This evening, we'll be looking
at verses 19 through 22. Romans chapter 8, beginning with
verse 19. For the earnest expectation of
the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of
God. For the creature was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected
the same 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 travaileth in pain together until now. We looked last time at verse
number 18, where the apostle spoke of the glory that shall
be revealed in believers. And tonight we're looking at
verses that tell us that the creation, the material creation,
will share in this glory that's going to be revealed. The first
thing that I would point out to us from these verses is there's
one Greek word. It's found four times in these
verses that I read, and in the King James translation, we just
read three times it's translated creature, and only one time,
the last time, it's translated creation. If you look in verse
19, for the earnest expectation of the creature, verse 20, For
the creature was made subject to vanity. Verse 21, because
the creature itself also shall be delivered. And then the last
time in verse 22, they chose the English word creation, same
Greek word in each of these cases. For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. Now, I checked
four different translations, and all of them translate this
word by the same word. The King James translators, the
only one who used two different English words. All of the other
translations use the word creation. We're talking about God's creation. the universe, the world, and
all that is therein. So tonight we'll look at this
passage considering this creation, God's creation, in three different
ways. And needless to say, let me go
back. There's various opinions by different
writers, different commentators on this. But I'm convinced we're
talking here about the creation, the material creation, the universe,
and all things that God has created. We're going to look at it tonight
under these three ways. First of all, God's creation
in the beginning. God's creation. in the beginning. Verse one of chapter one of Genesis
tells us, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And then at the end of that chapter,
we read, and God saw everything that he had made and behold,
it was very good. And the morning and the evening
was the sixth day. Now verse 20 here, if you notice,
it says the creation was made subject to vanity. The word vanity
is futility. Remember that Solomon in Ecclesiastes,
he said, vanity of vanity. All things are vanity. Emptiness,
in other words. The creation was made subject
to vanity. But there was a time, that verse
tells us that the creation was made subject to vanity. There
was a time when it was not subject to vanity. And that was, of course,
as it came forth from the hands of its creator. That is, when
God created the heavens and the earth. I put it like this, we
know that God created Adam and Eve and placed them in paradise. In paradise. Everything was prepared
for them. But we also know that the paradise
in which God placed them was in paradise. The world, the creation
itself. was paradise. There was nothing
about it that was not good as God saw it. He saw it and he
declared that it was good. Everything was good. The creation
at large, it was fair and lovely. the day that the morning stars
sang together. This is what we read of in Job,
speaking, of course, of the angels. At the birth of the creation,
the material creation, the morning stars, the angels sang together. And what were they singing? They
were singing God's praises for his beautiful, wonderful creation. We've all visited places and
seen things that are so beautiful. Even now, even now, after the
curse that God cursed the universe, the world with, even now, we
see there's beautiful things in God's creation. But there
was a time when there were no volcanoes erupting. There were
no tornadoes. There were no earthquakes. There
were no barren deserts. Everything was fertile. Everything
was wonderful, God's creation. Everything was peaceful and tranquil. And that was, of course, the
way God created it. I was thinking as I was making
these notes, In Mexico, in Yucatan, many times we visited ruins,
Mayan ruins. And when we would look at those
ruins, you could see that there had been a time, a better time
for those ruins. I know at one of the most famous
places there, Chichen Itza, there's a pyramid there. Everybody wants
to, or used to, you could climb up the pyramid to the top. You
can't do that anymore, the government won't let you. But two sides
of that pyramid, it's pristine. But two sides is just a pile
of rocks. But that tells us there was a
time. You see what I'm saying? There
was a time when you look at those pyramids and all the crumbling
rocks and structures, and it tells you there was a time when
this was a beautiful civilization, beautiful place. Now it could
have been a drought. I think that's what the writers
tell us that caused them to just move off, just leave that. And of course, the jungle reclaimed
it and it began to deteriorate, began to come apart. But it tells
us that at one time, There was a beautiful civilization that
lived there, a very advanced civilization, in fact. But something
happened. Something happened. And the same
thing is true about God's creation, the world. In case we know what
happened, we don't need to doubt about this. About those ruins,
yes, we're not sure why they left there. Like I said, the
historians tell us there was a drought, there was no rain,
and they had to leave. But we know what happened to
God's creation. And we know when it happened.
It happened when Adam disobeyed God. when he sinned, when he,
and he did this, and always remember this, Adam was not deceived. The Bible is so clear about this.
Eve, she was deceived by Satan. Satan is very sly, we know that. And he deceived her, but not
Adam. Adam did what he did with his
eyes wide open, knowing exactly what the repercussions would
be by him following his wife, choosing his wife over his God. Now that's a beautiful picture.
