Alright, let's take our Bibles
now and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. The Apostle Paul
loved the people of God. He didn't love them because he
said he loved them. He loved them because he gave
himself for them. He gave himself to the ministry. He sacrificed everything. He
sacrificed his reputation. He sacrificed all things to be
able to go and minister to these people. His love was not in word
only, but in the character and tenor of his life. He gave himself
both for the ministry of the gospel and to those converted
under his ministry. He counted not, as the scripture
said, his life dear unto himself. And the man who will save his
life, our Lord said, will lose it. He'll lose it. But whosoever will lose his life
for my sake, the same shall save it. Paul said this on one occasion,
he said, everything that seemed to be gain to me, everything
that I counted, gain. I counted, you know, we live
our lives and we begin to mature and we get a little older and,
you know, we buy a car and we pay for the car and we got that
and we buy a house and we get a little equity in that and we
learn some things, learn some principles of life and we do
all those things. And each time we do something
like that, we count that a gain. And Paul said what things were
gain to him, he counted but loss. He counted them loss, not that
he had experienced those things, but he counted them loss for
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. He
counted them loss for those things. Counted them but done. All those religious honors and
titles and all of those things. His life was one big sacrifice
for Christ. He gave himself as a bond slave
to Christ. And he never looked back. Last
week, we looked at his sufferings for the sake of the Gospel. And
as we go into chapter 12, Paul continues to vindicate himself
and his ministry against these false accusations. this defamation
of character that these enemies of God had, where they've been
out talking to the people, telling the people these things. They
never demonstrated anything, that thing about false prophets.
He just pops in one day and takes over. He doesn't do anything. He doesn't sacrifice anything.
He doesn't suffer anything. He doesn't do anything. He just
comes in and all of a sudden, he's there. He's there. And Paul wants these people to
slow up just a little bit and think about what's going on.
Think about who it is that's making these accusations and
just kind of weigh things out a little bit. Think about who
he is and what he suffered to bring this gospel to them and
what he suffered in the way of maturing them and caring for
them and appointing pastors for them and so on. Slow up and look
at this, and then look at these other factors. 2 Corinthians
12, 1. It is not expedient for me, doubtless
to glory, I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. Now, in order for Paul to vindicate
himself, he must establish two things. First of all, he must
establish his love and concern for the people themselves. And
this he established by pointing out his sufferings to minister
the gospel to them. We looked at that last week.
And then secondly, he must establish his calling and office as an
apostle of Christ and as an ambassador of God. And what Paul is saying
in this first verse is, to boast is not a profitable thing for
me. There's no profit in it. It's
not what I want to do. It's not the character of my
ministry to stand up here and talk about myself. It's not a
profitable thing, but I will, for the sake of defending my
office and my calling, tell you about certain visions and experiences
that I've had. Now, it's a great mistake, and
I want to stop here and tell you that, to take Paul's experiences
and try to duplicate them in your own. Paul was an apostle. God gifted these apostles with
things that we're not gifted with, and we don't need those
gifts. If we needed them, God would
give them to us. But there's no need for them
today. These men were the writers of Scripture. These men were
appointed of him as witnesses of the things which he did in
this world. And he's going to take their
words and pen them in a book and preserve those words for
us today. These men, they didn't speak
of themselves, but they spoke as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost. These were men set apart for a great task. And it's a
mistake to try to take Paul's experiences and then try to duplicate
them in your own. He was an apostle, and he was
a great apostle, a great apostle. He wrote nearly half the New
Testament, this man Paul. And Paul's conversion was from
the least to the greatest. Back in chapter 11, he said,
I suppose I was not one whit behind the cheapest of the apostles,
not one wick, though it didn't appear that
way in his dress and in his speech and in his character. Verse 2,
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 a one caught up to the third
heaven. Now Paul here speaks of himself
in the second person. He's saying, I know a man. It's himself that he's talking
about. But he's talking about himself in the second person.
