Becoming a Christian does not mean the end of all sorrows. Trials, suffering, and burdens remain part of the believer’s life – but God has not left His children to face them alone. Drawing from Romans 8:14-27, this message walks through five anchors God gives to hold the soul steady in turbulent seas: the Spirit in suffering, a season of suffering, creation’s shared groaning, hope in suffering, and help in suffering. It is a warm and pastoral encouragement for anyone carrying a heavy burden, pointing again and again to the Holy Spirit’s nearness, the certainty of glorification, and the intimate compassion of a Father who enters into our griefs.
It would be lovely to think that becoming a Christian means the end of all sorrows. And it is true that some sorrows do end at conversion – the guilt of past sins, the dread of what lies beyond death, the confusion about eternity. But to be a believer is not to be exempt from trials, burdens, and tribulations. The popular philosophy that Jesus came to make people healthier, wealthier, more attractive, and trouble-free simply does not stack up against Scripture. Yes, God can heal. Yes, God can give joy in the midst of sorrow. Yes, He can bless financially. But the great saints of the faith suffered, the apostles often died terrible deaths, and Paul’s catalogue of stripes, beatings, shipwrecks, perils, and hunger in 2 Corinthians 11 is anything but a prosperity story. There is also a wrong philosophy that treats any season of discouragement as a sign of unspirituality. That, too, fails to match what the Bible actually says. Suffering and sorrow can be a real part of the believer’s life – and God does not leave His children alone in it.
Romans 8:14-27 sets out five anchors to hold the soul steady when the seas of life turn turbulent.
The first anchor is the Spirit in suffering. Being led by the Holy Spirit is a sure mark of a true child of God. Where there is no leading, no conviction, no comfort, no help from the Spirit in a person’s life, there is no real knowledge of Christ. And the Spirit of adoption causes the believer to cry “Abba, Father” – the Spirit of God’s own Son placed within, so that the cry of the new-born child of God goes up to a Heavenly Father. This matters because suffering is hard to bear alone. To suffer is hard; to suffer alone is harder still. The believer never suffers alone. The Holy Spirit is with him. Christ Himself promised, “I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you.” That is the first anchor: the Spirit of adoption.
The second part of this first anchor is the Spirit’s witness. In a trial, what is needed is reassurance that one is safe in the hands of a Heavenly Father. Doubts come – “Was I ever really saved? Has God left me?” But the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. No man can pluck them out of the Father’s hand. Romans 8 itself ends with the great declaration that nothing – death, life, angels, principalities, powers, things present, things to come – shall be able to separate the believer from the love of God in Christ. A father brings stability and dispels fear; the absence of a father can produce fear. Even a child briefly separated from his dad in a strange place feels the world become too big and too scary. But the Heavenly Father does not leave His children. The anchor here is the inseparable bond.
The second main anchor is the recognition that this is a season of suffering, ending in inheritance and glorification. “If children, then heirs – heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ.” God draws attention to the inheritance He has reserved in heaven, incorruptible and undefiled. This is not just any inheritance, but an elevated one – joint heirs with Christ. There is a particular suffering that comes from being identified with Christ. The world hated Him – the only one who never spoke a wrong word, never did a wrong action, was perfectly compassionate – and to be associated with Him is at times to be hated too. Salt in putrefying wounds stings; light in dark places exposes what people want hidden. The Christian who refuses to be salt and light, who hides his identification with Christ to avoid suffering, becomes the salt that has lost its savour. A Christianity that the world wholeheartedly embraces is probably a counterfeit kind. The world says keep your faith to yourself; God says shine the light everywhere. There is a suffering that comes simply from walking with Christ – a tract refused, a door closed, a smug remark – and it is small compared to what brothers and sisters suffer worldwide, but it is real. Yet glorification is coming. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Seasons have beginnings and endings. Whatever the trial, it will come to pass.
The third anchor is that creation itself shares this groaning. The fall did not only damage human beings – the whole of creation was made subject to vanity and waits for its own deliverance. There is still much beauty in nature – sunsets like fire on the horizon, star-filled skies, the white sand and clear water of a coastline – but there is also much suffering. The python strangling its prey, the rabbit in the talons of the eagle, the lion eating its prey alive, earthquakes and volcanoes and bushfires. Evolution says this was normal, as nature’s way. It is now – but it was not originally, and it is not normal. It will change in the millennial reign of Christ, when the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The suffering of creation, like the suffering of the saints, has an ending in view.
The fourth anchor is that the believer is not without hope. “We are saved by hope.” This is not the hope-so-hope of vague optimism, not a hope mingled with doubt, not a wish that something might turn out well. It is the certain expectation of something God has promised. It is the kind of hope a child has waiting for the school holidays – not wondering whether they will come, but knowing they will, and longing for them. It is the hope of the redemption of the body, the hope of glorification, the hope of seeing Christ and being made like Him. And it requires patience. Faith will one day be made sight.
The fifth anchor is that the believer is not without help. “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.” The Spirit of the living God is there to help. Infirmity is weakness, sickness, frailty – and in every form of it the Spirit comes alongside to make intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered. There is an earnestness in those groanings that reveals something of the character of God: He is not unfeeling. He intimately understands and enters into our needs and griefs. That is also a model for how to help others – people often need more than the practical part of help; they need someone to enter in. They may need a listener rather than ten Bible verses fired off as a prescription. Hebrews 4:15 says we have a high priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Psalm 86:15 calls God a God of compassion, gracious, longsuffering, plenteous in mercy and truth. And no special prayer language is needed for this intercession – the Father knows the mind of the Spirit, and the Spirit’s intercession is always according to the will of God.
These five anchors hold. Trials, testings, and tribulations are for a season – whether a health struggle, a family situation, a broken relationship, or the stubborn weight of one’s own flesh. The sufferings are temporary. The future is bright. The help of Almighty God is present within. But none of this can be claimed by anyone who has not first received the Holy Spirit in salvation – not in some strange charismatic experience, but by trusting Christ in faith. And for those who have, the question is whether the Spirit is being allowed to have His way – whether He is being yielded to as Comforter, Guide, and Helper, or resisted while His blessings are still wanted. The disciples once came back rejoicing because the demons were subject to them, and Christ told them rather to rejoice that their names were written in heaven. That is the bright future to remember.
Sermon Audio Id: 127258550638