‘I KNOW A MAN’

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on October 24, 2021 under 2021 |

Bethany Bible Church Sunday Message; October 24, 2021 from 2 Corinthians 12:1-6

Theme: Even when it comes to remarkable spiritual experiences, we must take the attention off ourselves and keep it on Christ.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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What would it be like if you were allowed to have a brief view of heaven? Not a long one. Perhaps only 5-seconds worth.

What if, after that mere 5-seconds of viewing the glories of heaven—after being allowed a glimpse of the majesty of heavenly glory; allowed to gaze upon the eternal dwelling that God has prepared for us; to see the rich inheritance that is ours in Jesus; to hear the sounds of angelic hosts in praise; to behold the redeemed saints of God as they bask in the wonder of His glory; and most of all, to behold the face of Jesus—what if you were then returned to your daily life on earth. How different do you suppose your life would be from that moment on?

I asked a couple of brothers about that the other day. One of them said that he thought his head might explode! The other spoke of the terrible frustration he would feel that the 5-seconds were over. We all agreed that it would most definitely leave us completely humbled—that we would have an overwhelming sense that we were nothing, and that our Lord was everything.

Well; we come this morning to a passage in the New Testament book of 2 Corinthians that tells us that such a thing actually happened. A man was given a glimpse of heavenly glory. It wasn’t merely a dream or a vision either. As remarkable as it may seem, it was an actual visit to Paradise in which he was allowed to see and hear what heavenly glory is like.

The report of this event is given to us in 2 Corinthians 12:1-6. In one of the most remarkable passages in the entire letter of 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul wrote;

It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me (2 Corinthians 12:1-6).

Paul writes in a veiled manner. He only says, “I know a man …” But it’s pretty obvious that he was the man. He went on to write, in verse 7, about how God had to give him a ‘thorn in the flesh’ to humble him because of the ‘abundance of revelations’. As remarkable as it may seem—and with the multitude of questions we might have about it—he nevertheless testified that he actually, literally, personally saw the sights and heard the sounds of heavenly glory.

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Now; how might an experience like that have changed Paul’s life? I believe that we can get a sense of how by remembering some of the things that Paul wrote elsewhere—things he affirmed sometime after that remarkable experience.

For example, in Philippians 1—in a time of personal trial—he wrote these words:

For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you (Philippians 1:19-23).

It might have been that, as a result of that glimpse of heaven, Paul couldn’t decide which was better—to die and be with Jesus, or to live and serve Jesus further. It gave him not only a sense of heavenly longing, but also a renewed sense of earthly duty.

Or take what he wrote in Philippians 3 as another example. Before this experience—in his old life apart from faith in Jesus—he sought to make himself righteous before God through good works and religious rituals. But sometime after this experience, he was able to write;

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:7-11).

Or think of what he wrote to the Corinthian Christians in this very same letter—back in 2 Corinthians 4. He told them;

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

He then went on to write;

For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life (5:1-4).

It’s true of course that his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus—and his conversion to faith in Christ—was the first and greatest moment of transformation for Paul. But this later experience—this glimpse of heavenly glory—must have set his eternal destiny before him in a powerful way. Clearly, this experience changed him. It impacted his daily life. It became a part of what motivated his labors in ministry all the way to the very end.

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I have often wondered when it was that this thing had happened to Paul. He doesn’t specifically say. But I think we have a possible clue in what he said in 2 Corinthians 12:2. He said that this thing had happened “fourteen years ago” from the time that he wrote. Scholars tell us that this letter was written around 60 AD. So; fourteen years earlier would have been 46 AD. And it was in that year that a truly horrific event had occurred in his life.

In Acts 14, we’re told of how Paul and his ministry partner Barnabas were on their first great missionary journey. They had brought the gospel of Jesus to the regions of Galatia—and specifically to a city called Lystra. It was a very pagan city; and the people in that city—because of the miracles God performed through them—at first mistakenly thought that Paul and Barnabas were gods. But some Jewish opponents to the gospel—who had been harassing Paul from city to city—came and turned the people of Lystra so strongly against the missionaries that they actually took up rocks and stoned Paul.

