Well, good evening again, brothers. Open, please, to Romans 8, if you would.
As we come to the study of God’s Word, there is a principle of Bible study that is absolutely indispensable. That principle can be expressed in many ways, but it boils down to total reliance upon God’s Holy Spirit—upon God the Holy Spirit.
He is the only One who can take this Book and show us the Lord Jesus through it. Our Lord Jesus, like this Bible, is human and divine. When we come to the human side of this Book, we need to apply the laws of human language. We need to be diligent, and we need to understand what paragraphs are, what sections are, chapters, and so on.
But there is also another side to this Book: its spiritual side. The natural man—and I am not talking about the unsaved person; I am talking about any person who comes naturally—the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit. They are spiritually discerned, and only God’s Spirit can teach them.
We need to understand that every time we come, because God is the One who teaches us. He has promised that He would minister to us. Let us just bow together again and commit our time unto Him.
Our Father, we thank You again this evening for the great privilege we have to handle, to touch, the great treasures of Christ. We would ask You again tonight, by Your grace, to minister Him unto us.
You know our hearts, our hungers, our needs, and our capacities. You know where we are and where we ought to be. You are able to take the same Word and speak it differently to every heart.
So we would ask You, Lord, to minister unto us and speak. Whatever revelation we need of Yourself, we pray that we might see that. Then, Lord, not just be those who see, but that we might, by simple faith, appropriate a full Christ.
Enable us tonight, Lord, to hear Your voice, to see Christ, and, as You propose Him to us, may we receive Him. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
All right, once again, Romans 6–8. We are looking at the Lord Jesus as our sanctification—the great section on the unfinished work.
Romans 6, we have suggested, presents the finished part of the unfinished work. The finished part of the unfinished work is His sanctification. The Lord Jesus is victorious. He is dead to sin. He is alive unto God, and everything that those expressions mean.
Romans 7, as you know, gives us the unfinished part of the unfinished work. We are all quite aware that there is an unfinished part, and we are it. We have not yet become what we are going to be. We are in process. He is conforming us into the image of His dear Son, but it is not finished yet.
Then Romans 8 shows us how God will finish the unfinished work. Of course, it is by the blessed Holy Spirit. God has promised, through that Holy Spirit, to reveal Christ to us in a progressive way so that we will continually be made like Him.
Seeing the Lord Jesus, in reality, as our sanctification, is designed to bring us into sweet liberty in the Lord—to set us free, to enable us to walk in union with Christ, and free from the cares of this earth.
I have suggested that Romans 6, 7, and 8 give us three great releases—three freedoms that issue from seeing Him as our sanctification. For our discussion and analysis, here are the divisions again:
That is how he ends up this glorious section. Now, if the Lord can bring us this weekend to even begin to view Him in such a way that we take our eyes off sin, take our eyes off holiness, and take our eyes off everything except the Lord Jesus, then we have not met together in vain. God has called us to see Him.
This morning, we meditated on that first truth: Christ is your sanctification. Stop worrying about sin. Romans 8:3: what the law could not do—that is, sanctify—Christ did. Christ did. That is why Paul said, “Do not worry about sin,” because Christ has done that for us.
I do not know if you folks like poems. I enjoy poems. If any of you brothers write poetry, send it to me. I love it—Christian poetry, the Jesus kind. Here is one I picked up in an old book:
To run and work, the law demands,
Yet gives me neither feet nor hands.
Far greater news the gospel brings;
It bids me fly, then gives me wings.
How about that? That is exactly so, exactly so. Romans 8:2:
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Now, I want to make one comment on that before we move into the new section. Many have illustrated this law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus in terms of gravity and aerodynamics. The idea is that the law of sin and death is like gravity: it holds you down, but God has given a new law, the law of spiritual aerodynamics. When that is applied, it is stronger than the law of sin and death, and so on.
That is true as far as the illustration goes, but the illustration breaks down. What God is saying here is far greater than some law of counteraction—that God has given you a law stronger than the other law.
He is not really saying that. When He says, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made you free from the law of sin and death,” He does not save you by counteraction. He saves you by substitution. That is not the same thing. That is another direction.
What He is saying is that by the Spirit of life in Christ, He is not overpowering the old law; He is replacing it—replacing it with Himself. It is a new principle, a new creation, a whole new realm, a whole new dimension.
