Let's turn this evening again
to Romans chapter 8. Romans the 8th chapter. I want
to pick up right where I left off this morning. The title of
my message tonight is The Magnitude of Our Heavenly Inheritance.
The apostle declares in verse 17 that if we are children, then
heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. He is talking
about the privileges and the prospects of God's elect, and
he seems to just be swept away with the tide of his thoughts,
and his minds are erect in wonder and adoration. He says in verse
17 again, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified together. He speaks of our inheritance,
and he speaks briefly of our suffering. He tells us that our
inheritance is because of our relationship with Christ, because
of a covenant of grace, because of our union with Christ, because
of Christ's obedience, not because of anything we have done. And
then he mentions the suffering that we must endure, and he says,
granted, it is true that God's elect in this world must suffer. We suffer with Christ, we suffer
for Christ, and we suffer while we live in this world trusting
Christ. But when we think of our earthly
woes and compare them with those things that await us, notice
how the apostle speaks. For I reckon, I reckon, I know
we're going to suffer This is the man who said concerning himself,
he was beaten, he was shipwrecked, he was tempest-tossed, he was
imprisoned, he was stoned, he was left for dead. He knew something
about suffering. He said, but I reckon, 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 if the earnest
expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the
sons of God. For the creature was made subject
to vanity, notice the creature, the creation, was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, didn't have anything to do with it,
wasn't a matter of choice on the part of God's creation. Not
willingly, but by reason of him, the Lord Jesus Christ, our God,
who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature, 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 unto man. And not only
they, not only the creatures, not only the creation around
us, But we ourselves also, we who are born of God, we who are
the children of God, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ,
we ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
faith, hope, and love toward God in Christ Jesus, which have
the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within
ourselves, waiting for the adoption to which the redemption of our
body. Now the Apostle Paul speaks of
the glory that shall be revealed in us, this glory that shall
be ours in the consummation of our salvation by our God. In
that day when God shall complete his marvelous work of grace,
which he began in eternity, and will finish when time shall be
no more. When we shall be raised incorruptible, made like Jesus
Christ our Redeemer, There is something incredible, something
so indescribably marvelous about this glorious inheritance that
even a man writing under inspiration searches for words to describe
it. Look at this. Four times he speaks of this
glory that's to be revealed in us in four different ways. He's
telling us this is something that is just indescribable in
human terms. In verse 18 he calls it the glory
which shall be revealed in us. And he's talking about the very
same thing in verse 19 when he talks about the manifestation
of the sons of God. And he's talking about the very
same thing in verse 21 when he talks about the glorious liberty
of the sons of God. And the same thing when he speaks
of our adoption to wit the redemption of our body in verse 23. Now
this is that blessed hope. and the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Savior for which we are constantly to
be looking. This is that for which Peter
admonishes us to gird up the loins of our minds and be sober
and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto us
at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The heavenly inheritance then
is an inheritance indescribable and universal in its greatness
and in its glory. This inheritance, this magnanimous
inheritance, to which the children of God are a virtue of our union
with Christ, is the subject that Paul is dealing with in these
verses 18 through 23. In this passage, he tells us
that it is an inheritance of such glory and such magnitude
that it is the sufferings of this present time are not worthy
to be compared to. of such glory, such greatness,
such magnitude, that it influences and affects the whole of God's
creation. Every creature, every creature
is touched by this thing that awaits us, this inheritance for
which we are growing. And thirdly, it is of such magnitude
that our highest and greatest enjoyments, even of the grace
of God in this world, will never allow us total satisfaction,
but we grow within ourselves, waiting for the redemption of
our body. All right, and let me talk to
you a little bit about those three things. First, the glory
to be revealed in us is of such magnitude that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared to it. That's what verse 18 Paul uses
a kind of spiritual arithmetic here. He sets two columns. You can get them in a mental
picture on a paper on the screen of your mind. Just two columns.
First, here's a column of sufferings. And he knew something about it.
