for you and on our union with
Christ and this morning it was wonderful. The message was amazing
to me and then I woke up from my afternoon nap and I started
reading the message and this isn't the message. This isn't
the message and so the Lord's confined me to this and I do
believe that you need this as much as I do. as much as I do,
the all-sufficient grace of Christ. Paul said here in verse 7 of
chapter 12, 2 Corinthians, he said, and lest 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. I want to bring
to this message, and I do pray the Holy Spirit. I pray because
it's my heart's desire that every believer, every believer who
is suffering heaviness and manifold temptations, that God would through
this word give you comfort. Isn't that our directive? Comfort
ye, comfort ye, my people, saith the Lord. And what gives greater
comfort to God's people than the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I've got three divisions,
three divisions. First of all, the purpose of
thorns. Paul said he was given a thorn
in the flesh and there was a reason for that, lest I be exalted above
measure because of the abundance of revelation. Second of all,
I want us to see the answer of Christ to our thorns in the flesh. Which is what? My grace is sufficient
for thee. My strength is made perfect in
weakness. And then the response, the answer
of faith is this. I will glory in my infirmities
that the power of Christ may rest upon me. So let's see these
three points by the Lord's grace this evening. First of all, the
purpose of thorns. Now, Paul was greatly blessed. We cannot deny this. Paul was
greatly blessed of God. He was given such a great grace
as to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, though he was not
with the original apostles. He said he was as one born out
of due season. And God, he was a hater, a blasphemer
of God, a persecutor of the church, yet God chose him to be an apostle,
to be a minister of the gospel to the Gentiles. And here in
our text we see even this great blessing. In this first portion
of the chapter the apostle talks about a man. And he's talking
about himself. He said, I know a man and whether
in the body or out of the body, I don't know. God knows. But
Paul was exalted into the heavens. Imagine this. He didn't die to
go in Lazarus. Lazarus saw what was there, but
he had to die. And yet the apostle Paul did
not have to die. He was able to see and hear things
in heaven. Can you? I don't even think we
can imagine what that's like. The apostle Paul said, it's not
even lawful that I should speak of what I heard. He was given
such great graces. And, you know, you read his epistles,
you read what he wrote, what great knowledge and revelation
that the apostle Paul was given. But because of such graces, because
of such privileges that he was given of God, God also gave him
a thorn in the flesh in order to keep him from pride. He said,
lest I should be exalted above measure because of the abundance
of revelation, because of the great grace that God has given
me, because of this, so that pride should not take hold of
me, God gave me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to
buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure. And some men speculate
as to what this is. Some say it's a fleshly infirmity,
maybe his sight or his speech. Others determine that it is because
of his guilt. You know, he was a persecutor
of the church. You imagine the guilt of the
apostle because he held the coat of those men that stoned Stephen
to death. He was a persecutor of the church.
Some say that's what it was, but really the word of God is
silent as to what it is. We don't know what it is, if
it was in the flesh or weakness in the flesh or a spiritual guilt,
but I believe the word of God is silent so that we might benefit. So that we might benefit. I ask
you tonight, believer in Christ, is there any thorn in the flesh? Do you possess any thorn in the
flesh? Are you afflicted in the body?
Are you brought to the dust of death? Are you suffering the
thorn of depression or sadness of mind? Are you suffering the
thorn of despair and agony? Is your conscience afflicted
and suffering because of the guilt of your sin? It's in these
times, in the lowest of times. Now, we have an enemy, friends,
and he is the most diabolical, and he just sorry. He waits until the believer is
at his lowest, and then what does he do? He comes in and buffets
us. He's allowed to come in and beat
us. Satan buffets us in our time
of grief. It's then he makes accusations
so as to beat our souls into the dirt. This messenger of Satan,
whether he be a man, a devil, or Satan himself, he always comes
to accuse us, to condemn us, to assault our souls and bring
doubts and fears into our minds. It is the purpose of the enemy
to always cast doubt on the perfect work of Christ. It's always his
aim to separate you from Christ. To rob you of your joy, to rob
you of your assurance that is in Christ. Is this your case? Has God in divine providence
sent a thorn and a messenger of Satan to buffet you. Now the
question then comes to the believer's mind is why? Why would God allow
his saints to suffer such thorns? Let's look again at the text
and see the cause. Paul said, lest I be exalted
above measure. Through the abundance of revelation
given to me. Have you considered the abundance
of revelation that you have? Have you considered how much
God has given you? How much you understand of the
gospel? How that millions of people who
are better than you are, millions of people who are wiser than
you, more zealous than you, and yet God chose you. Consider that. So then we, like
Paul, have been blessed. We have been chosen of God. We
have been redeemed by the blood of the Son of God. You have been
called by the Spirit of God to life and faith in Christ. And you have been kept by the
power of God. Are these not great blessings?
