Storms Creek Church 6-11-2023 (from 9-29-2014)

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Episode Transcript

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Good morning, and welcome to StormStreet Missionary Baptist Church this Sunday morning radio
program. This morning, we'll bejoining Pastor Kenny Hurts because will be once
again open the scriptures and study God'swork. Okay, this morning, I'm
going to be preaching from the Bookof Second Corinthians, Second Corinthians, Chapter

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twelve, and I'm going to beginwith verse one. I'm going to read
down through verse ten. It isnot expedient for me, doubtless to glory
I will come to visions and revelationsof the Lord. I knew a man
in Christ above fourteen years ago.Whether in the body I cannot tell,

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or whether out of the body,I cannot tell. God knoweth such a
one caught up to the Third Heaven. And I knew such a man,
Whether in the body or out ofthe body, I cannot tell. God
knoweth how that he was caught upinto paradise and heard unspeakable words which it
is not lawful for a man toutter. Of such a one will like

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glory. Yet of myself I willnot glory, but in mine infirmities.
For though I would desire to glory, I should not be a fool.
For I will yet say the truth. But now I forbear lest any man
should think of me above that whichhe seeth me to be, or that
he heareth of me, and lestI should be exalted above measure through the

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abundance of the revelations. There wasgiven to me a thorn in the flesh,
the messenger of Satan, to buffetme, lest I should be exalted
above measure. For this thing Ibesought the Lord thrice that it might depart
from me, and he said,unto me, my grace is sufficient for
thee. For my strength has madeperfect in weakness most gladly. Therefore will

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I rather glory in my affirmities,that the power of Christ may rest upon
me. Therefore I take pleasure ininfirmities and reproaches, in necessities, in
persecutions, in distresses, for Christ'ssake. For when I am weak,
then am I strong. I've titledthe message of this morning Paul's Rapture Paul's

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Rapture. You know many people thatthey claim to have had an experience where
they were taken to heaven, andthen they return to earth and they talked
about what they saw and heard.Now, some of these people will often
write a book, make a lotof money off of that book. When

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they tell their experience, some willgo on a speaking to her, go
from city to city and talk abouttheir experience. Some maybe we'll go on
a talk show and tell what theyexperience. And there's even been movies that
have been made where people supposedly wentto heaven and they came back and they
talked about what they saw and heard. Now, I'll be honest with you,

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I don't know what these people reallysee. I will have to say
though, that I am skeptical.But it's not my intent this morning to
criticize these people, to analyze themand what they experience, because that's really

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between them and the Lord. ButI do want to focus this morning on
someone who had an experienced that well, we can trust. We can trust
this one. He's reliable. He'sa man who was wrapped to heaven,
taken to heaven, and he cameback to this earth. But unlike so
many today, he and we're talkinghere, of course about the Apostle Paul,

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he doesn't talk about his experience,he doesn't describe his rapture. In
fact, the Lord wouldn't allow himto talk about it. In fact,
at the introverse, for he saysthat he's heard unspeakable words, which was
not lawful for a man to utter. I think that just means that the
Lord did not allow him to talkabout his experience, which, by the

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way, makes me wonder about allthe people today who claim to have gone
to heaven and come back, andthey're not the least bit shy about talking
about what they've observed. So whydid the Lord not allow the apostle Paul
to talk about it? Why areall these other people today, why do
they have this freedom, so tospeak, to speak about what they experienced.

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Well, when it comes to thesubject of heaven, you notice here
he talks about heaven, he talksabout paradise, which is the same thing.
I believe that Heaven exists, andthat's not because of some experience someone
claims to have had. It's notbecause I've read a book where somebody talks
about going to heaven. No,it is not because of some movie that

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someone claims to have gone to heaven. And so because of that, then
that just gives me a basis formy belief that heaven exists. No,
absolutely not. I believe that Heavenis real, that Heaven exists because of
one reason, because the Word ofGod tells me that it does. And

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that's all the witness that I need. Now I've titled the message this morning
Paul's Rapture. Now we know whatthe word rapture means. We're I'm sure
familiar with that term. In fact, the rapture is an event that's coming
up, that the future event,maybe sooner than we realize, where the

