This is my Father's world and
to my listening ears. All nature sings and round me
rings the music of the spheres. This is my Father's world. ? Rocks and trees of scythes and
seasons ? ? And the waters dry ? ? This is my daughter's world
? ? The birds their girls raise ? ? The morning light of lily
white ? ? Deep where their makers graze ? ? This is my Father's world ? ?
He shines in all that's fair ? ? In all the secrets I hear
him bless me ? ? Sings to me every prayer ? ? This is my Father's
world ? ? Let those among seem not so strong
? ? God is no ruler yet ? ? This is my Father's birth ? ? No battle
is not done ? ? He chose to die to be satisfied ? ? Let earth
and heaven be mine ? Our second hymn will be number
224, I know whom I have believed. Did I mess that up, Carl? No. Did I mess my hand up? Oh. I know not my God's wondrous
grace. Okay, we're alright, yeah, thanks.
It wouldn't surprise me. No, not why God's wondrous grace
to me He hath made known, Nor why unworthy Christ did love,
Redeeming for His own. But I know whom I have believed,
And am persuaded that He is able, ? To keep that which I've committed
? ? Unto Him I'll give set days ? ? I know my Father's living
faith to me He did impart ? ? Your help believing in His word brought
peace within my heart ? But I know who might have his way and persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him
against that day. I know not of the Spirit who's
convincing that of sin, Revealing Jesus through the Word, creating
faith in Him. I know whom I have believed in
and persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not what of good or ill
may be reserved for me. Of weary ways or golden days
before His face I see. But I know I have believed and
am persuaded that He is able Keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not when my Lord may come
at night or will make fair, nor if I walk availed with Him or
meet Him in the air. I know whom I have believed and
am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. Because you do not disturb us. Because it might just erupt.
I know, thank you. All right, I'm going to be reading from Luke chapter 11, Luke chapter
11, beginning in verse 5. And Christ said unto them, which
of you shall have a friend? And what a friend we have in
Christ. And shall go unto him at midnight
and say unto him, friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend
of mine is in his journey. is come to me, and I have nothing
to set before him. And he from within shall answer
and say, trouble me not. The door is now shut, and my
children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, though he will
not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because
of his importunity or persistence, he will rise and give him as
many as he needeth. And I say unto you, ask and it
shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it
shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth. and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any
of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he
ask a fish, will he give for a fish? Will he for a fish give
him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will
he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask
him. And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came
to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake, and the
people wondered." We'll stop there. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for bringing
us together today to hear Christ preached. We ask that you'd bless
our time here. We ask that you'd be with Brother
Eric as he comes and preaches this message. We ask that you'd
give him what he needs. We ask that you would bless us
as a body here, that you would remove the dumb spirit of the
flesh from us and give us your Holy Spirit that we might share
the precious things of God that you've revealed to us with others.
We ask this and we just ask for your blessing again upon our
time. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. No, do you hear a noise still?
Oh, no. If it comes on, just. All right,
and just by way of a couple of announcements, so I was talking
to Joe this morning that obviously we would like to get back into
the Nixa Senior Center. But if for some reason that goes
on longer than, say, the first week of June, then we'll probably
look to see if we can get into the library or something like
that. perhaps for Sunday, just so it's a little more public
and a little easier for you guys to get to and things like that.
That's not my favorite place to meet, but at least it's public. The library's open right now.
Is anybody going to come? I looked on their thing and they
actually said that the meeting rooms are closed until August
31st. August. Alright, so that's out of the
picture then. They just said they're not doing meeting rooms
this summer. Okay, all right, all right, so we'll see. Just
pray about that and maybe something will open up. But again, we may
still have the Nixa Senior Center. I mean, we can certainly let
them know that we're able to social distance ourselves if
that's what they're worried about. I mean, there's not a great number
of us, so. And this is a delight for us
to do, to have people here. I know it's not ideal, but as
a transitional phase, we don't mind it. I mean, this is awesome. All right, so brethren, we're
gonna be in Romans 8. Romans 8. And I'm excited for
this message. When I sat down to study it,
I wasn't quite sure. There was some things I needed
to understand about it as well. And so I believe the Lord helped
me have a greater understanding insight to what Paul is saying
here, and so I look forward to preaching it, and maybe the Lord
will bring us back here again one day. All right, so it's Romans
8, verses 19 through 27. And last week we had concluded
our study where Paul said in verse 18, Romans 8, 18, I reckon
that the sufferings this present time are not worthy
to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."
