The Thorn in the Flesh: God's Purpose Revealed

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast,

where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to

this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen

you in the word of God.

Now, come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has

for us here today.

This morning, we can turn to 2 Corinthians, chapter 12.

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

If you have your Bibles, turn there with me.

2 Corinthians, chapter 12.

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

On the back of your bulletins this morning, you should have seen

an outline, and you can follow along with our outline here this

morning.

If you'd like to fill in the blanks, you can do that.

I can do my best to make sure that you guys get those blanks, and

we can hopefully all learn something from the Lord here this

morning as we study second Corinthians, chapter 12.

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

The title of the sermon this morning is Sufficiency in Suffering.

And no one wants to talk about suffering.

That's not a very popular topic.

But the reality is, is that all of us to some degree, are dealing

with some element of suffering in our lives, whether it be physical,

emotional, or spiritual.

But we're all dealing with elements of suffering.

And, you know, a lot of times we.

We have a difficulty in how to deal with that suffering.

And the Bible tells us that there's something in our life that

we can find that can bring us sufficiency, which means we can know

God and we can know his grace and know that he is enough in the

midst of our difficulties.

There's a lot of people looking for sufficiency in a lot

of areas.

And those areas would be empty areas.

Those areas would be areas that are going to give temporary

sufficiency, but not complete sufficiency.

So we're going to study this morning what it means to have sufficiency

in suffering in accordance to God's word.

So Second Corinthians, chapter 12, we're going to start in verse

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

one, and we're going to see here that Paul describes.

Here's your first blank here.

Paul describes a supernatural experience.

Paul is going to explain something that happens to him.

This is a unique experience to him.

This doesn't happen to everybody.

Okay?

This doesn't happen to.

This never happened to me.

If it happened to you, I'd love to have a conversation with

you.

But essentially what happens here is that Paul says, I had an

experience.

He's going to talk about a vision now.

He's not going to know if this was something that he did in the

body or out of the body.

We're going to get to that here in a few moments.

But he says in verse one, it's not expedient for me, doubtless,

to glory, meaning, I don't know if this is going to help, that

I'm going to glory in this boast, in this, but I'm going to

explain to you what I've experienced in visions and revelations.

He says, I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.

So he's about to explain something that happened to him in

a supernatural way.

Verse two, he says, I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago.

Now, at first glance, this might look like he's talking about

somebody else, and some scholars believe that maybe he is.

But I believe through context and reading the rest of the passage

and his understanding of what happened, that he's speaking in the

third person.

Okay?

So Paul is saying, I know a man, and that man is him.

Okay?

So he is speaking in the third person.

So he says, I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago.

Whether in the body, I cannot tell.

Okay?

So he says, I don't know if I did this in my body or out of my

body.

Um, but he says, God knows.

God knoweth such a one caught up to the third heaven.

Okay, so the, the next point there is that he was taken to the

third heaven.

Now, we could stop there and talk about what that means, because

some people said the third heaven.

Does that mean that there's three different heavens?

No, that's not what he's talking about here.

In, in their culture, their understanding would have been that

there are three different types of heaven, but not the heaven

that we're thinking of.

The first heaven would be just the sky, the atmosphere that we breathe.

Okay, so the first heaven, as you look up, you see the sky, you

see the clouds, that would be the first heaven.

The second heaven would be what we call space, okay?

Heavenly bodies, the stars, the planets.

And then the third heaven would be where they would understand

that that was the place of God, that was the place of eternity.

That was the place above the second heaven.

So he says, basically, I was taken to heaven.

That that's what he's saying here.

And so he says, verse three.

And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I

cannot tell.

God knoweth.

So, so he repeats that again.

So there's some uncertainty there.

And, and I think the reason why that's there is because we need

to know that it doesn't matter.

And so he isn't aware if he traveled in the body or out of his

body.

He can't properly describe what he hears there because.

Because look at what verse four says.

He says how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable

words, which is not lawful for a man to utter.

So he says, I can't describe to you what I heard, and I'm not

permitted to share what happened in this experience.

So you would say, what's the point?

Why is he explaining this to us?

Because he's about to explain the eternal perspective.

He's about to explain why he's teaching what he's about to teach.

So he says, I was taken to paradise, I was taken to heaven.

I can't describe what I heard.

And only, you know, we could guess.

Like, I wonder what he heard.

And then secondly, he says, I.

I can't even.

I'm not permitted.

I'm not allowed to share with you.

Okay, so this is an experience that Paul has.

And this experience fuels Paul's eternal perspective.

I want you to think about that phrase here this morning.

Eternal perspective.

Eternal perspective.

Now you would say, what does that mean for us as a Christian?

That means that our focus, our.

Our goals, our dreams, our life should not be, biblically speaking.

It should be not centered on this earth.

The material things, the things that we're dealing with, maybe

with work or with our physical or with our finances.

It's eternal perspective, meaning my perspective on things

is about the future.

It's about eternal things, heavenly things.

And.

And we even see this taught in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, 2 Corinthians,

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention 2 Corinthians 4:17

chapter 4, verse 17, Paul says, for our light affliction, meaning

this thing that we're dealing with now, these struggles that we're

dealing with now, this world that we're dealing with, this life

that we're dealing with, which is but for a moment.

So.

So, so Paul says the eternal perspective is this.

Seeing the issues that we have as light afflictions, understanding

that it's temporary, it's only for a moment, worketh for us a far

more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

Meaning the things that we're doing now should matter for eternity.

The things that we're doing now should be invested into eternity.

Verse 18.

While we look not at the things which are seen, so see, the

eternal perspective is not looking at the things that we see,

but at the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporal.

That word temporal means earthly, temporary.

But the things which are not seen are Eternal.

So Paul says, focus your life on the things that are eternal.

Now, why is he saying that?

Because Paul has seen what the end is all about.

