In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, I want to read verse 11. I hope
what I've got to say this morning is not too awfully scattering.
Sometimes when I get up to attempt to preach, I really and honestly
have no idea how it's going to come out. It's somewhat exciting,
but it's somewhat fearful. And the Lord knows that, and
that's the way I feel this morning. So I hope that he is pleased
to bring this together in our hearts and make his word a blessing
to us. I want to begin here in 2 Corinthians
chapter 12. In verse 11, the Apostle Paul
speaking of himself, I am become a fool in glory, and ye have
compelled me. I ought to have been commended
of you, for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though
I be nothing. I be nothing. have read that before, I thought,
what a way for this tremendous man to feel about himself, to
have this attitude of himself. I be nothing. I am nothing. You know, you and I love each
other. We appreciate each other. We
appreciate our preachers. We get so much strength from
them. Our teachers, the writers, we sit and read articles, or
we read books, and sometimes we just stop reading and a gratitude
will come up in our hearts. You know, for an old reader that
lived a hundred or two hundred years ago, and Lord, we thank
You for this man. Thank You for calling this man
and letting him write this word. How it's encouraging to me. How
thankful I am to You for this dear old man. How much more so
should you and I be concerning this apostle? The Apostle Paul,
the Apostle to us Gentiles. How thankful we should be. And
you know, he said one of the reasons the Lord saved him is
to be a pattern. I am a pattern, he said, to those
who would believe on him till life everlasting. And he explained
that somewhat in the text. He said, what I mean by that
is this. Look what a sinner I am. I was
a blasphemer. I was a persecutor. I was injurious. But I obtained mercy. I'm a pattern
of mercy. Is anybody here this morning
in need of mercy? And maybe you feel almost like
you've sinned your way into hell. You have no claims upon the eternal
God. Here's a pattern. This man that
says, I'm nothing. I'm a pattern. I obtained mercy. I obtained mercy. And he went
on to say that I obtained this exceeding abundance
of grace that was in Christ Jesus. And this grace brought faith
to me and it brought love to me and it saved me, the chief
of sinners. What a pattern that this man
was. But not only of salvation, but
in his living In his whole life, what a pattern he was of Christian
living. In his love, in his faith, in
his patience, he was writing to Timothy, and he said to Timothy,
he said, You have fully known my doctrine. Everything I believe,
you've heard me preach. I've hid nothing. I've declared
unto you and everybody else the whole counsel of God. I've not
tried to hide anything. I've not been ashamed of it.
I've not tried to sneak in the back door. You have fully known
my doctrine, my manner of life, my faith, my patience, my love,
my long-suffering, my persecutions, my afflictions that I endured. And out of them all the Lord
delivered me." And then he makes this statement, and he says,
yes, and all that lives godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution. He's a pattern of this. And then
he gets ready to die. And you remember that wonderful
statement that he made. I'm now ready to be offered.
I'm ready to be poured out. The time of my departure is at
hand. I've fought a good fight. I've finished my course. I've
kept the faith. There's laid up for me a crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give
me at that day. And then he says it again. He
says, I'm just a pattern. I'm just a pattern. He will not
only give to me this crown of righteousness, but everybody
that loves his appearing. What a pattern this man is to
us in mercy and in his manner of living. But also, and I think
of this, and I am so thankful when I think of this aspect of
the Apostle Paul, that he was this apostle to the Gentiles.
He is our apostle. The Jews had Peter and they had
John and they had James. we have the Apostle Paul. And
he said it, he was writing to the Ephesian church and he said,
I know that you're so burdened for me and I know that you've
somewhat stumbled because you know that I'm a prisoner and
I'm suffering this chain and being guarded by this Roman soldier. But he said this, he said, I
want you to know that I am a prisoner. But it's the prisoner of Jesus
Christ for you Gentiles. It's for your good. Don't stumble
at it, he says. Don't be upset because I'm suffering
this chain and lost my liberty. It's for you Gentiles. And I'm
glad to bear it. The Lord's called me to bear
it. You know why he was a prisoner. It wasn't just because he was
a preacher of the Gospel. That was a great part of it.
