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Chris Cunningham

Sufficient Grace

Chris Cunningham • April, 15 2026 • Video & Audio
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Text : 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

In the sermon titled "Sufficient Grace," Chris Cunningham addresses the doctrine of divine revelation and the sufficiency of God's grace amidst suffering. The main theological focus revolves around the Apostle Paul's experience of visions and revelations from God, particularly highlighting the significance of Paul's encounter on the road to Damascus as a pivotal moment of divine teaching. Cunningham emphasizes that the revelations Paul received were not for personal glory but to ground him in humility and to showcase the greatness of God. He supports his arguments with scriptural references, notably 2 Corinthians 12:2-9, where Paul describes his experience of being caught up to the third heaven and receiving unspeakable truths, underscoring the theme that God's grace is sufficient in our weakness. Practically, this teaches believers to embrace their infirmities and trials as opportunities to witness the power of Christ, reinforcing that true strength comes from recognizing our dependence on God's grace.

Key Quotes

“God doesn't teach a whole lot of things, does he? He teaches us who he is and what he did for sinners.”

“The Lord reveals wonderful things to us, but he also reminds us that we're dust.”

“If we knew who he was, we would never worry again.”

“The goal in the midst of the trial is not to be relieved of it, but to glory in and glorify the one that gave the trial.”

What does the Bible say about visions and revelations?

The Bible distinguishes between visions, which are sights given by God, and revelations, which are disclosures of truth.

Visions are specific sights that God presents to a person, while revelations are the truths that God teaches through those sights. In the case of the Apostle Paul, God provided both, revealing profound truths about Himself and His sovereignty. Paul’s experiences, such as being caught up to the third heaven, illustrate this duality of experience and understanding that comes only from divine intervention. God's purpose in giving these visions and revelations is not for personal glory but for the shaping of our hearts and the enlightenment of our understanding of His nature and redemption.

2 Corinthians 12:1-4

How do we know God's grace is sufficient?

God's grace is shown to be sufficient through our experiences of His strength during our weaknesses.

Paul learned that God's grace is sufficient through personal trials, including a 'thorn in the flesh' which he asked God to remove three times. Instead of relieving Paul of his burden, God revealed that His strength is most fully realized in our weaknesses. This experience teaches believers to depend on God's grace, recognizing that He equips us to endure trials and to glorify Him through them. In this way, grace transforms our suffering into a testimony of His sustaining power and mercy, confirming that His grace is always adequate for our needs.

2 Corinthians 12:7-9

Why is it important for Christians to understand who God is?

Understanding who God is foundational for faith, overcoming fear, and living a life of trust.

Knowledge of God's character provides a firm foundation for faith and serves as a source of comfort and strength in times of trouble. When we recognize the magnitude of God's sovereignty and love, we are reminded that He is in control of all circumstances in our lives. This understanding breeds confidence, allowing us to confront fears and worries with the assurance that nothing can separate us from God's everlasting love. Paul's encounter with God on the road to Damascus underscores the transformative impact of knowing God, as it shifted him from persecution to being a committed servant of Christ.

Psalm 46:10, Romans 8:38-39

How does God reveal Himself to us today?

God reveals Himself primarily through the preaching of His Word and Scripture, not through new visions or revelations.

Unlike Paul's time, where direct visions and revelations were granted, God now fully reveals Himself through His written Word and the preaching of the Gospel. This revelation is sufficient for understanding His nature, salvation, and will for our lives. In the current age, this means that believers should focus on what has been communicated in the Scriptures and trust that God's Word is a complete guide for faith and life. The message of Christ and His work remains central, and through understanding and believing the Word, we come to know God more intimately.

2 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 1:1-2

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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Paul changes the subject a little bit, but he's still talking about, he's still saying things in defense of himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ, having been defamed by these false preachers. He still is what he calls glorying here, but not in a vain way.

Again, we've seen many, many times throughout this context that he shows regret for the need to say these things, for the need to glory, and to speak of any qualifications that he might have as an apostle, even though these qualifications, if you'll notice, are all acts of God.

Every one of them are what God did to him or for him or in him. It's not anything that he's not talking about any personal quality of his own at all. But even at that, he's not comfortable with saying, look at me and look at what I've been through and look at what God has done through me and that type of thing. So he says, it's not expedient for me, doubtless, to glory. And he'll, in this chapter as well, again, say such things. But he says, I will come to visions and revelations. Now these are not the same thing. Visions and revelations are different.

