Weaknesses and Visions - 2 Cor 11:31-33; 12:1-2

those folks, let's open in prayer. Father, we're going to look into your word again this morning with delight and with anticipation, knowing that it is there where we find the

Lord Jesus Christ. It is there where we find what you have for us to live our daily lives in a way that will honor you.

And so we anticipate that, we ask you, Father, to clear our minds and to teach us this morning.

And Lord, we think of these folks that are struggling with the, in the aftermath of this last hurricane.

Father, we pray for relief and for those who have the ability to go down there and bring help.

And Lord, we just pray that you might avert this latest storm from that island. Send it out somewhere into the

Atlantic where it will do no harm. And Lord, we thank you this morning that nothing is outside of your care, nothing is outside of your purview or your sovereignty.

And we rest in that, and thank you in Jesus' name, amen. So last week, we finished up with verse 30 in 2

Corinthians chapter 11. And so we're going to read, let's start by reading, this has been one of those mornings where I, I'm not sure all my bodily parts are here, my head's still attached,

I think. But we'll make do, verse 16 through the end of the chapter. And then we'll probably be starting verse chapter 12 today.

Lord willing, and the cricks don't rise. Again, verse 16, chapter 11 of 2

Corinthians. Again I say, let no one think me foolish. But if you do receive me, even as foolish, that I also may boast a little.

That which I am speaking, I am not speaking as the Lord would, but it is in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.

Since many boast according to the flesh, I will boast also. For you, being so wise, bear with the foolish gladly.

For you bear with anyone, if he enslaves you, if he devours you, if he takes advantage of you, if he exalts himself, if he hits you in the face.

To my shame, I must say that we have been weak by comparison, but in whatever respect anyone else is bold,

I speak in foolishness, I am just as bold myself. Are they Hebrews? So am

I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ?

I speak as if insane. I more so, in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.

Five times I received of the Jews 39 lashes. Three times

I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day

I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the

Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren.

I have been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure upon me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak?

Who is led into sin without my intense concern? If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness.

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus, the ethnarch under Aretas, the king was guarding the city of the

Damascenes in order to seize me, and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.

So we have been meeting the Apostle Paul in a way that the book of Acts didn't let us meet him because it was unnecessary.

Luke was retailing or giving us the history of the church, the founding, the details of what went on.

And as we had talked about, there's an interesting scripture, an interesting verse in John, the end of John's verse, that says something along the lines that if everything that the

Lord Jesus had ever done was written down in books, they would fill the world. And it's, think about it.

We've talked about this. Think about it. If just the chronicle of your life, second by second, was written down, conversation, thoughts, everything, it would take a lot of paper, a lot of digital space.

And so, necessarily, when the Holy Spirit inspired the apostles to write the New Testament, he inspired them to give us the most important and salient points that would be for our betterment, for us to grow towards the

Lord Jesus Christ, grow like the Lord Jesus Christ, for our salvation to be able to be walked out and stepped out in fear and in trembling.

And so, Paul is giving us a little bit of a different side here in defending himself against these false apostles, these men who would come in and take over and essentially destroy a body of Christ that he had founded.

He loved the church. He loved the people that he had been given responsibility to bring the gospel to.

He loved them dearly. And as he says a little earlier, he said, who is weak without my being weak?

Who is led into sin without my intense concern? He does not bode, he does not suffer the destruction of his saints.

He thinks, that thinks is the wrong word. He considers them his converts, and that's rightly so.

He does not suffer their leading away from Christ easily. It bothers him, he loses sleep over it, he prays over it, he spends time agonizing over those for whom

God has, those whom God has placed on his heart. He prays for them, and he does the best he can to visit them again and again.

So then, in this section, we remember that he is, he's being forced into a situation with the

Corinthians to almost give tit for tat for what the false apostles have been claiming for themselves.

Apostolic authority, which they do not have, and he does have. And so, he has been giving them the reasons why they should listen to the word of God as it has been preached by him and the other apostles and servants of God, and ignore what the false apostles are bringing.

There would have certainly been people in the body at Corinth who would have said, well, Paul's lying, he's not telling the truth.

