Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
NT Framework - Solution to Suffering
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We are called to suffer well, an idea that is foreign to us and frankly, a terribly difficult thing to do; unless there is a future that provides perfect confidence of no suffering.
More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com
This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament framework. Today, a smaller, bite-sized piece from the larger lesson. We hope you enjoy it.
SPEAKER_02:The resurrection gives us the hope we need to handle suffering well. In other words, it's an incentive. It's an incentive. How many people suffer? Anybody? Oh, never mind. I thought we might have some people that suffered. Turn over to Romans chapter 8.
SPEAKER_01:Romans chapter 8. Which we were here last week, but you know, we end up here a lot. That's okay.
SPEAKER_02:It doesn't hurt to look at 16 and 17 because they're interesting with respect to suffering. Um I believe that all Christians will go through some degree of suffering. But you'll notice there's a pattern that's being laid down in verses 16 and 17. The Spirit Himself testifies with our Spirit that we are children of God. And if we are children, we're heirs also, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ. And this is a first class condition, since indeed, since indeed we suffer with him, so that we may also what? Be glorified with him, share in his glory. So there's a path to glory. And that path is suffering comes first. Suffering and glory. Why did Christ come the first time? Did he come to reign in glory or did he come to suffer? He came to suffer. There's a pathway, it's a sequence. You have to go through the suffering first and then the glory later, right? And so the same path that he took is actually the same path that we take. By the way, this is the worst it's going to get, okay? If you're here today, this life is the worst it's ever going to get. You're suffering now, but guess what? You're going to be reigning in glory later. Now, he then brings up the application that we should take from this in verse 18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time, that's what we're going through now, are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. And this glory is reflected in our resurrection and in a glorified nature that we will be living in. Do you see how this gives us incentive? Because we know the future, because we have hope, not just I hope so, but because we have certainty of the future resurrection and that things now are the worst they're ever going to be. As long as we have that future expectation of a resurrection, it's incentive for us to suffer well now. Like we can we can deal with it. Whereas if we don't have a resurrection hope in the future, how in the world could you ever deal with it? How could you ever deal with it? See, all the pain, suffering, and we read this already in the new heavens and new earth, all the pain, suffering, the tears are all gonna pass away. Usually, you know, we think of, well, think of the prayer requests that we have here. Not all of them, but how many 90% of them are related to so-and-so has physical problems, uh, some illness, some something's going on with their physical body, and we're we're gonna pray about it, right? Well, you know, the ones that really bother us are like little ones, you know, like a little five-year-old that gets cancer, you know. Uh the 15-year-old Ian Nasworth, who was killed in a car accident a few weeks ago, 15 years old. That stuff bothers us, right? When we get older, we say, well, I'm old, you know, I expect it. I got cancer, you know, or whatever, I expect that. Guess what? It's all abnormal. It's all abnormal. It's not normal. It's a result of sin coming into this world through the first atom, right? And it's infected everything. And because of that, we suffer and we mourn and we have tears. But all this is gonna go away. But the question is, how? How are we gonna handle it now? I mean, you don't know exactly what sufferings the Lord has in store for you in the future. Sometimes we sit there and go, we see something happen to someone else, just a terrible tragedy in someone's life. And we're like, oh, I hope that doesn't happen to us. I hope we don't have to face that.
SPEAKER_01:And um but here's the thing we have a real hope out there that eclipses all that.
SPEAKER_02:And that's what gives us the incentive to be able to cope, to be able to handle it, to be able to what the Bible calls suffer well. Right? Because we're all gonna suffer, but not everybody suffers well. Some people suffer very badly. They become bitter, bitter, and angry, especially against God. That's not suffering well. Suffering well is trusting and sought God's sovereign provision for our lives, that he loves us, that he has a purpose for us. Now, we actually have a real hope because the one who's res who the one who we are trusting in has already been raised from the dead. He's already conquered death. So we know in the future that we'll be resurrected like him. And this gives us the ability to handle our own sufferings well. What does James 1, 2 through 4 say? James is famous for this. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that it tests your faith and it builds perseverance. You know, uh most people are like, I know. When I face a trial, the first thing I do is I'm not like, oh Lord, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. I love this, this is so great. I know that you're working in me to make me a stronger believer, to take me to a higher place. That should be our response. If we know the patterns of scripture that God has worked through other people's lives, you know the endurance of Job, right? James 5. So we should look at the lives of past saints who've been through sufferings, right, and be able to apply that to our own lives. And that's the goal. That's what we're trying to do. But we so often slip and we don't count it all joy. But the resurrection does give us hope so that we can count it all joy. Now, um, Christianity is usually criticized, and if I were if I were an unbeliever and I were to make one argument against Christianity, it would be this argument. But I'm going to show you this argument is empty. This is the argument that um the God of Christianity is is has a contradiction within himself. It's the idea of the problem of evil, right? And it's the idea that God has these two attributes that atheists will say can't get together in the same God because of evil. And the problem goes basically like this if God is all-powerful and God is all loving, why hasn't he taken away evil? It must be because he's not all-powerful and he can't take it away, or he's not all-loving because he won't take it away. Now that's a typical way that this problem is pronounced by atheists against Christianity. And maybe you can feel the pressure of that argument. Like, yeah, why doesn't he take away the suffering? Is he so you know weak that he can't? Or does he really not love me and he won't? You know. Now, let's look at this diagram that you've seen time and time and time again. Christianity is represented on the top where we have the creator-creature distinction. Paganism is on the bottom where everything is just one, there's no separation. And you notice the little infinity symbols in either direction. So, the question when you look at this diagram is who really has the problem of evil? In the upper diagram, we have a creation that God made that was very good. And of course, sin entered, and now you have this admixture of good and evil. Something's good, something's evil in our world, right? But look, and that's where we live now, and that's the tension that we live in now. We live in the good evil section of history. But look at the future, what God has planned to do. He's gonna judge, and that judgment is a separation. It's a separation of the good out from the evil. It just hadn't happened yet. What's the Christian answer to the problem of evil anyway? Well, he is gonna separate it. He is gonna solve the problem of evil. But right now, what is he doing? 2 Peter 3 9 tells us he is patient, he is long-suffering, he's giving people an opportunity in this world to believe the gospel and cross over. Cross over out of death and into life, right? That's the period of history we live in. God's not so weak that he can't remove the evil, and God's not so unloving that he won't. He's just patient as well. He's just patient as well. And he's patiently waiting.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app. And until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.