Second Corinthians chapter twelve. There's a passage in Job chapter
fourteen. Verse one. That says this. Man that is born of woman. Is of few days. Full of trouble. Man that is
born of woman is of few days, and yet those few days are full
of many troubles. The lifespan of a human being
is seventy or eighty years, and in relation to time itself,
that's just a snap of a finger. James says it's just a vapor.
A vapor appears, a puff of smoke that appears here for a little
time and after that it's gone. And in the course of our lifetime
of 70 or 80 years, every one of us, every one of us will go
through periods of trouble. We will all experience pain,
sorrow, toil, suffering, sickness, anguish, depression, weakness,
trouble, a great deal of trouble, trouble. Some go through more
than others. David in Psalm seventy three
said some don't appear to have any. But some go through more troubles
than other and no and others and no people no one goes through
more troubles experiences more troubles than the believer. The one who. Trust Christ who knows and follows
after the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ himself said to his disciples,
he forewarned them, he said, in the world, you're going to
have tribulation. You must through much tribulation. That's a general word. That's
a large word, which means being experiencing all sorts of pressures,
problems on every side. Troubles of all kinds. He said
you must, talking to believers. But troubles are the lot of all
men. All men and women. Trouble is our lot. Why? Sin. Because of sin. You know, this
HIV virus that's going around which afflicts people with this
thing called AIDS. The HIV virus renders people
with AIDS and makes them susceptible to all manner of disease and
sickness. That's what it does. That's what
the virus does. It breaks down the immune system,
makes them susceptible to all manner of disease and sicknesses.
Well, sin is a virus that permeates every human being, even our little
children, and it makes us susceptible to all manner of diseases and
problems and troubles and evil. That's what sin does, all manner
of trouble. Nobody is immune to the troubles
that sin has brought our world. Nobody is immune from completely.
Now, the natural man, listen to me, the natural man, the irreligious
man, the unbeliever, the ignorant, the one who's ignorant of God
Almighty, the natural man sees troubles, sees calamities, sees
problems as mere strokes of bad luck. The natural man, without
understanding of God's Word, sees these things that happen
to us as misfortune, uncontrollable happenings of chance. But the
believer sees all things, especially his own troubles, as somehow
working together toward an all-wise purpose, an immutable, unchangeable
purpose, an end, which an almighty God has foreordained for their
good, everything." Romans 8, 28. People quote that all the
time, you know, at funerals and so forth. Well, we believe it
seven days a week, funeral or no funeral. We believe that all
things, yes, A-double-L, all things are working together according
to an all-wise immutable, unchangeable purpose in the will of God Almighty. God is working it all out, and
the believer is confident that God is doing it for his best. And that best, the best thing
that can happen to a believer is that they be conformed to
the image of Christ. Now, stay with me, please. I
got some comfort for you here. Just a little while. The best
thing that can happen to you is that you be conformed to the
image of Christ. Now what did Christ, who was
Christ, what did he get in his lifetime? Trouble. He said, I'm a man of sorrows,
acquainted with grief from my youth up. Can we expect any less? No. Not be conformed to Christ. Now listen, we don't know the
immediate reason for all things, and we trouble ourselves in trying
to figure them out, don't we? We see things happen. Things
happen to us. Especially these, we see these
things, horrific or horrible things that happen out in the
world, you know, these mass murders and all of these things that
happen out in the world, and we don't understand it, do we?
I admit it. Nobody understands it. We ask
questions. Why? But you see, we're like little
children. We're like little bitty children. We're unable to understand
all that this all-wise Father, Heavenly Father, is doing. We
can't begin for the... We see in part, Paul said. We know in part. We see through
a glass very dimly. We don't see the whole picture.
And we have trouble we we don't understand things but the Scriptures
don't necessarily call upon us to understand things but yet
to just back to. Believe. God I believe in a God
but believe God. Who he is and what he's doing
that he's got and whatever it is it's right shall not the judge
of the earth do what right yes he will. But we don't understand
the immediate reason for things, but we receive it. A believer,
that is, receives all things, believes all things that is in
God's sovereign control. And eventually, in God's good
time, you're going to look back. In God's good time, you're going
to look back at whatever it was that happened and see God's wise
design. See God's wise design, his infinite
wisdom in that. There's comfort there. There's
comfort there. It's like, you've heard this
illustration before, I know. It's like these tapestries that
we see, these intricate weavings and all. If you turn them over
and look at the back side of them, you look underneath, it
doesn't make any sense. It looks bedraggled. It looks,
it looks all a jumble of threads. You don't see any any beauty
to it at all, but turn it over. You look at it from above. You
see a beautiful picture, right? Oh, this is God's providence.
