Hope and a Future (Romans 8:18-30)

We're gonna be in the book of Romans this morning.

We're gonna be in chapter 8.

I'll be reading out of the CSB translation.

And we're gonna be reading verses 18 through 30.

I'll give you a second to get there.

And then let's all stand if you're able for the reading of God's word.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God's Son to be revealed.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay, into the glorious freedom of God's children.

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.

Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the first fruits, we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

Now in this hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope.

Because who hopes for what he sees?

Now, if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.

In the same way, the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself interced for us with inexpressible groanings.

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

For those he foreknew, he also predestined, to be conformed to the image of his son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters, and those he predestined, he also called, and those he called, he also justified, and those he justified, he also glorified.

Lord, I pray that as we open your word here this morning, that you would be the one doing the talking, that we would approach you with all humility, that we would have open hearts and minds and ears and eyes, Lord, to see the things that you want to do within us.

But I pray that your word would convict us, that your word would encourage us, that it would direct us and do everything that you desire for it to do within us here this morning.

We pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So last week, uh Ben did a great job of covering the first part of chapter 8.

Talking about how there is now no condemnation in Christ Jesus.

Even when we fail in our flesh and we don't do the things that we want to do, and we do the things that we don't want to do, we still have this right standing with God because of the work of Jesus in his death, his burial, and his resurrection.

And we're going to get to see the symbolism of that as we baptize people a little bit later today.

But we get to share in that as believers in Christ, in that death, that burial, and that resurrection.

And we talked about how the Holy Spirit plays his role in all of this.

How he has been given to us to be that helper that we so desperately need.

And with that, that we've been adopted into the family of God.

That we get to be co-heirs with Jesus Christ, receiving the same inheritance as Jesus.

So those are the things that are kind of leading up to this.

Remember, when all of this was written, when Paul wrote this letter to the Romans, there was no chapter breaks, there was no verse breaks.

This is from top to bottom just one continuous thought.

And that's why we keep talking about how important context is as we do this.

So this morning I actually want to kind of get a running start into this passage by starting in verse 16, and then we'll read through verse 18, and then we'll talk about it.

So verse 16 says, the Spirit Himself testifies together with our Spirit that we are God's children, and if children also heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified with him.

Verse 18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

So the short of this, I think what Paul's main thing he wants to communicate here in verse 18 to the Romans, it's worth it.

And if Paul can say this, I think we can easily say this.

You know, I'm pretty sure that I can assume that none of us have suffered to the capacity that Paul suffered.

Paul was flogged, he was stoned, he was shipwrecked, imprisoned, he was bit by a snake, he was beaten, he was falsely accused and brought before these councils.

And he's saying that all of that, it doesn't even compare to the glory that awaits us in heaven.

He's saying all of that is totally worth it.

It can't even compare to the glory that awaits us in eternity.

You know, I've read many testimonies of church leaders that were pastors of underground churches in various countries that were leading churches that could not legally meet in public like we are right now.

And when those restrictions lightened or were lifted completely in that country and the persecution really stopped for the most part for those churches, those pastors say they would prefer to go back to when the church was being persecuted.

They would prefer to go back to when the church had to meet underground.

Because when the persecution lifted, they say the church became soft and became complacent.

It was the persecution that kept them bold, and it was the persecution that kept them on their knees.

And when the persecution relaxed, they said the people relaxed.

You know, and it as I was going through this this week, it really made me wonder like how relaxed and how complacent have I become.

Like, oh, the persecution.

And I'm not saying we shouldn't feel those things and those things shouldn't bother us.

The point is, in comparison to what Paul went through, I don't know if we can actually even really relate to that type of persecution because of the freedoms that we have.

And that's why Paul can say the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

It can't be compared to the glory that awaits us.

Because the glory that awaits us is beyond anything that we can imagine.

Nothing we can experience on this earth is anything that we're gonna look back on and say, that wasn't worth it.

