“THE MESSAGE OF GRACE #7-GRACE IS SUFFICIENT”
2 CORINTHIANS 12:7-10
INTRO: In our study on grace thus far we have seen some of the wonderful
characteristics of the marvelous, matchless, infinite grace of God.
Grace is a gift freely given that is available to all. It cannot be bought
nor earned or else it would cease to be grace. Paul said in Romans
11:6—“And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is
no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise
work is no more work.” Grace triumphs over sin and death. Grace
triumphs superabundantly. Grace triumphs through our Lord Jesus
Christ! Grace exceeds our expectations and imaginations. We can
only say with Paul, “…by the grace of God I am what I am” (1
Corinthians 15:10a).
But friends, let me have you consider this morning: “Is grace
enough?” Is grace enough when we are suffering? Is grace enough
when we lose those nearest and dearest to us? Is grace enough when
the Enemy comes in like a flood tempting you to sin and follow your
will instead of the will of God? Is grace enough when all your
cherished plans have failed and you are left as Job sitting in the
ashes? Is grace enough when life just doesn’t seem fair? God has a
way of loving us and blessing us that is so much better than fair.
Think of the ways God has blessed us that transcend what we
deserve. Every good thing that has ever come to us is a gift of God's
grace. If you and I could ever stop being self-centered long enough to
be honest, we would have to say that we are not entitled to any good
thing. We have no right to demand anything. And the last thing we
really want is for God to just be fair with us. What we want and what
we need is grace, the love that is better than fair. And grace is exactly
what we ultimately receive from the God who is better than fair, even
when life is less than fair. --Charles E. Poole (The Timothy Report,
www.timothyreport.com, October 4, 2004)
Let’s be honest with each other this morning, grace is all we need but
many times is not all we want. We want life on our terms. We want
fulfillment, joy, happiness and contentment by avoiding the trials, the
troubles, the pain and the problems. But what happens when our
lives are turned upside down, the way becomes weary, and the load
is hard to bear? God told Paul in 2 Corinthians 7:9—“My grace is
sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” The
Savior’s reply is “Paul, I know you have problems, I know you have
cares, I know you face struggles, and I know you shed tears but My
grace is sufficient for thee.” Someone has said, “The will of God
will never lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you.” Friends,
God’s grace is sufficient! Notice with me this morning:
(1) THE PROBLEM WE FACE
2 CORINTHIANS 12:7-9a—“ And lest I should be exalted above
measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
A. A LACK OF CONFIDENCE. Friends, let me ask you this morning, what happens when God is silent or God says no to your request? Paul says, “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.” (v8). You pray and wait on the Lord but no answer comes. You pray again and wait on Him but no answer comes. Do you lose heart? Do you begin to fear? Do you doubt the promises of God? What if He says NO? How will you respond? If God says, “My grace is sufficient for thee,” will that be enough? Friends, you and I must have a faith like Job’s. He said even after all he has endured, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15a).
B. A LACK OF CONTENTMENT. Friend, if you beseech the Lord to
remove your “thorn” and He replies, “I’ve given you grace and that is
enough,” will you be content? To be content means “satisfied with
things as they are.” (Funk & Wagnall’s Standard Desk Dictionary. A-M,
Volume 1. p. 138). Will you be at peace with God if God gives you no
more than what He has already lovingly gave you? What if the grace to
save our souls was the only grace we received? Would we be content?
We beg of Him to save the life of our dying loved one. We implore Him
to help us keep our jobs. We beg of Him to remove the cancer from our
body and heal us. And His answer is, “My grace is sufficient for thee.”
Would you and I be content? Could we accept it?
Friend, from heaven’s viewpoint, grace is enough. If the Lord did
nothing more than save our souls from hell, could any of us complain?
If God saved our souls and then left us in this life disease-ridden and
destitute, would He be unfair and unjust? If you have received eternal
life from Him, how dare you complain about an aching body? We have
been given the riches of heaven, how dare we murmur and complain
about our earthly poverty? But THANK GOD! Grace has given us more
than just eternal life, more than just the salvation of our souls, and
more than just the promise of a heavenly home. Grace has given us all
we need! Peter said in 2 Peter 1:3-4—“ According as his divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through
the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these
ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust.”
Friend, if you had the strength to get out of bed this morning and come
God’s house to worship His holy name, He has already given you
today grace upon grace! Yes, there are those times when God has given
us grace, heard our appeals and then says, “My grace is sufficient for
thee,” but does that make God unfair or unjust?
