2 Corinthians, 12:1-10
Hal Molloy · Jul 17, 2005
2 Corinthians (2004-05), No. 54
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262329366611

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 12 I'm going to read down through the first 10 verses and we'll probably be reading this for the next couple weeks there is There is so much here in these first 10 verses. I'm not sure how long it's going to take us, but hopefully we'll be done in a week or two, and then pick up from there.

But you'll see just the wonderful spiritual truths that are here. So starting at verse 1, says, it is not expedient for me, doubtless, to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. 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 knows. Such a one was caught up unto the third heaven, and I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. But God knows how he was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words which is not lawful for man to utter.

Of such a one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in my infirmities. 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 sees me to be, or that he hears of me.

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. But he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you.

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 and reproaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." Some wonderful words there. Some wonderful words of encouragement.

So, Paul talks about, and we looked at it last week, that he came to these visions and revelations and he talks about himself in the third person, right? He says, I knew a man once, about 14 years ago, whether he was in the body or whether or not, I could not tell. And so as you go through the first five verses, it's hard to tell that Paul is talking about himself. But it's only when you get to like verse seven, do you really find out that Paul is not talking about a third person, but he's talking about himself.

We left off I think at about verse four last time so look down at four and it says how he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words which is not lawful for a man to utter so as we look at this the word and I quoted the new american standard here which says that we've caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words which a man is not permitted to speak.

And the word inexpressible can be translated unspoken. The interesting thing is this, is that this word as the Nuremberg translates it, inexpressible, is only used once in the entire New Testament. So it's hard to go through the New Testament and understand the context in how that word is used. But the word is consistent of two things. It's a negative which is ah, and then the last part of the word is translated spoken. So it denotes unspeakable or inexpressible.

As I looked through some Greek writings here. Here's what I came up with. It says, the word is common in sacred inscriptions, especially in connection with the Greek mysteries, and Moulton and Milligan are Greek experts, and they suggest the meaning that words too sacred to be uttered, which seems to fit in the context. So Paul is caught up into paradise, he's caught up into heaven. and he hears these words, and they're too sacred to be uttered. Now, the interesting thing is this. When it talks about inexpressible, and it comes to words, what's the word that we think of in the Greek when we think of the word word?

Logos. Now, logos is not used here. It's a different word. It's Rima and and and Rima. It has to do with something that is that is uttered by a living voice. It's it's focus. It focuses on the thing spoken. And usually, Rima is used for specific words, where Lagas is used in general for general speech. But when you're talking about specific words, the word Rima is used. So that when you get to Ephesians chapter 6, and it talks about the sword of the Spirit, and it defines it as the Word of God, it's the Rima of God. And in the context, it's the specific word that the Spirit uses in every particular instance as opposed to the general word. So essentially, that's the distinction between the two. Here's a question. Paul's up in paradise. in the third heaven, and he's hearing these unspeakable, inexpressible words. What language is it in? English, of course.

I was down the dug was down there to this past week visiting Dick Berg at the V.A. and he was having lunch and sitting at the table with him. And there was this fellow at the table and and he obviously saw and heard his prey. And so he started talking to us about the Bible, and he was very knowledgeable. And he said that he grew up in the Pentecostal church.

And so I asked him the question, how did you come to know the Lord? And he said, well, when he was seven years old, he was a slain in the spirit, or whatever the terminology is. And I said, what does that mean? And tried to ask him, what is your relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ? And never really got that out of him. But anyhow, in this conversation, he was talking about that he can speak in heavenly language.

And I said, that's interesting. I said, there's two ways of looking at it in terms of scripture. The word language in scripture, glossa, you can translate it as language, as a known language, or you can translate it as you do as some unknown heavenly language. But if you're consistent with Scripture, you'll see, as you go through Acts 2, that the people who were there at Pentecost heard the words of God in their own tongue, in their very own language, and they were from all parts of the world. So I asked them this question.

I said, you know, in John 17, when the Lord Jesus Christ was praying to the Lord, What language was he praying to the Lord in? He said, oh, well, that's obvious. He was praying to him in this heavenly language, the one that I speak. And I said, so I asked him, this was like a trick question. So I said, who recorded that? Didn't John record that? And if John recorded it, Did he understand this heavenly language, or was Jesus Christ praying in either the Greek language or the Hebrew language, whatever, and John could record what he was praying? I think he was praying in a known language, in a known tongue. So now the question is, Paul, he's caught up into the third heaven. Is it Hebrew? Is it Greek? Is it English? There may be a heavenly language, but I don't think we heard that. And maybe Paul has heard that heavenly language, and it's inexpressible to him to come back and express it to us. But whatever the case, we'll know that when we're with the Lord face-to-face. We won't have to go to language school.

There will be no tenses, no verbs, and no declining, etc. So, he says that it was unlawful, inexpressible words which a man is not permitted to speak. King James says unlawful in verse 4? Not lawful? Pardon me? Not lawful. Okay. So the point is this. Paul didn't have the power to utter these words. He didn't have it. Nor if he had, if he had the power to utter these words, he wouldn't have been permitted. So the King James translates it, not lawful. And here's the bottom line. I don't think if he uttered those words that anybody would understand it.

And we'll look at John 3.12 in just a little bit, and I'll show you why. So, as I point out here, only a heavenly man can comprehend heavenly language. So, when we go to be with the Lord, we'll understand it.

Now, in verse 5, I use the New American Standard here because there's two behalfs in the passage. Somebody want to read that from the King James, verse 5? OK. That's King James. Is the word behalf in there? Be half. No, it's not even in here. Huh. OK. OK. So in the in the new American standard, it literally translates the word behalf. which is in the Greek.

So it says, on behalf of such a man will I boast or glory, but on my own behalf I will not boast or glory except in regard to my weaknesses. And notice the two behalves here. So on behalf of such a man, this one in the third person, will I glory, but on behalf of myself I will not glory." So there's the contrasting statements there, on behalf of one.

And the word behalf is the word hupere in Greek, and it just means, it's a preposition of substitution. You could translate it in one stead. So when Christ died on behalf of you and me, he took our stead, he took our place. And so it's a preposition of substitution. So he's saying, on behalf, if I take the place of this man, I'll boast. Of such a man, I'll boast. But if I stand in my own stead, I will not boast. So you see the contrast.

So I tried to depict it. on a diagram here and he says on behalf, where he acts in one's place, on behalf of such a man. And I think last week we determined that such a man was Paul in the heavenly state. When he was caught up into paradise, into the third heaven, he's talking about that man. He's referring to himself, but he's talking about Paul in the heavenly state. So when he talks about, but on behalf, but on my own behalf, he says, I will not boast or glory. So of myself, Paul in his earthly state, is not going to glory.

So, however, there is one exception, right? I will not boast, except, he makes one exception, the only time that he'll ever boast, is that he'll boast in his infirmities, I think, as the King James has, or his weaknesses. So there's one exception of his glory. Now, I put a why at the end of each one of these. Why would Paul glory on behalf of the man in heaven, the man in this heavenly state, why won't he glory on behalf of himself? Okay, this guy is a new creation, right? Of such a one, of such a man. He's the new creation.

And what is God's eternal purpose? Always think God's eternal purpose. It answers almost every question, not every question, but it answers so many questions. But His eternal purpose was to create such a one, right? To have a new creation, so that this new creation, we in Christ as new creations, can fellowship and have that intimacy with the Lord. That's God's eternal purpose. And His desire is that not one should perish, but all come to a saving knowledge of Christ, that all have the fellowship and intimacy with Him. He wants to bring every one of His creatures into that into that circle of fellowship with Him.

