Hope: The Greatest Chapter in the Bible, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. Here is your assurance, friends. Not one second of your suffering is wasted. Not one thing happens in your life that the goodness of our God will not transform into glory. And one day, one day, you're gonna be able to look back over your life and you're gonna see it. Welcome to Summit Life with Pastor J.D.

Greer. I'm your host, Molly Vitovich. You know, there are a lot of lies that we believe as Christians about why we experience suffering. And I'm sure that you've been there just like I have. Well, today Pastor J.D. continues to draw from the deep well of gospel truth in Romans 8 to remind us of how God is working in the midst of our suffering and the fact that even when you feel like you're barely holding onto God in the midst of your pain, He is holding tightly onto you. We've spent quite a few days now in Romans 8, which so many Bible scholars have called the greatest chapter in the Bible.

There's just so much to learn. So if you missed any of the other messages, you can listen now free of charge at jdgreer.com. Pastor J.D.

titled this message Hope. So let's rejoin him now in Romans chapter 8. You know, suffering is the number one reason why people stop believing in Christianity, why people stop having faith in God or following Jesus. So I wanna talk to you about what Romans 8.28 actually means. Now I wanna give you a handful of myths, three in particular that Christians believe about suffering that Romans chapter 8 addresses. Myth number one, if we live well, we can avoid suffering. Many Christians believe that if they live like they're supposed to live, they can avoid or at least minimize suffering. There is nothing in this passage that assumes that if you are God's child, you can avoid these realities. In fact, it says quite the opposite. Jesus in fact told his disciples in this world, you are going to have tribulation.

And if anything, it's gonna be worse for you than those who aren't God's children because you also have Satan that is gunning for you. That's myth number one is that if we live right, we can avoid suffering. Myth number two is that suffering always points to some sin that we need to confess. The idea here is that in suffering, God's always trying to get your attention in order to correct some error in you, to expose some sin that you need to confess.

And let me be really clear, okay? Sometimes that's true. Affliction is one of God's choice tools to wake us up. Maybe that's happening to you this morning, but the point is that's not always the case.

The suffering Paul talks about here in Romans 8, there is no indication that it is in response to anything wrong. That's myth number two. Here's myth number three. We'll always be able to find the silver linings behind our dark clouds. This is where everybody uses Romans 8, 28 the wrong way. They say, well, you know, the Bible says all things work together for good, so where's the silver lining behind this dark cloud? What's the good?

And of course, listen, sometimes you can see it. When this chapter, Paul indicates that, watch this, much of the good that God brings out of our sufferings is gonna be manifested only in eternity. So those are three myths that Christians tend to believe about suffering that bewilders them. So let's turn that around now and we'll say, okay, well, if those are the myths, what hope does God actually give me in suffering? What is Romans 8 really promising to me?

Let me give you four things, okay? First one, verse 28, God promises, letter eight. He is promising that he is using all things, all things ultimately to make you more like Jesus. We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who were called according to his purpose. What is God's purpose in you?

Well, verse 29, he tells you what it is. For those he foreknew, he also predestined, that means purposed, to be conformed to the image of his sight. God's purpose that he is working for in all things in your life is to make you more like Jesus. The good that he is working all things toward is not so much about giving you better circumstances as it is making you a better you. That painful chapter in your marriage, that setback at work, that chronic illness, all of it was for this purpose. There will come a time if you submit to God in faith when you see that all the painful chapters, all the heartaches, all the tears, all of them were used by God for one purpose, and that is to mold you more into the image of Jesus. What that means is that when you're in the midst of some kind of pain or boredom, instead of asking God to get you out of the trouble, you should also be asking God to what you should get out of the trouble. Now, there's nothing wrong with asking God to get you out of the trouble. That's natural, but you should also be saying, God, if the reason that I go through this is to make me more like Jesus, not only am I interested in getting out of this trouble, I wanna know what you want me to get out of this trouble.

Here's the second thing. Second promise is my story's gonna end with the redemption of my body. My story's gonna end with the redemption of my body. Paul says in verse 22 that all of creation, of which I'm a part, has been groaning together with labor pains until now.