It is not an arm-wrestling match between God and Satan, with God winning. It is not that at all. It is a whole new life in Christ Jesus. That is what He is doing.
Well, that is what we looked at this morning. Stop worrying about sin. You are married to Jesus; love Him. Stop worrying about sin. He has achieved what the law could not achieve; thank Him. Stop worrying about sin. The Holy Spirit lives in you; trust Him.
Love Him, thank Him, trust Him. Then you begin to see these things take place in your life.
All right, that brings us tonight to the second issue of seeing Him as our sanctification: stop worrying about holiness.
Now, if your heart is like my heart, you might be saying, when we touch on some of these concepts: “If I stop worrying about sin, if I just seek Him, if I just love the Lord, thank the Lord, and trust in the Lord, will that lead to personal holiness?”
“Can you give me some assurance? I do not want to go off on the wrong step and then end up lazy, passive, slipshod, and living a reckless life. I want to be holy, and I want to be holy God’s way.”
But there is sort of a little puzzle here, you know, and it seems a little confusing. You sort of feel like Daniel in the lion’s den. You say, “I know there is a real enemy. There is no question about that. There is a real enemy, and I know I want personal victory.”
“Somehow, like Daniel, I am bound hand and foot. I know there has got to be a battle, but I know somehow I am not in it, because I am bound hand and foot.”
It is sort of like that man in Matthew 12 with the withered hand. The Lord Jesus said, “Stretch forth your hand.” There is mystery in that, you know. Well, you stop to think about it. Somehow you ask, “What is my part?”
There is the attempt to do the impossible, and that seems indispensable. Yet you know the power of God is indispensable too. You say, “I know the attempt without God’s power is worthless. But is it not also true somehow that the power of God without the attempt is worthless? What is my part?”
Think of Saul. He is not a great illustration for a lot of things, so when you can use him positively, try to do it. In 1 Samuel 16:14–23, like Saul, I find myself—now I am applying this spiritually—given over to violent moods, a turbulent spirit, an uncontrollable fashion.
Maybe there was something to Saul’s solution for that. He called in the son of Jesse, the one who played the harp skillfully. In 1 Samuel 16:23, David would take the harp and play it with his hand, and Saul would be refreshed and well, and the evil spirit would depart.
Saul could not help himself, but he could call in David. When he called in David, and David took that skillful harp, somehow that did something to Saul. That changed him.
I realize every illustration breaks down, and that certainly does. But as far as it goes, and as it applies to our victory, maybe there is something in that: there is victory, but it is not in us. It is in Another—the greater Son of Jesse, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sometimes I feel like Saul, and I just cannot live without that harp. I need to call in David. I want to behold. What should I do?
So you say, “Well, you want to be holy? Study holiness. Study the principles of separation. Study consecration, self-denial. Want to be holy? Want to be righteous? Study righteousness, the Spirit-filled life, kingdom truth. Study that.”
First Thessalonians 4:3 says, “This is the will of God, even your sanctification.” Well, I must study the will of God. This is the will of God: your sanctification.
Brothers, this is what we need to look at tonight. Should we look at holiness? What should we do? What assurances can you give that to love Him, thank Him, worship Him, and trust Him—that is enough, and the rest will come automatically?
Your heart says, “I want to believe that. Prove it. Show me that, because that is what I really want.” Well, the apostle seems to give some evidence here that that is all you really need. You do not need to look at holiness, and it will come.
Let us look at that evidence. Before we do, let me give you the transition from where we were to where we are going: Romans 8:16–17.
The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God:
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;
If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him.
He gives a series here of logical deductions. He begins with the Spirit. In what we looked at this morning, in just a short time, Paul knew that if they had the Spirit, the issue was settled. Once you have the seed of God, you are going all the way.
God does not have an unfinished symphony. God does not begin something that God does not complete. If Paul could be assured that they had the Spirit, it was all settled for him. He said, “I know if you have got the seed of God—he that has the seed of God does not sin.”
Oh, you do not see it now, but if you have the Spirit—if you are convinced of that—then Paul says, it is settled. But he gives this series, these dominoes: you have the Spirit; therefore, you are children—children of God.
Then he says, “Is that settled? All right, if you are children, then you are heirs.” Verse 17: “And if children, then heirs also; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.”
Now, before we go on, make sure you lay hold of that. If I was to inherit a piano, what would I get? It is not deep, boys. Thank you. If I was to inherit a stamp collection, what would I get? A gun collection—what would I get? A million-dollar estate—what would I get?