To stone someone was not just a way of hurting them or scaring them away. There was no such thing as a ‘warning stoning’. They stoned someone in order to kill them. It was a brutal form of public execution. When they were through, they dragged Paul’s body outside the city—believing him to be dead—and left him there. And remarkably, the Bible tells us in Acts 14:20;

However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe (Acts 14:20).

That has always struck me as one of the most courageous acts in all of the remarkable life experiences of Paul. Any one of us—if we had survived such an ordeal—would have said, “Okay, then … I guess Lystra is off the list.” But not Paul. He rose up—hobbling, staggering, bleeding, in horrible pain from broken bones and torn flesh—and went right back to the people who had just attempted to stone him to death. What an amazing missionary he was!

Now; I’m only speculating on this. But what do you suppose could have compelled Paul to do that? What could have motivated him to go back to continue to bear witness to the people who had, just a short while earlier, sought to brutally kill him? Could it be that—as a result of that stoning—Paul hovered briefly in that mysterious place between life and death? Could it be that—between the time he was left for dead and the time he rose up to walk back to the city—he was somehow transported to heavenly glory, and saw the sights and sounds of Paradise? Could it be that what he saw there compelled him to say, “I must go back and tell them the good news that will save them—so that they will be there too”?

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There was never a man in history that was so driven—even though under almost constant hardships and opposition—to declare the message of Jesus’ love to those who did not yet know Him. And there was never a man who lived so devotedly for the prospect of eternal glory. Why? It was—in part—because he had seen for himself what was there! He tells us something about it in our passage this morning—in 2 Corinthians 12:1-6.

But the remarkable thing is that his experience of seeing heavenly glory is not what this passage is really about. The main thing that he wished to tell his readers about this amazing event was that, though he could boast in it as one of the greatness of that experience that any human being ever had in the flesh, he would not do so. As much as he could, he refrained from talking about it or boasting in it—even to the point of simply speaking of it to the Corinthians as if it had happened to someone else; even to the point of only saying, “I know a man …”—and all so that as much attention as possible would be taken off of him; and placed instead upon the calling that God had given him to preach the gospel. That gospel remained his greatest concern.

And what a great lesson this teaches us! Lesser people than Paul would have made a big deal about such an experience. They would have written a book, and would have gone on a speaking tour. They would have scheduled lots of appearances on Christian television and radio, and would have talked it up—hiring writers and editors to help them embellish the story here or there for greater effect. They would have sold the story to a Christian movie production company. They would have boasted about it and made it the central theme of their message. And people would have flocked to hear about it—and would have paid good money to do so. But as fascinating a story as it may have been, no one would ever be saved from their sins by it. People are only saved by faith in the message of the cross of Jesus. And in the process of giving great emphasis to an impressive spiritual experience, the message of the gospel would have been obscured from view … or lost altogether.

Paul’s example, then, teaches us a very valuable and important lesson: that even when it comes to remarkable spiritual experiences—as legitimate and real as they may be—we must take the attention off ourselves and keep it faithfully on Jesus Christ.

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Now; let’s look in a bit more detail at this passage. In it, we see some of the ways that Paul kept the attention off himself and on to Christ.

First, in verse 1, we see that he wrote; “ It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast.” The original language of Paul’s words are a bit difficult to translate into English. But what he really said was something along these lines: “To boast I must—not being profitable, however.” The idea was that, because of the circumstances, he had to talk about his experience in what seemed like a ‘boastful’ kind of way—although he wishes that he didn’t have to because it really didn’t add to his authority in the gospel.

The reason he felt that this was necessary was because of the false teachers who had made their way into the Corinthian church. They had been bringing a false gospel to the Corinthians; and were swaying the Christians away from a simple faith in Jesus. Those false teachers were trying to lower the apostle Paul in the eyes of the Corinthian believers, and were trying to elevate themselves instead. One of the ways that they were doing this was by boasting in their outstanding academic credentials and dynamic personalities. It may even be that they were boasting in ‘great spiritual experiences’ that they claimed to have had. That may have been why Paul had to go on to say, “I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.”

Now; Paul’s manner in doing this—his reluctance to boast in his own experiences, and only talking about them when he absolutely needed to—teaches us an important principle when it comes to remarkable spiritual experiences that we might have; and that is to …

1. SEEK ONLY WHAT IS PROFITABLE TO OTHERS.

Paul didn’t speak of this experience in order to elevate himself. He wouldn’t have done so unless it was necessary to protect the cause of the gospel—and the faith of others in that gospel.

Some people love to exalt themselves on the basis of experiences that they had—experiences that they believe that only they have had—experiences that they believe give them a special insight and authority into the truth. But we should be very cautious about such ‘experiences’. The fact of the matter is that some people will create fantastic stories about things that never happened—or will greatly embellish stories of something that might have happened to them—in order to draw people to themselves. That, of course, isn’t true of everyone who has had a remarkable experience. But sadly, it is true of some who boast in them. In Colossians 2, the apostle Paul warned;

Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God (Colossians 2:18-19).

We should always watch out whenever someone tries to make their experience the thing you should concentrate on—and not the gospel of Jesus. They try to make their experience the guide to their theology, rather than the other way around. They remove Jesus further and further from focus, and their experience is put increasingly in the place that only Jesus should occupy. Beware. Don’t let a mystical spiritual experience become the basis of Christian faith. Only seek what is profitable to others in terms of the proclamation of the gospel.

A second thing we see from Paul is that we should …

2. KEEP ONLY TO THE BASIC FACTS (vv. 2-4).

For such a remarkable, unprecedented spiritual experience as the one he described, Paul tells us surprisingly little about it. But let’s consider the few details he does give us.

First, notice in verse 2 that he says, “I know a man …” Isn’t it interesting that he doesn’t say, “I knew a man …”? In the original language, he puts it in the perfect tense of the verb—the tense of a complete, once-and-for-all-time kind of knowledge: “I know a man …” This isn’t something that he only heard about second hand. It’s something he knew perfectly and fully—because he experienced it. And yet, he wanted to keep himself as a preacher somewhat distinct from it; talking about it as if it were someone else and not himself.

Second, notice that he said it was a man “in Christ”. That’s very important. This wasn’t an experience that he had in some vague, pseudo-spiritual way that anyone else in any other religion or state of spiritual consciousness might have. This was most definitely an experience that came within the context of a relationship by faith with Jesus Christ. This was the experience of a man who had placed a conscious faith in the cross of Jesus Christ, and was ‘born again’, and was ‘in’ Christ. Someone can lay claim to any number of ‘spiritual experiences’. But such experiences are of absolutely no value whatsoever if they are outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ by faith. You must be born again!

Third, notice that he expressed uncertainty about the exact nature of the experience; and that he even expressed a kind of humble submission to God in his lack of knowledge about it. He said, “whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows …” There was no imaginative embellishment or creative explanation of the matter. The whole thing was—to some degree—beyond his understanding. He admitted to his lack of full knowledge of it. He just knew that—somehow—he was “caught up” to “the third heaven.”

