I would like for us to turn again this morning to Acts 9, verses 1 through 5.
Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus,
so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women,
he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
And it came about that as he was journeying, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;
and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
And he said, “Who art Thou, Lord?”
And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.”
Another verse is found in Acts 26. This is Paul, after he has been arrested, concluding his testimony before King Agrippa. He shared with King Agrippa what the Lord had shown him, and then he concludes in verse 19:
“Consequently, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision.”
Lord, we are thankful for the place that You have made for each and every one of us. We who were far off have been brought nigh by the blood of the Lamb. We are thankful, Lord, that there is nothing that separates us from Your presence.
We are thankful for the testimony of this table, of Your great love—the lengths that You went through and the cost that You paid—that we could return and sit at Your feet. We bless You, Lord, for the privilege of worshiping You and remembering You. We bless You, Lord, for the privilege of being able to open Your Word and allow Your Spirit to move, work, and speak to our hearts and lives in these days.
Lord, we see in these days, as they become more and more critical and horrific, that there is only one thing that is necessary, and that is You. Lord, we turn our hearts to You this day, that we would put other things aside and allow You to come and speak to us in a fresh, living way, to encourage us. In Your wonderful name, amen.
We have considered Paul’s life two times before, and we wanted to conclude our consideration of Paul’s life this morning. In each of these times, we have been looking at lessons Paul learned as he experienced the Lord in a glorious way.
We looked at Acts 9 because this is the testimony of Paul’s conversion. At this point, Paul was a wonderful, faithful Jew—a Pharisee—and there was a zeal that he had for the Lord. He thought he was worshiping God. He thought he was serving God. The way he was doing that was by going out and persecuting the Lord’s disciples, those of the Way.
He was so deceived that he thought by persecuting these believers in Christ, he was actually serving God. But praise God, on that road to Damascus, he had that life-changing experience. He encountered the Living One. He encountered the very Person of Christ.
As he was going on his own way, the Lord came and knocked him off his high horse. Paul fell to the ground, looked up, and said, “Who are You, Lord?” He realized that he had encountered Someone far beyond whom he thought he knew. He encountered the very living God.
He said, “Who art Thou, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus.” But Jesus did not stop there. When He testified of who He was, He did not merely say, “I am Jesus.” He also showed Paul, “These are My people that you are persecuting. You are persecuting them, but you are actually persecuting Me.”
Paul had not seen this connection before. But as he had this marvelous encounter, Paul’s eyes were opened and his life was revolutionized. He saw what he refers to in Acts 26 as a heavenly vision.
He saw that Christ was the Living One, but he saw that it was more than merely Jesus Christ. He saw His Body. He saw a fullness on that road. He saw that the Messiah had come, and that He was Jesus. But he also saw that this Messiah had a Body upon the earth.
Even though Paul was persecuting this Body, he could not separate it from Christ. Christ and His Body, Christ and the church, were one. This was the great vision that Paul saw.
So often, we have a tendency to separate Christ from the church. But the Lord, from the very beginning of Paul’s life, as he encountered the Lord, made it very clear that it is one.
Paul wrote about this in 1 Corinthians 12:12, where he says that Christ is the church. This body of Mine, this is the church. How we need to really see this and have it settled within our hearts. It is one life.
It is the life of Christ expressed through Himself when He was upon this earth, and expressed through His Body in the days in which we now live. It is one life being expressed.
Tragically, throughout history there have been those who have had a tendency to separate Christ from the church. A dear brother said one time, “If you focus on Christ, if you focus upon the fullness of Christ’s heart, you will see the cross and you will see the church. There is a fullness there. But if you focus on the church, you end up with a cult.”
Sadly, throughout history, many who have looked merely at the church, without looking at Christ in that corresponding way, have ended up in a cultish state. This is why we are thankful that we have the opportunity to go back and consider the life of Paul: how he started off, how he encountered the Lord, and how he saw that this was one life.
It was not an individual life, and it was not a church life. It was the life of Christ among His people upon this earth. That is what He is jealous for in our lives today.
We said that you cannot separate this, but for fellowship you can distinguish. Oftentimes, we speak of our individual life and our corporate life. But let us not be confused into thinking that these are two lives. It is one life, though we distinguish it.
Because of the days in which we are living, and because of their critical nature, it is essential that the reality of this be regained in a full and real way.
We want to get beyond merely having the teaching of the church. We want to get beyond merely having the talk of the church or doctrine about the church. We want to enter in afresh and see the very life of Christ that He desires to express among His people.