That is true. A new house? Okay. Nice try, Steve. He promised me when he is a trillionaire he is going to buy me one, so I am not going to let him forget this.
Get hold of this: you are heirs of God. What will you inherit? That is what he is saying. Heirs of God. He is your inheritance. He is your portion.
He says you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby that seed in you is crying out with the Spirit of sonship. What does that Spirit in your heart cry out? Local church? Right? Missions? Souls? Evangelism? Spiritual gifts? Doctrine? Theology? Unity? Holiness? Heaven?
“Abba, Father.” You know what it calls out. He said, “You have got the Spirit in your heart, and it is the Spirit of sonship, and it cries out, ‘Abba, Father.’” God’s Spirit in your heart is crying out for the relationship you long for. Please put that in your heart.
Back to the logic: if you have the Spirit, you are children. If you are children, then you are heirs. If you are heirs, then, he says in verse 17, we may be glorified with Him.
He follows this: you have the Spirit; then you are children. You are children; then you are heirs. You are heirs; you are going to be glorified. Now bless that, verses 16 and 17.
You might say, “Hey, wait a minute. You left something out: the Spirit, sonship, heirs, suffering, and then glory.” You say there is a suffering there that precedes glory. Why did Paul put that in here? I enjoyed the list the other way, by leaving that out.
What is this suffering he is referring to in the context? Is he talking about the everyday hardships of life—the everyday troubles of life, the limitations we have, accidents, financial responsibilities, disease, poverty, a single state, a marriage state, or whatever?
Is he just talking about the everyday problems of life? One commentator I read said he is talking about the problems of old age, because he is talking about these things wearing away.
I have a brother who writes to me every now and then. He likes to send me papers. He is an aged saint from the Baltimore School of the Bible, Dr. Krasty. Maybe some of you know him. That brother sent me a paper entitled Lesser Lights.
That would have been beautiful from anybody, but from an old saint, I will tell you, that touched my heart. He listed all these lesser lights: strength, memory, eyesight, hearing, mobility, possessions, and loved ones.
In the paper, he says, “God keeps extinguishing my lesser lights.” He keeps putting them out. My eyes are growing dim. My memory is getting weak. I cannot walk like I used to walk or hear like I used to hear.
I am going to quote from his paper. These are his words:
God keeps extinguishing the lesser lights, so the great Light might have the supreme place.
With the removal of the diversions of the lesser lights, old age has this privilege: having its fixed gaze on Christ alone.
How about that for old age? Is that what he is talking about here—the sufferings of old age? Or maybe it is the hardships Paul mentioned in 2 Corinthians 11: ministry, rejection, opposition, self-denial, and care for all the brothers and all the churches.
I believe with all my heart that, in the context, the suffering includes all of that. But again, it is bigger than that. In the common sufferings of life, our Lord suffers with us. But something about this suffering in verse 17 is different: we suffer with Him.
I have an idea it is the same as Philippians 3:10: “That I may know Him, and the fellowship of His sufferings.” What is that? Colossians 1:24: “I rejoice in my sufferings. I do my share on behalf of His body in filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ.”
What sufferings are those? To understand this suffering, let me first show you the relationship between grace and glory. Again, I do not expect that I am showing you anything you have not already seen, but let us review it again.
What is the relationship between grace and glory? The answer is this: grace is glory in seed form. Grace is glory in seed form. Glory is the fruit of grace.
Grace is an unmerited revelation of Jesus. What is glory? It is an unmerited revelation of Jesus. But, oh, I will tell you, when you see Him in glory—that full revelation, that sparkling of deity, God in His fullness, the sum total of all His attributes.
You will never find in the Bible glory listed as an attribute of God. It is not. It is the sum of His attributes. He is love, but He is glorious in His love. He is wise, but He is glorious in His wisdom. He is strong, but He is glorious in His might.
God and glory are inseparable. Glory is an essential part of God. Do you realize God cannot be God without glory? His life consists in His glory. Grace is the foretaste of that glory.
When grace grows up, what will it be? Glory. It is the same thing. It is exactly the same thing. Now, it is important to understand this because every Christian is heading for glory.
Every Christian begins with grace. We move from grace to glory. Every step in grace is a forward step in glory, because it is the same thing unfolding, unfolding, unfolding, until finally you see Him as He is. That is glory.
