manner. I machine gun shot it
all this out and I tried to go back through and listen I thought
well is that even possible to follow because I realized I had
so much down to cover that it was not able I was not able to
get it and you know when we first started out this Wednesday night
Romans some I don't know, a year ago or better, I was going to
do it in like manner of the Revelation study where we read a large chunk,
we dealt with the theological principle. And we've done that
in several places, but in places like this where the doctrine
is rich and necessary, I don't want to do it an injustice by
running through it. And so we have for chapters 6,
7, and 8 really taken more time than I expected. Though had we
been expositing these things over and over and over again,
we would have been definitely a lot less further than we are
today. To think we've gone 88 chapters
in 44 weeks is a lot quicker than we've been doing with the
Gospel of John. And not to compare the preaching, but even then,
we're going a little bit faster than I would like, but maybe
the Lord will give me time in the future to to recover some
of the things that we might not miss but not spend as much time
on so in chapter 8 verse 12 we see the word of the Lord says
so then brothers we are not debtors we are debtors not to the flesh
to live according to the flesh for if you live according to
the flesh you will die but if by the spirit you put to death
the deeds of the body you will live For all who are led by the
Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit
of slavery in order to fall back into fear, but you have received
the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children,
then we are heirs. Heirs of God and fellow heirs
with Christ, provided we suffer with him, in order that we also
may be glorified with him. Verse 19, or verse 18, for I
consider that the sufferings of this present time are not
worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. So I'm gonna stop there, I didn't
wanna get in verse 19, that's the reason I said it. But as
we look at this, we are in a transition here that Paul has already called
out a couple of things. First, Paul has called out that
we have the Spirit of God. So as Christians, we all share
in the same Spirit. We've been given the guarantee,
as Paul would say in Ephesians 1, of our inheritance, the guarantee
of our hope, which is the sealing of the Holy Spirit, and that
God has put himself in us. How does that work? What is that?
We don't really know how it works because God has not given us
the instruction manual on how he does what he does. He just
teaches us that it is so. We also see that we are adopted.
We are sons and daughters. We've been set apart. We are
holy. All of these things are true.
We have crucified with Christ. So as Paul would say, it is not
I who live, but Christ who lives within me. And because we are
found in Christ, as we've seen, we are holy because Christ is
holy. Because we are found in Christ, because Christ died,
we have also died with him. Because Christ was raised to
life, Paul then begins to say the power that raised Christ
from the dead will also raise our what? Mortal bodies. You see, that is one of the reasons
we believe in a resurrection from the dead because Paul teaches
it in numerous places in his writing that God will, as Christ
was raised in the flesh, also give life to our mortal bodies
in the day of Christ. This is an explicit teaching
of the scripture and I'm certain that it is something that will
come. for us one day. Because Christ is the one and
only Son of God, we who are in Christ are also the children
of God. And because we are the children
of God, that is where Paul then goes here, we have the same inheritance
that Christ does. What does that look like? What
does that mean for us? Well, there's a lot of things.
This could be a 20 minute sermon this evening, but who knows how
long I might talk. But because we are the inheritance
of God, because we have an inheritance that is in Christ, we are alive
as Christ is alive. So everything that Christ has
shown us and done for us, we share in Him. What does that
mean? It means that we shall never
die in Christ, though our mortal bodies will die, though we are
going to suffer in this world as Paul segues very clearly into,
in a moment, we will never die spiritually. We are not going
to face the wage of sin. We will not be under the condemnation
of God, which is why he says that very clearly in the first
verse of this chapter. We shall never die, just as Christ
will never die again. Our flesh, then, will be made
alive as Christ's flesh has been made alive. So this is part of
this future inheritance that we know about. This is what we're
supposed to be considering in all of the things that the scripture
teaches us. If I went through them all, I mean, we could stay
here a couple of evenings and go through all the promises of
God. Where Paul would tell the church of Ephesus, we have all
spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. So we will never die,
our flesh will then also be made alive because Christ has been
made alive. And in that, Christ does not fear. Christ, though
he anguished over the reality of death, though he anguished
over the cup of wrath that he was to drink for the Father,
he never feared death because he knew the Father. He understood
that the promises of God were yea and amen and that therefore
he would not have to, even in his flesh, be overcome by fear. Because as we've seen even last
week, the Holy Spirit of God is the comforter. What is it
that we need comforting from? We need comforting from this
world. We need comforting from our flesh that still wars against
the Spirit. We need comfort in times of calamity. We need comfort in times of sickness.
We need comfort in times of a weak faith. We need comfort in times
of temptation. Whatever it means, as far as,
whatever opportunity rather, comes where we would need comfort,
God the Holy Spirit will give us comfort. Now, sometimes it
seems as though we cannot find it. Sometimes it seems as though
the hardship will never end, but even when it seems unbearable,
recognize that God the Holy Spirit is actually giving us comfort
at that time. We are not holding the fullness
of temptation. We are not being overcome by
flesh. We are not being overcome by
unbelief. Though the body can be killed, only God can throw
the soul into hell. So even then, we who even in
fear, seemingly doubt, are being kept by the promises and the
power of God. We are not in fear. And we are
not called to the mandate of do and then you will live. And
this is just a review of what Paul has already said. We are
not called to the mandate do and then you will live. We're
not called to the mandate obey and you shall see life. We are
called to the mandate that Christ alone is life. Christ alone obeyed. Christ alone is our righteousness
and our wisdom and our sanctification from God. Christ has done all
that is required for us that we might be called the sons and
the daughters of God. And so in all of this, we know
that we are more than conquerors, Paul will say, at the end of
this chapter. But in the middle of all that,
he wants to elaborate a little bit on this thing that we call
suffering. On this thing that we call suffering. We are not in fear, we are not
called to do and live, but we have been called to life by Christ,
and therefore we can do that which Christ has called us to,
primarily that we can trust in His work, in His person, in His
power, in the midst of any type of suffering. One day we will
be certain to be with the Lord. We will surely see Him face to
face and we will surely be alive eternally, well not eternally,
forevermore from that point and forever we shall be fully alive
as He is fully alive when we are like Him. And beloved, this
is what we long for. I know a lot of times we get
to a place in life where we long for the temporal heaven. We long
for just the presence of Christ. as Paul did in his suffering.
But God the Holy Spirit in Paul allowed him to endure, allowed
him to rejoice in suffering, allowed him to stand in a place
where he said, to live is Christ, but to die is far better. So
if we live in the body, we live for the sake of Christ. If we
die in this body, then we get to be with Christ. So either
way, whether we live or die, it is for Christ. And because
it is for Christ, get this, because it is for Christ, it is for our
sake, for the sake of one another. We come to a place in this world,
in this life as believers, where we begin to understand the essence
of suffering is not because of the calamity and the wickedness
of the world, but moreover, it is because of God's sovereignty.
Because our flesh will be made alive, we recognize that the
things that befall us this moment, this season, in the flesh are
not permanent. Paul cries in his lamenting of
2 Corinthians chapter 4 to such a degree, but what does the lamenting
bring? The lamenting brings rejoicing.
Rejoicing that's absurd. Rejoicing that seems foolish
in the context of our logic and reason. rejoicing that the average
person, who even with an intellectual knowledge of Christian things,
without the Spirit of God, cannot grasp the magnitude of what suffering
actually does in the life of the Christian. But this is what
we long for. Though now we suffer, we long
for the day when we will be like Christ. When we hurt, we look
toward the day that we will hurt no more. when we are seemingly
destroyed, Paul says we are not, for God has not forsaken us.
