And for our message this morning will be in 2nd Corinthians chapter 12. Hope I didn't overwhelm you with the two verse cards today, but these several verses here, verse 7, Second Corinthians 12, 7, 8, and 9, they all kind of go together because of the text and the subject matter this morning. So you'll probably have to study those over Thanksgiving, right? A little bit more to get those in mind. But the important one probably is found for you in verses 8 and 9, where he says, 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. Well, I think we can all relate to that particular aspect of the verse, that our strength is made perfect in weakness, realizing that when we seek to serve the Lord, If we try to do it in our own strength, we find that it does not work quite as well as it does when we rely upon Jesus, when we rely upon the Lord. And so, we'll be looking at this chapter and talking about this special revelation that Paul had, and of what it meant to him as an Apostle of Christ. So, I'll begin by reading this chapter to give us a good overview of it before we look into it more closely. 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 1, 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 a one and 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 rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. I am become a fool in glorying, ye have compelled me, for I ought to have been commended of you, for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong. Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you, I will not be burdensome to you, for I seek not yours, but you, for the children, ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. But be it so, I did not burden you. Nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile. Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you? I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? Walked we not in the same spirit? Walked we not in the same steps? Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? We speak before God in Christ, but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying. For I fear lest when I come I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not, lest there be debates, envyings, wrath, strifes, backbiting, whisperings, swellings, tumults. And lest when I come again, my God, I will humble my God will humble me among you and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed. Shall we pray? Loving Father, we do thank you for your word this morning and pray help us to bring it to bear upon our hearts and to realize of the situation of which the apostle found himself in and how that he was trying to correct the problems in Corinth as well as to let them know that he was faithful in all of his apostleship Pray, Lord, you will also bring application to our hearts and help us to realize that these things are a part of the human nature, but yet, Lord, we must trust in you, and if we are to serve, it must be in the strength of our God. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, as we look at this passage, it is quite involved, I suppose, but we'll try to simplify it as much as we can. First of all, we see in verses 1 through 5 that Paul was privileged to share in some special revelations. Of course he did not mention his name in particular but he referred to such a one who was caught up to the third heaven. Now this may seem kind of strange to us that someone would have some kind of vision of this particular nature. But yet, as we consider the Word of God, visions are not all that uncommon in relationship to the Bible. For instance, if we think of John the Apostle, we know in his later years in life, as he was exiled to the Isle of Patmos, he had great visions of heaven. And it may be also conjectured, were those visions simply dreams? Or was he somehow spiritually caught up to heaven and given those revelations? But no matter whichever it was, we realize that a great book of revelation was given to John the Apostle. And we find here that Jesus as well gave this revelation unto the Apostle Paul. And Paul, of course, is still writing to the church at Corinth. He is still, in a very real sense, defending his apostolic position as being one who was sent of God. That is, Christ sent him to do this particular ministry to the Gentiles of preaching Christ. and he begins by saying here in verse 12 chapter 12 rather verse 1 it is not expedient for me doubtless to glory I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord well as we recognize that he had to give some defense of his apostolic life and calling and yet it was not expedient for him to do so Yet he would tell them of these revelations which he had received, and he says, visions and revelations of the Lord. In verse 2, I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, whether in the body, I cannot tell, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell. God knoweth such an one caught up to the third heaven. Now we know that when it comes to the various elements of heaven we might say that we have an atmospheric heaven that is above us where the clouds and so forth are. And then we have the starry heavens above that where we seem to have a lot of satellites floating around these days. And then there is the heaven of heavens, or the third heaven, which is generally referred to as the abode of God. In the north, I think it says in the book of Job, the empty place in the north. Well, this third heaven, I suppose it is difficult for us to relate to this third heaven, because we have not yet arrived. But as the Lord wills, we are destined to arrive to be in the presence of God, to be in the presence of Christ. But he says here in verse 2 that he did not know whether he was in the body or out of the body. And I