In Scott Brown's sermon 'Why Do I Experience Suffering?', drawn from Romans 8, the speaker addresses the profound question of suffering in the Christian life. The sermon emphasizes that being led by the Spirit of God signifies our sonship, and as children of God, we are heirs with Christ. Suffering, while inevitable, is compared to the glory that will be revealed in us. The sermon outlines several key purposes of suffering: it demonstrates hope, fosters an eagerness for adoption, and reveals the Holy Spirit's assistance in our weaknesses. It also underlines that all things, including suffering, work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Brown highlights the doctrine of sonship, explaining that we are adopted children of God, which brings an inheritance and a future glorification. Suffering is not viewed as a contradiction to our faith but as evidence of it, intricately connected with the historical and cosmic plan of God. The sermon concludes with the assurance that despite our imperfections, the righteousness of Christ covers us, promising eventual glorification.

I'll be reading from from Romans 8 starting at verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, to receive the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And of children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly awaits 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. Because the creation itself also will 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 labors with birth pains together until now.

Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weakness, for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Now he who searches the spirit, who searches the hearts, knows that the mind of the spirit is because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, he also called. And whom he called, these he also justified.

And whom he justified, These he also glorified. Let's pray before we begin. Lord you place before us this mighty and wondrous text of scripture, this collection of words that has comforted millions of people throughout the ages. And now here we are sitting before them, ourselves, in this moment of time that you've given us together. Oh Lord, I pray that you would come and extend your mercy to us, that we would understand and put into practice these great things in Jesus name.

Amen. Well, this text of Scripture is a mighty, towering Mount Everest in the Bible. If you don't understand this text, you'll never be happy. If you don't understand this text, you'll never be well adjusted. If you don't understand this text, you'll never be well adjusted.

If you don't understand this text, you'll never have a mighty generation following after you. You'll have a fearful, sniveling, worried, hand-wringing group following after you. What a bad thing that would be. You'll never have a happy church without this understanding this text. You'll never have a happy home without understanding this text.

You will never be a happy businessman. You especially won't be a happy businessman if you don't understand this text of Scripture. It is so critical. And here God is providing pastoral care to us through His Word. He's given us distinct phrases and terminology to help us grapple with things.

He's casting a vision of hope for us and He's designed His Word to come and recalibrate us to help us think rightly about all the things that are coming across the transom of this seemingly sinking ship that we might be in. God is helping us with many practical issues. I'm going to list seven practical issues that this text deals with, and then we'll begin and move through the text. And I just want to encourage you, have your Bibles out here. We're going to move.

Our eyes are going to be on the words of this text here very much as we move through it. Here are seven practical issues that are raised in this. And there are not just seven. I think I could find 77 in this text, but I'll give you seven right at the beginning. It answers the question, why suffering?

How do I interpret the sufferings that are upon me in my life and that I experience in this world and of course the answer is he causes all things to work together for good to those who love him and Are called according to his purpose this text of scripture prepares us for suffering things might be just be so sunny today for you. Things might be moving so smoothly. It won't last very long. The next problem is right around the corner. It's going to blindside you.

It'll knock out your feet. It'll put you on the ground. And what are you going to do to prepare yourself for that problem that is coming? There's a looming massive, terrible cloud coming over your head at some point in this life. What will you do when that cloud comes over you.

And this text helps us with that. This text also is a tremendous resource to help us get through suffering. Often we're in the midst of the trial and we wake up and we say, oh Lord, I've not been thinking rightly about this. How do I get through it now, now that I'm in the midst of it? How do you keep from being destroyed by despair through your disappointments?

How do you keep from losing your heart in the midst of the trials and tribulations that are upon you? This text of scripture has much to help us not to live in bondage anymore, but to continue to think about the implications of our justification and all that God has done. And what does our justification have to do with this trial? Justification by faith alone has everything to do with every trial you've ever had. Number four, it shows us how to see our trials in context.

This is one of the most important things we can ever do. What is the context of these trials? We'll get to this in detail later, but it's so easy to lose perspective on what's happening in this world. This is a realistic perspective that we're given. It's not a Pollyanna head in the sand understanding of life, but it's an authentic picture of the experiences, our experiences in the past, the trials there, the trials of the present, and the trials of the future.