This is what Paul saw. Paul saw the reality of the fullness of Christ, and it revolutionized his life. Because of that, though he had been so successful in the world, he counted it all as rubbish. He said, “One thing I want: I want to know Christ.”
This was his desire. Even though he had seen Him, he was not satisfied; he wanted to press on. He counted all things as loss—his excellent education, his great heritage, both Greek and Roman, and all the privileges he had as a Jew and Pharisee. He said, “I count all that as rubbish, that I might know Christ.”
How we hold on to certain things that we think are of such value. But once Paul saw Christ, they all faded away. Would that we see Christ in that way, so that everything else fades away.
In this life Paul entered into as he encountered the Lord, we touched on the first and foundational lesson within Paul’s life: the matter of daily, intimate fellowship with the Lord.
Whether we call it a hidden life, a secret life, or an abiding life, it is speaking of having a personal relationship with the Lord—of knowing Him. Not knowing about Him, not merely having mental knowledge, but having heartfelt knowledge: knowing Him, understanding Him and His ways, and knowing all that He is.
How essential this is in the last days. The Lord tells us that in these last days many will come in His name. There will be false prophets, false teachers, and false signs. How do we know whether these are truly of Christ or whether they are counterfeits? If we know the real One, if we know Christ, we will be able to distinguish.
Throughout his life, Paul was able to distinguish the things that were of the Lord and the things that were not. In many of his letters, he wrote to ones who were going astray, saying in effect, “Why are you going this way? This is Christ.” He brought this distinction right into the face of the brothers and sisters.
If we cannot make this distinction—if we cannot see what is of Christ and what is not—two things will happen to us. First, we may be led astray. Something may come in the name of the Lord as a counterfeit, and we will follow it. Tragically, throughout church history, many have followed counterfeits.
Second, if we do not know Him in a real way, when the Lord comes and moves, we will miss Him. This is what happened at His first coming. There were very religious ones who had all the teaching about the Messiah. They knew where He was to be born and knew all the prophecies. But when He came into their midst, they totally missed Him.
They knew about Him, but they did not know Him. This is what the Lord is calling us to: to enter into an intimate, daily relationship of getting to know Him. Paul had this desire. He wanted to know Him more and more.
Out of this personal relationship, we touched on the second lesson in Paul’s life: an insatiable desire for Christ. It was a desire that could not be satisfied. There was nothing that would satisfy Paul. He had this insatiable desire to know Christ in a fuller and greater way.
Paul testified in 2 Corinthians that he was captured by the love of Christ. It caused him to forget what was behind and to press on, again, to know Him more and more. He said, “For one thing, I am pressing on to know Him,” to know Christ in this full way.
Sometimes, when we think of the love of Christ, we think of it as a rose garden, where everything is pleasant and wonderful. But when we look at the love of Christ, we see that it suffered long. It was a love that suffered patiently.
We forget at times that our Lord was a Man. When He came to His own and His own received Him not, that hurt Him. How about when we come to people and they do not receive us, or we are rejected, or they do not appreciate what we are doing? How do we respond?
The Lord was hurt. It affected Him. It grieved Him. Throughout the Scriptures, we see that at times He was grieved and in distress over the condition of situations. Let us not elevate Him in such a way that we think He was not human.
But because He had a love for the Father, the Father’s heart, and the Father’s purpose, He pressed on. It was the same love that captured Paul and enabled him to go through many trials, distresses, and rejections. It enabled Paul to be faithful all the way through to the end.
Paul was faithful. It did not matter whether he was in a good circumstance or a bad circumstance, whether before a big crowd or a small crowd, whether appreciated or unappreciated. Paul was still faithful because he had been captured, and he had this insatiable desire to be faithful to the Lord all the way through to the end.
Paul was not in it merely for himself. He was always encouraging the brethren to excel still more. But in what was he encouraging them to excel? To know Christ; to grow in Christ.
Praise God, Paul had this wonderful phrase: in Christ. He kept bringing us back to Christ. We read that verse to open today in 2 Corinthians: in Christ, we are a new creation. Paul was always bringing us back to Christ because that was his life and that was his heart.
He encouraged people to grow up in Christ, to be matured in Christ, to know Him more and more. We see the same spirit within Paul when it came to the next generation. As he passed on the torch of testimony to Timothy, Titus, and others, what did he pass on? He passed on Christ.
Timothy testifies, “I learned Christ from Paul.” Paul did not pass on a pattern, a tradition, or a form. He passed on life. He passed on Christ. This is what captured Timothy and Titus and encouraged them to go on.
