1830. The Transformation of the Believer, Part 2

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Today's sermon is the second part of an evangelistic message preached by evangelist Dr. Steve Pettit. 2 Corinthians 12, and here Paul is describing two transformative experiences that he went through in his life.

The first transformation or transformative experience that he went through was an experience of exaltation. The Bible here is explaining an experience that the Apostle Paul had that you and I have never ever had. And that is he had an experience and he didn't know if it was out of the body or in the body. By the way, most of you have had out-of-body experiences. That's called sitting in class.

And suddenly you go somewhere else and then you come back when the class is over, when the class is finished. All right, you understand that. But he had an out-of-body experience or in the body.

He doesn't know. But the scripture says here he was caught up into heaven and he saw things and things were revealed to him that in essence nobody else had ever experienced. Now when did this take place? Well, Paul says it was about 14 years before he wrote 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians was written about 55 to 56 A.D. So it was right around 41 A.D. So where would Paul have been in 41 A.D.?

Well you can back up in a timeline. Jesus was crucified and resurrected about 30 A.D. The Apostle Paul was saved about 33 A.D. For three years he was in the Arabian desert taught by the Lord and in 36 A.D. he went to the city of Jerusalem for two weeks where he met with Peter and James the brother of the Lord and then from there he went back to his home in Tarsus in the in the area known as Cilicia. And he was there from about 36 A.D. to 46 A.D. when a fellow named Barnabas came and brought him back or brought him to the city of Antioch and that's where we see Paul beginning his ministry as he goes out on his missionary journeys.

So between 36 and 46 A.D. were the silent years of his life. He was in the city of Tarsus and this was written right in the middle of that time or this experience took place right in the middle of that time the silent years. And the experience that he had was very unique. He was called up to the third heaven.

But let me say that the experience was not without precedence. In other words certain chosen men in the Bible had visions and they had dreams. Men like Abraham, Jacob, Joseph.

Joseph had dreams. Moses, Gideon, Solomon, the prophets Isaiah. He saw the Lord high and lifted up. Ezekiel saw the wheel. Daniel, the whole book of Daniel, you read about the visions and the revelations that Daniel had.

Amos, Zachariah. We come to the New Testament. We know Peter had a vision.

A sheep came down from heaven with unclean animals on it while he was praying. We know John wrote the book of the revelation. It was a vision. And of course Paul himself had a number of visions. He was in the city of Troas and he saw a man of Macedonia calling him to come over and to preach. He was in the city of Corinth and had a night vision where the Lord encouraged him that God had many people in the city.

So when you go back in the Bible there were lots of people who had dreams and visions. And the point I'd like to make is this that certain special and godly men who sought God in prayer throughout the Bible were given the special privileges of seeing God. What is the transformative experience that really changes your life? It is when you see the Lord. And where do you see the Lord? You see the Lord in the pages of the scripture. How is it that we go through a transformative experience? How is it that we experience the glory of the Lord?

It is in the reading of the Word of God. Folks, you can be a Christian for years and rarely grow until you begin to see the glory of God in the reading of the Bible. I remember very clearly my sophomore year of college. I mentioned it the other night that that was the most transformative year of my life in the beginning of my Christian life because it was that year I started reading the Bible. I was in a secular college. I was surrounded by unbelievers. But every morning I would get up and I would start reading my Bible at seven o'clock and I would spend about an hour in Bible reading and prayer before I would go to class. And it was in those wee morning of the hours as I would read the scripture, God would speak to me. I would see the Lord in the scripture and the Lord began to work in my life. You see that's the way transformation works. We're commanded to be transformed, but he has to do the work.

How do I do that? I do that by seeing the glory of God. Just like Moses saw the glory of God on the Mount of Sinai and he came down and his face was glowing from being in the presence of the Lord. When you and I spend time in the Bible, there's this experience of exaltation. I'm in the presence of the Lord. You don't have to go to the third heaven to experience the glory of God. All you have to do is go to the Bible.

By the way, that's where you're supposed to say amen. How do you change? You have to read your Bible. Now let me tell you something. You can know you're supposed to change. You can know you're supposed to be transformed, but if you don't read your Bible, you're not going to change.

