Understandng Hope

Let's grab our bibles. Grab our bibles and turn to Romans chapter eight.

If you don't have a Bible with you, just raise your hand. We're

passing those out right now, so raise your hand and keep it up if

you need a Bible or a bulletin sermon notes on the back of that.

So that's helpful. And as we get all gathered together, turn with me

to Romans chapter eight. We're in verses eighteen through thirty, and I'm gonna

ask our brother to come up and read our sermon text for us from Romans

eight eighteen through thirty. Good morning, Romans eight eighteen through thirty before 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 first fruits

of the spirit grown 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 what is the mind of the Spirit. Because the Spirit intercedes

for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for

those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who

are called according to His purpose, for those whom he foreknew, He also

predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he

might be the first born among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he

also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom

he justified he also glorified. This is God's word. Amen. Hope is

something that is largely misunderstood. When we use the word hope, we often

use it like this, like I hope we get some rain next week.

It's something akin to wishful thinking. Right, we hope this happens. We

hope that happens. We don't know if it will or not. But biblically,

hope is something that's quite different Biblical hope. Christian hope is not about

wishing for something in the future. Biblical hope is about living a certain way

now because of something we believe about the future. That's Christian hope. And

the results of Christian hope might surprise you. Yes, there is a sense

of buoyancy, right, buoyancy of spirit that comes from Christian hope. But

there's also there's also a genuine ability to lament what is broken in this world

because of Christian hope. The more genuine ability to lament than any other way.

You have to know what's coming in order to really understand what's broken about

now. Additionally, one of the results of Christian hope is actually a growing

confidence and ability to pray, as well as a grasp of what God is

doing to transform you from the inside out. That's a lot. That's a

lot for hope to get done, and it does. If I was going

to put it in a sentence, it would be this, Hope means engaging

present realities in light of God's ultimate transforming work. Hope means engaging present realities,

the good, bad, and ugly, in light of God's transforming work.

So what is he transforming? Well, in this passage we'll see this

that God is transforming brokenness. That he's transforming prayer, and he's transforming you

brokenness, prayer and you. So let's go transforming brokenness. This whole first

paragraph in our passage is about what God is doing with this broken world to

transform it into the glory that is coming. In fact, that the central

metaphor for this whole paragraph is the metaphor of childbirth right and how in some

ways, in some ways, in a very real way, what we have

now is not what really should be, It's not what's to come. There

are four key ideas that the whole argument centers on, and here's the first

one. Suffering. Suffering. That suffering is real. I mean, it

just starts with For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not

worth comparing. Right. Goes on to say that the creation was subjected to

futility, things are way harder than they should be, that creation is in

bondage to corruption, that decay is a real part of our lives. You

know, contrary to what some people think, the Bible is very, very

frank about suffering. The Bible doesn't teach that suffering is sort of not a

big deal or is just an illusion, and in fact doesn't teach that Christian

faith is a path away from suffering at all. The Christian faith isn't a

way to avoid suffering. It's actually a path integrator suffering. I'm a heck

of a sales guy. The Bible teaches that Christians should expect ridicule and misunderstanding

and malignment and lives of sacrifice. In fact, the Apostle has just been

talking about the suffering that we experience as we fight and battle against sin.

He's talking here in this paragraph about all kinds of general brokenness that we experience

and suffer in this life. And then he's going to get to you know,

verse thirty five, with things like tribulation and distress and persecution and famine

and nakedness, danger and sword. Oh my, it's a lot of suffering.

And the New Testament teaches us that the Christian faith is a walk in

which suffering increases. It's important because I think we can be tempted in our

desire to put God's goodness on display. We can be tempted to downplay the

reality of suffering, or even to suggest that, hey, if we do

everything God's way, then everything is going to work out to the minimum of

suffering. And that's just not what the New Testament teaches. In fact,

the Savior we worship is a suffering one. That's not to say that there

isn't such a thing as God's generous blessings. We know that there is.

But I think it's important to realize that if we really want to put God's

goodness on display, a richer testimony, a more biblical and more gospel revealing

testimony, is to testify to God's goodness in the face of suffering, that

as we suffer, we do so with hope, hope that cannot be gained

any other way than knowing Jesus. So if we're going to put hope on

display in the midst of our real suffering. That's going to mean that we

understand something else. Here's the second key idea glory. We understand glory.