I like this in Colossians chapter 2, he says, you are complete
in him. Is there anything greater than that? Is there anything
more glorious than God would take a sinner and make him perfect? In Christ, you're perfect. In
Him, you're perfect. God, what great grace God bestowed. Behold, John said, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. You're a son of God. This world doesn't know us because
it didn't know Him. Beloved, now, right now, you
are the sons of God. Now when you look in the mirror,
do you see a son of God? That says it doth not yet appear
what we shall be. You're not going to find it.
You're not going to look. You're not going to be able to
see it. You're not going to be able to feel it. You know this? You are
a son of God through faith. Your son of God, it does not
yet appear what we shall be, but he said this, when he shall
appear, wouldn't that be great if he just came right now? If
he just came right now, wouldn't that be great? Because when he
shall appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. Consider the greatness of the
mercy of God, that there is therefore now no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus. What great grace, what great
mercy has been bestowed upon you. Brethren, you have been
put into union with Christ, the Son of God. You have been justified
by God Himself. You have been redeemed by Christ's
blood. You have been robed in the very
righteousness of God. You've been called by the power
of his Holy Spirit. And listen, there is nothing
that will ever separate you from his love. Now, is that not a
great revelation to you that know this? Is that not great?
It's great. You have been given the same
revelation the Apostle Paul has been given. And the scriptures
are clear of God's purpose. Even in Providence, consider
this revelation that all things work together for your good.
All things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. Our Lord Jesus
tells us that in the last day. Well, all men will be divided
into two groups. And you who are believers, you
who are sheep, shall be gathered on his right hand. And he said
this, come you, what? Blessed. You're blessed. I don't feel blessed. It don't
matter, you're blessed. You're blessed. If you know Christ,
you're blessed. There is no greater blessing.
Can you think of a greater blessing? Is there anything more that you
want? Paul said, I desire to be found
in Him. Not having mine own righteousness,
but the righteousness of God which is in Christ Jesus. I want
to be found in Him. Why? God says you're blessed.
You're blessed of the Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you before the foundation of the world. I tell you, we have abundance
of revelation given to us. Abundance. Yet because believer,
though we are heirs of all things, though we have received all spiritual
blessings in Christ, yet we know that we are not what we shall
be. You know that? Do you know you're not what you
shall be? You know that by experience, don't you? You're not what you
shall be. God has ordained that you should
be conformed to the image of His Son, created in you a new
and holy nature. But something's wrong, isn't
it? You feel something's wrong. You know what it is. You still
have the old man of sin residing in you. You are a person of two
natures. One created of God after true
holiness. Perfection that cannot sin. And yet you also possess the
nature you were born with that cannot do righteousness, that
can only sin. Your pastor, I've used this a
hundred times. You cannot not sin. The flesh can only sin. That's all it is, is sin. Therefore,
John says, it does not appear what we shall be. Because we
still have this old man of sin. Paul says in Romans 7, he said
this body of death. There was a Roman torture where
they would sew a corpse to the neck of the criminal and he would
carry that corpse. And that's exactly how we are.