And so he's talking about that glory which we shall receive,
that glory which shall be made known to us in our inheritance
in Christ Jesus. And so that the sufferings that
we go through here, the troubles, the hard times, the difficulties
that we face, even persecutions and things that we can't always
understand or explain why they happen the way they did. Paul
tells us, you that love Christ, whatever we go through here shall
not be able to be compared to the glory which follows." Now
in today's study, Paul is going to further say some things that
further that comparison, or rather that gap between what we suffer
and what's to come for us. And so we'll see that it's in
light of the hope that the Spirit gives us, that the hope of salvation,
of what God has promised us in Christ. It's that hope which
cannot be compared to with anything here that we go through in this
life. I've titled this, The Creature's Earnest Expectation. The Creature's
Earnest Expectation. And so first, briefly, we'll
look at who is the creature? Who or what is Paul talking about
there by the use of the word creature? And then I wanna look
at the earnest expectation of the creature. And we'll see that
it's two parts. It's first for us who were in
darkness that are being converted, brought to life in Christ, regenerated,
and then, our adoption or rather our redemption of the body when
Christ returns, when he shall raise us up from the dead. And
then finally we'll close with how is there an earnest expectation
in the creature? How is it that the creature has
this earnest expectation? Alright, so first who is the
creature? That's the first thing we need
to settle. Who or what is this creature that Paul is talking
about in verse 19? Look at verse 19 with me. For
the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation
of the sons of God. Now after I looked at the word
concerning the creature, I could see that it's a reference to
man. It's speaking of man, not all
things created, not the trees and houses and rocks, though
the earth certainly, though materially it's the same as it was, yet
it is subjected and experiences the darkness that we've brought
on it in our sin. So, the word creature, though,
is referencing man, and more specifically, those who have
been ordained to eternal life in Christ. When Paul is speaking
of the creature here, he has an eye to you brethren that hope
in Christ, you that have been before ordained by God unto salvation
in Christ. And it also, as you'll see as
you look at some of these scriptures, you'll see that there is also
an eye toward the Gentiles as opposed to the Jews. But what
I see more fully in it is the whole body of Christ. The whole body of Christ saved
throughout time that the Lord has done this work here in the
earth with us. So first, as I said, it references
man. Over in Mark 16, verse 15, a
study we'll have to come back to at some point, Mark 16, 15,
it says, Christ said unto them, unto his disciples, go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, right,
to every creature. We don't go out to the bunny
rabbits and the flowers and preach the gospel to them, to stones
and forests. We preach the gospel to men and
women, boys and girls, young and old. We preach the gospel
to every creature that the Lord brings in our path. And again,
Paul would say when speaking to the Colossians, and note that
he speaks of the hope of the gospel, the hope of the gospel,
because that's gonna come up in our text today in Romans 8,
but he's speaking of the hope of the gospel, and he says in
Colossians 1.23, Colossians 1.23, if ye continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel, right? So you that believe who are not
moved away from the hope of the gospel. The Lord completes the
work because he's the one who's begun the work in you. This gospel
which you've heard and which was preached to every creature
which is under heaven where I, Paul, am made a minister. Okay, so when he's speaking of
the creature, he's talking about men and women, and specifically,
to you that hear. To you that hear the word as
it is in truth, the word of God, the word of salvation for your
souls. All right, next we notice that
Paul speaks of the earnest expectation of the creature. So let's look
at what this earnest expectation of the creature is. Back in Romans
8 verse 19 again, he says, the earnest expectation of the creature
waited for the manifestation of the sons of God. So that's
what we're going to break down here. Now spend some time looking
at the manifestation of the sons of God. And so the first thing
that he's speaking of here is our conversion. When we were
delivered from darkness to light. When we were given life brought
from the dead in Adam and corruption of sin brought to life. That's
the earnest expectation that we're waiting for, and I'll explain
what I mean by that. The reason why I say that is
because Paul, in this passage here, as you'll see, he has an
eye towards that mystical body of Christ, the whole creature,
the whole body of Christ whom he laid down his life for. That whole creature, the whole
body, the whole bride of Christ, and if you remember that we are
sons and daughters of God by divine predestination. This isn't
something that just happens, whips up out of nowhere, and
some of us hear and get saved, and others of us don't hear and
don't get saved. No, this is all according to
purpose. It's all according to purpose,
God's divine purpose and predestination for his people, so that we understand
that there's a covenant of grace, a covenant that God the Father
has made with us in grace, meaning God isn't looking to our works
of righteousness, which we've done, to determine whether or
not he's going to have mercy on us, but rather he purposed
beforehand to save a people, to show them mercy, grace, kindness
in Jesus Christ. And so that in that covenant
of grace, he gave to his son, Jesus Christ, he gave to the
son of God, his inheritance of people for himself, a royal priesthood
of people that love him, that know him, that worship him and
serve him that are his inheritance will be glorified with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul tells us, speaking of this
divine predestination, that in Christ, Ephesians 111, in Christ
we were predestinated according to the purpose of God who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. Our God determines
who he will save as it pleases him, and this he did in eternity,
without any input from us. Without any input from us, God
determined this, and he has sent this word, this gospel word,
which you hear, and you that hear it, and hear that this is
the truth of God, has done for his people. Not all people hear
that. Not all people believe that.
