Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] So let's pray this morning and maybe you're here today. And I believe that God is going to speak into people's lives, that you're in maybe a painful season or an unchanged season, nothing you can change about it. And you may be feeling like, why isn't God answering and delivering me from the situation? I want to pray for you especially today. I believe God wants to speak into your situation.
[00:00:24] So Father, I do come before you for those that are going through maybe a very trying time in their life, a very painful, a very challenging time, and maybe they have been praying and it seems like there's nothing happening. And I pray today that your spirit would use the words of your of scripture here and some of the thoughts that I'm going to share with those scriptures that will bring encouragement and comfort into their hearts. Father, we pray as well today that you would do a mighty work in our lives. Lord, help us to understand ultimately that even in times of our deepest weakness, your grace abounds. And may we begin to understand that in a way we never have before. And we thank you for that. In Jesus name and God's people said, amen. Amen. You may be seated.
[00:01:12] So we're going to continue our series this morning from the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and we're in chapter 12. There's only one more chapter after this. But I'm only going to look at the first 10 verses of chapter 12 today and we're going to take a look at Paul's vision and Paul's thorn in the flesh. I'm going to talk a little bit about those two ideas in addressing some of the challenges that Paul was faced with, with the threat of people being deceived by false teachers.
[00:01:44] Paul's final presentation to them in a sense in his letter was to try to persuade those who are being influenced and drawn away by these false teachers regarding who Jesus is in the gospel because they were sensationalizing the their messaging. There was a sense that we're talking about their great visions, their revelations, their spiritual experiences. And yet all of these things was designed to lead people away and maybe even themselves, the leaders, they themselves were self deceived. So they how many know when you're self deceived you can be pretty convincing. And they, I'm sure they were very convincing. And we know, we know that for a fact that even in modern times, or not near modern times where people have had visions and revelations, they've come up with other ideas and they have led many people astray. But that was also true in the ancient times. And I think of one experience here that the early believers experience was in the Samaritan region. It said now a man by the name of Simon had practiced sorcery in that city and amazed all the people of Samaria. And. And he boasted that he was someone great.
[00:02:57] It's very fascinating. You know, you have these people with great revelations who are boasting. And Paul was experiencing the same thing here in Corinth, he goes on to say, and all the people high and low gave him their attention and exclaimed, this man is rightly called the great power of God.
[00:03:13] They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcerer. In other words, he was able to do things that were normally not people weren't able to do. So, you know, Satan is a counterfeiter. He manufactures things so that, you know, miracles can even happen, but the wrong side is actually doing it in order to deceive people and lead them away from the truth. So Paul now, in 2 Corinthians 12, is answering criticisms leveled at him by these false teachers. And their aim is to, as I said in other messages, is to discredit Paul in the eyes of these believers. Now, Paul is going to speak to the issue of vision and revelations. I think this is a great topic, but he's going to do it with reluctance and he's going to begin to relate his at least one personal experience in this area of his life. Now, Paul had more than one vision in his life.
[00:04:12] I've read, you know, different times God came to him, maybe giving him personal direction. And we're going to talk about maybe why God. Why does God give visions anyways?
[00:04:23] So Acts 18, 9, 11. Here's an example where Paul was actually before he came to Corinth, while he was just beginning his ministry there. It says one night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision.
[00:04:36] Do not be afraid. Keep on speaking. Do not be silent. Now, if you were here last week, I talked about the tremendous punishment Paul underwent. I mean, he was constantly getting beat up and people, I mean, you know, to have been scourged five times, to have been beaten with rods three times, I mean, this guy took a lot of pounding. But, you know, he's a human being. And it says here as he gets to Corinth, he's literally afraid.
[00:05:02] And so he's, you know, he's being, in a sense, tempted to be silent. I don't know if you've ever had those experiences when the pressure comes on there's a temptation not to say anything, but he says, do not be silent. God's speaking to him, for I am with you. So this is where we get our boldness, folks. It's not from within ourselves. It's from God above. God says, I'm going to be with you. And he says, no one's going to attack or harm you because I have many people in the city. So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God. So what is interesting is that until this point, he had never conveyed these visions and revelation in coming to Corinth and establishing the church. And Ken Hughes says this, there's a hesitancy on Paul's part to share these personal experiences. And I think the reason why is he doesn't want people to look to him. He's wanting people to look to Jesus. It says here Paul used of the third person.
[00:06:01] He says, I knew a man. We'll get to those verses.
[00:06:04] Excuse me, I knew a man.
[00:06:06] Paul's use of the third person signals his discomfort and embarrassment in indulging and ecstatic biography, which he deems of little profit. The very fact that Paul had told no one about his rapture to paradise shows that he considered private experiences like this as unimportant to his Gospel ministry. In other words, it may have been important to him personally, but he didn't see any value in sharing this to help people come to faith in Christ. Now, he did share his conversion experience, but not his visions. I think that's an important point. We need to keep in our minds what we're going to discover is the reason for Paul now explaining his vision, how God actually brought something into his life that was not positive. How many know having a vision, being somehow taken into the heavens and seeing and hearing things, you know, that most people don't hear and see?
