Take me Thine indeed, Thou blessed
Son. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every
hour I need Thee. O bless me now, my Savior, I
come to Thee. Well, Doris and I are so thankful to be here and have
an opportunity to visit with Pastor Paul and Mindy and our
family and our church family here in Rocky Mountain. And I
appreciate Paul asking me to preach tonight. Doris and I are
on our way to North Carolina to preach for
Brother Reibenbach for the weekend, Friday night, Saturday night,
and Sunday morning. I'm looking forward to that.
Brother Reibenbach and I have been very, very close friends
for many, many years. He's a very special man, and
I'm looking forward to the meeting there, and I hope you'll remember
us in prayer. Now, my subject tonight, this
is my subject. You heard Pastor Paul read the
Scripture a moment ago. The last line, Paul said, When I'm weak, then am I strong. And by way of introducing this
message, I want to point out two or three things. Number one,
we know that those who preach the gospel of God's grace have
enemies. The Pharisees and rulers of the
synagogue hated the gospel, and they hated those who preached
the gospel. And they killed all of the Lord's servants, apostles,
killed all of them but one. And they exiled John to the Isle
of Patmos, ninety years old when he wrote the book of Revelation,
the revelation of Jesus Christ. But they hated these men and
hated their gospel. And another thing we know this.
We know that those who try to mix grace and works, salvation
by grace and salvation by works, Christ and the law, we know that
the Apostle Paul called these people enemies of the cross of
Jesus Christ. He said that's what they are.
He said in Philippians, many walk, of whom I tell you often,
And I tell you, we think that they're enemies of the cross
of Christ. I know that. I know we have a lot of enemies.
But everybody's not our enemy. We must be convinced of that. Everybody, everybody who disagrees
with us is not necessarily the enemy of Christ or the enemy
of the gospel. There are plenty of believers
who love Christ and love the gospel. And while they don't
agree on all things, they do agree on this, who he is and
what he did and why he did it and where he is now. In fact,
the Apostle Paul and Barnabas had a real falling out. You've
read that in the scripture. Turn to Acts chapter 15. The
Apostle Paul and Barnabas in Acts chapter 15 of the book of
Acts. I want you to listen to this.
They were companions. They were brethren. They loved the gospel. They preached
the gospel. And here in Acts chapter 15 and
verse 36. In Acts 15, 36. After some days, And some days after Paul said
to Barnabas, now let us go and visit our brethren in every city
where we have preached the Word of God and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take
with them John, whose surname was Mark. John Mark, that's Barnabas'
nephew, I did follow. He was Barnabas' nephew and he
wanted to take John Mark with him, but John Mark, He went with
him the first time, and he quit. He quit on him. And Paul determined
he wasn't going back with him again. Listen to this. And the
contention was so sharp between these great men, Paul and Barnabas,
that they departed asunder, one from the other. They fell out
with one another. They loved each other, but they
still had a falling out. That didn't make them enemies
of the cross or enemies of Christ, but they disagreed on this thing.
And Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus, and Paul chose Silas
and departed, being recommended by the brethren under the grace
of God. You know, I read that scripture
over in Philippians. You turn this with me to Philippians
chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1, verse Philippians 1.14, Philippians
1.14, And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident
by my bonds, but Paul was in prison and bound with fetters,
and these fellows waxed bold by his bonds, and was much more
bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preached Christ
even of envy. and strife, and some also of
good will. The one preached Christ of contention,
not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds, but the
other of love, knowing that I'm set for the defense of the gospel.
What then? What then? What's my conclusion,
Paul said? He had some disagreement with
these, but they loved Christ, they loved the gospel, they were
great preachers, they were God's preachers, but they had these
little problems, you know. And this is what Paul said, What
then, notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth,
Christ is preached, and therefore I rejoice, and I do rejoice that
Christ is preached. So this, I have friends, I've
been close to for many, many years, and they've had different
fallings out, but that doesn't mean they hate Christ. They may
not agree with me on everything. I don't expect them to, but we're
friends. We love Christ. Let's remember
that. Keep that, bear that always in mind. In fact, here's one
for you. In fact, there's some people
in the early church that didn't even believe the apostle Paul
was an apostle. There's some people in the early
church, because he hated Christ, because he did everything he
could to spite the name of Christ, because he took Christians and
put them in prison, even women and children, doing everything
he could against the church. And these people remembered that,
and they didn't like him too much. One of them said, I've
heard of this man. I've heard of him. The Lord said,
well, he's a chosen vessel unto me. But some of the people did
not believe that he was an apostle, and here's the reason. Some of
them said he wasn't with the original 12. The Lord chose 12
apostles, 12 disciples, and Saul of Tarsus was not one of them.
