How Future Glory Affects Present Suffering (Romans 8:18-25)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:05.759 If you're able, please remain standing and will give our attention to God's word 2 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:24.620 in Romans Chapter Eight, the Romans eight verses eighteen through twenty five, for 3 00:00:24.820 --> 00:00:32.100 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the 4 00:00:32.179 --> 00:00:37.490 glory that is to be to be revealed to us. For the creation waits 5 00:00:37.570 --> 00:00:42.570 with eager longing for the revelate revealing of the sons of God. For the 6 00:00:42.689 --> 00:00:48.369 creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected 7 00:00:48.450 --> 00:00:54.799 it. In hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage 8 00:00:55.439 --> 00:01:00.640 to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the Children of God. 9 00:01:02.039 --> 00:01:06.670 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of 10 00:01:06.829 --> 00:01:12.349 childbirth until now, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who 11 00:01:12.349 --> 00:01:18.819 have the first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly, as we wait eagerly for 12 00:01:18.939 --> 00:01:23.900 adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we 13 00:01:25.019 --> 00:01:29.340 are saved. Now, hope that is seen is not hope, for who 14 00:01:29.420 --> 00:01:33.010 who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do 15 00:01:33.170 --> 00:01:40.810 not see, we wait for it with patience. May God indeed bless his 16 00:01:40.890 --> 00:02:00.560 word to us. Please be seated. Sometimes in life we are called to 17 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:05.950 do difficult things. We're called to do things that are are difficult, things 18 00:02:06.030 --> 00:02:10.909 that are perhaps above our paygrade or beyond what we feel we are capable of 19 00:02:12.030 --> 00:02:16.780 doing. Kids, maybe your parents come home from Costco and ask you to 20 00:02:16.860 --> 00:02:21.500 carry some giant thing into the house. You say, I can't do it, 21 00:02:21.620 --> 00:02:27.340 it's too heavy. Or maybe you're given a project at work that really 22 00:02:27.419 --> 00:02:32.169 is just beyond your skill levels and capabilities, or school assignment that is too 23 00:02:32.370 --> 00:02:38.610 hard. When you're in these kind of situations, it feels bad, feels 24 00:02:38.729 --> 00:02:45.400 scary, maybe even overwhelming or at least frustrating. The task that you are 25 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:49.479 given to do can feel, in a situation like this, a somewhat feudal. 26 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:53.680 How am I going to carry these three hundred toilet paper rolls into the 27 00:02:53.759 --> 00:03:00.830 house when my arms are only this big? It just feels udle. But 28 00:03:00.430 --> 00:03:06.789 if the person who gave you the task knows what they're doing and knows what 29 00:03:06.990 --> 00:03:12.469 you are capable of, then they will encourage you, at least a loving 30 00:03:12.830 --> 00:03:15.580 one will. They'll encourage you, they'll support you, that'll let you know 31 00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:20.659 they this is something you can do. Let me show you how, let 32 00:03:20.699 --> 00:03:25.340 me teach you the way. They give us consolations and remind us that they 33 00:03:25.419 --> 00:03:30.810 haven't given us something beyond our ability, that the three hundred rolls of toilet 34 00:03:30.810 --> 00:03:36.050 paper are rolling only thirty rolls and that our arms onn't this big, they're 35 00:03:36.050 --> 00:03:40.009 actually this big. Well, that's what God does here in Romans, Chapter 36 00:03:40.210 --> 00:03:46.039 Eight, verses eighteen through thirty, he has called us to a very hard 37 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:51.800 calling. In verse seventeen, we are told that we are heirs with God 38 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:57.949 and fellow airs with Christ of this great inheritance that we receive as adopted children, 39 00:03:58.750 --> 00:04:02.430 provided that we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified 40 00:04:02.590 --> 00:04:10.900 with him. That's a hard calling. God calls us to suffer, and 41 00:04:11.060 --> 00:04:15.020 indeed that suffering is not just a future thing, but it's a now thing. 