So let's pray. Dear God Almighty, thank you that your salvation is from eternity past in your predestination. Thank you for calling your elect. Thank you for justifying them. Thank you for sanctifying us. Thank you for glorifying us. Please, Lord, help us to look forward and groan for glory, Lord, so that we would persevere in following you. Please help me to preach your word clearly and passionately evangelistically and with the holiness of life so that I could serve the people. Amen. It's a great pleasure to serve you tonight by teaching you the Word of God, and particularly this passage about glorification. It is a great topic, and consider the context of Romans. Pastor Mark has been taking us through chapters 6, 7, and into 8, and chapters 3, 4, 5, we see justification by faith. In chapters 6 and 7, we've seen the sanctification of the believer. In chapter 8, we've seen that there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, and that those who live according to the flesh, it brings death, but those who live according to the Spirit, it brings life. And now, we get into glorification. The golden chain has been laid out through Romans, and now I'm bringing you to the sweetest link in the chain, glorification. Think with me for a moment about how important this is. One time when we were in Guatemala, one of the young girls came up to one of the ladies who came on the trip. And this young girl described a trial that she was in, that she had been living in a certain part of the city and gangs had came. Organized crime is very popular there. It's very prevalent there. And the gangs came and said, you have a safety tax that you need to pay. In order to keep you safe from us, you've got to pay us money. The safety tax. Her family couldn't pay, wouldn't pay, so they end up killing one of her family members. She ends up moving, they run to a different part of the city. And then the gang found them there. And then they were asking, and she was asking, what do I do? I don't know if when I go home, if my family will be murdered. Because this gang who already killed one of my family members now knows where we are. What can you say to someone like that? Can you give her a Joel Osteen book? A Joel Osteen book is no longer funny at that point, right? It should make you angry. When you're at that point, what is the only thing you can do? Can you get him out of the country? I can't take anybody out of the country. Can you run to a different part? Maybe. What's the solution? She needs to be saved. This is the solution that you need. This is the solution that gets you through every suffering time. Glory. Glory. What makes it possible for you to get through a trial is when you see the end of the road. You see the end of the road and you say, it's worth it. I'm going to be with the Lord here because I want to be with Him there. You need to be in glory. You need this more than life, more than breath. You need to be with Christ in glory. And he who began a work with the justified and whom he sanctified, he's gonna glorify. So you have got to see your desperate need because the suffering will come for you. All those who desire to live godly in this life will suffer persecution. Mark it down. It was the Lord's path. It's gonna be yours if you're with the Lord. So it's just a matter of time. It's just a matter of time before the trial comes so hot that you can't bear the heat. And what will get you through is when you say, I want to persevere and be in glory. Look at this text. Let's read it together. Chapter 8, verse 18. 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 in 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. In verse 18, you're gonna see that you cannot compare your suffering. Paul challenges you to compare your suffering with your glorification. In verses 19 to 22, we're gonna see how you should join creation in groaning for your glorification. In verses 23 to 25, we see you need to groan for your glorification. So first, consider the suffering. Paul says, 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 word here in verse 18, for I consider, is a mathematical term. He's saying, I've weighed it out. I've waited out, and let me tell you, I've suffered. I've suffered a lot, and I've waited out. I've compared my beatings. I've compared my slander that's come against me. I've compared sitting in jail, wondering if I'm going to be executed. I've compared all that, and I've thought about all that, and you know what? It does not compare with being with the Lord in heaven. It does not compare with being free from indwelling sin. It does not compare with greeting the Lord and seeing Him bodily. It does not compare. The tears that Paul says, I cry in jail. don't compare to the tears of joy that I will have when I see the Lord. The pain that I have in jail, or the pain that I have when people dear to me apostatize, that pain, that backstabbing pain, doesn't compare to the glory that will be revealed in us Think about some of the ways that Paul suffered. Because Paul's the one writing this. Look in 2 Corinthians 11, 22-33. 