[0:00] Please turn to the book of Romans, Romans chapter 8, and I will read verses 12 to 25.
[0:15] Let's hear the word of God. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the sinful nature to live according to it.
[0:28] For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.
[0:43] For you did not receive the Spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.
[0:58] Now if we are children, then we are heirs. Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
[1:09] I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.
[1:22] For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it. In hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
[1:38] We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
[1:56] For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
[2:10] I invite you to have your Bible open to Romans chapter 8. And we've come to verse 18 as our starting point this morning.
[2:22] What is at the end of the road determines how much you will put up with along the way to get there.
[2:34] You've just been notified that you won $10 million and you have 24 hours to get to such and such an address in South Bend to claim it.
[2:46] You immediately stop what you're doing, as important as it was, and you hop in your car and head north to South Bend.
[2:57] Halfway there you blow a tire, but not a problem, you have a spare. And so you begin to change it. But the lug nuts are frozen tight and you shear off all but one of the bolts.
[3:13] And you're working on the last one and the wrench slips and you knock your knuckles and now they're bleeding. And finally you just give up on it and start walking the last 10 miles.
[3:25] Then you think, I'll hitchhike, but nobody wants to pick you up. And then it starts to rain and the cars are splashing on you as they go by. And you just keep going. And you finally get to South Bend.
[3:37] But you can't find the address. But you keep looking. What keeps you going? What keeps you from quitting and turning back?
[3:49] Well, the prize at the end of the road. You consider its worth to be such that you'll put up with all the troubles to get there. And Christian brothers and sisters, something so great and glorious is going to happen to you at the end.
[4:07] Would you just catch a glimpse of it and keep it in your mind? Well, then you would gladly endure whatever sufferings and hardships that you encounter along the way.
[4:22] Now that's what Paul's telling us here in our text. Verses 18 to 25 of Romans 8. He's holding before us our present sufferings and the future glory.
[4:37] That inheritance that is coming to all the children of God that we saw in verse 17. Where we're told that if we're children, then we're heirs. Heirs of God. Co-heirs with Christ.
[4:48] And that we will share in his glory. And now we come to verse 18 where we're told how to cope with suffering. Present sufferings in our lives.
[4:59] The text says, I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
[5:11] The first lesson is just this, that our future glory far outweighs our present sufferings. Now when Paul says, I consider.
[5:22] I consider. He's using an accounting term. He's crunching numbers. He's counting. He's making a mathematical calculation in his head. He's adding up two columns side by side.
[5:36] Over here are present sufferings. And over here is future glory. And under present sufferings are all the troubles we now experience in this life. Spiritual, physical, emotional, mental.
[5:51] Persecution. All kinds of sufferings. And who better than the Apostle Paul to be considering those. You find lists, don't you, in his letters of all that he suffered in the way of beatings and whippings and shipwreck and cold and imprisonment.
[6:09] And night and day on the sea. And stoned and left for dead. And he puts it all down. Present sufferings. And then on the other column, he places the coming glory at Christ's return.
[6:26] And who better for him than him to speak of the coming glory who was taken in the spirit into the highest heavens and saw things that were not allowed to be spoken of.
[6:39] Second Corinthians chapter 12. And so as high as the sum of present sufferings, when he added up the future glory, he doesn't just say, you know, this makes up for this.
[6:52] He says it is so much greater that the two are not even worth comparing. That word not worth could also be translated no weight.
[7:05] There's no weight to all these present sufferings compared to the weightiness of the future glory. You'll know that the root word of glory has that idea of weight and importance and weightiness.
[7:19] And Paul's saying that our present sufferings aren't even have any weight compared to the future glory. So now he's speaking about weight.
[7:30] And so we go from the accounting world to the scales world. The grocer who's got the scales and he puts one thing on one side and another on the other.
[7:41] And Paul puts the future glory on the one side of the scales and it just bottoms out. And then he says, now put all your sufferings over on this side.
[7:53] And you say, well, I already did. He said, no, all of them, all your life sufferings, I already have. Well, it didn't even vibrate.
[8:06] It didn't shake. It didn't even move. It was like a feather was added to the mountain that was placed on the scales. Not worth comparing.
[8:23] And knowing all the sufferings in this veil of tears, what must this glory be? That these things are weightless.
[8:35] Notice that the glory is to be revealed. That's future. This is future.