Visions are what he was given to see. Visions are what he saw. And revelations are what he was taught by what he saw, what he learned from what he saw. And the Lord did both for him. The word vision is a sight, an appearance presented to one. So the Lord caught him up into paradise where the Lord himself dwells, sits on the throne, and he saw some things, but also things were revealed to him in those visions and the words that he heard. And the word revelation here means a laying bare, a disclosure of truth.

So you see how different. He saw things were revealed to him in that sense, but things were revealed to him in here too. He was taught some things. He learned some things. And God doesn't teach a whole lot of things, does he? He teaches us who he is and what he did for sinners. Just about everything God teaches falls under those headings.

And so that's what he saw there. He saw God on his throne. He saw the Lord Jesus Christ high and lifted up. We can't be a whole lot more specific than that about what he saw because he didn't want to talk about, he didn't want to say what he did say, much less be telling it forth in any detail whatsoever. But notice this, a vision was given him But it wasn't just for the sake of glorying in the vision.

It was for the purpose of working on his heart, revealing truth to his heart. That's what matters. God discloses his truth. He discloses his truth. That's what revelation means. He does that now by the preaching of his word alone. There are no visions and revelations now.

One of the visions that God gave Paul though then was when he appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus when his name was Saul. And in that vision, God revealed to Paul, he experienced something, but he was taught something by that experience. That's why God causes us to experience things. to teach us, to reveal things to us. And he's teaching the same things. He's teaching us who he is and what he did for us. There's no new revelation. We hadn't even scratched the surface of that yet. We don't need new revelation.

We need to know him and the power of his resurrection as Paul cried out in Philippians 3. He also In that vision, God revealed to Paul, disclosed the truth to Paul, as it is defined in our text, on that road to Damascus that he had chosen him. He said, I've chosen you. I've chosen you to be an apostle to the Gentiles. He revealed to him that he's going to preach to the Gentiles. And I'll tell you what else he revealed to him.

He taught him who God is. The same thing he teaches all of his people. because Christ introduced himself to the apostle and one of the first words out of Paul's mouth who had been persecuting Christ and his people was, Lord, Lord. He taught him who he is. And he put Paul in the dust where he belonged and showed himself to be exalted, to be God. and set Paul on a whole new path.

So he had a vision then and he had a revelation, but also he doesn't even mention that one here. He's talking about a time that probably corresponded closely with that time, that the Lord caught him up. You think about that. The Lord snatched him up and took him up to his throne. Would that make an impression on you, you reckon?

Well, I need that, but you know, the Lord, if I truly needed it, he'd do it, wouldn't he? But in a sense, at times, we all need to be stopped in our tracks by the Lord and caused to be still and know that he's God. That's what we need to know. That's what we need to know, that he's God. When we fret, when we're afraid, when we're troubled, when we worry, when we're discouraged, what have we forgotten?

That he's God. You remember when Abraham was in so much trouble, he didn't know which end was up, and God came to him and said, Abraham, I am God Almighty. That changes everything. The God who would condescend to speak to a worm like me is on the throne and does as he pleases in the armies of heaven. and among the inhabitants of this earth.

If we knew who he was, we would never worry again. Because the one who sits on the throne has loved us with an everlasting love. Anybody that that's not true of, well, he hasn't revealed himself to them. If you know who he is, fear not. How many times they say, fear not, fear not, fear not.

It's my, fear not because I've overcome this world. This world is no real enemy to you. It is in the sense that we're to beware and to watch and to understand the dangers of this world and Satan who walks about as a roaring lion, but not in the sense that anybody or anything can have the victory over us. I've overcome the world.

And why else did he say, fear not? Because it's my pleasure to give you the kingdom. So many fear nots and different reasons given while we're to rest in Him. But it all comes from knowing who He is. If you believe Him about who He is, then what a comfort.

Look at verse two. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth, such in one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth, how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter." Paul speaks in the third person here, and it kind of refers back to verse 1, because he said, it's not expedient for me to glory. And he does this simply as a way to express himself without saying I, I, I over and over.