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Lord Jesus Christ is going to callhis people, those who are alive in
the world. He's going to callthem unto himself. He's going to glorify
them, he's going to change them, and then they're going to be with
him for all eternity. Now,we as the children of God, we
are looking at anticipation for that time. It might be in our lifetime,

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it might be here soon, wedon't know, but we are looking for
that great event, the rapture.Now Paul was raptured, but not in
the same sense. No, Paulwas raptured, but he didn't receive a
glorified body, he didn't remain withthe Lord. No, Paul was raptured
and he had this vision. Andthen Paul returned to this earth and lived

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here until he died. Here inverses one through ten, the apostle Paul.
What he does is he shares twoexperiences that he had in regard to
his being raptured in the heaven.And that's what I want to focus on
this morning. First of all,he experienced God's glory and then secondly,

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he experienced God's grace. So firstof all, I want you to notice
that Paul experienced God's glory. Hebegins in verse one by saying, it
is not expedient for me, doubtlessto glory I will come to visions and
revelations of the Lord. Paul hereintroduces a new topic. He's now going

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to talk about visions and revelations.Now, at first glance, this seems
to be out of place. Itdoesn't seem to go with what he's been
talking about, because if you rememberat the end of chapter eleven, he's
been talking about suffering and his weaknessand all his infirmities, and now he
begins to talk about visions and revelations, and it doesn't seem like they go

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together. John MacArthur says the Greekculture of that day believed that those who
truly represented the gods and I sayGod's with a little g he says,
these these would experience mystical visions.Now, undoubtedly, and we don't know
this for sure, because it's nottold in the Word of God. But

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it seems that the false apostles whohad made their way into the church at
Corinth and who were calls in somuch trouble for the apostle Paul. It
seems that these men claim to havehad visions and revelations, and so probably
with that in mind, that's whyPaul feels compelled here to talk about his

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vision and revelation, his rapture experience. Now you'll notice he says at the
beginning of verse it is not expedientfor me doubtlest to glory. The New
King James version says, it isnot profitable for me to glory. The
ESV says there is nothing to begained by it. You see, Paul

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wants more. Is mentioning the factthat what he's doing he doesn't like to
do. In fact, he abhorsthe idea of having to talk about himself.
So why does he do it then? If he doesn't like to do
it? Well, he knows thatmore could be lost by him not doing
it, than by him doing it. He realizes that the Gospel would be

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lost. You see, Paul isbeing attacked by these false apostles, and
they're attacking his right to be anapostle. They're saying Paul is not a
true apostle, Paul's a fake apostle. And so because of that fact that
Paul feels that he has to hehas to defend himself because if if they

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can bring reproach upon Paul, ifthey can say that he's not a credible
witness, if he's not truly anapostle, then they can also they can
destroy the message that Paul preached theGospels at Stake. So that's why Paul
has really no choice here. Hehas to talk about these things. He

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has to talk about his weaknesses inchapter eleven, and his infirmities. He
has to talk here about visions andrevelations because he's defending his right to be
an apostle and he's defending the gospelmessage that he has proclaimed. Now,
he says in verse two through four, he describes this vision that he had.

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He says, I knew a manin Christ above fourteen years ago,
whether in the body I cannot tellwhether out of the body, I cannot
tell God knoweth such an one caughtup into the third heaven, and I
knew such a man, whether inthe body or out of the body,
I cannot tell. God knoweth howthat he was caught up into the paradise

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and heard unspeakable words, which isnot lawful for a man to utter.
Till you'll notice that Paul refers toa man in Christ. He doesn't refer
to himself personally. In fact,he refers to himself in the third person.
Now we know that he is talkingabout himself, though, because if
you look down in the verse seven, he says, lest I should be

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exalted above measures. So surely herethere's no doubt that Paul's describing himself.
But why does he refer to himselfin the third person? I think probably
because he felt so uncomfortable talking aboutthis. He was embarrassed to have to
do this. So if he's goingto describe this, he's not going to
refer to himself personally. He's goingto refer to himself in the third person.

