A Paradox (sermon 2050)

Charles Spurgeon increasingly inhabited the paradox of which he preached in this sermon: "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" (2Cor 12:10). How can a man be weak and strong at the same time? How can he be made strong out of his weakness? To answer this question, Spurgeon first turns the words the other way up, and makes them into a warning of sorts, exposing the pretended strength of the strong, whether that is unbelievers who imagine that they can save themselves, or believers who are resting in their own imagined excellences. So the high-minded are humbled, before Spurgeon flips his text into the right orientation and asks about the 'when' and the 'then' of the verse, asking especially how the weakness of the saints brings us to Christ, and brings Christ to us, in such a way as to glorify the Lord, as empty self seeks the fulness of him who fills all in all. Are you feeling your weakness? Are you weary and washed out in the way? Then do not pretend to be anything else, and do not try and find strength in yourself, but cast yourself upon Christ and find in him the strength which he alone supplies.