If you have God's word, please remain standing and turn with me to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. We'll begin reading in verse 18. Verses 18 through 27. Our focus this morning is suffering, patience, and the glory to come for God's children. Suffering, patience, and the glory to come for God's children with a main focus upon the glory to come for us who are in Christ. Romans A beginning in verse 18. For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to 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 firstfruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in the 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, a 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. Please be seated as we focus our time on these words. As we have said for the last few weeks, Romans 8 is glorious truth for God's children. We are no longer condemned. We are set free, and we are set free in Christ. We have been set free from the law of sin and death, and this is a work of God alone. It is not a work of man. It is not something that you and I can conjure up. This is not something that we can produce on our own. As we have learned in Romans, Righteousness is an alien righteousness that is outside of us, in which God gives us the faith to believe, and our faith, it grabs hold of the righteousness of Christ. And so it is all about Christ. The only channel for freedom in which we see the Apostle Paul is speaking of is a singular channel of the Son of God. The only Savior of the world is Christ. He came to this earth, God put on flesh. He fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law. He alone paid for the price of our sins and he alone condemns sin. Romans 8, verses three and four, it says, for God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do. By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 5.21, for our sake he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. All throughout Romans, we find the words in him. It is a perfect reminder that for us who are so easily prone to be prideful and self-righteous and think that we have done enough, that it is in Christ and in Christ alone that he has accomplished everything. Romans 8 is the greatest of news if you have been born again for the Christian. It is not so much great news for the unbeliever. If you have not repented of your sin and not trusted in Christ alone for your salvation, you are an enemy of God. Romans 8, verses 7 and 8. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. All those in Christ who have the spirit of God in them By the Spirit, Christians live. By the Spirit, Christians put to death the deeds of the body. The Spirit of God assures the Christian that they have been adopted by God. In fact, those in Christ, as Blake said last week, they are heirs of God. That is, what Christ owns, we also own, for we are heirs with him. Romans 8, 16 and 17, the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him, in order that we may also be glorified with him. You see, God owns everything. James Montgomery Boyce, his words concerning heirs, they are amazing. He says, we have a heavenly home. We have a heavenly banquet. We will rule with Christ. We will be made like Christ. And the greatest of all, the Lord will be our forever portion. Now, as we think about those words right now, we must honestly confess the Lord is not always our portion in this life. But when the glory is to be revealed to us, the Lord will be our forever portion. We will be forever satisfied. He will be the King that we forever worship. As heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, we need to keep these things in mind as we live this life right now. Paul did not just speak about what is rightly ours as adopted children. He also used the words, provided we suffer with him in order that we also may be glorified with him. Verse 17 teaches us that Christians suffer. All Christians are presently suffering. Whether it's persecution, we're suffering in the fact that we're not giving all glory to God in how we live. We're suffering because we are frail. The light is being dimmed. All Christians are presently suffering. We are in Christ, but we still have indwelling sin. We are not in a glorified body, and we live in a fallen world. As God's adopted children, we will live this life according to the Spirit of God, and as our Savior suffered, so will we. We are not above our Savior. If someone has instructed you this morning to come to Christ so that your sufferings will stop, they were wrong. and you received false information. On this earth, you will suffer. Christ is the only answer for your sin, but Christ does not save you from all of your present sufferings. He saves you from his holy and righteous wrath, as well as the wrath to come on the day of judgment. He adopts you and he brings you into glory, and when you enter glory, your suffering will end. Christ is the answer for your sin. He is spiritual life, and by His grace, He transfers you from the kingdom of darkness, being dead in your sin, to the kingdom of light, the kingdom of Christ, being alive and found in Him, declared righteous. Christians suffer. This is a present reality. But suffering is not the focus. But I want to make sure of something that is made extremely clear this morning before moving on to glory. Because we suffer as God's children, it is God's divine will. Suffering is part of our sanctification as God's adopted children before we reach glorification. Romans 8.28 speaks to this, and I'm not even going to try to dive into all of it this week. But look at Romans 8.28. If you've been a Christian for long, you've probably memorized this and held it closely as an important promise in your life. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. For those who love God, all things work together for good. First, only God's children love him. And the all things work together for good includes your suffering as a child of God. So God is sovereign. He is providentially ruling over all things, every detail of your life, even your suffering. Every divine step is orchestrated by God. Every divine step has a purpose as you are on the path of sanctification. Now, we may not like it, but God is at work. You may want your suffering to stop, but it's for your good. You may not understand, but He does understand. He knows what He is doing. What you need, the Lord will graciously provide. And what you must go through, He will do it. And he does all this so that you are conformed more into the image of Christ before your final destination of future glory. Brothers and sisters, it is a good reminder for us as Christians who've been called by God that we are not home. This is not our home. We have not arrived yet. We are only suffering pilgrims passing through this world, but glory is coming. We are pilgrims. Be reminded of this. Pilgrims is plural. You are not alone. Paul is telling those in Rome of his mindset as he is suffering, as well as how they are to think and how we are to think present day as Christians. All Christians are suffering, and our Heavenly Father's will for you is that you walk with others, you pray together with others, you share your burdens with others, and you encourage one another in your sufferings, focused on what is to come, the glory that is to come. Suffering is not the end, it leads to glory. Our best life now includes suffering. But with our mind and life, we are to have it set on the glory that is to be revealed to us. I was speaking with a dear brother in Christ, Michael Waldrop, this past week. He is walking with his wife, Hope, through cancer. And you have those brief moments where you can text things, and you can be sarcastic, and you can have fun. And then when you're on the phone, you really ask the question, OK, Michael, you've told me what all the hospitals have said. You've traveled to the state in which you can do all those things. How are you really doing? And we started talking about Romans 8. And I said, our focus this week is suffering patience and the glory to come. And his words were, praise God that glory is not now. He says, praise God glory is not now as society says, because it is to come. That so many of us, even as Christians, we can fall into the trap that what we see with our eyes is actual glory. That what we see with our eyes is actually where we try to find contentment. Oh, we need this reminder. The glory that we see, what we see right now is not glory. The glory is coming. What we see with our eyes now is not glory. Christian, our best life is not now. It is when the glory of God is revealed to us. We have no condemnation. We have no separation. Separation cannot occur, for we are now and forever in Christ. And in Romans 8, verse 18, Paul says, he says, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Many of us, we never get past our present sufferings, and we just continue to focus on our present sufferings. Paul's focus is future glory. What is the glory that Paul is speaking of? It's what Adam and Eve once had, perfect communion with God. I never get past the garden. I keep over and over going back to it. Scripture goes back to it. And I keep thinking that when sin entered the world, Adam and Eve, they hid. But the fact that we have described in there that they recognized the sound of the Lord walking in the garden. I know that's the Lord walking. I know it by sound. I got to stay hidden, though, as if the Lord can't see me." The glory that Paul is speaking of is what was lost, a perfect body, a redeemed soul, creatures imaging God without sin in a perfect world. And think about glory. When you think about glory, you also have to think about this, the rightful worship of the Lord. That every creature, that all of his creation was rightfully worshiping him. Romans 8, 18, the afflictions of this life are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. So it's saying, it's not that I want you to always be thinking about your afflictions. Put all your afflictions together, everything. I want you to focus on what will happen, not what is happening. So whatever your affliction, whatever your pain, whatever your illness, all of the heartache that we have, the loss of a loved one, the hurt in marriage, the hurt in relationships that we have, wayward children, God is at work in it. And all of it has a divine purpose of glorifying him. All of it is not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us. What is coming, in a nutshell, is better and is best. John Calvin rightly said, Christians must suffer many troubles before they enjoy glory. And that afflictions are not evils, because they have glory annexed or attached to them. R.C. Sproul put it this way, the difference between the present degree of pain we experience and the blessedness to which God has appointed his people is so immensely different that there is no way at all to compare them. Any comparison that we come up with in our human mind on this earth, it falls extremely short. The glory that is coming that will be revealed to us as God's children is greater than we can think or imagine. This glory is permanent, while our present suffering is temporary. Derek Thomas describes this link of suffering and glory as, this link is more than chronological, it's also a great casual link. He says, the link between suffering and glory is more than chronological, suffering now, glory then. The link is casual, we can see glory only through suffering. First comes affliction, through which we are brought to the end of ourselves and forced to lean on our Savior. Then comes glory. Paul is confident of the words written in Romans 8, 18, and we need to be confident in them as well. I consider that the sufferings of this present life are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. This must not just be a verse that we have memorized. It must be a verse that we have memorized and we have clinged to and we delight in. What is coming is much, much greater than what we can think or imagine. If you are saved, no matter your present age, young, with many years ahead of you, maybe elderly, having experienced so much right now, what is coming is much better. Home is on the horizon. These nine words, the glory that is to be revealed to us, they reveal enough for us. The first thing we see, we will see glory with our eyes. Our hope is not in what we presently see, but we will see glory with our eyes. Number two, we will experience glory with our life. This experience is coming and it will be forever. We will experience it. It won't just be, we're gonna read about what's going to happen. We will experience it and it will never end. Number three, glory will be perfectly beautiful without the corruption of sin. It's not gonna be like the garden, which is a possibility. That possibility now is way gone when it happens. Glory, he has already rid the earth of all of it. We will be spending forever in glory. This experience will never get in. This experience will never get old. In fact, heaven is eternal because the Lord in his graciousness, we will continue to understand more and more and more and more of why we're praising him. It'll be perfectly beautiful without the corruption of sin. And this is extremely hard for us to grasp. I have thought about it this week. I mean, no more sin. No more wrong actions, no more wrong thinking, no more pride, no more pain, no more death, no more gossip, no more enemies, just glory. the magnificence of heaven, glorious perfection, the dwelling place of Jesus Christ, being and saying that we are home with Christ in his forever kingdom. It sounds too good to be true. And number four, this glory will be permanent. It will never end. The glory that is to be revealed to us, the glory that is coming, is the end of our earthly life, as well as a glorious beginning of eternal, perfect life with Christ in heaven. He says, I consider that the sufferings of this present life are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. But Paul continues, Romans 8 and 19. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. So in verse 18, we saw the word revealed. And here in verse 19, we have the word revealing. So this revealing, to be made known, a disclosure of truth, laying bare, a manifestation, an uncovering, an unveiling, if you will. But verse 18, it says, glory will be revealed to God's children. Verse 19, it says, creation is eagerly and anxiously longing for the revealing of the sons of God. So what is the revealing of the sons of God? See the connection in Colossians 3. If then you've been raised with Christ, Seek the things that are above. Where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. So glory is revealed to God's children and there is a revealing of the sons of God. The sons of God are God's children appearing or revealed in their glorified state. Listen to the words of John MacArthur concerning the sons of God. All believers will be eternally separated from sin. How's that sound? All believers will be eternally separated from sin. and their unredeemed humanness to be glorified with Christ's own holiness and splendor. So this is coming for God's children. And as Christians together, we gather together, we worship him, and we eagerly await this day right now. We are looking forward to this. We are ready. And so is all of God's creation. When compared to the glory that is coming, suffering is nothing but a mist or but a speck. For glory is coming. God's children will rightly worship Him for all of eternity. Lost souls in this world, including the lost souls in this room, they do not understand who Christians really are. But, there is a revealing that will come. 1 John 3 talks about it. It says, See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him. because we shall see him as he is. And every one of those hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 1 Corinthians 15 continues, he says, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body will put on the imperishable. This mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass a saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O 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 victory through the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, be immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." As Paul was coming to the end of his life, As he was in chains in Philippians 1, verse 6, he said, and I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you, He's going to do what? He's going to bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. So there will be a revealing, and we will be separated from sin. Look at Romans 8, verse 20. It says, for the creation was subjected to fertility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it. And 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." So sin brought death and corruption. Spiritual death, physical death, and the corruption of the earth. Because of sin, creation was cursed by the Lord. The creation was put in subjection to futility or depravity. The words of R.C. help us understand this. For the present time, the whole creation has been subjected to the appearance of futility, something which did not occur by vote. It was set by divine decree. The world is filled with pain and suffering, not because God is not good, but because He is good and will not tolerate evil. God was subjected the entire creation to pain and suffering because of sin. The next time that we hurt and become angry with God and shake our fists in his face and ask, why me? We must listen to the reply that God gives, why not you? The real question is why God in His grace should store up for us, heaven, a glory and blessedness so great that the suffering we endure now is not worthy to be compared with it. So a good biblical and God perspective is what we need in this life, and this is why we have the Word of God. Wrong thinking goes much like this. How does a good, holy, and righteous God allow this to happen to me? If God is good, why is there evil? Correct thinking sounds much like this. How could a holy God save a sinner like me? I was His enemy. I was a hater of Him. I despised Him. I suppressed the truth. How could the God of all creation consider me special? How could He justify me? How could He continue to sanctify me and then inform me of the great glory to come when I deserve none of it? How could God the Father send His only Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth to die for a sinner as I? What God has been doing since before time began is amazing. We must praise him, but we must also look to what is to come. We must see beyond what we look at with our eyes and realize there is glory coming. Creation will be set free from the bondage to corruption. Creation has been groaning like pain in childbirth, but please understand the picture that is painted here. Paul is painting creation has been groaning like the pain in childbirth, but that childbirth will also be over one day. That childbirth will come to an end. God's kingdom will forever stand without decay and there'll be no more pain of childbirth. All that has gone wrong in this life, by God's power and grace, will be made right. Romans 8 v. 23 says, And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. So creation is eagerly awaiting. And so are we who have the Spirit of God. If you reach the point of maturity in your spiritual life, you've hit also an aspect in which you really can't explain. When I was in college, I wanted the return of Christ to come, but I also wanted other things to happen. I wanted to get married. I wanted to have a family. I wanted kids, I wanted to do different things. And by God's grace, I'm to the point where He has brought me. There are certain things that I may want to do and desire to do, but my greatest, I just want Christ to return. I want to please Him with whatever I have right now. Creation is eagerly awaiting. And we who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, that is, those who are saved, those who have the Spirit of God in us, working through us, sanctifying us, we experience the firstfruits of that. We who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons. That is, the redemption of our bodies. This is what is known as the already but not yet. Those saved have already been adopted, absolutely. We are now in Christ, but we await for our glorified bodies. We await for the revealing of glory. Now notice the words that Paul uses in Romans 8, 24 and 25. Notice how many times he uses the word hope. We find that hope is used four times in two verses. 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. Now this word hope, it's not wishful thinking. It's not us watching a football game yesterday. I really hope the Aggies win. That's wishful thinking. And they lost. This word hope that Paul uses is an absolute certainty. He is grasping this with his mind and his heart and his life. It's an absolute certainty, an absolute confidence. It is a sure thing that will happen that has not happened yet, but I'm living as if it has. Our hope is not what we see with our eyes. What we see with our eyes is presently fading. It is decaying. We do not hope for what we see. We hope for what we do not see. Christ. future glory, and we wait for it with patience. One of the ways in which we wait with enduring patience for Christ is by the Holy Spirit. Look at Romans 8, 26. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. This is the one way in which we are weak. We want everything right now. We wait for it with patience by the Spirit. We do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. So the Spirit helps us in our weakness. The Spirit helps us pray. The Spirit even intercedes for us, praying for us with groanings too deep for words. Now let me explain what this means. This groaning of the Spirit has been so skewed. We don't want to trail off into a misunderstanding of tongues or an elevation of man-made experiences. The groaning of the Spirit is not something we hear. It is not audible. It's a line of communication between the Spirit and the Father through the Son. The Spirit of God seals and continues His work of sanctification in us until we reach glory. So the Spirit of God brings about the perfect will of God in our lives. Did you catch that? Through the Word of God, through what the Lord has provided for us, through the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God brings about the perfect will of God in our lives. The Spirit and the Son do not stop interceding for us. Romans 8, 34. Paul addresses this letter in Church Philippi. He says, For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance. Philippians 2, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. So the Lord saves and He sanctifies. He is always at work in us for His good pleasure. If He wasn't at work in us, He wouldn't be working for His good pleasure, which means He wouldn't be God. So Romans 8, verse 27 says, And he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. So God the Father knows and searches the hearts of men. Isn't that great? Like, wait, wait. How can that be great? God searches the hearts. He knows your hearts. He knows the hearts of all the men. Right. Before God saved you, He knew you. After He saved you, He still knows you. He still knows everything that you struggle with. He's still at work conforming you more into the image of His Son. And the Spirit of God, which He has given to you, which has sealed you for the day of redemption, is at work, is making you more like Christ. And then when the glory is revealed, we'll be home. You see, the will of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, it's all the same. Their communion, it is perfect and seamless. They are all working. They are seeing to their perfect will in all of creation. That means God's perfect will is being done in your life. And the Lord's perfect will involves all of creation coming to its divinely appointed goal. And this includes bringing His children all the way home. And in coming all the way home, We go back and we look at verse 18 and we must hang our hat on this hook and we must lay our head down on this at night. I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. So all your pain, all your suffering, combine it all from what everyone has experienced over all time, it's still not worth talking about it. When put up against the glory of God, it's gonna be revealed to us. God appoints our justification. He brings about sanctification in our life. He is seeing to our perseverance as His children, and we will be glorified. The glory of God will be revealed to us. We who have been adopted, we will receive the redemption of our bodies, the fullness of our salvation, and forever we will be bathing in that inexpressible home with Christ. Glory is coming, saints. Do not lose hope. Keep your eyes on the truth that we find in Romans 8, and in response, as you are focused upon the glory of God, you will live a faithful life. Father, we thank you today for your holy word. Father, even now, Father, we know what's happening in heaven. Your perfect will is being done. Your creatures that you have made are saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. All of creation is waiting your eagerly and anxious return for you, for the sons of God to be revealed. For you to bring about everything that you have promised. And even now we don't fully understand what that is, what that looks like, how we're going to experience that. Father, how great and marvelous you are. It is extremely hard, Lord, to fathom that you would not only save us, but you would sanctify us and then tell us of a day in which you will glorify us, in which we will be like your son and we deserve none of it? Lord, how can we ever treasure anything else? How can we ever set our mind on the things of this world and devote ourselves to building a kingdom that will fade? Lord, purify us. Lord, help us to put to death the deeds of the body by the spirit, and to live for you, having our mind fixed forever on the glory that is to be revealed, the glory of walking and living and knowing the sound of the Son of God. Father, you are so good to us and we deserve none of it. Work in us this week. Remind us of your word. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.