He was repugnant to him to just keep saying, I saw this, and I experienced this, and I was caught up, and I heard things. And boy, we could learn something from that, couldn't we? Let's quit making it about us and make it about God's glory, what God did for us. That's what he made it about. And Paul is writing of something he didn't go around boasting about all the time.

This is the only place it's recorded in Scripture. God had taken hold of Paul. I can't quite get over that. And brought Paul up to Him, to right where he was, to where Christ is, to the very heaven of heavens. And Paul wasn't sure if it was a physical thing or a spiritual thing. But what he was sure of is that it wasn't just in his mind. It was either he either did that. He took my soul up there or he took my body and soul up there. I don't know which one it was, but I didn't imagine it. I ain't making it up. But he was caught up by God.

And we see the language of Paul that he used to express his conversion in Acts 9, three through nine, how that God, he said, God said, is it hard for you to kick against the goats? God was goading him like a mule to bring him to the place where he would cry to his affore a fore-determined and a fore-avowed enemy, Lord. Lord. He lived his life to oppose this one, and now he's saying Lord. And the Lord had to goad him to get him to that place.

He humiliated him as though with a cattle prod, and how God blinded him and brought him down on his face. He shut Paul up within himself. and reveal things to his heart that he had never seen before. And I don't know that that's when our text happened or shortly thereafter or during that, I don't know. But God had to show Paul who God is and who wasn't God. Paul was all high and mighty before, but he's like, now he's like, Lord, what do you want me to do? What do you want me to do?

And God does that with everybody that He saves. Maybe not in quite a dramatic fashion as He did with the Apostle, but He does that. He's going to show you who He is. He's going to bring us down. He's got to knock the stuffing out of us if we're ever going to know who He is.

Because you know what the Scripture says, we're all little gods running around until we're not, until God reveals who really is God and who's not. and shuts us up like he did Job. I'm gonna shut up now, Job said. Now that God has shown himself to me, he's met with me face to face, I see him with my eye. And I'm gonna shut up about myself and what's right and fair and all the things, I don't know what I'm talking about. And he does that, as I said, with everybody.

So likely during that time that he revealed himself on the road to Damascus or shortly after is when God caught Paul up. And that's just, you know, based on it being 14 years ago and things like that, that's what's believed to be true. But it doesn't matter when. It's a matter of time, isn't it though? God's going, if he's going to save you, we're going to find out who he is. We're going to come to his feet. We're mercy beggars. And the sooner we know that the better.

And this man, now you think about this, God is gonna use Paul in a mighty way. Most of the New Testament is written by the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of God. And God used him on these missionary journeys to raise up churches in all these different places. And he used him in an extraordinary, extraordinary way. But before he did, He caught him up and brought him right up to his throne. He's gonna use him mightily. And he was shown good and well first, though, who God is, and how sinners are saved by the Lord Jesus. You see, it was in the person of his son that God met with Saul, in the person of his son. And don't miss the parallel between what we just studied in the last part of chapter 11. Think with me.

We just saw Paul list all of the things that he had been through, all the things that he had suffered. Shipwreck, spent a night and a day in the water, been whipped with a cat and nine tails five different occasions, been stoned and left for dead. I think it was three times. or maybe we don't know how many, just horrible experiences. So you think about this, how in the world can any man endure those things and get back up and do the very thing that brought on him all of that trial and all of that tribulation and all that suffering and all that need not having any clothes, he says, and being hungry and thirsty.

I don't know if we're made of that kind of stuff, but I'll tell you what prepared him for it. I'll tell you what man can endure that, a man who saw God face-to-face and saw what was at stake. He saw what was at stake. He was given a face-to-face meeting with the Son of God so that he would be committed in a supernatural way given by God to the work that God gave him to do. That's the only thing that explains it that, and of course God can, God must give us strength and courage in the moment as well.

But boy, what a way to start, what a start, what an initiation that Paul would never forget. And I pray the Lord would do the same for us just by revelation, to show us who He is, to call us to account, to stop us on our road to hell, and bring us right up to Him, and reveal to us who He is, reveal to us His purpose of grace in Christ, and what's at stake? Not only the very glory of God, which is preeminent, but also the souls of men, God's purpose of grace in this world, He revealed that to us in a mighty way. I don't expect to be caught up right to the very throne of the Lord Jesus, but, you know, there's different ways that the Lord reveals Himself, but He always reveals the same thing, Himself, Himself and His work, His successful, almighty, invincible work of grace on Calvary. understand that the same God now will do for his people whatever is needed in order to bring us to the place we need to be. Paul needed to, I mean, he was about to be used in a way that would utterly exclude not only any boasting in the flesh, but any comfort even of the flesh for any length of time.