God's providence. Now, we sorrow, believers, those
who trust Christ, sorrow. I mean real tears, real pain. You lose a husband, it hurts
like nothing you've ever hurt about before. A wife or a son
or a daughter. trouble that we sorrow. Yes,
we do. We're not superhuman beings.
When things happen, we hurt. We cry. But not as though we
have no hope. It ain't a hope I hope. I believe. I just believe. I've got to keep
on keeping on. It's a hope in a person, you see. Unless you
have this hope in a divine, sovereign person, not a doctrine, not a
creed, not a a church, a church membership
or profession, but in a person, a living, controlling, all-wise
person. Unless you have that, you're
going to sorrow with no hope, as the world sorrows. Paul said
this, he said, we're troubled on every side, and we are. We're troubled on every side,
yet not distressed. You know, people, we've got,
we've got mental hospitals full of people that are distressed.
They get in trouble and they stress out, you see. We get close
at times, don't we? Get close. Stress is what causes
heart problems, disease, mental depression and all this. You
see, we're troubled on every side, but yet not stressed out
to the breaking point. Why? Somebody's got a hold of
us. He said we're perplexed, and
we are. Why, Lord? Why is this happening? Why this? Why that? On every
side you're perplexed. I don't understand this. I don't
understand that. But he says we're not in despair. We're not. We were talking last
night. If I didn't believe in who I believe in, if I didn't
believe God was reigning and ruling and controlling and all
that, we were talking about medical costs going up and not having
enough insurance and meaning I don't have a maternity clause
in our insurance. We get she gets pregnant. It costs now seven
thousand dollars or so to have a baby in the hospital. If I
didn't believe in a loving heavenly father and I was in his hands
and I'd be talking to every insurance man in the state. We would be
stressed out, wouldn't we? You'd be in despair. What are
we going to do? What are we going to do? I'd work three or four
jobs so I can come up with the money to get me a maternity clause,
so I could have enough insurance. I'd have $400,000 worth of life
insurance, worried that my wife wouldn't be fed after I'm dead.
But no, no, we're not in despair. We don't despair about those
things. Why? Because the same one who took
care of her before I came along on the scene is going to take
care of her after I'm gone. Right? That doesn't mean I Don't
take care of my responsibilities, but it just means I don't get
in despair about it. Do all you can. Yeah, but don't
worry about it after that. He said we're persecuted and
we are. On every side, persecuted, but
not forsaken. Boy, I like that. Your mom and
daddy may forsake you, but your real father won't. Your brother
and sister may forsake you for your stand on the gospel, but
boy, you gain about a thousand brothers and sisters, don't you?
I mean, a brother like you never, you've got a brother, a friend
that sticks closer than a brother. Cast down, but no destruction,
not destroyed. Now listen, the best of men are
just men at best. The best of men are men at best,
flesh. And we all ask these questions,
why? Why? We all get mad. It's not, be careful how you
say it and around who you say it, but it's not uncommon for
a child of God to get mad at God. It's evil. It's wicked. It's inexcusable. But because
we're flesh, it happens. Abraham did. He did. Moses did. Moses got mad at God. Jeremiah did. You ought to read
Jeremiah sometimes. Jeremiah, oh, he almost blasphemed
to God. He got mad at God. Jonah did,
didn't he? Jonah got mad at God. Yet we walk by faith, the Scripture
says, and not by sight, by faith. And faith, and John said this
is the victory that overcomes the world, faith. This is the
final victory that's going to overcome it all. Simple trust,
belief in an all-wise, all-powerful Savior. This is what's going
to overcome it all, all your problems, everything. Faith in
a sovereign Christ, not faith in faith, but faith in a sovereign
Christ. Now listen, we all see, listen
to me, we all see and hear these super-religious, these super-apostles
today. We all see and hear them everywhere.