But he was a preacher of the gospel to the Gentiles. You read
in chapter 22 of Acts, and that was the apostle Paul was first
arrested. Remember how they were beating him, and this chief captain
came down and brought him up off of that crowd of Jews that
was beating him, and Paul stood upon the steps and preached to
those Jews. about his conversion, how Christ
appeared to him down the Damascus road, and he went through all
that experience, and they listened to him. They listened to him
while he preached Christ to them. But when he got to the point
where he said, the Lord said, the Jews won't receive you concerning
your testimony of me. I'm going to send you to the
Gentiles. And boy, they heard him until
that word. Then they jerked off their clothes and started throwing
dust up in the air and said, this man is not fit to live. Preaching the gospel to those
Gentiles. And from their own, through the
rest of the book of Acts, he's referred to as Paul the prisoner.
For you Gentiles, aren't you glad the Lord loved us so much? He raised this man up, saved
him and put this precious treasure in his heart. that I may preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." As you read
these epistles of Paul, it just makes you want to thank the Lord
for putting this treasure in this man's heart. And here he
wrote it down and left it for us, our apostle. And here he
says this about himself, I'll be nothing. I'll be nothing. I'm nothing. I'm nothing. What
an attitude for a great man like this to have. Paul had come here
among these Corinthians, and you remember how he describes
it. He said, I was with you in weakness and fear. Much trembling,
I preached the gospel to you. The Lord saved you. He converted
you with it. It came to you in power. But
he said, when I left, here come these apostles, these false apostles,
he calls them in chapter 11. They come among you, and this
is what they were wanting to do. He says they wanted to corrupt
your minds from the simplicity that is in Christ. Christ is not enough. Single
heartedness, this devotion to Christ and to Christ alone. Ye
are complete in him who is the head of all principalities and
powers, all that I may know him. that I may be found in Him."
And what these apostles were doing is what they did often
in these churches. They went around and followed
Paul around and said, Oh, Christ is much, but He's not everything.
He's not all in all. And they corrupted their mind
from the simplicity that's in Christ. But before they could do this,
They had to undermine the apostles' authority. They couldn't out-argue
him. They never could do that. He
went preaching the gospel. And they tried to sit with him
and argue with him, but they couldn't out-argue him. He said,
this is the gospel. How do you know that's the gospel?
Here's what Moses said. Here's what David said. Here's
what the prophet said. And he so confused those fellows,
and their hearts were so full of contempt, They couldn't out-argue
him. One fellow said contempt is the
emotion we feel for an opponent whose arguments are too formidable
to refute. Ain't that wonderful? They couldn't
out-argue him, so they were filled with contempt. And what happens
when we can't out-argue someone? We attack the messenger, don't
we? And that's what they did. Look here in chapter 10 with
me. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Here's just a couple of things.
Look in verse 10. Here's what they said about him
personally. His letters say they. Here's what my opponents say.
Here's what these false apostles say. His letters are weighty
and powerful. Oh, but anybody can write a weighty
letter. He can glean from other writers,
get his dictionary out and use all these heavy words. Anybody
can do that, they said. But look at his bodily presence. Look how weak he is. And his
speech is rude. He's not an eloquent speaker.
You can't refute his message, attack him. It becomes about
personalities. That's what the apostle said. You know, one of the things,
one of the difficulties the apostle Paul had was this. He had no
concern about defending himself against personal attacks. He
let them do it. The only time he arose to defend
himself was concerning his authority as an apostle. He always defended
that. What I know, he said, was revealed
to me. I didn't learn it from any man.
I wasn't taught it from the other apostles. It was made known to
me by the revelation of Jesus Christ. I'm an apostle of Christ,
called by the will of God. And that's when he arose to defend
himself, when his apostleship, when his authority was attacked.
For the rest of the time, he was a humble man. And that exposure,
it always exposes you if you don't rise to defend yourself.
If you're just a humble person, if you're nothing, if you're
less than nothing, if you're less than the least of all saints,
I'll be nothing. You'll be attacked. But look
here in chapter 11. They force the Apostle Paul to
defend himself. And he begins to here in verse
6, chapter 11. Look at this. But though I be rude in speech,
yet not in knowledge. Not in knowledge. He was a brilliant
man, wasn't he? Nobody knew Christ. Nobody knew
the purpose of God. Nobody could enter into these
mysteries of the gospel like this man. Nobody had received
the abundance of revelation like this man had. A brilliant man,
a brilliant apostle, a wise master builder. I've laid the foundation
in my ministry of Christ and Him crucified. And then he goes
on to tell them, look over here in verse 16. I just wanted to
read some of these places to you. I say again, let no man thank
me a fool If otherwise, as a fool, receive me, that I may boast
myself a little. That which I speak, I speak it
not after the Lord, but as it were foolishness in this confidence
of boasting. You like boasters? You like braggers?
