4. Jeremiah Nortier | Calvinism in Tribulation | Open Air Theology Conference 2024

So I'll thank you all for having me today This conference has been truly remarkable reminding me that salvation is truly of the

Lord. Amen So God doesn't just simply save us and say good luck.

No, he's with us Jesus promises us that he will be with us even to the end of the age all the days, right?

He gives us his spirit and he sanctifies us and he is sovereign over all of that even the types of suffering that we undergo in this broken and fallen age and so my topic today is

Calvinism in Tribulation and so sometimes when we think about tribulation we think about the great tribulation in eschatology

And as exciting as that topic is that's not what I'm talking about when we're talking about tribulation

We're talking about great affliction time of suffering What are we gonna do in those times when we're suffering and yet we're looking up to God saying why

I Want to submit to you? Calvinism provides the pillow in which you can lay your head on at night and go to sleep and rest in the absolute

Sovereignty of God. I was listening to the dividing line one day and dr.

White made this incredible point He's talking about the acrostic tulip You know the five points of Calvinism and he said something to the effect of if tulip could be rewritten

It would be Stulip now. I was like what that makes no sense to me and his point was it would start with the s the sovereignty of God because when you look at the five points of Calvinism this presupposes a

Sovereign God who sees the end all the way from beginning and has divine purpose in everything

And so when we talk about suffering listen, it has been granted to you if you're in Christ It has purpose.

It has purpose to sanctify you for your good and for God's glory And so as Calvin, that's one of our favorite

Bible verses is Philippians 129 Paul says this for it has been granted to you that for Christ's sake you should not only believe but also suffer for the sake of Christ as Much as we are going to talk about and we should that faith is an effectual gift of the

Holy Spirit Regenerating your heart causing you to be born again and he has gifted you faith that faith is also going to be met with times of affliction times of Tribulation and struggle and you can look to God and say thank you

And as James says you can find joy knowing that he is going to mold your faith and make it perfect And so if you would please stand with me as we read from God's Word We're gonna be looking at the thorn in Paul's flesh

So if you would turn with me to 2nd Corinthians chapter 12, we're gonna be looking at verses 7 through 10

God's Word says so to keep me from being conceited because of the surpassing greatness of revelations a thorn

Was given me in the flesh a messenger of Satan to harass me to keep me from being conceited

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should leave me But the

Lord said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly Paul says of my weaknesses So that the power of Christ may rest upon me for the sake of Christ Then I am content with weaknesses insults hardships persecutions and calamities

But when I am weak, I am strong Let's pray Heavenly Father We lift your name on high

We bend the knee to your sovereignty and all things and God we trust you and everything

We trust you in times of affliction. We trust you in times of confusion knowing this that you are in control

God, I pray that you would help strip us of all pride and any any type of thinking that we have accomplished anything

God you ultimately are running the show. Please help us to look to you and give you proper glory

Lord Please help your truth to shine forth and edify the Saints pray these things in your name

Jesus. Amen You may be seated so I want to make a quick note in verse 10 where we see a a wide range of Tribulation remember that word in its broadest sense means affliction

Paul mentions all kinds of tribulation that he has been experiencing and in verse 10

He says I am content with weaknesses insults hardships persecutions and Calamities and so if we're familiar with the life of the

Apostle Paul In fact back just a chapter earlier in chapter 11 He gives us a brief synopsis of all of what he has been doing in his life for Christ in the ministry

He gives us a brief synopsis when he says five times I received at the hands of the Jews 40 lashes minus one three times

I was beaten with rods once I was stoned three times. I was shipwrecked night and day adrift at sea

I was in danger of rivers dangers of robbers danger of my own people danger of the

Gentiles Danger in the city danger in the wilderness danger at sea danger from false brothers

Danger and toil and hardships through many sleepless nights I was in hunger and thirst often without food cold and it was exposed to all of these calamities

So Paul has received great affliction and I want to pose this question to all of us to be thinking about throughout the sermon

How was Paul able to say I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses

How was Paul able to say I am content with weaknesses insults hardships persecutions and calamities

How did Paul say for when I am weak? Then I am strong Look back with me back up in verse 7

Paul says so to keep me from being conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations a thorn was given me in the flesh a

Messenger of Satan to harass me and he says the second time to keep me from being conceited

Okay, he repeated this twice. He wants us to make special awareness that the Apostle Paul has these great

Experiences, but God is sovereign and he is keeping me humble The NASB says that this was to keep

Paul from exalting himself from becoming arrogant Paul understands that he is an apostle by Christ Jesus by the will of God and that carried the

Temptation to think highly of himself the Apostle Paul was a true apostle.