As a matter of fact, as a way of testing our hearts and getting
them in line with what it is that Paul is trying to express
here, let's hear the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter
4. If you have your scripture, copy of your scripture, go there
and let's hear what the Lord has to say. He talks about in
the very beginning of that chapter that there are many who cannot
see the gospel of grace. They cannot see the power of
God and the salvation for as Paul says in 116 of this text.
of Romans for I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power
of God unto salvation and many cannot see it and Paul is not
discouraged or in despair because of that for he says that those
who are unable to see have been blinded by the God of this world
to keep them from seeing the light of the glory of God but
he says in verse 6 but God who said let light shine out of darkness
has shown in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge
of God in the face of Jesus Christ and then he goes on to say that
We have this treasure, verse 7, in jars of clay in order to
show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
Now think about that for a moment. Paul says that his life, his
body, is like a jar of clay. Now, many of us don't understand
what clay jars are like, but as someone whose wife enjoys
flowers and pots and herbs and things of that nature, we have
a large supply of in use and secondary clay pots. And all
it takes is a little rap with your ring and they crack. You
set them down wrongly on a cement patio and they just break into
pieces. The dog runs by and whacks it with his tail and they break
very easily. But yet they have the sturdiness
to sustain large amounts of dirt and heavy trees. Even if they're
stacked together you can stand on them but if you jar them they
crush under their own weight. They're very fragile to have
some strength. Paul uses this object as an express
metaphor of his own flesh. That he is nothing but a jar
of clay that if the lightest touch against a sharp object
or against an edge, he would crack and break under its pressure.
And there would be nothing left of him but a broken vessel. But
this is what he says, nonetheless. And he says that it's like this,
so that, in order that the unsurpassing, excuse me, that the surpassing
power is shown to belong to God. See, we live in a day and age,
beloved, that we're told, even from our youth, you need to be
strong, you need to be mighty, you need to be powerful, you
need to have a strong will, you need to strive for greatness.
But yet the Scripture teaches the exact opposite. The Scripture
teaches for the Christian that in the weakness of our flesh,
God is the strongest. The Scripture teaches that in
the brokenness of our mind, that the wisdom of Christ is established
all the more. Paul, who was a wonderful somebody
as a Pharisee, became an absolute nobody as a Christian. And he
says all that he ever was and all that he ever learned and
all that he ever obtained, was garbage. He even uses a term
that is very akin to manure in comparison to the priceless gain
of knowing Christ His Lord. So in this suffering, we see
what? That it is to show the power
of God. Then Paul goes on to say in verse
8, what does this suffering look like? Some people say, oh, poor
Paul, he lost some friends. Wah, wah. Oh, cry me a river,
let me get my violin out. Oh, poor Paul, he lost some income. Whoop-de-doo. Oh, poor Paul,
he lost his house. Well, that's pretty bad. Oh,
poor Paul, he was arrested for nothing. Oh, poor Paul, he was
beaten twice, 40 minus 1. Oh, poor Paul, he was stoned.
Oh, poor Paul, he was shipwrecked. Oh, poor Paul, who was seen innocent,
was arrested and kept under arrest for two years because he had
appealed to Caesar. Oh, poor Paul. Paul has suffered
greater than any other man than Christ. Other than Christ, there
is no person who has lived this life for the sake of Christ who
has suffered like Paul. And it's not just because we
see it in the narrative of history, but we see that God sustained
him for many decades so that he might continue to be an apostle
to the apostles. and planting churches throughout
Palestine and Asia Minor. And we see that God never allowed
him to be martyred until his time was done. Where most people
are martyred very quickly in their faith, Paul lasted a very
long time. Paul says in verse 8, we are
afflicted in every way, but not crushed. We are what? Perplexed, but not driven to
despair. We are persecuted, but we are
not forsaken. We are struck down, but we are
not destroyed. He says we are always carrying
in this mortal body the death of Jesus, so that the life of
Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live
are always being given over to death for the sake of Christ,
so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal
bodies. So death is at work in us. And because of that, now
life is at work in you. Since we have the same spirit
of faith, according to what has been written, I believed and
so I spoke, we also believe and so then we also speak, knowing
that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus
and bring us with you into His presence. For it is all for your
sake. So that as grace extends to more
and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of
God. Now that's an interesting article
there that we see that Paul uses for the sake of his suffering.
He says that in his suffering, he tells the church of Colossae,
he says, I pray that I may fill up what is lacking in the suffering
of Christ, and that is in my body and my flesh, for your sake.
that you may see what is lacking in the suffering of Christ. A
lot of people who cannot understand context and syntax will say that
little pretext means that Jesus' suffering wasn't sufficient.
