Men of valor. Men of courage. Men that aren't running out of the fire, but men that are running back into the fire. When the whole place is burning down spiritually, these men go, I'm going back in. Right there in Revelation 21, this beautiful picture of the new heaven and the new earth. And right there in the last verse, there's a warning. but for the cowardly. Welcome to This Day in the Word with Pastor John Couch, the radio teaching ministry of This Day Ministries. It is a joy to have you listening today, and we pray that you will be encouraged, challenged, and motivated to live for God like never before. And now, with today's message, here's Pastor John Couch. Father, we come before you and our hearts are humbled, our hearts are grateful in the midst of life and so much disappointment. Victories, yes, along the way. Joys, yes, along the way. But we live here, as we're going to see from our Reading today in God's Word, we live in a broken, fallen, depraved world. And yet the good news is this, that when we give our lives to You, Jesus, we will forever be with You. And so, Father, may You guide us now as we lean into Your Word. Holy Spirit, I pray You would strengthen us I pray we'd hear your still small voice and block out every distraction in a world that's so chaotic and continually looking to pull us away from you. Lord, I pray somehow, someway by your enabling over our time together that we would think of nothing but only you and your word and how we can be more like Jesus. And so, would you guide me? I pray you move me out of the way so that we don't see a human messenger or a human vessel, but I pray all we would see is you, Christ. And may your name be lifted up as we decrease and you increase. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Romans chapter 8, we are in verses 19 through 25. Romans 8, 19 through 25 in your Bible. And so as you are finding that location, the title of the message today from the word is eagerly awaiting or eagerly waiting. And the thought is, have you ever been approached with a circumstance where you were just not waiting, but the waiting was eager? You were just not waiting, but the waiting was eager. I know when we talk about this type of thing, often we go immediately to a Christmas Eve as a child, when that child is waiting, and to say they're waiting eagerly would be an understatement. When they are pounding on the parent's door perhaps at 12.01 a.m., when they are sneaking downstairs, when they are looking for those gifts and presents that perhaps are under a tree, That would give, I think, a good visual of what it looks like to be waiting and to do so with great eagerness. The reality is when you think about that illustration and that thought is that pales into comparison of the waiting that is eager for the true believer in Christ for Christ to return. The closer you get to Christ, the more detached you become to this world. There are so many traps and allures and things out there that can be seemingly harmless, seemingly good, and yet if we're not careful, we can be baited and distracted. find our hope and our identity and security and our joy, not in the Lord, but in the things of this world. It doesn't mean you can't enjoy this world, but as we're gonna learn today, that this world is passing away. This world, if you are a true believer in Jesus, you've given your life to Christ, this world is not your home. And way too many professing believers live as though this world is their home. They're way too attached to this world. And is it any wonder that the Holy Spirit is largely void, largely stifled and quenched and grieved Because the Holy Spirit needs a vessel that's not attached to the world. The Holy Spirit needs a vessel that's attached to Jesus. Question, are you waiting eagerly? Do you think about heaven? Do you think about exiting this earth and no longer being here? but being in the presence of Christ, or does the thought of that give you the shivers? Does the thought of that make you almost, well, I'm going to miss. Well, I know this for certain. When you stand in the presence of Christ as a true believer, you won't be looking back. You will only be looking forward. That's why the Word says this in Romans chapter 8. I'm gonna read a few verses since it's been a couple weeks of context. Because the people of God, us, we really do need the Word of God, amen? It's the air we breathe, it's the fuel that drives us. And so Romans 8 verse 14 in your Bible for context says this, For all who are led by the Spirit of God are what? Are sons of God, daughters of God, children of God, true believers. But you have to be led by Him, which means you're indwelt by Him, you're under His control. Verse 15, for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father. Abba Father, it's intimate. It's not distant. Verse 16, the Spirit himself bears witness, gives testimony with our spirit that we are children of God. That's an amazing verse, isn't it? So the Holy Spirit gives testimony with our spirit that we're really Christians. It's awesome. 