Why Do Christians Suffer?

Okay, very good. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. It's always a blessing to have you, brethren, here together, worshiping the Lord Jesus as a body. I'm going to ask you, brethren, to please, thank you, brother. I'm going to ask you, brethren, please to open up your Bibles to the Book of Romans.

We're going to return today to the Book of Romans. I wanted to share this before our child was born, and since the birth of our child is coming very soon, I thought that I wanted to share this with you from Romans, Chapter 8. Romans, Chapter 8. If you remember, we had been studying together Romans, Chapter 8, the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Today, I want us to consider a very important verse that I had been considering for a few months in the last season, and that is from verse 17 through verse 25.

Here Paul speaks about suffering and glory, suffering and glory. There's this beautiful verse in verse 18 where the apostle says, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. The sufferings of this present time do not compare with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. The Apostle will speak there through the Holy Spirit from verse 17 through verse 31 would say about suffering and the future glory that is to come. I want us to consider this afternoon just a simple question.

And that question is why do we suffer? Why do we experience suffering? And I want us to consider that from verse 17 through verse 25, if the Lord allows us and gives us of His light and of His Spirit. We're going to be reading together, brethren, from verse 12 all the way through verse 25. And I want us to ponder that question by the Spirit in our hearts.

Why do we suffer? Why do we suffer? The Apostle is going to give us at least a couple of reasons here, and I hope that the illumination of the Spirit will lead us into Christ so that we will see our sufferings through the lenses of what Christ has done for us and is doing in us. So let us come before the Lord and let us read, or let us better pray, asking that the presence of the Spirit will be among us as we consider this important question of why do we suffer? And then we will read together verses 12 through verse 25.

Let us pray, brethren. Father, we come before you in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. And once again, we give you thanks, Lord, for having given us the life that we did not deserve this morning, for having given us the air to breathe that we did not deserve this morning, for having given us families and people around us that we did not deserve to have on this day, for having given us brothers and sisters that we do not deserve to have, but you have given them to us in Christ Jesus. We praise you, Lord, for extending our days and allowing us, by your grace and providence, to be gathered here together. Many times we take things for granted so easily, and we think that we deserve the things that we have, and we are so slow to be thankful before you, Lord.

And as we're gathering here together, we don't only want to give thanks for the presence and the countenance of our brothers and sisters, our families, our wives, our husbands, our children, and people around us, but we want to give you things more importantly for your son, Jesus Christ, whom you sent to this world to live a perfect life, to fulfill all the requirements that were given to him from the Father, to fulfill all the requirements from above on our behalf, that by going to the cross, he will atone for our sins. He will receive upon himself the wrath that we deserve for the sins that we have committed, because he was not only man in the flesh, but also God. He fulfilled and satisfied fully the wrath of God upon himself. So dead could not keep him captive, and he was powerfully and mightily resurrected to fulfill that which was written of him and to be vindicated as the Son of God by the Spirit of holiness. so that God will be the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ Jesus.

This Lord Jesus Christ, who was resurrected also, ascended into heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father, from his redemptive work seated at the right hand of the Father, now to behold as the work of the Holy Spirit fulfills in his bride the fullness of the decree that the Father has written, so that one day he will come, not to save the world, but to judge the living and the dead, and to take his bride out of the wilderness of this world, to fulfill that which was written of him and of his bride from old. that all eyes will see the coming of the Savior, the fulfillment of His kingdom, the establishment of His righteousness. And on that day, brothers and sisters from all generations, from all peoples, from all tribes, from all times of redemptive history will come at the feet of Christ. Their tears will be wiped. Their pain will be a thing of the past.

Death will be just only a remembrance of redemptive history. And we will behold all with the countenance of the new covenant, the countenance of Christ, no longer covered, but rather displayed before us to be united to him once for all. Where sin will be no more, where death will be no more, where trial and suffering will be no more, because our Savior would have fulfilled all things given unto Him. And just as He said on that day that it was finished upon the cross, that day He will say, it is done. The Alba and the Omega, the beginning and the end, all will come to Him.

Those who have been chosen before the foundation of the world and by the power of the Holy Spirit be made one with Christ. will come at the feet of the Savior to be with Him once for all. That glorious reality that abides in the future, Lord, sometimes is so distant to our hearts. Sometimes the struggle and the pain of this present life seems to be more real to us than the things that You have told us in Your Word. So we pray, O Lord, that You will grant us by Your Holy Spirit the reality of your words so that they will not be only ink on a page, but that they will be your words inked on our hearts by the holy finger of God.

So I pray, O Lord, that you will grant us an understanding of suffering in this present time, but better give us an understanding of the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. The glories of Christ are ours because we are in Him purely by Your grace. So as we're going to read this passage, Lord, I pray that you will speak to my brothers and sisters according to what you have for them. You know them better than anyone can know them. You know their souls and their need better than anyone can know.

And we know that Your Word is sufficient. It's everything that we need for life and for godliness. And we know that Your Word is profitable for the building up of the saints and the destruction of the fleshly things, the carnal things that are within us. So we pray, oh Lord, that you will speak to us, not only as we pray, but also as we read the scriptures and as we consider the sufferings of the saints. I pray that you will do this, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Very good, brethren, we're going to be considering this simple question. And that question is, why do we suffer? Why do you experience suffering? That is what I want us to consider. And we're gonna be reading together, as I said, from verse 12 in Romans chapter 8 through Romans chapter 8 verse 25.