[00:06:59] God also did something to temper Paul in order for him not to become filled with himself. And we'll see that in a bit here.
[00:07:08] What we're going to discover is that there is a value when God sometimes allows pain to come into our life and creates a context where we can't change it. And it may get very frustrating to us. How many have ever had those moments where you're just really frustrated with your life, you can't change what's going on. And it's not a fun time, you know, it's a very painful time. And I think if you walk with God long enough, you're going to run into those moments and you're going to go, what's going on here? Doesn't God care about me? And the answer is yes, he does. And we're going to see his purpose because God does not do random things. And we're going to watch how God works in a very challenging situation in Paul's life.
[00:07:51] Actually, Paul prayed, God deliver me from this not just once, but as we're going to see three different times. God's response that he would not do what he was asking was that Paul is now is able to convey a truth to the church.
[00:08:09] And we as well the church years later are going to discover that God many times shows his grace the greatest when you and I are our weakest.
[00:08:22] And God's power is manifested to us in times when we have nothing to offer and we feel like we have nothing to give. And maybe we feel we have very little faith. And God says, I'm going to manifest my strength and power in those moments in your life when you come to the end of yourself. That's when God reveals himself many times in an extremely powerful way. But we're going to learn how this is going to bring comfort to us and encouragement in a time that maybe cannot be changed. Maybe it's a painful time in our life. So I want to look at the. There's really. I'm going to look at two elements. The first element is God's special work of grace in an unchanging and painful life situation.
[00:09:05] So God is not obligated here to explain to us the whys of life. How many know that's true?
[00:09:11] Read the book of Job. He never explains to Job what was going on.
[00:09:17] Okay. And you know, and I've said this before, I've preached to this book. At the very end I came to a deep conclusion. How many would read have the presence of God than the answers in life?
[00:09:28] Well, if I'm going to choose one of the other, I'm going to choose God's presence. I don't need all the answers. There's a lot of things about life that are a mystery. Right?
[00:09:36] But I do need God's presence.
[00:09:39] But there are moments when God reveals to us what he's doing in our lives and when we have, especially when we have times of struggle for those whom God chooses to give a difficult and challenging assignment in life.
[00:09:51] Many times God provides a special grace. And in Paul's case, it was a vision. Okay, how many knew Paul had a very difficult ministry.
[00:10:01] So Paul had a few moments where God helped him out with special visions to help him move Forward.
[00:10:07] Now, in this case, he talks about this unique vision of heaven.
[00:10:12] And so the question I ask is, should we then all anticipate that we should have special visions like Paul did?
[00:10:20] Is that necessary? And what's the purpose of God giving certain people a vision or a revelation? Does it mean that if we've had an experience like this, we're more spiritual?
[00:10:30] I think there are some people that probably think that way. You know, does it make us more spiritual because we've had a vision?
[00:10:38] What does it mean if we've never had an experience like this? Does that mean we're less spiritual?
[00:10:44] It's a great question because, you know, sometimes when people have an experience, they think they're more spiritual because of the experience.
[00:10:50] I'm going to argue it doesn't mean a thing.
[00:10:53] It doesn't mean you're more spiritual or less spiritual. As a matter of fact, I'm going to give you an answer from the Bible. So you just don't believe what I'm saying. Remember, you know, the disciples are in the upper room. Jesus has been raised from the dead. He appears to all of them. But Thomas, for some reason, Thomas wasn't there. So now the disciples are telling Thomas, oh, you should have been here. Jesus showed up.
[00:11:15] Come on, you guys, smarten up.
[00:11:18] Didn't you see it? He's been crucified. We buried him. You know, Jesus is dead. No, no, he's alive, Thomas. Listen, I'm not going to believe you guys unless I see the nail print hands, the wounds in the side. In other words, I got to see it to believe it. That was Thomas response. Let me read it. Now, Thomas, also known as Ditmus, One of the 12, it says, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, we've seen the Lord.
[00:11:44] But he said to them, unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hands into his side, I will not believe. A week later, his disciples were in the house again. And Thomas now was with them. Right though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you.
[00:12:01] Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it unto my side. Stop doubting and believe. Thomas said, now Thomas is now a little bit humbled. How many can say he's had a vision? Now? He's, you know, he's seen Jesus. This is powerful. More than a vision. He's seen Christ. He said, my Lord and my God.
[00:12:23] Then Jesus told Him, because you have seen me. You have believed. Blessed are those who have not, have not seen and yet have believed. So I would say that it doesn't matter if you've seen the resurrected Jesus or you haven't. It says, blessed are those who believe the blessing isn't coming because we've seen something or we've experienced something. The blessing is that you and I are putting our faith and trust in Christ. How many catch that? That's the important thing.