Most of us don't know much about it, but he knew something about
it. This man knew something about suffering with Christ, and he
lists them all. It's a very great But then over
here is another column. And he begins to think about
the glory of the inheritance awaiting us, the magnitude of
this heavenly inheritance. And the column just goes on and
on and on and on. And he says this, this over here,
you can't even put it on the same sheet of paper. You can't,
you can't even compare it. You can't, you can't even put
it into balances with the glory that awaits us. Now, there are
several things to be guided from this, and I'm not going to spend
a lot of time here, but get these three things. First, understand
that the sufferings of this time are indeed great. We ought never
to minimize that. I think sometimes I have been
guilty, others I'm sure have been guilty as well. When we
look at the sufferings of other people, and we see their great
sorrow, their great heaviness, their great great sorrow of heart
that affects their lives drastically, we suddenly stand back and look
at it and say, well, that ought not bother them like that. That's horrible, Bill. But that's
exactly the attitude we often have. Now, I recognize that compared
with what Christ suffered, compared with what he endured to compared
to what so many others have suffered and multitudes of others do suffer
in this world, compared with what we deserve of the wrath
of God, and compared to the glory that is awaiting us. Our sorrows
are but light afflictions. I'm fully, fully aware of that
by comparison. But I'll tell you what you do.
You go to a man who has just watched his only child suffer
a horrible, painful, lingering death. And he's buried his only
darling son, his only darling daughter. He's just buried them. And when you observe that, don't
you dare even think about trying to tell him that's a light affliction. There's no way he can get her
into it at the time. no way he can enter into it at the time.
The misery of man in this world is great upon him. And I'm not
talking about the misery of the undefeated, I'm talking about
the misery and the woe and the pain and the suffering of a heartache,
the utter heartache that God's saints live with in this world
day by day. Viewed in themselves, our woes
are hard to bear, heavy and painful beyond description. I've had
very little of it. I have had such a tranquil life. But I know some people who carry
heavy, heavy burdens. I have a friend who is just beginning
to get over some very great difficulty with depression. And I said to
Shelby when he was in the middle of it, I said, I want so much
to know how to sympathize with him. I want so much to know,
know what he's going through. But there's only one way on this
earth, Bob, I know. And that's to go through it.
And I don't want it that bad. I don't want it that bad. But
I can recognize he's going through some terrible ordeal. Terrible
ordeal that only he understands. Only, only he's able to comprehend. I have friends whose children
seem to seem to just delight to take their hearts out and
wring them out and walk on them and think nothing of it. Don't
even recognize they're doing anything wrong. Don't even recognize
it. But their mom and dad carry the
burden all the time. All the time. I have a very good
friend, you know, little Rupert and Betty Ravenbark. A few years
ago, their daughter One Saturday night, drove out on a lone road,
put a gun to her head, committed suicide. That's hard to bear. How do you, how do you look at
somebody like that? That's a, that's a light affliction.
Brother Mahan and Doris just buried Becky a while back after
watching her a year endure such horrible, horrible suffering.
I was talking to them and to Bob finally after the funeral
service down there in December and Henry looked at me and he
just sighed with a heavy, heavy heart. He says, hardest thing,
hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. That's tough. That's tough. There's no way
on this earth to look at those things in themselves and say,
that's life. Now if you think like that, if
you don't understand how this thing has such a devastating
effect on people, please just keep your mouth shut about it.
Don't try to make an assessment of the thing. These are heavy,
heavy burdens. But the burdens and woes, these
horrible things I've described, are not worthy to even be thought
of in comparison with the glory that shall be revealed in us. Now that's just almost beyond
the leap. That's just almost beyond our
having any ability to get hold of it. But the apostle says,
I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed
in us. That's great, great glory. Secondly here, our sufferings,
understand, are confined to this present time. That's one of the
things God makes them bearable on. There's going to be an end
to them. For the ungodly, for the unbelieving,
there's no end to them. There's no end to their sufferings,
no end to their sorrow. So many times Men and women look
at a man or a woman who's ushered into eternity with no hope before
God, and somebody said, well, they're better off now. Oh, no,
they're not. Oh, no, they're not. Anything here, anything
short of hell is better than what they face. For the ungodly,
for the unbelieving, their sufferings do not end with this present
time, but continue forever and ever, but for the believer. our
sufferings are for this present time. Now, that makes it bearable. That makes it bearable. The short
duration of any agony, no matter what it is, makes it bearable
if we have some measure of confidence that the agony will be succeeded