This is our desire in the days in which we are living: that each and every one of us would be captured by Christ, from the old to the young, and that we would flow together unto the beauty of the Lord and the testimony of Jesus Christ. This is His heart. Would this be our heart’s desire in these days?
As we continue looking at Paul’s life as he pressed on, there was another lesson, another secret, within his life. I am only going to touch on three things. Paul’s life is very extensive, and there are many lessons to be learned from it. These are simply three that have impressed me lately.
Not only did Paul have a desire for an intimate, personal relationship with the Lord, and not only did he have an insatiable desire for Christ, but Paul also knew the infallibility of Christ.
Sometimes we think of infallible as one who never fails, does not make mistakes, and continues faithful. But I looked up the word infallible in Webster’s, and a little phrase caught my eye: “incapable of error.”
We can do something right, but we are still capable of doing it wrong. When we speak of the infallibility of Christ, it gets down to His very character. He is incapable of making an error, incapable of making a mistake. Paul had this settled in his heart, and it kept him going all the way through to the end.
We can look at Paul’s testimony at the end of his life. Turn over to 2 Timothy 4:6. Before Paul was ready to be martyred, he shared this concluding testimony:
“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.
I have fought the good fight,
I have finished the course,
I have kept the faith;
in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day;
and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
Paul is testifying that he was a poured-out drink offering. There was One who had captured his heart in such a way that he was totally given to the Lord. A drink offering is something poured out; there is nothing left in the cup. It is empty. Paul was completely given.
In New Testament language, we could look at Romans 12:1: he was a living sacrifice. Paul saw who the Lord was, and he poured his life out over and over again. He was continually pouring out all that he had from Christ, so that at the end he was able to testify, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.”
Now, that can sound as though Paul is boasting of himself: “I have done this. I have done that.” But what is Paul’s testimony? It is not I, but Christ. “The life I live now is by faith in Him who loved me and died for me.”
Paul is testifying of the grace of God. He did not take the grace of God in vain. By the grace of God, he was able to press on, and Christ’s life was able to be manifested. He found Him infallible and all-sufficient in everything to which He called him.
Paul was not boasting of himself. He was boasting in the One who had loved him and died for him. Regardless of the faithfulness or unfaithfulness of brothers and sisters, or whatever circumstance he found himself in, Paul found that the Lord was always with him.
Paul knew the reality of, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” But how did he come to know this? How did he enter into this reality? It was not something of himself. It was not due to his temperament, his self-will, or something that came naturally. It was something Paul learned.
As Paul was in the school of Christ, he learned. He came under the discipline of the Master. He loved the Master so much that he wanted to learn all there was of Christ.
Look at Philippians 4:11-13:
“Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
I know how to get along with humble means,
and I also know how to live in prosperity;
in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret
of being filled and going hungry,
both of having abundance and suffering need.
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
Praise God. Paul’s secret was that he could do all things through Him who strengthened him. Paul learned. Paul was teachable.
Paul did not come to the Lord and say, “Lord, based on my pedigree and my great knowledge, I get to skip certain grades.” When you finish high school and take advanced placement tests, you can skip certain classes because you already have credit for them when you go to university.
In many ways, based on Paul’s heritage, he had passed many advanced placement tests. But it does not work that way in the kingdom of God. He started afresh, and he wanted to learn Christ in a fresh way. As the Lord taught him, he knew more and more, and he kept pressing on to know Him in a wonderful way.
Paul wrote, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.” What were his circumstances at the time? He was sitting in Rome in a prison, chained to a guard.
We have the advantage of knowing the end of the story through the Scriptures. Paul did not know the end of the story when he was sitting in that Roman prison. He had no guarantee that he would get out. He might have been executed the next day. He did not know what lay ahead of him, but he knew the Lord.
He had such a relationship with the Lord that, if he was in that prison and going to die tomorrow, he was willing to die. He said it would be better to die, but perhaps it was necessary for him to remain. He did not know what would happen, but he was still faithful right where he was.
He penned this joyful letter to those in Philippi to encourage them. The wonderful thing is that in verse 11, when he says, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am,” it is in the present tense.
In the very midst of the trial—not after the trial—Paul says, “I have learned to be content.” Not, “Afterwards I will learn so much of the Lord and then I will be content.” No, in the midst of the trial, in the midst of the crisis, he says, “I have learned to be content.”
Again, it is learning of the Lord. As the Lord met Paul in so many wonderful ways, Paul allowed the Lord to teach him. This teachability within Paul is so vital for us to learn in the days in which we are living. Are we teachable?
Paul learned through the experiences he went through in the Lord. As we see the various crises Paul encountered, we see that this is where he learned.
