Romans chapter 8. This is my
third message from Romans 8. Sunday morning, the first 11
verses, and we concluded the message Sunday night with verse
23. But I'd like to go back to verse
22 and review just a moment. It says in Romans 8, 22 and 23,
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now, because the whole creation was
subjected to vanity and death through Adam's fall, but the
whole creation will be restored It will be restored to its original
glory, and more so because it will not be in danger of ever
again being exposed to death and vanity. And that is because all evil
will be destroyed. There will be no evil in God's
universe anyway. And then he says in verse 23,
and not only they, not only creation is going to be restored, but
ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even
we ourselves grown within ourselves. This is what we're waiting for,
the redemption of our bodies. While we live, we groan within
ourselves. We groan, just like creation
is groaning under trials and troubles and tempests. We groan within ourselves, not
just over our bodily weaknesses and sicknesses and infirmities.
That's not our only problem. But every believer groans within
ourselves over our spiritual infirmities and spiritual weaknesses
and sins. That's our greatest groaning.
We long for the full redemption of this body, but we long more,
even more, for the great and wonderful blessing
of being conformed to the image of Christ and never know sin
again. That's what we're groaning for.
That's what we're waiting for. We're waiting, it says here,
waiting for the adoption, namely the redemption of our body, body
and soul, like Christ. Oh, what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God.
It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know this, when
he shall appear, we'll be like him, just like him in his resurrected,
glorified body, flesh and bones, just like him. But we'll see
him as he is, not as he was, as he is, the glorified man,
Christ Jesus. We are longing and waiting to
be clothed upon with our body which is from heaven. David said,
I'll be satisfied when I wake with our likeness. That's when
I'll be satisfied, totally and completely. And I know that surely
goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And
I'm going to dwell in the house of the God, the house of the
Lord forever. And verse 24 says, For we are
saved by hope. It is in this hope of the full
restoration of soul and body. It's in this hope that we are
saved. This promise of God that we believe. This promise of God in which
we rest. We are saved by hope. Now our
salvation and eternal glory is certain. It's absolutely certain
because of God's purpose in the covenant. Our salvation and glory
is certain because of that covenant which God made on our behalf
with Christ Jesus. And life eternal is already ours. Already ours because Christ purchased
it by his precious blood. It's bought and paid for. Our
inheritance is reserved for us in heaven. And we know this,
that we've already passed from death unto life because of the
firstfruits of the Spirit. We're partakers of the firstfruits
of the Spirit. We have a foretaste of heaven
already in this experience. Already we've tasted God's grace,
and love, and mercy, and goodness, and the fellowship with the Father,
and the fellowship with believers. We've already tasted that. The
powers of the world to come, we've already tasted that. Firstfruits
of the Spirit, we have the firstfruits. We know we've passed from death
and alive because we love the brethren. We love God. That's
impossible without redemption. True love. And our inheritance
is reserved in glory because Christ died, Paul said, rose
again, ascended to the right hand of God, and he intercedes
for us. And the anchor of our soul is
already within the veil, Christ Jesus, and we're there in him. So it's already sure. Well, why
does he call it a hope? Why does he say here in verse
24, since this is so certain and so sure, because of covenant
mercy, because of precious blood, because of grace applied, and
because Christ intercedes for his people. He's our advocate
with the Father, our high priest. Why is he called a hope? He tells
us in that same verse 24. We're saved by hope, but hope
that's seen is not hope. What a man seeth, or what a man
possesses, he doesn't hope for it, he has it. Our inheritance
and our redemption is called, and the promise of God is called
a hope, because that which a man possesses is not hope, it's reality. Some of our loved ones have already
gone on to glory. They don't have a hope now. They're
like him. Say, I've got a hope. They've
got the reality. That's what he's saying here.
That's the reason it's called a hope. That's the reason. What a man possesses is not hope.
It's his. It's reality, experience. He's
entered into it. But what a man has the promise
of God is just as sure and just as certain. They're not more
secure in heaven than I am right now. That's right. But mine's a hope. But it's a
hope based upon expectation. And the word hope means expectation
based upon the power and faithfulness of him who promised. That's what
Abraham believed, that God was able, power, to do all that he
promised. based upon the power and faithfulness
of the provider. And that's expectation. But it's
still hope. And the scripture has much to
say about hope. The hope of believers. This is
the old primitive Baptist used that a lot. Good hope. Blessed hope. I love that word.
I love that word. And evidently Paul did because
he just kept on using it. I'll just read some of them to
you. 2 Corinthians 3. Seeing that we have such hope,
we use great plainness of speech. Galatians 5, we through the Spirit
wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. Ephesians 1, it's the
hope of his calling. Whom he called, he glorified.
