WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.339 Well, let me tell you why, whoever you are here today, whether this is your first Sunday ever in 00:00:05.339 --> 00:00:11.080 church, whether you're thinking through this whole Jesus business, or whether this really is your 00:00:11.080 --> 00:00:19.320 umpteenth time in a church setting like this, let me encourage you, whoever you are here today, 00:00:20.039 --> 00:00:25.260 to listen to this, to put your mind like we do in our phones, put it on do not disturb mode, 00:00:25.260 --> 00:00:33.700 and listen to what God says to us through his word, because this passage holds out to us 00:00:33.700 --> 00:00:40.460 the thing that our world today so desperately longs for. 00:00:42.040 --> 00:00:49.780 Go ahead, if you've got it there, put your finger on verses 24 and 25, and as you're doing that, 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:54.780 let me try and get us under the skin of this passage so that we feel its electrifying pulse. 00:00:55.259 --> 00:01:03.759 Let me take you to one of the most incredible sounds in the natural world, and it's a sound 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:13.799 that birds make. It's a phenomenon really called the dawn chorus, and it happens when the birds, 00:01:13.979 --> 00:01:19.879 despite it being the early hours of the morning, and despite it being pitch black outside, 00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:28.420 they come out to sing. And boy, do they sing. Now there's a few theories amongst people who study 00:01:28.420 --> 00:01:35.939 these things, why they do it. Some people reckon it's to do with mating season. Other people reckon it's 00:01:35.939 --> 00:01:41.399 to do with kind of turf wars. Birds are kind of marking their patch, telling people that they're up, 00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:48.219 and they're at it. But there's another theory, that when the birds sing at the dawn chorus, what they are 00:01:48.219 --> 00:02:00.200 in fact doing is singing to encourage the other birds round about them, who are scared, who are worried, 00:02:00.580 --> 00:02:07.800 who are hiding, who are cold, and who are so desperate for the warmth and life that the rising sun will bring, 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:15.780 that it's coming soon. Now I always wonder whether God has weaved these things into the pattern of his 00:02:15.780 --> 00:02:24.120 creation to capture the imaginations of human beings and awaken their hearts to things that are true about 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:33.039 him. So if you've got your eyes on the prize of verse 25, what's the word? The word is hope. 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:41.319 Now let me ask you, where are you on the hope scale today? You know, I was reading a survey that 00:02:41.319 --> 00:02:48.399 was carried out in 2022 that asked people in our culture the biggest question that they have today 00:02:48.399 --> 00:02:54.879 about life. And it was a question that was asked, in their words, against the backdrop of the three Ps, 00:02:55.560 --> 00:03:01.099 pandemic, poverty, and Putin. Three things that have kind of brought home to us, haven't they, 00:03:01.099 --> 00:03:07.000 in recent years, the frailty and the unpredictability of life? And so the survey asked people this 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:12.180 question. Do you know the question that topped the list? Ten years ago it would have been, what 00:03:12.180 --> 00:03:18.359 happens after I die? But the question that topped the list was really, will everything be okay? 00:03:20.680 --> 00:03:23.919 I wonder how you're feeling about the future this morning. What about your future? 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:29.780 As you sit here today, and what are we as a culture? We're in the middle of a mental health crisis. 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:34.699 We've just had a new government in power who we were reflecting the other day as a staff team, 00:03:35.019 --> 00:03:40.199 probably for the first time in many, many generations, who are coming into power and not saying things can 00:03:40.199 --> 00:03:44.819 only get better. Actually, they're saying things are going to get worse and they might get better. 