Sermon Tone Analysis

Wenstrom Bible Ministries

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Tuesday November 25, 2008

www.wenstrom.org

Romans: Romans 8:18-The Undeserved Suffering The Christian Now Endures Does Not Compare With The Glory To Be Revealed

Lesson # 264

Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 8:1.

This evening we will note Romans 8:18, which begins a new paragraph and teaches that the undeserved suffering that the Christian now endures does not compare with the glory that is to be revealed to the Christian.

Romans 8:1-4, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Romans 8:5, “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.”

Romans 8:6-8, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Romans 8:9, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.

But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”

Romans 8:10, “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”

Romans 8:11, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

Romans 8:12-13, “So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh -- for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Romans 8:14, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

Romans 8:15, “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba!

Father!’”

Romans 8:16-17, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”

Romans 8:18-25, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?

But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”

Let’s now concentrate on verse 18 for the rest of the evening.

Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

“For” is the “emphatic” or “intensifying” use of the conjunction gar (gavr), which introduces a statement that advances upon Paul’s statement in Romans 8:17b and intensifies it.

In Romans 8:17b, Paul teaches that God’s purpose in permitting the Christian to be exposed to undeserved suffering is so that the Christian would be made a joint-heir with Christ or in other words, so that He could reward the Christian for growing to spiritual maturity and drawing closer to Him in fellowship.

Now, in Romans 8:18, he elaborates on this and advances upon this teaching by stating that the suffering the Christian now endures does not compare to the glory that will be revealed to the Christian at the Second Advent of Christ who at that time will establish His millennial reign.

That he is elaborating further on this glorification with Christ is indicated by his statements in Romans 8:19-25 where he teaches that creation groans awaiting the revealing of the sons of God in glory at the Second Advent of Christ and subsequent millennial for at that time the curse upon creation will be lifted.

Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

“I consider” is the verb logizomai (logivzomai) (lo-gidz-o-my), which denotes a firm conviction as a result of a process of reasoning from the revelation from the Holy Spirit.

Romans 5:3-5 makes clear that the Holy Spirit revealed to Paul that he and other overcomers would be rewarded for their undeserved suffering.

Romans 5:3, “In fact, not only this but we also make it a habit to rejoice on account of our adversities because we know for certain that adversity, as an eternal spiritual truth, produces perseverance.”

Romans 5:4, “And in addition, perseverance, as an eternal spiritual truth produces tested character and in addition tested character, as an eternal spiritual truth, produces confidence.”

Romans 5:5, “In fact, this confidence, as an eternal spiritual truth, never disappoints because God’s love is always being poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us for our benefit.”

In Romans 5:5, Paul is saying that the believer’s confidence in the Lord’s ability to deliver him out of and sustain him in the midst of adversity and that he will be rewarded for enduring undeserved suffering and that God is indeed transforming him into the image of Jesus Christ is “never disappointed.”

God the Holy Spirit assures the believer that God indeed loves him and gives the believer the guarantee that his confidence in the Lord is not misplaced and will in fact be rewarded.

This ministry of the Holy Spirit is related to His presence in believers as the seal of God (see note Ephesians 4:30) and as the earnest or down payment of their inheritance in glory (2 Cor.

1:21-22; see notes Ephesians 1:13; 14).

In Romans 8:18, the verb logizomai expresses Paul’s faith in the Spirit’s revelation to him that the overcomers will be rewarded for being faithful in enduring suffering as a result of experiencing identification with Christ in His death.

Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

“The sufferings” is the noun pathema (pavqhma) (path-ay-mah), which refers to the undeserved suffering the overcomer experiences in life, which qualifies them to be a joint-heir with Christ.

Suffering and tribulation in life are an integral part of the church age believer’s spiritual life, which is an extension of Christ’s spiritual life since the church age believer is in union with Him and a member of His body and His future bride (John 15:20; 16:33; Romans 5:3-5; 2 Corinthians 4:17-18; Philippians 1:29).

2 Corinthians 4:17-18, “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Every instance of suffering has a reason and an explanation.

Christian suffering can be understood most clearly in relation to the individual believer’s spiritual growth.

There are three agencies that God employs to bring about suffering: (1) Old sin nature (2) Cosmic system (3) Satan.

Negative categories of suffering: (1) Self-induced misery: Suffering from making bad decisions (2) Divine discipline: Suffering designed to get to confess our sins and get back us in fellowship with God.

The believer who is executing the plan of God and learning Bible doctrine will go through suffering which is undeserved (1 Thess.

3:4).

It is called undeserved because they did not bring this suffering upon themselves (1 Pet.

2:19-20; 2 Cor.

1:6).

“Suffering for blessing” is designed to build up your spiritual muscles and to bring you to spiritual maturity and make the Christian a joint-heir with Christ, thus bringing glory to Him in the Angelic Conflict.

In 2 Corinthians 3:17-4:18, Paul writes to the Corinthians regarding his experience with undeserved suffering and his attitude regarding it.

In Philippians chapter three, Paul expresses his desire to be identified with Christ in His suffering.

Philippians 3:10, “that I come to know Him experientially and the power from His resurrection and the participation in His sufferings by my becoming like Him with respect to His death.”

Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

“Of this present time” refers to the present period of human history called “the church age,” or “dispensation of the church” or “age of grace.”

This age is characterized by suffering for the Christian in contrast to the millennial age in which he will be free from suffering.

Paul mentions the character of the church age in which the Christian is persecuted and suffers.

Ephesians 5:15-16, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”

“Not worthy to be compared” indicates that by no means is the undeserved suffering that they endured in life on the same scale or worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed to them.

The undeserved suffering that the Christian experiences is only temporary whereas the glory the Christian receives for executing the Father’s will is eternal.

“With the glory” is composed of the preposition pros (pro$) (pros), “with” and the noun doxa (dovca), “the glory.”

Doxa refers to the praise, recognition, rewards and position of authority that the believer will receive at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church from the Lord Jesus Christ for executing the Father’s will in growing to spiritual maturity, i.e.

Christ-likeness.

Paul tells Timothy that he endures underserved suffering so that he might gain deliverance from the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic system from his union and identification with Jesus Christ and with it eternal glory.

2 Timothy 2:10, “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.”

Paul also encourages Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:12 that they will reign with Christ if they endure suffering with Christ.

2 Timothy 2:12-14, “If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us.”

The believer who executes the Father’s plan by growing to spiritual maturity will receive this glory in the form of rewards from the Lord Jesus Christ at the “Bema Seat Evaluation.”

“The Bema Seat Evaluation” of the church takes place immediately after the Rapture and is an “evaluation” of the church age believer’s life after salvation to determine if they merit rewards or not (Romans 14:10; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 John 2:24).

2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

“That is” is the verb mello (mevllw) (mel-lo), which denotes that the glory to be revealed to the Christian is “imminent” in that the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church when the believer receives his rewards is “imminent” since it immediately follows the rapture of the church, which is “imminent.”

Also, in Romans 8:18, the verb mello denotes the “certainty” that the overcomer will be glorified by receiving rewards at the Bema Seat.

“To be revealed” is the verb apokalupto (a)pokaluvptw) (ap-ok-al-oop-to), which it indicates that this future glory is to be revealed to the Christian, thus implying that it is already existence but concealed from the Christian.

“To us” does not refer to all the Christians in Rome but only those who have been faithful in enduring undeserved suffering since Paul is speaking in the context of those who are joint-heirs with Christ, which Romans 8:17b implies is conditioned on experiencing undeserved suffering with Christ.