Romans chapter 8 and verses 18 to 26. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope. Because the creation itself also shall 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 travails in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise, the spirit also helps our infirmity, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. May God bless his word. Let's just pray. We ask, Lord, again for your blessing as we look in your word. Prepare our hearts to receive it. Bless us, Lord. Show us Christ, and may Christ increase and may I decrease. And truly, Lord, we pray with a sincere heart that you would receive our worship, even though it may be in strange circumstances, but we bring it with a sincerity because of Jesus Christ. And we ask it all in and through his precious name. Amen. Now, I've shared with you before that I enjoy watching programs that show nature, animals, the environment, and just the different kind of animals and so on. And I've enjoyed watching them for many, many years. And I still am amazed when I see something on TV or an animal or plant or something that I haven't seen before. And I'm just staggered at it because there is so much there. If you like watching David Attenborough and his series, they're very, very good in the sense that they're well produced, amazing scenes, great colour and so on. But according to David Attenborough, the problems that we have in this world are due to many, many reasons and some of them are these. He believes that our world is suffering as a result of such things as climate change, overpopulation, use of fossil fuels, loss of habitation and extinction of species. Now, all those things are important and I believe that as human beings, we should do whatever we can to maintain our environment, to protect it and to protect species and so on. Nevertheless, I have to ask the question, can humanity itself provide the solution to these problems? As well as those problems, you all know that on top of COVID, there are many, many diseases that humanity does not have a cure for. And we are constantly challenged about those things, aren't we? And finally, despite our best efforts as human beings, the fact is that many of us suffer in this world and in reality, our suffering is caused by other human beings. And we have the term man's inhumanity to man. So I bring you all those things, just those three things, the problems that we have with the environment, and all the challenges that come to it, the destruction of the world, the plastic in the oceans and all those things, the fact of diseases that we have no answer for despite the many advances that we have made in medical science, and despite the fact that there is wars, that there is murder, that there is fraud, that there is people being scammed and people being cruel to other people. We would say that really as a society, as humanity, we have not come up with a solution that everyone wants. Everyone wants world peace. So this raises several questions in everyone's mind. I'll give you two. First of all, why is it so? Why do we have this situation? And secondly, why is it that we cannot find a solution? So I hope that I can answer those questions for you from a biblical perspective, from a Christian perspective. But before we go on and look at that, I want to just review or summarize what we have already looked at. Because I want to set the scene, I want to set the context both before this passage that we've just looked at, sorry, that I've just read, and then we're going to look at the context after this passage. You remember that last week we, as it were, we dipped our toes. It was just a very quick look. But we dipped our toes in the vast wealth of God's love for human beings in that he saves us and he brings us into his family. And we learned that we are adopted into the family of God by the Holy Spirit and that we are then children of God. As a result of that, we are privileged, the inestimable privilege of being able to call God, Abba, Father. Very personal. My Father. And if you like, you can say it's like saying Dad. So there's this personable aspect about our relationship with the Lord of Glory. On top of that, we are also told that we come into an inheritance. that we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. You'll remember that I said that our inheritance is more about our position rather than our possessions that we might come into. And as our position is in Christ, that we then we enjoy what belongs to Christ, who though he is the creator of everything and he is the heir of everything, he chooses to share all that with us. This tells us that inheritance is not a right. We don't get it because we deserve it, or we demand it, or somehow it's some kind of human right that we get it, but it is actually given to us by God. And I'm reminded of the words of the Lord Jesus in Luke chapter 12 and verse 32, when he says, fear not, little children, for it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So this is an amazing thing, and I want us to be able to balance it out, or not so much balance, but understand it in its right context, what we have been privileged to be able to come into, because it is God's good pleasure to give it to us. and something that belongs to the Lord Jesus. So I want you to turn with me just to just to really be humbled by what this means. I want you to turn with me to the book of Revelation and chapter four. We're going to look at a couple of verses in chapter four and then chapter five. So first of all, in chapter four. And verse 11. And just to set the scene for you, this is John caught up into heaven, and this is what he sees and what he has recorded for us. So this is a scene in actually the throne room of God. This is powerful. All right. So we're just going to skim the surface here. Now, in verse 11 of chapter 4, the 24 elders, they cry out in worship of God and they say this, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created." So notice that God created everything and He created it for His pleasure. Now look with me in chapter 5 and beginning in verse 9. And here all the creatures, the living creatures, the 24 elders representing the praise of the saints and of angels and all the creation. In verse nine, it says, and they sang a new song saying, you are worthy, referring to Jesus Christ, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain And you have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. And you have made us unto God a kingdom of priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And then in verse 12, it says that saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." So you're getting this picture of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, of the uniqueness of the fact that all worship is due to Him, of His sovereignty over everything, of the fact that He creates everything, and He's worthy to enter into this inheritance that rightly belongs to Him, and yet He gives it, He shares it with us. Look with me in verse 13 of chapter 5. And every creature that is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him, unto him, see, that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. So this is our God, and this is the one who has brought us into his family and who then makes us joint heirs with his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I was reminded this past week of the fact that in Deuteronomy, in the law, there is provision for the eldest son to receive double the inheritance than the other sons in the family. Our Lord Jesus is termed, if you like, our elder brother. Everything belongs to him, not just double the inheritance. But he brings us into that and shares with us. And it's termed by the Apostle Paul as glory. And we're not going to look at that word. That's a wonderful word. I think it challenges us. What does it mean? Because to understand this passage that I have just read, that is from verses 18 to 26, we need to look a little bit more closely again at verse 17. We looked at it last week. I've mentioned it in passing just now. But the second half of that verse is what I want us to consider. Read with me. I'll read the whole verse. Verse 17, it says, And if we are children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Now notice this, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. Now that's a promise that I didn't look at last week, that we will be glorified together with the Lord Jesus Christ. So what does that mean? It doesn't mean that we'll become glorious as God is glorious, but that we will enter into the glory, the splendor, the wonder, the majesty of being in the presence of God, beholding his face, being satisfied with his face, living in his presence for eternity, where there is nothing that hurts or distracts or does anything wrong at all. No sin, nothing that defiles, nothing, absolutely nothing. And where, as I've said before, we will be able to live with each other. brothers and sisters together without any conflict, without human emotions coming in and dividing us and so on. And it will be glorious in the real sense of the word. And Paul says that that's going to happen. But I want you to notice that he talks something that's almost a contradiction because he says, if we suffer with him, with the Lord Jesus Christ, that then we will also be glorified together. And we know that the Lord Jesus suffered on earth when he went to the cross, but his suffering happened before that. He tells us himself, the foxes have holes in the ground, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. We know that he was despised and rejected of men, We know that even his own brothers, his half-brothers, that they rejected him. So there is this aspect of the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ and his suffering because of that. And we are told that we too suffer with him because of our faith. And so keep that in mind as we go into this passage And though it seems contradictory to talk about suffering in the context of being glorified with Jesus Christ, I hope we'll be able to understand what Paul is getting at in this passage. Because this passage is important for us to understand in the context. You see, it's right in the middle of chapter eight. He's begun by telling us about the fact that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who have the Spirit of God. And we know that the Holy Spirit is prominent in this chapter. He then tells us about our inheritance and our being children of God. And later on, he's going to tell us wonderful things about the fact who we are and how safe we are in God. And that's important because He's going to balance everything out by telling us that while we are on earth, we're going to have difficult time. And it's going to be difficult because, especially as Christians, we suffer along with others because of the situation, whatever it might be, the environment, whatever, wars. But we also suffer as Christian because what we see, even when things are going well, grieves us. and we see the deterioration of society. Did you know that there is a movement in South Africa to allow polyandry? Polyandry is the opposite of polygamy. It is where a woman is allowed to have more than one husband. And that's what it's practiced in some places in South Africa. So it made me think, isn't it amazing you change you change the definition of marriage, where do you stop? And that was a warning that was clearly spoken at the time. But you see, you and I as Christians, we see things like that and we grieve, we suffer for it, we hurt for it, and we worry about it. We worry about it for our children. We worry about it for our society. Where is it that we are going? So simply because of who we are and what we know, it causes us to hurt. Nevertheless, let me remind you, as the Apostle Paul is quick to remind us, no matter how much we suffer on earth, It's nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed. And he says that in verse 18, I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. So the reality is on Earth, we will suffer. Deal with that. Accept it. Know that God is with you in it, because we're still in this body, in this world, as I say a hundred times, And this world does not recognize God as sovereign and Lord and do not submit to it. And the result of sin is still felt every day. And all of us will suffer. And let me just say quickly here, I feel sorry for those who pretend that they're having a victorious life every day, that they don't have any trouble. And I think that they just live in their own wrong imaginations. And I see that because Paul here talks about three groans, okay, the word groaning. And accordingly, he wants us to understand that in this life, there will be occasion for us to groan. And the three groanings, or before I go on, the word groaning in the original language, it means an inward often unexpressed feeling of sorrow. Let me say that again. Groaning, according to the usage in the original language, it means an inward, often unexpressed feeling of sorrow. I was watching David Attenborough in the show last night. Every Saturday night, it's on. In the end, I virtually groaned within myself because it just becomes a program that is politicized about global warming and what they try to explain or what they try to justify or what they think we should do and so on. And it just, I had to, in the end, switch it off. I know that you and I, when we see things, when things happen, we groan within us. But we're not the only ones, because Paul identifies three instances of groanings. First of all, in verse 22, he tells us that creation itself groans. The world, the environmentalists, may say, look, the environment is dying, species are dying, animals are suffering, and man is responsible for it. But all of creation, it says, is groaning. I mean, even out of space, there is so much space junk out there. We're just polluting everything. But it's not just because of pollution. It's because of sin. And David Attenborough and people like him would never ever admit that. But read with me in verse 22. Paul says, for we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. And just stop and think about that for a moment. Two thousand years ago, when the apostle Paul wrote this, there wasn't the pollution that there is today. There wasn't the fact that there were no fish in the oceans. There was plenty of everything. And there was nothing that would make you think we are destroying nature. Certainly, man was still fighting against man and killing each other. But there wasn't anything about that that we worry about in our day and age. So he expresses that even all of creation is experiencing the suffering and he uses these words. He uses the word suffering in verse 18. He uses the word vanity because in the end it is nothing because it can't be sustained in and of itself. He uses the word bondage in verse 21, and he also uses the word decay. Your version, like mine, might use the word corruption. It means the same thing, decay. Everything is dying. We're worried about the Great Barrier Reef or the coral is dying. Well, the world is dying, and it has been dying since Adam and Eve ate of that fruit. And also, finally, he uses the word, verse 22, he uses the word pain. But you'll notice that he says it this way, that we know that the whole of creation groans and travails in pain. It's a picture of a woman giving birth. Travail, giving birth, it's in pain, but eventually that pain is gone. And the joy and joy for a child is born, replaces that pain. So there's, he's pointing the way to hope. Nevertheless, the world and the way it is, is because it's in the grip of sin. Read with me verse 21. Because the creation itself also shall be delivered. There's the hope. What are we going to be delivered from? Delivered from the bondage of corruption. into the glorious liberty of the children of God. And the reason why we are where we are today as human beings is because of the bondage of sin. The second groan that he refers to is found in verse 23, and it's the groan of us believers. Read with me verse 23. And not only they, but ourselves also. who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption that is the redemption of the body. In other words, while we are waiting to go home, we see things, we experience things. It causes us not to be happy in this world. And I do believe that this world is not our home, and we must do the best that we can while we are here. However, I do also believe that because of the pain of sin and its consequences, that we readily agree with the Apostle Paul when he wrote to the Philippians and said to them, to depart and to be with Christ is far better. In the meantime, Let me ask you this question. Are you happy with yourself? Do you groan again when you sin, when you don't have a desire for the Lord? Do you confess and you say, Lord, I don't know why I don't have a desire and I don't have a hunger and thirst for you. It's because of just being in this body, because of being in this world. And I know that none of us would be happy with the way we are. So what do we do? Well, though we may desire to live better lives, We struggle, we groan in this body and we long to be free from ourselves. That's what Paul wanted. Remember, we looked at that in chapter seven. And in verse 19, remember, Paul said, for the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do. And of course, he says other things along those lines. And then he finishes in verse 24. And this is where Paul, to me, is saying, I'm not happy with myself. I'm going to be free of myself. When he says in verse 24 of chapter 7, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The Christian groans in this body and in this world. And finally, and this may surprise you, it is the Holy Spirit who groans. Read with me again in verse 26. Likewise, the Spirit also helps our infirmity, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And I believe that the reason why the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groans is because he is deeply moved even to the point of sorrow for us and what we go through. I'm just reminded, let me, this is dangerous, I know, but I'm just reminded of a verse in the book of Judges. And it says here that when Israel sinned against God, It says in chapter 10 and verse 16, God is a compassionate God. And when the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, It is with groans because he feels for us. It's almost to the point of sadness because of what we are experiencing. That is why his intercession for us is so precious. And I want you to also turn with me to John chapter 11, where we see how even our Lord Jesus, or not even, especially our Lord Jesus was moved because of our condition. In John chapter 11, you remember it was the occasion of the Lord raising Lazarus from the dead. And in verse 33 of John chapter 11, it says, When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, who came with her, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. Some people say that Jesus groaned because of the unbelief, that people didn't believe he was the Messiah, that he was able not just to raise Lazarus, but that he is actually the resurrection and the life. I don't agree with that. I believe that he groaned because it's careful to say Jesus saw Mary weeping. and saw the Jews that came with her weeping, and he groaned in the Spirit. He was moved with compassion. And we see again in verse 38, it says, Jesus, therefore, Again, groaning in himself, he came to the grave. It was a cave and a stone lay upon it. So the Holy Spirit also groans and so does our Lord. And let me ask you the question, why is there this grief? Well, because we live in an imperfect world and we must wait for it to be fixed. And that will only happen when our Lord Jesus returns. In verse 25, look what it says. But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. And the it refers to Christ's return. So this is a good way, a good thing. Paul is balancing out. In effect, Paul is teaching us what some theologians call the already, not yet. I've shared that with you before. Already we are saved. Already we are children of God. Already we are heirs of God. Already we are told that we will be glorified with Christ. However, it's not yet, is it? Because you're in your house, you're in your life here on earth, dealing with things, dealing with COVID, dealing with all the pressures that that puts on, dealing with your children, dealing with your family, dealing with all sorts of things. You're dealing with it and you're waiting for the Lord to come back. And when that comes, when that happens, Then, then we'll be free of the of the corruption that is in this world. So that while we're on this earth, we groan. All right. So in summary, let me remind you, the rest of chapter eight is effectively a wonderful reassurance. Yes, we groan. But in the meantime, God is with us. He has the Spirit of God interceding for us. He works all things together for the good. We are told that we are foreknown by God. We are predestinated by God. We're conformed to the image of His Son. We belong to Him. Paul challenges us with the question, what shall separate us from the love of God? And then goes on into a list of things that he says, these things can't separate us because we belong to God. So here it is again, Christian, chapter eight, just a wonderful reassurance of who we are, what we have, and despite the fact that in this earth, in this life, the world laughs at us, the world mocks us, The world criticizes us and we grieve at what's happening and we groan with things that are happening, even in our own selves. Yet we have this and let me finish with this. Verse 24, we have hope. Let me read it for you. For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. But what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it? So hope effectively means that we have a confident expectation while waiting for the Lord's return. And hope, we always know, joins together with faith. just like the writer to the Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 11 and verse one. Now, faith is the substance of things hopeful. It is the evidence of things that are not seen. It's also backed up by what Paul says to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter five, we walk by faith, not by sight. And when Paul says here in Romans, we are saved by hope, what he's saying is the true believer will persevere. They won't go away because what keeps them going is faith in God and faith in his word, the hope that Jesus will come back. that God is true, that the word of God is true, and that keeps us going despite all the opposition that comes to us. So if you're suffering, let me take you back to verse 17, if we suffer with him, be confident in this, we will also be glorified together. And therefore the sufferings of this present world are nothing compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us. Meditate on that. Meditate on heaven. Meditate on who you are, what you have given to you by God, who chooses to share everything with you and know that you're safe right now. And be strong in your faith so that you're not intimidated by the world that wants to pressure you, that wants to pressure your children, that wants to pressure the church, that wants to just silence you. Be strong in your faith. In a world that everything is murky, have a clarity about your faith. Know that your hope will not be disappointed. Know that you have God. And if the Holy Spirit has done this for you, if Jesus has done this for you, if God has blessed you so much, then who can be against us? And we'll look at that, Lord willing, in the next few weeks. And for you that do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, that do not have this solid hope. What do you have? What do you have that will bring you through this life, but will take you through the doorway of death? And what will happen then? Prepare yourself and know that the same God who has done this wonderful thing for his children can do the same for you. We are Christians. We serve the Lord. We are humbled. We do not boast of anything other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And we've been given this message to share it. Don't allow the world to make you feel ashamed of this wonderful hope that we have in Jesus Christ. May God bless us all. Amen.