Let's turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11.
Paul's authority as an apostle has been challenged
in the Corinthian church by certain Jewish
teachers who had come in behind Paul as
they so often did, seeking to put the
people under the bondage of legalism.
Knowing Paul as we do, we know the
emphasis of his ministry was the grace of
God.
And there were those who really could not
handle the grace of God as Paul taught
it.
And they would come in following Paul and
try to discredit Paul.
And they would seek to, as I said,
put the people under legalism.
Saying that you could not be a Christian
unless you were circumcised and were obedient to
the law of Moses.
And they espoused a righteousness through works, which
Paul disdained.
Preaching the righteousness which is through the faith
of Jesus Christ.
And so in order to bolster their own
position among the people, they would seek to
tear down Paul.
Now Paul was the one that founded the
church.
Paul went out and did the groundwork.
He was the one who went into a
heathen, pagan city and shared Christ with them
and brought the people into the glorious knowledge
of Jesus Christ.
These men were parasites.
They would come in after Paul and seek
to profit off of Paul's work, bringing the
people into bondage.
So they would bolster themselves.
They said, we're real Jews.
Paul isn't a real Jew.
We're the real Hebrews.
We're the real Israelites.
And the rabbis in those days would often
yell at their students and if they thought
they weren't getting a point, they would start
slapping them in the face.
And evidently some of these fellows were following
some of the typical rabbi customs.
For Paul will get to that in a
moment as he talks about his ministry and
the difference between his ministry and those who
came in after him.
Now having put Paul down, trying to destroy
Paul's credibility, Paul feels that it is necessary
that he reestablish his credibility, though it shouldn't
be necessary.
That he should answer some of the charges
that these persons had made against him and
against his own character.
And so Paul says, I wish that you
could bear with my folly for just a
moment and he talks about this boasting as
folly.
This boasting of the things that he endured
for Christ.
It was forced upon him.
He really didn't delight in waving his own
banner.
But it was something that was necessary because
of the way that these false teachers were
trying to build their own stock by tearing
Paul down.
So, I wish that you would bear with
my folly, Paul said, and indeed bear with
me.
So he makes a presumptive close here.
I wish you would do it.
For I am jealous over you with a
godly jealousy.
For I have espoused you to one husband
that I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ.
Now, marriage in those days was by arrangement.
And the parents would get together and say,
you know, you've got a pretty daughter, I've
got a handsome son, why don't we marry
your son and my son and your daughter.
There were three aspects to marriage.
There was first of all the engagement.
Now this could take place as early as
three or four years old.
You have friends, been friends for a long
time.
They've got a little girl, you've got a
little boy.
Well, why don't we marry them off when
they get old enough.
They're engaged to each other.
So little kids in kindergarten, who are you
engaged to, you know.
As they grew up and the time came
for them to get married, a year before
the marriage, they would enter into an espousal,
which was a total commitment, much as marriage.
It was necessary to get a divorce from
an espousal.
However, the marriage was not consummated until the
marriage ceremony.
It was during this year of espousal that
Mary conceived of the Holy Spirit, the child
Christ.
That's why it was such a problem with
Joseph.
Now, the espousal lasted for one year and
was more equivalent to our engagement period today,
where the commitment has been made, but not
yet consummated.
And then of course, the seven day wedding
ceremony and the conclusion of the seven day
wedding ceremony, the consummation of the marriage.
So, Paul is talking now as a father.
And I have espoused you.
I'm your spiritual father.
You came to know Jesus Christ through my
ministry among you.
I have a jealousy for you, like a
father has for his own child, for his
own daughter.
And I have espoused you unto Jesus Christ
and it is my desire to present you
unto Him a chaste virgin.
They had some interesting customs with their marriage.
When the marriage was consummated, then they would
have to show what they called the tokens
of virginity.
The father would keep this as proof in
years to come that his daughter was a
virgin.
It was an extremely important thing.
In fact, just the other day in Israel,
a girl was put to death by her
family because she had relations with a boy
before she was married.
And the family honors was at stake and
they put the daughter to death.
It's a Bedouin tribe.
They're carrying on the old customs from way
back.
And it's very severe.
And the Bedouins still practice this today.
If a girl is not a virgin when
she is married, then that comes back on
the family, the honor of the family and
the father, because it's the father's responsibility to
make sure that she remains a virgin until
the time of her marriage.
And I mean, they take that as an
awesome kind of a responsibility and an honor
thing.
And to them, that is so very important.
And so, Paul says, Hey, I'm like a
father.
I'm jealous for you.
My desire is that I present you unto
Jesus, unto Christ, as a chaste virgin.
Don't want you corrupted by these other teachings
and by these other teachers being led away
into another Jesus, another gospel.
I've sought to keep it pure.
I've sought to keep you pure in the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
But I fear, lest by any means, even
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety,
so your mind should be corrupted from the
simplicity that is in Christ.
It is so difficult to keep the gospel
simple.
There are always men who are wanting to
complicate it.
And all you have to do is go
around and look at the way men have
complicated the gospel.
A couple of weeks ago on Sunday morning,
I was standing in the old city of
Jerusalem just inside the Jaffa Gate and we
were haggling with one of the shopkeepers there.
And I heard this karoom, karoom, karoom.
And naturally I looked up to see what
was going on.
And here's this solemn looking guy.
Looked like, man, he had a sour stomach
or something.
I mean, just looked awesome.
Fierce.
Sour.