Not all receive that as it is truth. They don't hear it in
truth. They hear it and just think, well, it's just another
religion, or it's just some other theory or idea out there. No,
you that hear it as it is in truth, the Word of God, and receive
it. It's a testimony that the Spirit
has given you this Word, and He's begun a work in you. Now
before we had any knowledge of this union, this eternal union
in Christ, we fell in Adam. We were dead in Adam. We were
in Adam's loins when he sinned. When Adam sinned, he didn't have
Cain or Abel born yet. All his seed was yet in his body.
And so there was no other children there. And so when Adam sinned,
we were all in Adam. So we sinned in Adam. And when
he died spiritually and became corrupted, we died spiritually
and were corrupted as well. And since we all come forth of
the seed, we were dead in trespasses and sins. Yet because of this
union with Christ, our God didn't change his mind. It didn't turn
His love from those whom He purposed to save in eternity. See, it
has nothing to do with what you or I do. It's all according to
the purpose of God as it pleases Him in the mind of His own counsel. so that it's all according to
what he is determined to do in himself, apart from our works.
And Paul in the scriptures calls this the mystery of God. It's the mystery of God. And I'm gonna be reading, if
you want to turn over to Colossians 1, you'll notice that as we go
through Romans, here especially, that I'm quoting a lot from Galatians
and Ephesians and Philippians and Colossians because you'll
see that he's speaking of that same gospel, those same gospel
truths that comfort us in one of the epistles, he's talking
about it to the other brethren in the churches. And he uses
sometimes different words or he says it a little differently
so that it's helpful to us as we're reading all the word to
know. But here in Colossians 1.26, speaking, very similarly
of what he's telling the Romans. He says, verse 26, even the mystery
which hath been hid from ages and from generations, right?
We're talking about the earnest expectation and now he's talking
about this mystery that's been hid from ages and from generations. but now is made manifest to his
saints." The creature, I said before, the creature is talking
about that body, and that's whom the Lord's making this known
to, his saints, the creature, the body of Christ. This is that
earnest expectation of the creature to whom, verse 27, to whom God
would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
All right, it's the hope of glory that he's worked in you. And Paul's gonna talk about our
hope in Romans 8 as we go through it a little more later. And then
he says in verse 28, whom we preach, Christ whom we preach,
warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that
we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. And that every
man being the whole body of Christ. You that believe. You that hope
in Christ, have no confidence in the flesh, but hope in Christ,
that have heard this word and God has worked a hope in you
to hear the mystery and to see and behold, this is the riches
of God, which he's promised us in Christ Jesus the Lord. And
so we're sent as the church, as his body now, as having heard
and eager for our brethren to hear and the whole body to hear,
we preach and declare this Gospel, telling others, preaching, proclaiming,
declaring what God has done for His people in saving sinners
who cannot save themselves and sending His own darling Son to
do for them what they cannot do for themselves. And so because
we fell in Adam, our God in mercy sent His Son, who agreed in the
covenant of grace to do this work for us, He sent His Son
in the likeness of our flesh, but without sin. Because He wasn't
born of Adam's corrupt seed, what was conceived in Mary, the
seed of the woman, the seed of woman, not the seed of man, but
in Mary was conceived that which was of the Holy Ghost. The Holy
Ghost came upon her and she conceived Christ in her womb. And so the
Lord brought forth Christ, fully man as if he were not God and
fully God as if he were not man, the God-man Christ Jesus to do
this work. This is what Christ came to do.
