Romans 8:18-27 "Enduring Suffering"
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· 2 viewsSuffering is a difficult topic that all of creation wrestles with. In these verses Paul assures believers that suffering does not compare even remotely close to the glory that will be revealed in us.
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Transcript
Good Morning, Calvary Chapel Lake City!
Well yesterday was our church’s 5 year anniversary! So… Happy Anniversary Church!
What a work the Lord has done in the past 5 years!
Jesus said to “make disciples” supported by going, baptizing and teaching…
And, we have been faithful to play our role in fulfilling the Great Commission.
This is God’s church… which was birthed in the Spirit… and as we look forward… our next 5 year plan… is to continue following His lead.
We’re never going to shift from that. Lord help us if we ever turn church into a ‘business.’
This past Wednesday we covered a Calvary Chapel Distinctives chapter titled “Having Begun in the Spirit”… and Chuck Smith wrote, “Calvary Chapel is a work that was begun by the Spirit. Every new and great movement of God is born of the Spirit.” And, then Chuck reflected on church history and how… sadly many movements shifted… attempting to be perfected in the flesh. Chuck wrote, “Movements that were once alive in the Spirit become dead in ritualism.”
Prayerfully we will never be in that place. We plan to wait on the Lord… and seek to discover His will for this church… in this community… for such a time as this. Our plan is to discover God’s plan. And, I thank you for continuing with us on that journey.
So… let’s continue now… as we faithfully continue Chapter by chapter… and verse by verse through Romans. Please open your Bibles to Romans 8. Romans 8:18-27 today.
Paul… in this lengthy and divinely inspired letter to the Roman Christians… many whom Paul did not know as he did not plant the church in Rome…
Paul writes to them his and the Holy Spirit’s great treatise of the Gospel… where Paul systematically presented five key themes…
… which serve as rough outline for this Epistle… said themes are “condemnation, justification, sanctification, vindication, and application.”
Romans chapters 6-8 are the chapters focusing on sanctification… and Chapter 8 specifically narrows on the work the Holy Spirit does in our sanctification… and the work we do in our sanctification.
Last week we looked at four beautiful verses that provide high motivations to be led by the Spirit in our sanctification…
Motivations of love and gratitude for God… because God has adopted us into His family… making us sons of God… giving us the privilege to cry out to Him, “Abba, Father”…
And, He promises that we are heirs… and joint heirs with Christ… beautiful promises.
We would have loved for Paul to just end the chapter there, but Paul needed to address a reality in the life of the believer in light of sanctification…
… and that’s the reality of suffering. To which we say, “Fooey.”
Suffering is not something we enjoy meditating upon… but it’s necessary…
Thankfully… what this section of Romans 8 does for us in addressing suffering… is it helps Christians better understand suffering…
… which is important because many Christians have been stumbled by the wrong perspective of suffering in life.
Many have this idea that as a Christian… we will not suffer… we all will ride off into the sunset… singing “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah”… and this simply is not true… NOT always.
This chapter not only says that we will suffer… like everyone suffers in life… even unbelievers… as we live in a fallen world.
But… as Christians… we also suffer uniquely… in ways unbelievers will never will suffer.
We uniquely have the privilege of spiritual warfare when we take up the cause for Christ… we have the unique “blessing” as Jesus called it when we are “persecuted for His names sake”…
And before you say… “Well, that so that’s encouraging.”
Do NOT forget that maybe our biggest suffering is because we have the privilege of knowing the promises of God…
… contextually sonship… adoption… positional privilege to call God “Father”… and inheritance.
And, because of that we uniquely suffer because we know the promises, BUT we have to wait for them…
… we have to wait to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord… OR to be raptured… whichever comes first.
And, like a child who anticipates opening gifts at Christmas… or anticipates a vacation that is months away…
Just as the child groans waiting for the day… only ten-thousand times more… we too suffer… groaning in anticipation of the glory that awaits us.
And this anticipation of glory is truly sanctifying… as it prepares us for glory… and sets our hearts to long for glory.
And, these verses today help us in our weakness to wait with perseverance.
Living in the Spirit provides for us the ability to better understand suffering… and should be an encouragement to all of us in “Enduring Suffering”… which is our message title today.
Let’s Pray!
In reverence for God’s word, please stand as I read our passage.
Romans 8:18-27 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
Praise God for His word. Please be seated.
Paul mentions suffering in verse 17 and then he expands upon the idea of suffering in versus 18 to 25… comparing our sufferings in this lifetime TO our awaited glory.
And, there is truly no comparison. I don’t say that casually to minimize suffering… nor is Paul in our passage… but with an average lifespan of 77.43 years… stack that up next to eternity… and life truly is a vapor.
But, even in that… as we’ll see today… God is compassionate to His creation.
14x in the Gospels we read the word “compassion”… Jesus was “moved with compassion” or “He had compassion” upon weary people suffering from illness… suffering from hunger… suffering from spiritual famine (they were like sheep without a shepherd).
Much like people today.
The Holy Spirit is known as the “comforter.” We read in V26 He “helps in our weaknesses.”
Plus Father God is known as the “God of all comfort.” 2 Cor 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
Commenting on those verses, William MacDonald wrote, “We are not comforted to be comfortable but to be comforters.”
Your suffering uniquely qualifies you to minister to others experiencing the same suffering.
So, while life is a vapor… our Triune God… all three members of the Godhead don’t just say, “Buck up… you’ll only suffer a little while… in light of eternity.”
No… God has compassion… He comforts us… and we will see how God also intercedes on our behalf.
Now Paul was not foreign to suffering… persecuted often… beaten often… arrested for his faith… ostracized by his own countrymen… perils of travels… issues of health… a lack of basic needs at times… and in the end martyred. Paul knew suffering…
And, yet in Paul’s wisdom and eternal perspective… in understanding suffering… and it’s role in sanctification…
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:16–18 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
This passage in Romans 8 today answers, in part, the question about why suffering exists… and illuminates how suffering plays a role in our sanctification…
… which is the overarching theme of Romans 8.
Hopefully, our passage today will help some of you who are suffering to understand the good purpose behind suffering … NOT an enjoyable purpose, but good purpose…
… in conforming us into the image of Christ… and preparing us for glory.
In V18… Paul compares the “sufferings of this present time” to the “glory which shall be revealed in us” and determines it’s not a worthy comparison.
“Worthy” carries the sense of weighing… and you can envision… suffering on one side of the scale… and glory on the other side of the scale… and the weight of glory far exceeds that of suffering.
Paul calls us to weigh out… Not that we can weigh such things… but if we could, the scale would not balance… not even to the slightest.
The NLT renders V18 “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.”
Glory refers back to V17… to the glory we will experience at our “glorification”… which we will circle back to in a bit.
But, let’s talk about the bad news first. Last week we concluded on a low note in V17 “suffering.” This week, the verses permit us to conclude with a high note.
But we have to talk about suffering first.
Sufferings by def. means “that which befalls one -or- affliction”
It suggests not a mild suffering in life, but to be in real pain and suffering.
“Sufferings of this present time” is a broad definition that speak into the human plight of existence in a fallen world.
I don’t get the sense that suffering is someone disagreeing with your Facebook post… or breaking a nail… a flat tire… or many of the entitlements other parts of the world would classify as “first world issues.”
Suffering can take many forms from emotional, physical, and financial health issues… to abuse… to persecution for the name of Jesus… it’s a long list…
And, it varies from person to person over the course of a lifetime.
For some… suffering came early in life… and shaped their human experience… creating many hurdles to overcome. And many have overcome.
For some… they may not know suffering until the loss of a loved one… or a diagnosis of disease.
But, most of us can relate to suffering in one regard or another.
Suffering, from a general sense, falls upon both believers and unbelievers. It’s a universal human experience.
But, I would be at a loss in trying to make sense of suffering through the lens of unbeliever.
Without the certain truth of the word to guide me.
Suffering has been a baffling and unanswered topic for philosophers, theologians, and thinkers for centuries.
Some tie suffering to the finite and unpredictable nature of the world in which we exist.
In the very definition of suffering… is the word “passion.”
And some think of suffering because of competing passions in life.
We feel loss because we love, we feel fear because we hope, we feel frustration because we dream of something better.
Buddhism explains suffering as inevitable because our nature is to cling to that which is impermanent.
And, some philosophers coldly just say “Suffering just is. The trick is to find meaning in spite of it.”
Trying to rationalize suffering though the mind of an unbeliever… that’s a scary place to me.
What hope is there?
What logical breakdown of thought helps them to reconcile suffering?
Apart from truth in the word of God… I don’t see much hope.
Perfectly lined up… our midweek study in Genesis this week is Gen 3:13-24 “The Curse of Man.”
Through free will came disobedience and the fall of man… and suffering was introduced into the world.
In Eden… they didn’t toil in labor… there was no death… no sin…
Let me just read through the key verses of the curse upon Adam that introduced suffering into the world…
… and understand this… God was NOT the initiator of suffering. He created perfection and a world without suffering… it was Adam & Eve… and would’ve been any one of us… had we been put in their place…
… having the subtle suggestions of the serpent whispered in our ear.
So, Adam and Eve fell… and in relation to creation… God said to Adam.
Gen 3:17-19 “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”
We’ll be studying through that section of scripture this Wednesday evening at 7pm…
If you want to take advantage of some mid week fellowship in the word… please join us.
Notice God tells Adam, “Cursed is the ground for your sake.”
The NLT renders that phrase, “… the ground is cursed because of you.”
God did not initiate suffering… Suffering is the result of mankind.
And suffering being introduced into the world not only effected mankind…
… but creation itself was effected.
And, frankly, God was effected.
To fix the issue of sin… Jesus Christ would suffer more than any of us have ever experience.
Beyond the sufferings in His life of ministry… and beyond His sufferings during His passion and crucifixion…
Jesus took the whole wrath of God for the sin of the world.
NO ONE has experienced suffering like that.
Isaiah 53:3 titles Messiah, “A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”
Can you imagine if that was your prophesied title?
Imagine carrying that. Imagine people saying, “oh look… here comes the Man of sorrows. He’s well acquainted with grief.”
I’m not sure people connected those dots completely in Jesus’ day, but you better believe He did.
And, He walked the road to the cross regardless.
“Despised and rejected by men.”
By His own creation.
Now… one day… Scripture declares that God will do away with suffering.
And, if vv 19-22 of Romans 8, Paul personifies creation as waiting in eager anticipation… longing for the day when God will redeem it.
Look at vv 19-22 “For the earnest expectation [or anxious longing] of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”
Paul now paints the picture of physical creation… the earth and all in it anticipating the revealing of the sons of God…
Don’t think this is a revealing of “Super Spiritual Christians”… glowing wherever they do go.
You’ll wait forever for a man or woman of that caliber to come. But, some actually interpret this that way.
The Gk word for that crowd is “de-loos-shun-al.”
There’s no such thing.
What this does look forward to mankind’s ultimate redemption… when we will be glorified...
Which also looks forward to Jesus Second Coming. The Gk verb for “eagerly waits” appears 7x in the NT and each time the context is Jesus’ Second Coming… which will usher in the Millennial Reign of Christ… and that begins what creation longs for.
Philippians 3:20 is one of those 7 verses… “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ… ”
In V20 of Romans 8 we read “… creation was subjected to futility, not willingly…”
The NLT reads, “Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse.”
Creation was present when mankind fell… and the curse not only fell upon mankind, but the earth fell into a state unlike it’s Edenic state.
Thorns and thistles were not present in Eden. I was out the other day cutting some branches off a tree and got snagged by a vine with thorns.
It’s quite frustrating when that happens… it slows you down… it scrapes and pierces your skin… maybe a good reminder of Jesus’ passion and crucifixion.
In original design… animals lived in harmony with one another… predators ate “green herbs” according to Gen 1:30.
Repeatedly we read the phrase in Gen 1 that “it was good”… thus… it would seem that cataclysmic events… events that are “not good”… floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes… these would have not been present in original creation.
In error… insurance policies title destruction to personal property from natural disasters an “Act of God.”
It’s really improper to blame God… for it was Adam’s disobedience that led to the curse.
They should this kind of property damage as something like a “Result of Adam”… NOT an “Act of God.”
You find an insurance company that wants to properly classify natural disasters… and we should all switch to that carrier.
There is so much suffering that occurs from the creation being subjected to the fall…
Of course, God can use bad for good… it was shortly after Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines (2013)… that God stirred our hearts to be missionaries to the Philippines.
