WWUTT 159 Waiting With Patience?

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We have received redemption in Christ Jesus, but we've not yet been fully redeemed.
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That won't happen until Christ returns, and then our bodies themselves will be redeemed also when we understand the text.
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You're listening to When We Understand The Text, committed to sound teaching of the Word of God. For questions and comments, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.
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And don't forget our website, www .tt .com. Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.
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Thank you, Becky. New What Video is currently on our website, right on the front of the page, www .tt
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.com. Hardest video I've ever put together. Romans 8, verses 18 -25 is where we are today.
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If you want to open up your Bibles, let's start in verse 18. We'll read through the paragraph again and pick up where we left off yesterday.
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For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
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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.
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For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
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And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
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For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees?
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But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Back to verse 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.
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And as we mentioned yesterday, this suffering that Paul is talking about is a suffering that produces something.
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As we saw back in Romans chapter 5, suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.
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And as we read a little bit later on here in chapter 8, verse 37, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
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More than conquerors means that we not only conquer our struggles, but we use them to become something else, namely being shaped in the image of Christ.
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So that which we overcome is making us more like Christ. But as Paul says in verse 18,
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I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
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So even in our sufferings, we're being made more like Christ, but a day is coming. When Christ is going to come back, all things will be restored to the perfection that they were made in at the very beginning.
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When God created all things and he looked at it and he said it was good, when Christ returns, he will restore all things to its former glory.
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And the sufferings that we endure now that are shaping us into the image of Christ, that process just simply can't compare to the ultimate glory that we will achieve when
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Christ comes back. That's basically what verse 18 means. So then in verse 19, for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
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So Paul personifies creation. Verses 19 through 25, that all of creation is basically waiting for this deliverance of the sons of God so that the creation itself would be delivered from its bondage, being subjected to futility.
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All of this decay that we see around us, all things that are corruptible, everything falling apart, this is the result of sin.
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This state that everything is in, this process of decay is the result of sin.
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But all things are going to be restored to their former glory when Christ returns. And so Paul kind of gives creation this personification as though creation itself was a person that was awaiting for a deliverance and a glory.
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And this is Paul saying that it's not just we who are going to be raised to glory, but all of creation will be restored to glory.
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As we read in the Beatitudes, Matthew chapter five, surely you're familiar with this.
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Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. And verse five, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.
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This is to be taken quite literally. What is a meek person, by the way?
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We tend to view meekness as being the same as weakness. Well, being meek is not being weak.
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It's simply putting the needs of others ahead of your own. You are a person who is humble to look towards other needs first.
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And if you do that, then you get to be the person who inherits the earth. Quite literally, those who are in Christ Jesus, we will return to this planet in its restored form and we will have inherited the earth.
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And so Paul is saying here in Romans chapter eight, that not only are we going to be glorified, our lowly bodies being made to be like his glorious body, as Paul says to the
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Philippians, but all of creation will be restored and we will be returned to this earth in a glorified state.
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We ourself will be glorified and the earth will also be restored as well. All right. Making sense. OK, so we move on from there.
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Verse 20. 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.
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For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
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And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
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Paul talks about this with the Corinthians. First Corinthians 15, starting in verse 50, I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
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Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall all be changed.
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For this perishable body must put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality.
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When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.
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Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law.
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But thanks be to God who gives the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. So we sin now because we inhabit corruptible bodies, but a day is coming where that which is perishable and that which is corruptible will be made imperishable.
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It'll become incorruptible. This is why heaven and the new heavens and the new earth will be a place without sin because it will no longer be subject to corruption.
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If it is not corruptible, then there can't be sin. Amen. Praise the
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Lord. We are restored to brand new bodies and those bodies which are not the flesh, the crude material that we inhabit now will not be subject to sinful desires and we will live in a perfect sinless world where there is no more crying, no more tears, no more pain, no more hurt, no more sin.
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What a wonderful thing to not ever have to struggle with that in our lives again. Praise be to God.
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So we ourselves grown inwardly as we wait for this adoption as sons.
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Now, we've all received adoption already. As Paul talked about that previously in Christ, we are able to call upon God, our father, as Abba father.
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Verse 15. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. So when we're reading in this next paragraph, verses 18 through 25, that we are awaiting adoption as sons, it's not saying that we aren't already adopted.
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But there's yet a greater adoption to come when we adopt imperishable bodies.
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And that's the next step that we are looking toward. A day is going to come where we are going to die unless God willing
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Christ returns first. This body will go into the ground. Our spirit will go to be with the Lord. But then when
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Christ returns, the dead in Christ will rise. Our bodies will be reunited with our souls incorruptible.
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And we look forward to that day with hope. Verse 24. For in this hope, we were saved.
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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.
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So there is a day that is coming when we will be fully redeemed. We have received redemption in Christ, but our bodies itself have not our bodies.
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My body has not trying to find the proper English here. My body has not received its full redemption yet.
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And that is coming on the day of the Lord's return. Lord, we pray and ask that as we have studied these things today, that you are restoring in us a hope and an expectation for your return.
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That day when the new heavens and the new earth will be ushered in, there will be no more sin, no more dying, no more pain.
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We won't get tired anymore. We won't feel emotionally stressed anymore. But God, in this life now, we endure for the cause of Christ.
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The sufferings that we go through are shaping us in the image of Christ. So God, give us the strength to be able to endure these things.
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Help it to be for your glory. We give you the praise. We are thankful in all circumstances, knowing that this is producing something.
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It is producing a Christ -likeness in us that we might share with the world the message of the gospel of Christ, for it is only the gospel that has the power to save all who believe.
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We pray and ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.