On the Road to Glory
Romans 8:18-28
OUTLINE
Intro: Who suffers? SINNERS SUFFER, BUT SO DO SAINTS.
I. Groaning as we Grow (vs. 19-23)
1. The Creation suffers and groans, and waits for its re-creation and OURS.
2. The Saints suffer and groan too: Groaning is the deep inner sigh of the soul.
3. We have the FIRSTFRUIT of the Spirit of God and SHOULD BE “groaning” to receive the FULLNESS of LIFE.
4. We give our Firstfruits and promise to give MUCH MORE because God has given us HIS FIRSTFRUITS, and He promises to give MUCH MORE.
II. Hoping for the UNSEEN (vs.24-25)
1. Hope is the joyful and confident expectation of the fulfillment of God’s promises.
2. Our hope is on a PERSONAL and COMMUNITY level.
3. Our True Hope is Jesus.
III. Depending on the Holy Spirit’s intercession (vs.26-27)
1. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us: He speaks to God on our behalf.
2. The Holy Spirit gives the words to Jesus when we have no words.
3. The Holy Spirit gives strength to the weak, guidance to the lost and frustrated.
How we utilize our time effectively is very important in life. Romans 8 describes the spiritual timeline in the believer’s life, from the time that we are saved by God’s Love and Grace UNTIL the time we will die. For Disciples of Jesus, it is our present life story and struggle.
The setting is Romans 8:16:17: “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
Our suffering with CHRIST reminds us that we will also be glorified with CHRIST. We will share in HIS honor, splendor, brightness, magnificence, excellence, dignity, and grace. The eighth beatitude in Matthew 5:11 affirms this characteristic of Kingdom Living : "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Romans 8:18: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
In Christ, the sufferings that we endure NOW, cannot be compared IN ANY WAY to what we WILL RECEIVE in HIM SOMEDAY. Who is Paul’s audience here? The Christians in Rome. He does not tell them that they are going to be free from sufferings (“pathçma” are, first of all, external diseases, calamities, evils, afflictions. Do you know any Christians who are hurting or sick? That’s not abnormal; it’s the norm: SINNERS SUFFER sickness, BUT SO DO SAINTS.
There are Christian doctors and nurses because people in general have to deal with “suffering”. Christians are not called into the medical field to only help unbelieving sinners
“Groaning” as we Grow
Vs.19 “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, (the creation doesn’t suffer on account of its choice to SIN, but because of Man’s sin.Sin brought death & decay to the WHOLE creation) but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”
Vs. 23 “And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”
The creation (19-22) is personified here as SUFFERING like a woman during Childbirth; As the creation waits for the completion of the Adoption of the Children of God it suffers and groans, and waits for its re-creation and for OURS. According to God’s Timeline, after he has recreated His remnant of true believers, He will recreate the Heavens and Earth.
The earth is not groaning alone: The Saints suffer and groan, too, waiting expectantly for their new bodies. Groaning is not grumbling and mumbling about things and stuff. It is not looking around you and wishing that things were better. Groaning is the inner SIGH of the SOUL that you are not yet complete. (the root word is thought to mean to make straight, be narrow, or to establish.)
2 Corinthians 5:2-4 says: “For indeed in this house (this BODY) we groan, longing (we have the strongest of desires) to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven. Inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.”
“Groaning” is the knowledge in your soul that there is a vast disconnect between the HERE and God’s HEAVENLY that is still coming. What does a MOM who is in labor WANT more than anything else? She WANTS THE PAIN TO BE OVER and the new birth to arrive! She knows that there has been a new life growing inside of her but she wants to see the final evidence. She wants that spirit of life that has been growing in the darkness within HER LIFE to come to full fruition. I wonder why most Christians in our culture don’t seem to be experiencing this, or at least they don’t talk about it,
Within us we have the FIRSTFRUIT of the Spirit of God; we SHOULD BE groaning within our souls to receive the FULLNESS of LIFE that God has begun in us! We should be groaning that our lives in CHRIST would no longer be filled with sin, but that our minds and souls would be alive, NOT FLAT, not dead, but totally alive with Him. As we daily live our lives, we HAVE to be aware of the NIGHT and DAY difference between the Spirit within us…and the spirit of this World. (The beatitudes of Matt. 5 certainly expound the differences to us. The Spirit of Life in us is EXACTLY the opposite of the world’s spirit. Unless we haven’t received His Spirit…)
We should know what “first fruit giving” is because we should be practicing it. Proverbs 3:9 explains this God-given practice: "Honor the Lord from your wealth, and from the first of all your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty.” Israel gave from their first pick of the season, trusting that the Lord would provide everything else they needed.
On Sundays, we GIVE offerings, our FIRST FRUITS our tithe or 10 percent to God because we know and believe that EVERYTHING we have is from HIM. You know the saying, “Put your money where your mouth is?” We do that in our giving, but the New Testament expands the meaning of our offerings: They are actually given as the pledge and promise of offering ALL of our lives to Him, expecting an even greater harvest, not only of STUFF, but of Souls. We give our Firstfruits and promise to give MUCH MORE because God has given us HIS FIRSTFRUITS, and He promises to give MUCH more. We are saying: Here is a little bit today for you, LORD. Now watch for the rest of the gift in the rest of the week as we serve you.
The offering of God’s Spirit IN US causes us to LONG FOR the whole harvest. IF we know God as OUR FATHER, and have the Spirit of God in us, then we have just a TASTE of what ETERNITY will be like with HIM. It should whet our appetites for MORE and MORE OF GOD. The FIRSTFRUIT is the guarantee from God that more will certainly follow. ALL of the LIFE THAT God HAS PROMISED WILL BE GIVEN TO US. HAVING His Spirit is in us is just the beginning of the Glory which will finally be revealed to those who follow, love, and obey God and His Spirit.
I have to mention the phrase “The Redemption of OUR bodies.” That does not merely pertain to our personal bodies. We ARE going to receive a new body, but it’s not just about US nor is it only about WHAT we receive. When Jesus returns and gives us the gift of our resurrection bodies, FINALLY The BODY AND BRIDE of Christ WILL BE fully PREPARED for HIM, without spot or wrinkle: PERFECT! The wedding gifts are really secondary to the joy and relationship of the Bride and Groom; because they finally have one another as they had anticipated.
Expecting the Unseen
Vs. 24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, (MOST people are only hoping for what they can see immediately, what they can put their hands on now, so it isn’t really hope! If you can see it and touch it, it is not hope.) But if we hope for what we do not see, WITH perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”
The word “HOPE” is pretty much defined with that last phrase: “WITH perseverance we wait eagerly”. Hope is the joyful and confident expectation of the fulfillment of God’s promises.
Expectant Moms (especially those in labor) know a great deal about HOPE. They anticipate the unbelievable joy and RELIEF when the NEW BIRTH which was hoped for with joyful and confident expectation finally arrives, but there is not only joy for HER. The joy is shared by the husband, but also by the entire family. The baby arrives personally from utter darkness into marvelous light and life and love which were provided for her. She is born into a complete FAMILY which will ALWAYS be hers.
Spiritually, the same thing happened to each one of us-Born into a world which was provided for us. THEN, as adopted children of God, we were given the gift of the Holy Spirit, a gift from God, which we often refer to “being born again.” But when we finally RECEIVE our NEW BODIES, we will REALLY be born again and you will be able to say: THIS is all of God, and NONE of me.
The hope of our completed Redemption is certainly on a PERSONAL level, but Redemption is every bit as important on a COMMUNITY LEVEL, as the complete perfect BODY and BRIDE of CHRIST being presented to Him when Jesus returns. The LONG AWAITED arrival will mean that our faith and hope will finally become SIGHT and we will realize that the long wait and struggles will have been worth all of the pain. More importantly, we will see the Lord Jesus with our own eyes and see what the salvation of our God has accomplished. The Church is a PART of God’s heaven, so if you don’t like the Church, you won’t like Heaven.
Paul’s expectation in Phil. 1:20 was this: that “according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, AS ALWAYS, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.” We should share that hope for ourselves, because when WE finally arrive in Heaven, I can make a guarantee: the focus will NOT be on us but on OUR TRUE HOPE, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who has prepared the wedding. He has paid the extreme price of the dowry, which was giving His life to ransom His Bride, and His Bride is totally IN LOVE with HIM because of His Great love for Her.
Adam’s hope was that by following disobedience, he would become better, “knowing good AND evil”. Our HOPE is that JESUS paid for Adam’s disobedience (and ours) by perfect OBEDIENCE. So JESUS is the ONLY HOPE for believers.
Depending on the Holy Spirit’s Intercession
Vs.26 “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness;(of body and of spirit) for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us (hyperentygchanô-{huper enti CAN o} pleads on our behalf) with groanings (Stenagmos) too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (In Rev. 2:23 the Lord Jesus says: all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts”)
We are adopted children of God, but children none the less. We are still living between two worlds, and MANY times we do not know how to pray as we ought (and that shouldn’t stop us from praying), but the Holy Spirit knows our hearts and our motives, because He lives there, so He knows exactly how to pray for us. He intercedes and speaks to God on our behalf. We were not competent to save ourselves, to make ourselves “better”, and our prayers are imperfect as well. The Holy Spirit gives the words to Jesus when we might have the incorrect words…or maybe even NO WORDS.
Jesus left us His Own Spirit and in Romans 8:34 it says: “Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. We have a high priest in Heaven.” The book of Hebrews talks extensively about Jesus’ role as our Heavenly High Priest, who is seated as Priest and King: “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25)
The same Spirit that turned your unholy heart to the Holy God empowers your heart to CONTINUE to turn to Jesus and to the will of God. The Holy Spirit gives strength to the weak, guidance to the lost and encouragement to saints who many times are frustrated and weary with the struggle of the sin that is still so close by.
I’ll close with the next verse of promise to those who have been chosen to be God’s children, (which we will study next time) Romans 8:28: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
We were all born through groaning and pain into an initial physical birth. If you are a child of God, His life-giving HOLY Spirit has been born into you and His Spirit resides in you as you live for God’s Glory NOW in HIS KINGDOM-building project. Jesus had to bear the Cross of total obedience in order for you to share in His Glory. Christians in most of the world are bearing suffering for their faith in Christ.
We can do no less than bear witness, to testify, to others of God’s Grace in Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit help us to do exactly this week.