by a long time of tranquility and peace. I'll give you an example. Some years ago you're aware that
I had cancer and had to go through a surgery and a long period of
treatments, about a year or so. And the treatments were debilitating,
just debilitating. It's one of those things, no
way on this earth to make you understand how debilitating they
are until you've been there. When I started the thing I was
strong as an ox, doing anything I wanted to. And before I got
halfway through it, I couldn't pick my four-year-old daughter
and sit on my neck, my knee. I just, just utterly debilitated. But the year of constant sickness
every day, the year of constant weakness every day, the year
of constant vomiting every day for a solid year, every day. How on earth, why would you choose
to do that? Because there was some reasonable
prospect, some reasonable prospect that when this is done, the cancer
will be over with. And I have a little time yet
to serve God in this world with health and strength. You understand
that? When Jacob served Laban, he served Laban for 14 years
for Rachel. 14 years. And Laban was a scoundrel. Laban was a scoundrel. But when
he got Rachel, He said in just a few days. Just a few days. The sorrow, the trouble, the
toil, the misery of working in that man's house, the misery
of working with that man who was a bigger cheat than Jacob
was, was horrible. But Jacob got what he worked
for and said it was worth it. It was worth it. The travail
of a woman giving birth. She enters into travail in her
Her body is in excruciating pain and she screams with agony. But as soon as she lays that
baby on her breast, forgot about it. That's over with, for she's
got a man child. He's brought into the world,
the scripture says. Our Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross,
despising the shame and endured the agony of the cross for the
joy. the joyful prospect set before
him of us, his redeemed ones, being with him in glory. And
third thing here about this, these sorrows in this world and,
and the magnanimous greatness of our inheritance is this. The
glory of our heavenly inheritance will be so magnanimous and great
that it will remove from us every painful memory of sorrow in this
world. Father, I can't, I can't begin
to understand that. I just, I don't, I don't understand
that. But our struggles here will only add to the glory of
the world to come. I can't tell you how. I can't
tell you by what measure this could be comprehended by our
human brains this side of eternity. But I know that when we have
entered into our glory, our happiness, and eternal life in Christ Jesus,
it will be greater, more glorious, more delightful, more pleasant,
more honoring to God, more satisfying to our souls because of the sorrow
we've endured here. Somehow there's a connection.
Let me show you. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter
4. I want you to look at these two
texts. 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and then 1st Peter chapter
1. All right, look at verse 17. This is what I'm saying. When
we've entered into our glory, our happiness and glory in eternity
will be greater because of our sorrows here. Here's verse 17,
2nd Corinthians chapter 4. The apostle Paul says our life
affliction which is but for a moment working. You see that? Working. It's right now engaged about
this business. This is what it's doing. It worked
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. What does affliction do? What
does our sorrow do? It works a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory. Look at 1 Peter 1 and verse 6, wherein you greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be, if need be, if need be, you are in heaviness through
manifold temptation. Now I promise you this, I promise
you this, you will never endure manifold temptations and you
will never endure great heaviness unless there's a need space.
You see, if need be, if need be. Our father never causes his
child a needless tear. All right, read on. That the
trial of your faith, not the faith though that's precious.
Here he's talking about the trial. The trial of your faith, being
much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried
with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ. One of the old writers commenting
on this passage made this statement. Such will be the joy of the heavenly
inheritance, that it will be faced from our remembrance the
few years of sorrow that have preceded. So efface it, at least
that we shall never think of them with regret, but only to
heighten our bliss. That's what they must talk about.
So great is the magnitude of our inheritance that it is not
worthy to be compared, not worthy to be compared, or the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with this
inheritance. All right, second, so great and
magnanimous is the glory to be revealed in us at the resurrection
that it influences and affects the whole of God's creation. In verses 19 through 22, hold
your hands there, Romans chapter 8 verse 19, and listen carefully. First, the apostle tells us that
the creature, that is to say, every creature, the whole creation,
was brought into the bondage of sin and corruption by the
sin and fall of our father Adam. The whole creation, this world
around us, Why is it that everything, everything
in the world, as far as the physical creation is concerned, why is
it that everything seems to oppose man? Why? Because man has brought the whole
creation into the bondage of corruption by reason of standing. Adam's sin, you see, reached
beyond the human race. It affected the whole earth.
