Okay, so on last week we saw that Paul at first seemingly, out of nowhere, introduced to us this doctrine of suffering. And yet it follows right along with all the great and glorious promises and hope of our future glorification. In fact, this suffering gives us the most irrefutable proof of our sonship that we can have. The argument he is going to put forth from here to the end of the chapter is very clear. Our suffering in this life, whatever form that suffering may take, if it stems from our faith in Jesus Christ and our service to God and His kingdom, then that suffering is irrefutable proof that we absolutely do belong to Christ, that we are without any doubt joint heirs with Christ. And so we're going to take up where we left off on last week with the second half of verse 17 and working through verse 23, maybe. There are volumes to be uncovered here, but I kind of promised Cooper that I would finish chapter 8 by Thanksgiving. And in order to do that, we're going to need to pick up the pace just a little bit. All right? Not too much, though. Don't be overly worried about being able to keep up. And so we begin, and we're going to try to take this verse by verse. We're going to cover a lot of stuff this morning, and some of it is debatable. Some of it gets debated, but it's not debatable. You know what I'm talking about. And so if you have something that you want to interject or add to or disagree with, please feel free to jump in, raise your hand, We'll do that. So I said maybe we'll get through verse 23. I don't know. It's a lot of stuff. So 17b, second half of verse 17, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that 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 the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. So he starts with provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. So we have read much with regards to our being united with Christ, united with him in his death, His burial, His resurrection, even united with Him in final glorification. And there is one other aspect of our unity that we need to grasp, and that is the fact that we are also united with Him in His suffering. And so Paul begins to address here some truths with regards to this suffering. First thing we need to address here, though, is that this is not a conditional statement. this is not a if you suffer some of the translation says if you suffer this is provided you suffer then as a result you will be glorified with him that would be work salvation so that is obviously not what that is referring to here uh... and we know that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone uh... this statement is a positional one with an earthly boundary Our sufferings and persecutions are one more proof to be added to the huge lists of proofs that Paul has been giving us since chapter 5. That we are united to Christ and thus can say with assurance that we are God's children. Such trials, far from shaking our faith, should strengthen it and bring us to further surety of our ultimate salvation. These sufferings and trials are also a further proof that we are being prepared for the glory to which we are being taken. There are many scriptures that attest to the fact that it is through much tribulation that we must enter into the kingdom of God. Also, whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives. There is no question, based on scripture, that suffering is one of the means used by God to prepare us for the glory that awaits us. So 17b might rather sound like this. Since we suffer with Him, in order that we may be also glorified together. So we suffer in order that. So that we may be prepared for that glory. We suffer as a process. refining gold, that's what it is, that's what he's referring to here. That glorification, being full and entire deliverance from sin and evil in all their forms and in every respect, body, soul, and spirit, wherein we become like the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us one of the most profound statements with regards to the suffering of Christians in this present life, looking at what already is and knowing what is soon to come. There is nothing more important for us than to know how exactly we are to react to the troubles and trials and tribulations and sufferings which are already being hinted at and which we will soon have to endure as we live our lives in this world. So how should we react? Well, first is don't be taken by surprise. We know from scripture that we cannot be united to Christ without in some shape or form knowing something of the fellowship of his sufferings. It is inevitable. The world hates Christ and thus hates his followers. Attempt, let's see. even those of us who are very poor examples of being his followers they still like you just because of the fact that even though they don't know you they find out you're a christian you say the word christ that they automatically hate you attempt to do anything in the name of christ and whether they vocalize it or not there will be masses of people who will hate you for your efforts Do not be surprised. We have a couple of thousand years of documentation of what happens to people like us just for being people like Christ. Secondly, do not be shaken by it. This is where the rubber meets the road. If we as Christian people are down in the mouth about our suffering, if we are shaken by it, then those watching us, and they are always watching, These will be given cause to blaspheme our Lord. They believe God to be a weak or non-existent. Our failure to stand strong in faith feeds that belief that God is weak or non-existent. On the other hand, it is a simple fact of history that there was nothing more effective in bringing people to conviction and conversion in the early days of the church than their observation of the way in which these Christian people endured suffering. At the very doorstep of death, time and again, rather than grumbling and complaining, they were instead found to be thanking God that at last they had been counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. The final crown of glory, they used to say, was martyrdom, and the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church. So fear of suffering, persecution, or even death is pretty much a denial of everything that we claim to believe. The purpose of this paragraph that we are considering is to show us just how wrong it is to doubt the love of God and the power of God, even for some to doubt the existence of God, or for some others to doubt their position as Christians, just because we face some sort of suffering. So that's what happens when the suffering is the purification process. It brings in all these doubts. It brings in, does God really love me? Does God really have the power that He says He has? Does God even exist? Am I even a Christian? These are all the things that are brought up by suffering. A Christian should never carry a grudge against God. nor grumble and complain at the lot that he has drawn, such as did the Israelites as they wandered in circles in the wilderness for forty years because they had so little faith in God's plan and God's promises. There is no promise given nor expectation offered of any relief or any improvement in our situation. The thing that carnal men find so offensive with this passage is that Paul is writing here to suffering believers and yet there is not one suggestion that things are going to get better. Just as there is no promise made anywhere in scripture that things are going to get better in this life and here on this earth, Jesus himself had nowhere to lay his head. Why then should we assume to deserve more or better than the captain of our salvation? There shall always be wars and rumors of wars. Evil men shall wax worse and worse. That's what the scripture says about the future, okay? The world is a place of sin and suffering, always has been since the fall, and will continue to be so. Surrounded by powerful enemies in their various forms, from the hands of the earthly governments to even the travesties of the church, where the church has formed an alliance with the state and become worldly. The annals of history are all one needs in order to know and understand that there is no optimism to be found in the secular arena. There will be no evolution or gradual process of improvement that will take place in this world. It has already been weighed in the balances and found wanting, and it is passing away with all those that love it. Okay? Even further, there is no call here to Christians to try and change the conditions or to improve them. This is crucial, especially now. Paul says that there is suffering in this life for the Christians. but he does not at any time exhort Christian people to band themselves together and to rise up and try to do something to lessen the sufferings. Not a word to that effect to be found in this paragraph nor anywhere else in the New Testament. Christian people unequally yoking themselves together with unbelievers is a denial of everything that the gospel and the entirety of the New Testament teaches. Second Corinthians chapter 6 verses 14 to 18. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what position does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord and touch no unclean thing. Then I will welcome you and I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. So going all the way back to first Samuel chapter eight, Those who claim the name of God, some of them sought to align themselves with the worldly government system. And in so doing, God's own mouth says that they rejected God as their Father. Okay? And in doing that, they rejected their Sonship. So, what about Romans 13? Yes, be subject to the rulers. Yes, obey man's laws. Yes, be a good citizen and seek to be a blessing to those around you. But do not be unequally yoked together with this Christless system or its Christless minions. And especially not with the goal of lessening the suffering of Christian people for the simple reason that that sinful system is the root of Christian suffering. And joining with it has been proven a thousand times over to only increase the suffering of God's people. The more you get involved with the world, the more you're going to suffer for it. Put it simply, if we believe that the function of Christianity is to abolish the causes of suffering, then we are denying the very teaching that is right here in front of us. Christianity is not a movement for world reform. The Bible is very clear on that point. In fact, the time of the end is going to be so terrible that Jesus Christ asked the question, when the Son of Man comes, will he find what on the earth? Faith. Okay? So then what are we exhorted to do? In light of all of that, what are we exhorted to do? Well, the answer is not resignation. Just accept that life is hard and then you die. There used to be bumper stickers about that, okay? There is no resignation to be found in Paul's words here. Verse 18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. There is something here that makes us, as Paul puts it later, that we are more than conquerors. This is triumphant. This is glorious. But this is not right here and right now, because right here and right now are idolatry. Seeking more than what God has planned for us is idolatry. This suffering, even if we are whipped or financially harmed or cast to the wild beasts, or boiled in oil or used as human torches. Paul says none of that is worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. We are not stoics. We are not fatalists. We are not those who die without hope. So get this. Paul says, I have considered everything I know that could possibly happen to me here on this earth. And it could be pretty bad. In fact, I have faced much of it already. He tells us how much of it he has already faced. But I have also considered what awaits me as a child of God and a joint heir with my Lord Jesus Christ, and the two are not even close to comparable. There is no sugarcoating here. He does not say, just hang on, things will get better by the by. Things are not as bad as you think they are. They surely can't last forever. He doesn't say any of that. He says, in effect, I have considered all that I have experienced and might yet experience, and it is not worth comparing to the glory that I am assured is awaiting me as a child of the one true God. That is the mindset of the Christian. Trying to achieve the glory in the here and now is nothing more than idolatry. We all need to think about why we do what we do. Is it to further God's kingdom and to bring glory to Him? Or is it to further the parts of the worldly kingdom that we enjoy and to seek the peaceful, prosperous, happy lives that we so much desire? The two are not even close to the same thing. Nor can one be used to advance the other. They are at enmity. One is of the world, the other is of God. Those two are at enmity with each other at all times. Next point is that this teaching is only for Christian people. He says, reveal to us who is us, which is God's children. There is no comfort to be found in the Bible to give to people who are not Christians. All non-believers have is a warning to flee from the wrath to come. The sufferings they endure now are not comparable to the sufferings that await all those who do not belong to Jesus Christ. There is nothing for such men to consider. Life without God only leads to eternity without God. So did Paul suffer. Absolutely, we know for a fact that he did. How did he deal with it? He considered it not worthy of comparing to what he knew was yet to come. It is only those people who believe the truths that we have studied, the promises that we have been given for the last eight chapters, that are able to do that. They have to have something that they can consider, okay? Those who have considered these things and determined that they are of infinitely more value than any mere suffering can squash or take away. This is the whole method of living the Christian life. And this is far closer to my understanding than the feelings stuff that we did over the weeks before, okay? That's out of my wheelhouse. This is what I understand. Those feelings things are not any less true, okay? But this is absolutely logical. This is not something that just falls out of a tree and hit you in the head. It is not something that you catch on the breeze. Christianity is a faith that you believe and experience and then which you are able to reason it out. You consider, you deduce logically, Failure to do so, failure to consider and deduce logically, leaves you having to look for something else to fill the gaps that are going to be left from it. So how do we deal with suffering? We read the doctrines, study the doctrines, consider the alternatives, think, reason, argue logically to work out the doctrines that you believe so that you can then say, I consider All of this present time, and I choose the glory that has been revealed to me and will then be given to me. It's kind of like sitting at your table and you have these scales, okay? And over here you have the suffering. For some people it's thire indeed. And over here you have the hope that you are, that you have coming. Which one is going to weigh the most? Well, it depends on how much effort you have invested into which one it is. You're entirely in control of that. If your focus is only on the suffering, that's going to far outweigh everything else. If your focus is on the hope that you have coming, and the study that you've done in that doctrine, and the revelation that God has given you through that, and that's gonna far outweigh so that's the difference so before we go on let's attempt to put this in context of the good old US of A. So Paul is writing this to Romans who are I mean they are in a dire strait. Outright persecution because of our faith is not a common occurrence in the United States of America at least not yet I said, it's coming. Yes, there are some snide remarks. Yes, there are some jokes. Yes, maybe some ostracizing. But for now, the most persecuted people are those who have aligned their faith with their politics and made that their gospel or choose that in lieu of the gospel. we've already said that the bad decision never work so that's persecution but right now that's persecution because politics that has nothing to do with Jesus Christ okay but there are other things that are more subtle some have suffered loss of loved ones some suffer with chronic health conditions some with relationship or family problems some with never-ending financial difficulties uh... so others are judged and may be ill-treated for the simple word reason that they base their words and actions on the leading of the holy spirit in them all these are very real sources of suffering and these give way to the enemy to attack us and to attempt to make us doubt god's love and god's power and even doubt our own assurance of salvation. These are just as much what Paul is referring to here as a lion's den or a fiery furnace, because they lead us into the same temptations. Paul's exhortation here is just as relevant and just as applicable. Now, me personally, I have the best life one could ever hope for. When I say better than I deserve, I mean it. Yeah, I didn't know that until they told me that that's a common phrase for some dude that does money management or something better than I deserve. I don't do money management, so I didn't know that. So I didn't steal it from him. Yes, I have suffered in life. but only as a result of living in a fallen world and being a fallen human being. Brought much of it on myself, had the rest forced on me by a godless ancestry and upbringing. None of it was for the sake of the kingdom. Fast forward to the more recent reality. I have been given an awesome wife, children, grandchildren, an awesome church, Untold opportunities to serve in us in some small way in God's kingdom All more amazing than I or anyone else could ever ask for Much less deserve Ain't smart never really been good at anything except making the wrong decisions by identify with that a Master of that and yet god has loved me beyond measure and used me over and over far above anything i am capable of on my own so from where does this suffering and persecution come from in a life as well as mine well i've been written up a couple of times for proselytizing apparently you're not allowed to do that in the public school system No big deal. Just words on a paper. Didn't affect me in the least. Meant nothing. All right? Been cursed pretty harshly. No matter. Had far worse as a child. So from whence does it come? It comes from myself mostly. Actually from the remnants of sin still in me. Because there's this constant struggle against turning the blessings that god has given to me into an idle anybody recognize that of being more concerned with protecting those that are mine from physical suffering and persecution than with protecting them from the spiritual attacks that lurk around every corner you see the ones that i love the ones that you love if they are god's children if they are seeking to live a godly life in Christ Jesus they will suffer persecution ain't nothing you can do about that we are not told to attempt to do anything about that not anywhere in the Bible it's not there what we are being told here is that such persecution is a natural occurrence of God's grace It is a proof that we are God's children and joint heirs with Christ. It is a blessing that we should rejoice in, not seek to avoid, not waste our time trying to figure out how to keep it from occurring, not join forces with the persecutors and hope that we can pass some legislation that will make the persecutions less frequent or less severe. Persecution is God's tool. God's means of purifying His people. Christ's way of purifying His bride. We just don't understand this as being for a purpose. For the simple reason that we have never really had to face it. Not like these Roman Christians were facing it. Not like the majority of Christians found in the New Testament were facing it. Not like the masses of Christians around the world at this very moment are facing it. Meeting in secret because to be found out would mean loss of almost everything up to and including imprisonment and even death. And yet they still meet because to not meet would be far worse. That's what we're taught. to not meet would be far worse than anything that they could be forced upon them. But I guarantee you one thing for sure. If you seek to start tomorrow morning to strive to live every moment a godly life in Christ Jesus, now, not a moral life, not a self-righteous life, not a politically conservative life, but a godly life in Christ Jesus. A life wherein the only thing that matters with every person you meet and every place you go is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If you live that life, the world will not be able to hold back its hatred for you. Satan's children will not be able to restrain themselves from assailing you They won't have a choice, because they hate you. So the message is, whatever the suffering, whatever you are enduring, it belongs only to this present time, this present age, this passing world. But the glory that is coming, the last age, the end of time, the eternal state, to which we belong and will soon have in its fullness, that is the one that matters. If we focus on this present time and this present suffering, the weight can seem to be far more than we can bear. A ponderous weight indeed. But when we are focused on the age to come and the glory that will be revealed in us, the weight of the two is not worth even comparing. They are so far removed from one another. Verses 19 to 23. That's it. it is addressed it in fact uh... there was heard somebody this week talking about the uh... what paul saw on the road of the road to damascus and uh... jesus said why persecutest thou me he didn't say why are you persecuting my people because that's what paul thought he was doing he thought he was persecuting the people jesus said why are you persecuting me because His people are His body. So we are all in this together. Absolutely. 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, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoptions as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Now we could teach for weeks on this one section, but I'm going to limit it to the one overarching truth that is to be found here. That when Adam fell, not only did all mankind fall under his federal headship, but also all of creation was subjected to that fall as well. And just like God's plan was to restore man to his former glorious state, even more so than the original god will also restore all of creation to its original state wherein upon its being spoken into existence god said what it is good okay right now it's not very good but when he created it was good all right but the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of god what is the creation that he is referring to here was not all of creation is not angels as the good angels already know where they are the bad angels are waiting in chains of darkness okay they're not they're not eagerly longing for craft come back as they know what will happen then when he comes back okay no eager longing for that for the for either one of them it is not mean christians already have the down payment of the holy spirit and we are included later in verse twenty three it is not unbelievers because they want nothing to do with god or glory much less would they ever display and eager longing for the revealing not angels it's not mean so what remains but we are left with the material the animate the inanimate the organic the inorganic animals vegetation bodies of water mountains and molehills this is talking about the earth itself This is talking about the visible heavens, the cosmos that man has yet to find the end of with all of his science and all of his tools. The wilderness and the solitary places, says Isaiah, shall be glad and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose. The mountains and the hills shall break forth in singing and the trees shall clap their hands. This is the creation Paul is referring to here. So what is this creation eagerly longing for? For the revealing of the sons of God. For the sons of God to be put on exhibition. For God to show what he has done in us and through us in his great plan of salvation. We are going to be God's showpieces put on display. revealed for all to see the awesome power and love and grace and mercy of God manifested in us. All of creation is waiting for this great event. So why is creation looking forward to this event in this way? Well, here is the doctrine. It is because the fate of creation is inseparably linked with the fate of man. The fate of man and the fate of the whole cosmos are linked inseparably together and the one follows the other. Listen to Paul work this out because this is critical. This is foundational. That man's sin has produced the present condition of creation. It is what it is because of the fall of man. It's not global warming, folks. It is what it is because of the fall of man. Verse 20, For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. So it was subjected, it was given over to futility. Which means it was not measuring up to what was intended for it. Not what it was meant to be. Something in it which seems to be destructive. All its produce made null and void or futile. He explains it a bit in verse 21. 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. So creation is in a state of corruption, meaning putrefaction, rot, death, destruction. Creation has become offensive, as it were. It is in bondage to this corruption, cannot free itself from it, leaving it ultimately in a futile existence. Simplest way to put this is that creation is in the death throes of its life cycle. It was subjected to this, Aristentes, in the past, once and forever. At a given point, creation was subjected to the bondage of corruption. There was a time when this was not the case, a time when it was good, but at a given point it was subjected to futility. not willingly. It did nothing to cause this. It did not choose this. It had no desire to be this. So why the death? Why the decay? Why does every single living thing die and end up on the compost heap? Because of the will of him who did the subjecting. So who is the one who has subjected creation to futility? You already know where we are going. Genesis chapter 3. verses 14 to 19. That gives us the curse, but verses 17 to 19 give us our context here. And to Adam he said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground because of you, in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life, Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground." This is why creation is as it is. The earth was cursed because of the sin of man. This is of vast importance. You cannot understand the world you live in if you do not grasp this or do not believe it. There are some who consider Genesis to be a non-essential, cannot imagine anything more essential. We have never seen this world, this creation, as God made it. There was never meant to be any futility, never any corruption, never any bondage with regards to creation. Never meant to be any thorns or thistles or briars or weeds. All they had to do was pick the fruit off of the tree. I mean, tend the garden. Pick the fruit off the tree, maybe graft a little, maybe prune a little out of it. No thorns and thistles and nasty stuff, all right? All of this is part of the curse. Now, the alternative is to chalk all of this up to evolution and six long periods of time, as they put it. If you don't get the garden right, you will never get the plan of salvation right. We are not seeing creation as it was, nor as it was meant to be. Creation did nothing to produce this. It was man who did the something that produced this. Unwillingly is true of creation. It is not true of man. Man sinned voluntarily, willingly, and deliberately, and is bearing the sufferings of his voluntary action. So Paul shows us the link, the intimate connection between man and creation. Man was made Lord over creation and when the Lord over creation fell, that which he was Lord over was punished and turned over to futility and the bondage of corruption. What happens to man happens to creation. The negative has already happened. What Paul is going to show us is that the positive is also in the plan of God. That is why creation is eagerly longing for the revealing of the sons of God. So this is where we draw some very important deductions. First being that the state of the world cannot be explained by the theory of evolution. According to that theory, everything is progressing and developing and advancing. Where we are now is just an intermediate and particular stage of development. Always moving forward, getting better and better all the time. Paul says the opposite. Creation started out perfectly and has been dying since the fall to the point that we are where we are now. Theory of evolution is the most incoherent, inconsistent, inane idea that anyone could ever come up with and yet it is the most accepted belief system in existence today and for the last hundred and fifty years is the most controlling influence on the thought of mankind in practically every every realm of life and living Paul's teaching here is the very antithesis of that system of belief public school was invented to teach this theory of evolution because that's how you get rid of God is to convince people that we came from somewhere besides him. Second deduction, the all importance of the early chapters of the book of Genesis with regards to the Christian and Christianity. There are many today that say that you can be a Christian and hold the doctrines of the Christian faith and at the same time hold the early chapters of Genesis as non-essentials. that it does not matter if they are historically true or not but in light of what paul is teaching here such cannot be the case saw something of this in chapter five is what as we looked at the federal headship of adam you don't get that without the first