They seem to be trouble-free, and their proselytes, their people,
seem to be trouble-free. They boast of their faith. They
boast of their conquest over Satan. Don't they? They make their wild claims,
their victories over sicknesses, poverty, and trouble, and we
get cancer, And you hear all these boasts
of victories over sickness and poverty and trouble, you know.
And we hear their visions and their miracles and all, don't
we? Everywhere you turn, you hear
them. And they all attribute it to their great faith. Well,
listen to the Apostle Paul here. I said all that by way of—that
you might understand what the Apostle Paul is dealing with
here. He's dealing with the same sort of people. Back in Corinth,
there was a lot of these big talkers going. It was just like,
this could have been written in 1991, after Paul just listened
to Robert Tilton on the television. He could have sat down and wrote
this. And talking about their visions, their great conquest,
and their victories over Satan, and this and that. So Paul, look
at it with me. Chapter 12. He says, I knew a
man, verse 2, in Christ above fourteen years ago who went to
heaven." Now, in humility, he doesn't
say who it is. But if one of these fellows ever
thought today, dreamed up that they actually went to heaven,
boy, they'd be telling it, wouldn't they? In humility, though, he
doesn't refer to himself, but it was Paul. You can see that
on down there. It was Paul, definitely. And
some people said that this happened when Paul was stoned. Do you
remember when Paul was stoned and they took him up for dead?
Most of the writers believe that he actually died there. And Paul
is not lying here. He's telling the truth. He said,
I knew a man who went to heaven, the third heaven, paradise. Saw
things just... I said, I can't even talk about
it. Now, if this had been old Oral, he sure talked about it,
wouldn't he? He has. Say, I saw a 900-foot
Jesus, Oral, see? Every little Tom, Dick, and Harry,
you know, every little Jim, Robert, and Larry, they tell about it,
don't they? All these visions and so forth.
And Paul said, I actually went to heaven, saw the halls of glory. And the reason he like I said
the reason he recounts this experience is because of all the claims
and the boast of these false apostles who come into the church
and trouble in the people some of them got to believe in some
of this stuff they were here. Yeah they did like today. Even some
of us say he said some good things. He's a snake. He's a viper. Look back at chapter 11 with
me. Look at verse 12. Paul calls them by what they
are. Chapter 11, listen to the reason why he brings all this
up. He says, verse 12, chapter 11, what I'm doing now that I
will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion
wherein they glory. In other words, these fellows
are bragging and all that. I'm going to cut them off. They're
false apostles, verse 13, false apostles. deceitful workers transforming
themselves in the apostles of Christ that is appearing to be
preachers and so forth and no marvel Satan himself transformed
in the angel of life. It's no great thing that if his
ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness
even use the term whose ends will be according to their works.
Now I say again let no man think me a fool if otherwise Yet as
a fool, receive me." I'm going to do a little boasting, he says.
And what I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, that is,
not divinely inspired. In other words, this isn't the
word of God coming to you. But I'm going to, verse 18, seeing
that many glory after the flesh, I'm going to do some glory into
it here. He said, I'm going to tell you something. And this
is what he gets into in chapter 20. He said, I'm going to tell
you something. I went to heaven. Heaven. And he did this, like he said
there, because these fellows had come in and boasted of their
greatness. And some of them had said things
like this. Now listen to me. Some of these false apostles
had come in the church, like they are now, crept in. And they had said things like
this. They didn't come right out and start preaching a false
gospel. back to the Galatians. They didn't
come right out and say, no, salvation's not by grace. They didn't say
that. They said, salvation's by grace
and works. They didn't say, salvation's
not in Christ, it's what you do. No, nobody would have heard
them, would they? No, that's not what the Scripture
says, if people would have said it. No, they didn't say that.
They said, salvation's in Christ. But you better live the good
life, you know, Christ plus, he said. And they said things
like this, now Paul's a good man. Paul, Paul has done some
good things. Paul's a good preacher. Yes,
Paul's a man of God. But Paul is very rude in speech. Paul has no real education. Paul is rude and speaks very
basic in his preaching. Paul is not eloquent. Paul doesn't go into some deep
things. They might have said this, all
he preaches is Christ. You ever heard that? All Paul
preaches, he seems to be taken up with, is Christ. There's more,
they would say. He hasn't given you all there
is. There's more than Christ. I've
heard that with these ears from men. Men who, quote, are called
themselves preachers of the gospel. Men who have the doctrine, even.