00:03:44.819 --> 00:03:53.319 And you think, thanks, Keir. Maybe you're in a job that's turning out not to be all that you hoped it 00:03:53.319 --> 00:03:59.439 would be. It's always why the BBC put their prime shows not at eight o'clock on a Saturday night, 00:03:59.500 --> 00:04:04.459 which they did a decade ago, but they now put them at nine o'clock on a Sunday night, if you noticed 00:04:04.459 --> 00:04:11.240 that, line of duty, death in paradise, because they recognize the appeal of people, giving people a 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:16.160 distraction from thinking about the Monday morning blues, something to talk about on Monday morning 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:21.600 to take your mind off things. How are you feeling about your future? How are you feeling about the 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:30.019 planet's future? Are you hopeful about that? Climate change, natural disasters. It's a well-documented 00:04:30.019 --> 00:04:36.420 statistic, isn't it, that one of the reasons that many people in Gen Z are not planning on having 00:04:36.420 --> 00:04:42.740 children is that they can't face the thought of bringing them into a world that's full of pain. 00:04:42.840 --> 00:04:48.600 Can I make an observation? Our world loves to throw the hope word around like confetti, 00:04:49.060 --> 00:04:53.600 but never before have we been more crippled as a culture with anxiety. 00:04:56.360 --> 00:05:03.480 See, what is Romans chapter eight? What are these verses, friends? They are God's dawn chorus to us. 00:05:03.480 --> 00:05:12.879 God is singing here. This is all about where he has taken the story of us. This is all about where 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:18.720 he's taken about the story of the planet, the universe, and everything in it. The scale of this 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:24.900 could not be any greater this morning. And what we'll see is that this is both refreshingly realistic 00:05:24.900 --> 00:05:32.680 as well as being wonderfully optimistic. Now, if you're a note taker, if you like headings, 00:05:32.680 --> 00:05:37.519 if your mind's organized like mine, we've got two things to see in this passage this morning. It's 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:41.280 a two-point sermon with three subheadings underneath, and I'm kind of getting away with it. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:47.680 Here's the first. The first thing we need to see is that this is telling us about the reality of a 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:53.079 groaning present. Now, groaning, as you read it in this passage, groaning is not moaning, 00:05:54.079 --> 00:05:59.560 right? Groaning is this painful, and he defines it there for us. What's the word? Not moaning. 00:05:59.560 --> 00:06:08.540 It's longing. It's longing. It's a painful longing that a new day would come. In fact, the best analogy 00:06:08.540 --> 00:06:12.939 that Paul can think of to help us feel it, did you get it in the passage there, verse 22, 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:20.060 is the image of childbirth. Now, you play that card carefully, but he's the apostle Paul when he gets 00:06:20.060 --> 00:06:27.160 away with it. Childbirth. And it's the perfect analogy, isn't it? It's the perfect illustration of 00:06:27.160 --> 00:06:31.520 what he's trying to get them to understand. Now, three things Paul says are groaning. Real quick, 00:06:31.640 --> 00:06:41.500 follow with me. Verse 19, creation's groaning. God created this planet goods. And again, for some 00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:47.680 of us, this might be brand new. This is the first time we've heard this stuff. God created this planet 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:54.600 goods. And in the beginning, the Genesis account one and two, creation is defined by what is there. 00:06:54.600 --> 00:07:01.760 So you have beauty. You have perfection. You have splendor. You have potential. It's defined by 00:07:01.760 --> 00:07:10.020 what is there. It's defined by what isn't there. Suffering, sin, death, evil. It's not there. 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:15.760 In the beginning, Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. In fact, the two bookends of the Bible, Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, 00:07:15.840 --> 00:07:20.600 Revelation 21 and 22, there is no suffering, sin or death. Hold that thought. 00:07:20.600 --> 00:07:30.560 God creates this world. He puts human beings over it to steward it. And that's a big part of the answer 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:36.180 to the question, what do Christians think about the environment? We'll see in a moment why we aren't 00:07:36.180 --> 00:07:44.300 panicking. But equally, we see here why we are not passive. We care about creation. We care about 00:07:44.300 --> 00:07:51.319 recycling. We care about natural disasters. Because this world displays and declares still 00:07:51.319 --> 00:07:58.480 God's glory to the watching world. I always love it how God, when he tries to help us understand 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:04.360 who he is, what he's like, he uses creatures, doesn't he, so often? Like the lion. 00:08:05.860 --> 00:08:12.240 As the lions go extinct, don't they? We won't be able to get that image. That's why we care about 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:19.319 creation. Displays and declares God's glory to the world. And yet, at the same time, the Bible tells 00:08:19.319 --> 00:08:27.439 us that this creation is broken. It is not firing in all cylinders. Because of the first human beings 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:34.259 that God made, Adam and Eve, because of their sin, which is their heart turning away from God's. 00:08:34.259 --> 00:08:43.620 Verse 20 in the text, God has subjected human beings ever since who've happily followed suit and this 00:08:43.620 --> 00:08:51.019 world to futility. That's the word there, futility. You can think of that as meaning frustration. 00:08:52.419 --> 00:08:59.580 And we see that frustration in our natural world every time we see a natural disaster. We feel it 00:08:59.580 --> 00:09:08.000 every time we read of an alarming climate change statistics. And we experience it every time our work 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:18.080 doesn't quite deliver the lasting satisfaction that we hope it will. And so Paul says, verse 21 there, 00:09:18.200 --> 00:09:27.680 creation is groaning. Right? Groaning, not moaning. Groaning, longing to be free. It's a painful cry. 00:09:29.580 --> 00:09:36.540 It longs to be free. And human beings, we're groaning too. Do you see it? Our bodies, the end of verse 23, 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:46.139 our bodies are groaning. Groaning, not moaning. Groaning, a painful cry, longing to be free. 00:09:46.920 --> 00:09:53.400 We know the sin that plagues our hearts, the mistakes that we keep making, the people that we keep 00:09:53.399 --> 00:10:04.639 hurting. And the same is true of our physical bodies. Yeah? We wear and tear. Let's never 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:13.840 waste the opportunity of letting a common cold be our teacher. Every sneeze, every yawn, every sore knee, 00:10:14.340 --> 00:10:19.079 every eye infection is teaching us something about ourselves and our bodies. 00:10:19.080 --> 00:10:25.360 Now some of us are suffering or we've watched people go through excruciating things when it comes 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:36.000 to our bodies. Cancer, dementia, eczema, depression. And what's true of creation is true of our bodies 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:39.480 that we long for the day when we're finally free. 00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:45.340 And let's pause there for a moment. Do you see what this is? 00:10:46.980 --> 00:10:53.320 This is permission to admit to ourselves and to each other that life, this side of glory, 00:10:53.820 --> 00:10:58.000 park that word, we'll come back to it, is absolutely brutal at times. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:07.860 And that is strangely freeing, is it not? It's biblical to put our hands up and say, 00:11:08.039 --> 00:11:15.159 life is really, really hard and I'm hurting. And you turn to the gospels and you'll see that 00:11:15.159 --> 00:11:21.320 the people that run to Jesus are those that fall at his feet, desperate for help and love. 00:11:21.320 --> 00:11:27.500 And Jesus specializes in showing grace and love to groaning people. 00:11:29.320 --> 00:11:34.480 Groaning should be one of the most natural things that we do as Christians. And I take it that's 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:43.600 why Paul can talk of verse 23 of the inwardly dwelling spirit as the first fruits of the new creation. 00:11:43.780 --> 00:11:46.320 In other words, the spirit who lives inside the believer. 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:53.160 It's almost as long as we get that this is not our home. One day this will be over. 00:11:54.500 --> 00:12:02.000 What that is, these groanings that we have are in part our longing for the perfect world that we were made for. 00:12:02.460 --> 00:12:05.920 In other words, this is a healthy kind of homesickness we feel. 00:12:09.220 --> 00:12:12.900 And the spirit living in the very heart of the believer is groaning, verse 26. 00:12:12.899 --> 00:12:20.179 And I think that's meant to greatly encourage us. When we don't know what to pray, when we don't have the energy, 00:12:20.899 --> 00:12:29.159 the spirit intercedes for us. Do you see, dear believer, how committed the triune God is to your prayer life? 00:12:30.500 --> 00:12:33.299 We're going to think next week about how Jesus intercedes for us. 00:12:33.639 --> 00:12:38.360 Do you see how the Father hears, the spirit intercedes and Jesus intercedes? 00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:41.200 The triune God could not be more committed to you. 00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:48.980 I love it that God in his words gives us language to understand our experience. 00:12:49.720 --> 00:12:51.440 Groaning. Do you not feel that word today? 