Let me brag a while. Sin that many glory after the
flesh, let me glory also. You suffer fools gladly, seeing
you are so wise. Will you suffer if a man bring
you into bondage? If a man devour you, if a man
take of you, if he exalt himself over you, if a man smite you
on the face, I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been
weak. Howbeit, whereinsoever any is
bold, I speak foolishly, I am bold also." Now listen to it.
Are they Hebrew? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of
Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of
Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more.
In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more
frequent, in death off. Of the Jews five times received
I forty stripes, save one. Three times I was beaten with
rods. Once I was stoned. Three times
I suffered shipwreck, a day and a night in the deep. in journeyings
often in pearls of waters, in pearls of robbers, in pearls
by my own countrymen, in pearls by the heathen, in pearls in
the city, in pearls in the wilderness, in pearls in the sea, in pearls
among false brethren, weariness, painfulness, watchings often,
hunger, thirst, fastings often, in cold and nakedness, and besides
those things that come without, those things that come upon me
daily. the cure of all the churches, how this man suffered. He said,
truly the signs of an apostle was wrought in me. Not only in
my preaching, but my patience, my endearing of the oppositions
that I faced, all my sufferings. You glorying in these guys that's
boasting in themselves. I could brag too, he said. Everything
that they profess to be, I am more. What a man this was. And yet the statement he makes
about himself is what? I be nothing. I be nothing. Paul is going to rehearse an
experience here now in chapter 12. I want you to look at this
just for a few minutes with me. He's going to rehearse an experience
he had. How wonderful this was, and look
what he says about this. It is not profitable, not expedient
for me, doubtless to glory. All come to visions and revelations
of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ, speaking
of himself, never mentions his name, but speaking of himself.
About fourteen years ago, whether he was in the body, I cannot
tell, or whether he was out of the body, I cannot tell. God
knows, such a 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 unto paradise,
and heard unspeakable words which is not lawful for a man to utter."
Isn't that a wonderful experience? Can you imagine that? Can you
imagine what it would be like to be called up to heaven? The third heaven? You know where
that is. That's the Father's house. That's
the throne. That's where He sets and rules
and governs this universe. To the Father's house. In my
Father's house are many mansions. And what He heard there, He said,
was indescribable. Words, Hebrews and Greek and
all the languages of this world cannot describe what I heard
and what I seen there in heaven. What would it be like? What would
a man see to be caught up into heaven? Well, you know you'd see Christ.
You can't go to heaven without seeing Him. He's the light of
the place. Father, I will that they that
You've given me be with me Why? That they may behold My glory?
What did He see just being called up to that place? He saw the
glory of Christ, this incarnate God in His glorified humanity. He saw Him. He had to see these
spirits of these men who have left this life and
this body, and they're there, the spirits of just men made
perfect. He had to see them. They're there
too. saw these holy angels in their
shining form? What would that have looked like?
He heard these hosts like the voice of many waters. And it
was a sound, he said, that you can't describe. What was it,
Paul? It was the voice of this singing,
this worship. Worthy is the Lamb. to receive
glory and honor and power and wisdom and strength. Paul, what
was that like? Can you describe that to us?
No, he said, I can't describe that. It was this heavenly sound. You had to be there to hear it.
It's no language upon this earth. Can you imagine that? Just being
caught up to this place and what you would see there and what
you would hear there. That's amazing to think about.
Did he look on the book of life? It's there in this place of paradise. I wonder if he saw the rabbis'
name there. Wouldn't that have been something
to see? Those little children we talked about, Brother John,
what happened to those? Are their names written there?
You would have to think so. If the Lord blesses someone,
I'd say their names is there. Oh, what did the Apostle Paul
see there? What did he hear there? He said that's a different language
up there in heaven. God has condescended, brothers
and sisters, to speak to us in a language that we can understand.
