Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

What Do You Give Up For Jesus?

I have told people about salvation by faith and surrender to Christ for many years, and the one question I’ve heard is:

“But what will I have to GIVE UP to give myself to Jesus?”

The answer is – EVERYTHING. If you want to be saved and cared for as God wants to care for you, you must give Jesus everything. Salvation is to give your life to Jesus – and He gives His life to you. The beginning of salvation, the very first step, is found in the word REPENT. Jesus preached:

REPENT (metanoeō), for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17)

Jesus often preached “unless you REPENT (metanoeō), you will all perish” (Luke 13:3, 5).

When Jesus sent the disciples out to preach, it was the message that “every person should REPENT (metanoeō)” (Mark 6:12).

Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost, “REPENT (metanoeō) and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” (Acts 2:38).

And again later, “REPENT (metanoeō) and be converted, that your sins be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). To be saved, you must REPENT (metanoeō).

You must turn from being your own god, following your own word, and surrender to the God Who made you and Who wants to save you. Beloved, when you do this, you lose far less than you gain!

Those who come to Christ lose an uncertain and confusing life, and are brought into an abundant life. Jesus said,

“I have come that you MIGHT HAVE LIFE, abundant life!” (John 10:10, AP)

You are not really living unless you are in Christ Jesus. Those who will not come to Christ do not have life, but are merely existing. But those who come surrendered to Christ, we have previously seen:

Are no longer condemned by God. (Romans 8:1)
Are freed from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)
Are led by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:3-7)
Are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God (Romans 8:9)
Are made alive by the Spirit (Romans 8:10-13)
Are made into sons of God (Romans 8:14)
Are adopted into the Family of God (Romans 8:15-16)
Are made heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17)

Beloved, by coming to Christ as your Lord and Savior, you gain far more than you lose. Today the Lord tells us another great thing the Christian has over the lost person.

We Have His Promise Of Tomorrow To Help Us Through the Suffering Of Today

Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

We are all acquainted with suffering. Everyone has suffered, is going through suffering, or will suffer in this life. As the Apostle wrote these words that I just read, that dear man knew much of suffering. When Jesus knocked Paul down on the Damascus Road, He blinded Paul, and sent a disciple named Ananias to minister to him. Jesus told Ananias:

Acts 9:16 (AP) … I will show Paul how GREAT THINGS HE MUST SUFFER for My sake

To stand for Jesus in this present evil world requires suffering. Paul suffered terribly in carrying the Gospel of salvation to others. Paul told the Church:

2 Corinthians 1:8 (ESV) … the affliction we experienced in Asia. … we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that WE DESPAIRED OF LIFE ITSELF.

Paul and his companions were beyond suffering. In another place the Apostle detailed how much he suffered in sharing the Gospel. He said:

2 Corinthians 11:24-27 (KJV) Of the Jews five times received I forty [stripes] save one. [25] Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; [26] [In] journeyings often, [in] perils of waters, [in] perils of robbers, [in] perils by [mine own] countrymen, [in] perils by the heathen, [in] perils in the city, [in] perils in the wilderness, [in] perils in the sea, [in] perils among false brethren; [27] In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

How Paul suffered. How the Apostles suffered, the early Church, the Christians. Yet of the suffering Paul says confidently:

Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Paul said, “I’ve seen the future of our state. We REPENTED. We gave our lives to Jesus. And yes, we suffer. But the suffering we are undergoing NOW is nothing in comparison to what we have coming to us – the GLORY that we will have when we meet our Jesus face to face”,

GLORY!

Not only do we look forward to the glorious future we have, but we are told:

Romans 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the CREATURE {ktisis} waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Word Study: The word translated “CREATURE” is the Greek ktisis, which means “CREATION”. Creation itself is looking forward to the “MANIFESTATION” {apokalypsis}, or the “REVELATION” of the sons of God. God has promised the Christian that there will come a glorious future where we have no suffering, no pain. A time when God fulfills His promise to us, where God says:

Revelation 21:5 (KJV) … Behold, I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW …

We look forward to this time – but creation itself also looks forward to our future self. Creation will one day be relieved of suffering, just as we who are Christians will be relieved of suffering.

So Why Is There Suffering Throughout This World?

Why all the suffering? Why do babies get cancer? Why do we see such cruelty in nature? Why does the baby antelope, just born, find itself surrounded by predators, torn apart and eaten alive? Why are there poisonous snakes that kill children? Why do people suffer starvation because of drought? Why are people murdered by people, and by wild animals? Why … why … why?

Our text tells us.

Romans 8:20For the CREATURE {ktisis, CREATION} was made subject to VANITY {mataiotēs}, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope

Word Study: Creation itself WAS SUBJECTED to – not “VANITY” but the word mataiotēs means “that which is devoid of truth, robbed of that which is appropriate. That which is perverse or depraved.” Creation did not do this to itself. We are told that Creation …

was made subject to VANITY {mataiotēs}, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope

To understand this statement you have to go back to the beginning, to the Book of Genesis. When God made Creation, the Bible says:

Genesis 1:31 (KJV) … God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good…

There was absolutely NO suffering in all Creation. God made it VERY GOOD, a beautiful Paradise. God put Adam and Eve in the midst of this perfection. God told them:

Genesis 1:28 … (KJV) God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion …

God gave humanity stewardship of the earth. Their orders were clear. Adam was to obey God’s Word, to do as the Lord required. God gave Adam ultimate authority over all things on this earth, and told him:

Genesis 2:16-17 (KJV) … Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Adam and Eve were perfect. Creation was perfect. There was no suffering, no pain throughout all of the world. Then Adam did the unthinkable – he departed from the Word of God. Adam ate that which was forbidden, choosing to follow the word of a possessed snake over the promise of God. God told Adam after the fall:

Genesis 3:17-19 (NKJV) … Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.

