Cambria Pulpit

Culture around us continues to degrade at a rapid pace. Christian morals no longer stand as the norm. Rather those that hold to Biblical truth are viewed as wicked. In Romans 1, we discovered that this trend is no surprise. As God’s wrath turns against culture, it will continue to degrade and become more hostile. Further, believers face struggles and challenges throughout life. Romans 7 informed us that sin still impacts our lives and we can’t get away from it. However, as we saw in Romans 1:16, and throughout chapter 8, the Gospel is the answer to these issues. The Gospel is the answer to your trial. 

Throughout the book so far, we observed the depravity of man in chapters 1-3. We observed the glorious news of the gospel (Jesus’ death for sin, burial, and resurrection for our justification) in chapters 4-6. And we observed our ongoing struggle with sin in chapter 7. However, chapter 8 brought the glorious news of forgiveness and the amazing benefits of faith in Christ. We observed that we can find strength in the trial through our glorious future, our divine comforter, and our enduring promise.

Today, we answer the question, so what? How does all this really matter in everyday life? We still struggle. Life is still hard. How should we respond?

There are certain verses in Scripture that are very popular because of their message. Often, these verses can inadvertently turn into empty platitudes. Romans 8:28 is one such verse. Whenever someone is facing difficulty, they have a fellow believer to remind them, that all things work together for good! This can often feel very unhelpful. 

However, as we turn today to our enduring promise from God, and look at this promise in its context, I believe that this can turn into one of the most glorious passages in Scripture. 

Over the past two weeks, we have looked at verses 18-27 examining two of the three blessings from God which grant us strength in the midst of trial. We have a glorious future and a divine comforter.

The Holy Spirit is the most misunderstood, misrepresented, and ignored person of the Trinity. Pentecostals have turned the Spirit into a sideshow. And in response, most protestants have swung the pendulum to ignoring the Spirit. However, when we face trials and struggles in life, we do ourselves a disservice if we do not understand the Spirit’s role and working in our life. 

Many Christians face struggle with a kind of sad resignation. We understand that trial and struggle in our life is a reality and that one day God will make it right. However, we then tend to fall into a kind of despair and depression about the state of our life and this world today.

However, God has something much better for us. When we understand the role of the Spirit, we can maintain an eternal perspective in trial. This perspective, far from bringing frustration today, leads us to engage the world with joy. As we walk through the need for an eternal perspective in trial, today we will discover that we can find strength through the divine comforter God has given to us. 

Why do bad things happen? Every day we feel the struggles and toils of life. Many of you are currently walking through deep struggles in your life. Yet Romans 8:1-17 speaks of the fact that we are children of God. We are no longer under condemnation. The Spirit dwells within us! So why do bad things happen to the children of God? Doesn’t this seem to contradict the idea that we have life in Christ? TV’s popular health and wealth preachers regularly claim that if you have faith, you stand as a child of God and he promises you health. You just have to claim it. However, they themselves suffer from illness and ultimately die. The truth of Scripture is those bad things will happen to you. You will suffer in this life. But how is that possible since we are God’s children? Doesn’t he care to keep us safe? Paul seeks to give the believer hope and comfort in his answer here in this week’s text Romans 8:18-30. Admittedly again, this will probably take us three weeks to work through. 

Through faith we are made children of God. The most amazing benefit of salvation is that we become part of God's family. 

From an early age, children look to their mothers and ask, "Mommy, did you see that?" We all long for approval and acceptance from our mothers. In a similar vein, many have long given up any hope that they can be assured of God's approval. They simply hope that he will accept them. However, as we look at our text this morning we will discover that God is pleased with you because of Christ. 

God's holiness cannot allow sin to go unchecked. However, God's grace stands greater than sin. 

Many believers live in the throws of shame and guilt. The sins and mistakes of the past continually haunt them and destroy their lives and relationships. Some endure intense shame because of sin against them. But the glorious news of the gospel is that they are not condemned in Christ.

Over the past two weeks, we have discussed the reality that you can and must say no to sin. Sin is a challenge in every individual’s life. The struggle is very real. So how do we overcome sin? How do we say no to sin?

Often when a particular sin struggle enters into a life or to a society, the regular response to that struggle is to make a rule to keep you or others in society from that sin. In our personal life, we begin to make rules for ourselves to make sure that we keep from sinning. Perhaps we have the sin struggle of gluttony. So we make a rule that we will never go to the buffet. Maybe we struggle with anger. So we make a rule that we will always count to 10 before answering anyone.

We see this trend in some churches as well. Young people struggle with morality. So we make a rule that the girls need to dress like little house on the prairie. People struggle with commitment to God, so we make a rule that you have to be in church every time the doors are unlocked.

We see this trend in society as well. Gun violence takes place and there is a call for stricter gun laws. Abortion is rampant and so there is a call to outlaw abortion. 

Now we need to note that for the most part, rules are not bad things. There are such things as bad laws and bad rules, but society, churches, and our own lives would be in absolute disarray without rules. But we must understand that rules are not the answer to sin. Rules don’t fix sin problems.

This is not a new issue. By the first century, the Jews had come to view the Law as the solution to sin. If you made sure to follow the rules the Law laid out and you followed the rules the Rabbis added to the Law, you would be good. The problem was that this did not work anymore then than it does today. The Law is not the answer to sin.