The whole creation was brought into this bondage of corruption,
not willingly, but as a consequence of Adam's transgression. Read
Genesis chapter 3 again. You remember what God says? The
ground is cursed for thy sake. The ground is cursed That means
physically the tangible dirt under your feet is cursed because
of sin. Cursed. Therefore it brings forth
thorns and thistles and briars. And doesn't matter what kind
of pesticides you get, it's still going to bring forth potato bugs
eat your potatoes. Doesn't matter what kind of spray
you use, you're still going to get thorns and briars and thistles,
poison ivy. You're going to get such things
because the ground is cursed, and everything about it is against
you. Everything about it. The ground
itself stands as though it's an enemy against man, because
we have brought a curse upon it. More than that, because of
man's sin, because of Adam's transgression, his house became
a raging, ravenous lion. His pet dog became a ravenous
wolf. There was no, before the fall,
when God made everything, the lion was a house pet. The wolf
was his pet. The eagle was just like a parakeet. There was nothing, nothing at
all out of culture in God's creation. The lion, the king of the beast,
is a carnivorous, ravaging animal. The wolf is a carnivorous, ravaging
animal. And multitudes of others like
them. The subjection of the creation to the bondage of corruption
was by the hand of God. But it wasn't permanent. The
scripture says here, the same is subjected in hope. Subjected
in hope. That simply means that when we
are delivered from the curse of sin, God's creation shall
also be delivered from the bondage of corruption. The rejection
of our bodies will be the birthday of the new creation. By sin,
everything in God's earth has become in some way subservient
to evil. Everything. But God won't allow
that to continue. He will complete our redemption,
and when he has completed our redemption, he will completely
restore his creation to himself, so that everything shall serve
and praise him. There is a day appointed, called
in the scriptures, the times of the restitution of all things.
The times of the restitution of all things. Look over in Ephesians
chapter 1 for a moment. Let me show you just one passage
referring to it. Ephesians 1. The Apostle Paul is telling us
that in accordance with the covenant purpose of God, the Lord God
had made known to us the good pleasure of his will, which he
purposed in himself. And this is it, verse 10, that
in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in In Revelation chapter 4, the Scripture
declares that everything that is, has been, or shall be, shall
be down for the glory of God and give praise to him. Everything.
You see, God created the world for his glory. And this world
is going to glorify him. Everything shall be restored
at last to be subservient to the glory of God. When the Lord
God created the heavens and the earth, Everything, according
to his purpose, and according to its nature and capacity, display
his glory. To a very great extent, they
still do. And this is what the psalmist says in Psalm 19. Look
at it. Psalm 19. So that every man's
without excuse, the power of God is shown in his creation. And no man can ignore it. No
man can. The heavens declare the glory
of God. Look up in the sky, see the sun, the moon, the stars,
and listen to them speak. The heavens declare the glory
of God, and the firmament, look out here in the earth, the firmament
showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech,
night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language
where their voice is not heard. Doesn't matter what language
you speak, doesn't matter where you live, their voice is heard
day and night, forever and ever. Their line has gone through all
the earth and their words to the end of the world. In them
hath he set a tabernacle for the sun. Everything speaks his
praise, everything. And when God's done, this natural
order of things for which God made the world shall be restored
and everything shall perfectly, beautifully, harmoniously speak
forth his praise and serve for his honor. It will give praise
and honor to him who is God over all and blessed forever. But
for now, the entrance of sin into the world has changed everything.
Everything that God made for our comfort has been abused by
us. Everything God gave us to use
for serving him and honoring him, we sacrifice to Baal. That's
exactly what he says over Hosea chapter 2. In Hosea chapter 2
verse 8, God's speaking concerning us and speaking of us represented
by Gomer and her transgression and her stand against her husband.
And he says in verse 8, She did not know that I gave her corn
and wine and oil and multiplied her silver and gold. You didn't
know God gave you everything. Your breath, your strength, your
mind, your body, everything that you have in your pocket, everything
you have in the bank, everything you have at home, family, son,
mother, brother, sister, father, daughter, doesn't matter, God
gave it all. Which they have prepared for
Baal. We've taken the whole of God's
creation and used it to give to Baal. That can be interpreted
quite literally to mean that everything in this world has
been sacrificed to some imaginary deity. It has. It has. But applying it to ourselves
more specifically, every benefit of creation Every benefit of creation. You stop and think about this.
Every benefit of creation has been employed by us to serve and gratify our lusts. Oh God forgive our sins. Everything,
everything God put in our hands. everything at one time or another.
We've turned to serve and to gratify the lust which we can
turn to energy for him, we use it for adultery, fornication,
sodomy, theft, everything under the sun. The creation itself has these
days been turned into a god to be worshipped. listen to the news, it's not
by accident. It's not by accident. The earth
is called Mother Earth these days. She ain't my mother. The scriptures never refer to
the earth in such a manner. Nature is called Mother Nature. Even time is worshipped as Father
Time. nature with fallen man occupies
the place of God. Occupies the place of God. Now,
I hope you don't misunderstand me. I'm not suggesting that you
abuse God's creation. Father's thing from my mind.
