Present Suffering, Future Glory

Hard seasons are part of life, even for believers. In this episode, Pastor Chris walks through Romans 8:18–27 and explores the powerful contrast between present suffering and future glory. Creation groans for renewal, believers groan for redemption, and the Holy Spirit groans in prayer on our behalf. This message will help you anchor your hope in what is coming while faithfully enduring what is now. 

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/18727030

1. Compare Now with What Comes Next – Paul reminds us that present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory to be revealed (Romans 8:18). Though hardship is real, eternity reframes everything. Our future inheritance as co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17) gives us strength to endure today.
2. Creation Groans for Renewal – Because of the fall (Genesis 3:17), creation is subjected to frustration and decay. Yet Romans 8:19–22 promises that creation itself will be liberated. Revelation 21–22 assures us that God will make all things new and remove the curse forever.
3. Believers Groan for Redemption – We who have the firstfruits of the Spirit long for the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23). Our hope is not escape from this world, but resurrection and glorification (Philippians 3:20–21; 2 Corinthians 5:1–4). We wait patiently, confident that God is finishing what He started.
4. The Spirit Groans in Prayer – In our weakness, when we do not know what to pray, the Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God (Romans 8:26–27). Jesus Himself also intercedes for us (Romans 8:34). We are never alone in our suffering.

Notable Quotes:
 “Present suffering is real, but it is not ultimate.”
 “Creation groans, believers groan, and even the Spirit groans, but glory is coming.”
 “This is not heaven. But heaven is coming.”

Challenge

Fix your eyes on eternal glory this week. Refuse to let present suffering define your perspective. Remain faithful in the middle of hardship, pray honestly when you feel weak, and share the hope of Christ with someone who needs encouragement. 