This is going to be the reading, but we're gonna be focusing on verses 17 through 25. May the Lord help us as we read, as we receive these words and as we proclaim the word, as you receive the word. through the Holy Spirit. This is the Word of the Lord, Romans chapter 8 verse 12. So then, brethren, 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, our sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery 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 children of God.

And if children, this is verse 17, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided upon the condition that we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. So the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. So the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. I'm not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption, a sense, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now, hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he has seen?

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Amen. This is the reading of God's Word. And we're going to be speaking today, this afternoon, brethren, as I said, about this topic of suffering, suffering. And if you think suffering is perhaps one of those human experiences, that is perhaps the most difficult one to explain.

Certainly, we can say a lot of things about suffering when we are not experiencing suffering. And we can say all the things that Christians are supposed to do and to say and to believe when we are not experiencing suffering. But when our soul faces the difficulties of suffering or the turmoil and the difficulties of this world, and when we actually experience suffering, many times it's very difficult to find an explanation, even though we may have it in our heads. We may know perhaps certain scriptures, and perhaps we have heard of this brother or that sister that has told us what we ought to do when we're suffering. But explaining and understanding suffering in the midst of suffering is such a difficult thing.

How do you explain to people why there are people that are dying in starvation in Africa? How do you explain to people that are, you know, other people suffering from disease and poverty in South America, in Asia? How do you explain that? things that happen in nature that perhaps are not according to the order that God gave initially. How do you explain those things?

How do you make sense of those things when you see them from afar, when you see that people are killing each other, whether there's wars and conflict among people? How do you make sense of those things? And how do you explain that not only when you see them from afar, but when you experience them yourself? It is very difficult and that question takes a little bit of more complexity when you ask the question from the Christian perspective, why do we suffer as Christians? If we are the children of God, if we have received the grace of the Lord that has forgiven us of our sins, why do we suffer?

If we have been made the children of God, if God has sent His only begotten Son to die upon the cross for our sins, and He has come and defeated death on our behalf, why do we, Christians, suffer? Perhaps it is easier for us to find an explanation of why others who are not in Christ may suffer and why this world may not work in the way that it's supposed to work. But why do we, Christians, suffer. When we experience the pain and the sorrow of what it is to suffer, irrespectively of the reason, many times we are tempted, even though we may have the answers to certain questions, to despair within ourselves. We may be tempted to join in the experience of Job when he was actually suffering and going through those trials when he had lost his family and he had lost his possession and he had lost even his health.

He says, why was I born? Shouldn't I have died on the day that I was born? He was questioning not his birth, but he was questioning the decision of the Lord, the Lord that he knew and the Lord that he understood, the Lord that he worshiped, the Lord that he followed. He was questioning the decision of God in allowing him to be born on the day that He was born. And as His sufferings advance and progress, He does not only question the decisions of the Lord, but even questions the presence of the Lord later in chapter 13 and chapter 30.

Lord, I have cried for help to you, and you have not answered. You have not responded. I have brought my Christ before you in the midst of this suffering, and you are not responding. It seems that you are, or that I am your enemy, he says in Job chapter 13. Why?

Because the experience of suffering is one when we go through it, and another one when we try to understand it from afar, simply with our heads. The only way that we can generally face suffering, it is not with something that is found within us or in us or in our minds or in our hearts. It is purely by the same grace that I've held Job there in the Old Testament given unto us. Because when we look to us and our pains and our sufferings and our difficulties, we can find sufficient reason to doubt the Lord, and to leave the Lord, and to reject the ways of the Lord. But it's the grace of the Lord, the one that keeps us, sustain us, and the one that gives us the perspective that we need of these sufferings and of these trials.

And if there is one thing that we can trust, it's not how we respond in times of suffering, but what we can trust is the grace of the Lord that has been given to His people. If you trust in yourself that you're going to respond in the good way when you're suffering, if you trust that you're going to be able to endure the pains of this world and the pains of life, then your hope is put in a place that for sure is going to fail. Our hope is not to be placed in ourselves, it's to be placed in the Lord Jesus Christ who has given us of His Spirit. And it's because of that Spirit that we have within us that we can groan in our pains, yes, but we can wait for the revealing of the glory of God that is to come. That is what the apostle is addressing here in Romans chapter 8.

He's telling us that we have this spirit that is in us, that is now helping us to walk in the midst of these sufferings that we experience in the present time as we await for that future glory that is going to be revealed. So he says there in verse 23, and not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit, grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies for the future glory. If there is one hope that the Christian is going to make it through his or her sufferings is not found in his or her profession of faith, is not found in his or her ability to understand the Scriptures, it is not found in his or her ability to discern the things of the Lord, it is found in the guarantee that God has given to us, the Holy Spirit, that even in the mists and in the depths of our sorrows, That Holy Spirit is the one that will point us to the man of sorrows, Christ Jesus, to the one who has given us the promise of the glory that is to come. And even in the midst and in the depths of our pain, that same Spirit is the one that is going to sustain that saving, genuine faith that is only existent, not because we have the ability to hold it and to keep it, but because the one that is righteous, Jesus Christ, is seated at the right hand of the Father. So if I remain believing, if I remain abiding, if I remain in the Spirit, it is not because of my efforts.

It's not because of my ability to endure. It's not because of my ability to go through pain. It is because Jesus Christ is alive. And as long as He is alive, His Holy Spirit in me communicates and gives the life of Christ that is eternal. And because He abides and lives forever, I can have the certainty that as the brother pray, the one who has begun the work in us will bring it to completion.

Why He will bring it to completion? Because someone has already said, it is finished. And the same one that said it is finished is the one that is going to bring to completion all things. Here, the apostle is going to give comfort to our soul by giving us at least two or three reasons of why do we suffer. I want us to consider this, brethren, brother, sister, dear friend, not with the eyes of our intellect, but with the eyes of our hearts.

that we see the consolation that Paul is giving here to the saints, the truths of the scripture that Paul gives to the saints, and that we might be able to discern this not through the eyes of our intellect, but with our heart, that we don't might be suffering and going through trials and tribulations, We may know in the gospel, in the grace of the Lord, that there is a man of sorrow who has already suffered for us, and in him we share of his sufferings. I want us to do a couple of things from this text if the time allows us and the Lord leads us. First, I want us to examine two or three, depending on the time, of the reasons that the apostle is going to give us of why do we suffer. And once we have made those observations about why do we Christians suffer, then I want us to consider some of the realities of suffering for the Christian. Why do we suffer first and then some realities of suffering for the life of the Christian?

Let us start first. Why do Christians suffer? The first and the most clear reason of why Christians suffers is going to be because of the sin that has entered into the world. Here in the text, we can see it as Paul speaks of this corruption that has entered into the creation. Pay attention to verse 19.

It says in verse 19, for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. Why? for the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God." Pay attention to verse 21, the first statement. the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption.

Here the apostle refers to everything that has been created and tells us that everything that has been created is in bondage to corruption. so that Christians, as they await for the liberation that we are going to have from this present body, also the creation, that is the world, is on this bondage or under this bondage to corruption. What Apostle, of course, is referring to is to what happened through the disobedience of Adam, if you go there quickly to Romans chapter 5 verse 12. This corruption that entered into the created world, into creation, was the result of the sin that Adam brought into the cosmos. We're told in Romans chapter 5, verse 12, it says, therefore, just as sin came into the world, that world is cosmos, everything that has been created.

Therefore, just as sin came into the creation, what could say through one man and death through sin and death spread to all men because all sin. Why do we suffer? Why do we experience suffering? The first reason that I want us to pay attention to is that we suffer because of the sin that is present into the world. Through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, sin entered into the world.

And we are told here very clearly that the entrance of this sin into the world, it was not only something that happened with the family of Adam and Eve, but rather this sin is spread into all creation. There's a permeation of sin that has touched every aspect that has been created. We are told that through the entrance of sin, death is spread to all people because all people sin. And hence, the created world, not only humans, are under this bondage to corruption. You and I and everything that has been created are under this bondage to corruption.

And hence, death has permeated every aspect. From this, we learn two very important things that are going to help us. First, that because sin has entered into the world, that which reigns into the world is death. Pay attention to verse 17 of Romans chapter 5. The Apostle tells us that that which reigns in the world is death.

It says, for if because of the one man's trespass, that is the disobedience of Adam, Death reign through that one man. Much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. What does it mean that Adam and Eve seen in the beginning of all creation? It means that sin entering into the world and through that sin, death. is spread to every single aspect, not only of men, but also of the creation that was under men.

And because death has spread to every single aspect, when the apostle is comparing the first Adam with the last Adam, he says that death reigns through the first one. but life and righteousness has reigned through the second Adam, the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to come to the realization that when we open our eyes and when we see the things of this world, everything is permeated by sin and death. It does not matter how beautiful it is. It does not matter how well built it is.

It does not matter how strong a person may seem to be. It does not matter how healthy a person may seem to be. It does not matter how wealthy a person may seem to be. It does not matter how beautiful or powerful. It is that which man has built.

Everything in this world has been corrupted by that death. And not only that which is outside, but brethren, death is also inside of us as Christians. Yes, it is true that we have been forgiven of our sins. And yes, it is true that the wages of sin is death and that the penalty of sin has already been paid by the Lord. But we also need to understand that sin remains present not only in this world, but sin remains present in us.

And in that sense, death remains presence within ourselves. The reason why I don't look the same that I look when I was 20 years old is because I'm under the dominion of death. The reason why I'm weaker of what I was 15 or 20 years ago is because I'm under this dominion in my body of death. The reason why there's going to be one day in which I'm going to experience perhaps suffering and pain in my body is because I live under the reign of death in this present world. And the reason why one day I'm going to die, it is because I will follow the normal course of the reign of death that is in this world.

Everyone is going to die. Why? Because sin enter into the world and through that sin, death. What Christ comes and does for us is that He gives us the promise of eternal life, that even though you are in this world that is fallen and is filled with sin and death, you have been already rescued from it. And even though you need to continue to be in this world that is fallen and sinful and that is permeated by death, that is the promise that upon that death, Death will not have eternal dominion upon you, but rather because of the grace of God that has been given to you, you will encounter the life and righteousness that Jesus Christ, your Lord, has conquered on your behalf.

So even though you will suffer and even though you will experience the pain of sin and the pain of what it is to live in this world, the hope that the Christian has is not found in the solution to those struggles. It is found in what comes after that. That's why the eyes of the Christians are not to be set on things of this earth, but Paul says in Colossians chapter 3, the eyes to be set on things above, where Christ Jesus is with the Father, and nothing can separate us from that union that we have with Christ Jesus in God. The call to the Christian is one of perspective, that even though we are in this world that is permeated by unrighteousness and sin, there is the hope that one day things are going to change. That's why Peter says in 2 Peter 3, if you come with me, that the only thing that is actually going to solve the problem of the corruption that exists in this world, it is the transformational judgment of God that will come upon the earth to bring completion to His eternal decree, and only then is what righteousness is actually going to dwell.

If you come to 2 Peter 3, there the apostle gives us these words. 2 Peter 3, verse 8. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that we, the Lord, one day is a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. 2 Peter 3, verse 8. The Lord is not as slow to fulfill his promise as some count his slowness, but is patient towards us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, And then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are dust to be dissolved, what sort of people of you to be? What sort of people are you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will be melt as they burn. But according to his promise, we're waiting for new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. We are told of the new heavens and the earth that that is where righteousness dwells.

We are told of this world that this is where death reigns. And brother and sister, there's nothing that we can do to push back the death or the reign of death into this world, to conquer this world in a material and physical way. Of course, there's much that we can do to push back the unrighteousness of this world in a spiritual way through the gospel of Jesus Christ so that we will conquer the souls of those who perish to take them into the kingdom of the Savior. But when it comes to the physical aspect of this world, this world is dying. It will continue to die because the one who reigns in this world is death and the only world in which righteousness and life will dwell.

It is that new world that is going to come with the Lord Jesus Christ, the new heavens and the new earth. There's nothing that you can do to prevent yourself from growing old and weak and feeble. There's nothing that you can do to prevent yourselves from just simply experiencing the pains and the difficulties of this fallen world. There's nothing that we can do to stop that. But praise be to the Lord that the Christian has been given a deeper and greater perspective, that we are not clinging to the things that are temporal.

We're not clinging to the things that are of this world. but the things that are from above, from the Lord. And I know, brethren, that when we are suffering and when we're going through trials and difficulties, it is so much easier to put our eyes in ourselves and in the struggle that we are experiencing. But remember this, it is better for us to put our eyes on who God is when we are going through trials and tribulations than to put our eyes and our focus on who we are and the suffering itself. While we are not to be like crazy people that simply ignore the pains and the sufferings of this present time, the better thing for the soul of the Christian to do is to focus on the things that we know that God is.

Because in having perspective of who He is and what He has done, we can have perspective of the things of this present world. Saint Apostle, in the first letter in 1 Peter 1, tells us about this fixation that we are supposed to have, this concentration that we are to have, this focus that we are to have in 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1, verse 3, it says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance, this is the future reality, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Pay attention to these three powerful words that we have in verse 6.

He has told us in verse 3 to 5, He has told us in verse 3 to 5, the blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has made us alive for this hope, this living hope that is ahead of us. In verse 6, he says these glorious words, in this you rejoice. Actually, it's only two. In this, in this, upon this. Literally, what he means there, fixed upon this.

What is this? Everything that the apostle has said from verse 3 to 5. built upon that, you rejoice. Fixed upon that truth, you rejoice. Because the call of the Christian is not to rejoice in his or her sufferings.

It's not a call to be crazy people and to give meaning to our suffering that it does not contain or does not have. The call to the Christian is to change the perspective. And that is that there is a greater reality that has been given to the son and to the daughter of God. That is that you were dead in your sins and our trespasses, but you have been made alive by the grace of the Lord. And by being made alive, you have a hope that is not in your day-to-day life, even though you are to be faithful to your day-to-day life.

You are to be waiting for this salvation that is ready to be revealed. And even if you're fearful about that revelation of that salvation that is ready to be revealed, the apostle tells us who God, through His power, is protecting you or keeping you through your faith. What is that thing that we are to rejoice? That we were dead, but now we're alive. That we were hopeless, but now we're hopeful.

That we did not have a God, and now we have one that keeps us, sustains us, and protects us, and has given us the promise that is going to take us until that day in which everything is going to make sense, and we are going to see the perspective of our lives. In this, the Apostle says there in verse 6, in this, we or you rejoice though now for a little while if necessary you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes through it is tested by fire might be found to result in the praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible, and feed with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. The promise has been given to the Christian, and that is that life has been given unto you, not a life that finds its fulfillment and consummation in the day-to-day of this life. but a life that finds its fulfillment and completion in that which is to come.

So we ought to, by the power of the grace and the truth of the Scriptures of Jesus Christ, be people who have a perspective of God that is greater than the perspective that we have of our own self in our own situation. So when we are tempted, brethren, in our suffering, in our tribulation, to look to self and to try to find reasons of why am I suffering? What did I do that is causing this suffering? Or what didn't I do, do, or was I supposed to do that I didn't do that is causing this situation? Or what did others do that are actually causing this suffering instead of finding the responsible in the present world?

Our soul finds a better rest in actually thinking of who He is, what He has done, and what He says about us in our day today. God is not to be judged by the providence that we do not understand in the present time. But God is to be taken at His Word by the thing that He has already completed upon the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago. Because the present providence of God, I don't understand. The purposes of God through His suffering, I know that the Scripture says that is for the testing of my faith, that is to become more like the Lord Jesus Christ.

But the ultimate purpose of God in dealing with me through suffering is unknown to me. So I'm not going to be that which is unknown of God, the standard that I use to judge my Lord. Rather, I look back to what He has already done, sending His Son to die upon the cross as a demonstration of His love for my soul. And in the completion of that, I found the assurance that I have that God is the one that is working through me a greater weight of glory for the glory of the one who sent His Son to die upon the cross for me. The love of God is not measured by what happens to you today.

The love of God is measured by what He did 2,000 years upon the cross. That's why the Apostle says, and this is love, not that we love Him, but that He loved us first, and that He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. That is what Paul says. But John says in 1 John 4, verse 9 and 10 and 11, And this is love, not what happens to you on a daily basis, which is also a manifestation of His grace or a manifestation of His providence. But this is love that He sent His Son to die upon the cross 2,000 years ago to be a propitiation for my sins.

So I'm not going to define if God loves me or not. based on the blessings that I presently have, or the sufferings or the struggles that I presently have, but rather what Jesus has done for me upon the cross. Because that's fixed, that is unchanging, and that is true, and that is applicable to my soul by the Holy Spirit, independently of my present sufferings. He is the one that has allowed, yes, sin to enter into this world, but through the entrance of that sin and death, he has also given me the hope that my eyes have no place in the temporal things, but in the things that are to come. Second, if you return to Romans chapter 5, it's not only because of sin and the death that leaves that we should not pay attention to, But very importantly also, and this is a very difficult truth, but a truth that we need to pay attention to, is that because sin entered into the world, death has spread to all people.

And because of that reign of death, brethren, we live in a world that is under judgment. We live in a present world that is under judgment. Pay attention there to verse 15. It says, But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many die through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.

And the free gift, the free gift of Christ, is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification of course this is speaking to all the sons of adam all the sons of adam were brought condemnation because of the sin and the disobedience of adam and all the sons of jesus christ those who are in jesus christ are the recipients of the justification that's why paul says in romans chapter 8 there is no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus but with the arrival of this condemnation and this judgment through the disobedience and the sin of Adam, that judgment and that condemnation came also upon the world. The world is one that is perishing as Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8. There's the groanings of the corruption that is in the world. Why?

because there's going to be one time and one place in which God is going to come and bring His final judgment of fire, as we read in 2 Peter 3, so that the new heavens and the new earth will come where righteousness will dwell. Redemption is not the process of restoring fallen creation. Redemption is the process of bringing fulfillment to the decree of God in Christ Jesus, so that the new heavens and new earth, under a better covenant given to Jesus, may be enacted and start. Redemption is not the process of making better something that fell. That that fell is destroyed, will be judged by fire.

In the first world, it was judged by blood, by water through the floods. But now it is going to be judged by fire when the Lord Jesus Christ comes. Why? Because of the presence of death into this world, the judgment of the Lord will come upon this. The good news for the Christian is that even though we deserve to be part of the judgment of this fallen world, we are going to be forgiven and there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Why? Because we no longer fall under the system of the first Adam. We find ourselves under the system of the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why we can endure the sufferings of this Adamic race and this present Adamic time in view and in light. of the things that are going to come of our Savior, the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why do we suffer? We suffer because of the presence of sin. When we look into this world, there should not be hope that we place in the things of this world. There should not be hope that we place in money and in possessions and in health and in the things of this world because all of them will pass away. Your health, your strength, your abilities, they will pass away.

Our strength is not placed on those. They're placed only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, we not only suffer because of sin, but we also suffer because of Christ. Let's return to our text. The Apostle does speak not only about the corruption that is in this present world, But also the Apostle speaks about our union with Christ and our sufferings.

Pay attention to verse 16. It says, "...the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided or upon the condition that we suffer with Him, in order that we might also be glorified with Him. We do not only suffer, my dear brother and sister, because of the sin that has permeated every aspect of this fallen creation, but we also suffer because we have been united to the men of sorrows.

who came to this world to suffer to find his subsequent glories. The pattern of redemption that the father gave to the son was that he who was in glory was going to humble himself in coming down to this world in the likeness of her flesh. And when he made himself in the likeness of his flesh, In a sense, the passion of Christ started, His humiliation started. He humbled Himself, coming down in the likeness of our flesh. He submitted Himself, the Lord of glory, submitted Himself to the commandments that had been given to men.

And in this humility, He went to the cross, and then He died upon the cross on our behalf, that through those sufferings of Christ, not only dying upon the cross, but the sufferings and the sorrows of what he was experiencing by being in this world, he will die and conquer upon the cross to receive the subsequent glories. This was the system. This was the pattern that the prophets of all determined that the Messiah was to fulfill and this is the pattern that the people of Israel did not understand because the people of Israel were expecting that the Messiah will come and will reign as the new David and it will be the king that is going to bring power and solutions to the people of Israel by the prophets of all prophesied of the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories Apostle Peter makes that very clear in 1 Peter 1. If you come with me to 1 Peter 1, this is the pattern of Christ's suffering and glory, suffering and glory. 1 Peter 1, after the passage that we have just read, this is the pattern of the Savior that we are to fulfill and that we are to walk with him.

It says in 1 Peter 1, verse 10, concerning this salvation, the salvation that is ready to be revealed, of the obtaining the outcome of our faith, the salvation of your souls, verse 9. It says in verse 10, concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, searched and inquired carefully. inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when He predicted, that is, the Spirit of Christ in the prophets of old, when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look, the revelation of the gospel given to the apostles through the Holy Spirit, and even the angels long to look, this mystery of Christ, Ephesians chapter 3, that has now been revealed to the apostles and the prophets, And now through the church, the angels long to look that glorious revelation. But that mystery of Christ is that the Christ was going to come to suffer and then finds his subsequent glories.

The reason why we suffer as Christians in this world is because our Savior did. It is because our Savior, Jesus Christ, came to this world and suffered. He suffered on our behalf that He will find the subsequent glories, the subsequent glories of the exaltation of the Son of God, through whom now we are exalted. But Jesus Christ came to this world as a servant, and He suffered. And when we look back to the example of our Lord, we see in Him the sufferings of Christ, not only upon the cross, but why, Father, have you forsaken me?

The sufferings of the Savior who was in agony as He's going to go in Gethsemane to the cross. The sufferings of the Savior as He knows and hears the sins of the people. that were surrounding Him, the sufferings of the Savior as He sees how people die in their sins, rejected Him, the sufferings of the Savior that were preparing Him for the glories that were going to be revealed to Him, that were going to be given to Him, the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. When we struggle, when we go through difficulties, when we go through pain, when we go through rejection, when the world is opposed to us, and when the sin of this world consumes us and brings us into this point of suffering, we ought to know that we're following the pattern of our Savior, the sufferings of Christ, and the subsequent glories. That's why the apostle says, that the sufferings of this present time do not compare with the glories that are going to be revealed.

It says, provided that we suffer with Him, if the Savior came to this world and was rejected by this world, how we are not going to wait or expect that we are going to be rejected by this world. This is what the apostle says, if you come with me to John chapter 14, John chapter 13, if you come with me, this is what the apostle says there. In John chapter 15, the enmity of the system of the world with the Lord Jesus Christ, there it says in John chapter 15 verse 18, If the world hates you, know that he has hated me before he hated you. If you were of the world, the world will love you as it is of its own, but because you're 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, my servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. but all the things they will do to you when I counted my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me, hates my Father also."

We are united, brethren, with Jesus Christ. We are united in the sense that we do not belong to this world in Him, in Christ Jesus. We are no longer part of the system of this world. And just as Christ find opposition from the system of this world, we're also going to find opposition and persecutions and difficulties as part of the fallen system of this world. But in our case, it's even more complicated than it was for Jesus in a sense, because sin was not in the Savior, but sin is still present in us.

So we're going to have this conflict of Christ and the flesh with us. And that is part of the sufferings of Christ. That's why Paul says in Galatians chapter 5 that we have this conflict that happens within us between our spirit and the flesh because the flesh it is rooted in the system of this world, but the Spirit is that which is of Christ Jesus. So even within ourselves, we go through the sufferings of what it is to bear the image of Christ Jesus as we die and we renounce to the things of this world. And once again, these sufferings that happen within us and in our flesh and in this world are not any evaluator or indicator of our position before the Lord, but rather are the consequences that sin has entered into this world and has spread through our system, and also that we are to be partakers of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ and the subsequent glories.

Our Lord and Savior calls us to set our eyes and to place our hope, not on things that are temporal, but the things that are to come. That's why the strength of the Christian is not derived from any other information. The information that is granted and given to us in the Scriptures about what Christ has done, what He continues to do and what He will do for His people. The more that we grow in understanding of the things of God and the promises that He has given us through Christ Jesus, the better perspective and the better spiritual strength that we will have to face the trials and the tribulations of this present world. And third, and with this I finish, he will return to our text.

We do not only suffer because of the sin and the corruption that is present in this world and because of Jesus Christ with whom we are to share the present sufferings and the subsequent glories, but also we suffer because of the glory that is going to come. We suffer because of the glory that is going to come. Paul, before we read once again the text here, places suffering and glory not as the first step and as the second step, but rather he places suffering as the necessary requirement for glory to arrive. In other words, glory will not arrive if suffering is not experienced by the Christian. Why?

Because Christ came to suffer, and as a result of those sufferings, the man of sorrow was granted the glories of exaltation, so his bride will also come. and experience suffering, not as a first step, but as a necessity of redemptive history as we move into glory. Do we like and do we appreciate the fact that we suffer? We don't, brethren. We don't like to suffer.

We don't like the experience of it. But what I'm trying to do and what Paul was trying to do is to give us perspective. that our lives are much more than 10, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 years. Our lives are eternal in Christ Jesus, and who we are in Him is not defined by what happens to us day to day, but is defined by what He has done, and He said that it's ours because of Christ Jesus. Glory can only be begotten through the sufferings of Christ and the sufferings of the bride.

Glory can only be bestowed or given through the sufferings of Christ and the sufferings of His people. Sufferings are the necessary step as we move on to the glory that is going to be revealed. And I don't know what are all the reasons that God had, but one of them is so that our eyes will not be placed on this world and in this present time, but our eyes will be placed on things eternal. in him alone, and that we will not be taken by the things of this present world. Pay attention to verse 17, how the apostle organizes suffering and glory as a necessary requirement for glory to arrive.