Where the gospel was shared… people believed in Jesus as Lord and Savior… the word of God was taught… people were baptized… needs were met…
… I know of one life that was physically saved… a woman named “Mercy”…
God used bad for good.
Regardless… Creation longs for all this wrong to be righted… and there is hope as the end of V20 states… creation itself will return to it’s former state of glory…
… as V21 promises… creation will be “delivered from the bondage of corruption…”
Creation will be set free from slavery of corruption (corruption means “decay”)… thus…
Just as believers are liberated or set free from death in glorification… so too will creation join us.
And, this is really a two-part story…
Part one is shortly following Jesus’ Second Coming when He ushers in His Millennial Reigns… His literal 1000-year reign on earth…
Jesus will visibly rule the world… Government will be a theocracy… praise God!
Isaiah 11:6–9 gives us a partial glimpse of the harmony restored during Jesus Millennial Reign… “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea.”
The millennial Kingdom gives us some semblance of the correction that creation will enjoy, but things are not entirely perfect...
Rebellion will still exist in the Millennial Kingdom… likely from those born during that time.
You can imagine if you were born during that time… how you would take it for granted.
Even Jesus… people will likely see Him face to face and know Him as King… and still doubt Him.
The cross will likely seem like a fairy tale to them.
“C’mon King Jesus… you’re saying He died on a cross and rose again? You expect me to believe that?”
Revelation 20:7–9 portrays the rebellion, “Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.”
Even in a perfect government… even with Jesus visibly reigning… even with a massive course correction in creation…
There will be a massive number of people who lived during the Millennium that decide to rebel against God… and there is no battle… you can’t war against God… fire devours them.
Swift judgment. Even for Satan… he will be cast into the Lake of Fire… that’s his end.
But then… in Rev 21-22… we see a full picture of God redeeming creation… as Eternity is ushered in… A New Heaven… A New Earth… A New Jerusalem…
AND.. it’s during that time that we read about perfection that has not existed every before in human history…
God will declare, “It is done!”
The Sin nature will be completely eliminated in Glorification…
Sinners will not be present in Eternity… rebellion is eliminated.
God will dwell with His people… who are called “overcomers”… that’s you if you’re a believer.
Revelation 21:4 promises all suffering will come to an end… “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
No matter what type of utopian society that culture may want to manufacture… it’ll never come.
Society is not moving towards perfection… in its current state… society is moving away from an Edenic state.
The only way the perfection will come is when Jesus comes
And, creation groans
V22 declares the “whole creation groans”… not some of creation, but the whole creation (excluding mankind who comes into focus in V23)…
Groaning as in the pangs of labor…
It’s interesting how the pain associated with labor is often linked to prophecy and end times in the Bible.
What we know about labor pangs is they increase in frequency, duration, and intensity… until the final result.
And, so it is in these end times...and even moreso once the tribulation begins… and then the Great tribulation begins…
And, creation is straining like a mother in travail… as a result of the pain of the past… and hope of deliverance in the future.
For any of you who have attended Calvary Chapel Lake City for any length of time… you know I like to title my sermons to capture a key themes.
Not all Pastors place a title on their sermons… many do not… which is fine… it’s just a stylistic preference.
One Calvary Pastor, David Rosales in California, like me enjoys to give a title to his messages…
And, he titled Rom 8:19-27 as “The Groaning of Creation, Man, and the Spirit.”
I found this interesting… because it is thematic.
We just looked at the groaning of creation… next in V23… mankind is pictured groaning… and in V26 the Holy Spirit is pictured groaning.
It’s a good title. And… fascinating how from the earth we stand upon… to all we share this ball of dirt with… to ourselves… and the Spirit who dwells within us…
We groan in anticipation of the glorious day to come.
vv 23-25 “Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.”
Believers also groan… just as creation longs to be delivered from the bondage of corruption… so too do believers eagerly anticipate freedom… a release from sin and suffering.
And… this is a unique kind a suffering that believers experience.
It’s a hope filled suffering.
We hold onto a promise of what will come in the future, and we believe in that promise… we have faith in that promise… we believe in the glorified body… and closing our eyes for the last time and waking opening them face-to-face with Jesus… and hearing well done, good and faithful servant, entered to the joy of your Lord.
So… it’s appropriate to describe the time between then and now as suffering.
