Life According to the Spirit, Part 5

For the record, I don’t mind
doing this once a year, as long as you’re limited to that. I did double duty for about the
first six years. I started to think of that as
something noble. And then I realized, none of
those people are here. That’s why we put this on a rotational
basis, so you’ll all get an opportunity. If you would take your Bibles
and turn to the Book of Romans, let me find my compass. Alright, we have jumped into
Romans chapter 8, and we are in the midst of this great section,
greater section being the sanctification by God of every child of God,
but in the midst of that section, Paul wants to show us just how
great God’s effort is on our behalf. He has shown us that
we are literally established in Christ and by Christ, but
he has turned his attention to a focus on the Holy Spirit and
what the Holy Spirit has done. And we have reviewed it and reviewed
it and reviewed it, and I’ll probably review it again, but
not today. Today I want to get right into
the passage. We’ll skirt across a few of the
particular things that the Holy Spirit has done and is doing
in our hearts and lives, but we want to get immediately to
the consideration at the end of this morning. If you would,
go all the way back to Romans, chapter 8, verse 12. Paul writes, 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. For
all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the
sons of God. For you have not received the
spirit of slavery, leading to fear again, but you have received
the spirit of adoption as sons, by which we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness
with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs
also, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ, that indeed
we suffer with him, in order that we may also be glorified
with him. 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 of
its own will, but because of him who subjected it. In hope
that 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 we are also 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 bodies, For in hope we
have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope. For why
does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what
we do not see, with perseverance we wave eagerly for it.” We are
considering divine assistance. That’s what chapter 8 is all
about. It’s about divine assistance. It’s not about us laying the
mold of God. It’s about God laying the mold
of us and about God working on our salvation. It’s about Christ
doing His part as part of the Godhead. It’s about the Holy
Spirit doing His part. It’s about God the Father doing
His. And with that kind of a foundation,
the conclusion is, who can be against it? If God has laid the
foundation, if God has sustained us, if God in His sovereignty
is overlooking every detail of our lives, who can possibly come
against us? The Holy Spirit. He’s a vital and active member
of the Godhead in working with believers’ lives. His work is
not just limited, as we’ve seen, to the work of regeneration.
It’s not just that the Holy Spirit awakens us, gives to us salvation,
brings us to faith, and then steps back and watches us work
out our own salvation completely on our own. It’s not just that
the Holy Spirit is constantly at work within us, convicting
us of sin, It’s not just that the Holy Spirit is our active
teacher teaching us, but as Paul said, He is literally bringing us into
a walk, into a fellowship with the Spirit. And as such, as he
says in verse 12, we are under obligation not to the flesh,
But his implication there is we are under obligation to the
Spirit to live according to the Spirit. To live in such a way
where our testimony is God’s testimony at work in our lives. We have seen the Holy Spirit
is profound at work in the lives of believers. The first thing
that we considered was that the The assistance, the help that
the Holy Spirit provides is, first of all, a mortification
of sin. He helps us to put to death sin, which leads to life. Look at verses 12 and 13. So
then, brethren, we are under obligation not to the flesh,
but live according to the flesh. For if you are living according
to the flesh, you must die. That part is axiomatic in the
book of Romans. But if, by the Spirit, and it’s
only by the Spirit, if by the Spirit you are putting to death
the deeds of the body you live. If you are actively engaged in
this battle, if you are calling and depending upon the Holy Spirit
to aid you in the mortification of sin in the flesh, then you
will truly live. I take this to mean that that
is the life of a Christian. It’s not optional. This is the life
of a Christian, is to day-by-day purify himself, to day-by-day
yield to the Spirit as He convicts us, and to day-by-day call out
for grace to appropriate in our lives so that we may walk more
and more like Christ. To do that is to live. To do
that is to be a Christian. The second thing that the Holy
Spirit provides, very briefly, is a guidance that essentially
reveals us as sons. The Holy Spirit doesn’t lead
around the heathen of this world. He doesn’t. The Holy Spirit doesn’t
give them advice. The Holy Spirit doesn’t give
them counsel. He doesn’t help them. The Holy Spirit and His
help is a mark of being a child of God. Look at verse 14. For
all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the
sons of God. That’s how they are marked out
from the rest. We saw that to be led by the
Spirit of God talks about a daily illumination by the Holy Spirit
in God’s Word. A daily confession based on what
the Holy Spirit has brought to our mind by way of sinful habits
and tendencies and acts and deeds. The Holy Spirit actively at work
in our life teaching and nurturing us in God’s ways. That’s what
it is to be led by the Spirit of God. And if we are led by
the Spirit of God, that’s a mark of sonship. We’re in the family.
