So we're reading from verse 16, just to give a bit of context.
So Romans chapter 8, verse 16.
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
For in this hope we were saved.
Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.
For those who are called according to his purpose.
For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,
in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
And those whom he predestined, he also called.
And those whom he called, he also justified.
And those whom he justified, he also glorified.
Well, will you pray with me as we come to God's Word?
Let's pray together.
Lord, your Word to us today is weighty.
It carries all cancer and wars and the death of children.
Lord, it's weighty.
It is profoundly soaked in your sovereign will in all things.
Not just in the good things.
Lord, its scope is all of history, even before history and into forever.
And incredibly, tying it all together is your purpose to give undeserving sinners an eternal weight of glory in your Son.
Lord, I am not sufficient for teaching this.
We are not sufficient for hearing and understanding and believing.
And so my prayer is that you would help us humble ourselves before your Word.
To take off our shoes as we stand on holy ground.
To prostrate our assumptions and thinking before you.
I pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, you all know that voluntary assisted dying laws came into effect in New South Wales this week.
I was looking at the New South Wales Health website and as well as having a terminal illness, one of the eligibility criteria reads that the illness must be causing the person suffering.
Cause the person suffering that cannot be relieved in a way they consider tolerable.
Now, I'm not in this situation myself.
But can I suggest that pain and suffering is utterly intolerable if it seems meaningless.
If there's no point to it.
If at the end of the struggle there's no light, there's no freedom at the end.
That makes suffering intolerable.
A girl, Joni, she was 17 years old and in a diving accident she was left paralysed for the rest of her life.
Now, I can't even begin to imagine the daily suffering that brings.
I haven't experienced that.
I get these emails from these email blogs.
I don't know, some people here might be getting them as well from a guy called Tim.
Tim's son Nick died suddenly when he was at university.
And Joni reached out to comfort Tim in his grief.
And Joni didn't know this but 40 years earlier she'd also reached out to Tim's grandma when she lost her daughter.
Now, despite her own suffering, Joni has spent her pain-filled years seeking to comfort people in the love of God.
She likes to say, apparently, that when she reaches the goal of seeing Jesus, she will finally leap to her feet.
Only to fall on her knees in worship.
Hope is the theme of our passage.
You can't live without it.
But with it, you can love people and love God even in deep darkness.
So as we come to God's enormous, enormous promises in Romans 8, can I simply ask you to reflect on yourself.
Do you have this hope?
Not hope that you've created, but this hope.
And if you do, is this hope filling you and directing you in every inch of your life?
We've had some lofty claims so far in Romans 8.
No condemnation whatsoever.
Peace with God.
We're living a transcendent life in the Holy Spirit, if you're a Christian.
The Spirit is living in you.
You don't have to fear God that he'll punish you at all, but we can see him as Father.
Full status as sons and daughters.
Sharing the privileges of Jesus himself.
That's pretty lofty, is it not?
If God didn't say it, that's pretty arrogant to think these things.
If it's not based on grace, it's pretty arrogant to think these things.
Now, instead of suffering causing us to doubt the reality of our adoption,
this passage says,
we can stand firm in the love of God,
knowing we're sharing the same pathway to glory as the Son.
So, in the face of the onslaught of living this broken world,
the remainder of Romans 8 gives us such enormous grounds
to persevere with confidence that we really are loved by God.
As sons and daughters.
So, I've got two pretty simple questions
that I'm not probably going to satisfactorily answer,
but what is our hope?
And how do we know we'll make it?
What is our hope?
How do we know we'll make it?
So, have your Bibles open, verse 19, or 18 to 25.
Verse 24a sums up our status as God's children.
In this hope, we were saved.
Interesting phrase, isn't it?
Saved.
Past tense.
Current.
We're saved in Jesus.
But hope is faith in Jesus in the future tense.
We often talk about, I often preach about,
that we can be satisfied in God's love.
That if we set our eyes on Jesus,
we can have joy and peace and purpose no matter the circumstances.
Now, that's true.
But the Christian experience is awfully incomplete.
Not incomplete as we look around at our neighbours thinking,
I don't have what they have,
but incomplete precisely because we take the promises of God seriously.
We should have a holy discontentment.
I'm not full.
I think to live a meaningful life,
we must have this holy discontentment.
But sharing in Jesus' life means the present suffering
isn't worth comparing to the glory that's coming.
What?
Wow.
That must be a lot of glory.
So what is our hope?
We're told we know,
verse 22, this section,
we know creation is groaning.