26.0222de Living With Hope Through Hard Seasons

The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

Chris T 0:16

We're going to look at Romans chapter 8, verses 18 to 27 today. Living with hope through hard seasons. I think that all of us have gone through different parts of our days when we've had hard seasons, difficult seasons. Sometimes they've just been difficult because we've been pushing to try to get things accomplished. And there's been other times when we've been hit with sickness or bills or broken transportation or broken relationships or just so many things. Death of somebody that we love and care about. And when we think about our Christian life, it's easy to think that since we've come to Jesus and been adopted as a child of God, that everything should be easy and that God should bless us and keep us from all of that pain. But this isn't heaven. That isn't always the case. So Christians aren't necessarily protected from difficulty, but we have the hope that there is something better. We have the hope that someday God is going to make everything right and that we will be blessed and that things will be perfect, that our bodies, our broken bodies, will be restored, and all of that will be good. But really the best title or the best title for the message, instead of living with hope through hard seasons, would be A Glory in Three Groans, would actually be more fitting for the passage because this talks about groaning. I don't know if you ever groan. So do you ever go, oh, you know, like when something breaks or you get injured or something like that? They say you can tell truly tell where a man is at when he like hits his thumb with a hammer or is surprised by something. I was at a camp one time and I was getting a life jacket out of the boathouse and a bird or a bat, I don't know what, flew at my head, and other people are around, and I shouted, glory, as opposed to other things other people say. And but to groan. So we often groan. So I don't remember my wife necessarily groaning all the time, but I remember, especially when the kids were little, she'd be like, Lord, give me strength. And maybe you've done that before too. Maybe you have felt that way. That's what Paul is sharing in this passage here is that we have creation groaning, we have Christ followers groaning, and we have the Holy Spirit interceding in prayer for us with groans, with words that can't be uttered. And so creation looks forward to a day when it is restored. Believers look forward to the day when their salvation is truly realized, and we get our glorified bodies, and the Holy Spirit intercedes for us in prayer as we go through this life. And so that's what we're going to look at today. Number one, compare now with what comes next. Compare now with what comes next. We think about all of the difficulty in life, and we think about what's going on in our nation, in our cities, around the world, all the threats and the difficulties, and there's threats of war and nuclear war and threats of technology replacing everybody's job and robots taking over and all these crazy things that you wouldn't expect. But I think for many years, we've always, everybody I know has always said, it is bad, but it could always be worse. And then some people they'll always say, and it probably will be, but on the other hand, it can definitely be better. And that's the Christians' hope, is that what we endure now is in heaven, but it's gonna get better. It's gonna get better, and for all eternity it will be better, because that's what scripture says. So in Romans chapter 8, verse 17, which is actually a bridge carryover from what we talked about last week. So last week we learned about living from a secure identity in Christ, and you can watch that online or listen to that online. But it talked about us being in the Holy Spirit. And verse 17 says, if we are children, because we're adopted as child of children of God, then we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may share in his glory. And it talks about glory, it talks about our inheritance, it talks about our future, it talks about that we will go through difficulties, but we also have the hope of heaven, we have the hope of eternity, we have the hope that not only do we will we reach this point where things will get better, but we also have the Holy Spirit to help us to get through. And that is a good thing. Leadership ministries worldwide said on suffering. It's the spiritual struggle discussed in Romans chapter 5 through 8, and so also descriptively illustrated in Romans chapter 7, where Paul talks about what a wretched person he is, because he wants to do good, but he does the wrong stuff, and the wrong stuff he doesn't want to do, he ends up doing, and what a wretched person he is. And then Romans 8:1 says, therefore there's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. But the struggle is against sin and corruption, disease and pain, abuse and persecution, unregulated urges and desires, weaknesses and shortcomings, aging and loss, deterioration and decay. The genuine believer struggles against everything that keeps him from living abundantly and eternally. His sole passion is to bring everything under the control of Christ and to be conformed to the image of Christ. Therefore, he or she struggles to overcome the flesh and the world with their aging and corruption and sin and death. No matter what suffering is required, the believer bears it in order to overcome and gain the victory of eternal life and its glory. So that's really good. So that I thought that was well stated, and that's why I shared it with you. But Paul says, I consider, so verse 18, I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. So I don't know what kind of sufferings that you've been through. I don't know if your family has cut you off because of your faith in Christ. I don't know if you've gone through hardship, if you've gone through financial loss, if you've gone through illness, sickness, loss of a loved one. But Paul has gone through much of this. So the Apostle Paul says he's calculated, that he's evaluated, that he has determined that all of the hard things that he has gone through are nothing in comparison to what is coming. And he does that in a positive way. You'll remember in 2 Corinthians 11, 23 through 28, he talks about how he's worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Then he names what some of those things are, including being whipped with thirty-nine lashes, being beaten with rods, one stoned, three times shipwrecked, spent a day and night adrift at sea, travelled many long