back to index2016-11-27 Suffering to Glory
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with me to Romans chapter 8. I'm going to be reading from verse 16 all the way to verse 00:00:09.840 |
25. Romans chapter 8 verse 16 to 25. Okay, reading out of the ESV, "The Spirit Himself 00:00:19.720 |
bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs 00:00:24.280 |
of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also 00:00:28.760 |
be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not 00:00:33.760 |
worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits 00:00:38.040 |
with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected 00:00:42.600 |
to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope that the creation 00:00:47.680 |
itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory 00:00:52.560 |
of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together 00:00:56.760 |
in the pains of childbirth until now, and not only the Creator, but we ourselves who 00:01:01.400 |
have the first fruit of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption, 00:01:06.680 |
as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we are saved. Now hope that is 00:01:12.760 |
seen is not hope for we, for who hopes for what he sees. But if we hope for what we do 00:01:18.720 |
not see, we wait for it with patience. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that You would 00:01:28.800 |
anoint Your Word, and that as it goes forth, that it would reveal, minister to, encourage, 00:01:37.560 |
and shape our own hearts and our lives according to Your will and purpose. We pray, Lord God, 00:01:44.160 |
as we come in weakness, that Your Spirit, Lord God, would make us strong. Help us to 00:01:50.680 |
be resolved more than just hearing, but that our very lives will be changed as a result 00:01:57.560 |
of what we know of You. Help us, Lord God, to see a greater glimpse of Christ and His 00:02:02.640 |
glory, that we would be changed, Lord God, day to day. We entrust this time to You, Lord, 00:02:08.760 |
in Jesus' name we pray, amen. You know, as I mentioned to you before, we're studying 00:02:17.080 |
the book of Romans, and if there was any one particular book that, to me, not that any 00:02:25.900 |
other passages in the Bible is not as great, and obviously every part of the Bible is inspired 00:02:32.400 |
by God, but if there's one book that I would commend to you to really dive into and study 00:02:37.640 |
and to know it well, it would be the book of Romans. Because the book of Romans is not 00:02:42.160 |
written to deal with any one particular problem. Paul writes to the Galatians and Philippians, 00:02:48.940 |
and he has many things that he covers in these things, but they all deal with a particular 00:02:53.200 |
thing that was on Paul's mind, and he deals with that. And so the Gospel message is mentioned, 00:02:59.000 |
but it's mentioned with certain emphasis. The book of Romans is really Christianity 00:03:03.520 |
in a nutshell, all of it. There's no one particular thing that he mentions above everything 00:03:09.040 |
else. It's all of it is mentioned, all of it he dives into. So I would say, you know, 00:03:13.720 |
if there's any one book that we really should know well what it has to say, it would be 00:03:17.560 |
the book of Romans. But in the book of Romans, if we were to pick a chapter that really summarizes 00:03:24.000 |
the thoughts and intentions and theology of the whole book of Romans, it would be chapter 00:03:28.080 |
eight. So if we were to take time and really want to dive into it, I mean, we really could, 00:03:33.960 |
and I'm not trying to milk it, we really could spend probably months and months and maybe 00:03:38.320 |
a half a year just studying the book of Romans chapter eight alone, because so much is contained 00:03:44.720 |
in this chapter. And so I hesitate to go through it too fast, even three or four verses at 00:03:50.680 |
a time, because we have to skim through a lot of these things, the meaning behind all 00:03:55.000 |
of these things, in order for us to be able to cover it in a reasonable amount of time. 00:04:01.080 |
So I just commend this book to you. I commend this particular chapter to you. If you were 00:04:05.840 |
to memorize any chapter in the book, this is the chapter that I really would commend 00:04:09.520 |
to you to know it by heart, let it shape your thought, let it shape your thinking, and it'll 00:04:15.160 |
affect the way you praise God, how you view the universe and what God is doing. I want 00:04:20.320 |
to see what we're talking about today. The subject that we're talking about is Christian 00:04:23.960 |
suffering. I think it is relevant, no matter when I preach this, when this is preached, 00:04:29.400 |
this is relevant at all times, because I can't remember a single time, whether our church 00:04:33.920 |
was small, we had 30 or 40 people, or larger than, large as our church has become, I can't 00:04:41.320 |
think of any particular time that I've ever been in ministry where there wasn't somebody 00:04:45.400 |
in church that was suffering because something going on. Some of it I'm aware of, some of 00:04:49.960 |
it you guys are aware of, and some of it you guys are not aware of. But this idea of Christian 00:04:54.800 |