In light of the glory we will experience in heaven, it's gonna put everything that we experience into perspective.

We'll see that our life on earth is just a vapor, as Scripture tells us.

And the things that concerned us about this world, you know, the cares of the world that grip us so tightly sometimes, we're gonna realize that those isolated events are just one little water molecule in this vapor that we call life.

And so I want to ask you: what was that for you this week?

That thing that gripped you so tightly, but in reality, in light of eternity, it's just gonna be a fleeting memory of insignificance once we experience that glory that awaits us.

And even if we do end up getting imprisoned and flogged and attacked, this life will pale in comparison to what awaits us.

You know, we need to have that eternal perspective in all things and see the world through that lens.

Again, that's one of the reasons we're doing the Bible reading in a year, to gain that biblical perspective.

Because a biblical perspective in reality is an eternal perspective as well.

Look at verse 19 with me.

For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God's sons to be revealed.

For the creation was subjected to futility.

That term God's sons, that can turn into some weird things and all kinds of questions.

But if we keep it in context, as Ben explained so well last week regarding verse 14 in this chapter, God's sons includes every follower of Jesus Christ.

And the term sons is used because sons in this culture received the full inheritance from their father, unlike the daughters did.

And if that concept bothers you, talk to Ben.

He's the one that mentioned it last week.

So verse 19 here is saying that for all followers of Christ, we should be eagerly anticipating Jesus' return because it means that we're done with our flesh, with the old man.

It means we're done with this earth that is living under this curse.

We're done with the curse as a whole that we've all been living under since we were born.

It means that we're done with suffering, we're done with pain, we're done with conflict, we're done with corruption.

But Paul takes it even a step further here and says, creation is eagerly awaiting that moment as well.

Where death and decay are done with, where natural disasters are done with.

Creation is looking forward to going back to the way that things were before the curse, before the fall of man with Adam and Eve in the garden.

So look at verse 20 once again.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God's children.

So, like I said, creation is under the same curse that we've been under.

Adam and Eve's sin in the garden affected everything.

Everything on this earth is in a state of decay and erosion.

Everything that is living is one day closer to death.

Isn't this an encouraging message so far?

But that's the truth.

Everything that is living is one day closer to death.

And we've talked a lot about how this applies to us as we've gone through this book of Romans together.

But now Paul throws in how it affects nature.

Look at verse 21.

That the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God's children.

So 2 Peter chapter 3, you don't have to turn there unless you want to.

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

Verses 10 through 13 tells us what will happen to this earth that we're on when the curse is finally removed, when Jesus finally comes back.

It says, But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.

On that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise.

The elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed, or maybe your translation says burned up.

Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness.

As you wait for the day of God and hasten its coming, because of that day, the heavens will be dissolved with fire, and the elements will melt with heat.

But based on this promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells.

So not only are we going to get new awesome eternal bodies, heaven and earth are going to be made new as well.

After Jesus' second coming, we will forever get to enjoy a new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem in our new bodies.

Doesn't that sound amazing?

This is something we should be excited about.

When things will finally get back to the way that God intended them to be from the beginning.

And that the most important of those things is we will finally be in perfect relationship with God.

People and the earth have been suffering under the same curse for thousands and thousands of years.

And both are eagerly awaiting a time when things are set back to the way that they should be.

As we saw in 2 Peter, the new earth will take on a new form, just like we will take on a new form.

And when you find yourself longing for that day, groaning for that day where all of this is going to happen, remember that the earth and all of creation is in that same boat that we are, under that same curse of death that we've been placed under as well.

So that's verse 22.

Now look at verse 23.

Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the first fruits, we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

Through the Holy Spirit, we get to experience the first fruits of that fellowship with God and that glory that awaits us in heaven.

The gift of the Holy Spirit living within us gives us that taste of what's to come.

You know, our peach tree just started producing maybe about three or four weeks ago at our house.

