Not for me or you either. To
boast is what he's talking about. To boast in his attainments. To boast in how the Lord has
used him. It's actually offensive. Now,
if I need to tell you how wonderful I am, evidently I am not as wonderful as I think
I am because you would have known it without me telling you. Humility
is beautiful. A boastful attitude is very distasteful
and ugly. And Paul says, it's not to my
benefit to glory. To boast now, he says, I will
come to visions. And revelations of the Lord. Now, the gospel is a mystery
religion. Great. is the mystery of godliness. It's mysteries that God has revealed. Now, how did Paul know the stuff
he knew? Well, he was given visions and
revelations in the Lord. Turn with me for a moment to
Ephesians chapter 3. He said in Galatians 1, I certify
you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me was
not after man. It was not derived from any human
source, for I neither was taught it from man, I didn't receive
it from man, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. What Paul preached,
what is in this book, came directly to him from the Lord Jesus Christ
as a revelation. It's a mystery made known. Look
in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 1. For this cause I, Paul, the
prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles, if you've heard
of the dispensation, the stewardship of the grace of God, which is
given to me, to Eward, how that by revelation he made known unto
me the mystery. As I wrote afore, in a few words,
whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge of the
mystery of Christ. How does Paul know this stuff?
The Lord made it known to him. which in other ages was not made
known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy
apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should
be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise
in Christ by the gospel, whereof I was made a minister according
to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual
working of his power. And look at his humility here.
And to me, who am less than the least. of all saints is this
grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ. Now this is how Paul knew the
stuff that he knew. Now turn back to our text in
2 Corinthians chapter 12. I will come to visions and revelations
of the Lord. I don't know how many times this
happened, but the Lord actually brought him into heaven and taught
him the gospel directly. Can you imagine that? Now, before
you get jealous and it makes me jealous. I mean, when I think
of Paul getting to experience that, every believer is going
to get to experience the same thing in glory. Every believer. So so don't get too jealous of
Paul because your time is coming. If you're a believer where you'll
see the Lord face to face. Now, he tells us about an experience
in verse two. He says, I knew a man in Christ. Notice how he speaks with such
humility. He was speaking of himself without
speaking of himself. I knew a man in Christ about
14 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 into the third heaven. I don't know, when I'm
speaking of this experience, whether I was in the body and
I was just seeing visions, or I was out of the body and I was
actually in heaven. But as far as my experience goes,
I was caught up, I was snatched up into the third heaven. Somebody
says, well, where's the third heaven? Well, the first heaven
is where the birds fly. The second heaven is where the
galaxies are, the stars and the planets and so on, space. And the third heaven is where
God dwells. And Paul said, I was caught up
in the third heaven and there the Lord Jesus Christ himself
taught me the gospel by direct revelation. Verse three, and
I knew such a man. Whether in the body or out of
the body, I cannot tell God knoweth how that he was caught up into
paradise. Now this is the same place that
the Lord said to the thief, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. That's the sum of all blessedness. That's whatever believer has
waiting. Paradise. But Paul was caught
up into paradise. And he talks about this man who
was who he was in Christ Jesus, how that he was caught up into
paradise and heard unspeakable words, words too sacred to utter,
which is not lawful for a man to utter. Now, Paul was being
taught the gospel at this time, the language, what generally
language like? I don't know. I don't know. I
mean, I don't think it's English. I really don't. The awesomeness
of it, the power of it was such that Paul said the words were
unspeakable. I can't even describe them. You
know, all these people that talk about going to heaven and coming
back. Well, if they did, they'd keep their mouth shut about it.
Paul said, I couldn't even describe it. Now, he says in verse five,
of such a one, this man in Christ Jesus, who I am in Christ Jesus,
of such a one will I glory, will I rejoice in, will I boast in,
Yet of myself, what I am in and of myself, I will not glory,
I will not rejoice, but in mine infirmities. Now that word infirmity
means strengthlessness, powerlessness, weakness. inability to produce
results. Paul translated the same word
like this in Romans 5, 6, when we were yet without strength. That's what an infirmity is.
It means you're without strength, unable, completely unable to
produce any kind of result. Paul says, I will glory I will
have confidence in this, my weakness, my helplessness, my need. Verse six. For though I would
desire to glory. And, you know, you put yourself
in Paul's place. If the Lord used you as the main
expositor and expounder of the gospel, if he brought you up
into heaven and taught you the gospel directly. He didn't do
anybody else that way. And you came down. I know what
I think. If the Lord used me to write
the Scriptures, I know what I think. And Paul said, I would have a
desire to glory. Who wouldn't? Who wouldn't? Anybody would. But look what
he says. For though I would desire to
glory, I shall not be a fool, because I would be a fool in
doing so, 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." Paul says, I don't want anybody to
put me on a pedestal. Paul knew, even when the Lord
brought him up into this experience that, oh, we covet, we desire
to see the Lord face to face, have him communicate with us,
teach us the gospel. What an experience. He still
sees himself. as less than the least of all
the saints. Brandon, he'd look at you and
say, you're a better man than I am. And he would mean it. It
wouldn't be false. It would not be mock humility.
He would mean it from the depth of his heart. He said, I'm the
very chief of sinners. Now, let's go on reading verse
seven. I don't want anybody to put me on a pedestal, Paul says,
and lest I should be exalted above measure, lest I should
become haughty. through the abundance of the
revelations, there was given to me, not I was afflicted with,
but there was given to me. Who gave it to him? God did. God gave him this. There was given to me a thorn
in the flesh. Now, how much speculation
has there been concerning what this thorn was? A lot of men
say he made a lot of references to his poor eyesight, and perhaps
it was his poor eyesight. And a lot of men will say, well,
it had something to do with some health problem in his flesh.
Now, any of you who have known me for any time at all, 20 years
or so, You know, I've had a lot of health problems. I have. I've
had some very serious health problems. I've had cancer twice.
I've had just going down all the surgeries I've had and so
on. I've had a lot of health problems. I've had some severe
pain. But do you know, during all those
health problems that I've had, those are the greatest of experiences
of grace I've ever experienced. I hadn't been like that. I mean,
ever, ever bad thing that's happened to me, the Lord drew near to
me. He said to me, I just felt his
presence. I felt his blessing through these
trials, through these difficulties. So I tell you what, when he's
talking about the thorn in the flesh, I really do not believe
that he's talking about some kind of physical affliction.
I mean, sure, we have physical afflictions. All of us have had
them, some worse than others. But you can get through that.
You can get through it. When he's talking about a thorn
in the flesh, he calls it the messenger of Satan. It might
have had something to do with some physical infirmity, but
it led to some kind of sinful propensity that beat Paul down. It was the messenger of Satan
to strike me in the face with his fist is what that means.
to buffet me black and blue, so that when I feel so good about
myself and all that the Lord has done for me, all of a sudden
I'm brought down to see that I'm so weak, and that I'm so
sinful, and that I'm so helpless in and of myself. You know, a
thorn in the flesh, just physically, how much does it hurt? It's unbearable,
isn't it? You can't handle a thorn in your
flesh. I mean, it hurts. It brings you down. Can't kill
you. It can't kill you. A thorn in the flesh is not going
to kill you. But oh, how painful and how difficult a thorn in
the flesh is. Turn to Romans chapter 7. I think
this will let us know what Paul was talking about when he talks
about a thorn in the flesh. Usually when he's referring to
the flesh, what's he talking about? He's talking about sinful
flesh, isn't he? That's what he's talking about.
Let's look here in Romans chapter 7, beginning in verse 14. For
we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, fleshly, sold
under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that is good. Now it is no more I
that doeth, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me,
that is, where? In my flesh, dwelleth no good
thing. For to will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good
which I would not, I do not. For the good that I would, I
do not. But the evil which I would not, That I do. Now, if I do
that, which I would not, it's no more I that do it, but the
sin that dwelleth in me. I find it a law that when I would
do good, evil is present with me, for I delight in the law
of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind and bring me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank
God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with my mind, I
myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of
sin. Now, this messenger of Satan,
this evil one to buffet me, to strike me down, to make me feel
like I'm the most wicked, weak person alive. Now, that was Paul's
experience. This one who was brought up into
the third heaven. had a thorn in his flesh that
was a continual reminder to him of just how sinful and weak and
helpless he was. It embarrassed him, it humiliated
him, it filled him with guilt and fear. I can imagine the things
that he thought with regards to this thorn in the flesh. You're
asking for forgiveness for the same sin you just commit continually
over and over again. Why are you a hypocrite? You
hypocrite. I can imagine the things that
he struggled with, with regard to this thorn in the flesh. When haughtiness arose, this
brought him back down to earth quickly. You, the apostle, the
wise master builder, why you're the biggest contradiction to
ever live. And that's what this thorn in the flesh did to Paul. Now, verse eight, this is very
important. I have misread this verse in
the past or didn't understand it. For this thing, I besought
the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. I asked the Lord,
don't let me be tempted with this thorn in the flesh. Don't
don't let me have to deal with this. Take it away. Oh, take
it away. I can't bear it. I can't. I fall
before it. I'm so weak before. Don't let
me even be tempted with it. This thorn in the flesh. Now,
in the past, I've always thought, well, the Lord's answer to him
was no. But you know, that wasn't his answer. That wasn't his answer. Now, if he would have said, no,
I'm not going to do it, what would we do? You know what we'd
do. We'd say, well, I'm OK then.