And his talking about himself is obvious if you go down and
look at verse 7 where he applies everything he just said back
to himself. But he speaks of himself in the second person
to show his modesty and humility and also to show how much he
hated vainglory. He just hated that and how much
he guarded against these fleshly applauses of men. Brethren, the
end of all things is the glory of God. It's the glory of God. It's not the glory of man, not
the glory of some men. It's the glory of God. Everything
in God's creation, everything in the salvation of God's elect,
everything in the person and work of Christ is set to glorify
God. Our calling, Paul said, he calls
everybody's attention to their own calling. He said, examine
your own calling, brethren. Not many mighty are called, not
many noble. Not many mighty men. Not many
wise men. And then he tells us this in
1 Corinthians 1 verse 30, he said, Of Him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. that according as it is written,
he that gloweth, let him glow in the Lord. Though spoken of
in Romans 111, or in Ephesians 111, who had obtained an inheritance
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will, did so that
they should be to the praise of his glory. All things, the
end of all things is the glory of God. And the last thing a
minister of Christ wants to do is glorify himself or call attention
to himself, though it's needful from time to time. And Paul,
he refers to himself in this character of having to do this
as a fool, how foolish it is. And yet it's needful. Eternal life and saving faith
is defined in 2 Corinthians 4, 6 as the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The very last
thing that Paul wanted to do was call any attention to himself,
yet these enemies of God had put him on the spot, and now
he must bring some things to light to prove his apostleship. Verse 3. And I knew such a man,
whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God
know it, how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable
words which it's not lawful for a man to utter." Now, no man
truly knows where the third heaven is. If I would stop you outside
the building today and I was a total stranger to you and tell
you, well, I've been reading the Bible And I saw this was
a church building and I know you all studied the scriptures.
Where is the third heaven? Anybody in here could tell me?
We don't know where it is. Don't have a clue where it is.
But some speculate that Paul calls the firmament in which
we live the first heaven. We go out here and we look up
in what we call the heavens. We go out here and we look up
and we see a blue sky and clouds and all that kind of thing. That's
the first heaven. The second heaven you see after
dark and you go out and you look up into that vast universe that
just seems unending. It just goes on and on and on
and the stars and the planets and the moon and you can see
all, that's the second heaven. The third heaven is where all
of these things dwell, surround. In Him we live and move and have
our beings. But wherever this third heaven
is, it's the residence of God. And then I want you to notice
this. Paul never spoke of what he saw in this heaven, just what
he heard. Did you ever notice that? He didn't speak of what he seen.
I hear people all the time with these after-death experiences,
they've been brought back to life, first thing they start
talking about is what they've seen. Paul didn't say anything
about what he'd seen. He never mentioned it. Never
mentioned it. But he did hear and listen to
what he calls these unspeakable words. Unspeakable words. Words which no flesh and blood
could discern. He heard words not lawful for
a man to utter. Great and glorious things. Things
reserved for glorified saints. And in the light of that, I believe,
has exposed all these deceived men and women who claim to have
seen and heard from God in heaven and seem to easily convey exactly
what they heard and saw. Huh? Start telling you all about
it. Heavenly glories are as impossible
for men to understand as it would be for a dog to comprehend the
arts and sciences. Just an impossibility. Verse
5, of such a one will I glory, yet of myself I'll not glory,
but in my infirmities. In this experience of Paul, God
greatly exalted and honored him. And though he could glory in
this experience, one which truly happened, one which happened
for a good cause, Yet knowing that these things
were not owing to anything in him or about him, he'd rather
glory in his infirmities. He'd rather glory in his weakness
so that God would get all the glory. And these things which
God did to confirm the offices of his apostles, were commonly
misunderstood by men, and Paul knew it. He was a minister. He
understood that. Peter healed a lame man at the
temple. You remember that? He walked
up and he said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have,
give I unto you. And he healed that man. And everybody
in that community knew that man. And a crowd ran up to him in
wonder and amazement. And Peter said, why marvel ye
at this? And why look ye on me so earnestly
as though by our own power or holiness we made this man walk? People misunderstand these things.