So this is the fulfillment, if you will, of God's eternal purpose. Here's Paul in the heavenly state. That's it. God is to be glorified. So you think of God's eternal purpose in terms of declaring His glory and revealing His glory and then sharing and then in turn to be glorified, wow, this is the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose. And obviously, glorying in oneself is not part of God's eternal purpose, because we're to glorify God, we're not to glorify self. just some observations. Now, Paul doesn't describe his experiences and the visions that he sees when he's caught up in paradise, but the revelations and the experiences obviously were of untold and indescribable blessedness. Paul was totally totally blessed. I mean, think about it. Here he is, in this face-to-face relationship with the Lord, and observing all that's going on in the third heaven, in paradise.

And he's so caught up with the Lord that he says, I can't tell you if I was in the body or out of the body. I cannot tell. There's no way. I'm not even focused on that. My total focus was on the Lord. But when he was in the light of it, when he was there, everything was for him, right? I mean, he didn't even know, as I said, whether he was in the body or out of the body.

When he comes back, doesn't appear that everything's against him. Now, this was 14 years ago. This was 14 years after he wrote this. So in those 14 years, he's gone through persecutions, suffering, all kinds of trials, right? And so he comes back and really everything is against him.

And in chapter 11 he talks about that, he talks about the things that were without, all the false teachers, the persecutions, the trials, the suffering, etc., and even the things that were within. The things that were within were his care and concern for the church. And here are believers who have fallen from grace because they're following these false teachers and they're falling from grace back to a lost system and in his care and concern. So it just seems like everything is against him.

Now, question. Is there any correlation between Paul's experience here and your experience and my experience here. In other words, here Paul was caught up into the third heaven, into paradise. Can we at all identify with that? So here's my question. Where are we seated? What's our position? Where are we seated? We're seated in the heavenlies. So we're a heavenly creature right now, right? We're seated there, and that's our position.

Can we have fellowship there? And we can have fellowship there, and the Holy Spirit is that living link between us here and the Lord Jesus Christ there. It's the Holy Spirit that can spiritually bring us there into that third heaven and having that intimate fellowship with the Lord. We can have that moment by moment with the Lord. while we're having that sweet fellowship with the Lord and that intimacy with the Lord, is everything for us? Sure is.

And as soon as we depart from that fellowship, what happens? Does it seem like everything's against us? And when we're having that intimate fellowship with Him there, What happens to the concerns and the trials and the garbage that we're going through here? How do we view those? Are they in the forefront? Are they in the forefront of our thinking?

Say that again, Glass. Just for a season. Think about that. Those problems kind of fade away because we're having that wonderful intimacy with Him. As soon as we start focusing on the circumstances, then those problems and circumstances in life start weighing us down. They just kind of pull us down. I had a picture, but I didn't bring it with me, in terms of living above the circumstances or living below the circumstances.

But anyhow, Here's my point. Should we expect anything different than Paul? As I've said, as we're seated above and beholding Christ there, everything is for us, right? And if we turn to Romans 8, If we think that in any way, shape or form, that anything here is against us, look at Romans 8 and look at verse 31. It says, What shall we say then? What shall we say to these things? And all of the things that Paul just listed up in Romans 8. in terms of who we are in Christ. He predestinated us. He called us. Those who he called, he justified. And those who he justified, he also glorified. Talking about us in Christ. And so he says, what should we say to these things? If God be for us, what? Who can be against us? And the answer is, No one. Nothing. There isn't one thing that can be against us. Not one.

He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? So the point is this. Can anyone or anything lay something, a charge against us? No. The answer is no. And shall God that justifieth? No. Is He going to lay any charge against us? No. Why not? What happened at the cross? Every charge against us is put on that cross. Right? Every single one.

In verse 34, who is he that condemns? Shall Christ that died, a brother that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us? And then in verse 35, this is, boy, I've got several favorite verses and this is one of them. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? no one.

And he goes on, and he lists, he goes through this whole list. And if you go through this whole list, you'll find out that this whole list includes everything in the entire universe, including yourself. Everything, everyone, principalities, power, whatever it is, there is not one person, not one power, not one thing in this universe that can possibly separate us from the love of Christ. Now, is that uplifting? Wow, to know that? But look at verse 36. It says, as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter.

