Boy, if that's not the prayer
of a believer. This old heart is so deceitful,
desperately wicked. If I've never believed, Lord
help me today to start, truly. Turn with me to Romans 8, Romans
chapter 8. Now, last Wednesday evening,
I made some comments out of this passage right here. I'm going
to try to back up a few verses today and I'll probably make
a statement. I won't go into the depth of
those verses I dealt with as I did last Wednesday, but I'll
make a statement or two on a few of them because I'm going to
back up. I started last Wednesday night in verse 19. I'm going
to back up to 16 and try to go to verse Verse 27, not in depth, but this
is a precious passage of Scripture I want to deal with. Romans chapter
8, verse 16, The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit
that we are the children of God. Now, God's people are taught
through the Scriptures by the Holy Spirit. This is all we want
to deal with. I want to deal with what does
God have to say. Nothing else matters. And the
Spirit of God, as the guide of God's people, testifies to the
spirit of the believer. A new spirit, there's a new man,
there's a new creation. In regeneration, there's a birth. from above. And that new man,
there's two men in a believer. One he's born with in Adam, an
old man, dead, spiritually dead. He's physically alive, but the
spirit of the man is dead. And he's still dead. That old
man, he's still dead. But there's a new man. that is
put, a new creation, there's a new spirit, new mind. And the
Holy Spirit, the scripture says, beareth witness with our new
spirit, our new one that hears the voice of the Lord, the Spirit
of God. What he's saying is what this
Word says, what Christ has said. And he beareth witness with our
spirit, and this is what he beareth witness to us. that we are the
children of God. Now, I kind of touched on this
last time, but let me ask you this. Does it all false religion
say that they have the Holy Spirit's assurance? Don't they say, you
know, I tell you what, I possess that spirit. Spirit of God bears
witness to my spirit that I'm a believer. So, what confidence
does a believer have as far as the Spirit of God truly bearing
witness to His Spirit. How do I know that it's the Spirit
of God? That's what I'm saying. Like I told you before, I'm telling
you, when I was in false religion, I read that scripture right there.
I remember reading that scripture and saying this, the Spirit itself
bears witness with our spirit that we're the children of God.
I'm a child of God, that's what I said. But here's what a child
of God can rest in concerning it being the Spirit of God that
is bearing witness that he is a child of God. Now you listen. When the Spirit of God bears
witness to a child of God that he truly is a child of God, let
me tell you what the Spirit of God is going to always remind
you of first. That you were born in Adam. And
that you are, in yourself, you're depraved. Now the Spirit of God
is always going to bear witness of a man's depravity. Always. Now I never heard that, Dick,
when I was in false religion. I never heard that. I didn't
know that I was incapable. Did you, Mark? I never knew that.
I was always told that I was. That I'm able. that I can. And the Lord said, no man can.
No man can come to me except it were given unto him by my
Father. So when the Spirit of God bears witness, remember in
Song of Solomon, last verse of chapter 4, the Lord is speaking
to his garden, the church, and he says, blow, O north wind,
upon my garden. Blow, oh south. Same spirit, the Holy Spirit
spoken of as the north wind coming, the cold north wind in convicting
power. In convicting, remind me of what
I am. Blow, oh south wind. Come with
the assurances that Lord that I'm yours. Convict me. Build
me up. Help me, Lord. Help me. That's
what, when the Spirit of God comes, He's going to remind a
man of his depravity, the presence of sin, his need to come to Christ. And when the Spirit of God bears
witness, He's going to remind the believer of this, that you're
a child of God, that it is God Almighty that has shown mercy
and compassion to you according to His will. Not yours, mine,
His. You're going to be reminded of
what you are in Adam and you're going to be reminded of who you
are in Christ. That is Almighty God, that it
was according to His eternal pleasure to show you mercy and
compassion and that you are no different. You're not any different
than anybody else. There's not a person walking
in this earth today or has ever walked in this earth that any
of us are any different. We're all cut out of the same
lump. None of us worth anything in ourselves. So the Holy Spirit's
convicting power and assuring power is the way that He's going
to tell you, give you some assurance that you're a child of God. You
can't do anything of yourself. Almighty God's going to have
to do it. And if children, verse 17, then heirs. Heirs of God
and joint heirs with Christ. If so be we suffer with Him that
we may be also glorified together. Being God's children, then that
means that the Scripture says we're God's heirs. That we have an inheritance.
