Let us open our Bibles today
to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. I'm so thankful that you bring
your Bibles to the worship service and follow along with me in the
scripture. That's so important. So many
Places today people go and they don't carry their Bibles anymore.
And the sad thing is many places they don't need their Bibles
because the preacher is not going to preach from the scripture.
But I'm so thankful that here we read the word of God, study
the word of God, and by his grace believe God's word. Second Corinthians
chapter 12. It is not expedient for me, doubtless,
to glory. I will come to visions and revelations
of the Lord. 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
an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man,
whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth,
how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable
words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such an
one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine
infirmities, 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. 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. 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, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest
upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in
infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions
and distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am
strong. We have in this passage of scripture
right there at the end one of the Apostle Paul's paradoxes
that we see in his writings. The paradox is a seeming contradiction,
a seeming contradiction. When I am weak, then I am strong. That seems to be a contradiction,
doesn't it? When I am weak, then I am strong. Now Paul tells us here that he
felt compelled to relate this experience that we just read
about that the Lord had given him. And I'm thankful this morning
that he did feel compelled to relate this experience because
of the many truths that we find here. Why did he believe it necessary
to reveal his experience of being caught up to the third heaven?
Why did he feel it necessary to reveal this to the Corinthian
believers, the church at Corinth? Well, look back, keep your place
here, of course, but look back at chapter 11, verse 2, and we
see that he did this because he was jealous. He was jealous
over the believers in Corinth, the Christians. For I am jealous
over you with godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."
What does he mean by the fact that he had espoused them to
one husband? He had been the means that God
used, bringing the gospel, preaching the gospel to these who had believed
and were saved. But then notice in verses three
and four there in chapter 11, he says, but I fear. He was jealous
over them. These were his children in the
faith. his sons and daughters in the
faith, like he referred to Timothy, my son, Timothy. Not his physical
son, but his son in the faith. They'd been converted under his
ministry and he was concerned, he was jealous over them. Because
notice in verse three, but I fear, here's my fear, Paul says, concerning
you. lest by any means as the serpent
beguiled Eve through his subtlety." Now, Satan is very subtle. He's very subtle in the way that
he deceives men and women, and yes, even believers. He's had
years of practice, remember that. He's had years of practice in
deceiving. He's a liar and a murderer from
the beginning. And we should know that he is
the enemy of our soul. We should keep that in mind.
And Paul said, I'm afraid that as the serpent beguiled Eve with
his subtlety, that the same thing is taking place among you, not
by Satan, personally, but by his emissaries, by men who were
preachers, not of God, but of Satan. Notice he says, but I
fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity,
the singleness that is in Christ. For if there cometh For if he
that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached,
or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received,
or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might
well bear with him. These false teachers who love
to boast, who love to brag in glory, telling these believers
at Corinth their experiences. That was to get their ear, of
course, so that they would listen to them. They were telling them
of their experiences. Now, Paul says they're preaching
to you another Jesus. They're preaching to you or bringing
to you another spirit. And not only that, but another
gospel. Now, think about those three
things. They're all important, aren't
they? The Lord Jesus Christ, God the Holy Spirit, and the
gospel of Jesus Christ. They're preaching something different,
Paul says, and they're deceiving you. Now, I thought about where
could we find a concise statement of these three things? Keep your
places here in 2 Corinthians, but look back with me, if you
will, to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter one, Paul mentions
the gospel. He mentions Jesus Christ and
the Spirit, God the Holy Spirit. Romans chapter one, Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the
gospel of God. The first thing we look at here
is Another gospel is not the gospel of God. The gospel of
God is the gospel that He gave, that it originated with God. It's God's mind. It's God's purpose. It's not a message of what God
calls upon you to do for Him in order to be saved. It's a
message of what God has done for men to save His people. It's a gospel of God. It's an
everlasting gospel. It includes, of course, an everlasting
covenant that was made from before the foundation of the world.
But then also notice the Jesus, another Jesus. Look at the Jesus
that Paul preached. Concerning his son, verse three,
concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, Now notice, which was
made of the seed of David according to the flesh. He was born of
the Virgin Mary who was of the tribe of Judah, the tribe of
David. He was the son of David. His
manhood, he was fully man. But notice he was declared to
be more than just man. Declared to be the son of God,
verse four, with power. This is a Jesus that Paul preached,
and I don't like to even say Jesus without saying the
Lord Jesus. Because he is the Lord, right? He's the Lord Jesus Christ. People
today, it seems like they have him as their buddy. No, he's
not your buddy. He's your God. He's your sovereign
Lord. No. He's the Lord Jesus. But the Lord Jesus Christ that
Paul preached is both man and God. And it's very important
that we declare this. And then the spirit of holiness,
notice in verse four also, according to the spirit of holiness. What
is that? That's God the Holy Spirit. who
raised Christ from the dead by the resurrection from the dead. So back in our text now, Paul,
he felt compelled to relate this experience that we read about
here in chapter 12 of being caught up into the third heaven and
to paradise. He felt compelled to do that
because of false teachers who came among the Corinthians preaching
another Jesus, another spirit, another gospel, and they bragged
about their experiences. Now, the gospel of God, let me
go back. I don't want to forget this.
