It's good to see you again. Good
to be back with you. Although the circumstances are Difficult, Brother John's mother
having a stroke. But I'm so glad to be able to
help him out. He has helped me out so many
times. He's come up on Wednesday, preached for us. And I told Brother
John Davis, Brother John's glad to see you too. He came with
me. And I told Brother John on the way here, these men come
up and worship with us. so often on Wednesday night and
it's a privilege to drive down here. I asked Brother Craig if
we could just shorten the service a little bit because we have
to get right back, drive back tonight. Tomorrow I'm driving
to Ashland. That's my mother's 100th birthday. So we're going up there first
thing tomorrow. So I regret can't stay a little
while afterward. We got to get back. Would you
turn with me to Romans chapter 8? Romans chapter 8, when Brother John called me,
or texted me, I think it was Tuesday morning, and asked me
to come, I immediately began thinking about what I was going
to preach, but then I had to preach Wednesday night, so my
mind was occupied with that message first. But afterward, I began
to read and looking for a message from God's Word. That's where
messages come from, not experiences and so forth, but from God's
Word. I was struggling and sighing and groaning Anybody who has
ever attempted this, John has, you know what it's like. You
want a message for God's people. I want a message that will glorify
God. I want a message that will edify
you, God's people, the church. Edify, you know, means build
up, strengthen. The world brings us down. Out
in the world this is Thursday, Wednesday night, Thursday night.
It gets us down, doesn't it? And we need to be built up. We
need to leave this place more strengthened and with more hope
and more faith than when we came. And that comes from the Word
of God. So I was just groaning, looking for a message, and Romans
8 came to mind. We groan. He keeps talking about
that. Groaning. And that describes
every believer. This is directed at believers.
Title of it, title of this message is From Groaning to Glory, From
Groaning to Glory. Verse 1 begins, and you know
Romans 7. All God's people know Romans
7 well. You know it from experience. It talks about this struggle
within, these two men within Well, in verse 1, it says, there's
no condemnation of them that are in Christ Jesus. Down in
verse 10, it says, if Christ be in you, the body's dead. Christ
in you is the hope of glory. And you in Christ is your hope
of glory. What does that mean? It's a mystery,
it really is. But there's this union. When
Christ came, we were in Him. He came long before we were born,
us. And He came to do what He did
for all of His people. And we were crucified with Christ,
buried with Christ, risen with Christ, seated with Christ, but
we had to be born in time, didn't we? So, in Christ means that
whatever Christ did, He did it for His people, like an unborn
child. An unborn child and a mother's womb. Wherever she goes, the
baby goes. Whoever loves her has to love
the baby. Whatever she does, the baby does, right? So in Christ,
we're accepted, we're loved by God, His works are how He works. It's a mystery, really. And it
says, Christ in you. This is that new creature created
in Christ Jesus unto good work that Brother Johnny read tonight,
Ephesians 2. And all right, look at verse
14. Now, these new creatures, and
this is what I want to deal with tonight. As many, verse 14, as many as
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Whoever
God loves, whoever Christ came to die for, they send the Holy
Spirit give them this new birth. That's
what Christ said in John 3 to Nicodemus. Remember, He said,
you must be born again. Except a man be born of water
and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Remember
that? Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood, we sing that song.
So the Holy Spirit is the one who comes and gives us this new
life. How does He do it? what I'm doing
right now, to preach the gospel, that's the power of God. The
Word of God gives life. And Christ said in John 16, He
said, I'm leaving, I'm going back to the Father and I'm going
to send a comforter to you. I'm going to send the Holy Spirit
to you. He'll take the things of mine and show them unto you.
He'll teach you, lead you and guide you in all truth. He's
called the Spirit of truth. So the Holy Spirit is sent to
all of God's people that are born. What I'm trying to do is
give every believer, no matter how weak your faith is, some
assurance that you belong to God, that you belong to Christ,
okay? These things are difficult to
understand, but I'm trying to give us some understanding that
when God creates a new creature, He sends the Holy Spirit. Okay? What does the Holy Spirit do?