We look around in the world, and we look at our bodies aging… and we grown… we grown awaiting the day.
Now don’t miss this beautiful hope filled picture. God gave us the firstfruits of the Spirit.
This idea of “firstfruits” goes all the way back to Exodus 23 when the Israelites were instructed to offer to the Lord the firstfruits of their harvest.
Dr. Constable wrote, “This offering acknowledged that the whole harvest was from Him and that it was really His. It was an offering that the Israelites made in faith, confident that the rest of the harvest would follow.”
It was an act of faith… God we worked hard for this crop… now it is time for harvest… and we give you the firstfruit… recognizing it’s all yours… and trusting you will provide the rest of the harvest.
How amazing to live that way… trusting God as provider… and sustainer… and we can… why?
Because… just as Israel gave to God their firstfruits… God pledge to the Christian… the firstfruits of the Spirit…
Which is immensely humbling… we should be giving our firstfruits to Him! Of our hearts… of our time… of our resources… of our everything!
But, HE… pledged the Holy Spirit to us…
Which the NLT says is a “foretaste of future glory.” I like that.
As soon as we trusted Jesus for salvation… God gave us the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit promising to us that He will complete the process of salvation.
Which Paul lays out in V30… where Paul confirms our salvation is sure.
Suffering may feel like a surety in life… well it doesn’t even hold a candle to how sure our salvation is.
Paul also describes in V23 the groaning of the Christian… that we “eagerly wait… for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”
We looked at adoption… in vv 14-17… we have the privilege to cry out “Abba, Father”… we are heirs… and joint heirs with Christ…
We spoke about adoption in Greek and Roman times being two-fold… a private promise and a public declaration.
And, some scholars hold that V23 pictures that public declaration… that future time when our adoption will be consummated.
This adoption in it’s completeness is said to be “the redemption of our body.”
Redemption is a release effected by the payment of a ransom.
We have already been spiritually redeemed, and we await our bodies to be physically redeemed… which many scholars believe will happen during the rapture of the church.
Yet future… believers will be raised up and transformed with glorified bodies… fashioned to be in God’s presence… prepared for heaven… immune to sin and suffering… immortal.
Philippians 3:21 declares Jesus “… will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body… ”
1 Corinthians 15:53 “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”
If you want a great passage to read on this read 2 Cor 4:7-5:10.
A portion of that passage reads 2 Cor 5:1-7 “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
The believer who loves not the world… and longs for stepping out of this world… be it upon our home-going or rapture…
… we hold to many promises laid out in Scripture… and we long for these things.
I’m not sure how believers handle suffering without proper understanding of scripture.
Some of them don’t. Former friends and former colleagues of mine… who I seriously doubt truly understand Scripture… judging by compromises they have made to the world…
In the midst of suffering… they have either forsaken their spouse and divorced… or forsaken God altogether.
What an important passage of scripture and an important book in Romans we are studying… which is so foundational for our lives… and our Christian perseverance.
Which is in part what Paul address in vv 24-25…
vv 24-25 “For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”
When we were saved… we were saved in the hope that God would redeem us.
If we already had all of the promises of God… like a glorified body… we would not need to hope for it.
But, we do need to hope… because we can all look in the mirror and honestly say… “that is NOT a glorified body.”
And, so Paul’s point here addresses our attitude while waiting.
Is your attitude impatient? Doubtful as more time passes? Resentful? Or hopeful?
These verses stand as an encouragement to wait holding to an attitude of hope… because in faith we hope for God’s promises…
And, it’s not a hope as in wishful thinking… or hoping in something that most likely won’t happen… it’s a sure hope… it’s such a confident hope… that we can claim it as certain.
One scholar wrote, "The point of these two verses is that the attitude of hope, so distinctive of the Christian, implies that there is more in store for him than anything that is his already.”
Paul would further instruct that in our waiting we must wait patiently and confidently… which encapsulates the word “perseverance.”
Perseverance is “a patient enduring.”
Morris on perseverance wrote: “It is the attitude of the soldier who in the thick of battle is not dismayed but fights on stoutly whatever the difficulties.”
One might ask what makes Paul the authority over heaven.
We know that he has quite the authority in reference to speaking on suffering when you look at his testimony, but who makes them the authority to speak on heavenly things?
