Promises The Provoke Praise - [Romans 8]

I think the smallest congregation I ever preached to was when I was in Prague, just south of Prague in the

Czech Republic. I think there were six adults there, and that includes

Kim and myself. So this is a mega church this morning, but isn't it neat to know that no matter how many people are here, the

Lord God is here, the triune God. And wherever you go, you can't flee from His presence.

And for us, thankfully, His presence helps illumine our minds, convict us, transform us into Christ's image, and that is a wonderful thing to know.

Because without the Spirit of God, what good would preaching be? What good would listening be? What good would singing be?

And so I'm glad you could be here this morning. When I was a kid, I remember sitting on Grandpa's lap.

My grandfather, my mother's father, Carl, died in 1972, just before my 12th birthday.

And what I remember the most about Carl is I remember sitting on his lap. He was dying of prostate cancer.

He couldn't do much, except he could tell stories like no one else. And the good news is

I got to be the star of the stories. And so he would begin to tell a story about exploring in a cave, and then

I would say, yes, but Grandpa, I have a knife. Yes, you have this wonderful, great, sharp knife, and then

I have this gun. And he would just weave this wonderful myth, and it was just a great time of storytelling, the world of make -believe.

I thought about that, too, for Christmas time. There's all kinds of Christmas myths floating around.

You don't have to go very far to notice some of the Christian myths. For those of you who are

Greek, there's a Greek legend where there's some malicious creatures named Kalkanzari, and they do horrible things to people during Christmas time.

So what you need to do to get rid of these little demon creatures is you have to burn an old shoe because they don't like the smell.

Or you could hang a pig's jawbone by the door so they don't sneak down the fireplace.

Interesting myth. There's another myth during Christmas time. People like to eat boar's head, at least in the

Middle Ages. And it started back in the Middle Ages. Why would you eat a boar's head? Well, it's been said that a university student saved himself from a charging boar by ramming a book of Aristotle's writing down his throat.

Down, not his throat, but the boar's throat. He cut the boar's head off and brought it back to college, and they had a feast.

It's an interesting myth. Maybe a little closer to home, jingle bells, people think is a

Christmas song, and actually it was written as a Thanksgiving song by James Pierpont.

It was originally called One Horse Open Sleigh. Today we sang Joy to the World, and I'm glad we sang

Joy to the... Did we sing Joy to the World? No. Did we sing Joy to the

World? In my heart of hearts, maybe we sang it. It actually was written for the second coming of Christ, not the first coming, although I love to sing it during Christmas time.

But the one that I found that I like the least in terms of Christmas myths was written by the

Diocese of Los Angeles, Episcopal News, written by Reverend Benison, the rector of St.

Mark's Church up in California. Tell me if you think this is a myth or not. Quote, there are few causes to which

I'm more passionately committed than that of Santa Claus. Santa Claus deserves not just any place in the church, but the highest place of honor where he should be enthroned as the long -bearded

Ancient of Days, the divine and holy one whom we call God. Santa Claus is

God the Son. I'm not kidding when I read this next part. You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout.

I'm telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town. This phrase simply refers to God the

Son slipping into the secrets of the hearts of people just as easily as he slips down the chimney.

Santa Claus is God the Father. Besides the modalism, it just gets worse, the creator of heaven and earth in whose hand is a pack bursting at its seams with the gifts of his creation.

Santa Claus is God the Holy Spirit who comes with a sound of gentle laughter, with a shape like a bowl full of jelly to sow in the night seeds of good humor.

Santa Claus indeed deserves to be exalted and enthroned in the local church. So here he is,

God the Son, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit. I've seen him in a toy store. I've seen him in his car on the freeway.

And when I saw him with his crazy beard and his baggy red suit, I saw more than the seasonal merchant of cheap plastic toys.

I saw no less than the triune God. I wonder if that guy got a pension.

I want to correct another myth today. I want to correct this myth, that when Jesus came to earth, he failed in his mission of salvation.

That somehow it didn't work. It was an aborted mission. The Romans crucified him.

He ended up as some kind of messiah that didn't do his work to the very end, and he was crucified by the

Romans on a tree, dead, naked, ashamed. Why is that important?

Because if Jesus did not accomplish his mission, then we are all still in our sins, and we have no hope for the future, right?

Where would we go to take a look at this great truth that's opposite of a myth, where Jesus comes and saves his people from their sins?

That's what I want to talk about today. Do you have forgiveness? Let's spit it a little bit, look at it from this perspective.

When Jesus came to save his people from their sins, did he in fact do it, and can you lose what he has done?

If you think you can lose your salvation, then my strategy today is to say to you, then

Jesus didn't accomplish what the Father sent him to do, save his people from their sins.

In other words, will salvation last? Frankly, if we could undo our salvation, we would all undo it.

How soon? How fast with our thought life and what we do? If we had to keep our salvation, who is strong enough?