[8:45] This is present. The glory is at present hidden. It's at present covered. It's veiled.
[8:56] And herein lies no small part of our problem. Because the revealing of the glory is not yet, that means we must wait for it.
[9:09] And waiting is not our best suit. We're not the best at waiting, especially when we're suffering while we wait. For our sufferings, yeah, they're the present tense things.
[9:25] We see them. We feel them. We experience them now. We hurt and limp because of them. We can't escape them. And whereas the glory is future and unseen, the sufferings are present and experienced.
[9:42] That means that the future glory is only laid hold of now by faith. By faith.
[9:53] Faith in the promises of God. Faith in the descriptions of it that we have in the scriptures. Now this idea of comparing negatives and positives, the columns, the paper cut in half and we're tallying up.
[10:10] We do that all the time, whether we actually sit down and do it. You're doing it. I'm doing it. There's the athlete and he's got negatives over here. And he's got his present sufferings.
[10:22] The sacrifice. The things he has to sacrifice to train. The discipline. The diet. The time spent. The pain of the workouts. But over here are the positives.
[10:33] Here's the joys and glory of winning. The joys of just belonging to a team. We do it in the workforce. There are certain things about your jobs that are negatives.
[10:46] Maybe it's the work environment. Maybe it's the people you work with. But you put up with it all because of the positives that you enjoy. Maybe it's the pay, the benefits, the flex time.
[10:58] But you're always comparing. But if ever the negatives far outweigh the positives in our minds, well then we probably give it up. The employee will conclude the liabilities here are too great.
[11:10] I'm done. I'm going to look for another job. The athlete will conclude it's not worth the early morning practice and all the discipline. And he'll quit. And find something else to do.
[11:21] And the Christian? Paul knows that if the Christian ever loses sight of the future glory. The present sufferings will overwhelm us.
[11:33] They will discourage us. They will powerfully tempt us to give up. At least to cut corners. To lessen the sufferings. And so throughout this passage, our present sufferings are assumed to be the normal Christian life.
[11:52] The normal Christian life. That's not the message that's often preached today. You come to Jesus and everything's fine. That's a lie.
[12:03] It's a false gospel. Our present sufferings. This is not the time of rest and ease. This is the day of battle.
[12:15] We've seen pictures of war in Ukraine. It is not a pleasant thing. This is the time of war. The time of struggle. The time of trouble. The road to the celestial city has many a hill difficulty to climb.
[12:30] Acts 4.22 says we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. And tremble for the poor Christian. Who because of all her present sufferings.
[12:42] Loses sight of the coming glory. That's what the devil's trying hard to get you to forget. He doesn't want you reading about it.
[12:59] He doesn't want you hearing about it. He wants you to be overwhelmed with the present sufferings. He wants you to be overwhelmed with the present troubles. And that is to his advantage. That's all it takes to derail you.
[13:12] So believer, for your own well-being and for your perseverance, it's imperative that you keep future glory in all your calculations. In all your meditations.
[13:23] In all your troubles with your present sufferings. Always bring up the future glory. Let your interaction with future present sufferings be a springboard to make you think, what will it be when I get to heaven?
[13:38] This won't be there. This won't be there. And let the sufferings push you to meditate on the coming glory. There is a land that is fairer than day.
[13:50] And by faith, we can see it afar. So be found daily reading your Bible, keeping before your eye the coming glory. It's there. And that's exactly what God is doing for us here in this very text in Romans 8.
[14:08] He's reminding us that our present sufferings will not go on forever. But will end and be replaced with future glory for all eternity.
[14:21] Such glories that it were a well-spent journey those seven deaths lay between. Because gladness and joy is going to overtake you.
[14:33] And sorrow and sighing will flee away. And you'll be happier than you ever knew you could be happy. That's the future glory in store for the children of God. A glory that far outweighs any present sufferings.
[14:49] And it's Paul who says that. Who knew more suffering than we'll ever know. Next we're told that we're not the only ones waiting for this future glory.
[15:03] That's the second lesson. The creation is waiting in an eager expectation for our future glory. Verse 19. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.
[15:15] Now the creation here is the non-human creation. It's the nature, plants, animals, minerals, heaven and earth, the sea, the forests.
[15:28] And creation is here personified as if it could think and desire. And it's personified as eagerly waiting for something.