But now Judas departed, son of perdition, from the beginning.
We believe that the Lord ordained Paul to take his place. Paul. And in order for a person to
be an apostle, he had two things had to be true. One, he had to
have seen the Lord. He had to have seen the Lord
personally. Secondly, to be an apostle, he
had to receive his gospel directly from the Lord Jesus Christ, not
from anybody else. And Saul said, I am an apostle. I have seen the Lord. And when
the Lord saved me, I didn't go to the brethren before me. He
said, I went to Arabia and there I learned the gospel. from the
feet of thy Lord. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
9. 1 Corinthians chapter 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verse
1 and 2. And here's Paul, 1 Corinthians
chapter 9, verse 1 and 2. Here's Paul defending his apostleship,
defending his call to the ministry, defending his ministry. Listen
to it here. In 1 Corinthians 9, verse 1. Am I not an apostle? Are you
saying I'm not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen
the Lord Jesus Christ? Are not you my work in the Lord? Don't I have the proof of my
ministry? right here before me. If I be
not an apostle unto others, yea, doubtless I am to you. I am your apostle. That's what
he's saying here. And the seal of my apostleship
are you in the Lord. So here Paul is in my message
tonight. Here he is feeling led of God
to defend his ministry, to defend his apostleship against these
charges of these various people. And he does it in 2 Corinthians
chapter 12. Turn to that scripture, 2 Corinthians
chapter 12. And he does it. He defends his
ministry, his apostleship, his work that God had given him to
do. He defends it so honestly and humbly. in the sweetest type
of way. And I want us to look at it and
see what we can learn from it. Second Corinthians chapter 12. Second Corinthians chapter 12.
All right. Verse one. It is not expedient. It's not necessary for me doubtless
to glory. It's not necessary for me to
glory. before men and before God in
what God has been pleased to do for me and through me. There's
nothing to be gained by it. Nothing to be gained by boasting
of our works, of our gifts, of our accomplishments, of the things
that God has seen fit to do. But Paul felt it necessary. The second book of Corinthians. Over and over again, Paul felt
led to defend his apostleship and his ministry. He felt it
necessary for three reasons. Number one, in order that he
might give God all the glory for his grace and mercy to me
and to you and to all of his people, he felt led. to give God the glory. Somebody's
got to stand up and be captive. Somebody's got to stand up and
set forth the truth and hold to the truth. That's what the
old martyrs did. They sealed their testimony with their blood. And Paul rejoiced that the Lord
had blessed his churches and blessed his people. And Paul
rejoiced in the people who had been faithful and served God
so faithfully and loyally and persevering. And then thirdly,
he wanted to encourage everybody to do works of faith, labor of
love, and have the patience of hope. That's what our Lord said. He said, you're the light of
the world. That's what the Lord said about
His disciples. He said, you're the light of
the world. You're the salt of the earth. Let your light so
shine before me, that they may see your good works and glorify
your Father which is in heaven. That's what Paul's doing here.
He's just setting forth the truth. He said, I've labored more abundantly
than all of you. But that's not the end of the
statement. I've labored more abundantly than all of you, yet
not I, but Christ in me." That's the key. But somebody's got to
set forth the truth and say, that's where it came from. We
did what we did by the grace of God, for the glory of God,
for the good of His church, and we're not ashamed of it. Now
watch this. Verse 1. Chapter 12 of 2 Corinthians. It is expedient, it is not expedient
for me to outlast the glory, but I'm going to come to visions
and revelations of the Lord. He said, I'm going to come and
talk to you about things I've seen, and the things I've heard,
and the things God taught me. I'm going to come and talk to
you about visions and revelations, because He said, my conversion
was a vision. My conversion was a revelation.