Paul's not preaching the full gospel. If Christ is not all
the fullness of the God-given body, I don't know what is. What
else is there? It says, "...in him dwelleth
all the fulness." That ain't a full gospel. What is? Your gospel's full of something,
all right, full of man. They said, Paul's not preaching
the four-square gospel. Paul's got three squares. Whatever
the four square is. Somebody explain to me what four
square is. But Paul's not doing it. There's
more to be had, they would say. There's no real expression. You're
not experiencing all there is to experience. You mean there's
more than isn't something more glorious than knowing Christ?
Yes, gibberish. You've not yet talked like a
fool. You've got to talk like a fool
to live the deep Christian life. There's power to be had with
God. Don't you hear them today? Power to be. You've got power
with God. Paul's not saying that. They're
gifts and blessings that you're missing out on. You don't have
to be sick. Well, look at Paul. If he had
any faith at all, he wouldn't have that eye problem, would
he? Their message was a message of
power with God. As somebody said, it could have
been called the hour of power. These were very big on talk.
They were probably eloquent in speech. Eloquent in speech, very
charismatic in personality, men with flowing words and probably
flowing hair. Mostly, Paul was bald. Men of
flowing words and flowing hair and robes, you know. They said
it of, who was it they said it of? It was a Caesar that made
a great eloquent speech and they said, this is the voice of a
God. And I've heard these guys and they sound good, boy. Sure
do. Make an impression on this old
boy. They were men of beautiful visage and impressive visions. You know, I really believe some
of these fellows have visions. You know, they come up with all
these great claims and all. I saw, I heard a voice, Terry
and I, you and I were just talking about this. God told me. I really
believe somebody told them something. I really believe sometimes that
these men hear something. I believe most of it's due to
a bad pizza the night before, you know, but I really do believe
that sometimes they hear voices. and feel things bubbling, and
I'll not say what that is, but I really believe they experience
some things, don't you? They're too convincing. I really
believe they've heard of spirits But it's not God's Spirit. You
see, the Spirit of Christ, if you look all through the Gospel
of John, especially chapter 16, 14, 15, 16, He describes the
work of the Holy Spirit. Christ Himself says the Holy
Spirit, now His whole job, His whole purpose, is to come take
the things of mine, take the things of Christ, and reveal
them to you. To bring into remembrance everything I've said. To give
you repentance about your sin toward God and faith in me. To
make you look to Christ and trust Him. To depend totally upon Jesus
Christ. Who He is and what He did on
the cross for you. Not in any way to point you to
yourself. Not in any way to point you to the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit doesn't speak of Himself. He hears things from God and
points men to Christ. And I believe they've got a spirit,
but it's not the spirit of Christ. Paul says here, he said, I knew
a man. He said, I'm going to come to
visions and revelation of the Lord. Of the Lord. It's a great deal of difference
there. Because he spoke according to God's word. Isaiah 20, John,
here we go again. to the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to God's word, there's no light
in them. Now, if any man goes to healing, folks, if I hear
a man who's really preaching the gospel, who's really in this
thing for the glory of God Almighty, who refuses to let his name be
heard, who refuses to let his picture be pasted on every poster
and billboard and television screen and all that for his own
glory, a man who refuses that, he goes about doing some healing?
If people start to idolize him and all, do like the Apostle
Paul and Peter, rip his clothes off and say, don't worship me.
Oh, no. A man who says that, who really
does some healing, I'll listen to that boy. I'll believe that
healing. I'll go to his crusade. And Paul was such a man. Paul
was such a man. And he describes this vision
that he had. He said, I knew a man who was
caught up in paradise and saw things unspeakable. Unspeakable. And like I said, this is different
from the language you hear today. If they had seen these things
that Paul saw, they'd have been talking about it. Really talking
about it. But Paul, you see, is more taken
up with the person and work of Christ than vision. He said in one place, God forbid
that I should glory, be taken up with, be enthused about anything
but the cross of Jesus Christ. Therein is the glory of God seen. God's glory is not even in heaven.
