2 Corinthians 12:1-13:14 - His Grace is Sufficient

So let's get into today. We are back in Two Corinthians

for the final time, well for the final time for a while anyway.

We last term we went through the book of Two Corinthians and I

was meant to close out the series just before Christmas,

but I was ill so we didn't manage on manage to do it.

So I'm putting it in today before we start a brand new

series next week in the book of Malachi.

So if you've got a Bible, it's going to come up there.

But it's great always to read along as well.

You've got a Bible. I'm going to be in the first few

lines of Two Corinthians chapter 12.

So here we go. It says I must go on boasting.

This is Paul talking, although there is nothing to be to be

gained. I will go on to visions and

revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who 14

years ago was caught up in the 3rd heaven.

Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know.

God knows 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 into paradise and heard inexpressible things, things

that no one is permitted to tell.

I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about

myself except about my weakness. Let's pause there and pray, Lord

Jesus. We thank you, Lord God, that you

are so good to us, Lord Jesus. And I pray that as we open up

your word and we talk about it, Lord Jesus, and we hear your

word, Lord Jesus. I pray, Lord God, that you

would, you would sit, you would change us, Lord Jesus, as we

hear your words spoken. Lord God, you would, you would

challenge us, Lord God, you would speak to us, Lord God,

even you would act in supernatural ways.

As we pray later on, Lord God, we ask you, you, we invite you

into this time. Amen.

And may I add, we also pray, Lord Jesus, that you would

supernaturally fill this hall with heat because it is cold.

I'm sorry, I'm going to, well, I'd like to preach in AI don't

like to preach with jumper on. So here we go.

I'm going to move. I'm going to move around.

I'm going to move around. You're all sitting there.

So yeah. Anyway, so let's go back to

this. So my question for you, if you

can remember what we just read in the text is what do you boast

about? Now?

You're all lovely Christian people, so you're probably

saying I don't boast about anything.

Well, what do you like people to know about you?

You know, when you first meet people, what are you itching for

them to know about you? What you can do, what what

you're, what you're able to do, where you've been, what you've

seen. Maybe, maybe still you're too

good to want to to push yourself onto people like that.

OK, so let's rephrase it this way.

What do other people you know about boast about?

What do other people boast about?

Go on, let's have some ideas. What do other people?

What have you heard? Obviously none of you do.

But what have you heard that people boast about?

Pardon. Cars.

Yeah. Cars, possessions, your home.

How much material things you've got.

We like in this world, we love to boast about what we've got.

You know how much, how much things cost.

You know, just just to boast about how much money we've got.

You know, I bought this. I bought this item of clothing.

I bought this car. Guess how much it cost me?

No, it cost me more than that. I can afford much more than

that. I mean, on the flip side, many

of us will do the reverse, won't we?

You know, I bought that thing off Timo that cost next to

nothing. I'm never going to use it.

But guess how little it cost me? I mean, we do that all the time.

What other things do we boast about?

Education. Education.

Yes. Do you know how intelligent I

am? You know, we boast about we no,

we don't say it like that, but we, we talk about the grades

that we got, the university we get, we went to, we maybe say,

well, do you know what job I do? I could explain it to you, but

you wouldn't understand. So we, we boast about all these

sorts of things. Well, come on, give me another

thing that we boast about the golf handicap.

Golf handicap. Oh yes, boast about.

Does anyone anyone boast about that golf handicap in here?

Anyone got. But we boast about our physical

abilities, don't we? You know, I am.

I can lift so much at the gym. How much do you press or lift?

I don't go to the gym. But you know how?

You know how? How?

You know? We we talk about how amazing we

were. You know, if you could only see

me in my prime, how amazing I was it.

Yeah. Well, yeah.

You know, if I wasn't, if I didn't have Emmy, you know what

do you know what, how you, you'd be blown away if I joined the,

the football team, you would just be all bowled away.

How amazing I truly AM. And we do it all the time, don't

we? We do, we do things, we, we

even, we boast when, when we get older and we, we have kids, we

kind of tend to stop boasting about ourselves.

But we boast about our kids, don't we?

In a way of boasting about ourselves, You know, have you

seen how good they are at sports?

Obviously they got that from somewhere, you know.

Have you seen how smart they are?

How how obedient they are? Have you seen?

We boast about them, don't we? Even as Christians we boast.

We can be tempted to boast about how good we've been, the good

works that we've done, the people that we help, the time

that we spent in Scripture. Do you know I've got 150 days

streak on the Bible app? You know, it's just we boast

about stupid things, don't we? I mean, we boast about really

stupid things, don't we? We boast about, you know how

little we've eaten. Do you know how little I've

eaten? Do you know how long I've fasted

for? We boast about maybe, probably

the ladies don't so much, but the men, well, you know, I have

are boasting about how much we've eaten.

You know, I, I remember, you know, we, I Remember Me and my,

me and my friends. We, we worked, we worked in

between A levels and uni. We, we had half a year where we

worked and then we went travelling and we were in

Australia and we were in a, in a, a travel thingy, whatever it

is, a youth hostel and we didn't have an awful lot of money.

And so we made complete use of at the time, this was quite a

while ago. They had, there was Pizza Hut

and Pizza Hut had, it was $3, three Australian dollars for an

all you could eat buffet. Now we took them to town for

that. We, we, we literally ate so much

we did not need to eat for two more days.

If we, we may we, we, we, yeah, we.

And we boast about stupid things like that.

We boast about how bad our upbringing was.

We boast about how good our upbringing was.

We boast about all kinds of things.

And then do you know what? It's actually not bad to

recognise, to be aware of what's good in your life.

It's not bad to acknowledge if you're good at something.

But what boasting is at its core, it's to make you look

better than you are by making others feel worse.

It's pushing others down to lift yourself up.

In the apostle Paul, he could have boasted about an awful lot

of stuff. He was a pretty impressive

character. But to the Philippians, he says

this. And now this might sound a bit

weird to some of you. So first of all, so we are going

to unpack it, but this really was boasting.

He says if someone else thinks he has something, he has reason

to put confidence in the flesh to boast.

I have more now you see what I mean by boasting a circumcised

on the 8th day, a people, the 8th day of the people of Israel,

of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews in regard to

the law, Pharisee as zeal, A persecute to the church.

As for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

What we're saying is I was from the best family, I had the best

education. I was top of my class and

actually I was selected to study under the most influential

teacher of my day, he says. He goes on in Two Corinthians

and he says I knew a man, he's talking about himself.

I knew a man who 14 years ago was caught up to the 3rd heaven,

3rd heaven. If you remember 1st heaven in

the ancient world, they thought of heaven as the, the, the, the

sky around us, the air we breathe.

So that's 1st heaven. 2nd heaven is where the sun, moon, stars,

clouds are. And the 3rd heaven was God's

throne room. So he says I know about, I was

caught up to the, to the 3rd heaven to God's throne room.

Whether it was in the body or out of the body, I don't know.

God knows and I know, I know, 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.

So Paul could boast about his intelligence.

He could boast about his family. He could boast about the exams

and the people who had chose to be around him.

He could also boast about what he'd seen.

I mean, people believe that, that that he's maybe talking

about a time when it looked like he had been killed.

He might have actually been killed and then he ascended to

heaven and then was brought back to life.

It says that he was prayed. It's looked like he was dead.

He was prayed for and then he came back to life again.

So he can boast not only in the things that he's done and his

intelligence, but he can also boast the fact that he's seen

heaven. He's been there.

I mean, you may have heard of people who have, who've been to

heaven and come back. I mean, one of the first things

they do, they write a book about it, don't they?

They write a book about it. I mean, I was, I was thinking

about if this was me, the sort of book deals I might come up

with, the sort of book titles I might like to, to title this.

And I was coming up with some ideas that, you know, maybe if

you've got some others you can tell me.

But I was thinking, you know, the heaven and back again, An

apostle's tale. I thought of that whilst I was

reading The Hobbit, actually. How to Win Friends and influent

angels. The Apostle Paul and the secret

to the universe. The Apostles Guide to the

heavens. If you've got anything else,

please let me know. See, Paul could have boasted

about many, many, many things. He could have told people, you

should listen to me. You ought to listen to me.

Because do you not know who I am, how amazing I am, what I

have seen he say. I'm a person of influence.

I'm a person of power. But instead he says, no, I'm not

boasting what I've seen. I'm not boasting about my own

abilities. In fact, he says, I will not

boast about myself except about my weakness.

See the world, the people around you, us, if we're honest, we

want power, we want influence so we don't have to be weak, so we

can escape weakness, so we can that we can be self reliant.

But Paul says, what does Paul say?

He should boast in? He boasts in weakness.

Let's have that again, Paul said, boasting weakness.

Paul boast in weakness. It seems like completely upside

down. Why would you boast in your

weakness? Now whilst having many

strengths, Paul did have weaknesses, mainly brought on

for the fact that he chose to follow Jesus.

Weaknesses. The weaknesses because he was,

he was mocked, he was ridiculed. He was on the path to be one of

the most influential people in all of Judah.

And then he follows Jesus and he is mocked, he is ridiculed.

He goes through times of hardship where not because he

chooses to, just because there isn't any.

He go. He goes for lack of food.

He says to the Philippians, he's persecuted because of his

beliefs. He goes through shipwrecks,

things which the Super apostles, if you can remember, mentioned

in this letter, would have said. That means that God is not on

your side having all these bad things happen to you,

struggling, suffering, having thing.

People say things like that having the weather against you

would mean that God is not on your side.

But Paul goes on to describe his weakness and boast in it.

He boasts in it actually, as well as these these hardships

that happen. It says that in the previous

chapter he says five times. I was flogged.

He had that. He he had the he was lashed.

He was tied down and lashed several times, which once alone

would have left the skin raw and scarred.

He would have gone through shock from loss of blood and the pain.

He would have experienced excessive dehydration but having

it done five times, the mass scarring would have produced

restricted movement in his back. It would have created nerve

damage and constant pain. It would have left his body so

traumatised that he probably would have suffered from from

weakness, fatigue, from infection because of it.

So why does he say I boast in these things?

Why does he say I boast? Because I am weak.

Like I said at the beginning, boasting, natural boasting, is

about pushing others down, to make us bigger, to make us look

more impressive than we are. And the reality is when we boast

about how amazing we are to the outside world, we're saying our

God isn't that impressive. God is still impressive, but

we're saying he's not. But when we boasts in our

weakness, and let's be fair, we're all weak, whether we admit

it or not, we're displaying that God is big, God is strong.

You see, the Apostle Paul, he planted numerous churches, he

wrote letters which saw massive impact in the gospel that still

has effect today. But he said, not I, Christ in

me. Do you think of Gideon?

Think of Gideon. Gideon is is charged by God to

raise up an army to fight against the the the invading

Midianite army. And he raised up this army,

which is tiny. But God looks at the army and

says you need to shrink that down.

You need to get rid of a load of people.

Why? Because I don't want you to

deceive yourself in thinking, in believing that when the

Midianites are defeated, it was because you're great.

I want you to completely wholeheartedly know that the

reason why the Midianites are going to be defeated isn't

because of you. It's because I'm great.

It's because God is great. You see, when we boast in our

weaknesses, when the world sees a rat, you know, we might we

want to be we're tempted so often that we want to be a

polished, pretty, got everything together church.

So the world will look at us and think, wow, how amazing are

they? I want to follow their gods,

which the reality is when we're real, when we should tell the

world that we're flawed and we're just as messed up as they

are, they go, oh, and God is still working through you.

I mean, I know you pretty well. He must be impressive.

God must be impressive. You see, the amazing thing is

none of us should desire, should want to suffer, None of us

should welcome suffering. But God uses suffering in a way

that only he can. He says here that he had a he

had a messenger thorn in the flesh from Satan.

But he goes on to say thank you. He goes on to say that the thorn

in the flesh was a messenger from Satan that God used for his

glory to stop Paul from becoming conceited, becoming prideful.

You see, we worship for gods who can do what only God can do,

that when evil comes, he can turn it for good, he can turn it

for good. Satan, thorns, weakness,

persecution, it does not come from God.

God allows it, but it comes from the enemy.

But God can take that, can take what the enemy wanted for evil

and turn it and use it for good. Because when we are made aware

of our weakness, when we are made aware of our sufferings,

we're made aware of the fact that we need gods.

I mean, how true is this of all of us that when things are going

great, when we don't need to worry about money, when everyone

seems to be happy, we ignore God, we don't think too whatever

about him, but as soon as thing goes wrong, we're like God, I

need you. I realise I'm not in control of

my life. I realise that I don't have it

all together. God, I need you see, see,

suffering shows us that we're not self-sufficient, that we're

not ultimately in control, that we need God's.

But that does not mean that we welcome it.

It doesn't mean that we, we, we thank God for our suffering.

Actually, what does Paul do? Actually, it says it says that.

What does Paul do? It says 3 * 3 * I pleaded with

the Lord to take, to take this suffering, to take this thorn

away from me. Since he pleaded, he's not just

walking on the road going. This is really annoying, this

pain. God, if you wouldn't mind, you

take it from me. No, no, he's, he's down on his

knees. He's begging God.

God, I need this to change. God, I need you to work in my

life. God, I need you to provide.

Look, God, I need you to take this pain from me.

Look, God, I need you to take this from me.

Whatever it was, we don't know, but God, take it away from me.

You see, when someone is suffering, whether it's you or

someone else, if you remember back to what Jeff brought a few

weeks before Christmas, we do not believe in karma.

We do not believe in karma, that if someone is suffering, if

you're suffering, it's because you've angered gods.

Now karma teaches you do good, God does good to you, you do

bad, God does bad to you. No, the gospel teaches you do

good, you do bad, but God always does good.

God always does good to us. So therefore, what do we do when

we're suffering? What do we do when we see

someone who's suffering? A friend, a brother, a sister, a

stranger on the street? We follow Paul's example and we

pray for that thorn to be taken. We pray that God would heal.

