Our Guarantee of Glory

[0:00] Reading the introductory paragraph from last Sunday's bulletin is as follows. Some very extraordinary content is coming our way beginning next Sunday.

[0:14] Well, that was last Sunday, so next Sunday is today. We do not exaggerate when we label it as life-changing for those who embrace it.

[0:26] It's been around for thousands of years, yet is foreign to many believers, at least in practice. But in practice is the only way it does anything for anyone.

[0:43] Trust us when we say it provides the basis for internal peace, confidence, and godly optimism like nothing else can.

[0:56] Can't wait. And I can't, so I don't have to wait any longer, because this morning is it. And today's introduction, which I'm going to read, and then we'll ask Gary to come and read from the 26th translation, although he'll just be reading the King James reference that you have in your bulletin this morning.

[1:20] It is our guarantee of glory. Paul the Apostle is laying the foundation for an incredible reality to be the portion of every believer.

[1:35] It is that declaration of Romans 8.28 to which he is moving. We will move with him. What is to come when we get there is so astounding, it is often rejected by many Christians who regard it to be too good to be true.

[1:56] Nonetheless, it is true, and we shall see it unfold in all its elegance. So, prepare to rejoice.

[2:07] I have been all week long, so you can get in on it too. Gary? Gary? If you would take the scripture that's there in the bulletin, and take a look and locate Romans 8, verses 18 through 21.

[2:46] Again, Romans 8, 18 through 21. And I'll be reading the bold print that occurs there.

[2:58] Verse 18. 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.

[3:15] For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity.

[3:31] 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.

[3:58] This passage of scripture is so timely and pertinent, I'm just amazed how it all comes together.

[4:11] And I have to think that the Lord is doing some orchestrating that we know nothing about. And I say that based also on what we witnessed this morning in another tremendous session at the nine o'clock hour.

[4:26] And it was all about trials and difficulty and what we are expected to accomplish as a result of them.

[4:37] And the fact that they are God-ordained and God-sent and they are always intended for our blessing and our benefit, even though none of them are the kinds of things that we would volunteer for or actually ask for.

[4:53] But they come into our lives and what makes the difference is not what happens to you, but your response to it. That makes all the difference in the world.

[5:05] I've already shared with you just briefly part of an article in the latest Ravi Zacharias Communique. And I'm going to use it to open this particular message with because it is so pertinent.

[5:22] And it deals with issues that we can all relate to, particularly having to do with prayer, asking and receiving and prayer, asking and not receiving.

[5:38] And sometimes the discouragement that can come from that. This article is entitled Sure Footing. And Ravi himself wrote it along with contributors from his organization who also submitted articles.

[5:55] But this one is called Think Again, Sure Footing. You may recall my having shared this just recently. I sat with a man in my car who shared with me a series of heartbreaks he had experienced.

[6:13] There were just a few things I wanted in life, he said. None of them has turned out the way I had prayed. Not only have my prayers amounted to nothing, the exact opposite has happened.

[6:33] Don't even ask me if you can pray for me. I am left with no trust of any kind in such things. And Ravi goes on to say, I felt two emotions rising up within me as I listened.

[6:56] The first was one of genuine sorrow. He felt that he had tried, that he had done his part, but that God hadn't lived up to his end of the deal.

[7:09] The second emotion was one of helplessness, as I wondered where to begin trying to help him. Over the years, I've met many people who have expressed similar experiences, and if we are being honest, who of us has not sensed this frustration, dejection, and confusion over prayer?

[7:32] On the other hand, I have also known countless individuals who have witnessed God's dramatic intervention or certain answer to a request laid before him.

[7:46] Prayer is a constant reminder that we are not autonomous. Prayer in its most basic form is the surging of the human spirit in its weakness, grasping at the Spirit of God in his strength.

[7:58] Sometimes mere words cannot give shape to the longing of a heart. And he goes on with some good content for the remainder of the article, but he does not go into dealing with the ramifications of prayer and unanswered prayer that we intend to.

[8:21] We probably won't get to all of that this morning, but eventually we will, because this will probably end up being a series of some extent. I do not know exactly how long it will be, but we have other obligations to return to the field of prophecy, and we will do that as promised.

[8:40] What we are going to be sharing is available in some very brief details, in brief and short articles. You know, most of them are just three and a half minutes long, and they are in Christianity Clarified Volumes 22, 23, and 24.

[8:56] We are dealing with some of these same issues, and many of you have already heard those. Those of you who have not, you may want to secure them. They are available back there, and the volumes are numbered in the Christianity Clarified area.

[9:11] That's Volumes 22, 23, and 24. And we talk about this very issue, and unanswered prayer, and dealing with unresolved pain, and the heartache that comes from disappointment, and unanswered prayer.

[9:30] And we also cited a number of biblical examples where the individual thought their whole world was caving in, and nothing was right, and that God was silent and wasn't doing anything, only to go on and show how the very opposite of that was true, and that God really had something significant to accomplish, and in fact did accomplish something significant, even though it wasn't within the time frame that anybody liked.

[10:02] And let me be very plain right up front. This is probably our biggest area of difficulty. It is the timing. Because even for those who are committed to, and firmly believe, in Romans 8, 28, that all things do indeed work together for our good, for those who love the Lord, and who are called according to His purpose.

[10:35] And even though the text does not say it, and I take the liberty of inserting something here, because I'm confident that it is implied, even though it isn't in the text. And it might read something like this, that God works all things together for our ultimate good.

[10:59] That's the sticking part. That's the problem. It's one of timing. We expect God to work bad things for our good a whole lot more quickly than what He does.

[11:17] And we fail to realize, and I say this when I say we, I'm including myself, we fail to realize how much value is in the process of getting to that realized good.

[11:34] because the process always involves pain and discomfort and disappointment. These are God's chisels, and He uses them to chisel away the dross of our life that we may be what He wants us to be.

[11:54] And each time God's hammer comes down on that chisel and chinks away at us, it really smarts. Never feels good. It's always painful.

[12:08] Someone has said that saints do not grow well in the sunshine, we grow better in the shadows. And one of the reasons I think for that, and I'm persuaded that there are multiple reasons for it, is that because in all of this process that we're talking about, God is bringing us to an end of ourselves.

[12:33] And Ray Vanderlaan in the session that we had this morning, an outstanding video session, those of you who missed it, you missed it big time. And he pointed out how the process is designed to bring us to where God wants us to be.

[12:51] And you cannot do that without some time on that backside of the desert. And nobody in their right mind is going to volunteer for duty on that desert. Because there's just nothing there that is desirable or hospitable about it.

[13:06] But it is designed to humble us. And what do we mean by that? It means it is designed to bring us to the end of our own personal strength and resources.

[13:17] because I don't know about you, but I prefer to think of myself as a can-do guy.

[13:31] Just get it done. Just jump in there and get it done and make it happen. And when the time comes that you can't do that, even though you still want to, it is an element of losing control.

[13:50] And the truth is told, we never were in control. We just thought we were all along. And it's a lot easier to think you're in control when you're healthy and viral and aggressive and gung-ho and get it done and what's next.

[14:10] And that attitude produces a lot of erroneous self-sufficiency.

[14:21] And you know, this is part of the American psyche, is it not? I mean, this nation was born out of an independent spirit. I can do it myself.

[14:34] I can handle it. I don't need any help. Thank you. I don't need anybody. I can do this. And when it comes to the place of where you just can't do it any longer.

[14:47] We were talking with someone this morning. We admitted, commiserated together and said that, you know, we could still do a lot of the things that we used to do. but it's harder.

[15:01] And it takes longer. And some of them, some of them we just kind of back away from now because we've come to recognize our limitations. And you know, even though there is a human weakness and a real displeasure with that, there is a real bonus too because the more you learn that you cannot rely on you like you always used to, then that sets you up and conditions you for being able to rely on the only one that you really can rely on anyway.

[15:36] And he has been our strength and our source from the beginning only we had this foolish notion that it was all us. It was our ingenuity, our strength, our wisdom, our ability, and all the rest of that nonsense.

[15:48] Truth be told, we never were really very capable of anything. And we still aren't. But we have this ego thing, this pride thing that likes to think that we are.

[16:03] And as we were talking this morning in the nine o'clock class, the Lord says that I've done these things and I'm doing these things to humble you, to show you that you are not self-sufficient, that you really do need me to humble you.

