The Hallway Of Hope

Transcript

If you would be so kind as to turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Romans, chapter 8. We’ll begin at 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 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. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly, as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

— Romans 8

(ESV)

For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Brothers and sisters, this text this morning, admittedly, is a hard passage to preach. And I just want to tell you on the front end that I’m not a good enough preacher to preach this passage the way it should be preached. In my own strength, I cannot preach this text in a way that will avoid landmines, or deal completely with the sufferings that we endure in this life. And so before we dive into the text, would you just take a few moments right now, where you are, to quietly, privately pray for me, and pray for each other, that God will illuminate the text this morning, and help us to be encouraged by this weighty text.

Why Suffering Exists

So would you do that now? Our Father and our God, we need your help. So we pray that you would give it. Give us eyes to see. Give us ears to hear. Give us hearts that will burn with the truth of your word. Bring comfort. O Spirit of the living God, bring comfort, we pray, in Christ’s name. Amen. Why does suffering exist in our world? Why does suffering exist in our world? This, brothers and sisters, is one of the most difficult questions to answer, even for Christians, who have a solid theology concerning the dark providences of God. It’s a very difficult question, not only to answer, but to wrestle with, especially in the midst of suffering. I mean, suffering is so painful, and so pervasive, that it’s sometimes hard to imagine why a good God would allow for his creatures to experience it, even on the most micro of levels.

And given that suffering is challenging for Christians to comprehend, it only makes sense that our culture would be completely lost concerning the existence of suffering in our world. So difficult is the concept that atheists will often use the existence of suffering in our world as a bit of an apologetic, or as an attempt to prove that God does not exist, because, after all, the logic goes, if there is a God, then God must be good. And if God is good, then why would he allow suffering to exist in his world? David Hume, the atheist enlightenment philosopher, puts it like this, and I’ll paraphrase it a bit. He writes, Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then God is impotent. Is God able, but not willing? Then God is malevolent. Is God both able and willing? Why, then, does evil exist? You see what Hume is doing here.

He’s not only launching an assault on the attributes of God, but the undercurrent of his argument is an assault on the very existence of God. C.S. Lewis, though he does not agree with Hume, he accurately frames for us Hume’s perspective on suffering in his book, The Problem of Pain. C.S. Lewis writes, If God were good, he would wish to make his creatures perfectly happy. And if God were almighty, he would be able to do what he wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore, God lacks either goodness or power or both. This is the problem of pain in its simplest form. C.S. Lewis is helpful in helping us to understand how the people of our world think through the existence of suffering. But despite the world’s presuppositions concerning the existence of suffering and evil, and despite their misunderstanding of the attributes of God, the problem is not with God.

God exists, and God is good, and God is all-powerful. The existence of human suffering is not a result of God’s lack of goodness, but the result of humanity’s lack of goodness. In other words, suffering exists because of man’s badness. And the existence of suffering in this life does nothing to diminish the power of God. Because though there is real suffering in this world, God in his great power somehow and mysteriously and sovereignly uses the suffering that comes from human sin to shape and mold humans more into the image of God. And God powerfully uses the temporary sufferings of this world as a witness to another world, an eternal and transcendent world where there is no suffering and sin. So while the culture reduces or questions the attributes of God because of human suffering, the truth is all of God’s attributes are put on full display through human suffering.

Now just think about this for a minute. God’s goodness, God’s power, God’s grace, God’s mercy, God’s compassion, God’s faithfulness, God’s justice, God’s righteousness, and God’s love is perfectly displayed in this one great act of human suffering. Where God responds to human suffering by sending his only son to take on human flesh to do what? To suffer and to die in humanity’s place because of our sin, which is the seed of all kinds of suffering. Not just temporal suffering, but eternal suffering. God’s son takes on human form to suffer for us so that those who would trust in him would escape the righteous wrath of God, which is the greatest expression of human suffering the world will ever know. And through the suffering of God’s son, we will be brought into a future eternal reality where sin and suffering will be completely eradicated, where we will live in the peace and presence of God in the fullness of joy for all of eternity.