God's glory is in Himself. God's glory is in His Son. Paul
said, I'm determined not to know or be taken up with anything.
save Jesus Christ and him crucified, the person and work of Christ. And Paul could have spoken about
these things, he could have gone into great detail about these
marvelous things, and so could many of God's people. Now listen,
all of God's peoples will have some experiences. I've had some
experiences. All of God's people have had
some miraculous experiences, deliverances, provision, glorious
times of communion and fellowship. And you could say, you could
talk about it, you could tell somebody about it, but you don't
want to dare mention it. You don't want to have anybody,
you don't want to be trusting in that. You don't have anybody
looking to that, right? You dare not trust the sweetest
frame," the song says, but holy lean where? On Jesus' name. That is His power, His person.
And it's not something we go around boasting of and bragging
about to influence others. But listen to how Paul begins
to describe, listen to him, getting into the meat here. Paul begins
to describe the real, the deeper Christian life. It's
not talking in tongues. It's not healing, it's not visions,
it's not getting happy in the Spirit, you know. It's not that
at all. It's quite the opposite. It's
quite the contrary. He begins to describe, this is
so important, he begins to describe the deeper, the deeper Christian
experience. You see, Listen, God is a heavenly father to his
people, and the all-wise heavenly father that he is. He's not so concerned with your
happiness on this earth. He's not so concerned with your
happiness as your eternal well-being, your eternal welfare. As a matter
of fact, God decrees our unhappiness here. That's right. I'm telling you,
this is the most. This is exactly opposite what
you're hearing today. God decrees our unhappiness here. Why? That we might find all happiness
in him and him alone. And unspeakable joy. when we finally leave this place. You see, I don't understand if
all is true. If everything that they're saying
today is health and wealth gospel, so-called, that they're preaching
today, God doesn't want you to be sick. God doesn't want you
to be poor. God wants you to have a new car.
God wants you to have a new house. God wants you to live in perfect
health. If that Where could you have a better
time? Your ultimate joy, see, what
is there to look forward to, in other words? But you see, God Almighty, outward
happiness, outward blessings are not necessarily a sign of
God's favor and approval. Sometimes it's the opposite.
Sometimes the greatest gift God gives somebody is a trial. Look at Paul. This is what he
said. He said, I'm going to describe to you the real Christian experience.
He said, lest I should be exalted above measure or settled. Through this abundance of revelations
and visions, God gave me a form. It was given to me. Do you see
that? It was given to me. It's a gift. God gave me a form. Any of you ever had a splinter
all the way up to your gizzard? That's what Eddie always said. I got a splinter all the way
up to my gizzard. That's a big splinter. But any of you ever
had a splinter? You couldn't get it out? Oh,
it's the most infested. It's the most painful thing.
You couldn't do anything without being affected and bothered by
that splinter. Paul says, God gave me one. Can you imagine that? Can you
imagine that? God in mercy and love and grace
gave me a problem, gave me some pain. How big a crowd could we
get advertising that? If y'all come hear our gospel,
if you believe, if you follow our gospel, God will give you
problems. You might go broke. How many people could we get?
About what we got now, 40, 45. You couldn't get a crowd by talking
about troubles and trials and sufferings and all. That's what
Paul did. They didn't have a big crowd. You can't. But if you promise people blessings
of health and wealth and prosperity, you'll get a crowd, won't you? You'll get a crowd. But I tell
you what, what we need to see, what people need to see is that
the flesh is flesh and the spirit is spirit. And the flesh, the
scripture says, lusteth against the spirit. The spirit lusteth
against the flesh. The flesh only desires flesh.
Fleshly things, fleshly pleasures, fleshly happiness. And the scripture
says this, they that are after the flesh They that are after the flesh,
that is, desirous of the flesh, they mine the things of the flesh.
And what does Scripture say in that very same passage? The carnal
line is the enemy of God Almighty. I know they say they draw near
to God with their lips. I know they say they want God,
they want Jesus. And what they want, though, is
a Jesus to get them out of a mess they've gotten in. What they
want is as a sugar daddy to give them a new car and a house and
all their riches and get them out of troubles, you know. That's
an abomination to God Almighty. They draw near with their lips.
