Glorifying God in Suffering (Romans 5:1-5, Isaiah 40:1-20)
Rev. David Huffman, November 24, 2024Part of the Series On Romans series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
Suffering in our lives can be good, even a benefit of grace. We are told it produces endurance, character and improves our hope. Suffering can be brought by affliction, diseases, plagues, war, fire, storms, floods, loss of a child or spouse, or more. Paul outlines these trials in his own life in 2 Cor. 11: 25-27. Yet, in vs. 3 today, he rejoices in sufferings. In our sufferings, we must caution against unhealthy perspectives. Sufferings do not come to us as punishments for specific sins. This is taught to us by Jesus in the instance of the man born blind where the Jews asked who sinned, the man or his parents, and in the life of Joseph, son of Jacob. His brothers meant his sale into slavery for evil, but God meant it for good. Afflictions are not punishment for sins; Jesus paid the price for our sins. Our afflictions are not justifying; they are manifestations of God's love for us. We see in vss. 3-4 that our suffering produces endurance (steadfastness), character and hope. Paul worked through his sufferings with active engagement in ministry. He pressed on through his pain, pushing forward and faithfully enduring. This measure of endurance is a mark of saving faith in us. Character arises from our testedness. By it we are persuaded of the genuineness of our faith, and this produces hope within us. Our standing before God is rooted in conviction and certainty. In vs. 5, we see that this hope does not disappoint us, or put us to shame, before a watching world. The Holy Spirit reminds us by testifying to our hearts that we are His and are loved by Him. Our sufferings do not crush us or leave us in bitterness.
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Romans 5:1–5 (Listen)
5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 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.
(ESV)
Isaiah 40:1–20 (Listen)
40:1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
9 Go on up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD,
or what man shows him his counsel?
14 Whom did he consult,
and who made him understand?
Who taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
18 To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?
19 An idol! A craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.
20 He who is too impoverished for an offering
chooses wood that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
to set up an idol that will not move.
(ESV)