Emptying us.

Q: What does the Bible say about God's grace?

God's grace is sufficient and made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). The Bible speaks extensively about the sufficiency of God's grace, particularly highlighted in 2 Corinthians 12:9, where the Apostle Paul recounts God's assurance that His grace is enough for us. This grace is not based on our merit but is a gift from God, enabling us to endure weakness and trials without despair. In recognizing our weaknesses, we lean on God's strength, allowing His power to be magnified in our lives, thus transforming our vulnerabilities into avenues for His glory.

Q: How do we know that God's grace is enough?

We know God's grace is sufficient because it is consistently affirmed in Scripture and experienced by believers. God's grace is affirmed throughout the Bible as a profound truth that undergirds the Christian faith. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, God tells Paul that His grace is sufficient in weaknesses, indicating that our limitations are intended to draw us closer to Him. Additionally, the experiences of many believers reflect the reality of this grace empowering them in times of need, showing that God equips us to face challenges when we submit to His plan. This grace has been seen in the lives of many throughout history, providing strength in weakness and comfort amid trials.

Q: Why is acknowledging weakness important for Christians?

Acknowledging our weakness allows us to rely on God's strength and glorify Him in our lives. Acknowledging our weakness is crucial for Christians because it aligns us with the reality of our dependence on God. As seen in 2 Corinthians 12:9, when we recognize our limitations, we create space for God's strength to be made perfect in us. This dependence is countercultural; the world encourages self-sufficiency, while the Gospel teaches humility and reliance on the Lord. Moreover, by embracing our weaknesses, we reflect Christ's humility and power, enabling others to see the transformative work He does through us, ultimately bringing glory to God.

Q: What can we learn from the Apostle Paul's experience with grace?

We learn that God's grace transforms our weaknesses into opportunities for His power to be displayed. The Apostle Paul’s experience with grace shows us that God uses our weaknesses not just as trials, but as opportunities for His power to shine through us. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, Paul's plea for the removal of his thorn in the flesh is met with God's profound answer emphasizing grace. Paul learns to view his limitations as pathways to deeper reliance on God, which in turn leads to greater manifestations of Christ’s power in his ministry. Thus, Paul teaches us that our struggles can be pivotal moments where God’s grace becomes evident, inviting us to embrace our vulnerabilities as integral to our journey of faith.

Seeking once again the help of the Lord, I would like you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and the text you will find in verse 9. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, and 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. This verse is of a great comfort to the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, those who see their own weakness, their own inability and knowing the greatness and strength of the Lord Jesus Christ, and being able to look into the life of the Apostle Paul, and then seeing all that he achieved, and maybe feeling in yourself to be quite insignificant, never to obtain to the heights that this man had obtained to. and yet then to come to this verse and to look at this man and to see that all that he did was done not in his own strength, not in his own ability, but through the power of God, the power of Christ that rested upon him and that he acknowledges himself that he is weak. He acknowledges that the Lord placed things in his life to keep him in a dependent position and that the Lord asked, as he asked the Lord to remove And that thorn, as he says, I prayed three times that the Lord would remove the thorn from me. The reply that the Lord gives to him is that my grace is enough. My grace is sufficient for thee.

My undeserved love, that love that drew you from nature's darkness into his most marvellous light, that love that shone upon you on the road to Damascus, that love is enough for you. that even though you've got this weakness in your life you're better off with that weakness that if I remove that weakness then you could be exalted above measure so I'm going to leave this weakness in your life so that you become more dependent upon me that you lean upon me that people will see that weakness in your life and see that the success of this man the success of this woman the success of this boy or girl is down to them trusting and resting in God. And so the Apostle says, well, I would rather glory than in my infirmities. If my weakness causes Christ to be greatly magnified, then I glory in my infirmities.

Often Satan will tempt us that our inabilities, our things in our life that we deem to be weakness, that we are useless for God, we are useless for Christ. But in fact, those areas where we are weak are those areas that we have to rest harder upon the Lord. those areas in our life where we feel like a man that is lame, he has to lean harder upon his helper. So where we feel lame, where we feel that inability, there we rest harder, there we pray harder to the Lord. there we experience not our own strength but his strength. We marvel at his ability to help us in various situations.

So the apostle says, I glory then in my infirmities, in those places that I am weak, I glory, I take pleasure in infirmities, I take pleasure in reproaches, I take pleasure in necessities. I take pleasure in persecutions. I take pleasure in distresses for Christ's sake. Those things that I am experiencing, persecutions for the sake of the gospel, I take pleasure in them. But when I am weak, then I am strong.