We also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption. The redemption of our bodies and the over 40 crowd said, amen. Right, it's the body is groaning, waiting for redemption. But one day, this body, Paul says, it's gonna be redeemed, not just back to the days of my youth, but it's gonna be transformed into a body like Christ in his resurrection. And that's a body that's not gonna ache or get sick or struggle with weight gain.

In fact, I'm pretty confident. I haven't found this in the Bible yet, but I'm sure it's there. That in heaven, when you eat broccoli and cauliflower, you're gonna gain weight, and ice cream and bacon make you lose weight. That is what God has one day, and I can't wait to get there, all right? So it's coming, redemption of the body is coming.

And Paul says you gotta wait for that, and you gotta hope for it. Joni Eareckson-Tada, who is quite elderly now, but when she was a teenager, she had a diving accident that left her as a quadriplegic. And she's written a lot, very helpfully, about suffering. She has this, one of my favorite quotes about her. She says this, when I get to heaven, I'm gonna push my wheelchair up to the throne of Jesus.

Notice, I'll be walking. I'm gonna thank him for every character-refining work he did in me and through me, because of this wheelchair. And then I'm gonna ask Jesus to send this wheelchair straight to hell, because it was only needed and relevant because of the wreckage that's left by sin. I know that one day, this redemption of the body is coming, and God's gonna wipe away every tear and take away all the heartache and the relational disillusion, and God is going to make all things new. Along with my body, all of creation itself is gonna be redeemed. I don't even know exactly what all that means, to be honest, but at least it means that the best parts of nature and creation are going to be redeemed, transformed, without the curse of sin. Revelation and Isaiah both indicate that heaven's gonna be full of animals, good animals, where the poisonous or the predatory nature has been removed. The lion lays down with the lamb, Isaiah says.

The child plays with the snake. I know when I say that, that makes some of you wonder about individual animals, like your dog that died. Honestly, the Bible doesn't have a lot to say about that specifically. Your dog, of course, doesn't have a soul, but honestly, who knows? I would not put it past your heavenly Father to reunite you with a beloved dog. You might see your dog again in heaven. Now, if you wanna see your cat, you probably need to go the other direction, so I'm just gonna say that, okay?

Pay your money, make your choice. I don't understand, I don't understand everything there is to know about what's waiting on us, but I do know Paul says, verse 18, that what is waiting on us is so glorious that the painfulness of the worst pain here can't even compare to the glory of that gloriousness there. Paul says in Corinthians, I has not seen, nor is ear heard, nor has he even entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him. Which means if you could even imagine it, whatever you and I came up with in our imagination would not be sufficient, the Bible says, Daniel 12, verse nine, that you and I will be glorified like the sun, S-U-N. Which means you couldn't even look at it.

Right now, you couldn't even look at it, it would be too harmful for your eyes. It'd be like, to describe it to you now would be like giving a Rembrandt or a Monet to a kindergartener, you just don't have the receptors to comprehend it. And Paul says that in light of that glory experienced there, even the worst things we experience now, even the worst things are gonna seem like just a light and momentary affliction. By the way, when Paul says that, he's not being glib about your pain.

Paul knew pain, Paul knew relational breakdown, Paul knew, he had chronic illness, Paul knew injustice, he knew what it was like to be slandered, he knew what it was like to be alone, he knew what it was like to be tortured, he knew what it was like to be martyred even when he was innocent. He's not trying to minimize your pain, he understood pain. He was just saying that compared to the glory that is going to be revealed, which is you becoming like Jesus and you being in God's eternity with him in light of that, even the worst pain is gonna seem light and momentary.

I got a friend who was diagnosed with brain cancer and he's actually alive, but they thought for a while that he wasn't gonna make it past five years. And as he's wrestling with what this means for his young children, somebody asked him one time, they said, do you feel like when you get to heaven, you're gonna be able to see like, oh, this happened, so this happened. He said, honestly, based on what I read in the Bible, and I think when people get in, we get in heaven and they start talking about the pain, I'm gonna say, what pain?

What are you even talking, I can't even remember that. That's what Paul is saying in light of what is coming. There is a glory that is so overwhelming that we won't hardly even remember the pain. It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. Here is your assurance, friends, not one second of your suffering is wasted.

Not one thing happens in your life that the goodness of our God will not transform into glory. And one day, one day, you're gonna be able to look back over your life and you're gonna see it. The Christian group, Shane and Shane, have this song. It's called, Though You Slay Me, written by one of the two Shanes, Shane Bernard. It was written when his dad unexpectedly passed away as a pretty young man. In the middle of the song, they splice in part of a sermon from John Piper on Romans 8.

And I love what John Piper says here. Not only is all your affliction momentary, not only is it light in comparison to eternity and the glory there, but every second of it is totally meaningful. Every millisecond of your misery and the path of obedience is producing a peculiar glory that you're gonna get because of that suffering, through that suffering. I don't care if it was cancer or criticism, slander or sickness, it wasn't meaningless. It was doing something. Of course, you can't always see what it's doing. Don't look to what it's seeing. When your mom dies, when a child dies, when you've got cancer at 40, when a car careens into the sidewalk and takes her out, don't say that's meaningless.

It's not meaningless. It's working for you in eternal weight of glory. Therefore, don't lose heart, but take these truths of Romans 8 and day by day focus on them. Preach them to yourself every morning. Get alone with God and preach his word into your mind, into your heart.

Sings with confidence that you were known and that you were cared for. This is the hope that believers have. Thanks for listening to Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. We'll get right back to today's teaching from the Book of Romans in a minute, but first I wanted to tell you about the latest premium resource we are offering our Summit Life family right now. With your financial gift of $35 or more to this ministry, you'll receive the first part of a two-part Bible study through the Book of Romans, written by Pastor Tim Keller, who was one of Pastor J.D.

's biggest influences in the faith. Not only will this Bible study help you gain a better understanding of one of the deepest, richest parts of the Bible, but it's also a great reminder of Pastor Tim's years of faithful gospel ministry as he takes us through the first seven chapters. Be inspired to embrace this gospel message in all of its beauty and maybe even study with a friend. To get your copy, call right now with your gift.

You can reach us at 866-335-5220 or visit jdgreer.com. And as always, we want to thank you for your continued support of this ministry. Now let's get back to today's teaching from Pastor J.D.

right here on Summit Life. We're not done, listen to this, third element of hope. In the meantime, the Spirit perfectly intercedes for me. In the same way, the Spirit also helps us in our weakness because we don't even know what to pray for as we should.

Ever been there? But the Spirit himself, in that moment, we don't know what to say. He intercedes for us with unspoken groanings. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. The Spirit groans in us. You say, well, what does that mean exactly?

Well, to be honest with you, I'm not totally sure. What I can tell you is that Paul uses that word groan to mirror what creation is doing and what you are doing in your pain. You groan, so the Spirit groans in you even more deeply than your groaning in your pain. And that communicates at least two things. Number one, it communicates emotion. The Spirit has united himself to you so that, watch this, he hurts when you hurt.

He fills your pain with you. I think one of the most moving scenes in Jesus's life is where he shows up at the tomb of Lazarus. Mary and Martha, his sisters, are just beside themselves with grief. And we encounter the shortest verse in the entire Bible, John 11, 35, Jesus wept. The verse never makes sense to me because Jesus knew what he was about to do. He knew he was about to resurrect him. Within 60 seconds, Lazarus would be coming out of the grave. So why would Jesus weep in that moment if he knows Lazarus is about to resurrect?

Wouldn't you be like, hey, stop crying, watch this. But in that moment, even though Jesus knows the joy that's coming, in that moment he weeps because Mary and Martha are weeping. And what it's showing you is that your pain, even though from the perspective of eternity it's rather light and momentary, that pain is real.

And your Heavenly Father feels it with you. And in that moment where you hurt and you're feeling the sting of insult and injustice, when that moment where your body is in pain, he is weeping with you and he is groaning in you. By the way, there are some believers who feel like their pain doesn't matter because comparatively speaking, it's not that bad, right? Sometimes we even tell stories to each other to try to make you feel better.

Like, oh, well, you know, at least this is not happening. But as Pastor Brad says, suffering's not a competitive sport. Just because somebody else got hit by a truck doesn't mean your knee surgery hurts less.

