Romans 8:18-25 (The Spiritual Life, Part 3, Pastor Jeff Kliewer)

Thank you so much for the cross. Where would we be without the cross of Jesus Christ?

You say that there are many who live as enemies of the cross. Their mind is on earthly things.

Their God is their stomach. Lord, their glory is in their shame.

But our minds are on heavenly things, Lord. And we pray that today as the word is preached, you would take our minds off of this world and set it on the world to come.

Let us think about the millennium and the new heavens and the new earth and an eternity worshiping you.

Help us to live in such a way as to hasten the day. Let your gospel go forward this morning through the preaching of the word.

Let the saints be encouraged. The fellow soldiers built up. Lord, I want to pray for Bill Weyant right now as I heard from Stan that he is ailing with high numbers and might not have that long to live.

But Lord, you are the God of miracles and we pray that you would heal him and give him more time. Lord, we pray this morning that you would be with us in our time in the word.

That you would be glorified through the preaching in Jesus name. Amen. Well, I saw a sign of the times this week.

Very troubling. Unless you know that it all leads to Jesus coming back, in which case it only gives us more hope.

And that is to see at a rally for Kamala Harris, the theme and the primary point that they were preaching was what they called reproductive justice.

Have you heard of it? Reproductive justice is supposedly giving a right to kill babies made in the image of God.

In truth, reproduction happens at conception. And from the moment of conception, justice would be the protection of innocent life.

But in this particular rally, 7 ,000 people were gathered and they went on and on about this so -called reproductive justice.

But a godly Christian man with great boldness shouted out in that moment,

Jesus is Lord. It echoed through the place and you could hear a pin drop.

And even though Kamala Harris was in the middle of a campaign speech, she stopped and addressed the man who said

Jesus is Lord. And her reflexive reaction to that three -word claim,

Jesus is Lord, was to say, oh, you've got the wrong rally. Which exposes the state of her heart.

Now, sometimes you can hide things which to me in a rally about abortion, which in itself is just mind -boggling that here in America, where nine out of the thirteen states had an establishment of religion when this country was founded.

And the other four were implicitly Christian. For here in America, a presidential candidate to mock the idea and go on mocking this man who claimed

Jesus is Lord, but also then to uphold the killing of babies, innocent babies, as the primary cornerstone of a political party.

Listen church, these are the last days. That's a level of evil that is like the days of Noah.

Now, if that particular movement wins the day, they will celebrate.

And if they lose, they will be utterly crushed and defeated. Because their entire religion is secular and socialist.

By socialist, I mean economically, but also social religion. In a humanist worldview, the highest being in the universe is the human.

And so social arrangements, political activism, politics, and such things becomes the point of their religion.

And it's utterly crushing and defeating if they don't win an election. But I want to tell you what I'm going to do on November 6th, if that side wins the day.

I'm going to wake up in the morning with a smile on my face, and I'm going to delight in the cross of Jesus Christ where my salvation was won,

I'm going to realize that the return of Jesus is very soon, and I'm going to have a great day.

I'm going to be filled with thanksgiving because my salvation is secure. Even so, come

Lord Jesus. Our religion is not built on the things of this world.

Our religion and our claim that Jesus is Lord includes this dispensation. But how much more the millennium to come where he will reign on this earth for 1 ,000 years.

I want to begin this morning, because we only have eight verses in Romans, I want to take a little liberty to read 14 verses in Matthew.

Turn with me to Matthew chapter 24. There is a rising movement in our evangelical culture of post -millennialism.

A post -millennial theology holds that Jesus will come back after, post, the thousand years of peace where Satan is restrained on the earth.

Post -millennial theologians expect to usher in the kingdom of God, make things better and better on this earth, and then

Christ comes. But when I read Matthew 24, I see that things don't get better and better, and then

Christ comes, but actually quite the opposite. They get worse and worse.

And then Christ comes to rescue us and set up a thousand -year reign on the earth.

Now, just prior to that return of the King, there are some signs.