And a few pieces of the fruit, I went around just kind of tugging a little bit, a few came off a lot earlier than the rest.

I guess they were overachievers.

But there was a ton of peaches, and just a few of them came off.

Set them on the counter when they were ripe, you know, shared them as a family.

And if you've ever had a homegrown peach, like you can't beat that.

You can't buy those at the store.

But we got to taste those and enjoy those, and they were amazing.

But then we had to wait about a week before anything else was ripe enough to pick off that tree.

But that first fruit, those first fruits, gave us a taste of what was to come.

It gave us something to look forward to that we knew was going to happen, but it hadn't happened quite yet.

You know, we've been adopted as sons into the family of God.

But we have only had a taste of what the fullness of that relationship actually looks like.

Just a taste by having God, the Holy Spirit, dwelling inside of us.

And that's something that no one before Jesus could experience.

But we have that in us constantly as believers in Christ.

And it's the Holy Spirit that gives us that taste of what's to come, of that renewed perfect relationship with Jesus.

And it's that taste, I think that verse 23 is telling us, that makes us eagerly await the day that all of that becomes fulfilled.

And we've got all the peaches we could ever eat.

Verse 24.

Now, in this hope, we were saved.

But hope that is seen is not hope because who hopes for what he can't see?

You know, if you're eagerly waiting for somebody to get to your house that you haven't seen in a while, and you just love that person, you can't wait to see them, you have a hope that they will show up quickly, right?

You have that hope of I can't wait until they get here.

I can't wait to see that person.

You know, the house that I grew up in, you could see people driving up the road from maybe like a quarter mile away.

And you could see through our the window of our living room.

And so if I had a friend coming and I just couldn't wait for them to get there, I was eagerly anticipating their arrival.

You know, I'd sit backward on that couch and I'd look out that window down the road because there was a little curve in it, and I was just waiting with anticipation, hoping that I would see that car come at any moment around that bin.

Sitting with hope in something that I couldn't yet see.

Now, once they came around that bin and I saw them, I didn't sit there and say, I hope they get there soon, you know?

Because I could see them.

It's when I looked down the road in anticipation and couldn't see them, that's when I had hope that they would get there soon.

That's why Paul says, but hope that is seen is not hope.

Because who hopes for what he can see?

Verse 25.

Now, if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we have so much to place our hope in.

Our hope is in Jesus.

Our hope is in an eternal home in paradise with God.

Our hope is in the fact that God will never leave us or forsake us.

That we are now sons and daughters of the Most High God.

That we are now in right standing with God through grace.

Our hope is in the fact that God works all things together for good for those that love Him.

As followers of Christ, we should be known for our hope.

Because in reality, nobody else has it.

You know, when's the last time you watched or read the news and thought, oh, there is hope in world governments?

When's the last time you watched the news and had hope in the goodness of politicians' hearts?

I don't know if I ever have, but that's not, when I turn the news off, I'm not feeling hope usually.

The world doesn't have hope to offer us.

And if they pretend like they do, I promise it will not last.

C.S.

Lewis has a quote I want to share with you.

He says, in the truest sense, Christian pilgrims have the best of both worlds.

We have joy when this world reminds us of the next, and we take comfort when it does not.

I want you to really think about this for a second.

Have you ever had a glimpse of what awaits us in heaven?

You know, just a taste of what awaits.

Maybe it was in a worship service.

Maybe it was in an amazing visit that you had with a friend.

On Friday night after home group, we stepped outside of the Johnson's.

I don't know if anybody else on Friday night saw the sunset.

But I just sat there and I thought, I could just sit and watch this forever.

The sky just looked like it was on fire.

And it was just the awe of God was so present in that moment.

You know, it's those moments where we think, you know, if I could just bottle this, if I could just freeze time and live in this moment forever, that would be so amazing.

We have joy whenever this world reminds us of the next.

Those are the moments I think that we want to bottle up.

But we can also take comfort in the world that awaits us, when our present world is at its worst.

