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 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." Obviously, the man in Christ whom Paul says he knows is himself. He's being autobiographical. And so, lest he should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations being taken up to heaven. 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." Our promise for this evening is in verse 9. My grace is sufficient for thee. One of the most well-known verses in the New Testament. Charles Hodge, the commentator, says that it ought to be engraved upon the palms of our hands. It is certainly something we should carry with us always. It's more than a promise, isn't it? It's actually a fact. 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 and so on there is much speculation of course as to what this thorn in the flesh actually was mentioned in verse 7 literally the word refers to a pointed piece of wood, a splinter or something larger pushed into Paul's flesh. The majority view is that it describes some physical problem, not major, because a thorn is an irritating, painful, weakening thing, but it's not a major thing that brings you into hospital or breaks your health completely, but something enough to make it painful and hard to live with. Galatians chapter 4 verses 14 and 15 refer to Paul's words to the Galatians saying that he had a serious problem with his eyes. and that when he had visited them in the past they loved him so much they would have plucked out their own eyes and given them to him if they could have done so it could well be that there was this eye problem that made writing and seeing comfortably very difficult but we're not told for sure what this metaphorical form in the flesh was and we're not told surely for a reason so that there might be room here for our thorn in the flesh, whatever it might be. That troublesome person, that situation that never improves, that health problem, that matter you struggle with, you can hope for the same grace that was given for Paul. And that is why it's on record here. We should be thankful that he didn't say exactly what it was. Under the inspiration of the Spirit, it's left open that we might feel that this promise, this fact, can be ours also. Notice the source of the affliction, whatever it was. He calls it in verse 7, the messenger of Satan. But you know, you have to look further than that, because notice what comes first. There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan. God was the source of Paul's thorn. It is true that the devil took advantage and where it says, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, the word buffet means to punch with the fist. And you know it's a very cowardly thing, isn't it, when a man is down to punch him. And this is what the devil does. When we're brought low through some thorn in the flesh, the devil comes in and he punches us while we're down in our weakness. That's the coward that he is. But it's not the devil that's the source of the thorn, neither is he the one that is in charge. There was given. It's the Lord who appoints and sends these things. And we know that in Paul's case, It was that God foresaw the danger of pride in Paul. Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations. You know if you are taken bodily or otherwise up into heaven and you're given visions of glory there and then you come back down to earth and you can't share with anybody what you've seen, unspeakable words, not lawful to be uttered. If you've had an experience like that, it would be very hard for you not to feel that you are in a special category and that you are quite someone. And so you see the Lord foreseeing the danger of pride, says the Apostle, gave him this thorn in the flesh, this sharp trial to bring him low. As someone has said, a thorn in the flesh to prick the bladder of pride. And we never know, you see, with our particular thorn in the flesh, what it is preventing us from being guilty of. and the Lord knows that without such a dealings without such a particular affliction or situation to cope with we might well sin in a particular way or backslide or be guilty of this and that the Lord knows our hearts and the tendencies and the dangers and so he kindly gives us our particular thorn in the flesh to keep us from worse that we might be low and dependent upon him. You might wish that that thorn in the flesh could be drawn out and gotten rid of, but it would be a far worse thing to be without it if it's the Lord's will for you to have it, because it's His way of doing you good, as it was for Paul. Well, naturally, the Apostle prayed. Verse 8, For this thing I besought the Lord thrice. And you notice He was very specific, wasn't he? I besought the Lord Christ that it might depart from me. Every one of us would like to be rid of whatever it is that is a thorn in our side. It's natural. You'll notice that he prayed to the Lord. That means the Lord Jesus. He could have prayed to God the Father and most often did. But he prayed to the Lord Jesus, which reminds us that you can pray directly to the Son of God, can't you? Prayer to Christ is a perfectly lawful thing to do. He asked the Lord Jesus to take it away. Why did he pray to the Lord Jesus? Well, don't you think it's because our Lord as man, possessed with such sympathy, He had a crown of thorns rammed upon his head, and he knew the agony of many thorns. And he is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, and he prays to the all-sympathetic Great High Priest for removal, that it might depart from me. Nothing wrong with that. Thankfully we have such a refuge and resort, don't we? One who understands and feels for us. But after three times praying, an answer came. And he said unto me. Now here is the answer. My grace is sufficient for thee. you can pray you see and the Lord can hear your prayer and he can answer it his own way and Paul did get an answer but it was not the answer that he actually asked for but we're going to see I hope that it was an even better answer after three times the Apostle Paul had his answer grace Rather like the Lord Jesus in Gethsemane, wasn't it? Three times, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. But the answer of the Father was to send an angel to Jesus to strengthen Him. And here you see, Paul's thorn in the flesh wasn't removed. The answer of Jesus was grace to strengthen Him. Well, let's look and see what this answer actually was. And let's look at two things. First of all, the grace. My grace is sufficient for thee. And secondly, the glory. Most gladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. First of all, the grace. Now what was it that came instead of the removal of the thorn? My grace, says Jesus. Now, what is this? Well, one thing it means is the quality of Christ's love, my grace, undeserved and free, not caused by anything in us to draw it from Him, Everything in us repelled or would have repelled the Saviour. The cause of His love is in His own heart, freely, simply because it was the good pleasure of His will to be gracious. If you want an almost perfect definition of grace, you've got it in Hosea 14 and verse 4, where the Lord says, I will love them freely. Now that's grace, you see. I, the sovereign Lord, who determines to show this, will. It's an authoritative thing that He will do. Love all that kindness. Then, sinners who don't deserve it, freely, because you can't earn it, or merited in any way. And at very least, you see, when Jesus says, My grace, it is Him telling Paul, you are loved like this freely. The deep, deep love of Jesus for you, Paul, as you are in all your sin and need. And I, choosing to love you and lavishing upon you all the affections of my heart, Robert Murray McShane in this play says, the thorn is not plucked away, the messenger of Satan is not driven back to hell, but Jesus opens wide his more loving breast and says, my grace is sufficient for thee. Oh, to hear Jesus say these words of love, these words of immense and infinite affection, This is the beginning of our being comforted and helped, isn't it? That's the very least that this word means. But it not only describes the quality of divine love, it also describes a real gift. My grace. But look how it goes on. My strength. and then the power of Christ resting upon me. Divine grace is more than just how the Lord is disposed toward you. Divine grace is an actual gift and provision that He makes ours to meet a particular need. Now in the case of Paul, it was weakness, wasn't it? Weakness But the Lord's strength was made perfect in his weakness. He was weak, he was debilitated, he was low, he was struggling. So the Lord's grace came in the form of an imparting of strength to the apostle that put iron into his soul and enabled him to carry on and live with the problem, the infirmity. And grace therefore is not just a feeling, a disposition in God, although we cherish this aspect of it. It is God actually giving. It's God making something our own and providing for us. And that is a very wonderful thing. But we go on further still and say that it's actually His work in us. Because look, He says, that Jesus said to him, My grace is sufficient for thee. In other words, the gift of strength and support was such that it made Paul strong. And Paul felt strengthened and helped. And it was sufficient, it was complete. There was no lacking. It was just not a bit to help him But it was all he needed. It was enough to make him satisfied and content. And of course, if you want an illustration of how Paul knew this, well, Philippians 4 verse 13. He speaks about the experience of having plenty and then having nothing. And all kinds of things like that. And he says, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. The meaning there is, in strengthens me. infuses strength into me so that I can be content in all things. Or 2 Timothy 4 and verse 17, when he appeared before Caesar, the Emperor Nero, and he had to make his defence and people deserted him out of fear and he was there on his own, but he wasn't alone. He said, nevertheless, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be fully known He had, you see, the strength of Christ worked into him and he found it enough for his need. So this was grace, you see. The love of Christ and the love gift of Christ, his own strength. And that love gift actually imparted and applied to him so that the apostle had it and knew it and experienced it. My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in weakness. The power of Christ resting upon me. Now you'll notice that the way it came to the Apostle and the way it comes to us is this. He said unto me. It was by the Word. That's how we receive the gracious strengths we need. Paul was in prayer, wasn't he, before the Lord and the Lord spoke to him and how often it's like that, isn't it? We begin praying and we lay the case before the Lord our weakness or our heavy heartedness or our anxiety or our sadness, our pain, whatever But as the Puritans used to say, he is a speaking Christ. And he speaks. John Bunyan came to the Lord in prayer, full of sadness and terror, he says. But suddenly, these words broke in upon me with great power. my grace is sufficient for thee and oh every word was a mighty word unto me as my and grace and sufficient and for thee they were then and sometimes are still far bigger than any other words you see the Lord spoke and he can do that he can bring a word