Who is righteous enough to keep their own salvation? What about the future?

Will salvation last? My premise this morning is because Jesus was born in a manger 2 ,000 years ago and then accomplished his work, you can be secure.

Let's turn our Bibles to the most famous Christmas passage ever. So go ahead, famous Christmas passage, just turn there right now.

Romans chapter 8. You said, what does it have to do with Christmas? It has everything to do with Christmas because it clears up this myth.

When Jesus was sent to save his people from their sins, he accomplished that and now you'll see the great promises that come from his work.

Romans chapter 8. Now, originally I was going to preach this because it was going to work out well congregation because today was the day lots of unbelievers come, right?

Because it's the last Sunday before Christmas, except lots of unbelievers don't come on days like today because it's too wintry out or whatever.

And so I'm not going to preach it the way I was going to preach it. I'll preach it as an encouragement to you all today.

Romans chapter 8 because you'll see these promises of God. God accomplished his work and you can be thankful.

And as you watch Romans 8 unfold, it's going to drive you to one thing. This is my desire, at least, that you would praise

God for his goodness and his greatness and his sure promises. It's the highest thing you could ever do in your life, higher than any vocation, hobby, or anything else.

And that is to praise God, to thank him, to exalt in him that he has done what he said he would do.

Thomas Watson said, praising God is one of the highest and purest acts of religion.

Jesus accomplished his salvation mission for you and your response should be, come see, come saw.

That's nice. No, I want you to be fired up. I want to stoke the coals of your heart today with Romans 8, this passage.

By the way, when I die, somebody preach Romans 8 for me, would you? This is the passage

I want preached. So you remember, God accomplished his mission and God is worthy to be praised in life or in death, whether we bury the pastor or Romans 8 is this anchor, this rock for all.

And I don't know about you, but I could have a little shot in the arm today to help my praise life, couldn't you?

Can you praise God more and better? I turn on the news and it's this problem and that problem, and health care, and 60 votes, and all these kind of things.

And I think, my job is not necessarily to control the world or respond with feelings in accordance to what the world says.

My responsibility, yes, privilege, and duty is to praise this great God, no matter what.

God is on the throne. This version said, if I did not praise and bless

Christ my Lord, ready for this? I should deserve to have my tongue torn out by its roots.

Wow, it's difficult to praise the Lord in a fallen world. It's difficult to praise the Lord since we're fallen.

But Romans 8, it's like a propellant to just help you burn for the

Lord. Romans chapter 8, I don't know about you, but I like having this section of my

Bible, just like Romans 5, just so it opens up just naturally and normally to Romans chapter 8.

I remember a couple of guys standing out front of the building several months ago, and I thought, what are these two guys doing?

Kind of just talking like this to each other. I thought it was like an overthrow of the pastor or something. You know, they're scheming outside the building.

And I kind of peeked over and said, what are you guys doing? Oh, we're doing our memory verses, and we're up to Romans chapter 8.

They'd memorized Romans 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, skip 6 and 7, backsliders. And then they were moving to chapter 8, and they were rehearsing

Romans chapter 8. So I hope that you would even see this today and say, Lord, let me be certain in my heart that you have saved me, and I can have comfort and assurance, and I know you have done what you were sent to do.

And Romans chapter 8 is the security in Christ that all Christians have, security by the

Holy Spirit that each Christian can experience. Spinner said, if Holy Scripture was a ring and the epistle of Romans, its precious stone, chapter 8 would be the sparkling point of the jewel.

And I love chapter 8. You can hear MacArthur preach it. You can hear Boyce preach it. You can hear anybody preach it. And you go back and you go, it's just so good.

It's anything less than zirconium, the castle, the fortress of security.

And so what we're going to do is, I don't know how far we'll get today. Just so you'll know, I'll give you a little inside scoop since you were the frozen chosen, you got all the way here to church today.

This is Inside Scoop Sunday. I have 73 pages of notes.

So we'll see how far I get. In Romans 8, there are seven promises. Not that I made up, but that are in the text, seven promises that all drive you to say, thank you that I have comfort and security.

Then, Lord, I should respond with praise. I don't know how far we'll get, but there are seven kind of lockjaw promises.

When I was a kid, I just thought, I've got to go get that shot because I don't want to get lockjaw. I was always afraid

I was going to get lockjaw. In a good way, this is kind of a vice grip or a lockjaw passage that you can go back to when your world is falling apart and say,

God still is worthy to be praised. In Romans 8, seven great promises that every

Christian should read, experience, and then respond to the Lord with praise.

You say, well, why do I even need this? Let's start in chapter 7. Romans is written to talk about the righteousness of God, the righteousness from God.

We don't have righteousness and we need it, and we get a little taste of that even for the Christian in Romans chapter 7.

It's one thing to say, well, I still struggle as an unbeliever. What about the struggle that Paul has in Romans chapter 7?