17, and if children, or and since children, then heirs. So it gets better, doesn't it? It gets better. So we're adopted, we're heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ, and then all of a sudden the bottom falls out, doesn't it? Remember this verse? When the bottom falls out, it's like, but we've been doing good, we're two for two. Verse 17, provided we what? We suffer with Him. But why? In order that we also may be glorified with Him. Remember our suffering gives testimony that we're really His. Why? Because think about it. It's just logical. It's not a, how does this work? Well, think about it. So Jesus said, They hated me and they're gonna hate you. This world is not our home if you're a true believer. You're an alien. Don't take that personally. You're an alien. I'm an alien. We're just passing through. And so since that's the case, you're going to suffer in a fallen, broken, depraved world as you stand for truth because as they hated him, they're gonna hate you because you stand for the truth. It's going to give testimony that you're actually in the truth. If you're not suffering for Christ, that's a really bad sign. A really bad sign. Then it goes on like this. 18. What about this suffering? For I consider that the sufferings of this present time... See, this is the lens you need to look through. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing Don't even compare with the glory that is to be revealed to us. So if you're suffering and the people around you could be family, friends, coworkers, and they're making fun of you and like, why do you believe in this Jesus? And they're picking at you and they're jabbing you. You should just, it's confirmation. It's just confirmation. When darkness looks at light and darkness goes, I hate light, I hate you, it's more confirmation that you're actually in the light. So you don't flee from it, you press deeper into the light. And it's simply confirmation that you're one of His. And remind yourself verse 18 every day, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time, make it personal, for I consider that my sufferings of this present time, they're not worth comparing. They won't compare. Like right now in your mind's eye, whatever suffering you're dealing with because of Christ, You're not going to be in front of Christ on that day with your head over your shoulder looking back at your suffering. You're going to be too busy looking at Jesus. Too busy looking at Him. He's amazing. It was worth it. That's what you're going to do. You're going to go, it was worth it. You're going to go, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Romans 8.18 was true. It's worth it. It's worth it. It's worth it. That's what keeps us going, isn't it? That's what keeps us going. I've said this over the years, I don't know how many times, that if I wanted to quit the number of times I wanted to quit, I would have quit 1,000 times ago. I'm talking 1,000. Like 1,000 times ago. But it's Romans 8.18 that keeps me going. It's going to be worth it. It's going to be worth it, church. It's going to be worth it. Well, how does all that set up our verses for today? Well, I think it sets it up beautifully. Look at verse 19. For the creation... He's explaining the sufferings. He's explaining the eager waiting. For the creation waits with eager longing 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 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Now look at 22 and 23. For we know with confidence that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves who had the first fruits of the Spirit, capital S, we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope, but if we hope, verse 25, for what we do not see, what do we do, church? We wait for it with, help me, patience. Did you pick up on something in those verses there? There was a lot of groaning going on, wasn't there? And the cliff notes to this passage as it springboards from Romans 8, 14, and especially from verse 18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory, to the daxa that will be revealed shows that there's two entities that are groaning in this passage. One is creation and one is true believers. The groaning that's going on, and it makes total sense, is creation and true believers. People who have never given their life to Christ aren't groaning. Let me rephrase that. All humans groan to some degree. We're referring to spiritual groaning here about longing to no longer be here but be with Christ. Unsafe people don't groan in that regard. They're in darkness, they love the darkness, they're blinded. Why would you groan to be out of a dark, depraved, wicked, decaying world when it is your home and you're having the time of your life? But true believers, it's just the opposite. That's why we're gonna look at two sections here, and let's just dive into this. So section one is Romans 8, right there in your notes, verses 19 through 22, and this is about the creation. Let's look at it together, dive deeply. It says this, for the creation, that's the universe, waits with eager longing. It's a earnest expectation, anticipation, being ready, being alert, someone who is straining, stretching to get a clear view of what is on the horizon. Maybe the illustration might be someone who's, you're at a parade. If you've ever been to a parade, some people like parades, some people don't like parades, but irregardless, if you're at a parade and if you can't see the parade, you are what? You're straining, you're looking, right? Oh, I want to see. Oh, there's my friend on that float. You're trying