 The title of our sermon this morning is His Grace Is Sufficient, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verses 1 through 10. I'm going to announce at the outset this is going to be a two-part series on this text of Scripture. If you will, please bear with me some this morning. I want to set this up for us and I want to build on some topics that we've touched on previously, working through verse by verse through 2 Corinthians, topics, themes that Paul has already introduced but now brings back around and consolidates for us. I want to do that also as Paul is instructing us, taking us through here. We're going to take our time, a little bit of time in this text of Scripture, work through this over a couple of weeks. We are nearing the end of 2 Corinthians. When we get to verse 10, I flip my page and we're on the back page of this book that we've spent a significant amount of time in. It has been a blessing to me. I pray it's been a blessing to you too. This is a wonderful letter and we have much to be grateful for in studying this together. So now as we consider 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verses 1 through 10, His Grace Is Sufficient. Simple reading of this letter reveals several themes of the letter that are critical to unpacking its theology and to unpacking an application of 2 Corinthians for Christians today. One of those themes that we see repeatedly emphasized by the Apostle Paul and now brought to the forefront in the text that we're studying together is Paul's weakness. Specifically, it's Paul's weakness as it is displayed through the suffering that he faces in the course of his ministry. Paul suffers. The degree to which Paul suffered in following the Lord Jesus Christ is staggering. It's stunning to think of when you walk through these passages and how this letter reveals the extent to which Paul suffered for the name of Christ. It is stunning. If there was anyone, anyone who needed to be clear about the place and purpose of suffering in the Christian life, it was the Apostle Paul. Amen? If there is anyone who understood the blessedness, the power of the grace of God that sustains us in all our suffering for the Lord Jesus Christ, it was the Apostle Paul. Far from the garbage that is peddled today by the word of faith movement opposed to all the absurd and ridiculous claims of the health, wealth, prosperity gospel, genuine, faithful followers of the Lord Jesus Christ will suffer in the cause of Christ. Paul would say, for to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in his name but also to suffer for his sake. Second Timothy chapter 3 verse 12, yes, and all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. This world's hostility, the world's opposition is an expected and normal consequence of a godly life. Do you see the connection? Jesus himself said a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. Now notice how Paul refers to this suffering in Second Corinthians chapter 12 verse 10. He describes it there in verse 10 with five words all in the plural, means there's more than one of them. Okay? Five words. First is infirmities, reproaches, needs, persecutions and distresses. Infirmities referring to weakness or a physical incapacity. Paul was physically assaulted, reproaches, offensive, arrogant, insults, shameful, mistreatment. In other words, words. Paul was offensively insulted, disrespected, reproached, needs, physical. The word refers to physical pressure, physical distress, particularly arising from torture. Paul suffered needs that were a result of physical pressure, physical distress, persecutions. What our understanding of persecution is from the first century, this involved being hunted down to inflict pain or inflict death. Paul was hunted down. Distresses refer to oppressive mental anguish, oppressive trouble. Then he says in verse 10 that these things, these five words, this description of his suffering, these things were suffered for Christ's sake. In other words, it wasn't suffering painful bunions, although we may suffer through painful bunions, right? It wasn't suffering through a visit from your mother-in-law. I have a wonderful mother-in-law, I'm just saying, but it's not what he's talking about here. What he's talking about is suffering for Christ's sake, right? For Christ's sake. Jesus said in Mark 13 verse 13 that you will be hated by all for my sake. These hardships are born then as a consequence of faithfully serving a Lord. We see that example in the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul faithfully serving the Lord Jesus Christ and then these infirmities as Paul describes them, that which amalgamates to Paul's weakness. Those things are born, they are suffered as a consequence of faithfully serving the Lord Jesus Christ and Paul understands that. Peter also emphasizes that foundation for our suffering. In 2 Peter 2 verse 21 listen, for to this suffering you were called because, Peter says, Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps. We should follow in the Lord's steps. 