Everyone experiences suffering. The Apostle Paul reminded believers that while we're not removed from the trials of life, We do have hope in the midst of our sorrows, and We'll look at this hope today on Truth for Life as Alastair Begg continues our study in Romans chapter eight. In his book. The weight of glory. C.
S. Lewis observes that when we consider The unblushing promises of all that God has in store for His children. We are, he says, somewhat half-hearted creatures. like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum, Because he cannot imagine. what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.
C. S. Lewis is equally matched by J. B. Phillips, when in 1961 he wrote what turned out to be a famous and well-read book, Your God is Too Small.
And in that book, he set out to expose inadequate views of God. and to introduce his readers to the true and living God of the Bible. And in a similar vein, here in this section of Romans chapter 8. We are confronted with a fact. that our understanding of salvation needs to be set.
In the vastness and grandeur of all that Paul is conveying. It is right and necessary and proper for us to think of salvation as the Bible does. in individualistic terms. the importance of our Faith in the Lord Jesus being personal and practical and so on. But it is possible for us to conceive of that in such a way that the immediate nature, the personal dimension of conversion, prevents us from considering what we might refer to as the cosmic dimensions of salvation.
that the significance of the work of God is not to be limited to our tiny private worlds, but has significance in the vastness of the world itself. That the ultimate plan of God in providing redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ is to put the universe back together again in a brand new creation. That sin has fractured every relationship in the world apart from the relationships within the Trinity. That is between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It has made no impact there, nor could it.
But sin has impacted every other dimension of life. And Paul, here in this great high peak of his Roman work. Is reminding his readers to make sure that they, that we now this morning, get our chin up out of our chest. And begin to understand something of the vastness of what God is doing. And so I want us throughout the time we have now and then again this evening.
Uh to Understand that this passage makes clear That mankind's relationship to God impacts the rest of the created order. That the fact that God brings a person into a relationship with Himself has an impact on that person's life within the framework of time and space. And so he is pointing out that the creation of which we are all a part has been subjected to frustration, you will notice that there. And that creation is experiencing one day a liberation. And that liberation will be expressed finally in this glorious transformation.
Verse 20, the creation was subject to Frustration. Verse 21, the creation itself will experience a liberation. And then in the balance of verse 21, and be brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God, this wonderful transformation. And you will notice that there in verse 23, if you allow your eye to scan down, that the creation is described as waiting. for the final redemption of our bodies.
I'm not going to go back down the path that we went down before, talking about what we do with the body upon death and so on. But you will notice that God is not finished with our material frame. That it is not something that is just to be discarded. It will be rolled up like a blanket. It will be rolled up like a robe.
But you're going to appear in a glorious and new form. There's going to be a wonderful new addition of you. And part of what's going on inside the life of the Christian is this dialectic between what I am increasingly decaying and what the Spirit of God tells me I'm going to be when He makes me absolutely brand new. Let's remind ourselves that this Christian life, this experience of knowing Jesus, of being set right with God in Jesus, is a mind-transforming reality. It changes the way we think.
Not simply about heaven and hell, not about life and death, but it actually changes the way we think about everything. And what we see is this: that all the facts in the universe, including the facts in the Bible. must be interpreted In light of God's revelation to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me say that to you again because it's a very important statement. all the facts in the universe.
including the facts in the Bible. need to be interpreted In light of the fact that God has disclosed Himself. Finally, And savingly, In the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. This God's eternal purpose. in the face of Jesus.
It is The principle of interpretation. Which Casts itself over the totality of our view of absolutely everything. And changes the way in which we would view things. If that were not so. I was so struck by the phrase in Dan's prayer, I wrote it down.
I know you're not supposed to write things when people are praying, but I had to stop and write it down. Did you notice what he said in his prayer? We thank you that you're not some dead guy. By the living Lord Jesus. If he'd done that in Edinburgh 25 years ago, they would have thrown him out of the pulpit.
You can't say that. But I liked it, so I wrote it down. You're not some dead guy, but you're the living Lord Jesus. And therefore, that changes everything. It changes the way in which we view creation.
It changes the way in which we view the use and abuse of the rivers and the seas and the fish and the dolphin and beagles being used in experimentation for those who are trying to prevent cancer. It changes all of that. And it should.
Now what Paul is pointing out is that having mentioned suffering and glory in verse 17, That you cannot separate them. If you're in for the glory, you're in for the suffering. If you're in for the suffering, you're in for the glory. But then in verse 18, he says, I want you to know that although they cannot be separated, nor can they be compared. Because the glory, he says, that will be ours then, far out does not We experience Now Now, I'm wonderfully helped by this.
I consider that our present sufferings. Our present sufferings.
Well, first of all, we might say, well, what do you know, Mr. Arthur, Mr. Paul, about present sufferings? And he can answer that very clearly. And you can cross-reference this for yourselves by going to 2 Corinthians and chapter 11.
