Jeff Schreve - Future Glory
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We want to talk as we’re going through Romans chapter 8. We wanna talk about future glory because that’s what the scripture deals with in today’s passage, verses 18 through 27. It talks about future glory. Do you have the anticipation in your heart for the coming of the Lord? Are you longing, big question, for the return of Christ and coming glory? Well, this is what Paul says, beginning in verse 16, «The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children,» or since children, «heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. 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. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God».
Now the passage we’re gonna study today, it talks about three witnesses, three witnesses who are longing for the return of Christ. Actually, it uses the word groaning. It means to sigh, it means to murmur. And the and the three witnesses, they long so much that they groan within themselves at the return of Christ because at the return of Christ, the Christian is glorified. So the question, are you longing for the return of Jesus Christ and for his coming glory? Because Jesus himself said in Matthew 25, when the son of man comes, he comes with power and great glory.
So let’s look at the first witness. The first witness that groans, longing for the return of Christ is creation. The creation is groaning for His return. So it said in verse 19, that the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. That literally means creation, waits, eagerly waits on tiptoes, so to speak. It so excited about the coming of the Lord and the revealing of the sons of God because that happens at the coming of the Lord. Says in verse 24, «The creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, 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».
Now, why is creation so thrilled, and excited, and longing, and groaning, for the revealing of the sons of God, for the coming of the Lord? Was for two reasons. Number one, when Adam fell, the creation was cursed. You know, people talk about this world and they love to say, well, you know, I can’t believe in God because there’s so much pain, there’s so much suffering. If God is so good, then why did he make this world so diseased and ridden with curses and problems and death and disease, all that stuff. Well, he didn’t make it like that. He made it perfect, and it was good, and it was good, and it was good, and it was good, all the days of creation. And then the sixth day when he makes Eve, it was very good. Everything is good in Genesis chapter two at the end of day six. And the seventh day God rested, and he looked at it all that he’s made and it is good, and all of the animal kingdom good, all of nature is good.
But then in Genesis three, Adam and Eve fell. They sinned against God. They had one commandment and they blew it. And when they fell and the Lord deals with their fall. Well, what happens? The serpent is cursed. Cursed more than any beast of the field is the serpent. But with this curse on the serpent, there’s also a curse on all the animal kingdom. And then the Lord says to Adam, «Because you have done this, you’ve listened to the voice of your wife, cursed is the ground because of you». And so all the the ground that yields up vegetables, and that yields up fruit, that’s all cursed. Everything in creation is cursed and creation mirrors what happened to man. Man started out perfect. Creation was perfect. Man fell, God put creation under a curse. And what does it have now? It’s subjected to futility. It produces thorns and thistles.
You know, the animal kingdom went from friendly to fierce. And the ground went from fruitful to barren, thorns and thistles, it will produce it. It says that it is subjected to futility. That literally means disappointing misery. That’s what creation is under, disappointing misery. That kind of describes my golf game, disappointing misery it is most of the time. And so that’s what creation feels. And so they want to be set free. Creation itself wants to be set free from that. And when Jesus returns in his glory and the sons of God are revealed in glory, then creation will be set free. The Millennial Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the thousand year reign of Jesus on the earth. It will be like the Garden of Eden again, this planet like the Garden of Eden.
What was the Garden of Eden like in terms of animals? You didn’t need to be afraid of animals. What was it like in terms of farming? You know, Adam had a job, he was a farmer. How did he farm? He just tickled the soil. That’s all you do, and it just grows like crazy. There are no weeds, there are no thorns, there are no thistles. And the the ground is just free to bloom and blossom. Now, Isaiah 35, this is what it says in the «God’s Word» version, «The desert and the dry land,» talking about the millennial kingdom, «The desert and the dry land will be glad, and the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like a lily the land will blossom. It will rejoice and sing with joy. It will have the glory of Lebanon, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. Everyone will see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God».
We go to the desert. Well, one day the desert is going to bloom like a rose. It’s gonna be like flowers everywhere and that the earth is going to be released from the curse. And in the animal kingdom, animals will go from fierce to friendly once again. Isaiah chapter 11, «And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the kid. And the calf and young lion and fatling together; And a little boy will lead them». How cool is that? You’re a little guy. You think, hey, in the millennial kingdom, you get to play with lions and you can lead him around. «Also the cow and the bear will graze; Their young will lie down together; And the lion will eat straw like the ox. And the nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. And they will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as waters cover the sea».
And see creation can’t wait to be set free from disappointing misery, from the futility, from the slavery and the bondage that it feels. It doesn’t want to have a dog eat dog system in nature. It was subjected to that because the Lord has nature and the created world mirror what’s happening in man. Man fell. Nature is under the curse of the fall. When man is glorified in Jesus Christ, then creation will be set free. So the creation is groaning for his return. Second witness, you have the Christian and the Christian is groaning and longing for his return. He says in verse 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 the body».
Now he’s already talked about us being adopted into the family of God, and that has taken place. But it hasn’t taken place to the fullest extent, because the ultimate final adoption as sons is the redemption of our body. «For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for. why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for that which we do not see with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it». We are Christians, those of us who know Christ, we’re Christians. We have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, but we’re encased in flesh, sinful flesh and the flesh wars against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.
Galatians chapter 5. And so we have this battle going on inside, and Paul said this in Romans chapter 7. He said, «The good that I long to do, I don’t do. And the evil that I don’t wanna do, I do. Wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death»? Now, can you say amen to Paul? Do you ever say I want to do right, but I find myself doing wrong. And the good that I do, I don’t do. With the evil that I don’t wanna do, I do. That’s the truth for every Christian. If you’re truly a Christian, you don’t want to disobey the Lord, you want to obey him because you love him. But there’s this battle that takes place. Well, one day when the Lord comes back, we will be glorified. We will say goodbye to this body of sin, this flesh that is at war with God, and we’ll get a brand new body just like the Lord Jesus Christ. So when Christ returns, we will be glorified.
This is what Paul said in Philippians chapter 3, beginning in verse 20, «For our citizenship is in heaven». Hey, the moment you trust Christ, then the Lord writes your name down in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and your citizenship is secure in heaven. «Our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with a body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself».
Hey, one day when we see the Lord, we’re gonna be made like him. And we’re not gonna have a body of sin anymore, and everything in our lives, we are now saved completely. Justification, sanctification and glorification. We’re made like Christ. That’s exciting and that is to come and we have that hope. Now we haven’t seen it yet. But it’s a hope, it’s confident expectation. The Bible doesn’t ever use hope like we use hope. Well, I hope we get some cold, or, you know, cooler weather this week. I hope this happens. Well, you’re just wishing for that. You know? I hope I play better the next time I go out and play golf. You’re just big time wishing for that, right? Just making it up in your head, you know? I hope this. Well, that’s not how it is in the Bible. It’s a confident expectation. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul of hope, both sure and steadfast, and one which enters into the veil. So we will be glorified.
Now, the longer we live on this earth, and the more we grow in the Christian life, the more we groan for glorification. Why? Because we know that we want to please God, we want to honor God, but we’re still dealing with selfishness, we’re still dealing with jealousy, we’re still dealing with pride, we’re still dealing with greed, and with lust, and with insecurities, those things, they haven’t gone away. Now hopefully, we are rising above those things and defeating those things. Verse 13, «If you’re living according to the flesh, you must die. But if by the spirit, you’re putting to death, the deeds of the body, you will live».
And so we’re constantly having to put to death the deeds of the body because they’re still there and they’re still pulling at us. They’re rendered powerless, we don’t have to listen to the flesh anymore, but it is still there. And so the more you grow, the more you long to be set free so that you can serve God 24/7 and please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of him. «Strengthen with all power according to his glorious might. For the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the father, who has qualified us to sharing the inheritance of the saints in life». And we just long for that, the more we grow in the Lord.
So we groan because we want to be set free from the body of this death. And then the more we consider, the more we rejoice in sufferings. As you set your mind on the glory that shall be revealed to us, that’s why he says in verse 18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed to us. It’s not even worthy. Hey, here’s the problem that we have. The sufferings are real and we know what that’s like. And we know about the hardships and difficulties in pain and physical pain is, is hard. I’m not trying to minimize that. If you’re in physical pain, I realize that can make us very short tempered and irritable because we hurt.
When we think about future glory, we have a harder time understanding what that is, because God doesn’t tell us everything about what life is going to be like during the Millennial Kingdom. He doesn’t have, he doesn’t tell us everything about our glorious body. It’s gonna be a body like Jesus I in terms of glory. He doesn’t tell us everything about heaven. He tells us enough for us. There are no more mourning, no more crying, no more pain, no more death. All the no mores that you read about In Revelation chapter 21, he tells us about that. But it’s kind of an unknown for us. The Bible says, «What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor is even entered into the heart of man all that God has prepared for those who love him».
So we have a tendency to magnify our problems here on the earth and we minimize the glory that is to come. And what we need to do is the opposite. We need to say, hey, this problem that I have, it’s momentary light affliction, because I’m going to experience the glory of God forever, and ever, and ever, and ever, and ever. Hey, that is worth a ton. And listen, when we’ve been there, 10,000 years bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing his praise than when we first begun, and none of us will remember anything about the suffering here on the earth. It’ll all be washed away in glory. So let’s start thinking about that. Creation is groaning. The Christian is groaning for his return and this last one is a shocker. The Holy spirit is groaning for his return.
Look what it says in verse 26, «And in the same way, in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 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 the same way that you are enduring suffering, that you are patiently enduring what he says in verse 25, «But if we hope for what we do not see with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it».
In the same way, the Holy Spirit is there. He’s waiting with us as we wait for the Lord’s return, and he’s groaning with us in just the same way. And you know, we have, we have so, a as a society, we’ve so maligned the Holy Spirit. People don’t understand who the Holy Spirit is and what he came to do. What his office work is. And we have churches that have gone hog wild on all these crazy things. And they attribute all that to the Holy Spirit. That’s not biblical. Here’s what the Holy Spirit does. Three things that are mentioned here. Number one, the Holy Spirit helps us to patiently endure. Just as we are waiting with perseverance for the coming of the Lord, the Holy Spirit helps us to patiently endure. He helps us in our sufferings to endure those.
That’s why Paul said in Philippians 4:13, «I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me». I can face any difficulty and any problem through Christ who strengthens me, who lives in me by his Spirit, because the Spirit gives joy, the Spirit gives power, the Spirit gives peace. Unrelated to circumstances, doesn’t have anything to do. Well, I have joy if I have good circumstances. No, you have joy because you’re trusting in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice and you can rejoice in him because he never leaves you, and never forsakes you. And he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So the Holy Spirit is our helper. He helps us to patiently endure. And the Holy Spirit prays for us to walk by faith. He is interceding for us.
Now, it says that he helps our weakness. That is our moral frailty because we don’t know how to pray as we should. And so he’s praying for us. And God, the Father who searches the hearts, 1 Samuel chapter 16, «The Lord doesn’t see, as man sees. Man sees the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart». God who searches the heart knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Now, Jesus, it says in Romans 8:34, he’s interceding for us. So you have Jesus in heaven seated at the right hand of the Father, he’s praying for us. He’s interceding for the saints. You have the Holy Spirit inside, he’s praying for us. He’s interceding for us.
And we have a good example of this in Luke chapter 22, where at the last supper, you remember Peter told Jesus, hey, everybody may desert you, but I’m not gonna desert you. I’m with you. I’m ready to go to prison and to death. And Jesus said this to Simon Peter. «Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat;» to shake you to the very core, «but I have prayed for you. I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers», the Lord prayed for him. What did he pray? That your faith wouldn’t fail. And what do we know about Peter? His faith didn’t fail. His faith faltered but it didn’t fail. It can’t fail. Why?
Because the Lord holds him, and the Lord prays for him, and the Lord intercedes for him, and we have the Holy Spirit living inside who prays for the true believers. He prays for the saints according to the will of God. He prays for us. If we’re true believers, Jesus is interceding for us. And this idea that you could lose your salvation is ludicrous. Listen, you mark it down, if you could lose your salvation because it depended on you, you would lose your salvation, and I would lose my salvation, and we would lose our salvation. And the Apostle Paul would have lost his salvation. You’re not kept by your strength, you’re kept by his strength, and by his prayers, and by his power.
The Bible says, we’re kept by the power of God and he will not let you go. And so the Holy Spirit is praying for you and me. What is he praying? That we would patiently endure the sufferings, the difficulties. That we would have joy and peace, regardless of the circumstances. That we would stay connected to Jesus, and that our faith would not fail. It might get shaken as Peter’s faith was shaken, but it’s not going to fail. And then lastly, the Holy Spirit works in us to complete our salvation, to complete our salvation because he’s never gonna let us go. We’re sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise who’s given a pledge, an heir bond, and a down payment. An engagement ring, the pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession to the praise of His glory.
And here, here’s how the Holy Spirit works. So the holy, when he shall come, Jesus said, he will convict the world of sin, and righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit is the convictor. And every Christian has a testimony that God convicted me, that I was a sinner, and I was lost and I needed Jesus. In some form or fashion, it boils down to, there has to be conviction from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the convictor. And then He is the converter. The moment you pray to receive Christ, you give your life to Jesus, he comes in to live inside of you through the person of His Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the one who makes you alive with Christ. He is the convictor, he’s the converter. He’s the comforter and the counselor. He’s the one that works in you in this thing called sanctification. He’s the one that chips away those rough spots in you to make you the person that God wants you to be, take away the dross from the silver and then comes out of vessel for this myth. And he’s all the time scumming, skimming off the dross in our lives. The convictor, the converter, the comforter and the completer, because one day we’re going to be made like Christ.
Philippians 1:6, «For I am confident,» Paul says, «of this, that he who began a good work in you». Who’s that? The Holy Spirit, «that he who began a good work in you, will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus». He’s not going to leave you unfinished. And the moment that you’re justified, you can mark it down, you will one day be glorified, because it’s not on you. It’s on the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is going to see you to completion.