ROMANS 8:16-30 YOUR FUTURE GLORY IN THE SPIRIT2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Romans 8:16-30 Your Future Glory In The Spirit

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015. Well, this evening we're in Romans chapter 8, and we're continuing through Romans chapter 8. We've spent already a couple weeks here in chapter 8, and we'll be looking at chapter 8 for a couple more weeks. This week we're going to look at Romans chapter 8, verses 16 through 30.

So Romans 8, 16 through 30, and let's take some time here at the beginning to read through that portion. Romans chapter 8, verse 16 says, The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider...

Verse 19. Verse 20.

because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Verse 22. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

Verse 24. Verse 25.

Verse 28. Verse 28.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified.

As we consider this incredible passage this evening, I just continue to be amazed and blown away here at Romans chapter 8.

Now, we're looking at here in this chapter the culmination, kind of the pinnacle of what Paul has been leading us to thus far in Romans. As he started out dealing with the necessity of the gospel.

And the danger that we all have, the judgment that we all face, all humanity is condemned because we fall short of the glory of God. And Paul made sure to get that very clear in our heads and in our hearts in the first few chapters of the book of Romans.

But then he went on to deal with what we call justification, where God makes us perfect before him. He declares that we are not guilty and he declares that we are righteous as we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And as he talked about justification and what that means for us, now in chapter 8, there's this huge application of all these things that Paul has been teaching.

As we look at the gospel and understand it from Romans, we understand justification, but now what it means for us and our position in Christ is really mind-blowing. And that's what he's developing here in Romans chapter 8. We looked at verses 1 through 11 a few weeks back, and we talked about the law of the Spirit. And we saw there that the law of the Spirit, we're talking about universal truth.

things that are true of all believers. And as I was reviewing these things, it was reminding me again how amazing it is what Christ has done for us. The law of the spirit, we had a few points that week. I want to hit a couple of them just to remind us and bring us up to speed as we head forward in chapter eight. Number one, you are set free from sin and death. This is a law, just like the law of gravity.

I see, and I've commented before, none of you this evening are bracing for impact with the ceiling. None of you are worried about falling up because you know about the law of gravity and you rest in it. You count on it. You don't even have to think about it. It's a law. You don't even need to worry about it or be concerned at all. In the same way, the law of the spirit means that you are set free from sin and death.

You don't ever have to worry about God's judgment. You don't ever have to fear the wrath of God as a believer in Jesus Christ, because the law of the Spirit means that you've been set free from the law of sin and death. It also, as we saw in verse 5 and 6 of Romans chapter 8, it means that you have life and peace. Now, sometimes we don't experience the fullness of life and the peace that God has for us

but it doesn't mean that it's not available to us. It's like a person who is wealthy, but lives as if they were in poverty. We have life and peace in Christ. It's a law. It's true for every believer. It's not just true for mature believers. It's not just true for missionaries or faithful believers. It's not just true for those who are growing in the faith, but every believer in Jesus Christ has life and has peace.

Another law or part of the law of the Spirit that we saw is that you have the Spirit dwelling within you. This is true of every believer. This is not conditional. It's not some days you have the Spirit, some days you don't have the Spirit. As a believer in Jesus Christ, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you.

And these are not just doctrinal truths that are good information for us, but as we acknowledge these things, it makes a big difference in how we live. And we saw as we went on in verses 12 through 17 a couple weeks ago, your life in the Spirit, how you and I are debtors, but not to the flesh, to obey the flesh, but to the

But because of the work of the Holy Spirit in our life and what God has done on our behalf, we are debtors to the Spirit. And so Paul encouraged us to invest ourselves in the things of the Spirit and invest ourselves in the things of God. It also means that you are led by the Spirit. You are led by the Spirit as a child of God. You have responded to the work of the Holy Spirit first by believing in Jesus, and that continues on into your Christian life. You are led by the Spirit.

You receive from him. He speaks to you. And the exhortation there was to not be like the horse or the mule, which have to have the bit in the mouth to be led, to be guided, but to respond as the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart. But it also means that you have, well, your life in the spirit means that you are a child of God. And we talked about at that time that you have the same access to the father that Jesus has.

As Jesus cried out there in the garden of Gethsemane, Abba, Father, you also get to cry out, Abba, Father, and you get to approach God with your hurts, with your fears, with whatever's on your heart. You have that same access to the Father that Jesus has. Well, then in verse 16 and 17, Paul also went on to say that you are a joint heir with Christ. That is, you get to inherit the same thing that Christ inherits.

Well, now we're picking it up again in verse 16 and working our way through verse 30. And this evening, I want to talk to you about your future glory in the spirit. You have some glory that is in store for you that God has for you as a believer in Jesus Christ. These are part of the results of what Christ has done for us in that you've been declared righteous. You've been justified as a believer in Jesus.

That also means not that just that you've been forgiven of your sin and saved from eternal damnation. It also means that there's some glory that God has in store for you. And there are some great things that he wants to do. So we're going to be talking about this glory here in verses 16 through 30. And there's four points I'd like to highlight for you. Point number one, found in verse 16 through 18, there will be more glory than suffering.

This is a really incredible promise that we can hold on to. You are guaranteed as a believer in Jesus Christ, you will have more glory than you will have suffering. Verse 16, again, it says this, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified and

together. Paul is connecting all these thoughts together. And so that's why I've backed up to look at a couple of verses we've already looked at. But the whole concept of us being children of God connects us to Christ. We are joint heirs with Christ, but being joined with Christ also means that we will suffer with him. In verse 17, he says, if indeed we suffer with him.

And so we have the glorious relationship and access to the Father because we're joined with Christ. But that also means that we will suffer with Christ. Primarily, he's talking about here suffering for following Jesus, persecution and those types of things. As we are joined together with him, we get to experience the world's hatred of Jesus. The world hated Jesus and now hated.

Because we're joined with Jesus, that includes us. But Paul links these two things together. And so there is suffering with Christ, but tied to that, inseparable from that, is the future glory with Christ.

And so the understanding or recognizing that Jesus has a glorious future means, well, I'm joined with him. And so, yes, there's the suffering with him, but there's also this guarantee, this expectation of this future glory that is with Christ. And so he says, if indeed we suffer with him, we are children of God, joint heirs with Christ. And that means we suffer with Christ, but it also means together.

that you will be glorified with Christ. Now, as Paul talks about suffering with Jesus, again, primarily he's talking about persecution. He's talking about the opposition against Jesus that we experience as his people.

followers. And maybe we have a little bit of a taste of that from the past couple weeks with, you know, the decision that the Supreme Court made regarding marriage. And there's been all kinds of, you know, different viewpoints shared and all kinds of different thoughts. And some, you know, pastors responding very radically and some not at all. And, you know, there's just across the board all kinds of different responses to that.

Now for me personally, I'm not one who kind of gets all worked up about things like that. For me, it's really not a surprise. I feel like we've been on this road for a really long time. That we as a nation have been walking away from God. And we as believers in this nation, I think are going to have more opportunity to suffer with Christ than we have in the past. It's just the trek that we're on, the path that we are following.

Jesus told his disciples in John chapter 15, if the world hates you, well then remember that the world hated me before it hated you. The world hates Christ. The world is against Christ. And we used to pride ourselves as a Christian nation, but we

our nation is the world and it's against Christ. And as followers of Christ, we kind of need to readjust our mindset and our thinking a little bit and recognize there is going to be this opposition that we are going to suffer with Christ. However, joined together with this suffering with Christ is the promise of the future glory with Christ.

And so as we align ourselves with Jesus, we have that promise, that expectation that there will be more glory than there will be suffering for us as believers in Jesus Christ. I'd like to remind you that the context of this, Paul's writing to the church in Rome,

He's writing to believers in the midst of the Roman Empire. There was much more opposition to the things of Christ than what we experience presently in our nation. And so...

Sometimes, you know, we can be concerned about, well, what does this decision by the Supreme Court mean? And how is this going to affect us? And we can get, you know, kind of all caught up in that. But let me just remind you, things, the gospel and the New Testament church thrived in way worse conditions than what we are experiencing right now. And so I would say, don't be stressed about that. But understand, there will be suffering sometimes.

There will be suffering with Christ as we stand with Christ. And there will be more opportunities to suffer with Christ, I think, in the days ahead. But tied to that, inseparable from that, verse 17, he says that we may also be glorified together. It's a package deal. You align yourself with Jesus Christ, you experience his suffering, but then you also get to experience his glory. Now, as Paul's talking about glory for us, he's referring to eternity, right?

He's referring to, well, when we get to experience the full impact of our salvation. You as a believer in Jesus Christ are saved, but we often say it this way. You're saved from the power of sin. You've been set free from sin and death. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

but you're not quite yet set free from the presence of sin. You still struggle with sin. You still fall into sin. There's still sin impacting your life, not only your own, but the world around us. And as Paul talks about our future glory, he's talking about, well, when we are set free from the presence of sin, that we have the new bodies that Christ has prepared for us, and we get to spend eternity with him.