chapters of genesis that is a foundational doctrine same thing here you don't get this without the first chapters of genesis Creation is as it is today because at a given point in history, as Genesis 3 tells us, God cursed the ground. It is not possible to hold on to the doctrines of the Christian faith while rejecting the factual historical element of that faith. Third deduction. There is no hope for man or creation or the cosmos in terms of evolution. There is no insinuation in the Bible that given enough centuries, things will eventually get better. That man and his environment will improve until both of us reach a state of perfection. Paul tells us the exact opposite is true. There is nothing in creation that leads to an optimistic view of the future either of man or of creation itself. Science, in a sense, confirms this while also contradicting its own claims of evolution. There's what is known as the second law of thermodynamics. Anybody ever heard of that one? Okay. Which teaches that the whole universe is running down. So they're saying that evolution is true, but also that it's running down. It's moving forward, but it's running down. That doesn't... What you trying to say, Willis? I don't understand that. As for scripture, the optimistic idea that things are going to advance and develop is absolutely foreign to its teachings. The Bible teaches rather that there is to be a crisis, there is to be a judgment, there is to be an end to the world as it is. And it teaches that something new and different is to be introduced. Any of that sounding familiar? Man and creation inexorably linked together. Man having to die and be raised as a new creature. Creation having to pass away and being replaced by something new. A new heaven and a new earth, as John tells us in his revelation. Revelation 21, 1-3 says, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had what? Passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Fourth and last deduction is that there is only one hope, and that is rooted in the character and purpose of God himself. The only hope for the creation, for the whole universe as well as man, is in the character of God. that in the following way, God's glory and God's honor prohibit his leaving the world as it is. If God is God, the great creator, and if God is all-powerful with all rule and authority at his command, then the very character of God makes it quite impossible that he should leave creation as it is at the present time. He cannot leave it in this state of futility that it is in as we speak. It is inconsistent with the character of God that this should be the permanent state of affairs. So, of course, this is precisely what the Bible tells us. The actual condition of creation gives us an insight into what Paul is saying here. We can see the imperfections, we can see the futility and the corruption of creation, and that very fact is proof positive that it will not be left to continue thusly because God is God he cannot leave it like that he must do something about it and that is exactly what we are told he is going to do verse 20 for the creation was subjected to futility not willingly but because of him who subjected it in hope in hope surely referring to the fact that at the same time God cursed the earth He also gave it a hope of deliverance. That is what makes Genesis 3 so important. That is why its history is so essential to the understanding of the biblical doctrine of salvation. This is why the historic accuracy of the first chapters of Genesis are not and cannot be held as non-essential. There is no understanding of the plan of salvation for man or for creation apart from an understanding of what took place in Genesis chapter 3. There, God says to creation, I am cursing you because of the sin of man, but this is not always to be your condition. It is to be your condition until I deliver man, and then your deliverance will come also. But in the meantime, verse 22, For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. This constant struggle that creation has been undergoing, all of it together, death and destruction and rot and decay, always the struggle to put forth new life and new growth, always attempting to keep itself going, to keep itself on track, as it were. Paul says it is futility. We see it every year. It comes in the spring, puts forth stuff, and then it dies. It's futile. It can't keep up. Paul says it's futility. It's like a man trying to make himself right by his own works. It's the same thing. It is a struggle as painful as childbirth, but producing no child, just the pain. This is the state of creation because of the sin of man. There is no hope for whatsoever in creation in and of itself, none at all. Verse 23, 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. There is no hope whatsoever in creation in and of itself, none at all. Just like there is no hope whatsoever for man in and of himself, none at all. But we as Christians who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we do have hope. We still groan inwardly because of the sin and the decay around us and in us, but we know beyond any doubt that we are God's children already. We groan because we're not there yet. We're not fully redeemed. Creation groans because it eagerly awaits our full redemption. We, both ourselves and creation, are inexorably linked, and we are both waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons and the complete and total redemption of our bodies. Let's pray. God, we love you so much. Thank you so much for the plan that you have for us, the plan that you have for your creation. We know that you will not leave us as we were. We know that you will not leave your creation as it is. That all things are going to become new. That we are soon to see your glorious face. We are soon to sit beside our glorious Lord Jesus. We thank you for your word that tells us how it all started and how it all is going to end. Be with us through the remainder of our service. May you receive glory for it. In Christ's name, Amen.