Now, this passage of scripture
we'll look at this morning has some things to tell us about
suffering, the suffering we go through in this life. Whenever
I read this passage of scripture, I'll tell you a story I always
think about. A little over 14 years ago, on
a Monday, Janet and I closed on our very first house. Wednesday
morning I found out the company I was working for was going to
go bankrupt. Savannah was an infant. Holly had just turned
four. And I thought, oh my goodness.
I come into service Wednesday night just dazed, you know. And I walk in and Henry's standing
there and he said, Frank, why don't you pick us out something
to read tonight? I'd never done that before. And
I looked at him and I said, me? And he said, yeah. And he walked
on just like nothing was wrong. And he probably realized I wasn't
ready for that. And he kind of looked over his
shoulder and he said, last half of Romans 8 is always good. So
I opened up to this passage and read it. And it just spoke to my heart.
It comforted me so much. And that's nothing compared to
what so many go through. It has some instruction for us
to tell us about these sufferings to keep them in perspective.
Because we ended our lesson last week in verse 17. At the end
of the verse, it says, if so be that we suffer with him, that
we may be also glorified together. Christ and his people are one.
When he suffered, we suffered. When he died, we died. When he
rose again, we rose again in him. We're one with him. And
we know that because believers are one with Christ, we'll suffer
for His sake in this world. We live in a place where we don't
fit in. We don't have the nature of this
world. We're going to suffer sorrow, disappointment. We'll
ultimately suffer sickness and death. We'll suffer because we
live in a body of sin. We live in a world of sin. We
live in a world that hates us. We'll suffer the effects of sin.
So what about these sufferings? What does scripture tell us about
these sufferings? Well, verse 18, Paul says, for
I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us. Now, the only way we can get an accurate view of these
sufferings, the sufferings of this life, is to do what Paul
does and compare them with the glory that will have in a life
after this one, in the glory that we'll have when we're with
Christ on the other side of this life. Now, Paul's not minimizing
trials. He's not minimizing the sufferings
that we go through. Not at all. They're hard. They
wouldn't accomplish the purpose that God sent them to do if they
weren't hard. If they weren't hard, they wouldn't
be a trial. If they weren't hard, we couldn't call them sufferings.
In Scripture, when it talks about our sufferings, It talks about
trials in terms of going through fire. Peter called them fiery
trials. Paul called them a great trial
of affliction, deep poverty, scourgings, beatings. They're
not easy by any stretch of the imagination. Look over Hebrews
chapter 12. Hebrews 12, verse 11. Now no chastening, no trial,
no suffering, no chastening for the present, seemeth to be joyous,
but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby." Note, none of these sufferings seem to be joyous.
They don't seem to be short. They don't seem to be easy. They're
hard. But we compare the sufferings of this life with the glory that
we'll have one day with Christ in heaven. We'll see there's
no comparison between the two. Glory, what we have, what we
will have one day with Christ is so much greater than any sufferings
that we're going to go through on this life, in this life. Look
over 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 17. For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. For we look not at the things
which are seen, but the things which are not seen, the things
that are in the future. For the things which are seen
are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."
Now, the only way we can call our affliction a light affliction
is to compare it to the eternal weight of glory. The only way
they can be called light is to compare them to something that's
greater. What Andy's going to go through. He's going through
today mentally. He'll go through tomorrow in
his surgery. What Barr's been looking at for
all this time feels so bad. Don Fortner's facing surgery
tomorrow. These things are not light. They're hard. They're
only light compared to the eternal weight of glory. The only way
we can call our afflictions light but for a moment and see them
as temporary. I mean, when you're in pain,
time crawls. It's a long time when you're
in pain. The Lord does seem like He does something with time.
The only way we can call these things but for a moment is to
compare them to eternity, the length of time that eternity
is. This life is but a vapor. I mean, it's... and it's gone.
But sometimes it seems like it's taking a long time for that vapor
to disappear. So when Paul talks about our
sufferings, he says, I reckon. Now, when you and me use the
term reckon, we mean, I guess. Well, I reckon that's what I'll
do. We don't know. That's I reckon. When Paul uses
this word reckon, it's a mathematical term. It's an exact accounting
and an exact comparison of the accounting between sufferings
and glory. You know, it's two sides of a
ledger. And if you just look at one side of the ledger, you
can get a skewed outlook of things. I work in the wholesale distribution
business. And our margins are razor thin. I mean, you just wouldn't believe
how small they are. And if you just look at the sales side of
the ledger, it's a family-owned business, you'd think this family
is unbelievably wealthy if you just look at the sales side of
the ledger. But if you look across the page at the other side of
the ledger, the debits, you look at the cost of goods, you look
at the cost of payroll, the cost of taxes, the cost of licenses
you have to have to operate in all the different states and
cities, then you start getting an understanding, a true understanding
of what the true bottom line is. And if we just look at the
suffering side of the ledger, we get a skewed view. Because
all we see is suffering. We see no positives if you just
look at the suffering side of the ledger. But if we look at
the eternal glory side of the ledger, then we see that side,
the glory side of the ledger is so much more. There's so many
more entries. There's so many more valuable
entries that the books will never be balanced. The two can't compare.
Paul's actually talking about weighing things in a scale. Now,
both sides of the scale are empty, and He puts the suffering on
first. And that scale goes down. And it goes down, it looks heavy,
because there's nothing in this side yet. But when you put the
eternal weight of glory on, it's so much more. That weight of
glory, what it'll be like to be in a body just like our Lord,
to be with Him in person, is so much greater, they can't be
compared. But it's hard for us to make
that comparison in this flesh. Tied to this body, it's hard
to make that comparison. Because in this flesh, while
we have enjoyment of spiritual blessings, we don't have the
full enjoyment of them yet in this flesh. In this flesh, we
have some knowledge of what we have in Christ. But not a full
knowledge. Because we're weighted down by
this body of sin. And if you look over in 1 Corinthians
2, you'll see we can't even imagine, with our pea brains, we can't
imagine what awaits for us in glory. As wonderful, as glorious
as we think it is, we haven't scratched the surface yet. 1
Corinthians 2, verse 9. As it's written, I have not seen
or ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him. They just can't
be compared. But if any human being could
make this comparison, the Apostle Paul could. Look over 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. The Apostle Paul knew something
about suffering. I tell you this, he knew a whole
lot more about suffering than you and me do. He can make this
comparison. 2 Corinthians 11 verse 23. Are they ministers of Christ?
I speak as a fool. I more, in labors more abundant,
in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths
oft. Of the Jews five times received
I forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods,
once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day
I've been in the deep, in journeyings often, in perils of water, in
perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, and perils
by heathen, and perils in the city, and perils in the wilderness,
and perils in the sea, and perils among false brethren, and weariness,
and painfulness, and watchings often, and hunger, and thirst,
and fastings often, and cold, and nakedness, besides those
things which are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the
care of the churches." Do you leave anything out? That's some
list. This man knew sufferings, and
what did he call them? light afflictions, which are
but for a moment. And he could do that because
he knew better than us the comparison. Look over in 2 Corinthians 12.
He saw the suffering side. But in 2 Corinthians 12, verse
2, I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, whether in
the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell.
God knoweth. Such a 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 he heard unspeakable words,
which is not lawful, it's not possible for a man to utter. Paul saw the suffering side of
the ledger. And he saw the glory side of
the ledger. And he said human language cannot express the glory
of paradise. I can't express it. The glory of Christ one day is
going to be revealed to us. When He appears, His glory is
going to be revealed to the whole world, isn't it? We'll see Him
as He is. But to believe to His children,
His glory will be revealed to us when we see Him. But to His
children, His glory will be revealed in us. The glory to be made like
Him is unspeakable. We don't have a point of reference
to know what it's like to live in a body without sin. We don't
have a point of reference to compare what it's like to have
a perfect body, to have a perfect mind, a perfect heart. That will
be glory for me. But until we experience it, we
really honestly can't make an accurate Comparison, the only
way we know anything about is what the word tells us, that
they can't be compared. Now verse 19 over Romans 8, for
the earnest expectation of the creation waited for the manifestation
of the sons of God. Now that word creature here is
creation. It's the exact same word that's
translated creation down in verse 22. I don't know why it was translated
creature here, but the word is creation. And the earnest expectation,
the desire of all of the creation is for the sons of God to be
made manifest. And the reason that their desire
for the sons of God to be made manifest is that's the day that
Christ will return. God's whole creation, the earnest
expectation of the entire creation is for Christ to return. Because
when He returns, we'll be made like Him. We'll see Him as He
is and we'll be made like Him. In that day, we'll be made physically
to appear what we already are in Christ. Physically, we'll
be perfect. Physically, we'll be justified
and sanctified. Now, why would the whole creation
desire so much for Christ's return? I can understand why believers
would, but why does the creation groan and wait and desire? Why
is its expectation for Christ to return? Well, look at verse
20. For the creation, was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected
the same in hope. Because the creation itself also
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." God's creation
desires the return of Christ because this whole creation was
marred, was made subject to vanity when Adam sinned. When Adam fell,
God cursed the ground. He said, cursed is the ground
for your sake. Thorns and thistles, it will
bring forth to you. And the ground was cursed. The whole creation
suddenly is subject to disease, to decay, to sickness and death. Human beings aren't the only
people that suffer sickness. Plants and animals do too. They
suffer sickness and ultimately death. And the creation has bore
that burden ever since. Animals that God created in the
garden that lay down together were friends, suddenly are mortal
enemies, are predators. Just live to make their prey's
life misery. And one day, in Noah's day, the
whole world was flooded. Everything died because of sin. Everything except what God put
in that ark. died because of sin. The world was punished because
of man's sin. And even today, we see the whole
world groaning under the burden of man's sin. The other morning,
I was laying half-awake and the house started shaking. And I
thought a train was going by. I thought, man, this house is
falling apart. What's going on here? Because,
you know, sometimes we live down by railroad tracks. Sometimes
you hear the windows rattle a little bit or something. It's an earthquake. That earthquake out in Illinois
was this world groaning under the burden of sin. A volcano
erupts. It just boils and boils and boils
and forms. It just corrupts the burden of
man's sin. What happened in that hour when
our Lord was crucified? The earth shook. Rocks tore in
two. The sun refused to shine. Creation
groaning. under sin. That's what's happening. And it's groaning, Paul says,
like a woman in the travail of birth pains. You know, when a
woman's going through labor, boy, it's hard. There's a burden
there to deliver that baby. But ultimately, something wonderful
comes out, doesn't it? Well, believe it or not, and
I know you believe it because it's in God's Word, the Lord's
going to bring something good out of all this. birth pains
this creation is going through. And that day when Christ returns,
the sons of God are made manifest. There's going to be a new heaven
and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. In that earth,
in that heaven, there's no more sin. There's no more effective
sin. It's gone. Not only is the Lord
going to dry the tears of all his people, there'll be no more
pain, no more suffering, no more death for God's people. There's
not going to be the same. There will be no more for God's
creation. There will be no more disease,
no more dying, no more enmity. It will all be gone. Look over
in Isaiah chapter 11. All that will be gone because
sin is gone. The enmity has been gone, been
put away. Isaiah 11 verse 6. The wolf also shall dwell with
the lamb. and the leopards shall lie down
with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling
together, and a little child shall lead them, and the cow
and the bear shall feed, and the little one shall lie down
together, and the lion shall eat straw like an ox, and the
suckling child shall play on the hole of an ass, and the weaned
child shall put his hand on the snake's den. They shall not hurt
nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth God's creation
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover
the sea, and the sin will be no more. That's why this creation,
this earnest expectation is for Christ to return. But look at
verse 23. Now not only they, but ourselves
also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, namely,
the redemption of our bodies. Creation is not the only one
groaning under the burden of sin. God's children are too. Those who have been delivered
from our sins, we're waiting for the return of Christ. We
groan under the burden of our sin. We groan under the burden
of dragging this old dead man around with us. We groan under
the effect of sin. And the effect of sin in our
body and the effect of sin in the world around us, we groan.
We groan. Because we long to go home. I
was talking to my daughter, Holly, yesterday. She's a freshman in
college. She's got two weeks or so left
to go. She's starting to groan because
it's time to come home. She's just not had enough. It's
time to come home. And that's why the believers
groan. We long to go home. To be set
free from this body, to have a body that's been redeemed,
set free from sin, set free from the effect of sin, set free from
the fear of death, set free from the grave, we've grown for something
better because we've got a taste of it. Granted, it's just a little
taste, but we've got a taste of it. And there's a country
song, I don't know anything about it, but this line, I like it,
I love it, I want some more of it. We've got a taste of it. And I want more. That's the first fruits that
Paul's talking about here. We've seen a little bit of the
harvest. We've just seen the first ones brought in. And brother,
there's a whole lot more to come. You ain't seen nothing yet. You
just wait to see the rest of this harvest. Oh, it's going
to be wonderful. You think how sweet the worship
service is now. How I look forward to it. Oh,
I love it. How I love to read God's Word.
How much sweeter is it going to be there? How much sweeter
will worship be in a perfect body, with a perfect heart, a
perfect voice? This is sweet. How much more
to be with Him? The Incarnate Word. I can't even
imagine. For us to be here together is
so sweet. Oh, I love to work together.