42 00:04:15.900 --> 00:04:18.660 That is defined. In Verse Eighteen, Paul says, I consider that 43 00:04:18.740 --> 00:04:24.019 the sufferings this is the next verse. I consider that the sufferings of this 44 00:04:24.259 --> 00:04:28.970 present time, this time now, these sufferings that we are dealing with, 45 00:04:30.490 --> 00:04:34.170 are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed. This is 46 00:04:34.209 --> 00:04:40.839 an encouragement he makes, and there's actually three big encouragements, three reasons that 47 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:46.800 God gives in verses eighteen through thirty, eighteen through thirty, that bring us 48 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:54.189 a lot of consolation and encouragement and and courage. I'm to suffer to move 49 00:04:54.389 --> 00:05:00.750 forward with patience and what God is calling us to do. He calls us 50 00:05:00.750 --> 00:05:06.980 to patiently endure the suffering until Jesus returns. We are to go through difficult 51 00:05:06.980 --> 00:05:16.259 times, hard times, but not give up and not give in, and 52 00:05:16.500 --> 00:05:21.610 so God encourages us. The first thing, which will focus on today, 53 00:05:21.689 --> 00:05:27.129 he encourages us with, is with a world that hopes on the second thing 54 00:05:27.170 --> 00:05:30.290 he'll encourages encourage us with, that will have in verses Twenty Six and twenty 55 00:05:30.370 --> 00:05:33.730 seven, is a spirit that helps. And then, finally, in the 56 00:05:33.810 --> 00:05:41.560 last versus, we have a good plan that benefits us today. Is the 57 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:46.480 first one, the the first big reason God gives here in Romans eight why 58 00:05:46.759 --> 00:05:49.670 we can go out into the world and make this calculation that Paul makes. 59 00:05:50.230 --> 00:05:55.629 We can weigh things and say, you know what, the sufferings of this 60 00:05:55.829 --> 00:06:00.310 present time are are not little compared to the things that are coming, but 61 00:06:00.389 --> 00:06:04.740 they're not even worth comparing to the things that are coming. It's not even 62 00:06:04.860 --> 00:06:11.420 worth comparing them to one another. That's how great the the glory is that 63 00:06:11.660 --> 00:06:15.579 is to come. So how is it that we can come to this and 64 00:06:15.699 --> 00:06:20.730 have courage in this and persevere? inness well, Paul points us to something 65 00:06:20.769 --> 00:06:30.290 perhaps kind of odd. He points us to a fellow sufferer, fellow growner, 66 00:06:30.529 --> 00:06:34.319 we might say, someone who has to patiently endure the things of this 67 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:40.360 world, someone who, in a sense, knows how you feel and persevers 68 00:06:41.079 --> 00:06:46.230 in hope. Well, might surprise you to learn who that is. It's 69 00:06:46.269 --> 00:06:51.189 a not a WHO, but a what. This one who is patiently preserving, 70 00:06:51.310 --> 00:06:57.470 this one who is groaning and suffering but also doing so in hope of 71 00:06:57.589 --> 00:07:02.699 the things to come, is God's creation. The rocks and the trees, 72 00:07:03.819 --> 00:07:11.180 the skies and the seas are father's world. This world is a test of 73 00:07:11.379 --> 00:07:15.529 my provides a testimony to us. It is a testifier, a witness to 74 00:07:15.649 --> 00:07:23.889 US and in encouragement. So let's consider what God says. There is apostle 75 00:07:24.050 --> 00:07:28.329 here. Well, for the first thing to say is that if you hear 76 00:07:28.449 --> 00:07:32.079 this passage right and have never considered point before, I think you really will 77 00:07:32.199 --> 00:07:39.160 see the world in a whole new way. I remember having a time once 78 00:07:39.240 --> 00:07:44.040 where my view of the world changed in a big way. I was little, 79 00:07:44.040 --> 00:07:46.670 I don't remember how a little, probably seven or something like that, 80 00:07:46.069 --> 00:07:49.990 and my dad