Paul understands that this life in.

In its material form is.

Is so small, it's so temporary, it's so insignificant

in the picture of what it means to be in heaven with our Savior

forever.

And so this experience that he has gives him the perspective that

he's about to teach on.

He's about to teach us in Second Corinthians, chapter 12 what

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

it means to suffer in the spirit, to understand what it means

to go through difficulties with the eternal perspective.

And so God gives him this opportunity to know this perspective.

And I hope this morning that as we study this passage, that we

can also have this perspective as well.

So verse five, he says, of such a one will I glory, yet of myself,

I will not glory.

Now, we've talked about this word glory so far in this study.

It means boast, okay?

It means that he's going to sit there and boast about something.

He says, I'm not going to glory in myself, but in mine.

Infirmities.

Okay, infirmities.

What are infirmities?

We're going to get to that.

But essentially it's inadequacies.

It's its weakness.

Okay?

Paul says, I glory.

I boast.

I celebrate my weaknesses.

That's something that we don't hear very often.

And Paul's saying, in the eternal perspective, we are boasting.

We are celebrating where we are weak.

Now, why would he say that?

How could he say that?

He's going to get into this.

He's going to explain this eternal perspective.

So an acknowledgment of personal inadequacies and weaknesses

bring us to a place of glorying or boasting or celebrating

our infirmities, our weaknesses.

So there must be a place in our life when we have the eternal

perspective that we acknowledge our inadequacy.

Now, when I say inadequacy, it means this.

And.

And I know this isn't a common, popular, modern preaching

style, but this is it, guys.

We are not enough in and of ourselves, in our flesh, in our humanity,

in our sin, we are not enough to overcome the struggles that we

face here in this world, okay?

And the Bible says that we have to.

To have the eternal perspective, acknowledge my inadequacy,

to save myself, to be a good person, to overcome pain, to overcome

suffering, to overcome loss, to have the eternal perspective means

I am weak.

And I.

I embrace that.

I realize that I'm nothing outside of my relationship with God.

And so this acknowledgment of the truth brings something that God

calls us all to have, and that is humility.

So acknowledging my inadequacies brings me to a place

of humility, which brings me to a place of grace.

The Bible says in many occasions in the New Testament that

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

He's not going to exalt those who exalt themselves.

And so Paul says to have the eternal perspective, to know what

it means to live for eternity, for heaven, for those things that

we can invest for the kingdom of God.

It means to realize my own inadequate inadequacy, my own infirmities,

my own weakness, and then come to a place of humility.

And so he says in verse 6, for though I would desire to glory, I

shall not be a fool, meaning this is foolish for me to glory myself,

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 what we're gonna see here is that Paul comes to a place

of humility.

He.

He comes to a place in his life to realize that his weaknesses

are there to humble him, to get him to a place where he's not

above what God has called him to be.

And the Bible says in the book of Romans, I believe that we shouldn't

think higher of ourselves than we actually are.

And so there's that reminder there of humility.

There's that reminder there of our weakness.

That is the eternal perspective.

The eternal perspective is, I am not enough.

I need something else.

I need someone who can save me.

I need someone who can help me.

I need someone else's power to bring me strength in my own life.

And so that brings a humbled response.

Now, as I don't know about you, but there's been times in my

life where I have, and I've alluded to this in the last few weeks,

I've come to a place where I've realized that I cannot do this

on my own.

I.

I cannot.

I cannot overcome the struggle that I'm facing.

I don't have enough strength.

I don't have enough patience.

I don't know.

I don't have enough wisdom.

And.

And the Bible says that in and of ourselves, we are inadequate.

Um, I.

I know I've given this analogy before, but I'll.

I'll.

I'll quickly bring it back into our minds.

Um, I started teaching back in Florida when I was, I think I had

just turned 23, might have been 22, I can't remember exactly.

I was fresh out of college and I was called to teach a high school

senior English class.

And I remember thinking, I'm going to ruin these kids lives.

I'm going to ruin them.

They're not going to be able to get into college, they're not

going to be able to read.

Now by the way, they, most of them knew how to read by their senior

year.

But I'm like, I'm gonna ruin it.

I know it.

And so I remember getting the, the, the curriculum and getting my

lesson plans together and I was just like studying it all night.

Like I was pulling an all nighter, preparing to teach.

And, and, and I remember just saying like, lord, I, I need your

help.

And I remember driving on the first day of school.

I was, I was in my car and I was driving and I remember weeping,

thinking like, lord, I need you.

I can't do this, I'm gonna fail.

And that was a sense of inadequacy in my own life, realizing

that I'm not enough.

And God helped me in that.

And that was a moment in my time in my life that I realized how

inadequate I was.

And there has been countless times after that that have reminded

me of how inadequate I am.

I remember another time that I felt really inadequate was when my

son was born, my very first child.

And we brought him home and we, I was just staring at him and

I remember just weeping.

And Alicia's like, are you okay?

And I'm like, no, I'm not.

I don't know what to do.

I'm gonna ruin his life.

He's just, he's a human being there.

And I didn't, I don't have a manual to say to do this and do that.

She's like, you know, we're, we're gonna be okay.

And, and I remember my inadequacy in that and how much I

needed the Lord.

And, and I think in our lives we have to get to that place because

sometimes it's tempting to get that way when it's fresh in our minds,

but when we've done something over and over and over again, we

get to a place where we feel like, you know what?

I think I got this, I think I got this life thing handled out.

I, I think I've got this marriage thing figured out.

I think I've got this religion thing figured out.

And what we have to do is we have to come back to the place of

saying lord, I need you.

And Paul says, hey, there is that humble spirit that comes along

with this eternal perspective.

And so what was Paul's problem?

He says, you know, I'm limited.

You say, what was Paul's problem?

Well, he probably had a lot of problems.

Like.

Like, we have a lot of problems, but we're gonna see more

about it.

