["Pomp and Circumstance"]
We have it here today that you kept us safe through those uncertain storms last night.
I just pray that you'd be with the families that were affected,
and that as we have more weather rolling in,
you would also continue to just have your hedge of protection around each and every one of us.
Lord, I pray for this service, that everything would be done decently and in order.
These things I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.
All right, for our next hymn, turn, if you would, to number 200.
He's a wonderful savior to me. Just flip the page.
Hymn number 200.
He's a wonderful savior to me on the first.
I was lost in sin, but Jesus rescued me.
He's a wonderful savior to me.
I was bound by fear, but Jesus set me free.
He's a wonderful savior to me.
For he's a wonderful savior to me.
He's a wonderful savior to me.
I was lost in sin, but Jesus rescued me.
He's a wonderful savior to me.
He's a friend so true, so patient and so kind.
He's a wonderful savior to me.
Everything I need, in him I always find.
He's a wonderful savior to me.
For he's a wonderful savior to me.
He's a wonderful savior to me.
I was lost in sin, but Jesus rescued me.
He's a wonderful savior to me.
He is always near to comfort and to cheer.
He's a wonderful savior to me.
He forgives my sins.
He drives my every tear.
He's a wonderful savior to me.
For he's a wonderful savior to me.
He's a wonderful savior to me.
I was lost in sin, but Jesus defeated me.
He's a wonderful savior to me.
Here comes the love of Jesus every day.
He's a wonderful savior to me.
Sweet her is his grace, while pressing on my way.
He's a wonderful savior to me.
For he's a wonderful savior to me.
He's a wonderful savior to me.
I was lost in sin, but Jesus took me in.
He's a wonderful savior to me.
Amen.
Good morning, everyone.
Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
This time we'll go through our announcements.
If you don't have a bulletin, raise your hand and an usher will bring you one.
On the front is our Bible memory passage of the week, Hebrews chapter 6, verse 13.
Keep working hard on that memory chapter.
And if you could quote it at the end, there will be a special prize for those that do that.
On the inside is our service times listed, Sunday morning, 1030.
Glad to see no one got sucked up by the tornadoes last night.
Hey, I'd still rather tornadoes over hurricanes,
because tornadoes just go in a little strip and hurricanes just screws everyone.
So this is a lot better.
Sunday evening, 4 30 p.m. Wednesday evening, 7 p.m.
Our soul winning times are listed there.
And our nursing home ministry schedule.
Brother Cameron's preaching today.
Next weekend is Brother Theodore, so make note of that.
Our year statistics for soul winning and baptisms are listed there.
And please remember to report any salvations you have to your soul winning leaders of those times.
Or you could email the church and I'll update that for you.
Please be in prayer for Miss Whitney Reed for her pregnancy.
Also our upcoming events, got a couple things added here.
November 6th through the 10th, that's this upcoming weekend,
is going to be the missions conference at Faith Ward Baptist Church.
So I'm really looking forward to flying out there this weekend and getting to spend some time with them.
November 24th is going to be the transition from Steadfast Baptist Church to Anchor Baptist Church.
We'd love to have you for that.
Invite your friends and family, should be a great time.
December 20th, there's going to be a ladies Christmas party.
There's going to be more details given as the time gets closer.
But I just want you to be able to mark your calendars for that.
It's going to be nurselings only preferred as far as kids go for that.
So men do plan on staying home with the kiddos that weekend and watching them so the ladies can have a good time.
A fellowship.
Also December 21st is going to be the last Saturday before Christmas.
I'd like to have a big soul winning push that Saturday.
We'll get some coffee, get some food catered here.
Try to pack this place out and get a lot of soul winners out there preaching the gospel.
As people are usually thinking about Christ around Christmas.
It's a good time where people's hearts are more likely to be softened and it could be a good time to reach them with the gospel.
So looking forward to that.
Online giving, if you prefer to give online you can scan that code and that online giving is now working.
Also I just wanted to remind the church here of some of the church rules.
I don't know if this was ever even spelled out here but just so everyone's aware.
We don't want anyone running in the building.
Obviously if there's an old person or a pregnant lady that gets hit by a kid and trips over and falls that could be a very serious issue.
And so it's not that we just don't want kids to have fun or something like that.
No running for the kids.
That includes my kids because it can be a safety issue.
Same thing with kids congregating by the front door.
Sometimes there's crazy people walking around out there.
We've had them walk into the church and you just don't want something terrible like that to happen.
God forbid we would ever have a kidnapping or something like that here.
We wouldn't really be able to live with ourselves if we weren't taking care of our kids.
So please don't allow the kids to be congregating by the front door at all.
Also we have mother baby rooms but please those are to be used if your children need to be calmed or fed or corrected or something like that.
But that's not just a hey we're just going to sit there all service every service no matter what.
Because you know we want to make sure that we're training our kids to sit in church and to pay attention.
And so while mother baby rooms are a great thing we don't want it to become a crutch where you're just teaching your kids like hey we just play all church and we don't sit and listen or pay attention.
We want to be paying attention in the sanctuary and use those when needed and then come back once the kids are taken care of.
Musical instruments we got some new equipment there and Lord willing we're going to get a nice piano in the near future.
So I just want to establish this right now that no one is to touch musical equipment play the piano touch any of that stuff over there unless you are a musician for the church and you're practicing for church services.
Lord willing also I'd like to get the church its own guitar I have an old one that I literally found on the side of the road when I was a teenager.
But I'd like to get the church a nice guitar someday and so that's very easy to break so make sure that all of us are you know watching our kids and not allowing them to touch that stuff.
No children on the stage please and I do want the ushers which for all intents and purposes ushers right now are just our safety team guys with the headphones.
I do want ushers enforcing the church rules so ushers go up to your kids and say stop running don't be offended I want them to do that.
And quite honestly I don't care if any adult corrects any child because you know like I said these are safety issues and we want to make sure that we're behaving ourselves well in the house of God.
And that things are running smoothly so you know please correct my kids if you see them running I've got lots of little kids they're going to do dumb things too.
Ushers if you see my kids running tell them stop and I'm never going to be offended for that and you shouldn't be either don't you know be so soft if someone corrects your children that's something that all of our kids need from time to time.
But just please make note of those church rules.
On the back is our prayer list there's some updated prayers for this upcoming week please be in prayer for those and if you have any requests please email the church and I'd be happy to add those for you.
That's going to be it for announcements this morning let's go ahead and go to our third song.
All right.
Our third song this morning.
Number three hundred four three zero four nothing between three hundred four three zero four nothing between.
We'll sing there starting on the first.
My soul.
So.
The.
We.
Is.
The.
We.
Have.
The.
From.