Well, He convicts us of sin. In John 16, He says, when He
comes, He'll convince the world, that is, the people out of every
tribe, kindred, nation, tongue, under heaven, of sin. Are you
a sinner? I meet a Roman VII sinner. You
know what that means, don't you, Doug? Romans 7 says, the thing
I want to do, I can't do. The things I don't want to do,
that's what I do. Oh, wretched man that I am, in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. That's a Romans 7 sinner. And
that's what the Holy Spirit convinces you. You were born in sin. In sin, did my mother conceive
me, David said? I'm a son of Adam, I'm nothing
but a sinner. Well, that's who Christ came
to die for. That's who Christ came to save. And that's the
first thing the Holy Spirit did. Do people you know out there
in the world, are they sinners? You talk to them, ask them if
they're a hell-deserving sinner, deserving the wrath of God Almighty
for their sin. Wretched, miserable, poor, blind,
and naked. Ask them that. You have, haven't you? There's
an old poem in the Gadsby Hymnal that says something like this,
a sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Spirit has made him
so. Do you know what that means? I remember quoting that one time
when a fellow had just came in, a visitor, and he looked at me
like, what in the world are you talking about? A sinner is a
sacred thing. Meaning? Whoever God loves, whoever
Christ died for, the Holy Spirit comes in time with the gospel
and convicts them of their sin. And they repent, like David,
against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight. You're going to be clear when
you speak and just when you judge. If you send me to hell, it'd
be exactly what I deserve. That's a sinner. Are you? Is that how you feel about your
sin? I was talking to a fellow on
the phone one time, a fellow who was helping my wife upholster
something. And I found out he was religious. People find out I'm a preacher,
they're going to tell me that they're religious. And the reason I don't,
John doesn't either. I'm sure he doesn't volunteer
that information. I'm a preacher. But we started
talking and I could tell he was just so self-righteous. I said,
what do you think about yourself? Tell me what you think about
yourself. He said, well, I'm a pretty nice fellow. He's no sinner, you see. You're
worried that God's never convicted you. He doesn't have the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts us, approves and rebukes and
corrects us all our life, doesn't He? As many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they're the sons of God, convicted of sin, taught
the truth. What truth? What's the truth? Not a what is, it's a person,
Christ. He said, I am the truth, the
truth of who God is, the truth of what man is, the truth of
what salvation is, it's Christ. All right? And He gives us faith
in Christ, faith in Christ. And He leads us to walk in the
Spirit, walk in the Spirit. It says that over and over throughout
the Scripture, God's people that walk in the Spirit. What does
that mean? They're led by the Spirit. They think about God. They think about His Word. His
Word comes to mind. Look up at verse 5. They that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh. Johnny read Ephesians 2. And
you hath he quickened who were what? Dead in trespass and sin. That's what that means. Somebody
that's just in the flesh is dead in trespass and sin. They don't
give God a thought. And there was a time when everybody
in here was just like that. And you walked according to the
course of this world, prince of the power of the air, were
by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God quickened
you, quickened you. Now your mind thinks on God. Look at verse 5, they're after
the spirits, the things of the Spirit. The Spirit takes the
things of Christ. You think about God, you think
about eternity, you think about the Word of God, you think about
Kingdom of God, you think about the Christ of God, you need pardon,
you need mercy, you need grace, you need the Gospel, you need
His Word, you need to call, you call on Him. That's the leadership
of the Holy Spirit. And He sends Him to everybody
who is born of God. Okay? And you become a stranger
in this world. There was a time you were not
a stranger. you're not a stranger. But when
this new creature is created in you, something has happened. And I remember when the Lord
was dealing with me, I had all my old cronies and all that,
and the Lord began to deal with me and began to make me lose
my appetite for all this stuff and people and I started reading
and hearing the gospel and all that and they could tell something's
happened. And we could like oil and water.