But every step of grace is glory now. Every time you see Him as He is, you see the glory of God—and that hurts. There is pain with that. There is suffering by seeing Jesus.
Every time you see Him in reality in this Book, you are going to suffer. Why is that? Because one hundred percent of everything in the world is contrary to the Lord Jesus Christ. It goes in another direction.
Wait until God begins to change you. Every time you are transformed, you are transformed against the tide, against the current. You are spitting in the wind. It is going the other way, and you find yourself outside the camp.
The more you see Jesus, the more father is going to rise up against son, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, and friends against friends. There is suffering in seeing Jesus.
I will tell you the most glorious occasion in all the earth: seeing Jesus in this Book. If you have not experienced the reality of seeing Christ, I do not know anything sweeter than that.
I have often said, if God would deny me heaven—I speak as a fool—and just say, “You can have any event, any situation on earth,” I would choose my study any day. More than standing before brothers and sisters sharing, more than anything, I would choose my study. That is my heaven: seeing Jesus.
Nothing is sweeter than seeing Christ in His Book. I will tell you the most painful experience I have ever had: seeing Jesus in this Book. Exactly right. There is suffering with that.
That change is not like growing hair, you know—painlessly. When you see Christ in this Book, He drags you through death. He makes you take rugged stands where you do not want to take rugged stands. He changes your life and turns you around.
Identification with the Lord Jesus not only identifies you with a holy Saviour, but with a rejected Saviour. You will find out soon enough that the path of the King is the path of the King’s servant.
The more you know the King, the more you are going to be identified with Him. The more you see Christ, you are going to have that sweet banishment of atmosphere, and even God’s people are going to rise up against you the more clearly you see Him.
I think that is the suffering he is talking about. I think he is saying, “You need to see Christ. You are His. You have got the Spirit of God. You are His child. You are His child; you are an heir of God. You are an heir of God.”
“Well, you are going to experience these changes and this suffering through seeing Christ, and it is the suffering that leads to glory. You are going to see Him in full view.”
Look again at Romans 8:18:
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Again, this is not the everyday suffering of life. He is not talking about breaking an ankle, twisting a back, chemotherapy, a failed business, or some insult you have received. He is talking about seeing Christ, and there is a glory in this suffering. It is the pain of being one with God, the pain of being like the Lord Jesus.
I used to think there was a great contrast here. The idea was that when you get to heaven and see the glory and see Christ, why, that is going to be so big that the crosses of earth are going to seem so little.
What is sickness? What is bereavement? What is suffering, handicap, poverty, or pain when you see Him? That will be like this. But He is not saying that. He is not saying, “When you see Him, that will be like this.”
He is saying it is not worthy to be compared. See, I just compared it. It is not even worthy to be compared. When you see glory, and all of those changes you are going through, He says, once you see Christ, that is not even worthy to be compared.
What is he getting at by giving us this transition? You have the Spirit; you are His child. You are His child; then you are an heir. You are an heir; you are going to suffer. But if you are going to suffer, you are going to have the glory.
He is trying to show you how sure your holiness is. Your first step is the guarantee of your last step. Have you begun in grace? Is there any evidence in your life that there has been any grace? Then you are going to end in glory.
The sanctification of every believer is guaranteed. You have the Spirit; then you are His child. You are a child; then you are an heir. You are an heir; then you are going to have these sufferings when you are changed. Then you are going to have glory—as logical as math and music.
To worry about holiness is like worrying whether the sun is going to come up, or worrying whether the Lord Jesus is going to return. Some Christians look at their lives and say, “Oh, it will never happen. I am not going to make it. I will never get holy.”
He says, “Yes, you will.” Now let me give you some evidence.
I am not the first one to notice that there are three groanings. Everybody gets the same three groanings in Romans 8:
Those groanings tell a story, brothers. You see, they are not three different groanings. They are all in sympathy. Creation is groaning for the same thing Christians are groaning for, and Christians are groaning for the same thing the Holy Spirit is groaning for.
There is a sympathy here in all of these groanings, and they are all groaning for the sanctification of the Christians. Let us look at each of these groanings.
Romans 8:19–22:
For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of Him who subjected it, in hope
That the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
What does it mean that creation is groaning? What is it groaning about? How does it groan? Some say that is the curse. It is groaning because it is under a curse.
