Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans chapter 8. I will read
the verse that I dealt with in some detail the last time I was
here, but then go on just a few verses further, trying to keep
certain things in context. Now, all of this is contextually
together. Don't misunderstand what I'm
saying here, but some of these thoughts from the apostle Paul
can be kind of taken and dealt with in their immediate context. And Paul writes these words,
he wrote these words. Verse 15 of Romans 8, for ye
have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. The spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children,
then heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ. That's a mouthful. That's saying
something. If so be that we suffer with
him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon, I count
it to be so, I take the tally. 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 was made subject
to vanity, that is emptiness, not willingly. In other words,
the one doing this subjecting did not consider the will of
the creature who was being subjected in any way, shape, or form. Not willingly, but by reason
of him who subjected the same. Oh, but thank God for them next
two words. In hope. because the creature
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 trevelleth in pain together
until now. Paul said this has not ceased.
Even in light of the death of Christ, it has not ceased. and not only they, but ourselves
also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves,
you see it? Grown within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, that is to say, or to wit, the redemption
of the body. This is my title and my subject
for this morning, Glory Prepared, Glory Experienced. God's people
are being prepared for glory. That is true, final, ultimate
glory. And one day glory will be experienced
as God has designed for it to be experienced. Yes, we experience
some glory now. But because of our fallen Adamic
natures, We are prone to set that glory to the side and look
at all the sufferings that bewail us and make us groan within this
world. In what way does the Spirit itself
bear witness with our spirit that we are the children of God? I think that most people in Modern
day so-called Christianity think this is some kind of mysterious,
spooky, ethereal thing, some kind of vision that God gives
you in some way to let you really know you're a child of God. Some
have even said they have seen visions from God and you can't
convince them that they're lost for anything because they've
had this experience. and don't doubt their experience. But because they've had this
experience, they are convinced that they know God. I remind
you of, remember the lady I said I met in the Smoky Mountains
when I went there once for camping and was going to go to Tim James
and she just prayed to God and prayed to God whether it was
gonna be okay for her to wear shorts or not. Now folks, this is the kind of
nonsense that so-called professing Christians have in their minds.
But this same woman told me that she had found a petrified Indian
foot in the creek. And she showed it to me and it
was just a rock. In what way does the Spirit bear
witness with our spirit? Paul gives us three of them here
in this text. One, the first and the foremost
is the adoption. So we read these things and we're
looking for some lightning flash. Well, the lightning's already
flashed, you know? We're looking for the constant
flash. It's not the constant flash. The adoption, in other
words, heart union to the Father as Papa. See, if you say you
believe and you only see God, as Earl used to say, represented
by that cartoon character with that big stick with the nails
sticking out of it, waiting to just whack you at any move, you
have not experienced the adoption of sons. Because it causes us
to cry, Papa, Father. That's one way the Spirit bears
witness with our spirit. The second is this. Excuse me. Second is this, sufferings for
our union and identification with Christ in his gospel, verse
17. And if children, then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we
suffer with him. Now, not that we are dying on
a tree like he died on a tree, but once, but one, one thing,
first and foremost, is that when he died, he represented me. He
stood for me. He was my surety. And him dying
on that tree was me dying on that tree. But it's more than
that. Christ suffered throughout his
public ministry. He suffered ridicule because
he stood by the stuff. He stuck by the will of his father. He stuck by the gospel of which
he was the central theme. So again, it's our sufferings,
our suffering for our union and identification with Christ and
his gospel. There is that inner struggle,
that inner suffering with self. If you don't struggle with self,
if you don't suffer with self, then you do not yet know God. If you have been saved, and so
fixed up since you've been saved, that you no longer feel any struggle
with the corruption and the immorality and the unrighteousness and the
ungodliness that is within the human heart, then you are not
saved. Even the Apostle Paul himself. That's saying something. This
man was given visions that no other man, he was caught up into
the third heaven. And even this man still cried
out, oh wretched man that I am. So there is that inner struggle
with self. And it's because we're united
to Christ and we identify ourselves with his gospel that we struggle
so much. I didn't have a struggle like
that before God saved me. I just didn't want to get caught
by those I knew I could get in trouble with. but I was perfectly
happy to keep living the way I was living, just trying not
to get exposed or caught by my peers. But there's also the outer
struggles with this world. Having to live in this world.
God left us after he even converted us by his gospel. He's left us
in this world. Now, the mind says, now I'm gonna
say something here, I got something to say there, that ain't fair. I've heard this reason, that
ain't fair. There ain't nothing about God that is fair to the
human spirit. It is never, ever, ever banished
the word fair when we as God's people talk. Because if God were
absolutely fair, we'd all go to hell. Period. Period. And folks, I'm not rebuking
that because I've never done it. I'm rebuking that because
it's in you and it's in me too. And we get on the fairness kick.