2 Peter chapter 4 verse 1, therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, now arm yourselves also with this same mind. For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lust of men but for the will of God and the one who lives for the will of God will suffer persecution. When you live fervently for the will of God, you're going to suffer. This wicked world will see to it that you do. Now Peter also knows that when we suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ, there's a unique and special fellowship that we have with him. Listen to 1 Peter chapter 4 now verse 12 where Peter says, beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you but rejoice. Rejoice to the extent that you partake that you partake of Christ's sufferings. That when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. The joy overtakes the sorrow. Do you see? If you are reproached for the name of Christ, Peter says, blessed are you for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Paul understands that. Paul refers to this partaking of Christ's suffering as filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. Now don't misunderstand what Paul is saying there, right? It's not saying that there's anything left unfinished the Lord's atoning work. It's not what's being said. The Lord's atoning work is that it's finished. It's complete, right? It is finished. But now it's said that Christians suffer for his sake. Paul in ministry understands that he is suffering for the sake of Christ. We brothers and sisters in serving the Lord Jesus Christ understand that when we face persecution, we're suffering for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. The afflictions that his enemies, the Lord's enemies now pour out against the Lord Jesus Christ are being poured out against his people. That is in that sense that we fill up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. When we suffer for his sake, Paul called it the fellowship of his sufferings. That's why the disciples then rejoiced that they had been counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. When the disciples understood this and lived in light of this reality, the disciples then to that joy overcoming overwhelming sorrow, that joy, they rejoiced that they had been counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. If the Lord Jesus Christ suffered and bred and died for you, then you now count it a privilege. You count it an honor. You count it even a joy to suffer and even bleed or die for him, right? The Lord Jesus Christ exhibited a matchless, a superlative, an infinite love for his own people by suffering in their place. So now, brother, sister, can you see then how it magnifies the love of God in Christ, how it glorifies the Lord for his people then to follow him in love, denying themselves the pleasures of this world, denying themselves the comforts of this world, denying themselves, taking up their crosses and following him even in their suffering. That's what it's pointing to when we're commanded to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. It's not always going to be easy. There's going to be self-denial involved. There's going to be the taking up of an instrument of your own self-execution. And that will lead to suffering. Why would anyone do that? Because it magnifies the love of God in Christ that was shown toward us. It's for his glory. And then, Paul adds this, that if you died in Christ, you died to sin, you died to self, to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you died to sin himself in him, then your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, what happens, brother? What happens, sister? And you also will appear with him in glory. So as if it wasn't enough to magnify the grace of God in Christ, to magnify the love of God in Christ that has been shown to us, that has been poured out to us in the life, in suffering, in death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. As if that wasn't enough, God then promises us glory with him. Our light affliction, which is, but for a moment, is working for us, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Why wouldn't we? Why wouldn't we step out in wholehearted devotion to serve the Lord despite the suffering, despite the opposition, despite the persecution? Matthew 511, the Lord says, Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice in it. Be exceedingly glad. Why? Because great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecute the prophets who were before you. It's a glorious thought, a place and purpose of suffering in the Christian life. Paul says it's a price worthy to be paid, cost worthy to be counted. Paul certainly has the right perspective on his suffering, has the right perspective on suffering in the Christian life. Suffering refines our faith as though by fire suffering strengthens our hope. Suffering causes us to endure. It causes, produces perseverance. Suffering is a means to our sanctification. Suffering builds our character. Suffering conforms us into the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Suffering endured by faith is suffering in fellowship with the Lord, in fellowship with him and his suffering, and that suffering glorifies the Lord, produces an eternal weight of glory for his people in him. Now bear in mind, so we consider this, that our suffering produces absolutely no righteousness on our own. Our suffering produces absolutely nothing worthy of merit. Christ's suffering was the price of our redemption, and that price was paid in full by the Lord Jesus Christ. His perfect righteousness is all we need to have right standing with God. That was that glorious reality that motivated Paul to say, what things were gained to me, these I have counted lost for Christ. Understanding these truths, these realities, this is the word of God, amen. This is the truth of God. If you're in Christ, this is true for you. Understanding this, isn't it entirely reasonable? Isn't