If you all will, please open
your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. I want to thank you all for having
me out again. I've got to bring my family this
time. We drove up yesterday and it was a lovely drive and you
always take so good care of us. I'm thankful for your pastor.
Miss Kathy's always looking after us and we just enjoy our time
here. I'm thankful. And all the brethren in San Diego,
I said to tell each of y'all hello. They love you, they pray
for you, and they miss you. And to those in the dolls. I was supposed to go first. That's
the deal. But I'm thankful I got to come. Thank you for that message. I
forgot I had to preach until about five minutes ago. A couple
weeks ago we were looking through Paul's word to Rome and his word
to the Ephesians and the gifts that our Lord gives some of his
saints. A gift to show mercy to one another. Some gift to preach. Some to
serve. All have different capacities.
Not one, not all, but some. Gives us varying degrees of those.
And that's to be given in a spirit of humbleness. A humbled spirit
to serve our Lord, to serve our brethren. I got through preaching
that and I prayed and said, Lord, make me humble. I want to be
humble. I don't want to be puffed up
in pride. Humble me. And as Paul said, He did exceedingly
abundantly more than I could think or ask. He sent a trial
for one of my brethren that I loved and that hurt. Then he sent me
a trial. A day later sent me a bigger
trial. He humbled me. I was thankful for that. I prayed
I'd get a message for you all here tonight. I was reading Jeremiah. I have a message that burns in
my bones. Not skin deep, not muscle deep,
in the marrow. My old profession, I instructed
a lot. And so it's my nature to have
a whiteboard, dry erase board. And so my right arm goes up and
I want to start drawing. As I told our brethren in San
Diego, we can cover these walls in chalkboard and I can write
an extended theological dissertation to you. Or I can get a piece
of paper and a crayon and sit down with you. I'll tell you
the Gospel. If the Lord don't use it to pierce
your heart, Christ doesn't speak to you, it's of no effect. None
of it. A true preacher in the name of
what it says, a one-way conversation from God Almighty to your heart.
Speak comfortably. Speak tenderly and speak to the
heart of His people. If I could speak to one needy
sinner tonight, one sinner that's hurting, What a thought that
would be. What a miracle it would be for
me to witness. I hope to be a blacksmith tonight. I got one piece of hot
iron. I've got one hammer and I'm going
to hit it in the same spot over and over. And I hope it's a comfort
to you. There's a lot of believers we
have right now in heavy, heavy trials. I don't know what you're
going through. This is a message to me first. And if one of you
is hurting, this is to you. It says there in 2 Corinthians
12, verse 7. 2 Corinthians 12, 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." Paul just got
through telling us that either in the body or out of the body,
he couldn't tell you. He was called to the third heaven. And
he was made an apostle. And he had this revelation given
to him. He understood these Scriptures.
He labored more abundantly than them all. He wasn't bragging.
He wrote the bulk of the New Testament for us. And he says,
because of that, he didn't get puffed up in the gifts that the
Lord had given him. He had a thorn in his flesh,
a messenger of Satan to buffet him, keep him humble. It says
in verse 8, for this thing I besought the Lord thrice. He didn't ask
the Lord once, Lord take this from me. Three times he came
to our Lord, Lord take this thorn out of my flesh. Take this permanent
trial you've given me away from me. that it might depart from
me. And He said unto me, My grace
is sufficient for thee. During a trial for a believer,
whether that's a temporary trial that lasts a couple seconds,
lasts a day, a week, or it's a lifelong trial, something in
our bodies we've been given from birth, or a pain we have, Emotionally
or physically, whatever trial the Lord gives us. When we are
brought low enough during that trial, we're humbled enough to
look only to Christ. We're given rest, we're given
comfort, and we're given peace during that trial. That's during
the trial. It's while we're in it. We're
given rest, comfort, and peace in Christ. His grace is sufficient. But after that trial's passed,
Once the dust has settled a little bit, once our wounds have scarred
over some, calluses build up, then we're taught the lesson
of the trial. Why was that trial sent to me? We're still looking
to that same Jesus. Nothing's changed there. But
we're matured in faith some through that same trial, but only afterwards.