00:12:53.100 --> 00:12:59.659 But our God does more than that. He gives us a person to help us understand our experience. 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:05.159 The claim of Christianity is that the author of history has written himself into the story. 00:13:05.159 --> 00:13:11.199 Jesus comes. Jesus dignifies the human body by taking one. 00:13:11.579 --> 00:13:15.000 The one fully God takes on our form. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:19.939 And if you've ever wondered if your body is a precious thing, 00:13:20.079 --> 00:13:23.679 then Jesus taking a body should confirm that to you. 00:13:25.620 --> 00:13:30.559 Jesus knows what it is to lose one of your best friends and cry at the news of their death. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:38.799 Jesus knows what it is to be rejected by people, even your own family, because of the message that you stand for. 00:13:39.579 --> 00:13:41.819 Jesus knows deep anxiety. 00:13:42.759 --> 00:13:45.619 Jesus knows what it is to be betrayed by a friend. 00:13:46.239 --> 00:13:50.479 Jesus knows what it is to suffer and even to die unjustly, 00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:55.000 even to death on a cross, as he dies for the sins of his people. 00:13:55.000 --> 00:14:00.779 What the incarnation tells us is that we have a God who has not stayed at a distance, 00:14:01.100 --> 00:14:05.100 but we have a God who knows the reality of our groaning present. 00:14:07.879 --> 00:14:11.799 And it's only because of that, and this is where it gets brilliant, 00:14:12.340 --> 00:14:18.019 that we can know the certainty of a glorious future. 00:14:18.019 --> 00:14:22.100 Now, if you've switched off, come back in at this point, 00:14:22.199 --> 00:14:25.120 because you've got to see how the next 10 minutes are panning out, okay? 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:31.899 If you've got the text here, you will notice that the word glory comes at verse 18 and verse 13. 00:14:31.960 --> 00:14:36.519 Now, that's a bookend to the suffering sandwich that's in the middle. 00:14:38.319 --> 00:14:42.539 And the word suffering, I think we need to take it widely. 00:14:42.539 --> 00:14:48.039 I think this is specifically suffering for being a Christian, for following Jesus. 00:14:49.099 --> 00:14:55.259 But I take it as well that it's generally suffering as a Christian because we live in this world. 00:14:55.500 --> 00:15:02.159 What Paul's trying to convince us is that it is worth persevering and trusting God through it all 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:08.199 because what it will ultimately lead to is that which is incomparable. 00:15:08.200 --> 00:15:14.259 Now, you make a statement like that, and you've got to be able to back it up, yeah? 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:18.460 What will be revealed to us? 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:25.220 What is the freedom that creation, our bodies, are both longing for? 00:15:26.500 --> 00:15:31.680 This is Paul talking about the new heavens and the new earth. 00:15:32.840 --> 00:15:35.040 And this is what Christians believe. 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:41.379 And this really is something that is pretty unique to Christianity. 00:15:42.379 --> 00:15:49.000 We are body and soul human beings, both precious and created by God. 00:15:49.439 --> 00:15:53.219 But when we die, our bodies go to be in the earth. 00:15:54.059 --> 00:16:00.000 But if our trust is in Jesus, our soul goes to be with him in heaven, if you like. 00:16:00.059 --> 00:16:01.819 That's what it is to be united to him. 00:16:01.820 --> 00:16:03.080 We are there with him. 00:16:03.240 --> 00:16:05.160 Our bodies are in the ground. 00:16:05.460 --> 00:16:08.460 Friends, in heaven there is not a harp in sight, as far as I can tell. 00:16:09.180 --> 00:16:11.020 We are with the one that we love. 00:16:12.520 --> 00:16:17.920 But Jesus, who is now in his resurrection body, in heaven with God, 00:16:18.340 --> 00:16:22.920 is going to one day return and usher in the new heavens and the new earth. 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:25.379 In other words, heaven is not the final game. 00:16:25.980 --> 00:16:27.740 It's not the final resting point. 00:16:27.740 --> 00:16:33.940 When Jesus returns, those who have rejected him will be punished. 00:16:34.820 --> 00:16:36.299 Evil will be banished. 00:16:36.659 --> 00:16:42.000 And our bodies and souls will be united together again, except it won't be the same. 00:16:42.419 --> 00:16:45.740 We will have our new resurrection bodies that are based on Jesus'. 00:16:46.340 --> 00:16:47.960 Lots to take in. 00:16:49.100 --> 00:16:50.180 But that is wonderful. 00:16:51.779 --> 00:16:56.799 Body, soul reunited in our resurrection bodies. 00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:01.299 Now what that means is that when Jesus walked out of the tomb that first Easter Sunday, 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:07.079 once crucified, now alive, he was doing more than just pulling off a neat stun. 00:17:07.980 --> 00:17:11.000 He is not some kind of divine David Blaine. 00:17:11.339 --> 00:17:15.960 What he does in that moment is he brings in the dawn of a new age. 00:17:15.960 --> 00:17:28.319 It's almost as if when he walks out that tomb, he throws a rope back in and says to all of creation and all of those down the generations who will trust in him, 00:17:28.460 --> 00:17:35.160 grab on because when I return, one day I'm pulling you and I'm pulling all of creation out with me. 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:37.880 Grab hold. 00:17:37.880 --> 00:17:45.980 So what this is telling is in the new heavens and the new earth is that one day courtrooms will be empty. 00:17:47.840 --> 00:17:50.140 And one day police will be redundant. 00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:54.760 And one day the Royal Ed will be surplus to requirements. 00:17:54.759 --> 00:17:59.900 And one day funeral directors will be out of business. 00:18:01.099 --> 00:18:06.379 If you're a doctor here today, if you're in the medical business, you will be out of a job. 00:18:08.059 --> 00:18:13.539 The redemption of our bodies means that even though it might not be in this life, 00:18:13.779 --> 00:18:18.920 one day, one day, you will be fully and finally healed. 00:18:18.920 --> 00:18:25.140 I always think Disney does this best. 00:18:27.600 --> 00:18:30.380 In the Beauty and the Beast. 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:34.019 Have you ever watched that? 00:18:34.220 --> 00:18:39.440 The Beast, the castle in which he lives and everyone in the castle, Chip, Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, all of them, 00:18:39.500 --> 00:18:43.700 they're under this curse and they sing this song, don't they? 00:18:43.700 --> 00:18:45.039 We'll be human again. 00:18:45.500 --> 00:18:46.680 We'll be human again. 00:18:47.420 --> 00:18:50.900 We'll be, I even wrote it down, knickknacks and whatnots no more. 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:56.319 There's this longing, isn't there, that the day is going to come where the curse is going to be lifted. 00:18:57.420 --> 00:18:59.759 And they watch the rose, don't they? 00:18:59.840 --> 00:19:03.259 This countdown that they need true love's kiss to come. 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:06.620 And it comes and in an instant, everything is transformed. 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:12.340 And you get that scene in Beauty and the Beast where everything goes from black and white to 3D color. 00:19:12.339 --> 00:19:16.379 It's the same, but it's not the same. 00:19:16.459 --> 00:19:18.819 It's the same, but it's totally different. 00:19:18.959 --> 00:19:24.059 It's totally beautiful in a way that the former thing just wasn't the case. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:30.899 And perhaps that's how we should understand that line Paul says there at verse 28. 00:19:32.879 --> 00:19:36.899 That all things God is working together for the good of those who love him. 00:19:36.899 --> 00:19:42.019 Now that is one of the most misunderstood and abused verses in the Bible. 00:19:42.339 --> 00:19:50.099 I think one of the problems is that our Western brains are conditioned to think good as meaning comfortable. 00:19:51.859 --> 00:19:56.199 We instinctively, we think short term with this promise. 00:19:56.339 --> 00:19:58.139 We think short term with most things. 00:19:58.140 --> 00:20:06.100 But it seems to me in our lives that God is way more concerned about our character than he is our comfort. 00:20:07.860 --> 00:20:19.140 So it is absolutely true that the God who loves us and who is for us in Christ is so committed to us that he will use every single circumstance, 00:20:19.140 --> 00:20:25.920 whether good or bad, to form us more into the image of Jesus because he loves us. 00:20:26.020 --> 00:20:27.380 That's absolutely true. 00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:35.800 And how many of us can testify that God, through our lives, did the most profound work in our hearts, 00:20:36.200 --> 00:20:42.040 not despite, but through the darkest periods of our lives. 00:20:42.039 --> 00:20:48.079 And yet we need to see that verse 28 here is holding hands with verse 29. 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:52.460 And the image of his son language there that Paul uses, 00:20:52.859 --> 00:20:56.819 I think is much more likely a reference to the fact that our bodies one day 00:20:56.819 --> 00:21:00.960 will be in the image of Jesus' resurrection body. 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:05.920 So if that is the good that God is working all things towards, 00:21:06.440 --> 00:21:07.960 those who love him, 00:21:08.500 --> 00:21:13.740 then he invites us today to take his loving hand and play the long game with his promise. 