So brothers and sisters, despite the world’s logic, God has acted in this present world to deal with suffering finally and fully, which will be experienced in our future world, which means God is good. God is powerful, even though our world is flooded with sin and suffering now. And I know, brothers and sisters, this is a concept that is hard for us to understand. The present suffering in our world and the future glory is a hard concept to grasp, especially if you find yourself sitting in the seat of suffering. But although it’s a hard concept to grasp, it doesn’t make the concept any less real. And I think our text this morning gives us a perfect framework for this reality. Our text this morning helps to give us a better understanding of why suffering exists in our world, and how God has acted in His goodness and in His power to deal with sin and suffering once and for all,

The Glory

and how because of that we can have hope in this world as we suffer, and how by virtue of our future hope we can in some sense suffer well until we acquire what is ours by virtue of our inheritance through King Jesus’ work, His suffering work. Our text this morning is a wonderful passage of hope for those of you who find yourself overwhelmed with suffering, and there are many in our congregation who are sitting in suffering this morning. And so I do hope that this text will be an encouragement for your soul, and I will do my best to preach this text in a way that is a source of encouragement for your suffering soul. And so to help us move through this text this morning I’ve broken it up into four sections. We’ll look at the glory in verses 18 and 19, the garden in verses 20 and 21,

the groaning in verses 22 and 23, and then finally the guarantee in verses 24 through 25. So let’s first begin by looking at the glory in verse 18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. So the Apostle Paul begins this wonderful and profound verse with the word for. And if you’ve been at Trinity for even a couple months, then you know that any time you see the word for, or if, or because, or therefore, that should serve as an indicator to look backwards to understand the context of the argument, or in Paul’s case, the encouragement. So the whole train of Paul’s logic is based on the previous two verses, verses 16 and 17, that we looked at a few weeks ago as Christian, wonderfully unpacked the beautiful benefits that we have as Christians,

as children of God, as heirs of God. And so look with me briefly at verses 16 and 17. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. So there is assurance of salvation. The Spirit testifies. We have assurance. And if we are children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, which means we have a wonderful inheritance, provided, which is the condition, if we suffer with him, in order that we may also be glorified with him. Paul makes this profound statement here, that if we are children of God, then we have an inheritance. And the means of obtaining our future inheritance is through suffering. As children of God, we will suffer. Just like Jesus. We must go through the groanings of this life before we get to glory. Just like Jesus. And so dear Christian, it’s not a matter of if you suffer,

but when you suffer. Essentially, Paul is arguing here that the pathway for Christians to get to glory is through the hallway of human suffering. So we will suffer. But Paul gives us some very warm words for us to think through as we suffer in this life. Paul says, for I consider. And this is important. It’s important that you understand this. Paul isn’t giving us a flippant consideration. This is a well thought out and calculated assessment. If anyone has the authority to speak on suffering, brothers and sisters, it’s Paul. If you don’t know, let me just give you a quick breakdown of Paul’s personal experience with pain and suffering. If you look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul gives you a brief list of some of his sufferings. He says, five times I received at the hands of the Jews 40 lashes less one. Okay? That’s a total of 195 lashes.

Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, they threw rocks at the apostle Paul. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers. This is a whole lot of trauma. A lot of PTSD in Paul’s ministry. In toil and hardship through many a sleep this night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure, and apart from other things. There is the daily pressure on me of all my anxiety, of all the churches. And there’s so much more than this. Paul was constantly imprisoned and in chains for the sake of the gospel, constantly beaten for his faith. He was a full-time minister of the gospel,

but for the sake of the gospel, he chose to be bivocational. So he toiled and toiled and then got into the work of ministry. For the sake of the gospel, Paul was never married, so he never experienced the wonderful benefits of having a helpmate. Someone to share life with. And because of that, he never experienced the joy of children. He was on the road, which I can tell you by experience, it wrecks the body. It’s physically exhausting. All of this in a culture where there were no planes and there were no tour buses. Paul suffered immeasurably more than most people in ministry, so he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to suffering. And if you don’t believe me, you just need to read through the New Testament, and you will see all of Paul’s suffering. And here’s the thing that’s crazy. The suffering that Paul endured was all part of God’s purpose and plan for Paul.