I know what people say. But men don't desire God. They
desire what God can give them. God's people desire God first. God first. Paul says to believers
and followers of Christ, you're not in the flesh, if so be you're
in the Spirit. You've got a new mind, a new
heart, new desires. If so be that you're in Christ,
set your affection. Your desires are set on things
above, right? And he goes on, he says, but
if you live after the flesh, that is, set all your affection,
your joy in this life, you're going to die. If you live after
the flesh, you shall die along with everything. In other words,
when something dies, when you lose something, you die. But if you, through the Spirit,
the power, the strength, the teaching, the gospel of God's
Spirit, do mortify, kill it, see it dead, see it for what
it is, this flesh. Are you following me? The Word
of God. If you see it for what it is, what is this flesh? Dust! Our child's been playing with
a little balloon, and every now and then it'll pop, you know.
That's what this is, right? If we can see it for what it
is, a vapor, a balloon, a bubble that will burst. Dust. Dust it is, the dust it shall
return. If we through the Spirit can
mortify. See that? We'll live, I mean
really live, real life, life more abundant, Barbara. You don't have to have the outward
trappings. Somebody said the less you got on the inside, the
more you have to have on the outside. An empty bucket, somebody said,
makes the loudest noise. If you see all of your life,
your hope, your salvation, your happiness in Christ, you're going
to live. You're going to live like you
never lived before. Be happy like you've never been
happy before. Oh, you're going to have troubles on every side. But you're going to experience
times of happiness like you've never experienced before. And
ultimately, the happiness of God himself. But Paul says, I
got a thorn. And it was a real and painful
thing. Paul didn't enjoy this thing while it was happening.
Paul, when it first came upon him, nobody knows what it is
either. Some say it was his eye affliction. It could have been.
Somebody said he had a terrible eye problem, disease, ophthalmia
or something, one of the writers said, where his eyes constantly
were sore and nearsightedness and all that. Some say Some say
he had a sexual problem, but that was from a Roman Catholic,
so you can imagine why they said that, a monk. But nobody knows what it was.
But it was a thorn in the flesh, and Paul didn't enjoy it at the
time. He wasn't bragging about it at
the time. He didn't enjoy it. It was painful. A thorn's not
enjoyable. He wanted out, don't you? He
wanted out. And Paul said the same thing.
He said, for this thing, listen, for this thing, verse 8, I besought
the Lord three times that it might depart from it. Lord, please
get rid of this. But when you're beseeching, I
mean, when you're praying, so-called, you can, you can go through the
motions, but when you're beseeching, The Lord, that means you're begging.
I beseech that. He said, I'm assault the Lord.
Lord, please get rid of this problem. He didn't do that halfheartedly. He wanted he wanted it away from
it. And we've got those thorns. Please,
would you get rid of this? Just root of bitter, whatever
it may be, please get rid of this. Three times. Three times. And it was a continual and painful
thing, a real trial. Look at it, it says, a messenger
of Satan to Buffett made. In a sense, verse 7, God has
turned him over a little bit to Satan, to Buffett. Buffett
means, doesn't mean a little pat, you
know, like some of the weapons we give our children, you know.
It means a, I mean a scourging, a buffeting. It hurts. I can't take any more. It was,
if you get hit in the face, now you won't be able to take much
of it. Buffets! They buffeted the Lord, Jesus
Christ said. Buffeted Him with a closed fist.
And Paul said, He besought the Lord. Lord, I'm going down! That's what David said, John.
Deliver me from going down into the pit! Lord, please. Does anybody in here know what
one of these thorns is like? Satan. This was the gift of God
and the work of Satan. Is there a contradiction there?
No. A gift of God, but the work of
Satan. You see, Satan is under God's
control. I know this world doesn't teach
that, but it's so nonetheless. If you'll read the book of Job,
Job chapter 1 and 2, you'll see how Satan had to come answer
to God for everything he did, everything he had to be allowed
by God to do everything he did. Why don't men see that in the
Scripture? Because they refuse to see it in the Scripture. I
tell you what, if Satan was an independent sovereign power,
I wouldn't want to live, would you? If Satan was just as powerful
as God, I'd be scared to death. But he's not. He's God's bulldog. And he's on a leash. He's on
a chain, the scripture says. Reserved and everlasting chain.
