We are so thankful to have this week Pastor Jeff Anderson, who is here for this afternoon session, and will be speaking another time this week. For 25 years in pastoral ministry, he served at the Grace Bible Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. And just recently, Jeff is now working full-time with International Bible Conference, a ministry their church founded in 2004. In this role, Jeff conducts Bible conferences for indigenous pastors around the world, exposing them to expository preaching and sound doctrine, and helping them improve the content and effectiveness of their preaching. His conferences have ranged from a few hundred to over 25,000 pastors in countries such as India, the Philippines, Thailand, Laos, Kenya, Tanzania, and Liberia. He also serves as the vice president of the board of directors for the Independent Fundamental Churches of America. Jeff earned his undergraduate and his graduate degree here at Bob Jones University. In his senior year, he was president of the ministerial class. We're so thankful to have him, his dear wife, The numbers of his children have come here to Bob Jones University. Some of them are present students. And you can't miss Jeff. I mean, when you see Jeff, he stands head and shoulders above everybody else. So if you don't like his sermon, don't mess with him. And I'm so thankful. He's passionate. I knew Jeff when he was a youth pastor. And I'm just thrilled that he can come and challenge us this week. Well, good afternoon to all of you great looking young men and slightly better looking young ladies. Would you turn with me please to Romans chapter eight? I've enjoyed the music this week as we always, our souls are blessed by the music at Bob Jones University. Oddly, that's one of my favorite songs. I want it satisfied to be sung at my funeral. And I hope that that's not later today. I've always loved Bible conference. Before I attended Bob Jones, just after my senior year in high school, before I became a freshman, my parents took me to a Bible conference in Michigan, where I heard Dr. Warren Wiersbe preach from Psalm 1. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sitters, nor sit in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. I went out that evening, sat on the sand dunes of Lake Michigan, and I asked the Lord to give me just a longing in my heart for the Word of God, that I would delight in the Word all of my days. The Lord began and continued that work when I came to Bob Jones University, and I loved being at a place where every one of my classes were opening in prayer, and even my English class was bringing in the Word of God to every part of my life. I'd been in a public high school all my days, and so I wasn't used to such an emphasis upon the Word of God, and my soul just hungered for more and more. I loved being in a place where I wasn't distracted with ongoing television and different forms of entertainment. But in addition to giving myself to my academic studies and having time to be able to exercise and stay fit, I also really loved being able to go to the prayer room at night and open my Bible and just begin hungering and thirsting for the Word of God. I came to Bible conferences and year after year, my soul was refreshed as I just loved the expository preaching that I found here. I had come to Bob Jones University because the best preachers that I ever heard were graduates from the university. And I still believe that the university and the seminary are preparing the best preachers in our country. because they are people who are committed to expository preaching, they're committed to sound doctrine, and they receive wonderful commitment to the fundamentals of the faith. They're committed to God-centered worship. No matter what the style may be, the focus of God as being the centerpiece of our worship rather than man-centered entertainment. I love the commitment to excellence that is still evident. Everywhere you go, you're on a campus that is unique. You're surrounded with people who are committed to excellence and I appreciated all of what was invested in my life. And then there was obviously a passion for the gospel. There was a desire to evangelize those that were lost. And so all of those things were just built up and strengthened in my time here. And Bible Conference was such an enormous part of that. I never imagined that the Lord would allow me to be part of Bible Conferences in East Africa. In 2004, I was invited to minister to 200 pastors. That's how many had been invited. 350 showed up. That just doesn't happen in Colorado Springs. I don't think that even happens in Greenville, South Carolina. You invite 200 pastors and 350 come. And as I started interacting with them, these were men from every denominational background that you could imagine. I'd wondered whether we're going to have some sort of theological war or battle. And all I knew to do is just teach verse by verse through the Bible. I taught the book of Colossians for three days. And after three days, To a man, those 350 men said, this is exactly what we're hungry for. We're not looking for Western leadership styles. We're not hungry for denominational distinctives. What we're really longing for is someone to just teach us the Bible. And so the next year, they had 1,200. And the next year, 2,600. the next year 3,500, then 5,000. And the largest conference that we've had in East Africa was 25,000 pastors and church leaders who came together simply for the exposition of the Word of God. Men who are just hungry for what we enjoy here at this Bible conference. It was early in that experience that I figured out we have a tiger by the tail. The Lord is doing something in East Africa that I can't just turn my back on. And so I came to my elders at Grace Bible Church and said, do I need to leave Grace Bible Church and the pastorate so that I can put full time and effort into these Bible conferences? And at that time, the elder said, no, Jeff, we believe that this is not just your calling. This is our calling. And we want to give and sacrifice to help make that happen. But over the years, it has become very, very clear that these heavy demands, both pastoring a church and then trying to minister to pastors in the third world in particular, and got to a point where a choice had to be made. And for me, that choice was really a simple one. Tens of thousands of pastors who are right now, many of them, all they know is prosperity gospel, or signs and wonders, or other forms of falsehood. But if we give them just the word of God, if we let the authority of the word of God speak and minister to them, well, the impact is to see an entire continent turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God. So in November, we took the leap and we've left the Ministry of Grace Bible Church and are now devoting our full time and attention to telling the story and raising the resources so that we can minister to 50,000 pastors every year through the indigenous church in Africa. Well, Bible Conference is definitely something that I love. I love Bob Jones University, and I'm so thrilled to be here as part of these conferences. I have to be honest, I didn't know how the cohesion of three different conferences would come together. I saw that there would be a conference on the authority of the Bible, and there would be a conference on Genesis, and then a conference on the God of hope. But last night, Dr. Pettit, I thought, brought great cohesion to all of this when he reminded us that the authority of the Scripture especially in Genesis 1-11, the authority of the scripture that tells us that God has given us a factual historic record and that we can fully trust in what God has spoken to us through his word. That gives us the basis for a confident expectation for a future. And the confident expectation for the future of what God has promised in His Word would mean nothing to us if we didn't have a confident expectation that what God has spoken concerning history is true. You start recognizing that the authority of Scripture is definitely the basis of our hope. And so I refer to you again to the verse that was mentioned last night. It's Romans chapter 15 verse 13 that says, I'm going to now ask you to stand with me, please, with reverence for the Lord and His Holy Word. This is Romans chapter 8, which I believe, of all of scripture, I believe that this is the one chapter that is most filled with hope. As a matter of fact, it's filled with so many promises and so much hope that many of these verses are going to be verses that you didn't even know were found in Romans. You may not have recognized them as being part of Romans chapter 8. And as we read this chapter in its entirety, before we focus on the paragraphs that we're going to be looking at, I want you to just be able to respond and note all of these wondrous promises that give hope. I want you to respond to them maybe with even just an amen. It doesn't have to be loud, it doesn't have to be obnoxious, but it can be something in which you're just responding and saying, wow, this chapter is filled with such great promise and such great hope. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Amen. who do not walk according to the flesh, but after 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, sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk after the flesh, but after the spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after 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, neither indeed can be. So then they who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you shall die. But if, through the Spirit, you do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and join heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with him, that we also may be glorified together. 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. For the earnest expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope. because the creature 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 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. For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth in our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he, the searcher at the hearts, knoweth what the mind of the Spirit is, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate them. He also called and whom he called them He also justified and whom he justified them. He also glorified What then shall we say to these things if God before us who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect it is God that justifieth and "'Who is he that condemneth? "'It is Christ that died, yea, rather is risen again, "'who is even at the right hand of God, "'who also maketh intercession for us. "'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? "'Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, "'or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? "'As it is written, for thy sake, "'we are killed all the day long, "'we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. "'Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors "'through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principality, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And all God's people said, amen. This is the word of the Lord. Would you please be seated? How could you have a chapter that's filled with any more hope than Romans chapter eight? A chapter begins telling us that there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. And it ends by telling us that nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. This is a chapter that is filled with hope, but it's a hope that is only found for those that are in Christ. And the qualifying factor in all of this are those two simple words, being in Christ. You see, Romans tells us that there is no hope, and there's nothing but condemnation for those that are apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. If there is therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus, then please know that there's nothing but condemnation for those who are apart from Christ. The message of condemnation is the message that begins this book. In Romans chapter 1, 2, and 3 is a message of condemnation that demonstrates our need, our desperate need for God's righteousness. It begins by telling us that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. for what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath shown it to them. For since the beginning of creation, his eternal power and Godhead are manifest, so that they are without excuse." Everything that we've heard in these past couple of days is a demonstration of ungodliness that leads to unrighteousness. And the ungodliness that we're speaking of is the kind of ungodliness that says we see all the evidence that there is a creator who made everything around us. But still, foolish man denies that creation and somehow says that there is no God. Ken Ham has been warning and telling us that anyone who'd be so foolish as to say that there is no God and to deny what his word has said, those people are bound to be followed by unrighteousness. The unrighteousness that follows is the judgment of God by which God takes ungodly people who have rejected him and naturally is going to follow the unrighteousness by which God gives them over to their uncleanness. God gives them over to their