We turn first to the Old Testament scriptures to Isaiah 65 Beginning at verse 17 this prophecy of new heavens and new earth and then we'll turn to Romans chapter 8 Isaiah 65, verse 17. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind, but be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing and her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people. The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. And now to Romans 8, beginning at verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God But you are not in the flesh but in the spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ He is not his and if Christ is in you the body is dead because of sin But the spirit is life because of righteousness But of the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. or as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it and hope because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God abides forever. And today in the preaching of the word, we come back to our studies in the eighth chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans. You might remember that very early this year in 2024, we had a few sermons from the opening verses of the chapter. And after that, I preached in the summertime from the book of Ruth. We're coming back to Romans chapter eight. Again, to pick up this teaching of the Apostle Paul, this bedrock of Christian assurance, as we can call it. This chapter that is so full of this matter of assurance, how you and I can know that we belong to Jesus Christ. That this is a blessing of the gospel, that Christ is our Savior, and that you can know that you belong to Him. You could liken Romans chapter 8 to a strong rope. I'd like to call it the strong rope of Christian assurance with a variety of tight strands that run through it. Some months ago we considered at the very beginning of the chapter the truth of our justification that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. That our Lord Jesus Christ removes the curse of the law. He condemned through His death in our place in the likeness of sinful flesh. He condemned sin in the flesh. He removes By His grace, the curse of the law and its condemnation. More, He gives us His perfect righteousness so that we stand complete in Him. No condemnation. A second strand of gospel hope and gospel assurance is the work of the Spirit. And in fact, this strand will run all the way through the chapter, but particularly in verses 5-13, we saw that the Spirit works within us, that we're not only justified in God's sight, but we're sanctified. And the Spirit of Christ dwells in us, all those who truly belong to Him, enabling us to kill sin, to put sin to death, and to live lives of greater holiness to God. Verse 13, if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. A third strand in this rope of gospel assurance is the blessed truth of adoption. And we considered that God, our heavenly father, just as you earthly fathers, good earthly fathers, tell your children not one time, but frequently of your love for them. Our heavenly father gives us the spirit of adoption, who witnesses with our spirits that we are the children of God. Our heavenly father wants us to know and to be assured of his love for us. And he gives us his Holy Spirit, the blessed spirit of adoption. And now today we add one more strand in that strong rope of gospel assurance. If there's one thing that could threaten your sense of assurance, your sense that you belong to Jesus Christ, what might it be? It's the reality of suffering, isn't it? The reality that in this present moment, that you and I face suffering of manifold kinds. You and I live in a veil of tears. Paul lived in such a veil of tears. Such a moment of suffering. And as he continues, under inspiration of the Spirit, to expand on this matter of gospel assurance, he's not blind to the fact that it's often our sufferings that bring out the most profound questions. questions of God's love toward us and His Son. That if all these things are true, that there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ, that there's no condemnation to me, you might ask. Through Christ, how is it that I still suffer? If I have the gift of the Spirit now, how is it that my prayers seemingly go unanswered? How is it if I have the spirit of adoption, in fact, and this assurance that I belong to the Heavenly Father, how is it that I continue to suffer and that apart from the blessed return of our Lord Jesus Christ, I will die? These questions are profound questions, and the Apostle is not blind to them. And so he adds, again by the inspiration of the Spirit, another strong strand in the rope of assurance, that verse 18, that I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." That despite this veil of tears and this hour of suffering, that we nevertheless, by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, yet have hope. That we are a people, even in the midst of the worst kinds of suffering, can retain our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that hope actually becomes brighter and more clear, even in the face of suffering. Romans 8 has been loved by suffering Christians for two millennia. Because as we move to the end of the book, Paul rises to this, at the end of the chapter rather, Paul rises to a crescendo of gospel assurance and confidence. Verse 35 of the chapter, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril sword as it is written for your sake we are killed all day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter yet and all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us and Paul takes great pains here in the section