But what a frail way to communicate with worms. You really have to
condescend to communicate with worms. But when you leave this
world and go behind that veil to that world up there, oh, it's
such a language that no earthly human can describe. I was caught
up. I was caught up there, he said,
into this third heaven. And I heard these things that
was not lawful for a man to utter. That's the first marvelous thing
that this man had experienced. I bet none of these false apostles
experienced anything like that, have they? You guys want to talk
about experience? You want some proof of my apostleship?
Let me tell you something that I experienced. Something else
about this I thought was very amazing. It seems Paul here,
during this experience, escaped all consciousness of what it
was to be in his natural body. He said whether I was in the
body or out of the body, I cannot tell. He had no consciousness
of that body. He seemed like he was free from
it. Paul, was he in the body? Well, I couldn't tell you if
I was. Well, it seemed to me like if he was, he would have
known it, wouldn't he? What would it be like, at least
just for a while, not to be conscious of our natural beings? To be
free from this body of death? To be free from vile self. To
be free from a sense of sin. What would that be like? I've
never been free from that since the Lord saved me. There's always
been this struggle. This sense of this awful weakness
and warfare. What would it be like to be caught
up in a place where you said I have no sense of this vileness? This natural self? Wouldn't that
be amazing? I've never experienced that.
I long, Brother Scott Richardson says, to see him and worship
him with undimmed eyes and an unsinning heart. But I've never
experienced that here. Paul did. He did. But he said, I can't describe
it. I can't describe it. He said, I'm an example. Is he
an example of this too? Is this just a preview? Is this
just a foretaste of everyone that is in Christ? I love the
way he said that. He said, I knew a man in Christ.
I knew a man in Christ. Oh, the blessings that's in Christ. And here's the chief blessing.
Here's the final blessing. Here's the apex of all the blessings. To be caught up in this glorious
heaven. To be with Christ and His angels
and the spirits of these just men. To be free from what we
are here. This sinful self. And you know
what this teaches us here? Here's a man that's in Christ.
And here's the possibility of it all. If it never happened
before, then we may argue, is it even possible? But here he
says, it's possible. It happened to me. Oh, doesn't that make your hope
shine just a little bit brighter? To be absent from the body. What
will it be? To depart. What does that mean? No wonder Paul said, I have a
desire too. What does that mean, Paul? Why
are you so anxious to be absent from the body? It's to be present
with Him in paradise in the Father's Oh, precious hope that waits
every child of God, every soul in Christ. Paradise. Paradise. Oh, what a foretaste
of glory divine. That's what we've had this weekend.
Just a foretaste of glory divine. I will come again and receive
you unto myself. that where I am, there you may
be also. Heaven is adapted to a glorified
humanity. It's just not God's home. It's
not just where the eternal God dwells. It's not just where those
holy elect angels live. But it's adapted to us. And we'll
be adapted to it. Isn't that a wonderful thought?
And we'll feel right at home there. We'll feel at ease there. Among all the family, we're going
home to be with the family. What a wonderful thought. I knew
a man in Christ. That's where it is, isn't it?
What is Christianity? In Christ. Where's all the blessings
of God? Where's the smiling face of God? It's in Christ. Where's the hope
of heaven? It's in Christ. I want to know
nothing, brothers and sisters, but Christ. More about Jesus
would I know. More of His grace to others show. More of His saving fullness see. That will do me just fine. I
want nothing else but His saving fullness. And you obtain that,
you'll see His face. And you'll rest with Him. Oh,
what a thought. Caught up. Caught up. And notice what the Apostle Paul
says about this in verse 5. Look here what he says. He says,
If such a one will I glory, I'll glory in this one that was caught
up to this third heaven. I'll glory in him. Well, if this
poor worm makes it there, I'll glory in me too, won't you? We'll
shot, oh, as the old man said, we'll shot the house down. Oh,
we'll run and we'll leap for joy. The glory that shall be
revealed in us, to us. Look at me now. That's what I'll
say. Look at me. Oh, look at me now. I've made it at last. Glory over
me. I'll glory over myself just as
I'd glory over you, Megan, and you, Paul said, I glory over
that one that was there in the presence of the Lord. What I
heard, what I seen, knowing that I'm with Him, I'll glory. But
look what else he says. Yet of myself, this earthly self, this weak self, I will not glory. He comes back down to earth,
doesn't he? Oh, I'll glory in that one that was caught up into
that glorious place. But of myself, while I am upon
this earth, I ain't glorying in this earthly self. What I'm
glorying on here is my infirmities, my weaknesses, and he tells us
why later on. In verse 6, For though I would desire to
glory, I shall not be a fool. For I will say the truth, but
now I forbear. And I think the Apostle Paul
here is saying this. I could boast. I could tell you
a lot more things that I've experienced that I've not told you about.
