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From a message by Jon Alsdorf
Suffering is one of the most universal human experiences, yet it is also one of the most misunderstood topics in the Christian faith. Romans 8:18-30 offers a powerful and honest look at why suffering exists, what it means for believers, and how God is at work even in the hardest seasons of life. There Is No Condemnation, But Life Is Still Hard One of the greatest truths in all of Scripture is found in Romans 8:1: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." That is a life-changing reality. But it does not mean life becomes easy after coming to faith. Some traditions have taken this idea too far, teaching that Christians should expect wealth, comfort, and a problem-free life. That is simply not what the Bible teaches. Jesus suffered. Every one of the apostles died a martyr's death. For the first 300 years of Christianity, following Jesus often meant risking your life. Suffering is not a sign that something has gone wrong. It is part of what it means to live in a broken world. What Does the Bible Actually Say About Suffering? Suffering Is Not God's Judgment on Your Life One of the most damaging beliefs Christians carry is the idea that personal suffering is God punishing them for something they did wrong. Romans 8:1 directly addresses this. If there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, then your suffering is not divine punishment. It is not a sign that God is angry with you or that you have failed. Life is hard because sin entered the world and broke it. That brokenness affects everyone, including believers. Suffering Can Deepen Your Relationship With Jesus Romans 8:17 says we are "fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with Him." Suffering is not just something to endure. It is something that can draw you closer to Jesus in a way that nothing else can. Jesus was a sufferer. He knows what it feels like. When you go through pain, you identify with Him more fully. There is an intimacy available in suffering that is often missed when we spend all our energy trying to escape it. Suffering Is Not a Spiritual Achievement On the other side of that coin, suffering is not something to seek out or perform. It is not a badge of spiritual maturity. Trying to manufacture suffering or put it on display can actually pull you further from Christ rather than closer. Suffering is simply a reality of life in a fallen world, not something to pursue. Suffering Is Universal Every single person on earth suffers. Social media can make it look like everyone else has it together, but that is not reality. Romans 8 makes clear that suffering is not just a human experience. It is cosmic. All of Creation Is Groaning Romans 8:19-22 says something remarkable. It is not just people who suffer. All of creation is suffering. "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God." - Romans 8:19-21 Natural disasters, disease, decay. These are not random. They are symptoms of a broken creation waiting to be restored. Jesus did not just come to redeem people. He came to redeem everything. The Holy Spirit Groans With You Romans 8:26 adds another layer to this picture: "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." All of creation groans. Believers groan. And the Holy Spirit groans on our behalf. God has not stood at a distance from our suffering. He has entered into it. This is the believer's unfair advantage. When you do not even know how to pray, the Spirit is already interceding for you. How to Have Perspective in the Middle of Pain Romans 8:18 gives us a critical tool for navigating suffering: perspective. "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." - Romans 8:18 This does not minimize real pain. It puts it in context. Eternity is not just a very long time. It is the absence of time altogether. When you zoom out to that scale, even the hardest seasons of this life become a small part of a much larger story. That perspective does not make suffering disappear, but it does make it bearable. Does "All Things Work Together for Good" Mean Life Will Be Easy? Romans 8:28 is one of the most quoted and most misunderstood verses in the Bible. "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." - Romans 8:28 This does not say all things are good. It does not promise that loving God means everything goes smoothly. What it does say is that God is able to take everything, including the painful, the broken, and the disappointing, and work it toward something good. Every hard thing, every bad decision, every loss. God is actively redeeming it. The story is not over yet. What Is Predestination and Why Does It Matter Here? Romans 8:29-30 introduces the idea of predestination, and it is worth understanding in its proper context rather than getting lost in theological debate. A few grounding principles help here:
What God Has Already Secured for You Romans 8:30 closes this section with a striking statement: "And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called He also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." Every verb in that sentence is past tense, including glorified. You have not been glorified yet in the physical sense. But Paul writes it as a done deal because in God's perspective, it is. Your salvation, your justification, and your ultimate glorification are secure in Christ. Nothing in this world can threaten that. You are held in the hand of the Father and the hand of the Son. The Holy Spirit intercedes for you. The entire Godhead is involved in your story. Life Application This week, instead of running from your suffering or trying to escape it, run toward Jesus in the middle of it. That is the challenge. Not to enjoy the pain, but to resist the urge to numb it, avoid it, or explain it away, and instead bring it directly to Him. Ask yourself these questions as you go through your week:
God is not surprised by what you are going through. He has not bitten off more than He can chew. He is conforming you to the image of His Son, and He will finish what He started. You do not need to escape your suffering. You just need to run to the arms of Jesus.
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From a message by Jon Alsdorf
Romans 8 contains one of the most powerful declarations in all of Scripture. If you have ever wrestled with guilt, wondered whether God truly accepts you, or felt like your past defines you, this chapter speaks directly to those questions. Here is what it means to be justified in Christ and why it changes everything. What Does "No Condemnation" Actually Mean? Paul opens Romans 8 with a statement that deserves to be written on every wall in your home: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." - Romans 8:1 Notice what it does not say. It does not say there is "far less" condemnation. It does not say condemnation is reduced based on your behavior. It says no condemnation. Period. When a judge declares someone not guilty in a courtroom, there is no sentencing phase that follows. The case is closed. That is exactly what justification means for those who are in Christ. What Is Justification and Why Does It Matter? Justification is a legal term. It means that when you place your faith in Jesus, God declares you not guilty. The entire theme of the Old Testament can be summed up in one phrase from the prophet Habakkuk: the just shall live by faith. Paul builds on this foundation to show that faith in Christ is what makes a person just, not their own performance or moral record. Understanding justification is not a one-time lesson. You could spend a lifetime in this truth and never exhaust it. The Result of Justification: Imputation What does it mean that Christ's righteousness is imputed to you? Becoming a Christian does not mean it is time to start building a righteousness resume. That idea misses the entire point of salvation. Justification means that the righteousness of Jesus has been poured out on you and in you. You now possess His righteousness, not because of your performance, but because of His. Paul addressed this directly in Galatians when he asked, "Who has bewitched you?" The idea that you could start with Jesus and then finish on your own is, as Paul makes clear, completely backwards. When God looks at a believer, He sees someone hidden in Christ. Like a hand inside a glove, what is visible is Jesus, His goodness, His perfection, His record. That is imputation. His righteousness credited to your account. This is the most remarkable thing that has ever happened to humanity. Do not let it become background noise in your life. The Effect of Justification: Liberation What does real freedom look like for a Christian? "For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death." - Romans 8:2 Freedom is a word that gets used constantly in culture and politics. But true freedom does not originate from any government or document. It comes from Almighty God through what Jesus accomplished. Jesus said, "If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed." Paul wrote in Galatians, "It is for freedom that you have been set free." This is a freedom that no circumstance, no person, and no government can take from you. Someone can wear a shirt that says "freedom" on it and still not know what freedom actually is. Real freedom only comes through Jesus. The Method of Justification: Substitution How did Jesus make justification possible? Jesus made a trade. You brought nothing good to the table, only brokenness, sin, shame, and failure. And He said, "Let's trade. My righteousness for your unrighteousness. My life for yours." "For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." - Romans 8:3-4 Jesus did not come sinful. He came perfect. But He took on flesh, becoming one of us, because something had to happen from inside humanity. We needed a kinsman Redeemer. Someone from the family had to act on our behalf. He took on our sin, accepted the punishment for our guilt, and nailed it to a cross. In return, we receive His righteousness. That is the trade. That is substitution. The Practice of Justification: Sanctification What happens after you are saved? Justification is the moment you were saved. Sanctification is the ongoing process of being saved, the Holy Spirit working in your life day by day, changing you from the inside out, making you more like Jesus. "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit." - Romans 8:5 Your mind and your brain are not the same thing. Your brain is part of your physical body. Your mind transcends it. And in Christ, your body is no longer the boss. The Holy Spirit now lives in you, and He is the one leading the transformation. If you feel like your flesh is winning a lot right now, do not give up. Transformation takes time. You are not a finished product. God is still working. "For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace." - Romans 8:6 You have probably experienced both sides of that. The days when you feel close to Jesus are a preview of what is available to you consistently as you learn to walk by the Spirit. The Benefits of Justification: Three Things You Now Have A New Life to Live God does not see you as the person you used to be. He has removed your sins as far as the east is from the west and cast them into the ocean of His forgiveness. Some people in your life may not forget your past, but God has given you a new life to step into regardless. "But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness." - Romans 8:10 The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. That is not a small thing. When you say "I can't," God's response is essentially: that is beside the point, because I can. Stop focusing on the body of death and start leaning into the Spirit of life. A New Power to Live By "If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." - Romans 8:11 This