Genesis 3:17: when man sins, cursed is the ground. Thorns and thistles it will bring forth. Romans 8:20 says it was subjected to futility, not of its own will.
You see, creation did not have a vote as to whether it would be cursed. The squirrels, birds, bees, monkeys, and animals did not say, “We choose to die. Write me down yes for that.”
The ground did not put up a vote and say, “I decide I want to bring forth thorns and thistles and poison toadstools.” Not at all.
The earth did not say, “I just love to be violent. I think I will have some volcanoes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and all that kind of thing. I just love cold. I think I will make an icy, desolate region. I love sand. I will make some deserts.”
They did not have that. One hundred percent cursed. Some say, “See, creation is groaning.” Some even suggest that the whole creation is written in the minor key now. You can hear the howling of the wind, the creaking of the trees, the croaking of frogs, and all the other eerie sounds in creation.
It is all in a minor key, and creation is groaning because it is under this tremendous curse. I do not think that is what the context is saying. It is true that it is under a curse.
I have not seen a lot. Some of you brothers have been to Hong Kong and everywhere else. You have seen a lot of God’s creation. I saw Niagara Falls last year for the first time. Oh, my, that was a marvel.
You know the thing that amazed me when I saw Niagara Falls? I thought I would be looking up. I thought I would see something coming down from the mountains or something. It is down there; you are looking down. But, oh, that was marvelous for me to see.
I have been up to New Hampshire and Mount Washington, and I saw a beautiful view. Once I went to Northern Ireland. Of course, I live in Newport, and you can stand right out on the Cliff Walk there and look out at that mighty ocean.
I have seen the sunset, and I have seen movies of under the ocean. Some of you maybe dive, and you have seen marine things under there. What a creation. If that is under a curse, what is it going to be like when the curse is lifted?
You know how beautiful it is under a curse. When we look down from lofty mountain grandeur and so on, that is under a curse. Well, is that why creation is groaning?
Maybe, like Mr. Krasty says, it is just getting old. Creation is groaning in terms of Psalm 102:25–26:
Of old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth:
And the heavens are the work of Thy hands.
They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure:
Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment;
As a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed.
Romans 8:21 sure looks like creation is groaning to be set free. Maybe that is why it is groaning for itself, because it is under this curse and wants to be free. Contrary to the evolutionist, it is not going up; it is going down. It is going the other way, wearing away.
Jonathan Edwards—you are familiar with Jonathan Edwards, of course. He is known for that great awakening in New England in 1734 and so on. He looked at it devotionally.
He said, “I will tell you why creation is groaning. The food in the garden is crying up to God and saying, ‘Lord, please do not make me nourish that ungodly man. Can I lodge in his throat? Can I just choke the buzzard?’”
“The air says, ‘Do I have to fill his lungs?’ The air is groaning. ‘Why should I fill the lungs of the one that breathes out threatenings against my God, cursings against God?’”
“And the earth cries up and says, ‘Can we do what You allowed us to do in the days of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram? Can we not open up and swallow up these wicked people?’”
The air, sea, land, and storm are all wanting to destroy the sinner. “Must I follow that lightning rod?” says the lightning. “Can I not just hit that man’s house and burn him up?” And so on. Creation is groaning.
Well, I do not know if Jonathan Edwards was close. I think he had a good point, but that is not why Romans says creation is groaning. If you miss the expression in hope in verse 20, you miss the heart of God in creation’s groaning.
Creation is groaning in hope. In fact, verse 22 talks about the pains of childbirth. Creation is like a pregnant woman. It is travailing. It is groaning. It is expecting something. There is hope there.
I will tell you what it is groaning about: verse 19, “the revealing of the sons of God.” Creation is not groaning for itself. It is amazing.
We have been talking about sanctification, and three or four brothers came to me and said, “Could you just give me a definition of the word? What is sanctification?” Maybe we should have started with that.
What is sanctification? Well, let me just illustrate it for you. My shoes—they are dirty, but they are sanctified. They are sanctified because they are on my feet, not on my head.
That is what sanctification means. When something fulfills the purpose for which it was created, set apart for that for which it was made, it is sanctified.
A hammer is sanctified when it is pounding the head of a nail. If I take a coffee cup and pound a nail, the coffee cup is not sanctified. If I put coffee in it, it is sanctified.
You were made for Him. That is your element: the fellowship of God. You were created and redeemed to be set apart unto Him. When that happens, you are sanctified.