The book of Acts, it tells us that there is this man named Ananias. God speaks to this man and says, Hey, I’ve just saved a terrorist, and I want you to go and talk to this terrorist and show him what it looks like to be a Christian. And Ananias says in verse 13, Are you crazy? Lord, I’ve heard from many about this man, this terrorist, how much evil he has done to your people, to your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has the authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on his name. The Lord says to Ananias, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. Listen, for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. That’s a hard concept to grasp.

Here God is using the suffering that exists in this world that came through human sin as a divine instrument to herald the name of God before people. So Paul, being well versed in Christian suffering, says something so important for us to hear. And that is that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Paul, through personal experience, weighs the scales of suffering and of glory and his conclusion through his experience is that they’re not even worth comparing. That the suffering in this life will be so remarkably small when placed against the backdrop of glory. That because of the bigness of glory that is to be revealed in this life, it will eclipse all the countless pains and sorrows that we will endure in this life. Now, I don’t want you to misunderstand Paul here.

Paul is not saying this as a means to minimize our suffering. As if suffering is not a big deal. Paul is not persuading us to put on plastic smiles and present ourselves as if pain isn’t real pain. Or that our suffering is insignificant. No, brothers and sisters, the suffering that we endure as Christians is very real. Very painful. But what Paul is saying here is that even though it’s hard, and it might seem too much for you to bear in the moment, dear Christian, hold on. Just wait a little while longer. Because the weight of God’s glory will make all of the sufferings in this life worth it. Trinity Church, I know suffering can make you feel hopeless. Suffering has a way of blinding you and deafening you to the truth that suffering won’t last forever. There is a sense in which all you want to do when you experience suffering is numb yourself from the pain.

Numb yourself from the truth or the reality. But there is truth. And that truth is there is hope beyond your suffering. One of the hardest truths for Christians to hear is that receiving Jesus is a call to safety and salvation, but it’s also a call to suffering. And this is why I can’t stand the prosperity gospel, the health and wealth gospel, the happy and healed gospel, the follow Jesus and your life will be great gospel, the American consumeristic gospel, the best life now gospel. None of those things are the real gospel. If you tell these people that if they come to Jesus, their life will be rid of pain and suffering, they will reject Jesus the moment they experience pain and suffering. Because what you catch them with is what you must keep them with. And here’s the truth. Jesus never promised a life without suffering and pain.

In fact, he promised that we would suffer in this life. But he also promised that we would experience glory in the life to come. Yes, there are glorious benefits for following Jesus in this life. Glorious benefits, unimaginable benefits. But those benefits will not come without suffering. In fact, if Jesus himself suffered, why in the world would you think that the children of God would not suffer? This is why Jesus told his disciples, if you want to be my disciple, you must pick up your cross and follow me. Picking up your cross is picking up the path of suffering. So, brothers and sisters, in many ways, though we’re saved, we exist in what you might call the already but not yet. We live in the reality that we are redeemed, but we will not experience the full benefits of that redemption, which is glory, until we see the majestic glory of our God.

And when that day comes, and I can’t help but hear Bernard’s voice, on that day, on that day, when that glory comes, the gravity of God’s glory will be so magnificent that we won’t even remember the sufferings of this life. So this means that we can endure everything that’s thrown at us, as painful as it might be, as dark as it might be, as lonely as it might sometimes feel, because of the beauty and certainty of our future glory, we can endure. And to creatively emphasize the weight and beauty of what lies ahead, Paul does something both prophetic and poetic. He creatively personifies creation. And we see that in verse 19. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. So to add a layer of devotional dimension to Paul’s encouragement, Paul brings creation into the song of expectation.

He uses the phrase, waits with eager longing, and that’s an interesting phrase. In the Greek, it’s kind of three words kind of smashed together, and it’s translated to have a head with a long neck. That sounds ridiculous and a bit out of pocket, until you think about what people actually do when they’re looking for something that is beyond their height to see. They stand on their toes, and they stretch out their necks as far as they can to get a glimpse of what lies just beyond their ability to see. Like children who stand on their tippy toes and stretch themselves as far as they can to peek over the fence of an amusement park. So here, Paul personifies creation as standing tall with stretched out necks to see beyond the broken fence of our world, to peer in on the glory of the world to come.