suffering, it is so relevant, so important to us that we have a proper understanding 00:05:00.360 |
in the context of what Paul says, in particular in this text. So before I dive into it, I 00:05:06.880 |
want you to understand that we don't deal with this separately from what Paul is saying. 00:05:10.560 |
Paul, I'm not going to go through all of it, but remember in chapter 6, Paul begins to 00:05:16.840 |
answer the question, if salvation is by grace alone, if you say that it's not by your works, 00:05:23.200 |
not what you do, but simply by the grace of God that we're saved, isn't that going to 00:05:27.000 |
lead to a generation of people who are going to say, "Well, let sin that grace may abound, 00:05:31.840 |
it doesn't matter, that's how great our God is, that no matter what He does, He loves 00:05:36.080 |
us and we can do whatever we want." Isn't it going to lead to a life of licentiousness? 00:05:41.640 |
And Paul says, "Absolutely not." By no means. If an individual has truly been united with 00:05:49.800 |
Christ, he died with Christ, he was resurrected with Christ, and the Holy Spirit has been 00:05:56.800 |
put into him. So it wasn't simply that, that our sins were forgiven, but we've also been 00:06:03.240 |
delivered from the power of sin. And that's why the Bible often talks about redemption 00:06:09.040 |
and deliverance, right? Not simply for the penalty of sin, but the power of sin has been 00:06:14.320 |
broken because of the presence of the Holy Spirit. So Paul has been talking about in 00:06:20.340 |
chapter 7 how the power of the Holy Spirit has caused us to be delivered from bondage, 00:06:27.040 |
but not only did we get delivered from bondage, we were made to be children of God, sons of 00:06:32.040 |
God, to call Him our Abba Father, and as a result of that, we have become co-heirs with 00:06:37.280 |
Christ. So again, up to that point, the Holy Spirit, He didn't just nullify our sins, He 00:06:45.240 |
elevated us to be co-heirs, that we have access to this Father. Now having said all of that, 00:06:53.440 |
all of that is all orthodox, right? We agree on all of that. But how do we understand this 00:07:00.200 |
salvation? If you misapply your understanding of salvation, if we project my understanding 00:07:07.000 |
of salvation to this Gospel message, a lot of strange doctrines and practices come out 00:07:13.560 |
of misapplying what we think salvation is. Years ago, when the Charismatic Movement was 00:07:19.320 |
in full swing, probably about 20-25 years ago, probably more than that, maybe closer 00:07:24.880 |
to 30 years ago, the Charismatic Movement was called the Third Wave of the Holy Spirit. 00:07:29.480 |
And there was a, the Charismatic Movement, the modern day, the singing and praising and 00:07:34.340 |
band and all of this, this all came in during that period. Because prior to that, it was, 00:07:38.480 |
if you were contemporary, you had one guy playing guitar, right? Typically it was an 00:07:42.120 |
organ or a piano, and that would be a traditional, and then contemporary would be one guy playing 00:07:47.520 |
guitar. But during the Charismatic Movement, the worship style changed drastically. Now 00:07:53.480 |
all of that stuff is just a matter of style, whether you play organ or full praise team, 00:07:58.400 |
that has nothing to do with genuine worship. But one of the things that was being taught 00:08:03.440 |
at that time during this Charismatic Movement was that if you genuinely believe in God, 00:08:09.680 |
God will and can heal you, whatever disease you have. So there was these healing services 00:08:15.240 |
that were going on, even in conservative Presbyterian churches, Baptist churches, all of a sudden 00:08:20.280 |
were having these healing services because, again, the central figure during this time 00:08:24.760 |
was a man named John Wimber, who was the leader of the Vineyard Movement. The Vineyard Church 00:08:29.180 |
still exists today, but the leader of the Vineyard Movement basically was teaching that 00:08:32.600 |
if you believe, if you have genuine faith, that whatever ails you, God can heal. So they 00:08:38.920 |
would have traditional worship. Today we have, you know, we have the regular worship, and 00:08:42.360 |
you have the contemporary worship. Well, during that time you had the contemporary worship, 00:08:45.840 |
and then healing service, right? All of a sudden healing services were popping up left 00:08:49.880 |
and right. But the problem with this movement was that John Wimber, who was the chief proponent 00:08:57.960 |
of this theology, got cancer. So everybody was watching. Well, he was telling everybody 00:09:03.920 |
that if you really believe, and people would say, "Well, I went to a healing service. I 00:09:08.400 |
didn't get healed." It was because you didn't have true faith. If you really had true faith, 00:09:12.000 |
you would have been healed. So the problem is with you, not me, right? Well, he got cancer, 00:09:17.200 |
and so obviously people were watching and praying, and years went by, and there were 00:09:21.640 |
periods where they said, "Oh, he's better. He's not better." But eventually he passed 00:09:24.680 |
away because of his cancer. And so that confused a lot of people who were fully 100% in this 00:09:30.120 |
movement, and there was no big turnaround saying, "That was wrong." It was just kind 00:09:35.000 |
of fizzled out. And that's why it's just not, you know, these days you don't hear a lot 00:09:39.420 |
about it, but about 20, 30 years ago, it was just as popular as anything that you would 00:09:44.720 |
see today. It's because in their mind, even though they had the correct gospel, their 00:09:51.640 |
application, what salvation meant. Salvation meant that you're going to be physically healed. 00:09:57.720 |
Something I think a little bit more relevant today that's been around for a long time is 00:10:01.040 |
the health and wealth gospel. I remember years ago, there was a popular speaker, and again, 00:10:06.960 |
this man named Fred Price was a pastor of a very large church, a mega church in LA, 00:10:13.220 |
and his church was called the Faith Dome. And it used to be a sports arena that he turned 00:10:17.400 |
it into his church, and he had tens of thousands of people meeting there. And then every Sunday 00:10:22.120 |
morning he would preach. And I didn't know his theology. I just thought, "Oh, this guy's 00:10:26.520 |
a really good communicator." So I would listen to him every once in a while. But I remember 00:10:30.200 |
one Sunday he had people stand up and he said, "Anybody here who's on welfare stand up." 00:10:36.400 |
And people very reluctantly stood up. And when they stood up, he just ripped into them. 00:10:40.000 |
And he said, "The reason why you guys are on welfare is because you don't have enough 00:10:43.400 |
faith. God can deliver you from poverty." And he would just rip on them. And obviously, 00:10:49.400 |
you know, I'm watching this, I'm cringing. And then the next thing he would have them 00:10:52.640 |
sit down. And then he said, "Those of you who used to be on welfare, who used to be 00:10:56.000 |
poor, didn't have a job, but now you do." And then you get up. And everybody gets up 00:11:00.480 |
and people start clapping. It's because these people believed. And God delivered them from 00:11:05.960 |
poverty. And whatever sickness they had, God delivered them. And people would all clap, 00:11:11.640 |
and then he would begin to share about his wealth. You know, and that's why, because 00:11:15.240 |
if you have faith like his, you can have this wealth yourself. Right? Now you guys are at 00:11:21.480 |
a Bible teaching church, so we look at that and say, "That's ridiculous. Why would people 00:11:25.360 |
even fall for that?" Right? We don't believe it on paper. We never signed a doctrinal statement. 00:11:33.520 |
But if we examine ourselves carefully, you will find just how prominent this health and 00:11:39.400 |
wealth gospel is, even in your life. How often do we equate the love of God and his grace 00:11:48.600 |
with a good job? How often do we question his goodness when we pray for good health 00:11:55.240 |
and it doesn't come? How often do we celebrate and thank God when God answers our prayer 00:12:01.880 |
and we get a raise? And when that doesn't happen, we question, "Why didn't God answer?" 00:12:08.800 |
Because suddenly, we would never say we're part of the health and wealth gospel movement. 00:12:13.240 |
But when something is not the way that you think it ought to be, you think something 00:12:19.280 |
is wrong. I must have done something wrong. Or maybe God isn't even real. How much of 00:12:25.320 |
the application of what we consider to be Orthodox Christian faith is mixed in with 00:12:32.960 |
this ideology of what I think salvation means. Now, why do I say all of this? It's because 00:12:37.880 |
Paul qualifies that by the Holy Spirit, we have become co-heirs with Christ. Well, if 00:12:44.160 |
I'm co-heir with Christ, if I become a child of the living God who created the universe, 00:12:50.040 |
then all things is mine. No more suffering. No more hunger. So Paul, again, he's been 00:12:58.920 |
arguing now, in case that you get a wrong understanding what salvation is, he says in 00:13:04.060 |
verse 17, "If children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided 00:13:09.800 |
we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." It's kind of like, 00:13:16.160 |
you know, build them up. You've been delivered, you're a child of God, call him Abba Father, 00:13:20.080 |
you're co-heirs with Christ, as long as you continue to suffer with him. Wah, wah, wah. 00:13:26.360 |
So all this build up to make sure that you don't misapply what it means to be saved. 00:13:35.540 |
Today we're going to be looking at, I think, three principles that Paul teaches about suffering 00:13:42.460 |
in this particular text. That we have a biblical ideology, biblical application, what it means 00:13:47.220 |
to be saved. And where suffering plays a role. The first thing that we need to understand 00:13:53.300 |
is that Paul, in this particular context, is talking about suffering of all the world. 00:14:02.020 |
Suffering is a state of all the fallen world. That's the first principle that we want to 00:14:06.360 |
look at. Now, he does start in verse 17 by specifically mentioning Christian suffering. 00:14:12.020 |
He says, "Provided that we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with 00:14:17.960 |
him." Suffering here is, again, he begins with Christian suffering, but Christian suffering 00:14:25.820 |
is within the context of the larger suffering that he mentions about the creation. He says, 00:14:32.100 |
"Of the creation," Romans 8.20, "the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, 00:14:36.620 |
but because of him who subjected it." Now, the creation isn't suffering because of persecution. 00:14:41.720 |
Creation's not suffering because it's obedience to the Word of God. He's talking about creation 00:14:47.200 |
and its suffering because we all live in this fallen world, universally. Every single human 00:14:56.020 |
being experiences this suffering, Christian or non-Christian alike. You know, when we 00:15:03.580 |
go through suffering, we have a tendency to isolate ourselves, to think that nobody understands 00:15:07.960 |
me. Nobody understands. Nobody understands what I've gone through. Nobody has seen, nobody 00:15:14.740 |
knows what my family is like. Nobody knows the financial problems. Nobody knows the health 00:15:18.980 |
issues. Nobody knows the relationship that we have. And when we begin to isolate ourselves, 00:15:25.800 |
you make your suffering unique that nobody else knows but you. But the Scripture clearly 00:15:32.180 |
says, and again, for 28, 27 years of ministry, I can guarantee you, whether you are old or 00:15:42.180 |
whether you are young, whether you are rich, whether you come from a broken family or a 00:15:46.620 |
together family, whatever your background may be, your brothers and sisters who are 00:15:52.620 |
sitting around you are suffering the same. They're suffering the same. The loneliness 00:15:58.360 |
that you feel, even in the large context, that's not unique to you. That's not unique 00:16:03.460 |
to you. Feeling like you don't belong, that's not unique to you. Feeling like you've been 00:16:12.660 |
chipped in life, that's not unique to you. Your inability to communicate with your husband 00:16:18.340 |
and wife, that's not unique to you. Whatever struggles that you may have experienced, the 00:16:27.620 |
Scripture clearly tells us that this is the experience of mankind because we've all fallen. 00:16:33.980 |
Paul says in Romans 8, 20, of all the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, 00:16:41.500 |
but because of him who subjected it. He says all of creation has experienced this. See 00:16:48.060 |
in Genesis chapter 3, 17 to 19, when the Bible talks about the corruption and the suffering 00:16:53.980 |
that was going to come upon man, it wasn't just man he isolates. He says in verse 17, 00:16:59.860 |
"Cursed is the ground because of you." If you remember, all of creation was created 00:17:08.500 |
first and then God created Adam and Eve the very last. He created life. He created food. 00:17:15.980 |
All of it to sustain man on the sixth day. And then he told man to rule over his creation. 00:17:24.900 |
So his job was to rule over it, to subdue it, to be caretakers. So when Adam and Eve 00:17:30.860 |
fell, not only did Adam and Eve fall, everything that God created for Adam and Eve also became 00:17:37.140 |
corrupt. He says, "Cursed is the ground because of you. In pain you shall eat of it all the 00:17:43.100 |
days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you." This is a common 00:17:50.260 |
experience of all mankind. "You shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your 00:17:55.460 |
face. You shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you are taken, 00:18:01.140 |
for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." All of mankind, all of mankind, Christian 00:18:08.540 |
and non-Christian alike, rich or poor, whether you are born in this country or in the Middle 00:18:14.660 |
East or anywhere else, the scripture says life is going to be difficult. Suffering is 00:18:20.500 |
going to come as a result of this fall. And as a result of that, in Romans 8.20, he says, 00:18:27.220 |
"In hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage and decay and obtain 00:18:31.740 |
the freedom of the glory of the children of God." So restoration is not simply mankind 00:18:37.660 |
being restored and him being saved. He says, "With the restoration of mankind, all of 00:18:42.020 |
creation will also be restored." In Isaiah 65.25, "The wolf and the lamb shall graze 00:18:49.020 |
together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be serpent's food. They 00:18:55.420 |
shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountains, says the Lord." So when he describes salvation 00:19:02.620 |
and restoration, he describes not only the salvation of Adam and Eve, mankind, but through 00:19:09.180 |
them all the other things that were corrupt, all the other things that were condemned will 00:19:14.220 |
also be restored. So when Isaiah says in Isaiah 65.25, "The wolf and the lamb shall graze 00:19:20.220 |
together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox." Basically what he's saying is that's 00:19:25.260 |
not how God created the universe. The way, what you and I see, the reason why a lion 00:19:31.060 |
doesn't walk in the midst of us, all of that happened because of the fall. He said, 00:19:37.620 |
"We live in danger." If you've ever read statistics about the dangerous animals of 00:19:44.620 |
how many people get killed by lions or elephants or mosquitoes or sharks, and always in the 00:19:50.300 |
top of that list is man killing man. See this corruption came in because of the fall, not 00:19:57.180 |