Take care of that which God puts in your hand. God gives you a
home, take care of your home. God puts you on this earth, take
care of the earth. I'm not suggesting in any way that we abuse God's
creation. But the whole of this earth movement,
the whole of this thing of men and women being given over to
conservation of the earth and conservation of insects and fish
and birds and wolves, all that nonsense is the worship of this
earth. It's just the worship of this earth. Don't behave so
foolishly. We worship the Lord God. Those are creations. and the
creatures of the earth have no reason or intelligence, and they
don't. They don't. Just because a rabbit
pumps his foot and another rabbit pays attention doesn't mean they've
got intelligence, doesn't mean they're rational creatures. Just
because a chicken can peck the right holes where corn is and
make you think you know how to play tic-tac-toe doesn't mean
he's a smart bird. That's utter nonsense, utter
nonsense. They don't have intelligence
or reason as we do. And yet there is, as it were,
such an instinctive tendency in God's creation to oppose man
that the whole creation is at war with us. So how can you say
that? What's the tornado? What's the
flood? What's the beast of the field?
What's the wind blowing its course by God's direction? If the whole
creation were not at war with us, there would be no reason
for the Lord God to declare, I have made a covenant on your
behalf with the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the air,
and the creeping things of the earth, and the very stones of
the ground. And that's exactly what he's
saying. I made a covenant with these things that they should
not hurt you. They should not hurt you. Now this bondage of
God's creation, however, is only temporary. God in his infinite
wisdom saw fit to subject the creation to the bondage of corruption
for a reason. But it is specifically said here
that this subjection is in hope because there is a time set by
God when he will deliver the creation from the bondage of
corruption. The redemption of our bodies
from the grave will be for us the destruction of the last entity
and the termination of all the effects of sin. But it will also
be for all of God's creatures, the termination of bondage and
corruption, of all the corrupting influences and effects of sin
upon the creation. So that when God makes all things
new, there'll be no more cursing the earth. There'll be no more
thorns of sin. I don't really know how things
will be when God makes all things new, a new heaven, a new earth.
Whatever the earth is he creates will be for us to use to serve
him in it. Whatever it is. And whatever
he creates in the new earth will be created without anything that
has any reminder of the bondage of corruption. This earth shall
be made new. All together new. Now notice
the three-fold description Paul gives us of our heavenly inheritance
here. First, the apostle looks at these
descriptions of glory. Now remember, he's talking here
about the work which God has been doing from the beginning
of time. From the beginning of time. This
is what God's doing. This is the goal of predestination. This is the goal of providence.
Read the 8th chapter of Romans, again. In the last verses, 28-39,
the apostle was telling us, this is what God's got in mind all
along. This is what God's doing everywhere.
He's accomplishing redemption for us. He's saving His elect. He's gathering the people out
of this world to be conformed to the image of His darling Son.
When he comes in his glory, Christ will bring his crowning act.
He will consummate redemption. He will consummate salvation
for us. First, it is called the glory
that shall be revealed in us. Now, this refers to the manifestation
of God's glory. The glory that God shall reveal
of himself in us in that day. When he has completely restored
us to the image of his dear son, we shall be to the praise of
the glory of his grace. And then secondly, the completion
of God's work of grace is called the manifestation of the sons
of God. Laird read about it earlier in
In 1 John chapter 3, in this world, God's children go through
the world in relative obscurity, unknown, unknown, except to be
ridiculed and persecuted by the wretched, they're ignored. And
the world knows us not. The world doesn't understand
God's people. They know where they can. They don't understand
what motivates us. They don't understand why we
do things we do. They don't understand the devotion
of God's saints, and they don't understand the weaknesses of
God's saints. They know us not. But when Christ comes and makes
all things new, raises us, he's going to manifest us to
wandering worlds as the sons And then, thirdly, our ultimate
salvation is described as the glorious liberty of the sons
of God. We obtained liberty from Christ
satisfying the justice of God for us. When he died at Calvary,
he purchased our liberty. But we went on the days of our
lives in bondage and under the dominion of sin until Christ
came by the power of his grace and delivered us from the dominion
of sin. That's what happens in regeneration.