In verse number seven, it says, unless I should be exalted

above measure, meaning, you know, lest I get to a place in my

life where I feel like I'm above everybody else through the

abundance of revelation.

Meaning, he's like, I've had a lot of heavenly experiences.

I've had a lot of godly experiences, so therefore, I probably

could boast.

But then there's been something given to me that's there

to humble me.

He says, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh.

Paul says, this thorn was given to me.

That's his problem.

He recognized that he was given this thorn in the flesh for

a purpose.

This isn't just an accident.

He doesn't believe that this just happened.

And it's just his bad luck that he has a thorn in his flesh.

He has realized that this thorn has been given to him to humble

him.

And I think a lot of times in our life, we get to this place where

we see this teaching in Second Corinthians, chapter 12, and we see

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

this thorn in the flesh, and we say, well, this is just something

that I've got to get rid of.

This thorn in my flesh I've got to get rid of.

And that's Paul's immediate thinking here.

Paul's like, I need to get rid of this thorn.

I need to get rid of this problem.

I need to get rid of this thing that's irritating me.

It's actually more than that.

If we read further, we're going to see that it's beating him

down.

And I don't know about you, but I think that all of us can relate

to Paul to a degree, that there is a thorn in our flesh.

There's something that's holding us back from pursuing things

in our life.

Maybe it's.

Maybe you say, what's a physical thing?

For me, I would do this, but this thing in my life is holding

me back.

Maybe it's an emotional thing, maybe it's a trial, maybe it's a

spiritual struggle that you're going through.

But the Bible says here that Paul recognizes that this thorn was

given to him for a purpose.

Now.

Now, some would argue, was this given to him by God or someone

else?

I would argue that this thorn was allowed by God for Paul to find

a place of humility.

A lot of times we see things in our life that we consider negative

as directly from the enemy, directly from.

This is from Satan.

But the truth is, is that God does allow certain things to happen

to test us in our faith, to bring us to a place of humility so

that we can realize that, hey, it's not about me.

I'm not doing this on my own.

I can't do this on my own.

And so Paul says, I was given this thorn for a purpose.

And that purpose is seen there in verse seven.

It says that it was given to them to.

To not be exalted above measure.

But then we see that Satan uses this thorn as a tool to harass

him.

So, so that very thing that God has allowed to happen in your

life, that is giving you a.

A struggle, suffering if you will, Satan will use that against

you for the cause of beating you down.

It says there the messenger of Satan, to buffet me.

You say we don't use that word very often, but what does that mean?

That, that essentially means this.

To beat him up, to punch him down.

Satan is using this thorn in Paul's life to beat him down, to

wear him out, to get him to a place where he feels like he wants

to quit.

I don't know about you, but it, it never feels good to get beaten

on.

Paul says God has allowed this.

But, but Satan is using this thorn to beat me down, to harass

me.

And, and I think that in our lives we can all relate to that.

We can all relate to a sense of, you know what, I feel like I'm

beaten up in this.

Feel like I'm broken.

I feel like I can't get through this.

And so Paul is desperate here.

He says, you know what Satan is, is, is beating me up, lest I

should be exalted above measure.

Again, he recognizes the purpose is to bring himself back

to that eternal perspective.

He brings it back to this idea of humility.

I don't want to be exalted above measure.

I want to be checked into my rightful place in the submission

to God.

So, so the question would be then a lot of people will ask, what

was Paul's thorn?

Right?

We all want to know what Paul's thorn was.

I don't know, and I don't think anyone specifically can know

now what his thorn was.

Those that were living with Paul at that time might have been

able to see a visible thorn in his flesh.

Maybe there was a, a crippling element to him.

He wasn't able to walk properly.

Maybe there was a pain.

I've read so many, so many commentators who have their theory

of what it was.

Some thought that it might have been some sickness like malaria

that was causing him to have severe headaches, that was causing

his vision to be messed up.

Could have been that.

We don't know for certain.

But we do know that that thorn affected three elements of Paul's

life.

It affected him physically.

He mentions that, but it affected him mentally.

Right.

And we know how sometimes something physical can affect us

in our mental state about how we think.

We start to believe lies.

We start to allow what Satan is throwing in our life to become

the truth.

And then we see that it does eventually affect him spiritually.

So there's a physical element to the thorn, there's a mental element

to the thorn, and there's really ultimately a spiritual element

to the thorn.

How are we going to allow this thorn in our flesh to dictate the

truth to us?

Are we going to allow the thorn to dictate the truth of the

enemy?

Are we going to allow the thorn to dictate the truth of the

Lord?

The thorn in the truth of the Lord is there to keep me humble in

needing him.

I need the Lord in this.

The thorn in the flesh on the side of Satan's truth is this.

This thorn is something that I.

That allows me not to do what God wants me to do.

Therefore, I need to give up.

Therefore I'm a failure.

Therefore I'm not the Christian I need to be.

So I can't do what God wants me to do.

So.

So there's two sides of how we respond to the thorn in our life.

The thorn is an inevitability.

We're all going to face suffering, but how do we deal with

that?

And so Paul comes to God in the right way.

Paul comes to God with prayer.

If you lack wisdom, pray, ask him.

That's the book of James.

If you're hurting, as the Bible says, go to him and ask him

for healing.

We even saw in Hebrews chapter four.

Here, I want you to see this with me.

Keep, Keep your finger in.

Second Corinthians, we're going to come back here, we're going

to look at Paul's prayer.

But Hebrews chapter four, we did this as our scripture reading

this morning.

This is.

This is one of my favorite passages of scripture because it

allows us to understand that as a believer, in our standing with

God, as a child of God, we have access to God.

So While you're in the midst of the pain and the suffering, you

have access to God.

You, you, you have a direct line to him.

You, you have that personal opportunity to know him in that way.