[16:16] And our response to that is many of us think that we're already humble enough. Thank you. In fact, some of us are probably proud of our humility, aren't we?

[16:31] So, in the goodness of God, he orchestrates and allows a whole lot of things to come into our lives that are designed to cut us down to size, to show us that in reality we're not such hot stuff after all, that we really do need him.

[16:48] God's love. But so long as we seem like we're handling it, we're doing it, we can make it, then there is less and less need or desire to rely on the Lord.

[17:00] God's God's God's name. This Romans 828 thing that we're going to be looking at is so sublime, if there were any verse in the Bible that anyone might rightly question as being untrue or maybe shouldn't even be there, I think this would probably be the verse because it does on the surface seem just too good to be true.

[17:33] When the text says that God does work all things together for our good, the thing we have the problem with is that little three lettered word, all, because we naturally feel that whatever it is that we're going through at the moment that is very painful, surely has to be an exception to that all.

[17:57] All doesn't mean all, does it? But if all doesn't mean all, what does all mean? Do words have any value to communicate at all?

[18:11] And why wouldn't the text then say some things, or most things, or a lot of things, but it says all things?

[18:24] And I'm sure that you have like I have found yourself in certain situations that leave you questioning and wondering, I don't see how in the world any possible good can come from this.

[18:54] And that's how bleak the situation can look at times. And we can't see how any good can come from it. And the reason we can't is because we have a very limited perspective.

[19:12] We can't see ahead. We can't know what's coming. We have no idea what's going to come into our lives that could dramatically change this thing.

[19:23] And as far as we're concerned, it doesn't make any difference what it is. This cannot be good at all. There's no way. But that's where God differs with us.

[19:34] And again, it is an ultimate thing because it doesn't work for your immediate good. Often it doesn't. Most of the time, it doesn't work for your immediate good.

[19:48] But most of us are rather impatient and when we pray and ask for something, we are confident that it's a good thing and it may be very well an unselfish thing. And the heavens seem silent.

[20:02] It's like there's a tin roof overhead and your prayer doesn't go any higher than that. And you just wonder what in the world is going on anyway. Our perspective is so limited and God's is so unlimited.

[20:16] That's the thing we need to keep in mind. Our limited perspective will lead us into erroneous thinking and erroneous conclusions.

[20:28] And what the Lord wants us to do is rely on his perspective confessing that ours is weak and limited. As I've often said, we are still arguing about the past.

[20:43] There are people who still aren't sold on who killed JFK and whether or not he was alone. And that's history. And what is taking place in the present, many of us do not understand at all what's happening on the world scene and some of the events that are occurring even as we speak.

[21:03] And you can forget about knowing anything about the future. Truth be told, folks, we don't know very much at all. We're pretty much in the dark about most things. We don't even know, we don't even understand how intricately our body works, the one that we walk around with every day.

[21:22] We don't even understand that. I don't know if it was Socrates or Plato, but it was one of those wise Greek philosophers that offered the two words that are so penetrating and so difficult to realize.

[21:37] Just two words. Know thyself. Know thyself. May I submit, and I don't want to upset anybody or turn anybody off, but may I submit that none of us do.

[21:55] None of us do. None of us really knows ourself. And given certain situations if we were thrust into, we would be absolutely astounded at what our reaction might be.

[22:10] Oh, we think we know what it would be, but when the pressure's on, the chips are down, the crisis is at hand, we can often respond in a way completely unlike anything that we would have thought we would have done.

[22:24] And human history has proved that time and time again. So Jeremiah had it right when he said, the heart, the essence of your being is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

[22:37] Who can know it? In other words, we are all capable of conning ourselves, deceiving ourselves. Every one of us is.

[22:48] So we don't know ourselves as well as we think we do, but God knows us through and through, and God knows what we need. We don't know what we need. I don't know about you, but I know what I want.

[23:03] I don't know what I need. I only think I know what I need. God is the only one who really knows what I need, and he is so wise and so loving that that is the very thing that he brings into my life at the timing that he brings it, because he knows that's what I need.

[23:22] I don't know that. Paul said later in Romans, for who has known the mind of the Lord?

[23:34] Nobody. Or who has been his counselor? That just, that really gets to me every time. Can you imagine sitting down with God at a table and he says, Marv, I really don't know what to do with this situation.

