalted above measure
through the abundance of the revelations, There was given
to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I
should be exalted above measure. For this thing, I besought the
Lord thrice. I besought him three times that
it might depart from me. And he said unto me, this is
what the Lord said to him. He said, my grace is sufficient
for thee. My grace is sufficient for thee. In every thorn that comes, every
trial, every pain, every suffering, for a child of God, for a true
child of God, The truth of the matter is, and the comfort of
the matter is, His grace is sufficient. His grace is sufficient. His grace is sufficient. It is sufficient to get you through
the trial. It is sufficient for an explanation
of the trial. It's a, it's a sufficient explanation
of the trial. It's a sufficient understanding
of the trial. It's sufficient. It is absolutely
sufficient. Whenever you're at that point
where you're saying, why? Why? His grace. His grace. Why would something
like this happen? Why would something like this
happen? His grace. It's His grace. How am I going to get through
this? How am I gonna get through this?
His grace. What is the outcome of this gonna
be? When all the dust settles, what
is the outcome of all this gonna be? His grace. It's gonna be His grace. His
grace is sufficient. His grace is sufficient. It is so sufficient. The first
time the word grace is mentioned in the scripture is in Genesis
6 verse 8 when it says that the Lord looked down on the wickedness,
the absolute wickedness of every man and woman on this earth. And he saw that every imagination
and thought of every heart was only evil continually. And it grieved the Lord. The scripture says, and he sighed
in his heart. And he said, I'm going to destroy
man from the face of the earth. It says, but Noah found grace. Noah found grace. Noah found
something that was sufficient for him and for God. What was it? God's grace. God's grace. The scripture speaks
of the word of His grace. This right here is the word of
His grace. That's what this tells us of. The scripture speaks of the gospel
of His grace. That's what we're preaching.
The good news, the wonderful news of His grace. The scripture describes it as
abundant grace. When it speaks of it, it calls
it abundant grace. It calls it exceeding grace. It calls it manifold grace. The scripture describes our Lord
as the God of all grace. the God of all grace. And once
that's revealed to a child of God, that child will see that
His grace is sufficient. That child will know if He'll
just pour grace on this, everything will be fine. If He'll just pour
grace on this, if God will just pour His grace on it, everything
will be fine. His grace will be sufficient. Now, what is His grace? What
is His grace? Simply put, grace means gift. That's what the word means. It
means favor. It means kindness. If God will
just pour His favor on this, if God will just pour His kindness
on this, If God will just cover all of
this in His gift, everything will be fine. It's His favor, it's His kindness
freely bestowed, freely given. Our Lord's reply to the Apostle
Paul for the trial, that suffering and that pain that he was going
through was this. Our Lord said, my gift My gift
that I freely given to you is sufficient. My gift is sufficient. And honestly, it is. It is. If you've ever needed
it, you know it is. It is, that's all you need. It's
all you need. Look with me at second Corinthians
chapter nine. 2nd Corinthians 9 verse 15, the
apostle Paul said, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
grace. His unspeakable gift, His unspeakable
gift. For God so loved this wicked,
hell-deserving world, He gave His only begotten Son for it. The Son of grace, the gift of
Christ, Christ Himself, the Apostle Paul, He was begging God for
help. When he said, I asked him three
times, that man was begging God for help. Would you please help
me? Would you please help me? And
God said to him, he said, Christ and everything he's done for
you and everything that he's given to you is sufficient. I need help. I need help. Christ
and everything he's done for you and everything he's given
to you is sufficient. Totally sufficient. The comfort
in everything that he paid for you and in everything that he has
secured for you, just knowing what he's done, just knowing what he's done.
That's sufficient. And honestly, it is. It is even when circumstances
down here don't change. It is. It's sufficient. It's all that a believer needs.
Look with me at Second Corinthians, chapter four. Verse 5 says, for we preach not
ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants
for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed,
but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, how often are we cast
down? We're not destroyed, are we?
And how can that be? Why is that? It's because of
this grace right here. Verse 10, always bearing about
in the body, the dying of the Lord Jesus. That's the reason
why it's because we're always carrying with us. the dying of
the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest
in our body. Everything that happens to us
in this lifetime is bringing us to. It is bringing us back
to. It's reminding us again. Everything
that happens to us is reminding us again of our God's grace to
us. Everything verse 15 right here.
He said all things are for your sakes That the abundant grace
might through the thanksgiving of many Redowned to the glory
of God For which cause we faint not but though our outward man
perish Yet the inward man is renewed day by day for our light
affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things
which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal." That's what our God was comforting the Apostle
Paul with when he said, my grace is sufficient. And that's what
he comforts every one of his children with. in their moment
of trial and suffering and pain. And if if a man or a woman or
a boy or a girl is a child of God, he promises that trial,
suffering and pain will come. It will come, but it's OK. It's okay, because in our moments
of trial and suffering and pain, He reminds each one of His people
that their light affliction is only for a moment. It's only for a moment. And the exceeding weight and
the sinless, holy bliss of glory That's eternal. That's just right
around the corner. It's about to come. And that's
eternal. This this is just for a minute. That's what the word of his grace
says to the hearts of his people. I know it's I know it's painful.
I know it's tough, but it's just for a minute. You have an eternal
weight of glory waiting for you. You have an eternal way of sinless
bliss waiting for you with the person of your Savior. And it's
all because of the gift of His grace. It's all because of the
body He gave and the blood He gave. The gift of His pain and
His suffering in our place. The gift of His substitution.
The Father said, that is sufficient. And honestly, it is. It is, it
is so sufficient. Look with me at 2 Corinthians
8. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9. For you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes,
he became poor. He became humbled. He became
broken. He became sorrowful, even unto
death. He became emptied. Why did he
do that? that you through His poverty
might be rich. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ and knowing that is sufficient. It's sufficient. God the Father said that gift
through Him is sufficient for all your sorrow. Knowing what Christ did and hoping
in what Christ did, and looking to what Christ did and believing
on what Christ did, longing for what Christ did, that's sufficient. That will ease the pain of every
thorn that comes to your flesh. And the apostle Paul said, I
can tell you that is so from personal experience. Personal
experience, look back at our text. 2 Corinthians 12 verse
2, he said, 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 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. Caught up into paradise. Our
Lord told that thief on the cross, today you're gonna be with me
in paradise. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
four, he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words,
which it's not possible for a man to utter. words of grace those
who heard him said oh the gracious words that proceeded out of his
mouth verse five paul said of such in 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'd be sought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me.
And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for the, for my
strength. is made perfect in your weakness."
That's when it shines the brightest. That's when you see it the clearest.
Paul said, most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities
that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take
pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I
strong. He said, when I'm weak, that's
the moment that I'm strong. How could he take pleasure in
infirmities and in reproaches and in thorns in the flesh? How could he say that? Why would
he say that? Why would the apostle Paul say
that? He said, it's because I know that every time they come, they
will take me by the hand and lead me back to the grace of
my God every single time. Every single time. James said,
count it all joy the next time a trial comes to you. That's
what James said. It's not always what this flesh
does, but that's what the apostle said. He said, you counted all
joy the next time a trial comes to you. Why? Why, James? Why? He said there in James, he said,
because God is going to give you more grace. That's the reason
why he giveth more grace. That's the reason why. God is
going to use that to draw you nearer to Himself. He's going
to draw you nearer to His cross, and He will. We know it so. In those moments, oh, when something
comes, That's the moment He lays hold of us by the hand of His
grace. And He pulls us near to Him.
He pulls us nearer to His blood. He pulls us near to the glory
and the comfort of being with Him. And that's what we want,
isn't it? Charles Spurgeon wrote concerning
Psalm 42 verse 9, which says, Why go I mourning? Why am I so
sad? That's what Psalm 42 verse nine
says. Charles Spurgeon wrote, why go I mourning? Canst thou
answer this believer? Canst thou find any reason why
thou art so often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield to gloomy
anticipations? Who told thee that night would
never end in day? It would just stay night and
stay night and stay night and stay night. Who told thee that
the sea of circumstances would ebb out till there should be
nothing left but long leagues of the mud of horrible poverty? It's just getting worse and worse
and worse. Who told thee that the winter
of thy discontent would proceed from frost to frost, from snow
and ice and hail to deeper snow and yet more heavy tempest of
despair? Knowest thou not that day follows
night, that flood comes after ebb, that spring and summer succeed
to winter? Hope thou then. He said, has
God convinced you of that? Hope in it then. Hope thou ever, for God fails
thee not. Dost thou not know that thy God
loves thee in the midst of all this? Do you not know that the
Lord God loves you in the midst of all this? Mountains, when
in darkness hidden, are as real as in day. Just because you can't
see it, it doesn't mean they're not there. And God's love is
as true to thee now as it was in thy brightest moments. No
father chastens always. The Lord hates the rod as much
as thou dost. He only cares to use it for that
reason which should make thee willing to receive it, namely
that it works thy lasting good. It brings you back to him. Thou
shalt yet climb Jacob's ladder with the angels and behold him
who sits at the top of it, thy covenant God. He made a promise. Thou shalt yet amidst the splendors
of eternity forget the trials of time or only remember them
to bless the God who led thee through them and wrought thy
lasting good by them. He said, good is going to come. All things work together for
good. to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. Spurgeon said, come sing in the midst of tribulation. Rejoice even while passing through
the furnace. Make the wilderness to blossom
like the rose. Cause the desert to rain with
thine exalting joys for these light afflictions. will soon
be over, and then forever with the Lord, thy bliss shall never
wane." Every child of God will come to realize, and every child
of God will be able to say with absolute certainty, absolute
certainty, that no matter what it is that we go through, His
grace is sufficient. His favor, His kindness, His
gift is sufficient. It is and it will be. It is and
it will be. All right, Brother Eddie, you
come and lead us in a hymn.