journeys, faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as the Gentiles. I have faced dangers in the cities, in the deserts, and the seas. I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers, but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty, and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold without enough clothing to keep me warm. Then besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches. So Paul gives this list of what he's endured, but here he is saying that he's considered that none of them compare to what is coming, the great thing that he is coming. The present sufferings aren't anything compared to the joy and the glory that is coming. So the glory, to think about what is the glory of God. So the New Unger's Bible Dictionary says, in respect to God, his glory is the manifestation of his divine attributes and perfections. And then glory is the expression of holiness, as beauty is the expression of health. In respect to man, his glory is found in the things that reveal his honorable state and character, such as wisdom, righteousness, superiority to passion, or that outward magnificence that is expressive of what in the lower sphere bespeaks of the high position of its possessor. So the glory of God. The doctrine of glorification is when you get your glorified body and when all things become new and you are getting set up for eternity. So you will no longer be weak in pain, wearing glasses or dentures or struggling with tooth pain or all of those things as time goes on that we endure. So that will be changed, and what a great day that will be. So I don't have it on the screen, but you remember in Exodus chapter 34 that Moses asked to see God's glory. So he requested to see God's glory. And it says in verse Exodus 34, verse 6, the Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, Yahweh, the Lord, the God of compassion and mercy, I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin, but I do not excuse the guilty. So when God revealed his guilty, when God revealed his glory, he revealed his compassion. He revealed his care and his love and his justice, and that is a good thing. So to have the image of God in us restored completely, to have sin removed entirely, to have our weakness gone, death defeated, and our character perfectly aligned with Christ. Philippians 3.20 says, we are citizens of heaven. So these are for these people, for the people, hopefully you who have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You've repented of your sin and you've given your life to Jesus. If you don't know what I'm talking about, ask me. There's some how to find God New Testaments out there. We'd love to have a conversation with you to help you to figure out what that means. But for those of you who have received Christ as your Lord and Savior, Philippians 3.20 says, We are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives, and we are eagerly waiting for Him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. What a great time that will be. So not only will we have bodies ready for eternity, but we will be able to spend eternity with Jesus where everything is right. Next week we'll look at verse 29 of Romans chapter 8 that says, For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. So we'll look at that next week. But to think about what we have in Christ now. So we are able to understand spiritual things that unregenerated, non-Christ followers can't. The Holy Spirit helps us to understand Scripture. The Holy Spirit is a deposit on our salvation. The Holy Spirit gives us at least one spiritual gift in which we're to serve others and serve in the church and to use. The Holy Spirit can give us boldness to share our faith. And those things are so good. And 2 Corinthians 3.18 says, so all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord, who is the Spirit, makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image. So many people in this world don't understand what Christian living is like or what who Christ is, because they're like they're kind of blinded. There's like this veil they can't see. Everything is hidden. But when we come to Christ, that veil is removed. So glory means we will finally be what God intended us to be. No more internal conflict, no more shame, no more corruption, no more decay. And that is what's coming. So when we planted the church years ago, we needed to find a house in the town that we were moving into, and it was at the time one of the fastest growing counties in the United States. And so there were a lot of new houses being built. And so we, the only house that seemed to work for us was a new house. And interestingly enough, most of the people that helped us start the church came from the new homes. We were like the new people in town in the new homes. And they weren't extravagant, very expensive homes. Actually, some of the old homes in town were more expensive than these. But these houses were going up, and so we had picked a home and signed the contract and everything. And when you first looked at it, it was just some lumber on a big muddy plot of land. And it doesn't look anything like a house. But you, as the future homeowner, know what's coming. But when it was going up, many people saw a mess, but we saw what it was going to become. And so we saw it in advance. It was like we had this future hope, like Christ's follower should have today. Like you should know as you study scripture, as you hear messages, of what's coming for your eternity, the good things that are coming in eternity. And to know that whatever the difficulty is, whatever the hardship is, whatever causes you to groan, that there are good things coming. Maybe another illustration would be someone who is studying hard to get that education or that certificate or whatever it is that they need to move forward. But don't lose sight of what's coming. Don't lose sight of that hope. Don't forget of what is coming. Don't forget to compare your hardships today with all of the wonderful, great things that are happening in the future. Number two, creation groans while waiting for renewal. Creation groans while waiting for renewal. So we watched that video that showed animals and it showed flora and fauna and the stars and all of these things representing God creating things. And we have really no idea what the earth looked like when it was first created, when it was perfect. Before Adam and Eve sinned, and the earth and the ground was cursed, and so the earth is not what it was created to be. It's held back, it's been cursed. There's thorns, there are storms, there's