it wondrously expected then that we would count all things lost with Paul for Christ? Paul says, yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that righteousness which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know him. That's the desire of Paul's heart. The power of his resurrection, that I may know him in the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, eternal and unseen things in the heavenlies. And knowing these things, right, knowing them, having an understanding of them, understanding the place and purpose of Christian suffering, knowing these things, Paul then has great confidence in ministry, great boldness in his service for the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says, now therefore we do not fear, we do not shrink back, great confidence that God is now manifesting the work and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ in and through Paul's own life and ministry. Paul understands that. Paul understands knowing these things, Paul knows that when he suffers, he has fellowship with the Lord in his suffering, right? It was necessary that the captain of our salvation would be made perfect through suffering and having suffered the one who's been sanctified and the ones who are being sanctified, all of one such that he, the Lord Jesus Christ, is not ashamed to call us brothers, we fellowship with him when we suffer for his sake. And Paul knows that one day he himself will be with Christ in resurrection glory. That should, that should give us great confidence, just like it does the apostle Paul. It should give us great confidence, great boldness, great motivation for a whole sold devotion in service of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in this blessed reality, the blessed reality of those truths in which faith filled joy overcomes the sorrow that accompanies suffering. But there's something else that suffering did in the life and ministry of the apostle Paul. It's a reality of suffering. Paul's suffering exposed and magnifies Paul's weakness. He said to the Corinthians, I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. He described he and the other apostles as men condemned to death, spectacles to the world, fools for Christ's sake, weak, dishonored, hungry, thirsty, poorly clothed, beaten, homeless, reviled, persecuted, defamed, made as the filth of the world, the off scouring of all things until now. Paul's suffering revealed that about himself. However, Calvin said this. That which is counted among men to be most reproachful excels in dignity and in glory in the sight of God and his angels. We know that the kind of death which Christ suffered was of all others most shameful, and yet he did triumph most nobly upon the cross. So when we are made like unto him, we may worthily boast that it is a point of singular excellency that we suffer rebuke in the sight of the world. Amen. Paul's enemies in Corinth seized upon his weakness as a means to attack Paul, as a means to discredit him in the eyes of the Corinthians. But God seized upon Paul's weakness as a means through which God would display his own power. The Lord explained to Paul in chapter 12 verse nine, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. It was through his suffering that which magnified Paul's weakness that Paul came to understand and experience God's power at work. When I am weak, then I am strong. If it weren't for that grace, if it weren't for God's power at work in the life and ministry of the apostle Paul, then Paul would have struck sale, tucked tail long ago. He wouldn't have made it, right? None of us would. Can you imagine? This is a testimony. This is a boast of the power of God at work through Paul's weakness, right? The power of God at work through Paul's life and ministry for his own glory to display the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in his suffering on our behalf. Paul certainly would not have made it. None of us would have. None of us will. When we are weak, in other words, when we sense and grasp and apprehend our incapacity, our weakness, when we grasp our weakness, then God comes through with grace, fueled power. The Lord does not intend to keep you from suffering for his name, but the Lord does intend to preserve you through it. He may not preserve your life on this side of eternity, but it gives you life and the life to come. That preservation won't be by your own strength. It'll be by his strength, by his, not by the might of our hand, by the might of my hand, says our Lord, his grace is sufficient. Paul saw that to be true, to be genuine was to be weak. He experienced weakness in his ministry. He learned to depend on, to rejoice in the grace of God that sustained him in his suffering. And we want to examine this sufficient grace of God from our text in four points, right? Four points. His sufficient grace is more profitable than experience. These are ways in which Paul, the Apostle Paul, is going to magnify the grace of God in Christ, going to magnify the sufficiency of God's grace. His sufficient grace is more profitable than experience versus one through four. His sufficient grace is more valuable than reputation, more powerful through pain and most evident through weakness. Paul refuses to boast according to the flesh the way the false teachers are boasting. Paul rather embraces this weakness. He boasts in his weakness, why? That the power of Christ may remain on me, may be seen in me, may be experienced by me in life and ministry. The grace of