And you will see how the apostle Paul sets your trial in context of history, of creation, and of the plan of redemption. He sets your trial right in the center of all these other things. And I believe he does that to help keep us from pity parties thinking, this is just all about me. Oh, this is all my problem. No.

There's something grander. There's something mightier. There's something of historical and eternal significance that is in play when you're going through a trial. Number five, this text comforts us in our sonship, in the joys of our sonship. He explains his plan for us as sons, And that is implied daughters, all sons and daughters of God.

And he, in this text, he reveals his hand. He shows us what he's doing. And he lets us in on the secret of this global historical plan that he's all about. What is he doing with his sons? He says, this is what I'm doing with my sons and I'm going to explain it to you in detail.

It's a beautiful picture. He also gives us a vision of the future. It's a vision of hope. And because he does cause all things to work together for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Number six, or number seven, he presents powerful and clear explanations in this.

He explains the processes that are operating in our glorification and he explains the final result of all of our suffering. So this this text does bear down on so many practical issues that face us in this life. Well I have I have broken up my message this morning in two main sections. And the first section is the foundation of the teaching on suffering, the doctrine of sonship. He sets this teaching on suffering in the context of our sonship in the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you have an outline with you, that's the first section. There are three points, there are three areas, aspects of sonship that are identified here. And the first is that we are adopted sons crying out. We are the sons of God as we've already been told in verse 4. As many as are led by the Spirit, these are the sons of God.

So This text explains what it means to be a son of God. And he says, in being a son of God, you did not receive a spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." The context of suffering is this, we are sons of God. What son is there who asks for a fish will be given a stone? Well that's the most ridiculous thought that could be presented.

And we cry out Abba Father. God has placed his spirit within us and our souls cry out, Abba Father, we say, Oh Lord, Oh Lord, how much I need you, how much I desire you. And so the first principle that we come to is that we are adopted sons crying out before God. And as we cry out, we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Because we are sons.

He treats us as sons. And in treating us as sons, he has a vision for us and promises. He certifies that he will take us to fulfill the heavenly vision, But he also disciplines his sons as well. He treats us as sons. No son should ever be discombobulated when he's being disciplined, because when he's being disciplined he's being treated as a son.

Number two, we are joint heirs, suffering with Christ, verse 17. Look at verse 17. This is beautiful because again, the theme of sonship is here, but suffering is introduced. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, catch that, heirs of God, and then joint heirs with Christ. So in this sonship is an inheritance, it's a heavenly inheritance.

All the trials and tribulations of today should be seen in light of the inheritance that's there. We are suffering, we are suffering with him and in him. We share in the sufferings of Christ. He has gone before us in suffering to help us know that there is glorification at the end of the suffering and that there is even glorification in the suffering And that's the message of this. Now, we, you know, how do we move on from this principle of being heirs and joint heirs?

Well, we're just going to have to do that. But there are two things here. There is persecution with Christ in our sonship. And so we lose nothing in our sufferings. God has covered all of our short-term and our long-term liabilities in the inheritance that he has for us.

So we lose nothing in our sufferings. Can you get your arms around that? I don't know what you're suffering with right now. But you don't lose anything in your sufferings. That's the problem with suffering.

We think all is lost. We think the ship is sinking. It's not sinking at all. This story says the ship is not sinking. There is suffering.

There is water coming over the transom. But the ship is not going down. And why? How do we know that? Because there's an inheritance.

The ship is not going to the bottom of the ocean and the wealth be lost forever. The wealth is preserved forever in heaven and it's ours. That's the idea. That's the idea of being an heir. And we are heirs with God and joint heirs with Christ.

And then he does a very interesting thing in verse 18. Please look at it. He compares suffering with glory. Paul does this so often in his writings. He juxtaposes two things that seem contradictory.

Yeah, but they're not contradictory at all. The mind of God is bigger than ours. We want, here's what we want, we're very simple, we are simpletons, We are very stupid. We don't understand. We don't understand the great things of God.

We either want man's will to be completely free, or we want God to be completely control. We don't want any nuances at all. We want either all peace and happiness or suffering. Well, Paul takes both of them, he puts them together, and they do not contradict one another. They coexist together.

