Romans chapter 8, begin our reading
in verse 18. The apostle says, for I reckon
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of
the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of
God. For the creature, rather creation,
was made subject to vanity, not willingly. but by reason of him
who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creation itself
also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into
the glorious liberty of the children of God." Now, the Apostle, here
we know from our further study, our past studies in the Scripture,
that he is writing to the sons of God. He is writing to those
who are led by the Spirit of God, those who have the Spirit
of Jesus Christ. He gives us great words of comfort
such as, There is therefore now no condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus. You who are sons of God, we are
sons by adoption. And we have been given the Spirit
of the living God. to dwell in us. And this spirit
of God that is given to us is called the spirit of adoption.
Adoption. Not the spirit of bondage, which
is of the law, but a spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. Believers in Christ, we are not
saved by the law, but by the free grace of God through Jesus
Christ. You are sons by grace, by mercy. The mercy and free grace of God.
And it was the free grace of God that chose you in Christ
Jesus before the foundation of the world. It was by the free
grace of God who adopted you to be sons. It was by the free
grace of God that Jesus Christ came to die for your sins. It was by the free grace of God
that the Spirit of God came to you and quickened you to life
and faith in Christ. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2
and verse 13, Paul says, We are bound to give thanks always for
you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath chosen
you from before the foundation of the world. God hath chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. Where unto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ? Now only those who are sanctified
of the Spirit are made holy. You who are sons of God, consider
what God has done by the new birth. He has made you holy. He has given you a holy nature,
a new nature, a new heart, which Christ calls being born
again. And we believe the truth, which
is the same gospel that the Spirit used to quicken us, the gospel
of Jesus Christ. The gospel of His righteousness
in which He honored the law of God. It was by this gospel that
we were born again. Peter says that we were born
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed by the
Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. This is the
seed by which God has given us a new birth and made us to be
His sons. By the gospel of righteousness.
The gospel of His Son's righteousness. Isn't it true that only God said
to Christ, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. That's the only man that God
has ever said that about. He said that about his son. He said before in the prophecy
of Isaiah 42, he said, behold my servant in whom my soul delighted. God is always delighted in the
Son. God has always loved the Son
as God has loved Himself. God loved the Son. And when Jesus Christ came and honored
that law as He was prophesied to do, God said, that's my Son.
I love Him. I am pleased with His righteousness. And we preach the gospel of Jesus
Christ to you children of God that believe it, that His offering
for sin has been accepted. His offering for sin, for by
one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Those who are set apart by God
in holiness, He has forever satisfied God's justice for our sins. Is there anyone here who wonders
what God requires? You and I will face God. There's
no doubt about that. Every man will face God. What
does God require of you? Go over to Micah chapter 6. Look
at this with me. Micah chapter 6. And just in the end of verse
5, God says this. He says, I'm going to quote this
for you, what Balak said to Balaam. that you may know the righteousness
of the Lord. This is what Balak, the king
of Moab, asked to Balaam. He said, Wherewith shall I come
before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I
come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old, Will
the Lord be pleased with ten thousands, with thousands of
rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my
firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the
sin of my soul? This is the answer he hath showed
the old man, what is good. And what doth the Lord require
of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with thy God? Friends, this is the law of God
that is written in the heart of every one of us. The law of
God is written in our hearts. You know what's good, but you
don't do it. God says to walk justly. That
means to walk righteously. To walk wholly before God. To
do what you know is right. Now who has done that? Not one. Not one of us has ever
lived up to that standard. Not one. None of us have kept this, and
by nature we are unjust, unmerciful, and in our pride we will not
have Christ to rule over us. This is our nature. What does
God require of you? God requires of you absolute,
perfect righteousness. He doesn't want you to do things
for Him or try to add anything to Him. But He demands of you
and demands of me perfect obedience. See then, God's demands of perfect
obedience and perfect righteousness is something we cannot give. He says in verse 11 of Micah
chapter 6, He says, Shall I count them pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights? Isn't this how most men think
God will treat them? That He will somehow grade on
a curve? That He will consider your person?