In Acts 18, Paul had gone to Corinth. Those in Corinth had rejected him, and he had been blasphemed. One night, while he was alone and asleep, the Lord appeared to him. The Lord came in a wonderful way and met Paul:
“Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent;
for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you,
for I have many people in this city.”
Paul settled there for a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them. Praise God.
Again, we see not only the humanity of Christ, but the humanity of Paul. The Lord said, “Do not be afraid any longer.” This means he was afraid. Sometimes we become so ultra-spiritual that we think, “If you are spiritual, you will never be afraid.” That is simply a falsehood.
There is humanity within each and every one of us, and the Lord wants to meet us right where we are. We have grief, and we have sorrow. How do we learn the Lord? If we never experience grief and the Lord meeting us in the midst of that grief, we do not know the great comfort of the Lord.
This is where Paul learned the sufficiency and infallibility of the Lord in every situation. The Lord spoke these simple, comforting words: “I am with you.”
Those are among the greatest comforting words throughout Scripture. If you do a word study on that phrase, it is wonderful to see how, time and time again, the Lord met many different ones with this same phrase: “I am with you.” He did not tell them much more beyond that. He simply said, “I am with you,” and that brought great comfort.
When the Lord speaks to us, do we know the great I AM in such a way that, when He says, “I am with you,” it immediately brings comfort to our hearts? This is what ministered to Paul.
Because of that, Acts 18:11 says that Paul settled there. It is as though he said, “All right, we are going to settle here for a while.” He was not restless. To settle means there is a peacefulness. He settled down and stayed there for a year and six months, teaching them.
Here is a trivia question: while Paul was in Corinth for that year and six months, what two letters did he write? First and Second Thessalonians. There we go. Thank you, Mari. You get the credit. Mario gets to go to the front of the line today for lunch. You got it. You need it, brother.
But we see how Paul used that time. He encouraged those in Corinth, but he still had a heart for other brethren. He was caring for those in Thessalonica and everywhere. As he learned of Christ, he shared with them more and more.
Later in Acts, in Acts 27, Paul had been arrested. After all his trials, he was sent to Rome to be imprisoned there. While on his way to Rome, there was a great storm on the ship, and it looked as though everything would be lost—life, property, everything.
But in Acts 27:23-25, he testifies to those on the ship:
“For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me,
saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar;
and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’
Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God,
that it will turn out exactly as I have been told.”
That is knowing the infallibility of the Lord. “I believe God.” In the midst of the storm, no outward circumstances had changed. The storm had not subsided. It was still just as fierce. Yet Paul stood up in the middle of the ship and testified, “I believe God, and it will turn out exactly as I have been told.”
Paul knew the infallibility of the Lord. He could hear God’s voice because he had that personal relationship with Him. Paul learned this infallibility through the many circumstances he went through.
We learn the infallibility of the Lord as we go through circumstances in a similar way. None of us volunteers for these circumstances, but we learn of Him in a new way. Rosemary did not volunteer to fall down and break her foot, but she knows something of the Lord now that she did not know a couple of weeks ago, if I can speak for her in that way.
This happens to us. Do we use these opportunities to learn of Him and to grow in Him? This is what we see in Paul’s life.
Paul uses one letter in particular to share his glorious testimony. Many call 2 Corinthians Paul’s autobiography, because throughout 2 Corinthians Paul boasts of the infallibility of Christ. He often uses the language of the all-sufficiency of Christ.
Paul boasts that Christ is sufficient, that Christ is adequate. At times, we can think that sufficient or adequate means merely meeting the minimum level. But Paul is speaking of abundance. There is a fullness that God has provided. There is abundantly available provision in the Lord—more than just a minimum.
Paul was not going to settle for any minimum standard. He had a desire to please the Lord in such a way that he was pressing on to know Him more and more.
In 2 Corinthians 3:5-6, the New American Standard uses the word adequate. Other translations use sufficient, but it is the same word we are considering:
“Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves,
but our adequacy is from God,
who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant,
not of the letter but of the Spirit;
for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
When Paul testifies of God’s calling upon his life to be a servant of the Lord, he says, “It is not of me. It is not of us. Our adequacy, our all-sufficiency, comes from Him. It is not anything that we have within ourselves.”
This is the foundation upon which Paul stepped out in his service to the Lord. It was not as though Paul would do so much and then the Lord would come in. We remember the old Ben Franklin statement: “God helps those who help themselves.” At times, we think, “I will do this much, and then God will help me finish.”