The third thing the Holy Spirit does is He gives us acceptance
of such a kind that it engenders affection. And the one great
comment that we can summarize this with is in 1 John, right?
We love Him because He first loved us. Look at verse 15, for
you have not received the spirit of slavery, leading to purity,
but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which
we cry out to God because we have received this spirit of
adoption. We are able to call up our Heavenly Father, whether
it’s in anguish, or whether it’s in prayer, whether it’s in praise,
we call out to God because God has first done a work in us.
He has given us the spirit of adoption. We are part of His
family. We have the privilege to call
up to God as part of our intimate relationship with Him. Essentially
as our Heavenly Father. That intimate little word that
is used there, Gat, Abba. We have the privilege. There’s a fourth thing that the
Holy Spirit has done in our life, and this is where we are. This
is this great section, and if you look at it, Paul mentions
this in verse 16, and everything else from verse 17 through 25
literally modifies, or adds to, or is built upon that one statement
in verse 16. What the Holy Spirit does, fourthly,
is provide us an affirmation that promises and inheritance. And it’s not just, you know,
an empty promise. It’s not something that we can
wishfully hope for. This is something that we can
rest upon. That we, in our faith, hold as
true as last year. In a sense, we’ve already begun
to let go of this in Paul’s understanding. Look at verse 16. bears witness with our spirit
that we are children of God. In other words, as we saw several
weeks ago, it’s even hard to describe it, but if you’re a
Christian, you know it. The Holy Spirit of God bears
witness with our spirit, and when you go through conviction,
When you begin to go through those periods of growth in your
life, where the Holy Spirit convicts you, where you confess those
sins, where you begin to grow in grace and appropriate that
grace and move on from that sinful pool from which you were rescued.
The Holy Spirit bears witness. The Holy Spirit’s at work in
your life. And if that is a mark of being
a child of God, Paul goes on to say, if you’re children, then
you’re heirs. And that is almost astounding.
The fact that we’re heirs on top of being sons is almost more
than we can even fathom. That on top of receiving salvation,
which included, first of all, forgiveness for the future sins
in which we have lived our entire lives, forgiveness. That’s enough. And yet, in God’s goodness and
grace, God says it’s not enough. Not only am I going to forgive
you your sins, not only am I going to bring you into my family,
I am going to bequeath to you an inheritance. I’m going to
give to you, not because of anything you deserve, not because you
were such an excellent Christian, not because you taught Sunday
school, not because you led worship, I am going to give you an inheritance
merely because I have drawn you in. Out of my abundant mercy,
I have drawn you in as one of my children. And now you sit
at the table, not as a guest, not as a second-class citizen.
You sit at the table as one of my sons. You’re part of my family. And as such, you will receive
an inheritance. This is where we begin. This
is what we’ve been focusing on these last weeks. And we saw
that that inheritance is simply God himself. It couldn’t be any
more plain. Heirs of God and fellow heirs
with Christ. That when we receive from God,
we receive God. When we go to heaven for eternity,
one of the greatest, the most overarching joy that will be
ours is the fact that we will be with God and Christ Literally,
you join the Godhead before eternity. And there’s one little caveat. This is where we left off last
Thursday. There’s one little caveat. The Holy Spirit gives us this
confidence, this assurance of our being part of God’s family.
