2 Corinthians

[0:00] In the Lord's help we direct your attention this evening to the second epistle of Paul to the Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 9 Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 9 He said unto me My grace is sufficient for thee and my strength is made perfect in weakness Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmity The power of Christ may rest upon me He said unto me My grace is sufficient for thee My strength is made perfect in weakness Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmity The power of Christ may rest upon me What a mighty favourite it is To have such dealings with the eternal God

[1:06] For him To hear and answer our prayers And for us to have answers to prayer They may be Answers Regarding providence But you know That is a sacred evidence For Such answers in providence Can only come to us Through the intercession Of the Lord Jesus Christ Dare not To be rested on There is more to be sought But Often in the hearts of the young The beginning Is with answers in providence

[2:08] And he said unto me The Lord answers prayer He is a prayer hearing and a prayer answering God He will lead you on Into Deeper teaching To desire To know your sins are given And to have An answer to your prayers in that matter And That glorious answer My sins are shown many You are all forgiven me And there is no Age limit There is no age barrier In these things One time ago I was chairing a church meeting And a young student came forward Before the church Has taken his degree

[3:08] When he was asked To speak of How the Lord began with him He went back To when he was sick The effect Of the ministry Of one of God's dear servants Upon his soul I wrote to that dear servant of God And told him He was Broken hearted over him The Lord's work is a Divine work No limits When it comes to age And the Lord's work is a Work in the heart In which he Brings his dear church To this place He That is Christ Said unto me When we look at the Apostle Paul here We can say Can we not That It wasn't the first time

[4:09] He'd heard the voice Of his garden Or the last time The first time He heard the voice Was on the road To Damascus And we do not know Where the Seed of divine life Was first planted In his heart We read on that road To Damascus That he kicked against The pricks And what were they Obviously One would feel There was some divine life There Pricks It hurt Something was stinging Something was wounding him God was moving He was kicking He was not bowing So he knew the voice Of God But on the road To Damascus When the Lord Brought condemnation Into his heart And convinced him Of sin Then he could truly Say And he said Unto me And what he said To him on that occasion Was this Saul saw He called him Just like the Lord

[5:10] Called Samuel He does call His dear people The effectual call Of God And have we heard Him Look back We should never forget Him When he calls us Samuel never forgot That day When he called him And we read so beautifully Samuel did not yet know The Lord He had never yet spoken to him This was the first time Then we look at Jacob as he fled From his father's home A young man Having deceived his father And the supplanter Stolen his brother's birthright The Lord Drew near He laid his head On a pillow A stone And the Lord Called him I would have seen That is Alone In the desert At night By himself And he said Unto me That's the place That he came to You know

[6:12] He needed Grace It was Grace Manifested That brought The Lord To that place That night To deal with Was indeed Oh And it was this It was all sufficient For him He was a great sinner Yet God greatly loved him Jacob have I loved We read in scripture The sinner His brother was fit And healthy Strong Outward looking in life Outward going Man of the field Everything that The carnal world Would think Was excellent He was not Deceptive But Jacob The Broken hearted Sinner Lying that night Head on that Pillow of stone Or Where the Lord

[7:13] Drew near And he said of it And how Favoured he was He said of that night It was The gate of heaven And the Lord Spone I'll be with thee What a word To a sinner I'll be with thee We cannot Measure The Value Of that Word To Jacob It was Sealed Forever Never to be Taken from him I'll be with thee In all places With us Wherever they go And I'll not Leave thee Beautiful words You know I'll be with thee I'll not leave thee Till I brought thee Again to this place You know he Returned many many years Later to Bethel He called it El Bethel Meaning The God Of the house of God

[8:14] It had been to him Originally The house of God Oh how he Had learned Of that God And his sovereignty In his Dealings With him That Sight he had Of that night And the Grace of God The extent Of that Grace Is measured According to the Extent of the Sins of his People Deeper The dye Of their Sin The greater Is their Realisation Of the Blessedness Of that Grace The hand Of mercy Samson In a dying Hour Proved the Sufficiency Of that Grace The dying Thief In a dying Hour Proved the Sufficiency Of that

