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Warren Wiersbe - Grace in Suffering - 19 of 20
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[Music]
welcome to back to the Bible radio
featuring best-selling author an
internationally known Bible teacher
Warren where's being the Apostle Paul
had a secret a secret he had carried in
his heart for 14 years and the only
reason he revealed the secret was to
defend his ministry and to glorify God
the secret was that God had taken Paul
to heaven the record of this is in 2nd
Corinthians chapter 12 and then after
Paul had come back from heaven God gave
to Paul a special burden to carry he
permitted Satan to buffett Paul and give
him a thorn in the flesh 2nd Corinthians
chapter 12 verse 7 and lest I should be
exalted above measure through the
abundance of the revelations there was
given to me a thorn in the flesh the
messenger of Satan to buff at me lest I
should be exalted above measure twice
Paul repeats that doesn't he for this
thing I besought the Lord three times
that it might depart from me and he said
unto me my grace is sufficient for thee
for my strength is made perfect in weakness
weakness
most gladly therefore will I rather
glory in my infirmities that the power
of Christ may rest upon me therefore I
take pleasure in infirmities in
reproaches in necessities in
persecutions in de-stresses for Christ's
sake for when I am weak then am i strong
Paul was a man who suffered everybody
suffers in one way or another God's
people suffer in the world you shall
have tribulation said the Lord Jesus the
sufferings of this present time wrote
the Apostle Paul everybody suffers some
with bodily pain physical pain you're
listening to me right now and your body
hurts and perhaps the doctor can't do
much about it there are those who suffer
with emotional pain with mental agony
loved ones have broken their hearts
perhaps you're going through some dark
valley of bereavement
disappointment it seems that all of
God's people suffer there's pressure of
one kind or another and this raises the
question how shall we deal with
suffering in our lives
I think Paul can teach us something here
can t he'd been up to heaven and
experienced glory but now he's on earth
going through suffering and through that
suffering he experiences the grace of
God Paul tells us in 2nd Corinthians
chapter 12 verses 7 through 10 that
there are three possible responses to
suffering here they are we can seek to
escape suffering in verse 8 for this
thing I besought the Lord three times
that it might depart from me and so
there's the first response we can seek
to escape suffering secondly we can seek
to endure suffering just put up with it
and say well I'll grit my teeth and
clench my fist and keep a stiff upper
lip and keep my chin up that's kind of a
weird posture to be in but we try it we
can seek to endure suffering we can seek
to escape suffering and look upon
suffering as an enemy or we can seek to
endure suffering and then suffering
becomes a master a master telling us
what to do controlling our lives sapping
away our strength upsetting our mind or
we can take a third response to
suffering we can seek to enlist our
suffering and then suffering is not an
enemy or a master it becomes a servant
it works for us instead of working
against us now we're going to look at
these three responses today I want to
talk with you about trying to escape
suffering or endure suffering and then
we're going to look at how God enabled
Paul to enlist his suffering make his
suffering work for him and not against
him first of all in verse eight we
discover Paul tried to escape his
suffering don't criticize him this is a
normal response I confess to you that
when I am suffering I pray about it the
way Paul did the way Jesus did three times
times
Lord in the garden parade if it be
possible let this cup pass from me
God made our bodies to warn us when
something is wrong and we should do
something about it when there's pain in
the body the body is flashing a red
signal and saying you better do
something about this there's nothing
wrong with seeking means to alleviate
suffering you know if your car has
something wrong with it you take it to
the garage and the mechanic fixes that
if your body has something wrong with it
you don't just pray about it you should
pray don't question about that but you
ought to do something about it I used to
wonder why did Paul have Luke running
around with him well Luke was a doctor
and Luke ministered to Paul's needs
don't be one of these super spiritual
ultra pious people who says well I'm
never going to do anything about my
suffering God wants us to use the means
that are available to take care of the
physical needs in our lives the Jewish
people grew up thinking that if you were
sick it was because you were out of the
will of God and then job came along and