Some people live in Romans chapter 7 and never make it to chapter 8. Some live in 8 and never make it to 7.

But here, forget the chapter break between 725 and 8 .1.

Why do we need this comfort? What's the desperate cry that attends to Paul's words in verse 24?

Do you see it? I don't think people talk like this much anymore. Romans 7 .24, here's

Paul speaking as a Christian man and he says what? Wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death?

Help me. And the scholars say back in the old days, they think that the way you punished a murderer was this, you'll never forget it.

You take the dead body that you have killed, that that person has killed, and then you tie and you wrap that dead body around the other person, the murderer.

So the murdered is wrapped around the murderer until all the bacteria and the grossness infects the person and then they die too.

Could Paul be saying, I basically am wrapped up with this murder of my old self and it's killing me and I can't wait to be free?

Are these sins that I even commit as a Christian going to doom me? But then we go from agony to ecstasy.

You see it in verse 25? That's where the chapter break should be. This should be chapter 8, verse 1. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our

Lord. Thanks be to God. There's going to be a triumph. There's the security of Christ's sheep.

Will salvation last? Yes. Let's look at the first great promise for each Christian here that should make you joyful enough to praise the

Lord. Number 1 found in verses 1 through 4 of chapter 8. Your salvation is certain because Christ became condemned for you.

In other words, no condemnation for you because Christ was condemned in your place.

Take a look at how the penalty of sin was paid. Chapter 8, verse 1, you know the verse.

Everybody look up and just say it with me. Don't look down at your paper. There is therefore now no condemnation.

Okay, we know the verse. Some of us ESV, some of us NIV, some of us NAS. No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Look at how the penalty has been paid. Is there a greater assurance than this? All the Old Testament sacrifices and offerings and everything that pointed to that sacrifice of Christ Jesus, it's been done.

Outside of Christ, full condemnation. Inside Christ, complete justification.

The way Paul has written this in the Greek is he's focused on the word no. There's no condemnation.

It's impossible. There's not an ounce, a smidgen, a little bit, not in a million years, not in a million eternities, never.

This is a legal decision. Three times it's used. Condemnation is a legal decision. You're guilty, be imprisoned for life.

Guilty, off to the gallows. And it is an antonym. It is the opposite word for what? Tell me the opposite word of condemnation.

Justification. There's no condemnation because we've learned in chapter 3, there's been justification.

God has condemned the Son. I'll never forget the time when I was listening to Piper and when

Piper said, God damned the Son. Right? He treated the

Son as if he'd committed all our sins. And he condemned him with a legal decision and poured out his wrath on the

Son. God isn't so unjust now to pour out double jeopardy, not just on the

Son, but on us now, is he? And if Jesus has been punished in your place, will

God the Father punish you? Not for your past sins, not for your present sins, not for your future sins.

Jury foreman, do you have a verdict? Yes, your honor, guilty. But we're not the guilty ones now because Christ has bore our guilt.

Isn't that good? How many times have we sinned even as Christians? We would all say with Paul, we're still wretched.

Is there hope? Will salvation last? I would lose my salvation if I could. But for those who are in Christ Jesus by a sovereign act of God and who have been justified, no longer condemned, we can praise him.

Sin against a thrice holy God has been paid for. Past sins paid.

Presence, present, paid. Justified by faith. We deserve judgment.

High -handed cosmic treason we've committed. But now we are freed. You are freed from the damocles sword threat.

I don't know if you've ever been around dogs very much, but I remember Kim and I found a dog once in California, and you inherit somebody else's dog, and then you put your foot up the wrong way, and the dog's like this.

Because you know that last owner did what? He's kicking that dog. And so these cringing dogs always kind of walking around.

That shouldn't be us as Christians. Even though we've sinned and we ought to be ashamed of our sin and confess our sins and agree with God and ask for forgiveness, but we don't have to walk around like a cringing dog going, he's going to just kick me.

We're his sons, but I'm getting ahead of myself. The song says, all our guilty stains are gone.

That's why Jude says, to God, our Savior, through Christ Jesus, our Lord, glory, majesty, dominion, authority before all time, now and forever.

That gives you confidence. Sometime do a little story. I don't have time to develop it now, but do a little story on how many people died during the construction of the

Golden Gate Bridge before the safety harnesses and nets and after. You think they were more productive when they were going to fall off and die or when they knew they were secure?

What's the worst thing that can happen to us as Christians? We get killed, promoted.

You say, well, that's fine and dandy, but I need help now. That's future.

I need help now. Oh, let's keep going then. Verses 2 to 4. Did you know not just the penalty of sin has been paid, verse 1, but the power of sin is broken for the

Christian, verses 2, 3, and 4. You're liberated from the law's bondage. This is wonderful.

Verse 2, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

What's the practical application of no condemnation? Here, we have it. The power of sin has been broken.

I call this the law of sin gravity has been reversed. The law of sin gravity has been reversed.