[9:15] Grace And he Said unto Me The Lord Speaks To his Dear people He plunges Them as you Sung in that Lovely hymn In that Crimson Ocean His Atonement The glorious Nature of Reconciliation And he Said Under me Does it Find an Echo in your Heart Tonight What Has he Said To you What has he Spoken to you Can you Trace it Can you Look back To a day When perhaps You opened this Word of God In an hour Of need You may Have been Young And your Eyes Lighted on A precious Truth And the Lord Spoke it Into your Heart Remember as A student There's some

[10:16] Very important Exams ahead Of me On which Hinged the Whole of my Career I bade my Knee in my Room And opened The Bible I had Opened at Jeremiah Chapter 17 I looked Never can Forget the Place The hour The savour And the Sweetness And I had Lighted on These words Blessed Is the Man that Trusteth in The Lord And whose Hope the Lord is It broke My heart I proved Afterwards The Lord Was in It I did He had Brought me To this Blessed place Communion With himself Brought me To see What it Was to Trust him To rest In him And here In our Text the Lord Towards the End of the Journey of The apostle He was

[11:17] Bringing his Dear servant To this Place He had Prayed Thrice That this Messenger of Satan to Buffet him Might be In work We don't Know what It was The mercy We don't I always Feel with This text That Wisdom of God shines Force in it In that The Actual Thorn is Not revealed One can See the Grace And the Wisdom Of that The People of God being Such tempted Creatures They might Say well If it was Detailed Well that's Not my Thorn in The flesh It can't Apply to Me But it Applies to Every Thorn in The flesh Any child Of God Can ever Have It's Physical Mental Spiritual Whatever Whatever it May be And he Thought the Lord was Right That he Might Take it

[12:17] Away And he Answered His Prayer He Did He Answered It But not In the Way he Expected Not in The way He Wanted Yet The Lord Answered It And he Could see Later Why he Was Given He Could see Later The necessity Of it And when The Lord Answered It How he Spoke into His soul Such a Precious Truth He Related Himself The Lord To his Dear Apostle My Grace Is Sufficient For The It was A Glorious Bond Between God And A Sinner Lying As it Does In the Middle Eternal

[13:18] Electing Love And Mercy Is the Very Substance Of Ray And As I Believe It's Joseph Hart Says Sinners Can Say And Only They Nobody Else And These Are Holy Spirit Taught Sinners Those Brought To Feel The Solemn Nature Carnal Nature That Is There And To Know The Burden Of Sin And Have The Light Of The Holy Spirit Shine In Their Hearts And Reveal The Leprosy Of Sin And It's An Ongoing Lesson All Our Life There's No Such Thing As Perfection The Work Of God In The Souls Of His Dear People Is

[14:19] Throughout Life To Bring Them To A Silent Realization Of What They Are In God's Sight And That Means That They Have To Be Brought Face To Face With The Divine Perfection So John The Baptist Was Blessedly Brought There Whose Shoes Latched I'm Not Worthy To Unliff And He Hesitated To Baptize Christ In Jordan The Lord Said Suffer It To Be So Now For Thus It Becometh Us To For For For All Righteousness We See It Here The Sweet Nature Of The Truth That Lies Here Here Was The Apostle Tempted By Satan And The Hand That It Permitted It Was The Hand Of God Just As With

[15:19] The Case Of The Lord Servant Joe The Lord Permitted Joe Just As For The Case Permitted Satan Just As For The Case Of Peter The Lord Permitted Satan Satan Has Desired To Handle He May Sift His Weakness All The Deep Mystery Of The Lord's Word In The Lives Of His Dear People The Lord Would Have Them To Know Their Weakness He Would Have Them To Know What Sinners They Are And He Would Bring Them Into A Experience An Experimental Knowledge Of Grace Grace Is The Mighty Hand Of God Put For To Save His Own It Is Manifested On The Cross At Calvary All The Sacred Scene Is There Jesus