But Paul knew Christ as the Alpha and Omega of his service. There was nothing of Paul that was beginning there. He was not adequate in himself to do anything. But as he allowed the Lord to meet him, he pressed on. In that way he was able to minister life.
In the past, he had been a minister of death, holding the letter that kills. But now he was a minister of life, because it was Christ. That is what he was pressing on to know.
Look at 2 Corinthians 9:8. This verse perhaps goes above and beyond in describing the all-sufficiency of our Lord. Notice the number of times it says all and always:
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you,
that always having all sufficiency in everything,
you may have an abundance for every good deed.”
What a comprehensive verse, with absolutely no loopholes in it. Sometimes, when we look at a verse, we try to find a loophole: “This verse will work except in this situation.” But when the Holy Spirit wrote this verse, He closed every loophole.
He begins by saying, “God is able.” Praise God. There is an infallible One. There is the all-sufficient One, able to make all grace abound to you.
He could have just said, “Grace abound to you.” But to shut the mouth of the accuser, the brethren, and our own self-doubts, He says, “All grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.”
Not merely some things. Not merely some sufficiency. All sufficiency in everything. Not merely some good deeds, but every good deed.
We talk about memorizing verses, and I am at the age now when that is one of the greatest challenges in life. It is a lot easier when you are younger. But when you get older, this is a verse for memorization. You cannot read it enough. There is a fullness here.
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you”—not merely to them, but to you. It is a very personal verse. He is speaking to each and every one of us: to you.
“That always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.” Praise God, brothers and sisters. This is Paul’s testimony. He had gone through these things, and he had learned this through the process.
Again, we see Paul go through other struggles in 2 Corinthians 12. He had this great vision of the Lord and speaks of being caught up into the third heaven, into paradise. But then he says there was a thorn in the flesh, a messenger, so that he would not exalt himself.
Paul knew that, because of the experiences he had, there could be a root or seed of pride that might come in. But the Lord, out of His love for Paul, sent this thorn in his side.
What did the Lord say to Paul? In 2 Corinthians 12:9, He says to each one of us:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”
“Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses,
that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”
“My grace is sufficient for you.” There is an abundance of God’s grace for each and every one of us. This is what Paul learned. Paul learned of this sufficiency.
But how did Paul learn that the Lord was sufficient? How did he learn that the Lord was infallible? There was a testing and proving in this. When we speak about testing and proving, who is it for? It is not for God. He knows. It is for us, that we will know God.
Through the situation, we find Him faithful. We find Him abundantly available for us. God, in a humbling way, proves Himself to us. This is so fabulous.
In Malachi, the Lord says, “Test Me; prove Me.” In 1 John, the Lord says, “Test the spirits.” The Spirit of the Lord is so secure that He does not mind being tested.
False spirits and the things of the enemy hate being tested. Somebody challenges or questions them, and they rear up to defend themselves. But the Spirit of Christ has no reason to defend Himself. He is the truth. He says, “Test Me. Prove Me. I will show you. I am incapable of making a mistake.”
We were just in Seattle, where many of the brothers and sisters work for Boeing. I was talking with one brother who was a test-flight engineer, like Jerry used to be. Only fools do that.
How do you know an airplane is going to fly? You can draw all the schematics and look at them on paper, and it should fly, but you do not know that it will. You can put it in a wind tunnel. You can put it through various ground tests. Will the wings withstand the stress? Maybe it passes, but you still do not know that it will fly.
One day, these ones have to take the plane out for the first time and see whether it will fly. Once they get up there, their goal is not merely to see whether it will fly. They do not just take off, say, “Okay, it flies,” and get back down.
They put the plane through every test you can think of. They start climbing to see whether it will stall. They start turning and banking. How will the wings respond to the stress? They put stress on the wings and the motors. Then they come down and stall it. Will it start again? They measure every little thing.
That is why you have to be a fool to be a test pilot. But it is interesting: to be a test pilot, you must have so much experience. You must know that plane. He learns that plane before he takes off. He does not step into a strange plane. He knows everything about it.
He is committed to that flight. The pilot is in with the plane. That is what Paul found of the Lord. As he went through the stressful, trying situations of life—whether he was almost stalling out and fainting, or whether he did not know what was ahead—he found, discovered, and learned of the all-sufficiency and infallibility of the Lord in every situation.
Let us look at some of Paul’s testimonies. First, let us consider the physical things he had to go through. Turn to 2 Corinthians 11.
Sometimes we read these verses and think Paul is merely putting together a poetic phrase to teach us. But this is reality. This is what Paul actually went through. As we read, think of how many times Paul must have been tempted to say, “I have had enough. I quit. This is not worth it.”
