The Greatest Chapter - Romans 8:18-25

This is ERC Sundays, the messages at Emmaus Rd.

Church in DeWitt, Iowa. ERC is a Church of people

striving to grow in Jesus and make him known to others through

our faith, words and actions. Find out more about our church

at emmausrdonline.org. Here's this week's message.

OK, am I cold open for the for today?

Because I always have 1 and I never know what's going to be

until I walk up here was I think I'm not calling out anybody in

particular, but I think I heard somebody sit down and go Oh my

gosh. And I'm like, I'm feeling that.

I don't know why, but I get older and older.

And so if you are feeling that as you sat down and say, like,

well, all right, I'm going to do this.

Just know that like you're not alone.

You're not alone. Gosh.

And you know what, strangely enough, that's a great segue

into what I was going to talk about today.

You know, sometimes we can get this sensation and we can't

always put our finger on it, but we can get the sensation that

something is just not right. Something is not right.

So long ago when I was raising littles, which they are not

little now they're quite large. But my children, on a typical

day, maybe it's a weekend, they're running around the house

and they're playing the toys. And so you can hear them from

across the house and stuff is banging and they're don't touch

me and all that, you know? But then it gets really quiet.

And that's when I worried because something is not right.

If it's that quiet, something isn't right.

Or maybe you think about it this way.

Maybe you have a pet that's weirdly perceptive.

And so you see them, they stop, their little ears perk up and

they just look. You can't see what they're

seeing or what they're perceiving, but they know, and

maybe you know too, that something is not right.

Let me give you one more just for fun.

Last month, February, the dead of winter as we were supposed to

know it here in Iowa, there were days where it hit 60°.

And that was great. That was awesome.

Walking around in a T-shirt in February, like it's like

Florida. It's not.

But here's the thing, as much as we enjoy that stuff, if we

actually think something's not right, this is not normal, or at

least it's not supposed to be in this part of the country.

See, the reason why I bring these things up is because I'm

trying to say in so many words what the Bible has been saying

for thousands of years that something is very wrong and very

broken inside this world. How do I know that?

I know that because bodies are breaking down.

I mean, gosh, what I talked about it in what I call my cold

open, like that's just bodies are breaking down and that's

hard to deal with. And that's not God's design.

And systems fail us all the time that aren't supposed to fail.

And if you want to go really far with this and even get mildly

dark with this on a Sunday morning, scientists will tell

you that the sun is slowly losing energy and at some point

it's going to burn out and there will be no life in the solar

system. We should not be OK with that.

I am not OK with that. Even if I don't live to see that

day, I am not OK with that. We should not settle, and God

did not design us to settle for that.

So what are we going to do? I mean, I think some people,

what we end up doing is we just kind of say, you know what, this

is just the way it is. Life is very temporary and

that's OK with me. So eat, drink and be merry.

Be happy as long as you can because it's all going away at

some point anyway. I disagree.

I just disagree. We should not go quietly into

that night. Les the poet says we should

rage. We should Rage Against the dying

of the light because that's how we're built.

That's what we're designed for. We are designed for life, not

death and decay. And so here's the thing.

I know that's kind of a weird in a dark place to start a Sunday

morning. My apologies if that kind of hit

you like a like you got teed up in an intersection, but all

those things are true. What can we do about it?

Where can we really put our hope?

So that's what we're going to do today.

We are going to examine what real hope looks like.

We're going to figure out where do I put that?

Because quite frankly, there are too many things in this world

that are not satisfying my deepest needs, desires for

satisfaction and meaning. And nothing is meeting me in my

deepest levels of hope. And I think if you take the time

to examine it, you'll find that nothing that can be taken away

from you is a good place to put your hope.

And so I forgot the little clicker.

Would you, would you send me forward please?

Here's here's what the text is going to lead us to today.

We're going to be reading Romans 8 verses 18 through 25.

Romans 8:18–25

And here's where it's going to lead us.

It's going to lead us to at least two questions.

You may have more, but you can come talk to me afterwards if

you do. But we got to figure out these

two questions. What did God do and why did he

do it? Second of all, where does real

hope come from? And finally, we're going to

understand. Oh, my gosh, you're the best.

Look, this guy. And finally.

Yeah, yeah, give that man. Yeah.

It's OK to clap because I do weird things all the time and I

have rabbit trails. And that's fine.

If you know me, you know, that's normal.

But anyway, this our our final thing that we really need to

examine is we need to examine the hope in the gospel.

So that's where we're going today.

And again, that's Romans 8 chapter 8, verses 18 through 25.