And if we look at the early church and as the times came when the apostles were beaten for preaching the gospel, they counted it all glory. They were exceedingly happy that they were beaten for the cause of Christ. They saw in their weakness the strength of Christ. We see Stephen as he is being stoned to death. It's there he has a great revelation of the Lord Jesus in his weakness, being completely unable to help himself. at the hands of sinful men being beaten to death, stoned to death, it's there that he has a greater revelation of Christ and he sees the Lord Jesus Christ there at the right hand of the Father and he is strengthened to pass through that difficult situation and he falls asleep in Christ Jesus and he's taken up into glory. And so the apostle, he tells us of this experience that he had where he's caught up into the third heaven. And he sees things that it was not lawful for him to utter. But he contrasts it with his inability. He says, I'm not going to boast about those things that I have experienced. They were of no benefit. to the church.

They will only cause people to edify, to elevate me to a position and they will cause me to be in danger of becoming proud. lest I should be exalted above measure. Through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

He nails it home twice, this exalted above measure. He knew that there was a danger, a danger for him, that the things that he had to pass through could cause him to become proud. could cause other people to lift him up. And as we've seen how corrupt our own hearts are, that we can easily begin to worship the man rather than the one that the man is testifying of.

And so Paul, as he writes to the Corinthians right at the beginning, some of them say, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Cephas, I'm of Paul. elevating men to that high position. And so he says, lest I should be exalted above measure. I don't want to be elevated. I don't want to know anything save the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so as he, he says in response to his prayer, the Lord says to him, my grace is sufficient. for my strength is made perfect in weakness. The Apostle Paul experienced first the greater grace. What I mean by the greater grace is the initial grace that brought him to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That grace that he experienced on the road to Damascus is a grace that cost the Lord Jesus Christ his life, that moved the Son of God to walk this earth. And the continued grace that the apostle experiences and that you and I experience on a daily basis is, as it were, a ripple effect from that first initial grace that we have experienced. If you think of dropping a great stone into a pond, and that great splash, that initial grace, that saving grace that is bestowed upon a person when they are brought into union with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's like that great splash. that grace that cost Christ his life upon the cross at Calvary and then from that great splash is that ripple effect and we're brought into a covenant relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father and the Holy Spirit and the continued grace that we receive, that continued undeserved love that is bestowed upon each of the Lord's dear people daily. Daily. And so Paul, he experiences this great initial grace as God saves him from the consequences of his sins.

In Acts chapter nine, we read in verse one, yet Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest. If you just look at that verse, and you see the language that is being used about the type of man the Apostle Paul was, a man who was overcome with religious zeal for the cause of God, which he felt he was fighting for the law. He's breathing out threatenings and slaughter. It sounds like, you know, sometimes you see those images of a bull that is enraged and they're breathing, they're scuffing their hooves.

And it's like the Apostle Paul is enraged by what he's seeing going on in the Christians. And he's so overcome with this zeal that he wants to go and kill and put in prison and bind those Christians up. We know that the Lord had a purpose for this man, that no person is so far gone into the kingdom of darkness or overcome with religious zeal, that they are beyond the reaches of this amazing grace. There's no person that can steep into the depths of sin that cannot be reached by the love of God. It's been said someone like the Apostle Paul, the equivalent would be some extremist Muslim, is intent on killing Christians, believing that he is doing the will of God. They are not beyond the limits of saving grace. There is nobody in this world who cannot be reached should God deem it to save them, that they can bypass this saving grace. And so we see with the apostle that God changes this man.

While he was on his mad career, while he is going to, on his way to arrest these Christians, the Lord deals with him. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he says, who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. Is it hard for thee to kick against the priest? There he is. And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what will thou have me to do? And he said unto him, Arise, go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

And the men which had journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. But they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. And he was there three days without sight.

Neither did he eat nor drink. to this man filled with religious zeal and he tells us in Philippians of what type of man he was. Philippians 3, for though I might also have confidence in the flesh If any other man thinketh that wherein he might trust, that in the flesh I more. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, of touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal. This is where his energy was put. This is where he felt that he was being zealous for the cause of God.