He is.
There's nothing.
I saw.
So.
They say.
The.
He's.
He.
Is.
He.
Me.
He.
between my soul and the Savior, so that his blessed face may be seen.
Nothing previously the least of his favor, keep the way clear, but nothing between,
Nothing beats me in many hard trials, though the whole world against me convene.
Watching with prayer and much self-denial, I'll triumph at last with nothing beats me,
Nothing beats me in my soul and the Savior, so that his blessed face may be seen.
Nothing preventing the least of his favor, keep the way clear, but nothing between.
Amen. Good singing this morning.
As the offering plates are being passed, turn, if you would, to 2 Corinthians chapter number 12.
2 Corinthians chapter 12.
It is not expedient for me, doubtless to glory.
I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth.
Such an one caught up to the third heaven, and I knew such a man whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth.
How that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words which is not lawful for a man to utter.
Of such an one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.
For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth, but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be.
For that he heareth of me, 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 buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, 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.
Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in mine infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake.
For when I am weak, then am I strong.
I am become a fool in glorying, ye have compelled me, for I ought to have been commended of you.
For in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.
Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.
For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you.
Forgive me this wrong. Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you, I will not be burdensome to you.
For I seek not yours, but you, for the children ought not to lay up for their parents, but the parents for the children, and I will very gladly spend and be spent for you.
Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.
But be it so, I did not burden you, nevertheless, being craftily I caught you with guile.
Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you?
I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make gain of you?
Walk we not in the same spirit? Walk we not in the same steps?
Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? We speak before God and Christ, but we do all things dearly beloved for your edifying.
For I fear, lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you, such as ye would not.
Lest there be debates, ambience, wraths, strifes, backbiting, whispering, swellings, tumult, and lest when I come, again, my God will humble me among you,
and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanliness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we're thankful to be safe and in your house, to be gathered to give preaching of your word.
We pray that you help us to do distractions to our enema. We pray, Lord, that you fill, brother, off with the Spirit.
Lord, help us to apply the preaching of your word to our life. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. The title of my sermon this morning is A Thorn in the Flesh. A Thorn in the Flesh.
We're in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Let's read verse number 7.
The Bible says, 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 buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
Now, this phrase, thorn in the flesh, is a very popular phrase. In fact, it's something we still use even in our modern vernacular.
People today, over 400 years since the translation of the King James Bible, still commonly use this phrase talking about, you know, a thorn in the flesh in our lives.
And here, what Paul is describing is that he was given some sort of physical issue, some sort of problem with his body, and he says that it was given to him for a specific reason.
But this morning, I basically want to have two parts to this sermon. First, I want to talk about specifically Paul's thorn in the flesh.
And then I kind of want to talk about just the idea in general of why God allows pain in our lives, why God allows us to suffer and go through hardship.
So number one, let's talk about Paul's thorn in the flesh. Let's read verse number 7 again.
It says, 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 buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
So here he was talking about how he got some sort of issue with his physical body, but he kind of clarifies what he's talking about because he said that there was a messenger of Satan to buffet him.
Now, the word buffet is not as common as something we talk about today, but the definition of buffet is this. Number one, to strike as with the hand or fist.
Number two, to strike against or push repeatedly, or number three, to contend against in battle.
So here he's saying, I was given this thorn in the flesh. I was given this problem with my body.
And he says the messenger of Satan to buffet me, meaning like someone was beating me up, someone was punishing me physically.
And if you read the New Testament, there's tons of description of the apostle Paul going through a lot of physical beatings, going through a lot of serious issues with his body.
Let's look at some of that. Go to 2 Corinthians 11, 2 Corinthians 11.
So flip the page there and let's read about some of the things that Paul went through in his body.
2 Corinthians 11, verse 22.
Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool.
I am more. In labors, more abundant. In stripes, above measure. In prisons, more frequent. In deaths, oft.
So if you know the context of 2 Corinthians, there's a lot of people that are questioning Paul's authority, questioning his legitimacy as an apostle and as a man of God.
And he's saying, like, look, you have these guys that think they're Hebrews, they're Israelites, that they're apostles.
And he's saying, like, sure, I'm all of those things, too. And I'm going to go ahead and speak as a fool because these people were suffering fools gladly.
They were putting up with fools. So he's like, OK, let me just talk like these idiots are talking for a minute and I'll just tell you my credentials.
And he starts telling about the things that he went through. In labors, more abundant, meaning, hey, he's working harder than everyone else.
In stripes, above measure, meaning he was given physical beatings, physical stripes on his body above what was even acceptable or OK, above measure.
In prisons, more frequent. You know, the Bible is talking about how he's constantly going to prison and other apostles as well.
In deaths off, we'll talk about that one in a minute and notice verse 24. This is really important.
The first three words here of the Jews. You want to know why I point that out? Because in second Corinthians 12, he says that there was messengers of Satan to buffet him.
Now he's going to describe the people that beat him. Notice of the Jews, five times received by 40 stripes saved, save one.
Go to John Chapter eight. So here, if we just compare scripture, who are the messengers of Satan?
That was buffering Paul. It was the Jews. And so Paul is literally defining the Jews as messengers of the devil.
And it wasn't just him doing that. Jesus Christ said the same thing. Look at John eight, verse thirty seven, speaking to physical Jews.
He said this, I know that you are Abraham seed, but you seek to kill me because my word hath no place in you.
I speak that which I've seen with my father. And you do that what you have seen with your father.
They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.
But now you seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I've heard of God.
This did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. And they say, then said they to him, we be not born of fornication.
We have one father, even God. Jesus said unto them, if God were your father, ye would love me.
For I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Why do you not understand my speech? Even because he cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father.
Ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and a bow knot in the truth, because there is no truth in him.
When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.
So Jesus also taught this doctrine that Jews are children of the devil.
And it has nothing to do with their race or their physical lineage because Jesus acknowledges, hey, you are the seed of Abraham.
Yes, you are the descendants of Abraham, but you know what?
You're not the children of Abraham by faith because you were the children of Abraham in a spiritual sense.
You would believe in me. Jesus is saying, if you actually love God, if you actually love the father, you would love the Lord Jesus.
But you know what? They couldn't hear Jesus's words. They couldn't accept his message.
Why? Because their father is actually the devil and they are ministers or messengers of the devil.
And you got Paul coming along. What is he doing? He's preaching the same exact message, right?
You got these hyper dispensationalists that teach, well, Jesus preached one gospel and Paul preached another.
No, they preach the same gospel, which is why they both made the Jews angry because the Jews are of their father, the devil.
They're following Satan. And so Jesus comes along preaching the gospel.
They're angry at that. They don't accept that. Paul does the same thing.
