Thank you, Alma, for choosing that hymn. Thank you so much. Turn to the text that I just read to you in your hearing in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. I've called it the sufficiency of God's grace. The sufficiency of God's grace. The church has come under great adversity in the past few weeks and months. But before we consider our text, we need to remind ourselves of the greatness of God's grace. Look at chapter 9 of this same book in verse 8, although it's in a different context. Look at verse 8. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you. that you always, having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. John MacArthur said this is the most magnanimous, comprehensive statement about grace in all of Holy Scripture. This is what it says, God is able, or as powerful as capable, making all grace abound to you in order that you have all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. An absolutely incredible, almost unfathomable statement. As John MacArthur said, it's filled with superlatives, all grace abounding, that having all sufficiency in all things, you have an abundance for all good deeds. Grace to understand the word of God, to wisely apply it. Grace to overcome temptation. Grace to overcome sin. Carol, Leanne, grace to endure suffering, grace to endure disappointments, grace to endure pain, grace to obey the Lord, grace to serve him, grace through all aspects of life. Is it any wonder that it calls down, verse 14, the exceeding, surpassing grace? Look at verse 14. And by their prayer for you, who long for you, because of the exceeding grace, exceeding grace of God in you. It surpasses every need and he says exceeding and then he cannot restrain himself. Look at verse 15. Thanks be to God for this indescribable gift. What a promise, what a gift. May I just add that we are in desperate need of grace. That there is, life is filled with trouble. Trouble filled with, life is filled with one disaster after another. Everybody struggles. We all struggle all our life to cope with problems. We struggle to be faithful, to be joyful, to be effective in serving Christ. And against all the other pressures that would take away our effectiveness, our joy, our useless, we are fallen. In fact, sometimes we have to admit that since we've become Christians, our trouble has increased. Of course, Jesus promised that. We have difficulty in life non-stop. Praise God that His grace is sufficient for all of our needs, great and small. We see that in the text before us this morning. The text opens up with Paul revealing a very unusual experience he had 14 years earlier. I don't think he's ever revealed this experience before the time of the writing of this letter. As a writing, these things are about an experience he still did not understand. The substance of the experience was that he was caught up into the third heaven. Look at verses 1 through 4 of chapter 12. It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago, whether in the body I do not know or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows, such a one was caught up into the third heaven. And I know such a man, whether out of the body or in the body, I do not know, God knows, how he was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words, which is not lawful for a man to utter. The third of heaven, of course, is paradise where God dwells. He heard things that were inexpressible, literally unspeakable words. It was a language that not like anything on the earth. In other words, he heard things that could not be communicated on earth. He understood it in the heavenly realm, but no earthly words existed to convey it. Not only were they inexpressible, but they were words that were unlawful for him to utter. Look at verse 4 again. Which is not lawful for a man to utter. I bring that out because all these people who are dying and going to heaven, They come back and tell you all the wonderful things they saw, all the wonderful things they heard. I just saw this the other day on the internet, where this woman died and went to heaven. And she's going to come write a book now and tell us all the wonderful things she heard. Paul says, what I heard you can't even describe on earth. And first of all, it's unlawful for me to even say what happened. Paul was very careful that the church of Corinth not accuse him of boasting about the experience. There were false prophets had entered into the church of Corinth, and they were seeking to tear down Paul and his ministry. They were saying that what he taught was not true, and attacked him over and over again. And the accusing of boasting of himself, and he goes out of his way to let him know that he don't want to boast about this. Look at verse 5 and 6. Of such a one I will boast, yet in myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool if I will speak the truth, but I refrain lest anyone should think of me above what he sees of me or hears from me. And to keep from being exalted above measure, to keep from being puffed up, he was given that which is called a thorn in the flesh. It's a messenger of Satan to buffet him and to rein in the great temptation to boast about his experience. The tendency is to consider the thorn in the flesh as some minor irritation like a pinprick that you get maybe from the roses. When I used to grow roses, they took a lot of care. It constantly had to tend them. And I would come away with scratches on my hands and arms and pieces of thorns in my flesh