We turn tonight in our Bibles as we're continuing our study through the book of Romans. We come tonight to Romans 8, verses 18 through 26. And it's nice to, as I was told before the service, that all the former living pastors are here tonight, so it's nice to see them here and to have them here. When I heard that, I was thinking to myself, I had a picture as a kid of all the presidents who were still living, Carter, Reagan, and then the two bushes. And somebody told me that would be worth money one day. I don't think our picture would be worth money, but it would be nice to get one together. We're going to read together tonight Romans 8, verses 18 through 26. Actually, 27. This is on page 1477. No, it's not. Sorry. Wrong Bible. Picking up at verse 18. for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 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. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 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. And he who searches hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And there ends the reading of God's Word tonight. Well, Peter said something in his first epistle that has always been a challenge for Christians. It's an encouragement, but in a challenging way, he said, Rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. I've always loved that verse, and it was in that context that Peter said that all of you all the believers have heaven reserved for them there is something so wonderful to come that when the apostles tried to discuss it they often struggled even coming up with proper wording the scriptures almost show us that struggle in fact i've often wondered about second corinthians chapter 11 that when paul was caught up to paradise into the third heaven and he saw things that were inexpressible with words and not lawful for a man to utter. Immediately after that, he says, I was given this intense affliction. I had to undergo an intense suffering, a thorn in the flesh. And the reason, of course, was to be an example to Christians to remind them that the glory is not yet. It's not yet. If I go on talking about that now, you'll think that it's now and that is to come. It was unlawful for him to run around talking about visions of heaven and that should be a warning about books that are doing that. It was unlawful because he had not viewed the paradise as something yet while we're still here. He says, instead, I was given this thorn in the flesh that I would learn in the present sufficiency of living by grace, through faith. The reality is, is that suffering often precedes glory. That's a general principle in the Scriptures. And Paul has just got done in Romans saying something about glory, hasn't he? He's been moving there. He's been going through the whole of the Christian life, and he had been talking about some glorious things. The evidence of our adoption, he said in, you'll notice there in verse 17, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him, in order that we may also be glorified with him. And all of a sudden, he's introduced into this whole string of glorious statements about the Christian life, he's all of a sudden introduced this concept of suffering. And you stand back and you say, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, where did you come with that? I mean, we have been on the clouds in Romans 8. This has been wonderful stuff in Romans 8. And you come to this and then you're kind of brought back to reality for a minute and you realize, wait a minute, the Christian life really is painful. and yes we've been lifted out and looked at the glories of what the holy spirit is doing and the glories of the christian life and now we're back to what paul talks about suffering and think about the glorious things that have been said no condemnation romans 8 1 you don't have to live ever fearing condemnation it's done it's over you're justified period it's you will not face the wrath of god and then he says you're set free you're set free from the law of sin and death you're no longer under the law romans 6 but you're under grace fear is gone the spirit's not taking you back to bondage that's not what he's doing you may try to take yourself there but the spirit's purpose is to assure you of your adoption as sons he's bearing witness with your spirit that your children and we have been looking at the whole story justification and he ends up here in glorification and we're going to look at in romans 8 at the end of this he's going to move right from justification to glorification telling you this is so certain this is not going to be taken all the promises are yes and amen you have a firm foundation no reason to doubt all of that glory often seems, as we're going through this in the thick of it, it seems to be called into question. And we forget about that in light of often a very difficult life and the things that come down our path. And when that happens, we forget about the glory. We forget about what is to come. And then we don't get it. Then we don't get the Christian life. And I often feel like this amazing life we have described to us in the Bible of victory and forgiveness and gospel. And then you come to something like this and the question comes out, yeah, okay, how does pain and suffering fit into this? And we struggle to process this. We struggle to think through this. This is what we get in the psalmist who are constantly crying out about this, who can forget Asaph's cry. My feet had almost stumbled. They had almost slipped. I was envious of the boastful when i saw the prosperity of the wicked there are no pangs in their death their strength is firm they're not in trouble as other men they're not plagued all of it summarized with a cry that often came out of the psalmist's mouth early in the mornings why are you so far from the words of my groaning, groaning. All of that to say tonight that Paul is explaining something that we fail to understand about the Christian life. We don't readily accept about the Christian life, especially because we are Americans. The question comes from the widow tonight who's witnessed the death of her husband at a young age. It comes from the mother who's witnessed the sickness of a child. It comes from the father who's experienced the loss of an infant. It comes from the woman who's experienced nothing but sickness and pain all of her life. It comes from the child who experiences loneliness and pain and doesn't know why. It comes