From His Heart

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Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. He teaches us about dealing with the wounds in our Christian life.

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Have you been wounded? Has an unwanted difficulty come into your life? Have you prayed for God to change something in your life? Something about this unwanted difficulty that has come in and God just seems to not respond to your prayer?

If that's the case for you, then you're in good company because that’s exactly what happened to the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul, who is arguably the greatest soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ, can heal every scar with real truth, real love, and real hope from his heart.

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Do you have a thorn in the flesh, so to speak? Do you have a spiritual or a mental wound in your life?

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It's a.

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That you don't want to be there. Maybe it's something that you've prayed about and prayed about forever. And the Lord's answer seems to be, I'm not taking this away. Well, could there be a higher purpose for those things that God allows to happen to us?

This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. And today he shares three lessons that we can learn from the Apostle Paul's thorn in the flesh. The message today is from Pastor Jeff's seven lesson series, Soldiers of the Cross. Today we begin the last lesson called the Wounds of the Good Soldier.

This series and the booklet the Lord's army are our gifts of thanks to you for your support of any amount from His Heart. This month, you can get your copies when you make that gift at fromhisheart.org.

Right now, though, open your Bible to 2 Corinthians, chapter 12 as we better understand how to handle the wounds of a good soldier. Here again is Pastor Jeff.

Speaker 2

Have you been wounded? Has an unwanted difficulty come into your life? Have you prayed for God to change something in your life? Something about this unwanted difficulty that has come in, and God just seems to not respond to your prayer. If that's the case for you, then you're in good company because that's exactly what happened to the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul, who is arguably the greatest soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ, the most faithful soldier, and this is what he has to say in Second Corinthians, chapter 12.

He's writing this letter to the Corinthians. We call it Second Corinthians. It's actually the fourth letter here. He wrote two letters that were lost, and so this is the fourth letter that he wrote. He has to defend himself and defend his authority and his apostleship because false teachers had come in. They were wreaking havoc on the church, questioning Paul's motives and character. They said of Paul, his physical presence is unimpressive, and he is the worst speaker you've ever heard. Can you imagine? That's what they said about Paul, insulting him.

I love what John MacArthur said. He said, you know, basically they said, well, Paul is ugly and he's boring. He said, if you're handsome and boring, you can get away with that for a little while as a speaker. If you're ugly and interesting, you can get away with that as a speaker. But if you're ugly and boring, you're just totally lost. I mean, you're just a loser. You're ugly and you're boring. Well, that's basically what they said about Paul. His physical presence is so unimpressive, and his speech is contemptible. He is just the worst speaker you ever heard.

And so Paul defends himself in this letter to Second Corinthians, and this is what he says, beginning in verse one of chapter 12. "Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable. But I will go on 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 out of the body I do not know. God knows, such a man was caught up to the third heaven. And I know how such a man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know. God knows, was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words which a man is not permitted to speak. On behalf of such a man will I boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses. For if I do wish to boast, I shall not be foolish, for I shall be speaking the truth. But if I refrain from this, so that no one may credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me, and because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me, to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this, I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And he has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong."

What do we learn from Paul's thorn in the flesh? Paul had a specific thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan that God gave to him. The word for messenger is where we get our word angel. So the messenger, the angel from Satan, was a demonic force that was coming after Paul. Paul wasn't demon-possessed; Paul wasn't demon-oppressed, but he was being attacked by a messenger from Satan, and it was something he did not want. We don't know if this was a physical thing. We don't know if this was a spiritual thing. It may have been both a physical thing and a spiritual thing, but it was something that was unwanted, and he wanted God to take it away.

So if we talk about a thorn in the flesh, let's define that term from verse 10. What's a thorn in the flesh? For you and me, it's a weakness, it's an insult, it's a distress, it's a persecution, it's a difficulty. It's something we don't want. It's something unseen, savory. It's something that comes to us, but we say, no, thank you. Return to sender. I don't want this.

What do we learn from Paul's thorn in the flesh? Three lessons. Lesson number one: Thorns are part of life. Weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecutions, difficulties—that's a part of life. Now, those kinds of situations, those thorns, come to those who are human. Job, who knew his share of trouble—more than his share of trouble, more trouble than anyone else outside of the Lord Jesus Christ—would have been Job. And Job says, "We are all human beings. Our life is short and full of trouble." Full of trouble. "Man is born for trouble," it says in Job 5:7. He's born for trouble. As sparks fly upward, so trouble comes, and thorns come simply because you're human. Jesus said, "In the world, you have tribulation, but be of good courage. I have overcome the world."

But the thorns also come to those who are walking in disobedience to God. You start doing what God tells you not to do. You start going your own way. You do what the prodigal son did and just say, "Forget it, Dad, I don't want to be working on the farm with you. I'm going to go out and find my kicks." You can waste your wealth and your time on wine, women, and song. And as you've heard me say on many occasions, anytime you leave the Father's house, where do you end up? You eventually end up at the pigsty. And so thorns come into your life, and difficulties and distresses come into your life. Calamities come into your life because you're outside of the will of God. A good example of that is Jonah. Jonah, wrong way Jonah. He didn't. God says, "I need you to go east." And Jonah says, "Forget that. I'm going to go west. I'm going to get down and board a ship and go the opposite direction. I want to get as far away from Nineveh as I possibly can." He ended up in the belly of a great fish. And there was difficulty in the belly of a great fish. You read Jonah chapter two, and you find out how difficult his life was.