that I had to pull out. And we sort of think that's what Paul's talking about. Whatever it is, it's a lot bigger than that. In fact, the word literally means a stake. The thorn is a stake. He's talking about a long shaft of wood sharpened at the end used for express pursing of impaling someone. They were used to drive right through someone's chest. That's what he's talking about. A sharp wooden stake to impale someone. He said, I'm going through something right now that's like a stake driven right through me. Obviously, the thorn of the flesh is a metaphor of some great anguish, shame, or humiliation that corralled the apostle's tendency to vaunt himself to be swelled with pride. The fact is we do not know what Paul had precisely in mind by this storm. There's lots of speculations, but he doesn't tell us what it was. As a result of this, Paul pleaded with the Lord to remove it. Look at verse 8. Concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. I think it's interesting, first of all, just to look at this phrase, I entreated the Lord. It means a strong word used frequently in the Gospels for the appeal by the sick for Christ to heal them. It's a begging word. I begged God on three separate occasions and I asked him to eliminate this. To underscore how difficult the thorn in the flesh was, we need to remind ourselves some of the sufferings that Paul had been through previously. Yet there's no record that he ever pleaded with God to remove these. Look at chapter 11 and verse 16. We'll pick up the reading there. Chapter 11, I say again, let no one think me a fool, if otherwise at least receive me as a fool, that I may boast a little. I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were foolishness in the confidence of boasting. Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I will also boast. For you put up with fools gladly, since you yourselves are a fool. For you put up with it, if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes you, strikes you, exalts himself on your face. Are they Hebrew? Verse 22. Are they Hebrew? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? Are they ministers of Christ? I speak of a fool. I more in labor, more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews, five times, I received 40 stripes minus one. Three times, I was beaten with rods. Once, I was stoned. Three times, I was shipwrecked. At night and day, I've been in the deep, in journeys often, in perils and waters of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils of false brethren. in weariness and toil, sleeplessness, often hungry and thirsty, and fastings, often cold and naked. Beside all these things, what comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches. Whatever the thorn was, it was enough to bring Paul so low to humble him, to remind of his own inherited weakness in the flesh, and to keep his look toward God of a glorious grace. And we can be sure that Paul did not over spiritualize the thorn by having a great party to celebrate his arrival. He prayed three times, evidently in great anguish, for the Lord to remove the thorn. He tells us that the thorn is never something that we choose for ourself. It's never something comfortable or consoling. At the outset, there's no apparent value in it or advantage to it. It's something that you desire to get rid of, and you don't know what it's all about. You can't explain it. You wonder what God's doing to you. It may cause pain or humiliation or anguish. Then instead of answering Paul's prayer by taking away the thorn of the flesh, the Lord gives an insightful answer to Paul. Look at this in verse 9. And Carol and Leanne, I want you to hold on to this promise of Jesus. My strength is sufficient for you. My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul, I'm not going to take that thorn in the flesh away from you. I've allowed the devil to bring it so you can't be lifted up with pride because of this experience that you've had. And I'm not going to remove that thorn. I want you to learn a lesson that no matter how difficult life is, no matter what happens in your life, my grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. And Paul goes on to say then, therefore most gladly I would rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, and reproaches, and needs, and persecutions, and distresses. For Christ's sake, for when I'm weak, then I am strong." God's purpose, all through Satan's harassment, is our humility. John Piper said, Paul was in danger of pride and self-exaltation. And God took steps to keep him humble. This is an utterly strange thing of our self-saturated age. God thinks humility is more than comfort, is more important than comfort. Humility is more than freedom from pain. This is staggering in an age where everything focuses on comfort, security, and ease. yet God's purpose extend beyond this age in the age to come. He will give us a mountaintop experience in paradise in the age to come and then bring us through anguish of soul lest we think we have risen above the need for total reliance on His grace. So His purpose is our humility and lowliness and reliance on Him. In this case, grace is viewed as power, power to live for Christ, power to serve, power to worship, power to witness, power to witness temptation, power to remain faithful, power to exercise contentment. Yet the Lord is not pleased to remove the thorn. Then we must submit to his purposes and his glory and his good pleasure on our behalf. This is a messenger