So when our condition is our position, and we're beholding Him there where He is, and we have this living link, the Spirit of God that has us there, that nothing is against us. But, while we're here, everything is against us. The old man is against us, our sin nature, the world is against us, the devil, or the Satan is against us.

But, we can glorify God for our position there. and we can glorify God for our weaknesses here, just like Paul says. There's one exception. He says, I'll never glorify myself or glory in myself, but except for my weaknesses. And so we can also really thank the Lord, praise God, glorify God for our weaknesses here. Questions? Comments? Okay, look at verse 6.

Let me read it from the King James. 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 sees, that which he sees me to be, or that he hears of me." In the New American Standard, it says, for I do not wish to boast of glory, for if I do wish to boast of glory, I shall not be foolish, for I shall be speaking the truth, but I refrain from this, so that no one may credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me." Now, the question is, what's Paul saying? He says, for if I do wish to boast with the glory, I shall not be foolish. In chapter 11 Paul is boasting and glorying in chapter 11 and why is he doing it?

Remember in chapter 11 verse 1 Paul says would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly or foolishness and indeed bear with me and he goes through in chapter 11 I just want you to bear with me just for a little while I want to imitate to you how these false teachers are coming at you and they're coming at you and they're glorifying themselves and they're putting themselves on a pedestal.

Now, what I'm going to do is I'm going to glory, I'm going to come at you like they're coming at you in terms of glorying, and I want you to hear how it sounds. And this is not the way I've come at you. But this is the way they're coming at you, and I just want you to listen to me if I glory how it sounds.

And is this of Christ? And so he starts glorying, right? Paul starts glorying. But he's only glorying in the things that the Lord has done in the ministry through him. So he's not glorying out of the flesh. But he's glorying in what the Lord had accomplished in his life. And the thing is, the Lord had done all of that and not Paul.

So he makes it sound like he's done it to these people so that they could see the difference. They could see the difference between these false teachers and the false apostles and a true apostle. So, Paul backs off now and he says, if I do wish or desire to boast, if I had that desire, then I shall not be foolish.

Now, this is what is called a third class conditional sentence in the Greek. A third class conditional sentence is a sentence of probability. It says this, it's an if, and it hasn't happened yet, whatever it is, and in this case it's Paul's desire to glory. If I desire the glory and it hasn't happened yet, but it's probability, so it probably will, but when it does happen, when I do glory, then comes the In the conditional sentence, there's two parts. There's the condition and there's the conclusion. The if is, if I desire the glory, hasn't happened yet, but when it does, then comes the conclusion part of this statement, then I shall not be foolish.

So when Paul says, if I glory, and I probably hasn't happened yet, then I'm not going to be foolish. So, how is Paul... Paul's going to be glorying, but he's not going to be foolish in his glorying. So, help me to understand what that means. When he says he's not going to be foolish in his glorying, as these false teachers are, foolish in their glory. So he is not going to be foolish. So how is he not foolish when he glories?

Okay. Okay. Okay, great. Their glorying in self. Paul says, I'm not going to glory in self. Okay. So foolishness is glorying in self. He says, I'm not going to go there. The other thing is, as we've seen a couple of weeks ago, that Paul says he'll never glory in man. He'll never put man on some pedestal, like the Corinthian believers were doing. And they had all these schisms in Corinth. And there were some that were saying, I'm a Paul. I'm of Apollos, right? I'm of Cephas. And they were putting men on a pedestal. And Paul says that he would never, we're to never glory in man. So we're never to put some man on a pedestal.

So, okay. So the bottom line says, when he says, the only person that we're to glory in is in the Lord. And we've seen this in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 31, and we've seen this in 2 Corinthians 10, 17, and since you're there, just look at verse 17 in 2 Corinthians 10. Somebody want to read that? Okay. And you have the New American Standard, Gladys? Okay. Somebody want to read it from the King James? Okay. So whether you boast or glory, the word is the same.