Most of us have had such experiences in life. We go through challenges, even in living together, in marriage, or in being built together as brothers and sisters. There come points in life where we say, “I have had it. I quit. I am out of here. It is just not worth it.”
Paul had these encounters, but he knew the Lord in that intimate way. He had this desire to know Him, and he was entering into the knowledge of the infallibility of the Lord. “I am going through this situation, but He is all-sufficient.”
In 2 Corinthians 11:23-28, Paul says:
“Are they servants of Christ? I speak as if insane—I more so;
in far more labors, in far more imprisonments,
beaten times without number, often in danger of death.
Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.
Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned,
three times I was shipwrecked,
a night and a day I have spent in the deep.
I have been on frequent journeys,
in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen,
dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness,
dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren;
I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights,
in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
Apart from such external things,
there is the daily pressure upon me of concern for all the churches.”
Five times he received thirty-nine lashes. Maybe after the third time, he could have said, “Lord, I have had enough. This is not worth it.” But something had captured him. This was a captured life, not living for himself, but for the One who loved him.
Apart from all the external things, Paul was still concerned for the testimony of the Lord. There is one thing I know: these verses were never used as a gospel message. If you use this as a gospel message, you are not going to get many converts.
But as we go on in life, Paul uses it as an encouragement for us to continue pressing on in the days in which we are living. We may not go through the exact same things, but we will go through challenges. Paul is simply encouraging us to know the infallibility of the Lord through these things.
Not only did Paul undergo physical challenges; he also went through emotional challenges. Look back at the beginning of 2 Corinthians, chapter 1.
In 2 Corinthians 1:8-10, Paul pours out his heart:
“For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia,
that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength,
so that we despaired even of life.
Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves
in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;
who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us,
He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us.”
This is the apostle Paul honestly bearing his heart in a transparent spirit with the brothers and sisters, saying, “We were so overwhelmed that we were despairing even of life.” Does this sound like a great man of faith? Praise God, it does not end there.
“We had the sentence of death within ourselves, in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.” That is the learning process. Death works in us; life works in you.
Paul says that God delivered them from so great a peril of death and will deliver them. They had set their hope upon Him, and He would yet deliver them. There is the testimony of infallibility: He will deliver us.
Paul knew that in whatever circumstance or situation he found himself, God was all-sufficient to bring him through in a glorious way, and Paul would learn more of Christ in it.
In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul speaks further of the pressures he endured:
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves;
we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not despairing;
persecuted, but not forsaken;
struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus,
that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake,
that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
So death works in us, but life in you.”
Paul knew that the surpassing greatness of the power was to be of God and not from ourselves. There is a learning here. As we have been seeing in the Gospel of John, what was John the Baptist’s testimony? “I must decrease; He must increase.”
How does that work? It works through the cross, through saying no to ourselves and yes to Him. If we do not know the infallibility of the Lord, if we do not know Him in this intimate way, we will never press through. We will stop short and say, “It is too much. I cannot bear it.”
Praise God, He never puts us beyond any measure of testing for which His sufficient grace is not there, so that we can make it through. At the beginning of the test, it may not look as though we can make it. But through all these tests, Paul learned the infallibility of the Lord.
The Lord met Paul in very direct, one-on-one ways. But the Lord also met Paul through the brethren, using them to encourage Paul and strengthen him.
In 2 Corinthians 7:5-6, Paul opens his heart concerning his condition:
“For even when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest,
but we were afflicted on every side: conflicts without, fears within.
But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus.”
Praise God. What a wonderful phrase: “God, who comforts the depressed.” What was God’s comfort for the depressed? It was Christ. It was bringing Christ into the situation through the life of Christ in Titus.
Titus brought Paul back to Christ, and there was encouragement and strengthening. Paul was encouraged by many different ones. Whether they were big names—Titus is sort of a big name nowadays, because there is a book written to him—or what we might call no-name ones, those who are small in our eyes but used by the Lord in mighty ways, Paul learned to receive from the brethren.
Why? Because Paul saw the reality of the Body of Christ. He saw that the life of Christ was in every brother and sister, and he knew that every brother and sister could hear from the Lord. So, when one knew something of the Lord, Paul wanted to receive it from them.
When Paul was in prison in Rome, we see a dear one mentioned in 2 Timothy. We do not know much about this person. He is mentioned only at the beginning and end of the book. But in 2 Timothy 1:16-18, we read:
“The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus,
for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains;
but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me—
the Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day—
and you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus.”