Joe broke that bubble right away didn't
he here was a godly man who was still
suffering now the Jewish people have the
attitude that if you were suffering God
was punishing you if you were suffering
it was a mark that there was sin in your
life and therefore there's something
wrong if you're just confess your sin
the suffering will go away well it
doesn't work that way but there's
nothing wrong with seeking to escape
suffering sometimes God does use
suffering a chase on us and sometimes
when we do confess our sins he removes
the suffering but not always here was a
case where Paul prayed three times Lord
take it away I don't have to have
exactly what Paul had but Paul prayed
Lord take it away I have letters to
write I have churches to found I have
people to counsel I have trips to make
please take away this suffering and God
didn't do it now you know if you cannot
escape suffering you've got to do
something else oh I've met people in my
ministry who get bitter oh they get so
bitter against God and they get bitter
against their family they get envious of
people who are healthy they give up on life
life
and they get mad at God because God
didn't take away their suffering Paul
didn't do that Paul didn't do that and
you shouldn't do it there is some pain
that we're going to endure because God
has a plan for our lives and so our
first response and our normal response
we can seek to escape suffering we can
seek to endure suffering now Paul was a
Roman and you know the Romans were great
courageous people the stoic attitude of
just endure it some of you have read the
writings of Marcus Aurelius the great
stoic philosopher who who tells you how
to endure anything you know if you've
got a broken arm well just endure it
don't go to the doctor and Paul was the
Roman who could have said well I'll just
endure this I'm a strong man I've been
through a lot I've been through
shipwreck I've been through whippings
I've been through scourgings I can
endure this but you know not everybody
has that kind of power not everybody has
that kind of inner resource of
personality to endure suffering and
furthermore God doesn't want us to live
like that I'll tell you why when all you
do is endure your suffering you are
using your energy on the inside to keep
yourself together and you have no energy
left for the outside to serve other
people if you're using your mental and
emotional and nervous energy just to
endure your pain you know what happens
you get irritable and you get
short-tempered and if you're hard to
live with and the energy you should be
using for your husband your wife your
children ministering for the Lord's
people you're using all that energy on
the inside and you haven't got any power
left for the outside and you're tired
all the time and irritable and more than
that life gets very self-centered I I
have been through it I I know what it's
like to hurt I know what it's like to
lie in an intensive care ward with
needles and tubes every place they could
find an opening I know what that's like
I know how self-centered you can get it
used to bother me that when I was
and going through pain that it was hard
to pray now I've met some saints who
just think that a sickbed is north
glorious place in the world what can be
it can be I was reading aw Tozer one day
and toes are admitted that when he
wasn't feeling good he had a hard time
praying and I said hallelujah you're a
brother to me because I appreciate that
God knows that we're human and God says
now look if you can't escape suffering
and I don't want you just to endure
suffering there is something better than
this what is it learning how to enlist suffering
suffering
you see God did not cure Paul I don't
want to get in any arguments with
anybody but God doesn't always heal and
God is not always obligated to heal we
discovered in our previous study that
God took Paul to heaven to show him
glory that he might be able to endure
his suffering and God gave him this
physical suffering on earth to keep him
from being proud of the fact that he'd
gone to heaven lest I should be exalted
above measure lest I should be exalted
above measure Paul knew why he suffered
now sometimes we don't know why job
didn't know why he suffered the whole
thing was a mystery he hadn't read the
book of Job he hadn't listened into the
conversation between Satan and Jehovah
job did not know why he was suffering
but he believed that he had integrity
that he was right before God and he
believed that when it was all over God
would be glorified when he has brought
me forth he's gonna bring me forth like
pure gold said job so Paul says to us
you can seek to escape suffering and God
may answer your prayer and he may
deliver you if so give him thanks and
glorify Him you can seek to endure
suffering but if you do that suffering
becomes your master and really suffering
ought to become your servant and so we
are going to discover how it is possible
for us as Christians to hurt and still
be happy to suffer and still experience
glory how it's possible for God in our
lives to transform trials into triumph
the great theologian PT Forsythe has
written it is a greater thing to pray
for pains conversion than its removal
may I repeat that it is a greater thing
to pray for pains conversion than its
removal now I'm not saying God is not
glorified by healing I have experienced
it I have been snatched from the from
the jaws of death I know but I tell you
this when the grace of God goes to work
in a Christians life and pain is
converted into power and trial is
converted into triumph and suffering is
converted into glory God is glorified [Music]
[Music]
suffering is not working against us it
is working for us
we can transform our trials into triumph
God does not always remove the thorn but
God can always transform the experience
into one of glory and blessing the
answer to our prayer might be not the
removal of the thorn but instead a
growing understanding of what this thorn
really means
now what steps can you and I take to
transform our suffering into a servant
instead of an enemy or a master what
steps can you and I take so that we are
enlisting our suffering and it is
working for us and not against a step
number one accept it as God's gift
don't fight it don't rebel against it
don't get bitter against God he says
there was given to me a thorn in the
flesh strange gift but this gift was
given from God's heart because God loved
Paul he had to keep Paul humble I have
said this before permit me to repeat it
just put your hands out in front of you
your open hands suppose all that God did
was fill these hands with blessing he
just kept pouring out abundant blessing
filling up your hands pretty soon you'd
get unsteady you'd start to totter and
then you'd
flat on your face and so when God fills
my hands with blessing he always puts
some burdens on my back to balance me to
keep me from falling over you see the
purpose of blessing and the purpose of
burden is to build character
God wants to build Christian character
he wants to make us more like the Lord
Jesus Christ and he was a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief I have yet to
meet a mature Christian I mean a really
mature Christian who has the beauty of
God about his life who has not suffered
step number one accept your suffering as
God's gift don't fight against it learn
to cooperate with whatever God gives to
you is that's hard to do well yes it is
I admit that it's much easier for me to
pray O God take it away then O Lord
transform it but you see if I fight the
will of God I'm fighting the blessing if
I fight the will of God I'm fighting the
purpose of God don't argue with God's
will Amy Carmichael used to say our
prayer is not thy will be changed but
thy will be done that's helped me step
one accept your suffering as God's gift
step two
listen for God's message you see Paul
said alright Lord I'm going to accept
this I'm not going to fight I'm not
going to get bitter I'm not going to
argue with you I'm not going to try to
second-guess you and then at that point
he said unto me my grace is sufficient
for thee there is a message in every
experience of life Charles Spurgeon who
was a great preacher and also a man who
suffered considerably physically and
emotionally people persecuted him lied
about him his wife was a semi invalid
Charles Spurgeon used to say that the
promises of God never shines so brightly
as in the furnace of affliction that's
true oh how many times we have opened
the Word of God and God has spoken to us
now when Paul had this experience of
going up to heaven recorded in the first
part of 2nd Corinthians 12 he heard
God speak but he couldn't share it with
anybody God said things that no man
could utter but when Paul had this
experience of God's grace he could share
it with us now you may disagree with me
perfectly all right I would much rather
suffer on earth and have something to
share with somebody else then go to
heaven and hear something I had to keep
quiet you know we need each other we
need to encourage each other preacher
friend you're going through suffering
out there the furnace is hot and the
battle is is is hot and heavy listen for
God's message to you because that's the
thing God wants you to hear so just rest
in his word don't go by your feelings
don't go by explanations don't listen to
the empty words of people who don't know
what you're going through just wait for
God to speak oh what a blessing it is to
listen to the voice of God in the hour
of suffering step number one accept your
suffering as God's gift not as a weapon
to tear you down but as a tool to build
you up not as an evidence of his
displeasure but as an evidence of his