[15:40] What's creation waiting for? It's waiting for the sons of God to be revealed. So just as future glory is waiting to be revealed, so the sons of God are waiting to be revealed.
[15:54] It's the same event. That's what happens when Christ returns. The sons of God will be revealed for what they are. And future glory will be here.
[16:06] So creation waits for the sons of God to be revealed. To be unveiled. To be made known. It's like a sculptor.
[16:18] An artist is hired to create a sculpture for the town square. And the first nine months of it is all done in the secrecy of his workshop.
[16:31] It's hidden. It's not known. It's not revealed. And then the night before its unveiling ceremony, it's brought to the town square after everyone's in bed.
[16:42] And they wake up the next day and come to the appointed hour. And there's the sculpture. But it's still covered with a sheet. And then at last, accompanied by the drum roll, the sheet is pulled off and the sculpture is revealed.
[16:55] It is made known. And everybody sees it for what it is. Such an unveiling awaits the sons of God. And that will be our future glory.
[17:09] That unveiling. Paul has told us that we who are in Christ, that we are the adopted sons of God. But right now, the sons of God are no big thing in this world.
[17:22] Have you noticed that? Or has the world been treating you as royalty? We are.
[17:34] Though we are the sons of God, heirs of God, we're given no special status by the world today. In fact, we can be treated like dirt, despised and hated, and wish our country was rid of your sort.
[17:53] You see, the world doesn't recognize and appreciate us for who we are. And if you said, excuse me, but do you know who I am? I'm a child, a royal son of the king of kings.
[18:06] Well, they'd say, right, and get out of my way, royal son. They don't know who we are. They have no sense of the dignity, of the honor, of who we are.
[18:18] We are sons of the living God. But they don't know. No clue. And that's exactly what John says in 1 John 3. Behold, what kind of love is this that the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God, and that is what we are.
[18:36] The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Brothers, now we are the children of God, but it has not yet been revealed what we shall be.
[18:49] It's not been revealed, made known, unveiled. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him. We'll see him as he is. You see, when Christ is revealed, they didn't know who he was.
[19:05] And that's why they crucified him. But when he comes in power and glory, and they see Christ for who he is, and they see us, the children of God, with our elder brother Jesus, and reflecting his glory, oh, that's who she is.
[19:24] That's who he is. He, she is a child of the living God. We will be revealed just as Christ's glory is revealed, so the glory of the children of God will be revealed.
[19:39] Our full identity humanity. You see, right now, they don't know who we are. We look just like the world. We suffer like the world. We have diseases and die like the world.
[19:50] But when Christ is revealed, we will be revealed. We will all share in his glory, verse 17 told us.
[20:02] Colossians 3, 4, when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. And only then will the children of God be made known and revealed for who, for who we really are and seen for whose we are.
[20:21] We belong to Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God. We are children of the living God. no questions in that day as to who's who.
[20:38] The world's not expecting this, but creation is. And that's the point. Creation is waiting in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.
[20:53] eager expectation. The created order are on tiptoe looking forward to the day when the sons of God are revealed to this world.
[21:08] And if the created order is looking forward to that day, how much more should we, the children of God, be looking forward to that day? But why is creation so anxious to see the children of God revealed?
[21:23] This is the third point. Because creation is going to share in the glorious freedom of the children of God in that day. When they see the revelation of the children of God, the whole creation is going to share in that glory.
[21:41] Creation is not now what it once was. Having created it all, God looked at it and said, it is very good.
[21:56] But it is not all very good anymore. It presently is in a sort of bondage. You see that in verse 20. For the creation was subjected to frustration.
[22:07] Not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it. So you see, creation suffered along with man when man fell. When man sinned, God not only judged man, but in judging man, he judged his environment, didn't he?
[22:24] He said, cursed is the ground because of you, Adam. Through painful toil, you'll eat of it all the days of your life. It'll produce thorns and thistles for you. Genesis 3, 17 and 18.
[22:36] So creation was subjected to frustration, ineffectiveness, vanity. It's being frustrated, held back from its full potential, kept from fulfilling the very purpose for which it was made, to reflect perfectly the glory of God as we've just been singing and worshiping this morning.
[23:00] but just as man falls short of the glory of God for which he was made, so the creation now falls short of displaying the full glory of God.