God, through which Paul experiences the power of Christ upon him, is more profitable than experience, more valuable than reputation, more powerful through pain, most evident through weakness. I consider with me point one, his sufficient grace is more profitable than experience. Verse one, Paul begins by saying it is doubtless, not profitable for me to boast. In other words, there is nothing here to be gained by boasting. Paul has decided that it would be more harmful for the Corinthians if he doesn't boast. And so Paul here is compelled. Chapter 12 of verse 11, they compelled him to boast. He is compelled. And so for the sake of the Corinthians now, he continues his fool speech that he began in chapter 11, verse 22. And Paul continues to boast in his fool speech as it has been called. Paul is answering the fools here in Corinth according to their folly. He's endeavored now to continue his boast in order to, one, rebuke and silence the proud boasting of the false teacher. He's going to do that with his own example, his own example in ministry. And then two, he's going to contrast in the eyes of the Corinthians. He's going to contrast the self-serving work of those ministers of Satan in Corinth with his own labor of love for the church at Corinth. So Paul continues now his fool speech. It is doubtless, not profitable for me to boast. Paul then says, I will now come then to visions and revelations of the Lord. Not all visions are revelations. Not all revelations are visions, right? Paul actually lived in a day where revelation was being given, new revelation by God given to the apostle. Why would Paul take up this topic? It's likely that this is an area in which the false teachers were also boasting. That was common at that point in time. The Corinthians had already been rebuked for it. We have to remember that Paul was living at a time, serving the church at a time when new revelation was actually being given. Miraculous spiritual gifts were on display, attesting to the veracity of the apostles preaching and teaching. The Corinthians themselves have been rebuked for abuses in this area. So now Paul finds himself having to respond to liars who are once again using claims to these supernatural sign gifts in order to manipulate and persuade gullible Corinthians. So what then does Paul do? On our day, our day to day, we would just refute Charismaniacs with the word of God. And that's how we would do. We'd go to the word of God to refute them. Gibberish is not a biblical language. The canon is closed, just new revelation is not being given and so on, right? Refute Charismaniacs from the word of God. But what does Paul do in his day when true apostles were being given new revelation? He's in a different context, isn't he? Paul begins this refutation, this answering of the false teaching fools according to their folly. He begins by relaying a supernatural experience of his own. And then he puts that experience in proper perspective by how he refers to it, by how he handles to it, handles it. Let's look at that. Paul's had many of these experiences, by the way, right? Many of them, not the least of which was his own conversion on the road to Damascus, right? What a miraculous supernatural occurrence seeing the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. After that, Paul has had many of these experiences. Paul narrows his dialogue here to one of those, speaks of only one, verse two. I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago, this is in a silent period near the beginning of Paul's converted life, right? He gets converted on the road to Damascus. There's this gap in the history, so to speak, that scripture is relatively silent about what Paul was going through. It's during this time that Paul has this experience, 14 years ago, a long time ago, right? Paul says in verse two, whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows. But such a one was caught up, the word means raptured, right? That's where we get that word from. He was caught up to the third heaven, verse four called it paradise. We know that that's referring to heaven, right? We have the sky above us. We have the space where the planets are located, the stars are located, and then we have the third heaven, the heavenlies. That's referred to as paradise, the Garden of God, so to speak, verse four. Now, Noticity does not say, doesn't describe himself as an apostle. I know an apostle who 14 years ago, doesn't describe himself as a super Christian, or remember the false teachers are describing themselves as apostles. As a matter of fact, they're describing themselves as super apostles, the most eminent of the apostle. And how does Paul describe himself? I know a man in Christ, right? I know a Christian who 14 years ago, whether in the body I do not know, whether out of the body I do not know, God knows. Such a one was caught up to the third heaven. In verse seven, the thorn in the flesh was given to Paul as a result of this vision. So we know that in verse two, a man in Christ is referring to Paul himself. Paul is speaking here in the third person. He's obviously referring to himself here. That shows, doesn't it? Paul's reluctance, his embarrassment, if you will, and having to boast of such things. Paul is distancing himself from this boast. Paul doesn't want this, so to speak, to be added to some illustrious view that people have of himself, right? Paul is separating himself. He's distancing himself from this occurrence, this experience in the eyes of the Corinthians. It