[23:50] Have you got any suggestions? Doesn't that sound really stupid? Well, it is really stupid, but we are capable of that kind of stupidity.

[24:02] So many situations come into our lives that convince us that we know better in this thing than what God does, and we know what we really need, and why is this happening, and where is God when you need him, and all the rest of it.

[24:15] So, when you really get plugged into Romans 8.28, and come to grips with the reality that it really does mean what it says, it will do wonders for you.

[24:26] It will provide thankfulness instead of griping, trusting instead of questioning, confidence instead of confusion, contentment instead of complaining, positive outlook versus a negative outlook, it will bring inner peace versus inner turmoil, and it will provide spiritual rest instead of restlessness.

[24:50] None of these is to be on the basis of speculation, wishful thinking, or a denial of reality, and what painful things may be occurring right now.

[25:05] The appropriation of these truths contained in Romans 8.28 is dependent only upon your willingness to believe them simply because God says so.

[25:19] And if you choose not to, and many believers, many believers choose not to believe them because they just say, if you understood what's happening in my life now, and I'm supposed to believe that God is behind that, I don't believe that at all, I just don't buy that at all.

[25:39] it's the devil, or it's circumstances, or it's my husband, or my wife, or whatever. But they just simply cannot bring themselves to believe it.

[25:53] You can fret and stew, you can relive and regurgitate past mistakes and wallow in them, if you will, and all you will get is the downtime, the depression, and the negativity that goes with it.

[26:11] And frankly, life is too short to live it that way. Embracing this truth that we will be examining does not mean you have no regrets.

[26:24] Of course you do. I've got a lot of regrets. I've got a list that wouldn't quit what I would call my do-overs, things I'd like to do over again. Mine go clear back to the first grade.

[26:38] I don't know about yours, but you can't do that. And it does not mean that you have no regrets or that you need not repent of sin in the past.

[26:48] If you haven't, you need to. And if you have repented of sin, but you still struggle with the consequences and with guilt, maybe it's time you begin just believing what God said about your being forgiven.

[27:09] And he's already told us that he has removed our sin as far as the east is from the west, that our sins are sought for and not found, that he has cast our sin behind his back, that our sins are forgiven.

[27:24] We are forgiven all trespasses in Christ. All of these things are true, but if you do not believe them and appropriate them, you do not get the peace and the joy and the freedom of guilt that comes from it.

[27:38] Forgiveness. Forgiveness that is full and free does not remove the consequences from that for which we have been forgiven.

[27:50] We live with the consequences of our past actions on a day-to-day basis. And I suspect that that and the pain sometimes that comes from those consequences is that which prompts us to feel unforgiven.

[28:08] But you've got to make a distinction between sins forgiven and the past over and done with and the consequences that flow from that. The consequences don't go away, but that doesn't mean that God has not forgiven you.

[28:23] It just means that deeds and actions have consequences. And when we engage in certain behaviors, there are certain results.

[28:34] And we go to the Lord and we acknowledge our sin, we confess our sin, we plead the blood of Christ over our sin, and God cleanses us from every sin, and it is gone and forgiven.

[28:50] But the consequence is still there. And I suspect that's what makes us feel like we are unforgiven. That's an entirely different thing. And neither does embracing 828 of Romans and God's gracious use of our sin excuse or minimize our sin.

[29:11] I remember dealing with this in the Christianity clarified issue, and I thought to myself, I'm sure there are some people that this is not going to go over with too good at all.

[29:21] because I captioned the article, just three minutes long, how God uses our sin.

[29:35] And to a lot of people, even to a lot of believers, that sounds like an absolute impossibility, that God wouldn't be interested at all in using our sin.

[29:47] sin. So, do you mean to tell me that the only thing God can use are the things you do right? I don't believe that.

[30:01] If God were limited to only the things people do right, do you realize how little he'd get done? God is committed to using even our sin.

[30:12] Now, this does not excuse our sin, does not justify it, and it does not mean that God somehow approves of our sin. Not at all. God hates sin, and we should too, because sin is destructive.

[30:26] But God is committed to using even the stupid things we do, the sinful things we do, because he puts those in with all of the rest of the mix, and is able to orchestrate and bring about in such a way that even the dumb things we do, sinful things we do, will work out for our ultimate good.