to get a good look, and you're trying to see, like Zacchaeus even, right? The wee little fella who was trying to get a glimpse of Jesus, and he's straining. He's like, I gotta go see Jesus, and I gotta go find a tree, and I gotta get up in there, and I gotta get a view. That is the illustration of creation, our universe even. I would argue this, probably most true Christians have never thought of this. And yet right there it is in Romans, the creation, the universe. Do you understand this? That when sin entered the world by one man, one woman making just a dumb, foolish decision of rebelling against God, it not only impacted those two people, it impacted all humanity for all time and it impacted the universe. Go back to the Garden of Eden. What do we know about the Garden of Eden? What do you know? Someone said it. Perfect. Someone said it over here. Paradise. Perfect. Amen. I mean, when Adam was working the garden, I can guarantee you this, it wasn't like me and you working our gardens. We're out there fighting and sweating and Adam's probably just, there's my work for the day. That was it. Because you don't need to work to keep something perfect that's already perfect. But the curse came in. See, sin brings a curse. Don't miss that. Can you be forgiven? 100%. Can you be redeemed? 100%. But it brings a curse in the form of consequences. Well, I did that, you know, 20 years ago. Great. You may be dealing with the consequences today and because sin always brings consequences. It's so important to understand this, that our world we live in, do you understand this? This is the best it's ever gonna get. Like right now. Because do you understand this? Every moment, it is literally sliding deeper into decay. If you believe the Bible, how many of you believe the Bible? Raise your hand. If you believe the Bible, the truth of God's word, you believe the Bible, amen. If you read the Bible, especially eschatology, and you see the end times, you understand that there's gonna be a new heaven and a new earth, which means that this earth has to go bam. This is the best it's gonna get right now. And then the next second, trust me, it's sliding into further decay. The creation is even groaning. Isn't that wild to think the universe, God's perfect creation, that by the way, when you read this, look further here in Romans 8, 19, and 20, it says that with eager longing, it's waiting, the creation, for the revealing of the sons of God. That's for those of us that are in Christ to be fully glorified. Even the creation is going, okay, those people that messed this whole thing up, Creation, we, we're crying out for, we can't wait till these people are glorified because we know this, that creation now is gonna be glorified as well. It's gonna be brought back into perfection with a new heaven, new earth. Verse 20, for the creation was subjected to futility. We just talked about that. It was cursed and capable of being what it was made to be. Not willingly, did you catch that? Look at verse 20 in your Bible. For the creation was subjected to futility. It was left to rot and decay. God's like, okay, Adam and Eve, and then put your name in there, I'll put my name in there. You think you can live without me? You think you can rebel against me? God's like, here's what I'm gonna do. Because I'm God and you're not, I'm going to give you a reminder every waking day of your life of the consequences of sin. And that reminder is, go outside and watch everything rot. Sin's not a big deal, I've heard over and over. Really? Really. Really. These are the consequences of shaking a fist at God and saying, I don't need you. I got this. And God's like, when you open your eyes and you look around, it's going to be a glaring reminder every day of your living life about the power and deception of sin. And do you catch this? It said right there, creation didn't take on this futility, this worthless decay, rotting willingly. Creation didn't go, hey, we want to rot. No, it was because of what two people colluded to do that creation is now subjected to the consequences of their sin. And what's it say there in verse 20? not willingly, but because of Him, God, God did this, who subjected it. God cursed the entire universe because of Adam and Eve. But I got good news. But in hope, even creation longs to be restored, redeemed, that the creation itself, verse 21, will be set free, will be paroled from the curse, from its bondage to corruption, this enslavement to decay. They have no escape right now. That's creation. And obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Look at 22, for we know, there's confidence there, that the whole, all of creation, the entire creation has been groaning, there it is, groaning, lamenting, feeling trapped, feeling desperate to be paroled and delivered. Ever been there before? You're in a situation and you're just lamenting like, God, I wanna get out of this. I can't stand being in this situation. You're just groaning over and over. Creation's doing the same thing. The universe is doing the same thing. Creation's groaning, verse 22. together in the pains of what? Childbirth. Just experienced that this past week. Not me personally, of course, but I made that clarification. But it's that travailing for you ladies that have bore a child. It is the pain Praise God for