I was on my way to Damascus to destroy Christians, to do everything
I could against the name of Christ. And he said, suddenly from heaven
there shined a light brighter than the sun that blinded me,
and I fell off my horse into the dust, and I heard a voice
from heaven. Saying, saho, saho, my persecutors
found me. I said, who art thou, Lord? I'm
Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute. What would you have me do? He
said, I can't deny that. That happened. We come to visions
and revelations. That took place. Secondly, the
man from Macedonia. He said, let me tell you about
that. He said, I tried to go to these different places to
preach, and God shut the door. I tried to go here, tried to
go there, and God said, no. Finally, a man from Macedonia
appeared to me. A man from Philippi, from Macedonia,
appeared to me and said, come over and help us. And he said,
I left, and I went to Macedonia, to Philippi, and God raised up
a church. He said, that's happened. That's
happened to me. And I'm rejoicing to tell about
it. He said, let me tell you another one. I was down in Carleth
preaching. This church right here, First
Corinthians. I was down in Carleth. And they
began to persecute me. Began to harass me. Do all manner
of evil against me. And I planned to leave. And that
night, the Lord appeared to me and said, Paul, don't leave Carleth. Don't leave college. He said,
I'll be with you. Don't leave. I have much people
in this city. So he said, I'll stay 18 months. Now he said, I know it's not
necessary for me to brag. I know it's not expedient that
I should boast. And I don't, I don't usually
do it, but he said, I've got to do it. I've got to give God
the glory for everything that God has done. Everything that
he's done for my direction, for my encouragement. And for my
instruction and for the establishment confirmation of his church. Now, then he said, I'm going
to tell you another vision. Look at verse three. Now, listen
to this. Verse two, I knew a man in Christ. Paul is speaking, what, second
person here? He's talking about himself. But
he said, I knew a man in Christ. All blessings are in Christ.
All heavenly blessings are in Christ. This man was in Christ.
Whether in the body, about 14 years ago, I knew a man in Christ
about 14 years ago. Whether in the body, I couldn't
tell. Or whether out of the body, I couldn't tell. So mysterious. So unspeakable. So unsearchable. I don't know. I really don't
know whether it's in the body or out of the body. I can't tell.
God knows. And when you can't find the answer,
just say, God knows. Such a one was caught up to the
third heaven. Where is that? Where is the third
heaven? It's the seat and throne of God. That's where the third heaven
is. It's the abode of the angel.
The third heaven is where the Lamb is enthroned upon the throne. It is where believers go when
God calls them home. Paradise. That's what the Lord
Jesus said today. You're going to be with me in
paradise. Paul said, I knew a man in Christ
about 14 years ago. Whether in the body or out of
the body, I do not know. I just know. He was caught up
to the third heaven. Verse 3, And I knew such a man,
whether in the body or out of the body, I can't tell. God knows. You know, these people got all
the answers to everything. We need to learn that. Whether
in the body or out of the body, I don't know. I preach. I preach. But I preach in part. I know in part. I know nothing
as I ought to know. It's whatever God's pleased to
reveal to us. But I do not know, he said. But
he said, I'll tell you this, verse four, how that this man
was caught up in the paradise, and he heard, he heard unspeakable
words, unspeakable, unsearchable, Unanswerable. Mysterious. If your, in my faith, is not
mysterious, it's not of God. Martin Luther said one time,
I can't comprehend God because I don't need a God I can comprehend.
If I can comprehend it, He's not God. Mysterious. Unspeakable. Unsearchable. Unanswerable. That's in all these 55 years
I've tried to preach, the mystery has never gone out of the gospel.
It's just as sweet as ever. The amazing has not gone out
of grace either. It's amazing grace. How sweet
the sound saved a wretch like me. I once was lost. Now I'm
found. I was blind. I can't explain
these things, but now I see. Now I see. This man was caught
up, and listen, And he talked about, he didn't talk about what
he saw. Just about everybody I read about
that has a vision always talk about what they saw. But you
know, Paul didn't say anything about what he saw. He said, he
talked about what he heard. Because actually, no man has
seen God at any time. And God said to Moses, you get
over there behind the rock. I'm going to pass by you because
you can't look on me and live. So you just put it down. When
somebody gives you some wild tale about what they saw, don't
pay attention to it. Paul said, I didn't see anything,
but I heard something. But you know, I heard what I
can't repeat. He said, I heard unspeakable
words. which is not possible for me
to repeat them." Paul heard what he could not
repeat, unspeakable, unsearchable, mysterious words. No natural
man can enter into, participate in, or understand heavenly glory, He is changed into the likeness
of Christ. Then he'll hear, then he'll see,
then he'll understand. For David said, as for me, I'll
behold thy face in righteousness. I will be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness. Then I'm going to see. I'll tell
you. But you know what? You're going
to be with me and you'll know all about it, you see. That's
right. That's right. And then Paul said
in verse 5, of such a woman, will I glory. Who's he talking
about? I'll tell you who he's talking
about. He's talking about that man that's enthroned in glory. Secondly,
he's talking about that man, those people who are with him
in glory. Thirdly, he's talking about that blessed hope that
God has given him in being with him in glory. And then that crown
of righteousness which he'll present unto all those who love
his appearing. Oh, such a man caught up in the
paradise. I heard things it's not lawful
to utter. But tell us, Paul, what you heard.
Can't do it. It's impossible. Can't do it. Verse 6, let's look at verse
6. For though I would desire to
glory and rejoice and brag a little, I shall not be a fool. I'll 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, Uh-oh, watch this. Lest I should find room to boast
and brag and exalt above measure through the abundance of these
visions and revelations that the Lord has given to me, He
gave me a thorn in my flesh, the messenger of Satan, to bucket
me, lest I be exalted above measure. Did you hear that? Paul had been talking about these
visions and revelations, unanswerable, unspeakable, unsearchable, mysterious. But I didn't see it, but I heard,
but I can't tell you. I can't tell you. Unless I should
start popping off and start saying things I shouldn't say. God gave
me a thorn in the flesh. He gave me a trial, a messenger
of Satan to buffet me. You know, you would think with
all of this that Paul wouldn't be given to boasting or pride,
but Paul's just a man too. He's just a man too. And pride
is something God hates above all things. A proud look. Charles Spurgeon wrote this. You mean the Apostle Paul had
to have a struggle with pride evidently because God gave him
a thorn in the flesh so he wouldn't be proud? Pride is natural to
flesh. Pride grows in the heart of every
person like weeds in a garden or leaves on a tree. Pride is
hard to destroy. If you kill it, it revives. If you bury it, it'll come forth
from the tomb. No man has more pride than the
man who thinks he has none. You may hunt down pride in your
life and think you've killed it, but your very rejoicing and
exultation and feeling of victory over pride is pride. Pride has a thousand faces, and
by perpetual change, It escapes captivity. Pride is found in
the pulpit and in the prison, found in the young and in the
old, found in the rich and in the poor. It's found in the educated
and the ignorant. It's found in the believer and
the unbeliever. And sometimes, I want you to listen to this,
sometimes pride even grows on the medicine that ought to kill
it. This right here. So God gave Paul a thorn in the
flesh. Don't try to figure out what
it is. You waste your time. It's real. And he began to pray. He began to ask the Lord to deliver
him from this thorn, this messenger of Satan. God, deliver me. Deliver me. Three times. Three
times in definite, dedicated, sincere prayer. pray, cry unto
God to remove this affliction. Take it away from me. And the
Lord refused. What did the Lord say? Look at
verse 8. For this thing I have assaulted
the Lord three times, that it might depart from me. And He
said, He said, My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made
perfect in weakness." Paul, this is for your good, and this is
for God's glory. But I'll give you sufficient
grace to bear you up under these trials. And you remember, my
strength, my strength is made perfect in your weakness. My strength is made perfect Read the next verse. So most
gladly would I rather glory in my infirmities that the power
of Christ might rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses, in thorns and trials for Christ's sake. For
when I am weak, That's when I'm strong. When I'm weak, that's
when I'm strong. I want to dwell on that just
a few minutes. When is this not true? When I'm
weak, then am I strong. It's a time when it's not true.
When is it true? It's a time when it's true. What's
the proof of it? Take the first question. When
is this not true? When I'm weak, then am I strong. Well, weakness in study of the
Word is not going to make me strong. Weakness in the study
of God's Word. The scripture tells us to study,
to show yourselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. Don't leave
the Word. Stay in the Word of God. Not weakening you. Secondly,
weakness in prayer is not going to make me strong. One of the writers says, God
forbid that I should cease, that I should sin against God in failing
to pray for you. Let's pray for one another. Let's
pray daily for one another. Let's don't desert the prayer
closet. That's when you're going to be
not strong, but weak. Don't leave the prayer closet.
Call on God. Thirdly, weakness in faith is
not going to make me strong. The Scripture said Abraham was
strong in faith, giving glory to God. Weakness in faith won't make
me strong. Being strong in faith will make
me strong. It'll make me stronger. He said
the righteous will hold his way and grow stronger and stronger
and stronger by holding his way, by holding to the Word, by praying,
by believing God. That's how you'll get stronger.
Fourthly, weakness in love not going to make me stronger. Now
about is faith, hope, and love. These three, the greatest of
these is love. Weakness in the works of faith,
in good works, is not going to make me strong. Let your light
shine before me, and that they may see your good works and glorify
your Father. So there's a time when weakness,
when I'm weak, doesn't make me strong. If we can study the Word
in prayer in faith, in love, in labor. We grow stronger and
stronger every day. Now, this is when it's true.