After a while we couldn't dwell together. I didn't enjoy their
company and they didn't enjoy mine, Tom. Stranger, stranger. stranger to the world, and you're
a stranger to yourself. You, you can't hardly figure
yourself out. What's happened to me? I am a
new creature. Look at verse, look at verse
15. It says, You do not receive the
spirit of bondage again. There's so many people in religion,
they're in bondage to The law, you know, Seventh-day Adventists
and Jehovah's Witnesses, and we've got people called the German
Baptists, they're like the Amish. It's such bondage. And even Southern
Baptists and people like that, Catholics. My dad one time said,
most people got just enough religion to make them miserable and everybody
around them miserable. It's just bondage, bondage. And we don't have this spirit
of bondage, again, to fear. We're not bound by the law. We're
not in bondage to the law. We're not in bondage to sin anymore. Our Lord said, Scripture says,
sin shall not have dominion over you. There was a time when you're
led and ruled, the believer now, There was a time when you were
dead in sin, when sin ruled and reigned over you and didn't give
it a thought. Like Ephesians 2 there. Fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and mind, that's all you thought about. And it didn't
bother you? It didn't bother you. There's
no struggle. What's wrong with that? And then
when this new man comes, there's a struggle. Struggle. So we're not in bondage sin,
not reign, it doesn't reign and rule over us, our Lord reigns.
Spirit of God rules. Verse 16, or verse 15, he says,
he received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. When this new creature, whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. What's that
mean? It doesn't mean that you recite
a little prayer like the Catholics, you know, Hail Mary, Mother of...
That prayer doesn't reach the ceiling. It means to call as
a sinner like David, like I quote him, have mercy on me, oh God.
Cry, cry. When new life begins, this is
the first sign of life. You cry, you call for mercy,
for forgiveness. When our daughter Hannah was
born, I'll never forget it. I'll never forget it. I was there. My wife was there.
And when she was born, she came out and she wasn't moving. Kind
of blue, those of you experiencing it. And she was polluted and blood and all that. And the doctor, the first thing
the doctor did, they used to smack your bottom. They don't
do that anymore. And they won't let you do it when they're older
either. Need to. But he took his finger and the
bottom of her little fat face, I'll never forget that. He hit
that. You know, I didn't know she was
dead or alive. And when she started crying, she's alive. And that's what happens when
God Almighty creates, begins this new birth. You cry, and
you never quit crying. You know that? You'll cry until
the day you die. Listen, listen to some of these
scriptures. I have them marked here if I can find them fast
enough for you. But listen to this, Psalm 28, Psalm 28, verse
1. David says, Under thee will I
cry, O Lord, my rock. Be not silent to me, lest if
thou be silent to me I become like them that go down into the
pit. There was a time you were in the pit and liked it. In the
slime pits like the Israelites in Egypt. Didn't know it. Boy, when you realize you're
in a pit, you cry, won't you? Cry. Deliver me from going down
in the pit. And when he does, you know what
you say, like with David? He brought me up out of a hole
pit and set my feet on a rock. Hear the voice of my supplications
when I cry unto thee, I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. That's crying. Listen to that.
This is so good. Psalm 61. Hear my cry, O God. Attend unto my prayer. David
said, I will cry, call upon thee as long as I have been. That's
life. A believer, prayer, prayer is
not always on your knees and, you know, a set position and
a place and all that. It's an outcry of a heart to
his father. Psalm 107, you know all those,
Psalm 107, it says that they got in trouble, and what'd they
do? Every time, they cried. And what happened? He heard them.
He delivered them out of all their trouble. So that we start
crying, calling on God. And he hears us, he hears the
cry, like a mother hearing their baby cry. I remember when Hannah
was just an infant, and I woke up the next morning and got a
really good night's rest, I said, she didn't cry one time last
night. Mandy said, she cried 10 times last night. And I got
up, I got up to check on her. See, that's a mother, you know.
He heard her cry, I didn't hear her cry. But our Father hears
every cry, you know that? He's not hearing the cry of unbelievers. When they call, I won't answer.
Isn't it? Proverbs 1, read it for yourself.
I call, you don't answer me. You call, I'm not answering you.