That's not the point. Jesus' suffering was not present.
His suffering wasn't there. He wasn't perpetually hanged
on a cross so that all could see His moaning and His groaning
and His dying over and over again. But He was raised from the dead
so that they could not see the suffering Savior for He had already
been risen. We who are the saints, as we
suffer in that same way, we reveal the suffering of Christ because
we suffer with a joy that is often inexpressible, as Peter
would say. Obtaining the outcome of our salvation, the salvation
of our souls. Even when our joy is difficult
to see, Christ is our joy. And that in all of that, as more
and more people experience the grace of God itself epically,
it says there that thanksgiving may abound more and more to the
glory of God. To the praise of His glorious
grace is what Paul says to the Ephesians. He says that is the
purpose for which God created the world, that He would set
apart a people for Himself and kill His only Son, that they
might have life eternal. So because all of this is true,
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 16, we do not lose heart. Though
our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed
daily. And then this is where it really gets funny to me. Paul,
in all of his serious and grave tones, had it not been for the
context of his timbre, I would have considered this a little
sarcastic, if not jovial, or somewhat strange. But he says,
for this light momentary affliction, this light momentary affliction,
to Paul, for Paul, in comparison to my life and the pain and the
suffering that I've experienced, To say light momentary affliction
as an adjective to his own suffering makes me wonder why I've ever
complained. Makes me wonder why I ever have one scowl of frustration
on my face. Makes me consider the fact that
there really is no reason to complain in my own life because
if I compare it to the life of Paul, then certainly I really
have no pain. The same would be true if Paul
were to compare his suffering to Christ. And that's what he's
done here. He's looked at the vengeance
and the wrath and the terror and the anger of God that was
poured out upon Jesus Christ so that God could be the just
and the justifier of all who have faith in Christ. And he's
thought to himself, I will never experience the judgment and the
justice of God. I'll never in my innocence be subject to death,
because I deserve to die, for I am not just now a saint, I
am also the chief of sinners," Paul says in the latter part
of his days. So, when comparing his suffering to that of Christ,
the only thing he could say is, wow, it's just like a splinter
under the nail. A little agitating, but a couple
of Mercure Chromes and a Band-Aid will do the trick. He even tells
us several places, he tells his readers, I bear the marks of
Christ on my body, not once but twice. You need to understand
the extent of the suffering that Christ went through. The idea
of crucifixion comes the word excruciating, which means out
of the cross or from the cross. There has been no level of torture
devised of humanity in the history of antiquity that relishes or
comes near the term crucifixion known by the Romans, the practice
of crucifixion, whereby one dies, if not from the pain or the shock
of the beating, they die from asphyxiation, for they gargle
and choke on their own bodily fluids, not just blood, but the
water. And they have to pull themselves
back up, having been pierced in the hands and feet and through
certain nerves in the hands, the hand meaning from the elbow
to the tip of the fingers. and wherever they decided to
put those things, it definitely dealt with the carpal tunnel
mindset that we complain of often. And in order not to suffocate,
you had to drag your body through the nerves of those things and
push up on your feet through those nerves in order to rub
your back against the bare timber of that pole to take a breath. But before they hung you there,
they slashed you 39 times with what would be better had it been
razors, exposing the meat and the muscle of the bone, exposing
sometimes the lungs and the ribs, if not breaking them. So this
is the six hours of agony on the cross, just in the physical
sense that Christ suffered, but that wasn't the extent of the
judgment. It was that He did not deserve
to die. But every man, whoever bears
the name human, deserves justice, deserves death. But Christ took
the penalty of their sins, of His people's sins, on Himself. And when Paul considered what
Christ had endured, he says, in comparison, this light momentary
affliction. Why would he say such a thing?
He says there, light momentary affliction is preparing us is
preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Now let's think about that for
just a moment. In this construction, in this sentence here, and it's
not over, there's a comma there, a breath mark and some other
things that he's going to say as we, this light momentary suffering,
whatever it is, whether it's great as Paul's or not as good
as Paul's, whatever it may be, it may just be internal, it may
be that you have Whatever, there is suffering in the world, as
we'll see as we keep going in Romans 8. Some of it is because
of our relationship with Christ, and some of it is just because
we live in a world where sin and death reign. We see these
things playing out in this world, and the good and the bad and
the ugly, we all suffer likewise, together. But for the believer,
Paul would say it prepares us for an eternal weight of glory.