took me out in the backyard and he said, he told 81 00:07:50.069 --> 00:07:54.629 me, if you were to look at this garden that we were looking at 82 00:07:54.709 --> 00:08:00.060 and put it in fast motion, you wouldn't see just plants sitting there, 83 00:08:00.139 --> 00:08:03.139 as they seem to do, but they're clawing at one another and pulling one 84 00:08:03.180 --> 00:08:09.220 another out and expanding and growing and dying. There's all of this activity going 85 00:08:09.339 --> 00:08:13.329 on and that really fascinated me. And then the first time I got to 86 00:08:13.449 --> 00:08:18.769 see some fast motion videos of plants doing this. It's it's amazing. I 87 00:08:18.930 --> 00:08:22.810 watched one the other day of a bean stock. The IT sends out these 88 00:08:22.889 --> 00:08:26.529 little sprouts with these earth shoots, I guess you'd call them, with hooks 89 00:08:26.610 --> 00:08:28.199 on them, and they spin around and around and around and around and around 90 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:31.360 until they grab onto something and then they send another one in on their spinning, 91 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:37.200 Spinning, spinning their amazing things. The world in many ways seems somewhat 92 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:41.399 static. If you look outside here, you see rock sitting there, a 93 00:08:41.549 --> 00:08:45.149 tree sitting there, shoots of lall of trees coming up, not much as 94 00:08:45.190 --> 00:08:48.470 happening. But really a lot is happening. A lot is going on, 95 00:08:48.990 --> 00:08:54.549 though perhaps somewhat imperceptible to us at times. But that the things that are 96 00:08:54.590 --> 00:09:03.220 going on are described here by Paul as feudile. He says the creation waits 97 00:09:03.259 --> 00:09:07.899 with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God because of a problem 98 00:09:09.220 --> 00:09:13.889 that you read of in Verse Twenty a groaning world. The world is groaning. 99 00:09:13.090 --> 00:09:18.009 This is the first point, for the creation was subjected to futility, 100 00:09:20.690 --> 00:09:26.440 not willingly but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation 101 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:33.200 itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of 102 00:09:33.320 --> 00:09:37.320 the glory of the Children of God. And then verse twenty two. Here's 103 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:41.029 the word, that word groaning comes in. We know that the whole creation 104 00:09:41.190 --> 00:09:48.750 has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. What this means 105 00:09:48.789 --> 00:09:52.269 is that when we look out on the world, if we perceive it as 106 00:09:52.350 --> 00:09:58.299 Paul describes it here, and as I think any farmer or household plant keeper 107 00:09:58.340 --> 00:10:03.179 or even a worker in the world understands, there is a lot of futility. 108 00:10:03.940 --> 00:10:09.090 You plant seeds that don't grow. Hope. This morning showed me this 109 00:10:09.250 --> 00:10:13.289 beautiful wasp, this powerful wasp with all kinds of venom in it, that 110 00:10:13.490 --> 00:10:18.049 was hit by a car and she found it on the road right, this 111 00:10:18.210 --> 00:10:24.200 amazing creature flying along and all it's glory and then done. This is a 112 00:10:24.279 --> 00:10:28.279 kind of futility that we have in all kinds of places. You know this 113 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:33.399 in your own work environment. You put tons of energy and effort into a 114 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:37.110 project that fails, or you think something's going to be easy and it falls 115 00:10:37.149 --> 00:10:41.870 apart. You go into a marriage and it's not working like you expected it 116 00:10:43.029 --> 00:10:46.950 to. The whole world, even creation itself, has this kind of futility 117 00:10:48.149 --> 00:10:52.620 in it. Things are not working as they are supposed to be working. 118 00:10:54.899 --> 00:11:01.860 This is all not a random thing and it's also not what was originally intended. 