Introduction
It’s good to be here again this evening. I greet you all in Jesus’ name. It’s good to see your faces. I also greet all of our friends who are listening online. God bless you all. I had a chance to exchange some messages with Bro. Joshua in Ghana again this week. He and the saints there send their greetings. I also exchanged some messages this week with some of the brothers and sisters in South Africa, and they are doing well. Bro. James is continuing to do a really good work there, helping so many, so continue to keep them in your prayers.
If you would, please turn with me into Romans chapter 8, and we are going to pick up where we left off in our last message. I will start at verse 14 and read the same verses we looked at last week, and then read down to verse 23.
Romans 8:14-23 (King James Version)
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
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.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Prayer
Let us pray. Father, as we approach your word this evening, we humbly ask that you open our understanding and help us to grow within the grace you have shown us. Let your word shine a light on our path so we might see where to walk. You see the desire of our hearts is to glorify you. Let your Holy Spirit speak to us and teach us. I am just a man, and all I can do is utter sounds from my mouth, but the Holy Spirit is the teacher. The Holy Spirit is what gives us true understanding. Lord, I pray your Spirit opens our understanding. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Continuing from the Last Message
Well, I am picking up here where I left off in my last message. In the last message, I looked only at verses 14, 15, and 16 here in this chapter. In those verses, Paul is bringing home to us a very simple understanding of how we can know we are the sons or daughters of God. If we find ourselves crying, “Abba, Father,” then it is evident we have received the Spirit. Paul does not go into some big elaborate explanation of all kinds of things you need to have confidence that you have the Holy Spirit. Instead, he offers a very simple explanation. If we genuinely cry out to God for help, support, comfort, love, thanksgiving, joy, or whatever reason, that is proof we have received the Spirit. It is proof we are His children, and it is a very simple test we can apply to ourselves to see if that is true.
We focused on that in our last message. What a simple little test we can apply to see if we are children of God. This is not the only test we could apply; scripture gives us several ways we could validate to ourselves that we have the Spirit. What Paul is describing here is one of the simplest ones.
As Paul goes beyond those verses, he then begins to make certain deductions and conclusions. If we are crying out to our Father, then we are clearly His children. If we are His children, then that means that certain things are true. There are certain things we can conclude once we are assured that we are His children. Let me just read again from verse 14 and let’s see how Paul puts this.
Romans 8:14-17 (King James Version)
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Children and Heirs
So this act of crying out to our Father, this is evidence of the Spirit of adoption, which is the Holy Spirit in us. That is what seals our adoption. That is what makes us one with Christ. That is what allows us to say we are in Christ, and Christ is in us—the Holy Spirit dwelling within. If we have the Holy Spirit within, then truly, we are being led by the Spirit, and truly, we are children of God. If we are children of God, what conclusions can we draw from that? Paul starts telling us in verse 17:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
If we are children, then we are not merely children; we are heirs. And not just heirs to some earthly fortune. You know there are the Rockefellers—they are heirs to a huge fortune. Rockefeller had a lot to leave his family, but we are heirs of something far greater than the Rockefeller fortune. We are heirs of God. We are heirs of a promise and of an inheritance from God Almighty—joint heirs with Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Bible tells us that we have an earnest, a down payment on our inheritance now, but the fullness of our inheritance we have not yet received. There is something far, far greater coming to us than what we have right now, here in this life, and it is the glory to come.
Our right to this inheritance is because we are children of God. We know we are children of God, with the right to an inheritance, because the Spirit of adoption is in us. We know the Spirit is in us because it causes us to cry out to God. That is Paul’s explanation, his rationale here.
Paul makes no distinctions here; this is true of every child of God. Every child of God is an heir. Every child of God has an inheritance. There are no exceptions. Now we know, Paul explained in 1 Corinthians 15 that, like the stars, some stars differ in glory from other stars. There is a glory of the sun, a glory of the moon, and a glory of the stars, but they all have a glory. We all have an inheritance. Jesus will always have a greater glory than us. God will always shine brighter than us. In fact, when the sun is up, it is so bright, you can’t even see the stars. Our glory will never compare to the glory of God in its magnitude, but in some small way, we are each going to have a glory all our own—an inheritance from God to us.
We have the right to the inheritance because we are God’s children.
Suffering and Glory
In the second part of verse 17, Paul goes on to say:
“If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
Now Paul here is not telling us suffering is a requirement of God to be glorified, but he is telling us the same thing Jesus told us. In this world, we will have tribulations. Jesus Himself had tribulations in this world, didn’t He? I mean, they snatched Him, beat Him senseless, and nailed Him to a cross and killed Him. That is some pretty intense suffering that Jesus endured.
Jesus said, “In this life you will have tribulations.” We don’t go looking for them—you’d be a fool to go looking for something to make you suffer. But in this life, we are bound to face things that can cause us grief and sorrow.
Think about whom Paul is writing this letter to. Put what Paul here is saying in full context. Rome is a terrible place to live as a Christian. First, it was illegal to be a Christian in Rome. Most of the early Christians in the Roman Empire were slaves. Christianity seemed to appeal to the lowest people most of all. Most historians and people who studied it out, and even if you read the New Testament itself, it seems to bear out that most of the early Gentile Christians were slaves. They were not living in ideal conditions, far from it. In many ways, there is absolutely nothing Paul can do to help those people in a natural sense. He can’t afford to buy them and set them free. He can’t change the law and make Christianity legal. In a natural sense, there is very little Paul could do for the readers of this letter he was writing. But he tells them their suffering today will seem a small thing compared to the glory to come. Read verse 18:
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.
