Louie Giglio - Our Present Suffering and Our Future Glory
The Collection is the epicenter again just one last time. I know people are kind of jumping on board as we go because a lot of theologians would say that the chapter we’re in today is the pinnacle chapter of all of Scripture. We don’t want to compare whether this is more important than John chapter 3 or more important than Psalm 23, but Romans 8 is a critical text in all of Scripture. That’s why we’re taking some time over these few weeks to dig into the text together.
Today, we’re coming to a phenomenal section with the header that says «Future Glory,» and I want us to read it together. It says, «For I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.» Now, I’m not in a big hurry today, so let’s allow the text to seep into the deepest part of our souls. Let’s get into it, sit in it, marinate in it, and soak it in a bit together. Let’s not rush past this opening idea because this is what Paul is going to unpack all the way through our text today: «For I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.» I want you to focus on this, even though we’ll keep going for a little while. That will be revealed in us—not just some future glory thing coming out there, like Heaven, but he’s talking about something that will be revealed in you if you’re in Christ. He’s discussing something specific that’s going to be revealed in us.
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed, and we know that’s not a male-only reference; these are men and women—sons and daughters of God—that’s how this revelation will happen. It’s all in the context of the adoption to sonship referenced in the text we looked at last week. In other words, this position that an elder son has from his father—we’re in that, in Christ, both male and female. It’s a sonship, and that’s why he says there’s an 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 from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
See how everything is really not about some generic thing that’s going to happen; it’s about us and going to be revealed in us. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship—the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope, we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for. Has anyone ever been in that zone where you’re like, «I don’t know what is going on right now»? I don’t fully know what God is doing right now, and I’m not 100% sure what I should even be praying for in this circumstance. He says, «Well, 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 with groans that words cannot express. He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.» We’ll just take it to that point for today. What a powerful truth! Thanks be to God for the power of His word.
Now, interestingly, about this text, we’re starting here in verse 18 with «future glory,» but it all hinges on what he has already said to us back in verse 17. We’ve received this adoption to sonship; now we have the Spirit of God inside us. The Spirit of God in us cries out, «Abba! Father!» That’s how we know that we are the children of God. We know that we’re not just free-floating agents on Earth; we are God’s children. The Spirit, it says in verse 16, testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
But then look at verse 17: «Now if we are children, then we are heirs.» In other words, your kids are your heirs. Unless you’ve written them out of the will, they’re going to get what you’ve got. Everything that you have is on its way into their hands at some point because they’re your children; they’re your heirs. He’s established that we’re God’s children, so therefore we’re God’s heirs. Then he goes on to amplify that to say we’re heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. So everything Christ has coming—all of His triumph, all of His victory, all of His rule and authority, and power, and dominion—all of the riches coming to Him in glory, we’re in that. Not because we deserved it, not because we earned it, not because we amassed it, and not because we’re kings. We’re not King Jesus, and we’re not Lord of lords; we are in the one who is King of kings and Lord of lords. So when He comes in all His glory, we’re going to be the heirs of all of that.
If your mentality is, «I have a 401(k), and that’s all I’ve got to look forward to,» you are missing a whole chunk of the story. You may not even get your 401(k); they may go bankrupt. The institutions whereby all of your assets are accrued may go belly up or you may die before you get to the 401(k), and your kids will get it. Think about that: worked 65 years but you died at 64. Or you were aiming for 65 but died at 64, 60, 58, or 37, and all of this accrued wealth is transferred to your heirs, and we’re in that. So maybe you do have a 401(k), but you also have a heavenly account. It’s not going belly up; no moth, no rust can touch it; no calamity, no wars, no rumors of wars can touch it. We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. But then, of course, in Scripture, there are always those annoying conditions—"if.» This «if» isn’t a conditional as if your salvation depends on some performance of yours, but the condition is more explanatory of how this transfer of wealth is going to work in your story and in your life. Here’s how it will work: if indeed we share.
We’ve already shared in being joined to Christ, so we share in our new position. We share in His holiness, amen? We share in His righteousness; we are justified. We share in His position where we are seated with Him. We share in knowing we have eternal life in Him; we have the mind of Christ in Him; we have the Word of God in Him; we have the Spirit in Him. We share a lot with Christ, but he’s saying there’s one more thing you need to share with Christ: if you share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. Jesus didn’t just come to Earth, live His life, and then all of a sudden come out of a tomb with a crown on His head. He laid down glory and took on flesh. The moment He did that, He entered into every frustration and temptation that you share and that I share. He entered into being misunderstood, mistreated, sold out. He entered into having friends turn their backs on Him. He entered into the basic hardship of human life. He entered into knowing what it’s like to say, «I used to be up there, but now I’m stuck down here.» He used to be adored, and now people look at Him and go, «Huh? What are you talking about?» He used to be completely sovereignly in control of the world, and now He’s trying to explain to these followers of His what He’s doing again for the second time today. He understood the suffering of Earth, and then it just got progressively worse for Him until He understood every kind of physical suffering a person can endure. There’s not a tear you have shed that He doesn’t understand because He suffered. The Scripture says He didn’t just die on a cross; He suffered and died.
We’ll see why in just a moment, but then He had this amazing moment of glory. He came out of the tomb; he already had a transfigured body so that he could go through walls. He eventually was lifted off into Heaven again and now is seated at the right hand of God, but this time He has a scroll in His hand that He knows He has the authority to open and redeem all of humanity and to make it right again. The suffering was tragic, but the glory is unimaginable. He said we are going to be heirs of all that if we share in His sufferings in order that we may share in His glory. Now, the context of this isn’t necessarily sufferings like persecution as a believer, but it could very well include that. It really just means the sufferings of living on planet Earth, and to live on planet Earth is to suffer and to share in what Jesus suffered.
So let’s let Paul take us through this. This is his presupposition right here; this is his major plank: here’s what’s going to happen; this is how this works. Then he comes on down to the next section and shows us a little bit about how we’re going to be able to navigate that. The first thought he’s saying to us is: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. He’s saying it’s important that you live with an understanding of present and future. Your present is mostly going to be navigating suffering; your future is going to be about enjoying all of glory. Your present isn’t going to be as it’s supposed to be, so there’s going to be disappointment, family tension, fractured relationships, disease, accidents, injustice, mis-treatment, calamity, war, natural disasters, failure, and the tension and brokenness of a human body that still has the residual of sin in it and a renewed spirit made in the image of God and with the ability to obey and follow Him now through the work of Jesus. There’s going to be all manner of hardship, opposition, some forms of persecution, things that don’t add up, and things that are unfair. People are going to hurt each other, and people are going to hurt themselves; there’s going to be a lot of suffering in the present. But there is a future coming that’s not worth comparing to what we’re enduring right now. If we endure with faith right now, then we’re going to experience this glory that doesn’t even compare.
Feel free, if anything encourages you or if you delight in anything, to let it be so. We’re studying the Word of God, but we’re not in a classroom. We’re in church today. It’s not particularly appropriate to amen in classrooms, but it’s certainly okay to amen in church. Then he unpacks all this, and let’s work through it for a little bit together. The creation—now we’re going to put this on a grand scale—the whole creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. I had to reread this several times, and then when I did, it was like, «Okay, this is not what most of us are thinking.» This verse tells us that the broken world—the whole world, which is broken—God didn’t create natural disasters in the Garden of Eden. That happened because of our sin; because of Adam and Eve’s sin. But it would’ve been my sin if it wasn’t their sin. If you’d taken them out of the garden and put me in, I would’ve had the same outcome. As a result of that, the creation itself is now under a curse; we’ll see that in the next verse. But the creation itself, created by God and for God, knows that it’s not functioning the way it’s supposed to function. So I don’t care where we are; we’re not trying to get into a big discussion about global warming or climate change today, but come on, something crazy is happening!
Maybe it will all get right again, and 2,000 years later they’ll be looking back and saying, «This is just the way the Earth has worked for thousands of years.» But the Earth isn’t functioning the way it’s supposed to be functioning right now, and that’s because it’s also suffering and is in a position—not like we are spiritually—but physically; it is also in a state of suffering for a little while for a future glory. Now, its future glory is going to be destroyed, but there’s going to be a new Heaven and a new Earth. Fortunately, that’s not our future. You’re not going to be destroyed; you’re going to be transformed. But the Earth is also in this suffering-glory dilemma right now, and it knows this isn’t the way it was made to be. So it waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.
What does that mean? The text will show us that there’s coming a time when God’s true children—okay, I’m going to go very lightly and gently here—not all the people who went to church, not all the people who prayed a prayer, not all the people who claimed to be Godly, not all the people who thought they were pretty good people, but there’s going to be a time when all the true sons and daughters of God will be revealed. Yes, that Spirit who testifies with my spirit that I’m a child of God—that convincing that’s happened Spirit to Spirit—that true salvation has not only given me the confidence of heaven but has given me a desire to hold on to Jesus while I’m on Earth. Yes, those true sons and daughters of God are revealed; not all the people who said they were, not all the people who claimed to be, and not all the people who had it in their Instagram bio. There will be some sort of unveiling that’s going to happen—the wheat and the tares, the sheep and the goats, and there’s a reckoning coming.
I try to preach that regularly here. We are not all on a slippery slide heading out to the happy by and by. There is a reckoning coming. That’s not preaching judgment; that’s inviting people to grace. It’s not God saying He hates you; it’s God who died for you. He says the creation’s waiting for us to go first. The thing that’s interesting is I think a lot of times we’re waiting for the creation to get fixed—a new Heaven and a new Earth—and then, when that’s revealed, we go, «Oh wow! Now here we go!» But the creation is waiting for you, and when we are revealed, our adoption will be complete, and we’ll be in our forever home. The creation waits in eager expectation.
Look at the problem of the creation: «For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice but by the will of the one who subjected it.» You might ask the question, «Well, who is the one who subjected it?» Did the enemy do that to creation? Did we do that to creation? Did God do that to creation? The outcome here is positive. The creation was subjected to frustration by the will of the one—so here we’re going to see who did this subjecting. It was God’s doing, and there was a purpose: in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. So even creation is coming into the glorious freedom of the children of God. Who would subject something in hope of freedom? Not the enemy! The serpent didn’t curse the Earth and say, «Yes, you’re all frustrated now,» and we didn’t subject the Earth to that; it was our doing that caused God—as you go back and read Genesis—to curse the ground, but He cursed it in hope. He does everything He does in hope that it would be part of the glorious freedom of the children of God.
Then he kind of unpacks a little bit of how creation is doing. «For we know that the whole creation has been groaning,» we’re going to see this word a lot, «as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.» So even right up to today, while I’m speaking right now, creation is groaning in the pains of childbirth. It’s like, «Oh man, oh man,» there’s a lot of groaning. There’s a lot of pain; there is a lot of intensity. But it’s the pains of childbirth. I really want us to understand this today; it’s not the pains of death. It’s not the throes of death. It’s not doomsday. Creation is not going, «Doomsday is coming!» Creation’s saying, «A birth is about to happen!»
Remember, the mindset on the Spirit is life; the mindset on the flesh is death. The mindset on the Spirit says yes, the world’s about to crack apart. Yes, the whole world is not as it should be. There shouldn’t be pestilence and famine, and there shouldn’t be flood and fire, there shouldn’t be disease and death and injustice on Earth, but there is. The whole Earth is even groaning, but it’s not the groans of a dying person; it’s the groans of birth! So we’re not headed to doomsday, people; we’re headed to birthday! It’s the groans of childbirth.
Not only is creation in it; we are in it, too. I’ll just speed on down. Not only creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons—the redemption of our bodies. What is he saying? We’ve already received the seal, the Spirit; we already have the guarantee of adoption. We already know He’s on the way to pick us up. We already know that maybe it’s not as it should be, but we already know He’s coming to get us. When He comes to get us and we get in the car with Him and start heading to our heavenly home, we’re going to realize right away that we are forever home.
I see this in my feed all the time about people going and picking up these precious dogs, and they say, «This is what he looks like when he realizes he just got to his forever home.» Oh my gosh! Nothing will touch you more. I can’t imagine the look on our faces when we realize He’s come to pick us up, and we’re on our way! This is it, folks! This is what we’ve been longing for! This is what we’ve been eagerly waiting for! This is our forever home!
We’ve got the first fruit, but now this one isn’t about the Spirit; this one is about the body. We’ve already been made whole spiritually, but this time we’re going to be made whole physically. This is about the physical dimension; this is about the flesh; this is about our relationships with loved ones. This is the body now being fully glorified!
«For in this hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is no hope at all.» In other words, we’re hoping for all this. If we already had it, we wouldn’t be hoping for it, but we don’t have it yet, so we’re hoping for it still, and we wait for it patiently. Reading this text, I connected it for the very first time. Our whole movement has been rooted in Isaiah 26:8 since day one: «Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your truth, we wait eagerly for you, for your name and renown are the desire of our souls.» So we wait patiently. We wait for it at the deathbed. We don’t like it, but we’re patiently waiting for it. We wait for it when tragedy comes, and nobody has an answer, and we say we don’t like it, but we’re going to wait patiently because what we’re going through right now doesn’t even compare—doesn’t even compare, not worth comparing—not even going to be: «Man, that was hard but this is so good!»
That made no sense, but all this makes sense. That was so unjust, and so unfair, and so jacked up, but this is lovely and good! Nope, not even worth comparing. When we get into this, it’s just going to be this. When we have that mindset, it allows us to wait patiently. Yes, we’re human, and it’s perfectly okay to ask God anything you want to ask Him, but we’re not losing our minds; we’re not losing the plot; we’re not pulling our hair out; we’re not saying «God, what are you doing?» We’re patiently waiting for the revelation of the sons of men because when we are revealed, our adoption will be complete and we will be in our forever home.
Let me wrap up with this really fast, and I’ve got to go quickly; we probably won’t have any response. If anybody’s getting ready for a big response, we probably won’t have one. Come back at 11:45; it’ll be beautiful and amazing because I don’t want to leave us here, and I don’t want to come back to this. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We’ve got all kinds of problems in this world. We’ve got weakness going on; we’ve got decay. Remember that we have bondage; remember that we have pain; remember that we’ve got all kinds of stuff that’s not going right. We do not know what we ought to pray for, and let me just add in: why? Because we know there’s a big story going on.
If I can just say this quickly, yes, we want to pray for healing, but we already know we’ve got healing and a thousand times more coming. So is it the healing you want to do right now, or is there something else you want to do right now? We don’t know how to pray; we don’t know what to pray. We’ve got this person against this person. We don’t really know who’s right, who’s wrong—this nation against this nation. We’ve got this going against this thing; we don’t really know the behind-the-scenes; we really don’t know much of the information. We’re all getting this much from a newsfeed; I don’t know what God is doing. Sometimes we know how to pray, but a lot of times we don’t. The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
Now, this text, just really quick, doesn’t say that the Spirit is groaning for you. Why would He need to do that? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all understand each other; they’re always in sync. The Holy Spirit doesn’t need to groan to let the Father know how He wants to pray for you. What’s more likely, in the context of this, is that the Holy Spirit is the one who’s stirring up the groan inwardly as we wait eagerly. We are the ones who, as the first fruits of the Spirit, are groaning inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption. That means sometimes we’re so in the thick of it that we don’t even know what to pray. So we’re just like somehow inside, groaning is happening, amen?
A few verses later, He’s saying that’s the Holy Spirit. He’s stirring up the inside groaning and actually turning it into something that translates into meaningful intercession before Almighty God. You say, «Well, how do you know that?» Well, you just see the next part because it says, «And He,» that would be the Father who searches our hearts, «knows the mind of the Spirit.» This groan that the Spirit is stirring up in us is understood by the mind of the one who knows the mind of the Spirit. He adds on at the end—"because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.»
So while we’re stuck in the now—got so much from God right now—and the not yet, there’s so much about what God is doing in our lives that isn’t here yet. We’re stuck on an Earth that even knows things aren’t right and is about to give birth. We have the first fruit, and so we know who we are, but we are also waiting eagerly for that moment where our bodies get caught up in what our spirit is already experiencing.
That is a tough place to be for 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, 90, or even 100 years on Earth, but praise God, we’re not by ourselves stuck in the middle! The Spirit of God says, «I’m going to help you. I’m going to stir up prayers inside of you that are not even words you would understand, and I’m going to intercede for you.» We got Jesus interceding a few verses later; we already looked at that. Now we got the Holy Spirit interceding. I’m telling you, friend, you are not as bad off as you think you are. You have the Holy Spirit and the Son of God interceding before God on your behalf right now.
How’s the Holy Spirit praying for you? I love this: He’s praying for you in accordance with the will of God. I can’t pray in accordance fully with the will of God for my life because I don’t fully understand the will of God for my life. In this text, we’re going to see next week that that’s mostly that I be conformed to the image of Jesus; that’s the will of God for my life.
It’s interesting; there isn’t a faith prayer you can pray to make sure that you don’t have any disease or hardship—that’s not the gospel! This text is a firm rebuttal to anything that wants to say to you, «If you just have enough faith and know how to pray the right prayer, you can get off a groaning world and have no hardship, no injustice, no suffering, no pain, no cancer, no death.» You can get through life free of suffering! The Holy Spirit says otherwise. He says, «I’m here to help you in the suffering of a broken planet until that day. I’m here to help you! And here’s how I’m going to help you: I’m going to pray for you in accordance with the will of God.» So don’t let anybody tell you that it’s a copout to pray for God’s will to be done.
«Why don’t you just step up and have faith and pray that they’ll rise from death to life?» It’s like, you know what, I hope others share what I’m saying here. I’ve prayed for dead people before! Why wouldn’t you if you walk with Jesus, who raises the dead? I haven’t seen any dead people raised from the dead before, but I’m not going to be in the «you have not because you ask not» line. I’ve prayed for many people to be healed of physical ailments in my lifetime, and I’ve seen people healed. Why wouldn’t you pray for people’s healing? Why wouldn’t you believe for miracles? Why wouldn’t you speak breakthrough? Why wouldn’t you call on Heaven to do the impossible? Of course you would!
But in that and with that, it is good to join the Holy Spirit and say, «And yet God, ultimately, what we’re praying right now is for Your will to be done.» We’re not praying that as a copout like, «I don’t want to pray a faith prayer and then not have it be answered and people go, 'I guess you don’t have much faith.'» So I’m just going to go with the safe middle road, «Lord, we just pray Your will be done.» That is not a safe middle road! I think that’s my Savior saying, «Your kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven!»
And the Holy Spirit, He’s praying that prayer. So I can have confidence the world is broken. We have a birth that’s coming any day now; the sons of God are going to be revealed. Everything’s going to be put right. This glory doesn’t even compare to the sufferings of this Earth. So, Lord, I can trust You right now. I’m just praying in the middle of it all, «Let Your will be done!» Whatever You’re thinking, whatever You want to do, whatever You’re planning, whatever You see, whatever You understand, whatever You’re ruling over today, let Your will be done in my life, in our lives, in this situation, in our world. Let Your will be done. Your kingdom come, Your will be done!
Let’s pray that together: «Your kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven!» Let’s make it specific: «In my life as it is in heaven.» Your kingdom come, Your will be done in my life as it is in heaven!