He's preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And what are they? They're beating up Paul.
They beat up Jesus. They murdered Jesus. They beat up Paul.
They tried to kill Paul. Why? Because they are the children of the devil. That's why.
And when someone is persecuting God's people like that, you know, they're going to have serious issues.
Look at verse 24. Go back to First Corinthians. I'm sorry. Second Corinthians.
Verse 11. Second Corinthians. Verse 11. Verse 24.
So notice he's saying he's describing the physical issues that he went through.
Verse 24. Of the Jews, five times received by 40 stripes, save one.
Could you imagine getting beat 39 stripes, five separate occasions? That's intense.
That's going to leave a mark. That's going to leave some scars. That's going to have a lot of brutality on your body.
Verse 25. Thrice was I beaten with rods.
And, you know, this isn't like the stirring spoon in our kitchen used for children.
This is like I'm thinking like Rodney King. You know what I mean? Like just getting beaten with rods. That's terrible.
Once I was stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck a night and a day.
I've been in the deep in journeyings often in perils of waters, in perils of robbers,
in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city,
in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren,
in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst,
in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
So, you know, Paul went through the wringer when it came to the toll on his physical body.
Why? Because he was being persecuted. He was being beaten. He was being shipwrecked.
He was being whipped. And on top of that he just had all the stress of false brethren attacking him
and just constantly being in peril in the wilderness and in the sea and all these issues.
And then he says on top of all the beatings and all the danger, that which cometh upon me daily,
the care of all the churches. He's saying on top of that I'm just doing my job as a preacher
and running these churches and taking care of these churches with all this added stress on top of me.
You know, you can imagine that the toll on Paul's body was extreme.
He's not living a healthy lifestyle. He's not living his best life now.
No, he's suffering in the flesh pretty much his entire life.
Go to Acts chapter 14, Acts chapter 14.
So you could see how if he's given a thorn in the flesh,
you could see how easily that could happen because he's going through a lot physically.
Makes sense that he could have some sort of a permanent issue with his body
given to him by the messengers of Satan to buffet him.
There was a specific incident that I think really just is the cherry on top of all the terrible things that he went through.
And it's in Acts 14 verse 19.
The Bible says, And there came thither certain Jews. What a shock. There they are again, right?
From Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul,
drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.
Howbeit as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up and came into the city.
And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.
So notice Paul one time was stoned so badly that the Jews thought he was dead.
And I think that could be one of the things that he's referring to in 2 Corinthians 11 when he says,
In death's oft. I mean, because he just got like right up to the point of death oftentimes, many times.
And one of these times he's literally stoned so bad everyone thinks that he's dead.
But the next day he gets up and he goes to Derbe and he starts soul winning.
I mean, that guy's intense. This is a guy that just embraces the suck and just is a steadfast Christian no matter what.
He gets stoned and the next day he's out soul winning. That's pretty impressive.
Go to Galatians chapter number four. Galatians chapter number four.
So you think about it, you know, he's gotten beaten with rods. He's getting stripes from getting whipped.
He's been shipwrecked. He's suffering cold. He's suffering nakedness. He's getting stoned.
He's going through a lot. And a lot of people speculate as to what was the specific thorn in the flesh that he was given.
And first I'll say this. He probably had a ton of different problems. He probably had a ton of different problems.
But I think that his biggest problem, and this is just my best guess from the scripture, is that he probably had a serious issue with his eyes.
That's what I believe. And I'll show you that in Galatians chapter four, verse 13.
He says, you know how through notice, infirmity of the flesh, I preach the gospel unto you at the first and my temptation, which was in my flesh.
You despise not nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
So notice he was preaching them the gospel during some sort of infirmity with his flesh.
He had some sort of serious issue. And thankfully, people didn't despise him because of that or reject him because of that.
They still received him. You know, that's the attitude that we should absolutely have as well.
That, you know, we're not judging a preacher or pastor based on their physical appearance or the height of their stature or how handsome they are, anything like that.
Or if they have some sort of physical issue, but rather it's the spiritual things. Rather, it's what they're preaching that matters.
And of course, Paul's preaching the gospel. Look at verse number 15.
He says, where is then the blessedness you speak of?
For I bear you record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me.
So he's bringing up his physical issues, his physical infirmities.
And he's saying, I was preaching to you even with these physical problems, but you didn't despise me.
You still love me. You still receive me, even as if I was Jesus Christ himself.
And I believe that you would have even plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.
That would be kind of a random statement if he didn't have any issues with his eyes.
To me, it's kind of implied that he's saying like, hey, I've got this serious problem with my eyes, but you guys love me anyways.
And you guys love me so much that you probably would have just given me your own eyes for me if you could have done that.
So I think that's one clue. Now, I found this article that says this.
Can your vision change after a concussion? Visual symptoms treatment center dot com.
So think about Paul's getting beaten. He's getting rods. He's getting stoned.
It's very likely that he suffered serious concussions. I mean, to the point where they looked at him and thought he was dead.
That's how bad he was beaten. He probably got hit in the head with rocks and had serious concussions.
Now, this is what this article says. It says if you've been hit in your head in a fall while playing sports or any other type of accident, your vision may have been impacted.
Between sixty nine and eighty two percent of people who've experienced concussions report visual problems such as eye strain and double or blurred vision.
Now, if you don't mind me asking, who's ever had a concussion in here? I have.
OK, I had a concussion playing baseball. One of my teammates was not paying attention and we were swinging a bat off of a tee and we're pretty close to each other.
But we're just hitting onto a tee into a fence. And so usually it's no big deal.
But he swings and he just completely lets go of the bat and the bat just hits me full speed in the head.
And I just dropped like a ton of rocks. I had no control over any motor functions whatsoever.
My vision went like this. It was looked like I could see through a straw and my hearing went out.
I was still conscious, but I've experienced this and this is totally true.
And every once in a while I still feel like a sharp pain in my head and I still see kind of blurry just every once in a while.
It still bothers me. But usually there's no issues. But especially when it was close to the injury, I absolutely did experience this.
And if you had a concussion, you probably did, too. It says this head trauma causes the brain to move within the skull.
The movement can stretch the fragile cranial nerves and even damage brain cells.
Since vision relies on efficient communication between the eyes and the brain, a concussion can disrupt these neural pathways affecting your vision.
The resulting condition is called post trauma vision syndrome.
What is post trauma vision syndrome? Post trauma vision syndrome refers to a number of visual problems that tend to occur following a severe head injury.
If you have PTVS, you may have trouble with focusing, eye teaming or binocular vision.
That's your eyes ability to coordinate with each other and track with each other.
Depth perception, eye tracking, peripheral vision or eye alignment.
