(Through the Bible) 2 Corinthians 11-13 — Chuck Smith

Paul's Apostolic Authority and the Threat of Legalism

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 waiving 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.

Spiritual Betrothal and Faithfulness 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. It's all 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 am 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.

The Simplicity of the Gospel Versus Religious Systems

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, this karoom, karoom, karoom. And naturally, I looked up to see what was going on. And here's this solemn looking guy. It 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.

Kapow! Kapow! Kapow! 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. Mean looking, fierce, awesome things. The guys were walking four abreast. And in a line of about...

I suppose there's four lines, four abreast. Everyone just, you know, and this guy, kapow, kapow. 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. Paul said, oh, I'm jealous for you. I wanted to present you in just the purity. I'm fearful. 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 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 his hands.

And you know, 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. I mean, 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 know, 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 Christ.

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 then 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 backward. They're abhorred at the thought that Adam is our God. But it's only their very doctrine that the Espouse take him 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 Godhood. Becoming gods. It seems to me that I remember someplace elsewhere, someone was told that they would become a god.

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.

Paul's Suffering and Credentials as an Apostle

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 and 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 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 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.

Hey, you're... Which country do you want to rule? And 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 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, he's cutting them now. You know, 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 them 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 suckers. You're being taken in by them. Paul said, I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak, howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, and I am speaking foolishly.

Hey, these guys are bold. I'm bold also. These guys, are they Hebrew? 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 40 stripes save one. Thrice I was beaten with rods.

Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered a shipwreck. A night and the 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 are 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 Paul's tolls 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 just 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 leaguer. 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. You know, 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.

Paul's Vision of Heaven and the Beauty of Paradise

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 figured, 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 that he had written, 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.

You 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 didn't 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, Oh, 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, 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 am 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.

The Thorn in the Flesh and Sufficient Grace

But he said, I'll tell you what I really glory, and I glory in my weaknesses. And lest 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. The 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. Or 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, oh, 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?