So creation waits with stretched necks. And what is it exactly that creation is longing for? The revealing of those who are indeed children of God. Creation is looking forward with curiosity and excitement to see who we are, and to see what becomes of us in the new world. And why is creation waiting with stretched necks? Because the fall not only affects all of humanity, but all of creation. And you see that in verses 20 and 21 with the garden. 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. If you think about it, creation gets the worst end of the deal when it comes to the effects of the fall. Creation didn’t do anything,

The Garden

yet it was subjected to futility. And that word futility, that’s an interesting word. That word is translated meaninglessness or vanity. It’s the same language that’s used throughout the book of Ecclesiastes. Many commentators say that the whole book of Ecclesiastes is a bit of a commentary on this one verse in Romans. It means that all of creation has been subjected to meaninglessness. It’s frustrated. It’s useless, incapable of producing life. In other words, creation is dying a slow death. And this isn’t anything new to our modern understanding. In fact, even non-Christian scientists, they have figured this out. They even have a name for the futility of creation. It’s called the second law of thermodynamics. The nature or creation is always changing for the worst. That everything in creation at some point begins to break down and deteriorate. So the second law of thermodynamics is really the scientific definition of the biblical reality.

That creation is in bondage to corruption. There’s nothing creation can do to stop it. It’s on a trajectory of death. It’s enslaved to it. So then this begs the question, what was creation like before it was subjected to futility? And why was it subjected to futility in the first place? And to get that answer, we only need to look to the very beginning of our Bibles, where creation was created. So if you would briefly turn with me to the very first book of the Bible, the very first chapter, the very first verse. Genesis 1 gives you the account of creation. How God spoke all of creation into existence by the power of His Word. And here’s what I want you to do. As you look through this list, I want you to notice something. Look how many times when God gives this creation account that He references, it’s good.

After every interval of God’s creation, He says it is good. So when you look at verse 3, God said, let there be light, and it was light. Then in verse 4, it says, God saw that the light was good. Then you look down at verse 10. Look at the last part of verse 10. And God saw that it was good. Look at the last part of verse 12. And God saw that it was good. Look at the last part of verse 18. And God saw that it was good. The end of 21. And God saw that it was good. The end of 25. And God saw that it was good. And God tells us in verse 26, let us make man in our own image, after our own likeness. And in verses 27 and 28, it says, so God created man in His own image,

in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the ground. Then look at verse 31. And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. So humanity and creation in the beginning was made good, very good, full of purpose. It produced life for humanity to have dominion over. In the beginning, creation was not created futile or meaninglessness, or meaningless, or without purpose. God creates this beautiful garden. He makes it good. And He gives His creatures the authority to rule over it. With one caveat, don’t eat of the fruit that I have forbidden.

Then turn with me to Genesis 3. The serpent was more crafty than any other beast in the field. So in enters the serpent into God’s good creation. So the serpent makes his way in to the garden, and he persuades the first humans to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit. And as a result of this sin, suffering enters our world. And I want you to notice the curse of suffering and how it plays out in all of creation. In Genesis 3.14, it says,

Look at Genesis 16 and 17. It says, Here’s creation’s curse. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread. Till you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return. The serpent suffers, Eve suffers, Adam suffers, creation suffers, and everything dies. The second law of thermodynamics at play. That which once produced life is now subjected to suffering and death. Man’s sin not only brought about human suffering, but it also cursed the ground. And creation, brothers and sisters, has been groaning since that day. Longing to be liberated from its enslavement to the curse and corruption of decay. So creation waits for the revealing of the children of God. Why? Because when the children of God are revealed, creation’s curse is reversed. And you see the poetic and prophetic beauty of Paul’s encouragement here.