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I knew a man, well,Paul, he is that man.
Now this vision that Paul had,he says that it took place fourteen years
ago, and it seems that Paulhad never talked about this. In fact,
it's probably the first time that he'smentioned it. Clearly he hadn't talked
about this to the church at Corinth. They didn't know anything about it.

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So Paul here is talking about thisvision that he had fourteen years ago.
He's talking about it now for thevery first time. Now, if you
read the Book of Acts, gothrough the Book of Acts, and you'll
see that Paul did experience visions andrevelations. In fact, I know of
at least seven visions that Paul talksabout in the Book of Acts alone.

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The one that we are probably mostfamiliar with would be the one that is
found in Acts, chapter nine andverse three, where Paul on his way
to Damascus to persecute those who werefollowers of Christ. There Paul Saul the
glorified Christ, the Lord Jesus Christrevealed himself to Paul in a mirrah way,

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and Paul was converted. Now,Paul had no problem talking about this
experience. In fact, several timesin the Book of Acts he will look
back and refer to the time whenhe saw the Glorified Christ when the Lord
appeared to him on the road toDamascus. So Paul would talk about some

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of the visions that the Lord gavehim. But here in this vision which
he's talking about here the most amazingone that I believe that he had,
you'll notice that he hasn't talked aboutit up until this time. Now why
well, as I've already talked aboutat the end of verse four, he

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says that he heard words that werenot lawful for a man to utter.
Paul was not permitted to speak aboutthis experience. And even now, even
though he's bringing up the fact thathe had this vision that he was caught
up into heaven, you'll notice thathe doesn't talk about exactly what he saw
or heard. He doesn't give usa description of what happened. Now today,

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again we know that people claim toexperience what the apostle Paul did.
They claim to have been taken upinto heaven. But see the problem with
that, Well, there's a fewproblems. First of all, he cannot
be verified. There's no standard thatwe have, there's nothing that we can
hold up to see whether what thesepeople are saying is credible or not.

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Now, a lot of times thingsthat they do say I know contradict what
the Bible says about heaven, whichthat leads me then to not give any
credibility to what they're saying. Butnone of us have been there ourselves,
so we really don't know exactly whatthese people are seeing. What they have
experienced cannot be repeated, and oftenit leads to pride. I truly believe

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that God has given us absolutely everythingthat we need to know about heaven,
and that's revealed to us in theBible. And I've always thought that God
gives us just enough knowledge just towet our appetite, but not too much
so that we will be completely awedone day when we do arrive in glory.

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So if Paul couldn't speak about whathe saw, if he wasn't permitted
to, then I ask you thequestion, why then did God allow him
to have this experience? Well,many think, and I am of that
number, that the Lord did thisto help sustain Paul in what he was

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going to suffer. Now we've talkedalready as we've looked at this letter that
Paul wrote to the Corinthians. Paul, throughout this letter has talked about all
the trials and difficulties that he hasface, that he's had to experience in
his service for the Lord. AndPaul did endure a lot of suffering and

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a lot of hardship and so forth. And I believe it's because of that
fact that the Lord allow him tohave this vision, so that Paul would
know without a doubt that the Lordwas with him, that God was in
sovereign control of everything that was happeningin his life, and that when Paul's

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service was through, that God hadprepared a glorious place for him one day
in glory. So I believe itwas with that in mind the Lord allowed
Paul to have this experience just toencourage him, just to sustain him in
all the difficulties that he would face. Now you say, well, how
come Paul enjoyed this experience? Andhow come you and I? How come

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we don't? You know, alot of times we might think, you
know, I'd like to have avision. I'd like to be translated into
heaven and glory like Paul did.Well, before you say that, you'll
find out here in just a minute. When we look at the second part
of the message, that Paul wasgiven a thorn in the flesh because of

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the vision that he had. Yousee, Paul is different than you and
I Paul was an apostle. Paulwas used by the Lord to take the
Gospel to the Gentiles. In fact, he was a missionary to the Gentiles.
He preached the Gospel throughout the RomanEmpire. He established churches in city

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after city, and most importantly,Paul was the human instrument that was used
to write a large part of theNew Testament. So, because of Paul's
calling, because of what Paul did, I think that he is different.
And the Lord allowed him to havethis just so that he would be encouraged
and would keep up and do thework that the Lord gave him to do.