And that we're joint heirs, we're fellow heirs with Christ. He being our surety and redeemer,
our prophet, our priest, our king, the husband, everything
that He earned, what are we going to have? I don't know. I don't know. But I can tell you this, whatever
it is, it's deserving of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Whatever God has for Him as His servant, as the Redeemer of the
sheep, we have to. Whatever He's going to receive,
we're going to receive with Him. And in sharing with His glory,
that sharing that is totally according to God's mercy and
not our merit, we're going to also share now in His suffering. We're heirs, if so be that we
suffer with Him. that we may be also glorified
together. Now let me just say one quick
thing about his suffering. When he suffered on this earth,
and in particular at Calvary, he suffered the just for the
unjust. And that which he bore at Calvary,
Almighty God actually made what he was dying for? Our sin? That was actually made his sin.
You have to understand something. When he died at Calvary, that
became his. He bore our sins in his own body. Was he made to be guilty? Yes. He who knew no sin personally
bore what we are and was made to be the guiltiness himself. And when God Almighty killed
him, when he died, justice was being done. As I've told you
before, this wasn't no kid's game. This ain't play-like. Let's
play like we do. Let's play like this. Let's play
army. Let's play... There's no playing with God.
This is His only begotten Son. And when Christ bore our sins,
they were made His. Mine iniquities, Psalm 40, are
more than the hairs of my head. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me. There was a divine exchange Why? That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Were we really made righteous
or was it play-like? Brother Scott used to say, is
it just a little stick and a little post-it note? It says righteous. Not really righteous. You can
take it off really and throw it away. You're not really righteous.
Oh yes you are. Yes you are. Was he really made sin? Yes, he was. Justice was satisfied. So when he suffered, he suffered
under the judgment of God, the wrath of Almighty God. Now, when
we suffer, we suffer together with Him. But let me tell you
something. Our suffering, the suffering
that we endure in this life, is all according to God's love. Wrath has been put away. Wrath is finished for the children
of God. There's no wrath for us. We're
not suffering under the wrath of God. We're suffering in this
life, but it's a loving chastisement to point us to Him who did suffer
the wrath of God. God has not appointed His people
to wrath. Almighty God causes us to suffer
in this life for the glory of Christ, pouring us to Christ,
calling upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 19, for the earnest expectation
of the creature, or the creation, waiteth for the manifestation
of the sons of God. Now this is kind of where I dealt
with last Wednesday. Now listen, the whole creation,
Now we're suffering right now, talking about, here's where we
go. We went from verse 18 that, I skipped one, I'm sorry, go
back to 18. I reckon that the sufferings
of this present, we are suffering, verse 17 says that, but Paul
says, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time, they're
not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed
in us. We are absolutely going through
some trials and tribulations, there's no doubt about it. We
are suffering, but they're not to be compared to what we're
going to receive being an heir of God, a joint heir with Christ.
Now verse 19, he says, for the earnest expectation of the creature
waiteth, continually waits for the manifestation of the sons
of God. Now the whole creation, when
Almighty God created the heavens and the earth, Told you last
Wednesday, God saw that it was very good. Man sinned. Adam sinned. And because of Adam's
sin, God cursed the ground. Almighty God, because of rebellion
in man, Cursed everything that was made. Heavens, Earth, all
of it. And now, the Earth and the heavens,
the creation, the creature is what he's talking about. The
earnest expectation, the waiting, the confidence. of the creature,
the creation, the whole creation is waiting for the manifestation
of the sons of God. What are they, what is this earth
doing? All these earthquakes and all
these tsunamis and all of these hurricanes and all this stuff
that's happening. It's in turmoil. This whole creation,
because of sin, is earnestly waiting for God to manifest openly
in the last day, whose are his. Right now, we know that God has
a people. We know that. But one of these
days, it's going to be openly manifested. Why is the earth
earnestly waiting for that? Why is the earth waiting? The
scripture says that it is waiting, verse 19, the earnest expectation
of the creature. waits patiently for the manifestation
of the sons of God. Why? Why is there an earnest,
patient waiting? Well, verse 20 says, For the
creature, the creation, was made subject to vanity, not willingly,
but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. The reason that the creation,
the heaven and the earth, earnestly waits is because, as I told you
last Wednesday, this is a marvelous passage of scripture because
it's making the creation, the ground and everything, the earth,
the mountains, it gives it personality. It's talking about the creation
having a a mind that's thinking and reasoning. And the scripture
says this is the way it is. Somebody says, well I don't understand
that. That's okay. I don't either.
But this is what the scripture is saying. That the creation
was made subject. Alright, now, Adam sinned, right? It was Adam's sin. But the creation,
when God said, because of your disobedience, Adam, cursed is
the ground for your sake. When Almighty God cursed the
ground, the creation, the stars, everything, everything, all of
it, The creation was made to be subject. Now here's what he's
saying. He was made subject. Like a servant. A king and a
servant. I'm the king, you're the servant.