It says, and if children, the conditionals there in 17, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. provided that we suffer with Him in order that we might also be glorified with Him. Provided we suffer with Christ in order that we might also be glorified with Him. It is necessary that we suffer so that glory will be given. It is necessary that we suffer with Christ so that we will receive the glories of Christ.

It is necessary that we spend the time of trial and difficulty in this present world so that we will receive the glories of Christ. And that's why Paul tells us that the sufferings of this present time do not compare with that glory. Why? Because we don't live in the future, brethren. We live in the present.

And in the present, we do experience the pain of our suffering. In the present, we do experience the sorrow of what it is to go through trials and difficulties. But Paul is calling our hearts not to focus on the difficulty of the present time, but the assurance that we have that the sufferings of this present time, yours, mine, and his, and every saint's and Christian's suffering, do not compare with the glory that is going to be revealed. And while I am unable, qualitatively or quantitatively, to present to you something that shows you that the glory that is going to be revealed is great, greater than your pain and your suffering, the Scriptures and Christ and His love and His sacrifice and what He did for you and continues to do for you through the Word is sufficient revelation, brethren, to show you that you were dead in your sins and your trespasses and that through the gospel, He has saved you and redeemed you. And by virtue of that forgiveness, The glory of what is going to come is greater than our present sufferings.

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. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of him, he subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies.

In other words, we also who have the Holy Spirit in us, we also groan. We also have these groanings and these pains of childbirth, but we have in us the Spirit through whom we eagerly await, not for the groanings and the pains to be removed, but the revelation of the glory that is to come. Because upon that revelation, yes, the pains will be gone. Sin will be gone, death will be gone, but that which drives us to that moment is not the satisfaction of sin or death be taken away, but the beholding of Christ, no longer by faith, but by sight. Then when we see Him as He is, 1 John 3, we will become like Him, the Savior that He came first, Peter 1, verse 8 and 9, that we have not seen yet, we love Him.

On that day, we will see how the display of the countenance of the Son of God, the man of sorrows, who humbled Himself to take upon Himself nature like ours, that He did not have to rescue us. And on that day, when we see Him face to face, all of our sufferings, all of our tribulations, all of our pains will be seen in perspective of the countenance of these men. that happens to be not only men, but the Son of God who came years ago to pay for my sins, and now He's receiving me in glory. And all of the sufferings and all of the pains and all of the struggles that I would have accumulated day by day until that moment will not compare. with the revelation of the Son of God, Christ Jesus.

None of your pains within your body, none of the pains within your mind, none of the pains or emotional pains that we go because of this fallen world, none of the broken relationships, that we experience and the pains of them. None of the broken relationships within the church, none of the broken relationships outside of the church, none of the brokenness of the community in which we live, none of the brokenness of the government that governs us or the world in which we live will compare with the glory that is given to the sons of God in the person of Jesus Christ. And brethren, that truth is not only awaiting for us, it is available to us through the Word of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, as our eyes are illuminated, that the one whom we serve is worthy. And you know he's worthy, not of efforts or labors, yes he is, but he's worthy of our lives. And if He came and gave His life to die for us, then how are we not going to give our lives for Him and to live for Him if the cost of it is the pain and the struggles of our days and the cost of our lives?

We need perspective of Christ. Let me finish just by pointing you to a few things. We're going to be addressing this passage a few times in the following weeks, but let us return there to the text. And I want to show you just a couple of things before I finish. Please, brethren, note that suffering is part of the Christian experience.

And it's not something that just simply happens. It's part of the Christian experience. Once again, verse 17, it says, And if children, that is children of God, then heirs, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Him, provided we suffer with Him in order that we might also be glorified with Him. Those who have the Spirit of God are heirs with Christ. And those who are children of God, but those who have the Spirit of God are the children of God.

And those who are the children of God are heirs with Christ. And part of receiving this inheritance with the Lord Jesus Christ is that we suffer. Suffering is part of the Christian experience. And it's very important that we acknowledge and we understand that because the biblical teaching is that suffering is part of the Christian experience. Suffering is not a lack of faith in the person who is experiencing.

So as some people try to say that if you're sick or if you're struggling or if you don't have what you want, it's because you don't have sufficient measure of faith. And if you have sufficient faith, perhaps then your sufferings will go and you will feel better. You will have more money and your relationship will be restored. No. Suffering is not contingent upon the measure of faith of the person.

Suffering is part of the eternal decree of God that has given for the experience not only of his son, Jesus Christ, but for his bride. Christ came to live and to suffer and to find his subsequent glories. So it is given to the church and to his bride that we will live in this world, this fallen world, as people who belong to another kingdom, and we will go through our sufferings and the subsequent glories. Our sufferings are not payments that we do to God because of the things that we have not done. It is true in Hebrews chapter 12 that the Lord will discipline us when we are in sin and that these will bring the fruit of righteousness and peace.