We are adopted in. We are absolutely, if you are
in Christ, You are fully and completely part of God’s family
with only one caveat, and that is suffer. We saw that Paul isn’t saying
go out and find some way to suffer. Go out and practice asceticism. Divest yourselves of everything
that you own. Live in poverty. find some tough
job and some lousy boss and put yourself under him and live that
way because if you suffer then you will enjoy salvation
that’s not at all what he’s essentially saying is that suffering is so
much a part of the Christian life that you can expect it remember
as Jesus said we can expect it And if we design to enjoy God’s
glorification, if we look forward to being glorified together with
Christ, we can expect in this Christian life a life of suffering. This is where we paused last
Wednesday. God’s purpose in the design in
this suffering is not to somehow pay off the balance of what Christ
couldn’t accomplish on the cross. Christ fully accomplished our
atonement with his sacrifice. We have nothing to it. But we
are called to endure suffering, not to add to our payment for
our sins, but to prepare ourselves for glorification, to prepare
ourselves essentially for heaven itself. And I suggested the following.
I suggested that what Paul does is kind of, it will get into
a dialogue. And I’ll try to do a more precise
job this morning of identifying when Paul’s objector chimes in. Paul has made these grand statements
in verses 16 and 17. The Spirit bears witness with
our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs
also, heirs of God, and fellow heirs of Christ, if indeed we
suffer with him in order that we may be glorified with him. And the ejector club chimes in.
But Paul, our suffering is prolonged and profound. Paul, you have
no idea what I’m going through. You’ve never met my heart. You’ve
never had my disease. You’ve never even known my kind
of suffering. For I consider the sufferings
of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glories
to be revealed to us.” And the objector chimes in again. That’s
an amazing statement, Paul. Why or how can you make this
statement? The answer is yes. We’ll pick
up the rest of that argument in days and weeks to come. But
for now, let’s go back to that first objection. Paul has said that one day we
are going to enjoy some kind of an inheritance. I suggested
to you that it is God himself. And the one caveat that Paul
adds to it is that if indeed we suffer with it, if we persevere
through the difficulties of this Christian life so that we may
be glorified with it, and the obvious The reply from
almost anyone of us would be that, Paul, you have no idea
what I’m going through. You have no idea what it is to
be abandoned by a husband. You have no idea what it is to
suffer some of the abuses that this life dishes out. You have
no idea what it’s like to suffer in agonizing pain every day. You have no idea. Paul gives the answer in verse
18. For I consider… You pause at that first word,
because that is essentially the reply to the previous thought.
The very thought of glorification
with Christ, after having suffered with Him. Paul here begins to
expand on that. on the blessing of it. And in
fact, as I suggested, he really stays with this subject all the
way through verse 25. Look again at this. For I consider, it’s one of Paul’s
favorite words, this word consider. It’s a word that indicates a
calculation. It’s not that Paul is saying
this limitedly. He’s put both things to scale. He has put suffering And he has
put glory in a scale. And he says it doesn’t even compare.
It doesn’t even compare. It has nothing within that other
scale. The word consider is used 33
times by Paul. Look into mine. It indicates
reasoning, but it’s not just a process of reasoning. It’s
reasoning unto a conclusion. It’s working out the problem
and coming up with the right answer. 19 times it was used
in Romans. In chapter 4, 11 times alone
the word was used. And you may recall from chapter
4, that is where the whole issue of justification by faith was
laid out. Where God reckons us, logitima. Where God considers us, or counts
us, or imputes to us based on that accounting. Righteousness,
the righteousness of Christ. That’s the nature of the word.
It means a careful lesson. This isn’t something that’s done
hastily. This isn’t something that’s done
without the facts. It refers to reaching a settled
conclusion after a careful study and a reasoning. Paul points
to here is that he had a very firm conviction in what he was
preparing to say, and that it had been reached not only by
life experience, but by the truth and the facts of God’s Word.