You're the subject. You're in submission. Now you
bow down, that's the subject. The creation was made subject
to frailty. The creation was made to submit
to its emptiness now because of Adam's sin. The creation,
by God's Word, when God spoke and said, Cursed is the ground
for your sake, all of creation just bowed down and said, Thus
saith the Lord, I'm cursed. and I am now subject in subjection
to what the Lord says my state is now, the creation is saying.
I'm worthless. I'm bowing. And the scripture
says that the creature was made subject to vanity not willingly.
Means that what did the earth do? What did the earth do? It was here. God made it. And
it was good. It was very good. It wasn't the
earth's fault. It was Adam's fault. It was man's
fault. And the earth was made subject
to its worthlessness. It bowed, not because of what
it did, but because of God who subjected it, who made it bow. Look what it says, but by reason
of him who hath subjected the same, but in making the earth
and the creation bow, it wasn't without a hope. Now here's an
amazing thing, the creation was cursed, not because of its disobedience,
but because of man's disobedience, but even in the curse, We see
the creation's continual obedience to God concerning God's original
command to its creation. This is what I mean. When God
made the heaven and the earth, He set everything in order. Go
back and read. It's all in Genesis 1, 2. And
the earth is cursed. Now we know that. Why? Because
God said it is. God said it is. All the stuff that you see, I
saw where Yellowstone Park, they're saying that that's supposed to
be a mega, mega eruption. Could just devastate major portions
of the world if it blows up like they think it's going to blow
up. What is that? That's this creation. It's been made subject
to its worthlessness because it's in turmoil and it's bowing
to it. But even in its worthlessness,
here's the earth. It's got a hope and it's still
in subjection to God. It's in curse, but do you know
what? We still have days and nights. The earth still, I mean
the sun still comes up. We still have the dividing of
the waters, the firmament is still there, you know, this grass
still grows, weeds and thistle, they come up, but you know, it
still grows just like God Almighty. You know, the stars still shine,
those constellations, you know, they just move just like they're
supposed to. Next year at this time, they're
going to be just right here. Next year after that, it's going to
be right here. They're still, they're doing just exactly, we
have signs and seasons, years. Moon and animals, you know, God's
creation, cursed, but it's got hope. Still in subjection, if
Almighty God had not maintained this order, I'll tell you what
it would have been, immediate chaos. As soon as Earth was cursed,
man, you know, had God not kept it in order. What did we learn
from that? Well, two things. The greatness
of man's fall and the indescribable mercy of God. Man fell because
of what he did. And Almighty God, because of
what the earth didn't do, kept the earth and the earth stayed
obedient. Man didn't. Man who caused the problem He's
the one that's disobedient. This earth, even in its cursed
condition, with a hope, you know. Let's look at it. What is that
hope? What is it? Verse 21, Because the creature
itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The earth
has got hope. It knows this. It's going to
be set free. from the bondage of decay and
corruption. It's going to be, according to
its nature, allowed to share in the glorious freedom of God's
children. Now this is amazing. We're living on an earth that
is cursed. But this earth, the creation,
has a hope. And the Spirit of God has revealed
the freedom that nature, in having a hope, knows it's going to experience. 2 Peter 3.13, Nevertheless, we,
according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness. This earth has got a hope. I'm
not going to be like this forever. God's going to burn me up, and
He's going to make me brand new. God did do that to His people.
I'm telling you, when Christ went to Calvary, that's where
God dealt with our sin. That's where it was burned up.
He made us new. The earth has that hope too.
We're made to see something of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. One act of disobedience. One
act. And the guilt of mankind is imprinted
on the heavens and the earth and all the creatures. One act.