And so as he talks about us being glorified together with Christ, he's looking to eternity and he's saying, you're going to be with him and there's going to be more glory than there is suffering at that time. Check out verse 18. He says,

So Paul says, here's why I say the things that I'm saying. We're going to suffer, but we'll also be joined together with his glory. And so he says, here's what I consider. Here's my thought process, Paul says. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. We, when we suffer, we feel it. It's a big deal for us. Sometimes we

other people around us when we're suffering, try to minimize our suffering, right? Oh, it's not a big deal, you know, kind of grow up, stop crying. There's no crying in church or whatever, right? There's no crying on the missions field. No, no, there is. There is suffering, and sometimes we try to minimize that, but no, we feel it. When there's suffering, man, we feel it. It's a big deal for us, and sometimes it consumes our life, but

But Paul gives us some great counsel here. He says here, consider it the way that I consider it. Understand that although you're suffering now, and although it's a big deal now, and although it consumes your life right now, the suffering that you're experiencing, he says, it's not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to come. In other words, God's going to reward for suffering. And the reward is going to be far greater than

than the suffering actually was. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 17, he says, our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. So if you put all your suffering on the scale, here's the weight of all your suffering, Paul says it's going to be a far more exceeding weight of glory that's placed on the other side of the scale. It's not going to balance out.

It's not going to be, well, here's just enough glory to match the suffering. He says the glory is going to outweigh the suffering. It's going to be far greater than the suffering. It's not worthy to be compared to the suffering. If you're friends with Pastor Tom on Facebook, you've been watching him post about the different exchange rates for the dollar in Japan, right? What's the exchange rate, Tom? 125? So,

As he gets excited about that exchange rate, understand that there's an even better exchange rate for suffering. You know, you give just a little bit of fraction of suffering, but you get pounds and pounds and pounds of glory. This is the way that God works. It's not worthy to be compared. Yes, you will be joined to Christ. Yes, you will suffer with Christ, but the glory that is returned to you as a result is

is far greater. It's not worthy to be compared. It's a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. The commentator William MacDonald puts it this way, even the excruciating pain of the martyrs will seem like pinpricks when the Savior graces their brows with the crown of life. Those who are martyrs, those who die for Jesus Christ, he says, it's going to be like a pinprick, like someone's just checking their blood sugar. You know, it's like

compared to the glory that they experience. We've been praying for a long time for Pastor Saeed, right, there in Iran. Hard for us to picture and to imagine the amount of suffering that he's experiencing for the gospel. But as much as that is, and if it costs him his life, the Lord has for him a far more exceeding weight of glory. Something far greater so that all of these years in the Iranian prison,

In William McDonald's words, will feel like a pinprick. It just won't compare. We kind of get off balance when we are focused only on this life. When we get consumed and caught up with, well, you know, things are not fair in this life or there's so much suffering in this life, but we need to factor in. Again, in verse 18, he says, for I consider, we need to consider, we need to factor into our equation the eternal scope and recognize that

that the suffering that we experience now does not compare to the glory that is to come. And so your future glory in the spirit, you're guaranteed, God's promise to you is that you will have more glory than you will have suffering. You will have far greater glory than you do suffering in this life. It will be worth it, in other words. When you stand in eternity and look back, you won't be thinking, God, you shouldn't have allowed me to suffer so much.

Can you imagine that? Can you imagine saying, God, you shouldn't have allowed me to suffer so much? We could say that easily right now, right? It's like, God, don't let me suffer so much. But when we're in eternity and looking back, we won't have that opinion. We won't have that attitude. We'll say it was worth it. I gave just a few ounces of blood in that suffering, but the weight of glory that I received in eternity, it doesn't even compare. It was worth it.

It's worth it to be joined to Christ, to align with him, even to experience suffering for the glory that will be rewarded. And so that's the first thing that we see here about your future glory in the spirit. There will be more glory than suffering. Number two, as we go on in verses 19 through 25, here, as we understand the glory, I want to encourage you to eagerly await for glory.

eagerly await for glory as you recognize the exchange rate is really good as you suffer for christ and align yourself with him and it costs you now you can eagerly await for the glory to be paid for the glory to be received check out verse 19 he says for the earnest expectation expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of god

Paul says, creation eagerly waits for your revelation, eagerly waits for the full realization of your salvation. You are saved as a believer in Jesus Christ, but you have yet to experience the fullness of what that salvation really entails. You have experienced the first part as a believer in Jesus. You've been forgiven. You've been declared righteous. You have access to God. You get to walk with God.

But there's also the glory that God has promised for followers of Jesus. And Paul is saying here that creation, creation itself eagerly waits for that full realization, that full revelation of the sons of God, of what it means for us that we have believed in Jesus Christ. You and I live in a fallen world.

