Romans 8c

Shawn Bumpers

Romans 2020 • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

0 ratings

· 3 views

Notes

Transcript

Handout

Introduction

OK, so we are continuing our study series called “Important Chapters of the New Testament.”

The recent situation of having to be broadcast only meant that I had the opportunity to look back in the catalog of past messages and find what I consider to be some of the most important chapters that we’ve studied through.

Hopefully, by the time everyone is feeling comfortable with getting about regular life, we’ll be able to resume our chapter by chapter study of the New Testament.

CAMERA 3 ON

So far, in this series, we’ve studied:

The epistle ofJude, dealing with false teachers.

And then there was Revelation 6, dealing with what is mostly known as the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse.

Also Hebrews 7, and how the Old Testament character Melchizedek prefigures Christ.

And also 1 John 3 and love in the Christians life … and then we continued with the theme of love, studying 1 Corinthians 13.

That was followed by a 2 part study through 2 Timothy chapter 2 looking at the expression of grace in a believer’s life.

After that, we looked at the purpose of the law in Galatians 3.

Now, for multiple weeks we have been studying through some chapters in Romans.

We started with chapter 5, 6, and 7 … and those were so that we could build the foundation for our current study through Romans 8.

And we are taking a slow and steady approach to this chapter … this being our third Sunday in the chapter, and we’ll still have a few more to go after this.

By way of reminder, I had hoped that this Covid situation would be done by now, but it seems to have ramped back up, so it will be a little longer.

That means we will continue to be broadcast only on Wednesday evenings for now in order to limit contact.

But we will still be open to fellowship together on Sunday mornings.

Also, it has meant that giving is way down … only 1/3 of what it usually is, which will soon mean we have to cut back our missionary support in order to pay rent and utilities.

If you would like to help with a financial gift, you can do so online at calvarybirmingham.com … click on Giving.

There you can make a one time donation or you can schedule a monthly tithe.

Or you can mail in your gift to 1738 Morgan Park Road, Pelham, AL 35124.

CAMERA 3 OFF

CAMERA 2 ON

----

Because of how we are dividing up this study in Romans 8, like last Sunday, our time this morning will be a little shorter than usual.

Now, please turn in your Bibles to The Epistle to the Romans, chapter 8 and we are picking up with verse 18.

We all endure troubles … whether we are Christian or not trouble and suffering is a promise in this fallen world.

But there is a difference between believer and unbeliever as to the outlook we approach suffering from.

That is because for the Christian this is the worse it can ever get and for the non-Christian, this is the best it can ever get.

Someone asked C.S. Lewis, "Why do the righteous suffer?"

He replied, "Why not?" "They're the ones who can take it."

And we are also promised it.

Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation.”

Do not read below:

John 16:33 NKJV

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

But Jesus also promised, “In Me you may have peace” and “I have overcome the world.”

CAMERA 2 OFF

----

Last week in our study of Romans 8, we got as far as verse 17.

In those verses Paul spoke of who we are in Christ.

Paul said in verse 16:

Do not read below:

Romans 8:16 NKJV

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

This witness of the Holy Spirit, … is not assurance FOR GOD.

In other words, it’s not the Holy Spirit witnessing to GOD that we are His children.

The witness is for ourselves, that we are assured of our adoption into the family of Christ.

The Holy Spirit is the first installment of God’s promise and when we see the fruit of the Spirit expressed in our lives we are reminded.

God knows who we are and He doesn’t forget.

Many times, however, WE forget who we are.

We might focus so much on those things that don’t look like Jesus … that we forget that, as one would summarize Ephesians 1 verse 5, “God decided in advance to adopt us as sons … bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ.”

Do not read below:

Ephesians 1:5 NKJV

having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

Very quickly we forget that we are children of God by adoption through Jesus Christ.

We see ourselves in the mirror and see the dirt of the world.

For the Christian, God does not see our imperfections, but instead sees the righteousness of His Son.

———

There are Christians who go about life as if they are the two-face character from Batman or they are Jekyll and Hyde.

This may be due to one of two things:

Choice: They choose to live as those who are under judgment. Perhaps they’ve been taught that Jesus died on the cross to EXCUSE sin.

Patchwork Theology: They have bought into the notion that Christianity is a flesh / Spirit see-saw ride.