He'll consider your circumstances? Well, I just didn't have the
perfect home, and God's got to see something about that. You
know, God's got to take that into account. God's got to take
into account that I've had some bad circumstances in my life,
I tell you, God will put you on the same measurement as He
does everyone else. Perfect righteousness. He'll
put you on the same scale, and He will not use deceptive or
deceitful weights. No, the bar of God's holy justice
is set, and all who do not measure up to His holy perfection and
perfect obedience will suffer a just reward of eternal damnation. A just reward. You suppose those
people in hell are suffering unjustly? I tell you they are
suffering justly. God is holy. And what they are
doing in hell, they are receiving exactly what they deserve. And I'll tell you, if you go
to hell, you will receive exactly what you deserve. But God. But God is just and
righteous, but He is also rich in mercy." Rich in mercy. He is both full of truth and
grace. See then what God's holy justice
demanded. Listen to me, you who are sons
of God. What God's holy justice demanded
of us, He also provided for Himself. Isn't that a great thing? What
He demanded of you and me that we could not provide, He Himself,
in great love, in great mercy, provided all by Jesus Christ
His Son. Provided all righteousness and
satisfaction. You sons of God, consider how blessed you are
I know we consider mostly how bad things are for us. I know
because I do it. I sit around and mope and see
that my circumstance is not what I thought it should be. I'm complaining,
often murmuring about my situation instead of seeing what blessings
I have, which far exceed my difficulties. This is why Paul said, for I
reckon that the sufferings of this life, that the sufferings
are not worthy to be compared. Not even on the same scale. He
said, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us. Do you not see that we were chosen
not only to be saved in time, but to be glorified in eternity? God's purpose was not just to
save you to make you His servant. His purpose was to save you and
make you His Son. Consider that the servant abideth
not forever, but the Son abideth forever. Isn't that what I just
quoted in 2 Thessalonians? He said that He chose us to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. That's present tense. That's
what we're doing now. Sanctification. We are set apart
to faith and love for Christ. But also, after receiving the
gospel, we are to obtain glory. Glory. We are here today and believe
on Christ because of his grace and we are yet to obtain glory
as the sons of God. Yet all of the sons of God must
never think that we are exempt from any trouble because of this. We're not exempt. The Apostle
says, for I reckon that the sufferings of this person... He is already
accounting that we will suffer. He's anticipating it. This is
not something that he's speculating about. This is so. This is so
with every believer that has ever believed, and it will be
with everyone who believes. We will suffer. We will suffer
in this life. It's only earthly wisdom that
assumes that if we're loved of God, born of the Spirit of God,
heirs of God to eternal glory, that we should somehow escape
affliction. That's just earthly wisdom. That's
not scriptural, and that's not heavenly wisdom. That's not of
the Spirit of God, but rather that's the spirit of Antichrist.
Don't be deceived. God's promised us that you will
suffer in this life. This is very dangerous and presumptive
thought that causes us to doubt the goodness of God. It causes
us to question the promises of God, and it causes us to murmur
against divine providence. Isn't that so? If we don't see
suffering as a necessity, then we're going to murmur. We're
going to complain. Yet the scriptures are clear
concerning our suffering in this world. You shall have tribulation.
This world, it hated me before it hated you. It will hate you. Why are we surprised when it
hates us? Why are we surprised when we
get into trouble, affliction? Every trouble that is common
to man, we are not exempt from. Hasn't God given us in the Scripture
multiple cases of this in His prophets? You know, every other
religion, they exalt their prophets so high that they don't see any
faults in them. They don't see any suffering
in their prophets. God has revealed both the warts and all concerning
His saints for our comfort. For our comfort. Paul said, There hath no temptation
taken you, but such as is common to man. J.D., your heart problem, that's
pretty common. Otherwise, there wouldn't be
any doctors to treat it. That's pretty common. There's
a lot of doctors out there treating the same thing. It's common! How many times have you been
in the hospital for the same thing someone else has been in
there for? It's common, and we're not all exempt from these things.
And if we are, when we get them, we often fear and tremble. We
doubt God. But, Paul says, God is faithful. This is where our hope should
be. This is where our confidence should be, is that God is faithful.