Now when we are suffering, we contemplate the idea that this
is what? A burden that we cannot bear. A weight that is put upon
our shoulders. Think of this for just a moment.
The weightiness and the heaviness and the frustration and often
the despair that we think we are in, but as children of God
we are not in despair. We are perplexed, but we are
not in despair. The weight of glory is so much
heavier. But the weight of glory is sharing.
And the prominence of Christ. As we look not to the things
that are seen, the visible things, the suffering, the hopelessness,
the frustration, the despair, the persecution, the hatred,
the murder, the killing, the destruction of this world. Ladies
and gentlemen, there is no place in Scripture that ever promises
that the world will get better. It is only promised that we'll
get progressively worse. These people who consider the
world a place that they can improve, or at best naive. Yes, temporal
improvements. Yes, feeding the hungry. Yes,
dealing with temporary things, but it's only a temporary dealing.
It will never be fixed. And where we may swing the pendulum
someplace in our land, in another land it may swing the other way.
But we look not to the things that are seen, Because in those
things, these things, Paul says, are passing away. John says the
same thing in 1 John 2. Do not love the world or the
things of the world for the lust of the eyes, the pride of life,
the pride of possessions are not from God but are of the world.
And the world and everything in it is garbage. It's dead and
it's decaying. It's passing away. But he says,
but look to the things that are unseen. What is unseen? Christ is unseen. Heaven is unseen. Glory is unseen. But it is coming. For the things that are seen
are transient, they are walking through. But the things that
are unseen are eternal. Now back to Romans 8. For now, we suffer. But as we
suffer, verse 16 of Romans 8, the Spirit Himself bears witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children,
then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided
we suffer with Him, in order that we also may be glorified
with Him. Why? Because we are alive. We
are adoptive. We are reassured. We are aligned
with Christ in unity and intimacy spiritually. We've been given
to Christ by the Father. And we then will embrace all
the realities of this union. This is why the prosperity teaching
of so many cults is so demonic. Because it denies the very teaching
of Christ. People who would say, well, you
know, if you have enough faith, God will give you all the money
in the world. If you have enough faith, God will heal everybody you know
of sickness. If you have enough faith, you can live a happy life
in the world's possessions. Why would I want the world's
garbage? The flesh wants the world garbage because the flesh
thinks if I had a big bag of money I could handle the problems.
Oh, and I'm so naive to think if I had a big bag of money I
could handle other people's problems too. Except that that's not the
way it works. A bag of money for food today
becomes a Lamborghini tomorrow. What we need to just cover our
coldness in the midst of a winter becomes us buying snow in the
summer for the pleasure of our skiing. It happens every day. The realities of the union that
we have with Christ includes all the spiritual blessings that
Paul so passionately expresses in his writing to the Ephesians.
He says we have all spiritual blessings in Christ. That means
there is nothing that God has withheld from us. All these things
are contained therein in our unity with Christ. We are heirs
of God and fellow heirs with Christ. And so all the good and
real and spiritual truths of the Bible are ours to claim,
ours to hope in, ours to revisit and recapitulate as our mind
wanders, including all the power of God unto salvation, including
this reality that Paul goes to here in the segue of this teaching,
the brokenness and the weakness of the flesh. And look how he
says that. The Spirit testifies, bears witness,
that we are the children of God, and if children, then we are
indeed the heirs of God, and that means that we are fellow
heirs with Christ, for He is the Son, we are His body, provided
we suffer with Him, in order that we may also be glorified
with Him. Now this is where monasticism has taken a bad turn, where in
certain segments of history, and even today in certain countries,
where people will hurt their bodies, so that they may feel
worthy of glory. They'll starve themselves so
that they might do something to bend the arm of God on their
behalf. Oh, I see you hurting down there.
Okay, I'll bring you to glory. These things are not effectual.
There's no efficacy in the works of the flesh. No one is justified
by the works of the flesh. Not whatsoever. It is only the
work of the flesh of Christ in two ways. Three ways. The work
of the flesh in Christ and absolute obedience as a human being. He
never sinned in word, thought, deed or affection. An absolute
certainty then also of the propitiation of his death and that it satisfied
the wrath of God against God's people. So there is therefore
now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. and
in the absolute certainty of a future glory and a promise
of resurrection, whereby though we are in this flesh today suffering,
we shall not suffer forever. It is only temporary, and that's
what we see in the resurrection of Christ. As Christ was not
guilty of sin, God raised Him from the dead, in the flesh,
and glorified Him. And in the same way, because
Christ has paid for our sin, we also are not guilty of sin
before the Father, because it has been paid for in Christ,
paid in full. It is finished, Jesus said. So
therefore, we will be raised to life. And it doesn't mean
that we have to suffer in order to be heirs. It means that because
we are heirs, we will suffer. Paul tells Timothy in his second
epistle to him, he says, anyone who desires to live a godly life
will be persecuted. And then he says, the grace of
God, which is yours in Christ Jesus, be yours, Timothy. It is yours, so endure, stand
in this affliction, this suffering. By the grace that is yours in
Christ Jesus. Now what does endurance mean?
The very definition of the word implicates the idea that there
is a need to endure. That there is something that
is very much going on that would cause us to want to just give
up. That would cause us to want to retreat. That would cause
us to want to run another direction or renounce our faith or something. Quit the ministry. Quit the marriage. Quit life. But Paul says the
grace is ours in Christ and we endure by the grace of God. Not
by ourselves being fixed within ourselves, but in Christ who
is our hope. Because we are in Him in unity
spiritually, we will suffer with our physical lives. We will see
glorification. And before that, we will suffer.
Now, of course, in this context, Paul is talking about the suffering
that comes with the faith. Like some people that I even
spoke with this morning who are in foreign lands, who can barely
use the name Christ in email, lest the government catch them
and cut off their heads. I can't imagine what that would
be like. I just don't want to be cussed out by the guy in the
sandwich shop or at the gas pump or the grocery store. I don't
want to be berated by the cult leader who sees me with my Bible.
That's just aggravating. But it's not persecution. Yes,
I have family who won't speak to me, who speak ill of me, and
I have friends who have decided, even though they claim to be
in the faith, to have nothing more to do with me and it hurts.
That's not really persecution. But it's akin to it. And so though
there is the suffering that comes because of Christ, and there
are varying degrees of that. It may just be an internal struggle.
I'm so alone in the world. Versus I'm going to die because
of Christ. But that's not all that Paul's talking about. Paul
is also specifically dealing with the nuances of life. With
the daily struggles of just living. Whether it be in the mind, or
in the heart, or in the body. and the soul, or the affections
of this world, or relationships, or finances, or whatever it might
be. Paul is including all of these
sufferings. That's why he goes to talk about
all these different types of things that the creation, as
the trees that are outside. Look at what he says there. He says in verse 19, I mean 18,
For I consider the suffering of this present time not worthy,
comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us. For
the creation wakes with eager longing. So just the waiting
of the trees, if the trees had a conscience. Paul uses this
imagery for us to see that it's not just the fact that we suffer
in the faith, but it's the fact that we just suffer as a created
being. It's just the fact that we suffer in this life because
it's what is normal unto man. and we love to look at the tabloids,
and we love to look at the YouTube, and we love to look at the internet,
and we love to look at the movies, and consider that these people
that sit before us have such a greater life, this voyeurism
of joy, that we think, oh, if I could just do that, we forget
that sitcoms are actors. Many of them do not make it out
their lives without tragedy. There is no such thing as a perfect
life. There is no such thing as a wonderful season of utmost
joy. There is no place in the world
that anybody who has ever lived has not suffered. If God himself
suffered in the flesh, so will we. But we share in the suffering
of Christ when we suffer. And suffering should be viewed
in light of the heart of Christ who suffered for us. Now see,
for the world, and I say the world in contrast to the body
of Christ, the world hears this and they think, that is the most
absurd thing that I've ever seen in my life. Yet when suffering comes, they
cannot take it. They have no perspective through which to
view it. They have no rule to which to measure, no canon of
aggravating their heart and seeing what it is that the suffering
is producing. It is just despair, and I've been there. And many
of you have to. So in the suffering of Christ
and the heart of Christ, we recognize the real and present intimacy
with Christ, not just as he suffered, but that he suffered. In other
words, we can't imagine the suffering that Christ endured. for sin
when he had no sin, but we can be at ease and at peace knowing
that he did suffer. And when Paul writes that we
have a savior who has been tempted in every way, yet he did not
give into temptation, we see the exhortation, which of you
have ever been tempted to the point of shedding your blood?