[16:21] In The Sinner's Play Heaven's Brightest Glory Sunken Shame That Rebels Might Adore His Name Oh The Lord Says Greater Love Has No Man Than This Man Lay Down His Life For His Friend All The Path The Lord Walked To Manifest This Praise On Behalf Of His Dear People His Agony And And And His Suffering Sorrow And I Believe In This Path He Called His Dear Servant To Walk In It was No Different To His Own Pathway He Himself Had Been Tempted Of Satan In The World And He

[17:21] Had Manifested That Blessed Grace In Resisting Temptation Again And Again As Satan Tempted Him He Turned To The Holy Scripture And He Said To Satan It Is Written The Lord Calls His Dear People Into The Same Path By Tempting Messenger Of Satan He Says To Buffet Me He Had Known Much Buffeting In Life Beaten With Roads Stone All the Sufferings He Endured For Christ's sake But In Those Suffering There Was No Salvation Not Like The Roman Who Would See In Human Sufferings Part Of His Righteousness

[18:21] Part Of His Penance Something Varsely Different Here These Sufferings Of The Apostle Were Part Of The Ministry And They Were Following In The Footsteps Of Of Of His Master Spat Upon Despised Mocked And When We Come To Look At The Temptations Of Satan In The Wilderness Or How We See The Lord's Dear People Brought There And The Apostle Paul In His Letters To The Judged Ephesus Speaks Wielding The Shield Of Face To Repel The Fiery Darts Of The Wicked One But The Lord As In The Case Of Job Says Regarding Every Member Of His Dear Body Thus Far And No Further Touch Not His Soul But

[19:21] The Thorns In The Flesh Which The Apostle Speaks Of Here We See There His Grave The Love The Mercy The Blood Of Christ The Dear Redeemer Was A Balm In The Wound No Suffering No Sorrow A Sacred Healing Balm And You Know Apostle Says This Here Most Gladly Therefore I Glory In My Infirmities Why The Power Of Christ Might Rest Upon Me Blessed Power Of Christ That Rests Upon The Souls Of His Dear People This Power Is Something That The World Can't See This Power Of Christ That Rests Upon His Dear People Is His Present It Is His Atoning Love And Blood

[20:22] They Are Able To Do What The Apostle Said I Can Do All Things Through Christ That Strengthen His May They Are Brought To Learn This Blessed Lesson And You Know I Said At The Beginning God And The Sinner Sufficient For The And You Know It Is The Experience Of God's Dear People Longer They Know Him To Feel The Deeper The Die Of Their Sins And The More The Further They Are From Him Oh The View They Have Of The Arm Of His Grace That Extends Even To Them And They Look In Wonder Upon Him Right It Speaks In One Place Why Was I Made

[21:22] To Hear His Voice Why Was I Made To Hear His Voice Why Did He Say That Because He Felt So Undeserving Of The Grace Of God He Had Such A Sight Of It And The Apostle In His Letter To The Church At Ephesus He Speaks Of The Distance He Was From God In His Unconverted State In His Pharisaical Religion In In All The Hatred He Had To God's People In His Enmity Against The Truth The Darkness Of His Mind The Bitterness Of His Soul That Even Gloried In The Death Of The Saints Of God Stood By Consenting Whilst Stephen Died The Grace Of God That Heard The Prayer Of Stephen Oh What Grace That Was Father Forgive Them They Know What They Do And You Know I Always Feel That There Is An Indication That

[22:24] That Prayer Was Answered Specifically For The Apostle Paul All How The Apostle Could See In His Letter To The Church At Ephesus He Says Speaking Of The Unconverted State He Says Among Whom Also We All Had Our Conversations In Times Past In The Lust Of Our Flesh Fulfilling The Desires Of The Flesh And Of The Mind And Were By Nature The Children Of Wrath Even As Others Solem Were Were By Nature The Children Of Wrath That Is Those Who Born In Sin And Shaped In In In In In In In Transgression Deserve The Eternal Anger And Wrath Of God Where The Worm Dieth Not And The Fire Is Not Quent

[23:24] Such Are Brought To Feel The Blessedness Of The Grace Of God That Reaches Out To Them Those In Heathen Darkness Darkest Darkest Distance From God Then The Arm Of Mercy The Arm Of Salvation The Arm Of Divine Power The Arm Of The Spirit Of Truth Reaches Out To Them And Here We See The Apostle In This Letters The Ephesians He Says This Regarding Grace God Who Is Rich In Mercy There Is Great Love Wherewith He Loved Us And Then He Says This Even When We Were Dead In Trespassers And Sin He Has A Precious Sight Of The Grace Of God Overshadowing Him In His Unconverted Day You

[24:27] Know Some Of Us Have Had That Sight Spared From Death In Our Unconverted Day The Grace Of God Extending To Rebel Sinner Deserving Not The Least Of All His Mercy And He Says Even When We Were Dead In Sin Hath Quickened Up And He Sees The Blessed Nature Of The Grace Of God That Comes To A Sinner Like Himself And Quickens Him Into Newness Of Life The Grace Of Our Lord Jesus Christ He Says Be With You All Oh That Blessed Grace That Sent His Dear Son To Calvary That His Dear Church Might Reach Glory And He Said Unto Me I

[25:29] Say This That Was Said Specifically To The Apostle Paul That Was He Written On The Fleshy Tables Of His Heart Forever Never To Be Taken From Him But Let Me Add This The Lord Writes It On The Fleshy Tables Of The Heart To His Dear People Today He Speaks The Same Word He Applies His Precious Promises And This Is The Most Sacred Promise Deep Died Sinner That You Are Apostle Paul Walking In All The Depths Of Iniquity All You Come Through Blessed Revelations Of Christ To Your Soul And Then What Exalted In The Flesh Thinking You Had Better Revelations Than Other People Pride Creeping In Self Creeping In All The Solemn Nature Of The Truth

[26:30] The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things And Desperately Wicked No Perfection Here With The Apostle And What Was Worse Was This When He Was Exalted And The Lord Gave Him This Thorn In The Flesh To Counteract It He Wanted It Removed He Had No Wisdom One Would Think After All The Catalogue Of Suffering Sorrows How Strange That He Not Yet Learned To Bow Beneath The Cross And To Take Up His Cross And Follow His Lord There Was Yet And I Believe There Always Will Be To The Hour Of Our Death Necessary Teaching A Path To Be Walked In He Said Under Me By Grace Is Sufficient For The And The Light That Shines Upon That Word Grace Centres

[27:30] Upon What We Know By The Spirit's Teaching Of Ourselves What Do We Say Bride Of Christ In The Song Of Solomon Said She Was Black Black As The Tents Of Kedah She Called Herself Black In Sin In Iniquity And She Proved In The Song Of Solomon When The Lord Called Her In The Night She Would Not Arise She Was As As As As As As As As As As As As She Mourned An Absent God And Yet Remarkably In That Song Of Solomon I Am Black But Cumber No Perfection In Her Perfection In Crying We See Here The Hand Of Love And Mercy Stretched Out To His Dear Apostle In His Three Petitions That His Thorn Might Be Removed He Had An

[28:30] Easy Time The Lord Said No No But He Didn't Leave Him With No He Applied This Sacred Balm Of Gilead He Gave Him A Strength Outside Of Himself An All Sufficient Strength It's a Beautiful Word Dad My Grace Is Sufficient Co Extensive With Your Need Co Extensive With Your Weakness Co Extensive With The Seriousness Of That Thorn In The Flame Lord Put In The Body Of Hezekiah An Affliction Which Was Under There And Brought Him To Cry And You Know He He He He He He He He

[29:31] Answers Prayer And All The Blessed Nature Of It We Can See That Bound Up In What Was Physical Was Something Spiritual That As He Faced Neverending Eternity And He Mourned Cutting Off Of His Doe And Came To That Weakness Oh Lord I'm Oppressed To Undertake For Me There Was A Blessed Urgency Wrought In His Heart By His God Through His Dealings With Him And In That Answer In Love To My Soul Thou Has Delivered It From The Pit Of Corruption Thou Cast All My Sins Behind Thy Bad That All Sufficient Grace Of God Caused His Dear Servant To Walk In That Deep Water That He Might Know The Grace Of His God In A Way He Never Known Before I've

[30:31] Said It Many Times Lately Three Men That Went Into The Fire Walk With Christ Nowhere Else Would They Have Done So It Was In The Furnace That His All Sufficient Grace Was Manifested It Was When There Was No Strength When They Were Shut Off To All Outside Hell When Eternity Faced Them Then They Walked With Crime And You Know It So With Daniel Blessed Words He Did Not Go Into The Den Saying My God He Came Out Of It Was The Grace Of God That Night About Him He Had Such A Sight Of When Joseph Saw His Brethren Bow Down To Him He Had Such A Sight Of His Unbelievable Until The Time That His Word Came That To Fulfillment

[31:31] The Word Of The Lord Tried Him We Read Of Joseph In The Psalm And You Know When The Time Came He Had Such A Sight Oh How He Hretted And Yet He Carried In His Bosom A Rested Revelation That Christ Had Given Him That His Brethren Would Bow Down To Him And They Did When He Saw It Oh How He Could See His Unbelief And Equally He Could See The Grace Of His God When He Came To The End Of His Days And His Father Was In His Grave And His Brethren Turned To Him And Doubted Him And Thought Now That He Would Take Vengeance On Them Because Of What They Done To Him Even More Grace Was Manifested Because He Wept When They Did That He Was So Hurt That They Should Have Such Thoughts About Him And Then He Said

[32:31] It Wasn't You It Was The Lord He Had Such A Sight And The All Sufficient Grace Of His God That Had Brought Him Where He Was And He Could Give The Honour To His God And When Jacob Was Dying How He Leant Upon His Star Beautiful Truth Like There You Know He Lent On The Promise Of Bethel He Lent On The Blessing Of Peniel He Pleaded The Promise Of Bethel At Peniel When His Brother Came And Eternity Faced Him And The Lord Answered His Prayer And You See He Said Unto May It's A Personal Matter It's Husband Apart Wife Apart Children Apart He Said Unto Me My Grace Is

[33:31] Sufficient For The Now we Come to This You Know Dear Man of God Needed Faith Believe That Word He Needed Faith To Plead That Word As Those Messengers Of Satan To Buffet Him Afflicted Him Day and Night All the Remainder Of His Journey How He Needed To Go Back To His God And Say To Him Lord Thou Sin Jacob Was Given That Blessing At The Beginning Of His Days And He Had To Return And Say To His God At Peniel All Thou Say He Wrestled With Him In Prayer And The Beauty Of It Is He Had Something To Plead What Have You Got To Plead To Know What Has The Lord Spoken To You You Know It Is An Anchor The

[34:32] Anchor Is Held In The Ship And Is Cast In The Rock And So The Promises Of God Are Held In The Hearts Of His Dear Children And They Anchored In The Rock Christ Jesus In His Word Blessed Truth That Thies Here He Said Unto Me My Grace Is Sufficient For The That's The Promise And Then The Lord Offered This Explanation My Strength Is Made Perfect In Weakness He Showed His Dear Apostle When I'm Weak Then Am I Strong Weakness Was The Avenue To Cry And You Know In The Next Chapter We Read This Though He Was Crucified Through Weakness Yet He Lives By The Power Of God We We Weak Weak In Him

[35:33] Weak With Him The Lord Will Bring His Dear People Where He Came Himself He Walked In the Valley Of The Shadow Of Death And He Walked In The Path Of Weakness And You Know The Lord's Teaching Here My Strength Oh That's A Beautiful Word You Know God's Dear People In Their Weakness The Weakness Of Unbelief The Weakness Of Temptation Physical Weakness Spiritual Weakness They Brought To This Blessed Place My Strength Men In The Fire All How Weak They Were As They Faced Eternity Then They Knew The Strength Of Christ And