I call attention to that because creation—the whole universe—was created for a purpose. It was created to minister unto the sons of God, to serve the children of God. It has never been sanctified.
Creation fell from the purpose of its existence, and creation is frustrated because creation was created to minister unto the children of God. Now creation has become an enemy.
It does not want to mess up your tomato garden; it has to. It is not sanctified. All these weeds grow, and you are constantly fighting creation to stay alive. That is why you wear a scarf, why you wear a sweater, why you live in a house, in a shelter.
There are germs everywhere. Creation is trying to get you. Every time you move, it is coming after you: the wind, the rain, the cold, the germs. Creation is groaning.
It is saying, “I want to fulfill the purpose for which I was created.” Creation is not groaning for itself. Creation knows something you need to know. Creation knows something I need to know.
Creation knows you are going to be sanctified. Creation says, “I am waiting for the revealing of the sons of God.” Right now you are under a veil. There is a process, and it does not look like it. We are wondering if it will ever happen.
The whole universe knows it will happen. The whole universe is waiting, longing, groaning, expecting. They are longing for the day. What a day it will be when God’s people finally arrive.
A day of life, a day of largeness, a day of liberty for the people of God and for the whole creation. Ephesians 2:7 says we will be on display for all eternity.
We are saying, “Give me some evidence. How do I know, if I just love Jesus, thank Him, and trust Him, that I am going to arrive?” I would suggest the whole universe knows it. We do not.
The whole universe knows it, and they are longing for it. They are waiting for it. When you are sanctified, creation gets sanctified. Then God recreates it for the purposes for which He designed it, and for all eternity creation is just going to minister unto you. That is what it was made for.
There is another reason: Romans 8:23–25.
And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
For by hope were we saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which he seeth?
But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Not only is creation groaning because it knows you are going to be sanctified, but this verse says every Christian groans. Some of you brothers might say, “Oh, good. I am glad for that verse, because I love to groan, and now I have a proof text that groaning is okay.”
It does not say gripe. It says groan. There is a difference between gripe and groan. You read the Book of Numbers, and nine times they had those famous murmurings. Discontent is the exact opposite of the groaning here.
Do you realize every time you murmur, complain, or show discontent, you are an atheist? That is a practical denial of God—a practical denial of the sovereignty of God.
You complain about the weather, food, the environment, or something like that, and you are saying God had nothing to do with that. That kind of groaning is one hundred percent the other way from this groaning.
You say, “Well, what is the Christian groaning about?” Maybe he is groaning over that little thing we looked at before: suffering. You know, that hurts. You see Jesus and it hurts. Maybe he is groaning over that—Romans 8:17–18.
No. You look at that through the whole Scripture in the balance of truth, and you will find that that suffering is gloried in. That brings pleasure. Our dearest experiences with the Lord Jesus Christ come in our changes, in our suffering.
There is a fellowship with Jesus Christ in a storm that you will not find in a calm, with the Lord Jesus Christ in bitterness that is not found in honey.
There is a tranquillity with the Lord Jesus Christ in confusion that you are not going to find when everything is going smooth. You rejoice in that suffering. There is no groaning over that.
Why do Christians groan? Well, like creation in verses 24 and 25, they also groan in hope. Remember how the Bible uses the word hope? It is the exact opposite of the way we use it.
We mean maybe. The Bible uses hope as absolute certainty. We say, “I hope it does not rain. I hope so-and-so calls. I hope somebody who said they would come does not come.” I hope, or whatever. But it is maybe—maybe not—pious wish.
But in the Bible, it is absolute certainty. It is not unsubstantial at all. It gives fixedness. That is why the Bible calls hope an anchor of the soul. That is why it compares hope to a helmet: because it is solid.
Once you have it, you do not hope anymore. If I have a new car, I do not hope for the car; it is there. Our children, for a while there, were hoping for good grades on their report cards. Once the report cards were in, all hope was gone.
Paul the apostle is drawing his argument that the Christians have already received a down payment. That is the big point here in verse 23: having the first-fruits of the Spirit.
How do I know I am going to make it? How do I know I am going to become holy? How do I know what creation knows? God says, “You have already received the down payment. You already have the earnest. You already have tasted that partial payment.”
To the Jew, that first fruit was always the pledge of the harvest. When that Israelite would go out and pluck that first handful of ripe corn, he would bring it to the Lord. He would hand it to the Lord, and he would bless God because that was a guarantee that the harvest was coming.