[00:12:53] God is going to give every one of us in this room what we personally need to help us in our journey of faith. He's going to, you know, he's measured out exactly what he's doing in your life. You know, some of us go, yeah, but what about this guy? He's not going through that. Well, Peter said the same thing about when Jesus told Peter he was going to go through a few things, he goes, what about this guy? And Jesus politely said, listen, Peter, it's none of your business what I'm doing with this person over here. So we've got to stop looking around and saying, well, why did they get this and I'm not getting this, and why is this happening here and it's not happening there? And don't tell me we never talk like that. I've heard it from people from time to time. Okay?
[00:13:36] So Jesus is telling us, regardless of. Of the special spiritual experiences, we're simply blessed if we believe in Him. That's amazing. Here. The Apostle Paul reluctantly relates this amazing experience to the Corinthians for a purpose, to negate their response to these false teachers who are trying to lure them away from the real Jesus through their testimonies of their esoteric experiences.
[00:14:01] They're just basically telling them how great they are. And I keep saying this. If all you ever do is listen to people brag about how great their spiritual experiences are and they're not talking to you about Jesus and really bringing the Word of God to you, that doesn't impress me. I'm not impressed by that. I want to hear what the scriptures are teaching. I want to hear directly from God. I'm not interested in. You know, it's fine. You can tell me your experience, but that's not what's going to help me grow spiritually. That's great for you, but it's not my experience.
[00:14:32] So we need to be in the Word of God now.
[00:14:35] We need to remember that this is the first time Paul tells the Corinthians this.
[00:14:41] The fact that Paul had come to Corinth, preached The gospel established the church and had never mentioned this before, tells you in his mind how unimportant this was to establishing a church, to helping people grow in their spiritual walk with God. How many catch on?
[00:14:58] Why is he dragging, why is it coming out now? Because of the threat these false teachers were bringing to the church. Because they were talking about how great they were and how wonderful their experiences were and Paul wanted to shut them down.
[00:15:12] And how's he going to do that? He's going to say, hey, if you think those guys have had an experience, let me tell you about somebody. And then he goes into his experience just to deal with this. And then we see the reluctance on his part to mention the experience because as I've already said, he's speaking in the third person.
[00:15:31] Look, if I must go on boasting, although there's nothing to be gained, I'll go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.
[00:15:38] I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows.
[00:15:48] Okay, here's what we need to realize.
[00:15:53] The biblical scholars have tried to figure out when did this happen to Paul? Okay. And so because of the fact that he said 14 years ago, they kind of do a little juggling with time and they come up with this picture that they try to determine that this happened 14 years ago.
[00:16:14] So if Second Corinthians was written around 55 or 56 A.D. then this would have occurred early in Paul's Life, probably around 41 to 42 AD.
[00:16:25] And Scott Halfman and others agree that this probably happened when Paul was most likely in and around Tarsus or Antioch prior or before his first missionary journey with Barnabas. Okay, now you say why is that important? I think it's always good to figure out when these things are happening. So this happened a long time before that.
[00:16:47] Now Paul is going to explain to us he didn't fully understand the actual nature of the experience. In other words, he, he couldn't tell if he was, it was an out of body experience or not. You know, some people argue for the reality of other body experiences. I would stay away from that stuff. That's usually in the occultic realm. But Paul had this amazing experience and he couldn't even remember or understand.
[00:17:12] He just knew he was in paradise, he was in heaven.
[00:17:16] That word paradise is only used three times in the New Testament. He knew he was in the presence of God and he was hearing things and he was forbidden to communicate what he had heard.
[00:17:26] Now, why would it be so important for Paul to have had this experience?
[00:17:31] I think it's because of all the suffering Paul was about to endure.
[00:17:35] He had a sense of the deep reality he knew about heaven. And because of that deep reality, he knew how important it was to communicate this message to, despite the great opposition that he would experience. And so God gave him that experience.
[00:17:54] He goes on to say, and I know that this man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know. But God knows was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things that no one is permitted to tell.
[00:18:06] Now, I want to just say this. I want you to see that it happened to Paul.
[00:18:11] He didn't seek it.
[00:18:13] Notice how it states. It says, but God knows was caught up to paradise. In other words, God's the one that snatched him up. God's the one that somehow gave him that experience.
[00:18:24] We don't seek experiences.
[00:18:28] That's an important point.
[00:18:30] Sometimes Christians get caught up. They get excited, they start seeking experiences. And when you start to do that, you are now susceptible to deception.
[00:18:39] God is the one that gives the experience.
[00:18:42] And usually when it happens, you're not looking for it.
[00:18:46] Okay, just write that down. The experiences come when I'm not looking for it.
[00:18:52] We're not going, God, I'm seeking experiences. A lot of people get into seeking experiences, and I tell you, it leads to danger.
[00:19:01] Now, he didn't know if he was in his human body or not. It was kind of a surreal experience. But he realized he was in heaven and he heard things that he could not relate to others. Scott Heffernan explains that Paul's reluctance in speaking of this experience reveals its lack of value actually in bringing the gospel to people. He says, in line with Paul's commitment not to talk about such things, no known experience or event can be associated with this vision. In other words, we can't link this to any event.
[00:19:32] He said the closest visions, I.e. the call to Jerusalem and Galatians 2:2 and his call to his missionary journey in Acts 13:1 3 took place around AD 47.
[00:19:44] Moreover, these words from the Lord were public declarations of his apostolic call and itinerary and not private experiences of God's presence.
[00:19:55] Indeed, the very fact that he had been quiet about his rapture into heaven for 14 demonstrates that he considered such private experiences unimportant for his ministry. In almost two years that he had spent with the Corinthians, he apparently never mentioned it. In contrast, Paul repeatedly referred to his conversion experience as an Essential part of his preaching. In other words, he didn't see the necessity of talking about being raptured and taken into heaven, but he did want people to understand the nature of conversion. So he shared his story about being converted over and over and over again. That's what he's getting across here.
[00:20:32] Now, Paul will not boast about these kinds of experiences as if they have special merit or give greater authority or credibility to a person's leadership. What Paul is trying to do is explain to the Corinthians, these experiences are personal, private. They're meant to encourage you. We're going to see that.
[00:20:53] And they're not designed to somehow foster people looking at you as the leader, as being special because you have these revelations. Revelations.
[00:21:04] I find that this occurs often in the church. Beware of that. You know, I think Ken Hughes, he argues this. Although Paul would be completely justified in boasting of his amazing experience, he foregoes doing so and boasts in his weakness instead.
[00:21:20] Okay, so he's not boasting about, you know, all that he's achieved in life, all of that he's experienced in life. He's boasting about the things he's struggled with.
[00:21:30] By doing this, Paul ensures that the authority in the church would not be based on a static experience, but on the actions and words of its leaders.
[00:21:39] Paul forbids any assessment of himself and his ministry by standards other than his actions and his words.
[00:21:47] How do you know a false teacher?
[00:21:50] By their fruit.
[00:21:52] Okay? Not by all the things that they're saying, but what's the end result of this thing? Where is this leading to? Is this bringing people closer to Christ, or is it bringing people away from Christ?
[00:22:05] Is it causing people to seek experiences? Or is it causing them to seek Jesus and to be obedient to his ministry and his mission?
[00:22:14] What Paul is about to reveal to the Corinthians is that these experiences, though personal, do not create a special class of believers.
[00:22:23] What Paul is about to show is that because of these experiences, God needed to keep Paul in check.
[00:22:30] And so we're going to be introduced to what he describes as his thorn in the flesh.
[00:22:36] Okay? So if you want special experiences, I wouldn't seek them. If they come to you, be prepared.
[00:22:44] There's the downside to the upside. Paul's not going to give us the downside to the upside.
[00:22:49] I have those little funny philosophy in life. Every upside has a downside. Every downside has an upside.
[00:22:56] It's kind of the way I view life. And I think there's something to be said about that. Now watch what happens here.
[00:23:02] Now he gets a personal word of grace in his situation.
[00:23:06] What does God want to say to us in this situation? Maybe you feel trapped in at present, for many, there may not be any escape for this painful situation.
[00:23:17] That happens to all of us.
[00:23:20] We may have begged God to deliver us.
[00:23:23] And as we're going to see, that's exactly what the godly before us have done. They have begged God, they've asked God, hey, Lord, can you do something about this? Can you set us free from this? And God's answer is not always the one we want to hear.
[00:23:37] I don't know if you know, but God always answers prayer. It's just some of us go, I never had God answer.
[00:23:44] Sometimes no answer is an answer, guys.
[00:23:47] It's not the answer we want.
[00:23:50] In other words, God's not going to do anything about it. Well, I don't want to hear that. I'm expecting God to do something. Well, one of the things that God does in our lives so that others don't focus on God's gift in us as if it were from us. In other words, you know, I'll make this little statement, little caveat. All that you are and have, all of your abilities and your opportunities, they all came from God. You're a product of God's grace.
[00:24:17] So if you're walking around thinking you're good and hot stuff and all the rest of it, let me just deflate you a little bit.
[00:24:24] This is a God thing.
[00:24:26] And, you know, and what God wants to do is deflate all of us. And so that often in our lives, God will bring us down a notch or two to help us understand what it's all about.
[00:24:37] See, we're designed to bring glory to God, not to ourselves.
[00:24:41] We need to understand this matter of fact, the nature of sin is that we're not bringing glory to God. For all have sinned and come. What short of what?