And you know, if he hadn't wrote this down here, we'd have never
known about it. This had been 14 years. And as far as we know,
he had told nobody. How many more things had this
man experienced? How many more things had the
Lord done with him? And he never wrote about it.
All the things that he experienced, he said, I could tell you more
things than you could know, and I wouldn't be lying when I told
you about them. But he said, I'm going to refrain
from doing it. Why don't you tell us, Paul? Well, he goes
ahead and tells us why he don't tell us of all his experiences.
Lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth
me to be, or that he heareth of me. You know what he's saying. He said, I don't want your opinion
to me to be based upon these experiences that I'm telling
you. You're going to think too highly of me. I could tell you
things that the Lord has done with me and by me and in me that
you'd just be amazed at. But you would start estimating
me according to what I've experienced. And he said, I don't want your
estimation of me to be based upon that, but what you see in
me, what I really am. I want you to listen to me. Brother
John wants you to listen to him and respect him when he's in
this pulpit. But whatever experiences you
hear us tell of ourselves, don't be too impressed by it. Let your
estimation of us be established upon how you see us at when we
go through those doors. Follow us home. Ask our neighbors. Go where we work. Don't so estimate
us while we're up in the clouds. See how we walk when we come
back down to this earth. See what I'm saying? All these
televangelists and these Preachers in these mega-churches and they
get up and they tell us about all their experiences. And I
say this with all reverence. They talk about their Holy Ghost
filled meetings and all their assembly lines and healings and
all of that. All of these great things that
they've accomplished and what they're doing. But come down out of the clouds
and let us see how you walk. Let us see what manner of life
you live. when you get out of the pulpits
and you have to leave your assembly line healings. Don't tell us
you need our money, that you have this great desire to take
the gospel all over the world. Don't tell us about all this
desire that God gives you. Let us hear you preach the gospel
here. You preach it to us now and you
suffer the shame and reproach of it. Then after you've did
it a while and we've determined who you really are, then maybe
we'll support your preaching of it. We don't want to hear
about your experiences. We're not going to estimate our
value of you, what you tell us. We want to know how you walk.
We want to know who you really are. Don't tell me you're suffering
for the gospel while you're living in a million-dollar mansion with
your maids and your guards down at the gate and your air-conditioned
dog houses. That's what Paul is saying to
you. Who am I? Who are we? Paul said, Watch
me. Follow me. See what I'm really
like. See who I really am. Then he goes on here, look at
it. In verse 7, Unless I should be exalted above measure through
the abundance of the revelations. My goodness. Abundance of the
revelations. He just told us one, didn't he?
My goodness, to be caught up into heaven, to hear these words,
to see these things. What a revelation. And all of
these that he didn't speak about. The abundance of revelations.
How the Lord is mighty to bless me! But lest I should be exalted
above measure, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the
messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted
above measure." Boy, this brings you back down to earth, doesn't
it? What a change, what a turn this man took, what a paradox
this man seems to be. He says here, I had all these
revelations from the Lord and I had a messenger of Satan. How
in the world could that be? I have revelations and I have
a messenger from Satan. He feels like he has one foot
in heaven and one foot in hell at the same time. He says I've
got visions of my mind and I've got a thorn in my flesh. I've
got grace in my heart and yet I've got pride that I have to
be humble over. Christ is in my heart and the
messenger of Satan is in my flesh. Ain't that amazing? You think
a Christian is not a mystery? How can this be? Don't you feel
sorry for those who trust in their own strength? Who look
to their selves for hope? What a paradox we are. How could
Christ be in the heart and the devil be in the flesh? What a paradox. A thorn in the
flesh. It's futile to try to figure
out what this is. I have read the commentaries
on this, and I'm amazed at what some of the people have said
concerning what this thorn was in the flesh. One of the most
amusing things I think I've ever read about this thorn, I think
it was Dr. Gill telling about one of the
old commentaries that said he earnestly believed that this
thorn in Paul's flesh was his bald head. I thought that was rather amusing,
you know. I get up and I go to the mirror of the morning. And
I think, oh no, I just can't take this any longer. I can't
leave the house. Oh, I'm so dangled. Ain't that amazing? You can't
figure this out because the scriptures don't say. It's futile even to
try to figure it out. You know what you and I can learn
from this? What a thorn does. What's the effect of a thorn? If you get a thorn in your hand,
what does it do? It affects the way you work,
doesn't it? If you get a thorn in your foot, what does it do?