Look what it did. But oh, look at the, as we see,
the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Look at the mercy of Almighty
God. When God's elect are openly,
the creation is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of
God. When God's elect are openly shown to be the recipients of
His mercy and compassion, then, right then, creation itself is
going to be made new, going to be burnt up, the old one going
to be burnt up, and there's going to be a brand new one. And that
brand new one is going to render an illustrious Show, open show
of God's mercy and grace to His people. And the creation is anxiously
waiting for that. When Almighty God will come back,
Verse 22, For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth
in pain together until now. Here the apostle repeats that
whole creation through God's direct appointment and purpose. It knows that it's going to have
a hope, but right now it's groaning and travailing like a woman with
child ready to be delivered. And not only they, verse 23,
but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves grown within ourselves waiting for the adoption,
to wit, the redemption of our body. Not only does creation
groan and travail, but believers do too. Not an unbeliever. An unbeliever, they don't even
think about it. I mean, they're not struggling,
you know. Everything's right now for the temporal. But for
a believer, not only they, but we which have
the first fruits of the Spirit. A believer is waiting. He who has a foretaste of glory
to come. The first fruits of the Spirit. What do we have right now? The earth is groaning, the heavens,
the creation is groaning and travailing. And we are too, the
believers, the ones that have the first fruits. What is the
first fruits? Well, you know, whenever you
got a big field up there and you corn or whatever it is, you
go out there and you get the first ones, come on, you find
one, you know, there's a big old stalk and you'll have two
to three nice ears of corn on it and you pull that ear and
you grab it at the top and pull that down right there. Boy, it's
just full, beautiful. You know what that is? That's
a promise. That's first fruits. The promise of what that harvest
is going to be. This right here is just a sign.
This is a manifestation of what's coming. We're going to get it
there and harvest all this corn and we'll have, you know, A crop. We who have the first fruits
of the Spirit. What do we have? Well, right
now, God has granted us repentance. Repentance. You know what repentance
is? That's to think differently.
Granted repentance to think differently on how God justifies a sinner. I used to think God justified
a sinner because of what I did. No. No. God justifies the sinner
because of what Christ did. Big difference. Big difference. You know. What's the first fruit?
We have faith. We've been granted repentance.
To think differently. God's given us faith. All men
have not faith. That's what scripture says. He's given us faith to believe
that salvation is by grace. Not of ourselves. And without
faith, no man can please God. What a first fruit. That's what
we got right now. We've got that right now. We have Christ who
is our hope. How about this? We love God. We love God. Before God Almighty
called us out of darkness, we were dead spiritually. We didn't
love God. That which is dead can't do anything. It's dead. We have love for God
and we have love for God's people. I was saying all these things
that we were talking about in that last service over there
that we were doing, praying for each other. We have God's people
and we have the blessed promises. We got a hope. As I said, eye
hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither has entered into the
heart of man that which God has prepared for those that love
him. God's revealed that we do have an inheritance coming. I
don't know those that have gone on to glory right now. Brother
Scott, Martha, different ones, Rob, Darius, Betty. Can you imagine what they know
now? What they know? What, you know, what we have,
we have the first fruits. These blessings are the first
fruits. Harvest hadn't come yet. We're
still in this world. And we've grown right now. Not
only they, not only the creation, verse 23, but ourselves also
which have the first fruits. Even we ourselves, we've grown
within ourselves waiting for the adoption, the redemption
of our body. For we're saved, verse 24, we're
saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not
hope. But what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? While it's absolutely true that
every believer is secure. Every believer is secure. The
Lord said, John 10, 28, I give them eternal life. I give them
eternal life. They're secure. Every believer
right now, by the grace of God, the imputed righteousness of
Christ, that robe of obedience that Christ earned and gives
to His people, that He's given faith to, they are justified. I'll tell you, with the robe
of His righteousness. Justification means that the
law looks at you and the law says, no problem. No discrepancy. The law of God
looks and justifies a believer. Why? Because robed in His righteousness,
I'm holy. I'm holy. Right now, holy. Sanctified in Christ. blameless
before God. We're saved by grace. We're made
to know it and enjoy it. But we don't have the final possession
of it. Right now, we see through a glass
darkly. We've got faith, repentance,
got a love for God. But I'm telling you right now,
We still have not come into a final possession of the fullness of
our salvation. Hope, confidence, expectation,
that's what he's saying right there, is what we look forward
to. We look forward. Now the scripture
says, hope, you're saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not
hope. Let me tell you this real quickly
and you'll understand what I'm talking about. I keep going back
to what things were like for me in false religion. And I had
something I could look at. I could look at it. I walked
down the aisle. Well, you say, what do you mean
you look at it? I can look at it and see. I could see it in
my mind. I did that. I was baptized. I know that. I could see the water. I was