just human beings, but all of creation. So when God restores, he says he will restore 00:20:01.980 |
all that was lost in creation. Suffering characterizes mankind and all its creation. 00:20:10.780 |
Revelation 21.1-2, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and 00:20:15.220 |
the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New 00:20:20.140 |
Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." 00:20:26.940 |
Just like in the Lord's prayer, our prayer is, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on 00:20:31.780 |
earth as it is in heaven." That what was lost in creation will be restored. So the 00:20:36.980 |
Lord's prayer is the restoration of mankind, what God desired. You know, sometimes you 00:20:45.500 |
see on Facebook or news where people talking about, you know, we have to save the planet 00:20:50.980 |
and we have, you know, and all of these things are true. We need to be good stewards of what 00:20:54.580 |
God has given us. But we forget, sometimes even as Christians, the reason why the earth 00:21:03.220 |
and the creation is in the state that it's in is not because we're burning plastic. That's 00:21:13.180 |
what the world says. The problem is that if we were just a little bit more careful, if 00:21:17.380 |
we rode electric cars, that we can fix this universe. The scripture says all of that happened 00:21:22.180 |
in the beginning. The decay happened as a result of the fall of man. So restoration 00:21:28.060 |
is going to happen when man is restored to what God intended. You know, being overly 00:21:35.220 |
concerned about our planet is kind of like coming from a broken home and your primary 00:21:39.820 |
concern is if the dog is eating. We're arguing about, "Did the dog get the right food? Is 00:21:45.900 |
he walking enough while your husband and wife isn't eating, while your kids aren't eating?" 00:21:50.860 |
See, the scriptures tells us that all of creation is eagerly waiting. And as a result of all 00:22:00.100 |
of this, Romans 8.22, "For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together 00:22:05.260 |
in the pains of childbirth until now." All of creation since the fall has been groaning. 00:22:12.020 |
What does groaning mean? Like when do you groan? When there's a deep-seated suffering, 00:22:20.380 |
emotions that you can't express with words. We groan. All of creation, and it is not just 00:22:30.660 |
you. It is not your circumstance. It is not simply you. Even though at times when you're 00:22:36.020 |
going through suffering, you think like you're the only person in this universe that knows 00:22:40.580 |
what you're going through. The whole world, all of creation is groaning. You know, in 00:22:53.780 |
Ecclesiastes, as you know, King Solomon, everything that you and I can possibly imagine, King 00:23:00.340 |
Solomon had opportunity to do. If he wanted to travel, he could go anywhere he wanted. 00:23:06.660 |
For food, concubines, all the wealth that you can possibly, anything that you can possibly 00:23:12.620 |
imagine that you and I sometimes entertain. Winning the lottery for King Solomon would 00:23:19.620 |
be a joke to him. That's how much money he had. He experienced all of that, and the end 00:23:26.820 |
conclusion of all of it, as you guys know, he says, "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity." 00:23:31.300 |
Nothing is new under the sun. Ever since before him, ever since after him, everybody has been 00:23:38.660 |
pursuing thinking the answer is in something else. But the end result is, it is empty. 00:23:45.500 |
It is empty. All he found was more groaning. More groaning. This is the state of all mankind. 00:23:58.320 |
It is because of this groaning Christ came. It is to relieve us from this groaning why 00:24:04.500 |
Christ was crucified on the cross. But here's what's unique about us, the number two, right? 00:24:13.140 |
This suffering isn't necessarily unique to Christians, but it is unique to us in this 00:24:18.420 |
sense. Suffering reveals the genuineness of our faith, okay? Number two. Second principle. 00:24:24.640 |
Suffering reveals for Christians the genuineness of our faith. In Romans 8, 17, "And if children 00:24:29.820 |
then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in 00:24:34.460 |
order that we may also be glorified with him." He says, "Well, how do you know the Holy Spirit 00:24:42.380 |
is in you? How do you know that you're a child of God?" He says, "Suffering. Suffering does." 00:24:50.560 |
When suffering comes, where does relief come for you? When suffering comes in your life, 00:24:59.540 |
what is your answer? Who do you seek? Where do you find your comfort? There's a reason 00:25:06.580 |
why the scripture tells us not to be hasty in laying hands, to take time to test, to 00:25:11.940 |
test a man. Well, what does it mean to test a man? Does he take a test? Right? Is there 00:25:18.020 |
an exam that he takes? And it's sad to say in our generation, you know, if you want to 00:25:22.140 |
get ordained, go to school, learn your theology, and take a test. And if you pass a test, you 00:25:27.420 |
become a pastor. Right? And I always thought that was strange. Like somebody becomes a 00:25:33.180 |
pastor like you become a lawyer. If you know these facts, you become a pastor. Well, that's 00:25:40.140 |