from Satan to torment him. Yet what seems to be a strange paradox, because God allowed Satan to bring it to humble Paul, but Satan never wants to humble us. He wants to exalt us with pride. And the Lord was able to take what Satan determined to lift Paul up with pride, to bring Paul down with humility. Like Job of old, the devil may have intended to destroy, but God has a greater purpose to bring us glory. Joff Thomas says, the thorn was a humiliating disability acting as a counterpoise to enforce the great truth that a Christian can only survive and achieve anything for God by a sense of his natural helplessness. God subjects us to a regimen of suffering because our usefulness is to be much greater. Well, in the midst of the suffering we learn four profound lessons. And let me give them to you. The one is obvious, we saw that with Paul. Lesson number one, God uses suffering to humble his children, verse 7. And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelation, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure." If God had not given him that thorn in the flesh, or allowed the devil to give him that thorn in the flesh, he said, I would be exalted above measure. The reason for his suffering was to keep him from exalting himself. Paul was a believer, he was the noblest of Christians, he was the most mature of Christians, yet pride still remained in his unredeemed flesh. He still had the body of sin attached to him. God's goal in the life of a believer is that believer's humility. Humility is the ultimate virtue, pride is the ultimate sin. All other sins stem from pride. That's why Luther was thrown out of heaven. Because he went and said, I'm going to be like the most high God. He was lifted up because of his beauty and his wisdom. The book of Isaiah and Ezekiel tells us. To be pure in spirit is not one thing more highly about oneself than we ought to think. Paul writing to the church at Philippi, that was one of his issues to bring out, that don't think more highly than you ought to think. Then he brings out the Lord Jesus Christ, who was willing to humble himself and become a man and live on this earth and humble himself and die on the cross for us. And he's saying that we need to humble ourselves. God humbled a man who otherwise would have been proud. So he says, he humbled me this way. This was given me by God. I will add, there was given me God a gift. He didn't ask for it. He didn't want it. He didn't like it. There are times when God, who is sovereign over Satan at all times, and sovereign over the demons at all times, uses Satan and demons for his own ends. God wants his children humbled to the degree that he, the sovereign Lord over every force in hell, will use them in humbling his own servants. So bless God for how he humbles us, embracing the suffering that humbles you, for he gives us grace to the humble, but he resists the proud. Someone says humility is a lightning rod for God's grace. Humility is a lightning rod for God's grace. Secondly, God uses suffering to draw us to Himself. Look at verse 8. Concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that He might depart from me. I think it's interesting, first of all, just to look at this. I entreated the Lord. As I said earlier, it's a strong word used in the Gospels. for those who are sick, pleading for God to heal them, Jesus to heal them. He was persistent. He goes to God, he comes back, and he goes back, he prays with faith. His prayer was persistent that he might be delivered from this. So here we learn a second lesson. Profound suffering has a very positive effect on our prayer life, or it should. But remember what we learned in Romans 8. Because I'm going to say one thing right now that probably Carol and Leanne are thinking about. Pastor Tom, I can't pray. I just can't pray. I try to read the Bible and I can't read the Bible. God knows that. And that's when the Holy Spirit intervenes and prays for us. Think about that. The Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that can't be uttered. What a wonderful God we have. The Holy Spirit prays for us. God the Father prays for us. Jesus prays for us. And pours out His grace upon us when we need it the most. And when you can't pray and can't read and you just can't concentrate, tell the Lord that He knows that. And eventually, he'll give you grace. He'll give you the strength. Don't give up. Remember our studies in the book of Hebrews. Don't cast away your faith. We have need of great endurance, even when we're going through hard times. Seek by God's grace to stay close to him. Seek out counsel from those that you love and those that you respect. Our prayers' lives are enriched when we enter into the richest, deepest, sweetest communion with the Lord, far more sweet than the prayer we offer in times of prosperity. Thirdly, God uses suffering to display His grace. Verse 9, He said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. And the point is God is suffering to put His grace on display. God answered not by removing the pain, not by removing the trouble, but increasing the grace, which then increases our confidence in our salvation in the presence of God and the goodness of God. It is these kinds of tests when we are experiencing enduring grace that produces assurance. He gave relief, but relief not by removing the problem, but pouring out his grace on Paul and on you when we need it. It's amazing when someone has been told they have a terminal illness, or a loved one has a