epidurals. But the pain of that childbirth, the travailing, the groaning, the mother's giving birth to something so glorious, so beautiful, and the creation is groaning with these birth pangs that when the new heaven and new earth is birthed, It's going to be glorious. And yet there's pain in the process. There's pain in the suffering. We live in a fallen, broken, depraved, wicked world. And it just dumbfounds me how many professed believers you can see it. Somehow, some way they've convinced themselves they're just right at home. True believers long for heaven. He's longed for it. Doesn't mean we don't live here, of course we do. Doesn't mean we can't have joy here, of course we should. But boy, it's easy to get sucked into The here and now verses get sucked in to what awaits us with our Savior. Amen. Write down key number one, write this down, and I pray this will help us as we just look at these two sections today. Key number one, it says, as we see here in Romans 8, 19 through 22, Romans 8, 19 through 22, the creation of the world eagerly longs or waits to be set free from the curse of sin and be redeemed into the perfection that God originally created it to be. Key number one, as we see here in Romans 8, 19 through 22, the creation of the world eagerly longed to be set free from the curse of sin and be redeemed into the perfection that God originally created it to be. I mean the whole world has been confined to paradise lost. Paradise lost because of sin. But praise God there's going to be a day when the whole world will be paradise regained. Amen? We look forward to that. And think about this for a moment. Maybe you've seen this. Maybe you've been to the Grand Canyon. Maybe you've been to a coastal area that is just the beaches are so beautiful or another coastal area of a part of a world where part of this world where There's mountains, and the crashing waves, and maybe in the Virgin Islands you've been there, and just the color of the water, or you've seen the majestic Alps, and on and on we could go that you've seen these incredible landscapes in our present Earth. Again, hear me so clearly. Hear the Word of God more importantly so clearly. That what you're referring to or thinking of is the best it's ever gonna get here, but it will never ever compare to what awaits us. Won't compare, it won't. Those Swiss Alps or that Grand Canyon, which you look at it and often what does it do? What's the phrase? You look at it, what happens? It takes your breath away. What's going to happen when we see Jesus? What's going to happen when you're living in the new heaven and new earth and there's no decay and no corruption and no sin? What's that going to do to your breath? And yet again, there's so many people that I love Jesus, but I really love the world. How did we get here? How did we get here? I know how we got here. We got here because we got away from this, the Bible, not a hold up. When you get away from truth, you'll believe anything. When you get away from truth, you can convince yourself of anything. You remove the truth of God's Word and now, you just now, as our culture tells us and rams it down our throat all the time, you create your own truth. When you create your own truth, you've actually now negated all truth. There's no such thing as your own truth. That doesn't exist. The only person you and I need to be true to is Jesus. If you're true to yourself, I got bad news. The Bible says this, that you're wicked and deceitful. If you're true to yourself, that means you're going to be true to wickedness and deceit. Don't be true to yourself. Be true to Christ. Amen? Here's a few verses to back up this key number one. Right down Genesis chapter three, it's the chapter on the curse. I won't read all of it. Read it later if you want to know about the fall of Adam and Eve, which really is the fall of you and I and all of our sin. If you think your sin, my sin is just okay and it's not that bad. And Jesus, you know, came on Easter and, you know, we've got a bunny that we can worship and eat chocolate. That's just simply not the case, even though so many Christians have bought into that foolishness. Genesis 3, 17 through 19, this is what God said to Adam because he rebelled. So this is what God said about sin. And to Adam he said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground. Cursed is the ground because of you. In pain, you shall eat of all of it the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Paradise Lost. You're listening to This Day in the Word, the radio teaching ministry of This Day Ministries. All of Pastor Couch's messages are archived and are free to download at thisdayministries.org. In addition, you can share your prayer requests with us via email. Our email address for prayer requests is prayer at thisdayministries.org. That's prayer at thisdayministries.org. And now, back to This Day in the Word with Pastor John Couch. Well, I hope you and I see that sin really is a big deal. You don't toy around with it. We don't play around with it. We don't, hey, it's just OK. It's not OK. Forget the curse for just a moment. I got my savior nailed to a cross. He died. He died because we, me, you, we willingly rebel. And yet there is a curse. We're seeing the curse number one right here, the curse of this earth. But there's good news. That's in Revelation 21. Revelation 21, 1-8. Listen to this, church. Revelation 21, 1-8. John, on the isle of Patmos, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and all God's people said, And the sea was no more, and I saw the holy city." Can you imagine? I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, mourning as in sadness, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Also he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, It is done. I, Jesus, am the Alpha, and I am the Omega. I am the beginning, and I am the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God, and He will be my Son. I intentionally didn't read the last verse, because there is a warning. It's verse 8. But as for the cowardly, I find this intriguing. I'm going to pause because there's a list here. And the very first thing on the list is spiritual cowardness. Hmm. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable as for the murderers, the sexual immoral, sorcerers, witchcraft, idolatry, Wicca, Ouija boards. Idolaters and all liars, all those who plot and scheme, try to destroy the truth tellers. Their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death." Do you find it intriguing the very first thing on there is the cowardly? I do. Yesterday in our men's gathering we looked at one verse in the Old Testament of what it looks like to be a godly man, to be God's man. And we saw there in Exodus 18 verse 21 as Jethro and Moses are conversing and Moses needs some help and he needs to find some guys that are willing to do the heavy lifting to help in the mission. There's four characteristics. Able men, men of valor, men of courage, number one. Ironic, that's number one. Men that fear God. Men that love truth, number three. And men that hate sin for covetousness and bribery and all that goes in with that. Men of valor. Men of courage. Men that aren't running out of the fire, but men that are running back into the fire. When the whole place is burning down spiritually, these men go, I'm going back in. And right there in Revelation 21, this beautiful picture of the new heaven and the new earth. And right there in the last verse, there's a warning, but for the cowardly. Boy, it preaches, doesn't it? Speaks, doesn't it? And it makes total sense that when you give your life to Christ, even Proverbs 28.1 says this, that the wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous, those that are right living, those that have been made right with God, are as bold as a lion. It's all a reflection of who we've become. For just a church attender, it's going to be hard to be courageous. But when you're a sold out, surrendered follower of Jesus who's no longer attached to this broken, decaying, fallen world, it's going to be real easy to be attached to Jesus. Because your allegiances are no longer divided. You can't serve two masters. You'll love the one and you will viciously hate the other, all while claiming Christ. 2 Peter says it like this, 2 Peter 3, 10-13, 2 Peter 3, 10 through 13, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief. Some translations, like a thief in the night. By the way, if someone's gonna break into your house tonight, are they gonna send you a text letting you know? Are they gonna blow up the gram or talk you or book you on the face and say, hey, you know, we're gonna throw down at your house at 1202 tonight and take all your cookies I mean, are they going to do that? Of course they're not. The day of the Lord's going to come like a thief. You're not going to know it's coming. Be ready is the point. Don't live for the party. Don't live for the weekend. Don't live for the world. Oops, I got a text from Jesus. He's heading our way. How's this going to work? Be ready. Give your life to Him. When you give your life to Him, you're detached from the world. Get in your Bible. Be the Bible-believing church that's feeding you and nurturing you spiritually through the word, not gimmicks and games and sideshows and this and that and whatever people want to hear. Itching ears churches are everywhere, by the way. I'm there a dime a dozen. Tell you whatever you want to hear. Just keep throwing money in the plate. No. We don't believe in itching ears. We believe in Scripture. We believe in the truth of God's Word that will set men and women and children free. That will free them from the enemy of self and the enslavement of sin. And all that goes on in this humanness here. And so we want to be those people that are anchored not to this world. We're in it but not of it. Now we still got a mission. God's just not leaving you and me here if you're a true believer just so that we can just putter around on this porch of earth for whatever amount of time and then poof. That's not it. I mean, we're here for a mission. We're here to live for Christ. We're here to spread the good news. We're here to walk in truth. We're here to spur others on to walk in truth. We're here to make a difference. We're here to say, you know what, God, my life is no longer my own. You've bought me with the most precious blood that's ever been shed. Your son, Jesus Christ. And oh, by the way, I hope we know this from our last time together, that the Jews didn't kill Jesus. The Romans didn't kill Jesus. God killed Jesus. And if God's going to kill His only Son, who's