You come to Bob Jones University. You want to change? You want to change? You want to change?

Will somebody say yes? Amen. Then read your Bible and if you will seek the Lord, you will see the Lord in the pages of the scripture. And as you read the word of God, what do you do? You see your God. And so if I could say it this way, like Paul had an experience of exaltation.

So you and I, by spending time in the word of God, can literally have our lives transformed. So that's the first experience. But then there's a second experience and that's found going back to 2 Corinthians 12 verse 7. And here we see the second experience of the way we're transformed and that's an experience of humiliation. Look at what he says in verse 7. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. God is saying, Paul, you've gone through this experience, which is an amazing experience, and it would be easy for you to become conceited. The idea here of being conceited is not only being puffed up, but the implication is that you have a tendency to disparage other people. You understand this. I'm smart, you're... I'm strong, you're... Yeah.

I'm rich, you're... That's human nature. And God is saying, Paul, you have been exalted, but for you to be transformed, you also need to be humbled. And God took him through a process of humiliation.

And how did he do that? The Bible tells us here that God gave Paul a thorn in the flesh, and that thorn in the flesh was the means or the tool or the process through which God would transform him. Where he would, through the power of God, have a whole new way of thinking. Remember, be transformed by the renewing of your mind, the way that you think. You read your Bible, you read your Bible, your mind is renewed. But you also go through suffering in your life, and you're also transformed through that suffering. So God took Paul through a transformational process.

And every one of us sitting here tonight are going to go through a transformational process, the experience of humiliation. So what's that process? And I want to just briefly give you the process.

It's very simple to remember. You can write it down because it's something you're going to experience if you're a true believer. It is the process by which God transforms us. And that process begins, first of all, and I'll begin with the word pain. Paul said it this way, to keep me from being conceited because of the greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. The word thorn here means some kind of serious trouble and difficulty, something that is painful.

And he says it's a thorn in the flesh. Now, what does he mean by the flesh? Well, when you read the New Testament, you discover that the word flesh is used in different ways. For example, sometimes it can refer to the human body. Job said, in my flesh, I shall see God. Secondly, it can refer to human strength. That is my own self effort.

We would say a DIY religion, do it yourself. Paul said, having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh, by your own self effort? And then thirdly, the word flesh refers to sinful, corrupt human nature. And so Paul says, for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. So Paul said a thorn in the flesh was given him.

So which one is it? Is it his body? Was it a physical problem? Was it his sinful nature, a temptation? Was it his sense of weakness and inability? What is the thorn in the flesh?

Well, actually, we don't know. We could say it's all of the above. It's something that's come into my life that is incredibly painful, a pain point. It could be a physical problem. It could be a relational problem, a person who has come into your life. And that person or that physical problem or that issue or that stress or that pressure that has come into your life has affected you. It has affected you emotionally. It has affected you mentally. It has affected you spiritually. And let me say this tonight, you can't separate them all. You can't say your emotions here, your spiritual life is here, and your mind is here.

It doesn't work that way. We're all holistically together. So I can struggle in my body and struggle in my mind and struggle in my emotions and struggle in the spiritual part of my being. And then on top of all of those things, Paul tried, but he couldn't get over it.

His own self-effort just didn't work. But I want to take it a little step further, for the thorn received a greater clarification of its effects on Paul because the Bible says it was a means by which Satan harassed him. Satan beat him down. It was a means by which Satan spoke into his life. Believe me, my friend, God can speak into your life and so can Satan. And through pain points, oftentimes we struggle mentally and emotionally and we go through these things in our life and Satan begins to speak into your life. But what I want you to note is Paul is saying that this is the means by which you're transformed.

This is the way. It is a way of suffering. Think with me a moment when Jesus was crucified. He was nailed to a cross and a crown of thorns was placed on his head.

And before there was a resurrection, there was a crucifixion. The pathway to transformation is always through the thorns. And so a thorn in the flesh was given to him. And I want to say to all of you, a thorn in the flesh is going to be given to you. But I want to ask this question, is it a guarantee that your life will be transformed because you have a thorn in the flesh?