119 00:11:01.700 --> 00:11:07.129 The plants that are planted are supposed to grow. We are supposed to 120 00:11:07.250 --> 00:11:11.850 live in harmony with nature. There is a supposed to be a goodness and 121 00:11:11.769 --> 00:11:18.159 in a healthiness and balance and all of these kinds of things. But something 122 00:11:18.200 --> 00:11:24.639 happened. We read of it in Genesis. The world that God made that 123 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:31.120 was to enter into a glorified state did not happen. Instead, the man 124 00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:35.149 that was supposed to care for it and take care of it and rule over 125 00:11:35.230 --> 00:11:41.909 it with this kind of sovereign wisdom and discretion, under God's authority and as 126 00:11:41.990 --> 00:11:46.629 a kind of vice regent, failed miserably. He was called to work and 127 00:11:46.710 --> 00:11:52.299 keep the garden and he failed miserably, and in that, as a curse, 128 00:11:52.500 --> 00:11:58.019 God subjected the world. He cursed the world. We read of it 129 00:11:58.100 --> 00:12:03.649 in Genesis Three. He says, cursed is the ground because of you, 130 00:12:05.169 --> 00:12:09.169 Adam, in pain. You shall eat of it all the days of your 131 00:12:09.210 --> 00:12:16.799 life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall 132 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:20.720 eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face. You shall 133 00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:24.960 eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were 134 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:33.269 taken for your dust, and to dust you shall return. These famous words, 135 00:12:33.870 --> 00:12:37.909 these words that set a course for what we see today. When we 136 00:12:39.110 --> 00:12:43.820 look out on creation and we see dams that break and things that get misaligned 137 00:12:43.860 --> 00:12:50.700 and problems with beetles and forest fires and the earthquakes and all of these things, 138 00:12:52.220 --> 00:12:56.500 it's because there's a futility in the world and in that Paul Talks about 139 00:12:56.539 --> 00:13:01.129 it, he personifies it in this way and says there's this kind of groaning 140 00:13:01.370 --> 00:13:07.009 that you can you can sort of see in creation oh sense in which creation 141 00:13:07.129 --> 00:13:09.409 itself seems to be saying, this is not how it's supposed to be. 142 00:13:11.769 --> 00:13:18.799 It struggles along, it groans, and in that it has the world around 143 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:24.080 US shares the same kind of groaning that we feel in our daily lives, 144 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:28.830 as Paul puts it, and not only the creation. This is verse twenty 145 00:13:28.870 --> 00:13:37.070 three, but we areselves who have the first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly. 146 00:13:37.429 --> 00:13:43.460 There's something about our lives that is not right and the sufferings that we 147 00:13:43.539 --> 00:13:48.940 are under, the difficulties and frustrations that we feel do not feel right. 148 00:13:50.139 --> 00:13:54.059 We warnt something more and we groan and we say this is really hard. 149 00:13:58.610 --> 00:14:01.649 I don't know what your weeks were like. Some of you I know a 150 00:14:01.730 --> 00:14:05.690 little bit because I had a chance to talk with you, but if you 151 00:14:05.769 --> 00:14:11.240 had a normal week, chances are there was a fair amount of groaning. 152 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:16.039 And I don't just mean complaining, I mean heart ache, I mean trouble, 153 00:14:18.279 --> 00:14:28.470 sadness, death, frustration, futility. This is our life and the 154 00:14:28.549 --> 00:14:33.789 Bible recognizes this. God doesn't take this kind of Pollyanna view of the world 155 00:14:33.110 --> 00:14:37.590 and act as though everything is just fine and you should be happy about it. 156 00:14:37.779 --> 00:14:43.700 Everything is not fine. We grown, we have heart aches, we 157 00:14:43.779 --> 00:14:54.289 are frustrated and sad, we go to the hospital. It's hard and that, 158 00:14:54.929 --> 00:14:58.129 Paul says, is something you see all around you. It's not just 159 00:14:58.330 --> 00:15:01.009 in you, it's not just in your heart, it's everywhere. And we 160 00:15:01.129 --> 00:15:07.399 have this fellow sufferer in the world itself, everything around us, the context 161 00:15:07.480 --> 00:15:13.759 we are living in, speaks to this kind of groaning. But the groaning 162 00:15:13.879 --> 00:15:20.159 world is also a hopeful world. The futility is not an ultimate futility. 