I want to know this evening how many of you are having a hard day, or had one yesterday. Would you please hold your hand up. Yes, I believe some are holding up 2 hands. That's alright. I use to think Christians weren't suppose to have hard days. Or down days. I don't know why I thought that, but I did. I want to you to that it was wrong.
Christians can have days that are not quite as good as other days bit I have good news for you. The day is not over.
Oh my, if the preacher comes this evening we are going to have a good word. Now sometimes I have gotten up & the preacher did not come ...... I aimed at nothing & I hit it. I have those times. But oh my, when the preacher comes, I'd rather preach than do anything else that I know of.
But those times that He doesn't show up, oh my, I'd just about do anything else, except try to preach. But oh, when you get under the glory spout & the people start Amening you & you start Amening yourself. Oh my.
Now this evening, well, I have sort of struggled with this message, but I believe it is the Word that the Lord wants me to bring this evening. Now I want to read now from 2 Cor. 12 "the sufficiency of God's grace". That is what I hope & pray that the Lord will preach thru me this evening. "The Sufficiency of God's Grace". I'll begin reading in vs.7, the words of brother Paul. (read 7-9)
In the church at Corinth, Judaisers had infiltrated that church. They were very strong on religion & very weak on grace. They criticized Paul. They told the church that Paul was a fake. That he was not an authentic messenger of God. They said Paul was a counterfeit. He was not real as a preacher of the Gospel. And some of the people at Corinth believed the Judaisers. And there were some who began to doubt the call of Paul to preach.
And they doubted his ministry. Brother Paul defended his ministry. If you read carefully chapters 11 & 12 you become aware that Paul rose up to challenge some of the statements that had been leveled against him. One of these things the Judaisers said way; "If you are a real man of God you'll have visions." You'll have revelations. God will show you things & they said "Paul hasn't had any revelations. So He's not really an Apostle.
We come to the 12th chapter & Paul says, "They say I haven't had any revelations, let me tell you something that happened to me 14 years ago that I haven't told anyone & I wouldn't tell it now except for what they have said about me."
14 years ago something happened to me, weather I was in my body or out of my body, I don't know. But I do know where God took me. HE TOOK ME TO HEAVEN! ... I saw things. ... I heard things, that I cannot speak about. Paul was a preacher in paradise. I'm going there one of these days. I'm going to the New Jerusalem. Alright now. "I John say the holy city," I like those eye witness accounts in Scripture, don't you? John said, "I saw the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned from her husband." I'm going to be in that New Jerusalem, that's where God is. Paul said, "You talk about a revelation. I've been to heaven & back." Now let them measure up to that. You want to talk about who has seen what. I've been to heaven & back.
Paul also said, "That in the ecstacy of that revelation I got something else. God gave me a thorn in the flesh that I might not be exalted above measure.
I thought that when you did God's will, only good things happened to you.
I thought if I did God's will, I'd be wealthy, healthy & happy all the time. That must be written somewhere else, that's not in the Bible I know.
Being in the flesh, Paul was saying, there was a tendency, because of what I had seen & what I had heard, for me to become puffed up. I like that, PUFFED UP. Reminds me of a bullfrog. Filled with pride. Becoming arrogant. Thinking I was better than others because of what God had blessed me to see. And to hear the sounds of Heaven. So, therefore, Satan was allowed to buffet me in the flesh. I prayed & I ask the Lord to take away that thorn in my flesh ... I prayed again ... I prayed 3 times & finally God said, "My grace is sufficient for thee."
Now let me back up for just a moment. What was the thorn in the flesh? Now listen carefully, because I know all of you are interested. ... Any of you who know anything about the NT & the life of Brother Paul, you no doubt have wondered in your mind & in your heart, what his thorn in the flesh was.
Well, now, listen ... I DON'T KNOW ... I know that none of us know & I'm glad we don't. ... Do you want to know why? Some people say it was bad eye sight. What if the Scripture had said it was bad eye sight? Than everyone of us who had bad eyes might kind of think "Well, you know, maybe I had something good happen to me & the Lord is trying to keep me humble. And I have got Paul's thorn in the flesh, at least I'm in good company." ... We might become self-righteous. Sometimes, God knows what He is doing. Isn't that a simple wonderful truth? God knows what He is doing.
Now the word thorn means, "like a stake". Not s-t-e-a-k, but s-t-a-k- e. Like a stake that is driven, driven into the flesh. And the word buffet, means, "that it reoccurs". It was a pain in the flesh that was over & over & over & Paul lived with it all of his life. It wasn't something that just came for a little while & then was gone for months & months. According to the Greek it was a reoccurring pain in his body. And Paul, though he was a great man of faith, like most of us, he prayed for the Lord to substitute.
In other words, substitute his thorn in the flesh for good health. Now when most of us have a problem, that's the prayer we first pray. Lord, substitute. If we are poor, we want Him to substitute & give us more money. If we are sick, we pray for substitution, we pray for health. And thank His holy name, there are times He does substitute. I have examples in my own life when something has come into my life & I have prayed, "Lord, remove it & replace it, substitute something else & bless His holy name, bless His holy name, He die. He did"
Then there are times that I have prayed substitute & He didn't. And He hasn't ... & He may not ... but I still trust Him Yes. Lord remove this from me ... & the Lord said, "My grace is sufficient for thee"
Now sometimes when we have our thorn in the flesh & when we have our problems ... we have a tendency & I'm not being critical of this, but we have a tendency to ask WHY?
Now there may be a few of you, regardless of what happens, you never ask why. If you don't, that's fine. Just don't be self- righteous about it, alright. Most of us do, I have. Things have happened in my life & my immediate response was, WHY? I don't feel bad for raising that question. I've never felt guilty. I've had some Christians when I make a statement like that, preach to me & try to make me feel bad but my mind's made up, it's alright for me to do it.
You just dust you little halo & go right along, but I some times ask why? You know, sometimes God gives me an explanation. Alright. There are times I have asked why & the Lord in His Word has given meexplanation.
But He has given me a promise. ... "My grace is sufficient for thee." That's not an explanation, but that's a promise. "My grace is sufficient for thee." Now think with me in this direction. God's grace is a personal grace. Sufficient for thee.
Most of us this morning would not have any trouble saying that Paul's grace was sufficient for him. On the road to Damascus it was sufficient to same you. At Lystra when you were left for half dead, His grace was sufficient to take you on in your work for the Lord & restore your health.
When Paul was a prisoner in the Philippian jail ... God's grace was sufficient to deliver him. When Paul was ship wrecked, God's grace was sufficient. When Paul approached death & he wrote to Timothy, he said, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I've kept the faith." Those were words of confidence. Words of conviction. Words of testimony & it was all because of the work of God's grace in Paul's life. But I want to ask you here this morning, on the 22nd of September, 1991, do you really believe in your heat that God's grace is sufficient for you?
You're 61 years of age, & all your adult life you have worked at one job. It is the only work you know & you need 4 more years before you can retire & have some kind of pension from your work. But at age 61, the place where you work goes bankrupted, there is no more work & there is no pension. Is God's grace sufficient? That's tough preacher. LIFE IS TOUGH SOMETIMES......................
You're 59 years of age & you have saved all of your adult life so that when you retire, what little Social Security you have would be complimented with interest from your savings. ... Now this happened. In Indianapolis they had a banking institution that was bought out by a large corporation. And people who had their money invested in that bank where invited to invest their money in the mother corporation, in order to receive a larger return on their money. No one told them that the mother corporation was not protected by the FDIC, and the Corp. failed & those people lost everything. Some of those had saved for their retirement ... and they lost it all.