Once it's not as painful to us, we're made to see that cross
strength His mercy, His grace, and His love towards us that
gave us the trial, and His grace, His love, His mercy is what brought
us through the trial. His grace was sufficient. He
sent it, He brought us through it. His grace is sufficient. You know what that means? It's
exactly what we need. It's not lacking anything. He
doesn't give us 90% grace and then you better come up with
the other 10%. It's exactly what we need. It's not lacking. And
it's not overly given. He doesn't just flood us with
it to where we think we did it ourselves. Boy, my faith got
me through that. It's sufficient. It's precise. It's appropriate. Whether we
think so or not. And it's right. His sufficient grace to us is
right. It's a righteous work of grace in us and for us. Because the Father's love to
Christ and those in Him, in a great act of grace, He was merciful
to sinners. We read that as plainly as it
can be read in Ephesians chapter 1. God the Father purposed a
people to be saved and to be made just exactly like His Son.
They're going to be holy, spotless, without blame. How's He going
to do that? He's going to put them in Christ.
We read in Ephesians 1, Christ died for His people. The Father
purposed it, the Son purchased us. In His blood He bought us. Holy Spirit proclaims that in
our hearts. It abounds to us. I always think
of the fridge, the line back. You ain't no getting away from
it. It charges you. He said, none will come out of
my hand. No man will take them out of my hand when he gets a
hold of them. It abounds to us. So you who
believe, why do we need trials? Couldn't the Lord just have come
to us and saved us and just made us right for heaven and we didn't
have to go through all this? Of course He could have, but
He didn't want to. That wasn't His perfect will. He gives us trials to show us
that His grace is sufficient. Trials of the body. Emotional
trials, trials of our mind, trials of our souls. It shows us our
weakness. How weak we truly are. Not how
I think I'm weak. I'm kind of convinced I'm weak.
The scriptures say we're dead in trespasses and sins. That's
my strength. I'm as strong as somebody that's
graveyard dead. And it shows us that. What happened
in the garden? Was Adam wounded or did he fall?
That first Adam fell in the garden. And from him, our father Adam,
who we're all born from, in these physical bodies, sin was imputed
to us in Adam. It was imparted to us in our
birth on this earth and it was enacted in us the first breath
we took on this world. We were conceived in sin and
everything I've done since then is sin. I don't just sin. It's not something we do, it's
what we are, born into this world. We're weak, we're fallen, but the Lord sends us trials
to show us that. And sometimes they're heavy trials.
I want to put this in context. I heard a man say one time, I've
known him for a long time, and he met the pastor at the back
of the church on his way out the door, and he said, I thank
the Lord you saved me again today. And if I'd have heard that, without
knowing, out of context, I'd have said, uh-oh. But it was
fresh again. That mercy was new again that
day to him. I hope it's new to me today.
And so often times, I put that in context first because I've
said this, the Lord doesn't give you more than you can handle. In our flesh, that's flat wrong,
and I'll tell you why. We can't handle anything by ourselves. We can't handle anything. He's
not here just to help us out, give us a hand. We're fallen,
we're dead, and we're weak. And the Lord has to remind us
of that. Some people say, well, it's not that bad. Without Christ
working in you, take your next breath right now. You can't do
it. He gives us life, doesn't He?
Now if we can't do that, how are we going to handle a thorn
in our flesh from Satan to buffet us? How are we going to persevere
through, I mean, a hard trial that just brings you to your
knees? How are we going to do that? How can we engage in that battle,
those two natures warring in us? We can't make it through
a battle, much less the war that's going on inside of me. Without
our sovereign, holy, and wise Lord ruling and reigning in our
hearts. Turn to Romans chapter 5 if you
will. You have an interest in the Gospel.
You have a heart work done and trust Christ. We rejoice in the
Lord of our salvation. How thankful we are. God saved
a people. He sent His Son for me. How thankful
I am. We're reconciled to the Father
that we sinned against. Christ made atonement. He made
atonement. Reconciling me to the Father.
With this knowledge of salvation in Christ alone, how often I get comfortable.
I get lukewarm. I'm complacent. What a shame. What a sin against God for me
to be that way. But through the trials God sends
in His perfect providence, We're brought into remembrance of our
first love. Christ who died for us. Through
all that. We're brought once more to see
our weakness in the sinful flesh and to have our pure minds stirred
up, as Peter said. And come to Christ trusting Him
alone. And that matures us in faith. We're in Romans 5 verse
1. Therefore being justified by
faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." We have
boldness to come to that throne of mercy. We have access because
of Him. He saved His people. Verse 3,
"...and not only so, but we glory in tribulation also." That hardship,
that pain, that suffering that we go through. knowing that tribulation
worketh patience." What's that trial word? Waiting on the Lord.