Now, if you had a problem in this area, you would be hating life.
I mean, that would be terrible if like you're trying to look at something and your eyes just kind of wander away from each other.
You can't track something. You can't perceive depth perception.
I mean, vision is a nice thing to have. And if all of a sudden we started having issues with that, we would be thinking about that all the time.
That thorn in the flesh. We'd be beseeching God to take this away from us.
If you had some sort of issue like this, these are things we just take for granted.
But this is saying here that if you have this severe head injury, you could start having these types of issues.
It says any one of these visual problems can negatively affect your ability to perform day to day tasks and significantly lower your quality of life.
Driving, reading, watching TV, participating in sports, enjoying hobbies and even socializing can become difficult.
So if you have this issue, it would just affect everything about your life.
You know, it would just lower the quality of life in every area.
And we would all be suffering greatly if we were experiencing this.
And then it says this. Can a concussion permanently change your vision?
In some cases, a concussion can permanently impact your vision, especially if your visual system or optic nerve has been damaged.
The good news is that most visual problems caused by head injury respond well to neuro optometric rehabilitation therapy, which the apostle Paul didn't have at his time.
So my guess is he probably had the severe, severe head injury, probably had severe eye problems.
Who knows? The apostle Paul could have had trouble tracking objects, depth perception, reading the Bible, writing epistles.
Kind of makes sense why he always has someone else writing his epistles for him. Right.
And let me show you something else. Go to Galatians six, Galatians chapter six.
And obviously, part of this is speculation. But to me, it seems to fit what we're reading so far.
Galatians six, verse 11. The apostle Paul said, you see how large a letter I have written unto you with my own hand.
So the apostle Paul is emphasizing the fact that it's somehow this big special thing that he's writing a letter with his own hand.
Now, you and I, we wouldn't really point that out because it's just obvious that, yeah, you're going to write a letter.
You're just going to write it with your own hand. But think about it.
If Paul had some sort of physical ailment with his eyes, he wasn't able to see that well.
It would be a big deal for him to write with his actual hand the letters of this epistle.
And this epistle is all about salvation, which is the most important topic.
So it makes sense that he would just buckle down and say, you know what?
I'm writing this by hand because this is the most important doctrine, salvation.
I'm going to fight for this and I'm going to suffer through writing this epistle, even though my eyes hurt, even though I have these problems.
Go to Second Corinthians chapter number twelve, Second Corinthians chapter number twelve.
Also, how he says, like, you see how large a letter I've written to you. The epistle to the Galatians is not really a long letter.
Right. It's fairly short. So either he's just, you know, he has a different definition of large because it's hard for him.
Or it could be that he's even like writing the letters really large because he can't see.
But Galatians, by no one's definition, is a long epistle. But if you have really bad eye vision, it could be a long epistle.
Let's look at more things about his thorn in the flesh. Second Corinthians twelve eight says for this thing, I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me.
So he explains that he has this issue, this thorn in the flesh, and he was beseeching God three different times to take this away from him.
And I don't think this was just three prayers. This was probably three just long stretches of time of him just constantly going to God,
constantly begging him to take away this issue from him. And, you know, we could relate to that because if you imagine if this happened to you,
you would just be begging God for him to take this away to change this problem. But look at verse number nine.
We see God's response. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in mine infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
So notice God's response to Paul was basically telling him, hey, you are exactly where you need to be in life.
The issues that you have, the problem that you have, the pain that you have is exactly where you need to be,
because my grace is sufficient for you and because through you being weak, Paul, my strength is able to shine through using Paul.
And it makes sense because Paul was being used to turn the world upside down. He's starting churches everywhere.
He's preaching the gospel everywhere. And so, you know, God doesn't need a guy like Paul getting puffed up and, you know,
getting into sin or something like that and becoming a castaway. We need Paul.
And so though Paul is suffering this terrible thing, God is saying, hey, my grace is sufficient for you.
What's more important than you having comfort is the power of Christ resting upon you.
And Paul had such a mature Christian attitude that he answered. He said, most gladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
And, you know, we read those as just words in our Bible. But this was a real man suffering real pain, real, just terrible issues he's dealing with.
And when he found out that the answer was no, God's not going to take away this problem.
He said that he was willing to glory in his infirmities so that the power of Christ can rest upon him.
That's a pretty amazing response when you think about it. When you think about, you know, if he did have these serious issues with his eyes and he's saying basically like, hey, I'm willing to suffer that for the rest of my life.
So that God's power can rest upon me. And that's going to bring us to part two of why God allows us to go through pain.
Because I guarantee you, every single person in here has some problem in their life, some thorn in the flesh.
You know, maybe it's relationships, maybe it's finances, maybe it's health, maybe it's whatever.
But if you don't now, you absolutely will in your life. And a lot of times people just ask the question, well, why?
Why does God allow me to go through pain? Number one, to keep us humble.
God allows us to go through pain, problems, issues, health problems to keep us humble.
Look at second Corinthians 12, verse seven. Notice what he says.
And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh.
The messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
And so when you think about Paul, he's arguably the greatest Christian alive at this time doing the most works for God.
And, you know, he's just an absolute superstar Christian and he's given all these revelations.
I mean, he wrote a huge portion portion of the New Testament.
And so he's saying so that I wouldn't become exalted so that I wouldn't become prideful above measure.
He said, God gave me this problem to deal with. And you know what?
Many times in your life, in my life, we are given problems, issues, pains, troubles, tribulations, trials so that we don't become prideful.
Because what's worse than those issues is becoming prideful and destroying yourself spiritually.
What's worse than suffering temporarily on this earth and then getting a new body in heaven is just not having any issues.
But you become so prideful that you do nothing for God, that you waste this life that God gave you and you end up having no rewards in heaven.
Go to Deuteronomy chapter number eight. Deuteronomy chapter number eight.
And we're going to see how sometime God just gives us problems to keep us humble.
Because the truth is, human beings are naturally prideful. We all have the flesh.
All of us have that proclivity. And if we just all the time had everything put together, we have perfect health.
We're super fit. We have no health problems. We have no money problems. We have no relationship problems.
You know what would happen to you is you would become prideful.
You would think how awesome you are, how great you are, and you would destroy yourself from that pride.
Look at Deuteronomy eight, verse two.
And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these 40 years in the wilderness.
Notice to humble thee and to prove thee to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no.
And he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not.
Neither did the fathers know that he might make thee know that man did not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
So notice God is saying, I suffered you to hunger. I allowed you to go through that physical pain.
No one likes to be hungry. And quite honestly, in America, we probably don't even really know what hunger is unless you've purposely fasted.
