The first thing he does is put suffering in a global context.

Would you do that as the first thing?

If somebody came to you struggling with their suffering, they had lost a loved one,

or they'd gotten a terrible disease, or didn't an accident, or lost their job, or marriage had broken up,

the first thing you do is say,

let's get this in a global context.

Suffering shrinks our world. It narrows everything down to the pain that we're experiencing.

And Paul's instinct is to widen the lens all the way out to the glory

that's about to be revealed and that's not unfeeling it's actually hope-giving

I'm your host Dan Kruver in this episode of light and truth Piper opens Romans 8, verses 17 and 18 to show us why our

present pain is not worth comparing to what God is preparing. This message was originally delivered

at the Cove in Asheville, North Carolina, on July 9, 2003.

If somebody asked me, and several of you have, given what you've said, Piper,

about the necessary evidence of putting to death the deeds of the body.

How can we ever have assurance?

Because all of us put to death the deeds of the body at different degrees of success.

And you've made putting to death the deeds of the body an evidence of our justification

and therefore seem to make our assurance and our security

hang on our success and yet our success is so paltry.

So wince assurance.

And my answer is assurance is multi-rooted.

I don't want to be unbiblical and say, oh, it doesn't really matter how much you obey.

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