The Groaning

Essentially, Paul is creatively saying, on that glorious day, the rocks will cry out, the seas will sing, the mountains will join the saints in a song of praise as God makes all things new. But until that day, creation joins the saints in singing the song of suffering. Which brings us to verse 22, the groaning. 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 as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Paul helpfully describes the pains that we experience in this life as something similar to birth pains. Now, men will have very little experiential knowledge when it comes to birth pains. No matter how hard we try, sympathy pains will never come close. But though Paul is a man

and has never experienced childbirth, he actually connects the dots quite accurately. See, birth pains have an interesting movement to them. They begin with a subtle discomfort. Maybe it’s the lack of sleep at night because of the way that the belly has to be positioned and it’s just discomforting. But then, that discomfort begins to progress. As so does the speed and intensity of the pain. And then there becomes this particular syncopation of strength that is unique to birth pains. The pain and suffering begins to come in waves. You get hit with one contraction and just as soon as that contraction passes, boom! You’re hit with another contraction that seems far worse than the previous contraction. And I think the reason why Paul’s illustration here is so helpful because I think it captures what most Christians deal with when they suffer. It could sometimes feel

like our painful experience continues in waves. One painful experience after another. And though the speed and intensity or waves of suffering varies from person to person, all people will suffer to varying degrees. And suffering is difficult. It’s discomforting. It’s agonizing. It’s emotional. It’s stressful. It’s fatiguing. It’s sometimes debilitating. So much so that all you want to do is check out and numb yourself from the pain. And brothers and sisters, this makes complete sense because suffering is not what we were made to experience. Suffering is everything we were made not to experience. What makes Paul’s illustration of childbirth so helpful is that it speaks directly and specifically to the reality of pain. So he doesn’t minimize it. It’s painful. But the pain of childbirth, it specifically pales in comparison to what comes after the pain, which is what? A baby. A baby. Women endure the greatest of pain in childbirth.

But when the baby finally comes, when the baby is safe in mommy’s arms, the pain and suffering over the last nine months fades into the background and unspeakable joy begins to flood their hearts. And what’s crazy is that for a lot of women, a lot, after only about a year of having a baby, they find themselves thinking about doing the same thing all over again. Why would they do that? Why subject yourself to that painful process all over again? In the world. Why would you do that? Because of what comes after the pain. Women endure all that pain because of the inexpressible delight of another newborn baby. And so it is with this life we will groan in this life. But after the groaning comes glory so we can endure the present suffering. And to be clear, the glory that comes after all of the groaning

is exclusive to the child of God. This is why the text says, for those who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, the adopted sons and daughters are waiting with stretched out necks, just like creation, looking beyond the very difficult and painful circumstances of this life to peer in what we often fail to see, the glory. This week I’ve been thinking a lot about my mother. And maybe it’s because the text addresses childbirth, but I think more specifically because it addresses suffering. My mother, she was an incredible woman. But my mother had a very hard life. You could pretty much sum up the entirety of her life on this earth as one marked by suffering and pain. My mother experienced emotional and physical abuse as a child. She experienced unthinkable trauma in her teenage years. My mother survived two physically abusive husbands who were both unfaithful to her

and eventually left her and her children. And so the physical and emotional suffering that she endured was both unthinkable and had a lifelong repercussion to it. And after all the suffering of her childhood and her failed marriages, my mother became a Christian. In fact, she began following Jesus just about a year after I began following Jesus. And my mom flourished as a Christian. She was such a good Christian. She loved and delighted in the Lord. And I think for her, her deep love for the Lord was in many ways directly connected to her life of suffering and pain. I do think that the providence of pain was part of what brought her to Jesus and her suffering made her the saint that she became. And you would think that after God used the instrument of pain to draw my mother to the Lord Jesus, that after she became a Christian, the suffering would cease.

Because after all, that’s what God does, right? He uses pain to draw us close to Him. But the suffering did not come to an end with my mom. She continued to suffer. In fact, the trauma of her abuse in her teenage years never completely went away. She never remarried. And in many ways, she desired to be married to a godly man and experience what all of that was about. Experience a partner in ministry. But that never happened for her. And eventually, her body began to completely break down. She suffered a massive heart attack. And as a result of that heart attack, there was just countless other medical issues. Issue after issue. Problem after problem. Medication after medication. It got to the point where she eventually found herself on dialysis because her kidneys were failing. My mother’s life before and after she followed Jesus was marked by incredible pain and suffering.