terminal illness, One who walks with the Lord finds a flood of grace, the like of which they've never experienced before. As believers near the end of life, in illness you watch God. Just expand the grace until there's a certain joy and anticipation that overwhelms all the sense of loss. God wants to display His grace. He has a right to display His grace. He finds His glory in His grace. We see that with Tom Fox. Tom knows that his life is over. He knows that his life is brief. Yet he's praising God. When I visited him the other day, he said, I'm right where God wants me. And I want to remain obedient to Him until I die. And he's always willing to stand there and share the gospel with other people. He shared the gospel with many of the nurses and doctors when he was in the hospital. This is not a new idea. The wonderful Book of Living Imitations gives us insight into this third chapter. Jeremiah suffered much. Remember, you see, a few years ago we did a series on the life of Jeremiah. I can't believe the heartaches and the hardship that man went through. And he says in Lamentations 3.19, remember my affliction, my wandering, the wormwood and the gall. Then he says, my soul is bowed down within me. This is sad, and it's a remorse and grief and agony. But in verse 27, 21 he says, but this I recall to mind, and therefore I have hope. The Lord's loving kindness and deed never ceases. Loving kindness in the Old Testament is the word for grace. The Lord's loving kindness never ceases. His compassions are new every morn, and great is thy faithfulness. I know when I used to go to the gym, used to go, I'd walk in, they'd say, Tom, what's new? I said, God's mercies are new every morning. They'd say, oh, we knew you'd say that. But that's true. He said, the Lord is my portion. The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to a person who seeks him. So it is good that he waits silent for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke of his youth, let him sit alone and be silent since God has laid it on him. Sit there and be silent since God has brought about this trouble and wait quietly, silently for the faithfulness of God, the compassion of God. the loving-kindness of God to flood you. God said my grace is sufficient. I don't care what we go through, His grace is more than enough to get us through it, even when it seems like it's not. I just read Psalm 44 this morning, the first part of the psalm. The psalmist is talking about all the good things God has done for Israel. Then halfway through the psalm, the psalmist changes tune and he says, God, where are you? You don't go out with our armies anymore. Where is your loving kindness? Have you forgotten us? Have you received us? There'll be times when we feel like that. But he'd give us more grace when the labors grow greater. So fourthly, God uses suffering to perfect His power. We would all like to be powerful for the Lord. Look at verse 9. Now only is my grace sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. My grace just begins to operate in its fullness when you have none left. The suffering that humbles you, the suffering that draws you into my presence, the suffering that dispenses my grace is also the suffering that makes you powerful, it makes you strong. It's when you're broken. It's when you're at the end of your resources. It's when you have nothing in yourself to lean on or trust, that you cast yourself completely on me, that you may become greatly strengthened. You want to come to the end of yourself and begin to see the power of God released through His emptiness. Leanne and Carol, go over to the hymn we just sang, 707. I want you to see this last verse. This really speaks to what you two are going through and what Tom is going through. I know in talking to Leanne, she says, I just can't go on, I just can't make it. But what a change in the last couple days, how God has strengthened her. When we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength has failed, ere the day is half done, When we reach the end of our hoarded resources, our Father's full giving is only begun. His love has no limit. His grace has no measure. His power has no boundary known unto men. For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth and giveth and giveth again. So what's the end of it? Paul says, most gladly, I get it, Lord. It's about humility. It's about intimacy. It's about grace. It's about your power to endure the suffering. I embrace the spear ram through my proud flesh. I embrace the pain. Most gladly, therefore, I'd rather boast about my weakness than the power that dwells in me. Therefore I will be content with weakness." Listen to this in 2 Peter because there will be a tendency for both of you to say, this is never going to end. This is never going to end. Listen to what Peter says in 2 Peter 5, 10-11. Now may the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, established, and settle you. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. It's in the midst of all that that you find your real power and strength. That when you say with Paul, I am with content with weakness and insults and distresses. For when I am weak, then I'm strong. Samson was strong in weakness and crushed the enemies of God. Joseph was strong in weakness and rose to the throne of Egypt. Job, strong in weakness, saw the glorious face of God. I asked for promise, he gave me humiliation. I asked for power, he gave me weakness. Then I became usable for him. Let's close in prayer.