not what testing means in scripture. Testing means some men, since they're obvious, some 00:25:46.740 |
men since trail behind them. Let time and circumstance and trials test them to see the 00:25:53.100 |
genuineness of their faith. You probably heard this before, but it's like a sponge. In your 00:26:00.900 |
kitchen you have a sponge and whoever washed dishes before, if they did a good job cleaning 00:26:05.500 |
that sponge before they left, and you really don't know what's in that sponge until you 00:26:09.460 |
take it and you squeeze it. And then you find all this brown water coming out because whoever 00:26:15.260 |
washed dishes before didn't thoroughly clean it. And you didn't know what was in there 00:26:19.780 |
until you squeezed it. In the same way, suffering reveals. Suffering reveals where you turn 00:26:30.700 |
to why you two people can experience the same kind of suffering where one person comes out 00:26:36.640 |
praising God and thanking him that the suffering caused them to get closer to God. Where the 00:26:42.140 |
other person that even a little bit of suffering causes them to be bitter and angry toward 00:26:46.380 |
God and everybody else. What was the difference? It was their faith. Believing that a sovereign 00:26:56.100 |
God who loves them is sovereignly in control causes that individual to seek a greater glimpse 00:27:01.980 |
of his glory. Where a person who doesn't have faith, all they see is darkness and they don't 00:27:08.220 |
see hope. Suffering reveals the genuineness of our faith. See Matthew 16, 24, Jesus said, 00:27:19.180 |
from the very get-go, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up 00:27:23.460 |
his cross and follow me." It is not because God doesn't want us to be happy or is it kill 00:27:29.500 |
joy? Our very idea, our very impulse for life has been corrupted. You ever wonder why all 00:27:43.300 |
the things that we crave usually for food are bad for us? Wouldn't it be awesome if 00:27:48.940 |
you were born with a craving for only good stuff? Why do we have to resist candy and 00:27:54.900 |
stuff? I have too many things on my head to share all at once. Why is it, I mean, think 00:28:06.100 |
about even the lust that God intended for your wife and your husband. Why is it not 00:28:13.100 |
romantic in the world? Why is it whenever they have sexual context on television or 00:28:19.180 |
movies it's always, always outside of the wedding? Pornography is sex that has been 00:28:29.140 |
corrupted. All our senses have been corrupted. So when he says, "If you want to live, you 00:28:34.340 |
need to first deny yourself because yourself, your very senses have been corrupted." Suffering 00:28:43.580 |
comes into our lives and he puts pressure to reveal that we've been chasing after things 00:28:50.540 |
that are corrupted. He takes our eyes off of these things that we easily get distracted 00:28:56.980 |
in to focus on him. John 12, 25, 26, "Whoever loves his life, loses it and whoever hates 00:29:03.680 |
his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow 00:29:09.540 |
me and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will 00:29:13.980 |
honor him." Our very desire to live and what we think is going to bring life has been corrupted. 00:29:22.820 |
So God oftentimes will bring suffering in our lives to force us, to cause us to take 00:29:29.740 |
our eyes off of whatever it is that we have been distracted by. Whatever it is that you 00:29:34.460 |
have convinced yourself is going to bring joy and satisfaction and to fix our eyes upon 00:29:41.540 |
him. I mean, what James says in chapter 1, 2-4, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when 00:29:49.260 |
you meet trials of various kinds." It's another thing to endure it, to persevere in it. But 00:29:56.540 |
he says to rejoice in it. How can you possibly expect people to rejoice when suffering comes? 00:30:07.260 |
But here's the reason why he says, "Rejoice, for you know that the testing of your faith, 00:30:12.940 |
the proving of your faith produces steadfastness. And steadfastness has its full effect that 00:30:18.620 |
you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." In other words, he's saying God 00:30:23.300 |
has bringing various kinds of suffering in our lives to bring us to completion. And what 00:30:30.900 |
is this completion? What is this end goal of salvation? Isn't it to bring us to him? 00:30:39.660 |
Isn't that what we talked about? The Holy Spirit was deposited in us to embrace us, 00:30:46.620 |
to carry us on his shoulder and bring us to him. So when he says, "When various trials 00:30:51.860 |
have come in and produces endurance and steadfastness and the end result is completeness," what 00:30:56.740 |
is this completeness? Isn't that another way of saying to bring us to him? That God's avenue 00:31:05.820 |
to bring us salvation is through suffering? And the reason why it's suffering is because 00:31:15.960 |
our idea of peace produces death. Our idea of joy in this world produces death and condemnation. 00:31:29.840 |
Our idea of comfort and who we run to produces condemnation. That's why he brings suffering. 00:31:40.700 |
He puts pressure so that we may take our eyes off of whatever it is that we have been distracted 00:31:46.320 |
by and to remind us salvation is in him and him alone. 00:31:52.520 |