[00:24:50] Bringing glory to God. The glory of God.
[00:24:53] You were designed, I was designed to bring glory to God. That's our purpose now.
[00:24:59] And so sometimes he's allowing something in our life to humble us and keep us trusting in him. How many go, I don't like being humbled and I don't like living in a state where I have to depend on God. Now, let's be honest about that. No, we say, yeah, I'm depending on God, but we don't want to be in a place where we really need to depend on God. How many go, that's true, Pastor. Let's be Honest. We don't want to be in that state where we need, need, need to depend on God.
[00:25:26] We want to think at least it's optional. I can or I don't have to. You know what I mean? But you know, God sometimes to help us out, he's going to allow things in our lives. So we are free, forced to depend on him. And sometimes we hate that, but it's actually a blessing in disguise. I think we need to know that in one sense, this difficult and painful thing in our lives that we consider a curse is the thing that causes God's grace and power to be manifested in us.
[00:25:59] And if we carefully read Scripture, we'll find that all of God's servants had troubles and challenges that caused them to press into God for strength, wisdom and help. How many know that's true now? You know, when I was in Bible college, I've always had to do research. I don't know, but I had to write a research paper in my senior year. And I chose to write on the life of David and how his life integrated with the Psalms. It was a great, you know, study. But if you were to study David's life, he would. He'll go from one challenging situation to another. He had to deal with his brother's jealousy, Saul's insecurity, Job's brutality, and Absalom's ambition.
[00:26:38] Just kept going from one thing to the next. You know, it just seemed like David went from one trouble to the next trouble to the next trouble, which caused David untold hardships and heartaches.
[00:26:49] But David reminds us that God delivered him from all of his challenges and his strength grew through the trial. So Paul is now reminding us through his own example that we ought to boast in the Lord and only about the things we called our weaknesses or challenges that we need to overcome. Last sermon last week, I said, the measure of a person is not what you have achieved or acquired, it's how you've had to. What are the things you've had to overcome in life?
[00:27:16] That's the real test. Paul's action in delivering Paul from temptation is to keep him from becoming conceited.
[00:27:24] Now, how many know that pride is a big problem?
[00:27:28] Anybody know pride's a problem?
[00:27:30] It's the first sin.
[00:27:33] It always gets us into trouble.
[00:27:35] And how many know that? The fact that people don't want to submit to God or surrender to God or acknowledge God, that's all basically pride on our part. So let's just call it out now. God wants to help us with this thing called pride. He wants to eradicate it from our lives, basically.
[00:27:51] And it was because of God's amazing revelation to him that God also mitigated the temptation to boast or become conceited, which would have destroyed his life and ministry, by the way. So what does God do? He sends a little problem.
[00:28:05] He says, I'm going to boast about a man like that, but I'll not boast about myself except about my weakness. And even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain. So no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. So what Paul is saying is, listen, these revelations, you know, if it's causing you to boast about yourself, not a good thing.
[00:28:34] We shouldn't be boasting in our strengths, we should be boasting in our weaknesses, he's saying, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore. So who's he addressing? He's addressing the people at the surpassingly great revelation. He says, therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me.
[00:28:57] Oh, my goodness.
[00:28:59] Now Paul reveals the purpose of God of allowing a messenger of Satan to afflict him. And he was tormented by this issue in his life.
[00:29:08] So whatever it was, it was humbling and causing Paul to depend on God.
[00:29:13] Actually, it may even have been the very thing that these leaders were criticizing Paul of.
[00:29:20] It was something that Paul was even embarrassed by. He was humbled by it, but there's nothing he could do about it because he asked God to deliver him and God wouldn't.
[00:29:28] So Paul is operating in weakness. And Paul's not going to make an argument that this is the nature of the gospel and it's really powerful. Don Carson takes this idea of how both God and Satan are involved in the situation simultaneously. This is important, he said. There's a general lesson of considerable importance here. Many people go through life trying to isolate this incident or that event as the exclusive work that of Satan or the exclusive work of God.
[00:29:55] He's going to shatter that.
[00:29:58] He goes on to say, this almost always leads to doubtful interpretation of events and may end up in the cultic view of guidance.
[00:30:08] Certainly this approach does not listen very carefully to what scriptures say on these matters. Consider the death of Jesus Christ. Luke recognizes that the sequence of betrayal, arrest, torture, rigged courts and crucifixion is the hour when dark darkness is reigning.
[00:30:26] He explicitly states that all this came about with the help of wicked men, and as the result of an ugly conspiracy.
[00:30:35] Yet at the same time, all of these events came about as a result of what God's power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
[00:30:43] Thus, there is a sense in which the death of Jesus was a work of great evil and all responsible for it are culpable. In other words, all these people that did these terrible things, they're going to be responsible for the evil that they committed.
[00:30:55] All right, then, he goes on to say here, but there is also a sense in which it is a work of God acting in love, the result of his redemptive purpose to establish a new humanity. That's us, the Church. Did you guys know we're a new humanity.
[00:31:13] We've been changed. We're not the old humanity. We're a new humanity under a new covenant sealed with the blood of His Son. It is not that God came into the plant after the fact and turned it around for good. This isn't an afterthought. Oh, oops. I let these guys have free will. Look what they're doing now. I got to somehow fix this problem.
[00:31:34] No, God prepared this ahead of time, before the foundations of the world. The Lamb of God was slain. God already knew this was going to happen.
[00:31:42] Okay, Far from it. The Bible insists it was God's plan from the beginning, the very reason why he sent His Son in the first place, place. Yet God's sovereignty in the matter does not in any way diminish the responsibility of all those connected with Jesus death. So what is he saying? It was God's plan.
[00:32:03] He used all this stuff that happened to Jesus for His glory. And yet all the people involved that were doing all the bad things, they're all going to be responsible for God for the evil they did.
[00:32:15] So God can take what's evil, turn it around, and use it ultimately for its glory.
[00:32:21] How many know only God pulls off that stuff? You and I can't do that.
[00:32:26] What Carson is explaining is that God is in control and in his foreknowledge, accomplishes his purposes despite the fact that he has given us a will, chooses to choose. Our will is to choose good or evil. In other words, what people influenced by demonic forces meant for evil, God can use for good and accomplish his saving acts.
[00:32:50] I love this.
[00:32:52] I mean, this is certainly the lesson we learned from Joseph in the Old Testament.
[00:32:56] He said, oh, to his brothers who had sold him into slavery, was jealous of him and upset and wanted to kill him and all the rest of it. He said, yeah, you guys meant this for evil, but God used it for good.
[00:33:07] That was God's plan.
[00:33:09] God already knew he was going to do that. Actually, when you really study it carefully, God had told Abraham, I'm going to send your descendants into slavery. God had already forewarned that in Genesis chapter 13 or 17, he already talked about that.
[00:33:23] This isn't catching God off guard. And so what I'm going to try to say to you is a lot of times we look at situations goes, I guess God was asleep on the job when this happened. No, God's always been there. He's there and he's going to use these things. And sometimes we go, I don't know how he's going to use this. This is so bad. Pastor. Well, poor Joseph, you know, betrayed by his brothers, falsely accused by Potiphar's wife, he ends up in jail. But that's just exactly where he needed to be. Because Pharaoh had a couple of servants. One was guilty and one wasn't. He both ended up in jail. They both had dreams. Joseph interpreted their dreams. Joseph is elevated and interprets Pharaoh's dream, and the next thing you know, he's the prime minister. How do you go from being sold into slavery to the prime minister of a nation? It's got to be a God thing. And God did it. Not because he wanted to elevate. Joseph said, poor boy Joseph, man, look at all the hardships he's going to go through. I'm going to just do good by him. No, he was using Joseph as an instrument to accomplish his purposes in saving a nation.
[00:34:24] That's powerful stuff. God has a plan.
[00:34:27] God has a plan.
[00:34:30] Now, Paul's response to his thorn in the flesh, you know, I said, God, God has a plan. Paul's response to his thorn in the flesh, not God. His is to cry out to God for deliverance. Now, I don't think it's wrong for us to pray when we're going through a difficult time. I encourage it all the time. Every Sunday. Come pray. Let's bring our needs to God. God can deliver us.
[00:34:53] But sometimes God doesn't.
[00:34:56] Okay, did we fail in our prayer?
[00:34:58] Maybe we weren't spiritual enough. Maybe we should have fasted more. I don't know. Maybe we should have been doing this or that. Listen to Paul says, three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
[00:35:09] Like Jesus in Gethsemane pleading for the Father to remove this cup. Paul pleads for God to remove the thorn in his side. Does anybody see any parallels there?
[00:35:20] Three times Jesus prays. Jesus who knew what it was all about, prayed God. Is there any other way? Can we do this a different way than me dying like this?
[00:35:29] Nope. This is what you got to do. You're going to have to take on the sin of humanity. You're going to have to be humiliated and shamed. This is the stigma of the gospel, the cross. You see, we've elevated the cross because we've been 2,000 years from the cross. But at that moment of time in ancient history, in that moment of time, it was considered only the vilest of criminals that were crucified. And Jesus was considered a criminal.
[00:35:56] He was shamed in a shame honor culture. It's an amazing thing. And Jesus was willing to take on the shame and sin of the entire world.
[00:36:05] And you know why Jewish people have a hard time receiving Jesus? Because it's a stumbling block to him. Why is it a stumbling block? Because Deuteronomy says, cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree. And so they see Jesus as cursed. And Paul says, yes, that's true.