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Then he says in verse five,of such a one will I glory?
Yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities, though
I would desire to glory, Ishall not be a fool, for I
will say the truth. But nowI forbear lest any man should think of
me above that which he seeth meto be, or that he hearth of

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me. Instead of boasting of hisexperience, Paul's going to continue to show
his humility by boasting in his weakness. Paul doesn't want us to think,
because of what he saw, becauseof his experience, that he's to be
put on a pedestal, that he'sa big shot, that he's different than
we are, that he's to beheld up in higher esteem than we are.

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Paul says no. He says,I'm not going to boast over the
fact that I had this experience.In fact, he hadn't even talked about
it. He says, I'm goingto continue to boast in my weakness,
which then naturally to the second partof the message today, and that is
Paul experienced God's grace. Not onlydid he experience God's glory, but he
also experienced God's grace. He saysin verse seven, and lest I should

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be exalted above measure through the abundanceof the revelations. There was given to
me a thorn into flesh, themessenger of Satan to buffet me. Lest
I should be exalted above measure.The Lord knows how to balance our lives,
doesn't he. He knows that sometimeswhen we have some success, when

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we experience great blessings, to keepus from becoming proud, to keep us
humble. A lot of times theLord will bring something in our life to
kind of get us back in line, to get us back to where we
need to be. Well, Paulexperienced this. No, his going to
glory, his being raptured into heaven, could have ruined his ministry by causing

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him to fall into pride. Sothe Lord to keep that from happening,
in his great grace, and itwas a matter of his grace called Paul
to be buffeted by Satan, tobe given a thorn in the flesh.
Paul suffered, and he suffered greatlythe cause of this affliction. Now,

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when we talk about the subject ofsuffering, human suffering, it continues to
puzzle people today as it has throughoutthe ages. You know, sometimes you
hear people say, why do badthings happen to good people? In fact,
there was a book written with thatsame title just a few years ago,
When bad things happen to good people? Well, the truth of the

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matter is, according to the Bible, there are no good people. Roman
chapter three and verse ten says thereis none righteous. And so that we
will know that he means none.He goes on and he says, no,
not one, because we are human, because we are sinners, because

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we live in a sinful world,there will always be suffering. I think
a more fitting title for a book, And what we should say is why
do good things happen to anybody?Because none of us deserve anything of the
Lord. Everything that we have isan act of His mercy and his grace.

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Now, there are several different reasonsas to why God allows suffering.
Sometimes suffering is just comes upon usjust simply because we're human, just part
of being human, as part ofthe consequences of the fall of man.
It's because sin has come into thisworld that suffering comes. Sometimes though we
sin because of some personal sin thatwe have committed. I think of David

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David as an example of that.Sometimes it's used to build character, to
make us more like Christ. Sometimesit's given to prove our faith, to
show if our faith is real ornot. And here in the case of
Paul, it was to keep himhumble, to keep him from becoming proud.
Do you ever think about the factthat maybe the Lord brings some difficulty
in your life, some suffering,just to humble you, to keep you

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from being proud. Now, mostof the great saints of God, they've
had to endure great suffering Luther CalvinSpurgeon Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards was one
of the greatest preachers this country's everhad, probably the greatest theologian that we've
ever had. And for twenty yearshe was a faithful pastor in Northampton,
Massachusetts, one of the leaders ofthe Great Awakening in this country. But

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after twenty years he was fired byhis church. Fired not because of some
moral blemish, No, it wasbecause he taught that only saved people should
partake of the Lord's Supper, andso because of that his church fired him.
And this was a very difficult timein his life. Well, here
Paul talks about his suffering. Hetalks about his thorn in the flesh.