He had the signs of an apostle, right? he did many wondrous mighty works and deeds and yet he

Trembled at the thought of being tempted to boast in himself rather than boasting in his

Lord verse 7 he mentions because of the surpassing greatness of Revelations now if we go back earlier in the context here in chapter 12

We get a little insight to the kinds of visions and revelations. He was talking about he says he's received many

Visions and revelations that he received from the Lord Paul Then proceeds

I believe in verse 2 to refer to himself in the third person Right.

We're about to look at this verse where he received this wonderful vision revelation He's not even sure how to describe it, but he just doesn't want to boast in it

Right. He's telling us his mountaintop Experiences as he has seen and tasted that the

Lord is good But don't get it twisted that he has been able to do these things in the power of his own might

One of those visions look with me in verse 2 Paul says I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up into the third heaven

Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know God knows I know that this man was caught up into paradise whether in the body or out of the body

I do not know God knows and He heard things that cannot be told which man may not utter

So I believe in verse 7 when we see that Paul experiences made amazing revelations

This is the time that he is referring to That he had lofty experiences that God had granted him

But as we're going to see that God also granted that Paul would suffer greatly for the sake of Christ Paul says a thorn

Was given me now in your mind or in your your Bibles make special note of this

How is this given to Paul? Paul is saying that this thorn was

Given to him in the flesh and then he says a messenger of Satan to harass me

Now we're not told exactly What this thorn in the flesh is but we know its function

We know this for this thorn was meant to harass and torment the Apostle This thorn in Paul's flesh is some kind of spiritual attack.

He calls it a messenger of Satan And so even though we're not told exactly what this thorn is

I believe it's just vague enough to easily glean principles as a

Christian to look to this moment of affliction and says look how Paul responded in times of affliction and tribulation

Right. I want that same peace. I want that same comfort to know that God's grace is sufficient and we look more into the context as we're going to develop we're gonna see that Satan has been

Relentlessly attacking the believers at Corinth and if you mess with the bride of Christ Then by extension you're messing with the

Apostle Paul He has been laboring in discipleship with these Corinthian believers and a couple chapters earlier

He says he is trying to present to the present them as a chaste bride to Christ. He loves them dearly and so Paul numerous times has been telling the

Believers at Corinth you are in the direct crosshairs of the enemy and you don't even know it

Earlier in the letter. He speaks of the urgency that the believers must carry out church discipline because they have

Unrepentant sin in their midst and you must be in prayer to be reconciled in love and forgiveness

And he says this so that we may not be outwitted by Satan and his schemes

So if you would look back with me to 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 Where the

Apostle Paul tells them there is a spiritual battle in your midst and you must be on guard and you must be ready

Chapter 10 starting in verse 3 Paul says for though we walk in the flesh. We are not waging war

According to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power

This divine power is able to destroy strongholds We destroy arguments in every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God How by taking every thought captive to obey

Christ? He's telling the believers at Corinth that they are in a spiritual battle and they must prepare

Themselves that the kingdom of darkness is in their midst and the arch enemy of God does not fight fair He is the father of lies and he will subtly malign the truth and distort it ever slightly

The enemy will wreak have it havoc on an undiscerning mind with every wind of doctrine

And will shift you like wheat if you do not know King Jesus and his word

And I believe that this is a principle that we can all glean that we must fight not with earthly made weapons

But with weapons that have divine power We do this by putting on the whole armor of God Renewing our hearts and minds with God's truth being equipped with the knowledge of God revealed to us in his word

And we do this day by day looking to King Jesus the author and the perfecter of our of our faith

