This morning's reading comes to us from Paul's epistle to the church at Rome, Romans chapter 8, and we'll be reading verses 31 through 39, which is 31 through the end of the chapter. So Romans chapter 8, beginning in verse 31. Let's give attention to the reading of God's word. Romans chapter 8, beginning in verse 31. Hear now the word of the Lord. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. May God add his blessing to this reading from his holy and inspired word. I think we could say that the book of Romans is perhaps one of the best known in all of the scriptures. It presents to us many amazing and tremendous themes. Paul begins in the valley of sin and death after his announcement of the saving power of the gospel because he descends into the shadows of death and sin to show the universal sinfulness of all human beings, both Jew and Greek, to show that as holy and as righteous as the Jewish people thought that they were in comparison to the holiness and the righteousness of God, he says that all fall short. All fall short of the glory of God. But he doesn't leave us in that pit of despair and death. Rather, he begins to march us out of that valley of sin and death onto the glorious peak of the gospel. And we begin to ascend, and we begin to see that it's the Lord Jesus Christ who's interceded on our behalf. He's the propitiation for our sins, the one who appeases God's wrath, the one who has offered his own life, death, and resurrection on our behalf. In the fourth chapter, he talks, for example, about the justification, the ability of sinners to stand in the presence of a righteous and holy God and for God to declare us righteous in his sight because of Christ's imputed righteousness. And as we ascend and continue onward and upward, we see that though we have the weight of Adam's sin about our necks dragging us down, down and down, it is Christ through his perfect obedience that lifts us out of that pit and causes us to ascend to Zion so that we have right and title to the eternal life itself and to the blessings of heaven and to our redemption. Paul in the subsequent chapters does talk about the struggles that we encounter with our sinful conquered nature but nevertheless the struggles that we face whether it be obedience or offering ourselves as drink offerings unto the Lord, those dedicated to his service. But the overall pattern and trajectory is one that goes upwards and takes us onto this grand peak by which we can behold the glorious grace of the gospel of Christ and we can see Christ's victory over Satan's sin and death. But then we come to some words in the eighth chapter that seemingly don't fit. It seems ironic. It seems perhaps counterintuitive because how after all of these glorious things and Christ's decisive blow against sin and death and Christ's glorious intercession on our behalf, can Paul write the words, yet for your sake we are killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. how is this compatible with Christ's victory over sin? Is not the Christian life supposed to be marked by joy and by peace? But yet how can Paul say that we are to be regarded as sheep to be slaughtered? I was once preaching in a church where I was preaching on the 23rd Psalm and talking about how christ is the great shepherd of the sheep and afterwards somebody came up to me and says i have a problem with you comparing all of us to sheep sheep are just mere animals they're to be bought and sold and slaughtered as gently as i could i told the person well you have to take your complaint up with the lord he's the one that has compared us to sheep and at many points, we see that Christ lays down his life for the sheep. Why on earth would the shepherd lay down his life for animals, those to be bought and sold and even slaughtered? Well, that we can see the glorious depths of Christ's love for us. But yet here Paul goes in the opposite direction and he says, yet we are for your sake killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. Well, what I want us to know here, beloved, and this is what we want to look at this morning, is why Paul would invoke these words and how these words indeed mark the Christian life and that it is not in any way contradictory to the Christian life, but rather it explains in many respects its very essence. It's very essence. And so what I'd like us to do is I want us to explore what paul has to say about suffering in the midst of the christian life and how suffering is not in any way contrary to the christian life and that as we endure suffering as we go through suffering that the apostle paul here lays out what we could say are three different things that he wants us to understand first of all he wants us to understand the source of our confidence in the midst of trials, in the midst of difficulties, in the midst of persecution. The source of our confidence. Secondly, he wants us to know that we must, as Christians, as disciples of Christ, carry our crosses. Indeed, the Christian life is one marked by the cross of Christ. And so he wants us to see this quite clearly. And then thirdly, we want to reflect briefly upon how we as Christians should respond to trials and sufferings. What the godly response is, what is the response to suffering as we see it here as Paul lays it out at the end of Romans chapter 8. So let's consider, first of all, the source of our confidence in the midst of suffering, even in the wake of the victory of the crucifixion, life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Ever since the fifth chapter, here in Paul's epistle to Rome, Paul has been explaining the connections between the various benefits that we have as a result of our union with Christ, The implications of our effectual calling, our justification, that declaration that we have that we are righteous in God's sight because of the imputed righteousness of Christ. Our sanctification, that ongoing work of the Spirit where he conforms us to the image of Christ. The freedom that we have from sin as well as from the condemnation of the law. But he writes there in Romans chapter 5, verses 1 and following, Words that in many respects anticipate the fuller explanation that he gives here at the ending of Romans 8. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith in this grace in which we stand and in which we hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that our suffering produces endurance. And endurance produces character. And character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. You see, what Paul is saying here is he wanted the Christians at Rome to understand that suffering, as a result of being united to Christ, is part of the Christian life. So often many in the church think that, well, if I trust in Christ and he forgives me of my sin, then everything going forward should be simplified. Everything in this life should be easy. Yet Paul says, this is not the case. Indeed, there is suffering in this world. We live in a sin-fallen world. Moreover, if we are united to Christ, as Christ informed us in the Sermon on the Mount, if we are identified with the name of Christ, we will suffer persecution. Yes, we have taken a step into the new heavens and the new earth when we are united to Christ by faith, but there is still a sense in which we have a foot still firmly planted here in this sin-fallen world so that we suffer persecution. At times, we suffer tragedies. We suffer trials. And it may seem as if God has all but forgotten us. Perhaps you have been there before where you find yourself in the midst of suffering for one reason or another, whether it be illness, whether it be a tragic turn of events, And you cry out to God and you say, oh Lord, where are you? There have been days where I have certainly felt as if there was a glass ceiling over the roof of my home that did not allow the prayers to ascend much further than my roof. See, Paul was very much aware of these things. Paul was no ivory tower theologian who simply pontificated upon these things and then told people to do the best that they could. Paul, as you are well aware, was intimately familiar with suffering. He was intimately familiar with persecution. He was beaten and left for dead on a number of occasions. Recall Paul suffered from his thorn in the flesh where he cried out to God in prayer three times that he would be delivered. And yet what was God's response? But that my grace is sufficient for you. So what Paul wanted the church at Rome to understand, and indeed for all of us to understand, is that in the midst of such things, where should we find our confidence? Where should we find our confidence? Upon whom should we secure our hope? And this is why Paul writes in verse 31 of chapter 8, What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? You see, in this life, I think we often prioritize things, sometimes more so upon what we can see with our physical eyes, rather than what we know from the scriptures. If I were to ask people to raise your hands and start calling off what are some of the world's greatest problems in this life, We might have a number of answers. Don't worry, I won't ask you to do that. I know we're reformed, so I know we don't do such things. What problems come to mind? Maybe since we're in California, we might say the drought. We might say global warming. Maybe we might say economic unrest. Maybe we might say global terrorism. How many different things would make that list? Yet how many of us would immediately think that the greatest problem in this world is sin? And that the enmity that the unbelieving world has with God is the greatest problem in this world. That is where Paul's mind was anchored. That sin is the greatest problem in this world. But that as a result, as a result of the intercessory work of Christ, as he said, as we read moments ago in Romans 5.1, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's because we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ that Paul can write, what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? The biggest problem in our life has been solved by God himself. We are no longer under God's wrath, but rather we have peace with him. And that, beloved in Christ, was our biggest problem. Everything else, Paul says, pales in comparison. Why? Well, as Paul writes in verse 32, He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? I was recently watching an interview with a college student who was making public demands that she believed that all student debt should simply be eliminated for free, just to, you know, wipe it off the books. And the newscaster asked her in a very pointed manner, well, who's going to pay for all of this? And she was dumbfounded. She didn't know what to say. Because I think it's often the opinion of many in this world that, well, it's just a number in a book. Just erase it. Wipe it out. It'll go away. Never mind the fact that what she probably hadn't given thought to is that those student loans are connected to investments and that those investments are connected to the bank accounts of many ordinary people. Maybe retirees, maybe people trying to earn a little bit of interest on their life savings. And to wipe out those debts would be to wipe out their investments. In other words, somebody has to pay for it. Beloved in Christ, God does not simply eliminate our sin. He just doesn't take the big eraser and wipe it off the books and say, there, done, it's taken care of. He sent his very own son to pay the price. It was a costly price. It cost Christ the suffering upon the cross. It cost Christ dearly as he underwent the wrath of God, so much so that he cried out in anguish, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? It was costly. And it is this source of hope, It is this anchor upon which Paul had his assurance founded, that he said, he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he also not with him graciously give us all things? He recognized that God had given him this tremendous blessing, and that if this was the case, that it was this source of confidence, It is the redemption in Christ that gave him the hope to be able to face the various trials, persecutions, and difficulties that he faced in this life. Think of the prophet Zechariah as he recounted Joshua the high priest who stood before God's grand tribunal. The prophet Zechariah tells us in the third chapter of his book that there Joshua the high priest stood in stained garments and they weren't just simply dirty. The text says in the Hebrew that they were stained with excrement, which according to Old Testament law is about as unholy as you can get. And the accuser, Satan, came out and said, he is guilty. God did not dispute with him. And I suspect that there Joshua the high priest trembled because he was all too aware of his stains and his guilt. And yet what does the Lord say? The Lord rebuke you, O Satan. Remove his