We have seen THE PROBLEM WE FACE but also note…
(2) THE PLEA WE OFFER
2 CORINTHIANS 12:7—“ And lest I should be exalted above
measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
A. THE MINISTRY OF OUR THORNS. Paul pleaded with the Lord three times to remove his thorn (v8). Paul battled with the silence of God as we prayed, “Lord, please take my thorn away.” No doubt Paul’s thorn was painful but it did have a purpose. What purpose you may ask? V7 tells us, “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.” Each of us somewhere down life’s pathway has been pierced by a person or a problem. When the pain becomes too much for us to bear we cry out to God, “Lord, I need some help!” Sometimes you and I keep asking the Lord for something to which He has already answered no. If He doesn’t give us what we ask for, we think He has not answered our prayer. More often than not His answer to my prayers is no. And eventually I discover that His no was the best possible answer He could have given me. (J. Vernon McGee, Thru The Bible. Romans-Hebrews). God can minister to us in our thorns. Whatever this thorn was it did for the apostle Paul something nothing else could do. That is why we see Paul glorying in the suffering that it caused. In 2 Corinthians 7:9b-10 we see Paul declare, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” He realized he was suffering for the cause of Christ. And when he was at his weakest it was then that God’s power was greatest in his life!
B. THE MESSAGE OF OUR THORNS. Whatever the thorn that plagued
Paul’s life, it was there to prevent pride. “...Lest I be exalted above
measure.” (v7b). Every day of Paul’s life it was a constant reminder of
his humanity and utter dependence upon the Lord. It crippled his
humanity so that Paul could experience more of God’s ability. The Lord
answered his prayer, not by removing the thorn, but by giving grace to
bear it, and by the assurance that Paul's sense of weakness, caused by
it, fitted him to receive the divine strength (The People’s New Testament
Commentary).
Friends, our thorns speak to us of the utter dependence we need upon
the Lord. They show us how desperately we need to rest in the grace of
God! We came out of nothing, and if we are anything, it is because
God is everything. If He were to withhold His power for one brief instant
from us, if He were to hold in check the breath of life for one moment,
our physical existence would shrivel into nothingness and our souls
would be whisked away into an endless eternity. - Billy Graham,
_The Secret of Happiness_, p. 28. Through our thorns God sweetly says,
“My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in
weakness.”
ILLUS: Sign seen in a textile mill, "When your thread becomes tangled,
call the foreman." A young woman was new on the job. Her
thread became tangled and she thought, "I'll just straighten
this out myself." She tried, but the situation only worsened.
Finally she called the foreman. "I did the best I could," she said.
"No you didn't. To do the best, you should have called me."
--Source Unknown.
Friends, we all face thorns but to keep our lives from becoming tangled,
we must take our problems, cares, and trials to the Lord and rest in His
promise, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect
in weakness.”
We have seen THE PROBLEM WE FACE and THE PLEA WE OFFER but finally let us see…
(3) THE PRINCIPLE WE LEARN
2 CORINTHIANS 12:9-10—“And he said unto me, My grace is
sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
A. GRACE RELEASES UNDENIABLE POWER. Notice the Lord’s words to Paul in the last part of v9—“… my strength is made perfect in weakness.” The words “made perfect” mean “accomplished.” Power is continually increased as the weakness grows. The human weakness opens the way for more of Christ’s power and grace. (Robertson’s Word Pictures). If God had removed Paul’s thorn, Paul may have never experienced the undeniable power of God’s grace operating in his life! NO one has ever articulated grace like the apostle Paul! NO one has ever appreciated grace like Paul! Paul considered himself “the chiefest of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). Yet through Paul’s thorn God released great power in his life! Paul said in the last part of v9—“Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” Notice the word “power” used there, it is our translation of the Greek word “dunamis” from which we get our English word dynamite. He is going out to fight the world, the flesh and the devil; so he wants the field perfectly clear, every obstruction removed so that the Omnipotent dynamite of Christ may just move in and have its abode in him. (COMMENTARY ON THE NEW TESTAMENT VOL. 4 CORINTHIANS – GALATIANS by Rev. W. B. Godbey, A.M.). Bruce Larson said in Leadership magazine, “The power of God was suddenly released when I gave up being invulnerable. -- Bruce Larson, Leadership, Vol. 5, no. 4.
B. GRACE REVEALS UNIMAGINABLE POTENTIAL. The Lord told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” If Paul had not faced great persecution, he may have never been able to show great love. If God would have made Paul meek and mild, who would have faced the enemies of grace like Paul did? The sole reason the Galatian letter is in our Bibles is because Paul could not stand for a diluted grace! Paul’s brashness surely did not make him many friends, but it did make many disciples. Friends, our thorns cause us to rest in the grace of God instead of our own abilities! Like our Lord in Gethsemane, Paul prayed three times for God to deliver him; but the Lord did not answer that prayer as Paul wanted. However, God did meet the need and gave His servant the grace he required. Paul did not simply make the best of it—he made the most of it! Grace can do that for you. (Warren W. Wiersbe, With The Word Commentary).
ILLUS: Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger people. Do not
pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to