It affects the way you walk. If you get a thorn in your back,
you can't rest. It affects your rest. If you
get it on your backside, you can't sit down. It causes you
a problem. That's what a thorn does. And
sometimes it festers up. It starts running. You try to
wash it and keep it clean. Sometimes you forget about it
for a while, then suddenly you bump it, and oh, suddenly, oh,
it hurts so bad. But you're almost always conscious
of it, that it's thorn. Some of you may have a thorn
in the flesh. It bothers you. Do you have anything
that bothers you? And you can't get rid of it?
And sometimes you forget about it for just a little while, but
then something happens. Oh, there it is. Oh, it suddenly
hits you. And whatever you're doing, it
interrupts what you're doing. I don't care what you're doing.
If you have a thorn in your hand and you reach out to get something,
oh, what does it do? Immediately, it hinders you from
reaching out, from walking, from sitting. You've got something
that suddenly comes to your mind. It interrupts you. You're praying.
Oh, there it is. You're reading. You're working.
And there it is. Suddenly, suddenly the pain of
it all. And it gets your attention. It
captures your attention. Just like a thorn would. That
you've got a little bit of ease from it for a while. But suddenly
you hit it and you bump it. Oh! Oh! You can't do anything
else but think of that pain. That's what a thorn is. That's
what Paul had. And it hindered him. It weakened
him. It kept him from working like
he wanted to. From the liberty that he wanted
to enjoy. It was this thorn. It's a prick in pain that you're
almost always conscious of. And notice this about this thorn.
This is amazing. He says there, There was a thorn
given to me. There was a thorn given me. It was something that was given
to me. How would you feel? I've got
some thorn trees there over the hill at my house. And how would
you feel if I'd have brought a little pouch full of them? And I come up to you and say,
Frank, I've got something I want to give you. Would you roll up
your sleeve? How do you like that, Frank? I've got something I want to
give you, John. Hold the bottom of your naked foot up. How do you like
that, John? I don't like you. You shouldn't
have did that to me. Can you imagine this thorn that
was given to him? Can you imagine the shock? Suddenly,
there was this pricking painful feeling and it was something
given to him. He didn't ask for it. He didn't
receive it. It was given to him. This pain
that hindered him, that humbled him, that kept him down, given
to him. How would you feel if the Lord
did that to you? I tell you, the Lord loves His
people so much and he hates pride so much, he will afflict his
people's soul to hide pride from them. Brother Henry said in the
bulletin this morning, pride in us will not die one hour before
you and I do. And pride is a very deceitful
thing. You would think the more the
Lord blessed us, the more humble we would be. But it's not even
that way. We are so ruined. The more He
blesses us, the more He must keep us low. Exalted because
of the abundance of revelation? Yes. That's how ruined that we
are. A Christian is not worth his
weight in mud unless the Lord humbles him. And the way He often
does it is by affliction. It's better to weep over our
failures and losses and pain than to be proud over our successes. There was given to me a thorn
in the flesh. And if you've got a thorn in
your flesh, this is why the Lord give it to you. It's a painful
thing. It's a hurtful thing. Don't tell
me it's not. It gets your attention. Nobody
else may not know it, but you know it. But it's given to you
for your good, and it's given to you to keep you low. To hide
pride from you. Because pride goes before a fall
and before destruction. And that ain't going to happen
to you. The Lord's going to afflict you with this thorn. What should we do? Look here
at what the Apostle Paul did. In his anxiety, in his trouble,
He said, for this, for this pain, for this awful fear, for this
confusion, for this surprise, for this utter weakness, I besought
the Lord three times. I went to Him three times. The
first time I never got an answer. But I went back to pray again.