But it's not like in America we're just going through seasons where we just can't find food, where we're just not eating because of want.
But here God is saying, like, I suffered you to hunger.
I allowed you to go through the pain, the trial of being hungry for the specific reason to humble you so that you would remember that man doesn't live by bread alone.
That this, you know, world and the things that we could buy and the things we could fill our our bellies with is not really what's most important in this life.
What's more important is the words of the Lord and that we're filling ourselves with those things because that is more important.
Look at verse number 10. He says, when thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
So he's saying, when things are going well for you, when you're full, when you're eating good food, when you live in a nice house, when you have a good job, when your health is good, when things are going well for you in life.
He's saying, remember the Lord. Remember to bless the Lord.
Look at verse 11. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his commandments and his judgments and his statutes, which I command thee this day.
Lest when thou hast eaten and art full and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein, and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied and all that thou hast is multiplied.
Then thine heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage.
And you know what he's describing here is what every human being desires, right?
Every human being desires for things to be going well with them and for their houses and goods and silver and everything to be multiplied.
If people could just push that button and their problems would go away, everyone would hit that button.
But he's saying, look, when you get to this point, when I bless you with these things, remember the Lord.
Don't forget him. Don't stop following his commandments. You know, just because your life is going good, just because I'm blessing you and you see this in life.
You see someone who's faithful to church. Things aren't going well in life.
Oftentimes people come to church because their life is in shambles because they've been humbled and they're like, you know what?
I need to do something. I need to go to church. I need to get right with the Lord, which is the right thing to do.
Right. But they go to church. They start making changes in their lives. They start soul winning.
They start being free to thrive. They start reading their Bible and they start seeing the blessing of God come upon their life because that's generally how it works.
Right. Someone's I've seen someone they start a business and they start just making tons of money.
They start doing really well. And then they just stop going to church and they just forget God.
They forget the Lord. They forget his commandments. You know what happens? Oftentimes God has to give us problems to humble us.
Now, what would be a lot easier is if we didn't have to get to that point, if we would just humble ourselves, if we would lower ourselves before God has to do that to us, then great.
Oftentimes then God will allow you to continue to reap those blessings.
But oftentimes people that are just constantly going through problems and issues, it's because God needs to humble us and we all need that humbling from time to time.
Go to Luke chapter 14 or I'm sorry, go to Matthew 14.
Matthew chapter 14.
I'll read Luke 14 11 for whosoever exalted himself shall be a based and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Even the apostle Paul needed to be a based a guy as godly and righteous as him.
Even he needs to be humble, to have humility in his life. Otherwise he himself would be exalted above measure.
And you know what would happen? He would destroy his life. He would destroy his ministry.
What's another reason why we go through pain? Number two, to help us rely on God, to help us rely on God.
Matthew Chapter 14.
Matthew 14, verse 25.
Notice this, and in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them walking on the sea.
And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit. And they cried out for fear.
But straightway, Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid.
And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water.
And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to sink. He cried, saying, Lord, save me.
So notice Jesus Christ is walking on the water. I mean, what a cool thing that would have been to see Jesus Christ walking on the water.
But the disciples, they're terrified. They're scared. They're saying, you know, is this a spirit or something like that?
And Peter says, You know, I got a good idea. Hey, Lord, if that's you, ask me to come out with you. Right.
And he starts to walk on the water. But when he sees the wind boisterous, he starts to sink.
And you know what this represents? He starts to have problems. He starts to have issues. He starts to sink in the water.
I mean, he's about to die. Right. But why? Why did Jesus allow him to do that? So that Peter would look to Jesus and cry, Lord, save me.
And oftentimes God allows us to get to that point in our life where our head is just about to sink underneath the water.
We're just about to not be able to bear any more of these health problems, any more of these financial problems, any more of these relationship problems.
And he just gets you right to the point where you're about to sink and drown so that maybe you'll remember.
Hey, call upon Jesus. Ask Jesus to help you turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Because oftentimes we just are we're in the flesh. We're just thinking about our own life, our own issues, our own problems.
And sometimes God has to allow us to go through pain, suffering, scary situations so that we're reminded to rely upon the Lord.
So that we're not trusting in ourselves, trusting in our flesh. I mean, if Peter just could just walk on water any time he wanted.
I mean, that'd be pretty cool. Right. He'd think like, man, I'm pretty awesome. I could just walk on water.
But when you realize, oh, man, I'm going to sink and die if I don't have Jesus, that would cause you to be humble.
Right. That, hey, I can't walk on water by myself. I can only do that if Jesus helps me, if Jesus allows me.
And, you know, we need to realize in everything in life. Hey, you don't have a great marriage because you're awesome.
You're not a great you don't have great kids because you're awesome. You don't have a great business because you're awesome.
You don't have a great church because you're awesome. If anything is good in your life, it's a gift from God.
It's a blessing from God. And you know what? You're not that smart.
You're not that cool. You're not that good looking. You're not that healthy.
If you have any of those things, it's because God gave it to you because God allowed you to achieve those things.
And you know what? Sometimes if you get unbalanced, if you forget that fact, you might find yourself sinking in the water until you remember to call upon Jesus and to remember the Lord in your life.
Go to if you would Hebrews chapter number four, Hebrews chapter number four.
Now, the wise thing to do would be to learn this truth and to constantly tell the Lord that you need him,
to constantly remind him that you are nothing, that you're not special, that you're not wise, that you're not rich.
And just thank him for all the blessings that he gives you. Tell the Lord that you need him for everything that you do.
Then you're by humbling yourself. You know, God doesn't necessarily have to humble you as often.
You know, this is what we need to do. Look at Hebrews four, verse 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens.
Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
For we have not in high priest, which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin.
So Jesus Christ, he was 100 percent man. He knows what we are feeling.
He knows what it was like to be lonely, to be betrayed, to be sick, to be hurt physically, to he knows what it's like to die.
I mean, he knows everything. He's experienced it. He's not a high priest that hasn't been touched with these things.
He knows what you're going through because of that.
And because of that, verse 16 says, let us therefore come boldly onto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
You know what mercy means? It means that you're being given something that you deserve, but you're asking for God to take it away from you, even though you deserve that pain and that suffering.
You know, grace means it's like, hey, you don't deserve this. It's like, God, I know I don't deserve for you to fix my health.
I know I don't deserve for you to fix my finances.
I know that I don't deserve for you to help me in all these areas, but I'm coming to you and asking for your mercy and grace.
That is humility.
See, the truth is you can come boldly to the throne of grace, but the boldness is not like being bold and secure in yourself.
The boldness is knowing that Christ is there.
The boldness is knowing that God will listen to you, that God cares about you, that God wants to help you.
That's the boldness.
