Bottom line up front: Hope for the believer.

Introduction: Ever studied the life and ministry of the apostle Paul? Formerly named Saul of Tarsus, Paul was a scholar among scholars, a former Pharisee, a maker of tents, unmarried, a former zealous persecutor and murderer of Christians, and eventually, by the work of God alone, converted to the apostle Paul. He became arguably the greatest Christian of church history. He authored nearly 2/3 of the New Testament, planted church after church, was made an apostle to the Gentiles by Christ himself, mentored countless people in the Christian faith (Timothy, e.g.), and penned theological truths that Christians still plumb the depths of today.

This morning after PT, for example, I was reading and pondering Romans 8:18-19. Those verses read like this: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:18-19, ESV). Let that sink in, especially considering Paul’s sufferings. We remember those, right? The passage from 2 Corinthians 11 bears revisiting and thinking through:

But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food,[b] in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

And yet … Despite all his sufferings, Paul writes in Romans 8 that the Christian is one characterized by believing the promises of God, looking to God in hope. Why? Because of God’s steadfastness, because of God’s faithfulness. The great preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote, “If the creation has an earnest expectation, surely the Christian believer should have nothing less than that.”

Encouragement/takeaway: Unlike false worldviews, Christianity does not deny suffering. It deals with it head-on. Scripture is the story of the God who was “pierced for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). The Messiah was called a man of sorrows. And yet, Christians are more than conquerors because of this one true and living God. The triune God of Scripture ransoms sinners from every tribe, language, people, and nation in order that we who wait with eager longing wait in hope. I say again, in hope.