Unbelievers, we all were unbelievers. We were enslaved to sin. We love sin. We couldn't help but sin.

We stayed up late at night devising sin. Sin was a sport to us. All illustrations found in the

Old Testament. And now that enslaving kind of chained up. I went to see the

Scrooge yesterday and is it Marley who comes in and he's got all those chains wrapped around him?

I've earned these chains link by link. But for those in Christ Jesus who have now had

Jesus condemned for them in their place and now stand justified, this has been broken.

We get to rise above the sin principle. Always capitulating to sin before we're saved.

And now we can overcome sin because of the Spirit's power. One man said, what

Christ has won for us positionally, the Holy Spirit now works in us practically.

How? Verse 3, here's the divine method. Take a look, verse 3 of chapter 8. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh,

God did. Sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.

The law couldn't deliver sinners, Jesus could. And Jesus is the one who sent because it will take the divine

God -man to do this work. Can't be trusted to anyone else. Can't send Gabriel to do the job.

Can't send Michael to do the job. It's Christ's work. What's the purpose?

Verse 4. The purpose is now you can obey God's law. You can obey verse 4 in order that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the

Spirit. So much different than Charles Finney when he wrote, it is self -evident that the entire obedience to God's law is possible on the ground of natural ability.

To deny this is to deny that man is able to do as well as he can. It is, of course, forever settled that a state of entire sanctification is attainable in this life on the ground of natural ability.

I don't know what could be more prideful. We can't do it. It's all been done to us, including this, and now the

Spirit of God enables us to obey his law. Promise number 2.

First promise is there's no condemnation for Christians. That's praiseworthy. Promise number 2 that should elicit your praise is your salvation is secure because the

Holy Spirit dwells within you, verses 5 through 13. The Holy Spirit indwells you, will help you with both, help you with salvation and now with sanctification.

This also asks and answers the question, will salvation last? What's the role of the

Holy Spirit in the life of a believer? By the way, when you look at this chapter, everywhere you look is the

Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit. When you look at chapter 7, what's the dominating personal pronoun in chapter 7?

I, I, I, I, I. Chapter 8, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit. Nineteen times according to my calculations,

I think 30 I's found in chapter 7, although I'm sure somebody will probably correct me at the end of the service.

I counted. Okay, in the Greek then, how about that? What's the secret of secure living in Christ Jesus?

It's the Holy Spirit -driven life. True or false? God originally attended you, the

Christian, to live by your own strength. No, that was never the plan.

We all know what happens when we try to live according to our own strength. Chapter 8, verses 5 through 13 should forever get rid of this in your mind, that you need to just try in your own strength to be a good

Christian, that you just need to try to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.

You're just going to have to make a new resolution this year. Remember, last year's resolution is come and gone, and now at least we have

January 1st to look forward to again this year. I'm just going to be a better person. I'm going to be more kind.

I'm going to be more likable. I'm going to be more forgiving. I'm going to lose weight. I'm going to do whatever these things are.

This is the liberating message of Romans chapter 8. God never intends you to live by your own strength.

And by the way, when we do, what happens? It's like having square wheels in your car.

Look at how the Spirit of God changes our mindsets, changes your mindset. Verse 5, for those who according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the

Spirit, the things of a spirit. Did you know the Spirit of God directs your mind toward heavenly things, directs your mind and your thinking towards Bible things,

Christian things, heavenly things, Spirit -powered things? Gives you different ambitions, makes you concentrate and get engrossed by things.

Remember when I first got saved, I thought to myself, I've never been so engrossed in a subject in my entire life.

I just want to learn. I just want to study. You know, it's kind of like, you know, forget food, forget everything else.

I just want to learn this book. I want to learn what God thinks. The Word of God tells me the mind of God, and I've got to figure this out.

I've got to learn and study. And you think, who's given me that desire? We know what desires come from an unbeliever.

We have different desires. And what's the result? Verse 6, for the mindset on flesh is death, but the mindset on spirit is life and peace.

For the Christian, security, contentment, tranquility, joy, life, peace.

Verse 7, because the mindset on flesh is hostile towards God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.

We used to please ourselves, now we please the Lord. It's not just our behavior, it's our mind, it's our will.

Verse 8, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But friends, you now aren't in the flesh, you're in the spirit, and you can what?

You can please God. Why? Verse 9 and 10, help me. The spirit of God dwells inside of me.

Verses 9 and 10. However, you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If indeed the spirit of God dwells in you, but if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him.

And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

The Greek is, but as for you, he switches to the second person, you.

This is not just some kind of, you know, experimental scientific language. He wants the readers.

I want you to say, I've got assurance because the spirit of God dwells in me. I have the resources to obey.

One day, you're going to get new bodies too by the spirit. Verse 11, but if the spirit of him who raised Christ or Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised

Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who indwells you.