It is true that that will also cause suffering, but even that discipline is a grace of the Lord that comes upon us. But the suffering of this present world because of the presence of sin is part of this history of redemption as we head towards these glories that are going to be and given to us. These sufferings are found in the person of Christ and also found in us because we are in him and we are to understand those sufferings in light of our union with the Lord Jesus Christ. These sufferings by no means speak of the relationship between the father and the child that is the Christian as if because of my suffering now my relationship has been cut or destroyed. If we believe that my suffering defines the disposition of the Father towards me, then I'm saying that salvation is no longer by grace through the faith and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I'm saying that I do certain things that do not displease the Lord and that do not place me in suffering. so that I can keep a relationship with God. My suffering as a Christian, of course, does not determine the disposition of the Father in Christ Jesus towards me. That is, some people teach that if a Christian is found in suffering, that is, perhaps he has lost his salvation or his position before the Lord. Once again, there are times in which the hand of the Lord will come as a disciplinary loving hand upon the Christian, and that will cause his struggles and difficulties and suffering, but by no means the position of the Christian as forgiven and as righteous before God depends upon the experience of the Christian.

It depends only on the finished and completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, brethren, all of these things are things that you know. All of these things are things that we hold in our brains. But when we go through the experience of the pain, or whatever suffering comes our way, whether it's suffering of the infirmities of our flesh, or suffering because of broken relationships, or sin that happens within us, or outside of us, or even in the context of the church, or in the community where we live, when we experience the agonies of that which you feel inside of you, that pain that is inside of you, Brethren, we're always tempted to look to self and to find a reason that explains that suffering and find a solution in it. And while many of those struggles and many of those things should be solved, brethren, our eyes are to be set on Him.

He's loving, He's good, and He's sovereign. And as He says here in this book in verse 28, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. I mean, this is one of those verses that Christians know by memory and then recite so many times, but brethren, might the truth of that verse be true in their heart. of the Christian, so that when we're going through trials and sufferings and difficulties, we will not waste them. Because there is a sense in which God draws us closer to him through trials and tribulations and difficulties that we may not find in a trial and a difficulty.

Just this reason for me to introspect in such a way that I try to find the solution to my own problem without thinking or considering Christ, but rather that in the depths of my sorrow and in the depths of my affliction, I will be drawn to Christ Jesus, that even though I may not have an explanation to the details of my trial, even though I may not have an answer to the details of my sorrow, even though I may not have an answer to what I am going through, I may find all the answers and all the reasons to continue to worship Him. because he sent his son to die upon the cross for my sins. And in a sense, brethren, we deserve much more than our sufferings. In a sense, brethren, we deserve much more than our sorrows. We deserve much more than my back pain, or we deserve much more than just being old and weak and overwhelmed with things.

We deserve much more. than the pain of relationship. We deserve much more than broken marriages. We deserve much more than that. He has not given us that and he will not give us that because he sends his son Jesus Christ to die upon the cross for our sins.

I deserve hell. I deserve eternal hell. There's enough sin in me today to send me righteously to hell. And he does not give me that. He gives me his grace, and he makes me partaker of the sufferings of Christ.

He makes me partaker of the glory that is given now. He makes me partaker of the sanctifying power of the Spirit. He makes me partaker of the redemptive work of Christ. He makes me partaker of the spreading of the light of Christ in this world. He makes you partaker of that.

because there's something much greater that is to come, my dear brother and sister. So by no means I want to diminish the suffering that we can go through. By no means I want to diminish, or just to say that your suffering is nothing. By no means I want to say that, but what I'm saying is that there's much more to look to. There's much more to hold to.

There's much more to apprehend in Christ that helps us see the present suffering in perspective so that then we can join the Apostle and say, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time do not compare with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. Why? Because He came, He died, fulfilled every requirement on my behalf. He died upon the cross for your sins, for my sins, that you will be forgiven and that you will receive the glory that is to come. Amen?

Amen. Let us pray. Oh, Father, Lord, we come before you in the name of the holy name of your son, Jesus Christ. Oh, Lord, we are so feeble and so weak. Always, Lord, tempted to define who you are by and through the lenses of our experience.

We are so tempted, Lord, to be deviated from the path of trusting and taking up our cross and to follow you, Lord. I pray that you will strengthen my brothers and my sisters and strengthen me in our inner person, Lord. We want to walk by faith and not by sight. So I pray, O Lord, that you will strengthen the one that is suffering, that you will give consolation to the one that is in turmoil, that you will bring the assurance and the certainties of Christ and his accomplishments to my brothers and sisters. when we see the infirmities of our flesh and the pains that sin has produced in this fallen world, and as we experience the consequences of it within ourselves, in our minds, in our hands, in our feet, that the joy of Christ and the truth of Christ will be cleared to our feeble minds, O Lord, Help us, Lord, to see with perspective, to see with your eyes, and to understand through Christ and in Christ.

When we see this world and the brokenness of it, and the wars between one and the other, and the conflict between this and that, when we see the brokenness even of our own relationships in the church, O Lord, please, I pray that our eyes will be pointed to Christ. Help us, Lord, please, that your Holy Spirit will lead us in ways of righteousness and that we will trust in you alone. Help us, Lord, to pray for one another. Help us, Lord, to love one another. Help us, Lord, to minister one another.

Help us, Lord, to carry each other's burdens. Help us, Lord, please, to intercede and to be there for one another. I pray, Lord, that you will teach us, Lord, to be like you. that as we fulfill the sufferings of this present time, we may behold the glory of your revelation, Lord, with great expectation. We give you thanks, Lord, for what you have done for us and what you have revealed to us.

And we pray, Lord, that you will bless us as we come and as we are going to partake together of the table, as we're going to be gathered together around the table, Lord, that your presence will be among us as we take these elements and as we remember the completed work of our Savior Jesus Christ, grant us and lead us in ways of righteousness. I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.