But the constant refrain that I remember from my mother after she became a child of God was, I can’t wait to be with Jesus. She would always say that to me and to Heather. I can’t wait to be with Jesus and experience the peace and presence of God with a new body, with no more emotional trauma. All my physical pain removed. She longed to live with no more tears and no more pain. And now, brothers and sisters, she is on the other side of groaning. She’s in glory, experiencing the redemption of her body and the presence of the God that brought her through all the suffering in this world. And brothers and sisters, this is what awaits us, the children of God. Not only the redemption of our bodies, but the presence of the God who brings us through all of our suffering in this world,

which means there will come a day where there is no more suffering, no more sickness, no more childhood trauma, no more abuse, no more cancer, no more dementia, no more wheelchairs, no more broken relationships, no more emotional bondage, no more baggage, because there will be no more sin. And if you are a child of God, then what a glorious hope we have. What a wonderful inheritance awaits us. And this hope, brothers and sisters, is not wishful thinking. Don’t get it confused. When Paul says we have hope, it’s not wishful thinking. Like, oh, I hope it’s gonna work out for you in the end. Oh yeah, your life has been hard. I hope you figure that out. I hope that works out well for you. No, this is a guarantee. And we see that in verses 24 and 25. For in this hope, we were saved.

Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Paul says that in this hope we were saved, which is past tense. We were saved. But yet we are saved. We’re currently experiencing some of the benefits of our salvation. But our salvation cannot be experienced fully until our hope becomes complete. Tom Schreiner, in his commentary, says, hope is the companion of salvation. In other words, they can’t be pulled apart. There is a past, present, and future reality to our salvation. And the hope is driving us to our fixed future, even though you can’t fully see it or understand it now. If hope was fully realized now, then it wouldn’t be hope. So to circle back on Paul’s illustration of birth pains, pregnant mothers know

when there’s a baby in the womb. They feel it. And so for fathers, I think this might resonate with you because you know, you know scientifically and how all that works out, hopefully, you know that there is a baby in the womb, though you can’t feel it, though you can’t see it, though 3D imaging is crazy these days, but you can’t really see it fully. And so fathers, you know the baby’s coming. So you anticipate the best you know how because you can’t see it and feel it in the moment. But when the baby arrives, oh man, it’s crazy. All that you were anticipating with your partial understanding is fully realized. And it’s wonderful. And so there’s a level of expectant hope that comes from the coming birth of a child. And in the same way, there is an expectant hope that comes with the coming glory.

And because we know with certainty that glory is coming, we can wait with patience even when we’re seated in the seat of suffering. Jesus himself says in John 16, 33, in this world, you will have tribulation or trouble or pain or suffering, but take heart. I have overcome the world. We have certainty in this hope. And why do we have certainty in this hope? Because of the resurrection of Jesus. It’s our guarantee. Sin exists in this world which brings all kinds of pain and suffering, but Jesus has overcome the world. So we have confidence and certainty that so will we. And in this in-between time, though it’s hard for us to understand or grapple with, we know that God uses suffering to prepare us. And I know that’s hard to understand, but there is great comfort in knowing that our suffering is not without purpose,

The Guarantee

that our suffering isn’t meaningless. Romans 5, verses 3 and 5 says, but we rejoice in our suffering. What are you talking about, Paul? That’s ridiculous. Why would you say that? Rejoice in our suffering. Because we know that suffering produces endurance. And endurance produces character. And character produces what? Hope. Certainty. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 2 Corinthians 4, 16-18 says, so we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

So brothers and sisters, take heart. Take heart in your suffering. Have hope in your suffering. Because it won’t last long. And glory awaits us. What was lost in the garden will be renewed. Everything that was broken in the garden will eventually be restored in a new garden. What I find so fascinating is that the story of creation begins at the very beginning of the Bible in a garden that was cursed because of sin. And the story of creation’s restoration begins at the very end of the Bible in a new garden where creation’s curse is reversed because of a savior. In the book of Revelation, we get this picture of this new garden or this renovated world. A picture of what the children of God are hoping for. A glimpse, albeit dim, of our future inheritance. Chapter 21, verses 1-5, Then I saw a new heaven and new earth,

for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw a holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Listen to this, brothers and sisters. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, or suffering, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. I am reversing the curse. Revelation 22, 1-5, we get a picture of this garden.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. Also on the other side of the river, a tree of life. So there’s another tree. Okay? The tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were of the healing of the nations. Listen, no longer will there be anything accursed. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads, and night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

— Revelation 22

(ESV)

Brothers and sisters, this is our guaranteed hope.