perfect, to get slaughtered for totally sinful and totally guilty people, if you're one of those that you're looking for love, that's the greatest love you'll ever find. Greatest love you'll find. And so we want to be those men and women. But the day of the Lord, back to 2 Peter 3, 10 through 13, the day of the Lord will come like a thief and then the heavens will pass away with a roar. Oh, I love that. Isn't that good? And the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved. It literally means the dissolving is like to be released. So what's going on, you could even go down to like the cellular level and the atoms. Like all of that, I'm telling you, get ready. Get ready. Like if you're looking for Christ to create an explosion, there it is. All this is gonna be dissolved. All the stuff, so all the stuff we're investing in on this earth, let me just be really blunt, is gonna get blown up. and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in the lives of holiness and godliness?" Did you catch that? Christians, did you catch this? 2 Peter 3 verse 11, since, it means this, because it's going to happen, all these things are thus to be dissolved. Everything's gonna get blown up. What sort of people are you and I to be in the lives of holiness and godliness? Oh, wow. That's a good point, isn't it? If all this stuff's getting blown up, man, maybe we should not be so attached to the stuff and be more attached to the mission. What can I do to further the mission? What can I do to make a difference? What can I do to leave a legacy for Jesus? I don't know what the hope and dream is. You know, I want a condo by the beach, or you know, I want a sailboat, or I don't know. In and of themselves, there aren't bad things, but do you understand this? Do you understand this? The new heaven and the new earth, you're going to have the greatest condo by the beach ever wanted. You know what the problem is, don't you? Delayed gratification. Pastor, I don't want to wait then to have a sailboat. I'm not saying you can't have one now. That's not what I'm saying. That's what's driving you. That's what you're attached to. Just be careful. Hold it all loosely. We say that all the time. Just hold it all loosely. Praise God for the blessings. We're all blessed. Everyone of us here is blessed. But hold it just loosely. Don't let it control us. It can control us. I get this. I grapple with this. It can control us. Now hold it loosely. God, do you want this? Here, take it. Thank you for giving it to me, but here, take it. Take it back. That's the mindset of a surrendered disciple. Because it says what? Verse 12, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of the heavens which will be set on fire and dissolve, there it is again, and the heavenly bodies, they will, ooh, ready for this? They will melt as they burn. So if there's any question what's gonna happen, there she is. But according to his promise, verse 13, 2 Peter 3, we are waiting, there it is, we are waiting, what, for the new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, amen? That's what we wait for. As a true believer, you're gonna long for that. You're gonna long for that. Just hold everything else loosely. It's all gonna melt and burn. Melt and burn. All right, let's look at the last section. Here it is. Last section. Romans 8, 23 through 25. We talked about one groaning. Any groaners in the room? All God's people said? Big groan, okay. Here's a second groaning. 23, Romans 8, and not only the creation, but who? We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, who have the seal of the Holy Spirit. This is talking about true believers. Holy Spirit's working in the true believer. You're bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5, 22 through 23. Holy Spirit lives inside of the true believer. You're under the control of the Holy Spirit. And what happens? We groan. We lament. We, again, we're having this, got to get out of this. Not referring to the circumstance, although we want to get out of the circumstances that we hate, but then we got to remember that when we're suffering for Christ, it actually is a stamp that we're one of His. No, it's referring to groaning for what? Well, let's see what it says. Groaning, it's lamenting, feeling trapped, desperate to be delivered inwardly. Deep down, it says there right there in your Bible in front of you, inwardly, Deep down as we wait eagerly, as we wait with eager longingness, if you will, earnest expectation, anticipation. Remember just like Zacchaeus or the person in the parade where we're looking, restraining, I got to see this. What's going on? Just like creation, we're doing the same thing. What happens? Well, we're longing for what? What's it say right there in your Bible? Adoption as what? Right now you're probably going, wait a minute, I thought when I give my life to Christ, I am adopted. Well, you are, but not fully. You go, well, what do you mean? Let's read on. It's right here in front of us. This is the beauty of scripture. You just read it and it shows you very clearly what we're talking about. Adoption as sons, so we're children of God, but it's not fully consummated. How do we know? Well, look at the next five words. The redemption of our what? Bodies. We've been talking about this in Romans. Remember the soul, when you