So on the 6th of February this year,
7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria,
1.5 million people homeless.
The population bigger than Port Macquarie killed.
Groaning.
This groaning is a weighty groan.
In Sri Lanka,
Sri Lanka topped Lonely Planet's best country to visit in 2019.
2022,
they had that severe famine.
Why does John Hunter Hospital need a children's ward?
So verses 19 to 22,
it pictures all of creation,
not including human beings,
but all of creation.
And one person describes it,
I read this week,
a symphony of sighs.
It's just groaning.
It's longing forward.
It's eagerly longing.
It's straining its neck forward in anticipation.
It's currently in bondage to corruption.
It's been subjected to futility.
In other words,
it can't produce the abundant life that it was made for.
It can't.
It's futile.
It always ends in futility.
It just ends in corruption.
And creation just longs to be free.
Now,
it wasn't Satan that subjected it.
It wasn't Adam.
It must be God in this passage,
because it was subjected,
verse 20,
in hope.
So it must be recalling Genesis 3,
that God cursed creation because of sin.
When sin is removed,
so too the curse on creation will be removed.
I think this is a wonderfully positive picture of the world,
compared to a closed, materialistic...
I've got to be careful.
I'm careful of my words here.
I think this is very hopeful.
It's saying that the present situation is not how it will stay.
So why personify creation like this?
This has kind of been bugging me this week.
Why?
I think it prepares for the analogy in verse 22.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning together
in the pains of childbirth.
So imagine you're in a hospital,
and outside a room,
and you hear cries of agony.
And it's so loud that everyone in the hallway
is just looking in that direction,
just in concern.
And it's piercing.
And nurses are rushing in and out,
and some of them are holding linen that's soaked in blood.
And the alarms are going off.
Doctors are running in, in a hurry.
The person sitting next to you
believes this life is all there is,
believes this world as it is now
is the only one we've got.
They tremble as they say to you,
I think that lady is going to die.
She's going to die.
But from where you're sitting,
you see a glimpse through the door
when the nurse opens,
and you see what's going on.
And you're filled with hope,
and you can turn to your friend and go,
no, no, she's not dying.
Unspeakable joy is coming.
Yes, there's blood.
Yes, there's trauma.
Yes, there's crisis.
But it'll be worth it.
What massive different perspectives on life.
What's creation waiting for?
It's waiting for the revealing
of the sons and daughters of God.
We're waiting for creation to be made new.
Creation's waiting for us.
I just find it staggering
how central God's children are
to his purposes.
Creation is waiting for...
It's even described
the freedom that creation wants
is to share in our freedom.
I'm not sure I've got to the bottom
of what that means
in my preparations this week.
So I invite you to think on that.
That seems profound,
and I don't know what it means.
I've got to be honest with you.
Creation wants to enjoy our freedom
of the children of God.
Perhaps not being under condemnation.
So there's at least one very good implication
for knowing that creation
is in the pains of childbirth.
God is waiting to draw more people
to his son.
He's bringing in all his adopted children.
There's a very good purpose,
and there's a great outcome.
And we who already right now
have the status of adoption
because we've put our hope in Jesus,
we're described we too are groaning.
Now, I don't think this is complaining
at our present circumstances.
This is that future-looking groaning.
It's precisely because we have
the first taste,
the first installment of the Spirit
that we want the whole thing.
It's by the Spirit that we groan.
We want to be in this new physical earth
God has promised.
Yes, there's joy calling God Father, Abba,
but it's not full yet.
We want the redemption
of our sin-infested, weak, corrupted body.
We read Genesis,
and we know the goal is rest.
God being in his creation with his people.
We want that full adoption.
So we're adopted status.
We want the full experience of it.
So we're groaning for that.
So, to whatever degree we're trying to get glory
in this world,
in this creation,
in this life,
in a creation that's groaning to be made new,
and yet we're trying to get glory now,
that can only end in futility.
It's trying to claim now
what has only been promised when Jesus comes back.
If we do that,
really that's just impatience.
It's not trusting God's good purposes
for our present suffering.
But we must groan.
So there's a bad way to groan,
is what I'm trying to get across.
There's a groaning because we want more of this life.
That's ungodly.
But there's a good way to groan,
trusting his promises.
We must groan in this hope of this embodied,
not this airy-fairy spiritual,
there's nothing wrong with the term spiritual,
we just don't understand it,
but embodied glory in the new earth.
How do we know this is coming?
Because God's the creator.
He's going to get the goal for his creation.
How could he not?