It's a beautiful picture of Christ dying for his bride, yes. But my friends, Adam was not
deceived. And when he disobeyed God, we
know, we read this in Genesis chapter three, what happened?
God cursed the earth. And it's been struggling. It's
been struggling ever since. Notice it says the creation was
made subject to vanity. It was made subject to vanity,
verse 20. Not willingly, the creation didn't
choose this. The creation didn't exercise
its will and choose this horrible fall, but it became subject to
vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected
the same in hope. So that's the first thing I would
mention, God's creation in the beginning. It was beautiful. It was good. We can't even begin
to imagine. I mean, like I said, there's
places I love to see pictures and I've loved to visit places
over the years that are so beautiful, so beautiful. And yet, all the
time I realize they're under the curse. This world is under
a curse. And you can take the most beautiful
garden, manicured, all the flowers in the right places, and the
grass, everything beautiful, and just leave it. No one attending
it. And before long, it won't be
beautiful. It won't be beautiful anymore.
Why? Because of the curse. And why
was the curse? Because of man's sin. The creation was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected
it. So that brings us to my second
point, God's creation at present. The creation was made subject
to vanity. And now the apostle tells us
it groans. The creation of God groans and
it travails in pain under the weight, the heavy weight of the
curse that God placed upon it. The word vanity in verse 20 means
the same as the word corruption in verse 21. The creation lost
its original design because of the introduction of sin. And
as I said, the Bible reveals the truth of what happened, what
took place. You know, with all the books
of science and all the studies, and we're thankful for science,
for the truth, but men overlook the very clear explanation of
why things are as they are. When the scripture tells us very
clearly that the earth lost that pristine beauty by reason of
him who has subjected the same in hope. That is through the
fall of man. By one man, the apostle tells
us in Romans chapter five, by one man sin entered into the
world and death by sin. So then death passed upon all
men. The earth has certainly been
scarred by fallen man. Some time ago, in fact several
years back, I was in Kentucky, in the western part of Kentucky.
And Brother Maurice Montgomery was a pastor there in Madisonville,
Kentucky, and visiting with him. And he carried me out to a place
where they were strip mining. I believe that's what they call
it, strip mining. And they would just tear that
rock up or the ground up, you know, looking for coal, just
Just destroying the beauty of the place by man's covetousness
to get the coal, to get the money out of the ground. And you think
of what man has taken out of the earth, veins of silver, veins
of gold. God's earth, God's silver, God's
gold. All the cattle and all the silver
and all the gold in this world, God claims as His. And what has
man done? He's taken things like that gold
and silver and made images to worship false gods in defiance
of God who said thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
of any likeness of anything in heaven or earth. Think of the oceans, the oceans
today. They tell me that they're full
of plastic. Plastic. People just waste it. And it's sad, isn't it? Sometimes when I drive over here,
I come down this street and I see in the ditches, people just throw
their trash out. I've had, over the years, I've
picked up a lot of trash out of the ditches here in front
of our church building. People just seem to buy breakfast
at McDonald's or Jack in the Box and just come along and throw
it out there. And sometimes the ants get there
before I do. And when I pick it up, they start
stinging me. But what I'm saying is God's
creation is scarred as it is now. The oceans, they say, in
several different places, they're just a big area of plastic materials,
waste that people have thrown out. And think of all the dead. You know, there's a scripture
in Revelation that tells us there's a day coming when the sea, the
ocean, will give up its dead. How many people do you believe
have been buried at sea? How many? When at one time that
was the main way of traffic, wasn't it? From continent to
continent was through the ships, the ocean. Many of them went
down. And we know that one day the
ocean's going to give up its dead. And listen, think of the
beautiful cemeteries, the beautiful cemeteries in France. And I get emotional every time
I see those beautiful green cemeteries and a white cross or a white
star. And it just looks like it goes
on for miles and miles. All of those were young men and
women who gave their lives, really, to keep the United States free
so that we can enjoy the freedom. I'm old enough to remember I
had an uncle who died in that war. Yes, what does every one
of those crosses, every one of those stars, they all cry the
same thing. The creation was made subject
to vanity. The other morning we were looking
at the news on television and they showed a lady, a mother,
burying her son there in Ukraine. And the coffin was out there,
and they had their flag over the coffin. And what impressed
me was you could just see a line of coffins. And not coffins,
burial places. And the mother, who was weeping,
had lost her son there. They had to hurry her up. She
didn't have time to really grieve. Why? Because there was someone
waiting behind her to bury their loved one. That's the creation
as it is today, isn't it? It groans, it groans under the
weight of the sin that man. And what about the animal creation? I thought about if I should tell
this story or not, but let me go ahead. I went to a bullfight
one time. And you know, it wasn't long
before I was pulling for the bull. I was. I mean, the cruelty that those
men, and I know they call it a sport, but the cruelty with
which they were treating that animal. And the bull could have
easily, as far as I'm concerned, if it'd only been one-on-one,
could have taken that matador out. Now think about those hunts in
England. They have one fox. How many foxhounds
do they have? Looks like they've got 100 dogs
chasing that one fox. It's sport. It's a sport. People sometimes even are cruel
to their animals here in the States, aren't they? That's awful. That's awful, but that's a result
of sin. That's a whole creation, God's
creation that groans, that travails under the weight of sin. It was made subject to vanity,
not by anything it did, but because of man and man's sin. But then the third. part of my
message is God's creation is going to be restored. Notice
that in verse 21. Because the creation itself also
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. Now I want to go back. Let me
say this. I understand that God created
the animals, and he created the animals for our food. I understand
some of them, not all of them. But there's a humane way to take
an animal. Some of you haunt, and I'm not
preaching against that at all. But if you were to somehow take advantage of that animal,
that'd be different, wouldn't it? I mean, some people just kill something
to be killing it. I know you fathers, you teach
your sons and daughters if they hunt, if you kill something,
you're gonna eat it. You don't just kill to be killing.
