In the comfort-driven times in which we live, We've mastered the art of avoiding pain. We pop pills at the first sign of discomfort. chase endless distractions. and build elaborate cocoons of convenience around ourselves. Yet, what if everything we've been taught about suffering is wrong?
What if the very thing we're desperately trying to escape is actually God's secret pathway to astonishing transformation? Today on Insight for Living. Chuckswindahl reveals a startling truth from Romans 8 in the Bible. Suffering isn't your enemy. It's your invitation to glory.
Chuck called today's message. glorying and groaning. And we want to read from the Word of God. Romans chapter 8. Appropriately, a message on suffering.
Let me read for you verses 18 through 27. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time Are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation, waits eagerly 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 also, will be set free from its slavery, to corruption, into the freedom of the glory, of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans. and suffers the pains of childbirth. Together until now.
And not only this, but also we ourselves. having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan, within ourselves. Waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons. The redemption of our body. For in hope We have been saved.
But hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he already sees? But If we hope for what we do not see, With perseverance. We eagerly wait for it. In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness.
For we do not know how to pray. as we should. But the Spirit Himself intercedes For us. with groanings. Too deep for words.
And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is. Because He intercedes for the saints. according to the will of God. You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into the book of Romans on your own, be sure to purchase our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study Workbook by going to insight.org slash offer.
Chuck titled today's message, Glorying and Groaning. Nostalgic memories sometimes come upon us, and hold us in their grip. Many of us remember walking along the sandy shoreline of an ocean. And the waves are crashing against the shore, and the salt. Breeze.
is caught by the wind and Blows it across our face, and we can taste it on our lips. And suddenly, we are in another place and at another time. Occasionally, we're at a park and we'll see a little child running toward her mother. Mother with outstretched arms hunched down, ready to hold her and hug her. And all of a sudden, the nostalgia of the moment reminds us of.
One of our children. When she ran to the arms of her mother, or perhaps when we did. is just a little ladder. Alas. The other day, I was in my truck, and I had my radio tuned to one of those stations that play songs that.
You can understand and It uh All of a sudden it happened again. as I heard the strains of the way we were. Memories light the corner of my mind, misty. watercolored memories of the way we were. All of a sudden, I wasn't on a street nearby.
I was. 8,000 miles away in Southeast Asia. wearing a Marine Corps uniform. Lonely for my wife. We'd been married only uh two and a half years.
And uh it was a cold, cold night. I remember. My friend with the Navigators had given me a newly released version of the Bible. Oh. happened to be the Amplified New Testament.
You're all familiar with it now, but back then it was a bit of a novelty. The only thing really available except the King James back then was. was the uh Phillips translation. But uh this was brand new. I remember breaking it open and looking through it that night at a quiet moment all alone in the barracks and I I found a verse that I told the Lord I wanted to make that my verse for the year.
It was Philippians 3.10. Where Paul comes to sort of a climax of the third chapter, saying, That I may know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. And I looked into the amplified and And I read, For my determined purpose is. That I may know him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with him. I stopped there.
I thought that's good enough for January. The month of January of this year, I'm going. to focus my time and attention on knowing him. Deeply. Intimately and Progressively.
I'm going to spend time with him. I'm going to think his thoughts. I'm going to talk with him. As often as I can. Because the temptations were everywhere.
Every person who's ever been in the military knows that. The opportunity to yield is imminent at all times. And I thought, for me to stay pure in my marriage, I need help.
So Lord, help me to get to know you deeply and intimately. That was January. When February came, I took the next phrase. the power of his resurrection. The outflowing of power like Jesus.
demonstrated when resurrected from the grave. That kind of power can be ours. Through the work of the Holy Spirit. Inside, and I thought, Lord, if you can give me that kind of dynamic. Who knows?
I might be able to. Speak to one of my buddies here about Jesus. Might be an opportunity. Or one or two of them to come to Christ this year.
So I give you This part of the verse for my February of 1958. By the way, uh Before the year ended, seven had come to know Christ.
Now, seven out of 48 in that. Quadset Hut. May not sound like much in the Marine Corps. It's a revival.
So the eight of us formed a little Bible study group. And we got involved in Scripture Memory Program and we. We attended a GI Fellowship on Friday night and Well worked our way through the old Um in a varsity hymnal. and committed to memory a lot of those great hymns. It was the way we were.
Then I came to March. And I paused at the phrase. That I may know the fellowship of his sufferings. And like many of you, I at that moment frowned. I tried to imagine what that means.
I came to realize over the passing of time that it is impossible to become a man of God. without the presence of suffering. I've come to see, and every mentor that has ever meant anything to me. That man has been a person of suffering. No exception.
I came to realize that suffering was not an adjunct part of the curriculum, but it was an essential. course. It was a part of Christian Life 101. And it didn't come easy for me because I, like you, found myself in a world that highlighted success and comfort and pleasure and ease and even selfishness. It's all about me.
But that verse hammered away at me that I might Continually be transformed into his likeness. And remember Jesus. Though he were a son. He learned obedience through the things that he suffered. Hebrews 5.8.