[00:36:19] He is cursed by God, but not in the way you think. He took the curse of humanity on himself and became a substitute. So you and I could be set free from our sin and we could experience life.
[00:36:32] How powerful is that?
[00:36:35] Some may argue that the thorn in the flesh has something to do with a physical struggle, like malaria or eye seizures or eye issues or depression. Others argue that it was some troublesome Jewish oppression that saw his message as heretical, like he had earlier in his life.
[00:36:50] Linda Belville gives us a sample of ideas. An attractive option is to identify the Skolops, which is the thorn or the stake.
[00:36:59] What troublesome Jews a troublesome person today is commonly referred as to a pain in the neck.
[00:37:05] You've never been referred to that, I hope. In antiquity, such a person was called a barb in the eye or a thorn in the side. These are all Old Testament references. So Paul could be speaking metaphorically of the Jews who constantly dogged his steps and hindered his ministry. Compare the mention of insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties. But how likely would it have been for him to pray that his ministry be free of oppression? Then too, he was beset by opponents even before this experience. This ecstatic experience, a reoccurring physical ailment is a promising possibility.
[00:37:43] A stake in the flesh was a common figure of speech in Paul's day for excruciating physical pain.
[00:37:51] But David Garland says this. The exact nature of this thorn in the flesh has prompted much speculations. Everybody says, yeah, this is my thorn in the flesh. Paul does not go into any detail in describing it because the Corinthians apparently were well familiar with it and what he meant. Some of their number or his competitors may have made it the object of their derision.
[00:38:14] The fact that it remains unclear has caused many who have struggled with troubles both physically, mentally, emotionally and relationally to have found comfort from this text because of God's response to Paul. In other words, my grace is sufficient for you.
[00:38:29] But Carson reminds us that this thorn only came to him after his vision.
[00:38:35] It wasn't in his life before, and it must have been quite significant.
[00:38:40] This is what he says. What seems clear, however, is that Paul's thorn in the flesh, whatever it was, came to him after his surpassing great revelations and in consequence of them. In other words, it happened because of them. In other words, it was not a birth defect or an impediment of character that had afflicted him long before the time he enjoyed being caught up into the third heaven. It is equally clear that this thorn was something substantial, not some minor irritation. An apostle who could willingly put up with the sufferings and deprivations listed in First Corinthians 11 would not beseech the Lord so strenuously and repeatedly for the removal of some minor problem that he could have easily borne. Paul's thorn was something very painful or extraordinarily embarrassing, and perhaps both.
[00:39:29] So what's God's response to Paul's prayer?
[00:39:32] My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I'll boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. Me.
[00:39:44] That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, hardships and persecutions and difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
[00:39:55] So we come to the strength of Paul's argument against the faulty thinking of the false teachers. They speak against Paul's weakness, but in the process, in a sense are negating the grace of God. Paul's argument is that God's grace is most revealed through human weakness.
[00:40:11] And Don Carson says God's strength is made perfect in weakness. It reaches its fullest measures and most powerful forms when issued in response to weakness.
[00:40:23] The greater the Christian weakness, the greater the grace poured out.
[00:40:28] If this is true, then the self proclaimed strengths of the false apostles means that they're devoid of grace. In other words, they don't have any grace.
[00:40:36] They're boasting of their strengths. Therefore they're minimizing any sort of idea of God's grace in their life. All the impressive credentials of these ecclesiastics turn out to signify bankruptcy and grace.
[00:40:47] Grace responds to need and acknowledged weakness, spiritual destitution. As a matter of fact, the kingdom of God goes to the poor in spirit.
[00:40:57] So what is Paul teaching us here? In conclusion, it is the very thing he learned in weakness, suffering and difficulty. In the hour of rejection. Paul now states that he can glory in weakness, insults, hardships, persecution and difficulties. And why does Paul glory in his weakness?
[00:41:17] Because he realizes that in those conditions we are more than conquerors. As he writes in Romans 8, he sees the picture of Christ's sufferings all too clearly. Carson says this. This was also the pattern supremely manifested by Christ Jesus our Lord.
[00:41:32] The cross itself, that fearful Roman sign of ignominy, defeat, judgment and death, was precisely the means by which Jesus triumphed over all his foes. God's strength was supremely manifest in Jesus weakness. Why then should Jesus disciples choose to disparage his example by siding with the triumphalists? In other words, the people that walk around saying, we should always live in victory. I'm going to just say this. Do you understand? And I started one sermon here a few weeks ago by saying there's two sides of the Christian life.
[00:42:06] The fellowship of his sufferings and the power of his resurrection. Here's what happens. Some people glory in the fellowship of his sufferings and negate the fact that we have a resurrected Savior. And there are powerful things that God can and will do in this realm.
[00:42:24] But if we only live in this realm and negate the fact that suffering is a part of the Christian life, then we're not balanced at all.