[23:16] And for now, the creation must support the enemies of God and its many gifts are used to fulfill man's hatred and greed and idolatry and overindulgence and sin.
[23:30] So creation is limping along under the curse like a bone that's out of joint. It's in bondage to decay. It's subjected to frustration and it's in bondage to decay, verse 21.
[23:46] Disorganization, disillusion, breakdown, disease, destruction, death, pandemics, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, droughts, fires, storms, tornadoes, hurricanes.
[24:00] All nature seems to be out of control, running down in bondage to decay. And all these troubles of nature can be traced back to Adam's sin and the curse that God put upon the created order in cursing man for his sin.
[24:26] What a horrible thing sin is. That it not only ruined man but it ruined his world as well. But here is the hope that has creation straining its neck in eager expectation to see that the justice creation shared in the bondage of man's curse.
[24:49] It will share in the glorious liberty of the children of God. Notice first of all it speaks of the glorious freedom of the children of God for us. We'll be set free from the curse of sin that pervades everything in us and around us.
[25:05] We'll be freed from that futile empty way of life received by tradition from our fathers. the frustration and sorrow and suffering all this that is the present reality of suffering will be freed from the very presence of sin in us.
[25:25] The frustration of our performance not meeting measuring up to our desire. We want to serve God perfectly and what we want to do we find we don't do and what we don't want to do we find we do is frustration freedom from the sins of others that splash on us and hurt us freedom from a world where young men shoot up young children in school and tyrants bomb neighboring nations freedom from all that frustrates our happiness our desires to live in peace in joy in love that will be the glorious freedom for us when Christ is revealed and God's children are revealed along with him just as we will share in Christ's glory in that day so the creation will share in our glorification in that day creation itself shares in this freedom set free from all that holds it back from its created purpose and fruitfulness it will be liberated from decay and destruction no longer will there be any curse revelation 22 3 for the old order of things will have passed away behold he that sits on the throne says I am making everything new everything the whole created order made new
[26:49] Peter says in 2nd Peter 3 13 in keeping in keeping in keeping with his promise we're looking forward to a new heavens and a new earth the home of righteousness Isaac Watts says he comes he's coming and he comes to make his blessings flow just as far as the curse has flowed he's going to make all things new and the creation set free from the curse will then reflect God's glory and breathtaking wonder along with all the children of God no wonder creation can't wait for the sons of God to be revealed and if the whole earth is full of God's glory now what will it be then what will it be then no wonder it is groaning you see that in verse 22 we know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time now these are not the hopeless groans of a dying man who's just groaning out his last breaths that's not the groaning that the creation is doing it's rather the hopeful groanings of a pregnant woman as she's groaning they're hopeful groans full of hope because her pains are productive of something good full of hope because this is not fruitless suffering this is suffering that will lead to a positive effect her pains lead to and bring on the happy birth of her child and so she groans in hope for the glad fruition of her pain even so creation is groaning right up to the present time up to today it has been groaning it is still groaning today it will always groan until until
[28:47] Christ returns groaning under the curse sighing longing for liberation from frustration and bondage to decay it's coming and it knows it and it's groaning after it but it's not only creation that's groaning you notice that in verse 23 not only so but we ourselves we who have the first fruits of the spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons the redemption of our bodies now here are the inward feelings of true Christian experience uncovered what does it mean to be a Christian living in this present evil world it means groaning it means groaning we groan inwardly perhaps not heard by anyone else but God we groan it's the groaning of eager expectation of longing for what God is preparing for his sons and daughters and that's a mark of the children of
[29:54] God are you groaning or have you come to say this is it this is all there is let's live for this the mark of the children of God is they're groaning for what's coming they're groaning notice how we're described in this verse we're described as we who have the first fruits of the spirit the first fruits were the samplings of and the foretaste of the full harvest that was coming and so the farmer would go out and just gather some arm loads of the first fruits and come in and have a meal of celebration and thanksgiving to God out of joy for what's still in the field the whole harvest that's going to come in well right now we have the holy spirit of adoption living in us Paul's told us that if we don't we're not we don't belong to Christ at all so he's living in us and he's producing the very life of