We do not know much about Onesiphorus. He is not to be confused with Onesimus in Philemon; those are two different people, though the names are similar to us.
We do not know why Onesiphorus was in Rome, and we do not know much about who he was. But at that point in time, he eagerly sought out Paul. Through the ministry of this dear brother, whom we do not know much about, Paul was encouraged and strengthened while he was in chains.
Many had forsaken Paul at that time, but this dear one sought him out and encouraged him. We are thankful for that.
Some were beginning to desert Paul, and it is sad because Paul had poured his life out for many. He had nurtured many, shared with many, co-worked with many, and labored with many. But in the end, they were turning against him—and in reality, turning against the Lord.
But Paul did not allow that to impact his faithfulness. He did not say, “Lord, everybody else has given up. What is the use? I have given my life to these ones. I have poured out my life to them, and now they are turning away from me. What use is my ministry? Why should I continue? Everybody is leaving me.”
No. Paul’s eyes were on the Lord. He wanted to know Him, and he knew the wonderful infallibility of the Lord that would hold him and keep him through, though everybody else might leave him.
There was a dear brother named Demas, who was a fellow worker with Paul. But in 2 Timothy 4:10, Paul says:
“Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.”
Demas was in prison with Paul. Demas was a fellow worker with Paul. But somehow the world captured him, and he made a choice. Perhaps, through some of the difficulties Paul went through, Demas encountered difficulty and thought it was simply too much. He said, “I quit. I am going back to the world.”
It is like those in the wilderness who wanted to go back to Egypt—to the leeks and onions and everything there—instead of the manna. They grew tired of it. But Paul had been captured by the Lord, and he was pressing on to know Him.
So often, we allow the actions of others to impact our walk with the Lord. In 2 Timothy 1:15, Paul says:
“You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me.”
All in Asia had turned away from him—not merely personally from Paul, but from his teaching and the ways of the Lord. Then, in 2 Timothy 4:16, Paul says:
“At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them.”
Many were leaving Paul, going this way and that way, and forsaking him. Yet in the midst of all the struggles, battles, and circumstances of his life, Paul could testify, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.”
How was Paul able to testify of this? How was he able to continue on? What was his secret? Look at 2 Timothy 1:12. Remember Paul’s prayer in Philippians 3: he wanted to know the Lord and was pressing on.
Paul says:
“For this reason I also suffer these things,
but I am not ashamed;
for I know whom I have believed
and I am convinced that He is able to guard
what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”
“I know whom I have believed.” There was a settled issue within Paul’s life. He had come to know Him. Because he knew whom he had believed, he was convinced that the Lord was able to guard what he had entrusted to Him until that day.
Paul knew and was convinced of the infallibility of the Lord in every situation in life. Brothers and sisters, we need to come to this place, because the days in which we are living are so evil. Pressures will continue to come in upon us, and we will be challenged. We must not think that we will be exempt.
In 2 Timothy 4:17, after everybody had deserted him, Paul testifies:
“But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me,
in order that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished,
and that all the Gentiles might hear;
and I was delivered out of the lion’s mouth.”
“The Lord stood with me and strengthened me.” That is knowing the Lord. That is knowing His infallibility. This is the testimony of one who has an insatiable desire to know Him in a fuller and greater way.
We are thankful for the crises of life, because through these crises Paul learned Christ. As we go through the crises of our lives, we need to be those who are faithful in learning Christ in these difficult days.
In spite of the many who were deserting Paul, there were some faithful ones. There is always that remnant. At the end of 2 Timothy 4, Paul mentions Luke, Mark, Tychicus, Prisca, and Aquila. We are thankful for those faithful ones who continued on.
What had they learned from Paul? They had learned Christ. In the midst of crisis, it is often said that crisis reveals character.
Remember the Gospel of John. There were two men in crisis when the Lord Jesus stood before Pilate. Both Pilate and Christ were in a crisis.
Pilate did not want to be there. He tried every way he could to wash his hands of the matter. His wife even told him not to do anything concerning this Man. Pilate tried to maneuver every which way to get out of it.
Pilate was in a crisis, and obviously Christ was in a crisis. But in that crisis, the character of Pilate came out. Pilate loved himself. Pilate had a fear of man, and that governed him.
But Christ was governed by a love for man and by the laying down of His life unto death. That governed Him. That is the life of Christ. That is the love of Christ that captured Paul and enabled him to go through the crises of life.
As we come to the end in considering this infallibility, it brings us right back to the beginning: knowing Him and having an intimate relationship with Him.
These three things—an intimate relationship, an insatiable desire, and the knowledge of His infallibility—are not three separate things. They are interwoven.
When we have that intimate relationship, we will have that desire. With that desire, we will learn of that infallibility. It is not as though we have three subject lessons here. It is one lesson, really. It is all Christ.
This is what Paul would want us to see. He wants us to see Christ and to come back to that daily relationship with Him. We need to recover the reality of Christ in these last days—not merely the teaching, but the reality of Christ and His Body.
Paul could say, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” Christ, the fullness of Christ, the Head and the Body, Christ and His church: Paul was obedient unto Him because he saw it as one Person—not a thing, not a teaching, not a doctrine, but a Person. He was faithful to the Person.
When we began, we said that Paul’s life in itself was a message. When we looked at his life, his life was his teaching, and his teaching was his life. You could not separate the two.
This is the reality of a servant of the Lord: the message and the messenger are one. If you compare Paul’s life at the beginning and at the end, you see how mightily the Lord worked in him.
Paul was not perfect toward the end. He was still in process. But he had allowed the Lord to meet him. When we first saw Paul, he was operating out of his own self-desires, self-will, and emotions. He was governed by his self-life. The flesh in him governed everything.
But as Paul got to know Christ and experienced Christ, he entered into what is called the salvation of his soul. He was transformed. He was conformed to the image of Christ.
Out of his intimate relationship with the Lord, his emotions were brought under the control of the Spirit. It was no longer Paul’s emotional reaction here or there. It was the Spirit controlling his emotions.
Through his insatiable desire for the Lord and His purpose, Paul’s will was brought under the control of the Spirit. “Not my will, but Thy will, Lord—Thy purpose, Thy heart.” Before, he had been governed by his own self-will. But he met the Lord, and he was transformed.
Finally, as Paul knew the Lord’s infallibility, his mind was brought under the control of the Spirit. His mind was renewed. He was no longer thinking merely of this or that, but his mind became the mind of Christ—the mind of the One who could not make a mistake.
This was what governed Paul now. Paul was living as that new creature, that new man in Christ, because he testified, “For to me to live is Christ,” and, “It is no longer I, but Christ.” He always brought us back to Christ.
This was Paul’s burden, goal, and desire: that we would come into such a relationship with Him that we would be conformed to the image of His beloved Son.
We are not here to copy Paul’s works or anything like that, but we can learn from his life. We can learn from a life captured and sold out for the Lord.
Whatever we face daily, whatever we face in life, whatever we face in being built together, whatever we face at work or at school, there is One who is so sufficient for us. There is an adequacy there.
May we be made into that generation that hastens His return. In 2 Timothy 4:8, Paul gives us this wonderful encouragement:
“In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day;
and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
We can all say, “Amen, Paul. You have done it. You deserve this.” But praise God, he does not stop there. He continues because he is always seeking to encourage the brethren. His heart is beyond himself.
He says, “And not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” One who has this love relationship with the Lord, one who has this insatiable desire, one who knows Him, is one who yearns for His appearing.
The fruit of that life will be a yearning for His appearing and for receiving that crown of righteousness. May we really learn of Him in these days, pressing on into Him, knowing Him in a fuller and greater way, and being the testimony that He has called us to be.
We are thankful for one like Paul, who was able to testify, “I have finished.” Paul was faithful to the end by the grace of God. That same grace, that same love, and that same all-sufficient Christ are available to us.
He is calling us to come unto Him and learn of Him. As we are yoked with Him, as we are in this school of Christ—some call it the gymnasium of Christ, whatever phraseology we use—it is a learning of Him. It is not learning about Him; it is learning of Him.
He is jealous that the reality of the life of His Son would be seen in these last days, and we should be jealous that His life would be seen among us. May it be so.
Lord, we are so thankful for the encouragement we can see in Paul’s life. Quite often, if I am honest, I look at Paul and see what You did in his life, and I immediately disqualify myself. I say, “Well, I am no Paul.”
But You have fearfully and wonderfully made each and every one of us. Lord, You have brought each one of us into the Body of Christ. You have gifted us. You have filled us with Your life. You have put Your Spirit within us.
Lord, You are calling us in a similar way. Our function may be different than Paul’s, but You desire that our response would be in the same spirit in which Paul responded.
Lord, we come back. We want to see You in a fuller and greater way. We want to really know You in a way that we have not known You before. We are not looking for experiences. We are not looking merely for signs and wonders. Lord, we are looking for the reality of Your life.
This is what we would be jealous for in this hour and in this time, Lord: that we could be that generation that hastens Your return and sees Thy glorious appearing. In Jesus’ name, amen.