So if you have a Bible, you can look at that or pull out your

phone, your Bible app or whatever that looks like for

you. But we read this in Jesus name

because it's his word. 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 pains of childbirth

until now. And not only creation, but we

ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit.

We groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons,

the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we are saved

now. Hope that is seen as 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.

Here answer reading of God's Word, may it be blessed.

So what did God do? Because I, I, I mean it, I was

not going to talk about this until I read this a bunch of

times and I was like, if anybody thinks like me, you're going to

read this and you're going to have a problem if you don't

understand this, because here's what it says for the creation

was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him.

Notice the capital H that's on purpose, but because of him who

subjected it. Now hold on, just think about

this for a minute. Is God spiteful and mean and

vindictive? Because if you read this in a

certain context, you'll go, man, that's, that's not OK.

Why would, why would a loving God subject us to futility and

frustration and decay and all these terrible things?

Why would he do that? That question has to be

answered. So let's answer it.

Let's figure it out together. When Adam and Eve all the way

back to Genesis, when Adam and Eve were first with the Lord,

they were in perfect relationship and perfect

community with both him, each other and creation itself.

It was a picture of perfection, right?

But then sin comes through. They, they think to themselves,

you know what? I, I, I could be like God.

And it all goes bankrupt. It all goes terribly.

And here's the thing. God, in that moment, he

instantly knew that the world was now cursed.

So are human beings. And if he leaves us in this

cursed existence forever, that is a punishment that is unfit

for any crime. It is too cruel.

It is too mean to leave us here forever.

I man, I believe it. I have good days.

Believe me, I have a lot of good days.

I've got a great family and I love this community and and all

this kind of stuff. It's awesome.

But man, if you told me I have to do this forever, dude, I'm

I'm piercing out. I'm not doing this forever,

right? No way.

There's too many pains, there's too much suffering, there's too

much sorrow. It hurts too much to want to do

this forever. Let me put it to you this way.

There is a, there was a man who owned an orchard, right?

And what happens is he's going through the orchard one day and

he sees that one of the trees is diseased.

And he loves all of the trees in his orchard.

He loves them all. He knows them.

He's practically named them. So he understands, though, that

this tree that is diseased, that disease is going to spread to

every other tree in the orchard if he lets it sit that way.

So what does he do? Class cuts it down.

That's right, very good. Even though he loves this

creation, he cuts it down. He destroys it in hope.

He destroys it. Now, let me bring this forward

to you in case you're not following or tracking with me.

Do you understand that humanity is that tree?

That's us. And do you understand that the

disease that we are infected with is thin and it's deadly and

it spreads like wildfire. Therefore, it only makes sense.

It is only merciful that as the good orchard owner that God is,

that he is going to cut that down to make a path for a place

where that disease, that that sickness doesn't exist.

Because if he doesn't, man, it just goes and it moves and it's

never going to stop. It has to be cut off somewhere.

And so, friends, I got to tell you this, cutting off of life,

it's for a purpose. It's for a reason.

And though it hurts us, we hate it as we should.

But it's out of mercy that the disease will not continue on and

on. Because as that disease

continues, man, there is no hope for redemption.

In that place where that goes on infinitely, forever and ever.

There's never a hope for redemption.

There's never a hope for a place where we don't suffer, man, and

we serve and we love a good God and a good God that would not

leave his people there. And he hasn't, he hasn't left

his people there. So if you read this verse and

you struggle with it, just know that, man.

I know I I've done plenty of funerals.

That's hard, man. There is a gift inside of this

that we would not live like this forever.

So that brings us what I think to a next kind of logical or

rational question, which is this.

What then do we put our hope in? OK, what, what am I supposed to

put my hope in? Well, I, I suspect that there's

a number of places that we do that.

And well, gosh, I don't know. We're in middle America, OK?

Middle America is, I think, probably one of the greatest

places on earth to live. That's just my biased opinion.

It's awesome. I mean, we have relative safety

and prosperity here. People are generally nice unless

you get in a bad traffic situation, then they're the

worst. But in general, I think middle

America is a great place to live.

But here's, here's the thing about middle America, It has a

personality, it has a culture. We hope in things that God would

never have us hope in. So I'm going to give you a

couple and I'm going to debunk them hopefully decently well,

because I, I don't want us to fall into these traps.

So why don't we start with the American dream?

Why don't we start really big with the American dream?

Well, the American dream, what does that look like?

It typically looks like, especially in middle America, it

looks like we're going to work really hard.

We pride ourselves on that. Typically in the Midwest, we

work hard. And when we work hard, we expect

that we will be rewarded appropriately.