Creation was under the stewardship of Adam. But as Adam rejected the Word of God for the word of humanity, his actions brought the curse of sin into creation itself. As we have read many times:

Romans 5:12 (NKJV) … through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned …

Adam’s sin didn’t just effect Adam. It effected Adam’s progeny – that’s us. Adam’s sin also effected nature itself. Prior to his sin Creation was “very good”. But following his sin, creation was “cursed for Adam’s sake”. When God subjected Creation to sin because of Adam,

him {God} who hath subjected the same in hope

The fall of mankind and of nature was not a hopeless fall, but one that offered HOPE. When God cursed the serpent (Satan himself, see Revelation 12:9) He promised a future redemption. The Lord told Satan:

Genesis 3:15 (NKJV) … I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.

The “SEED of the Woman” is an ancient promise of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was promised as the Messiah in Genesis, the Savior and Lord of His people. It is because of Jesus that we who are Christians have a glorious future – a future that even Creation looks forward to. When the Christian is delivered from this present body of sin, then this will trigger a change in Creation itself:

Romans 8:21-22 Because the CREATION (ktisis) itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together {synōdinō} until now.

Right now Creation GROANS and SHARES PAIN WITH US (synōdinō) right now. We suffer. Creation suffers. Why? Because of sin. Because man chose to depart from the Word of God.

We Suffer, But Not Without Hope

Romans 8:23-25 (KJV) And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. 24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

We all suffer, believer or unbeliever. But what we as believers have is HOPE beyond the suffering. Our HOPE is based on the faithfulness of God. The Bible tells us that God, unlike us, is FAITHFUL. Our God never changes. God is faithful under the New Covenant:

1 Corinthians 1:9 (KJV) God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

And our God was faithful under the Old Covenant:

Deuteronomy 7:9 (KJV) Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

God cannot be faithful. “Let God be TRUE, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4). What God has promised, He will do. He has promised those who suffer together with Him:

2 Timothy 2:12 (KJV) … If WE SUFFER, we shall ALSO REIGN WITH HIM

There is a grand future awaiting every Christian who is a Christ follower indeed. If we SUFFER with Him, if we STAND with Him, if we LOVE Him now – one day we will REIGN with Him. The Bible tells us that when the children of God are manifested, fully redeemed from sin, that there will be …

Revelation 21:1 (KJV) … a NEW HEAVEN and a NEW EARTH, for the first Heaven and the first earth WERE PASSED AWAY …

But Here’s The Glorious Truth For Our NOW

We have read that (verse 22) “The whole CREATION groans and suffers with us”. We also know that (verse 23) “WE OURSELVES GROAN within ourselves”, awaiting our final redemption. We groan. Creation groans. But here’s what blows my mind.

Romans 8:26-27 (KJV) Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit HIMSELF (autos) maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

As we GROAN, God Himself, God the Holy Spirit, GROANS within us. He intercedes for us, praying for us as we go through the sufferings of this life. This totally blows my mind.

The Father sent His Son to die on the Cross.
The Father GROANED for our sake.
The Son suffered and died on the Cross.
GROANING in agony for us.
The Holy Spirit GROANS with us as we suffer.
Praying, interceding, loving us.

We do not suffer alone. God is with us. God gave Himself for us. God died for us. God rose again for us. God indwells us, who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And God has promised us a great and glorious future. These wonderful things flow into one of my favorite verses:

Romans 8:28 (KJV) AND we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

What got the Apostles through the beatings, the imprisonments, the suffering, the hunger, the shunning, the exhaustion of being hounded by both Jewish and Roman authorities? It was the knowledge that God had a plan for their lives, a glorious future. They knew that, no matter what happened, it was all working together “FOR GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD”. If you love God, if you have given your life to Christ, then everything that happens to you has happened for a purpose. It is not random chance, not blind fate, but the omnipresence and omniscience of God that overshadows your life.

God controls the end of our story – and it is GLORIOUS. But that truth is only for the Christian, those born again by faith in Christ. Are you born again? Have you REPENTED, and come to Jesus surrendered? Is Jesus Christ your LORD and SAVIOR? You have no future hope if He’s not. Beloved, Jesus said:

Matthew 7:13-14 (NKJV) Enter by the narrow GATE; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

In the ancient world the GATE was the place where you entered into a city. It was also the place where business was conducted. The WIDE GATE leads to destruction. That’s the GATE of the world. Tolerance. Whatever you want. The word of man over the Word of God. Many gods and goddesses. That GATE, the WIDE GATE, leads to destruction and damnation. But the NARROW GATE, it’s NARROW and DIFFICULT. That GATE is Jesus Christ. He is the “GATE of the Sheep” (John 10:7). Few find this GATE. To enter this GATE is to stand with Jesus against the lost world. You will be hated. You will suffer for following Jesus. But the coming eternity we are promised is well worth it.

May God speak to your hearts this very day. Amen.