No Jew was ever content with first fruits. They never were. That was just the beginning. That was a prophecy. That was a sign saying, “The harvest is going to come.”
First fruits are designed to enlarge the heart for the harvest. That is the whole point of first fruits. I will tell you this, brothers: some of you have seen very much of our Lord Jesus Christ.
No matter how intimate your acquaintance with Him has been, no matter how precious and sweet your acquaintance, no matter how dearly you have known Jesus, you have not known the harvest yet. You have not seen the harvest.
The closest relationship you have ever had with Jesus Christ is only a handful of corn compared to what is coming. That is the hope that we have.
The Christian looks at that earnest. You know, it is not only how much is given in the earnest, but what did it cost to give that? What was involved in that?
Listen to these verses from Romans 5:
But God commendeth His own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, being now justified by His blood, shall we be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.
The idea is this: if God has done so much, if God has paid so much to give you the down payment, what about the rest of it?
Let me illustrate it from 2 Samuel 23. I will just tell the story. David, in the day of war, made a sigh, and he said, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem.”
According to the context, that well was surrounded by Philistines. David was just reminiscing. He was up there, surrounded by the enemy, and he was thinking back to when he was a little boy playing on the hillside of Bethlehem.
He remembered the days of peace, how he used to go down to the well and drink water. He was saying now, in the day of war, “Oh, I wish I could go back to the old days, when there was nothing but childhood and peace, and I could go down and just get a drink of water.”
You know the story. Three of his mighty men—and praise God, they are not named—three unnamed mighty men heard his sigh as he said, “Oh, I wish I had water.”
The Bible tells us those three men went down and battled their way through the enemy to get a cup of water. Then they had to battle their way back again, balancing the cup of water without spilling it.
They went through the enemy twice—once to get it and once to come back—and they brought it up to David. You say water is not very valuable, not like gold, silver, or gems. What is the value of water?
Well, what was the value of that water? It is not only what it is, but how much did they go through to give it to you?
The Bible says in 2 Samuel 23:
Nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord.
And he said, Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this:
Shall I drink the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives?
Therefore he would not drink it.
But David received the first fruits that day. Let me ask you this: later on, David, commander in chief of his army, do you think he had any doubt about who would be loyal to him in battle after that?
Ah, he knew who would be loyal. He had the first fruits. That is what God is saying. He says, “You are wondering if you are going to make it. The whole creation knows you are going to make it. They are groaning. They cannot wait until you make it.”
You wonder if you are going to make it? Look back in your lives, brothers. Look what you have already received. Look where you have already been. Look at the hole you came out of. Look at how far you have come.
Look what you have already tasted. Look what it cost Him to bring you here. Look at what He has already given you. You are wondering if you are going to make it?
Grace that brought us safe thus far,
And grace will take us home.
The Christian groans, as it says in verse 23, for the adoption—the redemption of the body, the adoption of sons. Verse 15 says you have already received the adoption. Verse 23 says you are waiting for it. Which is true? The answer is yes. Both are true.
They have already received it in foretaste, in grace, and it is coming in glory. So the Christian also groans for the same thing creation groans for: the last chapter, the last page, the last paragraph, the last sentence, the last word—when grace bursts into glory and we see Him.
See what God is underscoring? You have so many doubts: “How do I know I am going to be holy?” Man, the whole creation knows it. You ought to know it just by what you have already received.
Then he says, “But there is something else that is groaning.” Romans 8:26–27:
And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity:
For we know not how to pray as we ought;
But the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered;
And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Before we look at the Holy Spirit’s groaning, let me tie it into the clear reference to prayer. Brothers, verse 26 will always be in your Bible. There will never be a time when you will have to take that out of your mind: “We do not know how to pray.”
Will there ever come a time when you say, “Well, I do not need that verse anymore. I learned how to pray”? Never. I do not care how much you learn about communicating with the Lord, there will never be a time when you say, “I do not need that. I have learned how to pray.”
I get nervous with somebody who says, “I have learned how to pray.” I think of that verse, and I do not know how to pray as I want to pray.
The Holy Spirit prays for us. Of course, that raises the question: does that mean I do not have to pray?
Christians often face this dilemma. “Will my prayer change the will of God? Has not God determined all this stuff anyway? Does not God have a plan and all that? If I pray, will my prayer change the will of God? Is my little prayer going to help? Why should I pray? I do not know what to pray for. I do not know how to pray.”