In the first case, that is of choosing to live as those who are under judgment … they know deep down that they are wrong and in sin ... that they are living in a way that is not pleasing to God which makes for frustration.

And there are all kinds of weird theologies and doctrines they adhere to which attempt to explain or prop up their lifestyle.

We should take very seriously the reality that people who say they are Christian, but then live as though they are not, are by their lives bearing false witness of Jesus.

The Bible in 2 Corinthians 5:17, says that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Do not read below:

2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Regarding the second case, that they are on board a flesh/Spirit see-saw ride, they may have bought into the notion that one minute they may be walking in the flesh and another minute walking in the Spirit.

This is an assumption that can be easily reached if reading scripture out of context.

Doesn’t the Bible say in Galatians 5, “Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the Flesh,” … and didn’t we read a few weeks ago in Romans 7 what Paul wrote … “What I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.”

Do not read below:

Galatians 5:16 NKJV

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Romans 7:15 NKJV

For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.

Last week we read through Paul’s list of:

(a) works of the flesh and

(b) fruits of the Spirit as we see them in Galatians 5.

Being honest with ourselves, we could all probably check off plenty of things from the list of works of the flesh.

Probably more than we’d care to admit!

But Paul continued in Galatians telling us that:

Galatians 5:25 NKJV

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

What we have by inheritance from Adam are those things that are bad.

Those things come easy to us.

And, the fact is that apart from Christ we are incapable of much else.

So, how do we manifest the Fruits of the Spirit, then?

Well, we groan and groan until out pops fruit.

No, I’m kidding … WE don’t groan and groan until fruit pops out.

Standing in a grove of fruit trees you might hear the wind through the leaves, and birds singing … perhaps other things … but you will not hear the trees groaning as they try to force out fruit.

That’s a good illustration of why Paul called them “the fruits of the Spirit.”

They are called the Fruit of The Spirit because they are made manifest by the Spirit.

And Paul wrote earlier in our chapter:

Romans 8:9 NKJV

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

CAMERA 3 ON

Here, Paul recognizes a very important truth.

That truth is that we act according to what and who we know that we are, and, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are Children of God.”

Paul does speak of groaning, … but it’s groaning for a different reason.

This morning, in this third part of Romans 8, we are going to be studying about the groaning within ourselves in response to the carnal, having now the first fruits of the Holy Spirit.

In fact, our key verse for this morning is verse 23:

Romans 8:23 NKJV

Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

One key to living our walk out well is seeing ourselves as God sees us, which is righteous “in Christ.”

Another is to have the heavenly perspective of Philippians 3:13 … “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.”

Do not read below:

Philippians 3:13 NKJV

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

CAMERA 3 OFF

—————-

When it comes to salvation, there is no bunny slope … no kiddie pool … no intermediate course … there is no in-between.

You are just as saved when you first accept Christ as you are 80 years later.

And you are completely in relationship with Christ.

Many people today want to have their cake and eat it to.

They want the eternal promise of glory without the temporary suffering.

Or they want the relationship without the walk.

Paul plainly tells us that the relationship and the walk go hand in hand … the walk is built into the package.

If we allow the Spirit to lead, the walk is natural, it’s a part of the package … and we will have Jesus to help us make it through all trouble.

Jesus never said we would have it easy, but He did say we would not have to go it alone.

If you are born again into the kingdom of God by faith in Jesus, you are co-heirs with Christ.

————

So, in verse 17 of last week’s study, Paul introduced the thought of participating in the suffering of Christ so that we may participate in the glory of Christ.

And today, this concept of future glory in relation to present suffering becomes the theme of our study.

The afflictions which we are called to endure, are not only consistent with being a child of God but may come because we are a child of God.

Remember, however, that in Christ we have consolation … and trials come with plan and purpose.

God is using our present sufferings to prepare and fit us for glory.

By the mechanism of Christian suffering the Spirit of God creates hope of this future glory.

Hope is the middle ground between the suffering of earth and the promises of God.

The hope of God does not deny our present circumstances.

It engenders confidence that God's purpose and His promises will prevail making us not only:

(a) fit for heaven but

(b) fit for heaven's glory.

This hope of glory is so grand that it includes the destiny of the whole created order.

And what glory that will be.

So wondrous an event that all redeemed creation groans as it awaits the glorious birth of eternity.

In our text for today, we will look at three hopes.

Suffering’s Hope (v18)

Creation’s Hope (v19-22)

Redemption’s Hope (v23-25)

———-

What if the troubles of today were gone?

There would be no hope for something better … this world as it is would be it.

But, what if the troubles of today buoyed up our hopes for tomorrow?

My friend, the only way that can happen is by the work of Christ.

The goal of today’s teaching is to recognize the role of suffering in preparing and fitting us for glory.

CAMERA 2 ON

So, that’s enough introduction for today.

Let’s pray and dig into the text of our study, which is Romans 8, verses 18-25.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank You for this new morning, the breath that you have placed in our lungs, the beats of our hearts … You are truly the Living God Who is compassionate and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. We ask that as we enter into our study of Your written Word that You would give us wisdom and understanding. We pray this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

V18

CAMERA 2 OFF

I cannot tell you how happy I am to read that.

And I’m sure you are, too … that is, if you are a Christian.

If you are not, then you are probably curious, at least, as to what this could mean.

Well, let’s dig in and try to understand it.

Let me start with a statement: There is nothing I can go through in this fallen world that is even close to the glory, abundance, and honor which will be revealed in us.

My friends, there is always hope … there is no reason for us to endure trouble as those who have no hope.

So, Paul declares a firm conviction reached on the basis of the Gospel.

That fixed conviction is this:

Future glory outshines any present suffering.

This is a powerful truth that can change our lives.

But Paul doesn’t only mention suffering, but the inevitability of suffering.

Is it worth it … the answer is YES!

Because the glory that is to come outshines any suffering we may presently endure.

The first point for us to observe this morning is:

1. Suffering is not without hope, but is for incomparable glory

ILLUSTRATION: Once when comedian Bob Hope received a major award he responded, "I don't deserve this, but then I have arthritis and I don't deserve that either."

What do you have that you feel you don’t deserve?

Or what have you experienced that is negative … that you feel you don’t deserve?

We all have these things in our lives.

Why?

Because we’re sinful people in a sin cursed world.

None-the-less, future glory outweighs present suffering.

God has a larger plan.

There is a day coming when things will be back the way God intended them to be.

————

CAMERA 3 ON

Paul himself was no stranger to suffering.

The apostle Paul was told how much he would have to suffer for Christ (Acts 9:16).

Paul gives us a summary of his sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 and that list includes labors, beatings, imprisonment, stoning, shipwreck, slander, sleeplessness, hunger and thirst … and on top of that deep concern over the churches.

Do not read below:

2 Corinthians 11:23–28 NKJV

Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.

In addition, 1 Peter, James … many of the books of the New Testament speak of the suffering of the believer.

The Bible talks a lot about suffering for the sake of Christ.

In the era in which the New Testament was written, followers of Jesus were often ostracized by their own families and communities.

ILLUSTRATION: At the Nicene Council, an important church meeting in the 4th century A.D., of the 318 delegates, fewer than 12 HAD NOT lost an eye or lost a hand or did not limp on a leg lamed by torture for their Christian faith.

Jesus told His followers, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Do not read below:

Matthew 5:10 NKJV

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

He reminded His disciples, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”

Do not read below:

John 15:18 NKJV

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.

Paul wrote to Timothy, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”

Do not read below:

2 Timothy 3:12 NKJV

Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

When Paul was writing this letter to the church in Rome, he was preparing to leave on a mission to Jerusalem that would endanger his life.

Yet Paul insists that those trials do not deserved to even be mentioned in the same breath with His coming glory.

CAMERA 3 OFF

———

We all are called in life to decide if something is worth it or not.

In our text, it’s as if Paul has placed a scale or a balance before us.

On one side are “the sufferings of this present time” and on the other “the glory that is to be revealed to us or “eis” (ees) “into us.”

That’s a better rendering of the Greek … and it means that this future glory is not only something we experience but something that we become.

And when that future glory is put on the scale, it makes all our sufferings insignificant.

The second epistle to the Corinthians speaks of afflictions and glory, saying:

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 NKJV

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

———

CAMERA 2 ON

The word for sufferings, Pathema, covers suffering sinful desires as well as physical suffering … both of the effects of sin on this body and what others may do to us.

All that we suffer until Christ comes again.

When Christ comes His glory will come to us and will be revealed in us.

We will not only TAKE PART IN the glory, we will be PART OF the glory.

Praise God, … we will be part of the radiance of the coming glory!

That should make our present suffering seem light and short.

