2nd Corinthians – Godly Social Order

Paul’s Experience

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Godly Social Order

Lesson: 23-25

Genre: Talk

Track: 23

Dictation Name: RR41612B

Location/Venue:

Year: 1998-2000

[Mark Rushdoony] …Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory forever and ever, amen.

Let us pray. Our most good and gracious God we praise you for your goodness to us each day; we praise you that you have given meaning and purpose and hope to our humble existence; we pray that you would encourage us to understand our life and our times in terms of Thy revealed world. We are inadequate without Thy grace to serve you as we ought, we are inadequate without your grace to fulfill any of our responsibilities to our fellow men as we ought. We pray that you would encourage us in a loving obedience and service to you, and to understand your grace more fully as we seek to obey your revealed word. We pray that you would bless all those who gather together in your name, you serve you in faithfulness, we pray that you would encourage their faithfulness, we pray especially that you would encourage the efforts of those who seek to relieve the suffering of your saints throughout the world. We pray that you would encourage us in our home life, in our families, we pray that you would draw our covenant children ever closer to you, help them to understand the responsibility they have to you, and to fulfill their responsibility as individuals dedicated to a lifelong service to you and to your son, in whose name we pray, amen.

I will be reading the scripture passage for today’s sermon, it is 2 Corinthians 12:1-9, 2 Corinthians 12:1-9. And the title of today’s sermon is Paul’s Experience. 2 Corinthians 12:1-9.

“12 It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.

2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.

3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)

4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

5 Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.

6 For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.

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.

8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

9 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.”

[R. J. Rushdoony] Our text today is a highly controversial one. When you go to the commentators on it, and I am speaking of orthodox scholars, page after page is given to some of the phrases here, such as: “Was Paul in the body or in the Spirit? What is the third heaven? He speaks also of paradise, what does he mean by it? He speaks also of a thorn in the flesh, what is the meaning of it?”

Now, we have to speak very bluntly and plainly here, it is none of our business what Paul means. He doesn’t tell us. In fact he is not altogether sure himself whether this one experience was in the body or in the Spirit. It is not our business to know more than God wants us to know. I was quite young the first time I heard the question raised by a newly converted man, as to what the Bible teaches about heaven. And the answer to that is, very little. God does not speak anywhere to satisfy our curiosity, only to tell us what is needful for our salvation and for our daily walk.

So, all the endless questions about the third heaven in paradise and in the body and out of the body are irrelevant. They should not concern us. And if we spend our time trying to figure out what they mean, we are trying to know more than what God wants us to know. When God wants us to know something, he speaks very plainly. It is very plain in scripture that there is a life after this world. That is all God wants us to know.

One of the things I learned very very early as I read the many apocryphal works, was very simply this: the apocryphal writings, that is the writings that pretended to be apostolic, inspired of God, but were not, were fraudulent; what these books did was to try to satisfy human curiosity. For example they would have a great deal to say about heaven, much more in a few paragraphs than the whole Bible has to say. How they knew so much I never figured out, but it was obvious they really knew nothing.

A sad fact is that many, many people who are sound Biblically, still waste their time trying to explain these things when it is not the point of this passage. You are going to learn about heaven in due time, not now. We are all going to learn a great deal in the world to come, but not now.

So, what is important is why is Paul writing this? We have to recognize that Paul as an apostle was subject to challenge. The Corinthians questioned his credentials. After all, the apostles were the twelve disciples; Judas had been replaced by someone else. Bu those men represented the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve patriarchs. And in choosing twelve, our Lord was saying: ‘The true Israel of God is no longer the people of Israel and Judea, it is my people, my church. And in choosing and calling twelve men, I am saying the new Israel of God is my church, my kingdom.’ So we are the true Israel.

Moreover, our Lord in all His teaching has next to nothing to say about heaven. He makes it clear that there is a heaven, but neither He nor the rest of the Bible, the Old and New Testament writers will tell us any of the details about heaven. The only thing that is of some value to me in this appeal of heaven is that so many new Christians will read the Bible from end to end trying to learn more about heaven. So their curiosity leads them to know more about the Bible than they would otherwise.

But Paul is challenged by the Corinthians: ‘You are not truly an apostle. You are claiming to be more than you are. You are pretending to more authority than you have any right to over us.’ And so Paul, because his apostleship rested on the call on the way to Damascus, to a special revelation and a vision of Jesus Christ, something well known; now goes on to say in effect: ‘This is not the only thing that has happened. I did not walk with the Lord, but He has since spoken to me again and again in visions and revelations of the Lord.’ He says in verse 1.

Then because he is embarrassed by the fact that he needs to explain himself, he writes in the third person. “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)” So it is not our business to try to know more than God, or as much as God.

“such an one caught up to the third heaven.” Again we are not to ask what the third heaven is. Paul does not tell us, the Bible does not tell us anywhere, it is none of our business. We will know in due time.

“he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” We are not to know some things. Paul had learned more than other men. ‘But,’ he says: ‘It is not lawful for a man, meaning myself, to utter anything about these things, because God never wants us to know more than what His law word is, how we should walk day by day. And that is enough for us.’ How that “he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”

I believe the word paradise appears two or three other times in the Bible, and none of them tell us what it means. God does not want us to know. Yet somehow, heaven or a part of heaven, it has to do with the supernatural. And Paul says: ‘It is not even lawful, Godly, to talk about it.’ If you start speculating about paradise, the third heaven and sort of thing, you are and this is the plain meaning of the text: Lawless. You are in sin.

It is very distressing to see how many very fine Christian leaders, commentators on the Bible, think they can tell us what paradise is. Above being heaven or a part of heaven we don’t know, or are we to speculate.

“Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.”

Paul says, ‘There is reason to glory in a man who has had such special revelation. But I am not going to glory in myself, but in mine infirmities.’ Well, by infirmities he does not mean sins, he means his human weaknesses. Why should we glory in our infirmities? That is the kind of question that commentators should ask, but they don’t. Why should we glory in our infirmities?

Well, because our infirmities keep us humble. And Paul says: ‘I have every reason to be humble instead of boastful. I will not boast because of the revelations I have had, but in the infirmities, because they keep me humble. Because of them I am mindful that I am not like an angel, because I have been in the third heaven, but that I am a sinful man.’

“For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool;”

Paul is very blunt. ‘If I should start glorying in any revelation or special Christian experience I have had, I would be a fool.’ I have been in the past at testimonial meetings, and understood from what some people had to say, one in particular whom I remember to this day, how they gloried in their experiences, and who would get up and give a testimony, the end result of which was: ‘See what marvelous supernatural experiences I have had. Your poor sinners have had nothing like this.’ That is what Paul is talking about. I still cringe when I think of this one person who was so given to these vain-glorious testimonies.

I remember one pastor, not an outstanding man, with all kinds of weaknesses theologically, although an earnest believer, who once said to this person: “It would be wonderful if one of these days when you have these glorious experiences, you would ask the Lord for a little grace, and manifest it.” And he was right.

“for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.”

‘I could tell you the truth about these experiences, but I am not going to say anything more than is obvious in me. You know me, look at me, listen to me. Do I manifest grace? Do I speak as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ? If I do not, no special revelations are worth anything. I am the most miserable of sinners.’

“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.”

Paul says: ‘I could very easily feel very exalted, very great. Because I have had these revelations from God, it would be easy to think of myself as someone very special. But God was gracious, He gave me a thorn in the flesh.’

Now again we have to say, it is none of our business what that thorn in the flesh was. If Paul wanted us to know, he would have told us. I have heard all kinds of explanations of that, that it was poor vision, or it was his small stature, this that and the other thing. Well, it is possible. But it is none of our business. God does not want us to know, or He would have led Paul as he wrote these inspired words, to tell us. And Paul definitely does not.