00:21:14.900 --> 00:21:19.000 And that's why we can wait for it with patience. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:24.759 And this is what God has done. 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:28.480 He has chosen us in eternity past. 00:21:28.579 --> 00:21:29.299 Get your head around that. 00:21:29.299 --> 00:21:35.319 It's why at a moment in time he called us to himself as we responded to Jesus, 00:21:35.460 --> 00:21:37.379 which are always two sides of the same coin. 00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:43.839 But if you look at the very last words of our verses this morning, 00:21:44.779 --> 00:21:48.639 you'd almost expect the phrase there to say, 00:21:48.700 --> 00:21:50.399 if this is about what's ahead, 00:21:50.599 --> 00:21:52.119 you'd almost expect him to say, 00:21:52.659 --> 00:21:54.639 those he will glorify. 00:21:55.259 --> 00:21:55.399 Right? 00:21:55.460 --> 00:21:58.039 It's how we'd kind of put it in English if I was writing this. 00:21:59.299 --> 00:22:01.000 But that's not the word, is it? 00:22:02.879 --> 00:22:03.799 He says, 00:22:04.579 --> 00:22:07.159 those who he has glorified. 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:09.019 Now, can I get my Greek geek on for a minute? 00:22:09.980 --> 00:22:10.200 Yeah? 00:22:10.579 --> 00:22:10.960 Permission? 00:22:12.419 --> 00:22:15.159 The tense in Greek there is the one that you would use 00:22:15.159 --> 00:22:18.599 when you're trying to describe the idea of something being a finished deal. 00:22:20.440 --> 00:22:20.839 Right? 00:22:20.839 --> 00:22:21.819 It's not up for discussion. 00:22:23.139 --> 00:22:23.279 Right? 00:22:23.299 --> 00:22:24.459 It's not up for negotiation. 00:22:25.139 --> 00:22:26.059 It's a done deal. 00:22:27.579 --> 00:22:29.019 So that's what he says, isn't it? 00:22:29.539 --> 00:22:30.740 He has glorified. 00:22:31.779 --> 00:22:33.099 So this is a done thing. 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:35.519 The God who chose us in eternity past, 00:22:35.599 --> 00:22:36.980 the God who called us to himself, 00:22:37.099 --> 00:22:38.220 the God who justified us, 00:22:38.459 --> 00:22:40.819 is the God who's already got us home in a sense. 00:22:40.819 --> 00:22:43.799 That's how committed he is to his people. 00:22:45.460 --> 00:22:47.720 And what he's saying is that as hard as it gets here, 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:49.319 as brutal as life feels, 00:22:49.740 --> 00:22:52.639 that future is absolutely guaranteed for you 00:22:52.639 --> 00:22:53.720 if your trust is in Jesus. 00:22:54.019 --> 00:22:54.419 Guaranteed. 00:22:56.799 --> 00:22:58.659 Do you know why where we live in Libertin, 00:22:59.639 --> 00:23:02.039 right opposite our house is a big graveyard 00:23:02.039 --> 00:23:04.019 attached to Libertin Kirk? 00:23:04.359 --> 00:23:04.500 Right? 00:23:04.599 --> 00:23:05.179 During lockdown, 00:23:05.180 --> 00:23:08.539 I was quite literally on the graveyard shift with the kids. 00:23:08.660 --> 00:23:10.500 We went to the graveyard every day with our hour outside 00:23:10.500 --> 00:23:11.039 and we learned, 00:23:11.560 --> 00:23:13.840 Chloe learned to cycle or bike around this graveyard. 00:23:13.980 --> 00:23:15.840 So I've got to know this graveyard pretty well. 00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:18.080 But it's always struck me as a weird thing 00:23:18.080 --> 00:23:20.560 and I don't know if this is where else in the world 00:23:20.560 --> 00:23:21.200 that they do this, 00:23:21.560 --> 00:23:23.080 but churches have graveyards. 00:23:23.180 --> 00:23:24.220 So many of them attach them. 00:23:24.259 --> 00:23:25.320 You ever wondered why that is? 00:23:27.360 --> 00:23:30.320 It was the church's way in years gone past 00:23:30.320 --> 00:23:33.200 of kind of saying we're not, 00:23:33.600 --> 00:23:33.900 we don't, 00:23:33.900 --> 00:23:35.500 we see death differently. 00:23:35.700 --> 00:23:38.259 This is not about us disposing of bodies. 00:23:39.700 --> 00:23:40.100 Actually, 00:23:40.220 --> 00:23:42.580 what we're doing here is we're investing people's bodies 00:23:42.580 --> 00:23:43.860 into the ground 00:23:43.860 --> 00:23:46.740 in anticipation of Jesus returning. 00:23:48.040 --> 00:23:48.920 And on that day, 00:23:48.980 --> 00:23:50.780 these bodies will be like a bag of popcorn 00:23:50.780 --> 00:23:51.880 when you put it in the microwave. 00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:53.640 Yeah? 00:23:54.060 --> 00:23:56.000 Always that wonderful thing when you do popcorn, 00:23:56.100 --> 00:23:56.980 the first one goes. 00:23:57.840 --> 00:23:59.400 The first one that's gone is Jesus. 00:24:00.980 --> 00:24:01.380 Same? 00:24:01.600 --> 00:24:02.080 Not the same. 00:24:02.360 --> 00:24:02.519 Yeah? 00:24:02.519 --> 00:24:04.200 The first one that's gone is Jesus. 