When we walk with God, we are not alone. Jesus said, “I will never leave or forsake you.” He is there, and we can depend on Him to be by our side through whatever we face. But there may be times of suffering, which we really have no control over. It is the natural result of living in a fallen world. Jesus said, “In this world, you will have tribulations.” It is inevitable that such times will come upon us. But Jesus also said, “Fear not, for I have overcome the world.” There is a promise that one day all this will be over. This present suffering, whatever present suffering we may be facing, will not last forever.
That is a certainty.
It is a certainty that whatever we may be facing today, it will pass. And we can have that certainty because we are heirs. We are heirs with an inheritance in a better country and a better land—a land that does not have the sufferings of this land. And it is a place that is real. Our Lord Jesus has promised it: no sickness, no ill health, no labors, no broken relationships, no hurt feelings, no sorrows, no loss, no grief, no lack, no fear, no persecution, no slanders, no backstabbers, no addictions, no temptations, no more dirty looks, no more lies, no more tears.
There is a land like that, and we have an inheritance in that country. Jesus said, “I go away to prepare a place for you.” You and I, we have a place there. You may find it hard to find a place to belong in this world, but there is a place in that land where I do belong—a place that was made just for me.
The Bible, the Gospel tells us. Paul tells us here: Hold on. You may be struggling today, but hold on. There is a better land, there is a better hope. Our inheritance in the world to come is not to be compared to what we have today. Whatever you are facing today, it will be worth it. Our inheritance in that promised land is worth everything we have to go through to get there.
“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.”
This is the hope. This is the comfort. This is the solace Paul offers to the Romans: hope in the promise.
You know all through the Old Testament, people were hoping and waiting for a Messiah—a Messiah to come save them. And in many ways, we are still waiting on the Messiah. He has saved us from our sins. He has promised us an inheritance, but we don’t have that inheritance yet. We are waiting. And for all those hundreds of years, thousands of years, the people waited for their Messiah. And here we are again today, we are waiting. And the church has waited hundreds of years, thousands of years, still waiting on our Messiah to come again. And one day He will come, and He will, it is certain. And when He appears, then we shall be like Him.
And in verse 19, Paul begins to describe what it’s like while we wait. He says:
“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. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”
Paul here describes a groaning that all creation experiences. Even we ourselves, those of us who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even us who have the down payment, the earnest of our inheritance—even we groan within ourselves. And verse 22 says, “travailing in pain.” This creation is wounded in a way that can never be fully healed until Jesus Christ returns. There will never be paradise on earth until Jesus comes again. There is a pain, a sorrow, a suffering, that lingers, and it will linger until Christ returns. And it makes all creation groan and travail.
And that doesn’t mean we don’t have good times, or have joy or happiness. But it means there is something at a deep fundamental level that requires the return of Christ to fix this world. Redemption is not over. There is still death, and war, and pain, and sorrow, and grief, and loss. There is still sin in the world. And all the pain that sin causes comes along with it. And it is bound to make us groan at times.
And in verse 23, as I have pointed out in past messages, Paul points to the redemption of our bodies as the solution—as the point in time at which this groaning will cease. At the point in time that the travail of creation will cease, the redemption of our bodies. And we know that is in the future. It is off in time, with the second coming of Christ. We are waiting today, just like Paul is describing here.
And as we come here, and Paul looks at the redemption of the body, at long last, as the solution, let me go back through the last few chapters, and let me remind you of all the things Paul said about this body.
Go back to verse 10:
“And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”
Paul is telling us this body we are living in is dead—or we might say, subject to death—because of sin. But we have eternal life because of the Spirit of God in us.
Go back to chapter 7, let me read verses 23 to 24:
“But I see another law in my members (the members of my body), warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”
Here Paul is describing the inner battles he faces, which causes him to cry out to be delivered from his body of death.
And go back to chapter 6, verse 6:
“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”
You see, there is a progression in Paul’s explanation about the body as you come through these chapters. And he concludes, finally in chapter 8, that the redemption of the body is the final solution to all of this. And what Paul gets to in chapter 8 is the same thing really he is saying here in chapter 6: This body of sin must be eliminated to fully set us free. And it is only with the redemption of the body that the groaning and travailing will finally come to an end.
This is something you might have to think about. But Paul is very careful through all of this to tell us, we do not have a license to live in sin. We do not have the freedom to live a destructive sinful lifestyle and say, “Well, Jesus paid it all, so I can live in sin.” That is the opposite of what Paul is saying. But Paul is making it clear to us that even as believers with the Spirit of God, we are still living in a body of death—or as he said there in verse 6, a body of sin. Because the body is dead because of sin, and it is going to take the redemption of our bodies to fully resolve the problem of sin.
And one day that is coming. And whether we live to see it or not, that is in God’s hands. But that day is coming, and everyone who is in Christ Jesus will be there. And they will all have a place, and they will all have an inheritance as children of God.
I love the thought of it.
Let me close in prayer.