We have the best of both worlds.

That's what C.S.

Lewis's quote is talking about right here.

When things are the best, it's like, oh, I can't wait for the for eternity.

Things are at the worst, it's like, oh, I can't wait for eternity.

We have the best of both worlds.

We have a hope as believers for what lies ahead of us.

And that should bring so much comfort to us.

Some people have asked me in the past, you know, should I feel guilty about looking forward to heaven?

And not just the fact that we're going to be face to face with God, but looking forward to what awaits us in heaven.

And my answer is always absolutely not.

Jesus went to prepare a place for us.

And you better believe that he wants us to look forward to what What He's prepared for us.

You know, 1 Corinthians 15, 18 through 19 says, if we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.

I think God wants us to be excited about what's ahead, to be excited about paradise, to be excited about glory, to be excited about no more sin and no more suffering and no more corruption.

You know, according to verse 18 in our text here this morning, that first verse that we read, it says we should expect suffering.

It says, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

Jesus told us to expect suffering.

You know, in this world you will have trouble, he told us.

The church in Acts, we see in our home groups, celebrated when there was persecution.

Because their hope wasn't in the world.

It was in Jesus, and it was in the future that Jesus holds for us.

You know, we have a place where we can confidently place our hope.

And I think we need to understand that nobody else, other than those that follow Christ, have that hope.

And if they think they do, it will not last.

Look at verse 26.

In the same way, the Spirit also helps us in our weakness.

Because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.

So in our weakness, I think oftentimes we can find ourselves in a place where we don't even know what to pray.

Have you ever been there before?

Or you're just feeling, you know, this is so hard.

And this is so beyond me that I don't even know what I need right now.

And I don't even know how to pray.

Or maybe I don't even know how to have the ability to form the words to express what's going on on the inside, to accurately describe the emotions that I'm feeling at this time.

You know, you're thinking I can feel these things, but I don't know how to express these things.

The Holy Spirit that lives inside of us, he knows exactly how to communicate those things to God.

Now, I think this does include the gift of tongues, you know, the Holy Spirit praying through us.

As we see in 1 Corinthians 14, 14, it says, For I pray in a tongue, sorry, for if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays.

But my understanding is unfruitful.

What then?

I will pray with the spirit, and I'll also pray with my understanding.

So I think praying in tongues is definitely included in this.

But I think there's other times as well where it really is just a groan.

Where it is a deep sigh, where that's all we can muster.

A groan that we can't express in any other way.

And I think the important thing to recognize is even in those moments, God has us.

God's got you in those moments.

He knows you inside and out already.

And please hear me in this.

I think the important thing is that you're running to God in those inexpressible moments.

That you're running to him even when you don't know what to say.

Instead of screaming at the sky in anger because of the circumstance that we're in.

Even when you can't express it.

I think this is what Paul is saying right here.

Just groan to the Lord.

And he understands that groan.

And get this: he understands that groan better than you do.

Think about that.

He just wants you to give it to him even when you don't know how.

He still wants that communication with you even when you don't know what to say.

That is the nearness that God desires inside of each one of us.

God wants us to know don't worry about the words.

Just give it to me.

Just run to me in those moments.

That's how deeply and how intimately he desires us.

Look at verse 27.

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

God and the Holy Spirit are one.

There's the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, one God, three persons.

And the Holy Spirit prays for us according to the will of God.

I don't know about you, but that is extremely comforting to me.

I mean, who better to pray for us than God Himself?

You know, sometimes in those moments of desperation, personally, I would just rather groan.

Because if the Holy Spirit is going to pray according to the will of God, and I don't even know how to form words in that moment, why even try to put sentences together?

Why not just groan and just allow the Holy Spirit to do that communication for you?

But like I said, in all of this, I want to reiterate the important thing is that we're running to God in those moments, that we're giving everything to God in those moments, even when we don't know what to say.

Look at verse 28.