filthy garments. Give to him a new garment which was symbolic of the righteousness of Christ. Prophet Zechariah got so excited in the text. He says, and give him a turban too. He got into the act. He's like, yeah, dress him up. Zechariah, I'm sure, recounts there, I suspect that Joshua was filled with confidence knowing that he could stand in the presence of this righteous and holy God. This is why Paul writes, who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who is raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. You have the creator of the heavens and earth interceding at the right hand of the Father right now for you. The greatest problem in your life, your sin, has been dealt with definitively, irrevocably, and immutably. God does not change his mind and will not change his mind. i think so often in our lives when we encounter suffering and trials we can think that it's just the suffering and the trials that we see and that's all and we forget about christ my father tells me of a time when he and his friend decided to go out onto the ocean to make a three or four hour run to a nearby island and they were in a 12 foot boat with an outboard motor and he says the trip out went fine he says it was the trip back where things got hairy he says that all of a sudden the seas got pretty rough and he says it was one of the scariest times of his life because he said they would chug up one side of the swell chug down the other side of the swell and he says it's an ominous thing to be out on the open ocean in a 12-foot boat when all you can see around you is a sheer wall of water because you're down in a swell. I think that's the nature of our trials sometimes. We feel as if we're in our small, tiny boat and all we can see is that wall of suffering around us, that wall of persecution, that wall of trial. And we forget where our hope is anchored in Christ. we fail to look to the heavens where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, where we are seated with him. Beloved in Christ, that is your source of confidence in the midst of trials. Secondly, I think Paul speaks in the manner that he does here at the ending of the eighth chapter because he wanted the Christians at Rome and he wanted you to know that this is the nature of the Christian life. The life of discipleship is one that is marked by the cross of Christ. And this is why I believe he introduces Psalm 44, verse 22. For your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. Beloved, Paul was no masochist. Sometimes we can read the statements of the scriptures from the apostles and we can think, boy, they must have been crazy. How could they want to invite this kind of suffering? Rather, beloved, Paul had been united to Christ and therefore he was willing to go wherever Christ called him to go. And when I'm saying that he was willing to go wherever Christ led, I'm not talking geographically, but rather in terms of the various twists and turns of life. The Apostle Paul knew what it meant to suffer, and he endured that suffering because these were the events that Christ brought before him in his life. And this is what Christ himself tells us. When we embrace Christ by faith, we ultimately embrace a life of discipleship, one marked by the cross of Christ. Paul, I'm sorry, Christ says in Mark's gospel, I'm sorry, in Matthew's gospel, I don't know why, but I think that often in the church these days, the cross of Christ is not a theme that we hear that much about. Perhaps it's because the rest of the world and even many quarters of the church Ultimately, deep down inside, look at the cross as a symbol of suffering, of ignominy, of shame, of weakness. And in the Christian life, many of us do not want to be weak. We want to be strong. When the world wants to demonstrate its power and its might, they put on a military parade, they launch a missile, they drop bombs. They invade other countries. When we want to show our strength, we may do so by various means, whether it be through financial strength, whether it be through telling people, no, no, I'm fine, I don't need your help. I can figure it out on my own. Paul was very much aware of this. It says in 1 Corinthians 1, verses 23 and following, For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles. But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, for the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Paul's point here is that not to invoke masochism, Or not to say, oh sure, suffering is fun, let's have some more. But rather to remind us that the way that Christ shows and demonstrates power is not through the clenched fist, but rather through the open hand. Christ demonstrated the power of God, not in strength, but in weakness, as he opened the fist so that nails could be driven through them. It was in the weakness and in the shame and in the suffering of the cross that God manifested his power. And indeed, that is the same way for us, for we who are united to Christ, not only join to Christ in terms of our faith and receive the blessings, but just as the head suffered, so too we must suffer. Not in a redemptive fashion, not that our suffering somehow brings about the forgiveness of sins or somehow makes us more acceptable to god but rather christ manifests his life the life of the cross in us so that when we are weak his power and his might shines out so often beloved we think that we can shine forth the glory of the gospel through our strength But instead, God says, no, you must decrease so that I can increase. This is why this message is scattered throughout the book of the scriptures. My family and I are reading the book of Judges, or just finished reading the book of Judges in our family devotions. And so often it's the case that God delivers his people in spite of their weakness. My sons found it particularly enjoyable when we read about Ehud killing Eglon, you know, with the whole knife to the belly thing. It's in the Bible. And I explained to my sons, notice that Ehud stabs with the left hand. The left hand is the one of weakness. Where does Christ sit? He doesn't sit at the left. He sits at the right. But here, Eglon, with the hand of weakness, brings about redemption. Samson brings about redemption and God's wrath upon his enemies as he is blind and as he is tied. It's throughout all of the scriptures. God does not pick Israel because of their might or their greatness, but because of their insignificance. And this is why Paul locks on to this. And this is why we must also remember, though, that just because we are weak, just because we suffer, just because we are being persecuted does not mean that we are being ground into dust. You know, Paul says we do not merely endure. We do not simply suffer, but rather we conquer through our weakness. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors. Through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life. Nor angels nor rulers. Nor things present nor things to come. Nor powers nor height nor depth. Nor anything else in all creation. Will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. In our sufferings beloved. Not only do we conquer. But it's there in our weakness. That Christ makes his love most powerfully manifest to us. So often we can think that in our suffering, God has all but forgotten us. But rather, it's as C.S. Lewis says, that in our suffering, that is when God is speaking the loudest to us. That is when he is making his power most manifest to us. So often we think that in the midst of our suffering, we are all alone. But what we don't realize is that in the midst of our suffering, we're far from alone. Christ is carrying us and ensuring that we can make it moment by moment and day by day. Beloved, if Christ is our source of confidence, and if the cross of Christ is to mark our lives as those who are united to Christ, How then should we respond to trials? How then do we respond to suffering and to persecution? Well, I hope you can see that Paul writes these words that he does quoted from Psalm 44, not because he's crazy, not because he is somehow a masochist, but rather because he was meditating upon the massive ocean of God's love in Christ. And it was for this reason in the knowledge that in his weakness he was manifesting the power and the glory of God's love in Christ and that he knew God's love in Christ most powerfully that he could write the words that he did and even rejoice in the midst of his sufferings. And indeed, he commends that to us. As odd as it might sound, beloved, in the midst of our trials, beneath all of that suffering, I think, is where we find God's love in Christ. And so when we encounter trials like this, as often as it may be and as tempting as it might be simply to curl up within or to think that we are simply surrounded by that wall of suffering and can see nothing else, that is when we must look to Christ by faith. Cry out to Christ in prayer. Look to Christ in the scriptures. Seek the solace and the encouragement of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that they too might point us to Christ, that they too might lift us up in prayer, that we would acutely be aware of the presence of God through the means of grace. And through these means, beloved, that we would be able to, even in the midst of our sufferings and trials, find joy and thanksgiving. I can remember it was after a very bitter decision, a tremendously bitter decision at the General Assembly where a number of fellow ministers and I were smarting from our at least intellectual and emotional wounds. Some talked of leaving the denomination. Some talked of wanting to try to bring charges against people on the other side of the aisle for the perceived wrongs. And I'll never forget it, and I hope I never forget it, but I don't think I will, is that one of my colleagues broke in, and he said with a slight twinkle in his eye, I said, brothers, don't you realize you're suffering? This is not the moment for vengeance. This is not the moment for abandonment. This is not the moment for anger. But this is what you've been called to. This is your opportunity to bear the cross of Christ. This is your opportunity to rejoice in your sufferings and to give the situation over to the hands of Christ. The hands of Christ, beloved, are not those who are somehow averse to suffering or ignorant of them, but rather his nail-scarred hands bear testimony to the fact that he has endured the cross on your behalf, He has gone before you and that he will carry you through to the end. It does not mean that he will eliminate the suffering in your life, but that he will most certainly bring you to the destination of his goal for you, which is to further conform you to his own image and to bring glory to his name. That, beloved, as frail as we are, as often as we forget, and as short-sighted as we can be, is the godly response to trials. I don't want you to think that if that's not your first response, that you've utterly failed. God is merciful. And in the midst of your trials, you can cry out, oh Lord, help me in the face of my failures. You can ask your friends, pray for me that I would respond with joy and that I would have peace even though it seems as if the world is crumbling around me. Beloved, no matter how things may appear, never think that Christ has abandoned you. Never think that your father has let you be or that he has forgotten you, but rather in the midst of your trials, remember that God has poured out his love upon you in Christ. Our Father uses every single event in our lives, especially our sufferings, to conform us to the image of his Son. Therefore, live and even suffer in the knowledge of God's love in Christ. As you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, do not look downward, but rather look upward to where Christ is seated in the heavenly places and recognize that you are seated there with him. Breathe in the life-giving air of the new heavens and the new earth as they come to us by the power of the spirit of the age through the Holy Spirit. Immerse yourself in the means of grace. Immerse yourself in the love of Christ and draw nigh unto him. Remember, beloved, that nothing in this world will separate you from his love. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen. Let's pray. Father God, we are grateful, indeed, that you are merciful to us. Forgive us, O Lord, for our short-sightedness. So often we forget so quickly and think that you have abandoned us. forgive us for our short-sightedness and to remember upon whom our hope is anchored upon the intercessory work of your son fill us with hope fill us with peace so that even in the weakness of suffering we would recognize your presence by the means of grace and your fatherly care and love for us in Christ and the strength that you impart to us by your spirit. We pray and ask all of these things in Christ's precious and holy name. Amen.