They misunderstand these gifts, why they were given. If they
didn't misunderstand them, they wouldn't be tongues churches
and faith healing churches and all that. It's misunderstood
by this world. They don't understand why it
was given, what it was for. An impotent man was healed by
Paul as he preached the gospel. And the Gentiles there started
calling Barnabas Jupiter and called Paul Mercurius because
he was the chief speaker. And they brought the priest of
Jupiter, brought oxen. He was going to sacrifice oxen
to these two men. And he brought garlands either
to put on their head, you know, those little vines like the Roman
Jew. They were going to put this garland on his head or put it
around his neck or whatever they were going to do with it. But
he brought oxen and a garland and was going to do sacrifice
to these men. And Paul ran into their midst
and stopped them. Let me tell you something. If
it were meant for you to look on me that way, if I perceived
that this is what the Bible was talking about, And I wanted you
to look on me in that way as a preacher. I wanted you to,
boy, that man there, boy, he's something. If I wanted you to
do that, look on me as some kind of angelic
being or do honor to me as you would to God, I wouldn't dress
the way I dress. I go back here in a little fitting
room somewhere and I put on a purple robe. And I'd let it hang all the way
down to the ground. And I'd have some of those little
frilly things, you know, like you have at graduation on your
hat with the little tassels. And I'd have some of them things
tied on me. I wouldn't speak to you the way
I speak. I'd use what ignorant men call the divine language.
I'd get up here and preach in Latin and let you try to figure
out what I said. So, oh, listen to that. Listen
to him. I wouldn't call you into a plain
auditorium. I'd build a sanctuary, a holy
place. And we'd fill it with my vision
of heaven. We'd fill it full of treasures
of arts and pictures and statues and crosses and stained glass
windows. And we'd put the ointment in
there and let you smell that religious smell when you come
in. We'd build around that sanctuary
an aura so when you come in, you could just Oh, man. I'm close to God in here. Paul despised this kind of thing.
It was the way of fools. He despised it. He wanted part
of it. And yet, for the sake of the
ministry, he must now give his credentials. 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, lest any man should think of
me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth
of me." If I were to tell of my experiences
and visions, I would not be a foolish braggart. That's what Paul's
saying. I wouldn't be a foolish braggart.
that those men accused me of being, I'd be telling you the
truth. I'd be telling you the truth.
But I do not make these things preeminent in my ministry lest
people begin to look on me instead of looking to Christ. Paul wanted his hearers to know
him as he was a sinner saved by grace. I try as much as in
me every week. I don't want to try to exalt
myself above that which God has given me. I'm a sinner saved
by grace the same way as all the rest of the redeemed of Christ. Don't ever get above that. Whatever else he was, was owing
to the same grace. Ephesians 3, 7, he said, I was
made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God
given unto me by the effectual working of His power. He said,
I was less than the least of all the saints was this grace
given. He gave it to me who was the
least. He said, Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners. of whom I am chief." And then
in verse 7, he said, "...unless I should be exalted above measure
through the abundance of the revelations given to me." These
experiences, these real godly experiences. "...unless I should
be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations
there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." The
Lord made provision to take care of any tendency in Paul to be
proud or puffed up over the greatness of his gifts and offices and
of his revelations. God hates a proud look. He hates
it. I don't care much for it either,
do you? God hates it. He hates a proud look. And to prevent that sin, he gave
Paul a thorn in the flesh. Why did Paul call whatever this
was a thorn in the flesh? You ever get a thorn in your
finger? In your foot? That's the most aggravating thing. You know, you don't want to cut
your foot off or cut your hand off because of it, but it's a
constant aggravation. And things just won't come out.