When is it true? When I'm weak, then am I strong. Number one, David said, when
I am overwhelmed with the presence and power and majesty of my God. Oh Lord, he said, When I consider
the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars, when I consider the
things that Thou hast ordained, what is man that Thou art mine? That's when you become weak,
in the presence of majesty and glory. When I'm weak before Him, that's
when I'm strong. when I'm in the presence of a
holy God, in prayer, in worship, in fellowship. Isaiah said, when
King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. High and lifted up. His train
filled the temple. The cherubims and cherubims cried,
holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. And he said, I cried, woe is
me. I'm undone. I'm weak. When is he strong? He's weak before God. Thirdly,
when I consider the mysteries of the gospel. You know, I quoted
this while ago, but I mean it so sincerely. I know in part. I preach in part. I know nothing
as I ought to know. Every true servant of God will
cry with Paul, Oh, pray for me, brethren. Pray for me that utterance
might be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make
known the mysteries of the gospel. And let me tell you something,
those mysteries of the gospel are still mysteries. Mysteries. Mysteries. Who's sufficient for
these things? And I'll tell you something else
when I'm weak. I'm weak in trials and afflictions. I don't boast about trials and
afflictions because they hurt too bad. I don't like to hurt. I don't like to see people that
I love hurt. And I just kind of rebel sometimes in afflictions. And that's my weakness. But I'll tell you, when I submit
to His hand, I grow stronger through the trial, in the trial,
during the trial, that's right. And I'll tell you this, I'm weak
when I consider the responsibility of preaching the gospel. Paul said that to some we are the fragrance
of life unto life, to others with the fragrance of death unto
death. Who's sufficient for these things? Same gospel I preach.
Same gospel I preach. In the same service, before a
group of people, may turn one against the gospel I'm preaching,
turn another in charge. Who's sufficient for these things? That's when I'm weak, but that's
when I'm strong. All right, what's the proof?
What is the proof, preacher? What is the genuine proof of
this text? Let's read it again. 2 Corinthians
12, verse 9 and 10. Listen. So he said to me, my
grace is sufficient for thee, but my strength is made perfect
in your weakness. So most gladly will, therefore,
will I glory Rather, glory in my weakness, in my infirmities,
in my failures, that the power of Christ might rest upon me.
Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities. I take pleasure
in reproaches, in necessities, persecution, in distress. For
when I'm weak, that's when I'm strong. When I'm weak, that's
when I'm strong. And here's the proof. When I'm
really weak, and I know it, I'll flee to Christ. I won't turn
to any other situation. I'll turn to Him. When I'm weak,
that's proof of my strength. I'm going to turn to Him and
find my rest in Him. David said, flee as a bird to
your mountain. Don't hide over here in the cornbrushes. I lift up mine eyes unto the
hills which cometh my help, my help cometh from the Lord which
made heaven and earth." When I'm weak, I flee to Him. Secondly, when I'm truly weak,
I'll pray. Nothing motivates real prayer
like real need. You found that out. Nothing motivates
real prayer like a real need. Thirdly, when I'm weak, when
I'm really weak, and know it, I will sympathize with and care
for others who are also weak. Weakness, I found this one, that
weakness never feels uncomfortable in the presence of weakness. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable
in the presence of a lot of smart people, you know. Got all the
answers. But I never feel a sense of weakness
in the presence of people I know just as weak as I am. Isn't that
right? When I'm weak, I'll sympathize. I'll care. I'll help. I'll do what I can. When I'm
truly weak, when I'm truly weak, fourthly,
I will be content to serve in the smallest capacity. I'll be
content with the lowest place because I know the lowest place
would be too much for me without His grace. Why should I aim higher when
I'm at the bottom. That's when we, I'll be content,
I'll be content to serve in the smallest capacity. And I'll tell you this, the last
point. When I'm truly weak, there won't be any problem to
giving Christ all the glory. Man has no problem with that.
in giving Christ all the glory. So I believe the Lord's given
us a little insight into what Paul is talking about here. And
he was some kind of man. He was God's man. Powerful. Persuasive. But he was weak. And he found
it out. And when he became weak, he said,
I got stronger and stronger and stronger. Our Father, we thank You for
Your Word. We're just helpless and hopeless
without the Word. Teach us Thy Word. Reveal Thy
Word to us day by day. for the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Blessed, blessed Brother Paul, this dear congregation,
people here that are so faithful to your word and to the gospel
and to one another. Continue your mercies and blessings
to be upon them for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in the
days to come. We give thee thanks and praise
in the name of our Savior. Amen. I think this would be a good hymn
to sing after that. 296. 296. Let's stand as we sing. Oh, the way my Savior leads me,
what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy? He through life has been my guide. Heavenly peace, divinest comfort,
Hear my praise in Him to dwell. For I know on every palm Jesus
doeth all things well. For I know on every palm Jesus
doeth all things well. All the way my Savior leads me,
O the fullness of His love, perfect rest to me is promised.