This morning, I would like to step away from our verse by verse exposition of the gospel of Mark. And I would like to share with you some things that are on my heart out of Romans chapter eight, if you will take your Bibles and turn there. Romans chapter eight. Our shepherds conference had, as you heard a theme, and it was called shepherding the remnant, the faithful few. And certainly, I have a sense of divine urgency to do just that with you, as our culture continues to descend into chaos and every imaginable form of wickedness. And so this morning, I want to help us express what the Scriptures describe as the inward groaning of the redeemed, but in the context of that, to provide for you great hope and encouragement, because indeed, that is there. Therefore, we will be looking at verses 19 through 25 of Romans eight under the heading our hopeful lament, let me read the text to you. "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, and hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees. But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it."

Job tells us in chapter five, verse seven, "that man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward." And we can all identify that with that, actually, when you think about it, we're born in trauma, and we live in conflict throughout the days of our life. And then we return once again to the earth. Solomon tells us as the preacher that life is vanity, all is vanity under the sun, life is a mere vapor. And ultimately, all that matters is what we do for Christ. So these days of our existence, while there's much joy, and much celebration, there's a lot of difficulty and we all understand that we all struggle to survive. In this world we face deadly viruses, bacteria, weeds choke out our crops. Pestilence eats what's leftover, mosquitoes. I think I've read that mosquitoes kill like 1 million people a year with malaria. We deal with devastating storms and earthquakes and famines and floods and tsunamis, hurricanes and human tragedies. And even today, we're dealing with all of the woke insanity, the LGBTQ perversions, corrupt governments. We experience violence and wars. And we all know what it's like to say goodbye to loved ones. This is the world in which we live. Despite man's best efforts, nothing ever really gets any better in this life, but we want to ask the question, Has it always been this way? Is there any real hope that all of this will one day change? And the answer is no, it hasn't always been this way. Once upon a time, there was a perfect world, a perfect paradise where man would never die. And yes, God has promised to once again restore that paradise for 1000 years, which will be the millennial kingdom, completing human history, and ushering in a state of eternal glory, and a totally new Heaven and Earth. And certainly this has been the confident hope of the redeemed down through history. And this is a worldview based upon divine revelation. This is a worldview that those without Christ find utterly foolish and ridiculous. To the natural man, the things of the Spirit are foolishness, and he cannot understand them. Their hope is only in themselves, not in the Creator. And unless they repent, the only change they will ever experiences from bad to worse, unimaginably worse, in an eternal hell. And here in Romans eight, verses 19 through 25. We will learn how and why things got this bad. And we will also learn how and why things will get so much better for those who have been justified by grace through faith in Christ. And here we have God's explanation for what I would call the Christians lamentation, the Christians lament, the Christian sorrow that is so pervasive in our life. This is why we grieve and struggle in this life. But here we will also see the certain hope that we have in Christ Jesus, that one day everything will be radically different, there will be a radical change in our existence, one that is inconceivably wonderful. And these truths are set forth, and two very stunning doctrines that emerge from this passage of scripture that I would like to look at this morning, first of all, in verses 19 through 22, we're going to see the creation, slavery to corruption. And then secondly, in verses 23 through 25, we're going to see the Christians perseverance and hope. Fantastic, magnificent doctrines that give clarity to all that we experience and that fuel the hope and the dreams of the redeemed based upon the eternal promises of a sovereign God who has ordained the end, from the beginning. These are magnificent truths that should stir our affections to praise. And so I pray that the Spirit will lead us into all truth.

Now, Paul has just encouraged his readers to be triumphant sufferers. In verse 18. He said, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed revealed to us." Obviously, this glory awaits us. And it's one that will replace the reality of suffering in this present age. And why is there suffering? Well, this is what he deals with next. And I've put this under the heading the creation, slavery to corruption. And Paul begins by personifying nature as being in distress; nature as earnestly expecting a particular event that is going to radically change its current state. And we see that beginning in verse 19. There we read, "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God." And here God is referring to the animate and irrational inanimate creation. The animals, the plants, the mountains, the rivers, the plains, the seas, the heavenly bodies, they are personified as anxiously longing, the original language, the term describes a yearning desire. And the imagery here is, is waiting eagerly, with out-stretched, head and eyes on your tiptoes looking for something that you desperately longed to see happen. That's the idea, reminds me of military wives, watching for their husband to step down off of that airplane, after a long deployment.

