TEXT: II CORINTHIANS 12:7-10
TITLE: A GRACE THAT IS SUFFICIENT!
BACKGROUND:
A. PAUL IS TELLING ABOUT BEING CAUGHT UP INTO HEAVEN.
1. 12:1-6
B. IF ANYONE HAD REASON TO BOAST, PAUL DID.
1. GREATEST THEOLOGIAN.
2. SPREAD CHRISTIANITY FROM MIDDLE-EAST TO ASIA MINOR TO EUROPE.
3. SAW INTO HEAVEN, BETTER THINGS THAN JOHN:
a. WASN’T LAWFUL FOR MAN TO UTTER the things that Paul had seen
TRUTHS LEARNED:
A. PAUL’S TRIBULATION WAS FOR A REASON.
1. SO THAT HE WOULD NOT BE EXALTED IN HIMSELF.
B. THE TRIBULATION WAS ULTIMATELY FROM GOD!
1. SATAN WAS USED TO BRING IT. (GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL)
2. TRIBULATION IS SOMETIMES FOR OUR GOOD.
C. GOD CAN USE TRIBULATION TO KEEP US FROM FALLING!
1. “PRIDE GOES BEFORE DESTRUCTION, AND A HOUGHTY SPIRIT BEFORE A FALL.”
2. GOD’S TRIBULATION KEEPS US HUMBLE!!!
D. THE MESSENGER OF SATAN:
1. LITTERALLY A DEMON.
2. PROBALLY FALSE PROPHETS IN THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH.
PAUL PRAYED FOR DELIVERANCE THREE TIMES:
A. HE WAS NOT DELIVERED.
1. GOD DOES NOT GRANT EVERYTHING WE WANT.
2. PHILLIPIANS 2:13- “FOR IT IS GOD WHO WORKS IN YOU BOTH TO WILL AND TO DO FOR HIS GOOD PLEASURE.”
B. HIS PRAYER WAS ANSWERED.
1. LET NO ONE SAY THAT GOD DOES NOT ANSWER THE PRAYERS OF HIS PEOPLE!!!
C. INSTEAD OF DELIVERANCE GOD GAVE GRACE!!!!!!
1. SUFFICIENT GRACE!! (NOT SAVING GRACE, HE ALREADY HAD THAT).
I. PAST WORKS OF GRACE ARE NOT ALWAYS ENOUGH!
A. OUR SALVATION EXPERIENCE:
1. BRINGS JOY
2. GIVES US COMFORT
3. GIVES US ASSURANCE
B. SOMETIMES WE NEED SOMETHING FOR NOW.
1. WHEN SATAN ATTACKS
2. WHEN FRIENDS FORSAKE
3. WHEN DEATH COMES
4. WHEN TEMPTATIONS ARRISE
5. WHEN THE FOOD AND MONEY ARE GONE
C. THANK GOD GRACE IS CONTINOUS!
LAMENTATIONS 3:22-23- “THROUGH THE LORD’S MERCIES WE ARE NOT CONSUMED, BECAUSE HIS COMPASSIONS FAIL NOT. THEY ARE NEW EVERY MORNING; GREAT IS YOUR FAITHFULNESS.”
II. GOD’S SUFFICIENT GRACE:
A. LIKE THE MANNA.
1. CAME FROM GOD TO SUSTAIN HIS PEOPLE.
2. ONLY FOR THE DAY.
3. JUST ENOUGH FOR THE NEED, NOTHING EXTRA.
B. WE CANNOT OVERCOME APART FROM GOD.
1. WE CAN’T OVERCOME TEMPTATION.
2. WE NEED SOMETHING BEYOND OURSELVES!!
C. SUFFICIENT FOR THE NEED.
1. NOTHING EXTRA
a. ELSE THE THORN WOULD LOOSE ITS PURPOSE.
2. GRACE JUST AS STRONG AS THE NEED.
a. WE FACE NOTHING STRONGER THAN GRACE!!
D. IT IS SUPPLIED FOR EVERY TEMPTATION.
I CORINTHIANS 10:13, “NO TEMPTATION HAS OVERTAKEN YOU EXCEPT SUCH AS IS COMMON TO MAN; BUT GOD IS FAITHFUL, WHO WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO BE TEMPTED BEYOND WHAT YOU ARE ABLE, BUT WITH THE TEMPTATION WILL ALSO MAKE THE WAY OF ESCAPE, THAT YOU MAY BE ABLE TO BEAR IT.”
E. SUFFICIENT GRACE IS ALWAYS THERE.
1. YOU MUST CHOOSE IT.
III. YOU CAN’T HAVE SUFFICIENT GRACE UNTILL YOU’VE HAD
SAVING GRACE!!
A. THE ONLY WAY TO GRACE:
1. CHRIST!
B. THERE IS NO GRACE OUTSIDE OF CHRIST!
HEBREWS 4:16, “LET US THERFORE COME BOLDLY TO THE THRONE OF GRACE, THAT WE MAY OBTAIN MERCY AND FIND GRACE TO HELP IN TIME OF NEED.”
C. OUTSIDE OF GRACE, THERE IS,
1. GUILT AND SHAME
2. SLAVERY TO SIN AND EVIL DEEDS
3. DEVESTATION IN TIMES OF TROUBLE
D. THERE IS FREEDOM AND VICTORY IN CHRIST.
E. BE BORN AGAIN TODAY:
1. SURRENDER TO CHRIST
2. CONFESS YOUR SIN
3. ASK HIS FORGIVENESS
4. PUBLICLY CONFESS CHRIST!
F. YOU CAN THEN HAVE:
1. SAVING GRACE
2. SUFFICIENT GRACE
3. SUSTAINING GRACE