[30:56] God in the soul of man this is the first fruits of the spirit we enjoy freedom from slavery to sin we don't have to obey it anymore we have a power that's greater than sin's power we can please God we can submit to his law we can fulfill the righteous requirements of the law we're being led by the spirit to put to death the misdeeds of the body it's by the spirit that we know something of real love real joy real peace it's by the spirit that we're inwardly persuaded that God is our father and we're his sons and daughters and he's the one that helps us to pray with intimacy in all of our sufferings and troubles we run to him Abba father because the spirit of adoption is at work in us and it's that same spirit that reads those scriptures with us and reveals our risen Lord to us look at him
[31:57] John love him serve him all of that is the work of the spirit present tense and it's all just the first fruits just the first fruits just just the gatherings from the field and and if this life in the spirit is so glorious as Paul has been laying out in these first 17 verses what will it be what will the full harvest of the full ministry of the Holy Spirit and the glory that's coming be like when our adoption reaches its completion and we have more than just the first fruits we have the full harvest the fullness of the inheritance that belongs that belongs to the children of God notice how this full harvest of the spirit's life within us is described it's described as our adoption as sons but so we already are adopted as sons but what is coming is the completion of all that is ours that that full inheritance that Jesus won for us by his life and death and resurrection we just have first fruits now but the harvest the full salvation the full redemption awaits at Christ's return yes the
[33:27] Holy Spirit right now testifies with our spirit that we right now are children of God but this sonship has not yet been revealed in glory so we live in this tension of the already not yet I'm already a child of God adopted but I have not yet received all that I've got coming in my as my inheritance as a son of the living God and notice what our inheritance includes is the redemption of our bodies there's a lot of Christianity being taught that leaves the body in the grave just has us floating off into heaven and living forever in a disembodied spirit that's not the hope of glory the hope of glory the blessed hope is the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior when he comes back and raises these bodies
[34:28] Jesus paid with his blood for this body as much as for my soul and for your body and soul he's not leaving it to just mold forever in the ground he's going to raise that body incorruptible it goes into the grave in shame it comes out in glory and our bodies our lowly bodies will be transformed into the likeness of Christ's glorious body this is part of our adoption the redemption of our bodies when death will be swallowed up in victory and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain no more of the body housing indwelling sin no more sin dwelling in us no more sin at work in our bodies making our bodies the instruments for its expression no there's coming an end to the war sin will be destroyed and we will be like Christ it's all part of the coming glory doesn't it make you want to just be there doesn't it make you groan for it at times the answer to this groaning is not that well we need the Holy
[35:43] Spirit and if we just had the Holy Spirit well then that would put an end to this grieving experience a lot of people that don't have time for this grieving theology it's just not chipper enough for Americans today well there it is and it's going to go on as grieving our experience knows grief even sorrow as we rejoice until you see the answer is not we need the Spirit the Spirit is the cause of the grief it's because we have the first fruits of the Spirit we have a taste of what's coming if I didn't have the Spirit of God in me and I didn't have all these blessings that the Spirit of God is doing I wouldn't know what the full harvest might be it's going to be this but far more than this but because I have this first fruits of the Spirit it's making me groan no the only thing that will end this groaning is Jesus appearing and giving perfection seeing him as he is being made like him body and spirit and then there will be no more reason to groan we will then have what he came to give us in salvation in full
[37:06] Paul concludes on the note of hope and that's where I want to leave you hope is something we need from the very first step in the Christian life all the way to the very last step out of this life we need hope hope verse 24 and 25 for in this hope this hope that he's been talking about the coming glory in this hope we were saved remember when you were saved it was already then looking forward to something wasn't it to eternal life with Christ which is to know him in this hope we were saved but hope that's seen is no hope at all why does a man hope for what he already has kids if I said I'm hoping at my next birthday to get a bike you'd understand that but if I'm already sitting on my bike and I say I'm hoping to get a bike you'd say why does a man hope for what he already has no Paul is saying there is a whole lot more to the Christian life that we don't yet have it's gonna be ours when
[38:11] Christ returns it's that glory it's the revelation of the sons of God making us like his own son and if we hope for what we do not have we wait for it patiently we've been looking at all the things that we don't yet have as children of hope and because it is future and because the suffering is present we need large doses of hope all through our Christian life hope is the confident expectation of future good hope is being sure it's not the hope so iffy thing that we use the word hope for hope in the Bible is something that is sure there's nothing more certain than the believer's hope it's the confident expectation of good and that's what Paul is telling us we need the Christian needs to be forward looking setting our minds on things above the future belongs to us the children of
[39:14] God and as glorious as salvation is now and the spirit of God living in us now is we haven't seen it all yet there's far more to experience you think this is good he saved the best for last glory is coming and you see hope sets his sight on that it focuses on that in the present suffering a man can suffer a lot as long as he has hope but once he loses hope he's in trouble hope is not some optional extra for the Christian life it's the energizing motivating grace to keep us persevering through all the sufferings that we go through in this life you know we simply don't live right without hope and the hope that we have our eyes set on is the blessed hope the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior and what will happen in that day well we're to set our hope set our hope put the laser on it and lock in set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when
[40:26] Jesus Christ is revealed because hope is what gives us patience to endure while we wait you see that in verse 25 if we hope for what we do not yet have we wait for it patiently and the more hope we have the more patiently we will wait for it isn't this interesting according to verse 23 we wait eagerly and according to verse 25 we wait patiently parents have you seen your children wait eagerly and patiently for the same thing that's quite a balancing act isn't it but that's what the spirit of God in giving hope to the Christian enables the Christian to do regarding this coming glory he enables us to wait eagerly for it not nonchalantly as if well we really don't we really don't care much about that we're all about this life no we're waiting eagerly for something we can't wait till it comes and it's the spirit working in us hope the confident expectation it's coming and
[41:38] I'm looking for it and I'm straining for it eagerly but it also hope also enables us to wait patiently for it to wait without complaining while I'm going through all these sufferings why because I'm confident that what's coming yes I've got this but I won't have it there yes I've got that but I won't have it there and what I'll have there why this isn't even worth comparing with what I'll have there hope in the future glory gives us patience to wait for it so we're back to where we started how do you deal with present sufferings of this present life Paul says something so great and glorious is going to happen to you at the end believer that if you just got a glimpse of it and held on to that well you would patiently and eagerly endure whatever comes between you and then to receive it is the coming glory the constant backdrop of your life that no matter what the present situation is that you have learned to position yourself like this and so you see the suffering but the backdrop to your suffering is the coming glory so you never allow yourself to look at the suffering the trouble without seeing the bigger panoramic view of the coming glory and if that's missing and you're living like this forgetful of what's coming you'll be overwhelmed by the suffering you'll have nothing to prop you up nothing to hold nothing to rejoice in nothing to hope in oh what a precious thing is the grace of hope that the
[43:37] Holy Spirit creates in us you know it was that very hope that kept the Lord Jesus on the cross who for the joy set before him oh he's over here then isn't he and he's looking at the joy set before him to bring many sons and daughters to glory and so he's going to bear the shame and the pain and all that the cross brought into his present reality he's going to endure it and treat it as nothing because of what he knows is coming and now it's your turn fix your eyes on Jesus learn from him to to look at your present sufferings in light of the coming glory that's our savior that's the way he did it that's how we are to find strength to go on so let each experience of suffering focus your eyes on the coming glory that's why we don't lose heart even though the outward man is wasting away that's the present order the present suffering but our inner man is being renewed day by day so we fix our eyes not on what is seen on what is unseen for what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal and our present sufferings as Paul says our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory light and momentary weight of eternity may the
[45:35] Lord help us to lift up our eyes and to see what Christ has won for us what the Father is preparing for us so great his love the spirit in us to remind us of these things and if you're lost all I can say is oh how we pity you because you have the present sufferings we all do but you have no future glory you have nothing to compensate for the present sorrow you don't know that it will be better for you there so much better that this is as a feather rather it's just the opposite your sufferings there will be so great that whatever sufferings you have here are as nothing for the Lord Jesus is coming back yes it will be glory for his people but when the Lord
[46:39] Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels he will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus they will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at in all those who believe oh you could be one of those you could be a child of God you came as a child of the devil you could go home a child of God for whoever receives Jesus Christ and believes on his name is given the right to become the children of God and children and heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ of this future glory so I urge you to come to the Savior he's offering you himself to make you a child of God and all that is his will be yours well let's rejoice in that and pray for our friends that need to come to know him it's number 238 that we respond to the fact that the Lord is coming
[47:47] Christ is coming and and for the saint this is nothing but good news it's it's it's a hundred percent good news that Jesus Christ is coming let's stand and sing it with joy 238 may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit amen all we will be out