And so it says here in verse 14 of Hebrews chapter 4, seeing then

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens.

Jesus, the Son of God.

So what does that mean?

That means this Jesus is our high priest.

Now, what was the role of the priest in the Old Testament?

Rhetorical question.

I'll.

I'll answer it for you.

The role of the priest was to be the intermediary between God and

man, the middleman, so to speak.

So now we understand in the New Testament that Jesus comes as

our great high priest to connect us, us to God the Father.

Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

So Jesus is our high priest.

So because of that, it says, let us hold fast our profession,

meaning hold tight to what we believe, stand true in what we have

been told.

And then he goes on to say, for we have not a high priest which

cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, meaning

this Jesus, who is our high priest, understands everything that

we are going through.

You know what your thorn is?

You know what your thorn is?

I don't know what your thorn is.

You know, Jesus knows about your thorn.

And Jesus has experienced that infirmity.

Jesus humbled himself when he came to this earth.

The Bible tells us that in Philippians chapter two, in other

places that Jesus came and didn't just come in and abuse people

in his deity, as like the Greek gods would remember some of

the mythology that you would study.

It would say that these Greek gods would come and use their power

to manipulate people.

No, Jesus came and limited himself, still fully God, but yet

allowed himself to go through the pains and sufferings that we

go through.

And so it says here that we have a high priest who isn't above

us, who isn't beyond us.

He knows your pain.

You ever been betrayed?

He knows what it means to be betrayed.

You ever been slandered?

He knows what it means to be slandered.

You ever been beaten?

He knows what it means to be beaten.

Jesus knows all of our pain.

He's been there.

He's gone through that.

But then there's a distinction here, and this is what makes us different

than him.

Lest we think that Jesus is just one of us, it says at the end

of verse 15, but was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet

without sin.

The distinction is, is that Jesus went through all of our struggles,

but he overcame them in perfection.

All of us face struggles and we're hurting, but we have someone

who cares about us.

We have someone who loves us.

We have someone who knows what we are going through.

Isn't it so much more of a blessing when someone comes alongside

of you and tries to help you that has gone through the struggles

that you've gone through?

You know what?

Like, maybe they've gone through the same struggle and they've

come by and said, hey, you know what?

This is what you're going to experience and this is how it's going

to be.

And there's going to be times where you need to call out to God

in this time and this way.

That's a lot more beneficial than someone coming up and saying,

well, I've never experienced what you've had, but you know what?

I'm here for you.

Not that that's wrong, but what I'm saying is that there's a

better connection there.

And so what we can see here is, is that Jesus has been, as it

says there, tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without

sin.

But then here's the verse, here's the.

Here's the main thought.

Let us therefore, because of that, come boldly or confidently

unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace

to help in time of need.

So it's this.

You might be going through a hardship, you might be going through

something that you can't, you can't handle on your own strength.

The Bible says that if you are a child of God, you have confidence

that you can go to him and you can have access to Him.

Just like my children can come to me at any point and I will do

everything I possibly can to help them.

Okay, that is the picture.

But I'm limited as a dad.

I.

I'm not perfect as a dad.

But we have a perfect heavenly Father who will be there for us in

time of need.

And what does he give us?

Exactly what we need.

Find grace to help in time of need.

It is his grace that we should be hungering for in the midst of

our struggle.

And so what does Paul do?

Paul comes to God theologically in the right way by

asking him something in prayer.

And so what is his prayer?

Verse 8.

For this thing I besought or begged, pleaded with the Lord thrice

that it might depart from me.

So Paul asked God to remove the storm from his life.

Isn't this what we always do?

Isn't this in our humanity, what we ask for?

God, get rid of this.

Take this out of my life.

I don't want this pain.

And that's a true statement.

None of us, in our flesh, in our humanity, love pain, okay?

Or at least if we're in our right minds, we don't like that.

And so what we want, naturally speaking, is for God to remove the

struggle.

I've been there, I've had a struggle in my life that I've said,

lord, please take this away from me, please.

And, and, and I didn't pray like, lord, whatever your will be

done, Lord, if it's your will, take it away.

I was just saying, lord, take this away from me.

Almost to the sense of like, this is the right answer.

I know what your will is.

But Paul says that he asked God to remove this storm from his

life.

And then we see that he repeatedly asked God for this deliverance.

It's not like he just asked God one time and God told him to

wait.

And Paul just got impatient and said, well, I give up.

No, Paul says, I, I, I prayed three times.

Now, you could look at that and say he prayed three times.

Some people would even argue.

I've, I've heard some commentators say that the use of

that word, three times meant he repeatedly, more than three times,

did it.

It was like just a figure of speech.

Either way, he asked them three times, at least.

Okay?

Repeatedly he asked them.

He asked God for deliverance.

I don't know about you, but there has been times in our life,

in my family's life, that we have asked God for deliverance.

We've prayed for it.

And sometimes God answers to the affirmative.

Sometimes God does remove things from our life.

But if it be his will, because we're gonna see here in the life

of Paul, it is not God's will for the thorn to be removed.

And sometimes we would look at Paul and we would go, what's wrong

with Paul's life?

What's he doing wrong that God didn't take that thorn away?

Nothing.

Right.

We see he does everything right in the context of Scripture.

We see that Paul is trying to serve the Lord.

Paul is trying to proclaim the truth of the gospel.

And I think that this is important for us to understand.

Sometimes we're doing everything that we can for the Lord,

and there's still going to be the thorn.

It's not a matter of God not loving us.

It's not a matter of God forgetting about us.

He says there that he asked God to remove it three times.

But then what?

We see that God answers him in an unexpected way.

An unexpected way.

I think all of us, the way that we're taught and the way that

we, even in our humanity, think that if God loves us, he'll

do what we want.

Or if God loves us, he'll take away our pain.

God loves us.

He'll make everything smooth in my life.

But that's not the truth.

That's not biblically accurate.

We know that sometimes God does answer to the affirmative.

Sometimes God answers yes.

Sometimes God says to wait.

But sometimes God answers no, because he has something better.

You would say, how could this be better?

It's that.

Going back to the eternal perspective.

So, so, so what is God's answer?

Verse 9.

And he said unto me, my grace.

This is God talking.

My grace is sufficient for thee.

Now we could just stop there.

The end of the sermon could be, his grace is sufficient for what?

Fill in the blank.

His grace is sufficient for our pain.

His grace is sufficient for our loss.

His graces are sufficient for our inadequacies.

His grace is sufficient for our sins, salvation.

We could stop there and say, his grace is sufficient.

And that's all God.

God didn't even have to answer Paul.

But all God could have said is, paul, my grace is sufficient.

Get over it.

Move on.

But Paul, seeking after the Lord, God gives him an answer.

God doesn't always give us an answer.

Sometimes God just says, my grace is sufficient.

But then Paul learns more.

Here says, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength.

God's strength, his dudamos, his power.

More.

Think about it this way.

God's power is made perfect or complete in weakness.

So what God is telling Paul is you want to see my power working

in your life.

Understand your weakness.

Understand your inadequacy.

There's no way that you can understand my power unless you rely

on me.

And so God does not remove the thorn.

God does not remove the thorn.

God says, no, Paul, I'm not removing it.

And here's why.

For my strength is made perfect in weakness.

So God reminds Paul that his grace is sufficient, that it's God's

power that's needed and not Paul's power.

It's.

It's.

It's God's power that's needed, not Paul's comfort.

And I think that's something that we have to realize in the midst

of our eternal perspective, as we pray to the Lord, that when God

answers a certain way, his way is the right way.

And sometimes it's not easy to swallow.

It's not an easy pill to take in.

We say, you Know what, Lord?

I want this to be gone for my life.

I don't feel like I'm adequate.

I don't feel like I can actually get done what you want me

to get done.

God says, it is my grace.

That's sufficient.

Because when you are weak, I am made strong.

And so God gives him his purpose.

What was God's purpose in this?

It's this.

It's understanding that this sufficiency is understanding our

insufficiency.

I want you to see it this way.

Understanding God's sufficiency has to be seen through

our insufficiency.

Now, what does that mean?

That means that if I think that I'm enough, I'm not gonna go

to God for.

For anything.

If I think I've got this under control, I'm not gonna see the need

to go to my heavenly Father.

And so what God is telling Paul is you have to understand your

insufficiency to come to me and understand this sufficiency.

You have to know that I'm enough by understanding that you're

not enough.

That's what the purpose of this is.

And so our weakness, our infirmities, our suffering is an

opportunity for God's power, His power to be seen in our life.

You want to see God's power all over your life?

Understand and embrace your weakness.

Understand and embrace your suffering and say, lord, it is your

power that's allowing me to move forward.

It's your power that can be a testimony to others in the midst

of our difficulty.

This.

This isn't what we want to hear.

We want to hear that God's power is seen through just victory

after victory and painlessness and successes on the top of the mountain.

And folks, the truth is, is that biblically speaking, it's really

in the pain that we can see God's power.

And that's why we can see the saints in the New Testament saying

this.

Hey, I glory in my infirmities.

I.

I rejoice in my pain.

I rejoice in my loss.

Because that's how God can teach us and move us and have his

power seen through our life.

And so our weakness is an opportunity for his power to be seen.

We want people to see God's power.

We embrace our inadequacy, inadequacies and say, hey, look,

I was not enough, but God was.

And therefore, that's the best testimony.

And if I come to someone and say, hey, okay, let's say.

Let's say a billionaire walks through our doors.

Maybe they did this morning.

Maybe you're A billionaire this morning, like, I talk to you

after church, we can talk about something.

Just kidding.

Just kidding.

But if you're a billionaire and you walk through the church and,

and, and they, they sat down right here and I, and I get up here

and I preach, I say, you know what?

Some of you are struggling financially out there.

And so if you trust in Jesus, he'll give you all the finances that

you ever needed.

And this person sitting up there going, well, I mean, I've got

all the finances I already need.

I don't need.

I don't need God for that.

That now for other people, maybe that's where God steps in.

Right?

But we understand that that person would not connect with that.

So, so then I would say, okay, maybe some of you guys are, you're.

You're having car trouble.

And you know, may.

Maybe if you just trust Jesus enough, he'll give you a new car.

He's like, well, I've got like 16 cars.

They're all brand new.

So.

So, so I'm not appealing to his inadequacy.

Okay, so what do I have to point to the picture to?

I have to point the picture to this.

None of us, no matter how much money we have in the bank, no matter

how healthy we are, no matter how many people call us boss, the

truth is, at the end of the day, we are all inadequate because

of our sin.

There's nothing that that person could do to earn their way

to heaven, to buy their way to heaven.

There's nothing that they can do.

So we point out the greatest inadequacy.

And the greatest inadequacy is that I am a human that's flawed and

I have a sin nature.

And, and I need Jesus to save me and to change me and to come into

my life and allow his spirit to guide me.

And so the power of God is seen through the transformation of

a person who was dead in their sins to a person who is now alive

in their sins, or, excuse me, alive in their, in their spirit.

And so the truth is, is that at the end of the day, we don't point

people to the smaller aspects of things.

We point people to the biggest aspect of change, and that is the

change of salvation.

So I want, I want you to think about it this way.

God's response was not removing.

Instead of removing, God strengthened.

So God did answer Paul's prayer, but instead of removing the

thorn, he strengthened Paul to be able to deal with that thorn and

allow God's power to be seen through the midst of his ministry.

So.

So you might be dealing with something right now.

You might be saying, lord, I want this to be taken away from me.

I don't think that's a wrong prayer to pray.

I.