We are carrying a corpse about our neck, weighing us to the
dirt. Even so, believer, we still must
contend with the flesh. And because of the old nature,
because the sin is still present, the apostle testifies in our
text that we are capable of the most abominable sin there is. Pride. The sin the believer is
most prone to is pride. Pride of grace. pride of grace. Like the Apostle Paul, the more
we see of the grace of God that shines in us, the inner man rejoices. Rejoices in Christ. We give glory to Christ. The more I see of the revelation
of His grace, the more I want to rejoice in Christ. Yet at the same time, the flesh
is always seeking some glory for himself. Always is prone
to try to rob God of His glory. And for this reason, to keep us abased, God sends
thorns in the flesh. God sends these thorns in the
flesh. We are recipients of God's grace,
send these thorns that we might not be exalted above measure.
In Romans 12, Paul said this, I say through the grace given
me, to every man that is among you, don't you think more highly
of yourself than you ought to think. You should think soberly. You
should think soberly, according as God dealt every man the measure
of faith. Believer, have you considered
what sort of people we would be had we not have these thorns
in the flesh? If God left our pride unchecked,
what sort of people would we be? We would be a proud people. We
would be arrogant and presumptuous. Should God cease to chasten us
with these thorns, the flesh surely would exalt itself and
think highly of itself. We would become proud boasters
as though we had some merit, though we had something to do
with this righteousness that Christ has earned himself. Therefore,
believer, are you pressed down? Are you pressed down by the omnipotent
hand of God? I like what Newton said, Wilt
thou pursue this worm to death? Are you made to cling to the
earth? Are you to plead for mercy and strength to continue? Is
your heart so hard? Is your love so cold? Now in verse 8, the apostle,
he beseeches the Lord. Look at that. He said, for this
thing, I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me.
The apostle cries and he said, save me, deliver me. Did this
sound familiar? Did this sound familiar? Save me, deliver me. I sought
the Lord three times for this. We often read of men pleading
in scripture. You can't look through the Psalms very long
without one pleading. Go to Psalm 77. Look over there. This man Asaph, he's pleading
with the Lord here. Give you this one example here.
Asaph was pressed down beyond measure. In verse 1, he said
this in Psalm 77. He said, I cried unto God with
my voice, even unto God with my voice. Silence, he could no
longer keep silent. His pain was unbearable. And he said, I cried with my
voice. Now listen to what he says by faith. He says, and he
gave ear to me. Now Asaph knew something of God's
hearing of his saints. He said, I know he heard me.
I know he heard me. But notice this, his trouble
didn't cease. In the day my trouble I sought the Lord, and my sore
ran into the night. It ceased not. And listen, my
soul refused to be comforted. Now listen, he should have been
comforted with this. God hears me. But even that,
he said, my soul, I refused to be comforted. I remembered God, but this didn't
bring any help. He said, I remember God and I
was troubled. And then what? I complained. I complained and
my spirit was overwhelmed. Now believer, can you relate
to any of that? Have you ever been so vexed and
so troubled that you can't look up? Have you been cast down to
the ground and brought to the dust by afflictions? Then cry
to the Lord. Cry to him with your voice. It
is our privilege. Prayer is our privilege, isn't
it? Cry unto Him, the Apostle did, and He may deliver you.
He may. He may deliver you immediately. He may raise you from a deathbed
like He did Hezekiah. He may deliver you from the sword
like He did David. Every believer, you know this,
God is able. Is that not right? He's able to deliver you. He
was able to part the Red Sea. I'm sure he can deliver us. He
can deliver us out of any trouble, any difficulty, any trial and
any affliction. The arm of God is never too short
to deliver you from the thorn in the flesh. Never. But what if God delays? What if God delays? What if God
does not deliver you from your thorn in the flesh? We have no
record of the apostle being delivered. I sought the Lord thrice. He
got an answer, but it wasn't deliverance. You know that beggar
Lazarus, he was never delivered, was he? He begged at that rich
man's gate. until he died there. God never
delivered him from his poverty. We know that that man, he was
God's. In Hebrews 11 it says that That
some saints had cruel mockings and scourgings and more of a
bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn
asunder. They were tempted. They were
slain with the sword. No deliverance. No deliverance was given to these
saints. See what grace of God in our
afflictions, in the thorns of our flesh. For they're not meant to destroy
you, friends. Even though God allows these
thorns to continue, God never intends them to destroy you,
but rather to draw you to himself. To draw you. Believer, what if
God willed and purposed that we should suffer these afflictions
all the days of our life until we die and go into glory? What
is the answer for this? What is the answer? That's the
second part. Look at the answer. Look at the
answer. He besought him three times that
it might depart. And what did Christ answer him?