Third principle, ultimately suffering and glory go hand in hand. Suffering and glory 00:32:00.600 |
go hand in hand. Again, Romans 8.16, it says, "The Spirit of himself bears witness with 00:32:06.040 |
our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, fellow 00:32:10.300 |
heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified 00:32:15.420 |
with him." To be glorified with him. He brings suffering into our lives, ultimately not to 00:32:24.260 |
bring affliction, but to bring glory. 2 Corinthians 4.17, "For this slight momentary affliction," 00:32:34.240 |
and again, when Paul says momentary affliction, this slight momentary affliction, we're talking 00:32:38.340 |
about, again, understanding the context of Apostle Paul being beaten, shipwrecked. People 00:32:44.700 |
who are preaching the gospel to put pressure on him within the church, questioning his 00:32:49.260 |
apostleship, possibly dying because of his faith. So when he says slight momentary affliction, 00:32:56.420 |
we're talking about risking his life, possibly ending any day. But the reason why he says 00:33:02.900 |
slight momentary affliction, because of what it produces, in light of what God is trying 00:33:09.380 |
to do, is preparing for us eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. It is in comparison 00:33:16.420 |
that even risking his life, he says it calls it slight momentary affliction, in light of 00:33:24.980 |
the glory that is waiting. As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things 00:33:29.700 |
that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen 00:33:34.780 |
are eternal. When affliction comes into our lives, and it can come through relationships, 00:33:43.940 |
it can be financial, it can be health, whatever it may be, when affliction comes to our life, 00:33:50.580 |
our immediate response, our fleshly response, is to find an alternative. That's why, you 00:33:58.660 |
know, when you're young, when something goes wrong, you start to think, maybe if I was 00:34:05.300 |
with somebody else, right? And if you're in a job that you don't like, and something happens, 00:34:11.580 |
and I'm not saying there isn't a good time to move on, but our immediate thought is, 00:34:17.460 |
change our circumstance, change the people that are around us. But after a while, after 00:34:24.020 |
you've made significant changes, after you've done that four, five, six, seven times, you 00:34:30.060 |
realize that everybody sucks. Okay, excuse my language. Right? And some of you guys are 00:34:37.060 |
sitting here thinking that. I've been there. They suck too. You know? We do that with churches. 00:34:44.380 |
We do that with people, circumstance, whatever it may be. You know? Whenever affliction or 00:34:50.940 |
trials and we're uncomfortable, we just think that, oh, maybe if we change this, we change 00:34:55.180 |
that, it'll fix that. But after a while, you realize all have sinned and fall short of 00:35:01.580 |
the glory of God, including you. See, God brings afflictions in our lives not to cause 00:35:10.980 |
us to look for better circumstance. God brings pressure into our lives so that we could take 00:35:19.180 |
our eyes off of whatever it is that you've placed your hope in and to look to him. I 00:35:27.620 |
remember years back when I was a younger pastor, one of the things that would really frustrate 00:35:37.340 |
me is I underestimated the suffering of people. You know? I spent a lot of time in LA, so 00:35:46.700 |
I thought suffering was in LA, not in Irvine. You know? So I remember the very first Bible 00:35:51.540 |
study that I led at Irvine Baptist. I sat around and I prepared this Bible study about, 00:35:57.380 |
you know, about bad relationship with parents and, you know, and drugs. You know, all the 00:36:03.060 |
stuff that I prepared. And so I sat down with the youth group and I asked them, how many 00:36:06.580 |
of you have good relationship with your parents that you can actually talk to them? 95% said, 00:36:12.060 |
yeah, we have a good relationship. And I remember thinking, this Bible study is not going to 00:36:17.180 |
be relevant, you know, to this group. Right? But again, that's superficial, very superficial. 00:36:23.780 |
There's a tendency to think, well, if you live in a rich area, you know, where everybody's 00:36:27.700 |
have it together, suffering is not there. Right? Absolutely false. You know, all the 00:36:33.140 |
years that I've been here, suffering is, it looks different here. You know, it's various 00:36:39.020 |
kinds is different. But I remember sitting in front of people who were sharing with me 00:36:45.020 |
all kinds of trials. I mean, just some of these things are shocking things that I've 00:36:48.700 |
heard and just feeling so inadequate because what I learned in seminary was how to exposit 00:36:55.620 |
the Bible. Basically, that's it. That's what I learned how to do. Exposit the Bible, right? 00:37:02.260 |
How to use commentaries and look at the Greek and the Hebrew and the culture. And I've done 00:37:06.180 |
that. Even preaching, I get one class. You just kind of figure that out on your own. 00:37:10.860 |
You know, in the communion, I just figured I just kind of winged it. Baptism. I saw my 00:37:17.300 |
friends do it, so I did it the way he did it. You know, we were taught how to exposit 00:37:21.860 |