all these difficult things, and it's from a fallen world that we are in. But someday Jesus will make it all new, and it will be great. So Romans 8 19 says, For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. So when Jesus returns, the children of God are revealed, the earth will be made new again, and so the earth groans, waiting for that. Verse 20. So what a great time that will be. And so Paul brings this out in verse 22. He says, We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. So the earth has been cursed, and we suffer through that. When we have hard ground, when we have weeds, when we have pests, when we have all of those difficult things, that is a sign that something has been broken on the earth. So God cursed the ground because of what Adam and Eve did. And so there's decay, there's corruption, our cars rust, our homes rot, our bodies age, our cells weaken, storms intensify, structures crumble, all of those things. But someday we'll be liberated and set free. But creation groans, looking forward to the future, looking forward to what will become. Not on the screen, but Genesis 3.17 says, And to the man, God said, Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. In Genesis 131, and I think in the video too, it said, After God had created everything, he looked over it all and said it was very good. And but then after the ground was cursed, it's not as good as it could be. So the earth isn't anything that we should worship. The earth is something that God has created for us, and God can renew it. God can help us to move forward. And we think about the difficulties, when we think about the earthquakes, the floods, the droughts, the disease, and the decay, it's not that God has lost control. It's that man has sinned, and that is the result of what has happened. We die at an earlier age and we go through difficulty because of sin. This is in heaven, this is a sinful, cursed place. But yet God in his grace reaches out in love so that we can experience salvation and know him. And so it's broken, but there is the hope of heaven. There is the hope of the future. Revelation 21, one. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. There was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Look, God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. The old order of things has passed away. And then Revelation 22 3, no longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. No longer any curse. It will be good. Again, that's what we have to look forward to. That's what we think of. That's what we think about. In every funeral, in every lost life, and all the difficulties, in every terminal diagnosis, in every disaster, that this isn't heaven, that good things are coming. We need to be faithful today. We need to be faithful today as we age, as we weaken, as we battle sin, as we suffer. That creation groans but looks forward to the day when it will be restored, and that should motivate us and help us. Number three, Christ followers groan while waiting for redemption. Christ followers groan while waiting for redemption. Paul says in verse 23, not only so, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption, the sonship, the redemption of our bodies. That idea of firstfruits is actually something that is tied into giving. So in Proverbs 3:9, it says, Honor the Lord with your wealth with the best part of everything you produce. And the general idea is that when the crop would start to come in, that the people would take a portion of that and that they would give that to God in advance. They didn't bring the whole harvest in and then bring God, you know, what they thought. Instead, they would first bring God the first part of their harvest, trusting that God was going to provide more, trusting that God would provide for them. And so that was an important part of their Christian life, an expression of their trust, a down payment on what God was going to do, that they guarantee that more was coming, and that was a good thing. But that we have the first fruits of the Spirit and we groan inwardly. There are so many people that think that I'd much prefer to be with Jesus, so I'm just going to give up on this life. And it's especially evident when people start to struggle with sickness and things, and you know that is fair to choose how to, if you're going to get medical treatments, if you're not, if you're going to keep going forward, if you're not, what you're going to endure, how you're going to live your life. But some people just want to give up right away and say, well, I'm just going to go be with Jesus. But what if Jesus has things for you to do still? What if you still need to, God still has a plan for you to share your faith or to make a difference in the world or to help someone in need or for all of those different things to put God first and to know that God can restore and help our bodies. And there is great hope in that. Second Corinthians 5 1 says, We know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down, that is, when we die and leave this earthly body, we'll have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God Himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on heavenly bodies like new clothing. And so that would make us groan when we grow weary. For we will put on heavenly bodies, we will not be spirits without bodies. And while we live in these earthly bodies, we groan inside. But it's not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. I don't think I'd want to live for eternity right now in this current system, in the midst of the politics and the world. In everything. But again, our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. And that is our hope. Our hope. Paul continues on, for in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? So if you already have it, it's not hope. It's a realization. It's an experience that you have. But hope is something that we look forward to. Hope is something that we don't have today, but we are confident that we're going to have it tomorrow. And we keep pursuing, we keep moving on, we keep trying to live rightly, even though there are many difficulties that as we go through the struggle, we have a confidence that we are in Christ. So those people who aren't in Christ don't struggle with sin. They don't even think about it. So if you feel under conviction because of your sin, that might be a sign that the Holy Spirit is in you. Paul continues on, for but if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. We wait for it patiently. Again, you can't live the Christian life on your own. It's impossible. There's