‘Because,’ he said: ‘Lest I should be exalted beyond measure, God gave me something to buffet me, to trouble me. So I have had a real problem. It could have been physical, it could have been spiritual. We don’t know. It is none of our business. What we do know is that we have been given each of us in our own way, a thorn in the flesh if we are truly the Lords. And Paul was given a thorn in the flesh. Something to keep us humble.

You know, to be humble is to know yourself in Christ. To know how much of your being is grace, and what is not of God’s grace is a remnant of the old man still in us, to be a thorn in the flesh lest we like Paul should exalted above measure. And Paul certainly could have been exalted beyond measure considering that his experiences were far greater than that of any other man in the New or Old Testaments.

And he said: “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.”

This weakness, this frailty, it could have been anything. A hot temper, a number of things. We each know what our thorn or thorns in the flesh might be, and it is important that we know these things. I know so many men over the years, I have met more than a few of them, who have been remarkably talented men. But they have never succeeded in doing for the Lord what they could have done, because their knowledge or their experience or their abilities in one way or another, exalted them above measure. So that instead of relying on the Lord, they were very confident in themselves. They felt superior to others, and some were. But they rested on their superiority, rather than on Gods grace.

So Paul said: ‘I was deeply troubled by this weakness I had, this frailty. Not a sin, but a weakness that predisposed him perhaps, to sinning. And God spoke to him:

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”

One of the great texts of scripture. It is one we should all know by heart, one we should all remember. “My grace is sufficient for Thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” The weakness may be spiritual or physical, whatever it is that keeps us humble. He keeps us trusting in the Lord.

And so Paul says: ‘I know myself. I know how far short I am of Gods requirements of me. But the Lord tells me that my strength is made perfect in weakness.’ ‘You, Paul, are going to be the stronger man, the greater apostle, because you have this weakness and you know it.’ That is where many men fall short. They do not know their weakness. They may be a sinner in more ways than one, and often reveal their sin or their shortcoming. And I have seen this in many a person, male and female, minister and layman; because they don’t acknowledge their weakness, and see that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness, in knowing yourself to be a sinner saved by grace, in knowing that you cannot trust in yourself, but only in the Lord. ‘My strength is made perfect, in this kind of weakness.’

“Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities,” ‘Rather than my strength, in my abilities, in the fact that I am better than other laymen or pastors or other women, spiritually in this or that respect. No, instead of glorying in those things which are the gift of God. For we with all our talents and abilities were created by God. We did not create or invent ourselves.

“Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

How does the power of Christ rest upon Paul, and upon us? In our knowledge of our weaknesses, our infirmities, our sins and our shortcomings; in knowing ourselves to be not a great person in Christ, but a sinner saved by grace.

This is the point of this text. Not what the third heaven or paradise is, or whether Paul had these revelations in the flesh or in the Spirit. If Paul doesn’t know, how are we going to find out? But what Paul does know is that God’s strength is made perfect in his weakness. This means that Paul indeed in his everyday life and in his prayers, acknowledged himself to be a sinner, acknowledged himself apart from his sins to be a weak and frail man, and thanked God for these things, because they reminded him how much he was dependent upon grace.

This is what Paul wants to know. Let us pray.

Almighty God our heavenly Father we give thank unto Thee for this Thy word. We thank Thee for our weaknesses. Because even our weaknesses, like our strengths, come from Thee. They have Thy purpose in mind, that we know that thy strength will only be perfect in our lives in our weakness, in our awareness of our sins and our shortcomings. In our awareness of how totally we are dependent upon Thy grace. Our God we thank Thee, in Christ’s name, amen.

Any questions now about our lesson?

As you can see from this passage, the greatness of Paul is apparent in his radical reliance on the grace of God. We need, all of us, day by day, to be aware of how much the grace of God is basic to our lives. If there are no questions, let us conclude now with prayer.

Our Father we thank Thee for Thy word. It speaks to our needs, to our weaknesses, and Thy word is healing. It blesses and strengthens us. Our God we thank Thee.

And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, amen.