Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good evening and welcome back!

It is good to see everyone out this evening.

If you will, turn in your Bibles to .

We are going to be picking up this evening where we left off the last time we were in Romans in chapter 8 verse 18.

And in just a minute I will read from verses 18-28, which is where we are going to be spending the majority of our time this evening.

But if you remember the last time we were here, we were looking at sin and how sin actually has no real power over a child of God, other than the power that we give it.

Paul went to great lengths in the first part of chapter 8 to explain to us how Christ frees us from sin and the bondage of sin and death.

But then, it is up to us to actually take hold and tap into the power that Jesus gives us to be overcomers and victors over the sin that persists in our lives.

The Holy Spirit empowers us and it is up to us to take hold and use that power in our lives.

And sometimes that is easier said than done, but the fact remains the power is still there for us to use.

Then though, Paul moves forward just a bit into our subject for tonight.

He establishes the lack of real power sin has and then proceeds to remove one of our most used excuses.

“It’s too hard,” or better yet, “life is too hard.”

And more specifically, he is going to start looking at the struggles and suffering that we endure in life and try to put all of that into perspective for us.

Which is where we will pick up tonight.

So, if you have found in your Bibles, I’d invite you to stand with me if you are able, as we looking at our suffering and how ultimately God’s glory is revealed in His Children.

Paul starts in verse 18 . . .

Scripture Focus

Present Sufferings Not Worth Comparing (vs 18-23)

So, we see here that Paul wastes no time getting to the point here.

He doesn’t beat around the bush and “honey-baby” them to death with platitudes.

He just flat out tells them that . . .

romans 8:

Which, is in fact a very bold statement for Paul to make when we really put it all into context.

Because remember, the type of suffering that the people he is directly addressing, goes beyond just the normal, everyday suffering of living in a fallen world.

Sure, the people had to deal with the same types of suffering we do—sickness, death, rejection, etc…, but they were also dealing with active persecution for their beliefs.

Which is something that we, here in the United States really don’t have a good grasp or understanding of.

Sure, there are those out there who want to push their “tolerance” agenda, meaning that they want us to be tolerate and accepting of their beliefs—even though they do not return the favor.

But that type of persecution does not result in torture and physical death.

These people, like many who live in oppressed areas of our world today, were truly suffering harsh persecution for their beliefs.

They were enduring the normal hardships of life and this severe persecution on top of that.

And don’t forget the persecution and suffering that Paul himself had endured and continued to endure.

So, this wasn’t just a “honey-baby, life’s tough, get over it” message Paul was delivering.

He is telling them that all of this extreme suffering that you are having to undergo and endure right now—well, don’t even sweat it because the eternal glory of God that will be revealed in His children, makes it seem like nothing, absolutely nothing.

And I tell all of us here tonight that same thing, but I do so with a grain of salt.

Because I know that there are some here who have suffered tremenously, not so much for your beliefs, but through life, the way you have been treated by other people, has been horrible.

And I do not dismiss it, and also know it has caused you tremendous pain in your life.

And God is not saying here, “get over it,” God is saying that in Him, and in a relationship with Him, the glories of heaven and eternal life will make all of that suffering seem minuscule.

And along those same lines the question always comes up, “why did God let that happen.”

Unfortunately, that is a by-product of free will.

See, not only do God’s children have free-will but so does everyone else, even bad and evil people.

And bad, and evil people have the freedom to choose to do bad things.

However, rest assured that short of their own repentance and coming to God, they will answer for their choices and God will have the final word.

And the consequences for their actions, will far exceed anything they were able to inflict on another person, no matter how bad it was.

And I know that is not a perfect or good answer to why, but that is the true answer.

But for us who do have a relationship with God, that is only possible through Jesus Christ, eternity is full of glory, wonder, and great things that we can’t even imagine.

And this glory that Paul is referring to, is not something new, or something that came about just since Christ came to the earth.

This glory was what was always meant to be.

This is what God always intended for us, that Adam and Eve messed up.

Paul goes on to write . . .

romans 8:19

And we do not realize it but this is all a very important point.

All creation was impacted by the original sin.

Death and decay came, not only to human beings, but to all creation through Adam and Eve’s sin.

Before their sin, there were no diseases.

I once heard a Christian scientist (a scientist, who was a Christian—not the false religion of Christian Science), who said that the reason life spans declined over the years after Adam and Eve was because when disease was introduced, it started small and then expanded and mutated with each generation.

He also said that we age because our DNA structure was impacted by the fall and that since that time when our cells replicate, which they do over and over throughout our life span, it is like making a copy of a copy.

Each copy is a little more fuzzy than the copy before it and sooner or later the copy is so degraded, it cannot be used and we then die.

And this was not only for humans, but for everything.

And all creation has been waiting for Christ to come and to redeem us all and free us from decay, disease, and death, which is what eternity is.

Meaning that for the 80-100 years (if we are lucky) that we suffer here, is just a blip on the radar of eternity and if we can just hold on then God will make it all right again.

To which Paul continues . . .

romans 8:22-

Our Adoption and Redemption (vs 22-25)

The Spirit Helps Us Endure (vs 24-28)

Which brings Paul to the main point that we should all understand and remember, that point being we must maintain our hope in God, our hope in Jesus Christ.

He says . . .

romans 8:

It is in the hope of our salvation and our eternal life found in Jesus Christ and only in Jesus Christ that we are saved.

But then Paul says something else in verse 24.

He says but hope that is seen is no hope at all.

Who hopes for what he already has?

And the reference Paul is making here has to do with faith.

We live in a faithless society.

And what I mean by that is there is no faith in God.

We have faith, but our faith is typically placed in ourselves, our inventions, or other people.

For instance, even in Christian circles we have a tendency to place faith in another person rather than God.

We say we have faith in God, but the first time a pastor messes up and shows their “human side” we lose faith in them and leave a church.

Or, when a particularly popular or charismatic pastor leaves the church and goes to one the next town over, we tag along like ducklings.

Or, if they have went too far for us to tag along, we leave to find somewhere else because we “are not being fed.”

When we get sick, what do we do?

We run right to a doctor—which is fine—I do too, but we forget to pray and talk to God about it.

We forget that the doctor can treat whatever disease we have, but only God can heal.

We have gotten so good and so smart, we have misplaced faith that should be in God with faith in ourselves and others.

And we have adopted the mindset that “seeing is believing” and “all religion is the same,” which degrades our actual faith in God.

Our faith, Christian faith, is rooted in the truth revealed through Jesus Christ and the hope that this truth brings.

Hope in salvation, hope in eternal life, all hope placed in someone we have never seen face to face and a reality that we have not seen first hand.

That is what the actual definition of hope is.

And if we cannot place our faith in the hope of that, then we actually have no hope at all, and without hope and faith, there is no salvation.

And the only thing left for us then is death and decay.

Which Paul understands and Paul acknowledges.

But Paul also tells us that we are not alone and that we do have help.

He says . . .

romans 8:26-

When we are weak, He is strong.

When we do not even have the power or strength to even discern what we should be praying for, the Holy Spirit steps in and intercedes for us.

God searches our hearts and knows where our heart actually is and that is what connects us with God.

And as a result . . .

Romans 8: