to figure out all the new-fangled gadgets here. Well, one of the joys that I have of going through this training process is being up here today. And I'm not quite as high as I normally am, but it's fun to be here today. And it's a privilege, especially, to go through this passage that we're gonna look at today, which is Romans 8. And over the last several months, Pastor Walker has been taking us through the book of Romans, And as we were discussing potential topics for today, we thought it would be worthwhile to go back to Romans 8 for a time, at least for today, and look specifically about what this passage says about the assurance of our salvation. Now last week, Dave Gregg spoke about the resurrection of the dead and how there will be an actual physical resurrection. And today we're gonna look at a slightly different angle and talk about the confidence of our hope. So if you would, please open your Bibles to Romans 8 if you haven't already, and please stand if you're able as we read God's word. We'll be reading verses 18 through 30 as we begin. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us. 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. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit, grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as 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 for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise, the spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called. Those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. Let's pray. Father, we pray that as we approach your word today, that you would show us the truths that it teaches us. As we look at this passage, which speaks of the Spirit's work and the hope that we have, Father, may we take comfort in the fact that you are with us in our weakness, and that you give us hope regarding what will come. Father, may we take comfort in knowing that you are for us and that you sustain us. Bless us now we pray, in your name, amen. You may be seated. Well, as we start out today, I wanna ask you a question. And that is, when you make a promise, whether it's to your siblings, to a parent, to a friend, a spouse, what do you do to assure them that you're going to keep that promise? What are they able to point to in order to say that Carl Schroeder is gonna keep his promise? Now, I want you to think about that for a moment. Is it the way that you say it? Is it because you look someone in the eye? Is it because you put up security in case you break your promise? Is it because you use specific words and phrases? What is it that makes it so that they know for sure, hey, you are gonna keep your promise? Perhaps, though, we should start with a more fundamental question, and that is, what is a promise? The Merriam-Webster dictionary has several definitions, but at the top of its list, it describes a promise as a declaration that one will do or refrain from doing something specified. And that's an okay definition. For most of what we do, that probably describes our interactions with others. If I promise to meet Hannah at the grocery store, or if I promise to watch someone's dog for a few days while they're gone on a trip, I'm declaring my intention to actually do what I said. But that's not the only type of promise that you can make. There are situations in which our promises take on a much more binding nature. For example, let's use that example of me promising to meet Hannah after work at the grocery store. Let's say that I say, I will be there at six o'clock. Well, that is my intention, but what if I get in a car accident? Well, let me rephrase that. What if there's a car accident on the freeway? Hopefully I'm not getting in the car accident. But let's say that I get delayed somehow, and I get to the grocery store at 6.15 or 6.30. Well, there may not be as many consequences there. Maybe it just delays our schedule, and so I have to apologize and say, hey, I was late. But there are other promises that we make that do have steeper consequences. If you think about when you sign up for a credit card, you are in essence making a promise saying, hey, I will borrow this money, and I promise to pay it back by a certain time. Well, if you don't pay it back, what's the consequence? You now have to pay back what you originally owed still, and you have to pay it back with interest. So there are different types of promises that we can make. And that second type of promise, if we change our definition a little bit, we could describe it as a legally binding declaration of a commitment to do something. And if we look at the Bible, we do see different types of promises, but whenever we see a promise that the Lord makes, it's always the second type of commitment. promise, this second definition. When God says that he will do something, he's not simply declaring an intention. That's part of it, but that's not all that it is. Instead, he is committing himself to a particular course of action. There's no backtracking or possibility of him changing his mind. But how do we know this? What assurances has God given us that this is the case? And so to answer that question, we're gonna look today at Romans. If you remember from our time in Romans so far, Paul points to this grand arc of history. We are sinners who justly deserve God's wrath, but in his mercy, God has chosen to save some. And that plan and that purpose of God's is worked out as he calls a people to himself, promises to send a savior, and then does that exact thing. The Father sent the Son to die on the cross and atone for our sins. And so we are freed from the curse of the law. The law can no longer condemn us. And if you remember, we talked about that about a month and a half ago. But if you look back at the last part of Romans 7, Paul drifts into some depressing truths. He talks about how he wants to do good, desires to do good, but doesn't always do it. He says he doesn't do what he wants to do. He does do what he doesn't want to do. And as he describes this state of turmoil, he ends by crying out, wretched man that I am, who is able to deliver me from this body of death? Now, why does he say this? As you're looking at that, why does Paul say, wretched man that I am? Well, the reason is he knows what he should be doing. He knows what the ideal is, what the Lord calls him to. And in the earlier chapters of Romans, Paul says that since we're Christians, we should have nothing to do with sin. We are to put off the old self, we are said to have died to sin, and yet what does Paul see? He sees that despite knowing this call towards perfection, he's continuing to struggle with areas of sin. And isn't that often what we see in our own lives? We often know what we should be doing, and yet we continue to see these areas of struggle. We struggle sometimes obeying even the simplest of God's commands. I know with training our kids, I often struggle with responding in anger. And sometimes we struggle with contentment in our jobs, or with showing honor to our parents, or sometimes it's struggling with gossip with our friends. And as we look at all these areas of struggle and think about what God calls us towards, we cry out with Paul, wretched person that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I know what I should be doing, but why can't I do it? Now the comforting truth is that that's not where Paul stops. Paul doesn't end Romans in Romans 7. Instead, he goes on to Romans 8, and he gives this response. And like so many other places in Romans, Paul is anticipating what the question is. He's anticipating the response. And so as he thinks about this despair, about these doubts, he immediately jumps into truths to reassure us. He starts by reminding us of the reality of our state, and points us to what he's said in various ways in the preceding chapters, He reminds us that there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. He reminds us that the debt has already been paid. Christ has already died and risen again. So while we may continue to struggle with sin, the punishment for that sin has already been paid. But Paul also points us to the reality of our relationship. Throughout Romans 8, Paul uses the language of children to describe us. And he says that we cry out to the Lord saying, Abba, Father. Now, in Ezekiel 16, this may seem like an odd passage at first if you're looking at Ezekiel 16, but I love some of the imagery that's used here. Now, bear with me for a second. In this passage, God is talking to Israel, and he is describing Israel in these vivid terms. He describes Israel as this baby that's been abandoned by the wayside, still wallowing in its blood. And yet, what does the Lord do? The Lord doesn't abandon it. The Lord doesn't ignore it. Instead, the Lord goes over to this, to this struggling baby. He cares for it. He swaddles it. He nurtures it. And as this baby grows into a young woman, he showers blessings upon it. He lavishes gifts upon her. But what is the response of God's people? Remember, this is imagery for God's people here. What is the response to all of these gifts? The response is not to turn to the Lord and say, hey, thank you so much for all that you've done. You know, when I was laying there, that is exactly what I wanted someone to do. No, that's not the response. Israel instead turns to other gods, turns away from this Lord that has cared for it, that has nurtured it. But the Lord's response is not to abandon his people. The Lord's response is to go after his people again, to woo her back, to call her back, and to again shower her with blessings. Now Paul reminds us of these same things in Romans. He talks about how we were rebels against God. We did not seek after God and did not desire him. And yet the Lord is the one who pursues us. And as the loving God, he seeks our good and our growth. Now, there are times when we tend to think of God as simply a God of wrath and justice, and while this is true in part, it misses the bigger picture. To those who reject the Lord, he will indeed be a God of wrath and justice. But even to those people, God shows mercy in that he withholds his judgment for a time. But to those who call on the name of the Lord, who seek after him, the Lord shows mercy and those mercies are new every morning. Just like his people Israel, he showers blessings upon us. Now, as you're listening to this, you may be wondering, okay, yes, why are we spending time going over this again? Why are we spending time reviewing? And in some ways, as I was thinking through this this last week, I was reminded of Philippians 3, and Paul at one point says, to write the same things to you for me is not tedious, but to you it is safe. And what I want to do here is I want to remind you of this context, because again, Romans 8 is a response to that context. All of that stuff that we learned previously in Romans, that is what Paul is now saying, hey, yes, all of that is true. Here's something to look forward to. So in Romans 8, as Paul responds to Romans 7, as he points us again to these elementary truths that he's already talked about earlier in the letter, of our state as redeemed sinners, our relationship to God as adopted children, there's still an unanswered question. If we are truly redeemed, if we are truly children of God, if he truly lavishes gifts upon us, Why do we continue to struggle? Why do we continue to experience trials? Why do we continue to suffer these things? And if we do experience those things, does that mean we're not children of God? If God is saying, hey, I want to shower you with blessings, and if we're not feeling like we're experiencing those, are we truly his children? Well, that's the question that comes into our minds. And so in