love accept your suffering as God's gift
step to listen for God's message God has
a word to share with you my grace is
sufficient for the naaah step 3 draw
upon God's grace draw upon the grace of
God first Peter 4:10 calls it the
manifold grace of God that means
many-colored the minicar the variegated
grace of God when I was a little child
my mother had sent me off to the store
to buy thread for her she used to do
crocheting and various kinds of
needlework and she'd say now get me some
variegated thread that means many
colored you know life as many colored
you have your dark days you have your
blue Mondays they may last all week and
God says I have grace for every
situation John 1:16 and of his fullness
have all we received in grace upon grace
James 4:6 tells me he giveth more grace
first Peter 5:10 tells me he is the god
of all grace
who has called us to his eternal glory
now grace is not something you earn
grace is not something you bargained for
grace is not something you merit grace
is free and grace is sufficient and God
said Paul I'm not going to change your
situation I'm gonna change you I'm not
going to take away the thorn I'm going
to add something to you you see pain can
be conquered either by taking away the
pain or by adding a new ingredient and
that new ingredient is the grace of God
my grace is sufficient for thee for my
strength is made perfect in weakness
where did Paul get his strength out of
weakness now listen closely strength
that knows itself to be strength is
weakness but weakness that knows itself
to be weakness is strength when you know
you're strong you become weak
let him that standeth take heed lest he
fall people say well I can go through
this I've been through surgery before
I'm strong Oh
but every one is different every
situation is different well I've been
through bereavement before well but
every one is different if you know you
are strong my friend you're weak but if
you know you are weak then you are
strong and Paul got the strength that
carried him through because he knew he
was weak that's why he gloried and
boasted in his weaknesses his
infirmities because when he was weak
then he was strong draw upon the grace
of God he's the God of all grace he'll
give you more grace except your
suffering as God's gift listen for God's
message draw upon God's grace he'll turn
your trials into Tabernacles of glory
which leads to our fourth step live for
God's glory
now if Paul had said I take pleasure in
infirmities I take pleasure in
reproaches insults necessities
persecutions de-stresses and he left out
that little phrase for Christ's sake
we'd think he was psychologically
unstable nobody takes pleasure in
weaknesses in in insults and
offering and so forth but when you add
that little phrase for for Christ's sake
that changes it a mother will suffer for
her child a father will suffer for his
child a soldier will suffer for his
country a Christian will suffer for his
Savior and so here's the fourth step
lived for God's glory it's for Jesus
sake it's not just for our sake or for
the church's sake or for the family's
sake it's for Jesus sake and when you're
doing it for Jesus sake that gives you
the greatest motive and all the world to
glorify God it's it's so marvelous that
you're you go through suffering you go
through difficulty you go through trial
and you draw up on God's grace you said
on God you'd be glorified it's not
important that I'm comfortable but it is
important that I'm conformable to God's
will it's not important that I have what
I want it is important that you
accomplish what you want to accomplish
you know what happens god uses you to be
a blessing how many millions of people
have read of Paul's experience and been
helped by it how many millions of people
who have gone through the trials of life
have identified with Paul they thanked
God for Paul's faithfulness you see you
can be a blessing to other people the
Lord Jesus led the way didn't he
he took a crown of thorns and made a
crown of glory out of it
he took a cross and turned it into glory
the sufferings of this present time are
not worthy to be compared with the glory
that shall be revealed in us don't just
try to escape suffering if God heals if
God removes the paint marvellous don't
just try to endure suffering that'll
wear you out
learn to enlist your suffering accept it
as God's gift listen for God's message
draw upon God's grace and live for God's
glory and God will come to you and say
my grace is sufficient for you don't
give up don't give up together we're
going to bring glory to Jesus Christ
if you miss part of the program or you'd
like to listen again just come to back
to the Bible org so be sure to come back
again for more wisdom from God's word
back to the Bible leading you forward in
your relationship with Jesus Christ you
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