And that's the way it ought to be, right? Well, God's creation
is going to be restored. The creation itself also shall
be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. One of the writers compared God's
creation at present, as it is today, like a musical instrument. Let's take like that cello over
there, a musical instrument, all unstrung and tuneless. There's no strings on it, that's
God's creation, that's a comparison. It's stringless and it's tuneless. But oh, what it's going to be
like when God restores His creation, this creation. Let's read about
that, if you will, in Psalm 96. Psalm 96, verse 9. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. Fear before him all the earth. Say among the heathen that the
Lord reigneth. The world also shall be established
that it shall not be moved. He shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice. Let
the earth be glad. Let the sea roar and the fullness
thereof. Let the field be joyful and all
that is therein. Then shall all the trees of the
wood rejoice. before the Lord, for he cometh,
for he cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with
righteousness and the people with his truth. What is going
to be like when the Lord comes again? You say, when is that
going to take place? When is God's creation going
to be restored? Well, look back in our text,
it tells us it's going to take place Because the creation itself
also shall be delivered, shall be delivered, it's future, yes. It shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption, notice, into the glorious liberty of
the children of God. For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. When is this going to take place?
Verse 23, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have
the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown. We ourselves
grown. He's talking about believers,
right? We, Paul, and other believers,
we grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption with the redemption
of our body. In other words, the resurrection
when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again. That's when our bodies
will be redeemed from the grave and God's creation will be redeemed
from the curse under which it now labors. The prophet Isaiah
speaks of this time and he gave a voice to material things. The mountains and the hills shall
break forth before you into singing. Have you ever seen a mountain
sing? Have you ever seen a hill start singing? Of course not.
The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing,
and the trees of the field shall clap their hands. When is this
going to take place? When the creation is delivered. And that's going to happen when
the Lord comes again and restores this earth and heaven. We know there's going to be a
new heaven and a new earth. We see the connection between
creation and redemption. Behold, says Christ, I make all
things new. Now, I don't know how to explain
this. I wouldn't even try. But it's
going to be the same earth and the same heaven, but it's going
to be a new earth and a new heaven. You say, well, how can that be? Well, it's just like your body.
It's going to be the same body. It is a resurrection. It's not
a creation. It is a resurrection. It's going
to be the same body, but it's going to be a new body. It's going to be like this vile
body, this body of our humiliation, as Paul calls it. No, it's going
to be the same body, it's just going to be made new. Behold, the Lord said, I make
all things new. And yes, it's going to be the
same earth and heaven, which is going to be burned up, but
yet it's going to be created new. What Peter wrote, we according
to his promise, his promise, his promise which was sealed
at Calvary with his precious blood, we according to his promise
look for new heavens and a new earth. And here's the best part
of this. Every time I read that verse,
I'm just so thankful. Wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherein dwelleth righteousness. We're going to be in a place
like we've never been before, right? A place wherein dwelleth
righteousness. There's not going to be any sin.
No. That's all going to be in the
past. and God's creation is going to be renewed. Well, I pray the
Lord would bless His words to all of us here this evening,
and we look forward to that new creation. And it might come any day, we
know that. He might come any day, I should
say. And what a day of rejoicing that
will be. Let's sing a hymn, we'll be dismissed.