Many of you have heard of the term “Health and Wealth Gospel” or “Prosperity Gospel”. This type of “gospel” basically states that once you believe in Jesus Christ, everything will go well with you. This “gospel” will state that if you’re poor or sick, you must be weak in your faith! This “Prosperity Gospel” is preached out there today! Does the Bible teach this? Is this how we are to live?
Please open your Bibles to Romans 8.
Read along with me Romans 8:17-27……..
And so we read in Romans 8:17, Christians are heirs of God and co-heirs with Jesus Christ! What does it mean to be an heir of someone?
An heir is someone who inherits or has a right of inheritance! And so, if Christians are heirs of God, Christians will inherit what God has! Christians will receive what God has for eternity! And God has everything!!
And Christians are co-heirs with Jesus Christ. Christians will receive what Jesus received! And v17 reminds us that Jesus Christ received sufferings and glory! Christians will receive sufferings and glory as well! And so, based on this Bible passage, you can throw away the health and wealth Gospel out the window!
Now of course, Jesus’ sufferings were unique for He is God and His sufferings were meant for our benefit and in obedience to a Holy, Perfect, Loving God!
Do you remember when Jesus was praying and preparing Himself to face the ultimate suffering of death? Luke 22:42 states that Jesus prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." Jesus knew how hard the suffering was going to be and He knew He had to die, but He trusted God by obeying. How could Jesus trust God? Jesus knew God is Holy, Perfect, and Loving! Jesus lived and died with the hope of glory from God!
Can we live and suffer a little for a little while as we wait for the glory of God to happen in our lives? Do we really trust God that everything will eventually go perfectly for us Christians?
How are we doing today with this pandemic going on? Do we get caught up with all the hype or simply going to God with all our concerns?
Look again at Romans 8:18: This is the main point of the message for us this morning: In spite of sufferings, Christians are to live in the hope of Glory to come!
We are saved from the eternal judgment of God when we accepted Jesus Christ as our only savior and God. Christians are being saved as they are being sanctified, becoming more and more like Christ as they yield to the Holy Spirit! And in the near future, Christians will be glorified, completely changed forever in heaven!
As Christians live their lives on earth, we are to be yielding to the Holy Spirit within us and be focused on the glory to come for us!
What about these sufferings that Christians will face?
Romans 8:19-23 gives a commentary on these sufferings. According to God, is the universe and everything in it evolving to be better and better? – Nope!
God tells us in Romans 8:19-23 that the entire creation of God including the universe is eagerly waiting for God’s revelation! The whole creation is frustrated with the bondage of decay!
The whole creation is groaning with pain! The Letter to the Romans was written 2000 years ago; how do we know it is the Word of God? We are witnessing today what God said in Romans 8:19-23, aren’t we? What ever God says will happen and we know the Letter to the Romans is God’s Word because what was written has happened, is happening, and will happen!
And so, what about us and our sufferings? Look again at v23: Just like the rest of God’s creation, Christians also eagerly wait for God’s revelation, are frustrated with the bondage of decay (our physical bodies are dying), and groan with the pains of life on earth. These sufferings are real for all Christians, even though bound for heaven for eternity! Doesn’t sound good? Remember Romans 8:18; no suffering on earth can compare to the glory we will have!
Read again v24-25 with me…..
Christians have hope and are to live with this hope from God that we are saved, are being saved, and will be completely saved!
Christians have hope but it is not the same hope as we would define it in general. The Christian’s hope is not the same as in “I hope I will be happy someday!” You see, the original Greek word for hope in Romans 8 is elpizo, which means expected or anticipated! Heaven is for sure for the Christian an Jesus will come for us soon!
And read again with me v26-27…
God the Holy Spirit is with us Christians and will help us with our weaknesses!
And so, as we live our lives here on earth, here are 5 things to think about:
1. Focus on heaven set for us. (Rom 8:18)
Always look up! Set your minds on things above!
2. In our struggle against sin, we have not yet resisted to the point of shedding our blood. The Christian’s suffering can never match the suffering of Jesus for us! Always think of the cross of Christ, His sufferings and death for us!
3. Christians will eventually have perfect, eternal bodies! Remember the resurrected body of Jesus; that’s what we will have!
4. Christians are to live in elpizo hope; always expecting and anticipating the glory of God to happen!
5. Do not quench the Holy Spirit with sins and pray always in the power of the Holy Spirit!
And so, please take a quiet moment right now to pray, confess your sins, and yield to God the Holy Spirit…….
Bless the Lord Oh My Soul…
Let me close with Romans 8:35-38…