Amen So in chapter 11 Paul informs the Corinthians that the enemy

Unfortunately is already in their midst and has infiltrated their local gatherings and has already begun to build strongholds

Look with me at 2nd Corinthians 11 verse 3 Paul says but I'm afraid that the serpent that deceived

Eve by his cunning But let's look back at verse 3 He says but I am afraid that the serpent deceived

Eve by his cunning Your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ for if someone comes and proclaims another

Jesus Then the one we proclaimed or if have received a different spirit from the one that you received or if you accept a different Gospel from the one you have accepted you put up with it readily enough

He's saying you have no discernment You will let anyone come into your midst and preach a false

Jesus in verse 5 says indeed I consider that I'm not least inferior to these super apostles

Okay, Paul is telling the Corinthians that you are tolerating anyone to come into your midst even false

Teachers these so -called Super apostles who are no apostles at all They are allowing them to come into their midst and distort the gospel of grace

And so we don't know exactly what these super apostles taught but Paul is saying they are teaching a false

Jesus a false gospel and their teaching is not leading to the Holy Spirit, but to demonic spirits

Paul is telling them that you are not taking every thought captive rather you are slowly being led astray by subtle arguments that are raised against the knowledge of God a moment ago we read about this wide range of tribulation and persecution that Paul had endured for the sake of Christ and In that list.

I want to talk about one that really stood out to me. Paul said the danger of false brothers

Okay now Talking about tribulation. We're talking about hardships and when we start talking about persecution

Jesus had a lot to say about how we as Christians followers of Jesus will be persecuted in this world

And he says you're gonna be blessed for it, right? But remember back in the Sermon on the Mount He said blessed are the persecuted

Those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of God And what

I want to say is this makes sense to me Okay, they first hated Jesus. They're gonna hate us.

Jesus says they hated me first. They're not look how I'm your master if they hate me they're coming after you next right?

We are a city on a hill We are salt and light the world's gonna hate it when we speak the truth and expose sin

What's hard for me to understand is how professing believers will persecute those among themselves

Paul listed that as one of the the persecutions many afflictions that he suffered in his time at Corinth So what we're learning here is that Satan will throw fiery darts from outside persecution from the world

But he is also going to invade our midst and attempt to divide from within How is he gonna do this it's gonna be through unrepentant sin spreading lies false doctrine corrupting the gospel of grace

Tempting the Saints like he has from the very beginning with the lust of the eyes the lust of the flesh and the pride of life so the kind of persecution that Paul is receiving from false brothers are professing

Christians that are Slandering and maligning the character of Paul to his fellow believers those who he loves dearly and he's been pouring out his life as an offering to them and Friend, I don't know if you've experienced church hurt

Those people that malign and trash your character to other Christians, but I've seen it

Devastate churches before it is awful Backbiting secret slander about one another to build yourself up.

That is the enemy and It's tearing Paul apart spiritual warfare

We must deal with sin. We must guard the Saints from this I have experienced this before and it hurts so dearly, but praise

God. He is sovereign and it did not catch him off guard. Amen And This will harm souls and it will ultimately bring reproach on the

Word of God These self -proclaimed super apostles were creeping in to the

Corinthians midst if you have your Bible open 2nd Corinthians 1010 This is what they were saying about the

Apostle Paul They said yeah, Paul's letters are weighty and strong But his bodily presence is weak and his speech is of no account

Okay, obviously they couldn't dismiss the fact that his letters are pretty pretty strong we understand

He's an inspired possible by God So yeah They they recognize the truth that he said but they looked at this as an opportunity to backhandedly say

Yeah, but in person he's a pushover. He's not a real leader You don't you don't look to the

Apostle Paul and when you do he is just a terrible speaker And what these super Apostles are saying you don't need the

Apostle Paul you need us Okay, do you see the subtlety of how

Satan is working in their midst? And let me just say this friend the greatest lie

Contains the most amount of truth in it The subtlety of the enemy will use things like flattering speech to deceive the hearts of the naive causing divisions to create obstacles contrary to sound doctrine and no doubt the

Apostle Paul is Receiving blistering fiery darts from every angle in this spiritual battle with the

Corinthians so this gives us a little bit more context look with me at verse 7 in our main passage a

Thorn Paul says was given me a and he goes on to say a messenger of Satan to harass me

Once again, we don't know exactly what this thorn is But we know that it is a thorn in Paul's flesh.