And the Lord did what was necessary. The Lord doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called. And boy, what a way to do it. But I believe he does that for all of us now. And whatever way he's going to use us, he's going to have to fit us to be usable. He doesn't choose us because we're usable. He's going to have to bring us that place. And he knows exactly what to do. He knows exactly what's what's necessary.

And this is a good time to look ahead a little bit in our text to verse seven and see that God gives divine revelation, as Paul had had. now divine vision and revelation that's going to inspire you know he may do that for us he may he may give us some kind of a revelation in the spirit of his word not some super you know not some uh physical thing we're not going to be caught up bodily i don't i certainly don't expect or in any way like paul was but the lord still reveals himself through his word through the gospel preached, through Christ preached. And he may do that, and he may inspire us to some glimmer of greatness in this life by his grace, but also God, and it's a tragedy that it's necessary, but he has to temper that by giving us infirmity, lest we boast. And that's what he did for Paul. He tempered, he gave him spectacular visions and revelations, but he had to temper. We can't handle the glory and the beauty and just the majesty of experiencing God without being reminded what we are. You know, he was highly favored to see what he saw and to hear what he heard and to be taught what he was taught.

But unfortunately, that causes this flesh to rebel. The flesh lusteth against the spirit. And so the Lord had to put his flesh down, too. And he knows exactly the right balance, doesn't he? He'll let us ride cloud nine for a while and then Down we come. Down we come.

That's not fate. That's not written in the stars. That's God's purpose. That's God's purpose. He reveals wonderful things to us, but he also reminds us that we're dust. It's because if he just revealed, if everything was just wonderful, you know, religion runs around, thank you, Jesus, and you know, glory, you know, and skipping, you know, clicking their heels together. It's all fake. It's just fake. That's not God's purpose for his people. We're to rejoice in him, but we're shown in the scripture that we are to rejoice in him when we're in prison. We're just seeing the songs of His grace and mercy when we're on the docket to have our heads cut off the next day.

And all the things that He puts us through. We don't stay up in the clouds all the time. The Lord brings us down and He gave Paul this thorn in the flesh for that very purpose. Paul tells us we don't have to wonder, lest I should glory too much. Unless I should just get too excited and be, you know, look how wonderful this is and start attributing that which is God's mercy and grace alone to the achievement of the flesh, thinking I'm a big shot because God did something for me. It's inevitable, but it's also inevitable that God knows what to do to keep our feet on the ground.

And we do, I hope we rejoice in him. We tend to forget him when everything's wonderful. And then he has to bring us down to cause us to lean on him again. To cast all of our care upon him. How are we gonna cast our care upon him if we don't have any care?

He gives it to us for a reason. In this flesh, So he tempers that and he gives both. It's both given by God. He knows exactly what we need, exactly when we need it, to the exact degree that we need it. And it's comforting to know this. And the reason it's comforting is because we know who he is. We know he's omniscient.

I think I know about, I started to say, I don't know about you, but I think I do know about you. I don't want a free will. I don't want to just be cut loose to you. To manage my life, for everything to be up to me. Thank God it's not that way. rest in the truth that the one who micromanages everything about us loves us with an everlasting love, loved us so that he gave himself for us. That's who I want calling the shots for me. I want my times in his hand.

How about you? And look back on your life with this revelation. Do you ever do that? Look back on your life and the things that you've experienced that are memorable with this revelation that the very hairs of your head are numbered. That not one can fall to the ground without your master. And look forward and know in advance that your God holds you in his almighty gracious hand and nobody can pluck you out. And maybe we can rest in him. a little bit better than we do.

Paul heard unspeakable words. No doubt Paul saw some things too, now you think about this. It doesn't say the Lord blinded him, he saw some things too. But if he saw, think about it, I suspect he saw the Lord Jesus in some degree of his glory. that he could stand without being destroyed. The very throne of Christ. Somebody sitting on the throne. John saw that in some form of revelation. He said, I saw a throne in heaven and somebody was sitting on that throne. And he was like unto a lamb that had been slain.