2 Corinthians is a book of suffering. It's a book of suffering, but then it's a book of comfort. Because Paul is having one of the hardest times in his ministry. He loved the Corinthian church, and the Corinthian church came back and stabbed him to the heart. There were many slanderers in the Corinthian church. Many people who said horrible things about Paul. Some people said, oh he can't preach well. Other people said he's contemptible in sight. So you've heard me probably say this before, if you can preach and you're ugly, then at least people can listen to you. And if you at least, if you look good, you can't preach that well, but at least if you look good, at least people can look at you. But they say Paul's got neither. And they began to tell lies about him. Of why he was in the ministry. In the ministry for immorality. In the ministry for money. And he's beginning to defend himself here, to explain, for their sake, that he was not a hypocrite. He says, he begins to explain some of it himself, in comparison to those who call themselves apostles. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool, I am more. In laborers more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently and in deaths often. For the Jews, five times I received 40 stripes minus one. Three times, now hold on a second. You're listening to this as if you're reading in the newspaper. You gotta stop and you gotta think about when you're beaten. Have you ever been beaten? Three times I was beating rods. Once I was stoned. Have you ever been stoned? Have you ever had a softball sized rock hit you in the face? Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. You say, well, my car broke down once. No, no, no, no. You don't get it. You don't get it. Yeah, I called my wife on my cell phone. She came and picked me up. It was such a hard day that day when my car broke down. You honestly think that way, don't you? You honestly think, oh, what a... Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Nobody knows. When your car breaks down and you lose your job, and you think, that's a bad day. A night and a day I have been in the deep. Have you ever spent a night holding on to some floating wreckage floating in the ocean? journeys off in perils and waters, perils of robbers, and perils of my own countrymen, and perils of Gentiles, and perils of the city, and perils in the wilderness, and perils in the sea, and perils among false brethren. He's been in a lot of perils. He's been in a lot of danger. Danger, danger, danger. Everywhere, all the time. Paul's saying, I feel like somebody's going to kill me. All the time. And it was true. Every town he goes into, somebody wants to kill him. Have you ever had somebody who actually wanted to kill you? Who was actually planning to kill you? Have you ever combined all these? Who is the one writing this about suffering and glorification? In weariness and toil and sleepless often hunger and thirst and fasting is often in cold and nakedness besides the other things which comes upon me daily. My concern for the churches You see what hurts him the most? It's not the beatings. He'll take a hundred beatings. It's the concern for the churches. The people he loves and whether they're going to follow the Lord. So think about this. And think about how this is not just the Apostle turned to second Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. I'm sorry, my apologies. 1 Thessalonians. In Thessalonians, Paul went and evangelized in Thessalonica. He set up a church. Within a fast time, he had to run out of town. People were trying to kill him. He only had about a month there. And then he begins to write back to them, telling them about how they need to persevere, how they need to serve the Lord. And he talks to them about their perseverance, about their witness. In chapter 2, in verse 13, he says, For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because you received the word of God which you heard from us. You welcomed it as the word of men, but it is in truth the word of God. which also effectively works in you who believe. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God who were in Judea in Christ Jesus. Why? What ways? For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us. And they do not please God, and are contrary to all men. forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they may be saved, so as also to fill up the measure of their sins, because wrath has come upon them to the uttermost." This is not just something for Paul. This is something for the Church. This is not something just for the Church. It's for Christ. It's not just something for Christ. It's for you. You will suffer. Are you ready for it? Are you ready? Are you ready? To what degree are you ready? How will you be ready? How will you be ready when suffering comes? Keep your eyes on glory. Turn back to Romans chapter 8. For the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Hear me, hear me now. You have got to focus on the glory that will be revealed in you. When that suffering comes, when your best friend says, I don't want to follow Christ, and he goes that way, and Jesus goes this way, who will you go with? When your wife gets cancer, what will you do? What will you think about? when your child is dead in your arms and you're crying out, how could this happen? God, where are you? Glory is your only hope. Glory is your only hope. Glory is your only hope. Think about it. When your child is dead in your arms from some accident, drowning in the pool, the car comes in and you're there weeping. When death hunts you down and comes into your living room and takes out one of the people you love, where will your hope be? It's coming. Death hunts you. It's coming like a predator. And