suppose such a vision or revelation would be hard to explain after one has had such a revelation. And so he couldn't nail it down whether this dream or vision was really upon the earth and having of that which is in heaven or whether he was actually caught up. Interestingly the word phrase here caught up is the same word meaning to catch away that is used in Thessalonians concerning the catching away of the believers. I believe 417 or somewhere along about there. So it's the same word. Well, so perhaps he was caught up to heaven. Well, there have been a few people who have been caught up to heaven. Enoch being one of them in the Old Testament. And then Elijah found himself transported in a chariot of fire. up to heaven and so this was quite unusual and so it should not surprise us that God who is the God of heaven and earth is able to bring one of his servants to him if he deems it necessary in verse 3 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 word for paradise is the same word used for paradise concerning where the paradise was spoken of in the Gospels. You may remember the account of the thief who was saved by God. who acknowledged God and Jesus said today thou shalt be with me in paradise same word which was used and so this abode where God means for us to realize is a paradise and the word can also mean a kind of garden Maybe we might even think and say, well, perhaps Eden's garden was a paradise in the garden of Eden. So it can have some connotation to a garden, a special garden, a place. And it says, how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for man to utter. Well, so the apostle couldn't speak of these things. Well, we might wonder, well, why couldn't he speak of some of these things? Was he just told like John the Apostle, that he couldn't say some things, he couldn't write them down in a book, he was required to be silent on some issues. What awaits us in paradise, we are not told. Perhaps it is not meant for us to know what awaits us in paradise, other than perhaps some of the basic elements of what we might suspect, to be with Christ. Or to, as has been often described, as streets of gold or or mansions in heaven, certain apartments if you might say, that are provided for the inhabitants of such a place. But whatever it is that Paul received by revelation, he was to keep quiet about it. How that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter. And, you know, I was thinking about this. Well, maybe if we knew, we might just be in a little bit too much of a hurry to get there. And it wouldn't be good for us. Some things are not good for us to know. The expectation of things brings a certain height of desire. And so some things it is not lawful as Paul received to say exactly what he saw because they could be well beyond our comprehension and well beyond our motivation even to be there because it may be too much for us to bear. Sometimes people have certain visions and they'll say they had a vision of heaven or something. A movie is made, somebody had some kind of vision or other. But Paul says he wasn't allowed to say anything and it wasn't lawful for him to say it. So we may be a little bit suspect of those who say they have certain visions and reveal all and write a book or make a movie. God's Word is a little more exclusive than that. And we find that Paul had these visions. Now what's the reason, why was he sharing all this information to the church at Corinth? He wanted the church at Corinth to realize that he too had received special revelations from God. Yes, even signs and wonders and was able to do special things or deeds just as the other apostles were. Now remember, Peter received a special vision of a sheep that down from heaven with all manner of food on it and you know that had great significance to Peter's ministry and so no it isn't completely unheard of that some of the apostles had visions and were given special revelations and so we find that Paul is just saying okay here I am I'm an apostle I'm apostle to you at the church at Corinth I've had my visions as well in verse 5, of such and one will I glory yet of myself, I will not glory but in my infirmities. And so Paul realized that he should not think of himself more highly than he ought to think. You know, if you're given special revelation, it's pretty easy perhaps to get a big head over that. you know to think that you are really more important than you really are and so we find that the apostle he rains it back in just a little bit saying here I will not glory in these revelations because I wasn't allowed to really tell all and it isn't lawful for me to do so but he had this revelation and he says I will glory rather in my infirmities you know there is something to be said as a servant of God that a servant is honorable enough to place the glory which that person achieves rather upon the Lord not upon himself And that's what he is saying. I will place my glory upon the Lord and not on myself. In verse 6, for though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth, but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And so Paul was privileged to share in in these revelations. Paul was privileged to share in some very special revelations concerning paradise itself. In verses 6 through 9, these special revelations sometimes are accompanied with special burden, with a special burden. And that's what we see here in verses 6 through 9. For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool, he says. Verse 7. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, it was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. Now this probably doesn't mean that Satan had a personal entrance into Paul's life that he could just trouble him at any time. But it probably does refer to the fact that God did not want Paul to be proud and in some way thinking of himself more highly than he ought to. And it is probably also true that the infirmities of Paul's flesh became like as the buffeting of Satan. I don't know, perhaps you've had some particular weakness in your own flesh at times, and you find that it is difficult to get rid of it. Perhaps you repented many times concerning some particular thing that you believe to be a sin, and it's in your very nature and body and the flesh, if you will, and every once in a while it crops up and it begins to afflict you and it is as if Satan is buffeting you or as if you are somehow being reminded that to serve God is a difficult task without the true power of God on your behalf. Well, were there anybody in the Bible that suffered some of these things? I think there is. You'd have to go back to Jacob in the Old Testament. Now Jacob, of course, he was the brother of Esau, he was the son of Isaac and Rebekah, and he was given a special birthright, rather stolen, as it were, and his name meant deceiver. And so that isn't very easy to carry. But then also we find that he wrestled with an angel. Now we could say that's kind of a special revelation, wouldn't you say? To wrestle with an angel? And it is thought to have been the angel of the Lord. And he wrestled with that angel throughout the night as he was anticipating meeting his brother Esau, for he was very much afraid of meeting Esau because he thought probably Esau was going to retaliate against him because Jacob stole Esau's birthright. And God allowed that. God allowed it. But we find he wrestled with this angel. But before the angel would leave him, Jacob wanted a blessing. And so what did the angel do? He touched his hip and probably kind of threw it out of joint. And it was a reminder to him of his humility. It was a reminder to him that to receive a blessing from God meant that he was going to have to be humbled and to be a true servant of God. And we find that he halted upon his hip ever after. The angel wrestled with him. He wrestled with the angel. The angel did bless him, but he left him with a reminder of his fleshly life. And he wanted him to remember that so he would be humble. And so when he did meet his brother Esau, everything went well. And they ended in peace. And even though in a sense they agreed to company one another, they parted and each went their own way to do what it is that was in their lives to do for God. And Jacob had a special place for that. And his name became changed from Jacob to Israel, a prince with God. The second person that we might see in the Bible who was somehow affected by a special revelation was Samson. Now you might not think of this one as a special revelation, but remember Samson had a secret. The secret of his strength was in his hair. Now remember he was born of his mother, mother and father, just as every other child, but God had named him a Nazirite from his mother's womb. And a Nazirite was supposed to be very especially dedicated unto God, And that God would bless that Nazarite to do his will. And of course Samson was a judge over Israel during that period of time. And so what happened to Samson? Samson was supposed to keep the secret of his strength. Samson was supposed to be true to his servanthood as a Nazarite. But he didn't. And because he violated it, he lost his strength. And what was the thorn in his flesh? But the Philistines put out his eyes and he became blind and weak. And it wasn't until at the very end of his life that he called upon God and God restored his strength that he might bring judgment upon the Philistines. But Samson was very much given a revelation from God. The revelation that he alone was sanctified to do the work of a judge over Israel at that time. And his strength was not supposed to be shared with any. His strength was of God. And when he violated that, of course he became himself afflicted. The third person we might see in the Bible that might be an example of this as well is Job. Now you might think, well, why Job? Job was just a suffering servant. Well, that is true. But remember, Job was humbled by God. And we find that These sons of God, as they came before the Lord in heaven, usually referring to angels in that term, Satan also came and he appealed to God that he might, by God's own allowance, bring some temptation upon God's righteous servant, Job. And of course we know the story how that Job was brought through many trials and sufferings. and lost all. He lost his family, he lost his possessions, he lost his wealth, he lost his standing in the community. If any man was humble to the point of true humility before God, certainly Job did fit that category. And we find that Job, of course, at last, though he appealed to God, And though he, you might even say he brought certain arguments to God, God did at last reveal himself and his purposes in the life of Job and he restored him to health and possessions and family all over again. But the revelation that God gave to Job came at a great price. and he lost all. And all these afflictions in these people, whether we talk about Jacob or Samson or Job or anyone else that you might find as a good example in the Bible, they all had their afflictions in the flesh. They all had their afflictions. They had to be mindful of those afflictions because God somehow touched their lives. And as He touched their lives, He allowed these afflictions in their lives for a reason. That they might be better servants. That they might serve the Lord more adequately. And so in Paul's life, we find that this affliction which he found upon him, though he had great revelation, It caused him to push away pride and arrogancy and rather to glory in his infirmities for the sake of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this might be a very unusual way to defend one's apostolic calling. But it was the way that Paul felt that it was necessary to do, to say to the Corinthian believers that he was every bit an apostle called of God, even as the chiefest of the apostles were. So let's read on from verse 8. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, or three times, 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. God would use the Apostle Paul unlike the other apostles, in a different way I should say, than many of the other apostles, and he would write most of the New Testament as we know it. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong. Now, by way of application, none of us fit these examples that I have given to you. We haven't been given that kind of revelation. But there is one revelation that we have been given and that we can all agree upon, and that is the revelation of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. the One who came into this world to die for our sins according to the Scriptures. That He died and He was buried and He rose again the third day. And that revelation has brought us, each one of us, to the place where we acknowledge Jesus as our Savior and Lord. We also acknowledge that He is the one that we're to be servants of, not servants of ourselves. We also realize that we cannot serve the Lord in our own strength. We must serve the Lord in the strength that He gives to us. I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me, Paul revealed. And that is important, isn't it, that we realize that. Paul said, I am crucified with Christ, yet nevertheless I live, and the life which I now live, I live in the flesh. He says, I live in the flesh. And yet he realized that the faith of the Son of God was that which carried him forward as a true servant of Jesus Christ. Paul learned that through weakness and the infirmity which he had upon him made him stronger because it made him trust in Jesus. The weakness of our own flesh should cause us to trust in Jesus. It should cause us to trust in him that we might be better servants of the Lord. In verse 10 of 2 Corinthians 12, Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong. I don't know what God is doing in your life, but whatever He is doing, He wants you to trust Him. Whatever God means to do in your life as a servant, remember that you can serve Him better if you will acknowledge your weaknesses, if you will acknowledge your infirmities to Him, and that you can't do it in yourself. That you must trust in the Lord if there is to be any true, lasting serving to be done for the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says in verse 11, I am become a fool in glorying. Ye have compelled me, for I ought to have been commended of you. For in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. Well, he was reluctant to glory in these things, but yet he could not help but tell them what had happened. And he could not help but relate to them that he was as every bit an apostle as the other 11 and one chosen later were also known to be apostles. Verse 12, truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience. As he served them in Corinth and as he served in other churches, he could say this. Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you. What were those signs? It says, in signs, in wonders, in mighty deeds. These were the things that the apostles were doing. They were doing signs and wonders and mighty deeds and they all may relate to different elements of what God required of them that they might do. Whether it was to heal the sick or whether it was to give some revelation that God had given to them, whether it was to be as it were a means of a vehicle of use in the hand of God in some mighty deed or other. We find that these are the kinds of things the apostles did. He says, for what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you, forgive me this wrong. well he did not want to be burdensome to the church of Corinth and though he had every right to require some support from them but we find that he would rather glory in his infirmities verse 14 behold the third time I am ready to come to you I will not be burdensome to you for I seek not yours but you the children for the children ought not to lay up for the parents but the parents for the children." Well, what does he mean by this phrase here? Well, probably what he is saying is that he was likening the church at Corinth to be his children. And just as in a natural setting, children don't provide for parents. Although maybe in their old age, after the children have grown, they may do something to help their parents. But little children don't provide for the parents. Rather, it is the other way around. Parents provide for the children. And so the apostle is really saying, I'm trying to do everything I can to provide for you. I'm trying to give you what you need to know. of the Word of God, of the revelation of Jesus Christ, and that I am an apostle, and that I am doing everything I can by way of ministry to help you to understand your place in the great scheme of the Body of Christ, the Church of Christ. And that's what he means by this. Verse 15, And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. Well, I suppose in some sense, every servant kind of wonders after a while, do they really appreciate what I'm doing at all? I mean here I am pouring out my heart and my life and everything about me to try to serve people but I get very little thanks for it and they don't seem to acknowledge that I am really a true servant of God. And that's the way he felt. That's the way he felt here. And I can relate to that and I hope that you can too. Maybe you have tried to serve other people