Concerning zeal, persecuting the church. touching righteousness which is in the law blameless but what things were gained to me those things I count lost for Christ. So we saw this morning that those people shouting Hosanna Hosanna concerning zeal persecuting the church. There was an external form of religion, but there was no work of grace within the heart. As the scripture says, this people draw near to me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

What needed to change in the life of the apostle Paul was his heart. needed to see the Lord Jesus Christ for who he was, that he was the one that was written down and prophesied in the book of Zechariah and in Isaiah and throughout the Old Testament, that he is this one, the the one who would come upon the cult of Annas, this king of kings that would come, and he needed his eyes opened, he needed his heart softened for him to be able to receive this truth. And so all of this pride, this religious zeal, had to be knocked out of the apostle. It had to be brought to his knees. And we see that on the road to Damascus that he is broken and brought down as he cries, Lord, Master, what wilt thou have me to do?

The Lord saved him and imparted to him saving grace. He didn't deserve it. It is always undeserved when we receive grace. It is always undeserved love. If we think that we deserve saving grace, then it would not be grace. If you think that you deserve it, then it would be a reward for something that you have done. And we know that it is not by works of righteousness that we have done, but we are saved by grace through faith.

The apostle was not seeking Christ. The apostle was seeking to destroy the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus says, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are afflicting pain upon my people, therefore you are afflicting pain upon me. You are seeking to destroy the church, therefore you are seeking to destroy me. If anyone didn't deserve salvation, was it not the apostle Paul? a man who hated Christ, and yet Christ loved him before the foundation of the world.

And Christ met him in his religious zeal, bent on destruction of his own people, and saved him by his grace, and turned him around completely, and set his life on a new course. still filled with religious zeal, yet that zeal was mixed with love for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ.

So that grace that Paul experienced and that grace that you and I have experienced if we are saved at the cost of the Lord Jesus Christ dearly. It's not just a word that we can just flippantly say that we are saved and flippantly say that we've been saved by grace. As we are reminded monthly, as we sit around the Lord's table, we are reminded that that saving grace cost the Saviour dearly. I often think, you know, it was just the Word of God that spoke the world into being.

Yet to save sinners from salvation, an amazing work had to take place, a miraculous work had to take place, that Christ, the second person of the Trinity, had to house himself in human flesh, live a life under his own law, die upon the cross, and rise again the third day to bring about salvation for his people. It was a great cost. It cost him dearly.

And so if God has done for you the greater, if he has given you the greater grace, surely he's going to continue with you that continued grace, that continued sufficiency of his grace. chapter 13 and verse 4 it says, though he was crucified through weakness yet he lives by the power of God and we also are weak in him but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.

And so if we look at the apostle we see that he was brought down to his knees It was brought down to dependence upon Christ for his salvation. We see that his salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ, was crucified through weakness, yet he lives by the power of God. That Christ rose again and was risen from the grave by the power of God. in his humanity, yet he rose himself from the grave in his own power. Christ was crucified through weakness as he gave himself up as a ransom for sinners. And he says, and we are also weak in him. Paul became Christ's Christ made him weak and Christ kept him weak.

We saw this morning of the type of king the Lord Jesus Christ is. The kings of this earth like to ride in those great horses and to demonstrate their power and their authority, their grandeur. we see the Lord Jesus Christ meek and lowly riding upon an ass, the cult, the foal of an ass, that he portrayed himself as this king coming in humility, but that his kingdom was without end. It was a kingdom without borders, that those within that kingdom are part of the kingdom of peace, but they also manifest the attribute of the king of that kingdom. They are not people that are filled with pride, filled with arrogance.

They are people whom the Lord is working in their lives to bring weakness in their lives. Paul had now been brought into, he had now been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. He had now been ransomed. He'd now been brought into this kingdom, this kingdom of light. This kingdom of peace, this kingdom of weakness.

Those who live in dependence upon the king of that kingdom. A kingdom where weakness is strength. And a kingdom where the king of that kingdom is working weakness in the lives of his people and if he sees pride or if he sees the who sees the circumstances or the experiences that his people are passing through have a tendency to bring about pride in their life, then he will come along and he will bring a thorn into their life. To make weakness. To keep those in his kingdom dependent upon him. For the apostle says, when I am weak, then I am strong.

We saw with the Lord Jesus and the cup, he says that, this is the cup that the father has given unto me, shall I not drink it? That Christ, as he drank that cup, as he drank that cup, he was submitting to the will of the father. As we look at the cup, a cup in the scripture represents the wrath of God and we see it in Christ Jesus being poured out upon his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, drank right up.

But also if we think of a cup, naturally speaking, a cup that is emptied, is a cup that can be filled. And so the experiences that the Lord puts in our lives cause us to have our cups emptied. The thorns that he brings into our lives cause us to rest upon him. The empty cup can be filled. The Christian with a thorn in the flesh is a Christian that is going to lean upon the Lord.