Right thinking now and also for the future, your body is going to be raised from the dead. And by the way, if I want to force the issue a little bit, and there's nothing you can do to stop it.

No, I don't think I want a new body, God. My will, my free will will stop that.

God has come to save you and he will save you to the very end. And one day, you're going to get a glorified body.

It's done. Spirit of God dwells in you. The future bodily resurrection depends on Christ's resurrection.

He was resurrected, you will be because of the spirit of God dwells in you. And he prompts you and he urges you and he convicts you to live

God's way. Verse 12, so then brethren, we are under obligation. By the way, for all those people who preach on TV and on iPods who slam in a negative way, duty, living, or don't you want to live for duty?

This section should correct that. If you only live by duty, I think there could probably be something wrong.

But duty isn't bad. Let's use a marriage analogy. It would be nice if you responded to your spouse with love and those kind of things.

But some days you think, you know, I just have a duty and I want to fulfill my duty. Here is the duty. We are under obligation.

For those who say, well, we're hedonists, we're Christian hedonists, never live by duty. I don't think you're going to see that here.

What's wrong with duty? We have a debt to live righteously because of what God has done.

Here's the debt. We are under obligation not to the flesh to live according to the flesh.

We're not under duty to the old self, but we are under duty to live to God. Look what

Jesus does through this ministry of the Holy Spirit, verse 13. For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die.

But if by the Spirit, there it is, Spirit, Spirit, Spirit, capital S, everywhere we go, you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

It's not just God does it all for you. Remember the old phrase, the pietist, lay back and what?

Let God, G -A -W -D, lay back and let God. I'm just going to let him kind of do everything.

Well, chapter 8 almost kind of sounds like that until we get to about right here, where we actively, based on the

Spirit's work, based on Christ's work, based on the regenerating power of the Spirit, sanctified living, we still obey, we still do.

We work on our salvation with fear and trembling. We count the members of our body dead, as Colossians says, but we have the

Spirit of God. What if we just took away the Spirit of God for just this next week? What would happen, do you think?

Well, just take the Spirit of God and assuming that you could still be on the earth, assuming that you wouldn't lose your salvation, but just sanctification in terms of relating with spouse, relating with your boss, relating with your kids, school, celebrating

Christmas. What kind of week would it be without the Spirit of God? His restraining power,

His enabling grace. You say, but I have the Spirit of God and I am able to do that. By the way, if you say to yourself,

I've always been, you know, a bad this, a bad parent, and I don't do this right and that right, well, you know what?

Today is a good day for you because I want to remind you you have the Spirit of God and you can be a parent to please

God, a husband to please God, a spouse to please God because you have the Spirit of God. Promise number seven, at this rate, we'll be done by 2 .30.

We're going fine. No problem. It's always a test of a congregation's stability is how long they can hear the pastor preach.

No, that's not true. Spurgeon used to say, if you can't tell your people in 45 minutes what needs to be told, then you can't tell them at all.

So learn to preach under 45 minutes is what Spurgeon said. Promise number three, a promise that you have if you're a

Christian that should make you praise God is that you, because of Christ's work, have the inheritance of a lifetime, and that is you're a child of God.

Verses 14 through 17, God is your Father. Some people in this congregation have been adopted.

Some people don't know who their fathers are. And here, will salvation last? Will I get kicked out of the family will because I've sinned?

I read about that. You've got these rich people, and all of a sudden, the son becomes a drug addict or does some kind of weird thing, and then they get taken out of the will.

Will you get taken out of the will of God because you sin? The answer is no.

We don't want to sin. May we sin to let grace abound?

No. But look at this Holy Spirit indwelt chapter. Everywhere you go is the

Spirit of God, the inheritance of a lifetime, a child of God. I speak with authority.

You know, back in the old days when you had children in a Jewish family, the rite of primogenitor means that the firstborn got double.

So if there were three kids, you wouldn't say 33, 33, 33. You'd say what?

50, 25, 25. I tried to employ that when we tried to split up my mom's estate since I was the oldest, but I only got 33 .34.

Marcy got 33 .33, and my brother got 33 .33 because the lawyer said the oldest gets the 0 .01

% extra. So I felt like I kind of got robbed. Just imagine if you had a really rich family member, and you didn't even know you had them.

This happened to us one time. It wasn't that rich of a person, but Kim had some relative in Arkansas or someplace, and we got a little bit money.

We didn't even know they existed. Felt kind of bad taking money. We weren't even sad they died. I mean, how does that work?

But what if there was somebody who was ultra -rich, and all of a sudden, the lawyer called you. Come in for the reading of the will, and you're close to the top in terms of what you're going to get.

And all of a sudden, you get in this little room in a lawyer's office, and he opens up the will, and you're just waiting to hear that last name.

You don't even care if they pronounce your name Abendroth. You're just... I'm like my junk mail says,

Haferhorf. You're just like, I don't care how you pronounce my name. And you could just tell your...

I could just see your face, and I just can't wait. This passage here, in spite of our unbelief as unbelievers in chapter 1, 2, and 3, in spite of our continuing struggle with sin in chapters 6 and 7, the best inheritance you can have is not necessarily stuff or things.

It's that you get the God of the universe as your dad, as your father.

That is amazing. Look at chapter 8, verse 14, rather. For all who are being led by the

Spirit of God, these are sons of God. These and these alone have been adopted, have the legal right, not just a legal right, but by nature as well, by legal right and by DNA spiritually, these are the sons of God.

And sons don't fear, they have great freedom. Verse 15, for you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out,

Abba, Father. You say, I'm part of the family. God is my father.

I'm a child. It's one thing for the judge to say not guilty.

It's another thing for the judge to say not guilty. I'll punish my own son instead, and I'll take you and make you a son.

We get to call him Abba, Father. Luther said, although I be oppressed with anguish and terror on every side, and seem to be forsaken and utterly cast away from your presence, yet I am your child and you are my father for Christ's sake.

I am beloved because of a beloved. You say, oh, this is kind of nice.

A little baby, kind of, you ever hold a baby and they kind of just cry out just a little bit, it's kind of a weak little cry?

They just say kind of just almost kind of a little moan, and you go, oh, that's sweet. And they don't really want anything, but they just kind of want to be, oh, recognize me, cuddle me, hold me closer, just kind of a...

I can't believe I'm making these sounds up here. Oh, just kind of this little thing. That is not the word here for cry.

We think, oh, you're my father. What kind of cry is this? You know what kind of cry this is,

Revelation chapter 12? The screech of childbirth. You say, what?

I don't get it. A screech of childbirth. Listen to St. Clair Ferguson. The picture is not that of a believer resting quietly in his father's arms in childlike faith, but of the child who has tripped and fallen, crying out in pain, daddy, daddy.

No matter how hard things get and no matter what the trials are, and the spiritual knees are scraped, you get to cry out with tears down your eyes, but you're my father.

And God says, yes, you're my son. The father is there for us when we have a need.

When we have a time of need, the father is there for us. And what does the Spirit of God do?

He confirms that in our hearts and assures us, verse 16, the Spirit himself emphatically bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

You know what? Your assurance would be, excuse me, the security of your faith would be guaranteed even though God didn't give you assurance.

It is the goodness of God to give you assurance. He didn't need to give us assurance. He could have just said to himself, I'm saving that person to the end.

But here, he works that assurance out in our hearts. That's a gift of God, gift from God, assurance. See how great a love the father has bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God, and such we are.

And if you're children, you've got glory coming for an inheritance. Verse 17, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

One man said, that is a breathtaking provision from God. No second -class citizens, no second -class sons or daughters.

Number four, number four, the fourth great promise for every Christian that should cause you to praise him.

We've seen so far there's no condemnation for Christians, verses 1 to 4. We've seen that the spirit of God dwells in every

Christian, so your salvation is secure, 5 through 13. We've seen that we have the best inheritance of all, having

God as a father. We are not orphaned in the kingdom of God, verses 14 to 17. And now promise number four, the fourth lockjaw kind of promise.

Vice grip promise, that the hope of the greatness of the future glory should help you live in times of trouble now.

Knowing what's going to come should help you live in tough times now, verses 18 through 27.

Our suffering, your suffering is going to reap glory one day. Too bad our society couldn't listen to this message, but they wouldn't have the resources to do anything about it anyway.

But for the Christian in tough times, despair, depression, hopelessness should never be part of your vocabulary.

This section is, Christian, take heart, take heart, even in huge trials.

True or false, God takes away all your problems when he saves you from your sins. Well, I thought that's what they're telling me on TBN and 700

Club and 1 -800 I'm a heretic lines. Verse 18,

I think the answer is found there. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time,

I mean, for those who say, just be more godly and just do X, Y, and Z, and you'll have less trials. Here we have the most godly person on the planet,

Paul, and he suffers. And these sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Paul said, I'm convinced, I calculate this, I get out my little HP calculator, and I do a little slide chart and slide rule,

I get everything out, and I've calculated it all up, and I conclude, and I count, and I calculate that when

I look at this column here in the ledger, suffering, it's going to look infinitesimally small to this ledger over here what

I get. It's going to be revealed to me in glory. He said to the Corinthians in 2

Corinthians 4, for momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.

While we look not at the things which are seen, but the things are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

One man said it this way, you'll like this language, glory dwarfs suffering. That's the mindset for a

Christian, glory dwarfs suffering. There's a lot of groaning, a lot of suffering.

Verse 19, did you know creation groans for the future? Verse 19, for the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.

Even creation is growing. Verse 20, for the creation was subject to fertility, not of its own will.

Creation didn't have free will, but because of him who subjected it. The fall caused problems.