God did. It’s widely accepted that Paul spoke about himself when in 2 Cor 12:2 he wrote, “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven.”
He described Paradise as where he “… heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”
If I was caught up to heaven and had to live on earth for another 14 years+… I would be a wreck.
Talk about the need to wait with perseverance!
Well… in our closing verses… and really to the end of the Chapter… Paul layers one encouragement upon another to help us endure suffering.
The Holy Spirit & Jesus intercedes on our behalf.
Our salvation is absolutely secure.
God is for us… and nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.
We are more than conquerors.
We are definitely closing on a high note today… and next week we also are blessed with a massively encouraging passage.
But, closing out today… in light of the context of suffering… who better to encourage us than the Comforter Himself… the Holy Spirit!?
vv 26-27 “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He [the Father] who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
Presently… the Holy Spirit helps in our weaknesses… which are many… but by def. “weaknesses” means “want of strength”… often it’s tied to physical or mental infirmity…
As in 2 Cor 12… when God declares to Paul “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” … Which a verse later is translated as infirmities.
Though “weakness” could also simply be translated as “imperfection.”
Constable suggests our Rom 8 passage “… context suggests that our "weakness" probably refers to all our limitations as creatures.”
And, during our times of weakness… believers are not alone. We are not left, in our sufferings, to rely upon our own resources.
For the Holy Spirit prays for us.
And, He intercedes with groanings which cannot be uttered. Groanings too deep for words…
Some liken this to the gift of tongues… I’m not so sure…
I believe tongues is a valid gift for today…
Tongues is for personal edification… it’s is a gift some believers receive… but not all…
It’s a prayer language which is intended to enable communication with God… beyond our limit or knowledge… or our ability to articulate what’s in our heart to God.
But, in this context… it’s not us praying… it’s the Spirit… and He is making intercession… which is different from tongues.
We see here the Holy Spirit is interceding for us… praying “for” us... not praying “through us” in tongues to the Father.
So, not to take away from tongues…but the context seems to favor simply intercession by the Holy Spirit.
Regardless… sometimes a difficulty can be so overwhelming that we don’t know how to even pray to the Father… so the Holy Spirit… who is in us… looks into our life… and prays to the Father on our behalf.
And, we need this… because in desperate times… we just want suffering to end… which is not always God’s will… thus Paul writes, “we do not know what we should pray for as we ought.”
Have you ever been there? When suffering is so thick that you feel uncertain what to pray… nor what God wants us to pray?
Our prayers drift from “God’s will be done” to “My will be done… like yesterday.”
But how we should pray is according to God’s will… which is how the Spirit intercedes for us… as we read at the end of V27 states “He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
And, there is deep unity between the Father and the Spirit… V27 states the Father “knows the mind of the Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit is not part of the B Team… He’s part of the Godhead… He is God…
… and He… prays… for you… which V27 labels believers as “saints”… that’s how God presently views you.
Saint Marc. “Hey Saint Bernard!” I see you out there.
A prayer according to the will of God… coming from a source perfectly connected with God… is what you would call “the perfect prayer.”
That’s what the Holy Spirit offers up for you… when you don’t know what to pray. What a massive encouragement.
And, one final thought before we close… don’t forget we also have Jesus in heaven who “always lives to make intercession” for believers (Heb7:25)…
Or as V34 states “… who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”
So you’ve got two members of the Godhead praying for you!
One from within… the Holy Spirit … the Comforter…
And One from heaven… our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
You are well wrapped in prayer!
Jesus said “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
No one who has lived in human history is immune to suffering… not even our Lord… but these verses today stand as testimony that…
Many and great are the promises of God…
Glory awaits us with a glorified body…
We have much to hope for… AND the Spirit of God will see us through.
Amen? Let’s Pray!
Suffering is a difficult topic… and while we don’t know all the why’s of suffering…
… we do know that suffering prepares us and our character for glory.
We know that suffering plays apart in conforming us into the image of the Son… and we know that we are not alone.
If you’re here today… and you need prayer… even for things you’ve prayed for a thousand times over…
Jesus says to “Ask, Seek, and Knock”… continuously.
Our prayer team will be on the sides ready to pray with you.
Be encouraged Saint… God is doing a good work in you… and His promises are true…
Go into this week ahead holding onto His sure promises… and be blessed as you go.