He said this, My grace is sufficient for thee. My grace is sufficient
for thee. Now you listen, suffering saint. Here is your answer. Here is
the answer for every thorn in the flesh we receive. My grace is enough. My grace is sufficient
for thee. Oh, back over in Psalm 77, when
Asaph cried out, when he's inflicted, how did he endure trouble? He
said in verse 11, I remember the works of the Lord. Surely
I will remember thy wonders of old. What did he do? He remembered
the grace of God. He remembered the grace of God
in delivering Israel. He remembered the blood of the
Lamb. He remembered the deliverance
of the Red Sea. He remembered God's grace to
destroy the enemies of Israel. So then, listen, in your afflictions,
When you cry unto God and the heavens seem to be barred, this
is what you can do. You can remember the grace of
God. Do you remember the grace of
God when He came to you? Do you remember the blood of
the Lamb? Can you remember His blood? Can
you remember the power of God, Christ? to satisfy the justice
of God on your behalf? So then let us in our afflictions
remember this. Our Savior said, My grace is
enough. My grace is enough. It's sufficient. So let us see
the grace of Christ. Now remember His electing grace. Remember His electing grace. Brethren, how is it that you
were quickened while millions never believed? Simply this, you were chosen
by the grace of God. First Corinthians chapter 1 and
verse 30, but of God are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. It was the free grace of God
that chose you and put you in union with Christ. Remember,
by faith, it was grace that adopted you to be the sons of God. Remember, it was the grace of
God who, on purpose, chose you to salvation. In that passage
in Romans 8, it says, For we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to what? purpose. You were called on purpose. You
were called on purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. As Jesus said to his disciples,
you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. Remember this, in
your affliction, in your struggle, in your grief, in your sorrow,
in your pain, you were chosen of God. How? By grace. Second of all, you
were redeemed by grace. You were completely, perfectly
redeemed. by the blood of Jesus Christ.
In your affliction, the eternal Son of God, who was set up from
eternity to be your Savior, has come and by Himself redeemed
you. By Himself He redeemed you. This was the purpose of God.
having predestinated in love, having predestinated in the adoption
of children. How? By Jesus Christ. This was
always the purpose of God, that you should be a son by Jesus
Christ. That you should be holy and without
blame before Him by Jesus Christ. Remember, the deliberate will
of Christ to take you and be your surety. You see the love of grace that
was manifest when Christ condescended to take on himself our nature,
to be a man, that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
Christ Jesus came into this world not to be an example. He didn't
come to sympathize with his creatures. Rather, he came to save us from
our sins. I like this in Isaiah chapter
9, verse 6. It says, unto us a child is born.
That speaks of his humanity. Unto us a son is given. That
speaks of his deity. This speaks of his work. It says,
and the government shall be upon his shoulders. The church, his
kingdom. He bears the full responsibility
of your salvation. Isn't that liberating? Isn't
that the most liberating thing? Our Lord Jesus bears complete
responsibility for saving His people. The whole of our salvation
rests squarely on the obedience of Christ and the perfect offering
of Jesus Christ. So then, in your affliction,
Remember this, God chose you by grace. Remember this, Christ
redeemed you by grace. Remember this, when he came,
he bore your sin in his own body on the tree. Do you think you
suffer? Do we actually know what suffering
is? I know your suffering is hard.