And in case you haven't noticed, many of them are being fulfilled in our day. Let's read them quickly.

Just 14 verses from Matthew 24. Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to a point to point out to him the buildings of the temple.

He answered them, you see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.

Now turn a page, if you will, to verse 15 and notice that when the Antichrist comes and sets up what is called the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel, it happens in the holy place.

That is the temple. So how could the temple exist when the

Antichrist comes when Jesus tells us it's going to be thrown down? Let me tell you what happened.

Go back to verse 2. Jesus said, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.

I find that wording so interesting because if you were to go to Jerusalem today, at the

Temple Mount, along the Western Wall, you would find that there is one stone upon another.

Only they're not up on top of the Temple Mount, they've been thrown down and to this day there is a giant pile of stone that used to be the temple.

Those giant blocks are laying there one upon another because they were thrown down as Jesus said, but there's coming a time when the temple will be rebuilt.

Which means the Jews have to come back into the land after they were driven out in Diaspora in 70

AD and sure enough, here's a great sign that the coming of Jesus is soon.

In 1948, Israel went back into the land and they occupied

Jerusalem today. That's a sign. Because the temple can be rebuilt as soon as they are released to do it and by the three and a half year mark of the

Tribulation, the holy place will be rebuilt. Okay, that's the first sign, but watch this.

Verse 3 and following. As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us when will these things be?

When? Timing. And what will be the sign? The billboard that you're coming, of your coming and of the end of the age of this dispensation.

How do we know when it's almost over? Jesus answers that question.

Verse 4, see to it that no one leads you astray for many will come in my name saying I am the

Christ and they will lead many astray. Israel's back in the land.

Second sign, false Christ appearing in the earth. They're claiming

I am the Christ according to verse 5. Did you know that in Australia today there is a man claiming to be

Christ who is followed by almost a million people? His name is

Alan John Miller. In the Philippines, a man followed by more than a million people named

Apollo Quibbeloy. I guess you've heard of him. There's one named

Amy Carlson here in America who founded the Love Has Won cult. She also claims to be

Christ. The Muslims, a significant percentage of Muslims, are what are called

Ahmadiyya. The Ahmadi Muslims follow one whose name is

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad who claims to be Christ having come back and also the

Mahdi that all Muslims expect. There are false Christs in every continent of our planet right now claiming to be

Christ. Next sign, following along in verse 6, and you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.

And what's our reaction when we hear that? Well, yeah, there's always rumors of wars.

There's always wars in the world, right? Tribes fighting other tribes, but read on. It says, see that you are not alarmed.

Jesus anticipated that reaction, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

Then he goes on, for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

This is a picture of nations together joining forces and not just tribal conflicts that we've always had, but world war.

Entire continents together at war with one another. This began in the previous century with World War 1,

World War 2, and dare I say, it could devolve now into World War 3.

Joel Rosenberg describes Iran as an apocalyptic genocidal death cult.

The regime that took hold in Iran in 1978 is not a political regime.

It's a religious zealot movement that is apocalyptic. It's in time oriented, trying to bring in this

Mahdi, this final ruler, but it's genocidal with a death cult mentality surrounding

Israel. It has everything to do with the destruction of Israel. Have you noticed?

Which is why they fund Hezbollah to the north, Hamas to the west, the

Houthis to the east, there are enemies, seven major armies surrounding Israel at this point, and all of those nations and groups are funded and supported by Iran.

Now Iran develops partnerships with Russia and North Korea, and kingdom rises against kingdom.

We live in a time of rumor of war. There's war in Ukraine, war in the

Middle East. All of these rumors and actual wars are not just regional conflicts, but supranational conflicts.

It's a sign of the times. Next, read on. Verse 7, part

B, there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

The next sign is disasters. We call them natural disasters, but for those of us who believe in providence, the natural workings of the universe are guided by God, and he gives signs in the heavens, including natural things on earth.

