Ron Dunn Podcast - Is It Worth It?

Episode Date: July 18, 2018

Ron Dunn preaches from Romans 8:18 on suffering.

You are listening to the Ron Dunn Podcast. Ron Dunn is a well-known author and was one of the most in-demand preachers during the latter part of the 20th century. He led Bible studies all over the United States, Europe, and South Africa. For more information and resources from Ron Dunn, please visit rondunn.com. Romans chapter 8. As John said last night, either the Lord really wants us to know what's in this chapter, or else he made a mistake. John, not the Lord.

I'll begin with verse 17 and read through verse 27, which sure do sound familiar. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and drawn heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him

who has subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,

even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope, but hope that is not seen is not hope, or hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man sees, why does he yet hope for it? But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. In the same way, in the same manner, the Spirit also helps our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the hearts

knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. I received a newsletter in the mail today from a missionary friend of ours in Nairobi, Kenya. His name is Sam and Jenny Cannata. You may have read recently about their son, Stan, who was killed a few weeks ago.

And he was a young man volunteering himself. They were doing some water projects, pipelining, and he was killed in a kind of a freak accident. And of course when I saw that in the paper, I was very grieved. And we sat down and wrote them. I bought his newsletter today in which he tells about his son dying.

But also he goes on to say that he firmly believes that no accidents occur in the lives of God's children because we believe that he is totally in control of everything. If God created the world and the universe, then surely he is able to run it. If that is true, then we have to believe that he is totally in control of all that comes into the lives of his children, and he only wants the best for us. When you belong to the Lord like Stan did, death is not your harm but a blessing, and your hope and future are eternal as you go to be with your Lord. A few years ago, Sam and Jenny served in Ethiopia when Amin was around and he was put in prison.

All their goods confiscated and they lost everything. I often wonder why it is that a person who is willing to give up so much to serve the Lord, and yet they seem to come back with one more difficulty after another. And I was glad to get this paper today. I was glad to read what they said, that they continue to go on, and that they believe that God's will is done, that God's in charge of everything. I would like to wonder, I'd like to ask, though, if sometimes they have not said, like maybe you and I have said, is it really worth it? Is it really worth it? I think if I had ever been stretched to the point that I might say that,

I might say it if I were in the shoes of Sam and Jenny Sinatra, that I don't know if it's worth it or not. All the hardship that we've had to put up with and all of the disappointments and inconveniences of our life, and yet, evident evidently they believe it's worth it. And I think there is a sense in which all of us at times in our lives ask ourselves the question, is it worth it?

I mean, I try the best I know how to live for the Lord, and I resolve that I'm not going to yield to these temptations, and I resolve that I'm going to do this and do that, and yet time after time I find myself falling flat on my face. And there are times when you say, well, I wonder if it's worth it. Sometimes maybe you just say, well, I'll just give up.

Is it worth it? And I think that it is worth it, and I think that's what Paul is talking about in this passage of Scripture. It is interesting how he links together the fact that we're bearing heirs with God and joint heirs with Christ, and in the same sentence,

that we also suffer. I find it remarkable that the Lord does not hesitate, nor does he find it embarrassing, to put reigning with Christ and suffering in the same sentence. I don't know that I would have the gall to do that. I think if I were trying to enlist you in my service, I wouldn't say anything about suffering, as a matter of fact. I would talk a

lot about the glory, but not much about suffering. And yet, all the way through Paul's writing, all the way through the Bible for that matter, you'll find these two words in the same verses over and over again, if not explicitly, then implicitly, that there is no contradiction, evidently, between our reigning and our glorying in Christ and at the same time our suffering. As a matter of fact, in Philippians chapter 1, verse 29, Paul makes this statement. He said,

For it is given unto us on the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. In other words, Paul is saying suffering for Jesus is just as much a part of salvation as believing in Jesus. It is given unto us a gift of grace not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. Cornelius Muscatey wrote a very interesting book a few years ago called When the Gods Are Silent, and he made one tremendous statement in that that I've never forgotten. He said that when you and I face sufferings that we cannot resign ourselves to, to. It produces a weariness that is not just the exhaustion of creaturely power, but also it exhausts the power of faith to affirm life. In other words, there is a weariness that

goes beyond just the physical exhaustion, that gets down into the bones of the soul, where not only do you not have any more energy to get up and go, you don't even have any more energy to lay there on the floor and believe. There is a weariness in which you can no longer even affirm life. And I think that that, again, is exactly what Paul is talking about, as we're going to see as we go through this. And what I want that again is exactly what Paul is talking about as we're going to see as we go through this. And what I want to do is take this passage, I'm going to give you the whole outline because I'm not going to come anywhere near finishing it today, but tune in tomorrow

night and we'll see what we can do. In that 18th verse, Paul makes tremendous statements. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us now there are two facts that he brings out first of all there is the fact of present suffering and secondly the fact of future glory now that's Paul's word of. And this is a passage that deals with hope, as you see, as you'll see as we read on. There is a hope. The believer lives in hope. Hope is the environment in which the Christian lives. It's the air that he breathes. It's the atmosphere. He lives in hope. He works in hope. He sleeps in hope. He prays in hope. He lives in hope. He works in hope. He sleeps in hope.

He prays in hope. He suffers in hope. Hope is the entire circumference of his life. He lives in hope. And it's interesting that Paul defines this hope or describes this hope in these two statements, present suffering and future glory. That the present suffering is just as much a part of the future glory or just as much a part of the hope of the believer

as there is, as is the future glory. Now he goes on in this passage and gives three reasons, I think, basically three reasons why we could say it's worth it. Why I know our hope is real. First one is it's because of the glories that are before us. The second reason is because of the Spirit who is within us. And the third one is because of the God who is for us, over in verse 30, 31, who can be against us. So these three grounds of hope. Paul says, is it worth it? Yes, it is. Well, why is it worth it? Well, it's worth it because of the glories that are before us. It's worth it because of the Spirit who is within us. And it's worth it because

of the God who is for us. First of all, Paul says, it is worth it it the content of this hope is this I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us first of all there are present sufferings now there is a difference in the way Paul speaks in verse 17 and the way he speaks in verse 18. He ends that verse 17 linking it with these words, If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time, and so forth. But he uses two different words for suffering. You'll notice in verse 18, he says,

I reckon that the sufferings of this present time, a better word is this present age. He's not talking about, when he says present time, he's not talking about right now at 1230 o'clock today. He's talking about this present age, this age system. In the verse before, he's talking more of specific sufferings that might be going on in this present time. There are sufferings in this present time. Right now, today, you may be suffering, but there is a suffering beyond that. And Paul enlarges it and he says there's not only the suffering that we have once in a while and sometimes we don't have it, but he said there is a suffering which is characteristic of living in a world that does not know God,

and rather, as John said last night, that hates God. The sufferings of this present age, this present world system. What Paul is saying, of course, is that suffering can't be denied. It is there. As long as this age lasts, there will be suffering. But notice it's only as long as this age lasts, there will be suffering. But notice it's only as long as the age

lasts. While he describes suffering by saying it's the sufferings of this present age, and as long as we're in this present age, there's going to be some kind of suffering that you and I are going to endure. It may be suffering for our own sins. It may be chastisement because of my rebellion i think in james chapter 5 you have there a very strong suggestion that some sickness is directly related to sin when he says if he has committed sins the lord will forgive him and raise him up there are some sicknesses sometimes that comes to my life because of a judgment or a chastisement sin then there is the suffering that comes to my life because of a judgment or a chastisement, sin. Then there is the suffering that comes to us simply because we try to live for Christ, the persecution that comes from our testimony.

There is the suffering that comes to us simply because we are members of a human family, creature sickness, suffering. Every creature suffers that. Just because we're a part of human situations, just because I'm made of flesh and I'm subject to illness, there's going to be suffering. There is another kind of suffering that Paul hints at when he says our suffering with Christ, if we suffer with him, we shall also be glorified with him. There is a fourth suffering that we do not think too much about, and I'm not certain we're aware of it, but there is a fourth suffering that we do not think too much about and I'm not certain we're aware of it but there is a suffering with God a suffering with Christ

Paul speaks about making up that which is behind in the sufferings of Christ now he's not saying that by my suffering I add to the atonement but strictly because I am in union with God and I have the life of God within me, I suffer as God suffers. A very intriguing study that you can make in the Old Testament particularly that God is a God of suffering, that suffering is a vital part of both God's person and his purpose. He suffers because of the sins of his people. He suffers because of the idolatry. And when you and I are identified with Christ and his life rose in us,

there are sufferings that you and I are involved in simply because now the same things that break the heart of God break our hearts also. Christians grieve over things that other people do not grieve over. We cry over things that the world usually laughs at. And the reason is because if I know God and have His life and His Spirit within me,

then I share in the sufferings that God Himself shares in. The same things that God is grieving about, you and I grieve about, there's a part of that suffering, and it cannot be denied. But there's another thing about this suffering that Paul tells us. I'm going to use a phrase that the theologians like to use and say that suffering cannot be quantified. Now, when they say suffering can't be quantified, what they mean by that is it cannot be measured

as against other suffering. In other words, he's saying you cannot compare one person's suffering to another person's suffering and say, oh, he's suffering more than you are. Many a time I've had people come to me and they have some burden on their heart, some suffering that they're going through, and they say, oh, and I know this isn't anything like you've been through. And I always stop them and say, whatever you're going through at the time is the worst of it all. You can't say I suffered more than you suffered.

It doesn't give me much comfort when somebody comes along and says, yeah, I know, right, I know that you're hurting, but boy, listen, just be thankful you're not hurting like the other person. Well, I am thankful for that, but I want to tell you something, that doesn't make me hurting less, I'll just be honest with you. We mean to comfort people when we do that, but what we do is we minimize the suffering they're doing right now. If you come to me and say, my heart is broken,

and I say, well, listen, you ought to count your blessings. I mean, you could be going what that person's going through. And I'm trying to comfort you, I guess, but what I'm doing is saying, listen, you could be going what that person's going through. And I'm trying to comfort you, I guess, but what I'm doing is say, listen, boy, your sufferings are nothing. What I'm doing is I'm despising, I'm trivializing your suffering. Suffering cannot be quantified in the sense that you can't say I'm suffering more than yourself. Your suffering cannot be measured or compared with other people's suffering. And in the same way, it cannot be compared with the glory that shall follow. And this is really what Paul is getting at. He said, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy

to be compared with a glory that will follow. He uses a very strange but intense word there when he talks about weighing. It means there's no, literally it means to raise the other beam on the scales. The old scales that they had in those days had beams and you had to raise the beams to get the scales. And what he's saying is, listen, it's not worth the trouble of measuring yet.

No matter how much you're suffering, no matter how much pain you're going through, you say, I want to put it on the scales and weigh it, but it won't even tip the scales a bit. There's no use even setting up the other beam. There's no use weighing it at all. No matter what suffering you're going through, it won't even tip the scales an ounce

compared to the glory that's going to come to us. So here's the hope of the believer. First of all, it includes present suffering, but it also includes the glory which shall be revealed in us. Let me say just a couple of words about that before we move on. Notice he says, it is the glory which shall be revealed in us, not the glory that shall be created. It's a glory that is already in existence,

but is not apparent. And of course, you drop right over to verse 30, and there he says it, as we saw last night, Paul says, and using the aorist tense, the past tense, he said, them he also glorified. In the mind of God, as far as God is concerned, you and I have already been glorified. You don't look glorified. You don't act glorified, but you are. Paul says one of these days this glory is going to be not created, but revealed. The manifestation of the sons of God, the unveiling of the sons of God.

What an unveiling it's going to be. Here I am, walking around in glory all the time and didn't know it. Here I am. I've been weighing down on these burdens. I've been murmuring and complaining. I've been looking at the dark and dim future and all the while, all the while,

I had all this glory and didn't even know it. Waiting for the manifestation, the unveiling all the while, I had all this glory and didn't even know it. Waiting for the manifestation, the unveiling of the sons of God. It is the glory that is to be revealed, not created, but it's a glory that's already in existence and just needs to be unveiled. And notice he says, which shall be revealed in us,

which is really the best way to say it, I think. Some translations read to us or to usward, but the preposition there really has the idea of it's more than just being spectators. It's more than just seeing the glory, but it's revealed in us personally. We not only are spectators, but we are sharers in that glory,

the glory that shall be revealed. Now, that's the introduction to the message. That's the groundwork. Now, in order to reinforce this hope of future glory, Paul uses three illustrations. He uses creation, he uses creatures, and he uses the Holy Spirit. But the real significant thing is that the main idea in every one of them is the word groan. Creation groans, we ourselves grown,

the Holy Spirit intercedes with us with groanings that cannot be uttered. Three groans in that passage of Scripture. These are the three grounds on which Paul bases our hope. Now, this is something. He says in verse 19, For because the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God.

For the creature was made subject to frustration, not because it wanted to, but because God subjected it. That's the idea. That when man fell, nature fell with him. The tragedy of nature is tied into the tragedy of man. And he says in verse 21, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption

into the glorious liberty of the children of God. He says, when man sinned and man fell, all nature fell. And even nature itself is frustrated. You think you're frustrated. Nature's frustrated. You say you haven't lived up to your potential. Nature is not up to its potential. It's frustrated. It's living in vanity.

It's not what it ought to be. The tragedy of man involves the tragedy of nature. And he says that the same decay that's working in my own life is also working in nature. But he comes in verse 22 and he says, For we know that the whole creation groans and prevails in pain together until now. I'm not going to have time to enlarge on this, but let me just give you a couple of two or three Scripture references that might be interesting to look up.

Psalm 19, Psalm 92, verse 12, Psalm 98, verse 8, Isaiah 31, 35, verse 1, Isaiah 55, 35 verse 1 Isaiah 55 verse 12 These are some passages of scripture That speak of nature As singing and rejoicing And making sound Psalm 19 has a great deal to say about that There was a belief among the ancients that the movement of the heavenly bodies produced a harmony, a song that we could not hear.

But that there was harmony and there was singing and what does it say over in Job when the morning stars sang together at creation there was music when there was creation there is a music to universe there is a melody there is a harmony

there is a singing but we cannot hear it because of our own fault. And nature itself is groaning. Why? Because it knows it's lost something. It knows that it's not what it was intended to be, and it knows that it's not what it's going to be. All of nature is groaning.

And you know what it's waiting for? The tragedy of man involves the tragedy of nature and the salvation of nature waits upon the salvation of man. What is nature waiting for? You walk out today and look around at creation and all that, it's waiting. What's it waiting for?

It's waiting for the unveiling of the Son of God. It's waiting for when we have the redemption of our bodies so it can get back on track. I tell you what, I believe nature holds us accountable. I believe if you were to go off the shore of Alaska today and talk to some of those dead seals and dead fish, they'd probably say, I should be glad you

humans get glorified. I will stop all this stuff. We need to understand that creation roams. They cause our tragedy, menace tragedy. Now notice, Paul says, you go out and look at creation, see all the inconsistencies in it, the disappointments in it, the groans of it, that tells you one thing, something good is coming. Now what I'm getting at is, it's remarkable to me that Paul, in trying to prove that there is the hope of future glory, doesn't say, oh you know there's a future glory because every once in a while you know you have those moments of ecstasy.

And every once in a while you get into a real good service and your spirit just soars. And that is proof that there is something else to come. But here Paul doesn't use that. He says the proof that there's something else to come

is the fact that you're groaning. It's what you would call inductive evidence. That's another theological term I've learned. It impresses you, doesn't it? But inductive evidence goes like this. We know that God has created food because God has created hunger. If there were no food, there would be no hunger. That's the way God made it. Long before God ever created man,

he created the physical universe. And the fact that there is a hunger for food means that there is such a thing as food. The fact that I become thirsty means there is such a thing as water. The fact that I long for something other. The fact that there is groan within me. A sigh. The fact that there are groans within me, a sigh, and the heart knows that there's more to live against what there is now.

That's what Paul is saying. Paul is saying the greatest proof that there's glory is the fact that there's groans. That's an amazing thing to me. I can't get over it. He points to the groan as the guarantee of the glory. Amazing.

And in verse 23 he says, And not only they, but we ourselves also. And it's very emphatic. Literally he's saying, And that's not all, but even us who have the first fruits of the spirit even we we've grown

within ourselves why? waiting for the same thing that earth is waiting for waiting for the adoption the redemption of the body for we are saved by hope

but hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth why does he yet hope for but if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it? And here he's talking about the fact that you and I groan also. That within ourselves, even though we had the first fruits of the Spirit, we groan within ourselves.

There is a part of us that is groaning and waiting until the redemption. That's the second proof. And the third proof he gives is the Holy Spirit. He says in verse 26, Likewise, we're in the same way, in the same manner, carrying on this. The Spirit also helps our infirmities. King James and some of the other translations have plural infirmities or weaknesses, but it's not as singular.

He helps our weakness. We only have really one weakness, one infirmity, and that's our total inability to do anything for ourselves in the spiritual realm. And the Holy Spirit comes, and it's a very graphic word, the word helpeth. It means to take hold of the other side. And it's a picture of a fellow walking down the road and suddenly comes around the turn

and there's a great tree that has fallen in his path and he can't get around it, he can't climb over it, and he cannot move it. So while he's struggling to move it, suddenly someone else comes alongside and takes hold of the other end and provides the power to move it. And that's what Paul is speaking about as the Spirit. He says, you and I have our weakness. And what the Holy Spirit does, he comes to us and takes hold of the other end of that weakness and gives us the power to go through it. And then as an illustration of this, he uses prayer.

Prayer is not the primary idea he starts off with, but it ends up with the primary idea because he says, as an illustration, we don't know what we should pray for as we ought. Now, that's the end of it.

That's all we're going to handle today. Sunday morning, I spoke on all things considered, and I ended with the statement, good and bad run on parallel tracks and usually arrive at the same time. Monday morning, I spoke on the wheat and the pears, and basically what I was saying is that the Bible says that there is a mixture of good and evil in the world, and that they are so intertwined

that you cannot remove one at this point without removing the other. And then Monday night, I spoke on Romans 8, 28, all things work together, and made the statement that God even takes the sin of man and turns it to his salvation. Now, the point that I'm trying to make

this whole week is this. You say, why are you doing it that way? Because that's the way it is. There is the highs that you and I get, and I'm hoping that when this is over, we'll all go away on a spiritual high. I know and I believe that our friends that are visiting with us and these pastors and wives, we're praying and believe that when they leave, they'll leave on a spiritual high. But all of us are going to crash. We know that. And sometimes it's hard for us to get ourselves excited about

another meeting because we say, well, I've been there so many times, and so many times I have thought I've got the world lit, and now everything is right, and then I clear free which way, and man, something happens, and I crash. Now, the reason that I'm making much ado about this is I want to tell you something. That's normal and biblical. You haven't lost it when you cry. You haven't grieved the Holy Spirit in some great way when you wake up next Thursday and you don't remember about the conference that all you can think of are the bills that are coming due and the politics overflowing and everything else.

And even in your own spirit you'll begin to groan. And there'll be those rumors in your whole soul. There are those rumors, but it's not really real. But I want you to know something, folks. That's normal. And that's biblical. There is what is called, by again theologians, the ambivalence of the Christian life.

And it's interesting because what they're talking about is exactly what Paul is talking about here, is that the one moment there's suffering, the next moment there's glory. The one moment there's good, the next moment there's bad.

I may do something with the greatest intention of all, and I do it unselfishly, but in the doing of it, I get so proud of myself, I sin. Has anybody ever done a totally unselfish act without feeling proud of it? Can you pray all night without telling somebody? I had a friend who went on a 40-day fast. I think

that's great, but I think he ruined it all when he told everybody he did. Well, I would too. I'll be honest. I'm not going to spend 40 days fasting and not let anybody know about it. Verily, verily, they have their reward. All right, that's all right. Mixture of good and evil. Always it's that way. Always that way. There is in my life and your life

at the same moment the power to create and the power to destroy. And you think about people who have great creative power. I think it's most noticeable in people like artists and poets. The power to create. and in the same life there is the power to distort. Mixture of good and evil. The ambivalence of the Christian life.

You know where the health and wealth movement originates? In the denial of God.ates into denial of that. Into denial of that. Which causes us to deny everything else, I think. So I want to tell you that when you crash next week, if you do, and it's normal, and it's biblical, and it's just another proof that one of these days

there's going to be nothing but glory. Folks, the value of the groans is this. I don't always have the spiritual highs, and I can just about any time I want to reach out and grant. But Paul is saying, the greatest evidence that I can give to you at this point is that it's those groans that are the guarantee of the glory that is to come. And he says the Holy Spirit groans within us

in all those times when we have burdens on our hearts we don't know what to pray for which is a weakness which is a part of our fall which is a part of the decay but the Spirit of God is in us and there's discussion as to whether it's the Spirit groaning

or whether it's the person groaning, but I think it's academic. The Spirit is mingled with our spirit in such a way that the Bible puts it, I believe, on both pieces. The Spirit of God groans within us. And I believe some of the greatest praying you'll ever do is the praying when you never utter a word because you don't know what to say

because the burden may be so great that you can't put it in the word that's the spirit of god grown within us so that is the hope of the believer it's worth it because of the glories before us, because of the spirit within us, and because of the God who's for us. And hopefully that's where we're going to end up tomorrow night. Ron Dunn's podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church.

For more Ron Dunn materials, sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from his study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.