Then he gets vomited up on shore when he confesses his sin to God, and he goes to Nineveh. He has been in the belly of a fish for a certain amount of time—three days—and you know you come out a little worse than when you went in. That's just the way it is. And so one of the things, when he goes to Nineveh, he is a spectacle because his hair's fallen out, he's bleached out from the acids in the fish. And now he's saying the things God wants him to say, but he paid a price for that. And so when you're in disobedience to God, you have difficulties and weaknesses and distresses and calamities.

But those don't describe Paul. Paul's not in disobedience to God. What Paul is talking about here is being right with God, in the will of God, doing what God wants you to do, and you have a thorn in the flesh. So thorns come to those who are walking in obedience to God. We get the wrong idea sometimes. You know, if I'm going to be right with God, I'm going to walk with God, then I'm going to see the end of all my problems. Yeah, it's the front end. You'll see the front end of all your problems. Because all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. You're gonna have difficulty in this life.

Hey, we are twice-born people living in a world of once-born people. We follow the beat of a different drummer, and we stand in the gap for the land. We are going in the other direction as the world, and the world hates us. Jesus said, "If the world hates you, don't be surprised, because it hated me before it hated you." And there will be difficulties in this life. God will allow you to go through the difficulties, and he'll even give you some specific difficulties like he gave Paul. Because God is not trying to correct you; he's trying to instruct you and deepen you and develop you.

First Peter, chapter four, Peter says this: "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange thing were happening to you." Have you ever been around somebody that is a Christian and life starts falling apart? Like, what is going on? I'm walking with God, and these things are coming into my life. It's such a strange thing. And Peter says, "No, it's not that they come upon you for your testing. It's not a strange thing. But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing so that also at the revelation of his glory, you may rejoice with exultation." If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. By no means let any of you suffer as a murderer or thief or evildoer or as a troublesome meddler. But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name, let him glorify God.

Thorns come to every life because it's part of the human existence. And you might be here, and you're having a difficult time because you're reaping what you sow. You're not sowing to the Spirit; you're sowing to the flesh. And maybe you say, "Well, Jeff, I'm walking with God the best I can, and there's this thing that has come into my life that I don't understand, that is painful, and I want it gone." God's not using that to correct you. He's using that to instruct you and to develop you. So that's the first lesson: Thorns are part of life.

And remember this: When Paul talks about the thorn in the flesh, he's not talking about a little thorn on a rose bush. The word thorn is a stake. It's a stick that is sharpened at the end. It's what you would use to hammer down a tent. It's a tent stake. You would use it almost as a weapon, almost like a spear. That's what is in Paul. That's the thorn in the flesh. This is something major. Major thorns are part of life.

Lesson number two: People respond to thorns in different ways. Different ways. Not everybody responds the same way. So everybody's got them. Everybody can understand troubles. Everybody can understand distresses. Everybody can understand weaknesses. Everybody can understand difficulties. I mean, that's just not like, "What are you talking about? I've never had that." Yeah, we can all understand that. Lost people can understand that. Saved people can understand that. But we respond to those things in different ways.

Some people get bitter. Those things happen to them, and they get bitter. Some Christians get bitter. Something comes into their life. God allows something to come into their life. Remember, nothing comes into your life or comes into my life until it first filters through God's fingers of love, and this thing comes in. Maybe it's the loss of a loved one, or maybe it's the loss of health, or maybe it's the loss of a job, or maybe it's the loss of your eyesight, and you can't see like you used to. My preaching professor, Wayne MacDill, told me, he said, "I'm having a lot of trouble." He's 79 years old. "I'm having a lot of trouble with my eyes." And, you know, when you lose the ability to see and to read, man, it really limits life.

And so some people get bitter at God. He's not bitter, but some people get bitter at God. You know, if you get bitter at God over some difficulty that came into your life, it'll wreck and ruin your present and your future. It just does. Bitterness is a cancer of the soul. Well, some people, that's how they respond. They get bitter, and it wrecks and ruins their lives.

Some people, secondly, they give up. I mean, it's kind of on the lines of bitter, but they just quit. I mean, it's just like, "I can't do this anymore. I quit." The poster child for the person who gave up was Job's wife. You know, Job lost his health, he lost his wealth, he lost his children. He lost it all just like that. And he's sitting in the ashes, scraping himself with a broken piece of pottery, and all he has left is his wife. And she says, "Job, do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die." Just die. Just quit. Just give up. He wouldn't do it. But that's how some people respond. They just give up.