As my pastor says, I have trouble waiting at a red light. It's
to be taught to wait on the Lord. That works patience. Verse 4,
and patience, experience. I've been through some trials
before. I've been taught to wait on the Lord before. Been down
this road before, eh? Starting to learn that waiting
part. and experience hope. Through the trials that expose
this weakness we are, we're made to rest all our hope in our Savior
who saved us, who laid down his life for us, who suffered the
greatest trial we didn't know we had in our room instead. So often I think the trials I
have on this life are some. As Don used to say, puppy love
is real to the puppy. It's real to me. Boy, I had a
much greater trial awaiting me outside of Christ once this life's
over. Judgment of a holy God that I
offended. He bore that trial for me. If
the Lord Jesus Christ saved me from eternal damnation that I
rightly deserved, I rightly earned, do you think He'll keep me through
the trial on this earth that He sent? We're given that incorruptible
seed that trusts our Redeemer, and we will not be ashamed of
it. Look here in verse 5. And hope
maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when
we were yet without strength, we was as weak as we could be.
In due time Christ died for the ungod. We need trials to ever remind
us that the love of God saved us, the love of God convicted
us of the sin that we are, the love of God convinced us of Christ
as the only righteousness the Lord will accept. I have none. He's the Lord, my righteousness.
And the love of God warned our souls with the knowledge that
all that judgment is finished. It's not partway done. It is
finished. He's satisfied. That's the two
words. Substitution, satisfaction. I was redeemed by the blood and
the Holy Spirit regenerated me. He gave me life. Turn over to
2 Corinthians 13. 2 Corinthians 13 verse 4, For though he was crucified through
weakness, through being a man made like I am, bearing that
full wrath of God, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also
are weak in him. For Christ's glory's sake, for
our sake, we're alive in him, but we're weak in this flesh.
It's blessed I'm standing talking to you and it's weak. That I
may see His power working in me. He may show us. But we shall
live with Him by the power of God toward you. Examine yourselves
whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. I've been
assaulted by that verse a few times. People said, you need
to examine your faith. I said, I did and I don't have
any. It's the faith of Christ. Prove your own selves. I'm dead. If I have life, He gave it to
me. Know ye not of your own selves
how that Christ Jesus is in you, dwelling in you, except ye be
reprobate? And examining ourselves, I see
my lack of strength. And I see I need sufficient grace. I need Christ-sufficient grace. And you know why I need it today?
Once this trial is over, and I've learned something. I think
I've actually, the Lord's taught me something. The next trial's
coming. As we age, it'll be different. This body's going to break down.
Loved ones are going to die. They're going to get sick. People's
going to fall away from the gospel. You think they've met with you
and worshipped with you so long, and then they'll just turn on
you. The proof does something. Trials
are going to come. Our Master said in John 16, He
said, These things have I spoken unto you, in that in Me you might
have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. Knowing these trials are coming,
knowing this tribulation is coming, this pain, this suffering, how
am I going to be of good cheer? Why would I want to be of good
cheer? I have overcome the world. He's overcome the world. Our
Redeemer's overcome the trial. He's overcome the tribulation.
Overcome the world for His people. He overcome the law by fulfilling
it. He overcome sin by being made
sin. He overcome death by dying in
our place. And He overcome the grave by
raising again. Raising from it and sitting at
the hand of His Father right now. in His throne and glory. James said to count it all joy
when a trial comes, because you're going to be reminded by being
brought through that trial that the trial of this world has been
overcome. Christ was victorious. The law,
sin, death, the grave have been overcome by Christ our Lord.
And that trial is what brings us in remembrance of that. What
a blessing. What a blessing. We don't think
so at the beginning of the trial. Most of the time, halfway through
the trial, we don't think it's a blessing. What care and love
for Him to send a trial to one of His children. Turn over to
2 Corinthians chapter 4. There's a few pages there. 2 Corinthians
4, verse 5. 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, has
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, what he just told us about. We have this treasure
in earthen vessels. This treasure is given to us
while we're in these earthly vessels, in these weak, frail
bodies, in these weak minds. Why? That the excellency of the
power may be of God and not of us. We are troubled on every
side. Yet, seeing His power, Oh, in
Christ who saved us, we're not distressed. We're perplexed.