Consider his. That he bore the wrath of God
for you. He said this, Is there any sorrow
like unto my sorrow? Therefore, behold, the great
grace of our Lord lay down his life for us. And therefore, is
there any suffering It cannot be compared to his. Now then,
in your suffering, in the midst of your suffering, can you ever
question his love? How can we question his wisdom
who ordained our suffering? Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friend. Don't you understand in grace
he called you his friend? You are his friend. And it's
manifest by his life and by his death. Therefore, by his death,
he hath removed our sin from us. So far as the east is from
the west, so far hath he removed our transgression from. You know
how far your sin is removed from you? That God himself can't see
it. Is that grace? Is that not sufficient? God said it is. God said in those
days, in that time, the Lord said to say at the Lord, the
iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none. The sin of Judah and they shall
not be found for I will pardon whom I reserve. Behold, the great grace of Christ
that hath redeemed us. Thirdly, the grace of Christ
in calling us. The grace of His calling is sufficient. What this means is it's effectual.
When God called you, it was effectual to give you both life and faith
in Christ. Do you have life and faith? Why
is that? Because His grace is sufficient.
His grace was sufficient to give you life and faith. Remember where He found you.
When He called you, where did He find you? He found you in
sin. He found you where He found Jacob,
in a desert, in a waste-howling wilderness. He led you about
and instructed you and kept you as the apple of His eye even
before He called you. And then in grace, He called
you and gave you faith. You know, most people believe
faith is something that anyone can do. In fact, it is only something
God can give. That's it. Do you believe? Have you considered
what great grace it is that you believe? For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, was there anything to resist that
command? No. When God said, let there
be light, there was what? And when God said, let there
be faith, there was what? Faith. Faith. He called you. Listen, He called
you. Even you. Even me. What great grace. And fourthly,
His grace is a keeping grace. His grace is a keeping grace.
He doesn't say my grace was sufficient. He says my grace is sufficient. Ever presently sufficient. Todd, why are you still here? His grace is sufficient. Why
are you still here? I mean, this stuff you've heard
before. You've heard this before. Why are you not bored? Why do
you just not leave? His grace is sufficient, and
this stuff is new every minute. I need Him more. I need more grace now than I
ever did before. I need Him more. I need to hear
more of His grace. Why do you suppose that is? Because
I'm kept. I'm kept by the power of God,
Peter said. You're kept. Have you ever tried
to keep yourself? How does that work out? It always ends up worse
for me. When I try to keep myself from
something, usually end up into something worse. But you know
what? I'm kept by the power of God. And His grace is sufficient to
keep me for eternity, for eternity. And then I want you to see this
last thing, the answer of faith, the answer of faith. Jesus said,
my grace is, my electing grace is sufficient. My redeeming grace
is sufficient. My calling grace is sufficient.
My keeping grace is sufficient. And he says, four, because my
strength is made perfect in weakness. Now we know this, we do not make
Christ's strength perfect. His strength is always perfect.
Our weakness does not make His strength perfect. Our weakness
manifests the perfection of His strength. Why do you think He
gives you the thorn in the flesh? To humble you and show you your
weakness. lest you should be exalted above
measure. Your weakness. Do you know how
weak you are? Do you think you found the bottom
of your weakness? Not as long as we're on this
earth. But God uses our weakness to
manifest the strength of Christ. I'll tell you this, friends,
I know this. If I make it to glory, it's because he carried
me. We didn't walk hand in hand.
He didn't help me along. He didn't give me a pat and a
push. He carried me. He carried me. Other gods need
to be carried. Isn't that right? I think Isaiah
45, he talks about those gods. He said those gods ain't way
down the beast. They need to be carried. My god
don't need me to carry him. My god carries me. And the further
I go, the more I find my weakness. But I also see this. His strength. His strength. Therefore, I would
rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. I pray that if you have been
in these thorns of flesh, that God would give you an understanding
as to why you have them, lest you should be exalted above measure.
And when God doesn't relieve you, this is his answer. My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect,
manifest perfectly through your weakness. May God give us such grace as
to glory in our infirmities. You know, it takes the grace
of God, doesn't it? Can you honestly say you glory in your infirmities? May God help us. to glory in
our infirmities so that Christ may be exalted. I pray God help
you.