He's at work in our life always. How often we become self-sufficient. There are areas in our life where we don't pray. There are things in our lives that we don't pray for. There are areas in our life where we think we are strong. that we don't need any help. We don't need anyone to assist us. We don't need to pray about them because we're able to deal with these things by ourselves.

So what does God do? He takes away our crutches. He takes away those things that we lean upon. There are many things, aren't there, that we lean upon. We can lean upon husbands and wives. We can lean upon friends and family. We can lean upon strengths. We can lean upon jobs. We can lean upon parents. But the Lord will remove these props.

We can lean upon our own health. we blaze on in our own strength and then suddenly we're ill and we realize that the Lord has taken away a prop and we are dependent then upon him. We have been self-sufficient and then he makes us dependent upon him. If There is somebody who is unable to walk well and they are used to walking with somebody and that person leaves them. They feel very vulnerable and they would like that person back. That's how the Lord makes us feel. He puts us into places of vulnerability so that we lean upon him and we draw from his grace and we draw from his strength in our weakness.

He says to us, I am enough. My grace is enough. My grace was enough to save you. That grace cost my son dearly. And if I'm willing to partake, to give you that grace, then surely the daily grace, the sustaining grace will be provided. That I've given to you the greater. And I will continue to give you the lesser, the continued, the ripples that come from that initial saving grace.

When we receive anything from God, it is always done through His grace. It is always undeserved. Grace is the outstretched arm of God. When we pray to him through the Lord Jesus Christ, if we receive anything from the Lord, if we receive answers to our requests, is that he has dealt graciously with us. He has dealt with us through his beloved son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That his grace, it belongs to him. It comes through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and is applied to us through his Holy Spirit, his help that he gives us, the help that he gives for the daily tasks, the strength that he gives to us to fulfil his will and purposes in our lives. the ability that he gives to us to do the task set before us, to the calling that he calls us to, to the leading that he leads us to.

He provides us with all of those gifts and abilities by his grace. but also that providential grace in our lives where we see his hand leading us and guiding us and providing for us. It is done by his grace. that undeserved love, that His grace, that undeserved love, it's sufficient, it is enough for you. You don't have to, you don't have to worry that you're weak in certain areas because He says in those certain areas, then you rest upon me.

You young ones, Maybe when you have an exam or something, if you feel confident about the exam, you're not going to pray about it. You just think, well, you know, I can sort this out. I know about this subject. I'm just going to deal with it. But when you have an exam that you are concerned about, you're going to pray about it.

And when you pray about it, you see God's hand helping you in that exam. And then after the exam, you can praise him and give him thanks for that help that you have received. But you see, when you are filled with confidence and self-ability, then you are not going to pray and you're going to continue on in your own strength and you're going to become independent from God and from his help and from his ability and you become self-absorbed and filled with pride.

And so he will bring something into your life to bring you down, to make you a dependent upon him, to make you rest upon that sufficiency of his grace and that his strength is made perfect. The Lord felt that Paul would be more useful with a thorn in his flesh, this messenger of Satan. His strength would be perfected or made more visible. Why do you think that is?

Because it was less of Paul and more of Christ was seen. said sometimes isn't it of ministers well that is a good minister because you know he's got a great brain photographic memory you know he's done all of these things we need to lose sight of all of that the the good minister comes from a man who is dependent upon god for his strength and for his ability. It doesn't mean that ministers should not study. It doesn't mean that the ministers should not stir up the gift that is in them. But it means that the ministers should not rest upon their own ability for the effect of the word that is preached.

And that would be the same in our lives, in day-to-day lives. But if we have an opportunity to speak and you feel like you've fumbled around you haven't got the right words that in your weakness God is more magnified in that the word applied with power into the heart of the hearer you have nothing to boast about cannot boast about your great evangelistic efforts if you've fumbled around over a few words and someone's got saved by it.

But to go forth and to rest upon the power and ability of God, not in our own strength but in our weakness, that as he says here, that my strength that God's strength is perfected in weakness. In Philippians, it tells us there in verse 13, I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. And that's how the apostle pressed on. He understood his own weakness, his own inability, but he understood that he could do all things through the Lord Jesus Christ that strengthened him. And he goes on to say in verse 19, but my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus. And there the apostle rested. He rested in the greatness and strength and the grace of his God, in what God had done for him at the start, that saved him by his grace, that he was going to continue that work that he had done upon him, that saving grace that had been imparted to him, that had been gifted to him. that ripple effect, that continued grace that was going to continue to wash over his life and provide him with everything that he needed both spiritually and also providentially physically, that in his weakness God was going to be more glorified. that he was going to glory in his infirmities, that the power of Christ would rest upon him, that he could then testify that I can do all things through Christ, that strengthens me.