[30:48] And, there may very well be a severe price to pay called divine discipline.

[31:01] That is part of the process. And we may sin if we will, and yes, God will use your sin, and he may use your sin by way of the woodshed.

[31:17] And God has a big paddle, and he can use it any time we need it. And sometimes that's part of the process. The writer of Hebrews talks about that when he says, no one enjoys chastening for the present.

[31:35] But afterwards, after the chastening, you know, when you take a little three-year-old who's been really difficult and obnoxious and bad behavior and defiant and everything else, and you've done all of the reasoning you care to do, and you've done all the time in the corner and the time outs that you care to do, and it comes time for a little bit of capital punishment, not capital punishment.

[32:00] Sometimes you think about capital punishment, but we'll settle for corporal punishment, and you apply the board of education to the seat of knowledge.

[32:11] It is amazing how quickly that child can become loving and obedient and compliant because they have learned the benefits of obedience.

[32:24] How did they learn them? They learned them through pain. That's how we learn most of our lessons, is through pain. And I quoted C.S.

[32:34] Lewis in that CD a number of times, how that God speaks more loudly, gets our attention better with our pain than he does with our pleasure.

[32:50] God doesn't speak to us in our pleasure. We're not listening when we're having fun. It's in our pain that God gets our attention.

[33:03] Can you go on just living as you please, and know God will use even my stupid and sinful stuff for my ultimate good? The answer is, sure, absolutely, you can.

[33:15] God will and you will undergo that discipline, assuming that you truly are a child of God. For the writer of Hebrews in that passage also said, for what son is he whom the Lord does not discipline?

[33:31] And if you do not endure discipline, of which all children are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons. If you think you're getting away with bad behavior and nothing is happening by way of divine discipline, you need to stop and check up and see whether you're really in Christ.

[33:48] Because the all things that work together for good do that only for those who love the Lord, only for those who know him. Because when you come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you are in a different category than what you were before.

[34:05] You're in a category now where your heavenly father takes a really different kind of interest and commitment and responsibility for you that he didn't have before.

[34:21] You become a special object of his love and his care and his discipline and whatever you need. That didn't exist as a non-believer.

[34:32] Now, I'd be the first to admit, and I honestly compelled me to admit this, there are instances, and I'm sure they are innumerable where God does seem to take a very definite turn or interest in the life of somebody who doesn't even know him.

[34:53] And maybe eventually they do come to know him. But we do not think that the sovereignty of God is limited only to believers, but we do know that the sovereignty of God and the provision of God is specially designed for those of the household of faith, and that those who are not in Christ have no claim to it, and they have no right to it.

[35:17] You have a right to it. You understand that? Not only does God work all things together for your good, but you have a right to that. And the reason you do is simply because you are in Christ.

[35:32] And being in Christ puts you in a position of privileged clientele. people, you come into a sphere of rights that you did not have before.

[35:44] In the same way that someone from a foreign country comes into the United States and becomes naturalized and becomes a citizen, and the moment they become a citizen of the USA, they are automatically in a different category, and they now have rights and privileges that were not theirs before.

[36:04] Paul says that our citizenship, our official residence, is in heaven from whence we look for our Lord Jesus Christ. So just being in Christ puts you automatically in a position of God being committed to you to work all things together for your good.

[36:24] And it's almost never the same as what he'll do for the person next to you, or your mate, or your kids, or your parents, because everybody is a strict individual.

[36:37] individual. And this is amazing because it means that God gives precise individual attention to the needs of every single believer.

[36:52] Now, how in the world does he do that? I have no clue. But that's part of his job description, and he does it. So, God really does know what's best for you, and we all know our wants, but only God knows our needs, and they usually differ, sometimes greatly.

[37:13] And, would you rather, would you rather, if you owned a business, would you rather your business be run by a novice who truly knows little about it, or would you rather have your business be run by a consummate professional who always knows the right decisions to make and has the ability to implement them?

[37:39] So, let's look at our text just by way of introduction. And Gary began reading with verse 18, and we'll just spend a little bit of time, a few moments that we have left, opening these and seeing a little bit of what's here.

[37:54] You see the bold print there? This is taken from the 26th translation New Testament, and the bold print that you see is the King James Version.

