Expect Gain through Pain

Message from Romans 8:17.

1. God teaches us to expect gain through pain.

This is life in a fallen world and the path into the kingdom. (Romans 8:17; Genesis 3:16-19; John 16:20-22; Acts 14:19-22)

Have you ever thought about James 5? (James 5:13)

Why must the suffering person pray?

• Because suffering is a great test of faith and a place of temptation. (1 Peter 1:7; Matthew 26:41)

• Because it is in suffering that our unbelief comes to the surface and we need help to believe. (Mark 9:17-24)

What do we need help to believe?

2. Believe you are a child of God though in pain.

Pain and suffering can tempt us to doubt that we are children of God. (Matthew 27:41-43)

But the truth is: Romans 8:17; 8:1; 1 Peter 5:10

3. Believe the pain is gain.

Pain and suffering can tempt us to believe that we are losing instead of gaining – that our lives are being wasted. (Matthew 27:39)

But the truth is: Romans 8:17; Isaiah 53:10-11; James 1:2

4. Believe the gain is far greater than the pain.

Pain and suffering can tempt us to believe that nothing could be worth going through certain “things.” (Job 3:1-3)

But the truth is: Romans 8:17-18

Remember: Expect broken carriages on the way to pick up your inheritance!

Pray Like You Have a Father (3)

Look again at Romans 8:15 and notice the words “we cry out.”

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

“We cry out” is another way of saying, “pray.” All those who believe in Jesus have received the Holy Spirit who moves us to pray. “We cry out” is in the present tense and means that this is an ongoing activity in the Christian life. It is also an intense word that can even be translated “scream” or “shriek.”

Then why do we have such a hard time praying? Here are some possible reasons:

(1) We aren’t a Christian. Christians pray according to this verse.

(2) We have such a perfectionistic standard for what constitutes a life of prayer that we will never consider ourselves to be “a praying person.”

(3) We are in a spiritual battle and think it ought to be easy and fun.

(4) We have sinful attitudes and beliefs that keep us from a lifestyle of prayer.

The Holy Spirit is in us to lead us into the truth and to lead us to obey in many ways and yet we still sin and are imperfect, including in the area of prayer.

What kinds of sinful attitudes and beliefs keep us from being imperfectly, yet truly, devoted to prayer?

(1) We are not looking to God as our Father for what we need and desire.

You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. (James 4:2);

(2) We see what we do as more important than what God does.

²⁴The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,

²⁵with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,

²⁶and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:24-26)

(3) We lack confidence in God as our Father.

Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. (James 5:13a)

We need to meditate on and pray over the truth that God is our Father and let it move us to pray like we have a Father.

(This is an excerpt from the message on Sunday, Praying Like You Have a Father, that can be found at www.coastcommunitychurch.com/resources/sermon/WS-795)

Pray Like You Have a Father (2)

Look at Romans 8:15 and, first of all, notice the “yous.”

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

Who is Paul talking to? Christians. What is a Christian? A Christian is someone who knows, sees and believes. A Christian is someone who knows the story, sees in Jesus what He claimed to be, and believes in Jesus in light of the story he knows and what he sees in Jesus.

What story does the Christian know? The story that the Christian knows is that Jesus, the Son of God, lived and died on a cross and rose again from the dead.

What claims of Jesus does the Christian see to be true? Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh and the way (to acceptance with God) and the truth (His word is final authority on reality) and the LIFE (source of true help and happiness). A Christian sees these things in Jesus.

How does a Christian believe in Jesus? He turns and trusts and obeys. He turns from sin. Sin includes idolatry (looking to created things for help and happiness instead of God), self-righteousness (the pride of depending on my own good works instead of God’s grace and mercy) and self-determination (trusting human reasoning and doing what I want to do instead of trusting God’s Word and living to do God’s will). He trusts in Jesus as the way (of acceptance with God), the truth (His Word as the final authority on reality) and the LIFE (as God, our true help and happiness). And relying on Jesus for acceptance and trusting God’s promises of help and happiness, He lives to obey God’s Word (to love).

A Christian knows the story, sees in Jesus what He claimed to be and believes in Jesus so that he turns from sin, trusts in Jesus for righteousness and LIFE and obeys God’s Word as the habit and practical goal of His life. This is a Christian by God’s grace and for His glory. This is the “you” in this verse that Paul is talking to.

Is that you?

(This is an excerpt from the message on Sunday, Praying Like You Have a Father, that can be found at www.coastcommunitychurch.com/resources/sermon/WS-795)