It says, I'm reading from Hebrews 2.14, for as much then as the
children, right, and the children being as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, for as much then as the
children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise
took part of the same, that through death, right, he had to become
flesh, that he might die for his people, that through death
he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the
devil, and deliver them, that creature, every man and woman
in the body of Christ, that he might deliver them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. And so Christ came in the flesh
to do for us what we needed, because we were unable to do
this work for ourselves. All right, now Romans 8 20, back
in our text. And we see this here. For the
creature, you that are saints, you that hear this word, even
if you're not saints, but you're hearing this word, listen, hear
this word. for the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly,
but by reason of him who had subjected the same in hope."
In other words, our God has a purpose in what he's done. The things
that we go through, the things that we experience, the trials,
the tribulations, the hardships, the things that so often we ridicule
ourselves about and beat ourselves up about, all these things are
according to God's purpose. That doesn't mean that they're
pleasurable or pleasant to this flesh, that we like the things
that have hurt us and broken us and stripped this flesh, but
it's all according to purpose. You don't need to beat yourself
up over those things. You that believe God and hope
in Christ, trust Him. Trust Him. It's all been done
according to His purpose to bring us to this point, to bring us
to see our need of Christ and how He's determined to use us
in the body of Christ. It's all according to His purpose. It was His purpose that allowed
us to fall in Adam. He subjected us to this willingly
that we might have this hope which the angels don't have,
right? Those angels that serve Him eternally, right, that served
Him since the day they were created, I should say, in joy and in gladness,
they don't know this hope that we have, right? They'll never experience what
we shall experience and have as our inheritance in Christ
when we are glorified with Him in that day. All right, so we
have this hope, and so it's that God might declare this hope to
us in Christ through the gospel. And that's what we're making
known and speaking of. So there's the first earnest
expectation of the creature is the conversion of saints. They're
being made alive, they're being born again, regenerated by the
Spirit, brought to life to know the true and living God. All
those saints, scattered throughout the world, all the way to the
aisles of the Gentiles, out to the ends of the earth, the nations,
the Lord has sent His Gospel out. Now, our God is bringing
to light, through conversion, through this regeneration, what
He's given us in Christ. And that means that it's more
than just here in this day that we are Christians, that we are
children of God. It's not just this life. Paul said something to the effect
that if in this life, if this is our hope for this life, that
we know that we're the children of God and then this life ends
and that's it for us, he said we're of all men most miserable
because we're subjected to this vanity in this life. We're not
pursuing the things of this life, the way this world is, and we're
not getting sidetracked from the hope that we have in the
gospel for these momentary passing pleasures, temporarily, right? This is their inheritance, right? We're thankful for the things
that we have and the comforts that we have and what we can
do and provide and serve. one another and take care of
our families, we're happy for those things. We're thankful
for them, but that's not our goal in life. This isn't it.
Our eye is on Christ, and we know that I really don't want
that to get lost. I don't want to forget that and
build my kingdom here, which is going to perish in a few short
years. I want to know that that what I'm doing here and
giving up has a much greater purpose. There's a better day
for us that are the Lord. There's a much better day for
us. All right? So there's more than just forgiveness
of sins. It's our life with Christ. And
the other thing that we see is in verse 21 where we'll be delivered
from this corrupt world. We're going to be brought to
a new heavens and a new earth. Romans 8.21, because the creature
itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Remember,
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have
passed away, behold, all things have become new in Christ. Paul said to the Galatians in
Galatians 1-4 that Christ gave himself for our sins that he
might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will
of God and our Father. All right, and then Peter affirmed
the same, 2 Peter 3.13, nevertheless, we, the creature, the body of
Christ, his people, we according to his promise, look for new
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. All right,
and so this leads us to that second earnest expectation of
the creature that Paul's speaking of here. It's the redemption
of our body. The redemption of our body, that
is when Christ comes again and raises us from the dead, giving
us a new body, fashioned after the likeness of Christ's body,
what we see in Christ. Romans 8, 22 and 23 says, for
we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now. That whole creation being the
whole body of Christ, specifically even the Gentiles who are being
brought in under the sound of this gospel and hearing this.