before us verse 18 and following all the way down to verse 25 to show us that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed So you suffering Christian, even as you contemplate all the truths that I've already mentioned, your justification, the power of the spirit at work within you to enable you to kill sin, the gift of the spirit of adoption, you in the midst of your suffering, even today, there's hope for you to lay hold of. Hope in the midst of hope of glory in the midst of your present suffering. And this is what Paul would emphasize and lay upon our consciences. today, that you, by the grace and power of the Spirit, can grow in that grace of hope, even in the midst of suffering. For those of you who like English and who remember your English classes from school, verse 18, in a very real way, functions as a topic sentence, really a summary, a thesis statement of the next verses that follow. This is a central conviction of the Apostle Paul regarding suffering in the Christian life. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. This is, in the words of Martin Lloyd-Jones, this paragraph is perhaps in Scripture the most profound statement on the suffering of the Christian in this present world. This is a central conviction regarding suffering, that I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed." Paul's considered these things. The old language in the King James Version is he's reckoned. He has reasoned this out. in a holy way. He's done the math. He's put everything in the scales by the grace of the Spirit. And He considers, He reckons that on one side of the scale, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy on the other side of the scale to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed. He's made a careful, reasoned conviction, thinking, that is the well-developed and Spirit-blessed conviction of all Christians, that I consider that these present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with that future coming glory. He's thought of several things here, hasn't he? He's thought of the matter of time, and you and I should consider the same thing. The sufferings of this present time. That this moment is passing away. that this life is not all there is. To use the words of the Apostle James, that our lives are a vapor that appear for a little time and then vanish away. And those words of Psalm 90, that Psalm in which Moses reflects on time and the passing of time. We're reminded that the days of our lives are 70 years, and if by reason of strength they are 80 years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away. We recognize that for the Lord, a thousand years in his sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night. that our years are carried away like a flood. They're like a sleep, like a dream that so quickly escapes our minds as soon as we wake up. It's like our lives, our years pass away like the grass that grows up in the morning, but in the evening it's cut down and withered. Paul's done the math and considered that this present life is just a moment. It's fleeting. It's passing away. And He's reckoned with this. He's not only reckoned with time, He's reckoned with eternity. That beyond this moment, this short, fleeting age, there's another life to come. There's the life which is to come. There's a realm of unseen things, of eternity, beyond the things that are seen. There's an everlasting kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. And for all people, there's a clear-cut delineation, a line that separates all people. Either everlasting bliss and glory in the immediate presence of the Triune God, or eternal torment in the pains of hell. Paul's thought of the sufferings of this present time, the reality of time, the reality of eternity, he's also dealt with this matter of suffering. He's considered the sufferings of this present time. And here you see something of the beauty of the Christian faith, of the Christian gospel, that we are not blind, Paul's not blind here to the reality of pain and suffering. He's not sweeping it away. He's not acting as if it hasn't happened. the sufferings of this present time. They're real and they're painful. And if you read through Paul's letters, you very quickly understand that he suffered. He suffered in ways that most of us will not suffer. He's not ignoring or sweeping suffering away, ignoring it, trying to use that extremely foolish way of thinking, the power of positive thinking, to explain it all away. But he's really recognized that suffering is real. He's accounted for the present suffering. Most profoundly, perhaps, 2 Corinthians 11, There we read of Paul's sufferings. From the Jews, five times I received 40 stripes, minus one, 39 stripes. Five times. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I have been in the deep. And journeys often in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea. and perils among false brethren, and weariness and toil, and sleeplessness often, and hunger and thirst, and fastings often, and cold and nakedness. Beside the other things, what comes upon me daily? My deep concern for all the churches." Certainly Paul suffered, and he suffered in ways that perhaps a few of us can relate to, but yet profoundly and deeply, and he's not ignoring them and sweeping present suffering, that the sufferings of this present time, again, as painful and difficult as they are, as real as they are, they're not worthy to be compared with what is to come. We as Christians, each of you today, need to make the same calculation, the same godly, biblical consideration, that the sufferings of this moment, this present time, are not worthy to be compared. recognize with the Apostle Peter that we are to not think it strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as if some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings. Remember what James says in chapter one of his epistle, count it all joy, brothers, when you fall into various kinds of trials. Recognize also what the Apostle Paul taught in Philippians chapter 1 that unto us it is given It has been given as a gift from heaven not only to believe on Christ But also to suffer for his sake the sufferings of this present time. Yes are real and painful and profound But one last thing that Paul's considered he's considered time and eternity present sufferings But he's also considered the glory which shall be revealed He has His eyes on the life of the world which is to come, a new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. And He, by the Spirit, has set His hope on the better day, the glory which shall be revealed. And all of this flows out of union with Jesus Christ. Union with Jesus Christ forms the basis of this solid conviction. Paul's not, again, it's not the power of positive thinking. It's not self-reliance. It's living out of that vital communion with Jesus Christ. Note verse 17, what our passage immediately flows from. This is union with Jesus Christ in action. Back to verse 16, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirits that we are children of God and of children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. And no particular this last phrase, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. Union with Jesus Christ refocuses and reframes and reshapes all of our suffering. And this is what Paul understands. He's living out of union with Jesus. He understands that the sufferings of this present time are the sufferings in which he has fellowship with Jesus Christ. That as the man of sorrows, the one acquainted with grief, suffered, that he's driven by suffering into deeper communion with Him, with the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who suffered on behalf of His people, and who calls us in close union and communion with Himself to encounter suffering. that our sufferings are not pointless or futile, but they're sufferings that enable us, even as Paul will write in Philippians 3, to know the fellowship of his sufferings, that our sufferings drive us closer into the arms of our Lord Jesus Christ, closer into union with him, and this assurance that indeed if we suffer with him, we may also be glorified together. Participants in Christ's suffering, united to him in his sufferings, that we one day in that future glory may participate in all that is his, in all that he enjoys, in all that he offers. It's union with Jesus Christ that enables Paul to say this. that I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." And I wonder today, have you made that same calculation? Do you understand suffering in this way? Suffering is wherever you are today, perhaps suffering that no one else sees and knows about, the deep anguish of soul, Perhaps the prayers for a child who is wandering. Perhaps profound disappointments that the Lord has brought into your life. Do you view suffering this way? Out of union with Jesus Christ. Has union with Jesus Christ reshaped and refocused your suffering? Do you understand that suffering, this side of glory, it's not something to recoil from. It's not something to seek to dull the pain of. It's something that ought to drive you closer to the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who suffered in our place for our sins, who graces us by his Holy Spirit and wipes away our tears even in the midst of suffering. and promises to raise us to glory. Could it be that if you're consistently throughout your life, you're pushing every form of pain and suffering away, avoiding it all, is it perhaps that you need today to run to the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time? To repent of your sin? to repent of your tendency to avoid pain at every cost. You see, it's only in union with Jesus Christ that you and I can be assured, that you and I can remain steadfast and immovable, always abounding. that you and I can face suffering truly, not denying it, not minimizing it, weeping indoors for a night. And the scriptures give us language and help us even in this veil of tears. It's only through Jesus Christ and Him alone that you can learn to truly suffer and one day to be raised again to glory. And this is the calculation, this is the reckoning, this is the consideration that Paul makes. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed." And this tension between present suffering and future glory runs right through the rest of the text, verse 19 down through verse 23. And Paul expands it out, he zooms out so that this dynamic of present suffering and future glory is not just something for individuals. It's not just something that happens inside of our own hearts, but it's actually written, as it were, into the current age. The current age is moving from present suffering, from present groaning, if you will, to future glory. Verse 19, the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. Verse 20, the creation was subjected to futility or to vanity. Verse 21 tells us that the creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption, certainly that which brings suffering. And verse 22, this poignant phrase, the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. That all of creation is moving from this time of present groaning to future glory, to the future revealing of the sons of God. Paul broadens out this conviction. This is really, if we could say this, it's