Paul goes on to say, He says, when I glory, I'm going to speak the truth. And so when Paul says, I'm going to speak the truth, I mean, the focus of his speech was who? It was the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, that was his focus. So I'll speak the truth, and since it will focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, then the focus of my glory, what he's saying here, will not be on me.

So no one may form a higher estimate of me, but may form a higher estimate of the Lord Jesus Christ, who they see through me as I abide. And so when Paul talks about that no one may credit No one may credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.

So the question is, what are they seeing through Paul and what are they hearing from Paul? Okay? That's the big question. What are they seeing in Paul? What are they hearing from Paul? And what I think Paul is saying is that they're seeing Christ through him as Paul abides in Christ, and they hear the message that the Lord has given Paul through his grace.

So any thoughts, questions? Okay, verse 7. It says this, And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me, to keep me from exalting myself. Any questions come up here?

I mean, why in the world would God ever allow Satan to buffet Paul? Keep him humble? I mean, isn't Satan evil? An evil one? He's the man of sin. Why? Would God use a man of sin in the life of Paul? Okay. Isabel says that just as he used the heathens to destroy Jerusalem. Okay. But that's the question that comes up. Why in the world would God do that?

Why in the world? Why in the world would God inflict a believer with an infirmity for the rest of their life? Those who have had infirmities and all are those who want more understanding and all. Okay, so Phyllis says that those who do have that infirmity, more understanding, can understand people who do have infirmities more. Is that the reason? Are there any other reasons?

The Lord is glorifying himself through that. He's demonstrating that he's in charge. So Jack says that the Lord is glorifying himself through that, and how does that happen? He turns the evil into good. for our benefit. It's for us. I think it's an example for us that when we go through trials, we know that God's grace is sufficient for us because of the rest of our lives. Okay, so here he says it's an example for us. So God allows it to happen, and God actually does it so that Any others? Isn't that a wonderful example, though, in Job?

I mean, here you have Job. He's got everything. He's got 10 children. He's got 15,000 head of cattle. And Satan comes up to the throne room one day and God says to him, Hey, have you noticed my servant Job? Oh, yeah. And my righteous servant Job? Oh yeah, the only reason he's righteous is you put this big cage around him and you gave him everything. He's got a wonderful family, he's got all of these goods and livestock. And so what does God do? God says, you do whatever you want to Job, right? But you don't touch his life. So then Job gets all the reports, right? Ten children dead, all his cattle are gone. And does Job curse God? What does he do?

Okay. Okay. And so here comes Satan up again. And God says, you see, my righteous servant Job took everything away from me. He still worships me. Oh, well, the only reason why he does that is because he still has his health, right? And so God says, all right, have Adam, but don't take his life. And so now Job has boils, and he's miserable, and he wants to die. And his wife turns against him. And for me, that's a good question. Bill brings up why? Why did he? Why did he take his children and not take his wife? Go back to Genesis, and when God says that man shall cleave to his wife, right? And the two shall become what?

One flesh. And so, I think the reason why, let me give you... Because they were one. Yeah, because they were one. Okay. We'll go through some of these tough questions that are brought up regarding Satan and trials that he can, you know, or the fact that he can buffet a believer. As a rule here, any questions you ask, you always know the answer. No. No, it's like... I told Bill to ask that question this morning. No. Okay, let's close.

Our Father, again, we are just so thankful for Your Word. We just thank You, Father, for Your grace. And knowing, Father God, that it's through your grace that we have the wonderful sufficiency in our Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray, Father, now for the service to come. We pray for Vern, we lift him up to you and guide him and give him the words that you would have him speak. And we pray, Father, for each one here today that they would be edified in their inner man, that the resultant would be, you would be honored and glorified for everything that we do, that we say, and even through the hymns. And we ask this now in Christ's name, with thanksgiving. Amen.