The worst earthquake in the history of the world, as far as destruction of human life, occurred only 20 years ago, under the

Indian Ocean, causing tsunami waves to wipe out entire coastal peoples. In 2010,

Haiti was struck with an earthquake that killed 160 ,000 people. A similar earthquake in Afghanistan just last year.

This doesn't mean earthquakes only, but disasters of this nature, natural phenomenon.

Hurricane Helene, wiping out much of Asheville, North Carolina. Milton, cutting across Florida, stronger than ever.

Earthquakes, hurricanes, natural disasters, famines in places like Sudan.

There are signs in nature that we're nearing the end.

Verse 8, all these are but the beginning of birth pains. Now, birth pains increase in strength as they progress, but they're only a beginning.

It's a sign of something more to come. Here's where it gets more noticeable in verse 9.

Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.

This sign is martyrdom. Richard Wurmbrandt founded the Voice of the Martyrs, after all of the martyrdom that happened in Romania, to the

Christians there, and also cataloging what happened in Russia, parts of Indonesia, right now

Nigeria, all of the Muslim countries have had martyrdom there as well.

The last century had more martyrs, more Christian martyrs, than the previous 1 ,800 years combined.

Martyrdom of Christians is a sign that the end is approaching. Verse 10, and then many will fall away.

That word is apostia, apostasy, when you have formerly, formerly

Christian countries now departing from the faith, you have a sign of apostasy.

Europe used to be nearly a hundred percent professing Christian, and now only one percent claim a born -again evangelical faith in the continent of Europe.

Is that striking? Apostasy, a falling away, betraying one another and hating one another.

No one is more hated in Europe than an evangelical witness, especially one who prays in front of an abortion clinic.

No one is more hated than those who hold to absolute truth.

Verse 11, and many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. These are false teachers within the church claiming to uphold the

Word of God and yet perverting and twisting to tickle the ears of those who don't like what

God has to say. Many false prophets arising in our day. Next in verse 12, and this refers to what

I think we saw this week. Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

There is no more natural affection and love than the love of a mother for the child.

But when even that love, the love of a mother for the unborn child, has grown cold, there is a sign of a hardening of hearts, a return as to the days of Noah.

Notice also that this is sexual in nature. People desiring sexual fulfillment are lawless in their pursuit of those things.

Verse 12 says, because lawlessness will be increased. There is coming a time when what was shameful and regarded to be sinful will now be celebrated and even something in which people take pride.

A lawlessness that increases in the last days.

All of these signs are negative. It is the devolution, not the progress of society.

It is signs that this world without our King will only ever languish and get worse and worse.

Our only hope is for Christ to come back. But there is one positive sign, and this is in verses 12, verses 13 and 14.

But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Individuals who continue in faith will be saved.

In verse 14 says, and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

This is my favorite sign of the times. Because in the 1800s, early 1800s, no one in sub -saharan

Africa knew the name that is above every name. And then David Livingston made a pioneering journey through Africa and began to sow seed of the gospel.

And now here we are in the last days in New Jersey, 2024, and we just built an orphanage in Malawi.

And the gospel is going forward in Malawi and all throughout sub -saharan Africa, predominantly

Christian now. This gospel shall be preached to the ends of the earth, and then the end will come.

My best friend in seminary, probably my closest friend, was Sam Sundar. We would go and evangelize at a college in Texas.

We had a very similar heart, and I loved Sam so much. He returned to his home country, which was

India. We were students at Dallas Seminary. Since he returned, he opened an orphanage, began this evangelistic ministry that he actually carried on from his father, and they are seeing thousands and thousands of people in India coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

China, just a century ago, was negligible in the number of Christians.

Now it may be as many as a hundred million believers in Jesus Christ in China today.

Could be as high as 10 % of the population. I was with the pastor group down in Hamilton at the secret undisclosed location, and some

Jewish believers came. There was one pastor from Haifa, Israel, and he said they've never seen so many people coming to Christ in Israel as they are today.