vile passions. God gives them over to their reprobate mind. In other words, the message of Romans is that there is a condemnation for wicked people, a condemnation for those that are ungodly and unrighteous. We need to recognize that there are people all around us who are in an unrighteous state and they desperately need a savior. But the message of condemnation, and not just for those that are unrighteous, we would consider them wicked, but there's also a condemnation of the self-righteous. In chapter two, Romans tells us, therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. Do you think, O man, that doeth the same things that you judge, that you will escape the righteous judgment of God? No, there is wrath of God that is coming. And just like there is no excuse for ungodly and wicked people, there's no excuse for those that are moral, law-abiding, self-righteous, and judgmental. The people who are looking down their nose at other people are just as under the same condemnation, and they also desperately need a Savior. The message of condemnation in Romans is not only for wicked people, it's not only for moral, law-abiding, judgmental people, it's also a condemnation that is pronounced against what we would call the religiously righteous. In chapter 2, he continues and he said, He said, he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is circumcision that which is outward of the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart. You see, whether you're religious or whether you're wicked, whether you are moral and judgmental or whether you are ungodly and unrighteous, the Bible concludes that there is none righteous, no, not one. That we are all as an unclean thing and all of our righteousness is as a filthy rag. The conclusion of the matter is that the law is given so that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. but I am so glad that there is therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. You see, if there's a message of condemnation that tells us that every man and woman that has come into this sin-cursed world with the sin nature being in Adam, they all desperately need a savior, then it's just great news to us that we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans not only has a message of condemnation, it has a message of justification. Condemnation shows us our desperate need for righteousness. Justification describes the declaration of righteousness. And anyone who is declared righteous in the eyes of God, made acceptable to Him, according to the book of Romans, according to the scripture, they are justified by grace alone. Justified freely by His grace. Not only are they justified freely by God's grace, who loved us even when we are unlovable, they are justified also by faith alone. The Bible says that it's not by keeping the law. That's not how someone is made righteous, but to those who believe. Even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him as righteousness, Romans chapter 4, you read about the righteousness of Abraham, one who'd been justified by faith, and here's what you learn. He was justified by faith apart from works, Romans 4 or 5. Now to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is accounted as righteousness. Later, he tells us that faith is apart from not only works, but faith is apart from ritual or circumcision. Abraham wasn't justified by being circumcised. Circumcision was a sign that pointed to his being justified by faith. And there is no ritual, whether it's water baptism or circumcision, there is no symbolic form that is able to take the place. We are justified by faith alone. Justified by grace alone by faith alone faith apart from works faith apart from ritual and also faith apart from the law Did you know that Abraham was justified? 400 years before the law even came into existence and if Romans 4 tells us that Abraham was justified Long before the law ever came then it makes perfect sense to us that by the deeds of the law No flesh will be justified in his sight For by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law only comes to show us and condemn us and show us that we desperately need a savior. But justification is found by grace alone. Justification is received through faith alone. And that faith is placed in Christ alone. We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. He himself is the propitiation for our sin. And while the wrath of God is deserved by a wicked world, by a moral world, by a religious world, while all are under the wrath of God, Jesus Christ came to be the propitiation, the substitute who would bear our wrath so that there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. In the 1800s, there were two brothers who had immigrated to the United States from China. They were brothers from a Chinese background, and the older brother got a great job. Soon he was living in an apartment. Everything was going well for him. The younger brother, well, he chose a different route. He went the way of crime, and soon he was running with gangs and getting all sorts of trouble. One day, the younger brother was in a back alley gambling with some men, and he discovered that someone was cheating him, stealing his money, and so he became so angry, they got into a fist fight. In the middle of the fight, a knife was drawn and the other man was killed. The man was stabbed and the young boy had blood all over his clothes. He knew that the police would be coming. He knew that he would face execution for his crime. So he ran to the only place that he thought would be safe. He went to his brother's house. He climbed in through a window. He washed himself, took off all of those clothes. He stripped and changed and he ran away to hide. About the same time, the older brother was coming home from work. And as the older brother was coming home from work, he saw the police going door by door. He had heard that there was a murder that had taken place. And when he got home, he found a pile of bloody clothes. He didn't have time to destroy those clothes. Instead, he did something very strange. He took those clothes and he put them on. When the police came and knocked at his door, he answered with those bloody clothes. And of course, they assumed that he was the one who had committed the crime. As they were arresting him, all he had to do is say, sir, it wasn't me, it was my brother, go get him. But without saying anything, he was arrested in his brother's place. One day he stood before a judge. When the judge heard all of the evidence, he heard the description of the murderer. He saw the bloody clothes. And of course, the man was ready to pronounce a guilty verdict. And all the boy