It happened back in the garden, Genesis chapter 3. Not only was Adam and Eve affected and all of their descendants, but all of creation was affected. And so as a result, well, we've been talking about suffering from persecution, but also you and I experience suffering simply from living in a fallen world.

We experience suffering not just for following Jesus and for aligning ourselves with him, but just because the world itself has been affected by sin. And so we experience devastation. We experience hurt and heartache and loss. It's part of what we experience because the world is fallen. This world, creation, has been affected by sin. But that will not always be the case.

As you look at the promises and prophecies about the millennium, when Jesus comes back to rule and reign here upon the earth for a thousand years, there's some incredible things that happen. And the world reverts back to how it was in the beginning before the fall of man. One of the famous passages is Isaiah chapter 11, verse 6, which tells us that the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb.

Now today, that would be pretty unusual for the wolf to dwell with the lamb. He says the leopard shall lie down with the young goat. These are enemies. These are predator and prey. He says a little child shall lead the lion and the calf together. The kid's going to be playing with the lion and the cow at the same time. They're going to be harmless animals.

That's just a little snippet of some of the things that God has promised for the millennium. But just to give the illustration to understand, the world's gonna be radically different as the curse is reversed. The curse from sin is reversed as Christ reigns. And so there's going to be this renewal of the earth. There's gonna be this peace. There's going to be this incredible work that God does. All of creation will be restored when Jesus reigns. And what Paul is saying here is that creation longs for that day.

He continues that thought in verse 20 and 21. He says, Here Paul says creation was subjected to futility.

He's referring back to the impact of sin that began there in the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 3. And there was this impact from sin on all of creation. There was this futility that came about. There was the fall, not just of man, but of all creation.

And sometimes we use the phrase acts of God, right, to describe these catastrophes, these things that happen, you know, the earthquakes or the tornadoes or the typhoons or whatever it might be. But to use the phrase act of God is not really accurate. These are just the results of living in a fallen world. It's creation being subjected to futility. But God allowed for this to happen. He says it was subjected in hope.

God allowed for this to happen because of hope. Now, we use hope today with an element of uncertainty as we mean it. You know, I hope I win the lottery or I hope this, I hope that. But as the Bible talks about hope, it's not that kind of hope at all. There's no uncertainty at all in hope. Hope is a reality. Hope is the truth. It's a guarantee. It's just not happened yet. And so the idea is that there is this time where creation is subjected to futility and

where creation experiences the fall with mankind with the understanding that it will be redeemed. All creation will be redeemed along with those who believe in Jesus. Verse 22, for we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. I think this is an interesting way to think about it. The whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs. He compares it to giving birth. Now we might look at

let's say, increasing earthquakes worldwide. And we have seen an increase in earthquakes, especially the larger ones. But we might look at that and think, man, the world's falling apart. The world's coming to an end. Paul says, look at that and understand it's not about it coming to an end, but it's about this giving birth. It's about the beginning of something new. It's like birth pains. As they come together, as they increase, it's creation...

groaning and laboring for the redemption of humanity, for the ruling and reigning of Jesus Christ. It's creation calling out for Christ to rule and to reign here, to have his way for God to be glorified. Verse 23. Verse 23.

Not only that, but we also have the first fruits of the Spirit. Even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. And so creation is groaning. Creation is increasing in those labor pains as it looks forward to, and we see the soon return of Jesus Christ. But it's not just creation that is anticipating the future glory. He says, those who have the Spirit...

Those who have the Spirit have this same type of groaning, have this same type of anticipation building within. We groan within ourselves, he says, as we eagerly wait for the adoption, as we eagerly wait for the redemption of our body. And so again, here's where we get the point here. Point number two, eagerly wait for glory. Those who have the Spirit of God,

experience this build of anticipation as the Holy Spirit develops in us this eagerness waiting for the return of Jesus Christ for the glory that he has in store. He says we have the first fruits of the Spirit. Now the first fruits was a type of offering that the children of Israel would bring. God instructed them to bring the first fruits of their harvest to the Lord.

And so if they had a grain harvest, they would go and take a portion of the grain. And before they harvested the rest, they would just take a small portion. They would bring that and they would offer that to the Lord. And it was an act of faith. It was saying, Lord, we thank you for what you've done. And we trust you that we're going to be able to go back and then harvest the rest of the grain. And we want to praise you for that in advance. And so the first fruits was what they brought that first portion before they harvested the rest of the field.

And Paul says the Holy Spirit is a first fruit for us. That is that God has deposited his spirit in you as a believer in Jesus as a first fruit. It's not the full harvest. We've only experienced a portion, a sample of what Christ has in store for us as believers. But we have that first fruit with the rest that is coming, the rest that will follow. But the first fruits have been given as a guarantee.

