I want you first to open your
Bibles to 1 Corinthians, chapter 9. There were some people who tried
to convince others that Paul was not an apostle. You know,
the Lord chose twelve, and Judas hanged himself. And then the
apostles picked a man named Matthias to take the place of Judas, but
the Lord rejected that. And our God, in a special vision
and revelation, appeared to Saul of Tarsus and called him to be
the twelfth apostle. But some of these people back
in Corinth and other places contended that Paul, because he wasn't
with the original twelve, was not an apostle. And he deals
with that here in 1 Corinthians 9, verse 1. You have it. Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen
Jesus Christ our Lord? He saw him as one born out of
a due time. But every apostle had to have
seen the Lord and received his message directly from Christ. And that's what Paul is saying.
I've seen the Lord. Are not you, are not you my work
in the Lord? Well, I'll tell you, if I be
not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you. For the
seal of mine apostleship are you in the Lord." Here's another
scripture, 2 Corinthians, about along this same line, 2 Corinthians
11, verse 5. Paul is still defending his apostleship
for the benefit of some. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 5, For
I suppose I am not a wit behind the very chiefest apostle, but
though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge, but we have
been throughly made manifest among you in all things. I look
across at Verse 23, 2 Corinthians 11, verse 23. 2 Corinthians 11,
23. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. He says, I
regret having to do this, because the Lord is my defense. I don't
need letters of recommendation from men, but I speak as a fool. I am more. Are they ministers
of Christ? I am more. In labors? More abundant. In stripes? Above measure. In prison? More frequently. In
death? More often. Are they ministers
of Christ? I am more. Look back at verse
22. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are
they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of
Abraham? So am I. And this is when, now
chapter 12, this is when This is when Paul felt led of God
to defend his ministry against these charges. And he does it
in the most gracious, humbling, and honest way, giving all the
glory to God. That's what we're dealing with
here in chapter 12. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 1. It is not expedient for me, doubtless,
to glory. It's not comely. No, it's not. Nor is anything to be gained
by our boasting. Is anything to be gained by our
boasting in our works or our gifts or our accomplishments?
Nothing. Nor would the Apostle have mentioned these things except
it was necessary. He felt it necessary, and God
led him to defend his apostleship for God's glory and the overall
good of the church, the good of the congregation. That's the
reason Paul did this. So he says in verse 1, I will
come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I'm going to make
mention. of the visions and revelations of the Lord which God gave to
me. There are many of them, but here's prayer four, listen. My
conversion was a heavenly vision. Paul on the road to Damascus. The great light from heaven,
brighter than the sun. Blinded him, and the Lord Jesus
Christ spoke to him. That's a vision and a revelation.
His conversion was a revelation. And then the man of Macedonia,
you remember when he would have gone in certain places to preach
and the Lord told him don't go? And then the Lord spoke to him
by an angel of God and told him to go down to Macedonia and preach
the gospel. And then when Paul was in Corinth,
he was going to leave Corinth, he'd been preaching in Corinth
so much disturbance was created and so much opposition, he planned
to leave. And the Lord himself appeared
to Paul and said to him, don't leave Corinth, stay in the city. I have much people in this city. And Paul stayed there 18 months
preaching the gospel, and that's when these, when the Church at
Corret was established and called out. And then when Paul was on
the ship, and the great storm arose, and the ship was, the
sailors were fearful that it would sink. And Paul stood in
the midst of these men, fearful men, afraid that the ship would
sink and all of them would be lost. And Paul stood before them
and said, The angel of the Lord, whose I am and whom I serve,
stood by me this night and said to me, No person on board this
ship will be lost, provided you stay with the ship. And all of
them were saved. The ship was destroyed, but they
were all saved. And these revelations were for
Paul's instructions, Paul's instructions, and his direction, and for his
encouragement, because Paul was used of God to write these epistles. And so God gave him these visions
and these revelations for his instruction, for his direction,
for his encouragement and comfort. And then these versions and revelations
were given to the Church. Now I want you to turn to Hebrews
chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. These versions
and revelations which God manifested to the Apostle Paul were given
to the Church for establishment of the Church, for the confirmation
of the Church. and for the instruction to the
church. And look at Hebrews 2 verse 3. Now listen to this. How shall
we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at first began
to be spoken by our Lord? That's our prophet. He's our
priest. God who at sundry times spake
to our fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son." The Church is spoken to by the Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He called the Word of God, the
Word of God. So it's first spoken by our Lord.