And so Paul is caught up and he sees things, no doubt, the very splendor of God's glory to some degree or another, but even there in that place, what he mentions, what he remembers and mentions is the words, the words. There's a reason why Christ is called the word of God, the living word.

Psalm 138, two, I will worship toward thy holy temple and praise thy name for that loving kindness and for that truth, for thou has magnified thy word above all thy name. Never take for granted or think little of the word of God. If I had told you to turn there, let me get this in your mind. I will worship toward the holy temple and praise thy name for what? Your loving kindness and your truth. How did he know anything about the loving kindness of God? You've magnified your word of all of your name, all of your attributes, all of your character.

We don't know here if Paul was forbidden to speak what he heard, or if it was just impossible for a man to express in human language what he had revealed to him in heavenly glory. We know this, we know that the Lord in his written word condescends to our capacity, does he not?

He uses illustrations and parables and types and pictures and trees and seeds and objects that we understand and know. He condescends to our human understanding. And so I think that helps us understand what's going on here a little bit with Paul not being able to utter what he heard. Paul's epistles reflect the fact that he knew he could never fully express what he knew to be true. You think about it. We're gonna read a couple of examples of that.

But suffice it to say that it was a person and not the location, not the amenities of heaven that religion talks about and majors on. It was the person that was the subject of Paul's wonder. and that rendered him unable to express what he was shown, what he was told.

Ephesians 3.8, let me have you turn to some of these, because we won't be long tonight.

Look at Ephesians 3.8 with me, if you would. Talking about the Lord speaking to a sinner and how that his word, even here, It's unsearchable, it's unspeakable, it's inexpressible. He's given us understanding and a language to communicate each other with, and we, in a saving way, can communicate that if the Lord's in it. But listen to what Paul said, Ephesians 3, 8, unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given? that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." So if just his revelation to us from his word through the gospel on this earth is unsearchable, imagine what being face-to-face with God's Son and him speaking to him directly, how that would overwhelm the consciousness. I believe that's what this refers to. It's not possible to utter it. It's not even possible. I'll tell you what it did do.

It equipped the Apostle Paul to be used so spectacularly of God that the Lord used his epistles, of course, the Word of God in his preaching to save thousands and thousands in his the written word millions upon millions, a number that can't be numbered.

Paul had to meet God's son on this earth, and he was called up into heaven to hear directly from him in order to be used in such a way. And I'll tell you this, if our lives are to amount to anything, if they're gonna amount to anything at all, if we're not just gonna be a waste of space on this earth for 60, 70, 80 years, then the Lord's gonna have to show us who He is. He's gonna have to speak to us. We're gonna have to come to terms with the Son of God Find out who he is and what he did for sinners.

Romans 11 33, look at that one with me and we'll be brief. Romans 11 33. Oh, the depth of the riches. Both of the wisdom and knowledge of God How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways as finding out. So you see not only what Paul experienced, what the Lord showed him and taught him caused him to say that. We can't even express his glory. Can't express it. And no doubt he had that in mind when he when the Lord gave him that revelation of who he is, when he wrote things like that.

But also notice in Ephesians 3.8, let me read you a portion of that that shows what it is that can't be rightly spoken, that cannot be sufficiently described. The unsearchable riches of Christ. He probably could have described the pearly gates and the streets of gold and all that. but not God's son.

You can just tell what God has revealed, and by that means, God will save his people. But boy, you talk about making you feel insufficient. Paul said, who is sufficient for these things? And then in Romans 11, 33, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments, His ways, past finding out.

All having seen what no peer of His had ever seen, had this for a testimony, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. John saw the Savior as a lamb as it had been slain, And that's who He is. He's the Lamb of God, the eternal, spotless Lamb of God, slain for wretched sinners like us.

And He dwells on His glorified throne in that persona. And Paul understood that and said, how can I glory in anything else? The Lord caught me right up to where He was and showed me who He is and taught to me, revealed to me who He is. And everything else pales into insignificance.

You talk about man's will to somebody like that. Let's experience that. Maurice Montgomery said one time, I'm not ever going to argue with anybody about the free will of man. You know why? Because I've been to the potter's house. You ever heard him say that? I've been to the potter's house. I've seen the potter, and I know that I'm clay. I'm clay. Verse five of our text, and we'll be through.