None of us have. So in this we rejoice. And we
can keep our eyes and our minds on the truth of Christ and His
future inheritance, which is a guarantee. This is glory. Glory. And it's not just here. In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus says
it's not enough. I mean, it is enough for the
disciple to be like his teacher and the servant like his master.
If they've called the master of the house the devil, Beelzebub
is what it says. How much more would they malign
the house, those of his household? If the world hates you, Jesus
says in John 15, know that it has hated me before it hated
you. If you were of the world, the
world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the
world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world
hates you. Remember the word that I said
to you, the master, the servant is not greater than his master. all the persecution of the disciples
during the days of Paul. When Jesus confronts Paul and
saves him divinely on the road to Damascus, he says to Saul,
Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? But when did Saul persecute Christ?
When did Saul defame Christ? When did Saul drive a nail into
Christ? When did Saul whip him? When
did Saul hurt him? When he hurt it, when he hurt
it. When he harmed his people. When he brought pain to the body
of Christ, he brought pain to Christ. Paul tells the Corinthians
even before this fourth chapter in verse 5 of chapter 1 of that
letter, he says, and as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings,
so through Christ we share abundantly in His comfort. I suffer that I may know the
power of His resurrection and share in His suffering so that
I may become like Him in His death. See, through the death
of Christ, beloved, by faith, We believe that His death has
done the work that it is intended to do. It has made us alive in
Him. We have been given to Him. We
are united with Him. And in His death, we have been
made alive so much so that then in our own suffering, we can
look to the suffering of our Savior. Rejoice insofar as you
share Christ's suffering, Peter says, that you also may rejoice
and be glad when his glory is revealed. In closing this sermon
tonight, I don't want to get into all of this other things,
and it's going to be January before we come back to Romans.
The next few weeks, we'll do Q&A. If you have questions, please
ask them. prepare them or ask them on the
spot for the next four weeks, five weeks, four weeks. And then
those of you who watch this or listen to this sermon later who
are not with us tonight, you can submit your questions also.
But in closing, the point is this, that no matter what we
experience in our suffering, no manner of pain, no degree
of weakness, can be compared to the future hope that we await
in Christ Jesus. The revelation of the sons of
God. What does that mean? That means that when we are raised
to life and we are made like Christ, that the whole of the
cosmos will see that it was not for nothing, that it was all
for the sake of the glory of God. just as Jesus kept quiet
and did not speak against his accusers for it was the will
of God that he be crushed for our iniquities in the same way
when we do not give in to complaining with this present suffering.
We learn and grow in our understanding of what the glory of God is all
about. Through it, we experience what Christ experienced to a
small degree. And then beyond it, we will not
just look at the simile of glory, we will share in the perfection
and the essence of glory. Christ has given us His Spirit
so He indwells us. Christ has promised us His inheritance
so we share in Him. He calls us His body so that
what Christ receives, we also receive. What is promised to
Christ is promised to us. For we will experience it with
Him in the fullness thereof for the sake of His own glory. And
beloved, there is no joy that compares to that. Let's pray. We thank you, Father, for comforting
us, for the Holy Spirit coming, working, sealing, drawing, saving, Lord speaking, teaching. All that he does is for the sake
of your name. Help us to rest in the promises
of your word. and the promises of your son,
whose stripes set us free, whose death paid our debt, and whose
life gives us hope. And it's in his name we pray.
Amen.