I want to read a quote here by John Newton. I am not what I ought to be.
I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be in
another world. But still, I am not what I once
used to be. And by the grace of God, I am
what I am. Although my memory's fading,
I remember two things very clearly. I am a great sinner and Christ
is a great Savior." I like that. Let me go ahead and get started.
2 Corinthians 12. 2 Corinthians 12 verse 1. It is
not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions
and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above
14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell or whether
out of the body I cannot tell. God know. Such in one called up to the
third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether
in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth, how
that he was called up into paradise and heard unspeakable words,
which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such an one will
I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. For though I would desire to
glory, I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth. But
now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which
he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me, and lest I should
be exhausted above measure through the abundance of the revelations.
There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For
this thing I besought the Lord Christ, that it might 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. We read here of the account where
Paul the apostle speaks of himself, I believe, and he says he did
not know what form the man took on. He talks of him as in the
third person. He says whether in the body or
out of the body, he said God knows. But this man was taken
up. Paul, because of what God taught
him through all of this, as we read further, would not even
speak and tell everyone that it was himself he was talking
about. God had taught him not to glory in his flesh, as if
he was better than someone else or that there was something special
about him because he had experienced this. He was no different than
you and I when it comes to this flesh. If God were to not give
us messengers of Satan to buffet us, we would start glorying in
ourselves as if we were something because God has revealed himself
to us. That's what we would do. We do
have that tendency. I see it in myself. We do not
get anything We are not revealed anything because we are worthy
or because of our own selves. We are all given revelation from
God because he is pleased to give it. If he is not pleased
to give it, then we will not have it. He speaks nothing here
of what he heard. In fact, he even says the things
he heard were things that were not lawful to be uttered. What
Paul means by what he says in verse four is they were so glorious
that he was unable to even explain what he saw. He's not saying
he saw things that were against the law. He saw glorious things
and they were so glorious that he did not have the words to
explain them. And that's what Paul is telling
us there. Such a one who has been revealed these glorious
truths know they are not worthy to be revealed these things.
So as Paul says here, he will glory in such a one that has
been revealed these things, but not in his flesh. In other words,
God has taught him that not to glory in something he has been
given. But then we read of something Paul was given, and it was this
messenger from Satan, he says. The purpose this was given was
so that he did not glory in himself, but in the one who gave him such
revelation. So let's talk about a thorn in
the flesh and God's grace. Now, beginning with this thorn
in the flesh, we have heard several men say, and rightfully so, they
speak of this not being able to explain exactly what this
is. And I will not be able to explain exactly what this thorn
was either. I don't know exactly what it
was because it does not tell us. I do know this, though, from
the context and from the meaning of the words. Paul had some kind
of malady, some kind of suffering and affliction that he physically
had with his body. The word actually means a point
or prickle in his flesh, not something in his spirit or mental,
in other words, is what I'm trying to say. There might be a better
way to say that. He actually had some kind of pain in his
flesh that caused him pain. This is said here in this passage
to be the messenger of Satan. That's what it says. It may be
for our spiritual good, but this was from Satan. But let me also
say, this was given to him by God. And I say that because Satan
does not do anything unless God allows him to do it. Satan gave
Paul this thorn in the flesh to buffet him. It was used to
buffet him, and that means to wrap with a fist. It was used to punch him, in
other words, something done as a constant reminder to him that
he was given these things and so that he should not glory in
himself. That's the whole context of this
passage. It was painful, this thorn in
the flesh, it was painful, it was disruptive to Paul. He sought
the Lord to remove it from him. We often see pride in others,
but in ourselves, we do not often see it. God does allow us to
see it sometimes, and when we do, we will be ashamed. But God
gives us these things to teach us and to keep us looking to
him. The apostle Paul went to the
right place, because if we were to be removed, if it were to
be removed, it would be God that removed it. We do not direct
Satan. God directs Satan. If we are
to be freed from some malady, be it physical, mental, spiritual,
or whatever, God will have to be the cause of it to depart. It's a good place to go to the
Lord for these things. In fact, it's the only place
to go for these things, for the child of God. But you should
be prepared at what answer you might get. It does not say that
you will never be relieved of a messenger of Satan. It's just
telling, here it's telling us what God told Paul. Paul sought
the Lord three times to have this removed from his body. This
is where you should go to seek a thorn in the flesh to be removed.