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The word thorn there means a sharpsteak, not some little splinter. It
was something that calls Paul great suffering. Now, what was that thorn?
We don't know. Some think itwas poor eyesight, some think it was
demonic oppression his opposition. The truthis, we don't know, and I
think it's a waste of time ifwe just try, if we speculate and

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try to figure out just what Paul'sthorn in the flesh was. If he
wanted us to know he would havetold us. But whatever it was,
it caused him a great deal ofpain, and it hindered him in his
ministry. You'll notice that it wasgiven unto him who gave it to him.
I think it was given by theLord. Now, Satan is the
one who buffeted him. Satan isthe one who attacked him, but God's

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the one who permitted him to doso, Just like he did in the
case of Job. It was Godwho was responsible for his rapture, and
it was God who was really theone responsible for his suffering. Now this
doesn't mean that Paul enjoyed his thorn. In fact, you'll notice in verse
eight it says, for this thing, I besought the Lord thrice that it

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might depart from me. Three timeshe prayed for the Lord to remove this
thorn, but the Lord did not. Now this is similar to another person
who prayed three times that suffering wouldbe removed from him, and that's the
Lord Jesus Christ. They're in thegarden of Gathseemite. Three times he prayed
for the Lord to remove that cupof suffering from him, but the Lord

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didn't do it. It was God'swill for Paul to suffering. It was
God's will for his son to suffer. But in both cases God gave both
of them the strength they needed toendure. Paul wasn't wrong to pray for
the thorn to be removed. No, the Bible encourages us to bring all

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of our needs, all of ourburdens, to the Lord. But though
though we have to remember this,the Lord did not promise to heal every
suffering or deliver us from every burden. He hasn't promised to remove these things.
But he has promised that he wouldgive us his grace and his strength
to endure. And then he saysin verse nine, and he said,

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unto me, my grace is sufficientfor thee. For my strength has made
perfect in weakness most gladly. Therefore, while rather glory in my affirmities,
that the pile were of Christ mayrest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure
in infirmities and reproaches, and necessitiesand persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake.
For when I am weak, thenam I strong? That last phrase,

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when I am weak, then amI strong? I think is really the
theme of this letter. Throughout thisletter, Paul has been talking about his
weakness and how the Lord has workedthrough him when he's weak. You know,
God promised him his grace, hisstrength, strength that was only apparent

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when Paul was weak. Here,I believe is Paul's great at boast.
It was only his weakness that God'spower was most at rest upon him.
Today, many people think God's powerrest upon those who are talented, those
who are gifted, those who aregreat in the world's eye. But no,
that's not the case. That Godpromises his power to those who are

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not strong, but to those whoare weak. Paul realized his thorn was
a gracious gift from God because itnot only kept him humble, but also
gave him the strength that he neededto be able to serve the Lord.
Now this is a lesson that allof us need to learn. We need
to learn that His grace is sufficientfor us, that His strength is made

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perfect in our weakness, and whenwe're weak is when we are at our
strongest. Look in the Old Testamentat men like Moses. Moses was called
to go into the land of Egyptand to lead his people out, and
Moses said, Lord, I can'tdo that. Who am I? I
can't speak the Lord promised that he'dgive him the strength that he needed.

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He did the same thing with Gettinghe died, the same thing with David.
You see, it's only when weare weak, when we realize just
how we can frail that we are, that we are most useful to the
Lord. That's when His strength willbe most evident in our life. It
is not my weakness plus his strengththat I need that give me my power,

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but it's my weakness and his strengththat gives me his power. Remember,
when we are weak, that's whenwe are really strong. I pray
that the message has been a blessingto you this morning. Now until next
week, May God richly blessed.Thank you. This is our prayer.

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We'd like to thank you for listeningto our program this morning. We pray
that God has used this message todraw you closer to Him. Storms Creek
Missionary Baptist Church would like to takethis opportunity to invite you to any of
its services. We have a SundaySchool which starts at nine to thirty am,
Sunday Morning Warship ten fifteen, andour Sunday Evening service starts at six

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pm. We also have a WednesdayNight Bible study that starts at seven thirty
pm. Storms Creek Missionary Baptist Churchis also on the internet under sermonaudio dot
com. You can go to www. Dot sermon Audio, look for Storms
Creek Missionary Baptist Church and listen toany of our sermons in full length audio

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aside. Again, we'd like tothank you for listening this morning, and
may God bless you throughout the week.