But when you come to Jesus, remember that what you need is grace.
What you need is mercy.
It's not, hey, God, take away this financial problem because I'm awesome, because I'm great.
No, just just recognize that every problem you have in your life you deserve because you deserve to go to hell.
And so do I.
And it's just like, hey, Lord, I deserve it all.
All these problems, I need it.
I need it to keep me humble.
But, Lord, if you please just be gracious, if you please just be merciful, if you'd help me with those things.
You know, that's the way that we ought to go to the Lord.
And oftentimes, if you just humble yourself, if you remember that you need God, you probably will go through less trials in your life.
Now, here's the thing.
Not always.
Sometimes God knows, no, Paul, you really do need this.
No.
You know what?
My grace is sufficient for you, for thee.
And you know what?
You're going to deal with this basically for the rest of your life.
And if that's the case, then our attitude should be, hey, I'm going to glory in my infirmities,
because if that's what I have to go through for the power of Christ to rest upon me, then you know what?
We need to be willing to do that.
It's a lot easier said than done.
Because, you know, our problems are real problems.
We're going through real pain in this life, real issues.
But just realize that sometimes God is giving to that, giving us those things for a very good reason.
Go to Psalm 34, Psalm 34.
Psalm chapter 34, verse 15, the Bible says, the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,
and his ears are open unto their cries.
And notice God is ready to hear from us.
He's ready to listen to us.
Verse 16, the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth them out of them all.
So notice the righteous will have many afflictions, many problems, but God's ears are open to our cry.
He wants to hear from us.
And oftentimes, why are we going through so many afflictions?
Because God wants us to remember that we need him.
God wants us to remember the Lord and ask him to deliver us out of all our troubles.
You know what?
In this life, when you pray in the Lord, when you ask him, oftentimes, even in this life, he delivers you from your troubles.
Oftentimes, even in this life, when you go to God, you humble yourself, you realize I'm a sinner deserving of hell.
I deserve the problems in my life.
But God, will you please just be merciful to me?
Will you please be gracious to me?
Will you please deliver me from these issues?
Oftentimes, he doesn't.
But you know what?
Even if he doesn't in this life, you know that if you're saved, he will eventually deliver us out of all our troubles?
Literally all our troubles.
Every consequence of every sin.
Every bodily pain.
Every broken relationship.
Every financial issue.
Hey, when you're in heaven, it's just, it's all over.
It's nothing but joy and peace and love of God.
And you know what?
The righteous that call upon him, someday, will have all of their troubles taken away from them.
Go to, if you would, 1 Peter chapter 1.
1 Peter chapter 1, I'm going to read to you.
James 4-8 says, Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.
You know, we need to remember, if we want God to draw nigh to us, we have to draw nigh to him.
Go to 1 Peter chapter 1.
The third reason why God allows us to go through pain, problems, issues, is to strengthen our faith.
To strengthen our faith.
Look at 1 Peter 1-3, it says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which according to his abundant mercy have begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
So, of course, because we believe that Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead, that he descended into hell and rose again bodily,
we ourselves have a lively hope.
We have a hope that we, too, will resurrect someday when we die.
Verse number 4, To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you,
who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
See, we're saved now, but there's a part of salvation that's going to be revealed when we die.
And we're going to get a literal glorified body someday.
And, you know, that physical salvation has not been realized yet.
Our spiritual salvation has.
But look at verse 6, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, notice, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.
And you know what? That's a lot how life is for us sometimes.
Heaviness, sorrow, sadness through manifold or many different temptations in life, many problems, many issues.
Verse 7, why?
And so how does going through pain strengthen your faith?
Well, if you go through problems and you go through issues, a lot of times the natural temptation is to quit serving God, to give up.
Just to say, you know what? Life is too hard. I'm suffering persecution.
I'm suffering issues from following Christ, whatever the issue is, and people just quit.
But you know what will strengthen your faith is when you endure temptation, when you endure problems and you keep serving God.
Why? Because you know that Jesus is coming back because you know that one day you will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, that he will judge your works.
And that the wood, hay and stubble, all those things are going to be burned up, going to be destroyed, are going to be worthless.
But you know what? The gold, the silver, your faith being tried as gold, you know, that those things are going to stand.
Those are going to remain.
And, you know, you can have great joy knowing that, yeah, you know what? Life is hard right now.
I've got problems. I've got issues. I've got a thorn in the flesh.
But you know what? If I just keep going, God is going to reward me greatly for the work that I do for him in the future.
Go to Romans chapter number 10, Romans chapter number 10.
Sometimes God just gives us problems, temptations, trials to try our faith, to see if we will continue to be faithful, serving him,
to see if we're really living this life just to see how comfortable we can make our flesh, how great our life can be in this flesh.
Or are you truly living for the next life? Are you truly living for the spiritual kingdom?
He gives us problems to increase our faith. Romans 10, verse 17 says this.
So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
You know, oftentimes what you do when you're going through problems, trials, tribulations, you know what it does?
Oftentimes it causes you to draw nearer to the word of God.
And, you know, I've even heard people from people recently that have said like, hey, you know, there's been crazy things going on.
There's been all these issues, but it's really caused me to dive deep and to get close to the word of God.
You know, that does that increases your faith. Why? Because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Sometimes God just allows you to go through all these issues so that you'll actually read your Bible.
Because a lot of times, again, you're just living your life. You're not thinking about God. You're not thinking about spiritual things.
But, you know, when you lose your health, you're going to be in the Bible, aren't you?
When you get a call and a loved one is diagnosed with cancer, you know, you're not going to pick up some novel.
You're not going to pick up some some stupid book from Barnes and Noble or whatever.
You know, what you're going to pick up is the King James Bible. You know, what you're going to do is you're going to open up to Psalms.
You know, what you're going to do is you're going to open up to Proverbs.
You know, when you get a when you get a call that your child is in the hospital or your friend's been in a car accident or you've been diagnosed with something terrible or you lost all your money or whatever, you're not turning to Nicholas Sparks.
OK, you're turning to the King James Bible. You're turning to the Lord.
And you know what's going to happen by that is you're going to increase your faith.
I'm going to read for you.
Psalm 119, 71 says this.
It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes.
Man, that is a counterintuitive truth right there, that it is good for us to go through affliction, pain, suffering, problems.
Why? So that we would learn God's statutes.
Why? Because when you go through those things, you drive, you get driven to the word of God.
And so this is why I love the phrase, hey, embrace the suck.
Why? Because it is good for me that I have been afflicted.
And sometimes you just feel like your life sucks. Right.
And that's that's OK. That's normal.
But when your life sucks, you know, you should do you should go to the word of God to increase your faith because, you know, don't just waste your trials.