Had this golden cane.
Big red hat on top of his head.
Black robe.
Walking down this little narrow street there in
Jerusalem, the old city.
Taking this cane and popping it on the
rock sidewalk as he was coming down.
Kapom, kapom, kapom.
And behind him, these guys in their black
robes and black hats and all looking just
very somber, sober, marching in cadence to this
karoom, karoom, karoom.
And here they're marching to church.
They're going to officiate in the services.
And the shopkeeper said, well, there go the
Christians to church this morning.
Sour, mean looking, fierce, awesome things.
The guys were walking four abreast and in
a line of about, oh, I suppose there's
four lines, four abreast.
Everyone just, you know, and this guy, kapom,
kapom.
And there go the Christians.
Well, my feeling was if that's Christianity, I
don't want any.
They've made it so complicated.
You know, you've got to approach Christ this
complicated way.
But Paul said, oh, I'm jealous for you.
I wanted to present you in just the
purity.
I'm fearful lest someone has taken away from
you the beautiful simplicity that is in Christ.
Wherever we start to create our religious systems,
begin to create our hierarchies, I want to
show man that I'm higher than you.
So I wear a particular colored robe.
And my robe shows that, hey, I've got
one on you.
You know, I'm one above you.
And so I try to, I want everybody
to know how godly and important I am,
you know.
And so we start making these degrees and
these systems and we get so far removed
from the simplicity that is in Christ.
How I love kindergarten.
How I love to go and sit in
the classroom and just listen to the little
children talk about God.
The simplicity of their faith.
The simplicity and the openness of their love.
Oh, their theology may be mixed up a
little bit.
On the first morning when the voice came
over the speaker in the kindergarten class, they're
all sitting there and suddenly the voice on
the speaker says, Attention please!
One little kid says, Is that God?
But oh, how I love the simplicity.
I'm thankful that God made me a simple
person.
Not all complex.
Paul had a great fear that these people
were coming in and laying all kinds of
regulations.
All kinds of rules.
And hey, the other day in Israel we
were sitting in a restaurant and in the
corner there was this silver bowl with a
little silver ladle and all.
And this fellow came in and he went
over there and he took the thing and
he washed it.
And if you don't do it the right
way and the right number of times and
the right way and all, then you're not
really clean.
You just can't go in and take soap
and water and wash your hands and dry
it on a towel.
That's not clean.
You've got to get into this little routine
of doing it just a particular way.
And so here were these beautiful, simple babes
in Christ in Corinth.
They were trusting and believing in Jesus Christ,
loving the Lord, having a glorious time, and
then these teachers come in and start laying
all kinds of rules on them, all kinds
of regulations, and taking them away from the
simplicity that is in Corinth.
For if he that comes preaches another Jesus
whom we have not preached, or if ye
receive another Spirit which ye have not received,
or another Gospel which you have not accepted,
ye might well bear with him.
Preaching another Jesus.
Preaching another Gospel.
There are a lot of people who have
taken the terminology and redefined it in
order to confuse and deceive.
For instance, the Mormons talk about their faith
in Jesus Christ.
Their belief that He is the Son of
God.
That He died for their sins.
That He is their Savior.
And to listen to them talk, you would
say, well, we believe the same thing.
However, the Jesus that they believe in was
the brother of Lucifer.
And they believe that God desired to redeem
the world, and so He had a divine
counsel, and Lucifer came up with a plan
of redemption.
And His brother Jesus also came up with
a plan of redemption.
And the Father chose the plan of Jesus
over Lucifer, and that made Him so mad
He came down to disrupt the whole plan
of redemption that Jesus had.
And this is even worked out in pageantry
within their ceremonies within the temple.
This big argument between Jesus and His brother
Lucifer over the redemptive plan.
Well, that's another Jesus than the Bible speaks
about who is the only begotten Son of
God.
So you've got talking about Jesus, but what
Jesus is it?
You talk about God, but what God is
it?
When you're talking about God, are you talking
about Adam, who Brigham Young said is our
only God with whom we have to do?
The one who impregnated Eve?
Now, the Mormons today really disclaim, and it
should be declared that they do disclaim Brigham
Young's Adam-God theory.
They disclaim that, and it's only honest to
admit that they disclaim the Adam-God theory.
They do not disclaim Jesus, the brother of
Lucifer.
But the interesting thing is they don't realize
that Brigham Young was actually following basic Mormon
doctrine when he declared that Adam was our
God.
Four, what is the goal of the Mormon?
If you're faithful, if your marriage is sealed
in the temple, you remain a faithful Mormon,
you and your wife will become gods, and
you will have your own planet, and you'll
be able to go out and populate your
own planet, begin your own experiment, and you
can oversee your own planet, and you will
be the god over that planet, and we
other nice people will be your angels and
have to wait upon you and take care
of the menial details.
That's Mormon doctrine.
The ascension to godhood.
Now, what did Brigham Young do?
He took the doctrine one step backwards.
In other words, why should we believe that
it only started 6,000 years ago with
Adam and Eve?
You see, Adam was a good, faithful Mormon
on another planet somewhere.
He and his wife were sealed in marriage,
and so he came with one of his
celestial wives, Eve, and they began to populate
the earth.
And Brigham Young only took the Mormon doctrine
one step backwards.
They're abhorred at the thought Adam is our
god, but it's only their very doctrine that
they espouse taking back a step instead of
forward a step.
Brigham Young was just going back.
