Running To Win 15 Minute Version

Dave McAllister: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. It's tough to be optimistic when slogging through hard times. Some try to grin and bear it, others crack under the pressure, but Christians can have a different perspective, awaiting a future glory that makes our present suffering infinitesimal in comparison.

From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Today we continue a series from Romans chapter eight on the blessings we've been given as children of an awesome God. Erwin Lutzer comes now with one of those blessings: you have hope in suffering.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Cancer and cystic fibrosis challenge a person's faith. They challenge our faith because the question is, are we able to trust God to believe in His care, His love, and His concern when we know right well He could heal us? It's a challenge to faith.

We as Americans are not very good at suffering. Helmut Thielicke says Americans don't know how to suffer; they consider it fundamentally inadmissible, disturbing, embarrassing, and not to be endured. I expect that one of the political candidates will introduce a resolution in our Congress saying that we should outlaw suffering constitutionally, make it illegal to suffer, and then claim that it is the right of every American to avoid all suffering.

Today we're going to talk about suffering, but we're also going to talk about hope. We're going to speak about groaning, which is an inward kind of grief that we have because of what we are enduring and because of what is happening in the world. As you know, this is a series of messages on the eighth chapter of the book of Romans. Eight messages on Romans chapter eight. Last time we talked about what it is like to rule with Jesus Christ, to be an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. "What it is to be a child of an awesome God" is the title of the series.

Today we pick it up in verse 18, and it is important that you have your Bible there. If you have a pew Bible, it's on page 944, I believe, because you need to look at the text. If you don't look at the text, you might think that what I'm saying isn't actually there because some of the things that are said are so unbelievable.

In this passage of scripture beginning at verse 18, we have three groans. We're going to discover that nature groans. We're going to discover that we groan, and then we're going to notice that even the Holy Spirit groans. But we're going to see that it all is wrapped up in coming glory.

Chapter eight, verse 18: "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us. For the creation waits with eager longing 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 will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now."

When Paul speaks about creation, he's talking about the inanimate world. He's talking about the stars and rivers and earthquakes and tsunamis and floods and all of the things that happen upon this planet every single day. We notice when there is a tsunami, but actually in small ways, that's happening a hundred times throughout the whole world, killing people. Nature is in a state that it's not supposed to be in. God did not create it that way.

He's also talking about the animal world. I think one of the best channels on television is the Animal Channel because you see the way in which animals live, the way they hunt, and who they really are. But you see a tremendous amount of cruelty, all kinds of terrible things happening. Little animals being ridded of their parents and wandering around and dying. You see lions jumping on small deer and eating them without a twinge of conscience, no weeping afterwards.

All of nature is in this state, and you'll notice that nature is in this state not because it made the choice to be. Notice it says, "for nature was subjected to futility," verse 20, "not willingly." It didn't make any decisions. Why was nature subjected to futility? Why the curse on the earth? The answer is very clear. When man fell, God says there's no way that you can have a fallen, cursed man and woman unless all of nature is cursed along with it.

So we have the curse there in the book of Genesis. But the curse was bigger than simply this earth. In some way, the entire universe was permeated by sin when man fell. That's what happened. And as a result of this, creation had to follow man's lead. We fell as a human race, and God says the whole creation falls and is subjected to futility and the curse.

The Apostle Paul says that nature waits, in verse 19, "with eager longing for the revealing," the apocalypse if you please, "the apocalypse of the sons of God." Let's think about this more carefully. What Paul is saying is that nature followed man in the curse, and now the curse cannot be lifted from nature until mankind himself has been redeemed in Jesus Christ, we receive our new bodies, and the curse then can be lifted from nature. Nature is cursed until we are fully restored. Until that time, nature is subjected by God to futility.

The imagery that Paul uses, the personification here of nature, is very interesting when he says, "for the creation waits with eager longing." It really means strained expectation. One translation says that all of nature is on tiptoe because nature is waiting for the redemption of mankind so that its curse then can be lifted. Think of you attending the Kentucky Derby and your horse is in the race, and you are there straining in the stands to see whether or not he is going to win. That's the way nature is.

The Bible says right here it is in childbirth. It says, "from its bondage to decay to obtain the freedom of the glory of God," verse 22, "for we know the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now." There are some aspects of childbirth that are very painful, in some senses very ugly, very much filled with anticipation and wonder, and from our standpoint, anxiety. That's the way creation is. But Paul says that it is in creation that we find that though it is in childbirth, the child will be born; redemption is on its way.

Remember C.S. Lewis in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," a book which if you've never read, you really ought to read. It's a beautiful read. He says that as long as the witch was ruling in Narnia, it was always winter and never summer. And then when Aslan the lion gives himself up and dies and is resurrected, what you find then is all of nature is renewed and restored. That's the imagery here. Nature is waiting for the children of God. Remember that we are number one on God's list of things to take care of in the universe. His people are so important; nature can't be renewed until we are.

First of all, notice that nature is groaning. Now somebody reading this might think, that's nature, but of course we are redeemed, aren't we? "Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!" So we don't have to groan, somebody might say. Look at what the text says here in Romans chapter eight. Notice the way in which Paul says it. Verse 23: "And not only the creation, but we ourselves." We are redeemed, yes, we have the Holy Spirit. "But we ourselves," Paul says, "we also have the first fruits of the spirit, and we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies." We also groan.

We have the first fruits of the spirit. When you believe in Jesus Christ and you receive the Holy Spirit, it is a down payment. The Bible says the spirit is an earnest down payment. There's more to come. You've got the drop, but the ocean is on its way. You have the flower, and the garden is still future. It's like an engagement ring. That's a good illustration of the Holy Spirit. The engagement ring is a promise of marriage.

You never meet a woman who says, "You know what I've always wanted? I've always wanted an engagement ring. And now that I have this diamond, I don't care whether or not I marry the guy or not. I'm just glad that I have the ring." No, remember the ring is a promise that there's more to follow. The ring is a promise there's a wedding coming. There's a husband who is going to be there as part of the experience. There may be family. It's a promise of the future.

Candidly, maybe in five years' time she wished that she had just stayed with the ring. I understand that. But it's a promise that there's more to follow. And Paul says that we ourselves groan within ourselves inwardly, waiting for the redemption of our bodies. We are waiting for that redemption when we can be rid of hospitals and cancer. There are faith healers today, and they understand very clearly that when Jesus died on the cross, He died for us body, soul, and spirit. No question about that. Redemption is total. What they miss is we do not enter into the benefits that Jesus died for us in the physical realm or the spiritual realm until we die, our souls go to heaven, and when Jesus Christ returns, we are restored, we are renewed, and finally, the curse is gone forever.

Dave McAllister: Now, my friend, all this is true, but let me ask you this question: what happens in the meantime? How do we take advantage of all that God has done for us so that we can overcome sin and temptation and live a life of consistency? That's why we're making available for you a book by Jerry Bridges entitled "The Pursuit of Holiness." It'll help you on your spiritual journey.

That was Erwin Lutzer, introducing "You Have Hope in Suffering," the third in an eight-part series on Children of an Awesome God. As we age, we begin to long for heaven and the end of pain and suffering. Next time, a look ahead at that glad day when the pain will be over.

What did God mean when He said, "Be ye holy as I am holy"? And what is holiness, anyway? These are questions Jerry Bridges answers in his book, "The Pursuit of Holiness." This book is our gift to you when you give a gift of any amount to support Running to Win. Just call us at 1-800-215-5001. That's 1-800-215-5001. Online, go to offerrtw.com. That's offerrtw.com. Or write to Running to Win, Moody Church, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is a ministry of the Moody Church.