at times. and you find that your servanthood has been kind of cast off as being not much of any value. Maybe even your own children, as you raise your children and you've done everything you can to provide for them, and you've tried to help them in every way you can, and yet sometimes you consider your children and you say, well, they don't seem very appreciative, do they? Well, this was kind of how he was feeling, which is, well, it's a very human thing, right? Even for servants of the Lord, it's a very human emotion. Verse 16, But be it so, I did not burden you. Nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile." That is, he was smart enough to know that they were not doing everything right and he was trying to correct them, but they didn't receive it all that well. Did I make gain of you by any of them whom I sent to you? Who did he send to them? Well, of course he sent Titus and there was a couple of other servants from Macedonia that were sent as well. I desired Titus and with him sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? Walked we not in the same spirit? Walked we not in the same steps? In other words, He was with me. We did the same things. We served the Lord together. We walked together in the same steps. Verse 19, again, Think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? We speak before God in Christ, but we do all things dearly beloved for your edifying. And that's what a servant does. A servant does what a servant does to edify others, to help others. And that's what Paul was trying to do. He was trying to do everything he could to edify them in faith. He was trying to do everything he could to encourage them, trying to do everything he could to build them up and to help them to see what their place of servanthood was and how that they could serve. Verse 20, For I feel lest when I come I shall not find you such as I would and that I shall be found unto you such as you would not, lest there be debates, envying, wrath, strife, backbiting, whispering, swelling, tumults. We can only imagine that this whole list of things were things that were going on in the Church of Corinth. And maybe a lot of these things were being done toward the Apostle. And though he would come to them to edify them, yet these are the kinds of things that he would be more apt to find when he came, this third time that he might visit them. And then in verse 21, he exhorts them again, and he says, unless when I come again, my God will humble me among you, Paul was willing to be humbled among them, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of uncleanness, fornication, and lasciviousness, or immorality, which they have committed. Now, of course, we understand that the church in Corinth was really in a whole environment where this Gentile culture was being played out. And I say, well, we got a kind of a Gentile culture being played out in our world too. There's a lot of this going on, this uncleanness and this fornication and this immorality is being played out all around us in our culture. Paul was feeling this. He was saying, you know, you have a culture which has caused you to give place to these kinds of sins. And it ought not to be. You have allowed debates, you have allowed envying, you have allowed wraths, and strifes, and backbiting, and whisperings, and swellings, and tumults. You have allowed all these things in your assembly, and that's not to be praised. And the apostle wanted to correct them in these things. Well, it is true, the apostle had a big job on his hands, you might say. How could he be a servant and fulfill his obligations to the Lord? Well, only as he was willing to allow God to work through him. And that's what a servant must allow. That's what we must allow. That's what I must allow. I must allow God to work through me. And it isn't always easy because we have to put ourselves in the background and we have to let the Lord come to the foreground of what we are doing. And so it means that we're called upon to trust God. So as you serve in your families, trust God that he can work through you to your children. As you work in your jobs, trust God that he can somehow work through you to the people around you in your job and to your employer. As you work in your community and you have interaction with community members all around you, trust God that somehow Christ will be able to shine through your servanthood to other people. And yes, you may have a thorn in the flesh that keeps flaring up and you may say to yourself, Lord, I'm not worthy to do this. I'm not able to do this. How can you use me when I have all these weaknesses in myself? But then when you begin to realize that these weaknesses only remind you that you need the Lord the more, more and more, then you can take on that new job or task of serving and realize that God, yes, He will work through you if you will humble yourself and allow Him to do it. That's what the Apostle Paul had to do. He had to humble himself and allow the Lord to work through him, though he had all these difficulties and problems. And in his particular case, one particular thorn in the flesh, which we are not told, and it's probably a good thing we don't know, because we can apply then that whole concept of a thorn in the flesh much more easily to ourselves, to any particular area or weakness that we have. And so to be a servant, you need to trust in Christ, even in the midst of your weaknesses. Shall we pray? Loving Lord, we do thank you for your grace and mercies to us. Ask, Lord, that you will help us to apply these truths to our own hearts, that we might be better servants for you. and that we might glory, not in our strengths, but in our infirmity, that Christ may be the one who is glorified through us. In Jesus' name, amen.