This is the wisdom of the kingdom of God. It's not simplistic at all. Does anyone understand all this? No. No.

No one has ever been able to understand it. Why? Because we're not God. Because we are mere men and women. We don't get it.

We are like the donkey that Jorge referred to earlier. We just don't get so many things. So we shouldn't be too upset when we don't understand everything in Scripture. But here, he places glory and sufferings together. He says, for I consider, in verse 18, if you could look there with me, verse 18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." So suffering and glory are standing together here.

They are compared and contrasted. There is time implied. There is suffering here and then there's glory there. So here Paul sets these two opposites side by side and he shows how they complement one another and how each is necessary. They are both mutually necessary and complementary.

If you take away the suffering, how can you see glory? How do you know that it's light outside unless it's dark? How do you know glory except in the contrast of suffering. God is setting us up to feel and experience this amazing act of mercy toward us. He is setting us up to know these distinctions and to cause our hearts to soar with joy at His glory.

But for our hearts to soar with His glory, we must know the suffering. And suffering here verifies that we are the sons of God. Suffering doesn't prove that God has abandoned you. Suffering verifies that God is with you. Suffering verifies that God is going to glorify you.

Christianity does not give sonship without suffering. Some of the other religions try to do that, but Christianity doesn't do that. So our trials are actually proofs of our salvation. Now we've been given many proofs of our salvation already in Romans. In the tight end context here of Romans 8, we know that we've already lost the spirit of bondage, that the power of sin has been broken, we know that.

We know that our spirits cry out, Abba, Father, that's another evidence of our salvation. But another evidence is that the glory will be revealed in us. That's another evidence of our salvation. So, the sufferings are the evidence of your salvation. They don't contradict it.

It's not necessarily that God is punishing you for being a bad guy. They are the evidences of your salvation in so many cases. Now of course God does punish us for our sins, but He doesn't punish us for all of our sins. I'm quite confident of that. So, if we suffer, when we suffer, then we should conclude that we are believers.

That's why Jesus said in Matthew 5, blessed are you when men persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my name's sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. He uses almost the same idea, suffering, but reward. No, great is your reward in heaven. He sets both of these in juxtaposition.

He says, no, your suffering doesn't contradict your salvation, it's an evidence of your reward. So it's the proof that we're being prepared for glory. And it says here, the glory which shall be revealed in us. Do you see that? The glory will, look at the words very carefully this glory will or shall be revealed in us that means that we won't just be hanging around observing the glory we will be experiencing it I mean it will be it will be internal be visceral We are experiencing the glory in ourselves somehow.

Maybe that's why we need to have new bodies when we get to have them. These bodies will just explode if they had this much excitement in them. So it will be revealed in us. It's experiential. And then he says this.

He says about these sufferings of this present time. So now we're thrown in sort of a calendar idea. Now we're thrown in an idea about history, about the passage of time, this present time. And our sufferings are part of a grand historical scheme. Your sufferings are not just about you.

I am so sorry to say that. It's not all about you. It's so inappropriate to say, oh, woe is me. Well, it would be more appropriate to say, woe is all of history. Woe is this present time that God has ordained.

Our sufferings individually are part of a great historical scheme far beyond us. This is why we don't understand our suffering. We will never understand why anything's happening. You'll never get to the bottom of it in this life. You might think you know.

You might even have a believer say, I know why you're going through this suffering like Job's friends. I know why this has afflicted you." Well, that is so presumptuous. It's presumptuous of us, and it's presumptuous of our friends to do that. Now, of course, we should be very kind and gracious to our friends when they do that to us, because it's part of humanity. But our sufferings are not only personal, but they're historical.

God is doing something bigger than me. Isn't that nice? Aren't you comforted by that? That the tipping points of this world are not hinging upon us. But God has sufferings in this present time.

They're connected with the historical plan. Hey, God is not picking on you, Okay? God is not... We shouldn't take it necessarily so personally. God has a wise plan that's gigantic, far beyond our own comprehension.