I think it's okay to pray.

Lord, if it's your will, take this away from me, and maybe God

will take that thorn away from you, and I hope he does.

But the other side of things is that maybe you're going through

a struggle, and maybe you need to ask God for the strength to be

able to bear that struggle so that God's power can be seen through

your life, so that you can be a greater testimony for the Lord.

That's God's purpose.

So.

So there's sufficiency of God in our suffering.

God's there with you.

He understands you.

He understands your pain.

He understands your suffering.

He doesn't condone our sin, but he understands that we are inadequate

humans and that we need him as a savior.

And so let's see more about what this is all about here.

Let's see what Paul's practice is because of this theological truth

that God just teaches Paul.

What is Paul's practice?

Because that's what we have to do.

We have to take the lessons that God teaches us and apply that

to our lives in practical ways.

Because it's one thing for me to know that, hey, when I'm weak,

God is strong.

But then what does that look like in my life?

Well, let's look at verse number nine.

Paul says, most gladly, therefore, because of what God just

told me, most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in

my infirmities, his weaknesses, his inadequacies, that

the power of Christ may rest upon me.

So Paul says, okay, I'm not gonna glory in my spiritual victories.

I'm gonna glory in where I'm weak so that God's power can rest

on me.

I need his power.

Verse 10, verse, Therefore I take.

Now, this is hard, okay?

I'm not saying any of us are probably gonna be here today, but

this is what the eternal perspective brings.

Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities.

Now, remember what Paul has been talking about here for the last

12 chapters.

He's been struggling.

He talked about last week, his pain, getting beaten, getting shipwrecked.

So he says, I'm gonna glory in the infirmities, in reproaches, in

necessities, in persecutions, in distress, for Christ's sake.

He's not talking about, like, I'm just going to cause issues in

my life and then glory in those.

He says, when I live For Christ, this is what I face.

I'm going to glory in that.

I'm going to take pleasure in that.

For when I am weak, then am I strong.

So what Paul is teaching here is.

Is.

Is a teaching of the more weak you get in Christ, the more strong

you get in Christ, the more weak and more submissive you become

to Christ, the more and the more dependent you become in Christ,

the more powerful you are in Christ.

And so what's Paul's practice?

Paul recognized his complete dependency in God.

This lesson that Paul has taught is a lesson of dependence.

We're taught in America to be independent.

We don't need any strings attached.

We want to be our own people.

But the truth is that the Bible teaches something opposite.

We have to be.

It's a necessity to be dependent on God to understand his

will, to understand his power, to understand his direction in our

life.

So Paul sees the need for dependency, and Paul sees the blessing

in suffering for the Lord.

So, so when we see suffering only as a negative, of course we're

going to deal with suffering as, this is bad.

This is terrible.

I gotta get rid of it.

But when we understand that when we're suffering for Jesus, it's

a blessing, then it's a little bit more tolerable for us to understand

that bigger picture.

Now go back with me.

So with that in mind, okay, now that you have that perspective,

go back to Second Corinthians, chapter four.

Go back to Second Corinthians, chapter 4.

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

We already quoted this passage, but I hope that this will

be a different perspective for you when we go back.

Okay, so Paul says, now there's a blessing in suffering.

What?

What's this blessing?

How could this be a blessing?

Go back to Second Corinthians chapter 4, but go with me to verse

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

number 16.

We.

We started in verse 17, but go with me to verse 16, he says, for

which cause we think not, meaning we don't lose heart.

But though our outward man perish physical the flesh, yet the

inward man is renewed day by day.

Meaning though our outside flesh is in pain and suffering, the

inside man, the inward man, the spirit is renewed for our light

affliction.

That's what we're going through now, which is but for a moment.

Temporary worketh in us a far more exceeding and eternal weight

of glory.

He says, I'm willing to suffer for Jesus because of the eternal

reward.

That's what he's saying.

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the

things which are not seen, for the things which Are seen, are temporal,

temporary, material.

But the things which are not seen are eternal, spiritual, for

the kingdom.

So he says, I'm willing to go through this.

And the book of Romans actually talks about this more, too.

Paul talks about this, and for the sake of time, we won't go there.

But Paul basically says, the little affliction that you face now

is going to be nothing in comparison to the great riches, the

great blessing that it'll be to be with our Savior one day.

So it's seeing it from the eternal perspective, suffering now

for the next few years.

But if I'm doing it in the name of Jesus Christ, I'm doing it

with the purpose of serving him and loving him and eventually

receiving my rewards in heaven.

And so the very last blank there is this.

Paul finds the strength of God in his trials.

The trials are what brought him to understand God's strength

more.

We all know, I believe, I believe sitting here this morning,

I don't know, everybody here see some new faces, and that's wonderful.

But here's the thing.

Hopefully you understand theologically, study of God, knowing

God, that God is all powerful.

I think, I think if I.

If I took a poll this morning, I said, how many of you believe that

God is all powerful?

I think we would all check that box.

So it's one thing to know it in our minds, it's another thing

to believe that in our hearts when the struggle comes, is God really

all powerful?

When I've had this happen.

So it's going back to understand that when God gets you

through these struggles, when God preserves you through these struggles,

he is displaying his power to you.

Even though we know that he's all powerful, he's displaying his

power so that we can experience it more.

And so, you know, I.

I think that the best way that I can describe it is this.

From the very moment my children were born, I tell them that

I love them as much as I can.

Okay?

I tell them that I love them.

I try to show them that I love them.

When my child, let's say Micah, my oldest, was two years old,

he understood that I loved him.

Okay?

There was a working understanding that I loved him.

But now that he's almost 10 years old, he understands more that

I love him today than when.

When he was 2.

Right.

Did it mean that I love him more now than that he's nine than

when he was two?

No.

I loved him the moment he was born.

I loved him.

There's nothing I loved more inside this world, outside of my

relationship with my heavenly Father and my wife than my first

child.