I say to death, I mock it. I mock you, death. I'm not going to feel your sting. And I'm going to look to glory. Where are you going to go? Where are you gonna go when this suffering comes? And it will come. Heaven is your only hope. Christ is your only hope. You know what I'm saying is true, don't you? But if you think about it, you're afraid to think about when the death will face you, will look you in the eyes, or the person you love in the eyes. And I'm telling you, the one who has the hope of glory does not have to fear death. They do not have to fear any trial, any trial that comes your way. The person who has the hope of glory can face any trial. Stop and think about the contrast here between the lost man and the saved man here. When you take away the lost man's possessions, when he loses the job that he dreamed about, What happens? Does he commit suicide? Maybe. Maybe he'll go, he goes into work and begins to shoot the people. This is not uncommon in our country. What happens to the Christian when he loses his job? All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. He says, praise God! That doesn't matter. I got a mansion in glory. The lost man, when he loses his family, when his wife divorces him and leaves him, when his children die, I have seen funerals where the people, they weep and weep and weep, and then they weep for years. Have you been there? Have you seen some of those people who will weep for years for someone who died? And they can not get over it. They can never get over it. But the Christian, but the Christian knows that God works out salvation from before eternity began. And he knows that God does all things right. And even if the person you love the most dies and goes to hell, You know God has done right. Where will you be? Where will you be when this pain comes for you? Will you look to glory? There are so many people who are so stuck on this present life. And it separates them. It separates them. from the lost and the found, from the unregenerate and the regenerated, from the slaves to sin and the redeemed. Watch how it will separate you. Watch how it will separate many of you. It will either confirm your faith or reveal to you. Remember the four soils? because of different sufferings that happen. It shows they're not genuinely converted. So think about glory. A Christian can see the future and rest in glory. And they will do that throughout their entire life. They will press on. So now, in Verse 18, he says, the glory which shall be revealed in us. Very quickly, I want to take you through a little picture of some different steps of glory. Glorification can be seen in absent from the body, present with the Lord. Let's look in Luke 23. Luke 23, 42. the two thieves on the cross, starting in verse 39. Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed him, saying, If you are the Christ, save yourself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing that you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward for our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, assuredly, I say to you, today, you will be with me in paradise. Glorification comes in, number one, it comes in absent from the body, present with the Lord. That's 2 Corinthians 5, 8. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. This young man, this man, who was a thief, a murderer, justly condemned. He got to be with the Lord that day in paradise. That is hope. That is glory. Glorification comes in this way. Secondly, it comes in your bodily resurrection. If you are a genuine believer, these are the things you get to look forward to. These are the things that will press you on through trials. Look in 1 Corinthians 15, 35 to 49. 1 Corinthians 15, 35. But someone will say, how are the dead raised up and with what body did they come? Foolish one. What you sow is not made alive unless it dies. Paul is like, haven't foolish, you ignorant fool, haven't you ever planted a seed? It works just like the seed. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be but mere grain, perhaps wheat or some other grain, but God gives it a body as he pleases, and to each seed its own body. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of a man, another kind of flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, terrestrial bodies, but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. For the glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars. Feels like you want to start to sing the song, right? What Paul is explaining is the glory of your bodily resurrection. Where this thing, this thing that gets old, decrepit, broken, cracked down, right? Where your eyes fail. Your back fails? Somebody's like, preach it. But most of all, this indwelling sin. Can't you wait to get rid of this body that has this sin in you? Think of the times that what comes out of your mouth, what inconsiderate words What blasphemous words have come out of your mouth? Maybe not taking God's name and actually using it, but you do not trust the Lord. And you blaspheme the Lord. Think of what has happened in your mind, the evil thoughts that you have meditated on. Don't you want to get rid of this body? Don't you want to trade it in for a new one? One without indwelling sin? That will get you through trials, won't it? Look to the glory of if you were to die right now, you'd be right with the Lord. If you, when you get your new body, It will be like the Lord's body, His resurrected body, where you'll be able to eat and talk and hug, just the things the Lord did when He resurrected. So bodily resurrection, immediate presence with the Lord, there's another type of glorification, the bema seat. Excuse me. 2 Corinthians 5, 9-11. We can actually start in verse 6. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. For we are confident, yes, well pleased, rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Therefore, make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. Why? Why are we pleasing to Him whether we're with Him or whether we're not? Because in verse 10, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. But we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences. The Bema seat is not the seat of judgment, but it's the seat, it's the judgment of rewards. This is a judgment seat that was one of like a athlete awards. So the Christians come and they, another step in glorification is the ability that you will get to serve the Lord into eternity. where the Lord will judge what you have done with your time, with your resources, with your energy, with your education, with how much grace he gave you. How did you use it? Like the parable of the talents. How did you use your five talents? How did I use my one talent? How did somebody else use their 10 talents? With how much grace the Lord gave you. He will judge you on how you used it. So there's one, there's present with the Lord. Two, there's a bodily resurrection. Three, there's the bama seat. And four, the new heavens and the new earth. Revelation 21. And now I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, God himself. will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain. The former things have passed away." So the glory in Romans 8, we get a picture of this new heavens and new earth. and a picture of the glorification of the body of the believer. We get a picture of two of those phases of glory. Let's look back in Romans 8. In verse 19, Notice with me the word creation. In verse 20, notice creation was subjected to futility. In verse 21, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption. Look in verse 22, for we know that the whole creation groans. You see what's happening here? Creation is groaning. Not just groaning, they're groaning for your glorification. Creation cannot stand to have the sin around it. Creation is groaning out, saying, man, I can't wait till you get rid of that indwelling sin. So look in verse 19, for the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly awaits for the revealing of the sons of God. This word, earnest expectation, means that it's literally like a stretching. It's like creation is stretching to see. They're stretching to see you coming in in glory. It's like, when is it coming? Man! We... We need, the creation is groaning out, I want to see them glorified. It says they're eagerly awaiting. This word, creation, eagerly awaits. This word is used to describe someone eagerly awaiting payment, eagerly awaiting a gift. They're eagerly awaiting. What? What? The revealing of the sons of God. And this word here, revealing, is used the same word that is for the book of Revelation. The unveiling. And the unveiling is for the sons of God. So creation, the trees are looking in right now through the back window. And they're saying, when is that guy going to be glorified? I can't wait until sin is gone. The birds are tweeting to each other. And you know what they talk about when birds talk? They're like, when will the Lord come back? Why? Because it says in Purpose 4 in verse 20, Why is the creation so eager? Because it was made to serve. It was made to serve in frustration. Do you feel the frustration of creation? Begin to fill out some of your notes here. In the top, we have compare your suffering with your glorification. Stop staring at your suffering. Verse 18b, start focusing on the glory that will be revealed. Join creation in groaning for your glorification. Eagerly await with creation for your revealing and feel the frustration of creation. Imagine all the wars creation has seen. All the child prostitution. All the babies that creation has seen being chopped up and thrown into a dumpster. All the rebellion. Remember the story of Korah's rebellion in Numbers 16? I think it was the ground's idea to swallow up Korah. The ground said to the Lord, Lord, please let me swallow them up. It's the ocean's idea to swallow up the drunk on the beach. Please, Lord, can I drag that drunk into my ocean and drown him? It's the tornado, the wind blows by the couple who walks in adultery holding hands. And the wind goes by and says, please Lord, can I become a tornado? Creation said that all around you when you were living in your sin. When the wind blew through your hair. When you walked and felt the sand between your toes. All of creation groaned. I was fishing once, and I caught this fish that was this big. And I got it, and it said to me, are you going to eat me? I said, yes. I haven't caught anything else. And he said to me, are you gonna use me to blaspheme God? Are you gonna use me, my energy? There was a preacher who once was eating an orange, and the orange said to him, the orange began to shake in his hand. And he said, that orange said to the preacher, are you gonna eat me and use me for sin? And he said, no. use you to preach for souls. Creation can't stand the stench of you. And it's like, man, I can't