of scripture to our remembrance can't he? or he can drop a word into our mind and we can suddenly have a thought and it can be so powerful and it can be as if the Lord has been there well it is the Lord he has been there and he has spoken the blessing it's like Psalm 138 in verse 3 where the psalmist tells us of his experience exactly the same kind of thing isn't it? in the day when I cried thou answered me and strengtheneth me with strength in my soul. Isn't that the Apostle Paul? Exactly. And Jesus speaking these words. My dear friend, we know who to go to, don't we? With these things, our thorn in the flesh, whatever form it takes, go to the Lord about it. He won't mind if you ask for deliverance. It might well be He'll deliver you. But it might well be that He'll give you grace instead and He'll bring a word to you and assure you that His grace is sufficient and you'll feel strengthened and supported and encouraged and helped and you'll think to yourself, well, this blessing I've got is really better than if the Lord had taken the fall away because I've tasted more of Him. I've received more from Him. I know him better now I'm helped more to cope but look there's one more thing here it kept coming as he needed it the Lord Jesus went on to say my strength is made perfect in weakness and as Paul felt weak so the Lord made him strong And to whatever degree the apostle felt the weakness, so the grace, the strength matched that need. It's like Deuteronomy 33 verse 25, isn't it? As thy days, so shall thy strength be. Whatever proportion, grace will be in that proportion. Whatever proportion of weakness and need occasioned by the thorn, so will come the grace and the strength. No matter how great the need, the grace, the strength will match that exactly and more than you'll need. And you'll never find that it will be less than sufficient. It's really quite an understatement, isn't it? Sufficient. Spurgeon has something in one of his sermons, I think, which goes like this. He says, it's like a fish swimming in the great ocean and thinking, is this water sufficient for me to swim in? Or here is a mouse nibbling away at a heap of grain. Is there sufficient grains for me to fill my stomach with, this great heap of grains? And so on, you see. My grace sufficient, made perfect, made enough, matched to the degree of need in your weakness. That's the grace. And no matter how big, how long-standing, how intractable, the grace is available from the Son of God. And He promises it, doesn't He? He states it as a fact for us to claim as our own. My grace is sufficient. Strength made perfect in weakness. Now the second thing is this, the glory. most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me and the reaction of the apostle to this is amazing, isn't it? before he was praying about his infirmity, wasn't he? and asking that it might be taken away from him And now he's got this answer from the Son of God and this pledge of grace. He says, most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities. Now, this is him saying, I make this my boast, I'm bragging about this, that I'm so weak and so needy and struggling with this thorn in the flesh because The power of Christ rests upon me. Now, there's more than resignation here, isn't there? We sometimes use the word resignation in Christian context and experience. We say, well, we must be resigned to the Lord's dealings. We must get under His hand and accept what He's put upon us But you know, this kind of language hardly goes far enough, does it? It gives the impression, well, it's an unfortunate thing, you know, that we've got to live with this thing, the Lord has sent my way, that Satan takes advantage of and it's such a struggle, and well, we must make the best of it, you know, and resign ourselves to the inevitable. But where is the triumph in that? Where is the testimony to the sufficiency of divine grace in that? Where is the glory that's given to the Lord by that? Look, the apostle says, most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, rejoice in them. I know that humanly speaking they're not welcome. Humanly speaking they're hard to bear. I'm not a stoic or some kind of self-masochist that enjoys pain and suffering and so on. It's not that. It's that such is the grace of my Lord, such is the reality of Christ and his strength to me, such is the blessing I've found in this experience, that I glory in the occasion of it, my infirmities. So you see, this answer is much bigger, isn't it, to the Lord taking the thorn away. This is now a man who can glory in the thorn and give all the glory to the Lord for the grace and help he's receiving to live with this thing. He says that the power of Christ may rest upon me. It's a remarkable word, that word rest upon me. It literally means to spread a tent over me. to tabernacle upon me now where was it that a tent was spread a tabernacle was erected on the earth and what was inside that tabernacle well the tabernacle in the wilderness wasn't it that Moses was told to build that tabernacle which was the tent of meeting and in the most holy place there was the ark of the covenant the cherubim the Shekinah glory of Jehovah that resided there between the cherubim and that was a holy place a place of meeting with the Lord a place of blessing and he says that the power of Christ made tabernacle upon me it's as if he's thinking back the presence of God the glory of Jehovah There's something divine and heavenly about this thing, this power of Christ, the grace, the strength. Isn't that a greater thing than the removal of the trial, the thorn? And isn't it a greater thing because We've seen Christians who've been afflicted perhaps with situations to live in or things