continues in verse three. I know such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows how he was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words, which is not lawful for a man to utter. Now, Paul obviously saw this experience as a tremendous blessing, even as an honor. You know, he says in verse five, of such a one, I will boast. Yet of myself, I will not boast. But of such a one who experienced such glorious things, I'll boast. Paul considered it an honor, considered it a blessing. The false teachers were boasting about their miraculous experiences, but notice now how Paul here talks about his own, and this is in contrast to them. Verse one, I don't gain anything by talking about it. It's not profitable. What purpose does it serve to emphasize this? You can hear Paul saying, right? If Paul hadn't been compelled to boast here, it's very likely we would have never heard about this experience that Paul had. Paul wasn't going to talk about it. There were many experiences that Paul had. Paul only mentioned this one. He could have rattled them off one after the other and gone into detail. Paul restricts it to this one experience. He tries to deflect attention from himself as much as possible. Talking in the third person, I know a man. Paul knows it's an undeserved gift. He can claim no merit for it himself. It's just a gift of God. So Paul's even reluctant to attach himself to it, so to speak. Verse two, it was a long time ago, 14 years. Paul expresses uncertainty. Listen, I don't know if it was in the spirit like John was in Revelation, caught up in the spirit. I don't know if it was actually bodily transported there. I have no idea. God knows. And think about it with me. What does he actually tell us about it? Nothing. He essentially tells us nothing about it, nothing about what he saw. Certainly he saw spectacular things. He only tells us about what he heard and he doesn't tell us what he heard. I heard things there that I can't talk about. Paul says inexpressible. Now that doesn't mean a heavenly language. It doesn't mean it's inexpressible in terms of gibberish. It means unspeakable things which are not lawful for me to talk about. He goes on to clarify that it would be unlawful to utter what he heard there. Now already, we can contrast that with how false teachers boast of their experience, his experience or her experience. They won't stop talking about it. They won't stop boasting about it. You know what Jesus Christ had for breakfast that morning when they get back from heaven. They've written books about it. They've made movies about it. People all over the place today claiming to go to heaven. The one man who actually did go to heaven won't talk about it. What a contrast, right? What a contrast. Paul says even in verse six that even if I did boast about it, I would not be found to be a fool. Why? Because what I'm saying, Paul says, is actually true. How many have come along? These liars, they're either liars or they are desperately deceived themselves, thinking that somehow some imagination they've drummed up in their head has been some heavenly visitation. They frolicked in the crystal sea with the Lord Jesus Christ, right? And they've come back to tell everybody the whole world about it. What point does it serve? What profit is there in it? And the one who actually has been there won't talk about it. Why? Because it's not lawful to utter those things. For any reasonable person, Paul masterfully distinguishes himself from false teachers then and from false teachers today. So you have to ask yourself, right? Do we consider this? Why was this experience given to Paul then? Why did Paul have this experience? It was certainly intended to be private to the apostle Paul. Paul otherwise wouldn't have spoken about it. It was for him. It was a gift of the grace of God to Paul. God knows, right? God knows. And the prevailing notions when we think about that is that this Paul was going to suffer tremendously in ministry, right? When the Lord told Ananias to go to Paul, he said, he is a chosen vessel of mine. He's going to bear my name before the Gentiles. And the Lord says, I will show him how many things he's going to suffer for my namesake, right? Paul is going to suffer tremendously. Do you think that this experience motivated Paul? Bolstered Paul's faith? Like Paul could carry this with him through a life of ministry, sustaining him against all that suffering, against all that persecution? In the same sense that the disciples before the cross walked with the Lord Jesus Christ. They saw him crucified. They saw him dead. And they saw him buried. And then what? They saw him risen, right? And how that fueled and motivated those same apostles went right back into Jerusalem and preached the gospel to their own death. No one's going to preach the gospel to their death, knowing it to be a lie, right? It's not a lie. This is true. They saw the risen Lord and it fueled their faith. This experience had the same effect for the apostle Paul. It was a gift of God's grace. It bolstered Paul's faith that prepared him for ministry. But notice with me, notice how Paul puts this amazing experience in proper perspective. Verse five, he says, of such a one I will boast, yet of myself I will not boast except in my infirmities. Now he refrains from boasting about this any further. He stops right where it is and he says, I would rather boast in my infirmities. What's the reason for that, Paul? Why? Verse nine. So that the power of Christ may rest upon me so that I may continue to experience his sufficient grace, his grace is sufficient for me. Paul knew that it was through his weakness, not through his own exaltation, that he experienced the sustaining strength of God's sufficient grace. His sufficient grace is more profitable than any experience. Secondly, his sufficient grace is more valuable than an inflated reputation. It's more valuable than an inflated reputation. Verse six. Paul says, I'm not going to boast any further about this. But then he says in verse six, for though I might desire to boast, even if I boasted I would not be a fool. Why? Because I will speak the truth. What he says is true. But I refrain so that no one should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me. Another contrast here with the boasting of the false teachers. That's exactly what the false teachers want. They want the inflated reputation, right? They're laboring to manufacture their reputation. They want their inflated reputation to be bigger than life. Now Paul could have easily done the same. Paul is a really smart guy, very well educated, right? Paul could have easily done the same. But Paul refrains from spending any more breath or any more ink on this particular circumstance or in boasting about his own experiences. Why? Because Paul is entirely content with how he is viewed in Christ. However that ends up being, whatever ends up being the case, Paul is content with that. He's content to occupy the station that God has assigned to him. Okay? But because Paul understands his weakness, he has no objection to being reproached. Because Paul understands his own weakness, he has no objection to being lightly esteemed. This is what Paul deserves, right? Paul would say he deserves to be lightly esteemed. He's got no problem with it. In fact, Paul says he glories in reproaches for Christ's sake. He glories in them. The false teachers were demeaning him, right? In chapter 10, verse 10, his bodily presence, his weak, his speech contemptible. But Paul is content with the reputation that comes from what he has seen to be in ministry for the Lord, and Paul is content with the reputation that comes from what he is preaching in ministry for the Lord. He tells the Philippians, doesn't he? Right? The things which you heard and saw in me, these do. Right? Take a look at how I live my life. Take a look. He told those Ephesian elders in Miletus, you know what manner I've lived among you since the day that I got here. You know how I've lived among you. He tells the Philippians, those things which you heard in me, what you saw in me, these do. In other words, the measure of a faithful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ is not his experience. The measure of a faithful servant is how he handles the word of God, right? What he says, how he handles the word of God and how he lives and serves and follows the Lord in faithfulness to that word. Two measures, how you handle the word of God and how you live in accord with that word. Paul says, measure me by the way I live my life in ministry among you. Measure me by that. Measure me by what you see. Measure me by the word that I am preaching and teaching. If you can go to the word of God and show me my error, more power to you, Paul says. I am faithful to the word of God. Measure me by the preaching and teaching that comes out of my mouth. Measure me by what I say. False teachers don't have it. They don't have it and so they're left to boast in their experience. Lost people don't have it and so they often rely on their experience. In other words, for the false teacher, if it comes down to your life, the character of your life, or if it comes down to the words that you're preaching as they hold up against the revealed word of God, if it's going to come down to those two measurements, the false teacher doesn't have it. False teacher doesn't have it. All he's got is his experience. This is what happened to me. This is what I did. I'm going to wave my jacket. 42 of you are going to fall over. That's all they've got. I'm going to walk up to you and I'm going to push you in the forehead until you get the picture and fall over. They don't have, in other words, the words that are saying held up against the standard of God's word are proven to be false. The life, the character of a false teacher is in accord with their rotten theology and that becomes evident to anyone reasonable. They don't have it and so what do they do? They rely on their experience. Lost people, maybe you've been guilty of this before, lost people don't have it. If you hold up their Christian lives by those two measurements, what they understand, believe about the Word of God and the character of their lives, they don't have it. So what do I then rely upon? That time when I was eight years old and I walked the aisle and said a prayer and the Lord presumably saved me and I'm going to grasp hold of that because I don't have a knowledge of God's Word and I don't have the character of a Christian life. Brother and I were out witnessing yesterday. It was exactly the case dogmatically holding to an experience early in life where they claimed to have been saved and yet do not possess character of a Christian life. Don't possess Holy Spirit, wrought holiness in their lives. They don't know the Word of God. So what do they do? They rely on their experience. Don't be duped by that. Don't fall into that deception. The measurement of faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ is how we handle the Word of