Book of 2 Corinthians - Ch. 11, Vs. 1-Ch. 12, Vs. 10 (05/27/2001) | NOTE: Incomplete tape

Would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with me, for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin.

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

I cannot overemphasize the need of more simplicity in getting out the word of God.

So many of our young preachers are the products of seminaries, which are trying to train intellectuals.

They try to be so intellectual that they end up saying nothing. What they need to do is to give out the word of God in as simple a way as they can.

When the devil saw that persecution would not stop the Church, he changed to a different tactic.

He joined the Church. He began to hurt the Church from the inside. He still does that today.

He attacks the validity of the word of God, and he tries to discredit the gospel. If that does not work, he tries to discredit the man who preaches the gospel.

So he tried to discredit Paul. For if he that cometh preaches another

Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him.

We still face the same problem today. If they deny the virgin birth

Jesus, they are talking about some other Jesus, not the

Jesus Christ of the Bible. If they do not believe that he performed miracles, they have a different Jesus in mind.

I suppose I was not a whip behind the very chiefest apostle. Paul was forced to defend himself at all times.

He had no one to stand for him. But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge, but we have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things,

I believe that Paul had the highest IQ of any man alive then or now.

I know Solomon was given wisdom, but Paul was given knowledge and wisdom.

Have I committed an offense in abasing myself that you might be exalted?

Because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely, I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.

And when I was present with you and wanted, I was chargeable to no man for that which was lacking in me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied.

In all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will

I keep myself. He had calloused hands, but they did not stop him from being an apostle.

As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of the boasting in the regions of Acacia.

Wherefore, because I love you not, God knoweth. But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion, that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Evidently there were deceitful workers who attempted to make themselves apostles of Christ, actually servants of Satan.

People have the idea that Satan has cloven feet and horns.

This kind of erroneous idea comes from the great god, Pam, of Greek mythology, who was portrayed as half -animal and was worshipped as Diogenes.

Liking Satan to Pam certainly is not the scriptural point of view. Satan himself is an angel of light.

If we make him visible to you, you would see a being of breathtaking beauty.

15. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose ends shall be according to their works.

The frightening statement here is that Satan has ministers. It makes your hair stand on end as Satan is transformed into an angel of light so his ministers are transformed as ministers of righteousness.

They are very attractive. All Satan's ministers glorify themselves.

This is one way you can tell whether a man is preaching the simplicity of the word of God or whether he is preaching some other

Jesus and some other gospel. 16. I say again, let no man thank me a fool, if otherwise yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.

That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolish in confidence of boasting.

17. Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. 18.

For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing yourselves are wise. There is a bit of holy sarcasm here.

19. For ye suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.

20. You let someone come in unto you and put you back unto the bondage of the law. He can live off them, exalt himself, smite them, and they will put up with that.

They will take that kind of treatment from a false teacher, but not from he who is a true teacher.

21. I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak.

Howbeit, whensoever any is bold, I speak foolishly,

I am bold also. 22. Are they Hebrews? So am

I. 23. Are they Israelites? So am I. 24. Are they the seed of Abraham?

So am I. 25. He could prove his genealogy. There was no question who he was.

26. There are ministers of Christ. I speak as a fool. I am more, in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prison more frequent, in death often.

28. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

29. The Jews had a method in those days of delivering thirty -nine stripes, and to prevent killing the person they would apply thirteen stripes on one side, thirteen stripes on the other side, and thirteen stripes on the back.

Paul had had this kind of torture five times. 30.

Thrice I was beaten with rods. Once was I stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck.

A night and a day I have been in the deep. 31. 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.

32. In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

How many of us today would say that we have been through even the smallest part of anything like that.

33. We sit in the lap of luxury. We live in an affluent society. 34.

We know practically nothing of hardships for the sake of Jesus the Christ.

35. Besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

36. Pastors have experienced the burden of a church. Paul had the burden of all of the churches.

37. Who is weak? And I am not weak. 38.

Who is often? And I burn not. If I must need glory,

I will glory of the things which concern my infirmities. 40. The God and Father of our

Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed forever, knoweth that I lie not.

41. In Damascus, the governor under Artaeus, the king, kept the city of the

Damascus with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me.

And through a window and a basket was I let down by the wall and escaped his hands.

How embarrassing it must have been to have been let down in a basket. My friend, don't brag about what you suffer for Christ.

In Damascus, the governor striked that.

The very interesting thing is that the Bible has a record of three men who journeyed into outer space and returned.

None of them in the Old Testament. Who were they? It is not expedient for me, doubtless, to glory.

I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. Today, generally, we don't hear about the ordinary conversions.

They go on and on about their experience, and very little is said about the

Lord Jesus the Christ. I knew a man in Christ about fourteen years ago, whether in the body

I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell. God knoweth.

Such an one caught up to the third heaven. We have this recorded in Acts 14, 19 -20.

And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell.

He was actually dead and caught up into heaven. Or had he been knocked unconscious or had a vision.

Paul is not dogmatic about it. And we should not be dogmatic either.

I believe he was dead. How that he was caught up into the paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

Most men would have written several volumes of ponderous terms on such an experience.

And they would have given a whole series of messages about it. But this is all that Paul says.

There is no description, no chamber of commerce advertising, no promotion, no sales talk, no display, no hero worship of a man, no seeing through a tunnel with a light at the end.

Five. Of such an one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.

For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool. For I will say the truth.

But now I oft forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.

There is no self -glory here. The man who was taken up into the third heaven and heard unspeakable words is the same man who was led over the wall in a basket.

And lest I should be exalted above measure, though through the abundance of revelations there was given me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

Paul tells us about his infirmities, but not about the third heaven.

Why will he not tell us about his experience? Because he was told not to.

Why was Paul's thorn in the flesh? I want to let you in on something to give you a little secret information which

I hope you won't divulge. I don't know. I don't know what

Paul saw and heard in the third heaven, and I don't know what was his thorn in the flesh.

I don't know because he didn't tell us. An old

Scotch commentator said Paul's thorn in the flesh was his wife. Well, I imagine that old

Scotch was having trouble at home, and I think he was wrong. I believe that Paul had been married but was a widower.

He wrote lovingly of womanhood, and I think he had once had a wonderful wife.

He would not remarry because he didn't want to subject any woman to the hardship which he had to endure.

Someone has said that the reason a dog has so many friends is because he wagged his tail instead of his tongue.

I suppose most of us would have wagged our tail tongues a great deal if we had been caught up in the third heaven.

For this I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me.

Now, I have a notion that Paul's problem was very poor vision. Whatever his thorn was, he asked the

Lord three times to remove it, and the Lord refused. Sometimes you and I keep asking the

Lord for something to which he has already answered, and he answered no. If he doesn't give us what we ask for, we think he has not answered our prayer.

More often than not, his answer to my prayer is no.

Evidently, I discovered that was the very best possible answer he could give me.

That is something you might turn over in your mind the next time you hear someone tell about a vision they have had of the

Lord. It probably was something they ate the night before. And he said unto me,

My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities than the power of Christ.