The Great Eight · Romans 8:18–25 · Week 3
In week three of The Great Eight, a series on Romans 8, Pastor Mark English of Christian Life Church in Bensalem, PA, walks through Romans 8:18–25. If we’re free and we’re God’s children, why do we still hurt? Paul puts our present suffering on the scales beside our future glory and concludes there’s no comparison. Don’t judge the end of your story by the middle of it.
Key Highlights
What to Remember
Suffering doesn’t get the final word. Glory does.
Don’t judge the end of the story by the middle of your story.
Don’t confuse unfinished with abandoned.
You are one day closer to your breakthrough than you were yesterday.
Romans 8:1, 17
If I’m Free, Why Do I Still Hurt?
Romans 8 may be the greatest chapter in the Bible. It begins with no condemnation (Romans 8:1) and ends with no separation (Romans 8:38–39). In week one, we learned that freedom means you no longer live under the control of what Christ has already set you free from. Your past is forgiven, and if it ever gets brought up, it’s the enemy doing it, not Jesus. In week two, we learned that God doesn’t just bring us out of bondage. He brings us into a family.
That’s why the first thing Pastor Mark tells new believers is: stay in church. The enemy works through isolation.
None of us are perfect, but we’re forgiven and following Jesus together.
We make time for the things that matter to us. Work, bills, and car payments will all pass away, but eternity is forever. Then Paul adds an honest line:
“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
Romans 8:17
Standing for truth will sometimes bring rejection. When the world rejects you, it’s really rejecting the Jesus in you (John 15:18). So Paul anticipates our question: if I’m free, if I’m God’s child, if His Spirit lives in me, why am I still hurting? He doesn’t pretend suffering isn’t real. Instead, he places present suffering next to future glory.
Point 1 · Romans 8:18
Weigh It on the Scales
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Romans 8:18
“Consider” is an accounting word. It means to calculate or come to a reasoned conclusion. Picture a scale: present suffering on one side, future glory on the other. Paul did the math and found the future glory far outweighs the present suffering. Don’t measure your future reality by your present pain.
This isn’t shallow optimism. Paul was shipwrecked, beaten with rods, and imprisoned. In Lystra, he was stoned and dragged outside the city, left for dead. When the believers gathered around him, he got up and went right back into the city (Acts 14:19–20).
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
2 Corinthians 4:16–17
Paul called his troubles “light and momentary.” When your eyes are only on your suffering, it will always define your life. Hopeful people aren’t pretending. They’ve simply looked at the scales.
Pastor Mark watched Christie give birth to their two daughters. The delivery room was intense, but the moment she held each baby, the pain didn’t matter anymore.
Don’t let what hurts today make you forget what God has promised for tomorrow.
Jesus used the same picture: a woman in labor has pain, but when the baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy (John 16:21).
Point 2 · Romans 8:19–22
This Broken World Isn’t the Final World
“For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”
Romans 8:19–21
The world we live in is not the world God will leave us in. Paul takes us back to Genesis 3. When sin entered the world, it affected not only Adam and Eve but all of creation. Things began to decay and die. That’s why our world doesn’t work the way God originally designed it. Even creation tells us something is wrong.
Everything wears out. Buildings deteriorate, bodies age, flowers fade.
But God isn’t finished with creation. He promises a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1).
Point 3 · Romans 8:22–23
Groaning Doesn’t Mean God Is Absent
“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves … groan inwardly.”
Romans 8:22–23
To groan means to sigh deeply, to express inward distress. Paul is honest: Christians groan too. Sometimes faith doesn’t have the perfect spiritual answer. Sometimes it sounds like, “God, I don’t understand.” “God, how much longer?” “Jesus, will You help me?”
- Creation groans for redemption (verse 22).
- Believers groan as we wait (verse 23).
- The Spirit groans in intercession for us (verse 26, next week).
Sometimes groaning is what faith sounds like while we wait.
When Pastor Mark and Christie moved from Florida, they bought a house that needed a full renovation: new floors, kitchen, bathroom and lights. Watching floors get torn up was frustrating. But the contractor wasn’t stressed, because he already knew what the finished house would look like.
You’re just in a renovation. Don’t confuse unfinished with abandoned.
Point 4 · Romans 8:23
Firstfruits Now, Full Harvest Later
“Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.”
Romans 8:23
Last week we learned we’ve already been adopted. That’s true. But we’re not perfect yet. In Leviticus 23, Israel brought the firstfruits of the harvest to the Lord as a sign that the full harvest was coming. The Holy Spirit in us is the firstfruits. The full harvest is still ahead.
Jesus isn’t only redeeming our souls. One day He will redeem these bodies too.
“[He] will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
Philippians 3:21
- No sickness, cancer, or dementia
- No heart failure or chronic pain
- No disability, aging, or death
Complete redemption, and we wait for it with confident expectation.
Point 5 · Romans 8:24–25
Hope Keeps You Steady While You Wait
“For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”
Romans 8:24–25
Hope doesn’t mean waiting is easy. It means the waiting doesn’t decide whether I keep trusting God. Biblical hope isn’t wishful thinking. It’s confident expectation rooted in God’s character and promises. “God is not human, that he should lie” (Numbers 23:19). If He says He’s coming back, He’s coming back. We may not know much about tomorrow, but we know the God who holds it.
Biblical waiting isn’t passive. Before walking on stage, Pastor Mark often looks through the curtain and sees people he knows are walking through hard things, still worshiping with their hands lifted. That’s hope saying: the present suffering doesn’t compare with the future glory. So we keep praying, worshiping, serving, believing, and showing up.
Years ago, coming home from a mission trip, Pastor Mark rode the airport escalator down and spotted his toddler son watching every face that passed. He wasn’t waiting for just anyone. He knew his dad was on that plane. The moment he saw him, he lit up and started walking toward him.
Jesus is coming for you. Wait with that kind of confidence.
We aren’t waiting because nothing is happening. We’re waiting because Someone made us a promise, and He has never broken one.
One Day Closer
When You’re in the Middle
Maybe you’re in the middle of something you didn’t choose: a diagnosis, a disappointment, a loss, a family situation, a financial struggle, or a prayer that hasn’t been answered yet. The temptation is to let what you’re experiencing right now decide what you believe about God.
Don’t judge the end of the story by the middle of your story.
Christ has won. If we don’t lose heart, we win with Him.
Suffering now, but glory is coming. Groaning now, but redemption is coming. Waiting now, but God isn’t finished. That doesn’t minimize what you’re carrying. It puts it on the scales.
- You are one day closer to being healed.
- You are one day closer to your breakthrough.
- You are one day closer to a relationship restored.
And tomorrow, you’ll be one day closer still.
If you feel hopeless, you don’t have to leave that way. Trouble starts when we make ourselves lord of our own lives. Jesus knows your life better than you do. Pastor Mark was 18 when he ran to an altar in February 1988 and said, “God, I’m lost.” Almost 40 years later, God is still working in his life. And when you’re carrying a burden, let someone pray with you. We bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2).
Questions About This Message
Romans 8:18–25 Explained
What does Romans 8:18 mean?
Paul says our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. “Consider” is an accounting term: Paul weighed present pain against future glory and concluded the glory far outweighs it. Suffering is real, but it doesn’t get the final word.
Why does creation groan in Romans 8:22?
When sin entered the world in Genesis 3, it affected all of creation, bringing decay and death. Creation now “groans as in the pains of childbirth,” waiting to be liberated from its bondage to decay when God makes all things new.
Is it wrong for Christians to groan or struggle?
No. Romans 8:23 says believers “groan inwardly” as we wait. Groaning isn’t necessarily unbelief; sometimes it’s what faith sounds like while we wait. Romans 8 describes three groans: creation’s, the believer’s, and the Holy Spirit’s intercession for us (verse 26).
What are the “firstfruits of the Spirit” in Romans 8:23?
In Leviticus 23, Israel offered the firstfruits as a sign that the full harvest was coming. The Holy Spirit in believers is a foretaste of what is ahead: the redemption of our bodies, when Christ will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body (Philippians 3:21).
What is biblical hope according to Romans 8:24–25?
Biblical hope isn’t wishful thinking. It is confident expectation rooted in God’s character and promises. Because we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait patiently, continuing to trust, worship, serve, and obey while God completes His work.
Weigh it on the scales.
Don’t confuse unfinished with abandoned.
Wait with confident hope.
Glory gets the final word.
Life Group Discussion
Reflect and Respond
Use these questions to continue the conversation, reflect honestly, and let the message move beyond information into transformation.
Suffering doesn’t get the final word.
Glory does.