Okay, I loved him, but he understands my love more now.

Why?

Because he's experienced that relationship.

I tell my kids all the time, have I.

Have I ever told you that I love you?

And they're like, yes, dad.

Every day you tell me.

And I said, yes.

And I.

And.

And.

And the reason why I do that is because I want them to experience

and know my love more.

And so when he's 16 years old, when Nora's 15 years old, I'm not

gonna love them anymore at that point.

But what they're gonna do is they're gonna know me in a greater

way and know that dad loves me more.

And so I think that's the same thing with us.

We know initially that God is all powerful.

We.

We know that he loves us.

But when we experience his presence in the midst of difficulty,

we understand his love and we understand his power more.

And we're able to rest and trust in that power more.

And so I want you to see here this morning that it isn't necessarily

God's will for all of us to go through the same type of struggle.

I think many of us struggle in different ways.

But what I will say is this, though you might struggle in this

area, and you might struggle in this area, and you might struggle

in that area.

Jesus understands all of our struggles, and.

And therefore his love for us and his power for us is perfect in

every way.

Therefore, if I'm going through this, it must be that God

is allowing this to happen.

Therefore, I will glory in this time so that I will say, lord,

what are you gonna do through this?

Who can know you through this pain and suffering?

Who can I point to you through the midst of this trial?

And so here it is.

Here it is.

And I struggle with this.

It's a selfless perspective.

It's not about me.

If life is about me, then my struggle is the end, right?

Because I'm.

I am.

I am the first.

I am the one.

And so if I'm going through the struggle and I'm the center of

my universe, then it is the end.

But if the center of my universe is not me, it's.

If the center of the universe is Christ, all my struggle is.

Is an opportunity for me to point people to Christ.

So it's a humility.

It's that eternal perspective that Paul talks about.

And.

And this isn't popular.

This.

This isn't something that I would get up and say, hey, are you

going to feel good after the service?

Like, I don't I don't feel any of us going, well, wow.

I want to.

I want to suffer.

I want to struggle.

But the reality is.

The reality is, is that we will.

The reality is, is that if we live long enough, someone's gonna

be taken away from us.

That hurts.

We live long enough, we're gonna feel physical pain.

If we live long enough, we're gonna be attacked by the enemy.

And so this is not me saying, hey, you know what?

Let's just all grin and bear it through the struggles.

It's preparing you for the struggles that will happen in your

life and saying, we point to Christ.

And it's the perspective through the struggle that means everything.

Because Paul could have looked at it as this.

This is all Satanic.

Therefore, I'm just gonna give up.

Cause Satan is obviously beating me.

Or he can say, yes, I was given this thorn.

Satan is using this.

But I'm not gonna let him dictate his truth to my life.

I'm gonna allow God's truth to dictate.

And so Paul follows the proper path of thinking biblically.

He goes back to Second Corinthians, chapter 10.

2 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

Take every thought into captivity and bring it before Christ.

And he realizes in this case that this thorn is not from the enemy

that ultimately defeats him.

This thorn is ultimately God, bringing him to a place of humility.

And so what he did was he.

He took that thought and he put it through the lens of Scripture.

And he saw that this is not something for me to quit in.

This is something for me to push forward and understand the power

of God.

So the struggle that you're going through right now, take that

struggle, take those thoughts that you're having.

Put those thoughts into captivity, bring them before Christ.

Match up those thoughts to the word of God and say, you know what?

That is a biblical way to think.

Or, this is not a biblical way to think.

And I would encourage you to do that.

I would encourage you to take the struggle that you're going through

right now and interpret it through scripture, not through the

world, not through your friends.

We learned the wrong way to do that through Job, right?

Remember what Job's friends told him when he was going through

that struggle?

Well, Job, it must be something that you're doing wrong.

Go ahead and confess to the Lord.

Job's like, I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

And so.

So we don't look at people's struggles and immediately say, well,

there must be in some type of sin that we learned that through

Scripture.

What did Job's Wife say, well, just curse God and die.

I mean, that's just what you need to do.

It's over.

We know that wasn't the right path.

And so we don't listen to opinions around us unless those opinions

align with Scripture.

We don't listen to the thoughts that are in our minds that

are contrary to Scripture.

We listen to the thoughts that are coming from scripture, from the

Spirit, and we say, hey, this suffering is an opportunity for me

to understand the sufficiency of Christ, the sufficiency of his

grace.

I want to go back to that, that main thought, and this is it.

When God responded to Paul, my grace is sufficient.

That's the same response that he has for us in every area of our

life.

You know what?

I've had folks that have come to me with struggles, and I don't

know the why.

I don't know why this person had to pass away.

I don't know why you have to have this sickness.

I don't know why this had to come about the way that it came about.

I don't know why you had to face this abuse.

But all I can say, theologically speaking, biblically

speaking, is this.

His grace is sufficient for what you're going through.

His Grace is sufficient in every inadequacy in our life.

His grace is sufficient for that abuse that you faced in the

past.

His grace is sufficient for the pain that you're facing, for

the doctor's note that you're going to get here maybe in the future.

And you say, what in the world?

I never expected this to happen in my life.

It's, his grace is sufficient.

Maybe your workplace is a difficult workplace and you don't

think you can face tomorrow.

His grace is sufficient for that.

His grace is sufficient for your children.

His grace is sufficient for your family.

His grace is sufficient for your marriage.

His grace is sufficient in this world today.

All we have to do is point to his grace and say, that is what we

need.

We don't need this, we don't need that.

We need his grace and we need to plead for his grace.

We need to hunger for his grace.

We need to live in his grace.

We need to distribute his grace the best that we can in our

lives.

And then lastly, I would say this.

When we go back to that analogy of that, that billionaire

that, that you know has everything in this world except for

forgiveness in Jesus Christ, we go back to understanding that

his grace is sufficient for our salvation.