in that baptistery right there. I was baptized. I joined the church. I was faithful
to come. I could look at me, Pat. I could
see me. Hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth Why doth
he yet hope for something that I can behold openly? I can see that. I understand. But believers have not yet experienced
the full and finished salvation that we shall experience. Hope is faith. Faith. Faith is the evidence
of things that are not seen. I haven't seen, I've never looked
into heaven, I've never looked in the book of life. But I can
tell you this, God Almighty has given me faith to believe that
my name's there. Based on what the evidences of
a believer are. I've never seen, I've never seen
heaven. I don't know the inheritance,
but I can tell you this. There's a state coming, yet unseen,
and a believer possesses it right now. I believe I'm going to hear
the voice of the Master. I believe that I'm going to see
Him. According to the Holy Spirit,
in our flesh, Job says, we're going to see God. We're going
to see Him. robed in His righteousness, seated
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I believe so. Verse 25, But if
we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience
wait for it. Anticipation, expectation, confidence
in God's Word. Hope is not seen by sight, but
by faith, by the grace of God. Almighty God gives His people
patience, waiting and looking for what God Almighty has promised. Salvation truly laid up for us. And we look for the manifestation
of that which Almighty God has said is so. Verse 26, Likewise, the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Right now, we're
waiting, aren't we? An earnest expectation. We've
got a good hope. And while we're waiting, with
patience, with a hope in God's Word. You know what we're doing? We're waiting in a realized state
of weakness. I'm waiting. I believe that Almighty
God is going to receive me to Himself. But I'm going to tell
you something right now. I'm struggling. And I'm continually
calling on the Lord while my old man just fights with the
new man. And the Spirit of God, the Scripture says, comes to
a believer while they're waiting, while they're possessing that
good hope. God comes to us by His Spirit,
the One who is abundantly able and sufficient to overcome all
these difficulties. And the Spirit, the Scripture
says, helpeth our infirmities. While we're struggling, He comes
to us to aid us and to bear us up in our weakness. You take
a little child, they're trying to learn to walk. You take a
little baby here and they're just trying to get up. And the
legs are just not quite stable yet. You know what? But I'm telling
you, mom or daddy stick those fingers out here and they grab
hold of them like that. Come on, stand up. There you
go. Okay, come on, walk. Come on. You know what we're
doing? We're helping their infirmities. The Spirit of God is said to
come and help. our infirmities while we're waiting
and we're oppressed on all sides and all these evils. How do we bear up under these
pressures unless the Spirit of God helps us in the midst of
our trial, draws us to Himself in the midst of our crying unto
the Lord while we're struggling to pray and seeking help and
direction. Lord, I'm waiting on You and
I don't even know what to ask for. I don't even know how to seek
deliverance. I don't know what to pray. The Spirit itself makes intercession
for us with groanings which can't be uttered. The prayers of the
saints directed by the Holy Spirit, they're not going to be disappointed.
The Spirit of God helps. And in this passage of Scripture
in closing, Revelation 8.3, concerning the believers' prayers and their
reception by God, Revelation 8.3, another angel, this is the
angel of the covenant, this is the Lord Himself, came and stood
at the altar having a golden censer, I'll get it right in
a minute, there was given unto him much incense that he should
offer it with the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar
which was before the throne. Here's the Lord Jesus. The great
high priest presenting the prayers of the saints to God perfumed
with the incense of His merit. The prayers that the Holy Spirit... Now you want to talk about some
help. Now here's some help. When we're struggling, and I
know you do, you that know Him, you pray and you struggle. You
don't know what to ask for. You're waiting, we're waiting
patiently for the Lord. He's coming back. My prayers are so often the same
thing. I pray the same things over and
over and over again. And the reason is I don't know
the spirit in which to ask them. I don't know what to ask for.
I don't know how to offer prayer worthily to God. I need some
help, y'all. I need some help. I'm waiting just like you. But
here I am trying to pray while I'm waiting, trying to ask the
Lord for some help. And the Spirit of God comes and
helps our infirmities. He makes groanings for us that
can't even be uttered. We don't even know how to utter
them. Verse 27, He that searches the hearts, God Almighty, He
knows the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. I don't know what
to ask for according to the will of God. I don't know. I don't know what the will of
God is for me. The Spirit of God does. And then as the Spirit
of God makes intercession, the Lord Jesus Christ takes those
prayers and offers them up in the incense of His merit. And
Almighty God hears them. And I'll tell you this, if the
Spirit of God is helping our infirmities, Because we don't know what to
pray for. Again, we don't know the spirit in which to pray. And the Lord Jesus takes those
prayers that the Spirit of God has helped us and offers those
prayers in His own merit to the Father. And they're all according
to the will of God for us. When He prays for us, He's praying
according to the will of God for us. Those prayers are going
to be answered. I pray that Almighty God, as
we wait patiently, just like the whole creation is waiting
patiently for the manifestation of the sons of God, we're waiting
patiently for the manifestation of the sons of God. And while
we are, and while we're praying, seeking God's direction and guidance,
It calls us to remember all what God Almighty has done for us
in Christ. For His name's sake, amen.