wait till this guy gets washed all the way. He's stinking up the Lord's earth. And you smell yourself too. Go ahead. Man, yeah. I need glory. The more time you spend around somebody, the more they see your sin. You spend a lot of time around creation and it sees your sin. Because, look in verse 21, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption. It can't wait for the new heavens and the new earth. It's going to be released from this bondage, freed from slavery. Freed from a slavery of depravity. It is in a slavery of depravity. ever since Adam and Eve defied the Lord. This is the commentary on the fall. And amazingly, some preachers say that Christians' biggest problem is that they take sin too seriously. And yet all of creation does not take sin lightly. All of creation can't stand the stench of sin. You notice, who's the person who, who's the only person who likes your stench? You. Nobody else likes it. I'm talking to the college guys now, really focusing in now with the college guys. Nobody likes the smells that you bring. You see, that's what sin is like. You can stand it. You can say, I haven't shat for a couple of days and you don't mind it so bad. But everyone else around you sees it. Everyone else can't handle it. Even where you've been, you leave that same scent. You don't even have to be a track dog to find you. You see, this is what Christ is doing, what God is doing. He's personifying creation, saying creation is this way. It's as if your sin is so powerful and your glorification is so great that all of the things in the world, all the things around you, the sun doesn't want to shine down on you anymore. It cries out, God, won't you glorify this? The work that you finished, won't you complete it? In verse 22, for we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs until now. All of creation, this word for groaning is a crying out in pain. All of the trees are groaning and gritting their teeth. They can't stand it. But when you're redeemed, the trees will clap their hands with joy. They can't wait for the day when the Lord returns. Do you ache for that day? Do you ache to have that indwelling sin be gone? Amazingly now, there are more and more people in our sad country beginning to worship creation. Isn't that a strange thing? They worship the creature rather than the creator? Creation doesn't want that. The tree hugger comes by and starts to hug the tree, and the tree says, Get off of me! Your sin stinks! You need to get saved and worship the Creator. Many people think they need to go back to being American Indians and that creation is what is all pure. And they don't see the lion chomping down the bones and ligaments of the antelope. They don't see the rabbit that eats its own young. It happens. They don't see these things, the effect of the fall. They look at creation and say, My God! And creation says, God, deliver me from this! So you're supposed to say it, too. Look in verses 23 to 25. Notice the theme of we. Not only that, but we. Also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit. Even we, ourselves, grown within ourselves. Look at verse 24. For we were saved in this hope. Look at verse 25. For we hope for what we do not see. We eagerly wait. Okay, so we've heard how suffering points and lifts your head up to look at glory. We've heard how creation cries out, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory. When will it come? When will it come? Now we join the chorus. Glory, glory, glory, glory, groan for your glory. Groan for your glory. Groan for it. And you will only groan for it when you see your sin. The person who never sees their sin will never groan for it. They will be in their suffering and they will sin more. But when the Christian who is in their suffering, they will groan, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory. I want to be in glory. I can't wait for the day of glorification. No more Judas's. No more pain. No more tears. No more trials. No more, I'll be with Christ. Are you going to be there? Are you going to meet me there? Grown for it. Look, God commands you to grown for it. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting. You see the repetition of the words? That's the same words from 19. Eagerly waiting, groaning. It's the same groaning from verse 22. We have the firstfruits of the Spirit. It's like we who have received the Holy Spirit as a down payment. We receive the Holy Spirit with justification. Everyone who's justified has the Spirit. They receive that as a down payment to say, you're gonna get to glory. If you got the Holy Spirit in you, you're gonna get there. What I guarantee, the first fruits, praise God, praise God. So if you have the fruits of the Spirit in your life, that tells you, The joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, the long-suffering, that is telling you you're gonna see glory. You got the fruits of the flesh, the drunkenness, the immorality, the hatred, the outburst of wrath. You can't control your temper. You got a quick fuse. That sin, continually repeated, shows you it's the work of the flesh, and you are, those are warning signs you will not be in glory. So the ones who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies. Adoption is the ability to be called a son of God. To be able to say, Father, I know you hear me. Don't you love to pray that way? To pray to your Father? That is not the benefit of all people. How