Don't just waste your afflictions.
I mean, what's the point of going through all this if just you go through trials, you go through tribulations and you just go to the doctor and you just start popping some depression medication?
It's like, how is that helping you spiritually?
How are you gaining anything from that spiritually?
You know, you should do when you're going through problems, trials, afflictions is draw close to God to pray to him, to realize that you need his grace, his mercy, and to read the Bible and to hear his voice.
First Peter Chapter five. Would you turn there?
First Peter five, verse 10, but the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, notice after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you.
How is it that we become perfect Christians?
Not meaning sinless, but meaning just complete, well rounded.
How do we become people that are established, steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, strengthened, settled?
Well, it's after we've suffered a while because it's often suffering that drives us to the Bible, that drives us to be spiritual.
Go to Romans chapter five, Romans five.
Romans five, verse one says, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace, wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also.
You know, this is very similar language to what he said in second Corinthians 12, where he's saying, Hey, I'll just glory in my infirmities.
And here he's saying, we're going to glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation worketh patience.
By the way, don't ever name a church, Patience Baptist Church, unless you want to be given a lot of tribulation because tribulation works patience and patience experience and experience hope.
And what is hope? Hope is a strong faith.
Hope isn't like, well, you know, I hope I'm going to heaven someday.
And it's kind of like a doubt in your mind.
Hope in the Bible is usually like a strong faith, a strong conviction.
And when we go through tribulations, we go through, we get patience, we get experience.
We've been through the problems before. We've seen God carry us through it.
We've seen God carry this church through problems.
We've seen God help us in our personal lives. Answer prayers.
We've seen miracles, you know, healings from God.
Not, you know, laying our hands on someone and swallowing snakes or swords or anything weird like that.
But God just healing someone's body.
That's great. That's a miracle.
And you know what? What that gives us in the future is hope.
But would we ever have that hope if we never had the tribulation?
No, we wouldn't. We'd be spoiled brats.
We'd be prideful. We wouldn't be relying on God.
And we wouldn't have hope for the future tribulations that we're going to go through.
Because here's the truth. You're either in a trial, you're coming out of a trial, or you're about to go into a trial.
That's life.
I saw a funny reel the other day where it just said,
Adulthood is just saying next week things will calm down.
And you just say that every week of your life until you die.
And it's like, yes, this is true, you know.
Oh, next week life will calm down.
Nope, next week your kid will probably break their leg.
Next week life will calm down.
Nope, next week we'll probably have protesters, you know.
It's like, that's just how life is, right?
Just having problems, problem after problem after problem.
But you know what? We go through those problems to have hope that God will get us through those next problems, those next issues.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 1.
Why else do we go through pain? Why else do we go through problems?
Number four, so that we can comfort others.
So that we can comfort others.
Look at 2 Corinthians 1 verse 3.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
Now this could be a little tricky language, but notice what he's saying.
He's saying, look, we're going through tribulation and God is comforting us in that tribulation.
And you know why God is comforting us in tribulation?
So that when our brothers in Christ go through the same thing, we could comfort them with the same comfort that we received of God.
And oftentimes when you're going through problems, just realize, hey, maybe not everything is about you.
Maybe you're not going through these problems necessarily because of you.
Maybe you're going through pain, problems, issues so that you could help someone else when they go through the same thing.
When they lose their job, you say, hey, I've been there. I've lost my job before and I've seen God carry me through it.
When your friend has a miscarriage and you could say, hey, I've been there too. I've been there with you.
When a family member gets cancer and you know, you'd be like, hey, my family members had cancer too.
Whatever the problem is, or hey, when another church gets protested, I could be like, I've been protested too.
It's okay. They'll honk by your house. They won't do anything. You're all right.
You know, why does God allow us to go through these things? Oftentimes it's not even because of us.
It's so that we could help someone else in the future.
And you know, that's not something that people really like to hear, but you know, God wants us to be serving our brothers and sisters in Christ.
And our lives are not just about ourselves. Our lives are about other people.
And often the reason you're going through those things is that you could help your brothers in Christ and your sisters in Christ.
Look at verse number five.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounded by Christ.
And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
You say, why are we being afflicted so that we can comfort you so that you could be physically saved there,
which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings, which we also suffer, saying like, hey, if you just endure it, God will console you.
God will save you. Or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
And you know, if you never went through any sufferings, you'd never be able to be consoled by God.
And you know, that is a special thing to be consoled by the Lord.
And if you've never been through that, then you're not going to be able to console your brothers in Christ when they go through those problems.
Go to Job 23.
Why else do we go through problems, pain, trials, thorns in the flesh?
Number five, to fulfill God's plan, to fulfill God's plan.
Think about Job, right? The story of Job, where he was the most righteous man alive at the time.
He was godly. He hated sin. He loved righteousness.
Yet all 10 of his children died. He lost all of his health.
He's scraping himself with a potsherd, sitting in dust and ashes, having boils all over his body.
His wife is nagging him. I mean, that's that's probably the worst of all of it right there.
He loses all of his money. I mean, just everything is going terrible for Job.
But why? Look at Job 23, verse 8. Behold, I go forward, but he is not there.
He feels like God's presence is gone and backward.
But I cannot perceive him on the left hand where he does work.
But I cannot behold him. He hideth himself on the right hand and I cannot see him.
But he knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
My foot hath held his steps. His way have I kept and not declined.
Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips.
I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
You know, why did Job have to suffer? Why did Job have to have his life destroyed by the devil?
Well, maybe it's so that untold millions of people could read the Book of Job and see a man endure temptation,
endure problems, all the while remaining his integrity, continuing to obey the Bible,
not turning aside from God's commandments to the left hand or to the right,
and esteeming God's words more necessary than his physical food, even while his life is destroyed.
And notice how he's feeling. He's feeling like God is gone.
He's like, I'm looking for him behind me, before me, to the left, to the right. I can't find him anywhere.
It seems like God's hiding his face from me. But he says, you know what? God knows the way that I take.
He's saying, I believe that God has a plan for this, even though in the moment he feels like God isn't even there.
That's crazy. And he's saying, you know what? I just believe that when I go through this trial,
that I'm going to come forth as gold, that there has to be a purpose in this pain.
There has to be a reason. There has to be a plan that God is working here.
And he's like, you know what? Even though I don't understand it, I'm not going to go from God's commandments.
I'm going to esteem the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
And so why did Job suffer like that? Maybe so that untold millions of people would look to him as an example,
and would be able to read the book of Job when we're going through problems, when we feel like God's presence is far from us,
when we don't understand why we're going through so many issues, problems, trials.
And we just say, you know what? I just believe that I'm going to come forth as gold.