This is what awaits the children of God. Do you have this hope? Do you know the God who carries creation into renewal? Do you know the God who will wipe away every tear from your eyes and remove all suffering and sin in this world? The only way out of suffering is to trust in the one who suffered for sin in our place. Jesus Christ is the only one who can rescue you from eternal suffering. You don’t get a new world with no more suffering without a suffering Savior. You can’t get a new world with no more suffering without a suffering Savior. As hard as you try, you can’t make this world perfect or better or without suffering through policy or social change. Money and technology or human ingenuity will not end human suffering. Antifa can’t do it. Conservative politicians can’t do it. The only way to rid this world of suffering

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Living with Hope

is to trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and to patiently wait with stretched out necks for hope that is to be revealed to the children of God, the redemption of our bodies. 1 John 3, 1-3 says, See what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God. And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God’s children now. We are already, but not yet. And what we will be is not yet appeared. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself, as He is pure. Amen? I want to close our time together with just a few words of application for when you find yourself sitting in the seat of suffering.

The first is to do exactly what this text has prompted us to do. Lift up your heads. Lift up your eyes in hope for what is to come. Know your suffering is real. Look upward. Look to Jesus, the one who will eradicate all of your suffering. Look up in hope, knowing that it won’t always be the case. Second, remember that your suffering has a purpose beyond your immediate pain. In many ways, Christian suffering is one of the greatest means of sanctification. Strangely, we don’t know how this works. But suffering works as an agent to purify our faith and to increase our fellowship with God. The Scripture tells us this, 1 Peter 4, verses 12-13, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trials when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s suffering

that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. For Christians, the theme of suffering is fellowship with God. It is to share in Christ’s suffering. Third, turn your suffering into a sanctuary. Solitude with God in the midst of suffering has a way of framing your suffering. Instead of running away from God in bitterness because of your pain, run to God, and He will meet you there in your suffering. Psalm 34, verse 18, The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and He saves the crushed in spirit. Though you might be in the thick of suffering, and though you feel alone, the Lord is closer to you than you can think or imagine. You hear me? The Lord is close to you in your suffering. Though He may not heal your suffering in the moment, He will bring you comfort for your soul

as you suffer. And finally, brothers and sisters, share your suffering with the people of this community, with people that you trust in this community. We will provide for you all the encouragement that God has given us to encourage one another. Okay? God has given us resources as a church to be the church for one another, to help those who are suffering. We will encourage you. We will remind you of God’s promises. We will provide ways to support you while you suffer. And more than anything, we will sit with you in the seat of suffering. In solidarity, we will weep with you, we will mourn with you, we will cry with you as you suffer. We will groan together as we wait together for our glorious hope. God has given us Himself and He’s given us the church to endure the sufferings in this life until we arrive at the life to come.

And so, brothers and sisters, as best as I can this morning, I hope that these words will be an encouragement to your soul even as you sit in suffering. And I want you to know I see your suffering. I see your pain. I’m not minimizing it. I’m simply lifting your eyes to hope because that’s what we need. Amen? Amen. Let’s pray. Our Father and our God, we pray that You would help us as we suffer. Help us to stand on our toes and stretch our necks to see beyond this broken world that we might get a glimpse of the glory that awaits us. And I pray, O Lord and God, that You would bring us comfort, that You would be close, that You would heal our souls, and that You would make our suffering useful. Even though we can’t understand it, even though it’s exceedingly painful,

make it useful. Produce in us. Sanctify us. Change us. Use the fire to purify our faith. And would You use this body to comfort those who are suffering in this community. Father, may we delight in what Your children will receive. And may that delight give us all that we need to endure. We pray these things in Christ’s name. Amen.