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, even in those worst moments, even when all we can do is groan, we can remember this promise.

Even if we mess up and we make a mess, God can still use that for good.

You know, we started out this morning talking about this present suffering.

Now we're talking about these groanings that we have.

And Jesus said in John 16, 33, you will have suffering in this world.

Be courageous.

I have conquered the world.

We're going to have hardship.

Jesus had it.

The apostles had it.

The early church had it.

I think we should expect it.

But we need to remember that no matter what, God in his sovereignty can work all things together for good.

But, if you'll notice, it's conditional.

It's to those who love God.

If you love God in his love and mercy, he will work all things together for good.

It might not be the good we desire, but it will always be the good that he desires.

And if you love God, you are also called according to his purpose, it says.

So even if we are suffering, he can use that for his purposes.

He can work it together for good.

And I think oftentimes it's the suffering that makes us look forward to and hope for the eternity that is promised us.

I think it's the suffering that makes sure that we don't fall in love with this world.

I think it's the suffering that makes sure that we don't get too relaxed in this world.

It's the suffering that keeps us on our knees and keeps us longing for with eagerness the eternity, the glory, the paradise, the face-to-face relationship with God that we get to look forward to.

Verse 29.

It says, For those he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

And that's not controversial at all, so we'll just close up the service and we'll just keep.

No, I'm just joking.

But there's a lot just in that one verse.

I want to encourage you, if you weren't with us when we went through Romans 1, the first sermon that we went through, we talked about how we're going to handle when we come across passages that talk about predestination.

We're going to we talked about how we're going to handle when we come across passages that teach free will and all of those different things.

So if you haven't heard that, I encourage you to go to the website or anywhere you listen to podcasts, go to that first sermon we did in Romans 1 and listen to that because we spent a lot of time explaining how we approach that and the church's thoughts as a whole on passages like this.

But let's start with the beginning.

It says, for those he foreknew, those that God knew before the foundations of the earth, he predestined to not only be his sons, he predestined us to be conformed to the image of Jesus, to become just like Jesus.

You know, it's that process of sanctification that Ben talked about last week, where God daily makes us more and more how he wants us to be, which is always more and more like Jesus.

We were predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus.

Think about that.

The care that God has for us, the patience and the long-suffering that God has for us to take us along in that process of sanctification for our own benefit, to become more and more like Jesus on a daily basis.

He continues on on verse 30.

He says, In those he predestined, he also called.

God foreknew.

He predestined.

He called.

He had that knocking that we felt when we came to Jesus Christ.

And if we chose to answer that call, we were then justified.

So made right before God through the work of Jesus.

And then we will be glorified.

It's that progression as believers as we currently live in this justified state.

Because that's where we are in that progression.

We're living in that justified state with a taste through the power of the Holy Spirit with the glorified state.

We get that taste of what's to come because of the Holy Spirit living inside of us.

But the full glorified state.

That's what we're hoping for.

That's what we're waiting for with eagerness.

When all of the junk that we have to deal with on a daily basis is gone and we're with God in eternity.

To me, that's hope.

That's a hope that no one else has outside of Jesus Christ.

So I think the question is: what's our take home today?

I think our take home is no matter the circumstance, no matter the suffering, no matter how bad things get in the world, we still have hope.

We still have a future to eagerly anticipate.

And we have the Holy Spirit inside of us to help us navigate this in-between that we're living in, in this justified state with the taste of glorification.

We are justified, but we can't wait to be glorified.

You know, even if things do get way worse than they are, we still have hope if we keep our perspective correct.

If we keep our perspective eternal, if we see things through a biblical worldview, through the Holy Spirit living inside of us.

We here today, we have hope.

And if we are not experiencing hope, and this may sound harsh, it's our own fault.

That hope should never go away based on our circumstance.

And I think that's what we need to remember in the hardest of times.

That we should always have a reason.

We always do have a reason, but we have no excuse for not having hope every moment of every day.