from those who have taken a stand for Christ and doing what is right have lost everything. It comes from those who have seen their homes disrupted and families ripped apart for the cause of the Christian gospel. It comes from those who are deep in the problem of Romans 7. I am continuing to do the things that I don't want to do. How could I be a Christian? Why, if God has promised so much, is that what I get? Is that what I experience? I don't understand it. You live long enough and everyone at some point faces this. And you see it a lot as a pastor. Paul's answering it tonight. Paul's certainly answering it tonight. What he is ultimately helping us to understand is how we are to view the Christian life. How we are to think about the Christian life. How we are to live with the ultimate goal of the glory that is to come. How we are to live patiently in light of that, not forgetting that that is the ultimate place we're going. and all along the way, that we should never lose heart. As Jesus said, it's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Don't lose heart. Don't lose heart in the hardship. Don't lose heart in the pain. As a matter of fact, it is so purposeful for you. It is so mapped out for you. You need to live with the perspective that all of it should be for God's glory, and therefore you should train your minds and your lives to rejoice in it i know that's not easy and i'm not about to say that i do that well ask my wife it's hard and i haven't been through things that many of you have been through but paul says here and is having us think through here the reality that there is no part to encourage us tonight that there is no part of creation that is not longing and going there. In other words, there's a hope for the entire creation so that you would know that this present suffering is not it. It's short. It's a small path to walk. And this is going to be immense encouragement for the Christian tonight. In verse 18, he breaks into a statement that he's unpacking for the rest of the chapter, I believe. He says, for I consider that the suffering of this present time. Notice how he says it here. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us or in us. It's powerful. Whatever it is, whatever you're going through. it doesn't even bear a comparison to what is about to be revealed. The sufferings of this present time, this period between the cross and the glory, I can't even begin to contrast what you're facing now. Even as wonderful as it is that you get to enjoy gospel and freedom, I can't even begin to contrast that with what is yours at the glory, at the revealing, at the end. there are some passages you come to as a pastor and you're afraid that your own words are going to make it worse and this is one this is so wonderful uh it's so beyond us how do you communicate this in a in a helpful way in other words i believe paul is is struggling because he's basically saying i i don't even know how to contrast this and speak of this glory that is to come especially when he could say to the corinthian church eye has not even seen nor ear heard nor entered in the heart of man the things that god has prepared for those who love him it's that wonderful when the resurrection happens this glory is going to be revealed this brightness this radiance and it's not just going to surround us but be in us i don't know how to describe that i know john when he was trying to describe this said as children of god it's not yet been revealed what we shall be but when he is revealed when he comes in all of his glory we're going to be like him and see him as he is, it's going to be wonderful. The purpose Paul raises this is because he doesn't want the believer to lose heart. And I know many of you are losing heart. You struggle. You become discouraged. Happens. That's the Christian life. And it's not even, the Apostle is saying here, that we learn to get around the struggle. We are always trying to run around it. We're learning to go through it. We're learning to run right through it. Because we don't want to miss what the Lord is teaching us, that these things are yielding peaceable fruits of righteousness. These things are yielding fruits. That is what's happening. This suffering is the pathway to glory. You're sharing in Christ's sufferings. not obviously in the same way that he suffered but you are a partaker since you are a child and so you get these statements all throughout scripture we don't lose heart even though the outward man is perishing yet the inward man is being renewed day by day for our light affliction which is but for a moment it's working for us a far more exceeding eternal weight of glory. Notice there how he connected suffering as having a bearing on the glory to come. Paul had to learn that. It was in his very suffering that Christ was most revealed. I learned to trust him, said Paul. This is what Christ had said to him. My grace is sufficient, therefore I'm going to boast in these things. Now I say that because this is totally against our common thinking. I mean, what is the common thinking that goes on, if we're honest? The common thinking that goes on in us is we're all looking for a life that runs pretty smooth. We all want children who are doing well. Of course, I want that. We want to make a good living. We don't want to struggle. We don't want to live paycheck to paycheck. I want the picture-perfect life. I want to see the lines on my lawn when I mow, you know. I want them crooked. This is what I want. This is what we're after. And we think that's evidence of blessing. When everything's going well. And you know, that's the message of the false prophets, by the way. The message of the false prophets is glory now. The message of the false prophets is you can have it all now. And something is wrong with you if you're not getting the glory now. And the minute anything goes wrong, because we've so been bombarded with this kind of mindset, we're so used to, as we looked at this morning, blessing from the Lord, which is wonderful. Hey, we receive so many blessings from the Lord, food and gladness, and He cares for us and watches over us. But the minute something goes wrong, we are questioning Him and challenging Him, wondering if he's really good and how backwards we are when the whole message of Scripture is, even amidst all of this blessing, it would be the absence of trial, it would be the absence of suffering, it would be the absence of chastening that