Japan remains largely unreached. Korea, southern Korea, is now probably 30 % evangelical

Christian. There is one island that I know of that hasn't heard the name above every name.

Remember when John Cho tried to sail to that little island, and he was shot through with arrows? Today, the military guards against missionaries reaching that tribe.

I wonder, is that the last tribe on earth? The last one that hasn't heard the name that is above every name?

There's a reason they won't let missionaries in there, but I'll tell you who will prevail in that. Jesus Christ.

First Corinthians 15 verse 25. He must reign until he puts every enemy under his feet.

Christ is king. Jesus is Lord. And church, there is a soon -coming glory that makes patient endurance of present suffering in the path of obedience more than worth it.

So now that we're done with the intro warm -up, we go to Romans 8. We could be done after spending that time in Matthew 24, but I see a parallel here with Romans 8.

We can't understand Romans 8 really from a post -millennial eschatology.

I mean you could, but the point of this passage is pre -millennial.

That being sanctified we saw two weeks ago is about understanding that the power of the

Holy Spirit is greater than the power of the flesh. The law of the spirit of your mind that agrees with the law of God wants to do right.

The problem is the body of flesh, the members of flesh, disagree and fight back and it's kind of like this stalemate.

You can't overcome the flesh. Chapter 8, enter the spirit. And this is why

I prefer the long ending to Romans 8. One, who walk according to the spirit not according to the flesh.

That's the big idea here. The spirit is that law, this new law that gives you kind of the tush push, gives you the brotherly shove.

When the offensive line and defensive line are in a stalemate, here's another power that comes and overcomes the power of the flesh.

You don't have to go on sinning if you have the spirit. Then the question becomes, how do I know if I have the spirit?

I know I'm talking fast, but I got a lot to go through here. How do you know if you have the spirit? The first sign is that you're lively in pursuing righteousness.

You want to read the Bible. You want to pray. You love God. And you're making a pursuit of God.

You desire God. That's the first sign. The second sign that you're genuinely saved, that you have the

Holy Spirit, is that you're killing the flesh. You're at war against the deeds of the body.

You're not just giving in and acquiescing to the power of the flesh. The third sign that you're truly born again, that you have the spirit.

The third sign is that you're led by the spirit. And that means being in submission to his headship.

The Lord is your Lord, your master. And the spirit is the author of scripture.

So the commands of scripture are your charge. You take your cue from the headship of the

Lord Jesus Christ. That's the third sign. The fourth sign is that you're not captive to the spirit of fear.

You may have the emotion of fear, but it won't control and own you as its slave. The fifth sign is that you cry out,

Abba Father. In times of distress, you know, I've heard people say, well, he's only praying because things are going bad for him.

He's not genuine. I say, it's a good sign that he's praying. He's in distress and he's crying,

Abba Father. That's a sign that, that's a good sign. If you, if you don't have that distress and the impulse to cry out,

God, help. That's the bad sign. So the one who's very concerned about their salvation and they're crying out to God, that's a good sign,

Abba Father. The sixth sign was an internal witness. The spirit testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.

It's ineffable. It's a sense, a feeling, you know that God has confirmed it to your heart.

And then the last sign was suffering. When you suffer, do you give up on Christ and shame his name to take an easier path?

Or are you willing to suffer for the sake of the name? That's really where the rubber meets the road. Because if we have another season of blessing in this country where there's no persecution, well, we don't really know how we'd react when you face jail for preaching the name.

There are people who have stood in front of abortion clinics in this country who are now in jail because of the so -called

FACE Act, where they claim that they impeded progress when really all they did was stand and pray in the name of Jesus and now they're locked up.

If you're faced with that eventuality, that you're going to jail for the sake of the name, do you still preach the name?

That's where the rubber meets the road. So those are the seven signs. Now today, the next area of spiritual life is keeping your mind set on the world to come, not entangled with this world.

It's hope. And this really has to do with this coming of Christ. Even so, come

Lord Jesus, are you looking for and hastening the day? When you set your mind on the coming of Christ and the millennial reign, this actually creates hope in you and you live in such a way as to please

God. It breaks us away from our worldliness. So let's read. First verse 18.

Romans 8, 18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Let's focus on that verse. We are to make the comparison.

You see where it says not worth comparing? It doesn't mean don't compare.

The idea here is that we are to make the comparison between our present suffering and the future glory and consider the glory more than worth it.

In other words, say it is no comparison. When you compare to say our present sufferings as bad as they are, someone goes through a divorce.

The ripping apart of the two that became one flesh, the pain involved in divorce is unspeakable.

There are some here who have gone through the death of an offspring, one of their children. The pain, you just can't even,

I've never been through that. To describe that, I can't understand that kind of pain. So the sufferings of this present world, the things we may be forced to endure, are not worth comparing with the glory to be revealed.

Means even though these afflictions are horrible at times, what's coming is so much greater that you can't even compare.

This is caught in time. That goes on and on year after year, decade after decade, century after century, millennium after millennium, and a billion years from now, we're still delighting there.

You see why it's not worth comparing. It's infinite versus temporal. So the suffering and the glory are connected.

It's made here in verse 18, the comparison, but an even more direct scripture is 2

Corinthians 4 .17, where it says, these light and momentary afflictions are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory that far surpasses them all.

It's hard to describe the kind of things we just talked about as light and momentary, but Paul does that.

Because of the eternal weight of glory that's coming. But the key part of that verse, these light momentary afflictions, are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory.

The idea is that there's something about the suffering that's producing greater glory.

Something about reward in heaven related to obedient suffering in the here and now. In other words, whatever you go through in this life, whatever suffering you endure, is meaningful.

It has purpose. It brings about something in the future.

And when you picture that reward, it's easy to think of like a birthday present. Heaven with streets of gold and flowing rivers and trees with healing in the leaves.

The beauty of those emerald gates, the pearl doors.

Like a birthday present. But what's surprising about the next verse, verse 19, is that what's revealed when the blanket is pulled back, it's not that you get a

Lamborghini for your birthday. What's amazing here is that what's revealed is the new version of you.

A glorious version of the sinful creature you used to be.

Verse 19, for the creature, the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

This is a glorified version of a Christian. The sons of God who have left behind the sin nature and now perfectly reflect the light and the beauty of Jesus Christ.

C .S. Lewis has the best quote about this. The dullest, most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.

Or else a horror and a corruption. When John saw an angel in the book of Revelation, he fell down to worship the angel and the angel said, don't worship me,

I'm a creature like you, worship God. If you or I saw a glorified

Christian in the new body walk into this building and sit down on this row right here, we would be strongly tempted, tempted mind you, to worship that creature.

That's the splendor, that's the glory of a man made in the image of God glorified with a new body.

Conversely, the person you consider ordinary and a decent neighbor but who rejects

Jesus as Lord departs into a Christless eternity, C .S.

Lewis says, if you saw that one, you would consider them a horror. You would be horrified to see someone in hell.

Not just the flames that they endure, but the nature of who they've become. This grotesque creature that loathes

God, filled with rage and hatred. This is the revealing of the sons of God and those who belong to the corrupted eternity, the corrupted future, where their body is corruption all the time.

Next, verses 20 and 21. Remember that Adam and Eve were made in the image of God without sin, and it was through their sin that corruption came into the world.

Now hold on for a second, before we read 20 and 21, remember God's arrangement. God as the king, the

Lord of all creation, man as a vice regent, having dominion of the lower creatures, right, and all of creation.

That's the arrangement. So if it's God over man, over ruling as vice regent, over creation, what happens if man falls into sin?

The creation under which that had dominion, that they had dominion over, this creation falls with man.

So let's see what happens in 20 and 21. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him, this is

God, 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.

So if you watch Jack Hannah on Saturday mornings, he's this nature guy who goes around the world and sees what nature is like, and sometimes it's beautiful dolphins swimming next to the boat.