the Bible. That's what we were taught. And I remember just coming out of these counseling 00:37:26.060 |
meetings just frustrated, thinking like, I need to go back to school and get a counseling 00:37:29.940 |
degree. You know, I need to go back to school and learn psychology or something because 00:37:35.500 |
it just doesn't seem enough. And they're frustrated. I'm frustrated. And I remember just thinking 00:37:42.660 |
through all of the frustration. Is that the way it was meant to be? And the more I searched 00:37:52.500 |
through scripture, the solution came only one way. There's only one answer given in 00:38:00.700 |
the scripture for all the problem of mankind. And you know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:38:10.460 |
That every problem, every family problem, every marriage, every problem that is revealed 00:38:16.660 |
in scripture, the answer was Christ and Christ alone. And I realized that if I give solution 00:38:28.620 |
to any human problem, to anything else but Christ, eventually you're going to be frustrated. 00:38:36.700 |
I can find you the right people to meet up with on a regular basis. But if you think 00:38:43.500 |
that finding the right people in your life is going to solve your problem, eventually 00:38:48.620 |
you're going to be frustrated. Finding the right church, a right job, learning how to 00:38:57.500 |
say the right things, eventually all of those things are going to fail. Here's what it says 00:39:05.500 |
in 1 Peter 5.10. "And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who 00:39:11.620 |
has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, 00:39:19.700 |
and establish you." Who's going to strengthen you? Not other people. Not your wife, not 00:39:30.500 |
your husband, not your pastor, not your church, not your friends, not your small group leader, 00:39:40.820 |
not your discipler. Christ, he himself will restore you. He will confirm you. He will 00:39:50.300 |
strengthen you. He will establish you. God brings suffering in our lives to press things 00:39:59.860 |
in our lives, to remind us why he came. He didn't come to point us to the right direction. 00:40:09.380 |
He came and he says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. I am the way and the truth 00:40:15.300 |
and the life." C.S. Lewis says of pain, "Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers 00:40:23.740 |
to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone 00:40:32.660 |
to rouse a deaf world." That's why in Romans 8, 18, it says, "For I consider the suffering 00:40:41.580 |
of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." 00:40:48.980 |
For Christians, suffering reminds us this is not our home. When things aren't going 00:40:56.140 |
right in your life, it reminds us this is not your home. Your retirement is not your 00:41:05.140 |
destiny. Right investment is not your destiny. See, when the world suffers, they're in despair 00:41:14.420 |
because there's no hope in their suffering. But Christian suffering is unique in that 00:41:19.820 |
a sovereign and loving God is absolutely is in control. And that's why in Philippines 00:41:25.100 |
1, 29, it says, "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should 00:41:29.060 |
not only believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake." Because it is in our suffering 00:41:35.700 |
that we see Christ the clearest. See, the Lord is near to those who are brokenhearted 00:41:44.700 |
and saves the crushed in spirit. Let me conclude with this in 2 Corinthians 4. Knowing what 00:41:53.420 |
we know of suffering, knowing what we know about Christ. 2 Corinthians 4, 16 to 18, "So 00:42:02.180 |
we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being 00:42:07.340 |
renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us eternal weight 00:42:12.660 |
of glory beyond all comprehension. As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the 00:42:17.780 |
things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that 00:42:22.260 |
are unseen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4, 7. "But we have this treasure in charge of 00:42:27.220 |
clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in 00:42:33.940 |
every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not driven to despair. Persecuted, but not 00:42:41.220 |
forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed." Let's pray. As our worship team comes up, 00:42:56.660 |
again, I want to invite you to come to the Lord. And I know some of you may be in anguish 00:43:05.380 |
this morning. Maybe you've been in anguish for a long time. Come to the Lord. Cast all 00:43:16.780 |
your anxiety before Him because He cares for you. The whole benefit of salvation is that 00:43:23.140 |
we have this access to our Abba Father who hears our groanings. And if what I'm saying 00:43:30.460 |
to you is not you, if you are oblivious to the sufferings of the people around you, you 00:43:38.900 |
need to wake up too. That your life is content with all the people, Christians and non-Christians 00:43:50.360 |
alike are groaning and you've become insensitive to their groaning. You need to wake up too. 00:43:59.700 |
Let's take some time as we come before the Lord, the condemnation that this world is 00:44:04.660 |
in, that we may be His ambassadors of this life. So let's take some time to pray as we