You and I learn obedience. when times are hard. When we get sick, when we must rely on others. When disease takes its toll and we wind up in a wheelchair. Or Perhaps A stroke.
And times get hard for us and we struggle with that. By the fall of 1959, I was enrolled at Dallas Seminary. By the grace of God. I no more deserve to be admitted. You can't imagine.
How much grace they demonstrated letting me in. They let me in on probation. Thank you. Lord. There was grace then as there is now.
And uh Part of my course took me to Tozer's words in his wonderful work the root of the righteous. If you're not acquainted with A.W. Tozer, Your Christian life is still sort of getting started. You need tozer. He puts two chapters together in this book.
called the uses of suffering Followed by, praise God for the furnace. Where he develops the whole idea of God using the hammer and the file and the furnace to break us down. And I remember he wrote in that book, which I committed to memory. It is doubtful, God. can use anyone greatly till he has hurt him.
deeply. That flies in the face of the media today. You will not hear that. in public places. known for their politically correct statements.
That almost makes God look like a saddest. Oh, on the contrary. It pleased the father to bruise his son. The best work of Christ was done at Gethsemane, followed by Golgotha. And the horror in between is nothing but torture.
But it is by his stripe we are healed. Before the fall semester ended, I listened to Alan Redpath as he lectured. As a pastor from the great Moody Memorial Church, Don't remember his speech that day or his message, but I remember one statement. When God wants to do an impossible task, He takes an impossible man. and crushes it.
crushes it. If you are being crushed, you are on the right road. If your will is being broken, you are on the path. The maturity. If you find yourself at wit's end to know how to deal with what you're going through, Welcome.
To the club. of fellow believers. Who are Pilgrims and strangers in a foreign land. If he's crushing you. His focus is on your maturity.
He's not trying to make you squirm. He's teaching you submission. He's teaching you how to release your will.
so that he might have his way in your life.
Well Wouldn't you know it, the week I get so sick. I come upon Romans 8, 18 to 27. which is all about groaning. Room? Oh, there's glory in it.
In fact, he places those in juxtaposition again and again in the text 18 through 27. There is groaning in this life, but there is glory to come. In fact, 18 is a wonderful verse to commit to memory. Romans 8.18. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed hereafter.
Look closely. He's comparing groaning. and glorying And he's saying, between the two, The glorying will be so magnificent. It will eclipse the pain of all the groaning. When we have moved from this earth to heaven, There will be no interest whatsoever in revisiting this earth.
And I say with compassion and I hope tact. Do not grieve too heavily over the loss of your loved one who knows Jesus. They wouldn't come back. if they had an opportunity. What would they want to come back to earth for?
Groaning.
Now, all that to say, I have given you an outline that I'd like you to place before you a timeless principle. that will go through with you to the last day of your life. It is this: suffering is an essential part of the path to maturity. I know my voice is raspy. I'm sorry.
Just bear with me. When I'm in glory, I'll have a voice like Lloyd Ogilvie, but until then, I'm going to have to put up with what I live with. Suffering is an essential part. An essential part of the path to maturity. You're suffering, you're on the right road.
F. B. Meyer writes in his book, Christ and Isaiah. That if I am told that there is a rocky bit of road between here and my destination, I know that every jolt along the way is a reminder I'm on the right road. I'm on the right road.
If you're suffering, you're on the right road. God is in the heavens. He knows what he's doing. And again, it isn't simply to make you hurt, it's to break you from your own self.
So that you might be shaped and conformed into the image of Christ. But why do we groan?
Now, look at the passage. I want you to see how it's put together. It's an interesting intermix of two thoughts. If you like marking your Bible, Mark the word creation. In verses 19, 20, 21, and 22.
You'll find it four times.
So 19 to 22 is about the groaning of creation. The natural world. The animal kingdom. The world about us The planet on which we occupy our lives. It's this earth.
In fact, verse 22, the whole creation. Covers it all: the waters, the land, the skies, the mountains, the valleys, the rivers, the ponds. the deserts.
So all of it.
So creation Four times 19 to 22. Look at 23. And not only this. In other words, not only creation groans. But also we ourselves.
Having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan. Oh, do we ever We groan within ourselves. waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of the body. Look at the pronoun verse 24 in hope we have been saved. Twenty-five.
But if we hope... For what we do not see we With perseverance we eagerly Wait for it. 26. The Spirit helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray. As we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes with groanings too deep for words.
I love that verse of Scripture. You know, you're so sick sometimes, you can't put a prayer together. happened to me about Friday. That was my major pity party. Friday.
First I thought I'd die, then I was afraid I wouldn't. Tarsika was.
So You know what I did? I'm sitting on our recliner. And I am groaning. And if Cynthia doesn't come, I go, uh My mother used to groan by saying, Mercy, mercy, mercy. Mercy, mercy.
That was her groan. Oh, Lord. Lord, mercy. Mercy. I remember her sick on her bed.