answer, After Paul has pointed us to the past, after he's pointed us back to the cross and our justification, he then moves on to our present status, our present relationship with the Lord, and then he moves on to the future. This is the final piece of the puzzle. He points us forward to the glorification that we have with the Lord, to our future hope. And as Paul begins to direct us towards this future hope, he starts by pointing us to the glory of that future. So he acknowledges that we suffer, but he says that he considers the suffering of this present time as not worth comparing to the glory that is going to be revealed. Paul's not minimizing our sufferings here. He's not making light of them, but is rather pointing to the magnitude of the glory that awaits us. Do we still struggle? Are those still real trials? Absolutely. But what Paul talks about here is he talks about how the entirety of creation is groaning. It's groaning with the pains of childbirth. So, yes, there is still this struggle. Now, one commentator, he uses this example. He says, After a child's been born, after the mom has been in labor, gives birth, there's this little baby, this little perfectly sized baby, and we're so quick to pull out a picture and say, ah, look at this little baby, isn't it so cute? And we all ooh and ah over it. But what you never see is someone who comes over and says, ah, do you wanna see a picture of my wife in labor? I mean, wait, wait, wait. Pull out your phone and you go, look at that picture of pain on her face. Do you see that agony? That is terrific there. We never do that. Now, we would never point to that suffering and say, ah, look at that. This is an example of something amazing and beautiful. And so, again, Paul is using this imagery. He's saying, yes, all of creation is groaning. It's in the pains of childbirth. But at the same time, it's doing that for a purpose. Just like a mother labors, and there's this glorious child that's the end result of that period of labor and pain, the same thing is true for creation. It's groaning, but it's looking forward to that end goal. Now, when I was young, we lived up in the mountains and our home was up on this little rise. And so there was a road that wound around as it was getting back up to our house. And so oftentimes, as my dad was about to get off of work when it started to get to that time, we would start filing outside and we'd go just sit outside and we'd be looking down on this road and we would be wanting to catch a glimpse of my dad as he was coming home. And you can imagine, you can picture us little kids out there with my mom, we're all sitting on the side and we're all trying to be the first to catch a glimpse of daddy as he comes around the bend. And so there's this sense of expectation and just this intensity of watching that you can picture these little kids sitting on this hill. And that's the sense that we get from Paul. all of creation is groaning, it's waiting, it's watching, it's wanting that day to come when our Father will come and make all things new. Now this hope that we have of eternal life with the Lord and a renewing of creation is not just an idle fantasy. It's not an empty hope that we have. It's not something that we've simply come up with because we think it would be a nice end to the story. That's not what it is. Instead, it's a promise that God makes repeatedly in scripture. After the fall of Adam and Eve, God promises a seed who will be born to the woman and who will bring redemption. And after the flood, God makes a covenant with Noah. And like Adam, he says, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth. But he also promises, hey, as long as the earth remains, seed time and harvest will not end. The seasons will continue to return, summer and winter, cold and heat. The Lord sustains the world, sustains the created order. With Abraham, God promises to be God to him and his descendants and to bring him to a land. With Israel, God reiterates that promise and says, yes, I will be your God, I will be a God to you, you will be my people, and I will continue to bring you towards that land. With David, God promises to be a father to him and his descendants after him, promising that David will never lack a descendant to reign. And as these promises build on each other, as they build one after the other, it expands out the picture of the redemption that God is working out. Although corruption and death had entered the world through Adam and Eve, God's redemption is just as comprehensive, bringing restoration not just to mankind, but to all of creation. In Christ, all of these promises find their fulfillment, and he brings an end to our bondage of sin, takes our punishment upon himself, and now reigns on high as David's son and yet David's Lord. But while Christ has brought fulfillment to these promises, there's also a sense in which the fullness of these promises is yet to come. We have been freed from our bondage to sin. We still struggle in many ways, though. We have been redeemed, but we have not yet been perfected. We wait for the redemption of our bodies with hope, but at the same time, we still can't forget that God is already bringing blessings to us. As Paul says, those whom God justified, he also glorified. And if you're looking at your Bible translation here, you may notice something odd. Paul doesn't say, but those whom God justified, he will also glorify. He says, those whom God justified, he also glorified, in the past tense. And at first, that seems confusing. But Paul here seems to be intentionally trying to make a point. The glorification of believers is not simply a possibility. It's not simply something that's gonna happen in the future. God has already determined to glorify believers. And in fact, God has already begun to bring those promises to us. He has already begun to lavish blessings on us, and he continues to lavish his blessings upon us. So if we come back to the question from earlier, why then do we still suffer? So if all these things are true, if God is doing all these things, if he says, yes, I have already determined to glorify you, if he is already bringing blessings to us, why are these struggles still here? When we see those, what does that mean for us? Now, fundamentally, the Bible says that we suffer because our Lord has suffered. Now, Jesus says that a disciple is not above his teacher. nor servant above his master. And if the master of the house is persecuted, how much more will they persecute the servants? And so as we follow in his footsteps, we should expect that. We should expect to endure some of the same persecution that Jesus experienced. Yet Paul assures us that if we suffer as Christ suffered, we will also be glorified as he was glorified. But Paul also points to different types of suffering here. There is corruption of creation. Again, creation is groaning with longing. It's been subjected to futility. So there's corruption of creation. There's our own ongoing struggles with sin. And in 1 Peter 1, Peter says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. according to his great mercy because he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And so, Paul here is pointing to two things. He speaks about our trials as leading to the strengthening of our faith. He says it's the tested genuineness. So this picture of our faith being tested and refined through these fiery trials. But Peter also points us back to our future hope. We have an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, and it is kept for us who by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation. Now notice that Peter doesn't say that our inheritance is being guarded by God's power, the inheritance is already imperishable and unfading. Instead, Peter says that God's power is guarding us. So while our sufferings are hard, our trials are difficult, scripture repeatedly points us back to the truths of our past justification, our present relationship, and our future hope. Now earlier, I asked you the question, when you make a promise to someone, what do you do to assure them that you're gonna keep that promise? Now, I would argue that there are three primary things that you do, and you may be able to think of more, but here, I would argue that there are three primary things. First, you make your promise realistic. You don't promise the moon, you don't promise a private island. Instead, you promise something that you can actually do. Second, You have a past relationship with that person that you can point to. They know that they can trust you because you have shown yourself trustworthy in the past. And third, you show by your actions that you are actively working to keep your promise. Now, I'll give you an example of this last one. If I promise Bob Gibson that I'm gonna go to his house, and maybe he has a separate property somewhere out of town. If I say, Bob, I'm gonna build you a house. He's probably happy about that. But I'd say, hey, I'll build you a house on this property that you have outside of town. And I'll have it built by the end of next year. Well, if Bob doesn't see me purchasing materials, talking with him about plans, or bringing those materials to the property, he's going to start to have serious doubts that I'm going to be able to keep that promise. And as it gets closer and closer to that time, he's going to be going, Cor, you said that you were gonna do this, but you've done nothing to show me that you're actually intending to keep that. Now, as we look at God's promises to us, as we look at how God's promises fit into each of those three categories, this is where things start to actually get really amazing. Now, we already looked at the Lord's promise to us of salvation and glorification, and we've already seen both today and last week in Dave's sermon that God is able to keep that promise. It's a realistic promise. God has created us, and so he can resurrect us also. So that is a realistic thing that he has promised to us. And salvation too, God has already saved us. So is it realistic? Yes, so that marks off the first checkbox there. Well the second checkbox, does our past relationship with the Lord give us confidence in his trustworthiness? Now some of you may be quick to say yes. Now we've looked today at God's relationship to us, we've seen how he's father, he's our savior, he's our king, and some of you may look at your lives and you may clearly see how God has worked in your lives. But for others, the answer to this question may not come quite so fast. And there may be lingering doubts that you have about whether God is working in your life. You may be experiencing heartache for one reason or another. There may be hard circumstances. You may be experiencing doubts or depression. You may feel that you don't have that strong of a relationship with the Lord. Or you may be a new Christian and may not even know what that relationship is supposed to look like. And for those who fall into one of those categories, I want you to hear what we've talked about today. Know first of all that you're not alone. This is not simply something that one person struggles with. We often tend to have this idea that if we have doubts about our salvation, if we're asking even the question that we couldn't possibly be a Christian. But this is an important question to wrestle with. How do we know that we have assurance of God's goodness to us? How do we know that his promise is for us? Okay, so you are not alone just for asking that question. And we often think we have to maintain this outer facade, this outer picture of strength, of tranquility, of having our whole lives put together while inside we're just full of turmoil. That is not the case. One of the beautiful truths of scripture is that when we struggle, this is your family. This is who you can share it with. This is your support system. Now, another reason that it's okay to ask that question is that Paul does the same thing, at least to a certain extent here. Remember at the end of Romans 7, he says, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me? So he's asking this question of, hey, I still struggle. Who will deliver me from this? And then he gives us the answer in Romans 8. Now, brothers and sisters, one of the things I hope you've heard today is that our lives are not in absence of suffering. God doesn't promise that we won't suffer, that we won't experience trials. But my hope is that what you go with today is not just an expectation of suffering, but that you also have a strengthened confidence, a strengthened hope for the glory that awaits you. Now in hard times, the Lord is not absent, nor is God ignoring us. And hard though it might be as you go through those times, and hard though it may be to see how God could have anything good planned in some circumstances, the Bible is clear that the end of all things is something so glorious for us that all of our present suffering pales in comparison. Now, this last week in the Turlock small group study, one of the passages we looked at was Philippians 3. In some of the verses right in the middle of that chapter, so it's verses eight through 11, Paul says something similar. He says, indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ. the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection of the dead. Now often these days, one of the things that you'll hear in history class is that history is a cycle, it just repeats itself over and over. But that's not what we see in scripture. History is not this cycle that goes over and over and the same types of things happen over and over. No, creation is groaning for a reason. It's looking forward to something that's gonna happen in the future. And so history is not this circle that goes round and round. It's a line that points forward to an end goal, that points forward to something glorious. Now remember what Paul says at the end here. Those whom he justified, these he also glorified. There is hope, there is an end purpose. So do we have a relationship that we can point to of the Lord's faithfulness? And yes, yes we do. I hope all of that points us towards that. Yes, we do have a relationship with the Lord. We do have a future hope that God has promised to us as his children, as fellow heirs with Christ. So let's look at the third aspect here. What has God done and what is he doing to show us that he is working to keep his promise? And I've got a challenge for all of you. So in the next week or two, take a pencil, take a piece of paper, and take a look at Romans 8, and write down every action that you see the Spirit doing. And what you'll find is in almost every other verse, and sometimes in every verse, it describes something that the Spirit does for us on our behalf. In our passage today, Paul describes us as having the first fruits of the Spirit. Now Dave talked last week about how the first fruits are the first of the harvest, and the rest of the harvest comes afterwards. And he used this imagery of like an appetizer before a banquet feast to where you get a taste, but then the fullness is coming later. And in talking about the spirit, that's the same idea that Paul is describing. In Ephesians 1, Paul says that, in him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. And so, we have this imagery of the Spirit almost like a down payment on this future glory that the Lord is bringing, a guarantee of our future inheritance. But that's just the starting point. If we look at what the rest of that passage in Ephesians says, the picture starts to expand. So if we go just a few verses earlier, we see that the father before the foundation of the world has set out a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him. In that plan, he determines not only to provide redemption, but to provide adoption. So we're not just servants of the Lord who are saved. Instead, the Lord adopts us as children. We're fellow heirs with Christ of the riches that he has obtained. In obedience to the Father, the Son has also taken on flesh. He is hung on the cross. He has won the victory on our behalf. And so he has obtained the blessings and promises of the Lord. And so as you start looking at this passage in Ephesians, you see things that the Father has done. The Father has a plan. You see things that the Son has done. The Son is working out God's plan. We see things that the Spirit has done. In John 16, Jesus says that he is sending a comforter for the disciples. Now his concern is that the disciples are still effective. He wants them to still be still be comforted in the knowledge even when he is gone. And so the Spirit is going to guide them in the truth, to convict them in their sins, to declare to them the glories of the Father and the Son. And even in Romans 8, Paul says that the Spirit is interceding on our behalf, even when we don't know what to pray. And so there's this pattern, there's this progression, the Father has a plan, the Father is working on our behalf, the Son is working for us, the Spirit is working on our behalf. And so not only does God promise us good things, but he is the one who is working towards them. And our glorification is not just a nice idea to the Lord. Again, it's not just an intention. God has committed himself to this action, and all of creation is thundering down those tracks, almost like a freight train at full speed. It's going towards this end goal, and there is nothing that can stop it. And as Paul contemplates these things in Romans 8, as he pulls us towards this conclusion, he gets to the point where he can hardly contain his enthusiasm. And so he says in verses 31 through 39, he says, what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Jesus Christ is the one who died, more than that who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it's written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen, indeed. Friends, there's a reason why God has given us his word. There's a reason that he assures us of the security of our hope. For one, he loves us deeply. He proclaims these glorious, glorious truths so that we might be comforted. He proclaims these things so that we might be effective in his kingdom, so that we might be at peace. Now when sufferings come, do we need to be afraid? No, we don't. We have the comforter who cries out for us in our weakness and who sustains us in our trials. When we look at our own sins in despair of ever growing better, when we begin to doubt our salvation and go, how could these things happen to me? The Bible points us back to the Lord and it's tempting and it's, It feels natural to turn our focus to ourselves and our own trials. And the reason is that our pain at that moment feels intense and it feels personal. This is happening to me. This isn't just, again, an idea that's out there. This is something that is physically happening. And yet what the scriptures tell us and what the spirit who dwells in us reminds us of is that the Lord's love for us is even more intense. His work on our behalf is even more personal. And the glory that is in store for us is more beautiful and more wonderful than anything we can even imagine. And whenever things grow difficult, the Bible's response is to point us back to the Lord, to the source of all blessing and comfort, to the one who has a plan and a purpose for our lives, even if we can't always see that plan and purpose. It says, to the one who began a good work in us, he will bring it to completion. And in Romans 8 it says, all things work together for good. The Lord's plan is good. The Lord is still working things forward. Now our assurance and our confidence does not come from our own actions or our own righteousness, but comes from the work of God on our behalf. So does that mean we stop trying to serve the Lord because his purpose is the one that's important? Well, no, we don't stop serving the Lord. Yes, his purpose is going forward like an unstoppable train, but he still calls us to serve him. But what all of this is pointing us towards is not, hey, stop serving him. It's our struggles don't alienate us from the Lord. Just because we are suffering, just because we are going through things where we're looking at our lives and saying, hey, I'm still struggling with this. That does not alienate us from the Lord's plan. That does not cast us away from him. For our family Bible studies, we've been going through an abridged version of Pilgrim's Progress. And I love the imagery that's used at one point in the book. The main character of the story is Christian, and he's been captured along with a fellow pilgrim named Hopeful. by this giant called Giant Despair. And Christian and Hopeful had wandered away, they had been captured, and Giant Despair comes, he locks them up in a gloomy prison, and they don't have food, they don't have water, and almost every day, Giant Despair comes, and he beats them to where they almost have no strength left. And Giant Despair will come, and he'll offer them something. He offers them this little vial of poison. He says, hey, you could end this all right now. Just drink this. And Christian and hopeful are so weak, they are so just overcome by being in this prison that there are times where they're tempted to take that poison. They're tempted to end it all. But one day Christian is laying there and he remembers something. He remembers a key that he was given. And that's the key of promise. And that key was given to him by the king. And it opens any door. And so as Christian and Hope will start talking about this key, they're starting to go, wait a second, we can get out of here? We have this key? And so they get shakily to their feet, they're still weak, they're still struggling even to take a step, but they go to the door and they unlock it and they walk out. And they start working up through level after level after level of this giant's prison until finally they escape from it and get back to the way of the king. Now friends, your God wants you to return to the way of the king and be effective in the kingdom and so he has given you your own key of promise. He doesn't want you to wallow in the prisons of giant despair and so has given you a key of hope so that you might escape from those gloomy dungeons and so that you might once again look forward to the celestial city. Christian and hopeful get back and they keep going forward. They look forward to that future hope that awaits them. brothers and sisters, your God loves you so, so much. And if he is for you, who can be against you? Let's pray. Father, we confess that there are many times in our lives where our sufferings seem so difficult that we forget the key of promise. And we struggle in our difficulties and sometimes are so weak that we don't even know what to pray for. And yet, as we think on all that you've done for us and all that you continue to do for us, we thank you that you've not forgotten us. We thank you for your plan for us, for your sending of your Son. We thank you that the Son intercedes for us and that the Spirit prays for us. We thank you for your love and for the hope that you give us. And so Father, as we remember these things and as you point us towards yourself, may we be effective in your kingdom. May we be at peace as we think about the confidence of our hope, that your promises will not fail and that there's a glory that awaits us. Father, may your name be glorified, may it be magnified in all things, amen.