In Ephesians chapter 1 verse 14, Paul says that the Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. The Holy Spirit in your life, the Holy Spirit indwelling you is the first fruit, the guarantee, the deposit, so that you know God will be faithful to fulfill the rest of His promises. And so it should stir up within us as we have this Holy Spirit working in us, this eagerness as we await for the glory.

Because the very fact that you have the Holy Spirit within you means that you're going to experience the glory that God has promised, the fullness that God has promised to his followers. And so those who have the first fruits, you have the Holy Spirit deposited within you. He says, we groan within ourselves and we eagerly wait for that adoption, for the redemption of our body.

When we talk about salvation as believers in Jesus, we can divide it many times into three different parts. You have justification. That's what we've been dealing with a lot in Romans, where God declares you not guilty. He declares you righteous. You have right standing, perfect standing before God as if you had never sinned. As a believer in Jesus, you are justified. That's part one of salvation. Part two is sanctification. And that's a process. It's not a one-time thing.

You are justified. That's a one-time thing. When you believe in Jesus, it's a done deal. But sanctification is a process. As you walk in this life, you're going to have some victories. You're going to have some defeats. Sanctification is the process of bringing you through those victories and through those defeats to develop you into the man or woman that God desires for you to be, to make you more like Christ.

And so part of salvation is God transforming you into the image of God, into the image of Jesus Christ to make you more like him. And as we've been pointing out over the past few weeks, it is a process and there's victories and there's failures. And that's why he says there is therefore now no condemnation because there is failures and you're going to feel condemned and the enemy is going to want to condemn you. But you need to remember it's part of the process. God's transforming you into his image.

The third part of salvation though is glorification. And that is the part that's yet future. You're in process right now of being sanctified as a believer in Jesus. But the part that is to come is the glory. And so as Paul talks about the redemption of our body in verse 23, that's what he's talking about. The redemption of our body where this body, whether we are alive at the time that Jesus returns or whether we have died, we get to experience a new body.

We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. We will be transformed. And this mortality will put on immortality. There is a glorified body that God has in store for every believer where we will not deal with sin, where we will not struggle with sin, where we will not experience the effects of sin. That's part of what Paul is dealing with here as he talks about the redemption of our body, where we no longer have the sinful nature, but that we are in glory with Christ.

God has many glorious things for you in the present, but the final fulfillments of everything that God has for you is in eternity. And that's a good thing to remember so that we don't try to be fully satisfied in this life, but that instead we eagerly await for glory. I remember Pastor Tom coming back from the Philippines many, many years ago, and it stood out something he shared. He said,

He was wondering about why they speak so much about heaven over there as he was ministering. They were always talking about heaven. And he came back and said, I was wondering. I couldn't figure out. Man, we don't talk about heaven so much. They're talking about heaven all the time. And then he shared with the congregation at that time. He said, you know, we here, we try so hard to build heaven here on this earth. So we're not talking about, we're not so like anxious about heaven because we're so caught up in trying to make it happen here.

And he was appreciating the fact that they were looking forward to eternity. And that stood out to me. That struck me. And I was reminded about it again as I went through this because, well, that's where we need to be, eagerly awaiting for glory, not trying to be satisfied, not trying to make glory happen here. That's not what this life is for. And so when we experience suffering, backing up to the previous point, it's not really a surprise. It's not that big of a deal.

Because the glory that we're anticipating is not in this life, but in the life to come and the promises that he's given to us. Well, verse 24 now it says, Again, he talks about hope.

And again, I would just remind you that hope, as the Bible uses, it is not something that has any element of uncertainty in it. He says, we were saved in this hope. We're not experiencing the results of this, but it's certain we will. It's guaranteed. We will experience this, the promises. We will experience the glory. But hope that is seen is not hope. We haven't yet received all the promises. We haven't yet received the fulfillment of all of these things.

If we had received them, then there's no more hope because the whole point of hope is we haven't received it yet. And so we were saved in this hope and we don't have it yet, but we still hope for it. That is, we still recognize that this is part of God's plan and God's promise to us. And so he says, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Eagerly wait for glory. Be looking to eternity.

constantly and consistently set your eyes to eternity and set your heart there too that you would look forward to the things that God has in store for you in eternity. Eagerly await for it. Now he says, with perseverance.

So eagerly wait for eternity, eagerly wait for glory with perseverance. And I like the way that Leon Morris commentator describes perseverance. He says, perseverance is the attitude of the soldier who in the thick of battle is not dismayed, but fights on stoutly whatever the difficulties. This is the quality of not giving up no matter what the circumstances or the opposition looks like.

eagerly wait for glory with perseverance because there's going to be lots of opportunity for you to want to give up. There's going to be lots of opportunity for you. Going back to the previous point, there's going to be suffering. We live in a fallen world. There's going to be hard conditions. There's going to be lots of opportunity for you to fix your eyes here on this life, to be discouraged and to give up. But you need to wait for glory eagerly with perseverance.