happening to their bodies or something very hard to bear and they've prayed and the Lord has been pleased to deliver them and that's one thing and they've got a testimony to God's faithfulness which is very encouraging. But haven't we met other Christians And it has pleased the Lord to answer their prayers in the way He's answered Paul's. They're still in their situation. The thing is still true of their body. They still have to live with this particular thing. But you know, what do they say? They say the Lord is good. They say the Lord is precious. He gives me grace. He helps me through. He's made Himself known to me in this experience. I've proved His love. I've proved His sufficiency for me, a poor, weak sinner. I wouldn't have it any other way. And you look on and you listen to their testimony and don't you feel that there's something divine here? There's something heavenly here? Something glorious? It's not of this world. It's not human. The power of Christ rests upon me. It is a very beautiful thing when you meet an exercised, tried, afflicted Christian who knows more than resignation but has entered into the truth of this and found the Son of God to be so sufficient and grace more than enough And although there's not a plastic smile of artificial happiness on their face, but there is nonetheless a sincere testimony. Oh, the Lord is helping. The Lord is real. I know His grace and strength. Every day He's with me. He's helping me. Bless His name. I wouldn't have it any other way. And you think to yourself, well then the Lord must be real. and the promises must be true and grace must be a real thing because I know this person I know that what they're suffering is real it's not imagined I know a person couldn't humanly be happy in that situation but you see the Lord is there it's a glorious thing it's a very wonderful thing you know when the Lord afflicts us and tries us and brings us through things We must try by God's grace to speak well of Him and say the things of Him that are right and refer to Him with gratitude and thanksgiving and testimony that He's helping, that He's there for me, that He's giving the grace and not complain and not moan and groan and not give the impression that the Lord is unkind or unwise or could have done better for me than this. This is not the Apostle Paul, is it? Oh, the Lord speaks and gives grace and would bless us. The Apostle in Romans 5 and verse 3 speaks about glorying in tribulations in this very thing because of the glorious grace that was his. And how long did this last, the Apostle? It's very well, isn't it, to find help for a day or two. But if the trial is ongoing and long-term, it's really hard to keep going. We might be helped at first, but it's the long-term that takes its toll. Well, how long ago did Paul know this man in Christ, which is really himself? Verse 2. Fourteen years ago. above 14 years ago. And it appears, therefore, that this was 14 years ago when he was given the thorn in the flesh to prick the bladder of his pride and keep him low, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthened him like this. 14 years! And the Apostle can say, this has lasted me for 14 years! That's impressive, isn't it? Day after day, night after night, week in, month out, year after year. Fourteen years, that's the glory. There's a glory in this, a reality in this, that lasts. There are far too many testimonies of people that sound very fine to begin with, but the shine goes off. Perhaps they've claimed and expressed too much. But what is real is solid and lasting and will last as long as the trial is maintained for us. So what a promise, the grace, the glory. One more thing before we close. Is there someone here this evening You say, yes, but my problem, my thorn in the flesh, is my sin. And I know that that will never be taken out of me. And it pains me because I'm such a sinner and such a failure. Well, you see, what is grace? It is the manifold grace of God, as we're told in 1 Peter 4 verse 10. It can take the form of strength for weakness, but it can take the form of forgiveness for guilt. The power to subdue your sin through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in you. It can take any form that your need requires. But whatever it is, maybe you're unconverted. And you say, my sin is my great problem. I've come to see that because unless I'm saved from my sins, I'll never know God. I'll never go to heaven. I know that my sins have come between God and me. And they shut me out. And I've no hope. I can't get rid of my sins as we saw this morning. They're like weeds. You can cut the tops off, but the roots are still there. You can't get free of sin. Well look, the Saviour's grace is sufficient. His blood can make the foulest clean and cleanse you from all sin and atone for and pay the price for every sin you've ever committed or ever will commit. He can freely forgive you all your sins and He can give you His Holy Spirit and give you a new heart and a new nature and a new way so that you're turned against your sins and the ruling principle becomes holiness and you walk another way by His grace. Altogether, that's how sin is dealt with, how we're saved. My grace is sufficient for thee. Hear the Saviour say, and prune it, and ask Him for it. And He will give it because it's free. It's a gift. And it comes with all the fullness of His heart to needy sinners. Here is a promise, here is a pledge, here is a fact to enter into. Pray and He will answer. And thank God for the freeness of it all. My grace is sufficient for thee and the glory too. Redounds to His glory, doesn't it? In His blessing us in this way. May we enter then into these things. May the Lord make them ours tonight and forever. 574