But He has to make us cry. And if you cry, if you call,
If you pray, and how feeble it is, how poor we are at that,
don't you? Does anybody in here think you
can pray? Brother Doug, when they ask you to pray publicly,
Brother John asks you to pray, do you feel worthy? Do you feel
able? Do you feel, after all these
years and you're 80, you still have trouble praying? Yeah, you
do. This is what he says down in verse 26, with groanings that
can't be uttered. So God's people are called to
cry unto their heavenly Father, Abba, Father. I tell you, still the sweetest
words, one of the sweetest words on earth to me is Daddy. My daughter's
approaching 40 years old and she still calls me Daddy. I say,
what do you want? You got it, Father. Our Lord's disciples said, Lord,
teach us to pray. He said, pray this way, our Father. Oh, God can't be my Father. Has
He convicted you of your sin? Has He granted you repentance?
Have you called on Him? Do you believe that Christ is
your only hope, do you? You're a child of God, a child
of God. So now look at verse 16. The
Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we're the children
of God. And that's how he does it. Conviction
of sin, righteousness, judgment, and gives us the desire to worship,
hear the Word of God, and call on God. hatred for sin and self
and love for the brethren. And it says in verse 17, so if
you're children, then you're heirs, heirs of God, joint heirs
with Christ. What's an heir? What is an heir? It's someone
who has inherited something, right? Inherited, heir. Did that person do anything to
deserve what they get? You just happened to be born
in the family. How do you get this inheritance?
Somebody has to. All right, who died to give us
inheritance? Christ did. He is the heir. He's the firstborn among many
brethren. He deserves the full inheritance. He earned it. He deserves it
because He's the King's Son, and He earned it by the life
that He lived. All did. Christ earned everything. The Father, because He lived
this life of glorifying the God, God gave Him everything. And
because He died, okay? We're joint heirs with Christ.
We get everything that was coming to Him. Think about that. The prodigal
just tried to preach on that. The prodigal, the father gave
that old prodigal everything. What do we have we have not received?
And you know, we play the prodigal all the time, don't we? Have
you wasted your substance? Yeah. You know, James said, many
men lack wisdom, let him ask God gives us freely and upbraideth
not. What did you do with the grace
I gave you yesterday? I wasted it. I didn't use it. Here's more. He giveth more grace. Why does
he keep doling these things out to us? Christ. We're joint heirs. Joint heirs with Christ. Does
that make sense? What things? What things do we get that Christ
has coming to him? Well, listen to 1 Corinthians
2. Turn over there real quickly.
1 Corinthians 2, and you know these scriptures well. Look at it, 1 Corinthians 2.
Well, Paul said, as it is written, verse 9, I have not seen nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed
them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things,
yea, the deep things of God." What things do we get because
Christ died? What things? Well, Ephesians
2 is your second favorite chapter in it. Next is Ephesians 1, in
the Giotto. Ephesians 1 says, Blessed be
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings, spiritual blessings. You know anything
about that? In heavenly places, spiritual blessings. The blessing
of forgiveness, the blessing of pardon, the blessing of righteousness
and purity, the blessing of sonship, the blessing of, he said, heavenly
places. Johnny, you read there, I'm so
glad you read that. The Spirit of God led you to
read that. Yeah, he did. He goes along with this message.
He says he's made us sit together with Christ in heavenly places.
Do you consider this a heavenly place? There's no place on earth like
this to God's people, is there? If the Lord blesses it, and He
blesses you to hear the message, and you're blessed to worship,
and He's gathered you here, you don't want to leave, do you?
You loathe to leave, and you can't wait to get back. That's
why we have Wednesday night services. God's people can't wait seven
days. It's a heavenly place, isn't it? It's a foretaste. We
sing that song, oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. That's what
our brethren are doing right now in glory, perfectly. The
flesh is not getting in the way, but they're worshiping Him with
the soul. There's no place I'd rather be. Now, Brother Craig, there was
a time when... Why don't you come to church with
me? Are you kidding? I'd rather be anywhere but there. Right, Tommy? Seriously? This is the absolute proof of
depravity. People go anywhere and do anything
but sit in a pew and listen to God's Word. They'd rather do
anything. But God gives us new nature. Like David said, I'd rather be
a doorkeeper in the house of God than dwell in the tents of
the wicked. One day a night, of course, is better than a thousand.
Do you feel that way? Look at, well, look at, let me
turn for you, 2 Corinthians. You know, Paul went to heaven.