163 00:15:20.669 --> 00:15:26.110 It feels that way. There is this kind of subjection that's happening, but 164 00:15:26.269 --> 00:15:31.909 that's not the end. What does the apostle say? Well, he says 165 00:15:31.950 --> 00:15:37.580 in Verse Twenty One that the creation was subjected to futility, but it was 166 00:15:37.620 --> 00:15:41.899 subjected, at the last two words of that verse, in Hope. There's 167 00:15:41.899 --> 00:15:50.210 something else that characterizes the kind of frustration and groaning and futility and darkness the 168 00:15:50.370 --> 00:15:58.409 world faces and that we face. Hope. That hope is not a general 169 00:15:58.570 --> 00:16:06.360 feeling. It's very specific and it's listed in it's a it's a specified in 170 00:16:06.360 --> 00:16:14.080 verse twenty one that the creation itself will be set free that's the hope that 171 00:16:14.279 --> 00:16:17.679 what it feels, it's doesn't feel forever, that what you feel, you 172 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:22.029 won't feel forever. It will be set free from its bondeds and corruption and 173 00:16:22.269 --> 00:16:30.230 a tame freedom. Paul gets even more specific about that freedom. Notice what 174 00:16:30.309 --> 00:16:33.899 he calls it, and let this encourage you. He calls it they will, 175 00:16:33.100 --> 00:16:38.179 the creation will obtain the freedom of the glory of the Children of God. 176 00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:48.210 It will obtain the freedom that is your freedom as children of God. 177 00:16:48.490 --> 00:16:53.690 That's what the creation is longing for. It's waiting to participate in what you 178 00:16:55.090 --> 00:16:59.570 are already participating in. In that sense, you're a little farther down the 179 00:16:59.649 --> 00:17:03.360 road. We're going to get to this in a moment. But Paul Compares 180 00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:07.960 the world in this groaning and anguish to a woman in the pains of childbirth. 181 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:12.440 In this sense that it's like the the the world is in their next 182 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:21.509 room, just having come in, and she hears US screaming. There's that 183 00:17:21.630 --> 00:17:26.069 there's a way in which we're ahead in the process because we already have the 184 00:17:26.190 --> 00:17:30.940 first fruits of the spirit. The creation is longing to participate in something that 185 00:17:32.140 --> 00:17:37.940 we has already begun in us. That should be somewhat encouraging, as we 186 00:17:37.140 --> 00:17:42.900 see the creation waiting in hope. Let's not give up, seeing that we 187 00:17:44.099 --> 00:17:49.289 ourselves have the first fruits of the spirit and that the that the creation has 188 00:17:49.410 --> 00:17:57.089 this same kind of hope. Well, as I said, this hope as 189 00:17:57.369 --> 00:18:03.279 and and and is described as and groaning, as described as a woman in 190 00:18:03.319 --> 00:18:07.440 the pains of childbirth. I have not been in the pains of childbirth, 191 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:14.309 but I have seen it several times and it's terrible. The first time with 192 00:18:14.630 --> 00:18:22.509 Samuel, when Samuel was born, my wife screamed a scream that was terrifying, 193 00:18:22.549 --> 00:18:26.740 chills up my spine. I've never heard anything like it in my entire 194 00:18:26.779 --> 00:18:37.380 life. It was extremely, extremely painful and in many ways she, like 195 00:18:37.819 --> 00:18:42.650 many women, wanted to give up. This is too hard, I can't 196 00:18:42.690 --> 00:18:47.569 make it, and she often describes how people stood around her saying very weird 197 00:18:47.690 --> 00:18:52.049 things like you're doing fine, everything's going great. She's like, it's