had to say is, sir, it wasn't me, it was my brother, go get him. But without saying anything, he received a guilty verdict in his brother's place. And that time in California, when someone was convicted of murder, they'd be marched up on the gallows, and as he stood on the gallows, and as an executioner came and put a black mask over his face and a noose around his neck, all he had to do is say, Mr. Executioner, it wasn't me, it was my brother, go get him. But without saying anything, he died in his brother's place. That becomes a picture for us of Christ, the substitute, the one who gave his life as a redemption for us, the one who became a propitiation for us, and the scriptures tell us that he was wounded for our transgression and bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. The Bible tells us that he became sin for us, the one who knew no sin, so that we could become the righteousness of God in him. Not only did Christ die for us, little Later, that young Chinese brother felt so guilty about what he did, he turned himself in, stood before the same judge. He told the judge the whole story of how he had really been the murderer. And the judge looked down at him and he said, young man, I understand by your own testimony that you are the one who's truly guilty. I understand that you are the one who's committed this crime, but this court is satisfied because the punishment has already been paid. And even though you are guilty, you are free to go. That becomes a picture for us friends of justification. The picture of justification is we as guilty sinners stand before God. And our guilt is obvious. It doesn't matter today whether you're religious in your background or whether you're moral and judgmental, whether you're law-abiding or whether you're ungodly and unrighteous. There is none righteous and all of us will stand before God, the righteous judge, and our mouths will be stopped and we'll be guilty before God. But having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and that, friends, is a justification that is granted to us by grace alone. It's received through faith alone, and that faith is placed in Christ alone. This is the wonderful message of God's declaration of how we can be made right with Him. Frankly, I could just stop the message and just say hallelujah, because all of us would rejoice in the message, the simple gospel message that I proclaimed. But my friends, that's not the end. As a matter of fact, it's just the beginning. Because the message of condemnation, chapters one through three, that's followed by the message of justification in chapters four and five, and that is followed by the message of sanctification. And the message of sanctification not only gives us a demonstration of our need for righteousness, a desperate need, and not only gives us a declaration of righteousness by faith, but it provides for us a demonstration of righteousness where we become on earth what God has already declared us to be. Romans 6, 7, and 8, we are told that our salvation includes far more than just a ticket to heaven. It includes far more than just an escape from hell. Our salvation includes a newness of life. And that newness of life that's described says that we have a new life relationship to sin. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Don't you know that as many of us have been crucified with Christ, that we've also been raised with him? And as we're raised with him, we're risen to walk in newness of life. You see, the Christian life is far more than just forgiveness. It's far more than just a chance to improve yourself. The Christian life is a newness of life that means that you're dead to sin and you're alive with Christ and it's resurrection power that enables us to live out a life pleasing to God. In chapter six, we have a life that has a different relationship to sin. In chapter seven, we have a life that has a different relationship to law. A different relationship to law means that we could agree with the law that is holy and just and good. But even if you agree with the law that is holy and just and good, the law has no power for you to keep it. That means that the things you wanna do, you don't do. The things you don't wanna do, well, that's what you do. And you come to the same desperate cry of the apostle Paul that says, oh, Oh, desperate man that I am. Oh, wicked man that I am. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? And my friends, I'm now getting to the crux of Romans chapter eight, which it tells us not only are we free from the law, not only are we free from sin, but we now have the life of the Holy Spirit. And that life of the Holy Spirit of Romans chapter eight is what gives us so much confident expectation. because he who began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ. And the God of hope gives us the confident expectation that we not only have a home in heaven, and that is enough for me. Thank you, Lord, for my home in heaven. I not only have an escape from hell, and that would be enough for me, but even more than that, I have a newness of life by which I have been born again. Not just born of the flesh, because that which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the spirit is spirit. And the Bible says this, There is no condemnation for those that 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 set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak according to the flesh, God did, so that the righteous requirement of the law are fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. in Romans chapter 8, the reason that there is so much hope, confidence, and expectation. The reason that Romans 8 is such a loved chapter is because Romans 8 is a description of the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God to you and in you as a believer. There is an awful lot of confusion nowadays about the Holy Spirit. On one hand, you have those who are on the charismatic circles, and they make such a, sometimes a mockery out of the Holy Spirit, that it seemed like it's all mysticism, it's all ecstatic nonsense and utterance, and they try to make a, well, it seems almost a blasphemy, a show of it. But on the opposite side are people like us, conservative people, the fifth most conservative college in America. And as conservatives, we come and we hear about the Holy Ghost, and it seems so scary. We're like, oh, Holy Ghost. We don't want to talk about the Holy Ghost. We don't want to talk about the Holy Spirit. But friends, we cannot talk about biblical hope unless we talk about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Because it's the Spirit that bears witness with our spirit that we're children of God. Because it's the Spirit that comforts us in our iniquities and in our infirmities and prays for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. Because it's the Spirit that brings transformation. And just briefly, I want to mention to you that Romans 8 is broken up into paragraphs, and every paragraph is describing a different ministry of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit's ministry of emancipation by which He frees us. That's Romans chapter 8 and verses 1 through 4. Then there's the Holy Spirit's ministry of transformation by which He changes us. That is verses 5 through 13. Then there's the Spirit's ministry of adoption in verses 14 through 17 by which He receives us as His own. And then there's the Spirit's ministry of anticipation. And that is what I want to spend the rest of our time in today. And I hope that you'll bear with me. I just gave a very long introduction to get you caught up to a paragraph, and that paragraph stands on his own for sure, but that paragraph makes much more sense when you see it within its broader context. The context that is describing to us a message of condemnation that is followed by justification and now sanctification working in our life. The ministry of the Holy Spirit by which he weans us from a sin-cursed world, and he gives us a longing for heaven. And that ministry that is found in this passage, the ministry of anticipation, is the anticipation by which any spirit-filled, spirit-controlled Christian finds themselves longing for something better than what they experienced in this world. Any spirit-filled, spirit-controlled Christian is going to have to testify and say that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us. The seven C's that Ken Ham has been talking about are being found in this very passage of scripture. He talked about creation, how that God started everything off fresh and good and right and pure. And his own testimony was that it was very good. But from creation, there came a corruption, and that corruption became his man, defilement, when they defied God and fell into sin. And that led then to the curse of sin, catastrophe. That catastrophe was followed, the flood that was there, and that catastrophe was followed by the confusion of the Tower of Babel. The only solution to all of this is not a political solution, or an economic solution, or even an educational solution. The only solution to any of this was Christ, the Savior, who came into the world for us. He died for us on the cross, and so the cross becomes the solution, and that leads us to the confident expectation of the consummation. And that consummation is a new heaven and a new earth. And any Christian that is being influenced by the spirit of God finds themselves going through suffering and difficulty and hardship, recognizing that the sufferings that we're experiencing in this world are simply tools that God is using to wean us from this world and give us a greater longing for heaven. I'm gonna ask someone to please say amen and help me a little bit. Is there anyone that could identify with the words of this song that say, this world is not my home. I'm just passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckoned me from heaven's open door and I can't feel at home in this world anymore. Listen, for a spirit-filled Christian, we have the spirit of God that is within us that tells us that we are strangers and pilgrims in this land and that there is something far better for us The problem that we have in America today is that we have so little suffering that we also have so little anticipation. Come on. Do you understand what I'm describing? I mean, we, for the most part, well, we hear the promise of Jesus that says, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And we hear a promise of our mansion, and frankly, too many of us as Christians say, well, I kind of like the mansion that I'm living in right now. Thank you very much. We have big houses, we have nice cars, and we have luxury and ease. We don't face the kind of persecution and hardship that people all over the world face. As I've traveled to India, I found some of the most joyful people in the world are first-generation believers in the northern part of India, people who have been rejected by their family, people who are outcast by their community, people who have no form of livelihood because they have been cast out by everyone. They all have almost nothing. They've sacrificed everything for the cause of Christ. And yet, when I gather with those Christians, they are playing their tambourines, and they're clapping, they're singing, and they're lifting their hands, and they're joyfully singing about heaven. Because the sufferings of this world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us. If you were to go to Russia in the days after the Iron Curtain fell, you would find Christians had been persecuted, thrown by the government into gulags. Pastor after pastor, it all suffered. And after all that suffering and hardship and difficulty, you know what the Russian people were continually singing of? Beulah land, glory. The world is not worthy of us and we're longing to see the face of Jesus. These were people who suffered. In the midst of their suffering, they found themselves anticipating something far greater. And it's also true in Africa. The poorest people I've ever met are in Africa. These are people who are living hand-to-mouth every day. They live in thatched-roof huts. These people have almost nothing, and some of them, as Christians, face even greater persecution because the community around them hates them and the government will oppress them. But continually, they're singing of heaven. Have you noticed that in the American church today, very few of us are singing about heaven? I've even been in conferences and I've been to churches where highfalutin, theologically sound people will say something to the effect that, ah, we just don't sing some of those redneck, escapist, old school songs anymore. We don't want to sing about heaven because people don't want to think about heaven. They want to figure out how to have their best life now. They want to know how to make every day a Friday. Everyone wants to know practical Christianity that comes and says, how can I avoid trouble and enjoy a life of ease? But my friends, the truth, according to Jesus, is that as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no condemnation, but that doesn't mean that there is no tribulation. Jesus says that in this world, you will have troubles. And when Jesus said that in this world, you have troubles, he said, if you love me, and if the world hates me, then the world is also gonna hate you. He's not coming to deliver us and give us health and wealth and luxury and ease. He's not guaranteeing you a job straight out of a Christian university. He's not guaranteeing you plenty of income and a nice house. As a matter of fact, he may be coming to declare to us that there will be suffering and hardship for following him. But the message of this passage of Scripture in this paragraph that I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." My friends, I want us to gain a better attitude in our suffering by having a greater anticipation of glory. The greater attitude in our suffering comes and says, okay, the little bit of suffering that I have, and Dr. Pettit, I think, is very in touch with the students that are here. He knows how you think. He knows how your emotions ebb and flow and If I can be honest, the very first hand that was raised last night was me. I'm the one who raised my hand and said, I need hope. I need to remember that it's not emotions and it's not the certainty of a ministry. It's not the certainty of a paycheck that's coming in. What I need is I need the hope and the promise of God. And that's true for you. Your hope is not just some boy is going to ask you to art a series. Your hope is not just that you're gonna make a free throw at the end of the game. Too many people are crossing their fingers and squinting their eyes and saying, I hope, I hope, I hope I pass this test that I forgot to study for. And then when we don't pass the test or we don't get asked, then we start thinking that God is dead, God has abandoned us, God doesn't care about anything. Wait, we have such a low tolerance of suffering, perhaps because we have such a low anticipation of glory. This passage of scripture describes the anticipation of glory with three different groans. And tonight, or this afternoon, I want you to hear three groans. First of all. is the groan of creation. Take a look, please, at verse 19. 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 has subjected it in the same hope. But the creature itself also should 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. I don't know how you can miss it. There is a natural, materialistic, created order that is groaning under the curse of sin. Think about the elements as an example. All around us, we are living in a sin-cursed world that is groaning, such as when there are tsunamis, or earthquakes, or volcanoes, when there are floods, or when there's freezing temperatures, or let me just be plain, this is not the result of global warming, this is the curse of sin. You see, in Genesis chapter one, God created everything. And when he created it, it was all very good. There was no futility. There was no barrenness. There was no dysfunction of the elements. Instead, everything was very good until sin came in. And when sin came in, everything changed. Everything, including the elements that are around us. And when all of those elements that we see, including earthquakes, tsunamis, Hurricanes and tornadoes. When you talk to someone who said, wait a second, if there is a loving God, why does he allow all of those things? You need to remind them that a loving God created a perfect heaven and earth. He created a perfect earth that didn't contain all of those things. But all of those things are a result of sin, man's rebellion and defiance. And as a result, all creation is groaning and travailing, waiting for its deliverance. And that deliverance, my friends, will come. In 2 Peter chapter 3 it says, "'looking for and hastening under the coming "'of the day of God, wherein the heavens, "'being on fire, will be dissolved, "'and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. "'Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, "'look for a new heaven and a new earth, "'wherein dwelleth righteousness.'" We're looking for a new heaven and new earth, because this world is not my home, I'm just passing through. I'm a stranger and I'm a pilgrim, and I can join with the groan of the elements creation that are looking for a consummation, a restoration of all things, when God comes and makes all things new. I want you to hear not only the groan of the elements, I want you to hear the groan of vegetation. The groan of the vegetation happens when God created all of the plants and the trees, the one that would bear fruit, and He He produced them, He created them so they would be productive. But now what is the condition that we find them? Well, in Romans 8 it says that we find them subject to vanity or futility. That means that they're not fulfilling that which they had been created to do. They are bondage to corruption. So that now instead of being fertile and productive and nutritious, we find deserts that are all around and we find Different things that would affect the vegetation so the vegetation is also under the curse in order to prove that to you I've got again refer you to Genesis chapter 3 where Adam is receiving a curse and it says cursed is the ground for thy sake and sorrow thou shalt eat of it all the days of thy life thorns also and thistle shall bring forth to thee and thou shalt eat the herb of the field and the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the ground for out of it that was taken for dust thou art and dust thou shalt return and Within that passage, he's describing that all vegetation was affected because of man's sin. When vegetation is affected and we see trees that are dead or not being productive, when we see deserts, when we hear about droughts and things that are of that nature, what we need to hear is the groan of creation that is longing for something better. And what is it that they're longing for? Isaiah chapter 51, it says, the Lord shall comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places. He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness should be found therein, thanksgiving in the voice of melody. I'm looking for the redemption that is not just the redemption of our bodies, but a new heaven and a new earth and vegetation being restored. All the plants are crying out for the consummation and the return of the Lord to make all things new. Isaiah chapter 41 describes the saying when it says, the poor and needy seek water, and there is none. Their tongue faileth for thirst. I, the Lord, will hear them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open up rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar. the acacia tree, the myrtle, and the oil tree. I will set the desert, the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together." All of these things are demonstrating that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and a creation that is currently groaning, is longing for its deliverance. It's not only the elements of creation, it's not only the plants of creation, it's the animals. When I think of the animals, I think of the reality. Someone described it the other day. They said animals have been given to us for food. And there's a reality that we can enjoy that food. But if you look at the animal kingdom, man, there's an awful lot of suffering and violence. I love lions just by their very nature. I just look at them, they seem so majestic. And I've never seen this in real life myself. I only see it on TV. But when I'm watching television and they pick on the smallest little sickest animal in a herd, they pull that thing aside and they choke it. And then the next thing I do is I see a bloody mess animal that had been squealing for its life. And now I hear the bones that are crunching. I just find I find something tragic about death and destruction in the animal kingdom. I don't just have to go to the wild kingdom, though. I don't just have to look to wild animals, sometimes domestic animals. A few years ago, our family had moved into a new house in Colorado Springs. It was up on a big sand dune that was there, and as a result, because it was on a sand dune, there were mice, and the mice wanted to overtake the house. It got so bad that my children, who were very small at that time, they would be sitting watching television, and the mice would run over their feet in order to cross the room. It was just horrible. The mice were taking over. And that's the point when I told my wife, I said, Nancy, I want you to go and it's time to get a cat. And I don't want you bringing home a cute, cuddly little thing. I want you to bring home a murderer. I want you to find something that can get the job done. So she went to the local store. She found a cat that was great with the kids, but also, man, he became my hero. And personally, I just can't stand cats. But if they're willing to hunt, man, I enjoy that. And he got the job done soon. He was killing every mouse in the house. And I don't know if you knew this, but cats, if they demonstrate love for one particular child, they'll bring a love offering to them. And so every morning, my daughter Alyssa would scream as she came out of her room because there's a half-eaten mouse that's left by her door. So this cat was doing the job, but then I became even more disturbed because he wasn't just a murderer. I watched him catch the mice, and then he would let the mouse go, and then he would chase it and catch it again. Now he's not just a murderer, he's a terrorist. I mean, he's tormenting. The poor little thing. And even though I didn't want any of the mice that were around, I looked at all of what was taking place and I found myself groaning with creation because there's so much death and violence and decay. I find myself kind of like the Christmas song. The song that says, joy to the world, the Lord has come, let earth receive her king. How about no more let sin and sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings known far as the curse is found. When he comes to make his blessings known, this is what the animal kingdom has to look forward in consummation. When it says the wolf and the lamb shall feed together and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock. The dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy. In all my holy mountains saith the Lord." This is not just figurative. This is a demonstration that the created order is groaning and longing for its deliverance. This afternoon, we've heard the groan of creation in Romans chapter 8, but we also find the groan of the Christian. Take a look at verse 23. Romans 8, verse 23, 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. What's the groan of a Christian sound like? Well, it's not the groan of murmuring and complaining. It's not a sinful groan of whining and fussing. Instead, it's the pained anguish that is longing for something better. It's similar to the groan of the Lord Jesus when he went and saw his friend Lazarus who died. And he saw all the sorrow and death and he saw grief that was all around him and he saw a persistent unbelief and he groaned in his spirit and then Jesus wept. Why did Jesus groan? Because this is not how he had created things. He's longing for things to be brought new. He wants the world to believe in him and be restored to himself. And we find ourselves groaning in the same way. And so for the groan for some of you might be It might be the groan of arthritis, in which your joints aren't functioning, and your hands aren't functioning, and you're desiring to exchange this corruptible body for that which is incorruptible, this mortal body for that which is immortal. For some of you, the groan might be cancer. I heard of a pastor who had come, had a recent diagnosis here of his wife who has stage four cancer. There's the groaning that we all feel for that, the groaning of the suffering that says we live in sin-cursed bodies, and we live in a sin-cursed world, and our prayer and desire is, Lord, come and make all things new. May there be a consummation, a confident expectation, the hope that the suffering of this present time is not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us. The groaning for some of you is the groaning that staggers as you're walking across campus. You used to be able to walk at quite a pace, but now, well, you're a lot older, and you're helping your wife as she's feeble and frail, and you yourself are hunched over, and there's the groaning of bodies that are just wearing out, or there's the groaning of coughs. Many of you are in the middle of a semester where you have sickness and illness, and you're not feeling well, and here's what I want you to do is I want you to embrace all of that suffering as an anticipation for heaven. I want you to look at all of the groaning that is there, eyes that don't see the way that we once saw, ears that don't hear the way that we once heard. I want you to take all the groaning of suffering and death and disease and heartache and disappointment. I want you to hear the groaning of a body and let the groaning of the body be something that drives you to an anticipation that says, I'll have a new body. Praise the Lord, I'll have a new life. Dr. Petta mentioned that he knew me when I was a youth pastor in East Tennessee. And when I was in East Tennessee, they had one of the favorite songs. I just loved hearing it. It's a good Southern gospel song that sang about heaven. And it went something like this, on that resurrection morning, when all the dead in Christ shall rise, I'll have a new body. Praise the Lord, I'll have a new life. Well, that church had to stop singing the song because the choir would sing a number all the time. And you know how Southern Gospel is. There'll be one part by the men and one part by the women echoing back and forth. Well, imagine this. The choir starts singing and all the ladies say on the resurrection morning, I'll have a new body. And then the men say, praise the Lord. You can imagine why they had to quit singing the song. Everyone kept laughing about the song that was going on. But my friends, it doesn't matter if you're male or female, I will have a new body. And we can all praise the Lord that we're going to have a new life. This body that's sown in weakness will be raised in power. This body that's sown in corruption will be raised in incorruption. This body that is sown in mortality will be raised in immortality. My friends, We need to sing about heaven. We need to get excited about heaven. We need to start anticipating heaven because the groaning of our present condition gives us a spirit anointed, spirit fed, longing for something better. We're wanting heaven. Too many of us are just at home right now where we are. We love our relationships. But listen, God is going to allow there to be suffering. And it may not be the suffering, the groaning of your body. It might be the groaning of your spirit. Maybe it's the groaning that I feel regularly. Oh Lord, I'm tired of wrestling against sin in my own life. I'm tired of my own failures and how there's sometimes conflict, sometimes disappointment, sometimes there's heartache, sometimes relationships just don't click. I'm in a situation now where I scratch my head and I say, how in the world have relationships spiraled down a certain path? Then I see all of that suffering and the anguish of soul, and I long to be delivered from a sin-cursed world and from sin in my own life, and I want there to be a redemption of these things. I find myself through the suffering of financial struggle. the suffering of uncertainty. Another pastor, a certain brother that I saw today, was describing how he had served the Lord so faithfully, and now he comes to the end of his life and he's struggling to make the ends meet. He doesn't know what he's going to do. And I'm telling you, That there's every person in this room who has some form of groan in your life, a suffering that God is allowing, but you don't suffer as someone who doesn't have hope. You suffer as someone who recognizes that there is no measure of suffering in this present life that can be compared with God has planned for us. I've got to prove this to you. Turn with me, please, to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians 4 is stating the exact same thing that we are hearing in this, and I'm only going to read it, so those of you who are going to be preaching this passage a little bit later on, don't become panicked. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 16, it says, for which cause we faint not, for though our outward man perishes, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. For we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. That sounds exactly like what we're reading in Romans 8. We don't hope for what we see. We hope for what we don't see. We don't see the glory. We don't see what's going to happen. You can't see it, but you have hope in what you don't see, because we are looking for things that are eternal rather than temporal. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed, we should not be found naked. For we are in this tabernacle, we do groan being burdened Not for that which would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us in the self same thing as God, who also has given unto us the earnest of the Holy Spirit. Let me talk about the earnest of the Holy Spirit, because what's talked about the earnest of the Holy Spirit and described as the first fruits of the Spirit in Romans eight, is describing again that work of the Spirit by which he is the first fruit, the guarantee of the full harvest. And what you are experiencing as a born again Christian, born of the Spirit, indwelt by the Spirit of God, having a new life in Christ, what you are experiencing by His transforming from the inside out, by His adoption, by which He bears witness that you're a child of God, that work of the Spirit in you is the guarantee of His finished work, which is the redemption of your body and the glorification that is there. My friends, your glorification is so sure That the Spirit of God who begins and seals, He becomes an earnest in you, and when you see the work of the Spirit in your life, He becomes the guarantee of that final moment. There's not only a groan of creation, there's a groan of the Christian, but in Romans 8, there's a groan of the comforter. The groan of the comforter comes and it tells you that in your hardship and difficulty right now, God cares. He sees. And you may not know what you should pray for as you ought, but the Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. That means that He sees, He cares, and when we cast our cares upon Him, we know that He cares for us. It means that He does see us in all of our condition, and He is the one who relieves us. He is the one who gives us hope. This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I recognize today that I've given so much information that some of your heads are swimming a little bit, and I apologize that I've hit you with Romans 8 context, and Romans, the whole book of Romans context, and tried to come to this paragraph. If there's something that you think would be a little bit more clear, and you'd like a little bit more detail of it, I'd like to offer you something. I've had a book produced. It's called Life in the Spirit, and it's an exposition of Romans chapter 8. And I'd like you to have one of these. It cost me about $10 to produce it, and so if you're able to buy one, that would certainly help us. But if you just want to make a contribution because you don't have the $10, that's fine. And if you don't have anything, I'd like you to have it anyway. Because we all need to just rejoice in this message of Romans 8, the work of the Spirit of God that's in us, and the work of the Spirit by which He gives us an anticipation, a longing for heaven. My friends, this world is not my home. I'm just passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven's open door and I can't feel at home in this world anymore. Oh, I hope that you're feeling less and less at home in this world because God is gonna use whatever difficult circumstances to wean you from this temporary world and to give you a greater longing for heaven. God bless you.