I Know A Man In Christ

STUDY: # 986-CHURCH IN THE HOUSES FROM: JUNE 26 @ JULY 2, 2018

TOPIC: "I Know A Man In Christ" 2 Corinthians 12:1-6

Paul knew a man, IN CHRIST. He spoke of himself! The apostle was absolutely immersed in Christ, united with God. He was weak in the flesh, but he was in God. That weakness does not refer to sin, but to the fact that he has a fallen nature.

I. Here, in these verses, Paul reveals his heart to us just as he did in the previous chapter.

A. He lets us see his weakness, pain, and God’s glory, which he saw and was surrounded by.

1. I ask you, what do people see in you? Your pain or your glory in God?

2. Someone said that the Beloved (the Church) is transformed into the Beloved (Christ). How beautiful!

3. You are the beloved (Church), not your strength. In the Beloved you are, and will be transformed. Through a process, your life is converted.

4. It is said that four Jews had a heavenly vision from God, they were taken to Heaven. The first, named Ben Azzai, saw the Lord’s glory, and died. The second, Ben Soma, saw the Lord’s glory and went crazy. The third, called Ajer, saw the Lord’s glory and "cut off the tender plants." That is, "in spite of the vision, he became a heretic and spoiled the garden of truth." Finally, Aquiba was the only one who ascended (climbed up to Heaven) in peace, and returned in peace.

5. Paul went up to Heaven. His spirit rose in an ecstasy (in a rapture, amazement, enchantment) unsurpassed by his proximity to God.

6. However, it was not in Paul to "boast."

7. Boasting did not bring Paul any benefits; it wasn’t in his best interest. But under these circumstances it was necessary to talk about the wonderful experience he had with God.

8. Paul goes from talking about the most difficult and most humiliating events in his ministry (2 Corinthians 11:23-33), to narrate a higher one, the most exalted one (notable and imminent). He talked about a "personal interview with the Lord himself."

9. (Vs.1) Paul knew a man who had such an experience with God fourteen years ago. It was such a great experience, but he did not want to "mention himself" directly. Instead, he simply speaks in a general way. He speaks about knowing a man in Christ!

10. (Vs.3) He did not know when it happened; if it was in the body, or outside the body. This man was "taken up to heaven." The three heavens in the Bible: first is the atmosphere that envelops us, that is, the blue sky. Then the stellar sky (where the stars are, the galaxies); and the third is the highest heaven, where the throne of God is! Paul was in the same place of glory where the Lord Jesus took the repented thief after his death, GOD’S DWELLING!

11. (Vs.4) "He heard the language spoken in Paradise" and "understood" what was being said, but ... he was not allowed to repeat any of it when he returned to earth. The words he heard were ineffable (couldn’t be explained with words, narrated or expressed), unspeakable (so large, intense or extraordinary that they couldn’t be expressed or described) in the sense that they were too sacred to be uttered, and therefore they were not to be published.

B. (Vs.5) The apostle only boasts when he speaks of his weaknesses.

1. When he brags about visions and revelations of the Lord, he does not want to apply them directly to himself. He prefers to talk about the experience in an impersonal way, as if it had happened to a man he knew. He was not denying that it was he who had had the experience, but simply refusing to get involved directly and personally.

2. (Vs.6) There are many other great experiences of which the apostle could have boasted. If he wanted to dedicate himself to this boasting, he would not have been foolish. Everything he would have said "would’ve been the truth." But he would not do it because he did not want anyone to have "an idea superior to what they saw in him, or heard from him."

3. The apostle, Paul, exalted God, instead of himself. How much prudence and respect for God when he uses his experiences to teach and correct the Corinthian brothers. Amen.