I never got an answer. I went back to pray again. He
had the Spirit of the Master in Him, didn't He? We should
never be discouraged, brethren and sisters, in going to the
throne of grace. Sometimes the Lord tries us to see if we're
going to faint. Go back and go back and go back. Continue to seek Him. He's a
prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God. Don't faint in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything
to God in prayer. Cast all your cares upon Him. I had a friend that told me not
long ago, he said, we've got to go to prayer. Kids want a
dog. You pray about getting a dog. Pray about everything. We pray
about everything. Isn't that wonderful? Well, if
we did that, if we did that, what was the Lord's answer? And
look at this. I will keep it for just a few more minutes.
He says here in verse 9, My grace is sufficient for thee. That's
the first thing. My grace is sufficient for thee.
This word sufficient, it has two meanings to it. It means
to raise up a barrier to raise up a barrier. My grace raises
up a barrier against your afflictions. In other words, it says, fear
the two shall you come and no further. You've come here, but
that's as far as you're going. You're not going to destroy this
person. See what grace does? It determines when the suffering
begins. It determines the extent of it.
It determines the duration of it. It lifts up the barrier.
The second word this means sufficient, it means to ward off or to cause
to avail. My grace will ward off. My grace will cause you to avail. You will not sink under this
affliction. This thorn will not overcome you. It will hinder
you, it will cause you pain, but you will avail. What can
save a sinner? Oh, what can save a poor sinner?
What can get him through this awful world? What can uphold
his utter weakness as he is tempted, as he struggles with his principalities
and powers? What can get him through this
world? My grace. My grace will avail. at last. My strength is made perfect in
your weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I, brother, glory in my infirmity, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. The power of Christ may rest
upon me. The Apostle Paul was praying
for the Ephesian church. And he says, I'm praying that
God would grant you according to the riches of His glory to
be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. Ephesians 3.10. Can you imagine
that? Do you know one of the things
I think you and I don't realize? The power that's working in us. We believe by that power. We
continue by that power. You can only be a Christian by
this mighty power that's working in you. But we don't detect it. We don't realize it, do we? This
mighty power that worketh in you. He kept talking about it.
He talked about wrestling and struggling with these principalities
and powers. And he said, Be strong in the
Lord. and in the power of His might. Do we realize that? We talk about the power that
created the universe and the power that upholds it and rules
it all, but that same power works in us to will and to do. The power of Christ, Paul said. Paul said, I'm going to glory
in my weakness. Not these sinful infirmities, but these natural
infirmities. The persecutions, the weaknesses,
the trials. That which almost seems to bring
me to nothing to destroy me. Paul said, I'm going to glory
in being there. Glory in that. Because when I'm
there in my utter weakness is when I feel this amazing power. This power of Christ. A power
outside myself. I will give strength to the faint. And to them that have no might,
I will increase power. Ain't that wonderful? Oh, it's a blessing, Paul said,
to be brought to this place where you have no strength left. Because
there is where you begin to realize there's a strength working in
you, upholding you, keeping you. Haven't you felt it? Haven't
you felt it in your heart? Haven't you felt sometimes temptation
is just going to get you down? I can't endure this one. I'll
never make it over this hill. But then suddenly you begin to
detect this almost secret strength. But there it is. And it gets
you through the temptation. It gets you through the valley.
Up the hill difficulty. And what is it? It's this mighty
power. The power of Christ working in
your heart. Paul said it's the power of this
resurrected Christ, didn't he? I never will forget when the
Lord called me to preach. I had no idea He was calling
me to preach. Looking back on it now, in retrospect, I see
more of it. But if you'd have asked me then,
I'd have said, well, I'm ready to preach. I can preach. If the Lord calls me and gives
me grace, He'll enable me to preach. I've got no doubt about
that. I had no idea. what preaching was. But the Lord was going to teach
me what it was to utterly depend upon His strength to do anything. And did He ever bring me to the
brink of utter despair, nervous breakdown, taken of the medicine
that drained you where you can't work. And there I stood looking
down in that dark abyss thinking I'll never, I'll never recover
from this. Month after month, year after
year, until finally and slowly as he was pleased, sending just
a word. Sending just a notion to wait
and to hope. I'm in this. I'll bring you back.
And slowly but surely, He began to bring me back. But I saw. I saw that I knew
nothing about anything. I was utterly helpless. I was
utterly weak. I was utterly ignorant. And if
I was going to do anything, It was going to be in His strength.