[38:07] And other alternate translations are offered by abbreviation right below that. For instance, verse 18, the bold print says, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time, and if you look right below that, the phrase, I consider, and that is the RSV.

[38:25] That simply means that's the way the Revised Standard Version translates that. And the next one is offered by the New English Bible, N-E-B, for I reckon that the sufferings we now endure are not worthy, they're not even in the same class, to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

[38:47] And this glory, of course, is looking forward to the time when these bodies, that Paul calls these bodies of our humiliation, these bodies of our weakness, shall be transformed into a body like the glorious body of Jesus Christ.

[39:05] This is Philippians 3, I think it is. And that's exactly where we're headed. That's the goal. These present bodies do not begin to compare with the body that we're going to have.

[39:16] It will be a body like that that Christ had when he came forth from the tomb. And we are told that that body is not to be compared, or this present body is not to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

[39:33] And that is, of course, speaking of the body of Christ. For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God.

[39:46] Now, that's not altogether that clear, so let's read some of these alternate renderings here. The Rhames version says, for the eager outlook of creation ardently awaits the revealing.

[39:59] And Coney Bear, C-O-N, says, for the longing of the creation looks eagerly for the time when the glory of the sons of God shall be revealed.

[40:10] And what this is doing is using a poetic literary tool of assigning personality and intelligence to creation.

[40:21] Now, creation, trees and bushes and vegetation and things like that, they don't have a brain. They don't think.

[40:32] They aren't looking forward to anything. So the writer is speaking of it as if it did. If it did, this is what it would be looking for. And why is it that he brings that into it? And it's simply because of this.

[40:43] All of creation has fallen. Not just humanity. But the whole planet is fallen. Adam and Eve were given jurisdiction over everything and they lost that jurisdiction.

[40:55] No longer under human jurisdiction. It's under Satan's jurisdiction. He's the god of this age. 2 Corinthians 4. He is the one who has a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour.

[41:09] He's in control now. This is his world. Adam and Eve ceded. That is C-E-D-E-D ceded.

[41:19] Handed over what was rightfully given to them to control by God. They forfeited that. Gave it to Satan. Satan offered to return it to Christ in the temptation.

[41:33] All these kingdoms of the world will I give you if you fall down and worry. Why would he say that? How could he say that? Because they were his to give. They were his. He owns them.

[41:45] The time is coming when Jesus Christ is going to take them back. That's Revelation 19 we'll be looking at later. But right now this is his dominion. This is his domain. Surely you don't think that the will of God is being done on earth now as it is in heaven do you?

[42:06] Of course not. Whose will is being done? Satan's will is being done in cooperation with fallen man and that's why we see the world as it is.

[42:17] It is so filled with corruption and murder and license and robbery and abuse and you name it. The stuff you read about and see on the news all the time.

[42:29] That's commensurate with this world. That's what it's come to. This is not the world that God made that he pronounced very good. This has gotten to be an ugly world and it is run by sinful beings and it is headed by the arch enemy himself none other than Satan.

[42:49] So it is as if all creation is looking for the manifestation of the sons of God because it is yearning longing for.

[43:01] In other words we right now as human beings we are in an element of pain. Spiritual pain, emotional pain, physical pain, all of these things beset our fallenness as human beings and all of the world suffers with us.

[43:24] It's all part of the fall as well. They are the thorns and thistles that inhabit the ground that were not there originally but they are there now. It is the hurricanes and tornadoes and the floods and things they weren't there then but they're here now and they do a negative job on us.

[43:43] So there is a lot of pain that is going on in this world and it is all the result of this same thing. And it is as if all of creation everything that has life whether it is biological life or plant life or whatever it is it is as if everything is looking forward to a time of release of the pain and fulfillment of that which is promised.

[44:09] It is the restoration of all things. This is what Peter was talking about in chapter 3 of Acts when he talked about the restitution of all things the restoration of all things. This is not it but it's going to be and this is what all creation is looking forward to.

[44:25] It is the creature verse 20 for the creature was made subject to vanity that is to decay to imperfection to futility to emptiness the bondage of transitoriness Berkeley translates it not willingly but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope.

[44:43] In other words not by choice not by some deliberate fault of its own not by its own choice but because of him who made it so yet always there was hope not of its own will but by reason of him who subjected it in hope because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption and it is a bondage and our bodies are tending toward corruption.

[45:20] Right now as I speak we are all dying every one of us we are all engaged in the process of dying some of us are closer to completion than others but we are all on this route this has become the new norm this is not God's norm this is not the intended norm this has become the norm it is appointed unto man once to die well that wasn't always the case but it has become the case delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God for we know this is another thing that we know

[46:27] Paul isn't saying I have a suspicion about that he doesn't have any suspicions he doesn't have any hunches he says we know there are some things that we can know for certain we know that the whole creation groans travails in pain together until now I don't know who said it but it really registered with me might have been Donald Gray Barnhouse and he said you must realize that even the babbling brook babbles in a minor key everything has fallen whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now and not only they but ourselves also which have the first fruits of the spirit even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body why does your body need to be redeemed well do you want this one for eternity of course not our bodies need to be redeemed and when

[47:45] Jesus Christ died on that cross he paid the penalty he picked up the tab for the redemption of our body but it has never been applied what has been applied is the down payment or the injection of the spirit of God into our life which is a purely spiritual proposition has nothing to do with the physical but it is very real and it is that which has been redeemed that's the part that makes us a new creation in Christ it's not your body it's that inner spirit that makes you a new creation in Christ and that inner spirit that is regenerated is out of sync with the physical body that is not redeemed and the time is coming when these bodies will be redeemed and when they are it will be a glorified body and that's what this whole passage is all about this is what we're tending toward in the meanwhile we've got to live with these bodies and what has God done and what has God promised in the meanwhile while we're living with these bodies of weakness and pain and debilitation and injury and suffering and everything else that goes along with it he has given us the down payment the fruit of the spirit to assure us in our hearts that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it and what's the completion it's the redemption of your body then we will be whole until now right now we are in between and we are not at rest because we know we are not all we need to be and we won't be until we have a body that has been redeemed just like our spirit glorious truths

[49:50] I don't know of anything and we haven't even gotten there yet but the verse is coming up I don't know of anything that will provide more peace more relaxation more confidence more assurance more optimism and it is not a Pollyanna optimism it is an optimism that is based on reality not just hope so think so maybe so but it is a no so kind of optimism and it is coming when we appropriate this verse and the truth of it it will absolutely change your whole life and your outlook on life and everything that you see that comes into your life that is hurtful and painful you know it is part of the necessary ingredient that your heavenly father has allowed to come into your life because of what he wants to do for you ultimately his timing is perfect and the amount that he uses is perfect as well bottom line as a believer in Jesus

[51:01] Christ you are in a win-win situation nobody has the reason to live it up like we do no one has more of a reason for rejoicing than we do but you do not get any benefit from this emotionally if you do not believe it and do you know something even not believing it is something that God will use for your ultimate good how about that he's covered all the bases you can't get out of this thing as his child you are locked in to his doing what is in your best interest whether you believe it or not but it sure is a whole lot more enjoyable when you do believe it thank you father for the truth of these verses we recognize that we've just skimmed the surface of them there is so very much more there and we are so grateful that you raised up this man

[52:14] Paul the apostle and you used him as a human laboratory a life into which you built all kinds of pain and persecution and disfavor and inconvenience and struggle and everything that went with it to ultimately make him the man he became to enable him to write the things that he wrote under the inspiration of the spirit of God to have lived these things and have seen them worked out in his own life so that he could write from personal experience as well as from your authority and we relish the opportunity of looking at this further and what you have for us thank you for having built into this all of the promises that you have help us to appropriate them enjoy them and live them out to the backs in Christ's name we pray amen a couple questions anybody feel free if you have questions or comments and by the way the kind of subject matter that we're going to be dealing with may very well lend itself to the kind of questions that people would rather ask anonymously because of some of the things that you may be experiencing in your life you may not want to be personally identified with the question you have

[53:52] I can understand that and are our desire is to protect anyone's privacy who wants to maintain it and we certainly want to do that so you should if you have a desire if you have a question you want to write out just feel free to do that write out a question drop it in the offering box we'll do our best to treat it deal with it anyone this morning became a reality that he experienced and learned obedience through the things that he suffered why should it be any different for us thank you for being a great designer and orchestrator of the universe and of our lives that you are in Christ's wonderful name amen