God lets out the chains every now and then. And he terrifies
even God's people. Terrifies them. But he'll jerk
it back Make him sit. See, he rolls over
when God says roll over. He sits when God says sit. Yeah, he does. Listen to this
profound statement. God has a hand in the action
where sin is, but no hand in the sin of the action. If you're listening, you have
to listen to understand that. God has a hand in the action
where sin is, or what's going on, but no hand in the sin of
the action. God creates darkness. Isaiah
45 says, God, I created darkness. How does God do that? God is
light. How does he create darkness?
Turn his back. Remove himself. And there's darkness,
ignorance. God is life. How's their death? He removes himself. God allows
sin. How does he do that? How does
God allow sin? Why does God allow sin? He just
removes himself. He leaves somebody alone. You
know how a man will sin? God will just leave him alone. God's not accountable. God's
not responsible for that man's sin. He just leaves him alone.
He lets him do exactly what he wants to, what he wills to do,
and he'll sin. That's what he did to Adam, exactly. Satan is
allowed to do what he wants and what he wills, yet God all wisely
foresees it all and oversees it all and allows only what will
work for his will and purpose and for our good and his good.
Listen to this. Oh, I had to laugh when I first
read this. It says, Satan, with every blow. See, Satan walks
about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour and hammers
God's people and people everywhere, problems and trouble. But God
laughs. This man says, Satan, with every blow of his hammer
against the child of God, sweats at the task of conforming them
to the image of Christ. It's like, God's in there. Oh no, that's not what I meant
to do. Well, I'll get him here. Oh no, he's looking more like
Christ all the time. And God's making that guy have
to be a fool. at his, don't you know this,
in the very beginning when Satan said, I will exalt my throne
to the stars. I really believe that's when
God said in Psalm 2, no, I've got my man. I got a man sitting
on the throne ahead of you, boy, my son. He's a man, yeah, but
he's ahead of you. You're going to answer to him.
That's when Satan said, No, I won't. No, he won't. I'll exalt my throne
to the star. We'll see about it, buddy. You're
a big talker, I know. But you're going to do exactly
what I purposed for you to do. You're going to do my work. Well, there's comfort to be had
right there. But here's the glory of it all.
Verse 8, Paul begins to pray, and he besought the Lord three
times, and he prays about it not once, not twice, but three
times, and he got an answer. Real pain, real problem, real
trouble, and he besought the Lord, besought the Lord three
times to remove this problem, and the Lord gave him an answer. Here's what the Lord said in
verse 9. The Lord said unto me, My grace. It's sufficient for thee. But, Lord, I need a new car. No, you don't. I know the one you've got is
giving you problems. But you need Christ. But you
need more than anything else. You need grace. You need mercy
every morning. If I don't hold you up by my
mercy and grace, Paul, you're going to fall today. My grace
is sufficient for thee. But, Lord, I need a new job.
But, no, you don't. You've got one. You've got food
and raiment, don't you? You need Christ. You need to
win Christ and be found in Him. That's what you need. You need
to know Him, the power of His resurrection. That's what you
need. But I got problem. You don't
know problems until you end up in a judgment without Christ. My grace is sufficient for thee. My grace is all you need. Now, me and my goodness and my
grace, I'll give you some things you want even. But all you need
is my grace. All you need is me. Abraham said
the same thing. Lord, look at what Lot got. Didn't
he? Lot got the well-watered plains
of Sodom. Sodom? Did he, Abraham? He got
Sodom? You want to go live in Sodom,
Abraham? Boy, don't you know, Henry, after he saw that town
up in smoke, he thanked God for not giving him Sodom. Thank you
for these hills, these trials, these difficulties. And when
we get to glory, I'm going to say the same thing. What we foresaw
as difficulties and trials and problems and the hill called
difficulty, you know. Why me? You're going to say up
there, you're going to thank God to the highest heaven and
say, why me? Why'd you do all that for me? And he says here, my strength,
you see, Paul, my strength is made perfect in your weakness. Only guilty people need mercy. You've got to feel your sins.
