How God Uses Suffering, Part 1

Nothing in life is more effective in revealing what a person really is spiritually before God than trouble. See what you really are shows up when everything goes wrong when Satan is just driven a stake right through your God allow suffering to manifest. Thanks for being here on this study dealing with and even benefiting from pain and hardship and adversity. The title of John series here on grace to you making sense out of suffering.

John, by way of introduction. When we talk about making sense out of suffering.

What you're really saying is that times of suffering and pain often lead to some serious questions about God and his control over the day-to-day events of life, particularly the ones that hurt.

Yeah that's exactly right Phil.

And therein lies most of the criticism of the nonbelievers against Christianity. If God is loving God is a saving God and God is kind and generous. Why is there so much suffering in the world. Why do Christians who long to him suffer so much. Yet even Christians ask that question in the midst of their suffering. I remember when I used to talk to Larry King a lot that was always the point to which he went. God can't be good and loving, or he wouldn't allow suffering more, he can't be powerful because he can't do anything about it so that this is this is largely the commonest of all arguments against Christian God against the God of Scripture, and it is true that believers can get themselves into situations where they begin to ask those questions and I'm reminded of what the apostle Paul said in Philippians chapter 2 about.

Stop complaining.

Stop complaining against God when things don't go the way that you want them to go in and even used the illustration earlier in the chapter of Christ, who was brought down to the most massive level of suffering cosmic suffering in the purposes of God, which in the end, of course, brought salvation to all who would believe so, God has purposes that can only be accomplished through our suffering, don't complain. Find the things that God is endeavoring to do in perfecting you and sanctifying you in suffering will take a look at that will want to study today making sense out of suffering from second Corinthians chapter 12 is going to show you how to make sense out of your suffering and find the path to peace. Don't miss a day of making sense out of suffering.

That's right. And if you've been through a dark valley or two and especially if you're in one right now these next few broadcasts will be a real source of comfort and encouragement. And with that hears John to launch his study titled making sense out of suffering. Some years ago a rabbi wrote a book called when bad things happen to good people, and he asked the question why do bad things happen to good people. A better question is why do bad things happen to everybody because that's how it is in life, fallen people in a fallen world have to deal with difficulty. The greatest pain that we feel is that inflicted on us by other people in the closer they are to us. And the more we love them, the greater their ability to inflict pain on us and were made for relationships by God were made to enter into intimate relationships and therefore we have a high degree of vulnerability that is precisely where we find the apostle Paul when he wrote second Corinthians.

He is hurt and he is hurt profoundly and he is hurt deeply deeply enough to describe himself in chapter 7 of this epistle as depressed.

I really believe that it was the it was the point of Paul's deepest personal disappointment. It was his deepest personal pain he was being betrayed by the Corinthian church where you spent nearly 2 years in which he loved so dearly. He was being betrayed by them because they have fallen under the influence of false teachers who had lied about Paul and taught a false gospel and other lies in these Corinthians had betrayed Paul turn from him were beginning to embrace the false teachers and Paul was crushed.

In fact, he describes this in verse seven of our text in these words there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, this assault by the false teachers on the Corinthian church, which resulted in their betrayal of Paul is here described as a thorn in the flesh. He further describes it as a messenger of Satan, the messenger is the word on gloss in the Greek it means Angel and an angel from Satan is a demon and so he's telling us here that this terrible terrible betrayal by the Corinthians. This defection from the true gospel and the truth that he had taught them. This was all being orchestrated by a demon demon inspired false teachers had come into that church and perpetrated this terrible terrible mutiny and the effective it was to buffet me, he said, and that's the word torment Paul was personally tormented by the problems in the Corinthian church because he love God so much he didn't want to see God dishonored because he loved the gospel so much he didn't want to see it misunderstood because he loved the church so much he didn't want to see it torn up and divided because he loved those people so much he didn't want to see them fall victim to lying, false teachers.

This was like a stake just driven right through Paul. It was just impaling him the pain and the suffering were so profound.