no way that you could be good enough to keep all the rules and do everything to make yourself right with God. Instead, through receiving what Jesus did, you can receive Jesus' righteousness. You can be saved through what Jesus did. You can receive his perfect, everything about him is perfect righteousness and exchange for your sin and that God will see your account as paid in full so that you can spend eternity with him. And again, last week and the week before, we talked about who we are in Christ's family and how we are adopted as children of God. Number four, the comforter groans in prayer to help us in our weakness. The comforter groans in prayer to help us in our weakness. But Paul says in the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. So not only does it say the Spirit intercedes, but then Paul says in verse 27 that he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God. So he searches our hearts, he searches our mind, he knows what we need. And what I see in this is that the Lord cares so much that when we are so overwhelmed and we don't even know what to pray for, we don't know what the right thing to pray for is. Should we take the job, should we not? Should we wait for the layoff to end or should we move? What should we do that the Holy Spirit can pray in a way when we don't even know what to do as we move forward? And then it says that Jesus is interceding. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus, who died more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us in prayer. So if they're both praying, why do we need to pray? Can't we just put the Holy Spirit and Jesus and auto-pray and go through our life? But the thing is that we're instructed to pray. We're promised that when we pray, that God will hear us. James says we don't have because we ask not. Sometimes we ask for the wrong motives. So we should pray. There are many precious promises in prayer, but to know that the Spirit knows our heart, that Jesus is interceding for us in prayer, that they care for us, that the Holy Spirit is at work in our life, and that is good. So He's a deposit. The Holy Spirit is a deposit that ensures our salvation, that produces fruit in us, that helps us to move forward. But to pray, Jesus said in John 15, 7, if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted to remain in him. Hebrews 4, 16 says, Let us approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. So we are told that we can approach God's throne. So we should pray. We should pray when we are confused. We should pray when we're weak. We should pray when we think we have the answer and we understand. We should pray when we're strong. We should pray when we're grateful, we should pray when we're desperate. We should pray humbly, honestly, persistently, and wanting God's will more than our own. But creation groans for what will become, for creation to be put back the way that it used to be. Believers groan for their heavenly bodies, for the future, for the good things that they are expecting. The Holy Spirit groans as he prays and intercedes for us and as we move forward. I read something interestingly in the Insights commentary by Chuck Swindah that I thought was worth sharing. He talks about the problem of evil is difficult for everyone. Nonbelievers struggled to comprehend how a good, all-powerful God can allow evil to continue. Believers begin to question everything when the intensity of sorrow or suffering becomes unbearable. Even creation itself groans in anguished anticipation for disease, disaster, death, and decay to end. Nevertheless, Paul considered this present suffering to be minor when compared to the glory of eternity. He says, As I have taught and lived this portion of Scripture for the better part of half a century, I've observed two principles at work. First, the greater the groan, the greater the glory. God is not the source of pain, and he did not promise to prevent our suffering. Instead, he promised that no pain would go to waste. What the world intends for harm, God will use for our good. Not only will he make us more like his son, he will use us he will use afflictions to give us greater capacity for future blessing. When you find yourself afflicted and suffering, rest assured that however deeply you hurt, your joy will be greater when the trial ends. Therefore endure with hope, confident assurance. Second, the weaker our spirit, the stronger his support. I recall many times when I barely had the strength to stand in the pulpit on Sunday. And he talks about one Friday afternoon our daughter fell to the pavement from a cheerleading pyramid that broke her back. And how he talks about how he waited in the hospital and he still preached a sermon on Sunday and he didn't think it was very good, and that through tears he preached the sermon and it turned out to be one of the most listened to ones. But I'll skip. When affliction and suffering bring you to your knees, that's when the power of God has the greatest effect in your ministry. He said, I don't mean to suggest that taking a step back from work isn't sometimes necessary. You should be fit to serve. However, when you do continue ministering to others in the midst of suffering, God multiplies his power in your weakness. Let me boil this down to several practical do's and don'ts. Don't assume your suffering is the result of God's punishment. Do expect that when the suffering ends, he will give you even greater joy. Don't assume the Lord has abandoned you. Do confess your fear and doubt and ask him for strength to press on. Don't assume you have been rejected or forsaken by God. Do remain faithful to your duties, even if you must reduce your load for the time being. Don't assume your prayers are not heard. Do continue praying even when you don't know what to say. Don't assume that your suffering gives you permission to give up. Do trust that the Lord will magnify his strength through your weakness. So as we think about all of the things that are broken because of sin and because of rebellion and because of all of the hardship, and we look forward to the future of what we have. Not only should that give us confidence and hope, but it should make us really want to tell other people about Jesus, about the hope, about the solution that we have. So we really have the solution to one of the world's worst diseases, the terminal disease of sin against God. Jesus is the solution. We know the solution. Hopefully, we've received Jesus as the solution. We have the cure, and we are guaranteed, we are assured, all of this hope of heaven, and we look forward to it.