And he addresses that in this next verse. He says, so we finished up in verse 13, or excuse me, verse 30,

I, if I have to boast, and he detests boasting. He detests retailing my claims against their claims.

He would rather preach the word. But the Corinthians have put him in this position to where information, he had to give them the information that they should have known.

This is who I am, this is what I did, this is how I did it, these are the things that I suffered to bring you the gospel of God.

Don't you remember? And so, he says, if I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness.

And frankly, that's what he's been doing. He's been, more than anything, pointing what has happened in his life to the grace of God, to the power of the

Lord Jesus Christ, to the Holy Spirit in his life. And so he says, to those who would have claimed that he was misleading the

Corinthian church, he says in verse 31, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

This oath is interesting in many ways. First, the way it appears in the text. What was Paul referring to?

Was he anticipating the incredible story he's about to tell regarding his escape from Damascus?

This is the tact that Calvin and many others take. Was he even referring farther down in the next chapter to the bold story of being in the presence of the

Lord Jesus Christ? More likely, this is simply calling upon God as a witness to the things that he has just said, and that is the most natural way to look at this assertion.

He makes this claim, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord knows I am not lying. The most likely interpretation is that this refers to the whole incredible story that he's told in chapter 11, and that his stories about his hardships were not exaggerations, and that he truly suffered much to bring the gospel to the

Corinthians and others. This should have made them grateful, if nothing else.

It should have made them pay attention to what they had been told, and compare, like the

Bereans did, what these false apostles, these new apostolic reformation, if you will, of the

New Testament, was telling him, compared to what he told them, compared to what scripture said.

That's what we're supposed to do, is it not? Are we not to compare what scripture says to what those who are teaching us say?

Often, it's very clear when there are differences. Sometimes, it's not so clear. Sometimes, people can tell a good story.

They can preach a good sermon, and be dead wrong in the final analysis.

I think that there was some of both with these false apostles. I think some of them were clearly wrong, and some of them were really good.

They had come in, they had befriended the Corinthians, they had infiltrated the families, and they were good, they were probably really good at reading human nature, and they knew what was important at Corinth.

Those things, they elevated. So, many at Corinth were fooled. Paul is just disgusted with this, and discouraged, if you will, if a servant of God can be discouraged, and yes, they can.

He is going to do something about it. So now, they have made great sweeping claims, and when we get into the next chapter, we'll see a claim that Paul makes, and he does it in a backhanded way, in a third -person narrative way, because he doesn't even want to bring, he doesn't want to bring attention to it, but he has to.

So then, here, he reminds them, I am not lying, and the God and Father of the

Lord Jesus Christ knows that I am not lying. And here's that story. Now, this is a, as we look at this, remember in Paul's mind that this was a weakness.

He doesn't like to run away from preaching the gospel. He likes to put his, he likes to step right into the fray, and spread the word of God.

But at this point in Damascus, God had other things for him, and he had to leave in the dark, in the night, to be let down in a basket over the wall.

He did not like having that happen. This was a weakness. He says, in Damascus, the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the

Damascenes in order to seize me. So apparently, the fellow, the leader of this city, the king of this city, was specifically looking for Paul himself to seize him, and I don't think it was for throwing a party.

It was more than likely to arraign him, and either imprison him or kill him. This escape took place not long after Paul's conversion in Damascus.

It appears that he was evangelizing throughout the area, and some of the Jews were offended, and called upon the local ruler to deal with Paul.

History is not complete about this time period. The story we have is found in Acts chapter nine.

In Acts chapter nine, verses 23 through 25. When many days had elapsed, the

Jews plotted together to do away with him, to do away with him. So to me, that means they were gonna kill him.

They were gonna, in some way or shape or form, get him out of the picture, even if it meant killing him. To do away with him, verse 24.

But their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death.

Now we know what they were going to do. They were gonna kill him. But his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall.

And then they set a wall lowering him in a large basket. At that time, the city occupied, the wall was such that there were several houses that could fit several homes wide on the top of the wall, or in the wall, and some of the homes were in the wall.

And their windows opened out to the plains beyond. There is no inconsistency between this, indicating that the

Jews plotted, and Paul's statement that the Ethnarch of Damascus attempted to seize him. Obviously, the offended

Jews went to the king and asked his assistance in getting rid of Paul. Just as the offended

Jews went to Herod and Pilate to get rid of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can say that they sentenced him, but it was at the hand of the

Jews that did it. Without his background, several commentators on 2

Corinthians, several commentators.

You didn't see that. If you hit the right button.

Just gotta be smarter than the button. I don't do well. Several commentators on 2

Corinthians explained the lack of historical certainty this way. They said, Eratosphorus was the father -in -law of Herod Antipas.

He lived in Petra and ruled the kingdom of Nabatea called Arabia in Galatians 117, between 9

BC and AD 40. Damascus at the time of Paul's conversion may have been under Nabatean rule.

Alternatively, it was under Roman rule and a colony of Nabateans controlled it.

A third possibility is that Eratosphorus ruled the Nabatean population in Damascus. The historical evidence is incomplete.

Eratosphorus evidently wanted to arrest Paul because the apostle began evangelizing in that region immediately after his conversion.

Do you remember your conversion? Do you remember what you did right after? Everybody needs to hear this.

And then you got older and a little more settled and not really everybody's gonna listen, so I'm not gonna talk so much.

But when you were first converted, it was, and you know it, it really is. Everybody does need to hear this.

And Paul was busy about making sure everybody in his vicinity was hearing it. Eratosphorus evidently wanted to arrest him because he began evangelizing in the region immediately after his conversion.

We read that in Acts 9 .20, Galatians 1 .7 and 22 and 23. His activity antagonized the

Jews living in the area who obtained official support for their opposition of Paul. We see that in Acts 9 .23.

Eratosphorus himself may even have been a Jew. So this was the culmination of Paul's first heavy -duty evangelizing.

He got run out of a city. Imagine that. But you're evangelizing in Sandpoint and you get run out.

And we don't have a wall, so they have to wait until, wait until after midnight because the police are looking for you for evangelizing.

Not for robbing a bank, for evangelizing, for bringing the word of God. The police are looking for you, the mayor's looking for you, everyone's looking for you.

And you have to be spirited out of the city at night under cover of darkness like some kind of a common criminal because that's what was going on here.

That did not sit well with Paul. He rather faced people head -on with the gospel.

And so he says in verse 33, I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and so escaped his hands.

And so this chapter ends with Paul being ignominiously and surreptitiously being let down out of the city to escape possible death.

So he continues this litany of weaknesses so that those who hear this letter will know that it is the power of God that enables the apostle or anyone else to bring the gospel, the word of God to the world.

The fervor with which those who hated him burned, the fervor with which it burned is an indicator of his effectiveness in preaching the gospel.

Whether it was the false apostles who sought to have him removed from the minds of the Corinthians as an apostle or kings who attempted to kill him at the instigation of the

Jewish authorities. A cursory study of history yields some interesting information about this, Eratos and his relationship to Herod especially.

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, we read this, the successor of Obodas, of Obodas, was apparently surnamed

Aeneas, this would have been Eratos. And this is why, this is the Arabian king who figures in the New Testament in 2nd

Corinthians where we're at today. The Eratos here mentioned is the father -in -law of Herod Antipas who divorced his wife to marry

Herodens, the wife of his brother Philip. We find that in Matthew chapter 14,

Mark chapter six and Luke chapter three. And then in Josephus, the Antiquities gives us a circumstantial narration of the events leading up to and following the conduct of Antipas.

Coupled with a boundary dispute, it occasioned a bitter war between the two princes in which Antipas was completely overwhelmed.

So Eratos came in and completely overwhelmed Herod Antipas with a military attack.

Who thereupon invoked the aid of the Romans, Tiberius ordered one of his generals,

Vitellius proconsul of Syria to make war on Eratos. This is the Eratos that was pursuing

Paul. And to deliver him dead or alive into the hands of the emperor. On the way to Jerusalem, Vitellius received intelligence of the death of Tiberius, which was in March 1637

AD and stopped all the warlike proceedings. So this gave a reprieve to Eratos after his military victory over Herod.