The answer is: your prayer will not change the will of God, but your prayer will fulfill the will of God.
God not only ordains the end, but He ordains the means to the end. He has ordained the end, but He has also ordained that you pray along the way. Your prayer is a cooperation with God—my cooperation with the Lord.
I think a great illustration of that is when Israel was in captivity for seventy years. God, through Jeremiah, said that at the end of seventy years, someone would pray. When they prayed, He would deliver them.
Daniel was reading Jeremiah. He looked at his watch and said, “Well, seventy years are up. Someone will pray. That is me.” So Daniel started to pray, and God answered his prayer.
God not only ordained the end; He ordained the means to the end. I call attention to that so that you do not throw prayer out the window because the Holy Spirit prays.
He helps our weakness. He prays for us, but He prays through us as well. He often prays in such a way that He empowers our prayer, sifts our prayer, mingles it with the beauties and merits of the Lord Jesus, or magnifies our prayer by grounding it in God, and so on.
But in addition, He also prays with words we cannot utter. He groans inside. What is He groaning for? It is just so basic: verse 27, the will of God.
Think of that. We make so much out of the will of God. “I have got to find the will of God. How will I know? Ed, give me five principles that I can know I am in the centre of the centre of the circle of the perfect will of God.”
“I do not want to miss God’s will. How do I know His mind? How do I know His direction?” The Spirit says, “This child—Your child—is in there. You are in there. You are a son; you are going to have glory.”
You start loving Jesus. You start praising Jesus. You start trusting Jesus. You cannot miss the will of God.
In all thy ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct thy paths.
You cannot miss it. He is going to direct you. I think a lot of this looking for God’s will is off-centre. It turns your eyes to the will of God rather than to the God whose will it is.
You do not need to look for the will of God and say, “Oh, I am going to miss the will of God.” Not when the Holy Spirit is praying for it. I will tell you, He always gets His prayers.
Does it not encourage your heart to know that the whole creation knows you are going to be sanctified? The whole creation knows it. They are waiting for it. You ought to know it. You have the earnest. You have already tasted so much in the Lord.
The Holy Spirit is inside there, and He is praying for the will of God in your life. We are wondering, walking around, “Oh, glory, I think I am going to miss it. If I do not have this and get all these lights lined up, and if that one is this and this and this, and it is circumstance and the will of God and the peace of my heart, and what is the evil spirit and the human spirit and the Holy Spirit—how can I know?”
You call Betty. I have folks in Newport that sometimes I want to shake. I just shake them, and you long for them to grow, like the kid with the little flower: “Grow, grow.” They just do not grow.
This one lady especially, man, she says, “I just have to know God’s will. I am going to pray: should I go shopping today?” So she prayed whether she should go shopping.
She was concerned about what route she should take to the store. She got all upset because she was not sure if it was the right store she was supposed to go to. Then she started praying over the brands she should buy.
She got more bondage because she wanted the will of God. God has not called us to that.
He has called us to know that if you love Him, if you seek Him, if you are seeing Him in this Book, if you are praising Him, if you are trusting Him, you are going to have the will of God. You are going to make it.
Oh, creation knows it. You ought to know it; you have tasted enough. The Holy Spirit knows it. We are going to make it.
He says, “Christians, Christ is your sanctification. Do not worry about sin. Christ is your sanctification. Do not worry about holiness. You are going to make it. You are going to make it. The Holy Spirit is guaranteeing it.”
Tomorrow, God willing, we will look at some of the most marvellous verses in all the Word of God: do not worry about anything.
Pray. Pray for me, brothers. It is hard to touch this passage. Pray that God will show us the final revelation of Christ that will set us free, and we will all fly home. Let us pray.
Father, we praise You. Lord, You have written it all around us. The whole creation knows what we sometimes seem not to know.
Lord, You have given us the earnest, and at such a cost. Oh, what a down payment. Give us that assurance, Lord, that all we need to do is seek Christ.
Thank You for the blessed Holy Spirit, who is constantly crying out day and night for the will of God in our lives. Oh Lord, we are such a blessed people.
It is so wonderful to be Your children, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. We know, Lord, You put the cry in our heart: “Abba, Father.” We belong to You. We are related, and we have all things in Christ.
Teach us to cash in. We ask in Jesus’ name.