I'm OK. I'm justified in falling before
this thorn in the flesh. I mean, you know, I tried. I
did my best. But the Lord didn't say no, did
he? He didn't say no. Here's what he said. Verse 9. And he said unto me, my grace
is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect
in weakness. My grace, the grace that comes
from me, saving grace, invincible grace, It's sufficient. It's enough for the. My favor. My love, my grace is
enough. Are you willing to be saved by
sheer free grace? Is that enough for you? You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes
He became poor, that you through His poverty might be rich. My grace not was sufficient for
thee. My grace is right now sufficient
for thee. You are to be content with being
saved by His Grace. Now, I want you to think about
this. Are you satisfied to be saved by electing grace where
he chose you and you had no hand in it? It was simply an act of
his free, mighty, sovereign will. It wasn't in response to you.
It's simply because he would. Are you satisfied with that?
Are you satisfied to be saved by His justifying grace where
He justifies you and you didn't have a hand in it? Are you satisfied
to have all your sins wiped out, washed away, redeemed by His
blood and you didn't have a hand in it? He, by Himself, with no
help from near you, purged us of our sins. Are you satisfied
for Him to call you and give you life irresistibly and invincibly
by an act of almighty, sovereign grace? And you didn't have a
hand in it. Are you content to be preserved wholly by the grace
of God? My grace is enough. My grace is enough to content
you My grace is enough to satisfy you. My grace is sufficient for
thee. You don't need to worry about
it running out. You don't need to worry about it not being enough. My grace, my saving grace is
sufficient for thee. Now look what he says next in
verse nine, for my strength is made perfect is made complete
in weakness. And look in verse four of chapter
13, for though he was crucified through weakness. Did you notice
that he was crucified through weakness? Oh, how weak, how weak
the Lord was in Gethsemane's garden. When he fell on his face,
how weak he was when he cried out, my God, my God, Why hast
Thou forsaken me?" How weak he was when he died! In his weakness,
he performed his mightiest act. The complete glory of God and
the salvation of everybody the Father gave him. Oh, his strength
was made perfect, was made complete in his weakness. And the strength
of his grace is showcased in weakness. And what do I mean
by that? Well, the Bible says this, Romans
5, 6, when we were yet. Without strength. Now, it doesn't say when we just
barely had enough to breathe. It says when we were without
strength. In due time. Christ died for
the ungodly. Now, he says in verse 9, Most
gladly, therefore, with relish will I rather glory in my weaknesses. I'll boast, I'll rejoice in my
weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Now, is Paul excusing sin in
any way, to any degree, in any form? No. Is he trying to make
an excuse for his own personal sin? No. He's saying, I'm glorying
in this. The Bible says Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, and I'm one of them, and I glory
in that, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. You know, you
never graduate past that. Now look in verse 10. Therefore,
I take pleasure. In weaknesses. In. Reproaches, harm, trouble,
persecutions and distresses, necessities, you know, he healed
them that had need of healing. I take pleasure in being needy.
In distress is for Christ's sake, and listen to this statement,
for when I am weak, then am I strong. Now, this is what is called a
paradox. When I am weak, then am I strong. A paradox is something
that appears contradictory, absurd or even incredible. Yet may be
true, in fact, when I'm weak, then am I strong? Now, you turn that around. When
I'm strong. That's when I'm weak. And that's
so. How delusional we are when we
think ourselves to be strong, isn't that so? Galatians 6 3
says, if a man thinks he's something when he's nothing, he deceives
himself. If we think we have spiritual
power, even the power of free will, I can turn things around,
I can choose God, I can be saved when I decide to be. Oh, what
utter darkness and weakness we prove ourselves to be in. If we think we're strong in knowledge,
oh, my doctrine is orthodox and I've been taught the truth and
I know the truth and we start thinking we're strong in knowledge.