How much more in a ransom body? How much do we enjoy seeing our
Lord through the glass darkly? How much sweeter will it be face
to face? We've had the firstfruits. I've groaned for more. Oh, that's
what we long for. To be with Him as He is. Now, verse 24, Paul says, for
we're saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not
hope. For what a man seeth, why doth
he yet hope for? Now, we're not saved by hope. We're saved by Christ, aren't
we? We're justified from our sin in Christ. But that salvation
is not complete yet, is it? Scripture talks about us having
been saved. We're being saved. And one day
we will be saved. That salvation will be accomplished. In Romans 13, just over a couple
of pages. Verse 11, And that, knowing the
time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now
is our salvation nearer than when we believed. It's getting
closer, and one day we will be saved. We'll have the full possession
of everything that Christ purchased for us. But till then, we hope
for that. We're saved, not so much by hope,
but in hope. We have an expectation. We expect
to have that full possession of everything Christ purchased
for us. To be redeemed not just in soul, but in body. To be given a body just like
Christ. That was David's hope. He said,
I'll be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. And I'm so
thankful for what the Lord has given us here. So thankful. But
we expect a whole lot more. And we expect to receive a whole
lot more based on the word of the Lord, on the promises of
our God. And we don't see it all yet,
but I expect to have it. Even though I haven't seen it,
I expect to receive it because my Lord promised it. Now look
at verse 25. But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it. And we expect to
receive a lot of things that we don't see yet. Physically,
you don't see even the first fruits of that, hardly. But we
expect to receive those things and we'll, with patience, wait
for them. Now we have so much confidence and we have some patience
because of who made the promise. Because God, who cannot lie,
promised him. I know he's coming. I've never
seen him. With these eyes, I've never seen
him. But I know he's coming. I expect it. And I'll patiently
wait for him because he promised he'd come back. And we need patience. Paul says we do with patience.
Wait for it. But now we need patience, don't
we? We need patience in time of trial and suffering. We need patience to know that
that suffering is just but for a moment because it seems like
a long time. We need patience to wait on the
Lord. It seems like he'll never come. It seems like he'll never
reveal his will to us. But he will. And scripture says
he won't tarry. Now verse 26. Likewise, the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth
the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he
maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God."
Now I think every child of God is very thankful for this verse.
Because we see so many of our infirmities, we see our sin,
we see our selfishness, we see our self-righteousness, we see
our lack of knowledge, all these infirmities. And we need divine
help, and we're thankful. We have this divine help, the
Spirit. God, the Holy Spirit, will help
our infirmities. Paul says, likewise, just like
the Spirit leads us to Christ, the Spirit will give us some
patience to patiently wait on Christ, to wait on the redemption
of these bodies. Just like he does that, the Spirit
helps us in our infirmities. And the word helps is heaves
with. He lays hold, takes hold, and
strives with. lifts us up. The Lord knows our
friend. He remembers where but does.
And He's not going to leave us to flounder in our own weakness,
in our own infirmities. He heaves with us. He helps us,
lifts us up. And that's especially good help
in prayer. Because most times, we don't know what to pray for,
like we should. Now, there's some things we know
to pray for. I know who to pray for salvation.
I know to pray Pray to our Lord. I know to pray for the glory
of our Savior. I know to pray for the good of
His church. I know to pray for the spirit
of worship. Without Him, we can't do anything. But physically speaking,
there's so many times we don't know what to pray for. We don't
know which way to pray. But God the Holy Spirit helps
us. He gives us a heart to pray. He gives us the ability to pray.
He gives us the ability to pray according to the will of God.
We don't know what God's will is, but He does because He is
God. And He leads us in that way, to pray according to God's
will. I find myself most times praying
what my heart's desire is and then saying, but thy will be
done. And you'll notice the Spirit doesn't teach us to pray by giving
us a book of prayers. You know, have some prayer phrases
to memorize and prayer books, you know, that you go read. He
gives us a heart of prayer, the spirit of prayer. You see, our
Father, He knows what we have need of before we ask, but the
Spirit leads us to pray for those things. And even when we can't
put that expression into just the right words, our Father knows
our prayer. It's like Hannah. Praying for
Samuel. Praying it, Lord, to give her
a child. We read her prayer, but there
must be more of it. His groanings which cannot be
uttered. The Spirit maketh intercession
for us with groanings that can't be expressed in words. And our
Father hears the groaning of our heart. I've quoted this many
times. I'm going to do it again. Something
Cesar Roach told me once years ago. He said, we're reduced to
the point that all we can do is groan. That's the first time
you really start to pray. When all you can do is groan.
I'll show you two scriptures and I'll quit. Psalm 102. Our Father hears our groanings. Psalm 102 verse 19. For he hath looked down from
the height of his sanctuary, from heaven did the Lord behold
the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose those
that are appointed to death." He hears the groanings of the
prisoner. One more scripture, Acts chapter
7. In Acts 7 here, Stephen is giving an account of God's dealings
with Israel. And it tells them a story of
when the Lord spoke to Moses out of the burning bush. In Acts
7, verse 34, the Lord told Moses, I have seen the affliction of
my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning.
And because I have heard their groaning, I am come down to deliver
them. And now come, and I will send
thee into Egypt. God sent the deliverer to Egypt
because he heard the groaning of his people. Maybe the best thing we could
do is groan. Just groan to Him, and He'll
hear. All right. Well, Lord bless you.