The gospel of God is the gospel that gives all glory to God.
All glory to God, not 99 and nine-tenths percent, no, all,
100% of the glory belongs unto Him. I think there's a Psalm
which says, they that love the Lord, or they that love God's
salvation, magnify the Lord. And we do magnify Him. That salvation
is of the Lord, it was originated with God. It was purchased by
God the Son and it is applied to the heart of God's elect by
the power of God the Holy Spirit. The Gospel of God. Now there
are three things I want to bring out of this text this morning.
First of all, Paul was caught up to the third heaven. That's
what he tells us here in verse 2. He was caught up, chapter
12, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, in verse 2. I knew a man in Christ
about 14 years ago, such an one, skipping over the
parentheses, such an one caught up to the third heaven. Three points, three things I
want to bring out. First of all, he doesn't mention
what he saw. You see that? You read through
this passage, he tells us he was caught up to the third heaven,
but he doesn't tell us what he saw. Heaven is a place. Sometimes you'll see artist's
drawings or paintings and they'll have people up on a cloud, you
know, with a halo around their head and kind of floating out
there in space somewhere. That's not heaven. Heaven is
a place. Now the Jews believed there were
three heavens, and Paul calls this the third heaven. There's
a heaven the birds fly in, there's a heaven of the stars and the
planets, but there's a third heaven where God has his throne,
his manifested presence, his glory, a third heaven. But it's a place. The Lord Jesus
told his disciples the night before he was crucified, you
remember, they were troubled in heart. He told them he was
leaving. Let not your hearts be troubled,
you believe in God, believe also in me. I go to prepare a place
for you. It's a place, it's a place prepared
by the Lord Jesus Christ. They tell us that word place,
where it says many mansions. In my father's house there are
many mansions. There's many dwelling places.
I like that word many. There are many dwelling places.
It's not us four, no more. That's the way some people act,
you know. It's just us four, no more. No,
there's many dwelling places in the father's house. In the
letter of Hebrews, the apostle there, he writes about heaven,
a better country, a better country that is a heavenly, wherefore
God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared
for them a city. Now it's called there a city
and a country. And the thing about it being
called a city is it hath foundations. whose builder and maker is God. It can't be moved. There's not
gonna be any earthquakes. There's not gonna be any volcanoes
erupt and shake God's home, my place, God's heaven. It's settled. It's eternal as He is. It's a
city. And there's one entrance into
that city. And we know that Jesus is that
way, the only way into the city. And it's a country. I like it
to be referred to as a country. Why? Because a country tells
us there's a lot of people. There's a lot of people. Again, we've got a lot of brothers and
sisters in Christ, don't we? From ages past. To today, from
all around God's world, we've got a lot of brothers and sisters
who've lived and fought a good fight and are now worshiping
around the throne. And we look forward, one day
we'll be there with them. And we'll all be singing the
same hymn. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is
the Lamb. So that's the first thing I point
out. He was caught up into heaven,
into the third heaven, the paradise, he calls it paradise, but he
doesn't tell us what he saw. And that, I just remind all of
us, I don't think I need to, but let me do it anyway, don't
listen to these people who tell you they've died and either gone
to heaven or gone to hell and come back and write a book. Those
people are as blind as a bat. They haven't been to heaven,
and they sure haven't been to hell. No. They're deceivers. They're the
very people that Paul is talking about. The very reason he wrote
this, relating his experience, because people will deceive others
by things like that. So he was caught up into heaven,
but he doesn't tell us what he saw. But secondly, notice he
doesn't tell us, or he doesn't speak the words that he heard. He doesn't tell us what he saw,
and he doesn't speak the words that he heard. He tells us this,
that the words that he heard, he says, is not lawful for a
man to utter. They're not lawful for me. To speak the words, these are
unutterable words, he says. It's not lawful for a man to
speak these words. Now he heard them, but he doesn't
tell us the words that he heard. I thought Matthew Henry had a
very good comment here about these words as being unlawful. He said, while we are here in
this world, We have a more sure word of prophecy than visions
and revelations. And he's just quoting Peter,
isn't he? In 2 Peter. Peter had been on
the mount. He saw the Lord Jesus Christ
transfigured. His face was shining like the
sun. His clothes were so white. But
you know what Peter said about that experience? We've got a
more sure word of prophecy. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the scriptures, the written word of God. Paul declared the truth about
our speech in 1 Corinthians 13 when he said this, though I speak
with the tongues of men and of angels. Maybe there is a language,
an angelic language that he heard. But the point Paul is making
here is that if a person could speak with the tongues and languages
of men, and Paul spoke many languages, he tells us, and even if a person
could speak of the angelic language and have not love. That's the issue, isn't it? And
have not love. Paul said he's just a clanging
noise, that's all. I am become as a sounding brass,
a tinkling cymbal. Well, this should encourage all
of us to study God's word. We've got a more sure word of
prophecy. And before I move on to that
third thing, I want you to look with me in Deuteronomy chapter
6. And I speak especially to men here
today who are heads of their family and women if your husband
is not a believer. But notice in this passage what
God told Israel they were to do with the word of God, the
law of God. in Deuteronomy chapter 6, beginning
with verse 3. Hear therefore, O Israel, and
observe to do it, that it may be well with thee, and that you
may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath
promised thee in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, And thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy might. And these words which I command
thee this day shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt teach them
diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou
sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and
when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Thou shalt bind
them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontless
between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon
the post of thy house and on thy gates. This is so important
for believers, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, to teach your
children the word of God. Not just for your children, but
for yourself. We need the word of God. Our
children are all gone, but we still read the scriptures together,
my wife and I. And I'm not going to say we've
been faithful over these 67 years to always do it, but I am going
to say it's very, very important. And such a blessing to families,
to homes, to children, where the word of God is taught and
practiced believed and practiced. So don't miss that. The word
of God. Paul said, I was caught up to
the third heaven. He doesn't tell us what he saw.
He doesn't repeat what he heard. But we notice the third thing. He relates his experience in
a very humble way, a very humble manner. He speaks of himself
in the third person. He just says, I knew a man. But
he's talking about himself. But the experience was, he says
he didn't know if he was in the body, caught up bodily into heaven,
or in a vision or trance or something of that nature. But my third
thing is, he relates this experience in a most humble way. In fact, He never told anyone of this
for 14 years. 14 years passed. He never told anyone about this
experience. Did it happen when he was waiting
in Damascus when he was blind? Maybe. When he was in the desert
in Arabia? Maybe. We're not told. He told
this experience in a very humble way. He wrote it only now because
he saw that it would do good for the believers at Corinth
to hear this by way of warning about false teachers. Here's
my second point. Now that first point, I had three
points. I know when I said the third point, you got excited. You thought he's finished. No,
that was just three points under the first point. Now, we've come
to the second point, and I've got two points here. Paul was given a thorn in the
flesh. Now, men love to speculate about
what this thorn was, if it was physical illness or something
of that nature. We're not told. And when we're
not told something, that's the very thing we want to know. We
know this is a figurative expression, a thorn. in the flesh, not an
actual thorn sticking in his flesh. It's a metaphor. Now, what follows is not figurative,
a messenger of Satan to buffet him. That was real. This was
real. But my two points are, first
of all, and this is so very important, this thorn was given. Don't miss that. It was given. Who gave it? Who gave it? Can anything happen to a believer? Can anything come into the life
of a Christian that God does not allow? Of course not. Look back with me in the book
of Job, just a moment. Job chapter one. You remember here we have Satan
coming into the presence of God, and God questioned him about
considering his servant Job. Job chapter one, verse eight. And the Lord said unto Satan,
hast thou considered my servant Job? There's none like him in
the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and
escheweth evil. Then Satan answered the Lord
and said, doth Job fear God for naught? Now watch this, hast
not thou made an hedge about him? Now was Job an exception? Was Job just one of all the believers,
he's the only one that God made a hedge about? Of course not. The psalmist said, the angel
of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and every
child of God has the fear of the Lord planted in his heart. Around every child of God dwells
the angel of the Lord. Around every child of God, God
has put a hedge so that nothing can touch a believer without
the Lord's permission. And every child of God must be
reminded, we must remind ourselves that things like thorns, now
thorns hurt. I was cutting some rose bushes
last week and I got some thorns and it hurts. The Lord Jesus
Christ was crowned with thorns. Things come into the life of
believers that hurt, that hurt. And we must be reminded that
these things, they don't come by chance. Our Heavenly Father,
who is all wise, as well as all loving, We may use any word you
like. I know some people, they don't
like to use this word. Well, my God would never do that.
Well, this is the God of the Bible, and you can use any word
you want to. Did the Lord give? Paul said this thorn was given
unto him, allows, sends, brings whatever word you want to use,
just realize it doesn't come by accident. It doesn't come
by chance. You know, people sometimes think,
those of us who believe in God's sovereign grace, they say, well,
you folks are fatalists. No, no, no, no. We're not fatalists
at all. We have a personal, heavenly,
loving Father who ordains all things that come into our lives.