Believers are no longer living under the rule of the flesh,
but rather the rule of the spirit. But we still live in a bondage. We still live in this body of
death. We still live in this decaying
tabernacle of clay. But when the Lord Jesus comes
again, that will be our jubilee year. And when the trumpet of
God sounds, when the jubilee trumpet blows and we rise from
the dead, we shall enter into liberty, totally now free from
all the consequences of sin. freed from all the consequences
of sin. Even God's saints already with
him in glory are not yet totally freed from all the consequences
of sin, for their bodies still sleep in the grave. Their bodies
still sleep in the corruption of the grave. But when Christ
comes, these bodies shall rise incorruptible! And we'll look
back upon our empty graves and we will sing O death, where is
thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be unto God which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And thirdly,
such is the magnitude, greatness, and grandeur of our heavenly
inheritance that our highest and greatest enjoyments in this
world can never satisfy us. Not even the great enjoyments
of grace in this world can satisfy us. But we've grown within ourselves
waiting for the redemption of our body. Look at verse 23. And not only they, that is not
just the creatures grow, but ourselves also. We who believe,
we who are the sons of God, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption,
that is, to wit, the redemption of our bodies." First, the apostle
says, we have the firstfruits of the Spirit. These groanings
are the same things spoken of in verse 26, groanings which
cannot be uttered. In this world, we live with the
firstfruits and thank God for them. Oh, how I thank God for
love. Never knew it till I met him. How I thank God for grace. Grace
pardons all my sins. How I thank God for faith in
Christ. Oh, how I thank him for hope But the grace I have, and the faith I have, and the
hope I have, and the love I have, only whets my appetite for more. Because it's nothing to be compared
with the glory that shall be revealed in us. The firstfruits are wonderful,
but the firstfruits are only the first taste of what's to
come. The firstfruits are marvelous,
but the firstfruits are only for a little while. The firstfruits
are great, but the firstfruits are only that which give us an
anticipation of that which is to come. They are the earnest,
the blessed earnest of the Spirit. And then Paul that speaks of
us waiting for our adoption. Now, adoption, we think of it,
when we read the scriptures, I'm afraid we think of adoption
here like we think of adoption in the world. You know, adoption
in the world, a man and his wife decide to adopt a baby, and they
fill out the papers, and if they've got enough money or enough connections,
enough influence, they kind of get what they want to, and they
go get the child, bring it home. They bring it home. That's adoption.
Legal adoption. But adoption in the scriptures
is described for us in a manner that's very, very much different
from earthly legal adoption here. Even as it's described here,
it can't be properly represented even in the Roman world, though
their adoption system was different from ours. But when God talks
about adoption, we were adopted as the sons of God by divine
decree before the world began. Ephesians 1, verses 4, 5, and
6. before the world began, we were predestined to the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ. We were adopted when the Lord
God Almighty came to us by the power of his grace and caused
us to receive the spirit of adoption so that experimentally we believe
on Christ and with our full consent we are the sons of God having
received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father. But
our adoption is not yet complete. Not yet. For we haven't entered
into yet the full possession of our Father's house. But when
we have been raised from the dead, and we enter in at last
into the perfection of the fullness of the glory of the new heavens
and the new earth, then that's our adoption. finalized comes
to me. And the Apostle speaks here thirdly
of our resurrection, our entrance into heavenly glory, the inheritance
with Christ as being the redemption of our bodies. The Lord Jesus Christ is said
to be made of God and to us, redemption. We were redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb from the foundation of the world in
covenant mercy. We were redeemed in time by the
price of ransom paid for our souls' deliverance from the curse
of the law when Christ died. And all those who were redeemed
by the blood from eternity, and redeemed at Calvary, in the fullness
of time, at God's appointed time of love, are redeemed from the
power and dominion of sin by the power of his grace, delivered
at last from the captivity and bondage of sin. But still these
bodies, these bodies, grow we will be delivered from this
body, but that's not the redemption. This body, this body which God
made for himself, this body which has been corrupted and defiled
by sin, this body which must go to the grave because this
body must die, this body shall at last be redeemed. And in this
body with these hands, with this mouth, with these eyes, I will
serve God in the perfection of heaven's glory. This is the magnitude, the indescribable
magnitude of the inheritance which is ours in Jesus Christ. The sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared It is an inheritance for which
the whole of God's creation waits in hope, and hopes, and prevails
until the time of redemption comes. It is an inheritance that
at last will bring us in the consummation of redemption into
the adoption of the sons of God. glorious liberty of Christ our
Savior. What a glorious hope is set before
us. Let us set our hearts upon it. If ye then be risen with Christ,
if ye are, if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth,
for you are dead. Dead to this world. And your life is healed with
Christ in God.