would be the exception for the Christian. You see why God sent Adam and Eve out of the garden? You ever thought about that? I didn't hit on it too much this morning i don't want them eating of the tree and living forever living forever in this state i don't want people going on living forever like this now fallen death has to occur that's why the heidelberg nails it when it says that our death puts an end to our sin and is an entrance into eternal life. Paul is saying this tonight, that as we are still a wilderness people heading to the promised land, you have to understand the pathway there is not easy. It's full of hardship. It's full of suffering and it's training us. We need to learn patience through this and it's building in us a what? A hope, a hope. God has a goal here. God has a goal. You want to continue this the way it is? No, God is taking this all somewhere. And there's a hope of the glory to come. And so Paul is being realistic about the present. And did you notice there's one word that permeates the text tonight? There's one word that shines in this text. Three times it says it in real emphasis. You'll notice there, it's the word groaning. Lament. a sighing inwardly as we are anxiously waiting for something there's something that's going to characterize the pilgrimage of the believer it is going to happen to you and you are going to groan and that groaning is good for you that groaning is producing something that groaning God designed. It's bearing the fruit of patience that you would look for something so much more wonderful, keeping your eyes fixed on the upward calling as Paul said he's given us. Look at verse 19. It's as if he's saying to us in verse 19, let me show you how all of creation is doing this. All of creation is groaning with this goal of glory. For the earnest, notice verse 19, 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. The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption. and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. What's he talking about? He's personifying creation, if you will. In other words, he's saying creation's like a person. Think of, for a minute, creation being a person. And Paul says, do you know that creation itself is longing for glory? What does that mean? Creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. Creation struggles. Do you realize that? Creation burns. In other words, creation longs for so much more. It longs for it because God subjected it to a kind of frustration. You say, well, what's that? When did God do that? Well, that's Genesis 3, when he cursed the ground for Adam's sake, right? Adam had sinned. God curses the ground. And what happened? The sin was imputed to Adam in their account. Creation didn't do anything wrong. But what now happened to the creation? God cursed the ground and right then and there, God subjected the creation to decay and the whole creation became ineffective in achieving what it should have. And notice what he says. It's going to be delivered from bondage to corruption, sharing together in this liberty that we have as God's children our sins caused this and Paul says great guess what creation itself is waiting and it's helping us to think through that everything's going somewhere creation itself is eagerly awaiting the revealing of God's children and this is why first Peter will come along and say God's not slow in giving you guys the promise God wants to give you the promise right now God wants to put an end to this now but you know why he's not putting into this now because he's long suffering not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance he's going and getting every last one of his elect and he subjected the creation to this until that happens what an amazing section my um tulips and linden do you know I'm a flower guy love flowers I love tulips. But I was always disappointed with those tulips. Those tulips frustrated me in Linden because they popped up and in two days they were gone, especially when I hit them with the lawnmower and then I had an angry wife. And I always thought about those tulips. What would the tulip be? I don't know. But I think to myself, it's being held back and we get a glimmer of that glory But imagine, when all of this is laid waste, 2 Peter 3, and it's melted with fire, and it's a new creation, where righteousness shall dwell. Even Calvin says, all creatures have a better state that awaits them. Creation itself has a hope. God did this, set this hope. And that's why, you know, as I saw a commercial, I think it was a few years ago, with Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson sitting together on a park bench. Anyone remember that? How could those guys sit together on a park bench? But anyways, they sat together on a park bench. And they disagreed about everything, but the one thing they agreed about was the need to protect the environment. And I thought to myself, God subjected it to a curse. I'm not saying we shouldn't care about the environment, But what's Paul telling us, you are suffering, don't forget, God subjected the creation to futility, and it's longing for the glory that is to come. It's waiting on you. It's waiting on you. So he's showing us this tonight, and then he moves right to us. Did you notice this in verse 23? Not only that, but we also have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, in verse 23. Notice how he says it. not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, there it is again, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. There is this painful groaning that goes on in us, and you know this groaning. You know this groaning. Isn't it just true that the greatest frustration with the Christian life is is that the inward man's been renewed, and you desire deeply to love Christ with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And do you? You want it. It's the desire of the redeemed heart. And you're fighting with the fact that you don't fulfill what is the desire of your heart, and that is a groan. And we're fighting with that. And we give Him so little and sin informs the bodily life as Paul's been describing. And what does that create in us? It creates this groaning to put off and to put on for a resurrected body. Groans come out of the sheep in the church all the time. Seeing suffering and death, pain and affliction, groans. And you may not realize it, But what that is producing in you, what that is producing is a desire and an eager anticipation for something more. That's why I laugh when I look at a society today that is obsessed with making themselves young. You know, you think about it. Plastic surgeries and endless things to make you young are very aging. is moving us to the reality that to die is gain. It's so backwards to think that God's love is shown when we don't face trials and afflictions and sufferings. It's through these things that God is training us, painful as it is, some much more painful than others, that we would not be satisfied with how things are. I'm not satisfied with how things are. I'm not satisfied when one of you dies. In other words, death is a terrible thing, isn't it? And I want the resurrected body for you. I want more. And that's exactly what Paul says in verse 24. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen, it's not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, We wait for it with patience. You hear it? We've not obtained the glory yet. We don't see that glory yet. In response to this, what we're often trying to do is create a pain-free, comfortable life. I, just as much as the next guy, want that. But the Lord is telling us that He is using these things to train us and to persevere us and to teach us patience and to help us. And you know, this extends to so many areas, doesn't it? I think one of the greatest challenges for church life today, when you think about it, what are we trying to do in the life of the church? What is the great cry in this land? We want more, don't we? It's not enough to sit and listen. And what have we tried to do? We want more power in worship. We want a better experience in worship. And so we long to see more. We long to feel more. We long to create something more. I mean, God gave us two sacraments as I went over tonight in the Heidelberg that encourages us. He gives us a visible word, but we built the thing now so that we would create a kind of glory now when we don't realize that when we worship in spirit and in truth, we are eagerly anticipating the worship of God, what? Face to face of Christ. And when we push that, We're denying, and we're trying to prevent what is held out for us. And that's really important to think about. We patiently wait in hope, and hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is certainty. I close with this. Not only does creation groan, not only do we groan, one last one groaning here, isn't there? Look at verse 26. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, 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. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Did you hear that last statement? The Spirit takes upon Himself that burden to groan for you. And I think that's the most overwhelming statement I've come across here in Romans 8 so far. Besides the note, they're all overwhelming, I've said. But the Spirit takes upon the burden of our groanings and He groans. And by now you should say that is an amazing truth. How so? You don't even know what to pray for, do you? Everyone's felt that. You've struggled with that. Oh, sure, Jesus taught us to pray. Jesus taught us to pray. Jesus taught us the Lord's Prayer. We know the basic content of prayer. But you don't know what to pray for when someone's sick. Is it God's will that person rise again? Get well? You don't know what to pray for in certain circumstances at all. You can't read the mind of God. And when you have these sufferings in this life, real groanings come out, don't they? real groanings when things are happening to loved ones and people and you don't know how to pray which way do i go paul had the thorn in the flesh a messenger of satan to torment him and he begged god take it away and god didn't and god says my grace is sufficient and here's one of the blessings of the christian life is is what has god done god has sent his Spirit, and the Spirit is doing what? He is interceding with groanings that cannot be uttered. And what an encouragement to us tonight, that the Spirit intercedes, He makes intercession, and the Father hears the prayer of the Spirit. The Spirit searches our hearts, and He knows us. Psalm 139, and He knows our ways, and He knows our thoughts, He knows our being, how He knit us together, and He searches us, and what does He do? He groans. And the Father hears that. And the perfect will of God is accomplished for you. The perfect will of God is accomplished. Praying for us, we realize God's grace is sufficient. And he's asking that the things that go on in our life, whatever it might be, whatever choice he makes, is the right one for you so that you would be trained to live in this hope. That is the greatest encouragement because if we're left to ourselves, what are we asking for? A groan-free life, that's for sure. And the Spirit is saying, I'm often going to pray for groans for you because I'm going to prepare you for what is to come. He is making sure that what is best for us happens. And now you kind of understand why the Lord's going to say to us, and all the way back from Joseph forward, at the end of Romans 8, He's going to say that whatever it is in this life, all things, they work together for good. Everything. Think of the whole picture here. It's not easy. I've said that twice today from this morning and now. But until the glory has come, the Lord just said to you, don't lose sight. I am trying you, I am testing you, and I'm producing in your hearts groanings as all the creation is groaning to make you have this hope of glory. It will happen. It will happen. You can be sure you will be glorified believing in Jesus by faith alone. I close with the words of 1 Peter. Beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you. But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. Let's pray together. O Lord our God, we praise You for encouraging us tonight in a hard subject, in a challenging subject, and yet so uplifting to know that whatever it is we as believers face, it's not because you're angry at us. It's not because your wrath burns against us. In the big picture, you have just told us that your purpose is that we would groan for glory. And thank you for producing that. Thank you for caring. Thank you for working relentlessly and not leaving us to ourselves. Sanctify us, O Lord, and set us apart to you that we might learn in whatever circumstance we are in to be content. For to live is Christ and to die is gain. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.