According to 2nd Corinthians 11 .32, Damascus, which had formerly belonged to the Arabian princes, was again in the hands of Eratos when

Paul escaped from it, not immediately after his conversion, but on a subsequent visit after his Arabian exile.

It is inconceivable that Eratos should have taken Damascus by force in the face of the almost omnipotent power of Rome.

The picture, moreover, which Josephus draws of the Herodian events points to a passive rather than an active attitude on the part of Eratos.

The probability is that Cagis Caligula, the new emperor, wishing to settle the affairs of Syria, freely gave

Damascus to him, to Eratos that is, inasmuch as it had formerly belonged to his territory.

As Tiberius died in 37 AD, and as the Arabian affair was completely settled in 39

AD, it is evident that the date of Paul's conversion, and this is kind of some trivia alongside this for our own information, that Paul's conversion must lie somewhere between 34 and 36

AD. This date is further fixed by a Damascus coin with the image of King Eratos in the date 101.

If that date points to the Pompeian era, it equals 37 AD, making the date of Paul's conversion 34

AD. So that's just for our own information. Chapter 11 is an interesting travel, is it not?

It begins with Paul denigrating the foolishness of the false apostles, but allowing that they're, in order to reach the

Corinthians, he may have to explain to the Corinthians the difference between himself and those false apostles, and it may seem as though he is boasting.

He spends most of the chapter playing down the concept of foolish boasting, finally culminating in a true defense of his apostleship, starting in verse 22, and ending in chapter 12, which we will see, verse seven.

True to the biblical belief that Paul had that God is the one who enables successful ministry, he gave a list of weaknesses that he had, the difficulties that he endured, as his bona fides.

I can do nothing without Christ who strengthens me, is what Paul is saying to these

Corinthians, and they should know that that is how God works. He does work through weakness.

While others would have played up their strengths, Paul demonstrated that it is the grace of God working through his weaknesses that brought the word of God to the known world, that converted even the

Corinthians, that gave them hope, eternal hope. Why would they walk away from that?

And we know that in the body there were unbelievers. We understand why they would walk away from it, but it's harder to understand why believers would so thoroughly, it appears, some of them at least, so thoroughly be taken in by these false apostles.

But it's happened to all of us, has it not? Have we not believed the wrong things again, now and again, and later on went, what was

I thinking about? I can imagine there were a lot of Corinthians after 2 Corinthians was read in the churches, and we know later on that the church did come around.

Very little is said of the troubles in Corinth. We don't even read about them again until Clement writes his epistle in 95

AD, which would be 40 years later, approximately 40 years later. The church was restored, and that had to have been a great blessing and encouragement to Paul, but meanwhile, he's in the middle of dealing with these false apostles, and he has to tell the

Corinthians what he went through again in order to see them return to the

Lord Jesus Christ. So that ends chapter 11. Any comments or questions about the last two verses or chapter 11 in general?

So we are gonna make it to chapter 12 today, even with the technical difficulties. Let's read the first six verses of chapter 12.

2 Corinthians chapter 12. Here he goes again. He does not like bragging.

Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable, but I will go on 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 out of the body

I do not know, God knows, such a man was caught up to the third heaven, and I know how such a man, whether in the body or apart from the body,

I do not know, God knows, was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words which a man is not permitted to speak.

On behalf of such a man will I boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses, for if I do wish to boast,

I shall not be foolish, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I refrain from this, so that no one may credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.

Now really quickly, I wanna read verse seven, too, so if we're wondering who such a man was, we can see who such a man was.

Verse seven says, and because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me, to keep me from exalting myself.

It was Paul that was called up into the third heaven. It was Paul who downplayed this vision.

Why? Because we have a more sure revelation. We have the word of God. If I told you, if I came tomorrow and said

I had a vision, how would you verify that? Hopefully you'd all think I was a fool, and you'd spirit me out of here on a rail.

Anybody got feathers, tar? We should keep a little bit in back, just in case. You couldn't verify it, but you can read

God's word. You can read God's word. It's right here in front of you. It's given to you.

It is the most published book on the planet, and has been probably since the 1450s.

We have no dearth of knowing exactly what God has said and what God does.