It's causing him agonizing pain But we do get this detail. It says that it's an it's an

Angeles a messenger of Satan This is almost the exact same language that Paul used earlier in the previous chapter to describe the super Apostles that were being

Instruments of Satan himself. And so if you do want to look with me at 2nd Corinthians 11 13

Paul says this for such men these super Apostles are False Apostles false messengers deceitful workmen disguising themselves as Apostles of Christ in no wonder for even

Satan disguises himself as an Angeles a messenger an angel of light

So that is no surprise if his servants also disguise Themselves as servants of righteousness their end will correspond with their deeds

And so in some way These false teachers no doubt have been tormenting the

Apostle by slandering his slandering his character discrediting his apostleship and spiritually attacking the

Bride of Christ They have been slowly Corrupting the thinking of the

Corinthian believers in leading them to a false Christ who cannot save And so I believe we're getting a peek into the pastoral heart of the

Apostle Paul He was broken over this. He was constantly praying and pleading to the

Lord Look with me in verse 8 three times I pleaded with the Lord about this about this thorn this

Angeles of Satan that it should leave me I believe this is the heart of a pastor a man of God who

Continually goes to the throne of God in prayer when he feels the attacks of the enemy him on himself

And he sees the attack of the enemy on the Saints Paul elsewhere says I endure all things for the sake of the elect that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory

Something else I want to make special note of in verse 7 is that this thorn in the flesh was

Given to the Apostle Paul this should be perplexing right because you mean this

Affliction whatever it is exactly this spiritual attack from Satan that is harassing and tormenting him is a gift

If you look into the Greek of this this was bestowed as a gift to the

Apostle Paul Okay, very interesting. The only way to understand this is that it was sovereignly bestowed upon him by God himself

You have to have a big view of God to understand that even Affliction is a gift

Remember Philippians 1 29. It's not only granted to us to not only believe but also to suffer for the sake of Christ Right.

Yes, we are victorious through suffering The professor and scholar of New Testament George Guthrie.

I loved what he said about this in his commentary He said paradoxically the thorn in Paul's flesh was both a gift from God and a goad from Satan And so it's easy to understand that affliction and persecution are

Flaming darts from the enemy But listen Paul had the perspective that his entire life was in the hands of his sovereign

Triune God and had exhaustive purpose and everything that comes about in his creation

The the Creator is not just some distant Ethereal a deity that's just spun this world into motion and is just chilling and sitting on the sidelines

We understand that God has revealed himself in the person of the Eternal Son Jesus Christ and it is

Jesus who entered in his own creation to redeem Humanity all that the Father has given him

But how in the world Paul did you have this perspective that even through suffering and tribulation that this is a gift from God?

Paul had the perspective that trials are for our good and for his glory

These ordained trials are meant to sanctify and grow us in holiness to mold us

More and more into the image of Jesus. Amen And when you have this absolute

Under when you when you have this understanding of God's absolute Sovereignty in all things then certain verses you can never read the same way again

Talking about verses like Romans 8 28, right? But and we know that those who love

God those who have put their faith in King Jesus and have peace with God who have been justified

Those of us that love God truly all things are working together for our good

Those who are called according to his purpose God is sovereign. God is working out all things together for our

Sanctification nothing random is happening in his world. That is why we can say

God divinely appoints gifts bestows as a gift trials in our lives to strengthen our faith and so perhaps one of the best stories to illustrate this is the

Sufferings of Job the text says that Job loved the Lord and he feared

God Satan saw this and Satan targeted him Satan was like, you know what?

I'm going to harass him Satan says to God does God does Job fear

God for no reason you've blessed the work of his hands You've given him all the possessions if you take that away, he will curse you and die

And so Lord said to Satan behold all that he has is in your hand and then he later said it's only spare his life

Now I want to make a note at this point. This is remarkable Because God and Satan are both at work in the life of Job, but here's the key principle

God and Satan are at work in different ways Satan is at work by bringing accusations against Job He's prowling around like a lion trying to sift

Job like wheat and he is tempting Job to curse God Yet God is absolutely in control of what happens

Satan can only accomplish what the Almighty permits and has ordained to happen.