[36:33] They Came For Without So Much As The Smell Of Burning Upon Them And Then They Knew The Glory Of Their God Who Had Been With Them Oh What A Strength It Was To When Daniel Was Taken Up Out of The Lion's Den What A Strength It Was To Him When The Lord Fulfilled His Word To Joseph What A Strength It Was To When Jacob Came To The End Of His Day And He Could Look Back And Say The Lord That Redeemed Me From All Evil The Lord Redeemed Me From All Evil Blessed The The Lord That Fed Me The Lord That Kept Me All My Life Long Oh What And Yet Mercy And The Lord Points To The Heart And He Teaches And None Teaches Like Him And I Do Ask You Tonight Do You Know This Lesson My Strength

[37:33] Is Made Perfect In Weakness That Was A Teaching It Is Divine Principle And You Know When The Lord Speaks In The Hearts Of His Dear People There's Prophet There's Prophet Blessed Prophet It's Learned It's Learned Well God Speaks And There's Power With It And This Was Planted This Sacred Divine Wisdom In The Heart Of The Apostle He Immediately Received It And He Acted Upon It And Oh What Do We See Here As He Acted Upon It In Immediate Effect The Exact Opposite No Longer Did He Pray For The Fourth Time To Have His Thorn

[38:34] In The Flesh Removed And You Know We See Here The Grace Of God Because It's Not Human What He Now Says It's Divine He Sees The Wisdom Of This Thorn In The Flesh The Needs Before Him And He Says Most Gladly There He Takes It Up His Craft He He He Takes Up His Thorn In The Bunch And He Says Which Is Quite Extraordinary Glory Gladly Glory Rejoice Delight In My Infirmity He Only Just Previously Wanted To Be Rid Of It He Wanted To Be Free Again He Didn't Want To Be Anchored Down By Weakness Most Gladly Therefore Will I Glory In My Infirmity Why That

[39:34] The Power Of Christ May Rest Upon Me And You Know He Says In Another Place Regarding That The Suffering Of This Present Time Are Not Worthy To Be Compared To The Glory That Shall Be Revealed Dinner Oh To Understand And To Be Made As Clay In The Hands Of The Heavenly Potter Thou Art Our Father Says Scripture We're The Clay Thou Our Potter We're All The Work Of Thy Hand And You Know It Requires A Furnace To Soften The Clay It Requires A Cross To Bring His Dear People To Bow Down Under His Will It Requires A Thorn In The Flesh To Keep Them Close To The Mercy Seat And Feel The Nature Of What Grace See See It's

[40:36] Like A Rainbow And The Blacker The Cloud Behind It The More Beautiful The Rainbow And That Is The Same With God's Dear People Deeper Their Trial What Bitter Their Sorrow And The Lord Come And Speaks To The Minute Hezekiah In His Great Furnace And The Lord Hearing And Answering His Prayer What A Rainbow And The Sun Of Righteousness Arises And Healing In His Weak And Shines In The Heart Of His Dear People Here Was The Black Cloud To The Apostle His Thorn In The Flair But The Lord Shone In All His Glory And Majesty In It And The Dear Man Could See The Beauty Of It The Wisdom Of The Power Of Christ May Rest Upon And You Know There's Nothing To Be Compared With That In This World And The Lord Rests

[41:36] With Power In The Lives Of His Dear People When They're Weakened When They're Darkest Hours Him Right It Says Our Darkest Hours We Cry Why Because In Them The Power Of Christ Rests Upon Us He Comes Near To His Dear People In The Storms Of Life Lord Save Will I Perish Said His Disciple And He Arose And Rebuked The Wind And Says Scripture There Was A Great Calm Peace The Power Of Christ Rests Upon His Dear People They're At Peace With His Will In All Things All The Sacred Nature Then Of The Truth That Lies Here He Said Unto Me My Grace Is Sufficient For Thee For My Strength Is Made Perfectly Weakened Most Gladly Therefore Would I Rather Draw In My Infirmities That The

[42:36] Power Of Christ May Rest Upon Me Amen Amen