Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): Today, Stuart Briscoe is bringing us a message called "When We Are Experiencing Trials." It's from his current series, "Knowing God Personally," which is all about how to use difficult times in your life to bring you closer to God and strengthen your faith.

So many people read their Bible, go to church, serve on mission trips, and go through the motions, yet still struggle to find God. Jill Briscoe has a surprising and deeply encouraging answer to this dilemma, which she shares in her three-message series titled "Finding God."

The "Finding God" series is our thanks for your gift today to help more people experience life through the teaching and resources of Telling the Truth. And if you're able to make your gift monthly, we'll also send you a special Telling the Truth travel mug to remind you God is always with you. So request your resources when you give today. 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's Stuart with his message, "When We Are Experiencing Trials."

Stuart Briscoe: The Apostle Paul therefore says that he's going to have to do something about this, and reluctantly he begins to talk about his own unique credentials. As he begins to speak about his unique credentials, we realize that this man has experienced something the like of which nobody else has ever known.

This is what he says: "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven." Now notice the way he describes himself here: "I know a man in Christ." He's not talking in the first person singular. There's a humility about him. There's a reluctance to speak on the subject at all.

The description that he uses of himself is apt. He calls himself a man in Christ. How would we describe ourselves? I remember on the very first pre-membership class we ever had. It was something that in those days I was able to lead in the hour between services in the old days of Elmbrook Church.

A group of people sitting in a room, they didn't know what to expect and it was rather obvious that some of them were very nervous about the whole thing. And most of them were sitting in the chairs rather upright with their knees together and their heels together and their hands in their laps looking fixedly ahead, making sure they didn't catch my eye.

But there was one young lady sitting cross-legged on the floor. I remember bright blue eyes and bright red hair and a bright grin on her face. And I turned to her and I thought she's a good place to start. So I said, "What's your name?" She told me what it was. And I said, "What do you do?" And without missing a beat she said, "I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ skillfully disguised as a machine operator."

What a superb description. "I am a disciple of Jesus Christ skillfully disguised as a machine operator." What was the first thing that came to mind when I asked her what do you do, when I asked her about herself? What was the first thing? "I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ." What was the second thing? "I'm a machine operator." What's the connection between the two? "I am a disciple of Jesus Christ in the context of being a machine operator." She put the whole thing together in one brief statement.

Well, the Apostle Paul doesn't describe himself as a disciple of Jesus Christ. He describes himself as a man in Christ. As he does that, of course, on the one hand, he is saying in effect, "I'm just a man. I'm just a human being with all the inherent, innate frailties of my humanity, with all the shortcomings that are inherent in my humanity." Because as a human being, I'm created in the image of God, but I am fallen.

I fully recognize that there are vestiges of his image still to be seen, but unfortunately, I'm plagued by my fallenness. But the good news, he says, is that I'm not just a fallen human being, but I am a fallen human being who has been redeemed by the grace of God. And redeemed by the grace of God, I have been introduced into an experience with Christ.

And Christ I have identified with as my savior and my Lord. He has saved me from my sin. He is saving me from the power of sin, and one day he will ultimately, finally, and irrevocably save me from the presence of sin. If you want to know what I am, I'll tell you. I am simply a man in Christ. I know what it means to be a human being, but I also know what it means to be a human being translated into a relationship with Jesus Christ. All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. I am a new creation. That's how he describes himself.

When somebody taps you on the shoulder sometime and says, "Tell me about yourself," don't do your goldfish act, sort of open and close your mouth and nothing come out. Tell them, "I'm a man in Christ." Tell them, "I'm a woman in Christ." They'll probably say, "Huh?" But that will give you the opportunity then to go on and explain.

"I know a man in Christ," he says, "who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven." This expression "the third heaven"—what does it mean? Well, there were those in the ancient times who would talk about the seventh heaven, those who talked about the third heaven. We obviously, when we try to think in terms of what God has revealed concerning heaven and eternity, find ourselves in problems because human language cannot possibly explain it.

So God accommodates his revelation to our understanding. It doesn't mean that the heavens are stacked one on top of the other. What it means is that there is an atmospheric heaven, there is a stellar heaven—that is where the stars and the sun and the moon are—and then beyond that is the region in which God dwells, the heaven of heavens.

The Apostle Paul says, "I had an out-of-this-world experience. I was transported into the very sanctum, into the very sanctuary, into the very presence of God." And he said when I was there, I was translated into paradise. Paradise is a word of Persian origin. It means literally an enclosure or a park or a pleasure garden. In other words, it is a word that moved into the Hebrew language and became another description of that pleasant place, that place of bliss in which God dwells and the redeemed share his joy.

It was a term that was used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, but particularly we know it as the region where Jesus went immediately after his crucifixion. For speaking to the dying thief on the cross, he said to him, "Today you will be with me in paradise." So says the Apostle Paul, "I was transported into the very region where God dwells, where the redeemed share eternal bliss with him."