Notice it says they wait eagerly. And this further adds to that notion of waiting with great anticipation, but also with confidence, patience. And what is creation waiting for? The revealing of the sons of God "apokalupsis" and the original language, the uncovering, the unveiling, the revelation, we might say, the full disclosure of that time when the curse will be removed, and when Christ will return in glory, and will renovate this cursed Earth and return it once again to Edenic glory. This will be the time of the revealing of the sons of God that we want to look at some this morning. Reminds me of what Paul said in Colossians, three beginning of verse three, and we have died and our life is hidden with Christ in God. And then he says, "When Christ who is our life is revealed, then we also will be revealed with Him in glory." Magnificent truth. It reminds me of what Peter said, in First Peter 1:13, that we are to "fix our hope completely on the grace to be brought to you that the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Now, what happened to God's perfect creation that resulted in such universal calamity? Well, the answer is here in verse 24, the creation "was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it." Now, we must remember that originally, according to Genesis 1:31, "God saw all that he made and behold, it was very good." It wasn't mediocre. It was perfect. Adam and Eve were perfect, physically perfect, spiritually capable of living forever in their perfect environment. At that time, there were no uninhabitable places upon the earth. There were no hurricanes, no tornadoes, no earthquakes, no natural disasters. There were no polar ice fields, no harmful bacteria or viruses or diseases, earthquakes. And at that point, there was no sin for a while. In Genesis 3:16, through 19, we see that God cursed Adam and Eve and all of mankind and his creation, because of their sin. There we read, "to the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. Then to Adam He said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree, about which I commanded you saying, You shall not eat from it, cursed is the ground, because of you, in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life, both thorns and thistles it shall grow 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, because from it, you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.'"

Now mind you, this was no plan B. This did not catch God by surprise. God ordained these things, and allowed them to happen to ultimately reveal the glory of His person, even in his wrath and His mercy and His justice and so forth. And this helps us better understand Paul's statement in verse 20, "For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it. He subjected it to futility." The word in the original language means aimlessness uselessness, and in inability to reach a goal or fulfill a purpose. And what is that purpose? To bring glory to the Creator. And because of sin, the creator cursed his creation, including mankind, and all of his animate and non rational, inanimate creation. No longer would it exist as it was originally intended. And we see this, reflected in physics do we not? In the law of entropy, the second law of thermodynamics, that tells us that, that all matter and energy in the universe are in a constant state of entropy, an irreversible process of continual degradation and deterioration, which, by the way, is a law an inviolable law of physics that utterly refutes the theory of evolution. Because evolution requires just the opposite, that somehow, things go from nothing and become incredibly complex and beautiful. I can assure you, dear friends, if you take your pickup truck and put it out there in the field, and come back 10,000 years later, it will not be a stealth bomber.

So the Creator cursed his creation. Yet, it's interesting, even with the curse, we still witness the glory and majesty of God, but nothing like it was originally. And today we see this curse manifested in a very violent Earth. Much of the earth today is uninhabitable due to extreme cold or enormous bodies of water. And again, it's subjected to pestilence and weeds and drought and floods, in erosion, earthquakes all manner of natural disasters. But I want you to understand that all of these things are a result of sin, and God's curse upon it. And therefore, when you see all of these things, as you're pulling the weeds out of your garden, that grow much better than everything else in your garden, remember that these things are a perpetual reminder of how God's holiness has been offended. They remind us that this world is not a safe place. It is a home for which we are not suited. I hear people talk all the time about getting back to nature. Boy, dear friends, you want to be careful with that you get back to nature, you'll die. I've been in the mountains many times for 21 days at a time with a strip pack string of horses living in tents. And I'll tell you after about 21 days, I cannot wait to get back home not back to nature. Nature will kill you. I can't wait for hot, warm water, and electricity and so forth. So we were originally created for something radically different in the realm of our relationship with God, our relationship with fellow man and the world in which we live. But I want you to notice in verse 20, at the end, he subjected it in hope. What a magnificent truth underline that in your mind and in your Bible. He "subjected it in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery, to corruption, and to the freedom of the glory of the children of God." Again, someday all disease, all decay, all human suffering, all death, natural disasters, all of that will be over. All of those things brought on by the curse will cease to exist. And that will happen when the curse is lifted at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ in his establishment of his millennial kingdom, which will then eventually be uncreated and usher in a new heaven and a new earth and the eternal state. So eventually we have this promise that the curse is going to be reversed. But now notice creation remains in quote, "slavery to corruption," verse 21. This is the inevitable process of deterioration and degradation. The creation today remains in a state of futility, unable to bring glory to God as it was originally intended. And how long is this going to happen? The answer is here until the "freedom of the glory of the children of God." In other words, until Christ returns and liberates His creation from the bondage of sin. This is the hope that we have dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