not 198 00:18:52.210 --> 00:18:56.920 going great, I'm dying. This is the experience right of being in Labor, 199 00:18:56.079 --> 00:19:00.680 of having a child. It is terrible. Everything inside of you feels 200 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:06.680 like this is going wrong, this is going to fall apart, I am 201 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:11.829 not going to make it through. But God is speaking to us outside like 202 00:19:11.029 --> 00:19:15.470 our our good doctor and saying it's going to be okay, you're doing fine, 203 00:19:15.829 --> 00:19:22.269 you can do this, you're gonna make it. The world testifies to 204 00:19:22.589 --> 00:19:26.779 that as well. It's persevering on in hope, and it does that not 205 00:19:27.019 --> 00:19:33.900 just like a woman in Labor, pushing on, pushing on, pushing on, 206 00:19:33.339 --> 00:19:41.089 knowing that what's coming is totally worth it. It does it not just 207 00:19:41.329 --> 00:19:48.210 like a woman, but because of a woman. Back in Genesis three, 208 00:19:48.609 --> 00:19:56.200 when God cursed the earth and cursed man, he also makes a promise that 209 00:19:56.519 --> 00:20:06.400 through the woman would come a child who would set all things right, who 210 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:11.029 would make it so that the ground wouldn't be cursed forever, so that man 211 00:20:11.190 --> 00:20:15.390 wouldn't always have to eat by the sweat of his brow, so that the 212 00:20:15.589 --> 00:20:19.990 sin that came into the world through Satan would be crushed and put out forever. 213 00:20:22.099 --> 00:20:29.579 The world perseveres for a very specific reason, because of the promise of 214 00:20:29.700 --> 00:20:36.130 God and because of the Work of God. The creation doesn't just the world 215 00:20:36.170 --> 00:20:37.730 doesn't just spin on and on and on because, well, you know, 216 00:20:37.849 --> 00:20:45.690 that's what happens. It does it because God makes that happen, so much 217 00:20:45.730 --> 00:20:48.650 so that God has even made a covenant in with Noah, where he says 218 00:20:48.930 --> 00:20:55.640 the world will continue on and I will preserve the world until those last times 219 00:20:55.960 --> 00:21:02.279 when, until Jesus returns. This perseverance of the world by God and according 220 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:07.670 to his promise, so that salvation can be achieved, is the reason for 221 00:21:07.950 --> 00:21:14.109 the hope that creation has. It's why it perseveres and hope not just because 222 00:21:14.150 --> 00:21:18.509 it does and that's what creation does, but because that's what God is doing 223 00:21:18.579 --> 00:21:23.420 in the world. Well, if that's true of the world, how much 224 00:21:23.460 --> 00:21:29.339 more for you, who have the first fruits of the spirit? Is God 225 00:21:29.619 --> 00:21:33.410 working in you? Is the creative power of God in you? Has He 226 00:21:33.650 --> 00:21:37.609 brought you to new life? Has he given you the first fruits of the 227 00:21:37.650 --> 00:21:41.690 spirit? Well, if your faith is in Jesus and his work for you 228 00:21:41.809 --> 00:21:48.079 on the Cross, then absolutely that work has begun. The Salvation, the 229 00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:55.920 the the glory, the hope that is to come is in some ways already 230 00:21:55.960 --> 00:22:03.150 here. As those who are saved, we have this hope and we have 231 00:22:03.349 --> 00:22:10.150 this labor buddy, so to speak, creation itself, and this is the 232 00:22:10.269 --> 00:22:15.190 consolation God gives us. He calls us to look at the world and see 233 00:22:15.190 --> 00:22:21.140 it's groaning and see its futility and recognize corruption and bondage for what it is. 234 00:22:22.500 --> 00:22:25.059 But he doesn't just want us to see that. He also wants us 235 00:22:25.099 --> 00:22:29.339 to see that the groaning world is a hopeful world. How do you see 236 00:22:29.380 --> 00:22:36.490 hope? You see hope in perseverance and continuing on and striving on and moving 237 00:22:36.890 --> 00:22:41.089 one foot in front of the other. Why does the creation hope as it 238 00:22:41.210 --> 00:22:48.119 does? Why does it persevere