By the truth of God as it was revealed to him. Paul knew, he
wasn’t guessing. This wasn’t an answer written
in pencil. Paul essentially shows his work,
right, on the page. And he shows the answer, and
the answer is right, right in the center. I have reasoned this
through. See, God had begun to adjust
Paul’s perspective immediately after he was converted. Immediately. Listen to this. You know the
story. Paul’s on the road to Damascus,
and he comes across, you know, this revelation of God, Jesus
himself meeting him on the road, calls him for repentance, Paul
is saved, and now they need someone essential to go and befriend
and disciple Paul. In verse 10 of Acts chapter 9,
it says there was a disciple of Damascus named Ananias, And
the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, here am
I, Lord. And the Lord said to him, get up and go to the street
called Straight and inquire at the house of Judas for a man
from Tarsus named Saul born to be his friend. And he noted.
But Ananias didn’t even hear the rest of it. Paul? Saul? That guy? He had seen a vision. And he
had Ananias come in and lay hands on him so that he might regain
his sight. And he knew the rest. But Ananias didn’t know Paul
initially. But God assured him, he didn’t
listen to this, listen to his mission. Go, for he is a chosen
instrument, literally a weapon, he is a weapon in my hand, to
bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel,
for I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s
sake. Was God making Paul pay for his salvation? Christ had already paid it before. But at an early juncture of Paul’s
life after conversion, and I’ll tell you more about the specifics
of this particular scene in a moment. At an early juncture of Paul’s
life, it indicates that he got it. He wasn’t fuzzy on this one
at all. In Acts 14.22, he’s going about
strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to
continue in their faith, saying, through many tribulations we
must enter the kingdom of God. It’s part and parcel of his being
a Christian. And what Paul was saying is he was going around
encouraging other Christians, it’s part and parcel of your
Christian life as well. By the time he writes Philippians,
jail. I might remind you, in prison
for the sake of the gospel, there is an absolute and certain joyful
resignation when Paul says, even if, and that’s not conditional,
that’s not saying if it might happen. Paul’s saying, look,
I am being poured out. Even if I’m being poured out
as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your
faith, I rejoice and I share my joy with you all. It is a
privilege to me to suffer with Christ.” That’s what he says.
From the very word go, from the very moment of his salvation,
all of his suffering was part and parcel of the Christian life. You say, well, God’s with him,
you know, in his first century. They don’t even have factories
yet. They don’t have cars. They don’t have the difficulties
that we do. They don’t have cell phones.
How bad could it really have gotten for Paul? After all, he
was God’s choice servant, right? Would God allow him here? Paul,
the greatest evangelist the church has ever known? Would God allow
him to be touched by difficulty? Would God allow him to undergo
hardship? Would God allow him to experience
pain, undergo challenges, struggles, fears, failures, risks? The definitive passage on the
question is found in 2 Corinthians 11. Would you turn, please, to
2 Corinthians chapter 11. Essentially, Paul says there
exactly what he says here. Difficulties and suffering is
a part of our calling on the path to glory. We’re going to spend a few minutes here. 2 Corinthians
11, verse 23. I’ll stay deeper, delving into
the context for another day, but essentially, there were those
that were saying that they were more worthy of being followed
and listened to than even Paul. Paul contends immediately by
saying, are they servants of Christ? I speak as if insane,
I more so. He basically says, look, the
proof is in the pudding. Look at what I’ve done. Look
at my life. Look at how God has used me.
I, more so, in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten
times without number, often in danger of death, five times I
received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes, three times I was beaten
with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked,
a night and a day I spent in the deep, I’ve been on frequent
journeys in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers
from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the
city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among
false brethren. I’ve been in labor and hardship
through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without
food, in cold and exposure.” He says, is that enough? Not at all. He hasn’t even gotten
to the biggest one yet. Apart from such external things,
there is daily pressure on me of concern for all detergents.
Let’s pause for a moment. I want to look at each one. And we can do that. One commentator
aptly summarizes that at least 13 of the things that he mentioned
could have instantly killed me. Eight of the things mentioned
were directly tied to traveling woes. And when you think of how
much traveling Paul did, it’s almost a big set to expect. Far
more labors. Far more labors. And this means,
this is the sweat of the brow kind of labor. A lot of times,
people think of ministry as, you know, my kid said it one
day, when I retired from the orange box, they said, oh, I’m
glad that doesn’t have to work anymore. No. A lot of times that’s
how people think, that you only work one day a week. Well, it
certainly wasn’t true for Paul. In far more labors, Paul says. One pastor noted of Paul’s labors,
of Paul’s abundant labors as Christ’s minister, it is unnecessary
to speak here. No man in the history of the
Christian Church has been more unflagging in evangelical toil
and zeal. I love that. You just look at
Paul’s life, and you say, who could even begin to hold a candle
to a guy like that? Nobody. In far more ways. In
far more imprisonments, which is interesting. Because at this
juncture, at the writing of 2 Corinthians, Scripture records only one imprisonment. That and Philippi. Remember the
Philippian jailer getting himself saved? Scripture also reports
other imprisonments that would follow. He was imprisoned in
Jerusalem, in Caesarea, as we just studied, in the Book of
Acts, in Rome twice. But church historians that were
very acquainted with Paul’s life often speak of at least seven
imprisonments. which means there are several
imprisonments that aren’t even mentioned in scripture, and Paul
mentions at least two here. Far more imprisonments. He says,
I’ve been imprisoned a lot more than they have for the sake of
the gospel. Go on. Beaten times without numbers.
This word is literally referred to as stripes. meaning the stripes
that one receives when receiving a beating. They were beaten with
cords and often these leather straps which would have bone
or metal or glass tied on the ends of them and they would tear,
you know the story, it would tear the flesh and it would leave
these marks across the back of whoever was beaten. Pulse was
beaten times without number. I can’t even remember how many
times I was beaten. Scripture reports only one, and that is
even referring to this particular instance. Often in danger of
death, literally in death. Situations where Paul was in
imminent danger of death. One commentator said that he
suffered a thousand deaths in the sense of being constantly
in imminent danger of death and of enduring terrors. Many of
us, I mean, a lot of us It’s novelty to us to go get on one
end of a rubber band and jump off a cliff. That’s what we consider
imminent danger of death, bungee jumping, or jumping out of a
parachute or a plane with a parachute, or doing some other such daredevil
kind of thing. Well, for Paul, it was daily. It was part of his daily life.
He would get up, and here comes another specter of death. It
was part of his life. Listen to how he speaks of it
in other passages. 2 Corinthians 1. We have the
sentence of death within ourselves, so that we could not trust ourselves
but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from the great
peril of death. Everywhere we went, we had the
sentence of death. It was like we had a death wish,
only we weren’t wishing it. 2 Corinthians 4, Paul says it
again. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death
for Jesus’ sake. Everywhere we go, for the sake
of the gospel, we have this death sentence. It hangs, as it were,
like a hatchet over our heads. Romans 8.36, at the end of this
very chapter, he says, just as it is written, for your sake
we are being put to death all day long. Quote, from the Psalms. Paul goes on, not only death,
not only everywhere he went was in danger of death, but even
those moments where he was brought right up to the edge of death. Look at verse 24. Five times
I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Now, Deuteronomy 25 had
laid out to the Jews explicitly what they were to do. They were
to administer more than forty lashes. Because more than 40
would certainly agree with that. That was their understanding
of what God had said. 40 lashes was something the body
could endure. Well, in time, they wanted to
stop short of even that for fear of miscounting. So they made
a cord of three strands with three whips on the end of it.
And they would give blows, 13 of them. 13 times 3 would produce
the 39 lashes. Paul says, I got that treatment
five times. Five times I was beaten. And
if you can count here that he was beaten five times with these
whips, that means that when he says, I can’t even remember how
many times I’ve been beaten, that means he’s talking about
something completely differently there. Not only was he beaten
with these whips and beaten with rods, he was probably also beaten
with fists. Go on from there and look at
verse 25. Three times I was beaten with rods. Three times I was
beaten with rods. This was a Roman punishment,
and it is what it is. He’s not talking about an iron
rod, because such was not a common material then, but it was a stick. a lengthy piece of stiff wood,
a rod, and they would take and beat, just like they would beat
an animal. It happened. You know the situation in Acts
16, the slave girl, who had a spirit of divination, essentially calls
her to repentance, rebukes the spirit, command you in the name
of Jesus Christ to come out of her, and all of a sudden, Their
means of profit, these men in the town, their means of profit
were gone because they couldn’t benefit off of her services any
longer. The crowd rose up together and
the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded
to order them to be beaten with rods. This is the situation.