He says, "Quite frankly, there's a lot of stuff I don't know about it. I don't know whether it was an out-of-the-body experience. I don't know if it was in-the-body experience. All that matters is God knows." In parenthesis here, it might be worth pointing out the difference here between the Apostle Paul's reluctant, humble statement concerning this incredible experience and the kind of thing we hear on talk shows from people who claim to have had an after-death experience and the kind of stuff that is being written in many books by people of a similar ilk.

I would strongly suggest to you never, never, never take your theology from talk shows. And be very, very careful about the literature that you read and swallow because if you want to think in terms of what really happens when a person dies and what really goes on in eternity, you're far better listening to the Apostle Paul. Oprah is not the person to get your theology from.

Listen to the reluctance, see the humility of the way the Apostle Paul here addresses this monumental issue. He says there's so much I don't understand about this thing. And moreover, there were many things that I saw there and many things that I heard there I am not permitted to tell. So there's no way you're going to get him on a talk show. There's no way you're going to get him in a gabfest. In fact, it's fourteen years since he had the event and he's never even mentioned it. And now, only reluctantly, will he talk about it. That is the way in which we humbly approach the deep mysteries of God.

Deuteronomy 29:29 has something powerful to say to us. "The secret things belong to the Lord our God. The things that he has revealed belong to us and to our children forever." Notice the difference here. God has secrets, eternal heavenly secrets that he has graciously chosen to reveal to us. That which he has revealed to us is an inestimable treasure that we reverently and seriously consider. That which he has chosen not to reveal to us is not the region of speculation.

It is not the region in which we spend our time trying to unscrew the inscrutable. We fully recognize, as the Apostle Paul says, that there are things that God has reserved. Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things that God has reserved for those who love him. And so reluctantly, humbly admitting with great reluctance that he has had this experience, he says, "I was transported into the very presence of God and I saw and I heard things that were going to equip me for the uniqueness of my ministry as Apostle to the Gentiles."

Guest (Male): More teaching from Stuart and Jill Briscoe is coming up, so stay with us. Did you know you can find more life-giving content from the Briscoes at tellingthetruth.org and on the Telling the Truth app? There you can sign up for daily devotionals, watch videos, read blogs, and access a variety of other resources to help you experience life. And while you're there, you can also request this month's featured resource as thanks for your gift of support to help share the abundant life Jesus offers with more people around the world. Visit us online or download the app today and experience life with Telling the Truth. Now, let's rejoin the program as Stuart continues his message, "When We Are Experiencing Trials."

Stuart Briscoe: And so reluctantly, humbly admitting with great reluctance that he has had this experience, he says, "I was transported into the very presence of God and I saw and I heard things that were going to equip me for the uniqueness of my ministry as Apostle to the Gentiles." Then a remarkable switch takes place in this passage of scripture. For beginning with verse 7, he then says, "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me."

So in other words, he says in marked contrast to these people who are going about bragging about their spiritual experiences and believing that this will give them high credentials, I want you to know something. That I was given this surpassing vision that I've said nothing about, but God was so concerned that I might become self-sufficient and arrogant about it that at the same time he gave me this surpassing revelation, he also gave me a gift I didn't want.

And the whole purpose of this gift that I didn't want was that I might be kept with my feet on the ground so that I would not get too big for my boots, that I would not become arrogant and self-sufficient and self-absorbed. What exactly was this gift that he didn't particularly want? He describes it as a thorn in my flesh.

Now you'll often hear people using this expression they don't know it even comes from the Bible. A thorn in the flesh or a thorn in my side. Something that was an ongoing source of problem to him. Notice it was given to him. In some way God determined that at the same time he was going to be introduced to this surpassing vision of the mysteries of God, he was going to be allowed to be introduced to something that would be an ongoing cause of difficulty to him in order to keep his feet firmly on the ground.

And I wonder if it could have been that at times Paul would move into enemy-infested territories and go through excruciating physical ailments. We just don't know. But I do know this: I do know that if we go around our lives and we look in our families and we talk to our neighbors, we will find wherever we look thorns in the flesh, messengers of Satan.

And the incredible thing about it is that God allows it. Three times Paul prayed that he might be delivered. Three times he asked that this thing might go. And each time the answer was, "No, Paul. No. No." I hear people say, "Well, I quit praying because God never heard my prayers." Well, how do you know he never heard my prayers? "He never answered my prayers." Well, isn't "no" an answer? Well, in most people's books it isn't.

But in actual fact, it is an answer. I do not believe that God ever gives a flat "no, period" answer. I do believe that God on occasions will give a "no, comma" answer. "No, I will not allow you to be relieved of this particular thing in this particular way, but this is what I will do. I will make available to you an abundance of grace, an abundance of enabling, an abundance of supernatural power that will allow you to live well in the situation from which you cannot escape."