But until that glorious day, notice verse 22. We know that the "whole creation groans." Groans comes from a Greek term "stenazo" it means to make a deep, inarticulate sound conveying pain and despair. I think we all know what that's like in our own lives. Life when something horrible has happened in our life, and we just automatically groan within ourselves. We know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. It says though all of creation is groaning in pain, like a mother travailing in the agonies of childbirth. What he's saying here is that creation is travailing in pain, as it prepares to give birth to a new life, to something radically different. It's anticipating the arrival of a new creation that will glorify God as it was intended to do originally, and oh what a blessed hope that we have.

So we learned here that God's curse upon his creation was not the result of something that it did, but rather the result of something that man did. God hates sin. Therefore, the restoration of creation is also inseparably linked to man's restoration. And that's what he's saying here the glory that is to be revealed to us that Paul spoke about in verse 18. And it's for this reason that creation is pictured now as standing on its tiptoes, if you will, straining in great anticipation for this unimaginably glorious ineffible reality, the revealing of the sons of God. This is a prospect that's so exceedingly glorious, that even again, in verse 23, "we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves," but then he adds, "waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." Now notice, again, this stunning statement in verse 19. "The anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God." This must speak of something incredibly marvelous. And what does this mean? What's he referring to, the revealing of the sons of God?

Well, let's examine this most more closely. In order to save time, I have to cover some large theological doctrines that I hope you're aware of because this puts it all together. And the first one is the fact that we are united to Christ in saving faith, we are in Christ. And so because we are united to Christ, because we are forever hidden in Him, we will one day be fully conformed into his glorious image. The whole process of sanctification is moving us towards that. Philippians three, verse 20, "we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to Himself." And certainly we get a glimpse of this on the Mount of Transfiguration, do we not? When the Lord Jesus Christ, peeled back his flesh and the effulgence of His glory blazed forth, "His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light." Matthew 17 Two. And for this reason, Peter would later write in second, Peter 1:16, "We were eyewitnesses of his majesty." I love that term. There is nothing majestic on Earth, that would compare to the majesty of our Savior. And this will be the Majesty dear friends that we will share, because we are the adopted children of God. We are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:17, "and if children, heirs also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Chris.," And for this reason, we will one day be glorified with Him we read in that text. In fact, Daniel described the glory of the reveaedl saints in Daniel 12:3 as, quote, "The brightness of the expanse of heaven, and as being like the stars forever and ever." John describes this in first John three, two, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be," then he adds this we know that, "when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is." And Paul tells us in Second Thessalonians, chapter one and verse 10 of that day, quote, "when He comes to be glorified, In His saints on that day to be marveled at among all who have believed." And when He comes, he's coming to bring retribution and ruin to unbelievers, but also to bring glory to His saints and what an astonishing day that will be when the King of kings and the Lord of lords returns in all of his glory. And I might also add that according to Revelation, chapter 19, and verse 14, we are going to follow him. There we read "the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, we're following Him on white horses." If you study the other passages, you will see that the armies of heaven are composed of the church, the tribulation saints and the Old Testament believers and even angels. So this is the day that creation awaits, the revealing of the sons of God.

Now, today, to be sure, it is difficult for the world to distinguish believers from unbelievers. And I might also add that most people, Jesus tells us in Matthew seven, most people who claim to be believers are not believers. There are the few and there are the many, the wheat and the tares grow up together. But the world does not know us, according to First John three, one because it did not know him. But one day, the true sons of God, will be revealed. Let's stop and think about this. This will be a massive gathering of every tiny remnant of faithful followers of Christ. Even in the Old Testament days, they were saved on credit, right? They were saved by faith. It will consist of all of the remnants from every generation of the faithful few from every age. Revelation seven nine says that there will be a, "great multitude which no one could count from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues." These will be the ones beloved, that will be revealed and we will be among them. By God's grace alone, we will be put on display for the world to see. Now today, I believe that we are awaiting the snatching away of the church, in the rapture, where according to First Thessalonians 4:16, "The dead in Christ shall rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." And as we study prophetic history, and prophetic literature, we see that after he has translated his church into heaven, he will set into motion the final pre kingdom judgments that we see in Revelation six through 19, also known as Daniel's 70th week. Judgments upon Israel that will culminate in the physical return of the Lord Jesus Christ and finalize his plan to bring glory to himself, which will include the revealing of the sons of God. It will also include judgment upon the wicked upon the earth, He will temporarily bind Satan for 1000 years. And this will be a day when God will fulfill His covenant promises to his chosen nation Israel. And as we look at prophetic literature, we will see that in the hour of Israel's greatest peril, when all of the nations of the world will gather against Jerusalem, Zechariah 12:3. At that time, the Messiah King, the Lord Jesus Christ, will come and defend the remnant of His people Israel, and he will bring deliverance to Jerusalem and judgment to the nations, it will be an absolutely astounding day. We read in Scripture that he will ascend to the Mount of Olives, I should say descend to it, in unimaginable triumph, a great earthquake will split Jerusalem, creating a massive valley that will lead to the temple mount from the temple mount to the desert, a valley through which the final third of the remnant of Jewish people will be saved and Christ will establish His long promised earthly kingdom, His messianic kingdom, which will exist for 1000 years. We read about it in Revelation 20 A time when the earth will be renovated.

Let me take you to Zachariah 14 for a moment. Zachariah 14 beginning in verse two, here's what God says, "For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle." By the way, if we look at other prophecies, we will see that this will consist of an army of 200 million, and they will cover about 200 miles around Jerusalem, the staging area will area will be in the valley of Megiddo. "I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle and the city will be captured the houses plundered the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city, there is a remnant God is saving. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when he fights on a day of battle. In that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley. So that half of the mountain will move toward the north, and the other half toward the south, you will flee by the Valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel, yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, then the Lord, my God will come and all the holy ones with him!" Most likely a reference to the holy angels. And we know according to Bible prophecy that a remnant of Israel will be saved, two thirds will be killed, 1/3 will survive, and they will see the strong deliverance of Yahweh. They will then understand who he really is, because there was absolutely no way for them to defeat the armies that would surround them. And God will put His glory on display, and he will cause them to repent and believe in Him. And He will reconcile unto himself, a remnant Zechariah 12 beginning in verse 10, "I will pour out on the house of David on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son. And they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn." This is powerful imagery here, a firstborn is the one that always carries the family legacy, who would possibly, in a family, kill their firstborn son, it's unimaginable. And yet they will see that this is what they did with their Messiah. It goes on to say, "In that day, there will be great morning in Jerusalem, like the morning of Hadadrimmon in the plane of Megiddo." And we see that individually and corporately. Their hearts will be transformed by the Spirit of God. They will look with eyes of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they will confess the words of Isaiah that was promised long ago in Isaiah 53 Five. "He was pierced through for our transgressions, and he was crushed for our iniquities." That time the curse upon the earth will be removed, and it will be returned to the pristine beauty of the Garden of Eden. In Acts 3:19, Peter called it the quote "times of refreshing that will come from the presence of the Lord." And then in verse 21, he described it as the "period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient time." Let me rehearse for you just a few things that we will experience during that time. Because again, this is a hopeful lament, right? A hopeful lament. As we look at Scripture, and I'm just going to give you a smattering of of passages to give you a flavor of what it will be like during the kingdom days. First of all, we see that waste places will become fruitful. Again, most of the Earth's surface today is not suited for cultivation and more airable land is disappearing, they tell us at a a frightening rate. But in the kingdom there is a promise of abundant rainfall, in Joel two verses 21 and 24, that will come at the proper times. Ezekiel 34:26, "I will cause the shower to come down in his season." And also we read that there will exist profuse streams of water in new and unlikely places. Isaiah 30, verse 25, "there shall be upon every high mountain and every high hill rivers and streams of waters." Isaiah 35, verse six and seven, "in the wilderness shall waters breakout and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty lands springs of water." By the way, this is hard for us to imagine, but you go to Israel, you go to that region of the world and you will see how wonderful it would be for these things to occur. Isaiah 41, verse 18, "I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys." Not only will waste places become fruitful, but secondly, there will be increased fertility and productiveness. We see in Isaiah 32, beginning in verse 13, that the wilderness will become, quote, "a fruitful field." Isaiah 35 verses one and two says that the "wilderness in the dry land shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom is the rose, it shall blossom abundantly." This will eliminate all of the famines. Ezekiel tells us about this in Ezekiel 34, verse 29, "and even the mountains and the hills and the valleys will be restored to productiveness." You read about this in Ezekiel 36, verses four through 11. And the Lord describes this increase through his prophet Amos in Amos chapter nine verse 13. We read "Behold, days are coming declares the Lord, when the plow man will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him who seeds sow seeds. When the mountains will drip sweet wine and all the hills will be dissolved." Thirdly, there will be changes in the animal world. We won't have to be careful not to lift something up and have a brown recluse bite us or a copperhead over there in the corner, or a cotton mouth coming up on our boat while we're fishing. Hosea two verse 18, "In that day, will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of heaven and with the creeping things of the ground...and will make them to lie down safely." Isaiah 11, beginning of verse six, "the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid." He goes on to say "and a little child shall lead them...and the suckling child shall play on the whole of the asp. The lion shall eat straw like the ox." And then there will be also the disappearing of physical disease and deformity. All physical infirmity and deformity will be remedied. Isaiah 35, beginning in verse five, "then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the death shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy." Disease also will be controlled supernaturally. Perhaps through both prevention and cure, we're not exactly sure. Isaiah 33 Verse 24, "no resident will say I am sick." Can you imagine that? Ezekiel 47, verse 12, "The fruit thereof shall be for food and the leaf thereof for healing." In fact, during the kingdom age, long life will become the rule. Isaiah 65:22, "For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of my people. And my chosen shall enjoy the work of their hands." And of course, this will be a period when the nation of Israel will be restored to their promised land, the land that God promised to Abraham. It will be a time when they will finally enjoy a theocratic government with the Messiah King, reigning and we will be reigning with him. First Corinthians six two, "do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" Second Timothy two in verse 12, "we shall reign with Him." Revelation 226, we will be given, quote, "authority of the nations," chapter five, verse 10, "you have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth." Chapter 20 And verse six, we will be quote "priests of God, and of Christ and He will reign with him for 1000 years."

Moreover, this will be a time of restoration of the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus promised this when he spoke of his apostles that would reign with Him in Matthew 19:28 He said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed me in the regeneration, When the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you also shall sit upon 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of his Israel." Jeremiah 23, beginning in verse five, "behold, days are coming declares the Lord, when I shall raise up for David a righteous branch, and he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. And this his name, by which he will be called the Lord, our righteousness." And I love what the prophet Habakkuk tells us in Habakkuk two and verse 14, "for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Beloved, this will be a time when Jerusalem will become, quote, "the throne of the Lord." In fact, as we read the prophetic literature, we see that the topography of the temple mount will be raised significantly from its current height, and the Messiah himself will construct the millennial temple, and Jerusalem will become the center for universal worship and prayer, it will be the center of joy and rejoicing for the world, and the nations of the world will come to the Temple Mount, to seek justice and learn God's law. Moreover, we read about the New Jerusalem that detail in Revelation 21, it will be it will descend from heaven, and suspended above the earthly Jerusalem, possibly aligned with the earthly Holy of Holies in the millennial temple, in the magnificent light of the Shekinah of the Lord Jesus Christ will provide heavenly illumination in which the nations of the world will walk as they come to worship the Lord in the city. In fact, there will no longer be night as we know it, it will not get completely dark because the glory of the Lord will shine throughout the earth. And it will be a glorious time. And as I say, this will be the consummating bridge between human history and the eternal state. The prophet Zechariah tells us in chapter 14, verse nine, "Ad the LORD will be king over all the earth, in that day, the Lord will be the only one, and His name, the only one." No more political rancoring. Right? No more of this chaos that we see constantly, and corruption. And I might add that this is merely part one of what creation is anxiously longing for. Because at the end of the Messianic age, God is going to incinerate, totally purge and cleanse the existing universe that's been polluted by sin. We read this in a second Peter three and verse 10, "The heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up." And then John tells us in Revelation 21 in verse one, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away." Jesus promised that Heaven and earth will pass away, right, Luke 21:33. And the psalmist reminds us in Psalm 102, beginning in verse 25, "of old you have founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands, even they will perish, but you endure, and all of them will wear out like a garment like clothing, you will change them and they will be changed." My how futile are the attempts of the environmentalists who tried to reverse creation's curse, right?

Well, as we wrap this up this morning, we also want to see beyond the creation slavery to corruption, but the Christians perseverance and hope. Indeed, we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, verse 23, we groan within ourselves, we're waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons the redemption of our body. And we all understand this, like the natural creation. Every believer is fully aware of the corruption of sin in his or her life, as well as the staggering manifestations of sin that we see all around us. It's like, it's like we're swimming in a cesspool of sin, of wickedness. And certainly one of the marks of a believer as Jesus described in Matthew five as,"they will mourn over their sin, they will hunger and they will thirst for righteousness." And so we lament over with the reality that we are still incarcerated in this unredeemed humaneness. We long for an ultimate emancipation and Paul repeatedly acknowledged his frustration with indwelling sin. Remember, in Romans seven, like verse 14, he says, "I am a flesh sold into bondage to sin." Verse 18, "for I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh," verse 23, he described the quote "members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, which is in my members," referring to his flesh. And then in verse 44, he says, "wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death." In other words, the clutches of my sinful nature. We can be glad knowing that all of those laments are going to come to an end. We're not left with hopeless despair, but with joy as deliverance. That's why he went on to say in verse 25, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord." And then he adds this, this Hallelujah chorus of forgiveness and grace and emancipated living. He breaks forth in Romans eight one and he says, "There is there for now," what? "no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ, Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death." Oh child of God, as his adopted children, we eagerly await for our inheritance, the full accomplishment of our redemption, the perfect freedom of a sinless universe in which the indwelling Spirit is our first fruit, right? He is our first fruit, he is the guarantee of God's promise, and that promise is the redemption of our body. Now, today, our souls, our inner being, are, are already perfectly outfitted for heaven. We're fully redeemed, we're a new creature, we have become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Second, Peter one, four, but not so our bodies right. Our our souls remain incarcerated in the shell of unredeemed humaneness. And earlier Paul explained that in Romans six beginning of verse five, he says, "If we believers have become united with him," referring to Christ, "in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin." Beloved, please understand, we are holy seeds. We are encased in an unholy shell. And we are awaiting that time when we will be freed and I cannot imagine, I cannot even begin to imagine how wonderful that will be, when the battle of sin is over. So until then, we ourselves grown within ourselves, we're waiting eagerly for the redemption of our body, our adoption of sons Philippians 3:20. For our citizenship is where? In heaven, from which we also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's the same concept, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state, into the conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself. Romans 8:24 Therefore we read, "For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it." Obviously, if we could see and experience our glorification right now, hoping for it would be absurd. But what is the basis, the surety of our hope?

Beloved, here it is. It's the promises of God that Paul has been declaring over and over again. It's the promises that belong to the redeemed. The certain hope of the things that we cannot fully see with our eyes. And we know that salvation is a work of God from beginning to end. But again, verse 25, "If we hope for what we do not see with perseverance," catch this now with perseverance, we're hoping now with perseverance. Not with frustration, wringing our hands, woe is me, oh look what a horrible thing, let's turn on the news and get depressed again. I just want to say no, no, no. If we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance in other words with steadfast endurance with confident and continual patience, "we wait eagerly for it." Beloved, I hope you're waiting, waiting eagerly for it. This is what Paul said in Titus 2:13, that we're looking for the blessed hope, right? And the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. John tells us in first John 3:3 "that everyone who has this hope fixed on him, purifies himself, just as He is pure." Well, I would like to close with a poem that I wrote that really summarizes my heart with all of this. It's really a poetic prayer that flows from this passage.

"Triumphant King Your glory bring, and don the victor's crown. Magnify Your glorious Name and cast your rivals down. With sovereign might in worlds full sight, complete your holy route, and raise your royal scepter high, that every knee may bow. Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as now in heaven. Exalted sit upon your throne that prays to you be given." For triumph great, our hearts do ache. Oh, David's house restore. Messiah come to judge and save with passion. We implore." Let's bow our heads together. Father, we thank you for the hope that is ours in Christ, oh yes, we lament, we groan within ourselves, but we do so with confident joy. Joy that's anchored in the promises that you have given to us in Your Holy Word. And therefore, as Paul has said, I pray that each one of us knowing that we have been raised up with Christ, that we will keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Father, help us to set our mind on the things above not all the things that are on the earth. For as you have said, we have died in our life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ who is our life is revealed, that we also will be revealed with Him in glory. May this be the song of our heart? I pray in Jesus name. Amen.