You see, all of us are progressing, if
we are Mormons, into godhead or into godhood.
Becoming gods.
It seems to me that I remember someplace
elsewhere, someone was told that they would become
a god if they would only eat the
fruit that God said don't.
Preaching another Jesus.
Coming by subtlety.
Leading them away from the simplicity in Christ.
So, Paul said, I suppose I was not
a wit behind the very chiefest apostles.
In other words, I really don't have to
take a second seat to anybody.
They had accused Paul of being rude in
his speech.
His speech, they said, is contemptible.
He writes powerful letters, but his speech is
contemptible.
His presence is, you know, he's a puny
little runt.
So, he said, though I am rude in
speech, yet I'm not in knowledge.
But we have been thoroughly made manifest among
you in all things.
In other words, I've been wide open with
you folks.
I have not been clever and tried to
hide things and live a double standard.
Have I committed an offense in abasing myself
that you might be exalted?
I didn't come in as some big shot.
I didn't come in, you know, with apostolic
authority and ordering people around and all.
I came in as a servant.
I came in just, you know, in simplicity
of speech and manner and all, though I'm
not in knowledge.
I know better, but deliberately I was that
way among you.
I didn't exalt myself.
Have I committed an offense in abasing myself
that you might be exalted?
Because I have preached to you the gospel
of God freely.
Now, the thing was, while Paul was in
Corinth, he refused to take an offering.
He did not allow them to support him.
His support came, some of it, from the
church in Philippi who sent offerings down to
him.
And when there was a need, he went
out and worked as a tent maker to
supply the needs.
So he said, hey, just because I didn't
take your money, I didn't rip you off.
You see, these guys that were coming in,
these teachers that were coming in, putting Paul
down, they were ripping the people off financially.
They had all kinds of give me gimmicks.
And just fleecing the flock of God.
And yet, putting Paul down.
Paul said, I robbed other churches taking the
wages from them in order to serve you.
Now, he doesn't mean literally robbed the other
churches, but he was receiving offerings that they
had sent to him to support himself while
he was ministering to those in Corinth.
And when I was present with you and
I was in need, I was not chargeable
to any man for that which was lacking
to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia
supplied, and in all things I've kept myself
from being a burden to you, and so
I will keep myself.
As the truth of Christ is in me,
no man shall stop me of this boasting
in the regions of Achaia.
You can't say that I came down there
and laid a heavy I need help trip
on you.
That I came down there to fleece you.
That I came down to take advantage of
you.
Because I didn't receive anything from you.
Wherefore, why is this?
Because I love you not.
Oh, come on.
God knows, Paul says.
But what I do, that I will do,
that I may cut off the occasion from
them which desire or are looking for an
occasion.
That wherein they glory, they may be found
even as I am.
In other words, I've done this and those
that are speaking against me, I'd like to
see them do the same thing.
You know, if they're really hot shot apostles
like they say they are.
If they're really all they say, let them
do like I did.
Let them not take anything from you.
See how long they'll stick around if you
don't support them anymore.
See where the real love is.
You know, cut off their support.
For such are false apostles.
They are deceitful workers.
They transform themselves into the apostles of Christ.
But that's no marvel, for Satan himself is
transformed into an angel of light, and therefore
it's no great thing if his ministers also
be transformed as the ministers of righteousness whose
end shall be according to their works.
So these guys coming in with all these,
you know, big put-on kind of stuff,
acting so spiritual, acting so godly and all
of this.
I received a call yesterday, sort of a
desperate call from Guatemala.
Some guy has gone down there from the
United States with this manifestation of Sons of
God doctrine.
And he's introduced it and some of the
churches are just being ripped apart by this
pernicious doctrine.
The doctrine basically declares that we are going
to be manifested as the Sons of God
and that is what the Second Coming of
Jesus is.
He's not really coming literally, but he's coming
in the church and will be manifested through
the church and we will be the manifested
Sons of God.
We are the Second Coming of Christ.
As soon as we be manifested in glorious
power and, you know, we're suddenly going to
be supercharged, super saints, and we're going to
take over the world and it has a
lot of ego, kind of prideful kind of
stuff involved.
You know, hey, you're, you know, which country
you want to rule, you know.
And, you know, you're going to be dynamic
and you're going to be powerful and you're
going to be manifested and the whole world
is going to bow to you because they'll
see that you are indeed, you know, the
Son of God and all this kind of
stuff and the world is waiting for your
manifestation and all we have to do is
get perfect and then we can be manifested.
Oh, well, that puts it off for a
while, doesn't it?
If you want to know one of the
first ones in this area who began teaching
that, he is on Channel 56 every once
in a while.
He's got a golden altar and a big
crown and all.
His name is Oil Jaggers.
He's the one that began the teaching of
the Manifested Sons of God and there you
see one of the manifestations.
To me, it's an abomination, not a manifestation.
So they come on, angels of, you know,
as ministers of light, apostles and all, but
Paul said, no big deal, Satan himself transforms
himself or comes on as an angel of
light in order to deceive, so that his
ministers do.
It's no big deal.
I say again, don't think that I'm a
fool, but if you want to continue thinking
that, then accept me as a fool.
But I want to boast just a little
bit about myself.
You forced me to do it, so I
will.
Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I'll
glory also.
For you have allowed these fools gladly, seeing
that you are so wise.
I mean, well, he's got them now.
You know, you've been taken, you've been taken
in.
You've been a sucker.
These guys have taken you in.