00:24:04.440 --> 00:24:06.000 What the churches are saying when they do that 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:07.920 is one day all of these things are going to pop. 00:24:10.200 --> 00:24:11.240 Those who trust in him, 00:24:11.379 --> 00:24:12.119 those who love him, 00:24:12.180 --> 00:24:12.980 he's going to come back 00:24:12.980 --> 00:24:15.319 and the whole thing is going to pop. 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:18.480 Here's a question. 00:24:18.539 --> 00:24:19.779 What's going to transform Rome? 00:24:20.779 --> 00:24:21.940 Rent to Roman Christians, right? 00:24:21.980 --> 00:24:23.160 What's going to transform Rome? 00:24:23.160 --> 00:24:26.480 What's going to keep Christian believers going there 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:28.560 when their neighbors think that they're a cult? 00:24:29.120 --> 00:24:31.540 When your pals are being thrown to the lions? 00:24:32.800 --> 00:24:34.060 What's going to keep you going? 00:24:34.059 --> 00:24:36.559 I take it as this thought, 00:24:36.639 --> 00:24:37.700 and we'll see this next week, 00:24:37.740 --> 00:24:39.179 not to steal JT's thunder, 00:24:40.339 --> 00:24:42.119 that nothing's going to separate you from him 00:24:42.119 --> 00:24:43.099 and his love for you. 00:24:45.119 --> 00:24:47.000 Because when a city looks at a church 00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:47.759 and says, 00:24:47.859 --> 00:24:49.960 despite all the reasons to the contrary, 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:52.440 what are they so hopey about? 00:24:52.440 --> 00:24:56.380 Let me just finish by telling you, 00:24:56.460 --> 00:24:56.920 where is it? 00:24:57.759 --> 00:24:59.059 If you wondered what this is, 00:24:59.940 --> 00:25:01.759 about an old, scratched, 00:25:02.200 --> 00:25:04.259 barely still going Casio watch 00:25:04.259 --> 00:25:05.640 that sits in my office at home. 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:10.259 It was given to me by a boy 00:25:10.259 --> 00:25:13.360 who was in the church that we went to in Louisville 00:25:13.360 --> 00:25:15.059 when we were over in Kentucky 00:25:15.059 --> 00:25:16.980 a few years ago in sabbatical in America. 00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:18.580 His name was Jack. 00:25:18.700 --> 00:25:20.000 Jack's one of five children 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:22.259 to two incredible parents. 00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:23.480 Jack is a twin. 00:25:24.700 --> 00:25:27.640 And though Jack's brother is fit and healthy, 00:25:27.880 --> 00:25:31.519 Jack, the muscles in his body 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:32.759 haven't quite developed. 00:25:33.360 --> 00:25:35.320 And he has great difficulty walking. 00:25:36.360 --> 00:25:39.420 And Jack uses a specially designed walking frame 00:25:39.420 --> 00:25:40.180 to get about. 00:25:41.019 --> 00:25:43.360 And despite many tests over the course of his life, 00:25:43.460 --> 00:25:45.059 they just cannot figure out 00:25:45.059 --> 00:25:46.960 why it's happened to him. 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:50.080 But a happier boy you will not meet. 00:25:50.220 --> 00:25:51.059 And he runs up to me 00:25:51.059 --> 00:25:52.279 on the last Sunday that we were there. 00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:56.900 And he gives me his watch and he says, 00:25:57.039 --> 00:25:58.460 I want you to remember me. 00:25:59.160 --> 00:26:00.799 I said, buddy, how could I forget you? 00:26:01.160 --> 00:26:02.200 How could I forget you? 00:26:02.380 --> 00:26:03.059 Gives me his watch. 00:26:03.140 --> 00:26:04.400 I just want you to remember me. 00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:06.100 And so this watch, 00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:08.720 two and a half years later, 00:26:08.840 --> 00:26:11.480 it sits on my, 00:26:12.019 --> 00:26:13.640 just at the front of my desk in my office. 00:26:13.640 --> 00:26:15.100 And every single week I look at it 00:26:15.100 --> 00:26:16.000 when I'm preparing the sermon. 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:17.059 And it grounds me. 00:26:17.740 --> 00:26:18.940 It sobers me. 00:26:19.460 --> 00:26:20.660 It stills me. 00:26:20.660 --> 00:26:22.040 And it reminds me. 00:26:23.040 --> 00:26:24.360 That because of Jesus, 00:26:25.120 --> 00:26:27.779 this is not where the story ends for Jack. 00:26:28.740 --> 00:26:29.059 And it's, 00:26:29.059 --> 00:26:35.220 it's not the end of the story for me. 00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:38.720 It's not the end of the story 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:39.960 if you're a believer in Jesus. 00:26:40.839 --> 00:26:42.119 And I knew there was no chance 00:26:42.119 --> 00:26:43.279 I was getting to that without crying. 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:46.079 It's not the end of the story. 