Even when there's opposition, even when you can't figure out how God could do anything good from the situation that you're in, be persevering, be steadfast, be immovable, have the attitude of the soldier. It doesn't matter how thick the battle gets. It doesn't matter how difficult things become. I'm gonna continue to fight because God is faithful to his promises and I'm gonna eagerly wait for glory, knowing that God will do what he said he will do. Fix your eyes on eternity.

And when you're tempted to be focused on the things of this life, remember, correct yourself and set your focus back on the things of eternity. When you're suffering, look to eternity. When you're uncomfortable, look to eternity. When your body aches and groans, look to eternity. Don't let those things take your eyes off of the prize, but keep your eyes focused on the things that are to come.

So eagerly wait for glory. Point number three now as we go on in verse 26 and 27, the Spirit intercedes for you until glory. The Holy Spirit intercedes on your behalf. Check out verse 26. He says, likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Paul says here in verse 26, likewise. So this verse does not stand alone all by itself. There's some context here. Paul's still talking about the same things that he's been talking about.

You're a joint heir with Christ. You're joined together with him. That means you experience the suffering that he experienced because you're joined with him. But it also means you're joined with him and you get to experience the glory that is to come. But in the meantime, you're in this fallen world that's groaning and looking for the redemption. And you also groan and there's the suffering that you experience and there's the difficulties that you go through. But you have this hope that

As you set your eyes on eternity, this hope that it will be fulfilled, that God will do what he said he will do. And now he says, likewise, just as you eagerly wait for eternity, and that helps you in your suffering, that helps you have the right perspective, the proper attitude. Well, he says, in the same way, as you're suffering, as you're going through those things, the Holy Spirit helps you too.

The Holy Spirit helps you, he says, in your weaknesses. And he points out a specific weakness in your prayer life. There's maybe a lot of weaknesses that we could consider. And yet our prayer life is, well, many times as believers, we would testify, we would confess, you know, I don't pray as much as I should. Many times as believers, we would confess that we're not really confident or comfortable in prayer, that it's a weakness for us.

And so Paul reminds us here, the Holy Spirit has been deposited. We have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us and he helps us with that weakness. Specifically, he says, we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. You ever have that happen? You don't know what to pray for. You don't know how to pray. Sometimes we don't know what we should pray for. We don't know how to pray, but we don't really realize it. Kind of like Peter, right?

Remember when Peter was on the mountain with the Lord as he is transfigured before them and he's in glory and he says, oh Lord, we should build three tabernacles, one for you and one for Moses, one for Elijah. And I forget which gospel, but one of the gospel writers points out that Peter said this because he didn't know what to say. And sometimes we pray and the things that we pray, we pray because, well, we don't know what to say. We don't know how to pray for what we ought.

Sometimes we don't pray because we don't know how to pray. Sometimes we pray and yet we still don't know how to pray as we ought. But here's what Paul says. The Holy Spirit is there to help us in that weakness. The Holy Spirit helps us in that weakness of prayer in that he himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. The Holy Spirit intercedes on your behalf and he goes beyond our

The limits of vocabulary. Here's what David Guzik says about this. He says, The Holy Spirit intercedes. He prays for us on our behalf.

Even far greater than we could pray on our own. Far greater than we could pray in the English language. Far greater than we could pray in Spanish or Japanese or Greek or Hebrew or any other language. It goes beyond the limits of language. And the Holy Spirit is able to pray exactly what is needed, exactly what is necessary. He makes intercession for us. You ever get nervous to pray?

you know on wednesday evenings we say all right gather up in groups of two or three let's pray for our missionaries and people are freak out it's nerve-wracking to pray what if i pray the wrong thing listen if you pray the wrong thing the holy spirit has you covered you never have to worry about praying the wrong thing you never ever ever have to worry about praying the wrong thing just enjoy the freedom of that okay you're able to pray to god

With whatever words you have, or even when you don't have words, the Holy Spirit has you covered. Well, what if I don't have a good vocabulary? You know, I don't know all the these and thous and those right words that you have to use in that prayer language. No, there's not some special language. The Holy Spirit has you covered. He goes beyond your vocabulary anyways, even if you only know four or five words in English. The Holy Spirit doesn't rely on that. He's not limited to that.