many people do we meet while we're evangelizing, and they think, yes, I'm a son of God, but they are actually, by their works, what does Christ say? It shows that you're of your father, the devil. In John, he says to him, you're from below. And your works show it, your life shows it. But the one who's adopted, what a privilege. And there's a now, not yet, aspect to it. There's this aspect where you get that relationship with the Lord, where He's your Heavenly Father, and then it's gonna be even better in glory. Your Father, you will get to be with Him and spend your time with Him, serving Him. All of the good things in life are just a shadow of that, of being with the Lord. All the joy you get here, is like a crouton when the feast, a plain crouton that's been in the dirt, plain crouton in the dirt, that's what your joy is like now, your pleasure is like now, compared to the feast of glory. You think you've had some adventure here? You ain't seen nothing yet, kid. You ain't seen nothing yet through the adventure you get to serve the Lord in glory. You think you got to preach here? Just wait till you get to talk about how wonderful God is for all eternity. You think you get to sing here? You ain't seen nothing yet, kid. I'm talking about singing with the angels. Glory will make you persevere. Glory will make you laugh at a trial. and say, I counted joy. Because it lifts my head to groan for glory. Not only is He eagerly awaiting adoption, but we eagerly await the redemption. Redemption is a buying you out of the slave market of sin. You were a slave, naked, in the slave market. A slave to your sin. You were on the auction block, chained to your sin. And the Lord came in and bought you and clothed you. and took you to be a son. How amazing is the Lord's salvation. That redemption that He began is going to be completed. Now and not yet. It's coming. It's coming. It's coming. Hold on. Don't jump ship. Row with the rest of us. Row with the rest of us. Persevere. Press on. Look to glory. You want to be glorified? Look at verse 24. This is our hope. For we were saved in this hope. God saved you in this sure hope. Hope in the Bible is not like, man, I sure hope we get chicken wings for dinner. No, no, no. A hope in the Bible is a plan. Mark it on your calendar. It's coming. It's coming at you. That day is coming. When Christ talks about hope, it is a sure thing. It is a sure hope. I like to call it a sure hope. Because in English we use the word hope like it's a maybe, maybe not. This is not a maybe. This is a hope. We were saved in this hope. When Christ justifies the believer, he did this, he does that in the hope of the glorification. He will not lose any of his sheep. If he justified you, he will glorify you. You can take that to the bank. So this, we were saved in this hope. The Lord saves you in this hope of glory. And he begins to teach us about hope. He says, but hope that is seen is not hope. It's like, if you see it, you're not hoping for it, you got it. For why does one hope for, still hope for what he sees? But in verse 25, he says, but if we hope for what we do not see, We eagerly wait for it with perseverance. This is the fruit of glorification. If I were to take you to Philippians 3, 20 to 21, he would tell you about glorification and then he would say to you, stand fast. Stand fast. Hold the line. Do not let the enemy take this spot. That's the fruit of glorification, that you press on. If I were to take you to 2 Peter 3, where Peter tells us about how all creation will be melted in a fervent heat, then Peter would tell you, then what are you to do? Because of this, you're to be holy. and godly. That's the kind of person you're supposed to be when you see the future coming, creation. If I were to take you to a prison cell and show you the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4, and he were to say, everyone has abandoned me. I'm here in jail all alone. He would tell you about his hope is in the Lord and the glory All of these places in the scripture, when you look at glorification, it lifts your head to look for heaven. It lifts your head out of the trials, off of yourself, and it says, look at heaven, it'll be worth it. So, perseverance. Don't you tell me you're the elect You show me. Don't tell me you're elect. Show me. Show me. Meet me there in glory. Don't you tell me that you're the elect. Show me. Show me. And we will rejoice in that day. when we have no more sin. No more sin. The salvation will be complete. You won't think a dirty thought. You won't say a hurtful word. Your hands will only want to serve. Your feet will only want to run to wherever the Lord sends you. This is glorification. Do you want it? Then now, for this time, you must continue to hate your sin. You must continue to be poor in spirit. You must continue to hold on to Christ in any trial. Do it! Do it! Don't tell me you're going to glory. Show me! Let's pray. Lord God, I cannot wait to be in glory with you. There are so many sufferings in this world and most of them, Lord, the ones I hate the most are my own sin. I can't wait to be with you and never have to worry about what my own sin will do to me and it will do to the others I love Please, Lord, persevere us, bring us to glory. Please, I pray that everyone in this room would be repentant, have trust in you for their justification. You would sanctify them and bring them on to glory. Thank you, Lord. Amen.