And verse 19 says, for the earnest expectation, are your eyes on the text? Let's get our eyes on this text. For the earnest expectation, Paul throws no words away, earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. Not only is your trial part of a historical thing. It's part of something that all of creation is struggling with.

You are not alone. All of creation. So don't take it so personally. All of creation is groaning as well, along with you. And it is an earnest expectation, And it eagerly awaits the revealing of the sons of God.

So not only is this trial causing eager, earnest expectation of creation, But it's waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. Now I don't, honestly, I don't understand this. How is it that the trees and the grass and the rocks and all of creation, how is it that they're waiting for the revealing of the sons of God? You know, I think it's Isaiah said, you know, you shall be led forth in peace, you shall go out with joy, the mountains and the hills shall break forth with shouts before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. What's that all about?

I don't know. Are the trees clapping their hands out here all surrounding? Is the grass actually, you know, viscerally in their hearts waving saying, oh, the sons of God are here, they're on this property right now. They're here, and we're so excited about their being revealed. I don't know if nature's doing that.

Maybe that's what the waterfall is doing. Whooooooo. It's calling out, it's eagerly, it's groaning, it's making noise. You know, the sound of the spheres out there, they say there are sounds in heaven. Is that what it is?

I honestly don't know. But here's what I do know. Something is going on in nature. Nature has an eager expectation for yours and my salvation. When you walk on the face of this earth, somehow, nature is into it.

Nature knows that you're there. I don't know, I'm not going to go any farther than that because I really don't know. I just know that there is an earnest expectation in creation, okay? You can hang your hat on that one. And it's an eager expectation.

And it's an eager expectation for the revealing of the sons of God. So God has this wild world created for us that we don't understand. But we do know this, that our sufferings are not just about us, it's about all of creation. So then we move to the reasons for the suffering. We just talked about the foundation of the teaching on suffering, and that's the doctrine of sonship, and that God is doing something with his sons and his daughters and he's wrapped up all of history in it he's wrapped up all of creation in it and in it our sufferings but it's not just about me personally.

It's about a grand scheme. So do you see the backdrop that Paul is laying here? He's saying sufferings is part of our... All of our sufferings are in a grand context of sonship, of His outpouring of love, placing an eager expectation in creation and the sons of men. And in all of that suffering, God glorifies Himself in his suffering.

Our sufferings are our friends because they cause the glory, the glory of God. If you don't understand that, you will never be happy. If you don't understand that, your church will never be happy. If you don't understand that, your company will never be happy either. Okay?

You have to understand the context of suffering, and Paul does it so beautifully here. Now, then he speaks of the reasons for our suffering. Now, this is, of course, just the way I've taken to approach this. There are so many ways to approach this text. It's remarkable.

And I struggled with how to try to get our arms wrapped around this. So I have a simple approach here. And I know there's much more. This passage is so deep and so powerful. I am confident we could spend an entire year of Sundays on the text of Romans 8 along.

So the reasons for suffering, verses 20 to 30, again eyes bared down on these beautiful words. The first reason for suffering is to demonstrate hope. The first reason for our sufferings is to demonstrate hope, verse 20 and 21. For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly but because of him who subjected it in hope ah there you go there's the purpose There's the purpose of all this futility. Hope.

Because, and then he answers, he gives a reason, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." So here's a picture. Why suffering? Why decay? Why collapse? It is because God subjected the creation in hope because of hope.

He has set in motion decay in the world. It's also called the second law of thermodynamics, the law of entropy. Everything is decaying. By the way, everything is not getting better in the world. We are not getting better.

Nothing's getting better. Everything is in decay. And the only hope for creation is its redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he promises here to bring all of creation into glorious liberty. When God created Adam and Eve, they fell, and Sin was imputed into the human race, and it spread through Adam, through procreation.

And all of mankind is sinful. All of mankind is flawed. Everything he touches is flawed. And what is our hope? Is there any hope at all?

Yes, there is. God will make everything right. He will deliver from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Now he's already started it. The springtime has already broken out in your soul as you were justified by faith.

He broke the power of canceled sin and now this budding, this springtime is working. The tree is not fully grown yet, But it's the beginning. But here's what you need to know. No matter how far-budded your tree is, God will make that tree, and it will prevail, and it will be for all eternity, because he has broken the bondage of corruption. And so we need to see all of our sins, all of our trials, In the context of hope.

That's why Paul could say for for this momentary light affliction God is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison So you might look at your life right now and say, that stinks, but God does not do that at all. Your opinion is not consistent with your Lord God, Because He has said that He is bringing you into a glorious liberty. He is bringing you now. He's leading you one step at a time into that glorious liberty. You won't have it all now.

You won't have it all here. Your wife will not have the opportunity to have this glorified husband. Husbands you will not be able to have these glorified wives or children. They're on the way. They're on the road.

That's where they are. And God's mercy covers it all. And His power guarantees it. And His hope will make it happen. And His hope should be your hope and my hope.

OK, so why suffering? The first reason is to demonstrate hope the second reason for suffering is to demonstrate eagerness for adoption now God desires to demonstrate an eagerness in your soul for this adoption what you know I just pray that God would give us a giddy childlike eagerness for this adoption, that we would have more of it now, we would have more longing for heaven as a result of being here this morning. Verse 22, For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also, who have the first roots of the spirit, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of the body. So there's a groaning.

What kind of groaning is this? Well, there are two kinds of groanings, right? This groaning is an eager groaning. This is the happy kind of groaning. This is a joyful kind of groaning.

I don't know, you know, I asked, I was asking my son David, David, could you demonstrate for me the difference between the two kinds of groanings? Give me a hopeless groaning, a hopeless longing groaning, and give me an eager groaning. Now I think it would be really interesting to do that so we're gonna do that collectively okay first of all all of us together we're gonna have a collective we're gonna have a collective groaning and and it's not an eager groaning at all. Okay, ready? I'm going to say 1, 2, 3, and then give me that kind of groaning.

1, 2, 3. Oh, there you go. Okay. Now, let's have an eager groaning. This is the kind of...our sufferings are designed by God to give us this next kind of groaning.

Do you have it? Do you have it? If you don't have it, ask God to pour His Spirit out upon you and give you this mighty, wonderful, amazing, eager groaning. Because God has designed every single trial to produce this kind of groaning in you. Okay, are you ready?

This is, I don't know what we're going to call, this is great, We're just going to call this the eager groaning. We are going to be careful students of scripture. OK, the eager groaning. Are you ready? Three, two, one.

Ah, there you go. Well, I think quite possibly this is a groaning that can be learned. We can grow in our understanding of this groaning and groan better and better. Oh, that we would be good groaners. Now, it says here that he gives an...

It's interesting. You've got this image of an eager groan, isn't that beautiful? And then he also gives another image that is really striking. I can tell that there are many, many in this room who have experienced this. Birth pangs.

Birth pangs. Oh, we actually have, you know, one in here that has not ever had birth pangs, but it's gonna have them sometime soon. But many of you other women have experienced these birth pangs. He says here that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Now, why this example?

Well, there's pain. It's an illustration that gives a vision for the pain. But it's a pain that leads to joy. It's not... This kind of pain is not the last gasp of pain before you die.

It's not that kind of pain at all. It is a pain that leads to life and to joy. You're not dying. You're getting ready for life. The trials mean that you're not...

This is not your last gasp. This is your hope for the future. That's what he's saying. It's a different kind of pain. The unbeliever has the last gasp kind of pain.

He just flips into despair and he writes stupid songs that just take you further into despair. Not this kind of suffering. Our sufferings lead us to joy. That's the difference. The sufferings of the wicked just make them more and more depressed.

They commit suicide, they take drugs, and they try to make themselves happy by play and whatever else they might try to conceive of, but they'll never be happy. The only kind of happiness is the kind that's gained by a proper groaning and a proper understanding of life, and that is the pain of birth pangs. Now in this text there are three groanings, nature groans, we groan, and the Holy Spirit groans. So those are the three you'll find here. It would be fascinating to just go through those one by one.

So notice the whole creation is groaning, and we are groaning along with it, and all of this is part of a greater scheme. God is doing something in history, God has decreed that suffering would be in place because of hope. He is doing something in creation that we participate in. So do you see how Paul sets this in such an amazing context? Well, here's the third reason for suffering.