And often times that does happen through our jobs or our careers

or whatever that kind of stuff is.

And so we work hard to build some sustainability in our

lives, build some places where we can get really comfortable

and kind of sit back and relax and more.

So I think a lot of us build this out and we spend so much

effort doing it because we so deeply want an opportunity for

our children and our family to have a better shot at life than

we had, right? That's why we do those things.

We put our hope in those things because man, I want it better

for my kids. Well, here's the thing.

Let's say you do it. Maybe you're doing it right now.

You are living the American dream and it's going great for

you. Well, here's the thing.

At some point, friends, I'm going to give you another very

sobering idea. At some point, the job stops.

At some point, the kids move out of the house.

At some point you sell the house because you can't take care of

yourself anymore, and on and on it goes.

This doesn't last. The American Dream can only go

so long before it expires. Not only that, but the American

Dream, Lord bless it man, when that gets hit like a Mack truck

with suffering, What do you do then?

Because your hard work won't save you.

Your kids can't save you. Your house can't save you.

Your career can't save you. What do you do with suffering?

The American Dream can't answer that question.

So therefore we should not put our hope in.

And I'll give you another one. How about self-reliance?

Pull myself up by my bootstraps or personal integrity.

I can be a good person. I can kind of.

I can set my hope on being a good person because Lord knows

all you need to do to achieve heaven and to make God happy

with you. If you could ever do that is to

just be a good person. Well, why don't I try

self-reliance and being a good person?

Why don't I put my hope in that? Because at least then I'm basing

my hope in what I control. But do you do you?

Because quite frankly, if if I, if I'm basing my hope on my

integrity, well, I'll tell you what, I fail all the time.

I have just enough self-awareness to know that this

doesn't work for me. I've tried and I failed

miserably at it, because The thing is, even outside of God's

law, I can keep my own set of standards and morality, or I can

establish those things, but I can't keep it.

I can't keep it. I've tried.

I've tried to be the person I think I'm supposed to be, and I

bet you have too, and I bet it hasn't worked.

I don't say that because I'm a genius.

I say that because that is the common human experience.

That's how it works. We can't even keep our own

morality. And So what do you do then?

What do you do with that man? I either become this downtrodden

moral failure, or I just justify my bad behavior, which I think

happens a lot because I can justify being mean to somebody.

I can justify being cruel because they did it to me first.

They really had it coming. Did you see them in traffic?

They had it coming. Can't even keep my own moral

standards. So I certainly shouldn't put my

hope in that. How about, you know what?

This is the this is the classic, this is the best one where I

think most middle Americans put their hope in our families, put

our hope in our families. We put our hope in our

relationships. Well, I got to tell you

something, friends. I love my wife to death and I'm

pretty sure she loves me. But we fail each other all the

time. We fail each other all the time

and I don't, I don't feel good about that.

I'm not resigning to be OK with that.

It's just the truth. And, and you know, the other

thing is families are fractured either by disagreements because,

oh man, I didn't get what I wanted in the will.

You know, we fracture families all the time, either either by

disagreements or by death. Kids rebel.

Can you imagine? You're sweet little innocent.

They rebel sometimes. Man.

If I put my hope in my family, we've got some major issues, not

the least of which is this. If my hope is in my family and

the people that I love, I am going to crush them with my

weight of expectation. Because here's the thing.

If my hope, if, if, if my, if my goals for love and for joy and

for meaning and for peace and all this stuff and for

satisfaction, if my hope is put in them, they will be crushed

under the weight of that expectation.

They cannot handle that. I can't either.

I am not Superman. I could not handle that kind of

weight. And so here's the thing, our God

created hope because that's what it is.

It's a God created hope. Our God created hope should

never be put in anything that can be taken away from us.

Let me say that one more time, it's important.

Our God created hope should never be put into anything that

can be taken away from us because guess what?

Everything will be taken from us at one point or another.

It will. Suffering is coming.

So these are good things that I've named and I could name

more. You want a few more good things

that we shouldn't put our hope in?

How about career? How about how about cultural

prosperity? How about body image?

How about athleticism? If you're young, by the time

you're 30, you won't care anymore.

I mean, gosh, we could go on and on.

How about control, material comforts, politics, all these

things, none of them work. None of them work because all of

them fade away and all of them disappoint us.

We cannot put our hope in these things.

It is a fool's errand at best. So I'm going to give you a very

practical thing here, and I want you to take it with you.

Because what happens, I think with hope a lot of times is we

don't necessarily name where we put our hope.