Sometimes we wonder, well, how can I pray for missionaries or someone else? Well, I don't know what the needs are. I don't know what the issues are. I don't know really what God wants to do. The Holy Spirit has you covered. He intercedes on your behalf. And so you don't need to be nervous to pray. You don't need to be freaked out or worried or stressed out about the right exact words. Sometimes people get this idea in their mind where it's like, you know, don't say something out loud because then maybe God will make it happen. Don't worry about that.

I'm really freaked out by spiders. And so God's going to send me on the mission field where there's a bunch of spiders, right? So, but I don't want to say that out loud. I don't want to pray for that. You know, listen, the Holy Spirit has you covered. He's got your best interests at heart. Well, the Father has your best interests at heart too. So he knows what's best. He's got you covered. You don't have to stress about those things. You don't have to worry about, well, what if I say the wrong thing and then it happens? Never worry about that. The Holy Spirit is interceding on your behalf.

I like what Douglas Moo, a commentator, says. He says, You can always depend. You can always rest. Until you enter into glory, the Holy Spirit is going to be at work interceding on your behalf and according to the will of God. Look at verse 27.

Now 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 the Holy Spirit, as he makes intercession for you, he's in perfect communication with the Father. It's perfect alignment with the Father. No miscommunications ever. You've experienced miscommunications, right? You're saying one thing, it's received completely different way. Has that ever happened to anybody? Yes, it happens to all of us, right? Everybody. Everybody.

Even when you're speaking the same language, we're both native English speakers. How is it that we're saying different things or hearing different things? But it happens all the time. However, with the Holy Spirit and the Father, never a miscommunication ever. Always in sync, always exactly in line. And it's always according to the will of God. Now check this out. 1 John 5, we can't turn there, but verse 14 and 15, you can look it up later. John tells us this is the confidence that we have in him.

that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. John says, when we pray according to the will of God, then we know that God hears our prayer. And if we know that God hears our prayer, then we know that we have that prayer answered, the things that we've asked for. When we pray according to the God's will, we know for sure it's answered.

Now here's the Holy Spirit in perfect sync with the Father, praying on your behalf, interceding on your behalf, according to the will of God. And so everything the Holy Spirit prays for you is according to the will of God and will be fulfilled, will be answered and done according to God's will. The Holy Spirit is interceding for you. You can rest in that. You can trust in that. Now, do you have to learn some special technique? No.

Again, these are just part of the work of the Holy Spirit in your life as a believer in Jesus Christ. You don't have to have some special formula. You don't have to figure out some special pose or hum a certain way or anything like that. You have this as a believer in Jesus. The Holy Spirit is interceding for you until you enter into glory. And so you have the ultimate best prayers in the whole world. You're the best prayer warrior because the Holy Spirit is interceding on your behalf.

Rest in that and trust in that. Well, finally, point number four, as we look at verse 28 through 30, your glory is guaranteed. Your glory is guaranteed. This glory that we're eagerly waiting for, this glory that in the meantime, the Holy Spirit's praying on our behalf and working in us and helping us, this glory that is yet to come, this glory that is promised, this glory that is guaranteed to be more than our suffering, this glory is not guaranteed.

a maybe for you. If you believe in Jesus, you're a child of God. Your glory is guaranteed. Nothing can change it. You don't have to worry about, well, maybe I'm not going to experience all that God has. I'm not going to experience that eternity. I'm not going to get... You don't have to worry about those things. Check out verse 28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. All things work together. Now, this is a famous verse. And

Probably most of you know this verse by heart. All things work together for good to those who love God. We're going to come back next week and, well, actually in two weeks and spend some more time in these next couple of verses. So we're not going to get into the depths here, but understand everything works together for good because God is sovereign. He knows his children and he's going to do what's best for them.

And that means, again, remember the context here. He's been talking about suffering. Even in suffering, all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. Even when you experience heartache, God is able to bring forth good from whatever you experience in life. Disasters, destruction, victories, defeats,

Whatever bad you experience in this life will not diminish your glory in the next life. Let me say that again. Whatever bad you experience in this life will not diminish your glory in the next life. It's not going to diminish what God has in store for you.

And again, sometimes we get overwhelmed by the suffering. We get overwhelmed by the circumstances and what we're facing. We lose sight of eternity. And sometimes we even begin to think, well, eternity is not going to be as good for me now because of all of these things maybe that I've done or that I've experienced or all this hurt that I've had or whatever took place in my life. But God is able to pull from all those circumstances, all those difficulties, whatever it is you might face, he's able to pull forth good from that.

it will not diminish your glory in the next life. Verse 29, for whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Let me just remind you, as a believer in Jesus Christ, Paul is talking about you. And he's saying that our heavenly father foreknew you.