You're so wise, you know.
And you've allowed these fools.
For you allow these men to bring you
into bondage.
If a man devours you, if a man
takes from you, and here they were ripping
him off.
If a man exalts himself, if he hits
you in the face, listen to me, man,
you know.
Give me your wallet, you know.
These guys you're accepting.
You're sucking.
You're suckers.
You're being taken in by them.
Paul said, I speak as concerning reproach as
though we had been weak, albeit whereinsoever any
is bold, and I am speaking foolishly.
Hey, these guys are bold.
I'm bold also.
These guys, are they Hebrews?
So am I.
Are they Israelites?
So am I.
Are they the seed of Abraham?
So am I.
Are they the ministers of Christ?
I speak as a fool.
I am more.
In labors more abundant.
In stripes above measure.
In prisons more frequent.
In deaths or facing death many times.
Of the Jews five times, I received forty
stripes save one.
Thrice I was beaten with rods.
Once I was stoned.
Three times I suffered a shipwreck.
A night and a day I've been out
in the ocean.
In journeyings often.
In perils of waters.
In perils of robbers.
In perils of mine own countrymen.
In perils by the heathen.
In perils in the city.
In perils in the wilderness.
In perils in the sea.
In perils among false brethren.
In weariness and painfulness.
In watchings often.
In hunger and in thirst.
And in fastings often.
In cold and in nakedness.
Beside those things that are without which cometh
upon me daily the care of all the
churches.
Who is weak?
I'm not weak.
Who is offended?
Hey, I don't burn.
If I must needs glory, I will glory
of the things which concern my weaknesses.
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which is blessed forevermore, knows that I
am not lying.
In Damascus, the governor under Aretas, the king,
kept the city of Damascus with a garrison
desiring to arrest me and they let me
out through a window in a basket and
I was let down by the wall and
I escaped out of their hands.
Now, this shows how incomplete is the record
of the book of Acts.
For Paul was writing this epistle to the
Corinthians from Ephesus at the time in the
book of Acts of the 19th chapter.
And by the time you get to the
19th chapter, only about three of these things
that Paul has listed or mentioned.
But all of these things happened before the
19th chapter of Acts.
So, you see how incomplete the record of
Acts actually is.
It just sort of hit highlights.
Paul is giving you a little more of
the things that he went through.
It tells us a little bit of what
Paul told us of the stoning at Lystra
and a few of these things.
But, man, what this guy went through to
share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people
who have never heard.
You think that you've really done something for
the Lord, huh?
You've really sacrificed for God.
You've really made a commitment.
Hey, look at this guy.
I love Paul.
In fact, he's one of the first guys
I'm going to look up when I get
there.
I'm not just going to go up and
introduce myself.
I'm just going to go up and stand
around and listen for a while to this
guy.
I'm anxious to meet him.
He's been sort of a role model for
me.
However, I haven't come anywhere.
I mean, I don't even belong in the
same league.
I'm Bush league.
This guy's a major leader.
What commitment?
Forced, really, to share these things.
If it had not happened, we wouldn't have
known all these things about Paul.
But he felt it necessary.
These guys were saying, Hey, we're Jews.
We're this, we're that.
And Paul said, hey, they think there's something.
I've got them beat hands down.
If that's what you're looking for.
It is not necessary for me to glory,
but I will come to visions and revelations
of the Lord.
Now, I knew a man in Christ about
14 years ago or over 14 years ago.
And whether in the body, I cannot tell
or whether out of the body, I cannot
tell.
God knows.
But such a one was caught up to
the third heaven.
Now, I've heard preachers talk about Paul's out
of the body experience.
And they said that he had one of
these out of the body experiences.
Well, that's interesting that they know that Paul
didn't know himself and it happened to him.
Paul said, I really don't know if I
was in the body or out of the
body.
Now, if you go back 14 years, you
come back to Paul's stoning at Lystra.
And it is possibly this very experience that
Paul is talking about.
You remember that they stoned Paul at Lystra
and they drug him out of the city
thinking that he was dead and his friends
stood around him weeping.
They thought, oh, poor old Paul.
He's had it, you know.
His limp body lying there and the guys
had gone home who threw the stones.
They said, hey, we've killed him.
We got rid of that guy now.
And his friends are there crying.
And suddenly, Paul's eyes begin to flutter and
he gets up and he says, hey, let's
go back and preach.
Paul, you've got to be crazy.
Now, it is possible that Paul actually was
dead and that his spirit was taken up
into heaven at that point.
And it could be that he is referring,
it was about 14 years, a little over
14 years before he had written this epistle,
that he says, I knew this man in
Christ just a little over 14 years ago.
And whether he was in the body or
out of the body, I don't know.
Whether or not I was actually dead or
alive is what he is declaring.
I may have been dead and actually had
an out-of-body experience.
I know that my spirit went into heaven.
I don't know if I was really dead
or alive.
I don't know that.
But I know that my spirit went into
heaven.
Now, it brings up an interesting point.
The fact that Paul didn't know if he
were dead or alive, but he did know
that his spirit was in heaven consciously there
hearing things that were so glorious it would
be a crime to try to describe them.
Shows that the spirit immediately is there in
a conscious state in heaven when you are
dead.
Paul said, I don't know if I was
dead or alive.
If at death you went into a slumber
state, then Paul said, well, I had a
glorious vision.
I couldn't have been dead because I knew
what was going on.
But in reality he is saying, I don't
know if I was dead or alive.
What I do know is I was caught
up to the third heaven.
Whether in the body or out of the
body, I don't know.
But I do know I was caught up.
And I knew such a man, whether in
the body or out of the body, I
cannot tell, God knows, how that he was
caught up into paradise.
Remember Jesus said, today you will be with
me in paradise.
And I heard unspeakable words which is not
lawful for a man to utter or which
is more literally a crime to try to
describe.
There is no language.
There are no words that can describe the
experiences that I had.
I read once of a little girl who
was blind, but the problem was not irreparable.
And a great physician performed a series of
operations on her eyes.
And they were taking the bandages off slowly,
a few at a time to allow more
light to penetrate to the optic nerves until
finally they took off the last bandages.
And the little girl sitting there on her
mother's lap as the bandages were removed looked
around for the first time could see her
mother's face, the doctor's face, the room.
She got off of her mother's lap, walked
over to the window, looked outside, saw the
blue sky, the green grass, the flowers, the
trees, the children playing.
She burst into tears, came running back to
her mother, fell into her arms sobbing.
Her mother said, what's happened?
What's wrong?
She said, oh mommy, why did you tell
me it was this beautiful?
She said, well sweetheart, I tried, but it's
just hard to describe in words the colors,
the clouds, the sky.
I did my best.
When we get to heaven, we'll go up
to Paul and say, Paul, you were here,
why didn't you tell us it was this
beautiful?
I told you, man.
It would be a crime to try and
describe it.
There are no words that can describe the
glory, the beauty.
You know, it's because of our misconception of
heaven or lack of faith that we grieve
over the Christians who died.
Oh, what a shame.
He had his whole life in front of
him, you know.
He was so young.
What a shame.
Oh, oh.
What a blessing.
He doesn't have to go through this cruddy
world.
You know, if you really understood heaven, the
glories that we should weep over someone's gone,
no, weep for yourself, because you're still around.
But don't weep for them.
That's foolishness.
Caught up in the paradise.
I heard these things, these words.
It would be a crime to try and
utter them.
And of such a one will I glory,
yet not of myself, but in my weaknesses.
For though I would desire to glory, I
will not be a fool, for I will
tell you the truth.
But now I'm holding back, lest any man
should think of me above that which he
sees me to be or that which he
hears of me.
I don't want you to think, I don't
want you to think that I'm something or
somebody.
Because God has done all of this for
me that I'm something special.
Paul wasn't trying to elevate himself in their
eyes.
He was forced to just defend his place
because the truth that he proclaimed was being
challenged.
And that's the only reason why he was
declaring these things to them because the truth
was standing in jeopardy.
But he said, I'll tell you what I
really glory, and I glory in my weaknesses.
Unless I should be exalted above measure because
of the abundance of revelations there was given
to me a thorn in the flesh, a
messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I
should be exalted above measure.
So Paul here now makes reference to this
thorn in the flesh and the Greek word
is actually a stake or a tent stake.
Now, when those Bedouins set up their tents,
which incidentally is the job of the woman.
The men don't even know how to handle
them.
They don't know how to set a tent
up.
They can make good coffee, but they don't
know anything about setting up a tent.
That's a woman's job.
Women have to take down the tents, carry
the tents, and set up the tents when
the guy decides to move a bit.
Of course, he has to determine when it's
time to move.
That's his job.
Not enough green grass here for our sheep.
We better move along, you know.
And he determines where they'll pitch the tent.
But then it's the woman's job.
But out there in the wilderness, I mean,
they really get some good howling winds, so
they take these tent stakes, about 18 inches
long or so, and they drive these tent
stakes in to hold the tents against those
desert winds.
Paul said, there was this tent stake in
my flesh.
Man, a spike near this stake, really.
Not a thorn, not a little irritant.
Hey, this thing was really major.
There was given to me.
Interesting statement.
Now I'm sure that as Paul was praying
that it be removed, he didn't know that
it was given to him.
That's something he discovered in prayer.
This thorn in his flesh, whatever it is,
and God doesn't tell us what it is,
and I think that that is deliberate, that
it wasn't told us what the thorn in
the flesh was.
There are hints.
There are those who have made their guesses.
Some believe it was an oriental eye disease
that made Paul very repulsive to look at.
Some believe that it was malaria fever, a
special form that they have around Asia there
that so incapacitated him and left him with
constant migraine headaches.
There have been all kinds of guesses, but
we don't know.
The Scripture is silent, and so it's only
guesswork.
And really, you're better off if the Scripture
is silent, that you remain silent.
I believe that God deliberately didn't let us
know what his thorn in the flesh was
because any of us who have any thorn
in the flesh can relate to Paul and
relate to his experience.
You see, if we knew exactly what it
was, we'd say, well, that's Paul, but mine's
different.
God could do it for Paul, but you
see, mine is so different than Paul's.
The fact that we don't know, we can
all relate to it because it was a
bothersome thing.
It was a painful thing.
It was a weakness.
He calls it an infirmity, and we have
the word infirmary, infirmity.
They're both the same root.
An infirmary is a hospital, a place where
the sick people are taken.
And so Paul talks about this infirmity, a
weakness, an ailment, whatever it was.
There was this messenger of Satan buffeting him,
but Paul discovered that there was given unto
me.
In other words, he discovered that there was
a divine purpose for it.
It was something that God had allowed in
his life.
Now, three times Paul said, I sought God,
that he would remove it.