I think of what Paul said, if a man thinks he knows anything,
he knows nothing as he ought to know. That's what the Bible
says. But the opposite is true. Also,
when I am weak, that is when I'm strong. Now, let's talk about
this thing just a moment about being weak. First of all, I am
consciously weak. I feel my own weakness. I'm growingly weak. As God is my witness, I feel
more weak now than I ever have. When the Lord first saved me,
I knew I was weak. And I see it now more clearly
than I ever have. Consciously, growingly, and painfully,
this weakness is painful. Paul said, it's Satan Taking
his fist and smiting me, black and blue. It's painful. And this weakness makes us contrite. I know what I am. And it's thorough. Everything about me is weak. When I'm weak, when I'm weak,
then am I strong. Now, how is that? How is that? Well, first, you've reached the
truth. You've reached the truth about
yourself. You're a lot weaker even than you realized. You're
weak. And you know, the truth is always
strengthening in it. There's always a blessing in
finding out the truth. And, you know, when you see you're
weak, you're so cautious. You're scared of everything.
You don't trust yourself in any way when you see that you're
weak. You begin to pray because you
only pray about that which you have no strength in, that which
you cannot do, that which you cannot accomplish. You can't
do anything about it. That's what you pray about. And I tell
you, when you see your weakness, that's when you begin to truly
pray to the Lord and ask him to do something for you. And
you know, when you're without strength. You can't look to yourself
for anything, can you? You're forced. To look to Christ. Only. Because there's nothing
else to look to, you know, you have no strength. You can't look to sell for anything.
Now, let's reverse 11. I am become a fool in glory,
and now he started this at the first of Chapter 11 because they
had been The false apostles had been trying to discredit Paul,
and he had been glorying, and he said, I'm a fool in doing
this. You've compelled me. You've made me. For I ought to
have been commended of you. For in nothing am I behind the
very cheapest apostles. Look at this next word. Though
I be nothing. This one who was taken into the
third heaven. and taught the gospel directly
to the Lord Jesus Christ. This one who was used to write
scriptures, this one who was the wise master builder, this
one that God used more than any other man. What a man the Apostle
Paul was. We admire him so much. But look
at his own confession about himself. He said, I be nothing. I have nothing to boast in, but
Him. I have nothing to trust, but
Him. Now, do you believe yourself
to be nothing? Let me tell you some benefits
of being nothing. First, Christ saves nothings. That's the only kind of people
He saves. Now, if you're nothing, you'll
not be quick to correct and censor people. Listen real carefully. If you're nothing, you won't
be quick to correct and censor people. You'll feel totally unqualified
to do it. Now, that doesn't mean there
are not times when there needs to be correction and censoring. But if you're really nothing,
you'll feel totally unqualified to correct anybody. You feel
that way about yourself. If you really believe, you're
nothing. But there's something else good about being a nothing.
It's easy to receive correction. You see, you can't offend the
chief of sinners. Henry Mahan used to always say
that, and I've always believed it. I've always believed it.
Correct me, and let's see how quick I get offended. I question how much I believe
it, but I know it's so. If you're nothing, it's easy
to receive correction. And if you're nothing, you won't
be self-seeking. I mean, there's nothing to seek
in yourself. If you're nothing, you will not be self-seeking. People who are self-seeking believe
themselves to be something, and that's why they do it. But people
who are nothing, they're not going to seek their own glory
because they know they don't have any. And if you're nothing, it's easy to be contented with
Christ. It really is. It's easy to be contented, to
be saved sheerly by His grace, to have His righteousness only.
You're flat satisfied to be saved by Christ. And if you're nothing,
you're full of gratitude. I'm a poor sinner. And nothing
at all. But Jesus Christ is my all in
all. Now, I'm not thankful for the
thorn. I'm not thankful for my weakness
before the thorn. I'm not thankful for sin in any
way. I hate it and I want to be delivered
from it. But I'm thankful for what that
form produces. It shows me once again that I'm
nothing and that Christ is all. And it's easy to trust Him only
when I have nothing else to trust. Now, I'm thankful for the thorn
in that sense. And I would never sin again. I would never sin against my Lord
and my Savior. And even when I say that, I'm
aware that in my flesh dwells no good thing. Let's pray.