And even if I don't understand it, even if I don't know where God is right now, I'm still not going to decline from God's commandments.
I'm still going to esteem his words more than my food. Go to 2nd Corinthians 5, 2nd Corinthians 5.
Think about the Lord Jesus Christ. Why did Jesus have to suffer?
I mean, Jesus is God in the flesh. Jesus never sinned. Jesus deserved none of the pain and suffering and problems that he endured.
Jesus never deserved to get mocked by the very people that he created, by the very people that he died for.
Jesus never deserved to get spit in his face, to have his beard plucked out, to have a crown of thorns placed on his head,
to be put on a cross, being suspended by nails through his hands and through his feet,
getting pierced by a spear and burning in hell for three days and three nights. Jesus never deserved any of that.
Why did Jesus have to go through that? Well, it was to fulfill God's plan, wasn't it?
2nd Corinthians 5, 21. For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
You know, why did Jesus have to suffer? Why did he have to become sin?
You know, dying for all the sins of the world, our brains can't even comprehend what that is like.
You know, all just the sick, twisted, disgusting sins that have happened in this world from the foundation of it up till the end.
You know, all the sins of child trafficking, of torturing people, of murder and warfare, of all these disgusting things.
And Jesus Christ became sin. Jesus Christ became a curse on the cross for us. Why did he have to suffer that?
Well, maybe so that untold multitudes would have their sins forgiven and be saved and spend eternity in heaven that we didn't deserve it.
Why did Jesus have to suffer? Well, to fulfill God's plan. That's why. And in our lives, it's often the same thing.
Why do we have to suffer? You know, oftentimes we don't know. But the truth is God could be working a plan in our lives.
Go to Hebrews chapter number 12, Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12 verse 2, the Bible says,
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
You know, what a contradiction that the sinless Lamb of God became sin for us.
And he's saying, hey, consider that lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
You know, when you're going through something and you don't understand why, don't quit, don't faint, don't be weary, because you know what?
You weren't sinless and died for sinners. That's a lot more of a contradiction than whatever you're going through.
Verse 4, ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin like the Lord Jesus Christ did, dying for sin.
You know, think about other men. Why was Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Why did they go through their problems?
Why were they cast into a burning, fiery furnace when they did what was right?
When they decided, no, I'm not going to bow. I'm not going to worship the devil with these people.
And what did they get as a result of that? Blessings? No, problems in their life, issues, kind of a big one, like being thrown into a burning, fiery furnace.
But why did they do that? Maybe so that untold millions of people can read the book of Daniel and say, you know what?
I'm going to do what's right. I'm going to maintain my integrity, even if everyone's standing against me, even if the consequence is death.
You know, we can look to people that literally were willing to face death and see God deliver them out of that.
You know, that gives us great faith. But during the time, they're probably thinking, why was this happening?
Well, God had a plan for what they were happening, for what was happening to them.
And, you know, just think about it. In our life, we often think about, why am I suffering?
Why am I constantly going through problems? Why am I sick? Why am I having financial problems?
Why did I lose my loved one? Why did this person that I love so much get cancer?
Why did we lose this person? Well, you know, I don't necessarily know, but God knows.
God knows. And oftentimes there is a purpose in our pain. There is a plan that God has for us in our lives.
Go to Romans chapter number eight, Romans chapter number eight.
Romans eight, verse twenty six says, Romans eight twenty six.
Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings, which cannot be uttered.
You know, sometimes we've got infirmities and we don't even know how to pray.
We don't even know how to come to God and talk about these things.
But the Bible says that the Spirit of God helps us, that he intercedes,
that he translates, if you will, with groanings that cannot be uttered.
Verse twenty seven, and he that searcheth the hearts and knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,
because he maketh intercession for the saints, according to the will of God.
And verse twenty eight says this, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose.
You know, this is one of the greatest promises in the Bible.
And people often abuse this or misquote this and just say that all things work together for good.
That's not true. But the truth is, all things work together for good to them that love God
and to them who are the called according to his purpose.
All things work together for good for Job, because Job actually his faith was tried and he did come forth as gold.
God delivered him out of it. God restored his children.
God restored his health. God restored his wealth.
And God used his story to help Christians even today in twenty twenty four.
Right. God helped Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
You know, God did work all things together for good to the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered not in vain,
but so that untold multitudes can be saved.
And it's the same thing for us. Whatever pain, whatever problems we're going through, if you love God,
if you love God, all those things will work together for good.
You know, I think about I wonder how many Christians maybe their life, their life could have gone two ways.
You know, you think about people that are really gifted athletically.
And usually people that are gifted athletically when they're young,
they're just obsessed with that sport or that task that they're doing.
And they want to grow up and be a professional football player, basketball player, golfer, whatever.
But I wonder sometimes, like, maybe God just takes that young kid, that young soul winner,
and maybe just gives him some sort of injury, which at the time things like, oh, this is terrible.
This is some sort of problem. This is infirmity in the flesh.
But really, it was God working all things together for good for that person,
because maybe their life would have gone towards something like that and their life would have been just meaningless.
Their life would have been just making money for themselves, getting glory for themselves.
But instead, whatever problem prevented them from going down that route,
maybe they would have then served God with their life, then became a soul winner, then done something for God.
And that thing that you looked at as a problem or an issue,
was actually God working all things together for good for you and for him.
Let's go to 2 Corinthians 12, last place. We'll go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 12.
2 Corinthians 12 verse 7 says,
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 buffet me,
lest I should be exalted above measure.
For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect in 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 distresses for Christ's sake.
For when I am weak, then am I strong.
So, you know, as we go through problems in our lives and issues and persecutions,
you know, it's OK to pray to the Lord and ask God to remove those things from us.
But at the end of the day, if we realize that, hey, this isn't going away, God wants me to have this problem,
we should be willing to endure that. We should be willing to have the spiritual maturity like Paul that just says,
hey, you know what, I'll just take pleasure in these infirmities that the power of Christ can rest upon us.
Why? Because when we are weak in our flesh, then we are strong through Jesus Christ.
Let's have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you for this day.
Thank you for the problems that you do give us in our lives, Lord.
We know they're not meaningless, but just pray that we would take advantage of them by drawing closer to you,
humbling ourselves, deciding to use those to comfort others in the future.
And I just pray that you would help us all to realize that you have a plan for our lives
and that we would decide to stick close to you and to your will.
We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right. Our last hymn this morning will be number 316.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
Hymn number 316. 3 1 6.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
316 there on the first.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
No turning back. No turning back.
Though none go with me, still I will follow.
No turning back. No turning back.
The world behind me, the cross before me.
No turning back. No turning back.