Now what's the second thing? "...and was confirmed unto us."
This Gospel was spoken to us by our Lord. And then it was
confirmed unto us by them that heard him. God, our Lord raising
up apostles, prophets, missionaries, pastors and teachers to confirm
this gospel. This gospel spoken by our Lord
and confirmed by these apostles and by these prophets and these
men like Paul and James and John and the other. servants of God. Now what's the third thing? God
also, God also, bearing them, these apostles, witness. He spoke
by the Lord, he confirmed the message by these men, and he
He bore witness with signs and wonders and different miracles
and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will. So that's what Paul said. I come
to visions and revelations for our instruction, for our confirmation,
for the establishment of the Church. But all of these visions
and revelations are according to his will. John the Baptist
did no miracles. it's according to God's will. Now look at verse 2. Now this
is the amazing revelation and vision. Listen to this, verse
2. I knew a man in Christ about
fourteen years ago. Who's he talking about? He's
talking about himself, speaking in the third person. I knew a
man in Christ. Now that's the key right there,
a man in Christ. No heavenly version, no heavenly
blessing, no heavenly revelation can come to any man except in
Christ and for the glory of Christ. Blessed be the God and Father
who have blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly
places in Christ. Don't look for any revelation
or any vision or any understanding except in Christ. I knew a man
in Christ. Now watch him say, he says this,
whether in the body, I don't know. Whether in the flesh or
whether in the spirit. Whether in the body or out of
the body, I cannot tell. God knows, I don't know. I do
not know. Some people say that Paul was
killed when he was stoned and God took him to heaven. I question
that. So Paul says, I don't know whether
I was in the body or not in the body. God knows. God knows. And such a woman, now listen
to this. He said this twice. He said it in verse 3 and verse
2. Such a woman was caught up into the third heaven. Where
is that? Where is that? Well, number one, it's the seat
and throne of divine majesty. The throne of God. our Father
which art in heaven." That's where the Lord took Paul, before
the very seat and throne of God. Secondly, it's the abode of the
angels. It's the abode of the seraphims
and cherubims. Thirdly, it's the throne, it's
the place where the Lamb of God is enthroned. I saw a throne
in the midst of the throne. a lamb which hath been slain.
That's the way he's talking about. The throne of God, the abode
of the angels, and the very seat and throne of the Lamb of God.
And fourthly, it's where all departed believers go when God
calls them out of this world. That's right. He said, our Lord
said to the thief on the cross, today you'll be with me in paradise. See in verse 4 it says he was
caught up in the paradise. In the paradise. Today thou shalt
be with me in paradise. Absent from the body is to be
present with the Lord. That's right. Paul said I pray,
that's my desire to be absent from this body to be present
with the Lord. Where is this third heaven? It's the seat and
throne of God. It is the abode of the heavenly
angels. It is where our glorified Lamb of God is enthroned, and
it's where all those who have died in Christ are in his presence. And then he said in verse 4,
He was caught up in the paradise, and I heard unspeakable words,
which is not lawful for a man to utter. I heard unspeakable
words, which is impossible either to utter or understand, or both. Now, if you'll notice,
I hear, sometimes I read where people have gone to certain They
died and they gone and came back and nearly every one of them
were very fluent about what they saw. But they saw a light, I
saw an end of a tunnel, I saw this, that and the other. Write
it off. Paul never said one word about
what he saw. He said, I heard. I heard unspeakable words. Paul did not speak about what
he saw. He spoke about what he heard,
and I'll guarantee you that is a truthful witness who doesn't
talk about what he saw, but rather what he heard, the word of God. Also, these words were spoken
to a man, but they were never spoken by a man. These folks that give these testimonies,
you know, about what they saw, well, in the first place, they
didn't see anything. They had to hear it. In the second
place, these words were spoken to the man, but not by the man.
He said, I heard unspeakable gift of words which is not possible
for a man to utter. Nobody ever brought back a message
from that. And then thirdly, no man could
understand or enter into or participate in heavenly glory until he is
changed into the likeness of Christ. That's what he says here. I was caught up in the paradise
and I heard unspeakable gifts, which is not possible for me
to convey or to witness or to utter. Because I don't know whether
I was in the body or out of the body. Certainly if he was in
the body, he didn't participate in a heavenly vision. I'll be
satisfied when I awake with his likeness. That's when we'll sing
the song of Moses and the Lamb. That's when we'll tell what we
saw and what we heard when we're made into his likeness. All right, verse 5. Of such a one will I glory, yet
in myself I will not glory, but in my weakness, in my infirmities,
of such a one I will not glory. Where is your glory, Paul? I
will glory and rejoice in my Lord Jesus Christ, in his love
for me, in his grace to in his precious blood. Our glory in
the cross of Christ Jesus, his perfect righteousness in his
precious blood. Our glory in his mercy to me,
and his grace to the chief of sinners. Our glory in that. of
such a one, I will glory. I will glory in Christ, I will
glory in his precious blood and righteousness, I will glory in
his mercy to me and his grace to me, and I will glory in the
blessed hope of eternal life which he has given to me. But
I will not glory in myself. I will not. I will not take any
credit or praise or boast of any merit, or anything that God
Almighty has been pleased to reveal to me, and gifts to give
to me, except my weakness and my infirmities. That's right,
I will not glory except in him. Now watch here in verses 6 and
7. The Apostle Paul in verse 6 and
7, I'm going to read it in a moment, but God took care, God took care
of any tendency on the part of Paul to boast. God took care
of any tendency in Paul to glory in these experiences, in these
revelations, in these gifts, and this exaltation. For God
gave him a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan. Nobody
knows what it is, no one. But let's read it, verse 6 and
7. For though I would desire to
glory, most anyone would, I shall not be a fool. For I will say
the truth, but now I forbear, lest any man should think of
me, or for a moment above that which he seeth me to be. I will not glory except in Christ,
Christ, Christ, not in myself. And I will not glory, but lest
any man should think of me a borel, that which he seeth me, or that
he heareth of me. No, sir, I will not. And verse 7, And lest I be exalted
above measure, through the abundance of these revelations and these
gifts and visions, there was given me a thorn in the flesh,
the messenger of Satan, to buffet me, trouble me, lest I be exalted
above measure. And here in verse 8, Paul prayed
God would remove it. Let's don't even try to figure
out what it is. We don't have the faintest idea.
But it's real, it's from God, it's a messenger of Satan, and
it gave him a lot of troubles. It did. But he prayed three times
that the Lord would remove this thorn that might depart from
me. And here's the answer of the Father. He said to me, my
grace is sufficient for you. My grace is all you need. My
grace, my presence, my power. is sufficient for you. Every
trial, every need, every problem you have, my grace is sufficient. Secondly, he's saying this to
Paul, it's for purpose. It's for purpose. It's for God's
purpose and God's glory that he sends these trials. And Paul
knew it. He said, lest I be exalted above
measure, God gave me a thorn in the flesh. I've got these
visions and revelations and God's special gifts to me, but I'm
a human being, I've got to realize that, and God gave me this thorn
to bring me down, lest I be exalted above measure. Then what's this? Verse 9, And he said to me, My
grace is sufficient, for my strength is made perfect in your weakness. My grace is sufficient, I gave
you this on purpose, lest you be exalted above measure. And my grace and my strength
is made perfect in your weakness." I think about when Moses had
that, when God appeared to him on the mountain, and he had that
rod in his hand. He carried that thing forty years. And God said to him, what's that
in your hand? It's a rod. And yet, my strength is made
perfect in your weakness. God will use that rod in the
hands of that man to set a nation free. I think about David when
he was encountering the armies of the Philistines
in Goliath. And I say, what's that in your
hand, David? It's a sling. Not the armor of Saul or the
sword of Saul, it's just a shepherd's sling and five stones. But Almighty
God's strength is made perfect and powerful and effectual in
your weakness. It's a weak thing, just a slave. It's his strength. And I think
about the apostles, Peter, James, and John. Who are these people?
Fishermen, sons of Zebedee. Who are you? Peter, James, John. What are you? I'm an unlettered,
unlearned fisherman. I have no influence. over the
world, I have no army, but in the strength and power of God,
I'm going to take this gospel around the world, and God will
save many people. My strength is made perfect in
your weakness. And then he says here in verse
10, Let's read verse 9. He said,
My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in
your weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I glory in my infirmities, in my weakness,
in my thorns, in the rod, shepherd's rod, and the shepherd's sling,
in the unlettered, unlearned fumblings of a man that the great
power of Christ, not human ability and intellectualism and eloquence
and so forth, but the power of Christ might rest on me. The
power of Christ might rest on me. Therefore, I'll take pleasure
in my infirmities, in my reproaches, in my necessities, in my persecution,
in my distresses, for Christ's sake. But when I'm weak, that's when I'm really strong. When I'm weak, because His strength
is made perfect, effectual, powerful. in my weakness. Now I'm going
to ask three questions answering them. Number one, when is this
not true? When I'm weak, then am I strong?
At times when that's not so. When I'm weak, then am I strong? Not so. When is it true? And where's the key to it? All
right. When is it not true? When I'm
weak, then am I strong? Well, weakness in doctrine, the
doctrine of Christ, will never make me strong. Take heed to
yourselves and to your doctrine, for in doing this you shall save
yourself and them that hear you. A person weak in the Word and
weak in the doctrine of Christ is not strong, and it can't make
him strong. The Word makes us strong. Secondly,
weakness in prayer and study cannot make me strong. I don't
come into the pulpit weak in study, weak in preparation, and
weak in prayer. I'll fail, and I know it. But
study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the work for And thirdly, weakness in faith
won't make me strong. Abraham was strong in faith,
giving glory to God. He that cometh to God must believe
that God is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently
seek him. If any man asks like wisdom,
let him ask of God, but let him ask in faith, not wavering. For that man will not receive
anything of God. So weakness in doctrine won't
make me strong. Weakness in prayer and study
won't make me strong. Weakness in faith won't make
me strong. Weakness in works of faith, labor
of love, patience of hope, that won't make me strong. Now about
is faith, hope, and love. Make us strong. Strengthen us. Strengthen us. So that's when
it's not true. Now, when is it true? All right.
When I'm weak, am I strong? This is when it's absolutely
true. When I consider the heavens, the work of my fingers, the sun,
the moon, the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that
thou art mine for the world? When I consider the heaven, the
glory of God, the power of God, the greatness of God, that's
when I'm weak. Isaiah said, I saw the Lord,
high and lifted up, his train filled the temple, and the cherubim
Cherubims cried, holy, holy, holy unto the Lord of hosts.
And then I said, woe is me, I'm undone, I'm a man of unclean
lips. That's what makes me weak when
I behold the glory of God, power of God, greatness of God. And I tell you, I'm weak when
I consider the law of God. Paul said, I was alive once without
the law. The law of God, commandments
of God. But I tell you, when the law
came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandments which were
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. The Apostle Paul said, when I'm really weak, that's when I'm solved. Weak
before the throne of God, weak before the law of God. The things
I would do, I do not. The things I would not do, I
do. Oh, wretched man that I am. That's where you come down. Wretched
man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this day? Then, I'll tell you when I'm
weak, when I consider the mysteries of the gospel, and I know you
are too. Paul said this, faith, I mean,
Paul said this, knowledge puffeth up. Knowledge will puff a man
up. But if a man thinketh he knows
anything, he doesn't know anything that he ought to know. Pray for me, Paul said, that
I may open my mouth boldly and make known the mysteries of the
gospel. We see through a glass dimly. And then I'm weak before the
throne of God, before the law of God, before the word of God,
before the mysteries of God, mysteries of godliness. And then
I tell you this. Standing where I'm standing right
now is the most, the best illustration of weakness
I could possibly give you. When I consider the awesome responsibility
of opening this book and preaching the gospel I feel that more and
more and more every day, the responsibility of preaching.
Who is sufficient for these things? Charles Spurgeon was called by
many the Prince of Preachers. He wrote one time, and I think
I gave you this a long time ago. Spurgeon wrote one time, for
many years, my own preaching. was exceedingly painful to me. Because of the fear and trembling,
I could say with power, I stand before you in fear and weakness
and trembling. And the fear and trembling which
beset me before entering the pulpit, often the dread of facing my
heroes has been overwhelming. I wrote to my grandfather. His
grandfather was a minister of the gospel. But he said, I wrote
to my grandfather, who was a minister of God, and I told him of the
overwhelming mental emotion and strain and sickness of body and
trembling fears that gripped my heart when I tried to preach
the gospel, when I stood before God's people to open the word. And the old gentleman wrote me
back, and he said, My son, I've been preaching the gospel of
Christ for 60 years, and I still feel the same trembling and fears
that you feel. I still feel the same fears. Now you be content to have it
so. For when we're weak, we're strong. And when these emotions go away,
your strength will also go away. When you're able to preach and
think nothing of it, when you're able to teach the word of God
and think nothing of it, the people also will think nothing
of it. And God will do nothing weak. We're weak in trials, aren't
you? In body. And we'll be weak in
death. But that's when we'll be strong.
Now here in conclusion is the proof of it. Proof of it. Of
this weakness. When is it not true? I told you.
When is it true? I tried to tell you. And here's
the proof. is when I'm weak, I'm strong.
What did our Lord say to Paul? My grace is sufficient. That's
all you need. My strength is made perfect in
your weakness and infirmity. But when you're weak, then are
you strong. When our weakness and inability
is made real to us, I mean real to us, not not just in word,
but in experience, when we're really, really weak, before the
throne of God, before the mysteries of the gospel, before the law
of God, before the responsibilities, awesome responsibilities of handling
the word of God, then we'll flee to Christ. That's when we really,
really feel our need, our weakness, we'll find our rest in him. And secondly, when we're really
weak and in need, desperation, we'll pray. That's when we'll
pray. Nothing motivates genuine prayer
like real need. The Canaanite woman came to our
Lord, have mercy. He ignored her. She kept on asking. I'm not sent to the lost sheep
except to the house of Israel. She kept on asking. It's not
right to give the children bread to dogs. But I'm a dog. I need help. Great is your faith. When I'm really weak, And in need, I can sympathize
with people who are weak and who are in need. When I really feel my weakness,
I'll identify with others in their weakness. Paul said one time, who is weak
that I'm not weak? Who weeps that I don't weep?
Who cares that I don't care? never feels uncomfortable in
the presence of weakness. Let me give that again. True
weakness never feels uncomfortable around others who are weak, because
it identifies and sympathizes. And when I'm really weak, I'll
be content to serve the Lord God in the smallest capacity.
But when I'm really weak, any recognition will be too much
for me. Any effort will be too much.
If I'm really weak, anything I try to do in his name
without him is no good. When I'm really weak, there's no problem with giving
God all the glory, is there? I read a story years ago about
a man, his name was Fred Smithson, years ago, and he played first
violin in a in an orchestra, those big philharmonic
orchestras. And he was driving to a concert
one afternoon, and he had car trouble. His car stopped. There was only one house nearby,
so he, this famous violinist, went to the house and knocked
on the door. And an elderly man came to the
door, and he said, my friend, I've got car trouble, and I need
help. If you let me use your phone,
I'll call to get somebody to come and get me. He said, you're
welcome. Old man had a violin in his hand,
and a bow. He led the great violinist to
the telephone, and he went over and sat down. And the violinist,
Mr. Smithson, made his call, and
then he came back and sat down and engaged the old man in a
conversation. And the first thing he said was,
I see you've got a violin. Yes, sir. Do you play? He said,
I try. I'm no good. Do you play? He
said, yes, sir. He said, I can play pretty well. I'm a first violinist. Would
you play for me? So he fooled around with the
strings a little bit, got everything fixed up and put it on, and he
started playing. And that old man never heard
anything like that before. It just swept through that little
house. And then Mr. Smithson put down
the violin and the old man said, my old violin never sounded like
that before. And the violinist said it depends
on who plays it. I think about that rod. I talked
about Moses. He carried that thing for 40
years. It never did work like that before. It never did. His weakness, God's strength, And also David, I'm just sure
David threw stones and he used that sling a whole lot of times.
He's pretty good with it, killing birds and deer and things like
that. But one day, by the hand of God,
that sling never did work like that before. And the disciples. The disciples one day said to
Peter, and he was stumbling and fumbling, he said, Peter, when
you're converted, when you come down, when you're
weak, strengthen your badly, you'll be strong. Got to take that other road first.
Got to be weak. Got to be Him, not you. Them,
not you. His grace, not yours. His praise, not yours. It's His.