Is it a guarantee? The answer is absolutely not. Because oftentimes our reactions to the thorn in the flesh actually come out of our own sinful heart. So instead of being humbled, we become proud. Instead of becoming thankful, we become angry and we become bitter.

All of a sudden, our emotions are aroused. And instead of crucifying our sinful desires, they become very much alive. Jesus said to Peter, he said, Peter, Satan hath desired you that he may sift you as wheat. When you and I are tempted, there's always two sides to a temptation.

It's like a coin, a heads and a tails. On one side, there is the work of Satan. On the other side, there's the work of God. God wants to build you up through the temptation.

Satan wants to tear you down. And so all of us here are involved in the transformation. Did he not say you be transformed? Did he not command you to do something? And yet, on the other hand, God's got to help us and God's got to empower us. But you have to do something.

You have to respond correctly. So that leads to the second point in the process. And that is we go from pain to prayer. Look at what Paul says in verse eight. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice three times that it might depart from me. Three times Paul pled that God would take away the thorn in the flesh. By the way, that's the most natural thing to do. I have this thorn, God please remove it.

I want it out of my life. And why is it that we pray? Why do we pray? Because we recognize prayer is the means by which God changes things.

But the question is, what is it fundamentally that needs to change? Let me ask you a question. How many times did Jesus pray for the cup of suffering to be removed from him? In the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed three times, but in his prayer he also said, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. Jesus confessed his desire to be delivered from the wrath of God. And yet at the same time, he surrendered to the will of God. Prayer changes things. But in this case, the change was actually in the way Paul was thinking. You see, when you and I go through pain points in our life, we all think that the way that we overcome it is that God removes it.

But in reality, there's something else that God wants to do. He wants to change the way that you think because God's goal in the purpose of the thorn was to transform Paul into a humble man. Think about the one who is exalted to go to heaven was also the one who still had a sin nature and still had to learn humility.

All of us still have to learn humility. What was Paul desiring in his request? Was he aligning himself with the will of God? Well, we know the natural way of thinking is the problem is the thorn.

If I have the thorn removed, I will be better off. However, God's ways are not our ways and God's thoughts are not our thoughts. And God's intention in Paul was to change Paul. He was to transform Paul. So what was the purpose of prayer?

It was not so much to get the thorn out of his life, but it was to get Paul in a place where he was completely aligned with the purposes of God. That's what prayer is all about. Prayer is always pursuing God. God, what is your will? I know many of you are going to go through many experiences where you will experience a breaking in your life, pain points in your life, and you're going to fall before God and ask God to take it away.

And in some cases God will, but in some cases God will not. And the whole point of prayer is that I am yielding to God's control. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. God, I'm giving up my way.

I'm giving up my rights. I want to be in a place, God, where I am satisfied with you, regardless of the circumstances. Prayer is the starting place where God begins to change my thinking. My wife said to me one day, she said, sweetheart, I am so glad you pray. I said, why?

She says, because when you come out of the prayer closet, you're a whole lot easier to live with than when you went into the prayer closet. You want transformation. It's not going to be by self-effort.

You can't do it. It is in that secret, if I could say, almost that mysterious spiritual place where you come to God and you bring these pain points and you cast yourself upon the Lord. And that's the second step in the process.

But notice the third step. And Paul tells us in verse nine, and he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

The third step in this process is the word power. Paul said, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my power is made perfect. My strength is made perfect in weakness.

God said he would not remove the thorn, but he would give Paul sufficient grace. What is grace? Grace is divine enablement. It is the supernatural ability to do that, which I cannot naturally do by myself. I can't overcome this by myself.

That's why I go back to be transformed. He's commanding you to do something you can't do by yourself. God's got to do this. And so what is grace? Grace says, I can't, but God can. And he says, my grace is enough. It is adequate. It is sufficient.

It puts you in a place where you can be satisfied and content. He has said, my grace is more than enough. God's grace is more than enough for every pain point in your life. But then notice he says, not only will he give you sufficient grace, but God says, I will give you, Paul, perfect power. For my strength is made perfect in weakness. The word strength is the word power.

It's the word, you probably heard it before, dunamis, it is divine ability. It's a synonym for grace. In other words, when you think of power, think of grace. When you think of grace, think of power.

The two go together. And he says that my strength, my power is made perfect in weakness. What does the word perfect here mean? It doesn't mean sinless or without mistakes. It's the idea of accomplishing or fulfilling something.

Let me say it this way. God makes something happen in you through your weakness that can never happen without God's working. God makes something happen in you. God's power works in me through my weakness. God's power works or accomplishes something in me that is being used through the weakness.

And what is happening is as I go through this point in my life and I surrender to God, all of a sudden, I begin to realize God is enabling me to do what I cannot do naturally. I'm not naturally humble. I'm not naturally not reactionary.

I mean, let's face it, the pain is hard. I want to respond. I want to react. I want to blow up. I want to become bitter. I want to become angry. I want God to take it away, but I can't do that.

And I can't change. But God takes me to this place of surrender to him. And we use another word that describes it. And it's the word brokenness. God breaks me over my own self-will, and God empowers me to be humble and to trust him. That's the means of transformation. Paul realized what God was doing. The thorn brought him to a place where God gave him power and grace to overcome both the thorn and his own pride through humble dependence. And that leads me to the last thing. And that is that you can know all this and not be fully transformed because there's one more point, and that is the point of praise.

Look at what he says in verse 10. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses. He's just described five different pain points. Infirmities are physical, reproaches are verbal, necessities are financial, persecutions are spiritual, and distresses, distresses can be national like COVID was a very distressing time. It can be war like what's going on in Ukraine.

It can be all kinds of national issues that we are facing distressing times. Notice what he says, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong. I am become a fool in glorying.

That is, what did he do? He boasted in his weakness. He praised God for his pain. He says, I will boast.

I will express a high degree of confidence in the Lord and I will do it all the more gladly. Not that he happily enjoys it all, but he has come to the point to understand that this is what God is using in his life to transform him and he is thanking God and he is praising God and this is when you've gone through the process. Now let's be honest, to go from pain to praise usually doesn't happen in the first 30 minutes. It's a process and God takes all of us through this process and through this process, we are transformed. So what do you have to do? You have to trust the process. You have to trust God.

So what are the pain points in your life? What is God doing? God is doing something. You need to get on your knees and surrender to God and seek God and pray and it may take you a while and it may take you more than one time with God.

It may take you a long time. In some ways, it could take weeks in your life of just daily surrendering to God because you still have to live with the pain point and God will give you power. God will enable his broken, humble servant to be able to continue on joyfully and be content and in the end, I will be able to praise God and thank God for all that he's doing in my life. So how are we transformed? He's commanded us, be transformed. We have an experience of exaltation. We see the glory of the Lord. How do we see the glory of the Lord?

We see it in the word of God. The best time of my day is when I get up in the morning. I get up in the morning every morning, do the exact same thing. I wake up, I make coffee. You can be saved without coffee, but it's hard to be spiritual. You wake up and you get coffee. I take a shower to wake up because for me, waking up in the morning is not bouncing out of bed.

It is resurrecting from the dead. And once I'm ready, I go in, make my coffee, sit down and I spend the first hour of the morning sitting down and I spend the first hour of my day in the word of God. That's my high point. Some days it goes downhill real fast, but that's the high point. That's the glory. That's the exaltation. That's seeing the Lord. That's how God changes you.

But then there's also the experience of humiliation. God is going to allow in your life pain points and God's going to use that in your life. And we can pray for God to take him away. Jesus did it, Paul did it, but that pain will lead me to a place of prayer and that prayer is a point of surrender. And while I pray, that is where God gives me power. That is where he gives me sufficient grace to endure and to continue on. And then in the end, I begin to praise him for what he's doing in my life. And that's when I'm being transformed.

Be ye transformed. Now, Lord, you know everyone in this building, nobody in this building you do not know. You know our hearts, you've made our hearts. I thank you, Lord, that you live in the hearts of so many in this building. And Lord, may this be a time of deep surrender and deep yielding of our lives to you. And we pray and ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. You've been listening to a sermon preached by evangelists Dr. Steve Pettit. Thanks for listening and join us again next time as we study God's word together featuring speakers from Chapel Services at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina.