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The River ChurchSermons

The Spirit

Look Past It

Chuck Lindsey · Sunday, 24 August 2025 · Romans 8:18-27 · 57:01 · 9,014 words

Romans S18 · 8:18-27 Grand Blanc

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Romans 8:18 introduces a teaching on suffering, reminding believers that hardships are not worthy to be compared with glory to be revealed. The sermon draws on Paul’s trials—beatings, imprisonment, shipwrecks, loss—to show this word comes from lived experience. It explains Holy Spirit comforts believers, reminding them of God’s goodness and interceding when they do not know how to pray. Listeners are encouraged to look past pain toward day they will see God’s face, and anyone who has not trusted Christ is invited to turn to him for salvation.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

suffer 67 pain 32 trouble 26 creation 30 fix 20 disease 10 wait 22 armchair 6 solve 9 affliction 9 compare 12 day 37

Topics

Suffering 20 Prayer 9 Hope 5 Sin 4 Salvation 3 The Holy Spirit 3 Adoption & Sonship 2 Judgment 1 Freedom 1

Scripture referenced 31

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 8 0:55 Romans 8 1:04 Romans 8 1:10 Romans 8:18 2:21 Romans 8:18 2:21 Romans 8:18 6:22 2 Corinthians 11:23 8:12 Acts 23:12 9:48 Romans 8:24 10:42 Romans 8:25-3 11:07 Acts 16:22 11:27 Acts 21:32 11:27 Acts 21:25-5 11:27 Acts 14:19 12:11 Acts 14:25 12:32 Acts 27 13:09 Romans 8:18 16:50 Romans 8:18 17:43 Romans 8:18 27:49 Romans 8:18 28:13 Revelation 21 33:17 Revelation 21 34:32 Revelation 21:3 34:32 Romans 8:19 35:15 Romans 8:19 36:36 Romans 8:20 39:29 Romans 8:20 39:50 Romans 8:21 41:32 Romans 8:22 42:45 Romans 8:23 45:05 Romans 10:11 46:01

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 9 lines, 0:50. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

Hey everyone, my name is Mitchell Holmes, and I want to thank you for checking out this message

today. We're so glad that you're here with us, and we want to connect with you and your family.

The easiest way to do that is to text the word RIVERCONNECT to 97000. There we can answer any

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if you want to support the work we are doing here at the River Church financially,

please head to our website and click the Give tab at the top of the page,

or you can text the amount that you want to give to 84321. Thank you again for joining us,

and we hope you're blessed by today's message. All right, good morning. Good morning to all of

you joining us online today. If you've got a Bible, I'm going to ask you to open it up to

the book of Romans chapter 8, and we continue through this incredible book of Romans and this

incredible chapter, chapter 8. I don't think there's any chapter I've lived in in my lifetime

more than Romans chapter 8.

And thankful to Eric for preaching last week. I was able to come and sit with my family and

worship together with you and to be encouraged in God's Word together with you, and so just

thankful to him. And I always say to his wife for giving up the time to allow the study of

God's Word and all the prep that it takes to do that. So thankful for that. We come this

morning to the River Church, and we're going to be talking about the Bible, and we're going to

to a completely irrelevant topic, something that nobody here ever deals with, no one's ever had to

deal with, the topic of suffering, right? Never, not an issue. Nobody has to worry about it all.

I know none of you are dealing with that at all, and so today we're just going to learn

about suffering just in case it ever comes up in life, you know. We're looking at Romans chapter

8, and Eric kind of introduced us last week to the idea of suffering, and so Paul really picks

that up now in verse 18, and we're going to look at it there in just a few moments. So let's read

verse 18, and then we will pray and begin. So Romans 8, 18 says,

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared

with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Let's pray. We love you, Lord. We come to you

this morning, and Lord, we just come humble and in need of you. We come to you this morning, and Lord, we just come humble and in need of you.

Lord, I know that there are many here today or watching or listening in some way that

they are suffering. I pray that, Lord, you would speak in the midst of it all, that, God, you would

speak. You'd help us to see you today, help us to hear you today. We give this morning to you. We

pray you would open your word to us. I pray not one word from me would be heard, that your voice

would be heard today. Thank you, Lord. We love you. It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Suffering. What is it?

Well, it hardly needs to be defined because it's so common to our experience as people,

but the dictionary defines it as undergoing pain, distress, hardship. The biblical words that are

used to describe suffering, the word means essentially to be afflicted or to be affected.

I think that's an interesting idea. At the root of the word that is translated suffering is the

of being affected, feeling something. And so the idea is, by definition, suffering is something that

you can't really passively go through. It's not something you can sort of just, you know, check

out and you don't feel it and it's just happening sort of to you but doesn't affect you, doesn't

bother you in any way. That's not suffering. Suffering, by definition, is something you feel.

It's active. It hurts.

It hurts. It's difficult. You're affected by this thing. And so I would ask you today,

have you suffered? Or maybe you're suffering in some way today. Some examples, a troubled marriage

can feel like daily suffering, just trouble. A broken relationship with people that you love

can be an ongoing, painful affliction of the soul. Are you, maybe you're in,

in some form of continual need, never seeming to make ends meet, always struggling, you know,

with this and with that. And, and so that is a, that's a source of pain. It's a source of

difficulty. It's a source of struggling for you. It's, it's suffering. Maybe it's sickness or it's

illness or some disease. It just keeps grinding and crushing and it's affliction. Maybe it's the

loss, the loss of a person that you love, a spouse, a child.

Friend, a family member, it just deeply defines suffering for you. You are deeply affected by

these things. There's so many ways that we as people suffer. So, so the question is, what do

you do with this, right? This is common to us all. We can't just check out. We, we deal with this as,

as people, but how, how do you actually go through this? How do you keep whatever it is from swallowing

up?

Your mind and heart and life. Well, Paul gives us the answer. And really, when I say Paul,

you know what I mean, right? The Lord through Paul, it is not Paul giving us his advice. This

is God speaking through Paul and tells us how to deal with suffering. So look at verse 18. It says,

for I consider that the sufferings of this present time, they are not worthy to be compared

with the glory, which shall be revealed.

Revealed in us. Now, let me say something about the man that wrote these words. This is a man who

knew what it was to actually suffer. He was not an armchair theologian. You know what I mean by that,

right? Like armchair quarterbacks. Some of you are armchair quarterbacks. You are shouting at

everyone what they need to do, but you are not doing it, right? I'm not trying to call you out,

right? But, uh, right. He, Paul's not an armchair theologian, never suffered, has it super easy

yelling at you what you should be doing. He's not an armchair theologian. He's not an armchair theologian.

Cause he has no experience in it. No, no, no. Paul did not have it easy. In fact, I think Paul had

it more, uh, he had more trouble than, than maybe most believers actually understand how much

trouble Paul had. It was kind of beyond understanding, but his life was not pain-free.

His life was full of real trouble. He suffered greatly. He suffered continually and, and all

of the ways that we can as people in this life, he suffered physically, he suffered emotionally,

he suffered the loss of people and relationships. He was regularly in need of even basic necessities.

He was maligned. He was lied about. He was gossiped about. He was mocked. He was hunted.

He was, I mean, you just go on and on the things that would make your life miserable

in terms of suffering. Paul endured those things. Okay. And so in fact, some of his physical

suffering, he describes it in second Corinthians 11, 23. He said he was in,

in labor, more abundant, a word that means the word, the word labor there means weeping and

lamenting because of grief. So read it again. Paul was weeping and lamenting in grief, more like

more abundantly, like so much in his life. We think of Paul as strong and capable, right? But

here he is breaking down under the weight of the things that happened to him. He said he had endured

in that passage above measure, referring to beatings and being struck with fists and rods and

whips. He says this happened to him more than he can count. That's what the words above measure

mean. He says he was in prisons more frequently. Everywhere Paul went, we know he ended up in

prison, took a tour of the prison when he got there. Cause he knew he'd be there soon, right?

He's like, Hey, how you doing? My name's Paul. See you soon. Nice to meet you. Right? I'd like

this to be my spot if possible, right? Where I could pick that cell.

Now, of course he didn't go to prison for doing wrong. He went to prison for preaching Christ

and it wasn't like the prisons today. It wasn't day camps. It was deep suffering, affliction,

sickness, disease, neglect, and death. And he was in these places continually. That's what the word

frequently means. Not just occasionally, continually. Paul was in prison. Then he says

he faced death often. People were constantly trying to kill him. In fact, in Acts 23, 12,

a group of people hated Paul so much that they banded together and put themselves under an oath

that they would neither eat donuts nor drink anything until one of them. I'm sorry. I had

donuts on my mind as I came in today. I don't know why. Right. They determined they would neither eat

nor drink anything until one of them had killed him. That was their oath. A whole group of people

said we will not eat anything. We will not drink anything until we kill Paul the apostle. I want

people deciding you need to die and that they will not eat or drink until you are dead. That's

going to change your life a little bit. Yeah. Your ring camera, maybe not enough. Okay. In death

often, Paul said, he goes on to say verse 24 from the Jews five times, I received 40 stripes minus

one. So what Jesus went through in his scourging, right? This was the common practice. Paul received

that five times where they, they gave 40 lashes.

And they gave, and they, they stayed back one. So he received 39 each time. The one that they,

they held back was considered mercy. Five times Paul had this. He says, verse 25, three times I

was beaten with rods. Have you ever been beaten with a stick? Paul was beaten with a thick wooden

pole. That's what the word rod there is. This happened three times. You can read about some

of it in Acts 16, 22 and Acts 21, 32. Verse 25, five, Paul says, once I was stoned,

some of you are like, yeah, me too. No, no, not that kind of stoned real, real rocks. Just consider

that for a moment, a circle of people gather around you. I've done some research in this over

the years. Circle of people gather around you. Your hands and feet are tied so that you cannot

run to defend yourself. Each person picks up a rock, a rock, not a pebble, a rock,

and they begin to throw them at your head. I mean, I just want you to see that the purpose is to kill

you. This happened in Acts 14, 19 to the apostle Paul. It says, then Jews from Antioch and Iconium

came there having persuaded the multitudes. They stoned Paul and then dragged him out of the city,

supposing him to be dead. They got in a circle. They threw rocks at his head until he collapsed.

Then they dragged him out of the city and left him to die just for preaching Christ. In verse 25,

he says, three times I was shipwrecked. You tell me if you were ever shipwrecked, that would not

be the story that you started.

Every new conversation with, right? I was shipwrecked by the way. My name is Chuck.

You know, I mean, the guy three times was on a boat and it broke apart. I mean, imagine that

three times, but this happened because Paul was wrongly accused. He was in prison. He was being

transported from one place to another place. You can read about it in Acts 27, at least one of those

times. And on one of those occasions of shipwreck, he said he spent, and I've always thought this was

A night and a day in the deep. This refers to being in the middle of the ocean all night,

all day. Yeah. Even imagine spending an entire night in the middle of the ocean,

trying to float on things or tread water or something. I mean, just unreal. This is what

Paul said happened, but he suffered even more than that. He goes on. He says he was in journeys.

Often he was in peril of waters. Again, the ocean, he was in perils or dangers of robbers, people that

were trying to take the very little that Paul had was a constant threat. He was in danger. He says of

his own countrymen, people who he knew turned on him. He was in danger of Gentiles, unsaved people

wanted him dead. He was in danger in the city. There was disease that was rampant in every city

that he went into, right? In fact, he contracted many believe an eye disease that left him partially

blind while traveling to the city of Philippi. He was in danger in the wilderness. There was all

kinds of dangers there.

In danger in the sea, in danger among false brethren. I think that's very interesting. Pause

there for a second because false brethren, these are people who pretended to be Christians who are

actually not, and they brought pain into Paul's life. False brethren have always caused such

heartache and pain to many of us who have followed the Lord for some time. False believers, they

always do the most damage in a church because they are accepted as a part of the family. They're

accepted as believers. They are treated as sinners. They are treated as sinners. They are treated as

such, but then they reveal what they are at some point. And it's always a surprise to everybody.

Everybody's shocked. Everybody's surprised, but it is always so painful because you have connected

to this person. People you thought knew the Lord and then revealed that they do not. It's,

it's, it's very difficult. It's, it's very hard, especially for a pastor, Paul, who loved and

cared for people. And this happened often for Paul, people who at one time seemed to be family

but then turned on him, turned from him. Now they turn to the world away from the Lord. It caused

pain and trouble and heartache. It was suffering. He goes on and he says that his life, in his life,

he has known so much weariness and toil, just tired of it all. You ever get there? Like I am

just worn out, just tired of the trouble, tired of the difficulty, tired of the pain. He says he

was often sleepless though. He was tired. He just said it. He was tired.

He couldn't sleep. And this is often the case when we're going through trouble.

Sleep, though we're so tired, it evades us, right? It, it's, it's gone because of the, the worry,

the stress, the difficulty. We're exhausted, but we can't rest. Maybe you're there today.

Paul says he was in hunger, like literal hunger, not having food. He was in thirst, just literally

needing water and not having it. He was in fasting often. That is forced fasting, not, not

choosing to fast. He was in cold and nakedness, not even having the basic things that you need.

So listen, I say all of that, not because we're looking at Paul's life, but because when he says

in verse 18, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared

with the glory, which shall be revealed in us. He is not speaking hypothetically. He is not

speaking theoretically. He is not trying to say that your suffering is nothing. He's not trying to

minimize all of that. The apostle Paul is speaking from reality. It's deep, it's real, it's nearly

continual trouble that he has had. And so what he says to us now is very, very important. And I

remind you again, it's not what he is saying. It is what the Lord is saying through him. But here

is what God says to us. He tells us to do something in our suffering, and that is to look past it, to

look at the words he uses. He says the word there in verse 18, the word consider, it's an accounting

term. We get the word logic from it. The definition of it is to put together in one's mind. It means

to take all these ideas, calculate them, come out with a conclusion. It's the calculation. It's the

conclusion you've come to. And so what Paul is doing here, and this is so important for you

in your suffering, for me in my suffering, he has decided, he's concluded,

that all of the suffering that he has in this life, whatever it may be, he has decided it's

actually not even worth comparing anymore to what is coming in the next life. He takes the suffering

of this life, and he's not even going to compare it. He's already compared it, and he's realized

there is no point in comparing it anymore to what is coming. Now hear this. Paul is not burying his

life. He's not burying it. He's not burying it. He's not burying it. He's not burying it. He's not

burying it. He's not burying it. He's not burying it. He's not burying it. He's not burying it.

There's just no suffering in the world. There just isn't any trouble, right? That if you can just

get to a place where nothing bothers you, everything is going to be, you know, all right,

don't worry, be happy. That's the only thing you'll remember today is that song now. Don't worry,

right? These are the people in the world that, hey, just don't worry about anything. Just be

happy about everything. No, no. Paul's not doing that. There is real trouble in this life. Amen?

There is. There's real trouble in this life.

Nobody is acting like there isn't. There's real trouble in this life. But Paul has made a

decisive decision. He made it somewhere along the way. Somewhere along the way, he decided,

please hear this, to no longer give his troubles all of his attention. No more. He decided,

I'm done. And that's one of the things that suffering does, right? Suffering takes up your

whole view. It fills the whole landscape. It consumes all of your attention. It consumes

all of your thoughts. It consumes all of your emotion. It consumes all of your effort,

all of your energy, all of your attention. It consumes the horizon of your life. It's like

everything you can think about, anything you can look at, it's all there. And so Paul says,

I have made this decision. I will no longer give my pain, my suffering, all of my focus and my

attention. Instead, he's doing something else. Instead, he is going to fix his attention on

heaven. It is

that decision and that alone that is at the heart of every person that suffers well in this life.

That's the decision that is made right there. The decision is the difference between people that

suffer well and people that do not, because we all suffer. Agreed? The difference between people

that suffer well and they put a foot, not just a foot in front of the other, but they go and do

what God wants them to and they stay in it the way that they're supposed to and they're effective and

they're useful. And they're not going to do what God wants them to do. They're going to do what God

wants them to do. They're going to do what God wants them to do. They're going to do what God wants them to do.

And their lives count and they don't, you know, screech to a halt and close the doors and get back

in bed and don't get out of it. The difference between those two things is this. Do you look at,

do you keep your face in that thing or do you look beyond it to heaven? That's the difference.

What a person's focus is on determines it. Now, please hear this. None of us, we said it gets a

no one. Don't you wish you did? Don't you wish you had like a, like a get out of jail free card

that you could just, you know what? Nope, nope, nope. See, I got the, I got the golden ticket

here. Like as soon as the diagnosis comes back, you're like, nope. And it's like, oh, sorry. Didn't

know you had the card. No problem. That's gone. Your boss calls you in, tells you you're being

let go. You're like, actually you are right. Like that's no, I have the card. I get a pass.

I'm Jesus's kid, you know, belong to him. He's King. You're not. So there it is, right? Don't do

that by the way. Okay. You wake up to another day of trouble in the marriage and you know what you

go, you know what? Nope. Today the marriage is fixed. Got a pass. That text comes through from

that angry family member. You pull the card out. It changes to something wonderful. Wouldn't that

be great? Don't you wish you just had that get out of trouble free card? Well, we, we don't,

none of us get a pass. We all suffer, but it's what we do with it. I suffer. My family suffers.

You suffer. Your family suffers, right? All of us were in the same spot.

It's what we do with it. It's what we decide that makes the difference. Here's the decision

Paul made. And again, it is the decision that so many of God's people throughout the world

and throughout time have had to make. It is to look past the pain, past the problem.

You have to look to the end. Uh, it's like a runner running a race. Now this is all theoretical

for me. I don't run. Okay. I hate running. Do you like running? Anybody like running? You can

leave right now. The back doors are right there. Just get out. No, right. Like this is a little bit

theoretical. A runner. I'm told very often when the lungs are burning and the legs are on fire

and they feel like they can't take another step. If they stay focused on the pain of the legs

and the lungs and, and all of that, if, if they, if they stay in that thing, like I have to quit,

I have to quit. I have, if they stay there, it's not going to be long.

The give up is, is, is right there. Like it's not going to be long. So what do they do? Right?

The focus then on the finish line or the focus on their family or on what it means for them to win

that thing or, or something that is beyond the pain of that moment. I've got to set my mind there

and instantly then there's some something, right? That is how they go. They turn their attention to

the finish line to the end. Things start to change. The pain is, is temporary. And I would say this to

you guys. The pain is temporary. The trouble is momentary. Do you know what's coming? And this is

what, this is what we're being forced to consider this morning. It's, it's wonderful. This is the

decision that God's people have had to make throughout history. Listen, please hear this

to look beyond the disease to the day you see his face. There is no guarantee that the disease goes

away. The guarantee is that you will see his face to look beyond the loss to the

Lord and his goodness. And the day that you are with him, do you know how many people have had to

do this? How many people have wept in the night over the things that have happened in life? And

there has not been that the child hasn't been given back. The spouse hasn't been given back.

The situation hasn't been fixed, but they're reminded that though there is suffering in this

life, I soon will see his face to look past affliction to all that will be lost.

We'll be given to you in eternity. The Bible is constantly telling you to do this past the pain

to the promises of God. Listen to stay looking at the pain, the hurt, the fear, the diagnosis or

whatever that is to choose. You're making a choice. It is to choose to be crushed under the weight of

whatever that is. You're choosing it. You've got to choose to look past all of this, to look past it

to the end. You cannot lose second Corinthians four 16. It says, therefore we do not lose heart.

How? Even though our outward man is perishing. Amen. Yet the inward man is being renewed day by

day. Look what Paul says. And it just seems not even right to say it, but look, our light

affliction. I was like, I would not call what is happening in my life. Light affliction, Paul,

you can't say that. But, but when you compare it to eternity, when you compare

it to eternity, you can't come out with anything other than it is a light affliction. It is,

he says, but for a moment, it's momentary and it's doing something you, you even cannot lose

through your difficulty because God is working. It says in you a far more exceeding and eternal

weight of glory. What does this mean? In very simple terms, it means you are going to enjoy

heaven more because of your suffering. We can spend a long time on this, but that's the basic

idea. You are going to enjoy heaven more because of your suffering because of what you went through.

You understand how good God was. You understand how faithful he was. You understand him better

than you ever would. Otherwise it creates a weight, a good weight in glory. That's what's

happening. It says verse 18, while we do not look at the things which are seen, we can't keep our

minds on these physical things, but the things which are not.

Seeing that's where we have to put our attention for the things that you're seeing. Those are

temporary, but the things which are not seen, those are eternal. Do you see what's happening?

You're being told to look past. So Paul says, I have made a calculated decision. I will no longer

compare the sufferings of this present time. Verse 18 with the glory, which shall be revealed in us.

That's just straight up referring to the end. I love it here that this is not a promise of

there's no promise of that. This isn't Paul saying, I'm going to bury my head until it all goes away.

He says, I will look beyond the difficulty to the day. What day? Well, here it is called the day

is called glory. It is the day when you step into eternity and you are finally with him forever.

What a day that will be. That day will be, as Paul says here, revealed. Uncovered is the word

we would, you know, do. We'd work at the auto show stuff and you'd have the vehicle. The new vehicle

is going to be revealed and it's all under drapes, you know, and you would take that and you'd pull

that back and it's like, Oh, there it is. You know, it's amazing. That word revealed that that's the

word. It hasn't been, you don't even know yet. You don't know what's coming. In fact, the Bible

says that I is not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man. The things that God

prepared for those that love him. Do you love him? It's not even entered into your mind. How good

this is going to be. The best day of your life will be the moment of your death. Best day of your

life. You just don't know that yet. You will. The best day of your life will be the moment of your

death when he comes and gets you and walks you home. And that's what the Bible says he will do.

And then you will be with him forever. The best day of your life will be the moment of your death.

Can't even imagine what it is, but I want you to imagine what it is. The moment that you try,

the moment you take your last breath here, you may have had a lifetime of trouble and pain and

sorrow. There may be an entire lifetime of weeping and tragedy and hurt, but what do you think

happens one second in his presence? It erases it all. What problem isn't solved the moment you step

into eternity and see his face? What problem isn't immediately solved? What problem isn't

fixed? There is a problem that isn't immediately fixed, but there pretty much everything else is

immediately fixed. What problem isn't immediately fixed? I would say the only one is the unsaved

people in your life. Your bills solved your house problems, solved your cancer, solved your

relationships, solved the toil, the turmoil, what solved all of it solved. There's only one.

And that is the unsaved people.

The unsaved people in your life who won't be there if they do not turn to him. And so listen,

I would encourage you not to put your effort into things that don't matter, but to put them into

things that do. There is one thing that matters. It is reaching the lost around you. That is what

matters in the end. Listen, I'm not trying to be silly, but everything else is solved by your death

as a believer, because the Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

So take our last breath here.

It's to take our first breath with him. And so let's just, let's do this for just a moment. I

know Paul said he's not doing it anymore, but he did do it at one point. Let's do this for just a

moment. Let's compare what is coming to what we suffer. So we suffer sickness. Uh, we may have

illness or disease a year, two years, five years, our whole lives, whatever it is. You may never

know a moment of health in this life. Now consider heaven. There will be no illness ever, no disease,

ever. What is 20, 30, 40, 50 years of illness when compared to a hundred million billion trillion

years and beyond of perfect health? Do you think you're going to be wallowing in your bum knee

when you get to heaven? It's not going to happen. We suffer with pain. Many of you, again, I don't

minimize you deal daily with continual physical pain. Revelation 21 four tells you there will be

no more pain.

No more. What Paul did is what so many of God's people have had to do with pain. He had to look

past it to the end. There is coming a day very soon when you will never be in pain again. That

day is coming for those that love him. Well, we suffer with sorrow. Bible says there will be no

more grief. There will be no more sorrow. There will be no more shame, no more guilt, no more of

any of that. We suffer with debilitating fear. The Bible tells us there will never be a reason to be

afraid ever again. Not ever. You will never be afraid again. We suffer loss, but there will be

no loss in heaven ever. Never losing an opportunity or a moment that matters. Nothing ever slipping by

again. But listen, even more importantly, never losing a loved one. Never again. The pain of all

of that. We suffer need. There will never be a moment of need. Never a want. Never a wish. Never

a disappointment again. I mean, just you go on and on.

But please here at Revelation 21, listen to this. Verse three, I heard a loud voice from heaven

saying, behold, the tabernacle of God or the dwelling place of God is with men. He will dwell

with them. They shall be his people. God himself will be their God and God will wipe away their

tear or every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There

shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away. Then he who sat on the throne said,

behold, I make all things new. It's him.

Can you not wait for this? I mean, if you can't wait, know that you're not alone.

Paul tells us that all of creation can't wait for the day when God wraps all of this up. Look at

verse 19 for the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the

sons of God. I love the words, uh, earnest expectation because it's a single Greek word.

I love the picture of it. It means to stretch out the neck. So it's a picture of really looking for

something. You got your head stretched out. You're trying to see if it's here yet.

It's the way again, runners will stretch their heads forward to try to get over the

finish line or maybe the way you look for your Amazon deliveries. You know,

just isn't here yet. You know, the picture here is of all of creation. Well, all created things,

except demonic beings, all creation stretching forward to see if the end is finally here.

Is it time? Is it time creation as a whole cannot wait according to scripture for this all to be

a final end? And we'll talk about why in just a moment. But the thing that will mark all of this

we're told will be the return of Jesus Christ to the earth. When he returns, he will be king

forever. He will remove all wickedness and all evil forever. He will do away with this earth,

the universe that we have known. He will create a new heavens and new earth. The Bible tells us all

of this and we will live forever with him. It is at this time, verse 19 tells us that you and I,

there will be a public adoption ceremony, right? It's like a public declaration of who you belong

to. You will be revealed to be his children, the sons and daughters. Can you imagine what this is?

As God says, these are my kids. These are my children presented to all of creation. You,

the Bible says, when we see him, we will be made like him. First John three, two, not as gods. Our

bodies are going to be transformed into eternal bodies. No more sin, no more weakness, no more

sickness. Perfect from then on for all eternity. But then as we stand there, we are called his

shining ones, right? We reflect him. And so now we are his children declared to the world to be

his children. That's what it says. And so we said that there is a reason that all of creation is

waiting for all of this to come to an end. Look at verse 20 for the creation was subjected to

futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected

it in hope. What does it mean that creation was subjected to futility? Well, it takes us back to

the garden with Adam and Eve. The effect of this on the world of their sin on the world is beyond

comprehension. I wish there was a way we could go back and just, if we could like get some like

video of like Eden and the world and like now, and we just like set them side by side. I mean,

there's some beautiful places in this world, but can you imagine what it was? I can't even imagine

what it was, but the

effect, right? Of sin on this world can hardly be calculated. It's no exaggeration, right? To say

that every single thing in this world has been negatively impacted by sin coming into this world.

Every trouble we know came flooding into the world. The moment sin came in everything, every

illness, every disease, every decay, every instability, all chaos, all trouble. It all

came flooding in death and everything leading up to it all came flooding in, in that moment here,

it's called futility. That's what all

of that, all of that, all that's happening, the effects of sin, futility, the word means

vainness, worthlessness, and it doesn't mean the creation is worthless. It's describing the

worthlessness of the effects, the completely tragic results of sin, how worthless sin is,

how destructive it is, how much it takes, how little it gives futility is the, is the description.

And so verse 20 says that the creation was subjected to this futile state, meaning it did

not want that. And we know that, right?

Two created beings threw all the rest of creation into this mess. Two created beings said, you know

what? I don't really care what anybody else wants. We're going to do what we want, but not all hope

was lost, right? End of verse 20 says that God subjected it all in hope. Hope of what? Well,

hope that one day all would be made right. And all is going to be made right. Realize, uh, when Adam

and Eve sinned, God wasn't caught off guard. He wasn't surprised. It was like, oh no, they ate it.

Are you serious?

I never saw that coming. He knew what they would do. He'd say, well, yeah, then why did he put the

tree in the garden? Why do you, why do you even do that? If he knew what he was, what they were

going to do. And the shorter answer, short answer is so that they would have a choice, right? Follow

him and his ways and what he wanted or follow themselves, their ways and what they wanted

without the tree. There is no choice without a choice. There can be no love. God allowed the

choice to eventually bring about love. You say, how's that work? Well, as you and I see our need,

what sin does to us, we turn

to God willingly in our need, and then God saves. And we love him. The Bible says, because he first

loved us. You didn't initiate that. God initiated that. He tried to convince you that he loved you

and you gave in unless you haven't. And you should, you gave in. God convinced you of his love. And so

you love him now because he first loved you. And so we were not forced to love him, not forced to

obey. We willingly come to him in need to save us. And he saves because that is who he is. He is a

savior. So he'll save the rest of creation. Look what it says, verse 21, because the creation

itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the

children of God. So creation will not be saved in the same way that we are, obviously, because

creation does not have a soul, but creation will be saved from sin and its effects one day. And

creation can't wait. Apparently the word delivered means to make free, to set free. Currently, all of

creation is bound by the corruption of God. So he'll save the rest of creation. Look what it says,

but will be released and freed from it. Creation will one day know the glorious liberty of you

as the children of God. Creation will know the same blessing to be free of sin and its effects

forever. That's coming. But until that time, we wish, right? We want this to come. Is this not

inside of you? Do you not have a longing for God to fix all of it? Do you have, do you not have a

longing? Okay. Isn't that inside of you? It's certainly inside of me. And we are not alone.

Look at verse 22 for, we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pains

together until now. Do you know that Paul assumes you do? He says, we, we know this. We know that

all of creation groans and birth pains and all of this, you know, this, right? You've seen this

picture is of creation as a pregnant woman, ready to give birth. But before birth, there is that

really fun period of time called what? Labor. Best.

Labor. Easily seen the labor in this world, right? Easily seen. It's, it's earthquakes,

volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires, drought, hail, disease, illness, pollution. I

this is all of creation groaning for that day. You say, is God sending hurricanes? No. Is God

sending tornadoes? No. Don't say things like that. Is God bringing judgment through earthquakes? No.

Don't say things like that. It's all, it's all the groaning of creation. It is not God's divine

judgment. He's saving that for a day. It's called the day of wrath. This is the groaning of creation.

And so here they are sighing in pain, the world. Have you ever been in pain and all you did was

just sigh a lot? Maybe you didn't even know. You're just like, you don't even know you're

doing it. And someone's like, are you okay? You're like, no, I'm not okay. No. Sometimes you're doing

what you want someone to ask. Are you all right? Well, since you asked, thankful you noticed just

doing the dishes by myself, right? Sighing in just, this is what creation is doing in pain and

trouble. They're laboring for the end. They want the end for the day when Jesus comes and fixes

all of this. That day is coming. And it's not just that creation does this, but you and I, we do this.

Look what it says. Verse 23, not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Holy Spirit,

and we ourselves, we groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for this adoption ceremony that

we talked about. The redemption of our body. Isn't this in you? Do you have this inward groaning,

you know, for the Lord to come and fix all of this? Do you groan at the evil in this world?

Oh, the hurt, the pain, the trouble. Today, do you feel a deep ache inside for God just to come

and fix all of this? Do you eagerly wait for the day when your public adoption ceremony takes

place, declaring you to be his child? That day is coming. Your body is going to be redeemed,

transformed, made right again. That day is coming. Your groaning will not go on forever. Soon your

faith will be made sight. Your hope, please hear this, has not been misplaced. Romans 10, 11 says

that whoever believes on him will never be embarrassed. We'll never go, oh man, I shouldn't

have, I shouldn't have trusted him. What was I thinking?

Nope. A lot of things you can do that with, not him. So verse 24 reminds you, look what it says,

for we were saved in this hope, weren't we? But hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one

still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with

perseverance. Let me ask you a question. Were you not saved in the hope that he was going to fix

everything? Isn't that how you were saved? Is not that the message that you responded to,

that he would first and foremost fix your sin issue, that he would save you, right? That he

would fix your sin issue, removing it, forgiving you forever. I mean, didn't, didn't you respond to

that? That he would fix your eternity issue, rescuing you from hell forever, bringing you to

heaven for, to be with him forever. I mean, isn't that what you responded to? You were saved in this

hope, weren't you? That he would fix your pain and your sorrow and your suffering, that he would fix

the death issue, the promise that he would fix everything. You and I were saved with this, right?

In this hope, but we only see part of it right now, right?

Like you don't see your full salvation yet. You don't see everything that's coming for you. We

don't see it all. All things are not perfect yet. I wish they were. All things are not as they should

be, not yet, but they will be. And you are to be sure of that, to look past, to be sure of this.

Verse 24 reminds you, hope that is seen is not actually hope. If it were here, you would not

need to hope for it because you'd have it. Says for why does one still hope for what he sees? The

verse 25, but if we hope for what we do not see, then we eagerly wait for it. What are you waiting

for? I'm waiting for this promotion. I'm waiting for a spouse. I'm waiting for a house. I'm waiting

for retirement. I'm waiting for all these things can disappoint you. All of them. What are you

eagerly waiting for? To be waiting for the thing that cannot be taken away from you. You wait

with patience, with perseverance, because you know it's coming. That's the point. I do not see him,

not yet, but I know I will. I eagerly wait for the day when I see him. I do not see heaven,

but I eagerly wait for it. I do not see many of the promises that God has made for me, not yet,

but I will soon. Now, in light of everything we've just spoken about, all the trouble and all the pain

in life and in this world, and we set that all against the promises of God in eternity, you might

think, I know all of this. I know it's all true, but what I'm going through is hard and I'm tired and I

need help. And so I would ask you before we close, let's look at verse 26. Likewise, or in the same

way, what it says, the spirit, the Holy Spirit of God also helps in our weaknesses. You say,

what weaknesses? All of them. Any of them. Every. But specifically in context here,

it's with suffering and trouble. The word weaknesses is a word that means to come to

one's side for help. And so this is what he does. In your suffering, he comes to your aid,

reminding you of the goodness of God, reminding you of the promises of God. Isn't God doing this?

Isn't the spirit of God doing this in you, reminding you of who he is? And then amazingly,

the end of verse 26 tells us he actually prays for you. Look at verse 26. For we do not know what we

should pray for as we ought. You ever been there? Don't know how to pray? Anybody? Okay. In your

suffering, in your affliction, in your difficulty, you ever been there? Like, I don't even know what

to say anymore. Not even sure what to pray. I don't know what to say. I've been there so many times.

There are things in my life right now. I don't even know how to pray for them anymore. I'm serious.

I really don't even know how to pray for them anymore. I just don't. People that I loved that

absolutely lost their dang minds. Seriously. At one time we walked hand in hand. Now we can't

even be in the same room by their choice. Insane stuff. I don't even know how to pray for that

anymore. Seriously. I don't. I asked God to help them. I asked God to bless them. I asked for truth

to be revealed, but unless they let it, it will just continue.

Continue as is. But I am often in the place where I do not know what I should pray for as I ought.

And this is because I don't see correctly. It's because I don't know anything. Let me just say

that to you. I don't know anything. I don't see. I'm not him. Neither are you. Only he sees. Only

he knows everything. And so listen, I might pray that God takes cancer away, but if I saw everything,

I would understand it's better that he doesn't. I don't know. So I ask God to lead me. I don't know.

The Lord smashes someone. No, I don't do that anymore, but he knows that that person might be

right on the verge of coming to him. And if he smashed them, they wouldn't, they would turn from

him. I don't know what to pray. Conversely, I might pray he blesses someone with a new job or

with finances being fixed or a great marriage or whatever, but he knows if he does that,

it would not actually, they wouldn't depend on him. I don't, I don't know what to pray for folks.

I have no idea. I asked God to lead often. I often approach prayer that way. I say, Lord, I do

not know. I do not see, but you know, and you see. And so please Lord lead, please help me because I

don't know how to pray. And I remind myself that he does see and he will help. And so that's what

verse 26 says, but the spirit, the Holy spirit himself, look at this. He makes intercession for

us with groanings, which cannot be understood. So we groan for the Lord to come and fix all this,

but he groans to the differences. He got the Holy spirit always praise according to the

will of God. The difference between my praying and his praying. He always prays correctly. He

always knows what to pray for, for you. Meaning he prays for you according to what God actually

wants. He overrides your prayers. He overrides my prayers. And I am very grateful for this by the

way, because I'm stupid and he is not father. I know he asked you for a raise, but what he means

is make me content. And so you don't get the raise, but you get the contentment. And then you

find yourself thanking God that you are content father.

She asked me for this relationship to be restored, but she does not know what it means.

So help her to continue in prayer. And we thank God for his wisdom. What he prays for you and I

is always right. So verse 27 says it. He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the

spirit is because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. So again,

the difference between my praying and his is obvious. He is God. He knows always what to pray

for. I am not, I have no idea. He makes intercession. He prays for us according to the will of God,

but please hear this before we close. God himself prays for you. If you are a believer,

if you love him, he prays for you. That is crazy to me. In your trouble, he prays for what is best

in your life. Always the right thing. Always the best thing for you. You cannot lose. This is why

next week we'll see if God be for us, who can be against us. You might want someone to pray for you.

God is praying for you, God himself, for your marriage, for your life, for your family,

for your trouble. So today, may you decide daily, it takes daily, maybe it's a hundred times a day,

maybe it's a thousand times a day. We have to decide to look past our pain to the day

that we see his face because eye is not seen nor ear heard, nor is entered into the heart of man,

the things that God has prepared for those that love him. So the question is,

do you love him? Do you know him? If you do not know him, you can turn to him now,

very simply, turn to him in your need, asking God to save you. Let's pray together. Lord,

we love you. We thank you for your mercy and your kindness towards us. You are so good, Lord. We

suffer, but you are right there with us. Lord, I pray for every person today watching, listening,

here today, who is in deep affliction in any way. I pray that Lord, you'd help us to look past these

things and to the day we see your face. Maybe you're here today and you don't have a relationship

with Jesus Christ. You're not sure where you're going. If you were to die today, you don't know

where you would be. You must turn to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. He will make you

his child. He will bring you to heaven. And the moment you take your last breath here, you will

take your first breath there. That is available to every person who turns to him in repentance

and belief and in need. And so today, if you need your sin forgiven, you need salvation, turn to

Jesus. Talk to him. He is listening to you now. Ask him to forgive. Ask him to save you. Give your

life to him. We love you, Lord. We thank you for your goodness and your love. It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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