He knew about you ahead of time. He knew about you from the beginning and he predestined you to be made like Jesus, to be conformed to the image of his son. He predestined you. This is true of every believer. Again, this is not just for mature believers or faithful believers or passionate believers or growing believers. This is true of every believer. God the Father foreknew you and he predestined you to be made like Jesus, amen?

He says in verse 29, so that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Jesus is the first to resurrect in this glorified state. That's promised to all of us. But he's not the last. He's the first. He's the firstborn among many brethren. That is those who believe in him will also experience his resurrection and his glory. You will be resurrected in glory just as Jesus was. Verse 30 says,

Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified. And whom he justified, these he also glorified. Believer, Paul is talking about you. He is saying the Father foreknew you. He knew about you ahead of time. Even, yes, all those parts of you that you wish weren't there before.

All those failures, all those things that you're not so proud of or happy about, he foreknew all of that. And he predestined you to be made like Jesus. And he called you and he justified you. He declared that you are righteous, that you are not guilty. And he glorified you. Now I like this. He foreknew you, predestined, called, justified, and glorified. Notice they're all past tense. Now as a believer in Jesus, we've experienced all of these in the past tense.

except for the last one. He foreknew you. Yeah, I've experienced that. Past tense, done. He already knew about me ahead of time. He predestined me before I was even born. I didn't know anything about it, but he's already figured out everything about me. That's done deal. It's past tense. I've experienced that. He called me.

We only respond to God. We never initiate. He's the one who initiated. I experienced that. That's past tense. He justified me. As a believer in Jesus, I am declared righteous. I am declared not guilty. I've experienced that. But then he says, these he also glorified. Still past tense. I've yet to experience that. I've not yet been glorified. But listen, your future glory is so sure that God declares it as past tense. You're glorified in God's eyes.

He's not limited to our space and time. In other words, your glory is guaranteed. It's a done deal. It's a done deal. He glorified those that he foreknew and predestined and called and justified. As a believer in Jesus Christ, you can count on, you can rest assured, you will be glorified. When God talks about you being glorified, he's so sure about it, he says it in past tense. It's done. It will happen. Guaranteed.

Absolutely, without a doubt. This is true of every believer. Not just mature believers, not only passionate believers, not only faithful believers, not just for believers who lift their hands when they worship. It's true of every believer. Your glory is guaranteed. This is part of the amazing, incredible work of the gospel. The incredible work that Christ has done for us. Over and over again here in chapter eight, we just see our job is really just to receive.

what God has done for us. To rest in that, to believe, to trust in Him. We don't have to fix everything. God's taking care of those things. We don't have to stress and wrestle and struggle with all the things that we, we got to rest. Eagerly wait for that glory. Rest and know there's going to be more glory than there's suffering. We're going to suffer, but there's more glory than there's suffering. It's going to be worth it. We can rest in that and trust in that and

Be blessed by that reality. We can rest knowing that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. He's at work in our life. It's not up to you to come up with the perfect prayer. The Holy Spirit's doing that for you. You don't have to come up with the right words.

whether it be for some need that you have or some repentance that needs to take place in your heart, some requests that you have or some future that you want, you don't have to come up with the right prayer, the exact words, the perfect formula that's gonna convince God to do what you want him to do. The Holy Spirit's got your back. He's taking care of that.

I'm not saying don't pray. No, the scriptures tell us, cast your cares upon the Lord, present your requests, but don't get caught up. Don't not pray because you're thinking, well, I don't know what to say or I don't have the right words. Don't worry about that. Just open up your heart. Communicate with God, call out to him and the Holy Spirit's gonna be interceding on your behalf and rest assured, be free, be set free knowing that your glory is guaranteed. As a believer in Jesus Christ, no question about it.

you will experience the glory that is to come, no matter what, because you've believed in Jesus. I'm going to invite Jonathan to come up and close this in a couple songs. And as he does, I would encourage you to rest in these promises, to rest in this work that God has done on our behalf, to enjoy. I would encourage you to use this time to eagerly wait for glory and to refocus your attention if it needs to be refocused, to set your eyes on eternity once again.

If you have needs, you have cares, you have things you want to pray, just pray. Don't worry about the exact words. Let the Holy Spirit intercede for you. Let's spend this time worshiping the Lord and just spending time with Him, enjoying the work that He has done for us, enjoying the access that we have to the Father as believers in Jesus. As usual during these last two songs, if you are prompted by the Lord to minister to someone around you, you want to pray for them or encourage them, or maybe you want to ask them to pray for you, just pray for them.

then go ahead and during this time if you need to get up and move around go ahead and do that as we worship the lord together we can minister to one another and enjoy the presence of god in that as well so let's worship him and enjoy the work that god has done for us we pray you have been blessed by this bible teaching the power of god to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and bible study resources