We're overwhelmed. We're bewildered is what the
word means. We're bewildered, but not in despair. We're persecuted,
but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed.
Always bearing about in the body, in this body, the dying of the
Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus, where He is now, The
victorious Savior might be made manifest in our body. When this
life's over, I'll be with Him. He said so. Verse 15. For all things are
for your sakes. Every bit of this, all these
trials, this life we go through are for your sakes. And the abundant
grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory
of God. For which cause we faint not,
but through our outward man perish. Yet the inward man is renewed
day by day. The heavier those trials get,
the clearer we're allowed to see Him. He brings us to see
Him. For our light afflictions, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. While we look not at things which
are seen. That's whenever you feel it. Experimental, as the British
say. You experience His grace. While
you look not at the things which are seen. If I look anywhere
other than Christ, I ain't looking at Christ. When I look to Him,
I ain't got time to look to anything else, do I? Amen. While we look
not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not
seen. For the things which are seen, they're temporal. The things
which are not seen are eternal. What a gift of hope. What a gift
of hope. Each of these things allow us
to see in the flesh that our eternal hope is secure in Christ. What a privilege it is to be
shown that. There's a difference between
understanding and experiencing. I grew up, I was born, as soon
as I can remember hearing, I was sitting in a pew listening to
faithful people preach the gospel to me. I didn't know any different. Right here, buddy, I had it.
I had it here. I was 18 inches away from comfort,
from peace, knowing that that grace was sufficient. I understood
it, but I had to experience it. Paul had the thorn in his side
as a child. Those three Hebrew children,
they experienced the trial. Nebuchadnezzar made that golden
image, and they said, you bow down to worship. I said, I ain't
going to do that. They drug him before Nebuchadnezzar,
didn't they? What did he say to them? He said,
I ain't going to do this. I'll kill you if you don't bow
down in front of my image. And they said, oh, Nebuchadnezzar,
we're not careful to answer in this matter. I ain't going to
hesitate to tell you. If it be so, our God, whom we
serve, is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace,
and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. You ain't
nothing. And we know it. But if not, If
he don't deliver us, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will
not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast
set up. Ain't gonna happen. Lord made it. He's pleased. He'll
deliver me out of this fiery furnace. We trust Him. We know
Him. We're His. And if He doesn't,
that's fine too. We ain't bowing to your gods.
And you know what Nebuchadnezzar did? He threw those three Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego into the fire, didn't he? Consumed the
men that threw them in there. And Nebuchadnezzar come out of
his chair, and he said, I see four, and he looks just like
the Son of God. Don't say much about it. Whenever
they come out, they were a promoter, wasn't they? Do you think they
trusted Christ more when they come out of that fire? You think they learned something?
That His grace was sufficient? They knew it before, but boy,
they experienced it now, didn't they? They saw Him clear. And old Nebuchadnezzar, his trial
just started, didn't even know it. If you heard that message
earlier today, is that the first time you've ever heard that?
You're in a trial right now, you might not even know it. His
grace will be sufficient for that too. Noah, he had to was
given the grace and understanding to believe God and to build that
ark, didn't he? It's a specification. He pitched
it just as it was supposed to be, built it just right. Whenever
he walked through that door and the Lord sealed him in that ark,
and the rains came, then he knew that ark would hold him. He believed
before, now he's experienced. When the rains come, when the
floods come. Job was perfect and upright, one that feared
God and eschewed evil. And Job won. And then we all
know what happened to Job. He had a rough trial. A rough
trial. And then in chapters 38-41, the
Lord spoke to Job. The Lord talked to him. After all that trial towards
the end of it. And in chapter 42, Job responds to the Lord. And he said, then Job answered,
Lord said, I know that thou canst do everything and that no thought can be withholden
from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel
without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not things too wonderful for me which I knew not. I have
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye seeth
thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and
I repent in dust and ashes." At the end of his trial, right
after that, the Lord restored him. Job said, I hate this flesh. I love Christ. He took sides
against himself with God. That's what happened. Before
that trial came, he loved the Lord. He eschewed evil. The Lord
made him experience that in his flesh. In our lives, many times
we're given the sufficient grace to bear through a trial whenever
we're wanting to go home. I wish this flesh would stop
hurting. I wish my heart would stop hurting.