He will not put on you more than you can bear. He will give you
a way of escape so that you may bear it. The way out may be death. But I'll tell you, you can bear
that because Christ your Savior bore that. So we can bear death. If that's
the worst thing that can happen to us, can't we bear that? You bet we can, because in Christ
we are already made alive unto God. Behold, your God is faithful. He is a faithful refuge. Have
you not found God to be a faithful refuge in your trouble? Oh, sometimes the troubles are
so great that I can just do nothing but cower down on the floor But
I know this, above me is a refuge that nothing can penetrate. Matter of fact, my refuge, Jesus
Christ, has already endured the greatest affliction known in
the universe, God's justice. Surely He who has saved us and
provided all that is necessary for our salvation did not leave
the keeping of our salvation to us, but He is faithful to
keep us from every temptation, in every temptation, and make
a way that we should escape and bear it. So then, believer, as
you are afflicted and suffer the common afflictions, even
as our Lord Jesus suffered, God has by his apostle called you
to see that our troubles are not to be compared with one another,
but compared to eternity. He said, I reckon that the sufferings
of this life are not worthy to be compared with JD's sufferings. We didn't say that, did he? I'm
glad. I'm glad. There's no comfort
comparing our sufferings to someone else's. Isn't that what we do?
We do that a lot. We say, well, man, you know,
I could be in that situation. You know, I'm just thankful.
I say this often. It could be worse. How many times
have we said that? It could be worse. Well, what
if it gets worse? Then did you find any comfort
in that? No. There's no comfort in comparing
our troubles with someone else's. Rather, compare your troubles
and put them in light and in perspective of eternity. They're not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us. The happiness
that is coming to us. The joy that is coming to us. Eternal life that is coming to
us. How short and small the weight
of our troubles become in light of eternity. They're nothing. They vanish from view. when we
set our eyes on the hope that is to be revealed. Believer,
consider the shortness of this life and our sufferings. Consider
the small weight and value of our sufferings as compared to
the glory of heaven. As much as we reckon, impute,
that we are dead to Christ, dead with Christ, dead to sin, and
alive unto God, we should also count all sufferings as nothing
but light afflictions." That's what Paul says in 2 Corinthians
4, 17. He said, for our light affliction. And you notice that he put that
in the singular? I like that. He didn't say our light afflictions. He said, you count all of them
as one affliction. And they're nothing but light.
They're nothing but empty. They're vanity. They're just
so small. They're light afflictions that
work a far more exceeding Eternal weight of glory. Now I looked
up that word far exceeding and you know he uses four words to
describe that. Far exceeding, he said over,
far, thrown, if you were to throw a baseball he said you threw
it over, far, exceedingly, way over, very. When I was a kid
I used to write a paper and I would say it's very, very, very, very,
very, very, very, very, very long or whatever. That's what
he was saying. It's far more exceeding, exceeding,
exceeding, exceeding, exceeding weight of glory. This works in
us. Realize this, that as we reckon
these things to be in light of eternity, let's also reckon that
God is doing something. These sufferings are not like
earthly fathers that put on their children's suffering For no reason. I've done that. You've done that.
We've put on our children things that really are of no significant
consequence. But our Father's not like us.
When He puts us under suffering, it's for a reason. That He may
work in us a far, very, very, very, very far more exceeding
weight of glory. That you may grow in the grace
and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. that you might have a
better understanding, that you might have more confidence. Now,
let me say, who has enough confidence? Now, I'll tell you, your salvation
is sure whether you are confident or not. But who among us does not desire
to be confident? confident of our salvation. And I tell you, this is linked
to our suffering. Our suffering is on purpose. Now then, in verse 19 through
22, the apostle says, "...for the earnest expectation of the
creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." Creation
here. He shifts the light to the creation
of God. And he says, even the creation
of God is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creation
was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him
who had subjected the same in hope." See, God made the world
perfect and He said everything was good. We know that only this fallen
and cursed creation occurred after Adam sinned. See, the creation was made subject
to vanity because of sin. The creation was not willingly
made subject. Due no fault of its own, this
world is cursed. So instead of perfection in the
creation, all we see now is decay. Instead of perfection in yielding
the strength of its fruit, we see that it yields thorns. And man must labor for his fruit.