When the Butcher empire collapsed following the World's Fair in Knoxville Tenn., there were the Southern Industrial Banking Corp., run by & supported by the Butcher family, & people thought those banks were like normal banks. That their money was protected by the Federal Gov. When those banks closed their doors, those people realized that their money was not Federally insured. ... Let me ask you friend. You've saved 35 years, you've saved 80,000, 100,000 or 150,000, whatever amount you've saved. It's your life's savings & you are going to use the interest in your retirement years & at the age of 59 you have lost every penny. Is God's grace sufficient?
You have educated your son. You have put him thru college. He has gotten himself a fine joy & at the age of 24 he comes home one day & he says, "Mom, dad, I have something to tell you that I know you are not going to like. But I'm a homosexual & I am now living with another man.
Or you have got a 24 year old daughter who comes home one day and says to you, "I know you are not going to lie this but I'm doing my own thing, I'm a lesbian & I have moved in with another young lady. Is God's grace sufficient for you to love your child unconditionally?
You don't have a good marriage to start with. You just try to make the best of it. But you really don't love that spouse. But you think in your own mind & heart, "life wouldn't be much better if I got a divorce. So you just live with them. And one day they have an accident & they are paralyzed from the neck down, they can't move anything from the neck down. They are brought home & their mind is still sharp. They can still hear. They can still see. They can still talk but they can't do one thing for themselves ... And until they die or you die, you have got to wait on them hand & foot & in the depths of your heart, you resent it ... Is God's grace sufficient?
Somebody takes your 10 year old daughter out one day & sexually molest her & then the man who did it ask you to forgive him ... Is the grace of God sufficient?
It is easy to say yes when things are going your way. But things don't go our way all the time ... It is easy to say yes when the script of life goes the way we have written it but sometimes somebody else writes it differently, beloved, & you realize that the worst thing that you thought could happen in your life, has happened & you cry out for it to be changed & it can't be changed!!!!
It will be that way until you die. What are you going to do? Well, you can become bitter. You can become resentful. You can get angry at God & blame Him. You can get angry at yourself. You can get angry at other people & hate & resent & become full of bitterness or you can say, "Well, I'll just grin & bear it."
I was doing that before I got saved. Grinning & bearing it. Lots of people do that all the time. Lots of people resent & get full of bitterness. Lots of people grin & bear it. What's the difference for Christians? The Christian say, "Hey this has happened, I don't understand it, but I'm going to trust in the grace of God to some how use this to help me to become a better Christian.
Listen to this word ... TRANSFORMATION ... Paul says, "I'm going to allow the grace of God to transform this experience of pain into something that will help me to become a better Christian."
Now Paul was not saying, "Well, now I just enjoy all of this pain...." He did not enjoy the pain, per se (persay), but he gloried in the fact that in his infirmity ... God, God was at work, bringing from that infirmity, something to transform Paul into a stronger & a better follower of Jesus Christ. Praise His name.
Now I want to be honest with you folks. God knows me anyway. I've had some things happen in my life & the first 2 or 3 days I was depressed & if that is a sin, then I sinned ... alright! ... To be honest, some of them have lasted more than 2 or 3 days.
I don't know what has happened in your life, but I have had some things happen that just knocked the props out ... It just took me a little while ... to listen ... to get my mind back ... to get my heart right, but I'll tell you what friend ... God's always there, with my nature you know. It takes me a little while to bounce back. You knock me down, I may stay down for a little while. Sometimes I'm just a little slow about getting back up. And when I do, I get up slowly, but thank God, He has always got me back up. Now some of you may be faster than me, But I'll always get back up.
God's grace (softly) Oh, this is so good that I hate to quit ... I don't think I will, I think I'll preach just a little bit longer, OK ... God's grace (softly) It is a personal grace. It wasn't just for Paul. It wasn't just for John. It wasn't just for Peter. That grace is for Art Ferry ... That grace is for , that grace is for , that grace is for . That grace is personal ... Not just for super Christians, who ever they are? It's for all of us who know Jesus ... You don't have to be smart to get His grace. You don't have to be super religious, to get His grace. He gives it out of His love to all of His children. It's a powerful grace. My grace ... My grace, that's God's grace.