This is what Paul’s talking about. He says it happened three times. Scripture reports one, but at
least two other occasions, Paul says he was beaten. Like a dog. Not only that, once I was stoned.
You know this situation as well from our study of the Book of
Acts. This occurring in Lystra. Jews
came from Antioch, Actonia, having won over the Krauts. The Krauts
had stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him
to be dead. This means he was so badly injured,
comatose, knocked out, whatever. He was so badly injured that
they assumed, and these were experts in the cause, they assumed
that he was dead. This wasn’t just a light. They didn’t just give him a glancing
blow with a few stones. These were probably fist-sized
rocks that they hurled at his head. He goes on. Three times, he says, I was shipwrecked. Three times. You know what? Molly
Brown got fame and a title for surviving only two. Paul says
three times, a shipwreck. You know what’s interesting about
this? Scripture doesn’t record these. I’m not talking about
the one at the end of the book of Acts. Because this is before. Now there were a lot of presumptive
boat trips that Paul might have taken. The Holy Spirit never
saw fit to record any other shipwreck which means there are probably
many other boat trips that Paul took other than the ones, or
in addition rather, to the ones that are recorded in scripture.
He went from Caesarea to Tarsus, from Tarsus to Antioch, from
Seleucia to Salamis, from Papos to Perga, from Italia to Antioch,
from Troas to Indianapolis, from Berea to Athens, from Corinth
to Ephesus, from Ephesus to Caesarea. Paul was almost constantly on
the water. No wonder he says about that
shipwreck, perhaps, a night in the day, I have spent in the
deep. About a 24-hour period of time, as one said, he was
a plank. Only a plank separated him from
death. He hung on for dear life. I’ve been on frequent journeys,
which is what we would expect from the greatest itinerant evangelist,
which is essentially chronicled in the book of Acts from chapter
9 onward. in dangers from rivers, not only
those raging torrents, but also even a mild brook that turns
into a raging torrent with rain, dangers from robbers. You think
of the parable of the Good Samaritan and the robbers that lay in wait
in that parable. That’s exactly what Paul was
faced, wherever he was. And imagine carrying a bag of
money to relieve the poor saints. Imagine what a target he was. dangers from his own countrymen,
the Jews. He faced that at Damascus. He
faced it at Jerusalem. He faced it at Antioch. He faced
it at Iconium. He faced it at Lystra, Thessalonica,
Berea, Corinth, Greece, again in Jerusalem. To the extent that
when he wrote to the Thessalonians, he said, for this reason, we
also constitute that power. that when you received this Word
of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the
Word of men, but what it really is, the Word of God, which also
performs its work in you who believe. For you, brethren, became
imitators of the churches of God and Christ that are in Judea. For you also endured the same
sufferings at the hands of your own country, even as they did
from the Jews. who both killed the Lord Jesus
and the prophets and drove us out. It was just part of Paul’s
daily existence. Not only dangers from his countrymen,
dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness,
dangers on the sea, which prompted one commentator to say, this
triplet, the deep, the rivers, the sea, there’s almost nowhere
Paul could go. Wherever Paul went, he was unsafe. Dangerous among false brethren.
Probably one of the most noteworthy is this Alexander. We don’t know a lot about him.
He could possibly be the Alexander spoken of in 1 Timothy 1.18.