And they're hoping, Lord, send this word forth, let this go
out to my brethren and my families and all throughout the world
that the Lord may come. And so they're waiting for all
the sons and daughters of the Lord to be brought in that Christ
might come again. The Lord's not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but his long-suffering
to us were not willing that any should perish. His people. So he's sending that gospel out
to bring his people in. And not only they, Paul says,
8.23, Not only they, not only the Gentiles being converted,
but ourselves also. The Jews, and I believe he's
got an eye to the apostles specifically, who have the spirit and that
power of the spirit. He says, which have the first,
ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the spirit, even
we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to it
or understand the redemption of our body. And what Paul is
saying there, why I say I believe he's talking about the Apostles,
we ourselves, the Apostles even, he's saying We too are suffering
and groaning in this flesh. We know what you brethren are
going through. We know the weakness of the flesh. We know the mental hardships,
right? Some of us suffer mentally with
mental woes and anxieties and go into times of darkness and
blackness of mind. Some of us suffer spiritually
where we have doubts and fears and worries and anxieties about
whether we even know the Lord and the hope that we have. Is
it of the Lord? Some of us have physical hardships
and woes that inhibit us or limit us. Pains and sufferings that
we just suffer through each day. and are going into as we get
older and realize, wow, my body is breaking down and decaying
and I'm suffering. So we go through these things
and then there's just even the persecutions and the tribulations
that we receive in the world daily against the truth of Christ,
the constant attacks against the truth of Christ which cause
us to stumble or to question things or to just wonder, Lord,
Lord, is this so? What you have shown me and revealed
to me, is this indeed So we examine our works, but Paul was the one
who even said in Romans 7, listen to what Paul said, who said,
we're waiting for this adoption, we're waiting to be raised from
the dead too. He said in Romans 7, 14, for we know that the law
is spiritual, but I'm carnal, sold under sin. For that which
I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not,
but what I hate, that do I. So that at the end of that chapter,
7, 24, and 25, he said, O wretched man that I am, the Apostle Paul,
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this
death? I thank God, my Lord Jesus Christ. So then, with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God. He's speaking of the spirit that
God has given him. With the spirit, he serves the
law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. In other words,
he's still subject to those attacks and feeling the infirmities that
yet exist in his flesh. We too, brethren, we examine
our works and we look at what we look at and we're not very
impressed, right? We're not really impressed and
we think, well, if I'm saved, why isn't it a complete salvation? Why am I waiting yet for the
redemption of my body? And when you don't look at the
scriptures and you look at yourself, you think, I don't even know
if I'm a believer, if I'm a Christian, not from what I just saw go through
my heart or through my mind or came out of my mouth or what
I just did. We're not impressed with what we see. We're like
Rebecca, whose husband, Isaac, prayed to the Lord that she might
conceive a child. And then she conceived, and she
said, if this is so, if this is of you, Lord, that I've conceived
this child in me, why am I thus? Why is it like this? And so she
went and inquired of the Lord. And the Lord told her, well,
Rebecca, it's because there's two nations in you, in your womb.
There's two nations, how do you word it? There's two manner of
people shall be separated from thy vows. All right, because
we have the old man of flesh, which is still weak and subject
to the vanity of this life. And there's the new man, which
is waiting in hope, waiting in hope. So that's our hope, brethren. Don't be discouraged. Keep looking
to the Lord, trusting that He which hath begun a good work
in you shall complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. He shall. Keep hoping, trusting Him. You're not going to find that
comfort in the flesh. Paul said to the Philippians
3.12-14, He said, it's not as though I
had already attained. I, your apostle, sent to the
Lord to do these works and to declare this gospel to you. I
haven't even attained. Either were already perfect,
but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also
I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. All right, you have been apprehended.
You that have heard this gospel and believe it, that this is
the truth of God, this is the only hope of your salvation,
you've been apprehended by Christ. Follow after, pursue him, right?