00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:50.539 So do you hear God singing to you 00:26:50.539 --> 00:26:52.240 the dawn chorus? 00:26:52.359 --> 00:26:54.079 If you are that bird this morning 00:26:54.079 --> 00:26:56.460 who needs to hear him singing, 00:26:56.919 --> 00:26:58.759 you hear him singing to you. 00:26:58.839 --> 00:26:59.839 If you're scared, 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:00.899 if you're worried, 00:27:01.799 --> 00:27:02.879 if you are cold, 00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:05.839 if you're worrying about facing another day, 00:27:06.399 --> 00:27:07.980 and is it worth it? 00:27:08.879 --> 00:27:11.539 Hear him singing to you in these verses 00:27:11.539 --> 00:27:12.740 that there's a day coming 00:27:12.740 --> 00:27:15.559 where the sun will rise on the new day. 00:27:16.779 --> 00:27:19.439 A new day in a renewed earth 00:27:19.439 --> 00:27:21.960 where you will have a renewed body 00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:24.000 that's based on Jesus's. 00:27:24.639 --> 00:27:27.559 But what makes it even more glorious than that 00:27:27.559 --> 00:27:30.980 is that the Jesus that we have longed for 00:27:30.980 --> 00:27:33.939 our whole lives is there. 00:27:34.939 --> 00:27:36.919 And so Paul says 00:27:36.919 --> 00:27:39.379 that you can wait with that. 00:27:39.559 --> 00:27:42.339 We wait for it with patience. 00:27:43.299 --> 00:27:44.059 Why don't we pray? 00:27:44.059 --> 00:27:47.919 And then we'll close our time together. 00:27:47.920 --> 00:28:02.440 And so Father, 00:28:02.519 --> 00:28:03.800 I just pray particularly this morning 00:28:03.800 --> 00:28:05.300 for those who are struggling, 00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:07.279 for those who really are feeling 00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:08.980 the sharp end of the groan. 00:28:10.840 --> 00:28:11.060 And Lord, 00:28:11.080 --> 00:28:12.300 we thank you for 00:28:12.300 --> 00:28:15.340 portions of your word like this one, 00:28:15.339 --> 00:28:18.119 that we would just not believe are true 00:28:18.119 --> 00:28:19.919 unless you tell us. 00:28:20.859 --> 00:28:21.079 Lord, 00:28:21.139 --> 00:28:22.879 help us to not place our logic 00:28:22.879 --> 00:28:23.959 on how this works 00:28:23.959 --> 00:28:25.980 primarily, 00:28:26.259 --> 00:28:27.980 but help us hear your voice 00:28:27.980 --> 00:28:28.759 as our Father 00:28:28.759 --> 00:28:29.559 who tells us 00:28:29.559 --> 00:28:30.599 how it works. 00:28:32.039 --> 00:28:32.299 And Father, 00:28:32.339 --> 00:28:33.639 we just particularly pray as well 00:28:33.639 --> 00:28:35.079 for those who are struggling this morning. 00:28:35.159 --> 00:28:35.779 We thought about them 00:28:35.779 --> 00:28:36.740 in our corporate prayer, 00:28:36.859 --> 00:28:38.599 but we do lift them to you again. 00:28:39.559 --> 00:28:39.699 Father, 00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:40.559 maybe those who are well, 00:28:40.599 --> 00:28:41.159 who are suffering 00:28:41.160 --> 00:28:42.320 and we know about it, 00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:43.940 many who are suffering in this room 00:28:43.940 --> 00:28:45.580 and we don't know about it. 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:46.480 Lord, 00:28:46.540 --> 00:28:48.259 help us to be the kind of community 00:28:48.259 --> 00:28:49.680 that groans together. 00:28:50.779 --> 00:28:51.920 And help us to be 00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:53.140 the kind of church community 00:28:53.140 --> 00:28:55.120 that enters into this dawn chorus 00:28:55.119 --> 00:28:57.759 and does sing to each other 00:28:57.759 --> 00:28:59.619 about a new day that's coming, 00:29:00.239 --> 00:29:01.619 that we're longing for, 00:29:01.699 --> 00:29:02.679 that we're groaning for. 00:29:02.819 --> 00:29:03.039 Father, 00:29:03.139 --> 00:29:03.879 thank you 00:29:03.879 --> 00:29:05.599 that because of the death 00:29:05.599 --> 00:29:07.299 and the resurrection of Jesus, 00:29:08.159 --> 00:29:10.079 that this is our future. 00:29:10.979 --> 00:29:11.579 So Lord, 00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:12.899 just thank you for this morning. 00:29:13.459 --> 00:29:14.719 We pray that your spirit 00:29:14.719 --> 00:29:15.539 would be at work 00:29:15.539 --> 00:29:17.179 in our conversations, 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:18.119 in our laughter, 00:29:18.459 --> 00:29:19.179 in our praying, 00:29:19.299 --> 00:29:20.259 in our crying together 00:29:20.259 --> 00:29:21.919 as we finish this morning. 00:29:22.039 --> 00:29:22.199 Father, 00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:23.500 thank you for your love for us 00:29:23.500 --> 00:29:25.960 and we pray in Jesus' wonderful name. 00:29:26.500 --> 00:29:26.839 Amen. 00:29:27.660 --> 00:29:27.940 Amen.