Just because somebody else has terminal cancer doesn't mean getting passed over for a promotion is any less insulting to you. We're not competing with Auschwitz for God's compassion. Your pain is real and Jesus feels it when you feel it. And the Spirit, Paul says, groans in you, even more deeply than you're groaning in your pain.

So there's emotion, the second component there is wisdom. The Spirit prays according to the will of God. He prays the will of God perfectly over you.

You've been in that moment where you don't, sometimes I don't even know what to say. I don't know what you're trying to do here, God. I don't know why this is happening in the life of my child. I don't know why this is happening in my marriage.

I don't know why this is happening in my body. I don't even know how to pray your kingdom come. And in that very moment, the Spirit of God rises up and he begins to pray the will of God perfectly. He knows exactly what God is trying to do. That's a comfort for a believer in the midst of pain because there is a spirit that is feeling it and is praying it with you. My pastor growing up, you said this great statement.

I heard him use it dozens of times. People will come up to him and say, "'Pastor, would you pray for me?'" And he would say, "'Yes, I will.'" And then he says, "'I will pray for you, "'but even more importantly, "'the Spirit's going to pray for you, "'and when I stop praying, the Spirit will continue.'"

The comfort that you can have is the Spirit of God, if you are a believer, is praying in you and over you right now with groanings that cannot be uttered and wisdom you cannot comprehend. Last one, last one, letter D. What God started, Paul promises he's going to finish. In verse 29, Paul brings up the P word, predestination. Those he foreknew he also predestined. Now, why does Paul bring up predestination here? It's not to try to start a theological argument. He's not like, hey guys, I'm a Calvinist, just wanna let you know, 1500 years before John Calvin comes, I'm a Calvin. He's not saying that.

The reason he brings it up, watch this, is to give you assurance. See what he says in the next verse? Those he predestined, well, those are the ones he called. How do you know that you're predestined?

Well, you got called. The ones he called, those are the ones he justified, and the ones he justified, hey, he's gonna glorify, which means that if your life shows evidence of being called, you can have the confidence that what God started, he's going to finish, and if God puts you on the calling train, he's going to take you all the way to the glorification station. And the good news is, if you feel like you're barely holding onto him, you can be assured, Paul says, he's still holding onto you, because God didn't choose you because of your righteousness.

And if God didn't choose you because of your righteousness, he's not gonna drop you because of your unrighteousness. Right, when my daughters, when my daughters were younger, they used to all stay in the same room, and sometimes when I was putting down for bed, I'd tuck them all in, and right before I walk up the room, I'd say, hey, I love you. And then I'd have this little like series of questions that they eventually got used to. I'd be like, hey, does daddy love you because you're beautiful? They'd always say no. One of them would always be like, yeah, but you know, you think we are beautiful? I'm like, absolutely right, I do. Does daddy love you because you're smart? No.

We go through like five or six things, right? And at the end, I'd say, well, then why does daddy love you? And eventually they learned, they would just say, just because, just because, just because we're your daughters.

They cease to be beautiful, they cease to be pretty, they cease to be smart, they cease to be good leaders, or they cease to be good. I would love them just the same. In fact, I may even love them more because my love is not conditioned on any of those qualities.

My love is just given to them because. What Paul says, almost mind-bogglingly, is this is what God has done with you. He's adopted you into his family. He didn't choose you because of your righteousness. That means he's not gonna despise you for your lack of it. If he didn't choose you because you were righteous, he's not holding on to you because of your righteousness, and because he saved you in grace, he's gonna hold you in grace, and he loves you like a son or daughter now, so you can be confident what he started, he's gonna finish.

If he predestined you and called you, that's the indication he's gonna glorify you. Those are the four pillars of hope in a world that is consumed by pain and corruption and futility. Let me close all this by talking individually to three different, at least three different people here.

Number one, there are some of you that are in pain. Could I persuade you just to withhold judgment for a little while and don't declare the verdict yet? And just believe, based on the character of God, that God is doing something amazing like you said he would. When you can't see what the hand of God is doing, you can trust what the heart of God is about. That's what the hymn writer was thinking about when he wrote these words. Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father.