Oh, but I hate my sins. But you've got to feel them or
they're going to hurt you. This is the right reason people
aren't crying out for mercy today, isn't it? In these so-called
crusades and all. They don't feel their sin. There's
no conviction of sin. There's no preaching of a holy
God to answer to. Therefore, people run up accepting
Jesus, you know. But God's people are going to
feel their sin. And it's going to hurt. And they're
going to beg God, please get rid of this. I can't stand it
anymore. My grace is sufficient. You see, you're guilty. But Christ
came to save the guilty. There's mercy for guilty people.
And only a bonafide, deeply troubled, constantly bombarded and afflicted
sinner needs forgiveness. This is the reason we can listen
to the gospel of time and not have any effect on us. We're
not moved by it. We're not a particularly bad
feeling sinner at the time. We don't feel so bad as I said.
Everything's all fixed up. We're moral and righteous. God
allows us to fall then. and see, oh, how desperately
I need that gospel. And we come back saying, you
reckon there's still forgiveness for me? How could I have? Yeah, there's still. He gives
more grace. Only sinners need forgiveness.
That's the reason. There's some comfort to be had
here, people. When you feel your sins, that's
a gift of God. When you feel like you're lost,
that's the gift of God. Explain that. Somebody come up
here and do a better job than I am explaining it. When you
feel like, oh, I'm apostate, I'm gone, I'm lost forever, I'll
never, I'm not saved, I don't even, that's the gift of God.
Other people don't worry about it. They're saved. Sure, perhaps,
as if they're already there. And they got a two-fold, they're
two-fold more the child of hell than they were to begin with.
They got a false refuge. Their works, their goodness,
their righteousness. But you at times feel like you
don't have any. That's the gift of God. God doesn't want you to feel
good about yourself. God will see to it that you feel
just as bad about yourself as you can feel. Why? So you'll
feel just as good about Christ as you can feel. Only helpless, hopeless people
need a sovereign Lord and Savior. Those without strength, without
hope, without help, without God—ungodly. Why? Christ died for the ungodly. Only weak people—are you weak? Only weak people—Lord, I can't
do anything. Only weak people will feel His
strong hand. All the carnal, self-righteous
people, they just need, like I said, a Jesus to help them
out. The blind, the haught, and the
lame need a sovereign king like Mephibosheth to come fetch them
out of every hole they fall into and pick them up and carry them
all the way home. Not help them out, not set them
on their feet, carry them. Carry him all the way on. And this was Paul's testimony,
the Apostle Paul, the great and mighty Apostle Paul. And so listen to him. Here's
his testimony, and I'll quit. He says, Most gladly, therefore,
verse 9, Most gladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmities."
That word is felt weaknesses, feeling your own insufficiency,
inability, weakness, helplessness, hopelessness, sinfulness. He said, I'm going to glory in
that, in my felt weaknesses. Why? That the power of Christ
may dwell upon me, may rest upon me, most gladly. Most gladly
will I rest in the arms of a sovereign Savior. Most gladly. I'm not
going to rebel against that. Are you? Anybody in here willing
to rebel against sovereign grace? Oh, most gladly I'll receive
it. Why? I know what I am. Do you? Most gladly will I submit to
the all-wise sovereign will of a sovereign God. Most gladly. Why? Because I've made a mess
out of everything I've felt like I've done. And most gladly will I submit to
anything he says and does. Most gladly will I cast all my
care upon this loving Heavenly Father. Because he cares for me and will
do for me what I don't even know needs to be done. He knows
what things I have need of even before I ask or even if I don't
ask. He takes care of it anyway. And
so Paul concludes by saying, I take pleasure in infirmities.
Oh, not joy and pain and suffering. But he said, I take pleasure
in infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions
and distresses for Christ's sake. Why? Because when I'm weak, then I'm strong. When I'm weak,
then I'm strong. And you see, that makes me feel
in my utter sinfulness and wickedness, makes me look to the One, the
only source of help, the only One who can help me, the only
One. There is no strength to be found
anywhere else. There is no life. There is no
salvation. There is no joy or happiness
found anywhere else but in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Stand with me.