Why? Because of sin. Because of sin. It was because of Adam's sin,
God cursed the earth. We see the constant fluctuations
of the earth. It says in verse 21, "...because
the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now." Look at the earthquakes, floods,
tornadoes. These are manifestations of a
groaning creation. But God who subjected the earth
to such groanings has also subjected it in hope that when the sons
of God are manifest, when we are all brought into one fold
under one shepherd, it is then that God will deliver the creation
and restore it to its perfect condition. This is the hope of
the creation. The creation is, now it's cursed.
But one day when all the sons of God are gathered together,
then God will make a new heaven and a new earth. He will purge
this earth with fire, not to destroy it, but to re-establish
it. To restore it. Isn't that something to look
forward to? Isn't that something to look forward to? To be able
to walk on an earth that is perfect. Now, I've never seen that. All
we see is deformity. I'll tell you, winter is coming,
isn't it? We all know that. And I'll tell you what, winter
is barren. It's cold. It's lifeless. The trees become dead. They look
dead. But I'll tell you, there's coming
an eternal spring. There's coming a time where everything
is going to be roses. Everything is going to bloom
in prosperity. When? When is this coming? The
day the last sun is brought in. That's when. Do you not see then
that the whole creation is moving toward this one event? The sons
of God should be manifest who they are. I'll tell you what,
I don't know who the elect are, but one day God is going to show
off His trophies, His elect, and He's going to declare these,
look, creation, look, you demons, look, you angels, behold, all
you hosts, these are my sons. that I have purpose to save,
that I have saved for my own glory. And they'll enter in with
me to a kingdom that I prepared for them before the foundation
of the world." See, there's a hope. There's
a hope. But not only does this creation
groan, look what he says in verse 23. And not only they, but we
ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even
we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to
wit, the redemption of the body. You who have the firstfruits,
what is that? That's the down payment. That's
a down payment. It's what the scriptures call
the earnest. The earnest. You ever want to
buy something and they say, well, you need to put some earnest
money down. You need to show me that you're really interested
in this. And this earnest money, it can't be taken back. You've
got to give it to me. And if you don't buy this, then it's
mine. God has put down some earnest. He's given you His Holy Spirit.
as the down payment for this inheritance. So then the Apostle says, it
doth not yet appear what we shall be. But when he shall appear, we
shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. Do you not groan for this? We who have a new nature, we
groan now because of this old nature. This
old man causes me to groan. But praise God, I have a good
hope. He says in verse 24, for we are
saved by or in hope. Hope. Hope is a confidence of
something that I've not yet seen. it is though a curtain is drawn
in front of me and behind it is the eternal life and glory
and heaven I've not yet seen it but I believe because God
said it and not only because he said it but because he gave
me his spirit as the down payment therefore no matter what we suffer
look to the hope Look to what God is going to
do. He's going to save you and give
you a full salvation. Even the salvation Jesus accomplished
on the cross, He's going to give you that. And so when you suffer
and groan within yourself, don't look to the suffering, Look to
your hope. The hope that you've not seen.
For if you see it, then why would you hope for it? And so then, believers, see the
effect of our suffering in its relationship to hope. The Apostle
said, And not only so, Romans chapter 5 verse 3 said, not only
so, but we glory in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation
worketh patience. Oh, who doesn't need patience
to wait on God? And patience, experience. All
who hasn't experienced that God is faithful to deliver us out
of every trouble. And experience works what? Hope. Hope. And hope does what? Maketh not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of this gospel,
are you? Why? Because I have a hope that is
not in this world. My hope is not in this world.
My life is not in this world. My life is hid with Christ in
God and so is my hope. So that no matter what happens
here in this world, I have a hope of eternal happiness and joy. And you know this, not even those
saints who have died and gone to heaven, they've not yet entered
into the fullness of this salvation, which is the redemption of the
body. You see, God's making them wait for us. You know, when you
have some cake sitting there and the kids say, I want a piece.
No, wait for everybody to get here. We have to wait for it.
The Lord's saying, no, wait for everybody. And then I'm going
to bring you all up together. Isn't that something? And so when you die, if you die
before the Lord comes, know this, he'll make you wait for the rest
of the sons. And then when we're all done,
he'll say, come, you blessed of my father, enter the kingdom
of heaven prepared for you from before the foundation of the
world. Isn't that a good hope? Doesn't that make our suffering
seem so small? May God bless it and give you
comfort in it.