Some people, it's not that they get bitter. It's not that they give up, but they unhappily endure what they're going through. I mean, they're just saying, "All right, I hate this, but this is the way it is. And so I'm just gonna grit my teeth. I'm just gonna get through it. I'm just gonna gut this out for the next 20 years till I can die and go to heaven." That's the way some people do it. They're just kind of mad and grumpy all the time. They wouldn't say, "Well, I'm not bitter." But they're real close. They're just, "Oh, I hate this." And they're all the time just on edge because they're unhappily enduring what has come into their lives.

That is not Paul's situation. Paul says in verse nine, "Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses." He's receiving those because the fourth category of persons—some people see the deeper meaning. Paul saw the deeper meaning. He saw that God was at work in his thorn in the flesh. You know, when Paul said he prayed three times, Paul knew how to pray. And this is a big deal. This isn't a little thorn on a bush. This is a big stake that feels like it's going through him. And he is in consternation over this. He prayed three times that God would take it away. He didn't pray just a little prayer before bed. "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my thorn to keep." He didn't pray that kind of prayer. I mean, he is crying out to God. He says, "Concerning this, I entreated the Lord. I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me." God, take this away from me. I don't want this. Lord, I'm serving you, and this is a hindrance to me. So God, take it away. And no doubt there were three times, three seasons where he's really praying this. And the Lord gives him an answer to his prayer that changed everything for Paul.

Lesson number three: God has a purpose in the thorns. God has a purpose in the thorns. He had a purpose for Paul. He has a purpose for you and for me. In the difficulties of life, God is a purposeful God. Now, the Apostle Paul talks about, as he's defending his apostleship, he tells about a time that he went to heaven. He does a typical rabbi trick. He talks about himself in the third person. And so you say, "Well, who's Paul talking about?" In the first six verses of chapter 12, he's obviously talking about himself because he says, "And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself." He's the one who was caught up to heaven. He saw things, revelations and visions, and he heard things, things that are not permitted for a man to speak. He heard the secrets in heaven.

He says, "I don't know if I had a vision of this, or if I was caught up bodily, or if I came out of my body to see all this and to go to heaven. I don't know. God knows. But I know that I was in paradise. I know that I was in the third heaven." So he had all these experiences with the Lord. I mean, he is some kind of Christian guy, and yet he is being attacked and vilified, and his character is being run through the mud. And so he has to say, "Okay, Corinthians, let me tell you about an experience that I had with the Lord. You think I'm chopped liver. You think that I'm like the lowest of Christians. This is what God did for me."

But now, the awesome thing about being transported into heaven and seeing the things that you see in heaven and hearing those unutterable words from heaven, that comes with a price. Because there's a thorn in the flesh that comes with that. And Paul says, "Why did I have to have the thorn in the flesh?" He says it twice in verse seven: "To keep me from exalting myself." There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. Why? To keep me from exalting myself. Because of the things that I've seen, the things that I've heard. How do you not let your heart fill up with pride?

And so the Lord gave him a thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. God has a purpose in the thorns. He uses thorns to keep us humble. Why is that so important? Because there are six things which the Lord hates. Yes, seven, which are an abomination to him. And number one on the list is pride. Haughty eyes, a proud look. God hates it. James, chapter 4, verse 6: "God is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace to the humble." And anytime you allow yourself to get proud, you will get opposed by God. There is no one who can be too small for God to use. But there are lots of people who can get too big for God to use. Because God shares his glory with no one else. And if your heart gets proud, God says, "I can't use you."

"God, I can't use you." And Paul, I've given you such a revelation and such an experience that if I don't temper that with a thorn in the flesh, you're gonna get proud. You're gonna get puffed up, and then I can't use you anymore. And so I have given you this to keep you from exalting yourself. God uses thorns to keep us humble. Secondly, he uses thorns to keep us dependent on him, to show us how weak we are, to show us how needy we are.

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Would that describe your tendency to get proud about what you've done for the Lord? Are you secretly puffed up and content with your service to Him? Today, Pastor Jeff Shreve has begun the message "The Wounds of a Good Soldier," and he's uncovering the reasons that God allows those things to happen because we're all predisposed to falling into those traps.

Pastor Jeff has much more to say about these wounds and so much more about the benefits and sacrifices the Soldiers of the Cross must endure. If you'd like to know more about that, we'd love to send you the seven-message series "Soldiers of the Cross" as our thanks for your support of any amount to From His Heart this month. You can receive it on CDs, DVDs, USB flash drive, or digital download with your gift today.

And we'll also send you the companion booklet "The Lord's Army" along with the series and the booklet for your gift today. When you call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-24253) or go online to fromhisheart.org, know that when you give to From His Heart, you are helping to support this ministry that is reaching around the world with the Good News of Christ. Each and every day, together we are making a difference.

Thank you for joining us today on From His Heart. I'm Larry Nobles, trusting you'll be right back here on Thursday for the last message in the "Soldiers of the Cross" series, Part Two of "The Wounds of a Good Soldier." Join us on Thursday when Pastor Jeff Shreve will open up God's Word and share real truth, real love, and real hope. From His Heart.

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There is tremendous truth.

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From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and hurting world.

Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out more at fromhisheart.org.