We're not, just because our salvation is one of grace, we don't therefore
seek to live in the flesh, for if you live after the flesh,
you shall die, Paul said, right? If you set your heart and your
affection and your minds to pursue the things of this life, he says,
you'll die. That is, unless the Lord has
mercy on you and grants your repentance and delivers you from
from that, bringing you back to himself, and he said, Brethren,
I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those
things which are before, ahead of me, that hope that I have,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus. And so, another comfort is what
the Lord tells us, that it's a walk of faith. That's why he
tells us it's a walk of faith, because you're not going to see
those evidences that you think you should see in your flesh,
you're still subjected to vanity, you're still wrestling and warring
against that old man so that you cannot do the things that
you would do consistently and completely and fully until Christ
returns. No, you're going to have days
of stumbling and being reminded of your weakness and being reminded
of what fools we are and would be utterly lost were it not for
the grace of our God. and so that we're reminded of
His love and mercy toward us, right? So, trust the Lord, believe
Him, because you're not gonna see it in the flesh. But the
Lord has given you a heart, right? He's given you a heart for Christ,
a desire to know Him, a desire to be free from this body of
death, but it's a body of death. It hasn't been changed yet. I like how John wrote it in 1
John 3, 2. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, we have that promise, that hope, and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be. But we know when He shall appear,
we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." So it's
a waiting in hope. It's believing our God, waiting
in hope that just as He said, right, whatever darkness comes
over your eyes, whatever weakness or stumbling you have, yet the
Lord keeps us waiting in hope that just as He said it will
be. Alright, because it gets hard to imagine and believe,
what's it going to be like? I can't even imagine not having
the corruption of this flesh, but He tells me we shall be delivered
from this body of death and we shall be like Him when we see
Him as He is, and so we look. We don't worry about what we're
seeing. I mean, we see it and we go to the Lord, confessing
our sins and asking Him to use us and to keep us, lest we should
fall away, you know, speaking in the flesh, lest we should
fall away, but we trust and know that He keeps His people. And
so Paul explains this a little more in our text in verse, back
in Romans 8, 24 and 25. He says, for we are saved by
hope. But hope that is seen is not
hope. For what a man see it, why doth
he yet hope for it? If you saw perfection in you,
in your works, What are you hoping for? You're already perfect.
You're not waiting for anything. So that's what he's saying. But
if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait
for it. And so the Lord, he helps us
to wait for it patiently because he settles us in the gospel and
he reveals to us more and more the knowledge of what Christ
has done for us. revealing that mystery of the
gospel to you, and making you know and understand the things
which our God has done for us in Him. And that's, I believe,
our part of suffering with Christ. Romans 8, 17, it spoke of our
suffering with Christ. And Paul would say, knowing that
tribulation worketh patience, and patience, experience, and
experience hope. That's from Romans 5. The Lord
teaches us, He grows us. Alright, now finally, Paul Well, I was wondering, how is
there an earnest expectation in the creature? Especially when
you're talking about those who have no light or understanding
of Christ. How can there be, if it is talking
about our conversion as well, how could there be an earnest
expectation in the creature who's dead and trespasses and sins?
They have no earnest expectation. Well, I believe as we finish
this off in verses 26 and 27, we see the grace of our God in the Spirit,
in giving us the Spirit, and what He's done in the Spirit,
even before we have the Spirit and are alive in the Spirit.
Those of us who have been turned from dead works and converted
to Christ, made alive in Him, Paul reminds us that we've been
given a down payment, an earnest of our inheritance. It's an earnest
down payment of our inheritance, what we have in Christ. It's
the Holy Spirit. He says, verse 26, likewise,
the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. So we that are now walking in
faith, he's telling us, We've been given the spirit that helps
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought. All right? We're weak. I mean, I had a lot
of notes written on this thing last night, and I think it was
after 9 p.m., and I'm still sitting there wondering what the message
is. And, you know, the Lord brought me just to pray, and just seek
him and confess him. Lord, I don't even know what
the message is here, but as soon as I did, It just began, he just
unraveled it and began to comfort me to know that this is what
he's saying here and this is the word for you, brethren, to
comfort your hearts as we continue in this waiting patiently and
hope for him. For we know not what we should
pray for as we are, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for
us with groanings which cannot be uttered. I've no doubt that
even when prayer entered my mind as something I should do, It's
because the Spirit uttered it, interceded in prayer, keeping
me from just going in the flesh and just muscling through it
in the flesh, but rather breaking me so that I would seek Him,
that God receive all the glory, the praise and the honor. So
praise Him. So here we're reminded that even
after justification, It's our God, it's our Savior who continues
with us and keeps us as it pleases Him. As He's pleased to subject
us, we're always gonna feel our need so that we never stand in
our own strength, not for very long. The Lord will bring us
down and humble us so that we constantly look to Him and seek
our all in Him. So it's always by Christ our
Savior, all right? And so the Spirit even helps
us to pray according to the will of God. And then we're shown
the working of this relationship. He says in Romans 8.27, he that
searcheth the hearts, that's God, knoweth what is the mind
of the Spirit, the Spirit of God, because the Spirit maketh
intercession for the saints according to the will of God. So all along, all right, all
along in the mystery of God, the will of God is being done.