There were no earthquakes. There were no tornadoes. The fall caused the earth.

As pretty as it is, who is the scholar who said, when you look at Grand Canyon today, when you look at Mount Everest, it's beautiful, but it still sings in a what kind of key?

A minor key, that's exactly right. Thorns and thistles and earthquakes, creation groans.

But verse 21, that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption and the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

I'm pretty glad that the new heaven on the new earth is not going to have a lot of tsunami warnings for me to deal with.

Verse 22, for we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

When Paul wrote it, and until now, now, 2009. Matter of fact, we groan for the future, don't we?

Verse 23, and not only this, but we ourselves having the first fruits of the spirits. Even we ourselves groan with ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

Don't you groan and say, I'm tired of sinning. I'm tired of living in this world. I'm just tired of these things.

I long for that day. That's what we do. Verse 24 though, for in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope.

For why does one also hope for what he sees? True or false, there'll be a lot of hope in heaven.

You don't have to hope in heaven because you'll see. But we can't see the future yet with our own eyes.

Maybe we see it in print. And so we groan, we have a hope. Holy Spirit even groans, verse 26, and in the same way, the spirit also helps our weakness.

We do not know how to pray as we should, but the spirit himself emphatically intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Ever feel like you can't pray and you don't know how to pray? Spirit knows your weakness and he prays.

Not alone. He helps, comes alongside. The word to help means to take someone and to kind of turn the face towards you.

Never forget a time I was standing up on my laptop. I had my laptop like this on my dresser and Gracie wanted to play.

Oh, I guess you just earned yourself a dollar. Kids get a dollar if I mention them in a sermon. Somebody told me that,

I thought, hey, that's a good idea. And she came up from underneath my arms and just popped her head right up where the computer screen was like, daddy,

I'm here. And there you are sitting by these electrodes and transmitters, you know,

I'm right here. That's kind of like when the kids were really little, when Gracie was little and I would talk to her and all of a sudden,

I'd be looking off over here and the kid's like, hey, I want you to look in my face. I'd look right in my face.

And this isn't, well, you know, I'm busy running the universe as the spirit of God and you just kind of figure it out over there and I'll get going.

The spirit of God turns his face towards us to help. What a great picture that is.

A .T. Robertson, the great Southern Baptist said, the Holy Spirit lays hold of our weaknesses along with us and carries his part of the burden facing us as if two men were carrying a log, one at each end.

We have a hard time praying, but there's the spirit helping us. We're not alone. We have a perfect prayer partner. Christ is interceding in heaven, the spirit of God is interceding in us unto

God, and he knows exactly how to pray, verse 27. And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

I've had people in my life who have said, I pray for you every day, and some of those people have actually died. And I think, who's going to replace some of those prayer partners?

And other people come along and say, but we want to pray for you every day. It tends to be older saints and they just say, we'll pray for you every day.

I love that and if you want to pray for me every day, please do. Pray for the elders every day. But one thing

I know about your prayers compared to the spirit's prayers, sometimes you don't pray exactly right. Sometimes you pray for things that aren't exactly the will of God, but the spirit of God, when he prays for you, he prays exactly the way

God would have him pray because he is God. I've been in places before and I think, you know,

Lord, how do I pray for this person? Do I pray that they're taken home by you in this horrible accident or that they get better?

I don't know what to do, but the spirit knows, and that should make us respond with praise.

Well, if I was Spurgeon, I'd close now, but you drove all the way here, so I'm going to give you the last promise. I hear a little sound.

Wee, yes, wee, wee. It's either that or pretty pinched,

Judith. Make a sound. I always did that with my dog growing up back in Nebraska when

I was probably 12 or so, 15 years old. I would say I had a sister named Marcy and so I'd squeeze the dog by the ear and I would say, if you don't like Marcy, growl.

It was just like the super obedient dog. See, I told you there was going to be some inside scoop today.

It's hard in our lives when we live with ourselves, live with a sinful spouse, live in a sinful fallen world.

How do we praise God? And the praise isn't found in us. It's not found laterally or horizontally.

You go back to say, what has the triune God done? The Father, the Son, and in this particular case,

Romans chapter 8, the Spirit. What does the Spirit do? Promise number five is that everything works together for good.

And since there's no tragedy in this world from God's perspective, that we should praise God. You ought to say to yourself,

God is accomplishing all his plans. Even though it doesn't look like it, he is accomplishing all his plans.

And now Paul kind of goes in a direction that one man has called, John Stott said, this section has been likened to a pillow on which to rest our weary heads.

And I'd go further. I'd say it was a down pillow. What can come into your life that can cause

God's plan to backfire? And we know this passage. There's a passage maybe somebody, you know, goes to a hospital and quick, blurts this verse out.

I'd say do a lot of hugging and crying and praying before you blurt the verse out. But the verse is true and we know.

We know. There's different kinds of knowing in the Bible. This is an intuitive knowing.