And that's the point. The Apostle Paul is learning that when the Lord says, "No, I'm not going to relieve you of this thorn in the flesh, Paul, because you might become self-sufficient," I am going to allow that to go on being there so that you will never be self-sufficient and you will always understand dependence. And as you do that, you will be opened up to the very real possibilities of the supernatural grace of God equipping you to live well in a situation you can't change.

We live in the age of quick fix. We live in the age of quick, painless fix. We insist on quick, painless, cheap fix. And God says sometimes, "No. No, in actual fact, I will allow there to be no fix—certainly no cheap fix, certainly no quick fix—at the present time. But I will promise you this: grace abundant."

Now says the Apostle Paul, "As a result of that, I have come to a conclusion, and it is this: the more I am in touch with my innate weakness—and who among us is not?—the more I am in touch with my innate weakness and relate it to God's grace invested in me in the life of the risen Christ, the more I will begin to discover the possibilities of his strength being made known in my weakness."

This does not mean that we are expected to have all kinds of positive emotions about dreadful things. What it does mean is as the dreadful things come into our lives, it is very, very appropriate for us to relate them to a loving Heavenly Father, but always to bear in mind that in his good and wise eternal purpose, it might be to our long-term advantage to stay in the situation from which there is no release in order that there and there only we will discover grace to help in time of need.

And listen folks, that's exactly what our culture doesn't want you to do. You owe it to yourself to get out of that. You owe it to yourself to have a solution. You owe yourself to have this and that and the other. You don't owe anything to yourself. What matters is that you live rightly in relationship with the God from whom you come, to whom you're accountable, through whom and for whom you live. And the only way that we in our own inbuilt arrogance, fleshliness will come to terms with the necessity of his grace is when we're pushed into the corner and admit our weakness. That's why he will allow the messenger of Satan.

So let's ask ourselves some honest questions. Can I accept the gifts I don't want as an opportunity to discover grace I've never seen? If true, think of this for a minute. What God is really looking for is not strong people; he's looking for weak people. Not for great people; he's looking for ordinary people. He's looking for people who are struggling, because that's the only kind of people there are. And those of us who do admit it, draw on his resources of grace, and people watch and wonder, and they say, "What makes that person tick?" And you tell them with a smile on your face, "When I'm weak, then I'm strong."

Guest (Male): Stuart, how does God reward suffering in his name?

Stuart Briscoe: The scripture has a lot to tell us about trials and tribulations. The Lord Jesus himself was very, very straightforward about this. He said, "Now look, in the world you will have trouble." Now there is a feeling in many believers, I think, that when they trust Jesus, part of the deal is that he keeps them out of trouble, that they become immune to and exempt from all kinds of trouble. That is a very, very serious misunderstanding of scripture.

Jesus said very straightforwardly, "In the world you will have trouble." Okay, now if that is the case, we ask ourselves, "All right, well so I'm going to have trouble. What am I supposed to do with these troubles that come?" Well, the first thing I do is I make sure that I accept the fact that this is perfectly normative.

But secondly, I accept the fact that whilst God does not want to hurt us and he does not want to make life difficult for us, he does not exempt us from life in a fallen world. But he promises to work in these circumstances. And working in these circumstances, he says quite frankly, "You will be toughened up by these difficulties."

Now you and I know that very, very often our physical bodies can get a little out of shape, or they can get a lot out of shape. They can become pretty flabby. But then we decide, well, we're going on a diet—it's a bit tough—and we're going to start an exercise regimen—and that's even tougher. But we also know what happens.

We know that we lose the excess weight, we know that our heart begins to work better, we know that our arteries are in better shape, we know that our muscles are doing much better, we know that our complete health is greatly improved. Boy, it was tough and it was hard, but we finished up healthier. By the same token, God allows these difficulties and trials to come into our lives because they'll toughen us up and we will come out much more mature as a result. That's why James says we welcome these things rather than resist them.

Guest (Male): Thanks for being with us today here on Telling the Truth. We pray today's message encouraged you and helped you experience life in Christ. So many people read their Bible, go to church, serve on mission trips, and go through the motions, yet still struggle to find God. Jill Briscoe has a surprising and deeply encouraging answer to this dilemma, which she shares in her three-message series, "Finding God."

In this inspired series, you'll discover how you can stop spending so much energy on finding God and let him find you. By slowing down and putting yourself deliberately in his presence, you'll recognize that he's already there waiting for you. You'll be uplifted as Jill explains how God worked in the lives of men and women in the Old Testament and how he works in your life too, even when you don't see him and feel his presence.

The "Finding God" series is our thanks for your gift today to help more people experience life through the teaching and resources of Telling the Truth. And if you're able to make your gift monthly, we'll also send you a special Telling the Truth travel mug to remind you that God is always with you. So request your resources when you give today. 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. We're so glad you joined us today. Don't miss more sound biblical teaching from the Briscoes when you tune in next time for Telling the Truth.