Is he going to let sin or Satan or anything defeat him?
He's the creator.
Of course he's going to get the goal.
He would not be God
if he didn't achieve his purposes.
That eternal rest is coming.
And as we look at the Son of God
walking on the earth,
nothing constrained him.
Nothing.
Exactly when his alarm went off,
three days,
he got up,
folded his pyjamas,
and walked out.
He's the first fruits of this full harvest.
He died to redeem all things,
including the creation.
Jesus died to redeem us,
body and soul to God.
So that's our hope.
It's a pretty massive hope.
It's a wonderful hope.
So our second question is,
how do we know we're going to make it?
How do you know you're going to make it?
Now when a Christian,
when a believer dies,
it is a horrible and sad time.
And I think of our church's loss of Margaret and Rose this year.
But it's also an incredible testimony
to the safekeeping grace of God.
They made it.
They've fought the good fight.
They've finished the race.
One year closer to death.
One year closer to glory.
We're given two reasons why we can be sure
we're going to make it home.
And in between these two massive reasons,
we're given enormous comfort
being told what God is doing
with our suffering now.
Now I want us to notice
that as we go through this,
you have no part to play.
You've got no part to play
in what we're about to hear.
Nothing.
If you believe this,
it'll motivate you to enormous action.
But the grounds of actually knowing
you're going to make it,
you've got no part to play.
It's all on God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
So what's going to help us
keep our eager longing
knowing we're going to make it home?
Well, the first thing we're told is
just like knowing our hope
sustains us in our present suffering,
so too the Spirit comes to help us.
We know creation is groaning.
We don't know what to pray for.
I don't know if you've ever experienced
someone genuine in their concern for you
who takes the time to pray for you
and maybe you're unable to pray for yourself
because of what you're going through
and their words are just,
they capture your heart's longing.
Yes, the pain,
but also your longing to trust God
in this situation
and they're sincere
and they care about you
and it's like you're in the presence of God
as they pray for you
and they have insights into God's word
that just seems to connect
to your current experience.
They draw you into the comfort
of God's person and his promises
and when they say amen,
you're just like,
to describe it,
I think it's just,
you know you're not alone.
It's like their prayer brought you
into the very presence of God.
It's a wonderful blessing
to pray for one another.
Now imagine having that all the time
and these verses say we do.
We do.
Not just in other believers praying for us
but the Spirit interceding for us,
praying for us.
The promise in verse 26 and 27
is that the Holy Spirit in our hearts
is always interceding on our behalf.
The love of the Spirit for the Father's will,
always praying in line with what God wills
and the Father's love for the Spirit
always effectually answering
the Spirit's intercession
because Father and Spirit
are working towards the same thing
so that we will be conformed
to be like Jesus, like the Son.
Now we imagine prayer
as entering the throne room of heaven
and rightly so.
Like we've got those pictures in scripture
and Christ gives us full access
into the throne room of heaven.
The picture here
is that it's going on inside our hearts.
That's incredible.
The Father is answering the prayers
of the Spirit in our hearts.
Now I don't think
we should take this promise as meaning
that if you have a gut feeling
that God is telling you something
that he's saying anything to you,
your intuition can be dead wrong.
This is not the promise here.
And I don't think we should take this
as speaking in tongues.
That spiritual gift
is for some Christians.
This promise is for all Christians
all the time.
In fact,
this groaning of the Spirit
is too deep for words.
We wouldn't know this is going on
unless God told us.
I'm tempted to think
that God is fed up with my weakness.
When I'm not motivated to pray,
when my prayer is about
often getting things from God,
not God himself,
when I'm trying to seek God's will
but life's just too complex,
I don't know what
I'm praying about.
Like, is God fed up with our weakness?
No, he's not.
The Spirit is helping us
in our weakness
and interceding on our behalf.
Christ is interceding in heaven,
which we're going to come to next week.
The Spirit's interceding in our hearts.
Wow.
That's a pretty good ground of confidence
we're going to make it.
The Spirit's praying
and the Father's answering
the Spirit's prayers.
Even though we're weak.
It's a great grounds to pray.
That it's the Spirit prompting us to pray.
When my prayers are just mixed motives,
I can trust that the Spirit
is sanctifying my prayers.
It's kind of getting,
just getting rid of all the self-centered
side of it,
which is probably 95%.
And we can trust
that he's actually directing
to God's will.
You can even believe
he's praying
when I don't want to pray.
Or I can't pray
because I'm just too
in pain.
So how do we know
we're going to make it?