We intuitively know. Why? Because he's God. He sits on the throne. He does whatever he pleases, as he pleases, always as he pleases, as often as he pleases.

So how could something on earth change him? You intuitively know if you're a Christian that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love

God, to those who are called according to his purpose. He causes.

The language isn't he permits. He does it if you let him. He does it if you appropriate the promises.

This is like Genesis 15 with Abraham. God and Abraham, we're going to have a little plan here and here's going to be a promise.

We're going to make a promise. Abraham, your job for the promise. You go over there and sleep. I'll promise to myself.

And God says, I'm swearing by myself that this promise is going to be unconditional. This is an unconditional promise from God.

And he swears to it as he does in Genesis chapter 15.

Now, let's just start big and work small. How about does

God cause Satan and all his demons to work together for the good of God, for his glory?

Can you imagine? Satan, let's just start at the very top. Luther said, the hardest working servant in all the universe is named

Satan because God will allow him to do certain things and Satan can go no further.

Genesis 50 verse 20, as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.

Job, we could go to Job chapter 1, providential God orchestrating every

Adam, all things, not one thing excluded. It's an all -comprehensive plan.

You say, yeah, but Paul's never been through what I've been through. You're right because Paul's been through worse.

Everything bad works together for good. Everything evil works together for good. Every sin works together for good.

And that doesn't mean we sin so God makes it for good, but it's still true. By the way, affliction

God uses and causes to work together for good. Sickness, lack of jobs, and he has good things.

He doesn't just cause bad things to work together for good. The text says in Romans 8 .28 what? He causes all things.

Causes his word, his promises, his attributes, the prayers of the son, the prayers of the Holy Spirit, saints, angels, good things too.

But no matter what has happened in your life, in your job because of the fall, because of Satan, home health issues in the local church,

God rides triumphant over all those. Listen to what Samuel Rutherford said, a dear

Puritan writer who knew what it was like to suffer yet still focused on the Lord. Let not the

Lord's dealing seem harsh, rough, or unfatherly because it is unpleasant. When the

Lord's blessed will bloweth across your desires, it is best in humility to strike sale to him and be willing to be led any way our

Lord pleaseth. You know not what the Lord is working out of this, but you shall know it hereafter.

Now, when I get to heaven, there's lots of things I would like to do. I'd like to just see

Jesus in his glory. Wouldn't that be great? I don't think you're going to have three orbs, the Father, some kind of beard in the sun over here on a throne, and the

Spirit over here, you know, kind of a ghost. I think all the deity that we see, all the

Godhead dwells in bodily form. I think you're going to see Jesus, and when you see Jesus, have you seen the

Father? Have you seen the Son? You're going to see Jesus Christ with the nail -pierced hands. And I'm just going to,

I'd love to see what Jesus looks like. Wouldn't you, the glorified Christ? I'd just like to say, you know,

I always think to myself, well, am I going to know what to do? Am I supposed to get down on my knees? Can I stand, you know,

I don't have to cringe. I'm sinless now, and is it okay to stand, sit, kneel? Whatever I'm supposed to do,

I just want to do. But you know what? We'll know what to do. We'll know what to do, and so you don't have to worry.

No worries about, you know, don't sin now, worried about what you might do in heaven. Will I have the right kind of social graces and etiquette?

You know, Emily Barnes, what to do in heaven, you'll know what to do. So after you're on your face and you want to get up, you're not going to have to look around.

Is it okay for me to get up now because I see, you know, Calvin finally got up after a while.

Okay, I'll get up now. It's okay. You're not going to have to do any of that. You can just go, I'm going to bow, and then

I'm going to say, well, I probably should look around just for a quick second and just peek without doing the wrong thing.

Here's Kim over there. There's my mom and my kids, but I'm going to want to know, and by the way, it won't have to be an education.

It'll just, I'll be, I'll know. I'm sure you'll know. But how did God take all those things in my life that I thought were a complete disaster and how did he make them for good?

How did he plan that? I got laid off, back hurt, you have a miscarriage, you have these things go on, so and so loved one dies of cancer, there's this tragedy, and you go, you did it all so you would receive the glory and the honor, and you were right.

God, you're right. It all worked for good, and you're great. You're wonderful. Isn't it good to be under the word?

Snowing like mad, but thinking not of ourselves, but thinking about the Father, Son, and Spirit.

It should elicit praise in you for all he's done. Let's pray. Thank you,

Father, for today. I, too, with Eric, thank you that we have the snow covering all the garbage and dirt.

What a great picture. Christ has done everything for us. We have his perfect righteousness like a wedding dress cloaked over us, and when you see that, you don't see any of our sins.

Help us to be thankful, people. Help us to be joyful. Help us to give praise to you, driven by the

Spirit of God, for all your great promises in spite of our lives, in spite of the news, in spite of trouble, in spite of the trouble that will surely come.