Maybe God does remove them for you and then gives you another
one so that you continue to go to him to seek him. but he may
not relieve you of it, and it will be for your good if that
is the case." What does God tell the Apostle Paul when he asked
him to remove it? He said no. God told him, the
Apostle Paul, that removing this thorn in the flesh would not
be good for him. God was telling the apostle Paul
that there was a reason he had given him this thorn in the flesh. The reason for this was so he
might not glory in his flesh, but that he would glory in the
Lord. God told Paul that his grace is sufficient. God's grace
is sufficient to get you through all the way to the end, whether
you are being buffeted by Satan or whether you have sunny days
throughout your whole life. I will say though, if you always
have sunny days, then I'm a little worried for you because more
so than I am with someone who has trials every day. Because
we have been promised by God, we shall see tribulations, trials,
and sufferings. We see here the reason for those.
It causes us to look to Him. It causes us not to trust or
glory in our flesh, but glory in the one true God who has shed
his grace on us abundantly. His grace is truly sufficient
for us no matter what we might be going through. And I can tell
you that most here are going through or dealing with a thorn
in the flesh. But his grace is sufficient. So next, God's grace. In verse
nine he says, 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 might rest upon me. God's grace will overcome anything
that you might be going through. The words there, if you have
a Bible that has the words of Christ in red, His words are
this, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is
made perfect in weakness. God's strength is made perfect
in weakness. Now this is not saying that we
do something for God to make him more perfect. It is talking
about or to us. When God sends these things to
us that make us weak, it causes us, it forces us to look to his
power and strength, therefore making it more perfect. So that
the child of God ever keeps before him the one who is all powerful
and has all strength. We see that Jesus Christ is our
strength and it causes us to look to him. If he caused us
to walk a bed of roses all the time, if you will, we would start
to glory in ourselves as if we had something to do with what
we had. Paul tells us that this is the reason this was sent to
him in verse seven. 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. Exalted above
measure. that I should raise myself up
or to become haughty or prideful, thinking of myself as something
when I am nothing. This because of the abundance
of the revelations given to me is what it said there. Knowledge
puffeth up. That's what Paul tells us elsewhere
in 1 Corinthians 8.1. He says, now as touching things
offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge
puffeth up. but charity edify. Knowledge
puffeth up. It is not that it might, it says
their knowledge puffeth up. Because this is true, we are
sent messengers of Satan to buffet us. This for the purpose of causing
us to see his grace that has been shed on us. All things are
given to us, so why do we glory as if it had not been given us?
I read this before, but 1 Corinthians 4, 7, for who maketh thee to
differ from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hast not received it? God Almighty
for his people will cause them to continually look to him. Him
who is full of grace and truth, that is Jesus Christ the Lord.
Our Lord was buffeted. He was physically beaten by men
so that you could not even tell who he was by looking at his
face. But what do we read of our Lord? And turn with me to 1 Peter 2,
1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2, verses 19 through 25. 1 Peter 2 verse 19. For this is
thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering
wrongfully. For what glory is it if when
ye be buffeted for your faults, ye take it patiently? But if
when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently. This
is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that ye should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. Who when he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not. but committed himself to him
that judgeth righteously, who his own self bare our sins in
his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should
live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye
were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd
and bishop of your souls. He who is full of grace and truth
did not open his mouth even though he had a reason and right to
glory in himself. He took upon himself the form
of a servant. He knows our frame, because he
was made like unto his brethren. Hebrews 2, 17 and 18 reads, wherefore
in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For
in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to
succor them that are tempted. He knows our infirmities. He knows what we can take and
what we cannot take because He was made like unto us and He
suffered. He knows that His people, when
they are sent these messengers, will look to Him. When they do,
they will see. It will cause them to see and
to know that His grace is sufficient for them. They are not to trust in themselves
or to think of themselves more than they should. He sends us
these things to cause us to see him. He sends us these things
so that we might be reminded again and again of what he has
done for us and also what he does for us now and what he gives
us now. His grace is truly sufficient. His grace will get the job done. His grace, if He has shed it
on you, is not a one-time act. It is an act that has taken place
from the foundation of the world. His grace, that grace which has
with it, you know, grace is the canopy. But Scripture says the
election of grace chose us in His Son from before the foundation
of the world. The whole purpose God had for
creating this world and all that in it is was to show grace toward
man and to give glory to himself for doing so. Grace that man
does not deserve, but grace that he is willing to give and give
it abundantly. I'm talking about that kind of
grace where we are told where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound. his people will find themselves
to be full of sin. And then he will teach us that
because of who he is and what he has done, that his grace does
much more abound. In that he has sent his son to
die for us. It is that grace that is always
present with the child of God. Because he has been pleased to
give them to his son. So they will always, no matter
what comes their way, he is always there with them in these trials. He knows we will complain. I'm
not saying that it's okay for us to complain. I'm saying that
to tell us, as scripture tells us, that he is full of grace
and truth. As Walter told us last week,
he is full of mercies. He delights to show mercy. He
knows just what to send our way to cause us to see this. Not
too much and not too little. He knows us because he is us. He is our brother and he is not
just our brother. He is our prophet, priest, and
king. He is our wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. He is our friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. He is much more. He is all things
to us, even our life. His grace is not just a theory
or an idea. He showed us this grace in being
who He is, but then doing what He did. He did all this for us. He was the only one who could
do it for us. Had He not done this, then no
one would be saved. No one would know His grace.