Because the Spirit
is interceding to the Father
on our behalf.
And the second reason
is because we know
we know God's promise.
We know creation
is groaning.
We don't know what to pray for.
The Spirit's praying for us.
But we know
that for those who love God,
all things work together
for good.
I challenge you
to add anything
to that phrase
to make it better.
all things
work together
for good.
Whoa.
Okay, what is the good?
Now,
I don't know.
Do you have
sufficient awareness
of yourself
and insight
into other people?
Do you have
sufficient wisdom
and knowledge
to know the complexities
of life
and the eternal
purposes of God
and the wisdom
to know how that
fits all together,
the timing,
the manner,
the outcomes
for everyone involved,
that you can even
look at a simple
situation and go,
I know exactly
what good.
I'm not sure
I can claim that.
at the start
of a family holiday
at my parents'
house,
as a thank you
for having free
accommodation,
I mowed their
lawns
and at the end
of mowing them,
just before I was
finished,
I hit an
irrigation pipe
and I created
a water feature
for my parents,
which,
just as a thank you,
now moments
like that
are humbling
because it's
something I felt
so confident
in
and yet
I didn't have
enough insight
to see that
irrigation pipe.
It just challenges
my ability
to control
the world,
those little
moments.
Now,
how much
deeper
the things
of relationships
and my own
character development
and God's
church?
Do we really
know good?
Now,
I don't think
this wisdom,
this lack of wisdom
should be
paralysing
because we
can trust
this promise.
lean not
on your own
understanding,
submit to God's
word and we
learn,
chapter 12
tells us,
learn what
pleases God.
We're urged
in scripture,
use the agency
God's given
you,
make a decision.
Yes,
it's chaos,
you don't know
what you're
doing,
but make a
decision,
trusting me
to sort out
your mess,
and even
use you
for good.
It's because
of this
promise that
we can
seek to
please God,
knowing that
he will use
it for good,
even when
we don't
actually intend
it for good.
So we don't
know the exact
good,
but we are
told the
overarching
meaning of
good,
what everything
is working
for.
God is
committed to
giving his
sons and
daughters the
full experience
of being
his child.
Thinking like
Jesus,
valuing what
he values,
rejecting what
he rejects,
loving like
Jesus does.
Life,
in other words.
when I first
bought my
Subaru Forester
back in 2012,
it was parked
out on the
street,
and while I was
inside the
house,
I was watching
TV,
I can't remember
what I was
watching,
it doesn't
really matter
for the story,
but I heard a
smash outside,
and I jumped
up,
I jumped on
the seat,
I pulled
open the
curtains to
look at my
new car,
it wasn't
my car.
I sat
down,
and instead
of relief,
I was then
convicted,
it's like,
why do I
care so much
about my
car?
And then I
prayed,
I prayed,
God help me
to love you
more than
this car.
It was
something along,
I can't remember
the exact words,
something about
that.
Now I was
about to go to
bed that night,
and I heard
another smash.
And someone's
vandalised my
mirror.
And I
could smile
because I
saw it as
God answering
my prayer.
And like
$400 later,
it was
something ridiculous
for a mirror,
like $400
later,
an inconvenient,
I don't know,
it took a day,
a Saturday,
a morning to
go get it
fixed,
and my
flatmate was
with me,
he's just
like,
why are
you angry?
Like,
someone's
vandalised,
it's costing
you this
money,
it's,
and I
told him
what I'm
telling you,
I see it
as an
answer of
prayer.
God
giving me
himself
rather than
the things.
Now,
I wish I
had that
kind of
trust more
often.
I could
tell you
a hundred
stories where
I didn't
trust.
But in
that moment,
something
deeply
satisfying in
my soul
was going
on,
because I
was valuing
God more
than the
things I
could get
from God,
and in
doing so,
in trusting
him,
even when
he smashes
the things
I love,
I was,
my friend
could see,
I didn't
have to
blurt out
the gospel,
he asked
me,
why aren't
you angry?
I was
reflecting the
character of
Jesus because
I was trusting.
Now,
I know I
don't do
it as,
I hate
being the
hero of
the story,
but I
just want
to say,
it was so
satisfying,
that moment,
because I
think it's
what we're
created for,
to know
God for
his own
sake,
and by
doing so,
we learn to
reflect his
character.
That's what
sonship is,
what being a
child is,
is to
enjoy the
father,
reflect his
character,
and we're
told that
everything is
working together
so that we
would have
that joy
forever,
and full.