We pray that God would sort out whatever situation that is.

And we pray over and over and over and over again, you know,

and sometimes we've seen it here many times.

God says yes, and that situation has changed.

That person is healed. Sometimes he says just wait a

bit and sometimes he says exactly what he says to Paul

here. He says I've got something

better for you. He says my grace is sufficient

for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

God, please, please heal me. God, take away this storm from

me, Paul, I've got something better for you.

I'm not going to heal you, but I'm going to use your suffering

to display my power in a way that is going to magnify how

great I am. But I'm not going to leave you

in that. I'm going to give you the grace

to continue every single day. See, when we meet people, when

we ourselves are suffering, we pray for God to heal, we pray

for God to act, but we also need to pray for the grace to

continue, for the grace to move on.

You see, there are many of you suffering here.

And I want to pray for you before we go today and pray and

believe that God will and does heal.

But God is looking for a people who don't say, I will worship

you once I've been made better. I'll serve when I'm not feeling

so tired. I'll come early and help set up

or do the tea and coffee or help with the kids.

When everything, when you've acted in my life and made

everything good for me, God, then I'll help.

No, no, God's looking for a people who say whether you heal

me or not, whether you make things in my life better or not

by the grace of God or I'm going to give my all for your Kingdom.

And in that way he gets the glory either way, because you

get healed, he gets the glory, Your situation changes, the

impossible happens, God gets the glory.

It doesn't. But you serve.

You participate in building his Kingdom.

The world looks at you and says, wow, you must serve an amazing

God because you're willing to serve him even through the pain,

even through the suffering. What do you do when Satan throws

some thorns at you? How do you respond?

Do you mope? Do you get angry?

Do you hate the world? Do you wish to die?

I've done all of them, so I'm not preaching down to anyone.

Do you get bitter or do you ask for His grace to continue?

See. In weakness.

In weakness, in suffering, we have a privilege to serve God.

You see, we as we suffer, we have a privilege to serve God

like we'll never have again. One day, maybe today, maybe

later on, maybe at the end of time, but one day all sickness,

all suffering will cease and you will worship God forever and

ever. But it's only now that you get

the privilege of being able to worship gods through the muck.

You get to be a witness to others, to see you worshipping

God despite illness, chronic illness, despite situations that

are rubbish in our lives. You see, Satan sends sickness,

he sends thorns, he sends things against us so that we might

become bitter, so that we may not, so we may give up.

So we so we use it as an excuse not to serve, not to work in his

Kingdom. But when we worship God through

that, when we choose to build his Kingdom despite it, we are

heaping burning coals, the Bible says upon our enemies heads.

We are frustrating Him because we are using the very thing he

has sent against us to make us stumble.

We're using that to greater glorify God.

See, it's all because of grace. It's all because of grace.

He heals. He changes your situation.

It's grace. It's not because you were good

and don't believe the lie. OK, we all tell ourselves this.

You have a good week. God's happy with me.

You have a bad week. God's angry with me.

No, no, God heals. God gives you a good week.

God makes amazing things happen in your life today.

Praise God. It's because of His grace.

Rubbish happens, sickness continues.

You praise God because of his grace.

It's all because of his grace. Just want to end by reading the

last few lines of the book of Two Corinthians.

It says finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice.

How do we rejoice by grace? I'm going to read this again

because you need warming up. OK, Finally, brothers and

sisters, rejoice. How do we rejoice by grace?

Strive for full, full restoration.

How do we strive by grace? Encourage one another.

How do we encourage one another? The answer is always by grace.

By the way. Be 1 Be one of mind.

Live in peace. How do we live in peace?

Yes. And the God and the God of love

and peace be with you. How is he with us?

By grace to greet one another with a holy kiss.

Love one another. All God's people here send their

greetings. May the grace, may the grace of

the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship

of the Holy Spirit be with you. By grace.

We're going to pray now. We're going to pray.

When I say we're going to pray, I mean we're going to pray.

You know, there's nothing more special about my prayers than

your prayers, OK? We all have a we all have a line

to Gods, OK? So if you are ill, if you have a

sickness, if you have something in your life that you need

moving, if you've got a thorn in your flesh, I'd love you to

raise your hand. And the people around you are

going to pray. And we're going to pray for God

to take that away. And we're going to pray.

And this isn't a lack of faith. We're going to pray in faith

that he takes it away. But we're also going to pray

that it if it goes or it doesn't go, that we would have the grace

to continue to glorify God no matter what happens.

So who needs something changing in their life?

Put your hands up, right? For those of you who don't have

your hands up, move forward and gather round.

Just sit next to these people who've got their hands up.

You don't need to ask them what what they want changing.

And we're going to pray that God will move in their lives, that

God has healed them.