But I'm going to give you a way to understand where you are

putting it. When something goes wrong, how

do you react? Seriously, when something goes

sideways, how do you react? When somebody criticizes you,

how do you react? That's a great example.

Because if I, if I can't take critique, if I can.

So I, if I walk off this stage and somebody's like, Nah, it

wasn't really my thing. And I blow up because Oh my

gosh, how dare you critique me? I worked so hard on that sermon

and to say all the right things into, I don't know, do whatever.

If I can't take that critique, you know what that tells you?

It tells you that I've put my hope.

I've put everything that I'm think I'm supposed to be in this

moment and that is the wrong place to put it.

So here's a couple questions to ask yourself this week and

you'll figure out where you're putting your hope or or maybe

you have figured it out. And so ask your hope these

questions. First of all, does it last?

Does what you're putting your hope in last?

Is what you're putting your hope in?

Could that be lost in any way, shape or form?

Is what you're putting your hope in?

Can it forgive you? Can it give you meaning when you

suffer? Can it defeat death?

Can what your hope can what you're you're putting your hope

in? Can it defeat death?

If what you're putting your hope in cannot answer those

questions, you've done something very wrong, and you'll always be

disappointed. And that's why I think these

verses in Romans 8 make so much sense.

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning

together in pains of childbirth. We're groaning, We're miserable

because we've put our hope in the wrong place and and not only

the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the

spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly wait for the adoption of

Son, the redemption of our bodies creation, including us.

It is in some level of collective pain.

And again, I'm not trying to be a downer.

I'm just being honest. But on this, on the other side

is this groaning and decay and frustration.

On the other side of that, there is real hope that does not fail.

The real hope that does not fail comes in Jesus Christ, because

when death did its worst to him, he just popped out of the grave

on the third day and said here I am.

You want to try again? No, OK, I think we're done here,

right? So this is the hope.

This is where we put our hope because in the in the

resurrection of Jesus Christ, we cannot lose nothing about

putting my hope in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I I will never lose that gamble. And it's not a gamble, it's a

sure thing because we often times think of death as this

kind of natural biological process that happens.

But that's not it. That's not it.

That is sin being exercised inside of our bodies.

And even though Christ didn't sin, he allowed himself to be

killed so that he could turn around 3 days, three days later,

look at death in the face and say, that's the worst you've

got. That's the worst you've got.

I'm still here. And what he tells you when you

put your hope in him is that when death hits you, which it

will if Lord doesn't come, man, we're going to look at death and

say that's what you got. That's your worst.

You only made me better. You made me perfect.

Because in Christ's death he defeats sin, He defeats all of

our shame, He defeats death itself.

And he invites us into this life, this unending life without

death, without decay, without any sense of disease or wrong,

every injustice undone, every hurt covered and healed.

This is what Jesus Christ has done for us, and He invites us

into this hope, into a hope that will never fail us.

My friends, goodness, why would you put your hope anywhere else?

Why would you do it just to be disappointed, man?

I don't want to be disappointed and I know I won't be.

And you can have that level of assurance too, as you put your

hope in your faith in Jesus Christ.

Because I'll tell you this and this is a whole different

sermon, but I want to tell you that this death of Jesus Christ,

that is not a one time event. That is something that has a

pattern and it has a promise and it is only a preview of what we

get to look forward to. That's what that is.

So let me reel off some things here because it's important.

Death is not a door. Death is a doorway instead of a

brick wall, and it is a transition instead of a

termination. It is the beginning of unending

life instead of the end of life. It is a homecoming, not a

disappearance. And finally, death is nothing.

It's not a goodbye, it's a see you later.

And when I see you, it will be infinitely better than this.

That's what it is. And we can have that hope and we

can have that assurance in Jesus Christ.

Amen. Let's pray.

Our Father in heaven, you are good and you are gracious to

give. Hope beyond life, hope beyond

suffering, hope beyond death. So, Lord, in our suffering, may

we put our hope in you, which never disappoints.

Father, I pray today that anybody who has moved their hope

outside of you and put it somewhere else, may you expose

those things. May you bring them to the

surface and may they see the the rational and the logical and the

the spiritual reasons why that will never work.

Lord, convict our hearts in places of where we've made our

ultimate love something else instead of you.

Father, we need your Spirit to guide us in this.

We need the truth of the gospel to wash over us.

So Father, work in our heads and our hearts in such a way that it

even comes out of our mouths that overflows, that we might be

good ambassadors and that we might have the courage to tell

people where we get our hope. Father, I pray all these things

in Jesus name, Amen. Thanks for listening to the ERC

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