Where he takes on the false apostles of the day, who are suggesting that they have everything buttoned down. and he takes them on at their own game. And with tongue in cheek, He says, You want to say you're a Hebrew, so am I, that you're an Israelite, so am I, that you're one of Abram's boys, so am I, you're a servant of Christ, so am I. In fact, I'm more of a servant of Christ, he says. I've worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, been exposed to death again and again.
Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. You can go on and read the rest of it for yourself.
So here is somebody who can speak with authority concerning the writing and the experiencing of the phrase: I consider that the present sufferings. The present sufferings. In the depth of human suffering, we discover the reality of God. In the depth of human suffering, we encounter the fatherly presence. It is in the depth of human suffering that we learn, verse 15 and 16, to cry, Abba, Father.
I said to you last time, I'm not sure that this is some great expression of somebody who's gone up into the third heaven, thereby experiencing this intimacy, but really this is the cry when we can cry nothing else. Because we're aware of all that we're going through. I wanted to pause on this this morning because we've been thinking about this together as a church, haven't we? We've been saying, how do we articulate this notion of suffering in our world? How do we identify with those who are suffering?
When we ourselves want to always put the best face on things and pretend that we are not suffering. And to do so is to violate what we find in the New Testament. Paul doesn't launch into this glorious exposition of what it means to be in Christ and to be filled with the Holy Spirit, so as to say, and so you all know that we have no present experience of sufferings. We are away above that. We fly above all of that turbulence.
Our plane now in Jesus is able to go way up to 48,000, 49,000 feet. We can skip most of it. But of course, he doesn't say that because he can't say that, and we shouldn't say it either. I understand, and you do too, that when we read our Bibles, it speaks of the fact that there is a joy that is unassailable, that we can count it joy when we face trials of various kinds. We've sung about that this morning.
But it is a joy that is faced in the midst of trials. It is a joy that exists contemporaneously with tears and with sadness. It is not a joy that says, I am so joyful that I don't cry. But it is that strange paradox whereby, even in my tears, I know that there is a joy that transcends what I'm experiencing. If you like.
One of the challenges we challenges we face as those who profess to be followers of Jesus. is the challenge to show the world how to be sad. I don't know if you've ever thought about it in those terms. But the Christian ought to be the best at everything. And therefore the best at being sad.
We've got it upside down when we think that the way to prove to the world the reality of who Jesus is is really to say, no, I'm not sad. Oh no, my mother died, but I'm not sad. What's wrong with you? Are you brain dead? Of course you're sad.
In fact, you may be more sad than someone else. Oh, but you said it, but it says that we sorrow not as those who have no hope. That's exactly right. But we sorrow as those who have a hope. And sorrowing in the reality of that hope.
and suffering in the experience of that. There's no marginalized suffering. It's not a mitigated suffering. Grief is grief.
So says Paul. I'm not writing to you Roman Christians. with some silly nonsense. about being removed from the realm. of physical, emotional.
mental suffering. But I want you to know, and you need to know this. That your present suffering is not worth comparing. With that which God has prepared for those who love Him. In 1 Corinthians he says, And eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for them that love Him.
And what has to happen is that our feelings have to catch up with the facts. And that gap can last a long time. And that gap can reoccur. And the psalmist gives it to us. That's why the psalms really are the medicine chest of the human soul.
Because we go to the psalmist and we find that he expresses all of the delight and all of the joy of a wonderful landscape and a new morning and the thrill of new birth and all these other things. But he's also the one who helps us when we don't know what to say. When he says, How long will you forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long must I have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long must I go through this? That is not a jig. That is a lament. That is, the background music to that is played in a minor key. And the Christian experience.
Is not the experience of being removed from the rigors of life. But it is the experience of knowing. That even though this lasts for all of my life, as it may do, As a besetting illness may do. As the loss of limbs may do. Whatever it may be.
Peter says You even though You experience trials of various kinds for a little while. Person says, for a little while, my uncle was invalided for the totality of his life since the age of 23. How can you call that a little while?
Well, you see, that is why we have to set This tiny Experience of our transient lives. And light Of the vastness of God's purpose from eternity to eternity. Oh, no, he says. I consider that the present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed. This is not a sort of Christianized version of Tony Bennett, you know.
Smile though your heart is aching. Smile even though it's breaking. When there are clouds in the sky, you know, you'll get by. You know, what does that tell you? It tells you nothing.
It's just pump yourself up. You know, it's miserable, it's wretched. You know, your dog died, your uncle's up the creek, your kids are driving you nuts. And you don't want to hear Tony Bennett singing on the radio, all that jazz. No, you want something deep and good.
You want to go somewhere and have a good cry. You want to go part of your car and just cry for a while. Then we're down to brass tags.
Now we're honest. I can live with this. I understand this. This stinks. Jesus?
And he says, I know it does. I know it does. Because we do not have in Christ a high priest who is removed from the reality of our lives, but one who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, entering into the depths of all that our humanity means. Again, I think C.S. Lewis is right.
We have such, before the unblushing promises of God, we settle for too little. And in seeking to make things appear The way they're not. We do a disservice to ourselves, to the Bible, to the gospel, and to those who are wondering about these things. Samuel Rutherford wrote to a lady in his congregation who had most recently been widowed. And he said, I'm now expecting to see.
and that with joy and comfort. that you defy troubles. and that your soul is a castle. that may be besieged. but cannot be taken.
And then making sure that we know that it cannot be taken. Let's not pretend. that it hasn't been besieged. It's a good little picture, isn't it? You might say to yourself, someone asks you, how you doing, say besieged.
but not captured. It's not that the sufferings are insignificant, they're real, they're painful. But that the contrast is so vast. Winslow in his day, Octavius Winslow that is, says, one second of glory. will extinguish a lifetime.
of suffering.
Now verse 19. The believer is not alone in this experience because the creation is involved in it as well. And you have this amazing statement that is needs to be Understood in light of contemporary preoccupations. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated, and so on.
What he's saying here is is this. That when Adam and Eve sinned, the entire universe fell with them. And as a result, That universe which is in bondage to decay, Is waiting for a day. when it will be liberated. This is a radical concept.
It challenges so much that is prevalent. For those of you who read in these things and think them out, you will be aware of the Gaia hypotheses. Don't think I'm trying to impress you with this, but I wrote it down.
So that I could read it, so that you would know that I was reading it, rather than try and memorize it and make you think I understood it.
So here it is. Living organisms and inorganic matter. are part of a dynamic system. that shapes the Earth's biosphere. and maintains the earth as a fit environment.
for life. But the underlying notion in this is pantheism. That there is no God who is the Creator who stands outside of His creation. But that God is creation, that God is the earth, the earth is God, we are part of the earth, we are part of this organism, and so on, and inorganic matter, all rolled up into one big ball. And when people give you that stuff, What are you going to say in reply?
We're going to tell them about Romans 8. Gonna tell them about Romans 8. Actually, the Bible is a very interesting take on this. It says that the creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. What does that mean?
It means this, that the whole of creation is standing on tiptoe. Waiting to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own. I said, so I can I can go with that. That just is bizarre to me.
Now that may be the same person, remember, who's a big avatar fan. Who's already decided that 2154 in Pandora It's all got fixed over there. Why did Cameron write about 2154 in a place called Pandora? How did he know enough to write about it? Because he knows exactly where contemporary civilization is.
We've completely goofed this place up, therefore we better have another place. Let's have another really nice place where it isn't all messed up. Where there is a tree of life in the center of the garden, and that tree of life becomes the source of our universe. Exactly. That's not too far removed.
From the fact that the whole of creation is groaning, waiting for the expectation of the sons of God. We've got the groaning, we've got the disappointment, we've got the expectation, we've just got the wrong conclusion. Dear friends, If we're going to live in this 21st century culture, If we are going to engage with neighbors and friends, If we're going to be prepared to read contemporary literature, read our newspapers, read magazines, watch the TV, and go on, and seek somehow or another. to speak into the lives of people. It is not sufficient for us to simply keep trotting out Individualistic, subjective notions concerning who we are in Christ.
Not that we step back from that. That is the whole beginning of Romans 8. That is the very central emphasis of it all. We are not this, we are this. There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
So the reality of being in Christ is then set within the context of being in Cleveland. I am in Christ. and I am in Cleveland. I'm in the place where the river went on fire. I think you would call that pollution.
What does the Bible have to say about pollution? What does the Bible have to say about the existence of the universe? And so on.
Well, when we come back tonight. Otherwise we do it. We will follow along this line. and we'll discover that there's a lot of groaning going on. That the creation is groaning.
That the Christian is groaning. And it actually says that God is groaning. You're listening to Bible teacher Alastair Begg on Truth for Life.
Now it may be that you are currently going through a difficult season. struggling to trust God. Let me remind you of a series Alastair has called My Times Are In Your Hands that can be a great help. twelve audio messages paired with a twelve lesson study guide that can be downloaded from the Truth for Life website. Go to truthforlife.
org slash my times. This series explains why even as followers of Jesus we can find ourselves enduring hard times. The study offers a biblical framework for how we deal with affliction and how to see God's providential hand in all circumstances. Each lesson includes a prayer. thoughtful reflections and questions to help you apply the teaching to your life.
If you are going through a Difficult season right now, feeling discouraged. or if you want to come alongside someone who is. Download or stream the series My Times Are In Your Hands. Again, you'll find the messages and the study guide. at truthforlife.org slash my times.
Thanks for being with us this week. Hope you're able to worship with your local church this weekend and then join us Monday to learn about the sure and certain hope believers can rest in. even as we long for Christ's return. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