It must be, I never looked at one under a microscope, but it
must be like a fish hook. It must go in there and hook
on. Because you can't hardly get it out until that thing festers
up. Thorn in the flesh. Whatever
this was God gave him was a constant aggravation. A constant aggravation. Some believe it was a physical
disability, maybe his eyes, because of how he speaks of that in the
book of Galatians. He said, I bear you witness.
When I first brought the gospel to you, you'd have plucked out
your own eyes and given them to me. And they say, well, you
know, he had some kind of deformity had to do with his eyes. And
maybe that's so. I don't know. Some believe it
was a kind of deformity which just made it hard to look at
him. It made it hard to look at him, and he makes reference
to that in the book of Acts. And yet others believe it might
have been a weakness, a weakness to lust or something like that,
being a messenger of Satan to buffet him. But whatever it was,
it did what God sent it to do. It restrained him from pride
and self-glory. You think about the revelations
given to this man. Think about what he accomplished
for the glory of God in his ministry. It was something. I mean, it
was something. And how easy would it have been? I mean, I come in here and preach
a message sometimes, and God will bless the message like He
did last week. You can't have pride swell up
in you before you can get out the back door. I remember old
brother Scott Richardson told me one time, I preached a message
down in Nashville, Tennessee at a little church and Bible
conference there. The Lord gave me some liberty
and I had this illustration. They're still using it today.
But after I got done, Scott come running up front. He said, son,
he said, if I was you, I'd go right out that side door because
these people fix and take everything away that you just said. And
I didn't know what he was talking about. In my 20s, I didn't understand
what he was talking about. He was talking about pride, pride. You think about what this man
accomplished in his life and the things that he said, boy,
it'd be easy to get proud, wouldn't it? So God gave him this messenger
of Satan to buffet him. Whatever it was, it did what
God sent it to do, and it restrained him. Verse 8, 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. My strength
is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in mine firmities, that the power of Christ may
rest on me. He looked then at his weakness. He looked then at his infirmities,
not as a trouble, but as a blessing. And that's what we have to see. That's what we have to see. These
things are given of God. All things. You know, over there
in Romans 8, where he's talking about, he said, we don't know
how to pray. We don't know what to pray for. We pray for the
wrong thing. We don't know how to pray, don't know what to pray
for, but the Holy Spirit helps us with these things. And right
after that, He tells us this, we know this, all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to His purpose. If when these things come and
we can't justify them and we don't like them and it seems
like it's turning our life upside down, that might be the very
thing God's sending to you to accomplish a good thing in you. The plain and evident purpose
of this trial was to keep Paul from becoming useless and proud
and puffed up beyond measure. And we can apply the same thing
to our own trials and infirmities and afflictions. They might indeed
be messengers of Satan, but if we belong to God, they're sent
of God. They're sent of God. And if you
be His, they're sent for your good and His glory. And God's
answer to Paul is the same as unto us. My grace is sufficient. Have you not found it so in salvation? Then why would we doubt it in
Providence? His grace is sufficient. It's sufficient. I don't know what people imagine
salvation to be. I hear people talking about,
I got saved, and I was saved, and I am saved. And they use
it about ever since that you could use the word. And I don't
really know. The first thing I want to know
when somebody starts talking to me about salvation is what
they call salvation. What are you talking about? What
are you talking about? I don't know what people imagine
salvation to be, but salvation, first of all, is God saving you
from yourself. We've got to be saved from ourselves.
You know what happens to a reprobate when God lifts his hand? Do you
know how he describes that? He turns you over to yourself.
Don't turn you over to Satan, he turns you over to yourself. Satan can turn you upside down
as a saint. Think what he could do if God
wasn't in it at all. Peter said, we're kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last time. Wherein we greatly rejoice. Now
listen, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness
through manifold temptations. Oh, he said that the trial of
your faith, being much more precious than that of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found under praise and
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. My grace is
sufficient.