Look how glory dominates this passage verse eighteen, for I consider that the sufferings

of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be

revealed. And verse twenty one that the freedom of the glory of the children

of God is what creation is waiting for. I mean, the whole passage

is sandwiched with it, right verse seventeen be glorified with him, and verse

thirty those he justified, he also glorified. The whole thing is about glory,

And what this passage is saying about glory is that there is a day

coming, a day of reddemption, when the curse of sin and death and

futility and pain and brokenness is undone. Complete redemption is coming, Praise God,

and we live in light of that. You know, redemption isn't a

word that we use very often outside of like religious talk. I think as

a kid, the only other time I heard the term redemption was when I

could take glass bottles down to the gas station and I could redeem them for

a dime. Yeah, I'm thinking maybe twenty percent of us know what that's

like. That I could go down to the ditch three blocks from my house,

and I can dig around in the mud and the muck of the ditch

and collect up four or five bottles and hose them off and take them down

to the gas and they'd give me a dime for every one of them,

and that meant candy. And I actually thought about those bottles a lot when

I was a kid. It kind of fascinated me that through some invisible process,

those bottles stuck in the muck of the ditch would one day end up

shiny new soda filled in the fridge in the gas station and cold. And

as I think about loved ones being taken from us by death, kids in

cancer, wards war, tearing gaping wounds all over the globe, I think

this world needs to be pulled out of the muck of the bottom of the

ditch and redeemed. That's glory, and this glory, this glory is gonna

mean Creation is redeemed. Right, Creation awaits with eager longing verse nineteen.

Right, Creation was subject to futility in hopes that it will be set free

from its bondage to corruption, and our bodies will be redeemed. Right,

So, when I think about all of the brokenness that I just described,

being undone, being made untrue. No more kids in cancer wards, no

more death, no more futility, I think, Man, that's that's almost

enough. But that's not it. Not only will creation be redeemed, God's

people will be revealed. Says in verse nineteen that what creation is waiting for

is the revealing of the sons of God. In other words, God's people

will live with him in holiness and obedience. No more deception, no more

lies, no more sin, no more broken relationships. The coming glory is

Creation redeemed, God's people revealed, an all made whole. Suffering is real,

glory is coming. And because of that, because of that, we

live a certain way. And that's the next two ideas. The next two

ideas. Do we live because suffering is real and glory is coming? Well,

first we live comparing. We live comparing. That's how the Apostle starts

right verse eighteen. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time,

they're real, are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed

to us. It's coming. Now. When he says it's not worth comparing,

he's not saying, so I don't compare it. He's saying, I

do compare it, and it's overwhelming right, suffering that's real on one end,

glory that's coming on the other end, and it doesn't compare. Joseph

did something like this, something like this at the end of Genesis. You

might remember the story. You know he was he was thrown into a pit

by his brother's soul, into slavery, accused falsely by Potiphar's wife, thrown

into prison to rot, but that God had for him a place of elevation.

He was second in command to Pharaoh for all of the nation of Egypt,

and so he rescued his brothers and their families and the whole nation of

Egypt. And he says at the end of Genesis, he says, all

that bad stuff God meant it for good. Completely outweighs. We had no

idea what God was up to, and so we do something like that.

We Joseph trusted and testified to the God's transforming work as he looked backwards.

But we trust and testify to God's transforming work as we look forward. And

we say suffering is real, glory is coming, and it doesn't even compare.

That's hope. As we live a life of comparing, that's hope,

and that hope that comparing produces a kind of buoyancy. But not only that,

it also produces maybe counterintuitively, it produces real groaning. That's the fourth

idea that's central to this argument, groaning. And he says the whole creation

has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth. We groan inwardly. The

Holy Spirit intercedes for us with grown. That is to say that there is

a recognition that we have, and even creation has, and the Holy Spirit

confirms that things are not how they should be, not really not ultimately,

as someone you love begins Alzheimer's bizarre vanishing act, you know it, this

is not how it really should be. As as sin and lies destroy a

marriage or a family, you know it, this is not how things really

should be. My wife Kara, and I experienced a miscarriage about twelve years

ago, and that weekend I preached from this passage there at our church in

Austin where we were because of the groaning of it all, knowing that this

is not how it really should be. Christian hope, by its essence,

must be familiar with lament. Christian hope engages with present realities. It is

not closing your eyes to suffering. It's seeing with both eyes the real suffering

of right now and seeing the real coming glory and comparing them, and so

being buoyant of spirit because you know what's coming. Doesn't it absolutely doesn't compare.

But you see what's now and you groan. Far from being Pollyanna.

As a Christian, you should feel utterly free to groan over the way sin

has broken this world. Our Bible is full of lament. And we also

compare this to the way God is transforming brokenness, and that is hope.

So what is God's transforming work. He's transforming brokenness. That's our first point.

It's by far the longest. Don't worry. What else is he transforming?

Well, the Bible tells us here that God is also transforming prayer.

He's transforming brokenness, but he's also transforming prayer. And you should notice that

what the Bible says here about prayer is one of the most liberating and encouraging

things that God says anywhere about prayer. But it starts. It starts with

recognizing our ignorance and weakness in it is he that in verse twenty six.

Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know

what to pray for as we ought. Okay. So in other words,

when it comes to this idea of what we should set our hope on,

how we look to the future and the glory that's coming in comparison to the

suffering that we're experiencing right now, and we pray. We're actually very bad

at knowing what exactly to pray for. That's okay. The Spirit helps us.

We don't know what to pray for as we ought, but the Holy

Spirit does, says in the rest of twenty six here, 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. Right, we don't know what

should come, but the Spirit does. We don't know what God's up to,

but the Spirit does, ultimately and finally, and every hidden blessing of

providence along the way, the Spirit knows what should come. I mean,

I can only imagine how Joseph prayed. He's headed off to check on his

brothers out in the field. I'm sure he prayed something like, God,

change my relationship with my brothers to the better. Relationship changed. But ultimately

he rescued them all and forgave them all. I'm sure when he was down

in the pit, he prayed something along the lines of God, get me

out of this pit and back to safety. He got out of a pit

and was sold as a slave, but ultimately he sat in the safety of

a palace. I'm sure he prayed, God vindicate me against the accusations of

Potiphar's wife. He was thrown in prison to rot, but ultimately the whole

world knows the true story. We don't know what to pray for him.

And the point is not that eventually you're going to end up in a palace.

The point is God knows what he's doing, and God knows the glory

to which your prayers should point. God knows the glory to which your prayers

should point. So pray away, don't hesitate, lack no confidence, get

on your knees and pray. You don't know what to pray for, the

Spirit helps you. Of course, you don't know what to pray for.

We're dumb. We don't know what's coming, except for that we know what's

coming, So pray all the more. I say it this way often,

God, we're your kids, So we're just gonna pray for what we want,

because that's what kids should do, just ask for what they want.

Could could we learn to pray more biblically? Yes, absolutely, but please

don't let your learning about prayer or your lack of learning about prayer cause you

to pray less. If you're learning about prayer causes you to pray less,

you haven't learned very much. The Spirit helps you. You don't know what

to pray for. Spirit helps you don't know what the plan is. Spirit

helps you're you're afraid your your prayers aren't spiritual enough. The Spirit has got

that. Pray away. And we're going to gather here this week on Wednesday,

and we're gonna pray together as a church. And I don't think I'm

giving too much way to say that we are going to pray over some things

that are actually going to cause us to groan a lot. Pray away,

pray away, because God is transforming your prayers Lastly, he's also transforming you.

He's transforming you. It's important to understand as we consider Hope, that

God is transforming you to be like Jesus, and he's using all things to

do it. He's using all things. Look at verse twenty eight. You're

probably familiar with it, says, and we know that for those who love

God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according

to His purpose. If we're gonna understand hope, we have to realize that

it involves seizing upon one of the most glorious promises in all the Bible.

God works all things together. There is no failure, there is no tragedy

outside of his wise arranging work. And he takes broken pieces of everything and

he puts it together in a mosaic that will blow your mind with its beauty

and its good. In your life. You don't know what's coming. All

your mistakes, he works with them, all the ways you've been sinned against,

He's working them, and he works them together other for your good,

and that good, that good is first and foremost. This you're becoming like

Jesus. You're becoming like Jesus. Look at verse twenty nine. What is

this good well for those whom he foreknew. He also predestined to be conformed

to the image of his son in order that many might be the first,

that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. That's our hope. This

is hope that I would be conformed into the image of Jesus. Yes,

one of the things I probably pray for every morning is some aspect of God

changing my character to be more like Jesus in his humility and his meekness,

in his compassion. And what I know is that He's working all things together

to accomplish that. It will happen. I'm gonna be like Jesus. You're

gonna be like Jesus both spiritually and physically. You're going to be conformed to

his character, and you're going to be conformed to eternal life. When Paul

says firstborn, he's specifically talking about resurrection from the dead, right. In

other words, that redemption and glory is coming for all of God's sons and

daughters, and it has already begun, it is already broken into now because

the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he's just the first, He's just the first

born of many sons and daughters. That means when you trust Christ, you

aren't just trusting him and his death for your sins. You aren't just trusting

him and his way of living for your life. You're trusting his redemption of

your suffering. He is reshaping all things for your good and the redemption of

your body. And you're trusting him for that. He suffered in Rose and

you will too. He's the firstborn of many brothers and sisters. That's Christian

hope. And here's the thing that has been his plan for all eternity.

Look at verse thirty. It's the last verse in our passage. And those

whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified,

and those whom he justified he also glorified. This has been called the

golden chain of God's sovereign grace. That, by God's grace alone, he

elects to showcase his kindness. He has mercy on whom he will have mercy.

And God's choice is not ultimately initiated by you, or your wisdom,

or your goodness or even your trust. It's ultimately initiated by God's sovereign grace.

Before you do anything good or bad, and then, by his grace,

he foreknows, predestines, calls, justifies, glorifies, can't be broken.

Some have called this grace irresistible, and that's quite right, not in

the sense that God's saving work doesn't involve our faith or obedience. It absolutely

does, but that it's his grace that actually provokes our faith in obedience.

He is the ultimate initiating power behind every link in the chain. And good

thing too, because if it was up to me, I know I would

blow it, and pretty early, but God never will. He predestines,

he calls, he justifies, he glorifies, which means that your hope is

rooted in a work that stretches out into the future, but began long,

long, long in the past. Before you made a profession of faith,

God was at work. He said his kindness on you. Before you stood

in front of anyone to testify of God's saving power, he called you.

He turned your face toward Heaven. He opened your eyes to your own desperation,

and drew from your lips the cry of faith