So this
brings us to
what all
things is,
the good
is being
conformed to
the image
of Jesus,
what is
all things?
Now,
the damage
to a car,
that is
nothing compared
to,
that is
absolutely
nothing compared
to,
I don't have
to tell you
that,
the other
sufferings in
life.
The problem
with the
health,
wealth,
and prosperity
gospel,
if we have
enough faith,
isn't that
God hasn't
promised these
things,
he has,
it's the
timing,
it's not
now,
it's not
yet,
we will
have
unimaginable
wealth,
and health,
and prosperity,
when we share
in Jesus'
inheritance,
it's just,
it's the
cross now,
that's the
problem with
that gospel.
A man
named John
Owen,
whose teachings
we probably
all rely on,
we just
don't know
it,
because he's
influenced so
many Bible
teachers,
now he
wrote a
book called
Communion
with God,
and in
this book
he describes
how a
Christian can
commune with
the three
persons of
the Godhead,
we can relate
to and
enjoy God
the Father,
the love
of the
Father,
and the
grace of
the Son,
and the
comfort of
the Holy
Spirit.
Now if
you think
those terms
are wishy-washy,
John Owen
would outdo
I think anyone
in this room,
these are
solid truths
he's talking
about,
but the
depth of
knowing God
wasn't just
born out of
study for
God's Word,
it was,
but it was
also born out
of suffering.
John married
Mary,
and they
had 11
children,
10 died
in infancy.
The
daughter who
made it to
adulthood died
of tuberculosis.
Jesus,
when this
promise says
all things,
it means
all things.
so who is
this promise
for?
We're given
two answers,
one is looking
at a human
level,
what we can
see,
the other
at a heavenly
level,
only what we
can accept
by faith.
So I'm
going to
start with
the heavenly
level,
heavenly
perspective.
In my
second year
of my
teaching
degree,
it was
in the
first semester
of second
year,
we did a
four-week
prac,
and after
that prac,
I think
it was about
40 of my
peers dropped
out,
once they
actually
experienced
teaching.
They
didn't
turn up
the next
semester.
Where's
this person?
Now,
from God's
eternal
perspective,
there's
no drop
outs,
none.
Each state
of the
process of
salvation,
from
eternity
past,
the
Father
foreknew,
you.
Now,
to
foreknow
does not
mean he
looked into
the future
and he
saw who
would respond
in faith
and then
go,
okay,
I choose
you.
No,
foreknow in
the Bible
is a very
intimate
term.
It's
used
even as
a man
knowing
his wife.
For God
to foreknow
is that he
freely chose
to set his
love on
you in
eternity
past.
I'm
going to
love
you.
before
you'd
done
anything
good
or
bad,
before
the
world
even
existed,
he
selected
to
love
you.
There's
no
drop
outs.
From
those
who he
foreknew
to love,
he
predestined
to be
conformed
to the
image
of his
son
and
will
be
glorified.
Verse
30 is
this
golden
chain
of
salvation.
There's
no
weak
link.
We're
as good
as glorified
because God
knows the
end from
the beginning.
There's
no
drop
outs.
If
you
look to
the
death
of
Jesus
as
your
only
possible
way
of
being
at
peace
with
God,
even
if you
don't
feel
terribly
hopeful,
if
you
want
this
salvation,
then you
can know
that this
promise is
for you.
It's
speaking
about
you.
You
may not
feel it,
but if
you want
it,
it's
for you.
There's
no
drop
outs.
Now,
if you're
stumbling
over the
justice
of God
in this,
that he
selects
some to
love
and not
others,
can I
urge you,
don't
think of
people as
morally
neutral.
If you
want
justice,
then we
all should
be consigned
to hell.
Give
me
mercy,
please.
I
don't
think this
insight is
given to
solve all
our
philosophical
questions.
Like,
I can't
even mow
the lawn
without
hitting an
irrigation
pipe.
How am
I going
to work
out?
How God's
sovereignty
relates to
my free
choosing.
Good luck.
I don't
think this
is given
to solve
our
philosophical
questions.
Look into
those things.
I think
there are
some answers
that God
gives us,
but not
total answers.
It's given
to us for
us to
build our
life on.
To know
that people's
love is
fickle,
God's
love is
literally
eternal.
God's
love is
because it
springs out
of himself.
In the
end,
he's not
responding
to you.
It sprang
out of
himself
before you
existed.
That's how
deep the
ground is
of his
love for
you.
You can't
mess it
up.
believing
this.
It's a
wonderful
insight
into
salvation
because if
we believe
this,
nothing can
shake you.