Colossians 1, it's the hope which is laid up for you in heaven.
Why have you heard in the gospel? Colossians 1, Christ in you,
that's the hope of glory. Second Thessalonians 2.16, God
our Father hath loved us and given us a good hope through
grace. Titus 2.13, we're looking for
that blessed hope and that glorious appearing of the great God and
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Titus 3, 7, we are justified
by grace and made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Hebrews 6, which hope we have
as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast within the
veil, in the secret place of the Most High, under the shadow
of the Almighty. And 1 Peter 1.3, Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath begotten us
again unto a living hope, by the resurrection of our Lord
Jesus Christ from the dead, that your faith and your hope might
be in God. That's a good word. Don't let
it slip away. Don't let it get away, it's a
good word, it's a scriptural word. All right, look at verse
26 then. Verse 26, likewise the Spirit
also. Now likewise, this seems to say
likewise. Why does he say likewise? Well,
this word seems to say not only does the hope of future glory
lead us to wait patiently for the fulfillment of our Lord's
promises. But the Holy Ghost is given to
us as a comforter and a teacher to bear us up in our infirmities. Now listen to verse 26. Likewise,
the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray for as we are, but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for
us with groanings which cannot be uttered." Now, for fifty years
I've wrestled with that verse, and I'm ashamed to admit it,
but I've got some light today that I've never had before on
that verse. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray for as we ought. Is that true? We don't know what
we should pray for? Well, I know pretty well some
things I should pray for. I know, number one, I'm not ignorant
of the object of prayer. The object of prayer is my Heavenly
Father. The object of prayer is Father,
Son, Holy Spirit. And I'm not ignorant of the way
to come to God in prayer. I know that way is Christ. He
said, Whatsoever you ask the Father in my name, he'll give
it to you. I know that. I'm not ignorant of that. I'm
not ignorant of the manner of prayer. Prayer must be in sincerity. We don't pray it praying. It
must be in a manner of sincerity and humility, prostrating ourselves before
God. It must be in reverence. It must
be seeking his will and his glory, not mine. I know that. And I'm
not ignorant totally of what I should pray for or whom I should
pray for. I should pray for myself. I should pray for you. Paul said,
Brother, pray for us. Pray for one another. We should
pray for one another. I know that. Don't you know that? Sure
you do. I'm not ignorant. I should pray for my enemies.
That's right. He said, pray for your enemy.
Bless them that curse you. Pray for them which despitefully
use you. Bless and curse not. Pray for them. Pray for your
children. Pray for all believers. Pray
for preachers. Pray for our friends. Pray for
those who are sick. If your brother is sick, call
the elders of the church and pray for him. We know that, don't
we? So we're not ignorant of the
things spiritual for which we should pray. If we stay in the
world of the spirit, fellowship with God, and spiritual blessings
and spiritual matters, I know exactly what to pray for. I just
prayed for those things a while ago. Every one of them. Now listen
carefully. You're praying in the spirit.
Here's what we don't know what to pray for. It's things temporal. It's the
things in this flesh. That's right. Now, under a sense
of sin, I pray for forgiveness. In a sense of weakness, I pray
for strength. In a sense of darkness, I pray
for light. And I pray for his presence. But in this area of
the flesh, we just don't know what we should
pray for as we ought with respect to things temporal. I'll give
you some examples. Possessions. Am I better off
with them or without them? We want our children to succeed
in life. Would they be better off with
possessions and riches or better off without them? Somebody said, Pray my son to
be a doctor. How many doctors do you know that believe God?
Lawyers. How many lawyers do you know
that believe God? Is it better that he maybe be a plumber? Nothing
wrong with being a plumber, but I'm simply saying, you know what
to pray for? What about afflictions? What
about trials? Do we pray to get well or to
go to be with the Lord? Do we pray that this affliction
be removed or that God use it for his glory and wait for the
results thereof? I don't know. Our vocations,
our location, our jobs. Our life's work, our children. We won't say right now, but is
this the will of God? I don't know. Our ministry, church leaders,
teachers, those in responsibility, do you know what to pray for? Our life span, do I want to live
to be 95 or 100? What shall I do when I get old?
What am I going to eat, drink and wear? Who's going to take
care of me? So here's what he's saying. I
just feel certain about this. The Spirit helpeth our infirmities.
We know not what we should pray for as we ought. I know spiritually
I must take every need to God in prayer. But physically and
in the flesh and these temporal things and Things having to do
with what you will eat, what you will drink, what you will
wear. Your Father knows you have need of these things. Seek ye
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and these things
will be added. And that's where I have my struggles.