I suppose in his own mind, he looked at Corinth is one of his crowning achievements. Having spent as I said nearly 2 years there and had such tremendous effect and blessing and impact in here. It all seems to be falling prey to this demon inspired group of false teachers and has resulted in a betrayal of him by his own beloved people whom he himself had led to Christ he can't get any lower than this. No physical pain can match this no economic deprive nation can match this no travel difficulty can match this no shipwreck can match this no whipping, no stoning, no lashing by the Jews can match this pain. So here we find Paul and his deepest our of suffering, and therefore we would expect to learn the most about how to handle suffering. If we can find a man in his most profound time of suffering. That's the place to learn the lessons because they'll be more clearly indicated in that environment. And that's exactly what happens now Paul knew that God had allowed this to happen now is the amazing part. Sometimes bad things happen, God's people because God allows them to happen. He has a purpose in them and that purpose is to bring them to some spiritual level beyond where they are. Verse seven says there was given me a thorn in the flesh.

This, by the way, was a gift. However, an unsolicited one. It was a gift and it was really from God. We know that because in verse eight he asked the Lord to remove God had allowed this to happen, as we saw God allowed Satan to assault Joe got allowed Satan to assault Peter for his own purposes. God will allow the devil to do his work and in the end it will affect the divine purpose of the question is what does God accomplish in the life of his own through suffering. Why did God allow this. Why would God allow a demon inspired group of false teachers to go in and tear up a church. Why would God allow that we would assume today that if that ever happens. That's the devil that Satan that's his demons operating on their own, and against the will of God, but not in this case and not always God is allowing this to happen.

Why women give you five reasons why God allows suffering in your life and mine. Five reasons in their formidable practical powerful reasons and I really believe they will become an anchor for your soul in trouble. Number one God uses suffering to reveal our spiritual condition. Our spiritual character, God uses suffering to reveal our spiritual character. You really do not know the truth about someone spiritually. When everything is going well right, it doesn't surface because basically they appear to be at peace and happy with a measure of joy and satisfaction and fulfillment in life because superficially and on the surface, everything is okay. Then when things begin to go wrong. Reality begins to surface as to their spiritual condition and the worse things get, the more their spiritual character is on Baird when you strip away the blessings and you strip away the successes and you strip away the prosperity and you strip away the health and you begin to peel it all back then you're going to find out what somebody is really made of spirits, God wanted to accomplish that in the life of Paul because the truest crucible for testing once genuine spiritual character is the severest trouble and it was very important to God that the character of Paul be manifest Paul himself. You remember wanted to establish his integrity.

He wanted to establish his credibility. He wanted the Corinthians to know he was faithful he was godly he was, not sinful, as they were accusing him of being he wanted them to know the real quality of his spiritual life and there was no better way for that to surface than in the midst of this deep deep suffering. Now I need to take you back to the beginning of the chapter to get into the flow where this point is made go back to verse one for a moment. You remember the Paul is been forced into a posting mode because he is forced to demonstrate his superiority over the false teachers he has to demonstrate that he is there superior in every way. And so he's been forced to boast, and he doesn't like it is given long long disclaimers about how distasteful it is to improve, but is forced to have to do it is foolish to do it is fleshly to do it but he has to do it. So he says. Boasting is necessary though it's not profitable. He says look I don't like this. I don't like boasting I don't like comparing myself with somebody else.

You forced me into it.

I don't like to talk about visions and revelations because it's not profitable.

It's not helpful is literally what the Greek says it's not useful but you have forced me to this and then in verse two he recites this incredible vision, referring to himself in the third person because of his humility. He says I know a man, meaning himself in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up into the third heaven.

Verse four says caught up in the paradise same thing bosses all right you want talk about visions. I went to heaven. That's right, I have my own personal trip to heaven. It happened 14 years ago and I've never referred to it, never written about it. In all these 14 years never brought it up until now. You forced me to do that. I don't know whether I was in the body or out of the body. I don't know the nature of the whole thing. God knows I heard inexpressible words I heard what I heard and saw what I saw but I can't translate it into an earthly language, and even if I could verse forces.

I would be allowed to. Why does he bring this in.

He's in the middle of talking about always suffering and all of his pain and in Chapter 11, you know, starting in verse 23 clear to verse 33 it's all about suffering and suffering and suffering and starting here in chapter 12 in verse five.

It's all about weakness and suffering again and why does he throw that thing and well because that was a big deal to the Greeks and the false teachers had no doubt come in and claim visions and claim revelations because the Greeks believed that those who were truly representatives of the gods had experienced mystic visions that had transcendental experience. Like many people today the Corinthians in the Greeks were enamored by folks who said they had a vision of God. Some of the people even tried to induce those visions through drunken orgies and the idea of being drunk was somehow that in your drunkenness, you could you could get outside yourself and be elevated to this great vision of God. Not long ago Timothy Leary was advocating the same thing through drugs that you can get high and discover God for that was ejected with the Greeks thought mystic visions mystic revelations transcendental, spiritual experiences were what set apart the great religious leaders from the crowd. The Corinthians were swept away by these claims and there they were groveling before these lying braggarts pulses okay so I had that kind of vision, a real one, not a false one. Not a fabrication, not a figment of imagination, not a satanic counterfeit.

I had the real thing. I went to heaven and came back now I told you what good did that do. I don't even know what condition I was in when I went in came I don't know if I was in the body or out of the body. I don't know. It's indescribable and it's incomprehensible. I can't say any more than I went and came back and that's all I know and it was personal. It was only me and nobody else.

It's not repeatable.

It's not reproducible.

It was 14 years ago. It happened once, God allowed it to happen to give me a vision of heaven to sustain me and my suffering.

The Lord knew the Paul was going to suffer more than any man in redemptive history and other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself and as a result he needed to be sustained with a hope for glory, and so God gave them a glimpse of glory to showing what was waiting in so that when he said for me to department be with Christ is far better. He knew exactly what he was talking about because he been there. God gave him. That vision to sustain him in his suffering, but it was for that moment in that moment alone and only for him and it was indescribably incomprehensible inexpressible personal not repeatable, not reproducible and not even permissible. He couldn't even talk about. Furthermore, it wasn't verifiable it. It wasn't was no way to verify so what are you going to do. He's going to say well I went to heaven in such a such and this is my experience in all the false teachers going to line up so we went there to verify anything can verify anything and then what it does. Personally is it tends to produce pride and Paul knew that it tends to produce pride you've been to heaven and back. That could make the best of men proud.

So Paul in verse one says this isn't helpful. It's not helpful to you for all the reasons are just given.

It's not helpful for me because it just feeds my my pride.

So let's get off the subject. Verse five that gets us into our text on behalf of such a man will I boast I'll talk about the men went to heaven I'll talk about them is referring again to himself in the third person, as he has expressing his humility. I just want you to know this on my own behalf, I will not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses, what you saying Paul, I'm saying look, it is true I went to heaven.

I have a right to say it, it happened, it can be acknowledged. It was amazing.

It was spectacular.

It was incredible. It was a one-of-a-kind experience. It was great privilege that I was allowed to go, but you need to know this. I was passive in the entire thing.

I was passive I don't even know what state I was in. I didn't seek it. I did make it happen. I didn't deserve it.

I didn't produce the effort. It wasn't some honor. It wasn't by virtue of my merit. It was something God did, and that's it and it really doesn't say anything about my life and all I can speak of it but not on my behalf. That is to say not as if my power. My will or my merit or my work contributed to it.

All I can speak about is my weakness on the all I've ever contributed to his weakness.

I'm just an ordinary man that's all I have to bring before you is my weakness. That's it.

And you see that was such a powerful thing because it was true. He was weak he was human. They said is speaking was unimpressive and his presence was unimpressive is he was no foreigner. He was simplistic and Ellie ever talked about was the screwed message of the cross and he didn't come in the wisdom of man's open zone.

He was just he was just a plain ordinary week man, but you see therein was the real explanation because how else then could you explain his immense impact except for the fact that it was God through him couldn't be explained by Paul.

You could say will no wonder he said the effect he said he's a he's a powerful presence. No wonder he said the effect he studies it is a profoundly gifted thinker and speaker reason is an articulate orator's rhetoric is without equal in a letter he sways the masses, but all of that. This wasn't how it was to weaken simple man and there was no explanation for him except God coming through verse six he says, if I do wish to boast I shall not be foolish for us to be speaking the truth what what am I gonna be a fool like them and lie if I do speak. I want to tell you the truth and the truth is I did go to heaven. That is the truth. I'm not denying it, that would be false humility not to stand here and and be falsely humble like some fool I will speak the truth, but I restrained myself and here's why. In the verse six is the key so that no one may credit me with more here it is folks. Then he sees in me or hears from me or that is so critical, so critical is enemies of claim to have visions is enemies of claim to have revelations and Paul just as I will not build my apostolic defense on that stuff is not repeatable. It is not reproducible.

It is not explicable. It is not verifiable. It's not helpful in anybody and everybody can claim to have all kinds of visions and who's going to know if I have to base my defense on an unarticulated, unexplainable, unrepeatable, unverifiable spiritual experience. I'm in bad trouble. I'm no better than all the charlatans and all the fakes who do that all the time. So in the verse six. It is, I don't want you to credit me with anything other than what you see in me and hear from me.

Boy I'm telling you folks, there is the acid test. You say you're a spokesman for God. You say you're a man of God you say you represent God you say you come with the authority of God. Don't tell me about your visions. Let me see your life and hear your words. That's the criteria.

Nothing ambiguous about that that's verifiable. What can be seen in his life and hurting his words was the proof of who he was when he supposedly men of God, the suppose it profits and Sears of our day come along and tell us all about their visions that the right responses find I there's no way to verify any of that. Let me follow you around and watch your life. Let me hear you speak. Let me hear the words. It comes from your lips and let me measure them against the word of the living God at speech visions not helpful spiritual experiences that are unrepeatable and unverifiable, not helpful and are not worth the least simple righteous act and word. So Paul is trying to show them who he is by his life in the Lord is then saying okay if you want your life to really manifest your true spiritual character.

I've got to put you through some suffering is in the truth will really come out. Nothing in life is more effective in revealing what a person really is spiritually before God than trouble trouble, the greater the trouble. The truer the test of character. Paul then plunged into the deepest trouble the deepest sorrow the severest pain and is therefore seen to be the man of God in the most clear sense. See what you really are shows up when everything goes wrong the when Satan is just driven a stake right through your heart torn up your most precious treasures wounded you in the area of what is most important to you and what was most important to Paul was the truth and the church and the people he loved and when Satan was ripping that the shreds that was his deepest pain and it was the perfect environment to find out his spiritual character. How did he act and how did he speak in the midst of that to modern false teachers. They want people to believe there spiritual and they want people to believe they come from God and they speak for God, and they have divine authority and they teach the truth because they have had visions and revelations, and because their prosperous and powerful and popular and draw big crowds for me to be suspicious of those people real spiritual power and real spiritual authority and genuine spiritual integrity looks ordinary looks week looks unimpressive but when you look closely, what you see and hear is the evidence of genuine spirituality.

Be suspicious of the people on parade. The real spiritual power comes in very ordinary packages and you scratch your head and say I don't know how God works through him. He's so ordinary, so Paul's crushing thorn was exactly the right circumstance to demonstrate his true character and he simply calls on the Corinthians, says just look at my life and listen to my words and make your judgment.

Are these the words of a godly man they would've heard many of them. The first epistle, first Corinthians, and even before that a letter that he wrote them and after first Corinthians, he wrote them another letter called the severe letter and now he wrote them. Second Corinthians. As for letters and nearly 2 years of dialogue and a visit in between which he personally spoke with them they had plenty to see and plenty to hear. Trouble will test your character now is good for Paul because he was trying to demonstrate to them how pure his life really was and nothing would show it better than the immense suffering. The man was under even when he wrote second printing and it wasn't just the suffering from the Corinthians that was all kinds of other stuff in his life that threatened his very life as he woke up every day realizing he could be killed by his enemies of God allow suffering to manifest our character or spiritual. That's grace to you with John MacArthur thanks for tuning in today. John's current study comes from second Corinthians chapter 12 is titled making sense out of suffering.

Now just a reminder that you can download the messages in this series from our sermon archive featuring more than 50 years of John's teaching and while on many given day you might find some messages timelier than others. John's current study on dealing with suffering is one that sure to help all year long. So download the MP3s as well as the transcripts from the series making sense out of suffering. When you visit our website today. Again this study and all of John's sermons are available to download for free@ourwebsitejidety.org and if you'd like to purchase John series making sense out of suffering. In a two CD album is a great way to get this teaching to a friend who needs it's reasonably priced and shipping is free to place your order. Call 855 grace or go to TTY.org. Also keep in mind that grace to you is here each day because of the support of faithful friends like you people who are finding practical spiritual nourishment from John's daily Bible teaching so thank you for your financial gifts and your prayers to express your support. Call us at 855 grace weekdays from 730 to 4:00 PM Pacific time. Or you can make a donation anytime@tty.org now for John MacArthur in the entire grace to you. Staff on Phil Johnson inviting you back for a helpful message on what strengthened the apostle Paul in times of severe testing and how you can benefit from his example be here when John continues his study called making sense out of suffering with another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on tomorrow's race to