And I tell you, when you're on the fairness kick, you'll never
gain any spiritual comfort. because all you will see is unfairness. And we'll look at that here in
a little more detail. There's that outward struggle
with the world, but that brings inner sufferings as well, does
it not? Christ was a man acquainted with sorrows and grief, but it
wasn't his own, because he had nothing to sorrow over or grieve
over. He was bearing our sorrows and
our griefs in his own self. If we were perfect, this world
wouldn't bother us. We could just, as it were, in
a manner of speech, just float, just float above it all. But
we're just as fallen as the world around us by nature. Here's the
third thing. It's the third way in which the
Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. It is our Our, our, you don't just do this by yourself.
It's our groaning under the universality of the curse. For we know that
the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together unto
now. The whole earth, birds, animals,
I see these, I like watching some of these animal shows and
I see these poor animals, especially little puppy dogs, little house
dogs, they get cancer. What have they done wrong, Ellen?
What have they done wrong? No, we did wrong. But God cursed
the whole creation. The whole creation. For we know
that that ain't fair, is it? No, it ain't fair. But this is
God showing his absolute displeasure with sin. That as James Smith
says, sin is filthiness. Filthiness. For we know that
the whole creation groaneth and trevelleth in pain together unto
now, and not only they but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan. grown within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, to wit, or that is to say, the redemption
of our body. Our body hasn't already been
redeemed legally by Christ, but he has, in his own wisdom, been
pleased to leave us in these fallen bodies for now. One day
we will shed this, but not right now. Not right now. So there's three ways in which
the Spirit bears witness with our spirit, but I must move along.
In these, that is these three things, I'm sure there are more,
but we're just dealing with this. In these three, in these things,
the Spirit of God beareth witness with our inner man, our spirit,
that we are God's loved, elected, predestinated, Christ-bought
people. And yet, Suffering is not the
goal, though suffering is one of the ways in which the Spirit
uses to bear witness with our spirit, but suffering is not
the goal. It gives witness. to the fact
that glorification is the goal. Verse 17. And if children and
heirs, heirs of God, join heirs with Christ, if so be that we
suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. 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. We have to reckon it so because
we're not experiencing it as so. And we cannot. Because the redemption of the
body, it is not the time for it yet. Well, that ain't fair. Well,
that's just the way it is. That's just the way it is. Paul
is not belittling our suffering. Paul, you go back in, I think
in first or second Corinthians, look at what all Paul went through.
I've never went through all that. and yet I gripe, and I complain,
and I moan. Paul is not belittling suffering,
but he is putting the perspective where it belongs, the glory which
shall be revealed in us. We are left here, we are left
here so that we, by the promise of God, might be constantly inundated
by hope, hope, and hope that is seen is not hope, But hope,
and hope, you know what hope is? Hope is the child of faith
that confidently expects the promise of God to be fulfilled
in God's good time. That's what hope is. God said
it, it'll come to pass. Adam and Eve was told the seed
shall come, and they were looking for him immediately. Cain was
born, that wicked one, and she said, I've gotten a man from
the Lord. Abel was then born, okay? No, I'm sorry, Seth, Abel was
born, Cain killed Abel. Seth was born, you know what
she called him? I've gotten another man. Maybe this is him. But it wasn't the time. And it
was some odd 4,000 years by what we can reckon from the scripture,
but bless God, one day the seed of the woman actually was literally
born. And this Bible alone's not the
only thing. Even Josephus, that unbelieving
Jew, testified to the existence of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Even our calendars bear witness to that, but they're trying to
get away from that now, don't you know? The glory that shall be revealed
in us. Consider this. Glory revealed
in us, that is prepared. Think about it. Here's this glory.
Without the corruption and the limitations of our present bodies. God has given us some glorious
things now. The fact that we're able to read
this book and see Jesus Christ as our hope, that's a glory. The scripture calls it a miracle.
Heal the blind, raise the dead, all these things. and the gospel
would be preached. That's just as much a miracle
as seeing a dead man raised up from the dead. Is that the way
the world feels about gospel preaching today? But they ought
to. Is that the way I always feel
about gospel preaching? No, but I ought to. The problem's not in the gospel
preaching. It ain't in the clay pot. The problem's right down
in here. right down in here. So it's without
that corruption. Turn with me to Philippians.
I want to read this and make a couple statements and try to
give us a little comfort here. Philippians chapter three, verse
20. for our conversation is in heaven. That is, our true way
of life is from up there. You see it? It's up there. For
our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for
the Savior. I like what I heard a preacher
say the other day. He said, I'm not looking for the rapture. I'm
looking for Christ to come. That's what I'm looking for.
You got a lot of people that believe dogmatically in the rapture,
but they could care less about who's gonna be doing the rapturing.
They're gonna care less about Him who's coming in the clouds.
We look for Him from whence we also, we look for the Savior.