Of such in one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool. For I believe this should be, for I would say the truth, but now I forbear. If you look at the original language, it certainly allows for that, and that seems to be, I would say, I would tell you everything that I could about it, but for now I will forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be.

You know, or that he heareth of me. If Paul could convince those people, beyond a shadow of a doubt that God had taken him up and met with him face to face. They had to worship Paul. But he said, I'm not going to emphasize that. I'm just telling you. I'm just telling you that he showed me who he is. But I'm going to forbear anything further than that, because it's not about me and my experience. It's about who he is. And the gospel is the way to express that.

The gospel. The angels of glory. You think about this, an angel came down and appeared to Cornelius in the book of Acts chapter 10, I believe it is. And Cornelius's desire was to hear the gospel. to hear somebody preach the gospel. That angel who saw God and dwelt with God every day and had no other purpose in the world than to bring glory to his God. And yet that angel said, Cornelius, go get Simon Peter and he'll preach the gospel to you.

That's how God makes himself known. He's not going to appear to you in a dream. He's not going to send an angel down to tell you. He's going to send a man And Paul said, just look at me. If you ever think about glorying in me, in my flesh, just look at me and listen to what I'm telling you. I'm nobody from nowhere, and I never will be anything but that.

Bless God, his nobodies were his worms. And he wanted to be vindicated. If he told them the truth of what God had shown him, he would be more than vindicated, but he abstained from doing that. He would rather be little thought of than to tell the truth of these visions and revelations and be too highly thought of. And may God give us that spirit as well. I pray for that attitude.

Not because I have anything to boast of anyway, But that doesn't stop us from boasting, does it? That doesn't stop us. Just because we got nothing to glory, that doesn't stop us. I pray the Lord will give us the heart that we would rather be maligned and thought ill of than to exalt ourselves in any way whatsoever. God forbid that we glory saving Christ and the salvation he accomplished on Calvary. May the only light we ever shine be the light glory of our Savior in his almighty power to save and in his great mercy and grace towards sinners. And just one final point, let's read seven through nine. We won't expound this in detail, but look at verses seven through nine.

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the repugnance 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 thrice, 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 mine infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." As we mentioned, the Lord had to temper even Paul's glorying. with a thorn in the flesh, and many have speculated as to what that was.

It's of course deliberate that it's not revealed. If it was revealed what it was, it would just be a distraction from what does matter in this verse. And that's that one phrase, my grace is sufficient. No matter how bad it was, no matter how afflicting, no matter how horrible and painful or miserable, no matter how much suffering it caused, my grace is sufficient. point of a trial.

The goal when we're in a trial is not to get out of the trial. It's not to see the end. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be. Paul asked for it, didn't he? He said, Lord, please, no more of this. There's nothing wrong with that. But that's not the goal of it. The goal in the midst of the trial is not to be relieved of it, but to glory in and glorify the one that gave the trial. May we remember that when we're in that place.

The Lord teaches us that his grace is sufficient by showing us that it is. How are you going to know that the Lord's grace is sufficient in a trial if you never suffer a trial? He causes us to experience that His grace is sufficient, and then we can truly say His grace is sufficient. I wouldn't have a whole lot of confidence in any product that is sold to perform a function that had never been tested or proven to perform that function.

Paul was able to say God's grace is sufficient because he had actually found it to be so, when nothing else was. when nothing else was. And it didn't hinder him spiritually. Notice that the thorn was in Paul's flesh. It didn't hinder him spiritually at all. In fact, it strengthened him spiritually. Verse 10, which is the subject of our next study. May God teach us that His grace is sufficient by whatever means He's pleased to do so. And that we might find it to be rejoicing Him rather than just seeking to be relieved.

You know, just about everybody is either in the middle of a trial or fixing to be in the middle of one. Something or other. I think we haven't suffered the kinds of things that believers have in past ages. But boy, It's still a warfare, isn't it? It's still a warfare. And the Lord's grace is still sufficient. May we praise Him for it and thank Him for it.
Chris Cunningham
About Chris Cunningham
Chris Cunningham is pastor of College Grove Grace Church in College Grove, Tennessee.

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