I don't care what you've done in your past.

Well, I can't Come to Christ because what I did.

Or.

Or you don't know who I was before.

Or.

Or I can't come to church because of this issue in my life,

folks.

His grace is sufficient.

His grace is sufficient for everything.

And so what we say is this.

We come to Christ.

You don't get saved by cleaning up your life.

You don't get saved by saying, you know what?

I'm gonna try to remove all of the sin, and now I can come to God.

It's this.

Come to God in your brokenness and plead for his grace.

Because it is only his grace that can wipe away those sins, that

can cleanse you from all unrighteousness, as the Bible says.

And so this morning, hey, if you don't know Jesus as your Savior,

if it has been something in your life that you have said, you

know, I've tried to do the best I can.

I've tried to be a good person.

I've tried to give to the church.

I've tried to serve.

But you know what?

I just don't feel like I'm enough, folks.

You in love, me, all of us are not enough.

His grace is enough.

That's what that means.

Sufficient means enough.

His grace is enough.

So if you need his grace today, come and ask him for it.

Say, lord, I want your grace.

I'm confessing before you all of the problems in my life.

I'm confessing before you all the sins of my past and my present

and my future.

And I'm asking you for forgiveness.

I'm asking you for your grace.

Because as the Bible says, for by grace are ye saved through faith.

And so it's believing in the grace of God.

It's believing in the sacrifice of God.

It's believing in the power of God.

It's believing in him and him alone to get me to a place of salvation.

But, folks, we might have a lot of people here today who have

trusted in Jesus Christ as savior.

But yet in our lives, we are not hungry for his grace.

We have tried to do things on our own.

We've tried to do this marriage life on our own.

We've tried to raise these children on our own.

We've tried to do this workplace on our own.

We've tried to be bosses or employees on our own.

We've been trying to do all these things on our own.

Here's the time where we can say, lord, I'm turning it over to

you.

I need your grace in this area of my life.

I need your grace in every area of my life.

There's a song that says, I need the every hour.

I think we could also say, I need the every second.

I need the every millisecond of my life.

I need.

Your grace's grace is sufficient for you.

If you're going through something today that not.

Maybe no one even knows.

Maybe it's a sin issue.

Maybe it's an issue that you're not able to let go in your

life.

You say, this has gripped me.

I mean, my family doesn't even know this.

I'm gonna tell you.

God knows.

And his grace is sufficient.

His grace is sufficient for you.

Maybe you say, man, I'm working in this area of bitterness

in my life.

I'm so bitter against this person because of what they've done

to me.

I'm so bitter.

His grace is sufficient in forgiveness, maybe even say, you

know what?

I just.

I've lost my desire to love him.

I've lost my desire to serve.

I've lost my desire to read his word.

I've lost my desire.

What's going on with me?

I don't know what's wrong with me, folks.

Maybe it's just relying on his grace more and realizing how inadequate

we are in the midst of this world.

And so I would encourage you this morning, plead for his grace.

Rest in his grace.

Celebrate his grace.

Glory in his grace.

Glory in your infirmities.

Celebrate your infirmities this morning.

Sometimes it's just the admission of it.

I think all of us sometimes think, like, hey, if I don't address

this, it's not real.

You know, I remember looking in the mirror, and the older I'm

getting, you know, the more problems I see in myself, and I'm

like, maybe if I just don't look in the mirror, it'll all go

away.

Okay, it's still coming.

It's still coming, right?

Age is coming.

All these things are coming.

And so it's the reality of this.

Just ignoring an issue in our life doesn't make it go away, right?

It's actually recognizing the issue in our life and saying, lord,

I need your help.

And so for some of us today, maybe it's just a mission of my inadequacy

so that God can come in and fill that void.

So I encourage you to think about that here.

This morning, we're gonna ask everyone to stand up, every head

bowed, every eye closed as the music plays.

This morning, if you need to come forward and just rest in that

biblical truth of his grace and his sufficiency, hey, I encourage

you to come forward this morning.

Celebrate.

Boast.

You can boast on something this morning.

Boast in your infirmities and the need of for his grace.

Maybe some of you need Jesus Christ as your savior.

You need to trust in him and him alone for your salvation.

We're going to have some folks up here that can show you from the

word of God what it means to know Him.

Maybe, maybe you've been wrestling with this thorn.

I don't know what this thorn is, but this thorn has been pulling

you down and holding you back and getting you to a place where

you don't want to be.

Hey, that thorn is there to show you that you need God more.

Go after him.

Seek after Him.

He's seeking after you.

The Bible says that draw nigh to God or draw close to God and He

will.

That's a promise.

He will draw close to you.

He will draw nigh to you.

Maybe some of us need to just draw nigh to God today.

Maybe we've drifted so far.

We need his grace.

We need to know Him.

We need to understand his power.

Maybe you've been sitting in that pew going, I know God's all

powerful.

I know God's all loving.

I, I, I know that he has all these things, but I don't feel like

I'm experiencing it.

Hey, get to know him more.

And as you get to know him more, those things that you know

in your mind will begin something.

It will begin to grow in your heart what God is already doing.

And that is to remind you of his love and his power and his grace.

So if you need to be reminded of that here this morning, I encourage

you to come.

Some have already come.

I'm going to pray and you can come and follow as well.

Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation, working

hearts and lives.

I pray that you can help us to understand that your grace is sufficient.

Lord, I pray that you can strengthen us, encourage us, help

us to see where we fall short and where you come in in your power

and in your control.

Lord, we thank you for your love and grace.

In Jesus name, Amen.

As the music plays, follow as the Lord leads here this morning.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church

podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

If you would like to find out more information about our church

or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org

or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch

dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast.

Please subscribe and follow along for future podcasts and updates.

Thank you so much.

God Bless.

Have a wonderful day.