is not a suggestion or a possibility. It is a law. It is true every single time, for every single person. The power that conquered death is the same power at work in your daily life. That changes how you approach every challenge, every temptation, and every moment of weakness. A New Family to Live With "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the Spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba! Father!" - Romans 8:14-15 The word "Abba" is the intimate word a small child uses when calling out to their Father for the first time. It is the word every new Father longs to hear. God did not bring you into His family procedurally or reluctantly. He adopted you with full intimacy, writing His name on you, placing His Spirit in you, and paying for it all through His Son. "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ." - Romans 8:16-17 Not everyone is a child of God by default. Scripture is clear that this relationship comes through faith in Christ and the indwelling of His Spirit. But for those who are in Christ, the inheritance is real and it is eternal. How Do You Know If You Have the Holy Spirit? If you understand the gospel when you hear it, that is evidence of the Spirit at work. If your sin bothers you, if it keeps you up at night, if you wish it were not in your life, that is the Holy Spirit at war with the sin in you. That struggle is not a sign of failure. It is a sign of life. Life Application This week, your challenge is to put Romans 8:1 somewhere you will see it every single day. Write it on a sticky note, set it as your phone wallpaper, or say it out loud every morning: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." When guilt, shame, or fear creeps in, and it will, respond with this truth. You have an enemy who will work hard to make you forget what Christ has done. The best weapon you have is knowing this passage so well that it becomes your immediate response. Ask yourself these questions as you go through your week:
You are not a finished product. God is still working. And because of what Jesus has done, there is no condemnation waiting for you on the other side of that process. Only glory. From a message by Jon Alsdorf
Many people wonder why the law matters if salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 7 tackles this question head-on, and the answer is both challenging and deeply freeing. Why Does Paul Talk About the Law So Much in Romans? The Book of Romans was written largely to a Jewish audience wrestling with a radical idea: that the Gospel, not the law, is the power of God for salvation. Paul had heard every argument. He had preached across the Roman Empire. And now, writing ahead of his arrival in Rome, he lays out his case systematically. Between chapters 3 and 11, Paul asks 36 questions. Each one builds on the last, moving from simple to complex, from clear to controversial. By chapter 7, he arrives at one of the most pointed questions of all: Is the law sinful? Does the Law Cause Sin? Paul's answer is immediate and firm. "By no means." But then he says something striking: "Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin, for I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, 'You shall not covet.' But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness." - Romans 7:7-8 The law did not create sin. But it did expose it. And that exposure is exactly what God intended. How the Law Leads Us to Grace in Jesus 1. The Law Reveals Sin and Our Rebellious Hearts There is something in human nature that resists being told what not to do. When a rule is given, the desire to break it often rises up immediately. This is not a personality flaw unique to a few people. It is the universal human condition. God knew this. The law was never designed to be a ladder we climb to reach salvation. It was designed to be a mirror that shows us what we truly are. Without seeing our need, we cannot receive the cure. The question worth sitting with is this: Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you keep doing the very things you know are wrong? That tension is not random. It is the law doing exactly what it was meant to do, revealing the depth of our need for something greater than willpower. 2. Sin Uses the Law Deceptively and Lethally Paul uses a literary device throughout this section that is easy to miss. He personifies sin, writing about it almost as a tyrant or slave master. He describes sin as something that reigns, enslaves, deceives, seizes opportunities, and pays wages. "For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me." - Romans 7:11 This is not Paul removing personal responsibility. He is helping us see that sin is not just a list of bad choices. It is a spiritual power at work in fallen humanity, one that exploits the law to produce death. Understanding this matters because it changes how we fight. Paul makes it clear elsewhere that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual powers. The body is not the enemy. Sin is. 3. The Law Is Holy, Righteous, and Good "So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good." - Romans 7:12 The law is not impossible to follow. That framing actually does more harm than good. Most of the commandments are not physically impossible. They are inconvenient. They are uncomfortable. They require sacrifice. But they are not beyond human capacity. What is impossible is for law-keeping to save you once you have broken any part of it. That is the distinction. The law is perfect. We are not. And that gap is exactly where grace enters. There is no need to minimize the law to make grace look better. Grace is already glorious. The law is beautiful, and our failure to keep it perfectly is what makes the cross so necessary and so stunning. 4. The Law Amplifies the Tension Between Spirit and Flesh Paul describes an experience that every believer recognizes: "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." - Romans 7:15 This is not a sign that something has gone wrong in your faith. This tension is the Holy Spirit at work. When the Spirit moves into a life, He does not find a clean, empty space. He finds a war zone. And He begins the long, patient work of transformation. Think of it like a master sculptor chipping away at stone. There is friction between the chisel and the rock. That friction is not failure. It is progress. The more we cooperate with the Spirit's work, the more that transformation takes shape. Many people who come to faith later in life reflect that before Christ, they knew something was wrong but it did not bother them much. It was only after receiving the Holy Spirit that the tension became real. That tension is not the enemy. It is evidence that God is at work. What Does Paul Mean When He Says "Wretched Man That I Am"? "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" - Romans 7:24 This is Paul's exasperated conclusion after wrestling with the war inside himself. It is the same word borrowed by the hymn writer of Amazing Grace. It is not self-loathing for its own sake. It is the honest cry of someone who has glimpsed holiness and knows how far short they fall. People throughout history have tried to answer this cry in every way imaginable. Sacrifices. Personal piety. Wealth. Intelligence. Pleasure. Distraction. None of it works. Solomon, the richest and wisest man who ever lived, summed it up at the very start of Ecclesiastes: "Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity." - Ecclesiastes 1:2 Without Christ, the search for deliverance leads nowhere. Only Jesus Can Rescue Us from Sin and Death After all the wrestling, Paul lands on the only answer that holds: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" - Romans 7:25 He does not claim that following Jesus means the war is over. He acknowledges that with his mind he serves God's law, but with His flesh He still feels the pull of sin. The tension remains. But the outcome is no longer in question. Jesus saved us while we were still His enemies. He is not going to abandon us now that we belong to Him. The Holy Spirit does not surrender. God does not give up. Even when we are still under construction, we are held. The grace of Jesus is not Plan B. From the very beginning, God declared that He would show mercy to whom He would show mercy. The law was always pointing toward this. The cross was always the destination. Life Application This week, pay attention to the tension. When you feel the pull between what you know is right and what you are tempted to do, do not run from it or try to silence it. Recognize it as the Holy Spirit doing His work in you. Instead of fighting the discomfort, lean into cooperation with God. Surrender to the chisel. Ask yourself these questions:
The law is not your enemy. Sin is. And the One who defeated sin is already living inside of you. Trust Him with the war. From a message by Jon Alsdorf
Grace is one of the most beautiful and misunderstood concepts in the Christian faith. It sounds almost too good to be true, and honestly, that is exactly why so many people struggle with it. If salvation is truly free, does that mean anything goes? Does it matter how we live? Paul addresses these very questions in Romans chapter 6, and what he unpacks is both challenging and deeply freeing. Why Do We Push Back on Grace? When Paul teaches that salvation comes through faith alone, not works, it naturally raises some eyebrows. In Romans 6:1 he asks, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?" And again in verse 15, "What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?" These are not just rhetorical questions. They reflect a real tension that lives inside most of us. On one end, there is the "worker." This is the person who wants to earn their salvation, to bring something to the table, to make God proud through sheer effort and good behavior. On the other end, there is the "opportunist," who hears "grace covers everything" and wonders if good works matter at all. Here is the honest truth: both of these voices often live inside the same person. The struggle is not just out there in the world. It is in our own hearts. And what Paul is doing in this passage is addressing the underlying issues that fuel both of those objections. Salvation Is Free, But Following Christ Costs Everything The first and perhaps most important principle is this: salvation is free to you, but it was not free. It cost Jesus everything. "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?" - Romans 6:3 Baptism is a picture of this reality. Going under the water represents dying with Christ, and coming back up represents rising with Him into new life. It is a burial and a resurrection. The old self goes down, and a new creation comes up. Following Jesus is not a casual add-on to your existing life. Scripture is clear that we have been bought with a price. We no longer belong to ourselves. Salvation is received freely, but it is an invitation into a life that is fully surrendered to Christ. Grace Changes Why We Obey, Not Whether We Obey Before grace, obedience was about earning something, proving something, or gaining something. Grace removes that motivation entirely. "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." - Romans 6:4 Think of it this way. If someone pays for your meal at a restaurant and you insist on paying anyway, you are not being noble. You are actually creating a problem. The gift has already been given. The only appropriate response is to receive it. When the debt has already been paid, you have nothing left to earn. The only question that remains is how much you are willing to love. That is what obedience looks like under grace. Does Grace Remove All Consequences of Sin? This is where many Christians get confused. The gospel removes the ultimate penalty of sin, but not the natural consequences of sin. "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." - Romans 6:11 If you are in Christ, you are in Christ. You did not perform your way into salvation, and you will not perform your way out of it. But that does not mean sinful choices will not sting. They will. Here is something worth noticing: before Jesus, sin did not bother you the same way. It may have even felt fun. But when the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your life, He is at war with the sin in you. That internal conflict is not a sign that you are not saved. It is actually evidence that you are. As Hebrews 12 reminds us, God disciplines the son He loves. The struggle is not a punishment. It is the hand of a loving Father remaking you from the inside out. Instead of fighting it, cooperate with it. Grace Does Not Just Forgive Sinners, It Creates Saints God is not simply trying to get people off the hook. He is building something eternal. "But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness." - Romans 6:17-18 Paul uses a striking phrase here: "slaves of righteousness." It sounds like a contradiction, but that is exactly the point. The world looks at a life surrendered to God and sees chains. What it cannot see is that those chains were already there, binding us to sin and death. What God offers is not a different kind of slavery. It is freedom that looks so complete and so total that the only word big enough to describe the belonging is this: you are His. God has the ability to redeem every single circumstance in your life, no matter its origin. He can take what was meant for evil and turn it for good. He is not just turning you away from sin. He is turning you into something. Good Works Are the Fruit of Salvation, Not the Root "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life." - Romans 6:22 Paul asks a pointed question: what fruit did your old life produce? Looking back honestly, most of us know the answer. Not much. A lot of regret, maybe some shame, and a train ride toward death. But now, in Christ, your life can actually be fruitful. Good works are not how you get saved. They are what happens because you are saved. And that fruit does not just benefit you. It can be the very thing that points someone else toward Jesus. Faith Unites You to Christ, Not Just to a Set of Rules Christianity is not a religion in the traditional sense. Religion can be spelled D-O: all the things you have to do to earn God's approval. Christianity is spelled D-O-N-E. Jesus has already done it. "Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God." - Romans 7:4 Paul uses the picture of marriage here. When someone dies, they are released from the marriage covenant. Through Christ's death, we are released from our bondage to sin and are now free to belong to another, to Jesus Himself. This is not a transaction. It is a relationship. And when you truly discover the love of Jesus, the question of whether people will take advantage of grace becomes almost irrelevant. Those who have genuinely encountered Him do not want to run from Him. They want more of Him. God's Goal Is Transformation, Not Just Acquittal Getting saved is not the finish line. It is the starting line. "But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code." - Romans 7:6 God's goal is the complete transformation of your life. We were not saved just to sit in a church building. We were saved for a purpose that is bigger than anything we do on a Sunday morning. The encouragement, the worship, the community, all of it is fuel for a life that God is actively reshaping. You cannot manufacture this transformation on your own. But you can cooperate with it. And when you do, you get a front row seat to some of the most remarkable miracles you will ever witness, happening right inside your own heart. Do You Know This Grace? There is a reason "Amazing Grace" has endured as one of the most beloved songs in history. Grace truly is amazing. But knowing about it and actually receiving it are two very different things. If you have been striving to earn something that has already been given, today is a good day to stop. Not because good works do not matter, but because they were never meant to be the price of admission. They are the overflow of a life that has been touched by Jesus. Faith in Jesus is what makes the difference. That is it. That is the whole thing. Life Application This week, identify one area of your life where you have been striving to earn God's approval rather than simply receiving His grace. It might look like guilt you keep carrying, a standard you keep trying to meet, or a sin you keep trying to fix on your own. Bring it to God in prayer and practice the act of surrender. Tell Him you trust that what Jesus did is enough, and ask the Holy Spirit to take over in that specific area. Ask yourself these questions as you reflect:
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Apply it!Next Steps is a collection of articles drawn from the sermons of Pastor Jon Alsdorf, and guest speakers, written to help you connect God's Word to real life. Each post is designed to inspire, challenge, and encourage you to live out your faith in practical, everyday ways -- because following Jesus is more than words, it's actions. Archives
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