There's no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever will be pardoned for sin and a peace that endureth. Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with 10,000 beside. What I can offer to you is strength for today. That's the Spirit in you praying for you. Bright hope for tomorrow, that's the promise you're gonna be like Jesus in the redemption of your body. Blessings all mine with 10,000 beside. That's to those of you that are in suffering.

To those of you, number two, that are walking with somebody going through suffering and pain. Could I encourage you just to take a cue from the Spirit of God? Hey, maybe you should not try to explain everything to them.

Maybe you are trying to explain the unexplainable. Maybe what you ought to do is what the Spirit of God does. You should just sit with them for a while. Sit with them in their pain and weep with them as they weep.

And pray along with the Spirit over them. Finally, I want to say something non-believers. Those of you that are guests or maybe you're just checking Christianity out or maybe you're just really struggling with your faith and you're, maybe not even sure why you're here this morning.

I've had this conversation before. Sometimes somebody who's not a believer will say, oh, this must be awesome to live with that kind of comfort, love that kind of assurance. These things are only true because Jesus is who he says he is and they're only true for me because I have given myself to him. I don't mean this to be harsh, but if you have not given yourself to Jesus, none of these promises are true for you. And you should not flirt with Christianity because it's comforting. In fact, let me borrow the words of C.S.

Lewis here. Don't come to Jesus because he can comfort you. Don't come to Jesus because he can encourage you.

Don't come to Jesus because it's exciting. Come to Jesus because he's true. And you'll find that because he's true, all these other things are true. The question is, is Jesus who he says he is? Is Jesus who he says he is? Because if he is who he says he is, all these promises are true. And if he's not, none of them are true for anybody.

So you've got to ask that question. But I will tell you that the hopelessness of our suffering apart from Christ is certainly a wake-up call for you to consider his claims. Because you understand that apart from Christ, this is all hopeless, it's all going to futility. Paul says that in Christ, the worst pain, the cries of pain is like the cries coming from the labor and delivery ward. Yes, painful, intensity of pain, but shrouded in joy. He says without Christ, those cries of pain are like the ones coming from someone's deathbed. The pain might be the same, but this time it's a cry of despair. With Christ, you know that he's working all the pain for good.

Without Christ, you know this is just the beginning of the end. So yes, receive this as an invitation for you to consider if Jesus really is the resurrection and the life, that those who believe in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. That is an invitation for you to consider the one who overcame the grave and overturned sin and death and did it for you if you will receive it. Only Jesus can say, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet he shall live. Now that's hope that you can cling to. You're listening to Summit Life with Pastor J.D.

Greer. Not long ago, I asked Pastor J.D. about the portion of the book of Romans that we're studying right now. The apostle Paul really seems to be emphasizing the amazing truth that we can have eternal hope when we place our faith in our Heavenly Father.

Here's what he had to say about that. You know, when you get to Romans five through eight, you start hearing about things like perseverance and suffering and successfully battling against sin, hope that it's able to overcome discouragement or even death itself. And when you're studying this part of Romans, you're gonna find that it's some of the most encouraging passages in scripture you'll read anywhere. And that's why we're providing you a resource to go along with these messages that you're hearing that will take you deeper into these passages. It's the first of a two-part Bible study of the book of Romans that covers up through chapter seven. They'll go right along here with what we're teaching. In addition to hearing us walk through it, you'll be able to really press in. And do what Martin Luther said.

I love his image. He said, Romans is like a book. I've climbed out to the edge of every branch and I've shaken it as vigorously as possible at risk of my own life to try to get every bit of fruit off of this branch. That's what we wanna help you do. And that's what this great Bible study, this resource by Tim Keller can help you do. You can get the first volume, Romans one through seven. You can get it right now at jdgrier.com. We'd love to send you pastor Tim Keller's study through Romans chapters one through seven as a way to say thank you for your financial gift of $35 or more to this ministry.

To give, call us now at 866-335-5220 or give online right now at jdgrier.com. I'm Molly Vedovitch inviting you to join us tomorrow as we spend a little more time looking at Romans chapter eight. We'll see you Wednesday here on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program is produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.