And I wish the Lord would take me home right now. I'm ready. He gives us the grace to get
through that trial. He gives us living grace. And
at the end of our lives, I haven't experienced that yet. But I could
imagine I would want to stay here. Lord, I want to go home. I trust You. I love You. I've
got some loved ones here." He gives us dying grace then. It's
sufficient while we live. It's sufficient when we die.
Paul said in Galatians 2, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. In the life which I now live, in the flesh I live by
the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for
me. Our life is Christ. Our eternal life is in Him and
our physical life is in Him. He gives us the breath we breathe.
Be thankful, brethren. Being made one with Christ, we're
given His righteousness eternally. He will grow us in grace while
we're in this world. He gives a tree, it will bear
fruit or it will be hewn down. He'll grow us in grace. We're
going to be conformed to His image for eternity. Maybe just like Him. While He
was on this earth, my Redeemer trusted His Father. As we go
through these trials, we look to Him by His faith and we learn
to trust Him. He obeyed the law perfectly.
As I walk through this world, I want to obey His law to not
bring reproach on the gospel, not bring reproach on my brethren.
David said, Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all
the day long. What law is David talking about?
The same one Paul was in Romans 6. He said, For we sin shall
not have dominion over you, for you're not under the law, not
that Mosaic law, not that Levitical law, not that moral law, but
under grace. I want to meditate more on that
law of grace. to my heart all day. Be kind
to your neighbors. That's okay. Tell me more about
that law of grace. Christ was the fruit of the Spirit.
We receive the fruits of the Spirit. He was. We want to be
that way. We want to have love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness, faith, temperance.
And we can only have those things in the light of His grace towards
us. His sufficient grace that gives us that. Something He endured
on this earth that we don't want to is pain, trials, and suffering. Our Master suffered those. We
will too. He said in John 15, remember
the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than
his Lord. If they persecuted me, They will
also persecute you. And that's not just getting picked
on for what you believe. That's not always a religion
thing. That's physical trials this world
persecutes. Internal trials. Inward and outward. Not just the world being against
you. Through the trials we trust our Lord more, we honor Him more,
we desire to be more obedient in thanksgiving, in praise, in
worship, in our walk in this world. And we will be kinder,
we'll be more loving, we'll be more merciful to our brethren
at the end of those trials. We're taught through and from
the trials that His faith, His faithfulness, and His grace is
sufficient. I'm back in our text here in
2 Corinthians 12. Verse 7. And lest I should be exalted above
measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was
given 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 may 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, 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 I am
strong. Paul prayed that for the church
of Ephesus. He said, I pray that you be strengthened
in the inner man. That's not that we do a bunch
of faith push-ups, that we're just going to be bolsterous.
That's that we're drawn down. That's how we're strengthened
in the inner man. We're brought down in our weakness,
and this flesh is crushed, and Christ is all of our strength.
He's your strength, now you're strong. Be thankful for the trials you
came out of. Be thankful for the trials that
you're in, and be thankful for the trials that's coming. Because
you're going to see Christ's love and grace more at the end
of it. Brother A.D. Mews was in Louisville,
Kentucky. It's been about 100 years now.
And a young man come to him. Some of y'all have heard this
before. And he said, Brother Mews, will you pray for me? He's
about 20-something. He wanted to be a pastor. He said, well,
okay. He said, let's pray together.
Just two of them in the church. It was on a Tuesday or something. And he said, Brother Mews, ask
the Lord to give me wisdom. He said, I sure will. He said,
hey. He said, Heavenly Father, be hard on this boy. Send him
trials. He's rough on him. And he kind
of elbowed him and said, what are you asking? He said, where
do you think you get wisdom from? That's what the Lord sends, isn't
it? When we go through that, we realize
what Paul wrote to us in Romans 8. We see these trials, we see
the infirmities of our flesh. There wasn't another man on this
earth. Me left to myself. Boy, that's a trial. Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or sword,
or peril? If He loves you, He has loved
you, and He will forever love you. I got this out of Brother
Clay's bulletin from yesterday. John Bunyan wrote about those
12 years he spent in prison. He said, I never had in all my
life so great an insight into the Word of God as now, insomuch
that I have often said, were it lawful, I could pray for greater
trouble for the greater comfort's sake. For the comfort that comes
with it. When we see Christ, when we're
made to look to Him and see that His grace is sufficient for temporal
things and especially for eternal salvation. What comfort and peace
is experienced. What comfort and peace is experienced.
I pray that His children will experience that His grace is
sufficient. Amen.