This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance
with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that you
fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience,
while some have rejected and suffered shipwreck. in regard
to their faith among these were Hymenaeus and Alexander. We run
into an Alexander again at the end of seconds, and it would
be probably some of the final words that Paul ever wrote. He just said this, Alexander
the conquestant did me much harm. In other words, it’s a part of
these, it’s a part of the stones, but you don’t even know. Paul says in verse 27, I’ve been
in labor and hardship. Such is ministry. Paul says that
the Thessalonians, you recall brethren, are labor and hardship. Same two words. Are labor and
hardship. How we’re united day. So it’s
not to be a burden to any of you. We know of Paul’s tent making
ministry. And I believe that he even talks
beyond that. Even when he wasn’t making tents. Because he was
pretty up from that. Even when he wasn’t making tents,
Paul labored in the Word. And he labored in the work of
the ministry like Noah. Through many sleepless nights.
You say, did they keep him up in prison? Perhaps. Likely so. Prisons are often noisy, out
of control places. But there were many opportunities
where Paul had just to stay up for the work of ministry, perhaps
talking with someone, perhaps conducting some all-night prayer
service. For many sleepless nights, and
yet there were probably, based on his final statement, there
were probably more sleepless nights lost. Concern for the church, concern
for the people of God. in hunger and thirst, he says,
almost adding at the end, almost as in, oh yeah, by the way, I
didn’t get lunch. I didn’t get food for three days.
We never got hungry. Certainly there were times of
fasting, but I don’t believe that’s what’s in focus here.
He’s talking about suffering, he’s talking about those things
that are exposed, that are imposed from without. Paul says, look,
all of this, all of this design, to prepare and to fit them to
serve him better. One pastor is looking over the
light pulse of this. The greatest of the apostles
here appears before us, his back lacerated by frequent scourges,
his body worn by hunger, thirst, exposure, cold and naked, persecuted
by Jews and Gentiles, driven from place to place, without
any certain dwelling, this passage, perhaps more than any other,
makes even the most laborious of the modern ministries of Christ
hide their face in shame. What have they ever done or suffered
to compare with what the apostles did? No. No. Paul’s He was poor, often without food or clothing. His body was
weak and sickly. He was homeless. He was beset
by cruel enemies. He was repeatedly counted as
the scourge of the earth. He was beyond measure harassed
by anxieties and cares. And by the opposition of false
teachers, the corruption of the churches, these afflictions were
exceedingly great. He was pressed out of measure
of all afflictions as trifles. Yet he did not regard these,
nor did he bear them with a stoical indifference. He felt their full
force and pressure, not just that he ignored them like some
kind of bogus. So, you hear this Paul. When Paul says, I consider that
the sufferings of this present time. You know, this is a guy
who I would listen to. Let me talk to you about suffering. Let me tell you how I evaluate
that in comparison with the glory that is to be received. Paul
says, I consider that the sufferings of this present time aren’t worth
They’re not worthy to be compared. You can’t even stack them up. They weigh as nothing. As a fetter
against an anvil, essentially, Paul says, I consider the sufferings
of this present time aren’t worthy to be compared with the glory
that is to be revealed to us. You know that sentence is echoed.
It’s echoed a number of different times in Scripture. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4.17,
he refers to these difficulties of life. What he refers to there
in 2 Corinthians as affliction is the sufferings that he refers
to here. And he refers to them as momentary
life afflictions. Peter said essentially the same
thing in the passage that we read in preparation for worship.
And then she greatly rejoiced, even though now, for a little
while, it necessary. And I take that to mean, as God
deems fit, as God, in His sovereignty, sees necessary for your life,
you have been distressed by various wonders. It’s momentary life,
don’t you think? It’s not worthy to be compared to glory that
is immutable. We take it up there. We’re merciful people. We humble ourselves to forcing. We’re so caught up in our own
life, in our own situation, in our own pity parties, that sometimes we forget the perspective that
Paul offers, and our perspective of one who is the expert on the
subject, one who suffered second only to Christ, one who suffered
great indignities and great pain and toil. And yet in the final
analysis of him, the view of the glory that was preparing
to be revealed to him, of which he had already had a glimpse, Paul said, it’s not even worthy
to be compared. Lord, grant us by your grace
this perspective on our own sufferings. Make us to be eager to receive
and embrace these seasons in our life, knowing full well that
one day we will reign with you in glory. To Jesus’ name, we
pray.