written into the DNA of the cosmos. It's because of the fall, all of creation has been subjected to vanity, to futility. So there's this groaning that occurs, this deep, painful groaning and suffering of creation awaiting the better day. And this is all that our theology teaches us, the scriptures teach us. that this is the case, that creation currently is groaning, laboring under futility or vanity. Why? Because of that first sin long ago. Sin always brings misery, always brings suffering, and always brings death. Remember back in the garden long ago, all things created good and beautiful. God took at him and placed him in the garden. He had all things, all gifts of God at his disposal, most of all the face-to-face communion with the living God. But through his sin and his rebellion, he plunged himself and all of us, his descendants, into sin and misery. And then the curse goes forth to all creation, not only to you and me, but also to the very creation itself. So the creation is subjected to this futility, to this vanity, subject to the bondage of corruption. Remember what the Lord said in Genesis 3 to Adam and Eve. He told Adam that by the sweat of his face he would work the ground, he would till the ground. He would labor in frustration and futility. He told Eve, as the mother of all living, that she would suffer pain and suffering in childbirth, that there would be birth pangs, again picking up the language of verse 22 here, birth pangs for a mother, birth pangs that certainly only those who have given birth know anything about, and the deep and profound suffering of mothers bringing new life into the world. but the very ground itself, the very creation itself was cursed. Here are the words of Genesis 3, 17. Cursed is the ground for your sake and toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life, both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. And this curse, this period of groaning extends to all creation, groaning and laboring until now. Such a poignant, poignant way. to understand the misery of the curse all around us. And we see this everywhere, don't we? As we sing in the hymn, change and decay in all around I see. Suffering and misery and death, disease and decay We read the headlines and there's a cascade of hurricanes and tsunamis and tornadoes and weather events. We read of cancer and death at every turn. We recognize in our own bodies that we are subject to decay as well, that the earth itself, the creation itself groans and labors under the weight of the curse. And we had a front row seat to that in the last month, didn't we, with Hurricane Helene? With a hurricane sweeping through, even on your drive home today, you'll see the effects again of creation laboring and groaning under the curse as the trees themselves lie scattered and still waiting to be cleaned up. As our neighbors to the north in North Carolina Encountered even far greater suffering than many of us did with vast mudslides and flooding, creation labors and groans subject to futility. And we recognize in all of it that our sin brought this suffering into the world, that there's again been a cascade of suffering and misery. Just think of the effects of the fall upon upon all the creation, that as soon as Adam and Eve sinned, what did God do? As he pronounces the curse, but also gives a promise of a coming seed. He kills animals and makes tunics of skin for them. Again, a visible reminder of the cost of their sin. We read of the flood, this worldwide catastrophic judgment in which all people and all animals, all living creatures are destroyed other than those few on the ark. And we see universal sweeping judgment. You could think of the exodus and Pharaoh's stubborn refusal, the stubborn arrogance of Pharaoh to bow the knee to Jehovah and let the people of God go. It brought the curse and suffering upon his own family the firstborn children of all Egypt dying, but also the effects of the curse on livestock and animals and the entire ecosystem of the Nile River. You could think as well of Israel herself and her ceremonial system and the blood of bulls and goats constantly shed for centuries. Bloodshed from the tabernacle and the temple, all proclaiming to the people of God, your sins have separated you from God. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. And your sins have brought death and suffering upon all of creation. and creation continues to groan and labor and travail until now. And this helps us in a number of different ways to understand this, to understand the groaning of all creation and even the groaning of our own bodies in this present age. It delivers us on one side from the current panic of climate change and the constant obsession with climate change that we somehow can, by our own actions, certainly we want to be good stewards of God's creation that's good and wise and godly. but we're not panicked, recognizing, thinking that we are sufficient of ourselves to reverse all the processes of change and disease and decay. We recognize that because of the curse, the world and all that we see around us labors and travail, groaning and laboring until now. Verse 23, We have the firstfruits of the Spirit even inside of us. This conflict of groaning now, looking forward to the better day, it continues in our own hearts. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the better day. Current suffering, groaning under the weight and the effect of the curse. This delivers us, ought to deliver us from looking for help anywhere else. anywhere else than in the sovereign work of God to make all things new, to reverse all that's miserable, sad, and decaying, and to bring us, as we read in Isaiah, to the new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells, so we hunger for the better day. Along with creation itself, because not only is creation laboring and groaning under the curse, but creation itself looks forward to that better day. Again, verse 19, the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. Again, the language here is profound. Creation is, as it were, with uplifted head or with its neck craned, craned upward, awaits the revelation of the sons of God, looks forward to the better day. longs for the new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. In verse 23, we have the same conflict in our own souls. We groan within ourselves, yet eagerly wait for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies. With uplifted head, with craned neck, as it were, is the image, looking and anticipating and hungering for the better day. And all of this drives us to hope, to hope, to be a people who are not expecting, not expecting to see this world and our own bodies change in and of themselves, that our hope is not that we'll find the magic drug that will enable us to live forever. but our hope is profoundly in the world which is to come, in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the King of kings and Lord of lords, who one day will remove the curse, will come on the clouds from glory, will judge the living and the dead, and receive all those who trust him to himself, and we're called then finally to hope. to be a people with a profound hope, verses 24 and 25. We were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. What are we to do today? What are you and I to give our hearts to, to think about? We are to set our hope on the world that is to come. We are not to Give our ultimate allegiance and our ultimate hope to anything short of the glory of King Jesus, who one day will return on the clouds from glory, who will one day cast out all that's sinful and that's sad, and will receive us to himself. We look for things that are not seen. Remember the words of the Apostle in 2 Corinthians 4. Profound words, but verse 16, therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen eternal so we lift our eyes to heaven to our Lord Jesus Christ who promises to return on the clouds from glory every time we we sing the the Psalms think of Psalm 96 and or Psalm 98 and this language of let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad let the sea roar in all its fullness let the field be joyful and all that is in it And all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord." We think of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the longing, both in our own hearts and in all creation, of the better day, of new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. And we pray, even so come, Lord Jesus. So I wonder, is this hope filling your soul today? Do you hold fast to it? Do you think Here's a question for you. Do you think much of heaven and of the world that is to come, of new heavens and new earth? And as you look around and see the misery, the chaos, wars, disease, death, all of it, do you long for the better day? Do you meditate on passages like Revelation 21 that tells us of that new and holy city Jerusalem that one day will come out of glory like a bride adorned for her husband? Do you think on Philippians 3 where Paul lifts his eyes to heaven and considers that his citizenship is in heaven from where he looks, from whence he looks for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you pray for, again the language of Acts 3, the restitution, the restoration of all things. That holy day of resurrection and the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. And between here and there, are you patient in suffering? understanding that through much suffering, we must inherit the kingdom of God. And you pray that your suffering would drive you closer to the Lord Jesus Christ. May he lift you up in hope by his word and spirit this day. Again, if you do not know the hope, the profound hope, not wishful thinking, not a fleeting feeling, but a confident expectation, that all that God has promised He will certainly do. If you do not know that hope as your own, I call upon you to run to the Lord Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords, and the one who delights to save suffering sinners, and delights to give them hope, both in this world and in the one which is to come. May God bless His word to our hearts. Let us pray. Our gracious and everlasting God, we cry out to you. Lord, we look around us and see the creation that groans and labors with birth pangs until now. And we consider our own bodies, our own existence feeble and decaying as it often is. And Lord, we yet do not think as those who have no hope, we do not weep as those who have been left on their own, but we lift our eyes to heaven. We thank Lord Jesus of you seated at the right hand of the Father and of your glorious resurrection body. And we rejoice in that coming day, that revealing of the sons of God. And we would pray that even so, You would come, Lord Jesus. That You would receive us to Yourself. We would particularly ask for any who do not have this hope, that You would bring them to their knees in faith and repentance. That You would impress upon all of us the urgency of turning from this passing fleeting world, and setting our hope on the world which is to come. Grant us the gift of faith and repentance, and hear us, we pray, for Jesus' sake. Amen. And now I'll go with the blessing of our trying God. Peace to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. And grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.