And this don't happen by chance. No. This was given unto him. And to deny that this was something
given to a child of God is to rob the child of God of all comfort. How could you have any comfort?
You're a child of God today. You're sitting in this building.
You don't know what's going to happen when you leave here on
your way home. You don't know what may take
place. What if you were convinced that
anything could happen without God's notice and God's protection
and God allowing it or sending it? Well, how would you have any
comfort? You couldn't, could you? Not at all. No, don't rob God's
children of this comfort. Our Heavenly Father rules, reigns,
ordained, controls, sovereign. That's who He is. And nothing
can touch you. without his permission, his will. Just so. The second thing, the
reason the thorn was given to Paul, Paul says, lest I should
be exalted above measure. What does that mean? Well, that
means what John wrote when he said, if we say we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. That even
an apostle, even a man as greatly used as the apostle Paul was
in serving the Lord, that he too realized that he, in his
flesh, could be haughty and proud, lifted up. And God, to keep that
from happening, gave him this thorn in his flesh. I'd refuse those people that
say a believer in this life can attain
unto sinless perfection. Here's an apostle. He said, I
was given this revelation and just to make sure I didn't grow
proud and haughty and brag on myself, God sent me this thorn. God gave me this thorn. Here's my third point. Paul prayed
three times for the thorn's removal, verse 8. Now we are taught in
scripture to bring all our troubles, all our cares unto the Lord.
And he promises to hear us, Philippians 4 and verse 6, he said, be careful
for nothing But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And Peter
says, casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. God
our Father has promised to hear us, but He nowhere, nowhere has
promised to give us just what we ask for. He hasn't promised
that. Often it is better for him not
to give us what we ask for, or to have something else instead. He answers our prayers. I understand
that. He answers our prayers in the
best way that it would be for you and I. He knows far better
than we do. I'm sure Paul thought, Whatever this thorn was, you
know what? I'd be much happier without this
thorn. I'd be more happier, more happy. Maybe I'd be more useful. I believe
I'd be more useful in serving God without this thorn. God didn't
think that way. God's thoughts are not our thoughts.
God's ways are not our ways. Well, what did Paul do? Did he think, well, God didn't
hear my prayer. I prayed in vain. God turned
a deaf ear to me. No, he didn't feel that way at
all. Paul said he answered my prayer,
though not as I asked. I asked that he remove the thorn,
but he answered not by removing the thorn, by speaking to me,
somehow communicating to Paul, my grace, this is God speaking
to his servant, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is
made perfect in weakness. Was he disappointed? Was he cast
down? Did he refuse to be comforted?
You know, sometimes God's children get in such a fix that they refuse
God's comfort. And listen, God's comfort comes
to you from his word. From his word. But sometimes
believers, and any of us are capable of this, we refuse the
comfort. We refuse to be comforted. from
the word of God. Paul wasn't like that. Paul wasn't
like that. He didn't refuse to be comforted.
He didn't say he was disappointed and go around with a sad face
all the time. He was convinced that he had
received a blessing. By God not answering his prayer,
by God not removing this thorn He had received a blessing. He now accepted the truth that
it was good for him. Whatever it was, it was good
for him because with it would come grace and strength. Now, I don't want to give the
wrong impression here. We're not wrong. You're not wrong. If you're sick, you pray and
ask the Lord to remove your sickness, your affliction. In fact, we're
told, the Apostle James tells us, if any are sick, let him
call for the elders of the church and let them pray for him. We
are to pray. And we may be like Paul, we may
pray over and over and over again, three times or more. And when
we pray and the answer that we want doesn't come, let us always
keep this in mind, it's better. It's better, whatever God has
for us, it's better for me than not to have this thing that I'm
asking for. There's some reason, if we could
just remind ourselves, there's some reason that God is withholding
this from me. There's some reason, and God
knows the reason. And trust Him. Trust His providence,
His care, His love. There's some reason. The paradox
is that when I'm weak, Paul says, when I'm weak, that's when I'm
strong. You say, how is that possible?
Well, when I'm weak, when I confess my weakness, confess myself to
be nothing, that's when I look out of myself and I look away
to Christ. I can do all things, he said.
I can do all things. Can you, Paul? Yes, I can do
all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. That's what
he wrote. The paradox is that when we are
weak in ourselves and know our weakness, feel our weakness,
recognize our weakness, confess our weakness, and look unto God,
look unto Christ, give us the strength, give me the strength,
give me the grace, Lord. That's when we're strong. The psalmist wrote, and I'll
close with this, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? The
Lord is the strength of my life. I pray the Lord would bless His
word to each one of us here today and all