That's where it is. And actually I find myself praying
with more zeal about these lesser things than the greater things.
Do you? I find myself praying with more
zeal about the physical than I do about the spiritual. Maybe
it's with more view to self than the glory of God. Well, we'll have a helper in
these things. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities. We know not what we should pray
for as we are, and that has to do with things that physical,
material, temporal. We do know what to pray for spiritually. Lord, give us your presence,
give us the power of your spirit, bless your word to every heart,
save our children, reveal the gospel to them. But Lord, all
these other things, teach us your will and give us the grace
to walk in it. Let the spirit himself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered, even
in these matters. One old writer said, The Holy
Spirit maketh intercession for us by leading us to pray, laying
upon our hearts to pray. I found it in my heart, one old
writer said, to pray for you. I found it in my heart. Another
one said, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing
to pray for you. So the Holy Spirit leads us to
pray and helps us to pray. Let's see, there's a scripture
dealing with that. Let me turn to it over here.
Galatians 4, 6 says, Because you are sons, God has sent forth
the Spirit of his Son into your heart, crying, Abba, Father. The Spirit maketh intercession
for us. by giving us liberty and boldness
in God's presence, by putting thoughts in our hearts and words
in our mouths, even groanings which cannot be uttered, and
by giving us the proper spirit of prayer, realizing it's not
by might, it's not by power, it's by my spirit, saith the
Lord. And he that searcheth the hearts,
who is that? That can only be God, our God. Let me read you a couple of scriptures
that can only be our God. It says in Acts 124, And they
prayed and said, Thou, Lord, knowest the hearts of all men. He searches the hearts. All right,
Jeremiah 10, Jeremiah 17, verse 10. Jeremiah 17, verse 10, I, the
Lord, search the heart. I, the Lord, search the heart.
I try the reins. That's the word for kidneys. That's the word for the innermost
being. I know the heart and search the
reins. It says here in Romans 8, verse
27, He that searcheth the hearts, he knows what is the mind of
the Spirit. He knows our minds, our motives,
our intents, and he knows also the purpose, providence, and
will of God. He knows both. He knows our minds,
our motives, and our interests, and our intents, but he also
knows the purpose and the providence and the will of God in all things,
and he maketh intercession for the saints not for everybody. The Holy Spirit makes intercession
for the Saints, the redeemed of God, those who are chosen
of God and preserved in Christ Jesus. And he makes intercession
or prays for us always according to the will of God, always. He prays for us, he prays in
us, he inclines us to submit to divine things which belong
to God. He gives us the will to submit
to God's will. He gives us the will to submit
to all things agreeable to God's will and God's nature and God's
glory, always, the Holy Spirit does. He makes intercession for
the saints according to the will of God and brings us to submit,
willingly submit, and to find in that purpose of God our satisfaction
and joy and rest and peace. It's all right. I have a little
grandson when he was just four or five, he'd get in any kind
of trouble, he'd come walk in the room and say, it's all right.
He wants you to know it's all right. It's all right. And that's
the way we are. We're God's little children.
Holy Spirit teaches us it's all right. It's all right. according to the will of God.
In closing, let's look at verse 28, just word by word. And we know, I want to stay on
this a few minutes, and we know that this is not a matter of
opinion or conjecture. This is as certain as the throne
of God. We know. What do we know? We know that
all things all things, God the Father, God the Son, God the
Spirit, all principalities and powers in heaven or earth, all
good angels, all rulers and ministers and men, all evil beings such
as Satan and evil spirits, and all things, all good events such
as peace and prosperity and health and happiness, and all bad events,
such as war and famine and sickness and sorrow and death, all things,
all things work together for our good, because
all things are directly or indirectly brought to pass by our Father.
Our birth, our life, our marriage, our children, Our vocations,
our loss and our gain, our success and our failure. The steps of
a good man are ordered by the Lord, every step. Ordered by
God. All things. I know this is not
opinion, this is not conjecture. I know that all things, if I
have named anything, you name it. And all things work together,
are working together. All things past, present, and
future. For known unto God are all his works from the beginning.
And he even declares the end from the beginning. And from
ancient times are things that are not yet done. All things
are working together. They're working. Spurgeon preached
a sermon on this one time, and he said this. He said the word
work here, all things, we know and we know that all things work.
He said the word work is used in opposition to three things. First of all, work is in opposition
to idleness. All things from the beginning
of God's predetermined purpose and plan are active, never idle, never idle. And they are daily working. Morning,
noon, and night contributing to God's great design for us,
because we are his workmanship. Everything, awake or sleeping,
morning, noon, or night, is working together. Secondly, that word
work is used in opposition to play. In play, things are active. but not for an eternal purpose.
When the game is over, they are through. In God's work, there
is a purpose involved, an eternal purpose involved. The eternal
purpose of God involved in his work is the fulfillment of a
covenant, the calling of a people, the grand design to conform them
to the image of his Son, whose is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. working, working, active for
a purpose. For this cause came out of this
hour. For this purpose, Pharaoh, I
raised you up. We are called according to his
purpose. It's a purpose. And the third
word, he says, is the word rest. Now, there's a rest coming soon.
There's a rest coming soon, but not now. Right now, all things
in God Almighty's program and purpose and kingdom and universe
are working together. All things are working, even
when we rest. He that keepeth Israel shall
neither slumber nor sleep. I like what that old preacher,
Lying awake, worried about some things that he couldn't do anything
about, and finally he just came to the conclusion, Lord, he said,
if you're going to stay awake, I'm going to go to sleep. And he is. He's awake. I'm just going to go to sleep.
It would be good if we'd all do that. If you're going to stay
awake, I'll just go to sleep. He that keepeth Israel shall
neither slumber nor sleep. And we know that all things work
together. You know, I don't know this,
I read this somewhere, that some medicines, you pharmacists here,
we've got several in this church, but you mix some things together
that we take, that if the ingredients were not mixed properly, they'd
kill us. Just that one, too much of one thing would kill us, but
they brought together, that's right, to have a healing process. Some things would be the ruin
of us if we continued in that state alone. Some things, if
that's all we're doing, it'd ruin us. In fact, too much joy
would intoxicate us, wouldn't it? Too much joy, too much happiness,
intoxicate us. Too much misery would drive us
to despair. So God brings in our lives joy
and misery as if seeing goods to him for our good. Too much success would ruin me,
exalt me. I don't want that to happen.
Too much failure would discourage me and abase me. But our Lord uses all these things
together, joy and sorrow, success and failure, flesh and spirit,
health and sickness, life and death, storms and calms. They all work together under
divine ordination and divine wisdom of him who never makes
a mistake. And I know all things are working
together for good, for good, for good. Now that's eternal good. That's not necessarily present
comfort at all. And that's not necessarily present
ease and joy. But it's our ultimate good. The
ultimate goal and end of every believer here is to be in Christ
with Christ and like Christ. That's the goal. That I might
win Christ and be found in Him. That I might be with Him. He
said, Where I am, there you may be also. That I might be like
Him. I'll awake with thy likeness.
That's all I need. All I need. And all these things
are working together to accomplish that end and that goal and that
good. That's good. Turn to Ephesians
1. Let's read two or three verses
here along this line. Ephesians 1, verse 9. Ephesians 1, verse 9. Ephesians 1, 9. Having made known
unto us the mystery of his will, according to the good pleasure
which he had purposed in himself. that in the dispensation of the
fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all
things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to
the praise of his glory. who first trusted in Christ,
in whom you also trusted after you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after you believed
you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the
earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased
possession under the praise of his glory, my good and his glory. I read something today that I'll
pass on to you in reference to some of these things. He said,
it's not necessarily good for me to increase in possessions,
but it's always good for me to increase in faith. It's not always
good for me to grow in carnal knowledge of this world and the
things of this world, but it's always good for me to grow in
grace. It's not always good to be honored and known of meekness,
but it's always good to walk humbly with thy God. It's not
always good for me to abide in comfort and earthly luxuries,
but it's always good for me to be content with what I have and
where I am, and to abide in his presence. He said better to be
bankrupt in business than bankrupt in grace. Let all forsake me
who will, but never my God. For whom have I in heaven but
thee, and there is none on earth that I desire but thee." Now,
one other statement, and I close. And we know, verse 28, Romans
8, that all things work together for good to them. Two great expressions
are the distinguishing marks of those people. to whom he refers. Two great expressions are the
distinguishing marks by which we separate believers and unbelievers. The precious from the vile, the
blessed from the condemned. And here they are. We know that all things work
together for good to them who love God. Now, the unbeliever
may love a God. The unbeliever may love a God
of nature or a God of his imagination, but only a believer loves the
God of revelation, the God who is revealed in his word, written,
and in the word incarnate. He loves God who is revealed
in his word and in his Son. He is called effectually, invincibly,
irresistibly, willingly, lovingly, faithfully, eternally, according
to God's purpose. Here is where we are going to
start Sunday morning. For whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we
say to these things? Well, Paul says, I say, if God
be for us, who can be against us?