Asking God to take away that very thing
that God had brought to him, that it
might depart from me.
And he said unto me, my grace is
sufficient for you, for my strength is made
perfect in weakness.
So, Paul came by the Spirit to a
totally new attitude towards this thorn in his
flesh.
Where at one time he was praying to
be delivered.
No longer was he praying to be delivered,
but now he speaks about, I glory in
it.
Therefore, I will glory in this weakness.
Because God's strength is made perfect in my
weakness, I will glory in the weakness that
God's power might be manifested in my life.
And then he says, I take pleasure in
this weakness.
In the reproaches, in the necessities, in the
persecutions, in the distresses for Christ's sake.
For when I am weak, then I am
strong.
Why?
Because I am now experiencing God's strength.
So, the way that Paul dealt with the
thorn in the flesh.
You see, God didn't answer his prayer as
he prayed it.
Because God is sovereign.
God doesn't have to answer my prayers as
I pray them.
God is not a genie.
He isn't there to fulfill three wishes.
He isn't there to bow to my demands.
I'm not running the universe.
And if I have good sense, I won't
even seek to run my own life.
But I will commit the keeping of my
life to Him.
I will commit my destiny to Him.
I will seek His guidance and His direction.
A man is a fool who tries to
direct God to condescend to his will, to
his demands.
What do I know?
What do I understand of the things that
are going on around me?
I see such a minuscule part of the
total picture.
I have been so mistaken in my judgment
on issues because I didn't know the whole
truth.
And when I knew the whole truth, I
was so embarrassed by what I said.
Oh, look what I did.
Do you know what I did?
Now I found out the whole truth.
I told that guy off.
I told him how stupid he is.
And he's the judge I have to face
next week.
Man, if I'd only known!
And so here I am, so limited in
my understanding.
I'm saying, alright, now God, this is what
I want You to do.
And if You want me to keep serving
You, You better do it.
I won't believe in You anymore.
If You don't come through on this one,
Lord, forget me.
And here we're trying to twist God's arm
and force God and cause God to bend
to our wills.
Paul prayed.
He got an answer.
It wasn't the answer that he was praying
for.
Many times this is true.
God doesn't give us what we ask for
because He has something better.
And what God had for Paul was a
greater revelation of Himself.
Paul, no matter what you're going through, my
grace is sufficient for you.
I'm going to see you through, Paul.
My grace is sufficient for you.
And my strength will be made perfect in
your weakness.
Now, you see, this new revelation gave Paul
a totally new attitude towards the thorn.
Rather than complaining and griping and saying, oh
God, take it away!
God, remove this thing!
He says, alright, glory in that thorn.
Because through it, I've come to a deeper
relationship with God where I know more of
His power in my life than I've ever
known before.
A messenger of Satan to buffet me, but
God has turned it into an instrument of
His to bring me into a greater experience
of God's power working in my life.
And so I take pleasure in this weakness.
Because when I am weak, then I'm really
strong.
The changed attitude that came to Paul through
prayer.
And many times that's the greatest effect of
prayer.
And the greatest answer to prayer is not
the taking us out of the circumstance, but
God's all-sufficient grace taking us through the
circumstance with great victory in our hearts.
A far greater witness to the world that
if in going through this trial, in going
through it, that I maintain a happy, joyful
spirit of victory in my heart.
That's a far greater witness than if I
forced God to come to my rescue and
save me out of this dilemma.
Paul said, I've become a fool in glorying,
but You forced me to do it.
For really, all the while, You should be
commending me.
You're forcing me to commend myself.
But I should have been commended by You.
For in nothing am I behind the very
chiefest apostles, though I am nothing.
Interesting, isn't it?
Hey, I'm not behind any of those chief
apostles, but I'm nothing.
God help us to realize that.
We're all nothing.
And when you think you're something, then you've
deceived yourself, and you're in a dangerous position.
When you begin to think that you are
something.
God said, My grace is sufficient for you,
Paul.
Whatever God does for you, He does on
the basis of His grace.
Not because you deserve it, but because He
is so loving and kind.
And thus, each of us can experience the
all-sufficient grace of God.
Because none of us deserve it.
It gives God the opportunity to work.
Truly, the signs of an apostle were wrought
among you in all patience, in the signs
and in the wonders and in the mighty
deeds.
Now, Paul here declares that a mark of
the apostle was really the gift of miracles.
There were signs and wonders and mighty deeds.
This was a part of the credentials, you
might say, of an apostle in those days.
That's one of the things that they look
for in an apostle, that they have these
mighty deeds wrought through their ministry.
For what is it wherein ye were inferior
to other churches, except it be that I
Myself was not a burden to you?
Forgive me, that's wrong.
The only thing that you were inferior to
other churches is that you didn't give any
money.
I mean, you didn't support me.
So forgive me, that's wrong.
But behold, I'm going to come to you
the third time.
And I won't be a burden to you
this time either.
For I do not seek what you have,
but I seek you.
I love that.
I'm not here because I'm wanting to be
enriched.
I'm here because I love you.
I don't want your possessions.
I want you.
For the children ought not to lay up
for the parents, but the parents for the
children.
You know, I shouldn't be inheriting from my
kids.
They should be inheriting from me.
I should be laying up for them.
I shouldn't go and say, Hey son, I
really need some help this week.
Can you help old man out, you know?
They do.
They follow this.
They believe this scripture.
They come and say, Dad, can you help
me out?