And when Paul, I'm kinda giving an overview here. When Paul had this vision, it had to be incredible. He downplays it.

It's as if he's saying, I have to tell you this because of those foolish apostles and you foolish

Corinthians who will suffer anything, but visions are not important. The word of God is important.

But I know a man, he says, about 14 years ago, we'll get to that. So he says, we're gonna look at verse four.

We're gonna start through this systematically as we should. So chapter 12 begins with Paul reiterating the profitability, the unprofitability of boasting and the fact that the

Corinthians had made it necessary. He then details a vision that he had and relates it to the claims of the false apostles.

They were obviously claiming visionary aspects to their ministries. He reminds the

Corinthians that the signs of a true apostle were performed among them. Among you, he says in verse 12.

Let's look at that real quickly. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance by signs and wonders and miracles.

And as we've studied, when we studied earlier in 1 Corinthians and earlier, some of the earlier books of the New Testament, we saw that there were three periods where signs and wonders were produced by those that God had given a message to authenticate the message.

And those signs and wonders went away after a period of time. Usually, 65 to 70, well, not usually, every time, 65 to 70 years.

The signs and wonders that God gave to the real apostles stopped at the end of the New Testament period.

So we're still in the New Testament period. So it's important that Paul makes clear to these

Corinthians that it was him, it was he that God worked the signs and wonders through. So the signs and wonders of a true apostle were performed among you, he says that in verse 12.

He would not be a burden to the Corinthians. Apparently, that was one of the sticky points, Peter. God worked signs and wonders through specific people.

Three periods of history and three periods of history. Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elijah, and the

New Testament period. Those signs and wonders ceased being worked through individual people.

God can heal, can he not? He just doesn't do it through me. He does it through himself.

And for anyone to call attention to themselves outside of the New Testament period as a healer is false theology, pure and simple.

If God heals you, and actually, and to be clear, when God healed someone during the

New Testament period through one of those apostles, it was God who did the healing. But he used those men to authenticate their message, this message that we have, the

New Testament. It's done, we have the message. There's no authentication needed today.

And so when people claim to be doing signs and wonders, if they're serious about this, why don't they go into a hospital ward and clear it out?

Like Paul and Peter did. Every time someone came to them with a malady, and sometimes it was a malady like they had never walked in their entire life.

Silver and gold have I none but rise up in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the guy got up and danced. I don't see that happening today.

Legs lengthened? Oh yeah, sure, I was in one of those services.

Yeah, knock people down. You slay people in the spirit because you can't get them up. And we should righteously mock that.

It does not happen that way. If God, God can heal. God can bring amazing things, but it will be done through him and it will not be done to authenticate any message.

The message is finished. The New Testament is our statement that God has made at the end of the

Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles' ministry. And it's down in, yes, Brian. It's the power of Satan.

It's a God, just the wrong God. Small g, it is Satan working. And interestingly enough,

I don't think Benny Hinn could say silver and gold have I none. Case in point.

But that was what the apostles said. That is not to say that God intends to starve preachers, but it is definitely not the focus.

It is definitely not the focus. So the apostles, Paul did not want to be a burden, he said to the

Corinthians. And that was a sticking point. We've gotta keep remembering that kind of in the back of our minds that one of the things that bothered the

Corinthians is that the Galatians supported him, the Philippians supported him, but he wouldn't take money from the

Corinthians. But he explained that, that seems to be that because as he ministered to a new church, he, just like we do nowadays, he received support from previously established churches to minister and plant the new church.

Then he told the Corinthians, later on, I wanna look to you for establishing the gospel into even further regions.

But for now, he was working with his own hands and with money and resources from the

Philippians and the Galatians and others, the churches in Macedonia, some of the other churches in Macedonia, to bring the gospel to the

Corinthians. But it was a sticking point to them, it bothered them. So neither he nor any of the other apostles or disciples that were tasked with bringing the truth to Corinthians, the

Corinthian church, were ever, ever wanted to be a burden to them. And he closes this chapter in chapter 12, this is kind of an overview, concerned that he might have to come as a judge dealing with those who had not repented of any impurity, immorality, and sensuality that was rampant in Corinth.