as it does? Because of God, because 239 00:22:48.119 --> 00:22:53.599 of God's plan for the end, because of the revealing of the sons of 240 00:22:53.759 --> 00:23:00.230 God, because of the redemption of our bodies. Sometimes we feel the futility 241 00:23:00.309 --> 00:23:06.789 of our lives and suffering, most presently, I suppose you could say, 242 00:23:06.910 --> 00:23:11.190 in our bodies. They don't work as they ought to, and the older 243 00:23:11.230 --> 00:23:15.859 we get, the more that seems to be true. The more it is 244 00:23:15.019 --> 00:23:23.859 true. And Death itself is the end, the very feudal end of what 245 00:23:25.339 --> 00:23:32.329 was all previous to that called life. But God promises to overcome these things. 246 00:23:33.210 --> 00:23:37.609 He already has in causing you to be reborn and bringing you to this 247 00:23:38.450 --> 00:23:45.160 salvation. He promises this mercy and he gives it to us and he makes 248 00:23:45.319 --> 00:23:51.200 covenantal promises and he secures all this by the very blood of his son by 249 00:23:51.240 --> 00:23:56.829 the work of Jesus on the Cross, the redemption of our bodies is guaranteed. 250 00:23:56.269 --> 00:24:00.990 Jesus himself, who did all of this for us, has already risen 251 00:24:00.029 --> 00:24:06.349 from the dead. We have a lot to look forward to. We have 252 00:24:06.470 --> 00:24:10.299 a great hope, a glorified hope, a hope of the future, a 253 00:24:10.420 --> 00:24:15.619 hope we're bondage and corruption and suffering no longer remain, and only the freedom 254 00:24:15.660 --> 00:24:26.690 of the glory of the Children of God. One of the things that often 255 00:24:26.769 --> 00:24:34.009 surprises women is that they want to have babies again after going through this near 256 00:24:34.289 --> 00:24:41.759 death experience. They say when can we have another one? Why is that? 257 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:48.480 Well, I don't know, but I think something of it has to 258 00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:52.150 do with it. The glory that is revealed, so to speak, that 259 00:24:52.470 --> 00:25:00.109 baby is not worth comparing to all the suffering and pain that came before. 260 00:25:00.789 --> 00:25:04.990 It's sort of goes away. I mean, you remember how hard it was, 261 00:25:06.109 --> 00:25:07.900 you remember how difvidal old it was, but then you go, but 262 00:25:08.019 --> 00:25:12.619 that was so wonderful. Realize I'm giving my mother's Day sermon a week early, 263 00:25:12.900 --> 00:25:21.650 but so goes it. There is this wonder and beauty and joy and 264 00:25:21.849 --> 00:25:29.690 glory in the newness of life. If that's true of children being born, 265 00:25:30.089 --> 00:25:36.839 is it not true of the new birth, of a birth that will not 266 00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:41.079 end in death, that moves on forever and ever, that lives with God 267 00:25:41.400 --> 00:25:48.000 into eternity, without bondage, without corruption, with complete freedom and absolute glory? 268 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:57.509 Absolutely so, brothers and sisters. That's why we persevere. We persevere 269 00:25:57.670 --> 00:26:02.430 because we have a very real hope that is secured for us in Jesus, 270 00:26:03.390 --> 00:26:07.420 hope that is guaranteed by a spirit, a hope that's already begun in us, 271 00:26:07.460 --> 00:26:11.900 a glory which we already are participating in. But we have to keep 272 00:26:11.900 --> 00:26:15.220 putting one foot in front of the other. We have to endure the sufferings 273 00:26:15.299 --> 00:26:18.690 and do so with patience. But, old boy, you can do it 274 00:26:21.009 --> 00:26:26.529 because God is in you, God is working in you. He is the 275 00:26:26.650 --> 00:26:29.970 one who is sustaining you, he's the one who gave you to the hope 276 00:26:30.289 --> 00:26:36.039 and he's the one who will keep you to the end. When you feel 277 00:26:36.119 --> 00:26:41.079 discouraged, remember these things and look out at the world that is itself continuing 278 00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:48.430 on and persevering and hope and be encouraged and wait for the same. Let's 279 00:26:48.470 --> pray