The sound would come through her bedroom. Mercy, mercy, mercy. We grown. The old earth groans, and it groans every time there's a tidal wave. It groans every time there's an explosion of a volcano.
groans every time there's a fire that sweeps across it. groans every time the thistles overtake. the plants that's groaning in this earth. See, it hasn't always been groaning. It began to groan when the curse happened.
began to grow then. Look at 19. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly. It's the idea of standing on tiptoe and craning the neck. Waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
So let me give you the first of four statements here. First, Groaning is temporary. That's verse 19. The old earth will groan only so long. It'll grown only so long.
It's temporary. Second, it's a consequence, verse 20. For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly. Creation didn't say, Lord, bring a curse on us. No, Adam's fall brought the curse.
So unwillingly. The natural world was cursed. We'll turn to that in a minute.
So it's a consequence. Third, verses 20b through 21. Groaning is a means to an end. There's an end in view. For that.
Being set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Fourth and verse twenty two, it's universal, the whole. Creation groans. Let me show you how it's started. Go back to Genesis 1.
Genesis 1. 29. Then God said, Behold, Now this is in a context of innocence. There is no sin. It's a magnificent landscape.
Every tree is full of fruit. Every blade of grass is a jade green. Every stream is clear. Every sky is beautiful and bright.
So he says in 29, Behold, I have given you every plant. Every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed. It shall be food for you.
So he says that to Adam and Eve. Having just blessed them in 26, 27. 28.
Now look at 30. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird. of the sky, everything that moves on the earth. which has life. I have given every green plant.
For food, and it was so that interesting. All the animals were vegetarians. They all ate from the plants. There was no viciousness, there was no attacking, there was no hostility in the animal world. It was all in harmony.
It was all in beauty. It was all to be enjoyed. Till chapter 3. Where Adam and Eve fall into sin. Look at verse 17.
how it impacts the earth. Then to Adam God said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife. And have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat from it. Cursed. is the ground.
Because of you. In toil. You will eat of it all the days of your life.
Now, be careful here. I've heard people say work is a curse. No. No. There was work when the world was innocent.
Before there had ever been sin, Adam tilled the garden. And uh Even and he worked together in it, there was work. But what the curse brought was You'll read it here. The toil. the thorns and the thistles, That grow they didn't have thorns and thistles before the curse You shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat.
Of your face you shall eat bread. That's the curse. It's the conflicts at work. It's the difficulties of dealing with people. It's the personnel problems.
It's the bickering, it's the backbiting, it's the sin that accompanies work. It's the exhaustion. that comes at the end of too long a day at work. are too stressed out a day.
Now that's when the groaning started for the earth. Mm-hmm. It will continue to groan. Until Our Lord Himself changes it with His presence on this earth. When the desert will blossom like a rose.
when the lamb and the lion shall lie down together. when there will be peace again on that great time. of the kingdom. Of our Savior Jesus Christ as he reigns. king over all who called themselves king and lord above all lords.
Now back to Romans 8.
So much for the groaning of creation.
Now here's our groaning. Not only this, not only creation. We ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves. When? When we get the flu.
When we break our leg, When we have a heartbreak in our family, When we go through a period that looks bleak, When the doctor comes with an x-ray and he's frowning, saying, Uh I think you should sit down. This is some tough news I need to share with you. We groan when our bodies suffer a stroke and we can no longer move about. We groan as we are confined to a wheelchair. and we can't move around on our own.
groan. We long to be able to get up and about.
So, what do we do? We hope for the day that the groaning will become glory. You're listening to Insight for Living and the Bible teaching of Chuck Swindahl. Chuck titled Today's Study in Romans Glorying and Groaning. Insight for Living has prepared a number of study tools designed to deepen your understanding of this passage.
And we urge you to take advantage of this exclusive bundle of resources. Each one is designed to renew your mind with spiritual truth. The first resource in the bundle is our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study Workbook for this study in Romans. It's spiral bound, and due to the length and depth of Paul's letter, the edition for Romans comes in two volumes. The first volume is ready right now.
Second, Chuck wrote a full-length commentary on Romans. This is hard-bound and it's from the Living Insights commentary series. Anyone who loves the Bible should own this commentary from Chuck. In his approachable style, Chuck helps us discover the rich theological treasures that are found in Romans. And third, Insight for Living has produced a collection of audio messages so you can listen to Chuck's sermons in their entirety at your own pace.
and so you'll have a permanent record of this hallmark study. To purchase this special trilogy of resources from Insight for Living, call us at 800-772-8888. or go to insight.org slash offer. Before we wrap up another week of programs together, I want to conclude by extending a word of thanks to those who consistently support Chuck's teaching ministry. Because of your generosity, Insight for Living is available to millions of listeners on the radio, YouTube, our website, our mobile app, and all the different digital platforms like Instagram, X, and Facebook that are so popular these days.
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I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuck Swindahl continues his eye-opening study of Paul's letter to the Romans Monday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Glorying and Groaning. It was copyrighted in 2007, 2010, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindahl, Inc.
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