We also, I'm sorry, from whence also we look for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body. And let me just stop it if I
don't even have time to finish what I've got here. If you've
seen some of the TV shows, you see people with these just bad
maladies. I mean, you see people with knots
on them and they don't go away. I mean, their bodies are contorted
and they have to live like that and put up with the scorn and
the ridicule of their peers all about them. And your heart just
kind of feels for them. And some of these people find
relief. But that's not what Paul's talking about. This vile body,
I'm talking about the condemnation, the rebellion, the blindness,
the spiritual blindness that resides in this living carcass. a vile body. He's not talking
about some of us are pretty, but then some of us got a vile
body. Some of us ain't very pretty. Nothing to do with that. Now you may suffer because you
feel like you don't look as good as somebody else, but that's
what's called vanity. That's called ego. You know,
I see some of these kids that, you know, they got the cleft
palates and they're mocked by other little kids, you know,
and you just thank God that God moves people in this world to
send money to help some of these children, you know, get along
a little bit better in life. But that's not what Paul's talking
about. This vile body, but look, who
shall change our vile body, this body? As a believer, even as
a believer, this body gets older and older and older. And no matter how much you wish
to God it would stop, it will not stop. It's gonna get older. In my mind, I said, that ain't
fair. Do you see a little bit about
what I'm talking about now? We gotta be careful when we start
talking about fairness. We'll change our vile body that
it may be fashioned, likened to His glorious body. And Paul lets us know in 1 Corinthians
15, we don't even, we can't even explain what that is. He said
the second man is the Lord from heaven. The first Adam is of
the earth, earthy. Look, who shall change our vile
body that it may be fashioned like unto his own glorious body.
But I want you to look at this. According to the working whereby
he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. We can't
do it. He won't let us do it. We are subjected to this vanity,
not willing, God didn't ask us our opinion on this matter. Because
of our sin in Adam, God cursed all of creation. And they say
even stars live and grow and then explode and die, Joe. Even stars. You know? But he's able. This is a promise
from God. God's not going to leave us in
this foul body. Now, if that don't float your
boat, you got holes all in it. So it's gonna be a glory that's
gonna be revealed to us. It's without the corruption and
the limitations of these present bodies. Also, to be in light
of being in Christ's personal presence. Now, you know this
one. I kind of alluded to it, 1 Thessalonians
4. Verse 13, but I would not have
you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. Now,
we're going to sorrow, but when we sorrow, it need be for ourselves,
not for those who are gone on. If they're believers, bless God,
they're done with this. And yet, what do we think? Well,
I sure wish so-and-so was here today. God help us on prayer. Think of the prayer that we're
praying for our dear beloved one, that they be back here in
this vile body. God help us. God help us. That you sorrow not, even as
others which have no hope, for if we believe that Jesus died
and rose again, and he's not questioning as to whether or
not Christ did die again, he's questioning do we really believe
that or not? Am I really one who believes
that, or am I just putting on a facade? And I can't help you
with that, and you can't help me with that. This is an individual
thing between you and God, because the Spirit bears witness with
our spirit. Mine and your spirit may bear all kinds of witness
together. We may both be wrong, but God's
spirit's never wrong, is it? For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with him. For this I say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent, or that is precede,
them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain, and he told the Corinthians it's
gonna happen like this. The moment, the twinkling of
an eye. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be, and here's the glory,
with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another
with these words. One day, brothers and sisters,
all of this will be over. Now this has been over for many
of our brothers and sisters, but it's still not over for us.
We're still left right here in this God-cursed world. Is that fair? It's a whole lot
better than fair. It's a whole lot better than
fair. There's a third thing. In light of the promised incorruption
and immortality to come. I'm not gonna read it, but 1
Corinthians 15, 51 through 58, where I bet you Paul said, in
the moment, in the twinkling of the eye, this corruption shall
put on what? Incorruption. And this mortal
shall put on what? Immortality. And I don't even
know what that really means. I don't know what that really
means. I mean, we talk of the evergreen tree. And it is always
looking to be evergreen, but all of those needles on that
evergreen die. It just is constantly producing
green ones, unless it's actually a dying tree. It constantly produces
green needles, but there are thousands of dead needles that
fall off that thing. They're all over the yard and
roadway at home. This, in the moment, in the twinkling
of one day, brothers and sisters, this will end. and if it's gonna be another
thousand years, I don't have to live that long. Ain't nobody
live that long. It's a long, long time. So that's a blessing. Can you
imagine living to be over 900 years old in this sin-cursed
world? Was it Methuselah, 900 and whatever
it was? 80 some years old, whatever it
was? And this world was so bad, God
was a stench in his nostrils, he's about ready to drown the
whole world. Methuselah was forced of God
to live in it for 900 and some years. Aren't we a blessed people? that we can only get maybe 70
at best out of this thing, 80 or 90. Here's the problem, this
body grows old, the mind for a while stays vigorous, don't
it? And you might not think yourself to be 50, 60, 70, 80, but eventually the mind will
fade too. Do you hear me? Very few people
that live long lives, now there are some, but very few people
that live really long lives die still having their full faculties
of their mind about them. Now am I telling you the facts
or not? And everybody just wants to live for so long. Is it because we really don't
believe the promise of God?