ILLUSTRATION: Emperor Nero, a great persecutor and murderer of Christians, was fascinated by the look of glory on the faces of a small band of Christians going to their death in the coliseum. After prayer they looked up and gazed far out into the beyond. Wondering, Nero said to an aide, “They see something.” “Yes,” the aide replied, “I’ve heard that they see the glory of the resurrection from the dead.”

Truly blessed is the person who sees beyond the light afflictions of today, having the certainty of a future with Christ.

CAMERA 2 OFF

——

Moving on, not only is there hope in suffering.

Next we see that the relationship between afflictions and future glory is also seen in the whole of Creation.

Body of Message Part 2

V19-22

One terrible day in Eden, all of creation was corrupted by sin and since that time creation has suffered.

If we are focused only on the way things are now, everything can start to feel futile and meaningless.

We look around and see that death and decay affects everything.

But Hope prevails.

The world was subjected to sin, but not outside of Hope; it is not futile or meaningless.

—————

Creation has an air of expectation … as just as with us and our own waiting for the redemption of our fallen bodies, … Creation yearns for the restoration of God’s plan.

It wasn’t created for this and so it groans with longing, but there is hope.

This is our next observation from Romans 8 this morning … The hope of creation is for our glory

Humanity is not alone in waiting to be redeemed from the consequences of sin.

All of creation waits, groaning in anticipation.

Here creation is said to eagerly await.

That is “Earnest Expectation” literally means to watch with head out stretched, as one searching the horizon for a boat due to return.

Yet instead of us, Paul personifies creation's expectation for the revelation, the unveiling of God's Sons.

Who, then, are the manifested sons of God?

1 John 3:2 NKJV

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

The world is not waiting for the perfect sunrise.

It’s not hoping for the solution to climate change.

It’s not anticipating better weather … not any weather.

It’s awaiting that time when Jesus returns and when we are made like Him and then creation will also be restored.

———

CAMERA 3 ON

The phrase "the revelation of the Sons of God" is wonderful.

It speaks of the day of Christ's return.

That day when it will become a matter of public knowledge how much God loves His Sons and how richly He will reward them.

Speaking of that day, Jesus said, “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

Do not read below:

Matthew 13:43 NKJV

Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

And the book of Daniel says, “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament,” and “Like the stars forever and ever.”

Do not read below:

Daniel 12:3 NKJV

Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.

Jesus will put all His brethren on display so that all will be able to see what God has done for and in us.

No wonder the whole creation is eagerly anticipating the revelation of the Sons of God!

And, the future glory of Creation is intertwined with our future glory, just as it was with man's fall.

CAMERA 3 OFF

——

Verse 20 says this present creation, “was subjected to futility, not willingly,” which is why this present creation is subject to frustration.

Creation awaits the revelation of God's Sons, and verse 20 implies three reasons:

1. Because creation is now subject to futility: Since man's sin, nature has been subject to futility. Creation's potential is restricted and restrained and cannot fulfill God's intended purpose being subjected to entropy and decay.

The Greek word translated futility can mean “emptiness.”

Blaise Pascal made the following observation, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”

Blaise recognized what Paul tells us here … put simply - that the creature was made subject to emptiness.

Man has a hole in his heart and he tries to fill that hole with carnal delights, but there is nothing that can fill the emptiness but God.

RIFF: Goose and the mailbox

Her partner was run over and killed.

She then chose a mailbox for her partner.

She nipped and pecked at anyone who came near the mailbox.

It guarded the box day and night until the day it died.

A lot of people are looking for something to satisfy them, some relationship to fulfill them.

But in the end, we all find that anything short of God is like that mailbox.

The second reason why creation so awaits the revelation of God's Sons is because its subjection was not voluntary but imposed.

It was not its own will or fault.

It was due to the effects of man's sin.

God said to Adam in Genesis 3:17, "Cursed is the ground because of you."

Do not read below:

Genesis 3:17 NKJV

Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.

The third reason why creation so awaits the revelation of God's Sons is because God did not designate the condition resulting from the fall to be the final condition.

Believers have the opportunity to view suffering in a much more realistic light than non-believers.

Not only do we understand how Christ suffered, but we also have insights into the suffering of creation.

God subjected creation to futility but mankind was responsible for the fallenness of creation which introduced death and disintegration.

—————

CAMERA 2 ON

But the hope of God's creation is expressed in verse 21.

When God intertwined nature's destiny with man's destiny He gave creation hope that when man is set free creation will be set free also.

Nature will share in the glorious redemption for which we are destined.

It was subject to corruption when man fell, and it will be released when man is completed and glorified.

What a glorious day it will be when all sin is removed and God's creation shares in the revealing of the Sons of God.

C.S. LEWIS pictures this bondage in “The Chronicles of Narnia.”

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, there was endless winter.

But when the great lion Aslan, the Christ-figure, comes and vanquishes the witch, winter melts into spring.

Creation is set free into the freedom and glory of the children.

Our final revelation in glory will engulf the entire cosmos, and reverse and transcend the consequences of the fall.

Creation will be made new.

Our current winter will melt into endless spring where the flowers always bloom.

CAMERA 2 OFF

————

Verse 22 sums up the curse of creation and anticipates creation's future deliverance.

All God’s creation is pictured as if in the pain of giving birth.

Nature groans and waits for the day when the King comes back; for the day when the trees of the field will clap their hands and the mountains sing praise to Jesus.

All creation stands at the waiting room window peering in to see the revelation of the children of God in all our glory.

If all creation is standing on tip-toe eagerly expecting our glory, how much more should we eagerly anticipate it?

———

In the last three verses, our passage shifts from creation to Christians.

Body of Message Part 3

V23-25

Paul now moves from the desire of Creation … to our own yearning.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a preview of what is in the future for us.

When our redeemed inner person will have a redeemed and glorified body.

This is our next observation from Romans 8 this morning … Our hope is future redemption.

Verses 23-25 continue to give reasons for hope even in our present trials.

Not only is creation groaning … so are we.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:2, “For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven”

In our own chapter for today, Paul says in verse 23, “Not only that, but we also who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body."

———

As Paul says creation groans, so also Christians groan inwardly as we await our transformation, our full adoptions as sons.

Why are we groaning?

We groan in frustration over the suffering in this life. We groan in anticipation of all that is to come.

Our spirits groan in cadence with creation … a song of longing for full release from the curse into the freedom and glory that will be ours.

We are living between the times.

We are engaged but not married.

God's Son is on the way back, but He's not here yet.

We are heirs, but we’ve only sampled our inheritance.

We've been adopted, but are not yet in our new home with our Heavenly Father.

We live between the already and the soon coming.

——

CAMERA 3 ON

Eagerly we look forward to “our adoption, the redemption of our body.”

That grand expectation is The Hope of Glory.

So if you are trusting in Christ, remind your self that one day we will have a new body and a new creation.

In verse 25, Paul says that we “wait eagerly” along with creation.

It’s the same Greek word that Paul has used three other times in this passage.

It indicates not only anticipation, but a posture of anticipation … a leaning into or towards that which is our hope.

We live with eager, certain expectation that though we may suffer, we also prevail.

Why do we have such hope of Glory?

We have received the first-fruits as God's pledge of our final triumph with Christ at the end of the age.

The "first-fruits" … the first installment or down payment which is the Holy Spirit … is a guarantee of what is to come.

And having received a foretaste of what is to be, we long inside for the full realization of what adoption into the family of God means.

In that future, we will each receive a glorified body … one that is fit for an eternal existence serving, glorifying and worshipping God.

If there are stairs in heaven, we will no longer groan when we ascend them. Worship will be all drum and bass … okay, maybe not.

Yes we groan because of our present suffering, but we also groan in anticipation.

Because we know something of what we are missing.

CAMERA 3 OFF

————

Yet in our present state, faith, hope, and love are vital parts of the believer’s life.

If all were realized, there would be no hope.

Someday hope will pass away because we will have that which has been our hope.

In fact, when that hope is finally realized, both faith and hope will also pass away in that glory which shall be revealed in us, but love will abide.

Verse 24 insists that this hope is part of our salvation and is legitimate even though man cannot yet see it with their natural eyes.

Paul says, “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?”

Earlier, Paul used the metaphor of adoption in Roman society to describe the new relationship that Christians have to God and what that relationship will become.

To fully understand the implications of this metaphor it would help for us to understand how adoption worked in Roman society.

Adoption was a very serious matter in Rome.

Often, adoption was used to provide homes for impoverished or orphaned children and obtain heirs to families who had no son.