Nothing.
It's such a
deep
foundation.
I like the
illustration.
I'm
stealing this
from someone.
I don't know
who it is,
but if you
picture a
large cross
so big
that there's
a door,
on the one
side of the
cross is a
sign above it
saying whoever,
whoever may
come in.
Scripture says
it, whoever,
come, come
in.
But those who
come in, once
they go through,
they look back at
that door and
there's another
sign on the
other side,
which Scripture
says chosen for
the foundation of
the world.
You're not to
work out whether
you're chosen or
not before you
come.
Come.
But once you
come, wow,
there's a
wonderful assurance
of God's love.
So this
promise is
yours if
you've
tasted
the hope
and the
peace that
comes only
through the
death of
Jesus.
it's for
those who
are called.
Called means
summoned.
It's not
called as in
just open
invitation, it's
called as in
Lazarus, come
out.
It's the very
call that
creates the
life and
creates hearing
with faith.
It's an
effectual
call, the
command to
come to
Jesus.
We come
because he
set his
love on us
before the
world began
and he
calls us.
Those who
are called
will have
faith in
Jesus.
We are
justified
and we're
as good as
glorified.
We can't
stuff it up,
there's no
dropouts.
We can't
stuff it up,
there's no
dropouts.
I want
to say
one more
thing on
this point
and let's
not think
of this
golden chain
of salvation
as this
mechanical
process.
Once you're
on the
conveyor belt
it just
occurs.
It's all,
it's all
in Jesus,
it's all
received in
Jesus,
personal
connection to
Jesus.
I really
love how
a Scottish
teacher,
Sinclair
Ferguson,
he helps
us feel the
wonder of
this,
so I'm
going to
quote him.
Our
union with
Christ,
which we
experience
through faith,
is not
first of all
grounded on
my faith.
Our
faith
falters,
but that
doesn't mean
our union
with Christ
falters,
because our
union with
Christ is
grounded in
God's
eternal
purpose,
to think
that before
the foundation
of the
world,
that whenever
he saw
the coming
work of
the Lord
Jesus
Christ,
he would
never think
of Jesus
Christ without
thinking of
me.
And that
he would
never think
of me
without
thinking that
one belongs
to my
son,
Jesus
Christ.
We receive
it all in
Jesus.
on the
human side,
what we
see,
those who
are called,
what we
see is
those who
love
God.
Now the
context here
is about
believing we
are children
loved by the
Father,
not after,
but even
while we're
suffering.
Later,
as we'll see
next week,
it talks
about
tribulation,
distress,
persecution,
famine,
nakedness,
danger,
sword,
we're like
sheep to
be slaughtered.
And those
love God.
It's like
John Owen,
who can
look at
God giving
his own
son to
give us
this hope
of glory,
and I'm
going to
quote a
song here,
and can
sing,
though you
slay me,
yet I
will praise
you.
Though you
take from
me,
I will
bless your
name.
Though you
ruin me,
still I
will worship,
sing a song
to the one
who's all I
need.
With my
eyes,
I'll see
the Lord
lifted high
on that
day.
Behold,
the land
that was
slain,
and I'll
know every
tear was
worth it
all.
It's for
those who
love God
because he
so loved
us.
Trusting
that not a
drop of
our pain
will be
pointless.
It's all
preparing us
for this
weight of
glory,
the full
experience of
sharing in the
life of
Jesus,
in the
new
creation.
Brothers and
sisters,
in this
hope we
were saved.
And if we
patiently,
eagerly wait
for this
hope,
that's when
we will show
that Jesus
is better
than life.
he's more
precious than
what this
creation that's
groaning and
is futile can
give.
That's when
we honour
him,
when we
eagerly
await the
full experience
of being sons
and daughters,
and we know
we're going to
make it.
to quote
another song
we all
know,
through many
dangers,
toils,
and snares,
I have
already come.
Tis grace
that's brought
me safe
thus far,
and grace
will bring
me home.
Will you
pray with me?
Let's pray.
Amen.
Father,
even this
hope is a
gift.
Forgive us
for our
commitment
to this
futile,
broken,
groaning
world that
makes us
not see the
beauty of
this hope
that you've
purchased for
us with
the blood
of your
Son.
Lord,
I pray
that you'd
fill us
more,
with this so that we might live lives that are leaning forward
in eager expectation so that we live lives that honour you.
And I pray for any who don't know this hope yet,
I pray that you would use your word, not mine,
but your word to call them to yourself.
And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.