Remember in 1 Corinthians that we studied, there was a number of things, specific things that he dealt with. A man living with his father's wife, took his father's wife as his wife, suing each other over foolish things, unable to judge difficulties in the church, but taking them to the outside authorities.

Many things that the Corinthians, damaging the faith of weaker new believers with food that was fed to idols, that was offered to idols.

Number of things that the Corinthian church was doing. That letter, and then there was a series of questions that they asked from chapter seven on that he dealt with.

Some of them, he says, have not repented of any impurity, immorality, or sensuality that was rampant in that church.

And he may, he does not want to come as a judge, and we'll see that when we get to the end of chapter 12. So this is going to be another interesting chapter, an overview of some of the difficulties in Corinth and some of the things, ways

Paul deals with it. So verse one, he just hates boasting.

Boasting is necessary, he says, though it is not profitable, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the

Lord. The Corinthian false apostles had led the way with boasting and had even developed it as an art, it appears.

Paul engaged in some boasting, but it was distasteful to him. Here again, just before detailing the vision he had, he expresses his disgust with boasting.

But he moves from that to one of the visions that he had. There are six visions recorded in the

New Testament that Paul had. In Acts chapter nine, verses three through 12.

This is his first vision, and what an inauspicious or difficult way to begin a vision.

As he was traveling, it happened that he was, as he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him, and he fell to the ground, and he heard a voice saying to him,

Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? And he said,

I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.

The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing.

And leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus, and he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Now there was a disciple of Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias, and he said, here

I am, Lord. And the Lord said to him, get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named

Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.

That was Paul's first vision. He got knocked off a horse, and led by the hand into a city.

That's not a good way to start, would you think? You'd get beat up. My first vision, yeah,

I got beat up. Acts chapter 16, verses nine and 10. A vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, saying, come over to Macedonia and help us.

When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Now there's an interesting call, a call to preach the gospel. Not to take money, but to preach the gospel.

Acts chapter 18, nine and 10. And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you.

And no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city. So Paul is encouraged by the

Lord in a vision to continue preaching the gospel. Then in Acts chapter 22, 17 through 21.

It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple that I fell into a trance, and I saw him saying to me, make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.

And I said, Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another, I used to imprison and beat those who believed in you.

And when the blood of your witness, Stephen, was being shed, I also was standing by approving and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him.

And he said to me, go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. God had a bigger picture for Paul than he did staying in Jerusalem.

And then Acts chapter 23, verse 11. But on the night immediately following, the

Lord stood at his side and said, take courage, for as you have solemnly witnessed to my cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also, which would be his final witness.

And then Acts chapter 27, 23, and 24. For this very night, an angel of God, to whom

I belong and whom I serve, stood before me saying, do not be afraid, Paul, you must stand before Caesar, and behold,

God has granted you all those who are sailing with you. So those are the six visions that are recorded in the book of Acts.

I'm not saying that he didn't have more, as we have seen a lot of other things happen that Paul talks about that were not recorded in Acts.

But there are six recorded visions, and they were specific purpose visions. They had specific purposes, each one of them.

So now, Paul is going to detail a vision that he had 14 years before writing this book.

I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago, whether in the body I do not know or out of the body I do not know,

God knows, such a man was caught up into the third heaven, to the third heaven. This entire section from verse two through verse seven is remarkably docile compared to modern charlatans' recitation of their supposed visions.

Paul downplays everything, including the fact that he was the one given the vision. From verse two through verse six, it's somewhat unclear just who had this vision.

But in verse seven, it is revealed that he had the vision, and he reveals it with a little detail that he was given a thorn in the flesh so that he wouldn't get too uppity about this vision, about himself.

I don't see that happening in modern visions. They're uppity to the max, as far as I'm concerned, as far as I've seen.

So this event would have happened approximately 41 or early 42 AD. This would have been between his return to Tarsus from Jerusalem in Acts chapter nine, and his being commissioned by the

Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 13. We know that he ministered in Syria and Cilicia, and God may have granted him this encouragement prior to the difficulties he would encounter on his numerous missionary journeys.

So Paul had this vision, and he knows a man 14 years ago, whether it was in or out of the body,

I'm really not sure. That's not very exciting, you know?