There were several steps in adoption, the first of which were private, and the last of which was public acknowledgment by the new father of the child’s adoption.

So, a child who was taken from the lowest ranks of society and adopted by a Roman senator or someone elevated among the society would long for the day when he would be publicly adopted, removing the old clothes and robed in the clothes befitting his new standing.

So it is with us today.

We are waiting to put on our proper garments and be manifested as the children of God.

We are young nobles and have not yet worn our crowns.

We are young brides, and the marriage day has not yet come.

There is no reason that we should not have tremendous hope.

God's Spirit makes it sure and certain, of which the book of Hebrews says, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil.”

Do not read below:

Hebrews 6:19 NKJV

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,

CAMERA 2 ON

There is blessing in the very anticipation of God, and along with that expectation is the expectation of glory that will be revealed into us.

Though we cannot see it with our eyes, when we meditate upon our salvation it will produce such hope within us that we can be joyful even when enduring suffering.

Such is the testimony of Paul who suffered far more than any of us here this morning have.

CAMERA 2 OFF

Conclusion

I got through high-school thinking, “Just one more year.”

I got through college thinking, “Just one more year.”

You get through this sermon thinking, “Just 5 more minutes.”

CAMERA 3 ON

We approach many of the challenges of life this way.

The athlete is willing to endure the discomfort of training by focusing on the prize of victory.

The employee puts up with the inconvenience of working overtime by looking forward to pay day.

Hope is often the key to perseverance when the outcome has greater value than the discomfort required to achieve it.

Today's passage reminds us to approach suffering with the same perspective.

2 Corinthians 1:5 NKJV

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.

Approach the suffering that sometimes comes with your commitment to Jesus Christ with the attitude of hope.

God doesn't expect you to enjoy suffering.

But you can rejoice in the anticipation of the future, knowing that your present suffering will pale in significance compared to the glory you will share when Christ returns.

CAMERA 3 OFF

————-

God has promised that by the work of His Son, the believer's body will finally be delivered from sin and its effects.

Those who respond by faith to that promise have hope, a confident expectation of that bodily redemption.

Galatians 5:5 NKJV

For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

Expectation is the current condition of salvation, and it’s not a work, but the anticipation of what is to come.

That which is hoped for and eagerly anticipated with steadfast endurance far outshines what may endure in any present suffering.

The famous preacher D.L. Moody told about a Christian woman who was always bright, cheerful, and optimistic, even though she was confined to her room because of illness.

She lived in an attic apartment on the fifth floor of an old, rundown building.

A friend decided to visit her one day and brought along another woman -- a person of great wealth.

Since there was no elevator, the two ladies began the long climb upward.

When they reached the second floor, the well-to-do woman commented, "What a dark and filthy place!"

Her friend replied, "It's better higher up."

When they arrived at the third landing, the remark was made, "Things look even worse here."

Again the reply, "It's better higher up."

The two women finally reached the attic level, where they found the bedridden saint of God.

A smile on her face radiated the joy that filled her heart.

Although the room was clean and flowers were on the window sill, the wealthy visitor could not get over the stark surroundings in which this woman lived.

She blurted out, "It must be very difficult for you to be here like this!"

Without a moment's hesitation the shut-in responded, "It's better higher up."

She was not looking at temporal things.

With the eye of faith fixed on the eternal, she had found the secret of true satisfaction and contentment.

Something far better is coming to us.

Jesus, when speaking to His disciples in Luke 12 said, “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.”

And then He said:

“So Fear not little flock it is God’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Let’s pray:

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your love. How immensely thankful we are for Your grace and Your mercies that not only endure forever, but are new with every morning. Your name is holy in our hearts and we pray that Your name would be holy in all the world, to all people and in all nations. We desire Your kingdom and we seek to do Your will. You have provided, and we know that You will continue to provide according to our needs and we thank You. As You love us, teach us to love one another. And as You have forgiven us, help us to forgive one another. Lord, help us to have our treasures in heaven, rather than seeking after our selves here on earth. We ask that You would establish us in all good things. We ask that You would guard our hearts and keep our hands from evil and that You would protect us from the deceptions of our enemy the devil. Thank You for the trials that You graciously see us and grow us through. May You be glorified in our trials. Thank You for being our Great High Priest. Lord, we place ourselves before you to do Your will. Lead us in victory, and use us to spread knowledge of Jesus Christ to the unsaved world.