What is ‘the third heaven’, by the way? In ancient and classic literature, you’ll find lots of elaborate, detailed explanations of the different levels of heaven—and the different stages of transportation through them all the way to the top. But they are all the products of the imaginations of men, and have no reliable authority to them at all. The Bible knows of no such thing—except in these few words from Paul. And the most natural and sensible explanation of what this means is the one that you and I already know. There is a heaven above us that we know as the sky—where the air and the clouds are, and the birds fly. That’s the first ‘heaven’. And then, there’s a heaven just beyond the earth’s atmosphere that we know as space. That’s the second ‘heaven’. And beyond that—maybe not so much in a physical ‘place’ as we understand the word; but most definitely in a state of real existence—is the spiritual realm where God’s abode is. That’s the third ‘heaven’—the highest heaven. And it was to that place that—somehow—Paul was transported for a brief time. Paul was very careful not to say more than he could legitimately say. He doesn’t tell us how he got there. He doesn’t tell us whether he experienced the other two ‘heavens’ along the way. He doesn’t tell us what his state of being was while there. He didn’t really know such things. He just told us the bare fact that he was there.

Fourth, he goes on in verses 3-4 to tell us that this place had another name. He said, “And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—how he was caught up into Paradise …” ‘Paradise’ is a wonderful word. It was originally a Persian word; and it basically means “an enclosed garden park”. That, to people in ancient times, was a figure of speech for the most beautiful earthly place imaginable. And for that reason, it’s a word that the Bible uses to describe heaven.

It’s a word that only appears two other times in the New Testament—and both times, it’s a reference to heaven. It appears when Jesus spoke to the thief that was dying on the cross next to Him. The man asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingdom; and Jesus said,

“Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

And it also appears in Revelation 2:7. That’s when the Lord Jesus exhorted the believers in the church of Ephesus to repent and be faithful to Him; promising,

“To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7).

What a place of glorious beauty this must have been that Paul saw!

And fifth, notice that he tells us that, while there, he heard “inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” Isn’t it interesting that—out of all the things he could tell us about heaven—he focused in on the words that he heard? Apparently, there are things that are spoken in the heavenly realms that it is not permitted for us human beings—in our present state of being—to know or to utter. I always try to remember this whenever I hear of people who claim that they ‘went to heaven’; and who talk in great detail about the things they heard—or even write books about it all. I’m skeptical of their story; because not even Paul would dare to speak of such things.

So; you can see from all of this that Paul was very careful when talking about this experience. He only did so when he had to—when it was absolutely necessary to do so for the defense of the apostolic authority of the gospel God had given him to preach. And even then, he only gave as much detail about it as was absolutely necessary.

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He did this in such a careful way because he didn’t want the attention to be placed on himself. In verse 5—in reference to this ‘man’ that he knew—he said, “Of such a one I will boast.” He was still talking about himself; but he made out as if he was talking about someone else for humility’s sake. But then he adds, “yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities”—that is, in his weaknesses. In this, Paul teaches us—last of all—to …

3. PLACE THE ATTENTION ON THE GOSPEL OF JESUS.

I think the best way to understand what he says in verse 5 is to jump ahead a bit to what he went on to say in verses 7-10. He told of another experience he had; saying,

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong (vv. 7-10).

Paul would have preferred not to speak of his exalted spiritual experience. He would much rather have spoken of his weaknesses and frailties; because it was in them that the power of Jesus Christ shined through. And looking back again to his experience of having a glimpse of heavenly glory, that’s why he said, in verse 6

For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me (v. 6).

For Paul, all the attention must be kept on the soul-saving message that God gave him to preach—and that’s the good news of what Jesus has done for us on the cross. That alone is the message that saves.

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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; I can testify that I have had some amazing and remarkable spiritual experiences along the way in my walk with Jesus. I’ve seen Him do some amazing things. I expect that you have had such experiences too. May we—by God’s grace—have many, many more experiences like them! But let’s always remember that it is not on the basis of those remarkable experiences that anyone will ever save anyone. They could even be as exalting and remarkable as Paul’s experience; and yet they still should never be where we place the emphasis.

Let’s follow Paul’s example by (1) seeking only what is profitable for others, (2) keeping only to the basic facts, and (3) placing the emphasis on the gospel of Jesus Christ. How much more exalting it is to be a weak and frail vessel through which the Savior shines through!

EA