He doesn't want to downplay what we have been given, which is the word of God.

This place, the place was the third heaven, which would be the abode of God, with the first heaven being Earth's atmosphere, the second heaven being interplanetary and interstellar space.

And Paul makes it very clear that he didn't know whether he was in his body or out of his body. The word translated caught up is the same word used of the rapture in 1

Thessalonians chapter four. Paul did not go there himself. He was plucked or taken by force.

God took him there. Again, note the almost tame language. Paul did not ascribe great things to visions, but rather he looked to the word of God, and he points everyone to that as well.

This vision occurred 14 years before the writing of 2 Corinthians, but this is the first we've ever heard of it.

So he's written other books. He's written Galatians. He's written numerous books by this time.

And we've never heard of this vision. If it was so terribly important, most certainly he would've been talking about it regularly, but he didn't talk about it regularly.

He preached the word of God to the people of Macedonia, of Jerusalem, and of all the environments of the known world.

And then he says in verse three, and then I'll ask if there are any questions. I know such a man, whether in the body or apart from the body,

I do not know, God knows. So he reiterates it, I know such a man. Continuing to downplay the vision itself,

Paul continues, he restates that he does not know whether this occurred with him in his body or out of his body.

Actually, whoever the man was doesn't know if it was in his body or out of his body. Apparently, that wasn't important.

What was most important was that God was at work. God was bringing the gospel to the known world.

Any comments or questions about those two verses? One and two, I guess those three verses.

I do need a course in remedial math. Looks like our time is over, so I'm gonna close up with this.

What do you need to be godly in Christ Jesus? Do you need a vision? You wouldn't even know if it was real.

But what we do know that is very real is the written, finished word of God, the

New Testament, the Old Testament. That has been given to us, it has been vouchsafed to us for centuries by the spirit of God, by the spirit of the living

God, so that we would not have to seek here and seek there and wonder if what we were doing was correct, wonder if we were actually finding the truth.

The truth is found in God. It is found in his word, and it is exclusive to that.

Now, that is not to say that there aren't truths in science and there aren't truths in English grammar, which are violated every day on Facebook, but the truth that sets one free is the truth that is written in Scripture.

Paul knew this, and so as he is going through working with these Corinthians who came from a history of ecstatic pagan religions that fell to the ground and had revelations of all kinds, which were all false and usually were caused by being drunk or high on some sort of drug, he had to deal with these false apostles who were making claims that they had had visions.

He didn't just retail this information because he had nothing better to do. He was speaking against the false teachings of the false apostles, and their false teachings ran the gamut, ran the gamut of everything that you can think of that a false teacher might come up with.

So in this case, we're gonna, and next week, or I think Jess is probably teaching next week, but when we come back to this, we will be looking at the word paradise and the fact that when

Paul had this vision and he went to the third heaven, he was told, keep your mouth shut about this.

Now, that is not a normal behavior of a false apostle.

They're gonna wanna spread everything that happened to them. They're gonna tell you the story of their tourism. I think Jim's written,

I didn't think, I know Jim's written a book about this, about false tourism in heaven and people today who claim they've died and gone to heaven.

And then they came back and wrote a book about it. Paul wrote a few verses and then moved on because he knew that if people use that as their supposed access to God, there would be many religions.

Oh, by the way, what's happened? Are there a few religions around who everyone has, people have submitted that they had a vision and now?

God has been quiet to us for 1 ,800 years. This is the new way to go. No, the way to go has been given to us in the words of the

New Testament. Paul was caught up into paradise and he heard inexpressible words that says which a man is not permitted to speak.

We'll talk about that next week or in two weeks or three weeks, whenever Jess will be teaching in 1

Samuel again. So, any comments or questions before we close? You don't need a vision, you need the word of God.

Let's pray. Father, thank you that you gave us your word finished and set in heaven and on earth and that you have recorded all that is necessary for us to be godly in Christ Jesus.

You have given us the answer to every salient and important question that can be asked by man and that in these words, there is life.

There is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He is the living word. There is the Holy Spirit. There is you,

Father. And so, we look to that and we look to no other, no other writing, no other expression of supposed godliness but the word of God.