But other times it's a lion prowling and tearing to shreds a little animal or a gazelle or a sheep.

It's bloody and it's gruesome. It's part of the fallen creation.

It wasn't made that way in the Garden of Eden. 20 says it was subjected to this futility, not of its own will, but under man's sin.

21 tells us that creation itself will be set free. When we go hiking with the young people, we call our group trail mix.

It's a mix of boys and girls that we just go hiking on the trails. And one thing that we always do, we stop and read

Psalm 104. Because we're beholding the beautiful creation, the mountains and the streams, and we see deer and all kinds of glorious things.

Psalm 104 describes this fallen world. Can you imagine what it will look like in the millennium when it's no longer bound to corruption?

The Grand Canyon, how grand will that canyon be during the millennium if it's already awe -inspiring now?

Listen, the idea here is that creation fell, but creation will be restored. So what should we expect to happen?

The next thing on God's prophetic timetable is the rapture of the church. We will be caught up to meet the

Lord in the air. That's coming soon. And when we are, our bodies will be changed.

We will receive a glorified body. And we'll be with the Lord in heaven at the wedding supper of the

Lamb until Christ comes back to this world. At that time,

He will resurrect the tribulation saints who died. They get a resurrection body.

And I think Daniel 12 too implies that that's also when the Old Testament saints come back to life.

And these three groups in resurrected bodies enter the millennium for a thousand years on this earth.

Now, there are people who lived through the tribulation who did not get resurrected bodies.

So what do they do during the millennium? They reproduce. They have many children.

There's no abortion. There's no LGBTQ agenda. And so in this culture of life, you have proliferation of life, and the entire world is populated.

We learn that under these arrangements, Satan is kept in a holding place, in a chain.

But at the very end of that millennium, he's released to deceive the nations.

Well, who could possibly be deceived? Not those in glorified bodies who no longer have sin, but those born during the millennium.

And sure enough, a multitude of people will come against God in a battle to try to overthrow the king in Jerusalem.

And Christ at that time will crush them and create a new heavens and new earth, great white throne judgment,

Isaiah 65, 17, Revelation 21, a new heavens and a new earth. Second Peter 3 says all of this gets dissolved and uncreated in a conflagration of fire.

And then a new creation, new heaven and new earth. So remember this, we are just a short season away from a thousand years of reigning on this earth as his vice regents,

Paul tells Timothy, if we endure, we will reign with him. So he will have us deployed across this world.

Maybe we'll be in New Jersey. I don't know. Zechariah tells us though that we go up to Jerusalem to see the king on a regular basis for the festivals.

What will it be like for the creation during that time? I have a few minutes left. So I want to show you just a couple scriptures,

Isaiah 35. Isaiah chapter 35 describes the millennium.

Here in Romans 8, we're talking about how creation fell, but it's going to be set free.

What will that look like when the creation is no longer corrupted by man's sin?

Christ will be in Jerusalem, will be on the earth for a thousand years, and this will be the state of the world in which we'll live.

Here's something to look forward to. It's been beautiful outside the last couple weeks, hasn't it?

Glorious. Imagine what this is going to be like, Isaiah 35, the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad.

The desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus. I asked first service, what's a crocus?

Evidently, it's a flower, a beautiful flower. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing.

It's personified here. All of creation is rejoicing and singing. The glory of Lebanon, where you have those giant trees, shall be given to it.

That's all over the world. Like a redwood forest, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the

Lord, the majesty of our God. Let's jump down to verse 8.

You can read about all the pools of water and the deserts that are made, streams in the wilderness.

Verse 8, the highway and a highway shall be there. It shall be called the way of holiness.

The unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way. Even if they are fools, so these born in the millennium might not have much sense, everybody can find their way to Jerusalem.

They shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it.

Because they're not ravenous anymore. They shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the

Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. We're singing the songs of ascent as we're going up to Jerusalem to see the king.

Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and singing and sighing shall flee away.

Go back to Isaiah chapter 11, verses 6 to 9.

The millennium is going to be amazing. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb.

They're just buddies, the wolf and the lamb. And the leopard shall lie down with the young goat.

And the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together, and a little child shall lead them.

I was at the restaurant the other day, and I saw a little kid climb up out of his little booster seat.

His mom turned away, and he was standing up on the table, and then she turned back and rescued him. There'll be no toddlers falling off of tables in the millennium, but look what happens instead.

It says in verse 8, the nursing child shall play over the whole of the cobra. The weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.

They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the

Lord as the waters cover the sea. Hosea repeats that.

It's a beautiful line. That's the coming millennium, the coming glory. So in closing back at Romans chapter 8, verses 22 to 25, here's our current condition.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning together. Do you ever feel those groans of creation?

It's called Hurricane Helene and Milton. Just groaning of creation in pains of childbirth until now.

Jesus makes the same analogy of signs of the times. When these pains get worse, you know that the coming of Christ is near, the sign that he's returning.

Creation groaning. Who else is groaning? Verse 23. Not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the spirit, we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

When you're just a teenager, you're just a young kid, you see the world and you look forward to the good things to come, and those are pretty well tied to this world.

Getting married, having a house, a car, a job, all of these things of this world and those your expectation and your hope is very closely tied to the things of this world.

But the older you get, there is a widening gap between your hope and this world.

I saw a little video of a 105 year old who survived the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and his body was so small, because only smaller people make it to that age, by the way.

Six foot four, I have no chance of making it to 105. But he was small and he was withered because you would be at 105.

But he smiled so brightly as he thought back on the days of Normandy or whatever, you know, he was in with the war.

He had so much joy. And likewise, you guys know Chuck Swindoll?

Such a joyful preacher. He just celebrated his 90th birthday. And I saw them bring a cake in, and when

Chuck Swindoll saw his 90th birthday cake, he just laughed and roared just so hilariously.

He had the greatest time to just get a birthday cake. He didn't need a Lamborghini. He didn't need even a gift.

He just loved that the people were singing to him. His heart was not tied to the things of this world.

Just joyful. As we get nearer the end, usually

Christians delight in the redemption of our bodies that's soon to come. That's what it's saying.

And this is how we ought to live, and here's the the clincher 24 and 25. For in this hope, hope, there's our word, we are saved.

Now, hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? If you already got what you're hoping for, it's not hope.

It's what you have. Don't put your hope in this world. Even in a politician, he'll let you down too, right?

He won't be as strong on abortion as we'd want him to be. If it goes one way, we're probably going right into the end times, because it's clear that this person is a puppet for the globalist regime.

If it goes the other way, we have another stay, another reprieve, and we're salt and light that preserve the culture for maybe decades to come.

But there's still no hope in this world. If we had our hope here, it wouldn't be hope.

We'd already have, we'd see it. That's the idea. But 25, but if we hope for what we do not see, that's a hard part, because we're so fleshy.

The lusts of the eyes and of the flesh, the pride of life. We're so tied to the world. It's hard for us to get our minds on the millennium.

Think about the millennium. We wait for it with patience. The older we get, the sooner it appears to us.

And the more we see the signs of the times, we see that the day is drawing near.

Wait for it with patience. This is what makes you spiritual. You get less concerned about the house, and the car, and the insurance, and the money problems.

All of those things belong to this world. Spend your time thinking in Christ.

Learn and pray. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Let's pray. Father, we do not put our hope in this world.

We know it's passing away. You're going to roll it up like a scroll. This morning, we turn our eyes to the second coming of Jesus Christ.

We want to be found occupied in preaching the gospel. When Christ raptures the church.

Help us, Lord, to get our minds off of earthly things and on to those future things.

The millennium and then the eternal state. Thank you for your word to us this morning.

Help it to make us more spiritual. That we live as spiritual people, not carnal, fleshly, worldly people.