Often we hear, you know, well, I can't do anything. I can't do anything. I have no strength. I have no ability. That's not what the scripture says. It says, doesn't worry about your strength and don't worry about your ability, because that comes from above.

That comes from your relationship and your union with the Lord Jesus Christ. It says here, I can do all things through the Lord Jesus Christ that strengthens me. And your providential needs the Lord will supply. But my God shall supply all your needs, both spiritually and physically, according to his riches in Christ Jesus.

And that's where it lies. if we truly understand what we are in Christ, what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for his people. If we truly understand that we are loved with an everlasting love, if we truly understand that the cost of our salvation to redeem us from the grip of Satan and the consequences of our sins, if we truly understand all that Christ has done for us, that he loved us before the foundation of the world, then we have nothing to worry about. because Christ has already done the greater and he has gifted us with his Holy Spirit that indwells within us and he has granted to us sufficient strength, grace sufficient and strength that is made perfect in our weakness.

And so he says, he takes pleasure in those things that bring him low. It's a hard place to come to. when we can see the Lord giving us a thorn, we can see the Lord putting things in our lives to bring us low. But then to say, like he says, I take pleasure in those things, that he sees the hand of God in his life, touching individual parts of his life. And he says, I take pleasure because those things that the Lord is touching are means to draw me closer to him. That when I am weak, then I am strong. My grace is sufficient for thee.

As the Apostle Paul was brought to his knees on the road to Damascus, have you been brought to your knees? before this King of Kings, this humble King who rode into Jerusalem with the crowd crying, Hosanna. Have you been there? Have you been crying, Lord, save me? What if you have? then here's the answer to your request.

My grace is sufficient. My grace is enough to cover your sin and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness, that his strength is perfected in your weakness. As you're humbling yourself before him, the throne of grace, his grace is enough to cover you and to cleanse you. and to bring you into union with him. And if you see in your life the Lord putting in those thorns, know that they're needful. Know that he places them at specific points in our life to make us more dependent upon him and to draw us closer to him. May the Lord bless these few remarks. Amen. Let's sing our final hymn from Hymns for Worship number 177. 177. And may I hope that when no more these pulses beat with life below, I shall the God of life adore and all the bliss of being know. Hymns for Worship 177, tune 297.

♪ Day I looked at Canaba ♪ ♪ Its houses beat with a high billow ♪ I shall welcome the flower in the dew, and to the bliss of healing O Jesus, at my surety place, before His Father, ♪ His glorious throne ♪ ♪ He is an heir of sovereign grace ♪ ♪ He is Israel at our descent ♪ ♪ It's in His blood ♪ ♪ And in my heart ♪ ♪ The Spirit flows through ♪ ♪ I shall be murdered like mine ♪ ♪ Lord, Lord save the King ♪ Mmm. I shall be with him when he comes. Triumphant and above his foes, and when his voice wakes up the tombs, ♪ And on His children I shall rise ♪ ♪ And on His children I shall rise ♪ Children, the high shall stand, When we're condemned, His throne surround.

Yes, to the place that's near His right hand, Our dear Lord, we do give thee thanks that all the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. we pray lord for that sufficiency of thy grace to sustain us in our daily lives and we pray lord that we may humble ourselves under thy mighty hand that thou would exalt us in due time and we pray lord that as we experience the thorns in our lives and We pray that thou help us to humble ourselves under thy dealings with us and to realise that thy strength is perfected in weakness and we ask then that thou help us Lord to glory in our infirmities. knowing that when we are weak, then we are strong. Do dismiss us, we pray, with thy blessing and do bless us throughout this week and as we hope to meet again on Friday, O Lord, we ask for thy presence to be known and felt amongst us as we look to the crucifixion of thy beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I do forgive us then Lord of our many sins and do make up where we fail and now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit to be with us each now and forevermore. Amen.

Emptying us.

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's grace?

How do we know that God's grace is enough?

Why is acknowledging weakness important for Christians?

What can we learn from the Apostle Paul's experience with grace?

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About James Gudgeon

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Emptying us.

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's grace?

How do we know that God's grace is enough?

Why is acknowledging weakness important for Christians?

What can we learn from the Apostle Paul's experience with grace?

Sermon Transcript

About James Gudgeon

Comments

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