give your life to Christ and it's true and it's real, your soul has been redeemed. Amen. But if you're still on planet Earth, has your body been redeemed? Uh-uh. Like, you're fighting this thing all the way to the grave. And it includes our minds, and the brokenness of our bodies, and the thoughts, and, you know, we think this, and we're, you know, this person, and, I mean, we're just, it just takes over. The self, I just saw a seven pound baby this week. And it's like, you don't have to teach a seven pound baby to cry because they want someone to take care of them. You don't have to teach them. That lesson goes on until you die. Like you don't somehow just get out of that. Oh no, you fight that. I mean, we'll wham, wham, wham all the days of our lives. Forget about the little piggy that went home. I mean, this is just all the days of our lives. Wham, wham, wham, me, me, me. I got offended, offended, offended. I mean, it's just wham, wham, wham, wham, wham. And we grapple this, we fight it. So this is this nature, our soul's been redeemed. We've got this body that just keeps, Paul even said, oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Paul's like, why do I, wah, wah, wah? Why do I think of myself? Because I'm in this body that thinks of itself. That's what happens. It's the redemption of our bodies. There's the glorification of our bodies, that redemption, our mortal, broken, depraved, sinful, sin-desiring human bodies, the old nature. What happens on 24 and 25? Real simple. For in this hope, so did you catch this? Did you see the parallels in these two chunks? So you got a creation that's groaning, and there's a hope. And now we got us, true believers, that are groaning, and right there, 24, for in this, help me, what's the word, 24, for in this hope, it's that confident expectation and assurance that our redeemed souls are gonna be redeemed, we were saved, we were rescued. Now, literally now, the word now, now hope that is seen is not hope. Well, of course. That'd be reality, wouldn't it? Hope that is seen is not hope. You're seeing it, so that's reality. However, for who hopes for what he sees? Now, that'd be weird. You see it, and you're like, well, I'm hoping. It's like someone's like, you need to get a thermometer or something, because something's not going right up there. For who hopes for what he sees, of course we don't, 25, but if we hope, confident expectation in the Lord for what we do not see, what do we do? We, help me, we wait for it with what? Patience. Ooh, patience, that's an easy thing. That's an easy thing on these bodies of death, isn't it, patience? Isn't patience easy? When you see people are impatient, don't you go, what's wrong with you? I took care of that when I was nine. Is that what you do? Of course you don't. Being impatient is a struggle. Why? Because we want what we want yesterday. We want what we want yesterday. But what do true believers do? But if we hope for what we do not see, getting out of this body, being in the presence of Christ, living for Him in the new heaven and the new earth, which just sounds so incredible, why would anyone want to be attached to this world? And yet, even in that longing, we can become impatient, which I get it, but we need to be patient. That's why key number two says it like this. Write this down, key number two. Key number two, as we see here in Romans 8, 23 through 24, true Christ followers wait eagerly with patient hope to be fully redeemed in the presence of Christ when our bodies of death will be made totally new and free from sin. One more time, key number two. As we see here in Romans 8, 23 through 24, true Christ followers wait eagerly with patient hope to be fully redeemed in the presence of Christ when our bodies of death will be made totally new and free from sin. Can you believe what that day is gonna be like? Does anyone else get excited about this stuff? I mean, you and I, in the presence of Jesus, try to think about this. Try to wrap your finite mind around this. You will never desire to sin ever again. So many times we think about the new heaven and the new earth, and we go, hey, you know, I'll be free from kidney stones. And praise Jesus, I'll be free from kidney stones. Can we say amen to that? Amen. That's not going to be what the really great thing is, although that's going to be amazing. We're going to be the presence of Jesus in a body that will never desire to sin ever again. It's hard for me to even think about that. Because like Paul, every true believer should write down Romans 7, 24. Write it down. Wretched man that I am. And it's emphatic in the Greek. Who will deliver me from this body of death? Paul says, this is the great apostle Paul who is struggling. The great apostle Paul goes, I just want to be with Christ. I don't want to be in this mess any longer. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 4, 2 Corinthians 5 verse 4, for while we are still in this tent, any idea what the tent is referring to? The body, yeah, good, good, the body. We groan. Boy, have you heard this before? We groan, being burdened. Not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed so that the why, what is mortal, may be swallowed up by life, amen? Philippians chapter three, Philippians three. So Paul's writing Romans, Corinthians, now to the church in Philippi. Philippians three, 18 through 21. For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, They walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their own belly. They serve themselves. And their glory is their shame with minds that are set on earthly things. Oh, I love this earth. but our true believers, but our citizenship is where? Take a wild guess. In heaven, amen? And from it we await, there it is again, this waiting, we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. who will, guaranteed, transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, and all God's people said, amen, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself. It's good, isn't it? This stuff just fires me up. Just love this. And if you want one go-to verse, It's only two verses. It's in 1 John 3. 1 John 3, 2-3. Listen to the Word of God. Here it is. 1 John 3, 2-3. Beloved, referring to fellow believers, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know with confidence, here it is, here it is, that when he, any idea who he is? Jesus, that when he appears, we shall be like him. Whoo, it's good, isn't it? Love it. If you're a true believer, man, you are hanging your every breath on that. Because we shall see Him as He is, and everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as he is pure. I know it's challenging, church, to be on planet Earth. I get this. I get it. I get it. There are days where You know, there's so many issues, so many challenges, so many fiery darts from the enemy. I get it. It can be easy to grow weary. It can be easy to become discouraged. It can be easy to want to give up. It can be easy to go, is this worth it? Is this really worth it to live this life? Well, I believe our last scripture will answer that question. It's in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 51 through 56. 1 Corinthians 15, 51 through 56. It says this, as Paul writes, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must, it must, for the true believer, it must put on the imperishable. And this mortal body, for the true believer, must put on immortality. when the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that it is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. That's good, isn't it? I don't know what you're dealing with, but if I'm you, I'm dealing with that verse right there. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory. Here it is. We don't operate for a victory. We operate from a victory. We're not hoping this works out. We know this works out. We know our Redeemer lives. We know He conquered sin. We know He conquered the grave. And because that's true, we share as fellow heirs, adoption of sons and daughters, all the pain, all the suffering. It's going to be worth it all when we stand in front of Jesus. Amen. May God be the glory for the great things He's done. Let's pray together. Oh Lord, we're just in awe of you. Oh Father, my heart is just so heavy for those that profess Christ all over this world today, and yet they're attached to the world. After reading all those scriptures, the truth that we read today, how could anyone that professes Christ be attached to the world? And so Father, I pray if that's us, I pray that you would give us a profound sense of courage to repent and to detach. and to fully attach to you, and to fully attach to your mission. Because you will come as a thief in the night, and we won't know it. And it will be far too late to get our life in order then. God, Your Word is so true. If we miss Jesus in this life, if we don't give our lives to Christ fully in this life, we'll miss Him in this life. And if we miss him in this life, we will certainly miss Jesus in the next. So, Lord, keep our minds set on things above, not on things of this earth. It's all going to melt and burn away. May we invest in things that matter. And so, Lord, I pray, would you guide us, would you strengthen us, Lord? Thank you for this body of believers that love truth. Thank You for them. I pray You encourage them, strengthen them. I pray they would not grow weary while living for You, knowing that Your Word says they will reap a great harvest if they do not lose heart. And so, Father, we thank You for Your Word, and we thank You for Your Son, Jesus, who we live for. Why are we in danger every hour, is what Paul would say. It's because we have given our lives to Christ. May that be us. May we not live casual Christianity. May we not live weekend, Sunday only Christianity. But may every waking moment of every waking day be Christianity. And so Lord, we praise you for this incredible day in the Lord's house on the Lord's day. I pray you've been pleased with our worship to you. And we give you all the glory. And we pray this now in Jesus' name and all God's people said. Amen. Amen. You've been listening to This Day in the Word, the radio teaching ministry of This Day Ministries. Don't forget that all of these messages are archived and are free to download at thisdayministries.org. That's thisdayministries.org. In addition, if you have been blessed by the teaching of God's Word during This Day in the Word, we would love to hear from you. Our email address is info at thisdayministries.org. Thanks again for listening as we strive to honor Christ and impact our world as we spend This Day in the Word.