Remember that time he was stoned? That's 2 Corinthians 12. But
he, we, we are pretty sure that he died. They took him up for
dead. And that's when he wrote this, or afterward, And it says
in 2 Corinthians 12, I knew a man, verse 2, in Christ, 14 years
ago, whether in the body I cannot tell, out of the body I cannot
tell, God knows, caught up to the third heaven. And verse 4,
he's caught up into paradise and he heard unspeakable words
which it is not lawful or possible for a man to utter. Now, I hope I can make good on
it. My dad used to say it all the
time. Let me try to make good on this. Religion is all about
sight. Come see what's going on here.
It's all about feelings, feel good, family, you know, this
and that. That's what religion is all about.
You know what the kingdom of God is? Hearing the word of God. That's how life goes into you.
It comes in the ear and gets in the heart. And from that day
forward, you want to hear the Word of God. Paul didn't say,
I saw things you wouldn't believe. Did he? Did he, John? I heard. What did he hear? Christ's voice. Didn't John on
the Isle of Patmos say, I heard a voice behind me, and I turned
to see the one, and he spoke to me. We come here to do what? Hear
the Word of God. And boy, if he blesses us, we
hear things. If the Lord really blesses you,
it's impossible to utter. You try to tell people, this
is why Mixler, all this is no substitute for being here where
God's people are. You can try to tell people, recordings,
it ain't the same. They said, I heard things impossible
to utter. And you know what this would
be like? It'd be like a dog one day becoming a human being. and
going to a symphony, going to the London Philharmonic Orchestra
and hearing all that, going to the Louvre in Paris, France and
looking at all those works of art, going on to the high mountains
and seeing all of these visions and the heavens and the earth
and all that, and becoming a dog again and trying to tell his
fellow dog what he saw. You know, you can't do that. God's people, He hath revealed
this thing to us by His Spirit, to a degree. We know in part,
we preach in part. But what we have heard reveals
ourselves of Him, of Christ. Go back to our text, and I've
got to hurry. He says, if we're children of the heir, joint heirs
of God, if so be, joint heirs with Christ, verse 17, if so
be we suffer with Him. that we may be also glorified
together. This means two things. First
of all, it means if we're crucified with Christ. Paul said, I'm crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live. What does that mean? It means
when Christ suffered, he suffered for me. If so be that Christ
suffered for you on the cross, we're an heir, we have this salvation. Substitution is what that is.
And it also means that all of God's people whom Christ died
for, they will suffer persecution and affliction for believing
the truth, for confessing Christ. They will suffer, from their
family will, will want to cast them out. There are people, brothers
and sisters in Mexico that if you're They kick you out like
that blind man in John. They kick you out of the family. They will not acknowledge you
ever again. That happened to many of our brothers and sisters
in Mexico. Persecution. Our Lord said, blessed are you
when men persecute you and revile you and say all manner of evil
against you falsely for my sake, for the truth's sake, for the
gospel's sake. You have anybody that hates you
just because you believe the truth? What? Our Lord said that, said, men
will hate you. In his prayer to the Father,
he said, I have given unto them thy word, and the world hates
them. Why? He said, because they're not
of the world, even as I'm not. It's a new creature, he said. They suffer with Christ. They
suffered in him, he suffered for them, and they suffered for
him. How many martyrs? Hebrews 11,
that's what it's all about, Christ and died for His cause, died
for Him that died for them. So it says, and if so be we suffer
in Him and with Him, verse 18. He said, but I reckon the suffering,
you know, our old southern terms come from the Bible, you know,
that, you reckon? I reckon. that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed. Whatever we go through, it's
going to be worth it. And Isaiah 65 says, it will not
even come to mind ever again. All these troubles, like it never
happened. For the glory that shall be revealed. And I can't
rightly describe that too much. I tried. But it says, read on,
and I want to get to this, and quit. He said, because the earnest
expectation of the creature, creation, the earth, animals
and so forth, waits for the manifestation, for the sons of God to be revealed.
He goes on, verse 21, the glorious liberty. the children of God. Verse 20, the creation was made
subject to vanity, that is, because of sin. Sin came into this world,
not willingly, meaning the animals didn't sin, creation didn't sin,
where did sin come from? Satan, man, but it was all according
to the will of God, the purpose of God. And it goes on to say,
Because the creation itself, verse 20, is the reason, the
purpose of God who subjected the same in hope. He goes down
to say we're saved by hope. We have hope of what? Eternal
life. A new heaven, a new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness. Does that appeal to you, Donna?
Be done with sin, be done with this old man. Does that appeal
to you? There was a time when it didn't. And he goes on to say, verse
22, we know the whole creation groans and travails in pain together
until now. That's what I said, how this
message came to me. I was thinking about groaning.
And verse 23, not only animals in this world, we ourselves that
have the first fruits of We've grown within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body. Paul said, I have a desire to
depart and be with the Lord. He said he's going to change
this vile body. I'm ready to be done with it,
aren't you? I want to depart and be with the Lord. I want
to be like Christ completely. I want to be done with the flesh,
don't you? He must be a child of God. Must
be a child of God. So we groan within ourselves.
What are we groaning about? What are we groaning about? Sin.
We're like locked inside of them. We're vexed with the conversation
of the wicked around there. Did you ever, let me ask some
of these older people. I better be careful who I call
old. But it's pretty obvious some of these white heads Did
you ever think you'd see this world like it is today? Did you
ever think you'd hear some of the things you hear? Can it possibly
get worse? They thought that in the 60s.
That's when I had 50s, 60s, and 70s. They thought that was bad,
but it's worse, isn't it? Very last of the last day. We're
like a lot inside of them, aren't we? Vexed. Vexed with the conversation. Vexed with ourselves. Just vexed,
all vexed. And you know where Lot was when
the angels came for him? He was sitting in the gate. Sitting
in the gate. Proverbs 8 says, Blessed are
they that watch at my gate. The gate, Christ's gate, the
door, the wicked gate. He was sitting in the gate. What
was he doing? I know what he was doing. He's asking the Lord
to come get him. And the Lord sent three angels. What'd they do, John? How'd they
get him out of there? He lingered. He tried to warn his sons-in-law. You're mocking me. So he wanted
out. And the angel of the Lord laid
hold of him and brought him out. Now, that's how we're saved. kept by the power of God, kept
from going back, laid hold of, and like Jacob, he lays hold
of us, we lay hold of him, I will not let you go. He blessed me. Do you groan? It says we pray, and verse 26, the
Spirit helps us to pray. We don't know how to pray, we
don't know what to pray for, but with groanings that cannot
be uttered. And he knows what we need and
he goes to the Father for it. And I can't leave Romans 8 without
quoting verse 28, can't I? Now we know this, and all things
work together. All these trials, all these tribulations,
all this persecution, all these troubles we go through, for good. And them that love God, do you
love God? God of the Bible? They're called,
that's why, I'll tell you why. He called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. From
groaning to glory. Very soon. Very soon. He's coming. He's coming. I look forward to that day, don't
you? All right, stand with me. I want to dismiss this in prayer. Our Father in heaven, Oh, how
we thank You for that Word, sure Word, the sure promises, the
sure mercies of Christ, the Son of David. All the promises of
God in Him are yea and amen to God's people, to the glory of
God by us. How we thank You, Lord, for Your
Word. Romans 8, so much more than just words and doctrine
and Our hope was saved by hope. Our hope is in Christ. Our hope,
my hope for myself and these that hear this tonight is that
Thy Spirit has come and given us an understanding that we might
know something of ourselves, something of who God is and what
God is and our need of Christ, showed us our need of Christ.
Oh, Lord. And given us an earnest, earnest
of the Spirit, whereby we cry and call and meet together and
look for Christ's coming. Oh, Lord, thank you for your
word. This is your power. This is your voice. This is how
you speak. I pray, I ask you that you speak not only to us
but to others who have not yet heard your voice. Call your sheep
in these last days. Call them into the fold before
it's everlastingly too late. Forgive us, O Lord, of our sins.
Forgive us, forgive us for Christ's sake. Amen. You're dismissed.