God and the fruit of that, the fruit of the spirit in our lives. Paul won't boast in his experience for the sake of inflating his own reputation. He won't talk about it. He sees no profit in it. Why? The grace of God, the strength of God, the power of God is magnified in Paul's weakness. Why inflate my own reputation when the power of God, the strength of God, the grace of God is at work in my weakness? Paul says in verse 10, I then take pleasure in reproaches for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong. That power that Paul experienced in ministry as a gift of God's grace was far more important than boosting his own reputation. It's only when Paul's weak. It's only when Paul is persecuted, when he's insulted, attacked, humiliated, poor, physically spent that God's power comes in sustaining grace and Paul can say, I am strong. Now, Paul knows that to commend himself in anything else is not only foolish, it's also false. It doesn't line up with reality. This is why all boasting in the flesh is excluded. All boasting in the flesh is excluded. All true strength, all true power is a gift of God's grace. True strength, true power to live the Christian life is a gift of God's grace. If you're relying upon your own strength or on your own power, you're going to find out how weak and decrepit that is. What does it look like to rely upon your own strength, your own power? Not to pray, to not put yourself in dependence upon him, to not read his word. You obviously think that you don't need it, not put yourself under the preaching and teaching of God's word. You obviously believe yourself to be fine without it. What does it look like to rely upon your own strength to not commune in fellowship with God's people? You obviously must think that you don't need that as a means of grace. To refuse to obey him, you obviously don't think that you need those means of grace. The power that Paul experienced in ministry is a gift of God's grace. The power that will overcome sin in your life is a gift of God's grace. The power that will compel you in Christ to go out for him in the cause of Christ will be a power that does not originate from within you. It will be a gift of God's grace. That's why all boasting in the flesh is excluded. All true strength, all true powers, a gift from God. It is sufficient for all our labors. It is sufficient for all our difficulties. It is sufficient for every moment of our Christian lives, every moment of ministry, God's power is mightier than any emissary of Satan. God's power at work through you is mightier than any weakness you face, more meaningful than any vision. God's grace isn't merely sufficient for Paul to endure weakness. God's grace is sufficient to overcome it for his own sake. God's grace is sufficient for Paul to carry out his ministry, for you to carry out your ministry to the end for which God has determined it. You don't have to have that fatalistic, negative, sinful mindset that, well, you know, we're all sinners. I'm doing the best I can. His grace is sufficient and it's efficient for you to be faithful in the ministry that God has called you to to the end for which God has determined it. God's grace is sufficient. We'll look at the rest of our texts next week. Consider with me then, in the experience of the apostle Paul, that weakness isn't a hindrance to being faithful in serving the Lord, right? Weakness is a prerequisite to being faithful in serving the Lord. Don't rely on some past experience. The measure of your faithfulness in serving the Lord is what you're doing for him now, how you're living for the Lord Jesus Christ, what you are doing, and what you are saying, words of God that come out of your mouth, right? How you know how you handle the word of God, how are you serving the Lord now? Paul says, imitate me as I imitate Christ. We have every reason, right? If we understand the purpose and place of suffering in the Christian life, if we understand that that suffering exposes and reveals to the glory of God our own weakness, and we understand, know and believe that through our suffering, having exposed our weakness that God will come through with grace-fueled power for ministry, can you see how foolish it is for us to shrink back in our service to him? How unreasonable, how irrational it is to shrink back from serving him in wholehearted devotion? Unreserved devotion, the promise of his grace should keep us from drawing back, should keep us from drawing back. Don't receive the grace of God in vain, right? The promise of his grace should keep us from stumbling under affliction. The promise of his grace should keep us moving ahead in faith, serving the Lord. Just like the disciples in John 16, press on in ministry. Lord Jesus Christ said, I'm telling you these things in advance, so that you know when trouble, when persecution, when tribulation comes upon you, you'll know that I told you ahead of time, it's exactly what was coming. Your faith will be emboldened, press forward in ministry. Take pleasure in infirmities, take pleasure in reproaches for Christ's sake. Here in our text, just like Paul in chapters 8 and 9, drawing our attention to the grace of God that was poured out on the Macedonians, right? Paul here in our text draws our attention now to the grace of God that is poured out on the apostle Paul. And he says, imitate me as I imitate Christ. By faith in Christ, his grace is available to you as well, amen. All praise, honor, and glory to the one who lavishes such grace upon us. Let's pray.