Not only do we suffer to demonstrate hope, not only we suffer to demonstrate the eagerness for adoption, but we also suffer to demonstrate eager, persevering hope. Verse 24. Look at verse 24. For we were saved in this hope, But hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees?

But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly await for it with perseverance. Now, hope is the subject here. Our trials are designed to demonstrate hope. And it's Hope in what one cannot see. You can know it in your heart, but you can't see it.

It's out there. And so the trial is to demonstrate true hope. Hope that hopes even though it doesn't have physical evidence of it. And so we're waiting. You know, we know about waiting.

We don't see it yet. Some of you are waiting. You're waiting for that day when you'll be married. But there's a waiting time. You don't get it right.

And you don't even know how it's going to happen. That's like this right here. You don't see how it could possibly happen. But you still have a hope. You hope even though you don't see it.

We're always waiting for things, aren't we? It might be waiting for a visitation of your family, your children, or maybe waiting for a special day, a holiday, or a celebration, or a vacation, or something like that. But there's a time lag involved. That's what this is. There's time lag involved in this hope that we have.

And we don't see it during the intervening time, until it happens. And that's what he's saying here. And our sufferings are to demonstrate that kind of hope. And we see also it's an eager, it's an eager waiting with perseverance. How do you wait?

You wait with eagerness. That's how a Christian waits for this hope that is coming upon him. David said, I wait for the Lord. My soul does wait on his word in hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than they who watch for the morning.

I say more than they who wait for the morning." Isn't that interesting? He repeats that phrase, waiting for the morning. You know, I don't know if you, have you ever waited for the morning to come or the evening to come? There's this time where you long for it, you, it's out there. And that's, that's what sufferings do.

They, they, They help us to demonstrate an eager and persevering hope. And then the fourth reason for suffering is to demonstrate the help of the Holy Spirit in our weaknesses, verses 26 and 27. Likewise, the Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses, for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit Himself takes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God." Now I want to just stop you for a second right in your tracks.

This, you need Romans 8 28, maybe one of the most famous comforting passages in all of the Bible. God causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to purpose. Comes right after this verse. So often that verse is lifted right out of context. Let's just take a minute and look at this in context.

It is a beautiful verse standing alone, but it's even more beautiful when it's set in this context that it's in. And we're moving in this direction, but I just want you to know, this is where we're headed. So, we are weak, we don't even know what to pray for. That's how dumb we are. That's how righteous we are.

That's how mature we are. We don't even know what to pray for. That's how dumb we are. That's how righteous we are. That's how mature we are.

We don't even know what to pray for. But the Spirit does it for us. He knows our weakness. This should be such a comfort in prayer that even though you don't have the words, the Spirit of God is helping and He's praying. This is why prayer is effective, by the way.

It's not because we've come up with some great idea to pray for and we've formed it in beautiful language. No, it has nothing to do with beautiful language at all. It has to do with the Spirit of God. That's how prayer gets answered. And so we have this help.

Intercession is successful because God is arranging things. He knows what the mind of the Spirit is, and He's making intercession for the saints according to the will of God. You get the idea here? We don't even know what to pray for, but the will of God is being orchestrated through these prayers of the Spirit. Because the Spirit knows what the will of God is.

And God in sending His Spirit is bringing out, He's making His will happen through these prayers. That's what's happening. He's making everything happen through these prayers and then he says And we know that all things work together for good who those who love God and the cult according his purpose So the the subject is the will of God and the sun and it goes like this God is working out His will through these prayers of the Spirit. You don't know how to pray for yourself. You would pray for the wrong things.

But God has sent His Spirit to pray so that His will... Do you see that in verse 27? The will of God, okay? The Spirit is trying to bring about the will of God. And the Spirit of God is praying about things that you would never pray about.

Would you ever pray about a tornado blowing your house down? Oh God, bring this tornado. It would be so glorifying to yourself if you would just level my house and destroy all of my family pictures and everything. You know, would you ever pray that prayer? No.

Oh Lord, Please give me a miscarriage. You would never pray that prayer. We don't know how to pray. We don't know what to pray for. Now, let me just qualify that.

God does call us to pray. He does call us to pray according to His will. But God knows, and we all know, that we won't always get it right. But the subject here is the will of God. It's the execution of the will of God.

That is the context that the Spirit is praying to bring about the will of God in your life. And then we get the fifth reason for suffering, to demonstrate that all things work together for good. That's the fifth reason for suffering. It's a demonstration that God works all things together for good. His will is different than our will.

And now this means, this means a bunch of things. It means that our sufferings are not pointless. It means that our sufferings have come about by the will of God, who is wiser than we are, who prayed for this. Now, let's look at this carefully, verse 28. And we know that all things, all, It's everything.

Some people think this is just the sufferings for Christ. No, no, it's all things. We already know it's all things, because the whole creation is groaning. It's about a big plan of history. It's not just about sufferings like Christ suffered for righteousness.

No, it's bigger. It's way bigger than that. It's everything, all things. All things work together for good to those who love God. Now who is the promise for?

It's not for all people. This promise, you cannot quote this promise to someone who does not love God. They do not get cut into this promise. It's exclusive. It's only for the people of God.

I don't know what God does. I don't know how he works all things together for everybody else in the world, but I do know this. For his sons, for his sons he works them out for the good. That's what he's doing for his sons. He's giving his sons a fish and not a stone.

He is, he's giving His sons a spirit that cries out, Abba Father. He's pouring out, He's shedding the love of Christ abroad in their hearts. That's what God does for His sons. He justifies them by faith. He makes them righteous.

He breaks the power of sin in their lives. That's what God does with his sons. And, and, he causes all things to work together for good. But he doesn't do that for the unbelieving world. And so God is maneuvering, He's working it out, and He is praying and bringing about the answers to his prayers.

And then sixthly, the sixth reason for suffering is to conform us to the image of his son. Verse 29, the purposes of our sufferings are all about our conforming us to the image of his Son. For, verse 29, for whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. And then the seventh reason for suffering is to demonstrate his faithfulness toward our glorification. Verse 30.

And we'll end with this last verse. What a beautiful verse. Let's soak it in. Let's read it very slowly here. Moreover, so he's saying, it's even bigger than that.

It's even more wonderful than that. Moreover, Whom He predestined, He also called. Whom He called, these He also justified. And whom He justified, These he also glorified. And God has brought about sufferings to demonstrate his own faithfulness toward our glorification.

He secured our glorification through predestination. He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish. He called us. This is the calling of God. He called our name.

We didn't call ourselves. We didn't just wake up one day, there was a voice external to our own, and He called us, and He elected us. And those He called, He also justified. This is the judicial justification by faith alone. Abraham believed God, it was accounted to him for righteousness.

He was justified by faith, not by works. And God is, through our sufferings, is demonstrating the security of His commitment toward us, that He would carry us to heaven. Because he has justified, he has called, he has predestined. It's done. Nothing can controvert it.

And so our suffering should all be seen in that light. That God has done a great work. In this earth, there'll be smoke and fire. But all of that smoke and fire is to demonstrate hope, to demonstrate eagerness to adoption, to demonstrate an eager, persevering hope, to demonstrate the help of the Holy Spirit in our weaknesses, to demonstrate that all things work together for good, to demonstrate that we will be conformed to the image of His Son, and to demonstrate that He is faithful to glorify us. So here we are.

We started with glorification at the beginning of this text. The glorification of the sons of God. Now we're at the end of this long paragraph and we're back where we started with God's commitment to glorify His sons and daughters. And how does He do it? He does it through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ, who never said a wrong word. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is a perfect Son. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is a perfect disciple, the Lord Jesus Christ who is a perfect disciple maker, He was the perfect elder, He was the perfect friend, He was the perfect husband, but who are we? Who of us have been perfect in our words? Who of us are perfect sons?

Who of us are perfect husbands of our wives? Who of us are executing our business correctly? Who of us have been the perfect friends? None of us. What is our hope?

That the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who is perfect in every way, has made up for all of our lack, every single inch of our shortfall. He has covered in His justification and making us righteous, pre-dusting in us, calling us, and now glorifying us. And that is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Oh Lord, these momentary light afflictions help us.

Help us in them to do all of these things that you've said here. Amen.