That's the way it should be, and I
love it.
And I will very gladly spend and be
spent for you.
I love that.
Don't you love this attitude of Paul towards
him?
Hey, I don't want what you've got.
I want you.
And I'm glad to spend and be spent
for you.
As a parent, I want to lay up
for you.
You don't need to lay up anything for
me.
I will very gladly spend and be spent
for you.
Though it's interesting, there's a paradox.
The more I love you, the less it
seems that you love me, the less that
I'd be loved.
But be that so, I did not burden
you.
Nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.
Now, did I seek to make gain of
you by any of those that I sent
to you?
I desired that Titus, with a brother, come
to you.
Did Titus take advantage of you, make gain
of you?
Did he not walk in the same spirit?
Did we not walk in the same steps?
Again, think ye that we are excusing ourselves
unto you.
We speak before God in Christ, but we
do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.
We are there and our desire is to
build you up.
Our whole purpose is to build you up.
You know, there is a subtle philosophy of
ministry that is extremely important.
And many people don't catch it.
You know, there are many people that come
here from all over the world to discover
the secret of Calvary Chapel.
They want to, you know, find the secret
and go back and do the same thing
in their communities.
And they sit for a couple services and
they get hold of Romaine and say, what's
your secret?
And he says, we don't have any.
Oh, come on.
You know, you can tell us.
There is a subtle thing here, though.
People usually don't catch it.
But Paul mentions it here.
There are many ministries that exist for the
purpose of being ministered to.
There are many radio programs that exist for
the purpose of being ministered to.
Now, folks, we want you to write in
this week.
We need your help.
And we're going to be going off the
air if you don't support this ministry.
This ministry is supported by God's people.
And they're always presenting their needs and they're
seeking to get you to minister to their
needs.
And they exist to be ministered to by
the people.
That was not Paul's ministry.
Paul's whole purpose was to minister to the
people.
Not to take from them, but to give
to them.
And so that is the philosophy upon which
we founded Calvary Chapel.
To give to the people, to minister to
the people, not to seek to be ministered
to by the people.
And that is why you are never asked
to give.
We give you the opportunity if you so
desire to give.
And we say the ushers will come forward
and receive.
But we don't say, now folks, we ask
you not to give from the top of
your purse, but from the bottom of your
heart.
And all these clichés.
We don't do that kind of stuff.
It's there.
If you can give cheerfully and hilariously, fine.
If not, keep it.
And we're very open with this.
Because we are not here to be ministered
to.
We're here to minister.
We're not here to receive.
We're here to give.
And that's the basic philosophy behind the ministry.
And it was borrowed from Paul.
We seek to build you up.
For I fear that when I come, Paul
says, I'm not going to find you.
I'm coming again this third time, and I'm
afraid that I'm not going to find you
like I would like to find you.
And I'm afraid that you're going to find
me, not what you would like to see.
Lest there be debates, envyings, wraths and strifes
and backbitings and whisperings and swellings and tumults.
Unless when I come again, my God will
humble me among you and that I shall
be well many which have sinned already and
not repented of the uncleanness and the fornication
and the lasciviousness that they have committed.
Paul is saying, I'm afraid that when I
come, if things aren't straightened up, that I'm
going to really be bewailing you because God's
going to wipe some of you out.
Actually, what he's declaring.
He's talking about some of them will actually
be like Ananias and Sapphira.
You remember how God struck them dead?
And Paul is warning the Corinthians, unless you
clean up your act, I'm afraid that I'm
going to be standing at your funerals.
That the power of God's Spirit working through
my ministry and my life will really come
down heavy and hard and some of you
will die.
Several years ago, we were
approached by our supervisor to
take a pastorate out in the Chino area,
which we were rather reluctant to do.
It was a large church, but the pastor
who had been there who had founded the
church had gotten into some moral improprieties and
had to leave.
The people were shattered.
And the supervisor wanted me to go out
and to take that church and try to
pull it together.
And so, we went out and we spoke
at the church.
And other pastors went and spoke at the
church.
And the church was then to vote upon
receiving a pastor.
And I told the supervisor that I didn't
think that I was interested.
I had a smaller church, but I enjoyed
being where I was and the ministry I
had to those people.
And yet, in my heart, I sort of
felt that God was asking me to go
there.
That that was really God's will, but I
was trying to fight it because I didn't
necessarily care for the area to live, and
I enjoyed living where I was at the
time.
So, they were to have a church membership
meeting and to vote, and the supervisor said,
Well, would it be alright with you if
I left your name on the ballot as
they vote for their pastor?
Would it be alright with you if I
left your name on the ballot?
I said, Well, as long as I don't
have to go, you know, I still have
the option of not going.
He said, Yeah, I won't force you to
go, but I'd like to have your name
on the ballot.
So, I said to my wife, I said,
You know, we'll put a fleece out to
the Lord, and if, on the first ballot,
the church would vote unanimously to have me
as their pastor, then we'll know it's God's
will that I go.
I figured I was, you know, covering my
bases and sort of a cheating kind of
a thing, but I didn't really want to
go in my heart, but yet I felt,
you know, that God was saying go.
So, we received a phone call from the
chairman of the board, and he said, Pastor
Smith, he said, the church voted tonight for
their new pastor, and on the first ballot,
they voted unanimously to ask you to come
as their pastor.
And I said, Are you sure it was
unanimous?
He said, Yes.
I said to Kay, What do we do
now?
She said, Well, it looks like we better
go.
So, we prepared to go out there.
Well, the Wednesday night, before we were to
start on a Sunday, there was a lady
in the church who decided to get a
group of people together to support the pastor
who had to leave because of the moral
improprieties and to try to block our coming.
And so, she had started this little undercurrent
in the church, started calling people and started
this undercurrent in the church against us.
That Wednesday evening, prior to our going on
Sunday, she was struck by a car and
killed.
A very interesting thing because I definitely believe
it was a situation like with Paul.
I don't want to be grieving over you,
you know, if I come and find you
in these conditions and I find myself really
grieving over you.
God will deal severely if He has to
with His church and for His church.
And on other occasions, we have had things
like this happen.
Now, not that I'm a Paul or that
I'm anything, but it's God's work and a
person who dares to lay their hand against
God's work is really putting himself in a
very precarious position.
I wouldn't dare touch the work of God.
I could relate other similar stories that we
have seen.
But a person who takes upon himself to
touch the work of God is putting himself
in a very precarious position.
And Paul is warning them of this.
Now, he said, This is the third time
I'm going to come to you.
And in the mouth of two or three
witnesses shall every word be established.
For I told you before, and I'm telling
you again as though I was present with
you, the second time, and now being absent,
I'm writing to them, which heretofore have sinned,
and to all of the others, that when
I come again, I'm not going to spare.
I'm going to be really hard on you
this next time.
Since you seek a proof of Christ speaking
in me, which to you, word, is not
weak, but is mighty in you, for though
He was crucified through weakness, yet He lives
by the power of God, and we also
are weak in Him, but we will live
with Him by the power of God toward
you, so you better examine yourselves, whether you
be in the faith.
I mean, Paul is saying, Look, I'm going
to come, and it's going to be heavy.
I'm going to come, not in weakness, but
in the power of God's Spirit to deal
with the issues that are there in Corinth.
And so you better examine yourselves, because this
is going to be a heavy-duty thing
when I arrive.
You remember when Paul was on the aisle
and ministering to the governor, Sergius Paulius, and
the guy was listening and very interested, and
this sorcerer, Elymas, started to say things against
Paul, and Paul turned and said, God smite
you with blindness, man!
And immediately the guy was blind.
And everybody feared.
They said, Wow, what kind of a preacher
is this?
And they gave greater attendance to the Lord.
But Paul says, Hey, when I'm coming, I'm
coming in power.
Even Christ was crucified in weakness, but He
was raised in power.
And I'm weak in Christ, but hey, I'm
coming in the power.
And so you better examine yourself to see
if you be in the faith and prove
your own selves.
Know ye not your own selves how that
Jesus Christ is in you?
Unless you're a reprobate.
But I trust that you will know that
we're not reprobates.
Now I pray to God that you do
no evil.
Not that we should appear approved, but that
ye should do that which is honest, though
we be as reprobates, or you consider us
as reprobates.
For we can do nothing against the truth,
but only for the truth.
For we are glad when we are weak,
and you are strong.
And this also we wish.
I desire your perfection.
Isn't that glorious?
Here the guys are giving Paul a bad
time, speaking against them all, and yet his
heart towards them is that they might be
perfected.
He's longing.
He said, I wish that you were strong
and I was weak.
I desire your perfection.
Therefore, I am writing these things still absent,
lest when I am present, I should use
sharpness according to the power which the Lord
has given to me to edify and not
to destroy.
I don't want to come with the power
of destruction.
I want to come and build you up.
Finally, brethren, farewell.
Be perfect.
Okay.
The word there is fully matured.
Grow up.
Be of good comfort.
Be of one mind.
Live in peace.
And the God of love and peace shall
be with you.
So these beautiful little exhortations of Paul.
Be fully matured.
Be of good comfort.
Be of one mind.
Live in peace.
Greet one another with a holy kiss.
In some of the churches in the eastern
part of the world, in Greece and all
the Italy, you know, you go in and
the guys will kiss you on each cheek,
you know.
They still practice that in the church of
greeting one another with a holy kiss.
You walk in and they, ah, arrivederci, you
know.
Brethren, I can't quite handle it, but all
the saints salute you.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the love of God and the communion of
the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Notice the, ah, trinity here in Paul's benediction.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
love of God the Father, and the communion
of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
So Paul joins the Father, Son, and Spirit
in this benediction to the Corinthian epistle.
Shall we pray?
Thank you, Father, for your Word, a lamp
to our feet, a light to our path.
May we walk in His truth.
Help us, Father, help us to grow, help
us to become fully matured.
Help us, Lord, to walk in unity, to
walk in love, to live in peace.
Help us, Father, to experience your all-sufficient
grace so that we will learn, Lord, to
rejoice in tribulation, for we know that it
works patience.
Patience, experience, and experience hope, Lord, that we
might realize that you are in control of
those circumstances by which we are surrounded.
And so we just commit the keeping of
our souls to you through Jesus.
Amen.
Next week, the first two chapters of Galatians.
As we move along, it just gets gooder
and gooder.
So, do your homework.
Read Galatians this week.
Get your background.
So that as we gather together again next
Sunday night, we might again be enriched through
the Word of God, the love of Christ,
the power of the Spirit, that we might
grow up in all things in Christ Jesus,
becoming matured in our walk with Him.
May the Lord be with you, and may
His hand be upon you to bless you
through this week as you experience more and
more His love, His grace, working in your
life.
In Jesus' name.