[00:42:33] And so what God wants us to understand is it takes a balance of understanding. There's both sides.
[00:42:38] You know, until we're in heaven, we're not going to experience the full measure of God's kingdom. And anybody that tells you that is lying to you. It's not the truth, you know, we're living in the now, but the not yet of God's kingdom. It's not fully realized.
[00:42:54] Some people act as if it is.
[00:42:57] So what unchanging, painful situation are you struggling with?
[00:43:02] Let us remind ourselves God's grace is sufficient because God's power is made perfect or complete. That word perfect, teleos also can be translated complete. In our weakness, our strength is not in ourselves. It's found in Christ. And may we continually seek Christ in order to deal with the trials and challenges that face our path. They are often the vehicles that God is using to develop us CS Lewis wrote to a letter, one of his correspondence letters, and he said this to someone who was going through distress.
[00:43:36] For it is a dreadful truth that the state of, as you say, having to depend solely on God is what we all dread most.
[00:43:44] And of course, that just shows how very much, how almost exclusively we have been depending on things.
[00:43:53] Okay, he goes. But trouble goes so far back in our lives and is now so deeply ingrained, we will not turn to him as long as he leaves us anything else to turn to. It's amazing how we'll turn to everything but God. I suppose all one can say is that it was bound to come in the hour of death and the day of judgment. What else shall we have? Perhaps when those moments come, they will feel happiest who have been forced, however unwittingly, to begin practicing it here on earth. It is good of him to force us. But dear me, how hard to feel that it is good at the time.
[00:44:29] How many could say, yeah, I don't rejoice in these painful moments. I don't rejoice in these moments that I feel I cannot change. I feel stuck.
[00:44:39] But maybe those are the very things. That's the thorn, that's the pressure. That's the thing that's keeping you and I pursuing after God, the challenge of not just drifting off and living life with basically learning how to live independently of God.
[00:44:59] I'm going to just say this, and I'm going to pray because we have lived in such an unusual time in our history of the world. We've lived in one of the most amazing places in the world. We've had unmitigated prosperity. We've never had some of the trials and tribulations that many of our forefathers have gone through.
[00:45:18] And, you know, it has not done us well because we have allowed this wonderful life to distract us and take us away from the promise of the eternal life. And we have gotten so locked into this world that when things don't go our way here, we get frustrated and upset and angry.
[00:45:35] And meanwhile, God is going to allow things to come into our lives as a blessing to us. We don't like to think of it that way to cause us to get on our knees and begin to seek the face of God. Because when we stand before God one day, it won't be all the things of this life that will make you happy. It'll be all the things that caused you to trust God that will make you happy.
[00:45:56] That's what you'll be so thankful that God allowed these Pressures to cause you to seek his face.
[00:46:04] Well, let's stand as we close.
[00:46:07] Little bit of a challenge and also a comfort, hopefully. So some of you that are walking through a painful moment in your life right now with every head bowed, I'm just going to ask how many of you can say, pastor, I can identify with this. There are things in my life I cannot change.
[00:46:22] There are things in my life that are painful that I've asked God to change or deliver me from, but it hasn't happened yet.
[00:46:31] I believe that God is saying something to you this morning.
[00:46:34] He's saying, my grace is sufficient for you.
[00:46:38] My grace is sufficient. My power is made perfect in your weakness.
[00:46:45] And so the thing that you despise and are frustrated by is the very vehicle that God is using in your life to keep you close to him.
[00:46:55] Say, why do I need this to stay close to God? Let me tell you something.
[00:46:59] The people that have everything going for them in this life many times are far from God because they're trusting in everything but God.
[00:47:09] So God in his mercy, it is a mercy of God to allow us to struggle at times.
[00:47:14] Maybe we don't think of it that way, but if it causes you and me to get on our knees and seek his face, that's a mercy.
[00:47:21] And I think one day when we stand before him, before his presence, we will rejoice that he allowed that mercy to come into our life, even though now we're praying, God, deliver me from it.
[00:47:33] And so, Father, I pray for my brothers and sisters who are walking through a season of difficulty, pain. And it seems to be unchanging. It's beyond their control. They can't do anything about it.
[00:47:44] But Lord, help them to understand it's not because you don't love us.
[00:47:49] It's because you do love us. And you're making us understand that there's always a purpose in what you're doing in our lives.
[00:47:57] Yes, you can deliver us. Yes, you will ultimately deliver us.
[00:48:02] But maybe at this moment you haven't.
[00:48:05] Lord, may we embrace your abounding grace. Lord, may we experience that grace for the trial that we're walking through right now. That struggle, that pain, that difficulty in our life. May we begin to understand that, you know, you're not trying to make us strong. You're trying to get us to trust you and not to be dependent on ourselves, but to be dependent it fully on you. And we thank you for that. In Jesus name, amen. God bless you as you leave.