His grace is sufficient because he showed us the abundance of
his grace in doing this for us. I did a message on grace, the
grace of God. And I made the following statement,
which is not all-inclusive. I didn't mean it for it to be
all-inclusive, but I will tell you now, I will add some to it. And I might add some more later,
but here it is. Here's that statement. I said,
there is God's grace which saves. It is there when you die. It
is there when you travel. It is a grace that forms a new
heart in you. It is a grace that restrains.
It is a grace that overrules. It is a grace that reveals, and
so on. So I want to add that to say
this. There is God's grace which saves. It is there when you die. It is there when you travel.
It is a grace that forms a new heart in you. It is a grace that
restrains. It is a grace that overrules.
It is a grace that reveals. It is there in infirmities, in
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses,
and so on because of Christ's sake. That last part is very
important. We sometimes go through some
things and they are not because of Christ's sake. There are times
we go through those kind of things because of our pride, because
of our downright mean, full of pride and full of sin self. I
know Jesus Christ paid for those sins, but we still have them. Christ died for every sin I will
commit until the day I die or am changed when he returns. So
there will be sin committed to me to my own shame. But if you
go through these things because of Christ's sake, then you can
take pleasure in these things. Kind of sounds strange, doesn't
it? Paul did not sound like he was taking pleasure in it. He
asked the Lord Christ to remove it from him. The pleasure is
in seeing him for who he is and what he has done. When God has
us in this place, and let me be clear, God may keep us in
this place just as he did the Apostle Paul. We may never see
it go away for our lifetime. We read nowhere else where Paul
says it was removed. We in fact read here where God
tells him no, that he would not remove it. God puts us through
these things to cause us to see him and his grace toward us.
Because we are so full of pride that if he did not do this for
us, we would start glorying in ourselves. We would start to
think that we were something special. But we go through and
endure these things so it will cause us to look to him for our
strength to endure these things. His grace is sufficient because
he says it is. If God says His grace is sufficient,
no matter what He has us in, and I want to make sure and say
it that way, some things God puts us through that might be
temporary, but then others we always have to contend with.
If they are for Christ's sake, then the whole reason, as we
are told here, is so that we might see that His grace is sufficient
for us. His grace will get us to Him. If your desire is not to be with
Him, then the things you are going through are not for Christ's
sake. We are told that in this life
we shall endure tribulations. What does our Lord tell us, John
16, 33? These things I have spoken unto
you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall
have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world. These things that we go through
are temporal. They will not last. There will
come a time when we will be with him. That time will be when he
returns or he takes us on now to be with him. But he is not
going to forget us. He has promised to come again
and that we might be with him where he is. So what are these
things going to do to us? Romans 8.35, who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nothing will. His grace is sufficient. His grace gets the job done because
His grace we see in the face of Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ
has shown us how far He will go. He came down and was ultimately
forsaken of the Father so that we might live in Him. If God
has purpose to give you to His Son, then what do you think is
going to keep you from being given to His Son ultimately?
What do you think is going to prevent you from being with Christ?
His grace is sufficient, His grace which we do not deserve
but was given us and given to us while at the same time handing
out justice for our sins. You can count on His grace because
He is God. May it be just like Noah did,
you will find grace in the eyes of the Lord when He causes you
to see the face of Jesus Christ. Because this one thing is true,
because he tells it, it is, and he showed us that it is. His
grace is sufficient for you. Amen. Dear Lord God, thank you for
your grace, dear Lord. It's your favor on us in your
son, dear Lord. Cause us always to see him, cause
it's all the favor is in your son, dear Lord. All of these things we ask in
Christ's name. Amen.