Nothing more and nothing less Just a moment ago. We heard about the Calvinism of Luther right so many shared principles

Luther even Affirmed this truth that even the devil is God's devil.

Does that make sense? Satan is on a leash He can only do what God ordains and permits and so Satan is at work in Job's life

And God is at work in Job's life in different ways Satan destroyed

Job's property and his livestock and he did this by inciting pagans to plunder his goods

Satan also killed all of Job's children by somehow orchestrating a natural disaster

I want you to feel the weight of that. No one has it as bad as Job did lost everything

To say that he was being harassed by Satan does not begin to describe the onslaughts of crushing blows from the enemy

All of this was taking place under the sovereign control of God Job could have easily blamed

Satan for all these attacks and been consumed with anger Against the arch enemy of God who is billions of times stronger than we are

He could have been mad and cursed God for allowing this to take place in his life

But only by the grace of God Job worshipped and said these famous words the

Lord gave and the Lord has taken away Blessed be the name of the Lord And in all this

Job did not charge God with wrongdoing And then a little while later Job's friends come on the scene when he was suffering and they said this is happening

Because God is angry at you. You have sinned in some way. They were wrong They were not true friends

Job cried out in the midst of their bad advice and counsel He said for I know my Redeemer lives though.

He slay me I shall trust in him and at the end of Job's journey and all this he says

I know that you God can do all things and no purpose of yours can be thwarted

Does that make sense God is sovereign nothing random is happening in his world

The New Testament actually says God had a direct purpose in Allowing this affliction ordaining these events to happen in Job's life in the

New Testament James 5 11 says you have heard of the steadfastness of Job and you have seen the purpose of the

Lord how God is compassionate and merciful God experienced

Job Experienced more of God's gracious character through suffering right if we know the end of the story of Job He was blessed beyond measure

Listen trials are necessary in the life of a believer to grow us and to show us more of God's grace and to learn

This principle that God's grace is sufficient James 1 12 says blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial for when he has stood the test

He will receive the crown of life God is not only sovereign in regeneration and our justification.

Listen. God is also sovereign in our sanctification and So as Calvinists we use the word sovereign a lot, don't we?

We do so what do we mean by that? Well for one I would just say it's a biblical term, right?

Jesus Christ is king of kings and Lord of lords. He is the blessed and the only

Sovereign and if you have a good old King James Bible, it says the only potentate and that right brother

Danny That's what I'm talking about Jesus Christ God is the only sovereign.

That means that God possesses Transcendent power God is all -powerful scripture declares

Hallelujah for the Lord our God the Almighty the omnipotent reigns

So you better believe God is sovereign and we will say it And so I believe Calvinists recognize that God's Almighty rule and reign

Cannot be thwarted by anything in this created order So everything that comes to pass in history is ultimately decreed and permitted in real time

By God's sovereign will to take place. Well, Jeremiah, that's a good theory, but you better prove it, buddy

Book chapter and verse great look at Ephesians 1 11 for God who works all things together after the counsel of his will

God is absolutely sovereign over his creation dear saint every moment of your life has divine purpose nothing random happens under God's divine rule a

Comforting Psalm that I look to all the time I just love it is when King David said in Psalm 139 your eyes saw me when

I was in the womb all the days ordained or Predetermined for me were recorded in your scroll before one of them came into existence

Even through the Apostle Paul Acknowledging this truth about the sovereignty of God in his affliction.

I want you to understand this He was not robotic Right one of the main criticisms that I hear from those in favor of choice meat theology

And you know I'm talking about and just critics from all over there saying well I guess we shouldn't pray anymore, right?

Because if God has determined whatsoever comes to pass. What's the point? Now as Andrew said earlier, we are not talking about a hard Determinism that is a robotic we are affirming divine

Determinism in which God not only predetermines the end, but he predetermines the means to bring about that end

I want you to understand we have a limited finite Perspective if we are going through a

God -ordained trial you better believe the Saint will cry out to God in prayer. Amen You can understand that prayer is not changing

God prayer is changing us Does that make sense? God's sovereignty is working through the prayers of his children

We are not asking God to be a genie and to pray something that goes against his will

We are praying that God's will be done in our heart in our life prayer

Changes us prayer does not change God As We are looking at the scripture.

I want you to understand what's what's at the bottom of this universe is not some cold

Impersonal chance that can't tell us anything. Let me tell you this if our if there was no

God as Richard Dawkins, I'm gonna spare you this quote that I had for Matt came and read it

I don't like it, but he understands the utter futility of everything. There's no justice. There's no love

There's no anything and he says this is ultimately because at the bottom of the universe. There's nothing

I Want you to I want you to understand if there was nothing at the bottom of the universe other than impersonal chance then everything we're experiencing is cold and is

Robotic, but praise God. That's not true What is ultimately resting every everything is resting on according to the word of his power is a sovereign?

Triune God that has purpose in everything that happens in history

That's an interesting word history. It's his story of redemption

The Prophet Isaiah said that this one and true God Declares the end all the way from the beginning saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure

I have spoken and I will bring it to pass I have purposed literally a predetermined plan and I will certainly do it

Okay That's that's why we can look at a trial and say God has granted that this happened to me

For my good and for his glory Okay Something else that the psalmist says

I says yeah Even from ancient times that means when we look back in history We can say oh

God had a purpose in that and he can actually tell us in his word the purpose for why something happened in the past even for things

Not yet done. That means God can give us prophecy about things that haven't happened yet He not only knows it but he has a purpose for it

We have to wrestle with this reality you are not God You are not

God you are a part of the creation and Please hear me. Yes, we do have a will we have a will to do what we desire

And that is compatible with God's will that's eternal You have a will that is temporal finite that you choose according to your desire.

God has an eternal will Does God determine things? Yes Do we determine things?

Yes, just not God God is not in the same way. I want you to think about this. This is not a contradiction

Unless you lower God and you elevate man and say that we determine the same way now you have problems

Listen, you are not God And until we quit blurring the lines between the

Creator and the creation and we have a strong distinction You will have a distorted view of the sovereignty of God you will have a conceded and elevated view of man and you will not be able to rest securely in the finished work of Jesus Christ and That idea of bringing

God down and elevating man is slowly buying into the damaged goods of Rome's dubious gospel the

Roman Catholic Church And so as we look back at the Apostle Paul did

God have purpose and Paul's suffering? Yes, did Paul know that?

Yes, and yet he pleaded that God would take this from him He was wrestling with spiritual warfare.

He was resting in the promises of God He was fleeing to the Lord in prayer

And I want you to understand that prayer is meaningful Jesus himself told us

Yes, the Father knows everything that you need still pray Right, even though God has exhaustive purpose and what's about to happen.

He wants us to pray and go to him I believe truly this is what it means to have

Relationship with God right in relationship. We have back -and -forth Communication right?

How do we speak to God? It's through prayer. How does God speak to us? through his living and breathing word

So we see the Apostle Paul fleeing to the Lord in prayer why because he loves him That's where the source of our strength comes from to God.

He is walking with the Lord So he is praying to him and talking with him. I want to say also

The Lord talks to us communicates through to us through other saints, right?

No doubt. The Apostle Paul is in a corporate church context he is no doubt praying on behalf for those believers at Corinth and Interceding on their behalf.

My point is is our walk with the Lord is not supposed to be only Individualistic but is meant to be corporate with the body of the

Saints Paul is modeling this for us Right, these are incredible truths that I want us to be

Encouraged with that as children of God we can flee to the Lord in prayer and we can seek him during times of affliction and great

Tribulation knowing this next truth that I want us to look at that My grace is sufficient for you and my power has made perfect in weakness.

Okay, I Love this phrase My grace is sufficient for you as I was thinking through this

I couldn't help thinking back to the battle cry of the Protestant Reformation Right that we stand on the soul and fallible authority of the

Word of God solo scripture Scripture alone. We look to God's Word alone for our authority in our in our life, right?

And how are we made right before God by faith alone? And then we see out of the Protestant Reformation that we are saved by God's grace alone solo gratia

God Monarchistically is working out all things together after the counsel of his will

God's grace is Sufficient so I was thinking about solo gratia and I was thinking about this.

Well, that's talking about our justification, right? God's grace Regenerates us puts that new heart in us to look to King Jesus in repentant faith and he justifies us

Declares us right no longer guilty of condemnation and the penalty of our sin, but we're learning a fantastic truth

That God is not only God's grace is not only sufficient in our justification, but God's grace is sufficient in our sanctification

God is telling Paul my grace is sufficient for you And so it's tempting at this point in the passage to think that well

The main point is that Paul needed to be humble because he's has these miraculous Mountaintop experiences as an apostle that is being taught here, but that's not the main purpose the main thrust of this whole passage is that God is perfecting his power and magnifying the grace of our

Lord Jesus Christ So the full verse here again is my grace

Paul is Sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness

God is using the life of the Apostle Paul and the sufferings of the church

To crush the kingdom of darkness by the foolishness the simplicity of the gospel

How does the Apostle Paul respond in the midst of so much great suffering for Christ?

He tells us and this excites my heart He says therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses

So that the main purpose of this passage the power of Christ may rest upon me

What brought Paul the highest degree of joy and pleasure in this suffering was not boasting in his mountaintop?

experiences, but in the moments of his lowest those moments of Tribulation where all he can do is plead for the

Lord to strengthen him that his gaze Might continually look to King Jesus the author and the perfecter of our faith

That reminds me of the famous words of the John to bet of John to Baptist when he said that's the lame of God that Takes away the sins of the world.

He says for he must increase and I must decrease but Jeremiah my eschatology the study of the end times my eschatology says that I'm supposed to have a

Winning mentality and reclaimed dominion of what Adam lost to Satan I'm not gonna get into a whole

Eschatology spill, but let me tell you what the Apostle Paul's mentality was. He was victorious

Through suffering he said it's because God's power is made known in our weaknesses

Paul responded to tribulation with great joy verse 10. He says for the sake of Christ then

I am content with weaknesses insults hardships persecution and calamities this word content is

Utica Oh in the Greek beautiful I want this actually was said by God the

Father to Jesus at his baptism He says this is my son with whom I am

Utica. Oh, well, please Friend you cannot get more pleased than when being pleased by God in his son

The Apostle Paul understood this he rested in it. He rejoiced in it

And so my question for you today is how are you respond in times of tribulation?

Will you respond like the world? murmuring Complaining questioning accusing or you'd be like the

Apostle Paul verse 10 He says for when I am weak for the sake of Christ Then I am strong well pleased in the strength and power of his might

How will you respond? I? Pray that when we are given thorny afflictions in our lives by the sovereign mighty hand of God That we would boast all the more gladly that we would be content

Utica. Oh, well pleased. Yes There will be times we plead that God will remove that professing brother that false

Christian that accuser who has proven himself to be dangerous that is unrepentant

Slandering you against the other Saints and harming other Christians. I Pray for strength to carry it.

I Pray that as we seek lofty experiences greater revelations these mountaintop experiences with our

Lord that we would rejoice When we are given thorns to keep us from being conceded always looking to Jesus who had a crown of thorns

Think about that. We receive thorns here and there he bore a crown of thorns on our behalf

Look to him friend look to King Jesus in the times of suffering and we will look to a new

Dawning day when he will return and restore all things and we will rule and reign with him for all eternity

Knowing this that God your grace is sufficient. Let's pray

Heavenly Father, we praise you for this time. Hopefully just opening up your word just enough to get a taste

God of your goodness your grace your mercy God seeing your sovereignty for what it is

Lord for those that are wrestling with these doctrines of grace and your absolute sovereignty in all things

Lord, I pray that you would illuminate hearts to see your goodness in it that you are working all things together after the council of Your will to put your glory on display

Lord for those of us that have seen and tasted that you Lord are gracious God, please help us in our times of affliction to rejoice in it knowing that you are strengthening our faith for our good and for Your glory praise things in your name