It wasn't Barnabas who said to Paul, "Paul, my grace is sufficient for you" No, no. It was Barnabas who said that. It wasn't Timothy who said, "Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. No ... It was the One Who stepped out into nothingness a long time ago and said, "Let there be light and there was light".
It was the One who got some dirt in His hands & called His heavenly council around Him & said, "watch what I'm going to do" & out of the lump of dirt He made a lifeless man, & then He breathed into that lifeless man's nostrils the breath of life & that lump of clay began to move ALRIGHT!!! And then God said, the only time in creation that God used a negative, "It's not good for man to be alone." Everything else God said "that's very good". Ever notice that?
So God brought a rib out & He made woman ... My grace ...
The One Who became flesh & dwelt among us ... & we beheld His glory ... the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace & truth. ... That's the One!! ... The One who stood outside a tomb one day & said, "everybody stand back & wipe your tears away now ... Lazuras, come forth!!!" Every eye looked toward that opening in the tomb. All at once they saw Lazuras coming out trying to protect his eyes from the sunshine ... Someone says, "My Lord, he's been dead for 4 days, he stinks by now" Is it alright for me to say that? The way some of you looked, I wish you could have seen your faces ...
His grace ... That's the One ... The One who came out of the grace & said, "I'm alive" "And I have the keys, I have unlocked the door to death. I have unlocked the door to the grave. I've unlocked the door to hell, I have the key. I am alive, I am alive, I am alive ... furthermore, His grace, it's His grace.
His grace is sufficient for all of my sins. ... You may say here this morning, "Preacher, you don't know the sins I've done. ... No, I probably don't, but that's not the important thing that we know. The important thing that we all know is that His grace is greater than all of our sins. His grace is sufficient for our sanctification. His grace is sufficient for our sadness. His grace is sufficient for our sorrow. His grace is sufficient for our sickness. His grace is sufficient, for all things...................
Years ago a man had been locked up in prison for his faith in Jesus Christ. Tomorrow he would be burned at the stake. He was scared. he did not want to die as a coward. When they placed him at that pole, & tied him to that pole & set fire to the wood at his feet, he did not want to die a coward, screaming & yelling. He wanted to die ... demonstrating faith in the Lord. But that night was difficult for him. ... He was scared.
There was a small candle in that cell & there was a time in the night when he simply moved his hand over to the candle & held his hand for a moment & the candle flame burned his hand & he pulled it back & said, "Oh, God, how will I be able to do it tomorrow? And go out as a person of faith." He prayed, he prayed, he prayed & he asked the Lord, "please Lord help in that moment not to die struggling & kicking as it were & yelling & screaming. God help me to die ... in faith."
They came early the next morning, opened the jail door, took him out & placed him at the stake & set it on fire. ... Some say they heard a song ... a song ... it was almost in tune as it where with the flames, as he sang about his faith in Jesus Christ.
I don't know what he sang, but this is my song today, "Amazing Grace ... Amazing Grace how sweet the sound ... that saved a wretch like me ... I once was lost, but I've been found ... I was blind ... but I can see now ... For more than 30 years thru many dangers, toils & snares I have already come, ... tis grace ... that has brought me safe thus far ... & grace ... & grace, His grace ... will take me home. When I've been there, 10 million years , bright shining as the sun ... I've no less days to sing His praise, about His grace, then when I first begun. ... Grace ... Grace ... wonderful grace ... marvelous grace ... majestic grace ... that is sufficient for all the expenses of my life .....
Father, thank You for Your grace ... thank You for the power of Your grace ... thank You for the personal, individual grace. Thank You for the sufficiency of Your grace. I just want to come today & thank You & praise You for Your grace. Amen