And I wouldn't take ten million worlds for that experience. And
I wouldn't go back again through it for ten million more. He's got a way of humbling us.
He's got a way of afflicting us. He's got a way of bringing
us to the point where we recognize it's His power that worketh in
us. to will and to do of His good
pleasure. One passage of scripture I want
to read to you. Look over in Isaiah. And look in chapter 41. Look in verse 8, Isaiah 41, verse 8, But thou,
O Israel, thou art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the
seed of Abraham my friend. Thou whom I have taken from the
ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof,
and said unto thee, Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee,
and not cast thee away. for I am with thee. Be not dismayed,
for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. All they that were incensed against
thee shall be ashamed and confounded. They shall be as nothing. They
that strive with thee shall Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not
find them, even them that contended with thee. They that warred against
thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of naught. For I,
the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee,
Fear not, I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob, and
ye men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. You're nothing. As God brought
us there, as He brought us there to say with this great example,
this great pattern, I'll be nothing. I'll be nothing. As He brought
you there, brought you there to depend upon
His strength, His grace, I'll be nothing. I'll read this in
closing. I don't know who wrote this,
but I thought it was very good. Those who are most favored in
the Christian life and most honored by God should not be unwilling
to take a low place and to regard and speak of themselves
as being nothing. Compared to God, what are we? Nothing. Compared with angels,
what are we? As creatures compared with a
vast universe, what are we? Nothing. Let Adam, a speck, compared
with other Christians, the imminent saints who live before us, what
are we? Compared with what we ought to
be and might be, what are we? Nothing. Let a man look over
his past life and see how vile and unworthy he has been. Let
him look at God and see how great and glorious He is. Let him look
at this vast universe and see how immense it is, and let him
think of the angels and reflect on how pure they are. Let him
think of what he might have been, of what he should have been,
and what he should have done for his Savior. Let him look
at his body and think how frail it is, how soon it must return
to the dust again. And no matter how elevated his
rank among his fellow worms are, and no matter how much God has
favored him in this Christian life or ministry, he will feel,
if he feels rightly about himself, that he be nothing. The most elevated saints are
distinguished for their deepest humility, and those who are the
nearest to God feel themselves most distant. They who are to
occupy the highest place in heaven feel themselves most unworthy
to occupy even the lowest place on this earth. We be nothing. We be nothing. Oh, our Father, wise and gracious
and merciful Father, we thank you for access into your presence. We thank you for the great eternal
blessing to address you as our Heavenly Father, our Holy Father,
and have the confidence in our souls that you are indeed. Oh,
Father, we dare only to approach unto you, God knows, through
the merits and the worth and the intercessions of our Lord
and our Savior, Jesus Christ. You have told us and you've proved
it to our own hearts that we're nothing but worms. And yet you
brought us to yourself at a great cost and made us your son. We're confounded. We're so confused. We know nothing at all. We think
upon your ways and they're so high above us and your thoughts
and your glorious person are so high above us your past finding
out. We can't get a hold upon you.
Oh, we fall down in your holy presence and bless your name,
ascribing all the glory to you for such glorious grace and tender
mercies. Worms of this earth that we turn
our hearts to you, our Creator and our Redeemer, and we worship
you. I pray this morning, dear Lord,
faithful Lord, who's chosen by the foolishness of preaching,
through the stammering lips of clay, to bring glory to your
name, to reach the hearts of your people. I pray this morning
that you'll bless this, dear people. All only you can do be
your own interpreter. Make these things plain to all
of us. Let us rejoice in what we've
read and heard. Thank you for this, dear people.
Bless Brother John. Bless these men and these ladies,
these brothers and sisters and these children. I pray that you would indeed
again, no distance hinders you from taking these young children
up in your arms and blessing them. Blessing them in the days
and the years to come. if it be your will. Oh, bless
them. Keep this body. Bless your work
through them. Manifest the glory of your power
in their hearts. For our Lord and Savior's glorious
name. Amen. Thank you, dear brothers and
sisters, for your patience. Thank you for the great opportunity.
I recognize that it's an opportunity. What a privilege not to be taken
lightly. And I don't, I don't. It's been
a privilege and an honor. Thank you for your patience and
for your ear. May the Lord bless you.