Even apart from our awareness or participation or thinking
of it, the purpose and will of God is being done because the
Spirit is interceding. The Spirit is doing that work
that the Father and the Son sent Him to do, to reveal Christ,
to reveal this hope in us, to call us out of darkness and bring
us to a knowledge of the truth. And so, even prior to our conversion,
The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation
of the sons of God." And I'm saying that accounts for all
the brethren, even before their conversion. But it's not because
of our works. We have no knowledge of it. We
don't think about it. We're not earnestly expecting
and waiting for this thing. We're in darkness. We're under
a veil of flesh and blind to what the Lord is doing. the purpose
and will of God is being done. And so the Spirit, even apart
from you, while you're dead in trespasses and sins, the Spirit
of God intercedes on your behalf and ensures that you heard the
Gospel and those that are yet to come will hear the Gospel
and be given faith, have faith revealed in them and they shall
come to a knowledge of what God has done for them in Christ,
all according to the will and purpose of our God. So I pray the Lord will show
you that there to comfort your hearts, right? He that searcheth
the hearts, he knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because
he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will
of God. And so likewise, as we go forth
sending this word, and as those that are yet to come and hear
it, We believe that the spirit helpeth our infirmities. He knows the will of God and
the purpose of him. So I pray the Lord will bless
that word to your hearts, brethren. All right, let's close in prayer.
Our gracious God, we thank you, Lord, for your mercy, for the
grace which you abundantly Provide for us in Christ Jesus, our Lord
and Savior. Father, we pray that you would
help us, keep us ever looking to Christ. Lord, even when we're
afraid and fearful and in darkness, Lord, we pray that you would
renew a right spirit in us, that you would create in us a clean
heart, cleanse us of our sins, cleanse us of our anxieties and
worries, and settle us in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Lord,
we pray for your brethren, for the creature, Lord, the body
of Christ, that you would have mercy on your people. Call them
out of darkness into the light of your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord,
we pray for those that are sick and in need of healing. I think
even of my sister who has pneumonia, Lord, that you would heal her
and that you would cause her to hear the gospel and believe
on Christ. And Lord, all those that are
sick here or that have loved ones or cares and concerns about
those that are not well, Father, that you would answer their prayer. Help them to know your mind and
your purpose in all things, and that we would find our comfort
in Christ Jesus. It's in his name we pray and
give thanks. Amen. Our closing hymn will be the
last one on your page today, My Savior's Love, I Stand Amazed. And remain still in the presence
of Jesus the Messiah. And wonder how He would love
me, the sinner and the clean. How marvelous, how wonderful,
that my song shall ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful,
is my Savior's love for me! For he who was in the garden,
he prayed not for the will of time, He had no tears for his own grief,
but sweat drops of blood for mine. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me! When the angels beheld Him and
came from the world of life, to offer Him in the sovereignty
poured for my soul that night. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful,
is my Savior's love for me! He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. How marvelous! How wonderful!
And my song shall ever be! How marvelous! How wonderful! Is my Savior's
love for me! And with a ransomed glory His
face I at last shall see. It will be my joy through the
ages to sing of His love for me. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me! I don't know. Well, because you
were talking about it. It was great. He said it was
a great transmission. Eric Stamps said that. Oh, yeah. Thanks a lot. Oh, yeah. Oh, my
goodness. OK. OK. So what? I'm going to
go. Yeah, and Mary said it was a
great transmission. Yeah, I was a little bit. All
right. And we've got our ops over there. Yeah, we've got more gossip on
that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's asking 1-2. We're good to go. Okay, I got it. I'm just trying to get as much
time as she can. Yeah, I know. It's hard to go
for less than a week. Michelle's going away. She's
going back to the hotel. Have a good trip, Michelle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure she's got it free. I'm
still saving it. Did you stop paying that? Oh, did you stop your thing?
No. Oh, good. Okay. I left it on so I can do
what it needs to do. So... Just leave it. Okay, you
get to sleep, right? It's still working? Yeah. I'm
just going to put it in there. Gotcha. Gotcha. I know everybody
has different needs. I probably want to, but I don't
care. I don't care. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah.